Friday, August 26, 2011

Keep Digging

Well, here is our potato patch.
Don't mind the weeds, I don't after the plants die.

I'm so happy to be blessed with a big strong man to help dig.
I dug for about 15 minutes and it was painful to watch...the ground was HARD!

There was so much excitement.
We classify digging potatoes up there with presents on Christmas morning,
you never know what you're going to get
and there is always so much excitement.

We dug up our Purple Viking potatoes first.
The Purple Viking yielded fewer, but larger potatoes than that of the yellow finn.

Here's my oldest with two Purple Vikings...
he informed me I had to be quick with the picture
so his sisters didn't take all the rest of his potatoes:)

Here's my little princess with her potatoes,
always happy to stop for a picture.

And last, but not least, my big girl.
At two, still not quite grasping the 'hold still' command to snap a quick picture. 

As you can see, we've moved on to the the next row...yellow finns.
I picked these two varieties from Seed Savers this year because of the storing qualities.

I couldn't help but put this one in,
every look of  my big girl digging potatoes was a mix of
wonder, confusion, and excitement.

She also thought it would be a splendid idea to give the potatoes a little try.
Then handed it over to mom to cook:) 

Here's our 2011 potato loot. 
We couldn't be happier. 
The potatoes that did get sliced or nicked with the potato fork,
 were cooked up the next day and tasted as good as they look.

Thank you God for a wonderful harvest!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Safe at last!

When searching in our library last night, Zach yelled, "Bat"
This is what I saw...
Trust me when I say it looks a lot bigger when it's flying at your head!
As I went to go get the laundry basket to capture it,
Zach headed to the shop for a stick.
My theory was to trap it in the basket and was about to explain this to Zach
when he whacked the wall with the stick and yes, got the bat.  

Of course,
this is a big deal to the kids
who have had to sleep with doors closed due to the bat.
I'm happy to say we will be sleeping with our bedroom doors open tonight:)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Visit, A Fun Day, and A Scare

My apologies for not being able to post for the last couple of weeks,
in addition to our computer being down, we had lots of things going. 

We had a visit that the whole family has been looking forward to for a whole month!
My uncle Bill was able to come and spend a couple of days with us. 
We had a wonderful time and definately tired everyone out with all the excitement. 

  We had a great time on Saturday at the park with our cousin. 
A picnic lunch was the icing on the cake.

My oldest just loved up his cousin the whole time.

That's right...a bat in the house! 
I didn't believe Zach until it flew right at me. 
The bad news...we still haven't caught it yet.
Zach assures me, "You don't have to worry, it won't hurt you"
Somehow, this didn't ressure me as much as I would have liked.  

Monday, August 22, 2011

Swimming Lessons

This was the first year we tried out swim lessons and
everyone was a fan!

 Because my two oldest are so close in age,
they were put in the same beginners group.
My little princess was attached to my oldest the whole time,
which was a good thing because he was in the water the whole time.

As you can see, my little princess didn't like having water in her eyes. 

And without knowing how the swimming lessons would go with the older two,
I didn't sign up for the mommy and me classes for the baby and myself.
They did have a wading pool, which she was in the whole time while waiting.

They had all sorts of fun. 
This is the noodle train they made and went into the deep.

The only negative of the experience was the temperature
dropping during the second week of lessons. 

The kids all had a tint of blue on them by the time lessons were done.

They loved their last day especially
because they got dropped off to go to Nana and Papa's for the weekend.

Their favorite game was chop, chop, cherry tree.
My oldest loved jumping in alone every time.
My little princess jumped into the arms of the instructor every time...

except this one! 
I was so proud of both of them!