Joel and Megan found a tree just their size

We found a tree…finally!

Cutting

carryingThe cookies and coco after…

“Just lil’ ol me waiting for everybody to finish loading the tree and eating yummy cookies and coco without me …”

home and ready to fit the tree… ”BUT I DO get the best job there is, even if I don’t get to eat cookies yet” !

It’s obvious why Joel’s new nickname is “Frodo” in this picture…

Nail painting with Aunt Lela

Essie’s try at painting nails…hmmm…

Rain or shine a family picture MUST be taken before we dine…in this case…RAIN.

Cousins 3 weeks apart

The kid table…permitted to have ONE “silly picture” taken

The middle generation…sisters and the guys…nice, IAn

And last, but certainly not least (not only because they did most of the cooking ) is the “oldest” generation…but don’t they look so young??!!

Part of the youngest generation, Megan, pops her button eating WAY too much

And after one eats such a big meal, one must promptly nap.

…and then play Wiii…

…then watch football…..but as for me, I’ll have more fun doing a craft any day !!!  These were fun Christmas ornaments to make!  Thanks mom for getting all the parts!

The kids make Christmas countdown calendars, thanks  to Molly

Essie loved Megan, I think she reminded her of her favorite dolly   Only Megan is a bit less dirty 

While Joel is quite Mellow, Megan is very excitable (Lee, you might want to look into ADHD stuff now JOking!!  She is just  a very happy little girl! And actually a LOT more gentle than Joel when it comes to ones face as you can see in the picture…here is one of Joel…Sorry Zeke!  I didn’t realize he was grabbing your eye!

Essie was really into composing her own songs, music and words,(rather random ones about  God and other things:) on Papa and Mima’s piano…which they need to keep:-)

Papa wrestling with the kids…can’t really see him though

The two most healthly eaters of the family  

Don’t they look related?

Going out to find the cutest Christmas tree….that one is for the next time… gotta go do a bit of school for the kids that are not napping, get dinner on, and get Joel up…

His first baking by himself (ie. reading the instructions and ingredients and putting them together (with some help from me to reach some ingredients:)

Very delicious recipe…HAS to be with all that BUTTER!

I get so far behind on my pictures…so I have not done Thanksgiving ones yet, but I wanted to mention something that others might be interested in doing.  I decided to “do” / celebrate Advent (the coming of the Lord) this year.   Advent helps kids and adults alike prepare their hearts for Christ’s coming (His birthday AND his next soon coming).   Each day you read a bit from a portion of the Bible you want to or a Nativity story…or an advent book if you have one.  Then do a craft, or activity or just talk about what you read.  The little book I have has some ideas, but much could be added to them.  Today we read about the angels and are making “Egg carton angels” from THIS site.  It is fun…I think every other day or every couple days we might make some figure from the nativity scene out of these egg carton figures…even Essie could do some of it and liked it!!!   Of course we could not fit math in today because we did it (Sorry Lela).  Anyway, I can keep this up to date on other ideas for the Advent if anyone wants me to…let me know .

Here are a couple…unfinished angels …still need some lace and hair…we’ll see if we get it on:)

I spotted these mushrooms while driving near the beach..had to stop and take a picture of them!  They look like they are from some cartoon!  Anyone know the name (Aunt Shirley?:)  Bethann, although concerned about it being poisen, bravely displays it for the camera

The baby deliverers are here! I’m guessing they like crab?

The guys go out crabbing on a boat…

while we all (well the kids anyway)play at a beach nearby…Well, I played with my camera I guess !  That’s always fun! 

At around 6 months one needs to make sure he has a taste of anything and everything in front of him.  It is essential to make sure that one is not allergic to anything.  Joel does just fine with sand it seems…

This weeks science lesson: What is a barnacle?…and how many can we fit into our pockets???  Hey, that can be math too !

Gotta go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory while in Tillamook!  And HAVE to take a picture with Essie as a cow !  This (below) was Essie’s favorite sight though…She draws, dreams, gives thanks for, and drools over lollipops…oh and might bite your arm if you have one and she wants it :-/  We are working on that one !Oysters.  Gabe ate 3 or 4 of them…raw!  I touched my tongue on it…very salty and therefore I am sure they were tasty..just can’t handle the texture.Did you know that clams have FEET(or rather one foot)…here they are!  Cool I think!

And finally the CRAB!  Thanks for the good time guys!

Conversation in the car after a later night run to the library.

Me:  Kaleb how in the world can you read in this dark car?

Kaleb (matter of factly): Well, it’s because I eat lots of carrots.

We just got back from a quick beach trip with some friends.  We had a fun time crabbing…well the guys did anyway… in Tillamook.  We even took a look inside the cheese factory.  The weather was SUNNY and WARM on Sat. there!  The kids had fun playing in the water and us gals had fun talking !  Pictures to come … when I have some more time …

We harvested pumpkins…and made pumpkin butter …yum!Click HERE for the recipe

Taste testing…

The results of hard work and goopy hands…

Going to the Church Harvest Party Outreach….as a Cowboy(last minute change from Knight as he wanted to be the same as his cuz), Princess, Tiger, and kitty

Harvesting the BEAUTIFUL leaves…making them into wreaths!  A very easy and fun craft to do …and a wonderful gift to grandparents and neighbors ! 

Instructions: Go for a fun nature walk picking up sticks, moss, leaves, pinecones etc…Cut circle out of middle of paper plate.  Paint brown.  Hot glue the nature on!

 Close ups

Close up of the tiger

Gotta get some excercise in sometime…Selah’s princess dress found at Goodwill for $4, has become the only thing she wants to wear…I finally told her to put it in the wash and wear something else after 2 days…then as soon as it came out of the wash it was back on :-/.   I can only handle the light pink color for so long…we’ll see how long I go until it disapears…by accident of course :-)

The LONG awaited detail pictures of Joel!  Finally got it completed!!!  I wish I could have done this for all my kids…soooo cool!  I would like to do this proffesionally someday .  Here he is at about 3.5 months… in detail.

Ready for the BIG tub with BIG brother!

I love the look of nice clean bathtub water!Where is Essie?  Playing Hide-N-seek with K and S.  I went into the garage and this is the first thing I saw the other day.

“I found my feet and I am SO HAPPY about it!”

Essie wore this outfit when she was 2!

I woke up this morning to the kids bumping and banging around.  I got up to feed Joel and went to the living room.  The kids jumped out from behind furniture and yelled, “Happy Birthday”!!  They then gave me their handmade cards and sang THIS song for me . I did ask them to sing it one more time for me to be able to record it :0)

Kaleb asked me what I wanted him to make for my birthday and so we decided to make leaf pictures (my fall favorite craft)…so here are my gifts…

I can’t seem to put an actual video screen on here, but you can see it by clicking HERE