My kiddos made up for being adorable yesterday by being squirrel-y today.
I won't tell you about today.
But I will let you in on the adorable.
Yesterday morning I put Marilyn's new dress from Lynn and Kathie on her, she was standing on a chair. Clayton was eating his morning snack and looked up, "Marilyn, you look bee-you-ti-ful."
to which Marilyn replied, "It's my birthday dress. I want to give you a hug, 'cause you don't like kisses."
Clayton nodded his head, set down his orange and started wiping his hands on his pajama pants.
Marilyn cocked her head to the side and pulled one of her half smiles, "What are you doing?"
Clayton: "I don't want to get your dress dirty."
Marilyn hopped down and they gave each other a huge hug.
The adorableness was not limited to the younger two either:
I was singing at church so we were there for both services. Hannah and Ivan came upstairs for worship second service and were sitting in the back with a friend. In one of the songs the line was, "We stand and lift up our hands" and I looked back to see Hannah singing as loud as she could with one hand straight up in the air. Ivan was standing on the pew behind her and even though he had his arms crossed his mouth was open wide singing as loud as he could as well.
This momma's heart was pretty full.
Then there was today. They were, like I said, pretty squirrel-y today.
But it wasn't so bad; I figured it was coming.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
What I'm Learning
I've been reading a lot lately. Every once in a while I pick up the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and reread them. I think this is maybe the 10th time I've read through the series.
They're like an old friend. And I learn something new, or find a new treasure each time I read them. As I was finishing "These Happy Golden Years" the other day Hannah came into my room and hemmed and hawed a little bit and then asked, "Could I try reading the first one all by myself?" ( I read them out loud to her last year.)
"Sure." I answered, trying to contain my glee.
I am happy to announce that after two days she has finished "Little House in the Big Woods" and is ready to start "Little House on the Prairie". This momma is excited.
Instead of reading "The First Four Years" this time though I pulled off my shelf the biography "Laura: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder" by Donald Zochert and devoured that.
And that's where I found my treasure this time, pg. 207 (emphasis mine):
"One day Laura and Almanzo sat by a cozy fire in the parlor at Rocky Ridge and complained good-naturedly to each other that there was not time for anything in life except work. They thought back on the days when people always seemed joyful and happy. 'I was wishing, ' Laura remarked, 'that I had lived altogether in those good old days when people had time for the things they wanted to do.'
For a long time Almanzo was silent. Then he spoke up, remembering all the work Father Wilder had had to do on the farm and all the work Mother Wilder had had to do in the house. There was so much work it didn't stop at supper or sundown, but carried over into darkness. Laura thought back to the way Ma so often sat rocking by the fire, sewing or knitting long into the evening, when the world outside had fallen into silence and darkness- not because she wanted to, but because the work was there to be done.
'Surely,' Laura thought, 'the days and nights were as long as they ever were. Why should we need extra time in which to enjoy ourselves? If we expect to enjoy our life we will have to learn to be joyful in all of it, not just at stated intervals, when we can get the time, or when we have nothing else to do...A feeling of pleasure in a task seems to shorten it wonderfully and it makes a great difference with the day's work if we get enjoyment from it instead of looking for all our pleasure altogether apart from it, as seems to be the habit of mind we are more and more growing into.' "
Oh lately the days have seemed tedious and the tasks at hand overwhelming, and some of that is the emotional state I find myself in nowadays (darn pregnancy hormones). And I've been waiting for mini breaks and moments of time in the day to try and enjoy myself instead of finding the enjoyment were and when I can. Mostly cooking has become a chore because I haven't found enjoyment in it lately. Worried that maybe we're eating too much of this and not enough of that and should we be eating this or is it healthier to eat that? Those worries have crowded out the enjoyment of being able to cook, of being thankful for the ingredients and the food that surrounds me. For being thankful that I can choose what we are going to eat and that we can eat. Tonight I was so overwhelmed and on the verge of tears that Erik sent me to bed for a little while and we had yogurt with peaches and bananas for dinner. And I laid in bed and read that passage above. And I did cry and then I felt better and a little more hopeful.
Apply it how you will, but I'm going to work on enjoying life, even when it's 5pm and I don't have anything ready for dinner.
They're like an old friend. And I learn something new, or find a new treasure each time I read them. As I was finishing "These Happy Golden Years" the other day Hannah came into my room and hemmed and hawed a little bit and then asked, "Could I try reading the first one all by myself?" ( I read them out loud to her last year.)
"Sure." I answered, trying to contain my glee.
I am happy to announce that after two days she has finished "Little House in the Big Woods" and is ready to start "Little House on the Prairie". This momma is excited.
Instead of reading "The First Four Years" this time though I pulled off my shelf the biography "Laura: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder" by Donald Zochert and devoured that.
And that's where I found my treasure this time, pg. 207 (emphasis mine):
"One day Laura and Almanzo sat by a cozy fire in the parlor at Rocky Ridge and complained good-naturedly to each other that there was not time for anything in life except work. They thought back on the days when people always seemed joyful and happy. 'I was wishing, ' Laura remarked, 'that I had lived altogether in those good old days when people had time for the things they wanted to do.'
For a long time Almanzo was silent. Then he spoke up, remembering all the work Father Wilder had had to do on the farm and all the work Mother Wilder had had to do in the house. There was so much work it didn't stop at supper or sundown, but carried over into darkness. Laura thought back to the way Ma so often sat rocking by the fire, sewing or knitting long into the evening, when the world outside had fallen into silence and darkness- not because she wanted to, but because the work was there to be done.
'Surely,' Laura thought, 'the days and nights were as long as they ever were. Why should we need extra time in which to enjoy ourselves? If we expect to enjoy our life we will have to learn to be joyful in all of it, not just at stated intervals, when we can get the time, or when we have nothing else to do...A feeling of pleasure in a task seems to shorten it wonderfully and it makes a great difference with the day's work if we get enjoyment from it instead of looking for all our pleasure altogether apart from it, as seems to be the habit of mind we are more and more growing into.' "
Oh lately the days have seemed tedious and the tasks at hand overwhelming, and some of that is the emotional state I find myself in nowadays (darn pregnancy hormones). And I've been waiting for mini breaks and moments of time in the day to try and enjoy myself instead of finding the enjoyment were and when I can. Mostly cooking has become a chore because I haven't found enjoyment in it lately. Worried that maybe we're eating too much of this and not enough of that and should we be eating this or is it healthier to eat that? Those worries have crowded out the enjoyment of being able to cook, of being thankful for the ingredients and the food that surrounds me. For being thankful that I can choose what we are going to eat and that we can eat. Tonight I was so overwhelmed and on the verge of tears that Erik sent me to bed for a little while and we had yogurt with peaches and bananas for dinner. And I laid in bed and read that passage above. And I did cry and then I felt better and a little more hopeful.
Apply it how you will, but I'm going to work on enjoying life, even when it's 5pm and I don't have anything ready for dinner.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Head Wounds
Yesterday morning right before we left for church we heard Ivan come sobbing from his room, "I bunked my head."
And we turned to see blood dripping down his face.
He split his head open, right above the hairline. It's not very deep and is holding together nicely with butterfly bandages.
I am so thankful for a husband who has gone through the First Responders class with the Fire Department. Ivan was very very brave and sat still while Erik cleaned him all up and dressed the wound.
I took the other three kiddos to church while the wound dressing was happening as I still had to sing and later Erik said that Ivan started sobbing again after it was all clean. Erik asked him over and over again what hurt and where and what kind of hurt it was but Ivan kept sobbing. So Erik asked if it actually did hurt and Ivan shook his head no. Then Ivan explained that he was afraid people would laugh at him, but once his partially shorn head was covered in a hat he was fine.
After church Erik cleaned it again and called me in to take pictures of the head wound. I walked in and exclaimed, "Ivan it looks like you lost your arms as well!" Which is why his grin is so big.
He thought that was hilarious and stuck just his hands out for good measure.
This morning it looks like it's healing really well and we are praising God for it, and also that we didn't have to make another emergency room or doctor run.
And I think once it gets a good scab on it, we'll shave the rest of his head. Ivan isn't so sure about this idea because then he has to change the hair on his Mii (his character for the Wii).
Silly boy. I like him.
And we turned to see blood dripping down his face.
He split his head open, right above the hairline. It's not very deep and is holding together nicely with butterfly bandages.
I am so thankful for a husband who has gone through the First Responders class with the Fire Department. Ivan was very very brave and sat still while Erik cleaned him all up and dressed the wound.
I took the other three kiddos to church while the wound dressing was happening as I still had to sing and later Erik said that Ivan started sobbing again after it was all clean. Erik asked him over and over again what hurt and where and what kind of hurt it was but Ivan kept sobbing. So Erik asked if it actually did hurt and Ivan shook his head no. Then Ivan explained that he was afraid people would laugh at him, but once his partially shorn head was covered in a hat he was fine.
After church Erik cleaned it again and called me in to take pictures of the head wound. I walked in and exclaimed, "Ivan it looks like you lost your arms as well!" Which is why his grin is so big.
He thought that was hilarious and stuck just his hands out for good measure.
This morning it looks like it's healing really well and we are praising God for it, and also that we didn't have to make another emergency room or doctor run.And I think once it gets a good scab on it, we'll shave the rest of his head. Ivan isn't so sure about this idea because then he has to change the hair on his Mii (his character for the Wii).
Silly boy. I like him.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Winter of the Outbuildings
This has been the winter of the outbuildings. My goal this winter was to get the backyard ready for spring planting, chickens and hopefully goats.
The first building built was my garden shed. As is true with most of our projects it is only partially finished. It still needs the door and the shelves inside but I am thrilled to have a place in the garden to store all my gardening tools. Erik got it to this stage before Christmas, the winds came and knocked it over but thankfully didn't damage it. It is now staked down and has withstood fairly substantial gusts of wind since then. Oh, and paint. It needs to be painted.
Next we started work on our chicken coop. Or the "Chicken Palace" as I've started to refer to it. I spent more hours than I want to admit pouring of coop/enclosure designs at Backyard Chickens. Then based on a few of them, drew up some plans.
And the work commenced.
Erik has slowly gotten better at delegating through the whole project and so I've been able to hammer quite a few pieces of the coop together.
I quite enjoy it. And it sure beats standing out in the cold just watching.
This is as far as we've progressed. Still quite a bit of work to do but it's getting there.
We've even put down leftover linoleum from our kitchen on the floor of the coop to make the plywood floor last longer and make it easier to clean out. The front here will have large doors that open up (also to help with ease of cleaning). And those holes at the back (the black squares right now) are where the nesting boxes will be attached. The nesting boxes will open from the back so that we can reach in and grab the eggs from there. The whole area will be enclosed with chicken wire and we found a neat door at Cart'm for $5 for the door into the run.
Here's an overview of how the backyard is progressing. It's the view from the backdoor. Eventually the goat enclosure will go back to the left behind the garden shed.
Slowly, slowly projects are getting done.
The first building built was my garden shed. As is true with most of our projects it is only partially finished. It still needs the door and the shelves inside but I am thrilled to have a place in the garden to store all my gardening tools. Erik got it to this stage before Christmas, the winds came and knocked it over but thankfully didn't damage it. It is now staked down and has withstood fairly substantial gusts of wind since then. Oh, and paint. It needs to be painted.
Next we started work on our chicken coop. Or the "Chicken Palace" as I've started to refer to it. I spent more hours than I want to admit pouring of coop/enclosure designs at Backyard Chickens. Then based on a few of them, drew up some plans.And the work commenced.
Erik has slowly gotten better at delegating through the whole project and so I've been able to hammer quite a few pieces of the coop together.
I quite enjoy it. And it sure beats standing out in the cold just watching.
This is as far as we've progressed. Still quite a bit of work to do but it's getting there.
We've even put down leftover linoleum from our kitchen on the floor of the coop to make the plywood floor last longer and make it easier to clean out. The front here will have large doors that open up (also to help with ease of cleaning). And those holes at the back (the black squares right now) are where the nesting boxes will be attached. The nesting boxes will open from the back so that we can reach in and grab the eggs from there. The whole area will be enclosed with chicken wire and we found a neat door at Cart'm for $5 for the door into the run.
Here's an overview of how the backyard is progressing. It's the view from the backdoor. Eventually the goat enclosure will go back to the left behind the garden shed.Slowly, slowly projects are getting done.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
More Projects and My Excuses
I have been remiss in posting as of late and I am sorry.
So to sort of catch you up to date I'm posting pictures of most of the lovely projects that have kept me busy and away not to mention the getting back into the schedule of all things homeschooling as well as nursing sick kiddos back to health and trying to get my own health woes under control (darn thyroid).
This is the little stuffed soccer ball I made for my adorable nephew Will for Christmas.
Marilyn liked it so much I made her one for Christmas as well.
The boys each received a crocheted dinosaur, these were awfully fun to make.
And Hobbes. Hobbes belongs to Jessie.
This circle scarf belongs to my sister Mindy now, I made a red one for Hannah's violin teacher and an aqua green one for myself. I love the pattern.
I crocheted a blanket for my sister Beth but alas forgot to take pictures. I'll have to borrow it back for a photo op.
My MIL gave me a Joann's gift card for Christmas and it went towards the recovering of my dining room chairs. We were tired of sitting on plywood. You see, my wonderful mother recovered these chairs about a year and a half ago or so in oilcloth. They were easy to clean and really fun. Only Clayton decided it would be fun to jab a pencil down through the seats and then pick at the holes. So I duct taped them. And then it was fun to pull off the duct tape and pull out the old foam pad.
So.... new foam, regular cotton fabric, vinyl and a little work and they look as new ever (and are still easy to clean). The children have been dully warned and/or threatened about stabbing and otherwise destroying the new coverings.
And if you notice the feet of this chair, it is wearing socks. (Please don't notice the floor, I didn't sweep.) I've been crocheting "socks" to fit over the feet of the chairs so they won't scratch my floors any longer and I don't have to be forever buying those ridiculous little sticky foam pad things that don't adhere very long to the bottom of your chair. It's a great use of scrap yarn and it's quite colorful depending on how tall your "socks" are.
So to sort of catch you up to date I'm posting pictures of most of the lovely projects that have kept me busy and away not to mention the getting back into the schedule of all things homeschooling as well as nursing sick kiddos back to health and trying to get my own health woes under control (darn thyroid).
This is the little stuffed soccer ball I made for my adorable nephew Will for Christmas.
Marilyn liked it so much I made her one for Christmas as well.
The boys each received a crocheted dinosaur, these were awfully fun to make.
And Hobbes. Hobbes belongs to Jessie.
This circle scarf belongs to my sister Mindy now, I made a red one for Hannah's violin teacher and an aqua green one for myself. I love the pattern.
I crocheted a blanket for my sister Beth but alas forgot to take pictures. I'll have to borrow it back for a photo op.My MIL gave me a Joann's gift card for Christmas and it went towards the recovering of my dining room chairs. We were tired of sitting on plywood. You see, my wonderful mother recovered these chairs about a year and a half ago or so in oilcloth. They were easy to clean and really fun. Only Clayton decided it would be fun to jab a pencil down through the seats and then pick at the holes. So I duct taped them. And then it was fun to pull off the duct tape and pull out the old foam pad.
So.... new foam, regular cotton fabric, vinyl and a little work and they look as new ever (and are still easy to clean). The children have been dully warned and/or threatened about stabbing and otherwise destroying the new coverings.
And if you notice the feet of this chair, it is wearing socks. (Please don't notice the floor, I didn't sweep.) I've been crocheting "socks" to fit over the feet of the chairs so they won't scratch my floors any longer and I don't have to be forever buying those ridiculous little sticky foam pad things that don't adhere very long to the bottom of your chair. It's a great use of scrap yarn and it's quite colorful depending on how tall your "socks" are.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
St. Lucia
This morning we celebrated Saint Lucia.
I've written about it before on Cowgirl Clippings.
This year is different though.
This year my darling Hannah has discovered Chapter Books. And not only Chapter Books but the Kirsten books. She started a week and a half ago and is at this moment half way through the sixth book! She has fallen in love with reading and this momma couldn't be happier. After finishing book three, "Kirsten's Surprise" she came and whispered, "Can we do that? Can we celebrate Saint Lucia." I tried to reply in my calmest voice, "Yes!" But I was really excited; I get to pass along some of my favorite traditions to my children!
Yesterday afternoon Hannah and I made the saffron buns (click the cowgirl clippings link above for the recipe). Last night at sewing circle I made her a "crown" to wear (I wasn't going to let her wear lighted candles on her head) and this morning I woke her up early and we made hot chocolate and coffee and she got dressed up in white with a red sash and the crown and woke everyone up to invite them to breakfast.
It was a wonderful morning of sitting around the table as a family, talking about the tradition of Saint Lucia, the bringer of light, but more importantly pointing us to the light of the world who's advent we celebrate at Christmas, Jesus Christ. And then also the reminder that we are to be lights in a dark world pointing others to Jesus.
And they got it. They understood this morning. They remembered Children's Corner on Sunday when Mrs. Porter talked about the light of the world. They connected the dots and it was a blessed morning indeed.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
First Deer!
* Warning* Warning*Warning*
If you do not want to see dead deer pictures do not read this post.
Remember this amazing view from "hunting" with the kids?
Well, Erik went back up there on the last day of the hunt and... got his first deer!
He called a friend to help him pack it out and they brought it home in the back of his friend's pick-up. The kiddos were all quite fascinated.
Even Marilyn thought it interesting.
Ah...my mighty hunter:
I know nothing about these things, but apparently it's a 3 x 3. Erik shot it through both lungs and took off the top part of the heart.
And for the last few days it has been hanging in our shed.
The other kiddos went back in the house to watch Shaun the Sheep but Hannah sat on a paint can and watched Erik skin the whole thing.
Last night Erik and I stayed up way too late cutting and wrapping most of it. The rest we stuck in the fridge and I'll probably work on it some today and try and get started on making our own venison jerky. I'm kind of excited about that part.
If you do not want to see dead deer pictures do not read this post.
Remember this amazing view from "hunting" with the kids?
Well, Erik went back up there on the last day of the hunt and... got his first deer!
He called a friend to help him pack it out and they brought it home in the back of his friend's pick-up. The kiddos were all quite fascinated.
Even Marilyn thought it interesting.
Ah...my mighty hunter:
I know nothing about these things, but apparently it's a 3 x 3. Erik shot it through both lungs and took off the top part of the heart.
And for the last few days it has been hanging in our shed.
The other kiddos went back in the house to watch Shaun the Sheep but Hannah sat on a paint can and watched Erik skin the whole thing.
Last night Erik and I stayed up way too late cutting and wrapping most of it. The rest we stuck in the fridge and I'll probably work on it some today and try and get started on making our own venison jerky. I'm kind of excited about that part.
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