Apple Picking

The kids and I went apple picking today and we had so much fun. We went to a small u-pick orchard. The favorite job was holding the huge picking basket. . .

. . . until it was full.

The orchard has an ongoing contest for the largest apple picked. We didn't know about it until we took our load of apples to be weighed, but Digging Badger's came in at 12 ounces. Little Lady and Crazy Fox both had an apple that weighed 12.5 ounces.

Along with her big apple, Little Lady had one baby apple that she held onto all morning. I bet it is going to be tart!

Crazy Fox was very good at finding any defects on the apples, before he picked them.

We picked Golden Delicious, Rome and Crisp Red apples. We sampled them on the way home and they are wonderful. We are planning on making applesauce, an apple cake and some apple crisps for the freezer.

Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple,

but only God can count the number of apples in a seed.

~Robert Schuller~

I Can Can

It is beginning to feel like real country living around here.

One of our sweet neighbors invited the kids and me down to her kitchen to learn how to can. They had a bountiful crop of peaches and extra jars that she generously shared with us. We had a great day learning how to skin the peaches, (the boys favorite part) and the rest of the process. My pantry shelves look so pretty with the jars of peaches all lined up, that I was inspired to do more. We stopped at the local fruit stand last weekend and bought more peaches. I canned some, froze some and made peach pie filling with some. I also had a failed attempt at fruit leather. When we got home from the fruit stand we had two big bags of plums left by our other neighbors. I made two batches of plum jam and have some in the freezer for smoothies.
I also canned some tomatoes and made salsa from our garden tomatoes.

We also had our first full dozen fresh eggs. We had some for lunch today and they taste wonderful!

It is very satisfying to grow, harvest and preserve your own food. Knowing that our pantry is well stocked with the fresh foods of summer, that will last us all winter long, makes me feel like a woman from another era. Although I am not giving up my dishwasher or washer and dryer just yet. And I'm sure those pioneer women didn't blog about their canning experiences.

First of Fall

Autumn is a second spring when every flower is a leaf.
~Author Unknown ~

We celebrated the first day of our favorite season with a bike ride along the Boise River.

I have loved this bridge since the first time I saw it. The bridge itself is not all that much to look at, but just the idea of a single lane, truss bridge feels like small town living. Maybe it's because I drive over this bridge to get to one of my dearest friend's home. Or, maybe it's because my dad always slows down to look at old bridges and barns when he drives. Whatever it is, I always enjoy driving over it, riding over it, or sitting under it. The weather was perfect today. Everything was clean from the weekend's rain storm. The sky was beautifully blue with bright, white clouds floating overhead. This was all framed by trees speckled with golden and red leaves.

We took a break under the bridge to play on the bank of the river.

Little Lady built a sand castle.

Crazy Fox found a big stick and some old fishing line and fished the river a bit.Digging Badger just had fun running in the sand and being outside.Here's little Lady and me with the new bike trailer.

(She loves riding along with me and talked the entire time we were riding.)
How beautifully the leaves grow old. How full of light and color their last days.

~John Burroughs ~

Eggs-cellent

We got our first eggs today!

Crazy Fox went out to feed the chickens and found an egg. He was so excited he came running in to show me. We went back out and found two more. We only have three chickens left and they all layed their first egg on the same day. We haven't eaten any yet, but are looking forward to the taste of fresh eggs.

This Might Sound a Little Corny. . .

Corn Pickers

We got an email from one of the local food banks saying a seed field had been donated to the food bank. They just needed people to come pick the corn. So we were able to go pick as much corn as we could haul away, keep what we could use and deliver the rest to the food bank. So we went to the field and met lots of other helpers there. The kids had a great time picking the corn and carrying it back to me in their huge bags.

Crazy Fox poses for me like a pro.

Digging Badger only picked the huge ears.

Little Lady was a little concerned she would be lost forever if she lost sight of me.

We had taken a few loads to the car and were just packing up the last of the boxes when a man came up to us and told us nicely that we were in the wrong field. He said the food bank had made a mistake. He told us to take what we had already picked and go. Then he left to go tell the other twenty families that were picking his profits to go home.

My Mini Mr. Fix-Its

We have been looking for a used tag-a-long trailer for Little Lady. We finally found one, but it had a flat tire. The Zookeeper taught Crazy Fox how to patch bike tubes about a month ago and he has had lots of practice already. He took it out to the shop to repair the tube.

Digging Badger decided to take the hand brakes off his scooter.

(They have been sticking and slowing him down).

The tube is all fixed and ready to go back on.

This is what we call discovery learning.

See anything wrong in this picture?

He won't make that mistake again.

Now that the chain is on, Crazy Fox tightens everything up.

One last turn of the wrench and those brakes won't be slowing him down anymore.

Don't worry, he still has the foot brakes.

August in Review

The last few weeks of summer flew by without even an update on "the blog". We were too busy spending our days playing and enjoying each other. We had a lot of fun things to fit in before we started school last week.

We did a lot of this. . .

And this . . .

We had some sleepovers . . .With some puppies . . .

We went fishing in Cascade and Little Lady caught her first fish!And then she caught another one!The boys decided they better check their bait.

We found out that our car was in fact totalled, so we have been looking around for something else. Everything has worked out so far, now we are just looking for something that is a good fit for our family that is also in our budget. So for now, the kids and I are in the commuter kia and the Zookeeper is back to his diesel guzzling work truck.
The Zookeeper took the boys to work with him one day and they enjoyed a great day of fishing and playing in the creek at our neighbor's property.

Little Lady enjoyed a gymnastics class over the summer, but has suddenly decided she doesn't want to go anymore. One less thing to do each week!

Around here the cool evening breeze does not make us think of fall, but football season. The boys started back to football practice a few weeks ago and had their first scrimmage at Boise State. They won, and they are so excited for their next game on Saturday. I made sure the camera battery was charged, but forgot the minor detail of the memory card, so no pictures of that, but here's some of practice.

Digging Badger trying to get past Crazy Fox.

Crazy Fox doing drills with his team mates.

The boys took bowling lessons and did really well. Little Lady joined in a few practice games and has gotten to the point where she is holding the ball with one hand and I would guess has about as good of form as I do.

Our new family mascots from the pond next door. Toad-poles or Tadpoles?And a new litter of kittens.

We started school last week and found out about a campaign to send President Bush "A Thousand Thanks" for all the things he has done during his term as our president. The kids painted these and couldn't believe that they could actually mail them to him. I guess he is sort of a cardboard figure to them right now. It ties in perfectly to our first unit, electing America's leaders. I am hoping to re-learn right along with them.

The kids spent most of their summer hours making memories with each other. I don't think there is a better gift we could have given them.

The tans will fade, but the memories will last forever.

~unknown~

Our New Ride

We got our rental car yesterday.

I was expecting a white Taurus or something similarly bland, but they gave us this .

The Mazda 6

It is sure fun to drive.

Attention Walgreens Shoppers . . .

We were down to our last bottles of shampoo here at the zoo, so I headed out to Walgreen's with my crinkled, but dry coupons in hand.

Last week was another great deal week at Walgreen's

Here's what I got:

6 bottles of body wash

6 bottles of shampoo

7 bottles of conditioner

3 bars of soap

1 bottle of mineral foundation

2 boxes of trashbags

4 lightbulbs

4 bags of chocolate

Total before coupons: $110.27

Total after coupons $34.34

I paid with my Walgreen's gift card from previous rebates so my out of pocket was $0.

I got back $6 in register Rewards and will be getting back $39.10 in rebates.

This week looks like it will be free cereal week.

Check over at moneysavingmom.com to see all the great deals.

Grandma's Chocolate Cake

I always used to make cake from a cake mix. One day when I was feeling quite domestic, I remembered making a cake from scratch with my mom using my Grandma's recipe. This was quite a while ago, but I remembered it being so moist and delicious. So, I made this chocolate cake last month for my chocolate lover friend Farmgirl's birthday. It got rave reviews, so when it was time for me to make dessert again, I thought I would keep a good thing going. Only one problem, my recipe had vanished. Gone. Disappeared.

So I looked in my Betty Crocker cookbook that I always turn to for regular recipes that most of us just open a box to make these days. There was a recipe for chocolate cake, but I knew it wasn't the same. So I went straight to the source. I called my Grandma. She told me she used to make it once a week back when she was making seven lunches every morning. I can't even imagine packing seven lunches every morning. She said she stopped making it because it always boiled over. I have never had that problem, but I always have made it in two round cake pans instead of a 9X13 dish.

So, the recipe has been saved and the finished product was delicious!

Grandma Aldridge's Quick Chocolate Cake

In a saucepan melt

3 squares of unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup butter

Add 1 cup boiling water

Prepare

1 cup sour milk

(milk with a touch of vinegar to make 1 cup, let it sit at least 5 minutes)

In a mixing bowl stir together

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 pinch of salt

To flour mixture add the melted chocolate mixture and milk.

Beat in

2 eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla (or more to taste)

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Thanks for the recipe Grandma!

What a Wreck

That is usually what I say when I walk into the room the kids are currently playing in. But this time I am referring to our car. The kids and I were out on a quick errand. We were driving beside a semi-truck on a rural highway not far from home. We were starting to slow down as we came up to a quaint little town. The truck turned right and out from that street came a green Grand Prix turning left, trying to get out of the truck's way. The only problem was that we were still going straight. It felt like we were in slow motion and I tried to get out of her way, but it could not be done. We slid to a stop on the other side of the highway and caught our breath. All of us were wearing our seat belts and were just a little shaken up. The other driver was fine too. I can't say as much for the two vehicles.

We were getting close to needing new tires anyway.

But the bumper was just fine. I guess we'll need a new one of those now too.

And maybe a few other parts.

I got out and hugged each of my precious children and we said a thankful prayer to God for protecting us. We have so many things to be thankful for. No one was injured. There were no vehicles in the oncoming lanes. No one was sitting in the passanger seat.

Now at this point I was thinking, "What now? I have three kids and two dogs with me, but my cell phone is sitting on my night stand." The police had been called and a nice man who had stopped to make sure everyone was okay let me use his phone call the Zookeeper.

While we waited for the tow truck I gathered the few thing that we had in the car. I found the contents of my coupon box that had been on the front seat opened and scattered onto the floor. That must have happened a split second before my cup of lemonade splashed all over it.

The tow truck came and took our car away and then we got to ride in the police cruiser up to town, so we didn't have to wait on the side of the road. The kids rode in the back seat with the two dogs. I looked back through the bullet proof glass and told them "I never want to see you in the back of a police car again!" They thought that was funny.

Farmgirl arrived just moments later and brought us safely home. (Thank you!)