Chillin'

Tinna is home sick with a cold today. I'm not well, either, but my issues are tummy related. As I write this, we are both in my bed and watching "Sleeping Beauty". Poor us. Delaney and William were fine this morning and both are at school now.

A brief update on the past few days: I cleaned house Thursday and Friday and also did some knitting with Ashley. I finished one Christmas present this week-end but I cannot even begin to describe it until after it is given. I'm almost done with a second and about to embark on a third. Yay for me! Handmade gifts for Christmas this year, friends! I love having kids at school. There's much more time to do things like this.

Saturday: Delaney and Steven went to plant flowers with the Brownie Troop in the drizzle. I stayed at home with the twins and waited for my cousin Briana to arrive from North Carolina. She came with her husband and their two children. After Delaney got home, the kids all played Wii, we had pizza for dinner and then cake for baby Katie's 1st birthday. She had a lot of fun with her first cake!

Saturday night: There wasn't anything to do but watch the Penn State - Ohio State football game on TV. Thankfully, Penn State won and we are still undefeated! 3 more games to go. I have an idea that JoePa will retire this year if we come out on top. It would be a wonderful way for him to close this chapter of his life...but my fear is, if he quits coaching, he'll die. So...I have mixed emotions about it all.

Sunday: I watched some College Quidditch...and knitted. (It seems that the link is down at the moment but I was able to watch it streaming live yesterday. Here is an article with photos from the event. Here is another link telling about the up and coming sport.) Very fun! After lunch, we all went outside and did some yard work. Steven relocated a gardenia bush for me. We planted an Azalea that Auntie Lori brought for me at the beginning of the summer. We cleaned up the bottom of a tree and built a new troll house, complete with stone path (no picture of this, sorry), and little fir tree. I will get a photo after Steven repaints the door.

That's about all we've done here. Not much planned for this week, just the usual Kindermusik/piano/Brownies activities and then Halloween Trick-or-Treating on Friday night. Can't wait!

James reading to the kids (and tickling Delaney)

1st cake

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Katie

Oh, what a mess!

The "after-party" scene


"Delicious Acorn Squash Soup" (that is the title of the recipe and it truly was DELICIOUS! you can't go wrong with curry powder and cayenne pepper on a cold day. yummy!)

Planting flowers with Brownies