~September Fun~

Helping Grandpa w/ the corn

Enjoying roasted marshmallows!

Making music!

Cookies-Yum!

Homeschool Picnic

Homeschool Nature Day

Nature Day at the pond!

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It's been a jam packed September! We had a Labor Day cook out - the kids had fun helping my dad shucking corn and, of course, they loved roasting marshmallows.

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Our homeschool group had a picnic at a park and we had a huge turn out which was nice - our group is really growing. We had a police officer come to the park to give a safety talk so that was great.

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On another day our homeschool group went to a police station for a tour. They were even able to see the room where the 911 calls come in - it was pretty cool!

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A couple weeks ago the girls attended Homeschool Nature Day and they loved it! It was a three and half hour class and they can't wait to do it again.

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Last Monday we met up with our homeschool group and the kids did an art lesson, they did a few science projects, had story time using puppets to act out the story and they had play time w/ their friends.

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I, also, posted a picture of the girls baking cookies - we made them from scratch for once instead of just buying the dough!! Brenna loves to bake! sShe is always making up her own recipes which she always makes me taste and I always do - no matter what it looks like!

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The kids have their own band - The Four Body Waves - so I posted a picture of them putting a show on for me.

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There is never a dull moment around here!!

~Wildwood Wildlife~

Fox

Turkeys

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This fox let me get pretty close to it on Sunday - it didn't seem to really pay attention to me at all! He was just doing his thing. And Dave took this picture of a bunch of turkeys in our neighbors yard.

~Friends~

T, Julie and Bob

Willow, Bren, Chloe & Aub

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Our friends, Julie and Bob, have been great about letting us stay at their house while we build our cabin. Dave stays there every weekend and the girls and I are there about every other weekend or so! Their house is only about 20 min. from Wildwood so it's great that we can stay there so we don't have to spend so much on gas driving back and forth to Plainfield.
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Julie is an awesome cook and she always cooks up something good for us to eat - I gain 5 pounds every time I'm there! And the cocktails are always good, too!
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We really appreciate all they do for us. Thanks guys!!
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Julie and Bob's girls are the same age as our girls so they always have lots of fun together. This weekend they played out in the dark with flashlights - I think, they said that they were being night investigators!

~Cabin~

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Dave stained the cabin over the weekend with the help of our friend, Bob, and Bob's uncle, T. It looks awesome!! We love the color we picked! Dave rented a lift and he said that it made all the difference - it only took them one day to stain the logs.

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Dave was very excited to take the girls up in the lift!

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The shingles will be on by this weekend and then the weekend after that Dave will put in the rest of the windows and the doors.

9/11

It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since that horrible day when so many innocent people lost theirs lives. I was watching the Today Show when the first plane hit and as they were covering all that was going on the second plane came into view and hit the other building. I remember calling my dad at work and telling him I had just watched the plane fly right into the building but my brain had not yet taken in what was happening. It took awhile for me to realize that people were dying right before my eyes. Brennie woke up from her morning nap around 10:30am and as I was changing her diaper the phone rang so I let the machine pick up - when I was done w/ Brennie I checked the messages. It was my Grandma DeLaGarza - she said, "Mija, did you see the planes? I don't know what is happening - the world must be coming to an end, I think. I don't know. I love you." I'll never forget that message or how scared she sounded.

There was so much on tv today about 9/11 and Brenna saw some of it and asked me what happened. I told her what the terrorist had done and she asked why people would do something like that. How do I explain something so awful to a 7 year old? How do I explain the unexplainable? So, I was honest and I told her - "I don't know" - because I don't know why they did it. I don't understand that kind of hate or evil. And that's okay - it's okay because I'm not always going to have ALL the answers for my girls. Sometimes parents just have to say - I don't know!

Someone sent me a tribute video of 9/11 - in it were many images of that day at the WTC...the planes hitting the buildings, the fires, people jumping to their deaths and the collapse of both buildings. It was hard to watch but at the end I came away feeling very grateful and thankful for the life that I have.

~One Less Body~

There's one less body in our bed these days and it makes me sad! Brennie slept w/ us for nearly six years. People thought we were crazy but we never really had a problem w/ it. She felt more safe being w/us and that was a good enough reason for me. I knew she wouldn't still be sleeping with us at 10, 11, or 12 years old. I knew the night would come when she would start getting uncomfortable trying to sleep with Dave, me AND three dogs. A few months ago that night came - she said, "Mama, I think I'm going to sleep in my bed tonight - it's getting hard to sleep in here" and so I tucked her into her own bed. She was alseep within minutes but me - not so much. It was strange not having her warm little body next to me. Slowly, I'm getting used to it but I still miss having her there. Maybe it's more about the fact that she's just getting so big - she'll be 8 years old this month! Unbelievable!
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So, anyway, our king size bed has lots of extra room now - maybe it's time for another dog! Ha.