Good Samaritan?

Yesterday, as I was driving home from a quick errand at the store, I noticed a young girl trying to cross Center street. It was literally freezing outside. Across the street another young girl awaited her friend. Both girls were jumping up and down probably to stay warm. I glanced up & down Center wondering if there would be an adequate pause in traffic for the girl to cross safely. After my few minutes of deliberation & allowing my opportunities to merge onto Center fade away I decided to help the girl. I just went straight into the lane of oncoming traffic to give the girl time to run across. The first car in a long line did not slow down. In fact, I realized that it was going to attempt to swerve around me. Concerned about the young girl being hit by an impatient ignorant man, I honked my horn & signaled for him to stop while pointing to the girl. He briefly stopped for the girl and to shout obscenities at me. I was happy the girl crossed the street and let the man's anger roll off of me. However, to my surprise each & every car for the next 5 minutes sped past me, each one pausing briefly to yell and honk at me. I am certain most of them thought I was crazy, & perhaps I am, but I felt a bit like a heroin saving a child from a traffic disaster and the rest didn't matter a bit.

September Moments

September 1, 2009

I wasn't sure that our corn would be edible. It seemed to grow slowly. I had noticed that the stalks were shorter than any corn I'd ever seen. To my surprise, however, we enjoyed scrumptious corn. I love the white corn the best & Rilla seemed to agree as she munched on it raw:)
September 3, 2009

Tessa, Nathan, Rilla, & I went on a walk together. Actually, I was the only one who walked. Nate & Rilla rode in the stroller & Tessa rode her bike. She didn't want to leave Dash behind at home so he got a special ride in her basket. Tessa loved all the attention from friends whom we saw on our excursion.
Doesn't Dash seem to love it just as much as Tessa did?

September 9, 2009
Oh, love the baby!

September 11, 2009

As a farewell to summer we enjoyed a backyard camp-out complete with an outdoor cook-out:)
I enjoyed all the campfire fun with the bonus of being able to sleep in my own bed while everyone else slept outside in the tent. Having a baby is nice.

There is something magical about eating a hot dog that you've roasted yourself over a fire. Mmmm! And s'mores for dessert!
Emma accompanied us with her repertoire of two songs: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star & London Bridges.
And, cooking or playing in the fire is a nice time to meditate & reflect or unwind & bond.

September 13, 2009

Nathan was so excited to show me the "S" he made on the floor with his fruit roll-up trash :)

September 19, 2009/Garden Bounty

I am so happy my garden did well enough for me to can some spaghetti sauce. There is something so fulfilling in growing and preserving your own food. My children even boosted my spirits as they asked, "Mom, what stuff did you grow yourself to make the sauce?" I happily answered, "Everything." "Mom, what about the spices?" "OK, the onions, garlic, basil, oregano, peppers, tomatoes, & parsley came from our garden. The salt & pepper did not." :)
And, the jars are so pretty on my pantry shelf :)

We were blessed with three varieties of watermelons. Each one was scrumptious! My favorite was the seedless.

And we also grew some other yummy melons. Wish I could remember what kinds they were...
Ray was kind to make this garden tee-pee for me to grow gourds on. I ended up with pumpkins & cucumbers instead of gourds :) And, they were lovely!
September 22, 2009

Today at preschool, Rilla, proudly swiped an apple off of the table and began to eat it as quickly as possible. Apples are her favorite fruit.
September 24, 2009
The Fall Festival
Before Nathan & Rilla, my yearly commitment to the Elemenary School's Fall Festival was to run the Cake Decorating Contest. My first year out-of-commission the Cake Contest became the Pop Bottle Decorating Contest. This year I was recruited to run it. Having not seen it done I was a bit apprehensive and yet I agreed to run it since I'd been unable to help for the past 3 years. Guilt is a huge motivator in my life. Since I was in charge I felt obligated to have my 3 children participate. To our surprise 2 of them won prizes :) And, I was not a judge :) Now that it is over & the prizes all awarded, I feel a great sense of relief, but a bit curious to see if I'll be persuaded to head it up next year as well...I suppose it could be worse:)
Tessa's Pop Bottle Creation: She was feeling a bit blue since Minnie had fallen off on the way to school & she wasn't re-attaching easily...
Noah made his bottle a Darth Vader. He was quite pleased with it, but refused to be seen posing with it for a photograph.

Emma fashioned her version of Miss Piggy complete with jewelry she made herself. Emma was a bit frustrated with me that I wouldn't purchase false eyelashes to enhance Piggy's look. Both she and Tessa were so attached to their bottles, I caved and bought them back from the school.

September 28, 2009--Our last "Summer Night"

We had a family Harvest Event. The cold was coming and I wanted to pick as many things as possible before a frost. Tessa was hilarious as she helped me pick pumpkins & tomatoes. She would hold each one up in the air exclaiming, "Look! Another prize winner!" What makes it funnier is that her prize winners were the small grape tomatoes and mini pumpkins. I am glad that she felt as much love towards our garden as I do though :)

While some of us worked, others played...

Emma's "Prize Winner": it has to be the smallest pumpkin I've ever seen & so cute.
My prize winner: My Big Max pumpkin proudly weighed in at 55 pounds and courageously hung on from a rope on my 8 foot tepee. Tessa was given a coupon for a free pumpkin at the grocery store and so we picked out the biggest one we could find: It only weighed 30 pounds :)

More canning...Yummy Pears!
A rare sight:
Nathan crashing at the dinner table at the end of a hard day's work :)

September was also the month I finished a quilt for a friend. Thank you Grandma for your expertise stitching assistance! Thank you Kara, Annie, & Kim for help with the embroidering! My only hope is that is somehow conveys all the love we feel for our sweet sister & friend.

Our 4th October Birthday

We celebrate four birthdays in October; Ray's being the last. I made his favorite cinnamon rolls for a late breakfast. Everyone stayed home from church because everyone except for me was very sick with Swine Flu. I am ready for it to fly away. Rilla was feeling a bit better today and Ray was kind enough to share his festivities with her. They each blew out a candle in their cinnamon rolls. However, Rilla wasn't interested in eating it at all. She only wanted the grapes:) Ray ate his & hers. Both had a lovely day.I am happy that Rilla prefers fruit to treats. I just wish I did too. I want both.

Rilla is One Year Old!

It is a terrible thing to be sick on a holiday. I know. I have been sick on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and Halloween. All of that pales in comparison to seeing my darling baby so ill on her celebration of her first year of life. My poor princess had swine flu for her birthday. And all she wanted was to be held. Of course her wish was granted. We chose not to do a cake because she wasn't wanting to eat. The other children were disappointed as they were looking forward to the celebration. I decided to let her open one present & a card from Grandma. She loved the card! She seemed concerned we would take it away and was happy that she was allowed to hold it and read it herself.

The one gift was a Teddy Bear. She really didn't want to open anything so she received lots of help :) When the bear was unveiled she drew it near & snuggled with it and went to sleep. That was as good as it got.
Rilla has brought an immense amount of joy & love into our home. She is loved and cherished. When she is feeling well she constantly shares a contagious laugh about everything. She is eager to explore and communicate. She loves to be outside. She loves to eat everything & hopefully will continue to eat well after she learns the dislikes of her siblings. Rilla is a pleasant baby and fun to have around. Happy Birthday my sweet angel!