Sam's Birthday!

We had a fun time celebrating Sam's birthday today! It was mostly a small family party, with a few friends. Here are some cute pictures of him waiting "patiently" for his cupcakes, and then opening gifts. Again, we want to express our thanks to everyone for the cool gifts and cards! :-)

Becca's Birthday!

Becca had a fantastic birthday party! We want to extend our thanks to all who participated in her party, and to all those who sent her a gift!

Our Winter Wonderland

It is easy to get into the spirit of the season with a nice blanket of snow outside! We bought some new sleds for the kids, and they are out enjoying the hills in our backyard and around our house. This is going to be our best winter yet! God is so good to give us different seasons to enjoy! :-)

Big Birthday Party!

We invited my friend and her family to our house for a birthday party! She has six kids ranging from age ten to three (the youngest two are twins! :-) We had twelve kids in our house for about three hours, and it went really well! Everyone played nicely, and I think they all had a lot of fun! She also homeschools, and I have a feeling that we will be seeing a lot more of each other from here on out!

Here is a picture of 10 out of the 12 kids eating pizza (our twins weren't in the picture because they don't eat pizza yet ;-)

Creative Castles

Eric and the kids had fun creating custom-designed castles with the castle cards that we bought a few years ago! It was neat to see them all pitch in their ideas, and work together as a team. There was no fussing, no fighting, no whining or pouting...just a cooperative spirit! God is so good to help us in our attempt to build positive character traits in our children!

God's Gifts

This is my first attempt at taking a picture of all six kids together. The twins would only look at the camera for brief moments that I couldn't catch, so I had to settle with them looking away. At least the older kids decided to look at the camera and smile! :-D

We are so thankful that God has given us our heart's desire and has made our family so complete!

Mexico!

As a part of "My Father's World" curriculum, the kids were issued passports to record "entries" and "departures" from different countries. We are having fun with our first "trip" to Mexico! We have been reading about the country and culture, listening to music appropriate for that country (even a Mariachi band!), planning art activities, and cooking authentic Mexican meals! So far, we have made burritos with guacamole sauce and chopped tomatillos, quesadilla casserole, and homemade tamales with cornbread! Today we are planning on making homemade tortillas and chicken fajitas! It has been easy to integrate so much cooking into this week, since I didn't schedule our "regular" online school, so that the kids would have more time to spend with their Grandpa who is visiting from Oregon. What a fun week!
Hasta Luego! ;-)