Six Flags

Thanks to Six Flags Read to Succeed program, our kids had the pleasure of enjoying their FIRST ever amusement park adventure!  The Read to Succeed program, available to registered schools and homeschools, is intended to encourage kids K-6 to engage in recreational reading.  With 6 hours of non-school-related reading, kids are rewarded with a free ticket to a Six Flags park.  We had our six school kids participate this past school year - all filling out their reading log and earning their free ticket in record time.  Six free tickets, plus one for the "teacher," and our entire family got to enjoy Six Flags St. Louis only having to purchase 2 tickets!  (Making this an affordable adventure for our family - thank you Six Flags!)

"I'll never ever forget when we went to Six Flags!" - Burke

This experience was a highlight of our Summer.  We hit the park on a perfect day - overcast and not crowded.  The kids were able to practically walk onto every ride and rode their favorites several times:  The Colossus Ferris Wheel, Grand Ole Carousel, swings, Screaming Eagle,  American Thunder, Sky Screamer (236 ft. high swings), Pandemonium, Antique Cars, River King Mine Train, Shazam! scrambler, Log Flume.

Davis:
"The screaming Eagle was kind of like terrifying, like every time it was jolting and bustling and I thought I would fall off.  It was my first Amusement Park and my first Roller Coaster and it was terrifying.  It was kind of terrifying it was like like like you were like falling through mid-air.  I rode it two times.  The swings were my favorite because you could like have an awesome view (236 ft. high) and you were like spinning around so fast and it was fun.  I think I rode the Log Flume like 8 times.  I liked that one because you were going like fast and you could bump and water would splash and at the end you would get like soaking wet.  The Scrambler was like really fast and you could almost touch like other peoples seats and I thought we were going to crash and I thought I was going to throw up like any second.  The Mine Train ride felt like you were like tilting at a very dangerous angle and you were going to fall off.  At the end you went into a little tunnel and it was terrifying because you went down at a really steep angle.    The most terrifying ride there was Pandemonium, it had lot of turns and the car you sat in turned around like really fast.  It was like 10 min. long and pretty big, like a roller coaster.  And there was like little old fashioned cars that you could drive under American Thunder.  Once when I was driving, the roller coaster went over top of me and freaked me out really bad, it was so loud and rumbling.  The funnel cake there was like really good.  It was like lots of little lines like spaghetti but cake-ish with white powdered sugar on it, it was awesome."

This day was wonderful.  We are so thankful for sharing this experience as a family and look forward to returning next year through Read to Succeed.

View on the ride home:

Loose Hair

Untwisted

Washed

Moisturized

Detangled

Trimmed

Shingled

We're wearing loose curls for a little bit :)

(stretched out, Hiwot's hair is 6-7 inches long!)

2 Months

Our sweet baby girl Addison is 2 months old!

coos

smiles

bright eyes

strong legs

lifts her head when on her belly

sleeps best when swaddled

nursing exclusively (!)

loves her paci

nurses 8x/ day

sleeps 5-7 hour stretches at night

rolled over (once!)

interacts with people and turns towards voices

social :)

 very alert

size 1 diapers

3 mo. size clothing

wears a hazel wood necklace

10-1/2 pounds
23.5 inches (90th percentile!)

long legs and long feet

snuggly

sucks her fist

sleeps in a crib at the foot of our bed

enjoys the kisses and constant affections of siblings

fussy times

honks
calms in her crib when she hears/sees us

Little Addy has had a very big 2nd month:  a 1,895 mile road trip to the Outer Banks, North Carolina!  (She was a dream on the long trip and a trooper throughout our 2 week vacation.)  She's also accompanied us to church, been our lovely third wheel on weekly date nights, attended a birthday party, a wedding, spent the day at Six Flags, and visited her first National Park. 

She met half of our extended family at the beach, and will be meeting the other half this weekend :)

We are amazed by this little one.  We marvel at her and love her dearly. 

Camp Young Lives 2015 - sneak peak

Slumber Party

Our annual "Summer Camp At Home" became an overnight camp thanks to a broken upstairs AC. 

To escape the 95 degree heat of our bedrooms, we pulled out the cots and mattresses and camped out in the sunroom: 5 cots, 3 mattresses, 1 pack-n-play, 1 bassinet, 1 sleeper sofa . . . and a family of 12 comfy together :)

We are so thankful for the coolness provided by our downstairs unit!

*After our 2 night slumber party, we've now moved back to our own beds :)

Archers - Grandpa

Grandpa (Mike's dad) came to our rescue in May.  He was "on call" waiting for the word, and then drove down to take over while we rushed to Georgia to meet our newborn baby.  For a full week, he helped to hold down the fort and took care of our crew: he had everyone for 2 days, and then watched the two youngest while the big 7 were away at camp and Mike worked (he also got to see the girls' dance recital!).  He enabled me to enjoy precious time away with our new baby.  We are incredibly grateful for his willingness to help.  He was a big help! 

Since he didn't get to actually meet Addy during his week, we were glad he returned later in June for a weekend visit.  It was nice to have a fun Grandpa weekend.  And we were so pleased for him to meet his 16th grandchild (especially after all the help he provided so early in her life).

This laid back weekend, Grandpa spent a lot of time snuggling with Addy and overseeing our backyard archers (and we went blackberry picking!). 

Thanks Grandpa!

Gramma

Addy's birth lined up perfectly with Gramma's schedule - Thank you Addison!

After 22 years teaching reading in schools for a second career, Gramma retired this year (her last day at school was just 2 days after Addy was born).

We are so proud of Gramma.  She has lovingly shared her passion of reading with hundreds and hundreds of children over the years.  Through her dedication and tireless giving, she has made a difference in a lot of lives.

We're excited for this next chapter in her life.  We have a feeling she'll find plenty to keep her busy (13 grandkids!). 

Soon after our arrival home from Georgia, Mike had to travel out of town for work - we were so pleased Gramma was able to come down for the week.  I am so thankful for her help around the house, preparing meals, holding a baby, and entertaining the crew.  This was not a relaxing post-retirement week - she stayed so busy!  (and enabled me to have a nap each day :)

I am so grateful for her help!

cherry delight, sky zone, speech therapy, pancakes, karate, ice cream, 

playground and beach, dinner out, books

Thank you Gramma for giving us all such a special week! 

VBS

In June, our crew spent 4 days at an overnight church camp - they had a blast.  And then a few weeks later, the same seven kiddos had fun participating in VBS at our neighbor's church.  (6 evenings of Ya Ya Ya Ya Yes to Va Va VBS!)  Lot's of fun!

We were especially thankful for these well-timed adventures (distractions) for these big kids so soon after the arrival of their new baby sister :)

7 weeks

7 weeks and 10 pounds, 6 ounces . . . 

Addy, our little one is growing fast!

Addy looking up at her protector puppy pal Layla :)

OBX 2015

Eight

"Hi, I am Hiwot and I am eight years old.  I have nine siblings and I am the oldest girl.  I like art, and dance, and sports, and board games, and I am learning to play chess." 


Our sweet, shy, graceful, loving, sensitive, little mama, beautiful, ballerina, skilled runner, "magic-haired,"  dimples,  cartwheeling, kitchen helper, book reader, crafter, fashion conscious, baby whisperer, growing confidence, hardworking, determined, patient, sassy diva, kind friend, big sister . . . is eight-years-old.

Happy Birthday Hiwot!!!

Our sweetheart, Hiwi, Hanna Banana, Hanna the Hammer, we love you!

 

favorites:

food:  Ethiopian food

drink:  soda (Fanta)

dessert:  ice cream (peppermint)

restraurant:  Red Robin's

pizza place:  dominos

movie:  Superman

color:  purple and teal

book:  Ramona

school subject:  math

inside activity:  sewing and coloring and playing games

outside activity:  baseball and playing on the swing set

being a big sister:  I can take care of babies.  I like to read them books and make them laugh.

having big brothers:  I can play sports with them (and I'm faster than them)

animal:  zebra and horses

place to visit:  the park

vacation spot:  Outerbanks, NC

toy:  Legos

with dad:  read "The Fellowship of the Rings"

with mom:  outings (grocery shopping)

best quality:  patient

best skill:  run fast, cartwheels, headstands, and dance

help around the house:  I can take care of the babies when they're fussy and change their diapers.  

career aspirations:  teach ballet

life in 25 years:  I want to have 3 or 4 babies, and when I grow up I want my husband to work with daddy.  I want to live in Ohio.  When my children grow up, I want them to meet you (mom) every week.  I want mom to stay alive until old age and I want my dad to live til old age, and all my siblings.  

Ideal day:  when I wake up, for breakfast I'll have bagels and bacon and orange juice.  then we're going to play outside and then after we play we're going to have lunch.  our lunch is going to be tuna fish salad sandwiches, celery and ranch, and water.  then the babies are going to take a nap and everybody is going to have quiet reading time for one hour.  then we have to make a model of somebody's face on drawing paper.  and then the babies will get up and then we'll have dinner.   dinner is going to be Chinese food, our drink is going to be mango juice.  then we're going to have family movie night.  for family movie night we're going to watch Minions.   I think that's all for the day.  

looking forward to being 8:  this will be my 5th year of dance and on the 5th year we get a trophy.  And, I get to move up to a different math book. 

Blackberries

June and July is the time for blackberry picking.  Usually it's a hot (and sweaty) outing, but this year we lucked out with a beautiful breezy, overcast, 80 degree day. 

Our expert pickers quickly filled 3+ buckets full of delicious, plump, juicy berries.  We've enjoyed them immensely - eating nearly half of our haul plain and over ice cream.  We've frozen the remainder to be made into jelly later this summer and enjoyed year round.