A Day or Two at a Time

Since our days have been soooo full with our six kiddos this week, I think the best way to log our happenings are through pics.  So far I have remembered our camera on all occasions!  Saturday and Sunday were full of outside play.

Zane on his horsey.

Everyone helped Uncle Nate load and dump tree branches. By help, I mean sit in the truck and giggle.

These munchkins are nearly inseparable. 

Lots of bike riding.  It is easy to ride in the dead grass!

Jumping and dodge ball in the trampoline.

Burying themselves at the park on Sunday.

Underdogs all around!

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I always love the pictures in this yellow tube :)

Our friends came to the park too. She is Stella's best friend.

Kids, kids, kids!

Two girls trying to sleep in a tiny air bed. It is Dora! Didn't work out!

 The ADVENTURE has begun again! We are getting to have the Eastwood kiddos, Elena, Kai, & Zane stay with us for a week.  That means a six kid household. Ages: 8, 7, 6, 4.9, 2.5, 2.5.
The first day we drove back from picking them up at Emporia and I was bushed. They watched some of a movie while I chilled waiting for my dear hubby to get home and help me decide what to do.  He's great at that.  We cooked out then headed to the spray park in Valley.  Little Zane loved the spray park! He ran around for almost an hour pretending to be an airplane in the water and trying to shoot

Two more girls getting comfy. Elena reading aloud to all :)

me with the water gun.  The other kids left the water to play on the play ground zip line and slides.
Bedtime was adventurous. Really the problem is my baby, Ava.  She is not much for sleeping lately and is two and a half. That can mean very opinionated about, well everything.  Of course she fits right in here! She finally fell asleep on our bed around ten.  We moved her to the girls room and she slept hard till seven.

The next day we got most of the morning stuff done in record time! They all worked hard and had school done in less than an hour! Except for the part that I had to lead.  We did that in

Lost the ball over the fence!

 the afternoon.  Naomi and Stella each got a chore partner, which was good for them and me. 2X the work done!! We made it to the grocery store pretty smoothly.  Only one person exclaimed "Are those all YOUR kids?" We got lots of stares.  I think people were wondering what I was doing with six kids at the store on a school day at lunch time.  That is one, okay three, of the new joys of home schooling. (strange stares, comments and going to the store at lunch:)) Went to the park to eat our lunchables next!  Why did I buy those things? Just should of bought a box of cookies and saved eight dollars! Oh well, the kids liked them. Or at least the cookies in them!

These two playing Rupunzel.

The park didn't last long, because someone had to go to the bathroom. Then they all did. I wasn't taking six kids to my friends house to potty, so we headed home.
More cleaning, school time, nap time, alone time, short video, make cookies, order pizza, play outside, bed time! That is the quick version.  I'm headed outside to play now!

Oh, by the way, my sister is lounging in Europe with her hubby! Have a great time you two!

Hamming it up together! Eating, which is what they do most the time!

Smushing chicks and rabbits

Our annual trek to Sedgwick County Fair was a hit. The girls LOVE to go to the little petting zoo there. Those poor animals! Ava thought those pesky goats were great! The parade and all the candy from it was super exciting too. Tractors and horses were the main attractions. Seeing Grandma Patty and Grandpa Jim is always a hit in their book too. (Side note: Ava has named an old green puppet grandpa this week. I think cause it is fuzzy, like Grandpa Jim, ha!)
















These other shots are of my garden. It was growing green and well until the heat. Now looks a little sadder, but have had a few harvests. My favorite being the Zinnias! I have seriously got to work on my soil this fall. Then next year will be better still.
BTW: I cannot figure out how to line up pictures good. I haven't blogged in so long I thought it was hopefully better than nothing :)




Happy summer fun to you all!!!!!!

Mondays with Dorie

By the title you might think we watch Dora the Explorer on Mondays, but that is not the case here. It is French Mondays with Dorie Greenspan. Nate, had said he wanted to learn to cook, so for his birthday I got him Around My French Table. His hobbies are all coming from that area of the world right now which made the book and food fit right in.
Now when he said learn to cook, I thought he meant, ya know, make new recipes from a cookbook. I now realize he meant he didn't know how to cook. I'm talking could not separate an egg white from yoke or put the mixer together! After three dishes these skills have been mastered. It has been a good journey so far. We have had sugar-crusted french toast - way sweet, serve as dessert only, bistrot paul bert pepper steak with les frites - yum o, but smoked the entire house up and needed more fries, last night we had tourteau de chevre for dessert - it is a goats cheese cake, yummy, yummy, yummy! Feels like a party every Monday night here, so you might want to drop by for a bite!

Spring!

Spring is here and I am so glad! I love watching our plants grow. I've learned about an encyclopedia sized amount about gardening in the last year. We ripped all the front bushes out and planted our own itty bitty plants and started a vegetable garden last year around this time. They grew some last year, but are really looking much bigger and happier this year. But what got me to sit down and post is the deal I landed today! I really scored because I am always yearning for one of those wedding veil spirea bushes that are in all the old neighborhoods. (I actually want a whole line of them) They bloom beautiful small white flowers that flow down and blow in the wind. Aah! I just love the site of them at this time of year. I think their payoff of beautifulness out weighs their ugliness in the winter. I couldn't seem to find them for sale at our local nursery, plus I couldn't afford a plant from them the size I want anyway. But yesterday I drove by a construction site that had just ripped down a building or two and right in the middle and around the edge were those bushes. Soooo today I went by and found some construction guys sitting in their truck. My heart a little pounding, cause I usually don't do things like this, but I wanted those bushes seriously! I tapped their window and nearly scared them to death. They were pretty nice and said come back after lunch and they would have them laid aside for me. So I went back with my minivan and two kids in my flip flops. Duh! Wear tennis shoes for dragging heavy plants into van in front of men and driver byers. I forgot. I felt like a crazy woman. One of the guys came to help me. Good thing too cause I was feeling weak and it was super heavy. It filled the whole van! Stella thought it was great having it all shoved up in her face. I think the construction guy was happy just for a change in the monotony of construction life. He liked the girls hair and eyes. And we made them warm peanut butter cookies, which lit up his face. I like that kind of a bargain. Now to decide where to put it and pray it lives. Last year

Backyard, this year. Soon to be blooming with peonies then flooded with roses!

This years Helleborn dark purple flowers. Bloomed in the snow :)

This year. Plants coming back bigger and stronger.

Last year on the side of the house.

This year on the side of the house. Slowly transforming to a great garden, I hope.

Tulips in the back beside the rosemary that made it through the winter.

Van stuffed with score of the day!

More stuffed van. See Stella peeking from behind?

Been waiting for a bleeding heart to bloom for years! Always squashing or thinking it a weed and pulling before it blooms. These three little flowers make my year of gardening :)

Cherished

Recently a dear friend of mine moved away. Which is sad, but the upside: She moved to Phoenix! Yes, a place I have always wanted to vacation to. I am plotting when to actually go and if I should bring the rest of the family. Here is our last play date. Stella and Mary painting nails. They are too sweet, working together, for the good of beauty. At their age they are usually vying to be in charge, but hopefully they can still grow to be good friends. Just long distance.
Here is Sarah Jeanne and her sweet, rambunctious baby boy. He doesn't ever stop! Maybe the heat will slow him down a little?
This is a shot of Stella that I thought was beau ti ful! She is in one of the many dress up clothes she has. Eating pancakes. For supper. We work like that here at our house.
Another shot of a beau ti ful daughter. This is daddy daughter date at flower girls. They had a great time. I know Naomi feels cherished by her daddy. Which is just the way he wants it!

Do you like the valentine decor the girls hung on the walls? Lots of orange, blue, and black hearts were posted all over!

Grace and Compassion in life

Ya know, friends, when my life feels heavy and I cannot figure things out, ie make a solid plan for what I will be doing in the next 24 hours to 3 weeks, I don't blog much. Nor do I read blogs, which I love to do! As you might infer from my last post being over a month ago, I am at that place. I just cannot get the words out. Here is my attempt to get it out there for whomever, but mostly for me. I think it will help.

Now it sounds like a bad place to be, but it really isn't. For I know God has been growing and stretching me. While I won't go into it all, I find He is teaching me in grace and compassion. These are good attributes to posses, I know, but I bristle at compassion. For me it sounds like lots of FEELINGS, which means CRYING, probably WITH people. Why is it that I move far away from that when I know the connection and realness it brings? And isn't that what I desire?

Yes.

Am I the only one who does this? I'm sure not. I know my dear friends will give me grace as I grow. And I am glad to do the same for you.