Snow Day!

I took the boys to the CSU Chess Club last night. When we arrived it was pouring down rain. When we left two hours later there was already 2 inches of wet snow on the sidewalks! By morning we'd gotten a few more inches and as of dinner time our backyard looked like this ...

Isn't it beautiful!

I think our playhouse looks like it's covered in white icing when it snows. This will definitely test my cold-frame as I was just getting tiny sprouts on my radishes, lettuce and garlic! I took this picture a few days ago ...
And this is what it looks like today (with the windows closed, of course) ...

I didn't have the courage to walk out and get an up-close and personal picture today!

I'm really regretting not watering it yesterday and hope my tiny plants hold up! The kids and I worked really hard in the basement all morning today. We set up a "guest room" from Grandma and Grandpa, moved things around and cleaned. Three trash bags, one broken vacuum and a sore back later this is what we have ...

What grandparent doesn't want a foosball table to set their luggage on?
The girls play house ... downsized quite a bit but change always spurs new interest.
One day maybe we'll have a couch or some bean bag chairs for the kids although they aren't complaining.

So, now I must ask, "Uncle Patrick, will you let your kids in my basement now?" Baha! The only people who will get that joke are those who saw my basement on Saturday ... but they've all been sworn to secrecy!

Anna's Puppy Party

On Saturday we celebrated Anna's 6th birthday with a Puppy Party. Not only did her friends Taylor and Jaylee come but she was blessed to have her cousin Sophie (her favorite person in the world) as well as Thomas, Henry and Winston come. Several of the older kids also came to "help" but mostly they played football in the backyard with the uncles! Super fun!

Upon arrival the guests were given puppy ears and led to our obstacle course. Aren't they so cute!
Thomas fetching as part of the course. I like his ears flapping in the wind!
Miss Anna Puppy weaving through the grass!
Puppies digging in the leaves looking for glitter, bouncy balls ... note to self ... buy bigger ones next time that are easier to find!
Honestly between the obstacle course and cake we did a lot of fun stuff ... I just didn't think to take pictures! We made dog houses for our stuffed dogs, ate dog bone sandwiches, got chased by uncles pretending to be bears ...
Uncle Patrick climbing up the playhouse to get the puppies ...
The puppies capturing Uncle John ... bahahahaha!
Some how my helpers and big kids got relegated to the little kids tables while the puppies enjoyed their meal at the big table ... pretty funny actually!
Josiah even got into the puppy action ... should I post this on Facebook for him?

We had such a wonderful day! Patrick's family stayed all day and we were able to go out to dinner as couples thanks to my very dear, babysitting aged children! It was such a treat and so much fun! I love my family, I love birthday parties, I love Colorado, I love sweet fellowship, I love a house full of kids giggling and I love the feeling of falling into bed after such a lovely day!

Lizzy, Rachel, Sophie and Anna after a long, fun day!

Proverbs of the Day

I'm excited to post pictures of Anna's Puppy Party but will have to wait until I have more time. In the mean time I had to share this Proverb that one of the children copied several times today (I'm not naming names to protect his reputation ... ha!)

An anxious heart weighs a man down,
but a kind word cheers him up.
Proverbs 12:25

This is particularly relevant to this child because school for him is stressful and brings out the worst in him. After 10 minutes of work his mood changes into a surly, snarly grouch. When his dear little sister offers him a pencil with an actual eraser (which are hard to find around here) he sneers at her or when someone mentions the fun we had over the weekend he comments, "it wasn't that fun." It is my goal each day to stay cheerful and be full of "kind words" despite his attitude and one day, oh one glorious day, maybe he'll sit down and do school with a cheerful heart. Or, maybe he'll be a major league baseball player and look back on his education as a waste of time ... but at least he'll be able to read his teammates jerseys and total the score.

Leaves and Neighbors

My silly neighbors thought we were burning leaves when in fact this is what we were doing with the leaves ...

Rachel
Anna ... with one huge smile!
Timothy

My job was to re-pile the leaves after each slide ... and boy can I feel it in my arms today. Why would my neighbors think I'd waste perfectly good leaves to burn ... I mean there's jumping in them, composting them, hiding things in them for scavenger hunts, .... we were burning hay though ... which is technically NOT illegal.

Anna's 6th Birthday

Yesterday was Anna's 6th Birthday! It was a wonderful day! Mike and I had gone out and picked up her present while Mary put the girls to bed on Tuesday night. In the morning, we put the present in a box and brought Anna down. As she approached the box a tiny little paw peeked out at her ...
Not a great picture but wow was she surprised to see a tiny kitten in the box!
She named her new kitty Sparkles and played or held her all day long. She told everyone that she was the kitty's mama and knew what was best for her. So cute!
This is not a habit we will continue but for her first morning with us she ate on the table. Even her little crunching is adorable.
The kids are inadvertently training Sparkles that she needs to sleep on someone all the time. It's so much like having a newborn baby. Grandpa and I took Anna out to lunch to Chick-Fil-A and to get a treat. She had to turn sweet Sprarkles over to sibling while she was gone which was rough. John, Winnie, Grandma and Grandpa came for dinner. Here is what her cake looked like ... I made two, one for Wednesday and one for Saturday when her friends will come for her Puppy Party.
I think it turned out pretty cute. Hopefully his twin will hold up well until Saturday! I would love to post more but need to get busy. I just can't believe my little Anna is six!
Anna feeding her toy leopard kitty while cuddling her real kitty ... I think she may have an extra nurturing gene like her mother.

Week Six of School ... I think

Rachel and Elizabeth ... I am so blessed!

Week six of school was a blur. I'm not sure why. Nothing horribly eventful. Ben had a fever on Monday that lasted a mere 24 hours. Josiah had his first major essay due for Western Civilization about Saint Augustine which took up a good chunk of our week. My number one helper Mary was sick ... really sick ... high fever, sore throat, exhausted. Surprisingly, no one else got this virus! A miracle in itself. Many of them were still on the edge of the previous illness with lingering symptoms. On Tuesday our dear friends, the Dellingers, stopped by for a visit. I was in the throws of making Green Tomato Salsa and my house smelled like it! Vinegar, onions, tomatoes, peppers ... I can honestly say I'm tired of canning. Dicing, chopping, boiling, sterilizing, timing ... I'm ready to get snowed in for a week. Here's a picture of Timothy and his friend, Geoffrey ...
They have such a great time together and Geoffrey is Timmy's one friend at BSF. Thank you, Lord, for the Dellingers.

On Saturday Josiah went to the Air Force/Wyoming game (Go Air Force) while Luke went to a chess tournament. Luke played better than he's ever played and the coordinator of the event even watched his games and gave him praise. He placed 6th but only because his sleeve knocked his king down in game 3 and his opponent called the judge. Technically if you touch a piece you have to move it so he was forced to move his king. I could have cried for him and can't believe another kid would play so dirty. Luke handled it with such grace and learned a huge lesson ... wear short sleeve shirts while playing chess. The rest of us stayed home. Grandpa finished my cold-frame which is beautiful. I payed bills and worked in my garden. A nice day. A few of the kids have lingering coughs, headaches, sniffles and Mike had a work crisis so we stayed home from church this morning. I'm hoping this week is a virus free week!

This week will be focused on Anna's 6th Birthday! Hooray for Anna Grace! I can't believe she's going to be six. I'll post a birthday post on Wednesday as Anna's birthday is a celebration of so many things. We'll have a family party on Wednesday and then on Saturday have a Puppy Party. I can hardly wait. We have a HUGE surprise for Anna as a present ... I'll post pictures first thing. I want her to open it before Joe leaves at 7:00 so everyone will be up early in anticipation. It's the best present I could imaging giving her and I am so excited. Finally, here's another picture of my littlest punkins ...
I thought this was a sweet picture of Rachel peeling a carrot for Lizzy. Sisters are sweet.

Josiah's Homecoming 2009

Mike fixing Josiah's tie ... very dear.
Once dressed Josiah snuck downstairs for a little PS2 before he left ... he's still my little boy.
Josiah and Emily

Winter Garden and First Snow 2009

Grandpa, the kids and I worked hard Tuesday and Wednesday (so hard that I overslept Wednesday and Thursday ... argh) getting the garden winterized. We ended up having to pull up the tomato plants as they were dying faster than I could save them ... we saved bunches of green and red tomatoes though. It actually felt good to pull the ugly things out. We then built a cold frame out of straw bales which we'll cover with old windows to have a winter garden. It's very exciting!
Jacob really enjoyed yanking them out!
Jacob, Timmy, Anna and Rachel picking tomatoes.
Our straw cold-frame

While pulling out the old we found the tiny little gifts at the end of the season ... when I picked heads of cabbage I left the large leaves and roots and the plants made these new tiny little cabbages ... aren't they cute! I think they look like little fairies are going to peek out from behind the leaves ...
Timmy, Rachel and Anna and our little cabbages
My tiny zucchinis

We raced to get the garden done because our first snow arrived on Thursday morning. I took the little girls and Grandpa to visit the Dellinger's baby chicks (and forgot the camera) while the other kids stayed home and played football in the snow.




This is Homecoming weekend in Ft. Collins. We'll go to the CSU parade tonight, come home for pizza and end our evening at the family festival on campus. Tomorrow Joe will take Miss Emily Cleary to Homecoming ... waaaaaaaaaaa ... and Mary is performing with her TLC group at Summitview Church. Hopefully somewhere in there Mike and I can get a date and I can finish switching the seasonal clothes .. we'll see ...

The Gods of the Copybook Headings

Dad sent me this today ... as a preface as noted on the Creative Whispers blog:

In Kipling’s time a copybook was used to practice penmanship. Each page began with a truism for the heading - often something like “Afflictions are often blessings in disguise” or “By its fruit the tree is known.” The student practiced his or her handwriting by copying the heading.

Here's his poem:

The Gods of the Copybook Headings
by Rudyard Kipling

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Week Five of School

Back to "normal" or as normal as we can be. On Friday night we had some new friends over and Benjamin said, "What do you think they expect our house to be like?" I said, "They expect that we live in a normal house like normal people." He laughed for five minutes and said, "Mom, we are NOT normal." Maybe they thought we lived in a circus tent or a zoo? I don't know. When we know them better I'll have to ask.

Today we'll do school, do our weekly library run, pick Joe up early and go to BSF. Tonight is my fellowship night with my group of ladies. I have no confirmations and may spend some quality time with myself but that's ok. I was not a stellar fellowship attender back when I was a group member ... so I understand how difficult it is to make it to things like this. Plus, some ladies just want to come and study the Bible ... they're not looking for fellowship.

The big news in our household this week is that Josiah asked a girl to Homecoming. She's a sweet girl he knows from CAP. He's so cute and excited (sorry, Joe, you're cute at 15). So now I'm thinking about what he'll wear, where they'll eat, how we'll get them to and fro and so on and so on. I don't know who is more nervous, Joe or me? I'm also planning out timely lectures in my head. I've already told him if he touches a girl before he's married toxic fumes will melt the skin right off his hands ... he laughed ... if only it were so! I wish I could turn back time and just have littles again ... the dilemmas of a 4 year old are so much easier than those of teenagers ... and soon they'll have grown-up problems ... ack ... one day at a time. It is fun to have young adults in the house to talk to, share coffee with and laugh about silly things. So I guess I don't want to turn back time ...

Crispy Kale

I found a new recipe for my abundance of kale and it's so easy and so yummy and so healthy ... I'm naming it ....




Crispy Kale (not nearly as good as Krispy Kreme unfortunately)

Take several leaves of kale and de-stem it. Place leaves on cookie sheet. Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil (very little ... like a teaspoon) and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

This gets really crunchy like chips. I haven't sold all the kids on it because it's oh so very green but I'll get there ...