Playing Around Home

Fantastic bike trails nearby

Sweet Brothers

Read more...

How Cooks Are Born

Pearly and Bunny reading through smoothie recipes to see if we have all of the ingredients on hand.

Read more...

Whidbey Island

It's been a while. We're surviving life with a husband/father who lives 4 hrs away and commutes home on days off. It's been challenging, but at least the bills are being paid.

In the meantime, I took the boys to our yearly family camp on Whidbey Island. It was gorgeous 4 out of the 5.5 days. We didn't complain one bit knowing how past years have been so rainy. We had a great time.

Pearly stayed back home to attend volleyball try-outs. She made varsity - yea! But she was sure missed at camp. High school is the time where teens have to learn to weigh tough decisions and she is no stranger to that anymore.

Here are a few of my favorite pics. It was great that Tall Dude could go this year. He was a big help and was so sweet with his younger siblings. I don't know many 20-yr olds who take the time play with their younger siblings. What wonderful memories for these boys.

Tall Dude and Caboose (4 yrs)

Brown eyes, 12 yrs

Bunny, almost 8

3 youngest boys

Bunny (almost 8) and Tall Dude, 20 yrs.

On the ferry leaving Whidbey Island

Read more...

Silly Boy

This is right after I cut Bunny's hair. He had a squirt bottle with water and was having a little fun looking at himself in the mirror. I could eat him up.

Read more...

No Words Necessary

Sometimes things just come together - lighting for the camera, attitudes, smiles, and you are left with pictures that make your heart all warm inside. That is what happened here. These are so precious to me, a rare treat, definitely!




And I couldn't have done it without older brother, Brown Eyes, giving them a reason to be happy:)

Read more...

Little Ones

Today was a different kind of day. It was standardized testing day for my three oldest homeschooled children. However, Pearly and I forgot that she had agreed to babysit 2 other children and so I decided to watch the children instead. So at our house today, we had an extra 3-yr old (curly redhead you see here) and her brother who is about 14 months old.

It was a special treat to take them to take them for a walk where we smelled the roses, saw the horses, played on the swingset and hung out in the backyard.

Don't you think this little redhead girl could be my child? I think so and tell her parents all the time. Her parents and I have been talking about an "arranged" marriage so that we can keep the redhead genes going. These two are only a couple weeks apart in age. She is Miss I-Can-Do-It-By-Myself and very intellectual. Caboose is Mr. Laid-Back-Whatever-You- Say Boy. Could be an interesting combination.

Unfortunately, the horses did not want to come up to the fence today, but we had a nice walk anyway. I love the back of children's heads. My dh used to ask me why I would take such a picture because he wanted to see faces. I like pictures like this because it forces you to look at the little things, their posture, hand gestures, just the simple cuteness of little ones. I love this. Look at Bunny on the far right - I highly doubt he will stand like that at age 13. That is 6-yr old posture - 6-yr old cuteness!

Read more...

Mystery Pictures

Interesting things happen when the camera is left around the house. I came upon some very dark images the last time I uploaded my pictures. I lightened the pictures up and here's what I found!

Pictures drawn by Bunny - age 6

Toothless Bunny

This is Pearly holding a picture of Bunny from a couple years ago and taking a picture of him at the same time. Kind of cool.

Read more...

Who Needs Worms?

A day in the life of a homeschool family. We've got worm dissecting going on at the dining table this afternoon, folks. Hopefully, we can get this all cleaned up before dinnertime!

This is from Pearly's high school biology class she is taking at home. Orange boy was also able to dissect because we had an extra worm in the kit, so he's learning along with her as she explained how to dissect and identify all the body parts. Oops - Orange Boy accidently cut the intestines.

And the beauty of homeschooling when you have a large family is that there are always younger children around who want to get in on the action. And when they are naturally curious, they have a lot of questions. And they ask those questions to their older siblings who in turn answer them or try to find out answers to the questions. (Who needs written tests when you have younger siblings who are natural test givers? LOL)

Where's the heart?
How does it breathe?
Where is the mouth?
Where's the stomach?

Are you getting the picture here? We've got kids wanting to learn, asking questions, getting answers, absorbing the answers because they are the questions they thought up themselves. What better way is there to learn? This is the beauty of homeschooling, I tell you!

Bunny and Brown Eyes loved watching the action.

Read more...

Crossing That Line

Bunny has grown into a new stage in his life. He once used to like to give Mama kisses, but now must be bribed, coerced, manipulated, ahem . . . forced to kiss the Mama who carried him for a full 9-month pregnancy term PLUS 19 days overdue. Hello????? If that doesn't deserve a kiss or two, I don't know what else does. Anyway - Pearly snapped the shot so that at least we both will have proof that he did used to kiss his Mama.

Wasn't that worth it? I think so!

Read more...

Another Bike Rider in the World

I'm not sure why we didn't try this sooner, but we have a new bike rider. He went straight from tricycle to bike without training wheels on his 2nd try. This doesn't surprise me. He's been very coordinated since he learned how to walk. He is one happy camper.

Click on the picture to enlarge

Read more...

About Being Four

Four-year olds are fun. It is the age you can wear one overall strap the right way and the other one the wrong way. You can cut your bangs with kiddy scissors really short and still look cute even if it is a little crooked. Four years old is when you have those cute little baby teeth and beautiful smile. I love four-year olds. They are full of delight, excitement, wonder, still like to be kissed and hugged, say the funniest things, don't talk back, etc. Can I just freeze this moment, please?

Read more...

Four Years Old

Bunny is growing up. We celebrated his 4th birthday recently. (Another friend was celebrating her birthday with us, too, so that's why the extra candle is in there.)

One of his gifts was this old wooden animal/farm family set. There are all kinds of cows, pigs, horses, trees, chickens, lambs, even a farmer and his family. I have no idea how old this it, but it is definitely old school and soooo much better than the typical plastic toys we find today. The whole set was . . . . . two bucks. Gotta love a deal like that! We are definitely going to keep this set around for future grandchildren. They just don't make stuff like this anymore, do they?

Read more...

Almost 4-yr old talk

19-yr old daughter was making almost 4-yr old his burrito, but he didn't want to wait. He wanted it now!

19-yr old: “M., you need to be patient. Do you know what patient means?”

M.: “Yes, it means be quiet.”

Read more...

Ten Pounds . . . . Lighter

I've been going to a gym with a friend and have finally lost 10 pounds (in 10 weeks). It's coming off slowly. It's hard work with a combination of weights, aerobics, treadmill, stationary bike, Pilates, and brisk walks and primarily trying to change my food to healthy food choices except for the occasional ice cream or chocolate splurge. I have not missed out on any desserts, but I'm not pigging out like I used to do, either. I'm one-third of the way to goal weight. It came off so much easier when I was younger.

Anyone else on the same mission? Let me know so I can cheer you on!

Read more...

Sweetness

This is the kind of thing I love to see going on.

Read more...

Big Weekend

This weekend was pretty busy. The two older kids were spending their last day on a mission's trip to Honduras, so we wanted to have a little special time with the 5 younger kids. So we on Friday, we took the younger kids bowling. This is probably the 2nd time they had gone bowling in their life.

Bunny trying to find his bowling ball - lol.


Once, Bunny (3-yr old) got up to bowl without Papa's help. He threw the ball, but instead of going into our lane, it veered off into our neighbor's lane just as our neighbor was about to release his ball. We all laughed hysterically. Thankfully, our neighbors did, too. It must not have blown our neighbor's concentration too badly as his next roll was a strike :)


Dh helping Bunny bowl.

It didn't matter whether he got several pins down or zero pins down, he always had a huge smile on his face. He did manage to get 2 spares!

Read more...

The Littlest Redhead

3-1/2 yrs old

Read more...

Grandpa's Lap

M. practically gets glued in Grandpa's lap whenever they are together. There is nothing more fun than cuddling with Grandpa, playing with his beard, and wearing his hat.

Read more...