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 summer in review

Today is the last day of our summer break!  Monday we start our new school year; David will be in fourth grade and Abigail will be in second grade (where does the time go?!).  We have enjoyed a busy but wonderful summer break, and here are some of the highlights.

Library trips

 

 Pool time (even once as an impromptu stop when I let the kids swim in their street clothes -- they thought it was very daring and exciting!)

 A visit from my parents, complete with 4th of July fireworks in the middle of rain, thunder, and lightning

 (As is typical, my mom did much better than I about taking pictures and blogging them...go to her blog during the first week of July to see them!)

Playing on the slip-n-slide

 (Abigail inherited her daddy's horror of water on the face...hence the look of pain...she really is having fun!)

Playing at the playground

 (and, of course, jumping the stream to get in instead of taking the bridge)

 ...even Abigail tried it -- and did it!

 A week at summer camp

(Abigail enjoyed a week at Camp Grandparents-McKee, but I wasn't there to take pictures...she reports that she had a fabulous time!)

David thoroughly enjoyed his first time at camp, Bruce and I had a wonderful week of fellowship, learning, and getting to know our teens better, and I hogged my friends' baby a lot, which was great fun!)

 

 Blueberry picking with friends

 Backyard wildlife

 I wasn't very good about taking a lot of pictures this summer, so this is only a snippet of our summer days...but I treasured every together-moment!  On to the new school year!

The beginning of summer break

I can't believe it has been three weeks since I have posted...but ever since school let out, we have been going a million miles an hour, it seems!  I think our schedule is finally starting to slow down, at least enough for us to enjoy some summer fun here and there.  Here are a few highlights of our first week of summer break...
The summer started with a bang as we welcomed our friends' precious new baby (more about him later!)...

The next morning, we headed to Florida...first stop, Matthew's.  If any of you remember the horrors of trying to get Abigail in the pool last year...she's a different girl this year!  She went right into Matthew's pool and was swimming like a champ in no time flat.  (Hear my huge sigh of relief!) We also enjoyed some time feeding the ducks in his neighborhood pond.

The next morning we headed out to Caleb's...our time with him included swimming, David's first trip to the driving range to try out his birthday clubs, and a visit to Caleb's church.

The next morning, we stopped for me to get a haircut from Kristen...here's a before-and-after.  (This isn't the greatest 'after' picture -- it's sort of an 'up-your-nose' shot by David -- but it gives you an idea of the dramatic difference.) I LOVE it!

...on the way home, we braved lots of nasty traffic...

 ...and we made it home, although a bit bedraggled and battleweary, in time to sing "Happy birthday" to Bruce (who had been gone on a business trip while we were gone)! A belated blog-happy-birthday to my dear husband!

Hanging out with the wild animals

Yesterday Karen and I took the kids on a field trip to the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve .  It was an amazing place; they have a lot of neat animals and, unlike the zoo where animals tend to hide or ignore visitors, most of their animals are interested and come as close as they can to socialize.  The kids spent at least half an hour interacting with a chimp, playing "copy cat" and trying to impress each other.

I'm not sure, exactly, how it happened...but I got so engrossed in the whole experience that I took NOT ONE picture of the kids while we were there.  I feel sad about that, but it is what it is :(

But here's a picture of the peacock who was showing off for us...

 ...and here is Karen, who at 37 1/2 weeks would be considered full-term, but who kindly behaved while we were on our trip! :)