October

Haven't we had the most beautiful October?! Ah, man I have loved every bit of it! I feel spoiled rotten by the views all around us here. This is the view from our kitchen sink, and also the sunroom... the fall colors have just been amazing.

Another zoomed in view of the back field:

The driveway which we can see from the living room and where we do school each day... 

Walking down to visit our neighbor John (who I've known since childhood) on a foggy fall day. He's such a sweet guy, and he loves to tell us stories of his life's adventures (84 years worth!) He spoils us with flowers, flower seeds, and produce from his garden.

Out collecting leaves for a craft project... this girls could do crafts ALL day long! If she isn't playing with the boys then she is coloring or gluing something. :) I love her creativity!

We had a couple of "bummers" in the month of October. All three of the kids got pretty sick. :( Like fevers for days, not wanting to eat, bad colds sick. I felt so bad for them all. The upside was all of the priceless snuggles I got. I soaked these quiet moments up.

One day as they were all getting better we ran a few errands. But not long into the errands I felt like everyone was melting down! It was a "serenity now!" moment in the store. ;) (Seinfeld reference) I was so happy once we were back in the refuge of the car! And then moments after we were all buckled it was silent and I looked back and saw this... oh these sweet ones. I couldn't love them more!!

The other bummer this month was Jude breaking his leg. Poor guy. And poor Papa Wayne too when you hear the story... He and Papa Wayne were rough housing and Jude pounced on the back of Wayne's recliner and Wayne + his recliner fell backward onto Jude's leg. It broke Jude's shin bone in half. :( But thankfully it has been healing really well, and quickly! He's been such a great sport and has had the best attitude about it all! And thankfully Wayne wasn't hurt!

He had a red cast for a week, then got another x-ray and a new cast. In 2 more weeks he'll have another x-ray and hopefully no cast after that! Jude has been living in these two pair of pants, since none of his skinny jeans will fit over his cast. :)

Because of Jude's sensory issues he had to work extra hard to be brave when dealing with the cast cutter and things, but he did great. I told him ahead of time that if he could be "braver than brave" (a phrase he often uses) then we'd stop and get a set of Legos after each visit. That was great motivation for him. One morning I found him working on Legos before anyone had gotten up. :) 

One night this October Josh and I attended a wedding down in Eugene. It was really fun to attend, since I attend so many, but never as a guest. We had a great time visiting with friends and seeing familiar faces!

Josh went on a men's retreat this month with our church and met a guy that has the most amazing cancer story. They talked a lot about nutrition and Josh was inspired to put a little more vitamins from veggies into his body. We've been trying to drink more veggie juice these days. Here's Ben helping daddy juice... :)

And here's the end product on the right...

Sorry for the weird pic of my face there... I had sent it to Josh one day because I felt like my skin was looking more vibrant from our juicing... but then again I also felt like I hadn't taken a hard look at myself in a long time and realized my face was looking a little older and wrinkles were setting in... it's not fun watching yourself age. But 10 years from now I'll look at that pic and think, "what were you complaining about?" Oh vanity. 

School has been going well for the kids. This is a picture (above) of their class and their teacher, as they are working on a science experiment. A few weeks ago there was a point where I wondered if I'd made a big mistake with our schooling this year and I researched the local schools again to see all of my options! I took a good hard look, and realized that what I really needed to do was press on with our homeschool program and it would most likely get much easier once we were in our groove. And sure enough that's just what happened. I'm so happy with our decision, and the kids are just surprising me left and right. I love seeing their interests, and knowing their learning styles, and I'm amazed at their little brains. They are loving school and so am I. We love, love getting to know the amazing families in our school and their stories too.

These days I often think of the phrase, "our family's unexpected journey". Doing our very best to help Jude succeed with his sensory/social needs has taken our life down a bit less mainstream path than we ever imagined we'd go. Homeschool was never on our radar. And working a little harder at every social situation can be tiring. But you know what? I'm amazed by the "tapestry of our life" that God is weaving. It's not always easy, and I doubt my own abilities sometimes, but it's rich in endurance and overcoming, and it's beautiful because of His glorious strands of grace woven through it. 

Sometimes I need to just get that stuff out. ;)

Here Selah is giving one of her weekly presentations at school:

The kids go to school 1 day a week and we school at home 4 days a week. What's fun is that they see some of the kids that go to their school also at church on Sunday. And they also play with church friends at our mid-week community group.

I thoroughly am enjoying the curriculum. It has sparked a new love for learning in me. The kids and I have memorized the first part of the world timeline, which covers the ancient empires, creation to circa 450 A.D. We will memorize the rest of the world history highlights/timeline, up to present day, in the next 16 weeks.

Selah loves working on the weekly art projects. This is her abstract cat art:

This math sheet has an interesting story behind it. Jude is really good at mental math. We're doing 1st grade curriculum but I can see that it's too easy for him, so I just ordered 2nd grade. I'll still have him finish all of the 1st grade book, but he's moving through it quickly. Anyway, this math sheet was what the kids did yesterday and I had them start it at the same time. Selah started in the top left and worked through the page, just like I would have. But what fascinated me was that Jude sat and looked at the page for a second and immediately noticed a pattern in the page, so he began by first answering all of the problems that had the answer "0". Then systematically answered all of the problems that had the answer "2", then "4", then "6, 8 & 10"...I love his fascinating brain! 

My little helper likes to take pictures with my phone while the big kids work. :)

It's pretty cute hearing him memorize things too!

Here are some more random photos (mostly iphone) from our month of October!

How Ben defends the goal... love it!

She's getting so big.

Visiting the turkeys in the field.

Collecting walnuts. The soft green part has the most wonderful citrusy smell, but boy does it stain your fingers. Live and learn! :)

Grandma Chris (Josh's mom) sent us the funniest email (have you read THIS BLOG POST? If the link doesn't appear here's the web address: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/10/menace.html) and then Grandma Chris showed up with this costume for Ben. We laughed! He loves this costume!! 

Have a safe and fun Halloween!