Merry Belated Christmas!

This will have to act as our Christmas card this year! Sorry we didn't get one out.

Merry Christmas to everyone! We've had a nice Christmas break. We enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at church and walking through the Streets of Bethlehem there. Christmas day was spent with the kids trying out all kinds of new toys and gadgets, and Bill and I relaxing. We had a great visit with Bill's family the day after Christmas----never enough time to catch up with everyone!

We are having another snowstorm today---up to 5 inches. The older three are outside alternating between playing in the snow and playing in their new clubhouse, their Christmas gift from their grandparents. Bill cleaned up the granary and put lights all around inside, hung a rope ladder up to the loft, hung a hammock, put up a desk and some chairs, a boombox, a slide for the little guys, and Ellie's swing. We have a zipline to put up too---debating whether to do it in the barn or outside. We also have a badminton set to put up. Once the weather is a little warmer, we'll put together an art studio in the loft. Should be lots of fun!

The older guys have watched Star Wars in their clubhouse (with their snow gear on---no heat!). Yesterday they were playing, and Joe decided to come in. He unknowingly locked Jenny and Jack in. Luckily, Jenny found a screwdriver and was able to get out. We don't have any "facilities" out there, and they both were in need of a bathroom break. We might need to nickname Jenny McGyver.

I wanted to pass along some recent pictures. Here's one of Ellie showing off a cookie that the kids decorated at a friend's annual Christmas cookie decorating party. After Ellie was done with it, the frosting was missing.

The older guys having some fun in the snow.

"Oh, say can you see..................."

Actually, we were at the Children's Museum, and Nate was excited about something. Or maybe I had asked him to show me his tonsils.....can't remember.

And Ellie helping Bill with the dishes. Once she hears the water running, she runs and pushes her chair over to "help out". She can keep herself busy in the sink for up to 45 minutes. Notice how she is on her tiptoes! Funny thing is, she absolutely HATES taking a bath. Go figure.

We played a game at our mini-church's Christmas party in which each family had to dress up (with newspapers) as something related to Christmas. Here you see two of our three Wise Men.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We are so thankful for the many ways God has blessed us this year, and the ways He's shown His faithfulness. We are especially thankful for the birth of His Son at this time of year.

Be looking for Jenny's special guest post soon!

Winter is Here

This morning we had our first snow flurries that resulted in a white lawn. Jenny and Joe went outside to gather a couple of snowballs. Ellie thinks that snowballs taste really good! The first words out of Joe's mouth this morning when he came downstairs were "Are you freezing, Mom?" Welcome to winter again---we've been very spoiled this fall with warm weather.

Let's see what else is new. Jenny is working on cleaning out the horse stall to house her chickens. A friend of hers has chickens and hatched two for Jenny's birthday present. The "chickens-come-home" project will be worked on this weekend by Jenny and Bill.

Jack has a new interest, although I can't share what it is. He has been pouring himself into his new area of interest. He also has done some programming on the computer this week----amazes me!

Joe is working on some physical fitness exercises besides his door-climbing! He also is making his own dictionary. He has found some great words and illustrated their definitions. Do you know what skookum means? Look it up--a great word!

Nate is using more two and three word phrases. He isn't too fond of the gluten-free breads yet but does like the pancakes and waffles. We're working on finding recipes that we all like. Some of them I've even had to choke down. Nate prefers to spit them out rather than choke them down.

Ellie continues to bring smiles to our faces. Her latest fun activity is taking small pieces of toilet paper out of the bathroom and putting them in the toaster oven. Don't know what kind of goodie she is cooking up, but it does keep her busy! She is having lots of fun with her dollies---putting them in their crib, walking them in their stoller, and just carrying them around. Every once in awhile we need to give them all kisses too. Oh, the fun of a having an almost two year old girl!

I don't have any new pictures to post as our camera is in the shop, so I thought I'd post some recent fun ones.

Here's one of Joey doing his doorframe exercise:

One of Jack and Joe with a little too many bubbles:

A snowy day about two years ago:

Finally, a shot from a visit to the Milwaukee museum. This is in the kids area with a lot of butterfly info.

What we've been up to

The last couple weeks have been full of fall fun and changes! The kids have had lots of fun raking and jumping into lots of leaves! The older kids were jumping out of the trees into the big piles. They don't mind raking when they can have such fun with the leaves.

We had some pumpkin carving going on, although some of the pumpkins were "damaged" by Nate and Ellie---they found out that pumpkins just don't bounce like a basketball.

The older kids decided to dress up as Star Wars characters. Ellie was a lion although the kids said she was a Ewok, and Nate was a cowboy. We had a fun night!

After some additional testing, we've pulled gluten from Nate's diet and are waiting for results for the rest of the gang. I made my last batch of wheat bread and have tried making gluten-free bread. Let's just say I'm on the bottom of the learning curve! After my attempts, Bill had some new "bricks" for his repair work on the pig shed.

We've been gluten free for Nate for about ten days and are already seeing positive results with his speech which is extremely exciting for us!

Here are some additional pictures of our last couple of weeks:

Jenny reading---we've found Jenny reading in many different spots. She always seems to have a book in her hands.

Joey playing a little football. He is hoping the Bengals will have a winning season.

And finally, the leader of our clan taking a little "time-out". I don't think I could snooze leaning up against the kitchen cupboards, but a guy has to get a little snooze in where and when possible!

Nature is the living, visible garment of God. Goethe

The kids and I spent a couple of days at Grandma and Papa's farm. We all went on a number of walks down to the creek---Nate was a trooper! It's a long way for a three year old to walk, and he really put his energy to use! The older kids wanted to walk in "The Ravine" so Grandma, Nate, Ellie and I met them at the top. What wonderful memories we have of walks at the farm! Jenny was in The Ravine by herself and had two white-tailed deer run right in front of her path. She was thrilled!

Here we are down by the creek---Joey was the only one who accidentally stepped into the water.

The fresh air knocked Ellie out---she took naps both days, and I really got a workout going up the big hill.

We also had a lot of fun with the kids' cousins. Nate and Jack made a little fort under the table, and no one else was allowed. These two boys are going to have loads of fun as they get older!

Ellie was in heaven having Jessi read to her!

I'm so thankful that our kids love being outside and find such pleasure in God's creation.

Daniel Moon

Nate loves to wear hats. And don't even think about trying to take it off.

Fall is here!

It's hard to believe it when the temp today was 86, but fall is here! Bill got a couple of good pictures of some of the color, although the color isn't as vibrant as it has been in some years.

We had two viruses hit the house, including one that gave Ellie the hives and a huge lip. Just imagine our Sweet Thing with Mick Jagger lips----I wouldn't take a picture of her!

We're finishing up some read-alouds on Ancient Egypt and the kids have had a ball with a heiroglyphic book. We have heiroglyphic signs all over the house! We are really enjoying studying about ancient history!

Another thing of note this week---Nate has started singing a song from Sunday School. He walks around singing in Nate's own cute way "The B-I-B-L-E". We're thrilled to hear it!

Here are some pictures from the week----

The First Day of School

One of our family's traditions is our First Day of School. You might think, well, what does a homeschooling family do for the first day of school.

First off, the kids get up early, at least earlier than they are used to. The day starts off with a Treasure Hunt that allows them to get their brain cells, which have been napping all summer, up to speed for the year. They are forced to run all over to find clues and the final prize of their backpack/lunch box loaded with school supplies, treats, and little surprises. Last year was especially thrilling as we were studying the Eastern Hemisphere, and I picked up goodies that tied into the countries----chinese yo-yos, lots of unusual candy (some Japanese candy that has an edible wrapper) and snacks, and even some coins from the different countries. We have such fun the first day of school---thankfully we've never had a rainy day!

Here are some pictures from this year and the years past. Looking at the years past brings a lump to my throat---how quickly our kiddos are changing!

The boys are all excited about their finds. Jenny is checking out her stash with Nate assisting. Ellie was in the wagon---she would've been in the picture otherwise!

Do you notice the tired eyes?

Nate is trying to figure out if he should throw this log or keep it to bring into the house. If I remember correctly, we persuaded him to leave it outside.

Ellie coloring. Notice the page is still white but her lips are green. If we ever need a marker, Ellie can find one. She has made some awesome murals on the library floor. She is also good at face painting. Somedays she'll come find me and be covered with ink----I don't know how she finds the markers.

2006

This was the year we studied the Eastern Hemisphere. The kids wore their Pacific Island garb for the first day.

I'll have to ask Joey what country this headdress is from.

2005

2004

2003

This picture pulled on my heart---look at how young the kids look!

I had to include this picture of Joey. This was the day before school started 2003. Oh, the lazy days of summer! He actually slept for quite awhile on the deck.

Our day at Bay Beach

To close out the summer, we decided to take a trip to Bay Beach, a small amusement park. The older kids went on the rides with Bill, and we all spent some time at the Wildlife Sanctuary helping the geese prepare for winter (visitors can buy corn to feed the geese and the geese are not shy---from what we heard, most of them get enough food so that they don't migrate.)

Here is a shot of Bill and the older four before they started down the gunny sack slide.

Here is midway down---good thing the park is closed for the season. Nate won't be taking a trip down the Gunny Sack Express anytime soon.

When the ride finally comes to an end, Nate looks like lunch might be coming up, and Bill can't stop smiling!

Jenny and Joey tried out the swings. Their lunch stayed down. I sat and watched as Aunt Becky's Arnold's Park experience was still fresh in my memory and there weren't any open picnic tables close by.

Then on to feeding the geese and ducks.

Nate thinks that throwing handfuls of corn at geese is much more exciting than moving rapidly down a huge slide on a piece of burlap.

Ellie is wondering why these animals are getting so close to her stroller and why the rest of her family is throwing corn at her sandals.

All in all, we had a wonderful day!