It is such a lovely morning.  It rained in the night. Last night was the first night we slept with the windows all open and so when I got up to make coffee I could smell the freshly rain-washed air.  The birds are happily singing.  I took my coffee out on the porch with my Bible.  I’m reading through Deuteronomy and finding such lovely phrases like

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee . . . .”

” . . .fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills. . . .”

“. . .on this side of Jordan toward the sunrising. . “

“. . .mercy unto thousands of them that love me. . . .”

and I love this passionate verse,

“O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!” 5:29

and this one,

“Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. . .”  7:9

(“a thousand” sounds so yummy, doesn’t it?)

Things I am thankful for this morning:

the hummingbirds are back and feeding at the feeders I have hanging on the porch

the ducks and geese that I have seen already today~the geese honk constantly as they are flying, what dramatics!

the rain we got last night (things look so much greener already)

my old diary that had me laughing and sighing last night (from when J and E were little, and G was a newborn)

my Bible~my favorite is the one I bought at a library book sale for 2 dollars

Christ in me~”Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer, this is my constant longing and prayer”

my family~my husband, especially

the spoonful of honey in the freezer that I found, which reminds me that I am a mom of curious children

my potential garden, I am itching to plant!  I plan on getting oodles of pansies and planting them all in a big mass someplace in my gardens.  I also need veggie seeds.

the tulips and daffodils I have blooming in the garden down by the pond, “big flowers” is what Caleb calls them

for memories, I’m thankful for my memories. . .sweet ones, ones that make me smile.  Moses kept telling the Israelites to remember how much God had blessed them and took care of them, and I want to do that too.  It’s a good thing to REMEMBER and thank God for His care.

(2 years ago, one of my fav. pics of Caleb and me) 

We went to the library yesterday and brought home 3 canvas bags full of books.

I picked out one titled, The Seasonal Hearth, The Woman at Home in Early America, and found this great quote:

“For a good, everyday household angel, give us the woman who laughs.  Her biscuits may not be always just right, and she may occasionally burn her bread, and forget to replace dislocated buttons; but, for solid comfort all day and every day, she is a very paragon.  The trick of always seeing the bright side, or, if the matter has no bright side, of shining up the dark one, is a very important faculty; one of the things no woman should be without.  We are not all born with the sunshine in our hearts, as the Irish prettily phrase it; but we can cultivate a cheerful sense of humor, if only we try.”

The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 1889, Robert B. Thomas

When we got back to NY from our trip to Orlando, we picked up Caleb and then went to my parent’s house.  We had a really nice time visiting and after our pizza dinner, Mom and I went for a walk.  We walked and talked energetically.  It was a special time, and we felt sort of like we were getting away with something, because we left the kids behind in the house with the men.

My mom’s childhood farmhouse is for sale.  It’s right up the road so Mom and I walked up there and around the yard, looking at my Grandma’s flowers that were coming up.  Across the road from the house there is a little area of trees. . .and I mentioned to her that I had only ever been over there one time.

“Oh really?  I used to play over there all the time with my brothers and sisters.  We used to sneak matches from the house and make a little fire.”  She laughed.  “We would get a cast iron pan and one egg and we would fry the egg and eat it.”

“Mom said later on that she always knew what we were up to.  But she let us do it.”

I don’t know why but that one little bit of information about my child-mom and her young siblings went straight into my heart.  I loved that little story.  Perhaps it’s because I have a little band of children of my own now and I can watch them, and smile at their childhood pleasures.

I want my children to grow up and tell their families fun stories about their childhood.

I guess that’s the reason why we celebrated our dog’s first birthday yesterday with a raw turkey cake.

Yes, a raw turkey cake.

I went to the store with the children and we bought 2 packages of ground turkey.  (buy 1, get 1 free).  We bought a tub of store bought icing, and a balloon.  On the way out of the store I whipped out a quarter and bought a handful of dog-bone candies from a gumball machine.

Jacob formed the “cake” on a cookie sheet and they all stood on chairs around the table and frosted it thick with frosting, while I squealed at the ones who tried to lick frosting off their knives after putting them on raw turkey meat.  Then we sprinkled on the dog bones and inserted one blue candle (that we did not light).

Out the door we went, into the bright sun, like a procession, down to Parker’s dog house.  He was standing and watching us, with his ears up.  Like, “What in the world is going on?”

I carried a bow and my camera.

Jake carried the cake.

Ethan carried the balloon.

We were all skipping.  It just couldn’t happen fast enough. 

We gave him his balloon and sang “Happy Birthday”.  I put the bow on his head.  He shook it off in no time.

Then we all squatted around and watched him eat his cake.  I think we used a bit too much frosting because he had to stop once in a while to smack his lips.  He didn’t like the candies and he gently put them back down on the grass.  We had to throw them in the pond to keep Caleb from getting them.

This was one birthday cake that we didn’t want to share.

So we had ice cream cones.

So Happy Birthday, you silly dog.  Thanks for giving me another opportunity to have a special time with my little ones.  I think they will probably always remember making you your raw turkey cake. 

And if they don’t, I know I sure will.

Epcot

(is 22 photos too many???)

Of course not!

Epcot:  The place with the big golf ball in the entrance 

A daughter’s little hand and faithful look

Little girl, don’t grow too fast and never let go of Daddy’s hand

Epcot had beautiful and creative gardens

I couldn’t resist this photo of a little girl dressed up as Snow White

Is she adorable or WHAT?  She’s even picking up her skirt!

My lunch at “Morocco”  (Epcot has different countries you can visit, it’s so fascinating)

It was a lamb wrap and it was GOOD!

Um.  Dave?

Our life with David=never a dull moment

(the coins ARE tempting, aren’t they?)

Little girl enjoying the one man/with a whistle/juggling show

It’s amazing what you can do with shrubbery and spare time!

My biggest boy, Jacob Richard, wearing a man’s size sandal. (!!)

Love you lots, firstborn, you’re the apple of my eye

Nemo with his pal Davy-do, this picture always makes me laugh. 

I need an enlargement of this one!

A quiet moment for the Princess

Mommy is happy after finally making it to France for coffee and pastries.

(even though she did have to share everything)

The cream puff was dreamy!

Ethan in “Canada”

My treasures

It was so much fun to taste soda from different countries

The t-shirt I didn’t buy  (I collect cherry things)

and other cherry things I didn’t buy! (isn’t my self-control amazing? LOL)

It took great effort to get this next picture.

Because Ethan was full of mischief and kept putting his hand in front of my camera just as soon as I clicked the picture!  I had an audience of strangers by the time I was done (we were in the way).

They all thought Davy was cute though.

Cute indeed!

Magic Kingdom

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I just smiled and laughed through your comments on yesterday’s post.  You are all so sweet!  It was nice to be missed.    I love what Danishdoll said about “bringing Caleb back to reality”. . .yes, that is exactly what we are doing!  He keeps telling us “I can’t!!” when we tell him to do something, in the same tone of voice that he would use to say “I WON’T” (which is what he means).   He will have to learn to share and to obey again. . .it might take a week or so. 

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The good thing is that the children are all exhausted and will hopefully sleep in this morning so I can sit here and post more pictures. 

The ones I am sharing today are all from Magic Kingdom.  We flew into Orlando last Sunday, had a free day on Monday (Rich worked, I took the kids out shopping at Downtown Disney and we swam in the pool).  Of course, David was quite disappointed when the plane did NOT land right in the middle of Disney.  Poor boy, he cried and cried.  Waiting can be unbearable when you are five years old.

Needless to say, by Tuesday we were all very excited about going to Magic Kingdom. 

The atmosphere is just so busy, happy, thrilling. . . .I don’t know how anyone could be grouchy at Magic Kingdom (unless you are too hot and overtired and under the age of 5. . .we saw/heard lots of poor screaming children who had had enough!!).  The music (I have Disney music playing on my site, turn on your audio if you want to hear it), the anticipation of seeing favorite Disney characters, even waiting in the lines for the rides is fun!  I went to Disney one other time, with just baby David, and it was not as exciting as going with Rich and Jacob, Ethan, Grace, and David. 

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It was wonderful to watch the children experience it all. . . .I had tears in my eyes on and off during the day, because I’m an emotional sappy sort of Mom.  But, if you could have seen the sweet little ones (not just my own children) waving and screaming at Cinderella, and Pooh, and Snow White, Peter Pan, Mickey, Minnie. . blowing kisses with smiles and big wondering eyes!  They were all so dear. 

Jacob said that it really did seem like a magical day.

The rides were great.  We went on everything.  David was big enough that he could go on the roller coasters and so we did.  Jacob got upset waiting in the line for one of them but Rich would not let him chicken out.  And once it was over Jacob was so proud of himself and never balked again.  Our favorites were the roller coasters, the Winnie the Pooh ride, and the Buzz Lightyear ride.  Oh, and the Mickey’s Philharmonics was so fun, and the Country Bear Jamboree. . . .”It’s a Small World After all”, the merry-to-round, the Dumbo one. . .the rides made us grin from ear to ear.  We went on many of them twice.

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We went to Magic Kingdom two days— on Tuesday and then back again on Friday.  Our first visit flew by and we stayed from 9:30 in the morning until 9:00 at night (the fireworks were amazing!)  On our second visit we were tired out by about 5:30 (it was a much hotter day) and we left to go back to the resort to swim.

I took my little camera on Tuesday and saw SO many people w/big SLR Nikon cameras around their necks that I decided surely I could handle taking mine. . .so, on Friday I took my big camera and you will probably see what a difference there is between the two.  (not to mention that we are wearing different outfits, LOL)

For some reason I did not get many pictures of just Jacob and Ethan.  I think it’s because Grace and I went off on our own for part of the day and that was when I took most of the pictures (when David is with me I spent most of the time making sure he did not wander off).  It was harder to take pictures when we were all together, I was more into talking to Rich and the children. . . . .anyway, here is what I’ve got for those two days.  I hope you like them!

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Princess Grace Lillian

I had this strawberry ice cream sundae on both days.  So YUM!

Rich and Davy-do, watching a show:

(By the way, David got to eat COTTON CANDY for the first time at Magic Kingdom.  He loved it.)

Grace got to visit Minnie’s house!  (Grace has a collection of Minnies here at home, and we bought a new one while we were there, she carried it with her)

There were Princesses everywhere

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 Tomorrow I’ll share pictures from Epcot.

Have a wonderful day, everyone! 

Rich and I kissed in front of Cinderella’s castle on Friday.  (Jacob took the picture.)

We all had so much fun on our vacation, which is an understatement.  It was WONDERFUL.

Caleb was spoiled at Grandma and Grandpa’s.  Rich’s mom wrote us emails everyday, and most of them were reports on what Caleb was eating.  We thought we would see a fat Caleb when we got back. 

He is not fat, though.  Just spoiled rotten!

More pictures to come!

I usually read before bed.  Last night I picked up the book Home-Making  by J.R. Miller.  I didn’t read for long, but what I read was enough to get my mind going.

I have been thinking about how hard it is to raise a family properly if I am not constantly in God’s word, reading and meditating on His “rules for living”.  If I do not stay focused on obeying God’s Word, than I slip into my own selfish ways and the world’s messed up ways of living, which are not only unChristian, but often completely anti-Christian.

Doing things God’s way means we have to study and meditate on His ways.  I have to study words like love, mercy, truth, sincerity, obedience, sacrifice.  Using the Bible first, and other materials second.

Reading Home-Making last night was like getting a blast of fresh cool air on my soul.

I started thinking about home life and how much I want my children to be best friends.  I want peace in my home, and by the grace of God I can say my home is pretty peaceful, but I have noticed the children and I lately, slipping into selfishness. . .and I have noticed that certain ugly tone of voice coming out in both them and in me.

“These things ought not be”

So, I believe God led me to read these words last night:

“It is a happy art, the art of living together in tender love.”

“Where selfishness prevails there can be no real happiness.”

“As love grows, selfishness dies out in the heart.  Love is always ready to deny itself, to give, to sacrifice, just in the measure of its sincerity and intensity.  Perfect love is perfect self-forgetfulness.  Hence, where there is love in a home, unselfishness is the law.  Each forgets self and lives for the others.”

“This is the true home spirit.  It needs culture.  Even the best of us are in danger of growing careless in our family life.”

So, this morning, by the grace of God, I got up determined to serve my children in love.  I made scrambled eggs, blueberry muffins, and baked oatmeal for breakfast.  I had Ethan take Grace a muffin up in her bed, warm from the oven and placed on a paper napkin.  I asked my eager helper (David) to help me make everything.

Sometimes I do things like that without realizing that my heart attitude needs to be the attitude of loving servant. 

There is so much joy in serving my family, if I only stop to think that in doing that, I am pleasing my Father in heaven, I am obeying His Word, I am following His will for my life.  What bliss!  What liberty! 

I also had the children each write down ways they can serve each other today:

“I will clean the livingroom for Mom” ~Ethan
“I will bring in Dad’s bags.” ~Ethan
“I will draw Jacob a picture.” ~Grace
“I will give Dad a kiss.” ~Grace
“I will help Ethan with math.” ~Jacob
“I will protect Grace.” ~Jacob
“I will read to David and Caleb.” ~Jacob

I made a list, too.  I asked the children what they would like me to do for them.  They want to make cookies with me, and they all want back-scratches.  I’ll be playing catch with Ethan and painting Grace’s nails.

David has been wanting watermelon all week.  I’m going to go out and buy him the biggest one we can find.

I’ll be going to Costco to buy Rich some luggage for our trip and making sure I look pretty for him when he gets home.

I only share all of this to encourage you.  God’s standards are high because He knows that even believers can slip lower and lower until we are living in strife and ugliness, until we look no different than the rest of the world.

So live for your family today.  Pick up flowers for your wife on the way home.  Bake your husband his favorite treat.  Go to the store to buy some good healthy snacks and have a weekend with your family that feels like a celebration, rather than ho-hum.  Hug with your whole heart.  Clean the kids up, or get them get dirty, whatever they need the most of.  Play, rest, read, grow, smile, laugh!

“By love serve one another.  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor (and your family members) as thyself.”  Galations 5:13-14

Grace, enjoying her (fifth) muffin:

This morning I am considering a ban against children hanging out in the master bedroom.  Doesn’t it make sense that hard-working parents should have at least one room free of precious, yet messy reminders of little ones? 

For example, I have my children rest every day at the same time and I always put Davy-do in my bed for his rest time, so that he and Caleb are separated.

As a result, I’ve had my nicely made bed torn apart.  I’ve had the little switch thingy that goes “click-click” when you turn on the lamp, spun out and lost “somewhere”.  Parties in the bathroom result in an un-flushed toilet and toilet paper all over.  I’ve had my cosmetics unlidded and explored with one small Davy-do finger.

Also, the master bedroom includes our computer.  So every afternoon it becomes the local hangout with at least two children in a chair, and one perched on the desk, all excitedly watching the action on a computer game.  This results in little irritations, too, like dirty bottoms (always dirty now from all the adventures outdoors) sitting on the desk (leaving grit behind) and sometimes my clean clothes.  (I left out some new clothes that I had ordered and before I could even wear my new snow-white shirt, someone’s wet dirty bottom sat on it.  Thankfully, it came clean!)

But last night was the last straw.

I was awakened at 3:30-ish in the morning by a strange noise.  Was Rich having breathing trouble?  No.  Was someone out of bed?  No.  Was it a burglar?  I don’t think so.  A rat or squirrel?  Maybe.

I tried to go back to sleep.  But, there it was again.  A strange noise, like a busy little creature.

“Rich.” 

(pause)

“Rich?”

“hwawehla?”

“I hear something.  What is that noise?”

Rich sat up.  And just sat.  So long that I finally asked, “Rich!  What are you doing?”

“Just trying to figure out what that noise is!”  He laid back down.  (I think he was still half-asleep)

We both listened.  Rich pounded on the wall.  We could still hear. . . whatever it was.

Finally, I had a thought.  “Do you think it’s a turtle?  Maybe the kids brought one in.”  That would explain why our bathroom had dirt in the sink, and a dirty bowl on the floor earlier.

“Oh yeah,” says Rich, “the kids did tell me that a turtle got loose.”

Me:  ?????

So, at 4 in the morning Rich and I were out of bed, laughing, and trying to find a turtle.  Rich still didn’t quite believe that we would find one.  But, I KNEW, of course I knew, that we would.  Any mother would have had 10-15 red flags raised in her mind if her children said a turtle was loose in her house. 

Rich checked the closet, and there was nothing.

Then we both searched under the bed.  He on his side, me on mine.  Our eyes met and we laughed again.

“There it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  I said, excitedly.  He was up against a box, and sort of stuck.

I got him out and Rich said, “Where’s the camera?”  (I was proud of him, I had no thoughts of taking pictures). 

We let him loose outside on the lawn and then I ate a piece of bread and we both had a drink.  We were WIDE AWAKE but we made ourselves go back to bed.  I eventually fell asleep, only to groan when Caleb woke up at 6.

Honestly.  In my dreams, I can imagine a wonderful master bedroom.  A place where shiny clean windows are open, and a gentle breeze is puffing the light airy curtains into the room.  The ceiling fan is slowing turning.  The bed is crisply made with fresh clean sweet smelling sheets, with pretty pillows neatly arranged.  The floor is clean and vacuumed with no small toys.  There is NOT a pile of clean clothes in the rocking chair, it’s empty, with a pretty blanket folded on the back of it.  Things are neatly placed in baskets and jars.  My pretty decorations are sparkling and in the places in which I arranged them.  The whole room says, “Come, tired mama and tired papa, rest in me, rest in my cleanliness, refresh yourselves together in a lovely room just for the two of you.”

I think it’s time to kick the kids out of the room.  Perhaps a special invitation will be offered up now and then but for now I’ve reached my limit.

This is a room for love.  Not small children and their little critters.  They can have the rest of the house.

I almost forgot. . . .

Happy Earth day!

Aren’t you glad our Lord created such a lovely one?

And isn’t it fitting that my 2 yr. old has gone #2 in the potty 2 times (on his own) (for the very first time!!) today?

(insert my squeals of glee here)

We’re saving diapers from going to the land-fill!

Here are some pictures from our weekend.  On Saturday we worked around the house.  Rich put in a garden for me!  (well, it’s not actually planted, but it’s ready to plant!)

First thing in the morning on Saturday, geese landed on the pond.  I walked down to try to take a picture of them, and they flew away. . . . .See how it’s body is straight as an arrow, and the feet are tucked up?

The buds on the trees are like little red flowers:

We picked one daffodil:

This is my new garden (for veggies). . .Rich used old railroad ties for the box.  Caleb was filthy dirty by the time we were done.  I had to run bath water two times to get him clean!

This hat was the best 7 dollar purchase.  It keeps the sun off my face and I wear it all the time now.  The rim can be folded up like I have it in this picture:

Grace had fun running around in the dirt.

This is the cast iron bell that hangs on our porch.  The ribbon came on some Land’s End packaging and I saved it.  The children need a refresher course, but the rule is “When you hear the bell, run to the house as fast as you can”

It saves my voice and head from yelling and yelling for them to come.

These are the books I was reading this weekend, for inspiration:

The last time I was at the Hallmark shop, I found this bag on clearance.  It holds my housekeeping journal at the moment, with some nice sharp pencils:

On Sunday, Rich and I went for a little walk around the yard.  I think these little daffies are so cute.  I put my mug down with them so you can see how small they are.  The funny thing is, I don’t even remember planting them.

Random comment****I just had to run like a jack rabbit to get the recycling outside in time to be picked up.  We have 2 tubs that get completely filled every week.  I am so tired this morning.  It’s going to be a nice day today, we will have a (hopefully) relaxing day of home-school and then the kids can play outside.****

Some Spring Firsts:

1.  Jacob and Ethan had their first “frog collecting” session yesterday.  They put water in a rubbermaid storage container and caught bull frogs and one turtle.  Of course, the very first one was brought into the house to show to mommy.  I saw it and laughed and said, “Well, Hello!”  I really don’t mind bullfrogs and turtles, and it makes me happy that they creatures are re-appearing after the winter.  Parker, our dog, was so interested!  He had his face down there in that container, just like the boys did!  He even lurched down into it and caught one in his mouth!  He brought it quickly up and dropped it on the ground, watching it intently, with his ears up, the whole time.  Grace stood and guarded the catch from David and Caleb (I had to calm her down several times, she got so bossy!)

2.  Grace found a creamy yellow pansy in my garden on Saturday.  We got right down next to it and felt it’s soft, velvet face.  I was thrilled to see it.

3.  I saw some violets yesterday!  (my birthflower) and also what we call “forget me nots”.  I also found a small white wild flower in the woods yesterday (while I was walking the dog).  I need to find my wildflower book so I can look it up.

4.  Hornets are back.  Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

5. I used some rhubarb yesterday in a coffeecake.  I just ate a piece.

6.  We’ve also seen a couple of snakes (one is named Ferdinand).  We found a small dead one on the driveway and David carried it around for a while.  I don’t know what he did with it.  (I just asked him.  He said, “Umm. Well. . .I throwed it in the pond.”)

****Other news.  We will be leaving on Saturday for our vacation.  Rich’s company has a leadership conference every spring for their top employees and Rich gets to go to help “host” it.  His company pays for Rich and me to go.  We used to parcel out the kids and go, just the 2 of us (unless we had a little baby, then the baby came along) but a couple of years ago I realized that I did not like leaving the kids behind.  (it was actually a shock to my system to go from taking care of 5 children to taking care of none!) So, now we take the older ones with us.  This year the conference is in Orlando.  Jacob, Ethan, Grace, and David are coming an
d Caleb is staying with Rich’s mom.  We are all excited about going to Disney.  We will be in FL for 6 days!  (In other words, I have a lot of organizing and packing to do between now and Saturday!)****

Most of my children are already outside.  I wish you could see Ethan wearing his red bathrobe and his black rubber boots!  He just caught the first frog of the day.

I read this quote this week and loved it:

“I only wish that I could come into your home and sit at your kitchen table each morning and talk of our common problems, though I could never solve them!  I am no great brain, just a neighbor and friend. . .Mrs. Homemaker, I think you’re the most wonderful person on earth!  You are the very backbone of family life.”

~Heloise, Heloise’s Housekeeping Hints

Isn’t that encouraging!  What we do is important, so important!  Don’t forget it!

Okay, I must get busy! 

Just a couple pictures from yesterday:

They make me grin.