God Is All Around Us by Twila Paris

The sun behind the mountain is setting in the west
The bluebird and her little ones are gathered in their nest
And I am on my pillow because I need my rest
God is all around us, and He knows best

He's higher than the treetops in the tallest wood
Why He would come and speak to me, I'd tell you if I could
It makes me want to please Him in all the ways I should
God is all around us, and He is good

God is all around us everywhere we go
Caring for His children that's all I need to know

He's stronger than the eagle circling above
He's wiser the oldest owl more gentle than a dove
He's closer than pajamas that fit me like a glove
God is all around us, and He is Love

Timothy's 8th Birthday!

Our tiny, Timmy, turtle is EIGHT! He's such a doll. He LOVES fishing to the point he's created a worm garden (well, my garden)! So this was his cake ...

It even had Swedish fish swimming in the river! Very fun and pretty tasty, too. Although Swedish fish don't last long in jello ... lesson learned.

Timmy requested bagels for breakfast ... his favorite food. We had planned a big fishing trip for lunch but cold, hard rain caused us to reschedule both fishing and home school soccer. Kind of a bummer on his big day but his new giant, Lego house paired with Geoffrey Dellinger stopping by made up for his disappointment! I took him out to dinner but he was so tired he wanted to get it to go and come home. Cutie! I just love this little guy!

Josiah's 16th Birthday!

SIXTEEN! How can this be?! Josiah's day focused around his favorite foods. He wanted Chick Filet for breakfast AND lunch followed by a giant burger for dinner. Can you say growing, teenage boy?! After dinner we shopped for books at Barnes & Nobel which is pretty much Josiah's idea of heaven. We couldn't think of a theme for him so we hung up every color of streamers we had, made signs and blew up balloons. His cake was a quintuple chocolate cake and was pretty fantastic! We hope to have a real party for him when school is out and Mike is in town ... maybe in May sometime. We all love our Joe. He's a reader, a thinker, a dreamer and a space-cadet ... and we love him to pieces!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Elizabeth!!!

Elizabeth, my baby, is THREE! No girl has ever enjoyed a day all about her as much as dear Lizzy! We began the day with taking her to drive Josiah to Ridgeview so we could stop and let her choose a special breakfast and inflate her 3 foot tall Barney balloon with helium.

A girl and her balloon ... she talked to him and played with him all day. Funny!
Opening her new baby doll!
Playing with her doll which she did all morning long. So darling.
The cake ... I think he turned out pretty Barney looking ... at least she thought so and that's all that mattered!

We all went to Jumpin' to celebrate and Miss Tammy came to surprise dear Lizzy with a new doll.



Rachel was equally excited!

My funny brother and sister-in-law gave Lizzy this very soft, stuffed llama with the book Llama, Llama Mad at Mama which is very funny because I'm scared of llamas. I'm pretty sure they are alien life forms ... they look like muppets with their huge eyes and long necks ... ewwww! But, Lizzy was so happy and it was a nice substitute for her missing pacifier in that 3 year olds don't have pacifiers.

Ben's Braces

Braces just magnify his handsomeness!

Our busiest week of the year ...

This is the week of all weeks. IOWA tests, a field trip for Josiah, Ben gets braces, Lizzy's birthday is Wednesday, Josiah's is Thursday and Timothy's is Friday. Mike is in Chicago until midnight on Friday and will return to take Luke to Denver for the Regional Chess Tournament for the weekend. Whew! I have all the birthday shopping done but am wishing I'd spent more time cleaning the house over the weekend ... it kind of looks like a tornado hit it yesterday. I'm not sure why. Anyway, lots to do ... pray for a smooth week filled with lots of birthday blessings!

$4 for 10 pounds of chicken leg quarters ...

Can be made into:

1 meal for a family of 11 of BBQ Chicken
1 meal for 9 hungry kids on date night of Vegetable Bean Soup
2-4 lunches for Josiah to take to school of BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Normally the chicken costs $6.90 per 10 lb. bag but I got 3 bags (30 lbs.!) for $4 a piece a few weeks ago.

For the BBQ Chicken:

After lunch I took all the chicken and spread it out in my roaster. Then I sprinkled it with salt and pepper and slathered (that's my Grandmother's word) it all with BBQ sauce. It roasted for 5 hours at 325 degrees. We ate it for dinner with deviled eggs, 3 bean salad and everything bread. I have no idea how many drumsticks Ben ate but I can say it was more than 3! Hungry, growing boys!

For the Vegetable Bean Soup:

Saturday afternoon I took all of the bones from the BBQ Chicken meal and simmered them with oodles of lovely veggie scraps. Onion peels, carrot peels, celery leaves/ends and bay leaves. Close to dinner time I strained out the veggies scraps and added carrots, potatoes, green beans, peas and navy beans. I usually just add whatever leftover veggies we have from the week but we had none so I had to actually work to cut and dice. I also added a few bouillon cubes as I didn't make the broth early enough and it wasn't very potent. The kids had Vegetable Bean Soup and French Bread for dinner.

For BBQ Sandwiches:

Mary took all the leftover meat and shredded it for Josiah's lunches. The only issue with this is Josiah is a hungry teenager and could probably eat all of it in one sitting so I have to stretch it with sides like tortilla chips.

Not bad for $4!

Who's watching whom? or is it Who's watching who?

Lizzy, Timothy, Jacob, Rachel, Anna, Sabrina, Benjamin, Harrison and Grandpa watching monkeys at the zoo a few weeks ago.

Our First Fishing Trip of the Year

Fisherman Timothy

On Saturday we went on our first fishing trip of the year. The kids, especially dear Timmy, had organized and planned all week for the little trip and were ready to go the second I came home from my BSF meeting.

The girls turned the picnic table into a boat to practice casting with their princess poles.
Timothy readying his pole. Notice the box of worms on my counter .... ewwwww.
Even die-hard fisherman Timmy is a bit squeemish about putting worms on his hook.
You can take a teenager fishing but he'll bring a book to read while he fishes ... better than a cell phone I guess (or a girlfriend ... ack!)
Luke really got the hang of it fast and was the first to start catching fish.
Rachel, pure pink perfection on a muddy bank.
Mary is a good sport but at 14 fishing is high on her list of "fun things to do on a Saturday morning". She had charge of Busy Lizzy while I had charge of Anna and Rachel. I got the better end of that deal.
Busy Lizzy ... I have no idea what she was doing ... and yes her flip-flops are on the wrong feet ... how is that possible?

I planted my Spring garden today!

With the help of my Dad and kiddos we planted our Spring garden today. We tilled the soil including some grass I hope to kill off and planted a salad mix of lettuce, carrots, radishes, spinach, cabbage, eggplant (not sure this will make it this early), onions, green beans and decorative red beans that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. My garlic survived the winter in my cold-frame with a few tiny radishes which I think is a miracle after the winter we had! I still need to find some kale seeds as the store was sold out when I bought the other seeds. I also need to figure out where to plant my red onions.

It feels so wonderful and I'm so excited! The neat thing about this summer is that as the garden grows so will our new baby and as we begin to reap the benefits of our hard work our baby will arrive! So much to look forward to! Tomorrow I have a bunch of tedious work to tackle. Rocks to move, flagstone to lay, sod to move and more to plant. It is increasingly difficult to finish school each day with the beautiful, warm weather calling to us outside.

I took the straw bales from the cold-frame and the boys made a "fort" ... it's pretty hideous and I'm sure it's a vermin magnet but they don't care. They think it's wonderful and even took stray straw to try to make a thatch roof. The girls dominate the play house complete with curtains, dishes and pillows causing the boys to beg for a hide-away of their own. I'll have to post some pictures soon.

Mary's 14th Birthday ... did I just type 14 ... eeghads!

Early morning birthday snuggles. Mary is so blessed!

By 14 we figured the days of streamers with silly themes were over and opted pink roses, a giant cinnamon roll, a Carmel Frappuccino and presents. Her main present was a beautiful new bike!
Mary, Rachel and Lizzy with Mary's butterscotch cake.

We tried to make Mary's day super special. Her favorite meals, no chores and fun. Mary is such a help and so precious to our family. She cheerfully goes above and beyond never complaining. I can not believe how quickly she's grown and that by God's grace she's maturing into such a godly young lady.