Harvesting and other activities going on in our life

I'm going to do a quick ramble of the things we have been up to lately. I want to say we are super busy but that isn't necessarily the case. We lead a simple, quiet life and that is actually how we prefer it. We do stay busy, we just aren't really caught up in the same kind of busyness that many of our friends are involved in (and sometimes we struggle with that). Our main focus is on showing our children how beautiful the quiet life can be. We want our children to know what it feels like to be bored, how to entertain themselves at home, and to find contentment in what they have. I feel like our life mostly encompasses that. So here is what is going on currently:

1. It's harvest time!

Our small acreage is ripe with fruit and vegetables right now. We are definitely staying busy canning and freezing produce. My mother-in-law came out to help me with canning for a few days. Both my mother and my husbands parents were also here to help pick food from our garden and pick apples from our tree. We have successfully processed apples for applesauce and made apple pie filling, apple juice, cinnamon pickles, salsa, and roasted tomatoes (for spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, pizza sauce, etc). I am still a novice at preserving as this is only my 3rd year at this, but I am learning and growing in my knowledge of canning.

Our family eats a lot so I would love for what we've done to make it a year, but I would be thankful for 6 months!

2. A tractor came into our lives

Since moving out to our small acreage, my husband has wanted a tractor. We finally took the plunge and got one. It has already done several small projects including landscaping, moving out some broken concrete pieces, and enabled us to get apples off the top of the tree for the first time ever. I think we will find it the most useful for snow removal as I'm hoping it will cut the time in at least half of what it was taking.

The kids are loving it, especially Riley. He loves pulling out his tractors now and making them work like he has seen Grandpa and Daddy work the tractor.

3. Preparing for baby

Baby #3 arrives in December and we are getting ourselves ready for this. It will probably be the hardest transition for Riley, who is still a toddler. Payton has been working really hard to help him understand what a new baby will mean for us and how to care for the new baby. We are trying to keep dialogue going with him regularly so he will have a bit of an idea of the change as it comes. Our house is also getting rearranged as we prepare for the arrival of our little one.

We are currently in the process of combining Payton and Riley's room and therefore had to find a system that would work to combine closets. So far, this has been working for us. The kids have not officially moved to the same room yet as I am kind of dreading the transition. Hopefully, it will go smoothly.

4. Preschool

We chose to continue another year of preschool at home. We didn't really take the summer off since Payton refuses to let us give up our regular scheduled period of time to do school work. She loves routine and I have no idea where she would get that from! ;)

In any case, we continue to work for a short period of time in the afternoons on formal school work. Outside of that, we are constantly learning as we go through our days exploring our toys inside, cooking, preserving food, and playing outside.

Each week, we pick a topic we want to learn more about. With that topic we will check out related books at the library, find an art project, create a science experiment, and utilize youtube or abcmouse for more activities. So far we have learned about zoo animals, the solar system, and volcanoes.

This week, Payton wanted to explore cooking so we got some recipe books from the library and she has been a lunch helper all week. She is going to make her own meal for us (with some assistance) at the end of this week and has been trying to decide on her menu still.

I have a friend that is bilingual and she is coming over to work with Payton on Spanish once a week. I review the words with her daily that she is learning. The benefit is that I am learning Spanish as well and Riley is already picking up on some of it. We are so blessed with this opportunity.

5. Play dates and a Parade

Now that summer is over, we seem to be back into full swing with regular play dates. Payton loves seeing her friends again. Our high school just had homecoming and we were able to take the kids to the homecoming parade. They had a blast.

6. Just good old fashioned play time

We are spending a good chunk of our time playing. I love watching the world through my children's eyes. They are learning and growing by leaps and bounds.

I am so very thankful for the time I have been given with them. I can't say that enough and I hope that really resonates within this little blog. God has surely blessed our household beyond measure and we are eternally grateful for this beautiful life we have.

May you have a great week!