The Weekly Review IX

Sunday~

The storms in the night knocked a tree down at the beginning of the street so we had to take the alley to leave for church. Tea came over to play with Bea after church. After a dinner of grilled roast sandwiches and salads we cut up that tree. It was really quite a small, young tree to fall in the wind, compared to some of the trees near to it.

Monday~

I sewed and lots of neighbor kids came in and out and the kids played ball in the field. Margaret and I made her Raspberry pie. These berries had a Lot of little black beetles in them that were a trick to get out. After soaking them for about 5 minutes they started crawling out of the berries. You didn't even see them until you had soaked them awhile. Nati got one in his piece of pie so then he couldn't finish it, so did I but I am used to bugs in my food I guess so it didn't bother me. I got my next Booksneeze book and am anxiously waiting to start it. I am trying to read two that I checked out from the library and am not enjoying as much as I did when I first started them. One is Age of Opportunity, a great book about parenting teens and the other is Crime and Punishment, who decides what makes a great classic anyway.

Tuesday~

Margaret and Harrison had music lessons. I baked bread and chocolate mint chip cookies, a really good batch, if I do say so myself, and everyone else thought so to because they didn't appreciate me limiting their quantities. We went and picked grape leaves for me to put in our supper and the kids played football and soccer with the other kids around here. Harrison again bruised his foot and it got a little swollen like last time but I didn't worry about it because he has shoes and hands to put them onto his feet. Harrison about cried when he came to the supper table and found that he had picked grape leaves and I didn't use them in dolmas but in Stuff. He does like him some dolmas, that is for sure.

Wednesday~

We went to the Chutes and Ladders park with Christy and Co. The kids played for awhile and then we went down the trail a little way and had a picnic lunch. It was a very hot day but the park has a sprayer tube that they all had fun running through and getting quite wet in, dripping wet in. We were late getting to horseshoes because I need a watch. Everyone that wears a watch in our family pays no attention to when we are to be places. Malia came with us for the rest of the afternoon. The girls did beads and made several more geckos. I had a hard time thinking of an exciting way to teach about Jonathan and his armor bearer climbing up the cliff and slaying a bunch of Philistines on their own (with God's help, of course). A great story, but I didn't have any teaching aids for it. So I took Harrison's toy soldier's and set them up with some tents and acted the story out using them. They are modern warfare men so Gregory kept telling me which ones were using the bazooka and so on. I don't know if they remembered the story later on but everyone thought it was fun to play with different toys during playtime.

Thursday~

We were planning on going swimming at our friend Diane's house with some other friends from church. It was raining in the am so Diane thought we had better cancel and try for a better day. I finally finished Beatrice's fairy outfit. When she was maneuvering out the door the wings got knocked and already have issues. I had thought they were pretty sturdily made, too. We finished reading The House of Sixty Fathers. It was such a sweet story based on a true story, which makes it much better to me. Hans and Garret came over to play for the day since we couldn't go swimming. Tammy came and visited for awhile in the evening. Travis impressed her with his awesome tapioca pudding making skills.

Friday~

The most exciting thing we did, in my opinion, was make krumkake for breakfast. They were very yummy. After I had them going Margaret pretty much took over the cooking of them, Harrison did a few also. Since it was something new and different it was very exciting to them to get involved. We want to have an ice cream party and serve it in our own home made bowls now. Travis was pretty sad when he called home and heard we were making them and he wasn't there, we saved him some though and he had a serving while waiting for lunch. I hadn't thought about making krumkake for years so when I was reading Emily's blog on Thursday evening I had to get my iron out and use it. I also vacuumed a little and made Ben's bed. We ran to the library. We went out to supper with the Faust family from Ohio and China.

Saturday~

Margaret, Beatrice and I got three overflowing baskets full of laundry folded first thing in the morning. Good job girls! We ran to get gas for the lawnmowers and Travis a pair of jeans for work at Fleet. He was hoping they would be on sale. His are really wearing out. Ben came to spend the next week or so with us. He brought us bamboo chopsticks and we tried them out on a stir fry for lunch. Bea particularly enjoys using them so it is nice to have some for the appropriate meals, and now we have some even for our guests to use. 

Tom, a friend from church, came over to hang out with Ben and all of us. We had supper of pizza, brownies and cucumbers, fresh from my garden!! We watched Knight's of the South Bronx after supper.  Then we sent up a hot air balloon that Ben had brought from China. Several held lighters and a candle and Tom and I held the edges of it. We held it until the heat sent it up, Up, UP! We watched the light until it was no more in the sky.

Goodnight,
~Anna

The Weekly Review VIII

Sunday~

A lovely day. I missed the sermon because I was singing and learning about Naaman with the preschool/kindergartners. Harrison helped me with Bible Hour, often Margaret does but he asked if he could this time. After church we went to lunch at Chili's with the Fredericks, it was yummy. It was the hot spot for people from church to come. Two other tables were full of fellow church of Christer's. Then we went to Sam's because I had used up the last of my yeast for supper on Saturday night. Travis was a little perturbed when he came out of the bathroom and my cart was full and he thought all we were coming for was yeast. I got 11 pounds of apples. I hadn't bought any for a long while because they have been expensive and they weren't very good looking, these were fairly reasonable and very good looking. They have been delicious. The kids love apples so they have been a wonderful treat. This evening we went to the Salvation Army up the road a bit to hear the Alzen Family. Nahum and Deborah went with us. Travis had to work so he was disappointed he couldn't go. I like the Salvation army's music! They have a full brass band for their singing. It was pretty neat. It sounded like on Sunday mornings they have more players and it looked like they use a couple pianos as well. Their attendance was typical for Sunday evening attendance, average age 65 and fairly sparse. Next week they are having a Christian Illusionist, that sounds interesting. Harrison thinks we ought to check it out.

Monday~

Henry had a check up. His weight and all is really good but we need to feed him less table food and more dog food as he has too much plaque build up on his teeth, Travis needs to brush them more is another solution, I think. I needed to mail a few things so Gregory and Beatrice chose to ride their bikes with me there. So did Deborah, Nahum, Kristina, and Holten. After we were through at the post office we played at a nearby park for a little while. Holten and Nahum weren't so sure that was a good idea since Harrison wasn't along but the other four thought we ought too and 4 against 2 wins.

Tuesday~

Margaret lost two teeth, by force today. They were going to impede the growth of the next teeth so the orthodontists recommended that we remove them now. The removal went smoothly. They had really long roots still so it took a little pulling, I guess. She and Harrison also had their instrument lessons. I did some sewing and lots of laundry because we are forcasted to have lots of rain the rest of this week.

Wednesday~

Speaking of rain we got gallons of it today. Huge quantities. Harrison and Margaret each had check ups at their Dr. It had been a few years since they had been in to see her so we decided that it was time for a physical for them. Harrison, Dr. Gobel assured me is going to be a very big guy when he gets through with this growing business. They are both good and healthy. Since Dr. Gobel is near where they throw horseshoes I had originally planned to have a picnic but the weather wasn't so promising it had been raining off and on all morning so we went to a new Aldi near there. Then I called to see about the plan for horseshoes and it was cancelled. So we headed home and stopped at Rainbow on the way to get the good deals for the week and pick up Travis' epi pen from the pharmacy. After we got home it started to really rain. Hard. It poured. The kids went out and played in it for awhile. They were soaked through and through. The street was under water. It really was fun being out in it. I started to call them in once because it got super windy for just a little while but it was almost over with the wind by the time I got them to hear me. Then we went to church. Beatrice and Gregory helped me choose the snack for my class while we were at Rainbow. Snack crackers and cheese whiz. They were different shapes so the kids laid them out to look like a man and then we put cheese on to look like lots of hair because we studied Samson tonight.

Thursday~

Beatrice had a shop selling her arts today and Gregory went hunting. I also made a delicious blueberry upside down cake. So very yummy. Friday~

My helpers came down in uniform. Camping T shirts and navy blue shorts. We baked Banana bread, banana cake and regular whole wheat bread. We also went shopping for we had some birthdays and a wedding shower to prepare for. It was a slow trip because I was in the mood to look at clearance racks and others were in the mood too. I am trying to decide what to do about shopping and Deborah. She feels totally rejected if I don't allow her to come so she hasn't missed many outings since summer began, but when I get something for my kids (like shoes, watches) she feels left out in my not buying for her. Naturally I always buy for her if we are eating. So, I have been deliberating on the proper protocol on that. I have been sewing a fairy costume for Beatrice out of some silk shirts that I saved because of the pretty colors. It is a tedious process. Harrison kicked Nahum in the shin instead of the soccer ball by accident this evening and he wasn't wearing any shoes. He now has a swollen spot the size of a golf ball just down from his ankle. He isn't walking very well, in fact he isn't. He is hopping. We have iced it and hope that during his sleep it will heal.

Saturday~

The swelling has gone down some but walking is very uncomfortable. We were all planning to go to Como Zoo to meet some of the Blanshans for the morning but Harrison and Travis stayed home. We had a nice visit at the zoo although it was very hot and crowded. We got to watch Sparky. A lot of the animals thought it was to hot to move so they were all pretty quiet. The puma was active and so was the Siberian Tiger. My camera was giving me weird signals so I didn't take any pictures there. I didn't want to erase the memory by accident since I had a few pictures on it I didn't want to loose. When I showed it to Travis at home later it was perfectly normal and worked just fine this evening.

Then we went over to Ellsworth, WI to a friends for some friends wedding shower. Harrison and Margaret picked raspberries for them and for us to bring home. Margaret wants me to make a pie with them. That does sound good. I had been planning to make plain old kefir with them but she thought that would be a waste. We almost didn't get any berries because it started to rain but they braved the weather and got a nice amount. It really didn't rain very much until we got home. Around 8pm it started to rain and then we had all sorts of storminess. Travis' train was stopped because of the tornado watch and they had to wait until it passed. We camped out in the basement and read and sewed. The kids chose to sleep down there as well, to be on the safe side. ~Anna

The Weekly Review VII

Sunday~

Just before we headed out the door to church the sky started pouring. It was a warm Heavy rain that left you almost soaked on just the little walk to the van. By the time we got to the church building it was virtually all over. While we were in class it did rain hard there also, I guess. I was busy teaching 12 preschool/kindergartners. They were really attentive and a lot of fun. We talked about Elisha helping the widow whose husband left her with a lot of debt and the miracle of the oil jar never running out until there were no more jars to fill. When we came home I made a quick lunch of spaghetti while Travis gave the chairs another quick varnish. I also baked a white cake to turn into a jello cake for supper. I baked it in my blue pan for proper effect. For supper we went over to the Verhoeven's, we took some of our new steaks to try them out. We also had hamburgers, bbq chicken or hotdogs and anything else you might want for a proper 4th of July meal. Several other friends were over also. Their front yard is perfect for watching the fireworks. They are shot in the school yard which is across the street from them. Daryl also had several of his own that he shot off after all the other ones were done. While we were waiting for the big ones to go off I had brought some Roman candles along from last year the kids wanted to do so Daryl took them across the street to an open area on the school property to shoot off. After they had done a few a police guy pulled up and told them to move from there, I was a little nervous since I was the provider of them that they were going to get Daryl in trouble but the guy just said to do it on your own property. We got home about 11pm and the fireworks were still going crazy around here. They had some pretty big ones. We were so tired we didn't stay out for all of them though. Gregory and Beatrice didn't try to watch them at all they just went to bed.

Monday~

I tried to hang my laundry out today and while I was in the basement doing a tiny bit of mending it decided to pour on it. So I brought it in since there were still a few spots of dryness on it and then everything cleared up and there were no clouds in the sky so I hung it all back out and watched the sky very carefully. When the sky got very heavy and a few drops started coming down I brought it in and used the dryer. We also went shoe shopping for Harrison, He couldn't get his tennis shoes on him the other day. His feet had quickly stretched. Deborah was along and the kids were pretty crazy most of the time. Racing from one destination to another as we went through the stores. We also went to IKEA. I thought I would leave the younger three in the daycare but it was full and they weren't accepting anyone for 1/2 an hour or so. So they had to shop with us. We stopped at Cub on the way home to get lettuce for supper and Travis chose some Redbox for our evenings entertainment. He ended up bringing home 2 DVDs. We watched The Spy Next Door. It was really good. I made chimmichangas they were really good too.

Tuesday~

Harrison had his first trumpet lesson for the month. We went on a bike ride to Swede Hallow. Deborah and Nahum went with us. Our purpose for the bike ride was to pick blackberries. It was pretty successful. We got enough for those who wanted it on their ice cream after supper and two batches of jam. As we were leaving Travis spotted a bush with Huge berries and that added a couple more cups in quick work. It was really nice. We had our maiden voyage on our new dining room chairs. After supper we watched Blind Sided. OH My Goodness that is a very good movie!! It is one I would really like to watch again.

Wednesday~

Margaret had her first violin lesson for the month, while she did that I held the little baby. She is six weeks old now. When we got home I sliced up some round steak to marinade for fajitas for supper. Margaret and Harrison had horseshoes this afternoon. It looked like it might storm so I didn't want to leave them there and do my grocery shopping in case they needed to leave because of the weather. So I worked on my lesson for tonight's class and visited with the other moms. We had to get groceries on our way home which is also when the storm broke loose. I got seven pints of black raspberry jam made. I used the low sugar pectin and it is so yummy!

Thursday~

I did a little weeding, a little laundry. We cleaned the house. Travis had his annual check up with his allergist. He sent home a prescription for an epi pen, which he should have had every time he had a shot in case of an adverse reaction. I will need to get that. Travis has been having a lot of heart burn and not sleeping well because of it so the Dr. recommended that he try Zantac to relieve that. Hopefully it works. We measured the kids today because Travis assured me that Harrison was almost as tall as me and taller than his Granny so we needed to just be sure of the status of these great achievements. Harrison is 65", Margaret is 60", Beatrice is 49", and Gregory is 47". They are growing like weeds! Friday~

I worked on some sewing that I had been putting off for some time (since last October). Beatrice had really wanted to make Granny a dress last fall but she doesn't wear dresses so we decided a night gown would be a better choice. Bea chose the material and we got the pattern but I just kept putting off the making so we finally got it cut out and started sewing. It is a cute pattern and more detailed than I thought when we chose it. I hope it fits well. Saturday~

I did more sewing. I got a skirt sewn for me and I finished the nightie. Margaret and Beatrice both did little projects themselves. Margaret has been helping me right along, gathering ruffles and threading elastic, of which there was yards used. We went to the library for the second time this week, a book Travis had requested came in and Harrison was out of books again. We went to taco bell for lunch. I had some coupons and I was hungry and not feeling like cooking. I gave each of the kids one coupon and 1-3 dollars depending on their size and hunger and they were supposed to figure out what they could get for that amount of money. I don't think the people behind us were so happy to be behind us once we all got through as we were quite slow. We had the Verhoeven's over for supper. I made pizza and brownies and she brought a lettuce salad. It was a pleasant evening of visiting and many kids conquering great battles outside.

Have a great week

~Anna

Billy Graham His Life and Influence

This is a review of the book Billy Graham His Life and Influence by David Aikman. I was looking for a fun read about an influential person in our times. It turned out to be a very dry scientific look at how he influenced the world during his time of ministry. This book spent a lot of time explaining his theology and what brought him to that belief. The book did impress me in the honesty and humility that Billy had, even though it seemed he searched for famous people to talk to. If you are doing research on the man this is the book for you. If you are a casual reader interested in a fun biography, you may not be as interested in reading it.

I am reviewing this book for Booksneeze, whom I received it from for free.

The Weekly Review VI

Sunday~

Was a bit of a muggy day in the morning and hot, but we were in the church building and in the afternoon it was quite nice out. At church I really enjoyed the singing. We sing out and to a lively speed and I have really grown to appreciate it. Last week (at camp) it seemed to me we sang the songs rather on the slow side, and it just wasn't as uplifting that way.

Gregory was really wanting a bike ride so we took a shortish one to a park before Travis headed to work. After Travis left for work we went to the forest to hunt for black raspberries. We found some. Enough for each of us to have a small bowl full with cream and I put two cups into the freezer. Our problem is a few others have found our "secret" patch. We showed a few of our neighbors a few years ago when we found the patch but they weren't so entranced by it as we were. I don't really like sharing. Words and names of things are interesting to me and my kids calling our woods a forest is fun. Growing up it was "the woods" at our place, at Grandma's in Iowa she referred to it as "the timber", and at Grandpa's place in Nebraska it was called "the grove". So the next place we move will have to be called the bush or jungle, I guess. I also got to watch a ballet on my front porch accompanied by a fine violinist.

Monday~

I worked at attacking the growing laundry mountain in the basement. It was a good drying day outside so that was wonderful. Travis finished getting a riding lawnmower that has been taking up to much garage space for the past year, overhauled and running again. Yeah! Now that it is running we can pass it along to where it can be used and we can park in that section of the garage again. I know he will hate to see it leave. With no effort he mowed the whole field in very little time. It looks good to, not much scalping. I mowed our front yard with it. A big challenge, I would prefer to push it because I had to do all sorts of fancy reversing because there is no space for a rider here. I made dolmas for supper, so yummy. They were Margaret's favorite batch and Travis' less favorite because I used almonds in them for the pine nuts. This is a good time of year for grape leaves so I need to pick more for the freezer.

Tuesday~

We went to Como Zoo in the morning. It has been a long time since we went there in the summer. The crowds were awful. We got to watch the Sparky show and go into the butterfly tent. The Butterflies were very beautiful! It was so pretty outside to be in it was nice.

The kids were a little restless like they were unsure how to fill their free time today. Particularly Harrison as he has finished all the books he wanted to read again. When he reads he devours them and they are gone in a flash and he needs more so then he takes a little bit to find the next sort he wants to read. I think we are all a little tired still from camp, too. I am entirely caught up from camp laundry now!

Wednesday~

Gregory and I drove down HWY 52 to Greg's Meats and picked up our 830 pounds of freshly processed beef. Then we went to Rainbow and got groceries. Once we got back the fun began, of hauling all of that down to the basement. The kids pitched in with great vigor and we were done in no time. I just had to fit it into the freezer. We still had about 15 lbs of hamburger left from last year, 1 T-bone and 1 round steak package that I pulled out and am thawing in the fridge. There is absolutely no space in the freezer for anything else right now! As soon as we had hauled everything in we headed over to W. St. Paul, we ate lunch in the van of reheated dolmas. Harrison and Margaret did their horseshoe throwing there. I worked on my class material for tonight and Gregory and Beatrice played on the playground, watched the game and tried to take naps in the van. Before church we managed to get the house mostly cleaned up, vacuumed, mopped and bathrooms scrubbed. It looks nice for the moment.

Margaret has been desiring to try lemon meringue pie so we combined efforts and made one today. We tried it after church this evening and the kids were very pleased with the results. So we made another one on Thursday!

Thursday~

We had better success hunting blackberries today. We got enough for two batches of jam. While I was canning them one jar exploded on me for some reason. It really just went Pop, I suppose, it was a mess any which way. I am kind of glad none of the kids were helping me because they might of gotten shot, I just got a purple shirt and three sides of the kitchen got hit, actually five. So I got to mop again. I baked a Huge turkey today. I had pulled it out of the freezer on Monday to make room for the beef and it was finally thawed. I didn't expect the beef to be ready until next week, actually, oh well it is all in. While we were berry picking Harrison upset a mama cardinal quite a bit picking at the clump of bushes she had her nest in. There were two little featherless chicks in there. Hopefully we didn't bother her too much. We did all need to look in, but then we moved on.

Friday~

Travis and the kids put together the rest of our dining chairs and hauled them out to the garage so we can varnish them. We got the first coat on. Our friends Amy and Diane came over for lunch. Amy has been up visiting for the past week from Arizona and we hadn't gotten to see her yet so they came by before she flew back home and spent a couple hours. It was so nice to see them. They got turkey soup, surprise, surprise, since I had just cooked down the bones all night long. For supper we went to some friends in Hudson, WI for a cook out with random other people from church. Some missionaries from Belgium are here visiting right now and this way we got to meet them and visit a little more than just at church. Travis' tracks go right by their house also and there are some osprey who have a nest just a little way down the track so some of us took a walk down there. They live on one of the water ways off of the Mississippi and we crossed on the train track bridge. It was kind of fun and scary looking down at all of the water through the ties. The mama osprey wasn't sure if we should be in her territory. It was a lovely evening for a walk, around 80 degrees with a nice breeze.

Saturday~

Travis got up early to go help some guys take a huge cross off of the wall at the church building. It was made from old RR ties and a lady has been having some allergy issues at church so they thought that might be the problem. They are going to make another one from something else. When he got back I got up and he went back to bed. I got a Big pot of sloppy joes cooking for lunch, using up that hamburger. We got all of our yard and gardens watered really well. It is so dry out there again on our ground. We also got the chairs varnished again, we did them twice today. We went to the Ericsson's for lunch. Most of our Life Group from last year got to come. We had a nice time visiting and then we did a little kid switching. Jessica came home with us and Harrison went home with the Verhoeven's. He will be there until we go over there for supper tomorrow. We will see him at church, but he doesn't sit with us so we won't see him very much. The girls have mostly played barbies and Gregory has felt a little lost. Nati has come over for awhile so that was nice although they kept throwing everything (legos) around and that was bit bothersome. We went to check on the baby cardinals and the nest is completely empty. There is know way they were ready to fly, I can't see evidence of them on the ground so I wonder what happened to them. The mama was feeding them yesterday. Can mama birds move their flightless crew when they feel they are in an unsafe place? Do you know?

~Anna

The Weekly Review V

Sunday~

We headed south to Iowa and left Travis behind. We took with us, Mara and Malia. We felt really bad leaving Travis on Father's day so we actually let him leave us for church and then we left. That way he didn't have to stand there watching us back out of the driveway. We stopped to see Grandma Cleone in Sigourney on our round about way to Centerville for Sharon Bluff Bible Camp. We had a nice little visit with grandma. They have had a ton of rain around here. So many rivers were way out of their proper boundaries and many fields had ponds in them that aren't intended to be there. We made it to camp at about 5pm. Got ourselves all moved in and registered. I will be helping in the kitchen, life guarding with Trina at the pool, being a dorm mom with Trina in the girls dorm and being the nurse. We also will pass out the campers canteen cards and random other duties. We should be busy and have fun.

Monday~

We had a fair amount of rain today. It did clear off for sports and swim time which is nice. They played volleyball and basketball since they are on concrete pads. The kids still got muddy chasing the balls that go out of bounds and things. I have to pass out quite a bit of medicine. Kind of sad for such young people to need things on a regular basis. There was a bit of an incident with a boy that came up this evening and he needed to be sent home because of his actions. His cousin that came with him chose to go home as well. Because all that took some time and his parents took awhile to get here it made a late night for all of us. The girls all hung out of their windows to watch the goings on. It took the girls a long time to calm down and go to sleep this evening.

Tuesday~

Because of the late night the girls all slept in. One even slept through her cell phone alarm, so I confiscated that. The rule is NO cell phones. (I think I found a cell phone everyday of this week that wasn't turned in on Sunday). We have a couple girls that are homesick and going home. Lots of headaches, I need to preach drinking water more I guess. More rain came today again. It made it hard to hear in the main building and the Sheriff's office called to say everyone had to remain in the main building because of the severity of the storm until further notice. When I was thinking I really needed to think of a good game for everyone to play because it was chaos going on the oldest camper gathered everyone together and they sang until it was time for chapel. She is a good leader of the kids, very sweet to them (a mess with her things though, which is driving Trina batty :). We tried enforcing the rule no sleeping in other girl's beds tonight, and we garnered some enemies in doing that. What the big deal in wanting to sleep in someone else bed is, I cannot understand. These are some big girls that are doing it mostly so it has got to be awfully poor sleep for them.

Wednesday~

Blue skies all morning!! During sports there were tornado warnings though. I was gone when that happened because I took the afternoon and Beatrice and Gregory and went to visit my Grandma again. It added so much to our driving time on Sunday that I wanted to do it some other day than Friday on our way home. We had a really nice visit. It was nice to get away from camp for awhile also. We got back just as the girls were finishing their swim time and the boys were going in. It had been delayed because of the storms. Gregory really wanted to go swim but was so grumpy from waking up from a nap in the van that he just couldn't get in there. We had a lot of extra people come for the supper tonight and service. For activities the tribes put on skits. They were fun to watch. After that we had a baptism! Pretty exciting. The girls had a hard time getting calmed down to sleep for some reason tonight. But in time we all slept a little.

Thursday~

First day of no rain! It was hot though. Margaret, Mara and Malia found a field of blackeyed Susans and picked each of the cooks a bouquet. They were really pretty. We also got a sweet letter from one of the younger boys telling us that we made the best food he had ever tasted. Not me actually because I didn't make any of the food, but maybe it was better because the pans were so clean for the food to be in. I wrote the recipe down for Marilyn's wonderful cinnamon rolls. They are really yummy and Travis has wanted me to get the recipe for many years. Now we will try it in whole wheat. My kids missed the whole grain foods we are used to eating. That was nice to hear. Amazingly the girls were quiet when we shut the lights out tonight. We shut it off almost an hour late, but then all was quiet.

All of the campers

The cooks who were there on Friday morning

Friday~

Some of the girls had really wanted to go swimming early in the morning before breakfast since it was our last day there and time to go home. I told them if they were quiet at sleeping time I would take them. Only about 8 ended up wanting too, but we did it and they had a wonderful time. The air was cold but the water warm and it wasn't crowded, it was really lovely. Christa (who chose not to swim) went around and woke all the swimmers up so they wouldn't miss it and then went back to sleep. I thought that was nice of her. After chapel it was time to clean the dorm! And did it ever need cleaning. Most of the girls were really industrious and we left it much better off than we found it! There were many pairs of underwear, socks, and bras that were trashed, I believe, because no one claimed them as we were picking up. We had a good trip home and remained safe as we drove through tornado warnings and torrential rain storms.

Saturday~

I slept in. Harrison said he got up at 6:30 or so, but I did not. I tried to attack the mountain of laundry growing in my basement. I made a lunch of a shrimp stir fry. It was really yummy, too. I put together most of the ingredients to a cranberry coffee cake for breakfast in the morning. It is our traditional morning for cereal but we are out of milk (Travis ate 3 boxes of cereal while we were gone and that took care of all the milk). The kids built race cars out of legos and K'nex while Travis read this morning and they had their computer time this afternoon. Travis is at work now for the evening.

May your laundry be caught up and your days be sunny.

~Anna

The Weekly Review IV

Sunday~

Mike used the Bible points for each day of VBS as his key points for the sermon this morning. Now we are all ready for VBS. My class went really well. We have some good 3rd and 4th graders around here. We had our friends Pam and Billy over for lunch. They are moving away to Texas this week so we needed one last time of visiting. They promise to come back for winter visits as they will really miss it. Pam taught Deborah for preschool and so they got to say goodbye to each other, too. Travis and I (with a few little helpers) cleaned our van, in and out. It is so beautiful now!

Monday~

Beatrice woke up at 6:30 ready to start the day, she is too excited about VBS, I do believe. Kyle got here at 7:10 to ride to VBS with us and spend the day here while his mom works. I had a bake-a-thon this afternoon, I guess. I made an orange cream cheese roll (and froze it for Travis next week), a triple batch of persimmon pudding (we ate one third this evening and the rest is for later this week), a potato pie, I mixed up a large batch of chocolate chip cookies (for the VBS staff) and will bake them tomorrow when we return from VBS and I got the wheat soaking for a batch of bread tomorrow. We are going through bread faster than we used to. I made some on Saturday and it was already gone.

Tuesday~

Another day at VBS. Kyle and Gregory are really enjoying getting to hang out together. We had Carline, Mykayla, Megan, Skylar and Choomia over for lunch today and they stayed until it was supper time. The kids had a great time playing, playing, playing. It had been raining some in the morning, but it was nice so they were able to play out on the bikes and whatever else they do. We had one hard fast shower while they were all outside but that was pretty fun. They also played dress-up and pirates. I got my cookies and bread made.

Wednesday~

Another good morning at VBS. My group of girls are very sweet. Two are always wanting to sit on my lap and cuddle, two are big girls that do exactly as we are told and the fifth is in a wheelchair and doesn't communicate real well so we try to include her as we can. Harrison and Margaret had horseshoes this afternoon. We took a picnic lunch and ate at the park right after VBS since there isn't time to go home in between. I think they had a good time. Gregory, Beatrice and I went and got our grocery's for the week, we had a good time, too.

Today Beatrice was tired by the end of the afternoon. Deborah was there before we got out of the van and after a couple of hours being together Bea came in crying for no reason she could think of, I know she was just to tired to deal with friends. They can be so exhausting. After hanging out on Daddy's lap for awhile she also realized she hadn't drawn any all day and so she got out paper and was soon whistling away, life was good again.

Thursday~

We continue to be getting up in good time and heading to VBS almost early. Really quite amazing for us! Gregory was finishing his Father's day letters when Kyle got here so Kyle made one for Gregory's grandpa too. Margaret thought he should send it to his grandpa, but I realized then that he doesn't have a grandpa, that made us all kind of sad for a bit.

We traded vans for the next day or so with the Davidson's so we can take home a van load for the Urban Ministry. I found out today that I am glad I only have four kids and that I have a mini van. Maneuvering this van is quite a challenge in crowded little streets and twelve passengers makes for a very noisy load. Still it is fun to get to be the person to pick up all these folks for a day or so. I made a double batch of cupcakes to take for the crew leaders in the morning. I also made a DELICIOUS chicken and zucchini stir-fry for supper. It also had carrots, garlic and fresh green beans. yummy!

Friday~

We got all of our riders back and we were on our way to VBS in good time. It looked like I had a van load of pentecostal kids. They all wanted to adjust the vents that were in the ceiling of the van, or each others hair a few times, too. The last morning of VBS went swell. Malia came home with us too. Travis was able to go this morning so he mowed the yard at the building during VBS and hauled Harrison and Margaret and Malia to and from VBS so we wouldn't have to double buckle to many kids. We got all of the house vacuumed this afternoon and one bathroom cleaned, and lots of laundry done. It was a productive afternoon. The family fun/VBS finale was this evening. The church building is on its way to being back to normal.

Bea posing for the camera before the Pelicans sang their song.

Saturday~

We intended to sleep in, and some of us did, but Bea and I only made it to 6:50am and were ready to get up and get busy. So I folded laundry and she read books while everyone else slept for a little longer. For lunch we took a fast and fun picnic to Fort Snelling area and met up with the Ken Cobb family and some of the Kent Davidson family. They were touring the fort and I didn't feel up to doing that, but I wanted to spend some time with them so that is what we did. I took tuna sandwich or PBJ fixings, popcorn, carrot sticks and brownies. Travis' allergies are driving him crazy today! The wind is really stirring up the pollen or something.

What new revelations did you have this week?

~Anna

The Weekly Review IIII

Sunday~

We went to church in Bemidji today. It is always fun to see everyone there. Mike talked about being More than Conquerors. We don't want to remain static we need to keep growing, I Peter 3:18 among others. After church we had dinner at Mom and Dad's as did Abbi's family and Charity and her boyfriend Marty and his father. Marty and Charity are going to canoe the Mississippi, between Bemidji and Grand Rapids, this week. Then we headed home. Travis was there waiting for the kids and I. We made really good time! Barely four hours of driving.

Monday~

Travis taught Harrison how to change the oil and rotate the tires on his Toyota. They discovered where the vibration is coming from on the car and so now it is at Car- X. The kids and I will probably walk there later to pick it up. Travis also cut off Henry's hair. He needed a bath and it was getting a little long for summer. He found several ticks doing the job so it is really good he got that done. I had looked for ticks the other day but with his super thick hair my fingers couldn't feel them. There is now no hiding spot for the ticks! Deborah taught Bea a new rhyme to say while clapping their hands or to jump rope to called Miss Mary Mack.They are pretty cute saying it together.

Tuesday~

Margaret had a orthodontist appointment and all of the kids had their teeth cleaned at the dentist. In between the two places we went to eat lunch at Chula Vista. One of the first restaurants we tried when we first moved down to this area and still a favorite of ours if we are on Roberts St. Travis' favorite is seafood chimichanga. Harrison, Gregory and I all ate it also this time. It is really yummy. What I think is neat is they still have the same wait staff as they did 5 years ago. While they were at the dentist I ran and got groceries at Aldi's. Gregory had a little tiny cavity in the back of his mouth so we took care of that while we were there.

Wednesday~

We got up early and headed over to Farmington to stay with Warren while his sister Summer was delivered. Since we were there for most of the day we took along schoolwork and other projects and had a pretty productive day. Warren is three and a pretty cute guy to hang out with. They only talk Chinese to him so at times the language can be a challenge, but I am always impressed with how well we can communicate when he is with us.

Harrison and Margaret got about half of their CA skills test done while we were there. I got all of my coupons cut and put away from the last two weeks, and Harrison's math all corrected!

Thursday~

We finished up the tests. Now I need to send them in. I am really excited to see how they did. They always get it done in about half the time given for the test so I hope they did alright. I have a lot of plants getting eaten up by bugs outside so when my neighbor Ong came to check on our bean tepee I showed her the holes. She decided I needed to get that treated right away. I got out some Ortho bug-b-gone powder I had and she went around and treated everything planted. I had kind of wanted to skip using it but our communication is stilted and she likes to help so, we should be bugless soon. I had planted a bunch of marigold plants but they weren't blooming yet. We went and did errands this afternoon and I bought 32 marigolds, that are blooming, at Menard's, and they are now scattered around our house. Travis was able to get the part at Menard's to fix Saba's burner she makes bunn (coffee) on. He fixed Miriam's sometime ago and Saba has been telling me he was to fix hers, well today she brought it down for him to work on. I cut Beatrice's bangs, much to her father's chagrin and her pleasure. It is cute.

Friday~

We went in the morning to help with decorations for VBS at the church building. We are doing Sailing The High Seas this year. The decorations are pretty fun to go along with that.

Saturday~

I learned the songs for VBS and had crew leader training. I also got my class material ready for in the morning. I am teaching 3rd and 4th graders.

We got more rain today. A lot of it. It has been a really rainy week, with some pretty days in the middle. Now we are ready for a busy week!

So how was your week? Did you learn any new songs?

~Anna

The Weekly Review III

Sunday~

We are still camping. It has been very lovely weather. Quite hot but, there is water we can cool in, shade and a nice breeze. Today we tried out the swimming lake, it didn't take the kids long to acclimate to the temperature of the water. At the evening service the speaker talked about different times the Bible refers to the palm of God's hand and Wade carved a giant hand out of cedar. He also made a nail on a forge telling how we need to be malleable by God just like the iron is made malleable by the heat of the fire. He does some neat art work, but is very faith only and that is sad. Last night we listened to the Alzen Family in concert. They are a very talented family and a lot of fun to listen too.

The kids raced their turtles, none of them won, but it was fun anticipating the big event.

Monday~

They had a nice Memorial service and flag raising. After that most of the kids went swimming in our group, just the older four boys stayed back and played tether ball and carpet ball. Hans and Harrison also got in a quick canoe ride. Then the big job of hauling all of our belongings back to the van and cleaning up the campsite. I was totally exhausted by the end of this day. We all walked several miles each day I am sure and often times I was carrying a light load. You can watch a short video of the weekend here. It isn't up yet but they said it would be soon.

Tuesday~

I woke up with terrible pressure in my sinuses so I ate an orange, a garlic clove and drank three glasses of water right off the bat and felt much improved, although rather smelly. I did three huge loads of laundry today and we did our school work. We all seem a little tired from the busyness of the past several days.

Wednesday~

We did some running around and finally made it to Fleet and found Margaret some nice sandals for her to play in this summer. I made meat pie for lunch because we are studying Australia and that is what they eat the books say. It was yummy, I also made an apple and a pumpkin pie. We aren't having normal classes for the next three weeks at church so tonight just Harrison and Margaret had a gathering in our family. They had a party/ class with their group. It looked like fun. While they were there we took a long drive around the countryside looking for a dairy that would sell us raw milk. Travis had heard of one that might on the other side of Woodbury and so we searched for it and drove in very beautiful country. It turns out there are 2 dairies over there but both farmers are very sure they will not sell to anyone. It is illegal in MN and they don't want to risk their farms for us. Makes my life easier not needing to run somewhere else to get milk, but Travis was very disappointed. For a late supper/ early birthday meal for Travis we went to the Outback. Our food was good, of course. Our waitress messed up our order so we got an extra plate of grilled chicken and ausie fries, and a cup of potato soup.

Thursday~

Travis and Beatrice mowed at the church building. Margaret made Travis' birthday cake. His favorite, angel food with a caramel sauce. We got the sauce just right in flavor and consistency. Harrison grilled hamburgers for supper. I shaped them and they didn't stay together to well, but they tasted pretty good. The kids and I got started packing for heading up to Bemidji on Friday.

Friday~We traveled north. It was a beautiful day for driving, sunny and pretty clouds, but not real hot either. I had hoped to get heading north pretty quickly, but it didn't go as fast as it should have in the morning. We had waffles for breakfast that were really slow in getting cooked. They did turn out very nicely though. Once we got to Mom and Dad's, Keren got to dreaming about tie-dye shirts and getting a kit from walmart to do a little dyeing. So we ran in there to get what we needed for that. We drove through Bemidji on our way home. I had not been through for some time. It has really been changing since I left. We had a yummy supper of Hamburgers grilled by Keren and broccoli and potato wedges.

Saturday~ We took a walk up on the new pipeline north of Mom and Dad's. It was fun to look around. It has really changed the look up there. They used about 8 foot lengths of some heavy rope in their work up there. We had fun pulling it out and hauling some back. They had it in some piles around partly underground. Keren's Graduation Open House was this evening. We played croquet, volleyball, water balloons and much visiting about while eating yummy food.

We ended the evening sitting around the living room at home while Dale played the guitar and Luke played the dobro and we all sang along randomly. It was pretty music.

Here is the lovely graduate preparing the water balloons.

~Anna