Wild animals

Saw this fox in the field behind our house Saturday morning. It stayed there for about an hour, then went into the groundhog hole right beside him. Haven't seen it since.

As for the other wild animals, also known as the gingrich boys, we're spending time outdoors in the snow. i have a rule, that since it takes 1/2 hour to get everyone dressed and ready to go outside, they have to stay out for at least an hour. That's no problem for Adam, the twins ask if an hour is up yet. But there's plenty to do. They are fun to watch.
Clay even goes out on the non windy days. Adam took Clay for a sled ride. K, spring can come any day now!

Snow Ice cream

This got rave reviews tonight at our house, not that it would take much! I've not heard of snow ice cream until marrying Rod. He likes his ice cream!! This is fun to make with the kids.

1 gallon of snow- make the kids get it.
1 cup sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1 T vanilla

Mix all together. The kids packed the snow in pretty good, so i added extra of each ingredient. You can guage it by looks and taste and see what you need to add. It sounds like a lot but we almost ate it all! 7 people.

Enjoy!

Lunch with Clay

Just mom and Clay for lunch today.

Clay can make lunch time look pretty cute. "See my teeth mom"! The top 2 are ouchie! They haven't come in quite yet.
Reach for it!
If mom would get that camera out of my face, i'd be able to eat lunch.
Actually, I can eat even with the camera in my face.
Mom's making me stop, but can't she see i would like some more?
Guess i can wait till supper time.

We hosted a seminar in our basement this weekend, called Seven Streams of Grace. (http://www.sevenstreamsofgrace.com/) It's an intense study of the Bible using cards with pictures and stories, and it shows how the Bible is truly one continuos story. I would have liked to sit in on it more, but the boys weren't keeping quiet for more than 5 minutes at a time. It's brand new, and will be interesting to see if it gets 'popular'. The man that came to do this was the creator of it. It took him 17 years to put it together. Our friend in our apartment knows him and arranged for him to come and do this study. He's coming again in April, i believe, to do it again.

It was exciting to help set up the basement for this event. We love hosting different things at our place.

Soup

This is an easy, filling soup to warm you up:
Chicken & Tortellini Soup:

3 T Olive oil

2 Garlic cloves, minced

1 Onion, diced

8 oz. sliced white mushrooms

32 oz. Chicken broth

29 oz. Diced tomatoes

16 oz. Chopped Spinach, frozen

20 oz. pkg cheese Tortellini

2 1/2 c. Chicken, cooked and diced

Oregano and salt to taste Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in large pot, add onions and garlic. Cook slowly until translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add mushrooms and cook until tender.

Slowly pour in broth and diced tomatoes with liquid. Cover and bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Add frozen Spinach to soup. Cook 5 minutes. Add tortellini, cook 5 more minutes. Stir in diced chicken.

Add any seasonings and top with shredded Parmesan cheese.

School decision for 2011

Well, after a couple months of Rod and i taking a break from discussion of deciding on a school, we finally have an answer. Even though we weren't discussing it, there was still a lot of prayer and thought going into it. And i had really felt a tug toward Dayspring Christian. I was afraid to tell Rod though because i knew all along he felt like Farmdale (public school) was "just fine", although he was very open to learning more about Dayspring. SO, when i told him i really want our boys at Dayspring, he said "they are going to Farmdale". Don't i know my husband so well? :) I spent a couple days in fear. Most of my thoughts were something to the affect of "I spent all these years working so hard at training these boys in Christ, and now it's all for nothing". Now that was a little dramatic, i know. But maybe a typical response for a first-time school mom. I wasn't mad mind you, but i was fearful, knowing that they will be in public school.

After those first couple days of adjusting to this reality, i really started getting excited. I understand Rod's thinking and i trust his judgement that this is a good fit. He wants to connect the boys in with the community. Rod is well known around here (i'm just rod's wife to most people :) and a lot of it is from him going to Farmdale school. He has fond memories. He also knows there are plenty of Christian families who go to this school and he is right. I've already spoken w/ people we know in the area and they have stressed that point. Also many of the teachers are Christians.

Adam is excited! that makes me excited. Our neighbor Meg will be going on the bus with Adam in the morning and she is so excited to have Adam at her school. She said she will take Adam to class in the morning after they get off the bus. That makes me feel good. Meg told Adam the feild trips she had taken in Kindergarten and he can't wait for that. K at this school is only a couple hours in the morning. I will pick him up before lunch. And Rod said if i want to go somewhere for a day once in a while, then just don't send him that day. no big deal. It's just Kindergarten.

Starting next month we will be going to a preschool thing they do once a month for the future kindergartener's, to get them acquainted with the school and the teachers and future classmates. I'm excited to go to this each month. There's also a mom's prayer group that takes place at the school regularly that i may get to participate in next year.

Eventually they probably will end up at Dayspring, as 6th grade is the highest grade at Farmdale. We plan to send them to private school after that.

A quote i've seen a couple months ago, that "hits home" :: "We go to great lengths to make sure the culture doesn't transform our children - instead of preparing our children to transform the culture."

Rod and i will continue doing what we're doing, believing that we are preparing them to make a difference at Farmdale, and beyond.

thanks for reading.

Farm show and snow pictures

The farm show was fun on tues night. The nice thing was that it was not crowded at all since the snow had started that afternoon.

The animals were a hit:

John Deere was also a hit:

Hopefully i don't ruin the butter sculpture surprise for anyone planning to go:Next day there was snow play to be had:

Brad...

Ben and meg:

Adam..

COMING SOON: Our school decision for next year........

Creations

Some things that we created this past week....

I've been wanting to crochet this tic-tac-toe game since last winter, when i discovered the pattern online. I got around to it this winter and finished it! We'll see how much the boys like to use it. Adam likes the game, haven't taught the twins yet. It's hard to tell the size from a picture, but it's about 7" x 7".

The pattern should be here, if you want to try it. It's easy, but takes a little while.

Adam has been begging and begging to learn to crochet. So i finally said i'd try to teach him. I taught him the chain stitch so he could make braclets and necklaces. Apparently he realized it's pretty boring because he hasn't mentioned anything since the lesson! I guess sometimes they just want to know what something is like and they are satisfied.


The boys like Dr. Suess books. Brad keeps asking Daddy to make green eggs and ham. So would you believe on Sunday Daddy DID makes green eggs and ham (or bacon, actually). He's a clever guy!

I tried out a Duggar recipe, that was printed in their book. We only got 6 casseroles out of this regular sized Duggar meal!

Tuna Noodle Casserole: i love cooking big so this was right up my alley. Ben was my helper and probably thought it would never end!I should stop before you start thinking we're too weird.

But this is too cute not to share. Our friend who lives downstairs received this for Christmas. It's a homemade cookie manger scene, very detailed and impressive. Also very tasty. Her sister-in-law made it and it took her 3 days!

Tomorrow we go to the Farm show! We haven't gone since Adam was a baby. I think Rod picked to go tomorrow night because he wants to drive in the snow!

9 Months

It was "warm" today. Decided to shoot some fun pics of Clay. He'll be 9 months in a couple days...

If you want to know what everyone else was up to during the photo taking...here they have turned the walks into 'disaster zone'.

Totally worth it.