Sarah the Sweet

I know I've mentioned before Sarah's compassionate and generous spirit and even though I know those are very strong qualities in her I am still amazed how compassionate and generous she is at the age of six.  She loves to draw pictures as well as create three deminsional artwork and the vast majority of the time it is made with someone in mind to give it away to--her siblings, her friends, her teachers, her parents, etc.  She has no problem letting go of her treasures if she knows it will bring someone else joy.

Aidan got a baseball key chain in his party "goody" bag for his birthday in August.  It is a cheap keychain from the Michael's dollar bins.  (BTW Michael's has awesome dollar stuff all year round, but especially at Christmas!)  As soon as Aidan saw it he knew he wanted to hang it on one of the zippers on his backpack.  About three weeks ago he was looking at it on the bus and it broke off.  Sarah was there to witness it and she could see how sad Aidan was.  She would mention it from time to time over the next few weeks, about how she wished she could get him a new one and about how sad he was.  Aidan never mentioned it to me after the day it happened, though he may have been thinking about it.  So one morning last week while Aidan was at school, we were in the van running errands. Out of the blue Sarah says, at Christmas when we draw names for gifts for the cousins I hope I get Aidan.  That way I can buy him a new baseball key chain."  That alone melted my heart, but it gets better.  We happened to be going to Michael's next, though Sarah didn't know that.  When we got there I told her she could look for a new key chain for Aidan.  She was so overjoyed!  As it turns out they were on clearance so it cost me a whopping 54 cents.  Sarah has no clue how much it cost, only that it was special to Aidan.  She was sad that she didn't have her own money to pay for it and I said she could do a couple chores for me instead.  She was completely thrilled with that idea.

When we got home from our errands she set to work making wrapping paper and a tag for the key chain. 

When she was done wrapping it she tucked away in a hiding spot and managed to keep quiet about it on the bus with Aidan and all the way until Jeremy got home.  She gave it to Aidan at supper.  Aidan totally had no clue what it could be and the delight on his face when he opened it was priceless. 

The bond between brother and sister was definitely deepened that day.  Aidan found Sarah later and gave her a hug and told her thank you again with all sincerity.  He even went in to her bed and said I love you and good night to her at bed time--not a typical occurance around here!

Fabulous Fall

It isn't called Colorful Colorado for nothing!  (That would be Colorful Colored when translated.)  Fall foliage is at it's height here and I am in awe everytime I drive through our town.  God's creativity is not lost on me.


All of these pictures were taken along the route from our house to Aidan and Sarah's school. 

Also taken on the route to the school-the pumpkin farm just down the road.

This is at the highest point in Broomfield-facing west (obviously since the mountains are in the background.)

This is a view of the farm looking North from the kids bus stop,

which is just around the corner from our house.  Last week on the way to take Sarah to school there was a four foot bull snake climbing from the road onto the sidewalk right at the bus stop.

When we arrived home from our picture taking journey there were hawks circling literally above our house.  These were taken while standing in our front yard.  This is at least third time time in the past week that they have circled and called to each other directly above our house.

Unfortunately I couldn't seem to get all four of them

in the same picture but at least I got three together.

I wonder if one of them is the same hawk who perched on our back fence a few weeks ago:

I wish I knew how to enlarge these pictures even more but this seems to be the best this blog site can do.

 

We are so blessed to live next to an enormous nature preserve where we can see such a variety wildlife, plantlife and an amazing view of the mountains.  There are of course dangers in the form of rattlesnakes, coyotes and one time my dad even saw a mountain lion.  I have personally never encountered a rattlesnake and so far the only encounters with coyotes have been listening to them howl late into the night.

Long Overdue

Life has been so full over the past couple months and it doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. Having two in school now has literally doubled the activity. Sarah is in afternoon kindergarten so my days are cut in half with 11-12:45 everyday being all about lunch and driving her to school. I'm thankful for the bus as I can't imagine making three round trips to school every day. I also am the co-director for a brand new Bible Study at our church. We kicked it off on Sept. 1st and it's amazing how much planning and prep are needed each time--but I'm loving it and it's definitely where I'm supposed to be. I am heading up a Craft Fair on Nov. 7th at our church which is sponsered by the Bible Study group so that will keep me hopping and popping until then. At the end of August I also started teaching a group of middle school girls on Wednesday nights and it is the highlight of my week! I love that age group and these girls are a lot of fun! I'm actually looking forward to the holidays this year--when our Bible Study will take a break and I hope things will actually be a bit calmer...yeah, right! =)

So here is what has been happening in our family in recent weeks. Aidan was baptized (by my brother!) on August 23rd-just one day shy of him turning eight.

The kids had great birthdays and it's been weird for me to now say I have kids that are 8, 6, 4 and 2 1/2--where has the time flown to?!

My mom, the kids and I went to a park at the base of the foothills on Labor Day called Chautauqua Park. Jeremy was stuck working on contracts at Frontier-boo! =( There are a lot of hiking trails but the kids were worn out after playing on the playground and exploring the wooded areas so we made it only to the trail head and had to turn around. In their explorations the kids came upon a deer and were literally within feet of it. It loped out into a cul-de-sac and then sauntered in a yard and began munching apples that had fallen to the ground. The kids were so thrilled to be so up close!

We were super excited to have Aunt Amy visit in mid-September. We spent a day in the mountains and the aspens were just about at their peak and the weather was gorgeous!  I will share more about that weekend in another post.

I think we are all feeling good about the routine of school and all our many other activities but even with a routine in place it always feels very busy! Oh, and did I mention Sarah started dance lessons once a week and Aidan has been selected to be on Student Council, which meets twice a month before school? I just can't even begin to imagine all the activity when I have all four in school! Katie and Jonah have become wonderful playmates and Katie seems to thoroughly enjoy the quiet time she has to herself in the afternoons when Jonah is napping and the other two are at school. I enjoy that time too!