I saw an elf!

Thanksgiving

Only moved in a few weeks and we hosted Thanksgiving. Luckily, I have a very laid back family who doesn't need coddled, and I don't need to be the "hostess with the mostest".
It also helps that we had a room to "hide" everything not unpacked yet. (Where everything still is a month later!)
It was a great time, we each of my siblings made it over at some point and we enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa the whole time! Thanks everybody!
The pictures are of Joel and Naomi at the tableand Aunt Steph with Nathan. I know a picture was taken with everybody at the table, but who's camera it ended up on, I'm not sure!

We miss the "dangerous" playgrounds

On our move to Fruitland, Idaho we stopped in Hines, Oregon for lunch. The playground there was old. It was great! The old merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters, swings, and a HUGE slide. This things was a monstrosity of height and length. Definitely an over-protective parent nightmare. Miss those "dangerous" days!

Medieval Times at the Palmers

We had been studying medieval times while in Oregon and as we packed up to leave the children were loathe to part with some of our creations. To ease the sadness we took pictures of some of them for our memory books. Pictured is our cardboard castle,(catapult is hidden inside), our diorama of a peasant hut, and the poem the boys composed about peasant life.
Of course, the helmets, shields, and swords we made came with us. :)

Enoch's Birthday

One of Enoch's presents for his eighth birthday was a (real) bow and arrow set. Here is a picture of him posing with it. He is very excited to develop his archery skills. He had a great birthday and we were also able to baptize him a few days before we left Myrtle Creek. The family picture in the blog title is a picture of our family we took for his baptism. It was a great weekend!

We love Grandpa and Grandma Schoenwald!

Core Dump

Sorry everybody for the core dump. We have been busy lately and when the computer comes free after the kids are in bed, (such is the life with a work-at-home husband) blogging hasn't been high on the list. So here is the catch up from the past 5 weeks. You may have to go back a page to catch it all!
Also to let you know, we will be moving to Fruitland, Idaho next week. Bart has excepted a job in Ontario, Oregon right across the river from Fruitland. We are very excited. Let you know more later!-Jen

Cuteness

Creative Costumes

One day, Enoch and Eli decided to create costumes with paper bags all themselves. Of course Naomi had to try one on, and Nathan won't pass up a chance to be in front of the camera.

Enoch's Eighth Birthday

Enoch's birthday was three days ago. I had wonderful plans which just wouldn't materialize as evidenced by his cake. I was going to make him a great R2-D2 3-D cake. Instead, the day played out where we hurriedly drew R2-D2 on right before dinner. Oh well, he didn't seem to mind
He got some money from Grandma and Grandpa Palmer, some Eli creations, Wall-E sheets and legos from Grandma and Grandpa Schoenwald, and my favorite, a bow, arrows, and guards from us. He is excited for when we move to get a bale of hay and start practicing.

Blacksmith field trip

Our friend, Scott Wadsworth, loves his hobby of being a blacksmith. You can't find too many people who do it the way it used to be done. He and his father's shop is lined with hundreds of tools from an old train engine smithy. It's pretty awesome.
He showed us how to make several things and even let Enoch help him twist a piece.
We came home with several souvenirs. He even made us two nails that would be very similar to the type that would have pierced the hands of our Savior. Very moving.
He has some you tube videos of he and a friends work. I will have to find them and post them.
Although Enoch is the only one pictured in the pictures I posted, all the children were there and were wonderously well-behaved and sad that they were to short to jump in and do something too!(And just in case you think I'm crazy, Bart was there too!)

Halloween

For Halloween the boys made their own armor to be knights. Although the swords are from a friend's birthday party. (Went well with our homeschooling of medieval times.) Naomi was of course, the princess, outfit made by Grandma. Nathan was a baby in pajamas. (If he doesn't care, I admittedly am glad just to get four out the door.)
We went to Wild Life Safari for the night. It was great! A little trunk or treating, ride the train, see the animals, pet a baby croc, ton of games, make a carmel apple, and watch an animal show, etc. We had a ball.
We loved having Grandma Schoenwald and Aunt Stephie with us!

Decorating class

Our dear neighbor and friend Barb, came over to show us how to decorate using frosting tips and such. She does cakes as a hobby. With the kids we chose sugar cookies to experiment on. The loved it! In the end it was all just a pile of frosting but they enjoyed it. I took a picture of each of them, but Naomi looked so adorably professional, I chose hers to include here.

The cleaning of the pumpkins

The children enthusiastically jumped into the cleaning of their pumpkins. However, when they realized what I meant by "cleaning them out," their enthusiasm waned. They were, of course, enthusiastic once more for the baking of the pumpkin seeds, (mostly retrieved by me) and the carving, (done by me.) I suggested painting them, but *sigh* didn't fly this year. :)
They were worried that neither Dad or I had picked a pumpkin. I told them I was okay with just theirs!

Leaves, need I say more?

Port Orford

We found out that our old friends the Elliots, from Logan, were going to be vacationing not to far from us on the coast. So we met them at their rental in Port Orford. The day was gorgeous, it was lovely to see them. Unfortunately, Eli fell really ill. He was having respiratory difficulties and a high fever. He recovered a few days later and no one else has gotten anything but a cold.
Krislyn and I are happy that our hubbies are such great sand creators. The kids loved the turtle they built with them.

Semi-truck field trip

A friend of ours owns his own semi-truck so for a field trip we met him in our church parking lot. He showed us all about it, took us for a ride around the block (a few of us at a time plus the dog) and even had us help him do some maintenance. Very fun. Although I think we may have made the neighbors wonder with our experiments with the horn.

Aprons

The kids and I have decided to make aprons. I helped them cut them out because our scissors were horrid. I have been slowly having them help me sew them. Eli and Joel sit on my lap but Enoch likes to do it himself with me standing beside him giving him verbal guidance. Going well so far. (Except for the time when Enoch and I had our hands by the needle to try and do something and Eli decided to fall and land on the pedal. We were grateful not to have our fingers sewn!)

Kung-Fu you

I was sitting on the couch talking to the kids when out of the blue Naomi and Joel pulled some random kung-fu pose on me. The looks on their faces were hilarious! The picture is not as good as the original pose, but you get the idea. And of course, Enoch and Eli have to get in on the camera action.

Every kid should have a tractor....

More pictures from our field trip.