Froggie Lady

Here is the latest block for my stitching group. The theme was cartoony frogs or fish. This was a fun block to stitch.

Polar Bear Swim

As I stated in the previous post, Brian was working on cleaning up the pool this afternoon.

There is a tradition in our home, Bessie is always the first one in the pool in the spring and the last one in during fall cleanup. Well, this years pool cleanup is quite a bit later than usual. It was only 49 degrees out today.

Bessie was not to be deterred. She thought it quite appropriate that she should taker her annual swim on her birthday. She was ready and willing to dive into the pool. Brrr!

I took these sequence of pictures as she took the plunge.

Ready?

Yup!

In she goes

Man that looks cold

Heading for the pink donut

That wasn't so bad

A few more dunks under

Another family tradition maintained...way to go, Bess!

I admire Bessie so much for her adventurous spirit. She is always willing to try something new or do something different. She wanted to know if we would take her to a real polar bear swim this year. This crazy tradition involves a swim in some lake or river on New Years Day. I know they do several around the area. We'll have to wait and see on that one.

Fall Chores

Brian spent the afternoon doing miscellaneous chores around the house. Falls always brings extra jobs that need to be done.

He cleaned the woodstove this weekend and brought over some wood.

Today the weather was quite cool, but sunny, so he worked outside. He cleaned up put down all the storm windows. This can be a tough job as the old triple-tracks don't slide very well anymore. He left a few open in case the weather warms up again. We'll close them all soon as the chance of warmer days becomes slim.

Vacuuming out between the windowsAnother job that is quite overdue is closing up the pool. The last several months have been so busy and our weekends very full. Brian started vacuuming out the pool and we will finish the job in the next few days.

Bri and Gabe working on the pool

Falls brings full days as we prepare our house and yard for winter's long, cold visit.

Happy Birthday, Bess

I can't believe that our little Bessie is 15 years old today. I can remember the day she came so clearly and most of the wonderful days since then. She has been such a joy and blessing to us.

Bess may be 15, but she is still just like a little kid when it comes to her birthday. She has been so excited all week and every day or so she would say...only five more days until my birthday...only two more days until my birthday. She is so funny.

We let her open her presents before we went to church this morning. It seemed to be a techie birthday this year, she got a new mp3 player, a cell phone and a computer game. She did get a few other things, but these were the big items.

She did not expect a cell phone, she was very happy!

The latest Nancy Drew computer game

Make a wish

We asked her if she wanted to do something special today, but she seemed quite content to load songs on her mp3 player and start her computer game, so that is what we did. We had a nice day at home relaxing and playing.

Stick Family

Hmm...I saw this on Cynthia's blog, then on De'Etta's and then on Jodi's. I finally decided to make one for our family. I didn't add all of our animals just the cat and dog. I really love this.

A Day at the Zoo

Friday we went to the zoo. We had been planning this trip for a few weeks, but the weather forecast did not look promising. Thursday night they modified the forecast a bit and we decided to take the chance. The zoo is about three hours away for us. Three hours is not a long drive for us, but we did not want to take the drive and have it rain. The weather cooperated.

We arrived just before noon, but had a nice snack in the van, so we started right through the zoo and decided to eat later.

Hannah and Gabe check out a habitat

Gabe loved the giant pythons

The zoo is lovely. There are quite a few buildings that house animals that can't tolerate our colder northern climate, but there is also a nice trail that meanders around that has exhibits of animals such as Amur Tiger, Red Panda, Snow Leopard, Asian Elephant, Bison, Yak, Penquins and others.

The day was cool, but stayed dry for most of the time. We did get a few sprinkles, but it didn't deter us.

The kids cross a bridge that overlooks the Red Wolf habitat

The tiger was a huge hit. So majestic and beautiful.

Gray Wolf

Snow Leopard

Asian Elephant

Spectacled Bear

The penquins were so funny. I love penquins. They seem to really enjoy life. The penquin habitat had a lot of water and several areas where you could see the penquins under water.

The zoo keepers would hide containers, bugs and fruit in the hay in the exhibits of the primates. It was so fun watching them trying to open peanut butter containers to get the tasty bugs that were inside. They are very clever and managed to open them up.

In the Mandrill house, the keeper was just feeding them and she put several pieces of fruit right on the glass so the kids could see them very close. It was terrific.

There were a lot of outside areas, but some of them could be viewed from inside. This would make it very nice if the weather was really cold or yucky. The zoo is open all year except for a few holidays. I'm thinking it might be interesting to visit in the winter.

They had a great aviary with many exotic birds. It was warm, humid and inviting. The birds flew around, landing on railings and walking across the paths. The kids really enjoyed this room.
This was one of my favorite moments of the day. The lions have a very large outside habitat, but they seemed to enjoy sitting on the rock ledge up against the glass that lined a long hallway. Gabe just sat and sat staring at them. I asked one of the workers if the animals could see in or if the glass was too reflective and she said yes, they can see in and that they seem to enjoy looking at the people as much as the people enjoy looking at them. The size and beauty of these animals is amazing. Fantastic!

Hmmm..these are strange looking creatures

Our littlest chicks

After several hours, everyone was ready for something to eat. There was a great little place called the Jungle Cafe at the zoo. Amazingly, they served very healthy things at great prices. Yum, Yum!

Of course, what would an outing be without a trip to the gift shop. Everyone picked out a few small items and we called it a day. The drive home was uneventful, although the rain decided to come down in earnest and it poured most of the way.

We can't wait to come back again!

Rachel is Reading!

We have been diligently working on phonics with Rachel. I have to admit to becoming a bit discouraged and we seemed to go over and over the material with apparently little progress.

This week, we brought home a Dick and Jane book from the library. We have quite a few of these older type readers in the house and Rachel has shown little interest.

One evening, She and Gabe sat in the kitchen and she began sounding our words. I can not begin to tell you how excited we all were. It was a major breakthrough. I think now that she understands what she can do, she'll work even harder.

Gabe helping Rachel

After a few very frustrating weeks, this step forward was a real boost and such a blessing to me.

Thursday

We had several days this week when we weren't able to get a full day of school in. This happens occasionally. Thursday we were able to stay home all day and we got some good work done. Everyone worked hard and we had a good day.

Bessie does most of her work in her room

I've been finding more things to keep Dan busy while I work with the other kids. Here he is working on a color sorting file folder activity. Check out the tongue. He is really concentrating.

While I work with the girls, Gabe will often take a break and do one of his favorite activities, drawing. He is working on sharks in this pictures.

Rachel has very good handwriting. We discovered early on that it doesn't matter if she understands what she is writing, she can still work on the mechanics of writing. She enjoys writing and does a great job. Here she is working on coloring her border sheet for the week.

I'm not sure why I didn't have any pictures of Hannah, but she was also working on a couple of file folder activities. These are great fun for everyone and it keeps the younger ones occupied. I need to make more that are a bit more challenging.

I love it when we have good full days at home.

Giving Thanks

I read about this particular challenge on De'Etta's blog. I think this is a wonderful idea.

We have tried in recent years to make Thanksgiving more about giving thanks than just a day off to gorge ourselves and watch football between Halloween and Christmas. Some years we have done well, others, not so well. I am hopeful that this challenge will help keep me focused on the thanks part of Thanksgiving.

Here is a brief description of the challenge from twolittlevikings. Won't you join us in making this Thanksgiving more meaningful?

"This challenge is not meant to be difficult or complicated. Simply make a list (written or mental) of thirty people in your life that make your daily walk easier: friends, family, those that have made you smile when your day is somewhat blue.

Then, resolve that every day from today until Turkey Day you will send a note (either snail mail, hand-delivered, or electronically) to one of those folks."

Visiting Friends

My friend, Lisa, from Maine and her three boys spent the weekend with us. It was a very enjoyable visit. As I was looking at the photos on my camera, I realized I didn't really take too many. Lisa and I were having way to much fun chatting and relaxing. I'm sure Lisa will be posting on her blog also.

They arrived just after 6pm on Saturday and left Tuesday morning.

The kids all did great...well J (3.5 yo) and our Dan (4.5 yo) didn't always see eye to eye, but we did a pretty good job of keeping them apart.

They stayed in our "guest house" aka travel trailer and this worked out well for everyone. They could have their own space and we didn't need to do a lot of shuffling around making room.

Sunday we went to church and spent the rest of the day enjoying the beautiful weather. Lisa wanted to put J down for a nap, so we hung out. The other kids stayed inside for a while, but then ventured outside.

Dan, J and N enjoy some outdoor time

Gabe and B enjoy the tramp

We used the baby monitor and Lisa was able to put her boys down for the night and then come back to the house for wonderful evenings of crafts and conversation.

Lisa was using her Knifty Knitter and made quick work of a hat. I have a Knifty Knitter, but had not tried it yet. Watching her work made me eager to give it a go. I was doing some cross-stitch, finishing up a block for my stitching group. It was so pleasant catching up on all the doins' in each other's lives.

B and Gabe spent a lot of time on the computer

Although we are out in the country, you don't have to go far before you are in a more metropolitan area. Lisa wanted to hit a few stores that were close, namely, AC Moore and the Parent/Teacher Store. We had an early lunch headed into town. I love AC Moore. There is always something I just have to have. Actually I did need some embroidery floss. I also picked up some fun yarn to try out my Knifty Knitter. That will have to wait until my current block is finished.

The Parent/Teacher Store is a fun place to browse. Unfortunately the kids (at least my youngest) was getting a bit antsy. After a quick run through the store, Bessie was gracious enough to take him to the play room, which has enough things to keep the little ones busy.

Each of the kids picked out a small toy and I picked up a patterning game.

J, Dan and N enjoy the train table at the P/T store

We had another nice evening of chatting and crafts. Lisa picked out a black and a variegated fun fur that went perfect together. The black really set off the variegated colors. Lisa, you need to post your finished product! It really is great!

Lisa and me

I know Lisa was anxious to get back home to her hubby, her doggie and her own bed, but we didn't want them to leave. Gabe and B especially had a great time, enjoying the computer games and talking about Calvin and Hobbes. Hopefully they will be able to make another trip out next year.

I'm going to blog someday of how Lisa and I met. It is quite amazing how technology brought together two great friends.

All the kids

Ivy Malone

Invisible and In Plain Sightby Lorena McCourtney

I've read the first two books in this series and am enjoying them very much. Ivy Malone, in her own words, is a scrawny little old lady, but that doesn't keep her from solving some pretty big crimes.

She gets herself into quite a few tight places, but manages to work her way out in some very interesting ways. Along the way she gets help from various people she meets and I am enjoying the character development of Ivy and other repeating characters.

These are definitely "cozy mysteries". They are fun and easy to read. I have been able to figure out "who dun' it' by the end of the book, but that doesn't detract from the pleasure of the story as you follow how Ivy figures it out.

I look forward to reading more about Ivy and her adventures.