Chilly Warm and Happy

  Yesterday...a nature walk to collect fallen leaves, enjoying the 80 degrees. Then, home and smoothies and a craft. To make these cute little "stained glass" lovelies all you need is wax paper and an iron. Sandwich the leaves between two pieces of wax paper...then put a towel over the top and iron and iron until the wax paper fuses together - then hang. :)

  Next, a peaceful evening and drawing fairies - hot spinach quiche and a game of Go Fish with daddy.

  And then lastly, as the chilly winds come in and the warm moves out - the first fire of the cold season. Littles bundled (except Brady's long white legs) and cider poured and anticipation of toasted marshmallows.

  The baby bug snug in his bed upstairs, the rest of us out on the patio watching the glow and being a family - eating chex mix out of paper bags and sipping our spicy cider. It was lovely.

  A snug Koala not knowing why the marshmallows were black, and Brady excited every time he would find an M&M in his trail mix - he would loudly share what color each one was and Trinity would congratulate him as kindly as anyone was ever congratulated.

  And two lovebirds (Zac looking a little intense) enjoying the warmth of their coats and of each other and of the love that fills their hearts for their babies - they are so precious. Fall is such a magical time if you watch it happening in the eyes of a child.

 And then this morning - 34 degrees and sweat pants unpacked, fireplace out and coffee poured.

 And, before leaving you I wanted to share this e mail that I received from Brady's teacher because it's just too good to keep to myself. Maybe this homeopathic stuff is working?

Hi Alyssa,
 I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know how Brayden is doing in class. The past few days he has been working very hard. He has been very successful in completing his work with 0 reminders. :) He has also been doing a great job using better phrases in school. He is saying "what in the world?" instead of "what the.." He earned lunch with the teachers for doing his homework, which we had today with a few other students. He was very talkative and engaging with us, the teachers, as well as initiating conversation with other students.
Susan Jakob

Now how about them apples? He wasn't even able to complete a portion of his work 2 weeks ago because of his mind wandering and just not being able to focus. He was using inappropriate gestures and phrases and wasn't talking to anyone in class. I'm so thankful for his success these last few days...even here at home he has been conversing with me about more then video games and he's doing his homework without any help - and he does it willingly. I praise God for my little boy and him being Brayden the Brave.