The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

Country Bumpkin

Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it ~anonymous

Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Crazy Drivers!

The kids always love driving “the gator” at g’ma kate’s.  This trip was no exception.  The boys just loved off-roadin around the yard.  A source of constant laughter.

Goin to Grandma’s House

We’re getting ready to take a trip to grandma's house this weekend. Today is Monday. We leave on Friday. Despite the fact that the kids all know those two key pieces of information - when they saw Daddy come home today – they all started hurriedly packing, running and yelling like you would not believe! All the kids had their pillow, blanket and several books in hand and ready to go out the door. Apparently, none were planning to change clothes at grandma’s but they’ve all come to know that Grandma’s house is more than one good book away from ours. I think they really all lost their minds at once for a little bit there with the excitement of the upcoming trip. Kenzy yells to me "Mom, we need a bag for some toys for the trip up here right away!"  Seriously, they were all OUT OF THEIR MINDS!

All the anticipation is not without reason, there ARE going to be 7 adults and 9 children (ours being the oldest) at Grandma’s this weekend, it’s bound to be fun. We’re looking forward to a bit of rest and relaxation with all the extra adults around – those numbers are 4 adults in excess of what we’re used to operating under. Meanwhile, back in the family room- I asked Mikah if he was planning to sleep in the van for the next 4 nights until we were ready to leave and he threw down his things in a huff and said in the most angry voice he could muster “Mom, you mean we shouldn’t get packed up right now?” Really, I’m all for planning ahead, but even I would not pack my pillow in the car more than a day in advance! Then Kalister came streakin through, arms still loaded with the necessities - "I wanna take the dinosaur book, my cars and my blocks, can you get those for me?"  Seriously?! Who's crazy kids are these!?  "Where's your Dad?"

Montessori School!

The materials have arrived and our curriculum is here, let the learning begin!
We've decided to do Montessori Preschool at home with the boys and we're starting the year off strong.  The girls were helping me set up our school room and were really enjoying some of the materials - they are so fun to use, I have to agree!  I'll post some pictures of the boys and their work soon - they've been busy, busy, busy!

Ordering numbers to 100 and looking at number patterns.

Mikaela loving the geography puzzle.

Mikenzy and the 1000 bead chain - she counted them all to make sure they were all there - not even kidding!

Mikaela was just immersed in her work with these color tiles for a couple days, she was unstoppable!  They designs are pretty but are actually quite challenging to make, especially the ones that go vertical.  She did some amazing work through all that dedication.

First Day of School for the Girls

The girls are pretty excited to start at their new school - that very first day is always one of nerves.  It all turned out good, they've made some friends and both just love their teachers.

Butterfly Project

Some good friends gave us a butterfly kit - a jar, some cheese cloth and some rubber bands so we decided to start searching the milk weed near our house for monarch caterpillars - wouldn't you know we found some!  The girls found 3 actually - they were so excited.  So we fed them every day and they made their amazing cocoons.  Then 2 of the 3 came out of their cocoons and we set them free - they were so week at first but gained strength and took flight - amazing and beautiful!

This is the one that didn't make it - we actually got to see him make his cocoon - it was very cool - Kaela got it on video.