Adding some extra excitement to school

Gibby even got involved in this one.  Owen had to write words in shaving cream on his tray. Lilly had beginning sounds.  And Gibby just enjoyed the experience.

He requested Mommy draw him, of all things, ....a tractor.  Seriously, this boy lives for tractors right now. Throw a tractor into any activity and he's there.  

And Owen made gloves with his extra and requested it be recorded on the camera, too.

Look who is starting to be on the move--up on his knees!  He is starting to army crawl a bit too.  My life is about to change...

Fall=Apples=Applesauce Making!

One of my favorite things about fall is apples!  I love apples in all ways--fresh, cooked, crisp, carmel dipped, and sauce.  I always make lots of applesauce to eat through the year.  We have it almost every week with pizza.  Yum. 

This year the kids helped me make applesauce.  A friend introduced me to a new way of making it, which I am super stoked about.  The Sauce Master.  It's quick, easy, and more nutritious.  I could do a commercial for it if they need me to.

So, here's my worker bees.

Owen and Lilly chopped the apples into quarters.

And Gibby checked for stems and threw them in the pot.  He quickly informed me anytime he was out of apples to throw in the pot. "Nee more, Nee more"

Then we let the apples cook on the stove for about half and hour or so.  

Next was the fun part.  Mommy scooped the hot mushy apples into the funnel and the kids took turns turning the crank. 

Out came our delicious, pretty colored applesauce.  And one of the best part was we did a whole bushel, start to finish, with little hands helping in less than 2 hours!!

Our newest members of the Hankins clan

Not 1, not 2, but 3 FISH. 

Ever since fair week when Owen came home with 2 goldfish that only lasted about 2 days, he has had his heart set on getting fish--and keeping them alive.  His big first grade friend, who has a fish aquarium of his ."own, informed him that in order to keep the fish alive "you have to have a tank with a filter." So, Owen has been working hard to earn money doing extra jobs around the house to buy his "tank with a filter."  And the day he thought would never come, finally came!  

After finishing helping stack wood in the basement to earn his last couple dollars, Daddy took the 3 oldest to the store to get fish in a "tank with a filter." Oh the excitement!  

So, now we have 3 goldfish varieties--Owen let Lilly and Gibson pick a fish each too. Their names are Spot, Lalaloopsy, and Navy.

Everett- 6 months

Where does the time go?  Everett Kent is already 6 months--well, almost 7 months--old. He is a sweet happy, go with the flow baby.  He is our best sleeper. Loves both nursing and solid food. Has one "snaggle tooth" (as coined by Jimmy) and working on a second right now.  Loves to laugh and be played with by his siblings.  Does not like to be contained in any baby play contraption--prefers to be sitting on the floor where his most recently is starting to army crawl/scoot around.  Yikes.  

And as you can see, I still have a hard time picking pictures, so here are several of the cutie for you to enjoy. 

Trying to get back on the blog wagon....

So it has been 11 months since I posted on this blog. Geesh. Guess pregnancy and newborn life has been hectic and extra hard for the blog front.  But, here we go, I am gonna TRY my best to post more often (but the stakes aren't very high because it's been 11 months, right?!) 

I did have to laugh to myself when I logged in just a few minutes ago and saw the title read "a snapshot of life with our two little ones".  Well, we've doubled that number since then. And I think the craziness is more than doubled...but, don't worry, we are finding joy and laughter in between the rough nights and grueling child training.  Owen, Lilly, Gibson, and Everett are each sweet gifts from God. I can't imagine life without them.