Mommy Survey

My kids gave me a survey to fill out this week.  I thought I'd share their questions and my answers with all of you.

Dear Mommy,

We want to know more about you.  So, If you will, please answer these questions and then return the paper.  We love you, The Kids

1. What do you like best about each of us?

It’s hard for me to choose something I like best about each of you, because I like all of you just the way God made you, so I will choose something I like about each of you, but please understand that it’s not the only thing I like about you.

Kent:  I like the way you play the piano.  I enjoy listening to you practice.

Katy: I like how you like to learn how to do your doll’s hair in different styles.

Kaomi:  I like how you want to help with the babies and the love you show for them.

Felicity:  I like how you love to play with your dolls and animals.

Clark: I like how you are enthusiastic about life and your carefreeness.  You just like to have fun.

Quinn: I like how you almost always pick me a dandelion when you go out to play.

Colt: I like how you squint your eyes closed when we are praying, while looking at us to see if you are doing it correctly.

Kade: I like how you like to dig in the dirt with a stick.

2. What is your favorite flavor of cake? and how do you like it?

I like homemade chocolate cake with homemade chocolate icing.  I also like yellow cake with homemade chocolate icing.  I 

               like strawberry short-cake, too.

3. What is your favorite song?

I have lots of songs that I like and I’m not sure if I have a favorite one.  I like lots of hymns.  I like the songs from “The Sound                of Music.”

4. What is your favorite meal for lunch or supper?

I like yummy leftovers for lunch.  I like grilled chicken and steak with salad and/or 

vegetables.  I also like Mexican food like: tacos, quesadillas, and tamales.

5. What is your favorite fruit?

I like strawberries.  I like raspberries, too, though sometimes I’m not a fan of their seeds.

6. If you could make us do anything what would you like us to do?

I would love for each of you to love Jesus and trust him with the plans he has for your life.

Also, I would like you to obey Daddy and Mommy immediately every-time, and I would like you to try to keep your rooms and the         game room a little straighter, by putting away your things as soon as you are done using them.

7. If you could go out with somebody all day who would you go with and where would you go.

I’d love to go out with Daddy all day.  I’d like to go to Ikea, play miniature golf, and enjoy an unhurried yummy meal (not sure                 what).  or I’d like to go hiking at a waterfall.

8. Please will you give us 5 interesting facts about yourself?

1.  I think it would be fun to stay in a houseboat and sail down the Mississippi 

    River.  Though it is probably different now than it was in the late 1800’s.

2.  I pray that God would help Daddy and I to be a good examples of Godly parents for each of you to be able to draw                                experience from when you have your own children.

3.  I like to enjoy God’s creation outside:  beautiful days, green grass, blue skies, 

    sunsets and sunrises, birds, flowers, animals, wind, rain, snow, etc.

4.  I like to grow things to eat in my garden.  I like to water my garden and pull 

    weeds.  I enjoy being able to serve fresh vegetables and fruit that we grew.

5.  I like to sew.  Mimi taught me how.  One day I hope to teach my own children how to sew, too.

Bonus:  I like to prepare and cook meals, more than I like to bake.  That’s probably why we don’t have freshly baked                                          cookies, cakes, pies, and breads very often.

March Break

This week we've had our break from school.  The kids have been enjoying the lovely weather and just having time to play and pursue their own interests.  I had a list of things I wanted to work on this week, too, but so far only 1 of the items has been cross off the list.  That item was cook bacon.  Two other items have been partially completed.

Since it can be discouraging to not get the things done I wanted to do I started making a list of all the things that I did do.  It helps a little to see the things I've done with my children on their week off of school and to know that I'm just being a mom and doing what God created me to do.  Taking the week off of school means I don't have to teach, but my children still need me and my wishes aren't necessarily something that gets to take first place.  Putting aside my selfish desires is hard.

Here's the list of just a few of the things I've done this week:
-went to the library
-went to the playground
-baked cookies with a few of my children
-helped paint shape and race cars (3 days)
-built Lego's with Quinn and Clark
-cleaned part of my desk
-took care of some of the mail pile (4 days)
-read stories to littles
-ate chocolate
-enjoyed dandelions
-stayed up late playing peek-a-boo with the twins, because baby laughter is so much fun
-walked to the end of the street and back (4 days)
-played outside x2
-listened to Clark and Quinn signing songs while they were coloring
-made hot chocolate
-got school plans ready for preschool and kindergarten next week
-worked a Sudoku or two every morning while drinking my coffee
-watched a movie with the kids


I'm not ready to start back to school on Monday, but I still have the weekend to hopefully finish getting school plans ready.

Sometimes...

I just want to curl up in a corner and cry rather than muddle through whatever we are supposed to be doing.  Instead I pray, let the babies scream, wash the dishes, and clean the kids closets (they are helping), while wishing I was brave enough to take eight kids to the grocery store.  We are really supposed to be working on school, but I wasn't prepared so they are having life lessons instead.  Maybe I'll be ready to start school tomorrow.

A Peek into Our Twin Pregnancy

So far everything has been going well and we hope it continues to go that way.  It's getting harder to move around comfortably, but sitting and laying aren't the most comfortable either.  I move around and change positions a lot.  We are hoping that the babies wait until the end of June to arrive after my Mom and Dad get here.  My mom wants to be here for their birth.

Earlier this week I had a sonogram and the babies are continuing to grow in keeping with their large size.  They are both head down.

They measured in at somewhere around 5# 15 oz and 6# 6oz.  Of course we won't know for sure how much they will weigh until they are actually born.

Here's a peek at one of them from this week.

One twin's ear and hand and face and hand

Here are some belly pictures from Mother's Day and the Sunday before Memorial Day.

Memorial Day Weekend      -33 Weeks w/twins

Mother's Day 2015    -31 Weeks w/twins

Suanna's Birthday

For my birthday, Katy and Kaomi made me a special place setting.  Katy helped me toast my bagel breakfast.  After Quinn went down for his nap I sewed/mended several items that were waiting for my attention.  Lissie was excited to have me fix a dress that the hem had started coming out of and she's asked me several times when I would fix it.  After lunch we watched "The Princess Diaries."  Then the kids had a short quiet time.  For supper we went out to Fudruckers and the Jeff took us all to Mardel's and I got to pick out a couple pictures that I liked to hang on the wall.  Then we came home and ate homemade gluten free cheesecake that Jeff had made and opened presents.

Suanna's Special Place Setting-2015

From the boys

Family Picture - 2014

Jeff, Quinn, and I found a beautiful patch of firewheels in a state park.  We went back the next day to get a family picture.

Suanna's Birthday -2014

On my birthday, Katy and Kaomi made a special place setting for me and Katy gave me some bread for me to have toast.

I picked out a special outfit for Quinn.

Kent oversaw everyone playing with playdoh and cleaned up afterwards, while I talked to my dad on the phone.

Clark made a project for me, because he wasn't allowed to go upstairs.

Kent helped with Quinn.

I read stories to everyone and played Nertz with Kent, Katy, and Kaomi during quiet time.  Then the older kids had quiet time, too.  Jeff came home early from work to surprise me.

Katy found the idea for my octopus cake in a magazine at the doctor's office.  She and Jeff banned me from the kitchen while they assembled it.

We all went for a walk around the neighborhood and Jeff surprised me by taking us all out to dinner at Miguelitos.

When we came home everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and then gave me presents that they had picked out with Jeff at the store and made by themselves.

Here is my octopus cupcake.

They made me feel special all day long.

Ice Storm Pictures 1

These pictures are from last Friday.  I enjoyed seeing the delighted faces of my children as we played outside.  We went out while Quinn was napping, so I could enjoy being out, too.  I didn't even hear anyone say they were cold until they had been out there for a while.  Thanks to some ski pants that Aunt Rebekah sent with Mimi and Pa back in April, Kent and Katy got to have the experience of sliding down the ice.  We also couldn't resist getting some kind of sled to use on the ice, so we tried out my laundry baskets.

Kaomi holding sleet

Felicity with an icicle

Christmas lights Friday night.

Hospitality

Hospitality is something I struggle with.  Don't get me wrong, I love having people over, but the heart attitude of hospitality is what I struggle with sometimes.  I usually don't struggle with hospitality when I have planned to have guests over or even have unexpected guests that we know well.  It is often the "unexpected" guests who I don't know well that I struggle knowing how to be hospitable with.

Here is a "picture" of one of the most hospitable people I have known.  She was my neighbor when I was growing up.  Nona was the grandma of the home, she loved kids, and she had immigrated from Italy in the early 1900's.

When I went to their home and knocked on the door I was always greeted with "Come in, come in".  She didn't talk to me in the doorway or have me wait outside while she called her granddaughter to come and see who had come to visit.  She was always offering me a drink or something to eat.  If she was cooking she always wanted me to try a bite of it.  If I was there close to meal time she always invited me to join them for dinner.  She loved me as if I were her own.  She always told me I could "stay longer" when it was time for me to leave.  I don't think she ever had a cross thought about "that neighbor girl" coming over again.  She always made some kind of baked good for my family at a holiday, too.


I had a wise mother who didn't let me visit too often and wear out my welcome.  She also usually told me what time I needed to be home and it was always a reasonable time, before they would be serving dinner. (Thanks Mom.)


Here's what it looks like at my home.  When someone knocks on the door, I don't think to promptly invite them in.  I am often slow to answering the door as it seems they like to come visit while I am nursing.  So they ring the doorbell multiple times or knock several times before I can get there.  I don't like to have my kids answer the door every time, because they don't seem to know what to do when they answer the door even though I have tried to tell them and show them.  When I answer the door, we may stand in the doorway and visit before I invite them in or I may say it isn't a good time and turn them away politely after greeting them.  I rarely think to offer anyone a drink, they either suffer through their thirst, ask for a drink, or get their own.  If I am serving a snack to my kids I ask if they would like one too, but if it is close to dinner I often wait to work on it, because I don't want to be rude by telling them it is time for them to leave.  I am often eager for any guests to leave so we can get on to straightening up for Daddy before he comes home from work or so I can get dinner ready.  Sometimes when we have guest(s) I feel like I have to constantly be watching what is going on between them and my children, which is good, but it is something I struggle to do with a good attitude.  I seldom ask anyone to stay for dinner, but often wonder if I should be asking them.  If I should ask them I think we would have guests for dinner several times a week.  At the end of the day I am tired and not at my prime.  I'd like to see and talk with my husband when he gets home and that's sometimes hard to do with our children who love him and want his undivided attention right away.  When we have guest(s) it is even less likely.  I often have to ask our guest(s) to leave whether its in the morning, afternoon, or evening.  Sometimes I struggle to know whether I am being selfish with my family and time or if I am giving and have already given enough.  Sometimes having guest(s) makes me weary and mentally worn as well.  I want to be available to the children who may wish to visit.  I want to be able to show a Christ-like attitude to them, but I don't really have a clue, how.  I feel so rude when I have to tell them it is time for them to leave.

Hospitality is something I'm working on, but if anyone has any tips for hospitality or remembering how to be hospitable when someone unexpected arrives I'd love to hear your thoughts.


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My Mother's Day

I finally got the pictures downloaded from my camera from May, so I thought I'd share about Mother's Day.

When I came to the kitchen in the morning, Jeff and the kids were already up.  I found my place set like this.  Jeff even cooked my breakfast!

Mother's Day 2013

On the way home from church Jeff stopped by the side of the road and 

picked a bouquet of wild Flowers for me.

Mother's Day Bouquet 2013

Jeff fixed all the meals of the day and the kids gave me handmade cards and 

the special things they had made in Sunday School.   I felt very special.

Mother's Day 2013

At the end of the day I insisted on a Mother's Day picture with all my children.

2013 Easter Family Picture

Mommy's Day Off

Jeff kindly asked me if I would like to attend an event with him.  He would arrange for someone to watch the kids if I wanted to go.  After a few days of considering attending the event and thinking that I'd like to go just to get out, but wasn't really interested in the actual event I asked him if he would still arrange for someone to watch the kids and I could stay home with Quinn.

So, Saturday, on my day off I ate my breakfast and lunch, loaded and ran the dishwasher, talked to my mom on the phone, fed Quinn several times, and sewed.  I knew that I wanted to sew and had a plan to make a skirt for one of the girls, but hadn't looked to see what fabric I would use.  I found some pink fabric that I had a little bit leftover after some previous projects.  It was just enough for a skirt for Lissie.  I had enough time to finish the skirt before everyone came home.

Thanks Jeff for providing a day off for me.


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Raising Arrows      

Maple Syrup Season

No, here in Texas we are not making maple syrup, but in the Northeast where I grew up the season is beginning.  So I thought I would share a memory of making maple syrup with my family when I was a little girl.

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     When I was a little girl one of the highlights of the winter was when the sun started to shine and it started to warm up a little bit during the day.  This meant that it was time to get out all the taps and buckets for the sugar maple trees.  We would get everything out and wash it all up so we would be ready to start.  Dad would take his hand drill and hammer and go out and drill the holes in the tree and hammer a tap into the tree.  Then we would hang a one gallon bucket over the tap and the tube attached to the tap would fit through a slit in the lid of the bucket and the sap could begin to be collected.  I remember waiting as Dad would drill the hole and the joy I would feel when the tap was hammered in if the sap started dripping out right away, because I would let the sweet sap drip into my mouth before the bucket was hung on it.  
     The buckets would begin to fill up with sap and we would go around everyday in the evening and sometimes twice a day on a weekend if the sap was flowing fast to collect the sap.  We would dump the sap from the bucket on the tree into a five gallon pails and bring them back to the garage.  I remember being too little to carry a full 5 gallon pail of sap, so I would only carry partially filled pails or I would fill the pails and my older brother or one of my parents would carry them back to the garage.  I remember the year that I was able to carry the full five gallon pails all by myself.  I probably had some wet pants on occasion from the sap sloshing over the top.  Of course the snow could be deep and hindering walking or it could be icy and hard to carry the buckets as well. 
     At the garage we would dump the 5 gallon pails of sap into our collecting containers which were large plastic trash cans and we would make sure to put the lid on tight so that dirt didn't get into the sap.  The trash cans were only used for holding maple sap and during the off season they would hold the supplies for the next year.  When we had collected several trash cans full of sap we would have enough to start boiling it down.  If the weather was cold enough to freeze the water in the sap buckets we would break the ice and dip out the sugar water from the middle of it.  The ice contained little to none of the sugar needed to make the syrup so we would take the ice outside and leave it in a pile by the door of the garage.
     To begin boiling the sap down to make maple syrup Dad and Mom would pour the sap into a very large pan that would sit on top of an old upside down cast iron bathtub which had been turned into to a stove of sorts.  The maple syrup stove was stored to the side of the garage and moved to the middle by the doors where a metal stove pipe was attached to let the smoke escape up by the roof.  When the pan on top of the stove was full of sap Dad would start a fire in the stove and then the fire would burn for a few days before the maple syrup was ready.  We had a metal tent that went on top of the pan which helped keep the heat in, therefore helping the sap to boil down a little faster.  As the sap boiled down more sap would be poured into the pan.  The fire had to be tended every couple of hours to keep the sap boiling, even during the night.  I never had to take a night shift to tend the fire, but I do remember tending it a couple of times during the day.  It was very hot and I had to be very careful not to touch any part of the stove when I was putting more wood on the fire.

Dad making syrup in the garage.

Dad stirring the sap that was boiling down.

     As the sap boiled it would get a foam on it that we would skim off and throw outside on the ground.  This foam contained dirt and bugs that may have gotten in the sap or fallen into the pan on top of the stove.  The sap would begin to reduce and get thicker and sweeter.  After a few days of boiling the sap down it would soon be thick enough to be watched constantly because it was almost ready.  I remember Mom bustling around the kitchen getting jars ready and pots on the stove to be ready for the syrup when it was brought into the house.  As soon as the syrup was ready, Dad would put a filter in an old metal milk can and he and Mom would pick up the pan and pour the syrup over the corner through the filter.  Dad had a spigot added to the pan one year and that made pouring the syrup off a little easier.  When the milk can contained all the syrup the pan was set outside in the snow.  I remember running to get a spoon once the pan was set in the snow.  I would use the spoon to scrape up the syrup from the pan as it started to harden slightly.  It was so good that burning my mouth with hot, sticky goodness was worth it.  Meanwhile Dad and Mom would have carried the heavy milk can into the house.
     When the syrup was brought into the house it was checked to make sure it was thick enough or dark enough.  If Mom didn't think it was quite done it would be poured into a large stock pot and boiled a little longer.  If it was ready it was poured into the stock pot and brought back to a boil and then poured into quart jars and sealed.  One batch would make about 2 1/2 gallons of syrup.  The jars would then sit on the counter for a day or two so we could make sure they had sealed before they were taken to the cellar for storage.
     Back outside the pan that was sitting in the snow was washed and set back on top of the stove.  Then it was refilled and the process was started all over again.  Sometimes if it was late in the evening when the syrup finished we would wait until morning to start the next batch so Dad and Mom could get a good night's sleep.  After all our syrup was made for the year Dad would pull out all the taps, we would gather up all the buckets and wash everything that we used to make syrup before it was stored away until the next year.

*The pictures were taken sometime between 1988 and 1991.

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My parent's don't make maple syrup anymore, they stopped many years ago when I was younger.  Over the last two years I've been ordering my maple syrup from Mount Mansfield Maple Products in Vermont.  I used to buy it at the grocery store, but I could only get small bottles that were very expensive and didn't taste like the syrup I had eaten when I was a child.  When I looked for a supplier to purchase maple syrup in larger quantities I found this family owned and operated business in Vermont and tried out their products.  The first taste I had of the Grade A Dark Maple Syrup I bought from them brought back memories of the syrup that I had growing up.

*This is a product I've used and liked.  I have not been asked to write a review for them.

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This Morning...

I woke up to hearing coffee brewing.  When I came out to the kitchen for a glass of water there was a special place setting where I sit and donuts on the counter.

Then I went to get Clark up and Kaomi greeted me and brought me a special card made by Katy with a cupcake paper pocket.  In the pocket were two origami cats that she made and a piece of cupcake paper with two cupcakes on it.  Pretty soon Lissie came in to her room and greeted me too.  I got breakfast started for Clark and Felicity, then Quinn started crying his, I'm all alone and I want to eat come and get me now, cry.  Kent told me happy birthday while I was feeding Quinn.  We all got our donuts and sat at the table to eat them together.  Kent took about 30 minutes to dissect and eat his.  I figured since it is my birthday I wasn't going to fuss at him for taking so long and I didn't have to watch him, besides he had already finished his chores and it's a holiday from school.  Towards the end of the morning I put on some music to enjoy hearing.

Quinn Pictures

Quinn's Birthday:

More pictures:

Quinn (1 day old)

Quinn (6 days old)

2 days old:

Lissie watching Quinn (5 days old)