Hope gets her braces off (finally)!

She was only supposed to have braces for one year, which turned into two, since the teeth that the braces were for took that long to come in.

But now they are off and she's ready to eat popcorn again (actually, it's popping right now, as I write this!).

But first, a quick Starbucks run to celebrate, with hot chocolate for her and a decaf vanilla latte for the rest of us.

Morning in the Sun

The sky seemed so blue against the white of the aspen branches.

There have been lots of bluebirds in the trees, but when I tried to photograph them, they all flew away. Hope was able to catch this one.

She filled the bird feeder on the maple tree with bread.

Jacob played in the back. Hannah did her hoola hooping, but we didn't get a picture of that.

Abby worked on her friendship bracelets.

The bunnies got to frolic on the grass (and on Jacob).

And Lucy watched over it all.

At the Wildlife Museum

Parts of it were noisy, with all the animal sounds they played.

You walk through different ecological zones from parts of the world and see animals and climates from all over.

"People" in the different areas talk about the animals, weather, etc. While you are standing there, minding your own business, a voice seemingly out of nowhere demands, "Ask me a question!" Nearby is a computer screen with questions you can choose for the "person" to answer.

We spent the rest of the time at the museum saying to each other, "Ask me a question!"

Jacob and Abby appear to be in danger of getting attacked by a polar bear.

More people wanting to be asked questions...

Dory: "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!"

Our local library is offering free tickets for this museum and for the art museum downtown. It's a fun way to spend a few hours and it fits nicely into Abby's ecology studies!

More Adventures in Paper Flowers

Hannah made a wreath for one of her biggest encouragers.

Two frames for the shop.

New card designs.

And how everything looks at the booth as of yesterday!

New Link in Sidebar

I have added one of my favorite blogs to my sidebar:

Confessions of a CF Husband

Nathan blogs here about his family- wife Tricia and daughter Gwyneth. I started reading Nathan's blog just as his wife was about to undergo a double lung transplant due to advanced Cystic Fibrosis. Tricia had just delivered their daughter, Gwyneth, by c-section at 24 weeks gestation and neither of them had high odds of survival.

Even though we do not know this family personally, I remember how our whole family prayed for them so fervently during those weeks- and rejoiced in the days, months and now years that have followed as we have read of Nathan's account of Tricia's successful transplant, subsequent battle with post-transplant cancer (she's doing well now), and their little one's growth and development.

Nathan is the worship leader at his church and both he had Tricia have a wonderful testimony of God's faithfulness to them. Their daughter is now three years old and is so cute :).

I wanted to share this blog with you so that you might be encouraged, as our family has, by this amazing family. Sometimes I feel like an internet stalker reading about their life when we have never met, but thankfully, I'm just a harmless homeschooling mother/internet stalker.

Gratitude # 34

Horrible Histories

Learning about the past has never been so fun.

Days of Gratitude- Day #33

Time to get outside and play.

Days of Gratitude- Day #32

Gift Certificate for Christmas

Spent in the After-Christmas clearance section. I bought eight of these. Looking forward to decorating the staircase next Christmas... Thanks, Dad and Judy.

Days of Gratitude- Day #31

More Memories

Aunt Melody and Uncle Steve a looong time ago...

And last summer.

Cousin Tim and I. Sure, he looks cute here, but let me tell you, I wasn't happy with him holding onto me. I remember that as soon as mom took the picture, he let go and I ran away from him!

Apparently, I have forgiven him and we are on good terms today :).

Days of Gratitude- Day #30

Memories

Days of Gratitude- Day #29

The Whole Afternoon to Play Outside

As the warmest winter on record continues...

Days of Gratitude- Day #28

Abby making lunch all this week and the next

Abby's latest school lesson (for the umbrella school) is "resourcefulness". So, to work on this skill, she is making lunch (and often breakfast, too) using the more limited "end of the month" food budget. Can she do it? We'll know soon...

Days of Gratitude- Day #27

My morning breakfast smoothie

I think it was this past summer when Jacob took over the job as smoothie maker. He prides himself on all the yummy combinations he has come up with. He has discovered that his mother does not like raspberries in her shakes so he makes mine without them. I love it that he makes me breakfast almost every morning now. He even washes out the blender afterwards!

Days of Gratitude- Day #26

The View From My Bathroom Windows

Days of Gratitude- Day #25

Glimpses of Spring Around the House

Brightening up the rooms even in the middle of winter.

While we huddle around the heater, wrapped in quilts and blankets!