A Common Shepherdess

We tried to liven things up around here today. We had fun with our food today. For breakfast I made ghost waffles. I used half-melted ice cream to make the ghosts and used chocolate syrup for the eyes. I wrote "Boo" on each plate with maple syrup. The kids loved them. Well, it's not every day they get to eat ice cream at breakfast. For lunch we had deviled eggs and bones in the graveyard (apple slices piled on my pitiful excuse for dulce de leche I tried to make from sweetened condensed milk). I also made some pumpkin rolls. The rolls weren't a big hit. And bat's blood to drink. It tasted suspiciously like strawberry-lemonade. For supper we had rolled cobwebs filled with spiders (shredded beef and black bean enchiladas) and zombie fingers (green beans). After supper we took the kids trick-or-treating. We had a skeleton, Sleeping Beauty, a skeleton pirate (don't all skeleton pirates wear rain boots? those decks can get awfully wet), and a little bunn...

We received sad news yesterday when I went in for a prenatal visit. We estimated I should be 12 weeks along. The doctor did a quick ultrasound in the office and didn't like what she saw. She said that everything was looking small. She immediately sent me across the street to the hospital to have a more thorough ultrasound done. The second ultrasound revealed what the doctor guessed--no heartbeat or bloodflow could be detected from the baby. If I don't miscarry over the weekend, I am scheduled for a D&C on Monday. On Thursday our 9 yo son overheard me say something to my husband. He asked what was going on. We explained that we learned that the baby I was carrying had died. He looked a little puzzled and said, "How did that happen?" We said that we didn't know but that sometimes that happens. I had recently read that the chance of miscarriage increases when the mother is over 35. I leaned back on the bed and whined, "I'm too old!" He...

Ever wondered what you would look like as a stick figure ? Here's our family. (Thanks, Lee !)

We didn't finish our week as planned but we got a little accomplished. I started my 4 yo daughter on a handicraft. I could tell she was ready for something. She already helps me in the kitchen. She loves to chop green peppers and celery. (Onions burn the eyes.) She is the official "salt girl" when we make popcorn. I pour on the melted butter and she sprinkles the salt. But she needed to do something more. We've started simple sewing exercises. I found what I needed on clearance at WalMart. Only $2! I bought some yarn, children's plastic needles, and some plastic canvas. Here's what her first attempt looked like. At least she enjoys it! Our 6 yo son had to give it a try too. He also started Year 1 of the Ambleside curriculum this week. He has been doing math, spelling and copywork since July. Music and Bible reading have always been family activities. I think all we added was reading a few Aesop's Fables. But it's good to start slow, righ...

Here is a copy of an email I recently sent my husband: Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Matthew 6:8 For your Father knows what you need before you ask. James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Matthew 6:25-33 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of...

Yeah, this is what I like to see inside the front door when I come home. I'll be shaking out the bedsheets tonight. And, yes, that is a black widow. At least it was dead.

On Friday my husband took the day off. It is his normal day off but he usually works. (You can't make sales if you aren't there!) He wants to find a place to fly fish. I keep reminding him that we are in the middle of the desert but he is convinced there must be some secret fishing hole nearby. We drove up to Prescott. It was a pretty drive. A while back we had been as far as Peeple's Valley but a sudden thunderstorm and non-working windshield wipers forced us to turn around. There is a cool rock on the road between Wickenburg and Yarnell. It's funny to think someone saw this frog in the rocks and decided to paint it. It quite large! It was fun driving through the mountains and seeing our first glimpse of the tall ponderosa pines. It's been a long time since we've seen trees like that. I kept craning my neck to see down in the ravines but I couldn't see any running water. We drove into Prescott National Forest. We saw signs that said "Wolf C...

I've missed a report so I'll combine two weeks here. I have to say that our school days are fairly boring! I need to come up with some interesting projects for the kids to do. One thing I have done to help day go more smoothly is to make an assignment book for my 9 yo son. He likes knowing before the day starts what is expected of him. He is usually ready to be done with school after two subjects. Now he know before we start what subjects we are covering that day and I don't hear the sighs when I ask him to get his history notebook. I write out that week's schedule on Saturday or Sunday morning. This is our plan for next week. As we finish a task, he crosses it out. I keep track of all our work through the online organizer at Simply Charlotte Mason . Our 9 yo son is reading the book Brighty of the Grand Canyon. After our trip through Oatman back in August, I thought he would be interested in reading about a burro living in the Grand Canyon. Reading is not his...