Music and Art

We had some friends over for music and art lessons. We reviewed our composers up to date and then did some boomwhacker activities. Even Michael got in on the action this week.

We had an art lesson by a great teacher. The kids did a drawing lesson on showing emotions. They started with 5 pieces of paper, then drew an identical blank face on each one. We talked about different emotions. The kids showed those emotions in their faces. They discussed how different parts of the face looked with each emotion. Then drew the face. We did happy, sad, mad, excited and scared.



After drawing all 5 faces, the kids picked the 4 best ones to glue on a background. I think they all turned out great.





These bottom two are Tera's and Daniel's respectively.The little ones taking a break to watch cars.

Fall Break

Since we had visitors, we took Fall Break a week early. We started the week with swim lessons at the local college. We were very pleased with how great the kids did. Daniel cannot wait for next Monday.
We babysat Nate's snake while they were in the mountains for the week.


Tera painted a lot with her birthday presents. Below is her self-portrait.

Michael rediscovered some toys. He said puppy for the first time this week which sounded more like duppy but as long as we know what he means.
We did some other things too...I'll post about later.

Tons of Fun

It was a busy but great weekend with Tera, Daniel and Michael's only cousins. We went to Fort Loudoun, the park and then drove up to the Foothills Parkway Sunday afternoon. The leaves were changing on the parkway but not much color in the mountains yet but it is still beautiful as always. We had enough kid binoculars for all the older kids to have a pair. Uncle JP was teasing them saying he could see a cat on the porch of one of the houses in the distance. The story expanded to see the tick on its ear and a mouse missing it's front tooth.
Nate and Daniel chasing a cricket at one of the stops.

We had tons of downtime too- playing games and watching new videos. Tera and Daniel loved teaching Nate to play her new game Sci-ology.




We had a ton of fun!

Fort Loudoun Garrison Weekend

My brother and family came in a for visit this weekend so we all headed out to Fort Loudoun on Saturday for the Garrison weekend. I love it out there!

Waiting for the cannon to blast at a very safe distance. We did get closer but it just happened to fire right as we were walking up the trail.
This one of my favorite pictures where you can actually see the shot coming out of the barrel. It would have been better without that guy in the corner. JP got several pictures of him too.
The reenactors

Resting on bamboo



Just being cute!

Washing clothes

Running and watching

Ya gotta love that face!

Musings aka Ramblings

Since we had visitors last weekend and then started swim lessons on Monday, I decided to take fall break a week early so that the kids could recover a bit. We had pictures taken Tuesday and had to buy some things for the kids to wear. Tera is growing like a weed and needed new pants. Daniel is sneaking up on me, too. His sandals last year were 1 1/2 and his sneakers 2's, now he is in a 3 shoe size. He has worn flip flops and crocs all summer so I didn't even notice. It is crazy the growth spurts they are having. But I'm thankful for healthy, happy kids.

My house smells of Old English lemon scent and Mr. Clean. I spent today finishing up the cleaning because we are having friends over tomorrow. I had the kids earn a movie tonight by doing cleaning jobs around the house. Each job earned 5 minutes of a movie. They were allowed to pool their times to watch 1 movie. They swept, cleaned windows, wiped down baseboards, and other things. They were so excited when I showed them how to use Old English on the bannister and wood parts of the stairs. Both of them love to clean if it's earning something they want. That works for me.

I've really been struggling lately with a consistent prayer time. As soon as I find my groove something happens and knocks me off routine. We talked during our sharing time about "praying continuously". An idea came to me (I always know God gives me these ideas because it usually happens while I'm reading my Bible or praying). I divided my prayer list into sections- (my immediate family, my family, my husband's family, co-workers, friends). Then I wrote out prayer cards and placed them in the rooms I spend the most time in as a reminder to pray for that list of people. So when I walk into a room, it's a little reminder. I don't remember every time but I found myself in a more prayerful spirit today. And I think that's a great thing.

My mom had her gall bladder removed and I am so relieved that she is home recovering after a successful surgery. I pray that this will remedy her symptoms.

I've also gotten out of the habit of my daily exercise and watching what I eat. We've had a month of weird eating. Daniel's birthday, joint party, Tera's birthday, guests, sicknesses and other things have really thrown me off. I have exercised, just not riding my bike which is really good for me. My legs have been tight and stiff lately so I'm ready to get back into the routine of things. The scale has been kind to me in spite of my recent slack but I'm not going to keep pushing it. I rode my bike tonight and it felt great.

Well, that's enough rambling for tonight...

How Cousins Play

This is how little girl cousins play:
This is how little boy cousins play:

And they are both happy!