Thanksgiving

As you all know, this week was Thanksgiving. Linda's Aunt Debbie, Grandma, and Grandpa came down for the holiday. It was very nice to have everyone here. We went to Aunt Shannon's for Thanksgiving dinner. Linda had been practicing singing a Thanksgiving song, but didn't want to sing it w/everyone looking at her. Aunt Deb, Daddy, and Grandma went out for Black Friday. I never did get into black Friday, but being laid up I definitely wasn't going anywhere. Aunt Debbie and Grandpa left this morning to go back home. I still have Grandma here for another week to help me while I recover from reconstructive knee surgery. It's been so wonderful having Pat here. I am having a hard time mentally not being able to do things. I am just not the type to sit around.

Linda is doing great. She has enjoyed having family around. She warms up to them immediately, which is so nice since she doesn't seem them all that much. She has been reading words to Grandma, and of course Grandma is completely amazed. Pat is a teacher's assistant for a BK class. BK is for the immature kids who should be entering kindergarten. She said Linda literally knows so much more than her kids in that class. I knew Linda was pretty smart. She didn't really do too much reading for Aunt Debbie. So Deb didn't get to see her read. Still just doing words mainly. I'm hoping she will move more into books soon. It can take her several seconds to sound out a word and get it, so I can see how the reading comprehension in a book would be difficult. As she improves, and gets more sight words, I'm sure she will want to do books more. I am just so happy she is reading, that I'm not pushing it at all. She still gets really excited when she gets one right, and wants me to make a big deal out of it.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for.

Grandma's in town!

Grandma came into town on Sat for Thanksgiving, but really to help me out w/my surgery. Linda warmed right up to her. The other pictures are of Sierra and Linda playing. We were leaving Shannon's house the other night and Linda said, "Can Sierra leave too?" It was so cute, she wanted Sierra to come home w/us.

Tonight we were reading words w/Linda at the table. Tom was there and pretending to try to read too. I can't remember what word she was trying to read. It didn't have a "t" in it though, and Tom made the "t" sound. Linda looked at Tom and she said, "Nope, there's no 't' in that word." It was so funny. She then continued on and read the word. She was then saying how she needed to help Daddy since she knew how to read. Too cute. She read quite a few words tonight. She still prefers reading individual words, as opposed to reading a whole book. She is pretty darn smart!

These were taken yesterday at the park, and at Ryleigh's house on her trampoline. Linda was so excited to bounce on the trampoline. The park was great yesterday. The weather was quite cool, but the sun felt so good. The girls just needed a light jacket, and they kept busy running all over.

I was explaining to Linda yesterday about poop and how you eat your food, it goes down your throat, into your tummy. Your body takes the food and uses it for whatever it needs, and the left over comes out as poop. She looked at me like she completely did not believe me. Then she thought for a minute, and said, "so I can eat poop?" I thought the thinking process was incredible. She connected the two and figured she could eat poop, since poop was indeed food. Too funny.

We also stopped in to a children's gym to check out the prices and classes. I told Linda where we were going and she said, "Oh that's cool!" It was so cute. She is growing up so fast!

Brisk Fresh Air

This is Linda today, w/her fake camera smile. It cracks me up that she tries to smile, but it's so fake. It looks cute anyway. We had a nice day today. We went to the library for story time. The girls came home and ate lunch then took nice naps for me. This afternoon we headed back outside to brave the cold. I know it is only relative, as some of my relatives/friends are a lot colder than we are today for sure. Linda doesn't seem to mind the cold. As long as she is outside, she is happy. We were playing in the back yard on the swing set. Toby was getting in on some of the action too. He tried his best to get up into the fort, but his 13 yr old body just wouldn't cooperate. But he liked running around chasing Copper. He is in such good shape for 13. Copper enjoyed running around and jumping over the fences. The girls enjoyed screaming outside (they aren't allowed inside) and running around w/the dogs. If anything can make Linda giggle it's Toby or Copper. It was just a real nice day.

snake update

I looked around the net and I think I found the snake Linda picked up and brought into my house! This is what the site had to say, "it is a yellow ring neck. Ring necks are nocturnal and it is a rare treat to see one during the day. They prefer damp areas hiding under loose rocks or dead trees. They grow up to 15 inches in length. Feeding primarily on small salamanders, lizards, and frogs, as well as earthworms and juvenile snakes of other species. They use partial constriction when subduing prey Although they fall into the category of being venomous, they pose no threat to humans and can be safely handled and are commonly seen in the pet trade. It is rare for them to bite, and if picked up they secrete from the corners of the mouth foul smelling saliva. Lifespan in cavity is roughly 6 years and over 10 years in the wild." and here is a link to the picture, if you dare, lol. http://www.pcs.k12.va.us/vtrail/Z-9.jpg The one Linda had was not as big as the one in the pic.

Linda had a Thanksgiving pot luck playgroup today. There was food involved, so of course she enjoyed that immensely. It was quite cold here today, but we managed to get outside and burn off some energy. I'm hoping the sun will make an appearance tomorrow.

What does indivisible mean?

We were reading books tonight and one of the books was the Pledge of Allegiance. We get to indivisible, and Linda says, "what is indivisible?" So I explained it to her. Who knows if she understood it.


Today she also said something sweet about Heavenly Father. I was getting the vaccum out and I told her that Heavenly Father wants us to keep a clean home. She said, "It makes Him happy when we obey." I just thought that was so sweet, and such a pure understanding of our Father.

Recent Pics

These pictures were taken over the last few days. There are some from a learning bus that comes around and the kids can go on. There are two from a rec center activity, where she wanted to carry the bag of raw green beans around and is doing a craft. I was getting some strange looks that day w/her eating green beans, lol. There is also one from today, where she is very happy to have cashews as a snack.

This morning I had quite a surprise. Linda brought a snake into the house. I was getting ready to go to church so I was going in and out. Linda went outside and came back in. She says, "Look what I have Mama!" I was in the kitchen and she was near the garage door. I said, "What?" She says, "a snake!" She was so excited to have this snake. I looked and there it was, a snake in my house. It was black w/yellow on it's head. It didn't bite her. It wasn't a large snake, but it was a snake. I was telling her to put it down put it down. Then I realized that if she put it down, it would be in my house. So then I'm telling her to put take it outside and put it down. She was so non chalant about the whole thing. She let him go in the grass, just like she does every other creature she catches. And yes, she catches them all, and wants to see everything. After she let him go I was thinking I should have kept him in case he did bite her, but she didn't notice. But it was too late for that. He is gone now. Crazy huh? I wonder what else is going to make it into my house over the next few years.

She is still doing well learning. She frequently asks for words to read. She enjoys picking out words around town too. It is still hard for me to believe she is actually reading, actually looking at words she doesn't know, sounding them out and reading them. She likes to help Ryleigh read some words too. She will also help her baby dolls read words. It is cute.