Update: October

Well hello. A few things have changed since I last posted. For one, we live in a different house!

Mid-September we moved into my folk's house, which they had moved out of and across the road to the neighbors', which is now ours (or rather, after 10 years)! This is the house we moved into when I was nine years old, so would consider it my main childhood home. It's exactly two miles south -- or closer to town -- than we've been living these last four years.

It already feels like home, and has been quite cozy as the weather turns toward cold. We decided to all live on the main floor at first (to conserve warmth), so the kids are off the kitchen in the former office and we are in the bedroom also off the kitchen. There is also a living room off the kitchen. So, the kitchen is clearly the hub of operations. There are three bedrooms upstairs just waiting for guests. The basement is very much unfinished, but Ramont has already moved the farm shower more to his liking and his dad built a number of shelves down there.

Oh yes, harvest is in full swing. All the soybeans were finished on Wednesday evening (great yields), while most of the corn is yet to be cut. I'm waiting for the call this morning to come out with "my" red truck to start hauling -- or, if I'm lucky, drive the ginormous combine.

The photo above and below are (shamelessly heisted from my cousin Esther :) taken on the Ewert land that Ramont and I rent out by Delft.

The other big excitement in October so far was Grandma and Grandpa Schrock's annual fall visit! Grandma spent some good quality time with the kids, especially Anna.
 

Grandpa built all those shelves for the basement, as well as these lovely desks for the kids' room - just what they needed. Now the night owl can work on his Legos and electronics projects late into the night, and the early bird on her art projects and Playmobil at 5:00am when Ramont goes out to milk.

[The picture below looks staged, but it's not -- just a typical Sunday morning before church. Or rather, before wrestling before church.]

The elementary school had a cross-country event last Friday. Even the pre-schoolers got to run (1/4th mile); above is Anna's class warming up and below is Jonathan finishing up his half-mile. The kids loved it -- probably the excitement/friends/popsicles more than the actual running, but what a great introduction to a sport!

So that's a glimpse into what's been going on. Some day I'll post some September pictures, but it was such an eventful month that it seems a bit daunting.