Thankful times 50

I didn't make a Thankful List on Canadian Thanksgiving, so I thought I really ought to get around to it for the American Thanksgiving.

50 Things I'm thankful for, not inclusive nor in any particular order

I'm thankful for ...
1. The Lord Jesus Christ, His life, death, and resurrection
2. My relationship with Jeff, who's liked me for over ten (10!) years now, and is now, wonderfully, mine =D
3. Cheese
4. A marvelous house
5. Fleece sheets
6. Wonderful friends, nearby
7. A good relationship with all my siblings
8. Homemade alfredo sauce
9. Having had three of the best mothers in the world
10. Colorful autumns
11. Nathan's help and hugs
12. The Bible
13. Cozy evenings with Jeff and a good book
14. Health
15. Sunlight on frost
16. Steve and Susan's up-close example of raising kids for the Lord
17. A big backyard for the kids to run around in
18. Eyesight
19. Regular affirmation from Kate, who tells me I'm cute :)
20. A godly, homeschooled upbringing by Dad and Muth, who then let me go to live on the other side of the continent
21. Good ministry, easily accessible
22. Hot water
23. Long phone conversations with sisters, covering every random thing sisters talk about ;)
24. A reliable vehicle
25. Forgiveness from sins
26. Good memories
27. Some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, spitting distance from here
28. Jeff's stable job
29. Anna's pucker-up for kisses
30. The privilege of homeschooling
31. Eternal life in Heaven
32. The opportunity to know my 'little' siblings are growing into godly men and women
33. The love to me and mine that Dad and Mom show, as if I were their own flesh and blood
34. Taste
35. Knowing all of my grandparents
36. Online recipes
37. Candles, and the fact we don't need them
38. Sunrise, when you can see sunlight on the bottoms of the leaves
39. The littlest member of our family, due at the end of June
40. Smell
41. Instant access to the throne of God in prayer
42. Washing machine, dryer, stove, electric kettle, dishwasher, and other modern marvels
43. Almond milk
44. Good music
45. The long-suffering of God as we long for those who are not yet saved
46. Hearing
47. Perfect summer days, with a blue, blue sky
48. A computer, and a hubby who can keep it running
49. Feeling
50. Having Grumpa around to do all the helpful projects he does around here

October in Pictures

Please be forewarned, this is very picture-heavy :)

The first weekend of October we drove down to visit Dallas and Lisa.

Enjoying the swing in their front yard.

They took us to a mini farm

It was a long hike out to the pumpkin patch ...

... so the girls hitched a ride :)

Looking thoughtful

And obviously smiling on command.

Mine's bigger than yours!

Nathan, Brianna, Kate
Alan, Anna

I guess Anna was hungry?

I got some canning done this year!  Mostly thanks to Susan; I bought the apples, but somehow was busy with other things and didn't do any of the cooking?!  She invited Joy and I over for a day of canning, which was a lot of fun.  I did manage to make some jam too, with much encouragement :)

Later, Nathan and I canned some apple butter

The finished product (at least, one batch)

Susan hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Seth and Erin McAffee joined us.

The kids table, clockwise: Anna, Melissa, Abigail, Teagan, Kate, Bethany, Nathan

Teagan is almost a year younger than Kate, but they get along well

The kids convinced me to pull the molds out, and had a lot of fun with it.

Kate, painting hard

She put so much paint on, top and bottom, that a whole section peeled off later.  Oops!

Melissa has outgrown her bike, so Nathan finally has one of his own!  He very diligently practiced on this for the first couple days he had it, but then it started raining, and he hasn't really ridden it since.  Maybe in the spring he'll get the hang of it ...

Kate has her little 'strider' bike, so she joined him in the fun.

I have no clue what they were looking at, but it was cute :)

Hi, guys!

Eating at the Korean BBQ restaurant when Bill Prost came for a visit.

Babcia came by for a surprise visit one day, and the kids put on quite the acrobatic display for her!  Anna did her first unassisted somersault this day (Oct 14)

And this is not my kids, but I've got bragging rights anyway!  Jeff and I were playing Boggle with Jonathan and Joy one night, and this is the list Jeff came up with.  Look closely, TWO 8-letter words!!!  I'm sorry to say I didn't get either of one, and only one of the 7-letter words he got.  Wow, I was super impressed :)

Nathan and I walked to the library one day, just the two of us (Grumpa babysat the girls for me), and we got some really great books, like Caps for Sale, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, and a Dr. Seuss I'd never read before.  Caps for Sale was especially fun, since even barely-readers can 'read' a fair bit of it because it's so repetitive.

Susan invited everyone over on Halloween so we could all eat lots of junk food while enjoying the various costumes ringing the doorbell :)

Heather Spear made these spectacular creations.

Nov Pictorial Update

November was an exciting month for me personally, as I knew I was expecting again the whole time.  But I was tired most of the time, tried to schedule a nap for myself everyday, and because of that did almost no schoolwork with Nathan.  We had been trying (with reasonable success) to spend half an hour a day on 'schoolwork' (very loose term here that maybe I'll talk about in another post) after the girls went down for their naps, before his nap.  I was quite glad for the times where I could hear Jeff and Nathan having deep math discussions (this happened a few times, not just the coffee bean occasion).

We spent one weekend with Thad and Coralee, which we very much enjoyed as we miss seeing them as much these days.

One memorable quote from Nathan ...
For some reason I mentioned the 'core of the earth' then asked him if he knew what that was.
"Yes" he promptly replied.
"How did you learn about it?"
"From the skol."  Seeing the puzzled look on my face he decided to try again.  "Skroll ... scrorl ... sorrel ... scur ... "
"Can you describe it?" I asked.  "Was it a book, a toy, a machine, a ..."
"No, no, it was an animal.  Like that runs on the fence."
"Oh, a squirrel!"
And for those of you who are still wondering in puzzlement how a squirrel could teach Nathan about the core of the earth, you haven't watched this perfectly unprofitable Ice Age movie trailer ;-)

Our monkey

We went out to the Watershed for a hike one day, and I did a little photo shoot with Nathan.  Fun!

And a few of all three of them ...

I was changing the sheets, and they all curled up for a snuggle.

We went to visit Uncle Thad and Aunt Corale, and Anna decided to see if she could fit into Oliver's exersaucer.  She managed to get herself in (but not out).  Nathan and Kate figured it looked like so much fun, they should join!

Yay for Daddy reading books!  So much fun!

Counting beans!  They covered addition, subtraction, multiplication, and a bit of pre-algebra while they were at it.  Brought back good memories of my daddy doing a similar thing when I was little :)  Nathan enjoyed eating some when they were done. (Yes, they were coffee beans.  Yes, this was after supper, yes, Nathan ate at least five, no, it did not keep him awake, he was the first kid asleep that night.  For those that were worried.)

American Thanksgiving dinner at our house!  Just the 'commune' with Dad and Mom, and late since it obviously wasn't a day off, but a good excuse to get together and fancy up the house a little!

After dinner we did the traditional "I'm thankful for ..." around the table.

"I'm thankful for water" says Kate.

"I'm thankful for the baby in my belly," I announced.  

"Really, I just announced 'cuz I'm tired of sucking it all in!" ;-)  I was 9 weeks along.

(Ahem! it was a very yummy meal that I obviously pigged out on, as necessary for Thanksgiving, right?!? ... )

The kids, being normal

Nathan had just a bit of help from Jeff getting up.