Family Life

Our house has been bustling lately. We've had a lot of stuff going on with the homeschool group and our co-op, so it was hard to find time to decorate for fall. But finally yesterday, I cleaned and swept the living room and decorated. Even though we don't have a lot of decorations (for fall at least; Christmas is another story entirely), when artfully arranged, those few have a better effect than a room that's dripping with leaves and pumpkins.

When I lit this candle (actually, Mom lit it because I'm scared of lighting matches), the whole room instantly smelled absolutely wonderful. We had it burning all day. I did all of my schoolwork in the living room yesterday!

This bookshelf is one of my favorite places to decorate! It's just a long, flat surface that just screams, "DECORATE ME!!!"

The day before yesterday, the girls decided to get crafty. So my little sister Audrey found us a project to do. You take those terracotta pots that make a terrible noise when they scrape on each other (I got chills down my back just thinking about it), paint the bottom part with chalkboard paint, then decorate the top rim. Then you can chalk all over the rest of the pot.

The pot without decoration

Me working painstakingly on my design

The finished product.
 Don't I look evil in that picture? We took literally more than eight of those shots until I got one that was "blog worthy."

Another thing that has been keeping me busy lately is Gracie, the cutest little Cocker Spaniel you ever saw. She greets me every morning by barrelling to wherever I am and jumping all over me. Having a dog has been fantastic, although some parts are definitely better than others. For example, feeling loved and needed when your dog is whining at you for a walk. Then you take her for a walk and she pulls your arm off and then leaves a pile for you to clean up. Not cool, Grace! Anyway, the good things about her far outweigh the bad. Usually.

I don't know what it is about Grace, but her eyes always turn out funny in pictures. They're either red or she looks like she's got these weird green holes in her head. I'm not sure why, and it's frustrating sometimes.

Anyways, that's what I've been up to lately. Besides PE, where we play volleyball for two more weeks, I think. This Thursday, we're playing co-ed volleyball, which should be interesting since the guys are so competitive. Fortunately, the girls have a month of practice already, so I would say that those guys are going down!