November

 Sometimes the girls are playing nicely when I check on them in the morning.

 Nathan, with Melanie and Oma's help, worked on a vest. It awaits pockets here.

 Our cute company dressed in leftover clothes, enjoying the snow with us!

 Trucks with wheels are the best for boys! (even when stuck in a borrowed girl's jacket)

 Evelyn proudly showing off the lion she drew by herself, based on the book's instructions.

 Jennifer followed some craft book instructions to make flowers out of plastic cutlery, testing out her new paints bought with her own money!

 What a lovely snowfall. Stickey and beautiful!

 Whatever the weather, the chickens need water and food...that's Matthew taking care of business.

 Nathan and Melanie are pleased to try out the deep snow on the hills.

 Zoom!

 The snowplow came, so there was a pile by the driveway to play on!

 And a run along the side of the driveway. The kids were disappointed that there wasn't a pile up on the right side. So they piled their own snow over.

 Evelyn was flinging her carpet back and forth while she walked up the driveway.

 Zoom!

 Evelyn and her doll with matching crowns.

 A jump was made, adding to the sliding fun! You can see the mashed up ground at the bottom--the idea was to land on your feet, not on your knees to keep going further.

 Jennifer

 Nice to have your own horse!

 Daniel takes his chore of baking weekly very seriously.

Matthew is getting handier in the workshop. Here he is making a special spot for his socks to go in so he isn't so frustrated when looking for a pair.

October and November

 Working hard -- Melanie prefers to do the work that's difficult with company around. If they help or do it for her, that's even better!

 Clucky-ducky still in solitary confinement. Her swollen crop shrunk, but she developed bad breath, a sign that she had stuff growing in her crop that shouldn't be there. And she'd get minor swellings that still needed minor massage treatment. But one night when checked on her I couldn't find her anywhere. After a thorough search I found her roosting behind Philip's car...time to move back to the coop!!

 Evelyn and Jennifer were given coloring pages from Matthew (I think). They really enjoyed being gifted the second hand present. Lots of coloring hours were gotten out of that!

 Jennifer is moving along with her work...but is being taught by her siblings that math is work, not fun.

 Evelyn likes to play by herself outside, and really can have a good time on her own. It's fun to watch!

 We had an early snowfall, which was enough to slide on. Lots of fun, for a very brief time.

 Melanie got sewing classes for the fall until mid-December, and she certainly has been sewing a lot of things since she started going!

 Our Lego is nicely sorted, but awaiting the furniture to keep it off the floor. For now, it is still usable, but awkward.

 Thought our coop was done? We did too, but then we wanted bird netting over the top (so we could relax and watch the hawks circling overhead, instead of panicking (is that a turkey vulture or a hawk!?!?)

 And the chickens got pretty good at sneaking under the netting into the run that was closed and recuperating, so Nathan made sure that they could only stay in their allotted run.

 Daniel and Jennifer played in a marching band.

 And I set up a hopeful rink (beyond the pergola) where we hoped against reality, that the ground might be flat enough for an easy shallow rink.

And one day coming home from dropping off Matthew for piano I found to my surprise an unexpected sign. We're moving? Is the bank foreclosing on us without giving us warning? What is going on???

I called the realtor and complained (after all Nathan and Melanie were babysitting at the time and were a bit nervous about this happening while I was out) and we got a box of chocolates and an apology out of the deal. :)

stuff

 I'm not sure I always get Daniel's top quality work. I think he could probably write better with his hand.

 Evelyn doesn't always put her heart into it either...taking tips from her brother perhaps?

 We had a sick chicken, who we brought to the garage for warmer room and closer observation. Also for massages for her crop and manicures. Well, maybe not manicures...but she did get massages up to hourly. All for a long piece of dead grass, curled up and indigestible blocking her crop emptying. Fortunately she healed...but very slowly.

 We had fun with our pumpkins...this year we saved the seeds too, and tried roasting them. Pretty yummy! (when fresh)

 We had a opossum come peak in on us one night. Looked cozy and warm inside, I'm sure!

 Evelyn had a sad story about the upset person, which we've both long forgotten.

 Matthew gave free geography lessons, which weren't paid much attention to.

 The fort is lookin' just fine.

 And we put candles in our pumpkins before they got moldy inside.

 Rah!

Melanie's Birthday

 So I blinked and Melanie turned 12!! We had 3 friends from one family plus another friend show up for her party. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't get many pictures of the birthday girl WITH ambiguous photos of her friends to put online, so you'll have to imagine her looking happy with friends.

 Nathan and Matthew did well entertaining our guests. They spent the night, so it was nice that they had fun and felt at home.

 We played a rousing game of kick the can. Then, even though it was chilly, we had a wiener roast.

 Gifts came later, homemade cards

 homemade signs...

a young lady already!

Early October

 Melanie decided the house needed brightening up, so she used some items from the garden here and there.

 The fort got a railing put up...the last bit yet will be a roof (steep walls, but made of tarp, to keep the rain and snow off the roof).

 Melanie set up a school game that involved collecting specimens and taking turns viewing them. Waiting a turn in line...good practice! (Some of these guys obviously need practice. :p )

 I constantly continue to try teach the concept that chairs are for sitting in. I'm not winning, yet.

 Our cute company (weekly if we are lucky) is entertained well when he comes over.

Fall

 We were pleased to get a young friend over occasionally, and Jennifer and Evelyn got a chance to spoil this cute company. The rest of us did too, of course!

 Daniel has been practicing his future profession as cop.

 Far in the hot tub sand box Melanie gets a chance to practice babysitting.

 Other than the tub of water, this freezer is full of garden produce. Considering my loosing battle with powdery mildew, we still managed ok.

 We went for a very rare walk. I think it must have been a holiday.

 While the shorter legs biked.

And I was so impressed with how well my marigolds were doing in October still! (I didn't bother taking a picture of the ones in my flower pots since mid September because they didn't do quite so well.)