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| Grandpa found eggs in our abandoned bluebird house |
Grandma, Grandpa and the uncles (only two of them this time) were able to visit for a nice long weekend.
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| Our awesome fire pit |
We spent several days on this baby. First was the digging. Then the dragging of the concrete slab that used to support the old outside part of the air conditioner. Next was finding and dragging the big old rocks from all over the property. Finally we spent a day gathering firewood in our friends' woods.
While it was too windy to inaugurate it on our cider-making day as planned, it did get some use while we gathered 'round to roast some hot dogs one evening.
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| Apple cider-making day. . . complete with dunking for apples |
One sunny Sunday afternoon was spent in the company of family and church family and apples. I enjoyed Grandma's apple bars and apple cake while holding a sleeping baby and watching everybody else (read--my husband) make the cider. And it was yummy. I'm so glad we invested in the cider press because these memories are priceless.
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| Homemade birthday decorations |
While these aren't the fancier buntings I see all around lately, my children sure had fun making and stringing up these pennants for Daddy's birthday.
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But today we woke to snowflakes blowing about and lots of shivers. Winter may, technically, still be more than a month away, but in our house it has officially started. For weeks now, it's been a bit chillier in the morning, but, with the help of excellent insulation, I've managed to fight it back by baking up our winter squash to puree and freeze, cooking up big batches of bone broth, and bringing out the flannel sheets. But now, no more. Winter has finally won our little game, and this morning we turned on our heat. November 14th. Next year I'm pushing for at least November 20th. 
Those pennants are adorable, I think they did a fabulous job!
ReplyDeleteWe have a playgroup coming up at our house, it might be a fun craft for them!
Also, wow on just turning on your heat! We made it to October and were super pleased.
Thank you. They really were simple and quite imperfect, but I just don't have time for perfect.
DeleteAbout the heat, I noticed you live quite a bit north of us---the Mason Dixon line is only a few yards beyond our backyard. And our house is brick with great insulation. That really helps. Plus there are 8 of us and a dog for body heat!
That makes sense (about lots of people keeping the house warmer). Yet another way in which larger families are able to save more money, right? ;-)
DeleteUmmm. . . per capita. . . yes. But feeding 8 does cost more than 4. But nothing beats cuddling kids keeping you warm on chilly morning.
ReplyDeleteOf course, more often than not, those cuddling kids steal your covers!
Yeah, I meant it as pretty tongue-in-cheek, since it seems that an article comes out every year somewhere about the tremendous cost of raising a child.
DeleteI know :) I'm sorry if my tone was confusing. I love blogs, but these typing fingers don't convey things as well as the voice.
DeleteI laugh at those articles because many of them assume parents are paying for college and others things that simply aren't in our budget.
Like i-pads for everyone?
DeleteYeah, typing can be toneless. We could all do vlogs instead of blogs, but then we'd probably feel like we need to put on make-up, and that doesn't always fit into my day! :-)
Yes, i-pads and cell phones and big Lego sets and the list goes on.
ReplyDeleteAs for make-up, I threw all of mine away a few years ago and make-do with car-mex on the lips. I'm a plain Jane. But I might comb my hair with a vlog :)