At The Park

Jeff took the camera to the park and took this very pretty picture of Joyce.



Isn't is beautiful!



A beautiful picture of a beautiful girl!







Joyce took this self-picture.







Another great picture taken by Jeff of Ekie and Joel.













Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Now This Is...

so sweet!







Behind the scenes of this sweet picture.



Elena helps get the kitty in place.







She new my secret ploy to get a picture of her,too.







Elena stop running away from me! I'm your mom. You have to do what I say!







Doesn't being the mom carry any clout with 17 year olds anymore??



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

A Little Clowning Around

or what?



You decide.



After a hard day's work up in the cities Papa Frye (Jeff) takes the time to stop and appreciate the slower pace of life down here in Frye-ville.















The guinea pigs are a little confused...





Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Not That It Matters To Many

but just to kick off the new school year, I thought I would show what I was hard at work doing these past few weeks.



Here is an example of Nolan's weekly school schedule. Most of the 5-11th grade kids will have the same type of schedule. Elena who is in 12th likes to do her schedule her own way.She does the same things:an Abecka/Sonlight/Bob Jones trio.







I have Nolan's first nine weeks in his handy dandy red folder.







His daily pile would look something like this although the science, history, and health books are actually Josh's. Nolan has his 6th grade books and his math and English up in his bedroom.







Here is what Nolan's week 6 worksheets in his folder look like.



Might look a little like micro managing having all the page numbers written out but our school days flow much better if the kids who are able to do a lot more independently have a little hand holding via a schedule like this. Besides, I tend to forget what should be done when and these schedules help me out so much. I have had a few kids taking advantage of my scatterbrain-ness







As you see, I have the kids read Abecka science,history, and health as well as read some of the Sonlight books. I have them answer the Abecka questions but not the Sonlight ones. The kids most all do Bob Jones english and math as well. I have been doing this trio for years and years. It works well for us. I did have a few years I added Veritas Press and notebooking into the mix but once our family grew it got to be a little too hard to manage and costly so we had to let that go.















Blah! I see a typo!! Now it's going to bother me!









Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Random Sweetness And a Jungle Cat

Grace (7) and Joel (6)







Anya (8) Lily (3)







Anya and Odell (10)







Lily and Odell







Patches.



Our crabby, overweight, soft, beautiful, much loved jungle cat.









Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

How Cool Is This?!

I was working on this year's school schedules for the kids and for some reason our computer printer does not work on our laptop.



That sent me into a panic!



I did not want to write everything out by hand this year. I had done that in the past but I thought it was a little more time consuming than it should be.



We have an older copier that I though I would try to hook up to the laptop and



YES



it worked!!!!



An added bonus is that this old copier can scan things onto the computer!!!



How fun is that?!!



I was goofing around the other night scanning things.



Here are a few fun photos for you to enjoy.



My handsome hubby his Sr. year of college in 1989.







Ah, Jeff and me on our wedding day 18 years ago!!



July 24, 1993.



Could it have been that long ago already?



I made my wedding dress. I did not know how to alter it,though so it was a little big.







Jeff in 7th grade







Jeff in 2nd grade







Wanda, Jeff's mom.



Jeff thinks this picture was taken in the early '60s shortly after his mom and dad were married.







I will scan some more soon.



This is fun!!



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy





Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Thank You!!

whoever you are!!!!



We had a surprise at our front door in early July.



I just can not figure out who bought us these GREAT pans!!!!!



If it was you and you are reading this



THANK YOU!!!!



We use them a lot!







Here is an example of one of our tasty meals



big family



and



big pan



style!



Here is what I call mom's 'what's for dinner' hot-dish



Mix this all together, put in one of these wonderful 12 x 17 pans and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes



3 pounds of cooked egg noodles

3 pounds cooked turkey sausage

2 14oz cans evaporated milk

3 cups water

2 14 oz cans mixed veggies

4 cups grated cheese (save some to sprinkle on top).







and for dessert raspberry oatmeal bars.



3 cups brown sugar

4 1/2 cups dry oatmeal

4 1/2 cups flour

2 1/4 cups melted butter

3 tsp baking powder

1 jar raspberry jelly/jam



Mix together the sugar,flour, and baking powder. Add the oatmeal and melted butter.

Put 2/3 of the mixture in a greases 12 x 17 pan. press firmly. spread the jelly over the mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the oatmeal mixture over the jelly. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. cut into bars while still warm.







No leftovers here at our house!



Thanks SO much!!!!



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

A King Size What??

I love our house.



It is nice and big.



It is old and has a lot of character.



As our family grows though we need to be creative in re-thinking the use of our space.



One of my grand ideas (notice I did not say one of our grand ideas) was to loft Jeff's and my bed.



I dreamed of all the quiet (sewing) space we would have...



So with the semi nervous support of Jeff we set out and bought this...







and presto!!



We got this!!







A work of art!!







I just LOVE it!!!!!!!









Look at all that space!!!







It was built partly by a plan, partly by my own ideas, and a lot by Jeff's strength and practicalities.



It is very stable.



I want to paint cute little flowering vines around the posts.



The kids and I thought it would be fun to paint the plywood loft ceiling dark blue or black and add glow in the dark stars.



I also think that I should add some beads (think 70's hippy flashback) somewhere compliments of my dad's influence.



Best part of it...no bed making!!!!



Ok, not that I did that anyway...



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy



P.S The loft happens to look crooked in the photos but it really are not. It is just my wonderful picture taking abilities.

What Does She Do?

You must wonder what a mom of many does when all the kids are at VBS?



Well, very important things.



Super important things.



Things like talking on the phone to her mom.



Hi MOM!!



Making dinner.



(Yes, we always eat buffet style these days. A little in site for those who wonder how we handle meals in our house)







Going that extra mile to cut the cucumbers (Thanks Margaret!!) into semi even slices and even sprinkling them with season salt.







Taking pictures of fabric.









Yes,and enjoying a lengthy use of the facilities in peace.



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy

Wuz Up...

Grant 16, Alan 14



Warmly,A Patchwork Mommy