I got to spend some quality time with just my girls today.  We didn't have an agenda other than to grab a few items at Wal-mart.   It was nice to get to eat lunch and have some good girl talk with them.  After we ate we decided to run into Good Will to look for Morgan some blue jeans.  We found her blue jeans and decided to linger a little longer and look through the houseware section.  I don't know how long we were there, but we had a great time.  We found a few Christmas decorations, a twig basket, ten cloth napkins from Pier 1, a drinking jar w/ a matching canister all for twelve dollars.  It was so nice to go treasure hunting with Lauren and Morgan and see the things they picked out -- definitely different tastes.  It also brought up fond memories of my Granny as we would see things that she used to have.  The girls are definitely growing up, but it's a nice change.  I don't just consider them my children anymore, they're also my friends.  I love that they actually want to spend time with me.  Thank you Lord for blessing me with such wonderful, caring, thoughtful daughters!

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Jeff and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary on Monday, September 14th.  Just because I asked him to, he took a day off work so that we could spend the whole day together.  I also asked that he choose what we would do that day.  He chose to head out of town with no particular destination in mind.  So, we went exploring the countryside.  Our first stop was at the Medora Covered Bridge, also known as the Dark Bridge.  It was built in 1875 and is the longest covered bridge still standing in the United States.  It was a little scary walking across all 458 feet of it --- for me anyway.  I can see why it was called the Dark Bridge.  After leaving the bridge we headed to the village of Nashville and walked around the shops there for a while.  We usually don't exchange gifts on our anniversary, but we couldn't resist buying ourselves a pair of handmade mugs made by a local couple.   We had a great time and the drive there was worth the trip by itself. 

And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help mate for him.  And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her to the man.  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh:  she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife:  and they shall be one flesh.     

Genesis 2:18, 21-24

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It's been a good while since I've written on here, but I've been enjoying the summer with my family.  I've been able to be awake for it this year.  For those that don't know---for the past two previous summers I've had a horrible body rash that kept me awake at night and would finally get so bad that I had to take Benadryl around the clock, day and night, which left me needless to say--out of it.  But not so this summer, I've been rash and Benadryl free---it's been wonderful!  Our summer wasn't too eventful, but we had a few things going on....

June's highlights:

• aquiring and taking care of 32 baby chicks and 10 baby guineas (we lost three of our guineas-two were due to sickness and one was snatched in broad daylight by something)      
• finishing up school
• trip to Holiday World and Splashin' Safari
• art classes once a week for Morgan and David (ended in mid-July)
• going without TV after the digital switch (still loving it)
• Father's Day celebration for Jeff
• picking and freezing over 100 cups of blueberries
• Andrew and David taking turns working with their daddy (continued throughout the whole summer)
• Lauren continued to volunteer at the senior center's monthly breakfast all summer (she's made quiet an impression on them)
• hours and hours spent making plans for Lauren's upcoming graduation in 2010---We have her diploma, announcments, name cards, and etc. all picked out.  We've also planned a family vacation for her graduation---the destination was Lauren's choice.  We've never actually gone on a family vacation just the six of us unless it was to visit family here or there, so we're all excited about it. 
• LOTS of homemade ice cream in the evenings!

chicks and keets on June 4th

chickens as they look now

and a guinea

July's highlights:

• my mom's news that she's cancer free, Praise God!!!
• days spent seasoning iron skillets that I've had for nine years and never touched before, and reseasoning a skillet that belonged to my Granny and another one that belonged to Jeff's great-aunt Rene.  Then I decided to buy a pre-seasoned 17 inch skillet to use in the oven for cooking bacon (it's 12 lbs. and a good little workout to lift it in and out of the oven repeatedly)
• picking apples, then making lots of apple butter and a few apple pies (I'm not done yet either)
• I taught Lauren how to make biscuits, much to David's pleasure
• days spent pouring over school books and making lesson plans for the new school year
• 1/2 a day power outage that had me a nervous wreck thinking I'd lose the apple butter I'd just made and put in the deep freezer (that was a highlight to me anyway)
• More homemade ice cream!

yummy apples on the trees behind the house

    my homemade apple butter --delicious!

   homemade apple crumb pie in the making

 putting the crumb topping on

the finished product---it's not very pretty, but it sure did taste good

 August, so far, highlights:

• vegetables,vegetables, vegetables---delicious and homegrown---given to us by our neighbors
• first week of school completed---smooth sailing so far!
• waking this morning to Andrew's dog Zeus baying at a coon in one of the apple trees right behind the house---Jeff shot and killed it without the girls even waking (it was right outside their window too).  He debated whether or not to shoot it (I think he hated to do it), but in the end we had to think of our future egg layers.

A few samples of God's glorious bounty given to us:

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 the raccoon---the reason for all the racket and chaos early this morning

Zeus posing with "his" raccoon

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David, the youngest, turned 13 today.  My--how time does fly!

David at 7 months old

David at 1 year old

David at 16 months old

David at 18 months old

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Daffodils in the field below the old house --- old barn in the background.

David with Hera and Zeus.

(Notice his shaved head--I got too close trying to save some curls when I buzzed him and had to go shorter than usual.)

The three beasts---Hera, Mae Belle, and Zeus.

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 Well, it's finally happened.  Andrew is taller than his daddy---by about half an inch. 

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Friday --- Not much went on.  The kids did their school work.   Andrew was feeling better and started making up his missed work.  After school we finished watching the movie I Am David.  A very good movie, by the way.  Later on in the evening, Lauren and I fixed stir fry for supper.  Yum!

Saturday --- It snowed!  Only an inch though.  Even though it was a small amount, it was still pretty to look at.  We stayed in and made homemade pancakes from scratch so that we could try our pure maple syrup made by an Amish man a few miles down the road.  It was absolutely delicious!  We basically spent the rest of the day recovering from our breakfast. 

Today/Sunday --- Went to church this morning.  We'd never been to this particular one before.  After eating lunch with a family from the church, we went to explore a little town that has all our favorite grocery and farm supply stores.  The town is smaller than where I'd been going shopping.  I get so tired of fighting the traffic.  I thought this other town might be a nice change of pace.  What we saw of it we liked, so I think we'll be going back. 

I took these pictures after we got home today.

David playing his mandolin

Andrew playing his guitar

Jeff pickin' while Morgan sings "Simple Love" (by Alison Krauss)

I caught Lauren hiding out and talking on the phone during their pickin' session.

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I'd use it too if I wasn't out.  Andrew has been sick today.  Nothing too major, just sinus problems and a low-grade fever with minor body aches.  It was enough to knock him out of school today.  He did manage to do a spelling test and finish more than today's literature reading for American history.  He just started In His Steps by Charles M. Sheldon.  I think he's enjoying it.  It's a very good book.  With him being sick he won't be going to Community Bible Study or worldview class tomorrow.  He thought he might feel like going, but I told him he had to be well for at least 24 hours before going around other people.  I wouldn't want to be accused of knowingly infecting other people, when I can't stand it when sick people get out and infect others.  That's a major pet peeve of mine. 

So, at least I can be lazier than usual for a Thursday.  I do have to get out and run to the grocery store tomorrow after Jeff gets home.  It's been two weeks since I went and our cupboards are getting pretty bare.  I've been trying to stretch my trips to town for shopping to every other week.  So far it's working out, I just have to make sure and check the dates on the milk so it won't ruin before we use it up.  Thank the Lord for two refrigerators or I'd never have the room for that much milk. 

I think Andrew has finally fallen asleep.  I've been staying up blogging while waiting on him to go to sleep.  He's sleeping on the couch so he won't infect David any more than he has to.  Well, I think it's my turn to get in the bed now.  Jeff will be waking me up at 5 a.m. in the morning.  I pretty sure I'm going to need a nap before I go shopping tomorrow.

Larissa

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Andrew wanted his own blog too.  Go to www.homeschoolblogger.com/annodomini or click on Drew under Friends to see his blog.

Larissa

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  Well, Lauren has left me all alone here.  Not really, she just decided she would like to have her own blog.  I guess that means I'll have to post more often since I won't have her to help me.  Check out Lauren's blog at www.homeschoolblogger.com/borncountry, or you can just cllick on Lauree under my friends column just to your right. It'll take you there too.

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