FOUR

I was wrong. Bad things come in 4.

4.


Just called Poison Control.


Alls good.


Back to regularly scheduled programing of the Fantastic Weekend!

Three

They say bad things come in threes.
Today it went like this...1. bladder infection #3 in 3 months for 1 kid. 2. ear infection with likely strep for another 3. speeding ticket for mom.

So that's 3 and we are done.

Its awesomely beautiful outside, the weekend is full of fun, Fall is here and there are pumpkins on my steps and even with the above 3, man its been a GREAT week!

And I'm not saying that with even a hint of sarcasm. It was wonderful. God's blessings to me are numerous. :)

Phillipians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say REJOICE!

Happy Friday!

Freed Farm

Freeds invited us out after school yesterday to celebrate Jocelyn's birthday and have fun on the farm with animals and pumpkins

!

Tori was so excited to see kittens and a puppy within seconds of getting out of the van.

I couldn't decide what was more comical the # of kids waiting to do the pinata...

Or the # of mom vehicles parked in the driveway. 

 This is one seriously beautiful child. 

After some cupcakes and singing we went on to some serious farm animals. 

 Starting with Goats! 

 The birthday girl riding a goat. 

This child is scared of no animal. 

 Here I believe we have Avery pointing to some poop so Brooklyn didn't step in it.

My kids aren't exactly 'Farm Kids'. 

Tyler caught a chicken!

Owen chased and chased and chased the chickens...but sadly didnt catch one. 

 Everyone chase the chickens!

Jalen caught a chicken too! 

Really, cool! 

See, she's even holding it by its gross scrawny legs! 

Thanks for the fun Freeds!!

Guest Lecture Circuit

Tuesday was Guest Lecture Day at our school. 

(Side note...our school needs a name.)

We invited Jenn and Melanie to be our Art Teachers for the day. 

They began with a talk about how they had both studied art and what they had done with that. 

And posed for a picture...Melanie was not smiling for a reason..I cant remember why now. 

They chose to do tin sculptures with the kids to keep in theme with our Mexican unit. 

The kids were captivated. 

Seriously they were much more into it than they looked!

We invited Prices to join in the Homeschool fun!

The little ones did this.

We headed outside to do the pounding on the tin pieces. 

Everyone chose a pattern and set to work pounding the outline. 

It ended up being a group effort for most. 

(Check out Owen holding Amy's pony-tail. He has a little obsession with Mom's hair! So cute.)

Jenn helped Tess and Sullivan...not an easy feat. 

Next we moved on to decorating with markers and paint. 

While Tess got to work showing the little ones a computer game...super. 

Somehow I did not take a picture of the finished products but I will get to that this week! 

Thanks so much Jenn and Mel! The kids loved this lesson. 

And thanks Amy, Ellie and Owen for coming over!

I have the coolest friends! 

Sullivan quotes

1. He came home from school today and I was showing Jordan his exzema outbreak and Sullivan says, 'Oh yeah!? Well you want to see something really terrible!? Feast your eyes on these!'
He was pointing at some scrapes on his knees.
Hysterical.

2. 'Mommy someday I will take you to Mexico with our passports. Wait, this will be better...We'll go to Italy, the city of looooovvvvee! Whoa, wait, Im pretty sure that's actually Paris. So we'll go there instead momma!'

He cracks me up. And his mind is constantly going. Which translates into his mouth constantly moving. He talks nonstop. There are no breaks between thoughts. Basically he is Will Ferrel in the movie Elf.

And I love him for it.

Getting Jiggy With It AND Oatmeal

Last week Tori decided that dumping oatmeal from container to container was super fun. 

It kept her busy so I let her do it. 

Well then she discovered it was super DUPER fun to dump it on the floor and get the little vacuum out and pick it up. 

Again, it kept her busy so I let her. 

Today she got out the oatmeal, container and red vacuum and set to work. 

SO cute to me...obviously she is the youngest child. 

When Tess got invovled providing background music the dance party in the oatmeal started.

It was awesome...check out Tess's face in the background really jamming out!

So fun!

I love my days. 

Get down!

Leaving on a jet plane

Im sure I've mentioned before how the curriculum we chose was the exact right one for us...

There is an obsession with maps and places in our family...and this year in our curriculum is all about Exploring Countries and Cultures. And LOTS of maps. 

So far we have been studying our home country. 

But today we set out on our journey to explore some of the rest of the world. 

First stop - MEXICO!

The kids were very excited...we will 'stay here' for 2 weeks. 

Of course you cant visit a foreign country without passports!

We 'applied' weeks ago and they arrived just in time! ;)

We 'stamped' them and this afternoon we will be visiting the bank to check out mom and dad's real passports stored safely in our safety deposit box. They are so excited for that!

Avery was really getting into it! 

I'm sure you'll be hearing lots more about our adventures! 

Adios! 

23 months

Torrance turned 23 months old yesterday.

This is momentous for me...because...it officially marks the longest I have gone between pregnancies since I started having babies over a decade ago.

It was also the day I realized that she has 1 month left in the church nursery...then she starts coming to church with us for the first 10 minutes and then to the 2 year old children's church. It will be the first time I haven't had someone to pick up from the nursery. :(

I thought I was ok with all of this. Turns out that I may not be. Turns out that I am hoping the next month goes really really slowly.

I dont want to have more babies....Im just missing the ones that I've had.

But to turn my focus on happier thoughts!!!! We had a wonderful day. One of those weekends where everything they said seemed adorable and hilarious.

Of course it helped that I had an ENTIRE DAY away with my closest friends yesterday...we shopped till we dropped and laughed SO SO hard. And it also helped that I had an awesome nap today.

But by the fire with my 5 babies tonight I just felt so very thankful for each of them. In awe of their beauty, brains, humor and health. And for each day I've been given as a mom. Its a blessing not to be taken lightly.

So to sum up...

1. I am blessed beyond measure.

2. Slow down time...slooooowwwwwww dooooowwwwwnnnnn.

Wednesday

Two things are for certain today.

1. I love homeschooling my kids way more than I anticipated. Seeing them 'get' a concept might be the most rewarding thing I've been blessed to be part of in their lives so far. It is nothing but a miracle the patience God has granted me for this. And I am so so thankful that I feel this way...if we had started this at another time in my life I think it might have been a disaster. And yeah, God knew that! ;) I'm so much better than who I am because of Him.

2. My kids are going to be able to work in the midst of complete chaos when they enter the job/real world. If they can work this hard with Tess and Tori being complete spazes...they can work anywhere.

LIVVY!

We took the opportunity while in Ames to go visit Livvy and see her dorm at ISU. 

Avery decided that college looked very fun and she is definetly going! 

She decided this in the first 3 minutes of us waiting outside Livvy's dorm room for her to return from class. 

Then they saw her coming...they kind of love her. 

Thanks for the visit Livvy! 

Reiman Gardens

Amy and I took all the kids to the Reiman Gardens at ISU for our 

2nd Homeschool Field Trip of the year. 

The kids loved it much more than I thought they would. 

I knew they'd enjoy it but I didnt plan on having to tear them away. 

The butterfly garden was our first stop after a picnic lunch. 

Sullivan was really studying one here. 

Here he is pointing at one that looks like a moth when its wings are folded but when it flew it revealed a gorgeous bright blue on the inside of it's wings. 

Chenille plants. 

Lauren says she is going to either ISU or UNI. 

Got it already planned out I guess. 

Sullivan, really?

There were also Lego sculptures throughout the Garden. 

Easily the kids favorite part!

And even a place to do our own building. 

Everyone smile...or not.

Tori found a dog. 

Had to tear her away. 

World's largest concrete garden Gnome. 

These two...will not be allowed alone together as teens. 

They spell trouble with a capital T!

And they are both planning their weddings to be at the Reiman Gardens. 

 Gorgeous flowers everywhere. 

Totally fun day! Thanks Prices!

Sully's Soccer Debut!

I guess when you have 2 older siblings it must seem like a lifetime for your turn to come around...

That was definetly how Sullivan was feeling about soccer.

Saturday the girls had morning games and he waited till 4 pm...or as he would tell you - FOREVER.

Finally his time came. 

His first game. 

He was so excited, so hyper, so cute.

He had his victory dance ready in case he scored a goal. 

He loved every second.  

However, he had pockets in his shorts...and played a lot of the game with his hands in the pockets. 

Hilarious. 

So Sullivan. 

It was also 'so Sullivan' when he ran by me WHILE PLAYING to say, Mommy! Do you know the score? Do you that its 6 to 1 and we are winning? Did you know that its 6 to 1? We are winning Mommy!

He's #5. And I love him more than words can express.

There is something different watching my Sullivan play than watching the girls...

Something that makes me want to go out and hug him after each quarter and something that makes me want to fight small children who get in his way...Its a mom/son thing...Im working on it. 

He was always right in the mix but did not score a goal. 

He was however the biggest fan of his teammates who did score. 

He told one boy after the game, 'You were a machine out there man!'

Um, I love that kid. 

He also may have done some shoving. 

Hmmm?

He really wanted to play goalie...but Im not sure the ball ever came back to him. 

But seriously the cuteness...are you kidding? 

Friday night before the game he was listing off everything he was excited for about the game. 

The list was so long I finally asked him to just tell me the #1 thing he was excited for. 

He smiled and said exactly this, 'Aw Mom! That's easy! The Parent Tunnel. No contest!'

So I made sure I was taking pictures of the boys coming out of the tunnel after the game instead of being IN the tunnel.

Its safe to say they all love the Parent Tunnel. 

I asked him afterwards if it was as fun as he thought. 

'Even Better!' was his reply.

I love my boy at age 6.