Busting Gravel

We had a huge problem this spring with gravel in our yard from the road grader. In some spots it was kicked almost ten feet in and in spots piled an inch thick.

Scott decided to call a rental store here in town and see if they had a lawn sweep to try. They recommended using a tool called "Clean Sweep." It was amazing to use!

Before making the call we had tried to rake the yard and got maybe a few feet done in a half hour. With this little guy we were able to get half of our yard by the road done within an hour. Check out the pictures below to see it in action and before and after shots.

We are still awe at how quickly and effortlessly we were able to get this done. We would recommend this for anyone needing to get gravel and other items out of their grass.

MACHE conference

Over the weekend Scott and I attended the annual MACHE homeschooling convention in Duluth. As always we came home with lots of new ideas and a renewed understanding of why we do what we do.



One of our favorite speakers was Dr. Jeff Myers. His presentations on our responsibility to pass the baton on to the next generation left us both wanting to be even more deliberate in passing on character development to the boys.



We spent a lot of time going through the curriculum fair getting lost in all the books and educational supplies. I confess, this is my favorite part of the conference. Being the investigative type I could still be going through all the different types of items available.





After a long day of researching and listening to presentations we were off to our favorite place to eat. Famous Dave's! We stop here every time we go up to Duluth. Someday we will have to share the story of how Famous Dave's became "our place."

We came home with bags full of new books for next year and lots of excitement about the coming year. Once we wrap up this year's work we will begin the task of getting our lessons together for this fall. I love being able to do this during the summer when we can sit outside and enjoy the sun along with some good books to prep with.

Blessings!
Shelly

Spring is coming

Even though there is snow on the ground this morning we are very excited for spring to be here. For the past four days we have had a flock of robins in our yard. Yes, a flock. We tried to count but that was too hard. There are at least 30 birds out there if not more. Here are a few pictures from this morning.

Killer instinct

Ok, does this look like the face of a killer?



Well, she is. She officially got her bunny yesterday. The poor bunny has been driving Autumn nuts all winter. Living under the deck, eating our shrubs, grazing on branches just outside of Autumn's reach. Well, the bunny slipped up and became a chew toy.

Being the proud pack member she is, Autumn brought us her new chew toy. She was so excited to share that she whined at the door until we opened it. Much to Sean's disgust and Mom's squeamishness. All ended well though when Dad got home and accepted the trophy.

Good girl, Autumn! Now go get that other bunny...

The bug has arrived

The influenza bug has hit our house this past week. Damian came down with it at the start of the week and it really hammered Sean two days ago. We didn't catch it early enough for Damian to get medication, but Sean was only in his first day or two of it so he is on a round of Antiviral medication.

I was super bummed out for Sean and bummed out because the two of us had to stay behind while Scott and Damian went back to New Ulm to help Mom move into her new house. When I talked to Scott this morning it sounds like they have all the big stuff moved and they are going to be working on the small stuff today.

For the past few days Sean and I have had lots of snuggle time on the couch so all is not lost. I am realizing more and more how quickly our youngest is growing up. So I will take the chances I can to enjoy the snuggle time. We are armed with lots of movies and the Discovery Channel. Should keep us busy for the afternoon.

Hope everyone is well at your home. We are looking forward to getting out again soon. Until then, we are going to wrap up and snuggle in for the day.

Blessings!

Kutless Concert

On Saturday night we had the privilege of attending the Kutless concert at ECC. We were able to snag front row seats and really get into the action. Of coarse my action included taking lots of photos. (I was totally into the visual aspect of the concert along with the music.) If you get a chance to hear Kutless on their latest tour, Go. Since it is their acoustic tour it spanned the generations in our household so everyone enjoyed it. The boys were pumped because they got to help the band tear down after the concert.

Enjoy the slideshow!

Sonstegard/Wiethoff Family Gathering

The lack of emotional security of our American young people is due, I believe, to their isolation from the larger family unit. No two people - no mere father and mother - as I have often said, are enough to provide emotional security for a child. He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk, persons of variety in age and temperament, and yet allied to himself by an indissoluble bond which he cannot break if he could, for nature has welded him into it before he was born. ~Pearl S. Buck

Family time is one of our greatest tresures and once again this year we were able to make the annual Sonstegard/Wiethoff Family Gathering. This year's gathering was held at the Holiday Inn in St. Cloud. With lots of pools, table tennis, volleyball/basketball, an arcade, and lots of food we were kept busy laughing together for the whole weekend.

I found the following quote this morning and it fit this post perfectly.

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

In fact, we had so much fun together that it was decided to make this a semi-annual event instead of an annual event. We now can look forward to spending a weekend on the lake in the summer and a weekend at a hotel sometime in the winter! It is exciting just thinking about it.

Thanks for the great conversations and laughs this weekend. We look forward to seeing you all again soon!