Strawberry red meets Pansie purple

I love how this purple dress accentuates Emma's
very RED hair! ;0)

Emma in Purple

Ode to the Turtles

Jaden has unfortunately grown out of his FAVORITE Sunday outfit.
His "turtles" have little turtles on the pants and shirt. Last Sunday I
noticed that the pants now are above his ankles. So sadly, we retired them
after taking this picture. Next Sunday should be an adventure trying
to get Jaden into something else to wear to church!

Botany 101

These two are trying to identify
the vine in the background...Can you identify it?
It's homeschool Botany 101.

Emma's Pout

Emma is practicing her pout on dad. It melted his heart already.
He better nick it now or he's in BIG trouble! ;o)

Jaden loves Emma

Field Trip to Wonderworks in Pigeon Forge

Jaden was fascinated and worried with this "broken house" as he called it. The "legend" says that a tornado picked this house up and dropped it in Pigeon Forge TN. It is an amusement park for the mind with many educational exhibits and activities.
We had a wonderful day. Jaden talked about it for weeks. Kenedi wants us to make our new home look "broken" like this one. ;0)

Xtreme 360

Mark, get set, start peddling!

The girls go for 10 loops (360 degrees around the top pole)

Jaxin can't believe Jordin talked her into this!

BUBBLES

Blast off at Wonderworks!

Jaden was so excited about the astronaut suit and rocket. It's been his most recent passion.
Kenedi joined in the fun.

Climbing at Wonderworks

Jordin rings the bell!

Jaxin kept on trying fall after fall and finally made it to the top!

Kenedi is our climber. She scaled the wall and rang the bell 8 times, often beating the adults
who were climbing besides her. After the 7th time her little body was just shaking and she fell and fell again.
She just would not give up. After a full hour of trying on her eighth try she rang the bell,
rapelled down, and flashed a tired smile.

Way to use your "melon'!

Our neighbors gave us some watermelons. Emma was wearing green and I thought it would be cute to
take her picture with the melons. Her little head slipped between them and made the funniest pictures.
Reminds me of the saying, "between a rock and a hard place as she couldn't move her head at all." ;0)

Our Sorghum Crop

Our sorghum crop is looking pretty. This is a sight I get to see when I drive into our farm.

Jaden and Thomas bushogging around the sorghum on daddy's new-to-us tractor.

A little later in the day we had a scare! Jaden tried to help daddy steer without asking daddy first in a tight place between a fence and a ditch. The tractor hit the fence and then the back tire slipped into the ditch. Blessedly Thomas was able to get Jaden off before it began to slide down into the gulch. Thomas also was able to get off before it slid and nearly tipped over. SO SCARY! Thomas had to dig it out with the skidsteer and then I had to pull it out with the skidsteer blind--looking only at Thomas' signals as he guided me down into the trench to the tractor and then out again after we hooked it up. I thought for sure I just might tip over myself...but Thomas assured me he would never put me in such danger. We feel very blessed that no harm came from it all. Miss Edna Ruth heard about it (community gossip FLIES in our farm community) and appeared an hour later. She grabbed little Jaden and gave him a BIG squeeze and then asked, "Where's Thomas....I'm gonna fuss at 'im". Thomas happened to walk into the house and she told him, "you come 'ere! You jus' bend o'er my knee. I'm gonna spank you!" She told him he should never let Jaden bushhog with him. She is in her late 70's and such a firecracker. After chewing him out "real good-like" she gave Jaden another hug and a bunch of candy canes and went on her way. Thomas escaped the spankin' and we all feel so grateful we escaped serious injury as well.

We Love Emma!

Botany 101

The Hackberry

We are studying Botany this semester. Our goal is to identify most of the trees, flowers, plants, and weeds of our farm. We are making a scrapbook page for each of these, complete with the pressed flowers/leaves, bark rubbings, photos, descriptions, medicinal value, and fun facts. Look for it in stores everywhere! ;-P

The Sugar Maple

The Quaking Aspen