These are Dahlia Imperialis blooms.  They are so dear to me because they bloom when everything else is almost done.  There have been many years that the frost has killed them right as they open.  However, the last couple of years have been gentle (or the plant is getting more tolerant) so I've been able to enjoy this umbrella of purple flowers. 
  I am feeling really grateful for medicine these days.  My back sent me to urgent care all day yesterday but I did get some really good painkillers.  Just not young anymore I guess.
  Christmas is coming and I can't wait to decorate!  I am a steadfast traditionalist - nada until December 1st.  The waiting just makes it better.  
  God bless all!!! 

 It seems that every Sunday as I'm listening to our pastor's sermon I am reminded of the same thing.  My little guy used to crack me up.  He would be so passionate about telling me something he learned that he'd ask me a question first (the answer to which being what he was so excited to tell me).  Then,  before I could actually make a guess, he'd blurt out, "WHY sharks sleep something something...."  He would never begin his answer with "because", always "why".  Well, our pastor uses the question and answer strategy to drive home a point but he blurts out, "why" the same way as my little guy.
  We had a lovely dinner with some friends that I've grown up with but don't see very often.  I'm happy to hear that they live very close to us and that they are now engaged!  It would be great to continue our frienship even if for no other reason than that it is such an old one.  Maybe we'll find we have something in common.
  No making lunches tomorrow!  Thank you to all veterans for your service and for the little break in routine.    

  This morning my girls were all playing tea party.  It was going very smoothly when I overheard one say, "Now if you have to puke, you'll need more medicine."  Turns out it was make-believe-tea-party-sick-puppy game.   The things they play! 
  I was reminded of a particular squabble that I broke up years ago between my son and his friend.  The two were crying/fighting because they were cutting up each others' pretend presents under their pretend Christmas tree with their pretend chain saws.  I was very amused and had they not been so worked up I might have let them try to work it out - for pretends.  Imaginations are powerful things.
 Nostalgia struck yesterday as I was waiting for the bus with the kids.  The air was so clean and crisp and it was just barely sprinkling at that time.  We could smell woodsmoke and fresh rain scents.  Before I had to deal with so many pairs of rubber boots, rain coats, stir-crazy kids and mud, I used to love the rain and in between shower spells.  I was flooded with that happy memory of being a kid during the fall. 
  Last  night, my two oldest kiddos and I went to the theatre to see Ballet Foklorico de Mexico.  It was fabulous.  I am always looking for opportunities for my children (who are half Mexican) to be exposed to their heritage in educational and appropriate settings.  I am sorry to say that the Latino TV channels provide much less than that.  I DON'T ever want my daughters to wish to look like the women they see on Telemundo.  Why must we expose our breasts to broadcast the weather?  My 10yr old son is already much disillusioned with the behavior that he has seen first hand amongst his Latino acquaintances.  This is why I want so badly for them to see the beautiful part of their heritage.  I really wish I knew some Christian Hispanic families that are trying to instill in their children Godly virtues while modeling the Latino lifestyle.  That's all I'm asking for!
  God bless the president.  I have to admit that I may have shown too much discouragement at the outcome of the elections.  My little boy told his grandma, "He (the president) wants to kill me!"  I asked him why in the world he would say that and he replied that he'd heard his older brother say it.  Yikes.  Time to set the record straight.  Prayers are needed now and we will not be a family of president bashers!  I feel a lesson coming on for after school....
 

  Happy Halloween!  Rainy day but spirits are up.  Right off the bat this morning my friend came over with her two week old baby and I got to snuggle him.  I told her she was brave for bringing a new baby over to my daycare germfest.  My friend is a wonderful mom who does everything possible to take care of her children.  She also understands that germs are part of life.  I'm praying that her little boy is mellow and laid back. 
  Honestly I can't wait for tomorrow when the Halloween decorations come down.  We don't do anything gory or scary but I like my fall/Thanksgiving decor much better. 
  My children looked so cool this morning as they left for school.  Michelangelo (not the artist, the Ninja turtle), a kitty and a crazy composer headed off for their school costume parades and festivities.  My littlest one wants to be Tinkerbell which is way cool since we have a Tink costume in the dress up basket already. 
  Praise God for his love and for cozy homes!  Thank you, Father for taking care of my children while they are away from me. 

  Beautiful day!  Thank you, God.  Family is healthy and provided for.  Yesterday we carved pumpkins with friends.  My wonderful husband made an incredible lunch for us so that I could chat with my friend.  He is so considerate.  My man is growing by leaps and bounds in his communication skills.  I am so proud of him.  Our relationship quality keeps on getting better.  God is showing us both how to put aside our own will and let HIS grace strengthen our bond.  Willingness to give in and see something from someone else's point of view does wonders for softening hearts.  I can be REALLY self centered sometimes.  When I can let this go, he appreciates my effort and usually meets me in the middle.  God has worked so many wonders in my life. 
  The kids are excited for Halloween this week.  I refuse to spend anymore than necessary on costumes so we are left to our imaginations.  I should say the kids are left to come up with something to wear because I am utterly uncreative. 
  WE decided to step up and host Thanksgiving, again.  It is a lot of work but I love having everyone here.  And, in my family are some fantastic cooks.  Host gets majority of leftovers :-). 
  This will be our last get together before construction begins on the front of our house.  I think we finally have a blue print for how this is all going to come together.  Very excited.  When all is said and done (spring? summer?), I'll have a foyer and a bigger kitchen with a better layout.  We don't need any new appliances except for a really good fan for the stove. The cabinets are just going to be re-painted and moved around (maybe some new hardware, hopefully). We are also going to open up the wall between the kitchen and the living room as well as knock down the wall that separates our living room from playroom.  I plan on putting up some kind of pocket door or louvered doors to block noise during nap time.  The playroom will still be used for daycare but it will be remodeled with a new closet that will allow it to be used for more living space when day care hours are over. Hip hip hooray! I'm blessed to have a dad and husband who can do anything! 
 

Grateful

  Yesterday I held a newborn that was just a few hours old.  I'm kind of bummed out because I couldn't smell him!  I brought my friends' children to see their new brother in the hospital.  Two main thoughts have been tumbling around in my mind.  One, the miracle of birth is....miraculous (no other word to describe it).  And two, I'm awfully glad that all of my four children are of sleeping-through-the-night age.  Hallelujah!  No pangs of wanting another baby occured either.  It was nice but I'm done with that scene.  God blessed me with my incredible kids and now it's time to enjoy them.  AND, I'm too old to summon up the kind of energy needed for pregnancy and childbirth.  I was sick the whole 9 months with my last daughter.  I took that as a sign that my body was done. 
   I will babysit this little boy when he's a few months older.  It will be nice to tell him I've known him since he was born!  So grateful to have people in my life having babies that I get to hold and then give back :-).  

Some cheery echinacea, a tree full of berries for the little winter birds and a rose of incredible color (ignore the bug eaten foliage, please) called Hot Cocoa.  The birds also like to eat the little seeds in the centers of the echinacea when the flower is done.  I love watching the birds scavenging around in my garden for snacks.  Like my kids in the kitchen!

 Great Bible study session last night.  Contentment under any circumstance.  Easy to say but oh so hard to really feel.  Paul tells us to give praise and rejoice always, all the time, even on crummy days.  This ability is one that I kind of feel like  I'm not capable of.  Paul, yeah sure, he could do it, but me?  I know that when there is conflict in my life, it is all consuming.  In the back of my mind I know I'm supposed to be focused on God but the tension and pressure in my chest just keep me far away from rejoicing.  This lack of ability to see above and beyond my problem is depressing.  I like to think that I could do it and that I'd be stronger the next time.  Spiritual growth.  I know that I need to spend more time in the word, it would help me cope in darker times.  When all is well it is so easy to be grateful and praising of Him.  Really, I'm so ridiculous.  God has brought be through every conflict I've been in.  Why wouldn't I ask God to help me right off the bat?  Well, dealing with conflict of any kind in a Godly way is nothing short of a fine art.  Your attitude while dealing with conflict may be even more difficult to keep in check.  My mission: First ask Jesus to help me deal with the conflict in a way that would glorify Him and second, to keep the image of Heaven and God's immense love foremost on my mind the meanwhile.  The good Lord knows that there's plenty of opportunity in my life to put this new resolve into practice.  Contentment.  With so many blessings and promises it's a wonder why a believer would ever be less than ecstatic.   We're not even in a Roman jail!

This is my beautiful rose of Sharon.  It is hard to see the red throat in this picture but it has a deep red inside and a fluffy, long white stamen.  In bloom right now!  And that is Socks.  She is extremely good natured and hasn't scratched or bitten a hair-grabbing, tail-pulling, eye poking child as of yet.

Two wonderful things have happened lately (post burn day).  One, I truly believe was a miracle. 
 I've been waking up with a lot of back pain lately and it has been putting a damper on things in general for me.  For a few days now I've been trying to put God in my mind as soon as I can make the decision to do so after waking in the morning.  I have not had that back pain since I've been doing this!
 The other really awesome thing involves my husband.  He was hunting the other day (Monday night, I think) and as soon as he arrived to the property where he hunts, his truck battery died.  He was alone way up on the hill where he usually doesn't see anyone else.  And his cell phone didn't have any minutes on it.  It sounds pretty bad but it was actually even stickier because he'd seen bears up where he hunts.  My husband is very cool and levelheaded about what to do in situations like these.  Even so, he was up a creek w/ out a paddle, pretty much.  So up drives a man in a truck, who happened to have jumper cables.  Yeah!  The man told Felipe his name but names don't adhere well to my guy.  Felipe made it back down the hill (his major thought was that he didn't even get to hunt, jeez) and of course the battery died as soon as he got to my parents house.  Thank you God for Angels with jumper cables!     

 My poor, sweet Gianina Rosa has an enormous 2nd degree burn on her upper left arm.  She went to the doctor yesterday and he said it looked super.  I know he meant that it looked like it was healing "super" but that is definitely not the word to descibe how it looks.  Poor baby!  Doc said it probably won't scar permanently but it will take a year before the scar goes away.  How did this come about?  Little one was playing out on the deck while Papa was bar-b-queing chicken.  Papa came in (10 feet away) to get a plate and within seconds she was screaming.  Talk about chaos - what to do? What to do?!  My husband said not to put it under water, no ice, my mother-in-law said to slather it in mashed up beans, I could only gather enough wits about me to slather the wound in neosporin.  I still think we should have run it under cool water.  The burn is about three inches long and about one inch wide.  The skin turned black, like charred chicken skin.  Horrible.  She dealt with it REALLY well and slept soundly despite it all.  The next day the black skin peeled right off to reveal nauseatingly white skin - which I also slathered w/ neosporin (while she squirmed).  Gianina kept saying, "my owie no hurt no more".  So brave.  She needed new princess slippers and Marie (white kitten from Disney's Aristocats movie) pajamas to make her ( mostly me) feel like she'd been rewarded for being such a trooper.  The new rule at our home is that no kids are allowed on the deck while the bar-b-que is in use.  I know, this should have been a rule already but I guess I was too relaxed since none of my other three children had ever been burnt by it.  Lesson learned at the expense of my precious little girl.  Soooo sad.  No picture, I don't want to remember how it looked. 

I love color!  This flowering maple is climbing up the side of my house.  It looks so pretty even if my husband doesn't like things against the house (yes, I understand why).

It seems like I do dishes from the time I get out of bed to the time I go to sleep.  I certainly had a black cloud over my head this morning.  "I'm so tired, my back still hurts, blah blah blah."  When I remembered something our pastor said on Sunday.  He said that until he focuses on God in the morning, everything is about himself.  That was me!  I hadn't said a prayer this morning or even thought of God, just myself.  So I refocused and counted my blessings.  Thank you God for being so much bigger than me and all of my little ( or big) selfish moments.  Like medicine, my mood lifted and I remembered that I'm working for God.  This life is so short, enjoy the blessings and keep focused on Him.  Time to start the week.

  Well, we all had the stomach flu this week.  Except, of course, for my husband who only ever gets a "touch" of something.  I'm so glad, too, because that way he can help the rest of us!  Being sick makes me grateful for many things.  Washing machines and dishwashers to name a couple.  And of course, for feeling better!
  I kicked the bug just in time to be able to make a birthday cake for two little girls that I babysit.  Orange chiffon w/ fairy flowers (nasturtium)  on top.  So much fun to make and more to eat!

 I don't ever want to forget the funny things my babies say.  Unfortunately, I have a really bad memory and a worse case of not writing things down (anywhere I might find them again, anyway).  I am excited to have this blog now so that I can record things during nap time. 
  It is hunting season right now and my husband and I were remembering something Angel said a couple of years ago that made an impression.  We were all in the car and my sweet baby was jabbering on as they do.  Out of nowhere come the words, "butt crack".  I remember being mortified that my little boy knew these words and also annoyed that my older two were now very interested in what little brother was going on about.  Then we all heard him very clearly say, "hunting".  The "Ahhhh" moment came.  I put it together very quickly for everyone that he was saying, "buck rack".  As in the buck's antlers (what my husband calls them, more specifically).
  Another word that Angel has made "his" is the word: foopy.  He made this up himself and has the rights to use it in whatever context he feels like apparently.  We still like to hear him say it.  No real story to go with, just a cute kid word.

 I love this weather!  It has been cold and clear in the mornings until today.  Waiting outside with the kids for the bus is one of my morning joys.  This morning was warm with just a little breeze.  I just hope it doesn't rain for Sofia's class trip to the pumpkin patch. 
 We are all excited that it is Friday.  This weekend is full of fun things that we get to do.  Angel has a soccer game and those are always a blast. Sofia has a dance rehearsal.  I am  really happy that Sofia's ballet studio is doing their performace late November and early December.  That means a more relaxing December!   Sofia's ballet teacher is so wonderful and considerate.
  This morning I'll make my neighbor his apple pie and then that will be something off of my list.  My daycare kiddos are going to paint the night sky today - I love seeing what they choose to paint. 
  So many blessings.  God is taking care of my family so lovingly and generously.  Thank you, Father, for Fall!


  
  
 

Angel likes to make up words.  One day he asked if we were having "meaf" for dinner.  I said we were having beef if that is what he meant.  "Yeah, that's what I said."  I was pointing out that he did not say beef when he grinned and said, "meaf means meat that is beef, Mama."  Silly me.

My sweet Gianina Rosa loves to turn pages of books like her Mama but she licks the finger that doesn't do any page turning. 

While watching little ones during the day is definitely the best job ever for me, I do so enjoy naptime :-).

I am enjoying my fall blooming flowers.  The roses are starting to wind down yet are still giving me beautiful goodbyes.  Thank you Father, for chrysanthemums and rudbekias!  Apple trees weighed down are even a sight to enjoy.  

from top to bottom: black stem hydrangea, fuji apple tree, rudbeckia - black eyed susan

from top to bottom: penstemmon, Tournament of Roses, creamy pink rose, Hot Cocoa, Sunsprite, little pretties, peony papaver, spider dahlias- -God's gifts of beauty are so perfect.

I LOVE fall.  The beautiful changing of the lanscape brings me so much peace.  The plants and trees are preparing for slumber while the animals seem to be just as busy as the people around me.  School, soccer, ballet, AWANA, piano lessons, band, jujitsu and of course homework!  We are ready for it all and are excited to jump in after the summer break.  And not to mention the bounty that God provides for us during harvest season would be a shame!   So many delicious treats to pick and bake.  We are blessed to have family that lives inland where things grow so much better.  Bags of veggies and fruit from loving hearts! 

  C'est magnifique-bougainvillea!

 

Incredible color in this agave looking succulent.