The Dirty Dozen

Oh, this crew.

I am so thankful for The Cousins. 

With clusters of boys and girls, there's always someone fun to play with and they all get along so well.

Here's to family!

The Pie Feast

Thanksgiving and pies just go hand-in-hand so why not host a celebration dedicated to this humble food?

 Years ago we attended a weekly co-op that held a Pie Feast the week before Thanksgiving.  It was simple:  bring your own lunch and a pie to share.

It was always fun to participate, and it's one of those things we've missed.  So after reading a reference to another Pie Feast last week, I decided it was time to host our own.

A simple message out to our church small group, a trip to the grocery store, and the baking began: savory (tomato pie featuring the last of our vine-ripened crop and a cottage pie) and sweet (apple, coconut cream, and chocolate whoopie pies).  Others brought chicken pot pie, pumpkin, pie and sweet potato pie.

And it was a roaring success!  Our little house was a full-to-bursting with some of our favorite people, feasting on good food and catching up on life.  Yet another time of gratitude in this Thanksgiving season!

The Rhythm of Our Days: Fall Edition

It's finally starting to feel more like fall and a few leaves are starting to turn.

We had fallen into a pleasant school routine before heading off to the beach, but it wasn't too hard to pick up where we left off.

The days still start with morning coffee on the back porch but for the last week it has also required a blanket or warm quilt.  With a cup of coffee in my system, I can face making breakfast.

Dish loading, teeth brushing, and bed making done, we all head out for a brief walk in the neighborhood.  It feels a little cumbersome at time to herd six kids (many on wheels of various sizes) down the street while carrying on multiple conversations and watching out for vehicular traffic; still, it is one of my favorite times of the day.

And of course there is the mandatory stop to visit Katherine's favorite puppy.

Once home, we launch into learning.  Andrew pretty much handles his work on his own, but the others require my help on everything.

Reading is the top priority, but it also means that I'm stuck to the couch for a hour or more listening to children sound out stories.  And two of them are doing the same work which means I get to hear the same story twice in a row.  I get a little antsy to say the least.

That is until I had a breakthrough.  I discovered that I could easily do handwork like smocking and quilting while glancing sideways at the book being read.  Multitasking at it's finest!

Mid-morning the kids are ready for a snack so we gather together for our common work (Bible, memory work, history, and a read-aloud).  When we're done, I do math with the boys and Andrew finishes up his work.  The girls are always in and out.

Lunches al fresco are such a blessing and once the boys realized they had less cleanup, the more they insisted on eating outside.  Often I will read a fun book to them ( Man of the Family by Ralph Moody is our current selection).

The boys have a mandatory 30 minute reading session while I read to the girls.  Katherine still naps, and Josie and the boys are free to disappear downstairs to play with LEGOS or go outside (I don't really care as long as I'm not disturbed).

Science and Snacks happens a couple of times a week, but otherwise the afternoons are free for them to entertain themselves, preferably outdoors.

 We've been so blessed with great neighbors, and the girls often head across the street to play or vice versa.

Dinner & cleanup.  A bit of play and then bedtime stories.  And it's time to call it a wrap of a day well spent.

The Baker's Dozen

One of the highlights of our recent trip was meeting the newest grandchild of the family.

My brother and sister-in-law welcomed a sweet little girl - Nevaeh Marie - in April.

We got the privilege of babysitting one afternoon and took the chance to play dress-up and take pictures.

All the little girls loved being in on the action, too.

Who can be uncheered with such a sweet face?

Road Trip to Virginia: 2016

Wow!  We just returned from a week with my parents and my sister and her crew.

Planning ahead for the week, I imagined some quiet afternoons and thus brought along three or four projects which needed some planning and thinking.  HA!

One hour! 

One hour was all I got.  Even it was interrupted numerous times and my retreat out-of-doors was curtailed by loud and non-rhythmic hammering next door.  At least I had the sense to recognize there wouldn't be time to sew.

I'm not complaining, though.  The whole point of the trip was to transport the six oldest back in time to the days of the pioneers.

And while they practiced archery and tomahawk throwing, cooking over a fire, black-smithing and such, we wrangled the rest of the crew.  My childhood memories of Virginia did not included extreme heat and humidity, but there it was. 

 

Jonathan was king of the mountain, the lone boy in a sea of pink.

 

Evenings were wild and wooly with cousins aplenty.

 

But Andy Griffith served us up a little bit of quiet.

 

And at the end of the week we all joined in on the pioneer fun.

A week of fun memories for sure!

"Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away!"

"Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines.  Though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food...Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation."  Habbakuk 3:17-18

This verse keeps coming to mind as I walk through our yard, surveying the new garden and loaded blueberry bushes. 

 Our area has been experiencing severe drought conditions.

With record highs (think three weeks of highs in the upper 90s) and no rain, it's a bit dry, and the plants are suffering.

So you can imagine our excitement when the raindrops began to fall!

The kids argued over the few raincoats we have and headed outside to enjoy themselves.

And while it will take more than one shower to fix a drought, we are thankful for the summer rain.