What A Storm

We had a pretty wicked storm here yesterday. Not as bad as the East Coast but enough to cause us some damage. It's still going on today but the sky is a little lighter than it was yesterday. Our wind gusts are up to 65 m.p.h, although I don't know why they're called gusts when they seem to be constant.
I thought I'd share some photos of the aftermath along with some pictures of what we've been doing lately.

Here are a couple of branches I picked up this morning. It was so windy and cold that I left most of them. They are littering our yard, we should fine them.

This branch, though, is in the most trouble. When it fell....

It brought the whole tree down with it.

This will make good firewood

I think that's appropriate punishment for the damage it did.

This little trunk crack caused a power outage in our entire subdivision. Wanna bet the neighbors aren't happy with us?

But, we made the most of it and used the time for family card games. We had to use oil lamps and candles to see by. It was kinda like being in the 1950's.....just kidding. Trust me when I say this room was pretty dark, I just have a very bright flash on my camera.

In other news: Cerah has been making a cutting board in woodshop. It's not done yet as you can see but it is turning out beautiful.

Hannah has been faithfully finding the right keys on her flute

and then practicing. We have heard the same song at least 1,000 times.

Morgan has been busy studying

with the help of Lucy

Rob and Hannah are helping Cerah make her Halloween costume

And when we get a chance, we all put our cozy jammies on and just relax

Sometimes we even get a chance to sit down while it's still light out!

Enjoying the fruits of someone else's labor

We have been busy canning these last few weeks. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to can any of our own vegetables or fruit because we had very little grow this year. The weather just didn't cooperate. So, we went to the orchards and the farmers markets to get what we needed. Because of the cost we ended up canning just a few things. At the end we had applesauce, green beans, pickles, and blackberry and raspberry jam. Cerah did manage to coax two pie pumpkins to maturity so we pureed and froze the meat from those and will be making pumpkin bread with it over the holidays.

Applesauce:

First, we had to cut, core, and then peel all the apples. Cerah did the coring, I cut and then peeled, and Hannah helped peel.

Once it was all cooked Cerah had to mash them up so they didn't have big chunks in them.

Next we put them in the jars

And they were done. They just had to sit for two weeks before we could start opening them.

Rob made the pickles. I didn't because I don't like dill pickles and that's what everyone else wanted this year.

I did do the green beans though. I love fresh picked green beans. There is nothing in the store that compares to them.

 Finished products:

Applesauce

Dill pickles

and green beans.



Somehow I have lost the pictures of my jam. I took pictures of the girls making it and of the finished product but I can't seem to find the pictures anywhere. So you'll just have to trust me when I say they look (and taste) really good.

Here's a picture of Cerah's two pumpkins that made it:

I wasn't home when she prepared them so I don't have any pictures of that either.

Next year we are hoping for a better yield from our own garden. Growing it is just as fun as harvesting but not quite as fun as eating!



Time For The Fair

We went to the Michigan State Fair yesterday. It has been six years since we have been to a state fair so this was a big deal for us. We used to go every year but, unfortunately, the Michigan State Fair has been shut down the last several years due to budget concerns. This year it was able to open again and we had to go. We had a lot of fun and we can't wait for the next one.

 There were plenty of animals

 Just kidding!

We watched the Shriners Circus

 It was actually under the big top.

We ate yummy fair food

And waited for rides.

Some of us didn't mind the wait

 as much as others

 There were some much needed breaks along the way

And a few sibling arguments

until they figured out Dad had the camera

Mostly though, there were lots and lots of smiles!



Artistic Creations

The Fine Arts team held a spaghetti dinner/art auction to raise money for the trip to Nationals. The kids kept any money they made from their art and split whatever profits there were from the dinner and bake sale.  I thought I'd post some pictures of some of the art the girls made.

Cerah went her traditional route and crocheted up a storm.

This teddy bear was made with baby soft chenille yarn so, while it was hard to crochet, it turned out really soft. People couldn't believe how soft it was.

Next up was a nerdy bird. I have one that Cerah made me but mine is purple and pink. This one was snatched up pretty quickly too.

I wasn't sure how this one would sell as it was pretty small but there were a few people there who had small babies and they were all bidding on it.

This girl bunny

and this boy bunny took the longest to make

They looked so cute as a pair that we decided to sell them that way. We actually decided on a lot of modifications from the pattern such as the striped ears, arms, and legs. We also added different eyes and noses. Cerah made up the pattern for the tie as that wasn't part of the original and I made the bow for the girl bunny which also was something we added. We think they are much cuter and have more character this way.

Morgan chose to make different things so there was more variety.

Rob helped her make this cedar box with a stained glass cross in the top. It started out as two pieces of cedar plank and a square piece of glass. They spent a few nights designing, cutting, shaping, sanding, and staining...

But the end result was a beautiful box.

One simple thing she did was just enlarge a picture we had taken in N.C. and buy a frame that we thought looked beachy. It turned out nice, in fact we had a second one made so I could hang one up at home.

She had so much fun making the first stained glass cross that she talked Rob into helping her make another one to sell separately. It's hard to tell in the picture but this one has purple glass as the border and the inside glass has variations of purple, pink, green, and blue in it. It worked really well together.

All in all they both had fun making their projects and were quite pleased with the outcome. Everything sold and they made a decent amount of money. They also took a lot of pride in working toward something important to them. It was a good character building lesson for them.

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