Mimi's Family Visits

Lots going on around our place!

Look at that sunrise. 

From our front porch we watched the first field harvested ~ from the first swath down to the very end kind of late that night. They did it all in one day. (Granted, 9:30 pm is late for me.)

One wall of corn down!

We are having the old sidewalks taken up, the cellar pushed in, and new sidewalks laid. And then a built-up gravel parking area that will let us out near the sidewalks, and we won't have to walk through mud to get to the house! I'm excited about that.

All of Mimi's siblings came to visit last week. Phoebe and I went with the ladies to Hannibal to visit the General Store. There is always something good to buy there (spices, candies, lunch). And they give you free ice cream cones. 

They came over for supper Thursday night. 

I am overjoyed to have people in our home. I really enjoy a crowd that's having a good time. And this is a crowd that can talk and have a good time for many hours.

One sister (Janet) is missing because she passed away last year. There were some tears remembering her, but there were so many smiles all week too. 

Elayne's three brothers ~ all of them preachers (two are retired now).

Anita is the youngest sister and is just a few years older than Phillip (like, 10 years). She homeschooled also, and we have lots to talk about when we see her. She helped me with the meal this night, and I shared my gumbo recipe with her and her family likes it! That blesses me.

Wives of brothers. 

I hadn't seen Carolyn since Phoebe was a baby. Last time we saw her, she bought us a bag of Baby Ruths because Jonathan couldn't say Phoebe and would call her Bebe Ruth (Phoebe Ruth). Carolyn thought that was so funny.

Pat is always fun to talk to ~ I enjoy ministry stories, and she and Earl have lots of them.

The kids helped at the church booth on Prairie Days on Saturday. 

Friday was cold and rainy, but Saturday was warm and sunny. The church gave out snow cones and hot cocoa. I know those items seem at odds. But it's the time of year when it's summer in the sun and winter in the shade.

The parade. 

Uncle Lee was on the Veteran's float and Uncle Larry was on the Class of ('62?) float.

Lunch was barbecue on the lawn in front of the YMCA.

Phoebe has been working on these corn husk dolls that she'll use for fall decor in our home.

Look how cute! She hand-stitched the dress and everything.

I just printed out this shawl knitting pattern that Lanaya Elizabeth wrote. It's called "Someone's Daughter." (I'm having a memory lapse; I may have shared all of this before.)

This is the blurb she wrote inside: 

"My mother would toss seeds for the birds out near the marigolds she had planted. She taught us to watch and wonder. To observe what we could in the commonplace. And so we plant marigolds of our own and watch the birds because we're someone's daughter." 

Tear. That's so beautifully written.

You can find her goodies for sale at her Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LanayaElizabethKnits?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1292252249. 

She has knitted hats for adults and babies for sale right now!

 

Visiting

Sunset from our front yard.

Lanaya Elizabeth came to visit over Labor Day weekend. We picked up her wedding dress and did some wedding planning and such. She's settling into the apartment in Chickasha, OK where she and Amos will reside once married. She's a good decorator with all her pretty plants and nature pictures on the wall. 

We spent time in Hannibal after picking up the wedding dress. She and I hiked up all of the stairs to the lighthouse near the river. I guess it was built as a decoration and not as a working lighthouse since it's too far from the river to be of use. Good workout though.

Nana and Aupa needed a picture of their grandkids for Nana's high school reunion. I think we managed a less goofy one for the reunion, but this one is funny for right here.

At Mimi and Papa's.

Playing some card games.

We also watched all of the episodes of Over the Garden Wall. It's a cartoon. The kids had been playing the songs around the house and that tempted me into watching it. It was very well done. Imaginative, clean, good storyline, folk-song type of music, simple yet moving. I recommend it to families.  The 10 episodes are 12ish minutes long.

A long time ago, Lanaya Elizabeth came up with these homemade 3-D paper toys that she called Boxy Pets. Harrison decided to make one of his own this week. His is a bird in a tree.

Our cats. 

That is ~ SOME of our cats.

They jump up onto the kitchen window ledge when they smell food cooking.

Jonathan picked up an ear of field corn that was fallen over or mowed over. He got the kernels off and ground them up in our food processor and then made grits and Johnny cakes. The Johnny cakes tasted like Corn Flakes ~ so good! The grits were good too; they were more like eating a corn pudding. Field corn is not as sweet as Sweet Corn, but I could live on that if I had too!

By the way, you know how drawings show a stalk of corn having lots of corn cobs on it? They actually only have one! Sometimes they grow two, but the second one is usually not very healthy. I had never ever known this until we were studying the corn field for Nature Study. 

Phoebe picked and dried and braided these long grasses over the summer, and now she is sewing them into something. I think it might be a basket. But a hat has also been mentioned. 

Harrison has been wanting to make molasses candy (molasses has come up a lot lately since one of the catchy songs from Over the Garden Wall is called "Potatoes and Molasses"). 

I think this is our third attempt over the years. We still cooked it too long, so it's a really hard candy. But you can suck on it and it tastes pretty good. I also put a piece in my coffee, and it gave it a yummy fall flavor.

The kids went into town one day and got pictures of themselves in front of our church building. 

With sickness being over (we've had it in our home for several weeks) and a little free time showing up on the calendar, Phillip and I decided to take our anniversary trip this weekend.

We stayed at an Airbnb in historic downtown St. Charles. Unbeknownst to us, they were holding an art fair this very weekend, so that was a lot of fun to see outside our apartment. We stayed above a cookie shop. We got breakfast at a neat place down the street and strolled through lots of shoppes. 

The kids went to Pizza Hut for their supper after we had left on Friday. Phoebe made lunch on Saturday. They all had it cleaned up when we got home. Sigh....... It's nice to be able to decide to leave and know that your kids can take care of themselves!

We can't wait to watch the harvest!

 

Back to School

We are three weeks into school and the kids are doing awesome!

Harrison wrapped his blanket around him during morning time because he was cold. I thought he looked a little monkish, so he put his hands up to bless us.

Lanaya Elizabeth is coming next week to visit, so we'll take the week off of school. We can't wait to see her and get some wedding planning done!

Lots of cat play around here. 

Phoebe is our main feline caretaker.

Harrison has been enjoying cat tossing lately. 

He has a love-hate relationship with the cats. 

Except now we have some new little black kittens and he is enjoying them. He and Phoebe named his two favorites Wallace and Winifred. 

He lured the cats over to him with cat food, caught Frog, walked up the cellar hill and tossed her into the air.

She lands just fine and seems none the worst.

Frog. 

She has pretty white and pink paws.

It turns out the butterflies are getting something out of the mud. They need the salts and minerals to help make babies. It's called puddling. 

Jacyna photography

Harrison went to Silas' house this weekend, and they had a Redwall Feast. 

Harrison got Silas into reading the Redwall books and they have a good time with all things Redwall. 

Jacyna photography

These girls are so awesome! 

They made two of the drinks: Strawberry Fizz and October Ale. They had Savory Squirrel Bake (sans squirrel). And a Blueberry Custard. Harrison enjoyed it immensely.

Jacyna photography

Jacyna photography

The corn surrounds us. 

It's tall and we can no longer see anyone driving down the dirt road or our lane. We're in a cozy nook. 

The dirt roads are clear of vehicles, and it's feeling cooler in the evenings, so I'm enjoying walks. You can just barely see the top of the grain bins over the corn here. The treetops mark our house. 

Harvest will be here before we know it, and then there will be dusty tractor traffic jams. I enjoy all of it: The quietness of right now and the bustle of farmers and equipment that is to come.