We have snow in North Carolina!  It doesn’t happen often, but it’s been snowing for several hours and there are still huge flakes falling.  I think the prediction is about 4 inches and I think we’ll easily hit that mark.  Gavin didn’t appreciate the snow at all, but he is grumpy with a cold to begin with so he was only out for a few minutes. 

We’re all sitting in front of the TV watching Obama’s inauguration.  I have a notebooking page printed out for Kaitrinn and she’s taking a few notes.  It has a photo of Obama at the top of the page.  Gavin crawled up next to her and started asking about the photo.  “That’s Obama, Gavin.”  Gavin looked a little confused and did a double take looking up at me.  “Mama??”  No no no… OOOOO Bahhhhhhh Ma, not Mama kiddo.

On our recent vacation, Louie discovered that Gavin likes dill pickles.  Hmm… perhaps I should say he LOVES dill pickles.

This was the scene the other night as I was trying to make dinner while he was scaling the front of our fridge.

“Papa, I want to go look at the cookies,” said Shealyn.

“Okay, but do not eat any!” replied Papa.

Well, technically she didn’t EAT any cookies.  However, what she did do was take her finger and scoop out a chunk of chocolate from each cookie on the cooling tray.  Glad I had already set aside the batches I was making for church and a gathering with friends!

For any of you who know me, that may seem like an odd request.   My heart is breaking today though as the world has lost a wonderful woman, Karin Faulkner.   She passed away yesterday after struggling with many complications and organ failure after a bout of pneumonia this week.   It was discovered in early September that she had Kidney cancer.  Now, just three short  months later, she is gone.  She was only 34 years old.

I’m asking for you to pray for the family she had to leave behind….

her wonderful husband, Steve

their son, Kevin (4), who absolutely adored his Mommy

their son, Kien (1), who just joined their family this summer

their daughter, Aria (1), who just came home from Vietnam and few short weeks ago

While I am thankful she is no longer suffering, I mourn her passing as she was a truly kind and generous woman.  She will be missed.

You can read her family’s story at http://karinupdates.blogspot.com/

Papa and I had to bring the kids to the polling place today.  A volunteer immediately led the girls over to the “Kids Vote” booth.   We did our thing and I went to retrieve the girls.  I immediately chuckled as I saw their ballots.

Kaitrinn voted for McCain, because “he looked like a President.. old!”

Shealyn voted for everyone… filled in all bubbles to be ‘fair’

I love how kids think…

okay back to CNN… I’m determined to wait it out and cheer for Obama before I crash for the evening.

We go to a weekly park day with our local homsechool group.  Some weeks, it’s even twice.  Park day, if the weather is nice, means packing a picnic lunch and spending about four hours at the park.  I’m tempted to do this everyday as this was the scence in the van for the ride home.  Ahhh… peace and quiet.

All three....sound asleep

Many women won’t even talk about their weight, let alone post it publicly for the world to see.  I am finally under 200 pounds again.  I haven’t been under that since being pregnant with Kaitrinn about eight years ago.  Each pregnancy then added a bit more than the previous one.  I’d lose some only to gain even more the next time around.  Recovery got harder.

Louie and I both started using a program called “Diet Power” in mid-May after it was recommended to us by a few friends.  It offers a way to log your daily calories and then uses your daily weight and calorie totals to offer a suggested calorie budget.  I used it religiously for a few months.  I now just log on every few days to add my weight and pat myself on the back when I see the nice graph showing the downward trend.  I’ve lost 25 pounds in the past 5 months.  My next goal is another 20 by Spring.  Louie has lost just as much.  We’re both feeling – and looking- much better!  Life is good.

Homeschooling is going well.  Kaitrinn and I have had our power struggles, but we’re definitely off to a good start.  I’ve been happy with our progress so far.  Her favorite subjects are currently History and Science.  Therefore, those are saved for after all the other subjects each day.  *laugh*  I have to give her some motivation to work through the other subjects first.  Here are some pics from her recent work.

We have a family membership to the NC Zoo.  It expires at the end of the month and we wanted to squeeze in another visit.  Gigi,  Stan, Amy, and the kids joined us for a beautiful Fall day.  We’ve always enjoyed our visits there and some areas had recently been renovated.  We’ll definitely have to renew for next year!