Autumn

 

Some brotherly love happening right here...Hudson was giving Benjamin a "zerbert" on his neck.  The kids thought it was hilarious and Benjamin couldn't stop laughing, which just encouraged Hudson to have more silliness :)

 Hudson's first time to be swung in a sheet.  He loved it!  Of coarse, it brought back old memories for the other kids who wanted to try it again. OH DEAR! They are huge! We could barely get Lauren up off the floor let alone any of the other kids!

 Just to prove that Gracie is not playful ALL the time.  She does enjoy some occasional snuggle time.

 It had been one of those days and I needed just a few minutes a quiet. So, I told the kids I was going to my room to study and needed quiet for about 30 minutes.  About 2 minutes after I locked myself in my room, I hear a knock, knock, knock.  "What do you need Hudson?"  He said, "I want to come see you. I won't talk. I have my Bible."  I didn't believe him for a second....anyone who knows Hudson knows that he talks nonstop :)  To my surprise, he sat up in my window for the next 30 minutes without saying a word and looking at his Bible.  I didn't want to get caught taking the picture, so this was the best I got. Super cute!

 Benjamin, my little science guy (and Katherine, too) found this while walking the dog.  He said we should study it and see if we could figure out what had laid eggs and hatched.  As long as they are already hatched, I'm good with it :)

 On her ACTUAL birthday, she requested a big box of macaroni.  I'm so thankful that she got some in a package! She was one happy girl.

 I don't know what this flower is, but they are some of my favorites to see here.  I think because it looks like tall grass and then one day the entire area is in bloom with these cute little flowers.  They don't live long, but I enjoy the sea of flowers when they are here.

 Regan and I were about to go for a bike ride.  It was the first time to wear this shirt outside, so she was excited to see how it would look.

 Hudson wanted a picture with his "new" haircut so that he could show everybody.  I wasn't sure about it at first, but it has grown on me.  Something about it makes his expressions super cute.

 This girl was SO excited! We were in a taxi on our way to see her best friend (the one that we thought wasn't coming back...they changed their minds last minute and came back).  She was beside herself.

 The happy reunion...

 Still not too big to sit in a lap...in November, she will be the flower girl in her wedding, and Regan will be a bridesmaid!

 Family bike ride!  Since I got a new bike, Hudson no longer had a seat on the back of my bike.  The plan is to get one put on Jonathan's bike, but the stores were closed for the holiday, so we improvised...we rode strapped onto Jonathan's back and had a blast. Don't worry.  He was safe and secure :)

 The clouds finally cleared on our way home from the bike ride and we saw the moon...which was nice since the whole point of the holiday was to look at the moon :)  Autumn has arrived only by the date...it is still VERY HOT!

 We didn't have a blood moon like in the States, but the sunset the next day was pretty red.

The sun was almost gone by the time we snapped this picture, but I still like it :)

Happy 8th Birthday, Katherine!

 Happy Birthday to this beautiful, creative, shy, sweet, fun-loving girl.  Her actual birthday is still o few days away, but her party was this weekend.

 She requested an art birthday, which turned out to be lots of fun. We tried to make everything as artistic and fun as possible.

 So, that started with the cake!  The inside was pink camouflage.  So fun!

 The outside of the cake was a little more challenging.  I thought this would be my easiest cake yet, but my brain decided to have "cake block" (not writer's block) :)  I just couldn't get any of my ideas to work and then couldn't do the paintbrush or anything.  My sweet hubby, made the paintbrush and then  after a couple tries, I was finally able to get the cake put together.  I think my favorite part was adding her name to the paintbrush...it was the first thing she noticed :)

 Hudson and Winter wearing their party hats....too cute!

 Katherine really wanted a stuffed crust pizza, so her daddy made one for her.  It was his first attempt and was really good!

 Time to eat!!

 My seaweed loving girl!  She got many nice things and had a great time.  We were so glad that her friend from another city was able to come for the weekend.  The party turned into a slumber party...3 of her friends ended up staying the weekend. She had a really special time!

 We had an ice-cream station complete with sprinkles and CHOCOLATE SYRUP! :)

 I had already made the cupcakes to go with my original cake idea. The cupcakes were orange sheet flavored cake and raspberry sherbet icing with little paint pallets on top.  Her big cake was one of my typical flavored cakes...white cake and buttercream icing.

 Katherine's plate

 party selfie

 I forgot to get a group shot at the beginning....here are her friends that were there, minus the "big" kids and her other siblings.

 close up of on of the cupcakes

What a pretty sunset the day of her party!

Well, the party was not the only thing that happened this week.  Here is a glimpse of some others.  These are the flowers in our "science" corner at the house.  The kids are learning about plants and animals and lots of flowers.  We decided to plant some of our own and see if any of them grow. So far only Katherine has a couple sprouting up.

In history, they were learning what an ice age was.  So to help them to remember the definition of an ice age, we played this little game.  They all laid down and I put a piece of ice on their bellies.  As the  ice melted from their body heat they had to tell me what a glacier and things like that, but most of all we had lots of laughs!

I got a new bike this week.  My old bike was pretty messed up.  It was hard for me just to pouch let alone ride with Hudson on the back.  We decided that it was time to replace it and since Hudson is getting heavier, we are going to put his seat on the back of Jonathan's bike :) 

Here are a couple of pictures that I got from Mamaw and Papaw that I really love!  This little guy LOVES sauté sticks!

This is just pure sweetness! :)

walking in the rain

This is me being a proud mama. Hudson has really improved in his drawing skills!  You can now see that his person has eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, hair, ears, legs and arms. Can you tell who it is??  It's me :) Oh, and yes, he wrote his name and the numbers all by himself.

First Week of School 2015-2016

 We officially kicked off our school year!  We had a great first week.  The kids are officially Regan 6th grade, Benjamin 5th grade, Katherine 2nd grade, Lauren 1st grade, and Hudson pre-K.  

 They are my little stair steps right now.  One of my friends called them do re mi fa and so.   I asked if she was implying that I needed a la ti and do.  Her reply was, "Sure! Go ahead!"  Haha! I don't think so :)

 This week was the letter A for Hudson.

 All the kids needed to draw a self portrait of themselves and tell the class what their favorite feature was that God made (to remind them of day 6 of creation)...Hudson said his mouth.  Katherine said her nose.

 Lauren said her hair.

 Benjamin said his hair, and Regan her eyes.

 Chinese class has officially restarted.  the kids are all taking together this semester.  WE will see how that goes :)

This little guy has improved in his fine motor skills a lot! I already had the white circle cut out, but he cut all of the pink and glued them on and drew the eyes. He was so proud!

 These little toys have been a surprising hit!  I bought them for school as a time filler for Hudson, but ALL of the kids love making stuff in their spare time!

 This beauty is growing up!  She is so pretty!

 We sent this picture to Daddy on our way to dance class....we are so glad Daddy is back from his trip! :) YEAH!!!

This was so funny! Hudson go soooo excited to find "our America car!"