Pictures of the week, August 21 to August 27, 2011

Sunday, August 21, 2011

We got together with Seth's parents to celebrate his mom's birthday on Sunday night. We enjoyed a hot dog roast and chocolate cake that I made.

Monday, August 22, 2011

My glamour girl.


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

You know you are a mom if . . . you have a $10 off a $10 purchase at JC Penney's and all you buy is socks for your boys. Yep, I had two $10 off a $10 purchase and I bought more socks for Ephraim and Emmet.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Our First Day of School photo.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

All these tomatoes and more were prepared into pizza sauce and pasta sauce. We froze it for future use. It was my first time doing tomatoes and it went really well. It did help that I had two friends over to enjoy the experience with. We've already had one container of pasta sauce and it was delicious!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Playing States & Capitals Sequence with Ephraim. I think he's getting a bit weary of having his photo taken :)

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Seth and I were able to get away Friday night and Saturday, just the two of us to Des Moines. I had several shopping stops to make, for home, homeschool and for upcoming birthdays. So, shopping we went. We had great luck wherever we went and managed to get to many stores and pick the kids up by supper time. I did go to The Learning Post and it was great! So much good stuff. Even Seth asked me what his budget was for there. We got birthday gifts for the girls and Emmet and managed to get a nice Christmas list compiled. We also visited several jewelry stores in the mall to price mother's rings for me--something that's on my Christmas list. My best deal of the day was at Bed Bath & Beyond. I had 20% off coupon that I wanted to spend on sheets. Sheets can be expensive, so I knew this coupon would help. I found some $99.99 sheets on clearance for $49.99. I looked around a bit more and decided to get them. They rang up as $29.99 and then 20% off saved me $6 more dollars. I got $99.99 sheets for $23!!!!!!!!!!!! And they're like luxury sheets, 600 thread count! Pretty nice with an even nicer price.

Our last stop was Bass Pro Shop. We found the two items we wanted but got sidetracked by a salesman trying to sell us a vacation to the Ozarks. We weren't really interested, but he kept sweetening the deal with more $25 gift cards. In the end, we did buy a two night/three day stay in the Ozarks for a GREAT price. We'll stay in a condo that's bigger than our house, has full kitchen and laundry facilities, a children's pool, lazy river, mini golf, etc. So, I guess we know where we're going to be next summer!

Anyway, it was good to get my shopping done. Chances are I won't get to Des Moines to go shopping like that for a long time.

Bible Study Buddies

Sunday night we hosted our Bible Study group over for supper, along with all the kids--15 of them total! They had a blast playing together, exploring the farm, riding bikes, etc. They also enjoyed the chickens and cats. The adults had a good fellowship time, too! It was a perfect evening for our gathering!


Here are a few of the kids feeding ears of corn to the cows.


Cows on one side, children on the other. And yes, the electric fence is off.

It was quite the buffet for the cows!

We enjoyed a great supper of hot dogs and hamburgers with potluck side dishes!

Check out those kids! Back row: Kamden & Hayley, Sevanna holding Leah, Ephraim holding Logan, Emmet, Micah holding Olivia. Front row: Hannah, Kobie, Trace, Eden, Eliza and Becca! We were amazed at how well the picture taking went! All of them age 8 or under with two sets of twins! It was a fun evening to kick off our once-a-month Bible Study again this fall.

The kids found my chicken

My lost chicken has been found! Alive and well in the barn . . . sitting on a heap of eggs! She obviously went broody. She found a different spot to lay her eggs than in our coop. First of all, it's a miracle she's alive. She's been in the barn for almost a week without protection from nocturnal animals! And she has at least 8-10 eggs in her nest. We had a couple of options of what to do with her. We could move her and the eggs. We could use the eggs as a science lesson and check to see their development since they were all laid on different days OR we could protect the chicken and her nest and let her naturally incubate her eggs. So, we're going for the latter option. We're not out anything if her eggs aren't fertile, but we'll see. I suspect that we have a rooster in our coop, so it is possible that we may have a chick or chicks in less than 21 days! Wait and see, I guess!

She is well hidden in the barn so it's no wonder I didn't see her when I've gone searching. But I haven't seen her during the day either, so she's not leaving her nest too much. We gave her plenty of water and feed now. The children are super excited about this adventure and we'll wait to see what happens!

Reflections from the week

No pictures this time, just words.

1. Homeschooling is a lot of fun and if I'd had known it would be this much fun, we would have started earlier.
2. Don't plan too far in advance for the kids' studies. I had started a planner and had Math Lesson 1 on Day 1, etc. Well, I've erased it several times since the boys love their Math books and are doing many lessons a day!
3. It's expensive when your oven quits working, or at least isn't working adequately. My oven was getting hot, but not hot enough. Turns out it was the control panel and it was $230 and that doesn't include labor. Still cheaper than a new oven.
4. Making pizza sauce and pasta sauce isn't too bad. We made several batches of sauce and it's in the freezer now.
5. Also canned 5 quarts of green beans this week.
6. I HAD eleven chickens. Now, I'm down to 10. :( Monday night when I locked them up, there were all 11. By Tuesday night, I only counted 10. I walked around the house and barn for a while but didn't see anything. It's possible something got it during the day or that it wandered off or maybe it crossed the road. . . . who knows. But now I've got 10 and I hope I can keep them all.
7. Had a Children's Ministry meeting this week and I'm excited about the new DWELL curriculum! I'll be teaching large group 2nd grade and large group K/1. Seth will be doing large group 2nd grade and helping with the 2nd graders. Definitely ready for Sunday School again so that the kids aren't running around the basement breaking light bulbs with shoes(hypothetically, of course).
8. Thought maybe it would be interesting to get a milk cow but that sure got my Facebook friends a talking! Anyway, not likely to happen. We don't go away but a few times a year and milking a cow twice day might hinder that . . . unless we got a livestock trailer and put a hitch on the van??
9. Three mini loaves of zucchini bread lasts about one hour in my house!

It's been a great week this week and looking forward to the weekend--date and shopping with Seth and fun with friends on Sunday afternoon!

Pictures of the week, August 14 to August 20, 2011

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Here is the Bible Quiz team in front of church giving a report to the congregation about their competition at the Southern Iowa Fair. They did a great job answering sample questions for the audience!

Monday, August 22, 2011

My first two dozen of eggs, SOLD!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Century Farm Award presentation at the Iowa State Fair.


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Century Farm Award presentation between brothers Marvin and Elmer.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Getting started with homeschool!


Friday, August 19, 2011

We did silhouettes of the kids for our Health lesson on "There's no one exactly like me!"

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Just proof that there's never a dull moment in our house! Eliza sporting three pairs of sunglasses. And her Sheriff's Association tattoo from the Iowa State Fair just won't come off of her upper arm!

1st day of School

We've done a couple of half days of school at home already, but today we took the official/obligatory "First Day of School" pictures.

Here is Ephraim. His dry erase board says "2nd grade, age 8" and he's holding a paper airplane.


Here's Emmet. His board says "Kindergarten, age 5 1/2." He's also the one I couldn't convince to wear nice clothes for the picture. Oh well, pick your battles, right?



Eliza with her "Preschool, age 3 1/2" sign.

And Eden with her "Preschool, age 3 1/2" sign.

And a group photo (with the cat)!

We had a great day today! The kids worked on their lessons and had a lot of fun together. It's amazing how fast we get through their lessons when they focus and we don't have a lot of interruptions. And the kids got to see Seth today since they were home and they normally wouldn't have since he stopped home for lunch and again at 3:30 but then wasn't home until after they were in bed. I also appreciate the fact that our mornings are not rushed. We start school by 8:30, take a few breaks and have recess and lunch. We have a bit of quiet time in the afternoon and finish up with some more lessons. So far, so good.

Century Farm Award Presentation to Elmer & Elizabeth

Elmer and Elizabeth were unable to attend the ceremony in Des Moines on Tuesday, so we surprised them with a short ceremony at Maple Ridge. They were able to visit with Marvin and family for a while. Then they were ushered down to the lunch room. Arlin first said a few words.



Arlin with the plaque and certificate--handing it off to Marvin . . .

who is handing it off to Elmer.

It really was a beautiful sight.

Reading the certificate to Elmer.

CONGRATULATIONS! And looking pretty sharp in their shirts by Paul.

Two brothers. Elmer and Marvin. They are the only two left of the original 10 siblings. It has been a few years since they've seen each other.

Iowa State Fair/Century Farm Awards

Tuesday, August 16 was our day that the Iowa State Fair. It started out a bit rainy, but then it turned into a nice day. At least it wasn't 100 degrees. We were at the fair by 9ish and went through the animal barns first.

Is there a bottle calf in her future?


The infamous butter cow. We've normally missed this part of the fair since the line is ginormous, but not this year.

A nephew who is proud of his Uncle Paul's hot air balloon picture!

Gotta love the Hall of Flames!

This is how we roll! A John Deere wagon with a Case IH cooler. And a girl with Firestone sunglasses.

Ephraim and Eliza.

Emmet and Eden.

And now for the real reason why we went to the fair on Tuesday, August 16. It was the day of the Century Farm Awards. In late 2010, my sister-in-law and I started thinking that Elmer & Elizabeth's farm would be eligible for the honorable 100 year award. We did a bit of research, uncovered some interesting tidbits, and confirmed that yes, the farm was bought in 1910 by two Van Zante brothers from Pella. It was since been owned by several Van Zantes. We completed the application and here we are.

Waiting for our county to be called . . . Wapello. Hmmm. It's gonna be a while since they are alphabetical. Good thing A-J counties were in the morning, but still.

Passing the time with Uncle Paul.

Eventually, it was our turn to go on stage. That's Bill Northey, the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture on the far right. This isn't the best picture since you can't see the back row, but we've got a better one coming. We were pleased to have Elmer's brother Marvin with us from North Dakota to accept the award. We had the largest group up there so far. Many families had 20-25 but we had 30! Paul had also designed matching polo shirts for us that said Van Zante Century Farm 1910-2010.

Marvin's four children were also with us. Debbie, Denise, Kelly and Kevin. It was a pleasure to visit with them.

After celebrating at the fair, it was off to the farm for a potluck.

Six cousins in the grass reading Mark's comic strip.

Marvin is full of stories from the good ol' days! He enjoyed a tour of the house and farm.

We grilled out for supper and had an enjoyable evening visiting and celebrating the accomplishment of having farmland in the same family for 100 years.

Pictures of the week, August 7 to August 13, 2011

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Church Pool Party! We love this for several reasons: it's free, all our friends are there, Seth is there to help with the kids, and Eden was especially grateful that Allie brought her mermaids. Here is Eden and Becca playing with them. Oh, and Ephraim was tall enough for the waterslides-which he loved!

Monday, August 8, 2011

A work tradition: when it's your birthday you have to bring breakfast. So, I brought biscuits & gravy, grapes, bananas and juice.

Emmet took this photo of me with the kids and the picture frames that they got me for my birthday. They also baked me a cake with the help of Grandma Donna. Seth got me the DVD Soul Surfer. Can't wait to watch it! I am now 35.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Seth giving the boys a ride on the dozer. More on this later (maybe much later). There's a secret involved.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

My mom came over to help me with some household chores. She also brought me these napkins that she made from fabric I bought. I love them! And they're perfect for this season.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Lovin' the "cooler" weather. Highs in the 80s and lows in the 60s. Perfect for opening the windows! We've had a week of this so far and next week looks like this, too.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Instead of sidewalk paint it is sidewalk spray paint! I saw the idea online, bought the cheap squirt bottles and wa-la! Cheap entertainment for an afternoon. We put water, cornstarch and food coloring in the spray bottles and then I turned the kids loose! My apologies to the kitties :)

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Getting a lesson in fencing from Daddy. More pictures on this to come.