Well at least he was honest about it...

I asked Garrett to do something this evening and he just kept doing what he had been doing as if didn't hear me.  I asked him if he was going to obey me... His reply... "I don't know."   (In case you are wondering how it turned out,  he decided he should...)

Why is it that...

...the words, "Go to bed," are some of the most simple words in the English language... but some of the most difficult to obey?

What to do on a gloomy, cool, drippy day?

Make cookies, of course!

Sometimes lots of food coloring is necessary!

It's easier to concentrate with your tongue stuck out!

There's a doctor in the house

Doesn't this just look like a comfortable place to have an x-ray taken and a scan of your foot (with a necktie) done?

Sparkle and Nicole joined our flock today

Sparkle

With their mama, Abigail (She was named before we got her)

Nicole (Coal black)

Even with this many...

... we can't keep everyone's plate filled at the same time.

Ghost Writer

Lincoln has a few short reports that he has written about different animals and other scientific things.  He has them on Google Drive in a writing folder with different sub folders for the different subjects - he makes the folders and moves them around and I haven't really paid a lot of attention to what he has in them.  The kids were talking about his reports at lunch time today, so I went into his folders tonight to see what was there...  At the top of all of the pages in big, bold red writing, it says 

Invisible ink - Do not Delete

And the rest of the page is blank... until you highlight the page... and then written in white on the white background is his report...

I don't think he is afraid of computers... he stands at my shoulder and says - "click this", "now click that..." Being his "teacher" is a different kind of challenging...

My lesson for the day

If you have more than one child of the same gender - and especially if you have 5 of the same gender in a row - even if you are SURE you will remember which child is in a picture... label it... because when they grow older and change in looks and you go back through your pictures and realize that, yes, they really do resemble each other, quite a bit... you might not be able to tell who is who...  (really there was only one picture that I couldn't recognize - but after looking at it for a while, I figured out who it was... whew! - when they are babies, you don't think it would be possible to forget their sweet faces)

And it keeps going and going...

I came back in the house after being out for a little while and I walked into this:

The desk goes over near the stove, the bench and rug go where the desk is, the couch is across the room from where it belongs...

The piano and table should switch places, the rug goes in front of the fireplace and the chair goes where the rug is

At suppertime, Todd used the salt and Garrett looked at me with big eyes and a half smile. When I looked back at him, he said "I didn't do it!!!"  (The salt shaker was filled with sugar).  The man who rents our tillable ground came to drop off something this afternoon, and  when I opened the door, a toy lizard on a string fell from the top of the door...  Laura got a card that was glued shut and a notice from the Internal Prank Service... I mentioned that next year's calendar skips from March 31 to April 2 because too many April Fool jokes were played today... Lincoln said, "For real?"  before his eyes lit up and he recognized that it was another April fool joke. Wonder what else we'll find before the day is over...  I'm hoping they overlook the day next year!

The longest day of the year

Most holidays are not a big deal around here.  We keep it low key - mostly just enjoying the extra time with family and being thankful for what we have been blessed with.

For some reason, though, April 1st seems to be an important day.  Especially now that the boys are old enough to "get" jokes, I've heard a lot of planning and scheming about what they are going to do for April fool's day.  Things like, tricking mommy into drinking coffee disguised as chocolate milk... and sticking hangers in beds...

So, the girls decided to get ahead of the boys and trick them early in the morning.  I didn't get a picture of Lincoln, but the puzzled look on his face was priceless when he discovered that the reason he couldn't get his pants on this morning was because they had been sewn shut.

Garrett's drawers were empty except for a size 2T shirt and size 12 month pants.  

I got ahead of the game, too, and made Jello and poured it into juice glasses last night.  I wish I had pictures of the kids very confused faces when they tried to take a drink this morning at breakfast - those looks quickly turned into pretty happy faces when they realized it was Jello!

Todd got sprayed with the sink sprayer and his drink was  milk made out of dry milk powder.  Somebody put vinegar in Emily's water bottle... I had toilet paper stuffed in the ends of my shoes...  

...and it is only 10:00 am.

Speaking of spring...

A couple of weeks ago, we ordered our meat bird chicks, asking for them to arrive either the end of this week or the end of next week.  They arrived last Friday - and it is C O L D!! and S N O W Y!!  And the poor chicks have been C O L D!! We put them in the chicken house with 3 heat lamps and the warmth of our laying hens, and they have been doing OK - although a few of them haven't made it.  This evening, Charlotte went out to check them and for some reason the heat lamps had gone out, and the poor chicks were R E A L L Y  C O L D!!  So the kids dug around in the snow and found a couple of cow waterers. We washed them up in the basement shower, put some bedding, food, water, and heat lamps in them - filled them with chicks, and now we have 73 warm, happy, chirping chicks in the basement.

Beautiful (heavy) snow!

Todd headed out to work this morning... and got stuck...  about 3 feet from his starting point...  Since he had a busy morning scheduled at work, one of his co-workers came and picked him up at the end of the driveway and the kids and I got busy on the driveway.  We shoveled sand behind and in front of the tires (sorry Lincoln and Garrett - we'll have to re-fill your sandbox this summer) and moved around gravel and I was able to get the van out of the first rut - only to have the back end swing around into the other side of the driveway into the yard to get stuck again (repeat of the sand and gravel) ... finally got out of that one and swung back around only to get stuck again (and another repeat)...  finally got to the end of the driveway and parked it.  Then the kids headed out with shovels and got most of the snow off of 1/2 of the driveway.  Hoping the sun takes care of the rest of it!

1st rut

2nd rut

3rd rut

Yay - we can get out!

Tired shovelers!  Slightly exaggerated, I think - although they DID move a lot of heavy snow!

Menu for the week of 3/24/13

Sunday

• Breakfast -  Dutch Babies
• Lunch - Leftovers
• Supper - ?

Monday

• Breakfast - Steel Cut Oats, Toast
• Snack - Hot Chocolate, Graham Crackers
• Lunch - Leftovers
• Snack - Chips & Cheese Dip
• Supper - Leftovers

Tuesday

• Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Toast
• Snack - Granola Bars
• Lunch - Sandwiches, Chips
• Snack - Cheese & Crackers
• Supper - Italian Beef Sandwiches, Fries, Carrots 

Wednesday

• Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Toast
• Snack - Goldfish, Juice
• Lunch - Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup, French Bread
• Snack - Yogurt
• Supper - Chicken, Vegetable Stir Fry, Rice

Thursday

• Breakfast - Baked Omelet Roll , Toast
• Snack - Celery, Peanut Butter
• Lunch -  Pizza
• Snack - Rice Krispie Treats
• Supper - Salsa Chicken & Black Bean Soup, Fresh Salsa, Chips

Friday

• Breakfast - Breakfast Burrito Casserole, Fresh Salsa
• Snack - Apples & Dip
• Lunch - Sandwiches
• Snack - Ice Cream Cones
• Supper - Chicken Wings, Baked Potatoes, Peas

Saturday

• Breakfast - Cinnamon Rolls
• Lunch - Leftovers
• Supper - Leftovers

Spring?!?

Last year by now, we had already mowed the grass...  this year we are buying hay for the cows... but it is beautiful!

Successful Day

Our pizza making day went really well.  We assembled 86 pizzas in around 2 hours.  We were all glad to help the Henry's  adoption along a little bit.  Some of the mom's and kids ended up not being able to make it, but others who hadn't planned to ended up coming, so we had a lot of helping hands.

Pizza, anyone?!?

A family in our homeschool group is hoping and planning to adopt a boy from a country in northern Europe.  Our homeschool group has put together a fundraiser to help them with some of the costs of the adoption.  Tomorrow several of them are coming over to make pizzas - 85 pizzas to be exact.  The mom and I chopped green peppers and onions this afternoon and we brought home a van load of pizza making stuff.  She'll be bringing another van load of stuff tomorrow!  So tomorrow our house will be buzzing with somewhere around 24 kids and 7 moms - and smelling like a pizza parlor!

Spring!

It doesn't feel like spring yet, but it must be close.  We looked out our window this evening and here is what we found.

Normally we don't have animals in the house, but when you have new lambs, you get spring fever or something. :)

Ladd wasn't very happy when we gave this little lamb back to it's mama.  I think he kind of had it claimed for himself.

Menu for the week of 3/17/13

Sunday

• Breakfast -  Dutch Babies
• Lunch - Corned Beef, Cabbage, Cheesy Garlic Potatoes, Salad
• Supper - Chicken Breast Wraps, Popcorn, Heath Cookies

Monday

• Breakfast - Bagels & Cream Cheese, Scrambled Eggs
• Snack - Graham Crackers, Peanut Butter & Bananas
• Lunch - Mexican Chicken & Rice Soup, Corn Tortillas
• Snack - Rice Krispie Treats
• Supper - Beef & Noodles, Peas in a shredded carrot nest, Applesauce

Tuesday

• Breakfast - Cream of Wheat, Toast
• Snack - Cheese & Crackers
• Lunch - Leftovers
• Snack - Oranges
• Supper - Stir Fry Beef & Vegetables, Rice

Wednesday

• Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Toast
• Snack - Granola Bars
• Lunch - Mini Pizzas
• Snack - Fruit Snacks
• Supper - Crock Pot Shepherd's Pie, Applesauce

Thursday

• Breakfast - Baked Eggs & Toast
• Snack - Yogurt
• Lunch -  Sandwiches
• Snack - Pretzel Sticks, Cheese Chunks, Apple Slices
• Supper - Ham & Beans, Cornbread

Friday

• Breakfast - Overnight Oven Pancake
• Snack - Hummus & Pita Chips
• Lunch - Pizza, Popcorn
• Snack - Ranch Oyster Crackers
• Supper - Baked Potatoes with toppings (ham, cheese, broccoli)

Saturday

• Breakfast - Eggs in a Nest
• Lunch - Venison Steaks, Fried Okra
• Supper - Leftovers

WHAT is for supper?

The menu looks innocent enough - Beef & Noodles.

I've been trying to use up some of the things in the freezer that sometimes get left behind when I make menus.  So for supper tonight I was planning beef and noodles.  What I didn't put on the menu that the beef was from the beef tongue.  With the prices of groceries going up and up and up, I hated to just send the tongue that the butcher put in with the rest of our meat when we had a steer butchered last summer to the dogs, and I've heard all my life that it is a delicious cut of meat... so this morning I quietly brought the tongue up from the freezer and stuck it in some water to simmer with a couple of beef soup bones.  The kids are generally good about eating anything that is set in front of them.  Most of them are way more adventurous than I am.  But I wasn't sure what seeing the tongue would do to their appetites.  After lunch, when they were all supposed to be heading to various corners of the house for their hour of quiet time, I grabbed a cutting board, some tongs and a knife to get  busy on it before the kids could see it.  One by one they wandered back through the kitchen...  "What's that????"  they all asked?  I shouldn't have worried.  They all wanted to touch it and taste it.  They thought it was sooooo  neat!  They brought out the camera and took some close ups of it.  All the while I was wondering how I was going to be able to eat it for supper. All but one of them are ready to try it out... that one and I might just try to see if we can sneak out of the house and head to town for supper - ha.    If you are squeamish, you  might not want to scroll down to see the pictures.

Menu for the week of 3/3/2013

Sunday

• Breakfast -  Potato, Peppers & Onions, Scrambled Egg Skillet,  Toast
• Lunch - Breaded & Baked Chicken Drumsticks, Hash Brown Casserole, Corn
• Supper - Creamed Chicken Puffs, Peas, Cream Puff Chocolate Eclairs

Monday

• Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs w/ Bacon, Toast
• Snack - Bananas
• Lunch - Egg Drop Soup, Stir Fry w/ Beef, Rice
• Snack - S'mores
• Supper - Tacos, Salsa

Tuesday

• Breakfast - Overnight Blueberry Buttermilk Oven Pancake
• Snack - Yogurt
• Lunch - Minestrone Soup, Bread Sticks
• Snack - Oranges
• Supper - Corned Beef & Cabbage, Red Potatoes

Wednesday

• Breakfast - Breakfast Burrito Casserole
• Snack - Granola Bars
• Lunch - Sandwiches
• Snack - Chips & Salsa
• Supper - Crock Pot Beef Tip Gravy with Egg Noodles, California Medley Vegetables

Thursday

• Breakfast - Steel Cut Oats, Toast
• Snack - Cheese & Crackers
• Lunch -  Beef & Barley Soup
• Snack - Celery & Peanut Butter
• Supper - Split Pea Soup in Bread Bowls

Friday

• Breakfast - Fried Eggs, Bacon, Toast
• Snack - Pretzels & Cheese Chunks
• Lunch - Lasagna Soup or Leftovers
• Snack - Graham Crackers
• Supper - Leftovers

Saturday

• Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, Toast
• Lunch - Chili & Toppings
• Supper - Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, French Fries, Carrot & Celery Sticks, Orange Slices