Catching Up

Blogging has become a challenge for me. Can you tell? The posts are farther and farther apart. It's hard to sit down and get photos off my phone and camera, organize them, crop them, upload them to the blog on our super-slow internet....

So, here's a loooooong post to get things caught up...

This was the boys on the morning of school pictures. This photo cracks me up. :-)

In the middle of September I traveled to Corpus Christi, Texas for work meetings. My boss and I took five minutes to visit the beach one morning.

Then at the end of the meetings a group of us went out to Padre Island - however we were greeted with red algae and dead fish all over the beach.

It looked beautiful, but the smell and cough-inducing algae was not pleasant.

MCC rarely uses hotels for meetings - this time we used the Pax Christi Sisters Retreat Center. This is the Catholic church on the property - such a pretty building and the inside was gorgeous.

Back at the ranch, the garden season has ended for us. Thankfully, Ben pulled out the tomatoes and okra plants - I was so done with picking and dealing with all of it. I felt so relieved when they were just done. But the chickens have discovered the remaining fruit!

The plants were so big when Ben pulled them out he couldn't get the plant separated from the cage so they've been slowly dying inside the cages. Lots of red, rotten tomatoes just hanging out.

The sweet potatoes are still out in the garden, looking lush and beautiful. We planted cover crops all around them so it's been fun to watch the variety of plants come up in the past couple weeks.

My basil continues to grow - it's completely out of control but the bees are enjoying it, so I'm content to leave it until it freezes. 

Wilbur out grew his green collar, here he is showing off his new bright collar! 

He's a constant companion while we're outside. Always ready for an adventure, always ready to be near by keeping us company - and let's be honest, sometime creating pure chaos. He's very good at chasing balls, chewing on toys and sports equipment that he's not supposed to get his mouth on. He's also started digging - in one spot only so far. Hopefully our trick of sprinkling the area with cinnamon works to deter him.

My aster plants put on a beautiful show - now their color is fading but for a while they were really showing off.

It feels like my energy level for working in my kitchen is coming back. Canning and other summer preserving activities took lots of time and energy for the past couple months. I worked hard to clean and dry a bunch of wheat that I could grind up to make bread with this winter. However, my first batch of bread with the wheat from our farm was a total flop. I was very frustrated and then Ben explained to me that the variety that I was using wasn't good for making bread. Ugh. So, back to regular whole wheat flour from the store!

This kiddo, in all his just-out-of-bed glory. I snapped this last Friday just a few hours before he flew off with Ben to Illinois for the weekend.

Which left me and Levi to our own devices!We went shopping for pants. Levi didn't have any athletic pants in his closet (the only kind of pants he thinks are comfortable enough to wear to school). He outgrew all of them from last year, and Noah had none to hand down, so off to town we went! He thought he needed 70 pairs of pants, but he ended up with five new pairs.  He lucked out and we shopped for his Halloween costume. I said no to whatever this scary thing is.

Here's a sneak peak at what I did approve - the cap gives the only clue. But believe me, he's VERY excited about it. :-)

Saturday my mom and I made Levi go to the Barn Sale with us - it was a lovely day to take in the event. We may have temporarily lost Levi, but there was a very nice police officer who helped him find us, so it all worked out. Yes, I won the mother-of-the-year award, I've got the trophy on my shelf at home.

Ben and Noah went to the Nebraska vs. Illinois football game in Champagne, Levi and I made pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

Then on Sunday we went to Papa's Pumpkin Patch with my sister and niece!

Levi and Rylee had a great time playing,

running, climbing, 

jumping, 

hunting and cutting pumpkins off the vine!

The only trouble was how hot we got out there looking for the perfect pumpkins!

We even did the corn maze! And with minimal cheating Erica and I made it out!! Although all the satisfaction of completing the maze was lost because we cheated. The kids gave up, they saw a way to get to the outside of the maze so they took the opportunity. :-) 

Ben and Noah got home from the airport just as we were pulling in from the pumpkin patch. It was so good to see them again! Then we took off for Fun on the Farm with our church. Hot dogs, 

s'mores

and hay rack rides. Levi is such a goofball. We had a good time on the ride - checking out beautiful pastures and hilly hay fields, laughing at giggling girls and watching the sun set.

And finally it was bedtime...the end of a long weekend.
So there it is - a wrap-up of life around our neck of the woods.