October Update Letter

Here’s the bulk of the letter I used to update the grandparents this month:

Sarah Ruth has grown taller, and her feet easily reach the floor when she’s in her walker now. We even had to move it up a notch! She’s also working hard at trying to crawl. She has started babbling “Mamamamama” but it seems to translate to “I want attention! Pick me up!” and is usually aimed at her daddy instead of me!

We have embarked on a new healthy eating regimen. We are following the guidelines of Dr. John McDougall (mostly) – which means no sugar, no refined flour, low fat. It’s starch-based and high fiber. Unlike a lot of the “diets named after people” and famous diets, the creators of this one LOOK very healthy in their photos, and their information makes a lot of sense. They approach issues by addressing the *root* of the problem instead of the symptoms.

We were able to take a couple field trips in September.

First, we went to the Sci-Quest science museum in Huntsville. It’s a hands-on museum where the children got to touch and handle (and try out) things that helped learn some scientific concepts. We were able to get a membership, so we plan to go again when it is less crowded (we went on a special day so there were a lot of people there).

Then we went again to the Tennessee Aquarium. (We had already been in August with the church. We purchased a family membership at that time so we can go back without additional cost for a year.) We only went through the River Journeys building this time (that’s the one with the butterflies, penguins, and jellyfish). We plan to go again to go back through the Ocean Journeys building (seahorses, alligators, etc) later in the year. It’s nice to be able to take our time and enjoy the exhibits. I was also able to print off some “bonus material” from the internet so that we could enhance the learning experience.

Starting about 4 years ago, I decided to make each of the children a quilt for their 13th birthdays. They have so far all been denim pieced tops (someone just before then had given me a huge bag of old jeans) and tied instead of actually quilted because of the thickness of the jean material. Timmy’s top is done, but I haven’t even started putting together the front and back, and I only have 24 days left in which to finish! He chose a neat striped material for the back. I’ll post pictures when I get it done. 🙂

John Luke is already excited about HIS birthday, and he still has over a month to go! He’s a sweet little man. He loves people to read to him, and he likes to scribble (he doesn’t really like “staying in the lines” unless he *has* to). He likes color. He also likes to cut with scissors, so I will sometimes print something from the internet for him to cut. He also has a couple learning games that he plays online (learning phonics and sight-reading).

Rachel has been doing a lot of crocheting, still! Her horse (I sent the picture in the last letter) won FIRST PLACE (and $5!) in the county fair! 😀 We were thrilled! She has since made a fun lap-blanket and a hippo, and is starting to try a little dress for Sarah Ruth.

Bobby is learning Japanese on his own and also working to learn computer programming. He’s talking about going to college in a couple years for a computer science degree.

Nathaniel is still distractible and artistic. He’s doing pretty well with his school this year, though, so I think he’s learning to focus a little bit better. Perhaps the diet change is helping him, also.

Robby has been keeping busy, which is good! We had one customer who “tipped” him with vegetables from their garden, which was wonderful! There were tomatoes, banana peppers, green bell peppers, okra and jalapenos. The only thing I wasn’t too sure about was the okra, for which I haven’t really developed a liking.

God bless you and keep you.