December Part 1

Yep. I'm awesome at coming up with creative titles. Let's move on.

December greeted us so quickly that I have to remind my self that the New Year is just around the corner. We've had a lot going on, but all good things and I am thankful for what we were able to squeeze in together as a family.

Tree decorating, play nativity table, favorite ornaments, making new ornaments (kids did the glass balls), buddies and spending an evening with some of our favorites.

Christmas Party with Bible study girls, Mary Poppins with girl cousins, puppet shows, cello concert, rites of passage (first buck)

Longwood Gardens

Here is where I will say what I really think positive things about the snow: Beautiful wonderland, ultimate playground for the kids. And it ended up cancelling half of our extremely busy week. I AM thankful for that. 

Sunday morning we did our own family Christmas.

Can you guess what his favorite gift was?

Never fear. The Caped Crusader is here.

Eden and her cousin Elliot are a part of the Solfege Choir and were able to participate in the Living Christmas Tree.

Coming to an airplane seat near you.

Thanksgiving 2013

Thankful for a second year of hosting Thanksgiving dinner in our home. Thankful that everyone brings most of the food. Thankful that I am hosting people that know me and love me and therefore the pressure for a perfect house is off!  And of course I'm thankful for my family, and friends who love me in my crazy, and hold my hand in this thing of life. And for my savior, who leaves me speechless and in awe of his mercies and grace.

Steaming pots, roasting turkey, pretty table and reminders of gratitude.

A few of the faces I'm thankful for, dessert,  and mad lib reading.

“The heart of hospitality is about creating space for someone to feel seen and heard and loved. It's about declaring your table a safe zone, a place of warmth and nourishment.” 
― Shauna Niequist, Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table, with Recipes

10 For the Girl

Happy Birthday to my spunky, kind, note writing, reading to her brothers, fort building, kitty adoring, singing in her room, roller blading, eye crossing, crafty, independent, so much more to come, rock my world daughter.

Celebrated cake and ice cream on her birthday and roller rink on Saturday with a couple of her girls.

The requested gorilla cake. Toothpick stuck into the 0 candle because it came without a wick. We make things happen around here. 

So My Mom Came for a Visit....

...a few weeks ago!  Finally sharing our wonderful time with her. I surprised the kids (except Eden who had to get her room ready for grandma) by secretly packing our things and just heading to the airport without any real explanation. She was a fabulous surprise and to top it off mom got us a room in Philly for two nights!

She always comes bearing gifts, and she took us to the Franklin Institute, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and fed us! We are spoiled.

We came back to our place and she did grandma-y things like playing cars and baking and staying up late at night with Eden in her room talking . We went a corn maze (where Beck was super excited/surprised about every ear of corn he found...in a corn maze) and collected fall leaves. 

Her last day we went to Longwood Gardens. So many beautiful flowers. It was the first day of their chrysanthemum festival. 

She also took pity and got my hair did. Like I said, I'm spoiled.

Thanks again mom for a great visit. Love and miss you!

The days

The days have been coming and going and I've felt the weight of monotony. I've also learned to see the moments that I can be thankful for.  And for even that, I am thankful.

A son who is eager to get his work done.

A daughter who does her work well. 

Spicy candles from a friend who is near and my favorite mug to remind me of friends that are far.

We celebrated my MIL's 60th birthday with a meal of her favorite foods and a family picture at her request.

This was no small feat.

Catching the first signs of colds as they come and watching them go.

Summer Photo Dump

We still have a few weeks of summer and I'm holding them tightly. I love summer. Even at the end of summer I still love it. Sure, I like cool nights and sweatshirts, but I'll take a perfectly warm day over the cold hands down, all the time.  However, the rest of our hemisphere is ready for fall and the school buses that we are seeing on the road have declared it so.   It's been a fast summer.  It's been a lovely summer.  These are the photos that have been building up (mostly from my phone).

Lots of walks. Or as Vanden says "Let's go on an venture."

Kitties at sunset by the campfire

Silly times with cousins.

Rescuing toads from campfire ring.

Breakfasts with my early riser.

Imaginations running wild (here he is driving his boat).

The kids were often begging to take pictures with my phone of the cats and most of the photos look like this.

 

Longwood Gardens. So beautiful. This time there was an organist champion playing the pipe organ. This organ as over 10,000 pipes! It was truly breathtaking. I was a bit choked up. Also, we got to see one of the cats. This cat is definitely a highlight of each visit. Always hanging out by the du Pont house.

We have a membership this year and I've been trying to get the kids to understand that we do not have to try to see everything every time we come.  But they insist on seeing the Eye of Water. This is always the last thing we get to and even though they (3 out of 4 anyway) are done they still want to hike to it. As you can see only one of my troopers is really interested in anything at this point.

Rook games with friends. I WON! (possibly my first win ever)

Rides to the river.

"Sleeping" in the woods

Alligator art

Filming. If you didn't see it click here.

Dress up at the library, and someone caught their first fish!

Swinging, sunset and tractor play

Family reunion, celebrating some 60yr old members.

First day of school.  Well, first day of consistent school. We knocked a few days off over the summer.

Either I don't remember or this has been my clutsy-est summer ever.  The list includes but is not limited to falling down the stairs, falling off the front porch, dropping a full glass 1/2 gallon of milk, dropping pizza off the pan (it landed top down of course), etc.

But this guy helps me clean up.

We had a appreciation bbq for our friends that helped out with our house (paid and unpaid). It was a progressive meal. Dinner was at Dave and Gina's with Dave's fabulous chicken and dessert was at our place. I didn't take any pictures of that, but it was an ice cream bar and it was adorable and delicious.  Dennis made an awesome slip and slide and I will let the faces of the kids be the testament to its greatness.

However this cutie was not impressed by me at all. He found me tolerable.

Even though Dennis had to put the sides of the slide away, the kids still pulled out the plastic over the next few days and made the most of it.

When the boys get a little restless at church we head to another room.  Here Van is showing Beck how to make monkey faces.  Notice Van's footwear. We are halfway to church and we hear from the back of the car "Hey! I can't wear my boots to church!"  1. It's hilarious to me that he would notice and care that he put the "wrong" shoes on for the occasion 2. We need to look more closely at our kids before they head out the door. 3. At least he was wearing pants. I call that a win.

There was  a day when they had done their regular work so fast that I said, "go for a walk, find some stuff, glue it and be creative." Homeschooling at its finest.

Today was beautiful. They loved on their cats and had a picnic.

There were also tears and frustration, hitting and yelling, whining and complaining. Keepin' it real folks. And now they're in bed. Tomorrow we'll do it again and be thankful for this gift of life and the living of it.