We're go'n crazy, wanna come?

Well, the latest adventure of our family is just about to begin. May 31st is our last day here on Emma Creek, our time here is up. We have been staying in a temporary rent house the last couple months provided by Cargill while searching the surrounding area high and low for a home to call our own. But, alas, it wasn't to be found. At least not yet! The Lord knows right where it is, and we are trusting that in His time He will let us know the when and where of things. So, pray for us, you know how crazy one can get when they are "waiting".

So, while we are waiting we have decided to jump off the deep end! Right into the lake. We have been able to purchase an older 5th wheel camping trailer and an enclosed trailer and we are packing up and heading to the lake! The kids are so excited they can hardly sleep, and would go to bed wearing their swim clothes and floaties if I would let them! I'm on a roller coaster of excitement one minute and down the next. There is just something about being homeless that leaves funny feeling in your stomach! LOL! Michael keeps trying to cheer me up during those down times by saying "We COULD go find a rent house in town, but then we would have to get rid of the horses, Rowdy and probably a few kids to fit!, at least this way, we may spend the same amount of money but the trailers are ours to keep in the end!" :-) Ok, I'll buy that, but something still sounds fishy!! LOL! I can just see the comic strip now...

9ndhouse!! Momma is running around bare foot and burnt to a crisp, trying to catch Baby J before he falls in the lake, smear lotion on the girls, wave the boys back to shore, grill dinner, keep Rowdy from chasing the Ranger, answer Wild Man's 100 questions, remind Miss Priss AGAIN to get her thumb out of her mouth all while tripping over the giant blowup whale to get Michael a glass of tea!

What do you think? Can you picture it? Well, it may not be like that exactly but at LEAST, I won't be pregnant!! LOL! Actually things look like they are going to work out great. The new horse camp ground near the trails has horse pens at the sites and an arena to ride in. The highway is nearby and will get Michael straight to work in about the same time, and the best part! We will be only 10 min. from church instead of 45 min!! Yea!!

So, the main part of this post, was to say that in a couple days once again, I will be without Internet for awhile. Hopefully, I won't be gone for long, can't stand to not be blogging! We hope to find a wireless service that won't cost us an arm each month, but we'll see how it goes!! :-D

Well, I better get back to packing. I'm having a little trouble with the labeling of the boxes this time. Half our stuff is back in a semi trailer in Mo, marked "long term". The boxes we had here at the rent house were marked "short term" and are now being boxed back up and put into another storage trailer. What should I mark them now, "Need it, don't have room, Long term-Short term"? :-)

She's growing older, I'm growing OUT!

I love to go to garage sales! I have passed this love down to my kids too! Sometimes though we scare the daylights out of people when they see me and 7 kids climb out of a van and begin to roam through their yard! :-) Of course they are much relieved to see them behave themselves while they "shop", most of the time heading back to the van before I do. They are getting to that point where they don't want to spend their money too fast because something really neat could be waiting for them at the next stop!

A couple weeks ago, we were back at the Missouri farm and a friend asked me to go with her to a city-wide garage sale since we were in town. I was excited to get a chance to go, thinking I had missed all the city-wide sales and made plans with Michael to leave him with the kiddos while I ran off! My friend has a daughter a few years older than Sis who is almost 11, and I thought maybe Sis would like to come along and shop with the big girls! We had a great time and I was rather shocked to realize that...Sis didn't need my help! She had somehow grown up enough to do her own shopping and buying with out me! She bought some books, a few clothes and some trinkets for the little kids. Somewhere along the way she had bought a wallet and an adorable teenager-ish purse with the cutest puppy and kitten on it. I mean, one minute my friend and I are looking through some clothes and the next, we look up to see our girls, our young ladies actually, walking over to the next yard sale swinging their purses and laughing at something spoken between them. She's growing up! She's a big girl!

We had a blast that day and came home with lots of new treasures. It really opened my eyes to how much Sis has grown in the last several months. She is my little helper, a little mother and housekeeper. Today, I find her putting a stop to the fusses of the little kids, reminding someone to pick up their mess, start the day's laundry and planning the lunch. And now that I'm watching I realize that Kat who is 8 has picked out a bright flashy outfit (that reminds me of myself way back when!), cleaned up the kitchen and has the dishwasher running. Of course she was in a hurry to get out the door and have few minutes with the horses before Math consumes all her time! Naenae, just turned 7 not long ago and she too has ran out the door, but not before she changed Baby J and swept the floor!

Sis and I had our first real shopping trip last week! We were getting ready for another trip to Missouri. This time for their piano recital. Sis and I had gone through her clothes and just couldn't find anything that seemed right for the recital. We came across a skirt that brought to my mind a blouse I had seen in the girl's clearance section of Cato a couple day's before. In a sudden mad dash, her and I were out the door and headed to the store a few minutes away. The blouse was still there and she too thought it would look great with her skirt. While there of course, we had to go over the rest of the clearance rack and came up with another summer skirt and top that was adorable. As we left the store, the Dollar Tree next door caught my eye and I remembered seeing the cutest head bands there. We had to go see of course and we found a pretty green one that matched her skirt. We picked out some lip gloss too, since we were there! :-) I began thinking and asked Sis about her shoes, with the move and all the trips lately I really hadn't a chance to check to see if the girls had summer shoes that still fit. With this in mind and Wal-Mart next door, off we went on a shoe hunt. I could tell that Sis was hoping to find an older style than the normal little girl shoes. After finding a pair of white flats in within my now exploded budget, we rounded a corner and....Sis's face lit up at the sight of a whole rack of ladies dress shoes. Plain shoes with just a slight heel...a pump really. Sis knows a bargain when she sees one and any pair of shoes for $2.50! was a good deal! She got lucky and found one pair small enough for her foot. A dark dusty navy color that would go great with her new blouse and grey skirt. :-) Then, as we were leaving her new "big girl" shoes made her think of panty hose and so she asked for some. Panty hose!! Was she old enough for that too! I couldn't even think how old I was before I wore my first pair of real hose! She pointed at all the marks and scrapes on her legs from tree climbing and horse riding as reason for needing them. I knew deep down that most ladies don't wear hose because they climbed too many trees but somehow this just didn't matter. :-) It must have been her lucky day, right on the end of a sock isle was a section of clearance foot wear, and near the top, just waiting for Sis, was a pink box holding four pairs of nude hose, size A!

SO, finally after shoes, hose AND a few hair clips later! we made it through the check out and were on our way. I smiled on the way home and told her how much fun I had on our first shopping trip. Next time though, we would have to plan ahead since I was still wondering how I was going to explain this one to Dad! LOL!

The kiddos all did a wonderful job at the piano recital, all dressed up in their nice clothes. Hair all in place and faces clean! It was great. Sis had picked some wild daisies and wanted her hair put up with them. I couldn't believe my eyes at how much older and pretty she looked! Won't be long before Michael will be bringing his shot gun everywhere we go! Sis also was awarded student of the year! I'm looking forward to future shopping trips with the girls as they grow up into lovely ladies. For now though, I better get up off my duff, 'cause while they are all growing up , I can feel my backside growing too! So, we are off to mow the yard! :-)

Skunk gunk!!! and ROWDY!!!!

Have you ever plopped down exhuasted after a hectic morning and thought "That did NOT just happen to me!!!"? Well, let me tell you about what "did not" happen to us! :-)

One morning this week I got up at 4 am to sit with my husband at the table and "talk" before he went to work. WHO gets up that early anyway!!! It was still DARK outside!! LOL!

As he was leaving and I was thinking of my bed, he noticed that the horses were not in their pen. The pen that should have ALL the gates shut tight so as to NOT lose any horses in the middle of nowhere Kansas! So I caught a quick nap while waiting for the sun to rise and then woke up the two oldest kiddos and out we went into the....FOG!!!! Let me tell you it isn't any easier to find a black horse in the fog than it is in the dark! Well, we got busy and gathered up some ropes and a feed bucket and started out into the back field hoping that the strange moving thing on the hill behind the wheat field was a miniature horse. At least the kids did anyway, I was sitting on the front porch cheering them on with my head back against the door and my eyes closed! I'm so lazy! :-P I didn't get the chance to sit there long though, for in just a few minutes I was overwhelmed with the nastiest smell on earth and it was getting closer and closer by the second. Next thing I knew, from around the corner of the house came the craziest!, sneezing, snorting sounds and out of the fog came.....ROWDY!!!! UUHHGGGGG!!!! He had been... you guessed it!! Playing with a not so friendly skunk!! He was dripping wet, from skunk spray or dew off the wheat, I didn't know but somehow he thought my lap was the place to go! I jumped up and ran down the side walk while yelling all sorts of commands; "SIT!", "GO LAY DOWN!" "STAY!" !! He figured out that I didn't want him and he sat down looking at me through squinted eyes with the silliest smile on his face. I think he thought it was funny!! Even the kids who were well on the other side of the field had heard me and I could tell even from that distance they had stopped to watch me dance across the yard. Thankfully, they had found two of the three missing horses and it didn't take them long to get back to the yard to find out what all the excitement was about. Of course they didn't really have to ask since they could smell the dog from a mile away!

I sent the kids in a different direction to look for the still missing stallion while I ran to the computer and Googled some skunk gunk removal ideas. After a quick crash course in de-skunking I realized a trip to town was necessary, I don't keep a couple quarts of peroxide handy around the house normally but it just might be a new "norm". I couldn't just use tomatoes and vinegar! Ooh no! The know it all vet online said "You must change the molecules to deodorize the skunk oil!" Of course! What was I thinking! Thankfully, a chemist had a simple recipe for a concoction of some sort that would do such a thing but it came with a nice warning. Two, actually. One warning was that if I didn't wash the dog as soon as possible the likely hood grew that he would smell that way the rest of his life!! The other was, that the potion had once turned a black lab into a yellow one! As Rowdy gazed at me through the window of the closed door, his p'arfume seeping in through the cracks I decided I'd better hurry! I could live with a blond Rottweiler! but, NOT with that smell!

I began thinking about where that horse could be, the kids had come back empty handed. I remembered the neighbor's dog down the road had been barking this morning and since they had horses too, I made a quick decision to see if my roaming stallion had decided to pay the neighbors a visit. We jumped in the van with our horse catching paraphernalia and ran down the road while leaving Rowdy to roll in the wet grass. Sure enough, there was our Tonka Toy!, getting his rear bit by the full size neighbor stallion who did NOT want to share his girl friend. Not that it was likely anyway, since the two horses were several feet taller than my 3' black stud muffin! :-) We finally convinced him that he was not wanted there, which wasn't easy!, he's soo hard headed! Finally the horses were back where they belonged and we were on our way to town to get the ingredients for our science experiment to de-skunk the dog. Once back home our chemistry class began... mixing peroxide, baking soda and liquid degreaser we came up with a foaming wonder to torture the dog with. It was quite a sight too! Me and the kids standing in the back yard pouring foaming goo on a stinky dog sitting in an old claw footed tub. AND!, it was starting to sprinkle!! As in like, the sky got dark and the thunder clouds were rolling in! We finally declared him clean enough and ran in the house to fight over the shower.

By noon, I finally sat down with a glass of tea and watched the rain come down in bucketfuls, having washed the dog, burnt our clothes, taken 3 showers and fed the kids the last of the groceries.....Oh!...groceries!.... I needed to to the grocery store!!!!!

Well, By the time we went to town the rain had slowed to a light drizzle and as we went through town we saw a big sign..."Salvation Army- everything!- 25%-50% Off!" So, we stopped and had some fun! :-) The kids had some money they had earned so not only did they have science/chemistry class, they got math in too. Each kid figuring half of half off the prices of the great bargains they were finding and trying to decide which to spend their hard earned money on! We took our treasures, groceries and bought a "Hot-N-Ready" pizza for the ride home. It turned out to be a great day all in all.

BTW, in case your wondering the goo actually worked and all but the faintest hint of skunk was removed, a second washing later that evening took care of that. He smelled good enough I allowed him back in the house agian. AND.... he is still black and tan, just as a Rowdy dog should be! LOL!

So, that's the story that "did not" happen to us.... but it did! :-)

Photos: Kiddos with Jetterbug, one of our mini-horses. Rowdy, smiling for the camera! and Wild Man and Rowdy laying in Mema and Papa's yard last Christmas.

Listen up please!! Ya hear me!!??

I love my husband more than I can type! I really do!!! .....Can you hear the "but..." coming?

But!...I wish he would listen to me when I say something!!!! AND, quit telling me how whatever I said isn't really the way I want it or whatever!!! Anyone with me on this!!

Since we have been making so many trips back and forth from the farm to Kansas we have had lots of interesting conversations. Many of them have been about our new life here in tornado town. I'll talk about the house we might build one day and how I would like the roof to go this way or that way and come down into a cute little porch, only to get a 15 minute detailed explanation how I wouldn't want the porch that way because of the....I can't remember why...I tuned that part out, sorry. Now, many of you know my WONDERFUL husband, and how many of you can remember a DETAILED anything from him!! LOL!! Truth is he doesn't say a whole lot, not that he is shy or anything. Just figures people will figure things out on their own and if they want his opinion they'll ask. Well, I didn't ask him about the cute porch, pout, I was just dreaming of a real home all of our own again.

Ever had that " I never get what I want" moment? Mine usually comes at the WRONG time, Like after he stopped at a garage sale (after pulling the trailer all the way around the block so he could park!) and then getting me a soda on the way home! So REALLY I have NOTHING to complain about. :-) He really is wonderful!

I guess the real kicker is what happened the other day. While on the way to town, I was doing my usual dreaming about this and that and he was doing his usual correcting. We decided to grab a quick breakfast at a local cafe and as we pulled into the parking lot and walked to the door I very sweetly told him he didn't have to correct EVERYTHING I said! He smiled that cute slow smile, kissed me on the forehead and said "Yeah, I do." !!! AND!, would you believe just a few minutes later.... after glancing at the menu, I told the waitress I wanted the Mexican omelet, all the ingredients except with green peppers instead of hot peppers. She then... tossed Michael a "let me help her" look... squatted down so as to be on "my" level...and said with a sloow so you can understand me voice, "Weell, Huneee, we'll just get you the garden omelet then! Since it has the same ingredients and green peppers instead!" :-) SIGH! I looked into her very close, blue eyes and said......." Soooooo, ham is the same as sausage then? 'Cause I chose the mexican for the sausage and vegetables over the garden with ham and vegetables." ( I WAS nice!!!) She quickly stood up, wrote down the order and tossed a "Got it!" over her shoulder as she disappeared through swinging doors!

I looked at Michael and said, "SEE! I never get what I want without someone trying to tell me I want something else!!" LOL!!

The omelet was delicious by the way! and now that I have that "funny probably only to me" story off my chest I'm headed to bed!! Someone is going to want HIS omelet early!!! :-D

Never Fear! We're Still here!!!..or is that there!!???

Hey All!!! We've have had a very busy time the last few months. I've mentioned before that Cargill, the company that my husband works for has shut down the local plant and relocated us to South Central Kansas. So far everything has been going great and the Lord has truly blessed us and watched out for us. Michael is loving his new job and is enjoying the training period he has while working side by side with the people he has some to supervise. He has teased several times about "learning to do their jobs so he can tell them how to do their jobs!" :-) He says he has a lot to learn and is really enjoying the challenge. Pray the Lord gives him the wisdom he needs to be a good leader!

So far we have found a large farm house to rent as temporary housing and will be here until the end of May. We are looking for a house closer to the church we have found and are excited to see where the Lord plants us this time. Moving over and over hasn't the greatest appeal but soon this will all be long over and we'll look back and laugh. Especially since I once told a cousin of mine who had had the "privilege" of moving several times that I envied her being able to redecorate and paint a new home, it sounded like sooo much fun to have a fresh canvas to work with. Thinking of course at the time we would never move and I would live and die at the old farm house! Well, never is a long time and here we are!! After we find a house to rent while we wait till our farm sells back in Missouri, then find a piece of land to buy and build a new home later, I'll have had the "privilege" to move at least 3 times in about a year!! I just love God's sense of humor!

Well, our Internet is rather sporadic and I am looking forward to the future when I will be back blogging full time! I have a ton of facebook and bloggy pals to catch up on!! :0)

Photos of the kiddos at the zoo, it was a very fun and exciting day!

"Is that elbow straight?"

The last few weeks have been a whirl wind experience! We have come home from our survey trip of the very large, very intimidating city of Wichita and into a fast paced race to pack the mountain of belongings of our family. The whole nine of us own the biggest pile of junk I have ever seen!! The closets just keep spewing forth with stuff that I had thought long gone! Somehow things that I have thrown away 3 and even 4 times are resurfacing amongst our "treasures"!! LOL!

Now, I am a pack rat. I will admit it. "I'm a pack rat." Now, I feel better. BUT, I can't have all my kids becoming pack rats too!! I can remember my mom talking about all the little pieces of paper she used to find in my room and all the "valuable" collections I had stuffed into drawers and shoved under my bed. Well, rest assured Mom, I'm getting my pay backs! Trying to talk a child out of porcelain doll that is missing half a face, a hand and most of her legs is a lot more difficult than you'd imagine. :-) We have all attached memories, thoughts and stories to our junk making it very hard at times to part with it. Over the last week or so though we have sorted, tossed and pitched more things than I thought we could have possibly owned. The rest was boxed, labeled and placed in an organized fashion into our semi trailer that will make unpacking at our new home a breeze. YEAH RIGHT! LOL! Well, all the boxes and most of the furniture has made it into the trailer, we'll see about the last part! Ha!

One thing I can say is, so far our kids are having a blast! Wonderful friends have taken time out of their busy schedules and come by to help us finish building our home. We have been working on remodeling and adding on to our home for the last few years and now the time has come to get it DONE!! Just in time to sell! LOL! The kiddos thought that "school" was packed away last week into boxes but little do they know I have been recording their education everyday, and what fun education it has been. They have all been following Dad and the workers around asking great questions (driving them crazy :-} ) learning all about plumbing, electrical, carpentry and many other wonderful things. They are hammering , sawing, drilling and fetching their hearts out!! And that's just on the inside! Outside we have been dozing stumps, property lines and my flower beds !! Taking apart fencing, tearing down old sheds and building the biggest burn pile we've ever had!! Tons of neat things are being learned from professional people willing to let my kids tag along and drive them nuts with all their questions. The electrician, Wild Man calls "Truck" (we are working on that ch sound) keeps coming back for more torture and I am extremely grateful. I just love electricity, don't you? It just lights up my life! The plumbers!! Wonderful people aren't they!!?? and when you bring electricity and water to the same appliance, such as a washing machine or a dish washer!, it is a VERY exciting moment!!!

And what good is a second floor without a marvelous set of stairs leading to it!!

So!, now with this wonderful education the kiddos are getting they should be able to help out in any area of home construction. Even answering simple questions like the one Michael asked me yesterday, "Is that elbow straight?". While I sat there looking and thinking the answer came from a nearby professional, " NOOO, PVC elbows are bent at 90*!!" :-)

I think I'll go make some sweet tea!!!! Cookie anybody?

Photo of Kendal asleep at the table, work is exhausting!! :-)

Are you a King, a Queen or just a Full?

Several years ago I somehow learned the neat trick, that putting two twin size mattresses together would make a king size bed. Being in the Missouri "show me" state I naturally had to check this out and put some together, measure and see for myself that this indeed worked and it did. A person always thinks the grass is greener on the other side and I have for years looked with green slimy envy on anyone who was lucky enough to have a wonderfully huge king size bed, not to mention the gigantic room needed for such a wonderful bed!!! Several years ago we measured our master bedroom and came to the conclusion that a queen bed with a small wardrobe cabinet on each side would be all our room would hold. Although some nights with my head buried under a mountain of pillows for a sound barrier while fighting for blankets I would think "WHY didn't we get queen size WARDROBE cabinet with a TWIN size bed on each side!!" LOL!

Well, several weeks ago I thought I had it made. I decided that our bedroom wasn't ever going to be dry walled and finished as long as we were still in there. So I took it upon myself to help encourage my wonderful husband to finish our room by moving all our stuff upstairs to one of the kids' small rooms. The only problem was there was no way to get our bed up the stairs, SOOOOO I grabbed a few extra twin beds we had around and shoved them together and topped them off with a king size sheet. Tada!!! A king size bed!!! In a small room! Who needs wardrobe cabinets anyway!! :-)

Weeeellll, there was one thing about this neat trick that I had failed to remember. The twin mattresses needed for this were the standard flat ones, and a thick king size padded bed cover was a major part of making the bed comfortable. So, you know where this is leading! We have the rounded edged puffy topped mattresses that formed a grand canyon when pushed together and did NOT make one comfortable large bed for "us" but made a "his and her" bed instead. He slept on his side and I slept on mine, the only plus to this situation was that we each had our own blankets! Ha! Somehow though, those where the coldest nights!!

Well, once again we have flip flopped rooms and are now sleeping on our "wonderful" queen size mattresses, topped with my favorite soft green sheets. So now when I feel a chill I just roll over and snuggle up to Michael. I mean, I might as well since we are going to be fighting over the blankets anyway!! :-)

I want to say thank you to so many of you for thinking and praying for us during this time of waiting to see what would happen with Michael's job. Well, the news is...he has accepted the job offer to move with the Cargill Corp. and we are now launching into a full blown mission of dragging our junk to Kansas! He is very happy with the new position and is looking forward to the new job, we are all excited for such a new adventure. A touch of sadness lurks around us as we know we are leaving a huge group of great family, friends and neighbors. We have a ton of things to do before everything is final such as finishing the house, getting it sold, packing, moving, finding a new home large enough for our crew and getting settled is just few! :-) We have lived here since the day we were married and I'm up to my nose in junk!! I can't believe we have SO much stuff!! LOL! Well, tomorrow is another big packing day so I'm headed to bed! :-) Goodnight ya'll!!!

Photo of Baby J, sleeping on our bed when he was just a couple days old. ;-)

Did Daddy take it?

Miss Priss is 3!!! Happy Birthday! Her last two birthdays have been pretty simple, a cute homemade cake after dinner and a small gift or two to round out the evening...AND of course the pictures taken for the photo album. We can't have all pictures of the older kiddos ya know! :-)

We invited a few friends and neighbors, Grandma and Grandpa and some cousins and had a good time. Even though this was her first "big" party, she seemed to know just what was supposed to happen! When we all went to town last week we got ready for the party by stopping at the local Dollar Tree, she had a blast picking out a few purple plates and some balloons. She just had a fascination with the little punch cups and kept them tucked under her arm, I HAD to let her have them too! We found a cute set of Winnie the Pooh character toys for the cake and some other Winnie the Pooh themed toys... jump rope, silly putty, coloring books and crayons...all for a $1 each! :-) We had to be creative when it came to keeping these things out of her sight but she was so focused on the plates and balloons she didn't really notice what all her sister's and brother's were carrying around! LOL! She was the one who spotted the Winnie the Pooh Christmas wrapping paper for 50 cents, so we added that to our cart. For the main gift we started at the Dollar General store in hopes of finding a baby doll on sale, she had been asking for one for days, but we lucked out. So we met Daddy over at the Wal-mart store and tried again, here we hit the jack pot! As soon as we hit the clearance isle, she spotted the baby doll of her dreams! A cute little baby that screams it's head off if it loses it's pacifier!! Isn't that neat!! (at least it doesn't wet it's pants!!) Well, this time it wasn't so easy to get the large box off the shelf and hidden without her knowledge but we finally thought we had her fooled and off we went to browse the sale racks. Soon we were at the check out where Daddy grabbed the doll box and headed through the cashier first, all the big kiddos were behind him to block Miss Priss's view, but I couldn't believe it! She realized we were ready to check out and she leaned way over and looked on the bottom of the cart!, "Where's my baby!" She said! How did she know!?! These kids are getting smart! I rambled for a moment or two about how we couldn't get a baby today but maybe for her birthday but all the while she was looking in the cart, around the cart, at each kid and finally the check out isle. Thankfully the lady had already hidden it behind the counter, so as soon as Michael had paid he grabbed it and made a dash for the truck. The kiddos and I followed and paid for a few things we had picked up for a baby gift for our neighbor, but still she was asking and looking for that baby doll! The lady cashier commented on her persistence! "She gets it from her Dad :-) ". Finally we were headed out the door and again we were telling Miss Priss that we didn't have a baby doll but maybe she would get one for her birthday. How did she get sooo smart!?! The older kids were so much easier to trick at that age! "Where's Daddy?" she asked. "Waiting in the truck, so we can go home.", I answered.

...."Did Daddy take it?" (that's her) "MOOOaaaaann" (that's me)....." Is this lying?" (that's big sis)...."SIGH" (that's me again) :-)

Photos of the next evening at her party, as you can tell we made it home with the Baby and had a great time. Nothing says Birthday better than Frito chili pie, chocolate cake, balloons and a house full of friends and family!!!

He prayed...and he got it! :-)

....Just don't blame me!!! :-)

"MOM! It's SNOW'N", Wild Man yelled from the front door as Bubba walked in with wood for the stove. He jumped up and stood for what seemed an hour at the door watching the wonderful white fluff float down. Soon the flakes began to get smaller and were coming down faster and faster making the land seem foggy in the fading sunset. Daddy's truck lights turning down the drive broke the moment and as the other kiddo's crowded the window trying to catch a glimpse of Dad and waving with all their might, Wild Man made his way over to me in the dining room with the biggest grin and day dreamy eyes of blue still sparkling with excitement. "MOoooom!, I prayed to God for this snow!", He giggled softly in awe of the moment, "It's go'n to be a BIG one!". I smiled and glanced out the window, unsure if I should explain that we haven't had a "big" snow in awhile and that the weather man had only predicted ice and sleet. My heart ached for any disappointment he might feel if this wasn't his "snow man" snow after all, "We might not get very much snow, maybe only ice. That would be ok, wouldn't it?", I answered him hesitantly. Confidence lit up in his eyes, a smile even bigger than before graced his face and he jumped up and down, "Nope, it's go'n be a big one!", he sang joyfully then with a sudden flash he was off to tell Dad the good news! I stepped over to the window and watched the snow fall as if through the eyes of a 4 yr old boy, "Thank you, thank you Father! For the faith of a child and for all the smiles you bring to our family!", I softly whispered to the Maker of the Snow.

Photo of one of the little snow...people the kiddos made. :-)

I do want to say that my heart and prayers go out to the many people who lost loved ones, were injured or lost power during last weeks ice and snow storm.

Update! It's still cold outside, BUT....

I just had to run out and snap these pictures!!! Michael was unloading, uh...I don't know what it was but it was REALLY heavy!!! He knew the tractor wouldn't pick it up very easily, Ya think?!!! A few seconds later he was down and moving the box out of the way. He knows I know he is in complete control of everything! :-) Although, He said "Don't post those on your blog....Katie!!" as I ran back into the warm house! He knew I would, he won't be mad. I don't think!~! Hehehehehehe! So, What's your husbands "up" too? ;-}

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck.....

It's been really cold the last few days. When it is cold we go through a ton of wood to keep the house warm!! Some days I really wish I could just turn the thermostat up and be done with it, but then I talk to a few friends and they start complaining about the electric bill or the gas bill and I'm very thankful for the wood heat!! At least it warms ya twice! Once when ya cut and haul it in and then when ya burn it! LOL! Thankfully though, knock on wood :-D, we haven't had an ice storm this winter. Not a bad one that knocked out power anyway. The kiddos kinda wish something would happen so we could all snuggle in for a few days, but Daddy has four wheel drive. It would take an Alaskan blizzard to keep him home because of snow, and if someone called and needed him he would find a way!! I do wish the kids could have at least one good snowman snow this year, maybe it could snow on all the yards but not the roads? Just a thought!! But, since the weather man is saying that we are going from 3o* something to 50* something in the next day or so, I guess we'll have to wait on that snow!! :-)

Guess we'll just have to make our own fun till the snow comes!! We love taking mini vacations and recently we ran to town and rented a room at the local hotel with an indoor swimming pool!! We had a great evening, the kiddos absolutely LOVE to swim!!! The room had a small microwave and fridge, so we brought lots of small potatoes and toppings for a baked potato dinner. Although Michael did run across the parking lot and grabbed some snacks for me and him from Arby's, SHHH! Don't tell the kids!

Happy winter! Stay warm! or Cool!!

Photos: Dad and the kids cleaned up a fallen tree in last year's ice storm, right out our front door! The kiddos helping hold the trailer down while we cut wood. Some swimming pictures from our mini vacation, "Sink or swim, Dad!".

What a helper!!

When ya got a job to do, just roll up your sleeves and get'r done!!! Nanae was doing just that!

After an evening of noodle making with Dad last week, the wonderful homemade noodles dried on the table over night. The next morning we saved some for supper and froze the rest. Then came the cleaning part. I guess Nae decided a little elbow grease was in order and got on top of the job, literally! She was very proud to show me her clean table! What a great job she did too! I have some very good helpers and am very proud of them all!!

Even the little helpers that like to sleep in!! I don't know where he got that habit! :-}

My Pantry?

I was browsing around some of my favorite blogs and found Jen over a Sprite'sKeeper http://www.spriteskeeper.com/ (I REALLY need to learn to link!) having a sort of pantry war! I'm rather crazy about keeping my pantry organized, but it doesn't always happen thanks to the many hands who raid it continually! My pantry is a little low right now I really need to go shopping but.....maybe a soon as my allergies release the pressure on my head!! I really have to brag on my wonderful husband for my wonderful pantry, he improved my flimsy metal shelves into these sturdy wooden shelves with tons more space. My I'm begging for a matching set on the opposite wall for the canners and empty jars. With 7 kiddo who are always hungry we need a big space for all the grub, this room was originally a porch that was enclosed before we bought the house. Now that we have added on to the house this room sits off the kitchen and make the perfect pantry. A matching fridge and freezer set sits by the door and is really handy. All the coffee tubs are just storage containers, they come to me free from my grandparents and make wonderful storage tubs.

I usually shop about twice a month and buy in bulk if it's on sale. The Aldi's store in town in one of may favorite bargain grocery stores. I recently found a canned veggie sale at a near by grocery store though and we became the joke of the moment to all the shelf stockers who watched as we unloaded the shelves into our carts and headed for the check out isle. The joke is really on them though when they turn around and have to restock those holes I left behind! LOL! We shop at Sam's some too, but I always have my calculator handy, it isn't always cheaper to buy it by the gallon. Although I love that a big box of toilet paper will last over 3 months!! The Dollar General store has redone their stores here and now have some great grocery isles too.

Well, I'm just playing around and better get back to work! Ha! Anyone else want to show their pantry? How often do you shop? Do you shop in bulk?

Christmas Pictures!!!

Did I mention I found my camera!!!???!!!! Yea! Just in time for Christmas!

So, has everyone caught their breath from Christmas yet? My neighbor mentioned the other night they still have one Christmas party left to go!

Anyone want to brag on their husbands?

Michael surprised me big time this year and did way more than he should have! He got a "new to me" cook stove to go in my "new to me" kitchen! :-) Some of my favorite perfume and a pair of sparkly ear rings!! The kids also gave me a wonderful bath soap set and a pretty glass chess game.

We had a great Christmas, not because of our gifts though, but because we enjoyed getting together with all our family and friends during this time of remembering the birth of our Saviour and why He came.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!