Family Update

First, I wanted to ask for prayer for Joey as he has his MRI on Wednesday. MRI days are always stressful for us. I pray he is still stable or better yet - for shrinkage. 

We have been fairly busy here.  The kids have been working on different projects and just getting back into the school routine. Bethany is working on a dollhouse she has built of mostly Amazon boxes, I think. She is having a lot of fun with it. She has been painting it for the past day or so and now she is working on wallpaper. We went to AC Moore on Sunday and bought paper and some paint and small things she thought she would need. She has a lot of plans for this house and seems to really be enjoying the time she spends working on it. 

The girls spent quite a lot of time baking one day this past week. Zola had a friend over and they made lemon pie and said it turned out really good. The kids also made some cookies and bread. I like seeing them work together in the kitchen. 

Today we had our pumpkin muffins we always have on the first day of autumn. The kids always look forward to them. Today, they ate out on the deck as it was so nice. We had extras eating with us this year as my daughter from Louisiana was here visiting with her three children and fell down her sister's stairs and broke her leg and foot in 8 places. She has had surgery to put in three plates but will probably have to have another surgery. She is still in the hospital and my daughter, Meredith, and I have the kids. I have Penny and Jack and Meredith has Oliver. So, it has been rather hectic here for the past week. The kids are adjusting fairly well, but miss their mom a lot - their dad, too. 

My daughter has months of recovery and therapy ahead of her. This is going to be a very slow process getting back on her feet.  

This is Jack sitting on the hearth this morning. He actually didn't want a muffin. How can you not want a muffin for breakfast?

I snapped this last picture from the kitchen window. It is the kids out on the deck working on a nature study they do three times a week. They were having so much fun. The kids are all cousins except for Bella and she is the aunt. 

This Week In Pictures

I keep meaning to post, but have so little to say that I put it off. I decided today to just mainly tell about our week in a few pictures. We started school and we are off to a pretty good start - except I think I have made a mistake with my history choice. Actually, I have made a couple of mistakes when it comes to history this year. But, I have ordered a new history curriculum and will have it next week. I am sure this is the right one for us - at least I hope so. The kids loved history so much last year I am trying to make sure we have another good year with a lot of learning. 

It was a good week and we got lots done and everyone actually seemed glad to be back doing school. I guess we needed the structure. We are at least off to a good start.

Bethany has started working on a new dollhouse. She made one probably 5 years ago or more and has decided to do it all over again - but better. She says she has a lot of work to do. 

The kids played outside a lot after school as it has been really nice  this week. They all gathered around when they found a cicada under the bushes. They were fascinated with it and it was the second one they found this week. Actually, the first one fell from a tree onto Bethany's nose. It was dead and she brought it in and the girls drew a picture of it and wrote a little about it in their nature journals. 

The Kite

We started our first week of school and it has gone very well - we do tend to start off slowly. The kids have really started to love history lately and we have really enjoyed learning and doing projects together. 

This week Bethany decided she wanted to build another dollhouse - she had been looking though our blog and saw all the pictures of the one she made years ago out of cardboard. It is fun looking back and remembering. Even I like to do that, sometimes. Anyway, she didn't have enough cardboard yesterday so being Bethany and wanting to do some project she decided to make a kite. She took some of the material she had bought to make doll clothes and dresses for the kids and cut it for a kite. She then took our s'mores sticks and used them and it turned out pretty nice. I think she has the most fun just making things - not playing with them. The fun is in the project for her. 

She took it out to fly and there was not much of a breeze, but it did fly fairly well. Maybe when we actually get some wind it will really fly high. All the kids enjoyed watching and running with her. After a short time of flying she came in to make one for Tess so that is in the works now. 

Our Trip

We had a wonderful trip to Tennessee and we managed to do most of the things I really wanted to do with the girls. I had very low expectations for the trip and had decided from the beginning that we would not try to do too much. We would just take it slow and enjoy ourselves. That is what we did and it was so nice. I was impressed how much and how long Sarah was able to walk. She is not usually very active. I have to remind her that she needs to do a little exercise most days. But, she was a trooper on this trip and kept us with us no matter how much we walked. 

We went by my grandmother's old house. I spent just about every summer of my life there visiting her and my aunts, uncles and cousins. I have very fond memories of us walking to get ice cream and stopping to talk to neighbors on our way back home. So many good memories to share with my children and now they have a picture of what her house looks like and how steep the hill up to her house actually is since now they have walked it. It makes what I tell them more real. 

Now we are ready to get into school and pray this will be a great year. Last year went very well and the kids actually enjoyed most of their studies. Hope this year can go as well.