Today I'm just going to host a hodge podge of pictures from today.  First, Walker talking to Nana on the telephone.  Why he chose this particular way is beyond me, but he talked to her quite a bit - trying to explain to her that he would have to bring his special sippy cup (water bottle) to her house on Saturday because he is developing a cold sore (he calls it a sore lip) because of a cold/allergies.  I don't think Nana understood, but I did and it was very funny to hear them try to have a conversation.  

After talking to Nana, we had time to play outside before school.  It was a lot of fun.  Soon it was time for Walker to go to sch

ool and for the little two to nap.  

At that point, Erik came home and began working on removing the shingles from the roof in preparation for tomorrows roofing project.  Finally - a new roof.  I don't

 think our place has had a new roof in at least 35 years - possibly more.  We've been lucky to have no major leaks.  I took some pics of Erik u

p on the roof.  Yes, we've lived in a house looking like this on the exterior for 5 years now.  However, this is the year.  We will *cross your fingers* be finishing the exterior this winter. 

 I've been poring through i

mages on the web looking at "Folk Victorians" 

which I have decided to model our house after.   I'd love to have a Queen Anne looking Victorian, but realistically, that isn't our lifestyle.  I'm not into the 

fancy dark interiors - although I do love wood - someday I'd love to have a paneled library - but, since according to

 my designer sister, I really have no clear style - I think at our last discussion we came up with "Early colonial French country american farmhouse traditional shabby chic" as my design asthetic.  I think in layman's terms, that me

ans "I can't make a decision to save my life!"   

Here's my dear hubby scraping the roof - all to save us some $$ on the remodel.  Go Erik!

Walker loves his dog.  And she loves him.  We all love Chloe Belle.  Even though she

 is a nuisance sometimes.

Wind

It is a beautiful September morning here on Goodness Grows Farm - the sun is shining and there is a gentle breeze - nothing like the wind of Sunday!   Winds were up to 60 miles an hour according to reports.  Sunday night our power flickered on and off a few times, but never went out completely.  Monday morning we woke up to news that thousands of people were without power.  As the day progressed, we learned that almost everyone in our immediate surrounding area was without power.  I don't know how we managed to not lose ours, but I'm thankful.  I feel so bad for all the folks that have lost freezers full of food.  Makes me sick to think of what we could have lost - a freezer full of homegrown beef, chicken and pork!   My in-laws were able to use a generator to keep their fridge and freezer cold.  But they don't have it hooked up to anything else.  Of course, now Erik wants to buy a generator in case this would ever happen to us.   Driving around I've seen so many places where trees had snapped in half  - scary.  Our neighbors had a tree fall over in their tiny yard - if the wind had been blowing a different way or the tree had broken on the other half, they would have lost their house!   I guess the biggest problem with restoring the electric around here is that spare crews had been sent south to deal with the power outages from Hurricane Ike, then Ike ended up sending winds to us and causing the same problems.  

In the car on the way to school Monday, Walker asked Erik, "So why did God make the wind so hard that the trees fell down?"  Smart boy!  I'm just glad I wasn't the one he asked the question to!

Life around here has been pretty uneventful.  The children are busy playing.  Walker really enjoys school and plays so well with the other children.  He and Kendyll are thick as thieves, pairing up in the morning to walk to the class room and always talking and whispering to each other.  I am very impressed at how much Walker is picking up.  He's recognizing his letters easily and numbers too.  They are working on upper and lowercase letters now, so he's got a lot more to learn.  He's doing such a great job.  I'm not able to practice with him as much as I'd like, but I try to ask him if he sees any letters he recognizes on signs and stuff.  He is getting close to writing his name all by himself.  He knows what letters are in his name but he can't always recall without help what those letters look like.  

Maggie is sassy as ever - she seems to have grown up overnight.  It's almost as if she hit the 2 1/2 mark and BAM she's a preschooler.   You can almost always hear her saying, "Oh Man!"  to any situation.  The funny thing is that she uses the exact appropriate tone anytime she says it to express her feelings.  She's in this phase where she wants to dress like me all the time -  same style, same color, everything.  So now I have to get her dressed first so she can't throw a fit because her clothes don't match mine.  She's also into wearing jewelry now, so she has to get into her costume jewels each day to pick out a necklace or bracelet.  Erik bought her a box of dress up shoes last week - I think it was like 6 or 8 pairs and she is in heaven with them.  She has a pair to match every outfit now.  She's so funny because she puts each pair back in its little compartment when she is done with them.  

Will continues to explore everything.  He loves it outside and can't wait to go out every day.  I'm spending considerable time each week using shout and a scrub brush on the knees of his pants because of grass stains and dirt.  He is not content to just sit in a stroller or walker - he has to be down and moving.  He's climbing well now too and if we don't remember to put the gate up will be at the top of the stairs before you can blink. He's still cruising around furniture and practicing walking.  My other children walked around this age, but I won't be sad if Will takes a bit longer.  Once they walk, it is really hard to keep them contained.