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.

Happy Easter!

What a joy to celebrate our risen Savior on this day (and every day!).   The night before we tried a new method for decorating eggs.  Shaving cream and food coloring.  It was fun and went well enough.  Not sure we will use that method again though.

Before heading out we snapped a few pictures of some of the little ones.

When we got to church we snapped a quick family picture.

We enjoyed an afternoon of sweet fellowship with a dear family.

Night at the Museum

Every year our co-op ends the year with a Night at the Museum to showcase what the older children have learned.  This year they've been studying the middle ages.  It was so much fun to watch them choose who in history they were going to represent, work on their speeches and work out their costumes.

Miss E was Grouch whom the character of MacBeth is based upon.  She put together her costume.  She even made the head dress in her art class where she learned to make chainmail.

Mr. R was a peasant.

Mr. M was excited that he got to be William Wallace.  He even managed to talk Daddy into getting him a big training sword for his costume...I'd only let him have it if he was willing we wear a kilt though.

Mr. S was a knight in the skit his class put together based on Beowulf.

We had a tour guide for the evening who brought us from room to room to hear the speeches etc.  Miss A managed to get a bit ahead of us with some of the other kids when moving on to the next room.  When we walked into the room we saw her planted right next to Miss E like she belonged there...so we left her.  She sat so quietly and nicely listening to all of the speeches.  It was great!

Spring Break

We were all excited about spring break this year.  No big plans, but with the mild winter we'd been having we figured we'd get out and about more this year than last.  True to Colorado spring break tradition we got to enjoy some snow....We started spring break with an extra day off.  We got a blizzard on Friday.  The kids had a blast playing in the snow on Saturday while a friend's tractor dug us out.

On Monday we went up to the zoo.  It was a beautiful day and the animals were all out enjoying the sun too.

Tuesday was our co-op day.  Since we're on Daddy's spring break he got to go with the kids while I had a quiet morning at home with Miss F and then went to coffee with a friend.  As the day went on our next storm started rolling in.

By morning the roads were all clear enough for most of the family to head over to the mining museum.  A few of us stayed behind for the morning and met up with the rest of the clan at Bass Pro for lunch and bowling.

By Thursday morning Mr. S and I where sick.  A stomach bug.  By Friday night others had it.  We finished out spring break resting and recovering.

A whole lot o' nothin'

We've been busy....doing nothing.  Well, not actually nothing.  Just nothing big going on.  School, cold and flu season, serving....just life keeping us busy and quiet "on line."  I thought I'd pop in here quickly and post a few pictures of what we've been up to.

Miss A loves playing in the sensory bin.

Miss J has developed a love for math.  She also loves taking care of Miss F.  She's managed to bring two of her loves together here. :) 

The older boys got to go to a UAV conference with Daddy.

Field trip to the Viking exhibit at a museum.

Happy Birthday Miss F!

Better late than never!  Miss F turned 1 earlier this month.  With Daddy out of town on their (shared) birthday, and since she'd not yet been introduced to sweets....we skipped the cake.  Her siblings were all sure she wanted pizza for her birthday dinner though, we we went with that.

Miss F is a cheerful baby who loves to eat, loves her blankies and pacie, and all of her siblings (but most of all Mr. R).  She crawls all over the place, "walks" on her knees very well, can stand on her own (when she wants to), and can push chairs and other things around to get where she wants to go.  She's also mastered the art of pointing and grunting to get the person holding her to take her where she wants to go.  She loves to watch our chickens and cats, touching them is even better, and she's starting to enjoy going outside to play.  She also loves books.

We're having a blast with this little cutie.  She brings so much joy into our home, we all just adore her.  We're loving getting to see more of her personality and getting to know her better.

Working at SpaceX?

Well, not yet.  ;)  But when your uncle works at SpaceX....

Happy Birthday Miss J!

Miss J turned 9 last week!  It's kinda hard having a birthday right after Christmas, but she's great about it. :)

Miss J is a thoughtful, cheerful, and encouraging young lady.  She's often thinking of and putting the needs of others first, before herself.  I see this daily in her, but also as she gave her birthday requests.  I had to coax some of the requests out of her as I saw that she was trying to make choices that were easier rather than what she really wanted....Eggo waffles and sausage for breakfast really was easy.  I was happy to drop Chick-fil-a off for her and the 2 other siblings that were at our co-op that day (while I ran errands with the rest of the kids).  Dinner was a joint effort between me and Miss E (Mr. M helped a bit too) to make a German food feast.  Miss J had requested a vanilla (yellow) cake with blue fondant; Miss C and Miss A helped put red and blue M&M's on to decorate a bit more.

We are so very blessed to have this spunky red head in our lives.  We look forward to watching her continue to learn and grow, and pray that (above all) she continues to grow in her love for God.