Merry Christmas!

Sunday was the kids' Sunday School Christmas Program at church. Liana was Elisabeth, and Aleksa was Mary! (Adam got to pass out the bulletins... the boy does NOT like to be on the stage!)

We had been preparing all week for company this weekend... We'd expected the Fishers to come up for the Program, and then Friday we learned it was going to blizzard out, so they had to cancel. We then invited another family over for Sunday dinner. Sunday morning they had to cancel because of illness. So that left all of us with a spic-n-span house, a table set with china and pretty holiday linens, and all of us dressed to the 9's.

"Hmmm..." says I. "Maybe we should turn this afternoon into our present opening time. That would save me from having to do this alllll over again on Tuesday." (We're planning on going to John's grandparent's for Wed-Fri, so we were going to open our presents on Tuesday morning.) Having a spic-n-span house, a nice meal, spiffed up kids, and allll the presents already wrapped does not happen without much travail, tears, scrubbing, nagging, whining and complaining and flat-out WORK. So. After dinner, (on my mother's china pattern), we headed downstairs to the family room, where we had a very nice gift-opening time. We got a Wii this year, and you can guess what everyone is doing right now! I even got in a game of boxing with Adam this morning already. Don't need any more exercise until 2017. Abrielle's favorite thing was her color-wonder. Too bad we wasted so much money on the other things she got! ;o) She's been very interested in pencils, crayons, markers and the like, and they've all been no-no's without Major Supervision until now. This morning she was so excited about having free-reign over her markers that she was walking around and around and around Adam and me (we were playing Wii boxing), shrieking her excitement and holding her markers in one hand, and masterpiece creation in her other. It was hilarious. Aleksa got mostly horse-themed things, and Liana got a few herself, but her favorite gift was a spiral curling iron. My Liana aged five years yesterday. She sure looked glamorous! She hasn't quite gotten the hang of how to do it, but I stepped in and finished her up. It was a fun mom-daughter time, and I hope she never forgets it - I know I won't! Adam got a giant over-stuffed bear, a remote-control truck, and some other guy stuff like a RAZOR, (!!!), socks, clip light for his bed, etc. My kids are growing up... *sniff, sniff*

It will sure be nice to relax the rest of the week! I'll do some extra cooking/baking, but it feels good to have John home, everyone playing their hearts out, and me not having to correct science tests or monitor their wiggles. Merry Christmas everyone!

Trees and things

Sorry, Gang, I've been awol again. We have our computers downstairs, and we do school UPstairs, and well, unless I take a pitstop here at the computer on the way out of the laundryroom, (which happens, I have to confess), I just don't get to actually "sit" with the computer until after the kids are in bed. And then I've been doing other stuff.

Like Facebook! I never even knew what that was a month ago. Now I can't wait to see who is doing what. I've connected with friends I haven't seen for years and years through Facebook, and it has been a blast seeing what has happened to whom. If you haven't, you should try it!

Been a little sentimental this year - first Christmas without either of my parents. That's a little rough. Plus, the sale of the house is final on Wednesday. My brother wound up not being able to buy it. *sniff, sniff* He did wind up with an absolutely adorable and perfect-for-him house anyway, so I'm very happy for him.

A few weeks ago I had mentioned to my siblings that I was looking for a thrift-store Christmas tree for our familyroom. Already had a big one for our livingroom, but wanted something downstairs as well. My brother mentioned that Mom's tree was still in the basement "at the house" and was about to be sold with the house unless I came to get it. I came that very weekend. As luck would have it, I got not only Mom's big tree, but Dad's 4' "little" one as well. I have them both up and lit. And I love 'em! My livingroom has one tree on one side, and one on the other, and then Mom's tree downstairs. I love decorating for Christmas anyway, but it has been fun to have LOTS of decorations.

Except that I kind of forgot that we have a one-year-old in the house. We had Mom's 7-foot tree fall over one day. Nobody got hurt, but it was sure enough to make my kids think that Mama was probably going to have a Cow in a minute... the room got suddenly completly silent and everyone stared at me wondering if I was going to keep breathing or not. I did. But it sure took me a while to get that thing up again and looking nice.

And besides the falling over tree, my livingroom tree is bare on the bottom because the baby either walks off with the ornaments, or we catch her touching them and then re-hang them on the TOP of the tree. So the top has too many ornaments and the bottom is bare. I love it! :o) Ok, I didn't much love it when the 7-footer fell over, but hey, nobody got hurt, and I did get to rearrange the candycanes a little more evenly after that... ;o)

John and I have been learning a lot about 13-month-olds in this "tree/baby" season... We've been needing to say the big "N" word to Abrielle more than she's ever heard it before (aside from when she goes after the electrical outlets, which she's also terribly curious about), and the other night after we said "No-no" a few times, Abrielle found two clothespins from who-knows-where, and she slooooooowly moved the clothespins over to the tree as if to find out whether she could get away with touching the tree if she only touched it with the clothespins. We could just see those little wheels turning in her head! We've also watched her slowly back herself up next to the tree to find out if she could touch it unnoticed that sneaky way. Lets just say that we Fishers are getting our exercise hopping up and redirecting our busy, busy little toddler, who we love to pieces and could just eat up she's so adorable and fun...

Hope everyone is having a terrific Christmas season!

Tooth Fairy

Leksa lost a tooth today... I have to read you the note we found under her pillow along with her tooth... Still chuckling over here...


"to the dear tooth fairy,

I cannot find my tooth pillow, that is sad. I mis you.

I am in the hole because I don't have any mouny. You are my friend. :o)

Love, Aleksa"

The tooth fairy, you'll be happy to know, left her not only some "mouny," but also a personal note on cardstock in pretty purple font...

Operation Christmas Child

Tonight the kids and I went to our homeschool group to assemble boxes for Samaritan's Purse: Operation Christmas Child. Great organization that sends shoe boxes full of goodies to needy children around the world at Christmastime.

Talk about choking a mom up... I had known that our kids were recipients at least once of these boxes back at the orphanage, but I wasn't prepared to hear Adam speak up voluntarily at the meeting and tell everyone not only that he'd gotten such a box, but also share how he felt when getting it, etc... My normally tongue-tied and silly Adam was very articulate and mature. Coulda heard a pin drop.

Very proud mama moment... Had to share.

Happy Birthday, Abrielle!

Yesterday's big day was also celebrated by going outside and enjoying her first snow. We've had snow before, but nothing stuck. I thought it was only fitting that as a birthday treat, we head outside and check out what the white stuff was.



She was so curious, and careful! I loved watching her in the snow! We hadn't bought her any boots yet, so I just threw some socks over her shoes to keep her feet extra warm and dry. Worked slick, especially since she was so bundled up otherwise, the poor girl could hardly move!





The big kids made her a snowman for her birthday. She seemed to like it, but she knocked the thing over after about five minutes. Oops.





Here's her smash cake, which true to her nature, she very hesitantly dug into. She sat and looked at it a good long time before someone took her hand and stuck it in the cake. She sat there a while and wondered what to do next with her poor hand all covered with frosting.

Oh, Abrielle, your siblings have so much to teach you! lol!

Birthday Girl!

Well, tomorrow is the day. My baby turns one year old. It's been a rough day... Days before birthdays are always tough on me. I've been known to be a blubbering mess at tuck-in time the night before birthdays.

Last Saturday John's family came up for a little party for the birthday girl. I had a little meltdown right before cake time. Had to get a hug from my mom-in-law, who is always good for those. :o)

She's taking several steps at a time now, stands very solidly, and is even starting to jabber now! Our little girl's vocabulary as of right now is: mama, papa, Brella-brella (it's soooo cute to hear that!), baby, pretty, poop (sigh), bye-bye, bear, and ball.

The most important word on that list is definitely "Ball." I'll be rocking her to sleep, and she'll shake herself awake and say, "Ball!" And then I'll ask her if she likes to play ball, and then rock her some more and she'll fall asleep. She'll wake up in the middle of the night saying, "Ball! Ball!" It's also the first thing out of her mouth when she wakes up, or when you pick her up. She lovvvvvvvvvvvves to play ball. Any ball. It's her favorite thing in the world, and she thinks about it a LOT. lol!

Our biggest trouble with her right now is that she is overly cautious. She's a regular chicken, in fact. At the table, she will NOT open her mouth for the first bite of anything - even food she's eaten many times before. She thinks she might not like it. We have to actually pry her mouth open for that first bite - and she fights it bigtime. After that, though, she realizes, "Oh, I like this, I remember." And then she'll open her mouth for us just fine thereafter. It. Is. Weird. And she doesn't like mushy textures. No pureed food, baby cereal, etc. Gotta be able to chew it, or she won't eat it. She's a strange one alright. Still primarily nursing her for her feedings though, and she doesn't seem to mind that. ;o) Not planning on weaning her any time soon. I can't even fathom weaning her yet, in fact. She isn't five years old yet, afterall. *wink*

She also has a new trick of scowling at people. Like out-and-out dirty looks! It's hilarious! She actually has MY scowl. She can go from being a "total Fisher" to being a "total Shelly" in a split second. Cracks me up!

Abrielle, you have sure been a fun addition to this family! Don't grow up too fast, my sweet girl... your older siblings haven't listened too well to my telling them that, but I hope, my baby, that you'll stay little for at least a little while longer yet...

Shorty

That's what Adam calls his baby sister.

For some reason, that just melts my heart...

Tricks and treats

Had a fun night here... The kids' loot bags are bulging, and everyone had a blast gettin' candy from the neighbors.

However! This afternoon as I was fashioning a cardboard and tin foil fairy-princess wand for the littlest Fisher, Liana came in from sweeping the porch. She brought the broom in with her. On the end of her finger. And it was stuck. Apparently, the cap came off the top of the broom, and she shoved her finger waaaaaay into it. And the broom bit back. I had visions of heading to the emergency room there for a few tense minutes. I ran cold water on her hand for a while and eventually her finger shrunk enough that we could wriggle her finger out. Her finger was dark blue. Skeery.

It's nice and fleshy pink now, however, and all is well in the world. I don't think she needs to pull that "trick" again on Halloween. We'll stick with just the "treat" part...

Three

The number of bugs we've caught the baby eating so far.

One box elder and two dead ladybugs.

*shudder*

Pictures for ya!

Thought you'd all enjoy these... (Sorry no text... busy time of the day here at the Fisher house...)

Happy Fall!

Been a while since I've posted. It's been harder for me to do so lately... school is in full swing here, and I've been spent by the end of the day - Been spending just time enough online to check my email, a few favorite websites, and then crash.

We have had a fun fall though. Grandpa and Grandma Fisher and Uncle Jared came to visit us a few weeks back and we visited the apple orchard. Was fun staying up late catching up. They even came through with presents. Imagine that! The girls got (among many other things), some lip gloss, which Abrielle decided was the prettiest stuff in the world. It was cute seeing her try to steal all of it in her little hands (and mouth!) She kept dropping them as she grabbed for more. Had to be there, but it was soooo cute! We also went to a rodeo that the university in town here hosts. The kids LOVED the horses, and even Abrielle was giddy with excitement over seeing them too.

Also have had some of our beginning-of-the-school-year struggles (yearly thing as you might remember). This year, though, it has been just with Adam. And instead of it being an in-your-face kind of bucking of authority, he's been quiet about it. We've had to deal with fun things like Adam not wearing underwear. And throwing two turquoise towels in a load of whites. And telling us he's doing his chores when he isn't. And skimming instead of reading. Stuff that's *really* tough to catch him doing, but makes him feel that little bit of control. It's been frustrating, but it's easing up and even feeling a little "normal" around here now. Things were so wonderful all summer that I had almost forgotten to buckle my seatbelt for this kind of thing this fall, but it didn't take long for it all to come back to me. ;o)

Aside from all of that, school has been a lot of fun this year. Auntie Sharon has been a faithful penpal to all three kiddos, and our "Monday" writing assignment is always a letter to her. She sends back color pages, word puzzles, "kid" recipes to try, and of course a juicy letter. When she had trouble with bees in the house (needed an exterminator even!), she sent bee-themed pictures and puzzles. When they went to the orchard, she sent apple-themed stuff. This week is fire prevention and since she's an EMT and her hubby is a fireman, well, you get the idea. ;o) She's been having to spend a fortune on postage. It's been so fun though!

John has a possible work-from-home situation for his next contract... I'm really hoping it can work out. He's been driving over an hour to work every day, which, while it was definitely our choice to move here instead of into the Cities, it would be a sigh of relief to be able to have him not have to spend the fortune on gas, extra hours on the road, and not to mention, to be able to see him so often. We'll probably find out this week.

That's about all I can think of... Have a good week everyone!

Yummy Medicine?

I looked out my kitchen window to see Liana giving Adam underdogs on the ropeswing, and hearing Adam scream his complaints... He isn't our daredevil. In fact, he's kind of a chicken when it comes to that kind of thing...

Anyway, the next thing I knew, Adam was coming inside telling me that Liana wouldn't stop pushing him when he asked, and that he was asking her to please stop but she wouldn't and blah, blah, blah.

I suggested that the next time she got on that swing to give her a dose of her own medicine.

"But, Mama," he said, "She likes that medicine."

Barbie and the Diamond Castle

A friend recently handed me an ad for a pair of Barbie dolls. Apparently, there is a new Barbie movie coming out. The two stars of the show are: Princess Liana and Princess Alexa! Can you believe it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie_and_the_Diamond_Castle

(Sorry, don't know how to add links that work yet. Oh, Johhhhhhn!!)

By the way, we saw the dolls at the store, and while they were indeed beauties, they sing rather annoyingly, and they would never make it a day without Mama hiding them forever...

Crayola Craziness

I love school supplies. I love the smell of them. I love organizers for them. I love pencil boxes and pencils. And glue bottles. And neon erasers. And *washable* markers. And crayons that come with their own sharpeners. And folders with Cinderella on them, and notebooks with Spiderman.

And so, when Walmart had a sale this weekend, and the aisle was packed with other frenzied moms getting last minute needs for their new grade-schoolers, I caught the bug Bad. Well, I guess I must have. I didn't realize how glazed over and put-it-in-the-cart-ish I was until I hit the cash register.

The lady got half-way through checking me out, and then stopped suddenly and said, "Uh, this isn't for a tax exemption, is it?"

That's how many school supplies I bought.

It's a sickness I tell you.

(Might be headed back this afternoon... I forgot the sticky tack and scissors...)

Please send help.

Backyard haven

It's been a while since I had a picture of all four kiddos on here. It's hard to get 'em all in one spot, actually. But in the evenings, if there's fair weather, and not much going on, we try to all hang out in the back yard. It's my favorite place on the planet. Before living here, we really haven't had a "back yard" so to speak. The last place we lived had a fabulous front yard, and even woods on both sides of us. But nobody really played "in the back."

A front yard is great and all, but hanging in the front yard means to the world, "Come on over and talk to us!" Which is WONDERFUL. But, it means fewer chances to hang out as a family and know it will be "just us." Our last yard was the neighborhood hang out in many ways, and while I loved that, I do admit that my introverted self really loves the privacy of this back yard haven.



I love a nice fire, and I love squealing kids, and I love catching my oldest boy going ga-ga all over his baby sister, and I love rope swings that hurt fannies. (Ok, well, I love watching everyone ELSE on said rope swing...)



Anyway, nights like this one will be what I reflect back on when I'm eighty remembering "the good old days." It won't be too long before my kids are all grown up. *sniff, sniff*, but meanwhile, I'm going to relish every spare second outside with my family.

Go hug someone. Time is short...

The Pioneer Woman

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I don't really read others' blogs a whole lot. The exceptions are those of you who leave me comments - I often pop in and see how you are doing. I like to get to know those who consider me a "friend" enough to keep reading my story here. Otherwise, I don't get around a whole lot. There are literally SCADS of other "homeschool mom" blogs that I really don't get into for some reason. After a while they all start sounding the same (no offense all you homeschool moms; you know I love ya!) It's just that nobody's has me hooked is all.

How Ever.

Have you ever heard of "The Pioneer Woman?" I heard of her via another homeschool board, but I don't read her because of any "homeschool-y" reason. She is just a complete HOOT. Her story has me hooked completely, and her writing is hilarious. Plus, she takes incredible pictures. (I mean INCREDIBLE). Here's her story; She's a doctor's daughter. Grew up on a golf course. Took ballet all her childhood. She went to college in Los Angeles. City-slicker who loves Starbucks. That kind of a gal.

And then she fell in love with a rancher. Like a several-generation Oklahoma rancher. And now she lives among the cows and the horses and the cowboys and the mud, and the grime. And the four children! And her life just isn't what she figured it would have been, but she loves every minute of it, and the glimpses she gives us of her life are heartfelt, touching, and very often have me giggling in my computer chair and I have to make John come over and read it too. Go check her out. I bet you'll love her too! http://thepioneerwoman.com

Dirt diggin'

Lazed around all day enjoying some of the last seconds of the summer. The girls fixed me up with a pretend restaurant meal on the front step. Complete with dandelion greens, grass, dirt and mud for the different courses.

As Aleksa served me my mud, she said, "Don't worry, Mama, this isn't from the sandbox." I was relieved - they aren't allowed to lug sandbox dirt all over the yard... Then I had to ask her where she got it. "Oh, I dug this dirt out of the yard."

Such a relief it wasn't from the sandbox.... lol!

Poor, bugged Adam!

It isn't often anymore that we hear real doozies from the kids as far as language oopses.

Today, however, Adam came in the house telling me, "Mama, Liana and Aleksa are bugging me around!"

Hate when that happens.

Busy summer!

Don't know about anyone else, but this summer has been the busiest summer of my life! Every single weekend except one has been filled with trips or visits of some kind. (Not all the fun kind either~ lots of extra trips to take care of my parents' estate.) Looking forward to a calmer September, although with school starting it will be far from "calm" around here! Then I'm hoping to get lots of company in October and November!

It has been "peach" season at our house. Lots of canning, freezing, and making peach butter out of 100 lbs. of peaches. Very glad to be done with that for the year! My poor kitchen has probably never been stickier! It has been fun to have the chance to do it though. I've had access to all kinds of fruit again this summer, and my freezer and pantry are full again. I have strawberries, blueberries, bing cherries, pie cherries, apricots, and peaches. I still have plums and pears from last year. I've also made lots of jam and jelly this summer - we go through a lot! Our "pie cherries" come pitted in a bucket and frozen... After I put up the cherries, (made some cherry pie filling), I took the juice from them and made the most DELICIOUS cherry jelly! Never had that before, but oh, it is good (if you like cherry pie, that is!)

Actually got a good night's rest last night.. Baby only up twice. The night before, Abby was up three or four times (she cut another tooth yesterday!), and then Liana had nightmares and woke me up twice to tell me about them. I was rather a zombie yesterday. All I accomplished was some laundry and scrubbing down my kitchen (again)... Otherwise, I sat around in the back yard playin' with the kids. Abrielle loves it outside, and the kids love it when Mama watches their tricks. Even swung on the rope swing yesterday. That seat is still hard on the tushie, though now I'm the only one who thinks so. Adam asked if it was because my bottom is "so much bigger" than everyone else's. I used to really like that kid.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Four Years Home!

No. Way. Jose. Four whole years. Were they long, or were they short? They've always been here, haven't they? Life didn't start 'til they came along, seems like. Isn't that strange? I don't know if it was a conscious effort, or unconscious, but I seriously don't remember a whole lot from before the kids "came home." The contrast in how my life is between "before" they were here, and "after" they came home is too great. It's like Dorothy going over the rainbow and winding up in technicolor instead of black and white. That's exactly how I feel.

We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate today (ice cream cake, but other than that, it was pretty low-key. Hey, we've been busy, man!) But we did talk off and on all day about how they've changed, and how much of a blessing they are to us, and how thankful we are to be a family. Adam out of the blue thanked us for adopting him and giving him a family. Awww. That boy can melt this mama's heart in about two second flat. He's such a great kid. Not kidding. He's just flat-out nice.

I should do like the "old days" and give a recap on each kid. Haven't done that in a long time.

Adam. Oh, Adam. He's come soooooo far! Remember when he couldn't count to 14? *shudder* He can now. Numbers and math are still soooooo hard for him, but he has come a long way. The move this summer to a house so near a store (we have a convenience store down the street and around the corner, and a grocery store across the street from that...) has been a blessing in helping him understand money. We lived so far from civilization in our last house that he didn't have the chance to get to the stores very often and fully grasp the "money concept." This summer we have let him take a few bucks to the store to get XYZ, and let him pick up stuff for himself too. He's still fuzzy on things, but I just took him back to Kwik Trip the other night and explained what he could get for a buck, and talked him through tax, etc. (all WITHOUT the girls, which I think was what the missing ingredient to all our previous trips). We literally walked through the whole place and talked about what a buck could buy, etc. Numbers/money has been that tough for him. What seems "no duh" to everyone else, is really, really NOT for our Adam. I'm confident, though, that by sending him to the store often enough will let it sink in, slowly but surely...

And speaking of... He must have come a long way, because there is NO WAY he could have been trusted for such errands when he first came home. Mr. Sticky Fingers would have found the temptation too great to put things in his pockets. Or walk home with strangers. Or follow a butterfly and get lost on the way home...Or... You get the picture.

We still let him read books "late" every night (late as in after the girls go to bed), and he has relished the privilege and he goes through piles of books that way. While I had great intentions of doing school (math and reading) through the summer, I wised up and ditched that idea altogether once I unpacked our first box, and let the kids just read what they wanted to, and just enjoy their new house/yard/etc. Thankfully Adam has caught the reading bug and he hasn't missed much.

My buddy does, however, like to get away with stuff if he at all can... (He's pretty normal, in other words!) The kids have nightly "bathroom chores" and he loves to not do his and then hope I won't catch him. We had to institute a new rule recently because of this. If they don't do their bathroom job, and I catch them, then they have to do EVERYONE's bathroom jobs for a whole week. Ouch. We'll see if that curbs the slacking or not!

Adam loves to help though. We just finished a week of VBS, and he was a chief helper - he helped me in my classes, and in craft time, and helped in the kitchen - wherever. He loves people, and loves to roll up his sleeves and help others. I think that's my favorite thing about him!

Liana next! I just shared a bunch about how she's doing on her birthday. She is such a little American girl lately! Tonight a friend of mine asked me if she could give Liana some of her earrings, and Liana asked "Are they from the eighties?" LOL! She had gone through my jewelry box and saw a bunch of clunky, nasty, gaudy three-inch earrings that are the epitome of ugly, and I'd never be caught dead in them now, but I had explained to Liana that that's what we wore "in the eighties." Thought that was pretty hilarious.

She's still my right-hand helper both with Abrielle, and with the kitchen. She has a bread recipe that she throws together for the family a few times a week (makes the dough in the bread machine), and we all love it. I even made a little baking corner/cupboard for her where she can keep her flour, sugar, oil, and bread machine, etc. She loves the attention and praise, and we love the bread! :o)

Here's her recipe (I happen to know it off the top of my head, so here ya go!)

French Bread
1 1/2 c. lukewarm water
2 Tbs. oil
2 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4 c. flour
1 Tbs. yeast

Make into eight rolls, let rise a bit (don't over-rise!), and bake at 400 for 25 minutes, or into two loaves of bread (not in pan - this is french bread, put them on a cookie sheet). Cut three slits in each loaf, let rise (these rise quickly - only about 20 minutes should be sufficient), and bake 400 for 25 minutes. We've used the rolls as hamburger buns (YUM), and hard rolls, and we've especially enjoyed the loaves of bread hot out of the oven with butter, or cold with cheese for a snack. The dough also makes a wonderful pizza crust, we've discovered! Num, num, num. We've also used the baked french bread loaves cut horizontally to make pizza that way. That was waaaay delish too!

Anyway. Liana is growing up, and I hate it, and love it at the same time. She's just a sweetheart. Love her to pieces. She's got a heart the size of the Pacific and loves everyone. I especially love that she loves people that other kids might not like because they might think they were "different" or whatever. She goes out of her way to love people and has commented to me that she just thinks to herself, "That's the way God made them" and goes ahead and looks for a way to connect to them. She also loves to make newcomers welcome. She's the epitome of hospitable. Wish I were more like her. I've said that before and I totally mean that with all my heart. She teaches me so much...

Aleksa Lu. My Lu-la. Poor girl has gotten lost in the shuffle a bit, I think, since Abrielle has shown up on the scene. Been trying to remedy that a bit, but she flies so low under the radar (I've said that lots of times before), that it makes it harder. She is easy to please, and while they all need their daily hugs, I think she needs them most in many ways. Well, Adam might too... I'll have to think about that... Leks just needs to be assured that she is loved. Loves that extra tickle, or hair tousle, or wink, or whatever. She just needs it. It has been easy for us to group her with the older kids, and forget that she's still "only" eight or "only" seven, or whatever. She's definitely getting older though *sniff, sniff* I miss the days when she pretended everything was food and that she was cooking it and did we want to try it... *waaaaah* I want my little la-la back!!! She's definitely stuck in "not little and not big" land. Hard place to be sometimes.

She's a good helper with Abrielle too, and will entertain the baby nicely for short periods of time... Now that baby is crawling, it is easy to lose track of her... ;o)

She's a great reader, does great in school, and her strong reading has helped her really excell. And her love of geography has made for some fun stories and pretending... "This dolly is from Zambia"... It's been a while since I've heard a magic carpet story; I'll have to ask her if she's been traveling lately...

This school year has snuck up on me entirely too fast, but ready or not, here we come! Still doing a lit-based curriculum for history/geography/reading/bible/read-alouds, but have switched to a more workbook approach for science, language, and the rest. Seems to work the best for us. This year we've also joined a newly-formed homeschool group here in our new town. Very excited about the possibilities there!

That's the kids in a nutshell... Abrielle is a teeny thing, just 16 1/2 lbs or so. Feather-weight for a nine-month-old! But, she's jabbering (says "mama" and "papa" now!) and is getting into everything, crawling all over the place, and loves to practice walking. She wants to walk *really* bad. It won't be long!

Four years. My how the family has changed!

___

Edited to add: I can tell I was exhausted last night when I typed this up. I waxed eloquent with the first two, then got too tired to say much about the last two... I really do love 'em all, folks; I just need my beauty sleep is all! ;o)

Congrats, Sis!

Just got the most wonderful news! My sister and her hubby are going to do foster care! (And let me just say, she is the most AWESOME mama!!!) Can't wait to see how the next few months play out for them!

Congrats, Sis! You're making the world a better place to live in... Buckle your seatbelt!!!

Birthday Busyness

We had such a fun weekend!!!

Saturday we had a little party for both girls (Sunday was Aleksa's birthday). Auntie Sharon and Uncle Lyle drove three hours to come see us. They hadn't seen our new house yet, but of course the main attraction was the kiddos. (It was rather gratifying to be able to show off my hard work of getting the house unpacked, and getting some painting done this summer).

The kids did a pinata in the back yard and we ate our cake and unwrapped presents back there too. Auntie Sharon came through for all FOUR of the kids! Bike lights for Adam (he's been asking me to get him some), hair duds and a toy for Abrielle, a watch for Aleksa (she kissed it she was so excited!), and new earrings for Liana. Very happy kids...

John and I got the girls some "horse stuff" - stuffed animals, wallpaper border (I'm going to paint their rooms after VBS and canning season). Also got them matching comforters for their beds. Pink, of course. ;o)

Speaking of VBS, it started last night. John and I are really involved in it this year. Things seemed to go well last night. Of course, after I was done teaching my two classes, I got to go play in the nursery with the littles while John and Everyone Else got to go corral crazy kiddos, so I was a happy girl. :o) Just kidding, the kids were all wonderful, but I do love playin' with those babies!

Leks turned eight yesterday... *sniff, sniff* She woke up SOOO happy! She said, "Mama, I'm eight! I get to get rid of my booster seat!" She's thrilled to not be a "little" girl anymore. I even had to go out to the van and look at what she looked like without the extra seat... lol!

Fun week, but crazy busy with all the doings. Trying to enjoy each day, but I admit, I'll be relieved when things calm down a bit!

Happy Birthday Liana!!

My Liliana is 10 now. *sniff, sniff* How can that be!!??

She and her sister are celebrating their birthdays together on Saturday, so it was rather a low-key day... EXCEPT!

Except that I took her in to get her ears pierced! She's been DYING to get her ears pierced ever since the first day I've known her... and I've always told her that she needed to learn to take better care of herself (remember to brush her hair without being told, etc.) Well, I do believe my girl has arrived. She makes her bed, keeps her room picked up, takes care of herself... It was time. And I am so glad we waited so long, because let me just say, it made it all that more delicious for her to finally have it done. She was on Cloud 900 all day yesterday. Kept checking her ears in the mirror to make sure those ears were still pierced and she didn't imagine it, etc. It was so fun to be a mom yesterday!!! I got all teary watching her hop up on the "piercing chair" - she went from being a "little girl" to a young lady, just like that. I'm so proud of her! She really is a sweetheart. Times like this remind me of the meaning of her name, "My God has answered me" and then of course her middle name is "Valentina." So, "My God has answered me with a Valentine." He really has. She's a gem.

The rest of the gang accompanied us, and Aleksa has decided that she *never* wants her ears pierced. Ever. She didn't like the look of that piercing gun One Bit. Or the sound of the shot. Or any of it. No thank you. lol! (I'm relieved because there is no way she's ready for it anyway, and her birthday is Sunday. Didn't want her expecting a surprise trip to get hers done).

Adam didn't like Liana getting her ears pierced one bit either... He had to walk around and not watch. He hates when his sisters get hurt. Like *REALLY* hates that. But once it was over and he saw an absolutely GLOWING little sister with sparkly earlobes, he was really happy for her and told her how pretty she looked. It was so sweet. I was proud of him for that...

Abrielle slept through the whole thing... She's been taking crash and burn naps - she's Quite Busy when she's awake. She is determined to teach herself to walk. She does crawl, but she uses her crawling skills to take her to the nearest thing to pull herself up on to stand. Yesterday I was loading the dishwasher, and looked down to see her standing next to me taking dishes OUT of the dishwasher. And when I was done filling the dishwasher, I noticed that I needed to take out some pop beads from the dishwasher that she had deposited. There's a first for everything I guess!

(Ain't she a sweetie?!!)

She crawls!

Well, Abby is now a crawler! She scrambled from one side of the kitchen to the other last night trying to get at my cup of water (which she LOVES). She also wore pigtails for the first time yesterday, and I must say, she is the most adorable little 8 month old... *sigh*...

I would post pictures. But since we moved, I can't find the cord to my camera to download into my computer! Argh. I'll look again.

Happy Birthday to me!

I love being a mom on my birthday...

Woke up with shrieks from the kids to "go back to bed!" - So. I did. :o)

When I *HAD* to get up and get Abby changed and bathed, etc., I poked my nose out, asked for permission to leave my room, and was escorted to the nursery and then bathroom. I was NOT to peek in the kitchen or livingroom. Okie dokie. After that, they walked me back to my room, where my bed had been made for me, pillows fluffed, etc. I got breakfast in bed, a la Adam. Eggs. (*note to self: Adam needs more egg-makin' lessons... these were rather blackened) Liana made the coffee. While I ate, the kids put on a puppet show for me.

I also got to open presents from the kids... three homemade crowns (had to alternate wearing them.), and lots 'o crayon drawings, folded up and sealed with at LEAST three rolls of packing tape. lol!

Then, after breakfast, I was escorted down the hall to the kitchen, where my kids wowed me with their cleaning capabilities. My kitchen, which was trashed last night, was spotless. Floors done, dishwasher running, counters washed. Liana and Aleksa the whirlwinds struck while Adam cooked up breakfast... (it sure pays off in the longrun to teach your kids how to clean!)

And THEN, in the middle of all the festivities, my brother called to wish me a happy birthday and to tell me that he is BUYING MY PARENTS' HOUSE!!!! Talk about a happy Shelly!!!

Then, last night, when John got home, he surprised me with a firepit! A perty one! And! He bought me a DQ ice cream cake! (I mentioned that I didn't feel like making a cake when I had leftover cupcakes my sister brought me Saturday). And! He bought me candles for the cake! And! He bought me a wireless router for Dad's computer (which he had left to me) so I can get it all hooked up to the internet. And! No blenders or vacuum cleaners or whatevers! Talk about comin' through! :o)

We had been planning on going to the park for a picnic, but since I had a firepit and an ice cream cake, I wanted to stay home. We had SUCH a fun night of gathering sticks and burning sticks, and eating bagel sandwiches, and feeding the baby ice cream cake, and having everyone getting sticky from cake and sweat and smellin' like smoke, and needing showers/baths because of it, and taking turns on the rope swing, and watching Abby in her swing, and sitting on our park bench, and enjoying the beautiful weather, and, and, and, and....

Very nice day. Loved every minute.

PS.. Abrielle cut her first tooth on Saturday! No fussin' or anything! Shocked us to death! My only hint (seeing in retrospect) was that she had had extra-poopy pants for a couple days... Very good baby. :o)

Goings on

John went shopping for my birthday present tonight! I wonder what he got me!!! I'm thinking he went today because a few days ago I announced that it was "Only 9 more shopping days 'til my birthday!" and I have been counting them down (sometimes rather obnoxiously) ever since. He prolly wants to put a stop to that by just shopping now instead of later. Hmph. I can always use stocking stuffers, can't I? Oh yeah, it's not Christmas time. Bummer.

I think I only have a mole hill of laundry instead of Mt. Everest as of tonight. Feels good, though I still have a ton of ironing to do. Hate that. Since we've moved, our laundry is now in the basement... haven't ever had to deal with "basement laundry" since living with my parents. I have been spoiled all these years and didn't know it. It was much, much easier doing laundry when it was on the main (only!) floor. Takes me forever now, and I've had to shake off my fear of wrinkles and deal with letting the dryer stop (for a long time) before I can get to the clothes. Doing lots of ironing now. Not my favorite task in the world, as John can attest to since he's been scrounging for shirts with the fewest wrinkles to wear to work as he waits for me to get around to ironing the rest. *sigh*

So, having a *much* bigger house has it's pluses and minuses... Harder to keep clean (uff da is there a lot of vacumming and dusting now!) I constantly feel behind, but I need to remember that I have FOUR kids, and will be behind for the next I-don't-know how many years. I will feel better though, when I can wake up and know that there is a good routine already in place and I don't have to fret about it. I'm a frettin' type of a soul sometimes. But oh, am I loving that I can send the kids to a different living level to get out their squirmies. Or outside to a fenced yard. Such an enormous relief to not worry about where they are or what they're doing.

John put a seat on the rope swing tonight. We've been hearing complaints of the knot in the rope hurting people's fannies. John kept tellin' 'em that the knot was for their feet, but they weren't havin' it. So, since we care so much about the fannies around here, they can now sit in comfort as they swing through the trees...

We've had some really busy weekends lately. Family gatherings, and also getting back to Dad's house and doing some cleaning up and cleaning out. Hard stuff. I had a melt-down last weekend going through Dad's house and worrying that things were just going to be stuck in a dumpster. And also thinking that "my home" was being dismantled never to be reassembled. Kind of like saying good bye not only to my dad, but also to my mom (again), and then to a whole childhood of memories. It was the only house I ever knew. Talk about compounding my loss. Uff da.

Speaking of my parents' house, I commissioned my nephew, who is a studio artist to sketch and paint it for me. It is FABULOUS. Who better to do the job than someone growing up seeing it also... He "crazy quilted" the different eras of the house into one sketch. The old bushes were brought back. The handicap ramp was ditched to reveal the steps and the rail that used to be there. The new shed was left, and Mom's rock garden was brought back. The impression of long grass was kept as well. (Dad hated to mow, and the neighbors just loved him, I'm sure!) The original color of the house was kept, and while there were no squirrels in the yard as I grew up, there have been plenty in the past ten years or so, which Dad fattened up rather well on corn cobs. There's a rather portly squirrel in the pic. I can't wait to get this on my wall... It will be one of my most prized possessions for years to come.

Hope you're all having a good summer... It's been the best worst summer of my life. Best because of the new house, and worst because of the loss of my dad, which is rehashing the loss of my mom, and the loss of my life-long "home."

Four Miracles

Had the sweetest thing said to me this weekend... After meeting my Abrielle for the first time, she thoughtfully said, "Oh, so you're a mom to FOUR miracles now!"

I like that.

Rope Swing!

Well, today was a dream-come-true kind of a day for John. (Feels funny to call him John - I always call him "Fisher.") (I don't know why. Just do.) (Maybe because my brother's name is John?) *shrug*

Anyway, back to the dreamin' and stuff.

Fisher put up a rope swing for the kids tonight! I'm glad I was inside when he did, because when I took a looksie outside to see it, I about fell over seeing how high he had to have climbed to get that thing up there! It's a humdinger, lemmetellyawhat.

He's been dreaming about a rope swing for his kids ever since we were married. It is so fun to have our dreams realized so fully and in so many directions... Great kids - and a bunch of 'em! Great house (have I mentioned the closets?) Great yard -and now we even have a rope swing. What more could we ever want? *bliss*

Happy Fourth

We took a trip up north this weekend. We were going to hit two "parties" but got too late of a start Friday morning so it wound up only being one... (So sorry, Uncle Wally, we really did want to come this year!) Always so nice to "get away" by going up north. Those north woods and Grandma's kitchen are always a balm to the soul. Or somethin. ;o)

Speaking of Grandma's kitchen, I got to play Tom Sawyer! I noticed that Grandma's wallpaper in the kitchen was still not hung (it has been half-torn-down since Christmas), and so I asked Grandma if someone was going to put it up. She didn't know who or when or if it would ever get put up, so I said, "Hey, Cara, (John's sister) you wanna put up Grandma's wallpaper?" And she said, "Sure!" And then I stood back while she and a bunch of cousins finished ripping down the rest of the wallpaper, and then I said, "I wonder how we'll get the wallpaper up around those hinges on the cupboards," and suddenly the guys were taking down cupboard doors and John's mom was scrubbing them down. And then the next day when we started I said, "Ya know, I'm really short. You should get those high places, Cara." And so, she got those. And then the baby kept getting hungry. And fussy. And tired. And so I had to get called away several times. Or, I got to sit back and say, "Wow, am I getting tired, John, you should go get us a Caribou Coffee," and he did. And then I got a big "attagirl" for the wallpaper getting put up yesterday. Aren't I nice? :o)

It was nice to get away though, and sort of leave the trauma of the last few weeks behind. Unfortunately, we're back to Kansas though, and we get to start up "normal" again tomorrow. Or try to.

Settling in

Long day... Long week! ;o) Been trying to figure out where things are yet (we're still unpacking over here from our move!), and trying to settle in. Hard to do, but everyone will be a lot more relaxed and "happier" when their stuff is out and put away right. While it was a hard move, I'm so thankful we moved in the middle of the month instead of the end. Can't even imagine how Nutso I'd be right now if we'd have done that...

So thankful the kids are at a good stage too. They're such sweet kiddos. Really, they are. If all this had happened two years ago, I'd be pulling my hair out! lol! Several times since this weekend, Adam has put his arm around me and said he was sorry that my dad died. As much loss as he has endured in his own life, it amazes me that he goes so out of his way to comfort others when they are sad themselves. Great kid, that Adam.

Anyway, not much to say. Just wanted to check in. Thank you again, everyone for the kind words and thoughts...

Dad update

Back. I've been back in my hometown since Wednesday... Stayed the night with Dad at the hospital, and kept telling him to hold on 'til midnight when it would be his birthday. (He'd been wanting to hit 80 for the last ten years!) I started at six o'clock saying "Ok, Dad, you've got six more hours. Six! You hear that? You hold on!"

Dad did hang on.

He hung on through the night, and the next morning, they released him to go home. The whole family came home to have a big birthday bash for him. I mean Big. There are seven of us kids you know. ;o) And grandchildren comin' out your ears. :o)

We sang "Happy Birthday" to him, gave him balloons, etc. And we were able to talk to him. While he couldn't speak back to us, we do know he was listening and understanding everything. For example, I was sitting next to his bed and said, "Don't worry Dad, I'll take care of that John for ya." (John my brother, who has been Dad's right-hand-man for the past several years). Dad grunted. :o) And seeing that he was "in there," I added, "Do ya think there'll be coyotes in heaven Dad?" (He's been hoping to get a shot at one for several years now.) He grunted again. :o) After that, I had the chance to really say goodbye to him, tell him I loved him, thank him for being such a great dad to me, etc. What a blessing. I never got that with Mom. I think we all got that opportunity.

Dad made it until shortly after midnight. God let him enjoy every second of his 80th birthday. :o) As he took his final breaths, he kept saying, "I'm free... I'm free.. I'm free... I'm free..." And then he died. What a comfort to us all to know he knew the Lord Jesus as his Savior, and trusted him alone for his salvation... There is no doubt where he is right now.

Sunday the family gathered to start cleaning out Dad's house. Which was also Mom's house, so it was a double-grief of sorts, as we had to say good-bye to her all over again too. That was by far the worst day ever. Seven kids have seven personalities, and well, uh. Yeah. ;o)

Today (Monday) was the funeral. He had military honors, (Dad had been in the Navy as a young man), and the flowers matched the flag. It was gorgeous.

After the meal, John and I drove back into the cemetery for a last goodbye, and I saw that one of my siblings had beat me there... They had written "I love you, Dad" in the dirt on his grave...

Thank you so much, everyone, for the condolences... it means a lot.

Dad

Keeping this short... My dad is dying. He has asked to be able to go home for his last days. His liver has shut down.

Thursday he will be able to get back home. It is also his 80th birthday. We're all praying he holds on 'til then. He has wanted to hit 80 for the past ten years.

I'd appreciate prayers for my family...

Overwhelmed

Beautiful day out there. I hope I get to enjoy some of it. I have boxes you know. Actually, I need to get over to our "old place" and do some cleaning. I thought (I really did) think I had cleaned as I went, but seeing it after they got our stuff out was a wake-up call. The place looks like a tornado hit. Not sure how that could have been, but alas, 'tis true.

Aleksa woke up crying - sore throat, head ache. Groan. A part of me has wondered what on earth we've gotten ourselves into these last few weeks... I am literally spinning there is so much that needs my attention. I really wish John had a week of vacation right now. Between the boxes, the cleaning, the sick kids, the fussy infant, the cooking, the laundry, the weeding-of-the-gardens... well... uh, I'm a bit overwhelmed right now, and wondering how on earth people do this! Think I'll shut myself up in my pantry and scarf down a few of my anzac cookies...

Ok, maybe not. But it would sure be fun! ;o)

Moved In

How 'bout that. We moved in. Well, our address changed. Still have 900,976 boxes to unpack and put away. Wanna know what my friend Connie gave me as a housewarming present? A tin of my favorite cookies (Australian "anzac" cookies), and a little plastic GOAT!!! What a riot!

The stress of the move has been hard on all of us. Liana came down with a flu or something yesterday - fever, chills, headache all day. Abrielle has been fussy and clingy and I have no idea how I've accomplished anything at all, especially with my Chief Babysitter down.

Adam suddenly decided to pull some of his "let's test mama" tricks lately and has been driving me crazy... Like yesterday I asked him to put a framed picture on a pile of several other pictures on my china hutch. He decided he didn't want to be told what to do, and then decided to drive me nuts over it. So, he said he didn't know what a china hutch was. When I told him to figure it out, it made him mad, and then he literally went around the house "looking" for a china hutch. He stopped in the bathroom (!), to the garage, etc. Let me just say, he knows EXACTLY what a china hutch is. This is just his weapon of choice with me. He knows this kind of thing drives me Batty. So. Finally, after he'd PASSED the china hutch THREE times, (and never looked up at, mind you - he was too busy looking at the couch and rocking chair), I told him to turn around (to face the hutch) and tell me what he saw. It took him several minutes for him to decide to tell me what it was and that this was what he was supposed to find.

I must digress a bit and camp there. I have really had it good as far as "adoption issues" with my crew. They only seldom pop up anymore, and are extremely mild "incidents" (as with Adam and the hutch). I have truthfully been in a bit of a "survivor's guilt" as far as my children are concerned. I feel horrible for other families (some of whom I helped convince to adopt via this blog!), who have had serious issues with their adopted kiddos. I have further had survivor's guilt over THEN having Abrielle. On top of having Abrielle, I am scared to death for my three "originals" that my blog-readers will suddenly love the baby more than the rest of my crew and those who know me in real life might start treating them "differently." I love my baby with all my heart. But I love my Three also, and my mama bear tendencies really grieve for my older three. All of the above has made me hesitant to blog much anymore. Survivor's guilt, and trying to protect my kiddos. All of them.

Ok, end of soapbox/confession/digression.

Anyway.

Abri has a new trick that has come in handy for her during her fussy-fits... She has been saying "Mama!" Well, actually, she's been saying, "mamamamamama" and then fussin' til I come get her. Fun to hear her babble, but oh, she's become high maintenance all of a sudden!

My dad went back into the hospital Saturday night. He has been there since, but has been getting better little by little and we are hopeful that he'll be out and ready for his big Birthday Bash on the 28th. I was hoping to head down this week, but now with Liana sick, I better make sure we're bug-free first.

Eleventh Hour

Talk about the "Eleventh Hour..." We're moving tomorrow, right? Well, we were going to close on the house on Tuesday. Then the bank says, "how 'bout tomorrow instead?" And then, "How 'bout Thursday?" Then this morning we finally heard that our docs were done and that we could close today. Horray! This was at 9:30 am, so we thought, "Surely by 1'ish we'll be closing and then we can go bring some stuff to the house, etc.

Well, we got the final call at SEVEN THIRTY PM.

All day long we were praying that we could please, pretty please still move tomorrow... Afterall, I was packing the silverware. And our clothes. And dishes. And... everything! I had visions of living in a hotel room until we changed banks and redid everything because of "our" bank's incompetancy. And it is a nationally-known bank. We thought we'd be ok. Been on the verge of throwing up for the last few days, and definitely haven't been very fun to be around, let me just say!

Thankfully that part is over though, and we can actually move in tomorrow. So excited to be setting down some roots!

Stressful Springtime

This has got to be the most stressful spring we've had in years! We're aiming to move on Saturday, and we were supposed to close on the house on Tuesday, and uh, whoops, our underwriter isn't done with our file, and so we aren't closing probably until Thursday. That's ok, because my house isn't all packed up yet. I'm expecting the Moving Fairy to come and wave her magic wand over my house Friday night I guess.

My dad had this spleen reduction procedure done last week. Another big stressor. The first few days were ok - he was really doing well. The next day he was not doing well at all. He is really weak. The procedure was a success, but my dad has been zapped of strength. And he's being released today. He can't hold a fork to his mouth and it takes two people to get him to the bathroom. He has to go into a nursing home for a few weeks to gain his strength. He'll head on over there today. I'm hoping this gives the docs a heads up that there is no way Dad will have the strength to recover from a heart surgery... I hope they just leave him alone.

And here I sit glued to my phone hoping to hear from the banker dude to see if we can close today or not. Trying to pretend I'm packing up my house in between phone checks. Meanwhile my dad has taken over my thoughts, and my four kids still get hungry and need clean clothes. And attention. I'm trying to ignore the sticky kitchen floor. Hoping the Moving Fairy takes care of that for me as well. She can come earlier than Friday for that though, because sticky floors bother me.

Looking forward to getting in to my house. Did a final walk-through on Monday night. It had been a while since I'd seen it and bathroom walls changed color, and the tile in the tub disappeared, the kitchen got bigger and the wallpaper in it changed colors, the family room shrunk, as did the girls' rooms, which also changed color and Adam's room grew. I guess I remembered wrong. The yard got shadier (worried about my garden getting enough sun!) now that the trees have leafed out, and the perennial gardens got lots weedier. I'll be busy, busy! Met a few neighbors while we were there. They seemed really nice. There seem to be a lot of kids on this block, so I'm praying our kids will have some nice neighbor friends.

Anyway, that's all folks... I'm sorry I've disappeared. Very, very stressed out over here.

Another recipe: Instant Oatmeal

Forgot to post this one with the others... Aleksa likes to help make this one...

Instant Oatmeal

4 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon (we like more)
2/3 cup instant powdered milk
1/2 cup chopped dried apples (or other fruit)

Toast quick cooking oats in a 300 degree oven for 20 minutes. When cool add remaining ingredients. Store in airtight container. Pour boiling water over mix in a bowl and stir. Wait 1 minute before eating. You can also put mix in a bowl with cold water and microwave to heat and eat. This is a great kid helping project. Combinations vary but here are some ideas: cherries and almonds; bananas, pineapple, coconut, and cashews; apples, peaches, pears; raisins, craisins, and cashews

Packing and Recipes

In the thick of packing for our big move in just a few weeks. Today I took down (correction: Adam took down) all the pictures and we dusted and packed them up. The house looks so, so nekked. And heart-less. And blah. It's going to be a long two weeks looking at these bare walls. Over the weekend we got a lot of packing done also, as some friends are letting us borrow their 12' trailer to start packing up. That has helped so much since we don't have a basement to store our "already packed" boxes in. It has left open spaces to vacuum, dust, etc. Speaking of vacuuming, ours died today. That's ok, I've needed a new one for the past two years, so it's high time.

Haven't blogged much lately and I'm sorry about that. Been rather busy with the move, finishing up school, etc., and then there are always the usual dishes and laundry to accomplish, let alone supper... I've been so thankful for my Jr. Chefs... Adam cooked us up some breakfast again today, and Liana made some AWESOME bread yesterday. French bread. Two loaves. Num. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Bread-Rolls-to-Die-For/Detail.aspx

Here are a few more of the recipes I've been raving about. Got these from a lady at our old church "back home." Debbie, you are the cookin' queen! :o)

Deb K's Muffin Mix

2 cups sugar
6 cups flour
6 tsp. Baking powder (adjust down if using Rumford brand)
2 tsp. Salt

1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups milk

Mix DRY ingredients thoroughly and store in freezer if using whole wheat flour. This recipe will make approximately 4 dozen muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Portion out liquids and dry ingredients for smaller batches of batter.
These muffins freeze very well. You can make big portions one day and have left overs for another morning.

Variations: Make a batch with liquids included then portion out batter to make a variety of flavors the same day.

We've been dividing the dry ingredients into fourths, (the recipe divides by four pretty nicely), storing them into ziploc bags. Then we have just the amount (12) for what we need in the morning for breakfast.

Flavors:

Blueberries with while sugar sprinkled on top of batter; mashed bananas with walnuts; mashed bananas with mini chocolate chips; use orange juice as part of the milk or some grated orange rind or orange flavoring and craisins or fresh halved cranberries; almond flavoring and poppyseeds topping the batter with slivered almonds, lemon flavoring and poppyseeds; add some cocoa powder to batter (may have to add a little more milk) and almond flavoring with almonds on top; add raisins and top batter with a mixture of 2 Tblsps. Sugar, 2 tsp flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp melted butter, use fresh berries, nuts, coconut, seeds, whatever you want.

Deb K's Pancake Mix

(8 lb. Volume)
4 cups oats (I like the old fashioned)
2 cups raw wheat germ
14 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup baking powder (reduce if using Rumford)
3 TBSP. Salt
1 TBSP cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups dry milk (optional)

Mix thoroughly and store in freezer. To make pancakes use I cup milk, 1 egg, 1/4 cup oil, and 1 1/2 cup mix. Add more milk or more mix to thin or thicken to your liking. I add things like 1 tsp. Of cinnamon per batch, or 1 tsp. Vanilla. In the fall I like to add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.
For waffles: separate eggs and add yoke to batter, beat whites until stiff and fold into batter gently. Fry on waffle iron.
Variations: While frying pancakes top with blueberries before turning. Use other berries in season. Add mashed bananas to batter with walnuts. For a child's birthday breakfast sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.
Toppings: Applesauce, vanilla yogurt with pie fillings like blue berry, peach, cherry, apple, etc. (I make my own topping with those frozen fruits (and strawberries) cooked with a little water, sugar and either cornstarch or flour to thinken.)

Mix fits into one ice cream bucket - 5 quart.

Overlapping

Lots going on over here... Trying to finish up the school year, pack up our house to move, and then we were hit with a nasty virus. Abrielle still isn't herself. We think she might be teething on top of everything else she's been fighting. Been thinking a lot about how things in my life have been overlapping. I think a lot of homeschool moms have wisely become overlappers by necessity and convenience, but it's just finally really dawning on me how that fleshes out. For example, that "Patrick Henry" speech the kids have had to memorize not only helped their understanding of history, but also gave them some great experience with acting



but we worked a long time on vocabulary words from it, etc. Our readers for the kids' English class this year have all had to do with what we're learning in history. The kids have also been sending my dad weekly letters for the last few years which has overlapped their penmanship with learning to think of others.

Another way we've been "overlapping" is with cookin'. Adam (and somewhat with the others too) has become our Morning Chef. We all put together a pancake mix to store in an ice cream pail, and we also have muffin mix and "instant" oatmeal that he can also quickly put together for us. Once evert two weeks or so, we've been making some homemade granola to grab on extra busy mornings. We've been enjoying his efforts, Adam has been getting some "home ec" experience, extra math, and he's even benefitted from some occupational therapy that he doesn't realize. The act of flipping, stirring, measuring, and putting batter into tins or a griddle is really tough for him - he's not especially coordinated with that CP on his left side coupled with the fact that his body has grown so fast. That seems to have affected his coordination as well. The "exercise" however, is painless when he doesn't know he's doing it, and he's LOVED the attention and compliments on his good cooking. He's needed the extra emotional boost, and I've enjoyed the extra hands in the kitchen.

I'll have to post some of the recipes we've been using. They've sure been a blessing! We've been eating healthier and getting all kinds of "overlapped" benefits from it.

Eek, gotta run... Abrielle is fussin' at me!

Abrielle and Papa

Don'tcha just love little baby feet?

First Dandelion!

Brelly gave me my first dandelion this week... Big sister might have helped! ;o)

House!

Well, we have an accepted offer on a house!!! Can't hardly believe it! We will close June 10 and will move after that sometime (not in a hurry as I am hoping to move a room at a time.)

Swingset, sandbox, fenced in back yard, room for a humdinger garden (!!!), four bedrooms, finished walk-out basement, a big pantry, (woo-hoo, no more storing cans in the coat closet!), family room, game room (will be our school room), and it even has an office for John. We're so excited! The only negatives are the commute for John and the lack of woods for the kids to romp around in. They'll miss that. I'll totally miss our view here also. I've had the curtains flung open to soak in the view here while we can. Soon there will be nothing to see but another house right across the street. Oh well. Ya gotta weigh those pros and cons, dontcha?

And as I said before, my chickens and goats are out. That's probably for the best! Did I mention that one of the houses we walked through had goats?! They kept 'em in the garage of all places! lol! That would have been a neat hunk of land (it was three acres or so), but the house was not what we would have liked. It had a bowed-in basement wall, not enough kitchen cupboards (though it did have a pantry), and the master bedroom was an enlarged landing on the second floor. No doors. Weird, but the house was also over a hundred years old. Made John about have a panic attack seeing all the "projects" to be done there... lol! (But it had rhubarb and currant bushes and cherry trees....) *swoons* ;o) I guess I can plant my own though, right?

I'm so looking forward to setting down some roots and not being afraid to put a nail in the wall. Also looking forward to having places to put stuff. Our realtor is going to have someone till up my garden for me as a house-warming gift. Even offered to buy us some tomato plants! :o)

Abrielle, 5 months

Ain't she a sweetie?

Where's Waldo, er, Shelly?

Sorry. Awol again.

My laptop died.

I've been in mourning.

Thankfully my hubby is a geek, and saved my pictures, but all my bookmarked websites are poofed and I'll have to scrounge them up again. My two favorites I had to find right away as they have become my right arms (allrecipes.com and tammysrecipes.com) So, since I have no 'puter of my own right now, I've had to wait my turn for John's or the kids'. (Well, not really, but I do confess I'm rather lost on anything other than my own, so it has made me not as eager to hop online these days.)

Oh, and we've been looking for a house! We might actually have a basement! Woo-hoo! I'll keep y'all posted on that one, but I've sure been having fun! :o) We've even looked at "goat-friendly" houses. (Those of you who know me well know that goats and chickens have been dreams for a long time...) But, well, did you know that those farm house types need WORK? Uff DA! I did not marry a carpenter or handyman, and so, after oohing and aahing over the awesome gardens and acres, I have decided to stick to looking for a house in town. The kids' only request had been "neighbor kids!" so, the farm houses weren't appealing at all for them that way either.

Dad is hanging in there. On top of all his troubles, he cracked a rib and the arthritis in his neck has gotten so bad in the last month that he can't lift his head up. His chin sorta hangs in his chest. The kids and I made a trip to see him once last week, and I'm hoping to squeeze another on in this week, but we'll see how the house situation progresses. He's been on some strong pain meds for that cracked rib, and they've made him rather out of it. Not fun stuff, poor guy.

That's where I've been. Lots of stuff going on, and all the same old laundry to do and kiddos to feed. And burp. (Ok, well, Adam does a good enough job on his own...) ;o)

English Wave Heats

It's been beautiful here the last few days. Last week we had a blizzard, and this weekend, the robins are twittering outside the windows.

The other day the kids were out in the yard playing, and Adam poked his nose in the door and shouted, "Mama! It's a Wave Heat out here!!" and then he went back outside.

So his English isn't perfect yet. But he's trying. It is actually pretty good lately, to tell you the truth - he's been a lot more careful with his pronunciation and thinking his words through. He's still wanting to dump half of the words when he's excited or in a rush, like instead of saying, "Would you watch me do my exercises?" just tonight he said, "Wou'y'watch me do m'ex'c's? But he said it beautifully when I asked him for a repeat.

English vowel sounds are killers to anyone, and Adam has struggled with them hard. Pen/pan, bus/boss, etc. have been really hard to differenciate in his speech. The other day he said he wanted to wear a "pen" on his head for a "het." He of course meant a "pan" for a "hat." He can say and hear the difference though, when we ask him to try again. We just today asked him to say pen/pan and he said them both like any good ole Yankee would.

His r's are still causing him trouble too, though he can do them really well on a "repeat." They just take a lot of effort, you know. ;o) I have no idea how to describe how he actually says his "r's" when he isn't thinking - It's like he tries to do away with ANY /r/ sound at all, and just skips to the next vowel. Initial /r's/ are hard, but at least he does them. The ones buried inside of words are usually skipped altogether. Like, um, let's see... a "storm" would be a "stome;" an "arm," is an "ahm;" a "girl" is a "gull." He'd make a really good Brit, actually, lol! (You have to remember, we're really nasally midwesterners up here, so those "r's" are extra thick to us natives.)

But he's coming along. Just in the last year, he's really come a long way with his speech, and some have said they've noticed big changes even since Christmastime. Slowly but surely...

Barb L; update on my dad

Barb L! (And everyone else reading this!) ;o)

I accidentally erased your comment instead of publishing it... I'm so sorry about that - I keep hitting the wrong buttons on this thing. I thought I had it right, but it didn't show up... *groan* I don't have your email, or I'd have written you there, but I wanted to fill you in regarding Dad. I was kind of vague in my post, and you said you kept your parents updated...

He's not doing so well. He has hepatitis C (from previous blood transfusions as he has hemophilia). The hepatitis has attacked his spleen, (somehow, no clue how), and the spleen has been "eating" Dad's platelets, literally swelling his spleen to be larger than a football. Not so great for a hemophiliac to be losing platelets... He now gets nose bleeds by putting on his shoes...

Meanwhile, Dad's heart is failing, and will probably need surgery to replace his aortic valve, which was replaced 10 years ago with a pig valve. That valve is now failing. He is having an MRI tomorrow, and his follow up appointment is the day after that. He has been getting pneumonia easily (because of the heart failure), and has been easily winded, etc. because of it.

Before they can even think about fixing the heart, they need to take care of his platelets. The doctors want to try to shrink his spleen by injecting some jelly-like substance into the blood vessels leading to the spleen, thereby suffocating and killing part or most of the spleen. Sounds a lot easier than just cutting him open and surgically removing the spleen (bad choice with the heart/blood situation), but this procedure is incredibly painful. His doctor said it would be as painful as a heart attack, and will last about ten days. (He'd be in the hospital that long, while the spleen is being killed and reabsorbed into his body). The bummer about this procedure (aside from the pain), is that it has never been done on an almost 80 yr old, (it has only ever been done on children), and has never been done by this doctor, or at this hospital, and certainly never on a hemophiliac. But he was the first hemophiliac to get a replaced heart valve 10 years ago, so he should be used to being a guinea pig by now, right? *sigh*

Doesn't look so good. He is so weak, I can't fathom him enduring ten days of that kind of pain. (Granted, they have promised a good morphine drip...) We'll know more after his appointment this week, but probably this will all be happening in the very near future. When he recovers from the spleen ordeal, then they'll do the heart surgery. Doesn't look like it's going to be a very good year for him. Tough roads ahead... He's in good spirits as always, though, and that will take him a long way. Regardless, please keep him in your prayers...

Acting!

Haven't laughed this hard for a good long while, and I need to blog this so I can "keep" this memory...

We have a family devotion time at night before bedtime. Sometimes we read, sometimes we sing, sometimes we act out stories, and sometimes we just pray, but we always do something, unless it is a church night, and then we come home and get ready for bed, assuming that we've already sent our thoughts and hearts heavenward for the night. ;o)

Well, tonight was "act out a story" night. John and I picked out stories for the kids to each act out (without talking though), and the rest of the kids had to guess what the story was. Aleksa acted out the story of Elijah running faster than the chariot, and then later of Samson carrying off the city gate, catching the foxes, eating the honey, etc. That one got a little confusing to watch, but you should have heard her go on and on and on and on telling us what she'd been acting out for us. ;o) Adam acted out King Saul going to the bathroom in the cave and David cutting off the hem of his robe, (you can use your imagination as to how he was inspired to act that one out!) (Groan!) Liana acted out *beautifully* the story of Ananias and Sapphira... how they kept back a portion of the money from the land they'd sold, and told the apostles that they'd given them the entire sum. Liana even acted out laying the money at the apostles' feet, which I'd almost forgot about myself. She acted out the grave-diggers even! It was hilarious watching her "heave" the heavy dirt with her shovel!

We definitely have some actors and actresses in the family! The kids LOVE when we do this, though it takes them several more minutes than usual to calm down enough to sleep! But it sure makes those stories stick better, being able to act them out!

Speaking of acting! I need to take a video sometime (after I clear off my harddrive, perhaps!) of the kids acting out the last few paragraphs of Patrick Henry's "Give me Liberty" speech. Complete with acted-out stab-in-the-heart death scene at the end. lol! (We're memorizing that as part of their history lessons). I definitely must post a video of that sometime soon. I'll let 'em polish it up a bit, and tell 'em that whoever gets it "down pat" first will have the honor of it being put online. They're drama queens, those girls. While this stuff comes really easily for the girls, Adam has struggled a bit because of his speech/language difficulty. I think this project has really helped him though, to be more careful with his articulation, etc. We've seen some good progress since we've started doing these more lengthy memorized passages. We've also seen some awesome progress with him in math. We backed him up recently to make sure he was "getting" things, and his last three tests have been all A's. Today's was a 100% even! Now, he's definitely not on grade level with his math, but when I think of how hard he has worked to get to where he is, it makes me teary! He couldn't count to 14 when he first came home. Numbers meant nothing to him. He couldn't even remember how old he was. We would practice and practice him saying "I'm nine years old." He'd always say, "seven" or "six" or "ten" or whatever. Not even when we did it in Russian was it sticking. And it took weeks and months to get him to be able to count to 25 or 50. Dot-to-dots were KILLERS for him. He just couldn't do even the simple ones. (Remember?! Oh, how I worried!) Then there was getting him to count by twos or fives! I remember having worked with him for weeks and weeks on counting by twos, and then I realized that he had unplugged "regular" counting. He could then count by two's but had forgotten counting by one's. Very. Frustrating. Ugh... Hours and hours and hours and hours and hours later, he's doing very well. It's still hard, and he's well below grade-level, but he's plugging along, and (shhhhh, don't tell him I think so), but I think he's actually enjoying his math right now!

(Sorry, can't make a decent ending right now - baby crying, must go!)

Easter Update, etc.

Been wanting to post an Easter update, but I can't get my pictures onto my laptop, and have been putting off doing the computer "housecleaning" that it would take to get them there.

Anyway, I guess you'll just have to use your imaginations as to what we all look like! ;o)

We had a really nice weekend, in spite of me being on the verge of tossing my cookies with worry about Dad all day Saturday... He went into the hospital again, this time with what they thought was a heart attack, but it turned out not to be. His heart is failing, but the pain he was feeling had to do with a blockage in his bladder and/or the pneumonia he had developed. Anyway, I spent Saturday wondering if Dad was going to be ok. Meanwhile, John's parents and brother were here for the weekend. It was a really nice visit in spite of the emergency with my dad.

John's mom made the girls' Easter dresses, and made Adam a snazzy grey vest and tie. They were all adorable! (Hence my frustration over my pictures!!) They all had a different color dresses, but the same pattern and type of fabric. Liana's was yellow, Aleksa's light blue, and Abrielle's was pink.

Good Friday the kids and I made hot cross buns... (gotta love bread machines!) We'd been making Easter crafts all week, and started our cooking for this weekend on Friday.

There was a big breakfast at church Sunday morning, nice service, and then we went back to our house for a big Easter dinner. Well, first there was the egg/basket hunt. John wrote out clues to find their baskets. It was sort of scavenger hunt-ish. Abrielle got her first taste of solid food too- I let her suck on a marshmallow peep for a few minutes while we took pictures. (Thanks for the idea, Sharon!) Abby also found her feet for the first time (as in, grabbed her feet). She also stood by herself propped against the couch, and even without it for a few split seconds at a time. Liana is determined to teach her to walk - before she crawls even, I guess!

I can't believe how big my kids are getting. It makes me so sad to realize how short our time with them is. I'm going to blink, and they'll be all grown up. I keep thinking, "If this were our last (insert holiday, birthday, etc.), how would I want them to remember it?" And that makes it a lot easier for me to want to do that extra Easter coloring page, know what I mean? The week before Easter we even made roll-out sugar cookies in Easter shapes and frosted them. Never done that for Easter before. And as for the hot-cross buns... well, I'VE never even had those before, let alone the kids, but I just had to squeeze it in after I found a recipe that I had all the ingredients for, and looked rather easy. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Hot-Cross-Buns-I/Detail.aspx Well, anyway, it may be morbid to think that way, but it's a good way to live life without regrets... I'll look back twenty years from now and be glad I let Leks put on those extra sprinkles on the Easter cookies, etc. Wish I could keep that in mind on the "regular" ole' days when the kids are on the verge of driving me BATTY. ;o)

Not so much happening over here today. Regular Saturday routine today - library, groceries, laying around. Kids flew their kites, played a few games, I gave everyone haircuts after supper, and we all watched the pilot show to "Greatest American Hero" from NetFlix. (Remember that show?! John found it and couldn't resist...)

Hope you're all having a good weekend!

Fisher Girls

Since I posted a pic of Adam the other day and not the girls, (well, I guess Brelly's bottom was in the last one, but that hardly counts...) I thought I'd share this one from tonight....

Liana Zingers

It's funny I can go weeks without thinking of a thing to post, and then bam! I have a morning like this where I actually have TWO things to tell you!

First was yesterday... We were all sitting quietly at church, Liana and Aleksa were curled up next to me listening to the Pastor... Then Liana whispered over to me, "Mama?"

I asked her what she wanted.

"Did Abrielle throw up on you this morning?"

"Uh, no..." I said, "Why?"

"Because you smell like it."

Nice. Leave it to Liana to tell me what's what. lol! I thought about being self-conscious about it, but I thought it was too hysterical to be ruffled over. Plus I was trying too hard to hold back a great big guffaw. I'll just maybe remember to douse myself with a little more perfume next time... *wink*

Ok, then this morning, she sprung another one on me. During school time (we're actually still in full-swing right now but I HAVE to blog this before I forget to...) Liana was going through our library book basket looking for something to read. She pulled out one that she'd already read yesterday afternoon and said, "Oh, Mama, this was a good one!" I looked at the title, not having remembered it coming home with us on Saturday's library run. It was "Romeo and Juliet" for junior age readers.

"Oh, brother," I thought, "like she really read the whole thing yesterday." (It was kind of lengthy and difficult-looking.) I asked her if she *realllllly* read it, or just enjoyed the pictures.

"I did too read it, Mama!" she said. "It's about Roma and Julia. They loved each other, and then they died, happily ever after."

After I quit laughing I decided to quit arguing with her. ;O)