Scottish Festival

We had a lot of fun at the Scottish Festival this weekend. I felt it went along with our countries and cultures studies this year even though we aren't studying Scotland.
I found the sheepherding to be very interesting! These dogs are amazing as they respond to different cues given to them by their owner and can keep the whole herd together and exactly where they want them! The bagpipes were great!

Scottish dancers

A fencing club from Derby, Kansas was there performing

This is Hannah doing the haybail tossing.

Here's Jacob giving it a try.

Zachary's turn!

Zachary is doing the stone tossing.

Now Hannah is doing the Caber toss.

The three-legged race

The potato sack races

All in all, we learned a lot, had a great time and ate and drank some great food! I'm thankful to our friends Danni and David for taking us with them and showing us around. They go every year because Danni is of Scottish background and she goes to try and seek out her clan. It was great getting the "insiders scoop" on everything!

Wordless Wednesday (Goodbye Summer!)

Books and grapes..

First day of the book club!

Hannah talking about her book

Jacob telling about his book

Zachary at book club


The grape harvest!

The grapevines in our backyard

Today we started going to a book club that the leader of our homeschool support group started. The kids did great standing in front of everyone reading what they had written about their books and showing the pictures they had drawn. They are not afraid of public speaking!!

On another note, when we moved to our new house we discovered grapevines that the previous owners had planted. They are beautiful and have given us a great harvest but I have no clue what to do with them! I'm thinking about making jelly or jam or maybe even just grape juice but since I have never done any of those things, it should be an adventure! More on that to come.....

No new water leaks to report, which is always good news! We got our carpet dried out and the smell I believe is out of our house. We didn't have to tear up carpet or take out sheetrock, thank goodness! We were told by the new owners of our previous house that they had 6 inches of water in the basement. They lost quite a bit and have to tear out carpet and sheetrock and of course insurance won't help them. I feel terrible for them. At least the rain is finally over and we have a new dishwasher and hopefully all the problems are over, for awhile anyway!

Time to pick the apples

We picked some beautiful apples today at Steffens Orchard and had a ball in the meantime!

The owner told us to eat as much as we wanted while we picked and boy did we!

Hannah doesn't eat apples but she helped us pick some

I think Dad had fun too!

I'm so glad we took advantage of the beautiful day! We ended up getting about 80 pounds of apples which we split with a friend. Tomorrow we plan to peel, core and slice as much as possible and put in our freezer for winter baking. I'm sure we will eat as we go!

Family Reunion

We had a great time at our family "reunion" this weekend. I say reunion because we hardly ever get to see everybody! This is my cousin Gwen and her two grandkids with my Uncle Lee in the background. My cousin Kim's daughter

Gwen, David and Uncle Lee

What would a family get together be without a little football? My boys....

My Uncle Lee with his wife Loretta and my cousin Kim

Two sisters, Kim and Dorena

My Aunt Joan, cousin Dorena and Justin

Justin, Laurie and her husband and Ashley

My brother Chris and his son Ben

My daughter Kayla and her boyfriend Dakota

Uncle Lee, cousin Pam and her husband, Loretta and Aunt Joan

Lee, Pam and husband, Loretta, Joan, Justin, my mom and Ashley

Mom, Justin, Ashley, Laurie and Katrina

My Dad and brother with Ben

It was finally a beautiful day today, though a little chilly and windy. We had a great time seeing everyone! It was a nice break from our wet, stinky basement!

No More Water!!!!!

Okay, since we moved into this house we have had water issues to say the least! Let's review...
The dishwasher leaked on the kitchen floor (which I have to admit seems to be looking better), then the new water filtration system that we bought leaked under the sink and we had to replace the board under there, then we had hurricane weather (in Kansas!) and received about 81/2 inches of rain in 24 hours. Our basment received the most water damage this time with the carpet in the living room and Kayla's room being soaked. We have pulled up the carpet and pad to let it dry but boy does it stink in this house! Then this morning the toiled overflowed upstairs and flooded the bathroom!! Ahhhhh!!! Oh I forgot to mention that both our skylights also started leaking in this last rainstorm! The previous owners lived here for 15 years and never had a problem! We have lived here for about 6 weeks and have managed to have about as many water issues as one should probably have in 15 years!

We have managed to continue to have some fun moments despite it all! We went to a tv station for a field trip on Wednesday and a fun birthday party today at a gymnastics club. I hope to post pictures soon of our more fun moments because it helps me to stop complaining and to be more thankful for all that we often take advantage of. Like water............

Fresh baked bread

On a cool day like today, there's nothing better to me than fresh baked bread! I grind my own wheat and bake 3-4 loaves at a time since we don't buy store bread at all. It's so much healthier for us and tastes so much better! Tonight we are having beef stew, homemade rolls and Wacky cake! Comfort food!!! (Let me know if anyone wants recipes!) Yum!

Kansas State Fair

Pig races, anyone??

Dr Goddard's Lab

Butter sculpture

Jake the rancher

Does Hannah look taller to you?

Rylie and Zach

What's with that chicken??

Hannah, Zachary, Rylie and Shannon

Petting zoo at the fair We had a great time at the fair last Friday, despite the rain. We did get a little tired of being cold and wet but still had fun. I still can't believe I'm saying "cold" in Kansas at this time of year. Freaky weather this year!

We learned a lot and ate a lot...when I woke the kids up in the morning to go to the fair, Zach mumbled "Oh yeah, funnel cakes!" That must be all he remembered from last year!

Last year it rained the whole time we were at the fair and I can't believe it did it again this year! Anyway, between the pig races and the 4H building, the sheep and chickens, the llamas and horses, we found plenty to do!