What's going on 'round here lately

Right now: All the kiddos are eating lunch so I'm taking a minute to blog.

Today: We have some extra little people to keep an eye on for a bit while their Momma gets some things done. I need to go harvest a batch of pole beans and weed some more in the garden. Finish canning the tomatoe sauce that's cooking down in the crock pots. Make sourdough starter since mine died from over the summer hot months neglect. Chicken casserole for supper. Showers and hopefully we'll have time to practice a few songs before bed.

With school: We have finally finished Leviticus and will start Numbers tomorrow. We have started reading through the chapter of Proverbs numbered the same as the date...(today was 28) and reading at least 3 Psalms together before our prayer time in the mornings. The kids are chugging along with all of their schoolwork really great so far. We even got to take a day off and go bowling on Monday!!

The garden: I still have tomatoes producing, pole beans to pick and pumpkins and spaghetti squash and black eyed peas growing.....oops and cayenne peppers. I'm getting ready to turn the dirt on half of it and deep mulch or sheet compost....I haven't decided which yet. I'm trying to plan a bit for spring so I can get better organized than last year. We have a largish space that we want to clear to get ready for next year and I have to clean up all the vines and tomato stakes that are done.

The critters: We have a batch of baby chickens (7) right now and more on the way. We are working on a new chicken coop and yard for larger laying hens and a new coop for the younger bantams. We are getting ready to build a bunny hutch for the rabbit and possibly more for meat rabbits in the future. Plans in the works for bee hives, with hopes to order the bees this spring......yum...honey. I was given a pair of parakeets and we all love them so much!! Troy wants to start raising doves too....he says they are really good eating. Tae wants a goat, but I'm not sure about that one yet....it's totally doable but expensive.

In the kitchen: We picked 4 gallons of grapes on Tuesday and made 3 gallons of juice for jelly and a quart of concentrated juice for medicine yesterday. We processed 4 gallons of tomatoes to make sauce with yesterday ....they are cooking down in the crock pots right now.

In the planning stages: Fred and I are sorting all the old clothing and stuff to harvest the buttons and zippers and fabric for quilts. The boys are planning their forts and tree houses for building in the cooler days. We are waiting for the woods critters and snakes to go to sleep so we can blaze a trail to the back of the property where the old preaching shed was and rebuild it so the fellas have a prayer shack. We're in the middle of trying to get the screened garage cleaned out and rearranged so we can seal it up and use the kerosene heater to keep warm for school out there this winter. Replacing the heater cores in the Jeep and the Suburban before it gets too much colder.....heat is important to me!

When we get the extra time: Cull through the kids stuff....they have stuff that they never use anymore. Trade the Ibanez 6 string for an acoustic guitar for Jared to use. Get the neighbors keyboard that they are loaning Fred so she can practice. Troy wants to find an affordable autoharp ( he wants me to learn to play....hahahaha). Make quilts (ours are worn to shreds) and sew some warm skirts for winter. Sight in and clean all of the guns around here. Clean out the nooks and crannies in the house cuz it's fall and that's what ya do in the fall....then winterize so we don't fork out any more than we have to for fuel oil. And I need to figure out how to permanently kill off all of the nightshade that just keeps on coming back out in the garden!!

We seem to always have plenty to do and keep busy with and every time I turn around there's more to do.....that's a good thing though. Like you always tell me Willie....if you have things to do then you have things to be thankful for!! We are so blessed!!! Ya'll have a good day....I'm off to tend my blessings.