Baking 101

Ruby likes to 'shop' in the pantry. For some reason I had a ziplock with muffin mix in it and she got it out and dumped it on the floor. Ruby puts everything in her mouth, to the point that I don't ever worry about her choking on anything. She filled her cup with the muffin mix and started to eat it. She proceeded to gag on the flour and I had to get her water to rinse it down.

Erik was cleaning up Ruby's mess rather relunctly but he got good practice writing his letters in the flour on the floor.

Here is Ruby with the muffin mix paste on her face. The funny thing is that the other day we were at Isobell's house and Ruby was eating the flour off of the table where we were rolling out pizza crust. Isobell watched Ruby for a while then decided to try the flour since Ruby was enjoying it so much. Isobell put some in her mouth and immediately turned around and started spitting, she gave Ruby a look like what is so great about this stuff and Ruby looked at her and said,"Yummy"

To each his own.

I love the following Recipe and have found it helps give me some energy later in the day.

Power Ball

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Honey

cream together until smooth gradually add in 3 cups oatmeal

1/2 Cup flax

1 Cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup craisins

1/4 dry milk

roll into ping pong size balls and refrigerate or freeze. I keep them in the fridge to snack on through out the day.

Open House

I usually try to avoid gross details but I am feeling sorry for myself so I am not going to edit--The following is not for the faint of heart.
Mind you I am pregnant and not feeling good, kinda a constant state of nausea. We had an open house on Sunday so I spent the weekend cleaning up for it. Well we were supposed to attend a wedding in Port Ludlow on Saturday so after getting Sean and Aaron ready for the backyard ballistic camp I got the rest of us packed up and ready to leave Saturday morning for the wedding. After the kids went to bed I cleaned and cleaned so the house would look and smell good. I went to bed about 12:00am and not long after Taylor got up throwing up, she did not make it to the toilet but succeeded in getting most of the carpet in the hall then finishing the job in the bathroom sink. I cleaned that up and went to bed the Ruby got up with diarreah and I had to bathe her, change her crib sheets, and get whatever fell out of her diaper on the way to the bathroom cleaned up from the hall. Finally some sleep!!
We opted out of the wedding and stayed home only to make a mess of everything that was previously clean. The girls were still mostly sick and poor potty trained Ruby couldn't help it but I noticed several places (Erik's comforter, Ian's fort part of his bed and the carpet --again) where the diaper leaked and I had to clean it up.
By this time I was done and I called several carpet cleaner people to see if they could come today but alas, none could. I prevailed with heavy use of Oust and Lysol and carpet cleaner. Thank heaven above for Clorox wipes.
We made it through the day I got everything ready for the open house and left the house at nap time. The afternoon was not pretty and it rained all day. We went to Mikaela's new apartment then to Rocket Donuts and took Mikaela shopping for some apartment supplies. Finally we went to the rained out boy scout kick off picnic!
Hopefully we are done with the 48 -72 hour flu and it limits itself to the girls.
I received and email from our realtor and nobody showed at the open house!! but she complimented me on how clean and beautiful the house looked. I guess my efforts were not in vain and I can enjoy the temporary clean.

Backyard Ballistics

Aaron and Sean attended a backyard ballistics camp for fathers and sons. Here is Aaron with the ice cannon that they built. They need a compressor for the cannon to work so they are off shopping for one. They had a great time blowing things up.

Sean said building the rocket was an exercise in tedium. Fortunately we can get more engines and shoot it off again and again.

Aaron really enjoyed all of the water sports. They went kayaking, canoeing, used and row boat, and swam in the ocean.

Sean liked playing pool and fooz ball. They got to play with airsoft machine guns which Aaron thought was the best thing in the world. He also knows that several of his friends have one. I think I know what Aaron wants for Christmas (It kinda reminds me of the Christmas Story when Ralphie wants the Red Ryder BB Gun).

They also did some knife and ax throwing. It was a great way for them to have some good father-son time together doing guy things!

Surprise!

OK so I really did not want to take a picture of my behind in the jeans but they are cute jeans, aren't they?!

The other day I got a call from Motherhood Maternity they said the jeans I ordered were in. But, I did not order any jeans. Well, they are bought and paid for with your name on them the lady told me.

I was so excited I left early for a meeting I had to go to and went and picked them up right away. They were a perfect fit and they actually stay up!!! A miracle I know. It seems that every pair of maternity pants I own fall down, How annoying. Now I have one good pair of cute jeans that stay up to bring me into fall. Thank you so much for the blessing and gift.

How do I know I am loved?

My dear friend Tami came over today and helped me rearrange the girls' rooms. In light of the fact that Mikaela is moving out this weekend I am not one to waste space. Now, Ruby gets her own room to share with the baby and Taylor gets her own room to share with the abundance of craft supplies.

In addition to helping move the bunk beds and the crib and all of Mikaela's stuff she sat patiently with all of my miscellaneous puzzle pieces and tried to find the matching puzzles!!!! What a great friend. She came with dinner for me to put in the crock pot, meat that was on sale for me to batch cook and good friends for Ian and Ruby to play with.

Summer Fun

What to do with a 4 days at home and only 3 children??? Ian and I are having fun doing crafts and playing games that really don't require rules. Ruby is almost fully potty trained!!! Now if we could get the nighttime bed wetter dry we would have 4 months of no diapers/pullups (the first time in the last 11 years) I guess we will have to see. Mikaela is getting ready to move out this next weekend. I think it is much harder on me than on her. I will take some photos and update this week. Also, trying to get my blog linked with my friends' blogs. Hmmmm maybe some technical help will come soon. Have a great day!! We are off to take Mikaela to work and have lunch out -- what a treat.

Solid Rock Family Camp

We just spend 2 fabulous days at camp with 6 families and almost 30 children!! It was so much fun. The hill in the back yard nearly killed me but did not seem to slow down the endless activity.

I will update more after I finish laundry and cleaning up all the puke from the 2 children that woke up completly exhausted and lethargic. I guess we do need our family T-shirts that say "we puke" More later when we are back on our feet.

Crazy Busy Days of Summer

I know it has been awhile since I have had a post but we are busy enjoying summer!! I needed a haircut and finally got a few hours to myself and got my haircut. A bit shorter than I planned but feels so much better. Mikol cut 6 inches off. Sean and the kiddos don't like it. Sean says that I look like Farrah Faucett. Maybe it has something to do with the 70's shirt that I am wearing.

We spent a day at Hovander Park with Tori and Dustin and new baby Paul. What a sweetie he is. I love that my children love babies! Jess and her children were there too and Savannah was great with Ruby, very much a mother hen but helpful. Jess is definitely uncomfortable and ready for her boys to be here!

We bought a 'new' van!! it is an '02 Chevy Express. We got a good deal and really appreciate the space it affords us. It even has AC in the back!! Erik told someone that it has a lot of room and can hold a lot more babies!! Let's see what God has planned in that department.

This was a rare opportunity that we had Mikaela with us (she seems to be working all the time) we tried to get 70 pounds of blueberries but had to be satisfied with the 17 we actually picked. I think that we will definitely try again. but it does not seem to be our year at berry picking.


On Sunday we went to the Civil War re-enactment it was very educational and very loud which did not seem to bother Ruby she slept through the first battle. Taylor was disappointed that I would not buy the Civil War dress for her.

Couldn't resist this photo. The children did really well. Especially considering we had spent the previous 3 days at the WATCH conference. It is the Washington Association of Teaching Christian Homeschoolers. It was such a good opportunity. A little tough bringing a mostly potty trained 2 year old to the sessions but definitely worth it. We had the days packed from 8am to 8:30 pm!! More than we do in a month usually. Taylor got to stay in the dorms and eat in the cafeteria with Geaba and Kimberly. The rest of us stayed in an on campus apartment. Erik fell of the top bunk and lost his blanket 4 times in the night. Ian fell off the top bunk twice before we moved him to the floor and Aaron fell off the couch and did not even remember it in the morning. I guess I am glad that Ruby was in the crib. The conference had some great speakers and real encouragement. Sean laughed a lot and learned a lot. I got some great homeschooling resources and had lots of fun choosing and dreaming about our schedule for the upcoming year.

I had the awesome privilege of attending the birth of the Overstreet twins. I had arrived in Seattle for the conference on Thurs. evening and went to the general session. Then I got my family settled down for the night and looked over the conference schedule I finally turned out the light to go to sleep at 11:45 and at 12:11 I got a call from Jess. Her water just broke!!! So after throwing some stuff in a bag and getting my mom's car I headed North (first I got lost and finally found the freeway in downtown Seattle) I came to their house and Jess labored for a few hours. She did such a great job staying calm and moving around drinking water. It was a great time together. About 5am her contractions finally got regular and were more consistent. We went to the hospital and were admitted by 6:30 or so. Of course, the doctors and nurses were shocked when she said that she did not plan on using pain meds. The worst part seemed to be the 20 minutes of continuous monitoring when she couldn't move around. The first part seemed to go slow but really picked up in the bathtub. The presence of Jesus during the birth was really incredible. It was so peaceful (definitely intense and hard work) but calm. I really enjoyed sharing the amazing birth with my good friends. It seemed like the pushing went really fast and baby A was born at 8:19 weighing in at 6 pounds 6oz. and Baby B was born at 8:43 and weighed 6 lbs 12oz. They are healthy and beautiful. I don't have the words to express what a privilege it was to work with them and share in their joy. Thank you Jesus for the miraculous birth of Justice and Honor.