"Welcome sweet November...

...the season of senses and my favorite month of all."

~Gregory F. Lenz

Well, again another month has gone by...and I only posted once. Now that my children are older, things just seem different. I'm not posting all about their cuteness and such anymore! But life still goes on...so I should try better to record it! :)

Instead of typing it all out...I wanted to share the link to the Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup I had mentioned in my previous post! You can find it HERE. If you try it out, I'd love to know what you think of it! I have a few other cheeseburger soup recipes I have tried as well!

Our days have been filled with homeschooling (and while the kids work I pick a room to clean from top to bottom), chores, fitness/exercise, and our homeschool co-op days (which I am in charge of the set-up crew each morning, lead a parent meeting and am in charge of graduation plans for this year!). The weather is much chillier and has been super wet here in PA. Yesterday was nice so Jaxson and I were able to get some mowing and leaf raking done in the front yard (X was working at my dad's garage and Madelyn was working at Chris's dad's meat market)! It's suppose to be nice again today! I am so glad! We have numerous things to accomplish today ~ and it is so much more enjoyable to do so in sun-shine-filled weather, don't you think?

Madelyn has her license and has her own little truck now too. She paid for the whole year's insurance for it and pays for her own gas. She has been doing great and I am so proud! She loves having a bit more freedom and it has been a blessing to Chris and I as well...since now we don't have to drive her to the places she needs to go. I pray for her often when she is out on the road. It's a bit scary to know my little girl is growing up and is out on the road by herself ~ but my hope and peace are in the Lord and I trust Him in all things! (If you have been reading here for a bit....can you even believe she is 17 and driving!? I'm still not fully able to grasp that realization myself!)

Homeschooling my children is *such* a gift. Easy...no....but a blessing? Yes! I seriously wouldn't have it any other way. Jaxson and I do his history together. We are using The Mystery of History...book 2 (which covers the Reformation etc) and I am really enjoying it! I read it to him...as he seems to understand it better that way ~ and I really love learning about all these things along with him!

I am so excited because I finally got a few things hung on the one wall of my living room that has been bare for a few years. I just couldn't find what I wanted to go there. Joann's was having a sale recently and I got the wreath for $12 (it was originally $40!)...and the tin star was cheap as well (and it's paintable if I ever decide what color I want it). The "Keep Life Simple" sign was bought inexpensively at TJ Maxx! I always love getting a good deal (clearance deals are definitely my favorite!)...and this wall was cheap and looks just how I wanted it!

(Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry. I used my phone as it was easier than grabbing my camera...and it doesn't take the best pictures!)

These little munchkins came to town to visit the day before Halloween. As you probably know ~ I don't *do* Halloween...but my sister always loves to make costumes for her children each year. She always does such a great job! This year was no exception! The *made* these awesome butterfly wings for the girls! From left to right: Eloise, Dinah, and Audra...

Aren't they so fantastic? The wind was really blowing that day too...so the wings were just flapping everywhere! Dusten was made into a gnome! He was *so* cute...but wouldn't turn to face me so I could get a picture. That's ok...since he looks like the perfect little gnome below...

My sister's and my aunt works in our local courthouse and she takes the kids to see her each year...I go along to help out! Look at those wings!!!

Chris has been super busy with work, church and deer season (which always keeps them busy at the meat market in the evenings) but he tries to carve out time to do some things around the house when he can that I truly appreciate! He got the backhoe and was able to do some fixing on our driveway the other day! He's so great....I love watching him work. Good grief...if you put *me* in a backhoe I wouldn't even have the first clue what to do! Chris is always able to do whatever he puts his mind to. I always truly admire him!

And finally....these two...*sigh*. Life's rough....isn't it? ;) Mickey and Cash....our crazy dogs!

The kids are working on book work....and I need to get some wood stacked and some chores done before I head into the Y to exercise. We have things on the agenda this afternoon as well...so I best get moving! :o)

Thanks so much for visiting. I know my lack of posting is ridiculous and hopefully I can do better!
I hope you are doing well and are having a lovely autumn!

Warmly,
Katy

***I am selling a few things on ebay if you are interested and want to take a look ~ you can find them HERE! :)

Home, A Recipe and Organization!

For a few days, we were having fall-like weather! That put me in the mood to make *soup*! I made cheeseburger soup, vegetable beef soup (pictured below) and chicken noodle soup!

I thought I would share the chicken noodle soup recipe I used (as well as the homemade noodle recipe I used). I have the recipe written down...I am not sure where it came from to leave credit. Please note...I didn't measure out the veggies I put into this soup even though there are amounts given. I just put a *ton* in! I guess it depends if you prefer a chunkier soup or more broth! :) That's the beauty of cooking...you can tweak things to how you prefer them! We like *more* veggies in our soups!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

4 c. chopped, cooked chicken

1 c. chopped celery

1/4 c. chopped carrots

1/4 c. chopped onions

1/4 c. butter

8 oz egg noodle (the recipe I used is below)

12 c. water 

9 cubes chicken bouillon 

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 T dried parsley (I didn't have this so I didn't put it in!)

In large stockpot saute the celery and onion in butter...

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the noodles) and simmer for 30 minutes. 

While that simmers, I made the noodles! I got the noodle recipe from HERE.

Egg Noodles

2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 pinch salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. milk
1 T butter

In a large bowl, stir together flour and salt. Add the beaten egg, milk and butter. Knead dough until smooth (about 5 minutes). Let rest in a covered bowl for 10 minutes.

On a flour surface, roll out to 1/8 or 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired lengths and shapes.

** After the soup had simmered above for 30 minutes I added the noodles fresh and let it all simmer again for 10 minutes..until noodles are done. You CAN use bagged noodles...but it isn't anywhere near as tasty! :)

The soup was delicious and a *huge* hit with my family as well as our BIL and my FIL!

 On the back porch as night settles in...

The temperatures have been a bit warmer again lately as well as humid (with lots of rain)...so I have been getting a lot done inside as well! I've been working on organizing my closet as well as Chris's.

Organizing things can be a lot of work....but oh it is such a satisfying feeling to have things look neat and orderly! :)

I've also kept busy with homeschooling with the children (and planning it), daily housework, going to the gym and normal day-to-day things!

This past weekend I donated blood...I should do that more. I have a universal blood type which can be used for anyone who needs it. It doesn't take long. It's a little painful...but worth it to know you can bless someone else with it. My Jesus shed his blood for me....and His pain was excruciating. He suffered and bled for me. (I think I can take a tiny bit of momentary pain so that I can share my blood with those who need it.)

Yesterday was our first homeschool co-op day for the year. It was a change as we have changed facilities this year....after calling one facility *home* for our co-op for years! It was an adjustment...but a good one. :) I was in the nursery for a part of the day...and got to hold and feed the sweetest little boy. He was 4 or 5 months old I think. He giggled and was just so happy! It was an absolute *joy* to me! And then....despite being well-burped...the little guy threw up his formula on and down inside the middle of my shirt! Friends in the room were laughing...saying my face was hilarious! It was so warm and gooey and gross! Needless to say....I was happy to get home an hour or so later so I could change! haha! :)

I have a lot of things I would like to accomplish today...so I best get to them! If you try the recipes above, I would love to hear what you think of them! :)

Thanks so much for dropping by! I hope you have a great week ahead!
Warmly,
Katy

A Sweet Tradition!

Every deer season I make caramels. The men-folk spend weeks processing the deer (at my in-loves' meat market) while a few of us women (and my children) work at wrapping the orders! It's a super busy season for our family! One year, I decided to make the men a treat. I made caramels. Ever since then...it has become a tradition! If I try *not* to make them (because I always end up eating some which is torturous) the guys are always asking where the caramels are! :)

They are not difficult to make...but you must make sure you have a candy thermometer. You definitely don't want to over cook your caramels! I made two batches this year. The first turned out perfect. This batch I have pictured turned out too hard because my thermometer wasn't giving me the right temperature and I ended up cooking them too long!

If this is a tradition you'd like to try with your family and friends (or just want to make it *once*)....you can find the recipe HERE! :)

The days have been quite busy around here lately. The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is here. We're still schooling and will just take next week off for a break. I know the children are really looking forward to that! :)

We hope to have a joy-filled Christmas...enjoying time with family. We have many plans that span more than just this coming weekend! Although we don't really *do* Christmas (as I have shared in the past) we still purchase gifts and do all the Christmas traditions with family. (I am not a *total* scrooge....haha!)

It is time to officially get the day started! Breakfast is cooking (by the lovely Madelyn)...we will have prayer/catechism together and I will read aloud to the boys for a bit. Then they will start their school work! I don't know when I will post again...it may not be until after the weekend so I wish you all a beautiful season with your loved ones and most of all may Christ be exalted (not as the baby in a manger only...but as our perfect Redeemer and Savior who lived a sinless life, suffered and died in our place and rose again! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!)

Until next time, Lord willing ~
Katy :o)

"The woman who makes a sweet, beautiful home...

...filling it with love and prayer and purity, is doing something better than anything else her hands could find to do beneath the skies."

~J.R. Miller 

(Author of Homemaking ~ one of my favorite books!)

While the children work on their schooling I stay busy with cleaning, laundry and organizing. This particular day I was cleaning in the kitchen area and moved some things around as well as hung some things up! The Bed and Breakfast sign was a gift from Xavier!

Cleaning behind the stove is *not* fun. It's actually very difficult to reach back in that corner area! If we get to renovate our kitchen one day, I won't have my oven in the corner like this. That back corner is wasted space and as I said before difficult to clean...

This is a room off of the kitchen. It was the laundry room when we moved in many years ago (you can see the plugs and pipes in the left of the photo). Once Chris finished our addition and we had a new laundry room this room became sort of a *pantry* room. I had worked (over years) to get the old wallpaper off (it was stuck directly on the plaster walls and quite difficult to remove. There was still a little bit of paper (the most difficult stuff) to remove that I just left. The room also needed primed and painted. It was just a project I never could tackle 100%. The other day I mentioned how I wanted to get it done (but with the onset of a sinus cold just didn't have the oomph.). I was going to do it Saturday but then thought maybe not. Madelyn kept insisting we should do it....and started peeling the last bits of wallpaper that needed to come off. I figured she would do that and then I would start priming...but to my surprise she said "If I'm taking off this paper ~ I better get to paint!". She *wanted* to paint! So I let her! Jaxson and I helped of course...but Madelyn did most of it! :) It's not all completely finished (as we would have had to move out the fridge and such) but most of it is done. The paint surely brightens up the room...

A family favorite meal is sausage gravy and biscuits. Although these biscuits don't *look* pretty ~ my family said they were probably the best biscuits (taste-wise) that I had ever made!

The sausage gravy is really easy to make! Brown the sausage until it is totally cooked through. Leave the grease in there and mix in a couple tablespoons of flour until all the grease is soaked up. Start pouring in milk gradually. As you stir, it will thicken over time (as it heats up). Add salt and pepper as desired....serve over homemade biscuits! :)

Game night with Madelyn and Jaxson (X didn't want to play)...

These two sillies...

Oh ~ I wanted to share something with you all real quick! It's a warning! Remember how I said I am reading "Call the Midwife" (the memoirs of Jennifer Worth)? Well, it *is* a good book...however, I came to a section that was terribly inappropriate to read (as well as truly unnecessary to even include). If you watched the show you will remember Mary....a young Irish girl who got caught up in prostitution. She was a real person....and Jennifer Worth shares in the book the things Mary saw at the "cafe"...Let's just say the details given made me shudder and were enough to make the book rated "R" (or worse). I was appalled and disappointed as I think you can get a point across about something without giving exact details of things.

I know I would have liked a warning before reading so I wanted to warn you in case you were going to read the book in lieu of my sharing it in a previous post. I had read an amazon review before purchasing it where one lady said it was "too graphic" for her. I assumed she meant about the labor and delivery process which I wasn't concerned about bothering me. I didn't realize it would detail inappropriate behavior. It is bad enough for me....being in my mid-thirties....but how horrible it truly must have been for Mary. She was only a young teenager at the time. She should never have seen that! Reading about it was bad enough....seeing it would have been worse. It does give me a reason though to pray for those who experience things as Mary did. I just truly wish I hadn't read those details. It feels as though it corrupts your mind. So there is my warning. I still recommend the book as the rest is so good it seems...but when you start reading about Mary ~ it would be much better to skip the section about the cafe!

 My boys have been making gnome doors as gifts (to hang on a tree)! They made me one too! I will be sure to share it with you soon! Schooling is in full swing here and I've got things to do as well! Thanks for stopping by! Warm wishes to each of you! :)

Joyfully,
Katy

A Cheerful *Hello* & Healthy Banana Bread Recipe

Hello friends! It's been a bit since I last posted. Despite my scroogie-ness of Christmas...we are still super busy this time of year. We still get together with family, exchange gifts and fellowship. There is just *no* way around it...and I don't want to be a *complete* scrooge (it sure is difficult to stand by your convictions when traditions are so rooted in everyone). Anyway...I just didn't have the time to post. We have taken this week off from our schoolwork though so while I filled a couple sticker orders, I thought I would sit down and post quickly!

Chris and the children (as well as a couple of our nephews who are spending the night) are in the living room watching Tim Hawkins (Christian comedian). It makes me smile to hear the laughter and giggles coming from the other room! :)

Although I *did* eat too many sweets this holiday season I also continued exercising (although I haven't stepped on the scale ~ EEK!) and even made a healthy banana bread to share with family. It is moist and super tasty!

Below is the recipe I found on thechalkboardmag.com (Sorry...I forgot to take a picture after it was done!):

Quick and Easy Healthy Banana Bread

* 1/4 c. butter
* 1/2 c. greek yogurt (I used 0%)
* 1 c. honey
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 3 very ripe bananas
* 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
* 1 t. baking soda
* 1/4 t. baking powder
* 1/2 t. salt
* 1 t. vanilla
* 1/2 c. walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350*.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the butter, greek yogurt, honey, bananas, eggs and vanilla. Set aside walnuts. Beat the wet ingredients thoroughly. Pour wet ingredients into flour mixture. Beat again. Fold in walnuts.

Pour batter into greased loaf pan.

Bake for 60 minutes at 350*.

It's that time of year again....lots of candles are lit throughout the house daily. The warmth, smell and cozy feel of the candles are just so enjoyable in contrast to the cold outside. Our snow and ice have melted (for the most part) though and temperatures have been in the 30's. I think it is suppose to snow again later this week though. Although I am not a huge fan of the cold and snow, I *am* thankful it gives the ground a time for rest. Plus, it seems my push-mower has broken (I tried to use it one nice day in the fall for a *last mowing of the year* day...and it wouldn't work.). Since it can't be used...I'm glad the grass isn't growing! Ha! :) Hopefully Chris will be able to fix it by next spring so I can continue to use it!

Since we had church and some other family get-togethers this past Sunday, we did our little gift exchange with the children Saturday evening. Chris's brother came over and had supper with us (beef roast, mashed potatoes and corn ~ frozen from the garden) and stayed to watch the children open a few gifts. We don't do a ton...but we do some and what totally warms my heart is my children's gratitude for what they receive (as they know their daddy worked hard to earn the money to pay for the items and I took the time to find them things they would enjoy or need). They were also so generous with their giving to each other and loved watching each other open gifts! :) Here are just a few photos I took...

I know what you are thinking...Christmas lovers are like: "YAY! A Tree!" and Christmas Scrooges such as myself are like: "What? A tree!?" Hahaha....It's just a decorative tree (up year-round). The children put a few ornaments on it that they had...for fun. I don't consider it a Christmas tree at all...the kiddos actually put the ornaments on in October or November...and I just didn't mind them or bother to do anything about them. I just love having the white lights on the tree in the evenings throughout the year. It's pretty!

For supper tonight I made up some rolls, chipped steak, sauteed onions and some homemade oven fries.What did you have for supper? Anything tasty? 

I hope you are all doing well! Thank you for stopping by. Can you believe it's almost 2017!? The wheel of time just keeps spinning and I can't slow it down! It's crazy and bittersweet! Watching my children grow and mature in the Lord is *such* a blessing...but it just seems like it is happening too fast! Goodness ~ Madelyn will be able to start driving this coming year! How can that even be *possible*...I mean, I just turned 16 last year...right? *snicker*

Hey, if you give that banana bread recipe a try, let me know how you like it! It's a hit in our household! Have a great week friends and may you have a beautiful start to the New Year (I'm not sure if I will be posting a final post for 2016 or not! We'll see!). Thank you for sharing in my journey with me!

Cheerfully,
Katy

Linked up at: Strangers & Pilgrims

"Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest...

...Home-keeping hearts are happiest."

~ Henry W. Longfellow

We have been busy finishing up our homeschool year. Along with our studies, I have been putting together portfolios and trying to figure out what I want to do next year for each child. It's a daunting task, but quite necessary!

Pictured above is some homemade veggie beef soup! Have you ever made it from scratch before? If not, you really should. It is so easy and tastes wonderful! All you really need to do is peel and cut up carrots, potatoes and celery and put them in your crock pot along with beef cubes and a marrow bone. Add peas, corn and green beans (along with the juice they are stored in). It also calls for a can of crushed tomatoes (which I have done...but the time pictured above I didn't have any so I just used a little spaghetti sauce and it tasted the same!). Let all of that cook in the crock pot until supper time and there you have a delicious, easy meal that your family will love! You can also add spices to your tastes! :)

Bible studying in bed...

Today we are headed to a folk music competition that Xavier will be participating in! He will play two memorized tunes on his banjo for the judges! This is his first-ever contest so we are all very excited! I will have my trusty camera alongside me so I will make sure to get some video and pictures! Xavier has been practicing and sounds great....so we are hoping it goes well for him!

Around about at home...

A little archery...

A not-yet-bloomed primrose that Madelyn gave me for Mother's Day...

I look forward to getting some things hung in the new living room...just a little anxious about it since I want it all to look good without damaging the walls!

It's raining here today. Quite dreary out...but that's okay. It'll be a good day anyway! As much as I would love to stay home, light some candles, cozy under a blanket and read ~ I think Xavier's music competition should be an enjoyable time too! I can do all the cozy-ing maybe later in the day! ;)

Thank you for visiting. This post was a mish-mash of things, truly. Hopefully it wasn't *too* choppy!

*Just had to stop typing for a second there...Stella (the cat) just walked on my desk (between me and the computer) purring loudly and demanding some attention!* ;)

Have a lovely weekend!
Warmly,
Katy

Linked up at: Strangers and Pilgrims