In Which I Think I Might Get Carpal Tunnel

Folks, we were not done. I cannot leave out two things: 1) The first day of school pictures are essential, because as homeschoolers, we don't get a lot of those milestone "moments" like buying a backpack or packing a thermos with our lunches (do people pack themoses anymore?) or getting on the bus for the first time, etc. The point is, I need to include the first day of school pictures in this online journal. 2) Our latest football endeavors. Everyone knows that one of the beauties of a large family is that you have enough people to play 4 on 4 (at least, those are the comments I seem to hear EVERY time I go out - "Wow - you have enough for a team!") so we thought we should actually play some 4 on 4 and see if we can make some money with it if someone wants to sponsor us. The pictures and video were actually 4 on 3 because I had already gone for a run that day and showered, so no football for me. We have since played 4 on 4, and the girls are very good at plays. The boys...not so much.

Shiloh and Cora came up with the arm thing. I don't know what that was about.
Shiloh is now in the fifth grade, Cora is in the fourth, Adah and Abigail are in the 2nd grade, Jackson is in kindergarten, and Nathaniel is in preschool.

Again - one of these kids is not like the others...Abigail marches to a different drummer. :)

Jackson was still sporting his mohawk (these pictures were taken August 17th). We later had to shave it for co-op because the rules say you can't have mohawks. I assume this was for the teenage guys, but I didn't want Jackson to get thrown out his first day in P.E. How embarrassing.

Nathaniel looks so much older now than he did even in August! Crazy! He knows his colors, shapes (pretty well - the triangle gets him every time), he can match things, understand rhyming, write his name with help, count like nobody's business (listening to Jackson), recite his memory verses and catechism, and he loves doing puzzles. I've started him on "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and we'll see how it goes. Right now he just wants to look ahead to the next thing we're doing, but he's able to blend sounds together pretty easily.

Here are the football pictures. Our rule so far is no sacking, which makes the first part of the play a little slow. :) Our other rule - specifically for Nathaniel - is no tackling teammates. You can't hear it on the video because it got cut off, but Daniel starts yelling, "Okay, get off me! This is not rugby, people!"

Okay, THAT'S ALL. We are done until Daniel returns. I will make a concerted effort to get those pictures up before Christmas, but I can't promise anything. :) Enjoy your Thanksgiving, everyone! What a wonderful time of the year. (I just heard Christmas music in my head.) I love, love, love Thanksgiving; it's our family's favorite holiday. There is much to thank God for this year - Daniel's good recovery from shoulder surgery, being able to find a house we could fit into and afford in this area, continued bonding with Adah and Nathaniel, the health and happiness of all of our kids, good friends who love us, a church that holds fast to the truth, and the Lord who sustains us through everything. We are blessed!!!