School Pictures

Had fun this week taking some beginning of school pictures. I like to document how the kids grow each year. Not portrait quality, but you can see their little personalities shining through!

Juliana (4)
The tire swing was the location of choice this year!

Nathan (8)
Love the missing tooth!

Peter (6.5)

He's all boy! This is his idea of a "cool" picture!

Restful Getaway

So, after a crazy summer, working on the rental, harvest season, school getting under way, and Josh being gone for a week on a fire, we all needed a vacation. We packed up our 5th wheel on Saturday, and took off Sunday after church. We have so many beautiful places to go right around us, we decided to stay fairly close and headed up Hwy. 49. It was a lovely time. We did very little except sleep (I took 3 naps the first day!), eat, hike and explore, and hang out with the kids. Fun times!

I discovered Katherine on our bed gazing admiringly at Nathan's fishing pole. Is she going to be his upcoming fishing buddy?

She played carefully with it for a long time!

In the evening, we played games and sat around in our pjs!

The kiddos all bedded down for the night. Katherine sleeps in the laundry basket!

Peter loved these fuzzy caterpillars and made a caterpillar habitat!

The view out my trailer window! This is the North Fork of the Yuba River. No, we weren't really that close to the water!

Juliana liked this rock indentation

Being silly

We did take school with us, but Daddy helped with some lessons

All set to head home

Katherine's Dedication

Last Sunday we dedicated Katherine to the Lord. It was fun to answer the other kid's questions about it and remind them that we dedicated each of them to the Lord as well.

Josh praying a blessing on Katherine (while she tries to get the mic cord!)

Josh had the whole family get involved this time!

Each of our children committed to being a good example to Katherine and helping her love God

And our parents prayed for us. How we appreciate their involvement in our lives and the support they give us as we try to raise these children for Christ.

Fall Fieldtrip

A few weeks ago, one of Josh's colleagues from the fire department who owns his own plane invited the men in our family on a flying expedition. They flew to Woodland, toured the Heidrick Ag History Museum, watched the tomato and corn harvesters at work, and then flew home over the top of our house so we could wave to them. What a fun day!

All set! Nathan was pretty impressed with the headsets that allowed you to converse over the noise of the engine.

Checking out the tomato harvester!

That's tall corn! It is field corn raised for feed.

Mr. Zeff, the owner of the plane, making sure the boys are all ready to go!

These tomatoes are being harvested for seed. Peter was amazed that the machine could sort the tomatoes by color.

At the museum

Aren't my boys handsome?

Kid Stuff

Just being kids!

She loves getting tangled up in the slinky!

Their blue eyes almost match! As you can see, very mellow cat who loves attention! She is the perfect pet for Juliana.

Peter's lego museum. He made various "exhibits" out of legos. Unfortunately, I don't remember what they all were, nor can you see them too well in the picture. He was very proud of his museum.

Helping Mama pick out some lace for a project!

Nathan's drawing of Granny and Papa's house as seen from our house. He even included details like the trike on the deck and the slope of the land!

Katherine's Tricks

These pictures were taken Sept. 13 (almost 3 weeks ago). Since then, her skills have improved even more. I was trying to get a picture of her rolling over, but she rolls so fast my camera couldn't get it! She promptly learned to roll over and over and over, and thus got around the livingroom. Currently she is doing the "inchworm". She gets in a crawl position, raises herself up on her toes, puts her head down, and then lunges forward at whatever object she is trying to reach. Very funny to watch, but she does manage to get around! I'm sure she will be crawling very soon.

I weighed Kate this week and she is around 14 lbs and getting long! Not such a tiny one anymore!

Harvest 2011

Just a few fun pictures from harvest season. Personally, I am relieved to have all the fruits and vegetables canned and stored. The venison for the year is in the freezer (thanks, Hannah), and we are getting things ready for winter now.

Normally we dry apple rings on old window screens. However, Peter discovered the apples came off the apple peeler looking like this and he decided to hang up LONG apple rings. I thought he found a clever way to hang them!

Over Labor Day weekend Juliana and I canned tomatoes. This was one morning's picking out of my garden. My tomatoes went crazy this year!

Here is my outdoor canning setup. Keeps the house much cooler. The big burner also heats the waterbath canner faster, so the job is done sooner.

Katherine enjoying the harvest--oh wait! She actually loves this spider. Peter said he is trying to keep her from being scared of bugs like most girls! I wonder if it will work?? The boys giggled so hard while I took this picture!!