My mother invited all of her in-town children and grandchildren to come over to her house for a “camp-out” this Memorial Day weekend. So we took sleeping bags and a change of clothes and headed over for the fun. There were a few small tents, but the rest of us just slept under the open sky on the deck. We decided that it’s a great way to camp, with private bathrooms inside and not much packing and preparation necessary. It was unseasonably warm this weekend, and we spent a lot of time inside in the air conditioning. But the weather cooled down nicely so we could enjoy roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire, and we enjoyed sleeping outside. Read the rest of this entry »

After much effort to save the authentic plaster walls in our kitchen, the decision was finally made to tear out everything, down to the studs, and rebuild.  I had fought this idea for some time, but even I had to admit that it was what we needed to do.

Silly me!  I thought that tearing down plaster was a relatively quick job that you could do in a few hours from start to finish.  I know, I know.  You’re laughing now if you’ve ever torn out plaster!  Michael and my sister and I all started in and spent several hours working hard.  By the time our shift ended, we were about one-third of the way done and simply covered in plaster and crud.  And by that time, I had a very real idea of the time it would take for us to finish our project.

On our next shift, I took possession of the ceiling plaster removal project.  I had an idea that would make it efficient, and I wanted to try it.  Well, my idea was a good one, but with every chunk of plaster and lathe, a ton of dust and black soot came down with it.  By the time I had to stop to take care of the baby, I was a different color.  Michael took my photo just for the record books.

I was wearing a white shirt at the beginning of the day, but it wasn’t white by the end of the day.  Thing is, at the end of this day, the job still wasn’t done!!!  But we took a break from it and decided to resume the next day.

One more day of work got us to the end of the plaster-removal project.  I would be interested to know how many pounds of plaster and lathe and blown-in insulation we hauled out.  The pile on the curb was huge.

Now my kitchen resembles a log cabin, with beautiful dark wood all around, complete with cob webs in the rafters.  Every now and then when someone walks overhead, we get lightly sprinkled with a little more crud, just to remind us that we aren’t done yet with our construction.  I’ll be sure to get a photo soon to share with you.

Love,

Christie

How is it that my days start so ordinarily, and then evolve into wild rides? Yesterday was just such a day. Nothing interesting to report. Just the usual taking care of things around the house, getting things straightened up, and looking forward to a work night which would involve tearing out the plaster in the kitchen. I worked steadily throughout the day, doing laundry, taking care of kids, and picking up around the house. Read the rest of this entry »

Buy Cheap Bandaids!

I buy the boxes of 60 bandages from Walmart for a dollar a box. We used to have a rule that you must be bleeding profusely before you qualified for a bandaid. However, I’ve learned that when we have cheap bandaids, I can hand out bandaids for very minor injuries and sometimes even for no reason at all! I don’t even blink now when my kids say they need a bandaid. Fine. Go ahead. Need two? Ok.

Bandaids cure a multitude of ailments. Anything from scratches to splinters to hang nails to hurt feelings. Bandaids are multipurpose tools!

My husband isn’t as appreciative of the cheap bandaids, because he only uses bandaids when he has an actual injury. Thanks to our on-going house-remodeling projects, those injuries happen more often than he’d like to admit. So he bought his own special box of REAL bandaids that he keeps in an undisclosed location.

So there you have it. My tip of the day. At less than two cents apiece, cheap bandaids are a great rememdy to keep on hand.

This morning we had the opportunity to go to a hatchery and see thousands of newly-hatched pheasants. The group travelling was to meet at 7:45 a.m. to head out on our little field trip. We almost never get up that early, so it was a challenge for me to pull it together and get kids up and fed and out the door. Read the rest of this entry »

Our birthday celebrations aren’t about lots of gifts. Instead, we focus more on making a person feel special that day and doing some of their favorite things. We also offer a chance for the birthday child to make a special request for a meal. Read the rest of this entry »

This day started much like any other day. Enthusiastic little people pestered me until I finally got out of bed. Then I fed them a little breakfast to stave off hunger from their little tummies, and I put a little video on to entertain their little eyes.

I managed to get my pot of coffee brewed, and I cleaned up a few things, and then Amelia asked if we could do school. That sounded like a good idea, and I’d certainly earn a point for being a good homeschooler if I did that, so I went and fetched the necessary things to help her learn another letter.

That’s when it all started to fall apart. While Amelia and I were trying to sing our little songs and learn our little letters, Mike and Judah were being difficult and distracting. Then Isaac added his two-cents-worth, and pretty soon I had had enough of this crazy little thing called “school”! Read the rest of this entry »

Josiah is 2 ½ years old, and he can already count to ten and sing his ABC’s, so recently I decided to start teaching him Spanish. He already knows the names of so many things in English—why can’t he learn their Spanish names? So I pulled out the picture flashcards and started to say the name of each picture in Spanish. When Josiah saw the plane, he said, “Plane!”

“Yes,” I said, “Plane…Avion.”

He started to pout, “No Avion! Plane!”

I smiled and said, “Good boy!” After all, he DID say the Spanish word, right? I showed him the next card, “Car…Coche.”

He was still pouting, “No Coche! Car!”

Card after card went like this until finally he refused to say anything at all. Not easily discouraged, I pulled out the flash cards again the next day…and the day after that. Some days he participated, and other days he pouted, but I continued on, cheerfully saying the name of each picture in English and Spanish.

And then it happened! We were driving into town and he said, “Look, Mommy! Coche!”

I was shocked! “That’s right, Josiah! Do you see the house? Casa?”

He willingly chimed in, “House…Casa.”

Wow! I’m so glad I didn’t give up on him after the first try. Now when we walk around the neighborhood, he cheerfully joins me in saying the names of things we see in English and Spanish!

Wednesday wasn’t really a very exciting day in any particular way. It was rather ordinary actually. The weather was beautiful. The children had fun playing outside. And thanks to finding the missing piece to our trampoline, we were able to set it up and the kids have been loving it! Even the baby takes his turn. (What we’d like to know is how on earth someone can misplace a piece to a trampoline??? Somehow we did it.) Read the rest of this entry »

It’s what good moms do. They go to a huge amount of effort and expense to take their children to activities. So, since I’m trying to be a good mom, I made the arrangements to take my children to the homeschool roller skating activity yesterday.

The first hint of a less-than-ideal visit should have been when Luke didn’t even want to go in the first place. Read the rest of this entry »