Fall 2019 - Photo Dump!

 Despite my silence on the blog, we DID do a lot this past fall!  School, of course.  Here Little Man is working on his math.

And reading literature.

Our dog Gucci loves to do school with us!

I am going through "Who is God and can I really know Him?", a worldview curriculum, with Little Man.  We went through it with the older kids when he was a preschooler, and before I pass it on to someone else I wanted to go through it again with him.

Both our boys are in my high school English class at our home school co-op.  I developed a four year cycle of what I would do with my own kids at home, and then offered it as a class at our co-op.  This is our year for "the long and the short of it," two long novels and several short stories.  The novel we spent the entire fall on was the 1600 page book, Les Miserables! Almost every day I could find each of the boys in this type of reading situation.

 Here is my co-op class!

Of course both boys played fall soccer with a homeschool team (fall soccer is when boys play for their school, and spring soccer is when they play either recreational or travel/club soccer).  Early in the season son C was tripped during a game and ended up breaking both bones in his left arm.

Sister G, when we visited her at her apartment one weekend, had to sign his cast!

It was an odd break, and the orthopedic doctor had an MRI done on son C's arm to make sure there was no soft tissue damage.  (there wasn't!)

7 members of our home school team are seniors this year, so we designated one of our game days as "senior day."  We had a special time to honor each one, and to pray over them.

We played a LOT of games that were kindof far away.  Falling asleep on the way home was a common occurrence.

We got to go to the home school National Tournament out of state!  Super fun experience.

Son C (#19) with the ball.

Also this fall we squeezed in two different college visits for our senior.  School #1....

....and school #2.

He would really love to play soccer in college.  We are praying and waiting and trusting that one of these two schools will offer him a spot on their team.

Halloween 2019 - Little Man and his boys small group from church dressed up as the fellowship of the ring!

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving weekend, when daughter G was home, we went and bought our Christmas tree!

Son C (second from left) at our co-op Christmas party.

Goodbye Fall

You were lovely this year!  So many warm days, with such gorgeous coloring.  We thoroughly enjoyed you!

You did give us rain on Halloween, but hey.... we could deal.  Our dogs didn't want to stay in their costumes very long anyway.  (Darth Vader and Spiderman)

(our two youngest as Dr. Who and a Jedi knight, with two other little friends!  The teen boys opted not to go trick or treating this year.....end of an era)

Thank you for giving us such a great time, fall.  See you again next year!

Happy Halloween - 2014!

Two of our boys wanted to be villains for trick or treating this year, and you know what....?  We let them.  Pick your battles, pick your battles.  So we had a Cleopatra, Scarecrow (one of batman's nemeses), a hippie with a gas mask, Wanda (female version of Waldo from Where's Waldo?), a pirate, and the Joker (another one of batman's nemeses).

It was a cold, windy, rainy night for trick or treating, but they all went except Wanda, who handed out candy to the few brave souls who made it to our house!  (below is Little Man as the Joker, trying to look menacing)

Trunk 'n Treat

We had a very successful trunk 'n treat at our church yesterday!  So thankful for the mild temps, no rain, and very little wind.  Each of our older children's small groups hosted a trunk, and daughter G was tasked with making the decorations for her trunk's theme ~ Candyland!

She and daughter H also agreed to be princesses so that little girls could have their picture taken with a princess (there was a whole organized set up for this!).  They both looked so lovely and handled themselves just wonderfully with the children.

Here are all the princesses together.

Little Man as "lego man."  He and I got to just walk around and trunk and treat!

Son L with his small group guys doing a tailgater theme for their trunk.

Son C (green face) and his small group did a toy story theme.  He was a toy soldier in case you can't tell. ;)

Some of the trunks were pretty funny!

One of my dear friends.  A single lady, doing what she can to bless others!

Daughter G's small group ended up spreading Candyland over four different trunks.  She has such a great group of girl friends in this group!

We had lots and lots of people from the community come through.  What a great time we had, introducing our community to our church and having fun at the same time!

Trunk 'n Treat, and other Halloween-ish Activities

For the first time this year, our church hosted a trunk 'n treat event.  Different church families hosted "trunks", gave away candy, and interacted with over 200 newcomers from our community!  (as well as lots of church folk, like us)  Our three older children all helped host trunks as part of their small groups, while son C and Little Man attended as.... Yoda (this was before I had time to sew his cloak, so the fabric is artfully arranged around his shoulders....),

....and as Lego Man!  Daughter G made this costume for son C last year, but um..... he wasn't able to wear it due to it being spray painted just the day before, so when he put on the helmet he passed out from the fumes.  Yes, bad mommy moment.  It was a little smaller this year, but still worked!

Some of the trunks.... a pirate theme.

Horses....

Under the sea....

 Cowboy... (or farmer/rancher, not sure which!)

Hippo princesses!  Who doesn't love hippo princesses? ;)

Another under the sea....

Jungle.....

and many, many more.  It was a bitterly cold and windy afternoon, so doubly notable that so many people from the community came out.  Very fun!


Back at home, we had our annual pumpkin carving time.

And here are the boys all ready to go out on the hunt.  Lego Man, of course.  And Yoda again (this time with a sewn cloak!).  Son G went as Hawkeye (from the Avengers) and son L went as Green Arrow.  They put their costumes together completely on their own.  Don't you think son L looks rather menacing?

For the first time ever, daughter G chose not to go out, but to stay in and read while passing out candy!  I think she made the right call ~ again, it was super cold!  She *did* dress up as a soccer referee though.  She really had to think hard for that costume. ;)  We had a large number of kids come by, and I noticed a much smaller number of "scary" costumes this year.  I hope that is a new trend!