I still have some memories from August!!

Let’s get them saved here, shall we?

I am going to save alllllll of my August food photos for another post!

There are A LOT of them – and I like to save them here because they inspire me when I look back at them.

Hopefully they will inspire you too!

Ok- on to other things – like a very quick day trip Blake and I made to Illinois one Sunday near the end of August.

It was a beautiful day for a drive!

We watched the sun rise because of our very early start, and we watched the sun set on our way back home.

Lane’s library job is feeding my love of books!

I read some good ones in the month of August!

I did not check out this first one, but the title grabbed my attention – because YES, what it says is SO true!

The kiddos are always reading too!

I haven’t taken photos of their books – except for the two I am reading aloud to them and one other that Eliza had brought to the boys’ haircut appointments one day.

We also have been reading/reviewing The Five Love Languages book.

It is a good one – and comes with many different twists on it – for children, for spouses etc.

We all took the love languages test on line!

I had everyone pretty much figured out except for two of the boys.

It is very good to know your children’s and spouses love language!

Here are my results.

You know I love any time I get with my adult kiddos – and I am glad we captured these two photos at least!

Addie and I love a good brisk sunset walk!

And when I say brisk, I mean she is walking and I am jogging to keep up with her, ha, ha!

Speaking of my adult kiddos – I am so thankful for this one!!

He and his girlfriend took Eliza and Tate out for a date to ride some horses, go to the animal shelter and have a treat!

Tate, Eliza and I redeemed the garden one afternoon not too long ago while Lane mowed the yard.

It was SO neglected!!!

We are NOT quitters!!!

I had to say that to myself over and over again that afternoon, just so you know!

Our kitchen faucet wore itself out, imagine that!

It felt like a kiss from God when a Menards rebate showed up the VERY day we needed a new faucet.

How cool is that??

We had completely forget about this rebate!

My trio is ever so helpful – and there is nothing better than a crew working together!

Especially in the very busy kitchen!

I get teary eyed thinking back to when it was the big three kids helping in the kitchen non-stop all those years ago – and then the middle two – and now these two!

I always try to take something purposeful to do during Tate and Eliza’s 45 minute piano lesson each day.

On this day I cleaned out our recipe binder.

It was much needed and I got a lot of good recipe ideas at the same time!

We are still enjoying our animals.

ALL of them.

Our chickens dropped off from laying eggs – but we finally figured out we were not feeding them enough!

I weighed their feed one day and OOOOPPPSSS!!!

Starving chickens don’t lay eggs, folks.

Thankful they are laying more again now!

We also got to enjoy two visiting puppies for a week – they were SO fun!!

I have a few school photos from the end of August.

I LOVE school days.

I am sitting here typing this during one right now!

I restocked all of our homemade things that we use everyday.

Homemade cleaning and cosmetic products are SO easy to make and SO much healthier!!

This day I made cleaning scrub, glass cleaner, toothpaste, dairy-free sour cream and hot cocoa mix.

That hot cocoa mix is FANTASTIC, but of course I had to try it the afternoon I made it.

(I have the hot cocoa recipe saved in the recipe tab at the top of this blog, if you are interested!!)

Take a DEEP BREATH, you all!!

Are you ready for some beautiful August sky photos??

It is SO hard to limit them!!

I can remember how I felt as I took them in and took a photo of them.

The beautiful sky fills my heart like NO other.

This first photo is of the moon very early in the morning – at 5:15 a.m.

SO amazing!!

And it was SO BRIGHT!!

Well, August, you were good to us.

What is happening, it is now FALL!

We have had a shift in daylight hours, our schedule, our clothing choices, our food choices….fall is HERE.

So grateful for the seasons.

It is super duper easy to look all around as the seasons change and see God’s mighty handiwork in His creation.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with all the beauty around us!!

Ok, you guys – next up is a food post and then I get to tell you about a very last minute vacation we just took!!

Until then, enjoy the beginning of fall!!!

Life in my mid-fifties.

I either don’t have the personality to think way ahead to the future, or the brain space, but I really never thought much about what life would look like in this season we are in!

But I have to say, I couldn’t have imagined it better if I had.

The Lord has been so good and gracious to us by allowing our dream of a large family to come to fruition!!

I just wish He would have told me to nap more while I was young, ha, ha!!

My days are filled with sweet treasured relationships with the big kids – their phone calls, texts, and plans.

These days are filled with the blessing of grandchildren!!

They are also filled with church activities and committees.

They are filled with my girlfriends and I getting together now and again!

But mostly my days are filled with this trio of ours that are still at home full-time and still in school.

IT IS A SWEET SEASON, FRIENDS!!

How I enjoy these three youngest kiddos and our days together!

We have so much fun together!

They are great helpers to me in this busy life, and school would not have started on our normal timeline without their help this year.

We worked together to make it all happen – from rescheduling chores, choosing curriculum, choosing electives, setting up the schedule and moving everything around our home to be ready.

Thankful for this crew!!

Of course most of our time together is spent in school work for the biggest part of the year.

The Lord has been so very kind to me in this area, because all of our children have found school to be enjoyable and doable!

I know that is not always the norm!

God is also still giving me so much joy in teaching my children – and I have been at this a very long time!!

It is my favorite way to spend a day.

After school hours are over, we find all kinds of things to do with our time!

There are always chores to be done.

The children are VERY good at finding things to do on their own, but I keep them busy too as we work in the kitchen together and have places to be some days!

We enjoy a library visit, especially one that includes a bird sanctuary.

There are haircut appointments and other appointments – like Tate and Eliza’s medical check-ups.

Eliza did some dog sitting, which made a fun week here recently!

And of course we LOVE to be outside.

There are a few consistent things that split this cute trio of ours up – like Lane’s library job.

We are SO thankful for Lane’s job!!

I enjoy being with him on the Saturday mornings that he is scheduled for.

Another thing is Friday nights right now.

Friday nights mean volleyball for Lane with the big kids.

They love it and I love that they have that opportunity!!

That means that Blake and I have two adorable and fun sidekicks on Friday nights.

We usually try to find something fun to do together!

This certain Friday night we went to the local Co-op, got treats, and sat outside and played a game.

It was PERFECT!

There is a brand new twist to our Friday nights that I will tell you about in another post – and it is a GOOD ONE, so stay tuned!

What a wonderful mid-fifties for Blake and I, am I right??

These kiddos of ours are keeping us young!!

Ok, well, maybe, ha, ha.

I FEEL young anyway!!

Stay tuned for a great post about six very adorable grands!

They have a HUGE piece of my heart too!!!

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for allowing all these good things!!

I am in AWE of this thing called life!!!