Saturday, November 3, 2012

Fall Harvest Orchard - 2012


We went to Fall Harvest Orchard back in August and sadly only made it there that one time this fall. 

My children love the place!











Kids were all excited that we got to bring our friend, Grace with.







God bless!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Multitude Monday - October 29, 2012





Joining Ann today for the first time in a long time...


...wonderful appointment with my midwives...

...hearing the little one's little heartbeat...

...finally over the tiredness and nausea...

...coffee, tea, chili, soup - warmth on a fall day...

...surprise visits from Kelly and little Silas...







...a day spent with my mother-in-law, aunties, uncles and sister-in-laws - baking away...

...hearing of an upcoming wedding and the blessing of a new sister-in-law...
                    Congrats to Travis and Kelsey!

...still picking tomatoes at the end of October...




...weekend canning done - 9 qts of peach applesauce, 11 qts of tomato soup, 13 qts of chili...


Have a wonderful week!

God bless!




Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A Few Little Updates...

 
 
A few little updates.....
 
 
...I'm finally starting to feel like myself again after getting through the 1st trimester (I haven't needed a nap for the last week or so)...
 
...with feeling better, I've been able to get some more produce preserved for the winter - last week I got apple pie filling, apple butter, bbq sauce, butternut squash and butternut squash soup all canned...
 
...Cori is finally starting to talk some more and is a lot quicker to repeat a word after you say it - some new words from last week were - tomorrow, heat, five and play...
 
...The kids and I are all looking forward to getting together with grandma, aunties and cousins on Friday to o our annual Poppy Kuchen making...
 
...The laying hens are all in the swing of daily egg laying and we are enjoying finding a few little gems each day...
 
...Charlie has been keeping track of how many eggs each day on a calendar (homeschool math lesson?)...
 
...Schooling has been going pretty well. We are pretty relaxed and we actually only officially school 3 days a week at this point (I usually have a sitter and work 2 days a week right now)...
 
...Joseph has really enjoyed the fall harvesting that has been happening all around us - he could stand on the deck and watch the neighbors combining all day...
 
...Joe and I are working on majorly paying off some things and it is exciting to see an end in sight...
 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 
God bless!

I'm Pregnant!


 
For those of you who may have not heard yet.....I'm pregnant with baby #4!
 
 
I'm 17 weeks today, making the little one due early next April.
 
I have been feeling pretty good the last couple of weeks, but did have a lot of tiredness and nausea during the first trimester.....totally normal for me. All of my pregnancies have been very similar.
 
We are going a different route with this baby. We are seeing different midwives and are planning a homebirth. I'm excited, I had tried to talk Joe into a homebirth with the last 2 babies but he wasn't up for it at that time.
 
We won't find out the sex ahead of time and won't even have an ultrasound in less absolutely necessary. I don't forsee any complications. I have had pretty normal pregnancies and deliveries in the past.
 
I'm off to see my midwives today and should get to hear the little one's heartbeat.
 
 

17 weeks - Baby #4
 
God bless!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Miss Cori is 3


Cori turned 3 back in August. What a sweet little soul she is...most of the time.

She is a child of few words, but seems to get her point across quite well...at least to her mama.

She loves to be outside...peddling her trike, chasing the cats and playing on the swingset. She could swing for hours.
















God bless!




Vacation - August 2012


At the beginning of August we headed north and spent the weekend with Joe's family. 





We enjoyed a few pontoon rides.


We fished.


We got wet. We floated. We played with our cousins.





We caught fish.





We caught fish...that we wouldn't touch.


We practiced our doggy paddle.


We celebrated Miss Cori's 3rd birthday. 

There was a pinata. 
This mama who really dislikes all overly-colored and overly-processed candy...filled it with kazoos, organic fruit snacks, mints, little plastic animals, almonds and raisins...and no one missed the yellow 5, red 40 or high fructose corn syrup.





We climbed trees.





Wallace cracked it.


Cori wanted an apple pie instead of a cake for her birthday. She talked about that pie for days and when it came time to eat some, she decided on the chocolate cupcakes instead.





My 2 favorite guys!


All the cousins!

Fun was had by all.
God bless!
Holly

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Greenhouse Photos - 07/07/12



First of the melons picked - July 2012
So yummy!


First watermelon of the season picked
This one weighed about 30 lbs. There were big and yummy. 
Early on we thought we were not going to have many watermelons. There just didn't seem to be many growing, but over night that seemed to change and we had them everywhere.

For weeks, every time a neighbor or friend would stop over I would send a watermelon home with them. We probably gave away about 20-25 and our family ate 1 or 2 a week all summer.

Today (09/18/12), there are still some out there and we probably have another 6-8 to eat yet.


I had about 90 hills of potatoes planted. We had already dug up a few hills for meals along the way.
This was he yield when we dug up the rest of the rows. I didn't take a real accurate measure, but there was approx. 300 lbs of potatoes from about 30-40 lbs planted.

We have some reds (not sure what variety) and a bunch of yukon golds (my favorite). 
Most just went into storage to eat later. I did make a few small batches of hashbrowns and french fries for for the freezer that turned out awesome. They actually both are gone and I need to make some more. 

I also have 'can potatoes' on my to-do list, but not sure that I will actually get to it.


Broccoli


Peppers


Tomatoes
These basically grow together with no path between as the season went.


Golden beets
These have long been picked and eaten. 
All my kids love beets, so we have been planting a few here and there.


Basil
This was cut a few times. I froze some, made pesto and gave a bunch away.


Second planting of sweet corn.
This went in where we dug the potatoes out.


Sweet potatoes


God bless!