Been Busy…With Pictures

Sorry I’ve been gone, but with my husband gone last week, I’ve been a little lot busy!  While he was gone wasn’t too bad, but as soon as he hit the door we have been running!  Here is some of the stuff that has been going on in the last few weeks.

A my 7-year-old daughter had her father/daughter dance with AHG.  Here is a picture of them.

 

All of the pictures had the sun in their eyes, so some my husband was smiling, but A, had her eyes closed.   This was the best that I got at home.  They had a great time.  A ate too many sweets and had an upset stomach for some time during the dance.  I need to remind her to limit her sweets next year!

Also, we had 2 birthdays recently.  My husband turned 47!  How can I be married to someone who is 47?  Crazy!

Right after my husband’s birthday is my son R’s birthday.  He turned 15.  Wow!

R’s 15th birthday with T in the background.

We have been outside when the weather is cooperating.  L loves being outside.  It should be  a fun summer!

L loving being outside.

We got three chicks from a teacher at school.  They are cute!  L loved looking at them.  When my husband took one out of the brooder to show her, she wanted to grab them.  She about ripped the head off of one.  We did want to get a picture of her with the chicks, but she was grabbing at the chicks and we were worried about their safety.  Here she is distressed because she really wanted to hold a chick.

L crying because we wouldn’t let her hold the chick. She about killed it 10 seconds before this picture was taken.

J, our oldest, and a senior in high school was named Salutatorian of his senior class.  We are very excited and proud of his accomplishments!  He should qualify for some additional scholarships because of this achievement.

J was named Salutatorian of his senior class!

I just love this picture of L eating a muffin, so I had to add it!

 

L eating a muffin.

We had the chess tournament which was a Friday night and Saturday all day.  The boys held up great.  They didn’t do as well as they hoped, but now they realize that they need to keep practicing so that they improve for next year.

 

 

T and S after finishing up the chess tournament.

S and A had to dress up as their favorite fictional character for a school assignment.  S read Charlotte’s Web and went as Wilbur the pig.  A read all of the Fancy Nancy books that our local library had and then dressed up like her.

S as Wilbur the pig for fictional character day

A dressed as Fancy Nancy.

Here is M being nice and pushing the girls on the swings.  L just loves him.  She calls out his name a million times a day and I have to remind her that he is in school.  He just signed up for PSEO, so he will be taking 2 college classes next year.  He will only be a junior in high school next year, so by the end of his senior year, he will have about a semester of college credits completed!

M being a nice big brother and pushing his sisters on the swings.

R has been working on his forge.  We recently were able to acquire coal which has really opened up his options as compared to the charcoal which he has been using.  It burns much hotter than the charcoal did.

R working on his forge.

Anyway, that is some of the things that we have been up to.  How about you, what have you been up to?

Ann

 

 

 

 

 

Chess Tournament

These two cute guys are participating in a chess tournament tonight and tomorrow. I’ll see you all on Monday.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures that I have taken over the past couple of weeks.  I have lots of pictures of the little kids, but none from the bigger kids.  My husband must have them on his phone.  I’ll have him send them to me so I can get some of their activities up here on the blog.  There is never a dull moment with 7 kids!

L sitting on a stump

Waiting for the Lego Movie to start

A’s toothless grin

S as George Washington for History Hat Day

T’s 3rd place finish in History Fair

L reading herself to sleep

S as Wilbur in Charlotte’s Web for Fictional Character Day

S racing to the finish after a 1 mile fun run

Fun Cub Scout Pack Meeting

S is 9 years old and a Bear scout. He has been really enjoying his den meetings as they are a small group of boys where they get to do lots of hands-on activities.

He doesn’t usually like the pack meetings as they talk a lot and he has to just sit, listen, and watch himself and others in his pack get awards. Boring!

Yesterday he had shooting 4H and a pack meeting. He loves the shooting 4H because they shoot guns and bow and arrows. What’s not to love? Anyway, shooting 4H was getting ready for elections so it was a “no shooting” night.

S rationalized that if there was no shooting he wouldn’t mind missing the meeting and doing the Cub Scout pack meeting instead. Boy was he ever glad!

They had a Boy Scout Scoutmaster from a nearby troop come to the meeting to do a knot-tying demonstration. S loved it! He mastered all of the knots that they taught. He helped the kids and even some adults to learn to tie the knots when he had each mastered.

Paracord key chain is yellow and black.  The grey round thing is a monkey fist (I think)

The Scoutmaster also had a goodie bag that each of the kids got to pick out of that had parachute cord “key chains”. They aren’t really key chains, but if I had one that is what I would use it for 🙂 He showed the boys different things they could make with the parachute cord too.

S loved that it was hands-on and that he can use these knots when he moves up to Boy Scouts which is in “just 2 years”. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the meeting.

Paracord Trivets

Paracord belt with double carabiner latch.

Bowline knot

S at the beginning of knot tying lesson.

Feeling Great!

We have been off of school for a week now!  I am enjoying driving the kids around much less!  We have set up a routine where the kids do an hour of reading, some chores, some school work, and then a project that I want to work on for a while, and then something fun for the kids. The bigger kids also have special  projects that they are working on in addition to what the little ones are doing.  For example, M is working on his Eagle Scout project, J is working on College stuff, and R is working on getting more organized. So far it is working well.  I have an excel spreadsheet on the fridge with boxes for each kid to mark off.

Here are a couple of pictures of our leisure time reading and working on projects.

J and S reading and enjoying leisure time this summer.

A buried herself in cushions to read because she was freezing cold.

So far we have been to our local Y’s outdoor pool.  The little ones loved it, but the big kids said it was freezing.  Since they were out of the water, it gave us some much-needed time away from the little ones just to talk.  It was nice.  We also went to a local flea market where my oldest works on the weekends.  We waved to him while we were there, which was super fun for A.  Girls are so much different from boys.  Here are a couple of shots of the flea market.

Pony rides for $5.

A riding “Chocolate Chip”

A loving on a horse statue.

A hanging on a gorilla statue.

A getting her picture taken with a snowman in June. Only in Ohio.

We are off to a great start this summer!  Now to stay consistent.  It is not easy for me, but with a plan it should be easier.  Here’s to some much-needed rest and relaxation!

Been Gone Too Long

I am back for a post or two until the kids get out of school.  I should have more time for posting during summer vacation.  Let’s hope so, I miss blogging!

Where to start… I have been super busy with the kids.

• A went to her first father/daughter dance.  She absolutely loved it.
• A jumped off of the low diving board,
• M is still working on his Eagle Scout project.
• J went to prom.
• My husband went to California for a week.
• 4H is in full swing and J is our club president!
• AHG is winding down now, just the awards banquet left!
• L is rolling over now.
• My husband is helping me with household updates.
• T had his school musical.
• J turned 17.
• The kids went roller skating with our 4H group.

We have also had a couple of neighbor dogs that keep going after my chickens.  Killed 2 roosters in the first attack and killed 4 hens on the second attack.  I am still very angry about it.

We bought 2 turkeys, 3 guineas, 3 Bantams, and 7 miscellaneous pullets to  replace our dead chickens and build our dwindling number of chickens.

Here are some pictures of what’s been going on around here.

A jumping off of the low diving board.

A going to father/daughter dance with my husband.

J’s 17th birthday.

R roller skating.

T and A in school musical.

A cute picture of  S and me.

My husband putting up blinds.

L rolling onto stomach.  She is a drooling machine.

M working on a computer.

I hope to be back soon!

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful visit from my parents for Easter weekend.  Saturday was absolutely gorgeous.  I am beginning to think that Spring really is coming to our neck of the woods.  With the forecast for rain on Sunday, we had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday.  The smaller three had a bunch of eggs hidden around the yard that have different amounts of change in them.  The bigger three have one bigger egg that has a $10 bill inside.  No one seems to be too big to find an egg with 10 bucks inside!  It was fun.  The kids all end up with $10 and they love doing this every year with my parents!

J with the $10 egg!

The three little kids helped me make Easter Nests on Friday.  I got the recipe from Food.com and got the ingredients beforehand.  They liked making them and they were festive.  Here is a picture of how they turned out.

A plate of Easter nests.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.  Fun was had by all.  It was great to see my parents and have a wonderful Easter celebration!

Easter egg hunt.

Mom and L. Look at that chubby leg!

Dad and L.

R with his Easter basket.

L in her Easter dress.

T was sick vomiting overnight, so he didn’t have much energy for the egg hunt.

S coloring eggs.

M with his basket.

Too much Easter candy! We are so blessed to have a wonderful family.

Super Busy

No, I haven’t ditched the blog, although I admit I do think about it at times.  I have been super busy as a mom of 7 probably should be.

The baby seems to be going through a growth spurt and I can’t put her down.  She wants to nurse all of the time and I can’t seem to put her down without her waking right back up…not a happy mom here with that.  I hope it is short-lived as I have so much to do and even more that I want to do.

I have been thinking about my goals and I am doing okay with them except the food waste and the canning.  The food waste had a bad week as we went up to see my parents.  We weren’t home to eat up the leftovers and also, lent began which really changed our eating patterns.  We are back on a regular schedule now and have adjusted to lent, so hopefully it will be good again.

I did use my pressure canner to cook 20# of bone in legs and thighs that I got for $0.39 per pound.

I have been doing pretty well following the menu plan and when I fell off the wagon I just whipped something that I had on hand.

I am finding that I really do like cooking and baking.  I have also found that I enjoy being in the kitchen much more if I have a plan and a mission that I am trying to accomplish.  I am learning that I can make delicious meals on a budget!  My kids have done pretty well with trying all of my creations and I have to say that they have all turned out pretty well.

J is doing mathletes in school.  It is a math competition.  He is doing very well in school and is thinking of majoring in Biomedical Engineering.  He is very busy with school and just signed up for the ACT.  Where has the time gone?

M is doing his science fair project.  He has transitioned very well to high school.  He is a great student.

R is almost Star rank in Boy Scouts.  He just turned in his 5 page research paper and is working on his science fair project.

T is just learning this year about research papers and is going through it step by step with his class.  T crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts and went on his first campout this weekend.  He will be getting back shortly.  I can’t wait to see if he enjoyed it.

S is learning multiplication.  He loves math.  He has been missing T, but after a fun day out with A it helped the time to go a little faster.  He is an awesome reader and a great student.

A is reading up a storm.  She loves Garfield.  She can’t read all of the words of course, but with the pictures, she gets the gist of the cartoon.

L is growing like a weed.  She is in 6 month clothes.  She is pretty happy when she isn’t grumpy…if you know what I mean.  She travels well, which is wonderful when you are in the car as much as we are.  She has discovered her hands and is starting to reach out for the toys on her play mat above her.

I am in a very busy time right now, but I really enjoy blogging.  I hope with Spring coming shortly, that I will have some fun stuff to blog about.  I will try to focus on the goals I set and stay with the plan!

Busy, Busy, Busy

It has been a busy week!  We have had some sort of kid activity each day this week.  Monday there was the Cub Scout Christmas party and J’s drum lesson.   Tuesday, was Boy Scouts plus J had his band concert for school.  Wednesday we had the American Heritage Girls Christmas party for my daughter, A.  Thursday we had the Christmas band performance for R and T.  Today R and T are doing a field trip for MRDD that I will attend so that I can see the performance as my husband went last night.

I am soooo ready for the weekend!  I need a little down time.

R performing at the MRDD concert.

T with a “Santa” belly performing at the MRDD concert.

L slept through most of the concert.

A loves all kinds of concerts.

Reading to A before bedtime. Our new routine is that A holds L during her story.

S in his school Christmas program. He is holding the heart.

S freezing at the Cub Scouts Christmas party.

A at her American Heritage Girls Christmas party.

Only 4 school days until Christmas vacation!!!  Have a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m feeling a little more energized, my kids…not so much!

I am feeling a little better.  I have been getting to bed earlier (because of my husband making me) and I believe it has made a slight difference in my energy levels throughout the day.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not ready for the Olympics or anything, but I am able to be up and productive more than when I was last pregnant.  Baby steps, right!

The change in weather has been hard on the kids.  J is tired, M, my usual allergy kid is doing fine (go figure), R is fine, T has lost his voice, has a sore throat, and tons of snot, S had a really sore throat, but it is finally better, and A has a runny nose, crazy voice, and sore throat.  So far hubby and myself are doing okay.

I am glad it is Friday so we can relax and take it a little bit easy and let everyone hopefully recover over the weekend.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to a local tractor show.   They had old tractors, a tractor pull, old-fashioned corn shucking, and old-fashioned wheat threshing.  My husband and I took all but J who had to work.  Most of the kids hated it, but my husband and I really enjoyed seeing the tractors and the old-fashioned machines.  My husband took my FIL in a wheelchair the next day because he thought he would like to see the older tractors and such.  He loved it!  They were there all afternoon.  My husband said that he couldn’t get him to leave!  That was great because he doesn’t get out much!  Here are a few pictures of our trip:

My husband, FIL and S in front of an old Farmall H tractor.

Watching the tractor pull.

T, S, and FIL in front of an Oliver crawler.

Most of the kids and me in front of another old tractor. Can you see their enthusiasm?!

My husband really wanted that truck! Thankfully it wasn’t for sale.

The two little kids couldn’t believe how big tractor tires can be!

Enjoying a snack while watching the wheat being threshed.