Ready, Set, FALL!

Fall is my favorite time of year in Oregon. The days are beautiful and sunny and the nights get cooler. Time to break out the sweatshirts and jeans. The trees begin to change color and shed their leaves. Guess they need a wardrobe change too. God is so creative with all his creatures. This year has been an even greater time on anticipation for me, not only for the beautiful scenery but for the birth of my son. What a change it will be for us all. But a beautiful one also. As the weather starts to change, the garden begins to beg for more attention. Now it is not the watering and weeding but a cry from all the vegetables, "Pick me please. Can me and put me in the freezer for a later date." So the harvest began..........

First there were apples: 28 quarts of apple sauce, 20 pints of apple butter & 7 quarts of apple pie filling. Yumm!

Making apple sauce was sticky but fun. The kids all wanted a turn cranking the handle and squishing the apples into sauce. Jordyn was the trooper. She came running every time a new pot of apples was cooked and ready to make into sauce. As you can see from the picture Jackson was more interested in sampling, even though the sauce was steaming hot. It is a good thing Grandma got home when she did or I never could have got everything harvested. 

Next came the corn: 37 pints into the freezer!
Blanche it, cool it, cut it off the cob and hope most of it makes it into containers before the little vultures get it. 


Then you get daddy to tear all the stalks out of the ground...
...and haul them to the neighbors cows, minus the very cute nearly naked baby of course.
Woops, this one got a little out of control but Jackson was proud of his capture.
Machete wielding garden explorers.
A little bit of blackberries, a few beans, some zucchini, mix it up with dirty utensils and feed it to Daddy. (Who by the way tasted everything those dirty little hands and expectant eyes brought to him.)
So that is a glimpse into the beginning of our fall. 

Back to school Jordyn?

Today we took a little field trip to the library and the river with my sisters. We had a lot of fun and it was enjoyable for me to have all three of my babies with me. As we were driving back home we passed Jordyn's old school. 

I said,"Hey Jordyn, why don't I just drop you off at school for the rest of the day?"

Jordyn,"Don't even mention the "S" word!"

I guess she is enjoying home school. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Thoughts of a 5 Year Old

Part of Jackson's school curriculum includes singing before Bible class. He has been learning lots of new songs. One of them is "My country tis of thee". Today I was singing the songs with him. When we got to this song I noticed he was not singing.

Mom, "Jackson, why did you stop singing?"

Jackson, "Well, this song says land where my father died but                   my father isn't dead."

I had to laugh, to myself and explain why this song was written. He still didn't want to sing about fathers dying.

My new Chair

Lucy is very proud of her new seat from Grandma Pam. Se sat up a little bigger and ate a little neater (kind of). I think she likes being at the big table. It is nice to have her a little closer. It is also really nice for restaurant dining. Those highchairs always seem dirty and not quite as safe. 

Missing in action!

Like Jodi I have been busily preparing for home schooling and have not had a lot of time to devote to blogging. We had our first day of school today, Jordyn in third grade and Jackson in Kindergarten. Lucy really enjoyed Jackson's DVD's with all the singing and she even joined in on learning the short sound I makes. She was saying the sound and pointing to her mouth like the teacher on the tv. It was pretty fun to see her doing it. Jackson did pretty good. It is a little hard to get his attention focused on things that he really doesn't want to do but he settled in and actually enjoyed parts. His only takes about 1 1/2 hours to complete. Jordyn did great. She wanted to power thru without too many breaks so she could be done and spend the rest of the day.  She will spend between 3 and 4 hours doing school and a little more on homework. Makes me wonder why schools are in session 8 hours a day. I just have to keep telling my self "I can and will do this." I think as time goes by it will become easier. I am hoping to take a little time off when the baby comes. Hopefully any day now. Maybe the trampoline jumping will help work him out :)

First day of school breakfast

My big third grader

My little kindergartner

Trying to involve Lucy. She did great until she decided to eat the paint. Then we were all done.

This is just for fun!

Favorite Photo Friday

Today there is just one. I call it Baby, Blankie and Bare Buns.