The traditional book chopping and burning ceremony (by Todd)

At this time of year the children start finishing some of their books.
Here Garrett is helping Lincoln chop up his spelling book before they burn it.
What a way to celebrate!

A fun week with Cousins (by Todd)

Last week Alan and Suzi and their boys Taylor and Carter were with us.

They flew into St. Louis Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday we visited Lincoln's New Salem and the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield.

It was a very full day but everyone really enjoyed it.  There were several great Interpreters at Lincoln's New Salem.  We took in a class in the Blab School and Church.  All of the lessons in the school were oral.  So half of the class was working on their math facts by reciting:
     Twice one is two, this book is very new
     Twice two is four, trace it on the floor
     Twice three is six, we're always playing tricks
     Twice four is eight, the boys are always late
     Twice five is ten, let's do it all again
At the same time the other half of the class was reciting their ABCs!  Talk about commotion! This is why it was called a Blab School.  We also learned that you should not say OK - everyone knows O, P, Q, R is correct!

We saw the cooper, the wheelwright, the Doctor's wife and several others.  The traditional music group Prairie Aire was sitting on the porch of one of the buildings playing Hammered Dulcimer, Mountain Dulcimer, Irish Penny Whistle, Auto Harp, Base Recorder, and Cello.

On Thursday the kids all explored the creek and woods and rode horses.  In the evening we sat around a bonfire in the yard and told stories.

Friday was highlighted by a home school outing at Isaak's Family Fun in Mattoon followed by more horse riding, a baseball game and more time around the fire.

On Saturday we drove through Amish country, stopped by the Arthur Horse and Tack auction, had lunch at Yoder's Kitchen (where Taylor had five huge helpings from the all-you-can-eat buffet!)  Saturday evening we sat around the fire again.

On Sunday after Meeting, we all headed to St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch.  The weather the rest of the week had been beautiful, but Sunday afternoon it was raining.  They are rebuilding the waterfront and museum at the Arch so we had to pickup our tickets in the Old Courthouse and walk in the rain for several blocks from the Old Courthouse to the Arch.  We were soaked!  But a little rain didn't stop us from enjoying the view from 630 feet above St Louis.

Sunday evening and Monday morning all of the kids swam in the pool at the hotel.  Then it was off to Fitz's Root Beer Factory for lunch before taking them all back to the airport.

Save the dates! (by Todd)

Just in case you are interested:

Tuesday May 19 - Violin Recitals at 5:30 and 7:00

All seven of the children will be playing in their teacher's recitals.  We think some of them will be playing in the first recital and some will be playing in the second.  Some  may be playing in both.  

Saturday June 6 - Graduation Open House for Laura

Laura will be graduating from High School. We are planning an Open House at the Park in town beginning at 11:00 with lunch served beginning at Noon. We will be sending out invitations but wanted to get the word out early.

Another April 1st has come and gone

Just a quick post while I wait for Todd to get in bed... I'm sitting in the recliner until he does because I have already discovered that the bed was short sheeted.

One of the first things I told him this morning was... "Make sure you taste or smell everything before you put it in your mouth today." 

Once again, I'm glad April 1st is over... Who would have guessed we would have such pranksters for kids. They did go pretty light on the jokes this year. A few repeats (like powdered milk) from last year flopped, but they did have a few new ones for this year. The rubber band around the kitchen faucet sprayer almost always works - and it got Todd after breakfast. The boys had salt on their toothbrushes, although Lincoln made enough noise about his that Garrett made sure he washed his off really well before brushing his teeth. I think some contact solution bottles got saran wrap put over the openings so they wouldn't pour out. Signs like , "Pat my head." were put on backs. And I'm not sure what all else was played. 

The kids served brownies after Bible study tonight, but first passed around a plate of brown "E's" And they did get one on me.  When I tried to use the bar of soap in the shower tonight, it wouldn't work. Someone painted it with glue or something.  No wonder when I said I was glad April 1st was over as we sent them off to bed they smirked and said... "Nope, not yet..."

Is your brain smooth?

There is a saying that the more wrinkled your brain is, the higher your IQ is.  Whether or not that is true, I don't know.  Anyway, the kids have adopted a new saying around here.  If someone says something that isn't the most intelligent thing to say, someone else is sure to respond with, "That was sooooo SmOoOoOoOoOoth!"

 (Heidi does really know what 2+2= :) )

Cabin Fever... Defeated!!

There were some winter days when the kids spent time playing outside.  Mostly after a fresh snow, or when the sun was shining. But most of their days were spent working away at school and getting more and more fidgety as the days moved along.

The past couple of weeks, though have been comparatively nice outside.  And it has been so fun to see their imaginations keeping them occupied outside.  We have chain link dog kennel that has been just the perfect place to house, first a very busy bakery.  Plastic lids (from water bottles, peanut butter jars, etc.) have become their method of payment, and they keep track of the denominations pretty closely.  A clear water bottle lid might be worth $1 while a red one of the same size that came from a Coke bottle is worth $3. So they  have been stirring and baking and selling up a storm.  After a few days, Garrett sold some of his bakery belongings to Lincoln and bought some butchering equipment.  Heidi added a smoker, and a butcher/meat smoking business was built alongside the bakery. They took an old grill base and converted it into a junk wagon and went around selling junk. Then, Lincoln decided baking wasn't his thing, so he sold everything off and is in the process of building a bank.

I think they are glad that I encouraged them to be busy with their schoolwork while it wasn't so nice outside.  They have gotten done with several subjects, so it leaves them time to spend outside doing what kids do best.  (Meanwhile, the older set of kids are still working away at their books and computers... their violin practicing and a lot of their schoolwork has been moved to the outdoors, though.  The trampoline makes a great place to sit and spread out to work on their schoolwork.)

Monkey Business

Abigail crocheted this monkey for Garrett.  He has been watching her make it the whole time and has been convinced that she was making a bowl of rotten fruit as a joke. It was in several pieces until today, and some pieces looked like bananas, some like apples and pears. He was very surprised when she presented it to him this evening all sewed together.

Information is flying (by Todd)

Last night Garrett brought me my iPad and his DK World War II book.  He quickly turned to the page with the P40 Kitty Hawk with the Flying Tigers paint scheme and asked me to find a YouTube video of the plane.

We found this one and then I asked him if he had ever seen planes flying in formation.

About a third of the way through this great video of the Blue Angles, Garrett asked me, "When are they going to fly information".  I am not sure if he thought they were spy planes collecting top secrets or what.  After he asked two or three more times I realized that he was saying "information" instead of "in formation".  That little space makes a big difference!

All credit to the teacher?

Laura and I were looking at some graduation announcement ideas today and she scrawled out a little poem that she thought would work well.

I cant Reed and i cant spel,

but i can shor graduat realy good well

I think we may need to start over at the beginning...

Sisterly love

Heidi very often helps her brothers get their teeth brushed and get settled into bed for the night before she heads to bed herself. Tonight I was back by their room when she was getting ready to head out of their room.  It was so sweet to hear her say, "Goodnight boys, I love you."

Spring!

It was finally warm enough to take our first evening walk as a family. It made our hearts full to watch our kids walking arm-in-arm singing.

PI Day

I hope our children weren't the only ones standing around a clock watching the seconds tick by so they could celebrate when the 1st 10 numbers of PI came around.  Life is exciting around here!!

The beginning of beautiful music

A rare guest post by Todd:
As part of her Piano Lesson, Laura is teaching Heidi to play a hymn from our Hymn Book called "I Hear Him Call"  It is to the tune of Samuel Webbe's "Consolation".  Laura arranged a rhythm accompaniment for Lincoln to play and Garrett is learning to pluck the melody on his violin so the three youngest can all play together.  Tonight Emily joined them on our new harp.
They have just started working on this together and they probably don't want me to post this in its unpolished state, but I love the way music has taught them to work together.  I love watching the way they work together while they are practicing almost as much as I love to listen to the finished product that results from all their hard work.
I can hardly grasp how blessed we are to live in a house so full of music.

Our growing family... of instruments, that is!

We had a really nice surprise today when some friends of ours came by for a visit. Before they left, they pulled this out of their vehicle and brought it in as a gift for our kids. It was a total surprise and is going to be a great addition to our "orchestra"! 

Taking PE to a higher level

The kids have been sledding in our yard a couple of times this winter but we haven't had a chance to get over to the hill at our local dam. It has been a few years since we sledded there, so this morning we took a "snow day" and headed over with our snowsuits, boots and sleds. The hill was empty, except for a few little kids all the way on the other side of the hill. I stayed in van with our sleeping little guy (aka the little boy we babysit) and watched - I'm pretty sure the kids wouldn't have had quite as much fun if I had been up there to supervise - ha ha.

Climbing the hill at the dam

It's a looooong way up there

Getting ready to go down

And back up again

Garrett running down

The olden days

We were in the van yesterday and Garrett was thirsty.  All of the water bottles were frozen and he was kind of grumping about not having any water. One of the girls was trying to help him be more patient about it and reminded him that, "When Daddy was a little boy they didn't even have water bottles for the car."  "Yes," he replied. "But when Daddy was a little boy they read NeWsPaPeRs!!!" (In other words that was so long ago it doesn't count.)

Hair cutting 101

Laura had her 1st hair cutting lesson/experience tonight. I walked her through cutting Garrett's hair and then pretty much left her to doing Lincoln's. She did a pretty good job.

2014 Winter Violin Recital

The kids have been working hard to get ready for their violin recital. They have an wonderful teacher and we all love her. Last night was the performance. They did an excellent job! This was Lincoln's first recital - he started lessons in September. Laura, Abigail, & Charlotte also did a great job on the piano accompaniment. (Sorry that the sound and picture quality isn't the greatest)

Lincoln (Charlotte on piano)

Emily & Heidi (Laura on piano)

Heidi (Laura on piano)

Emily (Laura on piano)

Abigail & Charlotte (Laura on piano)

Charlotte (Laura on piano)

Laura & Abigail

Abigail (Laura on piano)

Laura(Abigail on piano)

Happy 14th Birthday, Charlotte!!!

We love you!!!

And next up...

Round 2 of 7

First time out on the road!