55 days! or is it 46?

I'm not in charge of the Children's Christmas Program at our church this year! Yayyy! But I am in charge of the music for it. Bah! Humbug! I got a copy of the program last night and now have about 6 Sunday mornings (5 minutes each) and 2 Saturday mornings to teach the kids the songs. It's not the most "kid-friendly" program I've ever seen, but Hey! I'm not in charge! so that's a good thing. I can't believe there are only 56 days until Christmas and 46 till our program! Well, in 47 days the Christmas program part will be over! Wheww!

Sunrise, Sunset

Sunrise, Sunset - quickly fly the years! Days, weeks, months! Joyce and I had a conversation tonight--neither us can believe how fast October is disappearing! The sunsets are coming earlier and earlier! This was the one outside our window at 7:00 this evening. It looks like the wildfires in California doesn't it? God be with all the people in harm's way. God be with all of you as the days pass so quickly!

Pumpkinhead

The McClelland's stopped by today and while Avery went to a birthday party in the neighborhood the rest of us carved pumpkins. This is Quinn and his pumpkin face!


I had other pictures to post of my weekend, but after I posted this one blogger wasn't letting me do any more for some reason. I'll try again tomorrow.
Here they are!
Tom and the six dwarfs! I'll bet you can guess which one is "Grumpy" and which one is "Winky"!

Avery was there for pumpkin choosing, but not the carving fun--she went to a birthday party!

Eeewww! Yuk!

Kaleigh checking in on her ladybug friend. See Heidi's post.

My Brain is Fried

This week for my class we are studying "Learning Aptitude". Our assignment this week is to take an IQ Test online several times. It happens to be one that is designed to see if you could gain membership in a genius club. We are supposed to learn the different components of the test which cover all kinds of areas. The first time I took the test I thought I would show up borderline mentally retarded because the questions were so hard and especially the mathematics portion- all kinds of theories and words I've never heard of. The test changes every time you take it and so far I've taken it about six times. The results were somewhat surprising. The scores fluctuated between slightly above average to superior. I think we're supposed to learn that these tests are just an estimate and that you certainly can't base a total eligibility decision for special ed on one IQ test. What I've learned about myself is pretty typical of me. Sometimes my brain works very well and sometimes "not so much". If you'd like to try it go to www.highiqsociety.org/iq_tests/ and take the TA3 test. Good luck, brainiacs!

I'm Back!

I got home from the retreat at about 1:00 this afternoon and have spent the whole afternoon with lots of interesting activities - catching up on blogs, looking at beautiful engagement pictures, and reading "A History of St. John's Waltz" that came in the mail this weekend.

The retreat was very nice-- we had a woman from Ohio who led some very informative Bible studies on the seasons of faith "Childlike Faith", "Growing and Sharing Faith", and "Maturing Faith". The studies were good, but I would have liked more interactive activities and discussions. There were some other fun activities, some quiet time, some walks, and way too much food.

Grandparent's Day was fun. I arrived a little too late to get a good seat for Ella's program and got a bit of a stiff neck trying to see her through the crowd (unfortunately she was in the bottom row). I got there earlier for Quinn's and had a good seat to watch him not do too much singing. He looked cute up there and had some shy hand motions. He was best at taking some bows after each song. They had some fun songs that I've never heard before. I'm not used to schools with so many children all the same age - probably 250 kindergardeners in each session. Quinn and Ella were both proud to show me around their classrooms and it was great to meet their teachers. Now I can picture them at school.

Have a great week!

P.S. I did get my homework assignment finished! Yay! Now to get started on next weeks!

My Day and Weekend!

A treat and a retreat! I'm giving myself a treat today and taking the day off in order to go to Quinn and Ella's school for "Grandparent's Day" and then heading to Hillsdale's Mich-in-doh Retreat Center for our church's women's retreat. I think I'll tell the people at Mich-in-doh that they could put some better pictures on their website. It's really a beautiful setting on a lake. This was their best picture?!

But first, I have 3 hours to finish my homework assignment for the week and pack. Here I am procrastinating. Like you, Christie, I do well under last minute pressure. Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back on Sunday!

Chuckle Belly Gone Wild!

Andy and Christie were home Sunday! Andy was entangled in a wild and crazy game of "Chuckle Belly". It worked! It cured the crabbies in a couple of kiddos. Andy, when and if your employees at your new place get crabby, maybe you should try this!

Break Out the Good China!

It's Mom's birthday! 85 and still so beautiful!

Actually it's tomorrow, but we celebrated tonight! Mom came over for dinner, we used her good china (once my grandmother's, then mom's, now mine), I found a bouquet in my yard, we had a couple of good games of Scrabble (okay, one of them was good--the other--not so much!) It was a nice evening! Happy birthday, Mom! We love you!