Getting ready for winter

Recently we have gotten out and about Raleigh meeting up with some very wonderful homeschool families. The funny thing is, most families are transplants as well! It really makes for some great conversations. Last week, we went to Pullen Park and had a nice time. It is a great park with a carousel, paddle boats, and even a small train. Most things were closed due to the fact that they were preparing for their winter holiday. But we hung around on the playscapes and had fun. I still can’t believe that it is December and we are still able to go to the park!
Our latest focus has been the holidays. We are thinking about gifts and looking for creative ways to package and send things. This means we have been home a lot and that has been very good since Fiona has been quite content to stay here. Even the mention that we all might go somewhere has been throwing her into a tantrum.
Last Saturday, Athena baby sat and Jesse, Shillelagh and myself went out for a few hours. We even went to a restaurant to have lunch. It was very nice!



It really started to look like winter this weekend. The sky was sort of that boring and helpless gray color. It made me feel sort of sad. But then I saw our new neighbor started clearing the lot right next to our house. It was awesome to see them drive the excavator and bobcat, pushing over trees and carrying mounds of debris. The owner is a single mom with 2 kids. She was very friendly and had all of her family helping her out. Her son is 15 and was driving the bobcat quite a bit while she ran around taking pictures of him. They plan on being in by February. If we are still here, it will be nice to have some neighbors so close by. We have also seen more birds than usual. There is the cutest little Phoebe that sits on the edge of our pool and occasionally dives. It usually hangs around for a while in the mornings. There are a lot of Titmice eating the teeny tiny acorns of the oaks in our yard and flocks of Juncos scavenging the ground. Yesterday, we were delighted to see a small gathering of Blue birds in our front yard. We have a huge row of windows along the front of the house so everyone parked themselves in front to watch all of the birds flittering about. It made me feel like I was home.