Leaving baby tapping around the house in her Sunday shoes, and big brother doing homework, and little brother napping, and Papa snoozing on the couch; the rest of us visited nearby S______ Mountain for a Sunday afternoon walk.
We came upon many other happy walkers, with hair wisping in the breeze, pink cheeks, a ready smile, a friendly hello.
I was with four of my dearest friends. Our feet went awalkin’ and some of us (not I) even went aclimbin’………in the cool fall air of a beautiful day and in the fragrant, crispy, brown leaves upon the ground.
Caleb took his capgun, and we had a hard time keeping him from aiming it at all those other happy people. It ended up being quite the training opportunity. I think he finally got it by the end of the walk, much to Ethan’s relief.
Grace did some rock climbing.
These tree mushrooms were so hard, and solidly attached, that Caleb thought for sure he could use them to climb up, up, up…….
Our sweet little Caleb. I love how the sun is shining the tiniest glint of light in his happy eyes.
My 13 year old boy. He’s done so much growing through the years, and his life gives me hope for the other little boys (namely, busy Seth) in our family (busy boys WILL calm down!).
Ethan was doing his homework yesterday before our walk, with Grace and Jacob, and I heard him say to no one in particular, “I love school.” I heard him, I was so deep down happy for him. 
He still had his church shirt on for our walk, so handsome.
Friendships in our own home, to be deep and true and heart-satisfying, must be formed by the patient knitting of soul to soul and the growing of life into life, just as in other friendships. JR Miller
We walked up the observation tower steps, carefully, and these two stood at the railing together, quietly talking as I kept an eye on Davy and Caleb. I wondered what they were saying.
“There are brothers who have no friends so close as their own sisters; there are sisters who confide and trust in their own brothers as in no other friends.” JR Miller
Davy and Caleb, bless their hearts, were a little scared so high up. David even exclaimed how he was so glad we didn’t have his baby sister, Sarah, along.
So, they went back down the stairs ASAP.
“I don’t trust these stairs!” ~ Davy, age 9
We all started walking back down the mountain, to our vehicle, to get back home. Grace and I discovered this tree, which had several holes in it like this one. We saw a nut in one. We wondered, who’s busy work is this?
This photo is from this morning. We went for a walk before lunch and Seth INSISTED that he was going to push the stroller (remember, I told you a few posts back, that pushing strollers is all the rage?)
It was fine until he got too tired and STILL wouldn’t give up. He got very very mad when I took it from him, but I had to do it because got so tired that he cried every time we hit a rough spot (about once every several seconds).
Seth is an amazing, smart child. He helps me do dishes, wash the table, puts away silverware, helps me tuck in baby for naps, loves to have books read to him, “golfs” and plays baseball, and also dresses himself each morning and every time he gets a little bit of water or dirt on himself he changes his clothes. If he gets an idea in his head it is very hard for any of us to change his mind. I just have to be very careful to help him grow as he also learns to OBEY and learn BOUNDERIES.
Most of our trees are bare, most of the leaves are down and brown, but if you look for it, you can still find some color.
A wonderful world.
God made it for us to enjoy.
This morning I saw a tiny little scolding chipmunk tucked in the crevice of a branch. He was mad at the kitten playing down below, and then he scolded the bluejay that flew too close to him. He made quite the racket.
The moon has been lovely lately.
Seth and I planted 25 bulbs today. Something to look forward to, in the spring.
The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all his works. Psalms 145 : 8,9
Good to be Home 
Sweet sweet sweet to see you tromping around and exploring together, and sweet too that the others could rest, nap, and study. There is such contentment in family life. Yay,for spring bulbs! I am slowly getting my posts up…you are next!
Love the quote about brothers being close to sisters as my son will have two older sisters and it is my greatest hope that they will forge their own strong–>unique bonds and relationships 🙂 The way you describe Seth reminds me of my Emma. She is such a joy and has such a compassionate, sweet heart and is a VERY active little girl but she does have to be given boundaries even though she doesn’t always care for them->ha!
oh dear Seth is getting sooo big…sounds like he’s got a big personality, i know that it will be a journey of teaching him boundaries but wow what an awesome little man. what fun he must have giving rides to sarah in the stroller. love that you guys were able to head out and enjoy nature, cause i know how much you and your kiddos LOVE being outside. i especially love the picture of Grace and Ethan chatting at the edge of the railing and your quotes. so beautiful. it took me a long while to learn to appreciate my brother, so i’m glad that they are growing up together so nicely.love you!
As I think of Seth, I think of a quote my dad always says when things are rough….It won’t be like this forever, it will be over eventually. Stick in there. He’ll be grown up before ya know it!I agree about the moon. Lately as it’s been rising it’s been so big and beautiful in the evenings
I love the sibling quotes as well. I’m not close with my only sibling – but I sure hope my husband and I teach our son’s and daughter’s to always treasure each other. The pictures are beautiful and I could just vision all those happy walker’s with pink cheeks waiting to see if they’d get shot at 🙂
It is unbelievable how much Ethan looks like his father! Beautiful pictures!
the pictures of nature are wonderful, shanda! you really have a gift for capturing the beauty around you..can’t believe how grown up the kids are looking. grace is just beautiful!
What a great time outdoors with your children. The hole in the tree looks like one a Pileated Woodpecker would make. They are usually large and rectangular shaped. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pileated_woodpecker
hi shanda…….thanks for taking us on the walk with you all. i’ve been noticing the moon lately too – so big and mysterious looking!
When my boys were younger I thought they would never calm down…now I sort of miss that rambuctiosness. =/ Love all your nature pictures, what a beautiful walk that must have been. Tell Davy I would have been scared on those stairs too!When we were in South Dakota climbing to the top of Harney Peak there were stairs like that. They were very high and a huge 1000 foot drop was close to one side. Once we reached the top the only thing I could think of was walking back down those stairs with our kids! Beautiful, but so scary.I agree with you about the moon, it has been so pretty lately. We serve a wonderful God, such a lovely world He gave us to enjoy.Happy Monday to you. =)
I have not been on Xanga much as it was causing my computer to get the blue screen of death. Seems okay right now… Glad that you are back home from being in the hotel!
What a perfect day for a walk/hike! Love the happy boys and the darling girl and the mommy whose children are her best friends.
Your posts always warm my heart. I love the verse at the end. Think to have it like that toward our family…full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy…sure gives me something to work with today!!!!
Beautiful pictures, what a lovely walk. I’d love to go to that observation deck if you’d share the location with me sometime. 🙂 Miss you and your beautiful family. ❤