It's time to make applesauce again! The boys have been picking the apples from our tree all morning in the rain, they had so much fun. We are canning applesauce today and will also be making bread. Hmm, perhaps we should make some apple butter for our bread......

Jake taking an apple break.

Our ducks eating some of the fallen apples.

Hey Ben!!

Caleb

Our first batch of applesauce is finished! We are going to make apple butter and might make some apple jelly too, we just ran out of time today.

Stephanie made pumpkin bread today with a pumpkin from our garden. It's easy to do and tastes better than the canned version (and smells really good while it's baking too!).

Canning...it's part of the season.  Like falling leaves, cooler weather, starting homeschooling again, when we do something every year, it becomes tradition.  Our kids have a sense of security in that.  The seasons come and go with their own rhythm. If something changes or we skip some part of our traditional celebrations our kids are always the first to notice. Even if we do something a few years in  a row and we do not intend on making it a tradition,  our kids are the first to say, "but we always do...".  = )

Here are some pictures of  the corn and beans we "put up" for the winter. The first batch was 35quarts of green beans, and 40quarts of corn.

Our gardens are all empty now.  All the plants are pulled out and burned in the burn pile. Every day looks a little more like winter around here, the leaves are changing color and gently falling to the ground. Another season is in full swing, and I feel secure in that. We can't stop them, nor change them, we just have to go with the seasons. 

My husband's grandmother passed away 2weeks ago, she was 96 and just as sharp mentally as she was when she was young.  Born in Italy she came here at age 8.  Her seasons went by quickly, too quickly for all of us, we will miss her terribly.

In Loving Memory of Gramma Frances. 

                                                          If We Never Meet Again

                                          If we never meet again, this side of heaven

                                        As we struggle through this world and it's strife

                                   There's another meeting place somewhere in heaven

                                               In the wonderful sweet by and by... 

                                                                                           Love you Gramma

Here is a post of some of the things that we have been doing lately. It is so easy to fill our lives with things that shut out God not allowing Him to work in and through us but seeking our own desires. Sometimes it's hard to know what things are of our own seeking and what things the Lord brings to us to do. We need to ask for wisdom from above (James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God") so we can see and know what is from the Lord. We need to stay the course that God has laid before us and not get pulled here and there by our own desires...we can only do this with our Fathers help! If we are filling our lives with His Word, we can then recognize what is and isn't of Him. This is what the Lord has been trying to teach us lately, I'm so glad we serve a patient and loving God Who knows us better than we know ourselves!

                                       Bell Choir

Back row: Mrs. Freeman, Anna Walsh, Katie Walsh, James Walsh, Justin Book, 
Front row: Dana Savino Chrissy Walsh, Gianna Savino, Gloria Book, Mrs. Book, Anna Freeman 
playing bells at a church in Garden Prairie.

Dana and Gianna. 

Gianna 

Happy Belated Birthday Caitlin!!! We celebrated on her birthday, just never posted it. : )

We spent a couple days in Galena, so nice to get away!! 

They have the cutest Candy Shoppe there. 

Jake, Ben, Greg, and Caleb waiting while we shopped.  

I just love the old streets, and the way the whole town is layered. 

See the house at the top of the hill, above the buildings.

This is a little house in front of General Grant's house. Just one room with a loft,

yet, they raised six kids in this house!! 

Ben, Caleb, Jake, Gianna, Stephanie, and Caitlin. 

Gianna 

Ben running down the hill. 

Ben

                                      A.T.I. Conference

At the last minute, Dana and Caitlin were asked to teach at the A.T.I.
conference in Nashville, so Stephanie, Gianna, and me  decided to join them and attend the conference.
It was wonderful, what a blessing!!! We have attended the conference in previous years, and
every year we say... "this was the best one yet!!"

The student choir singing on the last night, Stephanie and Gianna are
on the right side. 

The Duggar family sang for all of us. 

They also played their violins. They were so cute!!! 

Dr. Bill Gothard. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bates spoke on marriage. They (like the Duggars)
have 18 children. 

Mr. Tom Harmon.

These girls played a medley  of songs on water glasses. They sounded
wonderful.

They sang beautifully!!!

They sounded sooo good, what a blessing!

George Mattix

Dr. Karl Coke

Dana's girls that she taught during the conference.

Caitlin's team of girls she taught

Dana playing "Rebecca" in a skit

Going over their bible passage

Stephanie on the laptop in our hotel room.

                               Grand Ole Opry

 After the conference, we were so close, we decided to visit the
Grand Ole Opry. The weather was beautiful and all the flowers were too.

On the way to the Grand Ole Opry!

Speed limit 24?

Gianna, Stephanie, Caitlin, Dana

The Grand Ole Opry!!

Liz, your door is empty!!!!!!

Dana

Gianna and Stephanie

Fun.... 

Dana and Caitlin

               ~Sisters~

 I had to stop to smell the magnolias!

                          The Turkey Vulture!

This Turkey Vulture was right above our ducks!! 

                          "Harvard Milk Days Parade!"

The girls sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at
the parade. The weather wasn't very cooperative though, it kept raining on and off.   

The Lawn Chair Dads! They are hysterical!!!  And... "NO" Greg is not one of them!!

This is our old 4-H group!  : ) 

                                Model A Days!

The girls dressed up for Modal A Days in Sharon Wisconsin.

Alex, Tyler, Caleb, and Jake. All dressed up as paperboys.

The girls singing in the center circle of town.

.

Alex taking some pictures of the girls singing

Gianna, Elizabeth, Stephanie, Caitlin, and Dana 

Hey Kole, is that you?

Dana!!!

Jake talking with the boys at lunch

Caleb

The Keystone cops... Greg and Kerry.

U.S. Mail truck

Caleb, Jake, and Alex

Produce truck

The girls with President Roosevelt!       

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2

It's the little touches that make a house, a home. I love my "farmhouse" kitchen, because it reflects our family.It speaks volumes about us. We love to cook, and almost everything that is displayed in our kitchen has a purpose it's not just for decoration, we actually use it. Most of the day this is where we are at, either doing schoolwork, cooking, playing games, entertaining, etc... 

The wood cookstove heats our entire house all winter! We have hot water heat with a boiler in the basement, but we only turn it on when we are not going to be home for an extended length of time, (or when our woodchoppers get behind!!). At night when the fire gets low or goes out, it can start to get chilly upstairs, so in the morning all the kids are huddled around the stove when I am making breakfast. The wookstove is a natural convection oven, so bread, rolls, and cookies turn out wonderful. If the kitchen is the heart of the home, our cookstove is the heart of the kitchen.: )