Random Pictures and Life

 

Friends at the Park

 We' ve made some pretty good friends. Unfortunately, they're military and may be moving soon. Arwen and Susan, particularly have found some good friends. 

Questions and Answers

What's your favorite thing to do?

Gideon: I don't know. Um Play?
Sam: Play computer.
Susan: Do stuff with Dad a lot. Do you believe me?
Arwen: What's my favorite thing to do? I don't know. I have lots of things.
Josh: um something. You even said it was computer. (He is too embarrassed to say). Fine. I will answer computer because mom wants me to say that.
Joseph: Uh, that's a hard one. That's a hard one.
Anya: Uh, uh, I have multiple things I like to do, like drawing and writing and doing mystical world sort of things.
Rachel: Ummmm, read Promised Neverland?
Adam: (silence) Hey, uh, uh
Johnny: um, I don't know. Probably reading, but I don't really have a straight answer to that sort of a question. I'll give you a curvy answer. 
Kate: Either talk or read books.
Ruth: It depends on my mood.

What's your favorite color?

Gideon: Green and Blue.
Sam: Green and Red, and sometimes all of them, and also I like blue, but not pink and purple.
Susan: Blue, red, and white, and black. See I like American colors.
Arwen: um dark red, green, and blue, and black, and white.
Josh: orange. 
Joseph: orange, duh.
Anya: green.
Rachel: pink.
Adam: uh blue. 
Johnny: I don't know.
Kate: blue!!!
Ruth: That also depends on my mood.

Why do birds fly?

Gideon: Um they fly like this (he flapped his arms).
Sam: mmm, I don't know. Why, why do they fly mom? I don't know.
Susan: Because they have wings and the wind and they don't have so much bones in the wings, so it makes it easier to fly.
Arwen: um, I think how their feathers help them fly. They have wings, but that doesn't necessarily mean they can fly. Chickens have wings and feathers, but that does not mean they can fly.
Josh: because they have wings and have hollow bones and feathers.
Joseph: because their bones are hollow and they beat their wings a lot and they can do it. 
Anya: Because their wings are hollow. I mean their bones. Why did I say wings? Why is that even your question. These are so stupid. 
Rachel: Because they have wings.
Adam: because it's a convenient way of travel.
Johnny: um, do you really want me to answer that. Because they have wings, because their bones are light and hollow. 
Kate: That's how God made them.
Ruth: Um, I used to know this.

How many ducks do we have?

Gideon: Um, um, um, no, no, no
Sam: 5
Susan: um like 26. I remember counting and it was something like 20.
Arwen: 23??
Josh: um some unknown number like 15.
Joseph: shooom. Okay, let's see. (counting on his fingers) like 25 probably.
Anya: Ahhh, I don't count. 
Rachel: uh a lot. 
Adam: I don't know.
Johnny: 15 to 20. It depends. They die and get born. It fluctuates. 
Kate: I don't know. I can name all of my favorite ones that are alive. 
Ruth: Too many boys. 

How many cats do we have?

Gideon: zero cats. Yes we have zero cats.
Sam: mmmmmm.. one, two, three... SIX!! We have six cats. Do we have 6 cats?
Susan: 8 and do you know how I know. I counted them today.
Arwen: I think 7, maybe 6. Hey, I said 8 in the end.
Josh: um, 7.
Joseph: 7.
Anya: um, okay, well I don't really care about our cats. Here's the thing, the same things as the ducks. I only like a few of them and those are the ones I care about. I like our ducks better.
Rachel: 8
Adam: 7-ish
Johnny: 7? I guess, I could count it out. I guess we have 8.
Kate: We only have one that I half like. 
Ruth: We have I think 3 orange, 2 grey, and 2 calicos. 

What is your favorite food?

Gideon: Um, um Chicken pie.
Sam: Sushi
Susan: I don't know. Like tons of good food and meat.
Arwen: Steak and ice cream and crepes.
Josh: cake.
Joseph: chicken pot pie or chicken parmesan.
Anya: my favorite food? I don't know. I like a variety of things. Probably ice cream.
Rachel: wings, oh well, yeah, cocoa is my favorite food. That is true.
Adam: I don't know particularly. 
Johnny: Probably spaghetti. I like Italian food.
Kate: Steak and ice cream. Well salmon's nice too.
Ruth: That depends on my mood. It's true, sometimes I'm craving chocolate, sometimes, I'm craving watermelon.

What town do you live in?

Gideon:Um the Shoe
Sam: I don't know.
Susan: North Carolina.
Arwen: Maysville.
Josh: North Carolina, Jacksonville, not Jacksonville, somethingville. It was somethingville.
Joseph: uh, Maysville?
Anya: Uh? North Carolina, Maysville, Emmett Lane.
Rachel: Maysville.
Adam: Maysville
Johnny: Maysville, technically, but we mostly kind of live in North Carolina backwoods country. It's not like we are part of the town. It's like what? A twenty minute drive.
Kate: Maysvill, North Carolina.
Ruth: Maysville

Who is the President of the United States?

Gideon: um Batman (said in a Batman voice)
Sam: I don't know.
Susan: I don't know.
Arwen: um, blub, blub, blub, why do you even ask that? I have no idea.
Josh: Um, uh guy who is the president.
Joseph: Joe Biden. (Of course, I knew that.)
Anya: Joe Biden and he sure is an idiot. 
Rachel: Biden.
Adam: Joe Biden
Johnny: Currently? Stalin.
Kate: Uh, um, a delusional cripple. 
Ruth: Biden.

Sam is 6!!

 My 11th child is 6 years old and John and I are old. Wow, this parenting thing has gone by without hardly a notice. 

Sam has spent his whole birthday playing video games of one sort or another and it has been hard to get him to do anything else. I insisted that he have the tea party that he requested. I don't think he ate the dinner he asked for, and I am unsure whether or not he ate a piece of his ice cream cake roll that he asked for, but he was adorable while we sang happy birthday to him. I will catch him for a book or a game tomorrow when he is no longer allowed to play as many video games as he wants to. 

But about Sam. He is sweet and kind and fairly considerate of everyone else. His favorite things are playing video games and playing video games. He used to love food, but now he's much more picky. Sam is smart and is learning to read pretty quickly. He's good at memorizing things, but with reading, he mostly takes a phonics approach. Sam still cries way too much over everything. If he gets the slightest knock, he cries like he has broken a bone. He does the same thing when someone calls him something he does not like. His older siblings tease him by saying things like Sam is handsome and athletic and he doesn't know what it means so he screams in pain. Otherwise, Sam is very calm and we all love him and his blue eyes, as he is the only one of 13 kids that has blue eyes. 

Adam is 18!!

 Oh those 18 years went too fast. But Adam is a good young man and I am proud of who he has become. He is a senior in high school, but since it is homeschool and Adam tends to finish things kind of slowly, he may not finish by the end of the spring. He has to finish ap chemistry, computer programming, ap physics, calculus, essay writing, and American Heritage before graduation. He is part way through ap chemistry, computer programming, and essay writing. The American Heritage class is short and I think that I will have him do the whole course over Christmas break. 

After Adam graduates, I have several plans for Adam to help me with business stuff, in hopes that in time, he will make enough money to continue on his own and start his own family. But really, I can't believe that Adam is 18!!