My Fall Display

A couple weeks ago I decided to put out a fall arrangement - it is getting to be that time of year. I moved a couple things around and put this bar near the back door. I put on some field corn, gourds, a small pumpkin and as the children and I walk in the morning we have picked up pretty leaves, nuts, acorns, etc to add to it. I figured a squirrel would find it and eat the corn. About 3 or 4 days after putting it out, the corn started to disappear. But it wasn't a squirrel - it is chipmunks! And not only are they eating the corn, but the nuts and acorns are disappearing also.

The kids have really taken an interest in them and watch them when they notice the activity. Look how full those cheeks are!

This morning there were two of them eating - I tried to get a picture of the two together, but it was like they were tag-teaming. One would jump up and the other would jump down - they were really quick about it.

Campfire

We had a campfire Saturday night when Michelle stopped to get Connor. It has been quite awhile since we have had a campfire in the backyard. And, of course, a campfire means s'mores, and the Peters are very serious about toasting marshmallows as you will see.

Connor was just taking it easy after his busy day - he had a full day at the apple orchare. He was very excited to see Mom, brother and sister. He really misses Dakota when she is not around.

These three found a good place to sit and watch how the marshmallows were toasted. Then we had to pass the finished product up to them to enjoy.

As you can see the marshmallow has to be "just right" - no burning, just toasting, and you need hot coals for that.

Alex making a goodie now that his toasted marshmallow is finished.

That was fun - we will have to do it again soon.

Apple Orchard Event

Michelle, Zachary and Dakota went a Military event in the cities Friday night and Saturday. Michelle said she really enjoyed it and the children had a good time. Since she thought it would be easier without Connor, he had a sleep over with us.

Saturday, Beyond the Yellow Ribbon had an event at a local apple orchard, so we took Connor and Jordyn joined us.

Connor had a great time looking at the animals. We say goats, sheep, pigs, chicken and bunnies.

Here is Connor by the BIG tractor that was used for the wagon ride. He looks so small compared to those wheels

Jordyn meet up with a couple friends from school and girl scouts. They were the seat belt for Connor on the wagon ride.

It was great having a couple extra girls run after Connor, and he enjoyed the extra attention.

We had fun going thru the corn maze. Five acres of maze. We didn't get lost and made it out - just really tired when we got out.

There were lots of pumpins - Connor looked at alot of them. We all had a good time, and enjoyed some really good apples. We were all ready for a nap by the time we got home.

RAINBOW

For those of you that missed the double rainbow this morning about 7:00...........it was very bright and big. The picture does not do it justice. The bottom rainbow was really bright, the upper one was more muted and if you look at the pick of the tree you can just see the light streak from the second one.

Marigold Days Parade

We were at Mantorville Sunday afternoon to watch the girls walk in the parade. As you can see Connor was very intent on watching the fire trucks.

My little girls were very warm after the parade. Aren't they cute?

This is the dancer's group as they came up the road - don't know if you can pick them out or not - they are on the right side of group (right side as you look at the picture).

Saturday morning Ken and I went to pick grapes for the Cannon River Winery. It was a warm day, we picked in the morning, so the afternoon group was probably really hot. This is the second year we have done it, and have a really good time there.

This is some of the grapes that we helped pick - we were told during our lunch that the group picked approximately

Hello from Kuwait :)

We had our FIRST face time conversation with Spencer this afternoon! We missed each other before the Mantorville parade at noon today (Sunday). As soon as we got home after the parade we logged in and Spencer had waited up for us to "call" him online. It was after 11:00PM his time...he's 8 hours ahead of us.

Each of the kids had a chance to chat with daddy. Kota had to get her crying in first - she misses her daddy terribly!! Once she realized that she could see and talk to daddy, we convinced her she needed to stop crying and actually talk to daddy. She had tons to share! A lot of nothing really :) The boys talked with daddy for a little bit also. Connor was totally excited to see daddy. He's been walking around the house saying daddy...daddy...daddy....and laughing.

I actually got the kids to leave us alone for 5 minutes so we had "our" time also. As much as I loved seeing Spencer and talking with him....it sure makes missing him even more. It was so hard hitting that "end call" button but I knew he had to get some sleep for a few hours before he had to wake up and start his Monday.

Just wanted to let everyone know that Spencer is doing good. He seemed to be in good spirits for pushing after midnight when we finally hung up :)

garden

It has been raining most of the day and we needed it! It was a good day to can the tomatoes that were picked. I made salsa today - got 8 quarts and 7 pints with a bowl full left over. It turned out hotter than I would prefer but that is the way it goes sometimes. Ryan said it is fine with him. That will probably be all the salsa I try to make this year as it takes along time to cook down. Will make juice or stewed tomatoes out of the rest that do not get eaten. Also made some refrigerator dills and refrigerator bread and butter pickles earlier this week. Every year I think I need to cut back on the garden and canning but somehow I still end of doing plenty. It always taste good in the winter and I know there are no preservatives in what I do.

Emerson Summer

The summer has flown by! Hard to believe we're at the first of September and kids will be or have gone back to school.
We spent the first part of August on our family vacation in Florida. We had a great time, first visiting Daytona Beach, a favorite spot of ours and where Deron grew up, and then we headed for Orlando to the tourist attractions. We were able to visit Sea World, Magic Kingdom, and Disney Hollywood Studios where Savannah got to meet Mickey Mouse at long last. It melted my heart when she ran to him and hugged him and then took pictures while holding onto his hand! We came back with some fun souvenirs, probably the family favorite being the Minnie Mouse ears, which we all took a turn wearing at some point or another.

Some of you may be aware that I'm working from home now. This has gone very well! I'm still thankful for the opportunity to be able to spend time with my family on lunch and breaks and not have to be spending so much time with commuting.This kids are all growing so fast! Carter just turned 8 months already! He's been pulling himself up for over a month now and cruising along the furniture for a good couple of weeks and absolutely loves to eat. Savannah is working on potty training -- hard to believe she was that little one in the incubator all that time ago. She is still behind on some things, like the potty training, but all we can do is keep working at it and be thankful for how far she's come. Savannah will be returning to preschool in Adams, this time to afternoon classes which will be nice since she takes after me and isn't always the most pleasant when she gets awakened by someone else in the morning. And my Dylan is about to enter 7th grade! I can hardly believe how quickly the years have flown by. We had open house with him on Tuesday night and was able to meet a couple of his teachers. It looks like he'll be in for a tougher year with math and geography, and we learned that he'll be reading The Outsiders in English near the beginning of the school year. Deron is doing well, too, busily taking care of all of us and making sure everyone is happy. He's been busy with some home improvement things lately, trying to keep the ship asail. Thankfully, we haven't seen anymore of those kidney stones either!

As I've been able to, I've continued with my cross stitching, my favorite hobby. I've recently finished a gift for a friend having a baby whose nursery is monkey-themed, and I participated in a Christmas in July exchange with a few people and ended up breaking out my sewing machine to make bookmarks, ornaments, and satchets for potpourri. So many crafts, so little time!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful summer, too!