A Good Find

The curriculum MFW that we use for our home school "Combine the best of Charlotte Mason, classical education, and unit studies with a Biblical worldview and international focus."  The Charlotte Mason method of teaching uses what is called "living books" to teach rather than textbooks.  I have tried to do this in our home school even before I knew about Charlotte Mason. 

The deluxe package that I order from MFW includes some of these "living books."  In the back of my teacher's manual is a list of additional books organized by week of study that I can get from my local library.  This is what we call "book basket."  The children can look through them.  They are not required to read them all.  They might just read part of some or look at the pictures.  They are like the icing on a cake.

Karen Andreola has much to say about living books on her website if you are interested.  In our family we love the library.  Now it is so much easier to find the books.  I can go online, find out what books my library has, look for others not on the list, save the ones I want to a list, and then print out a list of the books I want which makes my actual trip to the library much easier.

One thing that is not easy is carrying all those books, and we check out a lot at a time, to and from my van.  On the message board on MFW's website I read that some parents have bought a portable cart from Staples to make this job easier.  I checked online and found they don't have a Staples in Fargo.  But they did have an Office Max which also carries the cart.

So I consider this my "good find."

The cart holds more books than the plastic crate I have been using that I got at WalMart for $5.  And it is sturdier than the cardboard box I used before that.  There are handholds on the side that I can use to lift into the back of the van.  It is easy to fold out and back in.  Daniel and I found it works good to transport grocery bags from the van to the house as well.  You can fit quite a few in there at a time.

The sales people at Office Max were so helpful as well.  I was looking for the cart when a salesman came up and asked if I needed help.  He led the way to the spot where the carts were.  He took one out of the package and showed me how it works.  That is so different than a lot of other stores where I search for help only to have them tell me, "It's over there" as they point in a vague direction.  Many stores need to train their employees better.

While at Office Max I remembered that I needed a box for 4 x 6 note cards.  Daniel will be using English From the Roots Up this year as well as next that requires these cards and a box to store them.  I had already looked at WalMart and couldn't find one there.  Another sales lady showed me where I could find the boxes as well as the cards.

Hopefully the cart will hold up to all the use it will get.   

A new picture

Yesterday was Fargo day again.  Since I painted my living room I have been looking for a new picture to hang on the big wall.  I wanted something with blue in it, something I really liked.  Original art work from a local artist would have been nice.  But I hadn't found anything I wanted to buy though I hadn't looked too hard.  While we were in Sam's ("of all places" as I like to say) I found this picture.

I love almost everything about this picture...the full moon, the campfire, the beautiful scene reminding me of some of the places we have visited, the tent in the lower left corner, the different blues in the picture, the rocks and the trees, and the price was right.  I don't like that there are two black bears on the upper left corner or that it looks like the full moon is rising in the west as the sun sets since that couldn't happen.  A full moon rises in the east.  Maybe the pink isn't a sunset.  And I would have liked a darker frame to match the woodwork in our home.  But the frame does match the end tables so that part is okay.  When Tim saw it this morning after he got home from work he loved it.  It is just so both of us.  I plan to keep it.  I will take the card board corners off and hang it up a little higher.

On the whole we had a good day.  It stormed quite a bit while we were in Fargo.  The prior two weeks I had to drive home in blinding rain so we just stuck around until the storms were finished this week.  There is always plenty to do in Fargo so the time does go quickly.  The children are good about tramping around in different stores with me.

We did go look at the pet store again since we visited The Children's Place and the pet shop is close by that store.  Guess what they had?  A Boston terrier!  He was a male that looked so much like Stormy.  I wasn't  tempted at all as he was $600 and a male.  But he was fun to look at.  I think one dog is plenty for right now.

It was after 7:30 when we got home last night.  By the time Daniel and I got everything into the house I was pretty poopered. 

I am thankful that I am feeling better than I did when I wrote my last post.  I had a Body Talk session with Dawn, Dawn's blog, on Monday and have felt much better.  I have been doing BT since last winter when I won a free session though I don't always do it often enough.  I have found it to be a great help in my health and well being.  I am even noticing some of my vitiligo spots filling in with pigment again which just doesn't happen on its own.  Since Monday's session I haven't had the racing heart palpitations.  Even the children noticed that I looked better. 

Daniel is awake now so I had best see to him.  I will post a picture of another good find that I purchased in Fargo at Office Max in a future post.  This will make library day much easier on me. 

Cleaning

I did get to my closet yesterday.  It felt good to get that job done.  After I took everything out of there I vacuumed the floor and floor boards.  Then I scrubbed it.  Once it was dry I put things back inside.  I had a couple small boxes of some really nice cloth diapers that I can't get rid of.  I will save them awhile yet.  Maybe Whitney will use them someday.  They are the nice fitted kind with snaps and nice covers.  I liked using them and hardly ever used disposables.

I decided to give away my two small boxes of maternity clothes.  Then I went through the clothes on hangers and got 4 garbage bags full.  Those are clothes that are too small for me as well as other things I have been hanging on to that I haven't worn in a long time and probably never will.  It's a nice feeling that my section isn't so stuffed.

I always hope I will loose weight again but know that it is no sense trying until my thyroid gets back to normal, as normal as mine can get anyway.  I can literally not eat anything and still gain weight.  The good news is I haven't gained for awhile and the last few weeks I have noticed that I have actually lost about 7 pounds. 

I did see an endocrinologist about 2 months who was recommended to me by a lady who also has thyroid disease.  After she saw the results of my thyroid tests she put me on a higher dosage of meds.  We don't increase quickly.  You have to go slow with these meds.  I just went up to the next highest mcgs that my pills come in. 

Currently I am taking 112 mcg of synthroid and 5 mcg of generic cytomel once a day.  That is up from 100 mcg.  So you can see it isn't a big jump.  The synthroid is to replace the t-4 my thyroid doesn't make and the cytomel replaces the t-3.  Some people don't have to take t-3 as their bodies can convert the t-4 to the needed t-3.  Mine can't or won't.

I will go in for more blood tests the middle of August to see what my levels are.  The thing with Hashimoto's Disease, which is an auto-immune type of thyroid disease, things never stay the same.  I can have flare ups, inflammation in the thyroid, that cause fluctuations in the need for more or less hormone replacement.

I'm not making excuses for my weight gain as I could eat less.  It just gets frustrating that when I do loose weight and am doing well I can have a flare up and gain 15 pounds in 3 weeks and not be eating any different.

So I got rid of all the smaller sizes.  I am tired of looking at them.  If I ever do loose weight I will just buy some different clothes.

I did have some heart palpitations again last Tuesday while we were in Kohl's.  Leah was trying on some clothes, she likes to do that, when they started.  Although I didn't time it they seemed to last about a half an hour.  I did cortices a few times but it still took awhile for it to stop.  I got all sweaty and felt quite ill and just sat in the dressing room until they stopped.  I will make sure and mention it to my doctor when I talk to her.

There is some controversy about the cytomel.  And I do think the cytomel is what causes the heart palps.  According to the endocrinologist the cytomel is only short lasting about 8 hours.  So technically that would have been out of my system by that time.   I am supposed to take another dose of the 5 mcg around noon but hardly ever do.  I am wondering if I should only take 1/2 a dose in the morning.  I would have to cut a pill in half as 5 mcg is the smallest dose they make.

I do know that heart palpitations prefaced my last flare up.  So maybe that is what is happening again.  Who knows.  I get tired of trying to figure it out.

Tim also cleaned out his part of the closet.  He had 4 items he got rid of!!  And those were things that were too big.  He has a super great metabolism and looses weight when he really doesn't want to.  And he eats a lot!  I guess we are "Jack Sprat and his wife" though he doesn't eat the lean and I the fat.  Such is life.

We heard that one of the second hand stores is asking for donations.  So we will drop off the clothes there.  Most of the items we are donating are nice dress clothes.  Hopefully they won't be too outdated.

I had best go wake Daniel.  He needs at least one half to an hour to wake up, eat, and get ready to do his vision therapy.  I am a bit disappointed as yesterday I noticed his right eye "shutting off" again.  He was looking at Leah's "Your Big Backyard" magazine we ordered as part of her birthday present.  When he looked up his right eye stayed turned in.  He wasn't wearing his glasses.  But I haven't noticed this happening in quite awhile.  I will have to mention it to Dr. Agnes and see what he has to say.

Have a good day.

Another Sabbath Day

Yesterday was a perfectly beautiful day.  Even though I hadn't done much the week before the rest felt good.  All the running to and fro is catching up with me.

Since Steve and his family were up in Devil's Lake for the youth camp Curt gave the Sabbath message.  He spoke about prayer.  It was very encouraging and convicting.

Tim grilled some steaks.  We had potato salad and cucumber salad, fresh buns, Fresca, and cake and coffee for dessert.  I don't make many sides when we have steak as steak is almost enough by itself.  They were so good!

I don't know if I mentioned it on here that we had to take the gun we bought Whitney back to Scheel's as the shells wouldn't go into the chamber smoothly.  Of course they didn't have another one in the same style.  We decided to take the same gun with a shorter barrel since we didn't want to wait for either of these three options:  send the gun in for warranty work, wait for one from the factory, or wait for one from another store.  We figured she needed the gun now!  And a shorter barrel isn't going to make a difference for her.  Actually it is lighter and that is a plus.

We decided to do a little shooting practice.  Some thought they might hit the targets better if they had their own guns.

It's pretty hard to hit a flying target.  I didn't.  But Brandon and Tim did.

Whitney is marching and acting goofy.

Dad instructing Daniel using Brandon's 22.  After 3 tries he could hit the cans.  It was different getting used to a scope.

Leah just lounged and wasn't interesting in shooting.  She played the shooting game at Scheel's though and got a higher score than Daniel.  I have a feeling Daniel's shooting will get better as his vision does.

Ellyana was not bothered by the shooting at all.  She's very interesting in chickens right now.  Usually she only watches but sometimes she gives in and chases them.

We also practiced with the handgun. 

We each shot at a different target on the board.  Then we marked our holes to see who got the closest.  Mine were.  But the guys said the sight is off on the gun.  It most likely is.

Brandon did some of this.  But it's not as fun when you don't have someone to ride with.

We really didn't do much more than that all afternoon.  Later towards evening Tim and Brandon went fishing over by Gackle.  We didn't eat again other than some fruit and snacks.  I don't have much cleanup to do today.

One of the first things I do in the morning is to let Ellyana outside.  She has been so good about holding her pee all night while she is in her kennel.  We walk over to the chicken coop and let the "ladies" out of their pen.  If Misty is around we give her a grain treat.  I love having animals here.  After we had been out and gone back inside we went out again.  I noticed these chicken tracks on my sidewalk.  They like to come eat  the bird food on the ground under the feeder.  They check it several times a day.

Mario was enjoying a lazy morning after hunting all night.

I have not so fun plans for today.  I am going to clean out my closet.  But it will be nice to get it done. 

Good day.

A Slow Day

Good morning.  I am appreciating the slowness of the day.  I don't feel much pressure to hurry though we will need to do Daniel's therapy soon.

We went to Fargo again on Tuesday.  Dr. Agnes said that Daniel is improving.  I think he is too.  At least it seems like it this week as he has been able to do his ABC chart faster and with fewer errors.

We ate at Culver's this week.  Though we had stopped for their custard a few times to eat on the drive home we had never had a meal there.  It was good.  I ordered the Reuben sandwich thinking in my mind that it was patty melt.  I like Reubens but they don't like me.  That sauerkraut made me a little ill all afternoon. 

We spent some time looking for bargains.  I thought Kohl's would have some good clearance items but they really didn't have much.  I was looking for shorts, t-shirts, and jeans for Brandon.  I did find him one pair of shorts and a nice t-shirt. 

We went to Petco to check on dog food for Elly.  I thought it would be cheaper than at the pet store.  But it was more, $5 more!  I didn't want to drive back to that part of town so I just got another kind with the same amount of protein and fat.  Plus it doesn't have corn or soy in it.  Of course it seems like she doesn't like it as well.  Since I still have some of her old kind left I have been slowly mixing the new into it.  I have been reading about raw verses dry dog food and think the raw food would be healthier.  The cost is prohibitive though.  If I could make up my own it would be cheaper, I'm sure.  I will have to research it more.

Since Old Navy is right by Petco we went in there.  They had a great sale!  This is the time of year they are clearing out their old inventory so I have been watching at the stores I go visit.  Since Brandon is skinny and tall there usually are many of his size left in the clearance jeans.  They had 50% off the sale price.  I found him 10 pair of jeans for under $4 a pair.  I think they rang up at $3.57.  He liked them all except one style that I had found two pair of.  So I will take those back.  I also found him some new swim trunks and shorts there.  He has to wear his own clothes at work and they get really greasy.  I'm happy I could help him out a bit with the jeans.

I also found Daniel several t-shirts, a couple button down shirts, and a nice pair of shorts in the clearance section.  Since we are going to town later today he is wearing the shorts and a new shirt.  Doesn't he look summer like with his blond hair, tanned skin, and bare feet?

Leah wanted to wear some of her new clothes but they are fall clothes.  I took her picture anyway.

Ellyana was outside sitting by the door.  She heard the children and would have liked to come though she didn't scratch or cry.  She looked so cute that....

....I did let her inside....

....She was yawning here.  Since I used the zoom it got too dark...

Now she is running about so I think I had better put her out before she does you know what.

Camping the Weekend

I know some people think camping is a lot of work and it can be.  But to get away out in God's beautiful creation and not have anything that you "have" to do is very relaxing and worth the effort it took to get packed and ready to go.  We had such a weekend this one past.  I didn't get many pictures but I have a few.

We went with another family.  This is a picture of their camp.  The stream runs throughout the campground.  It was on the other side of their tent.  They said the sound of it helped put them to sleep.

Daniel and the two L. kids had fun swimming in the creek.  With all the rain that came down last week the creek was deeper than usual and ran faster, too.  They tried using air mattresses to float down but they would get snagged in the turns.  Finally they just put their life jackets on and found that worked well.  They spent Friday afternoon and evening and most of Sabbath doing this.  It was nice there was water for them to play in as it was HOT those two days.

We took our motor home camping as we had most everything we needed in there already from our trip to Itasca.  Plus we had air conditioning that we kept running on low.  The camper was always nice and cool.  Too, Clausen Springs just has pit toilets (or so we thought ) and it was nice to have our own bathroom we could use especially in the middle of the night.

Tim had pulled his boat with the motor home and was there when the children and I arrived after swimming lessons on Friday.  It was nice to have camp already set up.  He had a bearing go out on one of the wheels on his boat trailer but was able to get the parts he needed at Litchville, a little town close by.  The camp caretaker told Tim that there was a shop there that should have the parts he needed.  She also informed him that they had just built a shower house!!!  For many years we have camped at Clausen Springs and wished that we could take a shower.  Two days is a long time to go without one especially when it is hot!  Now we can really enjoy this special little spot.

Daniel is enjoying the coolness of Sunday morning.

So is Ellyana...She really did well for being a 10 week old puppy who had never been on a leash or a chain.  She was so tired from all the walks the kids took her on and all the playing.  She really was no bother and never barked.  A couple times she whined when we would eat.  But it was never loud.

I had made a big pot of spaghetti sauce at home and took it along in my camper fridge.  On Sabbath morning I just heated it in my crock pot.  I didn't want to have to "work" on Sabbath and was happy to make that simple meal for everyone.  So on Sunday morning my friend, R., made blueberry pancakes for everyone.  They were so good!

After breakfast the men took all the kids fishing.  R. and I were so happy.  Since it was not humid or hot that day we finally got to walk around the dam.  We usually do that every time we camp there.  Now they have a marked trail and you could walk all the way to Kathryn, a little town 4 1/2 miles away from Clausen Springs.  Maybe we can do that sometime.

We got a lot of talking in on that walk and the rest we had in the shade before the men and children came back from fishing.  Then  it was time to pack up and head home since Tim had to be at work by 3:30. 

Today I am still feeling the refreshment of time away.

Oh...Daniel and Leah both passed their levels in swim lessons.  Daniel did so much better than he had when he was younger.  He has more coordination and can follow directions better.  Leah is comfortable in the water now and is ready to learn how to swim.  I'm not sure I will have her in lessons this fall.  I might just wait for the summer sessions next summer.  I think they do better when they have 5 days in a row of lessons than when they have one lesson each week for 5 weeks.  And we won't be doing any swimming in the winter where she could practice what she learns.

This morning as I was reading my Bible I read this verse that really touched me.  I was reading in II Chronicles about King Asa.  When he became king he relied on the LORD and trusted that He would save him from his enemies.  Towards the end of his reign he hired the king from Syria to help him against his enemies.  The LORD was not pleased with this and sent a seer with a message.  This verse is part of the message He sent.

"The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him."  II Chronicles 16:9

Many times we could have better success in life if we would only trust in the LORD.  This doesn't mean we just sit back and think we don't have to do anything.  I think the key is the second part of the verse.  Our heart needs to be "perfect toward him."  If this is so we have confidence in what we do is the thing He wants us to do and that He will help us do it.

Puppy and Hail

Yesterday I said that we did not have hail.  Last night I noticed while in my garden evidence of small hail.  It must have happened on Tuesday while we were gone.

I've got some new pictures of Ellyana.  She is growing so quickly.  There are no troubles with her keeping her food down now and she eats a lot.  The children enjoy her most of the time.  But she can get a little rough with them.  Her teeth and nails are sharp.  One day she got Leah down.  I was around to intercede and stopped the biting.  It helps if they are wearing long pants and sleeves.  I try to train her not to bite.  But they will egg her on not realizing that they are doing so.  I'm sure Elly plays like she would with her puppy brothers and sisters.  Here she is being nice.

I'm trying to get her to look at the camera.  Already she knows the flash comes after the click and looks away.

She doesn't get to have the run of the house as I am tired of puppy pee!  We do let her play awhile and make sure we watch her while we play.  Then we put her out in her fence.

She seems pretty smart and has learned not to scratch and cry at the back door.  It is a relief not to have to worry about what she is doing while she is in the house.

We have two more days of swimming lessons in this session.  I signed Daniel up to take them as well as his level was swimming right before Leah's.  He does so much better now that he is older.  We had to skip Tuesday's class as we were in Fargo.  But he is learning some new strokes and doing well at it.  I'm hoping he will graduate from this level.

And Leah is like a new girl in the water.  Yesterday she jumped off the side of the pool into the deep area with her noodle.  She doesn't cry or cough when she goes under water.  Miss Nici is trying to teach them some swimming moves now that her group is more comfortable in the water.  I'm hoping Leah will graduate from her level as well.  I'm not sure if I will keep her in lessons during the school year as we have so many things going on.  Maybe I will wait until summer again as we really won't be going swimming until then anyway.

With all the rain that softened the ground and then the strong wind that blew yesterday my corn tipped over.  It has tassels and cobs and looked so nice.  I'm hoping it will stand up some.

Here's some evidence of hail.  Can you see the white spots on the peas?  There are so many peas.  We will have to get out there this evening and pick them all off. 

After I took the garden pictures this morning I saw little Elly sitting by the back door in her fence.  She loves to lay under the big evergreen and chew on pine cones or her bone.  She can see the front door from there and best of all the bird feeder which always has activity around it.  If there are not little birds eating there are the big birds (chickens) coming to clean up the feed that falls to the ground.

Edited to say I heard this morning while listening to the news that they did a study at some university on what came first, the chicken or the egg.  They found that the chicken had to have come first as there is a protein in the egg that is only produced by a chicken.  But then they wondered where the chicken came from.  The local newscaster said,  "It was created, of course!"  I liked that.

I had best go get ready for the day.

A Lot of Rain!

After not having rain here for several weeks we got our portion all all once it seems.  Monday night we got 1 inch.  Tuesday we got 2 3/4 inches.  And Tuesday night 2 3/4 inches more came down.  All of these fell quickly.  We had no hail and hope that all you readers didn't either.  I heard that some where they got softball sized hail.  What would be left after that?

Yesterday was our day to go for vision therapy in Fargo.  Daniel had his appointment in the morning.  I am happy to report that starting in the middle of August he will only have to go every other week.  That will save much time and driving.  On the weeks he will have therapy in Fargo he will do a "double" which is a 90 minute session instead of 60 minutes.  I imagine the price will be more for a "double" but we will save money on gas. 

We tried to eat a picnic lunch at the park but the wind almost blew our plates off the table so we ate in the van.  After we finished eating the children were able to play at the park for about 45 minutes.  Then Leah had a vision appointment.  We thought it good to have her vision checked for any problems before she starts school.  If she did have any problems there would be no sense in starting this fall.  I'm happy to say that she has none of the problems Daniel has and can also see 20/20. 

Leah was so happy to do "therapy" at Dr. Agnes'.  I tried to explain to her that she wasn't going to do "therapy" but just have her vision checked.  She preferred to think of it as therapy.

We didn't stay long in Fargo, just filled up the van at Sam's as it was empty and walked around in Lowe's checking prices on some things.  Then we headed home.  I save quite a bit of money filling gas at Sam's as it is at least $0.25 less a gallon than gas in Jamestown.  This week it was $2.409.  I didn't look in Jamestown what the price was there but I'm pretty sure it is more.

Shortly after getting on the interstate Tim called me to say that they were just having a bad rain storm come through Jamestown and it was heading east.  I could see the dark clouds ahead but didn't want to stay in Fargo for the night.  I was hoping it would loose some of its intensity as it moved towards us.  It didn't.

I tuned in to Life 97.9, a Fargo Christian radio station, that kept me updated on the weather.  I kept scanning the sky for tornadoes but never saw any funnel clouds, thankfully.  When we got on the west side of Valley City it started to rain.  It was so bad at times that I could barely see the road.  Once it started to hail.  It was so loud on the top of the van and the windshield.  I thought it might break the window. 

Right before it started to hail while it was pouring rain a red pickup whizzed past me. When he got beside the minivan in front of me it started to hail.  He immediately cut in front of the minivan, causing her to almost hit him, and pulled over to the side.  She slammed on her brakes.  If I had not been watching carefully I would have rear ended her as she stopped right on the interstate in front of me.  I drove until I came to an exit where I pulled off the interstate for awhile. 

I was thankful and give praise to God for keeping us safe.  It was so good to finally get through the main part of the storm.  As we did we could see all the water running along side of the road in the ditches and the fields.

Then last night/ early this morning I woke to another storm.  It was so light I thought it must be almost daybreak.  I was surprised when I looked at my clock and it was only a little after 2:00 a.m.  Tim was already home eating supper.  I got up and was amazed at the amount of rain that was falling.  With the lightning flashing almost constantly it was easy to look out into the yard.  I looked like a lake.  When we went to town this morning we saw how full the creeks are.  One spot on the pavement just north of here had water running over it.  I was glad to let Tim drive through it first.

I don't remember if I mentioned it in my blog posts that on Sabbath we got the sad news that a good friend of the family, Marlene Cumber, died.  Today was her funeral.  Tim and Mark have been close friends all their lives.  Mark and his wife live in North Carolina now.  But Mark had just been home a little over a month ago for Tim's mom's funeral and had stayed with his mom and dad.  It will be a hard time for the Cumber family.  Marlene leaves behind a husband, 4 children and their spouses, 6 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren.  I ask you to pray for their comfort especially for Jack her husband.  They were married for over 50 years.

I must get Daniel in here.  We haven't done his vision therapy today.  After the funeral and lunch the children had swim lessons.  So we just got home a little while ago.  Tim drove over to Mandan for the burial at the Veteran's Cemetery.   He took tonight off from work so he could do that.  It will be nice to be all finished before he gets home.

Blessings.   

Whitney's Party

We celebrated Whitney's 24th birthday on Sabbath after church.  It was a lovely time.  I had made some tortellini with alfredo sauce, Tim grilled some chicken breasts, we had fresh fruit and veggies, and of course this wonderful cake.  It was so good!

Whitney thought she was getting a shotgun for her birthday but the box was too light.

The little ones did a good job of keeping quiet about what it was.  Hmmm...what is a Benelli?

There's nothing much in here.  "Oh...it's a hand gun!  A hand gun!!!!"  Maybe we should have got her a hand gun.

"Is is a 12 gauge shotgun?"  It sure was fun to see her reactions.

Then Tim brought out the gun in its case.  She loved the case almost as much as the gun.

Ah...a 20 gauge...so nice, sleek, and light...we'll see how many skunks she can kill now. . . maybe even those fox that have been eating chickens and kitties.

But that wasn't all she got.  When I was in town on Thursday I went into Maurices to get her some new jeans.  They had a really good sale, 75 % off the clearance price.  I found her 14 new tops, 7 pair of pants, and two pair of sandals at garage sale prices!

It was a lot of fun to see her try on all those new clothes.  And everything fit her!!!!

Now my pictures got mixed up as they wouldn't move to where I wanted them.  Here is another picture of her cake.

And another new outfit.

We love birthdays around here.

Blow 'em out, Whitney.

Some got tired . . .

. . . and took a nap.

What a blessing to have children!  Then it is a double blessing when they are grown and live close by.  How wonderful for a mother to have her children come home on their birthday.

We ended the evening with some fireworks.  It was a great celebration.