365 Project | Week 47

My camera definitely lagged behind me this week ... thankfully we did (barely!) capture the major events of the week. :)

 

Day 321. Isn't he handsome?? :) And he's eating. Actually. Correction. He's finished eating. That is a VERY regular occurrence. ;)

Day 322. Hannah took a break from reading out loud and they all enjoyed listening to the audio CD's that came with the book. :)

Day 323. Our piano arrived!!! Woo-hoo!!! SO excited!

Day 324. And yet another HUGE blessing ... the lessons we weren't expecting to start until January were able to begin immediately! :)

Day 325. K'Nex fun :) If only it could really go to the moon ...

Day 326. Pschew. This was a HARD day. I received a call in the morning that my precious Grandma had gone to the Emergency Room for chest pains. :( Matthew especially had a very hard time understanding why Mommy was so sad. He climbed up on my lap and played his "roaring" game to try to scare the tears away. If only it were that simple. Peter built a Duplo "Grandma" to help me feel better. And Hannah was at my elbow to hear the latest update every time the phone rang or beeped. So thankful for my precious children. ♥ Our whole family was SO relieved when we learned that Grandma was having trouble with her gall bladder rather than her heart! We love you, Great Grandma!! ♥

Day 327. While the rest of the crew partied, I spent most of the day in bed or curled up with a blanket. I'm so thankful that head colds are not an overly regular occurrence around here! :) I felt pretty much like these poor birds did after they flew into our living room window. At first we only saw the one bird which fell into our bush. After watching it for a few minutes and not seeing it move, I carefully picked it up in order to get it to solid ground. Then we saw the other bird, also stunned, in the flower bed. We put them together, and about 15 minutes later they had flown off. They were so soft. ♥

Day 328. My version of a DIY project ... I enlist moral support. ;) My hubby is in the final stages of helping me with our magnetic board for our school wall.

And now we eagerly wait for G&G to arrive!

:)

365Project.2013 | Week 46

In looking over our pictures this week, I'm realizing how small a picture just one photo a day paints. Our days are SO full. But, I guess that's why I do this--over the course of a year or so, most of the aspects of our days and weeks get captured. Just assume that most of the "ordinary" pictures tend to repeat themselves on a daily basis. :)

 

This week's been especially interesting. The Lord has taught us much--it's been quite a journey. :)
But for now, on to the pictures we took ...

 

Day 315. The kids were so excited to empty our "backpack" and send the money we saved for Bible Clubs in India. :) Mommy rejoiced to see their enthusiasm. ♥

 

I l.o.v.e. the fact that Hannah is eager to include her brothers in her cooking adventures! ♥  Kinda wonder how they managed to get chocolate in. his. EAR. (?!?!?), but some of things are simply best left unanswered ... ;)

Day 316. The sunset Tuesday evening was incredible! Peter was outside biking and called me outside three different times to make sure I didn't miss it. :)

And ... the boys enjoyed helping Daddy hang drywall! :) Our closet is coming ... :)

Day 317. Peter lost his very first tooth! :)

Day 318. Ummm ... yeah. Moving on ...

Day 319. I think I have nearly the same exact picture from about three years ago ... the bread maker has yet to lose its fascination. :)

Matthew had fun learning to make Challah. :)

And the highlight of our week ... dinner with our Pastor and his family. ♥ We do love them!!! ♥

Day 320. And then, what the Lord has been teaching us. To trust Him. And to wait on Him.

We've known we wanted to get a piano for a while now, but certain phases of house renovations needed to be completed before we had space for it. And then we needed to save some pennies ... lots of pennies actually. And then we needed to find a piano.

THAT was the harder piece of the puzzle, and a couple weeks ago we started actively searching for it. Many late nights researching, learning lots of new terms ... the definitions of acoustic, spinet, and console being just a few!, long phone calls with salesmen, good conversations with friends who blessed us with their time in sharing their knowledge, deciding on digital vs. acoustic, hours scouring Craigslist, multitudes of emails asking the questions people didn't feel the need to answer in their ads, a big disappointment when the piano we thought was to be ours was sold to someone else ...

And I'll be honest. Even as many times as the Lord has shown Himself abundantly faithful and clearly guided us in our purchase of a large ticket item, I was having a hard time trusting Him with this piano business. But I kept praying ... and praying and searching and praying and praying and searching ... and He once again proved Himself faithful. Saturday evening He led us to our piano. We are so thankful and glad!

And just another one of His good gifts? This piano is being sold by a piano tuner who will be delivering it as well, so I didn't have to go to the trouble of lining up separate people for delivery and tuning. :) We are rejoicing!! :) I am thoroughly looking forward to getting my hands back on the keys ... limited though my skills may be ... and we are EXCITED that Hannah will begin piano lessons in January. :) Exciting stuff! :)

 

And that my friends, is a glimpse (just a glimpse!) of our week. :)

365Project.2013 | Week 45

The week was full to brim, but thankfully, no injuries more serious than what a Mommy's kiss could cure. ;)

 

308. Matthew found the books.

309. We are so excited about our Thanks Giving Tree! :) We were blessed to find the original idea and printable leaves here, and we're daily recording a few of the multitude of gifts our Good God has given us on the back of each leaf, using the ideas found here. It's been good. ♥

310. What a blessing to have these crews together again! So glad for an opportunity to fellowship with our friends who were in town for a brief visit. :)

311. Our Hickory tree has been the star of the fall color show in our yard this year. :)

312. Love watching my boys playing together! ♥

313. Best $35 spent this year ... our annual family membership to our local science center. Their monthly programs have been fun and educational, and this month's "Fall Festival" was one of the best!

Matthew knows "his" letter. :)

Love Hannah's expression of surprise and delight when the dollar bill "jumped."

 

Bless his heart, this man was wonderful. He spun top after top after top for every child who was patient enough to wait for one. 

We also got to watch a sheep herder with his dogs. Amazing. 



 

Hannah could have spent hours with the sheep. Her observation that "The sheep like me!" really seemed to be about accurate. :)

 

314. Family Picture! :) And nope. I'm not sharing it. It's for Christmas! :) But I am beyond thankful for how sweetly the kids cooperated! Budget and time necessitated a tripod this year, and it came out amazingly well. So. Thankful.

And that's about it. :) Or at least, all that was picture worthy. I'm not sure you're particularly interested in my mountains of laundry or dishes ... ;) 

365Project.2013 | Weeks 43-44

It's been quite the adventure of a couple weeks. It's definitely easier looking back at the pictures than it was going through a few of those days!

 

Day 294. My crew obliged their Mommy and we got some really fun pictures on a pretty fall day! :) LOVE these munchkins and SO glad to get to be home with them each day! ♥

 

The rope swing has been the place to be of late ... they have a blast "launching" each other on the rope--they put all their weight into the effort and have so much fun together! 

 

And here's my crew, October 22.

 

Day295. And here's Peter, October 23.

Day 296. And October 24.

It was a rough couple days. ;) Two stitches on his lip Tuesday evening from a bike injury followed by another bike accident Wednesday morning which led to steri-strips on his forehead. Needless to say, the bike was off limits till after the weekend.

Day 297. Hannah and Daddy have been enjoying playing duets together--it's fun listening to them!

Day 298. We've also enjoyed learning about India--both missions and culture--through an online program these last few weeks.

Day 299.Kinda a quiet day ... I had fun making a wreath for our porch door. The brown paper that Amazon decided was a necessary addition to my package found a happier ending than it usually does. If you are inspired to repurpose your own brown paper, be sure to use a coat hanger or something similar as a base so that your wreath will stay round rather than elliptical. Not that I would know that that's a necessary thing. Or the consequences of not using it. ;)

Day 300. We made our annual Sunday afternoon mountain pilgrimage.  Matthew was fascinated by the caterpillar he found ...

Hannah liked her inch-worm. :)

We detoured to let the kids see a covered wooden bridge and took a few pictures along the way ... ;)

 

♥

Day 301. Monday brought a late evening for Daddy and a big sister who helped her little brother paint while Mommy worked on dinner ... 

Day 302. Good News Club. :) It went SO much better this week!

 

Day 303. Poor Toby. She injured her paw and was making it worse with her efforts to "care" for it. So sadly, she's having to wear a cone inside the house for a couple weeks in order to give her paw time to heal. Chris also got stung by a yellow jacket and proceeded to have a swollen arm for the next three days ... I. am. NOT. fond of bees. I am thankful for their work of pollination, but I do NOT like their stingers. :(

Day 304. Our home this fall ...

Day 305. Busy hands, listening ears ...

Day 306. While Mommy's away, Daddy will play. ;) I was blessed with the opportunity to go to an all-day Ladies Seminar with our church. I left home about 7:30 and arrived back around 4:00 with three very excited kiddos greeting me in the driveway. Hannah and Peter were talking on top of each other to tell me I had to come in to see their "surprise"--they were a tweak disappointed when Matthew burst out "Daddy cut a hole in the wall, Mommy!!!!"

Our closet is begun! And Daddy actually had nearly everything cleaned up and was ready for a family biking trip when I got home! Yep. He's amazing. I am more than blessed.

Day 307. My new table centerpiece! :) Sometimes projects take a bit longer than you might expect them to, but I'm super excited to about my new herringbone tray! :)

And nap time. Matthew insisted upon "cheesing" when we stepped in to retrieve the camera so I could get the pictures off it to update the blog. :)

 

Thankful for the blessings and for God's grace in the challenges.
Looking forward to what He has in store for upcoming days.