Fall is here

I know it looks like I fell off the face of the earth but I didn't. We went on our big trip up north and when we got back we hit the ground running. There has been school planning, firewood cutting, house rearranging and organizing and the never ending laundry pile. Then there was the matter of the almost 600 ears of corn that were gifted to us. Talk about a busy summer!

I tend to do my writing when the kids do theirs for school. Since summer arrived late here in the Pacific Northwest we decided to start school a few weeks later than the public schools. We have been taking advantage of the nice weather to get our firewood prepped and canning finished.

We opted to have a log truck deliver a load of firewood to my husband's mother's property. It will come out less money wise in the end to purchase it this way and her property has a much larger driveway than we have to give us room to cut it up.

Steve has been faithfully spending his free time working away at the pile and Nathaniel has been working along side sorting big pieces from little pieces. Big pieces stay there to be cut again and small ones that are ready to be split get stacked in the back of the truck.

It has been a family affair though Steve and Nathaniel have been doing the lion's share of the work. Splitting has started over at our house and the first stack has been moved into the new covered area that Steve built behind our garden shed. More pics and stories to come!

Headed North

We found a great little resort/campground in Northern Idaho to stay at for our first night.

It has a giant chess set that was alot of fun for our kids to play with while we are were unwinding from the long drive.

The pieces were huge though they were made of plastic so still easy for all of them to move.

We are having lots of fun and can't wait to see what else is in store for us up North!

Run, kids, run! We still have a few more hours to travel tomorrow.

Where have we been?

It has been one wild and crazy summer so far. It was late to arrive so now we are trying to cram everything in while the sun is shining. We have been to the lake, made icecream several times, continued junior high youth, bought three storage units, had a garage sale and now to top it all off we are headed to Canada. We are in full swing of the final preperations. The trailer is getting packed, clothing is getting organized, house is getting clean and lists have been made and re-made. I am working on some posts about how we are organizing for seven people for a road trip. Things like how we will save on meals, pack our stuff and keep five kids busy for the long ride north. We are all excited to see new landscape and have some fun on the road. Stay tuned!

The internet is our friend

We are in the final stages of getting ready for a really big trip to Canada. We are towing our trailer and safety requires us to install a special trailer brake. Installing said trailer brake will reduce the amount that our vehicle will have to stop the trailer if you wondered.

We had received a quote of $300 to have one installed. Steve decided before scheduling it he would see if he could look online and see how hard it would be to do it himself. He found a 4 minute real time video. 4 minutes, people.  

Long story short, $98.50 later and we have our trailer brake installed.

Then a few days later the resistor that controls the blower fan up front went out. That meant no AC up front. That meant a hot momma. That meant trouble. Enter more videos. One ten minute video and $54.99 and we had a fixed fan. Yay, internet and Steve!!!

Food, folks and fun

We cooked up the beans last night and it was fantastic. Boil snapped beans for 20 minutes, add the new potatoes and bacon then boil for another 20 minutes or so. Perfection.

I also made a cucumber/corn/tomato salad. It was so fresh and screamed summer.

We invited my husband's sister and her husband. We wined (iced tea) and dined. The kids were throwing the football around the yard while we visited as the sun was going down.

I have been craving corn on the cob and found it 5 for $1 this weekend. I'm pretty sure we haven't seen that price in a few years. It did not disappoint.

Grilled pork rounded out the meal as our protein. Dinner on the deck as the sun went down proved to be so much fun. Life gets so busy and we often forget to stop and enjoy the simpler things in life. It doesn't take much to make the every day feel special. Last night it was a colorful tablecloth and summer foods on the table on the deck. Love it.

Garden Update

We picked up some new potatoes at the farmer's market last week. The plan was to boil them this week with some green beans we canned last year as well as with some yummy bacon.

I was ecstatic when I went out to the garden this morning and found that the plants were ready for the first small picking. Fresh green beans tonight!!! 

Someone was having a hard time waiting for dinner. Can you blame him?

The garden has been doing really well despite the lack of sun we have had this year.

Can you see that little pickling cucumber? I could be pickling very, very soon. 

It appears we have a little stowaway. 

Is it my imagination or is that tomato turning orange? There is no better food to me than a plate of sliced, fresh garden tomatoes. I love summer!

Weeknight Entertainment

We have some options for entertainment around here. Our kids just by themselves make us laugh alot.

Whether playing the guitar or cards, there really is not a shortage of things to do.

How are those hands looking, girls???

Last week the kids decided they wanted to come up with something different to do.

Enter any loose items that could be moved to make an obstacle wall.

We have varying degrees of skill level in our family.

More effort was required from some family members.

Way to clear the hurdle, Ellie!



Man, that boy can jump and barefoot, too. He prefers it that way. I can safely say he did not get that ability from this mom.