Just a quick funny before I hit the hay. I was at the grocery store until 10:30pm, and certain grocery stores who shall remain nameless tend to put me in a bad mood. But this is one of those things I have to write down for posterity sake. It was too cute.
Corey(4) has developed quite a vocabulary. Must come from having 3 older siblings. However, his vocabulary surpasses his comprehension. He is by no means in command of the English language yet.
First thing this morning he came loping into my bathroom while I was fixing my hair and announced that he wasn't feeling well. When I asked him what the problem was he answered, "I feel like a banshee (he has no idea)."
Trying not to smile, I probed further and asked him why. "Well, I don't like my bed anymore. I want to sleep in the bunk bed with Travis(6)."
What great insight. That explains everything.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thanking God for family and friends
I'll take any time I can get with my family. I live a fat hour from my parents (about 45 miles) and about 45 minutes from my sister (about 30 miles), but I never feel like I see them enough. How much is enough? I don't know. So this past week I had fun planning with my sister to get together at my parents' house.
Saturday was my Dad's birthday, and after his having bypass surgery just one month ago, I realize even more now how much I love him and as we say around here, "I just don't know what I'd do without you." I am so thankful that I didn't have to find that out. I am glad he got things checked out instead of waiting when he was experiencing chest pains . He is recovering well, and is looking very healthy and getting more strength everyday.
The kids had a fun time at Grandma and Pap Pap's house running up the hill into the field. They own 6.7 country acres. Even a walk halfway up the hill makes you feel like you're on top of the world. It is so beautiful there. The kids love to go up to their "secret hideout" as they call it. A clump of trees that stands alone halfway up the hill. There's groundhog holes up there, trees to climb, probably some "poisy wivy" (as Corey(4) used to say), maybe even a dead groundhog on occasion. We have found a stinky carcass or two. (Not sure if Travis(6) was telling me a whopper when he announced that he found one up there!)
With the threat of rain and lightening, they all ran back down and came in the house. But as soon as the sun came out again, back up the hill they ran. This was my thinking place when I was a kid. I even remember situating myself in a tree to do my homework. What peace and beauty. I'm glad my kids get to enjoy it now.
Today the weather was different altogether. Rainy and chilly. My Mom brought our long-time family friend, Beth to my house to visit...well, and of course, to see the baby! It was a very refreshing visit. So fun to catch up on all that is going on with her grown up kids (they have 8), who were some of my best childhood friends. I think their family had a great influence on me as to wanting a large family. Beth is still a great Mom to her kids, and you can see that little ones still bring her lots of joy.
I was able to pull lunch together without any last minute trips to the grocery store (yea!) and without getting stressed out. I only experienced a moment of panic when I was trying to think "what do I have?". But I kept my head and remembered that people aren't coming to check out what kind of housekeeper I am or how great a cook I am. I also remembered how many times Beth opened her home to us, most of the time on short or no notice. She never seemed stressed about it. She was always happy to see us, and happy to offer whatever she had.
Travis(6), Corey(4), Kaylee(7mo) and I all enjoyed the wonderful visit. I wish I had pictures to post, but neither camera is presently working. Sniff. You can check out my sister's blog to see a cute picture of Kaylee and my sister.
Saturday was my Dad's birthday, and after his having bypass surgery just one month ago, I realize even more now how much I love him and as we say around here, "I just don't know what I'd do without you." I am so thankful that I didn't have to find that out. I am glad he got things checked out instead of waiting when he was experiencing chest pains . He is recovering well, and is looking very healthy and getting more strength everyday.
The kids had a fun time at Grandma and Pap Pap's house running up the hill into the field. They own 6.7 country acres. Even a walk halfway up the hill makes you feel like you're on top of the world. It is so beautiful there. The kids love to go up to their "secret hideout" as they call it. A clump of trees that stands alone halfway up the hill. There's groundhog holes up there, trees to climb, probably some "poisy wivy" (as Corey(4) used to say), maybe even a dead groundhog on occasion. We have found a stinky carcass or two. (Not sure if Travis(6) was telling me a whopper when he announced that he found one up there!)
With the threat of rain and lightening, they all ran back down and came in the house. But as soon as the sun came out again, back up the hill they ran. This was my thinking place when I was a kid. I even remember situating myself in a tree to do my homework. What peace and beauty. I'm glad my kids get to enjoy it now.
Today the weather was different altogether. Rainy and chilly. My Mom brought our long-time family friend, Beth to my house to visit...well, and of course, to see the baby! It was a very refreshing visit. So fun to catch up on all that is going on with her grown up kids (they have 8), who were some of my best childhood friends. I think their family had a great influence on me as to wanting a large family. Beth is still a great Mom to her kids, and you can see that little ones still bring her lots of joy.
I was able to pull lunch together without any last minute trips to the grocery store (yea!) and without getting stressed out. I only experienced a moment of panic when I was trying to think "what do I have?". But I kept my head and remembered that people aren't coming to check out what kind of housekeeper I am or how great a cook I am. I also remembered how many times Beth opened her home to us, most of the time on short or no notice. She never seemed stressed about it. She was always happy to see us, and happy to offer whatever she had.
Travis(6), Corey(4), Kaylee(7mo) and I all enjoyed the wonderful visit. I wish I had pictures to post, but neither camera is presently working. Sniff. You can check out my sister's blog to see a cute picture of Kaylee and my sister.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Letting kids be kids and Squash Fries
This past Saturday night our family had an enjoyable time going to my friend Amy's house for dinner. Amy and Brian are our friends from church, and we both homeschooled. She still does. They have 3 adorable children and you would think that with all we have in common, we would've gotten our families together a long time ago.
Dinner was wonderful. I can't remember what the chicken was called, but it had spinach in it. Yum! But then there was the squash fries. Double yum! More on that later.
After dinner we played a fun game with the kids: Apples to Apples. Their 3 children were playing the game, our 2 oldest were playing, and baby Kaylee stood on my lap flapping her arms for the duration. In my high strung parenting, I sometimes have this notion that my kids are going to be quiet, for some reason, when we play a game. Okay, so I've put in a long day, can you just play without so much screaming? Nope! It was actually a ton of fun to see these 5 kids laughing so loudly and yelling at the top of their vocal range. Even Kaylee (7mo) got into the act by being screamy with the rest of the kids!
Then Jeremy (9) and his friend Evan showed off (loudly) on the piano for one another. It was fun to see their different approaches to the instrument.
With so many kids in the house, the noise level was at a high decibel level quite frequently throughout the evening. Perhaps that was because everyone was having a fun time. Except for when Corey(4) for some unknown reason decided to bop Hannah on the head with the princess wand. (Later on while putting him to bed, he confessed that he felt very sorry for hurting Hannah.)
It was honestly very enjoyable for me to see my kids having so much fun. Why do I try to take away their fun sometimes when we are doing "the family thing" by hushing them up? This evening Carl said, "Well, you know, we worship our quiet around here." Hmmm. He's right. Made me think that peace at any cost is not an effective parenting strategy. Let them be kids. I don't for one minute advocate permissive parenting. Maybe now that I've reached 40 (yikes!) it takes a little more doing to remember what it was like to be a kid, but I need to let my kids enjoy the adventure.
Oh yeah, I didn't forget about the "Squash Fries". Butternut Squash cut into french fry-type slices. Mix with olive oil and salt. Broil in oven until tender. Yum! What a wonderful side dish. So of course I had to buy one. At the grocery store Travis(6) asked me to weigh it. I didn't pick a small one. 5-1/4 pounds. After all 4 kids can put quite a dent in anything I put on the table. (Yes, my kids actually like veggies most of the time.) I had a dickens of a time peeling the thing. And I really hope they like this because a 5-1/4 pound squash may feed us for 3 nights. But it's done and waiting in the fridge for me to cook tomorrow evening. I'll let you know how it turns out! In the meantime, I'm on the lookout for good veggie recipes.
Dinner was wonderful. I can't remember what the chicken was called, but it had spinach in it. Yum! But then there was the squash fries. Double yum! More on that later.
After dinner we played a fun game with the kids: Apples to Apples. Their 3 children were playing the game, our 2 oldest were playing, and baby Kaylee stood on my lap flapping her arms for the duration. In my high strung parenting, I sometimes have this notion that my kids are going to be quiet, for some reason, when we play a game. Okay, so I've put in a long day, can you just play without so much screaming? Nope! It was actually a ton of fun to see these 5 kids laughing so loudly and yelling at the top of their vocal range. Even Kaylee (7mo) got into the act by being screamy with the rest of the kids!
Then Jeremy (9) and his friend Evan showed off (loudly) on the piano for one another. It was fun to see their different approaches to the instrument.
With so many kids in the house, the noise level was at a high decibel level quite frequently throughout the evening. Perhaps that was because everyone was having a fun time. Except for when Corey(4) for some unknown reason decided to bop Hannah on the head with the princess wand. (Later on while putting him to bed, he confessed that he felt very sorry for hurting Hannah.)
It was honestly very enjoyable for me to see my kids having so much fun. Why do I try to take away their fun sometimes when we are doing "the family thing" by hushing them up? This evening Carl said, "Well, you know, we worship our quiet around here." Hmmm. He's right. Made me think that peace at any cost is not an effective parenting strategy. Let them be kids. I don't for one minute advocate permissive parenting. Maybe now that I've reached 40 (yikes!) it takes a little more doing to remember what it was like to be a kid, but I need to let my kids enjoy the adventure.
Oh yeah, I didn't forget about the "Squash Fries". Butternut Squash cut into french fry-type slices. Mix with olive oil and salt. Broil in oven until tender. Yum! What a wonderful side dish. So of course I had to buy one. At the grocery store Travis(6) asked me to weigh it. I didn't pick a small one. 5-1/4 pounds. After all 4 kids can put quite a dent in anything I put on the table. (Yes, my kids actually like veggies most of the time.) I had a dickens of a time peeling the thing. And I really hope they like this because a 5-1/4 pound squash may feed us for 3 nights. But it's done and waiting in the fridge for me to cook tomorrow evening. I'll let you know how it turns out! In the meantime, I'm on the lookout for good veggie recipes.
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