Spring is coming

Last weekend was a joy. It started on a sad note as we had to attend my husband’s grandmother’s memorial, but it was really a beautiful time. The service was really beautiful and full of family and love ... what is not to love and be joyous about that! The food served at the church was really amazing and the family time was just great. Our kids looked adorable in their dress up clothes and I enjoyed watching my husband point and name each kiddo to family and friends who he hadn’t seen in years or had never met. He kept saying yup these are my kids and then stop after naming several and go, “Well this isn’t all of them…over there those are ours too…”

Last week was a bit of a bummer when we learned our big Excursion (8 passenger) needed $3000 worth of repairs on it! Ugh! But we just didn't let that spoil our good mood. We also were practically forced to rent something to get to Ricky's grandmothers memorial. But as usual we made the best out of the situation. We rented a pick-up truck bought a bunch of stuff that we could because we had a pick-up truck.

Since we had the truck we finally bought our first “lawn tractor.” Last year we bought a tiller this year lawn tractor. Yee haw. We are excited! I am officially excited for spring now. I have tomato starter plants germinating and the tulips Ricky bought me for Valentine’s Day last year are starting to come up! We were blessed with an easy going February and I’m ready to jump feet first into March. I think that groundhog knows what he is talking about! This is the first time in a while that he didn’t see his shadow and I think he’s right; spring is on the horizon!

Anyway, back to last weekend, it was a fun 3 day weekend where my lovely hubby and I paraded around town buying up hay, cleaning the chicken house out, raking up leaves and watching the kids enjoy some outside time. Those are the things that make us happy!

I have been working on painting and fixing up our basement in my infrequent spare time. It’s looking SO CUTE. The idea is to make it a friendly colorful space where the kids can play and the grown-ups, when needed, can also sneak away and relax. Mostly it’s for the kids to play and for us to say “GO DOWNSTAIRS AND PLAY” ;) I am making it colorful and whimsical. I can’t wait to post photos! It’s still a mess though. We are also making it comfortable for overnight guests, sleepovers or just hanging out. We have (or will have) 2 futons, 1 love seat hide-a-bed and 1 day bed with a trundle down there. So, total that will sleep 7 people. I also want to hang some hammock chairs from the ceiling.

Lately in homeschool land we have been studying a world atlas, learning map skills, reading a science book (overview of lots of basic stuff), keeping up with Time4learning.com lessons. I tried out spellingcity.com but it’s not really what I wanted. I do like all the games though. I’m still trying to figure it out and getting the kids going on it. I really should have kept spellingime.com. We may go back to that; it was easy and very effective. (Just more than I want to spend per kid, and right now I can’t spend much since we have money going out faster than it’s coming in!)

Penelope (4) and Sebastian (2) are in the kitchen playing with Moon Sand. If you know what Moon Sand is you know I’ll be sweeping the kitchen floor soon. Some one thought two things about moon sand: 1. How can we make play doh even messier and 2. How can we play with sand indoors? Wa-lah…Moon Sand was born!

cooking and eating of odd things

I’m disappointed I don’t want to cook our beef tongue. I just can’t do it. My dear husband loves tongue sandwiches. He tells me of a place down the street from his work that apparently has the best smoked beef tongue sandwiches on earth. He cannot believe I won’t try it. (I've never even seen them, so I don't even know what they look like.)


I eat all kinds of things. I’m a huge fan of sushi. I’ve eaten escargot more than 3 times. I’ve cooked weird octopus/squid seafood chowders (oh God the smell is bad). I love raw oysters. I’ve had alligator, buffalo and elk; Yum, Yum and Yum. I tried frog legs and squirrel; despite what my husband says neither tastes ‘similar to chicken’. (yuk)

As you can tell I’m not afraid to try things. But this beef tongue thing gives me the hebbie-jebbies. He didn’t understand when I tried to explain about feeling the texture of tongue on my tongue. He says the smoked ones he eats are sooo soft. Um, my tongue is soft too. Yuk! I’m curious but I just have reservations. I think I have it wound up in my head that biting a tongue is going to be thick and moist and fleshy and soft –like biting my own.

Maybe it's like placenta. Did you know you can eat placenta? Maybe that's TMI for this blog. Or is it..humm?

We have a beef tongue in our freezer from our cow amoung other things. I’ve never tried liver and onions so maybe I need to fry that up first. Ease my way into the tongue. We also have ox tail. And I was all jazzed about making ox tail soup when it went in our freezer a year ago but now I have my reservations. Again my imagination is running away with me…I picture this hairy piece of tail that I’m going to cook down into a sweaty broth of a soup. Aren’t imaginations fun?

I tried the turkey’s heart at thanksgiving. There’s a reason kids fight over the wishbone, wishbones are fun. Turkey hearts and giblets are pasty and gross. :)

Life in January

fatty rolly polly baby

New hair cut --self done (hubby helped with the back!)

Kids get some fun stuff in the mail from Aunt Christy!

Playing smoochy in the snow :)

Chickens DO NOT want out at all...and their hen house is a MESS.

Oh-my-chicken-poo-god is there going to be a lot of fertilizer for the yard this spring.

We usually clean out the house seasonally and it doesn't get too bad because they are outside 99% of the time.

Since it's been so snowy though...this is bad...

 

We could NOT get Sebastian to sit down for this family photo.

We kept asking him and asking him. So i decided to seize the

moment. This is real life after all.

Food

I am on a mission to SAVE on groceries. As our second largest expense (first being mortgage -and at one time we did spend equal amounts on mortgage and food!) it’s the one obvious place to cut back. Again.

So first I discovered shopping at Sam’s Club actually costs a lot of money. We’d drop 500 dollars every time we set foot in that store. To help that problem we began ordering online with their click & pull feature. If you place an order by 5pm you can pick it up the next day. You can pull right up front curbside, run in to claim and pay for your order and they have your basket(s) all ready for you! This is genius. It’s fast and if you have a zillion kids, or even one, you don’t have to take them shopping! I have a 14 year old that stays in the car with the younger kids and one of my sons goes into help me with the carts. This is the perfect shopping solution.

Now for the money saving part…when I order this way we spend on average 300-350 dollars instead of $500! That saves money. I can only order what is featured online (plenty of great things) and I know exactly how much it will be before I ever check out. You can save your lists for future ordering too, making it fast!

For the past month I have been using things up around here. If that meant crackers and peanut butter for lunch for 2 days this week so be it. We used up tons of stuff! I was so proud of myself. Leftover Mexican rice from dinner 2 nights ago became lunch with corn chips. I’m usually good about coming up with meals from leftovers but this month it wasn’t done out of the desire to use things up or make a quick meal because I forgot to thaw something…it was done with a WE HAVE TO DO THIS attitude or we’ll starve LOL. I have to have that mindset sometimes or I'll just go shopping. So I stayed away from any store, no matter what.

I’m hoping with the money we saved we’ll be able to buy a whole hog for our freezer. We are quickly running out of beef and a hog will help give some variety and stretch our beef.

I’m really looking forward to raising our own turkey’s this year but I need a money plan to make that happen. We need fence and shelter. I wish I could raise them with the chickens. I see people doing that online but I’ve always been told it’s a no, no. (Turkeys are susceptible to life threatening diseases that chickens are immune to. )
Mostly I’m discovering saving money on food is lowering your food portions and expectations. LOL. I am very picky and very "healthy."  Channges I've had to make over the past few months that I rarely buy organic of now : peanut butter, crackers, chicken. Those were huge changes for me. But, until we get some bills paid off and my hubby's car that's just life.

Oh I also miss buying sugar free pasta sauce and organic yogurt. On the plus side all the frozen veggies I buy at Sam's now is GMO free which makes me happy. GMO free corn = awesome!


Our last order.....

2 Dole® Blueberries - 64 oz. - 817663 2 No $7.8 $15.6


2 Totino's® Pepperoni Pizza Rolls® - 2/34.6oz Bags - 364964 2 No $8.98 $17.96

Horizon Organic Reduced Fat Milk w/DHA - 3/64oz - 17905 1 No $10.58 $10.58

Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter - 2 jars - 40 oz. each - 49573 1 No $6.49 $6.49

Dole® Sliced Strawberries - 80 oz. bag - 775841 1 No $8.28 $8.28

Brown Cow Greek Yogurt - Variety Pack - 12/53 oz - 987403 1 No $10.68 $10.68

Seedless Cucumbers - 3 ct. - 810937 1 No $3.98 $3.98

Farmland Hickory Smoked Bacon - 3/1 lb. pks - 33755 1 No $8.98 $8.98

Heinz Tomato Ketchup - 3/ 44 oz. - 281710 1 No $5.98 $5.98

Hellmann's® Real Mayonnaise - 64 oz. jar - 61167 1 No $6.15 $6.15

2 WindStone Farms® Seedless Blackberry Jam - 2/18 oz. - 476342 2 No $4.98 $9.96

Member's Mark® Salted Butter Quarters- 4/1 lb. - 907581 1 No $7.98 $7.98

José Olé® Chicken&Cheese Chimichangas-18ct - 137075 1 No $11.48 $11.48

2 Frozen Boneless Skinless Breasts - 6lb bag - 65525 2 No $13.48 $26.96

Flav-R-Pac® Whole Kernel Corn - 5 lb. bag - 452328 1 No $4.98 $4.98

FLAV-R-PAC® Broccoli Florets - 4lb bag - 216444 1 No $4.98 $4.98

Newman's Special Blend - Keurig K-Cups - 80 ct. - 728126 1 No $33.88 $33.88

Nabisco® Ritz Crackers - 4/12 oz. packs - 684362 1 No $5.94 $5.94

Ore-Ida Tater Tots 8lb. - 78016 1 No $6.62 $6.62

Yoplait® Original Yogurt Multi Pack-18/6oz. cups - 201472 1 No $7.22 $7.22

Pedigree® Adult Dry Dog Food - 52 lb. - 994976 1 No $23.84 $23.84

Kellogg's® Raisin Bran Crunch® - 43.3oz - 906053 1 No $6.58 $6.58

Quaker® Life® Cereal Variety Pack- 62 oz. - 680184 1 No $6.28 $6.28

Macaroni Grill® Meat Lasagna - 2/40 oz. trays - 230743 1 No $12.98 $12.98

Prego® Heart Smart™ Traditional - 2/67oz - 32754 1 No $6.49 $6.49

Baker's & Chef™ Wide Egg Noodles - 5 lbs. - 622386 1 No $5.98 $5.98

Earthbound Farm® Organic Mini Carrots - 3 lbs. - 351278 1 No $3.98 $3.98

Treasures from the Sea® Parmesan Tilapia - 40oz - 81405 1 No $11.98 $11.98

Bakers & Chefs™ Shredded Mild Cheddar - 5lbs - 63910 1 No $11.86 $11.86

2 Sister Schubert's Dinner Yeast Rolls - 30ct - 796504 2 No $5.88 $11.76
 
Total with tax $332.72

A snowy day

The snow out my window is a white blanket of sweet luster. It makes me happy to see how bright it is outside. The bare gray tress and skies of Missouri make me loathe winter more than the cold does. But the snow, well snow is pure and elegant. It’s pretty and soft. It’s romantic and cinematic. Snow makes winter palatable.


I have been making myself complete tasks and go to things lately. I’m very much a homebody. I’m a hermit. In general I can stay home most of the time, but the winter…well it’s ridiculous. I never want to leave. I could never leave and be so happy about it. You may hear me say that I should get out of the house or that it will be good for me to get out of the house, but you will rarely hear me say that I have to get out of the house. So I’m making myself get some things done and I’m making myself get out of the house for other things besides homeschool events and grocery shopping. Even though I often find it easy to get myself motivated to get out of the house for homeschool things I still had to make myself sign up for this session of a homeschool co-op. I also enjoy that it’s called the spring session even though it’s still the dead of winter. This means spring is going to unfold during the period in which we are enrolled. This means spring is in sight.

So I had to go to a Mother blessing this last week. I say had to like it was a chore, it was not! It was just a 100% priority type of thing. It was amazing beauty and fun. Then this week I’m bowling with the kids and I have on Saturday a women’s retreat to attend. This for me is being BUSY. LOL. But I’m making myself do these things. It’s good for me and when I do things for me I feel good. But I do have to MAKE myself.

The kids are painting in the kitchen and sound really obnoxious, which is ruining my peaceful snow mood! I must go to play a game with Layla now and ponder on what dinner might be. Oh and lunch…. Hummm.

Oh I haven’t even let the chickens out yet today, they probably don’t want out in the snow anyway. Fun for me is a walk in the snow to collect eggs. I love my life. It might be boring to some, but I really just love it.

A new WHAT?

It's JANUARY? January!? Serious? I haven't posted since last year. Shameful.

Can I gush about HIM then? Everett turned 3 months old recently. Oh I love him more than the moon. More than the nights glorious starry sky. I love him like a Mama bear loves her cub. He is sunshine on a rainy day. He is SO.MUCH.FUN.

Below is a recent picture of our next three youngest, Penelope 4, Layla 6 and Sebastian 2

I've tried to blog. I think I even have a draft saved from December. I need to write. I need to make time.

So Christmas was divine family time. I am one of those people that throws on a big Christmas production. Gifts, gifts and more gifts. I look at it this way: Some people go on vacations, I throw big Christmases for the kids. But we've had lots of fun games and toys to play. We are having the MOST fun with Sum Swamp, Zingo, and Pandabo ( I found it for cheap -but I've seen it everywhere for 24.99. Don't pay that much!! Amazon has it for $39.99 definitely don't pay that much!)

These have been some of the funnest (educational! unschooling!) games we've bought ---and we have millions of games in this house.

I've got a million projects going. It's so crazy. My goal in the new year is to finish them. Every time I get one done (or partially done) I start 3 more. Then while starting those three I find 4 more I want to start. And this continues an endless pattern.

The word for this year...I hadn't thought of one until this very moment... it is:

completion

So tomorrow our homechool activity will be for every one to find a special word and we will print it up or write it and the kids can decorate it, write companion words or goals to go with it or draw pictures around it and make it *theirs* then we can talk about how we can each make our word come to life!

Day in the life...

Updating..
Everett still has no middle name, and we better finalize his name soon I need to get his birth certificate filled out and sent in so I can get a SS card for taxes. Turns out these little blessings are worth money! ;)

We have been pulling up our carpet to get to our hardwood floors. That has been a great family project and a perfect example of life learning. The kids have learned about how carpet and flooring is put in and how to pull it up. They are also learning about many kinds of tools, how to use them carefully and the importance of doing things yourself. It's fun to have the confidence for a do-it-yourself project and then the feeling of accomplishment to see it through. This is only the beginning because hopefully in the near future we will sand and refinish the old floors together!

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I had a dream I got pregnant ... and then two days later in the dream I got pregnant again. LOL! This dream cracked me up. Fertile much?
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Kids crack me up...
I was stressed one evening and didn't come up with anything for dinner. I was changing clothes and thinking about dinner verbalizing my stress saying, "What am I going to do..what am I going to feed everyone? I'm so stressed!" Layla heard me and started pestering me verbalizing her own stress at a computer game she was playing in my room. She started dramatically repeating over and over, "Ohhh what am I going to doooo?!" I said, "At least you don't have to feed all these kids...what am I going to do!?" She replied, "YOU should hope you don't have any more kids."

bwahaha. Layla is 6 going on 12. She's also a lawyer in the making. You can't get the last word in and she has a come back for everything. Everything.
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Last night I was remembering the time Penelope's footie PJ's didn't fit her. I said calmly to her and her daddy, "Well we could cut the feet off I guess." In horror she cried, "Noooooooooooooooooo." I didn't know if I should laugh or cry when I explained to her that Mommy and Daddy were talking about cutting the footie socks feet off off the jammies and not her actual feet! Poor girl.
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Recently I was asked what funny things Charlotte said incorrectly when she was a little girl and I recalled the time she told me that her little brother Sage was bothering her. She said, , "Mom! Sage is getting on my last nerd!"


Love. kids.

The days are running into each other for me. Everett is getting big --over 12 lbs. He is almost 8 weeks old. He has fat rolls. He is awesome. I need to post a picture! Pictures coming.