Our week, February 17 to February 23, 2013

It was a nice, slow and healthy week for us.  We came home Tuesday evening and didn't leave home until Sunday  morning for church.  Seems as though everyone is getting hit by the stomach flu, coughs and Influenza and we've managed to avoid it all.  So far, anyway and hopefully for the rest of winter.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Meet two of our cows.  They'll be our beef in the freezer come May.  Seth and the boys share the chores in keeping them fed just the right amount of rations to make sure our beef is nice and tasty.  

Monday, February 18, 2013

A good cereal deal.  Hy-Vee had their Kellogg's cereal 50% off.  All of these were originally $4/box.  At $2 a box, I had several $1.00/3 coupons and several $.70/1 coupons.  I think I got them for about $1.20 a box.  Not bad considering the kids love the Raisin Bran, Mini-Wheats and Rice Krispies.  

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

My little kitchen helper.  

Also notice the barrettes for her bangs.  We're going to try growing them out but I told her she'd have to wear a barrette to keep them out of her eyes for a while.  

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

A quick and easy project that went along with our Saturn chapter.  

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Some fresh snow.  We were predicted to get up to 8 inches of snow, but we ended up with maybe 5.  Just enough for snow angels, sledding and 4-wheeling.  

Friday, February 22, 2013

A great day to do some baking.  I made 5-ingredient Granola Bars.  We put a few in the freezer and ate a few, just to make sure they're good, you know.  And they were.  Also in this picture is my 3000 foot roll of cling-wrap.  Yep, I'm done with the measly 100 foot ones at the grocery stores.  This stuff works better too.  

Also made Pumpkin Chip Muffins.  This is a favorite recipe and I'm still using the pumpkins we pureed and froze from our garden.  It makes a large batch and this time I made all sizes:  mini, regular and jumbo.  With these we also ate a few and froze a few.  The red muffin cups in the picture are reusable silicone ones.  I like using them, especially if I have to use my muffin pan for more than one batch.  I use the silicone wrappers for the first batch and nothing for the 2nd batch.  

Saturday, February 24, 2013

Two bakers with me in the kitchen, making chocolate chip cookies.  

They even helped dish them up and put them in the oven.  

I also tried this roll recipe from Southern Plate.com.  I wanted to have some rolls in the freezer that I could pull out if we wanted rolls at the last minute.  It makes a large batch--90 some rolls and it was almost more than my Kitchenaid could handle.  We froze most of them and had 12 for supper and 12 for Sunday lunch.  They're good but if I make them again, I think I'll make them larger.

Well, that's our week.  Nice and quiet with some winter snowfall.  

Many Hands for Haiti

To follow the Calvary CRC worktrip to Haiti, go to the blog Many Hands for Haiti.

Our week, February 10 to February 16, 2013

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Our Sunday with Grandma & Grandpa and cousins, previously blogged about.  

Monday, February 11, 2013

I just finished this book.  Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides.  It is a very good, unforgettable book about a secret mission of WWII to rescue the forgotten, sick and dying American POWs in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines.  In fact, this book tells the story of what happened after the POW massacre that I read about earlier this winter, Last Man Out. 

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

If you've got a $10 off a $10 purchase coupon for JCPenneys, you just have to spend it on something $10, so I did.  

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Eight Cavatini casseroles made for my Supper Swapper group.  

The boys also had Cadets this night.  

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Checking out the band room and all the instruments on a homeschool field trip.  

Flowers from my hubby!
I also had my Annie's class this night and it was an informative evening that covered farm leases and estate planning.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Eden is showing off her Spanish worksheets with the colors.  She had a hilarious time pronouncing anaranajado or orange.

Saturday, February 16, 2013











Gotta love online shopping.  Ephraim needed new shoes for church and play and a new pair of church pants.  Gotta love deals, too!

The things they say . . .

Eden:
She's learning her numbers in Spanish.  So far, she's knows "Uno, dos, grace."  :)

Emmet:
I sent him under and behind the Lego table to do some picking-up.  As he's backing into the tight spot, he says, "If I'm not back in 15 minutes, send fresh troops."

Ephraim:
He's taking trash from the trash  mountain in the garage to the burn pile.  He pulls a piece out of the pile and it all comes tumbling down.  He says, "Welp, found the weak spot."

Eden:
She's been known to say "Oh, the calamity."
Recently, we'd been sitting on the floor playing a game.  After quite some time, she gets up and says, "My bottom has a lot of pressure."
We'd been outside playing in the snow.  As she's coming in the house, she sniffs and says, "I smell like snow."
Another time she said something like "My arm's tired.  It's bored."
And lastly, I asked her to brush her teeth.  She replies, "I'm not in the mood."

Anything from Eliza?  Hmmm.  I don't have any cute words from her to post, but just one observation.  She is the child who is go, go, go, go.  We were watching a movie the other night and she was jumping around like a monkey or a ping pong ball the WHOLE time.  No lie.  She is also the one who is packing away the most food right now.  She eats and eats and eats.


And one final observation.  The children have started to like bagels with cream cheese on them.  At first, I asked them if they wanted a bagel with cream cheese.  They would say no, but would point to the cream cheese and want that.  Seems like they just have something against the name "cream cheese" but they like it better if you call it "frosting."

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Last Sunday found us at church and then at my parents' house for lunch.  First, during both services of church, the Grow Time kids had to sing.  That included Emmet, Eden & Eliza.  They sang "My God is so Big."  

Eden was really doing a great job.  Part of that could be attributed to their pictures being on the screens above, too.  

Eden and Eliza are both wearing their pink shirts and denim skirts.   Eden's on the right and Eliza's on the edge of the chair (which is a sermon illustration for our Not A Fan series).   Emmet's in the back row on the far right.  

After Sunday School and a visit with Grandma Elizabeth, we went to my parents' house for lunch.  

Presenting Grandpa and Grandma with their Valentines.  The poster says LOVE with their footprints.  It's the thought that counts with that one.  Everyone had super ticklish feet and dipping them in paint was a bit trickier than I thought, much less getting them to spell love with their tickle toes.  

Eden, Eliza & Alyssa enjoying some coloring time together.  

Ephraim with his Valentine Card from Grandma with a $1 coin.  

Thanks, and we love you, too!

Our week, February 3 to February 9, 2013

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Our Sunday afternoon of being outside in the snow, previously blogged about.

Monday, February 4, 2013

This is a Child Training Bible.   After hearing about it from a couple of friends, I investigated and invested in one.  For under $10, you can buy the colorful cardboard guides and use your own Bible.  When the guides come, you take some time to highlight many, many Bible passages and tab them.  Everything is color-coded for easy finding.  Now, when the children are fighting (yes, it does happen), we go to the Bible, find the "Fighting" tab and read some verses, discuss and pray.  Or when they're impatient, or discouraged, angry, etc.  Check out the website for more detailed info. 

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Eden loses 2 teeth in the same day!  Her top, front two.  If you ask her how it happened, she'll say "It all started with a Rice Krispie bar . . . "  

The boys also had Clover Kids in the afternoon.  

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Snow pile fun, previously blogged about.  

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Making our Valentine's for the Grandparents and Great-Grandparents.  We traced their hands, cut them out, stuck a heart in the center and then taped it to a straw.  Kind of like a hand bouquet.  Cute, easy and cheap!

I had Annie's class this evening and Seth was supposed to be out in the semi by 2am.  Rumor has it that he put the kids to bed at 7 and went to bed himself.  

  

Friday, February 8, 2013

Valentine's Day party with our homeschool group.  We used ice cream buckets decorated with stickers for our Valentine's boxes, but saw some very cool ideas for next year.  The boys are going to make theirs from Legos next year!  We gave out Valentine's from the Christian bookstore and a pencil.  

Also on this day we had to go to Leighton to pick up two bags of meat that we missed the first time.  More bacon and steaks for us!  We stopped at Grandpa's PET shop to see the latest in tricycle-cart-making for 3rd world countries.  

We also made a stop in to see Grandma Elizabeth and cheer her spirits a bit.  

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Eden fell asleep with her hands in the air and her Bible on her chest.  Too cute not to take a picture and remember these sweet days of childhood.

On Saturday we were able to go to Altoona and visit my college roommate who just bought a newer home.  It was nice to spend some time visiting with them, the children enjoyed playing together  and we got to see their spacious home!

Snow Pile sledding

Seth was able to pile up some of the driveway snow into two nice piles for the children to climb.  Wednesday morning and afternoon has been their only chance since the weather turned gloomy and rainy after that.  They loved this and stayed out their for an hour at a time.  Here are a few shots.  

Everyone had to take turns since there was really only one good place to board your sled and go down.  

Love the expression on her face!

Emmet at the bottom.  

Everyone's in line.  

Oh, look at that.  Getting a little help from Emmet.  

"Oh, I'm okay.  I'm okay!"  That's what Eden would say if she would roll off at the end.  

Getting to the top was a bit tricky.  

Trying to get her sled lined up.  

Ephraim at the top of the other pile but it was a bit steeper and harder to climb.  

Eden on the edge and ready to go down.  

Enjoying the trip?!

Yes,  I think it is safe to say they had fun.  

I was able to be out here with them most of the time and helped make a staircase for them to climb to the top.  

And occasionally they'd go down without their sleds!