Appomattax Courthouse

Last weekend we took a day trip to Appomattax Courthouse with some of our new friends. This was a really great learning experience for us and our children. They (or maybe we) worked really hard filling out an entire book of information related to the Civil War in order to become Junior Rangers. This was a big deal as they had to say a Ranger Pledge and received a nice certificate, badge, and special cards.

Ezekiel working hard on his book making a map of Appomattax Courthouse.

Waiting around for our tour and working hard on those books.

I can only imagine what these two are discussing. They both have proven to be class clowns and there is always a lot of laughing when they are together.

New friends.

Damaris and her new friend. It has been really fun for Damaris to have so many girls her age here. We had a group of girls over to make bracelets last Sunday. These girls are always doing cartwheels, flips, or hanging upside down from something. 

Didi's reenactment

In the background is the place where the Civil War officially ended. We were able to see the room where Grant and met. We learned about the silent witness, a baby doll, and were able to talk about how this home was different from our own homes.

The road through Appomattox Courthouse.

Heading back to the courthouse, now turned visitor center.

This place was beautiful.

Group photo. For once the girls outnumber the boys.

Mei Mei didn't cry the whole time, in fact I think she had a good time, as long as she had her chips :)

Me and my love. A rare photo together.

Fall Festival

Last weekend our group here at orientation put on a really fun fall festival for all the kids. The festival was a week after Halloween so we were able to find four brand new, fun costumes at Target for 90% percent off!!! That was four new costumes for less than $10!  The kids were super excited and they looked really great in them.  Below are some pictures of Mei Mei in her monkey outfit, complete with banana and all.

Profile pic of Mei Mei to get the full effect. The tail was attached with velcro so everyone kept pulling it off. It spent more time in her hands than attached to her.

Ready to go!

Pumpkin roll. Try to roll the pumpkins into a square taped on the floor. That was not an easy game.

Balloon animals. Dietrich got a turtle to match his ninja turtle costume.

Pin the pumpkin on the pumpkin patch. Our friends graciously ran our game for us so we could follow our little ones around and help them. Do you see Peter Pan in the background? Captain hook and the Tick Tock Crock were there as well. Two of my favorite costumes were three girls dressed up as Rock, Paper, Scissors and a young couple who were Indiana Jones and one of his girlfriends. 

Face painting. Is this what he is going to look like in a few years?

Greek Goddess or Pretty Princess

Always the clown. Tim had some hair painted on his head :)

Halloween Fun

Since we weren't at home for Halloween this year we didn't go trick-or-treating. The kids decided they wanted to decorate our apartment so we went to Hobby Lobby and found some crafty stuff to do. 

Damaris cutting out our Halloween print for our door. We also used this at the Fall Festival for pin the pumpkin on the pumpkin patch.

Zeke coloring his bat.

Didi picked out a pack of these cute bat finger puppets. He even made one named Nana.

Daddy and Didi. I love that Didi is wearing his crown. The boys in his class all made these crowns and they have "Who is your King?" written on them. They all walk around with these crowns on all the time and they will tell you their King is Jesus when you ask them.

Mei Mei and Mommy. More fun with bats.

Happy Halloween from Mei Mei. The "Halloween" on our sign won't stay up so we have just kept the "Happy" banner up. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings "Happy Monday!"