Little Eggs

 

We are very excited that we are now getting tiny eggs!  One (or more) of our pullets has been laying a little egg every day for the past 5 days.  It won't be long, and all of the pullets will be laying.  Our hens stopped laying entirely in the second week of December, so this is very good news.  I hope that soon we will have lots of eggs, but it is winter and new layers often take a while to really get laying regularly, so it may still take a bit, but I am very optimistic.

Merry Christmas!

 

Birthday Time

 We all enjoyed celebrating Emry's birthday.

Pilot made the lunch and the cake, so I didn't have much to do!  

Emry was delighted with his presents, and he enjoyed having all the attention on his special day.

Over the weekend, we also made gingerbread houses.  I didn't get great pictures, but all of the kids enjoyed making them.

Of course, they really enjoyed eating them.  

New Wheels

 Elijah has been saving his money, and that paid off.  He now has a new van.

He's excited to once again have a vehicle.  We are excited, too.  I really could use another driver around here!  

A Night Out

 We took the youngest three to the drive-in to see the Polar Express.

They had a great time.  It was a really nice set-up, with a cookie, hot cocoa, and a candy cane for each of us, along with a ticket and a bell.  It was the first time at the drive-in for all three, and it was a success.  Elijah was working, too, so he told us where to park.  The kids were excited to see where he works.

Light Saber Battles

These guys love light saber battles.  They enjoy them outside and in the garage.  They are really into Star Wars, when they aren't playing super heroes!

Lydia took these pictures.  She likes to take pictures.

 

Thanksgiving

We were able to get away to the in-laws' house for a nice Thanksgiving weekend.  We played a lot of games, and we enjoyed a walk at a nature preserve.

Lastly, all the kids enjoyed making ninja gingerbread cookies from a kit Aunt Autumn left for us.

 

November Harvest Totals

 Arugula - 1 cup

Carrots - 3

Eggs - 34

Kale - 2.5 cups

Radishes - 5

Turnips - 7

Party of 8

 We are adjusting quite well to being a larger household.  The youngest two boys became fast friends, and the three teens have adapted to sharing an increasingly crowded bedroom.  Lydia hid a lot at first, but she is emerging from her room more and adjusting to being the only girl with five brothers.  We were all shell-shocked at first, but we seem to be settling in.

Book Review - Burden of Proof by Davis Bunn

 

I ended up getting into this story and enjoying it, but I did spend the first part rather mad at it.  I hadn't expected a sci-fi element in this story, so I was annoyed to find an odd version of time-travel to be the premise.  I also don't think the title fits the book.  I kept reading, though, and ended up enjoying the book overall.  In some parts, the reader has to be willing to overlook some unlikely elements.  I did like how the main character developed.  I was kept increasingly interested in the main characters, and in Sonya's research.  Overall, I liked the book, but it also ended abruptly, and it seemed a bit unfinished.  

I received this book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

River Walk

 My nephew had open-heart surgery last week, so I went to stay with his sisters for the weekend, and Lydia and Gyunay came with me.  We all needed a bit of a pick-me-up on Saturday afternoon, so I suggested going to walk along the river.  They always love to go there, and it was cloudy and between the morning rain and evening rain, so we set off.

Do you see what they are collecting?

Yes, dried mud clods.  They had the best time skipping them like stones, throwing them, stacking them, kicking them. 

Dried mud is a neverending amusement.  I was glad to see them having such a good time.

We ended up staying until the sunset, and then we picked up Mexican food, so I had a carload of happy kids.  

Book Review - Nothing Short of Wondrous by Regina Scott

 

Nothing Short of Wondrous is the second in a collection of books about national landmarks, but it is a completely stand-alone novel, with no overlapping characters.  The author does a great job of describing Yellowstone.  I've never been there, but I felt that I could see the park through her eyes.  The main characters were well-drawn, and I enjoyed them.  Parts of the novel seemed a bit long, but overall, I enjoyed this read.  It is a solid historical romance.  The faith aspect was woven into the story well.  I will say that the description on the back of the novel I was given has a spoiler in the second paragraph.  I do not see this spoiler on the online descriptions, so I would say don't read the back of the book when you receive it!  

I received a copy of the book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

Fun Around the House

 This owl outfit was originally worn by Elijah back around 10 years ago.  Then, Malachi, Lydia, and one of my nieces all wore it different years.  This year, Gyunay chose it for Halloween.  Aunt Sherri's costumes have gotten a lot of mileage!

The kids have broken out the playdough for a battle.  It isn't often that all 4 sit down and enjoy an activity together, and this is something they used to play years ago.  They build up playdough armies and then smash each other's.

Here is Lydia's turkey army.  She and Gyunay really like it when their big brothers take time to play with them.

October Harvest Totals

 Arugula - 2c

beans, crescent - 13 oz

beans, KY Wonder - 1 lb 3 oz

carrots - 11

cucumber, Edmondson - 3

cucumber, picking - 1

cushaw - 1 (2 lbs)

eggs - 18

peppers, Bulgarian - 5

pumpkins, Long Island Cheese - 9 (total 104.3 lbs!)

radishes - 22

sweet potatoes, purple Molakai - 9 lbs

tomatillos - 10.2 lbs

tomato, Balck Krim - 2 (9.4oz)

tomato, St. Pierre - 4 (1.2lbs)

turnips -3

Plus, basil, cherry tomatoes, chives, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley, sage, thyme 

Also, I haven't weighed out the peanuts yet.  There were a couple of cups of those, but not much.

Composting and Tomato Haul

 I don't think I mentioned that I got a new composter.  I filled up one side right away, and it is sitting on my deck:

Then I found out that our conservation district was giving away free compost bins to people who watched the online training, so I got one of those, too:

Now it is about half full, and I will finish filling it this weekend, most likely.  I also cleared out the compost from my worm bin and spread it on the prepared garlic bed.  I've planted only a little garlic so far, but I plan to plant more ASAP.

Then, Lydia and I visited June.  It is probably going to freeze tomorrow, so yesterday, Lydia and I picked basically all of June's tomatoes.

Hundreds of tomatoes!

I am hoping to get some of the green ones to ripen, but some I will use green.  I've got a green tomato salsa recipe I'm planning on trying tomorrow.  Today, I canned one batch of red salsa and one of tomatillo salsa (because I also hauled 4 pounds of tomatillos from our garden).  I may get in another batch later today, but we'll see.  I'm excited to have such bounty.  This is the first summer in years that I haven't been able to can any of my own tomatoes due to a pathetic harvest.  

Sweet Potato Harvest

 I never shared the sweet potato harvest.  We got 9 pounds this year!  Here are about 2/3 of them:

We had large potatoes, for the most part.

Camping Fun

 

We had our annual family camping trip last weekend, and the weather was gorgeous.

We went on plenty of walks, and Lydia and Gyunay were able to spend more time camping with their dad, since they went up Thursday morning.  The teens and I weren't able to leave until Friday evening, but we still had a good trip.

Book Review - The Key to Love by Betsy St. Amant

 

Can I just start by saying that I love the author's last name for a romance novelist?  The story itself is good.  I enjoyed the main characters, and although Gerard is very prickly in the beginning, I found his character development very nice.  His interactions with the town pastor were well done, too.  Overall, this is a good contemporary romance, with some humorous parts.  The author threw in some twists.  I really enjoyed the story overall, although it did drag just a bit in a few places.  This would be a great vacation read, because it's easy and enjoyable. 

I received a copy of the book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

Chicks and Pumpkins

 

The kids enjoyed playing with the chickens in the third yard on this beautiful fall day.

Gyunay and Lydia like finding worms to feed the chickens.  Lydia found this huge grub. I love her face in the second picture, though:

And here is Malachi with his favorite chick, the lavender orpington.  He's still debating a name for her.  He's wanted one of these chickens for years.

Lydia had a good time arranging our front porch for fall.  Some pumpkins/cushaws we grew, and some are from the orchard.  The butternut squash and spaghetti squash are from the farmer's market.  Elijah plans on making the big green one into a jack-o-lantern.

Wrecks and Rainforests

Gyunay made a rainforest diorama.  He has been studying South America in geography, and so we did some extra on tropical rainforests.  He did a great job, and he really enjoyed this activity.  We didn't have any toy jaguars, so Lydia drew dots on some of the lions with a dry-erase marker for him.  

Yesterday, Elijah and Malachi were in a car wreck on the way to school.  Gyunay kept asking questions on what happened, so Malachi brought out the cars from the Life game:  

 

September Harvest Totals

 Beans, crescent - 2.2 lbs

Beans, dragon - 10.4 oz

Beans, Kentucky Wonder - 1.4 lbs

Beans, runner - 2.4 oz

Carrots - 27

Chicken - 47.9 lbs

Chicken hearts - 13

Cucumber, Edmondson - 73

Cucumber, pickling - 6

Cushaw - 1 (19 lbs)

Eggs - 41

Jalapenos - 7

Peppers, Bulgarian - 5

Pumpkin, Long Island Cheese - 1 (19 lbs)

Tomatillos - 4.9 lbs

Tomato, Golden Jubilee -6 (1 lb)

Tomato, Purple Russian - 1 (1.4 oz)

Tomato, St. Pierre - 3 (11.8 oz)

Radish - 2 

Squash, yellow - 2

Happy Michaelmas

The kids are decorating for Michaelmas.  Lydia did the flower arrangement herself from our yard.  It turns out that she is quite good at it.  She is currently making a second arrangement.

We had a good time this past weekend.  We went to see family, and we were so happy to have the visit!  We also picked pumpkins and enjoyed apple cider slushies.

Now I have more apples to process.  I have been making and canning applesauce, but I'm about to change to making cinnamon apple jam.  It's all so good!

 

New Adventures

 

First up, I finally have a table that can seat at least 8.  This bench opens to store my muck boots and doubles as Gyunay's new favorite seat

Of course, he also wrote all over the lid with pencil the first day I brought up the bench.  I don't know what got into him; he hasn't written on anything in years.  

Nathaniel found this table and benches for sale, and he sanded it down for me so I could stain it.  I love it.

The kids and I headed to Spring Mill to meet my mother-in-law for the weekend.  We had a marvelous time.

Spring Mill is my favorite state park to visit, and we had a great time.  Gyunay had never been, and Lydia was too young to remember it at all.  Elijah and Malachi were quite young the last time we went there.