Category Archives: Daily Life

Daily Life

Almost Daniel’s Birthday

6 Comments

Tomorrow is Daniel’s birthday. Okay, technically it’s already his birthday (the 15th) as it’s after midnight, but since I haven’t gone to bed yet, I’m not counting it.

I still have some presents to wrap and streamers to hang. Yikes! I love sleep as much as the next person, but it’s awfully inconvenient the way it cuts into the day (or night).

sleeping or dying

These two look so peaceful.

Thank goodness the house is sparkling clean and I have the birthday meals all planned for tomorrow.

Oh, no, wait, that must be someone else’s house and life. I have visions of a clean house and a delicious birthday breakfast. See, I do sleep, it’s proven by the fact that I dream.

easter eggs

Let’s see if I can describe some of the chaos of the house. There is a stack of dvds next to my computer. I’m not sure which child thought there would be time to watch movies tonight. I put the younger ones straight to bed and the older ones to work. Silly children.

There’s a strange mixture of stuffed animals and unmatched socks tumbling off the couch in the family room, topped off with some winter hats and mittens from a family skit we did on Saturday. Another dvd sits forlornly on the edge of the couch. Wow, I count six dvds in total. Someone has a serious hankering for a movie night. Sounds good to me!! Let’s abandon all this work and watch movies instead.

sarah's goodies

Some treats to take to the neighbor.

On the table is a few birthday presents for Daniel that need to be wrapped, along with a small collection of things Tim wrapped for me. In Christmas paper. Yes, Christmas paper. It’s reversible, does that redeem us?

In the kitchen is a Happy Easter balloon Sarah was given at the grocery store along with bags of groceries I have yet to put away. Nothing frozen (thawing), I hope. Oh, I forgot to mention the 50 pounds of whole wheat flour in the family room. It’s sitting there because I haven’t decided what exactly to do with it. 50 pounds of flour is a bit bigger than I imagined.

Wrapped in Christmas paper it would be very impressive. I’m not sure Daniel would really think that a funny joke, so I’ll pass on that little late night joke.

Why, you might wonder am I blogging at this hour of the night when I have so much work to do? Well, see my 13 year old daughter’s friend glared at me today. Glared through the cell phone. She’s a very impressive glarer. She told me firmly to get blogging. I guess it’s been too long since Tim and I filled the cyberspace with our babbling and she missed us.

teens can glare and text!

“I’m trying to work with you, Mom!”

So there you have it. What is a girl to do? I’m nothing if not attentive to the needs of our readers.

Oh, and it’s easier to sit and blog than get up and actually clean the house and hang streamers. Daniel will be sad, however, if there isn’t some sort of celebration awaiting him in the morning, so I probably should get working.

Happy Easter

Happy Birthday, Daniel!! We love you!!

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Daily Life, Recipes/Food

The Unnamed Post

7 Comments

I’ve got some delicious chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. It’s 11:30 pm, but surely that’s not too late to bake cookies. Tim and I had a fun idea for our Sunday School class tomorrow and fresh baked cookies are part of our scheme.

I love this 8 year old!

David loves my chocolate chip cookies.

But then is there ever a time when fresh baked chocolate chip cookies (with a scattering of butterscotch chips) aren’t welcome.

Maybe at a Weight Watchers meeting.

bunch of park cuties

This is not an actual Weight Watchers Meeting.

These, of course, are made with half whole wheat flour. Or rather white whole wheat. What does that even mean? Does anyone know? It’s a type of King Arthur flour and it’s actually called white whole wheat. Interesting. I’m hoping it means I can use it in chocolate chip cookies and no one will fuss about the whole wheat texture/flavor.

We’ll see.

chocolate trail mix

These are not my chocolate chip cookies.

On Thursday nights, when I should be working on homeschool co-op prep and getting ready for a good night’s sleep, I am often overcome with an irresistible urge to bake. It’s not logical. It’s not helpful. It is, however, very tasty. Last week I made cinnamon crispies – basically an incredibly sweet and delicious cinnamon roll. I discovered the recipe on a blog. Go now and check it out. Your family will rise up and call you blessed.

Of course, they’ll also need to spend some time at that Weight Watcher meeting, but the cinnamon crispies are worth it.

This week I made up a huge batch of chocolate Chex mix. We had some at our Debt Free party and the kids have been raving over the leftovers ever since.

“I’m addicted to trail mix. Did I ever tell you that?” Joshua said to me several times during the week.

What’s a mother to do? Obviously she should wait until the last minute on Thursday night and make trail mix.

I’m sure you all agree.

Now, it turns out that my three older children are very particular about what they like in their trail mix. Or rather, what they DON’T like in their chex mix. The basic mix consists of: Chex cereal, Cheerios, nuts (this time it was peanuts and cashews), pretzels, a little bit of M&M’s, and dried fruit. As this was a “muddy” trail mix I melted chocolate and peanut butter chips and drizzled them over the entire thing, stirring gently.

Joshua likes raisins but not craisins.
Daniel likes craisins but not raisins.
Rachel likes craisins but not raisins or pretzels.

Daniel's Special Day

Tim, it has been revealed, likes any and all trail mix. Preferably the kind with lots of chocolate.

Hmmm, not a problem I decided. I pulled out several large bowls, divided out the ingredients and made individual recipes of mix per child. I did have to verify the preferences several times but after a little bit of work I had trays full of Just My Favorite Chex mix for the kids.

From there I went on to make banana chocolate chip muffins.

Please don’t ask me how many hours of sleep I routinely get on a typical Thursday night. It’s not pretty. Thankfully my Fridays include plenty of strong coffee and many other blessings.

If you have any suggestions for what I should make this week, do share. I like to bring some sort of treat or goodie to my co-op classes. You know, to bribe the teenagers into doing their work and thinking I’m a cool teacher.

It’s mostly working. They haven’t fired me yet.

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Daily Life, Project 366

Snowed In

7 Comments

The snow has been falling and there promises to be more on Sunday. I guess we’re not technically snowed in as Tim took Joshua to a birthday party this evening and then went to the grocery store for me on his way home.

Sarah loves the snow

she's

Ah, the joys of modern living. A grocery store around the corner and electricity. There is nothing quite like a little snow storm – slippery roads, cold wind blowing, and the promise of more snow – to make me thoroughly appreciate the conveniences of the 21st century. I can’t imagine how the early pioneers survived the hard winters.

I guess many of them didn’t. It certainly puts my grumbling about the cold into perspective.

here we go

we're heading down!

Eat snow, baby!

Rachel and David are not afraid to eat some snow.

Meanwhile, the children are in absolute snow heaven! Daniel and David have already planned their Saturday morning activities – basically get out in the snow as soon as possible. Tim and I often sleep in on Saturdays (even 8:30 or 9 am is luxurious when you are a busy parent). The children usually get up and watch a movie, being very careful not to disturb their night owl parents.

This evening Daniel came to me and asked if he and David could go outside when they woke up in the morning. You would have thought I had granted them a special prize the way the boys chortled and cheered at my casual nod. They ran off to gather boots, snow pants, and gloves and lay them in the living room.

“Just to be ready, Mom!”

I think they would have slept in their snow gear if I had let them. Ah to be young and unafraid of the cold.

Let's FIGHT!

Joshua finished his school work early yesterday and started a snowball fight.

snow ball or shovel?

Who needs snowballs when you can grab a shovel?

take this!

Daniel aims right for Joshua’s head.

Brrrr, I am a summer, warm weather girl. Give me weeks on end of hot sunshine and lazy days at the lake, pool, or ocean. It’s a little chilly to head to the pool now.

Of course, I’m tickled that the kids enjoy the snow so much. We certainly don’t get much of it in Western Washington. We keep our snow on the mountains where it belongs, and usually have more rain than snow. This snow storm has been an unexpected treat, especially so close to Christmas.

we need a bigger snow fort

“Do you think Joshua can find us behind this snow fort?”

This evening Tim and I walked over to a friend’s house. The street was quiet, the sky lit with reflected snow and the city lights. It was gorgeous. We held hands and tried to walk and not slide our way down the road.

At such moments you can only just revel in God’s creative handiwork and marvel at how the snow blankets the noisy suburb and paints the neighborhood in a lush winter white.

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

tn_September2nd2008a
Daily Life, Homeschooling

No More Bloggy Hiatus

7 Comments

It’s time to resume writing. Surely the blog-drought has gone on long enough. This morning one of my children snuggled into my comfy computer chair, pulled up the blog website and looked at me sadly,

“Still no blog, Mom?” There was a mixture of pity and worry written on his face.

“I know, I know,” I retorted just a wee bit sharply, “I didn’t do the dishes last night either, you wanna talk about that as well?”

internet cafe

This was the extent of our internet while out of town, stealing wireless connection from the neighbors.

There’s nothing quite like a frantic mother of five trying to get to homeschool co-op on time, early in the morning. A co-op in which she’s teaching three classes AND giving the opening announcements. Today was a typical example of the harried, over-committed homeschooling family. I rushed around barking out helpful comments:

Does everyone have a lunch made?
What about art supplies, pencils, notebooks?
Backpacks? Mom’s lunch? Can somebody fix me a quick salad?
I NEED coffee, make-up and a hair dryer!!

Coffee first!

The kids stumbled over one another trying to make sandwiches, find lunch bags, sharpen pencils, and load everything into the car. Joshua (who rose at the crack of dawn and was smugly finished with all of his preparations) now loomed menacingly, threatening anyone who causes us to be late.

That would usually be me.

“Joshua, can I please just dry my hair really quick before we go?” I found myself pleading. “Listen, I’ll finish my make-up in the van (at stop lights only, of course) if you’ll pour my coffee and give me two minutes to do my hair.”

There’s nothing like bargaining with a teenager for a few precious minutes of personal grooming to keep you humble. Today I tried to even the scales a little by requiring him to heat and froth my milk before he adds it to the coffee.

Just to be sure he knows who’s boss.

sure, Mom, whatever you say

Finally, everything was loaded into the van, children were clothed (always a good thing), lunches assembled and packed, my assortment of media equipment was carefully organized, and at least TWO mugs of coffee filled the drink holders: we were ready to set off.

“Um, kids,” I began in a wheedling voice as we pulled out of the driveway, wincing just a little at what was coming. “I need to make one quick stop on the way. Before you say anything,” I rushed on, “I think I can get everything at the drug store (on the way) rather than making a side trip to Target.”

By now his face was grimly set and Joshua was resigned to his fate.

“Hey, you can come in with me and help me pick out the candy,” I offered, trying to soften the blow.

“Okay,” he agreed, “but only because it means I can shove you along keep you from lingering.”

It’s so hard to get any respect around here as a slow moving, non morning person.

Side Note: Even with all that preparation (the children weren’t the only early risers today, I got up at 6:15 am myself), Tim still had to come by the co-op and bring me some things I forgot. How nice that he works from home on Fridays.

bowling anyone?

Maybe they should offer bowling at co-op.

Kathy

Share or follow
Share

Related posts:

Daily Life, Homeschooling

School Starts Soon

9 Comments

I’ve got fresh binders, notebooks and pens lining my shelves. I still need to buy a big box of pencils. I’m afraid we’re pencil snobs here and only use Ticonderoga no 2′s in our homeschool. They really are the best pencils – write beautifully (well, that part is questionable if you’ve seen the handwriting of a few of my students) and, better still, erase nicely.

I’ve got all our curriculum lined up and ready to go. I’ve cataloged all our books and organized them on the shelves. Two of the kids are finishing up last year’s math books so we’re all set for math. I have several more pieces of our curriculum on the way but everything is ordered and checked off my list. I’m trying something different for our language arts this year. I hope to post an actual homeschooling “this is what we use in our school” blog at some point.

Now to do the actual work of teaching these five children.

Gasp, hyperventilating just a bit.

Our homeschool co-op begins next week. I have everything pretty much ready for those classes although I got an email from one of the teachers with a supply list for Rachel and Daniel’s drawing class. I guess we’ll have a few more trips to Target to make before school officially starts.

The summer has been wonderful, glorious and full of fun, friends and relaxation. I feel incredibly blessed to enjoy the summer months with my family and even more blessed to be able to embark on another year of homeschooling.

Kathy

Sorry – still no pictures. We have minimal internet right now and there is no way I could upload photos.

Share or follow
Share

Related posts: