music to a momma's ear

"I'm working hard"
"I like helping with lunch"

"Guess there's not much work for you to do today"

this is the music that makes a momma's heart sing

~

thanks, My Sweets, for your happy help

baby, it's cold outside

dessert?

We were finishing up lunch

(mushroom cheese scrambled eggs & biscuits)

when Jeremiah said, "Mmm, this tastes like dessert."

as he downed the last of his biscuit

slathered in homemade blueberry jelly.

Which reminded me....

~

AQ Chicken House was one of our favorite restuarants.

We didn't go out to eat very often

(still don't)

so anytime we ate out, it was a treat.

Kids ate free on Tuesdays

so

it must've been a Tuesday evening...

Tyler went on and on

during the meal

about

dessert

and how much he was going to enjoy it.

Dessert?!

We never ordered dessert!

Lana wanted to be sure to save plenty of room

for this fabulous extravagance

so she gave away her dinner roll

and probably some of her dinner, too.

Imagine her dismay

when she realized that the roll

with honey on it

was dessert!

~

Poor little 7 year old sweetie

oh my!

Swimming suits are so much fun to make!

We were supposed to be in Branson today

whooping it up in the nice warm water

but

the hotel called us Tuesday evening

to say, "Sorry - water park will be closed 'for maintenance'"

which really just means

they weren't going to have enough guests

to make it worth opening today.

They aren't even going to give us any kind of a deal

for when we go in a few weeks.

Bummer!

But

looking at the bright side:

I got to try my hand a suit-sewing!

This little girl

has got to be

the very sweetest in the world!

mom:

(the not sweetest mom in the world!)

"Lily! You just spilled Mommy's pins!

You are not supposed to mess with Mommy's pins!"

"Momma, I know you're frustrated with me.

I'm sorry. I know I'm the one that spilled them.

I'll pick them all up."

~

"Thanks for my skirt, Mom."

"Well, Lily, it's not done yet - I still have to do the hem."

"Well, thank-you for it anyways."

~

If only I could be half as kind and loving as that girl....

what is it

about this book?

~

I wasn't going to use it this time around.

Oh

it worked well enough with Brandon

but I just didn't really care for it.

Problem was

we weren't really making any progress with my method.

I'm perfectly okay with a child being a 'late' reader

if

that is what is best for that child.

But Jeremiah was getting frustrated with himself

for not 'getting it'

and I sure didn't want a six-year old boy

thinking he was a failure

when we were just at the beginning stages of formally

'learning to read'

So

I pulled out the well-worn (if not well-loved) yellow book

and within one lesson

things began clicking!

What is it about this book??

everyone needs to take one of these

swimsuit shopping!

"Oh, Momma - you look beautiful!"

the kindness of strangers

Monday

I emailed these gals

after googling 'swimsuit sewing'.

You know me - until I've attempted it

and it's been proven otherwise

I pretty much figure I can do - well - anything.

Renae sweetly answered my questions

and then some.

And then

Renae sent me another e-mail;

she had a homeless little suit

that just might fix Lexi.

And she wanted to send it to us!

I don't think

Lexi

has much of a future as a swimsuit model

but she's all ready for the water park next week!

~

Thanks, Renae!!

more than ONE way to skin a cat

I handed Lexi the green block,

"Can you put the block in the bucket?"

She took off the lid

put the blocks in

and went about putting the lid back on.

yep

I guess she can.

~

Happy Birthday

Precious Girl

~

next on the agenda:

dessert!

just as soon as our family gets home

my good helper

She came in the kitchen

right after I'd reached up high

and grabbed the red container.

"You makin' oatmeal? I'll help!"

"Well, actually, I'm just about done;

I just need to finish stirring."

I'd responded kindly enough

but really I was thinking

"No, you can't help.

I just want to get these made quickly

so you kids can get to bed."

She grabbed Tony's chair to drag it into the kitchen

talking all the while about how heavy it was

and how big of a girl she is.

They are heavy chairs;

Josiah usually asks for help moving them.

As she climbed on her chair

she noticed that I wasn't making oatmeal;

I was making oatmeal cookies.

Her eyes lit up,

"That looks like cookies!"

I'm ashamed to admit

that I'd also had the thought'

"I bet you want to help so you can eat the cookie dough."

She didn't even know it was cookies;

she just wanted to help me.

I'm so glad I didn't insist on finishing up on my own.

She had such a good time helping

and I enjoyed listening to her chatter

while we worked.

Turns out

she's a pretty good cookie-maker, too.

~

gotta go eat some fresh from the oven cookies

cheerfully made

by the most helpful big little girl I know.

look at her go

walkin'

I was about to go to bed without writing;

I'd already turned out the light.

But I realized

I've not been very good at cataloging Lexi's accomplishments.

I suppose

if I were to be completely honest

it's partly due to the misguided thinking that

If I don't record it, maybe it didn't happen.

As if.

~

The girl walked halfway across the living room!

almost 5 ft!!

The boys have proclaimed her 'a walker'

but I am not so eager to bestow that title just yet.

I know how it works;

one day

they walk.

And then,

just a few days later

they walk out the door.

for keeps.

and I'm just not ready for that yet.

a day of firsts

Poached eggs for the first time ever.

bet you can guess what movie we watched last night

~

Lily named something for the first time;

her little goat

is now

Valice

~

Tony's first time to go to

the first show

of the first tour of RED with Pillar.

(with The Wedding and Me in Motion, too)

too bad he's not at all looking forward to it

~

and sadly

today is also the first time

that Lily has ever gotten upset with her little sister.

They were playing with the dollhouse she got for Christmas

(2 bucks from a yardsale, plus a little elbow grease)

and Lexi was apparently crowding her.

"Go away, stupid girl!"

It just about broke my heart;

Lily is always so patient with Lex.

Neither of them harbored any ill-feelings, though;

Lily apologized and they were happily playing together again

less than a minute later.

~

it's probably not the first time, though,

that I've been quickly typing up a post

when I should be finishing up getting the house picked up for Papa

oops

of knights and fair maidens

I gathered all the kids around the computer

so I could show them the mugshot.

Only a few miles away,

a murderer had escaped

while being transported to another facility.

I didn't want to scare them

but I wanted them to understand the urgency;

if they saw this guy

they were to get in the house immediately!

Jeremiah said,

"If I see him, I'll run up and slap him in the face!"

"NO! You will get in this house immediately!"
I responded.

not very calmly.

And the poor boy put his head down and sobbed,

"I just want to protect the family and you guys never say,"Yes""

~

We talked about how running in the house

would be protecting the family.

That a guy like that,

while he looked nice enough,

wouldn't be detered by a slap in the face

or even a kick in the p***s

(the boys think it's hilarious when to talk about tenders,

for some silly reason; I like to humor them)

We talked about how you have to 'work up' to big protecting...

A short while later

I tied up a particularly foul-smelling bag of trash,

held it out the bathroom door

and called out,

"I need someone to protect the family from this stench!"

I figured Jeremiah would be thrilled at the prospect.

Lily, my eager little servant,

was the only one to step forward.

Guess Jeremiah isn't quite ready to protect the fam

no matter what.

no mess slicin' and dicin'

for more kitchen tips (and great recipes) visit Tammy

where

oh, where

is

Lexi

??

There she is

!!

treasure at the library

I rarely have time to look upstairs

but

I can sometimes sneak in a few minutes

to quickly browse the new non-fiction shelves.

~

When I saw the title, Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone,

I snatched it up.

Relaxed?

no - I'm not generally relaxed while cooking.

I figured maybe I'd get some kitchen inspiration;

Lord knows

- and so does everyone else in the house -

that I've been severely lacking in inspiration

in the kitchen.

I'd barely looked at the pages when Josiah asked

if I had any paper he could look at.

The big boys were reading the newspaper

and he was feeling a bit left out.

"Well,"

I told him,

"I got a cookbook at the library today.

It has a lot of pictures; you might enjoy looking at that?"

Needless to say,

that was the end of the book for me.

I can't get it away from the kid

and when I did have a moment to look at it the other day

he caught me and said, "Quit lookin' at my book."

I told him I'd have to look at it some

if we were going to make anything from it.

The banoffee pie was a big hit

(I followed the recipe exactly - except I had light brown sugar, instead of dark)

and

after dinner this evening,

we'll be having Pomegranate Martinis

(If you've never heard a four year old

ask for a Pomegranate Martini - you're missing out :-)

~

I highly recommend a peek at the book

but if you're planning to borrow it out from theFSM library

you'll be waiting awhile;

we're definitely renewing this one!

togetherness

Everyone wants to know -

How do we fit 'so many people'

in to such a tiny house?

the people fit just fine

it's all the stuff

the people like to keep around

we have trouble with...

'all those people'

taking up about 25-30 sq ft of the 975 available.

I do love those people

somebody's rather pleased with herself

Five steps!

~

She's been standing up in the middle of the floor

for a few weeks now.

She can squat and stand back up

multiple times

without ever touching anything with her hands.

She'll take a step

maybe even two

here and there

but she's been awful cautious about

really walking.

Tonight

she was sitting on my legs and just hopped up

and walked to Papa.

Wouldn't walk back to me

but I'm sure that's just cause it was uphill

and not

because

I scared her with my boo-hooing

or anything.

~

Precious Lex,

Momma loves you so so much!!

"she's a good feeder!"

Lily said

as we both shoveled

bits of date-nut bread into Lexi's mouth.

We couldn't get it in fast enough

and

there was all sorts of

numms & drawn out mmms

coming from the girl's mouth.

Darn.

I really like that bread.

And now

it appears

somebody else likes it just as much.

Maybe

Mom can find a bigger can next year.

Brandon's answer for everything

Puppy Chow

is the answer

this Christmas season.

Need a gift?

Puppy Chow.

Need to take a treat?

Puppy Chow.

Need lunch?

Puppy Chow.

~

Melt in a glass bowl in microwave:

1 stick butter

1 c. peanut butter

1 - 12 oz pkg. semi sweet chocolate chips

While chocolate is melting

remove 2 cups from an 18 oz box of corn or rice Chex-type cereal

and dump the rest in a big bowl.

Stir chocolate sauce and pour over cereal.

Mix thoroughly

being careful not to spill cereal all over the place.

Let cool a bit

stir in 2 - 3 c. powdered sugar

Enjoy

as a meal, gift, treat to take

or

just because

SofB update

I don't have to tell you

we're all getting a little tired here.

~

huge thanks

to our friends who have blessed us

with childcare and food

and, of course,

to Mom & Bill for the couch!

shhh

Things'll be pretty quiet here for the next several days

while we focus on

our Season of Blessing project.

As we're prone to do -

we picked a doozie!

~

Having no information

- just some ideas rolling around in my head -

I was thinking we needed a couch

and briefly wondered how God would provide one.

I was listening to this,

when my mom called yesterday evening.

"We wanted to give you our couch....."

'course she was thinking for us.

ours, loved as it is, has seen better days.

much better days.

~

I'm excited to see what else God has in store

(and what else he has in His storehouse for us to use :-)

~

Prayers would be appreciated

as several of the kiddos still aren't feeling 100%

and these projects can be kinda tricky with little ones anyways....

gotta love this boy

"Mom. I'm ready to go hunting."

He's so thrilled with his birthday fish from his bubs

that he wants to get pets for Josiah and Lily, too.

Live ones.

That eat bugs.

"I hope you don't mind;

my weapon is a machete."

Not quite sure how the hunting will go

but you gotta admit

the boy

has style.

or

something.

this and that

I am so grateful that we didn't listen to the Dr.

when he told me I needed a hysterectomy!

Wednesday

we celebrated 6 years of Jeremiah

The boy wakes up

with a smile on his face and love in his heart

and we are all so much better

for having him in our lives!

~

in other news...

Lexi finally has a tooth

and I think we all know who found it

careful what you wish for

Just yesterday

I was telling a dear friend,

"I wish he'd just realize it's not working

and take the stupid dog himself!"

Well

he did

and he is - right now

and you know what?
It's harder than I ever would have imagined.

I'm nauseous.

I'm sobbing and can't even see the stupid keyboard

which is a problem, since I can't type.

I wanted it to work out.

But it hasn't.

It just hasn't.

The dog simply wouldn't abide by the few rules we set for him.

If it were just about the dog

I could have let him go 2 years ago.

But it's also about the boy.

About the boy

who is fast becoming a man.

~

Ton'

I love you!

I am more proud of you than you can imagine.

And, I'm sorry.

~

and now

I think I'll go throw up.

weird

Today

I found myself

in a situation a girl doesn't get into every day.

Tyler had called 4:30ish

and told me he thought we should go to the Patriot's game.

And

rather than tell him all the reasons it wouldn't work

I said, "Okay."

That

is how I found myself

at 6:32 in the evening

with absolutely nothing to do.

Lexi had fallen asleep in the car

and I didn't want to wake her;

she really needed the sleep!

So I decided to just wait for her

and climbed in the back seat to sit next to her.

I had no book

no writing utensil

no paper.

I had my phone

but didn't want to risk waking the girl

by calling someone.

And so I sat

doing nothing

for about 45 minutes.

Weird, I tell ya!

cranberry tea

One of our favorite holiday traditions,

generously shared by sweet friends, several years ago.

Cranberry Tea

In a small pot, pour

1 - 12 oz bag cranberries (fresh or frozen)

8 1/2 c. water

bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes.

Add

1/2 c. honey

1/4 c. sugar*

1/2 c. orange juice concentrate

1 1/2 Tbs. lemon juice

3 cinnamon sticks (or about 3 tsp cin.)

1 tsp whole cloves

Simmer another 10 minutes

strain

- or not -

and serve warm

*if you aren't used to regularly reducing sweetener

you'll probably want to add

either

another 1/4 c. honey or 1/2 c. sugar

~

we like to toss all the pulp that we strained out

into a small saucepan

and add some more spices

and simmer on the back of the stove for a few days.

just because.

two year-old plans

"My Papa's gonna get me married;

he's gonna get me a mom

and I'm gonna nurse my baby with momma milk

and

he's gonna get me some garlic oil."

all in a day

waiting for Gramma & Grampa to get here

Gramma Joyce told Ton' he looks like

one of those boys on the TV

5 generations

Josiah, taking Brandon for a ride

"Everyone in the house, get outside.

You have got to see something amazing!"

Jeremiah out in the kayak for the first time - by himself

Lily can't get enough of sweet baby Aiden

and neither can Mimi; the downside of a big family

is - we all have to share the baby

Thanks, Papa & Grampa

for fishin' fun!

the girl loves her kitties

Aiden is just about tired of all the excitement

Aunt Lexi taking care of her baby.

Who needs dolls when you have a nephew?

~

all in all - a great day

would've been perfect if TJ could have been with us, too

lunch with one of my buds

"Eunices?

I had a dream about going to Eunices!"

I'm not quite sure

how Josiah had dreamed of lunching

at a place he'd never heard of,

but there you have it.

While Lily was at Lana's to 'help take care of Aiden'

(we all miss her terribly!)

Josiah ran some errands with me.

He wanted to 'go to a store for lunch' while we were out.

We pulled up to the fabric store,

conveniently located right next to a small restaurant.

We'd never tried it, but I figured it'd be a good chance to;

we were pressed for time, had to get back to our Lexi soon,

but the lunch rush was over, so it seemed like a good option.

When I suggested it to Josiah,

well - we already know what he said.

I can't recommend the restaurant

but the company was awesome!

I love you, my Josiah