Hannah, 6, ready to jump in with the horses

Lydia, 8, learning about the horses

I don’t think I snapped a photo of this but one of the horses is a bit up in age. Sweetest horse! He was out in the yard just free ranging on some grass. Content as could be.  Children and animals running all over and the horse just munched his way around the yard.

Sam, 2, getting a tour of the land from the experienced farm hand

Hannah loved the goats and thinks we need one.

Sarah, 4, and Maxine.

I seriously wanted to bring Maxine home. She is a very old kitty who just wants to sit in your lap and not move. Sarah fell in love with Maxine. And it was amazing. Sarah was still and quiet for an extended period of time. If I could have found a way to sneak her home, Maxine would  be a part of our family. Sarah loved her!

Caleb, 10, and Sam, 2. The boys.

Lydia, 8, loving the tire swings.

Hannah, Sam and Lydia.

Caleb. I love this boy.

Sam ready to ride!

Wasn’t this a fun day?! I hated to see it end. Great fun and fellowship.

Bekah, 13. Yee haw.

Thank you to our dear friends!! It was a wonderful day!

(Just a note…we did enjoy fun fellowship with the children in this family. But as a respect of privacy, I kept photos posted to just our kiddos.)

Mary is a treasure. She is an amazing organizer, she has a delightful imagination and sense of humor that has me chuckling often. She is the best alarm clock; helping me to get up and get moving in the mornings. I really do love her for this. Really. I do.  Mary can turn anything from folding laundry to cleaning out the van in to fun.

For as long as I can remember, Mary has loved horses. While we were tossing around ideas for what she wanted to do for her birthday, I had a moment of sheer brilliance. We have friends who have horses and I was sure they would be delighted to have us crash their home and farm all for the sake of horse lovin’ gal’s 12th birthday. And I was right. Our friends so graciously set aside  a day in their busy life, so that Mary could make a dream come true.

Mary seems to be a natural on a horse. I wasn’t sure if she would be willing to come home. However, I think she is more determined than ever to have a horse of her own one day.

My Mary is such a  blessing to me. So hard to believe that she is 12 already. I blinked and she went from that cute little baby to a lovely young lady.

Mary, Happy Birthday!!! Love you bunches!

(We have more photos from the day at the farm. I’ll post them in a separate post. )

Sam’s current favorite song is You are Holy. He is constantly singing while playing the “guitar”. Naturally, he will not sing for the camera.

After singing praises to the Lord, you may need a nap.

Words to You Are Holy

You are holy (You are holy)
You are mighty (You are mighty)
You are worthy (You are worthy)
Worthy of praise (Worthy of praise)

I will follow (I will follow)
I will listen (I will listen)
I will love You (I will love You)
All of my days (All of my days)

I will sing to (You are Lord of lords)
And worship (You are King of kings)
The King who (You’re the mighty God)
Is worthy (Lord of everything)
I will love and (You’re Emmanuel)
Adore Him (You’re the great I am)
And I will bow down (You’re the Prince of Peace)
Before Him (Who is the Lamb)
I will sing to (You’re the living God)
And worship (You’re my saving grace)
The King who (You will reign forever)
Is worthy (You are ancient of days)
I will love and (You are alpha, omega)
Adore Him (Beginning and end)
And I will bow down (You’re my Savior, Messiah)
Before Him (Redeemer and friend)

You’re my Prince of Peace
And I will live my life for You

Bubbles!

I have a schedule of upcoming blog posts (and I am behind) but I really wanted to share a couple of cute pics from today. Then I will return to the normal blogging schedule.

The three oldest girls were at a father/daughter retreat for the day so we decided to goof off and enjoy some bubbles.

Not everyone was impressed with the bubbles. We are working through some issues he is having with the great outdoors. Bubbles did not aid in this endeavor.

Sarah loved the bubbles. And the camera. Ready for the many faces of Sarah?

She cracks me up.

I think that was suppose to be a mad face? Giggle.

Adorable.

And Caleb, such a good big brother, pushed Sam around to keep him content.

And he blew bubbles so the girls could chase them.

Simple pleasures!

Little Miss Martha turned 4 months old on April 12th. There are people in my house who think she is growing up just a bit too fast. I agree!!

Martha is around 13/14lbs and wearing 3-6 months clothes. Simple put…perfect!

I was reminded that I was late in posting her 4 month update. In my defense, taking these pictures can be challenging. Other people keep jumping into the pictures.

But such cute little creatures jumping in the shot! This leaves no doubt that Martha is deeply treasured by all her siblings!

Martha loves to share her smiles. Ticklish? Not so far. Many attempts have been made to tickle Martha and get her laughing, but all have failed. She takes after her daddy.

Martha loves to talk to her daddy. As soon as he looks at her she starts to chat away. Always a very serious conversation. She is also making a lovely “mmmmmm” sound. I think she is contemplating attacking my chocolate.

And at four months, Martha’s thoughts on structure and design is highly sought after.

Sucking on two fingers always helps when in deep thought!

Martha Ann is such a sweet blessing!

Happy 4 months, Goose!

Sam..on a mission to the swings

Finally, I gave in and went the way of digital photography. And I love it. I admit it. It was a good change. I love being able to take 100 pictures and not worry about running out of film. I love being able to hand the camera to my children and letting them take a shot or two. No worries! We can delete any bad shots and keep taking pictures!

Caleb being a big brother and keeping a tired Sam occupied

There is a problem. Editing software. We can blur, smudge, brighten, crop our way to perfection. Guess what? Life isn’t perfect. And my pictures aren’t either. Once I cropped out the pile of laundry on the couch or the messy counter in the kitchen. But, who cares? That’s my life! Constant laundry. Constant cooking in the kitchen.

Goofy kids!

I want my children to look back at the photos and share some laughs. Laugh at the little sister that always popped up in a picture. Chuckle at spying a Dr. Pepper bottle at the edge of a picture. Or smile at the kiddo whose hair never seemed to be combed. Some of the most treasured moments could be edited out because they aren’t perfect. But they are real. And special.

Yep. They are mine.

So on Sunday, I caught a few special moments, some silliness and fun but most of all I captured beautiful memories. Imperfect, real memories.

Sarah and Me

Since this is my blog and I have freedom of expression, here are a few more…

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

What a glorious and beautiful day it was! I snapped a few photos (Ok, about 100) as I do every Resurrection Day. Before church pictures didn’t happen as we were running a bit behind schedule. Thankfully, the Lord granted us a beautiful, sunny day and a gorgeous backdrop for a photo session after church.

The Tribe - 2012

After the group shot, to the excitement of my children, we did some individual shots. Well, excitement might be too strong of a word but they love their mommy so they humor me. One day they will be thankful to have all these pictures!

Rebekah 13, Martha Ann almost 4 months

Last week, Bekah taught herself to crochet flowers and made some for all the girls! Martha loved her crocheted headband.

Mary, 12 on Saturday the 14th

Caleb, 10

As I was taking this picture, one of his sisters commented on the high probability that the grass was not sanitary.  Sweet, yes?

Lydia, 8

Hannah, 6

Matching outfits for Resurrection Sunday has become a tradition. When I was first learning to sew several years ago, I decided to have them completed by Resurrection Sunday to give myself a goal. And so the tradition began. This year’s outfits were simple paneled skirts for the older girls and peasant dresses with pinafores for the younger set.  They boys were happy to just wear blue shirts. Ah, boys.

Sarah, 4

Sam, 2

By the time of this photo session, Sam was done. I was chatting with him about improving his outlook and Mary snapped a picture.

Little Miss Martha, almost 4 months!

And Martha completely agreed with Sam. Her afternoon snooze was interrupted and she was not pleased.

Happy Resurrection Day! May we remember Christ’s sacrifice for us daily.

Enjoying the coolness of a rainy afternoon.

As warm as it has felt some days, I really don’t want to have the a/c running yet.  It can get really toasty in our house.  9 of us home all day, baking, working, cleaning, etc. The temperature can rise quickly!

Thread that machine, babycakes!

In an effort to keep cool while not running up an insane electric bill, I assigned my girls to sewing. Rice bags. You can heat them up but you can also keep them in the freezer. We use them when needed for headaches or injuries. Now they are our personal cooling systems. PCS.

Snip, snip

Get a little warm while working on math? PCS!  Hot after playing outside? PCS! Breaking a sweat in the kitchen? PCS!

What? You don't have a PCS?!?!

The kiddos really enjoy having them at night when they head to bed. Thankfully we have enough so everyone can have a PCS with reserves in the freezer.

Martha chillin' with her PCS

How do you keep cool?

Happy kiddo thanks to a PCS

Note: Rice bags are easy to sew so they can be a great project for beginning sewers. My girls made some a few years ago as gifts. Rice bags make wonderful, inexpensive gifts!

(I forgot to take pics of the bags. Ooops! )

Isn’t she lovely in her sweet pink dress? I’m not sure if it shows in the pictures but she is growing so quickly!

Happy Baby! She continues to be a content little one. She gets fussy when she is sleepy. And she is still a great sleeper! Such a blessing. This week she has begun to give us a little laugh now and then. When she laughs she acts so surprised that she made the noise.

She is a delight and is still the center of attention. You can see she didn’t stay alone on the blanket for long.  I have to remind the other little ones that she doesn’t want someone in her face every minute.

And she has entered the advanced school for 3 months old. We take education very seriously. Lydia has taken over Martha’s science instruction. Below Martha is getting her introduction to space.

Happy 3 Months, Martha!

13, 11(almost 12), 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and almost 3 months!

Personally, I prefer to be behind the camera. However, I know it is important to my family to have snapshots of me as well. I am learning to get over my vanity and say “cheese”.

My two right hands.....

The ones that still look up to me.....hee hee

If you are a mom, is very likely that you spend most of your time taking the pictures. Most days if we are spending the day at home, I might just have a ponytail, some baby drool on the shirt and chocolate on my skirt. Or I could be surrounded by answer keys, laundry and Little People toys. Not exactly a photo moment, eh? Or is it? What a treasure to be able to look back at snapshots of the everyday moments and remember the joy of those busy, chaotic days!

My little people

Grab the camera, pass it a kiddo and say “cheese”. Even if there is a chair in the background that your son used to help him reach a branch and didn’t put it back where it belonged. Even then…

And a bonus shot….we needed a quick family photo so we set the timer on the camera and…

The Tribe

(Just a note..the deck has two levels. Eddie and I were on the lower level. No weird growth patterns going on in the family.)