Canning season has begun!!!

The gardens are thriving with our picture perfect weather this past week!  The air is crisp in the mornings making it wonderful to go out and exercise!!!  The afternoons are not humid right now and the skies are filled with big puffy white clouds!  But not too many clouds!  The sun still shines bright and it feels so good being outside!  Its the kind of weather that else makes you want to work, organize, and get the canning jars out and filled! 

It's also the time of year when sweet corn is being harvested!  We love corn on the cob for supper!  We also love corn all year long and so we do tons and tons and it's a great feeling knowing that the freezer now has many bags of fresh yellow corn in it!!!  Monday, we decided to have "corn day"!  I got Mike's truck and picked up 1,200 ears of corn!  I took it down to moms and everyone met there to help!  All this corn got divided out to five families but it's work and a major job!  However, we do have our annual system and the corn day went well!

The weather was great to do this outside job!!!

Mom's has this outside cooker and we put the whole corn right into the boiling water. 

Then we carefully put the hot cooked corn into a barrel of ice water! 

Then husk it and clean it!

All the girls did great playing all day long!  Ashlyn and Kia kept coming and getting their fingers in the work too!

After it's cleaned we put it in cold water again till we cut it off or cream it.

So good!!!

Then it all goes in bags and then off to the freezers!

Now today, mom came to my house and we canned Banana Pickles!  We have lots of fresh, yummy pickles for the canning shelves now! 

Ashlyn and mom are cleaning cucumbers.

This all goes to our shelves!

I also cooked and juiced tomatoes.  This makes the best soup!!!  By the time my tomatoes were cooked and pressed, I was ready to quit.  I love the feeling that I get after these hard jobs are accomplished!!!  I think it's so important to preserve our own homegrown foods!!!  Thanks mom for teaching me these ways!

The laundry is now off the line and folded!  I even got to sit in the sun just a bit reading the penny saver!  I love that the windows are wide open and it looks like a lovely night to be with my hubby and kiddoes!!! 

I am feeling blessed!!!  Thank you Lord!!!

Family Fun!!!

We just got back from a fun weekend with my mom's side of the family!  We always go to the same cabin in the woods.  We always have so much fun!  We always come home with one of the kids having swimmers ear.  :(  We always enjoy extended family!!!

It was a quick decision, but we decided (the kids and I) to head for the cabin a bit earlier this year.  Mike always has a ball tournament this weekend, so he usually joins the fun just on Sunday.  I was planning to go to some ball games on Friday evening but instead decided to head to the woods.  We pulled into the cabin driveway with mom, my grandparents and Amos and Marty unloading their luggage.  I was surprised because they left way before we did and I thought they would be all settled.  They decided to go for lunch first and then unpack.  They were surprised to see us show up early!  The kids love this cabin because its nice, large, plenty of space for a big crowd & plus it has a big swimming pool.  Matthew enjoys the pole table just as much too!  :)  They didn't hesitate to get into their swimmies and head for the pool!  It was a lovely afternoon and it was fun relaxing while they swam.  Ashlyn did great too!  They have a smaller pool just for the little kids and she learned how to handle herself with floaties on each arm!  We went for supper out in the nearest town and lets just say that the restaurant could really use an uplift!!!!  The food was OK but the service was terrible!!!  We decided to get to bed in decent time and wait for the late night to be for tomorrow night.  There were a lot more cousins coming in the morning!

Saturday morning, a big van pulled in with three more families joining the fun!!!  Hadassah and Matthew love these extended cousins and after the delicious, all out breakfast, they went for the pool again!  Lot's of splashing and drinks and snacks and laughter was shared.  Uncle Amos brought along a huge spray bottle of bee killer because of a major reaction cousin Dave had a few weeks ago from a bee sting.  The weather was perfect for a day outdoors.  Mommy D. was even playing some games of quates.  Suz and I supper and then we all settled in for some games.  It wasn't long before we went from relaxed to being in a crazy panic!  Dave got stung!!!  Why him?  Out of all of us up there, why does the man who just had an allergic reaction a few weeks ago have to be stung?  She found her first aid bag and immediately started to tell someone to call 911!  Dave gave himself his "shot".  We quick came up with a plan and it wasn't long before mom and the men and Dave were out the door heading for town to meet the ambulance.  Meanwhile, the ladies gathered to pray.  The kids prayed!  We got the prayer chain going for church!  Suz wanted to go out to town too so I drove her there ... the whole time praying that Dave will be OK!  Smokie did call us about half way out and said that he is still fine and is having NO reaction!!!  He also said that the ambulance was on their way!!!  Dave was monitored for awhile but he was fine!  What a relief!!!  We left everyone know at the cabin and on the prayer chain that Dave is OK!  We drove back to the cabin with all our nervous still on the edge and very thankful to God for protecting Dave.  Instead of playing games, we all thanked God for keeping Dave safe!  Instead of sitting around the camp fire, Uncle Amos made amish hats in the stove and we ate them inside.  We sat together and ended up laughing at Jordan's good jokes!  Sleep did eventually come but my nerves where still tender! 

Daudy D. did a lot of sleeping!  Ever since his stroke, he sleeps so much!  Love you Daudy!

Mommy is still very active!  She's playing some quates here!

 

Hadassah loved the water.

Crazy ... Dave dove through a kids tube and couldn't get it off!

Our sweetie!

The kids found this huge ball that entertained them all afternoon!

Sunday morning we woke up with another sunny nice day!  A big breakfast was served again and yep, the kids all went for the pool!  Mike joined us in the forenoon which I was happy about!!!  Dave did a good job at staying indoors most of the day!  We were all happy to have no more scares and a safe weekend!  The time with family was fun and is special!  Thanks to all those who took the time to come together!!!  Thanks also to Mommy and Daudy D. for reserving the cabin!

She loved the water too!

We are happy daddy could join the fun too!!!!

We got home just in time to watch a major thunder storm go through.  There was so much lighting flashes coming through the windows that it seemed like a constant flash.  It brought us around five inches of rain!!!  The lawn will is appreciating the wetness!  The garden will now thrive again and my green beans will be ready for harvesting very soon!

We are thankful and very grateful to God for His many blessings!

Going down memory lane ...

We have been so happy the past few days because we got to spend some time with friends that we don't see too much and especially get to 'be with' them that often! 

It all began on Friday evening when we arrived at a benefit auction.  We pulled in the long drive, parked and walked in to find something good to eat for supper.  ShaLyn, a good friend of Hadassah, spied us driving in and found us shortly after we got some food.  We didn't know she was in town and so this was a nice surprise to us all but especially to Hadassah!!!  (It just so happens that ShaLyn's mom is my BFF!)  These two love to be together and it's a never ending beg when she knows Sha is around and wants to be with her.  They immediately started planning to spend the night together.  They decided to go with ShaLyn home and have a sleep over but then get up super early to help with the benefit breakfast the next morning.  Meanwhile, the rest of us finished up our supper and headed off to Mike's late night ball games.

Saturday, the girls helped with the benefit breakfast and did a great job!  They did good at sticking to the job and helped with clearing off tables and wiping down trays!  From there they went from one pool to the next swimming pool.  ShaLyn's grandma was the driver and this tickled me because a way long time ago ... she was doing this same very thing for Rosa and I!  Hadassah finally got back home late that afternoon and just in time to go with us to a family gathering.  We had a fun night of sitting around the campfire and then watching a game mixed from football and soccer.  Or so I think???  :)  It was another late night out with friends and family and our beds felt wonderful when we finally got under the covers!  Thank you AC for working!!!  :)

Sunday morning we got up later than usual and starting scrambling to get ready for church.  We arrived a little on the late side but again we were surprised to have the Dutch family there!  The girls giggled and the boys reacquainted.  Right after the service, they met and played.  We were pleased to get invited to host family lunch with Dutch and Rosa and their family, giving us a good time to sit and chat!  Thanks John and Naomi for the delicious eats!!!  That afternoon, Mike relaxed in his new hammock outside under the shade tree while I took a short nap in the swing right beside him.  We've been having warm tempts but the breeze was great and sitting in the shade was perfect!  We both decided that it's been way too long since we got a run in together, so we tied our running shoes and headed out for a quick run.  It was cute because Ashlyn wanted along too and she got on her new grey sneakers and called them "her running shoes".  Mike and I ran while Matthew biked along side of us.  The girls stayed back at home.  Running is something that I continually have good intentions on doing more and really all I need to do is get determined to "just get out and do it".  I have no excuses.  Running in the mornings right now seems to be the best option but I can only sleep in during the "no school days".  Sadly, my sleep gets the higher votes lately!  Uhh.  Anyway, the run with Mike did feel good and on our way back we walked.  That felt good too.  :)))  Later that night, we started up the campfire at our house and invited Dutchies and Matts for come for smores.  The kids were again super excited but then let down when we got the text saying that they were not coming after all.  (I know that when you live out of town, things can change your plans pretty quick.  You can't near always spend all your time with one family even though our children didn't get that concept as easily as we adults did.)  We still had a good night roasting smores with Matt, Lena and Hunter.  :) 

Rosa called the next morning.  Her and Dutch were going out on a business adventure and wondered if the kids could stay at our house?  Bingo!!!  The kids played so well and did great!  Mike didn't come home from work till a little later and at 7:30, we were all on the back porch.  The kids set up the baseball bases and played kids VS dad's.  They had Mike and Dutch sweating and played them hard.  Hadassah and ShaLyn treated the dad's to homemade smoothies!  We ended up sitting on the back porch till late talking about 'the good old days'.  So fun!!!  I love thinking and remembering all the fun we had together running around as teenagers.  Rosa and I did almost everything together.  Then when the men in our lives showed up, it got even more fun!  We double dated!  We watched ALL their ball/hockey games!  We went to Florida together.  We were BFF's.  Between me going to high school and Rosa working during the day (this is actually something we did not do the same), we made the most of our youth days being with each other and friends in the youth group.  We loved it and so a night of remembering was again bringing us to laughter and smiles!  We were Taboo bombs and I wonder how good we could still be if we played this game again?.  We can still sing our favorite songs together.  It is a huge blessing to have good memories in the single and dating years of my life!  Even though they now live a few hours away, it's refreshing to "go down memory lane".  Thanks Dutch and Rosa for hanging out with us once again!!!  Fun times!!!

Tuesday, we had another day together and swam!  Rosa invited us to Sue's pool and with two other families there also, we made some big splash's!  The water did feel good on a hot summer day!  Thanks Sue!!!  :)  I also bought a new pair of running shoes!  Maybe that will be my new running motivation!?!  :)

It's warm and it's sunny!  This summer is going way too fast!  I keep hearing that the school things are now back in stores but I refuse to think too much of school yet and stay focused on our upcoming fun summer days!!!  We love summer time!!!

 

He turns 9!!!

Matthew just had a birthday and turned 9 years old.  It just doesn't seem long at all that he was a baby.  I remember his birth so well!  I was totally wore out after being induced, in labor all day, and then finally going for surgery at 11 PM.  He was born a healthy, big boy!!!  He was a very content baby!  He is still an easy kid and we love him like crazy!  He adds lots of balls and bats to the house décor'!  :)  He's all boy but loves his family and loves to spend time with his hero ... his dad!!!  We love you so much Matthew and we are so happy God blessed us with you!!!

Matthew started his day with pancakes with chocolate chips and candles!  We played our famous "happy birthday" song while he ate!!!

He really wanted his cousins to come over for the afternoon and hit some balls in the backyard.  (Which by the way, he is outgrowing the back yard!  His baseballs keep flying out into the farmers fields!)  It didn't work out exactly how he wanted but we ended up going to Mommy Lapp's to say hi to Jeff and Bobo.  Then we picked up Ryan and Tyler and Morgan and they came for a warm, fun afternoon outside.  The rains kept coming on and off and they hit balls in between.  They cleaned out the little 'studio' barn and added a loft.  Being with cousins is a blast!  The girls did crafts while the boys roughed it outside.  :)

We told Matthew that he can pick a place to go for supper.  He chose Texas Roadhouse and we were all happy with that choice!  The kids love, love the rolls and cinnamon butter!  Matthew ordered wings that he also enjoyed!  The experience was fun!  Matthew sat on a saddle while everyone in the restaurant yelled out a "yeeha" for his birthday!  :)

From there we went over to Khols and Matthew picked out a watch for his birthday.  He's been wanting a watch and is so totally happy with his buy!

Then we were else going to go mini golfing or bowling.  Because of the thunderstorms, we had to bowl.  Matthew was all into this and we played two fun games!!!

Little miss just watched us and was taking turns holding all the bowling balls.

She kept bringing more balls to our lane.  Some were heavy!!!  :)

 

The next day, Matthew went to the shop to do his work project Mike has him doing.  After he finished his task, Mike took him for a new bike!  He outgrew his other one and Mike couldn't wait to take him to buy another bigger one!!!  He's been riding all around the house with this new toy!

 

Of course, wearing his new watch!  He times himself going around the house!  :)  Yesterday, I made meadow tea and told him to tell me when 10 minutes was up.  He ran inside and told me exactly when it was time to get the tea off the stove and into my glass jars! 

 

Matthew is so special!  He's a sweet boy and we are excited to see him grow up!  Turning nine was a celebration!!!  We love you so much Matthew!!!

Eating with our fingers and spending time with friends!!!

Matt and Marlene invited our "friend crew" over for a "trash can supper" and swimming yesterday afternoon.  The kids swam while us adults chatted!  This group of friends is always a blast! 

The food gets poured out right on the table and then we ate with our fingers!

Matt piled the foods on his cooker and when it was all cooked, he dumped it right on top of the table!  We all gathered around and with some dips and our fingers, we chowed!

Suz and Linda made the dessert and they were all wonderful!  My two big bowls of fruit was refreshing too!  Ruthie's brewed tea and Martha's party mix was awesome too!  We are so blessed to have good foods and great Christian friends to hang out with!!!  Thanks Matt and Marlene for the fun night and hopefully we didn't make it too tough when it came to clean up time!  It's hard to keep a place picture perfect with 21 children and 12 adults!!!  We make a crowd!

Thanks for the yummy foods everyone!

Beat the heat!!!

The way we can beat the heat outside around our house is to spend time in the water!!!  We've been at the pool's three times last week.  I think that's our recording breaker for this summer so far!  The first day at the pool was with sister Jody and her children.  The cousins ALWAYS have a blast and swimming together is not something that do a whole lot together ... so this was an extra nice treat for them!  Thanks guys for meeting us at the pool!

The next pool day was with two great friends!  Martha Rose texted me and said she is going to the pool and that we should meet her there!  We've been saying for a few weeks that we should met up at the pool, so here was our chance!  I needed to get the house cleaned first, the bed sheets washed, dried and beds remade, the cooler packed, etc.. before heading out the door.  The children helped me and we were splashing in the cool water right after noon!  Meanwhile, I said something to Suz about meeting us there too because Dave & Mike were both out of town.  (Together they went to tour a lumber mill in Minnisota.)  When she showed up, it was a surprise to Marts boys!  The older kids threw balls in the pool all afternoon while the younger kids played in the kiddie.  We all got another heavy dose of sunshine.  Sunscreen is a must on these warm/hot days!

 

We spent the evening here at home.  We missed Mike not being home with us but we did get to talk to him on the phone and they had a fun afternoon on four wheelers sight seeing.  We had another thunder storm go through after dark giving us a needed rain shower for the sunbeaten grass!

Friday was my mom and brother LaVern's birthday.  We had planned to take a picnic lunch to a nearby park and then go to a pond to swim.  We invited the sisters to all go along but it only suited Jody and I (and Mom!!!).  That morning we found that the pond was drained for a cleaning and so after our lunch at the park, we went to Aunt Ruth's pool.  It was hot!  It felt good!  It was loud with all the happy children splashing in the pool.  More sunshine.  More wrinkled up fingers and toes from soaking in the water.  More tan colored cheeks and sunkissed hair!  Isn't summer so fun???

Marilyn and I met at Dave & Suz on Friday night for pizza and campfire while we waited for the men to return home!  The kids once again got into their swimmies and took a few more plunges in the Zook's pool.  I took along a big tray of fresh zucchini and squash.  I cut them into pieces and then sprinkled on some olive oil.  Then I cut up some fresh herbs from the garden and tossed them on top.  I roasted them at 400 for 30 minutes and then topped them with fresh grated sharp cheese.  They tasted great!  The guys arrived safe and sound around 9:15 and joined us at the campfire.  They had a great time touring the lumber yard and the state of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Here's the dish of veggies I mixed up.  I never plant zucchini or squash because other's around me always have way more than they need!!!  I got these from sister Jody.  She walked in the other day with a bag full of squash and she said, "And how many did you say you need?"  I hadn't even said anything about delicious veggies but I was into having some to eat!  I wish my family would like them like I do.!.  Here I cut them in chunks, poured olive oil over them and tossed.  I went to the garden and cut some herbs (Thyme, Basil & Oregano) and sprinkled them all over the top.  Salt and pepper.  I roasted them at 400 degrees for 25 minutes and then topped them with some fresh grated sharp cheese.  They tasted great!!!

Saturday was another day at home doing my outside work.  The lawn got mowed, the weeds pulled, trimmed and blew.  It's still warm outside but a good breeze was in the air!  It was great having Mike home again after his short get away!  The kids love to swing with him in the new hammock!  We cooked corn on the cob and roasted marshmellows around the campfire after Mike went for a bike ride.  Matt's joined us and the night was lovely around the campfire!  Summer nights at home outside are great especially with Ashlyn chasing after lightning bugs!  She loves to do this!  We love summer! 

Enjoy summer!!!       

Summer greats ...

Today it is hot outside and so we chose to go to the pool with cousins!  I called Jody this morning hoping that they will join us at the pool ... and they did!  We packed sandwiches and drinks and headed out for the day of wet and sunshine!  The kids all had a blast!

Thanks for joining us today girls!!!

Supper last night was the start of one of our favorite summer meals!!!  Corn on the cob!  The corn is just starting to ripen in our area and we got to enjoy the firsts of it last night!  So good!  Matthew slabs on the butter and salt!  Hadassah likes it sweet and salty too but is a little bit more conservative on the amounts!  Ashlyn saw her daddy sprinkle on some seasoned salt and she ate hers like "daddy".  I grilled some marinated chicken to go with the meal and that too was tasty! 

 

After supper, we headed off to Matthew's last little league ball game for the year.  He loved, loved his ball season and team mates.  They played well and only lost one game!!!  They were treated to Rita's after the game! 

The Rockies of 2014!!!

Summer time is the best time!!!