What I am truly thankful for this Thanksgiving

I have been trying to teach the children the true meaning of Thanksgiving, as I do each year. But, this year, I wanted it to be about more than Pilgrims and Indians (although that part is VERY important), turkey and pies and playing w/ our cousins. I wanted them to tell me what they are thankful for and why. So, I must lead by example and first tell them what I am truly thankful for.

Yes, I am thankful for my husband and children, my extended family, my home, my car, that we have food on our table each night, and I could go on and on, like most of you. So, on the way home from picking the children up from piano, I began to really search my heart about this (there are moments of peace in the car to be able to think). Right about then, this song came on the radio. This song is the reason we have Thanksgiving, the reason the Pilgrims traveled far to a strange land so that they could have the freedom to worship. This song brings me to tears each time I hear it, and even to my knees. I think this song sums up why I am so thankful this Thanksgiving. Jesus is everything to me and I hope he is everything to you.

Another Field Trip

Yesterday, I took the children on a tour of Great Harvest Bread Company. A few other families joined us and we all got to learn about making bread. She taught the children how to plant, grow, harvest, mill, make a dough and form it into a shape, bake and cut it. And at the end, we got to enjoy a slice of fresh from the oven bread w/ butter. Yum! She also gave all of the moms a free loaf of bread to take home! It was a great experience for all of us.

Samuel and Henry and some of the other boys.

Some of the girls. All lined up and ready to plant our wheat kernels.

We needed the rain and the sun, to make our wheat grow.

Cutting down our wheat.

This is the "mill" we took our wheat to.

The milling room was pretty small, so I had to take this picture from the other side. Obviously, Henry was not paying attention to the miller, but wondering what I was doing.

She is showing them how to make the mix for their dough and telling them the 5 ingredients they need. I'm going to see if they remember today what those ingredients were.

Do you think this machine is noisy? He is showing them how they mix their dough.

Forming their loaves.


Almost ready to put in the oven. Wonder if those hands are clean? (No, they did not eat the loaves they made.)

Showing them how their oven works. Kinda wish I had one of these:).

Woodward Park

We went to Woodward Park on Sunday to have Silas' one year pictures made w/ a photographer. While there, Aaron took some pics of the other guys.

Philbrook Art Museum

Yesterday, I took the children to the Philbrook Art Museum. I invited 5 other homeschooling families to go w/ us and we had a great time. We took a tour of their Queen Victoria's Reign collection. Apparently, this is the very first time that this collection has been released for viewing in a museum. I had my 3 oldest to write about (Sadie just told me since she is still learning to spell) one that they really liked and one that they didn't like and tell me why. Altogether, we had 22 children and 6 mommies. I didn't get a picture of everyone together, because they split us up into two groups.

This was our group.

This was outside in the gardens. I imagine this is really beautiful in the spring.

Henry standing in front of one of the pieces of "art". It's amazing to me what they can call art and get away w/ it.

Why does every little boy "have" to drink from a water fountain? I try not to think about all the germs. I also wanted to add something about Samuel. There was one painting on the tour of a bunch of geese that looked startled. There was a man's hat laying in front of them in the picture and they looked as if they didn't know what to do about the hat. The tour guide asked the children what they thought was happening to the the geese and Samuel said,"Maybe they are afraid of being ducknapped." The tour guide was trying not to smile and just offered a "could be." This is Caleb. His family goes to our new church and he and Samuel have become good friends. I am so thankful for this family.

The kids were sitting here doing some sketching of the gardens. The museum gave each of them a box w/ paper, crayons, pencil and eraser, and an art card. They can bring their boxes back each month and Philbrook will give them another art supply and art card. Isn't that neat? I am definitely going to take advantage of this wonderful place more often.

Buckle Up!

I hate wearing my seat belt, and yesterday that rebellion got me pulled over. Henry was afraid he was going to take me to jail, and then he saw the officer writing something. So, he asked, "Is he going to give us a present?" I just kind of laughed and said, "something like that." Then when the officer came back to the car and handed me my ticket, he also gave me 7 coupons for free kids' meals at Chili's. The coupons are worth more than the cost of the ticket, which was $20! Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

Daddy's Girl

We were driving to the mall last night, when Sophie asks her daddy if she can marry him. She is definitely daddy's little princess.

End of the Season

Yesterday was a very busy day for us. I left the house at 8:15 that morning and we didn't get home until 6:30 that night. We had 2 soccer games, 2 team parties, and each of the boys had 3 games each, back to back. It was freezing cold outside and I wasn't sure if the feeling was ever going to come back to my nose. But, we made it, and the season is now over (until Spring). Lizzy had the first game at 9:00. They won 3-2. Lizzy played goalie most of the time and did a good job keeping the other team from scoring.

This is just Lizzy goofing off at Sadie's game. Their papaw bought them all Wagoner Bulldogs shirts.

Her coach opened up his restaurant to us for their team party! Here are the GOLDEN COUGARS!

Sadie's team is called the WILDCATS. They are the cutest bunch of girls! They ended their season w/ just one loss. Sadie is a machine out on the field and is typically the leading scorer. They won their last game 6-2 and had their team party at Mazzio's afterwards. One of the little girls was sick and couldn't make it. We missed you Lauren!

Henry's team is the BANDITS. I don't think I have ever seen more enthusiastic parents than the parents on this team. They were really into football now! I felt sorry for the coach, because I think he had team of boys w/ ADD! I thought this picture told it all:

The BANDITS played 3 games and took 4th place in the tournament. Way to go! Henry was so proud of his trophy.

Samuel's team is the TITANS. His team had a great season, only losing 2 of their games. They played 3 games in the tournament and were in the championship game. Now, I hate losing, but I especially hate losing to a team w/ a big mouthed coach who likes to play a little dirty. And, that's what happened. They lost by 1 touchdown that they were about to score when the other team "tackled" our player to get his flag. The boys were so upset. When they were handing out the trophies, Samuel had tears in his eyes, which caused me to have tears in my eyes. I am glad Samuel got to have this experience. When the coach handed Samuel his trophy, he said that Samuel was the only one all season that never complained about anything. He loved playing football so much, and is already asking to play tackle next year (yikes!). I am so proud of him!

Here are just a few random pictures I took yesterday of them playing:

Samuel lined up on defense.

Samuel trying to get a flag.

This is Samuel's coach making sure he is in the right position.

Handing out trophies!

Henry sizing up the competition.

Henry getting ready to line-up.

Sadie passing the ball to Kelsey.

My pretty girl!

The girls doing their warmup drills.

Lizzy guarding her goal.

Lizzy passing the ball.

I just want to say thank you to my mom and dad. They helped me out w/ the 2 little ones this past season and made things a lot easier for me. Here is Silas in the car w/ mom. We tried to get him to wear this ear muff outside, but he wouldn't keep it on, until he got in the car and didn't need it.

Sophie eating cake at Sadie's team party.

I've been tagged . .

My friend, Charissa, tagged me in her blog to give 7 random things about myself. So, here goes:

1. When Aaron and I were first married, I thought I never wanted to have any children (I now have 6).

2. I once took a hip hop dance class a few years ago for a couple of months (don't ask).

3. I love to play just about any sport.

4. When I was kid, I was hit by a pick-up truck while riding my bike. After I was hit, I just got up and got back on my bike and rode off. I laugh when I think about what those people must have been thinking.

5. I flunked Physics in college (don't know why I didn't get out of the class?)

6. I have had only one pedicure in my life.

7. I change and wash my sheets at least once a week (I know that that is a little extreme).

Maybe I'll tag someone on Facebook.

Bragging Rights

I figured I have earned the right to brag about this:

After taking my shower and getting ready for the day, this is what I walk out to. Aaron has his apron on because he makes breakfast for himself and the children. He has his headphones on because he is usually on a conference call while doing this. He will unload/load the dishwasher and sometimes feeds the baby. He also voluntarily does my grocery shopping (Wal-Mart and Sam's) w/ at least 3 of the children. The last time he did the shopping he came home w/ these:

I think I have the best husband in the world!