Family

Today we were so blessed to see so many family members that we love!  We were able to go to breakfast with Dalin and Sara and meet baby Molly for the first time.  Then Aunt Marianne, Uncle Frank, Annemarie, Julianna and Thomas all came to visit for the afternoon.  It was SO wonderful to have all of them here.  I love and miss them so much!

Here are some of the pictures that we got at breakfast - I can't believe that I didn't get any with my cousins!  I'm so sad about that!

Today I am thankful for family, extended family and in-law family!

Pinterest Thanksgiving

Last night we had some of Carl's family over for Thanksgiving.  Since we will all have a traditional Thanksgiving tomorrow we decided to have Mexican food for dinner.  Everything was really yummy, and I had fun trying out lots of new ideas from my Pinterest boards.  We had White Chicken Enchiladas, a really incredible banana pudding with Chessman cookies, Baked apples that I made in the crock pot (I cored out the middle and put in brown sugar, butter and chopped walnuts, then I poured apple juice around them and baked them in the crockpot for 3 hours), Queso Blanco and warm bean dip.  There wasn't a single bad recipe in the bunch - yay!

Today I am thankful for washing machines, music and school holidays.

Christmas Viola

Today I am thankful for best friends, family and school holidays.

Nathanael's solo recital

Today

Today I am thankful for twinkle lights, polar fleece jackets and snuggly slippers.

And on and on it goes

I'm so sorry that I haven't had a chance to post over the last couple of days.  It (as usual) has been nutty around here.  Carl's been in New Mexico hunting, so I've been playing single mom/taxi driver for the last week and a half.  He came home on Wednesday night, and then Jodi and I went on opening night to see Catching Fire and absolutely loved it.  Carlye left for a leadership camp on Friday, and we are also keeping 4 kiddos for other people.  

See? 

Crazy.  

I've been planning on putting up our Christmas tree for over a week, and just haven't had the time.  (Sad)  We are in the middle of an absolutely delicious cold snap, and the kids are praying for snow.  It would be fun if it did, because then we would be stuck at home and I could put up the Christmas tree.

Today I am thankful for cold weather, snuggly children and good friends.

And I'm always thankful for my husband.

Tired

I'm too tired today to post, but I will still say what I am thankful for because I think that it's good for me!

Today I am thankful for beautiful fall leaves, 4 minute eggs and memory foam pillows.

Bullying

Bullying.  I really hesitate to use the word because I feel like it's become a buzz word in today's society - and that if anybody is mean to anybody at any point in time for any reason they are considered a bully.  I also feel as though we are creating a society of wimpy kids as a result.  That being said, I think that real bullying is horrible and awful and so difficult to go through.  Nathanael is having a really hard time at school.  Several of the kids are making fun of him because he's a nerd, he reads all the time, they don't like his clothes or they say he's too smart.  Today there was another incident that involved 3 other boys and the teacher had to get involved.  I'm so thankful that he has a great teacher that he can talk to who will help him deal with these issues, but I'm SO upset that he's going through this.

We have really prayed about home schooling him - and that was actually the plan until all of this started happening.  However, he is such an introvert that Carl and I both agree that it probably wouldn't be a good idea in his situation.  I talked to my amazing brother in law, Andy, and he agreed.  He also said that he understands what Nathanael is going through, and it just felt good to talk to someone who understands.

I don't have any solutions, and neither does Carl.  But this is what we know.  Nathanael is amazing exactly the way that he is.  And we want him to know that.  We want him to feel comfortable in his own skin instead of worrying about what other's think of him. To have a confidence in who he is and was created to be. I know that he's already smarter than I am, and it makes me sad when he talks to me about his equations or inventions and I can't answer the questions he asks me.  I love to listen to him and encourage him, but I know that he needs more people in his life that understand the way that he thinks and can help him develop it.  I'm thankful that he has his "uncle" David close by, but I find myself wishing that we had other family members closer as well.  I know he'll be okay, but I'm not looking forward to this journey right now, and it's making me so sad that I can't protect him from this!  I know that it's going to help him become who he's supposed to be, and teach him how to handle difficult social situations, and build character and all that baloney, but I also know that it hurts him right now - and that hurts me too.

Today I am thankful for cell phones, egg salad sandwiches and good books.

Mule Deer

Here's a picture of Carl's New Mexico mule deer.  He's such an amazing man, and a really great hunter, too.  He worked hard for this, and I wanted to brag on him.  Plus, I think he's really cute........

Today I am thankful for my husband, email so that we can stay in touch with family, and good books.

Busy, busy, dizzy....

Noah had his certificate upside down, so he fixed it.

I'm so proud of my kids.  Nathanael and Noah worked really hard and made straight A's this six weeks.  Great job, boys!

Carlye had auditions/competition for the Middle School All Region String Orchestra this morning.  We had to wake up crazy early and drive over an hour to a middle school that I had never been to before.  I did a happy dance when we arrived because I was not sure that we would get there on time (and without getting lost).  The boys sat for 3 hours while we went through the process of registering, tuning and, finally, auditioning.  Carlye had several friends there from her old school, and a couple from HCYO.  There were about 52  violas (give or take) and 14 made it into the orchestra.  Carlye is 7th chair and I am SO proud of her.  She, however, is mad.  She had all of her audition pieces done perfectly, and she messed up on the ending of the very last excerpt that she played and so she had to re-do it.  I told her that it means she played REALLY well on the other pieces if she could mess up and STILL make it into the orchestra.

Then, at 3:00, Carlye and Nathanael had their solo recital.  I took pictures and video, but they won't upload for some reason.  Nathanael played Allegretto on his cello and it was better than he's ever done.  It's amazing to me how much he has accomplished in such a short time on his instrument.  Carlye played Bouree (Handel) and it did not go well.  She has played this song over and over for months, has it completely memorized, AND it's one of her favorites.  However, halfway through she played a wrong note and it threw her off.  She actually froze.  Completely.  She tried again.  And again.  And again.  Then, I saw her face change and I thought, "Oh no! She's gonna run!"  She told me afterwards that she really thought about it, but decided that would be even more embarrassing.  She finally hit upon some of the correct notes and then finished the song.  I was so sad for her, but I know deep down that it's a great experience for her to go through - and I know that she'll be a better musician (and person) as a result.  

I am now going to try to go to sleep.  Today I am thankful for GPS, ibuprofen and pillows.

More Pictures

I know that I'm probably the only person in the world who wants to look at this many pictures of my family, but I'm going to torture the rest of you anyway.  :)

Today I am thankful for burritos, BluRay players and family movie night!

Today

Tomorrow is a brand new day, with no mistakes in it.

Today I am thankful for my beautiful children, a clean house, and washing machines.

Bleh

Today started off as a pretty good day - I even figured out how to use Skype and talk to my little sister and her husband and 2 of her kids.  But then, the evening went horribly, horribly awry.  My husband wasn't here, so I felt like the mild coup staged by the children and their severe lack of listening skills was rather unfair.  Suffice it to say that the wonderful evening that I had planned (wassail, ham & sweet potato chowder while we cuddle and watch Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium) did not go as I had hoped.  It ended with everyone in tears and me feeling like the worst mom in the world because I expect my kiddos to do what they are supposed to do (homework, showers, getting clothes out for tomorrow) before we do what they want to do.  Bleh.  Actually, double bleh.

Today I am thankful for bowls of cereal, snuggly pajamas and warm beds........and I think that now I will fall comatose into (onto?) the latter.

Family Pictures

My little sister is a photography.  An amazing photographer.  Who lives far, far away.  However, Carlye and I love to look at her website and the beautiful pictures she takes.  Carlye saw a pose similar to this one on her Aunt Heather's photography website while she was looking at the senior picture sessions.  She loved it soooooo much that she begged Aunt Jodi to take some of us, too.  

It's nigh unto impossible to take serious pictures with my husband........

Here we go, there's one (finally!).

And then real Carl reappears......

Thank you, Aunt Jodi, for the bee-yoo-ti-ful pictures!

Today I am thankful for washing machines, warm blankets and fall leaves.

Cousins

We took our yearly cousin pics a few weeks ago, and Jodi just sent me some teasers.  Aren't they SO cute!

Today I am thankful for Hallmark, families and cold weather.

Radar

Nathanael's dog, Radar, has really become a part of the family.  It's hard having a puppy, and, to be honest, we are learning as we go.  Yorkies and Brittany's are so very different.  I take Radar running with me, but we are still working on not running after leaves, running away from the people we are running towards, and sitting down and refusing to move.  I like running with him, though, and hopefully eventually he'll get the gist of the whole thing.  He sits and stays, and has stopped jumping (for the most part - he still has weak moments), but we just CAN'T seem to get him potty trained.  I've read books and watched videos, and I'm reviewing them again because I just can't figure out where we are going wrong.  He can hold it while he's in his crate for hours, but if we bring him in the house he pees every 20 minutes.  ~ sigh ~ I guess we will eventually get it down.  The other problem is the fact that he eats absolutely everything!  Carlye's papers, socks, clothes, erasers, leaves, dryer sheets - everything!  He has more chew toys and cow hooves than any dog I know, and we can always distract him with them, but we can't seem to stop him from chewing on the other stuff.  I'm hoping he'll grow out of all that, too.  I keep reminding Carl (and myself) that he's only 5 months old.

Carlye took this picture of Radar doing yoga with me.  He is ALL over me, no matter what position I'm in, and if my hair is hanging down he tries to bite it.  Radar thinks it's great....Carlye thinks it's hilarious and refuses to stop him....Me?  Not so much.

Today I am thankful for a beautiful ranch, children who would rather be outside than inside and the Spurs.

Noah's Parent Teacher Conference

Noah lying on the grass between Boston and Colton.

A couple of weeks ago we had Noah's parent teacher conference.  Beforehand I asked Noah what he thought his teacher would have to say about him.  "Hmmm," Noah said, "I think that she will tell you that I'm delightful." 

When we arrived in the classroom Mrs. Greenwalt did, indeed, tell us that Noah was delightful - and also very diplomatic.  The other day he was standing at the end of the line in school, and Mrs. Greenwalt noticed that he had a funny look on his face.  The little boy standing in line in front of Noah had been absent for over a week, and she had given him a packet of work to finish so that he could catch up.  The class walked into the library, and as Noah walked past Mrs. Greenwalt he said, "You may want to look in your trashcan when you get back to class, there's something very interesting in there."  She did, indeed, check the trashcan - and found that entire packet of school work lying in the bottom.  I truly believe that Noah has learned this delightful skill of diplomacy by living as the third born in a home where tattling could quite possibly end in rather intense pain.  Apparently Carlye and Nathanael have done a great job teaching him life skills.

Overall Noah's doing great in school.  All of the kids like him, he's kind to everyone and he almost always has a smile on his face.  

Today I am thankful for friends who are photographers, fall weather and running water.

Nathanael's Concert

Here's a video from Nathanael's Concert.  They are playing Russian Music Box.  Remember, these are only 5th, 6th and 7th graders, and for most of them it's their first year in orchestra.  I think they did a great job, though.  Lili is playing as well, but since she sits on the opposite side I wasn't able to get her in the video.  Enjoy!

Today I am thankful for Parenting Books, Field Day and good teachers.

This part Monday Carlye and Nathanael had an orchestra concert.  They did really well, here's some pictures for today and tomorrow I'll post a couple of videos.

This is Carlye's group - the Concertante Orchestra.  She is the violist in the white shirt (she didn't make it to String Camp so she doesn't have an HCYO shirt).

This is Nathanael's Allegretto Orchestra.  They did chair tests, and Nathanael has 2nd chair cello (and he's the youngest!).

Noah's Birthday

Noah celebrated his 9th birthday last month.  How sad is it that my 'baby' is 9?  He had a Nerf gun party with just our "family" and really had a good time.   We are so blessed, but we missed the family that wasn't able to be with us......

Noah used all of his birthday money, and then Daddy, Carlye and Nathanael and I pitched in the rest of the money to buy him a trampoline.  I know that these pictures aren't the best, but it was getting dark by the time that we finished putting the entire thing together.  Victoria had come over to play, so the 4 of them jumped until they couldn't jump anymore.

Today I am thankful for a big yard, beautiful weather and computers.  What are you thankful for?

Ender's Game

Tonight we went and watched Ender's game.  While I am VERY curious to know what Andy thought - as I believe him to be more connected to this book than any of us - I can say that Carl and I really liked the movie.  I felt that they were more true to the book than I thought they would be.  And Carl, who has never read the book and so had no idea what the movie was about, thought it was a great movie.

Tonight I am thankful for movie theaters, double dates, and best friends.

First days of School

I know that these are a couple months late, but here are our pictures from the first day of school.  Nathanael and Noah didn't have signs, but they were starting 5th grade and 3rd grade.  Aren't they all so cute?!?!

Today I am thankful that I am able to homeschool my daughter - and that I'm NOT homeschooling my boys yet! :)  I'm thankful for yoga, orchestra's and books.  What are you thankful for?

Carlye's viola

Carlye has been practicing for regionals.  They are given a couple of pieces of music, and they have to learn 3 or 4 excerpts from each piece.  Carlye enjoyed this piece so much that her teacher asked her to play the entire thing with her as a duet.  This is Carlye's first time to play it, so there are a few mistakes, but I thought that it was still a beautiful duet.  Enjoy!

Arbonne

My family has incredibly sensitive skin - and eczema - which makes buying any type of product for my family EXTREMELY difficult.  Carlye is getting older, and starting to think about makeup.  Nathanael is getting older, and starting to have problems with acne.  I'm getting older and starting to get bags under my eyes, age spots and wrinkles!  All of these combined together had me start looking for a better product for my family.  I found Arbonne - and no, I'm NOT selling it!  But I'm so in love with this product I have to tell y'all about it.  Arbonne is an all natural, gluten free, completely clean product and it is phenomenal!  I have noticed a huge difference in my face and skin since I started using it 5 weeks ago.  I just ordered the acne line for my kids, so I'll let you know how that goes.  I LOVE that what I am putting on the largest organ in my body is now as good for me as what I'm trying to put IN my body.  Crazy fact - did you know that in the US we have only banned 4 ingredients from being used in cosmetics?  The European directive (which Arbonne is under) bans 14,000 (or was it 16,000?) ingredients from being used in their cosmetics and facial products.  How crazy is that!!  

Anyway, I had an Arbonne party at my house on Friday night, and I had so much fun with the table decorations.  I love fall, and since Halloween is over I was able to pick up Fairy Tale pumpkins and fall flowers for $3 a piece!  That made it so much fun to decorate!  We had pumpkin muffins, fruit cups, veggie cups (dip in the bottom, veggies on top) and chocolate covered strawberries.  I served Mom's Spiced Cider because it just really made it feel like fall.  It was a fun evening.  (I know the colors are odd, I think it was the lighting when the picture was taken)

Today I am thankful for warm baths and rest.  I have had a yucky stomach ache since about two o'clock this morning, and it is so nice to be able to take a bath and relax.  What are you thankful for?