Annual Davison Orchard Trip 2012

Today we enjoyed the Davison Orchard (Pumpkin Patch)

We go every year.

See 2011

and 2010

even 2009

It was a great afternoon with the family.

Here are the details...

Riding the Tractor train out to the pumpkin patch.

{ANY event is more fun with cousins!!}

Grandpa Don is pretty fun too!

Caity was really into it this year.  She kept finding pumpkins and saying

"this one is perfect for me"

so cute.

Sister pic:)

Cousin pic.

It was IMPOSSIBLE to get them all to look at the same time.

This was the best of the bunch.

Still cute:)

Look at these lil cousin babies!

They are so adorable!!

My sweet six.

Terri made us these adorable coffee cozies for our hot drinks.

{it's part of the tradition...to have a hot drink:)}

Breezy loved this old tractor.

Baby did the HUGE slide all by herself!

{okay, the mommy *might* have been a little too preoccupied with taking a picture to catch the baby...so glad she landed it well all by herself!}

Cambria and Jamin loved digging in the "corn box".

{dried corn instead of sand}

Bree even filled her little pockets up to take some corn to the chickens without being prompted.

Bree sharing some corn with the chickens and with her cousin so he could feed them too.

Caity hid under this sign and then covered her face and reported 

"you can't see me!"

{cute girl}

It was an awesome family day.

I love these fall days and all the traditions that come with them!!

Do you have fall traditions?

New Nephew!

Mike's sister Terri had a baby on Saturday!

She laboured for 37 hours.

She hard core pushed for 3.

Wow.

All her hard work was well worth it.

Holding my nephew for the first time.

I was amazed how much love I felt for a little person that I was just meeting.

Mikayla and her new cousin.

Mailee checking out his tiny features.

Maddie going in for a kiss.

The three big girls came with me to the hospital but the rest of the crew met the baby at their house.  

Here is our first photo with all 10 cousins.

Every one of these kids is so special and uniquely created. 

They love each other so much.  I am so thankful that my kids have such a fun cousin club!

From these two special people...

5 children

3 children-in-law (so far)

10 grandchildren (so far)

What a blessed and rich heritage!

Cait meets the baby!

She likes him!

She keeps saying "Aunty te-wees new baby my baby cousin"

Look at how big our little lady looks next to her new cousin!!

I was helping Caleb hold Jamin and wasn't able to get a photo.  My arm was falling asleep and Caleb still wasn't done.  He is really sweet with babies.  

What a perfectly adorable little boy!

It's been 6 years since my last nephew was born.

It was about time for a new person in our family that didn't come from me:)

I love the role of aunty!!

Congratulations Terri and Matt on this precious gift from God!

Easter Recap

Easter was awesome this year.     

We colored eggs with the cousins.

Caity loved it!

The kids were talking a lot this week about what Jesus did for us and how hard it must have been to die on a cross. 

Caleb was especially interested in discussing the nails going through His hands and feet.  

 I always find it frustrating to create a healthy balance between what the day is supposed to be about and all the "fun stuff" that the world focuses on.  As the kids get older, they are getting the full picture and that is exciting!

My Mom got Cait and Cambria matching froo-froo pink Easter dresses.  

They were so precious.

Not very practical for moving around or holding baby, but really really cute.

{check out baby's tights...her teensy legs are swimming in those tights..so so cute}

Cait really liked matching with "new baby".

She toted her purse around all morning.

My boys are such good sports.  

Mike did draw the line this year at "no pink" for him or Caleb.

Fair enough.

I'll take matching navy polos:)

In the morning before church I was quite proud of myself for having everyone ready in time.

I pushed the envelope by making them stand still for a photo.

Here they all are... 3 looking, 2 not so much.

After church the whole family came over.

Mike's Grandma made a spread and we enjoyed eating.

She has a gift for feeding people.

Does that sound silly?

She really does!!

After lunch the kids were chomping at the bit to get to the egg hunt.

The dads/ uncles hid the eggs.

We write names on the eggs so that everyone ends up with the same amount and all the same candy.

Its a bit of a process to prepare but Tam and I have fun doing it and it makes the hunt go really smoothly. 

  The big kids' eggs are hidden in crazy places...

And the little kids' eggs are a bit more obvious.

{I just have to say I love this picture of a real moment frozen in time...

Terri,Tammy, Meg and Bri taking a photo of themselves, Grams smiling at them, Matt watching Caiters hunt for eggs, Mike helping Cait with her bucket and holding her headband...so much great action!!}

Another great one.  Such a supportive family; check out Uncle Jay's face!

Cait and two of her Grandmas.

This right here is the money shot.

Check it out, 9 children all looking and all smiling! (Cambria is screaming but she's a newborn so I'm still counting her)

Oh- not to mention the fantastic matching going on!

(I kinda like that sort of thing:)

K this one is pretty cute too!

I love these kids and love how much they enjoy being together.

Pretty sure I've mentioned that once or twice.

Family picture!

The big girls and their buckets full of treats.

I made them each a headband or clip.

I guess Mailee didn't like wearing hers?

Buddies in matching duds.

It was a fun day!

I hope yours was too!

When Two Schools Collide

Today is our last day with Tammy's kids {AKA J. Stang Elementary}.

After seeing how fantastic it can be to have this many children in the house, I am definitely  gonna be working on coordinating this to be a weekly occurrence.  Imagine if I had the kids one Monday and Tam had them the next?  One Monday of 8 kiddos in the house doing fun things together, the next Monday a day to yourself?  Oh My!  Not sure why it has taken this long to come up with such a brilliant plan!?!

Here is what our Monday looked like thus far...

{kids are playing outside...a little extended recess because I needed to put my feet up for a bit.  Remember that cleaning project?  Well I *might* have overdone it yesterday...I am feeling it today!}

Rainbow paintings,

made completely with their hands!

Some of that green paint on those there hands ended up on my brown hoodie.

I was not so happy about that.

Did you know that if you wipe it off with a wet cloth right away it comes right out?

I was really happy about that!!

Pots of gold...St. Patrick's Day is coming up after all!

I am gonna cover these with contact paper (mac-tac) and use them for place mats during our St. Patrick's Day/ 100th day party.

Sliding down the stairs!

This is a regular occurrence.  

It is loud.

It is fun.

No injuries have been sustained as of yet:)

They're rippin!

They got a push off the top from the girls.

Mikayla and Jenaya made this cute dog for Maddie's Twinn doll Paisley.

Have you met Paisley?

Here she is with her new pet.

I love that sometimes the kids will get an idea in their head of something fun to do and as long as their work is under control, they can go off on a tangent like this.  

Making a dog out of household items ended up taking a lot of problem solving and because there were two girls working on it there was also a lot of listening, explaining, disagreeing, convincing and agreeing going on.  I don't think these kinds of little experiences can be discounted.  I love that two tweenish aged girls spent 1 1/2 hours doing this project and were so proud when they were finished.  They even asked me to take the photos!!

This is the kind of thing that kids their age should be doing for fun!

Can you see them?  

This is the view from my house...all the kiddos out at the park playing soccer. (with obstacles)

They are still out there, I have written this entire post without any interruptions.

This is what my living room currently looks like.

Our house is the biggest casualty of school at home.

Today I don't care.

Today my feet are up and I am good with that:)

Many hands make light work...I am gonna be using my power of parental delegation on the crew before they get their snack:)

Oh, perhaps it will actually be more of a power of bribery...

...I'd better go figure out a really great snack!!