Tis The Season

A rare Sunday morning at home for all the Waters; the preacher excluded, obviously. Coughs and slight fevers are slowing us down quite a bit. 

It's been a busy season of Christmas preparations and concerts for all but the littlest of the bunch.

The girls had their Christmas program at Veritas.

The younger boys took their first church choir concert very seriously.

Toddzilla also in on the action.

Buckeye basketball, a behind-the-scenes tour at the zoo, cookie baking, ice skating, and the Jingle Ball at Veritas...

Fall Highlights

The holidays are already upon us and I'm still feeling like the school year has just begun. Here are some of the highlights of the year so far:

Halloween!

The kids managed to collect 40 pounds of candy. Ugh. Most has been hidden/given away (Shhh!)

Football!

Toddzilla had a great season as QB, leading his team to the championship game and making the All Star Team. Go #75!

Breaking free from the pack...

Touchdown!

Ready to cheer for the Bears in the Championship!

The biggest and littlest of the boys cheering for the Buckeyes.

Soccer!

The Patriot loved his first season of soccer.

Cross Country!

Bobo also loved her first year running cross country. She made some great friends and is already excited to run track with them in the Spring.

Science!

Our science group is having fun studying swimming creatures. Most recently we studied primeval reptiles and had fun with fossils:

A fun field trip with Dad to the natural history museum in Cleveland. More fossils!

Gymnastics!

After six months of training, the competitive season has begun. Elbow had a good meet near Cleveland last weekend. First on beam!

 Music!

 Hubby is attempting to teach the girls to sing 3 part harmony. This may take awhile :)

Just moved up to the full size violin this Fall

 Baking!

Some friends from church taught the girls how to make cheesecake this week: chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter cup. Calories anyone?

 Next up: Thanksgiving Prep!

Five Days With My Five Boys

No, I don't have five boys, but I do have one Hubby who's included in all the boy-related happenings around here.

It's been me and the boys for the last five days; the girls are at Young Life camp in Michigan. They sent us a final picture from the bus before the mandatory phone-confiscation at camp:

The boys have gotten to have a few added adventures in their absense. I took them go-carting and bumper boating one day:

Hubby upped the ante and headed to Kentucky to re-visit the Creation Museum yesterday. In case you didn't know, kids are FREE this summer!

Toddzilla has been working on a home-made sluice machine (I'll never understand the things he comes up with...)

And Right Hand Man is trying his hand at all sorts of new things.  Speaking excluded, however. He still prefers to allow all five siblings to carry the heavy burden of communication for him.

It's wedding season so there's been a few more dates for the parents of this clan. 

This weekend we actually had to hire a babysitter.  Girls, come home!

I'm almost done with this fall's school preparations. Having taken a much needed break from all school work and all music lessons all summer long, I'm actually excited for the new year.

We're Done!

The end of the school year always feels like a big relief, but this year in particular we were all ready for a break. I've been at this home education thing for eight years now and I've learned when to say "enough is enough: we're done for the year!"

Elbow had a beautiful violin recital on Sunday, the last of the spring recitals and performances.

Toddzilla finished his first lacrosse season undefeated! 

His team went 6-0-1 with him in goal much of the season. 

Little brother wishes he could play!

Crockett's first Coach Pitch season is just starting. 

Little brothers always on hand to cheer someone on.

And, of course, we're in the middle of VBS mayhem. Hubby is in rehearsals most evenings. 

Here's a little reminder of last year's performance. 

You'll have to join us in June if you want to see what surprises are in store this year!

It's Been A Blur

Bobo and Crockett had their piano recital tonight, which also functions as "warm up" for their National Piano Playing Auditions in just under two weeks.  It was Crockett's first recital and he handled it well.  He played all five of his songs from memory and sat dutifully as his teacher scribbled notes in his music between songs.  Bobo's an old pro by now but her program is eleven songs long - a Herculean feat just to get through, let alone to have by memory. I remember sitting at the piano and drawing a complete blank with my one recital piece many years back. Not a good memory.

We're finally on Spring Break around here - it felt like it would never come! It's been a long winter; I think I've mentioned that more than a few times. We spent the day at COSI: the big three going through the Sherlock Holmes exhibit with Hubby, me and the little people running around KidSpace.  All three were mesmerized by the bugs and critter program:

We finished our art class, "Face, Spaces, and Places" a few weeks ago, leaving a big hole in our Thursday afternoons. Everyone loves Mrs. Ness (not to mention hanging out in her amazing basement play space while waiting for siblings' classes to be over).

The late winter/early spring birthdays were celebrated with nary a mention here.  Better late than never.

Crockett turned 7

Right Hand Man turned 2

The Patriot turned 5

A sweet note and gift from our oldest for Hubby on his birthday

The current Power Ranger fanatic. 

That's a little bit of everything that's been going on around here. I can't keep up with it all anymore but it feels good just to save a few moments for posterity.