things of late

Unfortunately my beloved, new to us, camera, stopped working a couple months ago and other than Shane's iphone I don't have a camera. That makes blogging and keeping this updated really hard. I love the camera on Shane's phone but unless he's home I don't get to take pictures. So I've missed posting some great things the last few weeks like: Mira's volleyball games and how awesome she is doing on her team (she may have found her sport!), all the crafting, sewing and knitting that's been going on around here - more lil' pants, stuffed animals, purses, balls, sock puppets, and more, our awesome new homeschool co-op just a mile from our house where I'm teaching toddler school, fall garden harvesting and sowing, more than 250 jars canned and lining the pantry shelves, our first 4H meeting of the school year where 7 sweet girls made pies and friendship bracelets together, our sweet little Scandinavian girl who we'll likely call Ruby (Rue for now) if she gets to stay with us forever (her case moves to adoption in a couple months), beautiful, warm October afternoons playing in Mimi's backyard and baskets of bread, rolls, muffins, graham crackers, cheese crackers, granola, cookies and pies coming from the kitchen now that fall baking season is in full swing.

These October days have been busy; sometimes it's been really hard just to get through the day and sometimes more peaceful and easy. Silas is not sleeping well these days (teething?) so we're functioning on little sleep and then I'm up between 4:30 and 5:30 anyway to make it to my spinning class at the gym. But little blessings always come just when I need a pick me up; like a friend calling me early on a Saturday morning when she knows Shane is traveling and out of town with the football team to tell me she's bringing me Starbucks and then comes by 20 minutes later with a venti pumpkin latte, or other sweet friends leaving muffins and cards on my porch and making me my favorite chocolate cream pie from scratch for my birthday just because they care. Another friend stopped by and saw that I had just dropped and shattered a big glass bowl in front of the chicken coop by accident and before I knew it she was cleaning it up for me. She had no idea what a huge blessing and relief that was for me. And most of all I'm thankful for Shane who seriously is the perfect man. The birth mother of our last little foster girl asked me more than once about where I found a man like Shane and I had to agree with her that I got lucky.  Shane and I have so much fun together and I'm thankful for such a stable, happy marriage. Most evenings when we're home together we're just hanging out with our Coconut Mini's talking or watching Globe Trekker, Downton Abbey, Doc Martin or Call the Midwife.

Anyway, that's my random update for now. I have 7 pairs of mittens to knit for Christmas that I plan on starting tonight while Shane and the girls are at Bible Study Fellowship. Good night!

silas goes to story time

sewing school

For her birthday Mira received money to take a kids sewing class at Joann's. It's a two part class and they are learning the basics of machine sewing while making flannel pajama pants. She loved it!

early morning devotions

6:20 am: West joins us for morning prayer and devotions

weekend with family

Last weekend we enjoyed having Aunt Carol and Uncle Mark visit for several days. They stayed next door with Mimi and we joined them for dinner, dessert and evening visits. Sasa and Granny came too. We had a great time!

pumpkin patch kids

On a very warm, blue sky October Sunday we packed up the van with snacks, diapers and my knitting basket and headed out to our favorite country (AKA non-commercialized) pumpkin patch, Fir Point Farms in Aurora. For less than half the cost of the other pumpkin patches in the area, the kids had a great time riding the cow train, playing in the nut house, jumping in the hay barn, getting lost in the hay maze, eating cider donuts and of course, picking the perfect pumpkin to take home. I loved the little farm store and the fact that there were no long lines or crowds of people like a certain, very popular pumpkin patch in the area. Oh, and we must introduce Rue, our newest little one - the blondie in the photos above. She's 21 months old and just a little doll. But more about her later.

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