Get Thee To The Woods, vol. 19: Precious Treasures

We were blessed to spend this weekend with my in-laws, as well as Joe's brother and sister-in-law and their two kids. We hadn't seen them since their daughter was baptized a year ago. The kids had grown so much, and we were delighted that our almost-three-year-old nephew remembered his older cousins. My sister-in-law told us that every night when they put their kids to bed, they have them say "Good Night" to a picture of our boys. (Hmmm, I need blogging nicknames for them. For now I'll call our nephew "I'm Okay" because we heard him say that over and over this weekend. Fall down? "I'm Okay!" Scared to go down the slide? "I'm Okay!" Knock over little sister? "I'm Okay!" I'll call our niece Girly Girl. Hopefully I can come up with better nicknames for them later.) In fact, I'm Okay had a little bit of a crush on Moe; everywhere Moe went, his cousin followed.

We visited a lovely park in Williamsburg. Of course, I'm Okay wanted to play with Moe,

and Girly Girl wanted to play with her big brother.


The big boys played some basketball,

including Joe and his Dad.

Could this be one of Ginny's Remarkable Trees?

We love this play structure built to look like a ship.

Before everyone went their seperate ways on Sunday, we took a walk in the neighborhood. Usually the youngest brother who gets picked on, Moe relished his role as the "big kid" that his younger cousin could look up to.

Moe found a little tree to climb.

I'm Okay got a kick out of pushing Girly Girl's empty stroller around. (Oops, did he bump into his mommy's legs? "I'm Okay!")

Girly Girl wanted a ride.

She also wanted to play football with the big kids.

Everything is new and exciting and wondrous when you're one and a half.

Did you spend time outdoors this week? How did you celebrate the wonder of God's creation?

Okay, back to my blogging hiatus. I want to have a productive week so I'll have some Small Successes to share with you on Thursday.

Get Thee To the Woods, vol. 18: The All Saints Day Edition

Saint Francis loved all things God made, and so do we.

On Saturday Larry's confirmation team went to a local pro-life women's shelter, where they did a little raking and planting...

and sorted lots of baby clothes.



Afterward we headed to the Washington D.C. area to spend the afternoon with my brother and his wife, and my parents who were visiting them for the weekend. We took a walk to a nearby park,


and Bro threw some burgers on the grill.




While the burgers were cooking and the picnic was being prepared, Curly and Moe wanted to try crossing the creek without getting their feet wet.

Then Larry decided to try it. Everyone's shoes stayed dry, thank goodness!

Moe made a leaf pile to jump in.

The boys discovered that they could see each other through the tunnel under this bridge.

Moe found a cool rock laced with Fool's Gold.

On Sunday, more grilling. (Stay tuned to Cooking Nick's Books for a post later this week about that.)

And of course, trick-or-treating! The dog wanted to come too, from the looks of it. Curly's costume got a lot of laughs; to me it looks like a burka--see his eyes?--with a little head on top. (Larry is the Mad Hatter. He chose that costume because he played that role in the school play last spring. I wanted to show you his whole costume but since I'm obsessive about not showing my kids' faces, I could only get a little bit of him. He says it's perfectly fine with him if I post his face online--surprising, since he hates having his picture taken--but I'm just not quite ready to show the world what he looks like. Not that it matters much since this blog doesn't get much traffic anyway...)


There were some pretty creative yard displays in the neighborhood where we went trick-or-treating.

How did YOU celebrate God's creation this week? And did your family celebrate All Hallow's Eve? I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment to tell me all about it! :)

Happy All Saint's Day! Now get thee to church. Have a wonderful week!

Get Thee To The Woods vol. 17: Golden Sunday

Don't you love those sunny autumn days when the sky is a deep blue and the air seems to glow with a warm golden color? Today was one of those days.

A perfect day for a fall picnic,

a ride on a tire swing,

a walk in the woods,



a visit to the creek,

and a knaw on a bone.

The hummingbirds have been busy, seeing as the feeder is half empty. We've seen them coming and going, but still haven't been able to get them on film ( or rather, my memory card)

Today a flock of geese stopped by on their way South for the winter. They might move on tomorrow, or they might stick around for a while.

The locals decided to check them out.

Curly did some fishing, even though he was supposed to be doing homework. Last weekend when Joe and I were in Newport, my father-in-law helped Curly with his fishing techniques. He's become quite skilled, and was disappointed today when he only caught one fish.

Later this week I'll update my other blog, Cooking Nick's Books, with our Message In A Bottle inspired picnic. I'll post the recipes for the sandwiches, coleslaw, and potato salad we ate--all of which were delicious! Follow me there so you won't miss it!

Get Thee To The Woods, Volume 16

Moe waited patiently by the water with his net...

...and waited...

...until he finally caught this little fish. He wasn't too happy with me when I told him he had to let him go right away.


The lingering warm weather means our dog can still go swimming,


and enjoy a nice bath afterward. The lake water doesn't smell very good when it's all over a yellow lab.