Christmas Economy

In a big family Christmas can become a trying time, a very expensive time. So how do we afford Christmas for 9 children, two adults and our extended family? Simplify, simplify, simplify and make homemade gifts. We had the children draw names for each other and encouraged them to make homemade when possible. We have several new double sided fleece blankets, the little boys each got a John Deere one from their "secret sibling".

B#2's "secret sibling, B#4, made her this vintage apron.

The little boys got these great hooded bath towels from Mamaw and Papaw.

And then we just get simple little gifts that the person receiving them would enjoy. Daddy loves his coke so mom got him these bottled cokes. Over the years we have learned that we do not want our children to grow up getting lots of "stuff" for Christmas that they won't even remember next year. We do get them each something meaningful, usually books and then we do a family gift. All in all we had a good, simple Christmas.

Easy Oreo Truffles

Truffles...they just sound intimidating don't they? I had never made them but I found this recipe that sounded pretty easy so I gave it a try today and they are so yummy.

1 pkg(8oz) cream cheese
1 package oreo cookies, crushed finely ( I had to use the blender for this)
16 oz chocolate

Soften cream cheese, mix in 3 cups of crushed oreos. Roll into about 48 balls. Coat in melted chocolate then sprinkle with some of the remaining crushed oreos. Chill for an hour. Easy and yummy. That's my kind of recipe.

P.S. I have mentioned before that I am not the photographer in the family so please excuse the bad photo.

Chocolate dipped Rice Krispy Treats

Have you ever noticed that most of the yummiest Christmas treats are made with peanut butter? Such as peanut butter balls, chocolate covered peanut butter crackers, and Chex nutty buddies. I have recently discovered that peanut butter and I do not get along. But I was really wanting to make a treat for us today after church and remembered running across a recipe for chocolate covered Rice Krispy Treats. B#3 made them for me and they ended up being more of a dipped Rice Krispy treat than a chocolate covered one but I think that was better because boy are these rich! Just make up a batch of regular Rice Krispy treats and dip in some melted chocolate chips. Enjoy but don't forget a big glass of milk!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. We pray that if you do not know Jesus as your Saviour that this Christmas season you will see Him working in your life and desire to know Him better.

I mentioned in a previous post about Advent and some of the things we do during Advent. We have been reading from the Old Testament each evening after dinner about the prophecies concerning Christ's coming. Well last night I decided to take a little side trip from that to read some Scriptures about some issues we are having in our family. You see, we have developed a bad habit of allowing unloving words and attitudes between us all so I thought I would just pick some Scriptures to read to the children to see what the Bible has to say to us about this but you know what....even in reading these verses to the children they related to Christmas and the reason we even celebrate this season.

We read in Leviticus that we are to love our neighbor(siblings) as ourself. Then in 1 John 4: 7-11 we read "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

The Bible is always relevant. Praise the Lord for that. Merry CHRISTmas!!!

This One's for you Mom

I was talking with my mom on the phone tonight and we got to talking about good things to eat so I shared this one with her and thought you all might enjoy it too...

Slice a banana into a bowl
Put some yogurt on top of the banana(think ice cream)
Slice some strawberries to put on top of the yogurt
Add some granola on top of that (optional)
Drizzle some chocolate syrup on top of it all
Enjoy!

Thanks to my good friend Karen for this recipe which comes from "The Biggest Loser" cookbook
It is all good for you and the chocolate syrup makes you feel like you are having a sweet treat.

Barn Chores

Tonight I went out with B#2 while she did her barn chores. I sat on some hay bales with our barn cat pawing at me while watching the calf drink her bottle and all of the goats milling about waiting patiently for their nightly hay. It was quite pleasant to sit there and listen to the rain on the roof, smelling the hay and watching the nightly ritual of milking the goats. They are amazingly trained. One goat trots in for her milking time then the stall door is opened for her to trot back out. Then the stall door opens again to allow the next goat to trot right in for her turn on the milkstand. I even pitched in a bit and brought the animals their bucket of water...quite the farm hand, huh?

As nice and peaceful as that was, I think I will stick to an area I am much more comfortable in, my home and my children and leave the barn chores to B#2 and whichever of her siblings decides to help her.

She's getting so big and a failed hat attempt

I asked B#2 to teach me to knit hats since I saw the cutest hat at a very expensive baby shop in town. She breaks out something called "double point needles" almost scaring me away from trying. But I persevered and continued, but as you can see by the picture, it turned out a bit too
small. Nevertheless, I will try again!


She is getting so big. On Sunday she decided that she was ready for bigger and better things by rolling from her back to her tummy and then back over to her back again. She has even started scooting forward a bit on her tummy. I think she is thinking she better get busy so she can keep up with her two older very rambunctiuos brothers.

Our Advent Calender

Advent. Adventus. Ecce advenit Dominator Dominus. Behold, the Lord, the Ruler is come....Advent means taking time each day, for three or four weeks before Christmas, to center our thoughts on Truth Incarnate lying in a feeding trough in Bethlehem. Advent is a few moments to stop, catch your breath and renew your strength from the only One who can provide true strength. Arnold Yuletree, author of "Bartholomew's Passage

Typically in our family we read an Advent story each night and choose a Scripture and some small token from a caledar of some sort. This year we made these pretty cones and the children will take turns, one each night to see what we put in them this year. I chose some tiny nativity ornaments that we will hang on a wreath I bought from the Goodwill and some candy with a Scripture to be read by the child(if they can read).

Ingenuity

That is the word I gave to B#5 tonight to look up in the dictionary. It describes him to a "T". On any given day you might hear him rummaging through the recyclables for his supplies or hear the sound of duct tape being ripped as he makes something. These are just a few pictures of his inventions.


This robot actually moves forward and backwards using KNEX and a motor.

KNEX are so great...his chainsaw actually moves by using a KNEX motor.

Today he made this camera using cereal boxes, duct tape and a plastic sheet from an overhead projector.

Last night he made this telescope which slides in and out, using a paper towel tube, duct tape and a lens from a magnifying glass. A few weeks ago he made a bolt action rifle out of a wrapping paper tube and he managed to make it where the bolt really moved. I think awhile back I posted a picture of his fire extinguisher made from a soda bottle and his fireman's mask from plastic sheets taped onto paper. We think the Lord may be showing us that engineering might be in his future.

Not Such a Good Idea

Yesterday while trying to make a soup mix with B#7 I had the "bright" idea to put some rice and beans in a tub and let the boys play in it with measuring cups while I worked. Needless to say we had a huge mess on our hands. At the end it looked like a wedding where everyone threw rice and beans. Maybe they aren't quite ready for that yet. We can try again when they are older.

On the topic of cleaning, a friend sent me a link to a "Fall Clean" schedule. I am sure I mentioned that I love fall so I am enjoying getting started on it. Go Here if you would like to download her checklist. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The Big 40

DH turned 40 this past week. He told me that he didn't want to have anyone over to our house or to do anything big so the kids and I told him that we would just have a small family party at our house, just us and a family friend. What we didn't tell him that was that we were planning a party for him at a friend's house a few days later.

We told him it was a "music night" at our good friend's home so he was pretty excited about getting to play his dulcimer with the other musicians. Besides DH's dulcimer there was a banjo, a mandolin, three violins, a penny whistle and a bowed psaltry. He was very surprised but he did enjoy himself. It wasn't a big gathering either, just 4 families. Of course between those four families there were 26 children present so maybe it wasn't so small afterall...

My Time in History

Baby, toddler, older sister and I stayed home from church today due to colds in the little ones and as I was enjoying nursing and rocking the baby I got to thinking about things. I am so thankful that the Lord put me where I am in history....our woodstove is for heat, not for cooking. I don't have to wonder if it is the right temperature for baking or if it isn't burning enough or if it is burning too much. Our kitchen stove keeps pretty regular temperature so I can just throw something in there and forget about it for a while. My bosch mixer can knead my bread for lunch all by itself while I walk away to do something else. My potato soup for lunch today can simmer on low on my stove top while I go throw in a load of laundry that can wash all by itself while I go and sit and enjoy nursing my baby. The old ways are good and fun to experience sometimes for a short time but I am thankful to the Lord for the time in history that he put my in. I enjoy appliances that can make my day to day life easier. How about you? What are some of your favorite time-saving appliances?

Big Family Pizza and a birthday

For B#5's birthday yesterday we decided to have party pizzas which isn't something we don't do very often. Maybe you can tell why from the pile of boxes on the counter. I was actually able to cook all ten pizzas at one time thanks to my double oven and my toaster oven. I thought we would have to eat in shifts:)

After so many birthdays you get kinda tired of cake so he decided we could make homemade doughnuts instead of cake. We didn't realize just how many doughnuts our recipe would make. We ended up with 6 dozen "Crispy Creame" doughnuts and a bunch of pumpkin doughnut holes. UGH! I think we are all junk fooded out now and we still have two more birthdays coming in the next 12 days.

He is a young man now with his multi tool and flashlight on his belt and a new watch.

Tea Time

Most mornings I have a cup of coffee but lately I have been making a pot of tea instead. Saturdays here at our house are when the little ones are allowed to have some tea with me but somehow these boys manage to get a cup everytime mom has one. B#8 especially can be heard wandering around saying "tea, tea".

Spinning

B#2 is teaching B#5 & B#6 to spin fiber using a drop spindle. The first lesson is always the hardest but they will persevere):

Video concerning the "Parental Rights Amendment"

I have posted in the past about the Parental Rights Amendment but if you aren't sure what it is please go to www.parentalrights.org and read about it and why we need a Parental Rights Amendment. There is also a section to read about the myths concerning the Convention for the Rights of the Child. Of course the title of it sounds good. Who wouldn't want to protect children but it isn't about protecting children as much as it is about taking away the rights of the parents to raise their children as they see fit. If our country chooses to follow other countries by allowing the CRC to be made law in America things will get even worse than they appear to be now. Please take the time to watch this clip and even visit parentalrights.org.

Gift ideas for large families...or any size family

It is getting to be time to start thinking about Christmas gifts. I ran across the article below on a website called Lotsofkids.com and thought it had some good gift ideas for families, no matter how many children they have. Our families always send us wonderful Christmas gifts but as our family grows larger we do not want them to spend a lot of money buying individual gifts for each child so some of these ideas could be great ways to save money this year. Because we live in the country, we have to pay a yearly fee to use our public library so last year my dear mother in law sent us money to pay for a years fee to use the library. That is such a big deal to us since we use the library constantly. We exceed the book limit every time we go in and ALWAYS have overdue fines. I think the librarians see us as profit everytime we walk in. Anyway, hope this can be of some help to each of you as you start to think about what to do for your families this year. We are trying something new with our children this year...we drew names(which isn't new) and have asked the children to try to have the gift they are giving be something homemade. That can be a bit challenging but they know they can always come to mom if they are stumped for ideas.


Gift Ideas for Large Families


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Family Pass(es) - A yearly pass to a zoo, museum, or other similar place can be a great gift. Sometimes passes are limited to a certain number of people (say 2 adults and 4 children), so this could entail purchasing two passes for a large family. This is a gift that continues to give through the year, as the family who might be limited in outings because of lack of money, can enjoy it regularly. This is also a particularly good gift for families that homeschool and could implement visits to these places as part of their education.

Gift Certificates - If you don't know what you want now, chances are you will in a couple or weeks or months. Asking for gift certificates might not be a lot of fun for the gift-giver, but it will be a practical gift for the LOK parent. Some suggestions are book stores, local discount stores (like Walmart or Target), grocery store (not glamorous, but greatly appreciated when you are short on cash and need to get milk), beauty salon/spa, video store.

Quilts, Blankets, and Other Useables - Quilts, bed sets, and throws can be too expensive to justify buying on impulse, but they make great options for gifts. Even better, if your relative sews or crochets, ask for a handmade items that will have heirloom value, as well as being functional.

Gourmet Gift Sets - This is probably one of my all-time favorite gifts to get. I enjoy coffee, but on our family budget cannot really afford Starbucks on a regular basis. I love to get gift sets with flavored coffees. A gift set with different jellies, jams, and prepackaged mixes for scones and cakes are enjoyed by a family, but are consumed and don't take up a lot of space for an extended period of time. As a child, I always remembered the big gift set of meat and cheese a relative would send. We'd enjoy snacking on the contents for weeks!

Other Consumables - Pre-packages or homemade "recipe" gift sets. One mom made gift sets for special treats, such as cookie mixes. She tied nice bags with different kitchen utensils that would be needed for the recipe (such as measuring cup, measuring spoons, mixing spoon, whisk, rubber scraper, cookie turner, etc.). Parents and kids enjoyed making the confections together. If you don't have a recipe to share, there are many websites listing recipes specifically for this purpose.

Also in the "consumable" category are scented candles, which can be enjoyed for a time, but eventually are used up and discarded. Scented soaps, lotions, and other luxury/pampering items will be appreciated, but don't take up a lot of space and are eventually gone and discarded.

Board Games - They aren't just for kids! Asking for a game that you can play with other adult relatives and friends on special occasions can be a great choice. There are also many games that are created that both adults and kids can play together (having two sets of cards with varying difficulty). Perhaps there is a vintage game from your childhood you'd like to find again. Or you would really like that designer version of your favorite game, say the Star Wars version of Monopoly.

Household Items

Cooking Appliances - After years of catering to "average" size families, manufacturers are now making items for power cooking, cutting preparation times. Large size appliances are available that allow families to cook more food in less time. A 7-quart crockpot can cook a meal for a large group. Large deep fryers (like T-Fal's Maxifry) are enclosed for safer cooking, and can make large batches of french fries and other food items. A large electric or stove top griddle can be a great choice. One mom said her electric version allowed her to cook at one time, 6 pieces of french toast, 8 pancakes, or 10 hamburgers.

Large appliances can also be gift options. A new bagless vacuum with a filter might be a much-appreciated gift. The EuroShark (or equivalent) is great for families, allowing you to pick up everything from dust to wet food like spaghetti, and it works on rugs or bare floors.

Conventional appliances can be great gifts. Sometimes replacing an older item would be helpful but is not a top priority on a family's list. A new blender, food processor, microwave, or other item may be a great gift option. With many of the new features on appliances, these conventional items are often more efficient than their older counterparts. Personally, one of my favorite gifts was an under-the-cabinet coffee maker, which freed up much needed space, and since I make coffee regularly, is one of the most-used appliances in my kitchen!

Utensils - My family thought I was crazy when I asked for cookie sheets and muffin pans. However, these can be great gift options. Ask for cooking utensils that were well-made and would stand up to the heavy use of a large family. While a cooking pan might not be glamourous, I was using it all the time, and really appreciated it long after the holidays had gone. Also consider dishware, cutlery. One mother was estatic to receive a 100 piece tupperware-type set.

Furniture - This is a big-ticket item. Many large families find themselves with used or older furniture that could use replacing. If you want an item that is costly, have family members pitch in, or ask for gift certificates to a certain store where you would like to get a particular piece. If you need a new dining room set, perhaps you can swing getting the table. Ask that each relative to buy a chair.

While working on this article, I found an incredible website that sells inexpensive, assemble-it-yourself furniture. This might be a great gift-giving option since the items can be shipped and offer additional storage, something large families usually need.

Organizers - This can include something as simple as a large calendar to keep track of dates, a PDA-type device to help you get rid of all those pieces of paper, to wicker baskets and other household organizer-type products that will help tame the clutter. Many of those items can be pricey, but are certainly well worth the money and can be invaluable gifts.
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Article by: Michelle Lehmann
2004 - Lotsofkids.com


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Busy Days

This is the time of year that I love to be outside. I know for most people that would be summer but not me. I wish I were better at doing things outside so I could help DH do all of the things that need to be done and then I could be outside more. It is a bit challenging to get out there with baby but we have managed to stay quite busy anyway.

We were finally able to pick our corn, pretty late in the season this year.

And this is just some of the apples we have been continuously working on. I think we may just save the rest of them for apple cider instead of making more apple sauce but then again it takes alot of apple sauce to get us through the year.

B#5 & B#6 shucking corn for our dinner.

DH is rebuilding this gate to temporarily keep goats and a calf out of our backyard. He has been busy putting up an electric fence to give the calf and the goats another pasture area so that has led to finishing most of the backyard fence to keep the boys in and away from the electric fence.

In the midst of all of the calf preparations we got our chicks this morning. Thirty-five chicks can be really noisy at 7:30am, luckily only 20 are ours for now. We ordered some for a friend. I think B#2 is planning on ordering some meat chickens next. I will keep you posted on how that goes.

Tis the season

Nope, not for Christmas....that would mean that we skipped my favorite season, Fall. Tis the season for picking and canning and baking and eating all of the wonderful things that are a part of this season.

Bread, apple butter and yummy apple blackberry crisp.

B#8 absolutely loves blackberries. If given the choice between blackberries and chocolate, he would definitely choose blackberries. Whose child is this anyway?!?!

And the season for soapmaking. We only made 2 large batches of soap this year, which yielded about 100bars. Not sure if that is enough for our family for a year or not. We shall see:)

We have also been working a bit at a time on applesauce as we pick our early apple tree. We are looking forward to making apple cider again this year from our other two trees. Don't you just love fall? What is your favorite season and why?

Seven Basic Needs of a Husband

These seven basic needs are taken from an Institute in Basic Life Principles booklet. There is also one for the 7 basic needs of a wife but since my job is to focus on the needs of my husband, that is what I have been reading and *trying* to focus on lately.

1. A husband needs a wife who respects him as a man
2 .A husband needs a wife who accepts him as a leader and believes in his God-given responsibilities.
3. A husband needs a wife who will continue to develop inward and outward beauty.
4. A husband needs a wife who can lovingly appeal to him when he is going beyond his limitations and who can wisely respond to those who questions his ideas, goals, or motives.
5. A husband needs quality time to be alone with the Lord.
6. A husband needs a wife who is grateful for all he has done and is doing for her.
7. A husband needs a wife who will be praised by other people for her character and her good works.

There is so much more to this booklet than what I have written here and I certainly have a long way to go to meet the needs of my husband but this should be the desire of our hearts for our marriages, to meet our husbands needs and to honor the Lord while doing it.

In Praise of Motherhood

I read this quote from one of the blogs that I follow, "Your Sacred Calling". At first I struggled to understand just what it was saying since it appears to have been written some time ago. But knowing that the blog it was on promotes our calling as mothers I knew it was saying positive things about being a mother. I highlighted my favorite parts. Imagine our God-given responsibility of motherhood being compared to a Queen in her castle, as the quote mentions.




Woman is generally shut up in a house with a human being at the time when he asks all the questions that there are, and some that there aren’t. It would be odd if she retained any of the narrowness of a specialist. . . . when people begin to talk about this domestic duty as not merely difficult but trivial and dreary, I simply give up the question. For I cannot with the utmost energy of imagination conceive what they mean. . . .
If drudgery only means dreadfully hard work, I admit the woman drudges in the home, as a man might drudge at the Cathedral of Amiens or drudge behind a gun at Trafalgar. But if it means that the hard work is more heavy because it is trifling, colourless and of small import to the soul, then as I say, I give it up; I do not know what the words mean. To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area, deciding sales, banquets, labours, and holidays; to be Whitely within a certain area, providing toys, boots, cakes, and books; to be Aristotle within a certain area, teaching morals, manners, theology, and hygiene; I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it.
How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone and narrow to be everything to someone? No, a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute

For Mamaw

I mentioned to my mom that I really needed to sit down and post some photos of the kiddos but just couldn't find the time to do it so I thought I would sit down and do it while the baby is sleeping but alas she is now awake so Mamaw, enjoy the pictures and for the rest of you who probably aren't as interested in seeing my "blessings" photos, I will try to post again later about what we have been up to around here.

Little Dresses for Africa

The girls and I went to a sew-in at our church. It was a day to get together and sew dresses for little girls in an orphanage in africa. We also worked on shorts for the boys and skirts for the women. I believe the ministry is called Show Mercy. Our church's goal is, I think, 110 of each item. You can visit their blog at www.littledressesforafrica.org.blog. I haven't visited the site yet.


Here is an example of one of the dresses. This dress is actually made from a pillowcase but we have been using fabric and bias tape. They seem to be the simplest thing to make. I brought the instructions home to make some for B#6 for summer dresses with a t-shirt underneath.

Here is B#4 working on one of the dresses she made.

We started hanging the finished dresses in ziplock bags on the bulletin board in church. It will be exciting to watch it fill up as we continue to make more.

Here is a friend's daughter doing some of the cutting. My contribution consisted of ironing as that was about all my tired, postpartum brain could handle for the day. B#2 stayed home with the little boys to help dad while I took the rest of the girls with me. B#6 made some beaded bracelets and necklaces for the girls in the orphanage while the sewing was going on.

Some of my favorite websites

I decided today that I wanted to do a post on some of my favorite websites/blogs. Now my family might be disappointed not to see any updated photos of beautiful B#9 or read some more personal things but not knowing who my other readers are and wanting to share some things that interest me, I thought this might be a good post to do.

www.raisingolives.com is a new blog that I have found, written by a mother of 9 also. There are so many good things on this blog from saving money, homeschooling, parenting(great posts here), pregnancy etc.

www.raisinggodlytomatoes.com is a website that is written by a mom of 10 with some wonderful advice on raising godly children in an ungodly world. I purchased her book but you can also read it through her articles on the website.

www.raisinghomemakers.com is a blog written by many different authors. Some are written by moms about raising our daughters to be godly young women who desire to do the Lord's will in their lives, even if it goes against what society thinks they should do and other posts are written by young ladies themselves as they go through this time in their lives.

www.yoursacredcalling.com is a blog by another mom of many, Staci McDonald, who co-wrote the book "Passionate Housewives Desperate for God" and "Raising Maidens of Virtue", which I am hoping to read through with my girls or at least have them read if time with a newborn and two rambunctious toddlers won't allow me to read with them.

www.ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com is a blog written by a mom of 12, I think. Her posts have all different ranges, from homeschooling to politics. I really enjoy her perspective on things.

I know there are others that I read on a very regular basis but these were the ones that came to my mind for now. Even if you don't homeschool or even have children, you might find something of interest for you at one of these. Maybe even just to help you understand our families convictions better.

Hope you all are having a blessed night.

Graduations

I can't believe that DH and I are old enough to have two of our nine children graduated. Scary thought:) but that is what we have. B#1 actually graduated last year and has been attending our local community college this year. During the summer he participated in a Police Cadet Academy in a town near ours so here are his graduation pictures from that. He is pursuing Law enforcement as his career and is actually working on the river as part of the Marine Patrol for our local Sheriff's Office.


B#1 with our Sheriff and another guy, not sure who he is actually.

The cake for the reception.

B#1 shaking the Sheriff's hand as he went forward for his certificate. During this academy they had the option of being pepper sprayed as part of their training. I do believe that they now have a healthy fear of using pepper spray on people without just cause. It is some nasty stuff which took B#1 a couple of days to be completely cured from.

Then last weekend we had B#2's graduation party here at our house in the backyard. She loves lavender so we went with that as our theme, using purple and white for our colors. The big purple things in the picture are our drink dispensers. I had hoped to borrow a friends pretty glass ones to hold our water and our punch but she was using them so it was time to get creative with what to use. A friend suggested covering the big orange water coolers from the church with table cloths and tying it with ribbon so that is what we did. All in all I think that worked well. We should have made more punch though as it went pretty quickly.

We were blessed to be able to borrow tables, chairs and table cloths from the church.

The girls made lavender sachets for all of the girls and ladies to take home with them. Nothing for the guys that came though, sorry.

B#4 spent the day before baking 85 cupcakes and then the day of the party filling and frosting all of them. We helped her a little. These are chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter cup inside them with peanut butter frosting.

These are chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling with chocolate frosting and a raspberry on top. We also had lemon cupcakes with lemon filling and vanilla frosting and the good old stand by of yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. They were all yummy!