Sunday, May 29

Sunday for us found us in the midst of some wild weather, great lunch time fellowship, an afternoon of presents, wild water time, an evening of hot dogs and family. Let's start at the beginning. We were up and ready for church, the van was loaded the night before with all that we would need for the day and so we went. It started to rain. And rain harder. In fact, just a few blocks from church, it was pouring! And the wind was fierce. We hadn't listened to the weather in the morning and on the way to church we had the kids' praise songs going.

Getting from the van into church was quite the event. We pulled up to the overhang, but an overhang is not much good when the wind/rain is coming horizontal. I get out and am immediately drenched. I tell the kids to run to the church--trying to make them hurry but not make them scared--proved to be a drenching task for me. Eden erupts into tears once inside because her dress is wet. Join the club, sweetheart. It wasn't raining when we left home so there was no need to pack a coat for protection. All that matters is that we were in church and it doesn't matter if my clothes were soaked through (I was not wearing a white shirt but my khakis were kind of a light color). Nice. I think I finally dried out after lunch!

The sermon was a fitting one for Memorial Day. Yes, we should remember the sacrifices of our armed forces. But we should also take time to remember all that God has done for us.


After church, we went to Seth's parents' house for lunch with his family. It was an enjoyable time and there were presents afterwards for Ephraim's birthday.
A bug catcher from the DeBruin's.


Grandpa being silly!

And a bug vacuum from the DeBruin's.

Thank you Mark & John!

Ephraim reading a clue about his present from Grandpa & Grandma. Oh, and Emmet's being silly with the net, too.

Grandma put together a series of 8 clues that sent the kids around the yard to find each one. Then there was a letter underlined on each clue that spelled what his present was.

To the dock for a clue!

Unwrapping his Lego present!

Pretty cool! And he's already had them all fixed and played with.

A big birthday cake for the birthday boys! I'll let you decide which age belongs to which boy!

Putting his net to good use. That is a huge bullfrog!

Are the fish biting?

Eden & Emmet

Oh, dear! Whose kids are those? That pond water was a bit nippy, but they didn't seem to mind!

Like I said, we had some wild weather, great fellowship with family and then some wild water time at the end. It was a perfect Memorial Day Sunday.

From feed sack to all-purpose bag

So there's been some discussion in my Backyard Poultry magazine and online regarding the switch from paper feed sacks to plastic feedsacks. The plastic feedsacks are not recycleable in most areas, do not have as many uses as the paper ones, can be hazardous to animals, should not be burned, etc. Whatever. Regardless of all that, I'm all for repurposing if it is something I can do and something I will use. I saw this idea and started saving my feed sacks. I was getting a bit of a pile and decided to get to work on my project before Seth disposed of my feed sacks.

I didn't use a pattern, no measurements, just eyeballed it from the pictures of others who have made them.


My first sack. I cut of the bottom. Sewed it. Mitered the corners. Made the handles. Sewed the hem at the top and stitched the handles in. I love it! It's a sturdy bag, bigger than my canvas bags. However, don't think you'll see me in the grocery store with it. I think its purpose will be more of a swimgear bag or to haul the kids' extra shoes/carhartts/snowboots stuff to the grandmas' houses.


My 2nd sack. It takes less than an hour from start to finish. I already have orders for a couple of them! I saw that someone on etsy has them for sale for $20. I'm not sure if they're selling or not. That's more than the sack of feed cost in the first place. If someone wants one, just let me know. I think $8 is probably more fair. Anyway, I think they're kind of cute, handy, waterproof for the most part, sturdy and unique!
Seth was a bit amazed with what I could do with a feed sack, but he thinks they scream "redneck". I don't know. It may not be the next fad, but now I didn't have to buy an expensive swim bag. And I didn't have to use several plastic sacks for shoe-hauling/carhartts/snowboots, etc. And I saved the sack from the burnbarrel. I like them.

Pictures of the week, May 22 to May 28, 2011

What a wonderful week we've had! Here are the highlights! (And there are a few more pictures than just one a day. )

Sunday, May 22, 2011

We took time to measure the kids on our "how tall are/were you" board.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Baby kitties born right in the garage! We noticed them Monday afternoon. There were four of them! And they had just been born, they hadn't been licked clean yet and there was a lot of afterbirth everywhere which raised a few questions by the kids. Anyway, by 10pm there were two more kitties when I checked on them. Four was a perfect number for my kids--one for each. Six is even better--a couple extra just in case something happens to a couple of them, they were born in the garage after all--pretty close to the mini van tires :(

And another photo of the 6 babies. But it is kind of hard to distinguish all of them since they all look alike. I was kind of hoping for an orange or calico kitty, but maybe in another litter.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I enjoyed lunch at school with Ephraim for his birthday--just him and I. I did learn that the kids all type in their own account number to subtract their lunch money on the computer. I was impressed!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Emmet's track & field day! All the kids had blast!

Also on Wednesday,

We made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Mixes in a Jar for all the kids' teachers, associates and bus driver. Six in all! We had a lot of fun making them and we even made a batch for ourselves. It didn't last long!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

My proud preschool graduate! Watch out Kindergarten!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Enjoying a little baking with mommy! We made Chocolate Chip Bars and made the dough for cinnamon rolls so we could enjoy them on Saturday. The Chocolate Chip Bars is a new favorite recipe. It makes a 9x13 pan and we've had them gone in one day!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

The kids with their Lego ocean creations.

Call me if you need an ocean animal made from legos. Ephraim made the whale on the left which evoked reactions from the younger three that they wanted their own whales. I made the whale on the right for Emmet. The middle ones: a blue whale, beluga whale and killer whale were for everyone to play with.

Preschool Graduation

On Thursday, May 26, 2011, Emmet graduation from preschool! It was a special day for him and for us. Grandpa Harold was also able to attend.
It all started with "Pomp and Circumstance."

Emmet walking in. He looked so proud to finally be at graduation. It is all he's talked about for the past couple of days.


They blessed us with several songs! Emmet's in the back row in the middle.


A song about a tree.

Receiving his diploma from Mrs. Ray. Once all the children had their diplomas, then Mrs. Ray read a poem about turning the kids back to their parents. It was really cute and touching!

Emmet with his diploma!

Emmet by his life size drawing and a picture of him. It says that his favorite part of preschool is recess. His favorite color is blue. And he wants to be a police officer because they have cool cars.

Emmet with Mrs. Ray on the left and Mrs. Kern on the right. They've been great preschool teachers!

And at home, with the siblings. The girls are wearing dresses from Panama (I think, although the tags say they were made in Equador) that my parents got them on one of their journeys. Ephraim's first grade class was able to be at the graduation ceremony, too.

At supper that night, Seth tells Emmet "Well, how's it feel to be done with school." Emmet blushes and says, "Dad, I'm not done, now I'm going to Kindergarten." Yes, that's right. Next year it's Kindergarten. Emmet had a preschool class of 16, but I've been told that his Kindergarten class with be smaller with 10-12. He will have the same teacher Ephraim had, so that's a good thing! I think Emmet's going to like Kindergarten and we've been given a list of words to work on this summer.

Congrats to Emmet!

Preschool Track & Field

Preschool and Kindergarten had their own version of track & field day on Wednesday, the 25th. They did some great relay races and the kids had a great time!

Emmet in the sack races.

The three-legged race. It was pretty tricky for the kids. Some kids just broke the tape and ran. But Emmet and Jack were actually making a pretty good effort to walk together.

Almost done!

Trying to walk with a beach ball between your legs isn't easy with short legs!

Doing pretty good!

And a dress-up race!

Scooter time.

The cheerleaders who weren't so happy the whole time. They took their turns with the temper tantrums. Eliza's had a tantrum that she wanted on my lap. Eden had a tantrum that she wanted to go home. Snowcones to the rescue!

Ahh, face painting. And Emmet picked a whale, of course!

Snowcones for the preschoolers.

Group picture!

Back row: Alijah, Stryker, Broady, Haylie, Logen, Emmet, Jack, Lydia

Front row: Hayden, Kaydence, Gavin, Anthony, Cael, Aidreana, Max, Annabelle