You Don't See That Every Day

Announcing the newest member of our family: The yellow lab. She is 10 weeks old and so much fun! We're still working on names. We'll try out one today, another one tomorrow - Taffy, Cookie, Tiger, Lolo, Hunny, Sunny ... She had a little trial in the middle of the night - fussing for 2 hours in her crate. Our other dog suffered through it without a sound. We've had a few accidents in the house so far. That has been one of my biggest worries. Thankfully we are replacing the carpet she uses, with our remodeling project. And on that note - we have a garage door! It was installed today! Hurrah! And the electrician is almost finished! Each little piece gets us closer to 'being done'. No garage door this morning Starting to build it Almost there Done! A bright shiny new, quiet, garage door.

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. We had cake. My s-i-l was nowhere around our house, but we had cake anyway. And someone definitely enjoyed her chocolate cake (besides me!) She was quite a sight. And then she wanted to play peek-a-boo Once we got the camcorder out she really started hamming it up. So a big thank you to the dear friend, LH, who brought over the 'chocolate turtle' cake. It was delish! (we all thought so)

We had a leisurely morning at home, the 7 of us, then headed over to my brother's house an hour away. We actually made it early this year - a first time for us. Early enough to help in the kitchen! I'm the one in orange, peeling carrots. The kids played and waited for the feast. We had snacks out to keep us going - crackers, cheese, donut holes. The cousins re-met each other and seemed to enjoy each other; a number of spontaneous hugs happened between these two. And as I was holding the latest member of the family - the 3 month old - my little one was a wee bit green-eyed. She climbed up beside me and watched the baby. And then stuck out her arms to hold him! With a little help, she did, and certainly enjoyed it. The meal was consumed. Oof. My waist expanded; maybe because of the deeeelicious sweet potato-with-pecans casserole that my sister in law made. Oh, the second (or third was it?) helping made me longing for elastic waistband! And then there wa...

Last Friday we had the sheet rock delivered. Some was put down in the garage, the rest was hauled into the upstairs. They had a really cool truck and 'swing' that carried the bundles over to the window, and then the guys hauled them in and set them in one of the rooms. On Saturday G and his brother, G., worked at getting some insulation in the garage ceiling, and even managed to get the time to hang one board of sheet rock! Hurrah! It begins! While they were working hard on installing a window, and stuffing insulation, the kids and I were shopping. For puppy supplies!! We found a crate we think will work for awhile, at least until Puppy is much bigger. For now, the kids find it a fun place to read, and play in. Little K. really enjoys hanging out inside of it! Last night - Sunday - our church held a Talent Show. And what talents we saw! There was an older lady who played the saw! Yep, like one you would use to saw a log in half. Well, you might not use it, ...

Does anyone else catch the irony of this sign?

Apple of her daddy's eye. This is our little 18 month old. Every time I see this picture I smile She likes to make us laugh, and she seems to know when she is cute, or doing something cute. Her favorite words now: "Cars" "Puppies!" "Babies" "Books" "Cow" "Horse" She makes the sound of a tractor when she reads about them in her books. And she is constantly asking to read books. What a fun stage we're in - most of the time

We're trying a new project this month, in honor of the Day of Giving Thanks. We cut out a bunch of leaves in various autumnal colors. And then scattered them on the table. (with verbal instructions on what to do) Everyone is able to write what they are thankful for on the leaves. We will do this up until Thanksgiving Day, when we will sit and read them. Or else we will read some each night for a few days after Thanksgiving. Because, really, we can be thankful any time, not just on a holiday. So far, the project is going well. Each day the younger girls ask, did anyone write on a leaf today? And I am pretty sure at least one of them is writing one 'thankful' note a day. Another new thing this week - I decided for the first time ever, to send a little note in my son's lunchbox. Just a little ray of sunshine, a note of encouragement, a 'hey kid!' kind of thing. And maybe just possibly it could be source of embarrassment,. NOT that I would wa...

Wow what a long weekend that was! What? It's Tuesday? The Weekend has been over how long already? Oh yeah. that stomach-bug induced fog I just came out of ... that has really thrown me off. The above picture has nothing to do with our weekend, our stomach bug, or my sickness induced emotions. Actually it might. It's a picture of my dad holding the hand of my youngest. Back when I was a kid my dad was gruff and tuff y'know. Working hard to keep the family afloat and educated. With 10 kids it took a lot of work. With 7 of them being boys, it probably took a lot more on his part than I will ever know. Not to neglect my mom's role in all of this. She cooked and cleaned and canned amazing massive amounts of food to keep us fed and growing and educated. There must have been pretty good teamwork between the two of them to get all of us where we are today. As far as I know, 8 of the 10 attend church faithfully, 7 of us have children which we have raised and are raising,...

I love the sunshine. Really. Love. It. Even if it is cold outside. When the sun comes out, everything just looks better (except my dirty windows. but that's another story) So I set aside the school books for a little bit this morning, and took the girls out to play in the sun and the leaves. 'Cause really, what's better than brisk fresh air, sunshine and crunchy leaves in autumn? Maybe ice cream, but not much else. Can you see the joy on their faces? I told them to just throw a bunch of leaves in the air, and this is what I got. Love it! Do you know how hard it is to get an 18month old to stand still, look at the camera and smile pretty?  Didn't happen quite like I wanted it too. But the others were willing to oblige me with plenty of posing. I've got some ideas for Christmas gifts from all of this ... but I won't spoil it in case the recipients are reading. I'm pretty excited about though. I love taking pictures and my girls se...