You Don't See That Every Day

Back in the nicer days of fall (before the rain!), I took a bike ride with some of my girls, my sisters, niece, and brother-in-law. Since I was hauling an extra 30+ pounds on my bicycle (Little K is at leas t 35 lbs) I was in the back most of the time. So I gave the 4 yr old the camera, with instructions on how not to drop it. Seems like she understood that one fine. After the ride I checked out her photography skills. My girl was pretty good at taking selfies:

As I am slowly going through everything in the house and slowly throwing things out, of giving things away, that we don't need, I have been struck by an idea to redo the wall art also. (Some of it, not all of it, don't worry husband!) I came across this family tree one day while browsing pinterest and was really struck by it. So later next week a friend is coming by to help draw it on the wall. When I first mentioned it to my husband he had a chuckle, thinking I was going to put the entire family tree on the wall. He figured it would take over the ceiling and move into the next room. I suppose if I did do all my siblings and cousins and aunts and uncles, then yes, it would engulf the house. I've got a couple of photos ready to go up there; but I will probably be searching for some more of our ancestry. I'm not sure how far back I will go either. I guess it kind of depends on what photos I can come up with. So if any of my family members have some grandparent...

We are now 9 weeks through the school year; Math is a not a favorite subject this year for more than one kid; but we're working through it with each of them. The girls at home have started piano lessons this month. So far the older one is progressing pretty rapidly in my opinion, but then I am still stuck in the beginning modes of piano.M and M both love playing, so I expect to be hearing masterpieces from them in no time. (ha!) Every year I try and take a pumpkin photo with each of the kids. I've been doing this since the oldest was just a 10-month old. So far this year I've gotten these 3 out of the 5. Those older two kids - being gone at school so much makes it really difficult to take their picture! I sure love this time of year for photos - the crisp air, the afternoon lighting, the fall colors!   This week really feels like fall is here! Even though the local football season and cross country season is just about over, the nights are finally turning cold...

So among all the birthdays we have in April, we now have another anniversary to celebrate My nephew married a very sweet girl on Saturday, and we went to the wedding. The church was way out in the country, so it was a beautiful drive (once we got out of the city!) on a beautiful day. We got to see relatives we haven't seen in awhile, and eat some terrific food, and cake. Oh my! the Cake! This girl knows cake! Not just one wedding cake - oh, there were choices! And so yummy. But really this isn't just about the cake.  The wedding was beautiful, not just because it was family, but I liked the music - how could you not like Princess Bride?! And the flowers were gorgeous, and the bride was stunning. And the groom was awesome (how many other overused terrific adjectives can I use?!) We also had a lot of fun with the twist on the popular 'photo booth' that many wedding receptions use these days. They had a board with different relatives wedding photos on them. Th...

When my girls get a hold of my camera I find numerous, odd photos. But to spare you, I only included a couple of them. here's one of a girl jumping in the air. As my oldest girl explained,   it was hard to get just the right shot. Yeah, I kind of figured that out when I saw all the pictures on the camera. These girls make me laugh. Tonight our two older daughters participated in the regional Awana Bible Quiz here at our church. It was pretty cool to watch, and hear, them answer so many questions about the Bible. They have studied hard, and memorized a ton of Scripture. They also participated last year, but this year.... this year, the oldest girl got 2nd place! Wahoo! And she is going to the State "playoffs" next weekend! Thankfully it is being held locally - at our church! - so I can juggle the basketball games and the quizzing day.   And I came across this scene at Little K's dollhouse earlier in the week: hmm... I wonder if this is what she sees a...

My girls have been playing with the camera. Here's what one of them came up with, her own movie of favorites. We don't have a title for it yet. Any suggestions?

There are elves in our house! We got many of the Christmas decorations out this week, and even put some up around the house. The Nativity scenes are set out in various places. I'm up to 7 of them now. My girls absconded with the tree skirt shortly after it was brought out. The theme for Awanas last Wednesday was wacky tacky, and so my younger girl wore the tree skirt as as ... well, as a skirt. It was very cute actually, not really tacky, but a little wacky. So it has been in use the rest of the week. Two of the girls started basketball practice this week also. I am so thankful, beyond words thankful, that they both practice on the same day, at the same time, at the same place. Amen! Little sister wanted to come along with me to practice. She actually had a fun time playing on the bleachers. Here she is looking out to the courts from one of the walkways. And I have been attempting to come up with our family Christmas letter this week. I went through the photos of...

We've had quite a week smashed into 3 days. Along with a new hand for myself.  Every mom needs an extra hand right? Mine just happens to be made out of carrot.  'Handy' when the kids get hungry. We , er, G. finished painting the hallway and ceilings. The kids helped. Although they really wanted to slide down instead. In between painting, and chores, and school, my oldest daughter got her crafty side going. She has been begging for sewing lessons for quite awhile now. I finally unearthed my machine, and had it sitting in her bedroom. On her own, she grabbed it, some thread, some material, and sat down to create. She made a skirt, without a pattern, and a sort-of shirt. I had to show her a few tricks initially; and there were a few mishaps with threading and bobbins and such,  but I think she actually learned something while having fun sewing. Here is how the hall and upstairs looked when I left the house Wednesday morning. Same as it had the day before,...

We are doing some non-traditional school this week in our non-traditional school. We're taking a break from the books, the math, history and science. Sort of.  The changing of the clocks around here can really mess us some little ones. And me. Our tummies are hungry at the "wrong' time; we're sleepy, or not, at the "wrong"time. So since we've been hitting the books pretty hard for 9 weeks, I thought it was time to take a little breather. Not stop 'schooling' completely - although the girls think we have. They even expressed amazement when I said there was nothing on their schedule. I wrote out some suggestions on what I want us all to do this week - things like sewing lessons, cooking lessons, art, photography; things that we don't normally do in a school week. Today's 'lesson' was in photography. I had each girl look around and take a snapshot of something that symbolized each family member for them. After uploading to th...

Pictures! there should have been pictures on that last blog post!! The content would have made much more sense if there were pictures! Sigh. I don't know what the problem was/is. Maybe I will try and update the post tonight. Maybe.

This morning started really early. After a late night! Our 6 year old had her race today - The city we live in holds an annual kids race at a central college track. Kids from all over the city come to run. It's more of a 'run' than a race. Every kid gets a medal and certificate. And my kids look forward to it every year. We decided this year to only enter one child in the run. The oldest, Boy, is running track at school. The next, S-girl, had a broken shoulder and isn't into running; our other Miss M. has been running with me to do a 5k (next week!) And so we signed up the Princess M for this run. She had her clothes out and ready last night - actually I think she even slept in them. And she was up wayyyyy too early! 4.5 hours before her race. The weather this year was perfect - not sunny hot, not rainy or cold.  snuggling with Dad - a favorite pastime We had a pretty good seat and could see her taking off. When she started out, G counted her at about 87t...