This week

Crab walking

Ellie is still the two-finger-sucker!

Another beautiful ballerina

Making some kind of leaf-soup,
Fantastic weather for outside play!

Crafty day

And finally....
The horrific schoolroom "before" picture
It's almost re-done.

To be continued...

Technical Difficulties

If I appear to be MIA, or if I'm not responding to emails, please note that my internet connection is not working well, my home feels like another hurricane blew through, and I'm hoping to have a productive family weekend, to include a date-night to see "Fireproof" which I've heard is a wonderful movie about marriage! I'm also hoping to re-arrange the out-of-control schoolroom (If only I could upload my pictures right now...you'd be horrified!), figure out costume plans for next weekend, and put away the weeks-worth of folded laundry. One thing that's good...this one's a no-birthday-party weekend, preceded by a double-birthday weekend and anticipating a double crazy weekend of Halloween and All Saints' Day next weekend! The busy holiday season approaches and likely won't calm down until 2009 begins! This weekend should be good for things like spending time at home...or at the beach or zoo...whatever happens to feel right tomorrow morning. I'm sensing I could be starting Monday off with the clothes still folded on the couches and the train wreck still covering the schoolroom. We'll see. Hope you all have a great one!

Sunday

At the park for a birthday

Tired baby spent most of the time here,
after I took him out I realized he nibbled the paint off all the screws on the stroller,
guess I need to call Graco

Mary Clare and her friend made a little sand village,
complete with a garden of trees and flowers

Ellie working hard in the sand

Ellie and NeNe at dinner--
another Mystery Shopper night at our favorite Irish pub :)

I've been playing around with Blogger, trying to make a new banner and make the screen more appealing. But it's not working out with my slow wireless connection. Takes me forever just to load pictures! Today a friend and I babysat 10 kids (including ours) while the other moms went to a morning retreat. Went pretty well. Ellie and I took a mommy-daughter outing to the library tonight. We had a talk about living and non-living things on the way there after she commented on how cars don't grow...I think she has it down pretty well now ;)

Well, I'm back on a late-night kick...it's now Wednesday and I better get to bed! Hope you all had a terrific Tuesday!

We love

Play-dough!

Fall Friday Foto Fun

in NeNe and PaPa's front yard!

Me and baby

PaPa with my little man

Tree climbing

Hope the branches don't break!

Gymnastics time!

Digging

Eating all manner of leaves and bark

Talking to the neighbor girls

Umbrella in the sprinkler!

Resting with NeNe

"Talking" on the phone :)

Playing with PaPa

Sweet sisters

I love close-ups

Playing with Holly

And Ellie's finale!!!

What a fun Friday afternoon!

Cure for my "Fall Funk":

a late night (until 12:30) mom's night out spent with my wonderful homeschooling friends to share and encourage and just enjoy each other's company. After days and days spent talking to young children, sometimes we just need some adult interaction to remember who we are and why we are doing what we are doing. It wasn't all without children though, as Stevie and 5 of his little nursing friends were all there with their mommies. They handled the late night well and we got a kick out of the baby wrestling matches!

On the way home, I almost hit 3 deer walking across the road. I slammed on my brakes and was thankful that we all stayed safe. Then I thought about how much my girls would've loved to see those deer! And how Steven is always so good about turning the car around to show them deer or some other kind of wildlife or exciting thing (like Nutria rats!). I'm trying to take after him in that regard and actually did turn the car around a few nights ago so they could get another look at a small group of deer.

I hope I am not missing the opportunities to see the "deer". In fact, that I have my eyes open for them way ahead of time so that I don't come so close to hitting them! There are many moments during the day that I have time to show the children beauty and love, but frequently due to my selfishness, laziness, or just my desire to "get things done" we miss them. My mom's night out, deer interaction, and even my prayer recently are all reminders of how I need to be on the lookout for beauty and allow myself to find joy in the little moments!

Hope you have a fabulous Fall Friday today!

Rainy day

Excuse me while I whine for a few minutes...

It's been raining on and off all day. My mood this week fits in well with the weather. Bummed. Not for any one thing in particular, just a variety of issues that are piling up and I have no desire to take care of them. Lazy. Tired. I have eczema on my fingers that has really flared up at the moment. My fingertips are all scaled over and cracking. Painful to type, to wash hands or dishes, to cook, to diaper, to wash little childrens' hair. I strained my back a couple nights ago. I don't really care for the fall season...I try to make autumn leaves and pumpkins cheerful, but to me they're really not. Orange and brown and green...yuck. I love the colorful flowers of springtime, the beach in summer. The Christmas lights are on the horizon but still a little too far away to feel "soon". Every outing with the kids seems insurmountable. Every lesson takes forever.

I'm sure tomorrow will be better. But as for today, I'm ready for Steven to walk through the door, have our yummy dinner of King Ranch Chicken, maybe a Godfather over to visit, and an early bedtime for all of us.

I found the girls doing this earlier (how-to-draw books from Chick-fil-a). I think it counts as art for today! That and the letter stamps that are all over their bodies and their clothing and the table...


He wants the computer mouse when it's in reach. This is his "I'm getting into something I'm not supposed to" grin.


Smothered in love


A dirty diaper calls. And a hidden phone must be found...

The Aggie Game!

At the Memorial Student Center


Mary Clare spent most of the game like this...she is terribly frightened of loud noises at big games. By halftime she was brave enough to watch, but then we left!


Ellie had a blast!


Steven Joseph was a trooper!


We spent most of the time at the top of the deck, under shade!


Happy Family Pictures :)
After halftime, right before we left


And in front of the stadium



Then we went to our church home, where we met and were married. They just renovated the sanctuary.


Getting 3 to smile is a hard feat!


Baby tries to steal from the church collection basket, oh my!


What a fun day! It had been about 10 years since we've attended an Aggie football game, so it was a true blessing to be able to go with the whole family!

Movin and Groovin!

Yesterday the girls got their first hula hoops for their PE class today. They were thrilled! They had a performance with them last night, invitations and all!




Ellie at PE this morning


SJ trying to get to the soccer ball (didn't get a pic of MC with her big girl group)


I've been movin and groovin with the laundry today...better go get that put away!


Painted pumpkins yesterday


And a special surprise for tomorrow...tickets to the Aggie game! We got 2 calls today with different people offering tickets, so we ALL get to go! The kids are so excited! Hope it's not too hot :-)


What my little cherubs look like right now as they rest up for the big day tomorrow. I better go join them! Or should I put laundry away???


Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Mary Clare's New Poem

Here she is a few days ago (stuffy nose) reciting:

Singing
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Of speckled eggs the birdie sings,
And nests among the trees
The sailor sings of ropes and things
And ships upon the seas

The children sing in far Japan
The children sing in Spain
The organ with the organ man
Is singing in the rain.

Homeschooling update:
-Math-U-See--LOVE it!
-100 Easy Lessons--Approaching lesson 40. She's reading fairly well but really hates to read and doesn't care for this book. We tried a "whole language"-type approach the other day when the book went missing; might try that every now and then.
-Bible Narrations--starting to get bored with this. Yesterday I wrote a one-sentence narration and had her copy it to get in some "copywork".
-Journaling--she loves it!
-Poetry--mostly enjoys this
-Group activities--trying to step back a little. We've missed the last 2 nature club meetings. Tomorrow starts PE days so hopefully we'll make that!
-Art/Music--haven't been doing a lot of organized stuff, just listening to good music and letting them paint and cut and play with playdough as much as their little hearts desire! Today they painted pumpkins so I'll post those soon. They LOVE ballet class and we're hoping Mary Clare's knee injury heals up quickly so she can get back to skipping and ballerina runs!
-Civics/Geography/Manners--need to do more of this!
-Behavior--that's a whole 'nother post!!! ;-)