We did it.  We went back home for the weekend.  The vehicle was packed full of necessary stuff and our seven children and Rich and I drove and drove …… back home to NY state, where we both grew up.  It takes us almost 4 rather endless hours, to get there.  The children were great, and so excited……

The picture above is of Caleb in the morning, looking out the window of our hotel room on the 8th floor.  Rich found a hotel suite, made reservations, and it was a treat for us.  He and I had our own big room and the children camped out all over the next room.  Grace, David, and Sarah slept in the pull out sofa bed, Caleb on two armchairs pushed together, Seth on the floor upon couch cushions, and the older boys in the big closet, on the floor.  It was fun to see them all over the place, together.

On Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the Crackerbarrel.  Rich took a picture with his phone so I actually got to be IN a candid family picture!

We were texting my brother Dave back and forth.  He lives in the area and he surprised us by stopping by while we were eating! 

He bought each of the children a treat from the gift shop.  They were thrilled!

We love you Dave!  You are so special to me.

After breakfast we took all the back roads to get to Grandma’s nursing home.  She hasn’t been doing very well, so I convinced Rich we had to visit her as soon as possible.  We drove through all the little towns that Rich is so familiar with, and the town he grew up in, going by the old farm house that he loved so much (and still does).  He told us so many little stories as we drove along.  

“We buried a lot of tractors in that field.”  (sunk, in the springtime mud)

“I helped out at this farm one year, when they were showing cows.”

“I used to look out the window of the bus and imagine visiting that old ice house.”

“One time when we stopped to see the old bent tree, my grandpa found wild onions and he picked them to go with our lunch.”

“That used to be a country store and I used to ride my bike there to get a piece of candy or a soda.”

“That’s where the guy lived who taught me to hunt.”

“This is where I fell asleep and almost drove off the road after leaving your Mom’s house one night.”

and so on.

I told him that someday I want to go with my Nikon camera and take pictures of all the places, and make a scrapbook for our family. 

We were able to use a conference room for our visit with Grandma, which was a blessing as I wasn’t sure how we would all fit in her room.

We listened to a lot of little family stories and Grace stayed busy jotting them all down in her notebook.  Our favorite discovery was when Grandma, recalling childhood memories, admitted that she had no problem remembering her sisters’ faults, but she couldn’t remember any of her own. 

Another interesting note:  Grandma’s brother is still living, and is 94.  He can’t hear and his wife can’t talk (after a stroke) but they still live together in their own house.  After her stroke, she lost interest in cooking, so he does it all.  He loves hymns and still gets his book out to sing one now and then.  They will be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary this summer.

This is Rich’s Dad, with Sarah Joy on his lap. 

I learned that Aunt Phyllis copies off my blog for Grandma, and Grandma just loves it.  She can still read just fine and enjoys the little stories about the children.  She passes it along to Rich’s Dad when she is done, but Aunt Phyllis said that one time she found it with Sarah’s picture cut right out of a page. 

I love to imagine her doing that. 

We had such a satisfying visit, so special, and so important for the children, too.

 After the nursing home visit, we drove to my parent’s place.  Mom made us chowder (a pot of corn and a pot of clam), a big salad, and homemade strawberry shortcake.  We stayed for a few hours and enjoyed the visit very much.

It was especially nice for Davy, because he has been begging me to find him a typewriter and Mom gave him one.  It’s an old electric “Brother” typewriter that I actually took to college with me to use for my term papers.  It still worked, so the first thing he typed was a letter to Grandma, asking for the typewriter and all the reasons why he wanted one. 

Needless to say, it’s his.

And then, Sunday morning, we drove back to Rich’s Dad and Leslie’s house for a nice visit.  Leslie is Rich’s step mom.   She is quiet and gentle, loves animals and children, and homemaking.  She has many pretty things decorating their home (which Rich’s Dad built himself), houseplants, quilts, ribbon embroidery, and pictures.  I want to take photos of the things sometime, to show you.

I love the picture of the messy living room, all because of the children dragging the toys out of Charlie’s bedroom. 

Sarah helped Grandma put away the fruit.

After a lunch of chips, sandwiches, and fruit, and a visit to the barn, we loaded up the vehicle to head back home.

(it’s so nice to have many places to call “home”)

 Thankful for family, and our wonderful hometown state of NY.  It was a full and enjoyable weekend.  Frankly, we’re all exhausted, in a good way.  

please take a moment to say hello! 

xoxo

Fred is a baby Painted Turtle.  David came across him this week as he was walking along the bank of the pond.  The tiny turtle had hatched this spring, was journeying to the pond, and was in the grass upside down.  “He must’ve gotten tired.” said Davy.  He picked him up and brought him home, as satisfied as if he had discovered treasure. 

We showed him to Sarah Joy and she squealed, “OH, SHE’s SO CUTE!” to which the brothers all responded as one voice, “IT’s A HE!”

(We can’t be sure if Fred is a boy or a girl, but of course the boys wish him to be A BOY.)

I wanted to photograph his size, so I ran in the house to get the camera and a fifty cent piece.  He fit neatly upon it, in Davy’s hand.

If you have children about, I hope you show them these pictures.  Tell them that David is ten and is keeping Fred as a pet.  He lives in David’s room in a gray bin and eats celery. 

All this is stale knowledge to older people, but one of the secrets of the educator is to present nothing as stale knowledge, but to put himself in the position of the child, and wonder and admire with him; for every common miracle which the child sees with his own eyes makes of him for the moment another Newton.  Charlotte Mason

(I took my magazine outside to read it in the sun and ended up being so entertained by the boys that I grabbed my camera and took pictures instead of putting my feet up.) 

Ethan made a raft today, with the help of his Dad’s power tools, and his little brothers.

He used scrap lumber, and logs from the woodpile.  And lots and lots of nails.

When it was done, it was so hard to move that I think he wished he had built it a little closer to the water.

The rope ended up breaking.

He pushed and pulled.

He finally got it in the pond, and told me he really didn’t think it would float, it was so extremely heavy. 

He pushed it into the water and after all that work and as soon as he got on it, it went under.  

The raft was a little too small for Ethan.

But it was just the right size for Seth.  Ethan got him on it and pushed him “out to sea”.

(which was just what brave Seth was hoping would happen)

The wind was blowing perfectly and he drifted along.

He loved it.

The only thing that disturbed me was the spiders.  I guess the wood pile is full of them, because when the logs started sinking into the pond, the drowning spiders were frightened up on to the raft.  I saw three, which doesn’t sound like much, but it still bothered me.  Seth was oblivious, however.

We watched from the sidelines.

I handed him a long stick to paddle with. 

He started at one end and landed at the other, just as pleased as could be. 

Ethan will have to make a bigger raft next time, if he wants a ride.

*******************************

And now, for @thia;

I saw the first spring violet today!

It’s spring break and my five school children have this week off.  I am so happy having them here.  I know that by the end of the day I will be tired and ready for everyone to go to bed, but for now my heart is joyous and I’m ready for it all……messes, meals, reading, walks outdoors, and breaking up the arguments!

Currently…..the livingroom is full of amazon.com boxes and papers.  I get a bunch of necessities through their automatic subscription program and today we received catfood, Hershey’s cocoa powder, and trash bags. 

My friend Caroline took Ethan to baseball practice and an hour or so later I took Jacob and Lindsey (a neighbor girl) to track practice.  Afterwards, I took Caleb with me to the library and we checked out a bagful of books.  It was so heavy that I gave it to Caleb to carry, without saying anything about the weight of the bag, to see what he would do with the challenge.  He took the bag without complaint and walked along……and said,

“WOW!  I can’t believe that CHILDREN are stronger than ADULT GIRLS!” 

I have Annie’s semi-organic mac and cheese simmering on the stove and I have 15 minutes before I have to go get Ethan, Zachary, Jacob, and Lindsey from practices.

Sarah is looking through the library books on the couch, and Grace is reading my blog on my iphone.

The boys are outside sword fighting with sticks, after I told them to stop doing so in the kitchen with spoons and butter knives.

We polished off two loaves of moist and mild chocolate pound cake this weekend. 

And also a tray of “Top Secret Recipes” Starbucks Cranberry Bliss bars, sans cranberries.

We watched Ethan play baseball, he’s number 8, up at bat.

And here is Zachary (our friend and neighbor) running to second base, after a great hit.

Seth, now four years old, is still the same as he was at 1, 2, and 3, just wanting so very much to also be a baseball player!

When Coach told him to stay behind the fence so he didn’t get hurt, Seth came to me and breathed, “Mom!  Coach just said hi to me!”

This season’s first pansies, sitting next to our side door on an old green plant stand that I bought at Brimfield Antique Show last year.

Rich got more yard work done with the help of his boys.

On the way to church, we realized we were both wearing blue shirts!

So when we got home, we had Davy take our picture.  Caleb snuck into the photo, too.  (making it much cuter)

Caleb is so funny.  He always sits right by me during church and Gary was preaching quite intensely during a part of the sermon yesterday.  Most of us were clapping and/or weeping with joy over what he was preaching……and at just the most intense moment, Caleb leaned over and whispered,

“Mom.  Are the teeth in your mouth all grown-up teeth?”

Date night, and “what my husband does while I am browsing around and trying things on in my favorite shop.”  “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”

The line is always so long, but we finally tried Pinkberry.  I had the original frozen yogurt with mango, strawberries, pineapple and carmelized almonds.  It was delicious! 

Kids are now eating their mac and cheese.  I was asked “Mom?  Why does food have to have taste?”

“Because it makes life so much more pleasant.”

Happy Monday!

(summer 2012)

Grandma has been on our hearts for the last few days, as Rich has been keeping in close contact with his family, getting updates.  She is almost 96 years old, and is a sweet and gentle Christian lady who has had a huge impact on Rich’s entire life.  She has had cancer for 4 years and is now in a nursing home.

This is an email that her daughter, Phyllis, wrote to her friends, and sent a copy to Rich.  I found it very inspiring and thought I would share it with my friends here.

 What stands out to me the most is that despite being so old, suffering, and knowing that HEAVEN itself is waiting just around the corner, Grandma is still actively fighting,and doing her best, for each day.

Wednesday morning, about 7:10am, Rob, head of nursing, called me saying Mom was not doing very well, she was having trouble breathing, very anxious and panicking. He said they had ordered liquid morphine and would be starting it immediately. On top of everything else, she had congestive heart failure. 

(summer, 2010)

When I got there they had already started the morphine, she was doing a little better but it was noon before she was able to rest. By that time, she was being given morphine hourly.

(with Seth)

To our surprise, as my Mom often does, around 12:30 Mom looked at me and said, “I better eat something or I will not get better”, believe me, not that she was hungry, what a role model for life. She asked for corn flakes of all things and drank some soup broth, making herself eat. They continued to give her morphine until 7pm at which time she was breathing much better. Ed, Steven and I took turns staying with Mom during the night, and by Thursday, it was a struggle, but she did get dressed and had her hair done after I told her my cousin Dorothy was bringing Mom’s brother and sister-n-law to see her. She was very tired, very weak and super sleepy but so glad to see them.

(2009)

After they left I went home to sleep for a couple of hours during which time, Dan, Willie’s son, came and sat with her for a few hours. Yesterday, when I got there, she was sitting, wide eyed, smiling and eating regular food and doing much better.

(Rich and his family, with his dear Grandma)

Each episode takes more out of her but she is a real fighter and determined to enjoy every minute of life she is afforded. Only God knows when she will leave us. We have such a large and very close and supportive family, which gives Mom so much to live for. All of Mom’s children and grandchildren have rallied to her side in one way or another, making leaving us something she is not ready to do yet.

~Aunt Phyllis

(Grandma with her namesake, Sarah)

Hello all, just a quick post to show and tell some stuff in my life that’s making me happy today (except the bed wetting….stay tuned).

First off.  This awesome red knit vest.  This is the story:  Yesterday evening was Ethan’s first baseball game and one of the fellow moms that I’ve met in previous years of baseball games gave Sarah the vest.  She carried it over to me and I could tell right off by the way she had it in both hands that she loved the vest and was saying goodbye.  She gave it to me and asked if I would take it for Sarah.  She made it years ago for her daughter who is now 18 years old.  She told me she had been carrying it around with her for a while, looking for just the right person to give it to.  I’m so happy she picked Sarah!  I hugged her and told her that I loved handmade things, that I thought they were the very best, and I put it on Sarah directly.  Sarah LOVES the buttons and has already learned how to do buttons because of this vest!  Jackie told me that she remembers searching and searching for just the right color red buttons.  Isn’t that just like a crafting mom?  And if you notice, the buttons match the vest perfectly!

So.  I got home from Bible study with much to do.  We had stopped at Target on the way home and I had to put everything away.  I had also run over a bag of chicken feed on the driveway and needed to clean that up.  I sent Seth to the bathroom and put Sarah down for her nap.  When Seth was done he shut the door to the bathroom, I put him to bed and promptly went outside.  I puttered all over the place out there, down to the coop, to the pond to watch the wild ducks that we have visiting us, to the driveway to clean my mess, and then back in the house to tidy the kitchen and put the Target things away.  I was washing the table by the bathroom door when I realized that I could hear water running in the bathroom and I knew from previous experience that the sink overflows when a child doesn’t turn off the faucet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I ran over and opened the door to find it as hot and steamy as a sauna and hot water running and all over the floor.  I had half a mind to wake up Seth and give him what’s for.  Instead, I ran downstairs to discover that *gasp*, there was water coming down like a gentle rain, all over Davy’s bed. 

Sometimes when something like this happens I LAUGH.  There is NO REASON to laugh but it just happens.  I tried not to, but as I was cleaning up I could feel the laughter welling up within me.  It’s a good thing my boys just throw their towels all over the floor after bath/shower time because that was what I used to mop up the lake under the bed.  I got the giggles when I imagined what David would do if I just left his bed the way it was and he got into it that night to find it soaking.  However, I did the right thing and stripped the bed and cleaned up the water.

There is always laundry to do!

I am sooooooooooooooooo enjoying these cleaning products from Target.  Mrs. Meyers may have lost my business.  These cleaners smell wonderful.  Cucumber, Almond, Pink Grapefruit, and Mint, what is not to like?  They actually make me WANT to do my spring cleaning!

Anybody need some eggs?  One of my favorite things to do is stand at the sink and rinse them off after gathering them.  (no I don’t get this many in a day, they are just piling up)

speckles and blues

My daughter Grace is a most wonderful girl.  I took this picture when she came home from school about an hour ago.  I had just made coffee and she reused my Kcup to make herself a weak cup, and as it was brewing she told me the highlights of her day.  She makes me laugh and I love her so much.

She’s currently by my side doing her homework.  She (a devout Christian) said she’s got a test on evolution coming up and that she’s going to fail.  I told her it was always good to know what “the other side” believes.  “I don’t KNOW what the other side believes!”  “Yep.  You’re gonna fail.”  wild laughter.

(p.s.  I should say.  she never fails anything.  she just said that because she doesn’t like having to learn about evolution)

“We speak much of the duty of making others happy. No day should pass, we say, on which we do not put a little cheer into some discouraged heart, make the path a little smoother for someone’s tired feet, or help some fainting robin unto its nest again. This is right. We cannot put too great emphasis upon the duty of giving happiness and cheer to others. But it is no less a duty that we should be happy and cheerful ourselves.”  J.R. Miller

I am a nature-girl.  I adore being outside, I admire sticks, leaves, the smell of dirt.  I love fresh air and seeing my children outside in it, with their cheeks turning healthy pink from good exercise.  So when I read in my book about making nests in the woods to use as “Easter baskets”, I instantly knew we would do it. 

(We don’t normally do Easter baskets at all, so this was an amazing treat for the children!)

I gave the children instructions and made a nest each for Seth and Sarah, in order to demonstrate what they should look like.  Jacob, Ethan, Grace, Caleb, and David got right to work and were almost as talented as real birds.  Ethan gave me a serious hard time about it, but the desire for candy won him over and of course he ended up being the most creative.  He even went so far as to gather feathers from the floor of the chicken coop.

This one was Sarah’s.  I used twigs for the bottom and added leaves and dry pine needles around the top.

Grace lined her nest with moss and ferns.

Jacob’s was neat and tidy, using sticks that he snapped into the proper lengths, and pine needles to line the bottom.

While we made the nests, Sarah hurt her hand.  I thought it was heart-warmingly precious when my 7 year old took care of her.  Love.

We made the nests on Friday and the children had a difficult time waiting until Sunday.  When the day arrived, and we got home from church, I quickly changed my clothes and ran down to fill each of their nests.  I told Rich to bring them down in about 10 or 15 minutes.

I think I was just as excited as they were. 

I almost jumped up and down as I watched them walk to me.

Caleb and Sarah sprinted to their nests.

Seth found a rabbit in his.  When you press the rabbit’s paw he sings “Jesus Loves Me”.  The look on Seth’s face was priceless.

Jacob cracked open one of the Easter eggs in his nest.  It was filled with jellybeans.

Caleb made his nest-creation on a big rock….he was thrilled to find lots of candy.  Since early spring is gray and colorless, I added artificial flowers to each nest. 

Little Sarah carefully bent down to gaze at the wonderful treats left for her.

She also had a singing bunny. 

Ethan found Peeps, chocolate eggs, and jelly beans.  Candy always makes him smile.

Grace’s nest was the hardest to get to.  She was hidden away under a bush, so sweetly, like a little gray rabbit.

This is my very favorite picture of the afternoon.  Davy, with his jacket, bare feet, and blissful *eyes-closed* expression as he enjoys a piece of chocolate.

You can almost hear him saying “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”.

Grace and David were neighbors.

Back in the house, the children got right to work eating up their candy.  Ethan was sick by the end of the day.  None of them have any self control. 

Crazy teenagers!  How I love them.  (proud mama)

Even the dog got an egg.  (a hard boiled one).