Leap Day 2012

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing  We did this back in 2008...click here to see how much my babies have grown up since then!  David was a little embarrassed to participate this time...wait until he finds out that he has to do it on the next Leap Day, too, when he'll be 13 (13?!!!! Oh my!)!   

A Tea Party Fit for a Princess

Today Abigail and I went to a birthday party for friends at a local tea room.  The girls dressed up as princesses and we thoroughly enjoyed our tea party!

 A girl never really outgrows the excitement of dressing up like a princess for a tea party! :)

Imaginary travels

A mysterious person came into my kitchen the other day, handed me a pretty-smelling little sachet, and gave me this note:

"I am a weary traveler, and I don't talk.  I am very poor, and that is the only gift I have.  Please give me a gift, ma'am."

I handed the traveler a silver coin, and she left.

 A while later, she came back with another note:

"I have finished my journey, but I am wounded.  Rich people scratched and hit me.  Please care for me.  By the way, I am a great listener.  My name is Listener."  I tucked the wounded traveler on the couch, wrapped her wounded arm, and gave her a quilt, a book, and some Smarties ("medicine").

I love the journeys on which my kids' wonderful imaginations take us!

Snow!

This past Friday, the weather forecast for our area reported a 0% chance of precipitation.  Undeterred, our little girl prayed sweetly and sincerely that morning and asked her heavenly Father for some snow.  Oh, the faith of a child!  Not too much later, the snowflakes started coming down...a few here and there, and then enough to make it worth bundling up the kids and letting them catch some on their mittens.  No accumulation, not even enough to see in the picture, but enough to grant the desires of Abigail's heart and give us all a little reminder of the tender love of our God.

As for the weathermen and their impressive technology and their forecasts, God is still in charge!  I grabbed a picture of the radar during our snow flurry.  See the only patch of snow in metro-Atlanta, pointed out by the orange arrow?  Guess where?!

Our snow was lovely...and it was a good reminder to me that God is listening and that He loves His children!

It's raining, it's pouring...

...and my kids did what any healthy kids would do...they put on their rain-gear and splashed in the mud puddles!  They were filthy and happy by the time they were done and very ready for warm chocolate chip cookies and warm showers.  Ah, the joys of childhood! :)

We the People...are back to school!

After a gloriously long Christmas break, we are back to school.  Our first day back yesterday also happened to be our monthly Homeschool Day at the Atlanta History Center.  The theme was "We the People" -- that is, the Constitution of our country.

We watched a fabulous one-woman production about the Constitutional Convention.  She asked David to play George Washington, which made it extra fun!  (Abigail had no desire to be any of the delegates...she preferred to observe safely from the audience!)

 

Afterwards, the kids spent a little bit of time playing in the Olympics exhibit.  It has nothing to do with the Constitution, but it got out some energy before the ride home. :)  (Look at Abigail's left hand hanging on for rowing power -- beautiful!)

Today, being our first day back at the school table with 'real' subjects, wasn't the best school day we've ever had...but we survived and hopefully we're back in the groove now!  After a little pouting at being largely ignored, Mindy got back into the swing of school, too, and curled up for a long morning nap in her window seat next to us.

Abigail's first offertory

This past Sunday, Abigail played her first offertory in church. :)

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:

be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations.

~Psalm 100

Good news - we're still alive!

I am horrified to see that it has been nearly two months since I posted on here.  It is not intentional...it is just because the days keep rolling along, often without much time to get the "hafta"s done, let alone the "wanna"s.  Our weekdays are busy with school, music lessons, and appointments, our weekends busy with catching up on everything we can't do during the week as well as being at church.  In the midst of this busyness of life, though, we are thoroughly enjoying every moment of togetherness.  These are sweet days that I wouldn't miss for all of the leisure in the world!

Sibling love

Apple time 2011

'Tis the season for apples!  Today Karen and I took our kids and made our annual pilgrimage to North Georgia to get our apples for this year.  I never did take any pictures of our apples, but I have some of the kids...and they're more fun to look at anyway!

The kids watched fried pies being made...

 ...and then enjoyed one for dessert after our picnic lunch.  Noah had blueberry -- can you see his purple goatee?! :)

 Karen and I got to sit in the sun and chat while the kids ran around being busy.

 Look at that kissable face!!!

Noah likes the fact that he can now keep up with "Dadid" and Abigail.

I think we wore him out!

 Stay tuned for applesaucing day, coming soon!

And just for a memory-lane moment, here are my two babies back in 2008.  They've grown up soooo much in three years...

Fall Folklife Festival 2011

Today we went on our first family field trip of this school year...we especially love these field trips because Bruce (Daddy!) comes along and that always makes it even more special!  We went to the Atlanta History Center's Fall Folklife Festival and had a wonderful day.  Here are some of the highlights...

The kids LOVED the petting zoo.

 

 

 

 

 Just as I snapped this picture (below), this Scottish Highlander cow leaned into David's hug and squashed his arm against the bench.  I had to include this picture because of David's expression of surprise and "ow"!

 We thoroughly enjoyed listening to a very talented bluegrass band.  They sang folk songs and played their instruments with such talent that we couldn't help but smile and sit transfixed...and clap a bit, too.  All three of us violin newbies dreamed of being able to play like that someday...!

 

 On the way out, we had to stop and visit the Civil War cannon (it's a tradition).

 Although most of us were tired and dragging a bit by this point, David was still running around in circles...and he doesn't stop until we put him to bed!

We had a wonderful together-day...

September school days

Wow, how are we into September already?!  We just completed our sixth week of school and are very much enjoying our days full of learning.  In history, we are studying the early-mid 1800s, so for a hands-on project, the kids built log cabins like the pioneers...

 

...and in some not-so-pleasant history, we have also been learning about the Trail of Tears.  The county we live in here in Georgia is named Cherokee County; about 15,000 Cherokee Indians were removed from this area back in 1838 and thereabouts.  This week, we visited a small local museum to learn some more 'personal' history from that time period.  Although the subject matter was solemn, we enjoyed the museum and the time together.

 On Mondays we always have a special clothing assignment.  The kids love to check the school table all weekend long, waiting to see what they're supposed to wear to school on Monday morning.  This week was a special treat -- it was "wear your pajamas to school" day!  The rule is that we come to school dressed and ready to go, so for my pj-loving kids, this was cause for celebration.  It came in handy for some unexpected lounging around we had to do Monday afternoon when Tropical Storm Lee hurled off some tornadoes in our area!  We headed down to the basement, where we laid around playing cards, cutting up old wallpaper sample books, eating treats, and sharing laughs.

We started the week off with weather-related excitement, and we ended the week with excitement of a much more positive sort -- both kids and I started violin lessons!  We are super-excited about this new adventure.  The kids have asked for years (and I have wanted to try for as long as I can remember), so when this great opportunity came up right down the road from us, we jumped on it.  Hopefully we will be playing well enough to share a video in the next few months!

 The days, as always, are flying by!

Mindy magic

If you're not a cat person, then you are excused from reading this post (although on a side note, there must be something wrong with you)...I want to share a little Mindy-love.
The week before school started, the kids were gifted some big boxes, so they went to work making things from them.  Abigail decided to make a fort/home for Mindy.  I am fully convinced that this cat understands exactly what the kids say...no sooner had Abigail declared it ready than Mindy went in and did all of the things she was supposed to do.  She played with the feather dangling from the ceiling...

 ...she went to the window and looked out...

 ...and then she settled down inside it for a long nap.

 The kids were so delighted.  Have I mentioned how awesome this cat is?!

She does have an annoying habit or two...like insisting on getting drinks from any flower vase I have in the house.  But she's so cute about it that we can't stay annoyed for long!

When working on a project with wood glue and a chair, who needs clamps when you have a cat?!

Here she is getting her birthday treat.  Not tuna, or meat, or even a cat treat...no, her favorite treat in the world is homemade spaghetti sauce.  She closes her eyes and eats it in a happy coma-like state.  Crazy cat!

 We are thankful for our sweet cat!  She lives as though the whole world was put here just for her joy and delight and yet she is mild-mannered, patient, sweet, and very laidback.  She loves Nerf guns and she doesn't mind loud noise, children jumping over and around her, or visiting babies who are still learning to be gentle.  She loves to be in the middle of our family, always a part of the action.  The Lord gave our family a wonderful gift when He gave us our sweet Mindy!

Bits and pieces

Here are a few bits of pieces of our life over the last week or two, in no particular order...

We enjoyed time with one of our friends' baby while they went to a meeting...people insist that it's an imposition, but little do they know just how much we enjoy loving on a baby in this household!

 I had to take this picture of Abigail on Sunday...she just looked so tall and young lady-ish...

 I have been busy this week putting together stuff to sell at a kids' consignment sale.  It was a big project...but at least it's done now, and our household has 173 items fewer than it did previously!

The kids have been playing "MacGyver" lately and have been very creative in their props.  Notice that David's bazooka is actually his pogo stick. :)

Grandma Minota got into the fun and sent the kids a camouflage/bad-guy-trapping net.  The kids love it...

 ...and so does Mindy, of course!