A Little of This and Little of That

It was the precious summer.

Arrival of one very beautiful and amazing Emerald Peace;
lots of lake trips with lawn chairs, life jackets, and an ice chest.

A new grassy spot for
campfire pit, playing Tag, and catching grasshoppers.

And the old old apple trees down by the log cabin - they have been
worth their weight in gold.  Our own "Giving Trees" support leggy
children on spindly bows and produce apples apples and more apples.
Still the trees keep giving and apple cores are common by the wayside.

The log cabin saw some progress too, in the framing up of doors and windows.

Susie had a birthday entering the double digits!!

This year we got her started with some essential oils of her own and
a case to keep them in.  The girl has been reading about their uses and
is fast becoming my resource for which to use for what ailments :-)
She says that cinnamon diluted and applied to the front of the neck works
fabulously as a cure for sore throat!

I'm so glad to have babies and toddlers underfoot - AJ and I agree
that we'll never get tired of having a two-year-old in our home - but this new stretch
of our lives with big kids is being A-MAZING!

These guys are so much fun; they have super ideas and thoughts and are truly witty!
They keep me company and share my foibles and laugh at my mistakes.
I mean, really.  It's the best thing ever to have these guys laughing with (at?) me
over adding 4 cups of chocolate chips to a recipe that was to have only 3/4 cup.
Wow.  It was not really such a bad mistake - if you like a giant cake-shaped
chocolate chip. Haha! (Could be a bit of sleep deprivation sneaking in there)

Also, they pick up some of the load for our family, which gives me time to just be mom.

When there were only 4 under 6, that was the most exhausting season, and not
because there were four, but because they were under six years old.
While dad was at work, I was it.  IT.  I was the sole sandwich-maker, potty taker-to-er,
cup-filler, diaper-fetcher, clothes-changer, tucker-inner, face-washer, shoe-finder...
You name it, I did it.  It wasn't that long ago, but if you ask me how I did it, I couldn't
tell you. It's a blur to me now. Those were the days of true super powers! :-D
No really, I was completely exhausted and tapped out.

What an unforeseen blessing of this large family experience to have such eager, willing,
and capable helpers that rescue me from nervous breakdown every day!
Little number nine has monopolized my arms because of her near-constant tummy
troubles this summer, and I've had the luxury of holding her because of my young
lunch-making Hero's and Heroines (and that is only the tip of the iceberg regarding
their stellar gifts, abilities, and precious service).

I hold Emerald, gently swaying back and forth with her small frame draped over my arm,
and listen in rapt attention to exploits, look (really look) at artwork, watch the peanut
butter being spread or the flour being measured as the cooks chatter away to my open ear,
read some stories to my littler ones, attend my middle ones reading to me.

In so many ways, there is more to occupy my day than ever in my history before.
Despite that, I get to enjoy motherhood in a whole new way.  I am relishing it.

I am relishing it so much.  Inhaling deeply as one would a sweet scented blossom.
How could I have known what those difficult young-mothering days would bloom into?
*(and for the sake of this conversation we'll ignore the difficult old-mothering days, ok? 
I'm sure you've heard of the woman who lived in a shoe... haha!)

All these ages are perfection.  I want to freeze time.  But no, I do want to see these guys
learn new things and grow into fellas strong and manly, and women sweet and graceful.
It's just happening too fast.  I guess the best way to be grateful for the best of this season
is to stop and enjoy these children while they are here.

And that's what I'm trying to do.

This five-year-old boy.  My heart, how I love him.
He is pretty fascinated with drawing birds these days and here are a couple
of his works of art - no kidding.

Two more pieces of my heart here below...

This little lady is picking chicken carcasses for me.  Ugh.  A job I like to avoid.
The other day it hit me - have Olivia do it!  She is such a tactile person and loves to have
her hands in everything (and feet, and head and hair and..) So thank you Olivia!

This pretty thing?  She is my up-and-coming baker/cook.  She wants to cook so badly
but she's up against four other kitchen thieves.  For school this year she's making her
own cookery book with hand copied recipes, and her sisters (or myself) have been taking
turns with her in the kitchen almost daily.

She's the one who tells me: "I can't WAIT to be a mom so I can cook good things
for my family.  I'll make cookies for my husband."
I tell her that's the best :-) Definitely worth looking forward to!

What can I say about this guy. I am proud fit to bust!
I'm just so privileged to know him. I'll be more than content for the rest of my life,
just to be known as Zack's mom.
He blesses me every day.

And if you're wondering if Emerald has a reddish tint to her hair, it sure seems like it!
Kind of fun for a change :-)

Yep.  They're keepers - every one of them!

For the Dad of Our Family

Dear Dad of my Children (My Own dearly Beloved),

Your kids are very creative.  You may have picked up on that by now, but they sure have it in them!

Thank you for facilitating their imaginations and their fancy, by providing such a wonderful wood shop.
As you'll see below, Number One was inspired to organize the workbench you built!
(Well Done Number One!) Thank you for making that workbench a priority over the top of a long
list of projects to be done.
You are the best!

Clay built one robot this morning and before long, he had a very colorful gathering of friendly and
sociable robots.  I love them.  I love the colors.  I love your Clayton.

Do you see what Z did with the wheels your ordered?  He built two different rolling toys.
Bryce took them both to bed.

Here's a picture of The Robot Dogs Clayton imagined up. My bookcase in the
living room is starting to resemble a Toy Store! :-)

The picture below it?  Some votive candle holders Zachary made and is sharing with me :-)

Now.  Here is our latest acquisition: 3 Goldfish.
Did you know you approved of their purchase?  You did it when you married me
and made me the mom of these hoodlums.  I hope you don't regret it ;-)

At 27 cents apiece, why not seven fish - one for each child?
Because I don't want to hear a sob-story about who's fish just died.
Let's make sure the victim belongs to everyone equally.
I may be a pessimist, but I think I'm setting myself up for success.

Not so sure about the fish.

Finally, a bit of my own creativity.  This sign is a knock-off of someone else's creation, but I'm happy with
my spin.  It was great to have Zacks help cutting this and nailing that, finding me the right screws and
retrieving the ladder... I practically made this sign from cedar fence boards all by myself!
What would I do without an 11 year-old son?

So again, dear Dad...(My own Love), thank you for being such a man.  Thank you for blessing this crew
with opportunities to explore and create.  Thank you for providing the resources.

Thanks for these pretty amazing kids.
I like 'em a lot.

Love,
~me

Craft Friday (on Wednesday)

We dug out some doilies last week, lay them on folded newspaper
and broke out the watercolors and paint brushes.

I instructed the Bugletts  to splash color over the whole surface of the
white doilies, hoping to create a stained glass effect.
As you can see, their interpretations were wonderfully unique!

I sure do love to see the light coming through their handiwork, and to enjoy
each personality that shines through their art :-)
It's also a great to have something prettier than smudges to look at on the glass!

Fit for a King

It's been a quiet Christmas season.  It slipped upon us before I was ready, and when I acknowledged it's
presence I felt compelled to "do" everything on my imaginary list.
Last year we did it all.  We were home the whole month of December and I didn't let a day get by us without
some project or other.  This year?

This year I am learning to let go of my plans.  To celebrate Jesus in enjoying my children.  Being willing to let
my "fun-project-that-you're-going-to-love" go, if they'd rather play monopoly in front of the warm wood
stove and in view of the tree lights.  I've had to ask myself  "Who is all this doing for?" and  
"Why does it matter if we do it, or that we do it this week? Even this month?"   
I want to make memories with the children, and I want to take advantage of this annual opportunity to
remember the birth of my Savior.  I want to savor every savory scent, the soft lights on short dark days,
to make things for people and try every recipe, and craft that inspires me.......

I can't do it all.  There aren't enough days, and the ones I have aren't long enough.  I guess that's actually
something to be thankful for - a season in which I crave long days - many people are plodding through days
that seem endless as they bear some burden or another.  I'm thankful that my days are short because we're
having fun.  We are.  We're having fun, and when I feel guilty about all the things'n'stuff that we aren't doing
I remind myself of that.
We're having fun resting, playing, creating, baking, listening, sniffing, tasting, and just being together.
Nothing spectacular this year. No monumental traditions built with care and planning.
But we are having fun.
And we remember Jesus! 

The stars pictured above were a new thing for us.  They were delightfully easy, inexpensive, and I think
they're rather lovely on the windows!  Olivia has been the one to sit down and get creative with me,
and that girl can follow-through like nobodies five-year-old-business!  She watches, picks it right up,
and plows forward, working out the kinks on her own.  She really impresses me.

Today the other three bigg'uns made one star apiece.  That was enough.  For today anyway.
I have to say that I  am hooked.  It's like instant quilting gratification!  You can buy colored wrapping
tissue at your local dollar store (we had two packages equaling roughly 10 colors to choose from).
We've only used one sheet of each color and have made 10 stars I think?  There must be millions of
stars-worth of paper in those 2 dollars we spent!  Here is the tutorial we used  for our Tissue Paper Stars.
I highly recommend using a knife to cut the tissue as suggested in the tutorial - it made easy work of
chopping our paper down to size.  Each sheet of tissue is square, so it can be folded in half, cut, and folded 
again, and cut again and so forth until you reach the square or rectangle size you want.  I keep imagining
new color combinations and sizes and patterns I want to try....hm..............
Do please tell me if you try these stars yourself, and if (like Olivia and I) you thought them fit for a Kings
Birthday celebration!

Craft Friday

We're trying something new this year.  I'm making a concerted (and calculated) effort to do some craft
and art projects with my kiddos.  They have free reign of crayons, pens, and pencils, but I want to have
a reason to sit down with them.  Hence Craft Friday.

Here's the cool thing: I'm going to do 2 Craft Friday's a month (every other week)
and include my niece and nephew in the fray fun, and my sis-in-love Hannah
will be conducting a science lesson and experiment the other 2 Fridays!! Yay!
Now you can all tell me how lucky I am to have a sis that lives next door
and wants to share her life with me.  Hannah makes scientific things sound so interesting too!
My children are ecstatic and so am I because science isn't really my thing.
But art? 
Be still my beating heart.

With this schedule Fridays will be a school day the children will really look forward to. 
It will be lighthearted and fun and different from the rest of the week.  And fun.
Did I mention that already?

So this was the test-drive day for Craft Friday and yes, I came up with these silly sheep all on my own.
Aren't they adorable?!  The kids did a great job!  And so did I.  I didn't even flinch when glue was applied
liberally by small hands.  Well.  I didn't flinch very much.  It was an imperceptible flinch really.  I hope.
Anyhow,  all I did was pre-cut the sheep shape, ears and also cut Popsicle sticks in half for legs.
Googly eyes, a package of cotton balls, yarn to hang it by and regular ol' craft glue.  Viola!
With so many little hands (18 I think) it was helpful to have all the parts ready to assemble.
I wrote out a verse - a precious truth from John 10, which Susanna decorated for us.  Hanging that up with
our wooly flock completed some home decor I will enjoy every time I pass by!

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."
                                                                                                                              ~John 10:27

Girl With Fork

I uncovered this piece of artwork and it just spoke to me!
Olivia drew it.

I know not if there is a story behind this girl who loves her fork. 
Perhaps she loves to eat, and maybe that's what struck a chord with me.
I love to eat too.
So up it went - without fanfare, without a matting, without a signature (I put her name and age on it).
I put it up on the end of a kitchen cabinet - near food and utensils and other things I love of course,
and WITH great big admiring smiles!  MY smiles.  I'm smiling even now.

I love this picture.
Thank you Olivia:-)

Calypso Bulbosa

Getting outside our four walls there is a wealth of beauty to be observed
and studied, and recorded.
Good Nature Journal practice!

Some smudges should be left