Monday, October 15, 2012

And there were 9!

Sunday Crew, except for our College aged girl! =)




This past weekend we got to do something so out of the ordinary,  life changing, and we had a absolute blast!  Yep, you guessed it by the pic, we got to play "Aunt and Uncle" all weekend, so counting our 4 that made us have 9 children!  Wow! 






Bryan was DELIGHTED to have TONS of brothers for the weekend!  They enjoyed playing cars, tractors, trains and games... just to name a few activities....

  

Darla with her close friend and the same interests! They played dress-up, games, read books, played music... everything a girl could dream of  and "the exception to the rule" of getting to have friends sleep over too!  Could life get any better??!!!


                     I couldn't have made it without my "twin helpers" with these adorable lil guys!
 They kept us laughing all weekend... sometimes behind our hands so they couldn't see us laughing at their antics!  Here they BOTH had to have a stool... the melodies that they came up with... you should have heard!
 They are old enough now to know that people can't keep them straight... so I had determined to keep Dark socks on the same twin, so I'd KNOW who was who... but when I asked that lil stinker, he pointed to the other brother... and so the wrong one got the dark socks on!!!!!

Mr Handsome, himself!

Oh did we EVER do LOTS of this!!!!

Told ya!!!!

Riding "Horses"!


 Round and round the circle they would go laughing and chasing each other.  Great guys always entertaining themselves (and us!)

 Then Daryl got home and wasn't too great at multi-tasking!!! Talking on the phone, trying to eat his OWN yogurt... nope just ain't happenin!  Alone anyway!!!!

Want some help?

And then there were 3!!!! Hee... he gave in and fed them AND himself the yogurt... but it sure didn't last long!  Ha!AND talk to his sister on the phone, so maybe he's better at multi-tasking after all!!!!

 Then there was  BIG BOY to wrestle with....


 And a REAL TUCKERED OUT HORSEY!!!!   This was SO fun to watch!


 And some one was getting sleepy....
 Lil Squeaky-Clean guys playin tackle!

 Brittany watchin them play on Bryan's train table and did they ever have fun....


And this is what happens when you are upstairs and they are DOWNSTAIRS!!!!=)

 Went down to the park under the bridge for some fun, Freeze tag, soccer etc but I didn't do too great with catching this part on film... oh well!

 This Bosch chain saw of Bryan's made them laugh and laugh...
 My helpers... helpin me snap beans that were given us from dear friends... These helpers did pretty good.

  THESE helpers however.... got just as many ends in the bowl as they did WHOLE beans and... if they couldn't get them to break, they bit them in half!  Too Funny!


 "Like a microwave on our own level... too cool! We can SEE when it's done!" (They were so good though, if we said don't touch, they would run away GREAT lil guys!

 And we SURVIVED church too... this pic is proof.  Natasha was gone out with the choir for their 1st PR trip this fall, so that's why there's only 8 kiddos in this pic!  thanks Rob and Dee for letting us keep your crew while ya'll had a much needed honeymoon! We had a blast... diaper study and all!



              "It was the funnest weekend EVER!!!! darla

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Field Trip- Mr John Chapman Better known as....





 When Life gets full.... too full, It's fun to slow down a tad and smell the roses..... Uh.... make that Apples this time, for it's Fall!




 The 1st Field trip for this School Haus was a success.  We are SOOOOOOO blessed to be a part of a church that has a rather large home school group.  Unusual really, for most of our kids are home schooled so instead of it being ODD we are the majority!  I love it! =) Because our group was SO large this time, we had to divide into two groups.  This made my heart sad, though I understood the reasoning, for I couldn't get pics of all of my kids...
 It was fun that other Mom's got to join us for this time too, and even Mom's of Pre-schoolers too which is great for everyone!


 Here we are all getting a chance to TASTE apples... this tasting was my favorite part of the whole day!  Here we are comparing 3 different types of apples and they got to rate them according to their preference.  Interesting results...


 This pic was taken AFTER the one at the top when one Mom had the idea of entertaining the 1st row of kids by letting them throw leaves at the back row of kids.  It was great fun to see the reaction on my boy's face! =)




 This man was neat. He told us he was a daddy to six kids himself.  He totally had his act together with the young and old alike!  He was so good and understanding, but wasn't afraid to give the wiggly kids a "job" that made them feel important!  When really he was asking them to calm down without yelling at them. It was great! I love people like that.

                           Fun surprise to have "Aunt Beth" and her home school kids join us too!

 Here he was showing the kids how to make homemade applesauce! complete with an over the fire kettle... He told the kids that all they needed to do was learn 1 new thing each day.  Wow!  That was great encouragement to this sometimes overwhelmed Home-School-Momma's-heart! Then he Even let them try it...  this is the way I make homemade applesauce and Apple Butter...
 each one had a turn
 Lil Sophia's turn MAN SHE MAKES ME MISS SWEET LIL MARY!!!!!
 Josh made us smile for he was "hamming it up big time" here!
 I missed Bryan's time so he posed for this picture while everyone else was moving to the Log Home.

 They took our group into the Log Home (Do you know the ONLY difference between an log home and a log cabin? one has a wood floor and one has dirt for the floor!=) Hmmmmm what about DIRT ALL OVER YOUR WOOD FLOOR?!  Wonder how that fits in?!  =)

 Here he is showing us a heater.  Neatest thing... wish I could find one for my Haus!  If you happen to find one for CHEAP at a junk store, call me!
 This pic above caught my son's eye.... for some reason, Uncle Andrew!
 Back of Brittany's head... like the only pic I got of her all day!=(
 One of the highlights of the day was getting to meet Mr. Rick Sowash! He is a children's Author from here in OH that has studied OH history and makes it SOOOOOO much fun for kids.  He had ALL of our attention and NOW!
 Here he is as none other than the famous Ohioan, MR. JOHNNY APPLESEED!!! Loved it!

 This is about the only sane pic that I was able to get of Darla... giggles on her face make me SMILE! As she often does... our bubbly Miss Sunshine!

 The neat thing about Home Schooling is kids of ALL ages can come... here's Clayton's Brand new lil nephew that joined us too!
 This lady taught us about the Apple Tree and what it does through all the seasons.  Here is Winter, the tree's sleepy stage. The kids got to put blossoms on for Spring...

 Here is Mr Bee visiting the blossoms so that when Fall comes the apples will grow right.
 adding leaves.... Summer
                                      and finally adding the apples to represent the complete cycle!
Waiting patiently for a TASTE of apple cider!

Play Ground time!
 
The older girls, Brittany's and Darla's friends from the older group!

 Making their own cider... the boys LOVED THIS PART for they got to show off their muscles!
 I love the INTENSE look here...


It was a fun day and I learned MORE THAN ONE THING that day... so I should be good for a while! =) Happy Fall, Ya'll!