Family Fun

What we do without a television...


And while we practice archery, we make apple crisp in a Dutch oven. :-)

We Love Big Band

We took the family to listen to some live big band music and practice our dance moves. That silly boy of mine insisted on wearing a suit in 90-degree weather.

    
An elderly gentleman tried to photobomb our selfie; too bad we didn't capture him in the picture.

But the star of the show today was Ro. He impressed the ladies with his smooth moves. And I accidentally deleted the video of him dancing with me. Bah.

Kids' First Karate Camp

We did a lot of playing…

We made new friends…


And we learned cool stuff.

I think we’ll make this a yearly event.

I Love It When

I pick up my phone, and this is what I find on it…

You crazy goofball man. I love you so much!

Who Needs Dolls?

When you have a real, live baby in the house?
One of kids’ favorite games is “fashion show.” They will keep themselves occupied for hours dressing the baby in different outfits, shoes, and bows. And sometimes, they get out the camera and props and take pictures.
     

 

“The best gift you can give your children is another sibling.”

  

Which Ones Should We Keep?

It was just one of those days. 
DaddyBear was home from work and was helping me juggle housework, homeschooling, meals, a cranky teething baby, a tantrum-throwing toddler, and bickering siblings. At one point he looked at me and remarked, "We have too many kids!"
I agreed. "So, which ones do you want to send back?"
His immediate reply was "The boys. They are too rowdy."
"The boys? Really? I thought you wanted to carry on your family name. And one of these days when they are older, they can help with heavy lifting and stuff."
"Hm. I guess so." After thinking a moment, he continued, "And if we kept the boys, we wouldn't have weddings to pay for. And if they went into the military, we wouldn't have to pay for college."
"Besides,” I pointed out, “if we got rid of the girls instead, the boys would have nobody to pester. Then we wouldn't have to listen to so much screaming."
"But the girls are so much help around the house and with the baby."
"We could get rid of the baby. She's where most of the work comes from."
"No way! She's too cute!" 

We thought about it some more.
"What if we just kept one of each?"
"Well, we’d have to keep Mojo because she's such a big help. She's the dependable one. She'll probably be the one taking care of us when we get old."  
"We’d have to keep Caveman because he's the generous one; he always shares with his siblings. Besides, I still think he's going to be a priest someday."

"Gem is such an affectionate cuddlebug. We can’t do without her hugs and kisses!"

"And Juju is just so funny. He keeps us laughing."

(“I not naked…see?”)

(“I in my cage!”)

And the oldest…well, she’s a senior this year. She’ll be leaving soon whether we like it or not.

So I guess we’ll just hang on to all of them. For as long as we can.