Tad has been off work all week so I haven't hardly been on the computer. We've been busy around the house. But I have a few minutes (honestly, just a few) to blog about our Christmas morning at home.
I had to wake the kids up on Christmas morning because they were so tired from our Christmas Eve service at church. Then after church we went to my Dad's mom's house to open gifts, so we didn't get home til late. Drennan actually woke up at 5am, but we managed to convince him to go back to bed and we woke him up at 7:15am.

I love the expression on Micah's face in this picture. He asked for a Ghostbuster (his all-time favorite movie) belt buckle.


The kids each got a checkerboard/chess board. Drennan got chess pieces. Micah and Lila got checkers. Lila's board is pink.


Harry Potter DS game.


Jude got a weed eater. He loved it! I use past tense because after a few minutes it stopped working. We ordered a replacement and it, too, stopped working. So sadly, we have to get him something else.


I don't have a picture of Lila's new Lee Middleton baby doll. She loves a doll that she can cuddle with and sleep with, and she loves her new one.

After we opened presents, we went to church for breakfast and the service. Afterward, we went to my parents' house for lunch and to open gifts with my sister. I asked Tad if he brought the camera and he said no. Sometimes he likes to just enjoy the moment rather than worrying about pictures. For dinner we went to my Grandma's house and opened more gifts. By night, we were very tired. The three bigger kids spent the night with cousins.
The next morning we opened gifts with my other sister. Since this blog post started with Christmas morning. I didn't mention that we opened gifts with my in-laws on the 23rd. It was a great Christmas, but a very busy Christmas. I still have to take down decorations and get things in a little more order before school starts back. Thankfully the weather has been great and the kids have been playing outside a lot.

We usually watch a movie together on Family Night and last night was no exception. The kids wanted to watch the Grinch while lying on the floor covered up with blankets.


The only light besides the tv came from our tree lights.


This picture comes from Tad playing with his camera. Very cool effect.

The weather has been unusually warm this week. That means the kids have been playing outside more. When I went to check on these two they told me to be quiet because they were hunting for a deer.


Who knows, maybe they'll bring home dinner. :)

I love to do crafts and so do the kids. However, we haven't made too many so far this school year. I think I'm pretty worn out after getting the book work and the housework done, so I haven't had many extra creative juices. But the kids and I recently took a trip to get some craft supplies, and today we started some Christmas crafts.

I decided we would make some ornaments. We took beads and pipe cleaners to make different objects. They had a lot of fun deciding which colors/patterns/shapes to use.




They were very creative with their objects and patterns.
Micah's candy cane.


Here our dirty face model is showing her candy cane.


Star and Snowflake


Another star

These ornaments make great additions to our tree.

Christmas music playing in the background, the kids working hard on their crafts, and Judles fast asleep makes for a great relaxing afternoon. Now on to our next project!

The weather was so great this weekend so we took our family Christmas picture outside. Tad took some pictures of the kids while they were dressed for our family Christmas picture. They usually do better when by themselves rather than in a group shot. Go figure.









I love outdoor settings, and this time of year is great for taking pictures outdoors.

Each year I dread more and more the thought of putting up our Christmas tree. I know, that's pretty Scrooge-like. But every year the kids get so excited and start helping and I end up getting stressed while trying to make sure nothing gets broken.

I had it in my mind that I was NOT going to get too stressed this year when it came to decorating the tree.

We always get a real tree. I grew up always having a real tree and I love the smell of a real Christmas tree in the house. Tad, on the other hand, does not like getting a real tree. He has his reasons...it's a fire hazard, it pricks his hands badly getting it in and out of the house, blah, blah, blah. I love a real tree and so does the kids, so this year when Tad said, "Let's get a fake tree," the idea wasn't taken too great. But after thinking long and hard about I said what the heck let's get a fake tree. Mostly the kids were just excited to have a tree whether it was real or fake, with the exception of Drennan who is still pretty bummed about a fake tree.

After we got the tree and put it up, I noticed Jude kept getting his toy chain saw (his favorite toy) and trying to mimic what he has seen Tad do so many times. The problem was, he was trying to cut down our Christmas tree. Not good. Thankfully the ornaments weren't on yet.
The next day we put on the ornaments and I heard one of the other kids yelling that Jude was knocking off ornaments. When I checked on him he, once again, was using his chain saw and trying to cut down the tree.

We finally talked him out of cutting down the tree, and I thought all was good. I mentioned on Facebook that I am glad Jude is older because now he shouldn't be trying to grab the ornaments and eat them. Well, last night as I was getting ready for bed I heard Lila yell, "Jude is taking off the ornaments." When I went downstairs, I found this:


He was one by one taking off the ornaments and placing them gently into his seat.
Pretty sure the seat was filled a little more, but Lila had already started putting them back on the tree.

We are finally done decorating the tree, and hopefully Jude will lose interest in it pretty soon (fingers crossed).


We used to put the breakable ornaments up high so the little ones couldn't reach them. This year most all of them are up high. You do what you gotta do to have a somewhat non-stressful Merry Christmas.

What is better to do on a rainy day than work a puzzle?



Thankfully all the kids love puzzles.

Ok. Yes it's been a little while since Halloween, but I actually forgot I had these pictures, and I wanted to make sure I had documentation of what we did for fall crafts.

We did some leaf rubbings on a sunny day.


Made bats out of their handprints. There's only three because Mr. Judles was asleep. Sometimes it's a lot easier to do crafts when the littlest one is not around. :)


This is a sensory box I put together for Halloween. It's filled with black beans and various Halloween-y things. The object is to play with it like you would a sandbox. They do a lot of scooping, pouring, separating objects, and just having fun with it. Last year I didn't let Jude play with the sensory boxes because he either tried to eat the beans or throw them. This year he's a little better (with the throwing part, he doesn't eat them anymore). But Lila really likes playing with these. We currently have a Thanksgiving sensory box.


We've done some Thanksgiving crafts, but I haven't had a chance to photograph those. I love doing crafts, and so do the kids. It's breaks up our school day with some fun.

Last week started off with Halloween. The kids went trick-or-treating and had a great time. The evening ended with a hayride provided by my uncle that was lots of fun.



Then Tuesday evening Lila woke up in the night with the stomach virus. What it is about the stomach virus that makes it start in the middle of the night?! Also Tad started getting a bad cold, so our Wednesday was not normal. No co-op. Tad was home sick. Lila was sick. Everyone else was afraid they were going to get sick.

Wednesday night the bug hit Micah. Thank goodness it wasn't a bad bug (if you can say that about stomach bugs). By Friday we were all starving because we had been afraid to eat too much of anything thinking we may be the next ones sick. Luckily, no one else got the virus.

Saturday was a beautiful day outside and that's exactly where the kids spent it. They played and played outside all. day. long.

Sunday was church and mine and Tad's 12th Wedding Anniversary!



Now it's time for another week to begin. Since the time changed, the kids can sleep til about 8:45am (old time)! It'll be nice to not have to get them up in the dark for awhile. But I'm pretty sure that whoever made it official to have the time change DOES NOT have kids!

I think we have enough candy to last until next Halloween!!

Last Sunday we had our Fall Party for the kids at church. It was a lot of fun (not just for the kids!). They got to dress in costumes, play games, eat hot dogs, and trunk-or-treat.

The weather was perfect. We have had it in years past when it was really cold and everyone just wanted to stand by the fire and drink hot chocolate. This year it was nice and sunny.

Micah went as a Ghostbuster. He and Tad made his costume. He had a ghostbuster gun along with a trap inside his backpack. Lila was a cowgirl. Drennan was Davy Crockett. Jude was Robin. He was going to be a ghost along with Micah being a ghostbuster, but I was afraid he would fall down a lot trying to walk around with a pillowcase over his head. Plus I didn't want Micah trying to stuff Jude into his ghostbuster backpack. lol....it's highly possible that the last thing mentioned would have happened. :)


The face painting was awesome. Drennan apparently was going for the zombie look. He said he was Davy Crockett back from the grave. : /








The trunk-or-treat is probably the most fun. People line their cars/trucks/vans up and pass out candy from their trunks. Most of them were decorated!


I think the kids all had a great time. I know mine did. Now to try and find something to do with all this candy...

Today has been declared Pajama Day at the Evearitts. We were supposed to go on a field trip to an apple orchard today, but the weather said otherwise. It's chilly and rainy and a great day to stay in, wear pajamas, and watch a movie or two. We are definitely in need of a day where we don't have to go anywhere. And today we don't have to go anywhere. It. is. awesome.



Between soccer, scouts, gymnastics, dance, music lessons, and co-op we haven't hardly had time to breathe. So the kids are having a much needed relaxing day. Now all we need is some hot chocolate. :)

Today was Costume Day at our co-op. The kids love to dress up any day of the week, so for me to tell them that everyone was dressing up made them very excited.
Drennan was Obi-Wan Kanobi from Star Wars. Micah was a skeleton. Lila was a fairy. Jude was a cow.




This is Obi-Wan and the fairy battling it out. Doesn't she look fierce?


I don't have any individuals of Micah because he was supposed to be a certain character until I told him he probably couldn't wear a mask during class. So he opted for a skeleton. Unfortunately he didn't decide this until we were going out the door. Yes it was a stressful morning.
Jude was a cow. He wasn't too happy when he got up so we didn't get a picture of him either until we got to co-op.

This is Lila's class. I am the teacher for this class, so Jude stays in there with us. He made a very cute cow!

The kids have been studying ocean facts for school, so I thought it would be fun to have an "ocean" treat to go along with what they've been learning about.
I found a snack online somewhere (can't remember where) that was super easy and tasty, so this morning we mixed up blue jello and put candy fish inside it.

(Pure coincidence that Micah is wearing a fish shirt)
If you're thinking it looks like ocean water with fish swimming in it, then you're right!







This photo looks kind of gross with a fish hanging out of Lila's mouth, but nevertheless it was definitely a yummy treat. All 4 of them loved it!

Every Friday we have Family Night. Usually we call it Family Movie Night because we all watch a movie together and have a fun snack to eat. Last Friday, we decided to go outside for Family Night. Since the weather has been cooler in the evenings, Tad comes home most days and goes out to the campsite to mess around. The kids LOVE going out there too. We oftentimes have campfires going out there in the evenings.

So Friday I said why don't we go outside for Family Night.

Drennan and Micah have recently started scouts, and Drennan is really wanting to learn how to start a campfire. Here he is trying with Tad giving him instructions.


Jude is giving his camera smile. I think he would live outside if I would let him.


Once the fire got started (Drennan had success!), we had s'mores for our treat!


After we stayed out awhile, we ventured into the house for a movie and then on to bed. Nine o'clock soccer games on Saturday mornings are about to get the best of us.

It's no secret (to anyone who asks) that Micah is not a fan of reading. He is not a sit-down-do-an-activity kind of boy. He wants to be moving all the time....and usually he is. That being said, he loves to be read to. Tad is currently reading the Harry Potter series to him, and he really enjoys it. But during the day when he is supposed to read, he usually tries to find something else to do. That's why I decided to snap his photo when he was reading the other day. I love to see him with a book!
I'm hoping that one day we will look back on this post and say "Micah, can you believe there was a time that you actually didn't like to read?" Until then we try to sneak it in whenever we can. And if there's a book he is really interested in (like sharks) then we don't have to do a lot of convincing to get him to read it.

Our homeschool co-op went on a field trip yesterday to the Mayfield Dairy Farm.


It was so much fun! We met our group in Athens at the Mayfield place. The tour a little lengthy and I was a little worried that Jude wouldn't last.....and especially worried that he wouldn't keep his lovely hairnet on. But to my (happy) surprise, he did great!
This is his way of smiling for the camera! :)


We had to put these hairnets on, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Probably because EVERYONE had to wear one. Even the 2 month old baby that was there.


After the tour we all got some ice cream (of course!), then we headed on over to one of the family's grandparents house where the dad is a large animal vet. We had a picnic lunch in their yard, then watched an amazing presentation given by the vet. He was awesome! He showed some of the tools he uses and talked about what he does all the time. The kids were mesmerized.


After the presentation and concert (he played the banjo as well!), we headed on over to an actual dairy farm. This farm is one of many that Mayfield gets their milk from.

There were lots of baby calves you could pet.


And apparently if you stick your hand in a calf's mouth, he will suck on it just like he sucks on a bottle. Drennan thought this was hilarious! I thought it was disgusting, but I loved watching Drennan laugh about it.


They got a little presentation on how milk is extracted from a cow.


This day was fantastic! We had so much fun doing all these events. I didn't know how tired the kids would get or if we would even make it to all the stops, but I'm so glad we did.


Tad got a lot of really great pictures. It was hard to choose which ones to post.