Fall on the farm! ;)

Well it just dawned on me just how much has changed in our lives lately that people  dont know about since I am not on facebook! I thought it was about time for a little update on our lives!

WE HAVE MOVED!
Yes! Yes  we have moved! I am happy to send you our new mailing address upon request, but I dont feel comfortable just pasting it into a public blog post. :) just ask and I'll get it to ya!

 

WE HAVE MOVED...FAR!: Okay, not THAT far, but we do live outside the city now! we bought a 5 acre property close to birds hill park, and we just love it! Our kids took less than 24 hours to adjust to being country bumpkins, and they thrive on the extra space. Josiah has (and I am not exaggerating) watched TV ONE time since we moved... once... and hasn't even ASKED to watch! I'd love to take credit for this, but it seriously just HAPPENED! So much to do, so little time to do it i guess. Sammy has gotten tremendously loud... like...seriously he sounds like a ring wraith most of the time... screeching happily, screeching sadly, screeching angrily... he also climbs on everything, likes to run away, and likes to take whatever Josiah's prized possession of the moment happens to be... yup! the days of "perfect baby" are well over lol and we have ourselves a full-fledged toddler monster now ;). But we love him, and look forward to the days ahead  (when he can be disciplined and learn the rules!).

WE ARE BUSY!: Ya, that part hasn't changed. I think we really thought life would slow down when we moved out of town, but it's still summer in construction-land, so curtis still works from sun-up to sun-down. This has been trial some on us this year... Two boys who go to bed at 7-8 pm, being mostly parented by mom, not eating supper with daddy 6 nights a week, mostly just a "good night"  with daddy.This is hard on all of us but it's just the way this stage of life is going to look for us. Curtis works Monday to Saturdays this way, and usually has lots to get done on Sundays as well. I look forward to the winter when things will hopefully slow down a bit and I can come back from burn-out mode. I'm sure it'll make me a better mom and wife lol.

Still, we manage to find time for new and fun things with the boys! I've taken up teaching josiah the alphabet this year since he barely misses the cut off for nursery school. It's nice to not have the pressure of actually ensuring he learns stuff. I can just teach him the letters for the fun of it and if he doesnt catch on to one or two, he's still ahead of the game when he starts school.

I also took the boys to see the model train show this past weekend, which naturally blew Josiah's mind. :) good times! We keep busy but things don't feel productive... I think that must be a stage of life thing.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW? what...do you think there's time in the day for anything but parenting when you have an adventurer and an orangutan for children? I think not... but silly me, I took up a hobby of soap making last spring and started a company called The Olive Grove body care and baking mixes! I was gonna take this fall off, but JUST found out that the Calvin Christian craft sale has asked me to come and be a vendor! Well, I cant just say NO now can i!?its one of  the biggies for a small-time vendor like myself. So my fall is about to get busier with making stock for that sale! There are two other soap vendors, so I will be focusing my time on the bath bombs, and body care items since I wont be able to sell baking mixes at that sale (they compete with the Calvin bake sale too much). It will be nice to see how these things go when you dont have a 20 lb infant strapped to you! haha! I bet i'll enjoy it a bit more!

We are enjoying the new home and lifestyle, but it certainly was a busy time of year to move! The middle of curtis's busy season at work, and then harvest time in general! After moving we have already processed corn, processed beets, made 3 kinds of jam, chicken and turkey stock, started a flower bed for next spring's bulbs, along with several cooking ventures, including a welcome cake for our church refugee family, and a gender reveal cake for a friend! I have also decided to go gluten free (decided is a term I use lightly. the doctor "strongly suggested" i cut out gluten). I am not celiac (thank goodness) but I have a reaction similar in severity to someone who is lactose intolerant. So the new plans are to eliminate wheat from my diet, but allow enough cross-contamination and minor consumption to keep the digestive enzymes for wheat in my body. And in the name of restrictions, I made myself some pumpkin pie Popsicle that are just amazing!! There's a picture below but it's basically the recipe on the ED Smith pure pumpkin can, with 3/4 the sugar, and then stirred in a pot till bubbling. I subbed out coconut milk for the evaporated milk and it was lovely! :) on the very top (Bottom of the pops) i pressed some gluten free graham cracker chunks into the pie filling for a sort-of crust look. Very yummy and very pretty! :)  Anyways, thats life as we know it! Take a look at the rest of our pictures, and please send me an email! We would love to have you over to see our new home, and yard! :)