Has it been a week already? - Jen

Ok, quick entry cause a lot is going on and I want to get outside and plant stuff. Went to Hemlock Fiber Festival with Gwen on Saturday. Very inspired by projects, saw this huge sock project (photo) and here is the blog about it- big-sock.blogspot.com. Haven’t had chance to look at it cause too busy, but feel free to go and look and tell me about it. Thought Lisa might be interested. Also saw many new and old friends. Going with Gwen was fun cause she is just getting started and is trying to decide what she wants to get into. I think needle felting is going to win out.

Kitty is doing fine, named her Trixie. She bites and scratches too much, but v. cute and playful. And healthy, thank God.

Soccer game last night vs. Akron, they killed us, but Andrew scored a goal which made me feel great for some reason. You know when you wake up in the morning and feel happy but can’t remember why then all of a sudden it hits you? That happened this morning with the goal. I’m pathetic.

Last thing, we are adding on to the barn, another 20 x 24, so yesterday I had the task of running around to lumber places to source materials. It was a gorgeous day. Saved for the end the task of sourcing siding to match our original barn, built by Ivan Yoder and his boys. We cleverly deduced he bought it from one of our local Amish sawmills. So that was pretty fun, driving around our Amish community trying to find the sawmills. I envied the gardens, laughed at the chickens, and got the wits scared out of my by the elephantine horse that quietly sauntered up to the fence I was standing next to where two seconds ago there was nothing. Those horses are surprisingly stealthy.

Gotta go, have a great weekend!

Whadda you lookin at? - Jen

Kids are at school, Rich has been in Minnesota since Sunday for work and I just finished morning chores. I am so happy today that I remembered to bring the camera out with me. And that there is an empty card in it. And it has batteries. This never happens to me.

It is a beautiful day - sun's out, air's cool and the grass is wet.

Here from left to right are Lily, Black Eyed Susan, Seraphim and Chiffon.

Kitty - Jen

Meet our new addition, Trix. I think we are settled on her name. Now if she would just poop. Got her Saturday from a neighbor, finally got her eating fake kitty milk from a syringe yesterday and now just waiting for the movement. She is really sweet and cute, of course. I mean, have you ever seen a kitten that wasn't cute? Cody our dog is very interested, the first day he kept licking his chops when he was around her. Now he just sniffs her and pushes her with his nose. I hope to keep her in the barn to keep the mice population under control, but for now she is nice and cozy in a box in the kitchen.

First day of school - Jen

A universal experience. We all have memories of our first day or our children's first day. That smell, the feeling, the distinctive buzzing sound of the autumn bugs, the staleness of the air. And for me, the nauseated feeling in the pit of my stomach. Well, it happened on Tuesday. And, no, I didn't get them their haircuts or sneakers for the first day. We did that when they got off the bus on Tuesday. I really missed them. Only got one photo of them on the first day because the battery died on the camera. I have pictures of them from every first day of school, so thankfully I got at least one. The boys were very pleased about the dead battery because all of a sudden they hate getting their pictures taken. I think its more like they hate doing anything I want them to do, but whatever. They are in the double digits now, so they like to be a little contrary now and then.

Gigi and Riley also started their first day of Kindergarten, so here is a shout out to them, hope it went well.