Charlie loves hot sauce on everything.

Jacob and Scarlet have this funny way of rolling the dice when we play games- called Lucky Pants

Ezra will often just come up to me and ask for something so I was trying to explain to him that it's polite to at least say hi first before he starts demanding things. Sometime later the same week he came up to me and said, "Mom did I say hi to you yet?" I answered yes and he replied, "I'm hungry."

Ezra will sit at the piano and listen to his piano music on his earphones and try to figure out the songs by ear. He is genuinely interested in learning the piano.

I was teaching Ezra the Louis Braille story and that led into braille and he thought about it for a moment then asks, "Ya, but how do they find the dots?" I love how he processed the new idea and had a good question about it.

When we first moved in, my dad spent days and days helping us get our well water working and teaching Timmy about the utility room stuff - on one such occasion I had brought some melon down to them for a snack while they were working. Ezra went to see them for a visit and came back up to report back to me on Timmy's behavior. He said, "I don't want to be mean, but dads not helping Baba, he's just snacking on melon."

Jane said in the car, "If I didn't get carsick, my life would be perfect."

When Hazel is trying to explain something about yesterday she says "In esterday." It's my most favorite thing she says.

Hazel loves LaraBars but she calls them LaraBards- even though she should call them SarraBars. She also calls Chess "Chest"

Hazel loves her curls and she had a time when she'd cry when she showered because she thought her curls were gone. One particular day when arrived at church after her shower and she was elated to discover her curls had come back in time for church.

I realized how much time we spend at libraries because anytime we need something- like salsa or socks or Windex- Hazel assumes we need to go to the library to pick it up.

It's been so fun having a Hazel around- it's like she makes sense of my own life because we are so much alike. She can't stand attention and it almost makes her mad if we look at her or notice her doing something. When she doesn't want to be noticed she'll say the opposite of what she's doing, for example, "I'm not taking a cookie" while in the literal act of taking one, or she's say, "I'm not crying" while she's bawling her head off. She's our only child that doesn't want to say prayers because she's so shy. She's super sensitive too. If we give her an annoyed look or express any kind of anger or disappointed she's instantly wounded for life. She also will not touch meat- she just doesn't like it, just like her momma. And then there's the brown eyes in common. I call her my dolly.

Hazel's older siblings all call her Kisty in a teasy voice and she squawks in protest but we all know she likes the adoration.

Fall Is My Favorite

Isn't she adorable. She's a perfect example of motherhood.

She also grows perfect apples.

So many little people love her! Why does she look so young in these pictures? I can't get over it. Crossing my fingers for the young looking genes :)

I usually take school pictures on a Sunday because it's the one day everyone is fully clothed with hair brushed and faces are clean, all at once...

Charlie is looking forward to turning 12. 

He feels prepared to move on from Primary and join in Young Mens at church.

Scarlet is turning 8 this year so she's started her baptism prep class.

Jacob is turning 10 this school year. He's gentle and patient.

Jane is turning 13. She is navigating through changing emotions with impressive grace.

I mourn Hazel growing up daily. Lately she is the "H" police. If there

 is a letter H anywhere in sight, she will find it.

Ezra is still a daddy's boy. I call him my Teddy.

Our theme for 2017

"Our eternal education, that of becoming a disciple of Christ, 

requires that we plant the seed of the gospel, in our hearts- and live it."

First day of school came with a Klootcheh cookie, a bag of marbles, 

and carbonated homemade beet juice :) 

 I try to pick just the right book to read aloud for the beginning of the year. 

This year we read All-of-a-Kind Family. It was darling. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

 Ezra started piano lessons. He is very enthusiastic about it.

 She wrote her own name on her name tag at the library program. SO cute.

 Jane started riding lessons down the street. Being at the barn fills her bucket.

 Jacob writes chess notation. It's like another language. It's so cool how 

he can replicate a match by reading over his notation sheets.

Ezra drew the most magnificent mallard! I can't remember why he 

chose a mallard but seriously- it's remarkably accurate. 

Little House in the Big Woods

We moved. It's a long painful story. But I must be feeling settled in because I'm finally blogging about it. Here's our cute log house in the country, which happens to have beautiful wildflowers.

                                     

 We made the school room up in the loft. 

Our slice of heaven.

This is my favorite spot in the house- Hazel's teeny tiny room. She actually spends a surprising amount of time playing in here on her own.

We have some fun hills in the back fields so the kids have become quite comfortable ripping around on the quad.

It's been nice having some lawn mowing helpers too.

Hazel helped me unpack all the tea cups. She thoroughly enjoyed the task. 

Here is the bunk room- a triple on one side and a double on the other. 

The girls have a nice little girly corner on their side.

Janey made this cute felted fairy for Hazel's doorway.

The happy playroom- I was running on the treadmill and observed all six kids engage in play individually in the same room. No one was bugging the other.

 This may not have ever happened until this day.

We soon became the family of six kids and six ducklings and six chicks...

The kids built these nesting boxes with Timmy.

We spend lots of time watching the ducks in the pond. They put on such a show!

One of the best parts of moving in was all the fun visitors who came to see us at our new place-

Lindsay's birthday is a special holiday at our house. 

Cello friends are a treat for the rest of us because they put on concerts!

She brings pie :)

Here is Saffron the kitty. 

Our Sunday tradition is to set out this church as a reminder it's the Sabbath.

Our neighbour shared his bounteous garden with us.

Ezra and Hazel washed vegetables until the bitter end.

Charlie is our biker boy. He loves to bike.

Back to School Feast with Cousins!

This was by far the best moment of the evening. Henry shared what he learned this summer with us. It was precious.

We are all really excited for Belly and Henry to be homeschooling friends now.

We've been getting into new boardgames this school year- BLOKUS, GOBLET and CATHEDRAL. They are all short and really fun for littles all the way up to adults.

This is another favorite little corner of the house- I sit in my rocking chair under my old fashioned lamp to do my tatting sometimes and it makes me feel like I'm 93 years old but I love it. 

And just like that it's winter. We were wondering what a log house would be like in the snow- so far it's been cozy and snug as a bug.

This was on our winter walk. The littles wanted to visit the graves of 

Lilleth the duck and Butterfly the chick.

Winter ziplines!