Sadie's New Smile

Isn't she a beauty?

Sophie's Dance Recital

Sophie took her first year of ballet/tap lessons. She really likes ballet and will focus exclusively on that next year, and not tap.  But, her recital dance was just tap.  I've included a video of her dress rehearsal.  You will have to forgive the poor camera quality AND the lady who decided to walk right in front of me during filming.  I took another video of her actual recital, but it didn't turn out very good.  Anyway, she is the 4th girl from the right in the video.  She did a really good job!

 
Sophie Dance Recital May 2014 from Melissa Goff on Vimeo.

This was a photo from her Christmas Recital:

And, this one was her first recital in October:

Blueberry Season

I took the kids to Thunderbird Farm to do our annual blueberry picking.  They have a deal where you can pick three pounds, keep one for free.  So, having 7 helpers helping me pick has it's benefits (when Silas isn't  eating what he has picked or throwing them at strangers in the next row over).  We've almost eaten what we picked this day, so we will may be going back for more before the season is over.  They also grow blackberries, raspberries and strawberries at Thunderbird.

Other happenings in April

Lizzy's team came in first in their indoor league:

The three older kids went on a youth retreat.  You may have gotten a text from me asking you to pray because of a very BAD stomach virus that broke out while they were there.  About 30% of the people who went got sick.  Thank you for your prayers, NONE of the kids got sick!  Praise the Lord! This pic is after they returned and the gang was reunited (Nic feel asleep in the back seat while we were waiting on them):

Sadie was on the green team at retreat:

 Samuel was on the purple team:

 Lizzy was on the yellow team:

And, I started running again this year.  I ran my first race with a few friends from church.  It was the GOO Run and you basically get green, slimy goo shot at you while you are running.  Yeah, I won't be doing that one again next year.  But, it was fun to run with friends.

Cherokee Indian Heritage Days

We took a field trip with some of our other homeschooling friends back in April to the Cherokee Heritage Center.  They had fun learning about what life might have been like in the 1800's.  I've posted a few pics and there is a video at the end of the post.  It is a commercial that the Cherokee Nations put together during the Heritage Days.  You can see our family at the end behind the storyteller.  This was a fun field trip to do.

Piano Recital 2014

The kids had their piano recital a couple of weeks ago. Thought I would post their videos for those who didn't get to see them.  Sorry, but I was unable to edit them.

 
Sophie Piano Recital May 2014 from Melissa Goff on Vimeo.

 
Henry Piano Recital 2014 from Melissa Goff on Vimeo.



Sadie Piano Recital 2014 from Melissa Goff on Vimeo.



Lizzy Piano Recital 2014 from Melissa Goff on Vimeo.

Summer is finally here

Well, our summer has finally begun and now I have some free time on my hands.  The time from January to May always seems to be so full for us and I don't keep up with things like I want to, blogging for instance. So, I am going to post some of the things we have done these past months and, hopefully, not bore you in the process.

There are lots of birthdays to celebrate in the winter.  Samuel in December, Lizzy and mine in January, and Sadie and Nicolas in February, and Aaron in April.  So, we get to eat lots of cake during these months. :))

Samuel is now 15.  I am taking him soon to take his reading proficiency test to get his driver's permit.  I know, it doesn't seem possible, does it?  I'm not going to blink from now on.  It seems like he was this age not too long ago:

Lizzy turned 14 in January:

We celebrated by having our annual tea at The Pink House in Claremore. I am glad I started this tradition with the girls and my mother.  Hopefully, we will be able to do this when they have daughters of their own.

Sadie and Nic's birthdays were in February:

Sadie asked me to make Esther Bolick's Orange Marmalade Cake for her birthday.  It was a pretty yummy recipe:

Aaron turned 44 this year.  The kids made him this banner for his birhtday.  They put a different theme on each letter:

We are gearing up for Summer birthdays now, starting with Henry's on June 6th.  I'll have some pics later.

It's Been Awhile. . .

. . . since my last post.  So, here is what we have been up to since November:

Of course, I couldn't have a post without mentioning soccer, since we live at the soccer field most of the time.  Sadie's team won two tournaments and took 1st place in the U11/U12 Rec + Division:

Lizzy's team also won one tournament and took 1st place in the U13/14 Rec + Division:

Silas' team won all but one game this past seaon.  He scored so many goals, I lost count:

He has decided to not play this Spring, but will be playing baseball instead.  I am a little sad about this, because I enjoyed watching him play soccer so much.

Henry's soccer team came in 3rd out of 5 teams.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pics of him playing with his team.  They were all blurry.  But, I will have more opportunities this Spring, as he has decided to continue with soccer instead of playing baseball.  (Don't ask Aaron how he feels about this :)).  

Sophie had another "mini" recital:

Isn't she pretty?  Her big recital is coming up in May.  She has started practicing her new routine and had their costume fittings.  She is so excited and I can't wait to see her.

Samuel celebrated his 15th birthday:

He wanted triple banana delight for his "cake" and he got a bowling ball and a bag to carry it in.  He is still enjoying his league every Wednesday afternoon.  He is bringing his average up every week it seems.  

And, Nicky has been hanging out having fun:

Lizzy, Sadie and Samuel entered the Ugly Christmas Sweater contest at church.  Samuel took his off before I could a picture.  Can you believe they didn't win?

We had a fun Christmas.  Here are the kids in the new Christmas jammies striking a pose.  They love opening their jammies up on Christmas Eve.  We had a blessed year and are looking forward to 2014!

Halloween

For Halloween this year, we had a "cereal" killer:

A ceiling fan:

A bag of Jelly Belly jelly beans:

And, two Iron Men:

Sadie won 3rd place for her costume at the Wagoner Trunk or Treat.  Her award was $15 and a Sonic coupon for a sundae:

She also entered a contest with her orthodontist and won a $50 Visa gift card:

The best part of all :)

Shepherds Cross Farm

I haven't taken the kids to a pumpkin patch since Samuel and Lizzy were young.  So, I had heard about Sheperd's Cross Farm and decided to take them.  It was a really neat working farm.  The people who own it are Christians and they have scripture posted everywhere.  I would highly recommend going if you ever get the chance.  I plan on taking the kids back in April, when they do their sheep sheering demonstration and show how they turn the wool into yarn.  They even sell their yarn in the store, which is in the red barn to the left in the first picture. The store is in the bottom of the barn and they have made the top of the barn into a learning center.  They had games and displays throughout.  This was one of our favorite fieldtrips!