A mostly pleasant ramble

We managed to get through our first cold of the season. Lots of rest and fluids are a good thing... and a few good books to read while curled up with a blanket help as well.
We finished up our first quarter though there are a few loose ends to tie up. I need to finish some grading work for J's literature program. She just finished reading Tom Sawyer and I need to go through the last of the comprehension questions with her. She is working through Lightning Literature & Composition (7) from Hewitt. I like it so far and she seems to be enjoying it. She had actually gone ahead and read most of the novels over the summer for fun, so I am anticipating that it will be a fairly smooth year in that area for her - we shall see.
I am very blessed in that both of the younger kids truly love to read, which makes most everything in life easier to learn. Truly a gift from God. They read across a pretty wide area of interests and share books between them to discuss, etc. Now J has started enjoying books that I have read and loved so we can discuss them also.
Tomorrow starts our official 2nd quarter - at least that is the plan - we shall see as Ben has developed a stomach virus. We are supposed to begin our study of Latin!
Last week was mildly productive in my creative endeavors. I managed to get the kids art projects framed and hung up on the wall just outside the kitchen. They add a splash of color I think.

I also managed to get a little bit of sewing in over the last few days. We've been dog sitting and it suddenly got colder than expected - we actually had SNOW on Oct. 16th here! So I made a dog coat for our guest. Also, J wanted a new hat for her soccer game on Sat. morning - so I whipped this up before the game for her.



Yesterday afternoon Steve invited me to join him with the dogs and take a nice mini-hike in our local nature preserve. It was a gorgeous fall day and the leaves were crunchy under foot. B didn't feel well and dragged along with us, but we didn't realize at that point that he was getting sick. The dogs enjoyed the ramble immensely - lots of things to sniff & smell out in the woods!

Today is Sunday and Steve will take J to church after he returns from his first run. He had wanted to do a long run today, but the weather may not cooperate. He will try to do 2 runs to get in his time/miles around church.

Our small furry house guest is supposed to go home today, which means getting back to normal - well, as normal as it gets around here. :0)