Uncle Alvin's planned this reunion at their beautiful farm! They are the best at hosting people and the kids had SO MUCH FUN!
This is the first that a Rita's Italian Ice Truck came! This was also a big hit!!!! The kids love these treats and they all went running as soon as it pulled in the driveway!
COUSINS!!!
Mommy D. got to enjoy some too!!!
Then, then Dave Zook took his parachute plane in the sky and dropped candy down for the children!!! Alvin's passed out donut bags and let the children grab some candy that fell to the ground!!!
"What color is my tongue?"
Mommy D's sister Annie and her husband and family also came to the reunion. I love watching these two ladies side by side!
Oh you know, just waiting to see that plane in the sky! Then the baker mans hats will be turned into candy bags!
The weather was perfect! The tempts went from 90 degree days to upper 70's! It feels like Fall and we are grabbing for pants instead of shorts and long sleeves instead of tank tops! Thank you Alvin and Ruth for the fun night!
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And I'm a mess! The weather changed SO MUCH the past few days! I was just not ready to give up summer and the warm pool days but suddenly I find myself thinking fall!!! The AC is turned off and the windows are open! The days and nights are much cooler that just a week ago! Last Friday was a cooler, rainy day and Austin and I went upstairs and pulled out some fall décor! I do know it's still August and I'll take any warmer summer day that we still have but I think I'm ready for the season changes!
And on Saturday I went out to make some stops and swung by Dunkin Donuts for a Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Latte! It tasted so good!!!!
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We are counting down the days until we go to the cabin and "move in"!!!! Do you remember back in March when I posted pictures of my parents cabin up in flames!!??!! It was emotional and not fun making a very fast trip up to the cabin while the firetrucks wrapped up their hoses and we all walked around just looking at the disaster!!! It was an accident and sad to see it all burn down to the ground. Everything was a loss.
BUT ... Dad has been working his butt off to getting the cabin rebuilt and ready for the upcoming hunting season!!! Plans are that we help move things into the new cabin this coming weekend!!!!!
I went out the other day looking for bedroom furnishings! Dad has a bedroom for each of us siblings and even though he bought us all our bedroom furniture, it's up to us to restock it! I stopped by MOD pizza for a small personal pizza as I went to HomeGoods and then to Costco! This will be fun to give it all a new home and see the brand new cabin in the woods!!!
This is how we spend some of our afternoons now that school began! Austin is back to taking naps! It was cute to see him play fireman and go water our pumpkin plants in the garden! He's really hoping to get some orange pumpkins from these plants!
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And by the looks of things, Austin is VERY EXCITED to meet his new cousin!!! Weston Tate was born on Friday and we couldn't wait to finally go see this little man!!! He's got a head full of hair and we couldn't be more happy for LaVern and Fanny Lynn!!!! Congratulations!!!! You have a very beautiful family!!!!
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One more thing here before I go fold some laundry and get some house work done! I did another batch of refrigerator pickles!
We loved the ones I made a few weeks ago from Busy Mother's 2 Cookbook! I filled a gallon glass jar with freshly thin sliced cucumbers. Add some onion pieces, 3 1/2 cups sugar, 2 cups white vinegar and 1/4 cup salt. Mix cucumbers, onion and salt and let it set for 1 hour. Then add the sugar and vinegar. Let these soak all together and put in fridge! They make a great snack or a side with a good sandwich or just eat them alone! I love these!
I also made a batch of Dill Refrigerator Pickles. This is the first time using the recipe I found from my Dorcas Stutzman Cookbook. This time I kept the small cucumbers whole and packed them into a gallon glass jar. I boiled 6 cups water, 2 cups white vinegar, 1/4 cup salt and 1/2 tsp. alum. After it cooled just a bit I poured it over the cucumbers, fresh dill, onion slices, 3 whole cloves and 6 garlic cloves. Let the jar set on the kitchen counter for four hours and then put in the fridge. I'm excited to try these and I'm pretty sure Hadassah will love these! She is always looking for a healthy option with no or little sugar! These have no sugar and she loves dill!!!!
They are now both setting in the fridge and have those cucumbers soak in the juices and spices!!!
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It's still feeling a lot like fall here! The farmer started to cut down some corn from the field right next to us. This has me thinking maybe fall is here to last?!? Also, the hydrangeas outside are changing from lime green to tones of pink. Another sign of fall. I even found myself pulling out the sunflower stalks and some petunias that weren't nice anymore. I love September weather and this last week of August is giving all the feels of a gorgeous fall ahead!!!
Are you excited for autumn?
