Autumn Days

Today was so wonderful! I have been loving these Autumn days so much. The air is crisp and full of delicious smells, the aroma of fresh raspberry jam fills Gramma's kitchen, the leaves are beautiful, and the temperature is perfect.

We started the day off with hair cuts for these two handsome boys! Finley loves having his hair spikey like his older brothers and always looks so grown up after a good trim.

Sawyer loves exploring outside, letting the grass tickle his fingers. I love watching the wonder and awe in his eyes as he soaks in his environment.

Naps are always a must after a long morning outside and I always have to check on him because he looks so sweet.

In the late afternoons we always end up gathering on the west facing deck to catch the last of of the suns rays. The kids love spending all day outside running around the acreage.

The big kids are always fighting over who will carry Sawyer on our adventures and it's so fun seeing their relationship with their baby brother. 

If the Seasons ever got stuck on Autumn, I definitely wouldn't complain!

Fox in the Hen House

This morning I sent the kids out to feed and check the chickens, just like they do every morning. As I was rinsing some dishes I looked out towards the coop and saw the kids waving hysterically in the lit up doorway. I quickly opened the door and Camilla shouted through tears, "The chickens are DYING!!!" I threw on some boots, instructed Joseph to care for the littles, and sprinted out to see what was the matter. There was feathers everywhere and the chickens in the back run kept screeching. A fox had gotten into the hen house and was stuck in the outside run.We blocked off the doors to the coop and I went to the outside run with a flashlight and yelled at the fox as tears welled in my eyes (I was angry). Hyrum ran to the house to wake Gramma and Grampa while Camilla held an injured chicken and guarded the door. It was quite the fiasco, and the poor kids still had to catch the bus to school a half hour later. We had a good chat at the breakfast table about life on a farm and how these things sometimes happen. Dad, Mom and I went back out after the sun finally came up to assess the damage and try and figure out where the sly fox crept in. We cleaned up the feathers in the back run as best as we could so that the kids wouldn't see them when they got home from school. It was a hard morning for all of us I think.

The rest of the day was thankfully uneventful! Sawyer napped for a few hours while the little boys painted some wooden pumpkins.

Everyone has been counting down the days until Halloween, especially Finley. It's his most favorite holiday!

Voting Day

This morning we woke to the most beautiful sunrise! 

I love watching the sky change morning and night, I will never get tired of it!

Mike and I went to town early this morning to vote in the federal election. We are hoping for a change, but I guess we will see! This is how Sawyer felt about the whole thing...

This boy plays outside any chance he can get. This afternoon his favorite toy was the mini skate board!

I decided to try something new for the after school snack today. Homemade doughnuts are delicious!

An Afternoon Walk

The little boys and I went for a walk this afternoon. The sky was blue and it was far too nice to stay inside all day. We took the stroller down the lane and up the ditch and explored all of the things there was to see. 

Nature is the best cure for anxious souls and busy boys.

This chub-a-lub finished off the afternoon with an epic nap! Sometimes I wish I could join him.

Sugar Cookies

It seems we've been passing around a little flu bug in the Stannix home. 

One look at Finley's eyes today told me he was coming down with something. He slept away the afternoon in my bed while I baked Sugar cookies.

When the kids got home from school they iced our traditional Halloween sugar cookies (and ate their fair share).

These are the moments!

Autumn Moments

I love this time of year! The temperature is perfect, the air is crisp, the leaves are gorgeous and there's a hum in the air as we hustle about harvesting and preserving. Experiencing this time of year at the acreage for a second time has been perfect! We love being near Gramma and Grampa, the space to play outside, the ever-giving garden, and the colorful eggs.

 

The kids are all growing so fast! Sometimes I wish I could bottle them up and keep them forever. I do enjoy all of the stages and watching them all interact. When the big boys read books to the little boys or I watch Camilla snuggle a sleeping babe and grin as she listens to his sighs and coos, it melts my heart and makes me feel grateful for all of the ages and stages. 

Our afternoons are often spent coloring, playing outside, or biking around the acreage. When we are all together huddled over coloring books and pencil shavings, laughing and talking, my heart is filled to the brim. Sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down, ignore the mess, and soak in the moment.

 

It's really great having extra arms close by to help out! I feel as though my house is in a constant state of neglect. I've gotten really good at moving and stacking dirty dishes to make room for more dirty dishes and making due when there's not many clean things left. We've eaten jello out of cups with giant serving spoons and sipped our soup with straws then no clean spoons could be found. I really do try to keep up with it all, but this is the reality of life with this many kids.

 

At days end Ollie will ask, "Mom?" and I'll smile, "Yeah, bud?" ....."I just love you SO bad!" And these are the lines that make it all worth it. All of the mess and chaos and tantrums and dirty bums are all worth it for the "I love you's" and the hugs and the sneaky smiles. Lately I've been woken by the sound of coughs echoing through the night. We've played a lot of musical beds. After being woken countless times in the night, the comfort of my bed holds me tight.

Needle Craft

The sunrises have been glorious this week! Watching the sky change is one of my favorite things to do in the morning.

The children laugh at me because sometimes, right in the middle of breakfast, I will get up and run to the window and tell them all how beautiful the sunrise is today. I hope they always remember to cherish the little things and relish in the beauty of nature.

We sauced a whole lotta tomatoes this morning. We have crates upon crates ripening faster than we can keep up! We've learned a few new tricks though to speed up the saucing process and are getting a lot of it canned up into spaghetti sauce and salsa! Yum!

Naptime cuddles are still a thing with this sweet boy and I cherish them. I regret all of the reading and worrying I did with the first few babies. I wish I had just sat and enjoyed them more instead of making sure I wasn't going to spoil them with too many cuddles or create bad sleep habits. Holding him in my arms always feels right.

Today I woke up with a desire to knit. It's something that has always intimidated and intrigued me all at the same time. So I dug out Gramma's knitting needles from my Mom's basement, took a peek in an old needle craft book that my Mom handed me and looked up a YouTube tutorial. After the littles fell asleep I went to work feeling like my fingers were all thumbs, tongue stuck out slightly to the side and muttering things out loud when I finally get it like, "Hallelujah!" after one hundred tries on a single stitch. I've dropped my needles one hundred times and the darn stitches don't stay on very well, but I haven't given up! Casting on wasn't so bad, but this knit/purl thing might take me forever! I probably should have started with something like a dishcloth.

Frost

I snuck outside just after the big kids left for school this morning to savor the simple things that the morning had to offer. 

These frosted leaves were so beautiful!

As I've focused on the little moments of joy my heart has been filled with inexpressible gratitude. I loved watching Sawyer drift off to sleep this afternoon in my arms. Seeing his eye lashes resting on his cheeks as his chest rises and falls will always be one of my favorite things. 

After picking the big kids up from piano lessons we had a bit of a bumpy night. I made eggs for dinner and then it was chaos as children shuffled in and out of showers and baths and completed their dinner jobs. We managed scriptures and bedtime prayers (just barely) and then I let out a huge sigh of relief as I snuggled Sawyer to sleep. While I rocked I could hear the two oldest reading books to the little boys and in the background I could hear Joe singing away in the bathroom (he holds the record around here for taking forever in the bathroom). Somehow Sawyer nodded off to sleep while listening to a mishmash of "The Little Blue Truck" and "The Cat in the Hat" being read at the same time. I love when everyone is under the same roof, helping, serving, singing and reading. I went to bed feeling very blessed (and tired).

LEGO

The big boys have been really into their Lego's lately and I love the things that they come up with. Hyrum made transformers today for him and Joe to play with and they are so cool. The knees and arms move and their ninjas can sit inside of them. They played with these for a long time today!

Thankful

I felt pretty blessed this morning as I looked around at our family and all we've been given. We are healthy and happy and enjoying life!

Sawyer and I stayed cozy warm today with our knits.

We had our own little Stannix family Thanksgiving dinner tonight with a homegrown chicken, dressing, potatoes, veggies and warm dinner rolls. 

Together is my favorite place to be.