Happy Birthday Jesus!

We make a birthday cake for Jesus each year. Don't mind the #9 candle. That just happened to be all we had to put on top. We hope each of you will give Jesus the gift of remembering Him this Christmas and through out all of the new year.

Wow! 9 Months Old

I can't believe it has already been 9 months since baby was born. He has changed so much in the last few weeks. I have a feeling he is going to take after his biggest brother and start walking by 10 months. I am not sure I am ready for that. He is pulling up, standing for a bit and cruising along the furniture now. He is quite a big boy, wearing almost the same clothes as his brother, B#7. We recently were blessed to find a fireplace safety gate to go around our woodstove, which is great because he is very fast and seems quite intrigued by the fire in the wood stove.

General Mills e-movie cash giveaway

Awhile back I signed up for something called "My blogspark". They send you things to try out from the manufacturer. General Mills sent us 4 e-movie cash certificates to go to a local theater to a movie of our choosing. So far we have not found a movie we want to see but will be anxiously watching for an opportunity to go to the theater. General Mills has also made available a prize pack of 4 more e-movie cash certificates to give away to one of our readers. I am new to this sort of thing but thought we would give it a try. Just leave a comment on this post telling us about one of your favorite movies and we will enter you in the drawing for the 4 movie certificates. We'd also be interested to learn how you came across our blog. Be sure to leave your comment by the 15th as we will be choosing the winner that night. The winner will be notified by email on the 16th.

We look forward to hearing from you:)

Star Ornaments

Traditionally our family each gets a new ornament for the tree each year but honestly, decent ornaments are becoming more and more difficult to find. I just don't want a race car or an Elvis on my tree. Not to mention the cost of ornaments now. We recently went to a Christmas shop while my family was visiting. We found lots of cute ornaments there but with each one ranging from $5-$10 each and our family being a family of 10 that was just a bit excessive for us. But all is not lost...at our local Joanns craft store I found these plain wooden snowflake ornaments. I bought 8 of them each for about $.50 and the kids painted them white then sprinkled silver glitter on them. So for $2.00 plus the cost of a bit of white paint and glitter, we have our 2009 ornaments.

Merry Christmas

Just in Case You Didn't Know

I do plan on doing a post soon about us and what we are up to but in the mean time I just had to post another(yes another) political post in case you didn't know this....We all need to know what our government is doing...

If It Ain't Broke, Keep Spending
Who needs a joke book for Christmas when there's a new report on stimulus spending? Just in time for Recovery Act 2.0, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have unloaded an eye-popping list of the 100 worst abuses of the $787 billion stimulus. Sure, we can all sleep easier knowing that the government has invested $943,000 in "Dinner Cruise Terror Prevention," but clown ballets? Giant tube art? Costumes for "Bobber the Water Safety Dog?"
One would think this report gives Republicans all the ammunition they need to shoot down another stimulus package, but it looks like President Obama is moving full-steam ahead on a second package worth between $75 and $150 billion more. Despite the amazing mismanagement of the first plan and a rising unemployment rate, the President said, "...[W] e have a shared responsibility to meet our economic challenges on behalf of all Americans: those who elected us to make sure that we're doing the people's business." If by "the people's business," he means developing more golf courses (#5), "talking water gardens" (#64), and Alcatraz boat tours (#56), count us out. Meanwhile, Congress isn't the only one having fun with your taxpayer dollars. So is my staff. Check out The Cloakroom Blog for more highlights from the McCain-Coburn stimulus report in today's post, "My congressman went to D.C. and all I got was this stupid crab pot."

H.R. 3590: Healthcare for the Illegally Employed

In his speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9, 2009, President Obama famously said that the reforms he proposed "would not apply to those who are here illegally." A group of House Democrats who are liberal on the issue immediately fought back. The President initially stood by his remarks and then clarified that the U.S. should then move quickly to legalize the 12 million people in the country here illegally. Currently the House and Senate health care bills include mandates that are expected to help about one million illegal immigrants receive health care coverage from their employers, who are illegally employing them. This according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

Just a quick tip

If you read my second to the last post about the adorable craft cans to give as gifts and like me were excited to try it, hang on a bit. I got out my pop-top soup cans to use for dinner and thought, "Wow, I can actually try that craft now". But low and behold, if I had bothered to go to the tutorial on how to do it rather than assuming I could figure it out, I would have seen that you have to use flat bottomed pop-top cans and something called a "flat edge can opener", which I definitely do not have. I was bummed but decided to keep my eyes open for the right "tools" for the craft and do it another time. I am always wanting to craft around Christmas time. How about you?

A Fact a Day Keeps H.R. 3962 Away

President Obama says: Eat your vegetables! Believe it or not, Section 2572 of the House bill orders the federal government to regulate vending machines with nutrition labels on items in plain sight before people purchase their food. The measure would also mandate retail food establishments "part of a chain with 20 or more locations" to list calorie counts "on the menu board--including a drive-thru board."

Courtesy of Family Research Council

Neighbor Christmas Gift Idea #17 – Pop Top Treats

#17 Neighbor Christmas Gift Idea… How fun will it be for your neighbors to pop the top to some yummy Christmas treats!

You just open the original pop top can from the bottom with a can opener, use the contents, wash it out, fill with treats, glue the bottom back on, decorate, and deliver!
So clever, and oh so very GREEN!!
Thanks Not So Idle Hands for this fun idea and great tutorial on how to make it!

This came from the Fabulessly Frugal Blog that I follow very regulary.

No Insurance? Go to Jail, Do Not Pass Go

Today's fact of the day on the recently passed health care bill, H.R. 3962 is don't have insurance? Pay a fine or go directly to jail. Under the House legislation "Americans who do not maintain acceptable health insurance coverage and who choose not to pay the bill's new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years." This is according to the non-partisan Congressional Joint Tax Committee, which also defines the penalties as a "tax." This applies to all American citizens, thus further breaking the President's promise of "[u]nder my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase." Additionally businesses could be fined up to 8 percent of their payroll if they fail to comply with the government mandate. There are also further penalties, or taxes, for underpayment or for "taking a frivolous position" on the government mandate.

courtesty of Family Research Council

Pressing Cider

B#1 has always wanted to build a cider press but we just haven't gotten around to it so we were so excited when a family from our church offered their cider press for anyone to use. We have three apple trees and had some apples leftover from our pickings so the children went out (in the pouring rain) to pick them so we could take them to another family's house after church to make some cider.

What a mixed up world we live in

While our Federal Gov't is busy pushing abortion, California is busy with this rediculous law...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iygMobQg87-nZ6KW1WB-8rNxllrwD9BQCDA02
When will people wake up?

Lessons learned at the grocery store(i.e. couponing)

I am an on-again off-again couponer. Sometimes I convince myself that it is a waste of time for me and that I end up spending more than I normally budget for groceries by going to all of the places that have great sales. Then I start thinking about what I might be missing out on and end up couponing again. Now some of you may say that it is not a big deal to coupon, you just give the checker your coupons and you are done. But oh no, you would be wrong. There is a whole world out there and lots of blogs dedicated to couponing. Here are a few of them that I visit, mostly for my Northwest readers...
www.pinchingyourpennies.com
www.fabulesslyfrugal.com
www.blog.savewithlouise.com
www.grocerysmarts.com

These are just a few of the numerous ones out there. I am still learning how they work and all of the lingo that goes with it all. For example, DND means do not double(the coupon value) and DNT means do not triple. I didn't even know that they tripled coupons.

This week was a definite lesson in couponing for me and unfortunately I didn't learn it until I was standing in Albertson's this morning. I had gone to Safeway earlier in the week and had good success with my coupons. I purchased 4 boxes of toothpaste, 4 boxes of Kleenex, a 24pack of toilet paper, and 4 cereals for under $10, which was good since the toilet paper alone was $5.99. I used the instore coupons, some coupons I printed off on the computer and the coupon doubler that comes in the weekly add. I actually used two doublers which meant I needed to do this in two transactions. I was definitely excited about couponing after this trip since my toothpaste ended up being free. I also got a catalina(new coupon word for me),which is a paper that the receipt printer spits out at the end, for a free gallon of milk. That is always helpful in a family of 10.
Fastforward to this morning, I decided to try the Albertson's sale. I got onto www.grocerysmarts.com and looked at their list and then printed out the coupons I needed for this trip. I noticed that in one of the columns there were two prices for how much the item should be but didn't know what that meant. So off I went with two babies in tow and one of the older girls to help me. I now know why there were two prices and it didn't come out to be such a good deal for me this time. However I did it anyway. At Albertson's this week they are having a deal where, if you spend $30 on certain items, you get a $15 catalina to use on your next purchase. I did not plan to spend $30 so my items were more than I expected them to be but still cheaper than they could have been. All in all, I spent about $12 but purchased several items.

So this whole, long, blundering post is meant to 1. share some websites where you can go to find good deals and 2. to help you to learn through my mistakes.

Where does the time go?

Boy, it has been awhile since I posted last. So sorry! I just do not know where the days go. I think that as we get older time just seems to fly by. Don't you remember as a child how very slowly time seemed to pass, especially if you were waiting for your birthday or Christmas? Well now when I read a sign as I pass through town that says there are only 50 days till Christmas it causes me to shudder. Of course now it isn't even 50. Oh well, we should just be thankful for each and every day that the Good Lord gives us with our families. Anyway, I digress. I wanted to post a few pictures on here for you of things we have been up to lately.


B#2 got her braces off on the 4th of November. FINALLY!!! She also had an email from our local high school asking if she would be interested in teaching Spinning(fiber spinning that is) to the after school program. We are still waiting to hear about the particulars of it before we commit to it.

Dearest Daddy had a birthday on the same day that B#2 got her braces off. What a busy day that was. Instead of being able to relax with us for the day he had to be working on burying the pipe that carries us our water. Pretty important work there! We are so blessed with a fun and faithful daddy who gets up super early, while we all still snooze, to go to work to provide for us. We are so thankful for him!

B#5 had a birthday on the 31st of October. It is so nice having a child's birthday on that day. It gives us a really great reason to not have to celebrate the secular day of Halloween. He got a huge KNEX set, a headlamp and some much needed rain boots.

For B#5's birthday, we went to a Children's Museum. Here are the girls on "The Big Chair". B#6 wasn't too happy about being up there but once she got to playing at the museum all was fine. She convinced me to go down the huge, swirly slide. Boy was it dark in there.

B#1 generously offered to backpack the baby for me while we were at the Children's Museum. The baby loves the backpack enough to fall asleep while he is in there. Thank goodness for big strong guys in the family(oh and B#3 too) who can pack that little chub around.

Here is Dad inside a bubble.

Isn't he just a cutey? Baby(B#8) has grown so much in the last couple of weeks. He is crawling everywhere, getting in to everything and has started pulling up on furniture already. He is starting to creep along the furniture a little too. I am hoping that he does not follow in Biggest Brother's footsteps and be walking by 10 months but it wouldn't surprise me.

And then there is B#7 who is the ham of all of them. Not a day goes by without him doing something hilarious. As B#2 often says "Having a two year old is such fun".

The Marriage Conference

Dear Hubby and I had a nice treat from an anonymous donor....a weekend away at a marriage conference. Now don't go getting all worried that we are having marital difficulties:) It was actually offered to all of our church's deacons and wives and our two pastors and their wives. The first day got off to a rough start as we hit downtown rush hour traffic. It took us about two hours to go what should have taken about 30 minutes. The Lord is so good though, the baby slept or played quietly in his car seat the whole time. Once we got there and got settled in to our room we were able to join the conference which was already going on. We missed alot the first day but some friends of ours that went got us caught up that night. The next day we were able to be in there the whole time except for little bits out with baby. It was a really good conference and I would love to go to it again to get the whole thing in. It was put on by Noble Call Ministries. Maybe you would like to go to one to strengthen you marriage. Check them out at www.noblecall.org. May the Lord bless each one of your marriages.

Look Who's Two

B#7 turned two a few days ago. He is just getting too big. We are so sad about that. He is talking up a storm all of the sudden. Oh, why can't they stay little???

Fishin' for Chicken

B#7 found his brother's fish net and decided to go catch some chickens with it. Life would be kinda boring without him around:)

First Day of School

Well, Friday was our first day of school. Already I can see that changes need to be made to the daily schedule that I made for us. We started way too late to get it all in so tomorrow we will start earlier. We are trying a different curriculum this year and so far the kids seem to be liking it, at least B#3. She was wanting more geography and history. To end up the day we made "bugs on a log". I thought this version was much yummier than the usual celery, raisin, and peanutbutter. We used pretzel rods, m&ms and peanut butter. B#2 broke out the Nutella and that was even better than peanut butter. If you aren't familiar with Nutella you really should try it. You can find it near the peanut butter at the grocery store.

What is it and what should I do with it?

Yesterday for B#3's birthday we girls had a girls day out, along with baby of course. While we were at one of the fabric stores in town I spotted this brown thing. I have no idea what it is but I liked it so I decided to ask one of the ladies who works there what they were going to do with it. She told me I could take it if I wanted it and even had some guys load it into my van for me. Good thing I have this huge van:) Of course B#1 thinks that most of the things that I like should be food for our wood stove but I like it. So now my quandry is..."what should I do with it?" The shelves are slanted so it wouldn't work as a book case unless I lay books down on it so you can see the fronts. I thought I could pound out the small wooden pieces that split up the shelves but again...what is my goal? So I thought I would ask for suggestions from my readers and see what we can come up with. Leave me a comment or just plain email me if you have my address. I can't wait to hear some great suggestions.

Troubling

New Hampshire Court orders Christian homeschooled girl to attend public school
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 8/26/2009 4:45:00 PM
var addthis_pub = 'onenewsnow';

Updated 8/27/2009 3:00 PM (Central)

A Christian homeschool girl in New Hampshire has been ordered into government-run public school for having "sincerely held" religious beliefs -- and the Alliance Defense Fund is troubled by the ruling.

The case involves divorced couple Martin Kurowski and Brenda Voydatch and their 10-year-old daughter, Amanda. The couple split in 1999 when they were living in Massachusetts, and the proceedings moved to New Hampshire after Voydatch relocated to that state with her daughter in 2002. Although Voydatch has primary custody over Amanda, both parents agreed to a parenting plan that included joint decision-making responsibility. A court-appointed guardian served as a mediator. A source of contention between the parents has been the mother's decision to home school Amanda since first grade. Amanda's father believes she should be sent to public school, while the mother is adamant about home schooling. Since both parents have failed to reach common ground, the issue moved to the court. The situation was then analyzed by the court-appointed guardian, who made a recommendation to the court. During the evaluation process it was determined that Amanda was excelling in her schooling and used curriculum that was approved by her school district. The curriculum used in her home schooling was created by certified teachers, and Amanda routinely took standardized tests. Furthermore, Amanda attended her local public school to take art, Spanish, and P.E. classes. Her public school instructors also commented on the fact that Amanda was well-rounded in her social skills. But a sticking point arose concerning Voydatch's Christian faith. The court order stated: "According to the guardian ad litem's further report and testimony, the counselor found Amanda to lack some youthful characteristics. She appeard to reflect her mother's rigidity on questions of faith." The guardian noted that during a counseling session, Amanda tried to witness to the counselor and appeared "visibly upset" when the counselor purposefully did not pay attention. The guardian also noted that Amanda's relationship with her father suffered because she did not think he loved her as much as he said he did due to the fact that he refused to "adopt her religious beliefs." According to the court order, the guardian concluded that Amanda's "interests, and particularly her intellectual and emotional development, would be best served by exposure to a public school setting in which she would be challenged to solve problems presented by a group learning situation and...Amanda would be best served by exposure to different points of view at a time in her life when she must begin to critically evaluate multiple systems of belief and behavior."

Furthermore the court order states that despite Amanda's mother insisting that her daughter's religious beliefs were her own, "it would be remarkable if a ten-year-old child who spends her school time with her mother and the vast majority of all her other time with her mother would seriously consider adopting any other religious point of view." Although the court noted that it "is extremely reluctant to impose on parents a decision about a child's education," it ruled that Amanda must attend public school. Alliance Defense Fund-allied attorney John Anthony Simmons has filed a motion to reconsider. He says this ruling is dangerous to home schoolers because it will set a precedent for other cases. "Every time you have a court order that uses a wrong standard or misapplies constitutional law, everyone's rights are eventually at stake," the attorney explains. "Because what happens with precedent is it gets expanded -- it gets cited in other cases." Simmons believes this case goes beyond the initial divorce and custody battle with this ruling because the standard used in the decision contained in the court order is troubling. He contends that the child's religion should not have played a role in the decision, and that the court should have focused solely on the academic merits of Amanda's education which proved to be excellent.

Blessings

"The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22

We are each blessed every day in big ways and small ways, with our lives, our children, our homes, our jobs. This past month we have been more cognizant of those blessings, whether because we have been looking for them or maybe because since Mark's accident we realize more and more how precious each day and each blessing is. Below I wanted to just show you a few of the blessings that we have taken pictures of.


15 1/4 lbs of fresh Salmon, given to us the very day it was caught, from a dear couple at church, who are very generous. DH finally got to use the fillet knife that he bought for fishing.

Some other very generous friends of ours have blueberry fields and they allowed us to come and pick blueberries. B#2 is a very fast picker so we have lots of blueberries in the freezer and we made some blueberry jam. Earlier in the summer, we had the opportunity to go to another farm to pick strawberries so we have those in the freezer ready to eat or make jam with. All of this for free.

You might think this a strange picture. But we were blessed one day when we checked the mail and found a check from the grandparents to put towards fixing up one of our bathrooms that was in need of some TLC. We purchased a new toilet and got a big roll of remnant flooring. After doing the bathroom we still have lots leftover so we can use it elsewhere.

What are some blessings you have received lately? Post me a comment and lets see what the Lord is doing in each of our lives. Maybe we all just need to stop and look for what He is doing in our lives.

To God be the Glory

Don't ya just love the words to that hymn? "To God be the Glory, great things He has done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son."

He does great things for us everyday that we don't even give Him credit for. Well today I am giving Him all the Praise and Glory...I got a phone call this morning that every wife fears...."hello, my name is so and so, I am calling to tell you that your husband has been in an accident." That was how my morning started out. I did get to speak to DH for a brief minute before he was taken to the medic but I didn't know much more than the fact that a tire piece had flown off of a tractor trailer and went through his windshield and busted the back window as well. When they brought him into the ER he was strapped to a backboard and his face was all cut up and bloody. But he is doing fine other than lots of cuts on his face which will heal and I am sure some soreness will present itself in the next hours. Several people who saw the truck afterwards said that he was lucky. If it had went through the windshield even a foot to the left it could have killed him or at least done a lot more damage. We praise God for DH's safety in this.

Couponing part 2

Ok, so if you read my last post, you know that I am getting into this couponing thing. Hopefully, I will keep wisdom about me and not purchase unnecessary stuff just because. Anyway, I won't tell you about every shopping trip I go on but I did want to share one more. You can decide if you think I did well or not. Feel free to let me know you thoughts and tips. This week I went to four stores, in order of a goal of getting to the farm store on the other end of town so it wasn't a gas waste.

Albertson's
5- boxes cereal
10 more BBQ sauces(I think I am stocked up for a good while)
1-box of Green tea
2-packages of feminine products
3- things of deodorant.

I spent $24.28. I thought that was pretty good. If I had went to my regular store I think I would have spent about $36 for it all. Of course shopping at Albertson's without a sale or coupon would be totally out of our budget as all of this would have been $81.00 there.

Next I popped into Walgreens and picked up 3 rolls of scotch tape(a coveted item in our house) and 5 packages of papermate mechanical pencils. I spent $1.12.

Then I ran into Rite aid while the girls went to the fabric store. I bought 2-boxes of huggies baby wipes and 3- cans of Edge shaving cream. I did spend $8.97 there but will get $3 back in rebates from Rite aid. That made the shaving cream $.99 each.

Lastly, I ran in to Safeway to pick up chips, which is something we buy every week anyway. I bought 5 bags of chips for $5.56.

Well that was my couponing trip. Today I do my BIG shopping at our local cheaper store. My goal is to stay definitely under my budget while stocking my pantry. I will let you know if I manage to do that. Maybe it just takes time:)

Couponing

In years past I used to use coupons but then I started shopping at a local store where most of the store brand products were at least as cheap as those I had coupons for if not cheaper so I let that fall away. Well recently a friend from church has gotten several of us moms started up into coupons again. I signed up for a 4 week trial period for "The Grocery Game" which is a web site that tracks all sales and coupons and matches them up, telling you what to buy to save the most. It is interesting but you do have to pay a fee for it and I actually have been having fun just going through my sales flyers and matching it up with coupons that I have gotten from the Sunday paper. For a family of 10(as we are) it is suggested that you purchase two Sunday papers to help you have a good stock of coupons. Now some may say that you spend as much on two papers as you would save but I felt that it was worth it on my trip to our local Albertsons. Below is what I purchased and how much I saved...

1 bottle of Purex HE landry soap
1 box of Crystal Light to Go(for a friend)
2 packages of marshmallows(gotta keep those handy for smores)
4 bottles of bbq sauce(which were $.49 and had a coupon on pkg for $.35 off making them $.14 each
1 box of Ritz Crackerfuls(normally I wouldn't buy these but by the time I was done I got them for $.99 and it was a good snack for hubby's lunchbox)
1 package of these new weird dishwasher tablets.
Oh, and one bottle of water for B#7 and I to share.

I spent $8.14 and saved $27.30. I used a couple of double coupons, one of the crackerfuls and one of the dishwasher stuff. Anyway, I was pleased with my purchases and my savings. I went through the list for this week and will let you know how it works out.

First Harvest

Finally after the second try and lots of cold weather up here, we have our first harvest of the year...zucchini of course and a head of lettuce. Isn't that what grows best in most gardens? My problem with zucchini is that the only thing our family really likes it in is zucchini bread and zucchini cake. Anyone got some really great ideas for preserving it and what to make with it? I have shredded it and frozen it in the past which works ok but you sure gotta squeeze all of the liquid out before you can bake with it.

Someone to greet me every morning

I have a new friend. Her name is Pippa. She is pretty young, only about 5 months old and there is something strange about her looks....

Well okay, maybe not so strange if you are a chicken...Anyway, for the past couple of mornings, Pippa has been showing up bright and early on the porch off of our dining room. It is hilarious to watch her peck at the window and turn her head side to side trying to look inside the dining room. When she isn't satisfied with that view of life in side the big house she proceeds around to the kitchen window and hops up onto the window sill to see what is going on in the kitchen.

You gotta wonder what is going on in their little heads sometimes.

Never a Dull Moment

,One thing I can say about living out here in the country...there is never a dull moment. We are borrowing three sheep from one of the girl's friends to keep our fenced pasture mowed down. Well, one day a couple of weeks ago we spent a fun Saturday in town doing some fabric shopping. When we got home I got busy changing baby's diaper and in comes B#2 running and crying. Oh no! What now? The running in crying has been a common theme around here and usually means something is dead. This time, however, it meant that the three borrowed sheep were GONE! Someone left the gate open accidentally while trying to chase some stubborn roosters who were going away that day. So with baby not quite diapered I called B#3 to come and finish up, told the other little ones to stay put with her and ordered everyone else to go sheep hunting. We must have sounded quite odd to anyone within hearing distance as we all wandered around calling, "here sheep sheep". All praise goes to the Lord that we found all three of them across the road in the "98 acres", as we call it. Then came the fun part of trying to lure them back by shaking grain in a bucket since they were scared of us. B#2 finally wrestled the lead sheep and pulled while a couple of us pushed all the way back down the hill to our property. The other two sheep gladly followed. Boy were we tired and our family friend, Katie, was able to go back to the fire station and say that she got to herd sheep today.

Then last Saturday, while helping a friend at a garage sale, B#3 called to tell me that a car had crashed through our front yard fence. I decided I should head home to see what that was all about. Sure enough part of our front fence is busted up and the guy didn't even stop to tell us he did it. According to the neighbor, he just checked to make sure his car wasn't too damaged and then took off. I thought maybe he might come back later and fess-up but here we are a week later and no sign of him. Add it to the list of things to fix around here. Now we have one more opening to worry about B#7 getting out of.

Hopefully all will be quite on the Western front on this sunny Saturday. Happy 4th of July to you all. And don't forget to pray for our nation, it sure needs it:)

Going On's

Baby is getting so big. He is almost 15 weeks now and he smiles all the time. What a sweetie he is!

The big girls had a good time making this Lincoln Log village. Guess you never outgrow Lincoln Logs.

Big sister, B#2, helping B#7 make a huge mess with bubbles.

Fishing and frogs!!!

Gardening, take 2! The chickens got into our garden so we had to replant. Not a very cost effective garden this year, maybe next year.


Sewing and Herbs. And where is that B#3? She always manages to escape the camera.

The Moby

I have a love hate relationship with baby carriers. I see so many moms using them and I think "that's the one", "that one will work for me". With B#7, I bought a Moby wrap in a beautiful chocolate brown(one of my favorite colors). I would get it out week after week and try to figure that thing out while the girls laughed and called me a Jedi from Star wars. With B#8, I bought a typical padded sling type baby carrier with a lovely toile print on one side but boy does that thing hurt my back. Age maybe??? Anyway, a few days ago I was having this same discussion with a good friend who is expecting and I lamented to her my Moby story. She promptly told me that she had a great video she would email to me. I had already sold my beautiful brown Moby on Craigslist but after watching the video she sent to me, I went to borrow a friend's Moby. I love it...I don't know what my problem was last time but this thing is great. The girls wanted to try carrying B#8 in it so here are a couple of pictures of B#4 with him in it. Now I gotta get one of my own before my friend has her baby in a few months:(

Look! No hands

Putting in the garden

We finally got our garden area tilled, thanks to some good friends who loaned us their tiller. We are very new gardeners so we go out every morning hoping to see some new sprouts from the seeds that we planted. Not knowing too much about gardening, I am always worried when everything isn't up and growing as fast as I would like it to be. And I am not sure how gardening is supposed to help save money as we seem to keep having to buy stuff for the garden. Maybe next year?!?!


B#6 trying to keep the sun off her head and neck. Good thing we had this bonnet in the dress-up bucket.

B#1 and 2 working in the corn rows

Doesn't it almost look like B#4 is going to chop off B#2's head?

Little B#7 got to wear one of the girls pretty hats to keep the sun off himself.

Dad worked on getting a fallen tree out of the creek area so the grass could be mowed there. And where is B#3 in all of this? I am not sure. Maybe she was the one with the camera?!?!