Labor Day

We had a great day.  Papa had to work so we decided to have our school today instead of taking the day off.  We will take off on Friday to celebrate Papa's birthday.

School went smoothly.  I must say using Saxon math with the Dive computer program is one of the best purchases I ever made.  Math used to be the most dreaded subject. 

We ate lunch on the screened in porch where we could watch the chickens and enjoy the breeze.  We are reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  We love to follow up our reading by watching old episodes from Little House on the Prairie.  While we were snuggled up watching tv, I was able to quilt and finish my fruit basket table runner.

Supper tonight was cheeseburgers, hotdogs, deviled eggs, red beets and eggs, french fries, cheese sticks, and dill pickles.  We ate in the screened in porch.  We are savoring these outdoor meals because all too soon it will be too cold.

The evening ended by digging out an old cross-stiched project started years ago.  Cupcake read more to us from The Long Winter.  Prayers were shared and everyone is snuggled into bed for the night.  What a wonderful day!

School Days

Today was our first day of school.  I must say, I am glad its over.  The first few days are always a little difficult for me until I get into a routine.

The farmers love to get new school supplies.  It helps to get them excited for back to school time.

Here are some pics of our day and our new school room. We are really enjoying the space.

Our curriculum is My Father's World.  First grade for Pussycat.
Creation to the Greeks for Rowdy and Cupcake  (4th grade and 7th grade).
I love this curriculum.  It is nicely laid out and we are learning the same things at the same time.

Funnel Cakes

We sure do love funnel cakes.  The little farmers wanted one from Knoebel's but the lines were way to long.  We didn't want to waste precious "ride time" waiting in line.  So............on Saturday night we made homemade funnel cakes.  They were so good.  Once you start eating them, it is hard to stop.

Knoebel's Grove

We finally made it to Koebel's this year.  Usually we go in the beginning of summer.  The kiddos helped us clean out Grandpa's tool shed of broken bits and scraps of metal.  It took ALL day. Hubby took them to recycle it and we earned our Knoebel's spending money.  This was a valuable lesson for them to recycle.

Our annual picture with the clown.

We had a lot of fun.  I didn't ride any rides.  I learned where all of the benches were.  It was after 10pm until we left.  The kiddos thought that was so neat because their bedtime is 8:30.  The park looks so magical all lit up at night.  A fun time was had by all!

Hanging on to summer (with both hands)

We have been enjoying the last few days of summer.  Hubby has been off.  We have had so much fun making new family  memories.  The children and I canned 19 jars of spaghetti sauce, 2 1/2 quarts of catsup, 13 jars of fox grape juice, and today I dehydrated a bag of apples which yielded about 1 1/2 quarts.  I've enjoyed flower bouquets from my girls.  I had some time to quilt.  I got  a massage which helped all of my sore spots (hip, back, arm) immensely!  We had time to play with the pottery wheel and to go to Knoebel's Grove.  We went at night.  It seemed almost magical seeing it all lit up.

Oh, how my girl loves to make a mess!

Today we accomplished a lot around the farm.  The boys are adding electric to our barn.  Pussycat and I baked a banana cake and dried some apples.  We had a great lunch and cleaned the schoolroom.  I sat in the fenced area with our chickens and drifted off for a short nap in the sun.

Altogether this has been a perfect vacation!

Turning My Frown Upside Down

Yesterday I was speaking with my oldest daughter.  She's 13.  She was having a grumpy day.  I was trying to make her smile.  My advice was to turn that frown upside down.  I thought about it and the words stopped me in my tracks.  The past few weeks I have had more frowns than smiles.

I decided to count blessings instead!  I may have current aches and pains but that does not and should not diminish all that I have to be thankful for.

1. My husband that I have spent more than half of my life loving.
2. The 3 children I have been blessed with.  When I was a little girl I used to dream of my babies.
3. The freedom to homeschool my children.
4. A beautiful daughter who gave me a pedicure just to make me feel better.  I now have lovely pink toenails.
5. Making omelets for breakfast with our own fresh eggs.

6. Vacation time spent leisurely shopping with the whole family happy and content. This was in Cabela's.

7. Opening the chicken coop door in the morning and watching "the girls" rush out to start eating bugs.
8. Listening to my husband be so happy and carefree that he whistled and sang the entire day in the car yesterday!
9. Finding a little bit of time to quilt.  I am working on a fruit basket table runner.

Oh my......I feel so much better now.  I have been blessed!

Discouraged

I am feeling very discouraged.  On July 3rd I hurt my upper back.  I had been having pain on and off for a few weeks but I ignored it.  On July 3 it could no longer be ignored.  I was lifting a pan of chicken out of the oven and I felt like fire ripped from bottom to top of my back.  For 3 days I was pretty much an invalid.  I couldn't get up from a chair or sit down without crying.

I decided to see a chiropractor.  I had never been to one before.  He said the area of my back that hurt was in alignment but my neck and lower back were way out of alignment.  My right hip was also a 1/4" above my left hip.  At first the treatments seemed to help.  But I just had my 8th visit over a 4 week time span.  I hurt so much.  He said as long as the pain keeps moving and doesn't stay in one spot that is a good sign.  The pain has been moving some days I can not lift my right arm and then it is gone in a day or two.  Other times my right hip hurts so much I can hardly walk.

I feel very discouraged.  I have never had chronic pain.  This has been going on for almost 2 months.  I feel like I am wasting so much time.  There is so much to be done, I don't have time for pain.  I know that sometimes you need to go through something bad in order to appreciate something you have taken for granted.  I can't wait to feel well again.  I don't want to take good health for granted.

This is such a somber post.  I hate to even write it.  I feel like a hypochondriac with a different pain everyday.  I just woke up from a rough night's sleep.  I will end this and grab my ice pack and my Bible.  There is a true source for inspiration.

Fun but Busy Weekend

I am so glad the yardsale is over!  We had beautiful weather this weekend, all we needed was more customers.  I loaded up all that was left and dropped it off at Goodwill.  I was determined that the clutter was not going to come back in the house.

We started off with a sleepover with Super Granny.  We love to have her over.  Bright and early Friday morning my Aunt came over with her "treasures".  We had a lot of fun.  She taught my "little farmers" how to latchhook.  They sat for hours and latch hooked a santa rug.  I had time to quilt a few autumn splendor leaf blocks and best of all Super Granny and my Aunt made me a scarecrow for my garden.  I love it!

The other highlight of the week was that I witnessed an egg being laid by Gladys, our little white frizzle hen.

A Busy Week

I can't believe how summer is flying by!  This has been a busy week.  Monday we froze lots of corn.  Tuesday we canned 6 quarts of peaches that we were blessed with by my Aunt MaryJane.  We had enough left over for eating and pies.  Wednesday we picked cherry plums at Uncle Bob's and canned them.  We ended up with 22 quarts and 4 pints.  What a sticky mess!  One jar broke in the canner and made all of the other jars sticky.

Today I need to set up for a garage sale that will be Friday and Saturday.  I hope we have a lot of customers.  I want to declutter the house!  The pile of yardsale stuff has been overtaking my screened porch for far too long.

My thoughts need to turn to starting school.  I'm not ready yet. I know when I settle down and look through our books for this year I will get excited.  But for now I'm clinging to the last days of summer.

Finally....Corn and Peaches

I have been waiting not so patiently for sweet corn.  Today was the day.  We bought 10 dozen ears of corn.  My 3 eager corn helpers were ready.  Three hours later we had 2 dozen ears ready to eat and 15 quart bags ready to freeze.  It tasted wonderful!

My Great-Aunt blessed us with about a half bushel of peaches.  My ever ready farmgirl baker decided we needed some peach pie.  Who am I to argue?  It is now 10pm and I am trying not to eat those peach pies tonight. 

Tomorrow we will start canning the rest of those delicious peaches.

Super Granny

My Memmy D. What a special person she is in my life. She is 86 years young. She has beautiful blue eyes and white hair. I look forward to her phonecall each morning to let me know she is up for the day. So many laughs and tears we have shared. My little farmers call her Super Granny. We all adore her.

Although her vision now fades she still stays busy and lives independantly. Over the years she has taught me how to quilt, can, make rag rugs, bake sour cherry pies, and shown me love. I love how she loves my hubby and his whistling, my children, and my chickens. We have enjoyed sleep-overs, tea parties, and put together hundreds of puzzles.

She loves the Perdue commercial with the chicken named Gladys. I told her when we got chickens I would name the first one Gladys just for her. We did. She still laughs when she sees Gladys.

Thanks for the lifetime of love Memmy!

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

A totally recycled quilt for Rowdy! He is so happy. He said the sweetest thing when I finished his quilt...."Mom, thanks for the quilt. I love it! I will treasure it forever".

His favorite part is the squares made from his favorite old pair of camophlage jeans and glow-in-the-dark thread that I used to quilt it. This was a great craft to make using old jeans and an old sheet as a backing especially when you have a boy that gets holey jeans as fast as mine!

I love you Rowdy!

One more favorite farmer in training

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! My pictures won't upload. This is my oldest child and another favorite farmer in training with her favorite chicken. I tried for an hour to upload her picture in the previous post.

Two of my favorite farmers in training

These are 2 of my favorite "farmers in training".

Yippee!!!!!!!!! A fence

Almost three years ago our barn was built. Today we finally got a fence. I can't wait to fill those 2 empty stalls............If you build it, they will come.

The fence guys also installed a some fence posts for my grapevine. I can't wait for the day to pick grapes from our yard.

Change is coming

Usually I don't do well with change. I am hoping that blogging will be a good change.

I have kept a journal for years and I have tried to scrapbook. I end up spending hours to complete just one page in my scrapbook. This is the perfect way to combine both and most importantly create a lasting memory for my family.

The children and I have been trying to come up with a name for our farm for months. Finally we decided on Blackberry Forest Farm in memory of Grandpa. He supported my crazy farm dream and encouraged me to get many animals, much to Hubby's dismay! Blackberry comes from all of the wild blackberry briars that fill our land. It is official ....we are a farm. That happened in April with the arrival of our beautiful chickens!

And so the blogging adventure begins.........