Eliza and the Apple Doughnut

 Once upon a time, I went to the grocery store for milk.  While I was there, the doughnuts caught my eye and I asked my girls which kinds they would choose.  

"I'd like the chocolate glaze!" said Gwendolyn

"mmmm, the long creme filled one!" Lucie exclaimed, jumping up and down. 

"Apple!" Eliza said emphatically.  

I was skeptical. 

"Are you sure you don't want the chocolate covered one with pink sprinkles?" I asked.

Eliza looked through the glass case.  

"No, I want the apple one!"

We left the store with our milk and our precious box of doughnuts.  At home, after eating our lunch, the girls each got their doughnuts.  

As I was washing the dishes, I heard "Mommy! Mommy, my doughnut is filled with ewwy stuff! I don't like this!"  

I turned around to see Eliza picking out all of the apple filling that was in her doughnut.  

The End.

Life got away from me

 The beauty of blogging is that rather than being an instantaneous thing that doesn't require much thought, blogging takes intentionality and sitting down and organization.  

That sounds like something I clearly struggle with sometimes :)  This can clearly be noted by seeing when my last blog post was.  

Life as of late since my last post:

In May we celebrated lots of birthdays and had one big party for the kiddos.  It was a lovely time with those who love our kids. We also had a revival meeting at church and had an evangelist in for that.  Lots of preparations, and inviting happened.  Then I also planted our garden.  Dan wasn't able to get the tractor started to plow up the ground, so I used just the rototiller.  This resulted in the rototiller belt burning up three different times.  The ground never did get a thorough tilling, so this summer we've had groundhogs, rabbits and mice making homes in our garden.  That's uncalled for in my opinion, so I've decided we'll never do that again.  

But since there's no point in crying over spilled milk, I've made do with the holey garden and I've gotten good at stomping on the groundhogs home.  Throughout June, Dan has been working very hard on the property and fixing the farmhouse.  I did my routine cleaning of houses, gardening and raising the kids.  

July was when we celebrated Dan's birthday at Applebees.  The power went off as soon as our meal arrived at the table and we ate in darkness while there was a tornado outside and trees everywhere were down.  We were hoping the meal would be free then, but because they actually served us the food, we still had to pay full price.  No discount for eating in the dark.  

At the end of the month we went to the Northeast Vision Summit again in New Jersery.  It's always a great time and we come home thoroughly encouraged.  Saw friends, spent time talking with others who are in the ministry, and our girls loved their classes....well, all except Clara.  She was so ready to be out of the nursery.  :) 

When we arrived home and promptly came down with a viral flu of sorts.  It wasn't fun for about 2 weeks while we kept thinking we were done with it and then the next kid would get sick.  The garden produced lots of squash and zucchini in August and Cantaloupe.  Unfortunately, the rabbits chomped off 2 plantings worth of green beans, so we haven't harvested a single one of them.  We've gotten 4 very large cabbages though and several pickings worth of broccoli. The red raspberries have also been wonderful this late summer/fall. 

My father-in-law came to stay for 2 weeks. and help Dan at the farmhouse.  They accomplished much and the girls enjoyed spending time with Papa so much.  SO far in September, we've been doing school now for several weeks, gone on two field trips (I'm determined to get several in before the snow flies), and am finishing up the garden escapades. 

I'm canning the last of the tomato sauce I've made from the garden harvest and then it'll be on to making applesauce from drops at the local orchard.  It's been a good, busy summer.  I'm sad to see summer ending, but I'm also ready for slower days and less stuff to make my schedule full.  

How has your summer been?    

Next post will include photos. 

Vacation 2024 in the Books!

 Good morning!  I am determined to stay semi up-to-date with my blog for a few months at least.  :)  So here is update number one!  This past month, we were able to go on our family vacation for the year.  We usually go in the fall, October....but since that is a month that usually has lots of church events and plus, the start of hunting season, we decided to do earlier in the year.  

We decided to keep closer to home this year, and went to New Hampshire which is roughly a 3 hour drive.  We were able to hike mountains, spend time at the lake, and also take a day trip to Maine! 

My 3 little hikers.

The Lakes region of NH is beautiful!

Dan and the girls, building a sandcastle on the lake beach right near where we were staying.

The girls absolutely LOVED swimming at the pool at the resort where we stayed.  I'm thinking swimming lessons are in order!

On our way out of town one day, we stopped at the Kellerhaus, which is a neat, candy/ice cream shop.  Apparently the oldest in NH.  The ice cream was good! ALbeit , very overpriced.  :) 

The Ocean.  In the very far distance, you can see Goat Island and the lighthouse there.

Another day, another castle built.  Of course this was more authentic because it could be decorated with seashells since we were at the OCEAN in Maine.

The best kinds of messages in the sand.

The cutest Clarabelle!

Nubble Lighthouse

Endicott Rock where there are inscriptions from the 1600's

Downtown Laconia.

We all voted this years vacation as one of our absolute favorites so far.  We also spent one day just relaxing, and one day exploring antique shops and a few thrift stores.  I made almost every meal (except one) at our resort kitchen and so we were able to save a lot of money.  

It was a good week!

Baby was born.....A long time ago :)

Life has flown by and I thought of my blog yesterday and recalled that the last time I posted, I said that I was due to have my fourth baby GIRL.  That little girl has since joined our family (I should HOPE SO! 😁)  and we love her so much!

She was born the end of October and we named her Clarabelle.

The girls love her and so do we.

I'm going to slowly begin updating my blog.  It may take me quite a few weeks to catch back up, but we'll do it!  Hang with me folks!  Those of you who have continued following my blog despite my neglect for it deserve some prize.  Drop a comment below if you are still following!  

You'll Never Believe it!!!!

 

I apologize for the terrible video quality.  Perhaps you are still able to see from it though, that we are indeed having................

ANOTHER GIRL!!!!!!

Baby #4

 

We announced to the rest of the world several weeks ago that we are expecting our 4th baby the end of this year! 

We are quite excited, as you can see from this photo of the kids. 

On Sunday, we will be sharing the fun news of whether we'll be adding another girl to the tribe, or if we'll switch things up with a boy.  That gives me a very good reason to need to update my blog again on Sunday!  So stay tuned for the new update.  :-) 

Fun PA Trip

 

Well, I figured since it has been a very long time, that it was finally time to update my blog.  The good old blog!  One thing is for sure: if anyone should chance upon my blog after a 4 month hiatus like I have had, they will not sit around waiting for my NEXT post.  It could be tomorrow, it could be 2 years from now....who knows?  

Anyway.  We took a lovely little trip down to PA this past week just for a few nights (3 to be exact).  I wanted the girls to be able to go to Knoebels Grove once this summer, and the rest of our summer and fall is filling up and looking like it'll be very busy.  So I quickly planned this little getaway.  We left NY Sunday afternoon and made it down to PA to a place called Pine Grove to spend the night.  It was a fun little spot, semi-exotic (for us at least), since it was on an old airfield.  The Hangar was nearby and there was an older airplane model sitting out in the field.  The place we stayed in had a loft that was perfect for Gwen and Lucie to sleep in.  They loved it so much.  When they saw the loft with it's ladder to climb up, Gwen said "Now we're just like Laura and Mary (Ingalls), because they always climb a ladder to their beds too!" 

Monday morning, I made breakfast and Dan and Gwen tried out the jacuzzi, though Gwen claimed it was too hot after dipping just her toe in.  We packed up and left, heading for Hershey's Chocolate world.  We rode the free tour ride twice and then headed for Lancaster area.  The only thing I REALLY wanted to go to in Lancaster was to Shady Maple Smorgasbord (where we had our wedding reception).  We stopped at a huge playground and the kids played for an hour or so, then we got to Shady Maple, where I really enjoyed eating.  

When we finished, we headed back to Selinsgrove, where we would spend the next two nights.  We were staying at a lovely Bed and Breakfast where there was a pond and lovely walking trails.  We took a walk, the girls went wading in the pond, and we played a few rousing rounds of hide and go seek before retiring for the night.  

Tuesday morning, we ate the delicious breakfast that was prepared by our hostess, and I packed up our cooler of picnic lunch and we headed for Knoebels. 

I had already purchased our tickets online (buy one get one free) and so we got to start riding rides pretty quickly after getting there. 

Just a few pictures of some of our favorites. 

Eliza, standing in front of the fudge shop. 

It was a fun day, and one the girls will talk about for awhile.  

On our way back to the bed and breakfast, we stopped at Hoss's to eat and I discovered that Eliza had a tick on her upper leg.  It must have gotten on her during our walk or hide and seek the previous evening.  THANKFULLY, Dan is skilled at removing ticks fully without leaving the head and such.  After that, it was a nice dinner.  

Wednesday morning, we packed up the van, ate the last breakfast of our stay, and said our goodbyes.  We drove straight back to NY and were home in time for me to teach the ladies Bible Study at church and for my husband to have a counseling meeting with someone that evening.  

It was a fun trip, but it's also good to be home.  

Okay, I'm determined to not be such a stranger this summer.  I'm recently a HUGE fan of writing to-do lists and my days have been extremely productive of late.  Perhaps I will add "edit blog" to my lists to ensure that 4-month gaps in posts are not the norm.