Our afternoon in pictures

We've enjoyed having Kim and Becca here for a couple of days!  The weather was so nice today, it was hard to stay inside.  After school was done, we all decided to take a little walk down to the lower pasture where it wouldn't be so windy.  It turned into a full blown hike across the creeks and over the hills, through the woods, right into the middle of the briers and thorns.  But it was a gorgeous day with beautiful scenery.

Sweet boy - wonder where he was p'tending to go....

Bare feet January 31

Swinging on a vine

Bright spot in the winter woods

Country Hicks

What is it with the bare feet?!?

A girl and her horse

Brave Becca

They talked her into it

  

Going on a lion hunt?

Love these kids!  (Yes, that is a bone from a cow that Lincoln is holding - the treasures of childhood!) 

Heading back home

Lincoln has been reading about beavers.  One of the magazines he read the other day had a recipe for beaver lodges.  He asked if we could have them for snacks.  So instead of cheese and pretzels, we're having chocolate covered chow mein noodles today.

Sometimes it's OK to interrupt

Something we work on constantly around here is not interrupting.  There are so many of us who like to talk, that some of us wouldn't ever get to say anything if we didn't do some interrupting.

I was standing in the kitchen visiting with Kim this afternoon and Lincoln came up to me.  "Mommy?"  "Mommy?"  "Mommy?"... Finally I said "What do you need, Lincoln?"  He had taken a gallon of milk down to the basement refrigerator for me and accidentally dropped it as he was putting it on the shelf...  "Is it spilling?" "Yes." (Notice there is no exclamation point after that yes... He was not overreacting on this one.)

This is all that was left in the jug when I got down there.

This time we cleaned it up with mops and towels.  No, it isn't the first jug of milk we've dropped.  We learned our lesson though, we didn't bring in the cats and kittens to clean it up.  We did that a few times ago  Those cats had to find new homes because every time we opened the door they thought there was a gallon of milk on the floor for them to drink.

On second thought...

This morning, at breakfast, Heidi's hair hadn't been combed and she had a case of bed head.  We sent her back to put a barrette in it to keep it out of her food.  When she came back to the table, still looking a little wild, Lincoln said, "That looks..." I looked at him with my eyebrows raised and he quietly finished with "Nice."

(Somehow I don't think that was what he was originally planning to say...)

Boy's Noise...

Garrett:  "I just burped - it was a motorcycle burp!"

Brown eggs and ham

One of our easy breakfast dishes is to put ham in the bottom of a cake pan, break an egg on each piece of ham and put a little dollop of milk on each egg.

The other day, we made some chocolate milk in one of our milk jugs.  There was just a little bit left in the jug.  The breakfast cook, who shall not be named to protect the guilty, grabbed the jug, poured on the milk and put the pan in the oven.

Our eggs looked a little interesting this morning...

Menu Plan 1/29/12

Sunday

• Breakfast - Cinnamon Rolls, Baked Eggs
• Lunch - Potluck
• Supper - Popcorn, Braunsweiger on toast, sliced apples

Monday

• Breakfast - Crockpot Breakfast Casserole  http://www.alattewithotta.com/2010/11/crock-pott-recipe-egg-brunch-casserole.html
• Snack - Peanuts & Raisins
• Lunch - Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwiches, 
• Snack - Celery with Cream Cheese
• Supper - Hamburgers, French Fries, Carrot Sticks, Deviled Eggs, Fruit Salad 

Tuesday

• Breakfast - Steel Cut Oats, Blueberries, Yogurt, Granola,Toast
• Snack - Pretzel sticks with cheese cubes
• Lunch - Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Snack -  Apple Slices
• Supper - Lasagna, Peas, Salad

Wednesday

• Breakfast - Eggs in a hole, Bacon or Canadian Bacon, 
• Snack - Cinnamon Bites  http://ohmysugarhigh.com/scrumptious-baked-cinnamon-breakfast-bites-recipe/
• Lunch - Leftovers
• Snack - Granola and Yogurt
• Supper - Sandwiches, Chips 

Thursday

• Breakfast -  Overnight Blueberry Oven Pancake  http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7430804188369980529#editor/target=post;postID=5929703727194899022
• Snack -  Cheese & Crackers
• Lunch - Roasted Italian Sausage with Penne noodles
• Snack -  Carrot Sticks
• Supper - Ham & Beans, Cornbread

Friday

• Breakfast - Fried Eggs with bacon bits, Muffins
• Snack - Leftover Muffins with Milk
• Lunch - Macaroni & Cheese, Peas, Green Pepper strips
• Snack - Peanut Butter & Celery
• Supper - Leftovers

Saturday

• Breakfast - Baked Potato with Eggs  http://gimmesomeoven.com/idaho-sunrise-baked-eggs-and-bacon-in-potato-bowls/comment-page-1/#comments - Haven't had these before... I'm going to try these by baking the potatoes the day before and then putting the egg in them in the morning and baking.
• Lunch - Chicken & Noodles
• Supper - Leftovers

Does your barber drive a fire truck?

I was thinking I needed to give Garrett a few lessons on community helpers this morning.  He was playing that things were on fire.  He kept coming and telling me the barber helped him put the various fires out.  He finally put an Uncle in front of barber and it dawned on us.  Uncle Roger was helping him.

 

Band-aids to the rescue

Yesterday, Garrett started screaming and crying and came running.  I picked him up and asked him what was wrong.  All he would reply was "I don't know!!!"  I was starting to get a little frightened, because he was obviously in pain.  I was almost relieved to see some blood dripping because I knew this was a band-aid fixable owie.   Finally he admitted he had been cutting a piece of celery with a sharp knife.  He knew it was a big no no to use a knife, thus his reluctance to tell me what was wrong.  I asked him while I was fixing supper if he wanted to cut up the lettuce for me and he looked at me like I was crazy and shook his head no, so at least he is temporarily cured of using a knife...

While I was rocking him to make him feel better, I heard another blood curdling scream.  This time it was Heidi.  She came running.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said I just bumped into the door.  How in the world, I wondered, did her knee look like this from bumping into the door???

Cleaned up the next day - she wished I had taken a picture of it when it was all bloody!

While I was fixing lunch, Emily asked - "Mom, what is wrong with my door?"  "I have no idea, what do you mean?"  "Come look at it!"  Then it dawned on me, that bumping into the door was Heidi style - full steam ahead! Then I understood the pattern of her scrapes and scratches!

So Big!!

Garrett:  "Daddy, let's check to see if I'm as tall as you..."

And let's see if my hand is as big as yours...

Menu Plan 1/22/12

Sunday

• Breakfast - Cinnamon Rolls, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon
• Lunch - Braised Cubed Beef in Gravy, Noodles, Corn, Deviled Eggs
• Supper - Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Garlic Butter Noodles

Monday

• Breakfast - Baked eggs with ham, English Muffins
• Snack - Green Peppers & Ranch Dip
• Lunch - Spaghetti & Meatballs, Green Beans, Garlic Bread
• Snack - Bananas
• Supper - Chicken Soup, Breadsticks
• Snack - Popcorn

Tuesday

• Breakfast - Steel Cut Oats, Blueberries, Yogurt, Toast
• Snack - Cheese & Crackers
• Lunch - Beef Stew
• Snack - Carrot Sticks
• Supper - Sauerkraut with Sausages, German Potato Salad, Baked Apples

Wednesday

• Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Toast
• Snack - Granola Bars, Milk
• Lunch - Chicken Nuggets, Potato Puffs
• Snack - Apple Slices & Cheese Sticks
• Supper - Sandwiches, Chips

Thursday

• Breakfast - Eggs in a hole, Bacon
• Snack -  Ants on a log
• Lunch - Stir Fry Chicken and Vegetables, Rice
• Snack -  Yogurt & Granola
• Supper - Tacos, Corn

Friday

• Breakfast - Fried Eggs, Sausage Crumbles, Pumpkin Muffins
• Snack - Celery & Cream Cheese
• Lunch - Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches or Leftovers
• Snack - Crackers & Cheese, Juice
• Supper - Baked Fish, Baked Smashed Cheesy Garlic Potatoes, Green Beans

Saturday

• Breakfast - Breakfast Burritos
• Lunch - Chicken & Noodles
• Supper - Leftovers

Rolling in the dough

I really wasn't planning to spend all day in the kitchen, and I really wasn't planning to fill up the freezers two days before we butcher the steer.  All I can say is that it is a good thing he is a small steer!

Last night I put steel cut oats in the crock pot for breakfast this morning.  There was only a "little" left in the jar, so I just dumped it all in.  So we had A LOT of leftover oatmeal this morning.  I thought I'd make some cinnamon rolls out of the leftovers.  I made a batch of dough, then another batch, and another, and another... So we ended up with 5 pans of cinnamon rolls, 2 pizza crusts, several rolls and a loaf of bread in the freezer.  Glad I had some extra hands to help me out!

Lincoln lost his first tooth

It took quite a bit of wiggling, but it's out!

Diary of Five

A friend of mine posted about this, and I thought I'd play along.

I am seeing  ~ The candle that was burning last night - it has drips of wax running down the sides

I am hearing   ~  Garrett breathing deeply during his nap AND somebody jumping off their bed (probably the top bunk) and thumping down the hallway

I am smelling   ~  the smell of antiseptic left on my clothes from the dentist office


I tasted   ~  black beans, rice and cheese

I am feeling   ~   the chill of the wind blowing against the house And I'm trying to counteract that with 

This

Menu Plan - 1/15/12

A few blogs that I visit occasionally post their weekly menu on Mondays.  I've thought about doing the same thing for quite a while now, but I'm really not very consistent with making weekly menus, even though when I do it makes the week go much, much more smoothly.  So, I decided that maybe, just maybe, if I posted them on my blog it might give me some accountability... So we'll see how it goes.  The older girls take turns making breakfast.  This week is Charlotte's turn, so she and I put together a plan for her.  The other kids and I will help her out, but she's the boss of the kitchen in the morning for the week. :)  (It's only Tuesday and I've already had to make several changes since we've had some plans change...)

Sunday -

• Breakfast - Skillet potatoes, sausage, eggs, onions... Todd normally makes this and just puts in whatever sounds good to him.
•  Lunch - Roasted Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Green Bean Casserole (These are the chickens the kids raised this summer - yum.)  We'll put the bones back in the roaster with some water to make broth for later in the week (Not the bones from the drumsticks or wings that the kids devoured ;) )
• Supper - Leftover spaghetti dumped in the crockpot with cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese - this just takes a couple of hours to heat up, so it is perfect for putting together on the way out the door to gospel meeting so supper will be ready when we walk back in the door.  We'll have this with bread, green beans, sliced apples and peach cobbler:    (I decided to try this in the crock pot.  I made it the regular way, but cooked it on high for about 3 hours.  It turned out really well - not quite as good as in the oven, but close)

Monday -

• Breakfast - Boiled Eggs and toast
• Snack (Yes, we have about 6 meals a day here!  These growing kids are always starving) - Granola Bars and Milk
• Lunch - Ham and Cheese Sandwiches (The kids ended up eating outside for lunch since it was so gorgeous out there)
• Snack - Cheese Sticks & Apples
• Supper - Shepherds pie made with leftover mashed potatoes
• Snack - Something, I'm sure

Tuesday -

• Breakfast - Breakfast Burrito Casserole - (I haven't tried this recipe before, but we all have to be out the door by 7:45 so we decided to have something Charlotte can just pop in the oven) (This turned out pretty well - and we had leftovers that we can re-heat for later this week)
• Snack - probably none - we all (except Garrett) have dentist appointments...
• Lunch - Peanut Butter & Honey Sandwiches
• Snack - Nachos
• Supper - Spaghetti Casserole

Wednesday -

• Breakfast -  Overnight French Toast Casserole 
• Snack - Granola Bars & Milk
• Lunch - Pizza or Something quick - piano lessons were changed from starting at 8:15 to starting at 12:30 today  Something quick ended up being ham sandwiches
• Snack - Oranges
• Supper - Probably sandwiches in the van - we have some errands to do in Mattoon before Bible Study, so we'll pick Todd up from work and head that direction. We ended up making hamburgers and taking them along with some chips.  

Thursday -

• Breakfast - Overnight Crockpot Steel Cut Oats, Toast (We'll use the leftover oatmeal to make bread for lunch)    
• Snack -  Crackers & Cheese
• Lunch -    Chicken Noodle Soup, Bread, Sliced Cheese
• Snack - Green Peppers & Ranch Dressing
• Supper - White Chicken Chili
• Snack - Cereal & Milk

Friday -

• Breakfast -  Eggs in a hole - We'll butter the bread and cut the holes out the night before so all Charlotte has to do is break the eggs into the holes and put them in the oven to bake for a few minutes. 
• Snack -  Ants on a log 
• Lunch - Leftovers
• Snack -  Bananas
• Supper -  Italian Beef Sandwiches on rolls, French Fries, Lettuce Salad

Saturday -

• Breakfast - Baked Eggs with ham,  toast (We're planning to butcher a steer at a friends house, so we'll be out the door early in the morning)
• Lunch - We'll take Lasagna and a dessert over there
• Supper - Most likely we'll still be there and will have supper with them

Maybe I should retire :)

When did it go from them helping me to me helping them?

Frogs and snakes

Garrett assured me that all of his snakes and frogs were in their cages this morning - whew!  Nothing escaped during the night.  Everyone felt fine this morning.

What are little boys made of?

Tonight I recommended that Lincoln sleep on a mattress in the living room just in case because he was just not acting like himself. He was wanting to rock and snuggle instead of play.  I asked him if he was feeling ok - he said his tummy felt funny.  I asked him if it hurt.  He said, "No, it feels like there are frogs in it."  Garrett got in the spirit of things and pulled a mattress out to the living room for himself.  His problem... He had a snake in his tummy eating the frogs.  Anyway, I'm hoping for an uneventful night!

Tuesday Evening Heidi Report

Heidi's doctor called this evening to see how she was doing, and when I told him she was wanting to jump on the trampoline and run around outside and swing... he said "Let her go! - She can do anything except swim for now!"  We'll all be glad for that since she and we were going stir crazy today with all her energy that she couldn't use.

He is really looking forward to seeing what good he might have done yesterday.  I forgot to mention that he had put a little slip of plastic, almost like saran wrap, between the bones, hoping that would help the vibration some.

What's a girl to do...

When it is a beautiful day in January and you'd rather be riding your horse.  The obvious thing to do is to do your schoolwork here...

No jammies for him

Garrett took off his pants before his nap today because...  "I'm going to sleep in my legs, Mommy."

Update after supper

She has finally wound down.  I think she's about ready to head for bed.  She's looking pretty wiped out now.  She's had her bath and has some cozy new pajamas on, so hopefully she'll sleep well tonight and wake up feeling better in the morning.

Heidi is doing great

It is a little hard to get her to stop bouncing around... she's supposed to be a little calm after her surgery.  I think the Tylenol with Codine might be having the opposite effect of what it supposed to have - it sure isn't making her drowsy!  At least she is feeling good.

The doctor did some exploratory surgery and discovered that instead of a tumor or growth, she has a congenital condition of her ear.  Basically, from what I understood, one of her bones has grown differently than normal and is touching a part of the ear that it is not supposed to and causing it not to vibrate - which is making it so she isn't hearing correctly.  There are some things that he could try to do to correct it, but all of them are dangerous and could easily cause her to be completely deaf in that ear, or worse.  He would much prefer, and we would too, to wait until she is done growing and is old enough to make the decision herself.  He was able to remove some scarring from earlier ear infections, and it is possible that it will help her hearing a little bit. We will go back to see him in about a month, and then about a month later he will have her hearing tested again and will most likely fit her with a hearing aid.



Basically, one of the bones just above or below the "oval window" have grown across part of the window so  the footplate of the stirrup bone can't hit the oval window correctly.

I'm a big boy

I was putting a diaper on Garrett tonight when I was getting him ready for bed.  He wasn't happy about it at all.  He wanted a Pull-up for night time and he wants me to "Give the diapers to someone what has a baby!"

16 ounces of chocolate milk!

Heidi's tummy looked like a little basketball tonight after she stocked up on the groceries so she wouldn't be too hungry tomorrow morning since she can't eat after midnight.  She's to be at the hospital at 8:45 and her ear surgery is scheduled for 10:15.

Book Worm

Lincoln learned to read last year, and he has now joined his sisters in being an avid reader.  His favorite books right now are "science" books about animals.  Todd taught him how to order books from our library's inter library loan system the other day.  Two days later we have 48 books on order (in addition to the 30 we already have checked out).

Sweet Music

Garrett has been trying to figure out how he arrived on this earth.  He asked me the other day, "Did you swallow me before I was in your tummy?"  Todd gave him a 3 year old's version of baby growth and he went happily on his way.  This morning he told me "Mommy, before I was born, I sang songs to you while I was in your tummy."  That boy melts my heart!

Heidi's surgery scheduled

Heidi is scheduled to have exploratory surgery on her ear Monday January 9th.  The doctor said it could take from 10 minutes up to 2 hours depending on what he finds in there.

New Years Day Eve

We decided to celebrate New Years Eve on New Years Day instead of the traditional Dec. 31 since that was Saturday night and we were going to have our Sunday morning meeting at our house and we didn't want to have a house full of the grumpies.  So, celebrate we did!  We started out with a very nice meeting in the morning, followed by potluck with most of the people who had come.  Pretty soon after that group left, Eric and Sheila and Ryan, Autumn and Lyric came for an afternoon of visiting, singing, playing games and snacking. Just as they were about ready to leave, Larry, Kyle, Loren, Kellon, Cameron, Annika, Quinn, Kendra, Alaina, Nora, J & J, Irvin, Harriett, Trea, Skylar & Tianna came for some more visiting, singing, playing games, snacking, rough housing, laughing, skitting (is that a word?), a little sleeping, breakfasting, horse and donkey riding, wood stacking, lunching, more game playing, more rough housing, lots more laughing, ... So the house was hopping. We missed our Bloemker family :( I'm sure we could have squeezed some more in somewhere! I sure am glad we built the walls out of elastic!  The basement was full of girls, the boys had one of the bedrooms, and 3 of the couples had the other 3 rooms, one of the recliners was taken, Garrett spent part of the night on the couch and then climbed into the bed in our bedroom expecting to find us but woke up to "Grandpa and Grandma T" instead - they got quite a kick out of that.  I didn't get the camera out for much of the day/night, but here are a couple of pictures.

Intense game of Dutch Blitz

Winding Down

Tonight, the house was quiet by 6:45!