Blogging break...

Ug, I went to post about Thanksgiving and got this message from google saying I'm out of space for pictures...so I either:

1) pay for more space to post pictures
2) have posts with no pictures
3) start a new blog

Until I figure out what to do, I'll be on a little break....

A time to be thankful

Thanksgiving this year was great.  The food was good, but the time our family had together for several days was wonderful.  We laughed, played games, snacked, did nothing, put Christmas decorations out, watched movies, and just enjoyed one another.  So today I mourn, just a little bit, normal life - work, school, cleaning (yea I kind of let the cleaning part go the last few days), etc. 

This year we made a "Give Thanks" tree.  I've never really been crafty, but one day in Sept when Isabel had a day off of school, we made this, tracing hands and cutting out leaves.  It wasn't grand, but something we did together.  Then during the month of November we added things we were thankful for.  Originally, I thought of writing one thing each day, but it turned into more like write something whenever you feel like it.  I especially liked the part on the trunk Isabel added all on her own, "Dad heart Mom."  

60+ degree weather on Thanksgiving was perfect for the park

And just like that Thanksgiving is gone and we start celebrating the Christmas season. 

DC

Last weekend Lee attended a church conference in DC and I tagged along.  Some of our church friends attended as well and I hung out with a few of the ladies while Lee and their husbands were at the conference on Saturday.  We rode the subway, walked, walked some more, and went to two of the Smithsonian's, and we didn't even lose any of the 7 children that were with us.:)  We had a great time and was fun to meet up with Lee and others at the end of the day at the capital. 

While we were there we had a quick dinner with Lee's cousins and it was fun to see them, even if was brief.  I hadn't been to DC since I was a little kid, and it's funny how you remember things or don't remember things.  We definitely want to bring our family back.

 

 

a 3 year long project

So several years ago now, we got from Lee's grandpa's farm some piano keys.  They came from his grandpa & grandma's piano, the piano Lee's mom learned to play on.  The piano didn't work or I can't remember why it was all disassembled, but we thought we'd take an octave of keys as a memento.  We thought one day we'd put them in a shadow box or something.  Then one day Lee had the idea of using the keys to make a clock, a big clock.  Some people don't know, if you've never seen the inside of a piano, that piano keys are really quite large/long.  This was maybe 3 years ago he came up with this idea.  So for about 2 years they sat in storage.  Then last Christmas I bought Lee clock hands, extra large clock hands, which was something I had to order from online.  You can't just find them at Hobby Lobby.  So fast forward 11 months, and after about half a day of work, we now have a very unique, very cool piano clock.  A piece of history from the farm and cool decor for our home.  I love my handy husband and his creative ideas, even if they take 3 years to unfold

Fair weather

Ok, so I admit it.  I'm a fair weather trick or treater.  Even though I remember as a kid going when it was SNOWING in MI.  We stayed indoors this year, but the girls I think had just as much fun passing out candy.  Tis better to give then receive, right?:)  They eagerly waited every neighbor as they came to our door.  We finally let them put their costumes on when people kept saying, "where's YOUR costume?"  We stayed by the door, drank hot chocolate, and went through bag after bag of candy until we ran out.  We did attend a fall festival over the weekend where they got PLENTY of candy.  All in all, it was a fun family evening and for that I am thankful.  Excited to focus more on being thankful as we head into November!   

Our two 50's girls (kind of)