Getting Ready

 Everyone is eagerly anticipating Christmas around here.  We've now finished up school, and it's a good thing, since we have a lot of things to finish up before Christmas, including Emry's upcoming birthday!

Ok, so Acorn is probably not looking forward to Christmas.  :)

I've made a few gifts, including this purse for my littlest niece:

The rabbit continues to amuse everyone.  Lately, he's taken to chilling in the rocking chair:

And I've started on cookies and etc, including these peanut butter balls and turtles, both great favorites!

The countdown is on, and we've got plenty to do!  But we are excited.  The boys finally learned to sing "Joy to the World" decently.  Emry has mostly learned to follow along with reading the words and singing to Christmas carols, so he was able to do a lot of the singing last Sunday when he, Gyunay, and I went caroling with a group from church to the assisted living place near here.  We were going to visit the nursing home, too, but they had Covid, so we had to pray for them instead of with them.  Still, it inspired our youth director to plan on having some game days with the youth groups and the nursing home and assisted living home, so that will be very good.  

I have been doing much better overall, since the iron infusions and thyroid medicines have both kicked in, but I had a major setback after caroling.  My lungs can't handle that much singing yet, but I'm now doing better, just in time for Christmas.  So no more caroling for me for now, but I can still sing a little.  :)

 

Blue Kitchen

 So, after about 15 years with an orange kitchen (which I loved), I decided to paint it a new color.

You can also sorta see the beautiful hexagon white backsplash Nathaniel put in for me.  The blue is a big change from orange, but I think it looks really nice.

Now I need to paint the trim, the bench, and paint the bathroom, but all of that will wait until after Christmas.  Right now, we need to decorate the house!  Elijah got the tree up last night, and the younger kids have been adding ornaments.  Malachi and Pilot come home from college tonight.  Christmas is coming!

The Car Vending Machine

 So, our van's engine exploded, so we have to get a new van.  I've been driving a rental.  We thought we bought a van from Carvana.

The boys loved every minute of it.  They put the coin in to set the vending machine in motion.

The van was lowered down to us, and off we went, only to have to return the van 2 days later.  It had something wrong with the A/C, and the Bluetooth, and we had to wonder what else was wrong, especially since it was newer (2022).  So we returned it, and we are hoping to get a new van soon.

Also, Nathaniel and I went to his work party.  I haven't been able to go for the last couple of years; this was my first time back since the hospital.  

Nathaniel even won a door prize.  

So Much to be Thankful For!

 

All of us were together for Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Nathaniel's family, as we normally do, but this year we didn't have to travel, since his parents moved nearby.  

Last weekend, we made a quick trip into my parents' house for a Thanksgiving meal with my side of the family!

We are thankful that Charles is starting to recover from his surgery, and we are continuing to pray for his healing!

Eleanor was convinced that it was Valentine's Day instead of Thanksgiving, so she was thrilled that Lydia wore a sweater with hearts.

November Harvest Totals

 The meager November harvest totals are in.  The chickens are laying very little right now, as the daylight hours shrink.  However, yesterday, Belle laid an egg for the first time since May.  It was nice to get a blue/green egg again.

Arugula - 1 cup

Cabbage, Asian - 1

Carrots - 6

Eggs - 106

Jalapenos - 1

Peppers, sweet Bulgarian - 2

Radishes - 3

Tomatoes - 2

Happy first day of Advent!

Book Review - Unforgotten by Shelley Shepard Gray

 I recently read Unforgotten by Shelley Shepard Gray.  It has two main story lines, one following Amish young woman Bethanne, who has been crippled far too long by anxiety after an attack 7 years ago, and the other following Bethanne's English cousin, Candace, who is being stalked.  Both young women have sweet romantic interests, and the suspense over the stalker is well done.  The main characters showed growth, and the suspense was well done.  I enjoyed this story.  It is a sequel, and I did not read the first book, but it is easily a stand-alone novel.  I did feel that a few plot points didn't quite make sense, but maybe they are more for the third book that I'm sure will follow.  I don't usually read Amish fiction, but this was an enjoyable story, and I liked the way it bounced between the Amish and the English sides of the family.  

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

Dogs and Couches

I haven't taken pictures of the dogs for a while, so here are a few.

Our last couch was well beyond needing replaced.  It was downright embarrassing to have people over, and it had more holes daily.  So a few weeks ago, Nathaniel and I went couch shopping.  We ended up with a sectional, a first for us.

It seats lots of people and is very comfortable.  The kids love it.  Now I just need to hope the dogs don't do anything to destroy it.  Or the kids, for that matter. The new and improved living room seating options allow for more people, and we of course kept Gyunay's favorite red rocking recliner, so he can keep rocking daily.  It doesn't match, but hey, it's comfortable, and the boy needs to rock.

 

This and That

The boys enjoyed making these portraits that play with proportions in their art class.  They are currently studying El Greco.  My friend is a great art teacher!

Also, we worked for a bit at the church fall festival.  I was going to work with food, so I had to wear a hat.

Obviously, I borrowed one of Nathaniel's.  He couldn't attend the fall fest, because he spent the week in Germany.  Fortunately, he returned home around midnight last night.

I also cooked one of the Cinderella pumpkins:

I've made 2 pumpkin pies this week.  Both were devoured quickly, and the little boys are asking for more, so I'll probably make another.

I've also been playing with my sourdough, and these rolls turned out really well:

 

Book Review - Tea with Elephants by Robin Jones Gunn

I chose this book because I couldn't resist the idea of having tea with elephants.  I like to travel, but I've never seriously thought of going to Kenya.  This book may just change that.  The setting was so lovingly described.  I liked both of the main characters, and their friendship was believable and sweet.  This book takes the reader on a cozy journey, and it was a pleasure to read.  I noticed that it will be the start of a series of books, and I would gladly read the second one when it comes out.  

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Revell, but all opinions are my own.

Pumpkin Carving

 Here is round one of pumpkin carving:

They all enjoyed carving and have decided to carve another day (probably later today).  Lydia carved the heart and the boys carved faces.  

The chickens got all of the seeds.  Gyunay wanted to roast them, but my kitchen was not available:

We're in the middle of a little kitchen make-over.  Nathaniel and Elijah did the very messy demo of the old backsplash, which had glass in it and was a disaster everywhere. Now Nathaniel has the tile in and grouted, and he and Elijah have been working on the switches.  We still have to seal the grout, and caulk, and then I'll paint the walls. It's getting there.... 

Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins!

 

Lydia and Emry have been interested in carving pumpkins.  We've watched a few pumpkin carving shows, and it's fall, so this makes a lot of sense.  So I was thinking of trying to buy some pumpkins after Halloween if they were cheap, just to let them play.  My friend gave me a call on Halloween afternoon.  Near her house is a farm stand, which has a sizeable pumpkin display in the parking lot.  On Halloween, all of these pumpkins were free!

So Emry, Gyunay, and I headed to the pumpkins, in the rain.  The boys filled the back of the van with pumpkins while I paid for some apples.  

Emry carried those huge ones to the car himself!

They had the time of their lives, picking out all the cool pumpkins, mini pumpkins, gourds, etc.  I also snagged 5 pie pumpkins, 3 cushaws, and 2 Cinderella pumpkins for eating.  I don't have pictures of those.  And there are more on our porch, too.  So many pumpkins!  It was so fun.  All three of us were soaked and chilled, but it was well worth it.

Also, I never posted Halloween pictures.  Lydia put together her costume, Draculara from Monster High:

And I never got a picture of the boys.  They were all so busy running around!  We did go for a walk on the trail behind my in-laws' house to see a row of skeletons, so I took these as we walked:

Gyunay was Knuckles, a character from Sonic.  Emry was obviously Spiderman.  My mother-in-law was a hippie.  It was wet and chilly, but the boys had a blast.  Lydia didn't trick-or-treat, but she hung out at the house with me.  Nathaniel and his parents took turns giving out the candy.

October Harvest Totals

 Beans, blue lake - 5.3oz

Beans, crescent - 11.2 oz

Bok Choy - 1

Carrots - 1

Cucumbers, Edmondson - 5

Eggs - 132

Peppers, Bulgarian - 3

Peppers, sweet - 5

Tomatillos - 3.8 lbs

Tomatoes - 5

Tomatoes, paste - 5

Watermelon, sugar baby minis -2

and arugula, basil (tons!), mint, parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, dill, cilantro, lemon balm

Several chickens are molting, and the days are getting shorter, so less eggs are being produced.  We still have plenty for us, but our friends are missing getting our extras.  In the middle of summer, I might have 3 dozen eggs to pass out a week, to the delight of our other homeschooling families.  Plus two other friends also have chickens, so between the three of us, we were keeping us all in eggs, but now one friend's hens got taken out by a fox, so the numbers are greatly diminished.  Don't worry; she's already bought new chicks.  Once you have chickens, it's hard not to keep having them.  :) 

Fall Break

After camping, the kids were on fall break.  We stayed home, so we decided to try some new things.  We went to Louisville's Jack-o-Lantern Spectacular, and it was really spectacular!

You walk through a park and see over 5,000 carved pumpkins.  The weather was perfect, and we had a great time.

We also took the kids and their friends to the drive-in on retro night, so they saw the original Beetlejuice for the first time.  It's been a couple of years since we went to the drive-in, so that was a nice treat.  We also went to a LouCity soccer game, thanks to Nathaniel's work giving us tickets.  The boys had a blast!  We will probably try to take them again sometime next season.

Also recently, we started our work helping refugee families.

No, those aren't the refugees, those are our kids, working with us moms and the Catholic Charities staff to set up a house for a family from Tanzania.  We had a great time getting their house ready for their arrival.

We plan on setting up a house or two every month, as needed.  They are giving our group the big families that need a house.  Other volunteers set up apartments for smaller families.  We had a great time working together, and we all prayed that the new family will enjoy their new home. 

 

Camping 2024

 Every year, Nathaniel's family has a big family camping reunion.  Unfortunately, the extended family hasn't gotten together the last two years, but Nathaniel's parents, all the kids and most of the grandkids, plus Eric and family were able to attend.  We had a great time at Spring Mill.

Goofing off on our way to the Pioneer Village

Elijah was able to join us this year, although Malachi and Pilot couldn't make it.

Eric and I both tried the stilts.  Interestingly, none of the kids would try them!

Lydia and Haylee carved a pumpkin that they described as "very French".

Emry also had fun carving his pumpkin, a first time carve!

Gyunay and Knicky preferred touring the village.

Our campsite was just in front of the creek, and the dogs and I hung out there for a while.

S'mores are always a hit with the kids:

I stayed away from the fires.  My lungs can't handle smoke at all, really, so I retired early in the evenings.  Fortunately, it wasn't too cold.