Friday bullets, September 22, 17

I'm not sure how much I have for you from this week, but I'll give it try.

• Re-entry from our vacation really threw us off our stride this week. It took us a good two days to settle back down into our groove. It was a great vacation, so I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it was spending time in a place that we've been going to for years and coming home to a place that still feels very new. I don't know.
• I know everyone is saying it, but the weather is crazy. I do not enjoy low 90's in mid-September.
• Olive is still growing. I know I mention this every week, but my goodness, it is extraordinary. Want to see? First, here is Olive's puppy picture from the breeder, right before A. went to pick her up.

She's so tiny, she fits right in the person's hand. Here is the picture A. took two days ago, copying this pose.

I don't know about you, but I find this hilarious. I particularly like Olive's expression in the second one.

• J. is reading Anne of Green Gables (possibly one of my very favorite books ever) to the six younger people at bedtime. Anne has quickly become Y.'s favorite book character. She adores her. She will happily talk to me for a long, long time, extolling Anne's virtues. I love this more than a little bit.
• G., L., and Y. have decided that their new favorite game to play is to run a school for their stuffed animals, to teach them (the animals) to read and to arithmetic, and I think at least one of them has thrown some science in there, too. I love this, mainly because they are creating workbooks for their animals which includes all the work they have each been recently doing in their own schoolbooks. You can't force this kind of reinforcement on a child. Then tonight, L. had an easy reader out, and was reading it to her teddy bear. She did more reading tonight in one go, than I can usually get of her when asking her to read to me. 
• I discovered yesterday that poor H. has really been brooding all the past week about Grandpa and our good friend who recently died. She is still so very sad (and a little scared) about it all. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is at the root of the increased seizure activity we've been seeing over the same time period. I've known for a long time that extreme emotion triggers seizures in her. But, the silver lining is that she was able to tell me about her feelings and we were able to talk about them. That has not always been the case.
• P. keeps sharing horses that are for sale or need a home. Dang fencing. We do have someone coming out tomorrow to take a look at our property and help us to figure out what should go where.
• In my quest to figure out this fancy camera, and really learn how to use it, I bought a guide specifically for the brand of camera I have. And I suddenly remember why I avoid photography. I just cannot wrap my head around the terms and what they mean and what you do for them. F stops, exposure, noise... aaaahhhhh. Who can recommend a good book which really explains all these camera terms in a way that I can understand it? I don't know why I have such a hard time making sense of this stuff; I'm far from stupid. If I could just find the right book, it could make all the difference.
• The vaguely mustardy-tan color walls in my bedroom are making me less and less happy. The idea of painting at this point in time also does fill me with joy. I will continue to try to ignore them. I'll focus instead on the fact that they are intact, which admittedly, is a big step ahead for us in terms of bedroom walls.

And that's it for today. Enjoy your Friday.