For anyone who cares...

I'm not sure who checks my blog anymore- I know I've not been updating as frequently, but I hope some of you haven't given up on me! :) I guess even if it's just three people (you know who you are!) it's still worth it- I just don't want to spend time on it if no one cares... know what I mean? :)
Anyway, what I was going to say is that I'm still pregnant. My last batch of contractions Saturday night petered out early Sunday morning, and now I am just able to sit back and appreciate this new little life without worrying about making it to 37 weeks or that the midwife will be out of town for the delivery (she came back Saturday night). This is very refreshing. It's kind of funny, after having all of the kids early, I've had so many people say "just watch, you won't deliver until your due date or later!" like it's some kind of awful thing... but I am appreciating this extra time to get ready and just wait on the Lord to deliver this little one to us. I know, I know... you're thinking "yeah, right- you won't be saying that in 2 weeks when you're 5 days overdue!" Maybe you're right, but from where I'm at right now I'm feeling pretty content and able to wait 2 weeks if need be. I've never been blessed with these extra days before, so I'm just going to enjoy them like "normal pregnant people" get to! :)

Stone's Trace Festival

Our history book this year is the Story of the Great Republic by H. A. Guerber. I cannot recommend this book enough for elementary history! It was written at the turn of the century, and is in a living book format. We all have been enjoying it, and (sadly enough) I am learning the most of anyone! Why couldn't we have learned these things in public school? Anyway, I digress... A few weeks ago we heard that Stone's Trace Festival was happening, and we'd been meaning to go for a few years, but we always seemed to have something else come up- so this year we decided to go. I started looking into the background of it (it's a historical festival) and realized that we were studying about the very person that we can thank for Stone's Trace that day in history! I had never heard of General Mad Anthony Wayne before, but apparently he was a large figure in American history- there was a chapter in our history book about him and he actually cleared a passage for the pioneers right by here, leaving behind a historical site called Stone's Trace near Ligonier (where our beloved Fashion Farm is located!). We had so much fun seeing reenactments, checking out the goods, and eating cornbread and fresh from the kettle apple dumplings. Stephen loved the traveling bagpipe player, Katy searched and searched for Johnny Appleseed (who was handing out "purty" stones) but we never found him- next year!, Hannah loved going through the museums, and Erin thoroughly enjoyed her massive ice cream cone. The girls found a huge garden spider outside of one of the museums (the picture doesn't do him justice), and took their first bus ride ever. They had everyone parking on the school campus (they have their elementary, middle and high schools all on the same campus- how convenient is that?) and then bused us over to the grounds across the way. And let me tell you, this was my kind of school bus- it was clean, smelled like potpourri, and the woman driving it had hymns on piano playing. The girls chose the seats all the way in the back of course! :) What kid doesn't like bumps?
So, this was definitely a destination worth going to, and we'll be back again next year, Lord willing!

Reading time

My most favorite time of our school day is reading time- the kids all cozy up and we read whatever read alouds are required for the day- and some that aren't. Hearing "Maple's" leaves blowing in the breeze and cuddling with everyone as we read and sip a warm drink (once again, chai, mocha or hot cocoa!) is so calming and the perfect mid afternoon break for all of us. Now, besides Katy reading out loud, we also have Hannah joining in. She loves reading out loud to Stephen- her current favorite being "Albequrque Turkey," which we unpacked from the fall bin in early celebration of Thanksgiving. As you can see, Stephen enjoys it, too! We just finished reading Charlotte's Web (I think we've read that out loud at least 3 times, and no one tires of it), and we're going through A Child's Garden of Verses (the girls all love Robert Louis Stevenson- this is our second time through it), more poems by William Blake, American Tall Tales, Parables of Nature, Heroes by Kingsley, Aesop's fables, Just So Stories, Paddle to the Sea, James Herriot's Treasury, The Blue Fairy Book, and continuing through Pilgrim's Progress and the Lamb's Book of Shakespeare. Hannah has St. George and the Dragon (another favorite) to read before moving on to Little House in the Big Woods, which Katy and I are really looking forward to because it's been three years since we read that out loud- Hannah and Erin really don't remember it. Whew! I know it seems like a long list, but we cover the books over weeks/months/years so it really isn't a lot- in fact, you start to feel like they are your friends. I still remember our first year sticking to just Ambleside Online's reading list- when we finished Five Little Peppers and How they Grew and Understood Betsy, Katy and Hannah were literally teary eyed that the book was done... they wanted to know more about them and read them over again! What a great testimony to how these books can impact us and how important it is to pick the right books!

Fall is here!

We have gotten out the fall clothes, decorations, pumpkin and cinnamon apple candles, and made our chai tea, mocha and hot cocoa recipes to be ready for the cooler weather. We all love fall, so we can't wait for the long walks in the woods and the drives through Amish country to enjoy the leaves. I've already made some applesauce (I couldn't even can it because we were all so eager for it that we ate almost all of it- I froze the tiny bit leftover for when the baby comes to serve with stew to Diana and Kelly if it's during the day), and I hope to make more this week after grocery shopping. At $12 a bushel, you can't go wrong! We ate half of the bushel fresh and I cooked up two big batches of apple slices with my granola, a few dabs of butter and some brown sugar over it for breakfast... I started out doing an 8x8 pan the first day and didn't have enough to get the children full- so I switched to my 10x11 and had just enough- and Nate didn't have any because he had a meeting that morning. My oh my do we love apples and fall!

We start 'em off early...

He pulls himself up there every day and makes beautiful music for us... no pounding, just twinkling! We love it and so does he- except when he wants to do it during Katy's lessons! :)

Happy Anniversary to us...

So, August 7 was our 10th anniversary... it's been really busy-extremely busy- around here, so we didn't do much. But we did go blueberry picking in the morning, which we both agreed was worthwhile and relaxing. We love Craig's (it's the same super scenic place we went to last year several times), and we picked over 20 pounds in less than 3 hours and I was able to get these great pics of the kids! Score! :) I also had been saving up to get Nate a nice circular saw, because he's always been interested in woodworking... so I surprised him by suggesting we stop by Menard's on the way home and pick one out. He was sooooo excited and can't wait to use it!

Mega Birthday Bash Time

In lieu of our annual 4 kid party in Coldwater this year we decided to brave a trip to the rugged great north of Traverse City to get in on Uncle Craig and Aunt Dagmar's party, visit the great grandparents, and of course, hold the 4 kid party there. We camped at Traverse City State park (not your typical camping experience due to the airport and highway 31 bordering the property on either side) but we had lots of fun because of our side-by-side sites with Nate's brother Phil, Stephanie and the kids. Our first experience camping with cousins... the kids had a blast! We also had a large thunderstorm the second night there, which made things exciting (and wet...); the birthday party at G.G.'s house, and we got to hang out with family members at C & D's party that we hadn't seen in a long time. All in all, a fun trip for the kids (completely and utterly exhausting for Nate and I, but that's not the point!) and lots of good pictures to share.

Happy Birthday, Stevie Boy!

Stephen turned two on August 4... I still cannot believe it! He is such a big boy now- he loves helping (with anything- throwing away garbage and helping Daddy carry things are his favorites!), playing with trains, cars, planes, boats, etc..., taking walks, going to Menards with Daddy, eating anything chocolate (especially pudding!), giving kisses with a big wet smacking sound, pronouncing almost everything without the first letter sound ("rain! rain!" every time he hears a train and "ding" proceeded by a clicking sound -like he's from some remote african tribe- is "drink..." those are my two personal favorites), singing- especially when he opens the hymnal at church (when Nate is preaching!), reading stories of any kind and dogs- especially big black ones that he can sit on and pull on and love on that love him right back (namely, Sadie).

He is such a loving, sweet little guy and we are so grateful to have him in our family. Each of the children play a special part in our family, and Stephen is loved and accepted by everyone. Stevie really will be a great big brother. He gives my tummy kisses and runs over to do it if anyone mentions the word "baby," but I'm not sure he really understands yet that we're going to have a new baby soon. I can't wait to see his reaction- and we look forward to many new experiences in the years to come with Stephen. We love you, buddy boy!!!

The County Fair

We went to the county fair over a month ago (I know, I'm way behind... again!), and the kids each made their own rope, oooh'd and aaah'd over the cool historical house and farm equipment, saw blacksmithing being performed, ate an elephant ear, saw pony shows, and saw all the different animals in the competitions (guess which were the favorites? Horses, of course!). They had the fair open in the mornings with free admission until 1pm, so we hit it then- and we're so glad we did! All of the carnival stuff wasn't open yet, so it wasn't loud and there weren't all of the notoriously underdressed people that there usually are there. Just families and the kids that had entries in the fair. Awesome! Thank you Lord for a good day! By the way, Hannah was having one of her "I don't want you to take my picture days," which is why she's not looking in the pics... she wasn't in a bad mood, she just decided that pictures were not her thing for that day... funny.