So Long October!

It’s time to walk through the month of October!!

Anyone out there aware that it is NOVEMBER???

You all.

What is happening.

My brain needs to catch up with the date on the calendar!

Ok then – the first weekend of October felt more like summer than fall!

It seemed like a great weekend to work on some outside projects, like emptying the garden!

Thankful for all my helpers and I LOVE having Addie Mae home on Saturdays now!

Chad and Grant were home a lot that weekend too – and worked on a project on our driveway!

It was SO sweet to see all of the brothers working together again!

There was a week night in October where our little town of Westby was having a walk through.

The businesses opened their doors, served treats, and there were also outside vendors near the park.

It was fun to walk through town on such a beautiful evening and see everything – but it was more fun to get a peek at Chad’s office space where he works!

Chad earned his reality license in September and is now working for New Directions Reality as their land and farm guy!!!

We had our family photo shoot in October as well!!

Check out the side bar of this blog to see the new shots of the kiddos!

The rest will have to wait until after Christmas cards, just saying!

Addie Mae was the coordinator of ALL the clothes – and that is a HUGE job!!

I picked the spot, and of course Kayla did all of the photography work!

Here are two “getting ready” for the photo shoot pictures!

Now that this gal typing this post is feeling better after surgery (and sleeping again!!), we have started a long awaited dream of mine!

We are calling it “NaiNai school.”

We could have called it “dreams do come true” though!

First up for NaiNai school were Clyde and River, who spent a day with us and I taught them their school that day.

I am switching between the girls and the boys – each of them getting a day for NaiNai school once a week!

That means the boys come every other week and the girls come every other week.

Are you all following this??

Anywhoo….it was FANTASTIC and I have been making plans in my head for things I want to do with them!!

We had signed up for a piano help class the first weekend of October, and then for Tate and Eliza’s assessments for the second weekend of October.

These guys passed their assessments with flying colors and are now in Level 6!

We LOVE piano lessons!!

Our October Thursday night family nights consisted of a movie night, a pictionary and chocolate cake night, a dinner and smores over a campfire night, and another camp fire after dinner night – in that order!

They are still SO fulfilling and I am so glad they continue on!!

Our monthly hymn sing continues on as well!!

We enjoy it SO very much, and are SO grateful our friends invite us all into their home once a month!

I was in charge of dessert for our October hymn sing, so I made LOTS of chocolate cake!

I know you know that we did not starve in October!!

I am thankful these kiddos enjoy being in the kitchen too!

Tate has taken charge of made-to-order omelets lately, and he is very good at this skill!

Are you ready for some food photos??

Good grief, you all, I take a lot of photos of our food!!!

Clearly you can see how much joy that kitchen is around here!!

We also still fill our days with school and other creative activities.

The days are FULL!!

My hand is healing nicely, but slowly in my opinion!

The lady with the bum hand might not be the most patient when it comes to wanting to do all the things, if you know what I mean!

Thankful for healing though!!

And that I am the one back to getting groceries and running errands very early on Friday mornings!

I do have a goal of being able to squeeze toothpaste onto my toothbrush with my left hand though – so I have gotten out my therapy putty and am working toward that goal!!

Tate and Eliza received water bottles from some of the sweetest friends!

They bought them while on their vacation!

It just makes me smile to see them in our kitchen being used everyday!

I also bought a HUGE water bottle and it is big enough that I do not have to carry two of them now every time I leave the house, ha, ha!

Speaking of gifts, did I tell you all that my hubby helped the kiddos get a new bird restaurant for me?

It’s been open awhile now!

It already snowed in October, but it did not stick.

I can’t wait until it really snows so the cardinals come!!

Wait, did I just say I can’t wait until it really snows??

Don’t hold me to that one, you all!

Blake also still thinks of me all the time and brings home the sweetest gifts for me!!

It has been time to repaint the island for over a year now.

Sometimes this is just how we roll!

When Blake and I were on our little trip away, we decided to get after this project.

We used cheap paint last time, and we got what we paid for, folks.

It is time to get some Annie Sloan paint picked out so that the paint will last this time!

I ordered these two samples and we do not like either of them!

Typing all of this has me remembering I need to order more samples and make a decision about the color!

Kayla surprised me with this planner when it arrived in the mail last week.

She has one and LOVES it!

I started using it this week and I LOVE IT TOO!

And I just made a note on my “home” list to order more paint samples, thank you very much!

Doesn’t seeing that it was addressed to “my mama” make you smile?

These kiddos of mine sure know how to make some crying in my eyes!

Lane.

He is our newest giant.

He is growing and changing by the second.

I know how this goes!!

I posted this photo and these words on Instagram one day, and I want them both here too.

“This young man wakes up every morning with ideas swimming around in his head. First he says, “Morning, Mom, how did you sleep?” And then he starts telling me about air draft and how the snow skimmer he is building will stay low to the ground because of the way he is designing the wings based on his knowledge of air pressure. He wants to be an aeronautical engineer. Do I feel inadequate to help him as a homeschool Mom achieve his goal? Nope. Not at all. I will not be able to teach him advanced Math courses or advanced Science courses – or even understand anything he’s talking about while I look in his eyes and listen to ALL his ideas. BUT, I do know this – God made me his Mama, and He WILL use me to mold and shape this young man into exactly who God wants him to be! His promises are worth believing, don’t you think? Can’t wait to see what the Lord does in Lane’s life!!!”

On that note – we have been trusted with SO much.