What happens when you.....

What happens when you give a girly girl who loves her dresses, baby dolls, and jewelry and pretty things for her hair, and mommy's chapstick......

her very own PINK (her favorite color of course) helmet? Ohhhh the shrill of pure joy! She squealed and shrilled and jumped around like she hit the lottery.

"Hurry mama put it on me!" Yep, that is one girly girl with three older brothers.....and she doesn't want to miss out on anything they are doing for fun. I think it matches her pink shirt and pink camo pants very well, what cha' think?

Garden Update!

The strawberries, rhubarb, corn, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and green beans (what little there was) have all been harvested. I have plans for the corn stalks...I will show you that some other day. I don't know maybe it's just me being weird, but I feel like my garden wasn't really worth a whole lot this year. My corn yielded horrible for how much I planted. My green beans, lettuce, zucchini and cucumbers were okay but not worth the time and space they took up. I know the problem with my zucchini is that is just got crowded out where I had it and did not get enough sun....which equaled failure! I guess I am just having a little pity party for myself. I put so much effort and time into the garden and I was not pleased with my results with several of my veggies.The great thing about gardening is that it is all about trial and error. I will just continue to improve the soil and try different varieties next year.

The great news is that my pumpkins really did well...I think we counted 20 or so of them last week. They will great to decorate with for several weeks, then I plan to make them into pumpkin puree. Last year I did this with the pumpkins we bought and I was more than happy at the yummy things I baked up in the kitchen.

I was also super pleased with the cutting garden I planted this year. Non-stop bouquets of flowers were cut and brought into the house. My zinnias are starting to taper off now and I have been collecting the ones I would like to save for seeds for next year. (If anyone would like any zinnia seeds from me just let me know! I would be happy to share.)

My sunflowers never disappoint me either. They always put on a grand show of color against the beautiful blue sky! Overall I feel very blessed with what we were able to get from the garden this year. In 2009 we had such a over abundance of so many things, I think the two years will equal out to just enough to get through until harvest next year. If not, then it won't be the end of the world, but we are very spoiled at eating "from the garden" food....I like it that way!

I do plan to go pick up some more blueberries this week! I hope to get at least 2 more bushels of apples over the next couple weeks to make some more applesauce and apple pie filling. Our schedule is looking pretty busy so I will just have to try to work it all out....Lord willing!

How is your garden harvesting shaping up? What will you change next year? Is there a certain variety of veggie you LOVE to use each year?

 Andi never tries to get into trouble, but somehow it always manages to find her. Living on the Circle C ranch near Fresno, California, in the 1880s--the heyday of the Old West--provides Andi with more than her fair share of adventures. Whether nearly trampling her schoolmaster on her palomino horse, Taffy, or outwitting an escaped convict, Andi's life is never boring. Her hair-raising escapades always end up teaching her valuable lessons about life, friends, and family. (Excerpt taken from circlecadventure.com)

I know I have mentioned before how much our family has enjoyed the Circle C Adventure Series by Susan Marlow, but I thought it was worth mentioning once again. Susan just recently released the sixth book in the series. If your looking for some great wholesome reading to inspire your children's imagination, you need this series in your home! 

Even though the main character in these series is a stong young girl named Andrea, don't let that stop you from getting this series for your boys...I should know I have three of them. My boys LOVE this series! They hang on every word and can't stand it when the chapter ends and they have to wait till the next day to find out what happens next. The Circle C Adventures series is truly a wholesome reading for the entire family. Whether you home school and need more books in your home library, or you want a great read aloud series that you can read a chapter each night to your kids, you won't be disappointed.


I realize it is a bit early to think about Christmas, but I like to start now and buy gifts to stash away for later. You might consider buying the whole set and saving yourself some money! Just a thought! (Just for the record, I am not getting paid to say any of this! I am just simply sharing my thoughts.)


Well I have been a little sparse around here this week. Why? We are in full swing around this house...school has begun for the year! I am super happy to report that our schooling has gone so wonderful the past two days! Shhh..don't say it to loud though...I don't want to set myself up for failure on Friday!

I have been on the fence about what to do with my five year old...to start Kindergarden with him or not....that was the lurking question. I have gone back a forth about a million times. I can list pro's and con's that are about a mile long. After discussion with my hubby...again...we decided to "Just do it". He is ready, he is able, he is willing, so why am I so undecisive? The jury is still out on that one.....So I am officially schooling 3 out of the 4 kids this year. Pray for me....wish me luck...call me crazy...I don't know which one you want to do first. I can honestly tell you I am having a good time and loving it so far (ask me in December and you might get a different answer....smile....).

Ecostore USA Review

A couple of months ago I was contacted by The EcoStore to review products that are made from plant and mineral-based ingredients, and are also free of toxic chemicals. The two products I chose were the Dishwash Liquid (for hand washing dishes) and the Lemon Rinse Aid. These products are made from a concentrate which means you should be able to use less of the product each time and therefore stratching your dollar farther. With that being said, I was ready to try out these products and see if they could really deliver on their promises. I am all for products that are less harmful, more economical, and environmently friendly, but they have to be able to perform as well.

What I liked about the Dishwasher liquid is that is smelled really good, and it wash gentle on my hands (it didn't dry them out). I was dissapointed with the performance of the soap. It did not cut grease well, it did not lather up well, and I found that I needed to add more of this soap than I normally use. So from  my experience, I would not recommend this product.

The second product I tested was the Lemon Rinse Aid. We have soft water at our home so we don't always use a rinse aid, but when I am washing lots of plastics I like to have a rinse aid on hand. Again, I loved the smell of this product. I can not honestly say I noticed a difference between when I used the rinse aid and when I didn't.

I did receive an extra product from the EcoStore! They sent me this heavenly scented coconut bar of soap...as a thank you for waiting on my package to arrive since there were some hiccups in the shipping department. The lather was really great, it made our skin feel nice and soft, plus we all loved the smell of coconut! I loved pretending I was somewhere tropical!! So I do recommend the bar soap!

A BIG THANK YOU to The EcoStore for sending me their generous free samples to review, and for being very customer consious in their business details.

Boys & Their Toys!

Well the boys have been talking about it for a couple of months.....mom has been trying to convince them in another direction. The boys have been looking through craigslist and dreaming up which one they want....again mom has been trying to convince them to buy a different "toy".......

 My convincing didn't work....and here are the new toys the boys' picked out. The agreement with these sorts of toys around our house is....the boys have to be able to pay for them with their own money, but mom and dad pay to insure them and gas them up. I don't know what everyone does as far as rules go, but we think these investments for the kids help them to be better stewards of their toys knowing that they used their hard earned money to purchase them.

The day they brought the dirk bikes home they first had to clean them up and get them looking all sparkling....then they rode around for hours on them! I love how Hubby was able to convince me that he needed one too...ya know so he could keep a better eye on the boys while hey rode...smile. I am  not sure who is having more fun, Dad or the boys? I don't have a picture of Zach riding, but he got the 4-wheeler that used to be Lance's. He is thrilled to have is own "vehicle" to drive! To be exact, he said "Mom, this is the best day of my life! I have my own 4-wheeler...awesome!" It was so fun to see him bubbling over with so much joy.

I have been considering calling the ER to introduce myself...but I thought might be a little to forward thinking. I'll tell ya what, I never knew being a mommy to three country boys was going to be so stretching to me. I am a mama who likes to be "in control" with lack of a better term. I always have a Plan A then a Plan B....I think this is just another way of learning to cut the apron strings on my boys as they grow up. (Which seem to be happening WAY TO FAST around here these days!)

I hope you all had a great weekend of FUN at you house! I am exciting about cooler temps. here in my neck of the woods...dream weather.....LOVE IT! Happy Monday....

FREE Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Class!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be completely debt free? Ever wondered where in the world to even start on such a journey? You can attend the first workshop in this series for FREE! You have no obligation to pay one penny nor do you have to commit to continue on with the course (but I think you would want to!) The cost of the course looks like it would be $100. I put in my local zip to see if these courses were available and there were 29 places that it was being offered!!! THAT IS AMAZING!! Go see this post if you are interested in checking out more details.

Free Better Homes and Gardens Lighting Magazine!

If your interested in a FREE MAGAZINE head over here and sign for one!

Winners of The Rubbermaid Reveal & The Layer Cakes from The Fat Quarter Shop

A big Congrats to Rose-Red for winning the new Rubbermaid Reveal.....I know you'll love it!!

Also Congrats go to Nancy Sue for being the winner of the Layer Cakes...Happy choosing!!

Thank you to Rubbermaid for providing a Reveal for the giveaway, and to The Fat Quarter Shop for genereously offering up a Layer Cake of the winners choosing!

One more thing...if you haven't voted for me yet you can click on over HERE and please do so. I need a minimun of at least 11 more...but more would be even better!

Have a great day, and come back and check the new giveaways I hope to have up soon!

Vote for ME!

I just submitted a post at the online quilt market for a chance to win some $$$$ at the Missouri Star Quilt Company. The more votes you can get the more money you can win! I would love it if you could take just a second and hop over there and vote for me! I posted My Field Trip to the quilt show.

PLEASE and THANK YOU!

My Field Trip to the Quilt Show

This past Saturday there was a local quilt show that was only about a half hour away from me. My wonderful Hubby said he could keep the kiddos so I was off to have some fun looking and shopping! Here are a few of the gorgeous quilts  I saw. I would estimate that the show had a total of around 75 quilts...but I am just guessing.

Again that was just a little show of some of my favorites. One of the many things I love about quilting is that you can really do projects that reflect your own style....primitive, traditional, modern, lots of color, tone on tone, ect, It is always fun to see complete projects from other people, also inspiring! It kinda makes me want to lock myself in my sewing (which is in my bedroom, not to glamous I know) and not come out for days! Since that doesn't seem very realistic in this season of my life, I will have to work on an alternative plan.

REMINDER!!! Today at NOON (Indiana time), the layer cake giveaway from THE FAT QUARTER SHOP will end.....hurry and enter now!!

Just a curious question for you all....How many of you quilt or sew that FOLLOW The Gaertegang?