So . . . It's Been a Little Windy 'round Here

My neighbor texted me the other morning. Her daughter came rushing in the house from getting the newspaper and said, "Oh no, mom! The neighbors' house is broken!"

She wasn't far off! We've noticed a few things the contractors didn't quite get right when they did our hail repair a couple years ago. Nothing two boys, a tall ladder, a brave husband, and some galvanized nails couldn't handle. Our house is no longer giving directions, "Fly south birds, fly south!"

Family Funnies

I've already shared these with Grandma J, but there is a bit more to the story . . .

Buck: I got a text from Grandma J!
G$: Is she coming early?!
Brennen, matter-of-factly: No . . . we haven't even done our Spring cleaning yet.

They have recognized my pattern, lol :) If you come to visit, the house will undergo a cleaning frenzy. And . . . apparently, you cannot come early if such frenzy has not ensued. Ha!

G$: Mom is my birthday really (*says birth date*)?
Me, genuinely confused: Why would I make that up?
G$: Well, I heard you say once that you got to pick our birthdays . . .

I guess he though from any calendar day of the year (instead of which day I'd be scheduled for C-section surgery)! So funny! Then at lunch yesterday . . .

Me: G$ won't be able to the kids' menu much longer, it says 10 and under.
G$: But, I'm only 9!
Me: Actually, today is your real birthday. I just picked that other one because I liked it better.
Buck: Nearly falls off chair laughing :)

Oh the look of surprise on G$'s face :) I did tell him I was just teasing, but the moment of confusion was fun to observe, ha!

Earned Some Green, Spent Some Green, Built Some(thing) Green

B is the proud new owner of a sweet mountain bike! He purchased it with his business money :) He and his dad built it in the living room, while watching the NCAA tournament. March madness indeed!

Like father . . .

 . . . like son? What's with these looks they are giving me? :)

Don't ride it in the house! :) Technically he can't ride it outside either, since our air pump is broken. Always something broken! Ay-yi-yi :)

Gandalf the Gray

Well, just like in the movie, Gandalf didn't survive . . . and there were MANY tears. Our pet store doesn't offer a "Gandalf the White," so it's official--Gandalf is gone.

Not sure what happened, but the symptoms were very similar to our little mouse. He would just sit and rock instead of running around, he grew very cold to the touch, and he started crying like Pippen did (we'd never heard the gerbil make a sound before).

I know it's crazy, but Buck took the gerbil to the vet. They waited for an  hour (thankfully, Buck's boss is understanding). The vet couldn't find anything wrong with Gandalf, and gave him some gerbil antibiotics, because obviously SOMETHING was wrong with him. Gandalf got one dose of his meds and perked up, was running around a bit, even popped on his wheel for a short jog.

Then a couple of hours later, he started getting cold again (we had a heat dish on his tank and Caelan held him in her pocket while we were testing to keep him warm). The strangest part was the muscle spasms--like his back legs couldn't keep up with his front legs and his body would twist so weirdly . . . seriously awful to watch!

So, we read a school book upstairs for a couple of hours, while he rested downstairs--and when we checked on Gandalf again, he was no longer a live. Oh the sad faces of the Crew!

Gabby worked on a headstone, while the boys decided in what container to bury him. I hadn't finished a chai canister lately, so they put him in a Tower of London/Peter Pan metal canister our friends the K's brought back from their trip a couple years ago. That fellow is buried in style!

The next day, Graysen took the shovel and went up to where Pippen is buried and set Gandalf in the ground next to him. Later he and Brennen took up the dried flowers I had left in a vase (still pretty colors) from the last bouquet Buck brought home to me.

They still haven't decided on a name for our animal burial ground, but they spent some quality time with a Thesaurus trying to come up with something not too sad, not too punny, not too random. They also asked me to look up several words like "pet" and "gerbil" in Latin--getting fancy! I'll let you know what they come up with :) Anyway, it took their minds off their sadness, and as you know . . . cages don't stay empty long in this house :) 

All Done!

All finished being mainstream ;) I thought I should scramble the outcome, so as not to mess with any norms or whatever out there. Caelan pointed out, "We may not have gotten them right anyway." Hmm. Good point :) Tests are in the mail and should be scored in the next 10 days. Looking forward to seeing how they do!

Testing, Testing . . .

One, two, three, four . . .


That's how many of our children are taking the ITBS for the first time ever! Apparently my college degree qualifies me as an official tester through BJU Press. We had to buy them (a public school perk, right there--free testing :), but their scores don't go into the national pool. They are compared to the national pool, but do not affect it. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's my understanding.

We are not required to standardize test, however, I feel like the test-taking itself is a good learning experience. They will likely take the ACT/SAT someday or similar timed/bubble/rule-filled tests at some point :) Maybe it will tell us some areas we need to work on, maybe it will reassure me that I'm doing a good job and giving them a complete education . . . I don't know, but it's worth a (n expensive) try!

I studied up over the weekend. I have the exact testing script and a bunch of rules and away we go!!

Day one--B loves this process! He keeps saying how much fun it is and he bounces in and out of the classroom between test periods :) He and Gab fly through the materials in like 10 minutes, when they have 30. I said I they could look things over, maybe check their answers . . . nope! Ready for a break and then back to it.

The other two go a bit slower. G$ says it makes him so nervous! He was over it after the third 30/40 minute test. C was slow and steady, but still finished way before time ran out. I didn't want her to feel pressure to hurry, and pointed out that she had more questions to answer than the others. She said she didn't feel like that at all, she just wanted everyone to be quiet (B was so excited he couldn't stop talking and whispering; funny that he was the noisy one!)

They've already figured out that their first level is the younger siblings' second level--so no discussing the stories or their answers between tests. Crazy having them all so close in age that their tests overlap!

We'll split the testing up over three days this week (and we're cancelling math for the week, whoohoo!) I'm actually kind of enjoying seeing different aspects of their personalities come out through something as simple as testing.

This Doesn't Suck

Aha! See what I did there? :) I like to vacuum, this is well known. Our house--with all its people, pets, and pet fodder--requires a lot of vacuuming! When we moved here, Buck decided we needed the real deal--a Shark is good, but Dyson is legendary, right? :) It worked great for a long time. There were a few things I didn't like, like the short cord that I was often moving to complete a vacuuming job. Also, the tread was fairly narrow--this was okay because it kind of worked on the stairs. Overall, I liked it, though sometimes I thought it was more for an apartment than a six-person, five-pet home.

Then it started screaming.

I guess it agreed with my apartment analysis :)

From what we can tell, it stopped sealing correctly, hence the screaming sound. We'd done the filter swaps, checked all the tubes, done all we were supposed to do, but after 2.5 years . . . the Dyson decided to fight back. Thankfully, the return policy at Costco is pretty fab. We were able to swap old Goldie out for this big, hot-pink canistered beauty :) I think the new one is full sized; it certainly feels full-sized when you lift it.

Other perks--the cord is like 10 feet longer (yes!!!!!). The base is wider, so fewer swipes--I like this :) It also, according to the picture on the box, has a looooooooooong hose with a stair attachment. This will be good for the children who are required to vacuum our often nasty stairs twice each week. I look forward to seeing how this works out!

I'm not sure if that's a doggie smile or a look of fright, ha! He's not a huge fan of the vacuum and now there are two--and they are getting bigger!!!

Pie Face

G$ received this summer craze for Christmas from Maga. We haven't had a lot of opportunity to play it since January, but on our most recent trip to the grocery store, G asked me to include reddi-whip on the shopping list.

It turned out to be great timing as our last day of winter soared into the 80's! (We all have sunburn!) The neighbor kids were over and they all (minus the eldest) had fun getting slapped in the face with whipped cream (you can see a little dab on the top of Graysen's head, ha!)

Ice, Ice, Baby!

Once, in college, or maybe it was late high school, I watched the Disney skaters do their thing in an iced-over arena. It seemed like maybe something our kids would enjoy before they reached such upper echelons of youth . . . and I think I was right! Among our fellow audience members, there were not very many pushing past the pre-school/K-3 tribe--more than a few in full princess costume! I'm sure there were some sleepy babes after that evening (school night) show :)

We decided to pounce upon the cheap, opening night tickets. According to the Internet advertisement, we thought we'd see a combo of Frozen (makes sense right? :), Cars, and Toy Story . . . we ended up with a pinch of Princess and the Frog (our kids have never seen this movie, so were aptly confused :), Snow White, Cinderella, and a whole lot of Rapunzel. However, all of it was pretty stinking amazing! I don't know how Disney does it, but they can sure put on a show!

The costumes were elaborate and beautiful, even from a distance. The skaters didn't seem to know they were on ICE . . . they skipped, they danced, they spun, they threw each other in the air . . .  a few even FLEW on ribbons! (I could hardly watch that--I mean, no wires, no nets, just ribbons--augh!!!!)

I could tell the kids were enjoying it; the girls kept screeching and laughing and the boys were laughing along with all the surprise appearances too. Who can resist a 7-foot Gus-Gus on skates?! During the Cinderella segment, the Prince and his helper skated to the little ladies in the very front row and tried the glass slipper on them to find a fit (adorable!). For the Tangled scene, a little girl was chosen to launch the first lantern into the rafters, which *sparked* a whole skyful for the grand finale.

Minnie, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were our MC's. For the finale, everyone dressed in white and gold (I think I counted 20 or more cast members). Each of the fairy tale couples, including those not presented in the show, skated to the wedding celebration of Rapunzel and Eugene.

The sudden fireworks just about launched Buck's camera from his hands (his phone takes better pics than mine, so he was our photog). Oh, the horse was impressive! It was two skaters, one in front and one in back of the same costume. I don't know how they were able to navigate the ice, dance, and complete the looooong story--they must be REALLY good friends. Fun effect though; we all had a great time!

The Fun Things Dads Do

I finally got a hold of Buck's phone and downloaded some of the non-mom adventures he's taken the kids to enjoy :)

This was an outdoor show (indoors :) I think I might have posted one pic of it before; hunting, fishing, bow and arrow shooting, good times!

G$ loves to go for a hike! He talked his dad and the rest of the sibs into a wander through a nearby nature park. I, ironically enough, also walked, but on my treadmill in the nice, warm house :)

Monster Jam! This was the day C and I took to the church parking lot to improve her road skills. I'm glad we didn't end up like the trucks you'll see in the photos that follow . . . lol :)

I LUV Art Lessons!

Can you see why? Snuggle baby had a teething temp, and her mama had a meeting, so while Mr. K taught our crew and his boys to be artists, I got  sleepy baby time . . . awww!!

Pets, a Viking, and the Avenger is Ours!

A few more fun photos  . . .

This was a birthday tribute to my brother . . . here I thought we had all the critters accounted for (except the hibernating window toad), but I forgot the fish! You can see these two missing members in the drawing next to the clock :) Doesn't the hedgehog look hilarious? He wanted his picture taken, yes he did :)

You know . . . just a Viking checking his cell phone.

Ha! Little Buddy has been so into making cardboard wonders lately! He's got maybe a dozen helmets--from King Richard the Lionheart-esque to Iron Man (he wore the latter to karate :) He's also made body armor and a him-sized shield. He spent almost $20 on packaging tape to continue his hobby, wowza!

Hip Hip, hooray!! We own both of our vehicles! We paid Buck's car off two whole years early. It took forever to get the title . . . I sent the pay off, then checked the account--apparently it accrued 11 cents in interest in the three days it took for the check to arrive--so I sent another dollar, which they did a stop payment on and returned to my bank account; then the loan disappeared off our account with the credit union, so I didn't know if they waived the 11 cents or if we still owed them . . . sheesh! Finally Buck called and they assured us it was paid off and we'd receive the title soon--it was like a 6-week process, but it's finally here. Yah!

Drums, Driving, a Party, and some Cash!

I haven't had much to post lately, just a few things here and there. So here is some here, so you can see what we're up to there ;)

The snare in the open air :) I had to make a rule "no outdoor drumming on Sunday mornings." Neighbors . . . you are welcome :)

Buck took the other three to a Monster Truck show, so this one and I got to cruise the church parking lot for about an hour. Then she set out on the big roads--exceeded 30 mph, navigated a 4-way stop, figured out traffic lights, and we made it home a-ok. Parents must be brave, because this is such a huge learning curve . . . all the things we take for granted (like how to stay in the center of the road) are all new and challenging things to accomplish. It's like teaching her to read, but surrounded by moving objects traveling at high speeds in our direction :) She likes the sign--awareness for others is good!

The girls were invited to a friend's birthday party at a favorite restaurant. To the boys' delight, they also got to attend to spend lunch hour with their buds, E's brothers! I got to sit at the boys' table; it was so much fun! They have unique conversations :) But I liked that the M boys obeyed their mama's "clean your plate orders." I thought it was cute that when I teased about the lack of veggies, the next round came stacked with vegetables they'd never tried before . . . "What is this?" "It's cabbage, you'll like it." "It's . . . surprising." Ha!

E is on a swim team and they had a competition, so all the kids on her team came to the party. It was kind of the M family to cover all these meals, plus ours! We weren't even invited; we invited ourselves to save them the drive to our house to drop off our girls before the next swim session took place! We must be good friends to invite ourselves to parties :)

Look at this guy! He's earned $100 and has his eye on a new bike! Proud of his hard work and honesty. Last week an extra dollar got into the mix, and without waiting for me to say anything he said, "I think I should give it back," and out the door he disappeared. The neighbor who paid him appreciated his honesty and told him to keep it. He also said his wife would have to wash dishes for the next week to make up for the mistake, hee hee :)

Bring on the Books!

It seems early to be stock-piling next year's schoolbooks, but when the tax refund comes, that's what we do (or go on vacation, but we're having a stay-cation for spring break when J and Z visit instead of travelling :)

Yesterday--the first round  of books arrived. Today--the second round filled our living room! I think the students have already read half their workbooks and are "so excited to do this stuff!!!" We'll see if that sentiment holds throughout the fall ;)

I love getting boxes of books--even if it's in the middle of a workout and I arrive at the front door drenched in sweat to receive the box from the mailman. Like I told my sister-in-law, there's no shame when you're in the last leg of your thirties ;)

Here are some BOX DAY pictures! :)



I went ahead and ordered Geometry for Caelan's freshman year. This curriculum (since our previous company only makes math curriculum through Algebra 1) comes with daily DVD instruction, online streaming for, I don't know, questions? a teacher's guide with the answers printed step-by-step, and hopefully a pleasant learning experience for us all :) She'll also take a Spanish I course, both girls will take a home ec. course (I expect them to ace it ;) and oh, Caelan agreed to take summer school to get caught up for high school English. I tried some other curriculums in recent years that just aren't as thorough as what we started with and what we're doing now. She wants to do 9th grade English in the fall, and I don't blame her, so we did placement tests and figured out where her weak spots are--ordered workbooks that cover those, and hopefully she'll be all set to start HIGH SCHOOL in the fall, what?! :)

And on Drums We Have . . .

Jam time! Our music teacher seems to get a new instrument every time we come to class. This week it was a full drum set! The girls were working on their piano lessons (Caelan at the upright, Gab on electric, teacher on guitar) and Mr. P decided to get Graysen going on the drums. He told him which hand to hold the snare stick in, explained how the snare made its sound by flipping the drum over to show the metal strings on the bottom; he also gave an overview of the other drums and what they are called and used for . . . it was quite an impromptu lesson! G just couldn't resist trying a little drum solo :) In fact, at one point I heard him say quietly, "Why did the chicken cross the road? Because the DOG was chasing it!" Then he gave himself an ba-doom-doom-crash on the drum set, lol :)

Mr. P said, "And the third part of my plan comes together!" He is trying to build a band out of our kids, ha!



Gabby also took a turn, but it was a short turn and I didn't get any video. Here's a bit more after Mr. P set up the symbol and tried to get G on rhythm with two hands and a foot! (Brennen was upstairs helping Mr. P's wife lay flooring in their newly remodeled attic space--when it was time to go, he all but BEGGED to stay and keep working on renovations. I think he misses it from our project at the K's house!)



Here's a rock band G made out of paper, that I think I forgot to post? Maybe not, maybe you get to see it twice :) He had Buck buy him like 10 rolls of packaging tape yesterday. I'll try remember to get a pic of the Star Wars fleet he's built with cardboard and tape. It's kind of impressive :)

After-thoughts

Driving home from church, Graysen says . . . "Mom, after a person dies . . ."

I brace myself, ready for a heart-to-heart . . . "Do you just shred all their credit cards?"

Oh my! What will this child think of next? :)

Dunkin' for Jesus

Our kids had the honor of a special invitation by their friends to witness their baptisms! It was a private event (sometimes they take place during church services), so we came back to church twice in one day :) Remember, those of you who've attended with us, our church is also a gymnasium--with basketball hoops--so dunkin' . . . ;) Okay, never mind that, it's late and my brain gets funny.

As it turned out, several of our good friends were there. We are in this strange in-between where we have lots of connections with the Deaf community, both those who are deaf and hearing who are fluent in ASL, though we are neither. I love it though! People are people, and we're glad this is the group God stuck us into ;)

As you can see, Mr. G dressed very fancy for the special occasion. He wanted to wear his bowtie, but couldn't find a shirt to match. His buddy S (in the FREE shirt) often wears bowties and G wanted to honor his friend. B looked handsomely cool in his sweater and Christmas hat from Grandma J--his buddy F also received baptism. Then the girls' friend E (sister to S and F) ALSO was baptized, so it was quite an event! Their dad did the actual statement of faith questions in ASL while the next kiddo in line to be baptized translated/voiced for the audience of family and friends--so neat! Our pastor, just stood in the wings watching while their dad did all the hard work. I thought that was pretty cool, too.

In the meantime, I got to hold my friend G's shiny-eyed baby--that girl beams sunshine!! There were actually another five kids present who didn't get in the picture above, so it was quite a crowd of youth to witness God's command to those who follow and believe in Him.

As we were waiting for the baptized kids to dry off, our pastor noticed Graysen's attire--"You look like a businessman! All you have to do is start a business!"

G says, "I already have one."

"You do? Tell me about it; I want to know about your business."

"I pick up poop."

"You, say, what now?"

"I pick up poop . . . with my brother."

It was a pretty funny conversation :) I think in the end, G ended up with a contract to do the pastor's yard ("but just once, because I have five kids who should be out there cleaning the yard.") Pastor's pretty safe from charges, though, since I don't know where he lives :)

Old School Dining

Creamy Artichoke Soup by Brennen

Caelan's Lentil Spinach Soup

This bread was seriously good!

It all began with lamb . . . :) Actually, it all began when we got Gabby's new glasses. The prescription was way wrong. When the girl at the counter was typing in the order, she said, "This is really a big change, I better go check." Well, she checked and the doctor confirmed. The glasses (a week or so later) did the opposite. "Mom, I see double in this eye?" Yeah, not good.

So we made another appointment with another doctor (again wishing our regular eye doctor had not had to transfer his appointments that day). Gab got a completely different prescription, we re-ordered her glasses, and since Buck is sort of (kind of) the eye doctor's boss--he was a not happy pappy!

Our original plan during this unusual second trip, was to gather some of the ingredients Caelan had been storing up on a list. Their curriculum invited them to plan and prepare a Bible times meal for the family. Caelan had been searching the internet and getting feedback from her siblings for more than a week. Finally settling on the menu, the trip seemed timely. But we forgot, ha! Because Buck was able to leave early that day. We had way more fun things on our minds . . . like dinner out as a family.

Well, oddly enough, this particular evening there was a crazy winter thunderstorm--with lightning! There were accidents everywhere, tons of traffic, and soaking rain--so weird! We drove separately to the restaurant, and found ourselves seated in a giant corner booth, practicing our chopstick skills ;) Yes, Grandma J sent us a PF Changs gift card (Buck said it was just for us, but we decided to share). Somehow--we managed to hit the price almost exactly, which is weird because usually just Buck and I can rack up that kind of bill by ourselves. Granted, he signed up for some special club deal so he could order sushi  off the super-secret, not available to the public menu. G$ got a kids' meal. Gabby declared Chinese food was not her jam, and just ate rice :) I remember the portions being gigantic, so we had C & B split a plate and viola! However, everyone licked their platters clean and B said, "Mom, I'm still REALLY hungry." (He had second dinner at home after we made it through the crazy weather back to our house).

But we forgot the lamb.

So, the next day, being Buck's day off--he and several of the children set out to gather the (of course, rare, expensive) ingredients on C's list :) He drove ALL over town, looking for lamb. Strike one! Called to confirm (they didn't mention he had to buy like HALF the lamb); Strike two! Finally had to go to a Sam's Club (our membership expired, so he had to reup it to buy lamb--I kid you not) and we ended up with four pound lamb roast that cost about $65 (including the membership, which he did get reimbursed because he uses it for work a lot) and hours of time.

While I continued to work on next year's school book order, he and the kids prepared our feast--wait, maybe that was the next day, but they for sure put the lamb in the marinade (which was a lot of onions and a lot vinegar). Buck said the actual making of the meal was harder than prepping for Thanksgiving! So many unusual ingredients and cooking methods.

Finally, they served the first course--an artichoke soup (soooo yummy) with the El Khobz bread that the girls made. The second course was spinach and lentil soup (I liked it, but I really like spinach :), rice of Beersheba (Graysen's contribution--with capers and dill), cucumber and yogurt salad (Gabby's dish), and Rebekah's tasty dish--remember how Esau's birthright got tricked out of him by his brother? Apparently this lamb dish is what was served--although, I'm not sure how Biblical hunting sheep is. Surely it was some other meat back in the day? :) Despite it's strong salty/vinegar flavor, it was so tender! And we were stuffed! :) Caelan finished off the meal with Tiger Nut Sweets--a roll of dates, cinnamon, walnuts, honey, and almonds all dusted with powdered sugar. Kind of healthy, really!

We of course could not eat all of this! We took a large tin full to the K family to enjoy (and there's still more in the leftovers category within our fridge :)

Anyway, we were proud of the kids for trying something new, planning and prepping it (with a little help from dad) themselves!

G's Rice of Beersheba

Gabby's Yogurt Cucumbers

A healthy dessert, pretty much ;)

Baby Wrangler

Graysen wanted so badly to hold the baby--who is becoming harder to hold as she crawls and stands now--after art lesson. We were all chatting and I looked over to see he'd pulled her onto his lap. She just leaned back and stared at him--it was so, stinkin' cute! But my silly slow camera refused to catch a picture of her smiling at me with him or in still motion for just a second. So you get blurry, but still precious :)