That's My Girl

Juliana is quite a character (in case you didn't already know!). These are random pictures of her that make me laugh.

She came to dinner after dressing herself in an old pair of Nathan's cutoffs and her coontail hat. The pants did not stay up at all.

A few weeks ago we lowered the clothes bar in Juliana's closet. She was ecstatic! She spent the rest of the day hanging and rehanging her clothes. Here she is giving Daddy an explaination of how it works.

We found her sleeping in her beloved coontail hat!

Being silly after lunch!

Making her new favorite snack--frozen banana slices. She calls them "banana pops". Yesterday she wanted to make them all herself. She did very well with a table knife.

Of course, you must taste a little of your labors before putting them in the freezer!

Autumn

Autumn has definitely arrived on the Ranch. And with the changing weather comes the inevitable head cold, which all of us have had in some form this week. Nevertheless, we are enjoying these days.

A wagon ride with Meema and Poppy. Juliana couldn't quit talking about the horses and the ride at a small fall festival we went to. So Josh decided she should have a ride. She was delighted!

Our scarecrow made from things around the house.

Getting in the season's firewood. It is a big job, but we try to make it a fun family project. If you need a good workout, come on over--we have plenty of wood left to split after that large tree fell earlier this year!

All set for a cold winter!

Fall Cooking

This week we are doing activities in school that have to do with acorns for fall. We made edible acorn treats today. Originally, they were to be made with donut holes, but I wanted them to be a little healthier. We made peanut butter balls using peanut butter, honey, wheat germ, and dry milk. Cooking with three excited little ones in my tiny kitchen is chaotic, but they seemed to have fun!

Aren't these cute!

Sutter's Fort

As the final fieldtrip of our mountain man unit, we visted Sutter's Fort. Some of the mountain men stayed at Sutter's Fort in their travels. The boys were dressed up for the part and everyone loved their outfits!

While we were in the cannon room on the corner of the fort, the boys decided to pretend there were indians outside attacking the fort. Funny thing was, there were school children playing out on the grass outside. The boys outside decided to play the part of attackers and pretended to get shot, run away, etc. A great time was had by all. I imagine those school boys could let their imaginations go when they saw someone dressed like a frontiersman shooting through the bars!

My adorable mountain boy! (Don't tell him I said he was adorable!)

Of Mountain Men and Boys

In school for the past three weeks we have studiedthe frontiersmen and mountain men of American history. We specifically focused on Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, and Kit Carson. Each man impacted the growth and exploration of the West in their own way. We have taken a lot of fun fieldtrips and had many fun experiences in this course of study.

I decided to make this a memorable unit, so we purchased coonskin caps and I made "buckskin" suits. Josh had a couple of old horns around, so we made powder horns. Then we cut up an old leather jacket and used the large pockets to make "possibles" bags like the mountain men carried. Josh let the boys use his toy caplock rifles from when he was a little boy. They actually looked pretty cool when the whole outfit was finished!

Every summer, the mountain men attended a rendezvous to trade their furs for supplies. It was also a festive time with quite a bit of partying! We held our own rendezvous in the woods here where we live. We invited some relatives and friends to join us, so you will see many different people in these pictures. Here the boys are learning to make a small animal trap.

A couple of the "mountain men" who attended. (Peter and his cousin Luke)

We held many contests of strength and skill. This great shot is of the foot race. Believe it or not, Peter could outrun the two other boys who were older and taller than him!

The boys tried their hand at tomahawk and knife throwing. Nathan has a knack for the knife throwing.

Nathan taking aim

They also practiced some wood chopping skills. Nathan had an old ax head with no handle. They used an old draw knife and a hatchet to make a handle for his ax out of a tree branch.

At dinner time, they learned how to start a fire using a flint. The man working on the fire is from our church. He really had fun dressing up for the part! He even cooked a squirrel stew for the kids to try!

Juliana borrowed a little outfit to go with her coonskin cap. She was so thrilled to be like the boys! Later I made her a little dress because we needed to return this outfit!

We tried to make the dinner authentic. We roasted pieces of venison over the fire on sticks. We ground acorns into the flour and made a bread with them. We also had beans, squirrel stew, fresh berries, and cold water! Not necessarily a balance meal, but the kids thought it was fantastic to cook like a real mountain man!

We created a lot of fun memories with this unit of study. We had a great time doing it too!

New Cousin!

Samuel Quinton Miller was born September 16, 2009. These are pictures from our visit a week later. Here are the children meeting their newest cousin for the first time!

Peter and Samuel

Juliana wasn't so sure about this little baby that cried! She was fascinated by Allison's belly before the baby was born and always told Allison the baby was there. Every morning she would pray for "Allison's baby be safe" in her sweet baby lisp. Even though she has seen the baby now, and we have told her he has safely arrived, she still wants to pray for the baby every day!

Nathan is very good with babies! He gets the sweetest, softest look on his face. Juliana was starting to warm up to Samuel now.

Simple Pleasures

Life is full of simple pleasures. Enjoy a few with me today!

Diapers drying on the line

The picnic quilt I made out of old denim jeans or fabric

I love this picture of Peter and Juliana on a reproduction tricycle

Juliana wanted to use her own tools to roll out pizza dough like mommy

We baked her pizza on her little baking sheet. She was so proud of it! So proud she wouldn't let anyone have even a tiny bite. She ate the entire 8" pizza herself!

Working on the New Property

With winter just around the corner, we are feverishly working to get our second property ready for winter. This piece was purchased with the goal of renting it. It had been repossesed and we got it for a good price. The place needs work, but was not nearly as bad as some we looked at! We spent this past Saturday working all day over there and I thought I'd share some pictures.

This is the front of the house. It has been remodeled many times. Originally, the right side of the house was the garage, but has been converted into the kitchen, dining, and living room areas. Once the weather turns bad, we will begin repairing the few things indoors.

This is the front yard. (The hole is for a mantle test.) Really quite pretty with lots of older trees, including a large pomegranate.

This is the back yard. It is quite large and has some fruit trees. We hope to cut down the old and very neglected trees and replant new fruit trees this spring. The property is just shy of 0.5 acres.

My job for the day was burning the large piles of brush. There were so many dead trees/plants around, that we had several large piles. The yard is much improved for their being gone!

My little helper!

This is a shack/granny unit/cabin in the back yard. (And yes, it has some issues!) We are in the process of taking it apart to move it. Hopefully we can salvage it as a granny unit, since that is often a real asset on a property.

Everyone was helping take apart the wall.

This wall is about ready to come down!