Dance Party!

Last week we finally found a keyboard, we've had a piano for Evie, but it doesn't work so well when the other band members are downstairs and you're upstairs. A thrift store posted a piano on craigslist, so we headed out the next morning after a saw it and were able to get it. The keys on the piano light up, so tonight the kids decided they were going to do a dance party with the only light being the piano. I gave them some glow sticks as well and they had so much fun!

Here are a couple pictures (without the flash) the red lights are the keyboard (which also will play songs on it's own).

Here's a short video of some dancing.

Today was a good day, which was much needed as we have been struggling this past week. Nathan started second shift last week and will be on it until some time in February most likely. So it's been another adjustment on top of the many adjustments we've already been going through. I'm so thankful for a good day like today! 

Bonus picture: the rockin' Crustaceans from a few weeks ago. 

Sauder Village

In October we did two more field trips. One was a children's theater presentation of The Wind in the Willows.

Here are the kids waiting for it to begin. 


They all enjoyed it and we read through the book after seeing the show. The girls didn't want me to wreck the show by hearing the book first.

Our next field trip was to Sauder Village in Ohio which is a living history experience. This was a challenging experience as before we even entered the place the kids were fighting like crazy. Once we got in there was much complaining about only wanting to ride the train and not do anything else. By the end of the day it was a little better, but I am taking a long hard look at whether it is worth doing more field trips or not. There are two more we are signed up for and that is all we need to do to fulfill the commitment to the group. Anyway, here are some pictures from the day. 

 The kids on the train

They had a 1900s "Main Street" section which had a gas station and repair shop and this car which they allowed the kids to sit in.

As you can see it's a Ford model T I believe....

The kids thought the phone in the shop was pretty cool. 

17 cent a gallon for gas anyone?

They also enjoyed watching the pigs at the barn. 

They got to try their hand at butter making

And watch a goat be milked. 

There was also a museum that we did a quick walk through of. 

Evie enjoyed pretending she was in the snow. 

And they all enjoyed putting their face in as the bride!

And again as settlers on their way out west.....

Or crazy oxen :-)

Evie figured out it was much more authentic if she put her hair through.

There was also an Indian camp setup

But the best stop by far was the wood shop with all the toys!

We didn't find this until the end of the day, but all the kids had so much fun with the simple wooden toys!

The boys can home asking if Dad could make them some of the toys. We'll see if that ends up being another school lesson or not :-)

A visit from Nana and Grandad

My parents came up to visit for a weekend and we had some fun going to a brick expo!

The boys went straight to building on the big table of bricks....

And made some pretty cool things with a little help from Dad. 

Hannah joined them after walking around for a little bit with Nana and Evie

And soon Evie was there too!

There was also a legobot challenge that the kids enjoyed watching.

And there was lots of neat displays!

It was great having four adults, as each kid was able to go where they wanted. Here Kaleb is heading off with my dad to explore.

On Monday we headed out and hit a park and the local quarry before dropping my parents off at the airport. 

Enjoying the sunshine!

 The kids enjoyed the big swings too. 

And the cool playground!

The quarry was operating and pretty cool to watch. It was super loud, with the rocks being dumped and moving along the conveyor belt. 

There were even some swans in the ponds!

Thanks for the fun Nana and Grandad!

Honks and Waves

Towards the end of October the kids were enjoying the outdoors and decided to try a game they had done on our quiet street in Alpena on our new busy street in Indiana. The game is honks and waves. The goal, get as many people to honk and wave as you can. They dressed up and made signs that said things like "HI!" and went to the end of our driveway.

I didn't want to get too close and disturb their game, but you can see them at the end of the driveway here

They had a great time, I think they were out there less than half an hour and got over 100 honks and waves. They were super excited. 

They had lots of fun, but I told them they couldn't do it again, because there was a lot of honking and I didn't want our neighbors to get concerned. They were a little disappointed, but understood. If I hadn't stopped them I'm sure they would have done it for days.

Boundries

Adjusting to new places is hard, moving (again) is hard. The kids were having some issues obeying, respecting people and boundaries about a month ago. I decide to get creative after hearing whining, complaining and having no one listen to me. I took away all (within reason) boundaries. They were allowed to do what they wanted, eat what they wanted, stay up as late as they wanted and anytime they asked me a question my response was "you can do whatever you want." I did this for three days and it worked wonders. They were in tears from exhaustion and frustration. After this had gone on we sat down and talked about respecting people and things and what boundaries are for and why we have them. And what the Bible says about parents and their responsibility. I definitely think it gave them a new understanding for those things. And it gave me something to point back to when they complain about a response I give, I can remind them of why we have boundaries and what happens when we don't have them. :-) Hannah drew this picture shortly after.

The kid got eaten by the alligator because he jumped the fence and didn't respect the boundary.

Creative Children

The girls have wanted a dog for awhile now. I think Hannah said she's been praying for a dog since she was eight or something like that. Years....anyway, recently they decided to take their campaign to a new level. They made up little cards and put them all around the house. Here are some pictures of what they did.