Camping

We enjoyed an end of summer camp out before Daddy needed to get back to teaching.  We had a great time hiking, fishing, just hanging out at the site, cooking over the open flame, s'mores, reading around the camp fire, paddle boats, playing....

Just a few s'mores

Notice the fish?  Mr. M provided his own food on this trip.

We did end up having a couple of bumps along the way.  Miss E was stung by a bee (on the bottom of her foot) the day before we left.  While not a major reaction her foot was a bit swollen and sore.  We spent quite a bit of time together hanging out at the camp site talking and reading.  It could have been worse....Oh wait, it was...Miss J got sick and we ended up leaving 18 hours earlier than expected.  She wanted to be in her own bed and I wanted her to be there too.  She did well and recovered very nicely once we got home. :)

Teaching outside

Miss J was teaching classes out on the patio today.  Some of her students were a bit unruly, but she managed to teach about plants and horses.

Earlier in the day I was in the garden with most of the littles.  Miss J told me she was glad we had a garden because it's helping her get ready for when she's all grown up.  My heart smiled.  I told her that's my job; to get her ready to be a grown up, and my most important job is to teach her to love God.  At that I felt the sweetest little tug on my arm.  I looked down into the blue eyes of 2 year old Miss A "I love God"  "I love Jesus"   I think those were some of the most encouraging words I could hear.  My job is not done, but the seeds are planted.  They need plenty of watering and care for several more years, but I'm thankful for the encouragement today.

Stitch Fix review

Rob made some great plans for us to celebrate my birthday.  As I was figuring out what to wear on our dates I realized everything I was picking was from Stitch Fix!    I did another review and shared some thoughts on my other blog.

I'm sharing because Stitch Fix has really been an encouragement and blessing to me the past year or so.  I do get credit when someone follows my links, signs up, AND gets their Fix shipped to them. :)

Happy Birthday to me!

Rob and the kids blessed me so much this year with their thoughtful gifts and plans.  God has given so many wonderful blessings in a life here on earth that I don't deserve.  What a gift to be able to celebrate another year of life with my wonderful husband and sweet children.

All dressed up for her date with mommy and daddy!

Sweet children bringing me gifts.  They were so excited to see my reactions to their gifts.  They were each so thoughtful.

Miss E made cupcakes!

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. :)

Stay-cation!

We had set aside another week for camping, but things were not coming together for that.  We decided to just stay home and enjoy several things around here we'd been wanting to do.  All of the kids were super excited about that plan too.  We started out with another trip to the zoo.

The next day we headed to the mining museum.

We'd been wanting to head up to the top of Pike's Peak.  So we headed on up.  We stopped part way up for fishing and lunch.  The drive was great, until we were getting closer to the top.  Whew!  It made me a bit nervous, I was glad we had a GREAT driver taking us up. 

It was a bit windy up top.  The kids were happy to get inside for doughnuts and hot chocolate.

Independence Day!

What a blessing to be able to celebrate our country's independence and to remember the sacrifice those men made.  It was no small thing to sign that Declaration of Independence; had things not gone the way they did they were risking being hanged for treason.  God has been good in blessing the United States of America.  We are thankful for those that continue to sacrifice to protect us and our nation.

"Land of the Free Because of the Brave"

4 months!

Miss F is 4 months old!  She's still growing well (13 pounds 7 ounces).  It is so much fun to watch her learning and changing.  She is grabbing at things more and can roll over.  She loves being part of the action and always wants to see what is going on.  She is one of the happiest babies we've ever had.

This girl is so very loved.

It is exhausting having a house full of kiddos, but I wouldn't want it any other way.  I'm so thankful for #9;and the other 8 before her. :)   Oh, and I'm thankful for coffee too. ;)