Aug. 18, 2008
Conversation with two of my boys this morning
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This morning my two boys who are 11 and 9, were telling me about a show they watched yesterday, a documentary about lions. Joshua says "Tommy cried at the end". Tommy says indignantly "no I did not........well it was so sweet". LOL Something about baby lions and their mother. I am laughing but I am also touched. I am so glad that these young men still have their tender feelings in tact. Even if it is over baby lions. lol |
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Aug. 6, 2008
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We never made it to Yellowstone. That is the problem with last minute plans.......they are not always feasible. Last week was quite a week anyway. By Thursday three munchkins had a stomach flu. What fun that would have been on a road trip. We had a mostly quiet week at home, playing and making messes with no one to help Mom clean them up. Guess what we are busy doing this week. I turned forty one Saturday. It was a very quiet birthday. Forty one does not feel any different than forty, and I liked forty. Moving past that forty mark has a comfortableness I was not expecting. And not in a "too old to care" way either. LOL It just feels good. We start our school schedule in two weeks. I am looking forward to it. I never lost that excitement in the fall of new things happening and the excitement of new challenges. Of course, in school, I had lost that mostly by November. With homeschool.......we can re-invent our year any time we want and recapture that. Still, fall is a great time of year. The crisp weather, leaving summer behind and preparing for winter and the holidays......it is invigorating. |
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Jul. 28, 2008
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We are down to five munchkins around the house for the next few days. The oldest four (secretly I call them my minions, rather than my munchkins, but they hate that LOL ) are off to Especially For Youth , a youth retreat, this week. It has been such a mellow morning. Surprise, surprise, five is easier than nine. We had fish sticks for supper and french bread pizza for lunch. They have been playing quietly some made up game about the Avatar (Japanese anime we all love) in the family room. Mellow morning. And we are headed to Yellowstone this weekend. The minions LOL are only an hour from there so we are driving up this Thursday and they will meet us there Saturday. Four days of camping at Yellowstone. It is going to be great. |
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Jul. 21, 2008
catching up a bit
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The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur. Every day I felt swamped with "outside the home" stuff. I am such a homebody, that is tiring for me. Friday I was thinking how smoothly it had gone, how well I had held up, along with having teenage children popping in and out with all their things, and then Saturday I woke up feeling overstretched and grumpy. LOL So I did the basics and then read a book. Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. It was a great read. I finished it late Sunday night and have that satisfying buzz from a great read that leaves you thinking long after the book is back on the shelf. My son Ryan, 17, is home from being away working at the Scout Ranch. It has been a great summer for him. He wants to be a forest ranger after college so this was fairly close to his dream job. (the ranch is in the mountains...of course). Two weekends he even surprised us by coming home with four friends from the ranch. Well, he gave us a couple hours notice. We invited them to dinner and grilled out. My oldest daughter has been dating someone, maybe the first serious relationship she has had, and they come over sometimes. I find myself in a strange in-between land as far as a homemaker and mother........small children, heck nine children create chaos, but older children need a company ready home. Ugh! Trying to adjust and demanding lots of help. (Secretly, I kind of like it though  )I have joined our church choir since moving to Colorado. We sang yesterday for the second time (we sing once a month). It has been an interesting time. I warned the choir director that I have a very unpredictable voice. It is not terrible, or squawking or anything, but not naturally beautiful either. I do fine if I can choose another voice and match theirs. Usually that would be a male baritone, LOL and here I am singing alto with a bunch of girls. And the choir director is not shy about stopping the whole choir to help me practice getting one note right , either.  She is nice enough about it though and I did tell her I was there because I want to learn how to sing. So, fair enough. Ever once in awhile though, I am hitting it great and she gives me a smile. And she made me a cd to practice during the week. This might not be a natural talent of mine, but it is one I want very badly. I just keep plugging away. Maybe by Christmas I will be singing with the angels, LOL. And school is coming up........I feel all the excitement stirring. We have already had many talks about what we would like to do this year. I plan to unschool this year, but in a Montessori kind of way. We all want to learn about American History. And geography. Dabble in several sciences. Maybe learn German which would be fun because our neighbor is Swiss and has German cartoons and books and all that. Read lots of books, go lots of fun places. Oh, it is going to be great. I am so thankful homeschooling is in mine and my children's lives. It has really been the making of us. Ryan and Samantha are supposed to start community college this fall. We do not have all the paperwork in but I do not foresee any problems. Samantha started working in her dad's office, as a file clerk, today and is getting paid a very nice wage. She should have Russia paid for in a month and then have four months to put money in savings for whatever she wants to do when she gets home. (She is going over to Russia with a volunteer organization to teach English to school children in January). All in all, we are just humming along. A sour note here and there but isn't that life. Drinking lots of lemonade, making lots of icees, having a good summer. |
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Jul. 8, 2008
Monday
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Yesterday was an all around great day. Simple joys. It was a nice day spent mostly at home but one thing that stood out was helping Jessica and Sarah start their own "flower garden". Which means they each have a large pot with five or six flowering plants, with their own watering cans, on the front porch. Last night was also our Family Home Evening night. Lately we have been doing activities, eating out or going to the movies, but last night we had a lesson. I have decided for the next few weeks to do lessons based out of the book Standing For Something....10 Neglected Virtures That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes by President Gordon B. Hinckley, our late prophet. The first virtue is love, or charity. I read an excerpt from the book, about Christ, told the younger ones some stories about Christ, talked about what being a disciple meant, each of the older ones read a scripture about charity, we talked about them and read another excerpt from the book. We have two different projects going on this week....one to increase charity in our home and one to increase charity to our fellowman. It was a nice lesson, I felt warm and good while we were talking. Hoping today is good as well......... |
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Jul. 7, 2008
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This weekend was wonderful. We were able to get away from the house and have a proper outing for the first time in months. Thursday afternoon we left for camping. There is a beautiful spot we like about an hour from our house. It was raining, drizzling really, when we started setting up camp. I kept looking at everyone saying "we are not going home!" and they kept saying "we don't want to". "Ok, as long as we are clear". We took a long drive around the back roads up there, since we do not know the area very well yet. The midwestern alpine forests are so beautiful to me.......aspens, fir trees, wildflowers, creeks everywhere. It took awhile for me to remember to say "fir cone" rather than "pine cone" like down South but then I remembered Winne the Pooh always calls them "fir cones" too and it became fun. Thursday night I was determined to do more than hot dogs and marshmallows. I always wonder why we head into the woods and fresh air and nature..........and then eat the most artificial food available. Last summer we were driving through Rocky Mountain National Park, down some back road, in our seventies van, listening to John Denver, with the windows rolled down and I am feeling very earthy and happy. Then I look around and realize all my kids are eating Little Debbie snacks and drinking Capri Suns!! Where is the homemade granola bars, the organic fruit juice I pressed myself? Bad earth mama, LOL. Since then I have tried to mend my ways but the establishment keeps holding me back, man. They were out in force Thursday night........"where are the hot dogs? Mom, aren't we having hot dogs? well, can we at least have s'mores?" LOL Yes, I let them have s'mores but we also had t-foil dinners....hardly a new concept but at least it was real meat and some veggies too. They loved them! And corn on the cob, roiled in t-foil and cooked over the fire. And Samantha made us an apple cobbler in the dutch oven. After dinner, the kids sat around the fire, playing games and talking. It was nearly nirvana. Friday was a beautiful day......clear blue skies, plenty of sunshine. I woke up to the sound of birds, chipmunks chattering, the creek. Lovely. After our usual breakfast, (Walt always gets up early and makes pancakes, eggs and bacon while the rest of us huddle around the campfire drinking hot chocolate), some went fishing, some went hiking/walking. Jessica, Sarah and I made our first "fairy house". Jessica, my little creative spirit, got right into it. Sarah asked "are fairies real?" I said "well, no, but it is fun to use our imaginations sometimes don't you think?" She screwed up her face and asked "well, if they are not real, then why are we building them a house?". LOL This is the girl obsessed with planes and space ships. Obviously more of a scientific bent. She still helped though. I took pictures that I will post later. Friday afternoon we came back home, rested a bit. Grilled some ribs and then did fireworks. Saturday morning we went up to Manitou Springs, which is a village north of Colorado Springs, in the mountains. Pure tourist town but still lovely to walk through. We bought funnel cakes at the boardwalk and played in the park by the river. We tasted four of the seven "flavors" of soda water in fountains around the town. Then......we went to Chuck E Cheese. No matter what, we always seem to end up at Chuck E Cheese. Other things.....Samantha has been accepted into the ILP. She should be leaving in January for five months of teaching English to Russian school children. She is very excited, we are very excited. Ryan is working up at the Scout Ranch for the month of July. For a boy who wants to be a forest ranger, this is a dream job. Not much money, but some and he gets to live in the mountains for a month. All in all, we are doing fine and having a great summer. |
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Jun. 19, 2008
My two little princesses
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My two sweet little girls last night........I was sitting in bed in the dark with Sarah waiting for Jessica to finish getting ready, enjoying the few moments of quiet with her. We had already had her bedtime prayer. She always gives thanks for the same three things.....our home, her mom and dad. As three things go, I suppose those should be on the top of a four year old's list. I told her that was a good prayer, those were some good things to be thankful for, let's see if we can think of some other things she could be thankful for. She listed a couple of things,, then Jessica bounced into bed. We heard Jessica's prayer and then Sarah said she wanted to say another prayer. She said "Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for my beautiful Mama, name of Jesus Christ, Amen" I said, because I had been half asleep honestly, "did you just thank God for your beautiful Mama?", she nodded happily and received several hugs and kisses. Jessica said "I said that too, except I said it in my mind and I said "very beautiful" ". Well, I was not about to tear that apart and gave her several hugs and kisses too. I always wanted seven children, five boys and two girls. I feel like I received two extra little princesses and I am thankful for them. |
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Jun. 17, 2008
Father's Day
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For Father's Day this year, I decided the thought was the present. The father in our house is notoriously hard to choose presents for. He would rather have the gift of the money still being in his checking account, LOL. So I decided to go simple but fun. I bought cool but manly patterned card stock and stickers for the five youngest to make their own cards. A set of camping stickers, a set of tool/building stickers, some seashells, zoo animals, and an amusement park/carnival set. Fun things Daddy likes to do with all of us. And then I bought cake mix and premade frosting. The children helped me make the cake and then decorated it themselves, with several tubes of colored frosting. It was a wild cake! Before bedtime, Jessica thanked me and said I had made it the "best Father's Day ever". Which made me feel I had stolen some of her daddy's thunder but also reminded how simple things are the best and bring my children the most joy. I was thinking about my dad this weekend. I called him first thing in the morning but he was working, part of his crazy several days on, several days off schedule. I forgot to call him later. But we were going on the thought this Father's Day and I certainly thought of him. Maybe I can call Mom and make sure he reads my blog later. this was my dad as a teenager........  from his days of being a young father to me   In his soldier's uniform. He was in the Air Force for 22 years.  It is fun to look back and see him so young, but this is how he looks now and for most of my life that I can remember. (he kind of went bald very quick, don't think my mom was expecting that when she married his young self) I don't think he turned out half bad.  There is a song that plays on country stations now and then. I do not listen to country music, not after having to listen to Conway Twitty and Willie Nelson as a child, country music makes me a bit twitchy, but I am a channel changer and every now and then it stops on a country music station playing a not so bad song. There is a song by Alan Jackson Smalltown, Southern Man that reminds me of the small town southern men that I have been blessed to have in my life. My Dad being the chief one of them. I have to admit I get a little teary when it comes on. In many ways, it is him, and where he came from. He is a good Dad. He was always very involved, quick to take us places, to talk to us. He was a good sounding board for me as a kid as I tried to sort out the world and how I felt about it. He has been a good example to me of always learning, never becoming complacent in life with what you think you know. He has many interests and always has some new thing to talk about. We share many of the same interests,like politics, geneology, history. I guess I can blame him for my love/obsession with sci-fi because he made me watch the old Star Trek with him. While I still do not have a love for Captain Kirk (the way he jerks while making "meaningful speeches" is makes me want to hit something) but that started something that brings me great enjoyment. We are not very expressive in our family. I mean, I am with my children but with my "original" family, we are not. I think Dad is the most expressive one of us. He can be very kind. He can also be a grumpy bear (another thing I inherited...eek) but the next time you see him, all is forgotten, blown over and done with. He never held it against you, never made it difficult to re-approach him. I have been blessed in my life with many people who have loved, cared for and shaped me. But today I am writing about my Dad. The older I get, the more I think I become like him. Which would have appalled me as a teenager, but pleases me now. |
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Jun. 3, 2008
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Today is definitely a "count the hours until bedtime" day, at least so far. It is only 9:32 am so I guess there is hope. One of my favorite shows is Jon and Kate Plus Eight, about the Gosslen family who have eight children under the age of seven (twins and sextuplets). At the beginning of every episode, while they show images of children playing, laughing, having meltdowns, you hear Kate's voice "today I may very well lose my mind". Today I may very well lose my mind. Usually I watch that show and think my nine children look easy compared to hers. Last night I was watching and thought.....we need discipline, we need a schedule. I am not a schedule person. I am not a discipline person. I firmly believe "teach a man correct principles and he will govern himself". For most of my children that works beautifully. But.....everyone is different, aren't they? So today trying to start this family on a schedule. Trying to teach teenagers that speaking to Mom in that tone is not acceptable. Not fun. For me or them. However, if I have learned anything at all over the years, is that good things usually start out like this........MISERABLE. For now, the schedule involves two things......our morning routine (clothes, bed, chores, healthy breakfast) and continuing on with our summer program. Then I will work on more orderly bedtimes. Then maybe going on in public....... I don't know. This is a family, not a military unit. I had a dear friend in the last place we lived who loved our family and told everyone (or so I heard)...."those older children are so helpful and polite......and she is so patient with the younger ones". Not that the younger ones were well-behaved, just that I was patient with them. I thought it was funny, I still do. But maybe....I could be patient and they could be well-behaved all at the same time? Today I could very well lose my mind........... |
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Jun. 2, 2008
Posted in family life
Finally, an update on the kids. And they have been doing so much lately which needs to be written down before it is forgotten.  Levi, who is 32 months,has recently taken back up wearing underwear and doing very well. He was fully trained in January but with all the moving, regressed and had no interest. Now he is doing well and not only that but has finally learned that toilets are not for playing in. We are all so relieved. I guess finally using it for the correct purpose brought that home for him. He looks down at the water and says very sternly to me "that water is nasty, do not play in it". I nod very solemnly back and agree. While doing the happy dance in my mind. He is at a dead heat with Joshua for being my most conversational child. Every time you or he walks into a room, he asks how you are, and replies pleasantly when you ask the same. He asks how you slept, if you had good dreams, in fact, he spends the day asking questions and truly listening to the answers.   Sarah and Jessica are becoming very best friends. They have always been friends, but now they play together all day long, usually some imaginative game that they create together. They never seem to tire of each other. They compliment each other and look out for each other. I always think this is what sisters are supposed to be like.   Thomas and Joshua have finally caught up on their reading. They are not advanced for their age but they can read scriptures, newspapers, cookbooks easily and smoothly and are reading books for enjoyment now. I did not realize what a burden their being behind was to me personally (I was always thinking about how they needed this skill for life) until it was behind us. They are both so very smart, I really enjoy watching them learn and putting new things in front of them.  I feel hesitant to even talk about Jenny, afraid I will ruin the improvements I have seen in her lately. She is much more friendly in the family (that "eat snails and die' look was pretty standard when this picture was taken).....takes an interest in all of her younger siblings and if she still fights with the older ones, it is never around me. She does not seem to find me nearly as annoying as she used to, though I guess I have my moments. She is going to a church youth retreat this summer and is excited about it. I guess the difference between twelve and nearly fourteen is a big one.........  Logan is doing well. He keeps his own counsel mostly but he is a good young man so I cannot take issue with that too much. He plays the piano beautifully, mostly self taught. There for awhile he was playing from this classical/jazz book, songs like "Maple Leaf Rag" by Choplin, and whoever wrote the Peanuts theme song. He and Ryan have been doing yard work for a couple of families around here and making their own money. I firmly believe the answer to raising teenage boys is keeping them busy with hard physical labor. It is not natural for boys their age to be staying at home with the women and children and I think they feel that deeply. Yet, I am not about to throw about fifteen years of hard work raising a good man by throwing him into public school just so he will have some place to be during the day. He turns sixteen in five months......then he can start working. Luckily, he and Ryan have three different church youth retreats this summer and at least one week long Scout camp. That will help them feel engaged. Not that he is hard to live with, you can just sense the "caged animal" feeling. When he turns sixteen, he can start at the local community college too. There was a funny situation yesterday. I guess funny depends on who you ask. I needed Logan to stay home with the five younger children. I was teaching a class, Samantha was playing the piano in the children's group, Jennifer and Ryan were both receiving callings (being asked to be class presidents....there is a semi-formal ceremony involved). So it had to be Logan. Logan was called to be his class president last week, so he had responsibilites but his were the least pressing of all of us. And Walt was at work. Was Logan ever mad at me. Not yelling, he knows better than that. Just being stubbornly stoic. I laughed to Ryan, Samantha and Jenny on the way to church that all over children were fighting their parents refusing to go to church, but my son was fighting mad because I was making him stay home. He rebels by being more righteous than me. Sometimes I appreciate the irony of that, sometimes it annoys me immensely.........  I already wrote some about Ryan already. He is a good kid. Sometimes a bit smart alecky.....it is rough being smarter than your mom and still having to listen and obey. He is just so darn competent, just like his dad. He turns seventeen in two days. He has recently starting dating and enjoying that. Not any one particular girl, just friends, even double dating sometimes. He is such a geek. I admire his ability to be his own person and swim upstream, but yes, he is a geek. John Denver is his favorite singer, everyone always thinks we are kidding about that. Nope. He rides the unicycle, juggles, makes balloon animals and plays the harmonica. He wanted a sharper phone for his birthday, researched and found a phone he liked. Lots of features, very techno savy. Including being an MP3 player and with FM transmitting capability so you can wirelessly play your songlist on the car radio. What did he load his memory with? John Denver, the Chieftians, and church music. What a wonderfully odd teenager. This is a list of what he carries about in his pockets...... a pen, a harmonica, four bucks of change, phone, comb,marker, pen(one of those old school ones with four colors of ink) , chapstick , a pirates coin and a toothpick holder. In the back pocket, wallet, notebook, calculator. He used to carry a small roll of duct tape but he found that his body heat messed up the adhesiveness. And he lent out his pocket knife and it was not returned. He jingles when he walks but anytime you need something........Ryan has it.  Samantha has so much going on in her life....very good things. She recently came back from a month in England. She is starting college this fall. And in January, she is leaving for Russia to teach English to school children for five months. So many good opportunities/blessings coming her way....... |
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May. 21, 2008
yesterday and how I think today will go............
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My oldest daughter and I spent the afternoon shopping for summer clothes for the younger three, having lunch at a cute deli she found and wanted to try (in the middle of the mall, but not your typical mall grab and go) and wandering around the bookstore. It was a lot of fun. I am not usually much of a shopper though and by the time we pulled into our driveway, I breathed a sigh of relief. Shopping always gives me a feeling of lost time. Not wasted time, but lost, like I have been removed from the world. On the way home, we had stopped and picked up National Treasure 2, which the munchkins are watching right now. History! Walt came home very soon after that and said he was thinking about taking the younger three to Prince Caspian. The oldest six went to the midnight showing,and he and I went on Friday night, just ourselves. The girls had fun picking which of their new dresses they were going to wear first. We decided though on the way that while it was a great movie, the plot was too intricate for them to be interested for 2 1/2 hours. So we went out to eat instead. It was lovely to sit and talk about things they were thinking about,rather than manage the crowd or talk to the older ones. I enjoy eating out with the family but it does take some mental energy to keep everyone happy, in control and yet look relaxed, like having a family of nine is the easiest thing, not the least bit of work. My silly pride. Of course, I love my children and my big family, but of course,it is not the simplest thing being in public and not making everyone feel like the circus is in town. And I have found that others' attitude toward us is founded largely on my attitude. If I seem happy and relaxed, even if the children are just a bit loud or one or two is unhappy at the moment but I am handling it calmly and with humor,we get the doting looks and nice comments. If I am stressed and looking out of control myself, we get the disapproving looks. So anyway......only having three to manage/enjoy, it was nice. Another thing that was going on yesterday, we had some jerky going in our dehydrator. The smell that filled the house.......oh my. I asked my veggie daughter if she wanted to become a carnivore again,she looked disgusted and said "I think it smells like chocolate" . Whatever,LOL. We tried two kinds,one with a store bought jerky mix and one a homemade marinade. The store bought turned out better but I want to be able to make it without all the artificial stuff,so we will try again. We have been working on building up a food storage supply. We have about three months of food stored up,though by the end of it,we would be eating rice and beans,rice and beans, rice,rice,rice. It is a good feeling to know,when you have nine children,that you will be able to feed those nine children,no matter what is going on in our weird world. As for today, well,it is going slow so far. My plans are to gather everyone, read scriptures and have family prayer, have a fifteen minute group clean up, assign them each one individual chore and then give them the day off. I even plan on taking the younger children off to the nature center. My older ones help me quite a bit, they need this break I think......... And then tonight, Samantha and I are going to a ravoli making class. I am looking forward to it. |
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May. 16, 2008
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This has been a good but nothing special kind of week. Most of us have been recovering from a stomach flu, which is thankfully behind us. Life in this new house is starting to settle into a comfortable schedule. Mostly unpacked, mostly organized, which feels very good. Days which would probably sound boring to anyone else of watching the History and Discovery Channel, trying to finish up our math for the year, reading books, cooking good food, daily chores, sitting around talking about nothing, reading the Scriptures together. Playing in our great backyard, spending time with our new neighbors. A quiet little life but it makes me happy. We went to the library nearest to our home yesterday for the first time. (we were going to one fifteen minutes away for some reason??). It was very very small, but when we walked in, they have a wonderful children's section. We came away with some very good books I am excited to read and use. Last night five of the oldest six went to a midnight showing of Prince Caspian so I know today is going to be a sleepy sluggish day for the family. A good time for me to catch up on my things. Like my bedroom...and I am this close to actually being caught up/finished for a minute with the laundry. How many times does that actually happen!? My two oldest boys are going camping with their Boy Scouts tonight so dinner will probably not be very fancy..........maybe spaghetti and salad. Walt is working tomorrow so no fancy family plans this weekend. I am thinking this gives me a great chunk of time to get caught up, gather my thoughts and stuff together and plan a great week for next week. More on that later.......... |
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Apr. 28, 2008
what a great weekend
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I was thinking last night about what a great weekend this has been. So many little moments of joy. I guess the weekend started Friday when I was able to go to the Denver temple with some friends from my church. The temple is always so peaceful and calm. It was a good day. That night my son grilled steaks for us while my husband and I ran some errands. We came home to such a delicious smell! Saturday, since dh was working, seemed very much like a weekday. Just meandering around trying to catch up on what I had missed doing from the day before. I actually love those kind of weekends. The pressure is off from the weekdays. No schooling to worry about, no big lists. I meander around and slowly work through this project or that while the kids play. My two teenage sons spent the day helping first one elderly family with yard work and then helping another family move. They came home, should have been exhausted but instead were excited and getting ready for their dance that night. I thought ....they are just such good kids. I cut the boys' hair Saturday afternoon. I had just bought a set of clippers and told Thomas he was going first.....I had reasoned it out and he was the only who would look best bald if I messed up on my first time. You should have seen his face! LOL I usually cut with scissors. These clippers seem like they will be easier if I can get the hang of them. The haircuts went reasonably well. I have certainly done worse, poor boys. And Thomas still has most of his hair. By then, I was actually starting to feel a little poorly. I have had a bad cold the past two weeks, we all have. Our family usually does not get sick often or long if we do. Everyone is better it seems, but me. I felt run down and tired and my chest was hurting. I told my husband emphatically "I am going to take it easy!" I guess expecting disagreement on that. But he was willing, ran to the grocery store for me, made supper and let me lay down the rest of the night. Sunday, I was still feeling tight and heavy in my chest and decided I needed a true day of rest. I stayed up long enough to get the family out the door for church and then went back to bed. I lay perfectly still and quiet for 3 hours. I did not go to sleep, but I just lay there. No tv, or radio, no noise. Blessed peace. Then I read the Old Testament for 30 minutes and was feeling great when the family walked in the door. Church went well. All the younger children went to class by themselves. My oldest daughter who is eighteen now and out of the youth program was asked to play the piano for Primary, the children's group. She is excited. I think this will be great for her. The younger children were already asleep, so that is when I took my nap. DH did too. Then I got up, and prepared a roast for dinner There are some meals that are so easy, like roast or roast chicken, yet they are so soul satisfying. It took me half an hour to prepare the roast, cut the veggies and put it in the oven ad then the best smell wafted through the house for the next 2 1/2 hours. While that was cooking, my dh made and I mean made, the older children wash all the dishes I was behind on. That was nice. To go with the roast and veggies, I made some couscous (I have some vegetarian children who would not eat the potatoes in the roast) and some corn. DH had bought some rolls the night before. Wonderful meal. Then, my teenagers went to a church fireside while I did the dinner dishes and dh taught my 9 year old son how to make fudge. He makes great fudge. No marshmallow fluff stuff........serious fudge. It is rich and dense and nearly pure chocolate sugar. We love it. Now to get started on this week....... |
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Apr. 14, 2008
Posted in family life
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It is taking much longer to settle into this house than I thought it would. All those weeks in the hotel, I dreamed about being able to get up start a load of laundry, unload the dishwasher, cook breakfast and then start into housework..... I missed having days with that homey rhythm. I forgot how much work there is involved in getting a home settled to the point where you can have that sort of rhythm and the subsequent satisfaction of seeing a neat and attractive home. I know I will never get there if I do not start, and I have started but what I really want to do is go to bed and relax for two days straight. No worrying about the kids being bored or too loud for the hotel room or how exactly to manage something homemade for dinner because take out is boring, greasy and too expensive..... I finally am in a place where I can just let down the load for a minute but ........it looks like something exploded in here......... We went into the mountains this weekend and had a cookout. it was beautiful. When my camera gets back from England, I will have to take a few pictures....... We planted grass seed this weekend too. Within two weeks, the garden will be in. Once again, we are going to try a garden. We have tried before and grown mostly weeds and zuchinnis. We had no idea that zuchinni could produce so much.....We ran out of people to give it away too. We planted two rows. This time around we plan on two hills. I am hoping to have a nice crop of tomatoes to can. Maybe some okra and beans and peppers. |
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Jan. 16, 2008
Posted in family life
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Third week of the month and we are only half way through the first week of the lessons I had planned out. I guess the miracle would be that we made it through half a week of schoolwork. And those days were more fun than our schoolwork has been lately.....I think I am on to something good.
But right now, staying at my parents' house, my sister's children, also homeschooled, have been with us for the past six days. That means thirteen children running through a moderately sized house....I am about at my limit. They have been wonderful children....doing chores, caring for little ones, not fighting .....mostly. It has been a great time for cousins who do not see each other very often to get to know each other. It feels so miserly of me to say my nerves are about shot........but after packing and packing and cleaning and cleaning and driving and driving to get here.....my nerves are about shot. Doing homeschooling right now seems so over the limit. Though my nephew did it with us yesterday and really enjoyed it, asked if he could do it with us again. I guess that is it, my guilt just took me over......I am getting off the computer and doing that lesson with them. And looking at google earth to see pictures of Antarctica......... And reading lessons with all of my younger ones....... Wow, guilt is powerful. |
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Dec. 18, 2007
Posted in family life
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And we have water. What a relief. I have often thought I could quite happily live in a log cabin somewhere without electricity...using a fire to cook and heat, living very simply, but I must have running water and flushing toilets! So ...wahoo! The water is on! |
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Dec. 18, 2007
Posted in family life
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I miss blogging. Mostly I am not, because I just do not have much positive things to say in my life right now. We are all healthy, we all still love each other, I guess life is not that bad. But...with my husband away for the past six months with only visits here and there, that has been difficult. Add a couple more difficulties, and I have been personally struggling. On the positives: This has been a time of increased scripture study for me, as that is what brings me peace. That and frequent long conversations with my Heavenly Father. That has grounded me and helped me find safe ground amidst the storm. I was looking over the past year recently and I realized that I have found more time this year to do some things I have always wanted, like traveling, planting a herb garden and cooking from it, spending quality time with my family, making friendships. I truly am entering a different phase of my life, where everything is not about being pregnant, carrying for a newborn, being pregnant, carrying for a newborn. Some days I miss that cycle very badly and then I think....you greedy girl! you have nine for goodness sakes!.... I think this next year I will be able to find even more time to get my life both in order and live it creatively and there is joy in that. Well, it is early in the morning and our water is shut off until the plumber can come at 8:30 so that is the best I can do for positives this morning. This next year is either going to go very well or be very difficult. I guess in some ways the choice is up to me. We are about to move, been thinking we were about to move for several months now. There will be a temporary move for a short term job, probably sunny southern Florida, which sounds so good right now. And then, a longer move, about two years this time, to Texas. I have truly fallen in love with the corner of Nebraska we live in. I think I will always think of this as "my place". I have had eighteen months here, which is a good long stay for us. It has been a restful place for me, in the midst of a difficult time in my life. I thank God for knowing I would need this, right now. So, now we are packing and putting up Christmas decorations at the same time. And having many other incidents nearly every day...just annoyances, nothing devastating. The pipes have burst twice in one week, the washing machine went out two days before Thanksgiving. One of the cars may be about to die. Deer in the road last weekend resulted in us in the ditch, after a scary couple of spins. I guess I could complain good and hard about all the "annoyances" that occur daily, but then....washing machines went on sale the Friday after Thanksgiving. I have a brand new washing machine, my first one ever and it was only $200. That accident or near accident....after a couple of scary spins, our car did not tip over even though it was at a 45 degree angle for a minute. It suddenly righted itself and stopped. Hand of God, I am telling you. It was that abrupt...it righted itself and stopped spinning and we were all fine. My husband has a good job, we have the means to provide warmth,food and comfort to our nine children and have me be home with them. Part of that is living simply over the years, but a good portion of that is pure blessing. And last night, with the water turned off, my only ps daughter had a school concert. Bathrooms and water fountains! Wahoo! As for homeschooling, well, we started off well, stellar in fact, but it is just eeking by at the moment. Thus my lack of posts.  Life has been about coping lately and that does not make interesting writing. But...with us staying in a hotel for 4 to 6 weeks....I guess our homeschooling is about to become stellar again. I will not have any other distractions, my children will be my life. There is a sweet feeling about that actually. I plan on having 4 weeks of school work ready and put together (I mean the worksheet type stuff), a project each week with all the supplies together, and some field trips planned. This might even be fun! Some great books for reading together. Since my daughter has a lap top, I might even be able to blog more often. I am starting to feel we might survive this. |
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Nov. 13, 2007
Posted in family life
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It has been so long since I blogged.....I am having a hard time getting back into it, knowing what to write...we are really so very ordinary! The past few months have been a little difficult. My husband has been working away. First we were going back and forth to where he was. Then he was transferred very far away. That last about three weeks. It was too short of a job for us to go there with him, yet not short enough to just wait it out. Now he has taken another job, with another company, and we will be moving there with him as soon as he finds us a house. It is a good place we are moving too, and not too far away. Near a big city so there will be lots of new exciting places to explore. I am very sad about leaving this small town we are living in, it has begun to feel like home, like no other place ever did. Family comes first though. Gosh, I guess that is it for now. I need to go read some blogs and catch up. |
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Aug. 29, 2007
A nice day
Posted in family life
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It has been an awesome day, just the right mix of everything for me. I did get up at 4:30, exercised briefly to get my blood going and stretch, and read my scriptures. With Jenny in school, I have a goal of having family breakfast at 7 and then family scriptures at 7:20 before she needs to head out the door at 7:40. So after reading( it took me 40 minutes),.....well, I may have come here for a few minutes, cannot remember.......I peeled potatoes for breakfast to boil them and then make homemade hash browns. Something I rarely take the time for before frozen is so much easier. I get those boiling and decide to clean the fridge. (Last night before I went to bed, I cleaned the windows, cleaned up the dresser and under the bathroom sink....all my little grievances after our deep clean day yesterday....so I want to keep this up and tackle all my little problem areas). I discover about 16 plums that I bought and then promptly forgot. Usually we would have eaten them in about 3 days but they were in the back of a very disgusting produce drawer.  They are way beyond eating by hand, but still usable for jelly. I eventually added about four nectarines to them. I decided to make some corn muffins for breakfast to go with the potatoes. Turn on cartoon for Levi (it is now about 6:30). The fridge is clean and gleaming. So proud. By 7 breakfast is all cooked and I am feeling pretty fine. And wondering if someone body-snatched me in the middle of the night because this is so not normal, but then if they did, I probably would not be asking that right, so I figure I am fine (I am serious, I actually had that thought process with myself ) Lay out some grapes that are good today but maybe not tomorrow, congratulating myself for the good save..........Read scriptures, get morning chores rolling. Get three munchkins dressed and yell at two older munchkins until they change Still all is good. Get the fruit simmering. Print out math. Do History, Geography, and Science with two boys and start them on their language workbooks (it has sections for grammar, spelling, reading comprehension, writing skills....) it takes them nearly all morning to finish a page in each section so they are set. Jessica is playing so wonderfully....I turn to my sixteen year old son and ask "should I interrupt a five year old's happy play to make her do schoolwork?" He grins and shakes his head no, while looking up from his biology book.....I congratulate myself on raising a wise man. But...right then, said five year old comes down and wants to know when I will help her with her schoolwork, all indignant like I am trying to get away with something. Right now! So I read her two chapters out of Magic Treehouse book, and help her with her reading workbook and her math worksheets. She is reading! Simple rhyming words but man, she is there. But 11:00, schoolwork is done. I have picked back up the living room, everyone is busy or happy doing their own things.....I lay down and take a nap!  I had a very lazy afternoon. Oh, I forgot that I had put a pot roast in the crock pot. I made my plum jelly, boy is it luscious. Made one of the best dinners I have made in awhile.......pot roast, homemade mashed potatoes, sliced cucumbers with salt, buttermilk biscuits and this amazing gravy....I had cooked onions and tomatoes with the roast so I just processed them in the food processor and that was our gravy. So good...I will have to do that every time. Amazing how good food can make a home feel.....everyone well fed and content. I should do that more often....lately my meals have been more quick and effortless. And then I caught the last hour of the new Pride and Prejudice. I have been resisting watching it because I did not "approve' of the lighter tone of the movie from the previews. Jane Austin does not need messing with, thank you very much. But it was fine....I even enjoyed it. And now we are doing our evening chores ( or I will be when I get off here) so we will go to sleep in a clean house two nights in a row. Wow, what a day. Think I can do this tomorrow? Maybe they will switch me back in my sleep tonight...... Steph |
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Jul. 27, 2007
What we have been up to this summer
Posted in family life
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This has been a very busy summer for us. A very fun summer, maybe one of the best. I have already written about my trip to Puerto Rico. The weekend after that we went camping at an incredibly beautiful place, one of our favorites. I think I love our family the best when we are traipsing through the woods, dirty and happy. The weekend after that, we took the children down to Denver, a several hours trip but there is so much to do there, we go several times a year. We stayed in a fancy hotel, the children have never had that experience. Well, I should say it is fancy to us! I think it was a Hyatt, or maybe a Wyndam. I loved the way they decorated it. Natural elements and textures, but with modern, Japanese inspired art. I was about to go into a long, lengthy discussion about home decor, but...this is about what we did in Denver. We went to the art museum, we bought annual passes last year, and they are about to expire. I think we will go a couple of years before renewing them, so it was nice to go through one more time. This time we stuck to the old building that is as much about history as it is art. Old relics from several different countries. It was nice, even the children enjoyed it. Then we ended up at Chuck E. Cheese, like we always do. We took the children to an actual mall, not just the pretenders they have around here. My oldest son said "Mom, they have a store for lightbulbs, only lightbulbs. They have a store for pens, only pens. They have a store for everything." I am not much of a shopper, but I think if I lived in Denver, it would be the ruin of us. So many stores calling me, "I have everything you need to be happy, just come inside" LOL My husband had very thoughtfully made reservations at a nice Italian restaurant and we had dinner there, just us. I lived in Italy as a teenager, something I am horribly proud of and still love all things Italian. It was wonderful. Now about two weeks later, we have just come back from visiting southern Colorado for a week. My husband is on a business trip down there and I took the five youngest to visit. On Saturday we went up to Manitou Cliffs, which are similiar to Mesa Verde, which has been my dream to see since I was about eight. I don't know what you officially call them, but they are the Native American cliff dwellings. They let us climb in and out, explore, it was wonderful. I took pictures, but they are on my husband's cell phone and I have to figure out how to get them on the computer. We also spent some time in Manitou Springs which is a lovely little town. Usually I do not like the tourist towns, but this one was lovely. Up in the mountains, built on either side of a mountain brook, it was just lovely. They have seven different soda springs, each with its own "flavor" situated in drinking fountains all round town. Can you guess the flavors? One was like Alka Seltzer, the other like sweet Alka Seltzer and the other one we tried, mostly like water but with a kick. We only tried three, that was enough.  It was funny, though. After Puerto Rico, my two middle sons, 10 and 8, spent two weeks at a science camp down by the lake. It was great for them, I hope they can do it next year too. The kind of science I like. Facts followed up by getting outside and seeing the thing you just learned about. I struggle with teaching science so I was very excited being able to do this camp. We have also been swimming, playing at the park, baking lots and lots of cookies. Next week, I turn 40. I am so excited about it. It feels good to be forty, in a place I love, with the people I love, doing the things I love, with more adventures promised for the future. I think my forties are going to be very good to me.  |
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