Halloween

We had such great weather in October this year! perfect for a fun trip to the pumpkin patch.

But that never happened.

Every time I suggested it, the kids wanted to do something else. So I waited. Big mistake! Just when I thought I had the perfect day planned, the weather turn freezing cold. And both boys came down with a nasty cold. Just my luck ;)

So the only one who carved a pumpkin this year was Megan:

 My cousin always has a party/bonfire in October. It's a huge event with people coming and going all evening long. She has a pumpkin carving station on her back porch so we stopped at Kroger on the way and grabbed one for Megan. She was the only one of our gang interested in carving at the party. The other kids wanted to wait (ugh!). You can tell the weather was still great then! It was actually the perfect night for a bonfire!

I tried to talk our kids out of trick-or-treating this year. They have so many food allergies that there wouldn't be one piece of candy they'd be able to eat. That seemed like a waste. But they really wanted to so I agreed they could go if they donated their candy. That was fine with them! That just goes to show you that it's really all about the dressing up and the fun of running door to door, not as much about the candy.

They also wanted to invite some friends along this year. I know that was part of their reason to go. Who doesn't like running door to door dressed up and WITH FRIENDS?!? Our friends came earlier in the afternoon and the kids played while I chatted with their mother (a had a friend over too!) and made treats we could actually eat :)

These girls are so cute! Fiona was a fairy and Megan was an angel :)

 The boys had a Minecraft theme going. If you have children, I'm sure you know what Minecraft is! Finn was Steve, Nick was a creeper, and Brandon was an Enderman. So fun!

 The whole gang:

They had so much fun together! The weather was lousy though, especially if your costume is made out of card board and paper ;) But they put coats on and we all went out anyway! The kids picked out their hard candy to put in their boxes for Operation Christmas Child and the chocolate is being donated to a food pantry.

More Sledding!

I have a few minutes right now to finish up our day of sledding. Why do I have this time during our "school" time? Because Todd is teaching!!! He has the most fantastic drawing skills and seeing as how our kids have been so interested in sketching, he is giving them a lesson this morning. I'll be sharing those pictures soon :)

For now though, I want to get our sledding finished. One thing at a time!

They were all daredevils but Nick...I think he just looked for opportunities to have a wild ride ;)

 Kristen had so much fun flying down that hill!

 Jon thought he'd be flying too

 but he left his sled behind ;)

 Megan and Mariah went down. Megan was scared to death and that was it for a while.

 Nick, Brandon, and Stephen all piled onto a little plastic saucer meant for one person. Can you see those smiles?? They had a blast flying down that hill!

 They lost one at the bottom ;)

 Bethany took Megan and drug her hands so she wouldn't go too fast and scare her. We have such good friends :)

 The boys decided to make a sled train ;)

 They laughed all the way down! And surprisingly stayed together for the most part!

It was a great day. One of those days that makes winter a little more bearable ;)

Sledding

Last week, Kristen told me Jon was taking her sledding. I said she should take her brothers and sister ;) I was half joking as it was snowing like crazy outside! She mentioned it to Jon and he thought his family would like to come too. Long story somewhat short, we all ended up going! (they had to drag me out kicking and screaming but I'm glad I went :))

It was a great time and I took about a million pictures which is why I haven't posted it yet. I can't choose! Therefore, this will be the first of a few posts ;)

I love this picture of Nicholas. We got there first so we were sledding down a small hill close to the parking lot so we could see when they got there. The big grin on his face is the joy of a boy playing in the snow. Priceless :)

 Brandon took Megan down the hill. Sweet, big brother :)

 Kristen couldn't wait to sled with her mini-me :

 Then our friends arrived! Mariah and Megan, two peas in a pod :)

 I love the smile on their faces. Such sweet sisters:

 We moved over to a much bigger hill:

 Stephen and Brandon have been such good friends forever :)

 Nicholas, Stephen, and Brandon went down that big hill all together several times and let me just say they flew!

 Megan was not very happy about the bigger hill but Bethany was able to convince her to go down with her. That poor girl drug her hands and feet all the way down so they wouldn't go too fast! What a sweetie!

 Taking a break:

We love getting together with Jon's family! The kids always have so much fun together! This is why I have so many pictures ;) More to come!

Animals on the Farm

We also had fun seeing all the animals on the farm! This is a real, working farm set in the 1800's so all the animals are "free-range" which is a very sweet environment for both the animals and the visitors :)

 The big draft horses were magnificent and gentle. Megan wanted to bring one home ;) So did I.

 The boys headed outside the barn to where the ducks were roaming around. I followed because I knew exactly what was on Nick's mind...chasing them!

 I don't know what it is about chasing ducks and geese that fascinates him so, but he soon had everyone else doing it!

 They gathered quite a following when they started shelling corn for them. Then they turned and chased those poor ducks and geese again laughing out loud when they got honked at!

They helped fill the watering trough too. Little animal lovers :)

 Then it was off to the pig pens. UGH! It stinks there even in the winter!

Kristen and Jon:

 Caleb, Stephen, Nicholas, and Brandon:

 Megan was telling the pig to eat her corn cob first, that it was the best one ;)

 Nearly the whole gang visiting the turkeys:

It was so much fun! I can't wait to go back!

Swingers

One of the things that the kids love about this farmhouse is the toys! There are lots of old fashioned, 1800's style toys outside to play with. It's so interesting for them to see what kids played with once upon a time. A favorite is the swing which cracks me up because we have swings! Of course, they like their own swings too, but this one is wood and hangs from a tree which makes it very cool :)

 As you can see, even the big kids had fun with it! I can't believe how long these kids stayed outside swinging as cold as it was! I think I might need one of those hanging from the tree in my backyard ;)

The Journey of Gingerbread

Last week, we went to the park with Jon's family, who also homeschool and are good friends of ours, for a program called "The Journey of Gingerbread". The place is an 1800's working farm with a beautiful farmhouse and lots of animals, the perfect place for a history lesson! It was a gorgeous but freezing cold day. Not freezing like today though! Brrrr! Thankfully, the farmhouse was nice and warm though :)

We arrived late but that worked out really well for us.We got there just in time for the story, The Gingerbread Man of course ;), then the sweet lady teaching the program split us into two groups. We easily made up an entire group ourselves with ten kids and two adults so she kept us all together which worked out perfectly! She then told us where several spices came from and gave us the history of each and how it has been used. It was so fun! She had samples of each that our families passed around smelling and, in some cases, sampling. Then we got to ice and decorate gingerbread cookies!

The path leading up to the farmhouse is really beautiful and so are these two sweet friends:

 As we got close, we passed a chicken pen and all the younger kids had to take a peek.

 My dad says I need to get our kids out to the farm more often. I think he might be right! They loved all the animals.

After the story, we decorated cookies!

That smile on Nick's face says it all; there's nothing better than friends and cookies!

Megan doing her typical pose:

 She'll have her head pointed straight at the camera but her eyes look off....all the time. She does not make it easy on me ;)

 Above and below, boys focused on their decorating ;)

 Kristen couldn't have any cookies, so she helped with chores:

And she talked Bethany into helping! Cute, little wood-carriers :)

Check out that kitchen! It is so much fun going to programs there and letting the kids see what things where like. I love me some "living history" :)

 I don't know what these girls were talking about, maybe the fact that they were carrying wood while all the boys were decorating/eating cookies?? hehehe

It was so much fun, I'll be posting more pictures from our afternoon later!