We have two ponds at our place and it is all very casual around here when we swim.  Little Sarah usually wears whatever she has on when she wants to dip her feet in the water.  But my friend Kathy handed her down an adorable bathing suit from her daughter.  I took these pictures the first time she wore it (or any bathing suit).  When I put it on her, she said she wanted it off.  She didn’t like it.  But I couldn’t stand how cute she was so I said no. 

I went out grocery shopping at 7:30 this morning, because we were out of milk.  I took Seth with me so he could help.  He likes to put things in the cart for me.  We got some fruit; a cantaloupe, pineapple, organic grapes, and strawberries.  When I got home I made a big (fiestaware) fruit bowl.  We’ve been snacking on the yummy fruit all day and I know Rich will appreciate it, too.  He’s been on a very strict health kick lately.  He runs or bikes every day and doesn’t eat much meat, mostly salad.  I’m proud of him, but glad that I have lots of children to cook for in the meantime.  Rich wants to run a marathon.  When his alarm goes off at 4:30 I just roll over and go back to sleep.

We currently all have the sniffles and sneezes. 

I stayed up late-late last night to watch ladies gymnastics (I’ve loved gymnastics for years!)….the balance beam and floor event finals were on.  I was happy that the Chinese won the top beam spots; they are my favorite beam workers and their routines were breathtaking.  Floor is fun to watch but not as fun as it used to be when the girls could take a step back after a tumbling run.  Now that they have to stick the landings on FOUR passes it makes so much more room for error and distracts from the beauty and difficulty of the routines. 

Grace and I took naps this afternoon–outside.  I was in the hammock and she was on the ground next to me on her sleeping bag.  Oh how relaxing that was.  (Seth, Sarah, and Seth were napping in the house with Jacob listening for them in case they woke up).

Ethan made cookies.

I made a macaroni salad and there are ribs in the oven for dinner. 

How has your day been going?

It has been a busy day, but life….living well, is more than being busy, more than doing.  It’s saying yes, it’s being thoughtful, it’s sacrificing to make someone else’s day, it’s reaching over to give a pat on the shoulder of the passenger next to you while driving (today? my teenage son), it’s turning up the happy song on the radio, it’s watching your big children from a distance, letting them grow, sharing a smile.  It’s letting your little ones get muddy and splash in the stream, it’s taking your baby outside to look at the striped pink and blue sunset, it’s swaying back and forth in your pj’s, feeling her warm precious body close, with your nose in her hair.  It–this wonderful life of mine–is so much, so full of moments like these, that my heart overflows with gratitude and joy.

How often do I get caught up in the doing!  I get rushed and loud, louder still, until I’m yelling and blind to the good things, and the children look at me in wonder. 

I’m so thankful for the ways that God shows me the reality of living is in sincere kindness, listening, & loving.

Slowing down, thank goodness, can be, and very much needs to be, an inner heart thing.  I have found that even as I work quickly and attend to many things, there can remain a quiet peace in my heart, a place that can ponder, notice, and praise God even in the chaos of being a mama, wife, and homemaker.

On the way to the library I said to the children, “I’m just going to run in quick, but you tell me what sort of book you want and I’ll get it.”

After thinking, David surprised me by saying, “I know.  A cookbook.”

The mission was completed, and before we even got home, he decided that he wanted to make brownies.

He’s 9 years old and he did a great job.  He just needed a little help in doubling the recipe.

He GREW in the making, he was proud.  He did it!

 He not only made the brownies, he shared them with his brother.  And me, too.  They were delicious.

A quote from the book I’m reading: “I am no longer as inspired by expertise as I once was.  Perhaps the worth of any lifetime is measured more in kindness than in competency.”

Yes!

Philippians 2:3-7  

PS.  A few days later, the next batch burned.  More lessons learned; set the timer!  and don’t run outside to play while you’re waiting for them to bake…….

I love you, David Lloyd.  SO MUCH.

Happy little Shanda!

I used my phone to copy these old pictures of myself while I was at my parent’s house a week ago.  I haven’t seen some of these in years. It’s fun to look back now and then and remember the happy growing up years.

I love the curtains in this one.  My brother David and I used to share bunkbeds, here I am, hanging off the top one being silly.

I loved my Winnie the Pooh.  It had a music box in it.

Perhaps it was Christmas time, or my birthday.  I look very pleased with my new doll and cradle.

I remember how thrilled I was to receive this shirt in the mail from my Great Grandma.  She made it for my birthday.  When I was at my mom’s I found a scrap of the material and glued it in my scrapbook.

This is my favorite picture.  I love how happy we all are, my baby sister’s bonnet, my dress and purse.  We must have been going to church.

With my mom 

I was about 12 in this picture.  My brother Isaac is the baby in the stroller.  Amanda and Nathan, my little sister and brother, are sitting next to him.

I was already married at this point.  In fact, my newborn son Ethan was in the room when we had this portrait taken of all five of us children.

When I was at my Mom’s she told me that she’s been wanting to try an old recipe that her Mom used to make.

When she was growing up, my Grandma used to buy a big tin of frozen cherries from Agway. She stored the whole tin in their large freezer.  One of the ways she used the cherries was to make a fruit topping by cooking them down with sugar and cornstarch to thicken, and some flavor like vanilla or almond extract.

While the fruit cooled, she mixed up some homemade sweet roll dough (without a recipe), rolled it out, and let it rise a little.

Then, she would spread the cherries on top and bake it in the oven.  When it was done and cooled, she made an icing and drizzled it back and forth on top.

Mom said it was wonderfully tasty.  I asked her the name of it and she thinks Grandma called it Cherry Pizza.  I did some research and it is very similar to the old fashioned Kuchen, which is German for “cake”…many of the old time housewives would cut away some of their bread dough on baking day to make a treat similar to this one.

Both of my grandparents have passed away and we all have so many good memories from when they were still alive….food memories in particular are are so vivid and meaningful (from all those family gatherings).  Mom hasn’t had this simple, homemade treat since she was a young teen, and because she had some cherries in the fridge and someone to bake with  (it’s more fun with a partner, right?) she decided to re-create the memory with Sarah and me. 

 (Sarah loved the feel of flour on her hands…)

How do happy bakers remove the pits from fresh cherries?  We used a bottle and a straw!  Mom learned a tip from a magazine and we tried it for the first time…….

You simply place the cherry on top of the bottle and, using the straw, push the pit down through the cherry, letting it land in the bottle.

Not only did it work great, it was very fun!  I imagine you could add vinegar to the juices and pits in the bottle, to make a special flavored vinegar for dressings.

Mom made a sweet, soft yeast dough (without a recipe) and then we made the fillings.

We had a bowl of nice peaches so we made peach filling, too.  The peaches ran a little so we folded up the edges to keep it neat and clean.

They were baked at 350 until done.

Oh, it was so delicious.  I think it satisfied mama, too, and Grandma sure felt close.  There were some tears shed by my Mom as we talked about her.

I can’t wait to make this again for Rich and the children.  I love using family recipes.

Do you have any unique family recipes that you enjoy?

“Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden.
Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.”
~Jim Rohn ~

On Friday, I waved goodbye to my family and drove away to go to my parent’s house (four hour trip) for a weekend visit. 

10 minutes later I turned around and went back.  I couldn’t leave my youngest one, Sarah. 

She’s two now but I haven’t ever been very far from her, and my heart couldn’t bear leaving her behind for days

I quickly collected her and her stuff, buckled in the carseat and away we went, the two of us, for a mini vacation. 

Music blaring, sun shining, a perfect day to travel.

We had a great time–I’ll be blogging about our adventures all week–but, in the meantime, here are some photos from this very morning’s visit to the coffee shop with my Mom.

The coffee shop is located in the city that my Mom’s office is located–she works as an administrative assistant for a judge–and I had never seen her workplace.

We got in our cars and I followed Mom to the courthouse.  After a tour of the (really cool) building and introductions to some of her friendly coworkers, we walked across the street to the place where she gets coffee every day.   

Mom ordered a regular black cup, and I had a latte.  The three of us shared an organic brownie (YUM)

I loved the natural lighting from the big windows, and the exposed brick.

My mom had blond hair, too,  when she was Sarah’s age.

After our coffee, I had to leave…I was on the road for 5 and a half hours today, with a stop for lunch and another stop at a rest area. 

Tomorrow:  blueberry picking

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

(She found my lipstick.)

inspired by soulemama

This was how our weekend began.  With my husband getting Sarah Joy from her crib and discovering…..the worst case of bed-head we have ever seen.

Normally, her hair is baby-fine and so thin that a pony tail is about the circumference of a pencil.  How did she get her hair like this?  It was so teased out that it felt like wool.

It was frizzled!  I had to wet her down to get it combed out. 

@ the playground

Last week Rich was on a business trip from M-F.  Here at home, the children and I had a great time together.  We did fun stuff just about every day:

Monday:  Free day/cleaning/laundry
Tuesday:  Marcia came with her eight children for a visit
Wednesday:  Lunch and movie with Aunt Amanda and cousins
Thursday:  Breakfast at Crackerbarrel, playground w/ all 7, library and coffee shop with Jacob 
Friday:  Lunch and Mall, blood  (Caleb fell and broke a plate, cut wrist and finger.  Seth fell and got a bloody nose)

Rich got back on Friday night to find us all happy and healthy, with only minor injuries.  However, for some reason, I didn’t sleep well the entire time he was gone.  I was so focused and busy with all the many events of the week that by the time I got to bed I couldn’t get to sleep and I couldn’t STAY asleep. 

By Saturday morning I was beaten down, admitting defeat, tired with a roaring headache.  Rich said, “You need a break.  I’m going to take a shower and by the time I get out you need to have a plan or I’ll make one for you.”  I honestly wanted nothing more than to be HOME with NO ONE AROUND.

I’m so thankful for my husband.  He left about an hour later, with eight children…our seven and the neighbor boy, Nick.  They went to the track so he could run and they could play baseball, then to Moe’s for lunch, then the mall.  I had hours (4, I think) to myself in a quiet house!

I made 4 quarts of refrigerator pickles with cucumbers from my own garden, and from the neighbor’s vegetable stand.

I also read a book, took a nap and I don’t remember what else, the main thing was:  my brain got a rest.  🙂

Rich came back home at about 2 and put the littles to bed for naps.  In fact, we also took a nap.

After waking up, we sat on the porch in rocking chairs with our little ones……

And even though I told him I didn’t want to go anywhere, I was too tired, he made me go on a date with him.  It ended up being a blast, I think I talked his ear off. 

Getting on his back proved to be difficult.  LOL 

We went out to eat, walked around the mall (I had gymbucks to spend and Rich got annoyed b/c the outfit he wanted for Sare didn’t come in her size.)  And then, we got decaf coffees at Starbucks for the ride home (I had a cinnamon dolce latte). 

On Sunday we didn’t get to church…too tired and just wanted to be home together.

Seth wore his newest “baseball shirt”….he LOVES baseball.  I got this on clearance at Gymborree w/my gymbucks.  The lady dug around in the back room to find it for me.

He’s a dreamboat!

I fixed the girl’s hair.  They looked so pretty.

We went to the track again and then to the grocery store.

After lunch we took naps again.  It was truly a nice, lazy weekend.

After naps, Rich and Jacob mowed the yard and I puttered around on the porch, cleaning and rearranging and adding pretty things.  Like this teacup bouquet of wildflowers.

We went out for ice cream and Sarah matched her sprinkles.  I had the best strawberry sundae….so yummy.  Rich yelled at Seth for getting ice cream all over himself.  Jacob ate his while reading a book, and three of the others at theirs in a tree. 

Back home, we had watermelon outside (what gorgeous weather we are having!)

C H I C K I E S

My new baby chicks are growing nicely.  I am afraid it has been a bad season for my chickens.  One night, we lost most of our laying hens to raccoons.  On another night, we caught (at dusk) a raccoon in the coop eating my babies.  Even though they were enclosed in a dog kennel and couldn’t get out, a raccoon managed to pull three through and eat them all but a random foot or wing!  The last remaining layer does not lay anymore (trauma?) so we are eagerly awaiting these youngsters to grow up and start laying for us.

Jacob couldn’t put his book down.  Later that evening he finished it and reported that it was the first book he ever read that didn’t have a happy ending. 

Sarah was concerned because Dave and E were burying their legs in the sand. 

Oh it was such a wonderful weekend together as a family.  Rich and I both feel refreshed and energized for another week (no travel!)

I slept like a log last night and woke up at 5:30….with enough time this morning for devos, blogging and breakfast on the porch before the children woke up!

“Oh God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you……”

“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will life up my hands.”

“My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”

Psalm 63:1, 3-5

Happy Monday, my friends!  xoxo

You are loved.