Nov 16th Update!!

We are blessed here at the Griggs household. No one is sick, everyone is sleeping well, well fed and fairly happy. We have gotten a bit of snow these last few days which makes me think of winter projects and Christmas. The firewood wall is pretty much finished. We need one more big pine and a few boards put up on the side of the addition to hold it up and a tiny bit more poplar brought in from the back which will hopefully get done this week. We brought another hay bale home today so we have enough hay to last til mid January. Papa is loving his job and working great hours. We are having supper together every night and he is still getting 8 or 9 hours of sleep every night!! Praise God!! The boys go outside to play in the snow almost every day now which they love and I love as it gives me time alone with E as we are working on listening and following directions. E is almost fully toilet trained. As much as she can be without doing it all alone and that will come as she gets older. We are working on attitude and obedience and it seems to be sinking in. Baby R is scooting around backwards and getting caught in all sorts of places. She has learned NO and I think she is ready for crawling in that regard. I think she will figure out forward this week as she is on her hands and knees a lot and is really trying to GO GO GO!! But gets very upset that she can only seem to go backwards. L is talking up a storm and I've actually had to tell him to be quiet and eat at meal times which is usually reserved for J. L is also singing which is neat to hear and loves to draw on the chalk board in the living room. He draws very well for his age even if his people are heads with arms and legs (normal for a 3 year old). J is missing the active outdoors life we've had all summer and is finding it hard to be inside, so I'm sending him out weather permitting. I got to go to the library on Thursday and have been happily reading books in my spare time. I want to get yarn for L's big Afghan so I can work on that this winter as well. (I've made them all a baby afghan, Baby R's is the one in the picture, and now am working on twin sized afghans as they get bigger and have bigger beds.) Papa is designing a twin 4 bed bunk bed for the kids room, so we can have even more room in there for things other then beds, which we hope to get done this winter. Baby R needs a cross stitch wall hanging with her name and birthday and teddy bear ( I've made one for each of the kids) and today Millers lent us a cheese press!! Which I'm excited to try out. I rearranged the kids room a bit this week and now we have a bit more room then before. I need to go though the kids clothes and take out too smalls, add bigger stuff and pack up what ever is not needed or too small. What a job that is in such a small space. I'm not looking forward to it but I should just do it and get it over with. It won't be as bad as I'm imagining it to be. I hope. :) It's getting harder and harder to fit all our 'needed' stuff into our small living area (we keep out of season stuff in a shed out back as we simply do not have the room inside). I was recently told that this would make me so much more gratefully for our house when it is finished which I think will be true. All and all we are extremely blessed, loved, cozy, well fed and warm. God is good.