New link

I am adding a new link to my sidebar and felt it deserves special notice. It is a great homeschooling resource for anyone homeschooling on a budget. I guess most "up with it" hs'ing mothers know about this place, why am I always the last one to find out!? Here you go...

www.HomeschoolingFreebieOfTheDay.com

New post coming soon...

Only an eleven year old boy...

would ask if there is a Klutz book on how to build an engine.

That would be an awfully heavy book son, if it came with the parts. Too cute.

Dear Emma MADE me take this picture. "Mamma! You GOTta take a picture of this goats udder! She is packed with milk!" Emma literally begs to milk the goat. It is Jessica's morning, but she insisted on doing it for her...woohoo, gotta love this child.

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At this moment;

I am on the couch eating my breakfast typing.
Jessica is picking up Apples To Apples that was spread around the floor by Gracie.
Jacob is eating breakfast in the sun at the table in a contemplative mood.
Daniel is putting on his coat to help Emma lead the goat to the stand.

Emma is grabbing an english muffin and running out the door to milk.
Micah is a monster truck making truck sounds and running around the house.

Gracie is sitting pretty watching Jessica. (Don't ask why she isn't picking up the game)
Elijah has himself wrapped around my ankle fussing, hoping I'll pick him up, which I gladly will.
I need another cup of joe.

M.O.B. Moms

M.O.B Moms will be having our very first meeting this coming Thursday evening at 6:30 at the Fairway Cafe. It is a newly formed group welcoming mothers of large families or for those who desire a large family. We will be meeting for a time of fellowship and sharing ideas on how we run these large households smoothly! I am so looking forward to meeting new ladies and hearing insights from those who have gone before us and from those along side us! The only down side is we HAVE to order a dessert in order to NOT be charged a room fee of $50. So please order a dessert with no guilt!

Contact me foe the link to this new forum!

"Unless the Lord builds the house...

They labor in vain who build it." We started building. After hearing from some friends how the people before them had buried a Bible in the foundation of their home, we decided to use that idea. Early last Saturday morning, Daddy and the children sat around the kitchen table searching the Scriptures for verses pertaining to building a home and building our lives on the Lord Jesus Christ.


Then each person wrote down their verse on a piece of paper and attached it to the rebar reinforcement. This sparked thinking and priceless conversations in our children. We will then, down the road, make a wall-hanging that lists the scriptures for them to see as they grow up.

We were all so excited, the cement truck was coming to our house. I had three very giddy boys!


Arlen, our neighbor, came over to help with the pouring, as did my brother Jeff and Paul's father who lives with us now. The truck backed in and the pouring began.

I was amazed at the patience my hubby had! I would have gathered all the children up and sat them in the house with a movie or such for this day, but not him. He gave each child a trowel, hammer or whatnot and gave them a job...assembly line style.

Gracie was acting Job Supervisor and L & I Inspector.

That was last week. This is today. The floor joists are set.

Look at that beautiful living room!! I can't even imagine.

Lots of scrap wood means inventions! A swing for 9.

And, of course, we can not blog without cute pictures of said baby. He's so happy now that I am off dairy! He is still up 2-4 times a night, but it is brief and to the point so I am not exhausted at all, the Lord has been so gracious to me as I rarely feel tired.

On his knees and ready to roll!!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's....

a TOOTH! A big white pearly ole tooth. My children have never teethed before 7 months so this one caught us off guard. He was sitting on my lap a'chewin my finger when I thought.."oh, that felt sharp" It happened two more times before I flipped him over and tada! That explains the last few worse than normal, sleepless nights!


My little man is 6 months old TODAY, six months. We haven't had a go getter like this one in a while. He was sitting up, pushing up from his tummy to a sitting position, rocking on his hands and knees and attempting to pull himself up on his crib bars at the early age of 5.5 months. He will take off crawling any day now. And now THIS! This is hard on Mamma!

It is there...really. It had just come through that day(yesterday).

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On the home front. This is my living room this morning. When you have 6 children making forts the room gets wrecked pretty quick. It was worse. I take this picture because the T. family is blessing us with their presence tonight at the dinner table and I hope this room will NOT look anything close to this when they get here. Yikes!

BTW Mrs. T, if you read this, when I told the children who was coming over my daughter Emma squealed with delight and ran off saying something about getting her room clean and preparing dolls for her best friend Zoe. It was so cute.

Here is a updated shot out our living room window...the foundation is in place.

Take 1. Take 2. Take 3. Take ???

1st Day of School - Take 1



Tuesday - Woke up to a very messy house after Labor Day weekend.



We wanted to start today, but life happens. We wave at the herded children riding on the big yellow school bus as it passes by our home. My children feel so sorry for them and wave sympathetically as they pass.

We had no banana split supplies.

How can one start a school year out right without banana splits?

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1st Day of Homeschooling - Take 2


Wednesday -





We did it! We woke, got our chore charts done, ate a wonderful breakfast of banana splits for the official first day of school. THEN...I got a phone call which had me running from that moment forward. Not a good day, details purposefully left out. Wednesday was a blur.





We tried, and boy was it worth the try!

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1st Day of Homeschooling - Take 3





We needed to bring Grandpa in to have knee surgery at 11am, then picked up at 3pm. I was going to use the time to shop, then I remembered I had 7 children. 7 children + 4 hours in Bellingham did NOT sound fun. So we turned it into a school day. Hey if PS can call a half day of games "school", then we can call a trip Bellingham, the Museum and the Seashore "school". We had fun touring the temporary Children's Museum, the Marina and feeding crows our sandwich crusts.


Baby was wide eyed and bushy tailed the whole trip. He does not like being taken out of his nice cozy home.

By the time we got in the truck to come home, Eli started crying...and crying...he cried aaaaaall the way to Lynden. Every one was quite tuckered out.

We did get school officially started on "Take 4". Our last big box of curriculum arrived and it was like Christmas time, can you believe that? Everyone was so excited to get their books and head to the table...My prayer is to keep that enthusiasm going!

Boys Become Men

You know, I am awfully proud of my boys. They amaze me by their wisdom, answers, bravery, chivalry, skills...at such a young age their daddy has taught them more about their God and practical life skills than most men. May I brag...just a little? When we went up to Silver Lake camping a couple weeks ago without Daddy, these young men(8 & 10) jumped right in. They unhooked, stabilized and leveled the travel trailer. They got the water and electricity hooked up without any guidance whatsoever. How neat is that? Oh, don't get me wrong, my boys can also get in a pot full of trouble...they're boys. They can be mischievous, daring, curious and naughty. But I am thankful their hearts are soft and still in their daddy's and mamma's hands.

(Pardon their dress! Oh that is terrible!)

This afternoon was a milestone. It is hard to take a life of an animal. It is no laughing matter and not meant to be done with silliness. It is a serious thing. Jacob killed his first animal by hand, meaning, not with a gun. He took our old rooster who we have tried to give away for the last few weeks(I tried!) and he ended his life with an ax. If you know Jacob, you know he is tender-hearted. After the initial shock and a couple tears of killing the animal he went back out to finish dressing out the bird.

BTW, this was completely 100% the boys idea to butcher up the bird for dinner. Daddy would have gladly done it, but the boys wanted to surprise him.





That with a couple other chicken breasts from our freezer and we had a wonderful chicken casserole. Fresh from the garden we had fried chard, corn on the cob, rainbow carrots and baked, seasoned potato wedges. The whole feast for 9 cost $2.40 for the casserole ingredients. The most inexpensive meal in a long time!

mmMMmmm..Paul's rainbow carrots. They make for an interesting dinner side.

The problem with sisters...

My poor son...

A county girl and her rooster.

Caught cha! The fence was hot, the doors were closed how was it that she was always escaping?! Jacob, Emma and I got sneaky!