Two hiding friends.

This one happened about 10 mins before I took this picture. I had just checked it, and when I checked it again right after that, it had already changed. It still looked wet, gooey and different than the other one.

This one changed overnight. We woke up to find it.

Let there be PEARS!

Hailey took these pictures- my budding photographer!

This was today after we went to speak at a Woman's Aglow Meeting about the liver donation. It was really exciting to see how many women were encouraged and how it touched their lives to hear what a miracle God had done.

We canned 12 pints today and 6 quarts yesterday of pears. I am done with peaches and ended up with 16 quarts...which was 1/2 bushel. I will be doing more pears tomorrow. They are sooo good! I am hoping to find some tomatoes somewhere- this year all the farmers tomatoes got some disease and all died. ;-( So maybe if I go to another county I'll find some. I want to make spaghetti sauce and salsa. Next month will be applesauce and applebutter, and then squash- acorn and butternut. YUM! We soo love squash!

Canning Peaches

These are my beautiful peaches that will be in jars on Thursday! Loving this!

New Friends

These are the 2 newest additions to our family. We found them on a walk to see the baby pony down the road. Within two weeks we should have two monarchs! Yeah for the school of LIFE!

Homeschooling

Our first day of Kindergarten begins tomorrow! Wow, I cannot believe it's here already! I am excited and nervous and kind of weirded out that this huge landmark is here and we will be doing school for the next God knows how many years!!! A new adventure! I will need lots of prayer! Especially for patience and grace! I am just so grateful that I have a husband who leads me and who understands the value and importance of the role God has given us to "...teach and train..." our children. And I'm grateful that I am at home and able to watch my daughter learn all these firsts...learn to read, to tie her shoe, and so much more! Praise God for His provision and I pray that I never stop surrendering to His plan for my life!

My Make-up Artist

Thank God this was her makeup and not mine, and that she asked me if she could do this before she did it! Of course she had to decorate barbie too! So when Pastor Steve came for a visit today, this is what Hailey decided to do. She is quite talented! I do think he was pretty impressed!!

Labor Day

We spent Labor Day at Brown's Berry Patch in Waterport, NY. It was about an hour away and Rebecca and Jordan and Gracie and McKenzie joined our clan. It was a beautiful day! There was so much for the kiddos to do and they totally had a blast! They had billy goats up on this roof/bridge thing, and there was a pully to lift food up to them. They had a huge slide- that was sooo fun! And the giant pillow was incredible- i'm not sure if the kids or "grown-ups" had more fun! There was even a misting tent for when you got too hot! After we all played a while we went "pickin" and got apples, elderberries,

blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries! YUMMY! I froze them to put into pancakes and waffles in the winter! Here's the website for Brown's Berry Patch so you can check it out yourself! Happy Labor Day to all! http://www.brownsberrypatch.com/barnyard_adventure.html

How awesome is our God!

Ask and you shall receive! I went to a class this morning to learn how to can peaches. Well...I left the class praying for God to provide a huge pot with a wire rack for the jars. I stopped at a few yard sales right around my house, and asked a lady- who didn't have any kitchen items out- if she happened to have one- she said, "i think i have an extra one, hold on" So...$4 later I have my very own canning pot with a rack! Yeah God! I am so excited- I will be canning peaches and pears as long as my hubby says it's ok. and i learned that you can make the syrup for them with honey instead of sugar! yeah for natural! i just can't wait until in january (actually i really don't mean that) when it's a huge snow storm and i open a jar of summer!!!! how awesome will that be! maybe i'll be brave and do tomatoes, and salsa, and spaghetti sauce. Next year i think i'll do some jams. I love being effiecient and frugal! I just need someone to watch the kiddos while i do all this! When Hailey is old enough to help me with all this what a blessing that will be!!!

OH yeah and at the yard sale that i got the pot- i also got asics sneakers...probably cost $70 in the store- for $3!!! and they look brand new!

my inlaws came over for haircuts and they took Hailey with them...PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! I love being with her but she talks a mile a minute and I am getting mentally drained!!!! I am so grateful that they were willing to do that- and the best part is- it was their idea!

So my catscan is scheduled for sept. 3. My mother in law will pick me and the girls up and we're going to make a day of it. My appt is at 8:30 am. thank God because i can't eat for 2 hours before the test- and then i have to speak with the doctor- which is scheduled for 10am. but i've been throught this drill before and when they say 10am they really mean 3pm. So hopefully the girls will enjoy this little "outing"!

I have lots i can do without hailey breathing down my neck so i'm ganna get busy!!!

Pretty Girls

Mommying

I can't tell my husband enough how grateful I am to be able to stay home with our girls and enjoy their everyday changing. I was in a store the other day talking to the clerk and she was sharing how her daughter- a couple months older than Trinity- was starting to step away from holding onto furniture. She said "I know i'm going to miss her first steps because i'll be here at the store." I just thought how sad that something so special is traded for a little money.

I am getting excited about homeschooling- and wondering how an unstructured gal like myself can try to implement some structure into my daughters lives. I know i'll be praying a lot!

Hailey's curious little mind is always asking questions, like this morning- taking Peter to work at 5:30am..."mom, why is it so smokey?" Oh you mean the foggy fog! and then when we got back home- "mom what does udicrous mean?", "you mean ludicrous?", "yeah" ,"it means crazy."
or yesterday..."mom, what means lergic?", "you mean allergic?", "yeah", "it means you get all sneezy when you're around something. like daddy is allergic to cats and that's why we can't have a kitty- cuz he'll get all sneezy." which brought on a whole slew of questions later on like..."are some people allergic to trees? are some people allergic to babies?"

there are some things you think would never some out of your mouth- but as a mother, somehow they manage to come out. such as..."stop licking that chair!"

Sleep

My wonderful 5 month old actually slept from 9pm-4:30am!!! Praise God for sleep! Then she ate and went back to sleep until 8:30! I'm so blessed! This could become a habit and i'd be totally cool with that!!!!!

Polka Dots

So I said to Hailey as we were both looking in the mirror, "Do you think you look like mommy?" and she replied, "no, cuz you have polka dots on your nose and i don't."

Exciting Times...and Crocodiles

I am now the proud owner of a salon and am licensed by NY State as a business owner...Yeah!! I had to jump through a few of their hoops, but it was so worth it to be doing things legally and to be able to stay home with my girlies, and not go away to work. Now I can plan my business around my schedule and what works for our family.

I quit my job at the salon in Lancaster. Tonight was my last night and I really wasn't sad. I loved working there, but I know God has revealed to me that my place is at home, and I can be a helper to my husband by bringing in some extra money by doing this business at home. Hailey was so excited when i told her that i didn't have to leave her anymore to go to away to work...what a blessing to have a hubby that supports this and encourages me to GO FOR IT!

The electrical work in the salon was done yesterday and the plumbing and sink are being put in on Sunday. Then Monday, Peter and i will do the finishing touches...paint the floor, put up trim, put a desk in there, a rug down, a magazine rack, a plant, pictures on the walls, paint the cabinet that surrounds the sink, and curtains up. I still have a few things I have to purchase- an appointment book, towels, shampoo, etc.

The other exciting thing is that my mom is coming up in 4 days with my two brothers!!! I can't wait! She's only staying here one night, but hopefully we'll get the boys a bit longer than that. Hailey is thrilled to see them again so soon.

Yesterday Hailey and I were discussing what it means when Jesus is your Savior. After explaining it a bit, I asked her if she had asked Him to be her Savior, to which she replied, "yes, I did it when i was in my bed", And I said, "what did you say?" And she said "I didn't say anything, I was asleep." So I said, "No, you can't ask Him when you're asleep."
I then asked her, "What did He save you from?" And she very matter of factly said, "From the crocodiles." .......Thanks Jesus for saving us from the crocodiles!!!

Learning

sometimes you realize that you believe something you didn't know you believe. For instance, i discovered this week that i grew up believing that i could trust people. i trusted my parents, siblings, my husband, and i was teaching my children to trust me. all sounds good right? well, Jeremiah 9:4 says " Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. " and
Mic 7:5 "Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms..."
Psa 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
The Bible teaches us that the only good and righteous thing in us is Christ- without Him we are scum! So to trust someone is just foolishness- we trust Christ- and we must expect that our spouse, parents, children are going to screw up! They are going to let us down. If we maintain trust in people rather than God then we will end up with a very disappointed outlook on life. Man will always let you down. That is because of our sinfullness. Just some thoughts...

Life This Week

The picture shows how Hailey really thinks Trinity is her dolly.

With the encouragement of my hubby- I have been embarking on a journey of a sort. Peter and I were both convicted that I shouldn't be making income from doing hair without claiming it on our taxes and so we decided to do some research as to what the state requires in order for my haircutting, coloring, etc. to be legal and legit. Turns out that there's quite a bit to it. I got the packet from the state and the journey began! Had to go downtown to register the name of my business, get a tax id #, and purchase a professional liability insurance policy. I mailed all this yesterday to the state and am waiting for my business license to come in the mail. I also checked with the town as to what they require. They are cool with me doing it- just want me to pay $50 to put a sign up and it has to be 2'x2' and 10' away from the road. I also started a website and got a new email address and ordered business cards- they are so cool with a spot for the next appointment on the back of them. i got a good deal on them. I'm still looking for a sink. i have someone coming on sunday to see what it's ganna take to put a sink in. It's been so great to have my hubby be just as excited as me to see this becoming a reality. He's been a great encouragement and letting me just go for it. my website is www.NaturalBeautysalonByRachael.webs.com

and my email is NaturalBeautysalonByRachael@yahoo.com. i'll update what all is happening in this business endevor! later!

This is the beautiful dress my grandmother made for Trinity. She wore it to church a few Sunday's ago.

Happiest baby ever! Beautiful dimple too!

Life Lately...

So I'm enjoying my 4 year old and the amazing way her mind is developing. Yesterday during lunch i got a whole mouthful of questions that she was wondering about, such as:

why do we yawn?
...burp?
...sigh?
...cry?


how exciting to learn! i am also really excited that she is now writing her name and other words, like yesterday she wrote flat, mat, and hat, and she is really enjoying it. she also loves to do rhyming words. i make her write the words all the way across the paper and then she gets a jelly bean for finishing.

my other girl is finally falling asleep on her own, in her own crib, and spending some time sleeping in there at night and during the day, yeah! she is only pooping once or twice a day which is so wonderful compared to what is was- poop with every diaper! not fun!

i am actually really wanting to have another baby already! i just don't want to go through the pregnancy part...lol. i'll do the delivery and having the baby- just the sickness thing and getting huge- not so much fun!

so kohls is totally my favorite store! i got 2 bridal shower gifts, a birthday gift, and several baby outfits (4), and baby shoes (3)- for future showers- and a pair of pants for hailey and a nighty for me/peter ;-) for under $50!!! i always get the best deals there! plus i had a 30% off coupon.

alright duty calls - until next time! adios!

My sweet Girlies!