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. ~inspired by soulemama
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{this moment}
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large family chaos (video)
Video
I would like to sit and blog, if only I had an hour and the brain power to do it. Instead, my life has been like this (or, similar) for days:
Everyone is happy and healthy and for that I am truly thankful.
🙂
my dear friend’s new baby
When Joanna came to visit me this summer she didn’t tell me that she was having a baby! She had just found out and it was still secret. I love looking back on those photos from the visit, knowing now that a new little someone was growing and planning on making an appearance eight months later, just hours before “Aunt Shanda’s” birthday!
It’s hard to be over four hours away because I would be there in a heartbeat to hold him, little Josiah, a most darling and precious gift from God. He was born last Tuesday. Look at him! I asked Jo if I could share her pictures from Facebook on my blog and she generously agreed. 🙂
“Let your father and mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice.” Proverbs 23:25
Please please pray for my friend. Her entire family currently has the flu, so she’s dealing with that while caring for this brand new little life.
{this moment}
A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. inspired by soulemama
38 candles
I had a birthday yesterday and for the first time probably EVER I wasn’t all worked up about it. I usually get so excited and expectant and I know there were times when I was a teenager or a young adult when I came crashing down with tears when my loved ones didn’t care about my birthday as much as I thought they would, (SO selfish, *sigh*).
I knew for a fact that I would be busy half the day because CBS is on Wednesdays and after missing three weeks I had absolutely no choice in the matter, I had to be there. So I told Rich from the get-go that he didn’t need to make any plans. We could do something on Valentine’s day for a special treat.
BUT MY HUSBAND, this is so touching to me, had it in his head to spoil me the whole day long, beginning with breakfast in bed. Wednesday mornings are typically very hectic for me, getting five kids out the door and then getting Seth and Sarah ready to go to Bible Study. Yesterday my darling did everything and I left at 8 feeling calm and prepared (what a difference!).
He gave me a bouquet of small roses and I took them with me in a white fiesta vase!
Birthdays are a great day to pray “thank you” to God all day long and that is just what I did. As I was with the ladies (“my” ladies) for four hours yesterday I was thanking God for them and the blessing of meeting so many beautiful women (Debbie W.!) who are family to me because we share the same born-again experience, in Christ. We had our studies, then a special brunch, and a wonderful message from Annie. Then, leadership met afterwards for more fellowship and study, laughter, joy in simply being together.
I left with a full-heart but actually needing a nap and arrived back home to HIM, who was ready to whisk us back out the door for birthday spoiling. We picked up our little boys at school and headed downtown to my favorite little shop, where my Alaskan friend Hannah had arranged to have a gift ready for me to pick up.
Thank you, Hannah, for being so thoughtful and fun. Your gift was a highlight of the day. I adore the locket and the journal. love you.
coffeeshop
I had a bagel with cream cheese and sliced tomato.
The boys had soda. Sarah had an apple juice.
Not much elbow room but I love snuggling in the corners with my family.
Face of love. Face that I love. This man is attractive, generous, tender, kind, strong, and means the world to me.
The chess game developed into bickering, teasing, loud laughing, until I cautioned, “My birthday’s getting worse and worse!” I regret those words and wish I could take them back because I broke Caleb’s heart. He stopped playing, looked at me, and began to cry in sorrow. I held him in my arms and kissed him and told him I was so sorry……. and, because I knew it would cheer him up…..I told Rich the next stop was Barnes and Nobles bookstore. Off we went, where Caleb poured over books (he is an amazing reader for 8 years old) and came away with four new ones. 🙂
I also ran into Marshalls to buy hair products because my winter hair is driving me CRAZY.
My birthday gifts from the bookstore. My mom has the same cookbook (another highlight of the day was talking to her and Dad on the phone, as they called to wish me a Happy Birthday) xo
When we left the bookstore, we drove straight to the High School for Grace, Jacob, and Ethan. Grace showed me this picture of herself on the wall, she is part of the “Singin in the Rain” production this spring and this is one of her costumes. I think she’s beautiful. And happy.
Jacob and Ethan had a wrestling meet.
I think it’s so cute to see the guys all dive into the middle of the mat after warm ups.
Ethan won his, and Jacob lost his. It was fun to be there as a family cheering them on. I got to chat with my friend Nicole, too. She crochets. 🙂
My cake! I can’t get over that it says “MOM” on it, this is a first for me. I LOVE IT. Rich took David and Caleb with him on Tuesday night and the three of them carefully ordered my cake. It was carrot, with cream cheese frosting and probably weighed four pounds.
The kids ate the entire pizza we brought home while Rich inserted my “80 candles” (so he said) into my cake.
I had cake and ice cream for supper!
same smile
a happy birthday
38 candles
I closed my eyes to listen to my beloved family sing.
I look like I have fangs.
taking a deep breath
the smoke gets worse each year
With the love of my life.
VIDEO:
****
This morning it is snowing and and the children have a snow day. Because I had 2 pieces of cake for dinner last night, I have resolved to eat only fruits and vegetables today. I had 2 apples for breakfast with my coffee. We are watching Aristocats on TV, which is Sarah Joy’s new favorite movie. We have watched it four times this week. With all the excitement yesterday, I hope to be more still today, and perhaps even pick up my knitting!
Blessings and much love to all my friends who pass by here today.
“He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.” Proverbs 11:28
“The beloved of the Lord will dwell in safety by him. He covers him all day long. He dwells between his shoulders.” Deuteronomy 33:12
keeping busy (life of a little boy)
He has places to go and things to do.
***
I would like to take a few minutes to tell some Seth stories. Seth is five years old and as smart as a whip. Unfortunately, his brilliance is not tempered with common sense quite yet, so we have adventures with him on a regular basis. Over the last week, I have had several close calls with him that I want to record.
Tale Number One: Sock Monkey
Last week, I was upstairs giving Sarah a bath and Seth was playing like an angel downstairs (or, so I thought). As Sarah was playing in the water, I came to the realization that I had heard the downstairs bathroom flush. It flushed, and flushed again. After about five or six consecutive flushes I ran down to see what the matter was. I found Seth in there, intent on flushing – with the water in the sink running, too. I looked down into the toilet and realized that he was trying to flush down a stuffed animal.
“Seth! What are you doing?”
“It’s my sock monkey. I don’t like it anymore so I want it to go to the ocean, and drown.” he explained.
“Whaaaaaa? What do you mean you don’t like your sock monkey?” I was astounded. He doesn’t normally flush the things he doesn’t like down the toilet. I turned the water off in the sink but I wasn’t about to put my hand in the toilet.
“Seth, you put it in there, you reach your hand in and get it out!” I demanded.
“Whaaaaaaa?” He complained.
“The water is clean enough, go ahead, pull it out!”
He reached his hand down into the water and pulled out…….just an arm! I quickly realized that the arm was charred!
I screamed. “Seth! Did you burn your monkey? You DID! You tried to BURN YOUR MONKEY!”
As I was exclaiming, he reached down and pulled out the rest of it. I screamed again. His monkey was all burned up and he had tried to flush it down the toilet so I would never know. Apparently he had gotten it in the fire (we don’t know why, I don’t know why, and Seth doesn’t know why either) and when it was in flames, he carried it to the bathroom with the fireplace tongs and threw it in the toilet. We had a talk about fire safety but I could tell that he really wasn’t that bothered by the experience. He was mostly upset because I was upset with him, not because he could have burned himself or the house down.
To make things even more interesting, the entire time I was dealing with him, Sarah was up in the tub calling, “MOM!!! I’M READY TO GET OUT!” over and over………..
*****
Tale Number Two: The non-Emergency Call
This morning I came out of my room and heard Seth upstairs in his bed talking away, having a good old conversation. “Who in the world is Seth talking to?” I asked Sarah. “He has Caleb’s phone.” she answered. Okay. I walked on into the kitchen, believing that he was just having a pretend conversation. Rich had thrilled Caleb’s heart by giving him his old disconnected but still working blackberry. Caleb could play the ringtones and push the buttons. I think he could even play a little game on it.
After a minute or so, Seth came down and said, “Here, he wants to talk to you.”
“Whaaaaaa?” I was thinking.
Guess what? When a blackberry is disconnected you can STILL CALL 911! Yep, all that time Seth was upstairs having an animated heart to heart with an emergency phone service worker. The man asked Seth if he could help him and Seth said “no”. (He didn’t need help, he just needed someone to talk to.) He asked Seth if there was an emergency. “No”. Seth replied. They hung up. Seth wasn’t done, so he called him back. He wanted to tell the nice man (Seth knew he was nice, after all-he had *offered to help*) that he got a new calendar and that he had a birthday and mom’s birthday was tomorrow. He wanted to tell the man some stories. He wanted to know if he could go to his house sometime. At this point, the man asked if he could speak to a grown up.
“Yes, we received several phone calls from this number. I guess your son got a hold of your phone. It’s good that he gave it back to you so we knew there wasn’t an emergency.”
I got off the phone and marched it back to my husband. It’s not going to be a toy anymore.
Seth getting into cookies.
Seth’s self photography
Me and Seth (truly, for all his mischief, he’s the apple of my eye)
If the mother doesn’t keep the little boy busy, he will find something to do.
happy valentine brunch
Beloved,
let us love one another,
for love is from God,
and whoever loves has been born of God
and knows God.
1 John 4:7
This morning I had a little brunch for a few of the ladies from my Bible study and used Valentine’s Day as a theme for decorating.
My friend Christina recently sent me three handmade buntings that I was so thrilled to use today. I put one on each fireplace mantle, and I used one as a garland for my seasonal tree. Thank you, Chris! xoxo
Sarah loves this tree and spends a lot of time taking everything off it and then putting the ornaments all on one branch, making up little stories all the while. (I adore 3 year old girls!)
Sweet little ornament from Dawn.
I collect fiestaware and took out all of my red, pink, and white dishes to use. This round platter is black with cherries on it. I love cheerful cherry things, and have a cherry apron and placemats, too. (also perfect for Valentine’s day decorating!)
I always light candles when company is coming. This one was from a shop downtown. The gold leaf is charming.
This candle, from anthropologie, is orange scented and the red jar is thick and lovely. I’ll be able to use the jar again when the candle is used up.
Whole cloves are like tiny pieces of wood.
I put a 7 pound ham in the oven at 8 so it would be done by 10, when my friends were to arrive.
I scored the ham and inserted a whole clove in each cross section.
I used a glaze recipe from my old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and it was delicious. You take a cup of orange juice, two teaspoons of finely grated orange zest, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of ground mustard, and 4 teaspoons of cornstarch, and whisk together in a pot on the stove. Cook until thick and bubbly and brush on the ham in the last 20 minutes of cooking time. The resulting Ham was delicious, simple, and elegant served on a big white platter.
Just be sure to remove the cloves as you carve. Not many people enjoy eating whole cloves.
(they are like tiny pieces of wood)
(actually, cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, Syzygium aromaticum, native to the Maluku Islands in Indonesia)
We had an assortment of coffee, hot chocolate, and tea to chose from. The sugar and creamer were served from rose fiesta ware. (but of course!)
One more beautiful heart, made by Dawn. Dawn loves me. 🙂
The ladies and I had a fun time gabbing at the table while eating ham, pasta, apple slices, and scrumptious muffins. We talked about everything from our children’s mischief to the problems of internet, with lots of laughter. Thank you Kate, Diane, and Paula for a wonderful morning!
“If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:12
{this moment}
A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. (inspired by soulemama)
***
Have you heard the quote, “From small beginnings come great things”?
I hope that applies to my knitting. This is my small beginning.
easy cornmeal muffins
“Oh I could sing forever of Jesus’ love divine,
Of all his care and tenderness for this poor life of mine;
His love is in and over all, and wind and waves obey
When Jesus whispers ‘Peace, be still!’ and rolls the clouds away.
“It’s just like Jesus to roll the clouds away,
It’s just like Jesus to keep me day by day,
It’s just like Jesus all along the way,
It’s just like His great love.”
Edna H. Worrell
Hello, my friends. We are at the end of another precious day, this one made all the better because of a highly anticipated snow day. The whole family was home as the snow came down, down, down. Breakfast was soon over…….and quickly the little ones were running wild. Even though I really didn’t want to, I took my craft book and sat on the floor to make a yarn chick. It ended up being fun. The children flocked around me like little chicks themselves and watched. And as they watched, they began to (peep) beg. They wanted to make one, too. Which was the general idea. It kept us quite busy. Dave’s was green, Caleb’s was gray, and Seth’s was pink. We made them by putting together pom-poms, one for the body and one for the head. After tying them together we glued on eyes and a beak. But Sarah decided she wanted to make a crown.
David remembered that he knew how to make a loom.
Grace got busy making bracelets. (She pinned the end to the couch so she could braid.)
Dear Ethan polished up his old crocheting skills.
I suppose if I tried really hard I could remember my own childhood better but right now I’m lost in raising children and being part of their childhoods. I do remember the excitement of “no school” and being HOME and bundling up to go outside in the fresh clean snow.
For now, I’m busy, working, working hard as a mama, getting on the floor to wrap the yarn, break up arguments, planning meals.
Grabbing the camera whenever a picture appears for the memory books. I love you all.
Ethan played his guitar while his sister and Dad sang.
What a joy to see the children spending time doing things that they love; like Jacob and his rock and coin collections.
homemade New England clam chowder
Rich worked from home.
Sarah lost a golf ball down the crack by the dishwasher. I love how little kids can fold up like this. It took her a while but she got it out of there.
As soon as the glitter on her crown dried she had to put it on. And if you put on a crown you simply must put on your fanciest dress.
Her’s is a very large crown.
It’s exhausting being queen.
Jacob fell asleep after lunch and didn’t wake up until dinner.
I cut up the Williams Sonoma catalogue and made a new journal page. It left Sarah breathless. (all those hearts)
The kids were soooooo cute outside. Seth, Caleb, Sarah, David, and Ethan all went out while Rich plowed the driveways.
They shoveled tunnels in snow piles with their Dad’s help.
I yelled down to ask Rich to take a picture of them in their tunnels and he sent me a picture of YELLOW SNOW. (!)
I made chili for dinner and a new cornmeal recipe from a cookbook I got from Rich’s Grandma. Even though they were titled “easy” I didn’t think they were that easy. I’ve made easier. But, they were different and so good I want to share the recipe.
EASY CORNMEAL MUFFINS from the National Grange Bicentennial Year Cookbook
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 c. cornmeal
4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
Cream butter and sugar in bowl. Sift flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt together. Beat eggs until lemon colored and thick; stir in milk. Add to creamed mixture alternately with cornmeal mixture; beat thoroughly. Place in buttered muffin cups. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until done. Yield: 12 muffins
The day is winding down. Good night.
Hold my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Psalms 17:5
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. Psalms 17:8
Thou requires little compared with what I am ready to give. I will help thee, saith the Lord. Isaiah 41:14
All thou needest to make thee blessed, supremely blessed, is to be with Christ. Charles Spurgeon
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 4:2
Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. Psalms 95:2
home
Sunday: After a big, gooey pizza, we had birthday cake.
I know, the cake was tiny! I bought it at a bake shop and I knew he would love the football and decide that it would slice into 10 pieces just fine. We each had one piece and then the cake was gone.
Monday: I knew we were about to get some snow so I took Seth and Sarah downtown to get some groceries. There is nothing like that “prepared” feeling.
After I got the groceries in the house Sarah and I ran down to the chicken coop.
We asked them to come out and play but they said they were barefoot.
Parker is always ready for some playtime.
Actually, I think this face is saying, “Do you have an egg in your pocket for me?”
Here is a laundry tip for mothers with a large family: KEEP DOING IT. No matter what, do your laundry every day, even weekends. Go around the house in the morning and pick up any dirty clothes, take sheets off a bed or two, pick up towels in the bathroom and gather up the kitchen laundry, too. Remember to wash coats and jackets every once in a while, too. If I keep up with the laundry I only have to do, at the most, three loads a day, and sometimes only two. I wait until they are all washed and dried and then I stand at the couch and fold everything (or, I have a child do the folding). As soon as they are folded they are put away in the proper place. I’m usually all done with laundry by 1 o’clock every day.
Snowflake photography next to the open door of a snowy day.
Quiet moments during Seth and Sarah’s nap time.
My latest thrift store book: Things to Make and Do, full of doable, cute crafts for little ones. We made puffets!
The living room toy basket.
Our stack of reading by the armchair.
The fire is so delightful.
And since we’ve no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
More snow pictures from the front porch.
When Seth woke up we played his sock monkey game from Grandma.
Someone hides the monkey while the other one covers their eyes. Then, we read the questions in the game for clues to where it could be. Then, we GO LOOK.
Once, I hid the sock monkey in my plant.
Seth looked and looked.
And looked. Finally, he found it!
He was so happy. Then, it was his turn to hide it.
But when it’s my turn to look he cannot stand the suspense and usually tells me where it is before I can find it.
The boys came home in the snow.
Caleb spent the evening reading his book and finally finished it. The smile.
Tuesday: This was the view this morning from the porch, at about 7:30am. Fog was drifting toward me from over the trees, as the sun rose. And the trees were heavy with snow.
The children had school at the regular time but there are rumors of a snow storm tonight and a possible snow day, tomorrow.
I’m writing this in the bathroom while Seth splashes and sings in the bathtub.
Happy Tuesday!
Oh, I almost forgot to show you the puffets!
(They are really puppets but Seth and Sarah don’t say it right).
Good to be Home 