Getting Ready for School Year 2011-2012

Lynda has been busy ordering and picking up curriculum for the girls school year, the orders have arrived and it looks like everything is a go to start.  School for Hannah and Lauren will officially start after the Labor Day Holiday next week.  Hannah has however already started her review and is spending some time each morning getting ready.

Beating the Heat!

Up until this last week we really had a mild summer.  This week every day the temperature has been between 105 and 110 F.  Not only have the days been warm but we have not had our typical night-time cooling, normally we can see a 40 degree drop in the evening and usually have a nice cool coastal breeze coming in.  Needless to say not much is getting done outside except for swimming.

Amber and Eddie came over on Sunday after church for dinner and then again this last evening.  The girls enjoy Amber taking the time to fix their hair and spend time with them.

Scratch & Milk

We were out of the chicken feed known as "scratch" (the larger chunks of corn & grain) and milk so we went to the local dairy DeJong's to pick up scratch and milk. On the 30-acres where the DeJong's have  the dairy, there is also a feed store, general store, and petting zoo.  A dairy has been on the site since 1935 and is now the only small local dairy still in operation.

And as we promised Hannah - here is a picture of here working ferris wheel that she made.

Dogs life, reading, and an anniversary.

Just some random photos of the dogs this week, Hannah reading to Lauren, and Kevin getting recognized for 20-years of service with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Hannah enjoys reading and is now inspiring Lauren to want to learn.  Lauren still needs some work on her verbal communication skills and is getting ready to start more of a full load of school work this year - pray for Lynda as she starts that process of teaching two elementary grade schoolers.  (Hannah will be in 2nd grade and Lauren will be a combo K & 1st grade)

Dress-up, Bread making, and swimming.

Lauren is continuing her adjustments to family life, communication is coming along (slowly), and she is learning more and more how to play nice with her sister and friends. Hannah actually got her to play dress up with her princess outfits the other day.

Lynda practiced the other day with her new grinder to take some wheat and make flour for bread making.  Right now she has to use the bread machine until we get the brick oven built in the back for bread and pizza making.

Here is the process from wheat to bread:

Finally, as school is starting this week (except for our children who get to keep doing review work over the summer) for most children in Southern California, the Scorza's came over to visit and swim.

Canning Class - Food Storage

Today Kevin and Lynda traveled up the freeway one hour to Rancho Cucamonga to attend a canning class called "How to Can Meat in a Pressure Cooker" taught by Master Food Preserver Carol Olson. It was very informative and helped to alleviate some of the fears we had about tackling one of our next projects which includes preserving fruits, vegetables, and meats that we produce (or will produce) on our property.

The class was given at the Honeyville Retail Store so we took the opportunity to pick up some more supplies for our emergency food storage.

Rain & Sun - Cool & Hot

This week July ended with a rainy cool and cloudy day - maybe not so unusual for many people, but for us in Southern California it was out of the ordinary.  August though has seen us return to hot clear days with temperatures around 100 each day.