It’s been snowing all day here.  It’s amazing outside.  More and more snow!

Spot the cat has a routine.  He spends the night inside and then he goes out in the morning.  He stays home and sits on the porch now because he can’t visit the neighbor’s –the snow is too deep.  I took this picture through the window this morning.  He looks like he has powered sugar shaken on top of him.  He doesn’t mind being snowed upon, since he is wearing furs.

(Ethan in black, Jacob in camo.)  Ethan visited the coop and took the chickens their morning water, fed them, and gathered the eggs—two greens, three browns.  Jacob filled up the bird feeder behind the house.  Then they played for a while.

I am so in love with my baby.  As I sit and type this I am watching her sit on the floor wearing leggings, a long sleeved shirt, and a smock that I made.  She is playing with a little book–passing it from one hand to the other, bending it, tasting it, studying it every which way, stopping to hit it on the floor…for some reason it is starting to frustrate her…she’s overwhelming herself.  She’s going bare foot and her toes are so darling.

Ethan took this picture of me and my baby doll earlier this morning, when she was still in her warm blanket sleeper. 

I have all the children settling down for quiet time and I just want to say how proud I am of Caleb.  He is in my room on my bed, reading BOB books out loud—AND HE IS READING because I TAUGHT HIM MYSELF.  He is the first of my children that I taught to read.  My heart swells when I hear him sounding out his words.  The whole world of books is opening up to him.

Rich is at work, he texted me and let me know he was feeling some improvement with his head aches/pressure today.  Thank you again for your concern.  I feel like my heart is settling down again after the days of worrying about him.

It’s been a nice morning here.  I hope yours was, too. 

Now I am going to snuggle and nurse my little one here on the couch and watch the pretty snow falling.  I’m sure I’ll eat a little ice cream at some point, too.

The rest of the story:  So…the other problem yesterday was this:  We woke up in the morning to find out that we were completely out of fuel oil.  We have two driveways, the lower one leads to the garage and Rich has been busy keeping that one plowed out.  But the upper one we have not plowed, since we were not using it.  However, in order for the fuel truck to be able to deliver oil we had to get the upper driveway plowed.  So on the way to church Rich arranged to rent a Bobcat for that afternoon, so he could clear out the upper driveway and widen the lower one, too, to make room for more snow if it comes. 

The Bobcat got delivered while Rich was in the E.R.  where he rested and slept and was examined.  When it was all over he came home and, **you guessed it**, went right out to plow the driveways and then put just enough fuel in the tank so we would have heat and hot water before the fuel delivery.

He wasn’t done until 9:30pm….I was totally exhausted by the time he was done, as I had spent the day worried about him, waiting for his health reports to come back, and then waiting for him to be done with his huge snow shoveling job/fuel job.  Not to mention the energetic youngins to keep track of.  I just wanted to snuggle with my husband and know he was okay and to rest in his arms.  And of course, Rich was sick and needed the same thing (time with wife).

Well, it finally happened– and even after a shower he smelled strongly of gasoline.  (A manly man smell.)  We ate ice cream on the couch and then went to bed, snuggled, and talked for maybe 10 minutes before we both were too tired.  We went to sleep.

This morning he left for work at 6 but he did get take the time to get his prescription filled, thankfully.    And he called me later in the morning for a few minutes.

I had a very hectic morning chasing my almost 2 year old and cleaning up his messes.  But I did decide, from now on when he makes a mess (like throwing his cheerios or dumping the crayons) he will have to clean it up himself.  Enough is enough.  I chased my 2 year old and took care of the other 6 children, homeschooled them, cleaned up the house a little, made meals, did laundry, on and on.  All with not the greatest of attitudes, I am afraid to say. 

But now I get to sit for a few minutes and post some pictures that I took this morning.  Rich plowed last night so there are even bigger piles of snow for the children to play in and on.

Ethan was digging;

David was trying (and failing) to reach an icicle:

Grace was frolicking up and down the mountains like a goat.

This is an interesting picture.  It’s our buried picnic table (on the left of the photo, you can see the upper edge of it), and Grace walking on the snow.

The helpful Bobcat:

Grace at the lower driveway:

Jacob took this picture of me.  This was just moments before I fell over in the snow and said, “I’m not following you anymore, this is not fun.” 

Okay, Mama quiet time is over.  Now it’s change gaggacious diaper time.  I need a clothespin!

I haven’t made much mention of the fluffy, wet, heavy, white stuff that is all over the place outside, drifting clear up to my waist in some spots.

But I thought I would break the silence and share a couple of pictures that I took about half an hour ago.

Jacob and Ethan were shoveling off the roof of the porch.  You see, we got another 20 inches this past week. 

We have lived here for 5 years and this is the most snow we’ve gotten.  It is exciting for the children and for *the kid in all of us*, but there also have been some problems with keeping the roads clear and safe for drivers.  The mountains of snow at the ends of roads make it hard to see what’s coming when you want to pull out into traffic.  There have been many accidents caused by the huge piles.  Also, the roofs need to be cleaned off because of the added weight.

I was a little nervous about the boys being up there.  But I figured at 14 years, and (almost) 13 years, they should have enough common sense to be careful.  Rich didn’t tell them to be careful of their bodies, he told them to “BE CAREFUL OF THE ROOF.  SHOVEL DOWN, NOT UP AND NOT SIDEWAYS.”

I stood on the road to take this one. 

 A prayer request:

I don’t typically blog on Sundays but I am today because I am trying to give myself something to do to keep my mind off my husband.  He has not been himself lately and he told me yesterday that he’s been having trouble with headaches, pressure in his head that doesn’t go away, fogginess, lack of focus, dizziness…..he finally told me yesterday because  I was upset. I could sense something was not right 

We went to church this morning and when we got home, he called the doctor’s office and they told him to go to the E.R. and that is where he is right now.

I personally think it is probably stress related, or maybe a sinus infection.  I hope and pray that is all it is.  But I ask, if you would keep him in your prayers that he will feel better soon?  Rich is not easily discouraged, and it’s hard to see him that way. 

 Thanks~ and I will try to update when he gets home.  He’s been gone for an hour and a half.

**He’s been gone for four hours now.  He had blood drawn and a cat scan done.  He had an I.V. of fluids for dehydration and oxygen for the headache.  He say he thinks he might be feeling a little better.  No results yet from the blood work or cat scan.  I start to cry now and then but then I get busy doing other things. 

 ** Rich got home at about 6:30.  His tests came out normal –and he has a prescription for antibiotics for a sinus infection.  We will find out in a few days if he has Lyme disease (common for our area)…..thanks so much for praying!  I am so relieved.  We are very thankful it isn’t anything too serious.

  “Mother knitted and rocked in her high-backed rocking-chair.  Father carefully scraped a new ax-handle with a bit of broken glass.  Royal carved a chain of tiny links from a smooth stick of pine, and Alice sat on her hassock, doing her woolwork embroidery.  And they all ate popcorn and apples, and drank sweet cider….Almanzo sat on a footstool by the stove, an apple in his hand, a bowl of popcorn by his side, and his mug of cider on the hearth by his feet.  He bit the juicy apple, then he ate some popcorn, then he took a drink of cider.  He thought about popcorn……Almanzo looked at every kernel before he ate it.  They were all different shapes.  He had eaten thousands of handfuls of popcorn, and never found two kernels alike.”  Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder

I am sitting on the floor in the livingroom.  Sarah Joy is beside me, playing and talking.  I’m sharing my morning toast with her.  The newborn day is almost two hours old for us….I got up at 5:15 thirsty….and found Rich watching the news before getting ready for work.  We were able to spend a nice hour together before he left. 

Today on my blog, I am sharing some pictures from last week.  It was the end of a long day here at home and I was exhausted, feeling sort of blue.  I had turned on the news just to take a peek at the outside world and what do I discover but the fact that it was National Popcorn Day.

A jolt of new energy got me off the couch….I would make popcorn to celebrate the day.  I truly enjoy the funny, (unnecessary) random “days” that are devoted to foods.  I remember years ago I took pictures for my blog of an egg, for World Egg Day.  And I have done several posts for Pancake day. 

Now, for the love of popcorn.  And what’s not to love?  It is a very inexpensive snack and a whole grain, healthy one.  If you don’t add too much butter and salt, that is.

We have an air-popper and every time I pull it out I get an audience of children who want to watch.  It makes a pleasant, humming sound, it’s warm, and it’s super exciting to sit and wait for the first kernels to explode.  Plus we always overfill the bowl and have to run squealing, to get another one as popcorn avalanches off the counter.

We popped and popped and popped.  Until I was laughing again.  And throwing it.  And amusing my children.

It was great fun.

 Some of us wore our popcorn on our sweaters.

Rich came home late to dinner that night, but he was right on time to sit and share popcorn with the last remaining group of us who were still munching and crunching.  When it comes to drama, he is quite my opposite (a good thing) and when he came home he didn’t even say a word about our “party”…the children all explained, “Mom popped popcorn!” and he said pleasantly, “I see that!”  and just started eating it.  “It’s National Popcorn day!”…..”Hmmmmmm” was his reply, and just calmly munched.  While I ran around flushed, taking pictures and crying out, “Don’t give Sarah the kernels, just the soft parts!”  

The kitchen was filled with popcorn remains by the time we were done…but it wasn’t very difficult to clean up.  I just swept the floor and brought up the dog to eat the pile.  Then, we swept what was on the table off into one last bowl and the next morning the chickens got a very nice treat.

Like I mentioned, National Popcorn day was last week……BUT if you happened to miss it I have some fantastic news:

TOMORROW is NATIONAL CHOCOLATE CAKE DAY!  Let’s all bake chocolate cakes and post pictures of ourselves and our cakes on our blogs tomorrow!  Who’s with me!?

“As the one room in the house that can give you a full dinner or a hot cup of tea, the kitchen has a special drawing power that tends to transform it into a general working and lounging area.  If someone is in the kitchen cooking, other members of the household wander in to help or chat……” 

~quote from “The Center of a Dwelling”, a chapter in Home Comforts, by Cheryl Mendelson

I am now the owner of a pot rack!  This is exciting.  I’ve been loudly wrestling with my pots and pans for a long time, and now all I have to do is lift up my hands and unhook one from the ceiling.  Rich and the boys hung it up this weekend.

I have Caleb’s artwork hanging on my fridge.

I asked him what the orange scribbles were and he said they were “shoot”.

I am not the only cook in the kitchen.  Everyone participates.  The smallest members of the family serve as audience and taste-testers.

In two days, Ethan made Handmaiden Hashbrowns, Han-burgers, Bossk Brownies, Wampa Snow Cones, and Hoth Chocolate.

All the recipes turned out deliciously, and were from this fantistic BOY cookbook:

This is my bright orange egg timer from anthropologie.  It’s only fault is that the buzzer at the end of time is too short.  I don’t hear it 9 times out of 10.

I may have to return it.  It would be sad though.

This is part of my kitchen windowsill.  I have two glass eggs, a potted primrose (it has a sweet smell), a verse, a candle, a pretty bar of soap with a crocheted cover, and some berries that Seth dipped in wax (yes, he did…I had the berries next to a lit candle…he blew out the candle and dipped the berries in until I caught him.)

I bought this card for myself because it made me laugh out loud.

My friend Gina G sent me this Holly Hobbie card.

I had a gift card for Williams Sonoma and I treated myself to the Meyers lemon bread mix (it’s SO good), real vanilla beans, and the biscuit cutter set.

I’ve had my fiesta canisters for years…they are like little friendly kitchen pals now…with their pretty dustings of flour.

I keep my red cutting board handy by propping it up behind my canisters.

I put my fresh garlic in a fabric bag, my measuring spoons in a fiesta mug.

A cooling rack is behind them.

Sarah was eating some little bread bits today, like a sweet bird.  I sat and watched her tiny fingers pick up the pieces, she’s just learning that skill and as I admired her, I took several pictures.

And when she was done, I moved some farm animal magnets over to her, and she yelled at them.

The Latest Baking:  I baked a homemade carrot cake (with cream cheese frosting) yesterday.  I call it my healthy cake.

I am standing at the kitchen counter right now, finishing up this post.

Ethan is right next to me, playing Greensleeves on his guitar.  I am supposed to be listening, to tell him if he’s playing it right.

Seth is here, too, standing on Ethan’s foot rest and singing.

And that, my friends, is all the news from the kitchen. 

We had another bad-weather day today.  It started as the most gorgeous snowfall, with big fluffy flakes.  They were coming down so fast.  The other day Caleb said, “We are being FLOODED with snow!” and that’s how it looked this morning, too.  However, after a while it turned to freezing rain.  All the area schools were closed and I cancelled Sarah’s doctor’s appointment.  It took Rich over an hour to get to work, and how thankful we were that he had travelling mercies today.

We wrote out another schedule-for-the-day today.  I am not a big schedule person, but somehow when it’s written in hen-scratch on the back of an envelope it seems less threatening to our freedom.  

Here is a self-timer picture of me and Seth, and Sarah.  

I love this picture of Jacob, with his little brother and baby sister.  It’s a really and true smile from him, without any teenage awkwardness in front of the camera.

How proud I’ve always been of Jacob, as my firstborn…..he has done all the childhood milestone things first, and surprised me every time.  

Jacob made cookies for us today.  I was feeding Sarah some baby food and drinking coffee.  It really wasn’t as relaxing as it sounds…it was happening in the afternoon and I was in my slump part of the day.  Thankfully, the coffee and sugary cookies helped perk me up. 

Jacob gave Seth cookie dough until I told him I thought Seth would get sick.  He was quite generous.  We are still loving the cookie scoop that my mom gave me for Christmas last year.  It’s so handy.

Seth and Sarah played with the doll house together.  This is something that makes me happy…..especially because it’s been so long since we’ve had baby girl things around.  We gave this doll house as a Christmas gift for Grace this year and it’s played with every day.  Doll houses are so fun.  You can rearrange furniture constantly!

This picture was taken at dinner time.  (Tonight was leftovers night)….and I think Grace was busy unloading the dishwasher.  I laugh because the counters are a mess; an empty storage container that Seth brought me and I just threw it up on the counter because I was busy doing something else, David’s little paper box he taped together today, the peanut butter and the mixer from the cookie baking, my empty coffee mug.  This is life in the kitchen.

See the picture I have taped inside my cupboard?  

With all the bad weather, the dog has been living in the house with us.  It’s not the greatest of situations but he’s doing pretty good.  He’s behaving, for the most part.

Except when I take his picture.

I found Caleb locked away in the bathroom with the water running.  When he let me in, I discovered that he was using someone’s toothbrush to wash David’s car for him.  Wasn’t that nice of him to do that for his brother?

David’s car is nice and shiny now, and smells so pretty.  Like Bath and Body works hand soap, “Winter Candy Apple.”

Rich got home and then we were all together again.  Here he is, with Caleb;

And then, with David.  David spent a long long time trying to explain a movie that he watched to his Dad.  It took so long that Rich gave him some pointers about how to make stories shorter and more interesting.

Other random notes:

I read my Bible portion out loud to the kids today and we enjoyed it.  We read about Joseph and his beautiful coat and his brothers who threw him in the cistern.  We read about Jesus healing the demon possessed man on the Sabbath, and we read portions of Psalms and Proverbs.  

Today was the first day of Sarah’s life that she didn’t really nap much.  She kept getting woke up.  But she is so content.  She is in a very quiet and happy stage of babyhood (see first two pictures of blog post).

Also, I read more of The Long Winter to the kids.  

I’m still reading We Took to the Woods.

I finished the doll’s smock that I was sewing for Grace’s American Girl doll.  As soon as I get an outfit done I’ll post a picture.

I talked to my mom on the phone tonight.  We laughed a lot.

I realized just now that I did not take a picture of Ethan today.  Poor E.  Here is one from another day:

Good night, all!