Today has been a good day thus far. I started the day off by Visiting Teaching. I get to visit some really fun sisters and so LOVE to go. My partner is pretty great too. So, off we went and visited while the boys played. I took my companion's daughter with us in the car and while we were driving, she asked what the black thing was on the dash. I told her it was a GPS, otherwise known as a Global Positioning System. Little Dude piped up to say, "It says go left, go right." WOW. I've never told him what it does, he's just seen it working.

On my way back I had a pretty in depth discussion with one of the women I visit (we had all gone to visit at one farm and I was giving her a ride back), and my heart hurt when she described everything she is struggling with right now. I am a fixer and I wish I could fix things for her. She is a sweet woman and I hope she finds the road before her smoother than she suspects.

ANYWAY...I got home and knew I needed to get going on packing. 6 weeks in Ontario over Christmas - is there any way to pack everything I might need for that amount of time? And I'm hoping that Big E will be ok with us gone. He's not big on being home by himself, he likes the cacophony that we create! :) On top of it all, he has to take the bus home because of a scheduling mix-up that meant his flight was on the same day as one of his final exams. I know he's going to be REALLY glad to get off that Greyhound!

Pictures will be coming up....highlights-Christmas ornament decorating, and the bucket-head boys!

Attention Boyd Clan

All those over the age of 12 are invited to participate in the wacky gift exchange. The goal is to find the wackiest item $5 or under (we all like a good challenge, don't we??). Participation isn't required, it is totally up to you. I know Mom has her gift lined up....I'm working on something I think will beat it!! :) Wacky=funny, crazy, interesting...etc. One year Big E brought dried bugs tossed in either sour cream and onion or BBQ. We've had a macrame lamp, a nunzilla, and variety of other items. SO...we're looking forward to what you come up with this year!! I just wanted to remind you so that you had time to find that wacky gift. :) See you there!! (The winner gets something....you'll just have to wait and see!)

Big Decision

Well, Big E and I have been talking about this decision for quite some time. Do we, or do we not homeschool? We decided a while ago...and we will homeschool. Not for the entire time, we're thinking until the boys are 8 or 9. We'll see how it goes. So we have been doing a little bit of 'school' with Little Dude. Even though he's only 4 yrs old right now I think it's helpful he develops the habit of sitting down with me and doing 'school'. :) Here are some pictures of today's homeschool project. We had a lot of fun creating our master pieces! I did one and Little Dude did the two that you see here. After he'd painted, I asked him what he thought they looked like and wrote what he told me in the corner.

SO....are you up on your ink blots??? See if you can see what he saw!

This is a frog, according to Little Dude.

This one is a monster in a pumpkin patch. He thought the 4 small orange dots on the corners with the bits of green looked like pumpkins.

Fall photos of 2009

This is what the Zea clan looked like on November 1, 2009.

So, I'm loading all these photos in LARGE size. Why you ask? Because I'm so happy with how they turned out! I love my new camera and how easy it was to use. I wish it had been a bit warmer and that I hadn't been wearing high heels, but other than that it was pretty perfect. Oh, also if the boys hadn't been sick that might have helped some too. :)

I think our family shots turned out pretty well. This one above I have in colour as well but really liked how it looked in Sepia.

We tried to get some candid shots like this one below. Most of those happened at the park near our house. It was kinda chilly outside and so we only stayed about 15 minutes. These first 2 pictures are my favourites!!




There is a very old mechanic's garage in town which is only used for storage now. One side of it has grass and just a plain, lovely distressed wood siding wall. So we used it as the background for some of our pictures.


Little Dude chose these two positions...holding my hands and holding onto my leg. But I liked how they turned out!


This one is just about perfect especially with the expression on Munchkin's face.


The kids weren't the only one's goofing around with candid shots at the park!


We nearly forgot to take a picture of ourselves. We think the boys are so much cuter!

For someone who doesn't much like his picture taken, Big E was very accommodating that day.