Make hay while the sun shines

 

Last weekend we went home to help my family bale hay. We have missed out on a lot this summer with my husband’s work schedule, so we were raring to go ;) Here are a few snapshots of our Saturday.

The fellas getting something sorted out.

I drove a truck for a little while and had a little hay-hauling buddy, but she didn’t last long. Not even a full round around the field and she fell asleep. She woke up just in time for Mama, Nannie, and the other girls to come by with a snack.

Someone thought she had to pour her Cheetos into her mouth just like her Jakey did ;)  She thought he was doing a trick--not realizing his hands were dirty—and of course had to try it.

A flock of ibises stopped by for a snack in the hayfield too.

Time to get the hay in the barn.

.Deciding the best course of action.

My Papa.

Me and my biggest little sister before heading home for the evening. Do we favor much?

 

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (KJV)

I’m still here….

…even though I haven’t been around much. Life has been incredibly busy lately.

The Lord has blessed my little sewing business, once again I have things scheduled months in advance. I finished a 20 piece (yes 20 pieces!) alterations job for a lady and am about  so begin another set of alterations.

Things are looking good on our house—we are just waiting now for the title seasoning to be over. If all goes as planned we should be moving at the end of October. Prayers are still appreciated ;)

The Texas Homeschool Conference was wonderful. I got to see old friends that I haven’t seen in years and visit with new friends. And spending time with Mom and the girls and Daddy was great too. Here are a few pics from that weekend.

Faith thought she needed all the napkins for lunch. Maybe she was concerned about the red drink Mom gave her.

Lydia bought a toy gun with her very own money while we were there. You can tell she has heard her big brothers talk about guns quite a bit. She told Mom that she was going to try it first, and if it hurt her shoulder, she wasn’t going to buy it. Imagine that, a four year old concerned about gun recoil! She is too much sometimes.

As you can see from this photo, Hannah has lost her first tooth. Where has time gone? She should still be Faith’s age.

   On another note, my sister Wendi has begun making things to sell in my Etsy shop. She makes 18 inch doll accessories. Her first item is the shop right now, if you have a minute stop and by and see it and favorite it. I know that would thrill her to pieces ;) You can click on the photo and it will take you to my shop.

Summer Snapshots

What have I been up to lately? Here are a few glimpses into our life the last couple weeks.

Apple pie—yum ;)

A trip to the hayfield…..

Faith had to check the hay like Papa was to make sure it was dry enough to bale.

Faith “helping” me getting the pickles ready for their three hour chill.

Bread and butter pickles—my first batch ever. I’ve helped Mom make them over the years but these were my first to make alone.

We also made apple pie filling the same day we made pickles. I can’t wait to try it out!

Meet Fergus, the latest addition to the JHR spread ;) He is just a few hours old here.

And last but not least, here is Jacob and his little sweetheart being silly:

Keepers of the Faith Camping trip

We had such a good time last weekend at our Keepers of the Faith camping trip. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Every year we stay at campground on the beautiful Blanco River.

One of the things that I love the most about the camping trips we take is the relaxed atmosphere. The girls have a chance to really play and build friendships and we grown ladies have a chance to visit, which is great because in our monthly meetings we are all very busy with classes.

Some of my girls headed to the river for a  swim.

The water was cold but the littles were determined to get in.

The big girls decided to build a dam using the big rocks that were plenteous in the river. I think there was more than one big rock dropped on feet.

And in the midst of all the fun I managed to do a mini-shoot with Faith.

Isn’t she adorable? I realize I am just a “tad” partial to her ;)

Camping!

I leave today for our Keepers of the Faith mother/daughter camping trip we have every spring. I’m excited to be able to go and spend more relaxed time with the girls in my group, but at the same time I’m not looking for to being away from my husband for a few nights. He has assured me that he’ll be fine and he is looking forward to spending the weekend with my dad and brothers.

After several years of tent camping we finally perfected our method and found a place with a large lodge with lots of bedrooms and a huge kitchen and living/dining area. It is wonderful and now it is the only place we care to go to.

I’ve taught the same  group of Keepers of the Faith girls for four years and have had most of them since they were eight years old. Now most of them are nearing thirteen. Where did the time go? They are all blossoming into sweet young ladies who really love each other and their families. Yes, I’m very proud of my girls.

I’ll share pictures from our fun weekend ;)

Picking Berries

Last Friday I spent the day with my dad, mom, and baby sisters for some much needed get-away time in country. Daddy took me to lunch at the local café and it was so nice running into old friends and church members that I had not seen in a while. It was nice to be able to just relax and spend several hours visiting with my Daddy—we are all so busy it is rare for me to have him all to myself.

We had a busy day that involved some of the grandparents dropping by, and aunt and some cousins stopped in for a little while.

We ended our fun day by picking blackberries on our farm. Ever since I was young, we have always picked berries for jelly and cobblers. Often times my aunts and grandmothers would come pick with us and it was like a party.

There are three different varieties of blackberry that grow wild in that area. Dewberries—which is what we picked Friday—are ripe at the beginning of April. The berries are huge and there are not as many thorns on the vines.  Dewberries are our favorite. They grow close to the ground in most cases and they are great for little kids to pick.

Mayberries ripen in early May. The berries are a little smaller than dewberries. Then there are blackberries that ripen around the end of June-beginning of July. The berries are small and have lots of thorns on the vines. We usually don’t pick blackberries because they are not as people-friendly as the first two and the snake factor goes up considerably in the summer months. I can remember being young and picking blackberries and seeing rattlesnakes. In addition to the snake factor, it is so hot during the summer months that it just isn’t worth the  effort for the berries. Usually during April and May we pick berries every other day.

Below are some peeks into our evening.

When sat down and began to eat berries it made up think of the story about Little Sal, so of course I had to take a picture ;)

Lydia was ever vigilant to go ahead of us and find berry “jackpots”.

We were blessed in our efforts and after a short while had picked well over a gallon of berries. Mom sent a gallon Ziploc bag home with me for my jelly making plans. But that is for another post.

The Day after Christmas

Our family is very much a hunting and guns family and one of our favorite things to do is shoot skeet. We look for any excuse to have a skeet shoot. Here are a few photos from the day after Christmas. Unfortunately, my brothers were camera shy so there aren’t any pictures of them.

Wendi and me

Jacob manning the skeet trap

Wendi and our aunt

Oh my, what’s this? PINK shells? I wonder who could have been shooting those?

MY pinks shells and new pink and camo gun case for my 12gauge shotgun.

I did get a picture of the boys! They are putting a snorkel kit on one of Patric’s four-wheelers. Now he can float his four--wheeler across the pond. Boys…..

---------------------------------------

Rebecca