Fun in the Leaves!

 Little Miss Kendall LOVES the leaves! I think she would be outside all day if I let her!

She was using a winter sled to scoop the leaves...I don't think it was working the way she wanted it to!

Caitlin is 7 years old, almost 8! She is my tomboy...she doesn't care about dirt on her face or messy hair. :)  She is very strong-willed, but in the end, loves helping me with whatever she can.

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Some other photos of my children from the past few months I thought you'd enjoy!!

Cara(13) and Kendall(3)

Kendall playing in the dirt!

Brendan's first day of 6th grade!

Cara's first day of 8th grade!!

Brendan chilling on a hay bale during our church's family campout .....dreaming about being a farmer maybe? 

Caitlin and Kendall hamming it up!

Handspun & Fiber Loveliness

Beautiful, bulky-chunky handspun....my favorite to spin! This batch is almost done...today I've spun the blue (for the sky) and will be plying it tonight. And I'm dyeing small batches of wool in red, orange and yellow to be blended lightly and spun.  The yarn will be mailed to Debra to be woven into a shawl on a large triangle loom.  

Crazy yarn spun from a blend of leftovers...all the bits of wool and alpaca leftover from previous blending projects. Because of the wool content, it's not as soft as I would like, so I will probably knit this into slippers for Kendall...to wear over her socks. Can't wait to see how it looks knit!!

I first dyed some beautiful Tunis X wool yellow...a bright, sunshine yellow, then added turquoise to the leftover dye bath. The roving on the right is the resulting color. Then in the following leftover dye bath, I added hunter green...the roving on the right was white and the chunky yarn was a light peach.

The rovings will be blended, spun and knit into scarves or another winter accessory to be sold! If you are interested in these colors or have another color in mind, email me and we'll see what we can work out!!

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

I love to try out new recipes, especially ones where I already have most of the ingredients on hand! Last night I made Hamburger Vegetable Soup from The Pillsbury Cookbook..and made cornbread with added sour cream on the side. It was delicious and filling! I did change a few things according to my children's tastes...those are noted in parenthesis.  Enjoy!!

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

6 c water

3 beef-flavored bouillon cubes or 3 tsp beef-flavored instant bouillon

2 c sliced carrots

1 1/2 c coarsely chopped onion 

(I used 1 tsp onion powder and added half can of black beans)

1 1/2 c coarsely chopped celery

1/2 c coarsely chopped green pepper (I used 1 c cabbage)

1/3 c barley

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

2 bay leaves

1/4 c catsup

28 oz can (3 c) tomatoes, undrained, cut up

(I used a 28 oz can diced tomatoes..perfect size)

8 oz can tomato sauce

(I used my homemade sauce)

In 5 quart Dutch oven, brown ground beef; drain.

Stir in remaining ingredients.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; cover and simmer 1 hour or until vegetables and barley are tender.

Remove bay leaves.

10 servings