The Crew News. . . . . . .

In the past week Out of the Toy Box has had one extremely popular piece of merchandise: a very nice handpainted Mancala set from Melissa and Doug. We have had a case on order for a few months and it finally came in last week. Since then we’ve already gotten rid of half of them.

The funny thing? They weren’t sales. It was family members claiming first dibs on them.

It started small enough, with Miriam, Abigail and Lydia getting a set to play with. Then Caleb and I decided to get one as a gift for our Aunt Laurie. Then Naomi — Yes, the -1 that I mentioned last time. — demanded repayment for some groceries and snacks she had picked up for the family. But she didn’t want payment in cash. She wanted payment in Mancala.

So here we are at the beginning of the Christmas season and half our Mancala stock is already gone. If you want one you’d better order it now.

Well, here we are. This is the inaugural post of the Out of the Box Crew blog.

Who are we? We are a family of 8 – 1 (one of my sisters just got married in August). All of the children are (or were) homeschooled. And, of course, we have a family business.

Here is a family photo. It is a little dated, but maybe I can get a newer one up here soon.

From top left to bottom right: Caleb, Joshua (me), Abigail, Pam (Mom), Lydia, Mike (Dad), Naomi (the newlywed), and Miriam.

In the future, this blog will probably feature writing from most of the members of the family about the latest happenings in our little world.

I hope you enjoy it!