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This is nothing special, well to you anyway. I'm not a scrapbook type, or a baby book writer, or even a picture printer. I'm terrible at recording memories. This blog is my attempt at holding on to some of my life as a Christian, a wife, and a homeschooling Mom of 5. I am a country girl that lived in a big city for 14 years, and moved to the Deep South for quiet, quaint, small town living.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Snow days

Troy, Maggie and I woke up to this.  Ew.


Soon Ginnie came downstairs.  I love it when it takes her a while to wake up.

Friday, January 28, 2011

What am I going to do?

She is just like me!  UGH!  I have NO idea how we will all survive.

I round the corner to the dining room and get a flashback of me coloring under all the furniture when I was little.  (It is still there at Dad's house!)  I don't even know how to handle this.  My mom tried the bucket approach, meaning she skipped the spanking and gave me a bucket of soapy water and made me scrub the marks off the wall.  The next day, I had a bucket of water out and a new mural on the wall, ready to do it again.  Needless to say, the spanking wasn't skipped that day.

I continued to color on things, even when I knew better.  Right on up until I started getting paid for it.  I think I need to buy stock in magic eraser.





PS. The David she is referring to is from the David Shannon book, No David! and David gets in Trouble.  Her favorites.

Plagues

We studied the plagues of Egypt.  
To help the kids remember each one, 
we decided to do a little photo montage of them all.  
(not in order)

 The death of livestock.
 The flies.
 The Frog.... ummm
Frogs.  Lots of them.
 Hail.
Gnats.
Sores.
 Water turned to blood.
Locust.
Egypt was covered in darkness.
 The death of the first born son of anyone who did not cover their doorway in blood.
(I was a little unsure about how creepy this would be, but the kids understood.  I offered to do the scene with dolls, but Liv and George decided to act it out like the rest)  Plus, it made an connection with how that plague effected some families.  I doubt they will forget it.)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

ABCs

Troy was away for work for a week.  
George wanted to surprise him with what he mastered. 
So, on the top of the white board, where it wouldn't be bothered, he worked.
 It is a good day when one can successfully write out the ABC's.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Family Trees

(First off, please disregard the pajamas.  
My kids don't get snow days, so I allow for plenty of pajama days.  
It is winter, after all!)

We were discussing our heritage all the way back to Adam, Noah, Abe, Isaac, and Jacob to the 12 tribes of Israel (an on to Jesus).  We learned about making a family tree that shows X was married to Y and Z begot little z.  Liv picked up on it right away.
To show a different family tree, but realizing it does not give as much detail as the first one, we made our family tree in a tree form.  The kids loved decorating the branches with leaves.  It was also a good way to remind them which cousins belong to which Aunts and Uncles, since we don't get to see them all the time. (We did this verbally when they told me who to write.)

I don't know how wrong this is, but I thought it was clever.  
Liv decided to put Grandmom's leaf on the ground since she was no longer with us.  
Her words, "Well, that is what happens to leaves when they die." 
True.  
What can I say?

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Can't deny it.

George is ALL boy. 
My Pirate sailing, 
Cowboy riding, 
Soldier marching, 
Knight fighting,
Sweet little boy.

Monday, January 17, 2011

This is no mouse.

Bite marks through the wrapper.
I have a positive teeth match.
As if I had to check......

Friday, January 14, 2011

And end of an Era

The golden age is over.
3-6 months is usually peak baby age for me.
Sleep routines are better, babies seem to connect with you for the first time, and most importantly, 
No worrying about feed them food I have to fix!

Ever seen Sweet Home Alabama?
Melanie: "Look at you! You have a baby, in a bar." 
Lurlynn: "H*** I've got three more at home! This one's still on the tits so I can take him anywhere." 

Enough said.

And it looks like it is over for my (possibly) last baby!
Now this age is still great, but it involves a whole new level of work and forethought. 

If only it was easy as giving her an oatmeal cookie from Nana's house.
We didn't start solids until almost 7 months, so we are jumping into all sorts of foods.
And I think she is loving it. 
(Once she got the whole 'What do I do with my tongue?' thing figured out.)

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Wonder if it was any good?

First off, let me tell you that my love language is "words of affirmation."  So if you love me, show my by telling me (in every area of my life, all the time, I'm needy!).  

You will see where I'm going soon.

I had leftover rice, so I made rice pudding.  
Not just any rice pudding.
Raspberry rice pudding with a meringue on top.
Not your everyday, poor folk dessert.
 I learned this little trick a long time ago, when I was testing out rice pudding recipes, to add a couple of egg yolks to thicken up the pudding to more of a custardy consistancy and use the whites to whip up a miringue for the top.  
I think it looked pretty good.
I put it in the fridge and went away for half the weekend on a retreat.
None was left when I got home.
No one said a thing.
Either they all approved and ate it all, 
or they trashed the gloppy mess.

Guess we will never know.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

This is why....

...we waited so long to put Maggie in the crib.
....why we pray so hard for our kids safety.
God protects her when I can't. 
I heard Ginnie wake up from her nap so I went to go get her from the girl's room and found this sight.  Can you imagine if that piggy bank hit my baby on the head?  Sigh.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Yum Yums

This is the Monster.
Really, that is what it is called.  
Yum Yum's doughnut shop in Lansdale, PA makes them.
Troy has begun a tradition of hitting up his favorite sugar factory when we leave his parent's house.
It is like bringing a little bit of Nana and Pop Pop home...
You know, the place they can eat Popsicles anytime of the day, 
(along with anything else sweet they find.)  
No Rules at Grandparents!

Just trying to keep the memories alive for the kids.  
It has nothing to do with the Peanutbutter Cup, or the Chocolate Thunder doughnuts that Troy and I are wiping from our chins.....

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Cowboy George

I'm awful at gifts.  Um, doughnut maker, ahem.  So I was/am still terribly excited that George proclaimed his Western town the Best gift of the year!  I found it at a consignment shop in the Fall and all the kids found it at least once in the basement before Christmas.  Never the less, he loves it and plays with it every day.

 Old school Fischer Price!
 The cowboys snap off the horses to stand bow legged like real cowboys.
 Even the Natives like having a place to belong.
The stage coach even has a hidden cannon to blow away the bad guys!
 Even this city slicker who dreams of being a cowboy is plum tuckered out.
 I guess they sleep with their hats on?
I've heard it said, "A Cowboy is a man with guts and a Horse."

2nd Christmas

Like many families we swap holidays.  Since this year was a Pocomoke Christmas, we had Christmas #2 in PA on New Years weekend.

 Ginnie was in rare sorts, pacing the fire place, itching to open gifts.  She usually doesn't care that much.
 I am wondering if Ginnie got that attribute from her namesake (Nana).  She is rarely sitting down, unless she is working and multitasking.
 As if her Pop Pop is any better.
 Maggie is much more subtle than Ginnie, but she can grab your attention and keep it.
 After Nana and Pop Pop's gifts were handed out, Ginnie got to open hers.  The older kids were more mellow.  You know, Christmas professionals.
 Then the weekend began.  Eating, eating, and more eating!  Maggie is digging her first oatmeal cookie!
 The traditional pomegranates, mangoes, oranges from the stockings (along with a lot of really good chocolate and $) are always a hit.  My kids will nosh on pom seeds all day.  Troy's dad just laughs at them eating the seeds and not thinking anything of it.  It's good roughage.
Ginnie Jr. is earning a place in the Nana movie chair by sitting still for more than 2 mins at a time.
 Yes, we brought heavy coats, but is was strangely warm for snow on the ground.  (Not that I was out there.  Don't be silly.  There is SNOW out there.  Gross.)  Besides the thin layers that bring our parenting in question, who let's their kids build snowmen with BARE HANDS?? 
 She is pretty cute.
 And, if that wasn't enough, the kids decided she needed a friend.
 Did you know that Troy's Mom will walk around outside barefoot in 2 degree weather, and then complain that her arms are cold?  These folk are a strange breed. I shouldn't question the bare hand snow building too much, I guess.
 George is caught with a mouth full of snowman nose.
And the smart ones are inside, in jammies, still eating and playing.

I would like that to be my New Year's Resolution.  To live the year inside in my jammies.  I pretty much do it during the winter anyway....