jumping jack and more and more pears =)

morning walk with the kids

in this glorious of weathers!

lovely fall day!

after our lovely company left, jack and i did "school on the front porch" while esme "napped" upstairs...
for about 20 minutes =)

amy and asa

what fun!!!
i do believe that sweet asa is one of jack's favoritest playmates.....
i didn't have my camera...much the shame bc the 2 of them played in the creek...on this most fallish day for over and hour...exploring, "fighting" with mud, crawling up muddy embankments...racing their bikes down the road to the creek in the first place...it was so so wonderful to see boys being sheer boys...made my heart so happy...
we all then came up from the creek and put on bathing suits and hopped into a warm bubble bath!
amy made some hot cocoa and we together made them some eggs and pancakes...
which were demolished quite happily too =)
then we all moved to the big cob, waxed up the slide and slid for a while...
a lovely morning!

$12 joy

at tjmaxx, i totally couldnt' resist this book....
the sketches are wonderful and the story i am just entranced with...though not quite something to read the kids juuust yet...it is keeping me very much company in the evenings....
the story is incredible

pear butter

juuuust as i read an email from grace which said "you should make some pear butter"
i was doling out our first batch into our mouths =)
liana's apple butter recipe...worked magic
squeezo-ed pears...some sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice...turned on high in the crockpot over night
delicious smells in the house!

moving stuff around

esme has taken to hiding and watching the goingson in the hall cabinet...
she tucks herself in and watches daddy cutting and nailing...
and the bathtub moved outside under the shower! yay!
it is the latest favorite family pasttime to take baths under the sky....
it has so been enjoyed that we've decided to make an outdoor bathroom with sink and tub and mirror =)
the photos down below are of the previous guest room...soon to be master loo
and the hallway...previously the loo
josh is working working and the kids and i are sort of trying to stay out of the way...though being in the mix is fun for the kids...
just is small doses so josh can actually get stuff accomplished =)

pears pears pears!

my new policy is to pick up all the pears off the ground every other day...and then cook them down..and squeezo them...and can them up..
i put up only 12 cups today...so 7 jars...preserves i tried...
but i have more that is already squeezoed that needs to be turned into something =)
this too was an interim inbetween helping josh hold this or clean up that...
...it was good to get lots of stuff done..!
but i am so excited about seeing my babies tomorrow! yay!

homecoming dance...

sweet malissa, jack and esme's dear buddy...
well, her big sister of 16 asked me to take some photos of her and her boyfriend before the dance tonight...
i came home and thought i deleted them ALL....it was a fright.
but i found them again..yay!
doesn't she look so pretty! and how young they look!
it was so neat to see them so full of life and so excited...i so remember what a big deal homecoming was..in a fun way..
i was never sort of part of the cool crowd but i loved stuff like this =)

and there's a door!

josh was away for most of friday so i cleaned out the 2 bottom rooms in our house and the loo...
i found homes for a lot in the big cob as this will soon be our schoolhouse!..so the extra furniture and papers and kid stuff fit right in...
we are turning the loo downstairs into a washer/dryer/sink room...
and the guest bedroom into a loo and then extending the playroom into some of the guest bedroom space to make it a master bedroom
does that make sense?
josh moved the back door to the front...and i moved the sink up from the cob...
and spent lots of today denailing boards
josh took out a little wall too...even with the first changes it is so fun to see the new shape taking place!

stepping stones...

this weekend, josh and i have not really sat down...until late late when we turn on a good english mystery and drink tea
the kids have been with their grammie and pops (grace and tom) so we could get a good start on the house...
more on the house soon....
but inbetween the house...when i couldn't do anything for josh at the moment....i worked on these...
stepping stones for joan...which she asked me to make for her...um...let's see...about 2 years ago!
ha!
she wanted one for each family member (15) who surrounds their lake house...the line of folks who have enjoyed it there for years and years...
and i thought ages ago it would be simple...have some stones engraved, put them in cement and voila!
but the trouble was that the first couple times i tried it, they broke...or crumbled...or just didn't look very good...
and it is one of those things i can't do with the kids...cement is way too much like playdough =)

so, here's what i finally came up with..and i am positive you could just use portland cement and sand and water and get a very similar result...i was just trying for something lighter but still durable...and i hope this is it...
i made frames and set them aside...
then i mixed equal parts of portland cement, peat moss and vermiculite (could also use perlite)
mixed with water until thick cakebattery...
i then lined the frames with contact paper so the leaves would stick and the rocks...though the rocks didnt' really stick...
chose some leaves...some worked better than others...i am waiting for them to rot off to really see how they did ...
then i layered...
first layer of my mixture, then a piece of hardy mesh (josh was going to throw away the plastic mesh that used to cover the back of his dumptruck...but it makes great rebar for this sort of thing...)
to help keep it together....
then a layer again of the mixture and then finally gravel to hopefully also give it strength...
in the second batch, i mixed in some sand...and some grout i found in our shed...mostly just to use that up...
i want to seal them and maybe add some color faintly here and there...so they won't be really finished for another week or so...
i'll keep you posted!