Fall Fun 2014

We took the kids to a bug festival in State College.  Above the kids are having a cockroach race.  We had an interesting time looking at many dead and many live bugs, including watching a spider eat another spider inside a cage.

The kids and I have loved fall.  We spent a couple afternoons planting tulip bulbs so that our yard will look beautiful this coming spring.

We enjoyed making a gingerbread haunted house.

We had fun at Way Fruit Farm pumpkin patch.  We ate apple dumplings, held bunnies, picked out pumpkins, went on a ride, and picked apples.  Home school is still going well.  We are currently in a math unit that the kids are enjoying.  I love the artistic nature of the Waldorf program.  We are also having fun with lots of Halloween songs, stories and poetry.  Ryzen is now officially walking!  He was doing really well on the trip and within a few days of being home he just took off.  He walks everywhere now!  He still nurses and wakes up at night!  I know this needs to change and we are starting to make some progress. I think one of the reasons I've decided to nurse him so long is because I feel like it's my special bonding time with him.

19 Ticks
Yes, that's how many ticks that Mira had on her this week.  Ryzen opened the back door and she got out and headed into the forest behind our house.  When she came back in the was covered in ticks.  Dane took some tweezers and pulled off 15 before he gave up and we called the vet.  The vet found 4 more, and gave her Frontline (a topical solution) to kill any others that may be on her. Not a fan of ticks, no sir.

Aria's prayers
At the end of Aria's prayers each night, we've taught her to try and listen to see if she gets any inspiration in response to her prayer.  She's basically implemented that by saying things like, "Heavenly Father, if there's anything you'd like to tell me, please do."  And each night she reports to us that she heard Heavenly Father say something like "I love you very much."  Earlier this week, she reported an interesting experience.  She said she was told something to the effect, "Aria, you need to work on your prayers."  (Sometimes she says a pretty casual prayer without much thought.)  She found that very surprising and interesting.  A response like that gives me a little more encouragement that she may actually be listening to the spirit.