Our Trip to Missouri

We were very excited to get to take a family vacation and see Aunt Jessica. 

OFF WE GO!

 Our first stop was St. Louis, MO...The Arch

 Crossing the Mississippi River....

 Our walk to the Arch....gorgeous view!

 Welcome to big city...

 The view from the top of the arch.....

We are way up there....

bye-bye arch....

 again gorgeous....

Once we arrived to see Aunt Jess took us hiking and to see the springs.

 The gorgeous springs...

Caleb  checking out the super clear water.....

 Aunt Jess & Julia......

Such cute guys!

Our favorite part of vacation is always taking off on the back roads and checking out the countryside.

 We saw lots of grazing cattle...

 While out sightseeing on the Army Base we found this fun Arcade Game...

 Fun was had by all......

 While Aunt Jess and Justin took off to a bluegrass jam, the kids and I went to watch a FREE movie on the base.

Justin got to try on some Army gear....

We had such a great time!

Barn Project

In October we marked another barn project of our list. We have been in the process of replacing rotten posts with new pressure treated cemented posts. The project has come along nicely thanks to all my hubby's hard work. The other project we wanted to get done before the snow started flying was cement another one of the stalls. Here are some pictures of our progress.

 Grandpa Gaerte is always such a helper

Here we go.....

 Justin smoothly it all out

The boys are making sure this spot is already ready to make a concrete pad.

Our Thankful Jar

The couple of year for the month of November we have done a couple of fun activities to help our family focus on being thankful. This is a character trait we always strive to focus on in our home. This year I decided we would do a "Thankful Jar".

 A simple jar with pieces of paper to write on.

The top of our jar reminds us who we give our thanks to!

Family Pictures 2012

Recently, we had the joy of having our family pictures taken by Amber Archer Photography

 This first picture is my favorite family picture....

 Family picture #2.....

  Family Pic #3..not my favorite since the wind was 30mph and my hair is all blown about.

 The kids each got to pick an animal to get their picture taken. Lance and his duck.

 Julia and her precious bunny, Peter.

 Zach and his bunny, Mr. Rumples.

 Caleb started his picture with Jasper, but he didn't really cooperate, so he hopped on the tractor.

This picture is actually my favorite...to my children's disgust...I got a great BIG print made!

 Julia and I struck a pose for the camera....

 I love that little lady!

 All my men.....

 A HUGE THANK YOU to Amber Archer Photography and her hubby Mark for coming to our home and giving us these great pictures to treasure for many years to come.

Preparing our Garden for Winter

I was able to pick up some Everbearing Strawberries the last week of September to extend our strawberry patch for next year. I added 15 new plants.

 After such a hard summer, I can't believe how gorgeous and full both my patches are looking.

 We ripped out the rest of our vegetation a couple weeks ago and began to fall plow.

 Here is a picture of one our hard working tractors doing her job.

 Hubby got the plow all painted up nice and perdy....so he could get it all dirty

 The garden look so nice all plowed and ready for winter. Although Justin and I both commented on how much bigger is looks all plowed up with nothing planted in it.

I'm not sure about your household, but we are already beginning to talk about what to do for next year. We are planning to hold a "homestead" meeting here soon and hash out some goals and projects for the coming year. All I have left to do is get my garlic in the ground! I should have did it two weeks ago...I kinda forgot! I'm hoping at the end of this week to get em' in the ground.

Making Apple Cider

We were blessed with the opportunity to make some apple cider a couple weeks ago. We had never pressed cider before and were excited to get to be a part of it this year. In case you haven't pressed cider before, here is how the process works. 

First the apples were gathered/picked, then we rinsed them off.

 Apples are then put into this little hopper and ground up. The pieces of apple drop into a 5 gallon wooden bucket below.

 Then the magic happens, apple pieces are pressed and cider appears!

We got a little over a gallon of cider per five gallon bucket. We brought home five containers of this ohhhh so YUMMY goodness. It was such a hit that we had them ALL GONE in five days! I'm happy none of it was wasted, but sad that is all gone already! I hope we get the chance to do it again.

Picket Fence Project completed!

 This past spring around Mother's Day, we started a big project. 

I wanted a picket fence around the fruit garden. 

 Here is the fence is progress.....

 One side done three to go.....

 I just love this picture of my hard working man! (Sorry honey I couldn't resist!)

 All the sides are done, and the gate is up.....Now it's time to paint!

 The weather was SO HOT this summer it made it difficult to want to get outside and paint. We made good time and finished mid-Sept with the painting. It feels good to have this project completed!