What a day

Today was very good day. Started out by everyone wishing Joshua a Happy 11th Birthday. We will actually celebrate it on Friday, so John can be here with us. We had a Court Hearing this morning--which did happen even though Mandy was not there to present her case. Not much came out of it though. Brett made the trip to be here for the hearing. After the hearing I went home and gathered the kids to take them to the DCYF office. We surprised Shannon, Joshua, Cassidy, Nathan, and Brenna with a visit with their dad. They were all so excited to see him, and all gave the cutest little smiles. It was a good visit for everyone.

The other exciting thing that happened today, is that Cassidy lost her two front teeth. She came running outside to me when I got home from court, grinning ear to ear, "Ahhh, I look so different with my front teeth gone!" But she was extremely proud of herself. She carried her teeth up to the church tonight for scout meetings. She had to show her favorite people: Sally, Sister Burkholder, and we wouldn't forget her most favorite person in the whole wide world Zach Cochran. You just say his name, and she blushes and smiles.......even though he is 14.....she has intentions of marrying him someday. Young love....lol. She's a goof!!

Fire Warms- Fire Burns

Today was a nice cloudy day. The sun would poke it's head out long enough to warm you up a bit, and then hide again. Once again we took advantage and cleaned our chimney out. It's been pretty chilly in our house for the past few days. I have officially pulled out my "grandma" sweater ,as the kids call it, and have been wearing it around the house. After a few days of chasing kids around, trying to get them to keep their socks on, I am ready to start up the fireplaces. Enough is enough!!

While the kids played in the leaves, John took advantage of the fair weather and borrowed a big ladder. He took a trip into town, and bought a ladder hook, a cleaning brush, and some poles. Then came home and set to work. By evening, we both looked like the chimney sweepers on Mary Poppins. But work in the end pays off. We have ashes set in our garden for next years potatoes, and the kids have a nice warm fire to sit in front of and warm their little toes. So long "grandma" sweater!

My Girlfriend- Sally

Last week my friend Sally and my "adopted" mother Betty Cochran (or is it that I am the one adopted in?) Either way, these are two of the greatest people here in New England. They came over to visit with us all, and ended up helping me shell our Jacob Cattle beans that we grew in the garden this year. Sally then had the great idea of coming over today and showing me how to cook up some Vermont Maple baked beans. The beans took all day to cook. So while they were cooking, and because of the rumor of the rumor of snow on Friday, we got all the kids in their great assembly line to stack wood in the garage. Come to find out, on Saturday we had actually brought in 3 cords not 2. So bonus, we are a little ahead of our self. We now have a total of 6 cords---half way there!!! Next we took a little break, and went on a short hike in the upper woods to take a look around at all the kids forts. They have spent the summer in the woods creating little tree stands, huts, swings, etc. It is pretty amazing. Maybe pictures will come another day. Then we went on a hayride up and around the upper field--Elijah drove the tractor of course. We gathered all sorts of leaves to come home and create some creatures with them for an art project. We had a wonderful day with Sally. I love it when Sally comes over--she is totally the best! She is very special to me. She does so much for me; more than she knows. And as for the beans, they turned out wonderful--I will be making them again soon I am sure. I will have to plant more beans next year to keep up with these kids appetites!!

Nice Fall Day for Gettin' Firewood

Today turned out to be a wonderful warm, but cloudy fall day. We were supposed to be getting the outskirt rains from hurricane Kyle, but it didn't come till after we got in the house tonight. So we took advantage, and spent the day outside getting ready for winter. We put plastic up around the base of the house, insulated the north wall in the crawl space, took a huge trailer load to the dump, and some how managed to bring in 2 cords of wood. The kids all worked hard and got plenty dirty. They all work well together, especially with their assembly line to get the wood stacks into the trailer--it goes pretty fast with 10 kids working. The little kids sat and watched the production. Bring on the snow!!!! We are prepared! See below how we did.

Santa's Village-Jefferson, NH

We went to Santa's Village last Saturday. I am pretty sure we all had a good time. The teenagers went out on their own for a little fun. So me and John had a blast with the little kids. I even taught Brenna to scream on the roller coaster. The kids loved every ride, especially the fast, spin around ones. Willem was the most excited, he couldn't stop from jumping up and down the whole time. Ironic, because last year he screamed on every ride. But the best part-- no one got sick. Lots of pictures below.

Fun In the Hay

Today was a satisfying day. We woke up early and put on our work clothes. Today we spent the day working on gathering and stacking hay for the animals over the winter. I love working with the kids. I like helping them feel and gain satisfaction in themselves, by accomplishing a goal. They all work well together--and are always watching out for each other and helping each other. Today was a bright and sunny day--just perfect for our half day of work. We did 3 trailer loads of hay; 120 bales. Thursday we will finish up the hay with another 80 bales. Our cow and sheep will have their belly's full all winter long. After I had to refocus the kids with their school work for the second half of the afternoon. Hay photos below!

First Day of School

The kids were all up extremely early this morning, I expect they were anticipating their first day of school. They were so anxious to use their new school room which we have been in the process of remodeling. We are so excited about this room. I am happy to have all my teaching things out in the open and not hidden away in bins. Today ran rather smoothly. All the kids were eager to learn. I think it all went too fast for them.....I couldn't get them to go outside and play after. They kept on working most of the day. Elijah also had his orientation today for his online high school program. I have high hopes of him actually getting started on this tomorrow. Check out the kids at work--click play!

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Windy Ridge Orchard

This morning we had the guy came to hook up SateWllite Internet for us. I am so excited. Now I am going to finally be able to have a blog also, just like my little sisters! (Once I figure this all out that is!) Towards afternoon, we decided to go have a little fun at the Windy Ridge Apple Orchard. A family tradition for 5 years now. This year we brought along a friend to join in the fun. We spent the afternoon picking apples, petting farm animals, playing on the playground, and hiking the adventure trails with Sister Fryer. We came home with our yearly bags of apples, applesauce donuts, apple cider, smoked cheddar cheese, garlic, and my favorite Harvest Yankee candle. What a great day! Click on the movie below to view our day out.