Random thoughts and pictures to prove it!

My mom and step-dad got a new dog just before Christmas. Her name is Bailey and she is an Old English Sheepdog. She is very cute and she just loves our youngest dd! Bailey tries to herd her wherever she goes. It is pretty funny. :)

We had a birthday in December. I didn't really forget the birthday, just to post pics of it!! Our third born turned 7 this year. ugh I don't like to see them growing up. Okay, I kind of do; but, it makes me a little sad as well.

She is really starting to read well and loves to practice whenever she can!

This is the cake she asked for. My mother can make the most phenomenal cakes and our third born asked for a cake that looked like a sky! Her favorite color is blue and so this cake was perfect. :)




This last picture I probably shouldn't show anyone. BUT, I found it so fascinating that I just have to. :)

We (and I mean the girls) left a bowl of mashed potatoes on the counter and refused to scrape the remains into the trash. I refused as well. It is their job and they need to do it. ;)

Well, a few days later I looked into the bowl and was met by a surprise. I was sure that someone had left a giant cotton ball in the bowl or some fuzzy ball. Upon further inspection, I realized that it was mold!

It was the coolest mold I have ever seen and I have seen more than my share! It was almost feathery looking. It looked so soft, almost like a rabbits' tail.

After oohing and aahing over it for a full 10 minutes I reminded the girls in a very loving tone that that is why it is important to scrape off the food and rinse the bowls. ;)

Not again...

An interesting phenomenon has been occurring in my house for the last several years and I wasn't completely aware of it until today.



It was a normal Sunday in our house, we were just being lazy and messing around when I noticed it.



I wasn't too alarmed at first. I assumed that I was missing something. It has been known to happen. So, I looked around a little bit longer and decided that I had not missed anything, they really were missing.



GRR



I immediately asked my 9yo dd if she knew where they were.



"Who me? I don't know where they are. I haven't seen them in a while."



Yeah right.



"Go and get your sisters. I want them found, now." I replied very calmly. (okay, I was not calm, I was very perturbed and my voice might even have been a little louder than usual.)



I kept looking, thinking that I couldn't really be missing them and they were surely around somewhere. I mean, seriously, where could they go? They could not walk away on their own. I know this because when they are dirty they can sit around for a *very* long time.



The other girls came in about the time that I was really losing it and I might have said something like, "If those are not found this instant, there will be no more eating in this house, ever."



I was met with wide eyes and blank stares. There was also an amazing amount of, "We don't know where they are. Honest, mommy."



There was also a chorus of, "Maybe, they were put here or there. I will go check for them."



Then there was the sound of running feet throughout the house.



As I was standing in my kitchen, I was met with the patient gaze of my loving but completely unsympathetic husband. "Now honey, you know you can't not feed them! They will eventually have to be fed."

I was fine listening to him until he smirked. All bets were off then. If they were not found, then I would go on strike.

After all, if they could not even keep track of these little items, why should I have to cook? It sounded plausible in my head at the time. ;)

Moments later, the children all came back and all they had to show for themselves was one little find. AND it was DIRTY!!!

ugh

Now, either I am never feeding them again or I am never cooking again. Why can't I learn to keep my mouth shut? Do I really have to say *everything* that comes into my head? Actually, yes I think that I must. I might explode if I wasn't allowed to expel the thoughts that fly through my mind.

Anyway, as I met the worried stares of my offspring I had a choice to make. Was I really going to go through with my threats or was I going to just ignore the wanton disregard for these lost items?

I decided to do something different because another thought popped into my head and out of my mouth before I was able to shut it.

"Fine, don't find them; but, I am not buying any more and you can just figure out what to do without them." I said as I turned smugly around and served my self some soup.

By now, the children and my husband all think that I have gone insane, and they are probably right. But the thing is, this has happened before. It happened with the same items a few years ago and then it happened just last year with another item.




Now, my question is this. How can a family lose EIGHT BOWLS?????

Yes, that is right. My family lost 8 bowls. I'm sorry, 6 bowls. They found one and I found one. Throw them a party.

I am not talking make believe bowls or bowls that are for dolls, I am talking cereal bowls here. Real full sized bowls.

How does that happen?

Well, the last time this phenomenon occurred, I found them outside with the dog and the mud. Yeah. Those were the good bowls that I had found and I loved them. (if you know me at all, you know I have an obsession with dishes) They disappeared slowly and so I didn't notice it right away.

Today, however, it happened all at once and since no one in my house knows where they are I am calling it a true X-files moment.

I may even call Ripley's about it tomorrow. ;)

What a night

I am tired. I am still not caught up on my blogging. I am not sure that I will ever get caught up. I have more pictures. I have Christmas pictures, Birthday pictures, everyday pictures, lots of pictures. :)

For now, though, I wll post about our night last night.

We are babysitting for some friends of ours and are watching their 4 kids overnight. They are great kids and our girls love them.

Sometime, during the day on Friday we decided to have more people over after church. We have a group of friends that we regularly get together with for supper and so we decided to invite them all over. There were 4 couples and 16 kids!

We had chili and chicken noodle soup, with a side dish of nachos. Yumm :) It was a great evening and before we knew it, it was 11:30!

Early in the evening, our girls asked if two more could spend the night to bring the total to 10 spending the night. Not too long after that, two more were staying. Then, by the end of the evening, two more were staying.

I am not sure how we found pillows and blankets for 14 kids, but we did! It was a crazy night of various bodily noises and giggling. There were little bodies everywhere in our house. The only floor that wasn't covered in bodies and blankets was the front room. And that was for safety's sake!

I think everyone was finally asleep sometime around 3:30. Everyone was up by 7:30. :)

We made a whole box of pancake mix and loaded them up on syrup. The sugar high should be in full swing by the time they get home!!!

I absolutely loved hearing all of them talking and giggling throughout the house. I should say that the older girls were downstairs and the boys were upstairs in the spare room. There were 11 girls and 3 boys. All of them were siblings in some way or other. We had 4 family groups represented.

I am amazed that my dh actually went for this idea when it came out of my mouth! He is a saint. :)

It has been such fun to see all of them growing in their friendships and working together to make sure that the little ones were included. (The ages ranged from 3-12)

Soon, the parents are going to come and leave us with just the 8. (our 4 and the ones we are babysitting.)

Tonight, it will be blissful sleep as they fall into bed from exhaustion! ;)

School Happenings

I haven't posted anything about Tapestry of Grace for a while. It isn't because we are not doing it or because we are disappointed with it. It is because we have been so busy enjoying it and *doing* it that I have just not taken the time to post anything.

We have been so blessed to find Tapestry that I can't believe the year is half over! Usually by this time I am researching how to send the kids to school! Seriously. This year, we were ready for break, but the girls were asking if they could do some of their reading during break! They are loving it and learning so much.

Anyway, we are doing the Twentieth Century and learning vast amounts of really cool things! (how's that for a great sentence?!)

These pictures are not in the order they should be; but, I didn't want to take the time to rearrange them!

When we studied WWII, we had a friend who served during the War come and talk to us. The kids were enthralled with his stories.







At the end of Unit 2, we had a celebration and shared what we learned and showed some of our projects. The kids also recited F. D. R.'s famous speech after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.








These pictures should be among the first! Oh well. Here the kids are finishing their blimps. We made replicas of the Hindenburg. It was messy fun!!







These pictures should have been put with the last unit. And, I am not so sure that I haven't already posted them!! We made Faberge eggs.






In Tapestry we are now turning our attention to China and then more of the Cold War. It is interesting to re-learn these things with better information sources than I had the first time. Things are making more sense to me and I am better able to explain them and help the girls to think through them logically.

We also get to do awesome hands-on crafts!!

more random pictures that I am too lazy to catogorize!

Our youngest dd (3yo) is learning to make her own snacks!! She is making saltines and peanut butter. Her sisters are thrilled!

She was soo proud! (so was I)



OUR LAUNDRY EPISODE :)




Thanksgiving with my in-laws...




My pumpkin roll. I thought this picture was so 'artistic'!

Just some random pictures that I have neglected to post!

She was VERY excited to use the whip topping!!


My handsome husband! ;)


My sister's movies, well part of them anyway!!


My nephew, John. He wasn't sure about all of us. :-)


Me!


Pickle things. YUMMO!!


Buttons, the bird.


My beautiful mother.


This is a tree across the street. It just looks weird with one side of leaves gone.


A flock of wild turkeys visited the next door neighors house at my mom's. It was pretty cool!


I will have to post more later. Because there are more, many, many more!!