Oh it's been so cool and damp lately with all the rain.  Last night it got down to at least 5C burrr!!  One of dh jobs this weekend is cutting fire wood.  He's been bring home lots of skids from work and we almost have enough for the winter.

The leaves have started turning and we even have lots of green ones falling to.  The girls are so excited about fall, if only the rain would stop for a while!  They are calling for rain again every day this week, except tomorrow.  We need a good dry spell to start getting our potatoes in.  Going by what we've dug up as new potatoes we are getting a good yield this year. 

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We had to go out this evening for a little bit and decided to take a quick walk at the park.  Unfortunately after about 20 minutes or so a storm started to roll in.

This little bunny was in the dear/turkey pen area.  He was definitely a pet at one time!  I hope know one dumped him there...He came right up to the girls and loved to be petted.

Then the turkeys wanted to say hello to.

Then we heard some thunder and it started getting dark.

We pulled over on the way home to take this.  The sun was shining on a rain band and the whole field shone like gold!

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Last week the weather was really nice, so the girls and I have been trying to spend lots of time out side!  They loving exploring and can always find something "new" and interesting around the yard to look at.  These are a few photos of them playing with the outside kitties.

This is our "barn" cat who spends more time up on the deck with the kids.  LOL He is a sweetie and a good hunter though.  We kept him from our Manx's first litter.

These two little ones just went to a good home with our good friends.  We are so glad to hear they are settling in great!  They loved "playing" on the kids teeter-toter (sp???).  LOL

And my little sweeties. 

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The girls got a surprise this past week.  Dh put up a tire swing for them.  At first they were a little unsure of how to use it, but that didn't last long!  Now they are up and down like little monkeys.  LOL

Here are some pics from just after they discovered it.  Even Dh got in on the fun. 

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I've been crazy busy around here not leaving as much time to post as I'd like. 

Last week we all came down with some virus that knocked the little ones and I out.  Then as they were just getting better dh hurt his back.   Poor guy woke up Fri. morning with a "kink" in his back and it got worse as the weekend went on.  He had planned to finish the strapping on the house but there was no way he could be up a latter!!  Sunday he needed a cane to help him get around.  Thankfully he's doing much better now!

So this week has been playing catch up on dishes, laundry and everything else that gets behind when your sick.  Yesterday I started tackling out book cases in the living room.  I moved all the gardening and homesteading type books to the case in our bedroom.  So now there is just enough room down stairs for our curriculum and reference books.  But really I need more book cases LOL.

I've also cleared off and cleaned 2 "hot" spots in the living room, the top of the TV and printer.  My desk is about half done to!  Yippee! LOL 

I'v been working at setting up new school "centers"  put up and ABC chart, daily weather chart and a new world map.  I still need to resort the storage drawers but that shouldn't take TO long since I just did them a few weeks ago.

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I'd like to say thank you to my dear friends Ellen and Amanda  for sharing these with me!

The hardest part is picking only a few others to give these to as there are so many wonderful blogs!

Jessica at Trivium Academy

Candace at His Mercy is New

Higher Up and Further In

Blog, she Wrote

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Well our weekend was quite a mix up! LOL!!  Friday we did our grocery shopping but dh was to tired to wait while I picked up some school supplies that were on sale.   He offered to bring me back to town the next evening.  So Sat. morning he leaves for the rabbit market taking dd4 with him.  It was raining and storming all day.  Anyway late morning I see some flashing lights outside and look out the window.  It's a tow truck dropping off our van.    I went out and dh and dd were in the tow truck, they had gotten a flat tire down at the market an hour a way.  Now that wouldn't have been a big deal BUT the spare tire also had a leak. LOL!  That's one of the things on your list to fix but something always happens when you go to get it done.

Anyway all was safe and sound, despite it being quite expensive!  We were lucky and found a garage still open (most close at noon on Sat.) and they could fix them at 4pm.  The spares for the trucks don't fit on the van so dh and dd6 went to get that fixed.  One of the tires had been purchased there (Canadian Tire) last fall and even though we didn't have our warranty papers on us they didn't charge us for fixing it, just for the other one.    Ironically they both had the same problem leaky stems.  So after they got home dh put the tire back on the van and we finally got to head out.

Walmart was my first stop.  They had the 80 page notebooks on sale also crayons and a few other things we use a lot.  Over all I was disappointed in the selection though, it wasn't as good as last year.  One of the things I was looking for are file jackets, the file folders with sides.  They didn't have any and hardly had any normal ones either.  I'll have to make a trip to an office supply store soon.  I also tried Zellers who had a slightly better selection but still nothing that was on my list.

So we didn't get a whole lot done this weekend between the rain/storms all day and our "adventures".

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Well we have had a big change in the weather.  It's the low 20's today and the next few days look to be in the high teens.  It's a big change from our heat wave we've been having.  It is much nicer for sleeping and canning though!  We are suppose to get some rain in the next few days and hopefully that will help the garden to.

This morning we watched some of the opening ceremonies for the Olympic games.   I missed the first bit  I just couldn't get up early enough after all the lack of sleep this week!  Last night we had no storms, well one did come by but was far enough away not to be loud.  Baby girl slept all night to whoo hoo!! LOL

Anyway the girls loved watching all the different dancers and fireworks.  We'll be doing a study on the Olympics and I'll post links to some great sites latter on tonight.

I'm just taking a little rest before starting supper.  We are having an early supper tonight so we can go shopping right after.  We've tried to shop quickly and come home for supper but that never works lol.   We always get to hungry when shopping takes longer and that leads to eating out.   So it's much better to eat first!  I'm making creamy egg noodles with chicken and veggies and blueberry coffee cake for desert.

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It's been a sleepy day around here.  We had a good storm come through last night waking everyone up.  I first heard it around 2am but dh said it started before that, it lasted until at least 5am.  The thunder was so odd!  Dh and I had never heard a sound like that before, I don't know how to describe it but it just didn't sound "right".  The first few hours of the storm it was sooo calm not a leaf was moving, just lots of lightning and thunder.  When that finally slowed down the rain started.  Oh we needed that rain so bad!  It's been so hot and dry the pumpkins and corn were starting to wilt.  The change in them over night with the rain has been amazing!

The cucumbers are starting to produce, I keep tying the vines to the trellis and I'm liking that much better then letting them sprawl on the ground.  Our pumpkins (pie and field) are all setting fruit.  We've also harvested our first few tomatoes yummy!

There is a new addition to the barn...although an unwanted one!  We have a bee nest out there that we just can't find.  We THINK they might be carpenter bees but they might not be to...They are a black bee that looks some what like a huge fly.  Dh said they have a yellow diamond shape on their back.  I'll take his word for it LOL I'm not getting that close.  Monday dh killed close to 30 of them and we are still finding a few.  But they seem to have it out for me LOL.  Dh will be in the barn and no bees any were until I come out then they start buzzing around.  (sigh)

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I would like to say a big thank you to Deanna at HandsnHarts and Kelly at Pioneer Woman for gifting me with this award! 

Now the hard part sharing it with 7 others!  Choosing is soo hard there are so many wonderful blogs out there!

Rebbecca at Renaissance

Susan at Simply Susan

Amanda at Much Forgiven

Candace at His Mercy is New

Jessica at Trivium Academy

Ellie at Honeysuckle Hollow

Theresa at Our Harvest Home

Here are the 'rules' of the game:

Once an award is received, these are the rules:

Put the logo on your blog.

Be sure to add the link from the person that sent it to you!

Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

Be sure to add those links to  your blog too!

Oh, and leave a message on their blogs so they know they are nominated!

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Well it's slowly coming along today.  When dh got up we had to run out for diapers,  I'm not used to buying them any more and was running low. 

Dh was just about out of work clothes and since our washer still isn't fixed, I had to do them by hand.  I haven't had to do this in a long time! LOL  But I put them in the bath tub with some laundry soap and filled it up with hot water.  Then using a CLEAN plunger (I use the one we keep for the kitchen sink only), agitate the clothes up and down.  Then let them soak for a bit then agitate some more, rinse by hand.  They are hanging out on the clothes line right now. 

All the dishes are done, except a few frying pans soaking.

Caught a huge mud dubber wasp that was MAD about being trapped in the house. 

I'm still hoping to finish cleaning the kitchen tonight.  I need to clear off and clean the counters, then reorganize them.  Other then that it's just washing the floor and tiding up the school/art supplies.

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How's that for a heading eh? LOL!!  I haven't had much online time lately been to busy trying to get caught up!

Last Thurs. our washing machine broke down.  The dial that controls the cycles is seized up.  Every time I get caught up on laundry and other large chores something has to happen! ARRG    Our oven has also been not working for almost a month now.  Thankfully I do have a counter top oven thing, it's kind of like a huge slow cooker but you can bake in it to.  Still it doesn't hold as much as a full size oven.  Anyway dh called our appliance repair man on Fri. morning and he said he could make it out that day to have a look, he had another call in the area.  Well he didn't make it out, stopped by on Sat. to apologize for that the other call took a lot longer then he thought and said he would be out Mon.  He would fix the oven and get the part number of the washer dials to order that in.  We get back from the midwives on Mon. and nope he hadn't been here...I'm trying sooo hard to be patient and not mad!!   He's such a nice fella and is so busy because he does do great work.  But I want them fixed!! I normally have 2 to 3 loads of laundry a day and have 3 kids in cloth diapers.  We had to switch to disposables until this gets repaired and ouch that is expensive!

Oh well...LOL

On Sat. dh was working on the sun room/porch floor.  He has half of the new sub floor built.  YIPPEE its coming along nicely.  He's hoping to have time to get the other side done this week to.  We also need to get the strapping on the house done.  He would really like to have that done and stained by the end of Aug.

Sunday we get to visit with some good friends, we hadn't been able to get together in a while.   We had a wonderful time!  And she gifted me with some clothes also, so now I have more then 3 things that fit over my big baby tummy and I can nurse in LOL!!  This is the farthest into a pregnancy that I've nursed so most of my preggy clothes are dresses that are not nursing friendly.  Even though baby girl only nurses a few times a day now, I want to be able to feed her when ever she wants to.

We also celebrated baby girls 1st birthday this weekend!! WOW!!

Monday on the way home from the midwives I stopped in to a thrift shop for a minute.  I found a few good things for the girls and a few nice books to.  I found a book called the Carrot Seed that I needed for the B4FIAR program for only .25.  I also found the Velveteen Rabbit, Little Woman and Stewart Little.

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WOW how the time is flying by!  I can hardly believe I'm 24 1/2 weeks already.  We had a midwife appointment yesterday and baby and Momma seem to be doing just fine.  I am measuring 4 cm larger then "normal" so they asked me to have an ultra sound done next Tues.  Just to make sure nothings wrong and there is just one sweet lamb in there.    I'm not to worried about it...I measured 3 cm "large" with my 3rd pregnancy to, all the ones before and after that were "normal"  though.

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Well the littles are all feeling much better thankfully!  But last night I started getting real sick.  I feel like I was smacked by a truck. LOL  I'm hoping this finishes quickly!!

I had planned to start our schooling back up next week.  The kids (and Momma  ) can't wait to dive into the new books!  But I would like to get somewhat caught up on the house work first.  Also get my lesson plans in order so we aren't just floating along.

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Well I haven't had much posting time or time for anything that is.    The crazy weather patterns of baking hot then cold and damp have made the kids sick.  Two are ok now, 4 year old is still miserable and baby girl is on the mend.  I've been fighting it also, but it's not easy to do when your up all night with sick littles.  I sure hope they are all feeling much better soon, it's so hard on a mothers heart when her babies are sick!

When things settle down I have a huge list of to do's.  I need to reclaim the house again lol.  I was JUST caught up on most things when we all got sick.  (sigh) Seems to happen every time LOL.  I have a ton of sewing to do.  I need nursable maternity clothes.  This is the longest into a pregnancy I've ever nursed a baby.  So most of my things don't fit.  The girls also need new skirts etc.  And I need to sew pullups and diapers.

I'm working on a major decluttering and planning our new school year also.  I'm thinking of starting that soon to instead of waiting until fall.  We mostly school year round, just taking it a bit lighter in the summer.  When morning sickness hit bad I scaled down to just reading and math.

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Yesterday was Canada Day and despite the littles still being some what sick we had a nice day.  Dh had some errands to do but after supper we took the kids for a walk at the park.  They got to see all the animals (birds and deer) and play for a while. 

Then we headed home and dh surprised them with a few fireworks!  They LOVED it we'll have to get some more before summers over.

Little dd2 wasn't to sure about it!

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We had another round of storms last night.  With this heat almost every night we've had them.

It was a very hot day but we decided to go visit our friends hot dog stand in the morning.  We spread a blanket out in the shade and had a nice lunch there.  Then headed to one of our favorite hiking parks for a walk.  Boy was it busy there!  There were two different family gatherings being held there.  Despite the heat we had a very nice walk.  By the time we got home it was starting to get a little cloudy.  I checked the weather sites and saw we were under a thunderstorm watch and just south of us had a tornado warning out.

It didn't take much longer, maybe an hour before the storm started rolling in.  The radar was lit up like a red cherry.  We saw the clouds starting to swirl not far from us and grabbed the kids and headed to the cellar.  It passed quickly and after that was just a lot of rain.  We were lucky the storm broke right over top of us and went around our town.

Here are a few picks from last night.

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Interesting food for thought...

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Well I'm starting to get caught up around here.  I've got all the dishes done with the exception of a few pots soaking.  Mount wash-more is getting smaller to LOL.  I'm finally getting over the all day morning sickness but still nursing a bad leg.  If I'm up to long it swells up and gets really sore.  First time I've ever pulled a muscle like that from just walking!  

Last night we got more SNOW, yes I said SNOW!  It felt more like Oct/Nov. out there then late May...They still say the weekend will be nice.  So I'm hoping the ground dries enough dh can till it up!!  Fri will be cool but sunny, Sat and Sun look nice and more rain for Mon.  (sigh).  I don't mind having to cover things up at night, it's easer then carrying the flats in and out all day. LOL

The lettuce and celery seem to be doing very well though, they are loving the cool wet weather.

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I'm so excited to share that I'm not sick with the flu!  I've been down with morning sickness LOL Yup we are expecting another sweet little one!    Looks like we are due mid Nov.

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