Wednesday

It is dark when I leave home in the mornings now.  I thought the reflection from my headlights would provide enough light, but the flash on the camera went off. 

Working with small groups on phonemic awareness. Adding different beginning sounds to it

Change one letter/sound and change the word.

On Wednesday evenings, I spend time with my Aina girls while Sarah, Ezra, and Abby go to young women. Twice a month, Ellie has activity days and she goes too.  I work with Adeline a little bit with either reading or math and then we do something fun. 

I brought over Halloween coloring sheets and paint by sticker books.  

Isla was so excited about the paint by sticker book. I had to help her some.  I pulled the stickers off the sheet for her and helped her find the correct numbered space for the sticker.  She could find 1-9 with no problem. For larger numbers, I could tell her the two numbers to look for such as 24 is a 2 and a 4.  

She was having a great time. 

The girls enjoyed working on their coloring and the stickers.

Isla sticks out her tongue when she is focusing on a task, just like her mommy does. 

Isla's finished Narwhal.

This happy boy looked so cute in his pumpkin sleeper. 

Ellie's finished elephant sticker picture

Two of her coloring pages

Two more of her coloring pages, she was a busy girl. 

Then Ellie and Adeline fixed smores for a treat. Ellie read me a chapter from her book and Adeline read a book to me too.  

Adeline's finished Saturn picture.  It glows in the dark too.  

I enjoy our Wednesday night time together.  

Fall Is In the Air

I love this hickory tree right by our driveway. It turns the most beautiful golden orange in the fall. 

I stopped by the Aina's home to borrow some cookie cutters and found this cute boy sitting up. Ezra was playing school with his big sisters. 

Abby was doing homework.  There is more work in seventh grade, but she loves learning and is enjoying school. 

Our development is called Forest Lake. It is a wooded area. There are three streets which don't connect. There is also this little lake along the highway. 

In the local news, it has been reported that there is an alligator in a small body of water in the Hollywood, Maryland area. Gary and Clay have both seen DNR and other vehicles parked and people out by the lake. There were also signs posted saying do not enter that hadn't been there before. So...

One day when I drove by, there was a fishing pole leaning against the railing on the lakeside and there was an inflatable alligator hooked on the line in the shoulder of the road.  How would an alligator get in this little lake? Our guess is that someone released a former pet. Who knows for sure. 

Leaves are starting to fall on our little street. 

I do love driving down our little private drive. We are so close to the highway, but all of the trees muffle the sound and it is like we are in our own private little area. 

I love seeing the trees in all the seasons. 

I love driving into the driveway and seeing our house.  For the first 22 years of our marriage, we lived in military housing or rented an apartment or a house.  We have lived in our house for 20 years now and I still love coming home to our house. 

Wrapping Up The Week

Saturday I stopped by the Aina's home and they were having a cleaning day.  

Adeline and Isla needed some encouragement to clean their room, so I stepped in to help keep them on task.  They are so cute. 

Ezra is starting to sit up. Isla was clapping for him and cheering him on.  Tony had tried to lay him down on the floor and Ezra was having none of that. He lifted his head, shoulders and legs off the floor. 

Ellie shared her book she is reading for the fourth grade Black-Eyed Susan book club at her school.  

What is the Black-Eyed Susan Book Award?

The Black-Eyed Susan Book Award is a student choice award for the state of Maryland that has been awarded each year since 1992. The award seeks to promote literacy and lifelong reading habits by encouraging students to read quality, contemporary literature.

There are six different reading lists: Picture Books, Fiction/Nonfiction for Grades 4-6, Grades 6-9, and High School, Graphic Novels for Grades 4-6, and Grades 6-9

I usually read the picture books to my students each year and then the students vote for their favorite books.  Click Here to see which books are nominees for the 2021-2022 school year. The Black-Eyed Susan is the Maryland state flower. 

Abby has been having fun with her resin projects. 

Ezra loves doing yoga with Adeline. 

Gary has a new project. He's going to strip, fill, and paint our bathroom cabinets.  If he likes the results, he is going to redo our kitchen cabinets too.  

He is enjoying working on his projects and has a list of projects he wants to do. 

The leaves are starting to change color as the temperatures get cooler. 

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Beautiful colors, cooler temperatures, crisp morning air. 

Just subtle color changes so far. 

Surprise, we have two roses blooming. 

The garden area is changing too. 

No more bursts of bright colorful flowers

No more butterflies or bees. 

Just a few pops of color left

Hydrangeas 

Still some spots of color 

I had a fun time chatting with Susie and Scott. Our birthdays are all at this time of the year, September 30, October 14, and October 30. It was fun to get to see and chat with each other.  Scott is in Texas, Susie is in Indiana, and I'm in Maryland we don't get together often but we love staying connected. 

It's Been A Busy Week

Homemade Vegetable Soup and gluten free cornbread. 

I use my Mom's vegetable soup recipe. I just change it up a little.  When we have a few bites of veggies left after a meal, I add them to a ziplock freezer bag in my freezer. When the bag is full, it is time to make vegetable soup.  

Mom's Vegetable Soup 

Brown ground beef then put it in the slow cooker.  Add a bottle of V8 juice and beef or vegetable stock. Add in vegetables (potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, corn, green beans, etc.) and let cook all day in the slow cooker.  The soup is never the same because I use different vegetables every time. It is an easy yummy meal to fix. 

Gary made carne asada with tzatziki, roasted potatoes, roasted brussles sprouts, and Greek salad for dinner one night.  I have a friend, Lu Ann, from our years in Japan and since the pandemic started, she posts "What Are You Having For Dinner?" on her Facebook page. I try to post most days on her page. It is fun to see what others are eating and sometimes we share photos and recipes too.  Hoping that our Yokota Japan group can meet for a reunion next year. 

Gary replaced the toilet in the upstairs guest bathroom which we call the mermaid bathroom because of the decorations. When we first moved in the house 20 years ago, Liz and Sarah wanted a rubber ducky bathroom. It was cute. A couple of years ago, I decided it was time to change it up.  We kept the blue walls, but repainted the yellow trim white and then I added mermaid and seashell decor.  If you look past the toilet paper roll, you can see Gary's next project. The green painter's tape is holding up a panel we had to cut out a few years ago to repair a plumbing leak.  The temporary patch job worked and it just wasn't high on the priority list of projects to complete.  After watching a couple of YouTube videos, Gary is ready to tackle this project. What would we do without YouTube 'How to' videos? We use them all the time to figure out how to do things.  

Since we have both had knee replacements, we opt for the taller toilets when replacing the toilets in our home.  I just make sure there is a stool available for the littlest grandchildren to use.  

According to this, I am a bookworm. Of course, this is no shock to anyone who knows me. I always have a book with me. If I don't have a physical book I have books on my Kindle app or on the Hoopla app on my iPad and my phone.  It is book club week.  I finished the book two days before book club.  I always enjoy discussing books with my book club friends. We have good discussions and we have fun just chatting too.  It is great to be meeting together again. Zoom book club meetings were ok, but in person is so much better.  

Gary finished restaining the side steps from the deck. One day, we will get the last set of steps replaced. They were removed when our sidewalk and patio for the apartment were poured and haven't been replaced. At least we have the back steps on the far side of the screened porch and the front steps to get from the porch/deck to the ground. Right now, I just call this the staircase to nowhere.  Since the concrete landing was poured at the bottom of the staircase, the former set of stairs doesn't fit there anymore. Again, this project is not high on my priority list at the moment.  It is on the list but not near the top. 

Sarah came to book club and brought Ezra. Gary and Ezra hung out for most of the time.  

Alecia, Olivia, and Sarah with Ezra. 

Nola, Kellyn, Sarah Cox, and Jess

Nola led the discussion and made a delicious Boston Cream Pie. 

We read The Glass Sentence by S.E Grove. I enjoyed the book and have checked out the second book in the series to read too.  

Gary and Ezra had some fun.

At first Ezra wasn't sure about the cow and pig puppets. 

He likes playing with the toys with Papa

He likes the cow. 

These two had a lot of fun together.  Holding a sleeping baby is so relaxing. 

Beautiful sunrise

The sky was just gorgeous

Wednesday I had fun with Adeline and Isla while Sarah, Abby, Ellie, and Ezra went to youth meetings at church.  It was Sarah's first time to return to Wednesday activities. 

These two loved playing Sight Word Swat.  For Isla's turns, I would say a word and Adeline would spell the word for Isla. Isla knows the letters in her name, so I looked for words with those letters for her.  I found an alphabet swat for her too. Gotta love Amazon. 

Adeline made snack for herself and Isla

Smores, yum!

When I got home, the moon was beautiful 

It looks like it is resting in the trees. 

That was the week so far, through Wednesday night.