And They Keep on Growing up!

I have been a mother for 18 years and 10 days now. It has been so much fun. I'll always be a mom now but some of my roles are going to change. This year I am realizing just how soon that will be. I truly am excited for these changes and so very pleased with the people my children are becoming. 

 Goofy,

 Helpful,

 Loving,

Patient,

 Grateful,

  Musical,                     ,

                                     

 Friendly,

 Joyful,

They are mine and I wouldn't have them any other way!

Ephesians 1:4

Long before he [God] laid down earth's foundations, he had [my babies] in mind, had settled [on them] as the focus of His love.

What a promise! All the love I have for them is magnified way more by God's love and plans for them. We are entering years of moving on and growing up and stepping out on their own. I won't be every where with them but God is and he knows exactly what they need. We just have to follow him, listen to him, trust him, obey.

I am blessed, we are blessed,

~Anna

Fun Times

So this summer when I was ordering school supplies I was tempted by these planks. I thought they could be good for my crew. I was right. My camera is loaded with pictures of their structures! 

They range from complex works of art to soldier's bunkers. We were running out when ever Travis got involved so I did a little research and found a better deal with even more planks.

Then we tore up the floor in the main part of the house and this sort of fun ceased. So there has been a lull in this sort of play. We have barely used the new ones. I am sure they will get their turn once life settles down and winter sets in.

The proud creators.

Peace,
~Anna

When You Give a Girl a Floor

When you give a girl a new floor she is going to look at her

 Walls and say "this will not do, the time is right to update their color." When she finds just the right color for her walls she will look at her

 Valances and say "clearly these do not match!" And a search is on for the proper material to make new valances.

 When the project is over that girl will feel like she is living in a new home and be quite excited.

Apologies to Laura Numeroff for the plagiarism of her books.

For reference to what our house looked like refer to old blog posts. This one has quite a few home pictures.

blessings,
~Anna

Grilling

I wrote this post back in August or July and didn't finish it but today I decided to add pictures and post as is :)

This month we have had some truly summery days. Hot and sunny. Great for making things grow. I am thankful for those days and I don't want to warm up the house to much so we use the grill more. That is fun. Trying not to use the stove in the kitchen helps us be more creative.

Besides the classic grilling of steaks, brats and burgers we also roasted our vegies on the grill. Baked an apple pie. Created a delectable tilapia and carrots with garlic meal as well. Cooked the rice and corn bread all on the grill. It worked great for every one of those things. The thing to remember though is that rice and potatoes takes longer on the grill than steaks or brats. Just start them first.

 Margaret became a master of flat bread this summer. While I prefer it when she grills it on the George foreman grill it is also very tasty when she makes it on the outside grill along with her "shwarma" chicken that she grills. It is so nice having confident cooks around here.

Peace and Joy,

~Anna

A Prince Noah Story -a book review

Prince Noah and the School Pirates

A sweet story about a little guy with trisomy 21. This book in its own right would be a book I would enjoy reading but for the past six months we have been caring for a little guy with Down Syndrome so the topic is even more near and dear to my heart.
Noah lives in a place where all the kids go to school separately. The boys here, the girls here, the lame to another one, the blind to yet another one and so on. It was very segregated and no one knew why that is just the way it was, and it was boring. Then one day there was a big storm with Pirates, they were forced together. It was Great! Everyone brought something to the group and they were able to escape because they all worked together. Even the kids who were viewed as not so useful were needed to get out. When it was all done and they were safe they realized they needed each other.

This book has colorful, engaging pictures and an easy reading style that most will enjoy. My daughters thought this bool was wonderful and cute. They were charmed by it. They recommend that you all read it.

I was given this book by Handlebar Publishing for me to do an honest review.

Blessings,
~Anna

Testing

This past week was the week of tests around our house. I didn't plan it but they all ended up landing right now. On Saturday Harrison started the week of testing by taking his ACT with writing, Monday Beatrice and Gregory got started on their standardized tests that they have to take each year, by MN law. Then on Wednesday Margaret took the accu placer to see if she can take courses at Century College for her Junior year of High school. She can. I knew she could. Wednesday Gregory and Beatrice finished their tests and that rounded out our week of testing for academic astuteness. Now the waiting for scores on Bea, Gregory and Harrison has started. It will be awhile before we hear and by the time we get the results we will have forgotten that we even took them, it takes so long.
We also started a new stage in our life as a foster family. Another form of testing. It is fun to have a little one crawling around the house. Arranging my life around nap times and Dr appointments, packing a bag for any trip outside the house, that is the new norm for us. Hopefully soon his family will be ready to have him and care for him again but until then we will love on him and cherish his days here. Taking tests the first full week our little new friend was here was nice since they are quite a lot easier and less time consuming then regular schoolwork. We could adjust to having a small one around here and not be all consumed with studies in the morning. It has been back to the grind this week though and he has been really good while Gregory, Beatrice and I work on stuff he plays beside us in the living room or in my lap.

Best wishes for a Happy Day,
~Anna

Ferrets

This winter we added two more creatures to our household. For some reason unknown to me, Gregory decided he really needed to have ferrets. Why I don't know at all, but he really did, So after much research on his part and careful thought and planning we randomly went to the pet store to scope them out. My downfall was Travis was home when we went and insisted on going along. The store used the art of a "good deal that might not be here long" and the ferrets used their cute personality and home we came with two ferrets! Gregory much the poorer, because these are his and not ours, but so super excited. The older three children were gone for the weekend so he was blessed by having Deborah along to help get excited and DJ came home with us as well and helped with the setting up of the kennel and all. February thirteenth is marked as Mocha and Bandits gotcha day on my calendar.

We have decided that ferrets are among the messiest of creatures but also very fun and entertaining. They can be so bouncy and very inquisitive, if it is a small opening they are sure it is meant as a challenge for them. Their flexibility and supple muscles are really quite amazing to watch. I hope this video plays of their messing around the kitchen one day. It wasn't done by a professional and there is a good bit of household background noise but just keep the volume down. 

By the way, it does play now :)

Grace and Peace,
~Anna

No, this isn't a picture from today. Not even this year. I have been feeling sad recently about this winter. We hardly did anything outside. You would think since it was so warm we would have been out more, but I guess it doesn't work that way. We have walked to the grocery store or the library. Things like that, practical walks and that is good but without cold and snow we just aren't tempted to go on adventures. I miss those adventures. We haven't been skiing, hiking, or even sledding since December! We live in MN. That just seems so bizarre. Next winter we are going to have to be more intentional with getting out to play even if it doesn't seem like playing weather. This picture is at Battle Creek Regional Park. We haven't been there since summer! That is a really long time for us to not have explored there, at least a little. So Friday we may be getting some snow, we hope, but we may not. Either way God is good and all is well. The weather isn't what makes a day good but the choices we make to spend the day in joy or sadness. With God or apart from Him.
So make good choices!
In Him,
~Anna

Today Is this beautiful lady's birthday.

Happy Birthday Martha!

Crazy how much time can pass without one even knowing where it has gone! So many fun little things happen and are gone in a blink of an eye and without some form of journaling they are forgotten. I guess journaling isn't a word but it makes sense to me "the act of writing in a journal". Something I haven't been good at keeping at consistently. I had an "on this day" memory the other day on facebook that reminded me how much I want to be able to look back and see the fun we have had. The memory was when the 6 year olds in my house were wanting to have a tea party, but I was needing to set up for other company coming to visit so I wouldn't let them set up on the main floor, so they went to the basement and needed more chairs for their table so guess where the party was held? In the bathroom! The toilet was the 3rd chair. That was in 2010. So now I am going to try to jot down those little things once more. We'll see how it goes.
After I took MaMa, BeBe and GeGe to Co-op this morning I returned some clothes to Value Village Arc. I am becoming their Thursday morning regular. This was my third week in a row going there. I don't think I will be back next week because everything I bought today fits. Last week I got HaHa a pair of jean shorts that I think would have fit him great but he refused to try them on! He has such strict rules (these were a bit dated I suppose, but he is so tall it is hard to find them as long as he likes and these might have been :). I found a few good deals today, I think. Then I went to the library for a quick switch of the books that were due and the books I had requested that were in. I am their Thursday morning regular all school year. From the library I ran home, switched laundry loads, hung up the clean clothes and did emails for an hour before I had to be back to correct papers at co-op at 11 am. I had intended to get the bread baked during that time as well, but ran out of time so I punched it down and told it to do some more rising and ran out the door. I am enjoying the ladies at co-op a lot this year. We have such good visits. There are a few new families and then some I have just gotten to know better.
HaHa had another Algebra II test. That teacher doesn't seem to be getting her point across to the students well at all. She misses an awful lot of classes and I guess a lot of the first class of students wasn't able to finish the test and then Haha's class mostly didn't either. They finally, this week, a month after the test, got their first test results back which weren't too great. He is a PSEO student so it is pretty important that he get good grades. Oh well, there are two more months of classes hopefully things balance out there and they figure out her problem.
Haha had band this afternoon and while he was gone Travis woke up (he worked nights) and shortly after that we went to clean the church building. When we got home from cleaning HaHa had our supper ready of spaghetti. DeDe came over for awhile this evening.
I am trying to figure out what to get rid of and what to rearrange to make room for one little foster boy. I need to make some phone calls regarding that in the am.
Good night.

A Book Review

Rasmus and the Vagabond  by Astrid Lindgren.
When I saw that there was a book by Astrid that I hadn't read I was quite excited and knew that I would like to review it. Because I grew up reading the Pippi Longstocking stories and always wished there were more of them. Several years ago I discovered that our library had a few more books by Ms. Lindgren but they didn't have Rasmus and the Vagabond, so I now I have read another book to add to my list of books to recommend to tween readers, but any age would enjoy it.

Rasmus is a boy who doesn't have parents and feels like there has to be more to life than waiting for a couple to come choose him at the children's home he is living in. He is tired of all the work he has to do for the Head Mistress and wants to feel the love of a mother. And, he has heard that mothers only want curly haired girls so he feels he has no hope in finding a permanent family. He thinks maybe if he goes out on his own he will be able to find a family of his own faster. Rasmus and the Vagabond is the story of his finding his very own family through several adventures along the way. I completely enjoyed this book and think you will too.

You can find this book on Christian Book Distributors and Amazon and possibly at your local library.

Thank you Handlebar Publishing for sharing this book with me.

Happy New Year My Dear family and friends!

The New Year is upon us and it is now 2013! Isn't that amazing how time just keeps on flying by, without caring whether we are ready for it to go or not. 

Well, we had a nice quiet party last night and managed to be to bed by about 1 this morning. I didn't hope to get much done but rest and finish our holidays rather lazily, but a girl can dream and so I shared my dreams with the boys when Travis got up about fixing a shelving system from recycled wood for the back closet. It desperately needed attention. It is a very well used space and the dresser that is crucial to holding a lot of mittens, scarves, hats and leashes and balloons and so on was completely falling apart. I tried to mend it at the beginning of the cold season but it didn't hold for long. So I knew it was time to turn it over to the men.

But first we needed to fill the wood box, we were down to our last wood piece and it has been a bit cold these last few days. 

There, now we can start on our building project.

 In this picture you can see just how busy we keep this closet. All of Travis' things he needs as he heads out the door for work, plus much of the rest of the families outside gear as well, plus Henry's food, potatoes and squash and..... no wonder that dresser was trying to melt down.
This fall they replaced the back porch's decking because the steps were wearing out and we figured we might as well do the whole bit rather than have miss-matched treads. It isn't a big porch but it provided more than we needed of lumber for this project.

We are starting to fill it back up. 

It is full again and we can again access our winter accessories. I know it looks like I should have cleaned the top shelf but really it is organised, it is also very full.

 While the boys were busy working on cutting and measuring the lumber, we girls were re-potting some of my house plants. Almost all of them were getting root bound plus I received some lovely new flower pots for Christmas and I wanted to use them. Anyone want some peace lilies? Or bulbs that have a lovely pink flower in the summer? or some aloe vera. You do have to get the aloe soon because we are eating that excess. I also am rooting a bunch of angel wing begonias because I hated to just toss all that good plant when I trimmed them way back.

So there you have it, our New Year's Day project review.
Next up dress remodeling, Margaret is in a play and I need to refashion a couple dresses for that, and Bea has a dress we need to play with and so do I and so does Maggie, so I really do need to open up the sewing machine this week.
Merry, Merry January to You!

A Picture Perfect Day

           Today I was able to steal my Mom's camera. And so I took these pictures and many more.

A non lake version of a cattail

           This is some plant that I saw at the top of our hill that I thought looked somewhat like a cattail. (Also known as Mullein or Pioneers Toilet Paper.) And so seeing as it seemed to be posing for the camera I decided to give in.

My shadow is following Me!

           There was very nice lighting and since the sun was going down I found a shadow of Me waiting at  the bottom of the hill for the real Me.

the Moon and A Meteorite, can't get much better.

           Then I saw the Moon with a jet passing and I got separate shots of both but, this one put them together so nicely.

             There was an airplane following the jet about half an hour later and I took a picture of it at Harrison's request.

I'm a Star!!!!

            Then I got all my siblings (We all had been banished from the house by our evil ahem, nice Mother.) To pose for me as I took their picture.

Chocolate! Chocolate! Mustache!

             When we had, had hot chocolate earlier today Gregory had been messy and Mom didn't notice it and so there he went with a mustache throughout the day.

pretty picture

              I was actually able to get them all around smiling (I really don't know what Harrison is up to but, it may be he just hasn't had enough practice smiling with his teeth.) And as I said the lighting was perfect.

I'm a little Egyptian

            Beatrice wanted to pose again so they tried the Egyptian walk but couldn't quite get it right so they look more like little teapots. I have another picture of them doing this but Gregory was in the middle of falling and alone Bea looked like she was trying to model something.

A bad self-portrait

            I had decided that there needed to be a picture of me on this day so I tried to do it by myself and it didn't turn out so well. Oh well.

Natasha's house

            I liked the way the sun was on her window so I took the picture for that reason and only that reason.

  Adios,
Margaret

Learning

Life goes on and learning happens in so many ways. Some people learn by doing, some by seeing and some by hearing. Some of the ways and things we have been learning are in this very educational piece.

This fall I learned of icivics a pretty cool website. It kept the kids busy learning and being entertained. They now know more about the amendments than I do which isn't really to hard to do, but it was fun to run for office, decide the outcome of real court cases in the past. If you want to become more civicly aware check out this site.

Did you know that if you mix hydrogen peroxide and yeast you get a really good explosion. I was cleaning the goo off of every surface in my kitchen after Harrison learned how much oxygen can be created that way.

Did you know that eventually water balloons always break when filled with water. For some reason they were rolling around my house for few days as babies and they always seemed to break at the most inopportune times. I have now banned water balloon babies in the house.

Harrison has learned how to figure the surface area and volume of an odd shaped solid, he is getting this from his math text. Gregory has been learning multiplication, he has been learning it at odd times with his daddy.

We have learned all about finances and running our own business in the books Lawn Boy and Lawn Boy Returns both by Gary Paulsen and based right here in the metro area. Gary is a Minnesota native and it is always fun to read a locals work. In these books you read about how a 12 year old boy accidentally becomes a successful business person when his grandma gives him his grandpa's old riding lawn mower as a gift for his birthday. Written in a very entertaining way it has us all laughing away and wanting to read the whole book right then and I think we may be actually learning something at the same time. How fun is that!

Margaret made a lovely dreamcatcher the other day by reading a Double Dare book for girls and seeing the instructions there. It probably won't hold back bad dreams but it is pretty cute wall art. She also learned how to go the bathroom in the woods and so many other random goodies. We read a sweet story from the library about dreamcatchers  called Grandmother's Dreamcatcher. 

Travis and I have been having so much fun finding out how much each of our appliances cost to run with Travis' new toy Kill A Watt. We now know that the top loading washer takes .30 kwh which equals 2 pennies of electricity at our rates to do a load of denim. It also used 4 sink fulls of water. Our front loader used almost 2 sink fulls of water and .13 kwh which equals 1 penny at our rates and this was a load of towels. Fairly equal weighted loads. Now something that was very interesting to us is that our coffee pot uses about the same amount of energy to brew a 12 cup pot of coffee as the front loader did to wash that load .14 kwh. We have only had Kill A Watt for two days so that is as far as we have gotten but we can't wait to find out how much everything is using.

Now I am waiting to learn who will be leading our country for the next 4 years. Has our state decided to limit marriage, have we decided to reduce voter fraud, will St Paul continue to raise property taxes so every student in the public system can have their own ipod. Questions I hope my morning paper will answer!

God Bless the USA!
~Anna

Changes

And not brought to you by Obama. These are good changes.

School has been in session for a couple months now. We have managed to take a week or so off each month but I think even with our breaks we have truly become smarter.

We have grown older,

eating her birthday breakfast of biscuits and gravy

Margaret is now 12,

 Beatrice in now 9,

Singing Happy Birthday and getting ready to receive her  birthday "spankings".

 And Harrison is 14.

For Harrison's birthday we went to Fogo De Choa for lunch with a couple of his friends..

and to Kade's, a special little friend of Harrison's with whom he almost shares a birthday, birthday supper.

My hair was craving a change so I finally gave in to it and got it cut. Here are some before pictures for posterity.

An immediately after the cutting picture.

Lest you worry my hair was wasted I did donate it to Locks of Love so I guess it will  be worn by someone else some day. 

We are now among the people who can say they have cured, cooked and eaten corned beef tongue. It truly is tasty but some of us are having a hard time eating it. It is just a bit different in texture and in looks than what we are accustomed to.

Peeling the beef tongue.

Travis lost his schedule at work that I was so loving. He is now working the road which he actually likes a lot better so it was a good and bad change.

We thought about changing our washing machine but turns out we don't need to change that. Now I have a spare machine in my laundry area. Anyone want to buy a overhauled and cleaned top loading washer? I like the storage I get on top of the front loading washer better. Besides I guess front loaders are more energy efficient and definitely they are much quieter.

More later,
~Anna