Civil War Era Field Trip

  A couple of weeks ago, I took my three oldest kids to an old army fort that holds Civil War Reenactments and overnight educational programs for students.  My mom helped me make dresses for my daughter and me.  The boys wore jeans and solid shirts.  I tried to find solid colored flannel shirts, but it is the wrong time of year.  However, the weather was unseasonably cold and stormy and we even had to wait over an hour so they could clear the highway of snow, on our way there!  There was still snow on the ground and it was cold! Thankfully, I worked in the kitchen with the fire place burning all day.  The kids worked in 5 different stations throughout the day.  They learned how to make candles and do laundry on a washboard.  They built wooden tool boxes and bent metal in the blacksmith's shop.  They made adobe bricks by stamping in the goo with their bare feet and they chopped veggies for the yummy stew that we had for dinner.  The kids were all "recruits" and the major and general kept them busy the whole time with chores or games.  In the morning after we all packed our things, the kids had to clean and sweep the barracks until they passed inspection.  It took them two hours!  While all the parents stood around the fire drinking coffee :)  But they got a good breakfast and hot chocolate afterwards.  My kids loved it!  I hope to take the two younger ones in a couple of years.  Here are some pictures:

Birthday Fun: Legoland!!

A's 12th birthday fell on a weekday this year, so we had a party for him on the Saturday before:

A few days before that, our friends called and asked if we'd like 5 free tickets to Legoland!!  We said YES!  So on his actual birthday, we got to go to Legoland!   They were about to expire and they couldn't use and we had to use them soon.  We had a buy one get on free, too, so we only had to buy one ticket.  Not bad for a family of 7!  (We still had to pay for gas, food and hotel room, but it was much cheaper than it would have been) He had a great birthday, definately the most exciting way to celebrate a birthday that our family has ever had. 

12 years old, and he finally gets to drive:

The puny log ride, which is the way my scaredy cats like it :)

Freefall! Getting ready to go up:

Going Down!!

Miniland USA.  I loved this place:

Our old stompin' grounds, San Francisco:

The kids used to play at this fountain during our outreaches.  You could walk along the edges against the walls.  The steps were solitary, you had to really jump to the next one to not fall in the water.  The oldest two remember this:

Snow Day!

One of the great things about homeschooling is that you can declare a "snow day" whenever you want.  Even if the weather is 80 outside!  We have been wanting to go to the snow all winter, but we were either busy, or the roads weren't clear on our favorite mountaintop.  Thankfully, we've had lots of rain this year, which means lots of snow in the mountains.  I called the ranger station to make sure there was still snow, since it suddenly got hot here.  She said it is melting and there won't be much, but no one had been up there all week.  We decided to risk it, since it is probably our last chance.  We even braved it without the Daddy!  Big brother helped a lot, it's so nice to have big kids now! Going to the snow on a school day is great, we were the only ones up there for an hour, and by the time we left, there were only 6 cars!

Melting!?  Look at the signs!  There is at least 3 or 4 feet here!

Wild things:

At the top of the hill:

Giant snowman that someone else made.  They had already beheaded the poor guy before I stopped them.  So he got a new head:

A sea of purple, at the foot of the mountains!

 

Dressing Up

My boys have never worn ties.  I bought those little "kits", the shirt and clip on matching tie.  Someone had traded ties in the package with a smaller one, which would have been very short!  So our oldest got to wear one of Daddy's real ties.  I think they look great.  We need to go somewhere fancy to wear them again, maybe a nice dinner someday.

The oldest girl likes to wear dresses, but not the youngest, so this is different, too :)

New Year's Eve

January is almost over already, but I wanted to share these neat pictures from New Year's Eve.  We went to the hills at some friends' land.

They made this huge bonfire.  Here is my son in front of it to see how big it is:

These brave men are standing on a pallet on a fork lift to put the toilet paper rolls up there:

Watch how the heat causes the toilet paper to unroll almost straight up. 

Some of the toilet paper will eventually break and float down in huge streams, unburned! 

You can feel the heat from this thing from very far away!

Our Baby is Eight!

I know she isn't a baby anymore, she is a big girl and big helper, when she wants to be! Here she is through the years.  I am so thankful for her.

7 weeks:

7 months:

1 1/2:

 

 

2, with her new "baby safe" glasses:

 4:

5:

6:

7:

8!:

 

 

Isn't She Lovely?

15 years ago today, I began the wonderful journey of being a Mommy.  I can hardly believe my girl is 15 now, but I  can hardly remember a time without her.  Here are some pictures of our first little blessing:

3 mos

1st birthday:

2 years old:

3

5:

8:

 10:

11:

13:

15!

PS, she got up at 5:30 this morning to make homemade cinnamon rolls.  She made a huge mess, but they were good.  Then she made her own cake from scratch, and even dinner, spaghetti, using spaghetti squash instead of pasta!