Now It Is Shilo's Turn

Yes, we are the proud parents to six more baby kitties!

A few weeks ago our cat Skittles had three baby kittens and this week our other cat Shiloh had six baby kittens.

Here is a tip.

If you have un-spayed cats...ummm... no matter how cute that stray un-neutered cat is that show up at your back door...no matter how cold it is outside...no matter how hungry he is...keep him outside.

Here is Shiloh with her six new kitties



A peek at a few of her kitties





A photo update on Skittles and her triplets







Anyone looking for a baby kitty in a few months?

I am serious.

Free.

Warmly, A Dragonfrye Mommy

I'm Keeping Busy With...

A little bit of toddler counter climbing antics





home school restructure planning

(I suppose it is hard to tell what I am doing by this picture,isn't it? Silly but I need to see what every child needs to do when I think things over,change things around,etc... I need to do it all with pencil and paper before I get it all onto the Microsoft works schedule thingy and printed out. I'm odd.I make so much more work for myself than I really need to,I think.Yes,and my sewing close by keeps me motivated.)



I'm keeping busy with...

just a tad of fabric shopping (some of the newest Walmart quilt of the month fabric)



a little quilt top making



and a little more quilt top making



with the help of a wee tot



and a little tasty frugal soup making



Yes, I'm keeping busy...

Being A Grandma...

at the same time as being a mom to a toddler mixed in with all the other children I find very exhausting!!!

What Tina's a grandma?!

Ok,not really a grandma but in Joel's mind I am.

Joel has been running around with his kid for the past few days. I think his name is 'baby' but I'm not sure. A grandmother who does not remember her first grandchild's name is sad,isn't it?

How is Joel doing as a dad,you ask? Well,he says "NO,I'm not the dad.I'm the mom!" At least he keeps 'baby' cozy in a little toddler sock so he does not get cold. Guess where 'baby' sleeps at night? Right on my pillow. At least my grandchild is a quiet sleeper.




So far Lily does not seem to mind sharing the attention with 'baby'.Do you think she realizes he is only a potato?

A Trip, A Quilt, and Trade

This morning after Jeff,Elena,Grant,Alan,and Josh finished their paper routes they left for Illinois to visit Jeff's family. It has been a quiet lonely day around here today. I think it is funny that I have no worries with Jeff leaving me behind with ten children for the weekend.I remember the days when we had four or five and I would just dread Jeff leaving me home for the weekend even if he would be taking a few children with him! Have I changed that much?

I have been working on three quilts for friends who either just had or will have babies soon.All three are girls so I wanted to do something scrappy with the extra fabric scraps I had left over from the girlish baby blankets I made recently.

I will not tell who they are for exactly to keep a little surprise but I could not not show off what I finished so far.

Here is a sneak peek at one of them. This is my artistic photo.



I just LOVE the white around the nine patches.




I just finished up another trade with Creations by Carleen last week and her beautiful items arrived a few days ago. Like always Carleen did a beautiful job!

Good-Bye Summer!

We squeezed in one last cook-out before fall officially starts. The summer went so fast.

The kids are looking pretty melancholy aren't they?





The kids have already raked a huge leave pile that they have enjoyed jumping and sliding into. There will be many more leave piles before we know it.

Ah Dah!

Just so you don't think I escaped all parenting responsibilities today...Lily was home with me while Jeff took the other 13 children to the park. Lily was waiting at the front door calling for Jeff and the kids. "Ah Dah" is her nickname for everyone. She is a great youngest child for a large family. She really likes all the kids.

Be Still My Heart!

It has not been the most relaxing weekend and the lack of peace was sneaking into my week. I needed a little photo shoot with little Lily. She does not look all that thrilled but I was!







What have been my noteworthy accomplishments the past few days that kept me away from blogging you might wonder? Well, let's see...I washed my sheets. I washed and braided Grace's hair. Natalie, I used the shampoo bar. It seems to work great on African hair. Thought you might like to know that. Hmm, what else... washed the bathtub and then gave Lily, Joel, and Grace a bath. I have not gotten to my sewing much the past five days or so. My most recent quilt I started quilting has been sitting just like this since last week. It sure will be pretty if I ever get it done.



Here is a close up of my meandering. I'm getting better. It has taken a couple years of trying. I find I have a good rhythm until a child interrupts my concentration or my mind wonders off to who knows where and I then find my foot pressing too much on the presser foot and things get a tad out of control. I have never been one of those people who could rub their tummy and pat their head at the same time so using the presser foot,controlling the quilt and stitch movement as well as keeping an ear on the goings-ons throughout the house can be a challenge! It takes some good concentration to get my meandering consistent,but I'm getting there. Someday I will be good enough to move on to a actual quilting design.

This Post Is For You Barb!

Oh, Traci you will totally get this too!

We had a visitor today! He was very unexpected and not necessarily a wanted guest but still greeted with much curiosity all the same. Even after he left he was the talk of almost all conversation that went on today and I assume for days to come. The likes of him had not yet graced the city of Waseca, or so we have been told, until now. He had traveled all the way from across the ocean. A long journey indeed! I am almost certain his fellow companions will be greeting us soon for he most likely did not travel alone. His parting gift to us you might ask? Well, we were each given pretty white 'hats' and cute little wooden sticks. How sweet is that! He really was a shy guy so as not to embarrass him too much I will use the nickname one of the kids so fondly gave him and say goodbye to you 'snake'! Yes,snake. He was not such a little guy. Although your visit was memorable (among other things), we would not mind if you never visited again!

You Decide...

A lunch for princes (and princesses) or paupers?


Toasted four bean melts (on white bread of course!)



and for dessert

mock peanut butter cups (so good)




What do we think...

A meal fit for princes and princesses!

As odd as this meal looks EVERYONE (yes I mean all sixteen of us) enjoy it!

AWANA Awards Party

Wednesday night was the last AWANA meeting until fall. The kids are going to miss it!

Joel,Lily and I missed the actual awards ceremony but were hard at work at home getting our AWANA Awards pizza and ice cream party ready for our troops when the got home.

Jeff picked up all the ice cream sundae fixings and the kids went crazy with excitement.

I forgot to send the camera to church with Jeff but I was able to snap a few of the kids fixing up their ice cream sundaes.

I love that Grace was so in aw over all the ice cream topping choices!



Alan's reaction when he spied yet one more thing to top his ice cream with. My guess is he is looking at the bananas.

You can also see big sister Elena making sure no one was overlooked



Joel's cute delighted face over his huge bowl

A Very Nice Thursday

We have yet to make a special trash pickup for our broken baby pool. The kids thought that it still had a few hot days left in it so out from the garbage it came. It worked great as long as everyone just stood in it.



Although I had my Etsy shop since last fall I had yet to buy anything. I did make a trade and Catay's Creations gave me complementary jam. But I finally jumped in and made my first Etsy purchase and it came today in the mail. I am very pleased.

I bought this necklace from J Studio .Isn't it very pretty! She has a lot more beautiful pendent necklaces in her shop.

J Studio is raising money for Kolfe Orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia so all her profits from J Studio goes to help the orphanage. Since I have some dear friends who adopted from Ethiopia (although from a different orphanage) and us adopting from Africa, I thought it was very nice to help Kolfe Orphanage and get a very pretty necklace too!

A Little Wednesday This and That

It was a very nice day out today. Nolan is finishing up a little math on the front porch before the kids all head to AWANA.



Tonight is the second to the last AWANA meeting. The kids are sad that the AWANA year is coming to a close. Tonight the kids were able to spend their hard earned AWANA shares (kind of like points) at the AWANA store. Here is a sampling of all the goodies they came home with.

Odell



Anya



Josh



Naomi, Ekie, and Nolan

Popcorn Over The Fire

This evening, Elena and Grant thought they would try to pop popcorn over the fire. It was a recipe from the Gooseberry Patch cookbook I bought the other day. The only difference was the kids would use our fireplace an not a charcoal grill.

Getting it all ready.



In the fire they go. "Kids the flames do seem a little high..."



This does not look right.



No,not right.




Alan our expert fire maker (and now fireplace popcorn popper expert) saves the day!