Autumn Oak Homestead

Rhinebeck 2011!

After three years of wanting to go to this place, I finally made it to Rhinebeck!...If you do not know what that is, it is the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY...We left home at 7:30 am and after what seemed like forever (it took us two hours just to drive the last couple of miles into the fairgrounds due to traffic) we finally arrived at this knitter's and spinner's paradise!...There was so much yarn and wool and natural fabrics of all kinds, I had a hard time picking out what to buy...We are on a strict budget now, so I couldn't buy any and everything, I had to look for what I really wanted, what I will really use...I came home with a modest, but beautiful bounty...

The boys got to see and pet many exotic animals like a hegdehog and a kangaroo, so they were happy...Sorry to say that the sheer amount of yarn and fiber did not excite them :-)...They were excited by the specialty hot chocolate that came in so many great flavors though...

Can you see the beautifully carved pumpkins in the background?...I got a close up of a few...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't wait to get started on my new knitting projects...I am still an inexperienced knitter so I cannot make everything I dream of making, but I am happy with the little I can make and know that I will learn more as time and many hours of practicing goes by...

Until next time...

Where We Started

I am finally starting to feel like we are pretty much back where we started...Noali came home from the hospital Sunday evening, and we had an entire week to just be around one another...Noali is feeling much better and is back to his old self...We didn't school this week, decided it was too much after being apart for what seemed like so long...I also had so much to catch up on at home...I am planning to start up again on Monday, so I am really back where I started, planning out week three...I can't believe it is already October and I am only on week three of school...I figure there are fifty two weeks in a year and we only have thirty six weeks of work to do, so we have time to get it done...

I am happy to have spent the week at home, with all of my boys...I wish I had gotten more housework done though...

 

In Gratitude

I am sending this post from beside the hospital bed of my little Noali...We took him to the ER last Thursday because he wasn't breathing well...I thought the ER would help him and then we would be sent home, but it didn't work out that way...He was transferred to a children's hospital about 45mins away from our home last Friday morning and spent a week and a day in intensive care on a bipap breathing machine because he couldn't take in enough oxygen on his own and he had pneumonia on top of it...I am so grateful that he is now breathing with a little help from an oxygen tube and we were just transferred out of ICU to a regular pediatric room...He is due to come off oxygen totally tomorrow, and we may be home in a couple of days...

This has been some week, but I am very grateful...Grateful that we are in a wonderful hospital that has taken such good care of not only Noali, but Germain and me as well...Grateful for family and friends that have sacrificed time, energy, and money to come visit us, take care of Keanu and Mekai, bring us clothes and food,  and bring stuff for Noali...Grateful that the food here is not bad at all...Grateful that there is a TV with a DVD and VCR player, bathroom with a shower, extra bed for Germain and me and small refrigerator right here in our room...Grateful for Wifi internet access in our room...Grateful we have pretty good health insurance...But most of all, I am grateful that Noali is getting better and is smiling, laughing and talking again...

We still don't have all of the answers as far as what went wrong with Noali, but the doctors are pretty sure he has asthma and is allergic to dust...Even when we do go home, we will have to come back for follow up visits, but I am grateful that we are not too far to drive here and it is close to Germain's job...

 My little Noali...

Sending this post with much gratitude and love...