While my little ones slept like babes, my older ones were up before dawn, sledding down the hills and building snowman. My house was so quiet. For a few minuets…until I was summoned to praise snowman and clap for jumps at the bottom of the hill.

Found these two girls painting with water on an unfinished wall.

We’ve been studying ancient Egypt this year. The boys got very creative when we pulled the Christmas boxes out. We have King Tut, Ramses the Great, and King Khufu.

Found these from this summer.

I figured out how to post pictures from my phone to my blog! So hurray for more posts. Likely to simply be pictures and a short sentence, but still documenting/journaling everyday life here for my children to read to their kids someday.
Here is my kitchen after Maryann finished making her own “special” cookie recipe. It produced 2 cookies.

Once again I’m so far behind in editing pictures and posting/journaling life around here. But I just have to remember this day! I had been running errands most of the day, and as I drove home, realized the weather (which has been pretty wet and dreary) was perfect, warm and sunshine, leaves FINALLY changing colors, and the timing just right to load everyone into the car and race back to our old house and the river we loved and get just a few pictures of us. Right now. This moment. Because these children are growing SO fast and time is flying by me so quickly that sometimes I just have to make everyone look at the camera and smile (or not, if they’re having a bad day and capture all of us. 

I had seen some fun fall family pictures on Pintrest and started planning weeks ago to do this. But then the leaves weren’t changing colors and it kept raining and Eric gets home too late and, and, and… I knew to make this work, I had like one hour total from the time I got home and announced my idea to everybody until the sun would be gone and it would be to getting dark. First I told Eric, who sweetly agreed, even though there was still much to do before the day was over. Then I excitedly told each child as they came and welcomed me home. In about 15 minutes we had dug through dressers and closets and boxes to somewhat match with neutral colors. I so wanted Julia to wear this beautiful hat that a dear friend had crocheted for her. She wasn’t thinking it was a hat day though, so in between every picture she took it off and someone would put it back on. Hence, the odd placement of it on her head in some of the pictures. 

The children grabbed two chairs from the kitchen table and crawled over each other as they got in the car. Everyone was SO happy! I went over my plan on our 7 minuet drive there. How i REALLY needed their cooperation and about making faces (which was fine, but when I blow the picture up to a 30×40 canvas print, they have to look at the silly face every day and so will their kids! Ha!) and crossing the road and NOT going into the river BEFORE the pictures. And no sword fights BEFORE the pictures, because someone always seems to get hurt. 

And then we were there. And we had SO much fun together as a family. We laughed and smiled and sometimes we were goofy. And the children were so good. Well, most of them. There’s always little Jules, who keeps reminding us, that even though six came before her, we still have no clue sometimes! And then just as the sun dropped below the trees, I freed them to run and jump, explore and gather (sticks of course) climb and hide. It’s our old stomping grounds. Where we spent our first summer here when we had no friends and didn’t really know where to go or what to do. So many fabulous memories from that summer there on the river!

So as I sit here and look at these incredibly beautiful pictures of this big crazy family, I fall head over heels in love with each one of them all over again. I did the day they were born, and I am again today. Life is crazy. It’s hard. It’s dizzying trying to keep ahead of everyone. Exhausting. Let me say that again…Exhausting. But they have my heart and I have theirs. And I am so thankful for each one and their ability to love and forgive me and teach me how to love. They are precious!

Some of my favorite pictures from the day…

a silly pictures!

Trying to make a heart!

My favorite picture of Laura of this whole summer!

Tree climbing buddies.

Looking back at the river as Michael closed the gate.

Jumping, running and riding bikes through the waves at sunset…. ends a perfect day!