Wise Words

This morning we were the host family at church, this means we need to get there early and stand by the door and greet the worshipers. As we were getting ready Faith was getting things out of the refrigerator, "oh, you know what? We could give each person a piece of cheese as they walk in the door."   (good protein snack?)
Shekinah added, " we can take the water squirt bottle and wash out their ears so they can hear the preacher better."



The other day I was reviewing some Karyn Purvis DVD's and Shekinah joined me in watching part of it.  Later I was giving orders to the children and a little voice piped up, "mom, are you asking or telling?"


Life is not boring around here.

New Things

Zeke is trying out a new hobby, glass melting/shaping.

Found out that the melting part is easy, keeping it from shattering when cooling is not so easy.

He is also trying out a "home office". We converted a closet to 

an office so he can hopefully get a few extra hours in at work without driving there after school.

Since he can bring his siblings home instead of going to their office, it will save me gas, time and money. I figured it was a small price to pay to clean out the closet and paint it. (Now to find a place for the "stuff" I took out of the closet.)

Little Girls

Today I was prepping the room to paint and Shekinah was "fixing" a chair, after awhile

I heard her laughing, cackling actually. "Mama look, I took the back off!"

Sure enough, she had taken the 5 screws out of the back and was very pleased with herself.

I told her to put it back together again, and she did.

Then I had a worrisome thought, she watched the garage change the van's tires today...

better keep the power tools out of reach.

On the agenda for the weekend, finish painting and re-assembling this room.

First Day of School

First Day of School   2015-2016

Earlier in the week, we tackled 7 baskets of tomatoes

The tomatoes almost won

I shall go on record to say that I love my new Bayou cooker, even with the breezy day I didn't have to relight in at all.

Random Pictures

Cheezy smile, I think from having her cheeks full of candy from Grandma.

A Shekinah salad plate

Zeke waiting "patiently" for his turn in the OR.

Grandpa was honored to read the classic to Parker,

Really?!

Why would someone actually need one of these? :) 

Today was one of those days...Zeke got a bone spur removed from his leg.

It has been increasingly annoying for the past 3 years and the doctor

agreed it is time to remove it. Recovery seems to be a breeze so far.

Full weight bearing and little pain. Oh and what does Zeke do to recover from anesthesia?

   "I can't remember, what is the 30th digit of pi?"

So now the remaining days of summer should be EZ. Ben is off to Thailand and Zeke's surgery is over....oh but I still need to do another run to Philly sometime for Joe's legs. Just love that town.

How We Cope

While keeping my eyes on this

I am trying to do the other things that need to be done

like peaches

Six hands surely do make the work fly

These Baby Gold peaches are a trick.

grapefruit spoon to take out the pits and vegetable peeler for the shells.

The Time has Come!

"NO WAY!" said Shekinah

She suddenly needed to sit on Ben's lap during supper.

...and practice her koala bear hug.

A far away country is in their future.

Creek Hike Sunday

You pick the hottest summer Sunday,

and find your old clothes or swimming stuff.

And you take a walk down the creek,

leave mom at home (it's tradition)

Unusual finds....a snake, harmless we think

telephone pole...sorta far from any road

Take the traditional group photo (the group changes from year to year)

Had to make sure he poses for at least one picture.

QOTD: "Mom I don't want Ben to go to Thailand."

No deary mom doesn't want Ben to go to Thailand either, really, but I think Ben should go to Thailand.  It's a little like those scary trips to China to add to our family, just think what we would have missed if we would have given in to the fear. 

Mama Day AKA Craft Day

For weeks Hope has been planning a "mama day", a day in which the girls

get all mom's attention AND do something fun.

Since we were saving SO much money by not sending the girls to camp this year, 

she thought we could spend some $$ on this "mama day".

We bought 12 rayon scarves (one free silk one) from Dharma Trading,

pulled out the dye from my years as a "fabric artist" and

got to work.

I had to read the instructions again, it's been so long!

They of course wanted chevrons.

That required "dye sticks" --expensive crayons and masking tape.

Took more patience than they thought.

Shekinah solved the glove problem (there were none her size) by

going in the house and getting her winter gloves.

I had warned her that I don't want to hear any more whining about gloves.

Squooshing the dye to all corners of the fabric.

At the end the girls gathered up the white "smalls"  around the house

and dyed them..."mom don't post that!"

It's not a close-up.

While the scarves brewed (below) I taped off a t-shirt for Shekinah. 

Finished product!  They were happy.

Sharpies on dishes should just be done on the non-eating surfaces...

even after they were baked at 350 degrees for 30 min.

Found that out later....

It's a shame, cause this one got neat.

Then they did sand art...found that sand when we cleaned off shelves 

in the garage on Wednesday. 

Gives new meaning to hand-dyed.

QOTD:  As we were driving down the road: S- "Are we going past the berry patch."

Me: "You mean where we get strawberries?"

S - quietly "No the place where people are that are killed."

me: " OH! you mean the grave yard." Guess I need to work on my vowels....

We apparently had a memorable conversation about a cemetery we passed the other day.