Some tidbits

There hasn't been anything overly blog worthy lately on the home front.  But thought I'd sum up some current events with little sentences. 


* I met a baby last night, who was born at 23 weeks gestation.  She's now 7 lbs and almost full term, nearly 4 months later.  A beautiful baby. 


* 2 of our neighbors dogs came over yesterday and killed one of our cats.  I secretly want them to come back again today.  (we have some cat population issues)


* Yesterday Clay asked what my password is for our computer.  He's 3.  What does he know about passwords? 


* I love all my kids very much.  But one in particular has me spoiled.  He's the "son of my right hand"  :) 


* I'm taking a bee keeping class tomorrow and a CPR class on Monday.  Mostly excited about getting out of the house, but I have been wanting to take CPR for a long time now and am glad I get to learn how to do this. 


* I'm also co-leading a Beth Moore study at church next month.  Love Beth Moore, can't wait to start. 


* I ran 1.5 miles in 20 degree weather last eve.  I will never do that again. 


* Adam is terrible at addition.  But is way ahead in multiplication.  I do not understand this.  He also has trouble reading and gets assistance at school with it, but if you stick a Star Wars book in front of him he can read it cover to cover without any problem.  Including words that I can't even pronounce.  This boy can do A LOT, when he WANTS to. 


* Making roasted sausage, potato, peppers, and onions tonight for supper.  It's so good!


That's it for now!

snow ice cream

thank goodness I have a meeting/play date today, or we'd go nuts in the house on yet another snow day. 
Last night Adam begged to make snow cream, so we did.  We discovered this was a really good snow for snow cream, because it's so dry and fluffy.  The snow doesn't melt as fast after mixing.  It's not like this tastes that amazing, but it's the idea of making ice cream out of snow and making memories that makes me want to do this. 
I may have posted this a few years back..

Snow Cream
1 gallon of snow
2 cups heavy cream, or milk
1 cup sugar
1 T vanilla

Mix together and eat right away!

Ben and Brad yesterday, before it got cold....haha

The last 2 days were mild, pushing 50 degrees or more.  It felt so good to be out!  I officially began my 5K training yesterday and today.  Oh dear, I feel like I should just make it a goal to run ONE mile without feeling lightheaded!  It's funny how 3 miles is nothing for one person, but a big deal for the next person.  If I run a 5K, to me that's a big deal!  I was always a sprinter in my younger days. 

My new-to-me pink running shoes.  Can't run without 'em.

And i can't run without a pair of these running with me.  They run with me in shifts as i go in and out the lane.  Somehow they are able to talk my ear off the whole time they are running.  It's a good distraction for me.

I was also delighted to harvest some spinach and lettuce yesterday from underneath my cold frame.  It survived the really cold days we had last week just fine, pretty amazing.

Body Wash

I kept forgetting to pick up more body wash at the store, so when i saw a recipe for homemade body wash online, i decided to go that route instead.  I like this stuff!

Moisturizing Honey Body Wash:
2/3 c. liquid castile soap
1/4 c. raw honey
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. vitamin E oil
50 drops essential oil
-- mix together and shake gently before each use.

You can experiment with the essential oils, using whatever scent/s you'd like.  I got the peppermint scented castile soap, but you can also use unscented.

I got the castile soap online, but i'm thinking savemart would carry it, and/or a health food store.

The body wash turns out a little more runny then what you'd buy in the store, but it lathers well and smells great so who cares :)  I'm also excited about using these natural products on my skin instead of what i've been using.

Snow Day #.... ?

I lost count!

Hard to believe that in a couple days, the temp outside will be about the same as our bedroom!  Since they cancelled school Tuesday I took the boys to the farm show.  Me, them, and numerous guardian angels no doubt!  I didn't get lost, I didn't lose the boys for long periods, the car started back up after sitting in the parking lot all day (on the 2nd try), and the whole trip went rather smoothly for having all 4 in tow.  This is why I'm crediting my guardian angels!

There is sooo much to do here, and since we go every year we're learning where things are and what we like to do/see.  We were there from 11:00-6:30 and could have stayed longer, but wanted to end on a good note.  A benefit of having them close in age and same gender is they were mostly all drawn to the same things.

I was actually wanting to go on this particular day a while back, when I read that they were doing a honey extraction demo on Tues at 5:00.  we watched that and it was very interesting.  bee keeping might be in our future.  We got there a little early, which means the boys had time to heckle the stuffed bee..

The butterfly house is something we've never done.  But there was no line, so we paid the 2.00 each, and it was well worth it!

They give us Q-tips dipped in Gatorade and put it underneath the butterfly's feet.  they cling right to the Q-tip and you have an instant friend.

Halarious!

No line for this either, the boys took turns sitting on the bull.  I spend more money when there aren't lines :)

They were busy in the corn tables for awhile...

and riding the equipment...

Clay didn't get the memo...

This was a really neat station, they played music and the kids used the balls for their drums.  There was a person in the front doing a routine with the music that they were 'supposed' to follow.

Not sure what the purpose of the gigantic cherrios box was, but had to get a picture of it!

As soon as we walked in the door, we saw Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat.

This guy does the same magic routine every year, but he's very entertaining.

We were in for a rude awakening when we left in the evening, very cold!  they kept us warm inside the building.  So glad my car started and we got home in time for supper with daddy.

What day is it?

A break from the routine is a nice thing, except for the embarrassment that comes with never knowing what day it is!  Or what year or month :) 

We almost got back into the routine yesterday.  Clay and I went into the cafeteria for our every-other-week shift over lunch. Then we went to the library.  The boys came home from school, neighbor boy came too.  And they did homework.  It was all good.
 
Then white stuff started coming down again.

So today was another snow day.  Red flags started going off in my head.  You mean another day of fighting, breaking things, messes, noise, scattered snow gear, food disappearing, etc?!   We just did that for 12 days!  But it turned out quite nice.  Ben and Brad spent 5 hours at their best buddy's house and Adam & Clay went to Grandma's for an overnighter.  The space was good for all and they were each quite happy about the arrangements made.  So take that, snow day :) 

Mrs. K took this at lunchtime.  Little sister is so adorable and she evened out the teams when they played 'team' things :)

I'm so thankful the boys are comfortable here and I'm comfortable leaving them here. 

Oh and for more cuteness, we visited friends puppies over Christmas break.  These are golden doodles, 11 pups in all!  4 weeks old.  Let me know if you want one, they are for sale :)  Brad really wants one.  He has some saving to do. 

This is a lot of cuteness in one little swimming pool.

We welcome a new year as we marvel over what God did for us in 2013.  We are so blessed and He is so faithful.  We want to honor Him more with our lives and encourage the boys to do the same.  Happy New Year!