Again busy

Another weekend of classes and Mim had a CC meet yesterday as well,
and the wee ones spent an action packed fun filled day with Kiki

so today we skipped church since we had 4-10lb boxes of concord grapes to process. I had intended to make grape wine, but really don't feel brave enough to try it yet, so instead we;

left about 1 box for eating
canned 11 pints of grape jam
baked 5 loaves of grape bread
canned 12 quarts of grape juice (new for us so we will see how it turns out)

oh yes, I even made my first batch of peanut/almond butter this weekend...now I just need to tackle baking mega loaves of bread, the question is when?

we also had a tree guy come and cut three trees down so we can put the roof on the chicken coop...hopefully it will be up in the next few weeks.

now all three girls are napping since the "crud" is going around in the school and it seems nearly everyone is sick.

I am going to sit down and veg for the next hour while I wait for the bread to finish baking....

WOWZER

We have had some real busy weeks.

Things have changed drastically at work and I am flying all day..enuf said

Tuki is doing great in school and it has only taken her 3 weeks to catch her teacher off schedule, thus requiring Tuki to set her back on schedule (sarcasm here) by giving her teacher suggestions as to how to correct the misguided action. Thankfully the teacher has perceived her bossiness, oops I mean leadership skills in a positive light and has put her to work.

Ve is doing well too, loves her teacher, and is well behaved. I have also now started the proceeding to evaluate as to whether she has any learning disabilities. I guess I will have some sort of answer in 60 days or less.

Mim's grades have been higher this year than last even tho 8th grade is more difficult. We had talked a lot about how 8th grade was much harder than 7th, but I also said she may find it easier simply because she has acquired more of the English language.

Mim is doing very well in CC, every meet she is 30- 50 sec faster than last year.

Ve and Tuki have started skating and seemed to have lost little skill since their summer session.

I am still getting up at 4:30am for my workouts.

We are still busy with our garden and fruit orders.

This weekend we:
canned 6 pints of plum jam (that makes 40+ pints of jam so far this summer)
baked and froze 5 loaves of plum bread
made and froze 6 plum pie fillings

peeled a whole bowl of cucumbers for salad (we are done with pickles since we have 38+ quarts on the shelves)
9 quarts of salsa

and we still have;

1 bushel of pears, apples and concord grapes coming as well as unknown number of butternut squash, carrots, more tomatoes, 7 - 8 pumpkins, 3 more muskmelon and parsley to cut and dry growing in the garden.

This food processing becomes difficult since my administrative classes have started and they usually meet Friday nights and Saturdays which only leaves 1/2 Saturday and Sundays....

But we are holding it together with only a few meltdowns from each of us during the week...

Mim at her race


Ve and Tuki with one of my 7th grade students, who is also a CC runner

The girls on their first day of school at our neighbors home. My neighbor watches the girls for about 1 1/2 hours in the morning since I have to be at work that much earlier than they need to be at school. The neighbor girls are the same ages as Ve and Tuki.

First day on the bus

True Friendship - it will be interesting how the friendships evolve over the years

Summer is over, fall is around the corner

Since summer is officially over I have decided to recap on all the activities and events that had occurred in the past 3 months.

ALL OF US:
*Vacation to Louisiana, camping and Cedarburg
*Cleaning of the house top to bottom
*yard work
*garden work
*rehabilitation of an orphan opossum and an orphan gray squirrel (neither released yet since still too young)
*cleaning out A's house

Mim:
*running camp
*basketball camp
*swimming lessons
*vacation bible school
*read 25 books
*running daily

Ve:
*tennis lessons
*skating lessons
*vacation bible school
*read books nightly

Tuki :
*tennis lesson
*skating lessons
*vacation bible school
*toe surgery
*read books nightly

Me:
*worked out nearly daily
*breast surgery - which by the way I was diagnosed with lobular carcinoma in scitu, which means I had a form of contained abnormal cells and this is a marker that I have a greater risk (double the typical) chance of getting cancer in my future. I am meeting with the oncologist next week to discuss my three possible options.. I am considered quite the risk since my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at 34 and then eventually died from cancer at 50. So once again I am trying not to worry, until I understand the complete picture.
*read 16 books

This fall besides school, our activities will include:

Me:
*waking at 4:30am for my workout, I have been doing this for a week now and all is good. It energizes me for the day
*possibly taking Rembrandt to agility class
*taking classes to obtain my administration license and a second Master's degree (I really don't want another Masters, but it is only the way keep the door open for maybe a Doctorate someday, which is something I have always wanted to pursue)

Mim:
*Cross Country running
*Youth group at church

Ve:
*skating

*Tuki:
*skating
*Spanish lessons

All of us:
*Family Reunion
*Finish harvesting and preserving from the garden
*getting the yard ready for winter
*getting a good roof on top of the chicken coop

Fair Day

We attended the our first and only fair for this summer. Naturally it was cold and rainy. It was also the first time Mim has ridden rides that twist you round and round. I can safely say she wasn't a fan. Each girl could ride 5 different rides, and Mim chose to only ride two and then she was done.

This morning

before their first day of school