Wow! Its been a long time.

Sorry everyone for not writing in over a month. Time does fly!!

Everyone is doing fine. Michael has been a little busier at work and has "decked our halls" for Halloween. I have been busy getting back into the routine of school and housework on the weekend. I cleaned out all the eatable vegetables from the garden last weekend and so I will be canning tomatoes (not making salsa though) this week. And it sounds like I will be cleaning flower beds in my parka and snow pants with highs in the 30's this weekend. We had snow flurries yesterday. Yuk! but it needs to be done.

Hey look my amaryllis that I re-potted has bloomed- three times actually.

The kids are busy as ever.
Grace has been playing more dolls and stuffed animals. For a couple weeks now there has been a regular little nursery in their bedroom. She has made beds (complete with pillow and blankies) for various dolls and stuffed animals on the floor. She is so cute and such a little mother hen tucking them in and giving kisses.









She also is now in love with her hair. She took her hair accessories, aka pretties, and sorted them into her purses. SO when it came time to use one, they were no where to be found. Thus the purchase of the "pretties box" was necessary. Her other new thing is to brush her hair. One night she was at supoer and asked, "Daddy Do I look pretty?" He just shook his head, and said "she is definitely a girl." Then later one evening after school, she ran to the get her brush and says, " I have to comb my hair so I look pretty for Daddy." Good Grief- What will happen at 13 yrs. old?


Andrew-- He is enjoying school. His favorite things are math facts and science class. They are learning about mammals right now. Exciting!! Last night he had fun playing a game - plastic Easter eggs with letters inside to spell words and reading me some of his little books. His plan is to fill his chart (20 books) this weekend to earn a book from the book order.

Speaking of book orders, I had brought home a couple book orders to look through for my classroom. Andrew got all excited and ran to his piggy bank. Such disappointment- only 50 cents- in a huff and pouting he goes to his room. I call him back and he says, "I want to buy some books but I don't have money." I tell him that I would buy him a few books. He says, "I can't spend all your money. You just don't spend your money like that. I am not going to waste your money. " So we talked about what he could do: get money from his saving account- "No, I am suppose to keep that money for a long time."; OR work for the money- "Yeah, I can help you out." So I have a laundry helper again, and he has spent many hours deciding which books are the best buys.

September had really nice weather so Andrew spent a lot of time outside climbing the tree, practicing batting a softball (he is getting pretty good too), and playing with his little friend "The Beetle."

That's about it for our September stories. We are looking forward to a visit from Michael's sister and family next weekend. Can't wait to visit and play with Luke, Abby, and Libby.


Oh I almost forgot about our fifth member of the family- Snuggles, the cat. Snuggles had surgery for tumors on her upper and lower gums in her mouth. Well, they were worse than the vet thought and they had to remove some teeth too. Yikes!! We brought her home and for about a week she would not eat and not drink much. This whole time she was acting strange. Doing things like: sitting with us, following us around, going outside willingly, letting the kids pet her and brush her, and MEOWING. All things very uncommon for Snuggles. So we took her back to the vet, and she spent two nights for dehydration. She is pretty good now but not quite herself yet. We have prayed that we don't loose her and still don't loose her since we have invested quite a bit of money into her right now.