Saturday, September 22, 2012

Life has been keeping us quite busy...

Oh, what can I say? I've been super busy and just haven't had the mental energy to put into generating consistent blog posts!

I've often wondered how other busy mamas have the energy to blog consistently! But, I suppose I could find the time. However, I've been a bit consumed with this crochet project. My little Lily loves the color scheme of this project, and so I decided that I'm going to aim to have this done as a Christmas gift for her.

Speaking of Christmas, I'm all about starting now to tackle some of those handmade gifts, but really retail world? What is going on? Does anyone else find it strange that WalMart (and other stores, I'm sure) already have Christmas trees on display?!

So what exactly have our days been filled with? Teaching (and learning along with) the children, soccer (oh goodness; soccer five to six days a week), crocheting on crisp days, and just the everyday work of a housewife!


And, although it's been quite chilly in the mornings, the kids have been out enjoying the last moments of summer (oh goodness, IT IS the first day of fall today!) Sword fights in the forest are so much fun! (These three are quite an amusing trio when given sticks and the free reign of imagination!)


 
 

And I must, I must, I must, muster up the gumption to finish up some last-minute gardening tasks ~ order and plant garlic, preserve the remaining herbs (oh, there's still so many!), pull out the carrots (which grew fantastically), pull up and do something with the beets (the plan was to can them so I had plenty for borscht through the winter months), start enjoying the brussel sprouts, and pull up everything that has already lived its full life.




 

So much to do, and I'm afraid that I've lost the gardening vigor I once had now that we're back to school. It almost feels like I need to take a few days and use the garden and preserving as our lessons for the week.

Also, we bought a bushel of apples from our local farmer's market. We've been enjoying them immensely (it's so nice to eat an apple that's not covered with that waxy coating). But we have big plans for the majority of them - applesauce and some pies for the freezer. It's so nice to have a pie in the freezer for those last minute entertaining opportunities.

And we just celebrated Ian's 9th birthday a couple of weeks ago. In lieu of a cake, he wanted homemade oatmeal cream pies. They were an absolute hit! I've been wanting to share this recipe with you...




You can go here to see the recipe.

Well, have a most blessed weekend! Brad and I are going out on a date tonight thanks to my sister and my friend who are keeping our kiddos! Dates are too far and few between these days!

3 comments:

Wendi said...

It is nice to see a post from you! I know that I have periods where I don't have the desire to blog. Although I do enjoy blogging, and having a scrapbook of sorts, it is more important to live life!

My garden is waiting for some attention. It needs to be cleaned out and then I will have to decide if I am going to plant anything else. I hate to say it but I am leaning toward no fall garden. Gasp!

I am having a giveaway so stop by for a visit. Happy Fall!

Pam said...

I completely understand the difficulty in keeping up with blogging. I went through a couple months earlier in the summer where I just could not blog... just too much going on, and I couldn't get my enthusiasm back, then my camera broke and so on.... My girls encouraged me, and so I am back... I am posting a couple at one time, and then scheduling them, that helps me quite a bit, then I don't have to blog more than once a week, but have a couple of posts.

I understand your garden dilemma, you work so hard at it all summer, and then it is hard to keep going in the fall. I am weary myself, and still have so much to do. I have been asking the Lord to resurge my strength.

We have grown a lot of beets for Borscht and Vinaigrette (which is a very loved Russian potato salad that includes beets). I never liked beets until we went to Russia, and learned how wonderfully they could be incorporated into dishes that I enjoy. We ought to swap some recipes one of these days. I have been thinking of doing a beet post, but we will have to see how the time goes.

Another funny thing in common... I have been working on a crochet project very much like yours... I posted about it this last spring (I haven't worked on it all summer), and when I saw yours I laughed that we were doing the same thing.
Enjoyed all the pictures.

Blessings to you and your family

kiley said...

Hi! I'm visiting from Life in Grace. Lovely pictures of your first fall days. I'm needing to get out with my kiddos for pumpkins and such as well to add little touches of fall beauty in our home.

A question: I've always made apple pie filling and frozen that to make into a pie later. Do you prepare your pies and freeze them unbaked like a store bought frozen pie? Funny how some obvious time savers never pop into one's mind...

Have a blessed day!
Kiley