January 2017 ~ week 1

 Hello from a country that has been long unheard from -- I have decided to try out posting on my blog again...we shall see how it goes.

We started the new year with a whole week of school break ahead of us.  Abigail and I got out one of our favorite movie snacks (while we watched some Pride and Prejudice) -- chips and cream cheese!

Mindy enjoyed one of the new Christmas toys...just in case you wondered, this is how much of a sixteen-pound cat will fit inside a Barbie tent.  I'm pretty sure she thought she was completely hidden. :)

We have enjoyed lots of cat snuggles during our days off.  The cats love it when we stay home and make our laps available!

 This weekend has been great fun -- we've had a winter wonderland!

 Abigail discovered that you never turn your back to someone who is sledding down a hill.  David hollered warnings and tried to swerve, but to no avail!  Fortunately, it was all laughter and no tears.  There was a layer of ice under the snow, so David had to help Abigail get on her feet again!

 I filled the birdfeeders just before the snowstorm hit -- the beautiful birds have made good use of it and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them.

Our house looks so pretty with snow on it!

When the weather forecast started buzzing earlier in the week with rumors of snow on the way, I decided to leave the outside Christmas lights up a little longer than normal.  It paid off -- oh, so pretty!

 All three cats know how to ride out a snowstorm -- find places of warmth and patches of sun!

After we took the kids sledding and enjoyed the novelty of a snowy day, we came back inside and hunkered down...and I finished a knitting project.  It has been a while since I made a hat, and this one has quite a few messed-up modified spots, but it's close enough to make me happy!

After we put away our Christmas decorations, we rearranged our living room furniture, so now I have a nice, organized area by my chair that keeps my knitting accessible and also makes it easy to pull up my spinning wheel.  I have high hopes for creative productivity in 2017!

 Today found us with church services canceled as our whole area is still snowed/iced in and the better part of wisdom when this happens is to stay home and avoid the unnecessary risk.  Our southern winter equipment (the sun!) has started its work, but needs another day and some higher temperatures to make it safe to get on the roads again.  This "bonus day" at home has been full of wonderful family time and extra rest...and Bruce's Chicago-style deep-dish pizza!

Our week ~ July 1

I feel rather like this was our first week of summer vacation!  Our traveling is over for the time being, so I spent most of the week doing the things that I usually do the first week of summer vacation -- cleaning up and cleaning OUT!  Corners that have collected clutter, piles of stuff that have magically appeared and grown...all of the places neglected during the frantically-busy school year have gotten cleaned out and scrubbed off!  The kids don't understand my glee over these projects; they usually hide upstairs and play so that they don't get roped into helping :), but Mindy is my ever-faithful and very enthusiastic assistant.

Sunday afternoon, we got a surprise visit from our pastor and pastor's wife from our church in New York (the pastor who officiated at our wedding ceremony).  We had a wonderful afternoon of fellowship and catching up on each other's lives.

On Monday, Abigail got her new leg brace (aka AFO -- ankle/foot orthotic).  She got to choose the design (lavender with butterflies), so she was very excited to get the finished product!  This brace is more 'invasive' than the last one in the sense that it covers much more of her foot in an attempt to help correct the deformities developing due to her CP.  She is doing a great job wearing it faithfully, though (the pretty design and snazzy new sneakers help with that), and we haven't had any issues with rubbing or bruising, and it has already started to make a difference in the appearance of her foot.

While we were waiting at the orthotics office, we snapped a picture of her beautiful pumpkin smile!  She lost her two front teeth a couple of weeks ago.

Then we got silly and succumbed to the giggles!

We managed to sneak in a 'just us girls' visit to the fabric store while we were out. :)

Our blueberry bushes are producing...happiness is fresh blueberries from the backyard to put on my cereal in the morning!

Our weather has been rainy, rainy, and even rainier, but we didn't let that dampen our celebration of Independence Day.  We just brought the bikes inside to the living room, turned up a John Philip Sousa album, and decorated away to our heart's content.

The Lord cleared the skies just long enough for us to have our own little bike parade...

...complete with puddle-splashing, a fun side benefit of all of this rain! :)...

...and enjoy some sparklers (and grill our Hofmann hot dogs for supper, too!).

We ended the week by getting a load of mulch.  With a lot of elbow grease from my two guys and the usual faithful service by our beloved old van, 100 bags of mulch are ready to beautify our yard.  Now if only the rain will stop long enough for us to work outside...! :)

Our week ~ March 25

We interrupt spring to bring you...more winter!  We were surprised to see snow in the air the morning of March 25th...it flurried off and on all day, then picked up late in the day.

We woke up March 26th to a dusting of snow.  We have lived down here almost ten years now and have never seen snow this late in the spring!

Even Mindy was ready to hibernate!

Despite the snow, life marched on. :) Our art class has been making great progress on their pajama pants.  The pant legs are assembled and sewn together...now onto waistbands and hemming.

 Friday morning we left super early to take Abigail for Botox in her leg to try to countereffect the spasticity caused by her CP, which is pulling her left foot so strongly that there is concern that it is beginning to bend the bone on the outside of her foot.  They administered the injections (15 that we could count afterwards based on needle marks) under general anesthesia.  Abigail was a trooper for the whole adventure and is doing great!

The doctor came in to mark her leg to be sure that they injected the correct one in the OR, then he gave the marker to Abigail and told her to write on mom or dad.  After many assurances to her that it was okay just this once, she gleefully made a smiley face on her daddy's leg!

On Sunday, we celebrated Christ's resurrection with our church family and then went to our friends' house for a lovely Easter dinner and wonderful fellowship.  (A HUGE thank you to my mom for all of her painstaking work to make this yard-sale-find dress fit me beautifully!  She is amazing!)

I got some baby snuggles in after dinner...my "niece" Adel settled all of her beautiful chub into my arms and sweetly obliged me by falling asleep there!

Isabelle wasn't so sure she liked sharing me with Adel, but she DID like posing for the camera. :)

The reminder of our sure hope in Christ, along with friend-time and good food, was a wonderful way to start our new week!

Polar Express 2012

Last night we enjoyed our library's annual reading of The Polar Express.  The kids get to go in their pajamas, which just adds to the fun!  This year we went with friends and had a great time. :)  The conductor gave them their tickets and then they chose their seats...

 After the reading, they got to do a Christmas craft.

Next there was hot chocolate and cookies.

And of course, our traditional picture with the conductor!