Computers

As our kids get older they want to use computers for useful things. So, they have inherited any of our computers that are still working when we get a new one. My Mom and Dad even sent them their old laptop. Quentin has been able to put parts and pieces together and keep one going at least some of the time.

Abigail has learned some HTML code. She is helping Paul format a comment he was posting on a blog so it would look more professional.

I use the computer off and on all day. Below is a picture of my command post. The kids line up for me to help them with their schooling. Our TV can act as a computer monitor so, I've got it hooked up as a second monitor to my computer. I found a program that allows me to monitor the rest of the computers on our network. http://www.networklookout.com/ The same program comes in another version that only allows you to monitor up to 3 computers.

http://download.cnet.com/Advanced-Net-Monitor-for-Classroom/3000-2085_4-10223285.html

It works pretty good and allows me to keep track of what the kids are doing their computer. It keeps a record of everywhere each computer navigates to. Sometimes Paul will have a group of kids gathered around him laughing at something on his computer and I can put his monitor full screen on either of my monitors so I can see too! You can send messages to the screens of the other computers and even control the other computers (I had to ban the kids from doing this to each other from my computer as it was annoying.)

On the wall beside me you can also see a marine band radio which is used to talk within the village and between villages. Plus an aircraft radio and the phone. As the unofficial dispatcher in the village, sometimes I am on all three of them at once.

Two computers being monitored on my computer.

Another one of my favorite programs is Zionworx http://www.zionworx.org.uk/ It's a free program that works as well or better than any program I've seen in a big church. We use it for our worship services we have in our home. Everything can be cued from one monitor and displayed on the other. Our TV/computer monitor works great for that.

Fooseball

Our Basement has many uses. Our library is shelved along one wall, we have a guest apartment where Lavonne and Josh lived for a year. We also have tables set up and I instruct students who are studying to take the GED tests for and hour or two most days. It's very flexible. We also have a thrift store down there which has taken on many forms over the years. At times we've had all the clothes displayed on hangars on the walls, now all of the sizes are separated into totes and whenever someone comes to shop we just empty the tote and fill it back up as we look through the clothes. There is also a fooseball table in the basement and in those rare moments when all the thrift store clothes are sorted and stored in their proper totes we can actually play fooseball. The kids convinced Paul to play with them.

Sarah is trying to play along.

They even got me to play a game or two.

I don't play much so normally I'm quite a handicap. Anna and I had to resort to drastic tactics. I had Anna use her toes to start the ball in play. It grossed the guys out so bad it was good for a point. The rest of the points we scored were because my balls rolled so much slower than everyone else's, it caused their timing to be way off. I think Anna and I actually won.
The last match was the four youngest boys (I can't really say little boys any more) against Paul and I.

They each had their own row of players to manage.

Kids sure are fun!

Mountain Sledding

Since we have had very little snow this year, Paul and most of the big kids headed up the mountain to find snow to sled on. They ended up going all the way up to the base of Castle Rock that we climbed last fall http://quiverfullofkids.blogspot.com/2009/10/climbing-castle-rock.html and sledding all the way back down the trail.

Everybody jumped off the Honda while Abigail took it up a steep hill.

They had to help push a little because it was so icy.

Caleb was the youngest to get to go.

Joshua getting a running start.

They left the Honda's a little past halfway and hiked to the base of Castle Rock.

Snowball fight!

Paul watching the snowball fight from a safe distance.

Josh A. giving Abigail a push.

Spoons

There is nothing that the kids love better than to have Mom & Dad take the time to play with them. We sat down and played a game of spoons together and it was great fun.

The little kids didn't last too long because it got a little wild.

Deborah didn't have any letters so Paul took off his sweatshirt for better mobility and sat next to her to make sure she didn't end the game without any letters.

Camping while hunting for Moose

It's been incredible how much snow we don't have this year. I'm sure the moose felt very safe during this hunting season. Paul flew around a few times looking to spot a nice moose to fill the freezer, but it was almost impossible to see their brown hides against the brown ground. He did find a few but without any snow to drive a snow machine on they would have been extremely difficult to get to. The temperatures were hovering around the 40's and not dipping below 35 at night, so Paul and the older kids decided to go hunting and get a nice camping trip out of it even if they didn't find a moose. They traveled light so they would have room in their sleds to haul home a moose if they saw one.

Below they are loading up their gear and checking the gas and oil on their Honda 4-wheelers.

Paul, Abigail, Deborah, Quentin, Joshua and Josh A. headed up the mountain. Even though it was very icy and difficult to follow at times, they had fun helping each other up the trail. As it started to get dark, they picked out a nice spot to camp.

They set up camp while it was still light. Below Josh A. is collecting pine boughs for his bed. He must have done a good job because he was the only one to get a good hours sleep.They got a fire going very quickly and had fun boiling water to make hot chocolate and add to the instant meals they took along with them.

It was a very dark night. The stars didn't come out till early morning and it was almost a new moon so the sliver that showed in the early morning didn't cast much light. Paul had to use a flashlight to see what he was stirring even though he was sitting close to the fire. (The flash from the camera sure brightened things up!)

Deborah

As the stars came out, the temperatures dropped. It had been warm so long we'd begun to believe that it would never get cold again. It did and it made the night miserable for the light traveling campers. It got down to 17 degrees at the house and they were a few thousand feet higher up the mountain, so I'm sure it was colder by a few degrees. They hugged the fire all night, trying not to melt their clothes as they tried to stay warm.

Below Abigail is collecting fuel for the fire. They cut down every dead tree for 50 feet around their campsite. It kept them busy and a little bit warm as they waited for it to get light enough to travel. It was only a couple of weeks beyond the shortest day of the year so the night was very long. After they'd finished all the chores they needed to to get ready for the night, they sat down around the fire and looked at their watches and realized it wouldn't be light for sixteen more hours. Because it was so cold the time seemed to creep by. They would wait for seemingly hours and then look at their watches again and five minutes had gone by.

It finally turned light and they made their way down off the mountain. They called me from a lodge up the lake to let me know they were all well. A friend of ours caretakes the lodge every winter. They seem to end all of their expeditions at John's, drinking hot chocolate.

I'm sure they will look back at their trip with fondness in a few years and the temperature will probably drop with each telling. (Of course now we have this blog to refer back to.) But as of this writing, a few weeks after the trip, they still remember the cold too bitterly to think fondly of it. As I'm sitting here writing, I asked Joshua, the youngest to go at eight years old, if he enjoyed the trip. He had to think for a while and then he said, "not really." I asked him if he was glad he went, he thought again and replied "not really." Quentin chimed in and said that although parts of the trip were not fun, overall it was a good time. I'm sure it won't be long before Joshua forgets how the cold felt and he'll look at his grinning face in the fourth picture of this blog and think, "that was a fun time." By the way, he or anyone else, never complained. We never did get our moose:(