Happy Birthday! Cara is 6!

Cara worked very hard in losing these 2 front teeth!









Six years ago God blessed our family with another beautiful little girl. On Friday, this girl turned six. Cara Grace has been such a blessing to our family. She is funny, loves to smile, and has such a sunny and caring personality. Thank you God, for giving Cara to us.



Cara with the purse and apron Jesica and Ashly made for her birthday.








Her brothers bought her 2 sewing kits to practice her sewing.












A new mini trampoline to practice her jumping and to burn off extra energy!




A bright yellow star cake for the star of the day!

Wedgits!

For those of you who don't know what Wedgits are, they are building blocks that can stack inside each other and can also interlock. All ages have fun with them. Today Josiah and Mathias each spent some time building. Mathis built a tower and Josiah built "X-orbiter". Wedgits can be purchased from Timberdoodle.

A glimpse into our mornings

It's Tuesday morning and our school day is into full swing. It didn't start off as a smooth day. Jesica made scones and put in baking soda instead of baking powder. YUCK! However, she quickly made a new batch and they were YUMMY! I wish I had pictures of the faces when they tasted the bad ones. Now we are finished with violin and piano practicing, things have settled down, and everyone is busy studying. Well, everyone except Cara and Mathias. They are busy playing house and learning on the computer - their favorite things to do!

Not all our days are this quiet, with everyone doing what they should be. However, we are getting better and having a routine has really helped. Daniel has been Justin's primary teacher this year, so that has freed up some of my time. Cara is in the process of learning to read and having the extra time has been beneficial for both her and I.

Last week a bought a stick vac for vaccuuming the kitchen/dining room/entry way. Everyone has been eager to use it! Justin even volunteered to take over Ashly's chores for the day, so he could use it! Mathias has had the most fun with it. He does a pretty good job for a 3 year old!

"Even a child is known by his deeds,Whether what he does is pure and right."

Proverbs 20:11

Day of Painting

We finally did it....the trim on the house has needed to be painted for a while and it is now finished! We even have the trim for the shed painted! What a successful day. The best part is the house looks so bright and fresh with the new paint. Jesica took most of the pictures, so she's not in any. She painted the trim around the garage and helped Ashly with the garage trim. Here are some picture of the day.

Ashly painting the trim for the shed

The men, who hate heights, up on the ladder and roof. Mom couldn't go up because she's pregnant, otherwise she probably would have been the one on the ladder!

Grandpa came out for the day to help with the painting. Grandma is in North Carolina helping take care of the newest grandson, Ethan.

Now it is time to relax and listen to Dad read "Journey Through the Night". Josiah, Cara, and Mathias fell asleep early, Jesica is crocheting, Justin is relaxing, Ashly is holding a sleeping Mathias, and Mom is blogging. What a great way to end a busy day.....

Thanks everyone for a job very well done!

The National Christian Choir

It seems as though lately my blog posts have raved about what a wonderful husband I have. Tonight was no exception. He really outdid himself this time! First of all, I LOVE the National Christian Choir. Every Sunday night at 9 pm I am listening to them on WMBI (local Moody radio station). While Daniel and I listen, he gives me my Sunday night foot rub. That in itself would win him Husband of the Year Award. So, back in August, WMBI announced that the National Christian Choir was coming to historic Moody Church. I LOVE to go to Moody Church. The architecture is amazing and the acoustics are equally as wonderful. When Daniel heard the National Christan Choir was going to be there in September, he knew we had to have tickets.

Last night was the big night. All 8 of us piled into the van, grabbed dinner out, and drove to Chicago. Parking is at Moody Bible Institute. We weren't sure if our large van would fit in the parking garage, but we did! School buses are provided to shuttle us to the church. All the neighborhood children ride the yellow bus to school, and the younger ones always wondered what it would be like to ride in one. Now the mystery has been solved!

The choir has 135 voices and the concert itself was beyond words. The music was worshipful and glorifying to God. On some of the songs the congregation was asked to sing. That was also amazing. I wish I could put it into words, but I just can't.

Thank you, Honey, for such a wonderful evening of worship! I love you!

Family Closet

While the girls were busy with the apples, the men were busy working on our family closet. having 6 children, with one on the way, creates some interseting storage issues for clothes. Our closets are just way to small to accomodate 3 children in each bedroom. So in August, we turned our spare bedroom into a children's closet. All their clothes were moved in there and the dressers moved out. The clothes that were in dressers are now in bins on shelves. Here is a before picture of the room:



The first set of hanging clothes racks we bought was on rollers and couldn't handle the volume of hanging clothes. They broke within a week. So the men bought some nice shelves for the clothes. Here they are working hard installing them.







The room is now finished and looks great. All the children can reach their clothes and the ironing board can even remain up for those quick touch ups! The biggest benefit to having a familycloset is that all the laundry is folded in there and is immediately put away. No more piles on the sofa or procrastinating in putting laundry away.

Thanks Honey and Justin for doing such a great
job!

The fruits of our labor

Yesterday we picked apples. Today we froze and baked them! The girls and I were busy peeling, slicing, chopping, and bagging. Then we made an apple pie and 2 batches of apple cinnamon rolls. One batch will will frozen while the other will be baked tomorrow morning for breakfast! YUMMY! The recipe came from a 12-day holiday planner that is available from the Urban Homemaker.

Don't these looking delicious? Thanks to my wonderful daughters for all their help!

Apple picking fun!

Today we took a break from school and went to the apple orchard with 2 other families. In all there were 22 people - 19 of them children! What fun we had! The children played on the playground and ran through a maze. Jesica timed the older children to see who could do it the fastest! We also did some "shopping" and bought chocolate fudge, dark chocolate pecan fudge, cashew brittle, and apple cider donuts! YUM!






After all that fun we decided it was time to get down to the real reason why we were there - to pick apples! With all the helping hands, we were able to fill the baskets fairly quickly. We even ate a few along the way!

Here are some more quick snapshots of our day and the rest of the photo album (click here).

Most of the children taking a break.

John and Mathias guarding the apples

Mathias and the goat

Cantigny Revolutionary War Re-enactment

Today we spent the day at Cantigny. They had a Revolutionary War re-enactment and camp set up. We we able to see first hand how the soldiers lived and walk through tents that were set up as little shops. There were also demonstrations on pottery making, bobbin lace making, and spinning of wool into yarn. The women also showed how they cooked over fire and we were able to see actual food being prepared. The boys were able to examine some of the muskets and canons. Everyone who was part of the reenactment wore period costume - even the very small children. It was very intersting to see the differnt types of uniforms. We had such a wonderful time - especially just being together relaxing as a family. There are also some pictures from the 1st Infantry Division tanks that are on the ground of Cantigny. The children had fun climbing all over them and touring the museum. Here are some pictures from our day.

Here is a link to the photo albumn if you care to view more pictures.

Giving Thanks

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with
praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His
mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations."
Psalm 100:4-5

These verses have prompted me to think about what I am thankful for. God has blessed me abundantly and sometimes I need to take the time to make a "Thanksgiving List" just so that I don't take them for granted. Here is a list of the top 10 things that I am thankful for today. They are listed in no particular order.

I am thankful for:

1. A living God that blesses me abundantly, even though I don't deserve it.
2. A husband who loves me enough to sit up with me in the middle of the night, while I am in pain.
3. A husband who also loves me so much that he desires to lead our family and provide for us while I get to stay home with the children.
4. Children who try to be patient and quiet while I gather my senses after not sleeping well and occationally bring me breakfast in bed.
5. The covenant child that is in my womb. Almost 3 years after our youngest was born, God has opened my womb and blessed us with another child. Hopefully more after this one!
6. Indoor plumbing, especially during the night. At family camp Daniel would have to get up in the middle of the night and drive me to the washrooms. Isn't he wonderful? I am thankful for the fact that I can now walk 10 ft. to the washroom and not have to worry about bears.
7. God opening my heart to home educating. Daniel prayed and waited a long time. Now I wouldn't trade this time with our children for ANYTHING!
8. having older children who are capable of running the home while I am unable. Justin, Jesica, and Ashly took over all the cleaning and cooking while I was in the throws of morning sickness. I enjoy being back in the kitchen, but love to still have their help.
9. The beautiful fall weather we are having. The crispness of the air in the morning and the bright blue skies. Soon the leaves will start to change color.....
10. the new serger that my wonderful husband bought for me yesterday. I have a long way to go to learn it all, but I am looking forward to all the wonderful things that the girls and I will be able to make.

My list could go on and on, but I am going to stop at 10 for today. What has God blessed you with that you are thankful for? Make your own list and don't stop at 10!

Another good dr visit

Today I had another visit with Dr Z. He will be delivering our baby come February. Everything is looking great. The heartbeat is going strong and was very easy to find. He also review my chart from the hospital and gave me some Tylenol 3 to help with any more kidney stone pain. I am very thankful for that. The pain can be so bad and Daniel feels so helpless. He does a wonderful job though of rubbing my back as it is spasming! (I love you, Honey!)


While we were in the hospital, Labor Day weekend, we had a baby ultrasound done. Everything is on target for my mid-February due date. Josiah is still praying for a February 17th birthdate, so they can share the same birthday. Here is a picture of the profile of our baby. Isn't technology wonderful? So far we think the profile is very similar to Mathias. Hopefully this one won't be as curious as him though! We never know what Mathias's next "experiment" will be. He definately keeps us on our toes! And to think that he was the one who was induced because he would never move in-utero!

Introduction

Welcome to our family's new blog.

We are currently a family of 8 ( 2 parents who are very happily married) and 6 children, with #7 due in February. Our dream is to someday live in the country and own several acres of land. Until that day, we reside in northern IL, in a small town where there are still cornfields. We home educate, are quiverful, and attend a family integrated church.

This is new territory for all of us, so please bear with us. We hope to use this medium to tell what's happening with our family and share our thoughts on many topics. Hopefully we can keep it up-to-date, since there will be many "authors"! Please say "Hi" and leave comments to let us know how we are doing.