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.

September and into October

September flew into October and we are finally enjoying our fall break after the first eleven weeks of the school year. 

We managed to keep up a constant stream of hatching butterflies during September. It was so fun to have nature right in our own dining room and watch everyone's excitement when a new chrysalis or butterfly appeared.

Andrew turned 15 on the last day of August. He's had fun being on the JV soccer team at Covenant. Soccer occupies all of his spare time. Andrew is most excited right now because the varsity soccer team has made it to the State championships! 

September saw the final golf matches of Rachel's high school career. I will miss my two-hour vacations twice weekly in the fall (i.e. time on the golf course).

Cousin Olivia managed to come to a match one afternoon!

 I started up my art classes the first week of September and had five classes running for six weeks! It was a lot of fun, not to mention a lot of work, and I can't wait for the next round of classes to start. I'm going to have a short session in November and then start up longer sessions in February and April.

I loved watching the kids get excited about nature and then see how they translated that to artwork in their sketchbooks.

We had a beautiful rainbow one evening. September was unusually hot and we had to have our air-conditioning running most of the month. We were all glad when rain finally showed up and the weather cooled down a bit.

 We took our traditional trip to the apple orchard and enjoyed the company of friends!

Rachel sang and played violin in the fall music concert. She loves choir so much. (She is fourth from the left in the front row.)

It's hard to believe this is Rachel's last year of high school. College applications have been sent and now we have to wait to see how everything pans out!

Everyone loves when cousin Olivia comes around. Laura has to make up for not having a younger sibling.

James had a milestone birthday at the end of September -- the big 13!

Instead of a birthday party we planned a day trip to Chicago to visit the Art Institute. We specifically went to see the armor collection but enjoyed lots of other artwork as well!

I loved seeing this self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh in person. The colors were so vibrant!

And this was my favorite of the various Monets on display:

The armor collection was pretty incredible and definitely enjoyed by all!

We have been studying Rome in school so it was fun to see some amazing Roman mosaics.

The kids really loved the collection of miniature rooms in the basement.

After the museum we walked around a bit and enjoyed some of the iconic displays/works of art that are around.

It seems this "bean" appears in everyone's pictures:

While sitting on a bench watching the kids play at the fountain I looked down and saw the most beautiful reflection in a puddle. Amazing where one can find beauty......

James thoroughly enjoyed his special day out and I think he can't wait to go again!

Another visit from Olivia!

Of course everyone wants their turn to hold her!

 This year the fall foliage has been hugely disappointing -- especially following on after the incredible fall we experienced last year. I took this two weeks ago. Many of the trees turned brown and dropped their leaves due to the lack of rain in September. I suppose we can't have an incredible display every single year.

Grandpa stopped by with a present for James' birthday -- just what James was hoping for.

And so we made it to the end of another school term.

It's hard to believe that the holidays are just around the corner -- only seven weeks to go after fall break until we hit winter break. It makes going back to school just a little bit easier!