Quite honestly, we all get excited when we get a Vision Forum catalog every year. Not only is it full of great Christian books, but also tons of fun toys, games, and DVDs. I have acquired quite a wish list from them and now I have a shot of winning a gift card from them to help me get some of my wish list done! The Modest Mom in partnership with Vision Forum is giving away a $300, $200, and $100 gift card to Vision Forum. That would just be so cool to win!
Is at least one front tooth…it’ll be two in a few weeks or so though!
Liam joined the tooth loss club on November 5th. Lots of screaming before hand but it was all pride after that. He’s still running around holding his lip down and showing his gums.
As I said in an earlier post, Zoe is taking ballet now. They gave us a short presentation of a dance based on Esther’s life a week ago.
Zoe just lights up when she is on stage. She’s very comfortable performing and it shows in her face.
And for one little sister, this was like watching a real live princess dance. She was in awe. Zoe said that when they got home Ceili Rain made her dance with her.
Still in October (well, okay, we were almost out) the ladies at our church held a retreat at a beach nearby. It was so nice to get away and visit and relax and grow closer to these amazing women and, more importantly, to God! The theme was on organizing and time management. I learned a lot and got my focus back on what was most important.
I also got some beautiful pictures!
Zoe’s taking ballet again this year. And when I mentioned it to Grandmere and that Zoe might would like a bun cover for her hair. I found a pattern. And Grandmere worked her magic!
It’s absolutely beautiful! Grandmere sure does know her stuff!
Ceili Rain is either singing around the house or talking. All. day. long. And her singing and talking has rubbed off on Bryant.
That’s a Bible he’s got there. And, at first, we thought he was preaching. But then, we quickly realized he’s singing. We use hymnals in our church. So, he likes to grab a Bible and walk around singing too. And when we look at him, he’ll look up, put one finger to his mouth and say, “shh” Hmm, wonder where he hears that.
Anyway, it’s quite adorable.
See for yourself.
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I successfully have posted every day this week. That hasn’t happened in a long time! But wait, there’s more.
However, I had an idea. I thought it would be fun to dispel, or bring to light some of the myths that come along with having a large family and homeschooling. Now, keep in mind, I don’t consider myself an expert nor do I feel we have a large family. But, apparently, by today’s standards we do. And along with a “not your average size family” comes a lot of comments that make me think people have some crazy ideas about what it means to be a mom of a large family.
So, fire away. What do you want to know? What do you think or what have you heard about what it’s like to be in a large family?
If you don’t ask, I’m going to come up with my own ideas! Like:
Really now. Let’s get to the nitty gritty. Don’t hold back, I want to know what you want to know about our family life. If you’re afraid I’ll get angry, you can add a comment anonymously. If it does make me angry then I don’t have to post your comment…or maybe I need to figure out why I’m angry in the first place and why I’m being so selfish!
And we’ll call this new series: The Bunch Myths-Busted.
Oh, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me (or else I’ll bore you with my own commentary).
Ever since I’ve known Mark (which would be high school), he’s had a love of planes. I don’t know how he does it, but he can spot a plane way up in the sky and tell you what kind it is and more. He loves them! He’s always had a dream to get his pilot’s license and while, right now it’s a bit out of our price range, God did allow him to take an introductory lesson.
Our local newspaper ran a deal with an aviation company that offered introductory lesson/flights for a good price. A really good price. I didn’t even ask Mark. I just bought it for him for Christmas. We had to tell him early though because the coupon expired November 1st. He was excited none the less and really enjoyed his flight.
It was a small airport so the pilot allowed us (meaning the kids and me) to hang out right outside the airport. They taxied out in front of us and landed in front of us. And in between those two times, the kids found things to occupy their time.
Mark’s Christmas Flight 01 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.
And landing!
A new business venture with a friend! Several months ago, a friend approached me about starting a card business through Zazzle. I was so excited to be able to do it. We set a launch date for October but she’s so smart, she got it up and going before then. However, my brain is still a few months behind and I have not gotten it up on here until now. There is a special link to my Character Creation designs but don’t just stop looking there. Make sure you check out all her cool designs too! I feel honored that such a talented graphic designer asked little ol’ me to enter into this adventure with her.
If you need Christmas cards, we got those as well. Just a few designs are up right now so get to clicking and designing.
Without further adieu, I give you:
And, we have a contest to celebrate our launch! Go to our Facebook page and like us. When we get 100 likes, we’ll have a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to be used in our store. Like away and then tell your friends to like us too!
Another day in October found us at a dairy farm. A local farm (meaning about 20 minutes away…that’s the closest dairy farm too), has started an agritourism business both to promote their farm but also so that they can eventually purchase a creamery and sell their own milk. This is the second year for their Corn “Maize” and it was just as much fun as last year! The kids had a blast as always. This was a field trip day and the only set back was that they had the maze marked off so that it was just a simple walk through instead of an actual maze. That was a bummer. Other than that, we learned a lot more about dairy farming that I ever knew. For instance, cows are milked just like we pump milk off our selves. Except the machine is a bit more high powered! I know everyone wanted to know that.
Here’s some more pictures before I embarrass myself any further.
Twas a bit nippy and I forgot to bring Bryant a coat. So, we found one of Zoe’s jackets in the van and wrapped him up. He was snug as a bug but very tired on the hayride.
Petting zoos are awesome. Bryant called everything a “goggy” (doggy) but he loved watching the animals!
They had a wonderful play area that included a huge slide, a bunch of wooden structures (like a ship, castle, and the like), and a jumping pillow. Five kids pretty much dispersed across the whole play area so it was hard for us to get pictures of everyone.
