Picnic in November

Yesterday, the high was 81 degrees, the low was 40.  We played outside for a good two hours, and had a picnic lunch in our shorts.  It was absolutely marvelous, though rather odd.  As of yesterday, we had had ZERO precipitation of any kind in October AND November.  The lack of moisture and string of perfect 70 degree days in the late fall has been glorious, though, certainly a little disconcerting.  We have been counting our blessings, and enjoying an unseasonably temperate autumn.  There has been much scooter and bike riding, park days, walks, hikes, and outside time that has all but made up for our rather bland summer (on account of my nausea).

For the record, yesterday, we looked like this:

Today, the high was 40 degrees and the low was 26 degrees.  The snow started at noon, and lasted all day.  There were sometimes 20-30 mph wind gusts that left us breathless.  A light snow cover now coats our flowers that were still blooming perfectly yesterday.  Moisture of any kind is most welcome!  I am grateful for the snow!  But, again, for the record, yesterday we had a picnic in the front yard in shorts.

Count Your Blessings

In an effort to curb a lot of exuberant Christmas "I want..." feelings, the kids and I found some 80% off fall decorations and had a family "I'm grateful for..." session.  It took a few minutes for the kids to catch the vision, but in short order they saw the fun in it and were fully engaged in counting their blessings on pumpkins.  Ezra was especially prolific.  And, he didn't want any help to think of blessings, or write them down.  I am impressed with his growing comprehension of letters and sounds.  He is not in kindergarten, and we are not doing a great deal of extra-curricular at-home lessons.  Here are some examples of his independent (motivated!) spelling efforts:

"Im grafl Grama Dens." (translation: I'm grateful for Grandma Denise)
"Im gratfl Gramu Rasln." (translation: I'm grateful for Grandma Roslyn)
"Im gratfr Prafit." (translation: I'm grateful for a Prophet)
"Im gratfr famle." (translation: I'm grateful for family."
"Im gratfr Gat." (translation: I'm grateful for God)
"Im gratfr Thgiven." (translation: I'm grateful for Thanksgiving.)
"Im gratfr Crismths."  (translation: I'm grateful for Christmas)

Miss Maren was also very engaged.  She very studiously filled her pumpkins with tiny chicken scratch markings, and then brought me each pumpkin and had me transcribe her efforts.  Her blessings, which were also all her original ideas, included such things as:

"I'm grateful for my heart blanket."
"I'm grateful for the color pink and purple."
"I'm grateful for toys."
"I'm grateful for my mom and my dad."
"I'm grateful for Kate and Coleman." (the neighbors on either side of us)
"I'm grateful for Mary (mother of Jesus)."
"I'm grateful for a good neighborhood."
"I'm grateful for our dirt."

This is us, counting our blessings.  It was a lovely way to spend an evening!