Yahtzee!

is d9's new favorite game. Luckily it happens to be one of my all time favorites. We had a spirited family game last night after pumpkin carving.

that's Ken doing his weird dice shake and roll.

and here's Jedi getting ready to throw the dice...we had a mini lesson on correct dice rolling i.e. not throwing.

snack for Yahtzee was these delicious roasted pumpkin seeds from pumpkins below...

Abba love...

had a bout of insomnia last night and watched the Abba documentary...gotta love Abba!

snap...crackle...pop

Slab wood and a show! The kids love when we have a wood delivery day. Today we had 10 cord of slab wood delivered. I love that creaking snapping sound of moving wood. While I like the idea of the wood boiler in-floor heating system, we unfortunately have had nothing but headaches from it. Here's hoping this year our house stays above last years 56 degrees.

There's a good shot of my shy nephew, Cardman (nicknamed for his love of Pokeman cards) I have to trick him into getting a photo by calling his name while his back is turned. You can tell he's on to my game by the squinting of his eyes. Now, Butch is a different story all together..."CHEESE"

Why, what, how, who, how come??? Jedi, 4, has had a bout of "how come's?" lately.

"Mom, how does it rain?"

"how does the water get IN the clouds?"

"Are the clouds above space or in space?"

"What is bigger than humans?"

trees? hills? cars? trucks? birds? eagles? deer? clouds?

"when will I be a grown up?"

"how do I be a grown up?

"what is your middle name, last name, first name?"

"when will we be there?"

These questions plus a multitude more were asked within a 10 minute span on the drive to my mom's yesterday. How fortuitous that today's science lesson was about the cycle of water...thanks Lo!!!

Harvest

Oh, how I love mail! Check out these gorgeous prints I received this week. Most are from super fabulous Superbuzzy. They have such delightful fabrics. I finally splurged on some hedgehog terrycloth fabric. I think I'll make up a spring jacket for Baby using that. Most of the other fabrics I am going to use for holiday gifts. Little zakka items....tissue holders, make-up bags, change pouches and notebook covers.

I was blessed the other day with an opportunity to lead by example. D9 and I were out grocery shopping. I realized half way out of the store that the cashier had neglected to ring up our dog food. So, around we went to the service counter. It was a great opportunity to talk with D9 on the importance of honesty and following the law. I think leading by example is one of the most important tools a parent has in raising up a moral child.

Costume woes...

I finally finished a costume project for a friend. I needed to make a Felicity costume and bonnet. I was short about a yard of fabric but I used my super duper sewing powers to pull it off. Naw, no powers, I just eliminated one of the skirt panels ~ used 1/4" seam allowances and did some creative pattern cutting. I think it turned out really sweet. I hope she likes it.



Jedi was so proud of himself...he has learned how to work the clips on his overalls. Just in time for them to be too small and pass down to Baby. ;-)

Tornado Warnings

We've had tornado warnings throughout the day...with that wonderful light up the whole sky thunderless lightening that I love. The first one, you see the flash and squinch up your face waiting for the humongous thunder you know is coming...1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 by the time you've counted to 10 you know it isn't coming.

My niece, Chipmunk, is turning one on Saturday! Happy Birthday Baby! We won't be able to be there but I'm sending lots of x's and o's with a package...



I'm sending the Little People's Ark (love little peoples), a Spartan dress (I'm a Michigan fan myself but there's no telling for other mom's tastes ;-)), a baby quilt (nearly done) with a sweet bluebird and a monkey tee. I hope I'll be able to whip up a couple more dresses before I send the package. I'm so happy she is walking that means dresses!!! Sorry E, I know you're not a big dress fan but she needs them and I love to make them.



Here is my baby insisting she's a "bid girl" and sewing up a pillow for one of her little plastic puppies.

A good day for a Drive-way!

I knew there was a good reason why we didn't fill those potholes other than our perverse enjoyment in handing over cash for new car shocks. Plus, let's face it, you need DEEP holes to make the water splash higher than the windows as you plow through...anything for a kiddie giggle. I'm talking about Ken ~ wink.

Plus there's the fun of leaf boat racing...



worm catching...



and slug finding.




D9 and I perused part of our wood pile looking for odd shaped trunks...we found Texas, Mickey Mouse, a bear print and a heart among many.



We worked on geography and history today at my sister's house with her gang. Loral did an excellent job putting together the plans this week...thanks Lo! Tonight was girls night here with the girls working on their sweet Ruby dolls. Jedi is with Loral working on life skills. We'll meet up back here tomorrow for art and more history.

A very productive day...whether unschooling in the driveway or finding Japan on a globe. I even stole away for an hour to work on some things to send for Chipmunks bday this weekend. I am blessed, thank you Jesus.

Birthdays and Pumpkins

D8 now D9 turned 9 on the 12th. I couldn't be more proud of my sweet girl. She is such a tender kindhearted young lady. We shared cake and ice-cream with family on Friday. She had a few girls overnight on Saturday. We went to the show and pizza. Everyone was on their best behavior and the movie, Game Plan ~ with Dwayne The Rock Johnson was pleasantly mediocre.




D9 with her new bow from me and Ken.

Yesterday was simply gorgeous so we took a quick trip to the Orchard. I bought a delicious peck of Honeycrisp apples...mmmmm....they are my favorites. We also picked out a bunch of pumpkins.


D9 was the official pumpkin lifter.


Jedi and Butch race to grab the pumpkin cart.


Jedi finds the perfect pumpkin for Baby


and supervises the loading of pumpkins


Butch muscles the cart back to the truck. We had a great time! If I get all my work done tonight we will carve one and toast some seeds to enjoy while watching Heroes. I hope everybody is enjoying this delicious fall season.

to Grandmother's House...

we go. We just returned from a 5 day trip to visit with Ken's mother and family. We had a nice time visiting with the cousins.



Baby practiced her pickpocketing skills on Uncle Rusty...


D8 played catch with Ken...




The littles got to "hang" with their Aunt E...


and best of all...lots of snuggle time with Chipmunk

Bokeh!

My new Nikon d40x has arrived and I can achieve Bokeh! (that blurred out background) I have a ton to learn about photography but am fairly pleased with the auto setting on my camera. I have two lenses 18-55 mm and a 50mm f/1.4 I have to manually focus the 50 which I am finding a tad challenging on children. I also have to figure out all the dodads and dohickies on the camera. Here are a couple shots I took today.





As you can see I need to work on exposure and aperture. I'm hoping to be able to get a zoom lens soon too.

Baby makes a catch...

Luckily we don't have poisonous toads here...I kept having to tell Baby not to kiss the toad! I heard her laughing out front. I came out to see what was so funny and she had the toad right up to her face looking eye to eye..."dood doad, dood doad" = good toad, good toad.

We are so lucky to live in a place with so much entertaining nature about us. We are blessed.

Responsibilities...

My biological father died in July of this year. He was 56 years old. He died alone, without a wife, his siblings absent and without his children. He made a choice to live as he did. Drugs, alcohol and who knows what. He lived on the street the last several years before his death. He once told his sister he preferred it that way...no responsibilities. I've been thinking about that for some time. Responsibilities such as phone bills, dental appointments and taxes are bothersome yet there is still a sense of accomplishment when completed. Other responsibilities like children and family are a blessing, a joy...fulfillment. Without responsibilities would there be true joy in my heart? That joy when you look at your family and your chest aches because it's overflowing with unbounded love? The joy of looking at a finished project (responsibility) and knowing you did a good job, you finished what you started? I love my responsibilities.

I have been thinking on this because Doug left a small pension to us kids. I have been thinking on what I should do with the money. I don't want to fritter it away on dinner out, a new pair of shoes, etc. Some will go towards my responsibilities like the phone bill but I think I will purchase myself a new quality digital camera with a good lens with the rest of it. I would like to capture my children's youth with the fuzzed out background of a good lens.

cool homeschool...

This is my first year homeschooling our oldest. My sister, Loral, has been homeschooling her children for a couple of years. I am so blessed to have her helping me make the transition from public school to homeschooling. I am feeling a tad overwhelmed at the moment....afraid I will "mess up" the children's education. Our activities yesterday helped to alleviate some of the anxiety I've been feeling. We had a great time "learning" at the beach. We are working on a dinosaur lap book. We had a fossil lesson and looked for fossils. We found many and had a swim too!

Jedi (new nickname for my ds,4) and Butch (nickname for my nephew, also 4) have recently developed a closeness that warms my heart. (pic below) Up until last week their visits together have been wrought with tears, anger and frustration. Just over the last few visits there has been a remarkable transformation into best buds. The other night I saw them talking and sharing what appeared to be an inside joke. Jedi laughed while giving Butch a pat on the back...like, "Good one, bud!"

Tumbles (my niece, 10) stays over on Wednesday nights so we can do life skills for girls while Jedi stays with my sister to life skills for boys. Here the boys learn about screwdrivers and practice their "righty tighty, lefty loosey."


The girls are working on a doll pattern generously offered as a freebie on One Red Robin. Her dolls are simply delightful! Last night we traced off the pattern and next week we'll delve through my scrap stash for the perfect fabric combinations.