Hiking and 1 Month

One of the reasons I was MOST excited about moving to Maryland was the closeness of hiking. I've been DYING to go ever since we moved here, so this past weekend, we loaded everyone up (it only took an hour to get off!) and headed out to the Shenandoah Valley, which door to door was 2 hours.

We were about 2 weeks past peak leaf color, so next year we'll have to plan to go a bit earlier, but we still had a smashing time.

It was in the 40s so we all bundled up (thanks Mary Trombley for the one piece baby fleece outfit) but it was TOTALLY worth it!

We purchased a season pass, so we'll DEFINITELY be going again.

On the baby front, Benjamin is doing well. He's 5 weeks old and I just started using some of our cloth diapers. We still use mostly disposables, but this one in particular is super cute. :> Picture taking has slowed down quite a bit, so I don't have a really good "1 Month" picture...I'll have to work on that.

On the Caleb front, he's doing SO much better. Sleeping seems to be better under control which means he's less fussy and eating better. Here are some fun videos:

On the Jonathan front, overall he's doing great! Schooling has REALLY slowed down quite a bit. We mostly read books and focus on a character trait, but last week was the letter 'N' and he got really into making his bird nest:


I've been focusing more on the season of Thanksgiving rather than the letter of the week, and I was so excited about this project.


Can you guess what it is?
It's a "Thankfulness Wreath"! Every night at dinner (or lunch or breakfast or whenever), we all say what we're thankful for then write it down. The idea is to add to it and add to it until it's big and round and full. It fits in perfectly with my personal quest of penning 1,000 things for which I'm thankful.

“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

I'll share with you a few Thanks out of my journal:
51. Hiking in Shenandoah Valley
54. Michael's car getting fixed! (after 2 months of being a 1 car family we now have 2)
57. Hosting some new friends for dinner
62. Making homemade applesauce with Jonathan
...during...
63. Caleb's 3 hour nap!

What are you thankful for today?