Sadly ...

Henry was playing outside, but he came in crying.

Henry: Mama, I was trying to go down that step outside, but sadly, I hit my leg.
Mama:  Oh dear.  What shall we do about this sadly-ness?  Do you need a kiss?
Henry: No, thankfully, I’m a tough guy.

At the very least I think we can say that he’s mastered the appropriate use of adverbs!

Recent Funnies ...

Here are a few that were hidden away in the archives of our family vacation photos and videos in case you missed them:


A fun little video of Henry, whose greatest gift is appreciating the moment (click to watch).


In Colonial Williamsburg, Ruth pointed to the wreath on the bottom right and asked Lauren what the white puffy stuff was.  Lauren said, “What do you think it is?”  Ruth responded, “ … Puss??”

And finally, tonight Robyn was helping Henry to be a good worker during clean-up time.  Whenever I gave the two of them a job, she’d say, “Come on Henry!  We have a mission!”  The last time I asked them to do something, Robyn stood up, saluted and said, “On duty!”  Henry, wanting to fall in line, stood up, saluted and said, “I’m duty!”

Family Vacation - Day 4

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!

Before our official Thanksgiving meal (and a wonderful devotional by Granddaddy) Pop-Pop took the four oldest children to the mini-golf facility located on the resort property.  (Apparently Ruth did not play as well as she would have liked.)  It was a bit wet and they all came back with cold fingers, but they all reported having a wonderful time!

Family Vacation - Day 3

Yesterday was a slow-moving day.  After Daddy finished working on breakfast, he started in on preparations for dinner (Wednesday was our family’s day to provide dinner).  The kids got to watch a number of those movies that we save for “Winter Jubilee” (the holidays).  In the evening after dinner, Robyn shared with the family the new copy of Frozen that she received for her birthday.  Everyone enjoyed a big family movie night!



Just as an extra bonus, here’s a picture from earlier in the day of Henry trying on Pop-Pop’s hat!



(Click on either image to see a few more shots of the same two events.)

Family Vacation - Day 2

On Tuesday we went to the playground in the morning because rain was predicted for the afternoon.  The kids were so busy and active and Mama is such an amateur photographer that the still shots aren’t great, but there are a bunch of fun videos … including the zip line, Hazel being a little climbing monkey and Henry enjoying a good slide!  (Click on the image below for the rest of the album.)



In the afternoon various baking experiences were available to the kids.  Cousin Lauren invited the children to make sugar cookies with her in the Beck’s unit and she was joined by Ruth, Robyn and Henry.  Auntie Terri and Emma went over to Grannie and Granddaddy’s unit to bake muffins.


Ruth and Robyn kneading the sugar cookie dough with Cousin Lauren.


Cousin Lauren helping Henry to cut out a cookie.


Emma mixing muffin batter …


With Auntie Terri.


Cousin Rebecca, Robyn and Ruth decorating freshly baked cookies.


Cousins Lauren and Kendall decorating cookies.

Meanwhile, in Grannie and Granddaddy’s unit, others were relaxing in their own way …


Working on a puzzle …


And reading …

Until our bakers showed up to share some treats!




(Click on any image to see the full album.)

Family Vacation - Day 1

We arrived here at the Powhatan Plantation Resort late Saturday evening.  Sunday morning we attended church together as an extended family at Grace Covenant PCA.  Our first vacation adventure was a visit to Colonial Williamsburg Monday afternoon.


This is the whole group who attended, except for Auntie Terri who was taking the picture.  (Note: Lovely gal on Uncle Ben’s left is his brand-new fiancé Leah Hendrix!  Yea!!)


Here’s a shot of the girls sitting on a fence with Cousin Rebecca waiting for the Fife and Drum Corp to march past.


And here’s Robyn with the best seat in the house for a speech by General Washington and a firing of the cannons!

(As usual, click on any image to see the rest of the album.)

Snuggling

Last night Mama and Henry were snuggling on the sofa wrapped in a warm blanket.  Henry said, “We can lean against we-chuther!”

Deep Dish Pizza!

I know.  I’m spoiled.  I have a husband who loves to cook.  And he usually voluntarily takes over meal preparations on the weekends.  And we always eat very well!  Today he decided he’d like to spend his day off learning how to make from-scratch sauce and crust …



for deep dish pizzas!  Wow.  Delicious!  And already gone! J

Run for Mukhanyo 2014

Today Luke, Emma, Ruth and Robyn (and Henry and Hazel to some extent!) participated in the Run for Mukhanyo.  Morgan Lewis, a young lady from our church, has organized this run for four consecutive years and this is our family’s third time to participate.  Morgan’s grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Rettig helped to found Mukhanoy Christian School for orphans and other underprivileged children in South Africa.  When Mrs. Rettig passed away on Columbus Day 2010, Morgan wanted to do something to honor her grandmother’s memory and to support her vision for Mukhanyo School.  She also wanted to find a way to use her passion for running to get local children involved in helping those across the world from them.  Here are just a couple of shots from today.  Click on any image to see the whole album (and some video!).

Ommmm ...

We were playing a board game with “amulet” tokens.

Ruth: Is it AM-ulet or OM-ulet?
Mama: AM-ulet.
Ruth:  Oh, right.  An OM-ulet is something you eat.

Growing Up

Robyn: I want to grow up because I want to have kids and pick the videos and have cupcakes.  But I don’t want to grow up because I don’t want to have kids and all that trouble.

Steppin' on Sticks

Henry (coming in from the back yard): I need to put some shoes on because my feet just keep steppin’ on sticks!

Later, trying to get Henry to repeat his comment to Daddy …
Mama: Hey, Henry, tell Daddy why you had to put shoes on.
Henry: Oh, yea.  Tennis shoes.
Mama: Right.  But why did you have to put on tennis shoes?
Henry: Because … I don’t have to wear socks with them.

Oh well.

Future Richard Scarry?

We started back to “Tuesday School” this week.  During the fall and spring, we have a women’s Bible study at church.  During this time our Pastor’s wife proctors a homeschool “study hall” so the older kids can get some of their school work done.  They love having her for a teacher!  When they finish, she has some fun free-time activities for them.  This is what Luke did with his free time on Tuesday.  Click on the image for more pictures including close-ups of individual sections of the scene.



Matt is in favor of using chalkboard paint to create a chalk wall in the school room.  Luke is now solidly on board (pun intended) with Daddy’s idea.  However, in the absence of that option at the moment, Luke taped a large piece of white paper to the wall yesterday and returned to it again and again to fill it up with all kinds of interesting happenings!

The True Telling of the Thing

Henry came running out of the bathroom closet and said, “Mommy, I was in the bathroom.  And then I was in the closet.  And then the door made me dark.  And then I could not see anything!”

Vowel Power

Robyn was working on a workbook page in which she needed to circle pictures that had the long “O” sound.  She had circled a picture of an elephant.  Over the years, I’ve learned my lesson – there’s often a very good reason for the way children answer, even if it would not appear so to the adult observer.  Sure enough ..

Mama (pointing to the elephant): What is this one?
Robyn (very matter-of-factly): An OH-va-lent.

The New David

Cousin David got his haircut at Miss Paige’s yesterday.  He looks so much different!

Today when Auntie Donna, David and Ellie stopped by, I overheard this conversation.

Henry: Are you David?
David: Yes, my name is David.
Henry: Oh.  Yea.  And now you have hair like me and like Lukey!

Ha ha.

Recent Funnies

Henry likes to add the phrase “…or something like that” (which actually sounds more like “… or some-sing yike dat”) to the end of his comments and requests.
Examples: “Please my I have a book … or something  like that?”
“Please may I get down from the table … or something like that?”

Matt showed Luke an old Laurel and Hardy episode on YouTube.  The next morning, Luke was describing it to the girls.
Luke (describing the setting): It wasn’t like Pride and Prejudice time, but it was like England time.

Riding in the van, we passed a UPS truck.
Robyn: Look!  A S-U-P truck!
Ruth (in a condescending tone): No, Robyn.  It’s a U-S-P truck.

We were learning about carnivores in science.  I was getting ready to read to the children about the special characteristics of this type of mammal, such as their sharp teeth, powerful jaws and claws.
Mama: If you were a carnivore what do you think it would be helpful to have?
Ruth: Some meat!

You can tell that the family has been immersed in van shopping for a while.  Today in the car, we were telling a fortunately/unfortunately story.
Mama: Once upon a time, a family bought a fifteen passenger van.  But unfortunately …
Emma: It didn’t have cruise control.  But fortunately …
Luke: They knew a shop that could add it on for them …

Our Surprise Adventure ...

Today I had some errands to run and I took Emma and Robyn along with me.  We went to the bank, made a returns at Lowe’s and dropped a box off at the UPS store.  At Kohl’s, we needed to get Luke a new pair of church pants, but with returns, minus the 50% off price and my 30% off coupon, we ended up spending $0.81 for $34.00 pants and a $36.00 dress for Emma!  In my opinion the day was already a win, but for the girls, it was still pretty average.  We needed to run by Wal-Mart, and I recalled that we had some gift cards to the SweetFrog in the same shopping center, so we grabbed a free treat.

While in the SweetFrog, a lady dressed as a clown came in handing out flyers to announce a store opening which was in the next parking lot, so we decided to check it out.  After free hot dogs and chips, free snow cones, face painting and balloon animals, the girls spun the Lite98 prize wheel and didn’t win anything, but were given a board game as a consolation prize!  I’m not quite sure how that worked out, but maybe it was just because they were both super cute rabbit sisters.  We stopped by Nana and Papa’s on the way home where they took a few pictures of the girls.  The only thing not quite in tact by this photo are the “teeth” on the girls chin.  It’s also not obvious, but everything pink was full of glitter, too.  In their opinion, this was a banner day!

What's Bugging You?

Ruth: Mama, is a luna-tic the bug, or the person who has the bug on them?

Tim and Megan's Wedding

My cousin Megan asked Emma and Ruth to be flower girls in her wedding, so last Sunday we got to drive up to a lovely part of Maryland for an outdoor wedding at a gorgeous venue.  The ceremony was on a hilltop in front of a little pond (complete with frog chirping!) which one reached by going up a little flight of stone steps and across a wooden bridge over a little creek.  The reception was in a nearby barn, behind which was a huge field, perfect for antsy little folks to run free!  I didn’t get many pictures with my camera, so I’m anxiously awaiting the official wedding photographer’s shots, but here are just a few of ours.

Matt likes the artsy/nature/candid shots, so he got lots of the non-wedding-party kids while I was with the girls for the after-ceremony pictures.



Here’s Emma joining in the wedding party dance with the gentlemanly ring bearer.  I sure hope the photographer’s pics of this moment are better than mine!



This is our family table.  In Matt’s opinion, having enough children that your family takes up a whole table and you don’t have to be seated with strangers at a wedding is just another blessing of having a big family. J



And finally, here’s a family shot my Dad got for us outside the barn.  All in all, a lovely day!



Click on any image to see the full album.

Metro Richmond Zoo!

Today we joined some other home schooling families from church on a “field trip” to the zoo!  As you can imagine, there are loads of pictures.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Click on any image to see the whole album.  (A very special thanks to Mrs. Baird for organizing the trip and to Nana, Papa, Cousin Lauren and Cousin Kendall who joined us an were an invaluable help!)

Emma's Joke

Emma came up with this on her own last Sunday while Matt was cooking breakfast.

Q: What is a griddle?
A: A French Toaster

Competition

For a long time, Robyn has made it clear that she really prefers her Daddy.  I’m totally fine with that.  Girls need a good strong Daddy, and Matt is such a wonderful father to his girls.  But I didn’t realize just how fierce the competition was until this morning.

Matt always takes off his wedding ring when he goes to the gym.  Yesterday he forgot and left it at home during the day.  This morning while he was getting ready for work, I handed it to Emma and asked her to take it up to her Daddy and say, “Mommy wants to know if you still want to be married to her.”  She laughed and left the room.  After she headed out, Robyn said, “Well, if he doesn’t, I’ll be married to him!”

She then asked “Does the Bible say Daddies can marry their grown-ups?”  I think she meant “Can Daddy marry me when I grow up?” because of course then she wouldn’t be his child, she’d be his grown-up.  And she asked because she already knows that she’s not allowed to marry Luke. J

Henry Talk

Henny = Henry
Dat-doo = Thank You
Dat-doo hoo mutz = Thank You So Much!
Foo-tail = Fruit Cocktail
Ah nee up you = I need you to pick me up
Ah nee sit on you yap = I need to sit on your lap
I dun know = I don’t know
Dus … I dun know = I just don’t know

Gospel Vegetables

We’ve been studying Galatians.  I gave the kids some questions to answer based on the first five verses.

Q: What does Paul ask for God to give to the churches in Galatia?
A: Grase and Peas

Bombastic

Matt was playing some music for the children on his nice speakers and he was especially picking pieces with impressive range in volume.  He said, “Let’s listen to something else bombastic!”  The kids started laughing and saying, “BOMB-TASTIC!  BOMB-TASTIC!  That’s great!  It’s like fantastic, except with bombs!”  We tried to explain that it wasn’t “bomb-tastic” but “bom-bastic”.  In the end, they were joyfully proclaiming “BOM-BASKET!  BOM-BASKET!!”  Oh well.  I think this one may be a lost cause for now.  Just like “punk-min” and “nack-min”.