Peanut Butter

One of Hazel's favorite snacks is a peanut butter spoon. Basically a spoonful of peanut butter right out of the jar.
She used to do this when we weren't looking.

Perfect Camping Weather

Fall is the best time to go camping here in central Texas. We found a new place to go (read: was the only place with space left on short notice) and loaded everyone up last week. Lake Somerville was only about an hour away.There was a burn ban so we couldn't have a fire. But we made do with the BBQ pit and charcoal and still had some great tortilla soup and made s'mores.
Then, because of the lack of a fire, we had fun with the camera.

Isaac - Betsy

Aspen

Toby: doing the YMCAHazel

Nate
We woke up to gunshots about a half hour before first light. We hadn't realized that it is duck hunting season. We were camped right next to the lake - where there are lots of ducks apparently. It was a bit chilly (perfect) so the kids stayed snuggle in bed waiting for breakfast.

I didn't pack enough lighter fluid for the charcoal. We used it all for dinner the night before. I did remember the white gas for the lantern, so we used that to light the charcoal. Note: white gas gets those coals hot and ready much faster than lighter fluid.
I finally perfected a great buttermilk pancake recipe. So I shook up the mix in this handy container. About 10 minutes later, the lid blasted off. The extra baking powder and lemon juice were doing their job to make fluffy pancakes. Nate took the older kids on a big hike: ended up going about 10 miles. That would have been too much for Hazel. So we spent the day together:

We walked out to the lake (severe drought has dried it up a lot. It's supposed to be where Hazel is standing. The shore had receded about 300 yards (shallow shoreline). One of the other lakes in the park had dried up completely.)Hazel climbed on the rocks and jumped off, everyone single one she could find.Climbed trees, went on small walks, and collected leaves.Some crafts. I actually enjoyed the afternoon with Hazel. It's not often that I get to spend time with her with nothing else to do but take it easy. We both even got in a good nap in the sunshine! The rest of the family finally made it back. We packed up and headed for home. I think we're doing this again during Christmas break.

Time Out

I went to Time Out For Women last month in San Antonio. It was a nice break and Nate was great to take the day off so I could go. (I went down Thursday to Saturday). I met Michael McLean. Sorry for the bad picture.

He had this really cool guitar. Just an outline of the body and the neck and bridge. You could stick your hand right through it! He has some very funny songs. (I wish they were on one of his CD's but those one's aren't. )
Anyway, I liked the Friday Seminar the best. I hear some great people speak: Wayne Boss, Virginia Hinckley Pearce, Sherrie Dew, and one more that I can't recall her name. They were terrific. Also heard Chieko Okazaki, Hilary weeks, Chris Stewart, Jason Wright, Carolyn Rasmus, and Emily Watts. It was a great weekend. Kind of like a mini women's conference. I came home refreshed and ready to tackle motherhood again.

Fashionista

This is how Hazel decided to go to the grocery store yesterday.
She put a lot of smiles on people's faces!

Reading Rainbow

A few months ago I reorganized my books by COLOR. I know, sounds crazy and impractical. (But not as impractical as organizing by size! My school librarian friend told me that they used to organize that way to make better use of shelf space.) I'd seen color book shelves in a magazine and wanted to try it out. But I think I'll have to put it back to a more usable system. The books look good. But it is nearly impossible to find the book you're looking for, unless you remember what color the spine is. And books that are part of a series aren't neccessarily shelved together when it's organized by color. Still, it was a fun experiment.

When it rains...

Today I woke up to:

• Rain (which is good), maybe some severe weather -
  
• About 3 hours of really broken/bad sleep because
• Hazel is sick. Poor girl. The eyes really say it all. She didn't sleep well either.
• A broken refrigerator. Actually, I think that it stopped working a day or two ago. It wasn't even cool inside this morning. Since this is the fourth time in four years that this fridge has broken, we aren't going to fix it. (And of course the warranty expired.) But we need to wait until Friday (payday) to buy a new one. So we are making do with 3 coolers and lots of ice for the rest of the week. At least the freezer still works. However, cleaning my refrigerator was not on the list-of-things-to-do today.
  
• And lastly, Nate is out of town. This doesn't really change anything; but I like feeling that if I needed rescuing (which I do occassionally) my knight would be closer than 8 hours.