pictures finally

If anyone is still checking our blog despite my neglect to post updates and pictures, thank you...and here finally are some pictures. These are from this past fall on a trip to Williamsburg, thanks to a pass given to us (thanks Nana and Grandaddy!) which we really enjoyed. We had a fun day learning about the colonial period, and some of our children love to dress up which was half the fun. They were so tickled when someone thought we were Amish :) Sorry some of the pictures are sideways...


walking around historic Williamsburg

We got to see a tour of the horse stables...
and the carriages they pull. It was neat, but one of those moments when all the little kids were not wanting to sit still and be quiet--but with a few raisins we got through it.


Our crew (minus Daddy unfortunately who had to work)...my mom couldn't believe I went with our 9 children all by myself, but I have some amazing helpers who each push a stroller or wear an ergo and take care of a younger sibling. WE even managed to pack up our stuff and get onto a bus shuttle once...that was interesting!


Mommy with Sean playing while waiting for others
and cute lambs we saw (one with a broken lamb)...Aidan gets so excited whenever he sees an animal--it is so precious.

This may have been the highlight for Sean...playing in the leaves!

Big brothers--what a blessing

Joshua enjoying being outside...his favorite place

The girls under a beautiful tree

Hands-on fun





My daughter has been telling me I really need to blog with some pictures, and somehow I haven't gotten to it. Seems I haven't gotten to much lately but dishes, laundry, diapers and more dishes... I think I had a post called that a while back actually!! Seriously though, I am looking for wisdom in some ways to SIMPLIFY our home to make it as easy as possible to take care of, so we have more order, and so we can have more quality, together time. If you have any great ideas, please post your ideas! So if you haven't checked our blog in a while --because there was never anything to read or look at-- sorry and thanks for trying again!

Above are a few pictures until I can post more about our family. One funny thing happened on our outing as we were walking around, a lady came up to me and asked if we had a big van (um, how did you guess? guess the 9 kids gave it away!) and told us our lights were on (thank you Lord!).

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and New Years...I hope to post about ours soon. We have yet to get our Christmas letter in the mail (was done before the holidays but I was waiting for our family picture to happen, which never did...I miss our good friend in SD who loved taking pictures) As I said, I'm seeking to simplify. I know, movign 3 times in a year, adopting 3 special needs kids in 2 years, and then adding farm animals on top of that doesn't lend to "simple." We are praying about a bunch of things including if we should keep on having the animals (and/or how to simplify that) as well as whether we should plant our family here long term, or not. WE've also been working hard on eating more healthily to help determine if this area will be good for .our family (especially the asthmatics in the family) Healthy eating isn't exactly simple eaither but really important for our family.

Enjoy some pictures and feel free to add comments on anything that has helped you and your family.

blesings,
Traci