One down...four to go?

   It snowed!!!!!

 And these loyal boys were out at 7:30 am to start playing in it!!!

   So, according to our October record keeping...we had 5 fogs...so this should be 1 of 5 snows!  We'll see!  The boys are counting... :)

The kind of week it's been...

 Yesterday on the way to swim practice, I drove past the N Dec HS sign that stated it was 48 degrees out.  My thoughts immediately went something like this... "Hm...that's why it feels so cold out...I thought that it was gonna drop on Thursday...oh, yeah...today IS Thursday!"

  Then, this morning as I looked out over the newly harvested corn field toward the sunrise, I thought it looked eerily wintry with the hazy pink sunrise perking and the icy frost covering everything very thickly on the ground.  Well, of course, (I thought) b/c it was supposed to be 29 last night. 

   Despite my confused state of the time and seasons...we have accomplished a lot in school.  It is so fun to see and hear the boys learning. 
   Jake continues to learn (along with Mom) the stories of our US History.  What beautiful indicators of God's providence and care of our nation!
   Below you can see Jake's summary of hours (and I mean hourS) of reading library books and more about the Colonial Years leading to the American Revolution.

   Here you can see Jake's "quill pen" writing re: the Dec of Independence.  We hunted feathers and berries in the woods so we could make what we needed.  (Now he wants his own ink well)

   Needless to say, I did have a moment yesterday where I wasn't sure I could handle another gun shot mimicry or battle reenactment from the boys.  It has been endless battle noise, reenactment, and mimicry...both physically as the bounce around the house in the midst of daily chores and activity and in the actual battle set ups on the family room floor with daily representations of wars read about.  :)

   Joe is very excited in his learning these days.  He told me this morning (as he wondered -out loud- how much school work he had to do) that he likes doing the letter things.  :)   This week he has been continuing to strengthen his ability to put letter sounds together to determine words.  AND, he is now able to hear me say a word...and write down the letters that make up that word.  You can see his work from today. :)

I must catch up...

 ...I must catch up...I must catch up...

   That's all I can seem to think about these days.  I must catch up with the many things that seem to slip past me each day (on to the next day's "to-do" list that I try not to keep...b/c the days keep slipping by without "to-do-ing" happening!).

   So, here's a brief couple of blogs to catch you up on what has been going on in the last...month!


   Kittens are growing.  They learned how to eat wet cat food.  We weaned them off milk (glad that milk was on sale at the time at Aldi fo $1.69).  They were making too big of a mess in the detached garage ( no time for me to keep that cleaned up too).  So, they were graduated to the barn where they can get out if they want, but it's also probably warmer there, too...since the ground stays warmer as dirt than the slab under the detached garage.
  They are also now eating dry food...that's not even ground up.  So, they are growing well!

And, as far as house projects...in the midst of life we managed to finish the much-dreaded staircase railing.  We were able to figure out how to use the original staircase parts to compile the railing we now have in the house.

Close to the Smokies...

   After enjoying several years of Fall time in East Tennessee where the change of color occurs gradually from the tops of the hills...rolling down into the valleys...   yeah, we miss that view. 

   But we did get to feel a glimpse of it at Brown Co SP where we enjoyed a hike with some friends.

Looking for the detail at that particular stop point on the trail

 LOVE these 2 cuties

That's Joe!

Taking the challenge to reach around the tree

Birthdays

   Yeah, those birthdays came and went. 

   But we did get to enjoy birthday week (2 anniversaries, 3 birthdays)...and add one!

    We got to take a 20 mile train trip through a part of southern Indiana (Larry Bird's stomping grounds) and enjoyed a beautiful drive to and from as well.  
 

And little Kaiden arrived a week early...on Oct 24th.  Two little cousins were VERY excited...