Changes

Last week 3 of my girls went in for their first 'real' haircuts. Taylor has donated her hair 3 times and therefore has had haircuts but never from something better than Master Cuts. 

 I have been looking for a new hairdresser and when I asked several different people (who I think have cute hair) they all mentioned the same lady. I figured that was a good indication that I liked her work and we would give it a go.

 Taylor loves hair tutorials and likes to braid, and do hair, but the length was difficult to work with. I love long hair, I wish my hair was about a foot longer but, mine needs regular (twice yearly) cuts to keep it from looking really bad. Therefore, It never seems to get any longer.

 Taylor's hair grows fast and is beautiful and she is 15 after all.  So it wasn't hard for me to let her make the cut and I love it! The curls you see here were not created with a curling iron or anything, just the stylist drying it a certain way~ Lucky girl.

 Liberty has Never had a haircut, and I know it looks awful in this picture. That is partly from taking it out of braids, partly from the mineral build up from our water and partly just because it had been 4 years with no cuts or trims. The first 2 years she didn't really have any hair so I guess it's only 2 years worth of growth, but she is pretty rough around the edges.

 She liked the shampoo and cut, but I think she sat still and really was motivated by the Hershey's Kiss she got at the end.

 I had a really hard time because I like long hair on girls. Did I mention I like long hair? Her hair looks so much better now, and the shorter hair matches her spunky little self!

 Ruby's cut was harder for Sean to swallow, because he really likes long hair. I think I see a trend here.
He doesn't have to cut it or brush it and deal with the drama that is notoriously Ruby.

 I think I let it go longer than I should because in the last few months Taylor has mostly taken over the little girls hair. They have had fish bone braids, french braids, waterfall braids, crown braids, and other updo's that I only dreamed about as a little girl.
Taylor convinced me that Ruby's hair would be easier and look better.

She was right! Ruby loves the independence of being able to brush her own hair (mostly) and do pony tails on herself! She still wears her cute little hat All. The. Time. BUT, there are no more tears! She is trying to get me to let her wash it herself, I don't think we are quite there, Yet.
Me, I had to wait a whole-nother week to get mine done.

Meal Plan Monday (A Day Early)

A few weeks ago my big kids were gone. So, I decided to go grocery shopping in the Honda Car. 

 Our first stop was Cash & Carry. I quickly realized that bringing the Honda probably wasn't the best idea around. While it is friendlier on the gas budget, it isn't so friendly on space.
After I dropped the children off (with their lunches) at Tami's house I loaded the back of the car with a 50 pound bag of potatoes, 25 lbs of Oatmeal, 20 lbs of Flour, and 20 lbs of Cane Sugar as well as the other 'smaller' groceries.

 I picked the kids up, we ran a few errands then hit Costco. I knew this was my opportunity to grocery shop and that we were going to have to be creative in fitting groceries and children in the car. I purchased TP (It was on sale), A ream of paper (also on sale), cheese, 4 packages of bananas, as well as our other usual groceries.

 Yes, TP and Paper fit the grocery category in our house. Our current grocery budget is $500 per month. Out of curiosity I divided the budget by the number of people in our house and the number of days in a month.
We are feeding our family for $2. 08 per person per day! Granted this does not include our eggs (from our chickens) or the 1/2 beef my mother in law gave us for Christmas, but it does include toiletries.

It does,however  involve a fair bit of creativity, and it isn't easy but we are doing it. God is faithful, he provides. We got some leftovers from a training at Sean's work and were able to freeze some for future meals and eat a few meals from them while we were at it. Plus I got a bonus night of not having to cook. 

So here goes: 

Monday: 

     Breakfast: Granola and Berry Smoothies

     Lunch: Chicken Salad, String Cheese, Granola Bars

     Dinner: Teriyaki Chicken, Rice, Pot stickers, Asparagus

Tuesday:

    Breakfast: oatmeal with blueberries and slivered almonds

    Lunch: fried rice (we are studying about China this week)

    Dinner: Turkey and rice soup

Wednesday:

    Breakfast; Dutch Babies

    Lunch: homemade pizza, regular and Gluten Free

    Dinner: Taco Soup with sour cream, avocado, and chips

Thursday:

     Breakfast: granola with raspberries and yogurt 

     Lunch: quesedillas

     Dinner: BBQ meatloaf, broccoli, and potatoes

Friday: 

     Breakfast: scrambled eggs and cereal

     Lunch: string cheese, granola bars (homemade), powerballs, and apple slices

     Dinner: Pulled pork (sandwiches or over rice), and brussel sprouts, 

Saturday:

     Breakfast: oatmeal with Craisins

     Lunch: Same as Friday (we have the Whatcom County Youth Fair both days)

     Dinner: Pad Thai

So happy that's done! What's on your menu this week? 

Monks

 We have been learning about the early Christian Church. Monks and Monasteries were a large part of influence of the developing church.
Monks had to promise to give up everything they owned, to obey their abbot and not get married.
Medieval monks followed rules that were written by St. Benedict: Monks should pray, study, and work hard in the fields. They should eat plain food, wear simple clothes and look after the sick and the poor.

Just like the Monasteries, quiet, dark, and cold. 

We grew an herb garden with many of the same herbs that monks used in healing. Now we will work on learning how to use those herbs. We also looked at many of the manuscripts that were Illuminated by medieval monks. We tried our hand at doing some illuminating, it is definitely a tedious and time consuming art.
My favorite parts of this study has been reading, "Trial and Triumph" a book about Martyrs for the faith. Learning more about St. Francis of Assisi has been fascinating.
We decided to finish our unit on Monks by recreating a dinner in the Monastery. We did not use lights, we had the house really cold, and ate split pea soup with ginger ale in silence. Ian was our server so if anyone wanted anything they had to signal to him, and Ian would go get whatever they indicated they wanted. I was surprised that Liberty could eat the entire meal without talking! It was pleasant and gave us a small indication into what sacrifice the Monks made in their devotion to studying the Word of God. My one concern is that Sean will want to eat like this every night! Ruby thought it was the best, she wants to do this at least once a week!  Aaron was the only one who liked the Ginger Ale, so I had to put a stop to his finishing off everyone's drink.
And because I'm cool like that, or just because I didn't know how to end the meal, We turned on the lights and served ice cream sundaes.
What are you doing to bring history alive in your home?

Happy (Meal)

In November we attended a Harvest Party at our church. The children each received a coupon for a free Happy Meal from Mc Donald's. The thing is I know that a Happy Meal alone is not enough food to count for a meal at our house, even for the 4 year old.

Libby's 1st (and only) Barbie

However, we were out running errands and I had failed to anticipate how long we were going to be away from the house. I pulled out the Happy Meal Coupons that some of the children gave me and they were the ones who got to eat!  Just Kidding, I did buy my 2 gluten free children (who did not have their coupons) some french fries.
When we were in the drive through Liberty exclaimed,"This is my first time at Mc Donald's!"While I am not exactly sure that this was true, I honestly can''t remember the last time we ate at Mc D's.
The children were thrilled, albeit still hungry. To add icing on the cake, Liberty got a Barbie in her Happy Meal. She happily let everyone know that she just got her very first (and only) Barbie!
Later, the children individually asked me why I didn't give them lunch that day. Point proven, no nutrition in a meal doesn't count as a meal.

Keeping It Real

Today was one of 'Those Days'. You know the kind you wish you could rewind, or start over, or skip entirely. The kind of day you don't want to repeat anytime soon. 

 It began with the child responsible for making breakfast wouldn't get out of bed. Finally, he got out of bed and immediately went outside to take care of his farm chores, but got sidetracked by the basketball hoop and sucked his brothers in to his game of PIG. 

I love to see these relationships grow and I am guilty of taking over their chores so that they will have time to develop their friendships with each other. I made breakfast. At breakfast, Liberty pushed herself out from the table and the chair got stuck somehow and cracked one of the bracing for the chair legs.  I then corralled the Erik and Ian for our Skype Math Lesson. I am loving teaching another student and have found myself more prepared and like the accountability with both my time and my attitude. 

Little Miss Independent

 I am enjoying the fact that the math lesson does not drag on for hours or even days. I digress, My boys were irritated that they are having to perform in front of one of their friends, and that sometimes they are not the best, or they have to work a little harder than the next person.  Aaron was fascinated by the Skype and wanted to stay as close to us as possible. This does not work when you are quizzing a 6 year old on her math facts. He then got extremely offended when I asked him to take it somewhere else!
We moved on to circle time and I had this great game "Nine Men's Morris" that we were supposed to play, it went along with the time period we are studying. I set my coffee down and went to get the game off of the counter. In that time, Ruby climbed up on the cabinet grabbed a toy, got her foot stuck in the piano cord, knocked my coffee flying (there was coffee on the ceiling) smacked the hermit crab tank and fell into a chair, knocked it over and started crying. I calmly left the room, then told Liberty to leave me alone when she followed me into my room. After dropping to my knees, crying and praying for the strength to raise these children in the admonition of the Lord, I returned to find all the bickering, bad attitudes, and coffee (except what is still on the ceiling), cleaned up and the children reading and playing the game. So much more effective than if I had yelled at them.

Erik, Taylor and Aaron September 2005

I made lunch, we had our reading tutor come,(while I was occupied the little ones dumped the entire Rubbermaid bin of Playmobile, and disassembled a majority of the 39,000 tiny pieces)  then a friend who is trying to train her dog around children came over. In between making a new recipe for dinner, helping the children behave appropriately around the dog, and keeping Liberty off the counter, I placed a hot 11 X 17 Pyrex in my sink and it exploded! tiny shards of glass were mostly contained in the sink and nobody was hurt. But I am out my best fudge pan! 

I got the Ox Tail Soup in the oven, got my Pioneer Woman Crush Potatoes Ready, and the Caramelized Winter Vegetables all ready.  We had Turnips, Pearl Onions and Daikon. 

Surprisingly what took me 4 hours this afternoon to prepare was not nearly enough food for the family. 

Liberty spilled her water, in it's entirety, in my lap. Erik and Ian detested the potatoes, Sean asked for more, and Taylor asked to be excused! 

I heated up some Pioneer Woman Chicken Tortilla Soup and on my way to the table, spilled it all over. As I was cleaning it up, Sean asked for a spoon and crackers. I jokingly called him My Lord, and the name stuck.
 

Ian, September 2005

I felt like pouting like Ian in this picture! We are not a clean your plate club type of family, UNLESS, you make some snide, rude or otherwise ungrateful comment about what we are eating. Tonight we had 3 that had to finish their meals. We won the meanest parents ever award. What made it even worse was that Liberty and I had made Ginger Cookies tonight and they were fresh from the oven, waiting for those that were thankful for their dinner.
I finally sat down to register for a class that is going to keep me updated on my CEU's for both my Childbirth Educator Certification and my Doula Certification. The deadline to enter was today and thankfully I made the deadline, but I had to laugh at my confirmation code: Regionalass. Thanks. I think that pretty much sums up my day. What about you, how was your day? 

Arrow Of Light

Erik has been in scouts since he was a Tiger scout. It's hard to believe it has been almost 5 years! 

He was thrilled that his friend Jake came with most of his family, and his Grandma (aka Geaba) also attended his Arrow of Light Ceremony.

Erik's Webelos Den

He has been with the same group of boys the entire time. They support and encourage each other and there is just enough competition to keep Erik motivated, but not so much as to discourage him. Erik is competitive, but maybe not as much as I am.  He did pursue many of the requirements on his own, without me nudging him along.

The scouts honor their mothers 

The Arrow of Light is the highest award that a Cub Scout can earn. It is also the only Award that a boy can transfer to, and wear on their Boy Scout Uniform.  There is also an award for Super Achiever. Super Achiever is when the boy earns all 5 requirements from all 8 Activity Badges.

Erik was very proud of his Arrow

 Here is where my competitive spirit comes into play. Aaron missed Super Achiever by 1 requirement, and again, Erik missed Super Achiever by 1 requirement, not 1 whole Activity Badge, but 1 requirement within the Activity Badge. Talk about feeling like the lame mom.
At least I still have 1 boy left to get it right.
I assured both boys that they did a super job and that they should be proud! I AM proud of their achievements and know that they did work hard, with a whole lot of adult support and encouragement.

Geaba came to honor Erik 

I just wish I was better at the whole keeping track of things, because then I would have known and could have encouraged them complete their last requirement.
In reality, the reason that we have chosen to have our boys participate in Scouts is to reinforce the character qualities that we are trying to teach our boys.
We have used the Scout Oath, Law and Motto in our Homeschool because it so clearly and concisely articulates our desire for the character of our children.
The Scout Law states that, A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent. 
The Scout Oath talks about keeping yourself morally straight. 
I am thankful for an organization that has upheld their standards despite intense pressure to change to the culture. I am thankful for the great leaders who have helped my husband and I train our boys in the way that they should go, and for our boys who diligently worked on their requirements. They can and should be proud of their achievement. 
Congratulations Erik for earning your Arrow Of Light!

Cowgirl Dinner Party ~ Pioneer Woman Style

What can I say except, "This was the best idea ever!" It all began when my dear friend Kelly, gave me a Pioneer Woman cookbook. The inscription said, "Just Because". 

Signey, Me, Syndi, Sherie, Jess, Alanna,
Trisha, Sarah, Farmer Jess, Tami
Missing: Kelly(we took the picture before Ben left and she wasn't there yet.)

 In the cookbook is a collection of recipes for a Cowgirl Dinner Party. How fun to have a dinner party, Just Because, with women! Farmer Jess, is Jess' Sister in Law, and she graciously agreed to host our party when we approached her with the idea.

The perfect table for a large family, or an intimate gathering of friends

 I really am not sure how I got so fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful women, but also to have a party where I only had to show up! I'm not sure if you can see in the photo but Jess made us wine glasses, Mason jars epoxied to candlesticks, with raffia and bandanna embellishments.

I even ate the tomatoes, everything was delicious. 

 We began the evening with Jess gathering us in the living room and reading a wonderful nugget from God's Word.
        Psalm 75
         We give thanks to you, O God;

we give thanks, for your name is nnear.

We1 recount your wondrous deeds.

2 “At othe set time that I appoint

I will judge pwith equity.

3 When the earth qtotters, and all its inhabitants,

it is I who keep steady its rpillars. Selah

4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’

and to the wicked, s‘Do not lift up your horn;

5 do not lift up your horn on high,

or speak with haughty neck.’”

6 For not from the east or from the west

and not from the wilderness comes tlifting up,

7 but it is uGod who executes judgment,

vputting down one and lifting up another.

8 wFor in the hand of the Lord there is xa cup

with foaming wine, ywell mixed,

and he pours out from it,

and all the wicked of the earth

shall zdrain it down to the dregs.

9 But I will declare it forever;

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

10 aAll the horns of the wicked I will cut off,

bbut the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Doesn't Tami look beautiful, how fun that Taylor did her hair

 Then, she reduced us all to tears by saying meaningful, wonderful things about each person at the party, even someone she had only met a handful of times. The honesty and reality was refreshing! I appreciate how giving Jess is with her words, her time, and her faith.

Sangria and Pioneer Woman's Cookbooks

 We divided up the recipes and were treating to an amazing feast! We had Sangria (Sean said, in my day we called it Spodie) Sangria sounds much more feminine and grown up. We also had Cherry Limeade, Whiskey Glazed Carrots, Burgundy Mushrooms (they took 9 hours to cook, but were well worth the wait), Artichoke Cheesy Bread (could have eaten a whole loaf all to myself, maybe I will some day...), Caprice Salad, and Beef Tenderloin.

Kelly loves me despite my quirks.
She drove up from Snohomish to come to a party where she knew exactly 1 person, me! 

 The one who started it all, me and Kelly. For dessert we had Pots de Creme, and Flat Apple Pie, with homemade caramel sauce and Flat Blueberry Pie. I only wish I could have eaten more!

What Cowgirl party is complete without the Cowgirl boots? 

 Pioneer Woman Recipes have never disappointed me, and her party idea was even better. We laughed until we cried, we cried, and we talked and ate, and talked some more.

Jess, in the middle of one of her hilarious stories, or it might have been an impersonation.
Savannah did her hair

 Sherie, was Mikaela's 7th grade teacher and she is also the sister of Sarah, Jason O's #1 volunteer and one of the most generous, thoughtful and thorough women I have ever met. Sarah is conspicuously absent in all but 1 picture. Sherie told stories that had to be true, because there is no way you can make these things up! Side splitting laughing funny. Plus she brought the cute baby, so she's a keeper.

Don't be fooled by the quiet ones, they have the best things to share. 

 Alanna is pregnant with boy #4! Does she ever have some wisdom and experience to share.

*sigh*

 The Artichoke Cheesy bread might be the death of me, or at least my waistline! My friends really do love me! The original recipe calls for olives, but since I detest olives they changed it, Just.For.Me! Tami was happy with the change as well.

Why did they let me in? I don't have blond hair! 

 This is a Jessica Sandwich! Jess, Tami and Farmer Jess. Beautiful women inside and out. I really can't express how much they have blessed me just by who they are. Honest, hard working, full of integrity, fun, Biblical wives and mothers, and true friends.

Sherie and Jess

 Both Kelly and Sarah brought lovely hostess gifts. Kelly made us candy dispensers that are the cutest ever! They look like chicken waterers! and Sarah brought the 3 of us beautiful potted tulips! I love tulips, they give me the hope of warm weather, blue sky, and fresh air. I really felt like I was cheating. I said, let's have a party, then I showed up at the party and got lots of credit for hostessing.
I'm full of great ideas and always ready for some fun! If it's that easy I think I will do it more often.

Kelly, Me, Jason, Syndi, and Tami

Jason came and had some dessert, then Farmer Jess' husband, Ben came home, and Sarah's husband, Marty was with him. super fun to have some of the husbands there. Next time, I will make sure Sean comes to pick me up so he can join in!