A Sad Goodbye

Today I am tasked with writing a sad post. A goodbye post. It has been nearly a year since we began this blog and we have enjoyed it and been challenged by it. We have loved having the chance to write, and we have sure appreciated each person who chose to read what we wrote. Unfortunately, the time has come for us to end this endeavor. We each have our own reasons for stopping, but we are all in agreement that it is the best action to take. There has been no dispute between us! We largely took our other responsibilities and family time into consideration when making the decision.

Thank you for "following" our blog. Thank you for caring about what was happening in our lives and for appreciating our take on life. We have loved this experience as sisters, and we have treasured the time shared. If you are interested in keeping up with us in other ways, you can follow Esther's personal blog at: http://estherbeard.tumblr.com/ and find out more about Maude's production company here: http://ehrenkrookentertainment.com/. As for me (Lizzi), I guess I'll just have to be in touch.

Sisters Chat about 4-H

Maude: This week I thought we would talk about 4-H. I am not sure if you all heard about the announcement from the Dept. of Labor who is revamping child labor laws but they made it illegal for kids to work on anything but family farms (most family farms are legal entities and therefore would not be considered "family"). In addition there was language that would make 4-H and FFA illegal.This has been rescinded because there was such a big stink.
But it got me thinking about 4-H.
Esther: That's crazy and dumb!
Maude: I know, it is ridiculous!!!
Esther: like we need kids to be learning less. 4-H and helping on farms is such a great way to learn.
Maude: And it teaches them hard work. Plus there is something of a catastrophe looming for farms because around 80% of small farmers are set to retire in the next 10 years and there is no one to replace them.
Lizzi: Wow. That is certainly a catastrophe!
Maude: All the big farms will continue but small farms are the backbone of this country. Imagine the countryside without small farms!!
Yuck!
To those reading this who aren't familiar - What is 4-H?
Lizzi: I don't remember what the 4 h's stand for! Isn't that terrible?
Maude: head, heart, hands and health
Not sure why I remember that...
Lizzi: I was close! I was going to say head, heart, health and home. Close, but no cigar!
Maude: haha, Liz!
Esther: 4-H is an opportunity for young people to learn how to work, farm, build, sew, cook, and lead.

Mornings At My House

My household (other than my husband!) usually wakes up between 8 and 9 in the morning.  I am not a morning person and so I normally sleep in until the kids wake me up leaving my "quiet time" for night.  But this morning I was awake before 7 am.

I decided to surprise my husband and have breakfast and spend some time with him before he went to work.  I was thwarted as he had to go in early and I just missed him.  As I came downstairs, he drove off.  So I had some toast and read my Bible.  The house was quiet; the deck was cool; it was lovely.

Then at 7:30 am Maeva started fussing so I got in bed with her and snuggled down.  She was sweet and we both fell back asleep.  I felt like this waking up early thing had some potential.

lamb leg roast

I like lamb. I think it is delicious, however, I have very little experience cooking it.  I have decided to change that.

I bought 3lbs of a boneless leg of lamb.

Healthy (and Yummy!) Carrot Zucchini Muffins

These muffins are a sweet, tasty way to get my three-year-old to eat vegetables! They are about as healthy as muffins can get (maybe if I added bran they'd be even healthier.. will have to think about that!) and they eat like a yummy treat! 

Sisters chat about SUMMER

 Esther:  Since today is June 1st I thought we'd talk about SUMMER. I don't know about you all but after memorial day and once school is out I don't need to wait till June 20th to feel like I am in summer
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of summer?

 Maude:  HEAT.

 Esther:  I think of ice cream & drive-inns

Gardening - Asparagus Success!

We planted our asparagus early.  We dug holes in our red, clay soil, mixed in some black soil for good measure and watered faithfully.  After a month of nothing happening we decided that we would rather use that space in our tiny garden for our tomato plants so we transplanted out tomatoes from their starter pots in the house and put them in the section where we had just dug up the dud asparagus and we put the asparagus into the started pots and put them in our front window.

The general plan was to water the asparagus if we thought about it but otherwise to not waste anymore time or thought about the dead asparagus crowns.  We placed a spray bottle next to the plants and let the kids squirt (or sometimes drown) the poor little plants as they wanted to.

What to do with laundry...

This morning I was making my bed and thinking about the dishes I needed to get done and then I noticed the laundry pile in the corner of our room and remembered that I forgot to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer last evening. Ahhh! Ever have a morning like this? I started my day feeling overwhelmed before 8am, that is a little depressing.  Unfortunately, I think I start the majority of my days this way.  Beginning my days in such a stress filled state is just asking for disaster. I am snippy with my husband, impatient with my son, and just frustrated in general. What can I do about this?

Late Again

Late like always. I did not plan to talk about procrastination today. I had a great post started, but that's all it was. Started. Instead of completing it and scheduling it to automatically post this morning, I waited, thinking I would get time today to finish it properly. Oh, my. Will I ever learn that waiting is never the best policy? Waiting until tomorrow to complete a task simply means that it will be finished in a hurried, haphazard way, if it gets finished at all. 

Just a Little Pride

Our guest blogger today is our brother-in-law, Jim. He is married to our oldest sister, Hannah. They have three sweet boys.


I would like to talk about Pride. Not in the biblical sense, as in Proverbs 11:2, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom."

No, this is a different kind of pride. Let's call it the healthy kind. Like, when I grill four steaks and three of them actually turn out edible. Or, when I am successful in convincing my four year old that there is no actual Holiday called "Pantless Tuesday."

Of these healthy types of pride, my favorite is the pride I have in my wife, Hannah. This pride does not come from a selfish or arrogant place. Am I happy that she is beautiful and the girl of my dreams? Sure. To say I'm proud of those things would suggest I had something to do with it. Taking credit, if you will.

My pride is in her successes. The drive, determination and heart she puts into everything she touches. After eight years of marriage, I can be around her for ten minutes and wish I was a better man. On top of that, she has blessed me with three beautiful, smart, healthy and sweet little boys.