New Friends!

There is an Amish community not too far from here and we love going up there.  Each family has a different trade and they will have a small building, or a little extention off of their house that is for their goods that they are selling.

One of them explained that every family HAS to sell something different than the others, so that they aren't competing with each other.

So one family sells seeds and garden starters, while another sells cheese and honey and another baked goods and another dried goods and spices.  There is a man that has a sawmill to sell lumber and another makes cabinets and furniture and yet another has his horses available for breeding. There are signs out of buggy repair,  whole chickens, sheep for sale, quilts and the list goes on.  So it's just a great trip when we go up there.

Just like everybody else in the world, each family is different. Some are friendly to outsiders, some not so much.

Yesterday was our day to go get our flour and oats and seasonings we get from them and we stopped by the carpenter mans house for Keith to talk to him about a table and they were super friendly.

The kids were fascinated with our kids - all staring out the windows. :)

Pretty soon they came and sat under the tree by the suburban and I told our girls they could go sit with them.  They asked their names - Christina and Vera.

Shortly after that, their oldest boy came out and started talking to me.  He was a bright young man with lots of stories to share. :)

Then blazing around the corner of the barn came this tiny pony with two small boys sitting WAY up high on a pile of hay.  I couldn't believe that little thing could pull such a load.

They unloaded their hay in the barn and put the seats in the wagon and rode over to where we were.  The bigger boy asked if our kids would like a ride.

I'll let you guess what their reaction was. :)

The boy (Jacob) drove them around and then got off and handed Kristyn the reins - GASP!!!
I was seeing all kinds of bad things happening, but I just watched and surprisingly she did a great job. :)

Then she dropped the boys (Owen and Jeren) off and the two little girls hopped on and Kristyn took them for another ride.

They don't like their pictures to be taken, but I did manage a few shots with the lens under Ashlyn's arm. :)  I think the flash went off on Ahslyn's shirt, so it made the picture turn out weird, but I still like it.

Kristyn was on cloud nine!!

So now the kids have decided that they want to be Amish......

For whatever reason, Megan was sitting on her coat.  

Aren't they adorable??

After an hour and a half there, we traveled on to get our cheese and honey. :)  I just love their little shops.

 

 So Keith told the kids that tonight we could live like the Amish.  No lights, CD's, computer, or trips in the suburban.  They think it will be just grand.....we'll see.  He told them that as soon as it starts getting dark, they will have to get ready and go to bed, because we can't have candles burning very long and we won't have lights - that's what the Amish do. :D   Haha!!

I'll let you know how it turns out.  We will use the indoor pluming, I can assure you of that. :D

Have a great weekend!!

Baking Day in the Life of a 4 Year Old...

Megan and I made bread this morning. (Thanks, Heather for your yummy recipe)

After it was made, Megan asked if she could make her own bread.

"Sure" I thought "I would have loved something like that when I was 4 years old"

So I said, "Sure" and gave her full run of the kitchen.

I went on with my day (mopping up water in the basement that had leaked through from the floor upstairs) and very soon was greeted with an unusual and VERY strong smell coming from the kitchen.

I went to investigate and found her very happily "baking" bread.

Here is the recipe she used: (I know because I asked) :)
Flour
Heaps of Oregano
Several cloves of Garlic
Small diced Onion
Grated cheese
Several heaping spoons of Dill Seeds
A tad bit of Oil
Sliced Grapes
Water
A variety of Sprinkles

Isn't she darling?

As I was leaving she said, "Oh, Mom, can I use some of this"

One day when she is grown and married and making "real" bread for her family, I'll show her these and we can both have a good laugh. :)

Garden Goodness

We tried something the other night and it was WONDERFUL!!  We made up a marinade, put the meat (the deer Keith shot last year) in it the night before and cut up peppers, (green, yellow, and red) and onions and grilled them.....

Not only were they pretty, they were very tasty!!!!

What have you been enjoying from your garden? I love to hear new recipes. :)

This morning's garden pick...

We would have had a lot more green beans but there was a lot of this going on. :)

The Man of Many Helmets (the kids call them Hemlets)....

I enjoy watching him come up with things to make life interesting.

The fierce leader!

Thanks for all the comments.  They made me smile.  You are a great bunch of friends!

Enjoy your day!!

Tomato Girl...(and a little vent)

Dear Readers, (if we still have any)

Life has been just packed full the last few months. I offered to clean the school last month and that took at least a couple of hours each evening, not to mention all the normal mommy stuff.  So blogging has gotten pushed way down on the priority list.  I considered just closing the blog altogether, but I do enjoy blogging  (when I have time) and so I'm thinking surely my life will kind of get back to normal one of these days. :) (My cleaning job is happily back in the hands of the janitor)

So if you're still hanging with me, I'm just going to shed the big elephant on my back that's saying "You're not keeping up with your blog...nag, nag, nag" and just move on from here and post periodically with just some things that are going on around here. I like to blog things as they happen - mainly because none of our family live close to us and I think they like to see what we're doing, BUT I can't do that right now (because there is ALWAYS pictures on my camera of funny things the kids are doing - I would have to post everyday), so it will just be total randomness for a while. :) (unless I decide to just close it altogether)

So on with the  post for today. :)

Ashlyn loves - LOVES - tomatoes!  If I don't catch her in time she is out the door as soon as she wakes up - PJ's and all - out in the garden, picking and eating tomatoes.

Her favorite are the small tomatoes that are growing like crazy right now.

I finally got it through to her that you only eat the red/orange ones - NOT the green ones.....

and it's a good idea to pull the stems off before you eat them.  It's SO cute to watch her pull the stems off  - priceless! (check out Owen's face on the side bar - look similar? LOL!!)

She is just the right height to see all the ripe ones and feast away.

 Yesterday she came up holding a big tomato with both hands just eating away.  She is one funny cookie! 

One of these days, I'll get pictures of her eating peppers - she eats them the same way as the tomatoes. :)

I have about 5 posts worth of pictures of our garden that we have thoroughly enjoyed this summer, but that will have to wait for right now. :)

I hope you are enjoying your day!!!!! 

Thanks for stopping by!