A girl after my own heart ...

This is Elizabeth and Timothy after breakfast one day. Elizabeth has two baby dolls and a doll house baby in her little hand. Cuddled up on the couch with 3 babies is my idea of a perfect day. Ben was my photographer which explains the dark setting. The funny thing is she has no discernment regarding size. She tries to put one of her diapers on the tiny doll house baby and feeds the baby dolls with bottles from the Littlest Pet Shop bin.

We've had a long week. Several of us have rotten colds and Monday and Tuesday we had late nights which wiped us out before the week had barely begun. Tomorrow we will do Friday Chores, have Chess Club, hopefully grocery shop and conclude the day with pizza and a movie. Oh, and the Box girls will come have a tea party with Anna since they were at school during her party with the cousins. I spent $200 less on groceries this month ... which is great ... except we are totally out of food. I'll probably end up spending what I saved last month catching up. So many mouths with so much energy. I always have overly ambitious plans on Fridays but every so often it works out and we get it all done. A girl has to dream!

It just occurred to me that tomorrow is Halloween. We don't celebrate Halloween and never have so the kids just look at it as another day. I read on the MOMYs site about turning off all the lights and hiding candy all over the house. Then giving the kids flashlights to search for the candy. I might try this as it just sounds so fun! Like we need more candy. But other than that we'll just watch a movie and eat pizza. It's always fun.

I'm looking forward to Saturday as we plan to winterize my garden. We will be doing a layered compost technique which will compost the soil over the winter so that it is ready for planting in the spring. We are expanding the garden as well so this will take some work. Mike has jumped on board with my plans which is making this all possible. I attempted some of it on my own and just didn't have the umpf to get it done. Granted Anna and Rachel were "helping" me when I tried it a few weekends ago which really didn't help. Mike has this amazing gift that allows him to work at a fast pace with a huge amount of strength until the job is completely done. He just can't stand for something to be unfinished so he works like a maniac until the job is done. I appreciate this so much and wish I shared this gift. I'm content to slowly and methodically tackle a project and therefore (especially around here) may never get it done.

CSU Scholastic Chess Tournament

Saturday was the Annual CSU Scholastic Chess Tournament. We really love this tournament because it is just minutes from our house and it is huge! We had such a fun day and a new member of our chess club, William, joined us. Timothy placed 5th, Jacob placed 2nd, Luke placed 5th in the rated over 800 and Josiah placed 2nd in the rated under 800. Unfortunately, Ben was in a large group of 3rd and 4th graders and while he was in the top 10 he didn't place high enough to get a trophy.

Ben and William practicing between games.
Timothy and Jacob practicing between games.
Getting some fresh air during our lunch break.
Timothy getting his trophy. He was a little disappointed because up until the 4th game he was in 2nd place but had to play his older brother Jacob and the #1 player his last two games which knocked him down to 5th!
Jacob getting his trophy.
Josiah getting his trophy.
Luke getting his trophy thinking "Aw, Mom, don't embarrass me by taking a picture."

While I had planned to spend my Saturday getting things done around here I ended up staying at the tournament all day visiting with William's Mom, Annette. I know she will be a good friend and look forward to getting to know her better.

Last week was a really busy week. To sum it up I'd say Palin, Birthday, Pumpkins, Party and Chess. Whew! So this week we HAVE to get a bunch of school done. We also have to get out to vote and buy tennis shoes for several boys. A big sale ends today and I have a great coupon I can use at the sale so I really have to get it done. Timothy and Anna have rotten colds which I'm hoping they don't share with the rest of us! And, of course, there is BSF tonight. And so it begins ...

Anna's first Highland Dance lesson

Thursday night was Anna's first Highland Dance lesson with Mary. Rachel dressed up just so she could feel included. Anna had a great time and was so absolutely adorable doing her hops and pas de bas. Thankfully she has a ways to go before I have to buy her a kilt and ghillies!

Reformation Celebration

On Friday I invited my MOMYs/Above Rubies friends over for a Reformation Celebration. Eight families with a grand total of 43 children! It was so much fun and so busy I forgot to get a picture of the whole group!
The families were greeted at the door by Kaitlyn Fahrenbruck who led them to "The Forest" (an obstacle course in the shape of a lightening bolt) where Martin Luther prayed to St. Anna in fear stating he'd become a monk if he was saved from the storm.
Then they were led to "Smash the Relic" where they learned about relics like an apple from the Garden of Eden, a piece of the crown of thorns and a bone from one of the 12 Disciples. They actually threw baseballs at cardboard relics.
Then it was on to "Contradict the Indulgence". We had to move this game inside because of the wind but basically the kids had two teams who raced to finish a puzzle. When the puzzles were finished they had an indulgence on one side and the Scripture that contradicts it on the other.
Next it was to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany where Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door explaining why the relics and indulgences were wrong and stating that salvation comes by grace alone. (That's a very rough summary ... ha!)
And, finally, we made stained glass windows because in Luther's day the common people had no Bible in their language so they used stained glass windows to tell the gospel. Martin Luther translated the Bible into German so that every person could read God's word.

We always have the greatest time when we get together with these families. I am blessed to know them!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins ...

The one stellar crop in our garden this year was pumpkin! Although, with it getting cold early they might not all get completely orange. So, I've been processing a pumpkin a day (or at least every day we have a "free" day). It's working so beautifully I just had to share! I plan to use my puree in breads, cakes, pancakes, soups and anything else I can think of all winter long.

Benjamin and Jacob pick the pumpkin ... it was tall but narrow.

Luke washes and cuts it in half.
Then he scrapes out the seeds/strings and pulls the seeds off of their strings.
We put the pumpkins in the roaster and the pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet to roast and salt.
Yummy!
This is what it looks like once it's done. Then I just scoop out the cooked pumpkin and whirl it up in the food processor.
I can whirl 1/2 of a pumpkin at a time.
These are the finished products, although, we ate the pumpkin seeds throughout the day so there weren't many left for a picture.
Once the puree cools I freeze it in 2 cups increments in sandwich bags.

To cook the pumpkins I put them in my roaster at 250 degrees for 4-6 hours with 4 cups of water on the bottom.

To cook the pumpkin seeds I put them on a Pam sprayed cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes. Then I sprinkle them with salt.

I hope to research pumpkins over the winter to figure out what types are the best to plant in terms of taste, texture and color. Mine are fine but they are not very orange and are somewhat bland. How does canned pumpkin get so thick and orange I wonder? Anyone who is wise in the area of pumpkins let me know the answers to these perplexing pumpkin ponders.

Happy 5th Birthday, Anna Grace!

Thomas, Luke, Anna Grace, Mary, Sophie

Yesterday we celebrated Anna's 5th Birthday. What a wonderful celebration it was! We started our morning early with a trip to the store to buy Birthday Donuts and to pick up her Princess Cake. After donuts, we cleaned up the house, picked up Sabrina (my beautiful niece) and headed out to Pump It Up. My sister-in-law Marcy drove all the way up from Denver with Sophie, Thomas and Henry just for Anna! We're so blessed to have family near by!

Sabrina helping Elizabeth into the giant bouncer.
Thomas, Anna and Elizabeth
Sabrina is EXHAUSTED after playing so hard!

Grandpa and Grandma had the difficult job of holding babies at Pump It Up.

When we returned home from Pump It Up Elizabeth really wanted to help get Henry out of his car seat ... and hold him and feed him and change him and snuggle him.
Opening presents. Anna said, "this is just what I've always dreamed of!" Cutie!
Don't you love Sabrina's wedding veil.
After so much "GIRL" Timothy and Thomas HAD to play some ball! And, Aunt Kathryn is the crazy Aunt who allows ball playing in the front room when it's cold and rainy.
Anna, Sabrina and Rachel eating dinner after a long day of partying. I'm not sure what Anna is doing with her hands. Usually she's acting like a puppy. I met Uncle Scott on his way back from Cheyenne after dinner so Sabrina could go home. What a spectacular day!

I got weepy all day yesterday thinking of Anna being 5 years old. Five years ago, when Anna was just 6 weeks old, is when I had thyroid cancer and all the trama that went along with it. She was the first girl after 4 boys in a row and was, and still is, such a doll. She's laid back, tender-hearted, sweet, kind and loving. She's a complete delight to our entire family. I can hardly wait to see how the Lord will use her as she becomes a young lady.

McCain/Palin Rally Update

Waiting in the wind and cold .... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Ok, I humbly admit I was wrong. You cannot take 9 kids to a huge rally in cold, windy weather. My little kids were cold and miserable after about an hour and by hour two I had to bring them home. Hohum. I guess it was worth a try. We arrived around 9:45 and the doors were supposed to open at 10:30. By noon we were still not anywhere near the door. Plus I couldn't bring in the stoller or my purse or my diaper bag or any food or drinks. Not an ideal family setting at lunch time! Oh, and we couldn't get to the bathrooms until we were inside ... have you met my Jacob? He must have a bladder the size of a pebble! So, I'm home, Lizzy is napping and the other littles are watching a movie while playing chess.

On a positive note, WOW, was there a huge turnout!!! I mean thousands and thousands of people! They filled the Budweiser Event Center and had to have people watch in outlying buildings. What an experience! I'll post more later about what the older kids got to see and hear with Grandpa.

Here are the pictures from the big kids. They had a blast and enjoyed it very much! Hank Williams Jr. sang and Mrs. Palin spoke encouraging words to all!

We're all now motivated to volunteer and vote! Josiah is especially enthusiastic. Where does he get this political passion? Ha!

A Rally, A Birthday, A Party, Oh My!

Oh, what a week we have in store for us! Today we have the privilege of attending a McCain/Palin Rally and, because I'm crazy, I'm taking EVERYONE! Then it's BSF tonight.

Tomorrow is sweet Anna Grace's 5th Birthday! So after BSF tonight I need to decorate the house and wrap presents (although I had the sense to order a birthday cake last night instead of trying to make one). In the morning my darling nieces and a few charming nephews will come to jump at Pump It Up and celebrate with Anna.

Wednesday is our only down day and we will use it to catch up and prepare for our Reformation Celebration on Friday.

Thursday we have Biology, Dance and CAP ... oh, Thursdays!

Friday we are having my dear MOMYs friends over to learn about Martin Luther at a Reformation Celebration. I'll post more about the details of all that later. We also have Chess Club Friday afternoon and the BIG CSU Chess Tournament on Saturday.

I may be babbling by Saturday night but thankfully that's Date Night.

I'll post pictures soon!

The Conquering Mighty Knights

Our Mighty Knights Chess Club won First Place in the K-3 Division this weekend thanks to great playing by Benjamin, Jacob and Timothy! The other placings are as follows:

Christian Fahrenbruck received 2.5 out of 5 points in the 7-12 Division
Josiah Stephens received 2 out of 5 points in the 7-12 Division
Luke Stephens received 3.5 out of 5 points and won a Gold Medallion Award in the 4-6 Division (He didn't lose a single game but had a draw 3 times!)
Benjamin Stephens placed 5th in the K-3 Division
Jacob Stephens placed 4th in the K-3 Division
Timothy Stephens, while being 1st among 1st Graders, didn't place in the K-3 Division (way to go Timmy for holding your own against 2nd and 3rd graders!!!!)

We are so proud of our Mighty Knights!

Technically she was obedient ...

We have way too much "lawyer" blood in our genes. Our kids are gifted at obeying exactly what we say ... word for word. For example, after Rachel came down from her bed last night to ask for something ridiculous I said, "Rachel, go upstairs and only come back down in an emergency." Meaning something involving blood, fire or flooding. She obeyed ... technically.

Rachel fell asleep at the top of the stairs. She obeyed to the letter. Silly girl!

Mike returns from Austin at lunch time today so we will race through Friday Chores. Which are:

Clean Van
Vacuum Van
Vacuum Basement
Vacuum Upstairs
Grade School
Make Kolaches
Pay Bills
Pick-Up Sam's Order

The boys be at a chess tournament all day tomorrow and I can get some things done while they are gone. But it would be more fun to just play with the girls.

Timmy keeping me smiling ...

Yesterday I took two huge blankets and draped them over chairs in the front room to dry. As I was doing this I smiled to myself wondering how long it would take a kid to turn them into forts. It took all of 8 minutes. The forts somehow turned into playing "Max and Ruby". Timmy was Max, Anna was Ruby and Rachel was Louise.

Timmy serving tea to Rachel and Anna .... or Max serving tea to Louise and Ruby.
Somehow a cup was broken in this process ... on the carpet?

Here's an example of Max and Ruby. See the similarities! What cute little bunnies I have.

And then this morning Grandpa came by and offered to take me for a cup of coffee. So I turned the reigns over to the big kids and when I returned this is what I found in my cooling waffles ...


How funny is that. The great thing about Timothy is that despite being a big 6 year old he's still cuddly and sweet. He loves animals and this is his collection.

The Crumbliest, Messiest, Mushiest Meal ever ...

Let me preface my comments by saying that we love a good hamburger around here. But, as our family has grown, it's gotten so a simple meal of burgers is a luxury because we need so much beef. Sooooooo .... I've had this idea for quite some time that to stretch ground beef I could add mashed beans. It didn't seem like THAT crazy of an idea. Of course a normal person would look for a recipe but that's another story. Since Mike is out of town I thought I'd experiment on the kids. I mixed 2 pounds ground beef with two cups of mashed pinto beans & 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. I then added the fixings for my Chili Sauce Burgers. It was a really mushy concoction but being an optimist I pressed on. I made the mixture into burgers and put them in the refrigerator to chill. At dinner time I plopped them on the grill and set the timer like I would for regular burgers. When I went out to flip them they completely fell apart. So, I mushed them back together and set the timer again. When the timer went off I scraped the remains off the grill onto a platter. I would have taken a picture but I don't want to scare my friends. They looked awful. But that's not the end of the saga ...

While this mess was cooking I made corn muffins ... from a mix. I KNOW better than this. It's like I lost all long and short term memory this afternoon. Corn muffin mixes make crumbly, dry, playdough tasting muffins. I only keep the mixes for corn cakes when I'm in a pinch. AND my muffin tins were in the freezer with muffin batter in them so I used my mini-muffin tins. I could not get the tiny, crumbly things out of their tins.

So, on one platter I have a mass of crumbled up beef and beans and on another we have a pile of dilapidated muffins. Then it occurs to me I haven't fixed a fruit or a veggie so I slice up some garden tomatoes and make plates.

My lovely children actually fained excitement at the meal. They typically love chili burgers. After a few jokes about the consistency I finally told the kids to eat the muffins and tomatoes and set the "meat" aside. I put it all in a bin to turn into tacos tomorrow. They were such troopers I was tempted to race out and buy them each a Happy Meal. Then I looked under the table and saw piles of corn muffin crumbs and changed my mind.

The finale of our disgusting meal was Rachel walking over to the couch, picking up a real baseball and tossing it at Anna's ear. Oh my! My head was screaming "run away, run away" but I know better. I put ice on Anna's ear and paid $5 for them to watch the new Veggie Tales On Demand. It was cheaper than 9 Happy Meals. I then poured myself a cold drink, lit the candles in the kitchen and began sweeping by candle light.

One final note. I threw the left-over muffins away. I could have saved them for corn bread stuffing but didn't want to be reminded of the meal in the future.

A Day In The Life...

Or should I say 'A Monday In The Life' ...

Anna is the first up and enjoys some apples and milk while I have some quiet time reading my Bible and finishing up my BSF homework. Rachel actually woke me up at 5:30 but SHE fell back to sleep! At 6:40 I go upstairs to take a shower and at 7:00 I wake up the rest of the kids.
You'd think my shower would have awakened this sleeping Jacob Wombat! It was his turn to sleep in our room while Daddy is gone. He makes for a cuddly companion.
Ben woke up with a smile on his face!
Breakfast and Family Devotions. I'm holding Elizabeth who is jealous because everyone else has milk and she has water. Poor baby. We read Psalm 1 and found two attributes of God. Searching for the attributes of God is like a treasure hunt!
Morning chores ... Lizzy is such a help to Mary (ha!)
Rachel and Anna scooping the litter box .... ewwwww! They actually LIKE this job and argue over who gets to scoop! Wacky little girls! Once morning chores are finished it's time for school.
Mary and Luke setting Elizabeth and Rachel up in "Blanket Time" so I can work with the big kids. This was Elizabeth's first day without a morning nap and she did great!
They even played together!
I sit at the end of the table and work with the youngest first, Timmy and Anna. Then they go do seat work and I help Jacob and Ben and so on and so on until we're done.
Josiah and Mary do their math on laptops at the island where I can keep a watchful eye. The kitty is in front of them soaking up the warmth from the laptops.
The kitty kept batting her tail on Josiah's books while he was working. He's so much more patient with her than he is with his siblings!
The benefit of being a "little" is that you finish school sooner ... the detriment is that Mom will recruit you to switch laundry or play with babies!
Finished with school so it's outside to play! Mary's organizing roller blade races.
Making lunch with Rachel. Leftovers and carrots.
Elizabeth saying, "I'm so happy when my tummy isn't sick!"
It's not a day at the Stephens without a game of chess being played!
Afternoon chores ... I asked the girls to go clean the doll house toys up in the basement and this is where I found them!
Timmy is in charge of the shoe shelves and coats. The flaw in this plan is he can't read or reach the hooks. Hmmmmm, what was I thinking?
Mary sorting laundry for me ... towels, socks, little girls and little boys. This way I can fold it in bits and not get overwhelmed. Elizabeth actually wanted to get into the exersaucer! That's a first!
Timothy and Jacob emptying the dishwasher. Where's Ben to empty the top!
Mary getting jammies on Elizabeth.

Grandma and Grandpa came for dinner and to babysit the little girls while we all went to BSF. I was racing to get dinner made and the little girls ready and didn't take any pictures.
As we were leaving our culdesac we saw this beautiful moon hanging over the nature preserve across from our house. Ahhhhh, what a lovely thing to see on the way to BSF.
On our way into BSF. BSF makes me love Mondays!
Hot fudge sundaes when we get home. Not the smartest bedtime snack but fun!

And then it's off to bed. The only difficult thing about BSF on Mondays is we stay up too late and it makes Tuesday morning pretty rough. But it is WAY worth it!