Harvest Days

Thanksgiving is coming up, and it's a big holiday around here--it's when my side of the family does a big holiday gathering complete with gifts.

This week the kids and I got out the bin of Thanksgiving decorations out, and decided to have a little fun:



Happy Thanksgiving and Fall, Y'all!

More Beach Photos

I couldn't resist posting a few more photos from this weekend. I love beach photos.



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Wordless Wednesday 29 Oct 08: Driftwood Adventure

J's Birthday Party, by AJ

AJ has been doing a unit this week on the writing process. She started with brainstorming ideas and writing a word web. Then she picked a few of her favorite details to include in the story, and numbered them in the order they belonged.

After that we wrote a first draft, revised it, copied the new draft (including some more descriptive words she chose from the thesaurus), proofread it (including looking up words in the dictionary to check spelling), and re-read it again to catch any errors that were missed the first few times.

Then it was time to "publish" her story. I decided to allow her to start her own blog, with careful rules and supervision. If you want her blog address, drop me a note via e-mail. I'm not going to share it online.

Here's AJ's story about her cousin J's birthday party the weekend before last:

One Sunday we went to our cousin J's birthday party in B------. It was fun. While we drove there, we counted cars.

When we got there we ate. The food was delicious. The games were fun. We didn't play the sock race game, but I played the balloon race.

On the trip home it was dim outside and shadowy inside. We were glad to go to bed when we got home. The day was enjoyable.

Here are some photos I took this weekend at Adventurous BIL's and Artistic SIL's property in B-----. It's incredibly beautiful out there.



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Impromptu Trip

We took a wrong turn Satuday night and ended up at the coast, so we decided to make an adventure of it. We spent a night and day at the coast, then came halfway home and stayed at Adventurous BIL and Artistic SIL's house the second night. After an afternoon exploring and playing on their acreage, we finally came home just in time to cook dinner Monday night.

It was a great adventure that the kids and I will remember for a long time.



It's a good reminder that God can take even a wrong turn and make it into a beautiful thing.

Wordless Wednesday 22 Oct 08: AJ's Art

Wordless Wednesday 15 Oct 08: "He is happy who has a wonderful dog."--AJ

Big Girl

Me to DH: "Hmmm, things seem awfully quiet up there. I'd better go check on Ebee."

DH: "Good idea. Too quiet is never a good sign."

Ebee: "Mommy! Mommy! I washed mysewlf!"

Me: "Oh, um, good? Uh, what were you washing off yourself?"

Ebee: "Well, I went potty. But I cleaned it aw up."

Me: "Oh, ok. Where did you go potty?"

Ebee: "In the dadoom, right here on the foor."

Me: "Oh, so you had an accident on the floor, but you cleaned it all up. Thank you. What did you clean it up with?"

Ebee: "I washed it wif dis coth (indicating a very wet washcloth on the counter). And I put my pants and underwear in here (indicating a towel bundled up on the floor). I ceaned it aww up! Now I'm gonna wipe my doddum and det some clean clothes."

Me: "Wow, you're such a big girl. Thank you for cleaning it up. Next time something like that happens, feel free to ask for help. I'd be happy to help you. But you did a pretty good job. You're really growing up. I'm proud of you."

Ebee: "Yes, I'm a grown-up now. I growed and growed and growed, and den I was all growed up. Now I'm as old as AJ!"

Well, not quite. But she's definitely not a baby any more.

Clinging

I'm hanging onto this as hard as I can right now:

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

2 Corinthians 12:9

Transplants

Wow, I'm really behind on reading blogs. I just haven't had the energy lately.

But I was pleased to learn tonight that Annika over at Falling Down is Also a Gift got her new liver. She's having some complications, which is to be expected, but the new liver seems to be doing its job so far.

Please keep Annika and her family in your prayers, as well as the family of the donor.

Also, over on another blog: Baby Gwyneth Rose, who was born at 24 weeks and 4 days gestation (1 lb, 6 oz.), is doing extremely well. She is 9 months old and absolutely beautiful. Her mother, Tricia, who has cyctic fibrosis, got her lung transplant a few months after Gwyneth was born and is now fighting lymphoma. At the moment she's in the hospital, but is hoping to be discharged soon.

The short version of their story is here. You can check in on their progress at Confessions of a CF Husband.

I love my husband

I just wanted to say that. He's a really wonderful guy.

Rosa Saves the Day, Chapters 2-4

After writing chapter 1, AJ decided to change the name of her protagonist to Rosa instead of calling her AJ.

She has come up with this all by herself and written it down. The only thing I've changed is fixing spelling and capitalization errors.

Chapter 2.

On and on Rosa went, farther and farther away from home. That night she had to sleep in a field. She covered herself up with flowers and made a pillow with flowers.

The next morning, Rosa woke up bright and early. She made a breakfast of strawberries, flowers, sunflower seeds, and dandelion greens. Then she traveled on.

Chapter 3.

On Rosa traveled, on and on and on.

By lunch time Rosa was in a forest. She stopped to rest. For lunch Rosa ate wild blackberries, sap, roots, twigs and bark.

Then Rosa took a nap.

Chapter 4.

After her nap, Rosa was refreshed. She jumped on her bike and rode to the hills. When she got there it was dinner time. Rosa ate a few June berries. Then Rosa made her bed and went to sleep.

She woke up the next morning to hear howling. She looked behind a bush to find a puppy! He barked and wagged his tail.

Rosa laughed and said, "I think I will name you Snoopes."