Firewood Collecting

 As I mentioned before, we had campfires every Friday night this fall.  Campfires need firewood.  Brandon and T went to the church parking lot and attacked an old wood pile.  They got a lot of great work done and grew our wood supply impressively!

T: Don't worry.  It wasn't on.  I am just pretending.

T: I looked for slugs and snails while daddy was cutting.  I needed to play some of the time you know!

T: I helped carry the wood to the van.

T: Look at all our firewood!

Fantastically Flexible!

I remember stretching as a girl and hoping I could do the splits.  T takes stretching to a level that my mind never even imagined.  She does these types of stretches daily with total ease.  

T: This is comfortable.

T: What? Everyone can do this, right?

My most typical pics

 There are two things which I am constantly taking pictures of to text to Brandon or other friends.  I take way too many pictures of the cats cuddling with me.  I don't post them all of the blog, but I had to post the one below because Buttercup was so desperate for a cuddle and I was sitting in a chair, not lounging on the couch.  He made the most of the situation and rested his head on my toes.  I texted Brandon and informed him that no dinner had been started since I was trapped in the front room!  He is fully laying on my toes.  It isn't totally evident in the picture. I sure am thankful for our cats!

Trapped in a cat cuddle!

The other thing I can't seem to get enough pictures of... sunrises!  I often take pics of Lake sunrises, but this sunrise happened while I was walking by M's school and I just couldn't not take a picture of it!  It took my breathe away!

New Day, New Mercies, New Sunrise!

Sweet Days with Sweet T!

 T and I spend a lot of time together on weekdays.  M does school either in his room or in the front room.  T and I rotate between the kitchen and the family room.  At the end of the day, the whole house is trashed, but learning is happening everywhere.  School time with T is the best part of the day.  She is generally focused and ready to learn.  She thrives with the one on one attention and it helps that she can hold and squeeze putty or slime through the lessons.  We do try to take lots of brain breaks throughout the day so that we have better focus during learning time.

Not what I expected to see when I headed up the stairs, but she is lovely!

T: I love to color in adult coloring books!

We both really enjoy the poetry book.  She decided to read it to me like a teacher!

T: I am just a floating head!

T: I worked really hard on this one!

T: Sometimes Mommy and I both make Art projects!

Living her best life!!

One Friday we tackled her room.  It was chaos but the after is totally her style!

A Grandparent Weekend!!

On October 9-11th we had a very special break from the mundane.  Grandma Judy and Grandpa Tom came up for a weekend visit.  They stayed at a hotel and we spent our time either outside or masked, but we enjoyed it all! 

They arrived on the evening of the 9th.  They were planning on getting in late in the evening, but the weather that Friday was so lovely that we asked if they could come earlier so we could enjoy the day together. There was time for some ball at the park before our Friday night campfire with friends.  Sidenote, we managed a weekly Friday night campfire with our dear neighbors/friends for most of the fall. 

M and T: We love playing ball with Grandpa Tom.

After playing ball we headed over to our friend's house for the fire.  T and S decided to play and sing for us.  They were so sweet. 

T: S has become a very good guitar player.

Saturday was much cooler than Friday, but it was quite sunny in the morning.  We started the day with outdoor dental exams!  Only in 2020, right?

First up was T!

Next came M!

T and Brandon got in a little football during M's exam.

Brandon's turn

I was last, and was apparently the only person who thought of propping up feet.

After the exams Grandma Judy prepared a very special science lesson and game.  S and T came over for the lesson and game.  Everyone enjoyed the time together.

First they learned about the food chain.

Next they played a game of picking up different colored toothpicks in the yard.

They did this several rounds.  It was great fun and good workout.

After the science time it was time for more ball at the park.  It was such a lovely and sunny morning.

 

 

M: Hit it hard, Grandpa Tom.

We had take out food for lunch.  After lunch the wind started to pick up and things began feeling a bit chilly.

T: I decided to bring a random box of things outside to play with.

M: I sure am glad they came for a visit.

In late afternoon we headed downtown for the final weekend of the ice cream shop.  It was a pretty chilly day for ice cream.

Same view, different grandparents.

Brandon with his parents.

The ice cream crew.  Sadly M and T had to share the final diary free ice cream treat.

 

After eating the ice cream we walked around downtown and slowly made our way back home.  Once home we did a lot of yo-yoing.  Grandma Judy has some skills, Grandpa Tom tried very hard.

M and T: Grandpa Tom could throw it out, but he couldn't make it come back again. 

 

After playing in the yard the guys went back to the park to play more ball.  T took a rest, I worked on church stuff, and Judy went back to the hotel to rest and warm up.  Once it got dark, we all came back together. By then people were cold and hungry and we had no food ready to eat so morale was very low among one of our children.  In the end we decided to do an indoor game at church with masks one.  One child was very upset about this idea.  After the game T and J headed back to the hotel.

Imagine if...

2020 cuddles look like this...

That night we took out T's braid and she had major curls.

A sweet view.

Sunday was cloudy, but not as windy.  Tom and Judy watched their church at the hotel and we watched ours at home.  They came over around 10:00 and we got in a few hours of play outside.  It felt much warmer than Saturday and it was pleasant to be outside.

M: We played a bit of basket ball.

Brandon came over between services.

A pretty sweet pic, even with masks.

I was thankful for cuddles with this sweetie. 

Tom and Judy ended up staying longer than they expected, so they were still here when Brandon came home from church.  We were all able to say goodbye and then have the afternoon to watch football and be cozy inside.  

We are so thankful that even in this COVID year we were able to see both sets of parents before everything started to spiral and we were able to see both sets for little bits of time this fall too.  Thankfully, the vaccine is upon us and gives us hope of more time together in 2021!

Nature Time!

 In early October Brandon was planning to take the kids to a nature center west of town.  As they began to drive they realized that rain was moving into the area so they headed south to a hiking place instead. 

The views never get old!

Little girl, Big Lake!

Pondering many things!

The hiking team!

Joy recorded!!!

After the trip to the Nature Preserve was rained out, I agreed to take the kids the following week.  We had heard that the frogs were plentiful and T was very excited to check it out!

M: They have very fun forts!

T: I think I see one!

T: Actually it was a turtle!

T: This was the first frog I caught.

T: This is another cute one.

M: I decided to try to catch one too.

After a very successful first trip I was convinced to make a second trip just a couple of days later.  After that trip I told them we were taking a little break.  Each child has very different desires while there which makes our time more tricky than the photos show.

M: I like the forts more than the frogs!

T: I like the frogs more than the forts!

T: I LOVE jumping from log to log!

M and T: We both like cooking in the sand kitchen.

T: There are lots of good trees for climbing.

M: I made mom 8 of her favorite muffin/cupcake flavors!