Civil War Reenactment

Friday Daddy went into work for a little while and then he and I went and hit part of the 200 mile yard sale that was going on! Yup, 200 miles! Every year in Michigan at this time of year they hold it and you've never seen so many yard sales in your life! We scored big time with a purchase of eight new to us Nintendo DS games and twenty or so books (mostly Amish romance, which I like because there's nothing unwholesome in them). After we got home I worked on a camisole top that I've been trying to finish for what seems like forever (I finished it after supper) and then made cheesy chicken again for supper ... because we just have so much chicken!

On Saturday we had a blast!!!! Everyone slept in until we were ready to get up and then we got ready and went to a Civil War reenactment a few towns over from us. We saw a one room school house that was built during the Civil War, Peanut tried to ring the school bell but was lifted right off of the ground by the rope! They had a chapel that was built out of stones and shells from all over the world, a log cabin that had three rooms ... bedroom, kitchen, and main room, a blacksmith shop, a gift shop, and several tents set up. At one of the tents we met a man who had authored several children's books and we bought two (which he signed to us, one to the entire family and one just to Peanut), he also let the campers try on some of his Civil War gear and showed them some dirt from a real battlefield of the war (I think he said it was from Georgia but I could be mistaken). The campers saw so many people in period garb and watched a lot of how they lived during the war. Afterwards we came home and the kids played on their electronics while Daddy took a nap and I worked on a hat for a friend. The historical society that hosted the reenactment will also be hosting a craft fair that I just might attend and set up my shingle at.


Sunday we went down to Grandma and Papa's house for mass and hung out all day long. We'd brought steak and strawberries with angel food cake for the meat and desert and Grandma made baked potatoes and corn on the cob to go with it. We try to do something like this at least once a month with Grandma and Papa. After mass Papa treated us all to brunch! This was an unexpected surprise and was awesome to say the least. Seven of us sitting around in a restaurant chatting and eating our brunch after a wonderful mass. We watched a couple movies at Grandma and Papa's house, well ... the adults did. The campers were in and out of the backyard, watching Spongebob Squarepants, and in the play room. Supper turned out fabulous! The steak was darn near perfect and had that wonderful taste from a charcoal grill, the potatoes and corn were awesome, and the company made the evening wonderful! We stopped at a park on the way home (so that Peanut kept part of her weekly routine, though we skipped the frozen drinks because it was getting close to dark). We also discovered, after the campers ate almost a whole jar of peanuts, that Peanut "may" just have a mild peanut allergy. She doesn't eat a lot of peanuts or peanut products and was saying that her throat felt funny. It's something we'll be keeping an eye on in the future. 

The chapel that was on the
Civil War reenactment grounds.

After a busy, but fun, weekend we ended up with Monday. I'm really not a Monday type of person, although Tuesdays usually end up being the bad day of the week for me for some reason. Daddy and I got up around 8:30 and drank coffee together, wondering quietly to each other if the truck would be finished at the shop this day or Tuesday. Around 9 we woke up ECJ to do his morning chores and eat breakfast, we discovered that ECJ had left the hose on all day Sunday and overnight! I am dreading the next water bill now! Daddy left for work around 10 and I woke the girls up for their chores and breakfast. While they were eating breakfast I started a load of laundry, turned off the crock pot to cool of the chicken soup that was in it, and chopped up the veggies for and finished making a tomato, cucumber, and onion salad. Then while the girls did their chores I updated this post and took out meat from the deep freeze for supper ... pork chops was what was on the menu. After that it was just a mix of ECJ cutting grass at our house and those he'd hired on to cut grass at, the girls cleaning their room and then playing outside, and me running the vacuum and the crocheting quietly until Daddy got home. Daddy got home around 12:30 from work, just in time to take ECJ and YCJ to the dentist to fill a couple of cavities that had been found on their six month check up. Peanut and I went along for the ride (that, and Daddy doesn't like going into the offices during dentist appointments if he can help it). So, after the dentist appointment we ended up picking up the truck from the shop since it was done and going out for a quick scrapping trip just Daddy and I. YCJ felt like cooking so she made pancakes for supper for herself and her siblings and when Daddy and I got home we just ate the salad I had made for supper. So, that found me (after a long bath and watching some TV with Daddy, plus doing some more laundry) making more salad for Tuesday night's supper.

Tuesday we unloaded what little scrap we'd picked up out of the truck and then Daddy went to work. ECJ had four things to take apart so he headed outside directly after chores and breakfast. Peanut woke up and watched YouTube while eating breakfast and I put her bedding in the laundry while updating the blog. YCJ slept in this day. Since I'd prepped for supper on Monday I didn't have anything to do for supper in the morning. I got a piece of exciting news that we were going to be able to do a review on Exploring Nature with Children this morning!!! We'll be starting it with our regular lessons in September so look for a beginning review in October! I did more laundry (the girls bedding needed washed and changed ... ECJ does his own now), vacuumed the carpets again since the dogs are shedding like crazy, and crocheted while Daddy was at work. The girls did their chores and cleaned their room after YCJ finally woke up and ate breakfast. ECJ played his new favorite Playstation 3 game after finishing with the scrap and cutting one more lawn that he hired on to cut. We had an appointment at six o clock here in town so when Daddy got home from work we ran to the next town to do some scrapping, made our appointment, and then finished scrapping. I made supper when we got home, adding mac and cheese to the menu since the kids don't eat much of cucumber/tomato salad (they don't like the onion that I put in), and everyone was in bed and sleeping by their allotted bedtimes ... including Daddy and myself.

On Wednesday we had pretty much the same type of day as Monday and Tuesday. The only main differences were that Daddy and I stopped at the grocery store for milk, dropped the milk off back at home, and then went down to Grandma and Papa's house to take out the trash, followed by an evening of scrapping their area. And sometime in the middle of all of that we also went to the scrap yard. The campers ate what they wanted for supper (pancakes again) and Daddy and I ate fried zucchini "steaks" for supper with the ever present (this week at least) cucumber/tomato salad. 

Working on washcloths

It's now Thursday morning and it's raining outside with the forecast calling for more of the same off and on all day. Two out of the three campers have already been up, done chores, and have eaten breakfast ... Daddy is at work. I'm waiting on YCJ to wake up while I have laundry in the washer and I'm busy typing up the last bit of this post. There's not much on the agenda for today. Cleaning a bit of the house, organizing some of our homeschool stuff to get ready for the beginning of the school year, and crocheting more washcloths to be sold in an upcoming craft sale that I'm going to be a vendor at. Daddy has a scrap load to pick up this afternoon that he's had scheduled for about a week now. And likely with the rain the campers will spend most of the day playing the Playstation 3 and their tablets/phones (only one has a working phone that makes calls and texts ... the others are simply used for games and YouTube).

Cucumber/Tomato Salad

• 1 cucumber
• 3-4 tomatoes ... depending on size
• 1/2 med. chopped onion
• Italian dressing
• chopped up mild cheese (optional)

To make cucumber/tomato salad chop 1/2 a medium onion and place in a bowl. Slice up a cucumber and quarter the slices and also add to the bowl. Then cut tomatoes into small wedges, cut again in half, and then add to the same bowl. Pour in half a bottle of Italian Dressing and stir well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least three hours, better if left overnight. Add a mild chopped up cheese such as provalone, munster, swiss, or mozzarella right before serving and also give the salad another good stir right before plating it. 

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