Beautiful August

I'm thankful for temperate weather so far in August -- it makes for a beautiful month. 

Flower therapy Monday: I loved the candy pink colors and the bright pink wheat stalks. 

I got two morning walks in and loved this view so much I had to paint it later in the week.

David met the sign that graduated in abstentia for him from eighth grade back in July.

White peaches are my favorite! They taste like a raspberry-flavored exotic fruit. Their color is just beautiful too!

I kept up the hard work on preparing for my fall online nature journaling classes. If you haven't checked them out yet, you can find all the information here! Did I mention that I'm also blogging exclusively about nature now on my new blog "The Nature Journaler"? 

Drew is about to end his Subway career so Michael and I went to visit him. 

Thursday brought more beautiful flowers:

Friday I snuck away to my secret point with blankets, books, paints, and food for a few hours of vacation.

It was glorious!

There was plenty of wildlife to enjoy as well!

Rachel heads back to college this week so we planned a mother-daughter outing to celebrate the end of summer. We headed to the Cake Bake shop in Carmel.

This was a FUN outing: chocolate cake, macarons, and loose-leaf tea!

This is a destination not to miss!

We're going to miss Rachel! She's got to go back and work hard on that engineering degree!

And that was our week......

October 2018

October, one of the most beautiful months of the year! The beauty panned out a little differently this year since we held on to our mid-80's temperatures for half the month! What a strange thing to go from mid-80's one day to mid-50's two days later. 

October means two weeks of fall break for our family! And a break from homeschooling means lots of housework and desk work to catch up on!

Here's a glimpse of how our October began with the flowers in full bloom:

The butterflies and hummingbirds were still very active as the month opened:

Michael made three major road trips in October. The most festive trip was to Cleveland for the wedding of his youngest brother, Micah.

I loved seeing all the pictures and hearing about it. We wished we all could have been there! Such a beautiful day and beautiful surroundings!

Every little detail spelled out thought and creativity.

Mondays continue to bring joy as I work with flowers, making bouquets.

The color combinations are just amazing!

I do love the color that October brings to inside the house as well.

Over fall break we enjoyed a visit to the Lego Exhibit at the State Museum. It was fun to see famous paintings recreated with Lego bricks!

Or sculptures made of Lego!

We had our first hard frost so I picked all the remaining flowers. What joy they have brought this year!

And the fall/winter sunsets have begun! I can't get enough of them.

We also had the joy of taking the children to see a play over fall break. After getting over the shock of having to dress up (a bit) everyone had a delightful evening.

James and I attended life drawing together.

We took a one-day trip to McCormick's Creek State Park with some friends. We had hoped to camp but temps in the 30's scared us away from that venture!

Hiking was just as fun, although we missed the color on the trees since they were still green.

Beautiful scenery!

We did borrow a campsite from friends to cook our dinner and make some campfire pies.

And a few s'mores too!

I also taught my first fall workshop over break. It was a great time and I am looking forward to the next one this weekend!

This was one of my favorite creations this month:

Andrew spent much of fall break playing soccer and his high school team made it to the State Championship! The game was on a rainy, cold night downtown. We dressed appropriately and held plastic tablecloths over our heads.

The game was a tie, with no one scoring, even into two overtimes. Covenant finally lost on the sixth penalty kick. The game was well-played, and Covenant dominated despite the loss. Congrats to the team on a great season.

My mom's fourth book had its debut at the end of fall break. She is particularly excited that the proceeds from this book go to Wheeler Mission! (For those interested, this book can be purchased here.) I Know Who Loves Me takes the words from Psalm 23 and adds mom's beautiful illustrations.

We had fun at the book launch party which had a live sheep, balloon artists, face-painting, amazing flowers, and plenty of food!

Finally the colors began to appear and we have been reveling in them for the past two weeks.

David, Laura, and I attempted a paddle one day, not realizing how windy it really was.

We found some peace and beauty in a little inlet.

Oh the beauty! It's just glorious!

And now November has arrived and the colors are still here for a little while longer.

Happy month of thanksgiving! May we daily count our blessings.

The Last Hurrah

Two weeks ago the weather was so warm and the day so beautiful that I looked at the calendar, cancelled the rest of the afternoon and took the kids out on the water. David and Laura had never been. 

Rachel and Andrew got the double kayak.

You can see how gorgeous the sky was and the leaves were just towards the end. The temperature was amazing -- upper 60's.

 It could not have been a more beautiful day!


We headed around a bend toward the yacht club to check out "Terrapin Station" -- a tiny little island in the middle of the inlet.

Everyone wanted to get out and "explore". The water level of the reservoir was so low that it made landing very easy.

Here I am in the back of the canoe having the time of my life!

And when we headed back out of the inlet this is the scene that greeted us. I couldn't get enough of it!!!

We pulled in to the little peninsula for dinner.

This is super happy me -- having a real adventure with the kids, surrounded by beauty!

We even had a blimp fly over!

The sunset got even more magical as the younger boys took the canoe out for a little paddle on their own.

I think everyone was feeling giddy with happiness!

Just look at that sunset!!!

So that was our last big fall adventure. It was marvelous!!! The next day I went to my mom's for my scheduled painting lesson and I knew exactly what I wanted to paint!!

So far, November continues to be mild! My summer flower pot is still blooming by the front door despite several frosts. Today it was around 60. But I think the fun on the lake is gone until next year.