happy birthday pumpkin pie!!!..

first birthday

second

third

fourth

fifth

sixth

seventh

i can't believe my baby is no longer the baby and is a big seven year old now! love you pumpkin pie!

october...

october has been such a busy month... as it always is. i haven't even put up my halloween decorations yet! things seem to go by in such a blur with a new baby, not to mention full time homeschooling. my son took on a big adventure himself this month, leaving home for the first time without us. he took a trip with his grandfather up to the catskills and has been gone for two weeks! we are literally counting down the hours now until he comes back. i miss him so, as do both his sisters.

here are a few pictures from my tumblr that show a little what we have been up to this month... zoo visits, a trip to the cemetery, family meals with one less at the table, squirrels who think pumpkins are a good fall snack and of course a rapidly growing baby...

i've also gotten a lot of great time with just my older girl, and i think she has enjoyed the extra attention and the ability to explore her own interests.

she made her own ink from blueberries and together we made a quill for her to write with. it was fun and works really well! we figured it out here.

we also printed out these cute paper dolls free from here. sid cut them out and glued them together and then spent the morning arranging them in various scenarios including in the tree outside.

we also took a fun little yurting trip which was the little ones first camping experience. she was really cute and loves being outside... it is probably when she is the happiest.

so other than a pretty big shortage of naps, which accounts for my not being around much things are going well. i have finally reopened the shop and maybe, just maybe, some new things will appear there!

settled..

my assistant at the farmers market

that title is perhaps a bit misleading. i'm not sure that i am feeling settled but i do think tess is starting to feel that way, and overall we are all starting to feel some little bit of a new kind of normalcy. we are starting to establish a new routine as a family, but also figuring out what our days look like with three kids at home. it feels like basically we started from scratch with everything this summer! i know you don't really leave behind everything you were as a family but it is interesting having such a sudden change. i guess it was like when we moved to georgia, it took a while to feel settled again and just as we were... bam! we decided to shake things up again... or life decided for us! we are all so in love with this new little life though. she is so sweet and loving. it is amazing to see the love that pours out from the older children as well. i am still constantly surprised by that. it is such a different experience having a new baby with much older children, rather than a toddler and a baby. they are truly smitten and can't get enough of her. i can't blame them though.

we are taking things slowly with "schooling" as well. after a very hard year last year, my oldest, jack henry,  is very resistant to any kind of "forced" learning. even though i am focusing on fun things, i am trying to be respectful of what he is feeling. it makes me sad because he has always been so naturally open to learning new things. i know it will come back, he just needs to find his own way. my daughter, sidney, is very excited about having more planned activities though, so i am trying to find balance there.  we are doing a lot of art projects, from this book. i am enjoying doing the projects along with them, when baby cooperates! we are doing a bit of history, from here, which the children like because it is told in story form and my daughter also enjoys coloring the pictures that come in the workbook while we read.

sidney pretty much likes anything if it also involves art of some kind. we have been learning a little bit about rocks and crystals for instance and my son likes to try to identify the ones we have using books and the computer, while my daughter likes to draw and paint them. we also grew our own crystals last week.

she is also taking a watercolor class from a fellow homeschooling mom, and we will slowly get involved in more classes and home school groups again as things get easier with the baby. in the meantime we are enjoying home time, visits to museums, soccer, scouts, long walks, camping, play dates and so on. i will try to be better about sharing it all.

walking to soccer in the evening

picnic in the park

teaching tess about fall