{We're Lovin' Fall!}

We planted a garden this year (it was all Todd's idea), and much to my surprise, it did really well! Check out those tomatoes! ...and I had six boxes full of their friends too. *sigh* Elizabeth had a special bond with that particular tomato because the both have warts.

Needless to say I did a little canning: 12 pints of apricot jam, 23 pints of bread & butter pickles, 5 quarts of dill pickles, 8 pints of dilly beans, 12 containers of frozen zucchini, 12 containers of frozen corn, 14 quarts of peaches, 12 quarts of pears, 14 quarts of applesauce, 6 quarts of pie apples, 13 + pints of diced tomatoes (still working on those), 16 pints of salsa, and 18 pints of spaghetti sauce later, I've made significant gains in the food storage department. That doesn't count all the potatoes, onions and squash we've been eating fresh! Yum... It's been a ton of work, but I feel so good about it all!

Now the leaves are starting to fall and we spent the afternoon "raking" them up!

This scene went a little like this. Me, "LOUIS! Don't eat the leaves!!!" Louis, "Crunch!" Me, "Uhhhhh!"

Louis, "PTHHH!!!" Crazy boy, he never listens to me!

So we played a little more than we raked. I guess we will just have to assign ourselves another day to get them all cleaned up! I'm totally motivated, because I hate leaves in my snowmen! We'll get it done... eventually!

{Caboggoning}

As in [ca-bog-uhn-ing] rhymes with tabogganing. Best said with a British accent. That's what the girls call a little vacation to a cabin. Camp is to camping as cabin is to cabboggoning. Got it? I'm loving that they are playing with words like their Auntie Laura and I do. *sigh* It's just so important to pass these thing on to the next generation, don't you think?

So we set off to Hebgen Lake for a few days for a little spud harvest vacay. Todd is doing a full remodel on two of the three bathrooms in this cabin and the owners were so generous to invite our whole family to stay if we wanted. This is what Todd's up against for the next few weeks. I believe this remodel is definitely needed, don't you? Notice the tiles falling off the walls behind the toilet. Lovely. They were put onto the walls with liquid nails. Not good. So this is what it looked like the day we got there, and after demo we took one ton of garbage to the dump. Literally.

Demo. is. fun.

It felt good to wield a hammer again. When we left there was nothing left but studs on the walls and part of the sub floor. I'll promise to post the after pictures. Todd has about 800 square feet of tile to lay first.

It wasn't all work and no play. The cabin is beautiful in a retro sort of way, and there is a huge fire place that the kids loved roasting hot dogs and marshmallows in. We saw a fox and a porcupine while we were there. We also took an afternoon and went exploring on the beach. They had fun with sticks, and I had fun with the camera! It was cold, though. I don't think we've ever played on a beach in coats, hats, and gloves before, but they didn't seem to mind! We had to go in when it started to snow on our heads!

{Crib for SALE!}

It's official. There are no more babies in our house. Louis got his big boy bed this weekend!



First, all the boys had to use their tools to take the crib apart.
Thanks goodness for Daddy's big helper.


"I BAM it!"


Somebody looks adorable in his new bed... but not very sleepy!!!