Some Things I Love

It's been forever since I've posted one of these.  I thought I would share a little of what I love right now.  :-)

1.  Fall!  Our first official day of Fall was two Saturday's ago, and it is our favorite time of year!  In honor of the cooler weather that we've been experiencing, Friday night called for a little of this:

 

It wasn't quite as cool as I had hoped, we actually broke into a sweat getting this going and hauling out the adirondack chairs, but it was still fun.  We invited some sweet friends over to roast hot dogs and marshmallows for s'mores, the Martin's.  It was a great evening, and one that all seven of the kiddos enjoyed.  Plus a neighborhood boy.  :-)

2.  Homeschooling.  I keep waiting on a day to come that's going to be bad, but so far, it hasn't happened.  There have been long days and tense days, but we have yet to experience a bad day with our amazing curriculum, A Beka.  We love it so much and are so fortunate to be able to stay home and have school.  On Friday, the younger boys requested that we make our own play dough.  So I looked up a recipe on Google, found one for Smelly Dough (play dough with Kool Aid), and we got to work.

Jonah chose grape, Noah picked berry blue, and on Saturday, Graham picked cherry and Drew picked orange.  :-)  It is so simple and so much fun!  Even though I had red hands for a few hours from Graham's. 

3.  And speaking of hands, my newest shade to love for Fall is:

Suzi Loves Cowboys.  :-)  Mine aren't quite this shiny, but you get the point.

4.  The newest book I'm reading is amazing.  I started a new (to me) author, Jodi Piccoult.  I tried reading one of her books before, My Sister's Keeper, and had to put it down.  I cried too much and it just seemed so depressing, so I only made it a fourth of the way through.  I decided to give her another try the last time I went to my happy place, and on Saturday, I started this:

I'm already half way through it.  It's so good, and written from different points of view.  One of the characters, Jacob, is a boy with Asperger's Syndrome.  It really causes you to think about the way you view people...like the kids you hear your kids complain about in school.  It makes you wonder if there's a deeper issue somewhere. 

5.  Our beautiful town, The Ville.  I love taking pics of places in my hometown.  I snapped this one today:

6.  Cool, rainy, dreary Monday's.  Today was another pajama day in school.  I'm still in mine.  :-)  I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and put on some clean pj's this morning.  I love days like this!  I'm so thankful that I get to stay home and educate my kids.  I'm praying Graham and Drew stick with their decision to be homeschooled next year.  Our morning looked a whole lot like this:

And, to go along with our rainy morning, Jonah decided to be prepared with some survival gear just in case our lights should go out or a burglar were to break in:

This knife is one from the collection that Mr. Paul, our neighbor who passed away, had.  His wife brought each of the boys down one on Saturday, along with some pictures of him she thought they would like to remember him by.  I thought that was so sweet of her, and yes, in made me start crying all over again.  And then I had to love on Drew, because it hit him that he was gone, and he spent the next hour boo-hooing.  :-( 

I don't think Jonah has hardly put his down yet.  Drew picked out a Swiss army knife, Noah picked out a floating fillet knife, and Graham picked another type of fishing knife. 

So, that's about it for this rendition of things I love.  Share the love and tell me what YOU love!

Love to all.