just because

 

… its been such a long, long while since I’ve been able to post anything here!

The Cowgirl’s cow {Kitti} finally calved on December 11, so little Caspar’s fun b-day is 12-11-12  :)  Thankfully, the weather was beautiful for several days that week, and he got off to a great start.  He is so fun to watch now as he romps around the pasture!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Looking back even further, here are some pictures from November!

We were doing a bit of deep housecleaning.  And housecleaning is so much more fun if you can make a mess first… I guess.  The project was sorting through old school papers – and throwing most of them away.  But not until after they’d wadded most of them up and thrown them all over the school room.  {sigh}  And we have more of that to do with the boxes and boxes of papers that we’ve accumulated over the years.  Time to lighten the load!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim added a door to the closet by the front door.  Totally changed the look of that hallway.  In a very good way!

And he had some help to add a step inside the closet so that we can reach the items on the deep shelf easier… {No, it’s not quite finished yet b/c he needs another piece of wood, but it is very useable!  And one - or several - can even hide in the closet…}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cowgirl did an experiment to learn about sound traveling through water… the Popper tried it too.

 

We had some fun putting together turkeys made with Oreos for our Thanksgiving/Christmas gathering in mid-November.

                    

The leftover piece of Oreo makes a perfect base for a pilgrim hat.

    

 

Abby tried her hand at a somewhat complicated pie, which tasted quite delicious!  I think she will leave out the orange peel next time however to suit taste preference at our house.

We couldn’t find the recipe online, but here’s a video demonstration of the same caramel apple-cherry pie.  {recipe was in the November issue of BH&G}  I found her a bigger pie plate for next time, but I will have to look for leaf cookie cutters too.  She made do with the little turkey.

We had a good amount of the various pies leftover.  Yum, yum.

Decorating fun…

         

      

             

Tim set up his clay pigeon launcher for the afternoon… The wind was brisk, but overall it was a good day for outdoor fun too.  The indoor crew played Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride, I can’t remember which now.

 

Another day, the girls experimented with a new braid…

  

Oh, and this was a funny notion that I had to record the glow coming from our coat room…

Any ideas?

It was the sun shining on the brand new very orange vacuum…

that I had to buy when the motor blew up on the old one.

 

But while I was at K-mart buying the vacuum, I found a new rug for the kitchen.  Color me happy, even if the rug isn’t blue.

                            

 

More wood for the pile.

 

And yet another apple pie… for the soup/pie/praise fellowship at church.

But it was untouched!  hee hee  So we brought it home again to take along to Grandma’s house in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving Day.

More about that later!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Foersters ~ A quick view of our ’12 in 12…

1.      A lovely lever harp fulfilled a dream for Abby last Christmas, and lessons began in January.

2.      We used lots of laminate flooring to cover our bare floors in February.  Tim led the family-sized work crew.

3.      We found more family fun afar in March as we traveled 3300 miles in the Suburban to visit Pensacola, FL; Jekyll Island, GA; Charleston, SC; Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, NC; a blogger friend in Indianapolis; the Hoover Library in West Branch; and several points in between… and home again in nine days.  Whew.  J

4.      We celebrated milestone birthdays.  Molly enjoyed a party with several friends here for her 10^th birthday in March.  Dad H reached 80 years and Mom F 90 years, both in April with their parties in May.

5.      Landscaping around the house began with the early spring weather.  Including a windbreak of willows and spruce and a small orchard of fruit trees.

6.      Summer camps:  Leadership-Music-Speech Camp for Kate, Abby & Daniel {piano & voice} in Wisconsin; Junior Girls’ Camp for Molly at Clear Lake.  Daniel also attended a computer camp at Pensacola Christian College in July.

7.      Abby, Elisabeth, Thomas & Melanie helped with Vacation Bible School at church; Elisabeth traveled to St. Paul with the youth group to lead a VBS program there too.

8.      Abby & Tim took her senior trip to China! in July to visit old friends, meet new folks, and see some of the countryside.  In spite of the long plane ride, Abby would love to return.

9.      The drought, while not as bad here as some places, required hauling water for trees & shrubs – and eventually the cattle when the creek’s water disappeared.

10. Photo shoots:  Abby & Daniel both had senior pictures done this summer, and we had a quick family picture session too… the evening before we took Kate off to college!

11. Kate is now a freshman at Baptist College of Ministry in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.  We are all looking forward to having her home again for Christmas.

12. Thankful:  We’ve recently gathered with family in both Iowa and Wisconsin to celebrate God’s overwhelming goodness to each of us.   

  

Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous;

and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Psalm 97:12

Amidst the rush of our busy lives, 

we must purpose to take time to count our many blessings.

Family and friends.  Provision of a nice home and plenty to eat.   

And much more.

Best of all: God’s perfect gift of His Son Jesus Christ, 

Who paid the price of our sin

that we might trust in Him alone and know the blessing of eternal life.

~ Celebrating the only Prince of Peace ~

Tim & Melanie, Kate, Abby, Daniel, Elisabeth, Thomas & Molly

20 years!

 

Friday, November 27, 1992 ~ A very famous Black Friday for us <3

 

                  

 

 

Happy Anniversary to my very own Mr. Right!  Love you!

not funny

 

 

almost forgotten

… photos from Tim’s phone…

while still at the State Fair in August {top picture in display is of my cousin Nick & family amongst the turkeys}




Luci ~ Queen of the Hay {in September}

The Popper in the combine with Tim




Tim’s birthday bonfire




Zip line at Jack’s! {October 20}

four weeks via the camera

 

Canning pears four weeks ago…

            

We spent that evening (Oct. 12) at a wedding near Des Moines.  I had some dreamy idea about sitting with my hubby for the ceremony, but I had agreed to help in the kitchen – and we barely got it ready before the service was over and folks were coming into the reception hall!  I did sit down long enough by Tim later - to enjoy a delicious piece of cheese cake.  Oh yum.  And then we helped our friends out even more by bringing some of the leftovers home…  ; )  Should have put a piece in the freezer for Kate to sample at Christmas – ooops.

 

The next week we celebrated big at home in anticipation of Tim’s birthday… grilled steak, burgers, Abby’s Cajun chicken, gyros, lasagna…

{You’ll have to use your imagination for most of that…}

The Popper’s loaded burger was a bit too big, but she got the job done 

 

On Thursday, the Cowgirl made symphony tier bars so that Tim could take a plate to work…

Friday evening {his birthday} the kids loaded the rest of the dish with 48 candles…

      

                             

The kids said next year we could just have a bonfire  ; )

 

{should be a recipe here somewhere for the dessert – probably need to add a search widget}

 

Outdoor Project of the Month:  a sidewalk and real step out front!

 

                  

          

      

    

 

The pets, of course, needed to stay out of the wet cement…

  

c-A-t was not happy about being on a leash.

 

Abby helped wish finishing – scoring.

    

                     

Sorry, I thought I had a picture of the new walk – with dry concrete and no forms/mess/etc.  Next time…

 

I made another batch of elderberry syrup for Kate…

    

I was able to send it to her via Special Delivery – her Uncle Neil & Aunt Colleen came through here last week.  Abby made lots of cookies to send along too.

 

Tim has been busy inside the house too… adding thresholds between rooms and at the top of the stairway {requiring some trimming of laminate pieces already laid}

   

The Popper finished the curtain for her closet – yay!  {thanks to the Cowgirl getting the machine loaded with green thread}

      

Soooo I followed with the curtains for their window – turned out sorta cute for my first attempt at a ruffled curtain.

           

 

The sunshine was strong last evening – made for strong shadows and colors!

 

… a little too strong perhaps for a good view of our new closet door in the front hall – yay, Tim!  It’s amazing how different it looks with the door in place!

 

I finally hung up my newest plates – above the messy desk area {don’t look!}

      

 

Next week we will set up tables for an early Thanksgiving/Christmas Feast with my family.. something like this perhaps?  We will be 20+  …but I don’t have to cook a turkey or peel/mash any potatoes, so it should be ‘easy’ and fun. ;-)