Happy Thursday

I had much to be happy about today.

• The winds slowed from their former 60 mph speed to 20 mph.
• I won a paste paper giveaway and am excited beyond words. (Read about Lark Crafts (inspiring ideas. giveaway here. And visit Maurer's site. It's fascinating.)
• The sun stayed out for a few consecutive hours, enough for my solar lights to fire up this evening.
• We carved pumpkins after dinner, which is my entry for Simple Lives Thursday. Some wood carving tools, thumb tacks, a bowl of pumpkin goo. A little radio, replaced by a read aloud book about Catholic Mexico in the 1930's, followed by plain old conversation. Some photo breaks interspersed. Saved some seeds at "I" of GAIN's request. Loved it.

In the words of my older son, my kids are "Gourd Smiths." He's always had a certain way with words :-)

I like the simple activities. No television, very low technology. Kids using their brains to be creative with fine and gross motor skills, listening to rich language on an interesting topic (My Heart Lies South, by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino). No fighting, respectful opinions are asked and given, everyone loves each other. Based on this experience, I am considering having the kids all carve squash for future celebrations.