Pumpkin Patch 2013

Down 2 cousins this year.  It's getting harder and harder to get everyone together at the same time, but we keep persisting--it's worth the effort.

Brothers

Yesterday Jude came running into the house.  He was crying and yelling, "Joel hit me!  Joel hit me!"

Joel was close behind.  He was crying, too.  "I did not!  He's lying!  He hit me !"

I asked, "Joel, did you hit Jude?"

"No!" he insisted.  "He's lying!  I kicked him, then I pushed him down!"

With just seventeen months between them, Joel and Jude are the best of friends and the worst of enemies.  Sometimes they flip flop between the two twenty times in one day. 

A House Full of Sailors

The day before yesterday,  Joel and Jude asked permission to float their Lego boats in my bath tub.  I granted them permission.  When I went into the bathroom about a half an hour later, I found Isaac all by himself.  He was standing in the bath tub, fully clothed, with the Veggie Tales Jonah Boat in his hands.

Even though the tub only had a couple of inches of water in it, Isaac was completely soaked, as was the toy boat.  The toy boat that was a gift from Grandma Dianne and has been a fixture in our house for nearly a decade.  The toy boat that has never even seen so much as a drop of water because it has been deemed by The Mama to be unseaworthy.  Wheels on the bottom of the vessel would indicate it is only meant to be on land.  Isaac is the Little Rajah, however.  In keeping with his position, he decided that the Jonah Boat should take her maiden voyage.  Of course he discovered that she is not seaworthy, but rajahs must discover these things for themselves and not just take their mother's word for it.



Yesterday, as the boat floating exploits continued, I went into my bathroom to discover this on the floor.

I threw up my hands in defeat.  I had been cleaning the house for hours, it was evening (my tired time), Matt and the big girls were gone and I was exhausted.


I took a picture and texted it to my sister and asked, "Is it normal to have rocks on your bathroom floor and in your bath tub?"


She texted back, "Well of course it's normal!  How else would you know that you're a princess?--duh."


I shot back, "Oh yeah. Right.  Forgot I'm a princess.  Something about Prince Charming being AWOL & all my servants, too."


Life with littles.  At least I can say it's never boring around here.

My little brother generously gifted his entire Lego collection to my kids a couple of years ago.  Stepping on little Lego pieces with my bare feet brings back old times, Jake :)      

Anniversary Presents

Matt surprised me with a beautiful picture for our anniversary.  I originally saw the print in Texas a year and a half ago.  I wanted to bring it home, but knew it wouldn't fit on the plane.  So my Matthew gave it to me to commemorate our twentieth anniversary.  Yeah, I know, God have me a good one.

I purchased a print depicting a personalized family tree in honor of our anniversary.  Who would have thought that we'd be married twenty years and have eight kids?  Matt and I certainly didn't imagine it on our wedding day.  But God does more than we can imagine. 

I saw the family tree print advertised on one of my coupon blogs.  It was on sale and I thought it was so cute, but I thought, "I'm sure this would never work for our family.  They probably don't do eight baby birds."   Lo and behold, the description of the print said that a maximum of eight baby birds was allowed.  Woo hoo!  I ordered the print and then purchased a matte and frame for it at Hobby Lobby (with a coupon, of course).  It hangs in our kitchen for all to see.  A tribute to God and His marvelous workings among men.

Anniversary Getaway

Matt and I were blessed to be able to leave town for a couple of days to celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary.  We left Grace in charge of the kids, loaded the baby into the car and took off.  It was the first time we have left the kids overnight by themselves (except for when I gave birth to Joseph and then we were just across town).  I left half a dozen phone numbers of friends and family on the fridge, just in case.  Of course Matt and I also had our cell phones, though I worried we'd be too far away to do much good in the case of emergency.  Matt assured me it would all be o.k.

We decided on Hood River for our destination.  That decision came about when I found a Groupon deal on one of the coupon blogs I read for a price break on a hotel there.  We purchased the Groupon and made our reservations about a month before our anniversary.

When we arrived at the hotel (after a long drive, I might add), Matt went inside to the the front desk while I waited in the car with the baby. He showed the woman the Groupon and she said, "Sorry, this Groupon is actually for a different hotel.  You're not the first person to make the same mistake."  Matt got back into the car and explained the situation to me.  He said the deal was actually for a hotel in Government Camp, approximately sixty miles up the road.  Who would name a town that?  My two favorite words in all the English language.  And this was supposed to be a romantic getaway.

I fought back tears.  I was beyond exhausted, I didn't want to drive anymore and I was worried about the babies we'd left behind.  I really just wanted to bag the whole thing and go home, but I kept myself from saying so to Matt. We decided to make the best of it.  Matt said it would be "an adventure."  Yay. My third favorite word.

Before we left town, we crossed the river and ate at the Solstice Wood Fire Cafe (thanks for the recommend John & Cathy!).  I had roasted beets for an appetizer--delish.  We ordered the best pizza in Washington State, according to the Food Network.  It was just the sort of low key anniversary dinner I needed after a terribly long day.

We loaded back into the car and felt fortified to take on the hour long drive to the most aptly named town I've ever come across.  Once we arrived at Government Camp, we unloaded our things at the hotel and I fed Joseph.  We had hoped to purchase some Ben & Jerry's for our anniversary dessert ("surely there's plenty of places to get ice cream up there," Matt had said), but the only store in town was already closed for the night.  Like I said, aptly named.

The next morning, we ate the hotel breakfast and headed down the mountain to see some of the farm stands which comprise the Fruit Loop.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, which we were told is a rarity in those parts.   Mt. Hood was gorgeous.  While we drove, we listened to a couple of the lectures we missed from the homeschool conference we attended back in the spring.

Once we got to Hood River, we ate lunch and wandered around looking at all the shops.  Too expensive for our blood, but we enjoyed a leisurely time of looking, with no real schedule to follow.

That night, Matt insisted we go back up the mountain to eat at Timberline Lodge, which was built by the government and dedicated by FDR in 1937 (see history here).  I'm so glad Matt did insist on our eating there.  It was snowy and the views from the dining room were spectacular.  We both agreed it was the best meal we've eaten in many years.  Joseph was the best baby during dinner.  In fact, two different couples came up to us and commented on how good he was.  The dessert, a pumpkin creme brulee, was on the house, in honor of our anniversary.

 

So in the end, the Lord worked it all out.  What started out to be an incredibly disappointing trip, turned out to be an adventure, just like Matt said.  After all these years, we still enjoy each others company the most.  We had a lovely time.

When we arrived back home, the kids had the entire house picked up and Grace had made calzones for dinner.  The kids had set up a card table with a table cloth and flowers in our bedroom.  Our wedding album was on the table.  Lydia and Joel were dressed up, ready to serve us a romantic dinner.  We had caramel brownies that Liz had made for dessert.

An hour and a half after our arrival, my Uncle Keith called and invited all of us to his neck of the woods for the weekend.  So the kids and I woke up the next morning and got the van packed with sleeping bags, food and church clothes.  We were nearly ready by the time Matt came home from his Saturday morning meeting.  We were on the road by 10 a.m., which is pretty good considering that you can't move an air craft carrier on a dime.

As usual, Uncle Keith and Aunt Leanna spoiled us rotten.  We attended an outdoor country charity auction, where Uncle Keith treated our whole clan to lunch, we got to see the "goings on" at the farm and we had a nice time attending church on Sunday and the potluck meal afterward.

We got home late Sunday afternoon, ate a quick dinner and then headed out of town again to go to the monthly homeschool family worship.  It was held at the farm of one of the members.  We enjoyed a bonfire, a time of fellowship and prayer, snacks and a trip through the corn maze.

It took me a week to recover from all of that excitement and I still feel like I'm behind.  We had a great time, though.  Sometimes you gotta just throw the schedule out the window and do the Hokey Pokey.

Baby Cuteness

Elizabeth took and edited this photo of baby Joseph.  My friend Julie gave Joseph an adorable duckie outfit.  Elizabeth has always had an affinity for duckies and could hardly wait for Joseph to grow into the outfit.  When he did, she couldn't resist the photo opportunity. 

20 Years

Lydia Strikes Again

Another Lydia led science experiment.  She decided that proper eye protection was essential.  Better safe than sorry. One never knows what might happen when vinegar is poured over baking soda.

(Lydia used the Backyard Scientist book--found at a yard sale years ago--to conduct this experiment.)

And in other news . . . apparently there's a two and a half foot, blue eyed, blonde haired bandit on the loose. Lock your doors.  With a reward of one cent, I'm not sure he'll be apprehended anytime soon.

Paul is 12

Paul and I went on a lunch date on his birthday.  We went to Subway and split a $5 foot long.  Then Paul waited patiently in the car with Joseph while I ran a couple of in-and-out errands.  As we drove around town, I told Paul how much his Daddy and I love him, our first born son.  I also told him how thankful we are that the Lord gave him to us, especially when we came close to losing him at birth.

We ended our date in the sporting goods store.  Paul went straight to the knives.  I explained to the young man behind the counter that it was Paul's birthday.  He was extremely gracious with his time, spending over an hour with us as Paul handled about ten different knives (including a machete--"NO WAY!" said his mother) and eyed many more.  The man was very knowlegable about knives and even told Paul a couple of things he didn't know.

Paul finally narrowed down his knife selections to two favorites.  He agonized over which was his very favorite.  Daddy and I agreed we would pay for half of the knife and Paul would pay for the other half with money from his chicken egg fund.  When Paul made his decision, it was discovered that the knife he wanted was gone.  The box under the counter was empty and the knife was not in the display case.  Three other clerks came over to the knife counter to try to solve the mystery, to no avail.  We left empty handed, but Paul and I agreed that it would give him a bit more time to think about the purchase. 

Anyway, the missing knife turned out to be a blessing in disguise because when Daddy got home from work that night, he found the exact same knife on the internet for $20 cheaper, shipped.  Paul is now the proud owner of a Bench Made Griptilian, straight blade (not a combo blade), in black (not orange).  He also is the proud owner of a Winchester knife, courtesy of his Auntie Em.

Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jane joined us that evening to help celebrate Paul's big day.  We ate a ham dinner with Texas sheet cake for dessert, just as Paul requested.  Grandma and Grandpa gave him a combination lantern/flashlight which will be perfect for Paul's next camp out.

 

Now that Paul is twelve, his Daddy and I have reminded him that he is rapidly approaching manhood.  We've stressed to him the responsibilites that come with being a man, especially a godly man.  Paul takes his responsibilities seriously and recognizes the influence he has on his younger brothers, for good or for ill.  He's very patient with all of his younger siblings (most of the time) and is especially tender with baby Joseph.  We are very proud of the young man Paul is becoming and pray that he will some day be a mighty warrior for the Lord Jesus Christ.

A few resources which we have found to be helpful:  the book, Preparing Sons to Provide for a Single Income Family by Steven Maxwell, the audio CDs, Why Satan Wants Your Firstborn and What to Do About It and What to Expect of a Twelve Year Old by S.M. Davis.