The Saturday after Thanksgiving the small cousins were napping and the big cousins went to the beach.  It was a terrific afternoon.   There’s never a lack of expression with this crew.   Selfies were in order.  Cousin Janzie went rock hopping and tried not to get wet.  She was…

I love these pictures of my eldest niece, who made me an Auntie for the first time ever, and her dad.

This past weekend I was blessed to be able to travel all by myself to the other edge of my state to get together with two of my very best friends ever.  We went to the Concordia Christmas concert on Friday night, and then talked ALL weekend!  We stayed up…

Mmmmm.  Leftovers! Great Grandpa McGinty’s delightfully obnoxious singing flowers made several appearances during the weekend.  The flowers spin and play “In the Mood.”  Grandpa McGinty always kept them in their original box on a dresser at the end of the hallway next to the kitchen.  All the small people loved…

Yesterday Mr. TOF had a long afternoon that involved dealing with difficult older siblings who wanted to push his buttons and aggravate him at every turn.  He held it together better than he does some days, but I came into the kitchen and found him in tears, extraordinarily frustrated after someone…

Mr. SP’s birthday was on Thanksgiving this year.  For the first time ever on a holiday, all of Dr. Peds’ family was together in one place to celebrate.  However, we actually celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday because some people were still traveling on Thursday.  It worked out perfectly because we spent…

For eight autumn seasons now, I’ve been blessed to get to teach music class for families of preschoolers in assisted living facilities.  Each week families bring their small children and we sing, dance, pretend and have a marvelous time interacting with the residents who live there. I teach the classes…

Someone was just a wee bit excited about the first snowfall last Friday.   What was he most looking forward to, you ask?  SHOVELING!  This boy still loves to shovel!  Sledding was a close second.

Mr. TOF loves raking.  Loves it.  Plus, he’s good at it.  For many days he persuaded a sibling, or persuaded a parent to make a sibling help him drag leaves down the front slope of the yard to make a giant pile on the sidewalk that he could run through,…

For the last several months I’ve made a habit of playing hymn arrangements for about 30 minutes before we leave for church on Sunday mornings.  I’ve made this a habit in the summer before, but never could I keep the habit going when school started and I started teaching Sunday…