Our quiver full!

Grandma's visit

2011-05-26T18:56:00.002-05:00

We had the honor of my mom visiting this past week-a long awaited event in our home! The 5 days she was here were full of lots of fun things with the kids. Grandma took the girls out and got them all these cute matching shirts, which they proudly wore! This was followed by a hair curling session, leaving them looking like beauty queens!

Another fun surprise Grandma had sent to our house-a tetherball! I don't know if you remember these from when you were a kid, but they are so much fun! Beware, though, adults can get quite competitive when it comes to playing!

The highlight of the weekend was my 4 year old's birthday party-we delayed it about a week, just so Grandma could attend. The theme? Horses! My 11 yo made up these cute horsie tails for everyone and glued felt ears to headbands, too!

Grandma with her ears..

We had some fun games like pin the tail on the donkey and horseshoes.

Then it was on to the cake!

Here's my sweetie blowing out the candles!

What a great visit---it ended too soon! We are looking forward to her coming back to visit!

Girls weekend away

2011-05-08T16:26:00.003-05:00

This weekend I had the honor of traveling to Dallas with 3 of my favorite people...my 3 oldest girls.

Our weekend started off early in the morning, for the 4.5 hour drive-a long one, but we took lots of stops. Our first destination when we finally arrived in Dallas was the American Girl store, a place my girls have been dying to visit for a long time. Being that there are only a handful of them in the U.S., they felt quite privileged to have visited one!

The store itself is two stories tall, with the store on the bottom and a doll hair salon and bistro on the top level. Our splurge for them at the store was allowing them to each have their doll's hair styled the way they chose. Here's Lanie giving a wave from the salon chair.

Here is Elizabeth's pretty style that my oldest daughter picked out.

My 9 year old had her picture taken with the cardboard cutout of the Doll of the Year-they kind of look similair in the picture, don't you think?

After a fun filled afternoon, we checked in at the hotel and went to the pool to relax for a while. Fun, but it was freezing! The girls didn't mind, though.

After a nice dinner out (yes, for us, Subway is nice!), we relaxed outside by the firepit they had at the hotel and sipped some tea and talked. We did this the next nite, too! This was a precious time and a great way to listen to all my girls had to say!

The next 2 days we spent at the homeschool convention-shopping for curriculum, attending workshops, and even spending some time relaxing by the lake just outside the convention center, where it was being held. They did so well, even when having to sit at some of the vendor booths for quite a long time while mom talked to the representatives. I was so proud-and they received many nice compliments. We finally rolled back into town about 8:00 on Saturday nite-worn out from the long drive, but discussing what our next trip may be! We enjoyed our special girl time together, something we had never done before, but definitely will do again. It was a precious time for me and just what I needed to connect with my girls' hearts! I am blessed!

A fun day out and a special blessing!

2011-04-19T18:12:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I packed up the kiddos and headed out to the park to take advantage of the nice spring weather. We brought lunch and had a picnic, all the while being attacked by tons of flies (ewwwww....). They had plenty of time to get their energy out on the playground and swings.

We took some time to feed the ducks, too.....and the very hungry squirrels!

After a couple hours, we headed home for our special surprise. You see, we were having our old scratched up, mediocre looking countertops replaced with something much nicer! Here's our before....not bad, but nothing special, and very worn, though you can't tell in the picture.

Here's the after.....

Much better! A nite and day difference. We had wanted to put in granite tops for quite some time, but after pricing it out, it was waaaaaay beyond our price range! The alternative for us was to put in this new granite-looking formica that just came out. I have to say, it may not be granite, but it looks pretty darn close! And best of all, about a fifth of the price we would have paid. I can live with that!

Bake sale

2011-04-16T18:30:00.002-05:00

Today my 8 and 10 yo daughters held a bake sale at our house, to try to raise money for our trip to Dallas in May (specifically for the American Girl store!) We baked up a storm this week and ended up with several kinds of cookies, cupcakes, and brownies. Quite the selection! They set up shop in the front yard, complete with signs. Their take by the end of the day was about $45, after setting aside 10% to help support missionaries. It wasn't quite as successful as our other sale, which surprised me, since we had such a variety, but they still did well. They are looking forward to our trip!

Grandma's visit

2011-04-16T18:11:00.003-05:00

I am very blessed to have such a wonderful mother-in-law, and my kids, such a great and caring grandmother. Since she lives several states away, we are only able to see her usually 2 or 3 times a year. Because of that, everyone looks forward to her visit with great anticipation! Well, this past week was the visit-and what a great one it was! Grandma always comes bearing gifts, and this visit was no exception. Check out these cute matching aprons she brought for the girls! (She's so crafty!) The morning after her arrival, the littlest kiddos had the excitement of being able to attend the neighbor's 1st birthday party, complete with moon bouncer, lunch, and oh....lots of candy!

At home, Grandma and the girls got right down to business, starting on some fun crafts that mom never seems to find the time to do! My being very non-creative also probably has something to do with it! Here is my 11 yo decorating some cute little purses.. (sorry for the sideways pic)

She even managed to teach my 8 yo to knit.....and love it, too! Here's the pretty scarf she finished.

There was also plenty of playing outside, a trip to the park and mcdonald's, and just a lot of enjoyiing one another. She is beautiful both inside and out....she's our super Grandma!

One step closer....

2011-04-04T10:44:00.002-05:00

to manhood! My 2nd oldest son turned 16 the last day of March.....phew! Where has the time gone? My once little toddler is now old enough to drive? Understand, I didn't say he IS driving! That is a little ways off. First comes the job to save up the money to buy the car so that he can drive! He is excited to start working on that. Since he's past the party age, really, he opted to take his birthday budget money and use it toward buying something he wanted. We celebrated at home with a giant decorated M and M cookie and two kinds of ice cream. Low key, but just how he wanted it. Even though you can't tell from the picture, he really did have fun!

Fun at the Folk Festival

2011-04-02T21:11:00.004-05:00

Today we spent a fun family day together at the local Folk Festival, held once a year. My girls, especially, really look forward to it, as they really enjoy participating in the old fashioned fun activities offered there. They made rag dolls from fabric scraps... Got up close with lots of farm animals...(they're secretly hoping one day we'll have our own!)

Shelled some dried corn...

Practiced calligraphy with a fountain pen and ink..

And even had time leftover for roping some cattle!

A great day-we'll be back again next year!

Another teen!

2011-03-26T19:09:00.002-05:00

Yes, it is official-we now have 3 teens in the house! My 3rd son just turned 13 a couple of weeks ago. He is sooooo excited to finally have the word -teen on the end of his age! Kind of a transition to manhood. Instead of a party, which he says he's too old for anyway, or going out to dinner, he opted to take his birthday budget money and save it toward Boy Scout summer camp---he's a planner. Considering he had to raise about $135 toward it, I think it was a smart move. So we celebrated at home with the family. He got to choose dinner-hot dogs and hamburgers. He chose an ice cream cake also, so that's what I made! Chocolate cake, with cookie dough ice cream layers between. A total of 3 layers-it was huge by the time I was done-you can see in the second picture...

There weren't many presents to open, as he received mostly cash from relatives (to use toward camp), but he was very pleased with that. He made a wish, blew out his candles, and everyone gobbled down cake!

A very happy 13th!!

Outdoor fun

2011-03-12T10:02:00.002-06:00

I love, love, love when the weather starts to warm up because that means the kids can spend lots of time outside, burning off all that excess energy (my..where do they get it?) We have always had a sandbox, but started having problems with spiders getting into it. Kids+ spiders= not a good combination for sure. So, after browsing the walmart website, I came upon this.... an elevated sand table! Genius! Why did it take me so long to get one of these? They don't have to sit in the sand and get covered in it, and spiders won't get in it either. Yes, they still do get sand on the front of them (and in little guy's mouth), and not all the sand stays IN the table, but other than that, I love it! What a great toy! I see happy kids in my future...

One lost cord...

2011-03-09T20:36:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I've been awful about posting lately, right? The reason? My power cord to my camera was lost for the past week or so, which meant no pictures being uploaded to my computer. I just can't see posting without any pictures (!) so the blog got put on the back burner. I took relatively few pictures anyway, just assuming I'd be unable to get them off my camera, but l o and behold, my son found the cord today-exactly where it shouldn't have been. So what have we been doing on this week? Don't know if you were aware, but last week was Dr. Seuss' birthday. I loooooove Dr. Seuss! Yes, the books are a little strange, but so much fun! The classic, of course, is Green Eggs and Ham. So what better to do to celebrate than have some green eggs and ham and read some Dr. Seuss? My kids were a little unsure at first-after all, they'd never seen green eggs before, but once they realized it was just food coloring and didn't change the taste, they gobbled them up!

Today is Ash Wednesday, signifying the 40 day lent period before Easter. What a great time to reflect on the wonderful sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. Easter is probably my favorite holiday-I don't do bunnies or chickens-it makes no sense to me-how much better to focus on the cross!
The day before Ash Wednesday is not necessarily a Christian holiday-it's Fat Tuesday-as in Mardi Gras. I don't celebrate Mardi Gras, never have, but this year, I decided to make a King cake as is the custom for Mardi Gras. The king cake is actually representative of the three wise men bringing their gifts to their King (Jesus) when they journeyed to see him so many years ago. Neat! Now I feel better about making it. I'm sure it's not authentic, but I did my best-my first attempt. It really tastes more like a coffee cake (plus lots of sprinkles!) and really isn't like a cake at all. I hid a coin inside of the cake, so the kids were all excited to see just who would get it in their slice. Turned out to be my 12 yo son..in the LAST piece of the cake-go figure.

But the most exciting thing this week? My 6 yo riding his bike without training wheels! I am so proud! He didn't think he could do it, but Dad gave him the confidence he needed and once he started, he just took off! Wow, he's growing up too quickly!

An edible history lesson

2011-02-24T18:31:00.002-06:00

We have been learning about Napoleon in history and his many conquests. During his invasion of Egypt, his soldiers uncovered a very valuable piece of history-the Rosetta Stone. This stone was discovered in the city of Rosetta (hence the name) and contained heiroglyphic writing, which, up until then, had been indecipherable. This particular writing, however, contained a Greek translation of the writings, so they could finally be translated. An amazing accomplishment in learning about the ancient world. For our project, the kids designed their own Rosetta stones, copying some of the heiroglyphics. The "stone" was a giant sugar cookie, and the writing was done in frosting....

The finished products....

Not bad! And tasty, too!

Happy President's Day!!

2011-02-23T13:22:00.002-06:00

Hopefully you knew that Monday was President's Day! With the exception of being off school, i don't think most people do a whole lot to celebrate it-I surely never did, but in trying to stick with our commitment to celebrate most holidays this year (big and small), we decided to do something fun. We had a wonderful lunch, featuring Franklin-furters (yes, I know Franklin wasn't a president, but he is on the $100 bill!) ; George Washington's cherries (yogurt with cherries on top)...

Hamilton and cheese crackers, and lincoln legs (rod shaped pretzels). The kids scarfed it down!

And for dessert (excuse the sideways picture please) we had cupcakes, complete with the heads of those printed on our bills. That's Alexander Hamilton you see there...

We played a fun game of throwing coins in a bucket-the winner got a shiny quarter!

And then on to scrubbing pennies with vinegar and salt to brighten and clean them up. I glued each one onto some green felt and they wore them as pins. Cute!

Sorry, no Obama activities at our party-i'm thinking he won't do anything significant enough to end up on a coin....

My little sweethearts

2011-02-20T15:38:00.002-06:00

Okay, I'm not quite sure why it will not make my pictures right side up, but here's my little sweetie after helping Dad plant some pretty flowers in front of the house-she had so much fun!
Love the boots...
My 11 yo and 8 yo saw these sparkly shoes at Walmart (Wizard of Oz-like) and decided that was what they wanted to spend some of their money on-they were on clearance, so they got a great deal, and I must say, they were grinning from ear to ear! It's so cute to see them wanting to be so girly-I would have loved a pair of these when I was younger. By the way, they get worn with EVERYTHING-from dressy to casual. Too cute!

Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T15:14:00.002-06:00

To celebrate Valentine's Day at our house, the kiddos wanted to make heart shaped cookies and then frost and decorate them. We used our giant heart cookie cutter to make a good looking cookie, then i let them loose with red, pink, and white frosting. They decorated to their hearts' content and had a ball. We had lots of cookies, so we were able to bless some of our neighbors with a little treat, too! Here are some pics from the fun time (sorry for the sideways ones...computer won't cooperate!)

Home improvements

2011-02-12T18:49:00.003-06:00

Over the past dozen years, it has been on our desire to move out to a home in the country, to give the kids more breathing room, more running space, and just have a more open area. We lived on 2 acres when our 2 kids were little and always desired to go back to it. Well, fast forward many more years and many more kiddos, and it has not become a reality. It was something that used to bother me, wondering just why it had not happened, but I have come to realize that there is a very good reason why it has NOT happened, and maybe never will. At this point, the Lord just does not want for us to be in another house. Maybe it will happen in the future, maybe not, but for now we are staying put. To help make our house more liveable, we will gradually be doing some home improvements-nothing major, but significant enough for us. The first one was to replace our worn out carpet. It was only 3 years old, but after being trampled on by so many little feet, it was looking pretty yucky. Our decision on which carpet to choose pretty much came down to the $$ amount and the color. Yes, after 10 kiddos, we realized that light carpet looks nice, but really does not hold up to the abuse we put it through. We needed dirt colored carpet-seriously! We shopped around for a good couple of months, and after haggling the carpet store down, we found what we wanted. This past week, the installers came and put it in-a two day job-and we could not be happier. Here's a look....
eSee what I mean..dirt colored! Now if only I had the dirt colored tile to go with it-we wouldn't have to mop nearly as much! Well, this is a gradual process, so one project down, several more to go!

New blog

2011-02-07T15:32:00.002-06:00

My 11 year old daughter just started her own blog...you can visit it here and take a look!

This week's happenings!

2011-02-02T19:57:00.002-06:00

So what's been happening with us lately? Well, my 12 yo son had his court of honor for Boyscouts this week and received his next rank of second class. He worked very hard toward the requirements (especially the swimming part) and truly deserved it! He is looking forward to working toward his next rank. Congrats sweetie!

My 8 yo daughter just started her violin lessons a couple weeks ago and is loving it. She had been asking me for quite some time to start, so I'm glad it has become a reality. Her teacher is wonderful and so patient and I am glad she is able to express her creativitiy in this way.

In case you're wondering about her artistic side, she is my only one that has this God-given bent for art in any form, whether it be singing, drawing, instruments, whatever! It's truly something she loves to do. Here is her wall in her room....just a sampling of the many pictures she has drawn! Like an art gallery!

Haircut sisters!

2011-01-24T15:25:00.002-06:00

Today was a field trip for the 4 oldest girls to the haircut shop-everyone was long overdue for a trim, which was evident by the bangs hanging in their eyes. They were thrilled to tell the hairdresser what they wanted and walk out looking like gorgeous girls! Oh..and if you're wondering why daughter #5 didn't get hers cut..well, I've kind of given up on her 'do, as she cuts it so often herself!

Happy Pie Day!

2011-01-23T15:27:00.002-06:00

My kiddos and I got this great calendar in the mail a while back from Oriental Trading Company. It's a 12 month calendar and includes all the holidays on it...and I mean ALL the holidays-ones that I'd never heard of! For example, this past week was National Popcorn Day (yes, we did partake) and National Hugging Day on Friday (fun!) The kids and I are trying to participate in as many of the holidays as we can-just for fun, really. Some of them are kind of off the wall-we've got opposite day coming up-should be interesting. Some are food related-the best kind, in my book. Today just happens to be National Pie Day. So in honor of the holiday, I baked a yummy apple pie yesterday to have for dessert after dinner, along with some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (double yum!) Let's just say the kids loved it and wished it could be Pie Day everyday!

You can tell from the pictures, they more or less inhaled it! Enjoy your pie day-go have a slice with some ice cream and thank the Lord for small indulgences! :-)

Long time, no posts?!

2011-01-19T20:53:00.004-06:00

I took a little break from the blogosphere these past couple weeks. The reason? It seems like someone put life on fast forward...and it just has not stopped! My oldest son started college this week, so we spent many hours at the college testing, enrolling, and getting everything ready. At the same time, he's been preparing to enlist in the military-all of these decisions coming within a week of Christmas! On top of that, we've been consumed with homeschooling-doing plenty of backtracking in our lessons for those who seemed to "forget" how to do their math problems, trying to organize my home better (one of my resolutions), keeping up with outside activities, having sick kiddos, and well..just dealing with life! Whew! I do have my eyes set on spring lately...looking forward to the warmer weather and being able to spend some time outside, soaking up the sunshine! Ahhhh...it relaxes me just to think about it! To be honest with you, these past few weeks, I've taken hardly any pictures of my crew-it just did not come to my mind most of the time. But when i turned on my camera to look at the pictures, I saw lots that my kiddos had taken for me! We have a couple new members in the family, which have kept my girls quite busy. If you're wondering about them, here's a peek...(this is just a sampling of their photo session)

Oh yes, the American Girl dolls, along with all the accessories. Apparently they require a lot of maintenance-clothes and shoe changes, hair dressing, horse rides, and tucking in at nite. :-) Along with the dolls, there's just been a whole lot of hanging out...and goofiness, too!

And let's not forget little dude...I love this one of him in the cool sunglasses! It's moments like this I treasure...he's happy...and not destroying something or getting into trouble, which seems to be his norm lately. Yes, he does make me realize how old I'm getting just trying to keep up with his antics, but also just how blessed I am, too!

So there you have it...not much exciting, which is unusual around here. I will try better to arm myself with my camera-and take time to post more. For now, I'm going to go enjoy a relaxing Saturday morning with my kiddos!

Goodbye 2010...Hello 2011!

2011-01-02T16:28:00.002-06:00

Ahhhhh...the end of another year and the start of a new one. The past few days have meant goodbye to Christmas and gearing up for starting back to school. After 2 weeks off, I'm feeling a bit.....lazy. I think I fully took advantage of the time off to be a vegetable. In all fairness, I did get some projects done that I planned too-about half, actually. I guess the other half will have to wait until summer. :-) New years are full of new hopes and dreams, resolutions, and goals. Though goals and resolutions are good, I've learned over the years that it's easy to hold onto them too tightly. When we aren't able to reach our goals because of circumstances God has brought our way, are we okay with that-or do we put our ways ahead of the Lord? Sadly, I've done the latter far too often. Whether the Lord allows illness, financial hardships, or personal turmoil in our lives, He will always bring good from it, even when our tendency is to try and steer things back in the "right" direction (ours). Maybe God is humbling me or just trying to impart a small amount of wisdom in my life-but 2010 has brought many difficulties-none of which I expected or planned for. As I begin the new year, I can look back on some and see the blessings He brought through it. Others, not yet, but it may just take more time for them to bear fruit. God is faithful-He has seen me through the trials and will bring good from it-I trust that. Whether 2011 brings a multitude of trials or heapings of blessings, I know I can trust in the Lord through it all...and that, my friends, is better than any new year's resolution!

A new sheriff in town?

2010-12-26T19:51:00.001-06:00

Look who borrowed big brother's sheriff outfit!

A merry Christmas

2010-12-26T18:46:00.002-06:00

We had a great Christmas at our house this year, with the extra special blessing of Grandma visiting. We started off the morning with present opening-quite a task with 10 kids and 3 adults! The kids received many things they wanted, like an American Girl doll...

A ball (quite the cool gift when you're 2!)

Baby dolls...

And the highlight of the morning was our 6 year old new little sheriff, complete with guns, hat, and boots!

After present opening and playing, we watched a run of the Christmas story and then sat down to a huge turkey meal, cooked lovingly by my sweet husband. It was delicious! We topped it off with a dessert of apple pie and carrot cake. I found this cool edible image to put on top of the cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday! Yum! I hope you had a blessed Christmas, too!

My little girl is 5!

2010-12-23T17:15:00.002-06:00

My little Christmas Eve baby is turning 5 tomorrow! Wow..i can hardly believe it. I went into labor on that day 5 years ago in., of all places, Walmart. I don't know what was more amazing-that she was actually 2 days early (not a typical thing for me at all) or that I was actually in Walmart on Christmas Eve-what was I thinking? The past 5 years with her have been a joy-she has such a sweet heart and is my little blessing. She is truly on her way to becoming a little mommy. We decided to celebrate this past weekend. Her birthday request was not a party, but a dinner out at Wendy's . I can't remember the last time we ate there, so I'm certain that she never had. She was pretty much looking forward to having a giant frosty. With another child sick, we weren't able to actually go to the restaurant, but instead, went and picked it up and brought it home-just as good-and yes, she loooooved that Frosty! She then opened her gifts and got several things, like this cute little dress..

A princess doll....

And a tinkerbell watch...

Finally, we ended the party with cake and ice cream. What cake could be more fitting for my princess than a crown cake?

Happy birthday little munchkin!

A busy month!

2010-12-17T20:51:00.004-06:00

December is super busy, which is why you haven't seen much activity on here! It seems like we've been running from one thing to the next, or just so busy doing things here, there's hardly a minute to rest-not how I want to spend such a special month, but this week will start a gradual slow down for us, so we can focus on the true reason for the holiday. To give you a small recap of some things going on the last couple weeks, my 9 yo daughter had her band recital. She has been playing the flute the past few months. Though she found it wasn't something she was too interested in, she did enjoy learning it and improved greatly! Sorry for the sideways picture, too, it just will not let me post it straight!

The kiddos did some cardmaking with a friend...lots of fun, since girls love crafty stuff! They were very creative and ended up with some nice cards to bless others.

This week, the kiddos made Christmas cookies and churned out a bunch of them! We had tons of frosting and sprinkles, and some very artistic minds!

The final product...yum! And they didn't mind sampling them either! :-)

So there's a recap of the last couple weeks. Throw in our regular homeschooling, activities, tending the house, mailing off christmas gifts, christmas cards, and wrapping presents, and you've pretty much got the idea! I will enjoy every minute of our 2 week break. I think I need a nap!

Birthday girls

2010-12-12T21:07:00.002-06:00

It's December...our officially crazy birthday month (3 of our kids, 2 relatives, and Christmas!) My 11 and 8 yo decided to celebrate together, but this year they chose to forgo the party and use the money they would have spent on the party to buy some things. We give our kids a strict birthday budget to use how they choose, whether it be a party, going out to eat, or in this case, just taking the cash! Well, the big gift this year was an American Girl doll from Grandma for each of them. They have been drooling over these for months and were absolutely shocked when they opened them! Sorry for the sideways pictures-they just won't come up right side up for some reason...

They had a castle cake (for my 2 princesses of course!). After making the cake, my daughter requested I put their ages one it. no problem, except I piped on a 7, instead of an 8. I was thinking 7-11 in my mind, which I thought was pretty cool. Yep, except she was turning 8. So I scraped it off and managed to get a somewhat crooked 8 on there!

Here they are blowing out the candles after a happy birthday song!

Happy Birthday my 2 sweeties! You are growing into two beautiful young ladies!

Little colonial kid

2010-12-07T21:31:00.003-06:00

We're studying the Revolutionary War in homeschool right now-a great period of history, with so much to learn and so many great leaders to learn about. I love it. We read over the Yankee Doodle song, very fitting for the time period, and came across a phrase about hasty pudding. Hasty pudding? What's that? Well, it turns out it's a meal eaten quite often during that time, especially by the poor, as it was very cheap! It's pretty much like a porridge, cooked slow over the heat. We decided to make it and cooked up a great cornmeal hasty pudding! I didn't know what the kids would think, but most of them just loved it. My little guy just kept gobbling it down. See how excited he is in the picture! He would have done great during that time period, I'm sure. My little colonial kid!

A time of thanks..

2010-11-26T12:02:00.004-06:00

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for all that the Lord has done in our lives. I have a lot to be thankful for this year-my husband having a job in an otherwise tough economy, having the freedom to homeschool, my son's amazing recovery from his accident a few months ago, and so many more things. I could fill up this entire blog and still have more to say! Unfortunately, I find that I often take these things for granted and don't remember to give thanks to God as much as I should. To help my kids remember all that God has done for them, they each made a tree of thanks. They write down what they are thankful for on each leaf and then stick them on the tree. Each one holds about 25 leaves, so they had plenty to write down. It was great to read all the different leaves after they were done, listing both little and big things. We displayed them so everyone could have a chance to see!
In getting in gear for Thanksgiving, we decided to make some yummy pumpkin muffins. These were a big hit, even to those who think they didn't really like pumpkin!

Each of the kids also decorated their own Thanksgiving cookie, complete with frosting and fall-colored sprinkles. Very creative they were!

On Thanksgiving morning, as tradition would have it, the kids decorated the Christmas tree while watching the Thanksgiving Day parade.

The kids also played pin the hat on the turkey during some down time.

We had a wonderfully yummy Thanksgiving feast, which I failed to get a picture of. But it was tasty! Unfortunately, we had a sick child this year, so were unable to share the great meal with any guests. After the meal, when all the food was settled, we had a dessert of caramel apple pie, made by my 10 yo daughter and me, and this turkey.... Okay, it's not an actual turkey, but a carrot cake with cream cheese icing, in the shape of a turkey! It was my first time making a turkey cake and it was pretty fun!

We had a very blessed Thanksgiving. I hope yours was, too!

Little dude's birthday

2010-11-21T17:18:00.002-06:00

Yep...today my little guy turns 2. My baby! I can't believe I'm saying that, as we always seem to have another baby in our house by this point. But as it is, we don't, so he has to stay a baby for a while longer for me, and this whole birthday thing is just messing that all up! I let each of my kiddos pick their birthday theme. His choice? Puppies! He loves, loves, loves puppies. The kids and I did a search for a cake that most resembled what he wanted and came up with 101 dalmatians. It was a little more involved in making it than I thought, but I think it came out pretty well. He loved it, which made me smile..makes it all worth it!

He got lots of presents from family, which he was a little unsure of how to open at first.

But once he got the hang of it, he was on a roll!

Of course, he needed to take a little snack break with some M&Ms

Then finally onto the cake. He needed some help from Dad blowing out the candle, but it's official.....hes's 2!!!!!!!!!!

Grandma's visit

2010-11-19T22:11:00.004-06:00

We had the wonderful blessing of my mom visiting from Arizona last week for 4 days. It had been over 6 months since we had seen her last, so everyone was looking forward to it! Being that it wasn't a very long visit, my kids took it upon themselves to pack as much as they could into those 4 days! Of course, Grandma arrived with a bag full of gifts..one of which was personalized little purses for all the girls (they love 'em!)

They spent some down time looking through photo albums and remembering all the fun times they spent together!

The visit wouldn't be complete without baking some yummy cookies with Grandma. They actually were very yummy-I had to sample one...or two...okay, maybe three!

Oops..this one is sideways, but you can see that they put Grandma to work giving hairdos! They also like to take their turn fixing Grandma's hair, though we just make sure it's not right before we plan on going anywhere. :-)

Here's the final group picture of everyone together--please don't ask me why the big kid in the back just couldn't brush his hair.

We had a great time with her-it went too fast, but all the kids got some great bonding time with Grandma, creating some wonderful memories, which is how it should be!

He did it!

2010-10-25T21:32:00.002-05:00

My 17 year old-my eldest-received something wonderful in the mail today-his official GED certificate! He is officially graduated from high school and ready to move on to bigger and better things in life. He took the test about 3 weeks ago and was uncertain as to how he did, especially on the math portion (nope..not a math lover!). He was pleasantly surprised to see his results-97 on the lang arts/reading portion and 90 on the science. Yay! The math? Well, not out of sight, but definitely above passing! He was delighted. I am so proud of him for this accomplishment, as I know it wasn't easy. I am looking forward, with a bit of sadness also, to the next phase in his life-I do know that God has many wonderful experiences in store for his future!

Pie making

2010-10-23T14:14:00.004-05:00

My girls have been asking to make some pies for quite some time, so this week we made a date to do it! They invited a friend over and got busy baking! I premade the pie dough and they rolled it out...

Peeled and cored a whole bunch of apples!

Mixed them with the filling, put on a pretty lattice crust, and after baking for quite some time, they had 2 freshly baked apple pies-yum! Dad even declared they were better than storebought! I see more pie baking in our future!

Worms, worms everywhere!

2010-10-17T20:38:00.002-05:00

For science this week, we learned about worms-a great creature to learn about when you have kids! In order to get an up close look, I bought a container of night-crawlers from Walmart. First, we discovered which end was the head and which was the tail (they look nearly the same). After that, we tried touching their head gently with a cotton swab, determining that they are sensitive to touch. Next, we dipped the cotton swab in nail polish remover and then held it close to its head. It didn't like that odor at all and coiled back quickly. Even more neat was when we held the swab up to its tail or any other part of its body, it had the same reaction. You see, God designed a worm's body to sense odor all over, not just in one part. Cool, huh? After we were done, I let the kids each take a worm outside to look at it and hold it (nicely). Here's a big one..

And my 7 yo with hers. It's funny how the girls all had names for theirs!

For something fun, we made a dirt cake, complete with oreo crumbs to look like dirt and gummy worms on the top. It was super yummy and they loved both making it and eating it!

2 years....

2010-10-16T22:08:00.002-05:00

Today marked the 2nd anniversary since my Dad's death. Over the last 2 years, I've come to realize that grief is a journey. Just like a physical wound, time does help healing, but a scar will still be left behind. I don't miss my Dad any less than I did 2 years ago, certainly not. But life, as it does, goes on for those left behind. At this point, it's important for me to keep the memory of my father alive both for me and my kids. Last year, we set off balloons to celebrate his life. This year, the kids each wrote (or drew) about a special time they had with Grandpa. With kids, you'd think their best memories would be about the big stuff they did with him. No, it wasn't like that at all. They remember the little stuff-when he pushed them on the swing, played with them, or just listened to them. Isn't that what life is all about anyway-the little stuff? The past two years have changed me tremendously-in some ways positively, and others I am not so happy with. In all honesty, they've made changes in all of us. I know that the Lord brings good from every situation, and even in the midst of grieving, I have seen it. I don't know how I could have made it through such a tough time without the Lord by my side. When I have needed someone to cry to, He has been there. The most special time of each day now is the time early in the morning when I spend with Him, pouring out my heart and feeling His love toward me. With each passing day, I'm able to think back more positively on the memory of my Dad. I have come to see just how much I was like him, which makes me appreciate him even more. Though it saddens me to think of the rest of my life without him, the time I did have with him here will be forever treasured in my heart. I love you, Dad.

Fire festival

2010-10-09T18:38:00.004-05:00

Today we had the opportunity to go to the Houston Fire Fest for the first time. A festival all about firefighters? My 6 yo was thrilled! Here he is, dressed up in the 1700's firefighting garb....

And his little sister, too! Hmmm...maybe the moustache doesn't quite belong?!

They saw all kinds of old firefighting trucks.

And even got to see a fire demonstration...cool!

Everyone had a great time. Unfortunately, my camera battery died halfway thru, so that's it for the pictures!

Enjoying the nice days...

2010-10-06T20:49:00.002-05:00

Lately, we've been enjoying the nice weather here..highs in the low 80's-perfect for getting out and enjoying some sunshine. The kiddos have rediscovered the trampoline....even the little guy!

My goofy 6 yo loves swinging on the bar-he's so tiny he actually fits!

Here's my sweet 4 yo doll, getting ready to go grocery shopping with Mom. Notice the purse? She's ready to go!

This shot just about sums up my almost 2 yo's personality-on the go, looking for action, and very carefree! I think this was about the time he spotted some bouncy balls and was getting ready to go play some soccer!

Arachnids

2010-10-01T18:21:00.003-05:00

In science, we have been studying arachnids, which includes, you guessed it..spiders! As a fun little project, we made spiders out of food. My kids love anything you can eat. Here's the peanut butter cracker and pretzel version-a big hit. Even my almost 2yo enjoyed building his.

Here's my 6 yo showing off his

And another version...the marshmallow/pipe cleaner spider!

I think this is an attempt at a scorpion. His tail wouldn't stay up, though.

And finally, a whole family of spiders! Those stumpy things on the left? My 7 yo said they were egg sacs. Creative!

Toxin-free playtime!

2010-09-29T15:51:00.002-05:00

My kids love play-do. Love, love, love it! As for me, I could pass-it gets smooshed into everything and I'm always picking up little bits of playdo within a 10 foot radius of where they used it. But since they do love it so much, I keep several containers in the house. At least a couple times a week we pull it out for some messy playtime. My 2 yo not only thinks playdo is a fun toy, but also makes a great mid-afternoon snack. The minute I pull it out, he doesn't start building, but starts eating. He's very mannerly, though, dividing it up into small little pieces before chowing down. A little weird? Maybe. Fortunately, we live in a day and age where everything is non-toxic. Crayons, play-do, bubbles...you name it-it may taste yucky, but at least you can avoid a trip to the emergency room. How on earth did so many people make it to adulthood before all these safety measures? I've seen my babies sip on bubbles like they're chocolate milk and snack on crayons like they're candy. I certainly don't encourage it, but at least I can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the worst thing that will happen is that they may have an upset tummy or some funny colored teeth. Here's to both some fun...and safe...playtime!

(My little snacker)

Bake sale!

2010-09-26T19:53:00.002-05:00

My 10 yo daughter is saving up for something very special...an American Girl doll. If you've ever seen these dolls, they are beautiful, but also very, very expensive! $114 expensive (actually $128 with shipping) , to be exact. Given that she doesn't have that kind of money laying around, and Mom and Dad weren't going to pony up that kind of cash, she decided to get creative and earn it herself! Her idea was to hold a bake sale in front of our house, selling yummy homemade goodies. Well, Saturday was the day! After baking tons during the week, here was the spread. Fudge brownies (our biggest seller!), rice krispie treats, Reese's peanut butter cup cookies....

Confetti cookies, M and M cookies, and chocolate chip (whew!). All wrapped in packages of 3 and ready to sell!

She set out plates with free samples for potential customers (though I think most of the neighbor kids ended up eating them-oops!)

Here she is in charge of the table! She was very successful in her sale, due to very generous neighbors and friends that apparently love sweet things! :-)

Overall, she earned about half what was needed for her doll-I'm so proud-all her hard work paid off! She even decided to donate 10% of her earnings to church for the missionaries-an even better cause than the American Girl doll. The only problem now? ALL my kids want to do a bake sale after seeing how well this one went. I told them to talk to me in another 6 months!

A long absence

2010-09-25T20:00:00.002-05:00

Yes, it's been awhile..weeks in fact, since I've been updating this blog at all. So why the absence? Many of you know, it's been for a very, very good reason..........

That is my 15 yo son, recovering after being hit by a car while riding his bike 2 weeks ago. It's an event I hope no other parent has to go through. There are so many emotions we've dealt with through all of this, from fear to thankfulness, but I can truly say that his sitting on the couch in this picture is nothing short of a miracle. The doctors may not be able to explain it, but I know God can! He has a long road to recovery, but is taking it one day at a time. Thankfully, he has improved tremendously over these past 2 weeks, and I expect that he will continue on that course for the duration. Life is precious-I always knew that-but wow, something like this sure makes that a reality.

Scout awards

2010-08-31T20:40:00.002-05:00

Last nite was the Court of honor for my 12 yo son's Boy scout troop. It is held several times a year and is when they hand out all the awards the boys have earned. I was so proud of him for earning 2 merit badges in fishing and rifle shooting and also an award for attending summer camp. He had such a fun time and really worked hard-his badges were well earned! Here is a picture of him and some of the boys in his troop. He is the one in the front in the ballcap. The lighting was very bad, so it was hard to get a good picture!

Spelling bee

2010-08-28T21:42:00.002-05:00

My 9 yo saw an ad in the paper for a spelling bee at Macy's here in Houston. I guess they hold one every year and send the winners to New York to compete with other winners. Convinced she was going to come out on top, we packed up and drove over an hour to the store-having it at the one that was nearby us would have been too convenient! After getting lost for about 15 minutes, we made it just in time. Signed her in and got a number...

Here are all the kids lining up, getting ready to spell!

Here she is in the competition, up on the stage in front of everyone!

Though she didn't win, I was so proud of her for trying. It's not easy to get up in front of a crowd of people. She did receive some nice participation prizes, including a horse book and a backpack-she was happy. Actually, I think we left just in time. As we were packing up, they brought up the teen dancers doing a dance routine to a Justin Beiber song. Sorry....just not a fan!

Little Gunslinger

2010-08-26T21:37:00.002-05:00

My 6 yo had the rare opportunity last nite to spend a Walmart gift card he received for his birthday last month. Trolling the toy aisles, he came across the amall cowboy section and his eyes just lit up. Amazingly, the belt and revolver set he wanted were just the amount that he had-perfect! When we got home, he wasted no time in putting them on. Unfortunately, the cheap belt that came with it broke in about 2 minutes, so Dad had the great idea to use a regular and much more durable belt for the holsters. While putting them on, Dad heard him whisper, "Now I'm a weel cowboy!" Yep, a true gunslinger. Today was full of "Put your hands up!" and "I shot you-you're dead!" We've got one happy little cowboy......who can put a price on that?

Birds

2010-08-22T13:56:00.003-05:00

The younger ones have been learning about birds in science. Besides reading tons about how they fly and the many different kinds, we had a few fun hands-on activities to do, too. They made a bird feeder, using a soda bottle. It now graces our tree in the front yard and we're sure it will attract many visitors soon, once they realize it is there!

We also made a fun snack-birds' nests. It's made from Chinese noodles (those crunchy ones), melted chocolate and peanut butter, and coconut. Just mix together and plop down in the shape of a bird nest. We added some mini marshmallows to look like eggs. They don't look all that great in the picture, but they tasted pretty yummy!

Though it's not a bird, we discovered this pretty butterfly in our yard. I'm not quite sure what it was doing, but it kept hanging out right by us. I was able to pick it up when it had its wings closed so the kids could all take a closer look at it. Pretty cool!

God made some amazing creatures and we've enjoyed learning about them!

My favorite kitchen things....

2010-08-20T21:32:00.004-05:00

Spending so much time in my kitchen, cooking for a crowd, I thought I would post some of my favorite kitchen gadgets-probably many that you have, too!
First off, a pizza cutter. Not just for pizza, either-I use this for cutting up tortillas, bread, and food for my little ones. A great tool! We like the Sam's club pizza cutters the best.

Next, the scoops. In whatever size helps you! I use them for scooping cookie dough, muffin batter, etc. Much easier than using a regular spoon.

My pastry brush. Great for brushing on sauces, butter, water. The ones with the nylon bristles are the best-they don't shed like the other brushes.

My kitchen shears have been indispensible. I use them to cut up all kinds of things-including the little kids' food. Mine are a junky dollar store pair, but they work just fine.

Here's one I recently got-maybe a couple months ago...an over the sink colander. I can't believe it took me so long to finally buy one of these! It is huge, which is perfect for us, and so nice that it doesn't have to sit on the bottom of the sink!

My husband would be proud of this one....a cooking thermometer. We have several of these-I think it goes with having a chef husband. I always temp my meat that I'm cooking. I'm just not willing to take the risk of getting someone sick. Sometimes things look done, but they're not on the inside. Don't eyeball it-get a thermometer!

This one looks kind of strange...but this may be my most used item of all. They are silicone baking liners that go on your pans. Just pop one of those on and you don't have to spray the pan or line it with parchment. They clean up great, too. I love these and use them daily!

Not really a gadget, but these are my baking pans (that the liners go on top of!) I have used tons of baking pans and these are, by far, the best. They come in a 2 pack at sam's club and are super cheap. They last forever and are a great investment!

So there you have it-nothing spectacular, but a little peek into some items that help our kitchen run a little more smoothly!

Summer eating

2010-08-12T21:59:00.002-05:00

Another reason why I love summer-the abundance of all the yummy produce-and it's actually affordable! We hit the jackpot with a big sale on strawberries, so we loaded up. After eating all we could, we took the rest and got creative. I got my girls to work mashing up several pounds of them. They actually had a lot of fun doing it.

Then made them into this...strawberry jam! My kids love this on their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So much fresher than the storebought stuff.

Several more pounds got chopped up....

and made into several loaves of strawberry bread. This was the first time I had made this, so I was unsure how it would turn out, but it was really moist and yummy. All the kids gave it 5 stars and have been asking when we can make it again. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more sales!

Tuckered out

2010-08-07T16:44:00.002-05:00

Here is the result of my little guy's action packed day.....

Konked out by 4:00! We did lunch out today, along with running a bunch of errands. Add no-nap on top of that, and that's a recipe for sleep! Hopefully he decides to go back to bed tonight!

Bad teeth

2010-08-01T18:42:00.004-05:00

Took half of my crew to the dentist yesterday for semi-annual cleanings, but I'm not quite sure I'm pleased with the results. What do you think?

Maybe time to lay off the sweets a bit? :-)

My baby is grown up!

2010-07-31T17:21:00.004-05:00

Yep..the title says it all....my baby is grown up! Not grown up and leaving the house (yet) , but grown up, nonetheless. He is turning 17 on Tuesday, but due to his hectic work schedule, we decided to celebrate it last nite when we knew he'd be there! At his request, we had a triple layer chocolate cake (he loves chocolate!) and ice cream. And yes...my girls made sure to count out exactly 17 candles!

He opened his gifts and was quite surprised and happy-a new cellphone, cash, and gift cards!

He is pretty low-key and didn't want to make a really big deal out of his birthday,so we all just enjoyed being together at home. And a movie to top off the evening was nice, too. Truly, the past 17 years with him have been full of so much-both tough times and very fun times. I think I can say that he's probably taught me more than I've taught him! He has one of the most loving hearts I've seen-he truly cares for his siblings and others (even when they annoy him!) and his easygoing personality is a blessing to our sometimes chaotic family! When I think ahead to when he leaves my house, it makes me truly sad. A momma has a special place in her heart for her firstborn and the thought of not interacting with him everyday seems difficult. But raising children also means being able to let them go when it's time. Though I feel like I've messed up in so many ways with him, I am very proud of him and look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for him. Happy Birthday!!!

My little chef

2010-07-25T20:56:00.002-05:00

Here's my 4 yo- a little chef-in-training for sure! One of her favorite things to do is crack eggs. I've never seen a child this young who loved to crack eggs so much, but she does it well, I must say! She is very careful not to get shells in the bowl, and truly, she rarely does. Here she is getting out the eggs...
Giving them a quick crack on the side of the counter.. .

Putting the egg over the bowl....

And finally, opening up the shell and letting the egg plop in the bowl.

This day, she cracked about 24 eggs for me so I could tend to some of the other cooking. If she keeps this up, maybe she'll be cooking the whole meal for us before long!

Playtime for little guy

2010-07-21T22:06:00.002-05:00

I love summer....really, I do. Even with temps in the 90's and being humid as heck, I still will take it over snowstorms and ice. What I love best of all is my kiddos being able to play outside, splash in the little pool, and not have to worry about having a jacket on. In our case, at least with the little ones, sometimes the clothing is optional! Here's my little guy, playing away-having fun on the patio with his sidewalk chalk, eating a piece of bread, wearing nothing but his diaper!

I wish I could say that he doesn't normally look quite so........rustic? But I'd be lying! by 2 p.m. everyday, he almost ALWAYS looks like this. The clothes have either gotten wet, covered with food, or he chose to strip them off himself. Either way, I give up. If we're not leaving the house, really, who cares? Not this momma! I think he looks pretty sweet, actually-and nothing beats those big slobbery kisses and chunky arms wrapped around your neck!

Stinky flower....

2010-07-17T00:12:00.003-05:00

I'm beginning to think we're nuts. The kids and I have spent the last few days in eager anticipation of the blooming of the corpse flower at our local science museum. In case you don't know, this is an extremely rare flower and has only bloomed a couple dozen times in the U.S. It's quite beautiful, but, quite fitting to its name, it's supposed to smell awful when it blooms. We keep the live webcam going on our computer during the day and the kids check it about every 5 minutes to see if anything's changed. They're so disappointed nothing's happened! Who would have thought we'd be this interested in a flower!? If you haven't seen, go take a look here!

Learning about Columbus

2010-07-13T21:29:00.002-05:00

In our homeschool, we are learning about early explorers. Vikings (think Leif Ericsson) and now Christopher Columbus. Amazing to learn about how little people knew about the world before they truly went and explored it. The kids thought it comical to see the maps from the 1400's, with only 3 continents on them! After learning about Columbus' great voyage from Spain to America, we decided to have a bit of fun with it and the kids set up a boat race between (you guessed it) the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. They each constructed their own from aluminum foil and then attached a flag. The only rules were, no hands-they had to use only the wind! The first one to make it to Spain (the other side) was the winner. We had one boat sink (the Pinta), one go off course (the Santa Maria), so the Nina was the winner!

Back to home school!

2010-07-12T22:06:00.005-05:00

But it's the middle of summer, you're thinking?! Well, for us, it's back to school time! Seriously, it's so hot outside, we start school in July and enjoy the luxury of finishing our year a little early, while the weather is a bit nicer. I had spent a lot of time organizing and getting things together over the past month or two. The kids were excited..yes, excited! They actually kept asking when we were starting....at least the younger ones were. I decided this year to make our schooling more enjoyable and have a more easygoing schedule that allows plenty of extra time for interruptions, sidetracks, or even a tired mom some days! I mean, just because we SHOULD get that history lesson done in 30 minutes doesn't mean we will when reality hits! Better to have a little cushion time than a rushed day. I was really glad I made this decision when the kickoff to our morning was my 7 yo daughter vomiting on the living room floor (thank you wood floors!) She did complain of a slight stomach ache about 30 minutes before.....guess i should have listened better. Surprisingly, after that, she felt great and went on as if nothing ever happened. About an hour after that, we got this surprise...

Yes, that's my curious 1 1/2 yo little guy, who, for whatever reason, is obsessed with getting into my baking items-particularly the baking soda and baking powder. This is the box of baking powder. Would it gross you out if I told you he actually likes to eat it? Trust me-it's not because he's hungry, either (have you seen the size of those chunky thighs?)

On we moved to the lessons-math, language arts, handwriting....

And my eager 1st grader, who was proud to show off his work!

Here's my 15 yo working on his Spanish on the computer....or maybe training for a drive through job?! (Would you like fries with that?)

Overall, a great day, even with all the interruptions! The kids did great...I'm proud! Sign me up for another day!

A fabulous Fourth!

2010-07-06T18:21:00.002-05:00

The 4th of July is always a big deal at our house, at least for my bigger boys, as it is the one day out of the year when they can blow things up....legally. It's also highly anticipated by the biggest of the bunch...Dad. They make the annual trek to the fireworks stand and load up. If I told you a $$$ amount spent, you might faint, so let's just say that they put on a good show! We started off the evening with the traditional BBQ-is there any other way to do it on the 4th? Hubby made brisket, pulled pork sandwiches, and hot dogs. We also had all the fixings to go along with it-chips, beans, corn, watermelon, and the most important part of the meal-dessert! My mom got me this great cupcake holder for my birthday last week, since she knows I love to bake. I was looking forward to using it, and this was the perfect opportunity! It holds 35 cupcakes, so I was ready for a crowd. I baked up the red and white cupcakes, in the nifty 4th of July cupcake holders and topped each with icing, red, white and blue sprinkles, and a small star shaped sugar cookie. Fun and yummy! Thanks Mom for the awesome gift! Doesn't she know me too well?

This is pure happiness when you're 3!

After all the eating, it was time to get the show on the road. The boys took over and started lighting!

They had rockets, firecrackers, spinning things, sparkly ones...pretty much every kind you could imagine! All the boys and their friends participated and had a great time-we enjoyed the show, too-alomost an hour long! I watched about a third of it and then went inside to comfort the scared little ones. Poor things-those fireworks are loud! The only downside to all this fun? The cleanup the next morning-my boys were kept very busy most of the morning!

6th birthday bash!

2010-07-03T19:29:00.004-05:00

Today was my son's 6 year old birthday. My little munchkin-or actually more of an elfkin-is growing up! He was dead set on having a tractor party, so that's what we went with. It was a little more difficult than other themes, as there just isn't a lot of tractor stuff out there unless you're looking to break the bank with John Deere, so we also incorporated a little of the farm aspect. We had games, like pin the tail on the donkey...

And of course, a tractor pinata! This was the part he was most excited about, to tell you the truth. I think he could have done without anything else at his party, as long as he had that pinata!

Here's the aftermath of breaking open that big pinata, full of candy!

On to opening presents....

And to finish it off, a tractor cake and ice cream.

He had a great time and has spent the rest of the afternoon playing with all the great toys he recieved!

When two worlds collide...

2010-06-24T21:21:00.002-05:00

With an equal amount of both boys and girls in my home, we have all kinds of toys, from the very dainty to the rough and tumble. But when the two meet together, it can be quite a sight! What a surprise when my kiddos pushed this around the corner yesterday, proudly showing off their new creation.....

Doesn't Barbie look great behind the wheel of that Tonka truck? Hate to say, I think it might be time for her to take a trip to the body shop!

Outdoor learning

2010-06-18T08:44:00.003-05:00

With Dad gone for a couple days, we needed to do something fun, so I packed up the kids and headed down to Bass Pro Shop down the street to take part in their kids summer camp. They offer workshops on all different outdoor topics. My 4 girls participated in 3 of the workshops, pet safety, bird watching, and camping basics. They had a great time and earned pins for each of the ones they completed. While they were doing their classes, the litte ones and I had fun checking out the huge fish tank. My 1.5 yo thought it was just the neatest thing.

Between workshops when they had a few minutes to spare, the girls practiced their casting from one of the big boats!

At the end of the workshops, they had a s'more making time, complete with an open fire to roast them over. This was, by far, the highlight of the afternoon.

This little guy couldn't quite figure out what s'mores were, but he sure had fun trying to find out!

What a fun afternoon! We will be visiting next week again so the girls can earn the rest of their badges.

Cake decorators!

2010-06-17T12:20:00.004-05:00

Today my 4 oldest became cake decorators! I had 4 cakes baked up and stored in my freezer, awaiting some creative kiddos to frost them. They each picked out what color they liked best and, after frosting them white, they tried their hand at decorating them. They did very well, especially since it can be quite hard to hold the bag shut while squeezing the frosting out.

Here are the finished products. I was very proud of their creativity and they had a great time!

The latest from the chef....

2010-06-13T11:23:00.002-05:00

Check out hubby's latest cooking spot yesterday on TV. He made a yummy meal for father's day!

Video 1

Video 2

Dino birthday

2010-06-12T20:40:00.004-05:00

Today was my 9 yo daughter's birthday party. The theme? Dinosaurs! Funny, it seems, for a girl, but she just loves them. Every time we go to the library, she checks out a stack of books on dinosaurs! So the theme was very fitting. We started off with a dinosaur egg hunt, filled with little treats.

Then onto the pin-the-head-on-the-fossil game.

A dino relay race...

Then a game of "guess how many dino-rocks are in the jar"

And the last game was musical chairs. Nothing to do with dinosaurs, but I had an extra prize I needed to give away!

On we moved to opening presents.

And finally, cake and ice cream.

Her cake was, of course, a dinosaur. And a very feminine looking one, too!

What a fun day! I think this little chocolate faced guy had a great time!

Haircuts!

2010-06-11T21:43:00.002-05:00

It was long overdue, but I took all the girls yesterday for haircuts. Their hair was getting quite long and a hassle to take care of, especially during the hot summer months. Ironically, my 3 yo had just chopped the side of her hair (again!) with scissors. Fortunately, it doesn't look too awful-we'll just have to wait and let it grow. I've heard the comment that maybe she is going to be a hairstylist when she gets older. I don't know about that-aren't hairstylists supposed to make your hair look better? My 10 yo was our biggest change-she got so much cut off that they nearly had enough to donate to Locks for Love. Yes, I did offer that option to her, if she wanted to go a little shorter, but for her, shoulder length was short enough! They had a great time on our girls day out and were admiring eachother's 'dos. I am looking forward to less hair to comb!

A refreshing weekend.

2010-06-05T22:48:00.004-05:00

I spent the last two days at our local homeschool conference and, as in years past, I have been truly blessed. We ended this year a little tired and weary, needing some down time. Since we start school back in July, the time between when we end and July is when I do all my planning, but more importantly, find the motivation and encouragement needed for the upcoming year. One of the places I get that from is the homeschool conference. I was able to attend several workshops by some amazing speakers and I can truly say that I am encouraged! It's funny, when I first started out homeschooling, I was so concerned with the how-to's. How to teach this, how to teach that, how to find the perfect curriculum so I don't mess my kids up! 12 years later, that's really not my focus because it's really not why I'm homeschooling in the first place. Now, it's a matter of reaching my kids' hearts and pointing them toward the Lord. What good is all my homeschooling if my child can recite his times tables in record time but doesn't honor Jesus? I try to keep in mind that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at our hearts. That's where the battles take place and that is where my focus as mom and teacher needs to be. The rest is secondary to that! So while I wandered through the vendor hall, I no longer felt the need to find that perfect curriculum or believe the idea that a certain program would certainly "fix" the problem I'm having with a particular subject. Instead, they're just tools to help us out, but we should ultimately depend daily on the Lord for our strength and to "fix" our hearts. I can't say I didn't buy anything this weekend. I did buy 3 things that I am very happy with. The rest gets ordered online in the near future. I'm looking forward to the upcoming year and what the Lord may have in store for us. He never ceases to amaze me!

Binky twister!

2010-06-04T19:10:00.003-05:00

Look at the cool talent my sweet little guy has!

Dad's TV spot

2010-05-29T16:02:00.003-05:00

Sweet hubby was on TV again this morning, doing a couple of cooking spots. He made some yummy, healthy turkey burgers. You know they must be good when your kids love eating them! Here's the links to the segments-go take a look!

Cooking #1

Cooking #2

Happy Birthday!

2010-05-28T22:08:00.002-05:00

Does it seem like there's not a month that goes by at our house that I'm not mentioning someone's birthday? :-) Yes, we have a lot of them during the year, but really, we only have birthdays in 7 months out of the year. It would be cool to have had one in each month, but God doesn't work on those kinds of guidelines! Well, this time it was Dad's birthday! Not the big to-do like the kids have for their birthdays-he likes it low-key-but it was a celebration, nonetheless. He received his gifts from our family and from our extended family-here he is showing off the new shirt from my Mom (sorry for the closed eyes in the picture). It's one of those cool dri-wick shirts that never seems to get dirty and never wrinkles. Cool!

Little guy loved, loved, loved the card Dad got-it was one of those musical ones that plays when you open it. He kept opening it over and over and was dancing to it!

Finally, onto dessert. I couldn't convince hubby to go with a Spiderman or transformers cake. Nope, he wanted it simple and chose a cheesecake. This one's a turtle cheesecake with chocolate and caramel.

Of course, we sang the traditional Happy Birthday song and he got to blow out the candles! A fun birthday for my sweet, loving husband!

Baking day

2010-05-22T20:29:00.004-05:00

Okay..anyone who knows me well knows that I love to bake. With such a big family to feed, it seems to be a perfect fit! I visited one of my favorite stores at the mall, Kitchen Collection,the other day, to pick up a couple of springform pans and ended up with a little more than what I came for. :-) What can I say-it's a dangerous store for me to go into! I've already got about 5 other things on my wish list from there. I came home with this odd looking thing-it's a french bread pan. I had seen them before, but never used one. I'm used to baking my french bread on a regular, flat baking sheet, which is fine, but this one is rounded-I guess to help keep the shape better.

The results? Well, here it is. They turned out pretty well and tasted really good, but it seemed to take longer to cook than my usual method. Also, next time I am going to try not greasing my pan first, but just use cornmeal to dust it for a little crispier crust on the bottom. Oh-and I didn't bake a funny looking half loaf-we just ate half of it before I could take the picture!

Well, why stop there-the kids were playing in the yard and baby was napping, so I decided to bake up a quick batch of one of the yummiest breads you'll ever taste! They're garlic bread sticks (though you can't tell, because I haven't cut them yet). I tried this recipe out probably 5 months ago and it became an instant hit in my house. They're so yummy with any kind of Italian or pasta dish and best of all, everyone (including the picky eaters) likes them.

And one thing I love (and my kiddos love) about baking? The eating, of course! :-)

This week

2010-05-20T21:34:00.003-05:00

I have been busy this week with household things, as in organizing and cleaning out stuff- so I haven't taken much time to blog. There was a special event this week-my kids finished up their Awana club for the year at church and an awards ceremony was held. They have worked very hard on their Bible verses and I was happy to see them rewarded. Here is my 7 yo receiving her award for finishing her book. So proud! (My camera was not working well this nite, so unfortunately, this is the only picture I have!

Tonight, we had our end of the year skating party with the homeschool group. I only ended up taking half my crew, which seemed like nothing! The kids had a ball skating-especially my 4 year old. She's fearless!
Here's my 8 yo taking a break-whew!

Oh-and the goofy little guy again. He did surprisingly well.

Here's one of the games they played. Apparently, falling down was one of the rules of play!

A fun time and a nice way to wrap up the school year. :-)

Third Birthday celebration

2010-05-15T20:20:00.003-05:00

Today was my sweet little girl's third birthday. Hard to believe time has passed so quickly!

She chose an Elmo theme for her party, so we tried to center everything around that. We started off with some pizza for dinner-in case you don't know, that's Elmo's favorite food! Then we moved on to a couple of games. The first one was tossing some beanbag fish into a bowl. If you didn't know, Elmo has a goldfish named Dorothy!

Then they played pin-the-nose-on-Elmo. I made the Elmo head out of posterboard and the kids tried to put his nose on, while blindfolded.

Wait..who's this giant Elmo?

She loved opening all her gifts-and her sisters were so generous in what they gave!

Here she is inspecting her gift from Grandma. She's wearing her new bonnet Mom made for her, along with a matching skirt for her birthday.

Finally, on to the best part-cake and ice cream. Of course, she had an Elmo cake, and some yummy chocolate and vanilla ice cream!

Here she is blowing out her candles!

I think little guy had a lot of fun with that cake!

Nature center

2010-05-11T18:45:00.004-05:00

Today the kids and I headed out to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, hoping to see some more green than we do in our little subdivision! It is located off a very busy interstate, but once you enter the grounds, it's like you're transformed into a whole new world! I'd never guess this was smack in the middle of Houston. The grounds have walking trails all over which are just like walking through a giant forest. Isn't this beautiful?

I found it so relaxing! We probably hiked at least a couple of miles through it all. The kids had fun at the play area, too..

It's hard to see, but we saw several turtles at the swamp area.

And this very tame squirrel toward the end.

The only part we missed was the bird area. Somehow, we walked right past the trail while we were trying to find our way. We did get to visit the indoors discovery room at the end, inbetween school groups visiting! Little guy loved seeing the fish tank. It dawned on me that he's never seen one before!

We finished up around lunchtime and headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch and some time in their playground. We really enjoyed our visit today and I think we truly found a gem in this big city!

Formal night out

2010-05-09T08:23:00.003-05:00

Hubby and I had the opportunity to go out last night to a formal event downtown-a fundraiser for the hospital system he works for. It is quite out of my element to go to formal events, as I am used to being much more casual, but it is a great experience and such a fun date night with my husband. This year's theme was Viva Las Vegas. The show was mostly celebrity impersonators singing and, of course, Elvis was there-though he really was one of the worst Elvis impersonators I've seen! There were also the flamingo dancers-wearing next to nothing-but fortunately, that was fairly short lived. We dined on a 3 course dinner, beautifully presented. I thought it was lovely, but hubby wasn't overly impressed, maybe given the $2500 per plate price tag. No, that's not a typo, but don't worry, his company is the one who paid, not us! They finished off the night with a band and dancing. Yes, hubby and I were among the first out on the dance floor, having a great time. The first group of songs was sort of a tribute to Michael Jackson, so we got to boogie away to Thriller, Billy Jean, and even the Jackson 5's ABC! I mean, who couldn't dance to that?! As the songs turned to more modern ones like Lady Gaga (what does she have to do with Vegas?!), we made our exit. It was late, and time to go home and relieve our babysitters! Overall, we had a great time and I'm sure we'll be back again next year!

Art museum visit

2010-05-06T14:00:00.002-05:00

Today we had the opportunity to go to the Art Museum here in Houston with some fellow homeschoolers, thanks to free admission day! Grandma, our family art aficionado, would have been very proud! I can't say all my kids were thrilled to go, but I have wanted to visit for a while and my kids do deserve more exposure to art than their mom gives them! Here they are at the front of the museum.

They each took several pictures of some of their favorite paintings, though we were only allowed to photograph certain ones. Here are a few they took....

Isn't this vase beautiful?

Here's the whole group after we got done and were relaxing in the sculpture garden just outside the museum. They were happy to finally be able to run around a little and have some snacks.
We had a good time and they behaved very well! By the way, all these kiddos belong to only 2 families-isn't that great? I'm sure we had a lot of double takes while we were there!

Yummy homemade pretzels

2010-05-03T13:31:00.004-05:00

I decided to try my hand at making some homemade pretzels today. I always like a challenge. The recipe is not difficult, though it does take some time. First you have to make the dough, roll out into pretzels, let rise, boil in a water bath on the stove, sprinkle with salt, then bake in the oven. Whew! Sounds like a lot, but it's not too bad. They turned out quite nice and the kids just gobbled them up. Who needs Aunt Annie's or Wetzel's when you've got Mom's pretzels? Yum!

Looking like Dad

2010-05-02T20:33:00.002-05:00

Some of the kids decided to have some fun and try on Dad's glasses the other nite. They thought it was so fun looking like their Daddy! Here's my 2 yo....

My 4 yo....she looks pretty smart in them!

And my 5 yo....he just looks darn cute!

Oh-and this little goof ball. Well, he didn't wear the glasses, as he has a tendency to want to break them in two pieces, but he still had fun watching everyone else!

A special honor

2010-04-29T07:51:00.002-05:00

This week, my 12 yo son received a special honor-he received his next rank-tenderfoot-in Boy Scouts. He just joined the troop this year and has worked very hard on the requirements, attending several campouts along the way. I am so proud of him. He loves being in the Boy Scouts and has set the goal of achieving Eagle Scout over the next few years. Here he is with his new patch on his shirt. By the way, he's not much of a smiler for pictures. :-) He'd probably rather I didn't take it, but I couldn't resist!

Little Builders

2010-04-25T21:02:00.002-05:00

On Saturday, I took 5 of the kids to Lowe's for one of their kids' workshops. With aprons on and hammers in hand, they were ready to go! The project? Building a bird feeder. It wasn't too complicated, but it did have a lot of steps, so I helped the youngest ones with putting the nails in the holes and then prayed they wouldn't hammer my fingers (they didn't, but they came close). We only had one mishap-my 7 yo discovered one of her pieces was missing and had to redo the roof part using pieces from another kit. Happily, we hung up all 5 and filled them with birdseed. The birds seem to be enjoying it-and with so many feeders, they're sure to find a vacant one! Here's four of the crew with their finished product! (The fifth declined to be in the shot)

Little Seamstress

2010-04-21T15:44:00.002-05:00

Since we have finished up school, it's time to devote our days to some things we don't always get around to doing-cleaning, field trips, and, in this case, sewing! My 10 yo daughter recently sewed herself a skirt and my 7 yo decided that she definitely wanted to do one, too! During our trip to the fabric store, it took her about 10 seconds to pick out the fabric she loved-pink, with butterflies all over it. Perfect. We worked thru the project together and this afternoon, she proudly tried on her new skirt. Isn't it pretty?

She was quite a trooper, with this being her first project. She got a burned finger from using the iron, but besides that, she said she really enjoyed it. I'm so very proud of her for working so hard on it.

English muffin bread

2010-04-19T21:00:00.002-05:00

Today I tried out a new recipe for English muffin bread. One of those recipes I had stashed away but had never tried. My kids started asking me about buying English muffins, so it sparked my interest. It was relatively easy to make, so that's a plus. Want to know how it turned out? Well here's how it looked...

Kind of a wimpy looking loaf, in my opinion. I like my bread taller looking, but maybe that's how they meant this recipe to be. After all, english muffins don't really rise a lot when you think about it. I sliced it up and let the kids try it. Everyone seemed to like it and agreed that it did taste like an English muffin. I don't think the texture was the same exactly, but toasted and slathered in butter, I'm sure it will taste quite yummy. I think this recipe will be a keeper!

Oh-to be a baby!

2010-04-18T21:03:00.004-05:00

Eating is so much fun!

But you have to watch out for those fingers-sometimes they look like french fries!

Hmmm....what an interesting container. But it's hard to push across the grass. What to do?

Look-I can balance on all fours! Ringling Brothers, here I come!

Or I could just sit in it and enjoy the nice day.

And look...I can face the other way, too! Geez, I'm cool.

Stuffed animals are so fun. They make me laugh! What was that? Ponies are only for girls?!

Do you think this one's too big?

Another school year comes to a close

2010-04-16T22:25:00.002-05:00

Today marked our final day of homeschooling for this year. For the elementary age, that is. My 2 high schoolers still have work to do through the summer. Lest you think I'm some evil mother, it is by their own choice of not being diligent on their assignments! Tonight after dinner, we had a graduation ceremony conducted by the principal (Dad). We handed out diplomas to each of the five graduates and one preschooler, too!

Afterward, we celebrated with cake and ice cream-yum! This year certainly had it's ups and downs, just like any other year. I am proud of the hard work my kids did and we are looking forward to the coming year. For now, we plan on enjoying the beautiful spring weather and also some fun field trips to places we haven't been, taking advantage of the time we have!

Tiny in size, mighty in power!

2010-04-13T15:33:00.002-05:00

No, I'm not referring to a person-I'm talking about this.....

Yep, the mini marshmallow. I am amazed at the influence this little mini marshmallow can have on my kids. For example, my 5 yo boy, in kindergarten this year, can sometimes get a little bored/distracted/whatever while homeschooling. Now, I don't ask a lot of a wiggly little boy, but I do like him to get a page of his math and handwriting and do some reading. To help motivate him to want to do it instead of having to push him, I offered up one mini marshmallow for each math problem he completed. Wow! I've never seen him so excited to do his math! He even counts up the problems he did and gives me his number for the day. Believe me, he makes sure every little marshmallow is accounted for. We've also used them with the other kids when we practice our geography. It's kind of like Geography bingo, where you have to locate the countries. A right answer gets a marshmallow. Fun! How about potty training? We're not doing that now, but in the past, treats are a huge motivation. We've had similair success with other treats like m and m's, fruit loops, etc, but the marshmallows are the best in my book because they're cheap-99 cents for a good size bag, all my kids like them, and since one of my favorite candies is m and m's, those would run out pretty quick because I'd be eating waaaaaay too many of them! My kids don't get treats for everything-certainly not-but everyone likes to be rewarded for a job well done and this treat is just enough to keep 'em motivated!

Bargain shopping.

2010-04-11T21:25:00.003-05:00

I have a Sam's club not too far from my home that I shop at for certain things, but even given the size of our family, not for most of the items we use. Yes, we do need that 36 roll pack of toilet paper, but maybe not the 5 pounds of crackers! Primarily, I buy my shredded cheese, honey, yeast, pepperoni, trash bags, paper towels, peanuts, and some meds. Of course, we get other things depending on the trip, but those tend to be the basics. I also love going early in the morning-they open at 7 am for business members (love it!) I was doing a quick 7 am run this week to get some supplies and walked past the clothing section. I saw some pretty girls church dresses that I had admired in an earlier visit, marked down to just $4.81! I guess they were marked down because it was after Easter. What a steal-these dresses were gorgeous! So I promptly snapped up 2 for my 3 and 4 yo. Here's a picture of it.

I was so happy. They wore them to church today and looked so cute. The picture really doesn't do it justice.
During a quick run today to Wal-Mart to get dishwasher soap, I saw ad all their Easter items marked for 10 cents. My 8 yo daughter, who has a birthday in June, had told me recently that she wanted a dinosaur party. I just happened to spot packages of light camoflauge color easter eggs in the mix. Hubby agrees, they really do look like a dinosaur egg! I snatched up several packages that we are going to use in planning some of her party games. Quite the bargain, considering they were regularly $2 a package. I love finding bargains, but these 2 bargains probably weren't due to my "hunting", but more of being in the right place at the right time. But still a great deal!

A lovely visit

2010-04-05T13:08:00.002-05:00

This weekend, we had the blessing of hosting my mother-in-law at our house. She traveled all the way from Arizona to spend Easter with us. We had such a great time-and as a bonus, she brought her little dog with her, which my kiddos just adored. Surprisingly, the dog did great and really didn't seem scared at all of so many people, even my 1 yo who can sometimes not be so gentle with his pets. We will miss her and look forward to her next visit. I know some people may not enjoy their in-laws much, but I must say that I love her to death and she is one of the biggest blessings in my life!

Happy Easter

2010-04-03T22:06:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is a very special day to celebrate-the day that Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified on the cross. Hallelujah! He lives! It saddens me to see the world taking such a precious holiday and trying to change the meaning of it. So many kids today grow up thinking Easter is about bunnies, egg hunts, and candy. I love candy as much as the next person, but our kids and the rest of the world need to know the true meaning of Easter. Let us not allow fun, games, and fuzzy bunnies to be the focus of the day, but give thanks for the sacrifice the Lord has made for each of us Had it not been for Him, none of us would have the opportunity to spend our eternity in Heaven forever, but would be condemned to a lifetime of separation from the Lord. Jesus did the first part by dying on the cross for our sins, but still, we must put our trust in Him and choose to follow Him, instead of our own way. So give thanks, enjoy your Easter-and your family! I certainly will enjoy mine, especially since we have my husband's mother here visiting. Hubby has a great meal planned, and for dessert, I baked up something special. I can't bring myself to make bunny cake, so I decided to make a cross cake to honor the day. Yummy! Here's how it turned out....

Happy Easter everyone!!!!

Birthday celebrations and new furniture

2010-04-02T08:35:00.007-05:00

This week we celebrated two of our boys' birthdays. They turned 12 and 15. Their birthdays are withing a couple weeks of eachother, so they elected to have a combination party. For several years now, we've given our kids a set $$ amount to spend on their birthday celebration and they get to budget that and decide what they want to do. Some have chosen to have parties at home and spend lots on decorations and games, and others have chosen to have it somewhere else. Surprisingly, no one has asked to just pocket the money and nix the party.....yet. :-) The boys decided to pool their money together and have their party at the local bowling alley/laser tag place. We went on one of their discount days-Tuesday-when they have half price bowling and 2 for 1 laser tag-and held it in the afternoon (perfect for us homeschoolers!) We almost had the whole place to ourselves-it was great-and they stayed within their budget. Here are the boys opening up some of their gifts from mom and dad pre-party. A new bb gun for our 12 yo. Can you see the happiness on his face?

And my 15 yo received some camping necessities that he will need for Boy Scouts.

Along with our family (a party in itself), several friends came to the bowling alley to join in the celebration. Everyone had a great time and it was a blessing to see the older ones enjoy helping the littler ones out.

Here's Dad with our 2 yo. She had a great time bowling and jumped up and down every time she knocked down the pins!

Even little guy enjoyed just sitting back and watching all the fun. Eventually, he fell asleep.

After bowling, it was on to the cakes. The boys wanted very plain cakes (no goofy characters!), so they got what they requested. One chocolate-one strawberry. Yes, we did realize that one cake was pink . I pre-warned my 12 yo about this, but that's what he wanted. We only had one party guest say, "Why do you have a pink cake?" But when he explained it was strawberry, nothing else was said about it. In fact, everyone loved the cake and scarfed it down. Those teen boy appetites!

Here they are during the happy birthday song. It's not a party until you sing that!

We had a great time-my kids can't wait until the next birthday!

In other exciting news this week, we had a special delivery at our house (no....not the kind that involves diapers and itty bitty clothes), but some new furniture! We had been shopping for a new leather sofa set for quite a while-several months. It was time. Our old set was over 10 years old. We visited most furniture stores in the area and did not like what we saw. Most everything was not 100% top grain leather, which is what we wanted. Most looked nice, but were blended leather or bonded leather. No thanks. We wanted something to last for years to come. The few sets we saw that were high quality were so expensive-almost twice what we could pay. So the search went on. On a recommendation, we decided to look online at Sam's and Costco. They don't sell much furniture in their stores, but have a much larger selection online. We researched and found a company that sells very high quality through Costco and decided to go with them. We ordered, only going off the online picture (!) as we didn't have time to even send away for a swatch, as the set was on sale for only a few days. I prayed I would like it when it arrived-and 5 weeks later, the moving truck delivered it! And yes, I do love it! It's very nice-much nicer than any we saw-and we got a great price on it-about half of the furniture store. Here's my 2 yo napping on the sofa....

There's also a loveseat, but I didn't post a pic of that. The comfiest piece of all, I think, is the big oversize chair and ottoman (aka. dad's seat). It's heaven sitting in it and relaxing. It's great, too, because it fits 2 kids on it!

I'm very happy with our purchase and would definitely go that route again. Well, I'm off to enjoy relaxing in my new couch! Ahhhhhh.............

Little kids and mud

2010-03-27T21:13:00.003-05:00

Our sandbox just got opened for the season, only to reveal a damp, muddy mess, due to some recent rain. Well that didn't stop my little buggers from crawling right in and getting themselves covered from head to toe with muddy sand. My 1 yo was having a ball, picking up handfuls and throwing them in the air, giggling the entire time. Yes, he was an awful mess after it was over, but that's what washing machines (and baths) are for, right?

Behind on my posts again!

2010-03-26T22:52:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know in my last post, I promised to be posting more this week, but here I am, a week later, just now posting! Oh-where does the time go? Some days I forget what day it is!
Well, to give you an idea of what's been going on here, let's backtrack. During last weekend, my 3 oldest girls signed up to read to dogs at the library. These are trained therapeutic dogs that are used to doing this and are also often taken to hospitals to visit children and the elderly. My girls were so excited to do it and jumped at the chance. Each of them read 15 minutes and the dogs were so very patient in their listening!

Can you tell she just wishes she could take this one home?

This is my 2 yo, who was not signed up to read to them (obviously), but she kept sitting down next to the dogs, petting them. She really wanted to be in on the action. Even when I took her to pick out books, she mysteriously disappeared-and guess where I found her? Yep, right next to the dog.

This week gave us many opportunities to spend time outside-the weather was beautiful, for the most part. My kids have missed being outside, so they made sure they did plenty of swinging and jumping on the trampoline.

Today, the girls had another of their homemaking club meetings at our house. We decided to concentrate on easy to make one-dish foods. The girls made a recipe called BBQ cups, which used biscuits topped with BBQ beef and cheese. Here they are cooking the meat on the stove, very carefully.

Then putting the filling on top of the biscuits.

We practiced doing some table setting while the food cooked. I demonstrated and then we had a game to see who could remember where everything went. Amazingly, they got every piece right! So proud! The cups are a little off in this picture, though-they should be a little to the right, I think. Ooops!

Here is the finished product. They enjoyed making them and also sampling them, as did some of my older kids.

Those are just some of the highlights this week. I plan on spending some time this weekend doing some much needed (!) cleaning out and organizing, so maybe I will have some nice "after" pictures to post soon !

Our week

2010-03-20T10:58:00.004-05:00

Wow-hard to believe I haven't blogged at all this week. I really had every intention, but well....life got in the way! This week was a busy one for us, but with lots of fun sprinkled in. My 12 yo son, who has been collecting football cards, received an album and sleeves to put them in for his birthday from his Grandma. He worked hard on it and got them all organized. Now he can see everything easily! He is hoping to find other kids who collect them to, since it's fun to trade them, but hasn't had much luck. Here he is showing off his collection.

Meanwhile, in school, my big boys had some more dissecting going on-two specimens this week. First, a perch. This little bugger was hard to cut through, but after they did, they were able to see its brain.

Then came the oversize frog. This is what I remember dissecting in school. The organs were very easy to identify, but they were a funny color. Not sure if that was from the preservatives, or if they're normally like that. It was pretty neat.

My sister sent a birthday package for my 12yo and also included a beignet mix in there from her trip to Louisiana. My son wanted to make it that nite, so we did. I had never had a beignet, but apparently they're pretty popular in New Orleans.

Here's what they looked like when he finished frying them up. They were pretty yummy and got gobbled up in a snap!

On Saturday morning, my husband and 2 daughters did a cooking spot on the local news. They were so excited to be on TV and did quite well. The theme of the show was cooking healthy with kids. Here is the link to both segments-go take a look!:

1. Trail mix
2. Granola bars

Later in the morning, I took several of the kids to the local grocery store for an easter egg hunt. I'm not much into the egg hunts, as I like to focus on the real reason of the holiday, but it was a good time for them. Unfortunately, it started raining (okay, pouring!) during the hunt, but they picked up a few candies anyway. Here's my 2 yo gathering a few to put in her basket!

We're off in just a little while to do another activity (whew! I need a nap!), so look for more blogging soon!

Baking!

2010-03-14T21:33:00.004-05:00

On the weekends, our family often likes to have a breakfast dish for dinner. Isn't this called brinner? It's different and nice to try something new. This weekend, I made a couple of baked french toast dishes. I started off with a couple of homemade loaves of challah bread ( I love it!). The first dish had more of a brown sugar/nut topping. Sort of like a sticky bun topping. Yum!
The second one had a fruit (in our case, blueberry) topping with streusel on top. Yummy, too!

It was very split on which one they preferred most, as we hardly had any left of either. Little guy gave the thumbs up on this meal!

Dad and our 8 and 10yo daughters decided to get some practice in for their upcoming TV spot. Yes, TV! I have celebrities in my house! As some of you know, my husband, who is a chef, has started doing a once-a-month spot on the local news in the morning. He works for the hospital system here, so his recipes all promote heart-healthy eating. Their next show is on Saturday, the 20th from 7-8 a.m. on channel 2, for all you locals who want to watch! Anyway, they practiced making one of their dishes-granola bars. They helped mix and dump everything in the pan, even though you only see Daddy mixing here....

Here is the final product-yummy, healthy granola bars that are very easy to make!

If you want to see more, you have to stay tuned next Saturday morning! :-)

Beautiful spring

2010-03-13T22:30:00.003-06:00

I love spring. To me, it's the best season, hands down. I love the warmer, but not too hot, weather. I love the blooming flowers. And I love my kids being able to go outside and play! To take advantage of a beautiful spring day here in Houston, we decided to do some gardening. We had a few flowers to plant in our yard-here is my 4 yo working after telling us she was going to rake some leaves. Wrong season, but that's okay, she was loving it.

Hubby and I planted the flowers around our tree. There's not much blooming on there now....

But hopefully they will start to open up and give the yard some color. Like this-seen elsewhere in our yard....

My 8 year old daughter decided to take my camera and snap some pretty pictures of spring. Like our flowers in the kitchen..

And this lovely sight from our yard. Hmmmm....I think that pretty plant may experience a Round-Up rainstorm pretty soon! What do you think?

Yes, spring has sprung, and I couldn't be happier!

Well, I did it again...

2010-03-09T22:23:00.002-06:00

Yep, I killed another appliance! Don't worry, this time it's just my little hand mixer, but I think that would make #7 for us. Really, I'm not kidding. Okay, you must be thinking I'm mixing gravel or something-no, not exactly. This one died while mixing a batch of frosting. Yes, frosting. Not something terribly thick or heavy or overpowering. But the beaters locked up, made that awful screeching noise, and that was that. Seriously, I don't know what it is about me, but I cannot make a mixer last more than a couple months, tops. (The shortest life span was a mere week). I've even done the expensive ones, like the Kitchenaid, with no better results. I do have my large Bosch mixer that I use all the time (and managed to kill, too, just a couple months ago), but for the small jobs, it's nice to have something less cumbersome. But it seems no matter what brand or price range I try, it's a losing battle. I am an appliance killer. I have learned my lesson, though, on this. 1) Always buy at Walmart-their return policy is great. You have 90 days to return most anything with original packaging. 2) Save your receipt, so you can take advantage of #1! So guess where this mixer will be going back to this week? You guessed it! For the record, this one lasted exactly 2 months, 2 days. Hubby and I joke and say that companies should use our family as product testers so they can develop better items, but as we thought about it, they probably wouldn't like that idea, as it would only show how junky their products really are! Seriously, if you know of a good hand mixer that is kill-proof, I'm all ears! But for now, I'm heading out for mixer #8!

Questions from a preschooler

2010-03-07T13:53:00.002-06:00

My 4 year old had was looking at an atlas we had sitting out on the table for school. She has heard the names of the countries we've learned about, even if she can't tell you much about them. The page was open to Asia and she started asking, "Where's China?" I pointed to it. "Where's India?" I showed her. Finally, she asked, "Where's Japan?" I showed her where it was. She looked at it for a while and then looked up at me and asked, "Mommy, do they have pans in Japan?" What? Pans? It took me a minute to process what she was asking, and then I started laughing. What an obvious question, right? JaPAN! It's in the name, so they must have them! I told her that, yes, I'm sure they have plenty of pans there. Oh, the cute things little kids say!

A quiet week?

2010-03-06T21:28:00.003-06:00

This week started off fairly usual-homeschool, keeping house, tending kiddos, etc. But by mid-week, the baby came down with a nasty cold and fever that kept him in not-so-good spirits for the next 3 days. I thought we already had our fair share of sickness this season, but it seems this virus needed to get one last hold on us. Fortunately, the illness was confined to little guy, so it's fairly minor compared to the stomach virus we had a couple of weeks ago.

On a happier note, a sweet homeschooling friend offered us her stash of art supplies her son had outgrown and was not using. Having several budding artists in the house, we jumped at the opportunity. I had no idea just how much there was-probably 6 boxes full. My kids were excited about all the new treasures. Here's the little ones doing some coloring...

And my 5 year old exploring his new Buzz Lightyear art set.

It certainly kept them busy for a while!

By Friday, we were looking forward to the weekend. But at 3:00 that afternoon, it happened. My 11yo came running in and said his big brother had an accident with his pocketknife. I thought he was kidding at first, until I heard my 14 yo call to me to come quick. The first thing i saw was blood on his pants. Now, I do NOT do well with bleeding wounds at all. Little ones that only need a bandaid I'm fine with, but big ones....NO way! I tried my best to look at it and not freak out. It was in his upper thigh and pretty deep, so I knew he needed stitches. After contacting dad, we headed off to the urgent care. Knowing my squeamishness, my husband met me there and stayed with him for the rest of the visit. They x-rayed it to be sure he didn't hit his bone (ouch!) and then stitched him up and stapled it shut. His only restriction is no climbing or strenuous exercise until those staples come out (10 days). It could have been worse. But for now, the pocket knife has been put up, pending more responsible behavior.

Today (Saturday), I took out some of the kiddos for some fun. We headed to Michael's to take part in their kids' craft of making yarn dolls. I don't know what ages they were expecting to attend, but let me tell you, this was no kids' craft! It took us almost an hour to make all of them, as there was lots of braiding and tying involved-not easy for anyone under 12. Here's my 8 yo doing her best. Notice the woman in back? Even she couldn't figure out the directions on how to do it-yes, it was confusing!

Here's the finished products-they turned out pretty cute and the kids did have fun, even if mom was so sick of braiding she could scream!

After a couple errands, I dropped everyone at home and took my 2 year old out to lunch. Her choice? McDonald's, of course. Is there anywhere else a 2 year old wants to go? We had a great time, chatting and enjoying our meal, though she was more interested in the happy meal toy than anything.

Such a cutie, huh?

So, like I said, a pretty dull, quiet week at our house, right? :-)

Our mini vacation

2010-02-27T21:46:00.002-06:00

Well, Grandma's visit came to an end this week, as she boarded a plane back to Arizona. It was a wonderful visit and we enjoyed every minute of it. Anytime we have a family member visit, I always feel a bit down for a day or two after, not because the visit was not good, but the sadness of seeing them go, knowing it will be months before we see them again. Oh how nice it would be to be within a few hours drive of family! Unfortunately, that is not the case, so we deal the best we can with the distance between us. We jumped right back into school after a week off, and we were all feeling a bit lazy about doing work, I think! Time off having fun can do that to you! I'm sure we'll pick up the pace again this next week. The big girls and I had a "girls day out" today, courtesy of my sister. She sent all 4 of us tickets to Cirque Dreams at the theater downtown for our Christmas present. It's by the same company that does Cirque de Soleil (did I spell that right?), but it's a little different. There were lots of lights and acrobatics-pretty neat. The girls just loved it and were tickled pink to be sitting in a real theater. I think we need to have more days out with the girls in the future! We finished off our day with a nice walk, enjoying the beautiful weather here and letting everyone get some exercise. Wow, between the weekend and Grandma's visit, I feel like I've been on a mini vacation. I think a little R&R did us all a lot of good!

More visit updates

2010-02-22T13:04:00.002-06:00

This weekend, my 7 yo daughter participated in the district spelling bee in the Houston area. This was just for the younger kids and was considered just for fun, as they don't advance to the regular scripps competition. She did well and placed 10th. There were a lot of really great spellers there-they spelled some words that many adults wouldn't be able to spell! Here she is just before the competiton. We're so proud of her!

Later that day, we took Grandma out to the Forbidden Gardens, right near us, which is supposed to be similair to the Forbidden City in China. We just finished studying China in school, so it was a good field trip.

Here is a replica of the terracotta soldiers that were found buried with the Chinese emperor, who thought they would defend him in the afterlife. Obviously not true, but interesting to see anyway. Originally there were 8,000 lifesize soldiers found. These are a 1/3 replica and there are about 4,000 of them.

Another small scale version of the palaces. The detail was incredible.

On Sunday, it was church-we were proud to have Grandma as our honored guest. Here is a picture taken directly after. Isn't it beautiful?

Grandma will need to check her suitcase before she leaves-she may have a little stowaway in there!

A long distance visitor

2010-02-19T22:46:00.002-06:00

This week we have a very special visitor-Grandma! It truly is a blessing when she visits and the kids look forward to it for weeks. So what kind of fun things have we done? Well, not a whole lot-the kids really just enjoy hanging out and being with Grandma-no special field trips needed! Grandma did bring a bingo set with her for the kids, which they love. So they played a couple games of that, taking turns being the announcer...

And of course, there has been plenty of snuggling, reading books time in the recliner.

Do you think she can fit anymore on her lap?

We were able to take advantage of the nice weather and gather everyone up for a walk. Grandma pulled the littles in the wagon all the way!

The kids loved riding their bikes, too.

This visit will go quickly, like it always does, but we enjoy every minute we have with her. We love you Grandma!

Life almost back to normal

2010-02-16T18:31:00.002-06:00

After having sickies for over a week, it looks like we may be coming to the tail end of illness in our house. The baby started feeling a bit sick today with some bad diapers, but most everyone else is feeling better. The only one who was spared is my oldest son, but he may be next. Life has been getting back to normal. School is going on pretty much as usual. The oldest boys are back into biology, this time dissecting a new little critter-a crawfish. They were able to open it up and see the brain (which is quite tiny), the reproductive organs, and all the other glorious inside parts. I've never eaten crawfish-and really don't want to after seeing it like this-but the insides looked incredibly similair to chicken. Don't know if the taste is the same!

My oldest has been working lots of hours at his job lately and was called in today. However, when he came in, someone else asked to work his shift who didn't have many hours, so he gladly obliged. I was happy to have him home because I needed someone to put together our new office chair. Our other one had seen better days-it had a hole ripped in the seat and was in need of replacing for a while. Here he is, working away! I'm so happy he could do it-if it were left to me, it would still be in the box.

So there you have it-life back to normal at our house!

Life in the infirmary....

2010-02-14T14:20:00.002-06:00

If you've wondered why I have been absent from blogging this entire week, I can sum it up in two words: Sick kiddos. Yes, again. We are not normally this sick in any given season, but this winter has been one of the worst for us. This particular virus is more of a stomach flu, so it seems that much worse, given the consequences of it. So far, we have had half of our crew get sick with at least some version of this illness, which means we could potentially have 5 left who could get it. In case you're wondering, yes, I did get it. Friday was my day and I literally spent all day in bed, from 7:00 a.m. until almost dinnertime, sleeping nearly the entire time. I felt exhausted and nauseated and ran a slight fever-yuck. Fortunately, by Saturday morning, I was feeling much better, though my stomach is still telling me to take it easy. Our kids didn't fare as well as I did. We have been up probably 3 or 4 nites this week, cleaning up vomit from bedsheets and floors, and giving little kids showers to wash off the mess. We haven't had more than one vomiter per nite, which I am thankful for. I know there are a lot of things I will probably miss about having little kids as mine grow older-the little handprints on the wall, the legos left on the floor, the noisy voices. But let me tell you, cleaning up puke at 2 a.m. is NOT one of them! With Dad leaving for a business trip and Grandma coming for a visit in the next few days, I am hoping this week shows itself to be very uneventful. I've got my eyes on spring-and it can't get here a moment too soon!

Sleepy time

2010-02-08T18:45:00.002-06:00

Little guy decided to get up at 5:15 this morning (!) much to mom's surprise. By 7:30 a.m., guess what happened......................

Sleepy time!

Weekend relaxation

2010-02-07T13:16:00.003-06:00

Oldest boys got a new tent this week to replace the one that leaked on the boy scout camping trip last week :-( This one has a nifty rain guard, so hopefully it will keep out any and all moisture! Nothing like being sopping wet in a sleeping bag to dampen your spirits! This one's nice and tall, too. They tried it out and it fits them both-and best of all, it's a snap to set up. Cool, huh?

Also, last nite hubby took 4 of the boys to the Monster Truck show downtown. No, they're not necessarily into that kind of thing, but when the tickets are free, you take them! Most excited was my 5 yo. He talked all week about going to see the monster trucks.

Unfortunately, his attention span is about 15 minutes long, so after that time, he kept asking when it was time to go home. It was quite loud, too, so in the absence of ear plugs, dad shoved some wadded up napkins in his ears. It did the trick. They had a lot of fun and saw some cool monster truck tricks. Fun!
Today my boys are gearing up for the Superbowl. One of the biggest days of the year for them. Sadly, neither of the teams favored in this house made it this far, so they had to pick a new team to root on today. If anything, it's a good excuse to cook up some yummy pizza, wings, and snacks. Yum!