Making Apple Sauce

Today I finally finished all my canning for the year and we ended with a batch of apple sauce. With the kids now the job seems to be much more interesting as they want to be a part of whatever is going on, especially around the stove! Thankfully Kevin took Jaren so all I had to tend to was two little extra hands who REALLY wanted to help badly. He quite enjoyed sampling wedges of apples to make sure that they were going to make good sauce.

Let's try this one!

"Oh no!!"

This is his new expression as of the past couple of days and this is how the face looks upon saying it. I think he dropped an apple!

Thanksgiving or Christmas??

We got blasted with a taste of winter this past week and it caught me off guard as I didn't have anything put away for the COLD weather to hit that fast. One night it dropped to a very low temperature and froze the water in my barrels, thankfully I was able to turn them upside down and they didn't crack. So when it warmed up a little yesterday I got the blocks of ice out and things put away!! This is going to be a long winter! (Although we need the moisture!!)

Fall is in the Air

We have finally had a couple of real fall-feelin' days. All last week it was extremely high temperatures and with the sun being a bit lower the house was almost unbearable to be in. But you could tell it was fall cause the nights did get very cool and one night had a touch of frost.

Keesha and Tori enjoying the cooler weather

I am also enjoying the last bit of colour from my flowers and trees before the good old frost hits and they will be no more until next year. I have a feeling this could be a very LONG winter. One hopefully with LOTS of snow!!

Last Kick At The Can...

We have had 2 of the most gorgeous days - what they call an Indian Summer. It is soo hot right now (29 degrees Celcius) that we decided to get out the swimming pool again (which has only been brought out once this year cause it has been such a cool summer!) Needless to say Jaren enjoyed running around with as minimal clothes on as possible loving his freedom outside! Thank goodness for "big boy" pants! :)

The roses are in full bloom again with this warm temperature - so we are enjoying them while we can right now before we get hit by a bad frost (which is bound to come sooner than later).

Taking time to smell the roses

Out of sight, out of mind

(hiding under the deck in the shade but still able to watch Jaren and not miss out on too much excitement)

Lovin' Fall & Lovin' the Help

This morning we headed outside to work in the yard while the weather was still nice and warm. We got the yard mowed for the last time before winter and Jaren helped me pick the apples off of our tree so we can make some applesauce tomorrow (hopefully!). Once winter hits I am really going to miss being able to get outside without covering every piece of exposed skin. I love this time of year. Even Landen got to enjoy a bit of the fall freshness with us as he played in his exersaucer and watched the leaves twirl around him.


I took these pictures below yesterday afternoon as Kevin and Jaren were having their afternoon rests. If Jaren was awake I 'm sure that Landen wouldn't have been able to get this close to his precious tractors.

Very carefully studying over the tractor to see how it drives and handles - he's our serious one of the family so far. That may change though in the months (years) to come!

Mountain Climbing in the Bald Praires?

On Saturday the family headed about 1/2 hour east from where we live to go for a little walk in the mud butes. Out of completely flat land suddenly appears this cavity in the earth which we like to occasionally go to and walk around. This is the first time that we have ever gone since Jaren has been born. It was a beautiful day and one enjoyed by all. Here are some of the pictures that I took from the little adventure. Hope you enjoy.

Heading down to the base of the mud butes

Once at the bottom there is so much to explore

But what goes down must at some time go back up!!

To our surprise Jaren made it up the whole way by himself!

Even Keesha got to join in on the family fun

Just about to the top!!
Kevin, Curtis and their cousin David (from Texas)

Enjoying the Great Outdoors

Despite the gusty wind that we had today Jaren and I were able to get outside this afternoon for a short while to get some fresh air and much to my surprise the temperature was half decent! It ended up being a very pleasant time out playing around the yard. Keesha keeping a close eye on where her little buddy is!
" What can I get into next?"
Always loving life to the fullest!

Canning Tomatoes

Today was the day for canning some of the 100 lbs of tomatoes that Connie had grown in her garden that were ripe. I had some pretty good help from my assistant as he beat the tomatoes in the water and made quite a lovely mess!! The ripe ones that we got done today took us only about 5 hours and we were able to can 18 quarts and 8 pints of tomatoes. I was expecting to be in that kitchen until dark so I am glad now that I still have a couple of hours to get a few other jobs done today! At least we got the biggest day done today and we will keep on top of the few boxes that are still downstairs as they ripen over the next week or so.

Harvest

Here are a couple more pictures of some of the harvesting that is going on right now. Jaren is quite pleased to be able to go for short rides in the combine - we have to sit too long and we get quite bored after awhile. So the shorter the better!!! Maybe when he's running the equipment in the years to come he'll have a little more patience (hopefully!!!!!!!).

Thanks again Daddy for the ride!!!

A Beautiful September Day

We had a day packed with fun and a little work. We started off this morning going over to Grandma Letniak's to help get a meal ready to take to the guys out in the field. After that was done it was back home to do dishes, have naps, and dig carrots out in Grandma's garden. So following are a coulpe of shots of the happenings of our day.

Just like daddy!!

We are taught to ALWAYS share!! :)

Even Keesha got to join in on a couple of the left-overs
We're on a mission - going to the garden. Do these boys ever stop running??
Taste-testing a few of the carrots to make sure they are worthy!
Is that another carrot we snuck?
Our little posers!!!

Jaren and cousin Jonathan