What Fun Last Night!

The good old annual Perseid shower. What fun it was lying out on the driveway trying to relax and watch the meteor shower while a young one with a overfull diaper crawled around my head. The sweet sounds of kids bickering over whose feet were the ones that smelled. Those pesky neighborhood cats attacking us like we were some sort of midnight prey. Oh yes,I forgot,those are our cats. I'm teasing. Those things did happen but it was a very enjoyable time even so. In between the smelly feet bickering the kids had some fun conversations with each other. It was delightful to hear them chatting with each other like that. There is something about late nights under the stars that bring out the openness in kids. These are the memories will last a life time.

A Few Random Thoughts

I was putting the millionth load of laundry in the washer yesterday and you know what I was thinking? Nothing. It just hit me that I am now so used to some of the mountainous tasks that come with a large family that I did not even think of it. They do not seem mountainous any more. Just a part of life. The same goes for dishes. We are one of those few odd families who does (or is it do?) not have a dishwasher. Well, we do but it broke down about three years ago so now it just sits taking up space in our kitchen until we figure out how to unhook it to throw it away. It is one appliance that will not be replaced even with a bigger better model.

Anyway, I was thinking about what has changed about those particular chores that made them less mountainous. We do a few things different. Let me think...there is one person assigned laundry room duties for the week. The chore is done three times a day which means a guaranteed load of laundry washed,dried ,and put away each time they do the chore. I also made it a habit to flip laundry through out the day as I walk by the washer. Not bad. There can be a back up when our dryer decides to take a few cycles to actually dry the clothes but catch up is just a few loads away when that happens.

As far as the kitchen/dish duties. Once again a child has the kitchen chore for a whole week. The chore is done three times a day by the child including towel drying ...gasp...Jeff and I do the in-between chore stuff.I think the key to the dishes not being so overwhelming is when the children are excused from the table after eating they each do their own plate,cup,and utensils.That takes care of most of the plates,cups etc...not bad.The dish doer just needs to do what it left over.

I do not know how these particular chores fell into place but they did. Of course, our house is far far from what I would consider clean but these particular areas I remember to be so overwhelming last year and now they work rather smoothly. This is a nice random thought.


Another random thing...

Look at this cute Pebbles and Bam-Bam fabric book I found! I was pretty pleased.

Gotta Love VBS!

It is time for Vacation Bible School once again!

Jeff, Elena,Grant,and Alan are helping as leaders. All our other children (except Lily) have been enjoying all the fun activities. This is the first Joel has participated in a 'big kid' activity at church.This week of VBS is a sort of trial run to see if Joel would do well attending AWANA this fall. I sure wish he would stay little for a while longer. He was SO exited for the first day of VBS he wore his 'wedding suit' there.It was actually his Christmas outfit,you know the fun toddler vest and polyester pant sets you see around.He complimented his outfit with a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt he received as a Christmas gift from his grandparents and his flip flops! I should have taken a picture.

Here are random highlights of day two of VBS. Thanks Elena!

Now don't get fooled by Cyrus's seemingly bored expression. I think Elena took a picture while he was reflecting on some deep spiritual issue. Really, he was not bored. Ok, maybe he was just a little bored,but just for a split second.



Joel and Grace just as cute as can be!



These next pictures are of the groups Grant,Elena, and Alan helped lead.

Another Gracie Birthday Moment!

This time captured on video!

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY GRACE !!!!!

It is hard to believe Grace is 5 years old already!!! She came home to us when she was just a tiny little two year old.

Happy birthday Grace!!

Here are some photo highlights of our sweet girl's day.

Grace ready to open her gifts.



The audience silent by anticipation...."What will Grace get this year?" they all wonder.






Alan testing out Grace's new pink baseball glove.



For all those who wonder how my two oldest girls get along this picture shows a lot!

Elena wears her title as the oldest who happens also to be 15, well...like the oldest who happens also to be 15 (if you know what I mean). Elena and Joyce banter back and forth about who knows what most of the time. It gets kind of tiresome, if you ask me. Oh yes, I forget a mom shouldn't divulge this type of info in such a public setting about her teens. Oops. Forget I typed that!Anyway, it looks like this time Joyce has the upper hand in teasing Elena. This doesn't happen very often!

Waseca's Inside-Out FCA Day Camp

This is the last of the FCA camp fun for the kids for the summer. I have some pretty sad kids around here.

Elena and Grant help out as Huddle leaders as well as other jobs. They really enjoyed their time.

Alan,Cyrus,Joyce,and Nolan attended as campers. They had a lot of fun as well. I know they will all be looking forward to next summer!

Elena took pictures today of some of the kids in her Huddle. Everyone looks like they had a very fun time Great pictures Elena!

A Little Chat With Lily

I did not like that it came down to this but I just had to. It is the part of parenting I like the least. You see there have been things disappearing around here. Oh, nothing of real importance...a noodle here,a piece of fuzz there...but still...a mom has to address these issues.

So I sat her down,my little Lily. I thought a good book would put her more at ease.



When I first brought up the subject she pretended that I was talking to someone else.



When she realised that I was a little brighter than I look,she looked around for someone else to blame...



and found someone.



I pushed a little more. "Where my little Lily have you been hiding your stolen goods", I ask. Silence was Lily's response.



Breaking through the thick silence came a little whistling noise.It was ever so quiet. Why, it is Lily's nose that is whistling. After a little closer look,what do I find. Oh, my missing noodle and a little fuzz.


Author's note : This is a work of fiction with a little truth mixed in. Last week I rescued two macaroni and cheese noodles from Lily's nose and yesterday I pulled a few rather good sized pieces a fuzz from that same little cute as a button nose. The things we mothers do...

A Few Gems

I found a few more 'gems' to list on my Etsy supply shop.

Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose Vol 3 fabric book panel has been very hard to come by but after much searching I found a few.



Now, I just think the Bambi fabric book panel is the best find ever! I was so pleased.




What else is up around here? Elena and Grant are back helping with Waseca's FCA three-day day camp. ,Alan,Joyce,Cyrus,and Nolan are attending as campers. They are all having a great time! Elena will be taking pictures tomorrow which is the last day of camp. I will post some highlights tomorrow.

Jeff worked Monday and Tuesday until late so it is sure good to have him home this evening. Life picks up around here when dad is home.

Another Bag Done

It has been a slow few weeks with projects but I was able to squeeze in the making of another bag late this evening. Pretty cute!

The Infamous Lily Pout

It's been one of those days around here today.

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