Flying and a flying horse?

We got to go visit some friends this past weekend.  We'd been trying to get this visit worked out for a long time, and we were so glad it finally happened.  They live a ways away from us in farm country.  He's a pilot.  They have a runway in their front yard.  Kids played all evening and the next morning while they waited for their turns to fly.

Right away Miss F noticed the airplane and was quite excited.  She started signing "horse" or "cow"  (it's the same sign for her since her fingers can't do the details of each one) every time she saw the plane.  We showed her the sign for airplane, but she insisted on excitedly signing "horse" every time the airplane appeared.  What a fun, big, yellow horse. :)

Most of the kids went up.  Mr. R and Mr. S decided they didn't want to go up.  I think Mr. S was just having too much fun playing with his friends.   Miss F seemed content enough to just watch.  Mr. M got to go on the last flight of the morning and help put the airplane away in the hanger.

What a fun adventure!  We're thankful for sweet friends to share adventures and fellowship with.

Gingerbread day

Today was our gingerbread day.  Miss E spent the day mixing up, rolling out, cutting out, and baking gingerbread men.  I did most of the icing, but I had plenty of little helpers too.

Mr. R and Mr. S spent the morning building gingerbread houses for everyone as well as themselves.  Miss E took a bit of a break from her gingerbread men to build her own "house."

Mr. M had a blacksmithing class to go to in the morning.

In the late afternoon everyone got to decorate their houses.

We even kept the gingerbread theme with gingersnap chicken for dinner.  YUM!

*We know that God is sovereign and that He directs our paths each day, but today He showed us that very clearly in the course he set for us.  We had dinner plans to go to friends' home for this evening.  In the morning they let me know that something came up and needed to reschedule.  We easily adjusted our plans and went about our day.  Around the time we would have been getting ready to go I got a call.  It was my neighbor.  Her husband had fell from a ladder and was injured, he needed help and she wasn't home.  Rob was out the door in a minute followed quickly by Miss E.  I quickly gave instructions, here at home to the older boys, and then ran over there too.  His wife was home shortly and took him to the ER while we took their boys to our house to play for the evening.  The boys had made extra gingerbread houses, so we had plenty to go around.  These little boys that had just seen their daddy get hurt got to spend a happy evening playing with their friends and decorating gingerbread houses reassured that their daddy was in good hands and being well cared for.

I'm super proud of my kids.  Everyone did just what they needed to in this emergency.  Miss E didn't bat an eye at being sent over to help daddy with the situation.  She helped with the little kids over there and also helped me get things cleaned up.  At home Mr. R did great taking over watching little ones (who also did great by staying calm and playing nicely), Mr. M and Mr. S took over my dinner prep and got it all in the oven.  We were thankful that God gave us this opportunity to serve our sweet friends and neighbors.

Support the Pizza Party!

My kids saw these shirts (if you can't read them, they say "Proud Supporter of the Pizza Party") a couple of months ago and asked for them, and then wanted to have a Pizza Party on election day.  That seemed like a good party to get behind this year. :0

Miss E put together the invitations.  We're in a co-op that meets every Tuesday.  We made it easy and just let each kid invite one family.  We've got a lot of kids. Some of our friends have lots of kids.  It looks like there will be a good turn out.

The kids did all of the clean-up, set-up, and prep work/decorating.  We're buying the pizza and soda.  Now, don't go thinking we took this election lightly or skipped out on the real voting.  Nope, we just thought we'd also try to make some lemonade out of the lemons we were given. ;)

No matter how things turn out, The King of Kings is on His throne.  Our trust is in HIM as His children.

For kingship belongs to the LORD, and He rules over the nations. Psalm 22;28

Stay-cation continued...with a visit from dear friends!

The week before beginning our stay-cation I was shopping for all of our food at Costco.  I received a text early in the trip....what were our plans for next week?  Were we up for some visitors?  Oh I'd been waiting for this day/text!  We'd been hoping to see this dear family and were so glad God had changed our plans around so those days were totally free for hospitality and fellowship.  Yippee!!!!

We enjoyed sweet times of family worship.

A trip to The Garden of the gods got lots of wiggles out of the 16 children.

We played and played and played.  Inside and outside.  We enjoyed sweet times of catching up and hearing what the Lord has been doing in each other's lives.  We were so thankful that the "F" family thought to come visit us with their vacation time.  We were so blessed to have them here!

Did I mention there were 16 kids in our house?  20 people total?  You never would have guessed it.  Everything went fairly smoothly.  I'm always amazed how well some large families can function together.  We just love filling our home with the love and laughter of dear ones.

16 children all ready for church and sitting still.  Yes, it can be done. :)

Evening walks and pony rides

We've been enjoying some beautiful evenings with walks on the horse trails behind our house.  We're usually with our neighbors for these walks.  The kids have such a great time together, running, exploring, and picking wildflowers.  Older kids often take their bikes along.

This last time our neighbor brought her pony for the kids to ride.  Miss C had been asking to ride for quite a while.  All of the kids had a great time taking turns.

Miss F does very well on our walks and seems to like them.

Sometimes little legs are just not able to make it all the way home.  We're thankful to have daddy along to help us out!

While dad's away...

The kids will play!  Well, they play everyday anyways, but we managed to do ok and have some fun while daddy was away.  Even though we missed him.

We went on walks with the neighbors.  1 mile the first night and 1 1/2 the second night.  Miss A walked (nearly) all of it.  The first night she ran.  The second night it was much cooler and she stuck close to me.  Miss F liked the walk too.

All bundled up and ready to go.

Little Miss F was having a hard time getting to sleep.  We Face Timed with daddy and snuggled and then she slept all night in her own bed.  I think she was missing her dad.  She sure loves her people.

Miss A climbed into bed early the first morning and said "more daddy" while signing "more" and then saying "my daddy gone."  As much as she was very clear that she missed him she held up quite nicely.

Miss E had been looking forward to having SO friends over to watch the movie Outbreak for quite a while.  One of her Science Olympiad events the last 2 years has been Disease Detectives (epidemiology).  We had a great group of friends and lots of treats.

I'm thankful that this assignment does not involve too many trips away from home.  When they do happen I'm all the more thankful for the sweet community that God has placed us in.

Memorial Day

Ah, Memorial Day.  Not just an extra Monday off to BBQ and party.  It's a day to remember those that died in service to our nation.  We gathered with friends from a couple of churches for this day of remembrance.

Military Roll was called.  While several past and present Military service men in attendance were able to answer 31 men and women were not present to answer.  They died in defense of our nation, rights and freedoms between last Memorial Day and today.  It can be so easy to take all of this for granted, we must not.  When we remember the lives given we also remember Him that gave the ultimate sacrifice.  Christ not only gave His life, but also suffered the wrath of God to pay our debt so that we may live eternally with Him.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a week we've had celebrating and giving thanks!  God is so good to us!

On Monday we went into Daddy's office for a feast.  It's always fun to head in there to say "hi."

That evening we also managed to get the snow tires on the van; before the next storm came through.

On Tuesday the neighbor kids were going to come over for a Charlie Brown style feast, but they got sick.  We missed them, but the kids had a good time watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving shows while eating their popcorn and jelly beans (among other things).

Wednesday was full of baking and sledding.

On Thursday we were blessed to be able to join two other families to share a Thanksgiving meal together.  It was so nice to get to know these sweet families a bit better.  We also learned a couple of fun parlor games.  We were thankful that the storm that came through did not dump much snow, it just made everything white and extra pretty.

The kids enjoyed opening gifts (books) from grandparents.

Black Friday brought a quick trip out for a couple of items AND another Thanksgiving feast!  I always cook the full meal, even when we go to someone else's house....so we took the opportunity to invite friends over.  Mmmm....more yummy food, fellowship and lots of sledding for some of the kids and friends.

She was sure this should come home with her.

Now we're looking forward to a quiet day eating leftovers, playing games, putting away fall decor, and pulling out Christmas!  I'm sure there will be sledding involved as well.  The boys are thankful that mommy voted for 2 sleds instead of just 1.