Summer

I'm not sure how half the summer has disappeared already, but it has.  I had it in my mind that our family would have a slower paced, relaxing summer.  A high expectation to be sure, but nonetheless, I was sure it would happen.  Now I'm dealing with the realization that our summer is not what I had envisioned.  As usual, I've had a hard time adjusting to dashed expectations.

We have accomplished much as a family so far this summer.  We pulled together a successful graduation party for Grace (more on that in a separate post), I finished up a 23 week long marathon of Bible study, five of the kids took three weeks of swimming lessons, Matt traveled to Alaska for a week on business and also to Denver (2 trips down, 1 to go!), we celebrated the Fourth of July (Matt and Paul were in the local parade) and we took a trip to my uncle's farm for a few days.

Matt in Alaska

We left Grace and Paul on the farm to work for the summer.  That was hard.  How is it my kids are old enough to leave home to work for the summer?  The years are short.  This will be good for the kids though, all the way around.  Come Fall, Grace's schedule will take her away from the house every day and it's good practice for all of us to get used to not having her here all of the time.

In the meantime, I'm reviving the lost skill of cleaning bathrooms and folding laundry (formerly Grace's jobs), Lydia is learning to vacuum carpets (only a temporary gig for her until Paul returns) and Elizabeth has been promoted to sous chef position, a job which she will likely hold for quite some time.  In other words, things around here are changing and as everyone knows, I'm not a fan of change.  I'm pretty sure the kids aren't enjoying it either.  However, it must be done.

I'm trying to cool my jets on my long "To Do" list as everything else in life seems to be taking twice as long (or more) than it used to.  The visions of decluttering projects, room redos and gourmet jam canning sessions are fast becoming forgotten dreams, along with all of the books I planned to read this summer.

We have managed to squeeze some fun into summer in little pockets here and there though.  The kids have gotten extra swimming time at Miss Peggy's and Aunt Julie's pools as well as the small town pool where my aunt and uncle live.  Isaac, who took swimming lessons for the first time this year and was a very reluctant learner, has now taken to the water as the proverbial duck to water.  With his life jacket on, he paddles every where the big kids go.

Last week I took the kids to 7-11 for free Slurpies and $1 hot dogs.  I used the promise of the treats to motivate the kids to clean up the house.  It sorta backfired on me, though.  The kids had never heard of Slurpies and weren't so sure they were worth the effort of a power cleaning session.  In the end, the house got picked up (sort of) and the kids found out that they really do like Slurpies.

Treats from 7-11 (take note of Jude's great fashion sense)

One night a couple of weeks ago after a very long day of single momming it while Matt was out of town, my friend texted me to say that her goat had birthed four babies that day.  She wanted us to come over and see them.  We loaded up and went on over.  The goats were adorable.  Joseph was especially delighted with them.  He's starting to grow out of the baby stage (he'll be one year this month--sniff).

I found a couch at a yard sale last Saturday.  I've been looking to replace the couch we bought off of Craigslist when we first moved here.  For the last couple of years, my searches on Craigslist and yard sales have turned up nothing.  This couch is a leather beauty with reclining ends, perfect for the family room.  The man who was selling it had just lost his wife and was downsizing.  His son even delivered it to our house. The couch had a couple of minor scratches on it.  I just covered them with brown Sharpie marker.  A thousand dollars in savings is worth a couple of scratches to me.  One week later, I'm still training Lydia to keep her sewing scissors OFF of the couch.  As others in the house know, Mama doesn't like cuts in her couches.  Knives are no longer tested for sharpness on furniture at our house.  (That would fall under the category of "Rules I Never Thought I'd Have to Make.")

This morning the kids were particularly stir crazy.  It's been really hot here for a week and we've been kind of holed up inside to stay cool.  Despite the heat, I told the kids to get on some water friendly shoes and get loaded into the van.  We headed to the water.  We saw Seagulls, Canadian Geese, a couple of pelicans and a pair of coots and everyone got their feet wet.

Speaking of birds, a few weeks ago I was on the back porch enjoying my mid afternoon iced tea when all of a sudden a Bald Eagle flew over the yard.  It was so close I could hear its wings swooshing and I could see the water dripping off of the sparkling fish that it had in its mouth.  Wow!  God's creation never ceases to amaze me.

Well, I'm off to inspect the kitchen clean up that Joel is supposed to be doing.  Then I'll read to the kids before quiet time.  Maybe we'll try to swim a bit in Miss Peggy's pool after dinner tonight.  I guess my "To Do" list will wait another day.  After all, these little ones are growing up way too fast.

Chicken Delivery

After reading about our chicken debacle, my cousin Amy was kind enough to offer us some replacement chicks.  She and her kids incubated some chicken eggs and ended up with an unusual 100 percent hatch rate.  Since she had more chicks than she could keep, Amy kindly delivered half a dozen chicks right to our doorstep.

This little guy (gal?) may not last too long.  Seems when it comes time to head to the coop for the night, this chick has better things to do.  One of these mornings I wouldn't be surprised if we can't find him (or her).

The chicks are juveniles, but they aren't sexed, so we have yet to see what they'll turn out to be.  I told Amy we know what to do with roosters around here.  Because the chicks are older, we were able to put them directly into the chicken coop.  They've adjusted to the flock very well.  I've seen them do a stellar job of getting their fair share of the kitchen scraps we give them.  They figured out very quickly where the outside chicken waterer is located, so Paul was able to take the small waterer, which has a tendency to get messy fast,  out of the chicken coop.  Thanks, Amy!

Fred is Dead

Fred the fish died on Sunday.  He was a good goldfish.  He lived a good long fish life.  Lydia purchased Fred two and a half years ago at Walmart.  He was 23 cents.  We already owned the fish bowl, so all we needed to purchase was a bottle of goldfish food, which ended up outlasting Fred.

Every time we left town for a few days, the kids would cart the fish bowl over to the neighbor's house.  Mr. P was kind enough to fish sit for us on numerous occasions.  Mr. P's grandkids loved Fred, too.

                                     Jude--hamming it up for the camera--he's over Fred now

We got home from church Sunday afternoon and found Fred on the kitchen counter.  I guess he took a risk and decided to jump out of the bowl and see what life on "the outside" was like.  It was a risk that didn't pay off.  Jude was especially sad.  "That was my favorite pet!" he said.  Fred was our only pet and now he's dead.

Memorial Day Plans Gone Awry

We had big plans to take a road trip on Memorial Day weekend.  We were going to go see my Uncle Keith and Aunt Leanna and catch a much needed change of pace on the farm.

When Matt woke up on Thursday morning complaining of a stomach ache, I didn't think much of it.  Tummy troubles are not too extraordinary for him.  When Paul's energy lagged all morning and he barely made it through his math lesson, I didn't think much of it.  When most of our family arrived at horse camp to see Elizabeth ride and Lydia began complaining about her stomach, I didn't think much of it.  "Go sit down for awhile," I said.  "It'll go away in a little bit."  When Joel complained on the way home that he felt like he was going to throw up, I didn't think much of it.  "He got too hot at horse camp," I thought.

It wasn't until evening, when I emerged from the work of putting my lesson plan together for that night's Bible study and found every single person in my family sprawled out on the furniture and the floor of the family room that I realized I had an epidemic on my hands.  THE STOMACH FLU.  The bane of every large family.

I went to Bible study without Grace, praying that I would not succumb to sickness before I got through the next few hours.  The Lord answered my prayers.  When I got home at 9 p.m., a very sick Matt had the carpet spot cleaner going to clean up Jude's mess.  Paul informed me that he didn't think we'd be going to the farm the next day.  I knew the kid was sick when I heard that.

I immediately went into prevent-any-more-puke-on-carpet  mode.  Years of mothering has taught me a few things.  I pulled old comforters to cover the couches, placed beach towels on the floor in front of all the couches and on the floor beside the beds.  Knowing they'd most likely need help in the night, littles were arranged in the master bedroom.  I pulled out just about every Tupperware bowl I had to give to each family member.  I steeled myself for a long night.  It was, indeed, one long night.

I got up the next morning to monitor breakfast and make sure no one thought his stomach was up to bacon and eggs.  Instead, I passed out Gatorade and matzoh crackers (good thing I found that awesome clearance deal right after Passover!).  I felt a bit run down, but thought I'd make the best of our change in plans to tackle some of my neglected to do list.  Wrong.  By 11 a.m. I was in bed.

For two days our family subsisted on little bites of bland food.  Jude finally gave up on the Gatorade because he kept throwing it up.  By Saturday night, Elizabeth was desperate for some real food.  I suggested she make the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti.  She did.  Paul went full bore into the first meal he'd seen in several days.  Right after dinner, he regretted that decision.  After seeing Paul's demise, Elizabeth said, "I don't care if I do throw up.  It'll be worth it.  I finally got to eat real food."

So that was how we spent our Memorial Day weekend.  Every. single. last. one. of us (that's ten, in case you forgot) got the stomach flu.  And we survived to tell the tale.  I believe this might go down in the family archives as an incident that rivaled The Great Sickness of Deep Lake (at least in my mind it will).

P.S.--I'm sure glad I have a sanitize cycle on my washing machine.  It got a good workout this past week.  Also, I'm getting a little crunchy in my old age and I'm not really keen on the ingredients in Gatorade any more, so I did make up  Jessica's homemade version, which my family liked, but were ever so happy when they no longer had to drink it.

 P.P.S--Yes, both Matt and I had the pleasure of giving lectures on the importance of proper handwashing after we were all better.  Maybe Mom's not so crazy after all.  That's right, soap has to actually come in contact with one's hands in order for it to qualify as a proper handwashing.

Boys

I bought some interlocking bunny toys at a yard sale a couple of years ago.  The boys have recently rediscovered how fun they are.  Who knew one could make guns out of bunnies?

Best Meal in Town

Matt and Elizabeth prepared a lovely Mother's Day dinner for me (Grace was attending the symphony with her Grandpa Tom).  Matt grilled wild Alaskan salmon (caught by my dad) and fresh local asparagus. Elizabeth prepared quinoa pilaf and these brownies for dessert.  I'm loved and blessed.

Carnage & Encouragement

Our family attended the homeschool conference this past weekend.  While we were away, ten of Paul's chickens were killed by some sort of animal.  An eleventh chicken died of her injuries several days later.  One day it's chickens, the next it's feathers.  The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  The egg production has been cut in half.  Matt will be looking to replace the lost chickens with new chicks, but they'll take six months to reach maturity and start laying.  If it's not one thing, it's another.

On another note, I was greatly encouraged by the talks given by Kelly Crawford at the homeschool conference.  She wrote a summary of one of the talks she gave at the conference on her blog, Generation Cedar.  If you're a momma, check it out here.