Hard work

Preparing for winter is hard work. So goes the list: Take potted plants indoors, rake 20 - 30 bags of leaves, clean up garage so that outdoor items can fit into the garage for the duration of snowy-wintery months, clean out eaves troughs so that our basement won't get water in it during heavy rainfalls, etc etc etc. whew. Good thing it is a balmy 18 degrees outside today so that it is a pleasure to get these things done! :) The last two days i dedicated to leaf raking with the kids.

Let me tell you, i like the task. Being outdoors, exercising with my kids under foot, it is lovely. But it isn't easy. Child A: helps a lot. She rakes piles for me and picks up dropped toys of child C. Child B: well, lets just say he likes being two and is very good at it! haha. He loves to pretend he is incapable of learning to rake. ("i can't doooooo it mommy. i can't dooooo it") He loves to run through the piles of freshly raked leaves, dragging the colorful things far and wide. (which i suppose is most of the fun, so i don't usually stop this action of his, instead, i use it to my own good... haha. i get him to drag the leaves toward me where ever i am filling bags, and then he ends up helping me even though his aim may be to foil my plans! And i make sure to tell him how helpful he is to get it through to him that it is GOOD and appreciated when he helps!) Child C: sits. watches. occasionally cries for dropped toys. whew! oh and while i'm supervising these three, i'm raking and bagging 20 bags of leaves!!

Now isn't the time to go into my neighbors insulting me and basically telling me i'm lazy because it took so long for me to clean up my yard (see first two paragraphs) ..... but i still have to work on not being angry about that.....God wants me to be a good neighbor... not a resentful one!! :)

Time to go enjoy this gorgeous day!!

Niagara on the Lake

thank you Lord for a refreshing weekend. good friends. great family. and time with my dave!

A long while

Whew. It has been quite the week. Sickness ran through our home, and now is slowly leaving. We have been down on the couch, the bed, well, you get the picture. We were tired, sore and praising God that we never got really terribly sick. Mild flu and cold symptoms, that's all.

Now we are watching the gorgeous leaves tumble and dance over the road. Last night they lay so thick, it was like orange snow in the gutters. now they are on the move though, and there will be leave drifts up against fences and cars and sidewalks. ah, Autumn. It has always been my favorite season.

Well, i thought i'd say hi to the blogger world out there... and post a couple pictures that Julia took, plus one from the sick days. enjoy! i'll post about my upcoming trip later this week!

-S

sick day

Here is my sweet, caring daughter... she made this theatre and 'puppets' and put on shows for sickly sam, laying flaked out on the couch this afternoon. ;) story after story about these cat and dog puppets. ;) so cute. Some of the stories involved the recent surgery that our cat just had.... and how the outcome meant no kittens, and Julia was very sad that Megan could not have kittens... hahaha.








Project day(s) : we are changing the fabric on our dining room chairs.... thanks to mama hillson for the lovely gift of the leaf print fabric!! :) i LOVE IT! it was much easier than i expected, changing the material. Taking out the old staples really hurt my wrist though! ouch!

sick day: sam and mercy are out of sorts. poor things.

apple day: i peeled and cored a half bushel of apples this morning (with the help of my trusty little old fashioned peeler machine!! ) and turned them into dried apple rings, apple crisp, apple filled buns, and dutch apple cake. the rings are STILL drying.. long process!!!

PLEASE pray for health to return to our home. :) thank you!

The End of a Great Visit

Fall Visit with Nana and Grandpa

Julia took some photos while we were visiting some family friends. (well... we were only visiting their dog, since they weren't home when we stopped in. :) haha)



Brigden Fair!!! :)



This horse is challenging the Guiness Book of World Records for being the tallest horse. lovely thing it is! :)


Julia has decided to take up the stage and travel with Dora and Diego. She loves posing for pictures, singing and dancing and being silly in general. should work out well for her. :)







Thanksgiving with family! what a wonderful way to celebrate GOd's goodness .

Pre-Parent-Visit-Non-Photo-Post

Dear Folks,

My parents are on route to my house as i type. They have landed after a long day of flying, and soon we will get to see them and hug them again.

As my kids get older, i see that being this far away from Grandpa and Nana is sad. Julia asked to go for an overnight hike the other day. And i couldn't help but think that my dad would have SO MUCH fun taking her on an overnight hike... maybe when she is older she will have the opportunity to do that with him....But there are a lot of beautiful things that my kids will miss by not seeing Nana and Grandpa in the everyday activities of life. They have many wonderful family members close by to live and learn and grow close to, and God is sovereign. So i think i just need to focus my energies on teaching my kids to write letters, send pictures, emails, etc. They can learn from and grow close to Nana and Grandpa, even if the country separates them. :)

anyway.

i'm off to chill. maybe draw. or read. while i await their arrival. and then.... PIE!! :) dave made pumpkin pie from scratch today!! :)