Last night as I rubbed my eyes for bed, I pulled the covers back only to find two plastic forks under my pillow! How did they get there?! And then I remembered that in the afternoon Nathan had managed to reach the container of his plastic utensils and decided to haul them upstairs to play. A few of them ended up in our bed, a few under the bed, Natalie chewed on a plastic spoon, while Nathan threaded them through the thin hole of another toy. I smirked, grabbed the forks from my pillow and put them on my nightstand before falling into bed after getting home late from a P.E.O. meeting. Ah, motherhood, I sighed as my heavy eyelids succumbed to sleep.

This afternoon, cloth diaper liners are draped over the chairs in the kitchen, while the inserts are humming in the dryer. Pieces of a children’s tent are strewn around the floor, the steps are lined with tractors and trains and books, ready to make a victim call 9-1-1. The canner has 7 pints of my favorite raspberry-blueberry jam processing in a water bath, and 14 quarts of sliced carrots were added to the pantry shelves this week. Nathan dug out some play jewelry and dressed Natalie like a princess after adorning himself with bracelets and necklaces which have been forsaken for naptime and puppies and blankies. These are the best and most challenging years of a Mom’s life!

After a fluke incident of hot weather last Wednesday, it has been wet and chilly fall weather! Time to break out the plaid flannel shirts, knee high boots, hats, mittens, hot apple cider, carve some pumpkins, get a pumpkin spice latte, and put some soup to simmer on the stove! Fall is here! Saturday Dan spent the morning fixing the loader that attaches to our tractor in preparation for snow removal in the not-too-distant future. After lunch I put the kids to bed while we disassembled our garden, taking out the last pepper plants, harvesting a few heads of cabbage and four watermelons that looked surprisingly good, drying out and rolling up tarp, and tilling one bed to plant our fall garlic variety of German Red. It felt good to get it done, and we celebrated with pizza and watermelon for supper.

Sunday we braved the cold and went to the Country Apple Orchard for their Harvest Festival, hoping to enjoy some goodies, kid rides, apple cider and a pumpkin patch. I was surprised how many people were there in spite of the weather, so we got in line for some Apple Brats, Walking Tacos and Apple Cider. Then we headed off to a pony ride for Nathan, climbing on hay bales, and just as we were headed to the pumpkin patch the rain started. Along with everyone else, we headed for shelter, but it was such a small area, we decided to leave and instead stock up on our winter gear at Target and Once Upon A Child. So, now we’re all set with boots and mittens and coats.

Afterwards we headed to Dan’s folks for supper and soaking in the hot tub, which was the perfect way to end the day. Yesterday I embraced soup season and made Chicken Tortilla Soup, and it was perfect for a cold, wet October day.

And that’s the news from this apple-orchard-and-hot-tub week on the farm!