Building our garden shed

We were in desperate need of a garden shed.  We wanted to clean out our garage, so we could comfortably fit our cars in there, between the bikes, balls, skateboards, and boxes, that still need to be unpacked.  It just wasn't in the budget right now to start from scratch on a big shed or, what we would really like, a small barn.  So we compromised. 

 

We have this bottom patio, under our deck, off our family room.  It was the perfect fit.  There were cement walls already there, and the deck is 10 ft high, so the shed would have plenty of room, if we decided to add a loft for extra storage.  But first, we had some cleaning to do.  We had a wood pile to move, and the cats house was here before.  The boys helped spray off the patio.  We had a nice, clean slate to start with. 

We started  by adding a metal roof under the entire deck.  So in the end we would have a small shed, and also a covered porch.  We then started framing it up.

We were  going for a "country" look, and we designed the door to look like a barn door.  We used cedar deck boards, the rough sides facing out. 

Construction zone.  You can see here the whole picture.  The metal roof turned out beautifully, especially since we have never done anything like this before.

Finished!  It is my absolute favorite spot in the yard now, as it over looks the backyard, and I have a great view of the kids playing.



The door turned out great.  We were afraid it would be too heavy, but it actually isn't at all.  I love the look, and love having a covered porch for my swing! 

My husband on this Father's Day, enjoying the swing and drinks on this very hot summer day, with 3 of the kids.  This was a really fun, lost cost project for us.  Turning an unexpected area, into useful space, it's one of my favorite things. 

♥  Shannon



Blessed with berries

We have been beyond blessed with an abundance of berries this month.  Today as I was driving home from piano lessons with my kids, I received a phone call from a neighbor and fellow church member, inviting us to come black raspberry picking.  We jumped at the chance.  My kids LOVE picking berries, and someday, I hope to have huge berry patches of my own, but for now we are just getting started.

These two are my little gardeners.  We picked a full pail in under 30 minutes, which is pretty good when dealing with pokey, scratchy raspberry bushes.

I think she was more concerned with tasting, then picking.  They were delicious!

And he was more concerned with tree climbing!  It was a great, unexpected treat, added to our day!

I made a raspberry crisp for dinner (I don't do pie), and froze a few gallon bags.  I left some in the fridge for fresh eating.

I am thankful, humbled, and so grateful for the generosity of these wonderful new friends, here in our community.  They are such a loving, kind, generous group of people, and I am blessed to be a part of it! 

♥  Shannon

Summer Days

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here.  70's and sunny.  It was even a little too chilly to have the windows open this morning, imagine that!  We have been busy as bees with all our strawberries, cherries and a few black raspberries.  Yesterday I made 23 jars of freezer jam, various sizes.  I made some cherry raspberry, and just plain ole' strawberry.  I also made 2 strawberry pies, which we finished off at breakfast.  Who say's you can't have pie for breakfast!!??

Unfortunately, last night when editing my photos, I accidentally deleted all  my strawberry pickin', jam making photos :(

Our Summer always starts off celebrating our oldest child's birthday.  It's a great time of year for a teenage birthday celebration! 

Yes, that's right, we are now parents of a teenager!  We started her birthday celebration Friday night with a friend, at the local state park.  We had a picnic and did some fishing. 

We have at least one "picnic" a day. (That is until the humidity kicks in and the bugs come out). Our grill is getting a lot of use, and our deck has become an outdoor kitchen.

 One fun thing I'm trying out this summer, is some fun new recipes!  My kids are always hungry for a snack in the afternoon and I've discovered homemade push up's!  My kids love them and they are very refreshing on those really hot days.  It is so much more economical for me to make them myself then to buy a box from the store, which never goes very far with five kids, and sometimes mom!!

So far we have tried chocolate pudding push up's, orange, and just today I experimented with strawberry lemonade!  I found all my recipes on pinterest, but like most things I tweak them a bit to fit my style.  I'm looking forward to trying out a few more flavors this summer!

 

Here, I have some strawberry lemonade push up's:

2 quarts of lemonade

2 cups of  frozen strawberries

2 cups of ice

Blend together the strawberries and ice in a blender, then add to the lemonade.  Pour into dixie cups.  I place all the full dixie cups in a baking pan, (to prevent them from tipping over), and place them in the freezer for about 1-2 hours.  Pull them out of the freezer and insert Popsicle sticks.  Place back into freezer until frozen solid.  It only takes a few hours total.  So simple, fun and delicious!  Needless to say, I have stocked up on dixie cups and Popsicle sticks.  I've also added paper plates to that list, a I don't feel like being stuck in the kitchen all summer with the dishes.  So for now, paper has taken the place of my corelleware. 

Isn't that what Summer is all about?  Picnic's, grilling out,

lemonade, fishing, and time spent with family outdoors!

♥  Shannon

 

Just another weekend

Guess who got a sandbox this weekend??  Saturday morning we went strawberry picking at a local berry patch, and on the way home we decided to stop at the tire/mechanic shop, because our truck was having a few issues.  When we were leaving my husband spotted the large tractor tire sitting outside and asked if he could have it.  They said, if you want it, take it!  So we did! 



The baby loves it!  In fact they all do.  They spent hours, upon hours playing on Saturday evening.  On Sunday morning my son said "I just want to get home from church, so I can play in the sandbox all day", and that's exactly what he did!

Because the kids were occupied for hours, we had lots of time to till the rows of the garden.  We tilled, pulled weeds between the plants and mulched around the berry bushes.  We even picked a hand full of blueberries!  I've never been able to get blueberries to grow, so this was exciting, especially since they are only a year old.  I love how the garden looks after it's tilled.  Because we haven't had much rain, there are  not a lot of weeds right now either.





From the pumpkin patch looking up.  You can see, the ground is really dry.  I have been watering, which takes a lot of time!  My tomato plants are even starting to get a few blossoms on them, and there are medium size cabbage already.  I think it may be a earlier harvest then normal!  This morning I woke up to the sound of thunder and a little rain, and I have never been more happy!  They are calling for scattered thunderstorms today and I pray they are right.  The farmers corn is really dry and I don't think it's going to be "knee high by the 4th of July".  Plus, I could really use a rainy day to catch up on laundry, housework and I have strawberry jam to make!

♥  Shannon

Cherry Pickin'

Today was one of those days... days where we are too busy to enjoy anything going on around us.  We just move from one thing to the next and keep watching the clock to make sure we are still on schedule.  These are my least favorite of days.   We had dentist appointments, swimming lessons, errands to run, from one end of town to the other.  By the time we got home it was almost time for dinner and we were tired.  Then I received a call from a friend letting me know, we could come pick cherries.  They were ready, but not for long.  If we could get to them before the birds, we could have them.  We piled back into the car and headed out further into the country.  I'm so glad we did.....

We had such a great, relaxing time.  It brought my day, back down, to my kind of comfortable.  Here is some of what we saw on the farm .....

and winner for best picture of the night...

(BTW, if you are wondering where my oldest, fifth child is.  She is always behind the camera.  She is my photographer and takes (mostly) all the photos, I post on my blog.  She even created my header :)  

We had a lovely time and someday, I hope to have cherry trees this big in my yard, and maybe then I can invite my children and grandchildren to come pickin' !!

♥  Shannon



Boys will be boys

My husband is building a small garden shed, to clear out our garage and make more room for our cars... I mean, bikes and scooters,  jump ropes, basketballs, wagons, etc.  You get my point.  He had a LOT of scrap wood left over laying in the yard.  Well there was no way my 8 yr. old could pass up a chance at a big pile of wood just laying there, waiting for him to get his hands on.  Here is what he came up with. 

They made a fort.  It was all engineered, designed and built by my 8 yr. old, but my 5 yr. old thinks he played a pretty big part in the design as well :)

 
He did a great job at the design, and there was no way that thing was going to fall down.  We even had a few rain storms with a bit of wind, and it held strong.

I love it when my kids get creative and use their imaginations!  On another note, it's been very busy around here.  I'm trying to keep up with the garden and spent all day today weeding, watering and transplanting.  So far so good.  I even spotted a few blooms on my tomato plants, yay!!  The baby kittens have turned into little rascals and we enjoy sitting on the porch every night (after they've had their afternoon nap) watching them wrestle, and race around the front yard.  They've taken over my front landscaping, much to my husbands dismay.

If any of you know me personally,  you know, I was never much of a cat person, but these kittens are really growing on me.  I mean, come on, how can I resist that face.  They are so cute and playful.

So that's what's been going on, around here lately.  We are enjoying our summer vacation, so far and again, I feel so blessed to be right here, living this life, right now, right where I am suppose to be!  God is good and my heart is full!

♥  Shannon

It's the little things

Last week, I broke my salad spinner.  Now this wasn't a cheap salad spinner you buy at Walmart, but a very high quality one, we bought at a fancy little kitchen store, one day when we were in the cities.  If fact, that was just last fall.  I had gotten plenty of use out of it, and decided I just couldn't live without a salad spinner ever again!  My lettuce stays fresh and green so much longer because of it! 

I was walking through the kitchen and I dropped it.  The lid fell off breaking into pieces.  I felt terrible, and to make it all worse, my garden is full of lettuce and spinach right now.  Not a great time to be without it.  I decided I would just have to make the most of it, without.

This morning my husband had to go into work for a few hours, and I took my son to his last soccer game of the season.  When I arrived home, he was home from work and he said "I have something for you", and he handed me a new salad spinner.  He never said a word about the broken one, just kindly gave me a new one.  Melts my heart...   It's the little things, that mean the most!

♥  Shannon