Thanksgiving pictures

I decided I'd better post these now, before the week starts rolling away from me! Here are our pictures of our Thanksgiving weekend...

Thankfully, we're home again safe and sound!

We spent a wonderfully family-filled weekend at my parent's house (in Florida) for Thanksgiving, complete with Matthew and Caleb with us on Thanksgiving Day. Now we're home safe and sound, despite a very rainy drive home with tons of traffic! As you can see from the picture, the cold, driving rain didn't deter the kids from wanting their picture with the big cow, which is (as those of you who have been watching our blog for a while will know) our trip-to-Florida tradition.

Hourly giveaways

Click here to see hourly giveaways...this is the only kind of Black Friday shopping I will do -- online and in my pajamas!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so very much to thank God for...

and I hope you have a day full of thanksgiving, too!

Hearing checks and Christmas presents

Yesterday the kids had hearing checks (it's been not quite a month but we've noticed issues...). Sure enough, David has another frequency in his right ear that has dropped into the profound range, and Abigail has had significant loss in both ears. Their HAs have been tweaked accordingly and we are good to go again.

After checks, we went out for dinner with RaDora (it's a great habit we're getting into!) and I (well, actually, we, as in Bruce and me) got my (our) first Christmas present of the year!

(Sorry about the stock photo, but I'm trying to hurry)!

It's the game Bananagrams -- sort of a cross between Scrabble and Boggle and WordTwist and all of those word games that we adore -- but it's racing against each other, so that means Bruce can't take twenty minutes to play his turn, hallelujah :)...and it comes in a nifty little banana-shaped sack...it couldn't get much better than all this!!!

And this just gives us another reason to love RaDora...she's about as good at waiting to give gifts as I am! Her reasoning is very good (we who hate to wait to give gifts are also very accomplished at concocting good reasons for why we should give them early) -- now we can take the game to play with the Florida fam at Thanksgiving. I'll let you know how it goes!

My blog is a casualty of my busy life!

One of the things that has taken a back-burner since we started school this year has been the blog. I miss updating it daily, but there often just isn't enough time. As the schedule has gotten packed even tighter in the last couple of weeks, the blog has really suffered! I miss it when I'm unable to get to it, and I'm sorry especially for my grandma's sake, because I know how much she enjoys (needs?!) that daily dose of her great-grandkids. But...when there just plain aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish even what absolutely needs to be done, the things that are important but not necessary to survival just have to fall by the wayside for a bit. All that to say, the time will come again when I can update more regularly -- and hopefully it will come soon! Hang in there, Grandma! (...and thanks for understanding.)

The princess is sick

Abigail came down with a fast and furious cold overnight last night, and after a long night of (un)sleep, she was not in great shape today. David suggested that we cancel school so that we could take care of her (wasn't that very unselfish of him?!), but I assured him that I could manage both! One of the joys of homeschooling is flexibility...when somebody's sick, reading group can happen with everyone all curled up on the couch instead of at the school table!Abigail made a valiant effort to be part of school, but she looked so pathetic that I insisted on promptly removing her...so I set her up in my bed, with tissues, hot tea with honey, and her princesses and then played her Cinderella DVD on the computer...she watched it twice and stayed holed up throughout the rest of our school time. Poor thing!

Technology age

On this day in 1970, Douglas Engelbart patented the "X-Y position indicator"...

which came to be known as the computer mouse!

~

This piece of history made me chuckle, because for my children, "mouse" (as in computer tool, not furry rodent) has always been a part of their vocabulary, and using the mouse was a skill they both learned in toddlerhood. Someday they'll look back at my generation and marvel that we were born way back when computers were not a standard household appliance!

Finished "mystery" quilt

Last night Karen and I finished sewing the binding on this quilt and now it's done -- and 1 1/2 weeks ahead of deadline, too! In a couple of weeks, I'll post its presentation picture and share the rest of the story...

Smelly giveaway

I have never seen or smelled any of these products, but I love candles etc and I love free things, too, so I figured I'd blog according to the rules of the giveaway and see if I can win some free stuff to try! Are any of you familiar with it?

Favorite place

...one of the kids most favorite places to be

once school is finished and lunch is eaten...

Veterans Day 2008

Our thanks to all of those who have served and/or are currently serving in the US Armed Forces. May we never lose sight of the sacrifices made on our behalf by all of you, and may we never cease to thank God, Who has given us this great country we love so much.

~

A special thank-you to those in our families who have served in the military...

My father-in-law, Jerry McKee -- Navy

(so sorry we forgot to give you a Veterans Day hug before you left here today, Dad!)

My paternal grandfather, Tom Minota -- Army, WWII veteran

My maternal grandfather, Dee O'Gorman -- Army

My uncle, Chuck Midlar -- Marine Corps

My brother, Jared Minota -- Air Force

My cousin, Michele Carroll -- Air Force

We also have a friend, Tim Stone, who is currently serving in the Army and has recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.

This morning I read this about a Navy SEAL who gave his life in service for his country -- it was a sobering and good reminder that America's freedom wasn't -- and isn't -- free. Abigail & David signing "thank you" to our veterans... ...and they really wanted to salute, too!

Cousin-love

Today Abigail had her PT evaluation, and then afterwards we stopped by my sister-in-law's to pick up David (who had accompanied my in-laws there for cousin-play while Abigail & I were at PT) and visit with everyone. Abigail was thrilled to finally be able to hold her little cousin "baby Audrey" and took to it very naturally, which was wonderful to see. We decided to capture the moment with a picture of the girls.

From the left and then around the circle:

my mom-in-law, my nieces Olivia & Anna, my sister-in-law Eugenia, me,

and Audrey & Abigail in the center

Amicalola Falls field trip

My in-laws and I took the kids on a wonderful field trip to Amicalola Falls today...I will post more pictures next week, but here is my favorite one!

GrosgrainStore.com Grand Opening & Giftcard Giveaway!!!!!!!!

GrosgrainStore.com Grand Opening & Giftcard Giveaway!!!!!!!!

Tuesday...voting and then some

This morning after school, we went to vote. We have been studying the election process, from political parties to the popular vote to the electoral college, and both kids have been quite fascinated with the whole shebang. They were so excited to be able to watch me cast my vote for President of the United States...it was so sweet to see! It has been a joy to begin to instill in them not only a sense of the civic duty they will have someday but also the privilege it is to be voting citizens of a free country. Then it was on to grocery shopping, piano lessons, and hearing checks. Both kids had significant drops in hearing. We had expected it in Abigail, since she has been exhibiting her signs of increasing deafness, but David had dropped as well (his loss is now down to profound in one frequency which has been sliding lately). It's always hard for Abigail when she gets her HAs cranked up after a loss like this; she gets quite fragile and is easily overstimulated...hopefully a good night's sleep will help a lot and she will adjust to 'normal' hearing again tomorrow. After the fatigue of the hearing check process, everyone was excited to go out to dinner with RaDora. We ate at Napoli's and thoroughly enjoyed the food and the conversation...it was a very nice end to a busy, tiring day! The kids -- yes, both kids, even the non-car-sleeper Abigail! -- were sound asleep when we got home, so it was a nice treat for Bruce and me to be able to carry them up to their beds and tuck them in...and here's to a great night's sleep for all of us! (..."all", that is, if Bruce ever quits watching the returns and actually goes to bed!!!)

Monday...applesaucing again

I failed to mention in my previous applesauce post that our first applesauce day was for Karen's apples. Yesterday was my batch, and I decided to freeze mine. I ended up with nineteen bags; however, I forgot to take a picture before Bruce delivered them downstairs to the freezer, so we'll leave it to the imagination.

We have this thing down to a science now...well, mostly, anyway...and look forward to making an annual tradition out of this (not to mention enjoying our homemade applesauce in the meantime)!

Timberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Last Saturday started like a typical Saturday for us...I did housework, Bruce worked on his Sunday school lesson (he teaches the adult class at our church), David watched Build It Bigger and then designed some army tanks, and Abigail played happily in our midst...

...but then after that was done, the real fun began! There were a couple of dead trees out behind our house, so Bruce and David decided to take them down. We had a fun hour of felling, climbing, chopping, playing, etc!

One-third of our school year down!

Yesterday we reached the 1/3-completed mark for our school year -- it was exciting to reach another 'big' milestone! This month and next will include quite a few days off, which, while not very great for reaching our next completion-milestone, will be very good for our minds and bodies! :) Congratulations to my kiddos for all they're accomplishing in school this year -- GOOD JOB, DAVID & ABIGAIL!!!