Sigh, summer is over and so are our summertime adventures.

They're all getting older and growing up and it's all so exciting and sad at the same time.

Love my munchkins so much!!!

He was way more excited then this picture shows, don't let him fool you.

All the kids were up, dressed and had eaten breakfast before 7:15am.

Believe, they were excited. :)

I'm biased, but I think they're all adorable!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas.

This past Sunday we all helped put up & decorate the family Christmas tree.

Carlie testing the lights to make sure they taste good.

Daddy stringing lights on the tree.

Ethan putting the tree topper on.

The tree all lit up.

All the tree decorators.  One not so happy to be in the picture.

And that's all the pictures Carlie wants to take.

Kalin demonstrating how to wear your Christmas stockings.

*pics taken 12/1/2013

Canning

Here are a few pictures of what I canned this summer.

This was the first time I've ever canned peaches & they were a lot of work, but they are oh so good!!!

This is what I made with the peach skins--Peach Honey.  Here is the link to this awesome recipe by Gertrude Buchanan.

This was also the first time I canned pears & after all the peaches I canned, it was nice to have help from Matthew and the kids.  It sure went a lot faster with help.

I kept the skins from the pears as well and made yummy pear honey using the same recipe as the peach honey.  All I can say about all this honey is yum, yum, yum!  It's divine on toasted honey whole wheat bread.

This is the first year I grew pickling cucumbers & my plant took forever to grow cucumbers, so I only got 3 jars of dill pickles.  I think Matthew is waiting to open them because he knows he only has 3 jars & he'd probably eat an entire jar at one sitting. :)  

We have raspberry bushes that provide lots and lots of raspberries, so I was able to make enough jelly to get us through the entire year & I still have a little raspberry juice in the freezer.

*pics taken 10/19/13

Halloween 2013

This is Dracula's wife.

She's got some cool glow in the dark teeth.

Me, I'm a witch like every other year. :)

This is our little pumpkin.  She left the hood on long enough for the picture and that was it.

Ethan went trick or treating as himself.

Carlie and I went trick or treating with the family for about two blocks then we went home.  My hands were just too cold.  It was sprinkling the entire time we were out, but luckily Carlie was in a jogger stroller, nice and warm with her blankets.  Her siblings were nice enough to share candy with her.

Lexi dressed up as a witch again and I didn't seem to get a picture, but this is her after taking a warm bath & drinking hot cocoa.  Look at all that candy mommy gets to eat. ;)

Ethan ate a lot of candy as he was trick or treating and it looks like the sugar has finally gone to his head.

This is our candy monster.  She loves to eat candy.  Can you tell?

*pics taken 10/31/13

Carving & Decorating Pumpkins

Last night for FHE we carved and decorated pumpkins and it was so much fun.

Well, Carlie was having fun until it was time to take a picture.

She didn't carve anything, but she had a great time drawing on paper and touching pumpkin guck.

The pumpkin on the left we decided to carve on it's side because it would stand up.  It worked out perfectly to use the stem as a nose.  Ethan and I carved this pumpkin.  The pumpkin on the right Kalin designed & carved all by herself.  It's a cute pirate pumpkin.

This cute witch is the pumpkin Lexi received from school to enter in a contest at school.

Thanks to Daddy's help, this pumpkin has a cool witch's nose.

This is Lexi before school on crazy hair pj day.

This is the pumpkin that Ethan carved for the pumpkin carving contest at his school.  It is his own design with a little help from his dad.

*pics taken  10/23/13, 10/28/13 & 10/29/13

Finally, A Shed To Put Everything In

Matthew and I build this foundation for the shed and we put the shed up together.

It was a long process and we're so glad it's done.

Click here to see the full blog post on this project.

*pics taken 9/17/2013

Carlie Talking

I just think it's hilarious that our little one knows how to use the ipad.

*video taken 9/8/2013

Shooting

We decided to go shooting on labor day with Jessie, Barry and our kids & it was a lot of fun.

This is Kalin shooting with her dad.

  

Matthew and I went shooting together in Aug. when the kids were in school.  We decided to throw clay pigeons with a hand thrower.  Well, let's just say that Matthew ended up throwing them himself because all I could seem to do was throw them at him or not at all.  That is one talent that I don't have--throwing clay pigeons.  To top that off, I got this lovely burn when one of the 9mm shells popped up and got stuck into the side of my sunglasses & burned my face.  Lovely.  So much for eye protection.  It may not seem like we had a great time shooting, but we actually had a lot of fun, laughing and all.

*pics taken 8/29/2013 & 9/2/2013

Carlie's First Double Pigtails

Here is our little cutie with her first double pigtails.

I couldn't get her to stand still and my phone camera does not take great pictures, so you can just imagine that the pigtail looks the same on the other side of her head. ;)

*pics taken  9/1/2013

Sunflowers

Ethan loves sunflowers, so for the last two years we've grown them in the backyard where our yard is still waiting for some landscaping.

This year they grew even taller then last year, but unfortunately they couldn't handle the strong winds where we live and many of them were knocked over or broken in half.

Here are some pics of Ethan and I showing just how tall they are.

* pics taken 9/6/13