Our week, Sept 22 to Sept 28, 2013

Sunday, September 22, 2013

My mom wanted a most-up-to-date picture of the grandchildren for an upcoming cousin reunion of hers.  So, here it is:  Emmet (almost 8), Garret (9), Ephraim (10), Eden & Eliza (almost 6), Alyssa (7)

Another fun one of them!

Monday, Sept 23, 2013

Uncle Paul watched the children on this night so Seth and I could enjoy Bible Study with some friends from church.  Ephraim also lost a tooth on this night!

Tuesday, Sept 24, 2013

Enjoying the great weather outdoors!

 Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Making pumpkin puree with the pie pumpkins that we grew.  I ended up with 10 pints to make pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins with later.  

Wednesday night was Gems and Cadets for the children.  The boys made 600+ croissant sandwiches for a fundraiser. 

Thursday, Sept 26, 2013

Harvest has started.  Here we are in the field, patiently waiting for our turn to ride with Daddy.  The kids are getting so big that for now, they are riding one at a time or maybe 2 at a time.  But that means that I haven't gotten to ride with Dad yet (since I stay behind with those not riding), but I try not to pitch too big of a fit.   

Eden was the first to get to ride.  She's been missing Daddy lately.  Daddy comes home after she's in bed and leaves before she gets up.  She's had a few meltdowns over missing him.  

Actually, these harvest pictures were taken on Friday.  On Thursday, my parents watched the children for the day so I could go to Des Moines and get my birthday shopping x3 and my Christmas shopping started and nearly done.  Yes, that is a good feeling.  I wasn't rushed for time and was able to stop at several stores.  I was able to make a little money on the trip, too by dropping off some consignment items and getting paid for them immediately.  Then I took what didn't sell to Hope Ministries Thrift Store.  It does feel good to be rid several totes of miscellaneous baby and household items.  I was also able to enjoy lunch with my high school friend Debbie.  We had a great time catching up on our lives!

Friday, September 27, 2013

The Newton Marching Band.  Let's just say it was interesting evening.  We were there early (the freshman game was still going on) so we could see my niece do a short cheerleading showcase between the freshman and varsity games.  Then the varsity practiced for a LONG 30 minutes.  When they were done, the marching band did a pregame routine.  That's when Ephraim said "Is it time to go home?"  Uh, no buddy.  The game hasn't even started.  My sister was trying to teach the boys and girls some football terms but they most definitely had the "eyes glazed over" look mastered.  They cared more about the utility vehicle on the track that was pulling the water jugs around.  Finally, the first half was done and we watched the marching band with interest and then we were headed home.  The high school marching band is directed by my brother-in-law and they did a great job!  

The other saving grace at the game was the bag of food I brought in:  bologna, cookies, chips and a bag of Kit-Kats.  

Oh, the other interesting thing about getting into the game was the admissions clerk.  We had two free tickets and then she asked if the kids were students.  I said, "Homeschool, not here, but yes."  And she got all befuddled.  Saying things like "Oh, I don't know what to do then.  I've never had this before.  Hmmm."  In the end she just charged us $3 to get one student in, two students were free (because she was confused) and we had two free tickets already.  Whatever.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Making apple pies!  It is most definitely an apple year.  Every one has loads of them.  I have two local friends who let me pick from their trees this week.  I knew that I wanted to try an make apple pies for the freezer with the apples.  I researched recipes and decided on one in my cookbooks, but very similar to this one.    It was quite a process that started first with making 16 pie crusts.  The recipe called for 5lbs of flour and 3lbs of shortening.  But that went pretty well.  Then I used my apple peeler/corer/slicer and coated them in cinnamon and sugar.  Then we added the topping of flour, brown sugar and butter.  I wrapped them well and froze 8 of them.  We baked one and it turned out delicious!  I still have some pie crusts ready to go in the fridge so I hope to make a few more.  I still have apples to use up!

Saturday night found the boys camping out with their Cadet group.  They had a good, but muddy and damp, time.  

Square Balin' Hay

This post is a bit overdue (but not as overdue as the post I need to do from June when we chopped hay).  We had our 3rd cutting of hay the first week of September.  Most of it was cut and then baled into large round bales.  We saved a little for some smaller square bales.  They are nice to have on hand in the barn and we can give them to a new mama cow or a sick cow.  

Everyone was ready to bale hay and it was a "all hands on deck" occasion (at least for a while).  Without further ado, our Wednesday Hay Balin' Experience.

My little cowgirls!

This was the set up for a while:  Ephraim drove the Cub tractor, Emmet and the girls were on the rack while Seth and I walked beside the rack and picked the bales off the ground onto the rack.  It worked pretty well to do it this way.  

We got a hayrack full and it was time to unload in the barn.  

My two farmin' buddies.  

Headin' to the barn with another load.  

Emmet drove the tractor from the barn to the field.  

That's a lot of bales!  We did 213 to be exact.  

Family photo at the top.  

We spent all of Wednesday afternoon and into the evening baling hay and stacking it.  This well be great feed for the cows this winter.  

All finished for the day!  It was a successful day with everyone helping.  

Emmet climbing the bulk bin to get to the top of the bales. 

(The photos are out of order, but I just want to get this post done.)  

Emmet drove the Cub tractor for a rack's worth.  

Another picture from the beginning of our hay experience.  Seth's cousin Josh is ahead of us in the field with the baler and then bales are just dropping on the ground.  That's where we come around and pick them up.  We did that for two rounds and then we hooked the hayrack to the baler and picked them up right from the baler.  

Here is Emmet grabbing a bale from the baler.  He loved that job!  Seth and I were both on the rack stacking and at one point, we sat down and waited for Emmet to notice that he was doing all the work! It took three bales to come out before he noticed.  He was quite the trooper and loved the hard work.

All the children still have special memories of this day.  We worked hard together to put up hay that will help us care for our cattle.  Everyone had a job to do and everyone contributed what they could.  The weather was perfect for the occasion.  And I enjoyed working side-by-side with my husband and children.  Yes, it was a good day!

Our week, September 15 to Sept 21, 2013

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Here's a glimpse at what we're reading right now.  I finished Little Woman by Gladys Aylward.  It is an autobiography about her missionary days in China.  I finished Another Hand on Mine about the missionary doctor Carl Becker in Congo, Africa.  Now I am reading Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World by Steve and Ken Ham.  All these books have been good!  As a family we finally finished The Long Winter and now we're reading Little Town on the Prairie.  

Monday, September 16, 2013

We are studying George Washington as part of our American History Through Literature unity.  Here is our George craft.  

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Our HSAP field trip to the local post office!  Don't be fooled by their expressions --- we had a great picnic prior to this and then the tour of the post office.  It was getting a bit stuffy back there with all the families that showed up for the tour!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Eliza loves doing her math!

Thursday, September 20, 2013

This is how we moved our sandpile from one house to the next. 

My crop of pumpkins.  I would have had more, but the squash beetles started to take over.  I was spraying them with dish soap and that seemed to help kill them so I could at least get half a crop.  Many thanks to Neighbor Lee for the cantaloupe.  She gave us three but by the time I snapped the picture, 2 of them were consumed!

Friday, September 20, 2013

RAIN!  RAIN!

Earlier in the day we made a grocery trip to town . . . 

Uh, yeah.  We did leave a few things on the shelves for other customers!  Hy-Vee was having a pretty good Fuel Saver deal so we stocked up.  Also, I cut out the items we needed from the ad, divided them among the four kiddos and taped them to a piece of paper so they each had their own grocery list with about 4 items on it.  This worked great!  They each had ownership in finding certain products.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

We've had all these old windows to get rid of since last year when our windows were replaced.  We were able to give a van-load to a lady from Colfax who repurposes them.  Then a college friend of mine came (twice) to take the rest.  She'll do something crafty with them as well.  I'm just glad to have them gone with very little effort on my part!

Saturday night we attended the local Methodist church's Fall Picnic.  They had a bounce house for the kids and face and/or body painting . . . which is what Eliza is showing off.  We enjoyed the BBQ supper and praise music, too.  It was nice to visit with friends and neighbors.  

Our week, Sept 8 to Sept 14, 2013

Sunday, September 8, 2013

I don't have a picture for this day.  So, here's one from Saturday, the 7th.  Believe it or not, it is the only picture I have of our moving-in day.  Uncle Paul put in some time assembling Ephraim's bunk (which used to be Paul's.)  Eliza was his tool girl.  And did a pretty good job of it, too!

Monday, September 9, 2013

I made one comment about the house feeling warm and Emmet, feeling ornery, turned the thermostat down to 55!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

My dad came over for the day to help with some handyman jobs and we got our livestock shelter delivered.  This is our barn that will house our chickens and rabbits for now.  Next spring it will likely house a bottle calf or two and some hogs.  

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Eliza playing a flash card game that required her to jump on the correct card.  Just perfect for her rabbit-like busyness. . . . always prancing around and rarely laying still!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

I've wanted a mother's ring for a while.  But never really found one I wanted or liked or could afford.  I've been saving for a while but then something would come up.  Then we got robbed and I had some jewelry taken.  Not a lot but enough to get a reimbursement check from the insurance company.  And I could apply that money toward jewelry.  Sweet.  Here comes my mother's ring.  

I knew I didn't want to get one from a jewelry store.  I didn't want a ring like anyone else's.  I wanted unique.  I wanted handmade.  I'd rather support someone "local" and in this case, New Hampshire is local.  I found her on Etsy.  You can check out her store here.    But wait, why have three different colored stones when I have three children with October birthdays?  (Ephraim's is the top green one).  Well, October has two birthstones and I chose the white one for Emmet so that he didn't have a pink stone like the girls.  Simple enough.  It is my ring and I can do as I want to :)

Friday, September 13, 2013

The children were pretending to be turtles or something.  I think they were a bit chilly this morning and hauled out their blankets.  Their favorite cartoon right now is Liberty Kid's which we have on DVD.  I have to admit it is a great cartoon and teaches  history at the same time!

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Some yummies brought over from our new neighbors.  The snack mix was gone in about, oh, I don't know, 40 minutes!

We're trying to unpack the semi trailer and Seth got sidetracked by a box of some of his childhood memories.  . .  4-h stuff, college bridge-building stuff, and a magazine cover that includes him and some family members at a farm show in the 80s.  At least the semi trailer is empty, now we just have to make a path in the basement!  

Our week, Sept 1 to Sept 7, 2013

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Yep, that's my son . . . licking the pastry mat that I just made cinnamon rolls on. . . trying to get every missed drop of cinnamon-sugar yummy off of the mat.  

Monday, September 2, 2013

We had lots of family come to help us move the first wave of our belongings.  

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

More green beans canned from the garden.  

Eden showing off some new hand-me-down clothes from Alyssa.  

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

We spent the afternoon square-baling hay.  More pictures to come.  

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Eliza was being silly at the table, pretending that her food was out of reach.  Guess you had to be there.  

Friday, September 6, 2013

Eden loses another tooth!

One quick look at how the kids slept for the last week.  Ephraim's bunk was taken down earlier.  Eden's bed went up the highway to the original owner who let us borrow it for 8 years . . . thanks Lori!

And because Ephraim and Eden were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, Emmet had to also.  So he took his mattress off of the box springs and slept on it on the floor.  

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Time to pack it up!