Looking Back on October

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The beginning of October brought the day that Tate and Eliza’s Invisalign were ready to be fitted.

Thankfully getting Invisalign is much easier than getting wire braces put on!

Tate and Eliza both needed to have attachments and buttons put on their teeth first.

When called back, Tate went back for his appointment on his own, but I went back with Eliza.

She was super nervous and anxious, but she did SO GREAT!

They have been handling their Invisalign wearing like champs and taking care of it all so well.


October was the month that my in-laws moved to Wisconsin!

Dreams really do come true!!

We worked hard to get their new home ready and then to get them here.

The Lord literally blessed every single thing!!

Yes, that second photo below is Blake and I driving to Illinois in the middle of the night!


It was a literal race against the road crew the day the moving truck arrived at my in-laws new home.

Blake and I met the moving truck on both ends – in Illinois and here in Wisconsin – and got my in-laws house set up a little bit before they made the trip to their new home!

We had to get that huge truck unloaded before the crew putting in all the driveways and the new road reached us!!

It actually got to be super funny and kept us running around quickly!!

Big families are a good thing – we had such a great crew of helpers as we got everything ready!

We are SO glad to have my in-laws here with us!

I will say it again because I mean it –

Dreams really do come true!!


The end of gardening season happened in October.

I cannot wait for spring!!

These first two photos were the evening after we had laid sod in my in-laws new yard on the most freezing cold day of the year!!

It was SO windy and FREEZING cold!!

Then Tate and I drove home fast and used a flashlight to get the rest of the peppers out of the garden before the freeze got them!

Oh my goodness, the wind was whipping, we couldn’t stop shivering and laughing, but we got it done!!

This photo of Tate was taken with a flash which makes it look like it was not dark outside!


Then just like that we had a warm nice day and pulled out the garden and put it to bed for winter!

We did leave the rest of the onions and carrots in the garden that day, but they eventually were harvested and enjoyed!

It was a fun day – I LOVE being outside!!


This trio of ours, Lane, Tate and Eliza, have been SUCH troopers as we got my in-laws moved here and settled.

They are such JOYFUL, enthusiastic children!!

And they have been left at home a lot. A lot.

This is a shout out to our routines, chores, meal plans, stocked freezers and pantries….ALL the things we do to keep this place running smoothly WORKED.

It just kept on running smoothly because they knew what to do to make that happen!

Thankful for that more than words could say here.

It kept them busy, purposeful, and on track with school!

And they really are each other’s BEST of best friends!!


These photos are of Sunday stuff.

I told you about Sunday’s in my September post – Sundays fill my cup SO full!!!

Sundays also wear Jazzy completely out!


Have you all ever seen the northern lights??

We have several times!!

My hubby is the BEST at keeping track of cool opportunities like this!

We stood on our driveway one night watching the lights.

IT WAS SPECTACULAR!!


Even with all of the travel and crazy of October, we still ate!!

Imagine that!

I just downloaded these photos and it seems to me some good stuff came from our kitchen in October!!


Back in July, right before we had our church’s baptisms in our backyard and pool, we did a little refresh on the bathroom downstairs.

Before pictures would sure help you all see why this still makes me smile!!

We literally worked on this until way too late the night before the baptisms – nothing like waiting until the last minute!

Then my twenty-year old son told me the next morning he felt like he was living in Pinterest – ha, ha!

I was thrilled that I found a print with the song The Blessing on it – it is a song from our daughters wedding!


Let me add these photos I took of the lower level family room!

I cannot remember why I took them, but I will be thankful to have them in my little ole scrapbook here!


I have been slowly but surely getting through this home of ours now that colder weather has been upon us.

I do not feel like there is a method to my madness these days – but at least things are being gone through and deep cleaned!

One morning I dug in this front closet for some reason and then this all happened, ha, ha!

I sucked up a few spiders and cobwebs with the vacuum hose, got rid of things that no longer fit these children of mine, and scrubbed the floor in there – it was a good thing in the end!


We still are having our monthly Hymn Sing at our friend’s home once a month!

It is a favorite of ours and we are so thankful it continues on!!


I see Blake and I had another DATE NIGHT in October!!!

I know there cannot be one this weekend because of travel that will be happening – but SOON!

I promise!!

Blake did meet me at the grocery store over his lunch one day last week – and I called it a date!!

It honestly was really good to be together in the middle of a random day!!

Back in October we had a date in town and then watched the sunset over the river.

FAVORITE!!


Here are a few more of my favorite things!!

Besides everything above these words in this post, I mean!!

And these favorites are in no certain order!

Bible time in a dark quiet house, hot coffee with frothed coconut milk, cuddles with Jazzy, sunshine, my hubby, my slippers, playing music through spotify all the day long, chocolate truffles, diffusing essential oils…..

It is a GOOD life here, friends.


You know I love the sky.

It is just SO pretty ALL the time!!

I look at its beauty and think “God did that JUST FOR US!”

I mean He didn’t have to give us a beautiful sky to look at!!!

Goodness, I hope you notice it and thank the Lord for it too!


October – you were good to us!!!

How fun to look back at a month that felt crazy busy and see the blessings at every turn!!

I think that digital scrapbooking might almost be as fun as making scrapbooks with printed photos was all those years ago!!

Next up, November!

Until then….stay tuned!!!

NER Robotics

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Our resident want to be engineer (Lane) has been involved in combat robotics for a couple of years now.

Blake is the principal of our home school, but also the permanent substitute teacher for Lane’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) class!

Lane has far surpassed my abilities, just saying!

He is on track to have an impressive High School transcript with hopes to use it for his future studies.

I am not sure when it was that Lane named his robotics team – but the name is NER Robotics – which stands for No Experience Required.

CUTE!

Back at the beginning of October I decided to travel with the children and Blake to the robotics event Lane was competing in.

It was my first time to go along with them.

It was only a couple of hours away and we knew we could just take Jazzy with us!

Lane also had a friend that came along that day – which made it even MORE fun!!


The drive that day was BEAUTIFUL as we were on a road along the river.

And it was a gorgeous day too!

It got SO HOT for the beginning of October as you can see on the temperature guage in the van in the photo below!


I enjoyed seeing what these guys have been traveling to be a part of all these years!

I will say I was shocked when it was Lane’s turn to compete and the competition lasted TWO MINUTES.

What in the world???

All that prep and all that travel for two minutes???

They laughed so much at my shock!!!

He did compete three times that day – so six minutes total!!


The children and I did a lot of hanging out and were very happy to see some food trucks drive into the parking lot!

French fries for everyone – even though I had a cooler of food for lunch and snacks.


We left the competition right after dinner time, but stopped at a Chipotle to get some dinner.

I stayed in the van with Jazzy while they all went in and grabbed some food!

It was a beautiful drive home too.


Lane has another event coming up in a little over a week!

They will actually be traveling back to the same place we were that day back in October.

I will be cheering them on through texts and phone calls this time!!

Lane has learned SO MUCH through his CAD designing and building of these robots and I am so very glad that they do this!

I know that the hands on experience with this over the years will take him MUCH farther than any textbook could!

Very excited to watch the Lord write Lane’s story!

It is so fun to see your children’s interests and personalities emerge as they grow up!!

Here’s hoping Lane has good success at the next competition!!

GPa and NaiNai Camp Out

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Back in the middle of September, right before a weekend that promised beautiful weather, I asked my hubby if we could finally do our annual camp out in the backyard.

Of course he said yes!!

It was then planned for Friday night, which meant that even set up would start in the evening, but I was SO excited!!

I asked David and Kay if we could steal two grandsons for the occasion and of course they said yes too!


We had a random not very well planned meal over the campfire, and then got on with all the FUN!!

The kiddos didn’t care what they ate – they were just so excited to be camping out!

But of course there were smores!


Even in our last minute planning, my hubby SHOWED UP – as he always does – with some FUN.

Glow sticks in abundance provided hours of play for these kiddos!

I can still hear their feet pounding through the grass and their squeals of laughter if I close my eyes for a second!

These are the good things of childhood, are they not??

I can still remember running around my childhood neighborhood playing Ghost in the Graveyard with my friends while all of our parents sat on a patio enjoying each other’s company!


I cannot remember when we finally made everyone get into that tent, but we did, and they fell asleep quickly.

Blake and I had air mattresses under us, but the kiddos just had sleeping bags on the hard ground that was underneath that tent.

Oh to be young again, ha, ha!!

The next morning I snuck inside to get some coffee, clean up a little bit, and start on breakfast while everyone else was still asleep.


Pretty soon there were several hungry children wrapped in blankets running around the yard so we got busy on a HUGE breakfast!

I think one of Blake’s favorite things to do is cook breakfast for a crowd on his Blackstone, and that is just what he did.


After breakfast the guys made a plan to use a piece of equipment that Chad was able to bring home from work.

At first I was a little disappointed that our “camp out” day was going to be spent working, but it ended up being SUCH a fun thing for the children!

We still had the huge pieces of our fallen oak tree in our yard that needed pushed into the brush pile, and also had a birch tree in the front yard that has needed trimmed since the day we moved here.

It was very fun to watch all the work be done and cheer on our guys!!


I know that every time I look at that photo right above these words it will be with a smile on my face!!

What a great photo and treasure of a memory for these kiddos!!

Pretty soon it was time to drive that big thing into the front yard and trim the tree.

I might have held my breath until Chad was back on the ground, just saying.

But all went well and the tree looks MUCH better!!


It was soon after they were working on that tree that we saw the rain coming.

DRATS!!

We ran out back to get the tent and everything inside and we manage to do it just in time!!

Many hands make light work!


The children continued to play and enjoy their day while I fueled my tent-sleep-deprived body with the necessities of being in my 50’s.

If you have not had these truffles, never buy them!!!

All your self control will go out the window if you do!!

Just speaking from experience here, of course.


Our camp out in the backyard tradition started when we lived on the farm – oh, the memories!!

Brings such a good feeling to my mind and heart.

Here’s to camp out 2025, Lord willing, sometime this summer instead of at the last minute in September!!

We might need a second tent so we can invite more grandchildren to join us!!

Now THAT would be fun!!

September in a Nut Shell

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Oh how it does my heart good to look back at photos and write the story about them!

I now realize how much I have missed this little ole blog of mine.

September was the month that Tate and Eliza BOTH started orthodontic treatment!

Because Invisalign was going so well for Lane, we decided to do the same for Tate and Eliza.

It was a good choice, so far, that is!


We are still creatures of habit around here.

I started that trend and my family follows along, ha, ha!

Sundays are filled with SUCH good habits though!

Church and then the rest of the day all together here as a family!!

I never even know where my phone is on Sundays, much less do I take any photos!

I do have photos of what Sunday evening looks like after everyone is gone – me and my crew clean up and then are greatly rewarded when my hubby makes us all chunky monkeys for bedtime snack!!


School continues on for us here.

I might need to do a post about school and all that has changed here someday soon – but let’s just say it looks a bit different these days!

I am SO very grateful that I still enjoy homeschooling these kiddos of mine!!!

It is really the best way to spend our days here at home.


Our gardens were still exploding back in September!

Our tomatoes were certainly late to the party this past year – were yours??

They finally started turning red in September!

We enjoyed our gardens so much in 2024 and I cannot wait to show you the plans we have in the works for this year!!


I pulled out our zucchini plant the day I harvested all of that produce in the photos above.

It got the BEST of me!

I yanked and yanked on that huge plant – and it would not give – until it DID.

I went flying in the air and down the hill – Tate thought I would need an ambulance, ha, ha!!

Nope. I was FINE besides my pride and bruises on both my knees and one hip.

Arnica oil to the rescue.

So thankful that my daughter Kayla gives me things like Arnica oil and tells me how to use it!


Tate picked all of the basil one afternoon and we dried it in the oven.

Then we ground it up and put it in jars – IT IS DELCIOUS!!

We have grand plans to do a lot more dried basil this year and I am excited about that!


Are you ready for what came out of the kitchen in September??

If you are hungry, like I am, scroll really fast and don’t pay attention!

Seriously though, I really enjoy looking back on the photos I take of food to REMEMBER what I have made!!

I mean, wouldn’t you want to remember to make most of this again??


We still make most everything we can from scratch.

It is such a joy of mine to do that!!

Blake is still our number one Kombucha maker and we enjoy all of his flavors!

Kombucha is a Sunday family day treat and it is the best to share it that way!


Speaking of homemade things – do you remember when I bought these cheap bins for our snack drawer?

Well, our snack drawer is no more!

The kids just were not eating the things that were in there – and I realized it was silly to keep buying all those packaged things!

So the snack drawer is now a junk drawer.


Because of that switch, I was able to use the old junk drawer to put spices in.

This new way keeps all of our spices where our resident chef can reach them without having to climb on the counter!

It’s the little things, folks!


I stopped using a planner in 2024 for awhile.

It was fine without one – I just had a calendar on my phone.

It seemed simpler, and like life had less pressure.

But I honestly am just better with a planner!

I also made a document with lots of meal ideas (to use when I am meal planning) that I keep in the front of my planner.

Thinking on my feet is just not easy for me anymore!


We harvested all of the onions from our garden and cured them on tables.

Finally in September I cleaned them up and put them in storage to use.

I am very sad to say they are gone already, but very happy to say that not one of those onions went bad before it was used!

We are definitely growing onions again this year!!


We had a family Sunday in September at the farm.

Kay is an incredible host and I love being there!!

David always makes us yummy lattes too!


We also had one warm beautiful family day at the park!

We played frisbee golf, brought lunch, and hung out there all day.

It was really fun to have an outside family day!!


Blake and I must have had a date night in September!

Date night has disssaaaapppeeaaarrreeedddddd.

Have any of you found it??

If you have found it, send it back to us!!!

No, really, we need to do that again!!

Things have gotten busier here, yes, but I cannot make excuses.

I LOVE DATE NIGHT!!

Someone please check in with me soon to make sure we have went on one again!!


One of my very best besties met me in town one day to bring me a cooler full of meals for my in-laws freezer.

We literally hugged, switched the load to my van, chatted for two minutes and had to part ways.

I love this lady!!


I still enjoy being on the women’s committee at our church.

It is a huge blessing to be a part of!

I have my team Moschel help me set up our Women’s ministry get together each month.

They are a force to be reckoned with!

Our committee also cleaned the storage room in our church basement in September.

It was a BIG job but very satisfying!!


My trio and I spend a lot of time together.

That must be why I never notice they are growing until all of their clothes are way too small??

Goodness, I cannot keep up with these growing children!!

I bought a lot of Eliza’s new fall/winter clothes on line, but we did go shopping one Saturday morning too.


She is GROWING UP and I am a mess because of it!!

She cleaned and reorganized my Pinterest boards one afternoon and promptly asked me how much money she made.

Smile!!

I enjoy my days with this trio of mine!!!


Tate had a scan and appointment in Madison at the end of September.

Not going to lie, that place is not the same.

They changed his appointment three times, and then called as we were literally getting in the van to travel there to change it again.

Four phone calls later, we still went there that day to get the scan he needed and saw the doctor on video chat several days later.

We took everyone with us, and Blake dropped Tate and I at the hospital and then came back for us.

Everything checked out GREAT and Tate has been released from urology!


This is a LONG overdue post that is also very LONG!

Not even sure anyone is even here anymore, but if you are and made it to the end – BLESS YOU!

I know I will be super glad to look back on this long post someday!!

I have always enjoyed keeping our family memories and it has not changed!!

Let’s end with my signature – just in case there is anyone really here.


Goodness, it has been a long, long time since I have taken a photo of the sky.

I need to start doing that again!

Here is what I posted on my Instagram story this morning and I want to put it here in my scrapbook as well:

Today is special.
Don’t save things for a special occasion.
Don’t dust your candles. Burn them.
Spend more time outdoors.
Be more spontaneous.
Do not waste time.
Put joy and beauty into your day today.
Greet every morning with open arms and say thanks every night with a full heart.
Each day is a GIFT that is to be savored and used.

Amen, amen.

Next up is a very special two days we had back in September!!!

Until then, stay tuned….

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