More....family coming

More!

Just in, her flights are now booked! Our oldest daughter has to fly east on business so she is carving time around her work days to visit with us.


YES!

Her girls were able to fly here last summer with their auntie, uncle and cousin beating her to visit with us here in the east. At long last, it's her turn for however brief our time will be together.

We can hardly wait!

Another year gone by

Oh Happy, Happy Day!

Golly! It feels as though this young man just became a teen, and here this past birthday, he is already seventeen.

A few of the Friday night ball hockey young men joined our son for some birthday fun after their time together shooting and scoring in their challenging round robin games played on the sports court.

What a great group of young people, a pleasure to have them all here.



Ever notice though, just how crazy some young people are with their photo sessions these days?

There is either some sort of finger play involved, or a tongue hanging out, and worse yet, a hoodie hat on their head almost covering their eyes. Duh, cool dude? *snicker*








They know these photos will come to haunt them someday, but for the here and now, they think they are very "COOL" and we'll allow them to believe that.

This night though, while "attempting" to take photos, someone was ALWAYS doing something with their hands, fingers or hoodie hat coverings, so my hubby and I decided to become involved in a bit of a photo shoot with our son, turning the tables back at them all.

Word of warning ...

This is not a usual thing for us, but (LOL) - we got them back, and good!



I wonder what the future will hold for photo fun in our home now? :-)

Coffee time

Coffee time!

A cup of coffee and a piece of "German Streusel Swirl" cake.

An old family favorite, whipped up in a moment's time.

German Streusel Swirl Cake

4 eggs
2 cups sugar ( I *never* use 2 cups, 1 1/2 at the most, usually substitute alternatives)
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cups orange juice
3/4 oil
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 square bakers chocolate melted (for this I use about one cup of the batter when mixed and approx. 2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix well together)

I'll state it off the top. The secret to this light and airy cake is beating it for quite some time, first the wet ingredients, add the dry and then whip, whip, whip. :-)

So, beat the eggs. Add the sugar, oil, juice and vanilla. Beat again. Add the dry ingredients andbeat some more. Whip, whip, whip. :-)

Pour the batter into a bundt pan (or baking pan of choice). Swirl the chocolate mix on the top and then use a knife to cut it down into the white batter to make designs of your choice.

Bake for one hour at 350 degrees. If desired, sprinkle a bit of icing sugar on the top when it's done. The secret to getting the cake to fall out of the bundt pan is to ensure it's greased well around the funnel center.

Enjoy!

Who's the boss?

Who's the boss?

No words necessary...sibling fun.

Soccer season is here

Soccer Season is HERE!

Last night we headed to the venue for our first night of soccer with our rather large homeschooling group here.

A chilly first evening, but the sun was shining!

Parental volunteers were plentiful for the 150++ children/teens out for another season of soccer fun , and as usual, some of the men were having a great time amongst themselves, let alone the blast the children were having. :-)

Can you see our older son running hard?

The older group's coach is super fantastic once again, the same as last year and he motivates the teens to perform well, encouraging fair play within the boundaries of competition and there was alot of that last night.

Plenty of visiting on the side lines

The air was fresh and crisp, almost too brisk for shorts, though the brave did appear in their finest soccer attire - shin pads, shoes and all.

She was happy to be here, team shirt and all

Five separate groups scurried about the fields, orange cones were speckled all over as far as the eye could see during the skills and drills preliminary instruction.

All of the children ran fast, played hard and had FUN! Note to the children though - always remember your water bottles!

Oh, and speaking of homeschooling in general. Dr. Laura has spoken, taking the topic to heart on her blog yesterday. For some insane reason, there are still people out there who think homeschooling children aren't socialized properly, that bad "S" word is ludicrous for the most part, especially in a large family such as ours. I've personally had more chuckles and shaken my head more times over the years over the blatant ignorance from well meaning folks who just haven't got a clue on the entire topic, especially when it comes to our family in particular. I'm not trying to be nasty, or step on any toes, but really now, head on over and read Dr. Laura's viewpoint and get a glimpse of her "real world" details. :-)