Thursday, November 3, 2011

Halloween is Over, Turkey Day Approaches

For Halloween this year we did things a little different.

Jeanette is usually a princess or a fairy. This year she wore the dress her grandparents brought back from China, and carried the parasol they sent for Christmas two years ago. I also put her hair up in a bun. She was a little beauty! We even got complements from several neighbors who are of Asian descent.

We were going to put Blake in his lederhosen, but at the last minute (practically) he became fascinated with Superman. Going so far as to 'correct' us if we didn't call him Superman. "No, I'm Superman!" So, I quickly pulled things together and 'created' a Superman costume. Blue pants, a blue Superman tee-shirt, red underwear pulled over the pants, red socks, and a hand made red cape. He was handsome though, especially when he put his hands in the air and said "Superman Away!"

Olea, of course, was a fairy. Pink onesie, pink tights, pink wings. Only she didn't like the wings and kept trying to pull them off. But she was as cute as can be, crawling around on the floor with wings sprouting from her back.

Bill and I usually ware our 'Pioneer' costumes. But Bill has been in a phase lately. Watching Kwai Chang Caine episodes and walking around trying to 'not brake the rice paper'. So for Halloween, he put on his 'Pioneer' costume, but drew a tiger on one arm and a dragon on the other. Very few people got it.

I wore my 'Pioneer' costume as usual, partly because I was too busy figuring out everyone else's costume to make a new one for myself, and partly because it still matched Bill's costume. Maybe next year, I'll do something new...

Now, it's time start making Thanksgiving plans. We'll probably stay home this year. Enjoy a day for just our little family. Buy a small turkey, or even a chicken, and make it a simple day. A day to really think about what we're grateful for, instead of worrying about cooking tons of food. It's been a long time since we enjoyed Thanksgiving with just our family.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Spring has sprung, and Fall is tripping

Well, our fence went up with only a few problems. Now we have a nice castle look on one side of our house. It was easier to do then we were afraid it would.

Jeanette has started school. Well, at least pre-home-school. We do reading, writing, math and art (most days). Some days we have nature studies. Today we learned about rain, lightening, and thunder. (Playing in the rain!) She's growing 'big and strong', just ask her. She's become very good at helping me shop, she knows just where the ice cream is sold! She is also lots of help with her siblings. Blake will do anything Jeanette tells him (almost), and Olea thinks Jeanette is the funniest thing alive!

Blake is growing and growing and growing... He's growing taller. He's growing stronger. He's growing stubborner! Blake has started to have his own personality. He used to just follow Jeanette around everywhere she went and do ever thing she did. Now he's started doing his own thing. He still spends a lot of time following Jeanette around, but now he spends some time doing his own thing. He loves playing with his Thomas Train. He take Thomas EVERYWHERE with him. To the store, to bed, even to the bathroom!

Olea is growing too! She's now almost eight months. She crawls... everywhere! She's started standing next to things. She stands in the crib, the play-pen, and next to anything taller then her hips. She's started talking too. She 'says' bottle, mamma and dada. She even has a special laugh for Jeanette and Blake. She's started drinking from a cup sometimes, but mostly still wants her bottle (or mamma). She seems to have already hit most of her eight-month-old checkpoints. Her red head tenancies are very strong! She WILL have her way, or she'll cry, and she'll cry for however long it takes or she falls asleep...

Bill has hired a second intern for our corporation. He's working hard to expand our business to other cities as well. He's looking to expand to Modesto once a week. He wants to do Domestic Violence / Anger Management Groups. We'll have to wait for the courts to decide if they'll refer to us. If he gets the groups going, he'll have to hire another therapist. But that would be doable if he had enough work that needs doing.

I'm keeping things together. Something is always left undone, but no one's perfect. I recently canned a bunch of grape jelly! Nothing like homemade jelly! Soon it'll be pumpkin time again, and I've recovered sufficiently enough from last year to think about processing this year's pumpkin... not sure yet though... If I do, I'm canning it, and not trying to use it all up, before it goes bad.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

My First Try

My sister in law blogs, and I've often heard about it, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I'm not terribly fond of writing, and consequently, there will not be a detailed day by day account on this page. But I hope I can at least keep my friends and family abreast of all that's going on in my family.

I'll start off with a simple statement of things.

Bill's working hard. He's gone a lot, but the business is growing beautifully, and I'm very proud of him.

Jeanette is getting bossy sometimes. I think it's cute, but I'm sure it wont be in a few years, so we're trying to curb it now.

Blake is growing more jealous of Olea all the time. He's started biting Jeanette too, which is not nice. We're working on teaching him that it hurts his sister when he bites her.

Olea is on the verge of crawling, but can't seem to get enough strength in her arms to support herself on one arm. She has at least three, possibly four teeth, but they don't seem to want to grow any past sticking through the gum line.

I'm good. My parents and nephew, Philip, are coming to visit this weekend, and my dad and I are replacing the fence between our property and the lady to our west. It also requires putting in a new gate. This will be the first time I've ever built a wooden fence, and I'm looking forward to learning how.