Monday, October 31, 2022

October 31.

 The last day of October is already here and it's been such a gorgeous month!!!!  October is full of colorful trees, much pumpkin and now we are grabbing for jackets and layers before heading out the door!

We've had a busy month with Matthew finishing up golf and ending up in States and playing in Penn State for his final two rounds of high school golf competition.  He did so well!  We cheered for Ashlyn as she joined the middle school volleyball team for the first and loved it!  Then we could not stay away from Hadassah's games with coaching the Versity Volleyball team at Linville!  They made it to Districts and it was so much fun cheering the girls on!  Austin mostly went along to each event.  It's not always so fun for the youngest to sit back and watch but his time is coming up a few years!



Here's what's been happening in our lives last week!

I decided to stop and grab two bags of tulip bulbs from Royers seeds.  I love red tulips in the spring but as soon as they are finished blooming, I'm ready to have them gone.  I just never picked out the perfect spot for them in my flower gardens but decided this fall to fill up the pots by Ashlyn's playhouse with bulbs!  I'm super excited to see how it turns out!!!!




Our house dog, Ginger, had her 12th birthday.  I cannot believe she's that old already!  She such a good dog and the kids decorated her bath towel and gave her a new toy.



Can you see the difference?  These are the days when I feel like the fridge empties out so fast!  It's proof of growing, healthy kids and we are spoiled to have the best food options around us!



I just laughed when Matthew said that some guys are spending the night over last Wednesday because they had something fun planned for the next morning!  The Senior class went to Harrisburg to tour the capital and meet Mr. Zimmerman there!  It was a dress up event and so the guys decided to ask Brayden's grandma to use her limo to drive to school!  The guys woke up early Thursday morning, dressed in suit and tie and drove off in this limo to school.  From there they rode the bus to the capital but what a fun idea!!!!



And because the Phillies made it to the World Series, Linville allowed the kids to wear Phillies attire one day last week!  I love school spirit like this!!!!  Go Phillies!!!!



We've been having one beautiful day after the next and the kids painted on the front porch!  And the view right from the kitchen sink is so pretty right now!



The first hard frost is now here.



Matthew and the basketball team played in a tournament over the weekend and we are gearing up to watch them play this upcoming basketball season!



The house is filled with pumpkin smells today!  


The kids have taco lunch on Wednesday and I signed up to bring in cookies!  I had some pumpkin leftover and whipped up a dip!  This will be great to snack on while watching the Phillies play in the World Series!!!!



October has been such a lovely month!  We've been busy and on the move but it's been for all good things!

I love you Autumn!

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

A harvest of memories!

 Wow!!!  Last week we were stepping with all the sports activities!  Matthew finished up his golf season for high school and finished well by going to States!  Ashlyn also had her last middle school volleyball game last week!  We can't seem to stay away from the team that Hadassah is coaching because we love watching volleyball and seeing our children thrive and lead!






Dress like fall day!  We love when school allows the kids to dress in a themed shirt instead of always a logo shirt.  This was fun to dress in fall colors today!


We were bracing ourselves and knowing that this week would be super busy because Arise Collective came to town and is preforming the show Pilgrim at our church for the next two weeks.  Mike and I were asked to be on the committee to help with hosting this large group!  I helped lined up meals for these dear actors and Mike is on the security team!  It takes a community to make this all run smoothly but it's been so much fun!  I made a few Costco runs for them to grab food and drinks that they need.  Mike's been at almost every show so far being on security!  The kids are loving it and Ashlyn sits in a show any chance she gets!  It's so powerful!!!!  I wish I could tell you all to go grab tickets but every show is sold out at this time.  The word gets out and people grab the tickets as soon as they are released!  God is on the move here at Honeybrook and we are excited to watch and be a part of it!!!!





I pulled out the pepper plants because the frost has showed up!  I had sweet peppers, hot jalapeño peppers and stuffing peppers.  I looked up a recipe on Pinterest and decided to make a refrigerator pepper!  I boiled white vinegar, added mustard seed, celery seeds and sugar.  I chopped up the peppers and stuck them into jars and topped it with the hot brine.  Peppers don't like my stomach but the family is going to love these on burgers, pizza, etc..





I filled a 2 Qt. jar of peppers for us and then divided up the rest of the peppers into smaller jars.  I might be giving these as gifts!  So cute and tasty!


I also canned a case of boneless, skinless chicken thighs last week and my canning shelves are looking good!  We have fresh applesauce, chicken and tuna now on the shelves!  The grape juice is so good and we are drinking lots of that right now!  These shelves are full of God's blessings to us!  It's a lot of hard work and sweat to can and preserve food like this but SO WORTH IT!!!!  Thank you Jesus!!!!!



We have friends that love my sourdough bread.  I'm not bread queen but I gave them a loaf the other week as a baby gift and they want to learn how to make it!!!  That had me grabbed for my sourdough starter again!  I love adding fresh herbs that are still thriving in the garden and adding it to my bread!


This time I tried the pumpkin method!  Not too bad for the first time!!!!!




The front porch planters were still looking wonderful but it's much easier to pull out flowers before they get frost!  I cleaned out the pots and I decided to try to keep the banana leaf plants this year!  I've never had these plants and I want to see if I can keep them until next year!  They got moved inside and I hope they do well for me until I move them back outside in the spring!


Love these fall flowering kale plants!


Remember I told you Arise Collective is around and they lead worship at church Sunday morning and how beautiful it was!!!!  I loved it!  We came home to eat killer tuna melts from the fresh tuna I canned last week and they were delicious!  We relaxed and watched the Phillies win yet another game and now they are going to the World Series!  Then the Chiefs won and Mike was fired up!  We didn't have plans to be with the Pilgrim crew that night but Mike said, "Let's go to church!"  

We joined the team of people that are helping get a fundraiser together for Pilgrim!  It takes a lot of funds to have a team this size travel around spreading the gospel of Christ!  It's exciting to see how God is moving!



What an honor to have the Pilgrim Cast do a show for school kids!  Linville took the middle school and Ashlyn loved it so much that her friends could see this show!  It was so powerful!


Teachers and leaders were wiping tears!  The kids took in so much good vs evil but knowing that God is always good and there for each one of us!  Ashlyn met Faith, one of the actors, and asked for a picture with her friends!  This is so life giving to have the community and friends watch this show and be forever impacted!!!!!  To God be the glory!!!!



Getting out right after the kids leave for school has been something I pushed off for so long but now look so forward to it each morning!  Linda and I are still walking through the park and it's wonderful to breath in that fall air and see the beauty in the trees!  Walking with a friend is a hundred times better than walking  alone!!!!  Thank you girl for being my walking buddy!


The leaves are starting to fall and the air is fresh!  So much beauty is around me!  Have a great week and enjoy this day!!!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

October events.


Oh goodness!  Jody went to pick up fresh caught Tuna in Maryland the other day and Mike said we want some too.  I'm not sure about this because I don't know how to cook tuna but I guess we will learn!  It's by far the stinkiest meat I've ever bought and now there's lots in the freezer for us to enjoy!



I love music and concerts and months ago I saw that Casting Crowns was coming to a near by town and so I grabbed us two tickets to go!  Cain, Anne Wilson and Casting Crowns was a great show!  We loved it!!!!



We are very excited to have Arise Collective come and do the musical Pilgrim Progress at our church once again!  Their shows are awesome and life changing!!!!

Clarita put a bread board together that was both beautiful and tasty!  Her sourdough is fantastic!  We've had a few meetings to get our act together for when the shows begin!


We had the best food before a meeting!


Frost is coming out way and I decided to pull out all the lettuce after mowing the yard on Monday.  I had a big box full of the most beautiful green lettuce!  This was the first time I planted mini romaine lettuce and I will be doing this kind again next Spring!  It's so good!  I washed and Ashlyn put it through the spinner!


How blessed we are!!!!




There's lots going on in our lives right now!  Matthew just finished up golf and is excited to go all out in basketball in just a few weeks!  Ashlyn is playing her last middle school volleyball game this week and really enjoyed it!  Austin is riding along to all these games and loves his second grade!  Hadassah and Jeremiah have not been here for family night for a few weeks now because she is coaching the Varsity girls volleyball team this year and they are in finals!  We hope to go cheer them on!  It's always something, right?  We are also excited to host and help with Arise Collective as they come and share their show Pilgrim with our community this weekend!  Some day's it feels like a full schedule but we are blessed, healthy and finally not coughing!  (Wow, we've had a cough in the house since Labor Day and I'm so happy to say it's finally gone!) 

Autumn is beautiful and the trees are about to shine and show off their glory!

Enjoy those warm pumpkin drinks this week!  We are going to need them with the frost coming and the chilly air moving closer.