House O' Sullivans

Scoping out the freshly fallen skiff of snow Last week brought the proverbial first snow of the season.  The kids had been awaiting this day with great anticipation and got dressed and outside as quickly as they could.  They had lay down as many tracks as possible in the backyard snow before the inevitable melt-off.  After Casey got home from work in the afternoon, most of the snow had dissipated, but somehow they managed to scrape together a smallish snow person. Makin' tracks Zeke, Soph, and Hal show off their ephemeral creation.  (It fell over a couple of minutes after Casey took this picture.) I'm not exactly sure what came over me last week.  Maybe it was the cooler temperatures or the snow, but I went into a small scale hibernation it seems.  Normally I get out and run 4 or 5 or 6 times a week in the early morning, but last week I went once--on MONDAY--and then spent the rest of the week getting out of bed only after the ki...

So it did SNOW last week, but it's back up in the high 60's and were staging for a Halloween over 70 degrees.  THAT is good stuff.  Almost unimaginably good.  This is the weather that every kid dreams of for the end of October.  I worked out in the yard all morning with the kids--mowing the lawn, raking up leaves, pulling up dead tomato and bean plants, trimming dried flowers from the front beds--and it is gorgeous out there.  I caught Hallee liberally hosing down Soph and Zeke on the trampoline and no one seemed to notice that it's ALMOST November.  They all looked at me like it's the status quo to drench yourself near the end of October while bouncing on the trampoline.  The kids wanted to have lunch outside so we worked up a backyard picnic for the people. Soph, Hal, and Zeke, soaking up the sun while eating a lunch of champions--peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, celery, and the last of our garden melons

Every blog deserves the occasional generic blog entry title, right?  Following are some highlights from week #42 (of 52).  The kids spent considerable time this week (on several occasions) harvesting buckets of black walnuts from the Johnson's (our backyard neighbors) tree.  According to the experts (the Johnson's) this is a year like no other and the walnut tree produced an epic bumper crop.  Dropping walnuts are audible all day and all night.  Bobby and Betty, the resident squirrels are bustling from dawn until dusk collecting and still there are bucketfuls of walnuts EVERYWHERE. We've been cleaning them, drying them, and storing them away to crack open during the cold, frigid winter. Somehow canning surplus fruits and vegetables and gathering nuts makes me feel safer and more prepared for the winter.  (The DNA of my fore-mothers runs strong apparently.)    Hallee collected this bucketful of walnuts solo One...

AMAZING colors on the trail between Elbow Fork and Terraces in Millcreek canyon (last Wednesday). By mid week, I was feeling another hike in order.  I called my friend Jenny, who was also feeling the call,  and we loaded the kids and headed up Millcreek Canyon to get a piece of the action.  We shuttled up to Elbow Fork, leaving one car at the Terraces and setting ourselves up for a one way hike through heaven.  All seven kids (ages 1 through 11) made it, although Jenny and I both bolstered the burden of our baby boys most of the way.  (I purposefully skipped my morning run that day in preparation for the long haul.)  Since I homeschool my kids, the Canyon became the classroom for the day, and a glorious one it was!  Hallee located part of a wasp's nest trailside.  We all marvelled at the perfect geometry of the fragile paper home. Can you tell how happy Zeke was to be out, basking in the beauty of the hills? Hallee, Soph...