Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

I have been busy since I posted last, I know you have been busy, as well!

An annual Christmas bazaar I have been to selling apples, or sparkling cider or handmade gifts.

My sweet friend and I share booth spaces each year. She really makes gorgeous handcrafted gifts and ornaments. Her daughter joined her this year and we had a great time!

My cabinet all finished! With the drawer in place and everything! I forgot to take picture of the inside of the drawer. Hubby did an amazing job making that panel on top become a drawer! He was a bit concerned about messing it up, but 

I was certain he would be able to do an awesome job! He thinks I am too confident in his ability!

I decided to use my extra fabric boxes as shelves inside the cabinet, instead of placing permanent shelves. This way, I have many more options for use of this cabinet. I Love It! And it is perfect for using for cider tasting! It holds the bags, the paper towels, the tags, the scissors, the cash, the foil cutter, the tasting cups and everything I need to have on hand while I am selling. And it is orderly and beautiful! Isn't he amazing?! I think so! 

The gorgeous wood signs with vinyl lettering are made by Daughter*2 and she does a beautiful job! 

Hope you have loved the Christmas shows you have been involved in, whether selling or finding Christmas decor and gifts!

I have to show you items I found at a Christmas market! You will be so surprised!

Hugs!

Betsy

Merry Christmas Pictures

While the kids were home for Thanksgiving,

We took some family pictures for Christmas. Of course it was fun

since we do "fun" so well! My niece, Jenna, took these pictures for us she was

with us for Thanksgiving since her home was farther away

than ours is from college. She is there with our Son and Daughter*4.
Daughter*3 has graduated from college and lives and works near them as well.

"Deck the Halls with boughs of Holly...."

This was the idea of the "Boss", 

You know how whomever is the baby at the time is the boss about what 

happens and when it happens with your family? Like when you are leaving for church 

and the baby needs a diaper change, or you have to stop the car and feed the baby, 

or get out of the shower to feed the baby, or at 2 they need to use the bathroom 

right when you are paying for groceries at store..., well, "The Baby", 

(Daughter*4 in the middle,on the chair) wanted us to do this pose...so we did!

Daughter*1 says the "Fa la la la la, la la la la" tells you just how 

"Fierce" we are not...I mean, ARE!

Hubby and I....I love this man....more than anything....

Daughter*2 is married to SonInLaw*1 becasue they got married first!
This sounds kinda...hmmmm... LOL!

Daughter *2 and SonInLaw*1, Hubby and me, Daughter*4, Son

and Daughter*3 aren't married, but this is how they

generally respond when the other "stuff" is going on...

Son and Daughter*4 have this picture tradition, he just has to pick her up.
He has hauled her around for 18 years and figures he isn't going to stop just yet!
Now he lives about 50 yards from her at college, where he can still kep and eye on her!

We were sad that the people who live in Germany could not be here for our family
picture,  but....we do have some "PLANS" for them....
You will get to see pictures of them this month, too.

These are my favorite German Traditional Christmas cookies. They are Gluten Free,

Easy to make, and are delicious! Tomorrow is St. Nicholas Day in Germany

I hope my "German" friends are able to enjoy some of these cookies

tomorrow! I will be at a Christmas Show so I don't think

I will get to make any more of these then.

Some Pictures of Christmas Decor at our Home 

Winter Wreath

Christmas Display on my Father's handmade toolbox.

I don't know how old he was when he made this, but I know it has been around 

at least since the 1940s. I LOVE IT!

A garland I made with wire and silver beads and bells with the silver ribbon bow on the ends.

I placed it in the garland on the stair rail.

This is how the corner at the top of the stairs looks.

I love the snowmen. The one on the right I recieved as a gift from my friend

for my birthday, and his sign says,

"All my friends at Flakes!"

I love that snowman!

The ice skates are some my parents had that my children used when they 

went skating with my Dad so they are reminders of wonderful memories.

Have fun decorating your home!! See you soon!

Hugs and December Love!

Betsy

Christmas Gift Shows - It's that time of Year!

Last week was my first Christmas show of the season. 

I only participate in a few, but this one is one I have enjoyed.

It is held in a barn that is over 100 years old and is about an hour away from our home. 

It is a really fun show, with lots of vintage and vintage style items. 

I have to drive an hour each way every day, 

but it is worth it because I have so much fun!

Here is my display for selling our sparkling cider. It is a party offering tastes of each 
variety of cider to everyone there. 

There has not been a store in this community, Moses Lake, WA,  
that carried our cider until just after this show. 

Many people suggested the store to me as an option to sell it there, and then the store owner 
came and made arrangements with me!

Everyone at the show was thrilled that it will be available in their community.

I have really loved using my baker's rack for my cider display. It holds many bottles and 
I don't have to spend so much time hauling cases into events.

This is an awesome cabinet that I bought at a yard sale last year. I could not decide 

how to refinished it... 
Do I paint it? Do I just stain it? 
I have gone around and around about it 
in my head for the last year. 

You can see in the picture above that hubby cut the top center out of it so he can put a 

drawer in it for me. 

It will be great to have a drawer to hold all my .... Stuff... scissors, tape, tags, pens,

foil cutter and such. 

All the doo dads you need to have 

close at hand at a show. 

This gives you a better view of the front. 

It needs some work, and it only has one knob on the front. 

I added the faceplate to it, 

I liked the look of that.

The knob screw was bent from it being hit very hard, so hubby straightened it for me. I love the backplate, I purchased a few of those on ebay to add to the cabinet. 

I am not sure if it is exactly what it needs..... 
It hides the routing on the 

front of the door a bit, we will see.

It begs for some TLC for it to look a bit nicer. 

It was a hand crank record player originally, 
but the record player was removed before I purchased it. Hubby had to glue the veneer down on one of the door fronts, too.  
But it is ready to have the rest of the work done.

I really liked the idea of just sanding it down a bit, to soften the areas of the finish, 

so the wood would accept some more stain. Then I wanted to make it look darker here and there. 

Not completely refinished, but I applied a deeper finish on it. I used a dark glaze and applied it with a paintbrush and let it sit a bit and absorb in. Then I wiped it down with a towel.

I love the added depth in color. 
Hubby is still working on the drawer and I have a few things I want to do to finish up the inside. 
I plan to add paper to the inside to brighten it up so I can see my paper towels, bags, hand sanitizer, hand wipes, my water bottle and those 
other items I store inside the cabinet. I love that I have a lightweight piece of furniture that I can carry myself to store necessary items in that keeps clutter to a minimum in my area. 

I have another show tomorrow and hope

to have it all finished. 

I will take pictures to show you what it looks 

like all completed and with everything in it! If I change my mind about the color, I can always paint it white with chalk paint and then over stain it with a dark stain. 

It is just right for what I need!

Happy Christmas Shows to all of you! I love going to see all the lovely handmade 

Christmas gifts and decor that are available for purchase from artisans this time of year!!!

Hugs, thanks for coming by!

BETSY

Summer and Autumn on the Farm

Happy November to all of you lovely blog friends! 

I have been absent from my blog for so long, I thought I had better

check in with you all and let you know I am still alive!

We had a busy summer that included...

landscaping block, sore arms, legs, and hands for weeks...arthritis has arrived.

Yard getting ready for summer and reunion, new fire pit!
Old canopy~ new use!

Daughter*4, youngest child, graduating from high school,

She was the Salutatorian and gave an awesome speech at Graduation.
She and her BFF just after the ceremony finished!At the academic assembly, she received Excellent Senior awards
from six teachers and other awards as well. She had a whole pile after the assembly. 

Hubby's surgery, and 2nd picc line and recovery for 10 weeks,

Then there were strawberries, and raspberries, and cherries, and more yard work,

Old fire pit becomes new miniature rose garden. You can see the newest
orchard the farm on the trellises beyond the rose garden.

reorganizing and dejunking in the house, more landscape blocks,
preparing for my family reunion that was here at our house,

recovering from the family reunion, LOL, spending time with my niece's family
and moving our Son back home after working with them for the summer,
holding their new baby! and playing with their children and son's co-workers,
preparing for Daughter*4 and Son to leave for college, physically AND emotionally.

So.. we are empty nesters......
hmmm....figuring out how THIS is supposed to work, sounds like something that
shouldn't be hard, but I find that it is a challenge for me.

I guess since I didnt' really find the balance I was seeking that first year and a half blogging
....and I took a six plus month break...I want to focus on balance again.

I have learned some things that DO NOT bring balance, and I want to better incorporate
things that I DO know bring balance for me.

So, I hope to see you visiting and commenting again,
I have a few more very busy weeks, but I hope to keep up again.

A few more pictures that show you about our summer!

This hill has been covered in weeds for years. This summer, Daughter*4 and I kept it mostly cleaned off.
Next summer, I will plant lavender all over it. The hostas  and roses will be transplanted.

The sheer curtains kept the heat off during the family reunion along with misters that kept us cool.

The farm pumpkin patch, Great Niece and Nephews and their parents were here for Halloween. Here are the Jack-o-lanterns
they made with Dad's help! Yummy Chicken and Rice in a baked pumpkin for dinner that night.

The last of the Autumn roses, it froze the next day, so I was glad these last buds were picked and brought in to dry
on the candelabra on the kitchen table. It has been COLD and frosty since then!

So thankful for my wonderful children, so grateful my hubby is well and recovered, 

it was a year filled with health issues for us.

So thankful for extended family and the love they share with us,

So grateful for a beautiful area of the world to live in 

and for the blessing of being able to live on a farm.

So grateful for challenges in life, that help me to see how wonderful the good times are!

Hope your summer and Autumn have been rewarding!

Hugs,

Betsy

Springtime In the Orchard

I love springtime in the orchard. 

The trees are beginning to grow and get leaves and bloom!

I took these pictures a few weeks ago in the Apricot orchard near our home.

The trees on the left are Apricot trees and the trees on the right are Fuji Apple trees.

The soft fruit blooms earlier than the harder fruit, it will be a few weeks

before the Fujis bloom.

These blossoms are mostly white with a hint of pink and being in the orchard

when they are blooming is just heavenly! The scent they

give off is so sweet and relaxing to me.  This year the trees were

pruned before the blooms popped, and the orchards look neat, tidy and beautiful.

I love this view down the rows, it makes me just want to walk through the orchard 

and enjoy the sunlight and scent of the blooms.

You can look closely at the individual blooms and see the bees working

and polenating the trees. We have a Honey Man bring hives of bees to the orchards

to make sure everything is polenated well.

All these hives will be put in different locations on the farm over the course of the next few weeks.

Look closely. All the black dots you see, even on the dirt, are bees. I was hoping to get 

a closer picture, but there were so many bees, I decided I didn't want to get stung! 

There were at least 30 bees on my car when I got into it after taking this picture.

This year the weather was good, breezy but not so much wind and rain that the bees 

 stayed in their hives. When it is cold and wet, the bees want to stay dry in their hives
and the orchards are not pollenated very well. We have a smaller crop that year.

 We always get some honey from the Honey Man and it is yummy!

Hubby needed some help one day last week to move the bees into the peach orchard

on a different location on the farm.

I drove his pick up down to the bee hives near the Apricots with a bin trailer behind it. 

He used the forklift to place the hives on the trailer and we drove them to the Peaches. 

We also grow other soft fruit in this small block. Nectarines, Plums, Saturn (doughnut) peaches,

Apriums, Pluots, Plumcots (yes, those are real fruits!), white flesh nectarines, white flesh peaches, 

varieties of peaches. I didn't know there were so many varieties of fruits!

and we don't grow nearly all of them!

Peaches bloom pink! At least the variety that is in bloom now! The scent these give off is different from  apricots, but it is just as wonderful to walk in this area of the orchard. And not as many bees around here as over by the hives!

You can hear the bees buzzing and humming and it just sounds like spring to me!

Aren't the Peach blosoms just gorgeous?

I hope you've enjoyed my springtime on the farm pictures. I pretty much love the farm, whatever the season!

Hugs and happy spring days to you!

Betsy

My Favorite Girls in the World! Part II

After we finished taking the First Set of Pictures,

we staged had a lemonade party (there wasn't time for a real one!)

Lemonade or Hot Chocolate parties are a favorite family tradition for us,

so we had to include this in our photo shoot.

The table is one the two older girls had in their room when they were small.

It has been used, abused, and loved for years.

The crochet table cloth I found at the flohmarkt in Germany for 3 Euros.

Grandgirl*1 waiting patiently for her cup.
She is wearing the Easter gloves her Mother wore when she was this age. Her Mother was very careful with

her beloved gloves, so I was able to save them and remembered to get them out for this occasion.

Grandgirl*2 anticipates getting her cup into her hands. 

The Baby gown is so beautifully embroidered. Grandgirl *2 didn't mind what she was wearing as long as she could have her cup.

Grandgirl is wearing a French style dress her Mother found for her that has machine made

Broderie Anglaise, on it, but so adorable and sweet, just like her!

They brought the dress with them from Germany for our pictures!
You can see the details in the french top, purchased from LuluLiz of course,
that Daughter*4 is wearing, delicate and beautiful! Amazing handwork!

Grandgirl*2 knows her cup is empty, maybe the teapot has something in it!

This is Daughter*4's teaset from when she was little. We continue to use it when
neices and Grandnieces come to visit.

We have this much fun with cookies and lemonade, too!

I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I was to take these pictures after 

planning for this day for 14 months. I loved how they turned out,

and I hope that we can take pictures at a real lemonade picnic lunch next time

those sweet Grands are visiting us from Germany, and all my girls are 

with me again, all under the same roof for just a few days...

A few more pictures I LOVE from the day...

Kitty wanted to be in these too, she just walked all around.
Love this one, the girls were thrilled to eat the green apples. 

Trying to be serious to make a black and white out of it...
Daughter*1 looks like she isn't sure she believes you...Daughter*2 looks almost mad!
Daughter*3 looks like she did when she was in trouble when she was little,
I look dazed and in shock...and Daughter*4 has that Model look down pat,
none of the looks we hoped we had on our faces!

We just coulnd't pull it off! I said something funny and smiled and they started laughing!

Finally we got a better version,
we were all envious of that Model look on Daughter*4...
The best one was the first picture we took in this sequence that I posted
in part one of the photo shoot.

Can you see in this picture that Daughters *3 and *4 are wearing skirts that have a similar Broderie Anglaise
pattern on them to GrandGirl*1's dress? The pinks are just a tiny bit difference in color, but
I found these skirts for $7 each! PERFECT for this day!

These do I love, old things, old places....

Remembered times, Familiar faces 

I love my girls and Mom, with every fiber of each one of my heartstrings...

Hope you enjoyed our pictures!

Hugs to you all!

BETSY

Posting with  Courtney at French Country Cottage

for

Feathered Nest Friday

And
at Timewashed for

Blissful Whites Wednesday

Thanks Becky!