Vision Forum Giveaway!

Quite honestly, we all get excited when we get a Vision Forum catalog every year.  Not only is it full of great Christian books, but also tons of fun toys, games, and DVDs.  I have acquired quite a wish list from them and now I have a shot of winning a gift card from them to help me get some of my wish list done!  The Modest Mom in partnership with Vision Forum is giving away a $300, $200, and $100 gift card to Vision Forum.  That would just be so cool to win!

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Dance Time

As I said in an earlier post, Zoe is taking ballet now.  They gave us a short presentation of a dance based on Esther’s life a week ago.

Zoe just lights up when she is on stage.  She’s very comfortable performing and it shows in her face.

And for one little sister, this was like watching a real live princess dance.  She was in awe.  Zoe said that when they got home Ceili Rain made her dance with her.

Our two little princesses.

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Retreating…

Still in October (well, okay, we were almost out) the ladies at our church held a retreat at a beach nearby.  It was so nice to get away and visit and relax and grow closer to these amazing women and, more importantly, to God!  The theme was on organizing and time management.  I learned a lot and got my focus back on what was most important.

I also got some beautiful pictures!

Sunrise our last day!
The wind was blowing the top part of the sand along.  It looked like we were walking in a mist.  Only it stung a little.
These two silly ladies were a part of our group and just had to get in the water.  They said it was warm.  Until they got out.
We found a ton of shells.  Here is a little shell graveyard and I found the perfect spiral shell.  I picked it up to take with us.  We walked two steps.  M. said, “Ew, that stinks!”  I smelled it and she was right.  I tried to wash it out but it was no use.  The shell, along with whatever had crawled up inside and died, stayed on the beach.
I think these birds were begging for something to eat.  They let me get really close before they walked away.   I should have brought some bread and I could have had them eating out of my hands!
Now, here’s the coolest part.
We were in the migrating path of some Monarch butterflies!
They were all over this walkway as we made our way to the beach. And, they were all over the beach too!  It was an amazing sight to see so many butterflies.
Just a handful of them as we came on to the beach.  There were so many that we all just kept snapping pictures hoping to get the best shot.  I got a few that I thought turned out well.
That was one that landed on a sand dune as we were walking on the beach.
My favorite picture by far!
I don’t think this was a butterfly.  I believe it was a moth.  Either way, he was right in the middle of the butterflies and I thought he was quite interesting.
Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take pictures of the house, the wonderful women present, or all the amazing food we ate!  But it was all there and it was a blast!  Mark was Super Dad while I was gone no doubt!

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Future Song Leader

Ceili Rain is either singing around the house or talking.  All.  day.  long.  And her singing and talking has rubbed off on Bryant.

That’s a Bible he’s got there.  And, at first, we thought he was preaching.  But then, we quickly realized he’s singing.  We use hymnals in our church.  So, he likes to grab a Bible and walk around singing too.  And when we look at him, he’ll look up, put one finger to his mouth and say, “shh”  Hmm, wonder where he hears that.

Anyway, it’s quite adorable.

See for yourself.
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Phew! Done. Now What?

I successfully have posted every day this week. That hasn’t happened in a long time!  But wait, there’s more.

However, I had an idea.  I thought it would be fun to dispel, or bring to light some of the myths that come along with having a large family and homeschooling.  Now, keep in mind, I don’t consider myself an expert nor do I feel we have a large family.  But, apparently, by today’s standards we do.  And along with a “not your average size family” comes a lot of comments that make me think people have some crazy ideas about what it means to be a mom of a large family.

So, fire away.  What do you want to know?  What do you think or what have you heard about what it’s like to be in a large family?

If you don’t ask, I’m going to come up with my own ideas!  Like:

  • It takes a special kind of patience to be a mom to many kids.  
  • You are a saint! 
  • You must be really organized.
  • What about socialization in homeschooling?
  • Don’t you know what causes that?
  • How can you afford all those kids?
  • You must have a big house.  (And when I say I don’t) Well, how do you fit all those kids in there.

Really now.  Let’s get to the nitty gritty.  Don’t hold back, I want to know what you want to know about our family life.  If you’re afraid I’ll get angry, you can add a comment anonymously.  If it does make me angry then I don’t have to post your comment…or maybe I need to figure out why I’m angry in the first place and why I’m being so selfish!  

And we’ll call this new series:  The Bunch Myths-Busted.

Oh, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me (or else I’ll bore you with my own commentary).

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Up, up and away

Ever since I’ve known Mark (which would be high school), he’s had a love of planes.  I don’t know how he does it, but he can spot a plane way up in the sky and tell you what kind it is and more.  He loves them!  He’s always had a dream to get his pilot’s license and while, right now it’s a bit out of our price range, God did allow him to take an introductory lesson.

Our local newspaper ran a deal with an aviation company that offered introductory lesson/flights for a good price.  A really good price.  I didn’t even ask Mark.  I just bought it for him for Christmas.  We had to tell him early though because the coupon expired November 1st.  He was excited none the less and really enjoyed his flight.

It was a small airport so the pilot allowed us (meaning the kids and me) to hang out right outside the airport.  They taxied out in front of us and landed in front of us.   And in between those two times, the kids found things to occupy their time.

Like climbing on columns.
Rocking in chairs.
And hamming it up for the camera.
The airport was hosting a drag racing competition that weekend (which we would have loved to go to had our weekend not been completely full already).  So, the guys in the background were setting up for it.  That provided a lot of the entertainment.
Mark said it was a lot of fun!  If you know Mark he doesn’t get super excited.  But this.  Well, he got as excited as he usually does!  


Mark’s Christmas Flight 01 from justabunchofcharacters on Vimeo.

Taking off!

And landing!

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Introducing…

A new business venture with a friend!  Several months ago, a friend approached me about starting a card business through Zazzle.  I was so excited to be able to do it.  We set a launch date for October but she’s so smart, she got it up and going before then.  However, my brain is still a few months behind and I have not gotten it up on here until now.  There is a special link to my Character Creation designs but don’t just stop looking there.  Make sure you check out all her cool designs too!  I feel honored that such a talented graphic designer asked little ol’ me to enter into this adventure with her.

If you need Christmas cards, we got those as well.  Just a few designs are up right now so get to clicking and designing.

Without further adieu, I give you:

And, we have a contest to celebrate our launch!  Go to our Facebook page and like us.  When we get 100 likes, we’ll have a drawing for a $25 gift certificate to be used in our store.  Like away and then tell your friends to like us too!

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Dairy Farmin’

Another day in October found us at a dairy farm.  A local farm (meaning about 20 minutes away…that’s the closest dairy farm too), has started an agritourism business both to promote their farm but also so that they can eventually purchase a creamery and sell their own milk.  This is the second year for their Corn “Maize” and it was just as much fun as last year!  The kids had a blast as always.  This was a field trip day and the only set back was that they had the maze marked off so that it was just a simple walk through instead of an actual maze.  That was a bummer.  Other than that, we learned a lot more about dairy farming that I ever knew.  For instance, cows are milked just like we pump milk off our selves.  Except the machine is a bit more high powered!  I know everyone wanted to know that.

Here’s some more pictures before I embarrass myself any further.

Twas a bit nippy and I forgot to bring Bryant a coat.  So, we found one of Zoe’s jackets in the van and wrapped him up.  He was snug as a bug but very tired on the hayride.

Petting zoos are awesome.  Bryant called everything a “goggy” (doggy) but he loved watching the animals!

They had a wonderful play area that included a huge slide, a bunch of wooden structures (like a ship, castle, and the like), and a jumping pillow.  Five kids pretty much dispersed across the whole play area so it was hard for us to get pictures of everyone. 

Aha!  Two in one frame!  We did it!
The corn pits.  Like sand pits but instead of trying to get small grains of sand out of a diaper, the big pieces of corn fall out…and they also fall out of clothes.  For weeks.
By far, our family favorite is the duck race area.  There are four troughs and water pumps at each one.  You can race to see who gets their duck to the other side first.  But, Josiah.  He’s all focus when it comes to that water pump.
I have no idea what it is.  But the kids like it.
Jumping…
off…
the…
haystacks.
Always fun.
My goodness, she’s growing up too, too fast!  Please stop her!
So is this little tyke.  But she’s still got a loooong way to go!

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