on any given afternoon

{I am not going to be cliché and mention anything about how long it has been since we have posted anything on this blog.}

Walking through my house on any basic afternoon, this is what I find.

Open books. 

Everywhere.

Someone is in the middle of reading these books.  (I only have three readers currently but I have around ten open books in my house.) 

On the one hand I love it.  Hey they are reading. 

On the other hand, I really like a tidy home and I do not see how this is going to possible in the future when I have five readers times several books being read multiplied by "I can't risk putting it back on the shelf or finding a bookmark".

what we did on our summer vacation

We decided a long time ago that May is the best time for a homeschooling family to have a "summer" vacation. We love the lack of crowds and really summer is the most fun time to play at home when you live in the pacific northwest.


However, our week in Bend made us re-think this opinion. It rained almost every day we were there, the indoor pool was not open for the first couple of days we were there, the go-kart place was only open on the weekend and almost all of our fun-things-to-do list included outdoor activities. But we had fun anyway, how can you not while on vacation with your favorite people!


Highlights include: a super long bike ride (our first time with Justus & Ava in the trailer behind Mike's bike), hiking (our first time with all five kids), enjoying some time with our Aunt Sarah and cousin Keegan, relishing time with our grandma and papa (why do we not have any pictures of them?!), racquetball & other sports, and swimming in the pool as much as we possibly could.

(A few pictures of sweet Keegan and Sarah)

One of the hikes we did was a couple miles down into the earth via a lava tunnel. It was pretty neat to use the lanterns to see where we were going and to hike into a cave like that. (Oh and there is Grandma & Papa!)


This was taken at the end of the lava tube, about a mile into the earth.



We went geocaching and this was what Ava choose to take out of the box.



Hilariously, one activity which was enjoyed by all (especially Sarah and Papa but no pictures of them) was seeing how long one could hold an L-sit on the parallettes. Good times.


One last thing to share. We made it home from our 8 hour drive (not including many stops) late Friday night. After putting the kids to bed, Mike and I began to unload the car. All of a sudden a big, wet (it was raining), dog came up the driveway and followed us right into the garage. We chased him out of the garage and he went straight into the backseat of the car. He sampled each and every seat of our car a-la-Goldilocks and would not get out no matter how firmly we prodded, pleaded and cajoled. It was comical at first. But by the end I was pretty ticked at the wet, stinky, (at least two of us are allergic to) dog and the hair that he was getting everywhere. Once he had sullied the entire car he ambled out and headed for our house (we are convinced he would have headed straight to our bed had we not locked him out). We never found out his origin nor have we heard from him again. Pretty funny cap on a great week away.

this is why...

This is why we do not have a good picture of all seven of us up on the sidebar. We can't get one. Granted we have only tried once or twice, but really it seems impossible.


The one above has: a weird Ethan face, something going on funky with Luke's tuck-in job and zipper situation, and Ava, Aidan and Justus not really looking at the camera.


This attempts to crop out Luke's shorts but E-bo is still a goofball and Aidan and Ava are still looking elsewhere.


This one? Same issues really. I am not even taking into account the several others which were also not good or the fact that we are all standing very far apart. Oh and I am not even trying to pretend that I can get it together enough to have matching, coordinating or complimenting outfits!

Those are all the negatives or as I like to call them, the realities of the situation. The positive --and it is a big one is that these six people are my most favorite in the whole wide world. And no matter how crazy the pictures end up I will never tire of their faces!

I think it was in January

So we haven't really been blogging lately. Actually, both Mike and I have written the beginning of a few different posts here and there and then left them unfinished as drafts. Because our days have a lot to offer and the interruptions are many. No big deal really --in the scheme of things.

We went on a week long vacation the week before last. As we were uploading those pictures, we began looking at pictures from events past that we still would like to chronicle. At least a bit.

One such event was a wonderful little vacation we took to Lake Chelan with our great friends. They have condos there and were so gracious to share with us. We had a great time. There was a little snow on the ground so we were able to get in a some sledding.

We did other things too. We enjoyed hanging out with all the kids during the day, hanging out just the adults in the evening, playing bingo, and swimming at the indoor pool each day. We did enough to tire out the little guys. So much so that Ethan fell asleep standing up one night.

Good food always helps E-bo recover. This is one he made up on his own, knowing the evil of carbs (it is two sausage patties with scrambled eggs between). He named it "The Trader Jobes sandwich." I typed that right. We have been shopping at Trader Jobes ever since. We plan to never let it go.

One of the biggest highlights for everyone was a scavenger hunt created by Bob. He planted items down on the beach and after explaining the rules, and dividing the kids into two teams, he handed out a list of items for them to find. They had a blast.

It all culminated with this last tractor to find. And we all worked together to search for it.

With Mikey victorious in the end.

It was such a hit that as we were packing for our summer vacation, Ethan asked if we were going to do Bob's scavenger hunt again.
Thanks to Bob and Rebecca for such a great time!

the bedtime routine

When Mike is your daddy, part of "the going to bed routine" always includes physical activity: tickling until your sides ache, wrestling until you are sweating (or someone is crying), and many other of these sorts of activities (Mike is very creative).

One common game that is played during this winding down (yeah right!) time is "thumb sheaths." You don't know what that is? Let me fill you in on this wonderful and regular family game.

For this game to work you need to be in your "pajamas" which to my boys simply means shorts and no shirt.

Step 1. Get ready, get your mind in the game, prepare your manly fortitude.

Step 2. Daddy prepares his weapons: the thumbs.

Step 3. Sheath the thumbs. {A boy's armpit is the perfect sheath for a daddy's thumb. And it tickles a lot.}

Pull ups (or attempting them) is also almost always a part of this time in our day.

We are not near our pull-up bar so Ethan is making do with daddy's forearm. Two very strong men!

Push-ups are a must.

Aidan has mastered good push-up form.

Luke is demonstrating a bridge.

He is awesome at it, very flexible.

Our kids sleep really well. Maybe it is due to these crazy activities that Mike has instituted as part of the bedtime routine in our family. At least that is what I tell myself when after I call out "time for bed" all I hear is uproarious laughter and all kinds of energy!