Life in a Full Shoe

Pop Art Pixies

2011-12-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

For a portion of this week my 3 oldest girls are visiting friends in Knoxville. For 4 days there will be lots of chatting, laughter, crafting, cooking and even a little schooling taking place in the Rivera home. Yesterday the girls worked on projects available from Pop Art Pixies. You can see pictures of the completed projects and all the girls at Raising Olives.

(I'm writing this post to enter a give away offered by Pop Art Pixies, however I have a feeling that even if I don't win, I may be buying some anyway. :-) )

Photo Card

2011-11-28T17:56:00.001-08:00

Picture Tree Christmas

Shop Shutterfly's collection of Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Lilla Rose

2011-11-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

With 4 girls, we go through a lot of hair accessories. Our new favorites are products from Lilla Rose. You can read more about their beautiful products at Raising Olives and enter to win 2 pieces.

Frog Eye Salad

2011-06-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

Today Kimberly at Raising Olives and the other 3 moms are sharing picnic recipes. The timing is perfect as we will be attending our FAVORITE annual picnic on Monday. It just so happens to be hosted by Kimberly's parents.

This recipe for Frog Eye Salad was given to me by a friend at church. It used to be her signature dish. She and her family have since moved away and it is now one of my signature dishes. I never bring any home (and it makes A LOT)

Frog Eye Salad

1. Pound package of acini de pepe pasta, cooked and drained

2. In a medium saucepan mix the following into a smooth paste.
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t salt
2 T flour

3. Add juice reserved from 2 cans of pineapple. Cook until thick.

4. Pour mixture over pasta and add 1 bag mini marshmallows. Stir until marshmallows melt. Refrigerate overnight. Mixture will be soupy when you put it in the frig. It will be a solid mass the next day.

5. Stir in 1 x-large container of Cool Whip breaking up the solid mass. Add the following drained fruits.
1 can crushed pineapple
2 cans pineapple tidbits
2 cans madarin oranges

6. Add a variety of soft fresh fruits. I always add halved grapes and kiwi. I also use berries in season.

Motherhood as a Mission Field

2011-06-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

Motherhood as a Mission Field

Just grilling...

2011-03-04T06:34:00.001-08:00

Grilling season has returned!!!! I love food cooked on the grill. I also love the fact that I don't have to do all the cooking (since my husband is our grill chef). I have been known to have my dear husband grilling in the rain and even when our deck was covered with snow! A couple of years ago he finally said no more grilling from November through February. Well now it is March, today's weather is beautiful and our previous dinner plans with another family just fell through. (***Note**** This post was written last Friday when it was nice and sunny. We've had rain almost every day since AND it could snow tonight!)What better time to pull out my family's favorite grill recipe... especially one that is super easy to make and clean up?

I've written before about the "joys" of finding food all 10 people in my family enjoy. Most of us enjoy Tex-Mex and other highly seasoned foods. A few of my children do not. They probably wish they had been born into a different family on some occasions. They do eat whatever is served, but it makes me much happier to see them all eating and actually enjoying their food.

Fajitas made with grilled chicken is tops on the list of everyone in our family. Some of the children even request it for their birthday meal. Today I'm sharing my recipe for the fajita marinade as well as the Black Bean Salsa we usually serve with it.

Fajita Marinade

1/2 c olive oil

1/3 c lime juice

1/4c red wine vinegar

1 t sugar

1 t oregano

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1/4 t cumin

1/3c chopped onion

Combine all ingredients and place in a zip top bag. Add chicken or beef and seal bag. Marinate for several hours. (the longer the better) Grill meat and slice. Serve with flour tortillas, sour cream, cheese, salsa, lettuce, sauteed onions and peppers, etc.

I have children who won't touch a pepper with a 10 foot pole but who devour this salsa.

Black Bean Salsa

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can corn, drained

2c. finely chopped sweet pepper (I usually use a cup each of red and orange to give more color)

1/2 c finely chopped red onion (I omit)

Combine the above in a bowl.

Stir together the following:

1/2 c sour cream

1/4 c mayo

2 T red wine vinegar

1 t ground cumin

1t chili powder

1/2 t salt

1/4 t garlic powder

1/8 t pepper

Pour over vegetables and toss gently to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve. The longer it sits, the better it gets. Serve with "scoop" style tortilla chips. (This is a heavy salsa. The regular chips will break.)

Bubble pizza

2011-03-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

This is my kids new favorite lunch. I know it's not healthy, but finding something all eight of them love is difficult.

2 pkg of canned biscuits (10 in each can)
pizza sauce
your favorite pizza toppings
mozzarella and/or cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Place all biscuit pieces in a greased 9 x 13 dish. Brown lb of ground beef or sausage. Mix with one jar of pizza sauce. Spread over biscuits. Top with pepperoni, mushrooms, etc. Cover with cheese to your liking. Bake covered for 1 hour.

Crock pot favorites

2011-01-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

This post is for my friend Michelle. She said she was in need of some new ways to use her crock pot, so I decided I would help her out. I would love to know your favorite recipe.

Country Style Steak
This is our all time favorite crock pot recipe. There are 10 people in my family and EVERYONE likes this dish. Ten out of 10 positive votes is a rarity around here. My father-in-law also requests this recipe every time he comes to visit.

4-6 pieces of cube steak (I have to adjust up. :-) )
3 cups water
large onion, sliced
1 package each of mushroom, brown and onion gravy mix

Dredge steaks in flour. Season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a frying pan and brown steaks on each side. Place steaks in crock pot. Add 2 cups of the water and the sliced onion. Cook on low for 8 hours. One hour before serving mix the remaining cup of water with the 3 packages of gravy mix. The original recipe didn't change the temperature, but I switch mine to high to get a thicker gravy. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes.

Pepperoncini Roast

This is a very popular dish in our church family. To the best of my knowledge, it originated with our pastor's wife.

3lb chuck roast (or whatever size/cut you have)
envelope Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1/2 jar sliced pepperoncinis with juice (located with the jalepenos, pickles, etc. in the grocery store)

Place all ingredients in your crock pot. Cook on low 8+ hours. I turn mine on around 10:00 Saturday night. When I get up on Sunday, I break it apart and let it continue cooking until we return home from church. Depending on the size of your roast, a whole package of the dressing mix may be too much.

Sunday Roast

We eat lunch at home every other Sunday. We rotate among the roast above, this one and one other dish.

3 lb chuck roast (my favorite cut)
1 pkg Lipton Onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
potatoes, carrots and onions, chunked.

Place roast and veggies in your crock pot. Cover with mushroom soup and sprinkle on soup mix. Depending on the size of your roast and number of veggies, you can use 2 cans. Do NOT add water. The soup and beef juices will make a nice gravy. Cook on low 8+ hours. I do the same thing with this roast I do with the one above.

Crock Pot Stroganoff
This is what we are having for dinner tomorrow night.

2lb round steak
1/4c flour
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp garlic bits
3 Tbsp butter
1 small onion
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 beef bullion cubes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1c. water
8oz pkg cream cheese

Cut steak into 1 x 1/2 inch strips. Mix with flour, pepper, salt and garlic. Add to crock pot with rest of ingredients,except cream cheese. Cook on low for 5-7 hours. Stir occasionally. Last 1/2 hour add an 8oz package of cream cheese, cubed. Serve over cooked noodles. I like to serve this with a spinach salad and breadsticks.

Hot Pepper Casserole
This is a unique dish that is a signature item of a dear lady in my church. Her dish is empty after ever fellowship meal.

Combine until well blended:
4-5 eggs
1 large can evaporated fat-free milk
1 small can evaporated fat-free milk
2/3c. whole wheat flour

Drain:
24 oz (3 c.) jalapenos, hot banana peppers or chopped green chilies (depends on your heat tolerance)

Reserve 1/2 c. from:
32 oz bag shredded Mexican blend cheese

Layer cheese and jalapenos. Pour milk mixture over.

Top with:
8oz can tomato sauce

Cook on high for about 2 hours, until firm. Refrigerate overnight for church. Sprinkle with reserved cheese and heat on low during the service.

Or bake half a recipe in a 2 qt baking dish at 350 for 20 minutes. Add cheese and bake 25-30 minutes more.

Taco Soup
We have this soup a lot in the fall and winter. I even made it ahead, froze it and took it to the beach with us last year.

In a crock pot place the following:
pound of ground beef. browned and drained
1 medium onion, chopped (I use dried flakes)
15 1/4 oz can whole kernel corn, undrained
10 oz can Ro-tel, undrained
150z chili beans, undrained
10 3/4 oz tomato soup, undiluted
1 1/4 oz envelope taco seasoning
1c water

Heat in crock pot 4 hours on low. Serve with tortilla chips and Monterey Jack (or other favorite) cheese.

Chicken in a Pot
I haven't made this in a really long time. Actually I think I forgot about it until going through my recipe box. I'm moving it to the front. It will be on the table again soon.

chicken pieces (whatever you like) or cut up boneless breasts
2 carrots
2 onions
2 potatoes
2 celery stalks
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can water

Chunk all vegetables. Place all the ingredients in your crock pot. Cook on low 7-8 hours.

Tortilla Soup
I have 2 Fix-It and Forget-It cookbooks. When our stove was out for 3 weeks, I relied on them heavily. This is a recipe we first tried during that time and really enjoyed.

4 chicken breast halves
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp margarine
2 14 1/2 ox cans chicken broth
2 14 1/2 oz cans stewed tomatoes (I use home canned and run them through the blender.)
1 c salsa
1/2 c chopped cilantro ( I omit)
1 Tbsp or more cumin
8 oz Monterey Jack
sour cream
tortilla chips

1. Cook, debone and shred chicken
2. Add chicken and remaining ingredients to the crock pot, except cheese, sour cream and chips.
3. Cook on low 8-10 hours
Garnish as desired

This is the original recipe. I made a note that I thought it could use some kind of beans. I'll probably use black or pinto next time I make it.

You can find a couple of crock pot breakfast items here.

Soup's On!

2011-01-08T17:16:00.000-08:00

I love soup! I love the warmth of it, the variety and I love that I can make a huge batch and freeze the leftovers. We eat a lot of soup. Three of our favorites are copycat recipes from chain restaurants. I'm sharing those recipes today along my favorite Weight Watchers soup as part of Raising Olives and the 4 Moms.

Carabas Sausage and Lentil Soup

Tbsp oil
carrot,diced
2 stalks celery, diced
large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
lb hot Italian sausage* (bulk or links with casing removed)
8c. chicken broth
28 oz whole tomatoes
2c dried lentils
tsp salt
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2tsp thyme
1/2 tsp fennel seeds (I omit)
bay leaf

In a large saucepan, heat oil. Add carrot, celery, onion and garlic. Saute until tender. Remove vegetables from the pan and add sausage. Brown and drain off the fat. In a large stock pot, place chicken broth, vegetables and meat. Add tomatoes breaking them up with your hands. (My husband hates chunks of tomatoes so I run them through the blender.)

Add dried lentils which have been washed according to the package directions. Add seasonings. Simmer until the lentils are tender, about 30-45 minutes. Remove 1/3 of the soup, run it through the blender and return it to the pot. Check seasoning and remove bay leaf.

*I think this soup is very spicy if you use hot sausage and the red pepper flakes. The last time I made it I didn't use the hot and like it much better.

Chili's Chicken Enchilada Soup

This is one soup everyone in my family is happy to see on the table. I've had kids ask for it for their birthday meal! I personally think this recipe is MUCH better than the soup served in the restaurant.

tbsp oil
lb chicken breasts (approx. 3 fillets)
1/2c diced onion
garlic clove, pressed
4c chicken broth
1c masa harina (corn flour available in the Mexican food section of the grocery store)
3c water
1c enchilada sauce (I use a 10oz can)
16 oz Velveeta
tsp salt
tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin

Garnish
shredded cheddar cheese
crumbled corn tortilla chips
pico de gallo

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add chicken breasts and brown for 4-5 minutes per side. Set chicken aside.

Add onions and garlic to pot and saute over medium heat for about 2 minutes or until onions become translucent. Add chicken broth. Combine masa harina with 2 cups of water in a medium bowl and whisk until blended. Add masa mixture to pot with onions, garlic and broth. Add remaining water, enchilada sauce, cheese and spices to pot and bring mixture to a boil. Shred chicken into small, bite-sized pieces and add it to the pot. Reduce heat and simmer soup for 30-40 minutes or until thick. Serve soup in bowls and garnish as desired. (We use Fritos.)

Tony Roma's Baked Potato Soup

I've never been to this restaurant, but I LOVE this soup.

2 medium potatoes (about 2 cups chopped)
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup diced onion
2 Tbsp flour
4c chicken stock
2c water
1/4c cornstarch
1 1/2c instant mashed potatoes
tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp basil
1/8 tsp thyme
cup half and half

Garnish
shredded cheddar cheese
bacon
green onions

Bake potatoes, peel and chop. Melt butter in a large saucepan and saute onion until light brown. Add the flour to the onions and stir to make a roux. Add stock, water cornstarch, mashed potatoes and spices to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add chopped potato and half and half, bring soup back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer the soup for another 15 minutes or until it is thick. Garnish individual bowls as desired.

Cuban Black Bean Soup (3 pts)

I found this recipe in a Weight Watcher's magazine. The kids and I thought it was pretty yummy. I served it with Rosemary Flatbread that came from the same magazine.

1c refrigerated prechopped celery, onion and bell pepper mix (I just chopped fresh)
15oz can reduced-sodium black beans
14.5 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained
2c vegetable broth
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/4c reduced-fat sour cream
1/4c chopped green onions

Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat; coat pan with cooking spray. Add vegetable mix to pan; saute 2 minutes. Stir in beans and next 5 ingredients. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Mash beans slightly with a potato masher. Stir until coup is slightly thickened. Top each serving with sour cream and onions. Makes 4 (1 1/2 cup) servings.

.

A Snowy Day

2011-01-06T13:50:00.001-08:00

Wednesday night we received about 2 inches of fluffy wet snow. This was one of the prettiest snows we've had this winter because it clung to everything. After breakfast and Bible time we took a "recess" from school and went out to play. I grabbed my camera and tried to capture some of the beauty around us.

I can see this farm from my backyard. I often admire it whenever I am outside. Today it was especially beautiful.

These trees are on a property across the road from me. I just wanted lots of trees, but when I uploaded the picture I discovered a surprise. Can you spot it?

The kids had fun sledding, using the saucer and building a snowman.

We always finish off our snow time with a mug of hot chocolate. While we were at my parents' home after Christmas I gave Andrew a mug to drink water from. He quickly pointed out, "That is for hot chocolate!" Here is the recipe I always have on hand during the winter. Some of the kids like to add marshmallows while others top theirs with Cool Whip. We also add a splash of creme de menthe.

Hot Chocolate Mix

Pound box of Nestle Quik
8qt. box instant milk
6oz jar coffee creamer
1/2 pound powdered sugar

Mix the ingredients in a large bowl and store in an air tight container. To make hot chocolate measure 1/3 c of the mixture into a mug and fill with boiling water. Stir.

While the kids were having "recess", I had time to do some extra cooking. I love having homemade soup for lunch when it's cold outside. Today I made chicken noodle soup and homemade French bread. I LOVE this bread recipe. It's the second time I've made it this week.

French Bread (from my friend Sarah)

Dissolve 2 1/2 tsp yeast in 1 1/2 c warm water. Combine 5c bread flour, 2 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp sugar. Add 1c flour mixture at a time. (I usually have to add an extra 1/4c of water) Knead 4 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and cover. Let rise 45-60 minutes.* Divide in 1/2. Roll on surface sprinkled with cornmeal. Tightly roll to form a loaf. Place seam side down in a French bread pan. Let rise until double. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees. (I cover with foil after 10 minutes.)

* I heat my oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. I place my dough inside covered with plastic wrap to rise.

PS It's snowing again! :-)

A Year's Worth of Memories.

2010-11-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

This week Raising Olives and the other 4 Moms are sharing ideas for homemade Christmas gifts. Several years ago I gave my parents a Memory Jar. I typed out 365 memories of time spent growing up in their home (My husband and children contributed approx. 50 of them. The older your children, the more they can participate.), cut them apart and placed them in a decorative jar. Beginning Jan. 1st my parents selected one each day to read. They enjoyed it so much that they saved the slips of paper and did it again the following year.

Creating this gift was very inexpensive but did take several months to complete. This is not something you want to pull together at the last minute. I found it worked well to think about different topics when I became "stuck." (vacations, holidays, daily life, pets, etc.) An added bonus was allowing my children to read the memories and know more about me as a child. This is a gift my parents really enjoyed and I enjoyed my walk down memory lane.

Elementary Age Toys

2010-10-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

As the gift giving season rolls around again, I thought I would share some toys that have been very popular in our house. I don't like "fad" toys. You know, the ones that are here today and gone tomorrow. The ones people stand in line for hours to buy the day after Thanksgiving only to have the child put them aside by New Year's Day. I'm not a big fan of electronic toys either. We do own a few remote control vehicles (which my boys love) and a Wii, but for the most part our kids spend their time interacting with things they can build with, design, use their imagination, etc. While the Wii is fun for a our Family Fun Nights, it's the toys below that my kids pull out almost on a daily basis.

My favorite toys are construction toys or toys that can be put together in different ways. Nothing holds a child's attention more than something they can create themselves and do differently the next time. Many of our favorites are classics that have stood the test of time. We enjoy Legos, Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs at our house. I recently went downstairs to discover that my 10, 12 and 14 year old daughters had constructed a Lincoln Log village.

My girls have also enjoyed this geodesign board and pixel blocks. Both of ours are from Discovery Toys, but neither are currently available. I found a wooden geoboard I like a lot (and may replace ours with it) at Hearthsong.

Pixel blocks are tiny cubes that can be stacked to make 3-D creations or attached horizontally to make a picture. They come in many different colors. Here the girls made lots of different pictures and attached them like a patchwork quilt. One of their most amazing designs was a scene from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I found a set similar to ours at Amazon.

Everyone likes Wedgits. (Ours had been put away for awhile. When I got them out to do this post, the kids literally fought over who was going to play with them first. ) Wedgits are both a construction toy and a puzzle. On the most basic level it is a construction toy. My 18 month old can stack them, knock them down and stack them again. My 3 and almost 5 year old can build purposeful towers in a multitude of ways. The Wedgits set comes with a set of cards for the older children. Each card has a picture of a figure the child is supposed to replicate. The cards are labeled according to difficulty. The easier ones are straight forward however the higher levels are more challenging and require thinking "outside the box" in order to recreate the shape.

Kathryn (almost 5) built this tower.

Will (7) and I worked on this card. It's not as easy as it looks!

We like puzzles. Traditional 100-500 piece puzzles are a favorite with Ravensburger being our preferred puzzle maker. I often buy them on eBay. We also enjoy puzzles that must be solved. Rush Hour has been enjoyed by several at our house. It comes with plastic cars and a set of cards. On one side of each card it tells you how to arrange the cars on the board. The object is then to get the red car out. If you aren't able to solve it, or need help, the solution is on the back.

Playmobil is another favorite company. Their products have provided my children with many hours of enjoyment setting up scenes and acting out stories. Last year we gave the castle set to all of our children as a shared Christmas present. Even my then 13 year old was thrilled. The one thing I don't like about Playmobil is all the tiny pieces. I sometimes get tired of the tiny guns, flashlights, small basket of carrots and even cuffs for some outfits that I find lying around. I try not to vacuum them up, but I must admit I have done it on more than one occasion. We try to keep each set sorted into different boxes. This is a job I definitely leave to the kids, because I have no idea if a particular sword belongs to a knight, a pirate or a Roman soldier!

Hayley (10) purchased this small house/barn with money she received for her birthday. If you aren't familiar with Playmobil, this should give you an idea of how small the pieces are but also how detailed your scene can be. Playmobil is pricey but well made. We've made several Playmobil purchases from eBay and even found sets at yardsales.

Even older girls still enjoy dolls. When our girls are 7, they may select one of the large 18" dolls. So far we have Kirsten and Samantha from the American Girl Company and Liberty from Vision Forum. My girls have really enjoyed these dolls and the books about them. Ashley (at 14) still has Kirsten in her room. I suspect she will be retired to the attic in another year or two and carefully saved until she can giver her to here own daughter.

Will is a University of Tennessee fan. When he was 5, we gave him a set of Football Guys in UT uniform for his birthday. He has enjoyed them immensely. We have since add the Hockey, Baseball and Soccer Guys to our collection. I rotate our children's toys from time to time to keep them "new", however these sports figures have remained on the shelves since they were received. One of the boys will often get them out when watching a game on TV to recreate what's happening. I've also seen them be creative by putting baseball cards or their Safari animals on the field/rink.

Several years ago Will started collecting animals from Safari. At first I though they were cute but didn't really see them as being a toy that would get a lot of attention. Boy was I wrong. Luke (9) and Hayley (10) have joined in collecting them and I think someone in our house plays with them almost everyday. I've seen them do normal things like set up a zoo and strange things like create 2 teams of animals to play football! These animals are well made with good attention to detail. The picture below shows a small sampling of our current collection.

So now you've seen what's popular at our house. We've owned our share of toys that have lots of lights, sounds and talk to you, but they don't tend to be the ones the children go to time and time again. Toys that allow them to use their imagination and their own creativity seem to be what make successful toys at our house.

Books, Books and More Books

2010-10-15T19:38:00.001-07:00

While I enjoy reading books to my toddlers, I love the picture books I share with my preschoolers best. There are books in the this list that make me laugh and some that make me cry. Some of them I love for the pictures as much as the story. Select a book from this list to share with your child, and I don't think you will be disappointed.

Where's Our Mama?

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and others in this series

Big Green Pocketbook

Little Bear's Trousers

Mouse Mess

Fergus's Upside-Down Day

Henry and Mudge books

Mr. Putter and Tabby books

The Little House

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Stand Back Said the Elephant I'm Going to Sneeze

Miss Rumphius

Miss Fannie's Hat

The Relatives Came

All the Places to Love

My Great Aunt Arizona

Make Way for Ducklings
Blueberries for Sal

Chick-a Chick-a Boom Boom

The Old Woman Who Named Things (probably my favorite on the whole list)

We always give our kids a few books for Christmas. Any suggestions for what I can give this year?

First Books

2010-10-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

We love books at our house. It's hard to homeschool without owning a lot of books, but I think we still have a lot. When we moved to TX the movers told us we had more boxes than any move they had ever done before. I'm sure the number of books we own contributed greatly to the total. I often tell people, "First we buy books. If there is money left over, then we eat!".

I love cuddling on the couch with my young children and reading a good book. I love it even more when a little one brings a book to me saying, "read." Today I'm going to share with you some of our favorite board books. These are the books my children ask for so often I have memorized them. We've discovered a few new ones a long the, way but many have been in our home since our first born. I'll be hanging on to them to share with my grandchildren some day.

Goodnight Moon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Brown Bear, Brown Bear and others by Eric Carle
The Big Red Barn
Guess How Much I Love You
Barnyard Dance and others by Sandra Boynton
I Love You As Much
The Mitten and others by Jan Brett
Runaway Bunny
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
The Snowy Day
Ten Little Lady Bugs
Jamberry
So Many Bunnies

What are your favorites?

What's for Breakfast?

2010-10-14T10:59:00.001-07:00

(ham and swiss muffins)

Today I'm linking up with Kimberly and the Four Moms to share breakfast ideas. Breakfast at our house is fairly simple and we stick to a rotating menu (except when I'm without an oven for four weeks :-) ). My daughters each have a day that they are responsible for breakfast. I take care of the rest.

Monday- muffins and yogurt (One of my daughters makes muffins each week and we freeze them.)

Tuesday- cheese toast and applesauce

Wednesday- sausage and eggs with toast

Thursday- fruit smoothie with peanut butter graham crackers or yogurt sundaes with homemade peanut butter granola

Fri- My choice

Saturday- Whole wheat pancakes or waffles

Sunday- rotates among items I can make ahead

Sunday mornings are crazy enough with all of 10 of us getting ready for church without the hassle of an extended breakfast preparation. However our worship service runs longer than most and then our family enjoys a lengthy time of fellowship afterwards. It's usually around 1:30 before we eat lunch, so we need a hearty breakfast. I often use recipes I can make ahead. With 3 sous chefs in the house, one of them is usually assigned one of the following recipes as a Sat. chore.

Amish Breakfast Casserole

1lb bacon, diced

1 medium sweet onion, diced (I use dried flakes if I'm making this ahead, otherwise the taste is too strong.)

6 eggs, lightly beaten

4c frozen shredded hashbrown potatoes, thawed (I use more)

2c shredded cheddar cheese

12 oz small-curd cottage cheese

1 1/4c shredded swiss cheese

In a large skillet, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crisp; drain. In a bowl combine the remaining ingredients; stir in bacon mixture. Transfer to a greased 9x13 dish. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or refrigerate overnight and then bake. (may need to extend baking time)

Breakfast Casserole

6 slices bread, crusts removed

1lb sausage cooked and drained

1 1/2c. shredded cheddar cheese

6 eggs

2c. milk

1tsp salt

dash pepper

dash dry mustard

Grease a 9/13 dish. Place bread on bottom (I usually add an extra slice or two, if the bottom isn't covered.) Place cooked sausage on top of bread. Cover this with cheese. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over the cheese. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Ham and Cheese Quiche (makes 2)

2 9 inch pastry shells

2 cups cooked, diced ham

2 tsp dried minced onion

2c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

4 eggs

2c half and half

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Line unpricked pastry shells with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 400 for 5 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer.

Divide ham, cheese and onion between the shells. In a bowl, whisk eggs, cream,salt and pepper. Pour into shells. Cover and freeze for up to 3 months. Or cover edges with foil and bake at 400 for 35-40 or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Breakfast Burritos

bulk sausage

hashbrowns

eggs

shredded cheese

tortillas

Brown as much sausage, cook as many hashbrowns and scramble as many eggs as you think you will need. Warm tortillas. Line up the ingredients in bowls and construct burritos. Some of my kids don't like all the ingredients so they can make their own the way they like it. We then wrap them in aluminum foil and put the child's name on the outside. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to eat. Heat in the microwave. Serve plain or with salsa. I suggest allowing them to thaw before heating, if they've been frozen.

Baked Oatmeal (Everyone at my house likes this, and that is a great accomplishment!)

3c. rolled oats

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1c milk

1/2 butter or margarine, melted (can sub applesauce, if desired)

2 eggs

Mix together and bake in a greased 8x8 at 350 for 35-40 minutes. (Or tightly cover and refrigerate overnight) Cut and serve warm, with a little milk over each square if desired.

We often add frozen blueberries and for the kids' birthdays I throw in a few chocolate chips!

Ham & Swiss Muffins

1 pkg crescent rolls

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 lb ham, cut up (I cube deli ham)

3 tsp Dijon mustard (I use 1 1/2)

1 c. shredded Swiss cheese

1/4 tsp pepper

Mix all but crescent rolls. Pinch off dough and place in greased mini-muffin tin pan to form cups. Fill with mixture. Bake at 350 for 15 min.

Sometimes we bake these ahead and heat them in the microwave. However, my husband LOVES these and prefers them hot so we usually mix up the ham and cheese the night before and assemble them the next morning.

Peanut Butter Granola

6c dry oatmeal

1/2c wheat germ (I use 1 c.)

1/2c toasted coconut (I omit)

1/2 c sunflower seeds (I use 1c ground flax seed)

1/2 c raisins

1c butter (sometimes I use 1/2)

1c peanut butter

1c brown sugar

Combine the first 5 in a large slow cooker. Melt together the next 3. Pour over oatmeal and stir to coat. Cook on low 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes.

Breakfast Apple Cobbler

8 medium apples, cored, peeled, sliced

1/4 c sugar

dash of cinnamon

juice of 1 lemon

1/4c butter, melted

2c granola

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on low 7-9 hours or on high 2-3. Serve plain or over vanilla yogurt.

More Toddler Toys

2010-10-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the peg set I mentioned in the post below. Kids can build with it or you can use it to teach colors, counting, patterns, etc. I've never been disappointed with any product from Lauri.

A friend suggested adding a wooden train set to the list. I agree. I was planning to put it in my elementary toy recommendations, but after she mentioned it I realized my just turned 3 year old spends lots of time playing with ours. He can construct a simple track but really likes it when one of his older siblings builds an elaborate one with lots of hills.

Many wooden track sets are compatible with other sets. We started with a Melissa & Doug set I purchased on eBay. We've added lots of pieces from the Thomas & Friends set. I think Brio also works with these two. I like giving gifts that can be added to over the years. My mom gave Andrew a new accessory for his birthday on Monday.

When we first got our train, I wanted one of the nice train tables with built in storage drawers. I also wanted the track permanently fixed to the table. We couldn't afford a table at the time, so I just bought a big Rubbermaid tub to store it in. That was 5 years ago and it's still in the tub. I am SO glad we didn't attach it to anything. I think our children have enjoyed it MUCH more by being able to build a different track every time they play. It also allows me to be able to store it out of sight for awhile and bring it out again after a few months. (I just learned my friend, Kimberly, is offering her readers a chance to win a train table from Constructive Playthings. Check out her blog for your chance to win.)

A couple of obvious suggestions are baby dolls and cars/trucks. With 4 girls, we have acquired quite a collection of dolls, clothes and other accessories. We've especially enjoyed Bity Baby from the American Girl Company.

Can a little boy have too many cars and trucks? I'm sure you can at some point, but I've seen my big boys (ages 9 and 7) line up over 30 of them and have their own NASCAR race. We have a playmat from Discovery Toys that has a road drawn on it. It is made up of 9 different squares that can be put together in a multitude of different ways. My boys have played with this A LOT. I don't think DT sells this particular mat anymore, but you could search for it on eBay or perhaps find a similar product from Hearthsong.

A Few of My Favorite Things

2010-10-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

My friend Kimberly, at Raising Olives ,did a post today on some products she recommends. It gave me the idea to do something similar. I thought some of my friends with younger children might benefit from my many years of collecting toys and books. I am going to share some of our family's favorite toys, games and books with you.

I don't like toys that make lots of noise and whose sole purpose is to entertain. I like toys that require my children to be creative, use thinking skills or help them interact with another sibling. You will probably recognize many of my favorites and some may even be toys you played with as a child

Infant Toys (ages 12mo and under)

I don't think infants need a lot of toys, especially not the ones with flashing lights and lots of sounds. Discovery Toys offers several things that have been favorites here including the super yummy teether and stacking cups among others. Throw in a few multi-sensory toys, something to cuddle and a push toy to encourage walking and you really don't need much more.

(Oops. The shape sorter should be in the next group)

Toddler/Preschool Toys
Some of my favorites at this age are shape sorters, peg puzzles (love Melissa & Doug products), Duplos, building blocks, beads to string, Lauri products (wonderful crepe puzzles and an incredible stacking peg set) and Fisher Price Little People sets. We have added to our Little People collection over the years and now have enough to create a small city.

These Lauri items have kept my preschoolers engaged for hours. If you loose a piece, Lauri will replace it for fifty cents.

One of the many Melissa and Doug peg puzzles we own.

Will made this creation today before I even decided to do this post. I would get rid of almost all of our toys before I would get rid of the blocks. We have a wooden set and a foam set. Many of our wooden blocks have faces drawn on them because the children would pretend they were people and then build a house for them. My 10 year old currently has a 3 story house built with the wooden blocks for her Playmobil family.

This is the first Little People set we purchased. Ashley received it for Christmas when she was two, so this set is 12 years old. We've added the garage, airport, city, castle, fire station and pirate ship.

Our Duplo bricks are also a favorite (Legos for preschoolers). The children enjoy the basic brick but seem to enjoy them more in combination with the animal, farm and people sets we've added. Emily received the people set when she was three. (4 ethnic groups each with a dad, mom, grandparents and 2 children) She lined them all up in rows, set one gentlemen in front and proceeded to have "church."

We also have a Duplo dollhouse which I like a lot. It wasn't cheap, but it was well worth the money. I plan to hang onto it for my grandchildren. When Kathryn first received it she was too young to construct the house, but her older sisters could build it and then she could play with it. The walls and floor of this house come apart and can built in many different ways. You can build a ranch or a 3-story townhouse.

So, what are your favorites?

Coming Next: Elementary suggestions

Luke

2010-10-11T19:49:00.001-07:00

Luke turns 9 today. Yes, we have back to back birthdays at our house. This year Luke gets to have a big party and invite friends. He decided to invite several families to play a baseball game. We will be doing that on Saturday.

Luke is an all around good kid. He does well in school and loves to play sports (although most of it is done in the backyard). He played baseball this summer and did very well hitting and playing 3rd base. When he's not in the backyard with a ball in his hand, he loves to read, play with Playmobil and play chess.

Andrew

2010-10-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

Andrew turned 3 today. He is an amazingly energetic, constantly talking, full of energy little boy. If you are a friend on Facebook, you've read about the numerous "Andrew Antics." Thankfully the antics have slowed considerably, so I'm hoping the next year will be a little calmer. Andrew definitely keeps me on my toes, but oh, how I love that little guy.

School projects

2010-10-11T19:39:00.000-07:00

Last week we completed our first unit of history which included a multi-week study of WWI. Emily created a display board on WWI which included informative articles, poetry, maps and even a love letter from a wife to her soldier on the front line.

Hayley completed a lapbook on various WWI era topics provided by Tapestry of Grace (our history curriculum).

Luke and Will made a salt dough map of the European countries at the beginning of WWI.

Continuing a Tradition

2010-09-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

While growing up my mom, and sometimes my aunts, would make a Brunswick stew every year. This was done outside in a large pot over a fire. Stew days hold wonderful memories for me. I remember my grandmothers standing at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes, my Aunt Jean doing her "witch's laugh" while stirring the pot, being reminded MANY times not to let it stick while I was stirring, all of my nearby relatives coming to eat lunch when the stew was ready and my grandmother's apple pie being served for dessert.

My mom and I have made several stews since I've been married, but this year she and my dad came to my house to help me make one. It was today's homeschool lesson.

Here's the recipe we used. It was created by 2 of my dad's sisters. There are probably as many different variations on Brunswick stew as there are people who make it. We used a 10 gallon pot, but you could reduce the recipe and make it on the stove.

10 lbs peeled and diced potatoes

5lbs dried baby lima beans

4 qt chicken broth (may need more)

3 gal tomatoes

5 large onions

8-10 pints corn

1-1 1/2 c. sugar (add 1/2 of this and then more to taste)

1 c. salt (add 1/2 of this and then more to taste)

10 lb cooked beef

10 lb cooked chicken (I use 20lbs of chicken and no beef)

4lbs margarine (I used 3lbs)
3 pods red pepper
black pepper to taste

Put beans in soak the night before. Next morning pour off the water and put beans in the pot. Cover with water and cook until soft. Add onions, potatoes and enough chicken broth to cover. Cook until potatoes are soft.

Add tomatoes. (We use tomatoes that my mom cans. We run them through the blender first.) Add remaining ingredients. Add additional tomatoes or broth to taste and to get desired consistency.

WWI

2010-09-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

We are studying WWI in history. In keeping with my desire to make school a little more "fun" this year, I bought WWI army men for my boys. I found American and German soldiers in Hobby Lobby recently. The boys have really enjoyed them. They are looking forward to taking them with us to the beach next week.

Birds of a Feather

2010-08-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

This year in science Hayley, Luke, Will and I are studying Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. Apologia divides zoology into 3 years and introduces animals in the order of God's creation. This year we will be studying birds, bats and insects.

In order to study birds, we needed to be able to see birds. We have set up several bird feeding areas in our yard. We hung a thistle feeder to attract goldfinches. We used an empty soda bottle to make a feeder filled with sunflower seeds. To attract insect-loving birds, we made suet. We mixed together oatmeal, peanut butter, lard, cornmeal, sugar, raisins and birdseed.

Next we placed the suet in zip top bags and then in the freezer to harden. Once the suet was hard, we removed one block from a bag and placed it into our suet feeder. The suet is now hanging in our backyard. It took about a week for any birds to find it, but we have had several visitors this week.

Before we began this study, birds in our yard didn't receive much notice. Now as soon as someone spots a bird whatever else we are doing stops, the kids grab the binoculars and the guide book and start trying to make an identification. So far we've seen a Blue Jay, male and female Cardinals, Song Sparrow, Eastern Wood-Pewee, lots of Mourning Doves, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Mockingbird, Robin, Wood Thrush and the Carolina Chickadee.

A New Year...A New Resolution

2010-08-31T19:19:00.000-07:00

No, it's not January and even if it was, I wouldn't be making a New Year's resolution. We are into our 5th week of the school year. So far things are going fairly well. This year we have a 9th, 7th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd and Pre-K student. Andrew (2.5) has a different playmate every 30 minutes to help keep him out of trouble and Daniel (16 mo.) naps through the majority of our school time. I've probably got about another month of relatively smooth days until Daniel gives up his morning nap. Once he does that, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm praying now that the Lord will give me wisdom for handling that new "wrinkle." (By "smooth" I don't mean perfect, I mean Andrew only interrupted 5 times as opposed to 20, no one has "lost" their reading book, I have all the supplies for the science experiment and Luke and Will aren't wrestling in the floor as opposed to doing their math!)

My resolution for this year is to make school more "fun." When I taught public school my students didn't use a textbook and at least 1/3 of my lessons were hands-on. When I first started teaching my own children, we did a lot of hands-on projects. As our family/school grew those types of activities began to fall by the wayside. Somewhere I became more concerned with "getting school done" than with making learning come to life. Now I don't think everything a kid does needs to be fun. Not all of life is fun. It happens to be a lot of work, and school is a place where kids should learn to be diligent. However, that doesn't mean we don't need to mix in fun projects along with memorizing multiplication facts and writing reports.

I think a lot of my hesitation about doing projects/activities is related to my "Yes Mom" post below. I don't like messes. I don't like being inconvenienced. I don't like getting side-tracked and not accomplishing my "to-do" list for the day. Notice a pattern? All of my excuses are about me, me, me. Christ asks us to die to self and serve others. This year I'm going to try to die to my own selfish desires and do the things that I know will help my kids have wonderful memories.

So quiet down textbooks, spelling tests go to sleep
I'm making memories with my kids...memories they will keep.

Being a "Yes" Mom

2010-05-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

My friend, Kimberly, at Raising Olives wrote an excellent post on being a "yes mom."My kids would definitely call me a "no mom." I admit I am guilty of often saying no, because I don't want to be inconvenienced or deal with the mess. Kimberly gives 2 questions she always asks herself before giving an answer. I am trying to make changes in this area and have adopted her questions.

1)Is there a real reason to say no? (dangerous/destructive)

2)Are they supposed to be doing something else? (schoolwork/chores)

If they answer to both of these is "no", then I am trying to say "yes." Tonight I let my kids go out and play in the rain. Some might wonder, "What's the big deal?" For me, it was a huge step. They had fun and I enjoyed watching them have fun. Maybe next time I'll take an even bigger step... and join them!

Snow Fun

2010-01-01T14:38:00.001-08:00

A Snowy Adventure

2010-01-01T09:09:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas season began with a beautiful snowfall on Friday, Dec. 18th. It was the kind I love to watch...large, fluffy flakes. My house was fairly quiet as 3 were napping and 2 others were with friends; so I pulled my rocker up to the window, opened a Christmas novel and enjoyed watching our lawn turn white.

Brian had planned to leave work early that day. When he left work at 2:30 it had just begun to snow. He ran a few errands and picked up the girls at 3:30. He went by the grocery store to pick up a few items and then headed home. When he was about 2 miles from home traffic stopped moving. Evidently vehicles ahead of him were unable to climb the small hills. He called to tell me he was stuck and not sure what to do. He eventually gave up on that route and turned around to try getting home a different way.

An hour later I called to check on his progress. He told me he had given up on route A and was having no better luck with route B. Again cars were unable to navigate the a hill and no traffic was moving. He parked in a nearby parking lot. He felt his only choice was to walk the 2 miles home. My heart sank. Neither Kathryn nor Ashley were dressed for that type of weather. Neither of them had hats, gloves or heavy coats.

I hung up and prayed for God to get them home safely. I tried calling Brian again to tell him just to drive back in to town and stay with friends. He told me they were on their way home. As soon as he got the girls out of the Suburban to begin walking, a gentleman drove up and offered them a ride. He was a native of the area and knew of a 3rd way to get them home. I am SO thankful for God's answer to my prayer.

Once Brian and the girls were safely home, we settled in to enjoy our snowy week-end. Our power blinked several times, but each time it came back on. Around 10:00 it went out for good. We went to bed hoping it would be back on in the morning.

We awoke on Sat. to a cold and dark house. We don't have an alternate heat source, so we put on lots of clothes. We couldn't let the kids play in the snow ,because we had no way to warm them up when they came inside. The "fun" of being Laura Ingles Wilder was quickly dissipating (at least for the grown ups). We spent the day snuggled under blankets, reading books and playing games. At one point I decided to clean the kitchen as there wasn't much else to do and working made me warmer. After a cold breakfast and lunch, Brian knocked the snow off the grill to cook dinner. Having warm food again was wonderful. Finally around 8 p.m. our electricity was restored.

The temperature in our house had remained in the 50's while the power was out. Once it was back on the heat pump began getting things back to normal. I awoke at 4 a.m. however to find Brian getting dressed. He said the heat pump wasn't working and he was going to check the unit. He couldn't find a problem with the external unit. A call to our former neighbor and heat/air guy gave Brian some more things to check. Problem was our friend was out of town. It would be 2 more days before our heat was back on and we could all finally thaw out.

All of this sounds bad, but we were some of the lucky ones. We had friends who didn't have electricity for 4 days. Others in neighboring areas were without for almost 2 weeks! This wasn't exactly the way we wanted our Christmas break to start, but we are thankful for God's provision.

A Rare Moment

2010-01-01T09:08:00.001-08:00

Daniel- 8 months

2009-12-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Daniel LOVES his jumper. I have several kids who hated it but not Daniel. He could jump for hours it seems. On this particular day I think I left him in it a little too long! :-)

Daniel recently began eating food. So far he has had sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, applesauce and peaches. He likes everything except the peas... just like his mom.

I was beginning to wonder if Daniel would every have any teeth. Yesterday I saw the first bottom tooth beginning to come through.

Daniel - 6 months

2009-10-20T11:20:00.001-07:00

Photo Update

2009-10-01T08:57:00.001-07:00

The beach provided a great backdrop for pictures of the children. I'll try to post a new picture of Daniel soon.

We Are Home

2009-09-30T13:29:00.000-07:00

We've been back in Tennessee for a couple of months now. The boxes have been unpacked, school began, vacation was enjoyed and life is beginning to return to normal. Or at least as normal as life can be with a house full of 8 kids! :-)

We spent our vacation on Topsail Island. It is off the North Carolina coast. Brian and I are both NC natives and tend to spend our vacation time on the less-crowded, family-friendly beaches you can find there. I asked Brian if we could get an ocean-front house this year (as we had outgrown the condos we usually stay in). I must say I think it was our favorite beach vacation ever (despite some problems with our van). Having the beach right out our front door was amazing. I had a complete ocean view from my seat at the dining table. We all enjoyed sitting on the deck in the mornings watching the gulls, pelicans and searching for porpoises.

I was afraid the kids would miss having a pool, but they really enjoyed the ocean this year. They spent many hours picking up shells, taking walks, riding the waves and playing in the sand. We also watched lots of tennis (the U.S. Open), played games, worked puzzles, read books and just enjoyed uninterrupted family time.

Taking a Break

2009-07-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Well it's moving week once again. Time to pack the boxes, unplug the computer, load the van, clean the house and move our family and belongings back to TN. Lord willing, we will begin our 16 hour drive next Monday (July 20th). We plan on making stops in Baton Rouge and Birmingham before arriving in Kingsport on the evening of the 22nd. We are looking forward to the end result but not the process of getting there. Pray that all will go well with the move and our travels.

Since we are moving (again) and will be starting school shortly after getting settled, I am taking a break from my blog for awhile. If you haven't done so already, visit my friend Kimberly at Raising Olives or one of these Top 100 Homeschool Blogs. Hopefully I'll post again in late August.

Three Months Old

2009-07-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

Daniel turned 3 months last week. He can smile, laugh and coo. He is even sleeping 11 hours at night. (Yes, I feel like a new woman!) He found his thumb. I love watching him suck his thumb. He doesn't know what to do with the rest of his fingers, so he puts them across his nose. So sweet!

Happy Birthday Will!

2009-07-12T19:49:00.000-07:00

Our energetic, full of laughter, baseball playing, Hardy Boy reading, animal loving son turned six on June 30th. Will played t-ball for the Tampa Bay Rays this spring, so we celebrated his birthday with a Rays theme.

He chose the often requested cheeseburger meal and a chocolate cake with Blue Bell caramel turtle fudge ice cream. (Blue Bell is a locally made ice cream we enjoy very much. We are excited to know it is now available in TN!)

He received a Better Batter Baseball and a knights and castle felt set from his grandparents. Brian and I gave him a set of Star Wars books, an I Spy book, an UT t-shirt (that would be the University of Tennessee, not Texas) and some more animals for his collection. Once again his siblings enjoyed making gifts. One sister made a secret message decoder while another made stickers for various professional and college sports teams.

(Sorry my pictures don't fit with the text. My computer has stopped cooperating. I don't know why they won't move where I want them to go. I'm giving up for now.)

Rotating Children's Toys

2009-07-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Kimberly at Raising Olives is taking a break from Tuesday's Tips for Moms in order to spend more time on curriculum reviews and other things. I had been planning to stop anyway as we are moving this week and will then be starting our new school year in a few weeks. I do want to share one more tip. (And yes, I know it's not Tuesday!)

I have always rotated my children's toys. They never have access to everything we own at one time. When a box comes into their room that they haven't seen for awhile, everything seems fresh and new. I always enjoy toy rotation day as I get a few extra hours of quiet as my little ones enjoy exploring the boxes. I have at least 4 boxes for each age group, therefore the boxes are absent for about a month before the reappear.

I use plastic boxes/tubs from Wal-Mart to store the toys. I put infant toys in shoe box size plastic boxes. I put one in the family room and one in the pack 'n play. My toddlers get a box that is about triple the shoe box size in addition to a puzzle or two and one or two larger toys (Fisher Price Little People sets, Duplo blocks, etc.) I also rotate toys for my older children, especially big things like our doll house, train set, Playmobil, etc. I store toys under beds, in closets, in the garage and in the attic. It is one of my children's chores to rotate the toys each week. I even rotate our board and picture books every 4-5 months (or when I think about it).

I have enjoyed watching the children be creative when a certain item isn't available. For a couple of years it seemed like my oldest three girls only wanted to play with the dollhouse. They loved dividing the people up among them (we have lots of people so each girl can have a "large" family) and acting out daily events. Whenever the dollhouse was not available they would play the same thing but use blocks or Legos to make houses and represent the people. We have quite a few wooden blocks with faces drawn on them. :-)

So, my last Tuesday's Tip for Moms is to rotate your children's toys. I think it's a good way to get more enjoyment out of fewer things.

Tuesday's Tip for Moms- Family History

2009-06-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

While doing a craft with my children last week, I began to tell them stories about doing crafts with my maternal grandmother. She loved crafts and was always trying new things. Theses stories then progressed to other memories I have of time spent with my maternal grandparents. As we talked, it occurred to me how important it is for my children to hear these stories as my grandmother is now in the final stage of Alzheimer's.

My children have never known the grandmother that I know. I want my children to see beyond the woman in the wheelchair who can no longer care for herself. I want them to know she loved to make things. She loved to watch old movies. She loved to dance.

Thinking about this reminded me of a gift I gave my paternal grandmother about 15 years ago. I created a book of memories about the Berry family. Her husband ( my grandfather) died when I was nine. I thought she would enjoy reading about the memories others had of him and their family. I wrote a letter asking family members (children, grandchildren, siblings, in-laws, etc.) to contribute stories and memories about them. I typed up everything I received and had it bound into a book.

I thought I was making a nice gift for my grandmother. I later realized I had created a wonderful family history. All of the events and many of the people mentioned in these writings are unknown to my children (and some to me ). My father wrote of hunting with his father and fishing with his grandfather. My aunts wrote about making molasses, quilting bees, sewing disasters and how their parents supported them in all they did. I treasure this volume of memories.

My paternal grandmother will be 101 on her birthday. I don't know how many more years the Lord will give her. When she is no longer with us, I'm glad my children will be able to know her, my grandfather and his side of the family through this special collection. My Tuesday's Tip For Moms is to find a way to record the stories of your family.

Tuesday’s Tip for Mom is a blog carnival hosted at Raising Olives to allow moms to share what they have learned along the path of motherhood. Join us every Tuesday as we learn and share tips and ideas for spending time with, encouraging, training or relating to our children.

Comments

2009-06-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

A friend just wrote to tell me she was blocked from leaving a comment. I'm not sure how that happened, but I think I've fixed it. I would love to read your comments.

Beating the Texas Heat

2009-06-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

We have finally discovered something we enjoy about your Texas neighborhood...the pools. A new pool opened a couple of weeks ago that makes a trip to a waterpark unnecessary. It has two large slides and a nice play structure for the younger ones. There is even a splash pad area. Most places in the pool range from 6inches to 2.5 feet. There is a deeper section where the slides empty, but it is only 5 feet. Since there is no "deep end" I don't have to worry about my older kids too much, and there is lots to occupy my non-swimmers. I also liked that there were 3 lifeguards on duty at all times. I think the pools are the one thing my kids will miss when we leave Texas.

San Antonio

2009-06-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip to San Antonio last week. On the way down we picked up barbecue from Texas Pride (a place recommended on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives). We got our food "to go" and headed to Mission San Jose for a picnic.

Mission San Jose still has most of its original buildings and has retained an authentic apperance. We watched a brief film that explained why people came to the missions (there are several in San Antonio) and then toured the grounds on our own.

The church (pictured above) was the center of the mission. The walls that made up the courtyard square held over 80 individual rooms. We think each family had two rooms. They were tiny!

After visiting Mission San Jose, we went to the Alamo. Only the long barracks and the church remain of the original Alamo structure. I was glad we had already seen Mission San Jose so that we had a good idea of how a mission was structured and what the Alamo probably looked like.

Our next stop was the famous River Walk where shops and restaurants line the San Antonio River. The children thought it was pretty. Some said it was their favorite part of the day. The fact that we stopped to cool off at the Rainforest Cafe with drinks and dessert didn't hurt their opinion. :-)

Our final destination was the Japanese Tea Garden. Visiting it was a nice relaxing way to end our day.

Although it was very hot, we enjoyed our day in San Antonio. The best part...everything we did was free! We only paid for gas and food. I told Brian it was nice to know there are still things you can do that don't cost any money.

The Teenage Years Begin...

2009-06-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

There is a teenager in my house!!! ( The exclamation points represent joy, not dread) Ashley turned 13 on June 5th. We had a wonderful celebration with our oldest daughter. We feasted on cheeseburgers, hashbrown casserole, baked beans and homemade apple pie. Brian and I gave her a necklace, piano sheet music from the Lord of the Rings and the second set of Elsie Dinesmore books. She also received gifts from her siblings and grandparents.

Ashley is a delight to Brian and me. She helps around the house and in the kitchen (often without being asked), cares for her younger siblings, does well in school and is diligent in all she does. She loves horses, reading, drawing, reading,the Lord of the Rings, reading, playing the piano and reading. Did I mention reading? I can't keep enough books in the house to satisfy her voracious appetite. Ashley's current desire is to write and illustrate her own books some day. I look forward to seeing how God uses this special young lady for His glory.

Ice Cream in a Bag- Tuesday's Tip for Moms

2009-06-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

One part of our summer schedule is called "Fun with Mom". Years ago I subscribed to Family Fun magazine. This past weekend I looked through some old issues for ideas. Today's "Fun with Mom" was making ice cream in zip-top bags. My kids loved it! (I tried to take pictures but discovered the batteries for my camera need to be charged.)

2 Tbsp sugar
1c. half-n-half (We used whipping cream)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c salt (Kosher or rock salt work best)
Ice cubes (enough to fill a gallon-size bag about half full)
1 pint-sized zip-top bag (we used qt-sized)
1 gallon-sized zip-top bag

Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-sized bag and seal it tightly. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-sized bag then seal the smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when its done. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add min-ins, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag. Easy cleanup too!

We made four batches. It was enough for my 7 oldest. We put it in bowls. Making individual bags would have made clean-up easier, but it was nice to be able to share the shaking job. The bags get really cold. We finally wrapped dish towels around them. That helped a lot. We mixed-in M & Ms and chocolate syrup. Yum!

Tuesday’s Tip for Mom is a blog carnival hosted at Raising Olives to allow moms to share what they have learned along the path of motherhood. Join us every Tuesday as we learn and share tips and ideas for spending time with, encouraging, training or relating to our children.

Lists- My Tuesday's Tip for Moms

2009-06-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

Many people have commented to me over the years that I must be a very organized person. I'm not exactly sure what they see in me that makes them think that, because I definitely do not list it as one of my strengths. It is something that has developed out of necessity. :-) One of the tools I have found useful is to make lists.

The Grocery List- I realize this one is probably very obvious, however I am amazed that almost no one I see in the grocery store is using a list. I use a list every week and still find myself missing the occasional ingredient. Kimberly wrote about setting up weekly menus. I have four weekly menus that our family rotates through. I also have a grocery list for each week. Initially it took a lot of work, but now it is so nice to be able to print a copy from the computer, mark off the things we don't need and add what we do. I keep a running list in my kitchen of things we have run out of or that are running low. I've also divided up things like toilet paper, shampoo, aluminum foil, etc. among my weekly lists and buy them each month, if needed. I use a similar list when shopping at Sam's or Costco.

The Shopping List- For many years I've kept a Wal-Mart list on the dry erase board along with the items I need to add to the weekly grocery list. Last year it occurred to me I should keep lists for others stores and web sites I visit. I created a list with the following sections: Sam's/Costco, office supply store, pharmacy, home improvement store, craft store, homeschool supplies (usually web sites). When I am ready to go shopping, I cut off the portion I need and take it with me.

The Book List- We buy a lot of books. One of my husband's desires is for us to have a large family library. I often joke with people that we buy books first and if there is money left, we buy food. I keep a list of books we need and a wish list of books we want.

The Gift List- Throughout the year I keep a list of gift ideas for each member of our family. I also make a list of the gifts we give to others each year so that I don't duplicate items later.

The Size List- This is a list I've just recently started. I don't do a lot of clothes shopping in stores, but when I run across a good deal it will be nice to know my 13 year old's measurements.
Many styles today are made to fit tight, so just because I think she should wear a ladies' medium doesn't mean my selection will fit. Last week I bought an XL in something I could tell had a "tight look" and it was still too small! If I had had her measurements with me, I wouldn't have made that mistake.

The Recipe List- I'm actually not doing this right now, but at times I've kept a list of recipes I wanted to try.

The Borrowers List- How many times have you gone to your bookshelf to find a certain book only to remember you loaned it to someone. The question is can you remember who you've loaned it to? I loan out a lot of books, baby equipment, children's clothes, etc. I've found I can't always remember who has what, so I created a list to help me keep track of where my belongings are.

The Packing List- Since getting married, my husband and I have never lived in the same state as our parents. This being the case we do a lot of traveling to visit family. When we only had 1-2 children packing wasn't so difficult. Now that I am packing for 9 (Brian hasn't let me pack for him since I forgot his dress shoes and we had a wedding to attend!) it is a monumental task. I actually have several types of packing lists. The first one is for all the "things" we need to take on any trip. This list covers items from pacifiers to our portable DVD player. Attached to this list is a list of my personal items including clothes, glasses, Bible, toiletries, etc.

When my children were all young I listed their clothing and personal items on the master list. Now that some of them are old enough to pack for themselves I have a list for each child. It lists each item of clothing, shoes, extras like sunglasses, MP3s, etc. After printing each child's list I fill in how many of each item they should pack. I check each child's selections before they are packed.

My final packing list is for vacations. We usually rent a house/condo when we go on vacation. This packing lists consists of things I need for housekeeping. (i.e. dish detergent, aluminum foil, linens, etc.) It also contains items related to that specific location (i.e. sunscreen and beach toys for the beach). I know lots of people who camp use a similar list.

Making these lists requires some initial effort but once completed I only have to do the actual packing. I don't have to spend much time thinking about "what" to pack.

I realize this post doesn't relate specifically to spending time with our children, however I think being organized helps free us up to spend more time with them. Hopefully some of these ideas will help you as perform your various "mommy" duties. So, what type of lists help you?

Tuesday’s Tip for Mom is a blog carnival hosted at Raising Olives to allow moms to share what they have learned along the path of motherhood. Join us every Tuesday as we learn and share tips and ideas for spending time with, encouraging, training or relating to our children.

Buddy Time

2009-06-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

My friend Kimberly hosts an amazing blog at http://www.raisingolives.com/. If you have interest in homeschooling or how to manage a larger than average family, you should visit her blog. She hosts a blog carnival on Tuesdays called Tuesday's Tips for Mom. This post is part of her carnival. (I've never done anything like this before. I hope it works.)

We are beginning our summer schedule this week. Basically we do math review, lots of reading and work on things I don't have much time for during the school year. (training how to do new chores, art projects, etc.) One of the things my kids enjoy most is Buddy Time. Last week when I told the children I was working on the summer schedule, several of them asked me if we were going to have Buddy Time again this year. They said it was their favorite part of the day.

I have 8 children ages 13 (on Friday), 11, 9, 7, almost 6, 3.5, 19 months and 8 weeks. The oldest six participate in Buddy Time. During this time each of the older 3 is matched with one of the younger three. The younger child then picks what he/she would like to do. My older children have toys/collections that they don't allow their younger siblings to play with without supervision. Buddy Time allows the younger children to play with these items under the watchful eye of its owner. This year we've decided to have a few days when the older child gets to pick the activity. We rotate pairings through all the children. Our schedule allows for this activity to last for 30 minutes, however last summer I was constantly asked if it could last longer. I've scheduled this activity prior to nap/quiet hour. If the children are quiet (and aren't one of my nappers), I allow Buddy Time to last longer.

Another benefit to Buddy Time is that it forces all of the children to spend one-on-one time with their younger brothers and sisters. For the most part my children spend large amounts of time enjoying one another. However I've noticed one girl and one boy don't often choose to play together. One prefers to be outside and the other prefers quiet inside activities. I've enjoyed watching this pair during Buddy Time, especially when they are laughing together. I think this activity has helped their overall relationship.

Hayley assist Kathryn with one of her favorite activities...dressing her dolls.

Ashley and Will are battling Lord of the Rings and Star Wars action figures.

Emily and Luke have developed a baseball game just for two.

Tuesday’s Tip for Mom is a blog carnival hosted at Raising Olives to allow moms to share what they have learned along the path of motherhood. Join us every Tuesday as we learn and share tips and ideas for spending time with, encouraging, training or relating to our children.

Daniel and Me- One Month

2009-05-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Moving Again

2009-05-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

Our family will be moving back to Tennessee in mid July. This will be our 4th move in less than 2 years. Brian's project has been put on hold, so Eastman is sending everyone back to Kingsport. We are not looking forward to the actual move,(If we had known we would be here for only six months, we would have left much of what we brought in Kingsport!), however we are looking forward to returning to our house, friends and church. We are grateful for the opportunities we've had to see new places and meet new people, but "there is no place like home."

Daniel Week 3

2009-05-01T18:22:00.001-07:00

Another Baseball Star

2009-05-01T16:26:00.000-07:00

Andrew has spent a lot of time watching Luke and Will play baseball. Today he decided it was time for him to start practicing.

Another Birthday

2009-05-01T16:14:00.001-07:00

One of the many advantages to having a large family is the opportunity to celebrate lots of birthdays. Brian once said he wanted to have a different birthday each month! I don't think we will ever achieve that goal as we have two birthdays in April, June and October. Daniel and Hayley are our April birthdays.

Hayley turned 9 this year. It is hard for me to believe she is only nine. I always feel like she should be a year or two older since she is over 5 feet tall and wears a ladies size 9 shoe! People often think she and Emily are twins.

Hayley chose fajitas and peanut butter pie for her birthday dinner. She received money from Mimi and Pa Pa which she enjoyed spending at Michael's. Grandma and Grandpa sent an assortment of small gifts including Sculpey clay and a stained-glass coloring book. Brian and I gave her a book light and an audio CD of several books. She also received many gifts from her siblings including homemade cards, a hand-crafted ring and a special treasure one of her bothers gave up because he knew it was something she liked.

Daniel- Week Two

2009-05-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

Daniel Phillip Joyner

2009-04-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

Please join us in thanking God for the safe arrival of our newest blessing. Daniel Phillip Joyner was born Wednesday, April 8th at 3:33 p.m. He weighed 8lbs 4 oz (small by Joyner standards) and was 21.5 inches long. He provided a scary moment for us when he tried to practice being the perfect gentleman by reaching out to shake hands with my nurse! Had my doctor not been able to get his hand back in, I would have needed a c-section. Thankfully Daniel behaved himself and moved his hand back where it needed to be. His arm was bruised at birth but has since returned to normal.

Oh how I love to hold and cuddle him. He looks absolutely perfect to me! :-) I can't believe he is a week old. Time passes too quickly. The week before I was induced seemed to last forever. I felt like time was standing still. Now that he is here, I want to stop the clock and enjoy every moment with him.

Houston Rodeo

2009-04-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

Each year Houston hosts the nation's largest rodeo and livestock show. Since Ashley turns 13 this year, she gets to take a "birthday trip." She really enjoys horses and therefore decided she would like to take her trip early to attend the rodeo. Brian took the day off from work to take her. They spent most of their day watching a Palamino horse show. That evening they attended the rodeo. Ashley said she enjoyed watching it so much that she forgot to take pictures. Each evening the rodeo ends with a concert. On this particular evening the entertainer was Clint Black. Ashley said she really enjoyed the day.

Sibling Fun

2009-03-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

We have been told that we probably have 1 more month of enjoyable weather. We are enjoying it before the heat and humidity arrive. For the past several nights the children have enjoyed playing in the backyard after dinner. I love to see them all playing together. I've even volunteered to do some of the older girls' kitchen chores so that they can go out and play. It thrills my heart to see the older ones enjoying the younger ones. It is one of the things I enjoy most about our large family.

Little League

2009-03-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Shortly after our arrival in Sugar Land, Brian signed Luke and Will up to play Little League. Luke is playing his first year of machine pitch and Will is playing t-ball for the first time. Both boys have enjoyed their practices and receiving "real" uniforms.

Last Saturday was Opening Day. Each boy marched with his team in a parade to the field where the opening ceremonies were held.

This week the season began. Monday night Will's team (the Tampa Rays) played the New York Yankees. In Will's division they rotate positions every inning. He played pitcher, second base and right field. At pitcher he stopped all the balls that came to him and made nice throws to first. At this age the hard part is catching, so their weren't many outs made. No score was kept but the kids didn't seem to mind. (Although Luke couldn't believe they didn't keep score or make the kids who got out go back to the dugout!) It was a very low-key introduction to the joy of playing the game.

Tuesday night Luke's team (the Cleavland Indians) also opened against the New York Yankees. Their team didn't fare so well, but Luke didn't seem to mind and said he had a good time. He played pitcher, second base and right field. He was 1-2 at the plate. Hopefully the next game will have a better outcome.

Emily's birthday

2009-03-11T14:42:00.000-07:00

Emily celebrated her 11th birthday on Feb. 14th. She is our special Valentine! Brian and I are beginning to see the development of a beautiful young lady. It is like watching a rosebud that is just beginning to open. I look forward to seeing her in "full bloom" someday. The sweet scent of a daughter who loves the Lord, respects her parents, is kind to her siblings, and thoughtful of her friends is truly heavenly. Happy birthday Emily!

Good-bye friends

2009-03-08T09:58:00.001-07:00

The older girls made some precious friends during our time in California. These were delightful young ladies with whom our girls enjoyed spending time at church. We are grateful for the way they reached out to our girls and made them feel welcome. Ashley, Emily and Hayley are looking forward to keeping in touch through letters and e-mail. Although the girls were excited to return to Kingsport, they were all sad to leave behind their new friends.

Moving

2009-03-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

The moving company arrived at our house on Tuesday, January 19th. They sent 4 people to pack that day. I was thrilled as we had never had more than 3 before. I had high hopes that the whole process would be finished some time on Thursday. These guys didn't break any speed records. The next day only 3 people were sent and the final two days (loading) we only had 2 guys. They worked through lunch each day but must have taken a "smoke break" every hour. It was around 2:00 on Friday before we were finally able to leave our house.

We drove to Birmingham, AL Friday night. We drove another 5 hours on Sat. to Monroe, LA. We had dinner with Paul and Micah McCoy. Paul used to live in Kingsport and was a member of Westminster PCA. On Sunday we worshipped with them at Auburn Ave. Presbyterian Church. After lunch with the McCoys, we began our 6.5 hour drive to Sugar Land. That was a long drive for me. The kids did ok, but I was VERY ready to be done driving. We arrived in Sugar Land about 10:30. We checked into our hotel and went straight to bed.

Monday we had to be at our house by 7am. Brian had set up an appt. for our gas service to be turned on. They don't even do you the courtesy of saying, "We'll be there between 7-12 or 12-5." They just say, "We start at 7 and work until we are done. Have someone over the age of 18 present beginning at 7:00." Of course it was after 4 before the guy showed up! The movers were on time. They had parked the truck in front of our house on Sunday night. They were back around 8:30 Monday to begin unloading.

The same 2 guys that loaded in Kpt unloaded us in Sugar Land. Our beds had been among the last things to be loaded (We never stayed in a hotel in Kpt.), so I naturally thought they would be unloaded and set up the first day. Wrong! We didn't have beds to sleep in until Wednesday night. I was VERY thankful to be done with staying at the hotel.

Wednesday was also Brian's 40th birthday. Due to our move, I had done very little to make it "special." We had planned to make this our last night of eating out and use it to celebrate his birthday. Around 5:00 Hayley threw-up. (I knew she hadn't been feeling well but had attributed it to a lack of sleep/poor diet during the move.) Nothing like breaking in your brand-new house the first night there!!! I called Brian and told him we couldn't go out. He ended up picking up TX BBQ for dinner.

Before the movers left on Wed., the girls and I had managed to unpack all the boxes (except Brian's office.) This was my goal as I wanted them to take all the empty boxes back to Kpt. with them. It was a tiring process and one which I am glad to have behind me. Moving twice in 3 months has been difficult. If someone told us tomorrow that the project was cancelled and we could go home, my heart would be overjoyed, but I think my body would collapse. :-)

We spent subsequent days organizing and getting things in their proper place. A large portion of that was done when our rental furniture was delivered. We had a wall of built-in cabinets and bookcases in Kpt that held most of my homeschool supplies and our family library. We rented 7 6'x3' bookcases to hold our books here, and I think we could have used one more!

I love the aesthetics of our house as it is new and has lots of nice upgrades. There are several things we have discovered though that we are less than thrilled with. When we looked at the house there was a large empty field behind our fence. Now there is a massive construction project under way. At least my boys are occupied for much of the day watching all the equipment from our upstairs windows. :-) We looked at this house twice during our house hunting trip. Brian was also here several times while working here in December. All was quiet at our next door neighbors' house. We have since learned they have two HUGE German Shepherds who bark at everything that moves. They literally barked non-stop the day we had phone, cable, Internet and rental furniture guys here. Thankfully they stay inside when the owners are home. Finally there is the taco truck that makes its rounds twice a day selling its wares to guys working on houses on our street. Maybe an ice cream truck will show up this summer! We are however very grateful to the Lord for his provision for our family.

The backyard is one of my favorite parts of the house. It isn't as big as what we have in Kingsport, but is several times larger than what we had in California. It doesn't have any landscaping for the boys to destroy and it is fully fenced which means Kathryn and Andrew can play outside when the other children are out.

Kathryn's 3rd Birthday

2009-03-08T09:25:00.001-07:00

Kathryn turned three on December 28th. We were in Greenville, NC visiting Brian's parents, so we celebrated with them. Kathryn loves Blue's Clues and was thrilled to have it as the theme of her party. She received a dress for her new Bitty Baby, a felt book made by her sisters and several items from her grandparents, one of her favorites being a striped pair of Hello Kitty socks.

An "Almost" Slumber Party

2009-03-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

When our children turn nine, they have a birthday party with their friends. Hayley will turn nine in April. We knew if we waited until then to have her party we would not have been in Texas very long and were afraid she might not have any friends to invite! We asked Hayley if she would like to have an early celebration with her Kingsport friends. She thought an early party was a great idea. Being in the midst of our move I wasn't up for making a meal, planning crafts and games, etc. We decided to have an "almost" slumber party.

Hayley's friends arrived around 5:00 p.m. on a Friday evening. I then took Hayley and her 6 friends to Pizza Hut for dinner. I enjoyed listening to the girls talk with each other. They had a great time trying to think of all the jokes they knew. After dinner we returned to our house for cake and ice cream. The girls then changed into their pajamas and watched Hayley open her gifts. The final activity of the evening was snuggling in sleeping bags and watching Kit, one of the American Girl movies. The girls were all picked up by 9:30. The girls were able to enjoy the "activities" of a slumber party, but everyone went home to sleep in their own beds.

Christmas Festivities

2009-03-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

We thoroughly enjoyed being "home" for Christmas. We were able to participate in many of our favorite activities and even host one. Each of the girls had a special time with friends while we were home. Ashley attended a movie and went out to lunch thanks to the organization of a dear friend. I let Emily invite friends over to our house. We decided to have a gingerbread house decorating party. In addition to the gingerbread houses we also make some other holiday crafts. I think the girls had a great time.

A few days later we attended one of our favorite Christmas activities...cookie decorating at the Saulsburys. There were icing and sprinkles everywhere! The older kids took up the challenge to see how many decorations one cookie could hold. The younger children wanted to lick the knives used for applying the icing. Even though the time was messy and a little chaotic, it was a lot of fun. Wonderful memories made with wonderful friends!

Before leaving California, the children had begun practicing for the Christmas program at the church we were attending. They were disappointed that we would not be there for the performance, so they made up their own program. They presented it to Brian and I a few days before Christmas.

The girls also played several pieces on the piano. Andrew decided he wanted to participate too!

Back On-line

2009-03-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Sugar Land, TX! Our family moved to TX at the end of January. We have been here for a little over a month. The boxes are unpacked and life is beginning to return to normal. Hopefully we will have another 5 weeks of "normal" before baby #8 arrives. I have lots of posts to catch up on but am currently unable to upload any pictures. I'll do my best to get the blog up-to-date in the next few weeks.

Taking a break

2008-10-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post for awhile. Our family will be moving back to Tennessee on November 1st. We are looking forward to time with our family and friends. We are also looking forward to worshipping again at Westminster. We will be in Tennessee for about ten weeks.

In mid-January we will be moving to Sugar Land, Texas for the next phase of Brian's work project. Sugar Land is a southwestern suburb of Houston. Unless the project gets cancelled, we will be there 2-3 years. This is not the course I would have chosen for our family, but it is the one God has placed us on. We look forward to seeing how He might use us for His glory in Sugar Land.

I have struggled with the thoughts of being away from family and friends for so long. A dear friend recently sent my a quote by the 19th century Christian author Elizabeth Prentiss. Here is the quote along with commentary by Christian radio host Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: When she was in her fifties, the 19th-century writer Elizabeth Prentiss found out her husband had gotten a new job. She’d have to be uprooted from her home in New York and move to Chicago. It meant leaving a lot of friends, and the move would be dangerous to her fragile health.

Here’s what Elizabeth wrote in a letter to a friend:
“Place and position have next to nothing to do with happiness. We can be wretched in a palace, radiant in a dungeon. Perhaps this heartbreaking is exactly what we need to remind us that we are pilgrims and strangers on earth.”

Nancy: Maybe you’re facing a big, difficult change. Remember, true joy doesn’t come from our circumstances; it comes from our relationship with the Lord. He can help you be radiant today, even if you feel like you’re in a dungeon.

I wouldn't call Texas a dungeon, but I do pray God will help me to be radiant no matter what my circumstances. If you are facing difficult circumstances, may this quote help you remember where our true joy comes from.

With all the moving we will be doing in the next few months, I'm going to take a break from my blog. Look for more Joyner news in February.

The Haircut

2008-10-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Andrew had his first haircut about 3 months ago. It was a terrible experience. He screamed the whole time. Because of the traumatic experience (for him and for me), I waited a long time to get it cut again. Andrew's hair has some natural wave and as you can tell from these pictures, it had become quite curly.

I took Andrew and the other boys to get their hair cut the day before Andrew's birthday. This time he sat perfectly still and only cried a little at the end. I couldn't believe it was the same child. I must say he looks a lot better now. The pictures in the birthday post reflect his new look.

Double Birthday

2008-10-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, October 11 th we celebrated two birthdays at our house. Andrew turned 1 on the 11th and Luke turned 7 on the 12th. Luke didn't mind having a shared celebration, and I was grateful. He chose a Batman theme for the party. We had cheeseburgers, hashbrown casserole and baked beans for dinner. Dessert was a Batman cake with chocolate ice cream.

This was Andrew's first experience feeding himself cake. At first he squished his fingers in it. He wasn't quite sure how to get it to his mouth, so at one point he actually put his head down on his plate!

He finally got the hang of it.

Luke received a wooden race car to paint, a football, a soccer ball, a Buzz Lightyear and a set of UT football players.

Andrew received clothes, shoes, bib, sippy cups and a toy. I told Brian he probably had the most boring first birthday of any of our children. When you are one and have six other siblings, you just don't need much. I hope he will experience the same thing with his own family some day.

Andrew is 10 Months

2008-08-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

Andrew turned 10 months old on August 11th. It's hard to believe he will be having a birthday soon. (It's even harder to believe that we will be celebrating it in California.) He started crawling a few weeks ago. He now loves to crawl around exploring the house, playing with whatever he can get his hands on and searching for crumbs! I should probably buy him some knee pads as our entire downstairs is tile.

Andrew loves his walker. He can move it (fast) with a purpose. The other day I watched him chase Hayley around the island!

Kathryn enjoys helping Andrew with his bottle.

Here are a some pictures I took of the kids before we left for church this morning.

Prayer Request

2008-07-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

My brother, Kevin, left on a two week mission trip to Ukraine today. A year ago he wouldn't even have considered doing something like this. The Lord has done an amazing work in Kevin's life. Please pray for his (and the other 5 members of his team) safety, health, traveling mercies and that the Lord would use him to further His kingdom.

4th of July

2008-07-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

For the past seven years we have celebrated Independence Day with 150 of our closest friends. Our pastor and his wife open their home each July 4th for an old-fashioned Independence Day picnic. Each picnic is spent swimming, playing volleyball, sweating, watching the kids play, eating fried chicken, sweating, dodging the rain, sweating, enjoying homemade ice cream and wonderful fellowship.

It was somewhat depressing for us to know that we would not be able to attend this year. In order to help the kids (and the grown-ups) not dwell on what they couldn't do, we had our own celebration.

We began the festivities by having an ice cream treat during the early afternoon. Around 5:00 we went outside and played games in the back yard. The first game was an egg and spoon relay. Brian, Luke, Hayley and Will were on one team. Ashley, Emily, Kathryn and I were the other team. Brian's team won the egg and spoon race.

Next I sent everyone (except Kathryn and I) off on a scavenger hunt. They had to find a toilet paper roll, a fruit, something purple, a penny, a kitchen utensil, some lint, dental floss, etc. Once again, Brian's team won.

Brian searching for a penny.

Kathryn "scavenging" the chips and black bean salsa!

Our next relay race was the chimp race. Using the same teams, each person had to grab their ankles and walk as fast as possible to the end of our yard and back. Brian wasn't sure he would be able to participate. He said I was assuming he could actually grab his ankles! My team was somewhat handicapped by Kathryn, and we lost once again.

Notice Brian "stretching out" while he awaits his turn!

Our final game was a water balloon toss. At first the kids didn't want to do it (claiming they didn't want to get wet). In the end most of them said it was their favorite. Finally my team won. Brian and I were the last competitors and he dropped the first balloon I tossed him!

After the games we watched Benji. This is the first movie I remember seeing in a movie theater. The kids enjoyed it.

For dinner we had a picnic in the backyard. Brian grilled chicken for fajitas. After dinner we all iced and decorated our own cupcakes. I think the children enjoyed decorating them as much as eating them.

From the top of the hill in our subdivision you can see most of the city of Irvine. Around 9:00 Brian, Ashley, Emily, Hayley and Luke drove up to watch the fireworks. They were able to see fireworks from 5 different celebrations.

Although we missed celebrating with our friends today, I think we all enjoyed the time we spent together as a family. Some blessings of the day included watching the children devour special treats, cuddling with Kathryn while watching Benji, cool weather, the smell of lemon blossoms in our backyard, hearing shouts through out the house of what had been found or was still needed during the scavenger hunt and most of all sharing the day with the people I love.

Will's Birthday

2008-07-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

Will turned 5 on June 30th. Since Brian's parents bought tickets for everyone to attend an Angels baseball game on the 30th, we celebrated his birthday a few days early. Will selected a Backyardagains theme (Nick Jr. show). He was especially excited to have a Pablo pinata. He asked for rotisserie chicken, macaroni and cheese, strawberry applesauce, salad and chocolate cake. His gifts included more trains for the train set he shares with Luke, a Playmobil horse and knight set, Chutes and Ladders and some hand made gifts from his siblings.

Pablo (aka Will) gets ready to blow out his candle.

Will takes a swing at the pinata. Hayley was able to "behead" him, but we eventually had to pull the strings on the back to release the candy.

Will's grandparents gave him a Thomas and Friends book after learning he could read so well.

Sea World

2008-07-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

Brian's parents flew to Irvine on June 22nd. They spent 10 days with us. While they were here we visited Sea World San Diego. We enjoyed our day despite the warm weather and crowds. We saw Shamu's show, a dolphin show, a 4-D Sesame Street show, an acrobatic show over the water and a pet show. Most of us enjoyed the pet show the most. All of the animals are rescued from animal shelters. It's amazing what the animals have been taught to do.

Brian, Ashley, Hayley and Will rode Shipwreck Rapids and got soaked. Afterward they were willing to sit in the soak zone at the Shamu show. People near them got wet, but they didn't. At the end of the day Brian, Ashley, Emily and Hayley tried to ride Journey to Atlantis. This water ride has a 60ft drop at the end. While waiting in line the ride was stopped for some maintenance which prevented them from being able to ride. The tickets we bought will allow us to return once before we leave CA. Hopefully they will be able to ride then.

This dog is jumping rope while his trainer and another dog turn it for him!

Ashley's Birthday

2008-06-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Ashley turned 12 on June 5th. It's hard to believe I have a twelve year old. She is such a blessing to me in her help with the younger children, assistance in the kitchen, etc. She is a delightful young lady who is also growing in her walk with the Lord. I am looking forward to watching her grow and mature in the years to come.

In the past year Ashley has read and watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy. For her birthday she asked for some Lord of the Rings action figures (to display on her desk) and the soundtracks to the movies. She also received some books, a drawing book, a box of her favorite candy and some hand made gifts from her siblings. Her meal request was chicken enchilada soup and marble (vanilla and chocolate) cheesecake.

A Visit from Friends

2008-05-30T22:53:00.000-07:00

Our dear friends Michael and Carolyn Simpson and their son Josiah came to visit earlier this month. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them...it just ended too soon. We felt like a little bit of Kingsport came to visit. Now if we could just get some more friends to come visit... (hint, hint)!

On Saturday night we took them to Laguna Beach to watch the sunset. This is one of our favorite things to do with guests, as we only get to see the sun rise on the east coast.

Going...

Gone

We all enjoyed a day at Disneyland on Monday. It was very hot, but otherwise we had a great time. Josiah and Kathryn (both 2 and 1/2 years old) did well and even met up with some favorite characters. We also saw Tigger, but he wouldn't stop bouncing long enough for me to get a good picture.

Pacific Coast Highway

2008-05-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

If you ever have the opportunity to drive US 1 from Morrow Bay to Monterey, I highly recommend it. The coastal views are breathtaking. It took a lot longer to get home, but it was well worth it. I was afraid the children would soon tire of the view, (especially since we spent about 30 hours in the car together on this trip) but they didn't. The ocean was a brilliant deep blue, unlike the grey-blue I usually see on the east coast. Enjoy the beauty of our Lord's creation!

I told Brian I was going to title this picture "The Old Man and the Sea". :-)

17-Mile Drive

2008-05-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

17-Mile Drive is located near Monterey, CA. It is a scenic drive near several exclusive golf courses including the famed Pebble Beach. It was overcast while we were there, so the scenery wasn't as nice as it might have been on a sunny day. Several of the viewpoints were closed due to the sea lions pupping. I read on-line that the scenery at 17-mile drive pales in comparison to views further down the Pacific Coast Highway. Now that I've seen both, I would agree.

Point Joe is an area where the water is very turbulent due to submerged rocks. The picture doesn't' show it well but there were waves breaking in all directions. The area is named for a Chinese man who once sold wares in the area.

Can you tell this rock is covered with sea lions and sea otters? We could also see them frolicking in the water at the base of the rock.

Muir Woods

2008-05-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

Muir Woods, a Giant Redwood forest, is located 15 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge. This stop was not a part of our original itinerary. Brian's project manager suggested it to us. We are thankful he did as it was our favorite stop in San Francisco.

Brian is at the base of this tree.

I had to take this picture. During our entire trip this is the only time Kathryn wanted Brian to hold her hand. It lasted for about 2 minutes.

Standing inside the trunk of a Giant Redwood

San Francisco

2008-05-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

We spent the third day of our vacation driving to and touring San Francisco. As we crossed the Oakland Bay, Bridge Brian told the children the cars headed the other direction were underneath us. As we drove out of the city later that evening, I couldn't help thinking about the earthquake that caused the upper level to partially collapse onto the lower level.

Our first destination was Lombard Street. It is referred to as "the crookedest street in the world" with its 8 switchbacks. The picture I took as we drove down didn't give an accurate portrayal, so instead I'm posting a hilly street. We learned cable cars were invented after Andrew Smith Hallidie witnessed horses stumbling while trying to pull horsecars up the hilly streets.

We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and then went to Muir Woods. We enjoyed Muir Woods so much that I'm going to give it a separate post.

We spent Thursday at Fisherman's Wharf. There we took a boat tour of San Francisco Bay. We had the option of wearing headphones for a narrated tour. I was impressed that the boys listened intently the whole time. Among the sites we saw were Alcatraz Island and Angel Island (the Ellis Island of the west coast). The picture above is of Alcatraz.

After our tour we stopped by Boudin's for some San Francisco-style sourdough bread. Most of the children liked it. We then ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. We heard elephants stampede and saw gorillas thump their chests. We even experienced a thunderstorm without getting wet. After lunch we walked down Pier 39 to see the sea lions. They were loud and quite smelly!

Yosemite National Park Part III

2008-05-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

After leaving Glacier Point, we drove to the southern most part of the park to visit the Giant Sequoias at Mariposa Grove. Giant Sequoias are the largest living thing. Coastal Redwoods are taller but due to the width of the Giant Sequoia's trunk and branches their bulk is greater.

Here the children are standing in front of the remaining root structure of a Giant Sequoia that fell over 300 years ago.

Will standing inside the remains of a Giant Sequoia stump.

This is the Grizzly Giant. Can you see the people at the base? It is 210 feet tall and believed to be around 2,000 years old. It is the oldest tree in the Mariposa Grove.

The Joyner clan tries to encircle a Giant Sequoia. They were only able to reach about 2/3 of the way around.

Yosemite National Park Part II

2008-05-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

One our second day in Yosemite we drove to Glacier Point. The road to Glacier Point is closed during the winter and early spring. While planning our trip, I read it often doesn't open until the end of May. This year the road opened on May 2nd, three days before our arrival! We are so thankful it did as the view from Glacier Point is breathtaking. It has been called "The Best View in All the West". From the Glacier Point overlook we could see Half Dome, Yosemite Falls, Vernal Falls, Nevada Falls, the Merced River and the Awhanee Hotel.

Half Dome

The Royal Arches

Both sections of Yosemite Falls

A close-up of the lower section

The Ahawnee Hotel

The Merced River and the Royal Arches

Vernal and Nevada Falls

Yosemite National Park Part I

2008-05-26T16:54:00.000-07:00

For our family vacation we decided to visit Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, 17 Mile Drive and the Pacific Coast Highway. We spent the first 2 days at Yosemite. Before coming to California our pastor, a CA native, told us we should visit Yosemite. He said it was one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen. We agree. Words, and even pictures, can not accurately portray Yosemite's beauty. It must be experienced to be fully appreciated, however I hope you can get an idea of how beautiful it was from our pictures.

Our first stop was Bridalveil Falls. We were able to walk a short distance to the base of the falls. May is peak waterfall season in the park. (By mid July the waterfalls are almost dry. ) We were not able to stand at the base very long. The water pounding onto the rocks created an incredible amount of spray.

This is the view of Bridalveil from the parking area. This was actually the best view. Standing at the base of the fall you lose perspective of how high it is.

This picture was taken the second day of our trip. You can see Emily is catching Bridalveil in the palm of her hand!

After leaving Bridalveil we passed El Capitan. It is the tallest granite monolith in the world and a popular rock climbing site. It takes several days for climbers to reach the top. I read that climbers sleep in sleeping bags suspended from the side of the rock. Unfortunately, we did not see any climbers while we were there.

Yosemite Falls is the second highest waterfall in the world. It consists of an upper and lower falls. While walking the path to Yosemite Falls, we could hear the roar of the water. As we approached the base, the temperature dropped twenty degrees and the wind almost blew Brian's hat off his head. This was one of our favorite places in Yosemite.

The upper falls

The lower falls

We were unable to take advantage of most of the hiking trails due to the ages of our children, however we did hike to mirror lake. The hike was a little over a mile, one way. Unfortunately it was cloudy when we arrived, therefore the lake did not reflect a "mirror" image. The trail followed a stream though, so we enjoyed the journey more than the destination. (Except for the fact that I was carrying Andrew. We later realized we could have used the stroller!)

Mirror Lake

I am a North Carolina native. North Carolina's state tree is the dogwood. I have missed seeing the dogwoods bloom this spring. I was surprised to see them in Yosemite. The blooms on the trees there seemed much larger to me than the ones back in NC. I've read dogwoods do best under tall evergreens in filtered sunlight. Perhaps that is why they seem to thrive in Yosemite.

Happy Birthday!

2008-05-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hayley celebrated her 8th birthday on April 21st. She was thrilled to have Mimi and Pa Pa here to help her celebrate. She requested chili and turtle cake for her birthday dinner. Mimi and Pa Pa gave Hayley two Littles books and some craft supplies. Brian and I gave her a watch and a mirror for the shower (at her request so she can tell if she has gotten all the soap out of her hair). Happy 8th birthday Hayley!

The Flower Fields

2008-05-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

My parents came for another visit in April. While they were here we visited The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, CA. It is a 50 acre field of ranunculus flowers along with several other small gardens. We thoroughly enjoyed endless view of floral "ribbons". From the top of the hill we could even see the Pacific Ocean.

Apology

2008-05-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

I am sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. We have had computer problems which we hope have finally been resolved. During my long absence our family visited several beautiful places. When I loaded all my pictures this morning there were only 487! I promise not to post them all here. :-) I'm planning to create some slide shows with Kodak Gallery. If you would like to view them, email me and I'll gladly share them. Enjoy!

Emily's 10th Birthday

2008-02-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

Emily turned 10 on Valentine's Day. She received homemade gifts from her siblings. Brian and I gave her several pairs of earrings. She requested BBQ ribs, potatoes, broccoli casserole, whole wheat rolls and chocolate chess pie.

For each child's tenth birthday they are able to take a trip with either Brian or me. Emily's only request was that we walk through the shops in Laguna Beach. Laguna Beach is well known as an artist community. We spent the morning walking through the shops and marveling at the creativity of the various artists. We had lunch at BJ's Pizza Grill. Emily had her first deep dish pizza.

After lunch Emily and I went to Crystal Cove State Park. We spent some time exploring the tidal pools, walking on the beach and just sitting in our beach chairs relaxing and enjoying the beautiful view.

Later that evening I took Emily to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Our table was located next to one of many large aquariums located throughout the restaurant. There were also life-size gorillas and elephants that occasionally made noise. The restaurant was a bit loud but definitely unique.

After dinner we saw a stage production of Charlotte's Web at the South Coast Repertory Theater. It was very well done. When Wilbur escaped from his pen ("Pig's out! Lurvy, pig's out!"), he ran through our row. Emily and I were both quite surprised!

Emily and I both enjoyed the activities we did throughout the day, but most of all we enjoyed spending the whole day together.

Flair for Fashion

2008-02-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

When I opened my bedroom door this morning, I found Kathryn reading a book. She was still wearing her pjs and had added some accessories.

Four Months Old

2008-02-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

Andrew is 4 months old. Where has the time gone? It seems such a short time ago I was timing contractions trying to decide if I was really in labor and then scrambling to find someone to stay with the children. The newborn stage always passes too quickly.

Yesterday Andrew had a check-up. He weighed 17lbs 10 ounces and was 27.5 inches long. His length was off the growth chart for his age. He is already wearing 6-9 month clothes! All of my children are tall, but I don't think any of the others were this size at 4 months.

Andrew is a very smiley baby. He seems to smile more than his siblings did at this age, however when I get out the camera, he just stares at it. I've spent 3 days trying to get a good picture.

Look Who's Cooking Dinner

2008-02-10T18:12:00.001-08:00

As the mother of four girls I often joke that I'm hoping to work myself out of a job. This past week Ashley helped me see that my dream may actually come true. She cooked her first complete dinner with no help from me. We feasted upon enchiladas, Spanish rice and salad. The meal was delicious and I enjoyed the night off.

Enjoying the beach in February

2008-02-10T17:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday we went to Crystal Cove State Park located between Laguna and Newport Beaches. While most of our friends and family were experiencing weather in the 40's, it was in the mid 70's here. Enjoy the pictures. Maybe seeing the sunshine and beach scenery will remind you that you will be enjoying warmer weather soon. For now, snuggle up to the fire and drink some hot chocolate for us!

California Snow

2008-02-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

We had snow on the mountains again this morning. I took this picture in our neighborhood a couple of blocks from our house. I think these mountains are about an hour away.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2008-02-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

Our main reason for taking our trip when we did was to attend a 70th birthday party for Brian's dad. His mom began planning it long before we knew we would be moving to California. As Brian is an only child, we knew we needed to attend this event. We are grateful to have been able to do so.

Brian's parents live in Greenville, NC, home of the East Carolina Pirates. Brian's parents are avid ECU fans (except when his mom cheers for that team from Chapel Hill), therefore the party had a purple and gold theme.

The party was catered by Phil Joyner. Mr. Joyner is not related to Brian's family, but he is a very close friend of Brian's dad. Had the party been for someone else, Grandpa would have been helping Mr. Joyner cook. Several years ok Mr. Joyner built a "party house" on the lot next to his home. It was a great place to have the party. We enjoyed a delicious meal of roast beef, pork loin, green beans, rolls and strawberry cake.

At his mom's request, Brian served as the master of ceremonies. He did a great job!

Ashley, Emily and Hayley were happy to help Grandma with the decorating. They also helped with some last minute set-up the day of the party.

As a surprise for Grandpa, Ashley and Emily each played a selection on the keyboard.

After the meal Brian recognized all of the family members in attendance. Family drove from Rocky Mount, Durham and Warrenton to help Grandpa celebrate.

After the meal family and friends were able to share memories and funny stories. I heard many of the same words used again and again to describe Grandpa...kind, considerate, interested in others, helpful, etc. I agree. I have known Brian's dad for almost 20 years. He is always interested in the lives of others and always goes the extra mile to help his neighbors, friends and family. The world could use more men like J. D. Joyner. Happy birthday Grandpa!

A Very Long Day

2008-02-04T16:37:00.000-08:00

Our flights to Tennesse were uneventful. Unfortunately things did not go as smoothly on our return trip. We left our Kingsport home for the 90 minute drive to Knoxville around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 29th. We arrived 2 hours before our scheduled departure. Brian dropped all of us off at the terminal where a very nice man helped us get all 9 checked pieces of luggage (including 2 car seats) and carry-ons to the ticket counter, printed our boarding passes, etc. while Brian parked. While printing our passes we noticed our flight had been delayed a few minutes.

We made it smoothly through security (not easy with coats, 9 pairs of shoes, double stroller, etc) and proceeded to our gate. As we waited at our gate the departure time was updated to include a longer delay. We finally boarded the plane around 1:00. Our original departure time was 12:30.

Once on the plane the door was closed, the flight attendant went through the safety info and we were ready to depart. Just as we thought we were ready to leave, the pilot announced all traffic into and out of Memphis had been stopped due to heavy thunderstorms. He said he would receive another weather update in 25 minutes. After several more updates, we finally left Knoxville at 2:30. We knew we were in danger of mising our connection to LAX but hoped it had been delayed due to the weather as well.

When we arrived in Memphis we discoverd our flight had been able to leave on time. The next flight to LAX required a 5 hour wait! As Brian talked to a very irritable and unhelpful gate agent, I told the kids we were going to use this opportunity to show how Christians should handle adversity. We were not going to show our aggrevation or be irritable with others. We were going to maintain a joyful spirit and be content with God's providence over our circumstances.

Thankfully everyone else we encountered was very helpful. One lady gave us $80 in meal vouchers. Our biggest problem was we were no longer all seated together. The oldest four children would be scattered throughout the plane. Ashley handled this news ok, but the other 3 were quite upset. Just before boarding the gate agent was able to get all 8 of our seats together! This was truly a gift from the Lord.

The rest of our evening went well. Most of the children slept at least some portion of the flight home. We arrived in LA at 11:00 (pacific). By the time we got to our house, it was 12:45 a.m. It was 1:30 by the time Brian and I went to bed. We had been up for over 22 hours, and Brian had a 7:30 meeting.

We are grateful to the Lord's protection over us and his provision for us during all of our travels, however neither of us are ready to fly again anytime soon. Brian says when we leave CA we will be driving! (and sightseeing along the way)

We're Back

2008-02-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

We left California on Friday, January 18th. We flew from LAX to Detroit and then Knoxville. Our flights went smoothly and the children did well. I asked Andrew to please not spit up on me or have a leaky diaper. Thankfully he didn't do either one.

We arrived in Knoxville around 10:00 p.m. (EST). It had already been a long day as I had been up since 4:45 a.m. (Pacific). After renting 2 cars for the drive to Kingsport we drove to the home of our dear friends the Riveras. Since neither flight offered any food/snacks other than items to be purchased, we picked up dinner from McDonald's on our way. We enjoyed our brief reunion with the Riveras. Around midnight we loaded everyone up for the 90 minute drive to Kingsport.

Everyone was excited to see our Kingpsort house...not only because we hadn't seen it for 5 months, but because it also looked different. A couple of months ago my father and brother put on a new roof and new siding. As soon as we get the doors painted and add shutters, we will have a "new" house. We were pleased with the work they did. The house looked great!

Upon entering the house I was delighted to see that the air mattresses and pack 'n plays we had borrowed were already blown/set up. All the kids had to do was crawl in them and go to sleep. This was a huge blessing as it was around 1:30 a.m. when we arrived home. I also noticed some extra cleaning had been done in preparation of our arrival. Thank you Saulsbury family!

Saturday the kids enjoyed a brief time playing in our yard. We left 70 degree temperatures in CA for highs in the 20's in TN! Before going outside Luke asked me where his sandals were. I told him this wasn't shorts and sandal weather!

Saturday afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship and dinner with the Simpsons, McLeods and Bradleys. This was also an early send-off for the McLeods. They will be moving to England in March for the completion of an Eastman project. Lord willing, they will return to Kingsport in December.

Worship at Westminster PCA on Sunday was one of the highlights of our trip. The preaching/teaching, singing and fellowship we have enjoyed there for the past 7 years are some of what we have missed most. Being back at Westminster truly made us feel like we were "home". Andrew was baptized our first Sunday there. We were also able to enjoy an extended time of fellowship as it was a 3rd Sunday which meant there was a fellowship meal after the service.

On Monday we drove to Timberlake, NC to visit my family. We enjoyed our time with them, had many extended family members come by, and ate delicious home cooked meals. I was able to visit a high school friend who had been in a serious car accident in early December. I am thankful to have been able to also visit with each of my 3 living grandparents. If the Lord sustains her, my Grandmother Berry will be 100 in September!

Emily had a special time with Mimi (my mom). At age 10 we allow the girls to get their ears pierced. When Ashley turned 10 I didn't really want to be the one to take her to get it done. My mom eagerly voluntered. It is now a tradition for Mimi to take the girls to get their ears pierced. Emily will be 10 in a couple of weeks, so she got her ears pierced while we were there.

On Thursday we drove to Greenville, NC to visit Brian's parents. While there we attended a 70th birthday party for his dad. (Look for a separate post about that later.) We enjoyed seafood from our favorite seafood restaurant and Brian and the oldest 5 went to an East Carolina basketball game. Unfortunately they weren't able to cheer the Pirates to victory. We left Greenville early Sunday morning in order to attend evening worship at Westminster.

Monday was our final day in Kingpsort. I tried to get too much done that day. In addition to packing, I had a dental appointment, Ashley had a dental appointment, Brian and I had health screenings at Eastman and I ran a few other errands. That evening we had dinner at the Chop House to celebrate Brian's birthday. After dinner Brian took the kids home while I went to my friend Susan's house for a Discovery Toys party. She kindly scheduled it for this night in hopes I could attend and see additional friends. I was glad to see some ladies from our Homeschool Moms' Group and grateful to Susan for allowing me to use her washing machine! (The one in our Kingpsort house doesn't work.) It was a full day, but I was happy to have spent it in the town we have come to call "home" and with dear friends.

This post has become lengthy, so I will end here. Our trip home deserves an entry all its own. Hopefully I will be able to post about it and the birthday party in the next few days.

10 Days and Counting!

2008-01-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

In 10 days we will board a plane for a much anticipated trip back east. Eastman pays for one trip home each year. We will be flying from LAX to Detroit and then on to Knoxville, TN on January 18th. We will spend a couple of days in Kingsport before traveling to NC to spend the week visiting family. We planned this trip in conjunction with a 70th birthday party being given for Brian's dad. We will return to CA on the 29th. We are looking forward to spending time with our families and our Kingsport "family". We are also looking forward to our Lord's Day worship at Westminster PCA. We have been able to stay in touch with family and friends through email, letters, phone calls and visits, however we have deeply missed the preaching, singing and fellowship at Westminster.

A Belated Christmas Gift

2008-01-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

In a previous post I mentioned asking Andrew for 2 Christmas presents. The first one, a smile, he provided several days before Christmas. He has now given me the second gift... a full night's sleep! He has been sleeping 8-10 hours for almost a week. This gift was a little late arriving, but I am very thankful for it.

Rose Parade

2008-01-02T17:40:00.000-08:00

Fluor, the company Brian is working with, treated their Eastman co-workers and families to the Rose Parade. Brian and the oldest 5 children attended.

I woke the children at 3:15 a.m. to get ready. They dressed in layers as the temperature at 6:00 a.m. was around 45 degrees while the noontime temperature was 70 degrees. Everyone met at the Fluor office at 4:00. A chartered bus drove them to Pasadena. All buses had to be parked by 6:15. Brian and the children then had a long wait for the parade to begin at 8:00.

Their seats were located at the beginning of the parade. This was good in that they didn't have to wait long for the parade to reach them. However they were just before the TV cameras. Some bands didn't begin playing until they reached the camera spot. They also missed seeing all of the movement on some of the floats. I don't think any of this bothered the children. They loved it. Luke and Will had never been to a parade. As soon as it was over Luke asked Brian if they could watch it all over again! Below are some of the children's favorite floats.

This was Emily's favorite.

This was Luke's favorite. There were cowboys on top of the buildings staging a fight.

Ashley enjoyed this one addition to all the horses.

This is the band from VMI. The young man on the left is Daniel Emery. He is a member of our church back in Kingsport.

Kathryn's 2nd Birthday

2008-01-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

Kathryn turned 2 on December 28th. When Ashley turned 2 she had a huge friend party with a professionally decorated cake, Pooh theme, favor bags, etc. Kathryn had a simple dinner with her family followed by chocolate cake for dessert. Thankfully we no longer do friend parties at such a young age, because this year we wouldn't have had any friends to invite!

Kathryn received a baby doll for Christmas. She keeps it with her constantly. For her birthday she received a stroller and diaper bag. She loves playing Mommy to her baby.

All smiles

2008-01-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

I asked Andrew for 2 gifts for Christmas. The first thing I asked him for was a smile. The second was a full night's sleep. He gladly provided the first several days before Christmas. We are making progress on the second.

Mystery Solved

2008-01-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

The mystery gift has been opened and is now receiving much use. It was an air hockey table. The girls figured out what it was after overhearing Brian in a phone conversation with his Dad. The boys never knew. They were all very excited to receive it. We have had lots of air hockey battles since then. Luke has proven himself quite the player. He seems to enjoy playing more than anyone else (except for Brian). When no one else will play with him, he plays with Kathryn. Thankfully he hits the puck very slowly when playing with her as opposed to his usually slams!

Mystery Gift

2007-12-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

What is 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide, wrapped in green paper and sitting in our dining room? It is the Christmas mystery gift. Brian and I put it out on Saturday afternoon. Brian's parents did something similar when he was a child. He has wonderful memories of the anticipation it built. We have heard some interesting guesses as to what it could be...art supplies, ice skates for everyone, a TV, a window, and even a horse! Check back after Christmas to find out the answer to the mystery.

Christmas Cookies

2007-12-14T17:28:00.001-08:00

For the past several years we have participated in a Cookie Decorating Party hosted by my dear friend Debbie. Each year she bakes all the cookies, provides lots of icing and toppings and invites several families to participate. It is an event my children looked forward to each year. This year I knew if there were going to be any cookies to decorate, it was up to me. Thankfully I have Debbie's recipe and the added benefit of double ovens. Making the cookies was easy. The children had a delightful time decorating them. (For some of them it was a challenge to see just how many sprinkles a cookie could hold!) However, we all missed the fun and fellowship shared with our friends.

Kathryn and Andrew

2007-12-14T17:11:00.000-08:00

Before Andrew was born, I was concerned that Kathryn would be jealous of him. She has always been a mama's girl, however from the time Kathryn first visited Andrew in the hospital she has loved him. Kathryn has a very limited vocabulary, but she can say "baby" and says it every time she sees him or sees a picture of him. She wanted to hold him more than anyone else during his first few weeks with us. Kathryn thinks Andrew's paci is the answer to all his problems. She tries to give it to him whether he wants it or not! Kathryn also loves to kiss him. I'm so thankful she adores her little brother.