Working and Playing Together

Sometimes togetherness is not a fun thing and there is a lot of bickering and jealousy. But sometimes it really works. Here they decided to pool their coins from their piggy banks. They have a common goal in mind - they are planning to buy (or ask for Christmas) for a battery-operated car that they can ride in together. Apparenly they know how much it costs and are nearly there. 

Hmmmm.....we'll see....

They are quite the pair! Sometimes the silliness and highjinxs are a bit much, but it's always good to have the laughter.

Our New Arena

Grandpa helped out on a few projects while visiting, including laying out flags for our new riding arena. (He also helped Daddy move the Chicken Shack and finish a project in the pig pen - horray!!)

It needs to be temporary, because this location is where we someday hope to build the new Dream Barn. It's not completely level, it's not fancy, but it's cheap and functional - those are the goals!

It took a few hours of pounding posts, but it was pretty quick once things were laid out. And it was VERY satisfying to saddle up and give it a go! 

This is so wonderful....one helping the other learn, while continuing to learn herself.

The footing will need some improvement, but we are off to a great start!

Can-Can!

 Gramma and Grandpa came over for a long weekend to help with some end-of-season projects. The main goal was for Mommy and GrammaBon to do some canning together.

First up were the Dilly Beans.

We did 24 pints on the first day together. Mommy can hardly wait for the time when they are ready to sample.YUM

The next day we set out for 2 different batches of plum jam, using wild plums we found right on our own property. In the shot above, Gramma is adding sugar to the pot of purple plums, which didn't turn out purple, but did turn out delicious! (In the foreground are the yellow plums we picked a few weeks ago, defrosting.)

It was definitely a team effort, with everyone pitching in. Aleaha loaded the dishwasher with the next set of jars, Miri squeezed lemons for lemon juice, and Gramma monitored the jam and was Head of Processing.

It was nice to see them working together.

There is nothing like canning outdoors! Won't go back into the house with this project....it's just so much better out here. The propane gave us major BTUs, so the water came to a boil much faster, we didn't steam up the kitchen, and we had plenty of room for everything involved.

The end result was 75 total jars. Amazing! Can't wait to try the Dilly Beans, the Wild Plum Jam, and the Vanilla Plum Jam.

We are still looking forward to applesauce and working with the beautiful wild pears (sneak peak above!), but we'll save those for another time soon.

Happy Campers

The girls wanted to have a camping experience this summer, but we are running out of weekends. So they creatively thought of just camping out in the yard (great idea!). They made it all through the night and had a fun time, although when I asked if they got chilly, Miri admitted, "I was a block of ice, Mommy!"

Arby likes it like that

Scratching under Arby's belly elicits the funniest response.

Every time....

Fashionista

Miri has quite the skill at assembling outfits. She called this her "Wild Child" look. She said the horses running was a part of the wild look.

Swimming Lessons

In the last couple of weeks of the summer, Aleaha is enrolled in swim lessons again. She loves it!

After each lesson, we try to give her some time in the pool to just play. 

And if possible, a post-swim lunch is included!