A Birthday Costume Party- How Fun!

Here is the birthday boy, Zeky Brothers! I don't remember what he calls this costume, but it fit him well, and I didn't have to knit it for him. Ha! Inside joke....

There was Twister Game, A Brick House, two very Hippy Hipsters (they won best male and female costume), and let's see, what else?...

A Lilly of the Val. (has anybody out there seen the movie HiTops?) or a Polly Pocket or Fiesta or something, and an Indiana Jones (best boy costume), and .....

Us as Carl and Ellie Frederickson from the movie UP!, and don't forget little Russell sitting down, complete with the UP! house and balloons. There was also....

Alegra as Doug the dog from the movie UP!, and Russell again (he's just so cute!), and ....

Diella as a lion and Russell, and .....

Jamin and Celia as Kevin from the Office and a lion.

Here is Benaiah and Phil always getting their bonding time in. Benaiah just talked and talked to Phil. What fun we ALL had!

Shalom as Fancy Nancy.

Celia lion and Laura...uh...smiley makeup girl having some cake.

The pinata was great fun and nobody got hurt! Here, Alegra is taking her shot at breaking it open. She needed a little harder swing to bust that thing open.

After the busting and th bustling of children to gather their candy and glow toys.

Oh yes, can't forget Phil's costume- a whoopie cusion. He was now having his bonding time with Shalom. He just loves the little ones.

Out of costumes and relaxing while watching the wii playing going on. So much fun! Thanks Brothers for inviting us to your spectacular party fun!

Diella's Birthday- She is 6!

Diella is getting so big! Grandma Linda had to call to find out how old she really was and Grandma Deborah put the wrong age on her card. Too funny! This year she had specifics on what she wanted on her cake. She wanted a confetti cake with pink frosting, 6 pieces of chocolate and sprinkles. Well, she ended up putting 9 pieces of chocolate on, but all in all she did a great job on her cake. Here she is working at making it just right.

Pretty and delicious both!

And the final project! What a wonderful job, girly!

Diella is our biggest helper in the kitchen, with Benaiah, and making a craft mess...okay, that's not very helpful but she sure does it well and quite often. She LOVES cutting papers and making little crafts. She just might be artsy when she grows up.

Time sure seems to go by quickly. She was born in the middle of the night, and I felt so bad to have to get the doctor out of bed. Her labor was quick and super easy with my first words being (after saying "Thank you, Jesus") "it's over alreay?" And she was born with one hand out first as if she was worshiping as she came out of the womb, hence her name, Diella-worshiper of Yah.

She started school this year and is beginning to read and do addition and subraction. Her learning is doing much better than I had anticipated, so I am really proud of her. We are truly blessed with having her in our family! Love you, Diella!

A Beautiful Day to Clean

What a beautiful day we had yesterday! My windows have been very sad lately with many, many dirty spots. Once I realized what the weather was going to be, I decided it was time to get those windows cheered up a bit. And of course I had some little helpers.

Josiah insisted on being the dryer. He did a geat job until he got side tracked and thought it was more fun to run off with his sister's drying towel, giggling and teasing the whole time. BOYS!

Diella didn't think it was as nice as the rest of us. I think she is really anticipating winter. :) She was my photographer and did a great job. Usually that is Alegra's job and Diella takes care of Benaiah. This day the roles were reversed. And when the boy heard me say I wanted to get a picture of the photographer, yep, he jumped in the way, of course giggling and teasing the whole time.

Alegra and Benaiah enjoyed some sunshine too while sitting and watching the cleaning going on. She wanted to come out, and I told her that he wasn't dressed warm enough to come out. She slipped back in the house, and next thing I know they were coming back out and Benaiah was dressed with a sweater on. She said he fussed a little bit, but they got it done, and I think she was quite pleased with herself. :) And he was very glad to be outside with the rest of us!

I have slacked a little on my "Winter Blues Washed Away Activities", but there will be something posted at the end of this week for everyone following that. Also, feel free to comment and let me know what ideas you try or if you are following along. I'd love to hear from you!

Enjoy family and fellowship this week as we all gather to remember all the things that we are thankful for in our lives. There is truly so much! Last night before we had supper, our prayer was going around the table thanking God for different things from our hearts. Alegra thanked HIM for a good Papa (I think she was even teary eyed when she said it), Diella thanked HIM for her Dad and Mom, Josiah thanked HIM for the food to eat, Jonathon thanked HIM for our health, and I thanked HIM for a hard working husband who isn't lazy.

I could, of course, go on and on of all the things we are thankful for, but maybe I can save that for another day...like Thursday. And having said that, I hope you all have a blessed day of thankfulness with your families and be sure you thank the right ONE who deserves all the credit for all things.

Our activity for this week-Activity #2

The Davis Mercantile and Author Jan Brett Activities

We have a couple things fun for you to do this week. On Friday we are going to head to Shipshewana, IN in the morning to visit the Davis Mercantile. They are having a special Kid's Day Friday and Saturday. I'm not sure what it will be exactly, but I do know the children will get to go from store to store for activities, doing crafts, answering questions, and even getting some free tokens for a pretzel or carousel ride. That's the part we love the most! It's open during business hours, so take some time out of your day to check it out and give your children some Shipshewana fun.


Also, I wanted to share something with you that my girls really enjoy! Have you heard of the author Jan Brett? We love her stories and her website. She has some great activities you can do that go along with her books. When the girls were really little, we made felt mittens, printed off the animals from her book, The Mitten, laminated them, and then as I read the story they put the animals in the mitten just as it does in the book. You can follow the directions on the page or to make felt mittens, simply cut out your felt with the template on the page, then put hole punches around each edge and take some yarn and have your child sew them together. This is a perfect activity for when winter really sets in and the ground is covered in snow. Until then, lets keep enjoying these beautiful sunny days God has given us to enjoy.

But they really enjoy her section on her website that has drawing lessons. She is a great teacher and makes drawing easy for children. Check out her list of videos here. Last night the girls worked on drawing the baby chick. They did a couple and I must say, they turned out great. Today we will be watching the video on drawing a train. That will go perfectly with our transportation unit theme.

Well, let me know if your children do any drawings from her website or if you are planning to visit the Mercantile this weekend. Gonna be a fun time!

Topsy Turvey Cake- Activity #1

We did our first project today, but wasn't very kid friendly. My children are younger, but if you have older ones, then this could definitely be fun for them as they could be creative with how to decorate it.
We started by covering a piece of sturdy cardboard to hold the cake. We covered it with wrapping paper that would go with the colors we wanted to use.

First, we stacked the cakes and cut them to be topsy turvey. A little tricky. We did put frosting between each layer to help hold it together.

The top should have also been a circle, but we made it a square and made it work. I wasn't completely happy with the end result, but it turned out okay. We did put a dowel rod down the middle just to keep it a little more stable.

Next we frosted the whole thing, making sure it was all smooth.

Then we decorated it. We went with polka dots on the bottom, ribbon around the middle, and pretty squigglies on the top layer with fake flowers as the topper. We went with pink and purple for the colors. There are a myriad of ideas when doing these kinds of cakes. Your children can use different kinds of candies like suckers or peppermints or M&Ms to decorate. They can put shapes all over it with frosting or write words in frosting all over it. Let children be creative and have fun with a topsy turvey cake. We may have another cake idea when Diella's birthday comes the end of this month.

Well, the birthday girl liked it anyways, and it was fun to surprise her at school and sit and watch school lessons for a little bit. We made it to their house to hold babies too. They are growing and are now over 10lbs and are identical. What little blessings! They are doing so well. That completes our first activity. More to come in the following weeks. Remember, drop us a comment if you are joining us.

Winter Blues Washed Away-Activites

I would like to start an event here at our blog of fun ways for us to get through the winter without those cold, winter blues sneaking up on us come January and February. We are planning to do some fun activities. Our goal is to do the activity and take pictures as we do it, so that you can try it out at home. Or if something is going to be happening somewhere else, that others might be interested in, we will let all of you know about it and then after, post pics of our time there.

Now, if our readers happen to find a great idea for passing the winter months, please let us know. Leave a comment with your idea or leave your blog address for us to read about your activity and see your pictures. Should be a lot of fun, and I'm hoping to get some good ideas from you guys too.

Let me know if you are planning on joining us for this. Hopefully, we will post something once a week. Sometimes things don't go as planned, so it won't be the same day every week. Just stay tuned and check back often. We have something fun planned for Monday, so check back to see our first exciting activity.

And look for a super fun contest in January for all to participate in.

Here's to having a great winter that will pass quickly!

An Autumn Stroll With My Children

The day was beautiful yesterday, and knowing that we won't have too many more of those days, I decided to take the children for a walk and take along the camera for some good autumn moments. What fun we had and loved the weather we were blessed with!

Just taking a stroll in the leaves. I can't wait til Benaiah is old enough that he can join the threesome in walking hand in hand. Well, I can wait, but it will make for some really cute pictures.

I've been looking at alot of photographer's blogs and seeing some of their creativeness. Not your typical sittings or backgrounds. This one was inspired by Krystal, an old friend that I used to babysit for. She now resides in Wisconsin but does some amazing work. Check her blog out here. You just might be inspired yourself.


They wanted so much to go on the other side of the fence to play. I wasn't opposed, so off they went through the open spot in the fence to roam on the deer trail. Thought this would be a cute pic, so they stopped their adventure to give me smiles.

A quick pose on the fence before we continued our walk.

My four cuties! We are so blessed by these little ones. Everyday isn't perfect, I mean, we do school, we keep the house clean, we try to teach them well, so obviously our days don't always go picture perfect. Children have other things in mind than any of those things. There is lots of running around and loudness in our little house, but when it's time for stories, the couch gets filled up and all is quiet. I love it! So, when the weather is nice, walks do us all some good.

Here is our Benaiah at 5 1/2 months. How big he is getting! This picture couldn't have gotten any better although how we got it could've. The poor guys is just starting to sit by himself, though he is quite wobbly still. So, he constantly rocked backwards and bumped his head on the fence. Didn't faze him at all, and he just kept on smiling. I thought for sure he would fit into the wagon, but the girls informed me that he is way too big. And when I tried it, well, he is bigger than I thought he was. The girls were right for sure! But it sure looked super cute beside him.

They decided enough smiling for the camera, so they all got up and started kicking leaves around. I told them they could pick some up and throw them in the air. Amazing that their smiles came right back, and lasted for awhile. Then they brought their hand fulls of leaves over to the photographer and baby and threw leaves on us. Not a good idea! Especially getting the tight fisted baby, unclenched from the many leaves that fell in his lap.

Couldn't resist a picture with my boy. But he was quite distracted by the leaf kicking, running back and forth, enjoying the day children behind me. Oh well! He is just longing for the day when he too will be able to do that and then....so much for my cute picture of the 4 of them walking holding hands because he will probably be running all over the place. Ha!

We had to quickly head home because of a certain girl needing to go potty. So, after the bathroom break, we ventured out into our backyard and took a few more unsuspected shots. I love seeing my girls in the grass as if they were living in the prairie days.

After taking some pictures, the children had to show me the new buck rub by our pine tree. Looks like some good hunting in the valley. A perfect ending to a perfect walk. Oh, we did see a smooshed chipmunk in the road too. Always fun seeing wildlife but did they have to turn around and go back to see the deadness of the munk? Why, oh why? Fresh air, a good walk, and smiles from everybody ended a great day!

Apple Orchard Fun

What a gorgeous day we had to go to the apple orchard on a field trip. And it was loaded with fun! We got there early to take pictures and get a head start on the fun. A couple years ago we came here, and I remembered the children weren't really interested in watching the video that they have playing in a little barn, so I planned for them to watch that before the other children got there.
We had so much fun. The sun was shining perfectly and it was a nearly perfect day.

Alegra really wanted a picture with Benaiah as the farmer. So, she held him, but since she thought it was so funny, she spent most the time laughing behind the scenes so I was surpised his face wasn't all blurry from her bouncing. It turned out pretty cute anyways.

Here are all four of my children watching the video, learning about apples, cider making, and the health benefits that apples give to our bodies.

When the rest of the group got there, we took a hay ride out to the corn maze. Benaiah fell asleep during the ride and slept peacefully through most of the ride and walk through the maze.

Was short and sweet with some corny jokes along the way.

Here is Mrs. Apple teaching the children how to pick an apple properly. They all did great as you can see from the following pictures.

Josiah picking a red delicious. Alegra picking. Diella posing after her picking.

They got to pick a gourd from the gourd patch. There were so many to choose from, but I must say they all did a great job with their picks. Now we will let them dry to make shaker instruments out of them.

After we were done picking, we all had some cider and the children were given coloring books. Here is Celia, the organizer of this field trip (great job heading it up!) and Benaiah. He had such a good time and always is good for a smile.

The whole group of children that participated. We were missing a few families due to sickness, but despite some not making it, the rest of us enjoyed the amazing warm and sunny day. I guess that was our last fix of sunshine for this year. Are we ready for winter now? Ready or not, here it comes.

Story Time

I am finding more and more that it is truly a blessing to teach children when they are young to enjoy books. We had an appointment a couple weeks ago trying to get things cleared up with my hospital bills and had to sit in a very small cubicle to talk with a lady. We had all 4 children with us and the lady had a treasure basket in the only empty corner of the sitting area. It was a plain basket but it was filled with books! They crawled under our chairs and each sat on the floor looking through this basket of books. What a blessing to have children that don't need all the bells and whistles in toys but can sit quietly and enjoy a book. The lady was quite surprised and said usually the children are trying to get free from the cubicle. We know we are blessed with our children and are so thankful.

This night we sat down to read The Little Engine That Could (even Benaiah enjoyed it). We are studying transportation in school right now, so it went along with it. Today we made some train cars to put their beannie babies in like in the book. It will make its grand appearance at the grandparent's party we have every year. We are making plans for that and looking forward to it.

So here's my encouraging word for the day....read to your children. Their love of books comes in really handy when you need them to sit still and quiet. Do you read to your children? What books do you enjoy? I am always interested in books suggested by others. Comment on your favorites. We'd love to check them out!

The Final Day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

The fun filled week of rejoicing is over. Thankful that we aren't limited to rejoicing just during this week. We have so much to rejoice about during the whole year, but this week is especially meant for rejoicing and considering tabernacling. We finished off the week with a meal together at our church and lots of games for everybody.

The children had a wonderful time in the big open space playing with jump ropes, bowling pins, a parachute, boxes, and hopscotch. What a great time for them to play with their friends!

Even the big people enjoyed themselves. Or were you, Matt and Melanie? Can't really tell here.

On the far left of the below picture is corn hole, then ladder ball, then a Wii bowling tournament (on the big screen), then the area for the children to play in. Something for everyone and everyone had a ball! Jonathon and I partnered up for ladder ball. We won one game and then lost. The coloring in there is so yellow and since I haven't been wearing my contacts with being on the meds, I couldn't see distance too well, so that's my reasoning we didn't become the champions at ladder ball. Hahaha!

The best part was just sitting around visiting with each other and enjoying one another's fellowship. The love that we all share is amazing in our church family and was clearly shown to us during our time in the hospital. What a sweet thing we have in our fellowship. Unlike any other church we have experienced. What a blessing!

Here is Benaiah and Sarah hanging out. He sure doesn't get ignored at church. I think he was passed from lady to girl, to lady and back to girl again. He sure is loved! What's not to love about him?

Hanging out and having fun with little ones. Except AnnMarie....put your chemistry away and have some fun girl! :)

The children played with so many different toys and used their imaginations well. So much for those who say that homeschooled children aren't socialized. I think we have that area covered with our children.

Some of the ladies conversing and sharing a great memory together.

The last stop for me before heading down to clean up then nurse a baby. This was Benaiah's last stop for the night too before he finally got to be with his momma a little before heading home. A little laughter, a little sharing, a little playing, a little eating, a little conversing, a little competeing, a little relaxing, and a lot of love!