CSN upcoming review!

The folks over at CSN have generously offered an opportunity for me to review one of their great products. It almost makes my head spin that they have 200+ stores to choose from! I am racking my brain as to were to start..... end tables, the cookware, the bedding, I could spend all day trying to decide!

Keep your eyes peeled to see what fun thing I get from the wonderful man in the BIG BROWN TRUCK, also know as "the UPS man"!

True Woman 10' in Indy....

Last Thursday, I loaded up two days worth of clothes, piled 7 other women into "The Big Red Bus" and we headed off to Indy for the True Woman 10' Conference. I can' t even begin to tell you every detail of every speaker, all the things the Lord spoke to my heart about, the convictions, the lightbulb moments, the tears of sorrow, the tears of joy, the incredible worship music, the priceless fellowship, the praying over a fellow sister in a great time of need....I could just keep going!

True Woman is a moment....an undertaking of "Revive our Hearts" ministry. Nancy Leigh DeMoss, who is passionate about women ministry, is the incredible lady behind organizing and making this idea a reality. In Indy, our small group joined up with other women from our church, along with 6,100 other women who were seeking to be True Women of God. (That is a lot of hormones in one room is it not?!) I had never been to anything of this magnitude before and didn't really know what to expect, nor did I have any expectations. I was just a mama who was SUPER EXCITED that I had the next 48 hours to only worry about feeding, clothing, and cleaning up after myself.....

If your interested in checking out what this conference was all about you can go HERE to see what the 2008 tour looked like, the Indy tour I attended was different from the 08' version, but I am guessing te same vibe to it I think. You can watch the speakers, listen to the workshops, all the click of a mouse. If at all possible, if you get the chance, go to the next stop on the tour in Houston, Texas in October......DO IT!!! It really is an inspiring and  life changing time...if you go with a willing heart.

Believe it or not I really didn't take many pictures of my time away. I can't get the ones I did take to load up anyway...who knows why? Be sure to check out all the podcasts and things on the true woman website link  above!

Happy Monday!

Mini Baking Day

I really wanted to bake some things for the freezer......so I did an inpompt to baking day!!!

I cooked up a double batch of whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes, a double batch of apple pouches, and a big pot of chili. I also made a double batch of english muffins..no picture though. I am hoping to sneak in a few more baking days in the near future. Now that the weather is cooling off, I am feeling the need to be making yummy things, now I just have to carve out the time to do it!!

Field Trip to the Zoo!

Taking Advantage of the beautiful weather, and our season zoo pass, we spent an afternoon soaking up all the zoo had to offer....

When we first arrived all four kids thought they needed maps. It was so funny how much those silly maps kept them occupied for the entire afternoon!!

Each of them had fun pumping the water...a totally foreign concept in today's world.

We enjoyed looking at the animals of course, but my main objective was to hit up all the educational things to read and learn.

They enjoyed feeding the crazy geese! I can't believe how many of them there were just waiting to be fed...

This beauty of a draft horse enjoyed some attention from the kids...Such a pretty horse!

"The Club"

The boys have been working on a club in one of our barns, and having a lot of fun doing it. They called me to go take a look at some updates they did and I thought I would grab my camera and take a shots.

"no girls" does not included mom, or Julia I am told...Whew!

The guns are all organized, because you never know when a battle might break out...smile....

Their table is all ready,card playing or games....whatever they feel like whipping out at the moment.

These triple bunk beds were made by Lance. I am not sure I would want to sleep on them...but he is ever so proud of them!

I think it's great they have their own little playspace. They can do whatever they want with it and not hurt a thing....good times!!

Late Season Garage Sale Finds...

I know that you all know that I LOVE to hunt up garage sales whenever I get the chance in the Spring? I realized the other day I haven't been to a garage sale in about two months maybe...none in July or August to speak of....what? So a couple weeks ago when Labor Day weekend rolled around we went a hunting in the afternoon one day....Here are a few of the fun things we found.....

I got Dennis the Menace and Ardie comic books (from the 1960's) for 3 for $1.00! I also scored some Magic Tree House books for Lance...she loves that series...all 5 for $1.00

These are little hard to see, but they are two rounded primitive shelves $2.00 each and a little soap dish for .25!

I got all these earrings for .50 each!! I brought them home cleaned them in rubbing alcohol real well and I have four pretty sets of earrings!! I also scored a couple of shirts for under a buck a piece.

It was a good time. The kids found a few goodies along the way with their given amounts of money. We had a good time, and got some fun finds to wrap up the garage sale season..

A Mama Can Only Do So Much...

I know I haven't been around a whole lot in the past 2-3 weeks. This is a very busy transition time for our family. September is a crazy busy month for us...I won't list all the reason why, just take my word for it..smile! I am now schooling three kids during the day, plus trying to keep a little certain 3 yr old involved as well so she doesn't feel left out. Along with all this there are still mama jobs that need done! So I guess I have been trying to prioritize this here at The Gaertegang, unfortunately that means I don't have time or energy left to blog. I do have a fun review and giveaway coming soon....as in the next week or so! So you can be keeping your eyes peeled for it!

I have been stealing away some time on the deck to read a book....ohhh so nice when that happens! I hope you are enjoying some fall weather in your neck of the woods and soaking them all in before the whole season passes us by. Until next time.....God bless you.

A show of Cosmos.....

On of my favorite flowers of the late summer and fall is the Cosmos. Does anyone has any other color than pink at their home? I would love it if you could pick off the spent flowers and send me the seeds.....just a thought...

Happy Fall Ya All!!

Can you smell it in the air? Fall that is. The cool morning air. Ahhhh..I just LOVE this time of year!!

I LOVE decorating for fall!! Corn stalks that are done in the garden..pumpkins from the garden...and beautiful mums that give the landscape some color when everything else is dying off.

We were super excited to harvest some popcorn from the garden! I thought he wasn't going to produce, but I guess I was wrong!! I think we will pop some up tonight and see how yummy it is.

What is your favorite thing about fall?

Zach's Proud Moment!

Some pretty fun and exciting things have been going on here at the Gaerte household. This picture was taken on Zach's 4th day of school. In Pre-K we did some letter practicing but not a ton. We started off our school year practicing the letter A, good place to start huh? Then on this day I decided I wanted him to practice his name. So he is now proud to say that he can write his name without any help!

This moment of "his first" writing his name on his own was so fun to witness! All the kids were so proud of him and encouraged him telling him what a great job he did. I wouldn't trade anything for not being able to be there and witness these moments. Homeschooling has afforded me lots of these special moments with my children. Although schooling your children at home doesn't come without some sacrifices, these moments make them all melt away. I know this is where God wants me in this season of my children's life. I really can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be.

I am joining in with Just For the JOY of it this week. Go Here to see more joyful happenings!

Making a new path....

Our project this past weekend....re-vamping an old path through the woods at Justin's parents house to ride the bikes and four wheelers.We worked on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and evening...then they got to do some riding on Sunday.

As you can see, Julia had lots of fun helping out...and she even stayed so clean thus the black marks all over her face.....

On Friday night we went TOTALLY PRIMITIVE style and made a little fire along the path and cooked us some hot dogs....no buns, no bread, no condiments, no napkins....just hot dogs and a jug of cold water....

Zach & Julia have been best buds lately. They were holding hands and talking about something (I couldn't hear what they were saying). She calls him "her knight" and he calls her "the princess"......so sweet!

I love it when we get the chance to do such fun things together that we can all enjoy as a family. Working together in the woods is one of those things,and it makes such great memories.......without even costing us a penny.