Spring Background

Monday, November 22, 2010

Thanksgiving Wishes


I am thankful for my family, even when they drive me crazy!




We Are Thankful Fall Greeting
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Watermelon Harvest





We really enjoyed the watermelons that we grew!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Osh, Osh!

Samantha has started to call for Josh. She doesn't pronounce the "J," so she says Osh. It's really funny. She loves to do what he does and play with him. They like to play chase/hide and seek. Of course, Josh always hides and Samantha runs after him.


Josh is building a castle and siege tower from cardboard. He also has made smaller weapons, bow and shields, to go with it.

We've been enjoying the cooler weather and going for walks. It's especially nice at the park near the zoo, but just in the neighborhood is fine, too. The monarch butterflies migrate through Abilene. It's pretty neat to see them. I took this picture at the zoo.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Fall

Well, we had a cool night and this morning the huge morning glory patch was sad and bedraggled. On the plus side, we did harvest our last 2 watermelons today. Samantha and Josh really wanted to open them up, but had to wait...poor things! They both love watermelon and enjoyed growing them. Luke and I learned the watermelon takes over your yard, kind of like morning glories! It was satisfying to finally succeed in growing something edible in hot and windy Abilene!
Josh is doing well in his learning. It's been such a joy to see him learn to read. He doesn't find it joyful, unfortunately, but he was very proud of himself when he read Green Eggs and Ham to me. He prefers math over reading, but his favorite by far is literature, which at his age means listening to great books. Currently we're reading Ginger Pye and The Edge on the Sword. He also really enjoys listening to the Bible.
After reading a book called Gut and Psychology Syndrome, we decided to change our diet a bit. Samantha has really blossomed, and we're not even doing the full program. We've just taken out starch and sugar, and added in more honey and nuts and homemade meat and bone broth.
Anyway, after just a few days she snuggled into me and cuddled. She has not done this since she could hold her head up! Suddenly she's verbalizing alot more and being more engaged and connected with what's happening. And, lastly, my second favorite change (after snuggling) is the lack of the constant "mom, mom, mom, mom" for absolutely no reason. She used to do this for HOURS. Now when she says, "Mom," she actually has a reason for saying it. It's such a relief.
Oh, she's also gaining weight, which is great when you are almost 2 and size 12-month pants fall off you.