We have a nice day today...a little cool, but bright and sunny. What a pretty autumn this year! We enjoy it more remembering last year's really dull colors. I am looking forward to the rest of the year...not quite so busy until the holidays come, that is!

Today I didn't do nap time as early as I should've. I was caught up with art class, and the time flew by. I worked on a project myself that I've been wanting to do; a pencil drawing of Venesa. ( I have the other children's done and hanging on the school room wall.) I got more encouraging remarks from the children about the 'almost finished' project than I expected. They usually don't hesitate to tell me what doesn't look right. I agree, but don't know how to improve it a lot of times!

This summer was dry! And I almost forget all the work of watering the garden every few days for awhile. We wanted rain so badly! Now the green lawns are beautiful and still needing mowed about once a week. I think it is amazing how well some of the garden grew and produced in spite of extreme dry weather. I planted lots of tomatoes rather late and was still picking buckets when others were done with theirs. Yesterday Marnita and I canned some salsa with the last that I'd picked.

At the end of June, Jason & I and the children took a trip to Baltimore ( a check-up for Eric's feet- and they are doing great!)

Then we took a train to Washington DC. We spent two days there, the first day seeing the sights, and the second day the museums. We took the train back to Baltimore for the nights, so that was 4 train rides! It was exciting and tiring with early morning rides on the bus to the train station, and lots of walking during the day, then late till we got back for the night. Yesterday Ciara was looking in Jennika's History book and found pictures of the Capital and the White House. The children find it so interesting, just because we were there and got to see it. It was the first time for Jason and I to see DC. The really great thing about the city is all the free admission to the museums! And I loved the quiet streets. It is a 'walking city' and there are no sky scrapers. So that was our trip for this year. By the time of our anniversary, we had decided against an out west trip, for several reasons! Maybe we can do that for celebrating 15 years of marriage!? We figured that the older children would remember it so much better.

We spent a night at the 'Mohican Castle' for our tenth anniversary. It was short and sweet, more suited to our lives right now than a long trip! I left my nursing baby with my mom for a day...what a carefree 24 hours together. Instead of getting a good nights sleep for once we talked for three hours...into the wee hours of the morning. Then we didn't sleep in either cause we didn't want to waste our time there sleeping! :)

As unbelievable as it is, it is true! I am nearly halfway through this pregnancy. It has been really good- the only thing that has been extreme is hunger! I do not have time to eat enough to be satisfied, nor was I willing to eat so much! I tried hard to drink plenty, but it wasn't a substitute for calories, I guess! The last few months have been rough with Venesa. She was not sleeping well at night, and I was realizing that she was not getting enough milk, so I started offering her goats milk. We all drink it, so I have it around all the time. She didn't do well with that until I started using a bottle that she wouldn't choke on cause she is used to sucking hard. Also I now know the perfect temperature to warm it to so she will take it!

Wow! You take a lot for granted when you are used to nursing them for the first year at least. I haven't weaned her yet....and I was hoping to wait till she turned one...but I may have to surrender that desire. She is sleeping better now...and I can lay her down without her waking up every time! We have fun with her curly hair! Her eyes are already brown. Not a surprise! She wishes she could crawl...it won't be long though.

Eric will turn three in a month. He seems to be learning and changing so much right now. Not my baby boy anymore.

He asked me recently,"Mom, are you in my family?"

Ciara is doing kinder garden work this year, often with a sigh. It is not too hard for her, she just has 'better' things to do like play with my things...or anything girly or dressy. She has a lot to learn about hard work and diligence! :)

Jennika is reading pretty well, making first grade a bit easier to teach. She wants to marry a horse farmer (she is into horses right now) and wants her husband to have cows too, so she can drink cows milk! I was doing my exercises this morning when I overheard the childrens breakfast conversation about all that. It was kind of funny, except Ryan was trying to throw cold water on her future dreams by telling her how much everything would cost, in all his eight year old wisdom.

Ryan has a tender side that you hardly ever see!! :) He is a fast learner, but not a deep thinker, and no, he doesn't think before he acts or 'reacts.' Jason got him a guitar at a garage sale, and started giving him music lessons! Wonderful! The first help I've gotten with teaching school! :) I don't know the first thing about stringed instruments. The girls want me to teach them how to play the keyboard.

I started school earlier than usual this year, with the birth of our baby in mind at the end of Feb. Once again we probably won't break much for Christmas. Unless we get a huge snow( and they need more time to play!)...that often comes in January.

I've added Health to our curriculum, which takes time to teach. But they all really enjoy it...the puppets and practicing fire safety(the reason our neighbors might see them crawling out the windows!) and learning how our bodies work, and how to eat and live healthy!

As you can probably tell, I enjoy teaching it also! I will have to be careful that I don't keep adding more subjects every year... there is always more they could learn...but once they master reading, they can learn on their own about anything that interests them.

This is the first year Ryan has Bible as a subject. I tell them that the absolute most important reason they need to learn to read is so they can read the Bible for themselves!

Last weekend was the last of the garage sales I'll get in this year. We found a lot of very useful 'stuff'. Shoes, dresses, a car seat ect. It was cold, so some people were selling hot chocolate. I didn't get any cause bathrooms weren't very available!

Jason & Ryan will be home in half an hour. They were at a lumber place, ordering supplies for a job.

I should turn off the crock pot and open the lid. No one here likes their food hot!

I was away from home part of three days this week, and you all know how that can put you behind in house work! Then on my 'catch-up day' I realized that I couldn't wait any longer to write this... So, look out house, here I come!