A Lazy Day

Not much happened today. Mike worked some on computers, and Tracy babysat for a girl for 1 1/2 hours. I guess I did a LOT of dishes over the course of the day. I got thank you cards done for Laura's birthday gifts and wrote a letter to a friend. Now I should finish the one postcard from Christmas letters. A day well-rounded. :) Good night!

Thanks, Dr. Seuss!

I couldn't help but notice the ring in the tub when I walked into the bathroom a bit ago. It immediately made me think of The Cat in the Hat Comes Back so I had to have Jason snap some pictures for me. Thankfully mine wasn't really made by a cat, it was made by three little girls playing with the bathtub toys Emily got for her birthday last month.











Ha ha ha! I'm editing ten minutes later. I guess taking the pictures was too much work for Jason, for I found him like this a minute ago. :)

Protector

Our Aussie-dog is such a good protector. When he hears a dog barking on the radio, he jumps up and starts barking.

Some Birthday Pictures

Here's Laura in her birthday box, watching her cake get decorated,reaching for her candle, and playing.

Awana

Tonight we went to town early so the kids could play on the big snow pile at the church building.

I ran some errands, got some supper and a few groceries, gas, and a big box (dryer box) for Laura for her birthday. I was trying to find a ball for her, but they were all squishy instead of firm like a new ball should be. A free box was all she got for her birthday from us so far. :) She doesn't care though. She has a daddy, mommy, Tracy, Aaron, Jason, Emily, and Melissa (and others, I know) who love her; that's all she needs. :)

We ate her birthday cake and ice cream for breakfast, and I'll try to post a few pictures either later tonight or tomorrow.

Recital and Birthday Gift

We attended a music recital tonight with piano pieces, flute pieces, and singing. My favorite was two girls who sang together. In harmony! It was so unexpected (to me) that I gasped in delight.

I stopped at the store to pick up an outfit for Laura with birthday money she was given so have posted it here just in case Laura's grandma happens to check the blog. :) I grabbed the socks and diapers to bring the total up to what she sent.

Laura's Walking

Check out a video of Laura walking Tracy took and posted on her blog. What a cutie!!!

Schoolwork

We actually got a little bit of schoolwork rolling today. We also started in on "Mr. Popper's Penguins" which is proving to be more enjoyable than the title and picture on the cover. I've noticed that even Aaron and Jason are listening in. I guess it goes back to the old saying of not judging a book by its cover.

That reminds me of a nursery rhyme I was reading to Melissa tonight I wanted to post.
The Owl
A wise old owl sat in an oak,
The more he heard the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why aren't we all like that wise old bird?

(And as I post, Tracy thinks that my friend Emily has posted this on her blog before!)
I think it's hard for us to be quiet and just listen sometimes.

After a skirmish with the Aussie-dog last night, he has been very nice to Melissa and Laura today. I hope it continues because I really would like this to work. I just feel that it's the right time for the kids to have a dog even though it's been a lot more work than I suspected. Aaron and Jason have taken him outside to play in the snow two days now so that's been helpful. He keeps getting a hold of Melissa's Memory pieces, but it's her own fault for not picking them up when told. The dog is getting very good at determining his toys vs. the kids toys so I can't complain.

Tonight for supper I made sausage, egg, and cheese English muffins. I only had one leftover to put in the fridge so it'll be first-come, first-serve for breakfast tomorrow! (If anyone takes me up on the offer, call ahead of time so I can clear a path for you from the door to the fridge.) :) I'm hoping to be able to get an accurate count so I can determine the price for each one. My ultimate goal is to begin to make them ahead of time and have them frozen for quick and easy meals.

Good night!

Fruit Pizza

We made a fruit pizza. We made one yesterday also, but it was eaten before I thought of taking a picture. Although not as cheap as summertime prices, grapes, bananas, and strawberries were on sale this week. I had a can of mandarin oranges, and the blueberries are from some we picked this past summer.

For the filling, I use a recipe we got from our friend Mary D. Thanks, Mary! 8 oz. cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, and 4 Tablespoons orange juice. You just whip it up until it's nice and fluffy and put on top of a sugar cookie. She cheats and uses the pre-packaged dough, but I made our own dough out of wheat flour.

A Lazy Day

We've still been being "bums," but the kids are getting better because there's arguing happening.

Here is a picture of the frosty trees this morning and one of Laura enjoying a marshmallow, tuna fish, and oyster crackers and one of Aussie. I wore him out this morning because he actually took a nap this afternoon.

Schoolwork

I just had to post that we don't know what schoolwork is in this house. We've just been watching movies, waiting for kids to get well again.

Aussie-dog

The dog has been enjoying chasing a rope with a part of a swing set piece on it. He barks like crazy and chases it all over, just like a cat would. He hasn't been getting much attention lately, but this afternoon I took him to the grocery store with me. He sat in the car seat that was in the back seat part of the time and stuck his head up by my neck part of the time. Crazy dog!!! :) I also took Laura; when she saw her snow suit she started waving bye bye so I just HAD to take her. I bought a small container of potato salad for Mike to go along with the leftover sloppy joe I made him for supper. I need to learn the knack of his mom's recipe because he will eat hers even though it has eggs in it. Anyway, I digress...the dog is up with me at the moment. The poor thing probably has his days and nights mixed up because when I'm unable to care for him with all these sick kids, I stick him in his kennel for a "nap." He's been going to the kennel, grabbing a toy, and bringing it out to the living room. I put them all back, but he did it again. I guess he's just like a kid needing to drag toys all over the house. :) Good night. I'll put my movie on to fall asleep. It works like wonders for me.

Psalm 1:1-6

I'm posting this again because I'm supposed to be memorizing it. It hasn't been going well as of this point though.

Psalm 1:1-6
1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
3. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
4.The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Sick Kids

What a day! Well, the past two anyway. Does anybody have kids that will throw up anywhere EXCEPT the bucket? Join my children...

Bemidji Winter Retreat

Here's a link to my friend's blog where she has a poster about the church rally we'll be attending.

AWANA

Tonight I was the secretary at AWANA since our main secretary was gone. It went well overall.

As we walked outside to come home, we saw the eclipse starting and now it's in full force. :)

We got home, I took Melissa out of the car and she threw up on me. I wonder how many people we infected tonight. Jason went to bed last night after watching a movie and slept until 2:00 today then came out and slept for three more hours. Mike said he slept most of the time we were gone. Laura was just the opposite; I guess she cried the whole time I was gone.

Beth, I hope you're still immune from being sick at your house! Sorry about this. I suppose they were contagious yesterday.

The Aussie-dog is doing well. He enjoys being out in the snow. He's a snowplow. I hope to be able to get some pictures to post of him plowing one of these days.

Sorry for having to add the word verification; I have been getting spammed on here so wanted to try and stop that.

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Make sure you stay awake for a while tomorrow night to witness this eclipse!

We had a fun time with our visitors today. I think the boys out-numbered the girls for a change. I'd have to tally to make sure though.

Check out Tracy's blog for a few pictures, and check out Beth's blog and JoyAnn's blog if you have time. JoyAnn also has a sewing business.

Outside View

Hey, Beth! Here's what you will see as you drive in our driveway (minus the handsome guy shoveling) and the front of our house.

For anyone else viewing, Mike's charging me royalties to put his picture on the blog so be sure to leave a comment!!!!! :)

Kids in the Snow

The kids finally went out yesterday. Today we got more snow; I'd say three inches from what I was "running" through. Some of that might have been due to drifting though.

Snow Dog

It's hard to wear this Aussie-dog out! :)

Psalm 1:1-6

1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
3. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
4.The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Clifford had his 50th birthday. Our library hosted an event and many children showed up. There was music, stories, a couple crafts, pictures with Clifford, cake, punch, and puppy chow. While we were there, we checked out a bunch of books and helped a little bit in getting the library back to "normal." Here is a picture of the cake in the shape of a bone (and we even got to bring some leftovers home.) This little girl kept putting her head in front of Emily while she was cutting so Emily was cutting up in the air most of the time. I thought that was considerate of her. :) Lastly, I put a picture of our wonderful librarian (in red) and her best assistant. The librarian is so helpful and always is willing to go the extra mile for me. She says I'm her best patron for checking out books, but I think I've been failing lately. I haven't been in town much except for evenings and Sundays before they're open.

Valentine Treats

We made some cookies for Valentine's Day, made heart pizzas for supper with pink dough (each kid decorated his/her own pizzas,) and made a loaf of purple bread.

A Valentine Craft

I know this was something that went around in an e-mail, but I first saw it on my friend's blog. Check her out here; she's quite special!

We turned it into a craft and handed out Valentine's treats to friends. We cut out hearts, painted around the edge red, glued John 3:16 to it (notice VALENTINE down the middle if you enlarge it,) and taped a sucker to the back.

Light and Fluffy

I finally managed to fill Aaron up. He ate fourteen pancakes! He's been moping around complaining of starvation. I made the pancakes with half white flour so I'm sure that had something to do with it. White flour is a treat around here. :)

Pancakes
2 T. oil
1 cup milk
1 egg
Mix then add:
1 cup flour
2 T. baking powder
2 T. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Mix again and cook on griddle

Poor Loaf of Bread

A wonderful aroma of fresh-baked bread and pot roast greeted me when I got home, but the poor loaf of bread didn't have quite enough liquid to be bread. :)

An Early Birthday Party

My mom made Laura some cupcakes and gave her a music-playing frog.

Some Pictures

Here's a Valentine craft we did, and here are a couple pictures of Aussie.

A Busy Day

The two little girls and I made it home safely even though blowing snow was a big issue along the northern border for 45 miles. I was driving through white-out conditions part of the time, and it was scary! Melissa now has half of her crowns done. I bought a salad for lunch and only got about 1/4 of it because Melissa gobbled it. Go figure! My kids like salads when they are little. I'll have to post my current February spendings soon.

A Little Here, a Little There

We enjoyed our Bemidji trip.
The ride home was uneventful.
Four of the five girls were asleep. :)
This morning I cleaned up a bit from our trip.
I played with our new puppy (I will get pictures up soon.)
I took Tracy to her violin lesson.
When we got home I quickly made lunch.
We (Tracy, Laura, and I) headed to Thief River Falls.
Tracy had a dentist appointment.
That went well; they were very kind.
Good results--no cavities! Hooray!!!
We hit Wal-Mart, McDonald's, Super One, and Holiday.
Got home.
I played with the dog.
Now I'm entering numbers into our budget book.
Kids are slowly heading to bed.
I have to get up early to take Melissa to Fargo tomorrow.
Hopefully the trip will go well.
Not much else is happening.

Skiing

We survived our ski trip today. My feet are sore and my legs are just a bit sore, but all-in-all it was a lot of fun. I'm wiped out, and on the way down yesterday, I actually stayed awake for the whole drive. I guess that's it for new news around here. :)

Gearing up to Go

We're heading to Bemidji tonight where we will pick up our new puppy and go skiing with some of the home schoolers tomorrow. Saturday will be a "bum" day with a variety of activities to chose from, and Sunday we'll head to church and enjoy a pot luck dinner and hopefully celebrate a birthday of our 94-year old friend.

I hope everyone has a good weekend; I'm sure I'll be sore after trying to go skiing at Buena Vista with the kids. I usually laugh so hard that I burn more calories laughing than I do trudging up and down the chalet steps.

If our federal tax return shows up in our bank account, I'm going to be able to do some shopping for some "needed" and some "wanted" things. My list is front and back of a notebook page; I'll see what I can fulfill.

Monday I have to bring Tracy to Thief River Falls for a dentist appointment and then to Fargo on Tuesday for one for Melissa.

Laura and Sparky

AWANA

Tonight I was given the cutest picture of Laura sitting on "Sparky's" lap at AWANA last week. She doesn't look thrilled, but I knew nothing about it. Big brother Aaron was taking care of her so this was all a surprise to me. I'll see if it'll scan well tomorrow and post it. In the mean time, here's a picture of her hiding in the cupboard. I hope it's alright to post the same pictures as my daughter. I guess it'll be the "fight" to see which one of us posts first. :)

A Few Pictures

The before and after desk pictures
Outside the front door and outside the back door
(The frost was all over everything, but I see that didn't show in the pictures. Oh well.)

Chatting

Tracy's off babysitting and isn't home yet.
The temperature is dropping quickly!
It's -13 degrees F at our house.
I'm beginning to take Christmas cards off the wall.
We made peanut butter cookies tonight.
I will download my pictures of my desk then upload them here.
It was such a mess, thanks to Laura pulling out all the CD's.
Some of the kids are watching Scooby Doo movies with Mike.
It'll soon be bedtime.

Pancake Muffins

Sunday I made muffins using Abbi's recipe (though I used all whole wheat flour and doubled the berries) and stuck the remaining batter in the fridge to use another day. Today was the day. I took it out, added milk and made pancakes with it, forgetting it was a muffin recipe. :) They were very good. Thanks for the recipe, Abbi. It's the first muffin recipe I've used other than store-bought mixes that the kids and Mike haven't wanted to add sugar on top.

Tracy started a blog tonight

http://whooldestofsix.blogspot.com

A Lazy Day

We didn't accomplish much today. I think one or another of the kids was on the computer all day. Tracy did have a violin lesson today and will have a babysitting job tomorrow night. Mike worked, and I worked on my list of things to buy when we make it to a store. I also took three different naps; holding and nursing a nice, warm baby has something to do with that. :) I think two of the naps were five minutes but something is better than nothing. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Game Playing

Tracy and Aaron were on a mission tonight to beat Mike at Scattergories. They did well at only two points behind him; I was several behind them. We were supposed to have company today, but they ended up getting sick overnight. Not much happened today. I made some buns for our hamburgers and then used the leftovers for pizza burgers. I guess we're having sloppy joes tomorrow. Laura's been climbing the past few days. She also said "num num" several times on her own tonight while eating a cinnamon roll for dessert. I noticed her saying it earlier this week, but it didn't register until tonight. Have a good weekend!

Ephesians 6:1-10

1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2. "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise:
3. "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth."
4. And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
5. Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ:
6. not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
7. with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men,
8. knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
9. And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.