Zach's Birthday

After being scolded, and rightly so, for not posting something two days ago about Zachery's birthday, I have finally sat down to the long-avoided task of writing on the blog. My excuses range anywhere from technical difficulties, to a houseful of visitors and a lack of time, to the most common one which is "I don't want to". But, a birthday is nothing to ignore, so post I must!

This past Wednesday, the 15th, Zachery turned 15....did you notice that? I've been told it is his golden birthday - 15 on the 15th=) There was not a whole lot of fanfare but it was a good day just the same (at least I hope so!)

We started off with some early morning birthday presents somewhere around 9am....during the summer that is early for us=) He opened the presents from his siblings - a Hot Wheels car from Logan, assorted fire crackers from Alana and Jesse, and a HUGE beach towel from sister Monica. I told him to look excited....=)
Since we spread the celebrations out throughout the day we had more presents and 'cake' at lunch time. Zachery, like me, has other desserts he prefers over cake so we went with a rhubarb dessert to hold his 15 candles! Monica got creative, scrounged through our pantry and shelves, and came up with as many different types of candles as she could, giving the 'cake' a rather, um, distinct look.
Such a sweet pair those two!! Earlier in the day Monica painted her lips bright red and chased Zach around the house until she finally was able to leave her lip marks on his face!
He was soooo excited about his gifts=)
The gloves for softball....
and the new sneakers actually did get more of an authentic smile - I just didn't capture it on film=)
So, we have 2 years down and 5 to go in order to make it through the teenage years with out boy. Thankfully, our children have been a blessing and not a trial even now as teenagers!! We are so thankful for the growth we've seen in Zach this past year.... it's been very dramatic physically as he's grown several inches over the year and his voice has dropped an octave or so; but it's the other growth that we are even more pleased with. Zach desires to do the right thing. We have watched him become involved in doing things at church like working in the sound booth, and helping with AWANA, and we have watched him improve his grades in school even when it's the last thing he wants to do, and we have seen him mature and take on more responsibility here at home. What fun to watch our kids grow up!

Later that day the party continued as we headed to the lake for some fun in the sun. Zach wanted to invite Tim, a friend from church, and word spread from there so we ended up with quite a group of people just hanging out and playing with my rascally children. Zach received a few birthday 'dunkings' in the water from the older guys and we had a great time!

Beach Beauty....
Angostura....
The flying skinny guy....
Cute kids in the water....
Before....
After....
Fun with "Aunt Jenna"...
Part of the fun came when Tim showed up with some 'toys' that soon had all the boys, no matter what age, ready to go to 'war'!



After some lake time we headed home to make up Zach's birthday meal, he picked the Polynesian Supper, and then quickly change and head in to town for softball practice. It was a day full of birthday greetings and time with friends and we all had fun. Now if only he'd get his Math done so that he could get a real good present....HIS PERMIT!

ONE MORE MONTH!!!!!!!!!

Logan Drew

From this....
to this....to this....to this....
to this....
We love you, sweet man! Happy 8TH birthday!!!!

Another Announcement

Kendrick proposed to Jenna on Thursday, April 15th....
and she said "Yes!"

It's official!

AND YOU ARE ALL INVITED!!!

My Cool Boys!

A few days ago Zachery was given a 3-wheeler. He is in the process of trying to build a go-cart that James was actually helping him with, he built the frame for him. Now that James is gone Zach is trying to finish the project. The hope in getting the 3-wheeler was to be able to use some of it's parts on it to complete the go-cart. HOWEVER, what's more fun than seeing if you can get the 3-wheeler running before you take it apart! It wasn't looking good...I mean, look at the beauty! There was a lot of standing around and watching...But guess what???? He got it running!!!! Daddy came to his rescue at the end and helped him get it going, but he and Logan worked on it for a long time (Logan even discovered a faulty spark plug) and Zach had been close to getting it.


Quite a feeling of satisfaction struck those boys when the smoke finally came pouring out of the exhaust and we suddenly couldn't hear ourselves talking anymore=) Sweet Victory!!! Then came the riding!! Of course, Zachery got the honors of waking up Buffalo Gap as he took laps around the dirt roads! Once the riding started then it was time to pace....patiently, awaiting a turn.

Or covering your ears when it came near!
Daddy took a turn too.... Then, once the seat was put back on, Zachery wanted nothing more than to take Logan for a spin! Two very excited boys, let me tell you! And can I say one proud mom!!! Good Job, Zach=)
While the boys were hard at work in the grease and grime outside the girls had nothing but sweetness up their sleeves=) Monica was in a baking mood and took to the kitchen right after lunch - several hours later she and Alana had made a chocolate cake....
And about 9 dozen cookies!!!
So both the boys and the girls accomplished a lot yesterday.....and what did I do? Had a swell time taking it easy with my feet up and eating lots of freshly baked cookies!! Ok, so I'm exaggerating...a little=)

The Little People

Just a few days after writing about our hike up Rankin Ridge we went on another fun outing. We have yet to coordinate and go with ALL our family so hopefully soon we can work that out. One afternoon when the older two kids were in Hot Springs Daddy and I went for a walk with the younger three, which I often refer to as "the little people". I didn't take many pictures, but this one below is my favorite=)

Kid's Showcase

Earlier this month our home school group planned a special event. Most of the work, I'm sure, was done by Katie Updike who is another homeschooling mom in our area. It was called a "Kid's Showcase" that was presented at the local assisted living facility in Hot Springs. The idea was to give the kids a chance to do a special presentation of some kind in front of a group of people. This is often an opportunity missed by home schoolers so I was soooo thankful for the chance the kids had to do this....they were maybe not as thankful as I was, but I think after the fact they did appreciate it=) There weren't an over abundance of people there but, if you have to get up and stand in front a microphone and give a speech to them, it doesn't matter how many there are!! I was especially thankful for the fact that Jenna and Pastor Matt were able to come even if we only invited them last minute=)Logan had already been working on a poem throughout this semester so far, so we made it our goal to have it ready in time for the showcase. He did an EXCELLENT job reciting the entirety of Winken, Blinken, and Nod by Eugene Fields and this is the first time he's ever done public speaking like this and he had to go first!
Monica was the next one of our kids to have a turn...she was AMAZING!! She quoted an abridged version of Paul Revere's Ride that, just the same, was by far the longest piece any one recited at the showcase. One of the neatest things about it was to see some of the elderly people in the crowd saying some of the lines along with her, specifically a lady who was a retired teacher and had memorized hundreds of poems over the course of her lifetime.
Next it was Zachery's turn and he recited O Captain, My Captain - the thing that always gets me about Zach is what a SUPER job he does in putting expression and feeling into what he has to say. Both Monica and Zach had memorized their poems in school in years past so they had to work to relearn in in preparation for the big day.
After the kids were through they went around and greeted some of the residents that live there in Pine Hills, including veteran missionary, Edith LeBar Albers, who it is always a treat to see.
During that morning, while everyone at the house was getting ready, rehearsing their poems, and listening to my pep talks, Alana was deciding she really, really wanted to be a part of things. The night before we had a dress rehearsal in our living room and she and Jesse had participated with anything they could think of....Jesse invented a poem that seemed to have bits and pieces from the older three, Alana sang the alphabet, Jesse sang Jesus Loves Me, Alana sang the books of the New Testament. So when we arrived right before the programs was to start, and after Alana's assurance that she really would go through with it, we added her name to the list. We didn't practice hardly at all so we didn't exactly come ready....but here she is just the same=)

I was honestly so very, very proud of my kids. Others sang, read poems, quoted speeches...but, seriously, mine were the very best=) (Can I say that?)

"Good job guys, you did great!!!"

Up the hill again

Yesterday was 100% spring weather so we decided to go out and enjoy it and I'm soooo glad we could! I was chatting in the morning with Jenna and between my desire to go out on a hike and her need for some Vitamin D, we made the decision to head to Rankin Ridge in Wind Cave National Park. We've been there several times and I've even posted several pictures on here before of the kids on another one of our trips up the hillside. The last time we went was in February of last year when Helaine and Phil came down here and surprised me with a quick visit.

So we pulled on our sweatshirts and headed out=)The battery in my camera was dying but I managed to click some quick shots while it still had life. Here are the results - some are cute:
while others are just plain crazy:

Often it is just our family, but many times we have others that we go with and yesterday was one of those times. It made for an even more fun adventure to have these three along with us. Not to mention it was nice to have some extra hands to carry the little people=)

Strange thing was that they seemed just as crazy as the rest of my crew did!!!

Thanks Jenna, Rachel, and Jodie for a fun afternoon=)