Food and Fall

Quin has graduated to Cheerios (well, actually the generic ones from ShopRite). For the last few weeks, his intake of solid food has sharply increased (in direct proportion to his increase in size). He's been downing two containers of baby food with oatmeal pretty quickly and it's just getting out of hand! So at lunch today, after his regular baby food, I decided to attempt something else. Tim gave him a cookie earlier this week, but I thought the nutritional value of Cheerios was probably a bit higher than cookies, so I opted for those. Quinton is not even 7 months old yet and has no teeth... he is barely sitting. All of these are good reasons to not give him finger foods. Perhaps the fact that he still hasn't developed a pincher grasp is a good reason for not giving finger foods either. But, he cries when we eat and seems to always be hungry... so, Cheerios he got. He loved them. Ate a small custard cup of them... one at a time. I put them in his mouth and he chewed/gummed away. He cried when the bowl was empty. So I gave him some cheese. He liked that too. He likes lasagna also.

Tim is at a pastor's conference in New York until tomorrow night. When we spoke last night he said it was very good and he was eager for me to hear the teachings. I am sure I will also enjoy them as they are typically very good.

We've been plugging away with school and it is going pretty well. Planning ahead has definately made for a better year already. It took some time to pull together, but using this new software for record keeping is already wonderful. Homeschool Tracker Plus is what we bought. They have a free version that is good too, but we opted for the Plus version that includes Lesson Planning, which is a great time saver when you will be reusing curriculum with other children... which with five, we will be doing that. It was a bargain at $35, which includes lifetime updates and customer support. It was a bit of work getting it all set up, but I now feel pretty confident using it. Since Hannah is now in 7th grade, I want to make sure our record keeping is stellar. All of her work will appear on her transcripts and aid in acheiving her diploma (which will probably come from a state program in which we will enroll her).

The leaves are changing and I'm daily reminded of the beauty of fall. This is my favorite time of year and I'm trying to be out and enjoy it as I'm able. We all are out on the deck for several lessons during the day. Quin loves it outside too. We put his exersaucer out on the deck and he watches the birds and the leaves for hours. I tried him in his backpack carrier yesterday and he loved it, so that will open up more hiking for us as a family :) I'd love to get to Bushkill Falls in the next few weeks to see the falls and the folliage. And take some pictures!

Also, a note for family and friends that still use the telephone... we cancelled our landline service effective October 6th (I think) and will only be using our cells. Look for an email or letter with our numbers if you don't have them already. We have a Cingular plan, so if you also have Cingular, it shoudl be a free call!

I was editing some pictures...

It's Friday night which means my weekend officially has begun. Not that I'm too excited about it, 'cause I have a horrible cold. But, nonetheless, I don't have to teach school tomorrow and have hopes of getting some "non"school items knocked off my to-do list. That has me feeling pretty good. I spend an hour or so, unloading and manipulating pictures from August and thus far into September. I'm uploading to Winkflash as I type (gotta love multitasking :) ). This is one I took a few days ago on a rather warm afternoon (it's been in the 50s!). Would you believe this is the only one that came out where one of the kids isn't looking at themselves in the sliding glass door? Do we have vain children or what? *Ü*
It was library day today. Everyone picked out a few books and Hannah did some school work while there as well. She had some reference materials to look up in the various resources available... sort of a "get to know how your library works". I loved all the indexes and cross referencing; just hordes of information. I think I would love being a librarian. Not only would I get to be around books and information all day, but for the most part it would be quiet! Especially lately, that aspect is looking mighty good.
I actually scrapbooked a layout last night. It was the first one in over a month, if not more. This was for a ad challenge at LifetimeMoments. I like how it came out and it was nice to actually get something done after such a long time... I guess I didn't entirely forget how to scrap, eh? For some reason the scan is crooked, but you get the idea.
If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I (we actually, as everyone will help) plan to work in the yard getting things cleaned up before winter. I have more rocks to move and would like to get some more dug out from near the shed. I keep twisting my ankle on them as I take stuff to the compost bin. If anyone has a dumptruck full of topsoil handy, please send it our way. The mountain is in desperate need of dirt :) I'll gladly trade rocks for it. Maybe if we compost long enough, we'll make our own dirt?

Wow... where did that month go?

No, I didn't fall off the planet.
Guess what? School started. And with it, nearly all of my time is spoken for... yes this is the life of a homeschooling mom. As we are settling into routines things will become easier, but this new year stuff is so tiring! By dinnertime, I'm exhausted and just want to sit and enjoy a good book. Which is exactly what I've been doing. I've not been online much at all and have scrapped next to nothing. That is, at times, depressing, but I know this is just a season and it will pass.
We finally made it to Rickett's Glen on the 1st. It was chilly, but we had a lovely afternoon with the Gauglers and the McAndrews. Hannah and I hiked the back mile or so of the Falls Trail and saw several of the many, many falls at the park. It really is a beautiful place!
I had a birthday (38) and we had an anniversary (17 years)... I don't really feel sad at getting older, but I do feel tired at the thought! Tim bought me a dozen roses for my b-day, and we went to a super, nice dinner on the Friday before our anniversary. Many people had recommended Terra Cottage, but we hadn't gone and decided to give a try. It's off of Lake Harmony just a few miles from us. The food was fabulous (I had lobster ravioli with skewered shrimp and Tim had Mountain Fillet... raw meat served on a hot stone... you cook it yourself as you eat it and wow, it was tender!) and the place was really nice. It is done is a Victorian style and was comfortable and fun. We will surely go back. It was Hannah's first try at babysitting in the evening... she did great and was paid nicely for it :)
So that is some of what I've been up to the last few weeks. Quin is working on teeth and has been up at night (another reason for me being worn out I think). Faith hurt herself this morning on the corner of her bedside table... cut open a big spot inside her mouth... but required no stitches (it'll grow back on it's own) and the dentist thinks her teeth will be fine too... that's a good thing. The others are all well. No complaints at this point :)