Okay, Okay, I'll Start Again

It has been more than a year since I have posted anything on this here blog.  Life is a little busy, a little crazy, and to be honest, I wasn't sure if I was the only one reading the blog anyway.  Anyway....after numerous complaints.....I shall oblige you all and try to keep this thing more up to date.

The past year has been a great one!  We have had many visitors, which is very awesome!  We made another quick trip to Arizona for a wedding.  We attended an International Convention. Went camping a couple of times.  Harvested a garden, put in another garden and harvested it.  Made some jams and jellies, canned some veggies.  And now we are getting ready for the beauty that is fall and winter.  All caught up?  Hee hee.....just kidding, let me break it down for you.  Well, not all of it because that is tedious and most likely boring.  I will give you highlights.

We have had some visitors this year.  Which is super awesome!  We love you all.  Here are just a couple:

This lovely lady came to visit us last summer.  Here we are visiting the lighthouse in Ludington.

This beautiful gal and her family came to visit me on my anniversary.  One of the best gifts I have ever gotten.

Little Dominic (who is not so little anymore) loved playing in the snow with the boys.

My sister and her two boys came to visit us the summer.  Here is my nephew Blade playing some music for my Grandma.

The Crofters came this summer also.  It was so great to see them all again.  We took them back to Ludington.  Man was it windy that day!

We also had a couple other visitors but unfortunately I don't have pics.  But if you would like to be featured on the Freckled Noses Blog........Come visit!!!

Probably the best highlight from this year was the convention.  We were assigned to the International Convention in Detroit.  Ahhhhhhh Maaaaazzzzeeeee  Iiiiinnnngggg! Yep, that's what I got to say about that.  The talks were wonderful, the releases were awesome, we made tons of gifts for the delegates, received lots of gifts, oh....and this happened.....



2014 International Convention
Keep Seeking First the Kingdom

Yep, that is Jake.  Being at an International Convention with 30,000+ other people means I don't get to be up close and capture a better photo, but who cares when you get to be on the jumbotron!  We are so proud of Jake and all our children for dedicating themselves to Jehovah.  They are doing amazing!

That should catch you up for now.  More pics and updates later.  Right now I have to go get the boys back on track.  The joy of homeschool means that if Mom is distracted we can run around and goof off until she catches on.  Yep, I caught on, fun is over.....

Love you all!  Oh, and part of the reason this here blog has not been updated is because I finally gave in to my daughter and got an Instagram.  It is so much faster and easier to just post pictures on there.  If you have one and would like to follow me... country_nelipot is my username.

Home from Arizona

We survived sunny Arizona!  It was so nice to see all of our friends and family and friends that we have known long enough to be considered family.  We arrived Saturday around noon after stopping in Albuquerque and catching some much needed Z's.  It also insured that we arrived looking and smelling fresh!  Much better impression to those that haven't seen you for months.

We grabbed some lunch and then headed to my niece's graduation party.  Very fun.  My sis was hard at work making cotton candy for everyone.

I think all the kids were in a sugar comatose state by the time we left the party.  Besides the cotton candy they had a candy table set up with all sorts of sweets in different little jars.  Very cute.  They also had Eegee's (yum! yum!) and a snow cone machine.  She also had a blow up obstacle course which I think the adults had more fun on than any of the kids.

Sunday and Monday were relax days spent with family.  The kids all went swimming in Uncle Reuben's pool.  Monday friends from all over came to visit.  So nice to see them all, kids that are growing like weeds and meeting new little faces.



This little guy is so cute and such a pefect blend of his parents.

Tuesday we visited more family and then headed up to my big sis's house.  They took us kayaking down the Salt River.  We had so much fun and the weather cooperated somewhat.  It wasn't too unbearable hot and we got too see so much wildlife.  We saw more Blue Heron Cranes than we have ever seen and we also got to see wild horses.  That was the highlight of the trip.  Hopefully my brother-in-law will send me some pictures.  They have a waterproof camera and he was snapping pics for us.

Me and the hubby after kayaking.  We went to this fabulous pizza place on the way back home called "Barro's".  Very yummy pizza.

The cousins.  Proud of themselves for making it down the river.  Z. rode in a kayak with his cousin.  J. powered his own kayak and had fun going through the rapids with his dad.  And, for those of you in the know of A.'s perils with canoes and kayaks you will be proud of her.  She powered her own kayak and at the end decided she loved it.

Me and my gorgeous big sis.  Thanks for making our trip so much fun.  We love you so much and miss you more than you know.

Friday we headed back to Tucson to see more friends we missed the first go round.  Then we hit the big highway.  Sad for those that we missed seeing AGAIN!  Ugh so sorry, I promise we will be back.



So that is our trip in a nutshell.  And now we are back home in our green, green home and busy again.  Garden updates coming soon.  Everything is growing like mad.  And I am happy to say the cages I built around the plants the deer seem to like the most worked well because they are all still alive and growing.

Love you all!

Photo of the Week - Week 41 - Girl Day

Week 41 of 52

Location:  Florence, AZ
Subject:  Mother-Daughter-Sister-Aunt-Daughter-Niece-Cousin Day

Yep, long title.  But it is THEEEE most awesome day.  I miss being so close to my sisters and nieces.  It was great spending the day with them and doing a little photo shoot.  As usual, serious pictures were quickly abandoned.  These are better anyway, they show the true us.  These pictures are courtesy of my big sis.  Enjoy!

More Yummy From the Garden

More yummy goodness is coming out of the garden.  Over at Reuben's the spinach is huge so we have to help them eat it all.  Ours are still little baby spinach so we gladly helped them out.  Dad doesn't know it yet but these lovely leaves are going to be in his salad tonight.

We also got a couple more jalapeño's and radishes.  So many radishes.  They were getting a little too big and starting to split so A. and I pulled them all today.  Dad is pretty much the only one that eats them so he should be good and sick of them by the end of the week.  I looked up some recipes today so we are going to try grilled radishes and see what they taste like.  Sounds interesting anyway.

This has been a super busy weekend.  Saturday we went to Anderson & Girls to pick some more strawberries.  All we ended up doing is going through the petting zoo they have.  We thought we could go through it quickly but it ended up being larger than we thought.  Lots of neat animals though.  And the kids had a ball.

Cameron and the kiddos and a sister from the hall with her little one



The peacock gave us a little show



After the zoo we headed to school section lake to meet some others from the hall for BBQ, a swim, and some volleyball.



Little Lady C and her buddy



The Osprey's now have little ones.  This pole they built their nest on was built just for them.  Apparently they kept building a nest on the telephone pole so they built this pole just for them so they would be safer.  I tried to get as close as I could but it was freaking them out a little bit.  But those little guys are getting a bite to eat from Mom or Dad.  They are really awesome to see in person.

And then today A. and I worked in the garden for a little bit then Little Lady C came over to make some cookies.

Thanks for helping A, I love you.

Their creations

I think more frosting went into a certain little mouth than actually went on the cookies but I was forewarned.  They had lots of fun.

Busy, fun weekend.  Trying new things with new friends.  Oh, and I even made strawberry jam.  Coming soon to some of you this winter.  Love and miss you all.

The Beauty and Fun of Fireflies





Picture from this blog 

Tonight we finally had the opportunity to catch fireflies.  I have been waiting patiently since we got here.  I remember doing this as a kid when we were here.  Then we moved to Tucson and I never saw another firefly until probably 6 years ago or more.

We headed down to Amado, Arizona to visit with some good friends and we were all sitting around outside by the fire and I saw something flashing in the shadows.  I was as giddy as the little kids to see them.

So tonight we went out with Z.'s little bug catcher and caught a bunch and watched them light up.  Totally not the same affect as when you catch them in jars.  So maybe this weekend we will have to round up some old glass jars and hunt again.  Of course we let them go so they can continue on their merry way.

And shock of shocks, I am posting a photo that is not mine.  But catching a photo of fireflies doing their thing requires much time and patience of which I am completely out of tonight.  Maybe this weekend.  Maybe.  In the mean time, in searching the wonders of the internet for a photo to use I found this blog.  She has a great link to an article on fireflies.

The kids and I have decided that we are going to join in the counting.  They probably agreed so readily because it means they get to stay up late since it doesn't get dark until 10 around here.

A. and her friend L. want to do a big shout out to all their friends in the big wide world so here it is:  SHOUT OUT!  :o)  They had lots of fun catching the lightning bugs until the mosquitos overwhelmed us and we gave up.

Gardening Creates Laughter and Stupid Sunburns!

Sunday afternoon all the troops headed out to do some gardening.  It was in serious need of weeding!  Serious need - it looked like we were growing grass and not vegetables.

It was a perfect day for it though.  Weather was in the high 60's so we were not sweating to death like I did last week.  Perfectly beautiful day for gardening.  Here, let me describe it for you:

It was the most beautiful kind of day.  You know where the sky is an unbelievably brilliant shade of blue and there are clouds hanging about.  Big, bright, fluffy, white clouds that are in not a hurry to be anywhere and so slowly drift about.  Birds were chirping.  Neighbors were busy out on the lake so you could hear the hum of boats and the laughter of people as they went buzzing by.  Bumble bees buzzed about from flower to flower, a turtle mosied behind the garden in the cool shade and tall grass.  <Insert sound of screeching record here as this comes to a stop :o)>  Enter the Richie/Ranshaw clan and this is what is mixed in with all that buzzing:

various children:  this row is too long, why do I have to do this row?

a certain City Girl Grown Up:  EEEK!, wait 2 minutes - EEEK!, wait another 2 minutes - EEEEEEKKK!!  you're getting the picture right - then SSSSHHHHHRRREEEEEEKKKK, now the bugs are in my hair!  Where is the mall when I need it!

various parent/grandparent:  when we were younger (insert typical grown up story about how hard they had it and how this next generation should be grateful it is not that bad)

a certain tiny little dog after it was locked away in the dog kennel:  bark!  wait half a minute - bark!
various gardeners:  Shut Up!  Go Lay Down!

All in all it was a relaxing afternoon and pretty hilarious.  I am sure if there were any neighbors within earshot they had a pretty good chuckle over us.  The garden looks a million times better now.  Some rows did not get weeded, only because what is growing in those rows are not big enough yet and we would risk pulling them out with the weeds.  Oh, which brings up another funny moment.  You know how you take your kids to meeting week after week, you do the family study, you prepare for all the meetings, and you wonder if they are learning.  In the midst of all the hullabaloo over which row to weed and to keep busy, and reminding them that we had to weed to keep the plants healthy, J. announces this:  "Jesus said we should not weed until the harvest so that we can tell the difference between the plants and the weeds."  Ahahahahaha so funny, not quite the right application but it got his dad quiet for a minute.

Which now brings us to stupid sunburns.  After our hours in the garden we went inside for snacks and for everyone to do whatever it was they wished.  Later that evening Rachel and I were watching a movie and Rach announces - my back hurts, I wonder if it got sunburned.  I say mine does too, so we lift up the back of our shirts for the others inspection - and yep.  Sunburns in the stupidest spot ever!  You know when you bend over and your shirt lifts up the tiniest bit in the back exposing an inch or two of skin.  Well apparently when you bend over in the garden for a couple of hours or so, it gets burned . . . . badly!  So stupid!

But all worth it.  Our garden is doing beautifully and plants are growing and starting to sprout whatever vegetable it is they are supposed to be.  Here are some pics - enjoy!




Jalapeños




Peppers and Jalapeños



Tomatillos

Red Onions

Red Potatoes marked by these cute little markers Aubrey and I made

Radishes - these are just about ready to pull up

Richie/Ranshaw Gang working away

P.S.  I almost forgot the worst part.  J. had a bad stomach this day and was spreading his ummmm, "love" around the garden.  So in between all that happening above you would hear a random - J. that is so gross, you smell bad - go weed somewhere else!  Funny stuff!

Let's Go Way Back - Week 13

Photo taken by my Grandmother

Week 13 of 52

Location:  Not positive but may be Oklahoma somewheres

Subject:  My Dad and his younger brother.  Dad is on the right and that is Uncle Allen on the left

So I have been working on this project with my Grandma.  She knows she wants pictures of all her grandchildren and their families in this particular album that she received as a gift.  However, she changes her mind every week on how she wants them in there.  I am not complaining too loudly because it just gives me an excuse to sit with her and look at old photos and hear the story behind them.  I found this one last week. 

My scanner is not the best because this looks much better in person.  But aren't they just too cute?  This photo was taken probably around 1950.  I'm guessing that mostly on Dad.  He looks about five years old in this photo.

Love these old black and whites.  My Grandma has an album full of photos her mother took and there are some great shots in there.  I am going to steal that album one of these days and post some of those.  They are beautiful.

So Good To Be Home

Next week marks 8 whole months since we packed up the family and moved up here to Michigan.  We have had ups and downs, tears and laughter, sadness over what we left behind, joy on what lies ahead.  Mostly we are enjoying ourselves immensely. 

Friday I flew with Reuben back to Arizona for what was supposed to be a quick turn around trip of a couple of days.  He needed to get his truck and needed someone to help him drive it home.  We were supposed to leave Saturday and be home by Monday.  As always, things did not go according to plan.

We arrived Friday and my brother in law picked us up in Mesa.  No one had told my big sis we were coming so she was completely surprised.  It was really good to see her again.  We spent the night with her and my other big sis just happened to be coming to stay the weekend so we surprised her too.

Saturday we headed to Tucson, then to Willcox to get the truck.  Saturday night I surprised a good friend of mine at her work and she ditched out early so we could spend a little time together.  Turns out the next day she was headed to the Circuit Assembly where all the people I planned on surprising Sunday just happened to be.  So off to the assembly I went.

It was so nice to see everyone again.  Lots of smiles and hugs and tears.

Then I had to say goodbye to everyone again.  I hate that!  It is absolutely the worst part.  Especially saying goodbye to the family.  I still have to not think about it too much or I cry again.  I love you my sissy's and can't wait to see you again.

The drive home went quickly and we watched the scenery change from dusty brown to brilliant green.  Yesterday I had to get back in the car again and head to Grand Rapids with Cameron but today I have been enjoying wandering around the house seeing everything that has changed in the few short days I was gone.

The weather is so nice.  60 warm degrees.  Sun is shining brightly and the cool breeze comes and dances on your skin every few minutes.  New flowers have bloomed.  The garden is doing awesome with new sprouts up everywhere.  And the dragonflies are back.  Last year when we arrived they flooded the yard for a few days and then were gone.  A couple even landed on my arm and said hello.  AWESOME!

I miss everyone in Tucson and wish I could bring them all home with me.  I miss them, but it is so good to be home!

Fishing the Chippewa

My boys love their fishing.  And now we live in fishing country and they have yet to go fishing.  They had big plans to go ice fishing this winter but somehow we never managed to find the time.  So this week we decided to be spontaneous and head out to scope out some fishing spots.  So we headed to the big ol' town of Barryton, well Village if you want to get all technical, and fish the Chippewa River.


















First stop, the South Branch of the Chippewa River.  There is a cute little park on the east end of town.  So first the boys fished off the river banks.  A. wandered with bare feet and I hunted the cutest yellow flowers that dotted the banks of the river.







South Branch Chippewa River, Village of Barryton

This seems to be a good spot, but we are not fishing in earnest, just scouting, so we pack up the fishin' gear and head to the next spot.

North Branch Chippewa River, Village of Barryton, Hoover Road Bridge

This is our next stop a few miles up the M66.  This is the Hoover Road Bridge.  This is just down the road from the farm where my Dad grew up.  Also where I spent the first seven years of my life.



This photo was taken about 9:15PM.  It is crazy how long it stays daylight up here.  Yes, the kiddos should have been in bed long before this.  But who can keep track of what time it is when it doesn't get dark till waaaay past bed time!  And random adventures are fun, school is almost finished, and it has been a stressful few weeks.  So there!

Tree Swallow - Week 10

Tree Swallow (Female)

Location:  Mecosta, Mi
Subject:  Tree Swallow

Our birdhouse finally has occupants.  There were two nesting pairs fighting for the rights to this charming little birdhouse.  They have such pretty little songs.  The cute little female peeking out and her mate were actually there to claim their stake first.  So it was cute to see them fighting off the other pair.  Each time after they would successfully send the other pair packing they would sit on top of the bird house and sing to eachother.  Sometimes they would get rather loud with eachother too.  Maybe it wasn't all singing praises.  Maybe they are like most couples and were expressing their differences of opinions.



This photo is clearly out of focus but I was shooting in manual mode and action got intense.  The swallow on the right is the female and she clearly was voicing a strong opinion to her mate and he clearly was getting the picture. :o)

We are loving all our fine feathered friends.

Dirty, Stinky Work!

This week marks the next phase in garden work.  Fertilizer - yuck!  My cousins cleaned out their barn this weekend which means we got nice fresh fertilizer for our garden.  So yucky, dirty, stinky work began.

Zack and Grandpa worked pretty hard.  Of course the tractor helped to hold Zack's interest but he really did work hard with no complaining.  It also helped that all day Grandpa made jokes about "crap".

By the time we were done with our garden the older kids had gotten home from school so we headed to Reuben's garden.  By now Zack was kinda tired, Jake and Aubrey were not too happy to be shoveling poo.  But we got both of Reuben's areas pooified.

My poor city children.  :o)  They are actually adapting well and having fun and working hard.  But really, who likes to shovel poo?  Grandpa then took their whining and was making songs up about "crying over crap".  Us adults were amused but the children not so much.

Cameron and Z. get lessons in tilling from Grandpa.  We still have some work to do but by the end of this week planting will be done and the weeding and waiting begins.