Weekly Daybook

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For Today...April 27, 2009

Outside My Window...it is dark...deliciously warm and windy. What a joy to have all the windows open and have it still be 76 degrees at 10:30pm.

I am thinking...how tired I still am from our eventful weekend and how quickly children heal and bounce back from difficult experiences.
I am thankful for...modern medicine, wonderful doctors and nurses and for a young boy who warms my heart daily with his overflowing spirit.
From the learning rooms...nothing official, but this week has given all of us lessons in working together as a family, loving and caring for each other and God's sustaining power.
From the kitchen...we made "chicken bumps" today...thanks, Felicity for a great recipe...much enjoyed by all.
I am wearing...cotton pants and a t-shirt.
I am creating...still working on the same projects...spring quilt, dresses for the little girls and a cross-stitch block. Didn't get too much accomplished this past week.
I am going...to bed early tonight. I am weary.
I am reading...continuing with Passionate Housewives Desperate for God....it is going slowly, not much reading time recently.
I am hoping...for a quieter day tomorrow.
I am hearing...soft snores and warm breezes, peepers and other frogs.
Around the house...a mess. With Gabe's injury the focus has been on keeping him comfortable, so not a lot of our usual schedule going on, which means there has been loads of playing without the picking up part...tomorrow we will launch a major clean up.
One of my favorite things...a young boy who says the pain is a #1...that is a very good thing.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...three doctor visits this week for various children plus some bloodwork for one and the cat being neutered..

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... a new pile of fabric...the start of my spring quilt!

Gabe's First ER Visit

Friday morning, Gabe had an accident that resulted in his arm being broken in three places. It required surgery to repair the fractures. He is now sporting a full arm splint cast.

Gabe was so brave and cooperative through it all, even though you could tell he was in extreme pain. Here he is in the ER waiting to go for his surgery.

After a terrible night with little sleep, he still had a good attitude enjoying unlimited cartoons.

Home at last. Still in quite a bit of pain, but glad for his own bed and familiar surroundings.

This post is purposely short at Gabe's request. He wanted to keep most of the details private and I respect that. He is doing much better today and I'm sure he will be back to his old self in no time.

Thank you to all that have prayed for him and for me and the family. This has been a very difficult few days.

New Look

Rachel and Hannah both wanted to get their hair cut. I'm not sure who had the idea first but that was fine by me. I usually do the hair trimming, but they wanted much shorter cuts, so I brought them to the salon.

Here is the a picture before we headed to the salon. Poor Hannah wasn't having a great morning, so she looks much grumpier than usual. I tried to get her to smile a bit, but she was not too happy.

And the after picture. Don't they look so cute. I especially like this look on Hannah as her hair does a natural bob thing swooping under, but it is a great look for both of them. And doesn't Hannah look more like her usual cheery self? She had a much better afternoon.

Weekly Daybook

Go to The Simple Woman to read more.

For Today...April 20, 2009

Outside My Window...it is almost dark. It is raining and very windy. It is only 43 degrees out. Where did spring go?

I am thinking...that I really need to do a few things to help boost my energy level. Getting to bed before 2am most nights might help. Ugh!
I am thankful for...a fun late afternoon of playing MarioKart with my children. We all had such a great time. I am not very good, but they humor me and we laugh a lot.
From the learning rooms...back to our usual schedule today after a wonderful week long break. The little girls are doing well, especially Rachel who seems right on the verge of making some major leaps. Gabe seems more content with his work load and has been working with little complaint...woohoo!
From the kitchen...rice and pork. The children enjoyed it...well most of them.
I am wearing...my lounge wear...flannel nightshirt and fleece pants...I'm all about the comfort.
I am creating...I've been working on my new quilt this past week. I have one set of blocks all done and most of the components of the other set of blocks assembled and ready to put together. I always have a cross-stitch block in progress for my charity group and I'm working on t-shirt dresses for the little girls.
I am going...to make a good effort to get into bed at least by midnight.
I am reading...continuing with Passionate Housewives Desperate for God.
I am hoping...for some warmer weather soon.
I am hearing...soft breathing from sleeping children and Gabe reading jokes to me.
Around the house...material for making new birdhouses and a quilt taking shape. Mr. Potato Head in pieces and towels needing to be laundered.
One of my favorite things...a boy that says "I am just feeling so happy!".
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...the usual...speech and piano and to take Bess to the orthodontist to have her bottom braces put on. I would love to get out in the garden but the forecast is for mostly rain this week. Thankfully, I'm hearing predictions of warmer temps. Hoping to get the spring time crops in the veggie garden.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... A new larger crock-pot...it is sooo nice!

Weekly Daybook

Go to The Simple Woman to read more.

For Today...April 13, 2009

Outside My Window...it is a lovely day. Still quite cool with temps in the 40s, but plenty of sunshine and a gorgeous blue sky. The birds are very busy at the feeders as are the chickens underneath the feeders.

I am thinking...that perhaps I need to lower my expectations when it comes to the children even further...is that possible?
I am thankful for...our extended family. It is so wonderful to be able to get together with them and always know we will have a good time.
From the learning rooms...pretty quiet today. The PS is on vacation this week, so we are doing a modified schedule. I thought the children and I would enjoy a quiet day today to follow a few of their own pursuits.
From the kitchen...a baked noodle dish to bring to a friend who recently had a baby.
I am wearing...my usual comfy clothes...long-sleeved t-shirt, vest and windpants. I need to work on my wardrobe.
I am creating...continuing to work on a new cross-stitch block and I cut out the fabric for a small quilt.
I am going...to run a few errands and deliver the casserole to my friend. Later I hope to have time to work on my quilt.
I am reading...Passionate Housewives Desperate for God.
I am hoping...to have extra time to work on my quilt and get back out into the garden.
I am hearing...Gabe teaching Rachel to play chess...very funny, Hannah and Dan "cooking" in the playroom and Bessie's quiet music coming from her room.
Around the house...good smells from the kitchen, too much candy on the counter, laundry to be folded and fabric pieces cut out and waiting for me to sew.
One of my favorite things...audio books for listening while I work.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...very few...it should be quiet. Hopefully getting together with some friends, sewing and gardening and maybe a bit of school thrown in on our slower days.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing... Some of our first blooms.

Happy Easter

Easter morning was very cold and windy, but beautiful. There was plenty of sunshine and a lovely blue sky.

We had a wonderful church service with gorgeous, uplifting, meaningful music and a great message. My secret prayer sister also lavished wonderful gifts on myself and my family. She is such a blessing to me. I look forward to finding out who she is in the fall.

My family is quite patient or at least tolerant of my need to take photos of special occasions, so even though the temp barely reached the low 40s today, we had our annual Easter photo....outside...without jackets. They love me!

We stayed home today and had a nice quiet afternoon. The children played outside quite a bit. Theresa had sent them all home with new bubble jars yesterday, so they enjoyed using those. These bubbles are called soda bubbles and the container looks like an older fashioned soda bottle and it actually smelled quite nice. It's a wonder children don't drink them...I guess they probably don't taste so good.

We had an Easter egg hunt of our own. The chickens were quite fascinated by the eggs and after Bessie hid them, we could see several of the chickens pecking at them. Maybe we'll have jelly bean flavored eggs this week.

The children enjoy this and it is more for the fun of the hunt as after all the eggs are found, we combine all the spoils and enjoy them together. I think we forgot a few and I'm sure we will be finding them in the days to come...or the chickens will.

Bess made herself a pair of bunny ears. She loves anything to do with bunnies.



We did the Resurrection Eggs and read Benjamin's Box. This is a very meaningful way to go through the whole Easter story by using simple symbols. We have done this for many years and the children look forward to it each year.

We had a delicious meal later in the day and a quiet evening. Brian is teaching Gabe how to play chess.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Easter.

Birthday/Easter Party

Glenn and Theresa held Zeb and Abbie's birthday party on Saturday. This was also sort of an Easter party. Although the weather was predicted to be rainy, the showers held off and we had a very nice time.

Most of the ladies stayed inside as it was not raining, but quite cold and windy.

Theresa held an Easter egg hunt for the younger crowd. This was a lot of fun and they have a large yard, so there was plenty of room to hide the eggs.

Dan just loves the idea of those candy filled eggs. He is off and running.

Rachel joins in the fun, but a bit more lady like in her searching.

Glenn build a fire and the outside group enjoyed the warm and atmosphere. There were plenty of laughs and conversation inside and out.

Here are the birthday boy and girl getting ready to blow out the candles. (Zeb and Abbie's birthdays are only a week apart.)

And opening gifts.

Theresa has a gift for hospitality and her parties and get togethers are always wonderful. She makes terrific food and She and Glenn make everyone feel welcomed and at home. We always have a great time with them.

Finally Some Spring

Friday finally brought us a bit of warmer weather...still a bit chilly, but nicer (Don't let the children fool you with their short-sleeved shirts...it was still cool.).

Brian dragged the grill out of the garage and we had our first grilling of the season. Nothing says spring like the smell of the bbq.

The children enjoyed all sorts of activities from riding their bikes and playing in the sandbox and with the chalkboard to exploring the woods and finding a cache of old bottles. Some looked quite old and I confiscated these for myself!

Brian, Bess and I did some garden work. We raked off the house perennial garden and cut back all the dead stalks. This of course should probably have been done in the fall, but winter seemed to come upon us quite quickly last year.

There are a few things blooming or close to blooming in the garden. Each year it is so encouraging to see how much of the garden is indeed coming back. With our severe weather, one is never quite sure what to expect.

"Belle"

This is my latest cross-stitch block, Belle, from Beauty and the Beast. This block will go in a quilt for a special child.

Spring?

Spring is here, you can see and hear the signs, but the weather sure hasn't been told yet.

Despite the fact that the birds are singing their little hearts out and starting to show their summer plumage and the peepers are peeping and the sun staying around longer, the temps have been cold. It has been windy and rainy and yes we had snow most days last week.

All this lousy weather has not deterred the children in the least. With winter boots, coats, hats and gloves, they have been spending hours outside each day, breathing in the fresh air and having a grand ole' time.

This heavy duty three-wheeled trike, a gift from a friend, is a perennial favorite and despite the fact that the handle-bars fell off, the children have been logging a lot of miles on this thing.

This photo is blurry, but can you see the joy on their faces. They have so much fun going around and around the yard. And I think most likely, just enjoying being able to be outside so much.

PS-Brian repaired the handlebars tonight. The children will be good to go tomorrow.

Happy Birthday to Me

Last weekend I celebrated my birthday. It is a rare occasion that Brian is able to be home when my birthday falls on the weekend as usually the month drill weekend is the first weekend, but for some reason it is later this month, so he was home.

We had a great day. We went to the library, which is our usual Saturday errand and then headed out to lunch. We went to the food court at a local mall which pleases everyone as they can each get what they want.

We then went to the large Joanne's store. Brian stayed in the van and watched a DVD with the younger set and Bessie and I browsed to our hearts content. I only bought a few things, but it was so nice to have the time to look around without my usual entourage.

To make the shopping trip more fun for all, we went into the near by Target.

Brian and the children spoiled me this year with wonderful gifts.

The children bought me a new mp3 player with lots of memory. This will be so nice for all those book downloads. I have recently discovered that our local library system as a very extensive download library. I enjoy listening to audio books while I work on my stitching and sewing.

And a very unexpected gift from Brian was a new laptop computer. It has been many years since we have had a new computer and Brian's knows how much I enjoy blogging, reading blogs, Facebook and chatting with online friends. I was very excited and also a bit guilty...well, for a few minutes anyway.

Brian made dinner and he and Bessie made a cake. It was a special day made especially nice as Brian was able to be home all day. I am so blessed by my wonderful family.

Maple Sugaring

We completed another lapbook this spring on maple sugaring (lapbook post to follow). The timing was just right for a visit to one of the many local sugar houses in our area. Spring is the season for the sap to run and the sugar houses were in full swing.

The sugar house we visited is also a working dairy farm and we were able to see the cow barn and visit with some calves. We also took a nice ride on a wagon pulled by a team of draft horses.

The day was gorgeous, cold and a bit windy, but blue skies and plenty of sunshine. A terrific day was had by all and the children got a first hand reinforcement of everything we had learned in our studies.

Enjoy a slideshow of our visit.

Make a Smilebox slideshow