Grace's Big Toe

Grace got a big owie on her big toe today. She was putting some piano books away in the piano bench when the whole thing fell on her toe. Her toe split open and it was obvious she needed stitches. I took her to the urgent care and the doctor fixed her up. So Grace got herself and her brother out of piano lessons. We also had to cancel the dinner I had planned for Matt's out of state coworkers on account of the trip to the urgent care. Actually, only one man had agreed to come and after cleaning house all day, I wasn't sure I had enough sparkling personality in me to sustain any amount of delightful dinner conversation. So all's well that ends well. I even have a clean house. For the moment.

A Rooster's Demise

Lately, we've had a cocky little rooster come a callin' to see our hens. He flies over the fence from the neighbor's yard. Most of the hens won't have anything to do with him, but just the same, we don't want him around. Since Paul is selling the eggs our hens produce, we don't want to have any fertilized eggs in the bunch.

Anyway, the other night I saw the neighbor man outside. So I gathered up my courage (I knew the language barrier was going to be an issue) and I went over there. I used hand motions, he used hand motions and by the end of our "conversation," I felt we had an understanding. Your chicken no come in my yard anymore.

The rooster was in our yard early the next morning. Later that day I saw him ravishing our friendly white hen. When Matt got home from work, he went to the neighbor's and asked if he could buy his chicken for $10. Apparently, he understood the language of money. Matt motioned that now "the chicken is mine" and the man nodded "yes" enthusiastically.
Paul caught the rooster and put it in an old rabbit cage (thanks Uncle Reid and Aunt Beth) with some food and water. I suggested that Matt do the deed before we had to hear the rooster cock-a-doodle-do in the morning, but we ran some errands and got home too late, so the deed didn't get done.

Five a.m. this morning. The rooster starts in. He cock-a-doodle-doed twenty times (I counted) before Matt woke up and moved the rooster's cage behind the shed. We won't have to hear him tomorrow morning. Paul did the honors under Daddy's supervision before dinner tonight. Problem solved. Unless the neighbors decide to get more roosters.

Annual Trek

We made our annual trek to the homeschool conference this past weekend. This year we went with three other families. This proved to be advantageous in more ways than one. The first being when we got to our hotel and realized we had forgotten the garment bag with all of our family's clothes in it. Thankfully, one of the other families hadn't left home yet and they were able to stop by our house and pick it up as they were leaving town. Praise God! That family saved us a lot of time, money and trouble.

It was also neat for us to be able to see all those folks between conference lectures and ask, "Hey, what have you been excited to learn?" We even took over the hotel breakfast/lobby area one night for a pizza delivery dinner. The adults got to discuss the conference and the kids got to fuel up and run off some energy. The keynote speakers for the conference this year, Kevin Swanson and Ken Ham, were both excellent--highly intelligent, articulate, challenging and passionate about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matt, being the sweet hubby he is, took me on a little excursion to Whole Foods Market (Uncle Keith, you would have loved it--a real feast for the eyes and for the stomach). I've been on the hunt for some decent bay leaves and I found some there. Compare. Wimpy little spice jar bay leaf with big beautiful organic beauty. I also found some organic curry powder and some Indian Tandoori spice blend. I'm seeing some yummy chicken in our family's future. It's the small things in life that please me.
On the way home my nerves were tested to the breaking point when we drove down narrow two way streets (that were barely big enough for a small sedan) in our twelve passenger van. We were trying to get to the zoo, but we weren't able to find a parking space, so we finally gave up. We ate our lunch in a 7 Eleven parking lot and then headed home.

The little boys were so happy to be home, as were the rest of us. A good night's sleep was had by all.

Beatrix Potter = Terrified Children

I've been reading Beatrix Potter's books to the littles on Monday evenings. Last night I read "The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or Roly-Poly Pudding" to them.

The story started by explaining that Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit (a cat) had three mischievous kittens. She decided to lock them in the cupboard on baking day to keep them out of trouble. (I thought, "Why didn't I think of that when my bad bunnies were getting into all sorts of mischief while I was taking my online class earlier?" Just kiddin'.)

Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit couldn't find her third kitten, Tom. Turns out he had been captured by rats living in the walls of the old house.

"Anna Maria," said the old man rat (whose name was Samuel Whiskers), "Anna Maria, make me a kitten dumpling roly-poly pudding for my dinner."
The rats then procured (stole) the necessary ingredients to make kitten pudding--a pat of butter, dough and a rolling pin. They buttered Tom Kitten and rolled him up in the dough. He was rescued just in the nick of time by John Joiner (a dog). Tom Kitten got a bath and all was well that ended well. Until I announced that it was bedtime.

I turned out the lights and all three of the littles snuggled up with me in my big bed. They commented on every sound they heard. "It sounds like some one's out in the kitchen, Momma." "What's that sound outside, Momma?" "Do rats live in our walls, Momma?" Nothing like a little classic children's literature to scare the socks off of your kids.

Bad Bunnies

I have the three littles to myself on Monday nights. I'm also taking an online Bible course on Monday nights, so I've had to devise some clever tricks to keep the littles occupied while I'm otherwise occupied from 6 to 7 p.m. Usually this involves some pre-planning on my part by making sure I pick up a never before seen "Thomas the Train" or "Bob the Builder" DVD at the library.

However, the weather has been so nice here, the kids couldn't even think about being inside the house to watch a movie last night. We ate our dinner outside and then I announced that it was time to come inside so Mommy could take her class. My suggestion didn't go over so well and since I was already ten minutes late logging into my class, I decided to keep the sliding glass door open so as to be able to hear any blood curdling screams coming from the backyard.

The two little boys were double trouble all evening long. At one point Lydia frantically ran into the house to tell me that Jude had turned on the sprinkler system. I ran outside to find both boys right by the road (they had been told they weren't allowed to leave the backyard). Joel was squatting in a pile of black ants, completely mesmerized by their activity. Jude was indeed fiddling with Daddy's sprinkler control panel. Bad bunnies. I corralled them both and got them into the house.

Later in the evening, I found Joel pouring a bowl of popcorn all over the kitchen floor and eating it by grabbing the kernals with his tongue (he's been into eating like a tiger lately). Both Jude and Joel had popcorn bits and salt in their hair and dirt all over their bodies. Bad bunnies. Time for a bath.

As the kids played in the bathtub, I was busy trying to retrieve no less than half a dozen screws out of one of our rented five gallon water cooler bottles. Bad bunnies. I worked on the water bottle in the bathroom so as to be able to keep an eye on the kids, but I still didn't notice all the water that kept finding it's way to the slick tile floor. I went to grab a towel to clean up the puddles and noticed that Jude didn't have his ear plugs in his ears. Apparently he had taken them out and Joel had formed them into a nice cohesive unit, rendering them unusable. Bad bunnies.

I got the kids out of the bath, put their p.j.'s on them and then read them a couple of stories, the whole while dealing with all three littles trying to sit on my lap--at the same time. I stopped reading numerous times to keep the kids from hitting each other in frustration over the lack of space on my lap. Bad bunnies. By the time Matt and the others got home, I was completely exhausted. Matt tried to have a conversation with me, but I fell asleep. It was a really rude thing to do, especially since it was his birthday and I hadn't seen him all day. I did apologize to Matt this morning and he forgave me. He's a good bunny.

Yet Another Lydiaism

Tomorrow is Matt's birthday, but we're celebrating today. This morning Lydia asked Daddy, "Is your birthday today? Because my birthday was on Sunday. It didn't work out very well. I had to go to church."

Another Lydiaism

Today I came home from the dollar store with three audio read along books. You know, the kind where you put the cassette tape in the tape player, the narrator reads the book and the little ringing bell tells you when to turn the pages of the book. Except these books had cds with them. I guess times have changed.

Anyway, Lydia was really thrilled with the books. She listened and followed along through two books right away, and then requested that Elizabeth put the cd from the third book into the cd player.

"I'm hungry for my lunch now, Lydia. I'll do it after I eat my lunch."

I said, "That's o.k., Elizabeth, you go ahead and switch the cd before you eat your lunch."

"Yeah," Lydia said, "It's keeping me quiet."

(Exactly what I was thinking--clever little girl.)

Big Boy Bed

Joel graduated from a toddler bed to a big boy bed this past week. He got all snuggled up under the covers, let out a big sigh of contentment and said, "Tanks Daddy, for building mine big bed." As you can see from the photo, he's sharing his new found real estate with his stuffed puppies (and occasionally his little brother).

Party On

On Mondays while the other members of the family are at Bible study, the three littles and I let loose. Tonight's entertainment--popcorn in the Stir Crazy popcorn popper and Veggie Tales "Toddler Tunes" in the cd player. We're dancing to "This is the Day That the Lord Has Made," while munching our popcorn--partay!

Crazy Days

Friday night dinner with friends and fellowship (we didn't get to bed until 11 p.m.), Saturday morning jobs at the church (Lydia had an unexpected meeting with a bride preparing for her wedding day--Oh the joy!), an impromptu drive to the big city to see the Broadway musical "Little House on the Prairie (thanks Grandpa Tom, Grandma Jane, Uncle Keith & Aunt Leanna), a busy Sunday morning with jobs for four out of eight of us, home for lunch and a quick nap and then a drive out of town for family worship (a refreshing time of fellowship).

(I didn't think it was possible to tire out a five year old girl and three year old boy, but we've managed it. I think it'll be a few days before we're back in the groove again.)

Going Home

A couple of months ago, Lydia was invited to a birthday party. The birthday girl and Lydia have become good friends this year in Bible Study Fellowship, thus the invitation to the party.

The day of the party arrived and Lydia could hardly contain her excitement. When we got to the party, the little girls were invited to have their fingernails painted. The moms chatted while the girls were beautified. One mom mentioned that before she had six kids, she was a dental assistant. Being a daughter of a dentist, my curiosity was piqued and I asked her the name of the dentist for whom she had worked. I went on to tell her that my dad had been the dentist in my home town for twenty years.

At that moment, the hostess of the party, Tamara, gasped and said, "Melissa! I live in your old house!" Yep, that's right. The house I grew up in. Well, I was flabbergasted, to say the least. I asked her a million questions about the house, the neighbors and the town. Then I hinted (heavily) that I'd love to see the house again and have my kids see it, too. I was shameless, really. Anyway, a couple of weeks later Tamara asked if we'd like to come and see the house sometime and of course I said, "Absolutely!"

So the Sunday before last our whole family made the forty five minute trip to the little town in which I grew up. Things hadn't changed much. There's still no stop light and there's still only one grocery store. Tamara graciously let us tour the house and the yard (it had been twelve years since I'd seen it). Not much had changed there, either. The wall paper was still the same in the kitchen (remember when you hung that, Dad?), the bathroom fixtures were still lemon yellow and avocado green and Tamara said the deck out back was still great for sunbathing.

As we walked from room to room, I told the kids about who slept in which room and who took a bath in the fireplace once. It was great fun. Then Tamara took a picture of all of us in front of the house. She truly showed me and my family Christian love that day--especially since she and her family were in the midst of moving from my old house to a bigger house just outside of town.
As we drove out of town, I couldn't help but reflect on the big dreams I had when I left that house to go to college. I had every intention of becoming a reporter for the NY Times or WA Post. Wow, did God have other plans. If you would have told me twenty years ago that I'd one day stand in front of that house with my wonderful husband and brood of six kids, I'd have laughed long and hard and pretty sarcastically, too. Thank you, Lord for giving me the desires of my heart, the desires I never knew I had until you gave them to me.

Miss Smarty Pants

This afternoon Lydia came in the house and asked if she could pick some of the flowers in the yard. I knew what she was thinking. She had her heart set on the purple tulips right outside the french doors.

I said, "Yeah, you can pick the yellow flowers in the grass." Lydia let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Mommy, those are WEEEDS!"

Happy Resurrection Day!

It is Finished

Tonight we attended Good Friday services at our church. We sang one of my favorite hymns--packed with good theology and a remembrance of our Lord's sacrifice for us.


Stricken, Smitten and Afflicted

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.

(Here's the melody, if you're interested)

Matzo Ball Soup for a Crowd

Last night our church hosted a Passover Seder meal. The woman who organized it asked me to make the matzo ball soup. She assured me there wouldn't be that many people in attendance. However, the list of reservations kept growing and growing. The final head count was 115.

Grace multiplied our usual recipe for matzo ball soup by fourteen. I made over 200 matzo balls. Good thing I had a bunch of homemade chicken broth in the freezer as well as a stash of matzo meal which I got on my first "extreme couponing" shopping trip.
It was a beautiful Seder, complete with a traditional Passover feast. Our family spent the night alternately serving for and partaking of the evening's festivities. Since our kids were some of the few in attendance, three of them were able to find the Afikomen and they each received prizes for their efforts. Who doesn't like chocolate coins, especially a little boy named Joel?