Pumpkin carving

We finally got around to carving our pumpkins this year. Aaron's is on the left and he did all but the last inch or so of his mouth by himself. Deborah's is on the right. She told me what to carve.

Stephen designed the tiger pumpkin on the left, but had me carve it. Nathan had me help with the design but he did most of the carving himself. He left some of the stringy pulp inside the pumpkin since he said that it made the spider's web look better.

Apple Farm Field trip

This Monday, we went on a field trip with our local homeschooling group. We went to a nearby apple farm. It was a windy day, but sunny. The children learned about the nutrition of apples this year (last year it was Johnny Appleseed).

Nathan got to play the "apple wheel". All the letters were there and each said something about apples.

The children learned about sorting apples and used an old fashioned cider press.

We got cider and donuts at the end of our tour. And their donuts are the best!

The piano is here!

Our piano is here! My dh and Nathan and a friend and his son went to pick it up. It was fairly easy to get it out of the seller's house (as easy as moving a 400# piano can be). Then they drove it through light drizzle to our house and went to the back of the house. To get it in the basement, we decided to lower it in the window well and take it in through the large windows in the basement. To get it down in the window well, we used the tractor.

My dh beginning "his pick".

Expertly lifted, don't you think?

The rain held off and we were able to move the piano without having to wrap it in tarps.

Here is the piano positioned near the window well. Now my dh expertly designed our large window well in such a way that we could get large objects in and out of the windows to the basement and that planning paid off in a big way in getting the piano downstairs. The piano and the piano dolly we used fit in the window well with just a few inches all around to spare.

We're beginning to lower the piano down into the window well. I wish I had more pictures of the actual lowering but I had to help guide the piano so it didn't break the window.

We got it down into the well and put it on two boards. Then we rolled it onto the ramps and into the basement.

The final result!

By the way, when the boys weren't helping us, they made up a new game. They tried to catch falling leaves before the leaves touched the ground.

Apple peeling fun

The boys were helping me peel some apples using the apple peeler gizmo. They quickly invented this great game where two boys would hold the long apple peel and the third would bite it in half.

Fishy, Fishy, Fishy, Fish

Thursday was our first day of class at Nature Center. The children learned about fish. This is Deborah's first time as an actual student. Aaron was very kind to her and showed her what to do.


They are learning about the aerodynamics of fish in this exercise.

At the end of the class, they got to make up a fish of their own.

Fun in the Corn

While Grandma and Grandpa were here, we went to a local pumpkin patch/corn maze place. It had a great corn maze. It took us almost an hour to find all the posts and to find the exit out!


Plus they had bouncy blowup toys!

And a 55 gallon drum pull behind wagon ride.

And silly boards to pose behind.

And tons of pumpkins!

Another 20th anniversary trip

My dh took me on another anniversary trip this past week. He took me up to the Leelanau Pennisula on a winery tour. There are about 20 wineries up there now. My parents watched the children for us. We had two good days of weather and thoroughly enjoyed the color and the wine.

One of the first wineries we visited had their tasting room in a converted chicken coop. Some coop, isn't it?

The fall colors were just at their peak when we were there and I took many pictures trying to capture the color.

The next two pictures show Lake Leelanau in the background.

The second day we were there, we took a hike along the Whaleback trail.

It took us over the ridge (the whaleback) and from the end of the trail, we could see Lake Michigan.

Fall, Food, and Fire

I finished the apple butter the day after the applesauce marathon. This recipe didn't use as much sugar as last year's version. I'm interested in tasting it in about February to see if it is better than last year's. I'm on a quest to find the best applebutter recipe.

Betsy asked for a picture of my pantry when I was done canning. Here you are Betsy. Imagine that the applesauce continues onto the left for about 2 feet and the tomatoes and green beans continue onto the right for about 2 feet. The shoebox is full of shallots and the ice cube container has small onions. The dried food is in the opaque-like plastic boxes.

We had our first bonfire of the fall season and invited several families from church over to enjoy it.

I made a pot of hot chocolate which was enjoyed by all the children.

Applesauce Marathon

Applesauce Day was today. I started right after breakfast. So by 8 am, I had the first batch of apples washed and in the electric cooker, the crockpot, and an 8 qt pan on the stove.

I cooked all morning, running up between lessons and grading tests to take out cooked apples and put fresh apples back in. I finished cooking 2 1/2 bushels of apples around 1:15 pm.

Usually applesauce takes me two days. One to cook and run it through my mill and another to can it. I got done cooking the apples early enough that I thought perhaps I could get it all done before midnight. Nathan came through the kitchen, saw me set up the mill, and offered to help. He was a great help and we went through those apples much faster than if I had done it by myself. Needless to say, we did not have school in the afternoon.

I filled my electric cooker with the applesauce and added sugar to taste.

Aaron saw Nathan helping and wanted to take his turn at the mill.

At 3:15 we were done milling the applesauce. Notice the thin film of applesauce over every surface, every utensil, every bowl? That is why I do the marathon - only one clean up! Try as you might, you just can't keep the kitchen clean making applesauce.

At 3:40 pm, I put the first batch of applesauce into the canner. I had three more in the canner when I took this picture. I plan to head to bed as soon as I get those three out but I wanted you to see the (almost) final result.

Last batch was finished at 10:00 pm. The crockpot has applebutter in it. I'll cook it all night, then put more applesauce (in fridge) and sugar in it, cook it some more, and hopefully can it tomorrow. Whew! I am tired, but not near as tired as I would have been without the boys' help.

Isn't America Great?

This past Saturday we went to a local tractor show. A tractor show has tons of old tractors, tractor pulls, and lots of old iron stuff and "treasure" for sale.

They also had a working windmill there which really pumped out water.

The tractor show was also next to a model airplane field. We walked down there and talked to the men there. They flew their airplanes for the children.

And they also had a garden tractor pull! Isn't America a great place? Where else can you see souped up garden tractors pull weights with a American flag on it?