Piano Recital

The girls played in their piano recital Saturday.  No video - just photos.  They did great though!

Wordless Wednesday- with Words :)

Ornaments or Toys...

 A little of both (note the Barbie on right is missing an arm-lost in past years.)  I don't mind a little touching as long as we are careful as we are capable.

The girls love these which started out as MY Barbie ornaments...

The boys love the Nutcracker collection... the purple one is a Kansas State nutcracker...

Christmas Tree Cookies

We had our first baking night last Sunday.  We made Snow-Capped Trees.  The girls enjoyed helping me shape/bake the cookies and all the kids had fun decorating the trees at the end.

Kid Torture...I mean Photo Shoot with Mom

Here are some of the shots that aren't making the card this year (I do like how this photo shows how tall everyone is getting though.)

Here are a few shots of the kids individually that I like but not putting on the card this year either...

(too bad Faith is about to bolt toward the water and the ducks in this one - see the forced smile...aahh well.)

Christmas cards ordered.  Expect late December arrival....gives me the week to work on the letter/note.

Our Bus Stop Cat

Brian isn't a fan of us getting a cat.  The kids love them.  Lucky for them, we have a bus stop cat.  She meets us there most mornings and gets all kind of love from the kids.  Lately, she has found our house.  The kids have enjoyed petting her each morning when they wake up.  She does have a collar, so she is not a stray but must just really enjoy lovin.

Thanksgiving Day Fun

After we ate turkey, we of course went outside to begin to work it off.  The boys played catch, and the girls raked some leaves, and all the kids jumped in.  When I told Ben he needed to eat some more turkey, he went looking for another one of these...

Almost Turkey day

Back when Chelsea was a new horse...

Flashback Friday

Here we are at the end of November 2005.  Look how little the twins were!

Love This!

My friends over at Moms Sharpening Moms had a post today about a music group called Go Fish.  I had never heard of them.  MSM has a giveaway going on if you leave a comment on their blog for two CD's.  They have links to a few of their songs.  They both made me smile.  I love it when songs can do that. 

Music is very powerful stuff.  I am always looking for something encouraging to listen to in the car.  These would be both encouraging and fun.  (Sometimes I think I may not be enough fun- but that's probably another post!  :) ).  If I don't win these cd's, I will probably be picking up some on amazon soon. Thanks ladies for a great post.

Sweet words

Each night as we tuck in the kids we say a few prayers. Tonight Ben said, "No I will say it myself."

My heart melts...it is good. (He misses a few words but does pretty well.) So sweet.

Note: I made the video in the dark so it is just sound only.

Play time

Faith and Ben were out back playing this weekend. Ben was moving pine straw out from under the swing set with his Tonka Truck and Faith took a moment to pose for me.

Flashback Friday

November 2007

Kids say the funniest things...

This morning in the car, Isaac asked how do you say goodbye in Spanish? That prompted each child to ask how do you say hello, one, friend, etc. and other easy words. Brian, dutifully supplied the answers to each of them.

Ben then, not to be left out, chimes in, "Dad how do you say trapezoid in Spanish?"

Me -now laughing. Brian, "Sorry, Ben, I don't know how to say that?"

Any takers?

Pumpkin Patch

Just an afternoon on the farm.... The kids enjoyed picking pumpkins, playing at the playground, sampling cider, and going on a hayride yesterday.

Lots of fun.

Birthdays

Hannah was almost born on Brian's birthday but waited just six and a half hours to have her own day - right after her dad's.

This year we celebrated Hannah's tenth first and Brian's a little late due to his travel schedule. The marble slab cake was yummy and worth the wait though!

Watch a little Poc@hontas...

So the kids watched a little of Pocahontas this weekend... and here is what you get...

The girls were the Indians and the boys the white man...

Luckily the "arrows" only fly about a foot and are just sticks! Yes those are homemade bows. Don't let Ben's cute innocence in the first picture fool you... he is holding a pine cone to throw at the girls as they don't have bows and arrows. That's about when I stepped in... I have to admit, I was curious to see how their game would end.

Scrapbooking

Ben enjoyed water color painting this morning. He concentrated so hard and created a masterpiece!