Big Boy Room

He moved out of the hallway nursery and into the boys dormitory . . .
Kolpin is so proud to join his brothers as the newest addition to the big boy room!

With 8 children, we're blessed to have a room in our home large enough to fit 5 twin beds.   We've had to be a bit creative in our 3-bedroom home!  This former attic space works well for the boys.  It is overdue for a paint job (and we might have a few play-induced holes to repair :) - but the boys are excited to help out with this upcoming project. 

Kolpin is so thrilled to be with his brothers - he's now one of the big boys!  He is still adjusting to all the new excitement and freedom of the big room (a lot different than a crib in the hallway alcove!).  Kolpin's not sleeping as much a night, so he's been a bit sleepy and a little grumpy during the day . . . but he's napping great! (when he gets the entire room to himself : )

Our Family

We love to support adoptions.  
We also love the opportunity to have a family portrait.

So, we jumped when given the chance last month to do both.

A local family recently hosted an awesome fundraiser for their Honduras adoption: family portraits!  Thanks to the generosity of some amazingly talented photographers, they were able to offer portrait mini-sessions for a donation.  All proceeds going toward their adoption fund. 

What a great idea . . . a win-win!

 

It was quick and fun . . . and such a blessing to get family pictures.

A few kids were squished and hidden on this shot : )

We are thrilled with our new family photos (taken by an incredibly talented young lady who also happens to be one of our kids' favorite babysitters).  

*She took our picture two years ago, also for an adoption fundraiser.
We were thankful to get an updated portrait - our family has gown a bit since 2010 :)

Business Travels

It's no fun when Mike has to travel for work. His presence is crucial to the successful running of our family's day - when he is absent, we miss him!  Fortunately he seldom travels. . . but when he does, we like to spend our time with family.  It's nice to have a few extra hands to help out, and makes our time missing Mike a lot more fun.  

Two weeks ago, taking advantage of Mike's business travels, we loaded up the crew and spent time with family in Cincinnati.  And thanks to a short trip to Indianapolis, we got to see everyone!  Both sides of the family: the grandparents, 10 uncles and Aunts, 8 cousins!

While Mike traveled further North alone, we got to have a fun week in Cincinnati:  

playground run-arounds, school at Gramma and Grandpa's, deer in the backyard, snuggles with family, LolliPops concert, Union Terminal Museum Center Train Display, wrestling with cousins, Skyline Chili, Ikea, Graeter's Ice Cream, raking leaves, magic shop show,  bowling, Krohn Conservatory

Unfortunately, we ended our exciting week with a bit of sickness.  

We've had some pitiful boys.

Fortunately, we weren't all housebound.  Grandpa bravely took the healthy kids out alone on outings.

Praying for quick healing (and no more spreading of this yucky sickness!).   

Thanks to our families for a wonderful week!  We look forward to another visit soon : )

Project Mode

We are the very proud owners of the most comfortable sofa.  This 30-year-old beauty was once the focal of Amy's family's formal living room.  Eight years ago, moved into our Minnesotan home, we gave this couch a facelift with a new red denim slipcover and re-padded cushions.

We LOVE our red couch : )

Now, living down south, our current home lets in an impressive amount of natural sunlight - wonderful for increasing endorphins, enhancing the immune systems, and encouraging circulation . . . but a bear on upholstery!  All of our furnishings have faded significantly in this bring Tennessee sunshine.  

Our awesome red couch has faded to PINK, despite yearly dye-baths.  

So, following in the footsteps of our other upholstered pieces, the couch got another makeover.  This time in a Sunbrella UV resistant/ stain resistant fabric.  Hopefully this new cover will stay red.   

  

 Before: (the picture fails to fully capture the faded pink of the sofa. . . it really is pink!)

A glimpse at the original covering.

This project was originally planned for this past summer, but was put on the back burner while our school year began.  The temporary sewing table and 20 yards of fabric has sat, waiting, since August.  Wanting to get this project crossed off before the Holiday season began, we gave the kids a "Fall Break" and I got busy: 3 days of sewing cushions and a crazy 24-hour last drive to sew and finish the body and it's DONE - whew!  Full "project mode" in full swing.  Thankfully the weather was gorgeous so the kids could play outside and I have an 8-year-old who can prepare breakfast and lunch for 9, or this may not have ever gotten done.  

Now it's time to move on. . . what's next?

The after, the brand-new updated styling: BRIGHT RED with no skirt:

Found treasures, lost deep in the sofa for nearly 20 years, from Gramma's collection.

Work and Play

Our Thanksgiving Day work and play:

Some worked, some played.
We made little progress.
It was nice to be together as a family.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much for which to be thankful.  Yes we should be thankful every day, but we try to very intentional on Thanksgiving in teaching the kids about how blessed we truly are.  When asked to make their own list, we were saddened by how it started off with a plethora of material sundries, but we recognized an opportunity to remind the kids about other, less-tangible blessings in our lives.

From the mouths of the kids, "We are thankful for":

.  books  .  babies  .  bikes  .  mommy and daddy  .  toys  .

.  forts  .  legos  .  princesses  .  windows  .  lights  .  lamps  .  food  .

.  God  .   heaven  .  turkey  .  comics  .  coaches  .  movies  .  money  .  pencils  .

.  grandparents  .  families  .  friends  .  sleeping  .  magazines  .  shoes  . 

.  superheros  .  blankets  .  school  .  cookies  . children  .

We enjoyed a quiet day at home.  While the traditional turkey roasted, we worked together raking and burning leaves.  In the evening we made turkey hand art, read Thanksgiving storybooks, and feasted, reminding the kids over and over again it was "turkey" not "chicken". 

It was a special treat to have poultry on the table : )

Baby Blues

 Baby Blues and a halo of Flyaway Golden Blond

. . . That's our Maegli : )

School - month 2

We're entering the busy holiday season where it's a bit harder to fit in all our schooling . . . but we always seem to be in a busy season. 
(The kids have been pretty busy building their collection of forts in the backyard - it's quite impressive).

When we hit a busy time, we continue our devotionals and Bible reading, and then do our best to focus on the 3 Rs: Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic.  The kids have been making great progress in their math books, studying multi-digit carry-over multiplication, subtraction, and beginning addition and number sequencing.  In writing, we're mastering cursive, copywork, and learning how to help an active 5-year-old's attention long enough to attempt writing letters with at least some control : )  For reading, Hendrick is flying through novels, Davis is proud of his level 2 reading abilities, and Tesfaye has made an amazing reading breakthrough - he's reading beginning reading books independently, quite impressive for our ESL student!    

After we complete the basics, we get to have fun with history.  We've finished up President Jefferson's presidency, learned about the Supreme Court, and moved onto President Madison and the War of 1812.  We have read wonderful books together about early western settlers, the Mississippi River valley, and Native American tribes.  We tried to sensitively teach our children about the sad history and tragic mistreatment of the American Indian Nations as we learned of Tecumseh and the Prophet, and the unfair payments Indian lands.  As hard as it is, we can't only teach the good stuff - not all history is good.  It is important to learn about these black marks in our country's past and to learn from them.  We pray our children will develop compassion for all.

We have enjoyed utilizing our "extras" to round out our school day and to occupy some while others are digging deeper into studies:  art projects and coloring, puzzles, Memory (with sight words), POP letter and word game, Snap Circuits, Camp board game, Explode the Code phonics work, Mind Benders logic puzzles, and Tangrams.  
(We've also enjoyed lots of field trips : )

We are pleased to have completed 2+ months . . . and are 50 days into our 180 day school year. 
We are finding our grove and are so proud of our kids. 

9 months

Miss Maclaren is 9-months-old!

.  crawling  .  chews on everything  .  sleeps snuggling a blanket  .  drooling(!)  .  

.  says "mamama", "bababa", "dadada" (and lots of other babbling)  .  fast  .  

.  pulls to a stand  .  chews on everything  .  loves her pacifier  .  hits and drums  .  

.  passes toys back and forth with hands  .  likes to be held  .  grabs and faces  .  

.  happy to be carried around by siblings  .  doesn't like to be alone  .  growls  .  shrieks  .

.  still sleeps in our arms  .  gets everywhere and in to everything  .  6 teeth  .  

.  blows raspberries and buzzes her lips  .  sleeps 9 hours at night  .  giggles  .  

At 9 months old, Maclaren is wearing size 9 mo. and some 12 mo. clothing.   She has so much personality and is incredibly interactive.  She is a strong girl and quickly muscles herself all over.  Being incredibly daring and thinks she should be able to stand unassisted - she falls down a lot (unfortunately, she has the bruises to prove it) - but is hardly phased and very persistent.

We are falling in to a more regular schedule:  Maclaren takes two naps each day, sleeps 9 hours each night, nurses 5 times each day, and eats one solid meal.
We are slowly introducing foods to her.  She's mastered pureed carrots, mashed banana, mashed potato, and rice cereal.  Just recently she expertly attempted finger food.  She loved sitting at the table during dinner and entertaining us all while feeding herself banana pieced.  The only food she hasn't loved: applesauce - based on her reaction to each spoonful, the sauce was too tart!

The kids are enamored.  Miss Maclaren is never lacking attention.  She seems to love entertaining her captive audience, enjoys all of their affections, and is happy to be lugged around by anyone.  Now that Maclaren is growing some hair, the big sisters have fun playing "beauty shop" and brushing her soft hair.  Although, Burke did recently ask how we know that Maclaren is a girl . . . "her hair looks like boy hair" - it will grow  : )

This precious girl is a joy : )

 

Big Boy

Guess it's time for our big boy Kolpin to move into a big boy bed . . . 

He has realized he can climb out of the crib : )

It's time.

Kolpin gets to move out of the hallway nursery and into the big boy room.  

5-bed dormitory

Awesome!

Gypsy

Maegli has been labled our "Gypsy Princess Artist". 

She exhibits so much of her bubbly and creative 4-year-old self through her attire.  
She very proudly dresses herself, changing outfits several times each day.  She wears mostly pink (including panties and favorite pink sparkle shoes), piles on hair bows and necklaces, and typically tops it all with a princess dress or crown. 

She loves to look pretty : )

*"Sheepy" is still a constant companion. 

Vote

We voted today.

How blessed are we!  As Americans, we have the privilege and freedom to vote. 

We have a voice.
As Christians, we have the opportunity to vote based on biblical values, and we have peace in knowing, no matter what, God is over this Election.
Whatever the results, we have the charge to pray for our leaders.   
"Pray...for kings and all others who are in authority."  1 Timothy 2:2

We are thankful we have the right to vote.
We are thankful for the people who have fought to preserve our right to vote.
God Bless America. 

Ozark Adventure

For the first "High Adventure" excursion of the 2012/2013 Cub Scout year, the pack traveled to the Ozark National Forest to explore Richland Creek Wilderness.  The area has received praise of being "one of the most scenic areas in the country".  The Richland Creek area was remote, nestled deep in the Ozarks, miles away from paved roads (and modern conveniences).  The wilderness was aglow in peak fall foliage yellows and reds.  Breathtakingly beautiful and so refreshing: turquoise pools, terraced bluffs, and a crystal clear creek running through the Ozark Plateau. 

Saturday, ten scouts made the trip to Arkansas - with dads, siblings and a few moms, we were a group of 30.  We set up a slew of tents in a primitive campsite and kept toasty with a  flint and steel started fire.  The kids skipped rocks in the creek, played soccer, had a survival lesson in how to use the sun to determine true north, shaved smooth walking sticks, and cooked their own food. Only 5 kids fell in the cold water (quickly warmed and dried fireside) and we kept our Bear Spray close-by - just in case :). 

 

 

Early Sunday, a large group of tough hikers set out to conquer the 3-mile hike Richland Falls.  The rugged creekside trail writhed, dropped, and climbed.  The hikers frog-hopped boulders, clung to cliffs, and were treated with views of the soaring bluffs. The creek was slightly dry, so Richland Falls, typically a 100-ft curtain of cascading water, was just a small trickle but impressive nonetheless.  The Cub Scouts were so proud to master the tough 5-mile hike! 
(From our crew, only our 3 scouts and daddy made the challenging hike, while the rest of us explored closer to base and tore down camp). 

It was an amazing experience to share with these boys.

One of the goals of the pack is to give our scouts opportunities for high adventure, get them outside, and share with them God's awesome creation.  I'm thankful families are welcome to tag along : )

We all would love to return to Richland Creek for extended camping and hiking. 
Burke has decided this is where he would like to build his future home!