Catch Up - Month of November

Life for us has become very busy with lots of little things so here is a quick update on what we were up to during November.

Andrew absolutely loved being able to play in the leaves. He was a great help raking up the many, many leaves that fell onto our lawn. This was a another new home experience for all of us, as in our previous home we only had one very small tree and we just allowed the leaves to blow away. We were thankful for good weather during the clean-up time.

Todd has always changed the oil in our cars as a simple way to save money. This fall when he had to do both of our vehicles on the same day, Andrew really took notice. He insisted on taking care of his car next.

The temperatures took a major dip down during the month and so I had to get creative with different places and activities to go/do with Andrew. One very chilly day he was begging to go to the zoo to see animals so we made a trip to our local Pet Smart. He loved walking around looking at their birds, gerbils, hamsters, fish, etc. He also loved looking at the cats that the local Animal Rescue League has at the store for adoption.

We rounded out the month by enjoying Thanksgiving with our families. Great times with all of our families and so much to be thankful for.

Happy 30th Birthday!

This year was a special year for Todd, he turned 30! I took the opportunity to throw him a birthday party with friends and family to celebrate.

Most of the time Todd is too smart for his own good, so my goal was to keep it a surprise for as long as possible and it was almost a success (he didn't get suspicious until about the day of).

It was an interesting time trying to keep this all a secret but a lot of fun all in the same. Andrew was such a trooper through the many trips to different stores to get all of the supplies. He quickly picked up on saying Happy Birthday Daddy too which made it extra fun. He kept repeating it over and over during this whole time.

A big thanks to our brother-in-law who took him to play disc golf to get him out of the house, to my sister who made yummy cupcakes, and to my other sister and brother-in-law for lending out their house as storage and cooking center, I couldn't have done it without them!

It was a great time celebrating with friends and family, and I think he enjoyed it!

Harvest Time - Another Farmer in the Family

This year we had proof that farming truly does run in your blood. I never would have guessed that our little toddler would sit in such a confined space for a long time and be so content.

We were able to go back to Todd's parent's home and help with the corn harvest for three days. Each day Andrew and I went and joined Todd in the combine for at least a hour and a half. Andrew loved watching the corn go into the combine and then come back out. After those three days he can tell any one the process...

Combine...Tank...Auger...Wagon...Auger...Bin

His favorite part was to watch the guys unload while running. He would stand in awe as he could watch corn continually going into the combine and out into the wagons all at the same time. My favorite part was when he could see the corn going down in the back window he would excitedly wave and say "Bye Bye Corn!".

 My Farmers

(Can't get over how much they look alike in this picture)

I think that how quickly he picked up on the process and his love of helping with the work made both daddy and grandpa proud. Especially when he announced that he wanted to be a farmer too. (And he has not stopped playing with his farm toys since we got home, going through the whole process of course)

Farming is hard work though...so he quickly discovered that the combine was a good place to take a nap.

We always enjoy going and helping out with harvest but the most rewarding part is the beauty. How the sun hits the golden corn plants is just beautiful and I can never get enough of it.

Before we left I really wanted a picture of us in the corn field, I was worried that it wouldn't happen because of some rain that came through but the weather ended up being perfect the morning before we left.

 

New Adventure: Canning

Earlier I wrote about some apple picking that we did at Todd's parent's acreage, well this one is about the results of all those apples.

From the two full boxes of apples here is what we got...

- 15 Pint Jars of Applesauce
- 6 Quart Jars of Apple Pie Filling (one per pie)
- 6 Pint Jars of Apple Pie Filling (we use this in a pork chop recipe)
- 11 Half Pint Jars of Apple Butter (plus whatever was eaten right away)
- 6 Half Pint Jars of Apple Jelly
- 7 Half Pint Jars of Carmel Apple Jelly

Our take from the process, these cupboards in the basement may

have officially become our canning cupboards.

This doesn't count the two apple crisps that were made or the batch of apple bread that was made as well. 

Wow it was a lot of apples and a lot of work but oh so worth it. I figured it out that the six pint jars of apple pie filling for our pork chop recipe will alone save us over $17.00. 

So I guess I had a lot of fun with all the apples because shortly after we were done with apples, pears went on a really good sale at the grocery store and I walked out with about 15 pounds of them. My boys love pears so I though this would be a great way that they can eat pears for a while even though I know it won't last until they are back in season again. From those 15 pounds I was able to get 10 jars of quartered pears in a very, very light syrup.

 
Yes it was a lot of work but very rewarding, I have already saved off the recipies that we used so that we can do it again next year. Come on another good year for apples!

A Broken Habit

Ever since Andrew was a very little guy he has favored sucking on his thumb for comfort. He never did it constantly, mainly only when he was either tired or nervous (he often gets nervous in strange surroundings and especially when people he doesn't know talk to him). And when I said thumb, I mean thumb; he only ever sucked on his left thumb. With that he quickly developed a large callous on the top.

A few months ago he started his teeth started bothering him and he rotated how he sucked on his thumb. In doing this he started to create a new callous on the pad of his thumb. not to far into that he ended up cutting his thumb with his teeth. This caused him pain every time he went to suck on it.

Todd and I had been discussing how we were going to get him to break this habit shortly before and God blessed us with this "easy way" out, granted neither of liked that our little guy was in pain during it. So we took the opportunity and ran with it. We told him every time he tried to suck on it that it was giving him ouchies and within a couple of days there were no issues. Bedtime was tear free within those couple of days and naptime followed a few days after (this is when he used his thumb the most).

We are so thankful for this habit being broken and his thumb is healing very nicely.

My view during snuggle time has become even more precious.
But I will miss it a little, since he looks even more like a big boy now.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We are so blessed to have a wonderful and free little pumpkin patch just outside of town, it is perfect for quick morning getaways and can entertain little ones for at least a couple of hours. And better yet they added more this year!

Our first trip out there we got to enjoy with my sister and her husband (truth is they wanted to borrow our son so they didn't feel silly going to the pumpkin patch:) but no worries he adores them). Here are some pictures from that day.

Being Uncle Neal's big helper.

Loving the corn pit.

 

 Our take for the day. And yes the big tall pumpkin weighs almost as much as Andrew, 

but I just had to have it.

The next time that we went we were blessed to go with a friend of mine and her wonderful four kids. She has been such a blessing to me as our friendship grows and it is so much fun to watch our kids play together.

 My fiend's oldest boy taught him how to swim in the corn,

now he swims everywhere, especially in the bathtub.

 

Running through the hay bale "maze" - it was a simple U shape 

made for little kids, but still great fun. 

Lastly we got to join my other sister and her kids at a pumpkin patch near where we grew up while we were there helping with harvest. He could have stayed there all day too but it was very very chilly that day.

 Running through the corn maze,

on the hunt for his cousins

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year and adding in the fun of pumpkin patches makes it even better. Sadly our weather has taken a turn for the cold so our pumpkin patch trips may be done for the year.

Choosing Joy, Much More than Happiness

I was very convicted yesterday morning at my women's Bible study. We were all asked this question in our workbook...What are the things that steal joy from you? I quickly answered it with some typical answers that a lot of people would come up with...crabby child, not being able to finish projects, interruptions, etc.

A friend in my small group quickly challenged me after discussing what I had written down, I don't think it was meant as a direct challenge to me but I definitely needed to hear it. She said that nothing outside of ourselves can steal our joy. Whether I still have joy is dependent on how I decide to react to the situations going on around me. Wow did I need to hear that reminder!

There have been a lot of times in the past few weeks that I have allowed the situations that surround me to affect me to a level that I allow my joy to slip away. These situations probably would have made any person unhappy, I mean who really is going to be happy when their toddler woke up in the middle of the night for an hour or so and then decided he would be up and ready for the day at 5:30, but I allowed his crabbiness and my tiredness to steal my joy away that day.

Romans 5:3-4 "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation."

My study Bible describes this verse with these words...Joy comes in knowing that no matter what happens God will use everything for our ultimate good. I have been challenged to put a large defining line between Joy and Happiness. Situations are going to arise that aren't going to make me happy but I don't have to let them steal my joy.

I have chosen to take steps on those not so happy days to change my surroundings to strengthen the joy inside of me. But greater than that I have decided to hide these verses in my heart so I have a constant reminder to choose joy.

Psalm 118:24 says "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

Philippians 4:4 says "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice!"

Having happiness is dependent on feelings and surroundings, but having joy is a choice. This is a choice that I have to make every day and I will strive to say yes to joy every single day.

 

I chose to prevent any stealing of joy today after a late night and a early morning...

A trip to a near by pond, Andrew was so excited to see all the dragonflies at the water's edge

and to search for fish and frogs in the water.

A very enjoyable morning with my little man.