A new hobby -- ARCHERY

As part of Trail Life, James is learning all sorts of outdoor adventure sports!  The latest big thing is archery.  He has been shooting (?) at a range and a bit on our property, but last month James and Marcus joined friends Jordan and dad Jose on a trip to the Dalles for a day of bow-and-arrow fun. 

The next week the whole Trail Life group went to the same place and all the boys learned how to shoot. (Is that what you say?  Shoot?)  James has really been into this lately and Marcus is amazed at how good he is. :o)  A highlight of the trip was when both James and Jordan shot a moving "turkey" and won a gift card each!  

I think this might be the turkey shot.  ??

Happy Turkey Day!

Another great Thanksgiving in the books!

We started off our celebration on Tuesday with the annual Turkey Trot.  This year we had only 2 turkeys who wanted to run: Celeste and Sedric. It was a lot of fun, as always, and we went out to dinner afterwards.  We love this annual tradition!

On Wednesday I worked on school while Marcus manned the kitchen.  He made 10-layer Rainbow Jello, a full veggie platter complete with homemade Ranch, and 2 pumpkin pies.

On Thanksgiving Day we woke up early(ish) and went to Mass at St. Matthew.  Bunny went to grammae and papa's house early to help with cooking, and we all drove up later in the afternoon for our family celebration.  I wish I had access to my photos because I took some GREAT ones of all the food!!  :o)  But Marcus took some pics, so here they are below:

Turkey Trotter

Go Cellie Go!!

Sedric had fun

Seddy and Papa

Silly Uncle Brian!!

lots of time in the kitchen

Grammae was happy to have helpers :o)

Random pics from fall

Well, I still don't have my phone figured out (haven't taken the time), and actually it's WORSE now because I went over my data plan after having to clear the darn thing and re-load everything!  So maybe later this week I'll see if I can pull my photos off and post some more recent events.

Today was a busy day.  In general, I don't have time to teach on Tuesdays but the 4 older kids all have lots of independent work to keep them busy.  I get up at the same time as always, 6:15am (although yesterday I accidentally got up at 5:15am, ha) and start my day at 7am when kids are allowed to wake up.  And today, the 4 youngest ones were up-and-at'em at 7am.  Sigh.

Our new babysitter Hannah comes at 9am on Tuesdays to watch Celeste and Sedric while I partake in one of my two Selfish Indulgences: a yoga/jazz class.  (The other Selfish Indulgence is book club, which is once a month.)  I come home from dance promptly at 11am and Hannah shuttles the 2 kids to the car to allow me to leave immediately for speech class.

Speech class is 30 minutes away, and 30 minutes long, so we're usually back to have a late lunch and still get them kids down for nap.  I would normally do chores and/or school on Tuesdays afternoons, but today we had a make-up dance class for Sedric and Gemma.

Marcus makes dinner but today we had Crock Pot Chicken Enchiladas which Mariposa put together.  This is a really special evening since Marcus took ALL. THE. KIDS. to James' weekly Trail Life meeting.  I am now alone in the house, which never, ever happens.  

I'll be spending time in the laundry room (my home-within-a-home) and then maybe upstairs, sorting kids' clothes.  I love the change in seasons but I dislike the change in closets.  :oP

Here are some random photos:

Celeste is doing her "cool" face,
with James photobombing in the background.

Shooting with Trail Life

Papa took Bunny to get a small henhouse for our blind chicken
(we used his senior discount and truck, and also his labor).

The apple pie made with the apples
we picked the other day.
It was really good!!

apple harvest

The apple tree on our property line had a banner year!

The weather has been so incredibly fantastic; we have been spending time outside as much as possible.  Marcus and I took an evening walk and I thought, "Why do we never pick these apples?"  So we marched down to the barn and grabbed the ladder.  Of course, all the kids followed.

The apples are delicious (maybe literally Delicious, I don't know) and we plan on making a pie on Saturday.

Photo journal - first half of September 2018

I'm back, blogging 2 days in a row (a new record!).

Marcus is at Trail Life with James, and I just put the kids to bed, so I have a free moment.

Here is a photo journal of a few September happenings.  My iPhone photos are not automatically uploading (need to work on that...) so these are all from Marcus' phone, which DOES upload automatically.  One of these days I'll get my own photos on the computer.

Anyway, enjoy!

On last day of August, Marcus and I took Bunny
and Mariposa to our horse lessons teacher's wedding.
It was BEAUTIFUL!  So simple and sweet.  The
food was delicious.  

James has a little business going.  He sells custom-requested
drawings to his cousins.  This one is in progress.

Babers got a Decadent Creations treat after braving
THREE shots at her doctor's appointment.

This is what it looks like at Seddy's speech
class.  There is a one-way mirror where Celeste
and I can watch him.  Mostly she just plays.

Marcus had a hankering for chicken fried steak
one night.  He made a ton!!  (it was great!)

Our sweet little artist.  How can we be mad
at her when her drawing is so cute?

Cousin Emmett's birthday party.  My kids LOVE getting together
with their cousins!  It was the highlight of their week.

Marcus took these two (and Gemma) grocery shopping one
afternoon.  I was at a funeral with the 3 older ones, who
were altar servers at the funeral. 

We go to the market when we can.  This time,
we saw cousin Aidan!!

Proof that Marcus does sometimes help
with the homeschooling.  Is there anything
this man doesn't do??  :o)

Oregon State Fair 2018

 A good friend gently reminded me about my blog recently.  (sheepish face)

Where does the time go?  Well, I can tell you...I am pleasantly busy as of late, just keeping up with daily activities and, now that fall is here, keeping up with schooling 5 kids.

My mornings start at 6:15am start when I enjoy a few moments of quiet before the youngest kids come downstairs promptly at 7am.  Then the day starts off with a bang--full-on kid-care all day, every day.  :o)  On school days I am in the school room from about 8:10am-noon, then for a few minutes before Mrs. N leaves at 1pm.  Then kids to nap and more school, or appointments if needed.  My lovely husband makes dinner so I do chores in the late afternoon while shuttling kids to dance etc.  (We have 7 family members taking dance classes this year!)  Then the bed-time routine.  I am upstairs at 8:30pm (not tonight, oops!) to have some quiet time with Marcus before bedtime.  Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

As you probably know, we like having little adventures in our family, and we like making those adventures into traditions.  We always go to the Oregon State Fair on a certain day, at a certain time, and we always follow the same route.  :o) We all love it!

livestock barn
I am probably telling kids about showing sheep.

I hear ya, momma pig.

dairy barn

Bunny's favorite barn

making name tags at the State Parks exhibit

Next we saw the 4-H exhibits then had a packed dinner of picnic food while listening to live music.  My pics weren't great so I will spare you.

Something new!  Bunny and James tried their hand at Oregon
trivia! (They didn't do so well...we don't learn much in our
homeschool about Oregon History.  Maybe next year....)

We always need to find our friend's quilts. :o)

Next, the rides!  The little kids first.

Then the big kids.  I took the littles to "Jesus Land" (the Christian
evangelical booth) where Sedric proceeded to tell the storyteller
all about God/creation/etc.  #thatsmyboy

Sedric, Celeste, and I met up with everyone else at the giant Ferris Wheel.  They saved just enough tickets for all of us to ride.  What a nice ending to our day.

Have to get the giant "Mammoth" Ear every
year!!  (with a side of fries this year...)

Definitely a summer highlight--a great way to end a great summer.  We had lots of small adventures this summer but still a lot of down time as well.  I am hoping to post more pics soon, but we'll see how it goes.  My days really are packed, and if I take out 30 minutes to make a post, something suffers....  :o(  But maybe it's worth it!!  I miss blogging!!  :o) :o)

Zoo Lights 2017

We had so much fun at Zoo Lights this past December, I just HAD to share some more photos!

This year we went to dinner with the whole family.  Then we filled up the van with grammae and as many cousins as we could fit (3) and we drove into Portland.

When we arrived at the zoo at 7pm, we were expecting the parking lot to be clearing out (this was our luck in previous years).  But this year...it was still full, and closed off!  Oh no!  So Marcus dropped us off at the entrance and by the time we did that, the lot opened and Marcus got a good spot.  He met us just inside the gates.

It was a beautiful, chilly night.  No rain!  It was still very crowded for the first half of our visit, but it definitely thinned out for the 2nd half.  We caught the last zoo train with NO lines!  It was a very late night but we couldn't say no to a stop to Sesame Donuts on the way home.