WayfaringStrangers

Busy, lovely November! I love fall, even late fall when the tress are bare and the temperature drops. We have had lots going on. I had a dear friend come visit- always wonderful! We have had some beautiful family walks in the woods- my favorite thing to do. There's some serious bed head around here: I've been working out consistently the past few months, and I'm feeling pretty good! My goal is 4 times a week- sometimes I don't make that goal, but usually I do. I'm feeling stronger and healthier. Now if I could just stop eating cookies, all would be well! I found this gem at the dump. The living room is really coming together, with the curtains and the gray paint. I'll post a picture of the whole room soon! By the way, this chair was totally a God-thing. I mean, who throws out stuff like this?? I prayed God would provide a new chair or loveseat, and there it was. Family Time- yesterday 2 of my sisters-in-law

...Is a lot... ....like having... ....Puppies.... Oh, the rough and tumble of it all! By the way, I am hankering for a puppy or dog for these guys! We still don't have a fenced in yard...and I know dogs can be expensive. But still, these boys need a dog (me too!).

I was thinking more about my last post and how I took that opportunity to try to explain the gospel to Graham. Lest anyone think I am some spiritual super-parent, here are some of the other responses I have to my son, when he tells me 1,000 times a day that he wants to 'hit bad guys.' 1. Instilling Moral Boundaries: Graham: "I want to hit bad guys, mama." Me: "No Graham, you know you aren't allowed to hit anyone." 2. Deflection: Graham: "I want to hit bad guys, mama." Me: "I don't know any bad guys...do you?" 3. Inspiring Him For the Future: Graham: "I want to hit bad guys, mama." Me: "Then you'll have to become a policeman one day; you can put bad guys in jail and protect other people." 4. Exasperated Resignation: Graham: "I want to hit bad guys, mama." Me: "Ok." Oh, I do love my 2 (almost 3!) year old!

Graham: "I want to hit bad guys, mama." Me: "What's a bad guy?" Graham: "They're bad." Me: "What does the Bible say about being mean or bad? Should we try to be mean or nice?" Graham: "Nice." Me: "That's right. But sometimes Mama can be mean, and sometimes Graham can be mean. Does that mean we are bad?" Graham: takes a bite of his toast Me: "Being mean is part of us because we are sinners. Jesus loves sinners and forgives us. Jesus can love and forgive even the meanest bad guy. What do you think?" Graham: "I want to hit bad guys, mama." Well, hopefully it'll all sink in one day :)

Thanks to Pinterest for this idea- keep the map of the place you visited and use it as a background in a frame with a picture of the trip. I also added our ticket stubs from Fenway :) I put the high chair away and Patrick now sits at the table with us, in a booster seat I got at a thrift store. It's nice to have him eat right with us, and it gave us more space in our smallish eating area.  Graham and I made a leaf wreath. We are embracing autumn for a few more weeks. We moved our pine tv cabinet to the family room downstairs. Best decision ever. The living room upstairs now looks sad and empty (looking for a pretty loveseat for that room), but the family room is getting way more action now. We have been spending lots more time down there, and not to watch tv. We just naturally go down there and then the boys end up playing with their toys for an hour. It's nice! See how messy the family room is now??  Speaking of playing with toys, for the first tim

Wednesday is our 'long day' here. I leave the house with the boys at 8:45 theoretically....9:00 in reality...and we don't come home until at least 6. When we get home, we are all tired and cranky. Today I feel like I have a busy day hangover. The boys, too. They're all snuggled up and sleeping and I'm just procrastinating. I have 2 hours until I need to leave for work. 1 very messy kitchen floor. A soup to make. And some calories to burn on that treadmill. Meanwhile, all I really want to do is stay in bed, drink coffee, listen to classical music (or Christmas music. starting early this year) and look out the window at the cloudy fall sky. I'm not sad or depressed. Just in a chill mode. Ok, procrastination over. Hello, kitchen. Hello, treadmill.

Oh, the weekend is over :( I had so many ambitions to get things done; we did get a few things done, but I don't feel as successful as I'd like. One thing that we did do was hang the new curtains. I found these pretty curtains at Christmas Tree Shops a few weeks ago (actually, it was when we met the buyers of our 4Runner). They were originally from JC Penny at the steep cost of $70 per panel. At CTS, they were only $12.99. I'd been looking for something cheerful for the living room windows and I wanted a pattern, so when I saw these, I jumped on them. A sweet friend from church hemmed them for me (I bought the wrong length- oops!) and Behn hung them today. I love them. Now we just have to paint the living room. We seriously have a never-ending list of do-to's for this house. We want a fence, shed, to seed the lawn, to create a beautiful garden- including planting trees, dishwasher, painting rooms, maybe a wood stove...gosh the list goes on. These are wants , not nee

Wow, it's November?! October was, in my opinion, the fastest  month this year! It flew by, full of pumpkins and ducklings (the boys, for Halloween), changing leaves and orange candles, apple crisp and yummy soups. I just love fall. And fall isn't over yet! Anyway, my new job is keeping us really busy. It's been an adjustment. I'm home all day with the boys, and we usually do something in the morning: park, playdate, library, Bible study, etc. Then it's naptime and before I know it, I'm getting them into the van to meet up with Behn. Behn and I switch cars and he takes the kids while I go to work. I'll admit, it's tiring, to both Behn and I. Trying to plan and execute dinners when I'm not even home is especially hard- but Behn is doing a great job wgetting the kids fed, bathed, and ready for bed. This is the season we are in right now, and I'm grateful for work after looking for 5 months. It's also nice to be using my ABA skills again, and w