November 2012

November 1- school, preschool for ephram, painter came to fix the skylight, errands while we had our first showing, kids played outside, klick's over for dinner, and got ready for the last co op this fall.

November 2- watched alex, co op, went to cfa for a long lunch with the schoenlings, watched the welch kids, loved cailey's fall cake, morgan girls came over to join in on the fun, took all 10 kids to the park for a pizza dinner while the house was being shown, littles watched a movie while i took the older four to the co op finale.

November 3- woke up to lots of kids ready to eat, muffins, outside play in the COLD morning sun, showing on the house so we took the kids to panera then the mall and bookstore for fun, got the little girls matchy clothes, kids played outside more in the warm afternoon sunshine, gracie and emily ruth came over, said goodbye to the welch kiddos and sent kinsey as I kept rebecca in the trade, morgan girls spent the night.

November 4- brought all the sleepover girls to church, costco with the klicks for lunch, four girls played together all day, braden had scouts, choir, played with my ephram boy, missed my kinsey girl, and brian started not feeling great:(

November 5- school, klicks came over to do school then have lunch, rebecca and cailey spent their day playing outside, lots of reading for braden, super fun Bb crafts with ephram, beauty and the beast, gracie came over to play and  go to dinner with the girls then to basketball evaluations, FT with my kinsey girl who i MISS, morgan girls spent the night.

November 6- morgan girls here all day, preschool, science class, braden sick 104.8 fever and really bad sore throat, trip to the dr, girls spent the afternoon playing out in the cold weather while braden rested and watched movies (strep and flu test were negative), bojangles biscuits for all, election day with super sad results:(, canceled election dinner/party w/ klicks since b was sick:(, started feeling yucky.

November 7- up all night feeling yucky,  had to cancel my trip to China Grove for the day/night so brian and laura met up to switch girls, lots of sleeping, lots of snuggles from kinsey girl, braden still felt bad, no jump rope, morgan girls came over to play, awana

November 8- school, preschool for e, didn't feel great, braden to eye doctor, house showing, morgan girls came over to play, zoo trip postponed b/c of sickness, cailey baked and decorated a cake, klicks came over for some, and listened to lots of Amelia Bedelia from Kinsey.

November 9- watched alex, went to barnes and noble for story time, craft show, played with the boys, hung out with cheryl, played games with the kids all evening, scrabble with the big kids, sorry with all, fun day!

November 10- went to the mistletoe market with the fam, played outside with the kids, napped on the trampoline with them:), carolina football game on tv for brian, went to the hallmark open house together, and soaked in the sunshine!

November 11- ephram woke to a bloody nose, church, packed for laura's, canceled piano and science class, choir, mission kids bible study, tales of foot 'smushing' in China from Cailey, ephram broke out with a random rash and we gave him benadryl, lots of outside in the WARM air, and played games with Braden.

November 12- Got up SUPER early to pick up Rebecca and drop off the two youngest and go to the Southern Christmas Show with Anne and her mom, had a fun day of shopping, laughing, memories, poor braden felt sick for a few hours...then perked up which made this mama happy, house showing, girls giggled all day, met matt/leigh/and kids at rusty's for dinner, met howard for the first time, fun cousin time, got lost, and finally got back to Laura's for snuggles and tuck in time. (Ephram had benadryl twice today b/c of the rashes)

November 13- worked out with Laura while the kids went to homeschool PE, excited to see the sun come out so the kids could play outside on the gorgeous cool day, lots of hugs, ephram still broke out in rashes, caught up with L while all the kids played:), lots of laughing over boxers/stolen underwear:), borrowed a ton of clothes, and just enjoyed fun times. Oh..and a house showing.

November 14- After surprising the kids with a two night sleepover there was yet another...ZOO with the klicks!, fun time walking around looking at animals together, great catch up time, loved just hanging out, friends had fun together, cleaned when we got home, awana, and crashed! Oh..and another showing at 2pm. Ephram broke out in a rash and I gave him benadryl at 11 then again at 8pm

November 15-preschool for ephram, school, thanksgiving feast with ephram at preschool, more school, early nap, dr. for ephram's hives, lots of reading with Kinsey, LOVED listening to C&B play Christmas songs on the piano, cleaned, baked brownies, and had a super fun Usborne party.

November 16- school, lots of time talking/learning about the First Thanksgiving thanks to an awesome website, morgan girls came over to play, switched kids with kelly (caden came to sleepover here and Kinsey went there), hung out with leslie for a bit, and snuggled my croupy boy aka baby seal.

November 17- woke up early for the Christmas parade, went out to lunch together, and had the rest of the afternoon to play games, play outside, and hang out with my kiddos! Ephram still broke out and woke up croupy, listened to Kinsey talk all about her sleepover, tons of neighbors outside for the kids to play with, and big kids did a lot of reading.

November 18- half of us woke up not feeling great, house showing, rested a lot while the girls played outside all day with the morgan girls, choir, mission kids, closed the Usborne party and got a TON of free books:)!

November 19- school, canceled playdate with caden, fun Thanksgiving crafts, Tt is for Turkey!!, lots of laundry, packed for MD, snuggles and giggles with my babies, and lots of chasing and laughing.

November 20- school, finished packing for MD, fun crafts, cleaned the house, drove to MD in lots o' traffic, played fun car games together, Christmas caroled in the car together, hugged Nonny and Poppy, and had a sleepover with Cailey!

November 21- school, played outside in the sunshine (toilet tag?? with the kids), took the doggies for a walk together, met mom at Toys R Us, amish place for pretzels and candy apples, danced to piano songs, got lots of snuggles, triominoes, bingo, brian played hide n seek with the kids, and hung out with mom.

November 22- turkey day:)!, middles went on a run with brian, hung out together all day, smelled turkey, oldest two hiked around the big lake with poppy, gorgeous sunshine, watched the parade, danced, laughed, played games, talked, listened, ate, snuggled:)

November 23- didn't go out in the rush, posted deals, mini school, air and space museum for the kids and daddy while i ran errands with mom, restful afternoon, kids and daddy moved on to fun at the castle park, leftovers, good online deals, dad taught the oldest two about binary numbers, rosie came to play games with the kids, movies to see Lincoln with brian, and chatted with mom.

November 24- met mom at work then went to panera for lunch, hung out and played games, drove home, played lots of car games, unpacked, and crashed.

November 25- woke to find that brian got me Clay Aiken tickets!! restful Sunday, popcorn delivery, outside play in the cold, no activities.

November 26- piano lessons, school, laundry, lots of reading together, watched Christmas movies together in the evening, play time, outside play, giggles, tickles, did ps with ephram, and had a pillow fight with the kiddos!

November 27- preschool for e, school, met kelly and tricia at the park, kinsey went home with caroline, more school, crafts with e, snuggles, rejoiced with the oldest two when they learned half of their duet, read lots of Tt books, and played with my babies.

November 28- school, story time with ephram, library time for all, errands, carpets cleaned and lots of laughter from the kiddos, perfect weather (55 and sunny!) to play outside, obstacle courses, cailey to jump rope class, made some yummy food with my sweet boy, a date with brian and awana.

November 29- preschool for e, put all the stuff back (from carpet cleaning) school, puzzles and playtime with e, sweet notes from K, stories with c, help from b, out to dinner and my FAVORITE concert with brian (Clay Aiken) while leslie and the linscott's watched the kiddos.

November 30-cailey went to kelly's to be a mommy's helper with carter all morning, watched alex, a little school, played with the kiddos, listened to alex and ephram play super heros with spiderman and yoda:), went to CFA for lunch with kel and tricia and got my usborne books:), kiddos played, traded kids with kelly and brought caroline back home, girls raked and played outside all day, morgan girls over, church for family night, sent girls home with keel's for a sleepover and brought caden home for one.

September-Novmeber Random

Cailey and Braden LOVE to read...and read anywhere they are. Saw cailey up on
the shelf one day and just had to get a shot LOL!

 Just like the day where they played tangrams for hours we decided to count all the tiles in the house
since Kinsey was practicing counting by 10's in the higher hundreds. We all estimated first and Kinsey came the closest with her guess of 800! The rest of us were WAY under!

game night..something we all love! i taught the kids scrabble
(though they knew the gist because of WordFeud)

anytime it rains they are THRILLED to go outside and play in it..with their boots and umbrellas, of course!

During Ww week ephram loved wearing his wig...and came down like this (left) cracked me up! Then the next day he decided to wear it to preschool:)

Playing thumb wars while waiting for Braden's eye appointments. We did this often since we had to wait for the on call doctors to come open the building on the weekends.

new to us playground the kids loved

snuggle bugs...and ephram continues to LOVE standing behind Braden while he does his school work. he plays with his hair and messes it up:)

ephram missed a nap this day. he was so tired that he fell asleep seconds after getting a lollipop during Ll week!

out on a morning walk and piggy back rides

always fascinated with daddy's facial hair..since he was a baby

chair school:)

look at my BIG BIG Star Wars spaceship!

building marble sets (a favorite thing) during his broken leg period

tackling sissy...and someone stole my seat AND cell phone at soccer:)!

darth vader was practicing piano

Thanksgiving time

 We had a fun Thanksgiving with Nonny and Poppy! We were able to drive up Tuesday evening and stay until Saturday.  On Wednesday we met mom at work then she bought the kids a snack at the Amish place. While Brian and I stuck to our favorite pretzels the kids chose caramel apples..and my chocolate boy chose almond bark.

 The kids went on lots of walks with Poppy and the dogs...and one day he even took Braden, Cailey, and Macy for a hike around the BIG lake.

 Braden baked a pumpkin pie all by himself! (With Nonny watching over:)

 We all listened and danced to Poppy's piano playing

 and played lots of games...

(Sorry Sliders, Triominoes, Bingo, Candy Land, War, etc)

 Then on Thanksgiving Day while mom was cooking we ran over to the lake for a quick photo shoot.

 On Friday mom had to work in the morning then I went to a few shopping places with her. Brian took the kiddos to the Air and Space Museum to see the Space Shuttle then to the park...they were gone ALL day! He is such a great daddy! Then that night he and I went on a date to see Lincoln.

Saturday mom worked again in the morning so the kids played outside then we met her for lunch at Panera before going back to hang out with her and Poppy until it was time to go. Poppy and Braden played checkers too!

2012 Parade Day!

 We arrived at the parade to get a great parking space and I hung out with the kiddos (minus Kinsey plus Caden since we swapped for sleepovers) in the warm car while Brian went and set up where Brandon was. Brandon was so AWESOME to get there SUPER early and save us seats in the warm sunshine. We had the perfect spot, free hot chocolate, blankets, cold, and lots of fun things to look at. I even got to hold baby Eli (Chad and Emily's baby) for the entire parade...through a nap:). Precious!

 The kiddos loved being able to reach out and shake hands with the characters and be close to the candy:).

 

Char Char was all wrapped up so I didn't get a good pic of here but here's all the other buds!

We went out to lunch afterwards for some fun family time together but did not do the tree decorating because of the house being for sale. It was a super fun day!

Feast

Ephram's preschool class had a Thanksgiving feast and I went to be with my buddy! First they read a couple books then we did a handprint turkey craft with the kids. Next up was the feast and boy did he feast! His favorite thing to eat was his cupcake but there was also turkey, rolls, popcorn, tomatoes, other veggies, cheese, and fruit. What a special time I was able to spend with my boy! Love you little turkey:).

Zoo day!

 After going to Laura's house for a couple days I surprised the kiddos yet again by going to the zoo (instead of home).  They were also surprised when they saw the Klick's come join us!  I'm sure a memory my kids will have of me will be all my surprises:). It was a pretty cold day but warmed up as the day went on.

 dino eggs

 Observing the flamingos during mating season...apparently. Great lesson for science! After the flamingos we went into the aviary and had a super fun time identifying all the birds. This is usually not something that interests me but boy we had a great time hunting for them all! There were GORGEOUS bright red flamingo looking birds as well as blue chicken type birds with cute feathers on their heads that just kept us hunting for more of God's creativity.

 At first we didn't see many animals...except for squirrels, lol! But thankfully that soon changed and we were able to see gorillas, types of antelope, ostriches, giraffes, and more.

 Playground time!

We had such a great ending to our three day adventure and were able to do Math, English, and Spelling in the car so it counted as school days:)! Plus Science from the zoo:).