Welcome November!! Wow, is it just me or did October super fly by??? Let's wrap up Oct before moving on to November's OLW.
The kids and John and I had a great Halloween. We partied (you know, toddler/school style) at a friends house. We ate pizza and trick or treated through their neighborhood, which was the perfect amount of time (about an hour). It was cool and breezy and overcast, no rain though, just right for Halloween! After trick or treating we had cake and hot cider/chocolate and the kids played. Wonderful evening!
Allie got the hang of things very quickly (last year she was still in a stroller) but she wouldn't say "trick or treat" even with all the practice she did! I think it was a little overwhelming. At the last house she finally said something: "Baaakkk bakk" like a chicken!! Asher was a Ninja and was full steam ahead.
What a haul!!
It was a late night for the kids, as we stopped to visit with another family friend on the way home and stayed visiting there for an hour or so. The kids were so keyed up still of course and didn't want to go to sleep. Allie was in the crib saying, "Treeeeeeaaaats!!!!!" over and over and crying because she wanted more candy. Obviously we have limited the amount they can have since then and we (ok more me) are doing what we can to help the candy disappear. Hehehe.
Also in October we wrapped up Flag Football (only made TWO games due to illness, weather, and out of town). Ash has also joined the Boy Scouts and is a Tiger Cub.
An Asher milestone - he has a loose tooth! I can't believe my little boy finally has a loose tooth. Some kids in his class have already lost several. Earlier this week he was eating an apple and all of a sudden said, "I can't eat this apple, my tooth feels funny!" I was like HUH? Then it dawned on me, and we looked at it and wiggled it. It is kind of snaggletooth right now, loose more one way than another, and not quite ready to come out. Ooooh!! I have loved his sweet little pearly baby whites and this is a big deal for me. Makes me sad to reach the start of the losing teeth stage.
On the way to school the day before Halloween, I backed out of the garage and saw this beautiful, beautiful sunrise. What an amazing God we serve. :)
Around the Farm. Let's see, our pigeons are already laying eggs!! John built them some nesting boxes and just within 3 weeks there were 2 eggs in 3 of the boxes. We will let them do what they do and see how it goes!
Also, this picture of seven deer (there is one right behind another near the feeder) was taken the first day of November. John and I were steaming off wallpaper in the laundry room and he looked out of the window in the door and saw them. He is glad his feeder is working. Modern Gun is on it's way! LOL
Our cattle are gone! They were picked up on Monday morning and 3 were hauled to the butcher and 4 to the stockyards. The 4 were sold in the Tuesday auction. They were close to 800 pounds apiece! We put 300 pounds on them in almost 6 months. Our beef will be ready from the butcher probably the end of this coming week. John and I are getting a whole cow. The other 2 cows are being split amongst 4 people, so they will each get a half cow. We have been working on clearing out the deep freeze - haven't bought any meat in 3 months!
In craft news, here's a Crayon Keeper I finished up last week for a friend. She needed a neutral fabric so both her boy and girl could use it. I hadn't sewn anything with this particular color yet and it was fun to work with! It's called Bangle Dot.
I still have many sewing projects filling my brain but have not been able to devote time to them! We are so incredibly busy and have had a lot going on. I mentioned steaming off wallpaper. The laundry room was the only room in the upstairs that had not been redone. It had white walls and then blue gingham check on the lower half with a border around. I never liked it (big surprise, y'all know I despise wallpaper in my house) and I finally just had HAD IT! I told John I was ready to redo that room. To his credit he didn't give me a hard time, I mean it is only the laundry room for goodness sake. It's not like we are entertaining in there. But I spend enough time in there that I was DONE. He helped me with the wallpaper, that is really a 2 person job, and it was a huge pain to do, even with our trusty steamer. The glue was unbelievable, and having to work around the machines and the sink basin was very inconvenient. We got all the wallpaper down that day, and then throughout the week I worked on painting. I had to do primer which drives me nuts as I think, I could be done by now, but it was a necessity with having had wallpaper. It did make a huge difference so I'm glad I took the time to do that (my dad will be proud). I picked out a color called Thyme Green which is a dark sage-ish sort of color. It is darker than I thought it would be, but it turned out fabulous! I painted the trim with the color I already had that I used in the office, and off white-ish color called Crescent Moon. I ALWAYS paint trim when I redo a room. It really finishes it off nicely! So, as of yesterday the project is complete and everything moved back in. Big Smile!
On Tuesday this past week I had a meeting at the school with Asher's Speech teacher along with his regular teacher and school counselor. The Speech teacher told me she is dismissing Asher from Speech! I was NOT expecting that at all. He
is doing so much better, his regular teacher Ms Lambert told me she can understand him perfectly and he just is still having some trouble with the sound "th". BUT he CAN MAKE the sound, he just has to retrain his brain some more, which we will continue to work on. The Speech teacher didn't feel like pulling him from class was warranted any further. I knew Ash would be disappointed as he loved going to Speech! He took it well though and we just talked up how proud we are of him and how hard he worked. We also have to work with him still on SLOWING DOWN his words. Of course both John and I are fast talkers and that doesn't help! LOL
Oh, cute Allie story - and milestone! Her latest phrase is "I feel better now." She uses this all the time. When she gets into trouble and cries, after the crying has passed she says "I feel better now!" When she gets hurt, same thing. It is so cute especially after a nervewracking meltdown of crying and having to deal with that, to have her come up and say that when she gets ahold of herself finally. The milestone: I took the front of the crib off and converted to a "toddler" bed! Yes, we have bought her a twin bed but we still don't have a mattress for it, and I was ready to be done with the crib, as in her not being able to get out, like in the mornings of after naptime. MAINLY because although she is potty trained (except for naps and night) she would not call for us to come get her, until she had pooped in her nap diaper. UGH! I made the change on Friday naptime. John had just left (worked out of town this weekend) and I got a wild hair and decided to just do it. Allie has done great with it! It's like there is an invisible barrier haha. She is staying put at nap and nighttime, only getting up when she wakes up. Yea! I am so proud of her and her "big girl crib". Saving "big girl bed" for when the real deal gets set up. This is getting her used to that, although I think she would have done fine going straight to it. My baby is growing up fast! She's less than 3 months shy of 3 years old. *sigh
OK, on to OLW for November. The OLW is GIVE. I LOVE this word for this month! The definition I am using:
~to make a present of
~to offer
~to suffer the loss of
~to allow one to have
~to yield oneself
The quote for this month, I see it on a wall at the YMCA every time I am there and I have been waiting and waiting for this month to use it!!
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. ~Sir Winston Churchill
Ooooh, isn't that so true??
OK, and the Scripture for this month. This was HARD to narrow down. There are many verses that encompass the meaning I want to focus on this month! So there are two Scriptures this month.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ~John 3:16
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. ~Matthew 6:3-4
I really wanted a scripture to reflect giving to the needy (which doesn't always mean poor by the way) as well as probably the most well known verse in the Bible, John 3:16!
My sister Shannon and my sister-in-law Heather will celebrate birthdays this month. So will two friends, Melanie and Amy. My sis Shannon also celebrated her 22nd anniversary to my bro-in-law Kevin! Of course there's Thanksgiving, and I am already planning my menu. Ash will be out of school that Wed-Fri, which will be a nice break. John will be on call that Tue/Wed but off the Thur and hopefully the Fri. I think we will just be staying home unless we find out early enough that he is off that Friday, then maybe we will see about a visit somewhere, but most likely not. John is on vacation the following week, and plans to travel out of state to do some bird hunting.
I am looking forward to reaching out in many ways this month. This Wednesday the 11th is Veterans Day. Please honor our Veterans - those who have served, those who are still serving, and those who have fallen (to suffer the loss of!) - in some way this Wednesday. Also, please keep in your prayers the son of a family friend, his name is Caleb and he fell climbing down a tree stand this past Thursday. He broke several bones and has undergone surgery; he is expected to recover but will be immobile for 6-8 weeks. God was most certainly with Caleb and we know will continue to be with him and his family in the trying weeks ahead.
Allie got the hang of things very quickly (last year she was still in a stroller) but she wouldn't say "trick or treat" even with all the practice she did! I think it was a little overwhelming. At the last house she finally said something: "Baaakkk bakk" like a chicken!! Asher was a Ninja and was full steam ahead.
What a haul!!
It was a late night for the kids, as we stopped to visit with another family friend on the way home and stayed visiting there for an hour or so. The kids were so keyed up still of course and didn't want to go to sleep. Allie was in the crib saying, "Treeeeeeaaaats!!!!!" over and over and crying because she wanted more candy. Obviously we have limited the amount they can have since then and we (ok more me) are doing what we can to help the candy disappear. Hehehe.
Also in October we wrapped up Flag Football (only made TWO games due to illness, weather, and out of town). Ash has also joined the Boy Scouts and is a Tiger Cub.
An Asher milestone - he has a loose tooth! I can't believe my little boy finally has a loose tooth. Some kids in his class have already lost several. Earlier this week he was eating an apple and all of a sudden said, "I can't eat this apple, my tooth feels funny!" I was like HUH? Then it dawned on me, and we looked at it and wiggled it. It is kind of snaggletooth right now, loose more one way than another, and not quite ready to come out. Ooooh!! I have loved his sweet little pearly baby whites and this is a big deal for me. Makes me sad to reach the start of the losing teeth stage.
On the way to school the day before Halloween, I backed out of the garage and saw this beautiful, beautiful sunrise. What an amazing God we serve. :)
Around the Farm. Let's see, our pigeons are already laying eggs!! John built them some nesting boxes and just within 3 weeks there were 2 eggs in 3 of the boxes. We will let them do what they do and see how it goes!
Also, this picture of seven deer (there is one right behind another near the feeder) was taken the first day of November. John and I were steaming off wallpaper in the laundry room and he looked out of the window in the door and saw them. He is glad his feeder is working. Modern Gun is on it's way! LOL
Our cattle are gone! They were picked up on Monday morning and 3 were hauled to the butcher and 4 to the stockyards. The 4 were sold in the Tuesday auction. They were close to 800 pounds apiece! We put 300 pounds on them in almost 6 months. Our beef will be ready from the butcher probably the end of this coming week. John and I are getting a whole cow. The other 2 cows are being split amongst 4 people, so they will each get a half cow. We have been working on clearing out the deep freeze - haven't bought any meat in 3 months!
In craft news, here's a Crayon Keeper I finished up last week for a friend. She needed a neutral fabric so both her boy and girl could use it. I hadn't sewn anything with this particular color yet and it was fun to work with! It's called Bangle Dot.
I still have many sewing projects filling my brain but have not been able to devote time to them! We are so incredibly busy and have had a lot going on. I mentioned steaming off wallpaper. The laundry room was the only room in the upstairs that had not been redone. It had white walls and then blue gingham check on the lower half with a border around. I never liked it (big surprise, y'all know I despise wallpaper in my house) and I finally just had HAD IT! I told John I was ready to redo that room. To his credit he didn't give me a hard time, I mean it is only the laundry room for goodness sake. It's not like we are entertaining in there. But I spend enough time in there that I was DONE. He helped me with the wallpaper, that is really a 2 person job, and it was a huge pain to do, even with our trusty steamer. The glue was unbelievable, and having to work around the machines and the sink basin was very inconvenient. We got all the wallpaper down that day, and then throughout the week I worked on painting. I had to do primer which drives me nuts as I think, I could be done by now, but it was a necessity with having had wallpaper. It did make a huge difference so I'm glad I took the time to do that (my dad will be proud). I picked out a color called Thyme Green which is a dark sage-ish sort of color. It is darker than I thought it would be, but it turned out fabulous! I painted the trim with the color I already had that I used in the office, and off white-ish color called Crescent Moon. I ALWAYS paint trim when I redo a room. It really finishes it off nicely! So, as of yesterday the project is complete and everything moved back in. Big Smile!
On Tuesday this past week I had a meeting at the school with Asher's Speech teacher along with his regular teacher and school counselor. The Speech teacher told me she is dismissing Asher from Speech! I was NOT expecting that at all. He is doing so much better, his regular teacher Ms Lambert told me she can understand him perfectly and he just is still having some trouble with the sound "th". BUT he CAN MAKE the sound, he just has to retrain his brain some more, which we will continue to work on. The Speech teacher didn't feel like pulling him from class was warranted any further. I knew Ash would be disappointed as he loved going to Speech! He took it well though and we just talked up how proud we are of him and how hard he worked. We also have to work with him still on SLOWING DOWN his words. Of course both John and I are fast talkers and that doesn't help! LOL
Oh, cute Allie story - and milestone! Her latest phrase is "I feel better now." She uses this all the time. When she gets into trouble and cries, after the crying has passed she says "I feel better now!" When she gets hurt, same thing. It is so cute especially after a nervewracking meltdown of crying and having to deal with that, to have her come up and say that when she gets ahold of herself finally. The milestone: I took the front of the crib off and converted to a "toddler" bed! Yes, we have bought her a twin bed but we still don't have a mattress for it, and I was ready to be done with the crib, as in her not being able to get out, like in the mornings of after naptime. MAINLY because although she is potty trained (except for naps and night) she would not call for us to come get her, until she had pooped in her nap diaper. UGH! I made the change on Friday naptime. John had just left (worked out of town this weekend) and I got a wild hair and decided to just do it. Allie has done great with it! It's like there is an invisible barrier haha. She is staying put at nap and nighttime, only getting up when she wakes up. Yea! I am so proud of her and her "big girl crib". Saving "big girl bed" for when the real deal gets set up. This is getting her used to that, although I think she would have done fine going straight to it. My baby is growing up fast! She's less than 3 months shy of 3 years old. *sigh
OK, on to OLW for November. The OLW is GIVE. I LOVE this word for this month! The definition I am using:
~to make a present of
~to offer
~to suffer the loss of
~to allow one to have
~to yield oneself
The quote for this month, I see it on a wall at the YMCA every time I am there and I have been waiting and waiting for this month to use it!!
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. ~Sir Winston Churchill
Ooooh, isn't that so true??
OK, and the Scripture for this month. This was HARD to narrow down. There are many verses that encompass the meaning I want to focus on this month! So there are two Scriptures this month.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ~John 3:16
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. ~Matthew 6:3-4
I really wanted a scripture to reflect giving to the needy (which doesn't always mean poor by the way) as well as probably the most well known verse in the Bible, John 3:16!
My sister Shannon and my sister-in-law Heather will celebrate birthdays this month. So will two friends, Melanie and Amy. My sis Shannon also celebrated her 22nd anniversary to my bro-in-law Kevin! Of course there's Thanksgiving, and I am already planning my menu. Ash will be out of school that Wed-Fri, which will be a nice break. John will be on call that Tue/Wed but off the Thur and hopefully the Fri. I think we will just be staying home unless we find out early enough that he is off that Friday, then maybe we will see about a visit somewhere, but most likely not. John is on vacation the following week, and plans to travel out of state to do some bird hunting.
I am looking forward to reaching out in many ways this month. This Wednesday the 11th is Veterans Day. Please honor our Veterans - those who have served, those who are still serving, and those who have fallen (to suffer the loss of!) - in some way this Wednesday. Also, please keep in your prayers the son of a family friend, his name is Caleb and he fell climbing down a tree stand this past Thursday. He broke several bones and has undergone surgery; he is expected to recover but will be immobile for 6-8 weeks. God was most certainly with Caleb and we know will continue to be with him and his family in the trying weeks ahead.
