Merseth Morsels: Summer and Fall Update

It's been busy since the last time I wrote here, which was at the end of April. And now it's November.

To sum up....We bought a house, remodeled, moved in, went on a trip, came back, continued to unpack and fix house, bought some extra land adjacent to our property, had some sickness, preserved food from the summer, started homeschooling, planted a fruit orchard, tried to keep up with our chickens and all their secret nests for laying eggs (not easy!), had five birthdays, went up north for deer hunting, got some deer, Judah broke his arm, brought home a baby pig (we named him Wilbur, after the pig in "Charlotte's Web"), chickens are on strike (not laying eggs at all). Uff da!

I have left out a few items, but really, I think that's quite enough. Here's a photo journey (although somewhat scatter-brained) for anyone still trying to keep tabs on us.

Jeff and Judah at our make-shift table during remodeling. Before we moved into the new house, I took numerous meals over there to serve Jeff, and to eat as a family. Then I'd clean up and do what I could while the boys played around Jeff working. The kitchen used to be red as you can see here.

Enoch "helping" me paint... and by helping, I mean, he'd stay away from the paint. Mostly.

The painted kitchen. It's pretty big, and I like it.

Shortly after moving into the house in June, we left to go north for synod convention in MN, while stopping at my folks' for a photo opportunity with everyone.

After synod week, we headed north for a big celebration of Jeff's Grandma's 90th birthday. And of course, all the kids had to have a ride with the Ranger!

A nice photo of our little family.

Another photo opp... My husband's immediate family and children at the celebration.

When we returned from Minnesota, we got a new bunk bed for Judah's growing legs. Andrew and Enoch helped Daddy put it up. We also needed some extra places to have cousins sleep.

We came back to Missouri without Judah (he went to Ohio for a few weeks with Jeff's folks), and so we put the other two boys to work. ;-) Notice the old deck in the background. We'll come back to the deck later.

We had a campfire on the 4th of July in the front yard.

For our 11th anniversary on July 5, we took the two boys for a 6-wheeler ride on the property we had just purchased. I was dressed for riding through heavily forested grounds. Wouldn't want to get ticks in my hair. ;-)

Andrew's saying, "Chocolate cake!" He's pretty excited. Behind him you see some of the semi-finished remodeling with our stuff in the house. See the wood flooring.

More pyromania. The burn pile, with the means to control it: the watering hose! The boys were spraying each other with it.

Andrew likes to comb my hair.

Judah came home just in time for my birthday, and a whole bunch of cousins came too.

My birthday on July 16. We had cheesecake of course! And got to celebrate with a lot of family who came to drop off and retrieve children!

Sweet sleeping boy. Enoch, about 21 months.

Working on tuck-pointing of bricks.... fixing cracks.

Jeff's dad helping, on one of the hottest few days of the entire summer.

Here we are back to the deck. Enoch loves tools.

We tore off the old boards on the deck and put on new. And made it more kid-safe. Although that hammer doesn't look very safe.

Jeff made it much safer. Like put a good railing on it. And a gate in front of the steps.

Judah wanted to do a timed-release picture. You can see into the messy office in the background. Now there's a piano in that office!

Jeff had a peach pie for his birthday in August, made with sourdough crust and peaches we got to pick from our church members' peach trees. It was tasty!

Also in August we took a trip to visit my folks in Iowa. Boys are swinging on the tire swing!

And they got a ride on the combine with Grandpa Allan!

Boys love Grandma Linda to read to them.

September--This is just a shot of the backyard, and you can see the finished deck.

This is a view of part of our garden and the south side of the house.

September--Helping plant fruit trees. 28 of them, to be exact. Plus two more grape vines (there were already three here), three blueberry bushes, and some ever-bearing raspberry bushes (those came from my dad).

This is a shot of one of our roosters. I think they look so stunning.

September--Playtime with Daddy.

Judah turned 6 on Sept. 21, and we celebrated with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Allan when they came down to our house to visit. Judah requested a banana cake, which I made for his 4th birthday.

When we went to Mankato beginning of October for General Pastors Conference for Jeff, we stayed with cousins. And the kids got to play on a playground.

Enoch and cousin Nathan in the sandbox in Mankato.

Andrew got stung by a bee, and it made his eye swell shut. Thankfully it just took a couple days for the swelling to go down, and then he was fine. (Oct. 16)

After General Pastors Conference, Great Grandma came down with us and stayed for 10 days in first part of October, till Jeff's mom came and picked her up to take her to Ohio.

Then we take a big jump to Oct. 22, Andrew's 4th birthday. His cake was supposed to be a sourdough chocolate bundt cake. However, the cake stuck in the pan and came all apart. So it became chocolate cake trifle, with layers of vanilla pudding.

Mommy with her big 4 year old, in front of the piano!

Enoch is two on Oct. 24! Muffin tower for breakfast.

November--We went to northern MN for deer hunting. Here are some deer hanging.

Cousin Nathan photo bombed this picture I was trying to take of Johnny and Judah in the background. I was a little far away, however...

Cousins playing in the snow. Judah has an oversized snow coat on over his broken arm.

Andrew, Noah and Enoch on the stairs.

Wilbur. My dad had him from someone who had donated it for a "kiss the pig" fundraiser, and then didn't want it back. So the pig was offered to us and we took him home. I think piglets are super cute. :-)