Happy Birthday, Mammie!

For Mammie's birthday this year we decided to surprise her and have a cookout! What's more fun that family and a bonfire!

Felicity got her first experience with hot dogs. I don't know that she's a fan. The bun appealed to her much more than the meat.

The boys really liked the fire. What is it about boys and watching things burn? Thankfully, only the hot dogs were smoked this time!

I used Madisyn's craft cutter to make a stencil for the top of mom's cake. The recipe for Hershey's chocolate cake and frosting is amazing!

It's a good thing a group of little girls knew how to open gifts. They saved Mammie all the labor of doing it herself.

Her gifts all received "little girl" approval!

Thanksgiving Feast

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving THREE times! I didn't manage to get pictures at two of the parties so shots from just one will have to do. My sister hosted Thanksgiving and did a fantastic job on decorations. She not only had a kids table but had a girls and boys table.

A bunch of little girly girls loved sitting with each other and the boys had a wonderful time coloring their placemats and tablecloth. The boy table was surprisingly quieter and had much less giggling.

Madisyn and Ty were promoted to the adult table. I'm still trying to keep it from going to their heads. ;) I didn't think to get a picture of all the wonderful food. The kids really enjoyed having turkey and ham. And we won't even mention how many desserts we had!

Felicity was worn out from traveling and the effects of Tryptophan. She found Aunt Ra's couch to be a great place for a nap.

The giggling girls didn't stop when lunch was over. They found lots of babies that needed loving, dress up clothes that needed wearing and food that needed cooking.

Then the dads {and me!} loaded up in the Rangers/4 wheelers and headed for the golf course?!? Robin's subdivision has a golf course layout that isn't being used. If you follow the cart path to the edge you find an awesome wooded area perfect for some mudding.

Those smiles lasted a long time! The kids loved getting a little dirty and their daddies slinging some mud.

Raegen has his own little 4 wheeler and some boys were impressed that he got to drive himself. He did a great job!

Isaac and Uncle Justin served as scouts. They helped us find which way to go when the side by side trucks couldn't fit through narrow openings.

The stairs seemed like the perfect place for a "Baker's Dozen Cousins" photo shoot. Getting 13 kids to look at a camera isn't as easy as it sounds!

Thanks Aunt Ra, Uncle Billy, Raegen, Lynden and Ellison for having us over!

Ready, Aim, Fire

Ty received a new pellet gun for his birthday. What better way to enjoy a birthday gift than to go target shooting.

We also grabbed a couple of BB guns and a two .22s. All the children wanted a turn with each.

The little girls had a great time pulling the trigger.

Liberty thought it was tons of  fun!

Ty has great potential to be a sharp shooter. His method is very focused and determined.

Griffin just enjoys squeezing the trigger as soon as possible.

I think he's proud of himself. :-)

Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake Your Butter

I recently found a source for raw cow's milk. We are really enjoying it. It tastes amazing but it can be used for so many things.

My first use for the milk other than drinking and cooking was to attempt to make butter. My first attempt taught me a few "not to" tips.

I began by scooping the cream off the top of the milk. This gallon yielded me about 4 cups of cream. The other gallons had closer to two cups each. I left the cream out on the counter overnight to culture.

The next morning came the fun part. I rounded up the seven best helpers I could find and let them shake the jar.

And shake.

Giggle and shake.

Shake extra hard.

A little gentle jostling.

Extreme shaking.

A little light rolling.

Shaking and grinning.

Some more rolling.

Here's where Mommy got a little impatient. I read on the Internet you could also put the butter in the blender. I tried that and overchurned it. We ended up with 4 cups of full fat buttermilk. So we tried again.

This time after shaking, we shook it some more. And then a little more. The first time we had butter to work with we used cheese cloth. The next time I strained the buttermilk off using a spoon to hold the butter back. The cheese cloth was just an unnecessary step.

Then the butter needs to be rinsed with cold water. I added water to the jar and . . . you guessed it shook it some more! I added water 3 or 4 times and poured it off until the water was clean. The cold water helped the butter stick together. After the milk was all rinsed away, I added some salt as we prefer salted butter.

All together we netted about 1 lb (4 sticks - 2 cups) from two gallons of milk (around 4 cups of cream).

Up next, homemade bread!

Life on the Homestead

A fall favorite around our homeschool is visiting Parker Homestead. We enjoy walking around and learning how rural pioneers survived way back when. It's also fantastic to spend the day with our homeschooling friends. This year our group represented seven families! The Tims' Family attended and Mr. Don jumped right in to show the kids how it's done.

Trying to use the cross cut saw is always a hit. Maybe I need to get a saw and some logs and help these kids burn off some energy. Cutting wood warms you twice!

Of course, the best station is the old fashioned games area. Boys and girls alike enjoyed firing the sling shots and playing with marbles.

This gentleman shared some of the weapons and gear used by the military during the civil war. This fit in well with our recent studies in year 5 {1850 to Modern Times} of My Father's World.

Liberty and Felicity had the best seat in the house. Liberty needs to work on her exit though. Several times she had to be rescued from a trapped headstand. She never did figure out that bailing out head first wasn't the best method.

This boy cracks me up. He loves to rough house, be Mr. Rough and Tumble, get as dirty and sweaty as possible, and then come to me and say, "Take my picture, please."

Liberty's favorite part of the homestead was the playground in front of the school. She and Mary Claire are very close in weight and the see-saw proved to be lots of fun!

We can count balancing the see-saw as math, right?!?

The Nina and The Pinta and The Mighty Mississippi

We've had a busy month. We loaded up and headed to Memphis to visit the Columbus Foundation ships, the Nina and the Pinta. I was able to gather enough people together for a group rate and tour {it helps when 9 of the 15 are from your own family!}.

If you can come up with 15 paying visitors, I highly recommend scheduling a tour. It was neat to have the crew members explain various parts of the ship and answer our questions.  Not only did they tell us what ship life was like back in fourteen and ninety-two, but they also shared how they travel from city to city. While I think it would be a neat experience, I'm too spoiled by my sleep number bed to try a bunk on a ship!

The kids were extra excited that Mammie and Graddaddy could come with us. Dad really likes history type events. We're hopeful that we can drag him along on a few more field trips in the upcoming months.

Here Ben and Henry pose on the "poop deck". We were delighted to learn that poop deck has nothing to do with the modern use of the word. Back in Columbus' time, priests would bless ships from this deck. They often conducted a puppet mass from the roof of the cabin. Hence, the poop deck.

We visited in late September on a 70* day. The heat from the black boards of the ship made it quite warm. I'm sure it would be cooler at sea but poor Felicity couldn't handle the heat. Thankfully, Mammie didn't mind taking her below deck to the shade.