Hot Springs and Falling Leaves

Things around here are starting to slowly slow down (slowly being the key word). Lou is home a little more predictably now and we are starting to feel like a family again. We are taking time to enjoy local hotsprings, do a little work around the house and getting ready for winter, snuggling up and reading books and making time for craft projects and canning. Fall is here!! Fall does mean soccer for frannie so we have had fun taking her to practices and games and watching her feel proud of herself for helping her team and scoring goals. she had a great soccer season. Whats next? No plans that we know of until we decide to stop house hunting or buy a new one. Everything is up in the air for a short while but that is okay-we can deal with anything.

The kids are doing great! Gabe is dancing, talking more, being destructive and learning how to feed himself. He has another ear infection so we are taking him to Missoula to get his ears looked at to see if we need to have tubes put in. Maybe if he gets them he will sleep at night, maybe....

Frannie has been the best 4 1/2 year old ever (so much better than 4) and her language and motor skills are exploding (yes that is possible with her) and she seems to have turned into dr. doolittle. she has been trying to keep ants as pets and has been even naming them and feeding them. mostly she calls her ants Eli. She is doing great with her chickens and wishes she had more. She wants to make her dog cookies and sell them at the farmers market (she loves the farmers market). I have to remind myself that she is only 4 a lot of the time.



Me with my team receiving an award from the Governor-can you find me?



Gabe likes horses too!

...and books

First dip in Boulder HOt Springs

Remember when she was a little thing doing this?

Frannie 'saved" this dragonfly from the water. She is really into bugs right now

Tools!

Mans/families best friend- Murf Buddy

temper....temper



Frannies first picture of me



and then she took a picture of me and sweet Murf

MOVIE - Hope you can get it to play

See ya soon!!

Far Behind

Is summer really over?? can it be? What will it be like now that we arent suffering from heat and smoke? oh wait, we still have the smoke and the afternoons are mid 70s-80's. yes, this is really how our Fall begins.

The summer came and went and will be forever etched in my mind. pictures and happy times were not plentiful but we tried to enjoy the moments of the summer that we did spend together and enjoyed watching our children grow.

Gabriele has turned the corner on his baby days and now is turning into a little dude. He has a budding vocabulary, knows how to flush and pee, throws tantrums and balls and loves to make us all laugh. He was nothing like he was in July and in a way I miss that so much. Things will be fun and we look forward to all the adventures that come along with a little little boy.

Francesca is also turning some corners. It seems that every half way mark in age allows her to be human again. The f-ing fours made us wonder what had happened to our daughter and how we could give her back to the aliens. Now that she is four and a half she can be reasoned with and is agreeable. really...All the changes from this summer have taken a toll on her but she seems to have come around again. She scored her first goal in soccer and has been doing great creating and drawing and writing. I guess that the 4's  can be fun!

Lou was in AK with his father fishing this month and hijacked the camera. no recent pictures but here are a few that got left behind. I'll start taking pictures again this week and get everyone updated!

Shifting the Sun

A poem by Diana Der-Hovanessian courtesy of Alicia Stickney

When your father dies, say the Irish,

you lose your umbrella against bad weather.

May his sun be your light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Welsh,

you sink a foot deeper into the earth.

May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Canadians,

you run out of excuses.

May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Native Americans,

he comes back as the thunder

May you inherit his light, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the British,

you join his club you vowed you wouldn't.

May you inherit his sun, say the Armenians.

When your father dies, say the Armenians,

your sun shifts forever

and you walk in his light.

Missing you dad, but looking forward to shifting the sun and inheriting your light.

Jon van den Steen Arthur June 27, 1943-August 16, 2012

(sorry all I have on my computer is a silly picture, but its nice to remember him as being this way)

more pictures

these were left behind but post worthy...

see, murf did have fun. He is hunting chipmunks which are much more cunning than our squirrels at home

a watch pot never boils...

Big Boy Seat

camping dance

"on top of my pasta, all covered with cheese..." you get it, right?

peek-a-boo with tree

tree picture, again

"oh man, I love to get covered in sap!"

Shooting star- the wildflowers were beautiful