At Grandpa and Grandma's House

I took the kids to my mom and dad's on Saturday

for the afternoon to celebrate Father's Day with my dad.

They have a fun little playhouse that the younger kids L.O.V.E.

Appropriately, Ivy insisted on wearing her apron as we were leaving from home.

serving up some yummy water in the play dishes

the ladies handled themselves well when these two

tough lookin' dudes came around

even when Christopher cleared the window ledge

and showed up in their kitchen.

Then while the bigger kids rode the real horses

(which I didn't take any pictures of!!!)

the two little girlies rode the toy horse that Grandpa keeps for them.

We had a yummy supper and then came home so the bigger kids

could head out to the barn for chores.

Ahhhhh.  It was a good afternoon.

This Oughta Make You Smile

If you wonder what I do in my spare time,

it obviously isn't spent giving dancing lessons.

If you need proof,
you really should visit my friend Theresa's blog,
(click on her name above)
scroll down a bit and view Ruby and Elijah
dancin' it up.

I dare you not to smile.

Ivy's Breakfast Buddy

Ivy insists on having this horse with her at breakfast.

She feeds it

and makes smacking/yum-yum noises on its behalf.

"Mmmmmmmmm."

"Want some more?"

I love my ring-side seat to the carnival of their childhood.

Nathaniel's Confirmation

Nathaniel was confirmed the first Sunday in June,

six days after his accident.

You can see he's still weak and hurting in some of the pictures.

He read Scripture that morning during church. 

(He sat down to avoid any chance of fainting.)

 He gave his testimony.

 Pastor Mark said "we'll just turn things around a bit..."

as typically Nathaniel would have been kneeling at the altar that 

is behind him.

 We had a dinner and open house afterward.

A friend of our family made this 

gorgeous cake.

 Nathaniel with his god-parents,

Uncle Terry and Aunt Diane.

(His ribs were still reeeeaaallly hurting, thus the pillow.

After what he/we had been through that past week, 

I wasn't going to make an issue of it for pictures!)

 Nathaniel's godparents, Corey and Tami

 with Grandma Harriet and Grandpa Gayland

(Dennis' parents)

 with Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Wayne, who are my parents.

You can't tell my dad is proud of him, can ya?

 Dennis and me with our eldest.

aaaaaaand with his remaining set of great-grandparents, 

Grandma Mavis and Grandpa Glen.

There--a little late, but recorded on my blog for all posterity.

While Nathaniel Recuperates

Since Nathaniel's been laid up,

he's been keeping busy with a new purchase.

It has a little something to do with this:

Yes, he bought an electric guitar.

 It's a Fender, just like Buck Owens used to play.

He plays it all. the. time.

And he's really really good.

(Did I mention he's self-taught?)

He has played an acoustic for a couple years and had had his eye 

on this guitar on amazon for quite some time.

He has inspired many others in our home.

Sisters

Linnea and Ruby

Ruby

Ivy Joy

I wonder if we will have another?

Or will it be a brother?

I'm Blessed

Last week my friend Gretchen invited us to join in her blog party.

So tonight, as others are doing,

I'm finally getting around to telling you how 

I'm Blessed.

Of course you know that I'm blessed to have a passel of kids,

a husband that loves me even when I'm un-loveable,

and a great extended family.

I'm also blessed to live in the country (with no visible neighbors!).

I can look out any window of our house and not see another house.

I like that. 

 I'd feel hemmed in the city--even if it was a teeny, tiny town.

But since Gretchen gave the heads up about this post last week,

I made sure to look for little things that make me smile.

You know--the kind where I'm pretty sure God was smiling, too.

Last week as we sat down to dinner

(that's the noon meal 'round here)

the younger kids sang their hearts out to "Johnny Appleseed."

When kids sing about how great God is,

that blesses me.

Another little thing that stood out to me this week was this:

on Sunday morning, all of which are peaceful and well-ordered in this home,  

{HA!! HA!  You didn't fall for that, did you?}

the kids were loading themselves and each other into the van

and when I came out, Ruby said, 

"Mommy!!!!!  Look at my pretty flowers!!"

Ivy showed me hers, too.

And Elijah--sweet, sweet son of mine, said,

"Yeah, I picked some ante-lions (dandelions) for the dirls (girls).

'Cause I knew they would like them.  And 'cause Ruby wanted me to."

Melt. my. heart.

That set the tone for our ride to church,

which was a whole lot better than the one I usually set.

And so,

I'm blessed.

In big ways

and small ways.

Thank you, Lord.

Goat Milk Soap

Oh, man, do I love

this stuff.

I "found" them from a reference on another blog

and I LOVE this company.

I use their laundry bar

in my homemade laundry soap.

I love that they include

three free samples with each order.

I love that they are a farming family

and they have a bunch of kiddos

like we do.

Each order has arrived at my door

within three days.

And did I mention that they have 

gift certificates

and that my birthday is coming up?

There are TONS of benefits
to using natural soaps.
Yes, it may be a bit more expensive
than what you'll find at Wal-Mart
but I've decided over the past several months
that I am not going to settle for
"cheap" and thereby allow
a host of yucky chemicals
onto and thus into the skin of my family.

We have been using the shampoo bar (love it)
and the shaving bar (love it)
along with the bar soaps (love them).

You've also GOT to try the
sugar scrubs!
It's my version of Calgon...

I suppose I need to say that I was not asked to write this post,
I just wanted to share a "find" with you.
You will not be disappointed!!!

Ivy Plays Ball

This past Saturday,

my parents took some of 

the kids to visit my grandparents.

There was a parade to go to

and then they spent 

the afternoon visiting and playing

in Grandma Mavis and Grandpa Glen's yard.

I love this video my mom took

of Ivy playing ball with my dad's help.

You can hear her saying "Bah"

which is how she says "ball."

Happy...Sad

There are those times

as a mother

when you are so proud

of your child's newest achievement.

Rolling over, crawling,

walking, using a fork,

new words, learning to "pump" on the swings 

all by his/her self,

writing their letters and numbers,

learning to read,

finally understanding Algebra,

learning to drive,

etc. etc.

Some you are SO happy about,

like baby's first smile.

I don't think I've ever felt a tinge of sadness

when my baby first smiled at me--

it was just happiness.

Same with using a fork, writing their letters and numbers,

reading, and Algebra.

But there are those times

when your child moves on in their development

that are tinged with sadness for this mama's heart.

Of course I'm happy when my child

learns something new, 

but I also think of what I'm "losing" in the process.

When Baby learns to crawl,

I'm so excited because they learned something new!!

But I'm sad because now Baby's on the move--

and no longer stays where I put him or her.

One area that stands out for me personally

is when they learn new words--

or the correct way to say their words.

My littles have usually called my dad "Bam-pa" or "Bah-pa"

until they are old enough to form the word "Grandpa".

I love hearing them say it--

and then one day...

it switches to "Grandpa".

I'm happy--and I'm sad.

I have loved how Elijah has said helicopter--

I asked him to say it for me last week,

expecting him to say "helli-toppler."

But he said "helicopter" plain as day.

I was sad.

I really liked hellitoppler.

This morning, though, I smiled

when he told me about the 

"lem-lade" he drank yesterday.

*sigh*

He's still one of my littles.

When Ruby Was Missing

I couldn't find Ruby when I got up on Saturday morning.

I looked everywhere:

under her bed, in Linnea's bed,

on the couch, the floor next to my bed,

I looked in everybody's bed in case she'd crawled in with them.

No Ruby.

I looked everywhere again.

And again.

I started to get a little nervous.

I sent Dennis a text to have him ask Linnea if she

had any idea where Ruby might be.

Nope.

I re-checked all the places I'd already checked.

Dennis and Linnea came in from outside

to help me look for her.

It just made no sense!  

She seemed to be nowhere!

I even stopped in each room to listen for

heavy sleepy breathing.

Then Linnea suggested I look in her closet.

I'd already checked there repeatedly.

Apparently I had not looked close enough.

The "lost" was now found.

I let her keep sleeping.

Andrew's Gone Fishin'

My brothers left last week

with Andrew and my nephew Levi to go to Canada (!!!)

on a fishing trip.

He was just a bit excited.

Lookin' just like Uncle Jeremy with his new sunglasses, too.

Cousin Levi

Their manner of conveyance.

Driving away for nearly a week!

(To Canada, with no cell reception so I can't even find out

how much fun they're having!)

So God Made a Farmer

"Boys Who Climb Trees" by the Mother Who Takes Many Pictures of Them Doing So

disclaimer: these pictures were taken on the same night that 

they were Swingin.

Yes, that is still pizza on their faces.

Swingin'

(we'd had pizza for supper--I guess he couldn't find a napkin

and since he had short sleeves on, his shirt wasn't an option like usual.)