Happy Birthday Mark

Today is Mark's birthday! Grandma Boender was nice enough to get him a birthday cake from the bakery were she works. What a yummy Sunday afternoon treat, thanks Grandma!

Making Apple Cider

This weekend we had a chance to use up some of our apples by making cider. A family friend has a cider press, so we brought over a Rubbermaid full of yellow and red delicious apples and went to work. We had snow and two days of freezing weather which made the apples extra sweet. This was the best apple cider I've ever had! I hope to pick the rest of our apples this week to make more!

Mark and Elijah washing the apples.

Elijah making sure dad got them good and clean.

Mark helping Ethan toss apples into the grinder.

Rob turns the press while Mark catches the cider.

Pouring the cider into gallon jugs.

After awhile the kids were done with the apples and moved on the the teeter-totter. They have already requested for dad to build them their own.

Snow

If I heard correctly we set record for the earliest snow fall in Iowa today. I braved the cold this morning to take a couple pictures of our bean field. It wasn't long after, that Ethan and Amelia asked me dig out their winter gear so they could play in the first snow of the season!

Maybe our late group 3 beans will figure out it's time for harvest. Love the green stems!

Overlooking the coalmine.

Beans south of the house.

Ethan making a snowball.

Amelia trying to make a snow ball too.

Harvest Time

Finally posting some harvest pictures!

I want a ride! Six kids in the combine isn't recommended for the entire field, but it is great fun for a short ride.

No boys, the combine isn't a jungle gym.

Ethan in the bean field around our house.

I was wondering why Elijah was so busy picking beans. After watching him I realized that he was taking them out of the pods and eating them.

Amelia, Elijah & I rode along on one of the nicer days.

Unloading on the go.

Amelia riding in the combine.

Amelia watching for the tractor and grain cart.

Elijah enjoying his ride.

Exchange Students Visit

For the past three years Mark and I have hosted foreign exchange students from the University of Iowa as part of the Pella Farm Tour. This year we spent part of our weekend with two wonderful girls from Germany. Maria (in dark shirt) and Janna (in white shirt). They were great fun and the kids loved to show them their toys, rooms and books. As host families we go to a potluck supper at Pella Christian on Saturday night to have dinner with the tour group (about 20 students and 10 host families). Then we take our students home for the night and they go to church with us on Sunday morning and eat lunch with our family before meeting up with the group to head back to school. This is a fun way to meet great people from around the world! I highly encourage anyone in the Pella/Oskaloosa area with a little extra space to host a student next fall!

Kid Stuff

Here are some random pictures of the kids from the last week or so.

Elijah why are you smiling so big? Oh, you stole Ethan's partially opened Reese's, opened it and ate it in hiding. Hmmm, I guess I would smile with that big snack too.

Some of our apples are ready so we made apple crisp.

Amelia hit the jackpot at a garage sale Saturday! We found this little blue chest filled with nearly a dozen dress-up dresses, a bunch of shoes and a few other dress up items. She has been dressed as a princess since Saturday. :)

Went in the shop to check on Ethan Tuesday, this is what I found. He said he had a hole in the bottom of his 3-wheeler. Not sure what his plan for fixing it was.

We got a few pumpkins from Grandma B. Monday. The kids liked carving them, but I had to take out the guts.

Elijah in the wagon.

Pictures

On Monday we braved the weather and did some family pictures in our yard. Our friend Laura came to take the pictures, quite a task with Ethan fake smiling, Elijah all over the place and Amelia watching Elijah. Oh well, from the ones she has posted on her blog it looks like we got some good ones. If you want to check out the pictures she has on her blog I put her on my blogger friend list so you can click on it to view them.

Also a pregnancy milestone - I hit the halfway point this week, 20 weeks, yeah! Here's a picture for those who don't see me often.