First Half of November

 The day after Halloween: We travelled back from SLC. But before then, we celebrated Grandpa's birthday, Lindy lost her first tooth, and Davy kept waving to Grandpa who was conducting church via zoom. :)

That Monday, we used our Halloween candy for math, as usual. Counting, sorting, graphing...all good things.

We didn't have to wait too long to see G&G Garner again. They came up the next weekend to help us process chickens. We ordered all the supplies we needed including this GIANT scalding pot. It was our very first time doing this and so there were some nerves, but Richie has had experience processing chickens so he knew the drill. Grandma and Grandpa helped SO much. At the end of the day, we gazed gratefully at our garage wall with 1 freezer full of frozen fruit and nuts etc, shelves packed tight with home canned goods, and the chest freezer full of homegrown chicken. We harvested 37 chickens, equalling over 200 pounds. Then I used the necks and feet to make around 20 quarts of broth. So worth it. 

Miles finally let me cut his hair! He's handsome either way, but I was grateful to see short hair Miles after such a long time.

Scenes from homeschool: Studying pollination, crafts and thank you's for Veteran's Day, how do lungs work, lunch picnic in the living room while watching documentaries, making slime, and poetry tea time. 

My mom turned 72! From now on, we feel like every birthday she makes it to is an incredible blessing. This one felt tender especially since it's been such a rough year. We weren't able to go down, but we participated via zoom. (There we are on the computer:) )

It's been too long since I've gotten my kids out on dates. Miles and I snuck away quickly for an impromptu date the other night to Costa Vida. At one point he said, "Thanks for taking me out to dinner Mom. I really didn't feel like having left-overs tonight." :) And he confirmed that even when he's a super cool teenager, he'll still want to go on dates with me. Love that boy. 

Scenes from the homestead this month, plus the first of our chickens that we ate. Doesn't look pretty here, but it was huge and delicious! 

Halloween

 We made that fast and furious trip down to SLC to do apple cider with the Garners, and it just happened to be Halloween. We decided to spend some time with the Crosby's in Provo also, and go trick or treating with them. What a weird year for trick-or-treating. Their normally busy neighborhood felt eerie. Not very many kids running around, and no one went to doors and said "Trick or Treat". All the candy was left outside in bowls, on their lawn, etc. At this point (way before this point actually), all of this Covid stuff is pure ridiculousness. I'm beyond the insanity of it all, but that's not the point of this post. The point is that my kids were adorable Harry Potter characters for Halloween. They have been planning these costumes since last year, when Miles had finished all the books the first time and was super into it. We had already decided on Charlie Brown however, so it was declared back in October 2019, that Halloween 2020 would be Harry Potter themed. :) 

Miles was Harry, obviously. Gwen was Hermoine, obviously. Lindy was Luna Lovegood, Benson was Hedwig, and Davy was Hagrid (whose costume lasted about 5 minutes) :) We had a great time with the Crosby's as usual, and despite the weirdness, the kids got plenty of candy. 

Second half of October

We noticed a neighbor down the road wasn't harvesting his apple tree, so we introduced ourselves, made a connection and asked for the apples. People are always very willing to let us pick. It saves them a chore! The first night we went to pick, we mostly just picked up fallen apples off the ground. We made 2 piles: One for a neighbor's pig, and one that was good apples to use for cider and sauce. As always, there's a fair amount of complaining, but there's also a fair amount of willingness and happy chatter as we work together. While the majority of apples were damaged in one way or another, they were not wholly unusable and very delicious! So grateful!

Have I written it here yet? We got ourselves some mousers! Our neighbor's cats had about 20 kittens, so they were eager to get rid of them. We were softies and let each of our kids pick one out. They are loving it so far, even if they are strictly outdoor cats. Hopefully one day, they will be excellent at catching mice around the property. 

Davy stuffed half a roll of toilet paper down the sink. Never a dull moment.

Since this picture, I've added a few more things to that upper right corner of the shelves, but Canning season is over. *sigh* Such a gorgeous sight.

 Lauren threw the most amazing Harry Potter party for our families, plus a couple others. She painted scenery and had gift bags etc. My mind was blown. Here are the 3 newest members of the Quidditch team!

We made a fast and furious trip down to SLC to participate in cider making day with the Garner side. It's always a hit, and we didn't want to miss it! We brought down some of the apples we picked!

More documentation of life this past October. :)