Just One More Page!

Jaela and Macey got new "chapter books" for their birthday (Thanks, Aunt Betsey!), and have been devouring them since they came in the mail yesterday.  Last night, Mike went in to read them a chapter of Pinocchio, their current bedtime story, and without even looking up from her book, Jaela asked, "Can you wait a minute, Daddy?  I'm almost done with this chapter.  Just one more page!"

It's starting already!

Another Adventure

Just for fun, I started another blog!  The new one is open to the public, so it doesn't have any personal information on it.  :)  Check it out if you want to, either by clicking here or by going to the link I put at the bottom of the sidebar on this page.

Mondays

Before we had kids, I used to absolutely DREAD Monday morning.  Monday morning meant that the weekend was officially over, and I had to go back to work.

Now that we have kids, I still dread Monday mornings, but I don't have to go anywhere.  Monday mornings now mean that I can count on the entire house being a disaster.

After Sunday School and church, a late lunch and a late nap, Sunday afternoon is spent relaxing.  No one does any housework or cleaning up.  

The kids play, color, read, or watch football with Mommy.

Daddy plays with the kids, does his own thing, or sometimes watches football with Mommy.

Mommy just watches football.

So, on Monday mornings, my house usually looks something like this:

(and it only looks THIS good if I happened to clean it really well the week before!)  :)

(I'll give credit where credit is due:  the kids DID pick up this room completely before they went to bed Sunday night.  They also very obediently stayed in bed until their clock said 7:00 this morning, then colored and drew until almost 9:00.  I can't really complain about THIS mess!)

Nope.  Monday is not my favorite day.

Autumn Colors and Hot Spiced Apple Cider

The view from my back deck this afternoon...

...complete with a steaming mug of hot spiced apple cider.

It was a nice, quiet moment.  Yeah, I actually do mean just one.

Quiet.  Moment.

Isaak was with me, and he was not happy.

Not cheerful, either.  Downright grouchy, as a matter of fact.

And he thought that the entire neighborhood should hear about it.

I disagreed.

So we went inside.

It was a nice, quiet moment.  While it lasted.

Our House

Our House

Come on in!  :)

The "old Dining Room"...someday a Sitting Room:

Kitchen and "new" Dining Room:

Living Room:

Master Bedroom:

Master Bathroom:

"Tornado Closet" -- we DO live in the South!

Upstairs we go!

Jaela, Macey, and Anya's Room:

Office/Music Room/Guest Room:

Schoolroom/TV Room:

Isaak's Room:

The Backyard:

Wanna come for a REAL visit?!?  :)

A Brief Glimpse

A brief glimpse into my day (any deeper of a glimpse, and you'd either be bored to tears or as exhausted as I am!):

Dirty laundry waiting to be sorted and washed, and clean laundry waiting to be folded

I barely made a dent in either pile...

On the other hand, I cleaned and tidied up the ENTIRE house, taught school, ran a few errands, and picked up a few groceries!

And at the end of the day, there are clean dishes waiting to be put away, dirty dishes waiting to be washed, a full garbage waiting to go out...

...and two freshly baked loaves of bread waiting to be sliced and put away.

A very satisfying end to a satisfying day!  :)

Little House in the Bark Mulch

The kids have designated the bark mulched area among our trees in the back yard as their "house", and whenever we go outside to play, that's where they head.  If I remember correctly, in this picture Macey is in the bedroom, Anya and Jaela are in the living room, and Isaak is in the kitchen.  They have a garden and a farm, too.  :)

Yesterday as they played in their house, I heard Jaela say, "Ok, now everyone line up, and I'll give you your chores for the day."  And her sisters cooperated too!  They lined up, Jaela assigned them each some chores, and they all ran off cheerfully to "do" them.  Maybe I should try that "line up" system in MY house!  (Although if I'm being honest, their house looks like it's more fun!)  :)