Sold

Darling Hubby and Darling Oldest went to the rental house yesterday to pick up the walnuts (poor squirrel, his good fortune gone as fast as it came). They took them over to the house that does the walnut hulling. So, they had to dump all the barrels into the "huller" which takes off that outer hull. They said that after they get done doing walnuts, those hulls get ground up and put out on their fields for fertlizer. Once the hulls are off, the walnuts get weighed and then they pay per pound. Last night we had 126 pounds turned in and they gave us a check for $13.83. For those of you not wanting to do the math, that's 11 cents per pound. Guess we're not going out to Red Lobster on our earnings, but it will buy us a pizza. The boys dreams of hitting it rich by planting a grove of walnut trees on our land here, are fizzeling.

Walnuts

I have accepted the fact that I am getting old. I turned 40 this year and things I used to do without much thought have required more effort. Things that didn't used to bother me required a good dose of ibuprofen to survive. Last night we went up to the rental house to mow. We have 2 big walnut trees in the yard and this week they did the big nut dump, so we had to pick up walnuts before we could mow. We started with having the 2 big boys mowing while Zach and I worked under one tree and Mike worked under the other one picking up the nuts. Wow, there were a ton of them. And the leaves that had started falling were not helping. We picked up a bunch, feeling under the leaves as we went. Then Mike came to get a rake. Great idea. I raked lightly, which moved the leaves, without picking up the nuts, and uncovered way more than I thought could possibly be left. The big boys mowed what they could and then started helping with nuts so they could continue. Zach was a little nut collecting machine!! He matched me bucket for bucket, everytime I was ready to dump my 5 gallon pail into the trash can, he was ready to dump too. We all picked up about 4 1/2 trash cans full of nuts and left them in the barn until we can come back for them with a trailer tonight and take them to an Amish place in our neighborhood who husks walnuts. (We figure the squirrel who is living in the barn is going to think he died and went to heaven - his winter supply right there, without any work!) They also buy nuts people collect and bring to them. We are hoping for enough money out of them to pay for a nice dinner for a family of 5. Last night there was a line in front of me when I got out the bottle of ibuprofen, everyone except Zach already aching. This morning, another line after everyone stiffened up over night. I think I actually feel a little better than the teenagers did this morning......

Tired but fun

This week my nephew and I had a community service project to knock out before he goes back to school. As his confirmation sponsor, I have been very much a part of his journey of faith this year. I must say, I have been a sponsor before and just had to show up to the church the night before confirmation for a rehearsal and then the next night for the event. This time I have been to several class periods, done a couple of projects, and grown much closer to this nephew who resists hugs and any show of emotion. And having a conversation with him??? Forget about more than a 2 word answer. I went to the big city on Thursday, where we were handing out shoes to needy children for school. We chatted all day, no long awkward silences over dinner when just the two of us went to Taco Bell, and had a great time. He got to also count those 7 hours not just for our confirmation hours, but they also are going toward the hours he needs for school. We both had fun - it's nice to make the kids smile because they are happy with their school shoes. By the end of the day, I was in desperate need of ibuprofin (which my sister provided before my 2 hour drive home, on which I stiffened WAY up), and a hot bath - I hurt from my lower back to my ankles from all the stooping over and getting up and down off the ground to check shoe sizes, go find shoes to bring out, fit them on the kids, and repeat until we found shoes they liked. Yesterday was a steady dose of ibuprofin and rest as my hip and ankles continued their protest. (One job I can cross of my list of what I want to be when I grow up- shoe sales person) But it was a lot of fun and a great day with my nephew.

Home Work

Last night, Handy Hubby built us a homework station in the dining area of our combination dining / living room. It's nothing fancy, a piece of counter top attatched to the wall in the corner with a leg to support the unattached side. The horror of this is that the boys can't see the TV from there - what mean, abusive, awful parents we are! I bought a rolling organization station to slide under this desk top - complete with purple (they didn't have pink) stapeler and battery pencil sharpener (girly colors so the boys don't walk away with them to disappear forever into the dark hole of the bedrooms). My laptop has found it's way to this counter since this year both boys are assigned homework to do on line as well as our regular handouts or assignements out of the book. 2 classes even have textbooks on line so if the kiddos don't bring home their book, we can still access the text for clarification - I am praying math has this same feature, as they NEVER remember to bring this book home and of course, we have to look up what we are supposed to be doing - 2 boys taking Pre-algebra this year who, unfortuanately, don't seem to be at the same place in the book and we are only a week into the year. Last night they both had on line home work. My dining room table has been full between my computer and the other things that always seem to land there when kids come home. As I type I am here at the homework station thinking this is pretty nice - I may have to look into hanging a shelf here too.....

Fun, Fun, Fun

Pete trying out skateboarding while we waited to ride horses

Zach loved playing with the kittens

Cool sculpture!

Our Last Summer Fling

As our end of the summer treat, we met some friends, went to play in Lake Michigan and then back to their farm for horse back riding. Everyone had a great time on the horses - especially Zach. He started out scared, but by the end of the day, he just wanted to keep riding. Steven was confident enough to kick his horse up to a trot - then promptly fell off. After a heart to heart talk with his horse, he got back on before the end of the day to keep his courage up. Boy, did my legs hurt for the next couple of days. I haven't ridden a horse since I was Steven's age. And for Mike it had been about the same amount of time- we won't wait nearly so long before the next time.

School Has Begun

The first day of the new school year is always an exciting time, but the first day of school EVER, well, that's an especially big deal! A long day of all day Kindergarden, a long bus ride home, and a tired boy - but what a day!!