snow (it’s the little things)

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Shanda

With an old scarf around my head keeping the hair off my face, and a wooden spoon in my hand, I opened the door to let out a cat. Sarah and I were in the kitchen making Christmas cookies.

I had determined to have a quieter day. We had a pleasant snow fall in the night but not enough to keep the children home from school. Ethan had a dentist appointment at 8:50 so Sarah and I left to pick him up…..while the snow continued to gently fall.

The many tracks in the driveway, made by the family I love, made me smile. So much activity belonging to the special boys and girls in my life. My husband’s truck tracks meant that he was already at work, making an early start so that he could get back to coach wrestling later at the High School.

At the end of our road, I stopped to take a picture of the farmer’s cows in the snowy field.

In town, Sarah and I both admired the ivy growing up brick buildings. She asked me if we could grow them on our house.

Ethan didn’t have a coat on and shivered as we made our way to the car. “Why on earth didn’t you wear a coat?” I asked. “Because! I don’t have any classes outside, Mom!” (obviously!)

Ethan is the one child that I nag the most about brushing his teeth. It’s become sort of a family joke although Ethan himself may not think it is funny anymore.

He had zero cavities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is in wrestling now at school and had to get his official weight taken today. I couldn’t even tempt him to a small hot chocolate after his cleaning. I took him back to school.

By that time it was only 9:30 so Sarah and I went to the Thrift shop and spent two dollars on some rubber stamps for the children to play with, a few books, & an ornament.

We walked hand in hand to the car, over the railroad tracks. When we got there, I noticed that the snowflakes were falling from the sky as pretty as a picture on top of Sarah’s pigtailed head.

In the parking lot by the town offices I stood with my camera, taking careful close ups of Sarah’s head and my own arm! I had to laugh when I realized what I was doing in public…..but the magic of it all…..

God is so good to me! I didn’t want to leave my cozy house this morning and when I remembered Ethan’s appointment I had groaned. But, in the midst of running these common errands of motherhood I was given yet another opportunity to see the simple beauty of a day I would have missed if I stayed inside.

It is the life of the crystal,
the architect of the flake,
the fire of the frost,
the soul of the sunbeam.
This crisp winter air is full of it.
~John Burroughs

How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose,

if there were no winter in our year! ~Thomas Wentworth Higginson

*****

We drove home and my mind was on the snowflakes and William Bentley.

If you’ve never taken a picture of an individual snowflake I encourage you to try it!

I meandered around the yard and our cat Sherlock tried following me across the ice on the pond and fell right in the water. It was rather shocking for us both. He swam back out quickly, which was a good thing because I was on the other side of the pond.

This is Billy-Cat.

Two fresh eggs were waiting for me in the chicken coop.

Sherlock was very busy on the porch, trying to clean the water off his fur.

Sarah was already inside and we fried up the eggs and shared them for a snack.

And then we read the books we had found at the Thrift store.

Under a soft, warm, electric blanket, we learned that “Q is for quiet times”……

And were inspired to be as kind as the shoemaker and his wife.

Best of all, we decided to make Christmas cookies, after a cozy nap.

While the oven was still hot, I mixed up a banana bread. I read on allrecipes.com that if you wrap up your *hot from the oven* quick bread in foil, it will steam itself cool and become nice and moist.

This entire morning *after the children left for school* has been a “no TV” day and the quietness of the house has been wonderful.

There is something about snow falling down outside to make a day seem so peaceful.

a valentine in november

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Shanda

Yesterday evening four year old Sarah sat at the dining room table all by herself. She was busy with a guitar pick maker that was given to Ethan a few years ago. The pick-maker is a hole punch that makes a single guitar pick out of old credit cards, thick plastic, and what have you. She was having a lovely time going around and around several pieces of scrap paper with it. She ended up making about 50 guitar picks, all from paper. She carefully wrote on some and decorated others.

She called them Valentines.

She took a handful upstairs to the boys’ room and bestowed them to brother Jacob. He accepted them with gratitude.

She had lots more to give away, and wandered over to me, “Mom, do you want a Valentine?”

“Why yes, Sarah, thank you!” I replied, honored. She carefully placed one in my out stretched hand.

Along with the letters “SMI”, this is what I discovered written on my *valentine*:

I had to find the paper this came from to see how it happened: It was a letter from school about a “school wide assembly”!!!

hands

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Shanda

I snapped these frosty photos the other day. Down at the edge of the pond the grass and leaves had beautiful long lashes of frost.

Guess what our little artist, Sarah, has been doing these days?

The first time she tried tracing her own hand I told her it looked like the hand of a monster. I did most of the tracing but eventually I became reluctant about stopping my own projects to trace *yet another hand* for her, so she decided it was more time-efficient to do it herself.

‘Mom! I did it! And it doesn’t look like a Monster-hand!”

(it doesn’t?)

I taught her how to draw pretty jewelry, and fingernails, too.

This one doesn’t have fingernails. But it does have a ring on each finger.

All that is required is paper and colored pens/crayons. It kept Sarah busy for a long time and it gave her lots of practice with tracing, drawing, and designing.

lady-bugs

I traced two sets of hands on some of the pages, trying to save time and paper.

As you may have noticed, Billy-Cat came over to see what I was photographing.

He communicated to me that it was a much nicer idea to photograph a handsome cat.

*lick-lick making myself ready for my portrait*

*wait, let me pose first*

*this is my best pose*

*how’d it turn out?*

I have happy cats because Sarah and I went to the grocery store to buy them food. They ran out yesterday and had to gag down dog food. All four of them have full tummies and are in various places in the house, sleeping it off.

This is what our mantel looks like right now. Jacob did the painting. I love how the red in it matches the mushrooms. Grace and Dave went for a walk and brought me the piece of wood (to the left of the painting, it’s the same color as the rocks so hard to see), they called it an octopus and plan painting it purple (I admit it would be easier to see). My felt mushrooms are from the Masonville General Store in NY. I pulled up some greenery from the woods and added artificial flowers along the mantel, too. The “give thanks” banner is from Pottery Barn (last year). I love how if you take the “e” off the end of “give” and then next four letters from “thanks”, it spells my son Ethan’s name. Sometimes I move those letters to the middle just for fun.

fiestaware in the sunshine

Tonight, I’m making meatloaf for dinner, with spinach and mashed potatoes.

I’ve shared Sarah’s hands and now I will share her song:

Won’t you give her a hand?

three days in

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Shanda

It’s November 3rd and on my way back from the chicken coop I saw the first ice. It was on the patio in a plastic slide and I sighed because they were in school and would miss it. The first ice (and first snow) has always been so exciting for them. I made my way back into the house, ran Sarah her bath, cleaned her all up, dressed her, did some laundry and cleaning, and …… Sarah went outside to get a cat and discovered the ice all on her own. She giggled with joy and promptly ran inside to get socks, boots, coat, scarf, and mittens so she could COMPLETELY and THOROUGHLY enjoy it. She ate it, skated on it, insisted on sharing some with me (to eat), and because it was melting and her siblings were not at home, we bagged them each a piece. It’s waiting in the “white frozen refrigerator” (her words) for them as a surprise for later.

Despite freezing temperatures, there is still plenty of beautiful green parsley in the garden.

Seth is learning how to read and write by leaps and bounds in Kindergarten.

We just wish he would restrict himself to paper to practice on. He’s getting better about it now.

This artwork was done by Sarah Joy.

PUMPKIN COOKIES

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (I didn’t add nuts)
1 cup chocolate chip (I used peanut butter chips)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, shortening and egg. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together; add to pumpkin mixture alternately with baking powder, dissolved in milk. (I did not do this, I just mixed the wets and then added all the dry and mixed with the KitchenAid). Add vanilla and chocolate chips. Drop on greased cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.

This recipe is from a 1972 Pennsylvania State Grange cookbook. If you happen to have the same one, it’s on page 239. The cookies are a moist cake-like texture. I made them on Saturday and they are still fresh in a big ziplock bag on the counter. Unfortunately, the children don’t seem to like them……..I have to walk around and hand them out to get them consumed.

for my friends

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Shanda

thank you

for calling me
thank you for praying with me
for sharing the things that hurt you,

because then I remember that I can be brave with my hurt, too.
thank you for laughing with me so much
Thank you for those journal bits you send in the mail.

thank you for traveling so far to spend time with me

thank you for loving my children

thank you for understanding

for being gentle

for the blanket you crocheted for me

the scarf you crocheted

the potholder you crocheted

For watching Mr. Rogers with me.

for teaching my daughter sign language

thank you for letting your children visit my family

for the letters

for the gifts

for spoiling me

for being yourself around me

snickerdoodles

for being warm and friendly so I know you truly care

making me forget about my phone

for not noticing my faults

for noticing my faults and being amused by them

for noticing things I didn’t think anyone saw

for leaving a comment on my blog every single time

hugs

giving my daughter essential oils for her headaches

forgiving me when I cancel our coffee date, again

talking nonstop

letting me cry it out

making me pee my pants

memories

thank you for the fabric napkins you made me

thank you for the quilts you made my babies

for being faithful

for telling me your morbid stories

for telling me when you wear the earrings I gave you

Thank you for teasing me.

Thank you for not pushing me too hard.
for knowing I love cherries, and owls, and cats.

for those pins you send me on pinterest

for the encouraging texts

being real

inspiring me

letting me in

inviting me over

letting me hold your baby

being quiet with me

singing with me

thank you for the vintage cookbooks

all those emails when I needed your guidance and experience

sharing your favorite people with me

sharing your favorite books with me

for saying yes

for being the one to pay for dinner

for making apple pies with me

for making my daughter that purse and filling it with goodies

for thinking of my son when you see something about snakes

the lilac disc pitcher

for all those long walks outside up on the hill

for all the random information about Norway because you know I want to go there

for finding me on Facebook so we can reconnect

Thank you for continuing to love me, and for not treating me any differently, even though I started going to another church.

Thank you for the poem, drawing and bag of truffles you left on my doorknob when I was away.

for the meals you cooked when I had a baby

for the recipes and tips for depression because you know I get that way sometimes.

***

Thank you for showing me GRACE

I don’t deserve you.

I can’t ever repay you.

But I want to love you back.

And be your friend, too.

This post is for all my friends,

and the pictures are from a day this summer when Joanna drove miles and miles to meet me at a park.

pink cat

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Shanda

these days

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Shanda

Yesterday morning I walked out of the house into a sparkling fall day. In my hands was a little vintage fiesta plate of leftover banana bread and cereal milk from breakfast, to serve the hens. They seemed to enjoy the treat.

They explored the grass along the fence. There are five full grown hens and two half-grown ones.

We do not let the little ones stay outside for very long because the cats come over to try and hunt them. The poor things.

I gave them a bowl of chick food in a yellow fiesta bowl. The way they hop in and out of the bowl, peeping and scratching food everywhere, is amusing.

The leaves were turning.

The fall flowers were in bloom.

My heart was singing.

You are the joy in my morning
You’re my song of praise
Just like the new day dawning
Flooding my world with grace.

Isn’t this green and pink combination BEAUTIFUL?

Caleb was home sick from school yesterday. He had an upset stomach and a high fever. He was on the couch curled up in his soft blanket and as much as I was able, I was sitting by him. The children are so needy and love to have me near when they are sick. As much as I hate to see them suffer, and as long as I know it’s only a common children’s illness, I confess– I love the cuddle time.

Caleb likes to talk. It was an eye-opener to me when he said, “You know why I bury my head in the couch to sleep? Because I don’t want my picture taken.” My heart was so sad to think that I unknowingly made my poor boy uncomfortable with photography, it’s just that I think he’s so cute. He doesn’t like the feeling that I’m taking pictures when he’s sleeping. I told him I would never take another picture of him unless I knew it was okay and I asked him first. He told me that one day he was falling asleep on the bus and a couple of girls took a video of him. It bothered him. I told him some things he could do about it, such as telling them that their Dad doesn’t want videos taken of him, or going to the principal or the bus driver for help, or asking them to delete the video.

We seem to be living in a time when privacy isn’t understood or desired. I know that I personally love to share on my blog, but there is a part of me that almost envies that time not so long ago when families were in their homes and their lives were virtually unknown to the rest of the world. They had their own private and intimate lives within the walls of their “nest”, special and meaningful only to them.

It is something to think about.

(I asked Grace about this, too, and she said she was absolutely fine with me taking pictures of her whenever I wanted.)

I asked Caleb if I could take this picture and he agreed.

Rich and I purchased a coffee table and a loveseat this weekend. We needed more places for people to sit when they come and visit us and we were thankful to find things that we didn’t have to order and wait for. Ethan Allen was having a floor sample sale on a lot of their furniture. Both pieces have small problems but in our family we would rather buy things on super-clearance-sale WITH a problem, then to pay full price for a perfect piece that will get scratched the next day.

The maroon throw at the end of the love-seat is the latest loved comfort with everyone….it’s our very first electric blanket….and the children are all so very appreciative. Ethan had it last night after football practice when he was shivering cold. Seth fell asleep under it when he was sick last week. Sarah had it this morning when the house was chilly. Seth accidentally called it the “electra blanket” and the name has stuck. We love our “electra blanket”.

I have been having fun freshening up the house (after an inspiring visit to my friend Lydia’s house). I had Rich and the boys move the piano from the living room to the new addition and so far we all really like it in there. You can’t tell by the photo, but there is still a good amount of room between the table and chairs and the piano, so we don’t feel squeezed.

I bought our first full length tablecloth, long enough for our big table. It’s a linen fabric with golden leaves stamped on it. We have 8 chairs around the table, and one bench that seats 2.

I also bought the mirror on the right side of the picture. It’s reflection brings in even more of the sunshine.

I’ve been longing to use more of the rhubarb from my garden that Mr. G so thoughtfully gave me to plant before he moved last fall. I found a great recipe for a pie. I used a store-bought crust, and baked it yesterday afternoon. Everyone liked it.

Rhubarb Pie

5 cups sliced rhubarb
6 rounded Tablespoons flour (an odd measurement…it’s basically 1/2 a cup)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

Let rhubarb mixture stand at room temperature for 20-25 minutes, then stir and add to a pastry lined pie plate. Sprinkle on top of the filling 2 Tablespoons melted butter, 1 Tablespoon flour, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Place the top crust over and pinch the edges to seal. Poke top of pie with a fork and bake in a 400 degree oven 45-50 minutes (or until done).

Recipe adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks, A Return to Sunday Dinner, by Russell Cronkhite.

I love candlelight, and these days, my favorite is a chocolate layer cake candle from Yankee Candle. The children, especially Ethan, hate it because it smells so realistic that they are disappointed when there aren’t brownies or chocolate cakes in the kitchen (only rhubarb pie). The candle holder makes me laugh, it’s also from Yankee Candle, and it’s a spoof on Snow White and the seven dwarfs. I told the children it’s me and the seven of them. “But where’s Dad?” they asked. “He’s at work!” I reply.

After Seth got home from Kindergarten we went outside to play. Sarah cut a chunk of her hair off a few months ago so it doesn’t fit into a ponytail unless I use about five bobby pins. Still cute.

“Mom, bring your camera! David has a snake!”

The stream is low so there are plenty of rocks to step on, which makes it easy to walk up and down the stream, exploring. I got my head too close to the branch of a pine tree and it took my headband off and flung it someplace….it was black and I never did find it.

We found crayfish.

I watched this one for a little while. It was busy, I saw it pick up an acorn-cap in it’s little legs. It shuffled around, keeping an eye on me (the big monster?)

The boys like to eat them but yesterday I wouldn’t let allow it …. I became friends with this one.

I took this picture last night because Sammie and Sherlock were sleeping together on the couch. Would you believe they are from the same litter? Sherlock is so much bigger than his sister!

“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has the eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” Augustine

love & best dishes

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Shanda

We have a terrible cold virus going through the whole family. In fact, three of the children have missed school in the last week. We had planned to go to NYC on our anniversary, but with the lack of sleep we decided to stay closer to home.

With a babysitter at home with Sarah, we went out to breakfast at a place about 45 minutes away. It was a first time visit for us and we were not disappointed. We ordered coffee and hot chocolate first, and the waitress brought me my mug with whipped cream sky high, and sprinkles, too. The mug was resting on a yellow fiestaware saucer. I collect fiesta dishes, so this was a thrill.

Then, we each ordered a version of eggs benedict. My eggs were on a split croissant with spinach and mushrooms. Rich’s were on an English muffin with corn beef hash.

And AGAIN, served on Fiestaware! It is not typical to see fiesta in restaurants, so it was a treat to see “my” dishes used in this cafe.

Well, it was time for the mall to open, so we meandered down the road to do a little shopping, happy to be together, alone.

He didn’t have to twist my arm to get me into Tiffany&Co, where he bought me this dainty platinum ring (set with tiny diamonds).

We wandered around the mall and had a snack at Starbucks, where I pointed to my new ring while eating a pumpkin muffin. Later on, I saw a display of candles; I love how our initials come together in the alphabet, Rich and Shanda.

After a while we left the mall and went to Barnes and Noble to sit and read. I worked on my Bible study lesson and Rich continued his “Holiness” study. I picked out a few books for the children and snapped some pictures of books that I thought looked interesting. (Yesterday, I ordered two of them from amazon.)

We began to feel hungry so we left to go eat an early dinner at a pasta place.

AND GUESS WHAT? Yet again our food was served on fiestaware. At least, it was very similar to fiesta and stamped with the HLC mark.

Our waitress stopped by just as I was taking a picture of my food and when she teased me I told her that I collected Fiestaware and that I didn’t have the certain bowl our pasta was served in. She seemed genuinely interested and asked several questions.

The next time she checked on us, she brought two clean bowls just like the ones we were eating from, and told us WE COULD HAVE THEM.

She didn’t even know it was our anniversary! I laughed and exclaimed; it was such a nice surprise and she received a nice tip to match.

The little bread plates were also made by Homer Laughlin China (company that makes fiesta).

I did some research on my bowls and I think they are from HLC’s Bosque line. It is not technically fiesta but very very similar. I love my new bowls and will treasure them, they are only for Rich and I to use (not the children).

It was a great way to celebrate 19 years of marriage.

We are so grateful for each other, our relationship, the family we’ve made together,

and a kitchen well-stocked with the best dishes. 😉

with my collection in 2008

{this moment} love letter to his girl

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Shanda

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.

my hen’s near death experience

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Shanda

Can you see the turkey???

Yesterday afternoon I felt that I must get out of the house and outdoors. I “made” David, Caleb, Seth, and Sarah come with me. David was the most unwilling, for some reason walks make him impatient, perhaps because we don’t just walk, we stop constantly to look at things. “Walk” is probably not the best word to describe our walks.

At the top of the dam trail I found a turkey feather. When we got up to the field the turkeys were there. In great excitement, the boys and I tried herding them toward us but as I ran Sarah began to sob “I can’t run fast! I can’t run fast!” so I stopped and went back to her, she was losing her breath in her sadness and crying so I sat down and held her, comforting her by saying I would never leave her alone. How terrifying to watch your mother run fast AWAY FROM YOU! “What IS a turkey?” she asked. Oh, dear Sarah. She hadn’t even seen them in the distance, she didn’t know what a turkey was, perhaps it was monster-like! No wonder she was so very upset. We sat and had a conversation about turkeys and the boys came back to join us.

At this point our “walk” had lasted all of 1o minutes and David said he was going home. “NO YOU’RE NOT” I cried. There were complaints from the children. “Wait a minute! You can sit in front of the tv, you can play video games, but you can’t sit in the grass?” “It’s too itchy!!” “JUST sit down, boys!” The whole walk-idea wasn’t working. But, as we sat I started talking to them about the praying mantis we found the last time we were up there…..”maybe we can find another one and take it home to put it in a jar”, I offered.

David actually thought that this was as good idea. We all got up and started to peer into the bushes at the edge of the forest.

We found nothing but bumble bees on the beautiful dark yellow goldenrod flowers. The boys kept going, though, and everyone started getting along again. We played by the stream for quite a while.

David studied milkweed. We are both sad because we didn’t see any monarch caterpillars this year. What’s happening to them??

We popped popper plants and sat up on the cement drain thing, which is sort of like a platform. The kids have to climb up to sit on it, the water drains through a pipe and we can look down into it. Sarah felt as if she was on a stage so she did her fighting moves.

Seth was exploring but kept coming back to mama for a quick “hello”.

Caleb was collecting beaver-chewed sticks and David tried catching a small crayfish without success. You can be sure there would be a picture of it if he got one!

Doesn’t the pile of sticks look like the work of beavers? I was watching Seth and had a little panic when I saw him shaking an arm to get something off himself. I immediately thought he had walked over an ant hill, but it was only a slug. “I hate slugs” he explained.

David begrudgingly helped his little sister down, but I could tell that he felt good about it after it was over.

The lighting at the end of the day is so pretty….Caleb had generously given each child a beaver-chewed stick to swing around on the way home.

The lighting at the end of the day is so pretty.

Billy Cat was ready to greet us as we returned, he was very interested in Sarah’s stick.

*****

When we got in the house it was time to go get the other children from school. I hadn’t given anyone dinner at this point so I loaded everyone up and we picked up J, E, G, and Emily. We took Emily home and drove to the grocery store, & everyone was loud. Grace was telling me about a hard part in her day, the little ones were bickering in the back seat (I don’t know what’s going on with them lately, I’m going to blame it on Rich being gone all week), and so on. I needed some quiet so I didn’t let anyone come in the store with me to get stuff for a taco dinner.

By the time we arrived home it was 7:00pm and I was feeling a lot of rush and pressure about getting dinner done so the younger ones could get to bed. They are so tired by the end of the day. In the midst of doing 8 things at once as I prepared dinner, GRACE CAME IN THE HOUSE to tell me I had to come to the chicken coop!! “I can’t, I’m cooking meat!!!” “DAVID CAN WATCH IT, YOU HAVE TO COME, MOM!!” She would give me NO HINTS except the reassurance that the hens were alive and well.

Would you take a look at this? On the upper left you see a bunch of feathers from one of my hens. The dead bird is a Hawk, which most certainly was in the process of KILLING THE HEN when ……….. SOMETHING KILLED IT. I am intrigued because it is a mystery how it could have died. Our dog didn’t kill it, I know, because the chicken coop is behind his electric dog fence. Was it a cat? Was it the rest of the flock (four hens?) defending their sister-hen? Oh how I would love to know the answer to this story!