In the month of September

We thought that without coaching during football season, the Fall would have a more relaxed feel!  Not so, as we have jam packed something fun into every weekend and filled our days with school!  It has been such a blessing to have that extra time together and enjoy as much outdoors before the rain sets in.  However, we are going to find ourselves winterizing and putting the garden to bed for the cold season...during the winter at this rate.

Lots of excitement in every week....

These two young raccoons were terrorized into staying in the plum tree all day.  Claudia kept a close eye and barked at them continuously.   

Sawyer's detailed plan to capture and tame them as pets.  You can see S, in the bottom right, poking the raccoons in the top left and knocking them into the cage below.  

Early morning execution of the plan.  I did let him chop up a sunflower stock into a nice poker and give them a gentle nudge.  They growled and the top one peed on the head of the bottom one.  I decided the raccoons had had had enough fun...and all plums needed to be thoroughly washed before eating.  

Oktoberfest in the neighboring town of Mount Angel.  I have to say, we usually skip the festivities, huge crowds and greasy food are not really my cup of tea.   Grandma Tracy was down for a visit so we decided to take the children to the play area..  They had a blast seeing the animals, playing on the bouncy house, and running through the maze and of course getting ice cream!

Hay bale maze

Snuggling with our baby 

Watching wiener dog races 

Thrilled beyond belief with a coffee cup  

I wonder who this boy's daddy is?  LOL!

I am in the middle of a needle felted landscape.  It is slow going as I only have half hour chunks here and there throughout the week to work on the project but it has been so much fun!  I am always admiring the beautiful scenery where we live and now I am wanting to be more intentional about getting some pictures that I can later turn into needle felted scapes.  On our way to pick up milk, I took a few shots.  It was noonish, very hazy, no cloud cover..basically a photographers worst lighting and these pictures were so drab that I photoshopped them with color boost.  Normally, I don't like to do that.  I prefer to take the photo in amazing lighting and have it be what it is.

On a side note, we went to the Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby and it was so amazing!!  What a treat to be able to see every manner of fiber animals and so much amazing yarn and roving.  Rather than cheap functional yarn, this was ART!  And, I love art!!!  I did buy a drop spindle and some cheap roving to practice with as the next step in fiber artistry, is learning how to spin my own yarn!  (My first attempts have produced dreadful results!  LOL)  I also bought a small bag of colored curly roving to needle felt with.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring my camera with me.

The lovely little pond in the middle of the field 

My favorite view.  I drive this way sometimes just to admire it!  The black, by the way, is field burning. 

I found this contrast so stunning with the field burning and the curvy road by the tree line


Science!  We ordered the Sonlight Science kit that came with lots of great books.  Sawyer can't get enough it. He is making up his own experiments and doing nature studies.  All the children collect various and assorted things on our daily walk to view under the magnifying glass.

Acorns 

Can you see the fuzzy caterpillar front and center? 

Washing and drying more and more acorns. 

Oak puffs under the magnifying glass. 

LOL!  We saw some poop on one of our outings and the children were wondering what kind it was.  Sis got out a nature pamphlet and begin drawing scat of every kind.

 And what is the Fall without the arrival of cold and flu season.  Evi and Brighton had a touch of a cold that luckily was (and hopefully stays) very mild.  Poor Sawyer was hit with a stomach bug.  Here he is on the bathroom floor in the sick nest.  This isn't the best timing for a stomach flu to be spread through the house.  I have appointments 3 out of the 5 week days this week  for the procedure I am having on Wednesday (for my varicose veins) and will be out of commission for a 24 hour time period.  Barfing children (or me barfing) would be highly inconvenient!
 
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