Up to my eyeballs

This is the busy time of year. The time when everything is ready to can, freeze, and preserve. There is no rest for the weary and you just keep on working. Just when you think you might have a break, something is ripe amd ready for picking.

So tonight I will finish up the salsa, chop the green peppers, and snap beans until my eyes glass over, just to get a few hours sleep and start all over again.

It will all be worth it in the end. Thank goodness that end is now is sight. Fall here we come!

The greatest story ever told

Sometimes my children amaze me.
They do something that is completely unexpected.
Like this :

Miles decided to recreate his favorite scene from the Bible
The amazing part? While describing it to me he pretty much quoted the entire passage of scripture from memory. Those Lego people were bartering for Jesus clothes, poking a spear in his side, weeping and crying, wearing a crown of thorns, and asking for forgiveness.
This boy of mine can't remember how to count to 100 or add 7+6, but he remembers every sotry he has ever read, expecially his favorites, and this one is the best.

What we did Saturday

Fordhook Farm is a Burpee seed company research farm. They open it up to the public a couple of times a year. We just can't get enough gardening. After making the last minute decision to go we had a great time and the rain stopped right before we got there. It was beautiful and lots of fun!

Ever seen one of these? Its a hydrangea of some sort. So pretty!

The girls kept stopping and posing for pictures. Who could resist?!

The Farm from the pond and lower gardens.

Spring house ruins.
So many varieties of flowers to look at.
Interesting sculptures

This one was welded together from old letters. The children called it the alphabet ball.


These sculptures are supposed to represent seed germination, but the children thought they looked like dinosaur eggs.

The boys.

All of the little monkeys at the pond garden.

Another sculpture, I loved this one with the water falling out of the leaf. I can't believe that I don't have any pictures of the kitchen garden! They grow so many different varieties of vegetables. It was fun to get ideas for next years garden!

Layouts as promised..

Ok, so I promised them about two weeks ago but if you saw my counters you would understand. There must be a million tomatoes just waiting to be turned into something, not to mention the green beans, zucchini, peppers, and other garden items that keep pouring into my house! STOP growing for a day please?!! Every time I think I just might have some time to work at the computer, or clean a bathroom, or sleep, David brings in more produce so I am off to snap beans, roast some tomatoes for soups, oh, and finish the ketchup. Those will sure taste good on a cold night in January!

And if I don't get back here for a while you know where to find me...

The best of intentions

I had planned to photograph my layouts for all of you to see. Instead we spent 45 minutes wandering around the store in search of lost keys.

We are going camping this weekend so I needed to get the food we are taking with us. our second stop was Sam's club. This is always a fun stop as we get a pizza for lunch, read the books in the book section, get a cookie in the bakery and there are always food samples. The children love it! Everything was fine until I got back to the car. I unlocked the car with the button and went to turn the air on before unloading. I could not find my key! I had all the other things on my chain except for the car key, how is this possible? I went ahead and put all the cold things in the cooler, finished unloading, and searched the car for the key. Then we all went back into the store to see if it had been turned in to the front desk and walk around to look for it. It was nowhere to be found. Back to the car to look once more and call David to come and get us, thinking it's gone forever. Then I remember we only have one key, there is no spare, that one was lost long ago. David put a call into the dealer which just happens to be about 2 miles from where I was. We go back to the store for a potty break and to look one more time. Still no key. Back out to the car to get the vin number for David and Miles finds the key. Just like that. It was in the same spot we lost a library book in for three months. Under the seat behind the heating unit. How he saw it there, I have no idea. We get in buckle up and go straight to the dealers to purchase 3 spare keys. It never hurts to have more than one!

We finished up our errands and came home just in time to put some dinner on the table. Mabye I'll get to those layouts tomorrow. Of course who knows what tomorrow will bring...

Home again

Well I am back from my weekend scrap booking. I got lots of new paper and embellishments, tons of ideas, and about 20 pages in some stage of completion. I had a fabulous time with friends and the time away is so refreshing. I am ready to get back to reality even if it takes a couple of days. I've been catching up on laundry, dishes, and other housework since I've gotten back and haven't photographed any of the finished pages yet. I hope to get to that tomorrow after our lessons in the morning.
The children had a blast while I was gone. They went swimming, hiking, biking, played put-put, slept in the basement, and had ice cream and grilled steak for dinner. While they were glad to see me on Sunday evening Owen asked when I was going away again so he could have another fun time with Poppa. I love that is is a treat for them when I am gone as they have a Poppa vacation.

I'm not sure why Miles has this basket on his head or even why he's eating dinner with it on.

He made his Poppa proud when he decided to try a jalapeno pepper. I don't even eat those things they are to hot for me!