Happy Fall!

Yesterday even at being Wednesday was a 'Saturday' for us....hubbie had the day off and we took the day off from school to spend it with him. Starting off normal with clothes washing, animal chores then heading out to the store for a few things and having lunch together the evening brought fun of pumpkin carving, home made chili, roasted pumpkin seeds and staying up late for a family movie of 'The Croods', much enjoyed by everyone.

Happy Fall All!

Laundry Line

With the washer broken we invested in a 'new' refurbished one. After contemplating washing by hand in a basin with a wash board we decided that wasn't really practical, although sounding a bit fun to begin with the idea wore off quickly as we realized how much laundry our family of 4 had to catch up on since our washer decided to stop working. A few trips to the coin laundry but when it came down to it we needed a 'new' one of our own. And the day we put in the new washer...the dryer broke. Isn't that just always how it goes? We decided a dryer was much easier to live without than a washer. We have a nice line outside and its been warm during the day time. We brought our son's chair outside, and he at 8yrs got to experience doing his own laundry then hanging on the line to dry. Totally not minding it at all, we hung laundry early morning yesterday as we chatted about where our school day would take us.

Our daughters day consisted of sewing more of her Halloween costume and our son and I took a neighborhood walk, identifying plants, listening for animals, looking for tracks then completing some math. On break, they both engaged in a documentary on Japan's earthquakes and tsunami's. Both intrigued by the video, they were rather disappointed it was only an hour long video..I think this will lead into more about Japan, Earthquakes and Tsunami's.

It was a good Monday.

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Linking to Soule Mama

Mountain Hiking

Ahh the outdoors. I LOVE FALL. Its not too hot, its not too cold. We can spend all our time outside. This week we left the house mid morning and spent all day in the mountains. We brought lunch up there, the kids brought their nature journals, colored pencils, crayons, bubbles, binoculars, a compass and a drive to have an adventure day, an exploring day. We all craved the day away and it was wonderful. The weather was perfect. Sun shining, a light breeze perfect for a hike. We ate lunch and played on the playground then we set off on our hike. Coming back from the hike we sat at a picnic table and sketched, talked, laughed a lot, had snack, played some more then geared up to drive home. On the way home..they both slept. Over an hour, they both deeply slept in the car and I enjoyed the quiet and comfort that we had a wonderful day together.
(Working on her Halloween costume all week - she's sewing it herself, our daughter wore her 'headphone bow' out on our adventure!)

As we spent the day in the beauty of nature both of the kids begged to not leave saying how nice it would be to live there...live in the mountains, among the tree's, way high, secluded in nature. A long lost dream of mine and my husbands...a dream that perhaps when we grow old together and its just he and I..a log cabin in the woods. I smiled as they both enjoyed the time in this beautiful change of scenery.

Weekending...and catching up on the Week

Computer problems have left our family sharing one laptop since last weekend- hubbie's computer. Hoping by mid week next week we'll have our other laptop- mine- up and running again. Its truly difficult to share when I work on the computer from home, the kids are constantly wanting to research things for school or reserve books on the library site- and our daughter does math online and then hubbie enjoys some free time gaming online. When you have 4 people and 1 computer it can be trying. But we've been making it through. I get top priority on time only due to my work is online!

Playing catch up..as all of my pics and folders have been transferred safely off of the broken laptop....The weekend was spent at home baking, resting, relaxing, spending time outdoors bike riding, and wandering the yard and neighborhood, spending time indoors- reading, playing games, crafting...

 Fall and Winter's weekend tradition...baking our loaves for the week...

 Dinner...Recipe via Eating Well - Barley Hoppin John

 Monday morning came so quickly...the dogs woke early, I woke early. It was still dark out. Some breakfast for the pups and a cup of coffee to wake me up. Decided to surprise the kids with one of their favorite breakfast sweets...Cinnamon Breakfast 'Cake'.

 Yummy gooey cinnamon and sugar in the middle, so good nice and warm from the oven!

 School this week has been pack full of interests...we started the week focusing on the ocean, shells, animals. We talked of plans to go to the beach to go shell collecting, perhaps to the tide pools and definitely to Seaworld on our trip in a few weeks out of town. The kids are both getting excited for our out of town adventure to see family.

 And my beautiful girl. Watching a documentary for school as I sat beside her reading, glanced over and just noticed how beautiful she is, inside and out..I had to take a picture and this time she let me :) Warmth in my heart. I love this girl.