Projects and Grandparents

We were so fortunate to have Cliff and Diane Good (Jon's parents) come for a visit this last week. We had a great time with them. Some of the things we did were: play games, go to Essex Park and we had a nice walk, lots of talking, sew twirly skirts, can spaghetti sauce, hamburger and chicken (Diane did most of this), Diane and Cliff also worked with Samuel and Joseph on their scouting, and all of the normal everyday stuff like cooking, dishes, laundry and homework with the kids.
I really appreciate all of the things they did for us while they were here! It was really hard to see them go. It had been three years since we had seem them last. We will have to try to see them sooner than that if we can the next time.
Samuel started sixth grade this year and he is having a hard time dealing with the changes (he is in middle school now). The teachers have a lot higher expectations and Samuel has missed 5 days of school already (because his allergies have been so bad). He had to do a lot of makeup work to catch up. He is now pretty much caught up on that work. He also was really struggling with orchestra. He was learning how to play the violin. His teachers teaching methods were to much for him to deal with and the violin was really hard for him. With all he was dealing with already we decided to let him change out of orchestra. So hopefully now things will calm down soon. All of this with Samuel has been difficult for me to because it brings back lots of memories from when I was his age and also because we are still learning how things work at his school. They expect you and your kids to know everything. Anyways enough about that.
Joseph and Elizabeth seem to be doing well in school so far this school year. Elizabeth did have some excitement the week before last. She fell off her bike and scraped her toe bad enough that she had to have stitches. She had 5 stitches. She is doing much better and is now running around as usual.
Grace is doing great staying home with me. She does really well with playing by herself and she also loves to help me with whatever I am working on. Sometimes she has a difficult time leaving William alone but for the most part she does great. William is busy exploring anything he can get his hands on. He is a great little boy and I can hardly believe he is already a year old.
Jon is trying to keep his rheumatoid arthritis under control so that he can support our family. It is hard for me to watch him being in pain all of the time. He can't run anymore because he is in to much pain, which is something that he loves to do. Hopefully eventually his arthritis will get better. Even with the way he feels he still walks the  2 to 3 miles to and from work (so he walks about 4 to 6 miles each day that he works).
The week before last week I worked hard to get my house cleaner and it has been nice to have a cleaner house. I have also been to teach the young women from church how to make twirly skirts. I have really enjoyed that. I am working at getting my life more balanced but it takes some time. If any of you have any ideas for me on how to deal with stress please send them to me!

I had fun making these simple dress-up wedding veils for the girls.

 Joseph had to try one on :)

 I made a couple more car caddy's.

I also made twirly skirts with Diane while she was here. I just didn't take pictures of them yet.