Whew!

This week has gone by quickly. I'm not even sure what all has happened. We were just trying to recuperate from the last few weeks.

March 19th through April 1st, Jon was working in Pennsylvania. On April the 1st the children and I left after their P.E. class to meet up with Jon in PA. Normally, my children do not do the whole "are we there, yet" thing. This time, however, they had really missed their daddy and were looking forward to getting to PA (and later Maryland). We had only been out of Springfield, Ohio for thirty minutes when the first child asked, "are we almost there?". So, we continued our countdown (that started before Jon left) to when we would see Daddy. Our drive to Pennsylvania took approximately ten hours since we stopped a couple times for food, stretching our legs, and other necessities. Kitty Kat helped read off the directions to me for part of the way. Froggie and Kitty Kat both helped look to see if I could change lanes. I could see, but was concerned there might be some blind spots since our van was packed so full. I figured it couldn't hurt for the girls to practice being more observant anyway.

Jon had reserved the hotel room adjoining his for us and we got settled in a bit before he got off work. Some of us slept. Little Bear, however, had slept a good portion of the trip and would not go to sleep at the hotel. Jon and Little Bear ended up doing some laundry instead of sleeping.

After repacking the van and checking out of the hotel, we spent some time as a family before heading to Maryland. Friday evening, we went to a Good Friday service at the church some friends of ours minister at (we were also there Sunday). We met up with our friend after the service and followed them back to their house. We spent the next few days with our friends.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship with our friends and then came back home Monday afternoon. I can't even tell you how long it took us to get home, about eight to nine hours probably. We stopped a couple times and it was probably a good thing. The children slept nearly the entire way home and Jon and I fought sleep nearly the whole way.

The whole thing is a blur in my memory. We did so much as a whole group and split off with friends! I might see if the children want to do some posts of their own to tell what they remember about our trip.

Where to start?

I guess I'll just go in chronological order.

October 21:

The children and I went to the Creation museum with two other homeschool families from our church.

Little Bear and Kitty Kat

Puppy Dog

Birdie

Kitty Kat, Monkey, Froggie, and Puppy Dog

October 30:

Our Mountain Dew can coupons for Young's Jersey Dairy were getting ready to expire, so we played miniature golf at Udders and Putters and got ice cream.

October 31:

Jon participated in a forklift rodeo and we finished using our cans at Young's Jersey Dairy. This time, Jon's sister and her family joined us for golf and ice cream.

November 1:

THREE OF OUR CHILDREN GOT BAPTIZED! Jon had the honor of baptizing them.

Froggie with Jon

Monkey with Jon

Puppy Dog with Jon

November 2:

In the evening, the girls and I had Sonflower Scouts. By the time scouts was over, Monkey really wasn't feeling well. She had a high fever, but I don't think it's the flu. By bedtime, Birdie was also feeling bad and running a fever.

November 3:

Both girls are still feeling dizzy and feverish. Birdie got sick some. It may be the flu, or it might just be that her empty stomach couldn't handle cranberry juice during a fever. Ibuprofen takes care of the fevers and the girls feel better with the fevers under control. Today became a p.j. day for the kids.

Jon and I voted.

Various days:

We painted our living room. We made and exploded a volcano. Actually, the kids made the volcano while Jon and I painted. They had to work together to make the dough and build the volcano. I used red food coloring when I made it erupt. Another Weaver mom had mentioned using a water bottle to build the volcano around. We did that and the eruption was wonderful, because the pressure built up causing the "lava" to shoot up a bit.

Our washer gave out (a repairman Jon talked to thought it was probably the transmission), so we had to get a new one. We somehow missed that the one we picked out was HE. I can't use my homemade detergent in it, but we needed the extra load space. Hopefully, we'll save enough on water and electricity to make up for the high detergent cost. It's a lot easier to get the laundry done now. Of course, laundry is never actually done...

Jon planed a door down and installed it in our bathroom doorway. We no longer have a curtain for a bathroom door!

Jon changed the dryer duct.

Some of What We've Been Up To

We've been a little busy, lately.

Birdie, Monkey, and Puppy Dog were in our church's children's choir. This year they went by the name, Inside Out. Froggie and Kitty Kat didn't sign up for the Jr. High choir in time, so they didn't participate (on stage) in the Night of Worship this year.

Birdie and Monkey

Puppy Dog


all six children after the Night of Worship





We watched two of Jon's nieces last Saturday. While they were here, the children discovered some strange fungi (?). The children have been been observing the fungi each day. It dies off each day and then a new fungus is in the same area the next morning. Does anyone know what it is?





Birdie, Monkey, and Puppy Dog after their Inside Out award ceremony.

Kitty Kat, me, Froggie, Monkey, and Birdie after the Sonflower Scout badge ceremony

This is what our living room ceiling looks like right now. Little Bear says we made it naked. Actually, it's not even there. The old plaster ceiling was falling down, so we had to take it down. We're hoping to have the new ceiling up this weekend and get the living room repainted next week. We still haven't decided what color of paint to use. We have some ideas, though.

An Angel with a Flaming Sword

Aren't four year olds interesting? Little Bear just told me, "Mom, when I grow up I'm going to be an angel, but I'm going to have a flaming sword. Do you want to know where I got that from? I got that from my Adam book." LOL My son is not going to be a doctor, a lawyer, a street sweeper, or any other normal profession. No, my son is aspiring to be an angel with a flaming sword. I wonder what he'll want to be tomorrow?

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I didn't get to the store on Thursday which is our normal day to shop. The kids and I went on Saturday. The kids were not in the best of moods. I started out by telling the kids I was going to take a picture of them to put on the blog anytime I caught them misbehaving. It didn't take me long to realize my mistake. I switched to taking pictures of the kids when I caught them behaving.

Birdie helps by getting beans to put in the cart while we were at Wal-mart.

I caught Monkey with her hands in her pockets while several children behind her were handling the items on the shelves. Her siblings saw this take place and the next thing I knew, several others had their hands in their pockets. (Pay no attention to the green coat sleeves. Ugh! They are the stained sleeves of Froggie's old coat. I told her I would not put a picture of her in the blog if she had the coat on, but she refused to take it off. She was caught being good a couple times, but I can't post her picture since I told her I wouldn't.

Puppy Dog stands by the cart with his hands in his pockets.

Birdie poses with her hands in her pockets. Monkey is in the background looking at a movie display with her hands still in her pockets. Another sister is looking with her hands. Ahem!

Little Bear tries to hide behind his arm as I take this picture. It took me several tries!

What a great older sister! Kitty Kat helps out by taking the boys to the restroom at Kroger.

Our total for food at Wal-mart was $21.56 .

Our total for food at Kroger was $77.75 .

Jon spent about $40 while I was at a friend's Friday.

weekly total = $139.31

total for two weeks = $277.00

average weekly spending = $138.50 .

I haven't been stressing out about food prices as much these last two weeks. Most likely, this is due to the fact that we have had more money available for food. It's looking like our average for food may be higher than it was previously. Due to the rising cost of food, we may have to increase our food budget. Then again, I usually will have a week here or there where I don't do the regular food shopping. That would really drop the average.

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While I was typing this, Little Bear brought me the book he previously referred to, and showed me the picture of the angel with the flaming sword. The book is CREATION MY FATHER LOVES ME by J.D. Wise.

Feeding a Family of Eight Part V

Today we had banana oatmeal for breakfast. I was going to make muffins with the leftovers, but when I went to start that I realized that I had left the burner on low. I let the kids have seconds.

I didn't get our lunch started in time for Jon to eat with us. He took leftover vegetable beef stew, yogurt, Cheez-its, and I don't know what else for lunch. He packed his own lunch today. He picked up a sub on the way to work. He has been buying a few food items with his spending money, so I'll have to add that into our food totals. He didn't eat the bun or rolls that were in yesterday's lunch. I may be making bread pudding soon.

The kids and I had chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole; salad; and milk for lunch. Little Bear decided he was too tired to eat lunch. He went to the couch and took a three to four hour nap!

Supper was tuna and egg salad sandwiches with lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. Little Bear got up right as we were getting ready to fix supper. He ate most of his lunch and most of his supper, while the rest of us fixed and ate supper.

We have a lot of running to do tomorrow, so I'm going to have to come up with some quick on the go meals and snacks.

Today Was Better Than Yesterday

I think a big part of today being better than yesterday was that I started my day out with God. The pets woke me and I had to take care of them, but none of the kids bothered me until I was done with my devotions. I take that back. I sent two girls back to bed. Puppy Dog came to our room while I was praying and laid down beside Jon. P.D. was quiet though and let me do my devos. without interruption. I went back to sleep after my devos. LOL

When the kids all started to congregate in the dining room, I told them that we were having cold cereal for breakfast. Some time went by and they started fussing about really being hungry. Apparently, I have catered to them too much this past winter. It only took a small verbal nudge to convince them to fix their own cereal though. I came out while they were fixing theirs, fixed mine, and added some banana slices to everyone's bowls.

Lunch was Sloppy Joes, baby carrots, applesauce, and milk. We used Manwich, because it was a good price this week and Jon wanted it. I used two pounds of ground beef and two cans of sauce. We had enough left over for Jon to have enough for a sandwich at work later this week. The buns were also storebought. They were on sale and I had a coupon.

Jon took the rest of our leftover chili, a yogurt, and some pop for his work lunch. He usually drinks water and eats some of the fruit that his workplace keeps out for employees as well.

The kids and I had yogurt for an afternoon snack while we waited for our bread to cool for supper. I also made rolls for tomorrow.

Tonight's supper was egg salad (homemade) sandwiches (homemade bread), baby carrots, cottage cheese with pineapple rings, and water. We had enough egg salad for Jon to have a sandwich later.

This is Little Bear's plate from supper. As the youngest, he got the priveledge of having the heals of the bread. The younger three children tend to take turns eating the heals. If they fight, then I get them.

I assigned How-to reports to three of the children this week. Kitty Kat decided on "How to Make Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies", Froggie chose "How to Make Meatloaf", Monkey chose "How to Make Chocolate Tea Bread", Puppy Dog chose "How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies", Birdie wants help deciding, and I haven't heard from Little Bear yet. Did you catch that five children are planning their reports when I only assigned reports to three?

Kitty Kat decided to use the recipe on the back of a sugar package. I tried to dissuade her, but she wouldn't budge. I let her try the recipe without interference at first. She would ask my opinion from time to time.

One of those times was when the "dough" was supposed to be ready to go in the fridge to chill. It looked like quick bread batter. I went through the ingredients with her and double checked the measurements she used. It turns out that she measured the milk before adding the lemon juice to it (as a replacement for buttermilk). I had told her a day or two ago to first put the lemon juice in and then to finish measuring the milk. Apparently, she forgot. She also confessed to having the milk a little over the mark on the measuring cup. Add that to the fact that the eggs we have right now are extra large and there was definitely too much moisture. I had her add a little extra flour a 1/4 cup at a time to get a better consistency. She added 1/2 cup and we decided to try it.

I let her work on the cookies alone after the "dough" chilled. I came to help her check on them when the first set was ready to come out of the oven. The cookies were a little burnt. I helped her get them off the pans quickly and then the kids and I ate those cookies as a bedtime snack. The oven temp. was at 400 degrees and she baked the cookies for 7 minutes. I checked and she had followed the directions. I then proceded to help her by getting the rest of the cookie "dough" onto the pans and she added the cinnamon sugar. I made the cookies bigger than the recipe called for, left the temp. the same, and had her time them for 5 minutes and then reset the timer as needed. She ended up with enough nice cookies that she can take them to her small group at church tomorrow evening and leave a couple for Jon to have later. She will be trying a different recipe before writing her report though. I tasted the raw batter and it tasted just like the batter minus the bananas of a banana bread recipe that I once made from a recipe on the back of the same brand of sugar. I have never made that recipe again because the banana bread turned out bland.

The kids were in bed before 10pm tonight. I actually sent them to bed before 9:30 but I had to fuss with the boys to get them to stay in bed. Once the boys were in bed, they fell right to sleep. I did have to go upstairs to send the girls back to bed a little while ago, but I think they have settled down. Hopefully, they will get enough sleep, because we are going to be at church a lot tomorrow.

Rough Day

bacon, egg, and cheese onion bagel

Thursday night we were up late, so I let everyone wake up on their own. I also didn't fix breakfast or brunch or whatever you want to call it until everyone was up and downstairs. Yes, that's right, the girls are back upstairs! So, we had our first meal at about 1:00 pm. That was not a good start to the day! We hoped that the day would get better after everyone's tummy was filled with the bacon*, egg, and cheese bagels and orange juice we had. The day did not get better.

Jon had a family ticket to go to a Cincinnati Bengals vs. the local Sheriff's Association basketball game at an area school. He was going to take the kids to that while I went to see my niece in the musical, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE. The kids were so rotten yesterday that Jon decided they wouldn't go. If you know Jon, then you know what a big fan he is of the Bengals.

We had our next meal, vegetable beef stew with biscuits, before I left to go to the musical. The stew was planned for earlier in the week, but our plans had changed. I would normally make homemade biscuits, but there was a very good deal on biscuits at Kroger this week. We got four four packs of ten count Pillsbury biscuits for $4.00. I sent Kitty Kat to make some biscuits and she pulled out a can. I had totally forgotten about the canned bisuits. LOL We drank tea with our meal. Kitty Kat makes most of our iced tea and yesterday's was no exception.

I left to go to the musical with a heavy heart knowing that Jon was missing out. I'll have to be sure to take someone with me next time I go to something like that. There were long periods of time when I was by myself and I didn't know what to do with myself. My mom, nephew, and niece were there too, but Mom and my nephew were helping with costumes and my niece was running around with a cousin. There was also the trip from Springfield to Urbana and back alone in the car.

I got back and was swarmed by kids and pets. The pets are still acting like I was gone too long.

While I was gone, Jon and the kids snacked on some battered shrimp and Girl Scout cookies. When I returned, we had hot dogs and jalapeno brats with leftover chili, applesauce, and salad. We only had six hot dog buns, so some of the kids had their hot dogs cut up and had leftover rolls to go with it. Little Bear didn't want to eat his salad. He asked if we could put it in the fridge for the next day, and since he asked nicely, I complied.

Once again we got to bed late.

*I saved the bacon grease to use later in the week.

Second Shift Can Be Hard On A Family

Little Bear was having a difficult time getting to sleep last night. I had him come to lay down on Jon's side of the bed to see if I could get him to sleep. The following conversation took place.

~12:45 am 3/24/09

Little Bear - Mom? Why do you and Daddy share a room?

Me - because we're married

L. B. - If I was Daddy, and they called me into work I wouldn't go.

Me - Then you would lose your job.

L. B. - Well, if I had to go to work, then my kids might miss me.

Me - Is that why you can't get to sleep?

L. B. - Yeah.

Me - Well, you just lay down on Daddy's side of the bed, and I'll move you later.

L. B. - OK.

I ended up falling asleep too, so Jon moved Little Bear.

* Little Bear helped type this. His self appointed job was to type B and b. He thought it was hilarious to hold the key down. I was mean and erased the extra ones. So, here are some lines typed by none other than Little Bear himself:

g;;jmnnnfnmnnnnb,mb,bbb9Benjkphwrr jvkjitrjjtguj5r3ut5huhr3euireyuewyuhrewyu3yggf
bbuhhbfuhfhet5yeutrediotue3y78934uu4ui5ihyu4yuggg bvvcvvvvswvsvgbbbbbbb b bb b bbb

Saturday at the Owings Cafe

Today is Little Bear's day in the kitchen again. He helped make Hot Pot Slop for lunch.

L.B. pours the cheese sauce mix into the pot. Do you see the cheesy pose? He kept wanting to do this for each picture, but I told him to watch what he was doing.

L.B. dumps the corn into the pot.

L.B. scrapes tuna into the pot.

L.B. adds an extreme amount of Worcestershire sauce to the pan. (It ended up being just fine.)

L.B. pours milk from the cream of mushroom soup can.

L.B. nearly stirs the pot off the stove. (Actually, it just started to slide a bit as I snapped the picture. I grabbed the pot right after the shot. I had to tell him to hold onto the pan every time he stirred before this. This time, I just decided to capture the moment. Now, I can point out why he needs to hold the handle with a visual.)

Little Bear shows off his plate.

My Little Chef

In the past I have tried to have each child take turns helping in the kitchen. Usually, we get out of the habit for one reason or another. We're trying again. Each of my children has a day of the week that he/she is responsible for certain prayers (meals and before school), but that's another story. Anyway, each child is now going to be my kitchen helper for at least one meal on the day he/she is to pray. I hope to keep up with it by blogging about each child's turn at least at first.

Today it was Little Bear's turn. Here he is with the pepperoni and pineapple pan pizza he made for supper.

How do you get a letter to Jesus?

Little Bear is really coming up with some deep problems and interesting solutions, lately.

Monkey, Puppy Dog, and Little Bear were making/playing with "mailboxes", cards, and letters today. Baby Bear decided that his card/letter was for "Baby Jesus". Questions and answers about how to get the card to Jesus, Jesus growing up, Jesus dying on the cross, and rising from the dead, etc. followed. Of course, you can't just mail a card to Jesus. My idea that Jesus would see it as Bear wrote it wasn't enough. So, Little Bear has decided that he needs to climb a mountain to give the letter to Jesus. Not only is Little Bear planning to climb a mountain, but he also has to put on his shoes and socks so that he can climb the mountain with Daddy and me.

As much as I need to get into better shape, climbing a mountain really isn't what I had in mind.

Who Me? Procrastinate?

Last year at our Owings family Christmas/New Year's get together, my mother-in-law assigned the moms with making a scrapbook page for each of their children. She even gave us a scrapbook ideas book for our Christmas present. The problem is that I don't scrapbook. I don't even get pictures developed.

Back in November Jon's mom had some of us get together at her place to work on our pages. It's probably a good thing too. One of my sisters-in-law gave me some sheets of scrapbook page paper (or whatever it is called). I had asked previously what size page. The answer I got was, "The regular size." To me regular size paper is 8.5 X 11. The pages my sil supplied me with are about 11 and 15/16" X 11 and 15/16". Like I said before, I DON'T SCRAPBOOK! This was one case in which procrastinating was a good thing.

I had some of the pages done yesterday. The rest I finished today. Keep in mind the following:

1. I DON'T SCRAPBOOK!
2. Since I don't scrapbook, I don't have very many scrapbook supplies.
3. Since I don't have very many scrapbook supplies, I had to make do with what I did have.
4. It's a good thing Jon let me keep a few of my BHG magazines "just in case the kids need to cut something out for school".
   
5. No one else in my family seemed too interested in helping me.
6. Due to number 3, I only have school glue. You know, the stuff that isn't supposed to be used with pictures and makes paper warp.
7. That's alright. I don't have "real" pictures anyway. Remember, I don't get pictures developed. I printed the pictures out on regular printer paper and cut them out.

So, without further ado, here are the pages I came up with.

This is the page for Froggie. I didn't have any good pics of just her.

I could probably do an entire scrapbook of Kitty Kat reading.

Birdie

Monkey

Puppy Dog

Little Bear (He was still Baby Bear at the time of the pics.)

Jon took the kids to Young's Jersey Dairy a while back while I was needed elsewhere. The clip-art images on this one are from
http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/index.htm .

These will have to do. I'm out of time. We have to be at the get together at 6pm today.

Bye-bye Baby Bear, Hello Little Bear!

Baby Bear decided that he didn't want to be called Baby Bear any more. We convinced him to wait until he turned four. Today that day came, and he is now officially Little Bear.


Jon had to work today, so Little Bear got to open his birthday present before Jon left.






















Last night, Jon asked Baby Bear what he wanted for breakfast. His answer? Pizza! (By the way, we had pizza for supper last night.) So, I made plans with Baby Bear to make a cinnamon "roll" pizza. This morning I made the pizza for Little Bear's breakfast. I got up later than I intended, because I didn't sleep well last night. Jon had to leave before the pizza was ready, so he ate a bowl of instant oatmeal. We saved a piece of pizza for him.
















This afternoon, I asked Little Bear what he would like for lunch. His answer? Oatmeal! So, I made Peanut butter oatmeal with a jelly dollop, carrot and celery sticks, and applesauce. I piled the kids' plates high with the oatmeal. I didn't want them to get hungry too quickly. Little Bear didn't finish all his veggies and applesauce. It was just as well though. He is fighting off some sort of flu bug. I realized that the applesauce would only make matters worse after I served him.


Tonight was a dress rehearsal for the play at church. We all went so that I could help with make-up. After the rehearsal was over, we were all standing in a prayer circle. As one of our elders was praying for everyone to get and stay healthy Birdie threw up on the sanctuary floor. Fun times! (oozing with sarcasm)


We had cake and frozen yogurt/ice cream. Birdie had to sit this one out.


*I had more photos I was trying to post, but for some reason they weren't uploading. I may try again tomorrow. I'm too tired to wait for them.