Happy Halloween!!

I know that everyone has a different take on Halloween. We view it as a time to get to know our neighbors, so our family along with 5 other families took to our street to collect some goodies!! (The one and only advantage of living in a townhouse is that the kid's candy bags get full in a relatively short period of time and their little legs don't get so tired since the houses are so close together.) The kids enjoyed getting dressed up and managed to collect enough candy to last us until next year!

Emily was especially proud of her hair, so she wanted me to post this picture for you all to see.

Samuel is enjoying his booty! I would've chozen chocolate myself, but I guess he'll just leave the good stuff for me to eat...just what I need!!

Visiting History

One of the nice things about home schooling is being able to go see and experience the things we are learning in school. We have just finished up a unit on the life of George Washington, so a few weeks back we visited Valley Forge, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, and this past week my sister Kara and her kids joined us on a trip to see Mount Vernon and The National Mall in Washington DC.

General Jack Washington

The cabins that Washington's army built during their hard winter's stay at Valley Forge.

Jack's favorite thing from the trip to Philly was the deer we saw at Valley Forge. We were all amazed at how close they let us get to them.




In front of Independence Hall


Inside the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed

My sister Kara then joined us for our DC trip. We had a 3 month old, a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 year old along for the ride! Amazingly they did quite well considering they didn't get to take any naps and were walking all day for 2 straight days.

Mount Vernon was very interesting. They have a scavenger hunt for the kids to do which kept them looking for answers to puzzles.

Posing with George and Martha Washington and their kids Jacky and Patsy

The front and back of Mount Vernon. The view of the Potomac River is just amazing from this back porch.

During this time the wheat was usually threshed by slaves beating at it to get the grain to fall away from the stem. To make the process more efficient, George built this treading barn for a place to thresh his wheat crops. It has 2 stories. The wheat was placed on the top floor where horses were made to run in a circle causing the grain to break off. It would then fall through the cracks of the floor into the lower level where the slaves would gather the grain to be taken to the mill. The leftover hay on the top floor was gathered to feed the animals for the winter months.

This is the only picture we got of all the 7 kids together. They are standing in front of one of the slave's houses.

This is known as the ha ha hill. Washington did not want any of his livestock to come into the yard near his house and his guests, so he built a wall in the yard to keep them out. As you stand on the hill you can't see the wall at all and so when kids would run they would suddenly fall over the edge and disappear...thus the name ha ha hill.

Dressed up in colonial garb


And one interesting fact about George Washington: Did you know he had very poor teeth and only had one tooth left at his inauguration? They made a set of dentures for him out of hippo ivory and human teeth.

The next day we set out to the National Mall in DC.

Samuel flying a plane at the Air and Space Museum

Did you know the Capitol Building has 139 chimneys?

Samuel was having a bit of a melt down at the time of this picture.

The Natural History Museum

One last piece of trivia: what is the difference between capitol and capital?

Anna's Baby Shower

This last weekend the kids and I were able to take a trip out to the Pittsburgh area to catch up with some friends and relatives as well as celebrate the anticipated arrival of a new nephew or neice.

We started our weekend by attending the birthday party of Will (a friend from our old Bible Study Group) who was turning 4 years old this last weekend. His mom put all the rest of us moms to shame by going all out for the party. It was a knight and princess party, so she made a whole castle from huge cardboard boxes that she got from Lowe's. It was complete with tunnels, towers, and walls! She also cut and painted a shield and sword for each of the boys and made princess hats for the girls. The kids had a fun time decorating them. She made a very cute castle cake herself complete with a draw bridge and towers. It was amazing! I'm just sorry I don't have any pictures to show off all her creativity!

Later, however, I finally remembered to get out my camera and took this picture of Emily holding their 4 month old, Ben.

We were also able to go to my younger sister, Anna's, baby shower. What a blessing it was to be able to celebrate with her.

Emily and Kaelyn had the job of bringing Anna her gifts and getting rid of the wrapping paper. They took great pride in doing their job!

This year has been quite a year for the Martin side of the family. Joel and Alison gave birth to Gibson in March, Nate and Kara had Peter in July, Anna is due in November, and I am due in December!

Memory Verses

"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise." Matthew 21:16

Our kids go to a Wednesday night program at our church where they memorize certain Bible verses. Here is a video of Samuel saying the verse. Here is the challenge: Can you figure out what verse he is reciting?

You have to at least give him some credit for enthusiasm!

Here is the same verse being recited by his siblings. They are a little easier to understand, so you can watch this one for the translation of what Samuel was saying.

"All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth..."

Well, he's actually only lost one tooth, but he is constantly wiggling the other, trying to get it out also. This is the first tooth that Jack has lost! Many of his friends have already lost some teeth, so he has been waiting quite a while for this to happen!

With this being Jack's first tooth, Bob and I needed to decide if the tooth fairy was coming or not. As kids I did not experience the tooth fairy, but Bob did. So when Jack asked about the tooth fairy we went along with the story. Emily ended up crying because since she and Jack share a room she said, "I don't want anyone strange to come into my room." So it wasn't quite all fun and games, but for Jack's sake, he did end up finding $1 under his pillow the next morning.

As I look back, I wonder if it is okay to essentially lie to your kids in the name of excitement and wonder. I have to admit that I have felt a little guilty. I was wondering if anyone out there does anything fun in honor of loosing teeth without the tooth fairy being involved. I would love to hear from you!

The Colonial Days

We have been studying George Washington in school lately, and took a few weeks to learn about the colonial days. The kids had a hard time understanding that they didn't have certain things we have nowadays. Emily said, "You mean they didn't even have Target?" (Can you guess where we do a lot of our shopping?) So we tried to do several projects to help them understand what life was like during the 1700's when our country became a nation. We picked our own apples to make our own applesauce, made our own toys, candles, and lanterns. Although in doing our projects, we still used the stove and our refrigerator to complete them, so we weren't completely true to the time period. Even though my husband wished we lived back then, I am greatful for the modern conveniences we have today.