Anyone want a Friday?

After a busy day of work Sunday night I got washed and ready for bed a little early. The children were still playing while I reclined in my nice warm bed reading a book. They never leave me alone for long which is fine with me. Leah decided she was a waitress and came to take my order. I ordered a Cajun chicken burger with fries and water to drink. After I pretended to eat she asked if I wanted a Friday. I asked, "A what!?"

She said, "A Friday! You know! One of those things with ice cream."

"Oohhh!", I said. "You mean a sundae!"

"Yeah," she answered. "A Sunday!"

Yesterday Leah wrote "L"s for part of her school. She is good at writing them as her name begins with that letter. She also knew the sound. But I still had her do her alphabet page with the rods. She will act like she doesn't want to do it. I am realizing that I still need to have her do what I tell her to do as next fall she will start K and she will have to do the work. Here she made a log cabin, a lemon lollipop, and a lamp.

Daniel is working on his math. Sometimes it is hard to juggle two small children's different school work at one time. My heart goes out to all those moms who have many children to school and several preschoolers. I really admire you!

Daniel has always been good at numbers and math. This year he is doing much better with the written problems. He used have trouble figuring out whether to add or subtract. Now he gets it almost every time. This past week has thrown him a little as he has two steps to each problem. But he is getting it.

This and next week we are studying Mexico. I found a lot of good books at the library that we have been reading. For art we are making a pinata. In my book it said that pinatas actually originated in Italy. I didn't know that but had never really thought about it. Yesterday we cut up newspaper and dipped it into liquid starch to cover the balloon I had tied to my light fixture in the kitchen. Leah didn't like getting all starchy but helped for a little while. Daniel finished it with little help from me. It is still drying. Once it does we will paint and decorate it. When we have our Mexican Fiesta we will celebrate by filling the pinata and breaking it.

I like that the curriculum I use, MFW, has a forum that many mom and one dad teachers write and ask questions or give their ideas. It is well organized. Each different year has its own ideas and helps. I can go to ECC Ideas, then click onto which week we are on, and get helps from others who have already done it. I wasn't going to make the pinata and just do something easier for art. After reading the posts I felt encouraged to try it. If ours turns out I will post my recipe I used to make the starch.

I get an email astronomy newsletter from Classical Astronomy listed in my sidebar. Since I have been getting it I have learned a lot about the stars and planets. Last summer we watched Jupiter most of the summer until it disappeared over the western horizon. This summer Jupiter is visible in the evening sky in the SE. Did you know that Jupiter is the 4th brightest object in the sky? First is the sun, followed by the moon, Venus, and then Jupiter. You can view Venus in the early morning sky in the east right before the sun comes up.

I knew from my newsletter that last night was a good night to see how close the moon and Jupiter were together. I went out right after sundown and then a couple more times before I went to bed. Jupiter is much brighter than the stars so you shouldn't miss it. It didn't really show up well on the picture I took. I can see it on my saved pictures on my computer. When I loaded it onto blogger the picture is much smaller and Jupiter isn't visible. It is down and a little to the right of the moon. But I can't see it here.

If you get a chance take a look at the Classical Astronomy website. Go to the newsletter page. Click onto the various pages and sign up for the newletter. There is a lot of information for viewing the night sky in the month to come.

Today looks like a good day to stay inside if possible. The wind is so strong and it is cold. I still haven't made a fire but am really tempted to do so today. If it isn't any warmer in here when we have finished school I will make one. Have a good day. Welcome, Whitney, to the Internet! I will be waiting for you to start blogging!

More tomatoes!

This Sunday I had the most tomatoes to process at one time. I had about 18 gallons to put through the juicer. This is what my counter looked like by the time I was finished juicing.



While I am still juicing I start cooking it down to sauce. I had my two big kettles going all morning and finished around 3:00. I got 6 kettles full of juice.

The juice that didn't originally fit into the two kettles I poured into this huge kettle which has the capacity of 4 kettles full of the other size. I don't use this for cooking much as it has such a thin bottom and would scorch easily.

I processed jars in my canner 3 times, not full each time. I usually get 4-5 quarts from 2 kettles full of sauce that I cooked down. I had one jar break the second canner full. That makes such a mess! I ended up with 14 quarts of sauce by the end of the day.

Brandon was home for the weekend and left for Fargo around 4:00. I think it has been harder for me yesterday and today than it was last week probably because he left from home. Last week I left from his place. He was a good help to Tim on Sunday. They took the wood stove chimney down from the roof and cleaned it well. Then they had to lower the wood stove and take the inside stack off and clean it outside. It definitely is a two man job.

Today we are back to school. The next two weeks in geography we are studying about Mexico. The children got their (fake) passports today and we left on an airplane for Mexico. We hit a little turbulence on the way and they really enjoyed that. When we got there I put a Mexican flag sticker on the first page in their passports and we read a couple books about Mexico. It was a good day. Tomorrow we will attempt to make a pinata.

Leah did her ABC puzzle almost by herself. She is great about knowing the names and sounds of the capital letters and writing them. The lower case letters are a little more difficult for her but she did well. Of course Daniel used it as a road for his Lego truck.



Here the children are drawing a desert picture in their nature notebooks. Both drew some great cacti.

For music we are using Wee Sing Around The World. Both children and I are enjoying it more than the patriotic songs we learned last year. While the former were important to learn these are just more fun.

I've got some fry sausage and bow tie noodles cooking. I had better feed my hungry crew.

Harvest of Thanks

It was such a blessed Sabbath. The evening meetings were so good. Israel Steinmetz had wonderful messages on thankfulness in all situations. We were encouraged by them. He has a way of speaking that makes it easy to listen and pay attention. I loved his youthfulness and perspective.

Our annual special meal went well. The roast beef was made by a place in Streeter and was delicious. We ladies made canned potatoes in butter and parsley, corn, and brought coleslaw, fruit, and bars. It was easy to prepare and good to eat.

Everything went timely. The morning service was over by 12:00. Everyone was through the food line fairly quickly. There was room for all to sit and enjoy their meal.

The afternoon program got started on time and was full of blessings of songs. How we all enjoyed them. The leader of Missions Abroad was there with a short video of a couple projects our church is involved in supporting. The video was very touching and encouraged us to give even more.

Of course there was a light evening meal and time of fellowship. I was kept busy most of the afternoon watching my little children. I was thankful for such a beautiful day outside and informed them that they had to stay outside where I could see them. They were both obedient and did so. That way I, too, was able to enjoy visiting with those who were also outside.

After supper Karol and Brad took a big group of us over to see what they have been doing with the old schoolhouse. It was the first time I had been in there for a long time. They have done a lot of work already. I like the vision they have for the place.

What a wonderful full day it was. As nice as it was it was good to get home shortly after 8:00.

Today I have about 18 gallons of tomatoes to process. So I had better get to it!

Rooms

Usually we can find good in all situations. This week my son, Brandon moved to Fargo. I especially missed him last night when we got home from town. I had to unload most of the groceries by myself. I should have been more diligent in getting Daniel's help as he is capable. It was quite dark by the time I put the van away and locked the front door. Then I heard a noise outside by the front door. It sounded like someone had stepped up onto the deck. After checking out the window and not seeing any vehicles I tried to calm myself. I remembered I have a big dog and several guns and a big God. But still I would have liked a grown man around. I rarely am scared but was for a little while last night.

I am remembering one time when I was scared at night. One of the first years we lived here someone was knocking at our door at 3:00 am. As Tim wasn't home we didn't answer the door. It wasn't winter so I knew no one was going to freeze to death and he had his car running in the yard. I never heard of any accidents happening so I assume it was someone who had lost his way. I want to be helpful but not stupid.

While I had been dreading Brandon moving out and miss him I find I do like the extra room I now have. (One good thing about him moving out!) Nothing like keeping busy to help from missing someone. Monday I started cleaning his room by washing the bedding down to the mattress. I cleaned windows and curtains in both upstair's bedrooms, and washed down the walls, insides of the closets, and the floors.

On Tuesday before he left for work Tim helped me move Daniel's bed across the hall to Brandon's old room. Daniel and I worked at moving his dresser over and getting the bed put back together. I had washed all Daniel's bedding and everything was so fresh and clean.

This is a quilt I made for Daniel several years ago. Whitney helped me with the embroidery on the horses and cowboys after I had appliqued each onto a block. When I had finished sewing the blocks together and sandwiching the quilt I attempted my first and only machine quilting. Whitney had just taken a class at the quilting shop in Jamestown. I had wanted to as well but Leah was just a baby then. Someday when I have more time I will take up quilting again, maybe this winter? I did like using my machine to do the quilting as I don't much care for hand quilting. I love putting the blocks together though. And Cora, my corners don't always match either!

There is still a nice space for Daniel to play even with the two beds in there. The carpet I found is nice and thick which should make it warmer in the winter. Menards sells 7'x10' carpet remnants that have finished edges for $35.

I need to get some little boy pictures on the walls for Daniel. He was pleased with his new room.

After I had scrubbed the base boards, walls, and floor in the school room I moved things around. I put the desks where Daniel's bed used to be. Now I don't have to move Daniel's desk each day and can help both children at one time.


This board I do put up each morning and take down when we finish spelling. I moved Leah's dresser and toys up to this room as it is "hers" now. We have a nice little reading area for book basket time right by the window.

Here's my main school storage cabinet. I just love it as it hides so much inside. We still have our timeline on it from last year.

As you can see it stores a lot! I am so thankful I have so many good tools to use in our school. The preschool "toys" are great and the little ones have learned so much by using them and don't even realize it.

I'm happy to have that work finished. I'm hoping I will be able to get somemore fall cleaning done in the weeks to come. I'm also glad to have my town day over for the week.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the library and filled our book basket with lots of books about Mexico and deserts which we will be studying the next two weeks. I got my hair trimmed, got my groceries, ate at Dairy Queen, and watched Dustin play softball. It was his last game. I enjoy watching him but don't like getting home so late. That makes us later for school the next morning. But I would rather have well rested students than tired grumpy ones!

Tonight starts our first night of services at church with another tomorrow night. Then it's Harvest of Thanks! So the children will need the extra sleep as the next three will be later than usual. I best get them rounded up.

Moving Day

Well, it's official. Brandon has moved out of our home, again. Yesterday as we were leaving for Fargo Tim told Brandon, "If it doesn't work out you can always come back home."

Brandon said, "Mom said I can't come back." Tim assured him that he could. It was a special moment for father and son.

Before we got him moved we had lots of things to do. Brandon had to take a motor lifter back to Gordon and Rob. Tim and Brandon used the tractor to load it into the back of our pickup. Tim then did some winter prep around the farmstead before he had to leave for work.

I got an early start on my tomato sauce. I had about 10 gallons of ripe tomatoes to process. First I thought I wouldn't have time to take care of them on Sunday. But Whitney had some houses to clean in the morning and we wouldn't be able to leave until she was finished. So I was able to get the sauce canned, my laundry done, and a few other odds and ends completed before we left.

Tomatoes ready for the juicer:




Tim and Brandon got Brandon's big tool chest loaded into the back of my van. Then they carried down Brandon's dresser. I took some of his clothes that were on hangers and put them into the back of the van. Brandon put some boxes and other clothes in his car. I had packed a care box for him with a few essentials and food. When Whitney got here we went over to her house to pick up the bed.

Whitney and Ryan saved a mattress set and bed frame from their house for Brandon. They had a little trouble trying to fit it into the back of the van but they squeezed it in there. Whitney rode to Fargo with Brandon. I had the little kids in the van with me.

Boy! Was it windy!! I really had to hold onto the wheel. It's a good thing my van is so heavy and I had the extra weight from all Brandon's tools and furniture in there. I wanted to make it to Menard's and the mall before they closed early on Sunday.

I did. I picked up another carpet that I will put into Brandon's old room after I clean it. Then we will move Daniel's bed and dresser over to that room so we will have more space in the school room for Leah's things.

We got to the mall a little after 5:00. The two stores I wanted to go to were close together. I didn't find what I was looking for in the one store. But I found some new dress shoes for Daniel at Payless. I so miss Payless in Jamestown! And we found a pair of boot- like shoes that he can wear while he's working or playing outside. We had enough time to stop at the pet shop and look at the cute puppies. Then I called Brandon to ask for his address. Of course he didn't know it but he said he would drive over to the mall as he can see it from his apartment.

I was pleased with the looks of the apartment and the area it is in. The boys will share a double garage. You can't get into the building unless you have a key or someone buzzes you in. This is the front entrance.

Brandon had space enough in his room for his bed, big recliner, his bed, and his dresser.

Brandon and his roomy, Riley, are going over some papers in their nice kitchen. I think they have more cupboards than I do. And they have a dishwasher!! Everything was so nice and clean. It's good they are alike in that way. Brandon doesn't much care for living in a mess.

Whitney and Daniel are resting in the living room. Each apartment has a sliding glass door opening out to a balcony or patio. The boys are on the top, 3rd, floor so they have a balcony. They will so enjoy living there. Everything is fresh and clean. They bathroom was roomy and they have a nice little storage room. Not a bad first place.

We were all hungry by the time we were finished moving Brandon in. Daniel and Leah always want to eat at Space Aliens when we go to Fargo and Bismark. We all agreed it would be fun to go there. After we finished eating it was after 7:30 so we said our goodbyes and got our hugs and left for home. It wasn't too hard. I just tried not to think of it much. It helped that I saw Brandon's place and that Riley is a nice young man. And Brandon will probably come home most weekends. I'll adjust. I have no other choice.

Since we got to bed later than usual I let the children sleep in this morning. Now we are later getting started for school. So I best get going.

What a week!

Hasn't it been a great week? I have loved the warm temps and sunshine! Of course I don't have to work outside in it and purposely stay inside when it is the hottest outside...but I think the weather has been wonderful. Last week when we were in town and had gone to the beach to wade in the water I had thought to myself, "If it is warm next week I will take the kids up here swimming!" So that is what I did. There were enough nice days to choose from as each seemed as nice as the one before it.

First I had planned to go on Tuesday but that didn't work out. Then I thought that Wednesday would be better. We could go to the beach and stay to watch Dustin's softball game. Since Wednesday is closer to the end of the week I could do my weekly shopping then and not have to go on Thursday. It has worked out rather well.

We left home as soon as we finished school for the day. I planned to get lunch from a fast food place so we didn't even eat first. The children had a snack around 11:00 so they were content to wait. We first stopped at the library so I could drop off my books and pick up a few new ones. Then we went through Hardee's drive through. I was surprised to find my nephew, Kyle was the one who took my order and met me at the window! We visited a little until he had to go take another order.

By the time we got to the beach it was only 2:00. So we enjoyed almost three hours there. I had said I hoped we would have the beach to ourselves. Daniel thought it would be nice if there were other kids there so he could play with them. I agreed. There were only a few adults sunning themselves when we arrived. All left shortly after we came. I guess I got my wish.

Leah is enjoying her burger. She always orders a burger with just catsup and doesn't care for fries.

Daniel is testing the water. It was a bit chilly but he did eventually swim. Leah just played on the edge.

Notice how Daniel puts his hands on his hips. He reminds me so much of Dustin when he does that. Recently I realized that I do the same thing. That mannerism must have passed down from me.

We enjoyed our time there. A mother with four children came later so that was nice for Daniel and Leah. I didn't go into the water other than to cool my feet a bit. But I liked sitting looking at the scenery and reading my book.

We were able to get our shopping done at Walmart and the dollar store before Dustin's game at 6:30. We had read a story about a little girl who pretends she is "Ladybug Girl" and wears a red outfit with a red tutu and red wings with black dots on them. Of course Leah wanted to "be her." I remembered seeing wings at the dollar store. They had a red pair and a little red tutu. She is enjoying them.

While we were in Walmart Brandon called me. He was wondering where I was as he wanted to use my van. Since he got Thursday off from work he thought he could move some of his things to his apartment in Fargo. He drove up to town and got the van and left me his car while we were at Dustin's game. It was fun driving his car as it is very responsive! The only thing was, I couldn't remember how to turn the subs off. You should have seen the looks from people! Here was this older lady driving this sports car down the street with loud base playing to the christian radio station! Daniel loved it. We laughed almost the whole time. We ended up turning the stereo off on the way home.

It was fun watching Dustin play. Leah has made a little friend of the daughter of one of Dustin's teammates. Since they have a little playground at the complex the children like to go to the games now. We just stayed for one game so we could stop and get our groceries and get home before it was too late.

The week hasn't been all fun and games though. It seems like there has been a good portion of work mixed in there. Here is a picture of my bread rising in my french loaf pans. I got these pans at the Kitchen Shop in West Acres. They were spendy but make such nice french bread. You aren't supposed to wash or oil them. A few years after I got them the bread started sticking to the pans. It was very frustrating. After some trial and error I found I could roll my loaves in a little flour before I put them in the pans. I haven't had a problem since then.

Daniel and I got a start on making our tomato sauce. I have two of these nice stainless steel kettles with the thick bottoms. The sauce never burns onto the bottom and I can leave them cooking without stirring very often. It takes about an hour to cook down to tomato sauce. Here it still has about another half an hour to go.

It worked out well for me to have my town day on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Thursday afternoon I got a start on my house cleaning. Then I didn't have so much to do today. I think I will try to do that most weeks.

Daniel and Tim went fishing again. It is becomming a Friday afternoon tradition. I'm glad that they can get out together as soon the weather will be cold. Leah is still taking her nap. And I best go and get the rest of my work done. Looking forward to Sabbath!!!

Leah's School

Since I wrote about what we do for Daniel's school I thought I would show how Leah keeps busy. There is never a groan from Leah. She is an eager beaver! She loves to do school and wants to do it on the weekends, too. I think that is great!!!

There are lots of toys to play with up in the "school room." It used to be Daniel would be too distracted if Leah played while he was working. It seems he has more tolerance and a better attention span this year! YAY!!!!!

Leah is using my paper cutter to make bookmarks. We are well supplied in them around here.


She found my craft scissors and cut pretty edges on her pictures she took out of her notebook.

I'm always on the lookout for workbooks for Leah as she loves them and goes through them quickly. I found some at Walmart last week that she would work through in one day if I let her.

Leah is so good at Pattern Animals. She can usually figure out what block will fit before I will! She did Rhonda Rabbit on this day.

She was coloring a grizzly bear that looked quite fierce! We are studying about forests in North America. Of course we read about the bears that live in them.

I have been so thankful for the beautiful September we are having. It seems each day is as nice as the one before it. The tomatoes are ripening quickly on the vine. My Anaheim chilies are getting HOT!

I was quite busy on Sunday. Whitney called to ask if I could make her some herbal bath as she cut the tip of her thumb off. So I did. She soaked it long that day. When I saw her on Monday evening it had healed quite a bit. I hope she takes the time to soak it each day.

I had tomatoes to pick which I made into sauce and canned. I was out of bread and buns so I made a batch of each. I hadn't made cookies in a long time and accomplished that, too. It was late by the time I finished up in the kitchen. Bed is always such a nice place to be after a busy day.

The little ones are in the house now wanting some Ramen Noodles. They just love them. They would eat them everyday if I made them. I need have them take their baths, too. As tomorrow will surely be another busy day I best get off the computer now.

MFW

MFW- Short for My Father's World, the curriculum we have used starting our 3rd year now.

A little bit about the author of MFW:
"Marie Hazell is a speech and language specialist with a master's degree and teaching credentials. After completing her degree, she taught in a special language kindergarten where her interest in teaching children and adapting to their various learning styles developed. She then taught kindergarten and first grade in a Christian school, which challenged her to develop a program that focused on both strong and weak learners, often at different levels. With her background in the educational system, and then becoming the mother of six children, she realized the importance of the family in the educational process. Combining her experience and knowledge, she developed a Bible-based program for both homeschools and classrooms. Writing from her deep desire to further God's kingdom, she continues to develop curriculum that is a unique combination of her own observations, Charlotte Mason's ideas, and classical education, providing an international focus and Biblical worldview."

We started with MFW when Daniel was in 1st grade. Last year we did Adventures in MFW which is a "one-year program designed for second or third graders who are the oldest in the family." One of the things we studied was American History.

This year we are doing ECC (Exploring Countries and Cultures) which is the starting point of a 5-year cycle that Leah will join in when she is in second grade. After this year of geography we will start a 4-year study of world history beginning at creation.

Monday we will start week-3. The last two weeks we have learned about maps and map making, the 7-continents, the 5- oceans, and much more. This week we will start learning about the countries in North America.

This is my teacher's manual. Everything is so well planned. I just go down the column for each days work and we complete it. Things have been going well so far.

We start our day with a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and then do our first subject, the Bible. Daniel reads the day's assigned verses from his Bible. I read from another book that relates to what he just read, usually Window on the World. So far we have been studying the different religions of the world and how God loves all people and wants everyone to be saved. The children have learned John 3:16 as their memory verse for the last 2 weeks.

Kingdom Tales is an allegory of the Bible that we have been reading a chapter from each night this past week. We have found it very interesting and Daniel has been catching the scriptural concepts taught in it.

The first week we read God Speaks Numanggang, a book written by the MFW author's husband, David Hazel about a family who have been missionaries the past 25 years in Papua New Guinea. They have been translating the Bible into Numanggang.

Daniel is working on his handwriting. He has been practicing printing the alphabet. He will be learning cursive this year using a set of books I purchased with my ECC package. I'm not sure he is ready for that but we will try it and see.

Daniel is working on his spelling. He wasn't getting his different vowel sounds very well. I had read about All About Spelling on the MFW forum. MFW doesn't sell this program but I thought it sounded like it could help Daniel. We started in Level 1 this summer. He is almost finished with that level. Before each lesson we review the phonograms that he doesn't remember and the spelling rules he has learned so far. After I teach him a new lesson and demonstrate on the board he will come up and practice spelling words using the magnetic tiles. Then I will dictate more spelling words or phrases and he will spell them on paper. He is really catching on and I have noticed he is remembering the rules while he writes.

He learned about doubling the consonants f, l, and s when they follow a short vowel in a one-syllable word.

This is my manual and our different cards we go through.

Many language arts skills are integrated into history/science/Bible activities. We add PLL as a supplement to "assure a well-rounded, complete language arts program." PLL is uses a "Charlotte Mason-style approach with short, easy-to-teach lessons".

MFW recommends Singapore Math for Grades 2-6. Starting grade 7 we will use Saxon Math with Jacobs Geometry. Singapore Math has a "strong mental math component (unlike many U.S. programs) that is one of its primary strengths. Logical, unique strategies are taught that help students truly understand mathematical concepts. Students are then able to solve problems mentally without always relying on paper and pencil."

We plan to have Daniel work through 3A and 3B this grade.

Here are some of our World Geography books. We supplement with book basket which is a term MFW uses for the time our children spend looking through or reading fun and educational books we get each week from the library that corresponds to what we are studying.

Here are some of our science books we are using this year. As we study each country in geography we will also study the environment, plants and animals, climate and etc. of that country. Again, we will supplement with many books from the library.

I didn't take pictures of the art curriculum, music, and read aloud books we will be using.

When I first received my box from MFW and started looking through all the books I felt a little overwhelmed. After I read through the teacher's manual a bit I realized we won't use all these books everyday. I should have known that as that was how it was last year but I panicked for just a moment.

It looks like an exciting year in My Father's World. One of the neat things my children and I will learn is to pray for each people group as we study about them. We pray that they will have a Bible in their language and be able to learn about God's plan for salvation.

Canning

We sure have been busy the last few days. Monday after school I decided to clean out my downstairs pantry. Since I am now into the canning season I wanted the shelves wiped off and clean. I started looking around at all the jars of old stuff I had canned and thought, "I really needed to dump some things." I have been putting it off for years!

When Dustin lived at home he was so good about eating many of the things I canned. He was always growing and hungry. I'm sure I dumped at least 200 jars of different things like: apple sauce, apple pie in a jar, peaches, jellies, syrup, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, pickle relish, tomato juice, etc. Things I thought I would use but didn't. Many jars were 10 years old!

It was work carrying all those jars upstairs, dumping them into a big bucket, and lugging the bucket outside to the trees. Washing the jars was a breeze compared to the rest. I told Whitney, "Don't buy any canning jars!! I have enough for you and all the other children!"

I finally finished putting away all the empty jars and getting my room cleaned around 6:30. When Whitney stopped on her way home from cleaning in Gackle and the church I was proud to show her my clean and organized room. She admired it and made me feel even better! She then helped me pick about 4 quarts of choke cherries and 6 gallons of apples and carried a 5 gallon bucket of potatoes I had dug downstairs for me. By then it was almost bedtime. She also took care of the eggs. It felt like I could barely walk that night as I thought my hip might have gone out. But it felt better after a good night's rest.

On Tuesday after school Daniel, Leah, and I washed the apples and put them through my juicer. I wanted to get a gallon of fresh juice to make into apple cider. We ended up getting a little more. The extra I put into containers and froze. I can use that in my Sabbath punch.

Daniel was an especially helpful boy. He loved using my juicer. (I remember when Brandon liked using the kitchen gadgets.) Daniel had to push down pretty hard to get the hard apples to go through. Leah was washing the apples in the sink for me. I would cut the apples in half or quarters depending on how big they were. As young as the children are they cut my work time in half.

I put the juice through a strainer. To the jar of juice I added 1 cup of sugar. Cora's directions said to cover the jar with a cloth and put it into a dark place, stir occasionally, and in one month I should have apple cider vinegar.

Years ago I bought this Champion Juicer. It was quite expensive but it has been worth it. It makes juicing almost effortless compared to a hand cranked one. Plus the cheap hand cranked one I had would never do raw produce! I use the juicer when I make my tomato sauce. I wash the tomatoes, quarter them, and put them through the juicer. It leaves me with a pulpy juice with no seeds or skins. Then I cook the juice down to sauce consistency and process it in jars. It beats anything you can buy in a store. I probably go through over 100 quarts of tomato sauce in one year. I don't know how much a quart of tomato sauce costs as I never buy it. But I imagine I have made up the cost of my juicer.

While we made the apple juice I had the choke cherries cooking in water and then drained the juice for jelly. I only wanted to make one recipe as I had just dumped several jars of old jelly.


Today I finally got to the few tomatoes I had that were ripe. Too few to make sauce so I just canned them whole after I took the skins off.

I've got several buckets partially full in the basement that will be ready for canning on Sunday. Plus there should be more in the garden that will be ripe.

I was thinking that fall is such a busy time. First we are back to full time school. Then there is all the produce to take care of. Each season has it's own work, I guess.

School has been going well. My little students and I are back into the swing of things. We are getting started by 9:00 and usually finish by 1:00 in time for me to make lunch. I took some pictures of our school time and will try to post them in the next couple days.

I just wanted to tell you about the great stir fry I made today! Around noon while Daniel was doing his math facts I snuck downstairs and put on some brown rice. It takes almost an hour to cook so it isn't something I can make in a hurry. After we were done with school I cut up some onions, chicken breasts, and lots of garlic and started frying it in my pot. While that was working I made a cucumber salad and sliced one of my brandy wine tomatoes. When the chicken was cooked I took it out of the pot and put in some summer squash, ginger root, and Anaheim chili peppers. I stir fried that just a few minutes. Then I added some liquid amino's, it's like soy sauce, and put the chicken back in. It was so good and had just a touch of heat from the peppers. Tim really liked it, too.

After Daniel and I had done the dishes and I swept the floor we went for our nature walk. I like that this year's curriculum tells us what to look for in our weekly nature walk. Since we are studying all about ecosystems, niches, biomes, and such we should have plenty to look for. Today we were to collect leaves and bark for our nature notebooks. We have a lot of different trees in our yard and tree belt. The children got tired of collecting after about 4 different kinds. We just stapled our leaves to a piece of paper and did a bark rubbing right beside the leaf. We collected 8 different leaves and identified more trees than that. We will put plastic sleeves over the pages and put them into their three ring notebooks.

I usually have Leah take a nap at 4:00. It was almost 5:00 by the time we got back from our nature walk. Daniel had pulled her on the wagon down and back. I was already in the house when I heard her screaming and bawling. It wasn't a hurt cry, it was an angry cry. She will occasionally melt down if she is over tired. She couldn't talk so I asked Daniel what was the matter. He had found a chicken egg in the goat barn and Leah wanted to carry it. He wouldn't let her so she got upset. I read her a short story and lay with her until she fell asleep. I don't think it took her more than 2 minutes and she was out!

I best go and wake her as she will sleep until 7:00. That makes it a little hard to go back to bed by 9:00.