Christmas Tree

The kids have been counting down the days for this annual tradition - a visit to a local Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving, and decorating the house for our Christmas celebration.   (The kids have been collecting and wrapping gifts and listening to Christmas music the past month - they're a bit excited!). 

Early Black Friday, we ventured out to the tree farm.  Warmed with hot cocoa, we rode behind the tractor to select our perfect tree from amongst the leyland cypress patch.  The kids especially enjoy racing through the rows of trees at the farm, and we love the subtle scent, narrow footprint, and soft needles of the cypress trees.  (And, we may have spilled cocoa all over ourselves during the hayride :)

After stuffing our tree into the van - it barely fit - we brought it back home to set up and decorate.  The kids loved pulling out our Christmas bins: santa hats, nativity sets, stockings, Christmas cookie cutters, Christmas movies and books, and the ornaments.  It's fun to reminisce over ornaments collected from our travels and ones the kids have made over the years - handprints, pictures, and painted decorations. 

We love this season of Christmas :)

Thanksgiving

Our crew's thankful list:

Christmas (2)

food (3)

you

soccer

"babys" (5)

brothers

grass

pizza

dog

God's love (5)

electricity

"Eenglish"

pens

family

movies!

God's "sacrafice" 

family

Ben Carson

neighbors

Books!!!

GOD (3)

Dad's Job

our town

earth

home (2)

guitars

clothes

"cuteniss"

NATURE

frogs

my mom

siblings

paper

homework

chores

animals

Jesus (4)

lions

"colers"

Adoption

flowers

friends, "freinds," "friands"

Latin

my mom and dad (2)

"light bolbs"

trees

"turkys"

Legos

cars

sisters

In time to enjoy our turkey feast, Kolpin (proudly) pulled out his snaggletooth - the incredibly loose tooth that's been dangling in the center of his mouth for the past two weeks.  Our big boy has now lost FIVE teeth, and has a sixth that's wiggly. 

On our restful Thanksgiving Day, in between meal prep, the kids and Mike cleaned out our gutters, hung outdoor Christmas lights, and made more progress clearing our yard of leaves.  Inside, we colored Thanksgiving themed coloring sheets and watched "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." 

This year, we cooked 2 turkeys (!), and enjoyed our traditional feast of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, spicy cheesy green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin pie - shared with a friend.  After dinner, we boiled the turkey carcasses and made a delicious broth for a turkey soup and assembled other leftovers in a Thanksgiving turkey casserole.  We've been enjoying our turkeys! 

Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song.  

For the Lord is the great God, the King above all gods.  

Psalm 95:2-3

6 Months

Sweet, amazing Addy is 6-months-old!
It's hard to believe she's been with us for half a year - and after 6 months of social worker visits and post-placement reports, we're looking forward to finalizing her adoption soon!

This little one is loved by so many. 

At 6 months:

sleeps 10-11 hours at night

(stirs several times but calms quickly with a paci pop)

giggles

blows raspberries

open and shuts her hands (beginning of a hand wave?)

TWO TEETH!

drool baby

naps 3 hours each afternoon

naps 1 hour each morning (but flexible)

snuggles

loves to have people talk to her

social

babbles

"ga ga ga ga, da da da da, ah ah da deee, ay ah yah yah"

dry skin 

reaches for faces

has rocked on knees (!)

likes to be held in a stand

stayed with her first babysitter

picks her feet up and steps when her siblings "walk" her

balances in a sit and quickly topples over

sleeps in mama and dada's room (in a mini crib at the foot of the bed)

sleeps swaddled (don't know how long we can continue this)

happy

grabs, shakes, and chews on toys

takes 30oz. in bottles each day (6 bottles)

fuzzy hair

dirty ears

loves warm baths

 enjoys being worn on mama's hip in the sling carrier

snores

waves arms when excited

loves, loves, loves the attention of siblings

does crunches when laying down (she doesn't want to miss anything)

Addy has grown so much and so fast - we marvel at her.  The first year is so special.  

This next month, we're looking forward to introducing solid foods, possibly transitioning her out of our bedroom, and working to master sitting.  

We have a lot to look forward to with our sweetheart!

So CUTE!!!

6 Months Old

Princess Girl

So stinkin' cute and so stinkin' talented.
We are constantly amazed at the latest creations from our ever-evolving 3-year-old's artistic expressions.
Her latest inclusions in her "princess" drawings: eye brows, eye lashes, lips with smile lines, bold earrings, puff sleeves, and heart shaped bodices.
*The picture on the right is "me and my boyfriend." (!)

Snuggles and Smiles

Week 18, 19, 20

It's hard to believe we're half-way there to sweet babe #11.  The kids can hardly wait to meet their newest sibling, but we're praying this pregnancy continues as long as possible - another 17+ weeks would be fantastic.

This 7th pregnancy brings it's own fun (besides more weight gain and popping out earlier than ever), I get to battle circulation issues.  Circulation trouble in my legs, starting with the 5th, has been compounded with each pregnancy - related to progesterone deficiency.  I'm fortunate that these trouble are relatively minor, manifesting in spider veins.  I'm thankful to not experience numbness or varicose veins, but the blood valves in my legs are obviously not working effectively.  To help prevent further damage and do what I can to keep the blood moving, I'm taking several steps:  wearing compression socks/leggings, topically applying lemongrass essential oil, taking herbs several times a day to help with circulation, exercising, drinking lots and lots and lots of water, and putting my feet up as much as I can. 
Fun :)

I am incredibly thankful to be feeling great.  I have energy, the baby's moving lots, and besides feeling big, I feel fantastic.  I feel so fortunate and privileged to experience this pregnancy and so blessed to have a sweet baby growing within - it's amazing!

*We are praying that the complete placenta previa rights itself over the next couple months. 

Painted Pumpkins

10 painted pumpkins in November :)

School Plan 2015-2016

A bit late posting this, but this is our Curriculum plan for the 2015-2016 school year.

Having switched curricula in recent years, namely math, we are playing a bit of catch-up to get to where we'd like to be within the program.  And we're going to make grammar a top priority focus this year.  We've made ourselves a pretty good schedule, allowing me to work with each kid individually (or in groups) on math and language arts so that we can make good progress this school year.  

2015-2016

All:

History: Tapestry of Grace
Science: Apologia - Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
Dr. Doo Riddles
Devotional: Old Story New
Weekly memorization
Weekly Art and Music study with classical and artistic masters
Read Alouds
LOTS of independent reading!


Sixth Grade (Hendrick):

Grammar:  Rod and Staff 5, Rod and Staff 6 (he will be ready for level 6 in November)
Math: Saxon 6/5 and Saxon 7/6 (we're hoping he'll be ready to begin Saxon 8/7 next year so that he will be ready to begin Algebra in 8th grade)
Spelling:  Rod and Staff 5, Rod and Staff 6
Writing: IEW
Latin:  First Form Latin by Memoria Press
Bible:  "Who's God" by Apologia
Extras: typing, chess

Fifth Grade/Fourth Grade (Tesfaye and Davis):
*Tesfaye is working mostly at a 4th grade level this year.  Considering he's only been speaking English for 4+ years, he's doing remarkably well in his schooling.  We'd like to get him up to grade level, but our top priority is for him to learn well and love learning.  This does help logistically since we're able to teach him and Davis together.

Grammar: Rod and Staff 3, Rod and Staff 4
Math: Saxon 3, Saxon 5/4 (we're hoping both boys will be ready to begin Saxon 6/5 next year)
Spelling:  Rod and Staff 2, Rod and Staff 3
Handwriting: Cursive Handwriting Without Tears
Latin:  Prima Latina by Memoria Press
Bible:  "Who's God" by Apologia
Extras: Daily Geography, Mind Benders Logic Puzzles, Chess

Third Grade/ Second Grade (Burke, Hiwot, Maegli):
*Every child is different.  Burke struggled through his schooling in the past few years, so we decided to "hold" him back and teach him along with his sisters this year.  As with Tesfaye, we'd like to eventually get him up to grade level, but right now we want him to find success where he's at.

Grammar: Rod and Staff 2
Math: Saxon 2
Spelling: Rod and Staff 2
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears
Extras:  Daily Geography, Chess,  Building Thinking Skills Logic Puzzles, flash cards, games

Kindergarten (Kolpin):

Math: Math-U-See Primer, Saxon 1 (we're planning to switch to Saxon 1 halfway through the year)
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears
Phonics: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Englemann
Extras: puzzles, games, flash cards, coloring

School 2015-2016, October

As of October 31st, we have completed 64 days in our 2015-2016 school year - a good start (especially considering we took a week off school in October!).  We are feeling very good about our schedule and our progress. 

This month, as we finished our Middle Ages unit, our history studies took to us into the Crusades, Marco Polo's travels, Samurai warrior, Genghis Khan and the Mongols, China and Japan, The Black Plague, The Hundred Years War, and Gutenberg.
To celebrate the end of this unit, we dressed in costumes and enjoyed a five-course candlelit Medieval Feast. 

We have continued our daily symposium time, focusing on art, literature, and music - spending a week on each piece.  We listened to Verdi's Anvil Chorus, Capriccio Espagnol by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto 3.  We spend time studying Picasso's "Three Musicians" and 14th Century Mongolian Art.  The kids also memorized and recited  (including Maclaren!) "Every Time I Climb a Tree" by David McCord, and "Daddy Fell Into the Pond" by Alfred Noyes. 

The kids have continued to make great progress in their Math and Language Arts studies.  Kolpin is doing great with skip counting, basic addition facts and place value.  Burke, Maegli and Hiwot spend time each day with money math, calendars, clocks, patterns, charts, word problems, temperatures, and addition and subtraction facts.  Davis and Tesfaye (besides diagaming sentences) are learning multiplication and geometry.  Hendrick continues to work on HUGE division problems. 

We've also been reading "Adam of the Road," and lots of Beatrix Potter. 
It's been a productive school Month! 

Autumn Princesses

2nd Tooth!

Addison has cut her second tooth!  The first one has fully popped out, the second one just broke to the surface.  She's excited to use them chewing everything :)