Selah's First Trip to the Dentist

Selah was a trooper. She had her first dentist appointment last week. None of my children mind going to the dentist.  In fact, they actually look forward to it and argue over who's going to go first. We usually break up the family into 2 appointment days. It works out great because either Caleb or Seth can stay home to take care of whoever doesn't go. A couple years ago, we'd have to make a stop at grandma's to drop some kiddos off. 

Now, one reason that they get super excited about going is because if they get a clean bill of health (no cavities), they get a shake right afterward. 

Unfortunately, Selah has cavities already.  She is so much like Grace in looks and other ways, I think she has the same teeth. :(  Grace had cavities in all of her front baby teeth before loosing them.  Hopefully, Selah's won't be that bad, but it's not looking too good for my 3 year old.  She's not going to get them filled because most of the time we don't worry about baby teeth. We just wait for them to fall out. 

On a side note, I love to see our Dentist and Hygentist.  The dentist is soft-spoken and kind, AND not afraid of natural treatments.  He doesn't necessarily employ them, but he isn't against them.  He kind of takes a "well, lets see if it works" approach.  I like that.  Our Hygentist is also very sweet.  I enjoy talking to her.  She is amazed by our big family and asks me questions about them alot.  She is wanting to get pregnant, but her and her husband have been having trouble.  I pray for her and look forward to her giving me good news one of these times when we see her again.

Even though Selah didn't get a clean report, yes, she still got a milk shake.  It WAS her first time to the dentist, after all... ;)

Gracie's Baptism

My little Gracie got baptized last Sunday, September 28.  She been asking us to get baptized for something like a year. We held off because, well, she's only 8, and we wanted to make sure she understood what she was doing.  I would ask her, "Grace, why do you want to be baptized?" and she'd reply matter-of-factly, "Because God told me to."  I guess that is probably the best answer she could give, but I wanted to know if she knew what "being baptized" meant.  I was looking for something like... "I want to make a public proclamation of my faith before the entire congregation of believers."  Ok, not so stuffy-like, but simply something that told me she wanted to follow Christ, and she wanted to show others that she did.  I asked her several times in different ways. "Grace, what makes you want to be baptized?" "Why are you choosing to be baptized?" etc. and she kept coming up with the same answer, "God told me to".  Finally, I gave up and asked her how God told her.  I asked, "Did He sound like this... (in a very dramatic, deep voice) GRACE! GET BAPTIZED!"?"  She laughed and said, "No, it wasn't that low".  I said the same thing in an exaggerated high pitched voice. She laughed again and said, "No, it was just normal".  I knew that she wanted to follow Jesus and believe who He is and that He died to take her punishment, I was just intrigued at her interest in being baptized.

So we signed her up to be baptized.  Actually, she filled out the slip to sign up and dropped it in the offering.  She was so excited.  A few days before, she was doing the daily countdown.  "Only 3 more days til I get baptized!" "Only 2 more days til I get baptized!"  Kinda makes me wonder why we do it so formally.  She wanted to be baptized, we should have just baptized her.  In fact, some friends of ours used our pool only the week before to baptize their teenage daughter.  Seems to me, that's the way to do it, but we had already told the grandparents that it would be in church on Sunday, so Sunday it would be...

Paul, her daddy, asked to baptize her.  He had her write out a little script about her faith, which amounted to, "I want to be baptized because I love Jesus and I want to follow Him."  It was sweet and to the point.  I love watching my kids big steps, and small, on their journey with Jesus.  Although there will be lots of hiccups along the way, I am constantly praying that they build their relationship with Jesus so that the hiccups only draw them closer to Him, the Author and Finisher of their faith.  He who began a good work in my Gracie, is faithful to complete it.

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day this year, we went to our friends' house about two hours south of us. They blessed with over 10 acres of woods and yard. We have been trying to go down to their house once a month, but it was always during the week when Paul couldn't go... until this time. She graciously opened her property to a camp out with us and another large family we know. 

We towed the camper down on Saturday after the kids' baseball games. and set up camp in her backyard near the woods.  The guys slept in the camper and tents and the gals "roughed it" inside the house. 

Everyone had such a fun time!  Chatting, volleyball, eating, riding the zip line, volleyball, walking in the woods, more volleyball... Her place made an awesome getaway, and how much more fun it was to spend our time with our friends! What a blessing to have such good friends. 

3 families... 23 arrows (Psalm 127:4), and not one casualty.  I don't recall one mishap between anyone for the whole time we were there! Hard to believe with that many personalities, but true.  Everyone found their niche and place in the group... and just enjoyed their time with each other. 

Grace is 8!

My sweet, beautiful Grace just turned eight years old. She has been counting down the days until her birthday for at least a month and a half. Over the past year, grace has really grown to love to read. If she finds a good book, she will just sit and read most of the day. Her most recent read was "The Mysterious Benedict Society" which we've already read together as a family last year sometime, but she wanted to read again...

Grace requested pancakes with sprinkles and donuts for her birthday breakfast. Then later, we met daddy for lunch at a park by his work. It was a gorgeous day (one of the benefits of a May birthday).  Then...

Daddy and Grandma Betty met Grace and I at the mall for her special 8-year-old ear piercing... the real reason that she's been counting down the days. 

Before...

After...

One of my baby carriers

I have two very handy baby carriers... Ellie is one of them...

Ellie is going to make an excellent momma someday. 

 Gotta love big brothers...

We love spring!!

The boys (Seth and Noah) have been begging me to let them now the lawn since the first warm days in April. It's not really the mowing that's so thrilling, it's more about driving something around the yard.  I kept turning them down because, well, at these gas prices, who wants to buy more gas than they have to? Even though it was a little too early to start mowing yet, I gave in and let them pull the younger kids around. We need to get a trailer for our mowers, but for now they used our garden wagon and had a blast. 

Seth driving Nathan & Selah

Ellie and Grace

Mini greenhouses!

I tried something a bit different with my tomato plants this year. I was wanting some plastic milk bottles to make miniature green houses so that I could give my tomato plants an early start. Since we get milk from a local farmer friend in glass bottles, I asked my sweet sister-in-laws and mom-in-law to collect their plastic bottles for me earlier this spring. 

A couple of weeks before the last frost date, we planted the seedlings that we grew (ourselves!!) under fluorescents (first time EVER! And they turned out awesome!).  I had my handy boys cut the bottoms of the milk bottles off and placed them over each of the tomato plants. We put our tomato cages around them to keep the chickens from scratching too much and knocking the bottles off. Then we shoved hay around the outside partly for weather protection and partly just to hold them in place. And here they are...

They look pretty comfy, huh? We kept the lids on for a bit until the weather got warmer during the day. I think I put the lids back on for one of the first cool nights, took them off the next day, then I just left them off and didn't do anything with them. 

Grace, my garden helped is dressed for summer. Who knew it was still going to be such a chilly spring still. A couple weeks after planting (a lil before the last frost date), we cut around the top of each milk bottle to give them room to grow. I didn't want to take them completely off for a little more sheltering for the young plants and also because I didn't want my chickens to scratch them up as they have a tendency to do. One week later, here's how they're doing...

They look great. I think I'll be doing it again next year!

Communications Festival

In January of this year, Caleb and Seth joined Speech Club.  We are pleased with how much they've improved in only a few months. For the club, they have to write multiple 8-10 minute speeches, memorize them, then recite them during the tournament. They learn about body language as they're speaking, and, depending on the type of speech, they use various voices and gestures.  Caleb is also in debate, which uses logic and spontaneous thinking to defend or prove a point. 

Caleb has had ample opportunity to perform in front of audiences. He's had many recitals and has been playing on Sundays for the church worship team, but... he is not a talker.  Seth, on the other hand, is very expressive, but is intimidated by others and does not like being in front of a crowd and is quiet until he's comfortable in the situation. Thus... the club has been good for both of them.  The last tournament that they attended had a Junior division as well, so Noah, Ellie, and Grace entered. Noah and Grace each did a speech and Ellie entered the Art competition in the Fine Arts catagory. 

Ellie entered the Fine Arts part of the competition with her drawing

Ellie's drawing

Grace-during her Junior Speech

Noah gave a demonstration speech

Noah's finished product- The Captain's shirt

Caleb

Seth

Caleb came in third on his Piano Competition
and second on his Guitar piece

Ducklings!!

Grace and her duckling

We were making our rounds at Big R (the local country feed store) and we heard the inevitable peeping of the new spring chicks.  We love to look at all the different kinds, and the little day old chicks and ducklings are simply adorable.  A few of the kids (Noah, Ellie, and Grace) asked if they could each save their money and get a duckling (we were already getting chicks to replace our current layers).  The last time we had ducks was when we had first moved into our house around 7 or 8 years ago.  The main problem I had with them is that they would end up in my newly created fish pond and make it into a mud pond in just a few hours. I would then empty it, scrub it out, and refill it, only to have them get in it again when I wasn't looking.  They soon disappeared and, promise, I had nothing to do with it. The footprints gave evidence to a raccoon.   

Noah's DIY duckling waterer... a plastic salsa jar and
the bottom of a rubbermaid container

Ellie, my animal lover, and her duckling

Nathan y los platos (we learned that one from Dora ;))

Asher's checking out the ducklings as they took their first
field trip around the living room

Now that we are rockin' the whole farmette thing, I agreed to try it again, with only one catch.  I no longer have a fish pond (it was too worrisome with little ones wandering around outside), but we do have a nice, clean swimming pool. I made sure it was clear to the wanna-be duck owners that if I found any ducks trying their water wings in our pool, they would most likely end up as that nights dinner. Sounds heartless and cruel, and honestly, I do not enjoy eating any animal right after I butcher it, but I wanted to make my point clear.  

Seth and the 2.5 week old duckling that looks really huge!

 When we got the ducklings, they only had Pekin type of ducks.  Those end up with white feathers and are normally raised for meat.  That usually means that they will grow fast, and that they have! They seem to be growing very fast (especially compared to the chicks that we got the same week).

The weather finally got up into the 50's and low 60's for one or two days, so Ellie planned and set up for their second outing... to the kiddie pool for their first swim and a brief stroll around the backyard.

The ducklings loved the lettuce that Ellie fed them

I have to say, they are pretty cute.  Now we just need to figure out where they are going to live.  Right now, they are staying warm in a wooden crate in the garage, but as they get bigger, they will need a home outside. We'll see what the kids come up with...

Ellie's 9th Birthday

 My little artist (and oldest girl) turned 9 last month. She loves being with and being just like her momma. One of her favorite Christmas presents this year was her purse and wallet just like mine. She carries it everywhere!

As a fun treat for her birthday, Paul and I took her to get pictures taken. We do annual pictures in the fall for each of the kids, so the main picture I was looking for was one with Paul and I.  She is super sentimental, so I figured she would love to have a picture of "just her" with mom and dad. Something to treasure. With Asher being born in August, I have done lousy with replentishing our winter clothes. It's been more of a "make-do with what you have" and "I don't care how you look, as long as you're dressed" kind of season. Paul, Ellie and I had each dressed in the only coordinating colors we had... black and grey. Pretty drab. So while we were waiting to be called for pictures, Ellie and I ran a few stores down and grabbed a bright pink shirt with earrings and a headband to match.

Afterward we took her for a birthday dinner at TGIFriday's. It's pretty rare for us to go out with only one of the kids, so this was quite a treat. Before we headed home, we picked up a birthday balloon and stopped at Dairy Queen for a cherry dipped cone. :)

I enjoy Ellie. She loves to talk one-on-one with me and especially loves attention from her daddy. She eats it up when he walks by and tickles her or hugs her. Ellie tends to speak softly and think deep. She has lots going on in her head that doesn't always come out through her mouth. She has always had a tendency to be motherly toward animals and not so much toward babies (or not as much as her younger sister). That seems to be changing. She is becoming more of a momma to her baby brother Asher than she had with Selah a couple years ago.

Ellie definitely has siblings that she "gets along with" better than others, but... we're working on that. We've had some good conversations (many times about annoying boy stuff and how it goes away if there's no reaction to it.) She also desperately wants to be considered a big kid. The height difference between Noah and Ellie is quite a bit, so it's easy to forget that they really aren't that far apart, age wise (about 20 months). She tends to get  stuck into the "little kids" group with her younger sister, and Noah usually gets bumped up into the "big kids" group with his 2 older brothers. Giving her more mature responsibility this year will be a focus of mine for her, along with some purposeful mother-daughter time (which I am looking forward to!). I am excited about the young lady that she is growing into and can see her heart is soft toward what God has for her. What a blessing she is to me.

Ellie and her oldest, awesome brother, Caleb

Caleb's shaving lesson

It's pretty awesome to watch my kids grow and mature.  I am really enjoying it, ahem, *most* of the time.  I have been gently teasing Caleb about the random whiskers on his face and warning him that he's "going to have to start shaving pretty soon..."  Well, it's time, so Paul had the privilege of giving his first shaving lesson.

I guess it looks like Caleb is shaving without all the foamy stuff, but his face is actually slicked up with  our homemade shaving-soap-in-a-mug.  He put it on the old fashioned way with a shaving brush like this...  

Caleb zipped through his lesson with dad giving pointers about how to steer the razor around the curves (and mom taking pictures, of course).  

Here you have them, my clean shaven guys!

For each of my kids, growing up and working through the steps to adulthood is something that they are looking forward to. Learning to shave is one more of the "growing up" boxes that they get to check off. And needless to say, Paul's first shaving lesson went off without a hitch (or, shall we say... without a nick).

Asher Dedication

Asher's dedication

Our little guy was dedicated in church Sunday, March 2. He is just over 6 months old. We once again realize that each of our kids are only ours on loan and are making the commitment to honor the Lord in raising little Asher. We asked both of the Grandpas to pray a blessing over him.  What an incredible thing it is to have two Grandpas that love God and are investing their hearts in their grandkids lives.  I love the multi-generational thing.  A legacy that is truely worthwhile.

Grandpa Harold (Asher's grabbing for the mic)

Grandpa Les (Asher fought for the mic through the prayer)

Pastor Jim prayed the blessing that Jacob gave his son, Asher, in the Old Testament, and he also prayed that God would "oil" the workings of our family.