Big Brothers are GREAT!!

Nicholas has been working on a tiger latch hook project.

Matthew helps him get it started.

We always have lots of people to help out. 

We love being together!

School day

This is what a fairly typical school day looks like for us. Children making themselves comfortable and learning where it is easiest for them.

Little ones play right there.

Josiah plays with the airplane.

Rebecca tries to get the trains!

Rebecca is very persistent!

Mommy, can I play with the camera?

We enjoy our days of schooling very much!

I love watching them learn with one another!

 It is a privilege to have all our children at home all day long.  

ADORABLE!!

A Blustery Day!

On Tuesday, March 7, I was playing chauffeur. We had just dropped off Matthew, Benjamin, and Elizabeth at dance and were on our way home when "BAM!!" something hits our windshield and cracks it! Thinking that maybe some child was having fun, I pulled over to see if there were any children looking guilty. No children to be seen. Nathaniel told me that it must be a tree branch. Sure enough, tree branches littered the street.  Then, he informs me that there was a lady and with a child staring at us. I made a u-turn to talk with them. She was so kind and asked if we were ok. I told her that we were fine and asked her if she saw what happened. She pointed to a tree branch that was on the ground and told me that it hit our van. The branch was not really that big at all. It just hit us just right to make our day exciting!

 This is what we saw from the inside.

This is the outside view.

I was not sure if the windshield would crack more on our way home or not! Our big van is quite a bumpy ride. I was thinking that if we hit any big bumps on the way home it could crack the windshield further so I instructed all the children to put something over their head just in case the windshield shattered. I did find out later that windshields do not shatter. Nathaniel thoughtfully said, "But, Mommy, what about you?" I said, "I do not know, we'll just pray that we get home safely." As we were driving, the wind continued to blow. At one point, I said, "Hey, look at all the dust blowing around!!" Nathaniel pipes up and say, "We can not see it. We have blankets on our heads!" We all cracked up over that comment. Yes, the pun is intended!

Thankful to be home safe and sound!

Nicholas' Birthday

Nicholas turns seven on March 4! Wow!! For his birthday, he requested ribs! We tried a different style of ribs this night!

Dan and Nicholas went to Cold Stone to pick out his special cake. He picked a Cake Dough Ice Cream Cake! Yummy!

Nicholas blows out his candles!

Elizabeth helps him with the first cut!

Excited about his gifts!

Josiah wanted his picture taken, too!!

Nicholas, you are growing up so fast! We are enjoying all the fun that you bring to our family! The silly and funny moves and the great ideas! You are a wonderful shopper and a big help to our family! We are so blessed by you!

Happy Birthday, dear son!!

The Thinker

I caught these pictures of our boys within a day or so of each other. I thought is was so funny that they were almost all in the same pose.

Benjamin is deep in thought. He is probably thinking about knives.

Matthew deep in thought. He is probably thinking about computers.

Nathaniel almost deep in thought. He is probably thinking about the next joke that he can pull. 

He is looking a bit guilty about something.

Benjamin relaxing after all the thinking.