Sunday, May 31, 2009

A Weekend with Four Boys

Three of the four boys and my husband are crashed out in the living room, sound asleep. Our oldest is just watching TV, waiting for the hockey game to begin tonight. (Go Red Wings!)

I thought I would take a moment to tell you about our weekend.

Friday, I learned how to drive the garden tractor’s rototiller. I knew how to drive the tractor, but the rototiller was a new thing. It was like getting my driver’s license for the first time, I had that much fun and it was that freeing. My garden may actually grow this year! While my husband grows all our necessary food, I grow sunflowers. How can you not smile at sunflowers? I worked the boys hard, they got to put in their own seeds too but since I left them to themselves to grow them, we’ll see how they turn out. It’s all a learning experience.


At night we had a campfire in the new campfire spot the boys worked hard to build. My parents were over as an unplanned visit and most often, unplanned visits end up being sometimes the very best. This one was. We sat around talking about all sorts of things, mostly about how the state must have been in pioneer days. We were inspired, I suppose, by the mosquitoes eating us.

The day was perfect except for two things…..

1. I can’t seem to keep my boys fed. We are on summer vacation now and in one morning, they ate a bunch of bananas and half a bag of apples. They eat all their breakfast, they eat all their dinner, they eat all their lunch. They eat cookies, crackers, brownies, icecream , yogurt… I timed them. They ate all their dinner and exactly half an hour later, they were asking what they could eat because they are hungry. Anyone with ideas of what to feed them, please let me know. I need new FILLING ideas. And the craziest thing about this is that whenever I tell someone how much my boys eat, I feed them and they WON’T EAT! Only to be STARVING later. Sigh.

2. Our dog found a nest of baby bunnies. To find a nest of baby bunnies for the boys means they want to keep them for their very own. I look at them and think one more thing to feed…even more constantly than the boys. So, I tell them to leave them alone. They assure me they are just going to look at them to make sure they are okay. They do this every five minutes, I’m sure. Our dog thinks they sound like her favorite squeaky toy….we are minus three baby bunnies now. On the upside, we keep finding more. What started out as three tuned into eight, I think. But keeping the dog away and keeping the boys away…it was a challenge to say the least.

On Saturday I spent the morning lounging, which meant that I got caught. A friend of mine stopped in to see me in my robe, an asparagus customer stopped over too but R.C. was friend enough to talk to them for me. THAT is a true friend, turning a customer away when you are standing in your robe. I have learned my lesson (I hope), no more lounging Saturday mornings! It was while standing on my porch to chat with R.C. that I realized all the fish we caught the other day, well, they were still there. To say they stink, well, that would be an understatement. I looked at my porch and realized that, yes, our porch looked humiliatingly bad. S1 had set up a ‘fishing pole’ fix it shop on the tank for baby chicks – they had been moved to the coop well over a week ago. The baby changing table had been kicked out of the house, and on the porch. And then just the odd collection of boys stuff. We had serious work to do.

And we are still far from done.

So when the family reunion/birthday party time came up later in the day, this family pack was sleepy, to say the very least. We arrived at a park to have a potluck dinner and this park has a creek running thru it. Before I let the boys out, I very strongly stressed to them that they were not to fall into the creek. No matter what, under any circumstances, were they to fall into the creek.

That’s kinda like asking my husband not to farm. It’s in a boys blood to play in a creek, just like I think my husbands blood is actually dirt.

As soon as we were done eating, S2 ran to jump over the creek, missed and fell in. He layed on the ground crying, he knew he was in trouble but he told us that it was an accident. He was soaked, shoes, socks and shorts. He had to suffer thru, cuz I had forgotten to pack extra clothes, which I had meant to do but forgotten.

After birthday cake I sat on the bank watching the two youngest play. They had a little beach spot and they were being ever so careful not to get wet and still having fun. As they climbed the bank to check on something and were coming back down, the grass made it look like there was ground where there wasn’t and by the time I got out ‘don’t walk there!’ S4 had gotten too close, fell down the steepest part of the bank, thankfully not where there were any rocks, into an exceptionally deep spot in the creek.

“Get up!” I hollered to him but when he put his arms down to pull himself up, he would just go under. I jumped in to pull him out. It was deep enough that when I got out, my jeans were wet to the bottom of my back pockets. S4 was fine, though very shaken up and very cold. He kept saying “it was an accident, Moma…”and then he would cough because he had drunken in too much water. I grabbed a hold of S3’s hand, held tight to S4’s hand and hollered loud enough for the other two boys to hear that we were headed home. At those words, S3 begins to dig his heels into the ground, literally. “I don’t want to go home!” he cries.

S4 is crying “ I don’t love falling in the water.” Cough cough cough. “It was actually an accident, Moma.” Cough cough cough.

S2 is yelling “Moma, did you grab my socks? I put them next to you!”

And S1 is just hustling, he is sure I am on the war path. And he is trying not to laugh at the sight of his MOMA drenched in creek water after her stern talking to to all the boys.

It was this scene that greeted my husband, who is lounging at the picnic table chatting with his family. “oh, are you ready to leave?” he asks after I have stripped S4, who is now shaking, down and put a pullup on him then strapped him into the carseat. S3 is following right behind me still hollering that he doesn’t want to leave and walks right into the open vehicle door which makes him scream. S2 is asking if I remembered his socks and what happened. And S1 is silently getting ready for the ride home. I had returned to get our picnic stuff. “Yes,” I answered as controlled as possible, “we are”. And then I walked my squeaky, sandy, soaked skechers back to the vehicle with all our picnic gear.

As soon as we were away from the park, I stripped down to my panties. I glared at my husband and said “don’t you DARE get pulled over! DRIVE SLOW! There is no way we can explain this one away!”

So, all the way home my husband teased me, asked the boys if they wanted to stop ice cream…all sort of funny things like that. I knew this would be funny when I was fully clothed again. But I wasn’t clothed yet.

At the end of the night, as I sat on the couch to watch the Red Wings and got to thinking how badly I needed to paint my toes,
I facebooked that S4 had fallen in the creek but was drying out. Someone fb’d me back to say ‘another exciting day’ and as I read that, S3 came in bawling with a black and blue mark on his forehead because he had run into his brothers hockey stick. I called it a night, told the boys to just camp out on the floor if they needed to see the Red Wings win or go to bed and I crawled into bed and dreamed of sitting in France with one of my friends drinking strong coffee and eating some thing like ice cream that was yummy.

I think my brain is telling me I need a vacation.

Sunday woke me with sunshine. We were visiting some friends of ours home and hadn’t been there in years (as a whole family) and had decided to tag along with them to church too.

Want to watch your kids under pressure? Bring them to a church totally unlike your own and see how they react. It’s kinda funny. Their eyes were as big as saucers, they were polite and they were nice and they did have a lot of fun. And when my oldest left Sunday school he said “thank you very much but I will never come back again.” Honest, but it was because we were visiting……..so I explained that to her before we left and she was left wondering what she had done to offend us so badly!

And then we spent the rest of the afternoon with friends. Who have a little girl. (and three grown kids, two of which are boys so they understand us very well) And nothing is more fun than watching our boys hang out with a little girl! And you know you are good friends when you can arrive barefoot, stay barefoot and help out in the kitchen. It was fun….

And when we got home, I noticed a new shirt on my clothes line that wasn’t there before. And there were things on my clothes line already…. It said, “just another day in paradise” from my dear friend, K.E. She had a note with it, telling me I should wear it when and then listed a few of the things my boys do.

The perfect end to a ‘typical’ weekend.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

I Really Was Almost Arrested

If you read my previous blog, “The Day I was Nearly Arrested” you know how it goes with me and the local police. You know my crazy fear I’ll somehow have the matching vehicle or some other crazy story like that – I think I read way too many mysteries and watch way too much 24.

Anyhow, a few weeks ago, I really was pulled over. Here is what happened.

My sister in law and brother had their first baby. I was on a field trip with S2 when I got the call and I began shrieking my joy into the phone. I have been so anticipating the birth of ‘Jr’ (as my brother has fondly called this little guy, so that is what my boys and I called him too) and could not wait to go see him. While nothing truly traumatic happened at birth, they did have to watch the little guy close for nearly five hours. I wasn’t sure if I’d get to see him or not on his first day blinking at the ‘outside world’. But then my sister in law called, she was in desperate need of an m&m flurry and wanted to know if I could bring it to her.

My intentions were great, my life was a bit more chaotic.

Someone came to buy asparagus and I got chatting with her (she’s my favorite asparagus customer) and my hubby was busy with picking asparagus or planting tomatoes or potatoes or something (to be honest, I wasn’t paying much attention that day. Here my hubby has this great looking garden and I show it off to people and he works so hard on it but that day I had one thought…”get to the hospital and get to hold Jr”). Dinner was on the stove, sorta. We were grilling chicken that night and hadn’t yet. And when I looked at the clock after the asparagus sale, I had exactly one hour before the hospital visiting hours were over. We didn’t live far from the hospital, but in this part of the state, you live far even when you live relatively close. Close is less than an hour away, in other words.

I batted my eyes as best I could and asked my Hubby to please feed all the boys for me tonight. Please? Being a Friday night, knowing I was nearly ready to burst, he told me to have a good time. I quickly set the table, making sure all would be as easy on him as possible (like life with four boys is EASY ), changed from grubby farm clothes to hospital worthy clothes and hustled on out of there to deliver ice cream. When a new moma craves something, a new moma really ought to have it.

And oh, the visit was just precious! And Jr was so alert and perfect and I was just overwhelmed by being there.

And I got to stay way past visiting hours!

Being the forever taking photo gal I am, I stopped in at the local Walmart where they have this instant machine that spews out your photos in mere moments. This machine is amazing to me. I had pictures, in my hands, of Jr within mere moments of holding him.

Because I ALWAYS need groceries, I picked out some bacon for breakfast the next morning. And coffee. I could tell already I would be needing coffee. An all day field trip, the excitement of Jr and the late hour told me I’d need more coffee than normal the next day.

It was then the loudspeaker came on letting us all know the store would be closing in 15 minutes. You can guess what the check out looked like. I had plenty of time to buzz an email to my hubby to say I was headed home, what did I ever do before my blackberry? It was then I realized I had never eaten dinner, so I grabbed a snickers while in line. If my boys knew I had eaten candy for dinner, well, there may be a riot here. S4 thinks we can really truly live on watermelon, cookies, marshmallows and chocolate milk alone. Who needs other food than that?

It’s a long, beautiful drive home on roads I know very very very well. I had my Kari Jobe cd in and was just singing along, a little misty eyed at the joy of Jr when I noticed a car right on my tail. He would speed up and then he would lay back, speed up and lay back. Weird. There are no houses on this stretch of road and the car was acting just weird enough that I was formulating my back road get away if need be. I told you, I watch too much 24.

As I was coming around the last bunch of curves before I hit civilization again, the car got right on my bumper. And then the flashing strobes came on. And I was the only vehicle on the road. Those strobes were meant for me.

I pulled over.

I rolled down my window.

I attempted to pull out my drivers license, but my hands were shaking so badly.

And the cop was at my window.

“Hello, ma’am, how are your tonight?”

“F-fine.”

“Ma’am, have you been drinking tonight?”

For a brief moment I was silent. Had he really just asked me that? “Uh, no. No, I have not.”

“Ma’am, two seconds after seeing you I could tell you hadn’t been drinking. But you were hugging that fog line on the road and that is why I pulled you over. Could I get your license and registration, I just have to run it thru since I have you here and then you can be on your way in just a moment.”

I stumbled about and handed it all over to him.

I always thought of myself as a good driver. Maybe I’m not?

I chatted with the police offer when he came back, still quite shaken, explaining I hadn’t been pulled over before (later I recalled I had for a loud muffler, TWELVE years ago, and once I got a lights flash warning to slow down but nothing ever, really, in eleven years or more) and explained I was rather surprised but when I thought on it, I was thankful he had pulled me over. I’d rather he find a drunk driver than not pull over one. Even if this means my driving might be bad…..

He let me go, telling me to have a nice night, and I sat there a moment, just taking it in. Then I slowly moved along home, crazy driver (who turned out to be me, I guess!) – er, police man, no longer behind me.

When I got home – I could not make this up – all my boys and my handsome Hubby were cuddled on the couch watching COPS.

I told you, you can’t make this stuff up.

“Where the dickens you been?” he asked, “Visiting hours were over a long time ago!”

“I got pulled over for drunk driving,” I squeaked.

“Oh….” He was very interested in the particular scene of cops. “Wait, WHAT?” he suddenly asked incredulously.

Yup, I nearly was arrested. Can’t make this stuff up.

And yes, I am now trying to pay careful attention to not hog a fog line, and not cross a yellow line!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

My Mother's Day

I was bundling up asparagus (to sell by the pound) and kept hearing this weird sound. I suddenly realized it was my Mother’s Day card that is still proudly displayed on the shelf. And then I realized I never did write about my mother’s day. I am sure you were all wondering……

Well, I have been so busy being a walking Hallmark commercial that I’ve not taken the time to write about this huge day in our family’s life. It starts with this card…..
…the inside says “…it’s probably not over yet. Happy Mother’s Day and hang in there”. Then it plays the song “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”. For a few days I carried this card in my purse and showed it to everyone because I loved it that much.

And here is the story about that card…………..

Because my husband plans all things out, the boys had Mother’s Day taken care of weeks ago! No, not at all! We all ran into town because I needed groceries (yes, toilet paper is a NEED) and Hubby and the boys ran off to do some “shopping”. We had about twenty minutes to shop before our pizza was ready so it was an all on race, really.

I got back to the vehicle first and was putting the groceries in when they all showed up and started giggling. It was so silly and the air was heavy with funness that I couldn’t help giggling too. This made them think I had guessed what they had found, but of course, I hadn’t.

S2 began with “Moma, you should see (S4) with those music cards. WOW!”

“No! Freeze! Everyone FREEZE!” S4 shrieked from his car seat.

“Why?” I asked him.

“FREEZE, Moma! You find out what we got you, so, freeze!” S4 passionately explained.

Hubby and S1 started chuckling under their breath a bit. I could not resist. “So, (S4), what did you get Moma?”

“Nuh-fing!” S4 shrieked. “Tomorrow is nuh-fing and we got you no song so FREEZE! Say Nuh-Fing!”

Apparently, S4 was sure that the more I talked the more likely I was sure to find out what gift they had found for me. I just couldn’t resist teasing him all the way home.

By the time we got home, the pizza was still warm and S4 was actually sweating from screaming with all the force a three year old can muster all the while giggling. I had managed to find out that I had NOT gotten a singing card, I had NOT gotten anything out of the wagon, there was NO special day the next day and I had to freeze – a lot.

In the morning, all the boys jumped on me and S4 was the first to give me THE card. He danced with as much energy as he had mustered from the night before to tell me to freeze. He sang “happy Mother’s Day” at the top of his lungs. He wanted to make sure I was surprised. They had gotten me rose bushes (from the wagon), little chickens and geese to put on a shelf (cuz I love both so), a candle (comes in handy being the only girl in a house full of boys on a farm) and a shirt that said “Hot Tomato”.

But the best gift of all was all the giggles we all had all the way home laughing at S4 screaming “FREEZE!”

I truly felt loved and exceptionally blessed.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Keeping It Real

I continue to be asked ‘how do you do it? How do you keep your sanity with four boys?’

I don’t know. How do other people keep their sanity? How did all the women before me and who will come after me be a wife and mother and stay sane?

Or, maybe we are all a little Insane! ;)

Recently, a friend of mine told me that she thought our boys were super well behaved. I don’t know where she had been when they acted ‘normal’. She had only seen them in a school setting, where they were behaving (cuz Moma didn’t tell them to behave and they were all separated into separate classrooms). When she and her family came to visit us for a grilled dinner for the first time, she had told her husband she was sure these were the quietest boys she had ever met. Then they pulled into the driveway and were immediately surrounded by four boys yelling “they are here!” as they jumped up and down like some crazed tribal dance and the dog barked hysterically to keep them in line. Her husband had looked at her and said “THESE boys are the quietest boys?”

Someone was recently watching them play hockey in the driveway and asked me “how do you stay motherly when they act like this?” Just then one of them fell pretty hard; but not damage worthy. I looked at him and said “you okay?” when he took a breath from his wailing. “Yah,” he sniffed and then went chasing the ball cheering happily. She winced as he took another hit but kept running. “I don’t know,” I shrugged, “I guess I am used to it.” My husband began to recount all our ER trips. He never made it thru them all before they had to leave.

I love my boys. I love to snuggle with them and have them fall asleep near me or give me hugs. I love to watch Curious George (but not Calliou), Survivor Man, Ted Nugent (but not turkey hunting, calling in turkeys (or ducks) on TV is SO annoying), Red Wings Hockey or Pro Bull Riding.

But there are days I do wonder HOW I DO SURVIVE.

This brings me to today. I’ve talked before about my need for help in cleaning. Today is my day to attack laundry.

Yesterday we moved the baby chicks to the chicken coop. They were happy to have more room but my big chicks looked really small all the sudden in the big coop.

The younger two boys and their friend visiting today are dressed in cowboy hats. They are busy “rounding up” chicks in case they get out. Somehow, when they go in to check on the chicks, they suddenly have an emergency round up of one or more chicks.

They were busy with this when I needed to use the bathroom. We have one bathroom and a chance to use it uninterrupted is few and far between. I told you, I’m keeping it real here!

Almost as if a siren went off on the window blaring to the boys “Moma is in the bathroom. Come now with emergencies!” S4 came running in, pulling his pants down “I have to pee!” he is screaming.

‘You have got to be kidding me’, I thought.

As I am convincing him to wait, S3 comes running in. “Moma, look” he says and shoves his croc in my face, under my nose. This stops the conversation with S4 for obvious reasons. “There is chicken poop in my shoe. I have to clean it.”

Chicken poop stinks. Especially so when shoved nearly into your nostril. And I couldn’t get away.

“No no!” I holler as he heads for the sink, “Use the hose!”

He argues he needs a paper towel. I don’t budge on the hose. He shrugs, runs outside and comes back super fast with a dripping shoe. I didn’t realize he had that much time to even turn the hose on, much less get the shoe wet! “Now I need a paper towel,” he says, and he proceeds to wash his shoe with the bathroom sink HAND TOWEL!

I’m watching him, thinking to myself, ‘how often has he done this that I don’t know about?’

I’m thankful today is laundry day.

He runs outside and I’m thinking about the craziness of the boys and life as I wash my hands and realize the faucet is really loud today. I turned the faucet off to realize the hose is running. I quickly dry my hands, run out to see a river pouring beginning down the driveway (now I know why the shoe was wet so fast, the red wagon was already filled with water), holler to shut the hose off, go to in to drink my coffee (ah, energy….) and realize my hands smell.

Like Chicken Poop.

I had used the SAME hand towel S3 had used to ‘wash’ his shoe.

I nearly gagged.

And then I scrubbed my hands a ton and THAT towel from the bathroom is being bleached.

So, really, it’s by the grace of God we are alive and sane.

In more ways than one.

In Honor of R.C.

This article today is in honor of my very dear friend, R.C. She is the coupon clipper of all coupon clippers. She finds deals I didn’t know were findable. Do you have a friend like this? R.C. could outdo them! She is quiet and sane and has a lovely personality but don’t mess with her coupons. Recently, she went shopping for her super great deals of the week and in the process of getting her goodies, her son, her purse (girls, you know how it goes when we go out) she left her coupon book behind.

She was lost and devastated.



To read the rest, check out http://praiseandcoffee.com/ !

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Just Another Sunday Service

Tonight is the special service at church. All year our kids have been involved in Word Of Life on Wednesday nights there and tonight is the big Award Ceremony. It’s the night when all the kids get awarded for their quiet times, verse memorization, community service etc.

I have helped teach the Gopher Buddies this year for the first time. Sons 3 and 4 are in that class so it was a good fit. Crazy, hectic, busy but good.

Today we had a crazy, hectic but good day. We arrived to this special evening four minutes before the service began after a day of field work, church, teaching JR church, dinner my husband’s parents home, visit with one of my husband’s very best friends and then a super fast quick change of clothes for the two oldest and my husband (there was exactly enough time for me to quick pee and then drink a glass of water, literally) and then race (literally) to church.

As usual, it was my boys that were acting up in the Gopher line. They thought they got to use the microphone – I can only imagine what that would have been like – and they could hang out on the stage the whole service. They did not.

We were sitting there, filling out two pews with all the kids and I was busy trying to keep them from waving their certificate papers all around. Much easier said then done.

My good friend, R.C. was in front of me with the other half of the class. One of the oldest couples in our church, people I have a high respect for and always just seem so very dignified, was sitting directly behind me.

Most of the time everyone is clapping for the kids and their accomplishments; but in one very rare quiet moment Son 4 decided to say to me “Moma, I smell guck.” Thankfully, he didn’t say it loud because S4 is the one who has no indoor voice. At all. But he does like to whisper, although loudly,and he did whisper this to me.

Thinking he may have thought he needed to go potty because he hadn’t for awhile, I realized, I tried to figure our best exit route as we were in the middle of the pew and I made a fatal mistake.

I asked him what he thought smelled bad.

“Ummmmm, I think it’s you, Moma,” he told me very matter of factly.

It was not me, I assure you all.

I seen RC’s shoulders shake and knew this just wasn’t going to be good. She did manage to gain her composure a bit, and then she turned and said “Do you think your Moma smells like guck?”

S4 nodded in agreement.

Let the ground swallow me up!

When we got home, as I was undressing him to put on his jammies, I took off his boots – water/barn/swamp boots, the ones my boys were nearly all the time, obviously, since they were worn to church – I noticed how terrible his toes looked. “What is in your boots?” I asked.

“Mud.” He shrugged.

But it wasn’t mud at all. It was dog poop, in between all his toes on both feet and on the hem of his dark pants too.

He immediately was placed in a bubble bath. His boots are soaking outside on the porch.

And I immediately called RC, who giggled as only a good friend can, because she knew it wasn’t me, and yet always she will tease me about this, I’m sure.

What I don’t get though, is that I didn’t even smell it. As if I am so used to the smell of boys and farm life and ‘guck’ it didn’t even register on my radar. How sad is that? I am so cleaning my house this week and making it smell like lilacs from the bushes out back. Somehow. After many pots of coffee, I am sure.

Yup, just another Sunday night with my boys.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!

Received this forwarded email today and figured I would share it with everyone.

Have a Happy Mother's Day! :)

Before I was a Mom, I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom, I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on..
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom, I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom, I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.!
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom, I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom, I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom .

May you always be overwhelmed by the Grace of God rather than by the cares of life

Thursday, May 7, 2009

A Not so Fun Run

After my post last night about yummy asparagus soup, we sat down to eat it for dinner. Our youngest looked at me and informed that "This is NOT food, Moma. This. Is. Soup. Asparagus soup. It is yucky." He did not eat a bit of soup. Get this, he scraped off the melted cheese off the top of the soup and managed to not eat a BIT of soup. That's talent, folks.



Here is my story for Praise and Coffee today. Enjoy! And thanks for checking in!

A Not So Fun Run





James 4:2B “You do not have, because you do not ask God.”

The school our boys attend has a fund raiser in the spring for the school. The kids ask for donations and then run a mile in a “Fun Run”. The kids get really excited about it and I think all the donors (ie, mom and dad! J) are happy to have the money go right to the school. If the kids get $10 in donations, they get a free t-shirt. All the kids get to then wear the shirts when they run. The t-shirts are all important, they are THE fashion statement for the day and the students sign their names on each others shirts. It’s great fun…thus the FUN RUN.


Check out the rest at Praise and Coffee! Enjoy! :)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Yummy Soup Recipe





Cream of Asparagus Soup

4 cups sliced fresh asparagus (cut in half inch pieces)

2 cups water DIVIDED

5 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup very finely diced green onion or 1 teaspoon onion powder

5 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

4 cups of milk

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules

Cook asparagus in one cup water until crisp tender. Drain RESERVING THE LIQUID! Sauté onion in butter until transparent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for one minute. Gradually stir in milk, one cup water reserved liquid and bouillon granules. Cook, stirring with wire whisk, until mixture is thickened and hot. Stir in asparagus. Heat through and serve. Good topped with cheese. Serves six bowls.


I made this tonight for my boys...this is their favorite apsaragus meal! I always have to double it and I always add more apsaragus than it calls for and I always add cheese and I always get rave reviews...when it turns out. Every once in awhile you just have a "should not have made any sort of food" day. Mine STARTED that way, I messed up the soup first thing this morning but it has turned out tonight.


I can't take credit for the recipe. My mom has been making it for years out of a Country Cooking


The Pioneer Woman Cooks site inspired me to share this recipe with you and to include a photo, enjoy!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Fun Blogs

Hey to all the mom's out there! Here is a GREAT blog post to check out! Enjoy!

http://thewordinworship.blogspot.com/2009/05/magnificent-moms.html

And then, check out this site for GREAT meal plans...and a fun read...and great pictures!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

But don't forget to keep checking this blog out! :) THANK YOU ALL FOR THE BLESSING YOU ARE TO ME!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Just A'Swingin'

Son Number Three (don’t you just love our kids names?) learned to push himself on the swing this weekend. I had not realized this was such a huge deal and apparently it is VERY big. Son4 wanted a push on the swing and then Son3 wanted a push and when I was sure my arms would fall from their sockets, I told them no more. Son4 cried and got down and then ran off to play laughing again. Son3 didn’t give up, he just kept working his legs with the last push I had given him. “Moma!”he cried excitedly, “Look! I’m doing it!”

He came in awhile later and had me feel his heart. It was pumping hard. He grinned triumphantly. “It was hard work but I did it, Moma, I pumped my legs and went high to the sky in the swing.”

I could hardly pull him off the swing for the rest of the day and this morning when we dropped his older two brothers off at school, he came home and ran out there again just to see if he could still swing high.

He could.


And just in case you all think that my life is just sweetness all the time, I told him I was putting his picture on the blog and he wanted me to get him some cheese. I left the blog to get him some. I had some extra grated cheese and put a little in a bag for him and his brother. He looks at me and says "this isn't rotten, is it?"

Oh come on! Like I would feed my boys rotten food! But because it was grated he just wasn't sure if it was safe to eat. Roll my eyes.

It's sitting in a snack bag he is carrying around with him and he is not sure if he is going to eat it or not. He probably will wait til it does rot and then tell me I fed him rotten food. Good grief! So, that is my laugh for the morning.

Don't forget to sign up for the Praise and Coffee give away. You can do it from my blog here! It's Kari Jobe's cd - VERY GOOD CD! -, super yummy coffee and these cute looking (I've never held them, just seen them) Bay View cards.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

ASPARAGUS !!!!!!


Here it is! The first asparagus of the season! Yum Yum Yum!



With all the rain we have gotten, it is still quite sandy. My husband, who despises sand in his food, learned this trick from his Dad. Rinse it well and then boil the asparagus til it is a rolling boil, take it out and rinse again thoroughly, boil til it's to your licking and then rinse again. It's a lot of work, but if it rains a ton it's just what you have to do do to get the sand out of it. It's worth it! Because this is so fresh (from our field) and we don't use a thing on it once it starts growing, it's safe to pick right there in the field and munch on it. I prefer it cooked...but, hey, it's worth noting! The asparagus is pretty sparse due to the colder weather, but it is coming up!




Coming up in this handmade by my creative husband greenhouse, is some of my husbands tomatoes and peppers. They don't look like much now, but, keep in mind, we have 1,000 tomato seeds here and soon this little green house is going to be overflowing. It's just thrilling to see them turning green!




And this is why we do it, for the love of it and the family we love.

Friday, May 1, 2009

A Moma's Sink

Here is a photo of my sink. I didn’t show you what was in the sink, that would gross anyone out. It can gross me out! Dirty dishes and dumped out cereal tend to do that to a girl first thing in the morning…or the afternoon…or at night before I go to bed, then it becomes the stuff nightmares are made of!

But I regress!

This is the way my sink looks right now. And I feel loved by it. All these flowers were picked by my boys and presented to me at different times. The Dandelions get refreshed regularly, the tulips were some exotic plant the boys were sure I needed inside and the daffodils, well, they just know I love those.

I used to get angry that they would pick them. The whole “NO! Do not touch Moma’s flowers!”

But then I thought how they picked them just to show me they love me. I watched them one day giggling as they picked a few of my beautiful daffodils I had worked so hard at to surprise me at the door.

They had chosen the best for me.

How can I deny them that?

My Daffodils and Tulips will come up year after year after year. But my boys will not always want to run outside in their bare feet, pick me some Dandelions, bang on the screen door cuz it’s settled on the door frame and it hard to open now, stand there with their hands behind their back and grin at me excitedly. “Guess what we find, Moma….tada!”

Ah, melts your heart, huh?

And I love it, so I just had to share it with ya’ll!

Oh, and the Tecnu in the corner of the sink reminds everyone that I am, in fact, a moma on a farm with all boys and we are ready for poison ivy season. And the candle is my favorite, can’t find it anymore, and I burn it on special occasions just cuz I can, being the only girl in this household!