Slumber Party – Round 2

July 14, 2010

The addition of 8 extra children made it another full weekend here! But what a fun one!

My sweet friend Cinnamon trusted me to watch her children again (you may remember the Toxic Slumber Party of a few weeks ago!) while she and her husband had a much needed weekend away before he is deployed to Afghanistan in a couple of weeks.

Nuby

I can’t believe she actually shared this adorable little guy with me for 2 days and expected me to give him back!

Let me tell you – that belly was made for “bubbling”!

Pop-cyicles

The weather was great – sunny but not too hot and humid. Perfect for popsicles and playing outside!

You may notice that Angel Girl and Grace are quite dressed up.  The older kids worked together and filmed 2 hilarious videos over the weekend.

Late prince

All of our dress up clothes were brought out and used – we like to pick up odd and random items at thrift stores and garage sales to make our movies more interesting!

This child shall remain anonymous although I will tell you that his name begins with a “G”.

Oh wait – all the kids have names that start with a “G”! :) And they have more nicknames than any other family I have ever known! Bob, Nubby, Lolli, Figgy, Gigi…the list goes on and on.

Trust me – it could get really confusing to an outsider!

Granton

Didn’t I tell you this little guy is adorable? He’s also a little parrot – repeating whatever you say.

Sunday morning in church he was sitting on my lap when his sister asked to be excused. He looked at me and said “Where go?”

I whispered, “She had to go potty.”

“Ohh”, he answered quite loudly, “Potty. Potty. Potty. Potty.”

There were definitely some chuckles around us! :)

LG

Yep. It was a pretty crazy weekend! Lots of laughter, lots of food and too little sleep!

And no stomach flu!

Success!

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Memories | Tagged , , | Comment (1)

Family Camping

July 12, 2010

We had another amazing all-family camp-out weekend! With the crazy fun people I’m related to – what else could you expect! :)

Every year we rent the group camp area at a State Park – complete with a kitchen/dining hall, small cabins, and our own bathhouse.

We heard about a little worried this year when we heard several reports about flooding at the park. They were true. The only road through the park was still covered with flood water. The week before they had to evacuate the campground in the middle of the night as the river started to rise. But the our group camp area was on high ground and still open – so we had the entire park to ourselves!

The first day we took a hike to see the high water – it had receded quite a bit, and left behind amazing sights – like a picnic table 6 foot up in a tree – and a deep gumbo -like mud.

It also left behind mosquitoes! Lots of mosquitoes. Big mosquitoes. Bug spray was our friend. I lost count of many bottles we used up. By the time we came home some of my kids looked like they had chicken pox!

But we still had fun hiking the trails that were open and spending time playing in the creek. What is it about water and rocks that makes guys want to build a dam? And mud that makes kids want to cover themselves with it? :)

We even squeezed a hot dog roast and sparklers in the first day – which was a good thing – since the second day was a total wash! It rained all day.

But that didn’t stop us! We had a special church service, played lots of games and even had an “Improv Night”!  Each family brought a bag of random props, we exchanged them and had about 10 minutes to come up with a skit using them. It was hilarious!

But then the whole weekend was filled with laughter and fun. That’s what happens when you spend time with people you love.

Memories happen.

A special thanks to my niece Faith for the pictures!

By Country Gal | Posted in Family Traditions, Memories | Comments (2)

Packing Up

June 30, 2010

We’re going camping this weekend – just like we do every July 4th weekend.

We’ll pack up and meet my family at a state park where we will all get sunburned, eat way too much chocolate, and laugh so much we cry.

Sounds wonderful doesn’t it?!

It is wonderful!

That is – it’s wonderful – once we get past the “pack up” part and are on the road!

I don’t like packing. There’s a lot of stuff needed when you pack up 7 people for 4 days of camping.

So many things to find – little shampoo bottles for everyone, old towels that can get sandy and dirty (but not so old that they embarrass me!), old shoes, old clothes, and then there’s all the food!

There’s a lot of stuff you can forget.

I decided some time ago that each child would need to be responsible to pack themselves. What they pack is what they live with for the weekend.

If they forget their swimsuit – they don’t go swimming.

If they forget their tennis shoes – they will hike in flip flops.

If they forget their toothbrush – well, um – we’ll just make sure they sleep in another cabin! :)

Sound hard core? Maybe – but so far it’s working! They’ve handled the responsibility well. They may have forgotten things, but they figured out how to function without them – and it wasn’t Mom’s fault. :)

But still – packing isn’t without it’s stresses. Have you ever noticed that things just “disappear” when you start to pack?

One son lost all the shorts in his dresser – they just disappeared?! Just a month ago he had enough shorts for a week long camp – now he’s down to just 2 pairs?

Is it just me – or does this sound vaguely familiar?

But we’ll keep pushing through. A wonderful weekend with some of my favorite people on earth is well worth it!

So little by little things get crossed off the list and the pile by the door gets bigger.

Oh dear.

That pile by the door – somehow we need to get it all in the mini-van!

Have I mentioned that I really don’t like packing!

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Memories | Tagged , , , | Comments (8)

The Sam and Davy Show

June 23, 2010

It’s become a tradition every June for my nephew Sam to enjoy a week here at the farm while his big brothers are at church camp.

This year his little brother Davy came to join him.

Sam and Buddy are best friends.

I’m not sure what it is about boys and mud – but I’m sure it’s in the jeans (oops – I mean genes!)

Davy and Pedro have become best buddies this week. Maybe it’s because they both love cars and trucks and things with wheels. …or maybe it’s because Davy knows Pedro has the keys to the 4 wheeler and will give him rides! ;)

Pedro has been so patient with the little guy, reading him tractor stories and letting him sit in every vehicle and pretend to drive.

He even pulled out the pedal car and let Davy sit on it while he pushed him around the yard – for hours and hours.

One morning we got out the little Ertyl farm set and filled a Rubbermaid with wheat berries. Davy had a blast filling the wagons with wheat and dumping it back out. He feed the cows and filled the silos. I had wheat berries all over the basement. :)

Later that night when we gave him a bath, Dagmar took off his diaper and enough wheat berries to make a loaf of bread came spilling out!  “Uh Oh!”

The little guy even had wheat berries imbedded in his tushy! No wonder he was a little wiggly at supper!

Speaking of supper…

Meal time is where Davy and I bonded. I showed him how to put Bugles on his fingers, laughed when he said, “Oops! I burped Aunt Linna” and let him feed his lettuce to his “Buddy bunny” instead of eating it himself.

I even squirted chocolate sauce on the top of his ice cream cone, let him lick it of and then squirted some more on.

I can do that. I’m the aunt. It’s my job.

I love it!

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Memories | Tagged , , | Comments (7)

A Mosiac of Moments

June 19, 2010

Every day is full of moments – little snapshots of life.

Most are mundane, a few are unique, and some are blog worthy.

Here are a few of my most blog worthy moments recently -

1. A Monster Moment - This is the summer that Angel Girl is going to learn to bake independently. She just needs the practice doing the same thing several times to gain confidence – and my trust. We started with bread.

She made her second batch last week but she was in a hurry. I thought she had finished making out the buns very quickly and she hadn’t used very many baking sheets. When I checked them before they were baked I could see why – they were huge! Some of the buns measured 5 inches across.

Monster buns! Yes, her brothers teased her, and yes they loved them!  Can’t wait for batch number 3!

2. Proud Momma Moment: We went to a friend’s house this week to pick pie cherries. She has a little 3 year old with Down’s syndrome. As we were finishing up I heard someone singing our special swinging song and went to investigate.

There was Matt under the tree with the swing in it. He had, of his accord,  gently put their girl in the swing and was pushing her – singing “Swing, swing way up high, swing so high you touch the sky…”

Their little girl was just grinning from ear to ear.

I didn’t realize he even remembered the song.

3. Not So Proud Parenting Moment: At my niece’s wedding, she had the youngest cousins, including my Buddy, act as gift pages. Just before the wedding started they were escorted in and sat with my youngest sister and her husband in the front row. Jan and I were directly behind them.

Buddy had just been seated for a few moments when he suddenly jumped up and dashed back down the center aisle of the church. I was still processing the fact that he ran out of the church when he came running back in – holding a cold bottle of water.

He ran right down the aisle, just as the groom was escorting my parents down. He managed to dodge around  them just as the photographer snapped their picture.

Then he settled back in his seat, opened his water and prepared to enjoy the show! I was very embarrassed until I realized he was sitting with my youngest sister – everyone would just think he was hers! :)

4. Old Lady Moment: I wore a new (to me) pair of shoes to that same wedding. By the time we got to the reception I had some very nice blisters forming.  Since I knew I would be standing and cutting cake for some time – I had my darling husband take my dress shoes to the van and bring in my tennis shoes.

Yes, I put my tennis shoes on for the rest of the evening.  If any one noticed – they were too polite to say anything! :)

I’m sure they were all jealous of my comfort!

How about you? What were your memorable moments this week?

Care to share them?

By Country Gal | Posted in Children, Cooking and Food, Deep Thoughts, Memories | Tagged , , | Comments (4)