Happy Anniversary to us!

This year we celebrated our lucky 13!  I made Mr. Pickles a card with the different classic lucky charms (you know, from the cereal) and wrote a tribute based on each charm.  He got me sliver earrings studded with diamonds.

...Once again, proving he has way more class.

We celebrated for two days.  The night before (which was a Sunday), we went out to a fancy seafood restaurant for dinner.  All by ourselves!  It was delicious and delightful.

They even printed personalized menus for us!

Although I was slightly disturbed when I passed a table with four children... all holding glowing screens.  iPad -- it's the new paper and crayons!  Never have to interact with your children again!

Ahem.

The next day we interacted with our children with a vengeance -- we both just wanted to spend a fun, family day together, and since Mr. Pickles was off work (Veteran's Day!) we went hiking in the Blue Ridge mountains.

We went up Stony Man Summit (Dave and Katie, I think this is the same one we hiked way back when), which is a nice easy hike.  Parts of the trail were slippery from fallen leaves, but everyone was able to make it up on his own steam.

...and the help of walking sticks

Well, except for Andy who had a first class seat.

teethies!

The other kids got a good workout.

Especially Daniel, who had to climb every. single. thing.

dryads in their tree!

Towards the top, certain persons began to wonder aloud if we were EVER going to stop climbing.

And then we made it.  And it was awesome.

Shenandoah is so beautiful.

Yes, Andy is sacked out, hanging backwards, poor kid.  I will never be able to figure out how African women get their babies to sleep comfortably on their backs.

When we left home, I told the kids to notice the colors of the leaves that we saw throughout the day.  It was interesting to watch how they changed, particularly as we drove to a higher altitude.

You may need to zoom to see it, but it's browner towards the mountaintops, and more colorful farther down.  The kids thought that was pretty cool.

It was a little breezy, but not really cold.  (Andy's legs got a little chilled -- he was the only one not warming up from hiking!)

As the sun began to go down, it became even more beautiful.

this is me being all Ansel-Adamsy

We were wishing we could have stayed and watched the sunset creep over the mountains.  But, you know, everyone was hungry and tired and spirit-is-willing-but-flesh-is-weak-and-some-spirits-aren't-even-that-willing kind of stuff.

We stopped at Five Guys on the way home for dinner.  Not what I had originally planned for our anniversary dinner, but I wasn't complaining!  After a day of hiking, a huge hamburger really hit the spot.

It was a wonderful way to spend the day, celebrating our family.

Happy anniversary to us!

Homeschooling and the Fine Arts

As you can see, Joseph is going through his killer monster robot phase.

Halloween 2013

Y'know, one of the many fun things about large families is themed Halloween costumes.  It was hard picking something that worked for all 7 of us again.  We were pretty proud of our success last year, and wanted to do something as fun.  I can't remember which one of us came up with this year's idea -- probably Katie. She is hands-down the most creative among us.

Halloween didn't exactly sneak up on me this year, but for some reason I found myself shopping for pumpkins and assembling costumes that afternoon.  (Boy, I'm never doing that again.) (...Famous last words.)

When we came home I had to make dinner, so the kids were pretty much on their own with carving.

I came in occasionally to help scoop out the last bits of pumpkin guts.

The compost pile got a healthy helping of squash innards!

They actually did really well.  Miriam says she's never getting a large pumpkin again, though.

For dinner I made Grandma Kathy's Beef-in-a-Pumpkin recipe (sans olives) which was delish!  I had actually over-parboiled the pumpkin, so by the time it had all finished baking, the pumpkin was super-soft and sooooo good.  Definitely going to be a traditional Halloween dinner around these parts.  It's not that complicated or long to make, either.

Okay, so on to costumes already!  This year we tried something new: spray-on hair color!

And the results:

Hey, Ferb, I know what we're going to do today!

ummm, eat lollipops?

Hi, Jeremy!  heeheeheeheehee

Whatcha doin'?

doobeedoobee doo-bah...

It's my Trick-or-Treatinatorrrrr!

a shot of Agent P's tail

I went as -- what else? -- the Tri-State Area.

I was so grateful for the weather -- it was unseasonably warm, making costumes much simpler!  Some friends joined us for trick-or-treating and we all had a great time.  We got to meet some more of our new neighbors, all of whom were so friendly and welcoming.  We love our neighborhood!

The next day our homeschool group had its All Saints Party, complete with hilarious Catholic party games.  We've been having trouble with the camera, which is a pity because I would love to show you all a shot of Mr. P as St. Martin, sweeping the mice out of the monastery (broom racing with ping pong balls), or Joseph helping St. Patrick cast the snakes out of Ireland (tossing rubber snakes through a hole in a posterboard), or Daniel playing Pearls Before Swine (eating powdered donuts strung from the ceiling without using his hands -- now that was hilarious). 

Oh, and of course the kids had to dress up in costumes for THAT.  By that time I was all costumed out, so we just raided the dress-up box and Made Do.  Katie went as St. Lydia of Purple, again, and the boys both went as their namesakes (tunics are delightfully generic! Jojo carried a hammer to identify his saint, and Daniel was accompanied by Andrew dressed as a lion).  Miriam was actually original and chose a Canadian saint we had just learned about in geography -- St. Marguerite Bourgeoys.  Her costume was awesome -- we managed to scrounge one up that looked just like her!

And now, back to flossing obsessively...

Andrew is ONE!

*blink blink*
I'm not quite sure how that happened.  But somehow, this precious little nugget:

has turned into this:

Yeah, I don't get it either.

So, he was properly celebrated for having survived to his first birthday!

It is very hard getting a non-blurry shot of him.  Especially when he's holding balloons.

He got away with murder, since he was prince of the day:

And he had help opening his presents.

Lots and lots and lots of help.

 It was actually hard finding a gift for him.  We have so much little boy stuff already, and I didn't want to just get something for the sake of getting something.  (I'm determined not to clutter up our pristine new house with unnecessary stuff!) (Ha.)

Finally, the kids and I found it: a puzzle that makes vehicle noises!

His grandparents also got him a great little musical drum, which has been a huge hit with everyone.

As soon as I figure out how to edit video on the new schmancy Movie Maker I'll post a video of him "dancing."  And then Grandma and Grandpa will be instructed to put the video on loop and listen to it for 2 straight hours so they can share the joy.

Since Andy has a fall birthday,  I made him a fall-themed birthday cake: pumpkin chocolate-chip with cream cheese frosting.

Wow, this is good!  I can't believe it's gluten-free!

om nom nom

umm... I didn't realize it would do THAT to my hands...

 After the festivities he got to finish off with a Birthday Bath.

Note his left leg.

 A great end to a great day!

My personal goal is to get Daddy wetter than me!

Also, on his birthday he decided that walking was his new preferred method of locomotion!  He had been practicing for a couple weeks leading up to it, and then just all of a sudden took the plunge.  He is now walking everywhere, all day long, and so excited by his new skill!  Again, I have video to post, but need to figure out how to shrink it to an appropriate file size.  Any tips, ye-who-be-more-computer-savvy-than-I?

Sorry for such a long postcation -- there really wasn't much happening to write about for a while, unless you like posts about juggling school and laundry.  And then the last couple weeks have been full of activity that's kept us all busy.  The day after Andy's birthday we had our home blessed.  And NATURALLY, we didn't get a single picture.  We were too busy having fun!  A bunch of friends came over and filled the house.  The priest who blessed our home is wonderful with families -- he made a point of blessing allllll the kids, multiple times. :)  He even checked all the closets for monsters.  The kids loved him, even when he tried quick to turn off the bathroom lights and shut them all in the dark.  He missed a light, but they all shrieked appreciatively.

One friend said that was the loudest house blessing she had ever been to. :)  It was great.

A few days later was Halloween, which merits its own post!

The New House (FInally!)

And now, presentinggggggg....

die Gurke Schloss!

Come on in!

 Please excuse the mess.  We just moved, you know.

To the right is our living room, with entrances to the kitchen and dining room visible in the background.

 

 It's very roomy, with plenty of space for everyone to sit, finally!  Behind the sofa is an electric fireplace, which is currently being used as a home shrine until we decide what else to do with it.  (I'd love to have the rest of the wall for bookcases.)

The dining room (apologies for the lousy lighting -- I admit I was more focused on the light coming from outside).  There is an awning that extends over the deck -- it's great for dinner time when the sun is shining in everyone's faces.

 Okay, back to the front door, and on our left is the den.

 Yes, that is a wall-mounted TV.  The previous owners didn't want to have to bother with moving it to Texas, so they left it.  They also left the leather reclining sofa pictured above.

 Okay, so on to the kitchen!

 The layout is very similar to our old kitchen, with just slightly more counter space (yay!) and a huge island (yay!). ( Since this photo we've moved the island closer to the counters.)

 

At first I wasn't sure if I liked the french door fridge, but I have to admit it's growing on me.  It's not designed for kids -- all the fridge shelves are up so high -- but they do like the "magic water" dispenser.

The view from my kitchen window often has a monkey hanging from the tree.

Back to the hallway; to the left is a half bath and the door to......

 ...the laundry/mud room!!  *angels singing*

View from the laundry room window.  This is such a happy place to be.

Side door entrance.  The driveway is always littered with bikes and trikes and scooters.  We haven't run over any of them, yet.

Okay, coming in from the laundry room, standing in front of the half bath and looking towards the front door, we see the basement door in front of us.  The door on the right is the other entrance into the den.

 

I don't have many shots of the basement -- it's big and cavernous and unfinished, but has massive amounts of storage space.  We hope to finish one half of it in a few years for a rec room.

What possesses someone to purchase 30+ large plastic storage bins... and then not use them??

Okay, back upstairs where it's not so cold....

 We have pulled several children off the outside of this railing -- it just BEGS to be climbed.

 At the top of the stairs to the left is the Master Suite, aka Sanctum Sanctorum.

 Lovely bright corner for the nursing chair.

 And the ultimate luxury... our OWN bathroom!!!  Ahhhhh...

(btw, what does it mean when florescent lights start flickering annoyingly after being on for a minute?)

 This is what sold the house for me, I think: a bedroom with 2 entrances, one of which is to the master bedroom.  Could this be anything else but a nursery?

The view down the hallway.  First door on the left is the baby's room, then the kids' bathroom; first door on the right is the boys' room, followed by the girls' room.  The playroom is straight ahead.

 The kids' bathroom with... *drumroll*

...double sinks!

There is also a *pink* bathtub, which I neglected to photograph.

 The boys' room.  (Remember how small their old room was?)

When he's awake, Daniel loves jumping off the end of Joseph's bed frame.  From below it sounds like he's going to come through the ceiling.

 The girls picked this room out as theirs right away.  It is so bright and pretty.  They were actually all unpacked & moved in the first day. :)

Finally, the playroom!  I have since removed the blue curtains, which has brightened up the room considerably (you can't tell from the picture, but it's actually a pretty dark room).

When we first started considering this house seriously, I initially balked because it didn't have a functioning basement.  I am a firm believer in having a special place where I can kick the kids when they're getting on my nerves for the children to play.  It was Mr. Pickles who reminded me that we would have a WHOLE EXTRA BEDROOM which has turned out to be the perfect play place!  PLUS, they also play in the basement anyway -- there are dress-up clothes scattered everywhere from several stagings of fashion shows.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of the yard -- it became a comedy of errors.  The camera ran out of storage, then once I emptied it the battery died and I couldn't find a charger, and then once we bought a new charger I haven't had any time to run out and take pictures when the lighting is good.  There is a lot to photograph though -- the previous owners told us they wanted a "wilderness retreat" in their backyard.  Well, it's certainly very wilderness-y!  I think we will be doing some hacking next spring.  (Think: machete.) (Or: flame thrower.)

We are gradually getting more settled in -- we haven't held the home blessing yet.  I want to hang pictures first -- I will feel like we are really moved in then. :)  It's actually a little embarrassing looking through these pictures -- I took them a couple weeks ago, and have cleaned up a lot since then. 

It's been interesting finding new places for things -- as small as our old house was, it had several convenient places for storing things that now we have lost.  So we've had to reshuffle our thinking a bit.  It's also forcing us to declutter as we unpack, which is a good thing.

As for the house itself, we just love it.  The previous owners took SUCH good care of it -- we shouldn't have to worry about anything for a little while at least.  We've had a couple adventures so far -- the first couple days here we froze, b/c the A/C was turned really low and we couldn't figure out how to adjust the thermostat!  Then one night I woke up around 4am to the sound of water running all through the house.  After a few disoriented minutes of wandering around the house trying to find the pipe that had burst, we realized the automatic sprinklers had turned on and had no idea how to turn them off.  (A week later I found the controls.)  Also, I learned an essential lesson about always, always, always making sure the laundry sink (into which the washer drains) is completely empty before starting a load.  The upside to the ensuing flood was that the mud room floor got really, really clean.

So far all the neighbors we've met have been lovely people.  Our next-door neighbor is a pastor at a local church and has been super-helpful and giving.  One of his daughters is Katie's age, so they are practically inseparable.  There are two little boys across the street, and another homeschooling family around the corner.  Everyone we've spoken with expressed gratitude that our family had moved into this house.  It's been so refreshing being so welcomed!

So there you have it!  

 

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