Enjoying Fall Daybook

For Today: September 29, 2011

Outside my window...We have brilliant fall colors starting to emerge! Surrounding our house are large Maple, Oak, and Birch Trees.  Yes, yes, yes!!!!  Currently it's cold and raining, but I'm not going to focus on that.

In the Kitchen...We've done a lot of cleaning in our kitchen lately.  Cleaning for visitors, okay I lie, cleaning because of visitors.  Miniature furry, four-legged, long-tailed visitors to be exact.  I'm thoroughly disgusted and annoyed with these unwelcome, untidy guests.  The kids and I have contemplated litter-box training them.  If they are going to be here, they could at least not leave presents all over our house.

Around the house...I'm hoping to "catch up" on laundry today, whatever that means.  I'm close to being in a good routine in this house, but not quite there yet.  The kids have really stepped up and are responsible for a lot of the daily tasks around the house.  When I had all "littles" I never imagined how helpful it would be when the kids got older.  The kids are learning skills that they will need for the rest of their lives and I am being relieved of some work. 

Our homeschool....is alive and well.  This year has been my favorite so far.  We changed almost everything from last year and we are thriving.  The kids are learning and are excited about school, and I'm loving it as well.  We can always make changes and improvements of course, but for now I'm happy.

Our prayer intentions...It seems like we are constantly adding to our list of prayers.  Several friends are sick,  a handful are expecting babies soon.  The focus this week, however, is my sister's brother-in-law, Nick.  Nick is battling a rare form of cancer, and the real war has begun this week.  Two long surgeries, the next one being Friday, and a long unknown road ahead.  Please keep this sweet young (my age) man in your prayers.  Also his family could use some major prayers!

Family milestones....Aidan took his last test before his black belt test which will be in about a year or so.  He has come soooo far in just 3 1/2 years. 
                                   Emma has almost mastered sweeping the kitchen and dining room.  This task used to take her forever, but she has worked hard at it and is really improving. 
                                   Gianna's reading is really taking off. 
                                   Veronica is rounding the corner to three, and you all know how I feel about three year olds...Nica is no exception. 
                                    Felicity is almost sitting on her own, rolls everywhere, but most importantly has been feeling so much better since I added "soy" to the list of things I'm avoiding.  More on this in another post.

On our reading lists...We are reading "The Old World's Gifts to the New" aloud for history.  We don't have a current family read aloud which needs to be changed because it really leaves a void in our day.  I'm not reading much at all.  I'm in the "babe-in-arms-constantly" phase of the current baby so when she's not in my arms I'm trying to get "stuff" done around the house.

I'm thinking about...How to better manage my time at home.  So many modern conveniences that suck away precious time from my family. 

The rest of the week...This week is almost over.  Some of the kids and Brett are getting over a little cold.  We have plans to see some great friends this weekend, but the cold might prevent us from going.  The kids have karate on Friday usually followed by a trip to the library to ensure the rest of Friday is quiet and restful. 

I'm creating...Lesson plans! 

Some pictures to share...

Oldest and youngest

Sweet Gigi

Enjoying the outdoors

Large Maple that hasn't changed yet, I can't wait.

Emma and "Almond" the cat.

Construction Zone

We've done several updates to our home since purchasing it.  The latest one is having new doors installed.  Brett has done most of the work himself, but we thought we'd spare him the time and the frustration and spare us the new vocabulary words so we hired a contractor for this project.

We're hoping to finish a few more big projects before the snow flies.  Time is limited, but I think we'll make it. 

I know I haven't posted many pictures about our house yet.  I'll probably get to it, but I'm not a huge fan of "house pictures" in blogs.  I love "big project" pictures, but I'm more of a "this is every day life" kind of blogger so pictures of each room clean and tidy are probably never going to make it on here. 

The new door is steel on one side and oak on the other.  Brett will finish it to match the rest of the wood in our house.

 Here's a pic of the old door. 

Recent Pictures

 What a difference 6 months makes.

 Loving the tummy time.

What?  It's the ears isn't it? 

Rembering this day

This is March 8, 2011.  Veronica had already taken a nap, but fell asleep snuggling up with "her baby".  I'm trying to distract myself from worrying by reading "One-thousand Gifts", but it's not working.  Of course ya'll know the rest of the story.  This is the night our sweet miracle entered this world.  It would be another month before my two littlest girls would be snuggled up next to me again.

The crazy thing about this is that it seemed Veronica knew something was wrong.  She was extremely clingy this day.  We have pictures of it all because Brett was home sick...it took him a long time to get over that sickness, as you can imagine. 

The really crazy thing about this is that a few weeks before my father had his sextuple by-pass, 2 years ago, my parents' dog started crawling up and laying on my dad's chest while he was on the floor watching t.v. They just seem to "know".

I've been spending some time today while Felicity naps uploading pictures so I can take them off my camera.  I came across these and just couldn't resist posting about it.  I don't have many pregnant pics of myself, but these are pictures I will always cherish. 

No Mason Jars Here

This here post is mainly for the homeschooling moms out there.  I think everyone will find at least a minimal amount of humor in what I'm going to say, but unless you are a homeschooling mama, you just might not "get it".

Which brings me to my point.  I don't get it.  I don't get why this time of year and at unannounced times throughout the year the homeschooling mom blogs are full of artistic pictures which include a close-up of Mason Jars with perfectly sharpened pencils, colored pencils, or my favorite...paintbrushes. 

Now, I'm not trying to speak ill of these ladies.  I will admit to walking through the Mason Jar aisle at the store and longing to purchase them.  I knew that if my pencils were perfectly sharpened and beautifully arrange in that jar I, too, could be a perfect homeschooling mother.  Then, of course reality set in.  But where would I put the jars.  We don't have a school "room" and I certainly don't want to lock those beautiful jars in a closet, never to appear in an artistic shot on my blog.  So, there you have it...I'm Mason Jarless. 

It is indeed a travesty, but my children's writing utensils are packed away in $2.00 pencil bags from Target.  Pencil bags that may appear in a photograph at some point, but will undoubtedly go unnoticed by most.

P.S. If you are a homeschooling mom with Mason Jars please know that I'm just secretly jealous. 

Grace is....

...thanking the 2-year-old for helping even though 18 eggs lay sunny side up all over the kitchen floor

A couple of Pics

 This sweet girl has nothing to do with the new school year, except that she makes it extremely interesting.  I just couldn't resist putting a picture of her on here.

My sweet school kids!  Okay, Veronica isn't in school, but I'm a sucker for a girl in a jumper.