Autumn Activites

The changing of seasons tends to mean work in our household. We have so much to do to prepare for winter that we find ourselves busy all the time. It happens to be Walnut season, so we spent a few minutes every couple of days picking up the fallen nuts and putting them on a tarp. We then ran them over with the car to open up the fruit, (which resemble in looks and scent that of a lime) and then pulled out the nuts.Then they have to air dry a bit so now they are in our storage room. We did about a five gallon bucket full and that was it. We don't think we'll be able to use all those walnuts anyway. So the rest just go to the chickens. But the fun part of it was while we were opening up all the fruit, sometimes they would be rotten inside and it would be covered in maggots. Meredith took them under wing and adopted all the little maggots. She got a bucket and began to collect them. So would hold them a little too tight and they'd die, unbeknownest to her. She even tried to bring her "pets" into the house. But that is where I drew the line. I remember playing with maggots when I was her age with my cousin Sarah. They were our pets too. But we found ours in a garbage can, not in a walnut.

Meredith has been undergoing potty training. She seems to do well with it when she feels like it. She loves the rewards we give her. Usually it's a sticker to put on her poster and a piece of candy. She is always so proud of herself when she goes, as we are too...usually we're more excited than she is. She has even gone number two in the potty as well. For now I'm letting her run around the house bottomless and when she has to go she runs over to the potty. I keep it upstairs since I doubt a two-year-old bladder will wait until we make it downstairs to the bathroom. I think once we get to the point that she recognizes that she has to go we will move it downstairs and get her going in the bathroom. If we put on panties she just pees them, so it's bottomless for her.But of course we put on a diaper when we have company or when we are going out somewhere. She's too distracted with people to focus right and go in the potty. Once she walked in her room, closed the door, peed on the floor and came back out to tell me what she'd done. I then realized that she had been standing next to the potty when she decided to run to her room and go in there instead...I don't understand what she was thinking. Oh well, accidents are expected.

Xavier is the happiest baby I've ever seen...at least by day. He giggles at Meredith all the time and he loves to play peek-a-boo. This picture is just like the one we took of Meredith when was this age. He couldn't figure out what was on his face.He rolls over both ways, and he can sit up now. He can get his knees under him, but that's it...he's not pushing up on his arms yet though. Meredith calls him Xay-Xay. She just started, before that she called him Bebe. So at least she's trying his name. She is quite the little mother. She "feeds him" by lifting up her shirt and puts his head up to her chest so he can breastfeed. She likes for us to hold him on her shoulders and then she takes him around the house for a walk, it's what Spencer does to her. She feeds him with his spoon, but ends up gagging the little guy. But it's wonderful to see her being so concerned for him and helping me around the house. Her life revolves around herself, but when she looks past it, the first person on her list is Xavier...he's a lucky boy to have her as a sister. At night Xavier seems to think it funny to wake up and cry. I know babies do this, but not every morning at five. I mean, only one hour away from the alarm going off, why...why can't he just sleep one more hour? But it's getting to the point of annoyance.

I've been working on baking as of late. I rather enjoy cooking and think I'm somewhat decent at it. I still seem to stink at anything involving yeast. But I've made a few breakthroughs. I made some croissants which turned out to be better than anything we've ever had...except for those that we ate on our honeymoon in England. They were really easy too...just very time consuming. But the dough freezes well, so we just make a big batch and then freeze it so we can make more later. These have yeast, and yet I did really well with them, maybe because they are a type of pastry, and I love pastries and they love me. Then I made some English Muffins (sorry no pics) and Spencer almost wet himself with delight. He loves English Muffins. They are quite easy to make and don't take too much time for a bread-type food. They tasted better than what you get at the store and they were huge too! Lastly, I made some bagels. These were great, they took the least amount of time to rise and they were fun too. They boil first and then bake. Also, you can put goodies into them and they are best homemade. So now I feel better that my bread loaf never turns out the greatest. I'm glad I've found one of my talents after so long. I find cooking really theraputic and relaxing. If I find myself mad or upset, if I start baking I'll feel better almost immediately.

Well, we are winterizing the house and looking forward to the cooler weather. We're getting twenty-five more female chickens tomorrow because the demand for eggs is so high for us. We're getting four more goats in a few weeks and then going to mate them in late November, early December. We are having fun canning (thanks Gary and MaryAnn for the canner!) My book is constantly expanding and growing. We are really happy with life and hope you all are too. P.S. Don't forget to VOTE...I don't care who you vote for as long as you know the facts and you vote...so many people don't vote and that's stupid...if you don't vote, don't complain! Now I've said my two bits.