Starting to feel like winter.

Gunnar is growing!  He's still such a good baby but he's making known his voice and feelings.  He does well in his carseat but when you set him in it and strap him he starts to whine because he knows now that he needs to stay in there for a little while.  He eats graham crackers and loves sucking on cucumbers.  He can drink from a sippy cup.  Pattie Cakes!  Just starting to wave goodbye.  His favorite person on earth is his momma and daddy BUT Grandpa comes next!  By far!!!!  He kicks and cries if Mike doesn't pick him up.  It's WAY TOO CUTE!!!!  Rolling around on the floor is his way of getting around.  He's pure joy to our family!

 

I made some apple butter the other day!  It's tasty and from Half Baked Harvest Recipes!

We had a color analysis night at church for ladies and I can't wait to see what colors look the best on me!  

More paint by number nights while Jeremiah hunts at the cabin!

No more pennies are being made.  I feel like this is just another moment in history.  Will our grandchildren not know about pennies????

Look at this!!!!  I have said for many years that we should light up the row of pine trees in the back yard with Christmas lights!  It would be a lot of work and would take a ton of lights so we never did that.  BUT, Mike attended a fundraiser event the other week and came home saying that he bought a ticket for a company to come put lights on our house over the holidays!  Austin was DELIGHTED!!!!  I was excited too!  Guys were out and hung these in a few hours and now we are the house that glows on our street!  Austin made a comment that he thought there would be a reindeer on the roof yet but he likes it! 😂. 

They came with strings of lights on huge reels and clipped them on our roof.

I don't usually hang up lights or put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving.  It's just how I do.  I love Thanksgiving time and the reminders of being grateful and thanking God for all our blessings.  I do know that it's a posture of the heart and not just one day of saying thank you!  Thankfulness is what I need to express every single day!

Ashlyn had her last shadowing intern day on Friday and she loved Linden Coffee!  The Grinch Lotus is our favorite!

We've been doing some thrifting!  The girls love to go and Hadassah and I have went the past few weeks to Goodwill.  This is what I found last week!  You never go thrifting with an agenda but rather just look around for deals!

Austin was over the top excited when he came running to the back door saying that he caught a fox in his foot trap he set in the neighbors field.  He missed the killing shot at first but hit it the second time!  He drug it back to the house and skinned it.  This is a dream for him!

Mike gifted me new pots for my birthday but I requested that I don't pick them out or buy them until Christmas.  Back in May, I already had my old pots filled with flowers and really wanted to wait until Christmas time to have the pots then filled with Christmas greens and decorations!  He bought two pots for me from Perfect Pots and they are delivering them this weekend with Christmas greens stuffed on top!  I can't wait to see how they turn out!  And passing this truck on the highway the other day just made me smile!  Christmas trees are getting delivered and set up for sale!

Austin has been at two birthday parties the past two weeks with almost the same group of boys!  They have so much fun!

And it's time to get out the puzzles and light the candles!!!!  The dark evenings are much better with candles glowing in the home!!!!!

November has been busy with finishing up volleyball for the girls and starting up basketball for the boys.  Austin had his orientation for basketball last week.  It is so fun watching him grow in height and skill each year!  The weather is feeling like winter outside.  It's now time to bundle up for the cold days!!!!

Mid November feels and thoughts.

 Do you feel the pull in November to be one foot in with fall things yet and all things pumpkin yet when you walk into stores you see all things Christmas?  I don't like the pull.  I'm else one or the other.  For years I always waited to put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving because I think it's such a good reminder for us to be thankful.  Now, I also know that thanksgiving and gratefulness is a posture of the heart and not something you just do or express on one day of the year but all the days of the your life!!!!  Thanking God for His goodness and love and forgiveness and all our many blessings is something I need to do every single day.  So why the wait?  Why not go all out for Christmas in November?  I just don't.  If you decorate early and find yourself enjoying the warm, cozy lights in November .... that's great!  If you are like me and wait until the day after Thanksgiving and then feel the rush of all the holiday things .... that's great too.  I do not like the rush of wanting to set up decorations and the tree and writing my Christmas letter and baking cookies and ordering cards, etc, but it's how I roll.  I just can't write a Christmas letter with my home full of pumpkins and fall leaves!  I gotta "feel" the Christmas spirit.  One thing I do do early is turn on the Christmas music!  The radios don't start with Christmas songs until November 28 but we have Youtube and Spotify already playing us Christmas songs here!  I love that!  Also, we did watch some Christmas movies already!  December is really full of programs, banquets, gatherings and parties (which is wonderful) but we don't always have the time to enjoy some full Christmas movies!  So we start now.

All that to say that Austin LOVES Christmas time.  All the decorations!  He would love if we light up every tree on our property with lights!  He just loves it!  So, when we left the cabin a few weeks ago, Mike pulled out some fresh small pines and brought them home.  Austin set one up in his room!  He helped himself to my decorations and put them on his dresser.  It's so cute!  He falls asleep each night with the glow of his little tree on his cheeks!  I love that!!!!!

Hydrate .... we are adding this to our water lately!  Ballerina Farm is a favorite of mine to follow on Instagram and I like the few things I bought from them so far!

The wind is howling and the leaves are hanging on for dear life.  One day, very soon, the leaves will all fall to the ground and I will chase them into the field with my blower!  

More Gingerbread Biscottis filled the car and container on my kitchen counter!

Baby dear is just going from one volleyball game to the next these days!  He loves the noise and people and Mike and I are delighted to help care for him while Hadassah coaches!

Paint by number is a new art for us!  I found these on Amazon!  It's really fun to paint the spaces that are marked by numbers!  It's easy, relaxing and fun!  I am doing the nativity painting.  Ashlyn is doing the Christmas tree scene.  Austin has the bear and Hadassah started the wolf.  Mike has a steam train one he just began!  We listen to the Christmas songs Ashlyn plays and we paint!  So fun!

And now my painting is complete.  One thing I love about this is that I now have this portrait that I can use as decoration and keep for years to come!  We do love us a good puzzle though and it's now time for those to hit our dinning room table but those you do and then put back in a box.  If you are looking for a fun winter project, maybe a paint by number art is for you???

The morning, golden light is beautiful!  It's getting colder outside and soon those front porch pumpkins will freeze and I'll put out some fresh evergreens!!!!  I can't wait!

It's time to restock the vitamins and fight off sniffles!  These are what we have this season!  We hope and pray we have a healthy winter!

And that wraps up the volleyball season for the girls!  Hadassah and Kate did a great job coaching!  The girls went undefeated all season until the very last set in States Semifinals!  That's remarkable!  They played so well!  And this is Gunnar when he's with Mike!  Mike is one of Gunnars all time favorite people!  I mean, the kid loves all of us and lights up with smiles for each of us, but when he sees Mike, Gunnar lights up ten times more!  He will cry if Mike walks past him and not pick him up!  It's just the best thing ever entering into the grandparenting world!!!!  

Good job Warriors!!!!!  Now we move on to basketball season soon.  Ashlyn is going to do PA Elite Volleyball this next season and I hope she will learn lots of good skills here!

Thanksgiving is coming up soon!  Enjoy these next few weeks of pumpkin things because soon we move on to all the gingerbread and peppermint flavors!!!!

November is here.

 November ... the month when the leaves finish showing off color and then fall to the ground.  The month of Thanksgiving and pumpkins and mums.  The month where we get closer to Christmas and it's hard to know if you are into pumpkins still or ready for a Christmas tree in the living room?  Radios begin playing all the Christmas songs!  I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT!!!!  November finishes up a busy volleyball season but then basketball begins.  This helps pass the long, dark evenings faster and it's so fun!  November is one last month of any warm tempts left for the year.  It just gets colder from here on out.  Welcome November.

We had a crazy, busy day of half day at school, teacher conferences, packing for the cabin, a volleyball game to attend by 5 PM and life!!!!  I loved the little note from Austin that his teacher passed on for me.  I'm so happy that fifth grade is going well for him!  He really loves his teacher!

And we made it time to watch the volleyball game and cheered our hearts out for the girls!  They won!!!!!  Another win!  Another banner!  Another tough game against Ephrata Mennonite!  I'm so proud of how Hadassah is able to coach and lets us love on Gunnar when she needs help!  Good job girls!

These freshmen girls were asked to be on the team bench to help if any Varsity girls get hurt!  It's been a privilege for them!  Olivia does play on the Varsity girls team all the time and we are so proud of her skills!  This is such a fun memory!

  

After the game, we went straight to the cabin!  This is the weekend that my entire is up together!  The guys helped with something by the new pickle ball court and then the games began!!!  This is gonna be such a fun space for the kids and to play!

The girls took some photos!  

And we took some photos of Gunnar once again!  Darling!

The guys hunted.  No kills this weekend but they saw some big deer!  Hopefully more good shots coming up!  The weather was nice and Dad started up the camp fire one night!

With the World Series still going, it got late and most of the kids were sleeping till the end but it was fun to cheer and watch these games.  We also played lots of Panic (a card game) and ate great food and the kids played in the teepee once again!  This cabin has held so many great memories for my family!  What a blessing!

And time change happened.

We came Sunday night from the cabin in time to watch the Chiefs and chill out at home.  The kids do not have school on Monday, so we will be sleeping in and relaxing here at home!

With it getting dark earlier now in the evenings, I bought some paint by number art a few weeks ago thinking that when the nights get long, we can sit and paint!  The idea went over great and we are started!  The kids loved it and the finished product will be a fun piece to keep!  Austin also put up some Christmas decorations in his room!  He loves Christmas trees and Mike pulled this one from the cabin, so it's now in Austin's room with lights strung and a happy young boy!

I started my painting a few weeks ago and it took longer than I thought it would but it turned out so pretty!  I finished up my painting while the kids started theirs!

Expectations get me sometimes.  You know ... you picture us all sitting around the dining room table paining and listening to Christmas music and chatting about life.  Just enjoying the moment!  Well, this time this expectation happened!  It was so peaceful to paint together and listen to our favorite Christmas music!!!!!  These are gonna turn out great!!!!!

And this tree at the park is turning into beauty once again!  I love watching this tree go from green leaves to beautiful golden yellow!!!!!  

November is sure to be another busy month of sports, prepping for the holidays ahead and school but I really do hope it will also be filled with many nights around the dining room table painting, going slow in the evenings and just enjoying being at home!!!!