Playing Pig...complete silliness and laughter...very contagious

Paul was playing pig the other nite with the kids and they were having a blast- who needs tv ? I have tried and tried to get another video to download that has Mya laughing away. In this video the kids are cheering for the teams - The P team, the PI team and the PIG team and finally the ones with no letters :)

Anyone ever have much success with blogger videos ? The process never works well for me.

Braided "locks" or lots of sisters...

Olivia the older girl in the orange shirt- can braid hair. So can some of the others like Leah and Tia... yesterday everyone got their hair braided by Olivia ( including Ava who had what they call a "crown" braid in this pic above... Aren't they pretty ? These are the 10 out of the 14 girls who are still at home and then of course our Ava when she comes over :)

They have lots to be smiling about...sweet seventeen

Naty and Rachel celebrated their birthdays tonite...Friday was actually Naty's b-day and she went to breakfast with Paul and me. We ate meatball subs and the girls watched a movie together in the evening. Then today Rachel went out to breakfast with us and she chose cold cut subs for her meal... They both decided to eat cheesecake tonite and open presents together as well. They are out with Joseph now and will return for another girl's nite movie. Tomorrow they are going to 6 Flags Park as part of their gift with the youth group. Have fun girls !

Both of these precious, young ladies have matured and are sweet sisters. They humble and bless me often with their love and compassion. Thank you Lord for such dear girls who are quickly turning into beautiful young ladies .

Invasion of the butterflies....

Snack was brought out this afternoon and all of a sudden... we were invaded by butterflies...we watched them drink up with their probiscus the water on the deck...They were very friendly and let the kids pick them up. Which of course the kids loved doing....

We still have 4 weeks left of our summer ... I do not start our school until after Labor Day and we are squeeking ever bit of summer fun out of our days that we can. I guess I am old fashioned but summer is summer until after Labor Day around here....my kids don't mind that either and the word bored is not ever allowed to be used here or I help them find lots of things to do so that they won't be.... and there are no complaints or never statements of ," I am bored". They are kept too busy to be bored :)

We are all together again tonite... and it feels wonderful ... well almost all of them

Isaac and Leah came home today... I met Jenn and Ella half way in Roanoke, VA for the hand off. We had lunch together and then parted...It was great to see Jenn and Ella even if for only a lunch. We got home tonite in time for dinner and Paul and I are happy to have the 20 still at home ... at home tonite :) Now in the above pictures even though it looks like lots of kiddos.. it is only a partial amount of our children. Some were at work and others were with Jenn and Jeremiah but not tonite :) 20 still at home may seem like a lot to some and you would think this momma would not miss one or two... but I did and it feels wonderful to have them all home.

Sand castles in the sand box...by Tia and Lily

We did not get to go to the beach this year ( bought the second pool and playground instead) but if we had there would have been lots of sand castles and very deep holes... ( our kids love to dig in the sand at the beach) So instead Lily and Tia build with Mya, Luke and Ava many times during the day some elaborate villages and castles.

A "real" pear tree....

We bought this tree 11 yrs ago thinking it was a Bradford ornamental pear tree... beautiful, ,spring,white flowering tree. It was mislabled and turned out to be a "real" fruit bearing pear tree. We used to have a mini orchard of peach and apple trees-- at another home. We hated it because of all the bees it attracted... and Paul is highly allergic to bee stings ( epi pen is in our medicince cabinet ) and so we were not too happy about this... but all these kids love it. This year it has produced lots of pears and they love eating them... and telling us lots of stories of when they were in their orphanages and how they would "help themselves " to the fruit trees around their orphanages... funny how comforting it seems to be for them to be able to just take the fruit off of a tree and then eat it.... and then the more rotten ones began to be thrown.... and that was fun too :)