About Shanda

wife, mom of seven, friend, child of God

love & best dishes

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Shanda

We have a terrible cold virus going through the whole family. In fact, three of the children have missed school in the last week. We had planned to go to NYC on our anniversary, but with the lack of sleep we decided to stay closer to home.

With a babysitter at home with Sarah, we went out to breakfast at a place about 45 minutes away. It was a first time visit for us and we were not disappointed. We ordered coffee and hot chocolate first, and the waitress brought me my mug with whipped cream sky high, and sprinkles, too. The mug was resting on a yellow fiestaware saucer. I collect fiesta dishes, so this was a thrill.

Then, we each ordered a version of eggs benedict. My eggs were on a split croissant with spinach and mushrooms. Rich’s were on an English muffin with corn beef hash.

And AGAIN, served on Fiestaware! It is not typical to see fiesta in restaurants, so it was a treat to see “my” dishes used in this cafe.

Well, it was time for the mall to open, so we meandered down the road to do a little shopping, happy to be together, alone.

He didn’t have to twist my arm to get me into Tiffany&Co, where he bought me this dainty platinum ring (set with tiny diamonds).

We wandered around the mall and had a snack at Starbucks, where I pointed to my new ring while eating a pumpkin muffin. Later on, I saw a display of candles; I love how our initials come together in the alphabet, Rich and Shanda.

After a while we left the mall and went to Barnes and Noble to sit and read. I worked on my Bible study lesson and Rich continued his “Holiness” study. I picked out a few books for the children and snapped some pictures of books that I thought looked interesting. (Yesterday, I ordered two of them from amazon.)

We began to feel hungry so we left to go eat an early dinner at a pasta place.

AND GUESS WHAT? Yet again our food was served on fiestaware. At least, it was very similar to fiesta and stamped with the HLC mark.

Our waitress stopped by just as I was taking a picture of my food and when she teased me I told her that I collected Fiestaware and that I didn’t have the certain bowl our pasta was served in. She seemed genuinely interested and asked several questions.

The next time she checked on us, she brought two clean bowls just like the ones we were eating from, and told us WE COULD HAVE THEM.

She didn’t even know it was our anniversary! I laughed and exclaimed; it was such a nice surprise and she received a nice tip to match.

The little bread plates were also made by Homer Laughlin China (company that makes fiesta).

I did some research on my bowls and I think they are from HLC’s Bosque line. It is not technically fiesta but very very similar. I love my new bowls and will treasure them, they are only for Rich and I to use (not the children).

It was a great way to celebrate 19 years of marriage.

We are so grateful for each other, our relationship, the family we’ve made together,

and a kitchen well-stocked with the best dishes. 😉

with my collection in 2008

gillette castle

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Shanda

My husband Rich took Monday and Tuesday off from work because our anniversary was Tuesday. We went to Gillette castle on Monday and I showed no restraint when it came to picture-taking so I have sixty-some pictures to share here today.

On the way there we stopped at this interesting little cafe for a bathroom break. It was called Two Wrasslin’ Cats and there were cat figurines and pictures everywhere. It was great. I had a lemon ginger scone, Sarah had a cookie, and Rich had a coffee.

As soon as we got out of the truck at Gillette castle, Rich told me to take a picture of this tree. ^^

You first have to go into the Visitor Center to buy a ticket (in order to see the inside of the Castle).

The bathrooms were clean and spacious and there were a lot of stalls, but the each toilet was like a portapotty…..sort of scary for Sarah. No flushing necessary. The sinks were normal, however.

William Gillette had the castle built for his home, he was a famous actor in his time best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.

We bought our tickets and then went into a room to watch a movie about William Gillette. He was the youngest of six children. He was so much younger than his siblings that he was often treated as an only child.

“William’s parents wanted him to follow a more dignified line of work, possibly the law or politics; something more suited to his family class and background. But William had his own thoughts.” Love it.

The saddest thing we learned about Gillette was that his wife, whom he loved deeply, died at the age of 28 from a ruptured appendix. He never married again.

His castle is noted for it’s creative doors. They are all hand-carved and no two are the same.

William was fond of the railroad and built his own three mile run for a small train on his property. Here, Sarah is sitting in one of the old cars. ^^

We learned that he generously gave rides to his guests, and Albert Einstein was most terrified when he was behind the wheel. LOL

Another amusing note about William Gillette and his wishes for his property after he died.

Rich and Sarah Joy next to Gillette’s engine.

The seat Gillette sat on to drive the train!

Behind the visitor’s center is a porch with a breathtaking view. Rich and I both said we would love to go back in a few weeks to see the fall colors.

We know nothing about the vegetable cellar but we were intrigued by it.

We were approached the castle on a nice path and stopped for a picture.

Sarah is wearing a sweater made by her Great Great Grandmother.

The castle; and the interesting walkway with rock walls.

We were greeted by an elderly lady, who took our tickets and let us in the castle. The first picture I took from within was this window latch.

We were told that this narrow door was used by Gillette to take a peek at his guests….if he didn’t want to see them he snuck away….if he did, he jumped out to surprise them.

Tiffany light fixture.

The first room we went to was the great room (living room area).

I love the fire place and the way the wood was kept on a convenient rolling cart…..

William Gillette owned four pet frogs (no longer, of course, in existence) and he had this fountain and greenhouse full of plants for them to enjoy.

This is a display of coins from around the world which have been thrown into the fountain.

A tour guide talked about this door, and how Gillette thoughtfully had it cut away to give it room to open around the corner chair.

He had an inventive nature and I had the feeling that he completely enjoyed his creation (which was the entire Castle).

Sarah enjoyed trying the handles of every door.

William Gillette loved his cats.

He had a lot of books, which are still all in his bookshelves. We enjoyed leaning over the ropes to read the titles.

The office; notice the chair on the rollers.

The owls in the fire place have glass eyes that glow when a fire is lit behind them. I want them so much!!

kitchen area

A Wonderful old stove, I think it would be fun to use one of these for a month or so. Then, I would like my modern one back.

I love every kitchen I see!

After we explored the downstairs, we moved up a level, to the bedrooms.

Sarah and I looked out the window.

I noticed the wood work.

While she noticed the boat!

More of the *47* gorgeous doors.

He had cat figurines throughout the house.

For a time, he lived in a houseboat called “Aunt Polly” which was named for an elderly lady who nursed him back to health after a bout with tuberculosis. It was from this boat that he saw the site which later became his castle property. In one of the rooms there were museum pieces of some of the remains of the Aunt Polly (which accidentally burnt and is no more).

(His bedroom)

The door to his bedroom.

The lamp in his bedroom. He could reach up and adjust it for reading in bed.

View of the downstairs from the balcony.

Then, we were on the third level, where there was a nice art display and more of his books and letters.

We exited the castle and meandered our way back to the visitor’s center for a bathroom break. Then, we got our books out of the truck and went back to read, sitting on the benches outside the castle with a view of the river. Sarah played with a few little toys that she brought with her.

The property is a State Park and we would love to go back to explore some more.

*All information in this post is to the best of my own sometimes faulty recollections. For more information click here.

Thank you for visiting the blog today, my friends!

{this moment} love letter to his girl

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Shanda

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.

my hen’s near death experience

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Shanda

Can you see the turkey???

Yesterday afternoon I felt that I must get out of the house and outdoors. I “made” David, Caleb, Seth, and Sarah come with me. David was the most unwilling, for some reason walks make him impatient, perhaps because we don’t just walk, we stop constantly to look at things. “Walk” is probably not the best word to describe our walks.

At the top of the dam trail I found a turkey feather. When we got up to the field the turkeys were there. In great excitement, the boys and I tried herding them toward us but as I ran Sarah began to sob “I can’t run fast! I can’t run fast!” so I stopped and went back to her, she was losing her breath in her sadness and crying so I sat down and held her, comforting her by saying I would never leave her alone. How terrifying to watch your mother run fast AWAY FROM YOU! “What IS a turkey?” she asked. Oh, dear Sarah. She hadn’t even seen them in the distance, she didn’t know what a turkey was, perhaps it was monster-like! No wonder she was so very upset. We sat and had a conversation about turkeys and the boys came back to join us.

At this point our “walk” had lasted all of 1o minutes and David said he was going home. “NO YOU’RE NOT” I cried. There were complaints from the children. “Wait a minute! You can sit in front of the tv, you can play video games, but you can’t sit in the grass?” “It’s too itchy!!” “JUST sit down, boys!” The whole walk-idea wasn’t working. But, as we sat I started talking to them about the praying mantis we found the last time we were up there…..”maybe we can find another one and take it home to put it in a jar”, I offered.

David actually thought that this was as good idea. We all got up and started to peer into the bushes at the edge of the forest.

We found nothing but bumble bees on the beautiful dark yellow goldenrod flowers. The boys kept going, though, and everyone started getting along again. We played by the stream for quite a while.

David studied milkweed. We are both sad because we didn’t see any monarch caterpillars this year. What’s happening to them??

We popped popper plants and sat up on the cement drain thing, which is sort of like a platform. The kids have to climb up to sit on it, the water drains through a pipe and we can look down into it. Sarah felt as if she was on a stage so she did her fighting moves.

Seth was exploring but kept coming back to mama for a quick “hello”.

Caleb was collecting beaver-chewed sticks and David tried catching a small crayfish without success. You can be sure there would be a picture of it if he got one!

Doesn’t the pile of sticks look like the work of beavers? I was watching Seth and had a little panic when I saw him shaking an arm to get something off himself. I immediately thought he had walked over an ant hill, but it was only a slug. “I hate slugs” he explained.

David begrudgingly helped his little sister down, but I could tell that he felt good about it after it was over.

The lighting at the end of the day is so pretty….Caleb had generously given each child a beaver-chewed stick to swing around on the way home.

The lighting at the end of the day is so pretty.

Billy Cat was ready to greet us as we returned, he was very interested in Sarah’s stick.

*****

When we got in the house it was time to go get the other children from school. I hadn’t given anyone dinner at this point so I loaded everyone up and we picked up J, E, G, and Emily. We took Emily home and drove to the grocery store, & everyone was loud. Grace was telling me about a hard part in her day, the little ones were bickering in the back seat (I don’t know what’s going on with them lately, I’m going to blame it on Rich being gone all week), and so on. I needed some quiet so I didn’t let anyone come in the store with me to get stuff for a taco dinner.

By the time we arrived home it was 7:00pm and I was feeling a lot of rush and pressure about getting dinner done so the younger ones could get to bed. They are so tired by the end of the day. In the midst of doing 8 things at once as I prepared dinner, GRACE CAME IN THE HOUSE to tell me I had to come to the chicken coop!! “I can’t, I’m cooking meat!!!” “DAVID CAN WATCH IT, YOU HAVE TO COME, MOM!!” She would give me NO HINTS except the reassurance that the hens were alive and well.

Would you take a look at this? On the upper left you see a bunch of feathers from one of my hens. The dead bird is a Hawk, which most certainly was in the process of KILLING THE HEN when ……….. SOMETHING KILLED IT. I am intrigued because it is a mystery how it could have died. Our dog didn’t kill it, I know, because the chicken coop is behind his electric dog fence. Was it a cat? Was it the rest of the flock (four hens?) defending their sister-hen? Oh how I would love to know the answer to this story!

As for the hen which lost so many feathers……..

She is wounded, but happily eating and drinking in the coop like nothing at all happened to her. She’s thankful to be alive.

All in all, the day yielded eight new feathers for my collection. Five from turkeys and three from the hawk.

I pulled the feathers from his dead body this morning and washed them.

magical kingdom

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Shanda

PERHAPS adventuring gives us a deeper appreciation for the ordinary days.

NO ONE in their right mind would complain about taking their precious children to DISNEYWORLD and I am not about to do so, HOWEVER, I am currently sitting on my own worn out couch, legs under a flannel quilt that I made myself, with a nice cat at my feet, quiet house all around me, a sleeping daughter in her bed upstairs, and the anticipation of children getting home from school soon and I say, isn’t TODAY, the now, the messy beautiful JUST AS precious as a day in the magical kingdom?

Today is NOT an ordinary day, truly, no day is ordinary, it’s a gift. Last night I had a little one sleep with me because my husband was away. At 10 pm I was silently taking pictures of her restful, sleeping face. All night long I was getting kicked and moving sleepily flung arms back to her side of the bed.

Then, just when I was about to sit and blog hours and hours ago, after the children got on the bus at 7:45, I suddenly remembered that GRACIE had a doctor’s appointment and I had to leave in fifteen minutes to go to school, pick her up, and drive to the Doctor’s. It was a yearly check up and I thank God with all my heart for a healthy, beautiful teenage daughter. She gets migraines and sometimes her eyes blank out/she gets dizzy/when she stands up too quick, but she’s talked to the Doctor and has all kinds of encouraging and helpful remedies to cope with those things.

When we got back home, Sarah and I went to the coop to visit the hens. I sat in the grass and read a book while she became motherly with them, filling all the little cups and bowls (just a handful, really) with food, and walking slowly back from the pond with a saucer of water. A hen laid an egg. Sarah sang out, “thank yooooou, chickennnnnnn!” We carried the egg home, she fried it herself with me by her side, she ate it for lunch.

*****

I LOVE blogging about the little things in each day, it’s harder for me to go back in time to blog about something from last month, but it would be a shame not to document our day at Magic Kingdom.

Caleb and Seth are four years apart. Rich and I took them with us on the trip to Disney because we have already taken the older four. We needed some time with just these boys, it was so fun! Rich had to go to Orlando on a business trip, but he took us along and extended his trip for a personal vacation weekend. We were at Magic Kingdom on a Saturday.

I love them. This picture of the three of them makes me stop and gaze. ^^^ those eyes.

Seth was tall enough to ride every ride we wanted to go on, including Thunder Mountain. The lines were long but we managed and the boys were good natured and happy the whole day.

The Country Bear Jamboree is a must-see.

Rich and I are actually sort of sad that we only have Sarah left to take out of all seven children. It’s the most wonderful thing in the world to take your children to Disney on that very first time for them, to see it all fresh through their eyes, knowing and remembering what it was like on your own first visit. “Maybe we can take the grandchildren.” as remarked by myself, was met with a strange look from my husband.

There were amusements to entertain us in the looooong lines…..like this “honey wall” at the Winnie the Pooh ride. The moms thoughtfully took hand sanitizer out of their purses.

Seth had a lollipop. The walkways were wet from an afternoon shower.

“It’s a Small World” ride…..lines (picture taken as we waited).

The boys were dazzled by all the coins in the water. We threw some in, too.

We hugged in the lines.

“Shalom” meant a lot to the boys after a week of Vacation Bible School and the “Shalom Song” they sang every day.

The Swiss Family Robinson treehouse.

really love these words~

Little shoots of water were coming out randomly from a ride and Seth danced around trying to get wet for a few minutes.

So typical.

They are such good boys.

I saw the tower from Tangled.

We were busy all day long walking, riding, waiting, sitting in shows, looking…….fifteen hours, to be exact.

It meant so much to Rich to be able to have this special vacation with the boys and me.

Okay. So. Rich was riding a baby roller coaster with Caleb and Seth and I had to have a break. I went and bought a caramel apple, sat down to eat it and waited for them to return……well…..I had to sneak out my camera and take this picture…..of a mom with her darling daughters…they sat next to me and all three wore pink shoes! The icing on the cake was the baby’s feet! She lost her shoe but her tiny sock was pink, too!

If I remember correctly the fireworks were at about 10pm. We watched them from in back of the park/castle to avoid the masses of people in front.

Just so beautiful.

After the fireworks were over we continued to stay at the park for several more hours. It was nice to walk in the cool of the day and we all got our “second winds”.

We rode the Buzz Lightyear ride twice and the boys got behind bars with Zurg.

We went on more and more rides, the last one being *Space Mountain* which was quite intense, and very odd to be having such thrills at MIDNIGHT. I spent the entire ride worried that Seth (who was behind me) would fly out of his seat. But all was well.

The castle is so pretty, I turned around to take one last picture of it as we left.

*****

the clouds are so pretty today

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Shanda

Psalm 19:1

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Psalms 36:5
Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

{this moment} friday, seven a.m.

Image

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.

timmy the mouse…beans…concord grapes

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Shanda

“After a mouse has been studied it should be set free, even though it be one of the quite pestiferous field mice. The moral effect of killing an animal after a child has become thoroughly interested in it and its life is always bad.” ~Anna Botsford Comstock

GOOD morning! How are you today? Did you have a nice Labor Day weekend? We did, too. A little bit of everything…rest, play, work, fun, and so on. The children are back to school today and I just taught little Sarah how to use the vacuum cleaner to clean up her own cookie crumbs. She did a great job. Now she’s going to watch Franklin (the turtle cartoon) until I’m done with my blog-writing, and then we’re going to the library for some new story books to read for the week.

Do you know what I think is fun about life right now? The unpredictable way of it, the way you can take a break on the porch with a stack of cookbooks and be interrupted by a mouse! Or when you host a Bible study at your house and someone’s grandparents bring you a bag of fresh garden beans. Or, when a little one is too sick to go to church and you end up going for a walk and find ripe grapes!

Who would have guessed these little events would happen to us this weekend, just small parts of the whole of course, (we did much more), but these are a few of my favorite things that happened in our family as we moved from August into September……..and enjoyed an extra day in the week-end. *I love my family*

“I SMELL A MOUSE”

I was, like I mentioned, sitting on the porch looking up recipes for green bean side dishes…..when superhero David rescued an adorable deer mouth from the jaws of death. He promptly put it in a bucket and gave it a cheerio. Seth was an onlooker, looking but not touching, but then when big sister arrived on the scene, she promptly named him TIMMY and picked him up!

I had told the boys not to touch it.

David was offended because it was HIS MOUSE. And she wouldn’t give it back! She said she loved Timmy.

She tried to put Timmy back in his bucket but he ran up her arm!

So she kept him longer. She said he loved her, too!

David continued to be annoyed.

Annoyed and stressed out. Grace was bonding with the field mouse. It is my belief that the mouse was in shock and didn’t know what was going on.

They started going into the house to show Dad but I began to yell about how unwise that idea was……what if Timmy got away?

So Grace came back, yelling at her brothers to stop trying to take him away from her…..not sure what Sarah’s doing…..

Grace, Seth, David, and Sarah marched in a line to the woods and released the mouse with blessings for a long and happy life.

I left the porch and set to work on my green bean side dish.

I used a recipe from the old cookbook Kara gave me through the mail (thank you, dear dear friend!!)

The beans were wonderful. I washed them, trimmed them up, and cooked them in a pot of water until they were just right (we like them soft).

Meanwhile, I fried three slices of chopped bacon and then sautéed finely chopped onion (3/4 cup) in the bacon grease.

When the beans were done, I added them to the onions and bacon, and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Rich and I ate them all for dinner (that’s all we ate). Grace tried them, too. They were delicious.

I took this picture while the beans were boiling.

We had a strange little illness go around the family…consisting of a stomach ache and head ache. Sarah threw up one night, but the others just had the aches. Caleb had it in the night before church and said he couldn’t go, he “just couldn’t stand it” if he went to church. Consequently, Rich left with the other children and I stayed home with Caleb…..after resting all morning and giving him Advil, I decided it wouldn’t hurt for us to go on a gentle stroll down the road.

He took a plastic bag in order to collect wild concord grapes. They were sour; our walk was punctuated by the sound of him vigorously spitting them back out…….I politely refused his generous offers of grapes from the bag.

They are abundant this year……and smell so good, much better than they taste. However, Rich also likes eating them. Later on, he was delighted to discover Caleb’s bag of them on the kitchen counter.

I made jam from them last year but we still have a few jars left so I’m not tempted to do anything with them this year.

The neighbor’s cows.

***

I hope you have a wonderful day where ever you are, school, work, home….isn’t it marvelous that God sheds his blessings (big and small) on us no matter what we’re doing? I’m thankful for time to get things done, an opportunity to write to my friends here in blog-land, a trip to the library, a beautiful warm day, with health and energy to do what I need to do for my family. God is good.

You are loved.

“Gentleness towards self and others makes life a little lighter.” Deborah Day

Les Mis quotes, photos of bugs and things, & thoughts

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Shanda

“One day he sprained his ankle in his effort
to avoid stepping on an ant.
Thus lived this just man.”
Les Miserables

“Does not this comprehend all, in fact? And what is there left to desire beyond it?
A little garden in which to walk,
and immensity in which to dream.
At one’s feet that which can be cultivated and plucked;
overhead that which one can study and meditate upon:
some flowers on earth,
and all the stars in the sky.” pg 37

“The most beautiful of alters
is the soul of an unhappy creature
consoled and thanking God.” pg 15

“Be it said in passing, that success is a very hideous thing.
Its false resemblance to merit deceives men.” pg 34

“He had nothing of the prophet and nothing of the magician about him.
This humble soul loved, and that was all.” pg 37

“The sadness which reigned everywhere was but an excuse for unfailing kindness.
Love each other;
he declared this to be complete,
desired nothing further,
and that was the whole of his doctrine.”

“When the heart is dry, the eye is dry.” pg 60

Hello, my friends.
How are you today?

I’m having fun carrying my camera around outdoors.

Yesterday, I shared some wild clover from my bouquet, with Grace’s bunny. She also enjoyed some parsley from the garden.

Every once in a while I take a picture indoors, too. Because my cats like to pose for me.

The children are on their third day of school. It is going well. When they get home they like to swim.

Does anyone want to read Les Miserables with me?

Grace fell in love with the movie a while ago and I finally sat down to watch it with her a few weeks ago.

I was astounded by the story, the music, the messages.

I’m currently on page 64 out of 908.

*It begins with the Bishop, and I have found a new kindred spirit. I love the Bishop!*

By “reading the book with me” what I mean is this: You read your copy and I read mine, at our own pace. If anything strikes you, a quote, an idea, share it with me in the comments at any time and I will respond to you. Also, I will share quotes as I go along, too. Thank you, dear reading friends.

Have you seen the movie? I watched it again with Rich on Friday and he was touched by it, too.

He calls the book a doorstop.

*****

Sarah is feeling a little bit under the weather today so we are cozied up on the couch watching The Little Mermaid. It has been a bright, cool morning but is starting to heat up. The sky is blue and cloudless. I can feel the seasons change, from summer into fall, in the typical New England fashion. It’s a rich, contemplative time of year, I find myself wandering outside a lot…breathing in the air, looking at everything around me, listening to the cricket’s buzzing sounds, thinking about things or nothings. Yesterday evening Seth and I took a blanket outside to watch the clouds turn pink. As soon as we got comfy he popped right back up and asked, “Do you mind if I play catch with myself?”

I have to do a little house cleaning this morning before the children get home from school. I have started up my school year habit of making everyone’s bed while praying for that person. (recommended) Rich should be home by 5 and we are hosting a dinner/Bible study evening here later on.

My favorite moment of the week? Standing in the driveway on the first day of school watching and waiting for Seth’s bus to bring him back home, and then when it came, watching him get off and run to me. My heart! I cried a little. He was dear, and he was back home with mama.

Have a wonderful, blessed day dear ones! You are loved.

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never,
I nothing lack if I am his,
And he is mine forever.

Henry Baker, 1868 (old hymn)

exciting day for the children

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Shanda

Seems like just a month ago, this little guy was a baby (that’s him in my lap, 5 years ago^^) –and now here he is going to Kindergarten!

We went to the school yesterday, his hand in mine, to see his classroom. He has the very same teacher that his big brother David did for Kindergarten. It’s fun because she and I both remember when I took newborn Seth into the school during a parent teacher conference-they already knew each other-!

He’s been wanting to go to school for a long time now. I have no doubt that he is ready, but I’m going to miss him during the days so much. My baby boy.

At the orientation he had to paint his handprint.

He got to see the gym. If he’s anything like his brothers, this will be his favorite place.

So yes, I had to struggle to keep from crying right there at the school yesterday. Thankfully I held it together, for Seth’s sake. I got to see my friend Heather, and also as a happy surprise, another friend of mine’s son is in the same class as Seth. Actually, her daughter went with my son Jacob to the prom this spring. We both have a Senior and a Kindergartener in the same school year.

Seth’s teacher gave him a bag of Lucky Charms cereal with a note on it that said, “I’m lucky to be your teacher”. She also gave him a paper book to read before bedtime. It was tied with a ribbon, and was a story about being too excited to sleep. There was a small baggie of confetti taped inside with the promise that if he sprinkled it under his pillow he would fall right to sleep. It also said that Teacher would do the same thing, because she was so excited, too. It was precious, I was putting his clothes out as Rich read it to him last night.

Right away this morning the dog was sad. He knew just what was happening. His boys and girl were going to school and he would be stuck home all day with MOM!

“Looking at Mom”

Another change for us is that our DAVY is a middle schooler and is now riding the early bus with the big kids.

Grace is a sophomore, Jacob is a senior, and Ethan is a junior.

I just sat here smiling over this picture for a while. I love how Jacob is wearing casual and Ethan is more dressy….and Grace is wearing Emily’s shirt with her new ankle boots from Target that I bought her last week. From what Grace told me, Emily is wearing one of Grace’s shirts today, they had it all planned out. (Emily is Jacob’s girlfriend).

They got on the bus at 6:30 this morning and will come home at 2:30 if they don’t have to stay after school, (which, 3 of them do today).

NEXT?

Time for Caleb to get on his bus and travel to 4th grade!

And then it was time for Seth to wait for the bus. He had a couple of wet spots on his shirt from brushing his teeth, but he loves this shirt, he mentioned it several times…..he calls it his soccer ball shirt. When Rich woke him up this morning he said, “But I’m still tired!” He had a hard time eating breakfast, he’s not the type that’s hungry first thing in the morning. He got down part of a bagel and a bunch of grapes.