Playing Catch-Up

Ahh, apples
Command Central
First foray into canning
So proud of my 4 qts of applesauce. Yes, I know there are only four. Baby steps, right?
Goodbye beautiful fall weather


First of all, we found our camera! Normally when things go missing I don't panic because they tend to show up. However, the camera was gone for a couple weeks. Granted we didn't do an exhaustive search for it. Yesterday Nate pulled out a coat he hasn't worn in awhile and voila- there was the camera! I'm glad we found it, but I was getting a little excited about the idea of buying a new camera. :)

Nate is now studying for a big engineering exam on the 28th. He had 7 days off in a row so he took the camper to a local campground. He came home for meals, carpool, etc but spent as much time as he could out there studying. This was a win-win because he got a quiet place to study and he got his camping fix. And I didn't have to camp in the cold!

Before Nate went camping we had 2 weeks of beautiful, warm weather. It was so awesome. And it was a great way to end our fall soccer season! We really did have a good group of boys. They listened pretty well and didn't play mean on the field. We'll start up again in the spring and I am glad for a little break!

The kids are all healthy right now. And somehow I avoided the last cold that went thru our house. Oh, here is a little story about how God works all things for good. :) Caleb had a field trip this morning. Nate was going to meet the class at the nature center not at school. Halfway thru the morning it hit me that Caleb didn't have a booster seat at school so they wouldn't let him ride in someone else's car! Now Nate had just woken up and I pretty much asked him to leave for school in 10 minutes so Caleb would have a booster seat. Being the great Dad that he is, he headed to school. (Remember, we live 25 minutes away from school.) When he arrived the teacher was so glad to see him because they didn't have enough drivers for the field trip. So, see my memory lapse was really a good thing! Can I just say sometimes I feel like my brain is going to explode with the amount of details I keep track of? :)

Which leads to our new "command center." We don't really call it that, I just don't know what to call it. I quickly became tired of the younger two kids always asking me, "what are we doing today? can we watch a video? what are we doing next? can we watch a video? where are we going?" So I made up the schedule. I realize they can't read, but we go over it in the morning and it's easy for me to say, "when do we watch a video? that's right, after supper." And don't ask me again! I don't really say that, I just think it. We also started the chore chart. The kids have had chores for awhile, but we felt like we needed a way for them to earn money. The idea of giving an allowance for no reason just doesn't make alot of sense to us. So the kids have required chores because we're a family and we all have jobs to do. Then they have allowance chores. We're also going to set up 3 jars for each of them. A giving/tithing jar, a savings jar and a spending jar. We'll see how this new endeavor works!

Today I canned for the first time! I have never canned because I thought I needed a canner, but apparently you don't! A cookbook I have (Family Feasts for $75 a Week) inspired me to use the equipment I have. I make applesauce and freeze it every year and I have to say that is much faster than canning applesauce. However, this was my first attempt and I imagine it would go faster the more I did it. I have fond memories of my Mom canning peaches. Maybe next summer I'll do more canning, anyone want to buy me a canner? :)

I'm looking forward to the upcoming weekend. Tomorrow I am going away for a Mommy mental health day. Nate worked alot the past month and now he is studying alot. He was sweet enough to realize that it has taken a toll on me. Let's just say I feel like I am angry Mommy too much these days. I'm going to spend the night in a hotel, hopefully sleep in, do some reading, maybe exercise and do a little shopping. Then on Saturday night we have our Calvin 10 year reunion. Tim and Jenny are coming to watch the kids (and spend the night) so we a) don't have to pay a sitter b) we don't have to rush home and c) the kids get to hang out with their uncle and aunt- a win for everyone! It will be fun to connect with people we've lost touch with and also hang out with our good friends.

So, I think we're all caught up now!