Celebrating Anna

Anna had so many birthday plans that we had to spread them out over two weekends. Anna, Aliza and I had a girls day. We had lunch at Panera, walked the mall where we found out that Anna’s favorite store had gone out of business. She did find a romper that she loved. Shoes were also on her agenda and it took several stops to find the perfect pair of boots. In the end we were successful! 😅

When we got home Anna rounded up her Daddy and brothers to go to Tropical Smoothie Cafe for smoothies. 

This face when Anna opens a gift never gets old. 

There has been a lot of singing happening. 

Family birthday gathering. We had not seen Janell and her girls for 3 weeks so there were some girls that were very happy to have time to play. And a couple sisters happy to see each other too! 

Anna wanted to decorate her own ice cream cake. So I gave her free reign of the sprinkles. She was thrilled! 

It was another amazing November day where all the cousins could play outside together. Such a fun afternoon. 

Now I have 3 children in double digits! 

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Some friends invited us to join them for their tradition of having a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The evening started with watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. 

Between our families there are 10 children (plus one away at college) ages 16-2. The children sat at the table with cups labeled with the Charlie Brown characters. “Grandma” served and “Linus” said the prayer.

 This was one meal that none of the children had any complaints about! There was popcorn, pretzel sticks, buttered toast and jellybeans. 

After supper all of the children played Apples to Apples, Twister and Spoons together. It was a really fun evening for all of us. 

Anna

Happy 10th Birthday Anna!

So Much Rain

Wednesday night it must have rained—hard—all night. At 5am I felt Jeremy get up. He heard dripping in my closet. He threw a towel at it and went back to sleep. 

In the morning our yard had huge puddles and our ditch was full. I only took a video of the yard. 

When I worked up the nerve to check the leak damage, I found that the water had pretty much stayed in the wall. It was a leak around our chimney which is not altogether new but has never been this bad. 

While I’m on the phone with my brother, adding us to his (lengthy) list of jobs to attend to, Isaiah came in soaking wet from head to toe. He said he was doing cannonballs into the ditch and wanted his goggles so that he could go underwater. It was actually a very warm rain. All of the children were outside playing in the rain 

They continued to play and I went back upstairs and realized that the drywall crumbled easily. 

On Friday I let the boys go at it and they took off the rest of the drywall. 

I’m listening to the wind tonight, wondering if it will rain and how much rain has been absorbed by that drywall that will now come straight down the chimney brick now. 🤔

Joy Dare::October

7528. Isaiah working so hard

7529. Renee helping Isaiah with his work

7530. House ready for company

7531. Celebrating Isaiah

7532. Relaxed time with family

7533. A beautiful afternoon

7534. Crying with my girls and holding them close

7535. Listening to them pray with profound faith

7536. Mom helping Isaiah with school

7537. Afternoon table conversation with the kids

7538. Josiah talking to me at bedtime

7539. Monarchs on the butterfly bush

7540. Jeremy had fun golfing

7541. Walking and bike riding

7542. Fall decor

7543. That sweet sister moment between Renee and Lydia

7544. All the birds on the bird feeder

7545. The most heartfelt note

7546. Listening to brothers playing

7547. First quarter finished

7548. Everyone dressed for family pictures

7549. Still...all the birds on the bird feeder

7550. Anna taking care of me

7551. Jeremy singing beside me in church

7552. Taking the day to rest

7553. Isaiah doesn’t get nervous about going to the Dr

7554. We have the Health Dept permit 

7555. Getting to know a new friend

7556. October color in the garden

An accidental video call from Grandma

7558. Evening walk

7559. A gift from New Orleans

7560. Looking at our family pictures

7561. The feeling of a job accomplished 

7562. These 6 have made some great memories

7563. A day I didn’t drive anywhere

7564. Mom stopped in for lunch

7565. Anna tried something new for supper—and like it!

7566. Sleeping in

7567. An evening with friends

7568. Apple crisp

7569. Conversation with Jeremy

7570. Annas growing faith

7571. 70 degree day

7572. Another small step of progress

7573. A little time with a friend

7574. Highly motivated students

7575. Children happy to help harvest sweet potatoes

7576. A couple hours alone

7577. Isaiah walking with me

7578. Friday.

7579. Beignets and hot chocolate 

7580. Romans 4:15

7581. A morning with my Dad

7582. Very spontaneously packing up and going

7583. Not a single complaint in the car

7584. Opening the hard conversation 

7585. Being with family

7586. Evening ice cream

7587. Easy trip home

7588. Leftovers in the fridge

7589. The birds all a-flutter at the feeders

7590. Friends

7591. Fall candles

7592. Getting to see Aliza dance 

7593. Bright moon after a rainy day

7594. Hot chocolate with Grandma and Grandad

7595. Watching Aliza build block towers with Sean

7596. Checking in with ones I care about

7597. Staying up way too late on a Friday night

7598. Candy fun

7599. Holding hands during a movie

Candy Day

Trick or treating is not part of our normal family tradition, but when Anna and Isaiah received an invitation to join friends for trick or treating, we decided to let them go. I went along and enjoyed the walk and catching up with my friend too. 

Anna wore Aliza’s Moana dance costume and Isaiah had this Wolverine costume. He didn’t want to wear the mask. 

I took pictures of some of the social distancing precautions people took. Many people had tables set up at the end of the driveway with either individuallly bagged candy or candy spread out on the table so children would only need to touch the piece they were taking. 

One person had enter and exit arrows drawn on the driveway. 

The most creative were the decorated pipes to slide candy down into the kids buckets. 

I also liked the slide idea too. This person was especially thorough—she wore gloves. 

One sweet lady was asking the children to do a trick for candy. Isaiah hung back until the other 3 in our group had done their trick and then he said that he needed to do his trick in the grass. He went over to the grass and did a flip! He landed on his back and succeeded in scaring both me and the lady. He got 2 pieces of candy. 

We watched the full moon rise. It was so bright and beautiful on a clear evening. 

Anna and Isaiah both brought home an almost literal ton of candy. 

When we got home we watched Dolittle and ate candy. It was a fun day with some fun memories made.