Thanksgiving 2018

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving yesterday ~ filled with all of the food and smells and love that filled my home in a way that made my heart swell.

Scott and I baked and cooked and decorated for days ~ and all of it was worth it.



The girls watched the parade in the morning and played board games in jammies and nightgowns while the turkey roasted and the potatoes whipped.



We made all of our favorites that we only make this time of year ~ so that they are better because we look forward to them all year long ~ like clover leaf rolls



Our home is all decorated for Christmas but our dining room was Thanksgiving.

The dessert table was Christmas because once the dishes are done and the turkey is packed up, it's Christmas!



Our addition is done, and although I haven't taken pictures to put on this blog, I do have to show you this, that Scott built, getting the last coat of paint up on Thanksgiving morning, just in time for my apple pie!



It's the sweetest little pie cooling rack that comes out of this old window (origional to the house) into the new mud room.



Eventually we will start the second phase of this house project with the baking center, but for now, my pies will we just a cozy and happy as can be up in their spot.





We took a few family photos before everyone came.





I love this little family of mine oh so much!







Our dining room sparkled with sunshine which was lovely compared to the 15 degrees outside. {I love a COLD Thanksgiving to make inside that much more cozy}





















For dessert time we had coffee and tea and three kinds of pie!







We lingered and washed dishes and talked. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving {and kick off to the Christmas season}

How Do Mantle Photos Fit?

"Seek not outside yourself ~ Heaven is within" Mary Lou Cook

Dear friends and this space, this place I've missed.

Life is so grand an so beautiful and I am going to step back in.

I've struggled to find my place on this blog of mine lately with my last post being "Stepping Away".

There are a few things that have gone through my mind as I've contemplated closing down the blog

• Oh how I hate that my little girls are growing. They look sooooOoooo little to me in the old posts - I almost hate to post because it reminds me that they are not little girls anymore
• I'm not a stay at home mama anymore. Sigh. And the days at home making every little thing magical for my sweet family have changed. And that bothers me. 
• I'm clearly not the same person I was when I started this blog - or even the same person 3 years ago. I'm a full-time-back-in-the-classroom-4th-grade-teacher mama. 
• My time is not the same. And sometimes blogging my mantle, or a pie just feels insignificant in my life right now. Sure I love baking pies and I clearly LOVE decorating for the seasons, but for me, right now it feels 'funny' to blog that when my work in my classroom is so much more 'heavy' than that. I've got to get 4 readers on grade level, 6 math students proficient in math, I've got social/emotional issues in my classroom of 23 students and it's magical, but it's hard core work. How does my mantle photos fit into that? 
• But then there is the sweet magic I create for my family - because I still do - and I hate to loose that and not take pictures of that - but how do I fit that in? Up at 4:45 to work out, give my girls a proper breakfast, clean up the kitchen, drive my daughters to school, pray for them in the morning, be in my classroom from 8:00-3:55 each day, pick up Abigail at her school, eat dinner as a family, make lunches for the next day, and have school work in the evening. 
• Busy is not the new normal. I hate being busy and that schedule up there that I just said really isn't busy. We don't do travel soccer (there's nothing wrong with that - we're just not a sports family). We only do viola. They girls are both in a private Suzuki orchestra and an auditioned school orchestra. Abigail does a sweet little dance class on Saturday mornings. We are not an over booked family. So that schedule is not too busy. But honestly, I'm really tired after teaching all day. And getting ready for the next day. Really, even just wearing dresses and tights and cute shoes and jewelry all day is tiring to me. How do mantle photos fit into that? 
• But I can't imagine stopping this blog because if I do I won't take as many pictures and the memories will be lost. So my plan is to step back in - even if I feel 'weird' about it. Even if my life doesn't seem to match my pictures. My school days are not my blog pictures. My plan is to start to blog what is going on in my classroom. If I can figure out how to take pictures during my school day. 
• There is just something about blogging - I know that I'd jump back in - I just wish I could figure out my new normal on this blog. Maybe just blogging will help. 

Stepping Away

I've decided to take an blogging break for a while. Right now I don't know if it will be a week or a few - or longer.
Everything is okay with us. Scott and I are immeasurably blessed.
But Anna is going through some really tough health issues right now (nothing to worry about)
and Abigail is still learning to cope with daily pain from the GI disease she's carried since she was 22 months old.
This week we were at the doctor for Anna several times - she is very sensitive to any normal prescription medications and has had many bad reactions to them - we are helping her through.
This weekend (10-5) all day on Sunday we will be at the hospital for a children's pain management conference. For children living with chronic pain.
On the one hand I feel so happy with this little life and I want to blog pumpkins and leaves and all that good stuff - because we are doing all that good stuff.
But on the other hand I ache for my two precious daughters who are happy and whole and wonderful - but who are hurting right now.
So I need to step away.
For now.

She Makes Life Fun

I don't remember what song was playing but I always want to remember how much fun she makes our life.

She can be deeply serious.

She has a side to her to that amazingly empathetic to anyone and their feelings. She knows pain well and can help anyone through moments of pain in their body or in their heart. She's done this forever, like an angel from God, since she was a toddler.

She can be fiesty and fun, forgetful and funny. And she loves to dance and sing.

(see the little yellow bird in the background?)


She's not so little anymore. She's eleven but she's still my baby.



And she makes life fun!

October Weekending

cool, crisp air



fireplace



cozy movie on the couch



shopping for food



confirmation class for Anna, homeschool religious ed for Abigail



wishing I could capture the light on the leaves, the cool air, that magical feeling that fall is here



a small town fall fair



a stop into my classroom to make just a few things



correcting



reading in bed



getting closer to the addition done



stress about upcoming goals teaching goals due
date night on the couch after bedtime



fall leaves not quite at peek yet



sweaters and jeans



apple pie


orange bows in hair



pumpkin shirts

One Moment

One evening this week there was a moment when I realized that so much goodness was going on all at the same time. It was that wonderful feeling of knowing how blessed I was to live this life. So grateful for all God had given me.

So I quickly walked around and snapped what I loved.

She was reading in the family room.



He was priming/painting.



She was practicing and making the most beautiful music.



And I was getting ready to roll out a pie crust.



And all in that same moment.

There are days of stress and there are moments that I don't love of course.

But when I notice, when I choose to see the good, God blesses me with moments like these. Moments that make my soul full and oh so very grateful.