Cloud Nine

Christmas Morning!

2012-01-01T22:11:00.000-08:00

Oh, happy day!!! It's finally here! The Grand Finale...

The kids were up bright and early, ready to find out what fun gifts lie wrapped under the tree. As usual, we started with stockings and let them enjoy whatever was in it for a while. It gives a little reprieve so that I can get some breakfast ready. Then it's time for the fun part... The presents! We each bought/made one gift for each person in the family. 9 family members each giving a gift to the 8 other members. If my math is right, there should be about 72 presents under/around the tree! That's one crowded tree.

Again this year, we separated the gifts into the gifter's piles (instead of the reciever) and took turns handing one gift at a time to the recipient. I like it so much more that way. It seems so much more personal.

Normally, the kids shop at resale stores (or their own toy stock) for their gifts for others. Caleb did his shopping on Amazon (whoo-hoo for on-line shopping!). He knew how much we liked the Courageous movie, so he got the book for dad to go along with it.

Ellie had been BEGGING for this stuffed animal pillow for months. Literally, begging. Every time I'd ask her what she wanted for Christmas, it would be "a dolphin stuffed animal pillow". I needed more ideas so I'd say, "What if they don't have any more?" She'd be so dramatic and say, "...then I don't want anything else." Well, daddy came through for her and she was SO happy.

One of Selah's gifts was the traditional baby gift... A Precious Moments "Baby's First Christmas 2011" ornament. It's so odd that she celebrated her first Christmas the year after she was born. All the other ornaments are dated the year the baby was born. Later that day, I was reflecting back on Christmas the year before. Christmas day was my 13th day overdue, and I was incredibly frustrated to be still pregnant. I was starting to wonder if I was EVER going to have this baby (duh). Oh, what a difference a year makes...

Christmas Eve at the Pemble's

2012-01-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

My family....

All three of my brothers, my sister, and their families were together for Christmas Eve.

The girls. Dawn (my sister), Jenny (Bryan's wife), Mom, and me

ALL of the girls...

... and ALL of the guys.

Bryan's family...
Bryan, Jenny, Landon and Sydney

Jake and Laura (Dawn's son and his wife)

Scott, Emilee (Dawn's daughter), baby Carter and a very crabby looking Taylor

Kaitlyn (Dawn's daughter) and her boyfriend

Dawn and a much happier grandaughter, Taylor

Me and my hubby

Gingerbread Houses!

2012-01-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

When the kids were younger, and there were fewer hand-me-downs, each of the kids got to open Christmas PJ's as an early present on Christmas Eve. I loved the idea of having fun, new Christmas pajamas for the Christmas morning, present-opening pictures. Now we have plenty of pajamas (and Grandma C. always comes through with new PJ's for Christmas), so I just can't reason buying new pajamas just for the cuteness factor on Christmas morn.

As Paul and I were doing our last minute Christmas stuff, we ran into a "sweet" deal on Gingerbread houses! Aldi's was trying to clear out their Christmas stuff and my kids LOVED putting one together last year. I had great intentions of figuring out how to bake our own kits, but didn't get the job done... The houses were a hit!

AND they kept the kiddos busy while I was finishing up the baking and last minute wrapping for Christmas Eve.

Even little Nates got his own!

Don't they look so.... sugary? And yes, they ate them piece by piece the entire week following Christmas.

Christmas at the Larson's

2012-01-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

Christmas came early this year at Grandma and Grandpa Larson's! They were going to be in South Dakota over Christmas taking care of Great Grandma Marian, so we celebrated with the Larson side on December 10th. All the little kids on Paul's side of the family make it so much fun!

Selah and Elise (Jenny, Paul's sister's daughter) got matching Christmas dresses

The three amigos... Nathan, Jay, and Levi

(All within 6 months of eachother, and are finally starting to play well together! Yay!)

The four amigos... Nathan, Levi, Isaac, and Jay got matching sweaters

Grandpa Les with the annual "Happy Birthday, Jesus" cake... uh, I mean, "cookie" cake.

The kids are gathered around waiting for their piece of the cake after we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. I appreciate that Les and Connie go out of their way to get a special cake just for the purpose of drawing attention to the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Thanks.

My little bundle of Selah JOY is pulling up on the furniture quite well. My prediction is that it'll be another month or more before she's taking her first steps...

Grandma Connie and Selah

The final Christmas picture for the day... No nap + too much sugar= and ornery three-year-old.

Children's Christmas Pagent

2012-01-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

Our church had their children's pagent the week before Christmas. It's a fairly short production, but so cute to watch. The grade school kids get up and sing a few songs while the pre-school kids act out the parts of the nativity scene.

Grace, Ellie, and my little shepherd boy.

Nathan took his shepherding job very seriously. He held his sheep and didn't crack a smile once. So much for welcoming the newborn king, huh? AND he stood still the entire time on stage without using his shepherd's hook as a toy sword! Big accomplishment for this little guy (although, I think it would've been rather entertaining...).

There's Noah in the back under the "Christ" sign. Wierd, I only had 4 kids in the pagent this year. Caleb is now too old for Sunday School, and Seth is "choosing" to be too old for Sunday School. Dog-gone it, they keep growing up... *sob*. Someday it'll sink in.

Noah's first piano recital

2012-01-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

Noah started piano lessons at the beginning of the school year, so both he and Caleb took part in the Christmas piano recital.

I was sure proud of the little guy... well, he's eight, so I guess he's not so "little", but performing in front of a crowd can be a bit nerve-wracking at any age. In fact, the recitals were the main reason I quit playing piano when I was young (and ballet... and tap... and tumbling...). I dreaded performing in front of a crowd, so I applaud anyone brave enough to tackle the job without having a meltdown. So... Hurray for Noah. (yea, yea... and Caleb too, but it's kind of becoming "old hat" to him).

Let me test my memory here... I believe Noah played "Oh, Christmas Tree" and "Coventry Carols". He plunked his way through them (literally), then got up, nerves still in tact, and gave a bow. He made his momma proud!

Caleb played... well, when you get into songs by Bach and Mozart, they stop having normal names and are explained more like... "You know the really cool song from The Phantom of the Opera that is played on the organ when they are decending below the opera house? Yeah, that's the one. And you know that song on Disney's Fantasia when the little fairies are skating on the pond making different shapes in the ice? Yup, that's the other one." That last song was three songs in one, and I guess part of it was "The Waltz of the Sugar Plum Fairy". When his teacher picked out his songs for the recital, Caleb cringed (because of the name, of course. "fairy? really?"), but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him practice it over... and over... and over. :)

Fall pics

2011-11-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

We headed to the woods for our fall family pictures again this year. I love the fall. The colors provide an awesome backdrop that can make all pictures look professional. The kids are getting too used to our routine. They (Caleb especially) tires of the hundred pictures that we take and starts being goofy with his brothers and I have to drag him around like he has lead in his shoes. I know, right? It’s not the little ones that are trouble, it’s the older one. What’s with that? In any case, we got through the day with only a few tears (not from Caleb), and the treasured pictures are well worth the effort. :)

Selah's 10 months

2011-11-01T09:50:00.000-07:00

My adorable little girl is now 10 months old! She is STILL a sweet heart... a very mobile sweet heart. She started crawling a month or so ago and is buzzing all around the house with lightning speed. She does a funny crawl with one leg straight and the other bent under her. Grace crawled just like her. Even so, she's still fast. I'll walk from one room to another and turn around and she's right there! It's different to have a baby underfoot again.

Selah updates... She's learning the word 'no'. One example is when the kids chase her and pretend that their going to get her and tickle her. She crawls off as fast as her funny little crawl will take her while laughing histerically. It's cute to watch, but she's also decided that it's a fun game to play when mommy calls her. A couple times she's looked at me and if I looked like I was coming toward her, she'd turn around and take off the other way. Instead of chasing, I would just say "Selah, NO (in a firm voice). Come here (in a sweet voice)." It didn't take long for her to learn the difference between play time and mommy's instruction...

She has 6 teeth so far. Four upper and two lower with another one or two ready to pop in.

She points to me when she wants up, and can say "bye, bye", "da-da", "momma", and "pob" (I think she means potty). She also says a LOT of other things very seriously in her baby language. If only I could understand...

She's also recently started pulling herself to a stand. She'll pull herself up, but doesn't know how to let herself down yet...

Award Day

2011-10-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

Award Day at the Christian Youth Center officially marks the end of the soccer season... Bittersweet. By the end of each sport's season, I'm ready to have my routine back. The one that doesn't involve running out twice a week for practices or games. Granted, twice a week is nothing for some moms with kids in park district or school sports, but it is plenty for me...

Grace did a 180 turn around throughout the season. Even the difference between this last game and the one before is amazing. She was all over that ball, and was one of the most active players on the team. This from the girl that used to stand in the middle of the field stroking her hair and watching the other girls run after the ball. Impressive.

Ellie was goalie for almost the entire game. She played her part well and wasn't afraid to grab at the ball when 3 other kids are kicking at it. I think that would kind of freak me out a bit.

The Green Giants... Seth and Noah's team. I enjoyed watching their team the most this year. Many of the team had been together in previous years and worked well together. Seth is quick and can see openings when he has the ball. Soccer is a good sport for him. Noah has also picked up on his soccer skills in the past year. He is more tall and lanky for his age, so dodging in and out of players is a bit harder for him, but he managed to be in the right place at the right time to put in some nice shots to the goal.

Caleb, number 8, played with the "big boys". The age range was 11 to 17. That's an age range of 6+ years, but also, during those years, the boys are growing and maturing fast. It makes a big difference in their skill level and physical ability. I had a harder time watching Caleb's game without zoning out. It seemed like the ball would just keep bouncing from one end of the field to the other. Boring. Caleb also sat out alot. Being one of the youngest on the team, he didn't get played as much as the big, long-legged, quick guys. ut as he does with most things, when he got the chance, he put in 100 percent.

This year's awards were a bit different because the CYC had just sent out letters the week before stating that it would no longer be supporting any of the sports programs. We've been involved in both baseball and soccer there for about 7 years and have met many friends that we see each season. It was different to think that we may not run into them again. A little bit sad and a bit sentimental. We're anxious to see what the future holds for our little super stars...

WipeOut!

2011-10-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

We went to ICHE Family Camp in early September this year. The kids had been looking forward to it for months. We packed up our food, clothes, bikes and sleeping bags for a weekend of fun! ICHE (Illinois Christian Home Educators) rents the majority of Camp Timber-Lee in southern Wisconsin for the 300+ group of homeschooling families.

While I organized our sleeping arrangements in the cabin, the kids took off our their bikes to explore the camp. The little ones were with Paul, and the older guys rode around together. It was less than an hour after we checked in that I got a knock at the door. The daughter of a lady I recently met told me that Seth was hurt. Now if you know Seth, he can make a tiny bump seem like the end of the world, so I really didn't know what to expect. I stuck baby Selah onto my back in the baby carrier and followed her to see where Seth was.

As we were speed walking to find him, the girl kept glancing at me. It was almost like she was saying, "Well, aren't you going to run?" I got the hint and grabbed Selah's legs to hold her to me and started jogging. It took forever. I didn't realize how big the camp was. By the time I got to Seth, I was huffing from the hilly backroad jogging trip, and there was makeshift doctor examining Seth who was laying at the bottom of a very steep gravel road. Paul had come from the other direction and was trying to comfort Seth as the doc looked him over and questioned him.

Seth had nasty, deep scrapes all over his arms and legs. He also had a gouge right above his lip. After checking out the face gouge, we determined that he'd probably need stitches to close it up. Paul lifted him onto the golf cart, then into the car, and on to the nearest emergency room. After nearly 4 hours, he came back to camp looking something like a mummy (with all of the gauze wrappings), and two stitches in his upper lip.

The entire time he was being treated, he ignored the cuts and scrapes and was moaning and complaining about his upper inner thigh. At the time, there was nothing but a small red mark. He continued to walk like he'd just gotten off a bucking bronco for about 3 days. After we got home from the camp, he showed me his leg and described what he remembered. Apparently, he had found this "cool hill" to ride bikes down. He had the other kids wait at the top while he took the first ride. I think he got nervous about going to fast in the loose gravel and he tried to slow down with his brakes. What he didn't tell us when we were fixing up the bikes for the trip, was that he only had front brakes. His back brakes didn't work at all. Going too fast... Only front brakes... You get the picture. His front tire started to turn to the side and he ended up flying over the handle bars, jamming one of them into his upper thigh, and flew off the road skidding through the gravel. His bike ended up in the wooded area with the seat twisted and handlebars all bent up. Even after three days, my knees went weak when I saw the bruise on his thigh. It was as big as a dinner plate and such a deep purple, it made a bluberry look pale. Poor guy.

On the upside... I my first opportunity to take stitches out. I wouldn't have even considered it, but when the ER nurse said to make an appointment back in IL to get them removed, Paul asked about doing it ourselves. She commented that "if someone in the family was good at sewing..." I wouldn't say that I'm the best seamstress, but I've had enough practice at seam ripping... I worked my nerves through the first stitch. No sweat. Then, Seth, just for bragging rights, decided to take out the next one by himself. I held the mirror for him, and he accomplished his very first self-stitch removal. That's m' boy!

Sad day...

2011-10-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Today, after waving goodbye to my dad after his visit, I looked around for our puffy snowball of a puppy. I called for Minnie to no avail. She was growing fast and had outgrown our 3 year old Blue Heeler. Wondering what happened to her, I went inside to get a coat and shoes instead of slippers, then came back out to look for her. I called and called. I walked the entire yard looking. She's such a docile thing that you can call for a while and she'll take her time waking up, stretching, and coming out from under the porch, especially on such a damp, cold day. This time she didn't come. I started to get worried. We've had her for about 2 months now, always outside, and she's never left the yard. I was fairly certain she didn't run away. I started to wonder if someone saw how sweet she was and decided to steal her. I went inside and started making up a "missing puppy" sign to post by the street and sent the 3 older boys out to look in the meantime. Seth and Noah came in with no luck, but a while later, Caleb peeked in the door and said in a disbelieving tone, "I found her".

"Really? Where was she?" I was wondering what took so long for her to come and where she had gone. "She's out behind the pine tree in the field. She's dead."

What?? My heart sank. Caleb took me out to see her, and sure enough. There was our sweet, white, wet puppy. After Paul got home, he went out to see exactly what happened, and found that her back was broken. The only thing we can figure is that the coyote(s) killed her and drug her back behind the tree. Coyotes... the reason we got such a big dog in the first place. I hate those things. A year later and the tables would've been turned. I cried, and my kids comforted me. In my heart I know that it's no good to get attached to farm animals and, against my better judgement and to my dismay, my kids realize that.

Poor Little Guy

2011-09-29T18:30:00.001-07:00

It's tough being the younger brother of two little girls. You'd think his big brothers would put a stop to it, but when they're not looking, the girls get their chance to play dress up with Nathan....

Caleb's 12!

2011-09-17T00:54:00.000-07:00

It seems like I'm putting a birthday blog on here all the time. I pretty much am. Nine people in the family makes for a lot of birthday blogs...

My little man is growin' up. Caleb is totally the typical "first-born" child. Super responsible, respectful, orderly, scheduled, helpful, and just a plain, good kid. The winds of change are coming. I can feel it. Not that he's turning bad, but that annoying boy stuff is coming out. He'll walk by a brother and whomp 'em on the arm for no reason, or maybe just play drums on his head. He might have a friendly teasing for the girls, and a bit of, "maybe you don't quite know everything, mom". He doesn't actually say it out loud, but just gives me that silent thoughtful look as he's evaluating something I've said. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know everything, but it's interesting to watch him start reasoning things out for himself.

Caleb has been in need of a bike this summer, and we had planned to do some biking at ICHE Family Camp the week after his birthday, so daddy did some searching on Craigslist. I'm sure you know by now, we buy ALOT of things second-hand. I'd rather spend my money on a gently-used, high-quality item than something mediocre for the same price. Paul found a nice Trek mountain bike for a great deal. Needless to say, Caleb was thrilled (although he still borrows Noah's beat-up bike for wheelies and stunt riding).

His little sisters still adore him, even with the little bit of teasing. I imagine next year I'll be writing that he's passed me up in height, but he's still waiting for that big growth spurt. His looks are starting to change. He's just starting to lose that "kid" look, and get a bit more mature look to him. He's a good one to be the first to go through the whole "growing up" thing. I'm going to enjoy the changes that will be evident in the next few years.

Selah's 8 months

2011-09-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit late in posting this because although the title says 8 months, she's actually closer to 9 months. Oh, well.

This month our little munchkin got her top two teeth. They seemed to appear overnight as teeth sometimes do when I'm not watching for them. I saw them poking through her gums as I was changing her and thought in retrospect, "hmmm, maybe that's why she wasn't her happy self yesterday". That's about it. Most of my kids are good teethers. Nathan was the only one who had a hard time with it, and that was only when his molars were breaking through...

Yes, that's Selah on the potty. She did go this time, and has gone a few other times. She has definate actions/expressions when she is going number 2, so sometimes (if I'm free), I'll catch her and put her on the potty. It's not my goal to train her now, but a few less dirty diapers are a nice bonus.

Selah and mommy

This is one of Selah's FAVORITE places to be... in my baby carrier. I LOVE this carrier. It's only taken me 7 kids to find it. Throughout the years, I've gone through every kind of sling, wrap, and baby pack you can think of. This Ergo Carrier has Baby Bjorn beat hands down. It is so comfy and I can where her on my back, in the front, and on my hip. Sometimes, when I'm busy and Nathan (my 2 year old) wants to be held, I'll stick him in the carrier on my back, and continue working. He loves it, too. The Ergo is pricey, but I got this one, brand new, for a deal through Ebay, and it is well worth the money!

Selah's visiting the chickens. She was quite content to watch them pecking at the grass all around her.

Food!! In this last month, she's come to love it. Grapes, blueberries, cooked carrot chunks, black beans, applesauce, pieces of pancake, cheerios... she's taken to it like a pro.

Soccer season starts

2011-09-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

It's soccer season again!!

This year, the girls wanted to play, so that makes five of the seven kids into soccer stars. We are still playing at the Christian Youth Center and Paul coaches one of the teams. With those things in our favor, we managed to get all 5 kids (3 different teams) practicing on the same night. Yay! And all the games are on Saturday morning. Yay, again!!

The girl team is so cute, and so, well... girly. At the first game, they looked more like little ballerinas than soccer players. Even having the three older brothers in soccer didn't prepare them for the push and shove of getting to the ball. After a few minutes, Ellie caught the hang of it. She joined the mob of kids huddled around the moving ball. They looked like a swarm of bumblebees migrating along with the ball. (The yellow jerseys help with the word picture too :)

Grace, on the other hand, just stood on the outside of the mob, looking in. I'm not sure that she got the idea of exactly what she was supposed to do. What? Get in there and kick at someone's shin to steal something that someone else is kicking? And risk getting MY shins kicked? She finally caught on in the last few minutes of the game and gave the free ball a good whallop.

At one point in the game, Ellie was just kind of standing out in the field kicking at the ground. I figured she had just ran out of enery and was giving up, that is, until Paul pointed out that her cleat's sole was half off her shoe and floppy. After going through the boys, those cleats have seen their last game.

We still had half of the game left, so Caleb ran up to the van to get the duct tape (the fix-all), and Paul had her good-as-new (almost) and back in the game in a flash. Good thing we didn't put the duct tape away because as we were finishing the game we had another shoe to fix. The same exact thing happened to Gracie's shoe!! Same foot! How does THAT happen?

We stopped at the resale shop on the way home and found some new (to us) cleats for Ellie and Grace got some extras that we had at home. Problem solved for now, but I'm guessing we'll need to keep that duct tape handy, just in case...

Our new pup

2011-09-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

On our way home from the lakehouse at the end of last month, we added to our 15 passenger crew when we stopped near Dwight to pick up our new puppy. We've been patiently awaiting the newest member of our household since she was born in June. She's a Great White Pyrenees.

If you're not familiar with that breed, let me introduce you... they are big dogs. The females are around 85 pounds. They are courageous, obedient, and loyal. They are very gentle and affectionate with its family and children. We chose this breed for all of those reasons, plus what they are most known for... being a livestock guardian. After watching a coyote chase a chicken right up onto our porch with Lady (our blue heeler) barking at her the whole time, we decided that Lady needed a team mate. At ten weeks old, she's just about the same size as Lady, so next year at this time, we'll be asking that ol' coyote to give it another try... ha, ha, ha (cynical laugh)...

We all fell in love with her right away. She is a big ball of fluff and oh, so fun to pet. Even thought she's a ten week old puppy, she is soooo calm. I love it! We came up with a few different names, and finally narrowed it down to two... Tiny or Mini. The kids loved the irony of naming a huge dog such a small name, of course, so we settled on Mini and changed it to Minnie (not after the mouse). We looked up her name and found that it means, "determined protector". Perfect!

Call me crazy...

2011-08-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

Les and Connie so graciously allowed a friend and I to take our kids down to their lakehouse last week.
Lisa has 6 kids who are about the same ages as mine, so between us we have 13 kids, ages 12 to 7 months. We packed up the 15 passenger van with every seat filled and every bit of under-seat space occupied by a duffle bag, life jacket or bag of food. Unfortunately, we had to leave our hard-working, soccer-coaching daddy at home. Believe it or not, he actually wanted to go. Crazy guy. It took us 10 hours to make a 7 1/2 hour journey, but we arrived with everyone intact and ready to swim! Even Selah was a happy traveler the whole way.

10 of the 13 kids lined up on the dock getting ready to jump in. Now, maybe it's just me, but it really doesn't look like that many kids...

Grandma and Grandpa Larson have the perfect set up for a family of 15. Two tables in the kitchen with plenty of chairs and benches for seating! And where did we all sleep, you ask? Plenty of room there too. Truthfully, most kids have no problem camping out in a sleeping bag on the floor, but there are so many sleeping areas... Everyone slept on a bed, a couch, a cot or an air mattress.

Selah played in her air tub most of the time, and Nathan (below) missed the "jumping off the dock" picture because he hung out on the shore.

Noah's started lessons

2011-08-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Noah started taking piano lessons this summer. He was hesitant to start and resisted a bit before he started, but I think he's enjoying the opportunity. Now... if I can just get him to practice every day...

Ellie lost her first tooth!

2011-08-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

My little girl lost her first tooth! You know what that means? She is going to lose her second tooth! And then another, and another, and pretty soon she'll be sixteen and wanting to drive the family car!! Ugh, I hate that. Not the car part, but the growing up part. I know they have to grow up, and I know it's a good thing, but if I could only just slow them down a bit so that I have time to savor those precious moments. The sweet "mommy, I love you" moments... Well, no turning back now.

Ellie was thrilled to lose her first tooth. It seems like it was loose for a long, long time. She finally popped it out with a bite on a hard, premature apple that the girls picked to use for their picnic in the yard. She stuck it in a baggie under her pillow and was so excited to find that the tooth fairy left her a whopping $2 for her first tooth. (That fairy always seems a bit generous on those "first teeth") As is the trend with most of the kids, her money didn't stick around long. She went garage sailing with Grandma (a favorite summer activity) and bought more "oh, so cute" stuffed animals to add to her collection.

2nd annual Larson Reunion

2011-08-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of August, we had our second Annual Larson Reunion. It's not exactly a "reunion" because we see eachother more often than just once a year, but with everyone's busy schedules, the summer seems to slip by unless we make a point to get together. We went to Centennial Park in downtown Naperville again this year, and again it worked out great! It rained in the morning before we arrived, so the usually packed beach was fairly empty. All the better for us! We brought picnic lunches and spent the afternoon being lazy.... together.

Selah's Dedication

2011-08-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

We had Selah dedicated at church on August 7th. A baby dedication is simply a public statement by us (the parents) saying that we are committing do our best to raise Selah to know and love Jesus. At the same time, we are asking God for His wisdom in teaching and training her, and for His protection over her life. It's really a prominent occasion for all of our kids to have gone through. It in no way guarantees her salvation, just our commitment to lead her spiritually to the point when she can make that decision on her own. After all, as my mom would say, "God doesn't have grandkids." Meaning... "You can't get to heaven because you have 'christian' parents or a godly heritage. You have to make the decision to follow Christ for yourself".

There's nothing like a daddy's prayer for his little girl. As the spiritual leader of the house, he prayed for wisdom in raising her, and that God would protect her as she grows.

After Paul prayed, Pastor Jim prayed a blessing over her and us.

It's a hefty responsibility to see that she doesn't just make it from infancy to adulthood in one piece, but to see that she is nourished with the truths from God's word. Our desire is to teach and show her those truths as we live our daily lives, so that when she is able, she will choose for herself to follow the Lord Jesus with her whole heart.

She's a "GREAT" Grandma

2011-08-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Paul's grandma, Grandma Marian, came from Pierre, South Dakota to visit in July. It's getting harder for her and Sylvan (her husband) to get around by themselves, so Paul's parents brought her home to visit for a week. Selah got to meet her Great Grandma for the first time. What an incredible thing... 4 generations! I didn't have the opportunity to know my "Great's", and both of my "Grand's" passed away quite a while ago, so I think it's cool that the kids get to see and spend time with their Great Grandma.

Selah's 7 months!

2011-08-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Selah is such a joy! The whole family just adores her and enjoys having a baby to dote on. I love watching the older kids with her and seeing their tender sides come out. It is actually very handy having the age space between the older kids and Selah. I guess there was a space between them and Nathan, but it's even more noticable this time around... or maybe I'm continuing to relax and trust them a bit more?

I regularly send one of the boys to the car with her to buckle her in or ask someone to bring her downstairs from her crib when she wakes. The girls are even learning to be excellent baby sitters. They will watch and play with her for an hour (or more) at a time so I can finish some work outside. I love the help, and have a hard time remembering how I managed with only 3 small toddlers. I am convinced that 7 kids spread over 11 years is much easier than 3 kids under 5.

Within the last month, Selah has taken to sitting up quite well. She still needs to be placed in the sitting position, but she'll balance there a good while before toppling over or flipping to her tummy by bending over and kicking her legs out from under her.

She has also become an expert "raspberry" blower. She intersperces her sweet "da, da, da" with a lovely "phhhhhttt" sound. Out of habit, most of us will do it back at her, which only encourages her even more. It's a cute phase! If her talking and singing at this age is a sign of what's to come, we're in for an earful. Whenever we're in the car and the family gets loud from talking or singing, you can hear her join right in. She'll start singing or talking just like she's part of the crowd.

Her diet is still limited to nursing, with a squishy blueberry or soft green bean here or there. I've tried the mushed food or yogurt every so often, but she wants nothing to do with it. She's much more interested in food with texture. I guess we're gonna just skip that stage.

Selah and her Littlest Big Brother.

Nathan loves and adores Selah! Although Selah will start to cry a bit and show some jealousy when I hold Nathan, the opposite is hardly true. Nathan will climb into my bed in the morning and insist on laying next to Selah, not me. For the most part, he has taken this "not-the-baby-of-the-family" thing very well, and Selah is reaping the benefits with love from her big (little) brother.

Lakehouse 2011

2011-08-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, the Lakehouse! We love going to the lakehouse. We left for the Missouri Ozarks the day after Vacation Bible School was over. Both Paul and I were ready for a reprieve. We met Grandpa and Grandma down there for a relaxing week of swimming, fishing and... riding the wave runners!

Grandma and the girls on the pontoon.

The kids had a blast having Grandpa Les pull them around on the tube. Grandma Connie rode with Ellie and Grace, and even Nathan went on his very first tube ride with daddy.

This year was even more fun than the last. While Noah and Ellie were kind of nervous last year around the water, this year, all of the kids (except Nathan and Selah) were like regular water bugs. They spent most of their time jumping off and swimming around the dock which is WAY over their heads. Even if they can swim well, we require the kids to wear their lifejackets simply because they are literally treading water the whole time their swimming, sometimes for hours, except for the small amount of time they spend finding shells or rocks near the shore.

Grandma Connie got her fill of the waverunner this year. The boys love riding and they need someone older to go with them. Grandma was a willing party. Between mom, dad, Grandma and Grandpa, the kids had many trips out. When the adults were really brave, they let Caleb or Seth sit in front and drive around the cove.

Ellie is a quick swimmer. She does this cute frog-like swim and she's really fast! She loves the water, and jumps right in off the dock with the best of 'em. I think she even influenced Noah into working up some courage. He couldn't let a younger girl outdo him...

Another favorite part for the kids is fishing. Nathan had a blast walking around the dock trying to catch fish. His pole didn't have a hook, but he tried his best. If we sat one-on-one with him, we may have used a hook or lure, but if you have six kids fishing at the same time, you'd agree that "no hook" is best. I think Paul spent more time untangling lines than he did fishing... with just one hook-in-the-finger casualty. I, being that I didn't buy a fishing liscense, couldn't help at all... oh, bummer.

Seth was the catching king. I don't know why, but we'd have 3 kids fishing in the same area with the same type of lure, and the fish would choose his line. He'd stick his line in, and out would pop a fish, while everyone else agonized to catch just one. I think he ended up with 9 fish, Ellie with 2 and the others with 1 or none. Finicky fish.

We're so thankful that both Paul's parents and my parents get along so well. Since Les and Connie (Paul's parents) were going to be leaving mid-way through the week, we invited my parent's down to overlap and finish the week with us. We all enjoyed having both sets of grandparents there, and once again realized just how blessed we really are.

Thursday of that week was my dad's 69th birthday. After fun day of swimming, Grandma and Grandpa went out for dinner to celebrate with eachother... and then brought home cake and ice cream to celebrate with us! If you study Grandpa Harold, you'll realize he is a treasure chest. Once you get through the lock and open the rough box, he's full of gold and riches on the inside, well worth the effort. I've always had a good relationship with my dad, but I think I enjoy him now more than ever. I especially love watching him and the kids interact. We love him very much.

The following day, Paul and I went out for dinner sans kids. Even Selah stayed back. Every time I have someone babysit so I can shop (or whatever), I tend to take her along. I figure 6 kids are plenty to entertain without adding a busy baby. So whenever I go without her, it feels weird to have totally empty hands. Weird in a nice way, of course! I enjoy getting to talk to my hubby without all of the interuptions, but by the time the night's done, I'm ready to get back to the party. I don't dread it, I actually enjoy being home with everyone (most of the time... I know you know what I mean...)

Needless to say, we had a great time and look forward to the opportunity to go down again. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Larson!

True Colors

2011-07-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

At the end of June, our church, Pathway Christian Fellowship, held an evening vacation bible school for a shortened 4 day week. This year they went with a gold-mining western theme with the teaching curriculum coming from Answers In Genesis. Paul and I both enjoy that ministry's teachings based on Creation, so we were excited when they asked us to teach the bible lesson part of each night. We had fun dressing and acting the part.

Paul, who insisted that he's totally NOT into acting goofy, took on the part of an old western miner. Miner Joe. He grew his beard out, borrowed some suspenders, rolled up his work jeans and really looked the part. I was Miner Sue. A bit goofy mixed with a bit dopey and you'd have my character pretty well figured out. It was a lot of fun... a lot of work, but a lot of fun, too. I almost think that our characters came too naturally to us....

Caleb was our third leg in the deal. He played the part of Dakota the western puppet. He was too old this year to take part in VBS, but was still able to help out. He enjoyed playing the part and did really well. He even dug out some western wear for the times that he wasn't hidden behind the curtain. In fact, all the kids dressed up for at least a few of the nights. Nathan especially enjoyed being a cowboy. We would repeat the same general lesson for the night to the 3 different age groups, and Nathan would just sit on the bench and watch the lessons while munching on popcorn the entire time. Knowing what he CAN be like if he chooses, I was really impressed with how well-behaved he was.

We invited several our our friends' families to join us for the week. One close family had an older girl that, like Caleb, was too old to join VBS, so she watched Selah, my little prairie baby. Susannah loved dressing up and toting Selah around as if she were her own baby. I can remember doing the same thing with my sister's babies when I was the same age.

It was fun having an impact on the 70 or so kids that attended. We taught them about Jesus' "super powers" and how he's the only true superhero. One of the nights we taught them not to be fooled by counterfeits. Using the example of how Fool's gold looks like the real stuff, but isn't, other religions and leaders may "look" or "sound" like the real thing, but aren't. Then we went on to explain why Ghandi, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, etc. are counterfeits. I especially liked that part simply because most of those kids are taught that all religions are equal. It was odd, but I almost felt "intolerant" saying it out loud. It's just not something that most people say so point-blank ... "I'm right, you're wrong", but Jesus taught specifically that He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. NO ONE can come to the Father except through Him. Jesus wasn't afraid to step on people's toes and tell it like it is. While I prefer to avoid confrontation or offending anyone, He had the perfect balance of compassion AND truth. "He gives grace to the humble and resists the proud." (Ok, you're probably thinking... "whoa, they got way to indepth for MY kindergardener"... but that last part was more of my personal lesson for myself than what we taught the kids... sorry, I got off on a tangent... :)

My little cowgirl, Ellie (in the chaps and braids on the far left), must still be thinking about Vacation Bible School. Today, about a month after it ended, she said to me, "Mom, I knew Miner Sue was really you cause I saw you when you were dressing up." I thought that was cute. Now, I didn't think my costume was that decieving, but apparently I played the part well, and maybe, just maybe, a bit of my true redneck colors were shining through...

lunch... family style

2011-07-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

Lunch... family style...

Our family, that is. Meals on the road tend to be a bit different for us. With bunches of mouths to feed, we think twice before we just pop into Culver's or Applebee's (and walk out with a $60 bill). We've learned some tricks to the trade. For instance, the Taco Bell Party Pack. It's 12 tacos for $10. Our crew qualifies us as an instant party waiting to happen. Then there's the 99 cent menu at Wendy's... 10 doublestacks please. No fries, we have our own apples, thanks. Nope, no pop either.

One of our favorites is Sam's Club. We call while we're on our way there and order a pizza or two, run in to pick it up and head to a park somewhere. It's fast, fairly cheap ($7.88 for a whole pizza), and we don't have 7 bouncy kids locked into a booth (Been there, done that, and it's not fun).

On one particular Sunday, we had to make a run up toward the Fox Valley/Naperville area. We called into the local Sam's Club and picked up our pizza and rotisseried chicken (another bargain at only $4.99) and headed to the nearest park. Actually, we really had no idea where a shady park happened to be in the area, so we checked into the next best thing. The grassy area on the side of a parking lot...

You may not believe me, but it was actually quite nice. A shaded, grassy valley nestled between Burlington Coat Factory and New York Street. It was nicer than some parks I've been to. We spread out our blanket and picnic set (that stand at the ready in the back of our van), and we were all set. We ate, had our fun, and loaded back up to finish our trip with satisfied tummies.

Selah's chillin' in her stroller.

The kids had fun seeing who could leap over the run-off drainage ditch without falling in the water. Even Daddy got his chance a few times (yes, he did make it over ).

Seth and Noah's Birthday's

2011-07-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

So far, this summer has been CRAZY busy. Time is flying! We just saw school supplies in the middle of the Walmart aisles! How sick is that? Even sicker... we bought some. Caleb asked me to get him a couple more notebooks, and before we knew it, we had a cart full of crayons, markers, notebooks, pens, folders and all that good stuff. I'm sure we'll be starting up before too long...

Ahhh, on to the news... I have to do some catching up over the last month. If you haven't guessed, I not only use this blog to keep my posse (that's slang for you all :) caught up on what's going on in our world, but even more so, to keep a written "journal" of our family life that I can print out and put in binders to read later. Crazy thing is... when I print the recent ones out to add to the binder, I'll glance at the older blogs and don't even remember writing some of those things. I find myself laughing over and over again. What's with that? Good thing I'm writing 'em as I go, right?

Seth's 10th Birthday!

Oh, my little Seth. So much to say, so little room... I have said from before he was two that when he's happy, he's elated, but when he's upset, look out! It's still true. In fact, he has been a major chunk of my "home study course" on parenting for the past 10 years. I think I could spend the next ten years trying to figure him out and still not quite get it. I am progressing though :) By the time I'm, oh, say... 90, I'll have my Masters... maybe.

Seth truely is a sweet and caring kid. He's very helpful when asked. He's just starting to get the whole "doing things without being asked" kind of help (the best kind). He cares deeply about what other people think of him. If you let him know you appreciate and think the world of him, he'll live up to it... And the opposite is true. I suppose that's the same with most kids, but it's more evident in some. In my studies, I have observed that his language of love is with words of affirmation. When the kids all make cards for someone, he ALWAYS expresses his heart in his card. The other kids are not nearly as detailed in their wording. It's a reminder to me that I need to do the same for him, in cards, or just verbally.

Ok, so Grace came to me the other day and asked me if she HAD to marry "someone else". "Someone else? Like, not in our family?" I asked. "Yes." She got kind of sobby when I told her she couldn't marry her brothers. "You want to marry your brother, huh?" "Yes," She sobbed. "Which one would you marry?" I asked. "Seth." I don't know why, but that surprised me. Maybe it's because Seth and Ellie butt heads and agitate eachother all the time. I guess I didn't pay much attention to how well Grace and Seth get along. Technically, Seth is her big "buddy". He's supposed to make sure she has her shoes on and is buckled in the car when we go somewhere, and he's supposed to give her that bit of help at things when she needs it. I guess he's been doing his job and his little sis has admiration for him. Sweet.

(above) Meeting daddy at the park. Seth chose stuffed pizza for his lunch. Dee-lish!

(below) Seth and Noah at their co-birthday party with the extended family. Caleb made them a layered ice cream cake.

Noah is a sweet heart. Most of the time, he's content just to hang with the crowd. He's one of those kids who is going to grow up to be the guy that gives you the shirt off his back. He loves to give... and he loves sweets. If he can get the two to go hand-in-hand, he's in heaven. Lately he's been buying treats at the store... gum, candy, ice cream, whatever... and will proudly and gladly disperse it among his siblings. He just like to be able to give things.

He's such a cute kid. If he does something he's not supposed to, it's usually on accident or out of carelessness. It's not usually on purpose (unless it's in self defense, of course... and with two older brothers, who can blame him for that, right?). He also loves to help take care of his little brother Nathan. He's Nathan's big "buddy". Apparently this whole buddy system has a "family bonding" side benefit.

Out of all the kids, Noah has had the most trouble learning to read. For him, math is a breeze, but this reading thing... ugh. For a time I thought I was the slacker. I switched to different programs and put more pressure on the poor kid. I was trying figure out why both Caleb and Seth took off when they started to read and why Noah just couldn't get it. He knew his letters and sounds, but just had trouble putting them together. As Ellie is getting older, I am realizing that it's not my method that's faulty because she's picking up on it just fine. He's just needing more time to fine tune his skills. He's starting to actually like reading books now. He still struggles, but it's coming easier and isn't as much "work".

Noah's gift from Nathan (below) was a big bottle of that aerosole whipped topping. I think that may have been his favorite gift. He loved spraying it right into his mouth to create a giant foamy tower. In fact, since then, the older boys each have bought themselves a can to do the same! What a fun and totally yummy gift!

Happy Birthday boys!!

Great America!!

2011-07-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hooray for reading programs!! We've earned personal pizzas from Pizza Hut, baseball tickets, ice cream, other fun trinkets and for the second time... free Six Flags Great America tickets! This year, Ellie was in kindergarden, so she got to earn her tickets by being read to. And if the older boys read to her, they added it to their reading log too to kill two birds with one stone!

Great America has a reading program that they do through public schools, and one specific for homeschooling families. Through the homeschool program, Caleb, Seth, Noah, Ellie and I (with a teacher's ticket) all got in for free. Another family that we know did the same and we all went together in our big van and had a grand ol' time :)

On the day we went, it was thunderstorming in the morning and supposed to rain much of the morning around where we live, but the storm kinda went around Gurnee (where Great America is), so the lines for the rides were great! The kids would walk up to most of the rides, and instead of waiting for 30 minutes to an hour to ride, they got right on. If they liked the ride, they'd run around and get right back on! It didn't rain, but we had nice cloud cover most of the day. Great America was... well... Great!

Dad's Day

2011-06-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

To three of the most important dads in our lives...

Thank you for the rich heritage that you are leaving for the next generations.

We love you. Happy Father's Day.

Selah's eatin'... sort of.

2011-06-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Selah is almost 6 months old! She had one little tooth that has poked through her bottom gums and from the way she's chewing on things, I don't think it'll be long before another tooth joins the first...

I just started giving her "real" food in the last week or two. I didn't intend start yet because, well, once you start, there's no turning back. Why add one more thing to my "to-do" list when I don't have to? There's an added "bonus" with waiting. After they start eating food, "the baby has a stinky diaper" takes on a totally different meaning.

It's been years since I bought jar baby food. When Caleb was a baby, I went to a class that taught how to make you're own baby food. It was a revelation! In retrospect, I think "Duh, that's common sense", but at the time, I just assumed that Gerber new more about feeding my baby than I did. Eventually I just started mushing up the veggies that we cook for our own meals and voila!... baby food.

Our baby food keeps getting more and more unconventional. I have learned with the last few babies how good soft boiled egg yolks are for their first food (from Nourishing Traditions Cookbook), so that is what I intended to feed Selah. I'll still be feeding that to her when I decided to spoon feed her, but for right now, her food is also her toy to keep her hands busy. As she sits on the counter while I make meals, she gets bored playing with the measuring cups and spoons, so I've started handing her fruit and veggies to knaw on and suck. She loves it! A peeled carrot, apple or pinapple cores, mango seeds... whatever I have on hand that is big enough not to break off into small pieces.

Sucking on the juicy flesh that's left on the mango seed (mangos are very slippery so I wrapped the bottom in a paper towel)

Mmmm, snacking on a pinapple core. (side note: the core of the pinapple is full of Bromelain. What's that, you say? It's a mixture of enzymes that are known to help clear the sinuses along with other things. So next time you have a cold...)

A favorite summer treat for all of us are Banana Pops. We buy bananas in bulk and leave them on the counter to ripen. Once they're overripe, but before they turn brown, we peel them, cut them in half or thirds, and insert a wooden craft stick into the cut end. (Hobby Lobby sells 1000 of them for about 4 bucks.) We lay them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and stick 'em in our freezer. Once frozen, we transfer them to a gallon ziplock and stick them back into the freezer for later (after we all have one, of course). No food coloring, no added sugar, just an inexpensive, healthy treat for a hot summer day.

Selah loves them. They are cold, which helps her teething, yet not as cold as an ice cube. Weird but true. They thaw and mush up as she sucks on it, and she can hold the stick without getting her hands cold. Selah's happy with her treat, and momma's happy because I have a happy baby and two free hands to keep cooking!

The Boundary Waters Trip 2011

2011-06-07T13:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I find it hard to understand how or why it's fun and enjoyable to brave the great outdoors that are filled with mosquitoes, ticks, rain, lack of a nice comfy bed, rain, a hole in the ground for a toilet, rain, and, this year, nasty biting black flies. Oh, did I mention rain? I guess that's the "girly" part of me. Someday I may just tag along on this guy excursion just to find out what the insatiable draw really is.

For now, here's what I understand the general outline of their trip to be (...or what could actually be revealed to an "outsider" like me).

First, the weak and feminine are weeded out and only the truely rough and tough load into the van. Then they head north for 11 hours in search of untouched wilderness (as untouched as you can get around here). Before their encounter with nature, they stop by the "outfitters" to be fitted with a few needed supplies (maps, permits, ect.) and within another hour's drive, they finally reach their destination.... a parking lot that's a half mile away from water. (You're probably thinking the same thing I am right now... ) They unload their fishing equipment, canoes, and packs (filled with food, cooking utensils, clothes, raingear, tents, sleeping bags, tools...) and carry everything the half mile to the water's entry point. (OK, it's not sounding so fun at this point, but let's go on...)

Then they load everything into two canoes (while still saving space for six people to sit in those canoes) and paddle for 4 hours to reach their first campground. The four hours of paddling were interspersed with lovely things called "portages"...

A "portage" a fun 'game' where the lake or river runs into rapids and everyone hops out of the canoes and makes several trips to carry all the gear, packs, and the 85 lb canoes over the land, past the rapids, to canoe-able water again. These portages can be anywhere from 300 feet to half of a mile (on this trip). (Hmmm, sounding any better yet?)

Once they reach their site, they set up camp. They put together their tents and ready their sleeping areas. Then it's dinnertime! This first night is the night of luxury. They eat steaks brought from home (that were frozen and thaw enroute), cookies, lemonade and popcorn because generally, they don't have time to fish for their dinner that first night. (It's sounding a bit better...) Then they tuck into bed as the sun's starting to set to be refreshed for the next day (...and to get out of the mosquitoes, I think).

Ahhhh, they wake up bright and early, light the morning fire, and mix up a batch of "just add water" pancake mix to cook on a griddle. Caleb made up the mix before they left... whole wheat, dried milk and eggs, sugar, ect. Mmmm-mmm, tastes just like home...

Then they head out to catch their dinner....

They fish from the canoe...

They fish from the shore...

They fish in the cold...

Then they fish some more...

And every once in a while, they catch something....

Some big somethings...

And some bitty somethings...

Then, it's fish fry time!!
After a day or two at that campsite, they pack up all the gear and canoe/portage further into the wilderness to set up camp all over again. From what I understand, they repeat this process several times throughout the week. They also had some new experiences this year...

It rained alot this year. It would rain on and off throughout the day... EACH day. It was also super windy on at least one of the days. In fact, here at home, my dad and I wondered how they were fairing since there were tornado warnings up in their area.
Their new rain gear got lots of use this year...
On one of those windy days, while they were fishing on the opposite side of the island, their canoe (which was tied down over a rock at the camp) broke free, rolled into the water, and started floating downstream. Thankfully, a stranger saw it and found the guys and asked if they were missing a canoe. It was full of water, but amazingly, it floated right up to the shore and they didn't even have to get in the water to get it. It suffered only a small leak (which was repaired with their supplies) and a dent.
There are some very beatiful areas that they venture into. The views of huge boulders, rushing streams and animals in their natural surroundings are part the reward for all their hard work. Paul heard a Trumpeter Swan which apparently really sounds like a trumpet. They saw a variety of critters. They even had a bald eagle's nest right over the "throne" (code-word for "hole-in-the-ground toilet").

The sunsets are incredible.

I love this picture of the golden sunset shining on the opposite horizon and reflecting in the water.

Ken and Matthew Thomas (above) joined the manly adventure this year.

The boys find the firewood and the dads split it.

Every lunch is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and they have a pasta dish with every fish dinner. They fill in the hungry in-between times with beef jerky, a cheese stick, trail mix, or dried cranberries.

As I asked the boys what their favorite part of the trip was, they came up with answers like, "catching fish" or "not the ticks!" or "exploring the new campsites!" They all agreed that one of the things they like the most is the time with eachother and with their dad. I am so thankful that they have a dad that is able (and willing) to spend time and energy to "bond" with his boys. Through his words and actions, he is teaching them how to be a "man". He's certainly leaving them some big shoes to fill.

Ellie

2011-06-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

The guys are back, but I have one more post before I blog about their oh, so awesome canoe trip...

This one's about ELLIE!

It took a good few days with the older boys away to realize how much Ellie is maturing. Because one of the older boys usually make pancakes (or some other breakfast food) in the morning, I didn't even consider that Ellie was old enough to start making them. I believe each of the kids started at 6 years old, or maybe even 5, but I completely forgot to teach my future replacement!! I showed her the "picture" recipe that has worked well for the boys, and how to read it, and she took to it like an old pro. I enjoyed seeing her excitement as she made them by herself for the first time!

I also had time to talk with her. Not just to her, but with her. She is quite the thinker and she picks up on things quickly. We had an enjoyable time together and I'm looking forward to having many girly talks with her throughout the years. She adds quite a bit of lovely (and much needed)femininity to the crowd! Love it!

Fun times!

2011-06-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

All in all, the girls, Nathan and I had a fun time this week without daddy and the bigger boys. I thought I could get sooo much work accomplished around the house. I did get some things done, but not nearly all that I wanted. It was actually getting pretty stressful trying to get my projects done. Nathan didn't have his brothers there to do the typical boy things with him, so he was a bit more demanding with attention, and Selah seemed like she wouldn't take much of an afternoon nap and wanted to be with momma. I would try to get things done when I did have free hands, but it would get frustrating when I had to stop in the middle of something to tend to somebody. After 3 days of that, I decided to relax a bit and have more fun with the kids rather than work on projects....

One of the first things we did was to buy a large can of whipped creme. You know, the aerosol kind that is so fun to spray directly into the kids mouths. Our dessert was a cookie piled high with the foamy stuff. Messy but so fun and yummy.

Selah, helping mommy work.

TEA TIME

Both Ellie and Grace have a tea set that is was brought back from Romania (when Paul and I "met") I've gone back and forth on whether to actually use them or to stash them away in a box so nothing will happen to them. I've decided that not using them is worse. That's what they're for. It's a snowball effect. I don't use them because they're fragile, and pass them on.... My daughter won't use them because they're fragile and sentimental, and they pass them on... my grandaughter won't use them because their fragile, sentimental, and old, and they pass them on... where does it stop? Things are meant to be used. Sad if they're broke, but life WILL go on.

Anyhow, all that to say, we got out Gracie's tea set for the first time this week. She was very excited and she set the table with Ellie. We had just watched "Felicity" the night before and it had training on tea time manners. They were even instructing me on how to offer the tea. "Would you care for tea, Ellie? Cream and sugar, Ellie?", said with a very "proper" accent.

Wednesday was our Strawberry Shortcake night. We baked the short cake (whatever that is? Is that supposed to be a cake that doesn't rise? short?) and cut up the strawberries and soaked them in a tablespoon or so of sugar to pull out the juices. Then made a VERY large strawberry shortcake. We decided to make it in one big dish instead of a bunch of small ones. We piled it high with the whipped cream and settled in to watch a movie.

One of these last few nights, we soaked our feet and gave mani- and pedicures. The day was so busy that we didn't even start until 10! (Actually every night has been a late night and poor Nathan has started asking me to put him to bed) The girls put sparkles on their toes along with the polish...

THIS is probably my favorite place to sit at the house. It's our back porch swing. It's in a breezy area where I can watch the kids play, look at my garden, watch the sun set, read, or enjoy a warm rain. LOVE it. We spent alot of time out here this week. Nathan loves it too. He likes to hang a stick over the edge and pretend like he's fishing. I'm amazed at the good stock of fish he pulls out of the garden below us :)

And lastly, this is "the old red hen". She escaped the spring trip to the chicken butcher. The night we snagged all the sleeping birds to cage up, she was sleeping in the barn instead of the chicken coop. We have about 30 younger laying hens that aren't laying yet, but I hesitate to put her in with them because as the "new comer", I think they'll pick on her. She roams the yard looking for food and hanging out with the lone guinea hen. For some reason, she came up to the back door and just parked it. She was lapping at the water that was spilled on the porch, so we gave her a little bowl of water and she drank it happily. Several times, we tried to shoo her off the porch, but she just walked around our shoo-ing legs and stayed put. She's starting to act a bit more like a dog than a chicken....

Projects...

2011-06-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I've accomplished a few things while the boys were gone...

Project #1: Shelving in downstairs bathroom

In our downstairs bathroom, we have a little closet built into the wall next to the sink. When we were buying the house, one of the things the owners commented on was how LARGE the closet was. It is in fact large. Though the doors together are only 2 foot by 2 foot, the back of it meets up with my pantry (about 4 feet back). It was huge with no shelving whatsoever and if you put something too far in, it dropped through a hole and would wind up in a closet beneath our stairs. When you look at this box, that is precisely how it was in the closet. Everything just thrown in hodge-podge. After taking everything out, I assessed the situation...

In the back, you can see the big pit that leads to underneath our stairs. I virtually halved the closet, put a wood across the back and added a shelf. Now, things fit quite nicely (below). And as for the back half of the closet, I figure it would make an excellent hide-and-go-seek spot. In fact, I'm thinkin' someone could be in there for days and never get found....

Project #2: Butterfly Garden

This "before" picture is not quite fair. It actually started as a 10 x 10 patch of grass that was a pain to mow. We started to dig it out a couple weeks ago, but found that under the grass was a gravel pit. I don't know how the grass was growing there, but there was NO dirt other than the first inch or so. It took forever to dig out the gravel/clay, but we did and this week, my goal was to get dirt in it and get some flowers/herbs planted.

Voila! Mission accomplished! We have purple coneflower, parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, cilantro, lavender, chamomile, and a variety of flowers! I put pea gravel down for the path. That was a mistake. Not more than 2 minutes after it was nicely spread, Nathan was using it like a sandbox. Ellie was making designs by piling it on the bricks that lined the sides, and the chicken was scratching my mulch into it! Still, it's a mistake that is going to stay (for a while at least).

Project #3: Compost Bin

Since we took all of our laying hens in to get butchered (our new chicks aren't laying yet), I haven't had a spot to throw our food scraps. Normally, I'll throw any veggie peels, cores, rinds and leftovers (minus meat) to the chickens, but whatever they don't end up eating tends to make a mess. For now, I'm going to compost our scraps. I've tried making a compost pile before, but didn't quite get the jist of it. I've read up a bit and am going to try it again...

We put the posts in next to our veggie garden and screwed boards all around the bottom. Then I got out the paint.

I know from experience that painting this sort of thing is completely pointless. I'll just have to paint it again next year (which I probably won't do), but I had a bigger objective. I needed to keep little hands busy while I finished the project. We were outside, they were in paintable clothes, and they wanted to help. Enough said.

Selah kept herself busy in her excersaucer, and when she fussed, the girls decorated her with flowers. I'm not quite finished with this project... still have to get fencing to wrap around the poles, but it's there and we've already started a nice little pile of scraps, weeds and grass cuttings.

I still have quite a list of things that I don't think I'll get done by the time the guys return. Tis a shame (but at least then I'll have some strong farmboys to help me).
Can't wait til you get back, boys! Have I got plans for you...

Gracie's 5th Birthday

2011-05-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

My pretty little FIVE-year-old...

If there's anything I've learned so far in parenting, it's to "study" my children. Learn their personalities and what makes them tick (or come unglued). Each is so unique and different. You actually have to be proactive in trying to figure them out. I believe being a parent is really a home study course in psycology. Who needs textbooks when you have real life scenerios?

Gracie is my helper. She LOVES to assist me at whatever I'm doing, and she's extremely helpful when she puts her mind to it. Especially if it's one-on-one time with me. If she believes her work is being noticed and counts for something, look out!

She had almost a whole month of celebrations this year. Because it's hard getting everyone together often, Paul's side of the family did a Mother's Day/ Gracie's Birthday combo in early May. Then, on her actual birthday, May 20, we headed to a park near daddy's work for lunch, as we usually do. A few days later we had a party with my side of the familly.

Here's Gracie's present from Paul and I (below). She has been asking for, and dreaming about having a pinata for her birthday. Does this sound wierd? Ellie chose a gingerbread house to decorate and eat all by herself, and Grace asked for a pinata that she could bang up all by herself and then pass out the candy by herself... I'm still trying to figure it out...

Anyhow, she picked out a horse pinata and Grace helped me sort the candy into sandwich bags and stuff them in. I saw someone do that very thing because they didn't like the hoarding and greedy race to get the most candy, and I really like the idea. In the end, she did let the other kids whack her pinata, but I think she enjoyed it just the same. And, yes, that IS the only present we got her. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but it's smart, NOT cheap. It's consumable. She gets to enjoy it and then we throw it out. I don't have to find a place for it, or worse, find it laying around on the floor (the final resting spot for many toys before they meet the inside of a great, white garbage bag that is headed for Goodwill). Smart.

Now... I did say that was her only present. That's not completely true. That's all exept "Poof Coupons". That's what we call them. They are coupons that say, "Poof, this coupon entitles (birthday person) to (whatever little treat I want to bestow)" The kids get one for each year old they are, and are filled out with things like, "a hot cocoa from Starbucks", "a pack of gum", "a day without loading dishes", "a night to sleep on mom and dad's floor". They are just small, inexpensive things, and they can use them anytime (within reason). Believe it or not, the Poof coupons are one of the most exciting things about their birthdays. They really look forward to finding out what surprises they are going to get, and I like personalizing it with things that I know the birthday child will really enjoy.

Ahhh, and there's one more aspect to our birthdays that I just love. It's watching each of the brothers and sisters find a present for the birthday girl/boy. During the spring/summer, I'll take them garage sailing to find a special gift to give. Or, they might give something out of their personal stock of toys. And, on occasion, they will buy something from the store. The gift giver likes the reaction as much as the recipient like opening the gifts, and I love to watch both of them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LITTLE GRACIE

So Long, Boys!

2011-05-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

So long, farwell, auf wiedersehen, goodnight... bum, ba, da, dump, da, dump, da dump...

Off they go, once again, on their annual canoe trip to the Minnesota/Canada boundary waters, where their manhood is tested with ticks, mosquitoes, and the ability to catch their own dinner. Caleb, Seth, Noah, and Paul left today with Ken and Matthew Thomas to spend 7 days in the rugged outdoors, sure to come home with many stories, including one pertaining to a realistic-looking plastic bug in someone's trail mix, courtesy of Seth (with my approval, of course... I can only imagine the recipient's face when he finds it... he, he, he).

The girls, Nathan, and I were left to take care of things on the homefront. So far, so good... although, it's only been about 10 hours. I promised the girls that we'd have some fun. Tonight was movie and popcorn night. Later we're planning a tea party, a strawberry shortcake party (the edible kind AND the cartoon kind), a trip to the zoo, a pedicure night, and of course, a slumber party in mom's room every night :) Mixed in with all that fun, I have bunches of things on my to-do list. I started pondering that list today, and I couldn't figure out why I think I can complete more things with four little kids while I'm missing the helpful, bigger kids? Those bigger boys are my right and left hands when it comes to a smooth running household. It seems a bit backward. Maybe if Paul took the little ones and left the big ones? Then... then... wow, imagine the things I could get done...

Then again, maybe it's just the freedom from being on a schedule. The little ones really don't care if we have popcorn and apples for dinner. There's no school or piano practice to worry about. I can post a blog at 2 a.m. and not feel bad for staying up late, because, well, we'll just nap tomorrow... so far, so good...

May days...

2011-05-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hello... Long time, no blog...

Here's a question for you... WHERE is my spring going? It seems to be FLYING by! Maybe it's just a case of "when you get older, time moves faster", I dunno, but it's slippin' by awfully quick...

I love springtime. I love to trade the heavy winter coats for jackets and sweaters. I love the budding flowers and patches of dandelions throughout the yard (yes, dandelions! The pesky weed/herb that brightens the lawn with yellow dots AND makes great greens to mix with my lettuce). I love being outside in the evening with NO mosquitoes. I love sitting on the porch swing with my hubby, listening to the birds and watching the kids play as the sun sinks over the horizon. It's easy for me to forget that the longest days of the year are in the spring. It seems unfair because for most of Spring, the weather is warming, but still chilly, and we aren't quite able to take full advantage of the longer daylight hours. By the time the warm weather is in full swing, the days are starting to get shorter. Tis a shame, but it once again reminds me of one of my favorite sayings, "Carpe Diem". Seize the day. Live in the moment.

Being pregnant last fall, I wasn't really motivated to take our yearly pictures. I like to take them in October as the leaves are changing and our skin is still tanned from the late summer sun. I didn't get the job done, so, to catch up, I took them this spring instead...

Selah (4 months) and Mommy

Seth-9 1/2 years

Caleb 11 1/2 years

Noah- 7 1/2 years

Little Nathan-2 1/2 years

The boys- Noah, Nathan, Caleb and Seth

Grace- almost 5

Ellie- 6 years

The girls- Grace, Selah, and Ellie

Daddy and the boys!

Egg Hunt

2011-04-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we took the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt at Child Evangelism Fellowship in Shorewood. The kids were seperated into age groups and rotated stations. There were games, a bible lesson, memory verse with snacks, and of course the egg hunt. Funny how we call it a "hunt" when the eggs are just scattered in the grass, but the kids love it!

The bitter side of farm life...

2011-04-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

As every good farmer knows, there are good days and bad days. And he also knows that there's no room for laziness on the farm without consequence. You don't weed the garden, your plants get overtaken. You don't muck out the barn, you walk through slop. You don't feed the chickens, they don't lay eggs. Yesterday was one of those learning days...

We had three does that all gave birth to twins in the past 3 weeks. Each one had a boy and a girl. The little kids are incredibly adorable. We found the first two sets while the babies were still wet and getting dried off by their mothers. One set has long ears, and the other has short ears. The last set was born just this past Monday. She must've had them early in the day because her kids were all dry, fluffy and standing up. The boy was camel colored with a stripe down his back (below) and the girl was black with speckled ears (above).

I checked them out and tried to get them to start nursing. The boy didn't seem so interested, but seemed to have a full belly. The girl was trying to start nursing by herself, so they looked like they would be just fine. Ahhhh, this is where the lazy part comes in....

The next day was one of those nasty, rainy, cold days that we've been having. Other than having Caleb and Seth go out to feed the goats early in the morning, none of us left the house for the rest of the day. At about 9 that night, Paul and I commented how we really should go check on the babies, but we "needed to put our kids to bed", "really didn't want to go out in the rain", and we were just plain lazy. The following morning, Paul and Caleb went out to feed them and found the camel colored boy stuck between the wall and a feeder... dead. It's twin was so weak that it could hardly hold it's head up, much less stand. We brought it in to warm it, and called a friend that has goats. As I sat there with the dying goat in my arms, I cried and thought that this poor little goat is paying the price for my laziness in not going out the previous day to check on them. I learned how to tube feed a baby goat that morning...

After the initial feeding, it was strong enough to stand and looked promising. We continued throughout the day trying our best to get it to remember how to suck out of a bottle, but ended up tube feeding it two more times. The last time it just layed limp on my lap. Very sad. We wrapped it in a towel and put a heat lamp over it. I knew that it wouldn't make it until morning and I prayed that God would forgive my carelessness.

The next morning, life was back to normal. Paul had taken care of it early and we hardly even realized that it was missing. Life and death occur frequently on a farm, and I guess the hardening that comes with farm life is good in some ways. Nathan asked me later, "Where's the baby goat?" I tried to explain... It's gone. It died. He then said, "I don't want it to." Me either, Nathan, me either. After our brief moment of mourning together, we got on with life...

Happy Birthday, Grandma Connie!!

2011-04-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

Today is Grandma Connie's Birthday! She's off enjoying the warm sunshine and beautiful, white sandy beaches of Cancun, Mexico. Since we know she checks the blog often... we thought we'd send her a message...

Soooo, how many pictures does it take to get a decent photo of all seven kids? Actually, this was the first picture (it turned out the best).... but, you'll notice Noah's face is scrunched up in a "I'm smiling, but I really want to cry" kind of look. Just before we took this one, Nathan shoved Noah off the table onto the floor. Ahhhh, brotherly love...

Caleb's Baptism

2011-04-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Caleb decided to be baptized on Sunday, April 3rd. Baptism is simply a public demonstration to show what has happened in their spiritual life. It symbolizes the burial of the "old" life and the birth of their "new" life in Christ. Caleb has a visible desire to know God more, and know more about Him. I love his ever-learning, teachable heart. When asked why he wanted to be baptized, he simply stated, "Because in the Bible it says, 'Believe and be baptized.'" That's as black and white as it can get. God says to do it, so we're supposed to do it. He's been like that from the time he was very young; things are either black or white. Not much room for gray. At 4 or 5, he would watch the speedometer as I drove and remind me when I was going over it. The law is the law, right? Even before that, he would tell Grandpa Harold not to "joke" because it says in the Bible not to lie to others and then say, "I was only kidding". Yep, it DOES say that. Maybe part of that was how I was raising him, but much of it just came already programmed. That's how God wired him.

I distinctly remember (which is an amazing feat considering my ability to remember things) where we were when his serious little heart wanted to know how to go to heaven. He was about 4 years old and we were sitting on the stairs of our old house. Now that I think about it, that was the very spot that I remember getting out the Bible when I was pregnant with him and looking up what Caleb meant. Caleb (in the Bible) was a man "who followed wholeheartedly after God". I loved the name, and I loved the meaning even more. After naming him, we would often pray that God would make him into a man "who follows Him wholeheartedly". Now we include our other boys in that same prayer, but that prayer began with the meaning of Caleb's name. It's been evident throughout his life (so far), that God is fulfilling that desire in my (and Paul's) heart. We're excited to see how God is going to use him as he matures.

Caleb with Grandpa and Grandma Larson (top),

and with Grandpa and Grandma Pemble (below)

Seriously??

2011-04-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Paul and I just had our 13th anniversary in late March. (13 years and 7 kids... I'd say those were pretty productive years :) Well, we decided to head down to Paul's parents lakehouse for an extended weekend. All the kids (except Selah, of course) were split between the two grandparents. Have I mentioned how THANKFUL I am to have both sets of grandparents living nearby and so willing to spend time with their grandkids? Well, I am (very much so!).

We took Selah on the 8 hour drive south to the Ozarks, and had a very relaxing time cuddled in front of their fireplace doing absolutely nothing. No chores, no "Mommy, watch me do this", no responsibilities at all. It was odd. (Sidenote... when you go from having 7 kids to only having one 3-month old, it's much like having no kids...) Needless to say, it was nice to be able to stay up late, sleep in, cook whatever we want without any picky eaters :), and clean up ONLY after ourselves.

On Sunday night, we attempted to go out for dinner. To avoid the $2.00 toll going into the bigger town, we went about 20 minutes in other direction to a smaller town to find a local spot to eat. Little did we know, in smaller Missouri towns EVERYONE closes early on Sunday. When I say early, I mean that when we arrived at the town at 6:00, they were all closed. And when I say "everyone", I mean everyone except the local bars. After driving on for another 30 minutes, we found absolutely nothing and decided to head back. On our way through, we saw "Vinny's", a house converted into a bar/restaurant, and, although it looked a bit shabby, it had a bunch of cars in the parking lot. We had skipped lunch and were getting very hungry by now, and being that it was only 6ish, I thought at least some of the people would be there for the food (the sign read "13th Anniversary" out front, so that must be a sign, right?). After having a little trouble finding which door to go in, we stumbled upon a bunch of tables, a waft of cigarette smoke, and a little old guy eating soup. After a bit, he noticed us and gave us a faint "hi", and went back to eating his soup. The owner finally showed up and, after realizing we were actually there to eat and not bringing our baby to the bar, told us to find a seat amidst all the empty tables then left. We walked in about two feet to sit at a table, gagged some more on the smoke smell, and walked out realizing that the 20 cars parked outside were there for something other than food. Bummer. On we went without finding one open (and presentable) restaurant, past the lakehouse, paid the $2.00 toll and went to a "real" town to eat. So much for saving gas and money...

He'll only do it once...

2011-03-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

Just this week, I decided to start switching the kid's bedrooms around. I think it has to do with spring fever or something...

Noah had a queen bed in his room that we were using for guests when they came over... He'd get the boot, and they'd get the queen. I decided to switch out his bed and replace it with a set of bunk beds for him (and eventually Nathan). Noah claimed the top bunk as his own and slept there last night. I asked him how he'd slept and (half joking) if he fell off in the middle of the night. He casually replied, "Nope, but I'd only do it once. I wouldn't fall off again after that." Ha! That boy has learned a key parenting strategy! "He'll only do it once." He must have heard me say that more than a few times. If I've told the two year old not to touch the hot tea pot, and they do it anyhow, I can just about guarantee that they've learned their lesson and won't do it again. Or how about when they leave their favorite stuffed animal out in the rain and mud when they were told to bring it in? It's called "reality discipline", and I love it. It's disciplining without having to be the bad guy. Nature has it's own boundaries set up and if you overstep them... whammo! She'll teach you her lesson. (Now, before you think I'm a total ogre, I'll admit that I do add an addendum to the principle every once in a while... no running with scissors; no jumping off of the roof; no leaping over campfires... you get the picture :)

Selah's 3 months!

2011-03-30T20:14:00.001-07:00

Outside fun!

2011-03-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being able to play outside again without having to dress in a multitude of layers to stay warm. And it is oh, so reassuring to know that any snow we get from here on out won't stick around very long. The boys have been outside every afternoon breaking in the hibernating grass and letting the earthworms know that it's time to start popping out. In fact, Ellie has been spending her afternoons digging those earthworms out of our dirtpile, and showing them to everyone to prove just how "brave" she is. She thinks she has one-upped me because I refuse to touch them. I may just have to give in if I get "double-dog-dared", but thankfully that hasn't been tried yet... :0)

Baby Chicks!!

2011-03-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Monday, 6:30 A.M. rrrring, rrrring... "Hello?"

"This is the Minooka Post Office. We have your baby chicks and you can pick them up anytime."

Ugh, that's too early for me, so Paul and the older boys run into town to get the cardboard box of 70 baby chicks. By the time they get home, Caleb, Seth and Noah are ready to unpack the chicks and dip their beaks in sugar water (they've been in shipment, without food or water, since Saturday). I, on the other hand, am still in bed grasping the last few fleeting moments of sleep for the day. I am sooooo not a morning person. Paul comes up and hovers over me until he's positive I'm awake, then he takes off for work. After making sure baby Selah is going to stay asleep and yanking on some sweats, I head down to the garage to find my boys anxiously waiting to open the box... Spring has officially arrived.

The baby chicks are so adorable. Soft and downy and oh, so very fragile looking. They don't have me fooled though. I've seen Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs about hatching chicks. I've seen how they fling the chicks around by their legs. Still, I am overly cautious when it comes to my kids picking them up and snuggling them...

This year was Nathan's real experience with the chicks. We got them last year, but he was so young, he didn't get much touching-time with them. Not long after they arrived, Ellie was letting Nathan "pet" one of the chicks. She looks at me and says, "Mom, can Nathan pet it's eyeball?" "No." I reply. "Well, he did. And he pulled it back like a sling-shot." Hmmm, he'll need a bit more supervision, I guess.

Ahhh, the first days of spring. Tulips poking out of the ground, babies of all kinds being born (or hatched)... and the familiar barn smell that's elluded us all winter...

Nathan saying The Beatitudes

2011-03-18T16:29:00.001-07:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMq1l6k_ecE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my iPod

My Birthday!!

2011-03-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, it's that time again... my birthday. "How old are you now? 29 and holding?" Naaaa, I've decided that this year was well used (in a good way), and I'm ready to start working on the next one. No problems here with rolling over another number on the dial... not this year, anyhow. Now, my dear hubby, who's turning 40 in October, has already mentioned his coming age several times in a negative light. It's not for 7 more months, but he's already focused on the coming "doomsday". Maybe that's one reason I don't feel any angst toward turning 34...

My actual birthday was on Sunday, so after going to church, we went out for lunch at Chile's (had a gift card and a coupon :). Then we headed home for some rest and time to celebrate with Paul and the kids. Paul had taken the kids shopping the day before (or earlier in the week... I can't figure out when) and they each had a present to give to me. Caleb and Seth had bought my presents with their very own money... Seth's gift was chocolate covered pretzels. He made sure to point out that they were "sugar free". He was showing me that he put thought into finding a gift that I would like. He was very "sweet". Caleb, on the other hand, went the full sugar route. I have always had a liking for those funky colored, fluffy "Peeps". You know, the little marshmallow birds coated with food-coloring and then rolled in sugar granules. Yep, those. He got me 34 of the little birds. (Which required him to open a package and eat one of them since they come in packs of 5). He also made sure to point out that he got the "light pink" and "light purple" ones because they have less food coloring. Whoo-hoo! Man, my brainwashing is paying off.

My favorite gifts from the kids are always the cards or notes that they make for me. Seth is much more prone to put the contents of his heart down on paper than he is to just spill it out of his mouth. I love it. Caleb also gave me a card that reminded me that I only get 23 hours of actual birthday because of the daylight savings time switch. Gotta love the practical mind.

I had been hinting to Paul about getting an iPod Touch for my birthday. Not really hinting... more like reminding him every chance I got... poor guy. :) He didn't let me down. He had been working on getting Wi-Fi set up the week before my birthday. I just figured it was for the laptop, since he knew I liked it better in the kitchen (and our Verizon reception is bad in the back of the house). Little did I know, his real reason was for the iTouch. Now, I can check my mail anywhere in the house. Yay! I also didn't realize how much fun the kids would have with it. I acutally have to use it when no one is looking, otherwise I feel like a meanie to keep saying, "No, it's mine. You can't use it." Noah has started asking me for jobs to earn money to save for his own iTouch. He's already saved $14 in the last week! As long as it doesn't burn a hole in his pocket, he'll have his wish before long...

Every year, my birthday seems to carry on for a few more days. My parents came over on Sunday night with a cake (yum). Monday, I went out with my mom, sister, brother and nieces for lunch, then Paul's parents brought over a full enchilada dinner (complete with yummy beans, rice and a giant cookie!) on Monday night. On Tuesday, I went to downtown Naperville with my girlfriends for our twice-yearly dinner out. What a fun birthday!!

This is the Stuff...

2011-03-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

About a month or so ago, I heard this song on the radio, and I thought... "I like it!!" Now it's on the top ten list and I hear it much more often and I still like it. It describes how the little stuff that is irritating or drives us nuts is the very stuff God uses in our lives. The first verse totally applies to my life... losing my cell phone and keys are regulars for me. The second verse, not so much. So, I've written my own... Once you have the tune, you can replace the words with the ones I've written. They are so much more applicable to my life :)

Verse 2:
My kid whines.... In the middle of the store....
He doesn't get a treat... So he hits the floor....

THIS IS THE STUFF
THAT DRIVES ME CRAZY...

Selah's 2 months!!

2011-02-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Selah Joy... Never underestimate the power of a name...
Paul and I always look up the meanings of the names that we're considering for our babies. We decided on the middle name of Joy only a few days before she was born. It means "joyful and pleasant", and who doesn't want that kind of baby? It was also Christmas time and the season is full of joy... so it seemed fitting.

Joy is the perfect middle name for her! Selah is a very joyful baby. Although I may have a hard time trying to convince others, I am positive she has been smiling since she was only a week old. Both of my girls smiled early, but she has them beat. And, no, it wasn't "just gas". Sheesh, after 6 kids, you'd think I'd know a real smile from a "gassy" or "drifting off to sleep" smile! She has been such a happy and enJOYable baby. She rarely cries, and when she does, she is easily consoled. Selah will break out her big, beautiful grin to anyone who decides to take the time to chat with her. She's even smiled just because I walked by. She is so different from Nathan. Although he wasn't a crabby baby, Nathan would stare at you and make you sing three stanzas to the Star Spangled Banner (does it even have stanzas?) AND dance the Hokey Pokey before he'd crack a smile. What a difference in personalities.

I put Selah in her Bumbo Chair when she was 6 weeks old and her poor little head just plopped to the side and she had to look at the world cockeyed. After a couple minutes, I took her out and decided to wait another couple weeks when her neck and back muscles got stronger and try again. We put her in it this week and she loved it and has decided she likes seeing the world from this new upright position (below).

Unlike the other kids, Selah hasn't lost her birth hair. In fact, she had her first haircut when she was only 2 weeks old. She had such long hair when she was born that it hung over her ears and she looked shaggy all the time. I decided to chop off the extra hair around her ears to clean her up a bit. In the picture below she's "pre-haircut" with wide eyes and a bit of a "light-socket" hair style (courtesy of mommy)...

... and here she is 2 months old with fuller hair and a bit of a mullet look, chubbier cheeks, and beautiful, big blue eyes!! Simply GORGEOUS!

Here's your snake, son.

2011-02-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

"Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask!" Matt. 7

Seth reading to Nathan (and everyone else wanted to hear.)

I had NOT read this verse recently, but it came to mind as I interacted with the kids yesterday... When one of the kids chooses to be helpful beyond his/her normal duties (and if I notice), later, I try to comment on it or will slip him (or her) something special. Maybe a piece of mom's dark chocolate or a couple m&m's... something that no one else gets, just to let him know his help is appreciated. It also keeps them motivated to continue helping out when they can. I don't do it everytime. That's not how life works. Sometimes the boss sees your good deeds, and praises you or gives you a raise. Sometimes he doesn't, but that's no excuse to stop doing good.

Well, yesterday, the two older boys were going above and beyond. So much so, that I thought there HAS to be something up their sleeves. Seth made breakfast for everyone and brought it to me in bed, Caleb was being super helpful with the little ones... They are usually "helpful", but it was just one thing after another all morning. I was feeling very blessed. After a while, I started to realize that they may not have anything up their sleeves, they are just doing it... well, just because.

That made me WANT to do something special just for them, not just "repay them for the good they did". It makes me enjoy blessing them with good gifts. I couldn't help but think that maybe God feels the same way with us. He will (and does) give us good gifts simply because we are his children (just as I do for mine). But when we are going the extra mile to do what would please Him. Thinking of Him throughout the day... as you talk to the cashier to brighten his/her day, when you'd rather just keep to yourself... maybe that makes Him smile just as I do when my kids are doing things to please me. And maybe, at those moments, He feels like me, and is thrilled to shower his children with joy and blessings and "good gifts".

Ellie's 6th Birthday!

2011-02-21T08:42:00.000-08:00

Even before Christmas, Ellie was asking to have a gingerbread house for her birthday present. She wanted that in place of a cake and wanted to eat it all herself. That sounded like a simple present to me, so my mom picked up a kit around Christmas time and we stuck it in the freezer until her birthday. She hadn't seen it, but reminded me several times that the gingerbread house was what she wanted for her present. We pulled it out the day before her birthday and she was so excited! She spent most of the morning of her birthday decorating it. She let each of the other kids have a part in helping her.

As the birthday kid always gets to decide what they want for breakfast, Caleb asked her what she wanted a few days before. "Doughnuts!" I wasn't sure if we'd be able to make a morning run for them, so I bought a cheap pack of powdered covered ones from Aldi just in case (you and I know they don't taste nearly as good, though). On her birthday morning, Caleb came through for her. By the time I got downstairs, he had already made the dough for donut-holes and was looking for oil to fry them in. After frying them, he rolled them in cinnamon and sugar or powdered sugar. Yum, they were great!!

Later that evening, our families came over to celebrate with us. When I saw the above picture of Ellie (with her finished gingerbread house "cake"), I couldn't help but notice how grown up she looked. She's not out of the little girl stage, but I can see a beautiful young lady starting to develop. Ellie has grown alot in her consideration for others this year. It's a beautiful thing when the kids start to look out for the interests of others and not just themselves. I pray that Ellie will continue to mold into the person that God has planned for her to become.

Mt. Olympus Waterpark

2011-02-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

Every year we try to head to an indoor waterpark for Ellie's birthday. Being that her birthday is in the middle of winter, it's a great excuse for a getaway and helps break that cabin fever we're all feeling. This year we went up to the Wisconsin Dells. As we were calling around, there weren't many places that would let us rent one room for our whole family without costing an arm and a leg for a condo-type room. Mount Olympus still wouldn't let us all stay in one room, but their price for two rooms was cheaper than the large suite at other hotels. We got two adjoining rooms that had a total of 4 queen beds and 2 bunk beds. We hardly knew what to do with all the extra room!

Ellie, the birthday princess, on a queen bed ;)

The kids had tons of fun (and wasted lots of energy) on all the waterslides and in the pools. Paul had pulled his back right before we left, so his playtime was limited, and I sat in a chair with Selah the majority of the time. I couldnt' find a swimsuit for her and wasn't really thrilled about sticking her in the chlorine water anyhow, so my "swimming" was only to walk around in the foot-deep water and take some pictures.

They had a nice kiddie area where Ellie, Grace and Nathan spent most of their time. As I sat in the chair by the edge of the kiddie area, I thought to myself, "trying to keep track of six kids at a large waterpark, when only 2 of them are secure swimmers, is anything but relaxing." We did have the kids team up so that they weren't swimming alone, but I still found myself constantly scanning the pool areas for my kids. It's sad when you have to not only be wary of water dangers, but also of wierdos that may be lurking around... Someday I'll be able to lounge by the pool and read my magazine (what was I thinking when I brought it anyhow?), but I've still got a few years to go...

Along with the water park, they also had an indoor theme park. It has a rollercoaster, go carts, bumper cars and a few amusement park rides that were included with our room. I think the kids enjoyed the rides as much or more than the waterpark.

Possum Number 2!!

2011-02-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

Seth holding my second possum!!

I shot another egg-eating possum this week. We've noticed our egg count has been fluctuating each day, but attributed it to the cold weather and short days. It's too bad that it was MY chicken coop where the little critter decided to feast...

Noah is the one who gets the brunt of the possum problem. Poor Noah, who goes to get the eggs every day, came rushing in the house and said that a possum was in the coop. He excitedly declared that it's "mouth was opened a foot wide and was trying to bite his boot off!" Good thing for those thick winter boots, eh? He said that it was in a nesting box and Lady, our cattle dog (whom he ALWAYS takes in with him after the last possum incident), drug the possum out onto the floor and that's when it was going to "attack" him. Possums would much rather play dead than attack a person. When they're being attacked, they generally sit still with their mouths wide open and hiss or growl. Not wanting to deal with a possum, I told Seth to go out with Noah and encourage Lady to take care of it (I really thought it had run away by this time). They came in a few minutes later and said that I needed to kill it because it was trying to bite Lady...

So, I grabbed our possum killer (our "James Bond" gun which is kept under lock and key, of course), and went out to get rid of the nasty thing. It was wedged between the back of the bookcase that we use for nesting boxes and the wall of the henhouse. I had a 2 inch slot to look through and try to hit it in the dark. After 4 shots, it still wasn't dead (we could tell because it was still growling). It was too dark to see anything but part of a furry outline so I was obviously missing it. I couldn't get a better view unless I climbed on top of the bookcase and looked down at it with a flashlight, which I didn't care to do. The 4 foot high bookcase has chickens that walk all over the top of it, and it has an inch layer of chicken manure packed on it. Yuck! I went back inside and changed into my snow pants and thought, "too bad the show Dirty Jobs isn't here right now. I think this would qualify." The next two shots took care of it.

Seth has gotten much braver since last time and asked to drag it out by the tail right away. After insisting that he make sure it was dead, he pulled it out and we took a couple photos. Yay, Seth!! I don't mind shooting it, but I certainly DON'T want to touch it!!! Into the trash can it went because, after all, tomorrow is garbage day :) Hope the garbage man doesn't mind...

Me and my brave little Noah!

Diggiin' the Shedd

2011-02-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

The kids and I went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago last week with my friend, Lisa, and her 6 kids. Hooray for free days!! When we went up in line, they asked how many adults and how many kids. "Two adults and..." Wait, does 6 and 7 actually add up to 13? That sounds like a lot. Let me make sure my math skills are right... Yep, "thirteen."

We had a great time!! We took our 15 passenger van and every seat was filled (should've been my first clue that my math was right). The night before, I was commenting to Paul about how to keep an eye on the kids since it's a big place and I didn't know how crowded it would be. His first reply was to take a picture of each kid (just in case anyone got lost) so we could quickly have a reference for anyone else to help find them. He then said I should dress them all in the same color. I gave up on that idea because I didn't think we had the same color shirt for everyone... Little did I know Seth would come to the rescue. He woke up early and Paul mentioned finding matching shirts. Seth went right to work and actually found red shirts for everyone and had their outfits laid out for them to put on by the time they woke up!! Way to go, Seth! You can see from the picture which kids are mine by the red shirts :)

Homeschooling at it's best (other than actually snorkling in the ocean to see the fish).

Ellie's prized picture of the iguana. She was so proud to have taken it herself!

Selah's 6 weeks!

2011-02-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

It's so fun having a newborn around again. It's been even more fun this time because of how much the other kids are enjoying her. You'd think that the seventh baby would be put in a bouncy seat and left to fend for herself, but just the opposite is true. I believe she is held more than any of the kids before her. I constantly have her older siblings coming up and asking to hold her. Funny thing is... they never seem to want to hold her when she's crying. It's usually when she's sleeping or content that they ask to pick her up. The change of movement usually sends her out of the blissful content state and she'll end up crying within a few minutes and then they set down a crying baby. I've had to conquer that dilemma in my mind and realize that their interest in holding baby Selah is worth the extra effort on my part.

The fact is, it has paid off. The kids have improved in their holding and soothing techniques. The girls accomplish it a bit better than the boys, but each has their own style. Ellie does a wonderful knee-bending bounce thing while standing up. Grace likes to sit and rock her from side to side. The boys... well, they do the best they can :) Each one is going to have great parenting skills someday.

Another thing I've had to come face to face with is the idea of my fragile newborn being carried around by a little person that hardly weighs 20 pounds more than she does. It's the old "take a deep breath and relax" technique that allows me to hand her to Ellie or Grace. They both are proud that they can hold Selah "while standing" and would prefer that I hand her over that way. The first few times were nerve-wracking and filled with "Be careful!", "Gentle, please!", and "Hold her head!", but they've proven to be excellent little mommies and I have very little inhibitions about it now. (Except when they try dancing with her or walking through their brothers'nerf basketball competitions).

Selah has a pink "storkbite" birth mark right in the middle of her forehead. She also has one on her right eyelid that is less noticeable. Most of the kids were born with this birthmark on the back of their neck. It's called a storkbite because, well, that is where the "stork" is said to have bit them to carry them to their new home. This type of birthmark fades as they get older and seems less noticeable at times. My mom claims that I had one in the same spot when I was born and would turn beet red when I cried. Anyhow, I can remember seeing birthmarks on other people's babies and feeling sorry for the parents in some way. It's funny that I don't feel the same way about Selah. I don't know how I'd feel if it were a different type of birthmark, but I kind of like it. It sets her apart a little bit and makes her special. Weird, I know, but maybe that's how all parents feel, even those with handicaps. I'm thinking that it's just the people on the outside of the family that make the parents feel uncomfortable or embarassed about it. I believe that our society cares too much about what other people think and not enough about what God's opinion is. There are many times (maybe most of the time) when Jesus cast off the "opinion shackles" of the crowd and did what was right in his Father's sight. A lesson that affects every area of life and is still sinking into my soul... (excerpt from Deep Thoughts by Amy Larson :)

Natey

2011-02-07T18:07:00.000-08:00

Nathan is so much fun. He's talking well and sometimes you can tell when he's trying to use a new word in the correct context because he'll pause slightly before trying it. His new word today was "before". He pointed to a dolphin in a book and said, "I saw one of those, (pause) before." "Yes, your right, you did see one at the zoo," I replied. Then he went on to point out the other animals that he had seen "before". It was cute!

You'd think with five kids before him, that all the new stuff would be old hat, but I've been starting to think that the more kids I have, the more delightful those moments become. I'm not quite sure why, but although I loved watching the older kids go through different stages, it's been different with Nathan and Selah. Maybe it's because I'm older (and wiser), maybe because the other kids are excited and enjoying it with me (very likely), maybe because I'm not so concerned with having everything "perfect" (impossible, so why bother), or maybe because I realize that these moments don't last forever. Whatever the reason, or combination of reasons, my heart lights up as I watch them discover new things and just enjoy life.

Nathan is a ham. He loves when people watch him and can be so dramatic. He cracks me up many times. As cute as he is, we ALWAYS know when he's tired because he causes trouble. Takes books off the shelves, gets into the game closet, irritates his sisters... BEDTIME!!

Superman!! We've had these pajamas since Caleb (and they belonged to my neighbor's son before that) All the boys have fun wearing it for the first time and Nathan's no different... he just has a bigger crowd to "oooooo and awwww" at him.

Nathan is not know for falling asleep anywhere but in his crib or carseat. None of the kids did. We got home late on Superbowl night, I changed him and though he was totally awake when I went to grab pajamas, he was out cold when I got back.

Snow, snow, and more snow

2011-02-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

The kids have had fun playing in the snow that was part of "one of the greatest snowstorms that hit Chicago". We have areas of our yard where the hibernating grass is showing through, and other parts with 4 foot drifts. With the weatherman predicting the storm a few days in advance, we had time to get excited about what was coming! Right before it started snowing hard, the kids and I went out and built a support stucture for our igloo. We piled up all of the "junk" and toys that we could find in the yard to make a place that would be semi-safe to crawl into after the snow fell.

Me and Nathan in our snow garb. The drift by our fence was incredible... and tons of fun to dig paths through. Like my hat? I decided, after looking at these pictures, that the fuzzy thing would happily join the "hat hand-me-down club" that my kids rummage through before hitting the snow. Note to self... look in the mirror after adorning anything new... :)

Paul fired up the new-to-us snowblower that my dad gave us earlier this winter. It has saved the day a few times already this winter.

Caleb and Paul shoveled where the drifts were too deep while the rest of us played.

This is Noah and Nathan in the "igloo". The snow didn't come straight down, so our creation only got covered where it was drifted over, but they had fun digging the snow out and climbing through. If you look, you can see Nathan's red cheeks. The following day, his cheeks (especially the right one) was so red that it looked like someone had slapped him, and they felt hot (only on the red part). For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. I looked it up on the internet and came up with some "slapped-cheek disease" (fifth's disease) or a capillary problem. It took me a day and a half to figure out that he was NOT diseased or contagious, but had stayed out too long on that cold day right after the snow. The poor little guy had gotten some serious wind-burn on his cheeks. It's a week later and his poor cheek is still tinged pink.

Nathan and Grace right after we went out to play. The boys had dug some short tunnels through the drifts in our driveway. What a fun day (and daddy had a extra day and a half off to boot)!

Selah's 1 month old!

2011-02-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

I'm still typing with one hand these days because I'm usually nursing a baby with the other :) If I have two hands free, I'm usually doing something more pertinent than blogging....

I need to do some catch up, so I'm planning to find the time soon! Til then, here's a few pictures of beautiful Selah at 1 month old...

Noah, Nathan and Selah

Gracie, in her glory... holding her baby sister.

Firehouse Tour

2011-01-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

We are not officially part of a "homeschool co-op", but sometimes we leech onto one for their fun field trips. This time we headed to Minooka's firestation for a lesson in kitchen safety and a tour of their new facility. Their first safety lesson was "always work in the kitchen WITH an adult". Oh, boy, if they only knew... I'm not even out of bed when the kids start cooking. Although, in my defense, we have an electric stovetop with no open flames (the main concern for "fire"fighters, right?).

After a *free* pizza lunch (yay!) and our kitchen safety lesson, we were divided up into groups, each led by a firefighter, and given a tour of the new station. They divided us by table sections and our family got its own firefighter guide, Matt. We were introduced to him and, with astonishment in his voice, he said the typical, "Are they all yours?". "Yep", I replied. Then you could see his head physically bounce from kid to kid while doing the math, and came up with "Seven?" "Yep", I said (with a big smile, of course). He came back with, "My grandma had 13... I don't know how she did it." It's funny how many people relate our family to one they know that has alot of kids. I guess in their mind, it brings us a bit closer to reality? (OR they're just letting me know that we're not alone in the world, I'm not sure...)

At first, Firefighter Matt was a bit cautious, not knowing what these little homeschoolers were going to put him through, saying several times, "I don't know how you do it." I have to admit that at the point of taking the tour, I did look like I had "my hands full". I didn't know how extensive the tour was going to be, so I came unprepared... no stroller, no carrier... I had Selah in my arms which made it difficult to guide Nathan (who desperately needed his nap at this time!). I reassured Firefighter Matt that it was much easier at home than at a firestation.

After seeing that the kids weren't going to harm him in anyway, and realizing that they really were pretty well-behaved kids (aside from little Nathan who wanted to touch and climb on EVERYTHING), he started to enjoy himself. He had fun showing the kids the equipment and hoisting the kids up into the trucks (I had my hands full, literally, remember?). The kids had a great time too. I think we saw every nook and cranny in the entire station. Ellie and Grace were interested in finding out what lay behind every closed door. Along with the fire engines and ambulances, we saw the offices, the men's and women's locker rooms, the utility rooms, the dorm rooms, and just about every storage closet they had. We even went into their loft to see more old, stored supplies. The girls (and Nathan) would walk into a closet and just look around (many were empty because of the newness of the place). I'd have to say, "OK, come on out, let's keep moving."

We all had a lot of fun and learned a bunch. We now know the difference between a "firetruck" and a "fire engine", and that they no longer have those cool firepoles that you see in the movies for sliding down when the alarm goes off. As a peace offering for firefighter Matt, we went home and the Seth made a cute "Thank you" poster which everyone signed to take back to our tour guide. Hopefully, he won't soon forget this family... with nine people, chances are pretty good we may need his services at some point in the future...

Football in the future??

2011-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

I am not a football fan. I don't mind watching the super-bowl, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoy the commercials as much or more than the actual game... I also have no intention of being a football-mom. Although at this point I enjoy watching my boys toss the football around the yard, just the thought of their knees bending the wrong way when they tackle eachother makes my own knees weak. I'm well aware that a future in football means a future of injuries, and I'm just not interested.

The boys enjoy tossing the football around and tackling eachother (outside, of course). They like it even more when we have friends over and they can get a little game going. They also like to toss the football across the living room and make diving catches onto the couch. At the expense of our ceiling light, they won't be doing that anymore... But I do allow them to play "football" with Nathan inside on occasion. After all, Nathan is only 2. That fact alone should keep them subdued, right? Nathan seems to be entranced by the thought of "taking down" his bigger brothers. They play along and will let him tackle them, and he loves it! (as you can see from the video)

Just today, the boys, in their sweetest voices, asked if they could play flag football this fall at the CYC. Yep, I know where this is going. No little boys are going to pull the wool over my eyes... Sure, flag football sounds harmless enough, but today it's flag, tomorrow it's tackle and the next day we're paying for a broken arm... Nice try boys, but for now we'll just sit on the sidelines and watch some other mom get that bill... :)

Seventh Baby Syndrome/ Selah's 1st bath

2011-01-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

Seventh Baby Syndrome: the realization that many of the things you did, and baby products you owned with baby one and two were completely unneccessary, and take up too much ever-needed space and/or time.

I must have decided that one of those space-wasters was the big plastic baby bath tub, because I couldn't find it anywhere. We really only used it for the "First Bath". Each "bath" after that would consist of Paul handing the baby to me in the shower to do a quick wash and handing him/her back out. It's much more efficient and keeps baby warm. That works until they can sit up and then they take a bath on the floor of the shower or with another of the younger kiddos.

I almost skipped the whole "first bath" scenerio, but for the sake of pictures in the baby album... here it is. Selah's umbilical cord fell of at 5 days old. All the kids born in a hospital took around 2 weeks to lose it, but the ones born at home were all under a week. I attribute it to the wash-down they give the babies in the hospital. It's well-known that babies are born with a great deal of good bacteria on their skin and when they have their first wash within hours of being born, all that good stuff gets scrubbed off (as well as being chilled and having to lay under a warming light away from mom for at least an hour... a lousy introduction to the world). At home, aside from maybe a washcloth to the hair, I don't give them a bath until after their umbilical cord comes off, giving them a few days to absorb that good bacteria. After all, I'm guessing, God wouldn't put that all over their bodies without reason...

This picture reminds me of when she was first born.

One thing that we haven't skimped on, though, is daddy's help with the first bath. He's been there for each one to take pictures and wrap baby up afterward. Makes for a great daddy/daughter picture...

... and a Happy New Year!

2011-01-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a New Year and things are still rolling along... the kids stayed up with us until 11 and we watched the New York count down (on the internet) and had our traditional super rich and creamy homemade eggnog. Nathan was so cute as he tried to figure out why everyone was saying "cheers" and tinging their glasses together. I assume he gave up trying to come up with a reason and just joined in the fun because he would just go around to everyone and insist that you bump glasses with him.

Grace had sparkling cider (we still have her off wheat and dairy, which has been a pain, especially over the holidays... no more ear infections as of yet, though!)

Ellie

Selah with a crabby look on her face. Though she's not a crabby baby, "angry eyebrows" seem to come naturally to her.

Finally!!! The pictures for this blog have been sitting on my computer for a week waiting to be typed up and posted. I have bunches of thoughts in my head, but finding the free hands to type them up is proving a bit hard right now... so for now, it's mostly pictures :)

Selah Joy's Home Birth

2010-12-31T07:14:00.000-08:00

Oh, the joys (and pains) of labor... Our beautiful bundle of Joy, Selah Joy, is a natural born procrastinator just like her momma. We were sure she would be our early Christmas present. That is the way I referenced Christmas to the younger kids. "When is it going to be Christmas, Mom?" "After the baby's born", I would reply. We excitedly planned on what to give our new baby for Christmas. Paul was supposed to run out and get a Precious Moments First Christmas ornament (a tradition for each baby) as soon as we knew the gender...

Most of my babies were 9 days overdue and Grace was the longest at 12 days over. That would put this baby's arrival date on Christmas Eve. Even at 9 to 12 days over, I still had to take castor oil with each one to get the labor started. I was intentionally avoiding that horrible tasting stuff and was wanting to experience a "natural" start to labor. I could also specifically remember every painful detail of Nathan's birth, so it was mentally easier to let labor start on it own instead of deciding that "this is the day I want one of the most painful experiences of my life." I described the thought of labor to Paul as if I'd had already had a leg cut off without painkiller, knowing what it feels like, and trying to prepare to go through it with the other leg.

Well, Christmas Eve came and went, which made for a frustrating Christmas morning for me. I was uncomfortable and was supposed to be holding my Christmas present in my arms. Christmas Day passed without any warm-up contractions, and because Sunday (the day after Christmas) would put me at 14 days over, I finally gave in to the castor oil. I downed 2 oz. of it at 7am on Sunday. By 11, I was having warm-ups! Caleb stayed home from church with me "just in case". By 2:30, I was having irritating contrations 3-5 minutes apart, and I knew baby was coming today! Yay! About 20 minutes later, my water broke and we called Bernice, the midwife, to let her know. She came around 4:30 and the contractions were getting more painful and harder to walk or move through. I went from sitting on my birthing ball, to pacing the room, to sitting in my borrowed birthing pool (which I didn't intend to give birth in, just relax during labor). I wanted to keep moving to make things happen faster and get it over with. It still took a long time. Around 8, I got to the REALLY painful ones and I knew it probably wouldn't be long. For some reason, when they get more painful, they seem to come a bit farther apart. Instead of being 2 minutes apart, like they were all afternoon and evening, they slowed to 5 minutes. After trying to cope with them by laying on the bed (where I intended to give birth), I made it to the bathroom and the pool with warm water looked so tempting, I got in. Two miserable contractions later, I was ready to push! Paul and my sister were in the bathroom with me, and I just remember that when I said I had to push, it seemed like everyone left to tell others. I thought, "I'm gonna have this baby in the water and no one is going to be here to get it out of the water." Since I didn't intend to give birth in the water, I didn't ask the questions like, "How long can the baby's head be under the water?" I fought the urge to push until everyone came rushing back in. Within just a few minutes, we finally met our beautiful baby girl!

One of the benefits of having a home birth is that it becomes a family affair. The kids were in and out of my bedroom (where I spent most of my time in labor). The girls were compassionately rubbing my back and shoulders. All the kids got to see the natural progression of pain during the labor. As they came in during the more painful contractions, Paul would explain that I couldn't talk because of how much it hurt. They were zoned into watching a movie downstairs when Selah was being born, but were called up right afterward and saw her as I was still holding her in the pool. What an incredible thing to see the birth as a miracle of God and not a act of medical science. It seems to make the new baby a natural addition to the family. Even Nathan was able to put the pieces together and realize that this was the same baby that was in mommy's tummy just a little while before.

The homebirth weigh-in.

Signing the Birth Certificate. We'll have to take it to the courthouse later with a notorized letter from the midwife stating that "yes, we did have a baby on this day..."

Nathan and his "new baby sister!!"

It's a GIRL!!! Selah Joy!

2010-12-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

It's a GIRL! Selah Joy was born at 9 pm. She was the second smallest baby at 9 lbs 1 oz, and 21.5 inches long! I'll write more about her birth later...

Our New Family!

Selah and momma within an hour after birth. Check out that crazy hair.

Proud Papa!

9 days over...

2010-12-21T13:23:00.000-08:00

It's a full moon tonight... With just about every pregnancy, I would watch with anticipation the full moon come, and then go, hoping that it would put me into labor. You hear about the labor and delivery rooms at the hospitals getting packed with women on full moon night. I think it has something to do with the gravitational pull. Same reason it affects the ocean's tide, I presume. So far, it hasn't worked for me.

On the other hand, I usually take castor oil on day number 8 which puts me into within 24 hours and I end up having him/her on day 9 (worked on 4 out of 6. Noah was induced early because the midwife was "going out of business" :) and my water broke with Nathan 4 days overdue). I have decided not to torture myself by gagging down the nasty stuff (yet). I did read on the internet about rubbing it on the belly and warming it with a hairdryer to start contractions. I may be gullible, but I did make a run to the pharmacy and bought some "tasteless and odorless" castor oil. (It's funny that on the directions, it says that you can take it with some juice to make it taste better... so much for tasteless.) Maybe, just maybe, between the full moon, a castor oil massage, and sipping raspberry tea...

Christmas Blessings!

2010-12-19T14:59:00.000-08:00

Every year we make cookies for our neighbors and deliver them a week or so before Christmas. Paul and some of the kids took them around last weekend since we weren't sure when the new baby would be arriving and we did our baking earlier than usual this year.

Well, this afternoon, someone called and asked if we were the neighbors who brought the cookies around each year. "I've got something for your family. I'll be over in a few minutes." I had no idea which neighbor it was except that he was elderly from the sound of his voice. (We have a couple of older, widowed farmers around us)

It was Tony, a hermit-type of elderly man who lives a mile up the road. We see him every once in a while crossing the road to get his mail. It's obvious when you watch him walk that he has a hard time getting around, so we've done some anonymous snow shoveling and baking for him. In the years past, he's had a hand-written sign on his front door saying, "This house is boobie-trapped. Enter at the risk of losing an arm or leg." Last year, while delivering bread, the kids read the sign and came back to the car refusing to knock. I finally talked Caleb into knocking and, what do you know, he didn't lose either arm or leg.

Well, after calling, he showed up at our garage door with a 40 pound sack of groceries full of peanut butter, jelly, cookies, bread, cheese, and more. He even bought us a turkey! What a blessing to have such a thoughtful neighbor... and even more of a blessing to see the kids surprised faces. They got a tangible lesson in how God blesses you when you give without expecting anything in return. We even took the opportunity to pray that God would bless Tony for his kindness and help him to know Jesus if he doesn't.

Nathan took a liking to the 4 packages of cookies and tried to claim them as his own...

Zoo day!

2010-12-17T18:13:00.000-08:00

It was getting kind of boring sitting around the house waiting for a baby to be born, so we decided to head to the zoo (maybe see if we could start anything). Tuesdays and Thursdays are free through the end of the year and I've been wanting to take the kids there for a few weeks. It finally warmed up enough (all the way into the 20's... whoo, hoo!), so I took my animals to see the REAL animals :)

Nathan wasn't too happy about sitting on the lion when we first got there to take our initial picture, but by the end of our trip, he got the drift that the only reason we came to the zoo was for pictures and he started cooperating.

Gracie and the zebra (or as Nathan would say, "Beebra"). Though I didn't get a good picture of the wild horses that are new to the zoo, both of the girls claimed that they were their favorite animals.

My little Roo's!

That's me... 5 days overdue. Although it was uncomfortable walking through the zoo for 3 and a half hours, the baby seemed to thoroughly enjoy the rocking motion because it gave no hint that it was coming out. In fact, all the walking just wore me out and made my hips hurt. Little did I know that my midwife would call later that evening and ask that I not do anything extra to try to start labor since she had been up the night before with another birth. Of course, my well behaved (yet LATE) baby decided to oblige her...

Today (day 6 overdue), we went sledding. Not me, although the thought did cross my mind (if I wasn't so sore from yesterday). It was our last chance to sled without the crowds when all the kids are off school for winter break. My favorite hill (because of convienience) is situated so that the kids are always in view of the parking lot. They practically sled right onto it. Nathan and I sat in the car watching Mickey Mouse while the kids wore off some winter energy.

Piano Recital

2010-12-14T17:43:00.000-08:00

Nope, no baby yet... But this is a very busy time of year with lots going on around the holidays, so I thought I'd blog a bit more before the baby comes...

The boys (Caleb and Seth) had their Christmas Piano Recital this past weekend. Seth made HUGE improvements over last year. Last year, he practically had to be drug up on stage to play his piece. He is alot like me. You couldn't have paid me enough to want to do a recital when I was his age. This year, though, he went right up without threats of any kind! I believe he was just as nervous because I could see his hands visably shaking as he started his first piece. He was also nervously chomping on gum to the rhythm of his playing...

Seth played "Deck the Halls" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" (Grandpa Harold's favorite song :), and he played them well. Knowing how hard it is for him to get up in front of people, I was especially proud.

Caleb played a duet with Stephanie Bourg. They are at about the same playing level and they played "Carol of the Bells" together. It was AWESOME! He followed that with "Theme of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (also known as a popular wedding march song). I really had no idea it was a Christmas song, but it sounded fantastic. He's at the point now where he enjoys playing, and it is enjoyable to listen to him. (It only took 5 long years...)

Supersize Me!

2010-12-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

Everything is seeming BIG right now! My belly (when I bend to pick up a toy), this baby (when I try to breathe), ALL of the clothes in my wardrobe (time for that stuff to GO), the trip from my car through the parking lot to the store, and the walk across Walmart to get the things on my list... BIG! We've decided to add to the BIG-ness of the season by purchasing our very first Super-sized Van! That's right, we finally dove in and bought a 15 passenger van! NO, it's not because we plan to fill every seat! It's more for "whacking room". What's that, you say? It's the space in between the kids that kills the temptation to "whack" their neighbor :)

We've been looking at a 15 passenger for a few months, and we finally found a honey of a deal on a 2005 van with 16K miles! I have to admit, I'm not too fond of the color, but we have plans to spruce it up a bit... eventually. You can see in the picture below that for now, two of the kids actually get their OWN seat! (That guy in the back window is NOT part of our family :) The Ford van is a bit higher than our Chevy, so we will definately need running boards. I almost have to do the splits to get in. Add in a DVD system with surround sound and we'll have our own traveling theater! The kids will be begging to go for trips. They are already begging me to drive over any bump in the road because they want to see if they can hit their heads on the roof like in a school bus...

While we're on the subject of super-sizing, here's the "Due Date" belly shot. Pretty average for me, but I do have a tendancy to super-size my babies. Obviously, there's no baby yet. I am aiming for the 16th (Grandpa Les' birthday), or if that doesn't work, my next date of choice is the 21st. Seth was born on the first day of summer, so why not a "first day of winter" baby? Ya want to know something really sad? Look at my legs. They are actually hiding Nathan. You can see his little arm sticking out, but that's it. Ahhh, well.... that's life :) Who knows, maybe my next blog will be about our new baby...

Time with my girls

2010-12-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

Grandma Connie had the 3 older boys for the night, so we took advantage of it! The girls and I gave eachother pedicures complete with soaking our feet in warm bubbly water, massages and fantastic smelling lotions. Truth be told, I was in need of some pampering, so I gave lessons on how to do a foot massage and they returned the favor on me :) Ahhh, how's that verse go? "Train up a child..." Yep, it's all part of their training. Nathan especially loved having his feet rubbed. He just went off into a daze until I stopped. Next... Backrubs!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T14:22:00.001-08:00

With the looming birth of our new baby, Thanksgiving kind of got away from me. I am speeding into the Christmas rush, trying to get things accomplished before baby comes. I just wanted to take a minute and share just a few of the things I am so grateful for this year...

... my kids, of course, and how they've grown. I truely (still) enjoy being around them. :)

... my husband. Though we are continually fine-tuning eachother, there is no other person I'd rather spend my life with. He's a hard worker, a great example for our kids, and a man of integrity.

... both Paul's parents and my parents. I'm thankful for the way they raised us, and their love for eachother. And am sooooo thankful for the wonderful grandparents that my kids have.
... for baby number 7! It's amazing to think of this baby that wiggles inside of me now will be here in about 2 weeks! What a blessing and honor for God to give us another life to raise for His glory.

... our new well! Lots and lots of running water! Laundry, dishwashing, FULL hot baths, slip-n-slides, filling our goat's and chicken's troughs. You don't realize how much you miss it until you don't have it.

... my quirky family, and Paul's normal family. I'm not sure if my family would aspire to be called "normal", but I can attest that they are not. That part of them makes family holidays and being together fun. They're like walking into a Bath and Body store and being able to test 50 scents in 5 minutes. On the other hand, there is also a benefit and stability to having a "normal" family to even out the score. Though "normal" has no real definition, Paul's family reminds me of the deep, refreshing scent of evergreens during the Christmas season. Soothing and relaxing. What a joy it is to have both.

Shot my first possum!

2010-11-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

I know what most of you want to say when you see this picture... Go ahead and say it... "NASTY!" I would too, but this time I was the proud hunter (not proud enough to actually hold it myself, though. YUK).

Noah, after much protest to being sent out in the dark to collect our eggs (he forgot to do it earlier), came bursting in... "Mom, there's a possum in the hen house! It's in the nesting box!" Paul was out buying a new dishwasher after ours died, so it was up to me to do something with this egg thief. Seth volunteered to shoot it with his bb gun, but my wisdom said it would probably just get mad, so Noah and I went out armed with a baseball bat, a golf club and a head-lamp (one of those flashlights that you rubberband to your forhead). We also took Lady, our fierce possum hunting Blue-Heeler. We showed Lady where it was, but being that it saw her too, the possum tried to bite her every time she went to grab it. And bing I wasn't about to get into a baseball bat fight with a possum in a 4X8 foot hen house, I decided to go back in and get our gun. The possum was still in the same spot when I got back, and seeing it's bared teeth and hearing it growl at me, I didn't feel one bit sorry for shooting it. Clean up was left for my dear husband who tossed it in the road-side ditch of the field next door. That IS where many possums end up anyway, right?

I have to say that my boys were quite proud of their momma today (so was my hubby), and I was glad to get rid of our plump, trespassing egg-eater.

20 days to go!!!

2010-11-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

Whoa, I just looked at my Lilypie counter (on the right of my blog) and it announced that I have only 20 days to go! It's actually more like 28-30 days in my pregnancies, but there's always a possibility of being on time, right? ...(yeah, right). On a side note, does going overdue coincide with always being late in regular life? Hmmmm... I'll have to do some surveys on that one.

Back to the topic at hand... Even though I've chosen to have my last few babies at home, it's certainly not to escape the pain-free epidural that most pregnant women choose in the latter stage of labor. In fact, I can distinctly remember the pain of labor, and then the pain of pushing and it makes me want to crawl into bed and cry. Some of the women I know actually enjoy labor as it was meant to be (painful), and find it somewhat empowering. I just look at them and cringe. But, here I am once again getting ready for a shoot-out with one of my biggest fears within the next month and am NOT looking forward to it. I am officially starting my positive-thinking mode and working on convincing myself that God made labor survivable and the end result is worth the effort. To encourage myself, I am doing a couple things different this time in hopes of an easier labor... I borrowed a birthing pool (not necessarily to have a water birth, but I've found that the warm water soothes the contrations and our tub is too shallow). I'm also going to start taking GLA (aka Gamma-linolenic Acid found in Borage Seed/Evening Primrose Oil-it has natural prostiglandins in it that supposedly does things to get the body ready for a faster and, hopefully, sooner birth).

As for the baby status... I'm measuring 39 weeks along (I'm 37 weeks), and each of my boys measured around 2 weeks or so farther along (just like this one), while each of my girls measured right on or just under their appropriate week measurement. He/she is head down, getting crowded (which I can tell everytime he/she decides to stretch), and is anxiously waiting to meet the ones that are making all that noise on the outside of my womb, just like they are for him/her.

Gracie's ear dilemma

2010-11-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

This last half of the year, Gracie has been battling ear infections just about every month. Her first one was around July and I tried any natural remedy that I could think of (garlic oil, grapefuit seed extract, a warm onion cut in half, heating pad...). Nothing seemed to work so we went to a Minute Clinic at a corner pharmacy and, of course, they gave her the typical dose of antibiotics... internal and drops to put in the ear. After a day of hesitating before giving them to her, we followed through with the routine 10-day dosage. It worked... until she got it back a month later.

This time, I tried to wait it out and see what happened. I still tried the natural stuff along with Children's Motrin at night. After a while, her ear popped and drained. I had read up on it and knew that it was not a big deal because it was draining the infection out. It relieved her pain, but within a week, it healed up and started hurting once more. Then, it popped... again. Now I was starting to wonder if this would continue and she would end up with scarring and permanent hearing loss, so I took her to another immediate care... and he prescribed antibiotics. I was looking for a cause, not a quick cure. He insisted that if I didn't give them to her, she would probably end up with some Strep infection in the brain and die... Whatever. What really irritated me what that he was like 10 years younger than me (probably with no kids and even less experience) AND he was a physician's assistant, not a doctor. He spent a half hour surfing the web to find information to print to confirm his doomsday prophecy, while I was waiting not-so-patiently with 4 little kids in his 4 by 8 exam room. I filled the prescription anyhow and after a couple days of sitting in limbo (and Grace being in pain), I gave in. And, hey, what do you know? It worked... for another month.

I've tried ear candles (which seemed to work temporarily), purchased homeopathic tablets specifically for ear infections, and bought probiotics to build back her good bacteria. I'm done with over prescribed antibiotics (that aren't working anyhow). Even after all that, her ear popped once again this week, and then the other ear started hurting. I was at a complete loss and totally clueless on what to do next. I talked to a few friends and decided to go radical... nutritionally. We juiced carrots and apples which, along with rose hip tea- (full of vitamin C), is what she got all day. I dosed up every cup of juice with probiotics, colloidal silver, and Acerola powder (another rich source of Vitamin C from cherries). By the end of the day, her pain was starting to subside. In addition, I've cut her off of all dairy (which I had been doing for a while) along with all wheat (the most likely allergens). Whatever was causing the irritation seems to be going away. She doesn't have any more ear pain, but she can't hear very well yet. I'm guessing there's still some swelling and fluid that needs to drain. Time will tell if we've solved the root of the problem...

Through it all, she's been a trooper. She realizes that she can't eat what everyone else eats and for the most part is ok with it. And with all the hearing problems, she's getting really good at lip reading. Who know's, maybe she'll be the next Annie Sullivan (Helen Keller's teacher). :)

Bittersweet

2010-11-13T16:04:00.001-08:00

Noah, Brennen, Evan, Caleb and Seth

Ella, Grace, Kaeley, and Ellie

Ok, I'm out of the rut I was stuck in with the last blog and onto brighter days. I gave myself a little attitude adjustment and the rest of the week went much smoother. The Anderson's left early Sunday morning and we are spending this week getting back to some sort of routine. When it's all said and done, I can say that I did enjoy our time with them. The kids loved spending hours and hours every day with Brennen, Evan, Kaeley and Ella. For the most part, they played very well together (although the Anderson's could use another kid or two to even out the playmates). It's Monday now, and I can see that the constant activity of the past two weeks is taking it's toll. The kids aren't sure what to do with themselves and they "miss the Anderson's". On the other hand, the house volume level has been turned down a few notches...

I am learning the full meaning of the phrase... "parting is such sweet sorrow"

Master juggler... sometimes.

2010-11-09T08:41:00.000-08:00

There it is... add it to my list of occupations. You know, along with chauffeur, chef, nurse, cleaning lady, baker, psycologist, doctor, teacher, and the list goes on.... I have been thinking this week that I am a master juggler. Unlike the clown in the picture, I have six balls that I am currently keeping in the air (add in Paul, and you're up to seven). For the most part, I am in a regular groove and am preparing to add one more to my juggling skills within the next month or so. It'll throw things off for a bit (usually about 6 months) until I can get my rhythm back... but it will eventually come back.

Why have I been contemplating juggling skills this past week, you ask? Well, whenever I have things that disrupt my routine (and yes, even though I don't have a "schedule", there is still order and routines to my day :), it's hard to keep all of my objects in the air. This past week (and for the next 5 days or so) we've had family visiting with us. They are friends of ours who moved to Colorado 5 years ago. Every year, they come back to visit and stay with us. Every year, it seems to get a bit harder (except for the year I had a 2 week old. That was the pits).

Maybe it's because I'm 8 months pregnant and have a subconscious need to start nesting and relaxing before the baby comes... I'm not sure, but out of necessity (because of my attitude over the last week), I have taken some time to do some inward self-examination. It's funny how you don't know what's inside of you until you get bumped or squeezed. Then, good or bad, it gets spilled out. Ugh, the stuff I've found... selfishness, critical thoughts, irritability... have made me painfully aware of my inadequacites. Now the challenge is to become moldable. I realize that God uses all things for our good and His desire is to make us more like Him. I also understand that if I am not willing to let Him mold me with the easier challenges, it seems like the challenges get harder until He is finally able to break our will. Though the urge is to sulk, my challenge (and my true desire) is to stay soft and moldable instead of hardening my heart to what God is doing.

My take on Halloween

2010-10-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

I in no way enjoy Halloween. I dispise taking my kids shopping and seeing all of the ugly decorations and posters on display. Every year they seem to get more disgusting and scary. All you have to do is walk past one of the evil-glorifying statues and you inevitable hear a scream of terror, groan of death or can see it's red eyes light up. What a horrible holiday that rakes in sooooo much money for the stores. We generally avoid the halloween area of the store around this time of year and truely enjoy when the stores start replacing them with Christmas decorations even before October is over (though, the marketing push to the next season is really pathetic). I've actually seen moms laughingly take their 3 or 4-year-olds and make them stand in front of those scary talking decorations while their kids BEG their moms to leave because they're terrified. The moms just keep laughing and get a kick out of giving their kids nightmares. Shame on them!!

I've discovered that one of the benefits of living in the country is that Halloween passes us by with not so much as a rustle at the front door. No candy to buy for kids that insist you give it to them or you'll get a trick played on you. No scary masks coming to the door, and (worse yet) not having to walk our kids through yards that are decorated with those disgusting statues and makeshift horror film cemetaries. We just cook up some popcorn, plug in a movie and enjoy the night. So, if you are looking for a way to escape the horrors of Halloween, you are welcome to come to our house during trick-or-treat hours... Just don't come knocking for candy.

On a lighter note, as much as I am disgusted by the holiday, I thought this cartoon was so funny!

Fall Fest

2010-10-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we had some families over for a "Fall Fest". It was a ton of fun! The kids and I planned the fun fall themed games like pin the nose on the pumpkin, pumpkin buckets, bean bag toss, toss the hat on the scarecrow, pick a lollypop, paint a pumpkin and more. We had somewhere around 8 families come over and since their families are alot like our family, that meant there were ALOT of kids (somewhere around 50, I think).

The kids got to earn tickets by playing the games and then were able so "spend" their tickets to get their face painted, paint a pumpkin, buy a glowstick, or save them to spend at the prize table.

Noah and Ellie painting pumpkins.

The neighboring fields harvested their beans earlier than usual this year, so Paul was able to give the kids hayrides around and through them.

The bigger boys (Caleb and Seth are now considered bigger boys, I guess), spent much of the time playing football. They loved having enough friends over to actually form teams!

After it got dark, we headed over to the bonfire. It was windy and had been looking like rain all day up until our party. All morning, we were praying for the weather to change, and as soon as the party started, the sun came out periodically, the wind died down and the temperature was perfect. Not long after we started the bonfire, we could hear thunder, and after about 30 minutes of a perfect fire (good job, Paul), the rain started. It would've been nice to get in a few songs and s'mores, but all-in-all, it was a great day!

Well number 2

2010-10-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

Fool me once, shame on you... Fool me twice, shame on me.

I know what it's like to be without water, so as a precautionary backup, we are transforming our old well (which still worked... limited water, but still worked) in to a well that we can pump by hand. It's part of the whole self-sufficient mindset... We can still have access to clean water if our electricty goes out (which hasn't happened in a while, but it has been known to do).

My dad came over Saturday and helped Paul piece the pipes and pump rod together (and figure out how to get it to work).

The pumping mechanism still needs to be tweeked and worked on a bit, but we can get water to flow. Yay!

Soccer's over

2010-10-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Well, soccer's officially over. Their last game (this past Saturday) got rained out, so they recieved their awards in the gym. This year, we had all three boys on the same team along with their friend Xander. The team age spread is supposed to be 8-10. We had to bump Noah up (he's only 7) and squeeze Caleb in (he turned 11 during the season), but worked out fine since the atmosphere of the Christian Youth Center is not quite as competitive as most other leagues. It was great having only one practice and one game everyweek (and having daddy as the coach)!!

Seth

Caleb

Noah

This year's soccer team

Socialism?

2010-10-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am completely aware that this post is going to come off as a wierdo type of blog, but here it is none-the-less.

I recently read a book on Hitler before he rose to power. I was dumb-founded. I thought he would've been raised in a well-educated, well-to-do family, but just the opposite is true. He was born in Austria (not Germany), and he lost his father (who he wasn't very fond of anyhow) at age 12. He hated school and wanted to be an artist. After finishing school at 16, he spent 2 years reading, painting, drawing and going to the opera while his mom and sister cooked and cleaned for him. He tried to get into art school a couple times, but was rejected and told he should look into becoming an architect. He didn't work. While his good friend found odd jobs, he didn't do anything to earn money and didn't seem to care to. His mom died when he was 18, and he recieved a small inheritance and an orphan pension from the government and that is what he lived on. (Around this time, he started learning about a far-fetched idea of a "master race" in a cheap, trashy magazine sold at a nearby kiosk.) At age 20, he had so little money, he lived on the streets of Vienna with drunkards scavenging for food from trash cans. He eventually ended up in a soup-kitchen type of hostel where he had his first bath in months and spent his days painting. His friend offered to sell the paintings in local bars to make some money for them both.

On he goes to Germany in hopes of an art career... He was turned down and ends up fighting in WWI for Germany and the greater good of mankind (to make Germany a World Power). He got angry at the Jews who seemed to be taking all the "good" jobs instead of fighting. After losing the war, and feeling betrayed by both communists and Jews who were said to be behind the revolution toward peace, he was discovered as a great orator. His speaking ability took him to higher and higher levels of politics (along with some time and manipulation). Mind you, the guy never worked a real job, yet he was put in charge of a nation!!

Ok, all that to say two things:

1. All this time, I thought Hitler was a Communist, but there were two groups of people that he distained more than others... Communists and Jews. Hitler was a Socialist. (Which makes complete sense when you discover that he didn't work. Instead he lived off society and the government.)

2. He rose to power, not because he was well-accomplished or had been established as a great political leader, but because he was a great speaker. Certain groups needed his smooth talking to get them ahead politically.

Can you draw some similarities to certain persons here in the US? Hmmm, something to chew on...

It's pumpkin carving day again

2010-10-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

October 15 rolled around again, so we dug out our pumpkin carving tools (and bought new ones to replace the ones broken while playing with playdoe throughout the year). Each year on this day, we carve our pumpkins in memory of the day Paul proposed to me. 13 years ago to the day, we bought pumpkins and went to his house to carve them, but before we did, Paul got on his knees and sang his proposal to me. We didn't get to carve pumpkins that night because I had to get right home and tell everyone... so in honor of that night, we make October 15th our Pumpkin Carving Night.

We all look forward to carving the pumpkins, although some of the kids still take some coaxing to get their hands into the stringy, gooey pumpkin insides. This year we bought the pumpkins from a local farm, but next year, I think we'll designate an area to the viney squash (for the life of me, I can't figure out if it's a fruit or a veggie). It gets expensive at $4.00 per family member (and that's for the cheaper ones we've found), only to chop them up and have them rot on the front steps.

Ellie surprised me this year. All of the boys still had me carve their faces out when they were five, but she cleaned out her pumpkin and started carving away. She actually did a good job. I was impressed. She likes to draw, so maybe it's her artistic side coming out.

I have to admit, all of our pumpkin carving abilities have improved over the last 13 years. With the help of some free tracing patterns that we printed off the computer, we were able to make some nice renditions of Snow White, Blues Clues, Thomas the Train and Mickey Mouse. I believe I can see our pumpkin "works of art" becoming quite competitive as the kids get older...

Grace with Snow White...

...and Caleb's nice job on Blues Clues

... And here you have the Whole Pumpkin Family

Paul's Birthday

2010-10-16T15:02:00.000-07:00

Paul's birthday was October 4th. He turned 39 this year with the big 4-0 looming in the near future...

Grandma and Grandpa came over to babysit for a couple hours and we headed to one of Paul's favorite steakhouses.... Lonestar. We tend to go there every time his birthday rolls around. Although he's great to cook for because he's not a picky eater at all, he's a steak and potatoes kind of guy at heart, so Lonestar suits him perfectly. (That, or a Brazillian steakhouse, his first choice, but considering the nearest one is not around us, he chose the next runner up).

When we got home, we had pumpkin pie (another favorite) with the kids and Grandma Connie and Grandpa Les. Caleb and Seth decorated it with real whipped cream. Yum!

The next day, we went to my parents and had a delicious lasagna dinner, and on Friday of the same week, the weather was gorgeous when we picked up Chinese and met daddy at the park for lunch... I'm thinkin' I like his birthday almost as much as mine. Hooray for NO COOKING!! (And Happy Bday, Honey!)

Oh, and by the way, yes, we have water!! Lot and lots of clean, non-smelly water! Praise the Lord! He heard my cry and He answered me!!

We've struck gold!!

2010-10-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

Alright, so it's not gold, it's just water, but for us, it's as close to gold in our yard as we're gonna get. We've been battling the lack of water vs. "Should we spend an awful lot of money to dig a new well?" problem for about 2 years now. The biggest obstacle was that most of the time, our water (or lack of it) only had trouble a few times a year then would be fairly "normal" the rest of the time. It seemed like twice a year, our water would go dry for about a week and then magically return to "normal". Ahhh, but normal for us meant that if we all took showers on Sunday morning, we had to make them really quick ones and do combo ones with the youngest kids, or if we had a lot of laundry to do, our well needed a rest between loads to "refill"... and for our family, it doesn't take long for the laundry to pile up.

On Friday morning, we had the well guys officially start drilling!! Yay! By about 5 pm, and after digging down 270 feet (we were getting nervous since every foot adds more money onto the bill), they hit water! Not just water, but lots of it. Something like 30 to 40 gallons a minute! Compared to the 1 gallon per minute that we had, it was like striking gold! They are going to hook up our pump on Monday and the anticipation is killing us. Paul and I keep dreaming about how it'll be so nice to do dishes and laundry at the same time, or for the kids to play on the slip-and-slide for more than 10 minutes at a time next summer. Whoo-hoo! The only unknown factor is whether or not it's stinky sulfur water. We won't know until it's hooked up and the only thing the well guys guarantee is that "it'll be wet".

A honey of a day

2010-09-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon and the better part of the evening collecting the honey from our hardworking bees. It was a messy, sticky job, but mmmm-mmmm, the results were worth the work. After Paul snatched the 3 extra "supers" (which is a box with 10 frames of wood in it that the bees build their honey combs on) from the bees and brought them into the garage, he cleared any remaining bees off and stacked them in the kitchen. We left 2 "super" boxes on each hive (we have 2 hives so far). One box is for their food supply for the winter and the other is for their brood (little baby bees).

Paul took one frame out at a time and skimmed off the honeycomb's wax tops with a heated knife. Each little comb is filled to the brim with pure delicious honey. Bees are actually very clean, particular animals. They even have their own "garbage dump" in a corner of the hive where they bury any invading insects in an antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal goop called propolis (which is very useful to humans and I intend to collect it at some point and experiment).

After decapping, he put the frame in Uncle Mike's homemade honey extractor (that's my handy brother-in-law). After positioning 4 of the frames in the extractor, the boys turned the crank and spun the honey out onto the sides of the wooden barrel.

The honey drips down the sides and collects at the bottom of the barrel and the frame is taken out checked to see if the combs are empty, and the process is repeated on the other side (those hardworking bees build the comb out on both sides of the frame).

After enough honey collects on the bottom, we take the cap off the litte white pipe, and drain the honey into a strainer that sits in the top of a 5 gallon bucket (the strainer collects any extra wax or things that don't belong in the honey).
The honeycomb caps that Paul cut off got their fair share of use too. The kids got plenty of chances to taste-test the wax caps (which were covered in honey, yum... their favorite part). The rest of the wax was strained (to remove as much honey as would drain), then warmed in a double boiler to melt the wax. Once the wax was melted (but still mixed with the honey that wouldn't strain), we poured it into a bowl to let it harden. The wax will float and harden, and the remaining honey will settle to the bottom. Then we break out the wax, rinse it, and save it for one of our winter experiments.... Candle-making!

Then came the clean up... sticky, waxy and messy. I think it took us almost as long to clean up as it did to extract the honey, but there you have it... 6 hours of work for a year's worth of honey and our hands-on homeschool lesson for the week...

Nathan liked the taste-testing too... I'm not sure, but I think he rubbed it all over his head. Whatever it was, it was a goopy mess...

Apple Sch'mear and a trip to Norway

2010-09-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

If you've ever watched one of my favorite movies, "Cheaper by the Dozen", you've seen the game Apple Sch'mear. We had gone apple picking several times in August and made all sorts of goodies with them. We also had a bunch of the smaller apples left over that were starting to attract fruit flies in our laundry room...

... so we decided to try our our own game of Apple Sch'mear. It involves a willing volunteer pitching an apple to someone who is waiting to turn it in applesauce with a tennis racket. The juice goes everywhere and the kids have tons of fun (so do our animals as they clean up the mess).

Our trip to Norway
For the last two weeks, and the next month or so, we'll be traveling around and studying Europe. We just finished our "two week stay" in Norway, the Land of the Midnight Sun. We ended our tour with an authentic Norwegian meal. Since my not too distant relatives are from Sweden and Paul's great grandpa is from Norway, we felt "at home" with these cultural foods.

If you haven't figured out by now, our dining room was transformed into a Norwegian restaurant. The meal consisted of Norwegian meatballs (yes, they really were Norwegian style. We found out the slight difference between Norwegian and Swedish meatballs is in the gravy) and potato soup. It deliciously filling. No fruit soup for dessert this time, though.

Nathan's 2nd Birthday

2010-09-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

Nathan turned two yesterday. He is a character. He's LOUD and active, and is unwilling to miss out on any of the fun that his older brothers and sisters are having. I enjoy this age soooo much. When Paul and I got back from our trip and I was putting him to bed for the night, he said, "I miss you." Awww, melt my heart... He will also spontaneously say, "I wuv you, mommia". I'm not sure why, but he has gotten into the habit of saying "mommia". Not all the time, just when he really wants my attention. He knows that he's being funny when he says it. I think he may be the upcoming comedian of the family. He'll do something goofy, then look at me and ask, "Funny, mommy?" He cracks me up.

We met daddy at the park for lunch and went fishing after Paul had to leave. We had a dandy of a time getting Nathan to settle down and smile for a picture. He knew what we wanted and avoided eye contact with the camera. After poking, prodding and tickling, we managed to squeak out a few grins. He was so excited that it was his birthday and everyone got to sing, "happy birthday" to him!

Niagra Falls

2010-09-12T04:31:00.000-07:00

After our drive to Niagra Falls, we settled into the Shearton Hotel in Canada and headed to the Crown Plaza (next door) for dinnner. Their dining area had a great view of the Falls and since the sun was setting while we were eating, we were able to watch them turn on the light show that lit up the water. Back at our room, we had a wall of glass that also overlooked the Falls to the left and the city of Niagra on the right.

Friday, we started the day with a bountiful breakfast at our hotel restaurant (again, overlooking the falls), then headed out for a full day of touring. Our first adventure was just across the street where we took the famous "Maid of the Mist" boat tour. It took us past the American Falls (I may be bias, but I thought that the American Falls may be a bit prettier) and into the midst of the Horseshoe Falls. The power of the thundering, rushing water is incredible (and loud). The mist from the impact of the water on the surface went hundreds of feet into the air and would have saturated us if not for our ever fashionable rain garb.

After our boat trip (a must-do), we walked along the path, past the American Falls, to an eye level view of the Horseshoe Falls. The speed and swiftness of the surging water was breathtaking as it fell over the edge. We took a "Journey Beneath the Falls" which took us 125 feet straight down in an elevator and out onto a platform where we could see a side view of the water cascading from the Horseshoe Falls above. (Also a very wet tour... thus the yellow rainwear). We were able to walk through a tunnel that led behind the falls to two portals where we could view the water coming straight down. I thought that part was a bit disappointing since you could see absolutely nothing but a white wall of water covering the opening, but Paul, really got a kick out of the sound of the thundering water reverberating off the walls... (I think it has to do with the inate urge of the engineer to think outside the box... or tunnel). The walls of the tunnel were lined with historical and informational posters about the Falls (which I found very interesting).

After a full day of sightseeing, we headed back to our hotel for dinner, and then out to the IMAX to see a movie about the knuckleheads that tried to barrel over the falls. Only about 15 people have tried (which surprised me), and 1/3 of them died in the attempt. The most interesting story was a 7 year old boy in the 60's that was in a boating accident. He only had a lifejacket and a swimsuit on, and survived without any problems (...except for maybe a fear of boating :)

The next day, we drove a few miles down the Niagra River to see the whirlpool and rapids. The Niagra rapids are known to be one of the most difficult rapids in the world. It is illegal to try to ride down them anymore (for good reason). Then we took the Rainbow Bridge back into the United States. The streets on the American side were anything but appealing (filled with run down Indian cuisine restaurants), but there was something comforting about being back on "our" side. We headed to Goat Island State Park (a good name, don't you think?) to view the falls from the American side. You certainly don't get the same effect since you can't really see both falls at the same time, but the view was still amazing.

We are now on our way back to Illinois. There were quite a few times during the weekend that we wondered how it would work to bring all 6 (soon to be 7) kids with us. It would be a challenge, for sure, and being that we saw no one with more than 3 kids, I'm sure we'd be almost as much of an attraction as the falls, but a trip back with the whole family has been our intention from the beginning. Now that we have an idea of the worthwhile (and affordable) sights, the only question is when...

Oh, and THANKS sooooo much to both of our parents for taking such good care of our crew while we were gone!!!!!!!

2010-09-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

Oh, Canada

2010-09-10T21:56:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the Grandmas for taking care of the kids, we were able to get away for an extended weekend!! Paul has been wanting to go to Niagra Falls for a while, so that was the place of choice. Instead of driving to New York to get there, we thought it'd be interesting to head up through Michigan, cross into and drive through Canada, stay at the Falls, then head back west through New York. Our drive there proved to be a bit more interesting than we anticipated.

Paul took off early from work on Wednesday and we got on the road around 4. There was a crash on I-80 (along with narrowing of lanes for roadwork), so we sat on the interstate for an hour and a half waiting for it to get cleared. We stopped around 9 to find a hotel in Michigan, but apparently there had been an oil spill in the next town and the clean-up workers had been filling many of the hotels for the last couple months. Oh, there was still room, but from the prices, you could tell they weren't hurting for business.

Not long after we checked in, Grandma called to let us know that someone rear-ended her car while she was bringing the boys home from soccer practice. You know it's not good news when the conversation starts with "Everyone's OK, but we had a little incident..." It was only a minor fender bender, but Grandpa and Daddy thought it'd be best to have everyone checked out at a chiropractor the next day. The chiropractor wouldn't see them without written permission from their parents, so that meant finding a fax machine to send our permission for Grandma and Grandpa to take them in. We really should have left a medical note anyhow, but didn't think of it. After searching far and wide for a Staples in Detroit, Michigan, we finally got the note faxed. Afterward, we checked out their laptops and purse-size cameras (since both of ours died recently), and found a great deal on a nice Dell Laptop. It was clearanced and just about half off! Being that we can't pass up a great deal...

Which bring us to our next adventure... Detroit is just across the river from Windsor, Ontario in Canada. We took the tunnel under the river that separates the two (I've never driven under water!) and wound up at the Border Crossing in Canada. The nice guy in the dark-tinted booth checked our passports, asked where we were headed and if we had anything to declare. Paul had heard from a co-worker that you should declare anything you have that you can think of, so he listed off what he thought they'd want to know... a camera, clothes, a few laptops... The guard asked if he had any weapons or firearms? "No". Any cash? "Yes. A couple hundred." He closed his darkened window for a bit then reappeared. Apparently we looked or said something suspicious, because when he came out he repeated, "Sir, do you have a gun?" "No." He went back into his little booth then stepped out with a yellow ticket and sent us over to immigration to have our car searched. We were met by four other police with, "Please step out of your car and up to the sidewalk." They put on black leather gloves and searched every nook and cranny. They opened all our suitcases, glove compartments, camera bags, backpacks (and rudely didn't zip them back up, mind you)... they even tried to check inside the door panels. As Paul and I, his pregnant wife, were standing and waiting, one officer barked at us, "Sir, get your hands out of your pockets." (Paul had his fingertips casually in his jeans pockets while we were waiting). Finally, having found cheerios and fries on the floor instead of drugs or weapons, they grabbed our brand, spankin' new laptop (still in the box) and said, "Why do you have this?" "Well, it was a really good deal at Staples in Detroit." "Sir, you should not bring things like this over the border. How do we know you aren't intending to give it to someone in Canada?" Paul, worried that they'd confiscate it, thought he'd win their sympathy by telling them our accident and faxing saga. Personally, I don't think they're allowed to have sympathy. We were officially scolded and sent to another building for approval. We did make it through, but I was left with a bad taste in my mouth for Canada, and after all that, we didn't even get a stamp in our passport! Apparently, US Citizens don't get one. What a raw deal!

Oh, and the drive from Windsor to Niagra reminded me of Nebraska. Plain, old boring.