Family Photos

We are early this year! Can you believe it? We can't. Hans will be gone most of the month of November, and I will be gone two weekends in October so it just seemed like it was now or never.

As our normal routine. We had our photos done by our dear friend Ben Eichelberger. Ben took our engagement photos on these steps where a few months later, I would walk down the isle and marry Hans. Each year we return to the ampitheater on the campus of Albertson College of Idaho for our family photos. It is fun to look at each year and see the changes. The addition of Lilli and then Misha and the older girls growing from girls to ladies.

Anyway, I wanted to post them here first. I hope you like them.

Apple Orchards Family and Fun

Those who know me, know, this is my favorite time of year! I just love the smell, the changing colors, the cooler air. It doesn't hurt that it's my birthday too :o)

Speaking of birthdays. I just want to thank each of you who called yesterday. My sister-in-law Bethany had the best excuse ever not to call. She was in the hospital having surgery...but she called! That was great! By the end of the day, I had heard from everyone on both sides of the family and several of my friends. My daughters all made me beautiful cards and Lilli made me a book of her artwork. All in all just hearing from everyone made my day one of the best ever. Oh, and Carla, I didn't want to tell you, but I typically don't like cheese cake but the one you made looked soooo yummy. I had it for dessert yesterday and WOW!!!! It was awesome! Maybe it's just store-bought that I don't like...this old dog can be taught new things!

OK. SO...back to fall. This past Saturday we took a little family outing to Emmett to pick apples. We went with a group of six families. Jenna could not come with us because she had a babysitting job lined up. It was a good lesson and one that she learned with grace. While she did want to go, she said it was important to her to stay and fulfill her obligation to the Nokelbys. I was so proud of her. Saturday was looking pretty gray and stormy. The whole drive there we thought we were going to get dumped on. However we made it there without a drop of rain. We were the only people in the orchard that day which made it really fun since there were a lot of children. Our friends the Wickhams and my brothers family were two of the families that went. We had so much fun. Lilli just loved the idea of harvesting. Even Courtney had a great time. She helped the little ones reach the higher apples and carried thier baskets as they got heavy. We picked 80 lbs of apples!

About two minutes after we left the orchard the sky opened up and boy did we have us a storm. The wipers were on as high as they go and we still could barely see the front of the car. Thankfully, Hans was driving and was his normal calm self. We arrived home without any complications.

When we got home, it was time to do something with all those apples. Tamara gave me an Apple Butter recipe that uses the crockpot. This, we thought would be our plan. I always love my mother-in-laws apple butter but she cans hers and I don't know how to can...I am not sure I will ever know. SO, this time we freezed it. We made nine batches, yeilding 38 pints. Then I made a gallon of apple sauce without sugar for my brother-in-law. The whole thing was a family project. Hans and the girls did most of the peeling, coring, and slicing. I have three batches cooling right now and then they will be ready for blending and freezing. We had so much fun and the girls are putting the apple butter on EVERYTHING~!

Next time you come for a visit...ask for a sample. We are rather proud of our first venture into home-made apple butter.

School again school again jiggity jig

Greetings!

One of my favorite memories of childhood was going school supply shopping. I loved getting new crayons the most. Over the course of the year, after many sharpenings and needing to peel off the paper, my crayons looked like they were well used, loved, and basically distroyed. New crayons were awesome, 8 colored points standing proudly in their box just waiting to be spread over a new sheet of paper...yep, I loved crayons. I think my mom paid 10 cents for this treasure. Some of my other favorites were paste, #2 yellow pencils, and of course, a new back pack. Good things indeed.

As a mom of four, not so much love for the school supply shopping trip. I was happy with a box of 8 crayons and a box of 10 yellow pencils. Not so anymore. While the older girls homeschool, relieving me of some of the supply needs, Lilli started Kindergarten this year. Did you know you can buy a box of 250 DIFFERENT color crayons? Oh my gosh! Did you know that glue comes in 10 colors and some have glitter in them? Did you know that there are as many designs of pencils as there are school children? When did Ziploc Bags become a school supply? Tell me why do I need to provide the teachers with red pens, highlighters, and sharpies? Not to mention the 1000 sheets of paper, the 3 boxes of tissues, the ream of copy paper and lets not forget the package of white paper plates (I rebeled and bought red!). Crazy. Well I did buy all that was requested, except the red plates, and I did pay the $20.00 milk fee (lets not go there). All the while thinking how painful this would be if I had to do it four times over. I just keep thinking about how cute and proud she will look when she gets dressed in her new school clothes with backpack on stepping onto that bus. Just a note...Lilli LOVES crayons too. She picked the 56 color box, I bought the 24.

So while school has yet to start for the little one, the Big Three are getting into the swing of Idaho Virtual Acadamy. We have used this program for 3 years going on 4 and have been pretty happy with it. This year they have made tons of changes to the middle school program that has been challenging. We are getting it done and the girls are really letting the frustrating stuff slide. Courtney is in the High School program so we knew that would be all new stuff. She is working it out well. She did ask me to buy her an agenda book to help keep all her assignments and on-line live sessions in order. Other than that she hasn't really needed me for anything.

Some of the best changes this school year were the ones we made to the play room which is now the class room. The girls each have a HUGE corner desk with 4 drawers. They each have a shelf above the desks, new chairs that they picked out at IKEA in some really great colors, new desk lamps, and best of all, a computer on every desk. Well, we are still waiting for Jenna's computer to arrive but that should be any moment now. There is also two book shelves, two printers/copiers/fax. Everything the girls need to enjoy learning. We left the couch in there for a great reading/dreaming area.

As for me, today is a better day. I spent most of yesterday feeling very very not up to task. After 7 calls to support, several e-mails to teachers and tech support, and one conversation with the principle I think I finally get it. And...we...are...off!

Please keep the girls in your prayers this year as they navigate this new program. Also it is Courtney's first year of High School which is almost always difficult.

Last but not least by any means...Hans is doing great! BSU sports is ready to go and while he may not admit it, I think he is excited to start working all the sport remotes. We really miss him at home this time of year but I am still thankful that God has allowed him a way to earn a living doing what he loves. Till the next post.



Tammy

Welcome to our new Web-Home!!!

Hello to all our family and friends! We are so excited to welcome you to our new home...on the web that is. While we have had our msn home page for 5 years, we are really looking forward to sharing our news with you here on Blogspot. The main reason for the change is the better storage capacity allowing us to leave photos up longer and better ease of posting. It will also be easier for our friends and family to comment on the blogs. So, with that, I invite you to leave your comments here also. We love to hear from our friends and family and really hope that this makes contact easier for us both. Bookmark this page and check back often for updates and news.

Hans, Tammy, Noni (aka Courtney), Jenna, Kristi (aka Anna), and Lillian