Apple Pie Day

What a fun day!  This was our first time attending the homeschool Apple Pie Day.  Apple Pie Day is an opportunity for homeschool families to learn about state government and positively influence legislators.  We enjoyed a tour of the capital, visited with other wonderful families, and listened to a great choir. Jared and Jesse spent a good amount of the time in choir practice.

Unfortunately it started raining and hailing shortly after the choir started singing.  They were all real troopers continuing on through the unpleasant weather. 

The twins were tuckered out!

family movie night

These are nights our boys look forward to.  They especially like it when BJ and I sit with them and watch the movie, too.  I am guilty of always being too busy, but I am learning that my laundry will wait for me...it's not going anywhere.  :)

my farmer

Isn't he cute?  This is where he is telling me I better not take a picture of his tractor stuck in the mud.  BJ is having a lot of fun at this place.  :) 

Here it is again, in case you missed it....

Early start....

We really don't watch a lot of movies around here, but sometimes it is nice for mommy to have a small break. :)  It took forever for Judson to sit and actually watch tv....not these guys.  When the tv is on they head for the chair and get settled in.  With two little ones running around it is especially nice. :)

Birthdays

Jared's and my birthday were kind of a whirlwind this year with our move happening only a few weeks earlier.  BJ's parents came to help us celebrate.  While at Izzy's Johnny pulled one his new trademarks.  Poor guy didn't feel well.  I'll just say that lucky for me, Johnny was sitting in BJ's lap.  :)   Here are a few highlights.....

Jared is 12 years old now!!! To celebrate this milestone birthday BJ bought Jared his first rifle, a Springfield 30-o6'.  The plan is that BJ will take Jared on his first hunting trip this fall.  I hope he has beginners luck, I think.  

I turned 36 this year.  It sounds too close to 40....which, by the way, sounds pretty young to me now.  :)

Happy Birthday, Jared.  We love you and know that the Lord has wonderful things in store for you as you grow in Christian manhood. 12....wow!

This could be a problem....

My twins obviously take after their older brothers in that they too love mud puddles!  Josiah escaped and headed straight for the mud.  Since he was already covered we let Joshua join in the fun before getting the bath started. :)  I am reluctant to let any of the boys leave the house because it always equals a big mess!  

Jesse is sure enjoying this place!

What to do?

While BJ was away on his conference the boys ran into a little trouble.  :)

  I texted BJ a picture when it happened so he would have something to look forward to when he returned.

The really funny thing is that a week later BJ got his tractor stuck....in the same spot!

 

Like father like son. :)

it's been a long time

Some of the most fun of our move has been unpacking boxes that I haven't been into for 2 1/2 years!  When we first moved to Woodburn we thought we'd be in our own place within a few months.  So why unpack all of our unnecessary things?  Little did we realize that the market here was not like good old Lewis County's.  A few months turned into a year and then another year.  I just knew that if I got into those boxes I'd be packing them up again....and at times I seriously considered doing that just to see if it would work!  Looking back BJ and I realize our mistake in not making our rental more homey. We spent too much time feeling sad about being in transition mode still.  Thankfully the Lord didn't turn His back on us even when we were like the grumbling Israelites.  Looking back, it was definitely worth the wait and we are so grateful to have had such a nice rental within a few minutes drive of the church.  All that said, I need to have some pictures printed!  I unwrapped the picture boxes and I don't have any framed pictures of our youngest three boys!  :)  

This picture of moving into our new home seems like forever ago now, but really we have only lived here 1 month today! The bins had a lot of fun playing in their cribs while daddy put them together.  :)