Katherine is reading so well this year. It has been such a privilege to watch her progress and see it "click." She's an easy student to teach.
We celebrated Kaden with a super fun baseball themed party. Of course we should know that Ms. Paige, the best PE teacher would throw the best birthday parties!
The kids played all sorts of baseball themed games.
These two bought coordinating pajamas and had to pose and show them off.
Elisabeth's good friend Hadassah invited us and a few other families over to a scooter and smores night. We roasted hot dogs and smores and played outside enjoying the beautiful weather.
Sam and Matt were out of town on a campout, but the rest of us thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
While their big siblings were at robotics one day, these three girls were living their best life with a fashion show and dance party. Our neighborhood "bus" carpool situation is the absolute best. Tell me you homeschool without telling me you homeschool when the girls randomly burst out in singing to the states and capitals song, ha!
We spontaneously stopped at a playground one afternoon for a bit.
This girl got a book series from her cousins for her birthday, and she read them nonstop. Every time I looked over at her it seemed like she was reading. I hope she doesn't lose her love of reading.
Our middle school CHEER group enjoyed a hike at Ray Harrel one afternoon.
These kids are awesome. They all enjoyed exploring the trails.
Then the next day our Keepers of the Faith group hiked another trail. October was filled with outdoor activities.
After finishing By the Great Horn Spoon in book club we played a game, and these two ended up arm wrestling each other. Any guesses who won???
Elisabeth presented in history about the East India Trading Company. She did a great job researching and preparing.
Also, in history Nathan and Elisabeth learned about the history of the song, "Michael Row Your Boat Ashore." The meaning really impacted them, and Nathan even learned to play it on his guitar.
One of the moms in our homeschool group hosted a middle school nerf war, and it was epic. My boys absolutely loved it.
You never know what you're going to find at my house on a normal day. This day it was gangster penguins.
On a random free Saturday, we headed to the Gathering Place for the afternoon. This is the only picture we took.
This girl seems to always have a book in her hand.
We traveled to Missouri for a quick Fall Break vacation.
On Friday morning we met the Millers and the Evetts at Silver Dollar City and spent the day riding all the rides together.
I love that these kids have grown up together and are such close friends.
Our family loves a good Theme Park Day.
Our first ride of the day was Time Traveler. It's a favorite.
It sprinkled off and on during the day. Samuel tried his best to stay dry.
These kids were pretty great at passing the time in line for the new Fire in the Hole.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the ride remake.
We have almost this same picture of the girls when we all visited the park together six years ago.
Mindy and I even got to ride some rides together.
Best buddies
We closed down the park. Katherine was asleep before we even made it to our car.
We spent the night at a hotel in Springfield. The next morning we had a little extra time, so we visited the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield.
Then we continued on to Kansas City to spend the rest of the weekend with the Flamings. We rented a house for the weekend, and packed all the important things- board games.
These cousins were excited to spend the weekend together.
Our house had a great outdoor area. The kids played outside.
The oldest and youngest cousins.
We roasted hot dogs and smores for dinner one evening.
Samuel perfected his smore and he was very proud.
The house also included a hot tub, and the girls spent so much time playing in it.
Just a couple of weeks before our Kansas City trip, Granny told me that her church was hosting a retirement reception for them honoring their years of service. I almost cried when she told me, and I knew we couldn't attend. We all watched the church service together where the pastor talked about their service in the church. Jeremy and I were both teary eyed as we watched. What a blessing they've been in our lives and what a legacy they're leaving for all our children.
With his free timein Kansas City, Samuel finished his most recent hand sewing project.
A t-shirt pillow!
Ice cream bars have turned into a Flaming/Baugher get together.
The rest of the weekend was spent playing lots of board games. There's really nothing we'd rather do. I joked that of the two and a half days we spent at the house in Kansas City, I only left twice and only for a Sonic run just up the road.
The perfect way to spend a weekend.
We also played a few rounds of Jack Box. Elisabeth always asks the adults to play with the kids.
It's also a tradition to pack up on our last day, and the very last thing we all do together is play a few rounds of Jack Box all together.
We took a few last cousin pictures before saying goodbye on Tuesday morning.
I'm thankful these cousins get to see each other regularly even living in different states, and I always look at these cousin pictures and think of how proud my mom would have been of all six of these kids. I know she'd be happy that we're intentionally investing in these relationships.
We're ready for March when we'll be together again.
