Lucan's Letter

Seven-year-old Lucan has a pen pal in South Dakota. He received his first letter from Ty last month, and finally we sat down to get a response ready. I decided to allow Lucan to dictate the letter to me in the interest of getting something IN the mail rather than waiting for him to write everything out. This is what he dictated...I love the random ramblings!

December 2, 2016

Dear Ty,

I hope you and your family have a great time. I am an artist, and I like playing with Legos. I really want to obey my parents very well. Zaden, my 5-year-old brother, sometimes wants me to not make my Lego guys back to normal. Zaden also has less schoolwork than me.

Tobin and Arden sometimes do Minecraft. Tobin is 14, Arden is 13. I am 7 years old.

Kenna, my 9-year-old sister, has Legos too. And also me, Kenna, and Zaden like playing with Legos together.

Charis, my 16-year-old sister, is a babysitter. And also sometimes she is here at home.

And Seanin is the chubby one. He is 3 years old. Me, Zaden, and Seanin share a room. Seanin just won’t let me have some of my Lego pieces.

And baby Rhema, my youngest sibling, she is very cute even though she cries sometimes. She is one and a half years old. Sometimes me and her play with each other.

I have 8 children in my family, soon to be 9.

My dad goes to work almost every day and comes back for dinner. My mom, with baby Verity in her tummy, it’s getting hard for her to bend over.

Ty, there is one thing I would like to tell you about me. I sometimes have dreams what are like in heaven.

Sometimes our movie time is watching “Octonauts.”

I hope you like my letter!

Slices of Life

Rhema finally started walking on her own around 15 months of age. Before she was steady on her feet, we brought this little toy in from the garage so she could push it around and gain confidence. For some unknown reason, she really took to giving potatoes rides on the seat.

For real...this is what I look like many of our homeschool days...t-shirt, comfy pants (that may or may not match), and glasses instead of contacts. 

I can't remember why Seanin was having a meltdown moment, but clearly Daddy is not terribly sympathetic!

Whose brilliant idea was it to give the baby rice?! But I love how these grains give her a fang-like appearance!

Seanin proudly came downstairs one Sunday morning and said, "Mom, it's a church day! I dressed myself!" And I happily let him wear this fashionable combo to church.

To make myself feel better about the other photo, here's MY church morning selfie taken a few days after a much-needed haircut.

After reading in history about ancient Egypt, Lucan spent a morning making a pyramid and "an ancient Egyptian house." The coins figured into his historical scenario, too, but I can't remember exactly how...

After one of our consultations at the university medical center, I stopped by this crisis pregnancy center to deliver some donations and chat with one of the volunteers.

We took the younger kids to the Halloween party on base, meeting Ted at the club for a free dinner, games, and of course way too much candy.

This girl loves her mashed potatoes! See them on her nose?!

"Mom, take a picture of me and my towers!"

What?! Arden is taller than I am?!

And Tobin is, too! It's a race for the two of them to see who can catch up to Dad now!

Kenna is quite the capable big sis these days!

Fall Fun

There is a pumpkin patch in our area that has reached great heights of popularity--along with the Omaha Zoo, it is one of the most often-mentioned "must experience" places within driving distance. We had hoped to take the kids on AWANA night, which allows free entrance to kids who wear their vests, in an effort to make this an affordable family outing. (Ticket prices are more in the realm of an amusement park than a hayride.) Unfortunately, we were unable to actually go the night of the event.

I wasn't sure our family budget could handle it, so we kind of let it slide; however, I saw notice that prices were greatly reduced on Halloween, the last day Valas would be open this season. The kids and I decided that school wasn't really a priority that day, lol, and we took off to enjoy some fall family fun. I'm so glad we did! Even the older kids raved about how glad they were that we went, and of course the littles had a ball. The weather even cooperated for us!

We watched pig races, did mazes and an obstacle course, scaled massive slides, watched a pumpkin cannon launch a pumpkin 1/4 mile away, played carnival-type games, and ate good food. We stayed much longer than I had thought we would manage and headed home feeling we definitely got our money's worth. Since we will likely not be living here next time autumn rolls around, we are thankful for the day of memories we made.

Kenna, Lucan, Zaden, and Arden

Seanin and Charis

Tobin and Zaden

Lucan and Seanin

Kenna found a pretty pink tractor!

Farm boys!

I don't even know how many times the kids did this slide! They had a ball! We took a break for lunch and came back and rode it some more! Seanin tried it twice but was too scared, so he hung out with Rhema and me watching from the bottom.

Rhema loved our day out, too!

Seanin was terrified of the slide but delighted to meet Jack!

One of the obstacles in the course

Take these trouble-makers away!!