Sunday Snapshots: Too Many Visitors and a Fall Photo Shoot

We had too many visitors today. 

Too many, you ask?

Photo by Kati

My dear daughter Kristin and her family were back today after a two week absence.  We had missed seeing them during those two weeks in which people were sick or traveling.  It was good to see those five sweet grandchildren again and could they really have grown in two weeks? Alaine (2) has certainly grown in vocabulary; she says anything she wants.  In sentences.  

No, they were certainly not the "too many visitors."

My parents (known as Gammy and Gampy to all of their grands and great-grands) stopped by for a little while, bringing treats for all the littles.  

Did that make for "too many visitors"?  Absolutely not.  We are always happy to have Gammy and Gampy visit.  

So who were the unwelcome visitors? 

As I awoke and came downstairs this morning, I felt like I was in the great outdoors!  A cricket was chirruping somewhere in my kitchen.  When Ron rose shortly afterward, I asked him if he was joining me at the campsite.  He looked around, but the insect ventriloquist would not reveal his whereabouts.  Eventually, the chirping ceased (or we quit hearing it).  

Later, Bekah was upstairs getting ready for church when she suddenly rushed downstairs, still clad in her pajamas.  She had picked up yesterday's jeans from her bedroom floor, and a cricket fell out!  (Let's just say that this did not please Bekah.  One bit.)  Ron went to exterminate, but the cricket had seemingly disappeared after Bekah had fled.  After church, a cricket was discovered on the stairs, it was exterminated, and we assured ourselves that it was Bekah's jeans cricket who would no longer lurk about her room.

Then this afternoon as we were cleaning up the kitchen after lunch, Kati looked up to see another cricket, mocking us as he chirped on the upper cabinet ledge right over our heads! Again, Ron's exterminator services were called upon.  He stood on a kitchen chair and slapped and smacked and beat around until he cornered the mocker and killed it with his bare hand. (Ewwwwww!)  

Only one problem.  The chirruping did not cease.  

There was another cricket!  

More slapping and smacking and beating around, and the chirper was silenced.  

Too many visitors.  

It was a gorgeous day, and Kati beckoned everyone outside for an informal photo shoot.  

Here's a (very) small sample.  Maybe she'll share some more on her blog.
(Edited to add: Kati shared many more photos ~here~.) 

Niece/Aunt/Friends
Photo by Kati

A row of cuteness
Photo by Kati

An Autumn Saturday

Up early(ish),

out to breakfast,

and then on to the farm stand for some autumn bounty.

photo by Kati

photo by Kati

photo by Kati

Back home to beautify the yard,

everyone doing his/her part...

digging,

planting,

watering,

hauling,

taking pictures.

Do you see Bekah's little friend, hanging out on her dress?

She didn't know he was there...

...until later. 

Then a little time out in the shade.

A satisfying September Saturday.

An Easy Peasy Autumn Craft

When it is September, and it is my turn to host our small homeschool co-op, and the hosting mom plans the craft for the day, what do you think I do?  Plan an autumn craft, of course! 

Besides the fact that it shouts autumn, this craft had a few other things going for it.

  

• It was inexpensive.  Most of the supplies were things that I already had.
• It was pretty.
• It was flat.  That is appealing if you have five children as my daughter does, and you do not always want to bring home five large things for which you have to find a home (or throw away in the dark of night while praying that Benjamin doesn't ask where his fill-in-the-blank is). 
• It was simple.   So simple that even the youngest sibling (Alaine, age 2) could make one.

The week before co-op, I gathered our supplies (black construction paper, colored tissue paper, and contact paper), downloaded the template, and began cutting.  I cut out the black outlines and Bekah cut out the tissue paper pieces while we were watching old episodes of Murder, She Wrote.  Easy, peasy.  

On co-op day, all eight children made their leaf sun catchers (complete instructions and downloadable template ~here~), and took home some loveliness for their windows.

I think Bekah and I will make a few more, so we can hang a bunch!

Note Card Party: Autumn Beauty

I only briefly considered my theme for Vee's seventh note card party.  It is September, after all, and to me that means fall is here!  (My regular readers will know that I wait all summer long for autumn.  ~smile~)

The easy part was settling on a theme.  The hard part was looking through four blogging years of fall photos and choosing only four.  (Or was that the fun part?)   But I made my selections, and here are four photos from my blog that I would send to say Autumn Blessings to you!

"Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

~ George Eliot

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Genesis 8:22

Do you have a blog?
Then you can join this month's party
over at Vee's Haven!

(Click the button for details.)

An Island Experiment

Ron has promised to make an island for the newly remodeled kitchen.  Actually, we have been planning an island for years (and years), but the recent renovations have brought the plans back into the forefront, so after he finishes Kristin's second bookshelf, the island is the next thing on the list.  (I hope.  Hint, hint to Ron if he's reading.)

We definitely want a freestanding island.  We like the flexibility of adding a work/serving surface while also being able to move it about if necessary for a gathering or project.  So when I saw Melissa's post about freestanding kitchen islands, my wheels started spinning.  

The "freestanding" part is definite...but little else is.  Shelves or not?  An open feel, or solid with doors and drawers for coveted storage?  A place for cookbooks?  Butcher block or old wood?  Painted or stained?  

So today I experimented.  

How does one "experiment" with an island, you ask?

I robbed this table (made with old wood) from my living room... 

...and brought it into the kitchen.  Just to see if the "open" feel is what I want.  (I suspect that it is.  I don't want to hide my new farmhouse sink with a closed-in type of doors-and-drawers island.)

I can't leave it here.  Ron and I would miss it there in the living room between our chairs.  Where would we set our cups of evening coffee?!  Plus, an actual island would need to be a bit higher to be used as a work surface for Kati and me.  We're too tall for this one.  

But what do you think?  Does it look at home here?  

Sunday (Not My) Snapshots

Kristin's family was out of town this weekend, and half of our household was under the weather, so our Sunday was not the usual kind of Sunday.  (I may or may not have uttered the word "bored."  And I can't even remember the last time I was bored.)  

The camera never left its case.  No Sunday Snapshots this week.  

But wait!  I did look at a lot of snapshots.  Does that count?  How about if I share with you some of the autumn inspiration that I found on Pinterest this weekend?  

I just love the simple elegance of this autumn table.

~ pin ~

These earthy-colored wools make me swoon.

~ pin ~

These pumpkin donuts are baked, not deep fried.  
That makes them healthy, right? 

~ source ~

Kati took this picture last year at the farm stand where we purchased our pumpkins and gourds.

~ source ~

Wouldn't this make a fun fall centerpiece?

~ pin ~

As if I wasn't already itching to do my fall decorating!  Now I'm chomping at the bit!

Back to School

Back to earlier wake-ups and Morning Time and poetry and Mozart and co-op and The Vikings and The History of Medicine and narrations and new pencils and new words and afternoon tea and reading on the love seat and routine.

It's good to be back.   

Early Fall Decorating

"Autumn is the mellower season, 

and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits."

~ Samuel Butler

Autumn is the season that makes my heart sing!  Since June, I have been itching for fall to arrive.  And since I consider September 1st the advent of fall, I need wait no longer to burn that pumpkin candle and festoon my house with gourds and Indian corn.  

But, I just can't go all out with autumn decorating when I still have geraniums in my window boxes and impatiens on my back porch.  So until we go to the farm stand and buy our pumpkins and mums, I am adding some subtle fall touches, more of the fall fruit variety, which is actually quite September-y.  

~ apples and pears in the yellow ware bowls~

~ homespun apple (crafted by Kati) atop the school cabinet~

~ even some pear-scented hand soap on the bathroom sink~  

Add an apple-cinnamon candle for more fruity ambiance, and I can wait a few more days to get my pumpkins.

How do you decorate in early fall?  Do you ease into it, or just jump right in?

The Week That Was...

...supposed to be a "vacation" week because Ron was off from work, although we didn't plan to do a big trip, just a day trip maybe and get a few projects done, but it rained all week long, at least a part of every day except today, ranging from cloudy to sprinkles to thunderstorms to total gully washers, and then there was Kati's dental surgery mid-week meaning we were definitely staying close to home and the living room was full of pillows and meds and a puffy-cheeked girl and Netflix movies and menus with soft foods.  Vacation?  

Or did the week go like this?

Ron had nine days off from work!

We had some much needed rain.

We actually managed to get a few small projects done in between raindrops.  

We went on an evening out-of-town trip to an ice cream shop at a dairy farm that sells the. best. homemade ice cream.  And I got a single dip of pumpkin pie ice cream in a waffle cone (also homemade).  And I may have had a few bites of Ron's maple walnut cone.  Hooray for fall flavors!!  

Kati's surgery went very well.  She had not one bit of nausea which was more dreaded than the post-op pain.  More importantly, her love for the Lord was seen by the medical staff.  Patients are asked to bring in a CD of their favorite music to play during the procedure.  Kati burned her own CD of a collection of hymns and Rich Mullins and Selah tunes.  The surgeon remarked that she was a calm patient...and that her music was calming to him.  Praise the Lord for using the small things...

I made a big pot of creamy potato soup for the patient, but the rest of us enjoyed it as much as she did.  It was our first (of many!) pot of soup to herald the autumn season.  (Never mind that it was still tropical outside on the night that we ate it.)  Hooray for fall!!  

We were able to relax many evenings (and even some afternoons...unheard of!) with movies and games and family time, since we were housebound because of the rain and the patient.  

We had a delightful Skype conversation with Ryan and family.  It was the first time that 22-month-old Peter showed a lot of interest in the camera, and we could hardly listen to what Ryan was saying because we were laughing at Peter!  He kept putting that precious little face right up to the camera and making these huge scowls, trying to figure out what was going on and how we were talking to him in that little screen.  After many scowling faces, and many laughs from the four of us, he lightened up and played peek-a-boo with the camera.  Such fun!  Then 5-year-old Eve sang a hymn for us and we were amazed at how beautiful and clear her voice is.  And then 3-year-old Nora quoted some Scripture verses in her sweet little voice.  Oh my.  We were melting.  

Bekah asked, "Mom, are you excited about school starting?"  And she asked in an excited voice. Which thrills this mama.  It's going to be a great year.  

And so...

It wasn't a bad week after all.  

When I look at our blessings, and recognize His great mercy in our lives, and consider that Eternal Life with Him is at the end of this journey, how can I not fall on my knees and thank Him?  

And what's a little rain?   

Thursday Potpourri

Kati continues to hone her photography skills, and has to look no further than her own family for subjects.  She has five adorable nieces and nephew who live nearby, and, of course, younger sister Bekah "in house"!  

A recent afternoon found Bekah posing and Kati shooting.  This is one of my favorites, because it showcases Bekah's beautiful big brown eyes and those enchantingly long eyelashes.  (Is it okay for a mom to gush?)  If you'd like to see more photos from this shoot, click on the picture of Bekah.  

Brown transferware makes me swoon.  

I have been on the lookout for more to add to my collection ever since I found these plates.  Finding the right thing at the right price has been a challenge, although I really don't mind the search.  It's kind of like a treasure hunt.  

One day this summer, I found a great set of Johnson Brothers' Friendly Village dishes, six five-piece place settings, in an antiques and collectibles shop.  The price was quite reasonable, but more than I had to spend at the time.  But...on Monday, birthday money clutched in my hand, I returned to the shop.  There were the dishes, I was still in love, and home they came!  Swoon!  

We enjoyed our evening coffee in these gorgeous cups and saucers, and I (almost) forgot that, in real life, it was like the tropics outside.

This dear girl, my granddaughter Eve, had her very first day of (home)school this week.  If anyone is more excited than Eve or Eve's mom, it must be me!  They have not been far from my thoughts this week.  (Well, they're not far from my thoughts any week, but you know what I mean.)

It's so hard for me to believe that this schoolgirl Eve is the same tiny baby who left my driveway five years ago on that hot, hot August morning.  The baby is in kindergarten!

Happy beginnings, Eve!  

Sunday Snapshots: Birthdays, Ice Cream, and Uncle Max

Didn't I just say in last week's Sunday Snapshots, "Thus ends the crazy August birthday season?"

Well, yes, I did.  But I didn't say that all of the birthdays were over.  September 1 was this sweet girl's second birthday, and the first phase of our Sunday afternoon was dedicated to celebrating her, our youngest granddaughter Alaine.

The birthday girl was thrilled to open her presents, several of them packaged in owl-themed gift bags.  (One of Alaine's nicknames is "Owl-laine".  Story ~here~.)  Aunt Bekah presented her with a birthday cupcake, and she was all smiles as everyone sang to her.  So sweet!  

After the birthday party, we switched gears.  We had planned our end-of-summer homemade ice cream party, sort of a grand finale.  It had been overcast most of the day, but just about the time the ice cream was churned, thunder was rumbling in the distance and it began to sprinkle.  By the time all the guests had arrived, it was pouring, so instead of gathering in the back yard, we gathered in the kitchen.  No one minded.  After all, we had a gallon of chocolate ice cream and a gallon and a half of butter pecan to enjoy!  And Ron's sister Gloria got a birthday cupcake too!  (Alaine shares Aunt Gloria's birthday.)

Apparently, the coveted seat today was beside Uncle Max.  Kati says that it looks as if we either photoshopped in the kids, or we posed them beside a cardboard Uncle Max!  ~grin~   

(Or perhaps it's one of those "find the differences" pictures.)

From "Rest For the Laboring"

Oh what beautiful words of truth these are, spoken by Charles Hadley Spurgeon in a sermon "Rest for the Laboring" in 1876.  So beautiful...and so different from our modern way of thinking in which ambition is honored and self esteem is prized and the praise of men is intoxicating.

Yes, quite different is the heart of a disciple of Jesus.  

Perhaps, young man, you are laboring after fame. You despise gold, but you pant to obtain a great name. Alas, ambition’s ways are very weary, and he who climbs the loftiest peak of honor finds that it is a slippery place, where rest is quite unknown. Young brother, take a friend’s advice and care no longer for man’s praise, for it is mere wind. If thou wouldst rise to a great name, become a Christian, for the name of Christ is the name above every name, and it is bliss to be hidden beneath it, and overshadowed by it. Christ will not make thee great among men, but he will make thee so little in thine own esteem that the lowest place at his table will more than satisfy thee. He will give thee rest from that delirious dream of ambition, and yet fire thee with a higher ambition than ever.