Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Here's a copy of  one of our Christmas cards (I had two versions):

and a couple others from our beach camping trip in November:

It looks as if Luke has 3 arms in this one:

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.   We went to my grandmothers and had a yummy dinner like always.   Of course I took my camera and snapped a few photos.

My grandmother has some awesome very old trucks at her house, that make great backdrops for pictures.   She may not agree, but I think they are very cool:

Tristan:

Sawyer:

Another of Sawyer, showing off  his "outie":

Kevin had brought a remote control airplane that they enjoyed:

Z is now taller than his dad, and he's only 12 :

my sister in law:

my neice:

and nephew:

and Kolin:

We woke up the other day to a gorgeous rainbow.   It wouldn't all fit into my camera viewfinder, so I put two photos together.   PLease ignore the obvious seam that I just don't have time to perfect.

Our ducks are almost five weeks now.   Tristan lets them out to run around every day now.  They all stay together in a flock.   Sawyer loves them:

 and the boys let them swim in a little swimming pool one day.   Of course, later, they found other uses for the water hose and swimming pool:

I had wanted to take a photo of the boys on this old tractor on our ranch.  I finally  tried it.   I did get one decent shot of all four, and then a red wasp came out of the little smoke stack on the tractor and stung Tristan, so that was the end of the tractor shoot for the day.    Here's the one with all four:

I don't have much time to post, so I'm combining several events and news in one blog.

Couple photos of the little squirt:

and Sawyer at Ink's Lake eating his favorite thing to eat:

Guess what we have at our house?   aren't they the cutest?   Tristan has always wanted some ducks, so we bought some day-old ducklings, picked them up at the post office.  We have white pekins and Khaki-Campbells.  These were taken the day we got them.  They are now two weeks old, and about 5 times as big:

This past sunday, Morgan asked to be baptised at our church's 2nd anniversary celebration and baptism at the river.   Over 30 people were baptised!   I was thrilled!   Here's a few pics:

Our homeschooling is going well, using Sonlight 4, singapore math for Luke and Morgan and Teaching Textbooks for Tristan.   Of course, we hare studying ducks right now though!

Again this morning I got a email from Classmates.com that someone signed my guestbook.   Yes, I do have a profile on classmates, but I also refuse to pay to be able to communicate with others and see a full profile.   So even though 21 people have signed my guestbook, they will forever remain a mystery to me.

However, I recently discovered facebook.com and am having a blast getting in touch with college friends (about 50 so far), friends I grew up with from church, and even a high school friend that moved away in high school whom I hadn't heard from since.    Its free, you only add friends who you want to be friends with (I personally have a policy that I only add friends whom I know in real life).   You can add photos, etc. etc.   Its also private, so although I do have my full name on there, you'd have to know me in real life to find me.   And I can set my settings so that only those who are freinds can see photos, or my profile, etc.

I haven't really checked out myspace, and perhaps its similar, but facebook has much more of a professional feel about, it in my opinion.

So check it out, and if you know me in real life, look me up, and we'll be friends!  :)

I tried taking some photos of the boys this weekend.  I'm not going to even include the fifty shots of all four boys, where 3 cooperated and one little tyke was grouchy and squirmy and very uncooperative.   But here's one that I thought turned out really nice of the older 3 boys:

and same photo in a chocolate b&w version:

Last week we went peach pickin' in Fredericksburg.   Its the end of the season, but we got some great peaches.   My mom and sister joined us, and we ended up picking 7, 1/2 bushel boxes, including some for those who couldn't come along.   I got a 1/2 bushel box of Ouchita Gold for $15 and a 1/2 bushel box of Dixielands for $20 (we got a bargain - end of season, weekday and multi-box discount.    You think you know what a peach tastes like, but you really don't know, unless you've eaten a tree ripened Hill Country peach!  (ok, so I'm biased).

Sawyer rode in the baby backpack, and enjoyed picking a couple peaches as well (every once in a while I'd feel a peach hit my shoulder! :)

Real yummy peaches:

Picking peaches:

Sneakin in a bite:

Putting these boys to work:

We were able to put away 23 pints of peaches in the freezer, we ate several fresh ones with our cereal,  and I've already made a couple quarts of yummy homemade peach ice cream (that lasted all of about 5 minutes!)    Thankfully, we'll be able to enjoy these all year for tapioca pudding, peach cobbler, peach pie, peach ice cream, etc.   Mmmmm.

A few more "summer fun" photos.    The boys participated in the local library's children's program this summer, including some puppet shows:

A visit to our local fire department:

A swim party at our pool on the last day with 23 local children.   We live in a very small rural community, yet we have quite a few homeschoolers.   Of this group, 14 are homeschoolers:

Morgan:

Tristan and cousin Zak:

Luke:

the local crew:

And Morgan jamming out to Guitar Hero during our trip to the coast.   This is one xbox game I actually enjoy, but we'll stick to the picture of Morgan here:

and the little monkey, getting himself into a jam.   He's climbing everything these days, chairs, sofas, tables, walkers:

Chase:

For anyone who ever wants try something different with cabbage, this recipe is the most like the one served at Northwoods Inn in southern California. Every time I make this to bring to a potluck, everyone raves.  My mother in law was asking for this recipe, so I thought I would share:

Red Cabbage Salad

2 tbs fresh lemon juice
3 tbs granulated sugar
1 tbs crushed beef boullion powder (I've also used vegie buullion to avoid msg)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup wine vinegar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup oil (I always use olive oil)
2 tsps pureed garlic
1/4 cup grated sweet red bell pepper
1 small onion, finely diced
1/2 head red cabbage, shredded

In a bowl mix together lemon juice, sugar, bouillon, salt, vinegar, pepper, and oil. Stir in pureed garlic, red pepper, and diced onion. Pour mixture over the shredded cabbage and stir well. Let stand in the refrigerator overnight to blend flavors.

You can serve right away, but its much yummier and prettier the next day.

Few photos of our beach vacation in Port A.   The boys going out for a swim and boogy:

Looking for beach creatures:

Taking Daddy by the toe:

Sawyer spitting out some of the sand he put in his mouth (yes, I let my baby get the full beach experience :)

Going exploring:

Taking it all in:

And a nice tropical sunset:

On Monday we too a fieldtrip to the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm.   It was just Karen, my sister, and her kids, my mother-in-law, and myself and the kids who went, but it was sooo interesting.   It is between Johnson City and Stonewall.   They run the farm just like they would have in the late 1800's.   We watched the cow being milked, and curdled milk and cottage cheese being made.   We saw where they stored the canned jars of vegies, the smokehouse, garden.  They also keep chickens, turkeys, sheep and cows.

I think the adults enjoyed it more than the kids, but Tristan was taking notes, as he says that someday he is going to live off the land.  

 Here''s a link to the album:    

I finally got all four boys together for a few brother photo shots, although I can't say they cooperated fully.  "You want me to do WHAT?"

"Maybe no one will see me pick my nose"

2 out of 4:

3 out of 4:

Finally, everyone is looking, and no nose-pickers, but oh so serious!

Oh well, looks like someone has had his limit!

And one of my nephew and nieces: