Last Day of School Party...

School was over last Thursday and we had a playground picnic! We had chicken salad sandwiches, chips, carrots, cookies and pop. It was so good!

These are all pictures taken during our party.

This is us girls eating on our big black tube.

The boys ate in the playhouse.

Here is Garret recycling the cups as shovels after we got done eating. He played with them for days! It's so good to be done with school and start enjoying summer!
~Chauntel~

Science Class With Dad....

Hi Everyone!!! I haven't been on here for a looong time. It's probably because we have a busy family. Well, on Blayne's birthday Dad had a science class. He has been wanting to do this for a long time. And on Saturday he had to work so on Monday (Blayne's bday) he got it off. Blayne thought it was pretty cool! Well, he set it up with the little kids so it could be a surprise for us bigger kids. This is us starting to see what he set up! By the why Chauntel walked down with us but she went back up because she was not feeling good at all. So you won't see her in these pics.

All the stuff was set up in a straight line! This is some of the stuff. He had around 11 different things.

This is us kids and Dad. He talked about each plant and tree. He wanted to do this so we could identify the plants and trees that grow around here.

In this picture it shows a better pic of him explaining them.

Here he is still talking about them.

Then we went in the woods and took a walk. Dad would point out different plants and trees and we would try to tell him what they were.

After we took our walk we all took a test. I thought I would get stuff wrong...but I got everything right. Mom said, "So it looks like you learned something today." After everyone took their test we went home. It was really fun!!!

I hope you have a good day because I am having a good day! It was pretty cool when I woke up and heard I could do blogging. Chauntel and Blayne might post too, so watch for them.
~Alexa L.~

I'm Back....With News:)

I've been so bad at posting lately....once again! And even bad at letting Alexa do it. Thought we'd take the time to post a few things today:)

One night James was out mowing the edges of the lawn before handing the mower over to the kids. Someone came and told me to look at the back lawn and see what Daddy had done for me. I went and checked it out....and found this heart for me:) Ahhhh....what a cutie:)


On another note...(not an intentional play on words:), we decided to break our good news to the kids on Blayne's birthday. We wrote a note and put it into a gift bag to be opened with his gifts...as the last one. Here is what it said and what he read aloud...


Boy did this news raise the roof:) The kids were so very excited! I know that advocates of birth control like to argue that kids from big families, like ours, suffer because they don't get enough attention. But if this next picture is any indication....I really don't think it's the case! They don't look worried:) They actually get so much more attention from not only their parents...but from happy brothers and sisters!

Later, one of the kids asked Blayne what his best gift was. He right away said that this one was his best gift, by far! I thought that was pretty sweet! Especially considering that he got his first racetrack that he has been wanting all of his life! Gotta love the kids:) They're so special!

We Have a New Chicken Chaser....

We have a new chicken chaser.... his name is Jared. One day mom was painting Chauntel and my chair. Mom wanted me to see what Jared was doing! This is what he was doing. And of course I had to go and get the camera.

I think the chicken got kind of scared. Jared might of got a little sad because he couldn't catch it!!!

This isn't just about Jared and the chickens. I thought I would post some pics of National Teacher Day. Us kids knew it was that special day and wanted to do something. Us kids didn't know what to eat for lunch. One of us said Pizza. Us Big Kids counted up our money and we had enough. We got Pop money too.....and of course we couldn't drive so mom went with some of the kids to get it. Blayne, Camille, Jared, and I stayed home. Jared got fed and went to bed. And pretty much after that, Mom said she was on her way home. We had wanted to fancy the table a bit; so I called Blayne up and boy did we go fast. When we were done doing what we could do, Mom was home. This is a picture I took. Just one more thing..... us kids were pretty pumped that we were REALLY BUYING PIZZA!!!

~Mom at her pizza party~ And this is her favorite pizza from Papa Murpheys!

This was our sign I real quickly typed!!!

Hope you liked my post. Alexa

Hiking Beacon Rock on Spring Break

We went to Beacon Rock on Spring Break. It took a long time (it felt like) to get there....but it was worth it. This is us starting our walk.

Jared with his hood over his face. He seemed to like going!!! He did like it for the most part but he got tired when we were getting closer to the top.

Blayne, Chauntel, and Zachary loved going ahead! Blayne and Zachary did it the most!!!

Mom and Camille was behind Garret and I. At some point she took this picture of us. Garret was so good for me. He was sweet, too.

This is the pretty gorge.

Finally we got to the top! Dad took this picture of us.

This lady asked to take a picture of all of us. Mom said yes. This is how it turned out.

This is at the bottom. Dad and Mom let us run when we got closer to the bottom and it was safer to run. We beat them:)

Mom and Dad!

After that, we went to the park across the road. Dad was doing this.

Dad asked who else could do it. I could!!!

The little kids wanted to be on the tire swing the whole time we were there. They liked it a lot!

Jared on the slide.

I had a lot of fun doing both things. I think it was worth the drive. We ended the day by eating out at Pizza Hut. Us kids had our last "Book-it" free pizza coupons to use. Yummy! ~Alexa

Garage Sale Time!

"One man's (woman's) junk is another man's treasure".......

Hope so:) We just set up our annual garage sale a couple days ago. This year I'm having it with Jenny and Clara at Jenny's house. Today we made 30 pasty and 10 pies to try to sell also at the sale. Alexa finished her hats that she has been knitting since Christmas time; added the buttons and the pretty flowers that she bought from her friend, who made them. And Chauntel made her candy and suckers again as well. Now we'll see what the weather's like and if many people drag themselves out if the day looks like today did!!! Anyways, I love to go to garage sales myself and love to have them too! Half the fun is just hanging out with friends all day:) Love ya, Mona

Ephrata Weekend

A few weekends ago we took a little trip to Mom and Dad's and to Ephrata to see Joel and Denise's family. Beautiful day for the drive! This is close to Dad and Mom's house. We had asked them if we could stop there and bring breakfast to eat with them. They wanted us to come but insisted on making the breakfast. We enjoyed the delicious breakfast and short visit!

Turned around at one point to see this sweetness:)

Lots of girls having fun on the tramp!

The boys having their own kind of fun...

After supper Joel or Denise told the boys they could go start a bonfire for roasting. Awhile later we looked out to see this......quite a bonfire! I guess it was Ketola-style:) Someone had to go out and tame it down!!! They just might have to notify the fire department when they decide to have a bonfire:)

Joel and Denise prepared their usual 5 star supper for us! It was sooo good! Grilled hamburgers, home-made french fries, and yummy onion rings!

Uncle Joel entertaining the kids with candy and making funny faces specially for the camera:)

Zac and one of his favorite cousins, Barbara!

Relaxing after church on Sunday morning. Julia, Jolena, Benita, and Alexa

This is my favorite photo of all:) We took awhile getting everyone loaded and situated. Finally we backed up and were just going to start honking good-bye when we looked at the house and saw all these guys on the deck with napkins; pretend crying. (although they look pretty happy actually!)

Really enjoyed our mini vacation! Love ya, Mona

Capitol Visit....

We went to the capitol for a field trip. It was also the Annual Home Educators' Day at the Capitol. So there were lots of other homeschoolers there also.

This is before we went into the Capitol!!!!

Everyone brought pies for the legislators. My mom wanted me to take a pic of them. I took lots but all of them turned out blurry! Sorry!!!!

Uncle Paul asked Mom and Aunty Charity if they wanted a picture and they wanted one. Here it is. We were in the Rotunda waiting for some legislators to talk to us.

Different people did different things. This is one of the guys that spoke.

After the guy was done speaking, they said a little prayer for him. We were surprised that many of the legislators that spoke to us really believed in God.

This lady sang "America the beautiful".

Some other homeschooler lady asked us if we wanted a pic. We didn't say yes but the moms did.

Some of us girls.

These are the fancy fancy fancy doors.

Mom got this some time. She got it out the back doors of the capitol.

This is the really big light. It holds 200 light bulbs. They change the light bulbs every 10 years. A full size VW bug can fit inside this chandelier.

I think this is inside the Senate.

This one is too.

This was in Rep Ed Orcut's room after we were done meeting with him.

It was a very fun day! And we were all glad to go! ~Alexa