November 2019

-

November was fairly quiet photo-wise.  We hosted and Edward Jones party at our house.  Several people were sick for the two weeks leading up to that (thus no photos or fun) but luckily cleared up in time for the big event.

Miss Faith turned 6.  We had a quiet evening with presents and cupcakes at home and she was pretty happy with that.  This girl is obviously pretty happy being six!



She's very perceptive and creative.  She is constantly playing pretend games.  A current favorite is called "cheetah shape-shifters" wherein she is a shape-shifter who's main form is that of a cheetah but it can change at ANY moment.  Frequently when I am cooking I find a cheetah growling behind me.  Two seconds later there's a bird flying away.  I never know what shape this crazy shape-shifter will take!  And I try really hard not to step on her!  She's always watching her big siblings and has special relationships with all of them.  I think Logan wins favorite brother though.





Brynne met Elder and Sister Christiansen while they were in Mexico.  The great thing about that is that they were mission president and wife when Josh's brother Sean was killed in the accident on his mission.  So there is a tender place in our hearts for them.  Additionally, Brynne had felt that going to Mexico in particular was an answer to a yearning of her heart.  This was a special experience for her to have some quiet time with Sister Christiansen who shared her own personal miracles and experiences with Sean.


She loves her mission!



We spent one fall day exploring a little of Southern Oregon.  One fun thing is that there are a few places where some carnivorous plants grow.  We'd learned about and seen some on a homeschool field trip our first year here...but we were surprised to stumble across some on a hike out near the Smith River.  No, we didn't lose a finger or a child...but we found some amazing rocks to climb on and tried out some new trails.  It was a fun family adventure!




 Hosted Thanksgiving this year... we had a good-sized group.  This is just the adults.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

complaint

-
I was so irritated on Sunday.  Stake Conference is this weekend and it was announced that our visiting GA was inviting all youth 12+ to the Saturday evening adult session. I immediately thought: "Thank you for un-inviting me , and many of my friends". Any mom in the stake with children until 12 probably won't be there.  Unless Grandma steps in. I vented my frustration to my poor husband.  He just assumed that I would take precedence over attending and one of our older girls would babysit.  I told him that's not how moms think -and most likely that other moms in the stake wouldn't be leaving their teens at home.  Plus, what about those moms who only have young children? You've just effectively taken away all their babysitters. He said that he did make this argument a month ago when the meeting was being discussed.  I guess he got outvoted. When these sorts of decisions come down - I have to say that it makes me grumpy.  Don't the people making...
Read more

Lion to Lamb - March Madness

-
Image
Guys?  Can I just say that I am so incredibly happy in my new surroundings.  So, so happy.   Content.  It feels so good to feel that way after struggling against negative feelings frequently for the past 10 years.  Loved some great stuff about our old home and miss some great people - but it feels so RIGHT to be here right now, and that is a very satisfying feeling. We are still smack-dab in the middle of birthday season - Brynne was the latest victim.  And now I can finally talk about her birthday because the surprise part is over.  So.  Due to the untimely and sudden death of the iPod Touch that Brynne bought herself a few years ago, we thought she might like a replacement for her birthday (turns out that was a giant yes) - which pretty much used up our birthday funds for her, plus.  So she had a really quiet birthday, which we celebrated on Easter since her actual birthday ended up being one of those days packed with busyness that ...
Read more

Books, books, and more books

-
Image
For me, summer is a great time to do something fun and out of the ordinary.   Last year we did our first ever summer reading challenge.  We challenged ourselves to read 100 books from our own bookshelves before the end of the summer.  Sound easy?  What with vacations and classes and friends and pool time there was a lot less reading time than I had anticipated.  We made it - but just barely. I love books.  Always have.  My children love books. But there are two things I've noticed recently: 1) My children and myself are tending towards reading only the "latest and greatest" - what's new at the library or bookstore. 2) During the school year my kids mostly only have time to read their assigned school reading. This is a problem for me.  Josh and I have spent a lot of time and money collecting what we deem the "best" books for our family library...but I have to wonder what good is a family library if no one ever reads from it? Summer...
Read more