Mid-October

Last week was cold and rainy, which was actually our first bout with this kind of weather in a long time.  The kids mustered up the energy to push through, but the cloudiness made me grumpy.  By Friday we were all wishing for some down time when (surprise, surprise!) Kate's 4H gathering for the night was cancelled due to the rainy weather.  No one really wants to have a bonfire at a corn maze when it's raining :)

Instead we curled up in the basement and watched a movie, went to bed early, and everyone slept in.  Hip, hip, hooray!

The second 4H event of the weekend, a couple of hours of cleaning out the 4H beds at the community garden, was cancelled on Sunday afternoon because of the continued wet weather.  Another relaxing evening is what we all needed before beginning a full week of school and work.

This week includes school open houses for two different kids on two different nights, but also another night at church for Anna.  We enjoy our times at home when we have them, especially if the sun is shining!

Here's a few other snapshots of life recently.

For awhile now Ethan has been talking about building a wooden semi truck with Matt.  A couple of weeks ago, they talked through their ideas and the engineering required, made a few sketches, and then worked on building it together.

Ethan learned a lot over those weeks about having to wait for things to get worked out "just right", having to wait for the glue to dry, and having to wait for Dad to get the right parts for the axels.  He also learned about the tools in the garage workshop and took much pleasure in giving me a tour of the workshop one afternoon.

Partly because of this project, Ethan has been enjoying drawing and sketching recently, too.  Here's a semi-truck he drew one afternoon.  (If I don't keep a record of these little things here on this blog, I tend to forget them ...)

When he's not playing with cars and trucks, or building, or drawing, Ethan is often found at the piano, practicing his songs for the week, or just making his own music.

Kate is usually found playing, reading, or drawing as well.  Her pictures continue to get more complex.  Whenever we ask her about a particular part, she often has a long explanation about why something looks the way it does.  I wonder what it's like to live in that child's head ...

Here's what Kate drew during church this last week to help her memorize Psalm 23.  Sure enough, after drawing something for each phrase, she had the whole psalm memorized.  (Again, if I don't record this here, I'd probably forget all about it ...)

Kate has also been losing teeth right and left.  The second top one just broke through the gums this week, but she certainly has a checkerboard mouth these days.  It's a wonder she can eat anything!

Anna's plugging along.  Everything seems to be going smoothly right now, so we will enjoy that for what it is.

Lastly, Ethan's class had a field trip to the pumpkin patch today.  The bus ride, the animals, the corn maze, and the playground area were all memorable experiences for Ethan and his friends.  It was a windy, but sunny, day for the trip.  Good times were had by (almost) all.

Let's hope this sunny weather continues!