Thanksgiving Gathering

We had a very enjoyable Thankgiving Day at the Maibachs, that was celebrated as Thankmas - Thanksgiving & Christmas combined... We enjoyed spending the day together.

Grandpa & the grandchildren

Leon & Lori & family +++++ Ralph & Tina's family


Jay & Marsha & family

End-of-Summer Birthdays

Isaac's 15th birthday. Still sticking with his international colors. He
got a BIG surprise in the corn field.... one never knows what's hiding in there :)



Next Rebekah turned 9


Sunday came between the girl's birthdays this year so we had the Graf
family in to help celebrate and to be together. It was extra special to
have U. Rog, A. Tod & cousin Mary stop by!


And then Sheila turned 11. Do I dare say what one of her most exciting presents were?? A long-wanted shaver!! I think she has only used it once - a little more bother than she realized :)

By-Gone Days of Summer

Our summer went way too fast, but we did sqeeze in some fun times in one way or another!

Lake Senaca with Chris & Abbie Schwartz family and their boat. Everyone enjoyed a tube ride and some tried skiing (sorry no pictures). The boys made a water way while the girls tried their hand at a sand turtle.

Gettysburg, PA

We spent a day in Gettysburg, taking in many historical sights and pondering through many of the civil war events.

Hershey Chocolate World, place of delicious sights and smells :) We got to sample their latest Hershey kiss flavor - something like a chocolate melt.

Touring the caves of Indian Echo Caverns

Summer Fun Around Home

The kids made a fort in the woods with friends & neighbors


In July, the boys enjoyed a camp-out at Orin's pond with their Rufener cousins

Ethan learned to ride a two-wheeler!

Jacob hosted a sleep over with friends. In the first picture they are eating their breakfast of Hot pockets, bananas & a donuts off of strings hanging from the trampoline. Later they had a progression contest of who could get to their hidden candy first....that is after they ate 5 saltine crackers with no drink, then gulp down a glass of water, finally, find the sour candy under one of the three piles of whipping cream on their plate. The boy sitting at the front right won!

Ode to Summer

Most of the work of summer is now behind us. We enjoyed a plentiful summer and now have full freezers and cellar shelves to show for it. The kick-off was the peas. We got several gallon bags of those in the freezer. Below we are picking the two double rows we planted

Next came the strawberries. We picked & picked in the beautiful fields of Rittman Orchards, getting some 66 pounds that went into batch after batch of strawberry jam. We need lots when 3 of the kids pack PB & J sandwiches about everyday for school!




Some how I missed getting a picture of doing green beans, but here's a picture of them coming on, beside where the peas were. The beans did well, canning & freezing a total of 37 qt before we picked & gave the rest away!


Blueberries also were a yummy treat we enjoyed, I bought about 20 pounds for fresh eating & the freezer.
Red Raspberries were abundant in our garden, thanks to the Japanese beetles staying away this year. This is the first year I got around 4 qt. of those in the freezer.
Jacob dug up the potatos while the girls (if I remember right), took out the onions, before the August sun.

Then it was sweet corn time. We had a bumper crop this year!! It landed on a Saturday so everyone got to help and we put 42 qt in the freezer. Wow! Little did I expect that much and very gratedful for willing hands to make the load lighter. Below is pictured our corn patch, the kids working on cutting the corn off the cob, and the tool used to do it with.

August ended with apples. I was able to get over 4 bushels of Paula Reds from Kidron for $25. I started the apples while the kids were at school and then once they were home, everyone got a knife and pitched in. We ended up with 94 qt canned AND very glad to be done at the end of the two days it took. Now all we have left is the tomatoes. Those I will do next week mostly into tomato soup, but a few cans of chunks too.. Fall is settling in and it is so nice to be wrapping up the outside work and thinking more of indoor projects!

2009 Reunion

Finally An Update!

A lot has transpired since I last blogged so I'll try and update you as graciously as possible. The family gathering that we hosted Father's Day Weekend (pictures yet to post) has come and gone and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to host it and the benefits that came with it....incentives. The incentive to get to some projects that were waiting for a reason to get done. The biggest one being the garage. I think we painted every square inch of paintable surface - ceiling to floor, for a great place to now host gatherings of any kind :)
Here are before, during, and after pictures:

Starting the project-----------------Painting from top to bottom

Added creativity (by Isaac)--------- Prepping the floor

To Hosting!!!

April Showers

April showers brought rainbows so far this year...we watched one evening as several of these came and went - even seeing a double rainbow a couple of times

Before and After

Below are some before and after projects that we've accompished over the past couple of months


A pair of shorts that got a stain on the pocket

Iron on patches to cover it up and add decoration!

A silver framed mirror

Now white and hanging over the laundry room sink


The storage area in the mud room

Redone with more space and a better organizaton system