Halloween

I just now realized I haven't updated our blogsite for a month! Sorry. It has been a crazy month with Christmas rehearsals (yes, I said the "C" word before Thanksgiving) and Harvest going on.

The girls had a nice time on Halloween. Grandma T. came for a visit and went trick-or-treating with us. For those who don't know, trick-or-treating in a rural area is great. You get into the van and drive from farm to farm to collect your goodies. Farmers are pretty generous when it comes to treats. The girls came away with at least 5 to 7 pieces of candy from each farm. 5 pieces of candy x 3 girls x 12 or so farms = a TON of CANDY!

Hope you enjoyed your Halloween!

Chopping Corn

It was a glorious day yesterday when Todd was chopping corn so Rachel and Sarah decided to "help." They spent 3 hours with Todd playing in the silage pile. Jordan and I brought brownies out to the field and she was able to ride in the CAT with dad. As you can see, the farm dog was very hard at work sleeping in the back of the 4-wheeler.

Visit With the Schultes!

We took a trip to North Branch, MN to visit Todd's cousin, Brenda and her family. The girls had a great time playing with Abbie! We were able to visit and apple orchard where we took a hay ride, picked our own apples and fed some animals. We also had a birthday party for Todd's other cousin, Lori when we returned from the apple orchard. I even had a couple hours of "kid free" shopping! It was a wonderful and relaxing visit!

First Day of School

Rachel began 2nd grade this year! Here are a couple of pictures of Rach on the 2nd day of school. The first day was pretty wet and cold so we decided to take this picture after school on the 2nd day. If you don't remember, Rachel brought this tree home in the spring of her Kindergarten year. I am planning on taking her picture in front of it every year until she graduates from High School.

Rachel is enjoying 2nd grade so far. She has the same teacher she had in Kindergarten which is nice because we already know the way Mrs. Sorenson runs her classroom. They did not split the class this year so Rachel has 24 students in her grade.

Sarah starts pre-school on Sept. 17 so we will have pictures of her next week.

Harvest

Harvest is in full swing at the farm. Todd is harvesting the wheat and I am harvesting tomatoes, beans, lettuce, cucumbers and corn from our garden. Here are a few pictures of Todd combining, the girls waiting in the pick-up and Jordan helping wash up the beans.

The Puppy Saga Continues

We managed to find a good home for the little black lab who wandered into the yard last week with his sister. He went to a retired teacher I worked with and her husband. Of course, there were a lot of tears from Rachel after they left with the dog. She asked Dad if she could keep the other dog and Dad had to think. He asked me the next morning what I thought and I said, "If you would have seen all of those tears, you would have said 'yes' right away." So - to make a long story short - we have added another dog to our brood!

Puppies!

We had 2 stray puppies wander into the yard on Friday night. After many phone calls to see who they belonged to, we concluded that someone must have just "dropped" them off near the farm. They are really cute (and I am not even a dog person) and well behaved with the kids. Although I did lose one of my potted plants to the puppies last night! They also thought they should come on my morning walk with me. Not a good idea! Rachel, of course, has fallen in love with the pups but Mom and Dad are already searching for a home for them. Already having 12 farm cats, 1 dog, 3 kids and a yard full of cows, I don't think we need to add 2 puppies into the mix. Wish us luck!