Enjoying these beautiful fall days

There are not many left. We put away the spring jackets long ago not thinking that we would have such gorgeous weather. This is the girls' favorite tree. I don't remember ever climbing a tree to curl up with a good book when I was young. I did once enjoy a novel laying on the back of my horse. But that's normal, right? I mean, how comfortable is a tree?




Courtney took this shot after they all had been playing in the leaves. It's the latest style- camo socks. There really are socks under there.

Our lastest family picture

Joshua (again)

You would think that by your sixth child it would all be old hat. You would think that all the "firsts" would be no big deal. After all, you've been there before. You've already seen five first smiles, five first rollovers.

Maybe it's because I'm older, and can appreciate. I have learned to cherish because I have seen how quickly it all goes by. But by the time you see your sixth child pull himself up to stand, or wave bye bye (even though he's really too young and he is just flailing his arms around out of excitement - doesn't matter, I'll take it) or when he coos "mmmma mmmma mma" the whole room cheers. And they have all seen babies do it before, too.

Joshua at seven months :
Cut top two teeth,
started crawling,
pulled himself up to standing,
had his first oreo cookie,
said "mama" "dada" (kind of. all right, he wasn't talking about us but in all that blabber, those words did come out.)

It's been a busy month. He has a few more days left. Think we can add sleeping through the night to that list?

We very much enjoyed the warm weather this week. I didn't want to waste any of it so we even did a little bit of our work outside.

Teenager?

It cant be... I'm much too young to have a teenager.


Paige turned 13 on the 3rd. And she got spoiled this year. It seemed her birthday went on and on. She first went shopping with Grandma and Aunt Kathy and out to dinner at the Olive Garden.




Then on her actual birthday, she got to take the day off; no school, no chores. I dragged out the potters wheel for her. We don't get it out nearly as much as we should, the thing is sooo heavy, it's really a chore to set up.


It was a treat for everyone. They all got involved.
She really is good at it. It's a lot harder than it looks.




She had a birthday party on Friday, then on Saturday, I took her out shopping, just the two of us. That was more of a treat for me. We don't get many opportunities to do things without a few babies tagging along. We hit a few antique stores, Penny's, Christopher & Banks, Micheal's, and Borders. Does it get any better than that?

In honor of her birthday, I could go and on about how special she is to me, about how she is more of a friend than a daughter, and how many times she has consoled me, or put things into perspective for me. And how much of an inspiration she is to me.
...but I wont, cause that would just embarrass her.
;)

Solid Food

Most of what he eats is by accident. :)
An apple dropped, a fruit loop that fell from the table, or a gift from his sister. This was originally Grace's apple. But he did pretty good with it. And he wasn't happy with me at all when I finally got too nervous and took it away. But not before a couple of pictures, of course.





And for all my pea loving relatives out there...

I may rise...

but I don't shine. I am NOT a morning person. But when I opened the blinds this morning and saw the sun shining full force against the frost and made the whole yard twinkle, I had to take a little stroll.



Then I turned around and guess who followed me out the door? -Courtney's sneakers, pajamas and all.





But it was still a little bit chilly.
"Up, peese. Old Dace." (Hold Grace)