black belt!

So proud of my boys hard work these past three years!

Brandon earned a black belt in TaeKwonDo today

and Jeremiah and Josiah passed their midterms with flying colors.

Great Job, guys!!

Way to go!!

If you want to see videos of the boys breaking their boards (and you really should! ;-) ) click on their names:

Brandon

Jeremiah

Josiah

Many thanks to Meggy for taking these pictures for me!!! (Love you, Sweetie!)

colors of fall

My photography skills are seriously lacking - I know this.

But this fall our yard has been so pretty,

I had to at least try and capture a few of my views.

These pictures don't come close to capturing what my eyes see, but it's the best I could do.

You know,

when summer turned into fall, I was really quite bummed.

For starters,

I wasn't ready for summer to be over yet;

I still had things I'd wanted to do....

But also,

fall means winter is next.

cold

ugly

winter.

And I'm really not ready for that!

We went out to Natural Dam a few weeks ago,

and the color had already peaked,

and many of the trees had already lost all of their leaves.

I was so sad - all the ugly is just right around the corner. pooh!

In addition to this fall being especially pretty, though,

it seems to be hanging on....
yay!!

I guess that's why I've been especially grateful for the color that remains ~ it all feels like a glorious bonus to me.

(and the beautiful weather that has accompanied it at times has been a lovely bonus, too)

At least there will be a bit of color in the chicken coop this winter :-)

8 things

There's this thing on facebook:

you get a number

and then you write that many things about yourself.

If someone 'likes' or comments on your post, you give them a number

and they write.....

Well, I very purposefully didn't 'like' or comment.

Until I did.

Here's what I wrote:

I was so careful to not ‘like’ or comment on any of these number posts and then, wham, I lost my mind for a second, 

and overwhelmed with missing my friend, coupled with her complete awesomeness, I commented. 

And as a result, I was given a number.  

8.

 Which I thought was because I have birthed 8 children, but no, 8 is just Lisa’s favorite number ;-)

1.       I’m actually a yankee (don’t hate me) 

I was born in a suburb of Chicago and lived there for the first (almost) 10 years of my life.

When I hear myself speak, I’m always surprised by how ‘southern’ I sound.

2.       While I don’t exactly LOVE housework, I really don’t dislike it, 

with the exception of cleaning the floor behind the toilet – that job, I hate!

3.       I used to say,

 “I am so glad God didn’t call me to homeschool my children, ‘cause I would NEVER want to do that!” 

We are currently in our 13^th year of homeschooling…

4.       I was 18 when I had my first baby, and 41 when I had my last. 

I feel less confident as a mother now, 

than I did when I was 18.

5.       I can do a 2 minute plank. 

Tyler says it’s more because I am stubborn and tenacious 

than strong. 

He’s prob’ly right :P

6.       I love when my children want to share something beautiful with me.  

I‘ll drop everything and run to the window when I hear, “Momma! You have GOT to come look at the sky.”
Even my grown kids (especially T) will text me when their sunset is especially pretty. 

I love that they notice beauty, 

and also that they know I’ll want to see it, too.

7.       It is impossible for me to choose a ‘favorite’ anything. 

There are just so many variables, ya know? 

Wait; that’s not entirely true ~ I was able to choose a favorite once. 

My man. I chose my favorite man.  

8.       It is also very nearly impossible for me to follow instructions exactly. 

I try, though. I really do. 

I lied, but enough about me

I didn't mean to, but I did.

I said there was no longer any distinction between the chicks and chickens,

they were all just chickens

But I was wrong.

I still label them.

Only now, we have three labels:

The chickens, the babies, and the McC chickens (some friends gave us some chickens they no longer wanted :-)

But that's not the point.

The point is - two of my babies are laying!!

One - the little feisty white one - has been laying for about a week

and the other (we have no clue which one) laid her first egg today.

(the egg is a lighter brown with white speckles)

Baby eggs make me smile.

~

oh.

and the sweet (somewhat stupid) white hen,

the one I told you about in this post?

She's a he.

our Lola

I know I've bragged on Lola before.

I can't help it; she really is the perfect dog.

Now that we have Jack,though, she's endearing herself to us even more.

Jack needs watching pretty constantly when he's inside.

Sometimes, there just isn't someone available to watch him,

and now that he's getting older,

it doesn't really work to just stick him in his kennel.

So, we'll send Lola outside to play with him.

Sometimes she wants to go,

sometimes she doesn't - but she still goes anyways.

Like I said, she's a good girl.

Well, 

the past few days Jack has been obstinate, and disobedient, and naughty.

And when we try to get him outside,

he won't go.

Not only will he not go, he'll run the opposite way and go under the dining room table

where it's hard to get him out.

Nobody said he was stupid! 

just naughty.

Lola,

dear sweet Lola,

will get up from her comfy spot and go outside

- without being asked to -

so Jack will go out, also.

(which he does, immediately.)

Our Lola is positively the best dog ever.

the gift of needle and thread

I once bought a cd called Twenty-four Hours is All You Get.

It was a talk (or series of talks) done by a homeschooling mom of many.

As you can imagine, it was about time management.

Fairly early on in the disk,

she talked about how she'd enjoyed sewing, but she didn't sew anymore;

she'd given it up,

because she needed to spend that time in training her children.

She was encouraging us to do the same.

I quit listening to that cd.

~

Towards the end of summer one evening,

I was laying next to the girls for few minutes before they went to bed.

I stroked Lily's beautifully suntanned arm.

"I was going to get all nice and golden like that this summer," I sighed.

(thinking, "but then I got burned and had to stay out of the sun...")

"I know," she said, commiserating with me.

 "If you didn't have your gift, you could have gotten all dark.

But,

you have your gift.

So that keeps you busy. And you just don't have time to be out in the sunshine a lot.

Not everyone has a gift."

 (she's been watching lots of My Little Pony)

 "But you do.

Sewing is your gift."

~

Sewing is my gift.

And I am so grateful for it.
(There may come a time when God asks me to give up that gift,

but, by golly, it's going to have to be real clear to me before I do it.)

~

Like all of the other gifts I've been given,

I try to share this one, too,

and use my skills with a needle and thread to bless others.

I was texting with my sewing buddy a few weeks ago.

We were talking about what projects we have going on.

She's working on a quilt for her mom.

A memory quilt, with all of the fabrics chosen for a reason (not necessarily the aesthetics of the pattern).

She's got Elvis fabric.

green beans.

little crabs.

birds.

"If I don't get my mom's quilt finished, she won't even realize the significance of the material I chose for hers," I read.

Immediately, I got a lump in my throat.

Her mother 

was recently diagnosed

with Alzheimer's.

So I did what any good buddy with a gift would do;

I offered to share.

(Actually, truth be told, I had to get a little insistent with her ;-)

And over the course of a couple of weeks,

I put together a fabric puzzle

and made her quilt back for her momma's quilt 

sorry ~ I'd just snapped this real quick when I finished so I could text her.
Ya'll know how I like to text people crappy pictures ;-)

I love you, 'Net ~ I hope your momma remembers.

Linking up with Elizabeth's with needle and thREAD again. No books have been read lately :-(

random bits

Found these when I put pictures on the computer last week.

Brandon had taken the camera and tripod out one night when the moon was bright.

We haven't done trick or treating in years, 

and we didn't really have a plan for halloween this year,

but there was an expectation of candy. (duh!) and lots of it!

One of my favorite halloween memories

(save for all of the many fabulous halloweens spent with Scott & Jackie)

was one year when we lived in FSM:

The kids kept dressing up in different costumes and sneaking out of the house

and running around to the front door 

to 'trick or treat' again.

I suppose it sounds dumb.

But really, it was great fun.

Thursday, Tyler stopped by Walmart on his way home and bought several bags of candy

and a few Red Baron pizzas for the kids (he and I had salmon and broccoli).

Then he stopped by redbox and grabbed a movie.

Tyler and I divied up the candy and figured out equal distribution methods.

The kids decorated brown paper lunch sacks to put their candy in,

then went and put on some dress up clothes.

Tyler dressed up as a farmer

and went down to the shop.

While dinner was in the oven

the kids ran back and forth

between the house and the shop trick or treating.

Then we had dinner theater.

It wasn't pinterest-worthy.

but it was enough.

And they had fun.

And got plenty of candy :-)

Can I just say I am so sorry for people planning weddings in this pinterest era?

I am.

All that unattainable ridiculous hoopla....

I'm all for a properly festive environment to suit the occasion,

but really, it's all too much.

I also feel sorry for any young man wanting to propose to a young lady.

Why can't they just say, "I love you. I think you're beautiful. Will you marry me?"?

(I told you this was random)

This, I love.

our driveway in the fall, from the porch

 Love!

This, too

the pond, on a fall afternoon. I wish I could capture it as I see it...

You know ~ people say, "You're going to miss this..."

I have to wonder if those people

a) had many kids

or

b) had those kids spread out over many years

'cause honestly, ya'll ~ I just really don't think I'm going to miss kids writing on things other than paper.

just in case there was any doubt, Brandon didn't write his name on a chair.

Somebody,
nobody knows who,
left Lily's bike out where it could get run over,
and it did.
(nobody knows who did that, either, although we sort of suspect our trash people)
I'm sad that just when she learned to ride a bike,
she lost it.


I am so, so not ready for cold dreary ugly outside.


I got a sweet pair of pants from Old Navy.
I went back and bought a second pair.
I love them so much.

If you come over any time between now and Spring - I'll be wearing one or the other.

I absolutely
positively
must
go grocery shopping tomorrow.

quick gumbo

Traditionally, 

gumbo is made by cooking a roux (a mix of flour and grease of some sort)

for a very long time.

Not being a fan of okra,

up until a year and a half ago,

I'd never made gumbo.

And I'd only eaten it once.

But Kacy's favorite meal was her momma's gumbo.

And I wanted to make it for her for her birthday.

So I contacted her mom, and begged her to tell me how to make it.

Kac' said it tasted really close to her mom's, so I guess I did good.

And it turned out that everyone enjoyed the gumbo.

Some more than others, but hey, I take what I get.

So - gumbo was added to the meal rotation.

But that darn roux.

First of all - it used flour, and secondly - it took so stinking long.

So I set out to make a gumbo that was good enough for Kacy,

but quick enough for me.

So, here's what I do now: (and it's got both Kacy's and my seal of approval!)

Pour a splash of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat

(lower if you're a slow slicer & dicer)

dice the following and toss 'em in the pot - stirring occasionally

an onion

a bell pepper

a few stalks of celery

and a few garlic cloves (these you can mince or crush however you normally do)

When your veggies are about half done

(if you've read many soup 'recipes' of mine - they all pretty much start like this ;-)

add chicken broth or stock to the pot - a couple of quarts worth - and switch the burner to high.

Add a can of petite diced tomatoes (that's a personal preference - your tomatoes can be diced however you like them)

some season all

Tony Cachere's Creole Seasoning (this is a must - without it, you'll just have 'soup')

and a little bit of cayenne pepper. 

(more of these spices can be added at the table, so the soup isn't too spicy for non-spicy eaters)

Once the broth with veggies is boiling,

add a package of frozen sliced okra.

Then a bunch of cooked chicken.

(You could use a whole chicken's worth, but I usually just use dark meat and save the breasts for chicken salad)

And then, dice a package of andouille or polish sausage (my preference, but andouille is what the original recipe called for)

and add it to the pot

(this is very important, and kids may cry if you forget to buy the sausage.)

Just let it simmer a bit more, 'til all the veggies are done.

If the okra didn't sufficiently thicken up the broth, 

add a TBS or 2 of corn starch to some cold water and add it to the pot and let it cook a few more minutes.

(glocomannan would be a great thickener, too)

That's it!

Serve over cooked brown rice.

(You could easily add the rice to the pot, too.

Tyler and I only eat a little rice, and the kids can eat more, so we just add it to the bowls...)

(Jeremiah saw me working on this post and got all excited. 

Um. We aren't having gumbo for dinner. Sorry, Bud.

It's just - I didn't want to type it all up on my phone (again) for my li'l red-head ;-)

Love you, Kacy)

runners

TJ came down for the weekend

and got to run his first official 5K.

He was the 25th person to come in with a time of 26 minutes,

and Brandon crossed the finish line 10 people later.

(which made me worry a bit; he usually beats his bub by a few seconds.

He actually wasn't feeling very well 

and his lips were white after the race.

Tyler took him in to sit down while T grabbed him a granola bar.

He was looking more like himself in just a few minutes. whew!)

The four kiddos ran the 1K fun run.

Jeremiah and Josiah had wanted to run the 5K,

but I wouldn't let them since we hadn't trained...

(Speaking of not training - Brandon didn't get to run even one time in the seven weeks before the race,

since Robotics had taken up pretty much all of his time.) 

Josiah really wanted to win a medal,

so he gave it his all.

He was the first runner to cross the finish line,

followed closely by Jeremiah!

Sadly,

they weren't handing out any medals for the 1K,

except for the little plastic ones they gave to everyone.

Lexi was pretty serious about running, too.

TJ ran with her

and at one point she told him, "Step on it! We've got to beat that little girl!"

Silly nut!

I have no clue why my children are so competitive ;-)

Lily wasn't sure she wanted to run after all, 

but decided at the last minute that she would.

(I think maybe she thought she could have more granola bars that way ;-)

~

I'm proud of all of my kiddos!

Good job, Guys!!

kiss kiss, hug hug

T's quilt ~ finally finished!

Over the years,

TJ has let me know reminded me, multiple times,

that he still was in need of a quilt.

I had been collecting fabric for a quilt for him for awhile,

but when I was about ready to actually start working on it,

I figured it might be smart to ask what kind of a quilt he had in mind.

Which turned out to be a good idea :-)

(and since it wasn't a surprise, I got to keep him updated on my progress, which was fun)

Instead of a bed quilt, he wanted a large throw for his living room,

so he could snuggle under it to watch a  movie or play video games.

His furniture is pretty neutral, but he likes bright colors,

so we decided to marry the two.

In February

I ordered fabric (kona solids) and designed his quilt based loosely on one that I'd spotted on Pinterest.

I made excellent progress at first.

The top came together in just a few weeks,

and the back  - a vintage sheet that he loved, along with some pieced solids - came together nicely, too.

Then, the quilting...

He wanted some hand-quilting, 

so I hand quilted the very center, the outer border, some of each corner, 

and just a few random blocks through-out the quilt.

That part went well.

The  machine quilting with aurifil 12 thread was causing me fits, though.

I ended up ordering a silicone lubricant - to actually spray on the fabric (that made me nervous - let me tell you!)

and then a thread conditioner to soak my thread in.

I had to go super slow, and I'm still not overly thrilled with the quilting,

and not even super confidant in it holding up long term

since I had lots of tension issues, too.

(It'd be fine and then all of a sudden, stitches were loose again....)

If some of the machine quilting does come out, since every piece was quilted individually,

it won't be a big deal to replace the machine quilting

with hand-quilting

as it's needed.

I think I've improved a lot as a quilter since starting this quilt

(I started, and finished, this one, and I've got a paperpiecing project - both of these helped my accuracy, I think)

so when I look closely, I see all the imperfections, and what I wish I'd done better.

But when I step back, and see it as a whole - and as a quilt for a young man - I like it quite a bit.

So, 

there ya have it 

 ~  T's quilt  ~ 

designed and carefully created with love for a son I love so much

and am so proud of.

I'm entering this machine pieced, hand and machine quilted 70" x 84" quilt in Amy's awesome Bloggers' Quilt Festival in the throw category.

Oh.

And I'm still collecting fabrics for my original quilt idea for T. 

You know how it is - you get an idea in yer head...

Love you, my boy!

Big Red

My suspicions were correct.

looky here  :-)

(sorry; I can't figure out how to get my video here)