Sometimes stories are best told in video

We discovered the best Airbnb in the Smoky Mountains!! It's the perfect large family Airbnb for our large family of 7. But the best part...the view! Oh my goodness the VIEW is INCREDIBLE! Just outside of Sevierville, TN up a steep mountain road is where you will find this AMAZING AIRBNB. Spoiler Alert: It has an indoor pool.

I've been cutting the kids' hair myself for about 5 year now. I have no haircut training, just what I've watched on YouTube and not being afraid to try! Don't miss the fun facts I included about each kid. What do you think about my one who wants to be President??

Last year was our first year homeschooling and, I had no idea what I was doing! This year I have a much better idea what I want school to look like, what the kids know, and what they need to know. Here is my list of curriculum picks for the 2023-2024 school year homeschooling five kids.

This year we did youth sports a little differently. During the fall season of youth sports we gave the kids a choice in which sport they played. I knew the older girls would pick volleyball but the littles were a bit of a toss up.

The kids had a great time doing this ART PROJECT and painting new CANVAS PAINTINGS for their rooms. This is a project we began as a tradition when first started FOSTERING as a way to make the kids feel more at home in our home.

We have had several ask us if it is possible to be a FOSTER PARENT while also WORKING FULL TIME? Great question! It seems impossible but yes, you can CAN work full time and FOSTER! It's not easy though.

FALL is here! The weather is cooling, and there are lots of fun family events in Branson. Our favorite by far is the FALL ROUNDUP at Sycamore Creek Family Ranch. There are so many fun fall activities at the fall roundup like a corn maze, pumpkin patch, lots of friendly farm animals you can pet, a frisbee golf course, gunny sack slide...I could go on and on!

The kids had never been to a RODEO before so when our local event center advertised BULL RIDING Jared just couldn't resist. He took 4 of the kids to the Rodeo to see the Bull Riders, Chase some Chickens, and Chase Sheep.

We FINALLY took the kids on their FIRST FLOAT TRIP to the NORTH FORK RIVER!! The North Fork River is a part of the White River. It is about a 2 hour drive for us but well worth it. The North Fork is beautiful and has lots of places to stop to hike, fish, and play.

So how much does an adoption cost anyway? We are excited to share with you the COSTS OF ADOPTION. We have experience with International Adoption, Domestic Adoption, and Foster-Adopt. When we first started our adoption journey, we had no idea how much it would cost so we want to share the costs of adoption with you.

The boys made it! They climbed the highest peak in Colorado, Mount Elbert! It was a tough climb but they made it! Amazing! Mount Elbert is in Leadville Colorado and is known as the Gentle Giant, but don't let that nickname fool you. Mt. Elbert is a tough summit.

The boys flew to Denver, Colorado! They found an awesome deal on flyfrontier.com and couldn't resist the chance to climb Colorado's tallest mountain, Mt. Elbert. This was AJ's first time on an airplane, he loved it! Colorado is awesome, especially the drive from Denver into the mountains.

Hemmed-In Hollow Trail and Waterfall is well known and well traveled in Compton, Arkansas. Hemmed-In Hollow Falls is the tallest waterfall between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountain Ranges. It is an incredible 209 feet tall! If your family loves hiking as much as we do, fill up those hydration packs and spend the day at the Buffalo National River and see this amazing bluff.

We hope you're not disappointed, we have focused this week on getting ready for school and did not spend much time editing. We have lots of great adventures we cannot wait to share with you including: -Hike to Hemmed In Falls-the tallest waterfall between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountain Ranges -Epic surprise adventure-Our Arkansas hike was a warm up for this -More Foster and Adoption Vlogs -A super fun challenge for the kids And much, much more!

We finally got to visit the NATIONAL TIGER SANCTUARY! We've heard so many good things about the National Tiger Sanctuary and the work they do with exotic and domestic animals. It did not take long for us to all fall in love with the tigers, lions, panthers, and other animals we met there.

I can't believe it! I actually PIERCED Ashten's EARS! We promised her in March she could get her ears pierced for her birthday, right before COVID shut everything down. We waited several months, but no one ever opened back up so we gave her a choice: wait, or purchase a kit online.

We've been on YouTube ONE YEAR! It has flown by, we have really enjoyed vlogging and sharing our lives with you on YouTube. In the last year we've had many ups and downs and we've learned the ropes of vlogging on YouTube as we go.

COVID-19 delayed our family date night but it did not cancel it. We took the kids to Eureka Springs for our long awaited date night. They all wore their outfits they picked out in February, even the long pants and sleeves. The kids had never been to Eureka Springs so we had a fun afternoon showing them around.

The kids love shooting off fireworks on the 4th of July. This year we got a late start but we headed out to find fireworks and ended up at a fireworks stand run by friends. COVID-19 definitely changed normal 4th of July traditions but it did not stop them completely!

The homestudy is one of the scariest parts of becoming a foster family. We endured several homestudy reports because we were licensed through the state and with a private agency. We feel like we can help you not to worry or be afraid of the homestudy!

He finally learned how to ride his bike! Out of all 5 kids, we've only had to teach the younger two how to ride their bikes. Bentley was the last to learn. We finally ditched those training wheels and headed out to ride his bike. He did great!

We LOVE KIDS UPSCALE RESALE STORES!! Especially when they offer really nice brands at great prices. We let the kids go SHOPPING for their very own OUTFIT they can wear when the boys take the girls out on a special date. Do you have any favorite RESALE SHOPS or THRIFT STORES you visit on a regular basis?

We spent the first really hot day of the year at our favorite creek spot! It used to be our best kept secret but somehow it has become more and more popular over the last year. Swimming at the creek is the perfect family activity, it's free, the water is cool, and there are rocks to jump off of (and crawfish to catch)!

We have a TON of Legos. The kids play with them all the time! Recently, they have discovered the world of Lego puzzle boxes! A great channel called cheat3 not only builds awesome puzzle boxes for people likeChris Ramsay, they also have tutorials on how to build and how to solve their puzzles.

Jared discovered this awesome little cafe not far from our house that is in an airplane hangar! Just a typical midwest cafe in a super unique location. And, it's right next door to Ozark Skydive Center. As we ate lunch in a real airport, we got to watch the planes take off and the skydivers come in.

Our family lake day almost turned into a disaster when we got a flat tire! We taught our 11 year old how to change a tire. DON'T MISS: Always Entertaining Kidcam at 2:40 We Discovered the Flat Tire at 4:44 COVID-19 has kept us indoors for far too long so we decided to pick up pizza and head to the lake for an adventure.

We took the kids to the public library for the first time! Over Thanksgiving in 2019 we took the kids to Jared's hometown in Nebraska. We had a great time showing the kids all of Jared's favorite places from his childhood including the public library! The kids had a great time exploring and reading books.

It was time for the older sisters to learn how to cook! The girls have been begging to cook us dinner so we thought we would let them! Since COVID-19 became a global pandemic the biggest change in our family is...no more restaurants! We have not eaten out since we began staying at home.

Did you know we have a sinkhole on our property?? We call it our cave! Check it out! We love to go hiking as a family. Usually our hikes never go as planned and for some reason we still haven't figured out the water thing but everyone always has a great time and we all end up tired in that happy way.

We visited Fritz's Adventure in Branson, Missouri before COVID-19 became a global pandemic. We love Fritz's! It is a huge indoor park so it's the perfect place to play in any weather. We have been there before but this time we wanted to bring you along!

We took the kids puddle jumping! Since Spring Break was the beginning of COVID-19 in our area we busied ourselves with fun close to home. It also rained all week so puddles were everywhere. So Jared took the kids puddle jumping! I missed out on this fun, I was home putting the finishing touches on a vlog.

As if we aren't crazy enough, let's add a PUPPY to the mix! We are so excited to bring Graham home and are so lucky we were able to pick him up before the COVID-19 virus hit our area causing us to be homebound for several weeks now.

We pulled her tooth out with the drone! Jared used his trusty DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone and a string. Talk about a unique way to lose a tooth and her reaction is totally epic. This seems a little crazy but #princesspea has been begging to have a tooth pulled out by our drone since she saw it on @themoorethemerriervlogs.

A long school and work week calls for a little bit of Friday night fun! We decided last minute to take the kids bowling even though we were all a little tired. Sometimes you just need to throw your stress down an alley at some pins!

Curious what a Sunday with our family typically looks like? Join us for a typical Sunday. I love that Jared takes over our Sunday morning routine. Something about getting 5 kids ready for church is just a recipe for craziness! We try to keep Sunday a fun day.

We were a bit starstruck when we got to meet THE Kara and Nate this past weekend in Nashville. Kara and Nate are our family's favorite YouTubers and the reason we are vlogging today. We took a giant leap outside of our comfort zone and attended their 100th Country Party celebrating their accomplishments of reaching their 100 country goal AND hitting 1 million subscribers on YouTube.

We are giving you a brief recap in this 2019 Rewind video! Wow! When I look back on 2019 I am amazed at how far we came. We decided to step outside of our comfort zone and fulfill our passion of encouraging other people who are involved in or curious about foster care and adoption.

Something happened this year. We didn't get our tree up until right before Christmas! We've been so busy the kids didn't even realize that Christmas was right around the corner. This year we are not traveling so bring on the hot chocolate, Christmas movies, and...60 degree weather??? Only in Missouri.

Friday nights = Family nights! Kids Dance - The kids love to dance and a Barn Dance is the perfect place to dance! We love going on adventures together and the Barn Dance at Sycamore Creek Family Ranch is no exception. SCFR is committed to families and using their facilities to promote family fun.

Winner winner chicken dinner! Well...maybe ice cream, not chicken! The votes are in and we are officially announcing the winner of the haircut challenge! (if you missed the haircut challenge, catch up here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUh2lcQeN2Y&t=116s) We decided to celebrate as a family at our favorite little ice cream shop, The Funky Twig.

We cut all five kids' hair in one night. Check out the kids' haircuts and leave a comment below if you have any tips or tricks to share! I have been cutting the kids' hair for about a year now.

We have heard so much about The Gathering Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. America's best new attraction of 2019! Wow! It is truly like a museum that kids can climb on, most of the playground equipment was made to look like something else...like a banana!

This year Silver Dollar City's new Pumpkin Nights Festival was at the top of our Fall Bucket List. After dark, Silver Dollar City is lit up with thousands of pumpkin jack-o'-lanterns, black lights, and fun characters. Nothing about this new festival is spooky or scary despite the fact that the fun occurs after dark.

Watch to see how we balance sports expectations and fun! Spoiler alert: We're still trying to figure that out! Our kids love to be active and Youth Sports ...

Our dogs were our biggest asset when we began foster care. They have a way of making an uncomfortable kid feel a little more comfortable and awkward situati...

If you are struggling with infertility we want you to know that you are not alone! In this vlog we talk about our struggles and how we overcame infertility,...

2019 Beach Vacation!! This year we went to the same beach and stayed in the same condo as our first vacation last year. But Jared insisted on some new adve...

Traveling with a large family can be hard. We've discovered that Airbnb is the way to go for a large family vacation. This year we went to the same beach a...

We are sharing part 2 of our adoption journey at Dogwood Canyon Nature Park! How did we go from zero to five children overnight? We fostered and then adopt...

We want to share with you 7 things we learned while fostering that we wish we had known before beginning our Foster Care journey.We were incredibly unprepare...

How did we go from zero to five children overnight? Check out part 1 of our foster care to adoption story. We started out pursuing International Adoption, ...

We went from zero to five children overnight through foster care and adoption. Now, we are passionate about encouraging and helping others involved in or in...

We went from zero to five children overnight through foster care and adoption. Now, we are passionate about encouraging and helping others involved in or in...