The Many Faces

of Siri:

 Where's your tongue?

 Angry face.

 Happy face.

 Crazy face.

 Silly face.

 Mean face. (These is her favorite face to make.)

Siri is well known for the faces she pulls. She most often likes do make them while going to the bathroom, during dinner, and during prayers.

She is also a great copy cat and a mischief maker.

 She always has to be doing what Lizzy is doing. I will have two great bakers one day.

 She definitely has preferences. When going out for ice cream, she got angry when we took this licorice ice cream cone away from her and gave her cotton candy ice cream, which she definitely didn't like.

 She enjoys making giant messes for the sake of making a giant mess.

 This baby also loves, loves, loves, any kind of treats. Here she is enjoying a donut. (Lizzy enjoyed her donut faster than Siri.)

Prime example of my dare devil child.  It is also a prime example of her determination to get whatever she wants.

Clearly I need to take more pictures of my other children.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

These pictures are in no particular order, but they are my favorite (OK, they are most of the) pictures I took this summer.

 This is our garden, pre-planting anything in it. We've done teeny little gardens here and there, but living on the farm gave us the opportunity to plant a garden as large as we/I wanted.  James made these rows with the tractor and I was intimidated by it's size, but we made it work!

 This is my favorite sunset picture. I love all the colors and how the sun looks like it's on fire.

 James installed a sprinkler system for our yard. He always amazes me with his willingness to work hard to benefit our family.

 Hanging out in the yard and wheat field.

 More lounging... Siri is the dot behind James' head. I often found her wandering through the wheat.

 James is my favorite. My favorite everything.

 Motorcycle and 4-wheeler rides have been a regular thing this summer. Those are always a hit with the kids.

 Of course summer means popsicles.

 Another sunset...

 Logan trying to look "farmery" with a stalk of green wheat between his teeth.

 We gave the kids a gun safety lesson or two and helped them shoot the bb gun. Of course, James and I took a few shots as well.

 Our new punishment for the kids is to run laps around the yard. One night, right before bed, Logan got in trouble and had to run his laps. Clearly he wasn't dressed, but the part that prompted us to take this picture is that Logan was just in his underwear, and for some reason had decided that he needed to run with a helmet on. Unfortunately, he took the helmet off right before we snapped this picture, but it looked hilarious.

 We enjoyed water balloon fights.

 And we harvested SO MUCH from our garden! I've loved having it and I learned a lot about what I really want to grow. More onions, and more broccoli. No green beans. I guess this family just doesn't like them. But, did you notice the difference between this picture and the first?  It is amazing what can grow in just a few short months.

 We had a beautiful rainbow one morning. We could see where it hit the earth on both ends and it was SO close to us!  I couldn't fit the whole thing in my picture. So just imagine this x2 and then you'll see what we saw.

 After the green wheat turned yellow, it was time to harvest. In this picture, the kids are showing off the combine, aka a wheat harvester.

 I planted sunflowers in my garden, and they were HUGE!  Most grew to 12 feet. And their leaves...

 Can you say, ginormous?

 Blue skies and pretty flowers make for a happy me!

 Lizzy loved picking our carrots, but she did need help pulling this giant one out.

I look a little crazy because I've spent hours preserving the fruits of our garden labors.  I've canned 14 jars of salsa, 12 quarts of applesauce, and I've harvested  the seeds from our sunflowers and turned them into, what Logan calls, "spits". Meaning, I turned them into yummy sunflower seeds, perfect for snacking on. I've got so much more to pick and process from the garden. All this work may have an influence on my joy for fall. Oh well. At least when I got hot in my kitchen, I can step outside and enjoy the crisp fall weather.

Goodbye summer, and hello fall. Let's skip winter altogether, whad'ya say?