Disappearing Camera Mystery Solved

My camera miraculously appeared. It was sitting on my kitchen counter. Hmm. It's funny I didn't see it there before, since I spend most of the hours of my day in the kitchen.

I checked to see what I had for photos. Most of the photos here I don't remember taking. But I do tend to forget things from time to time. Let's see, what were my reasons for taking these?

Oh, yes, I remember. I was standing at the bottom of my stairs looking up at the vacuum cleaner. You know that feeling you get after your vacuuming is done? That feeling of clean. That feeling of accomplishing something. This was one of those rare days I accomplished a task the same day I started. I wanted to document this monumental moment.

And this one, I must have wanted a close up of the carpet style. This is in case we ever need to make an insurance claim. We can prove we had that speckled shaggy stuff.




I always like to take photos from "down here" at about the 3' 6"-4' level. About Duchess and Maiden's height. It gives me a better view of what my little ones see every day.





Then there's the photo of the shoe laces. I'm really having trouble remembering why I took this one.

Now I remember, I was trying to get a shot of the pretty pink backs. Pink has always been my favorite color.

This was another shot to remind me how hard it is to be a person of shorter stature. This is the doorway at the bottom of the stairs. The doorknob is extra high due to fact that the door is on a step. I need to be reminded that the little ones can't always open this door to get upstairs. Doesn't it look out of reach from this angle? That's the effect I was trying to achieve.

Boy, am I ever glad I was able to remember why I took these photos. I was beginning to think I was losing it!

Have a Blessed Day!

I Remember

When We Were Young has tagged me for "I Remember" it was fun to read hers. I don't really know the rules, but I am doing the main things I remember growing up. I always think I don't remember a lot, but now in doing this, I realize I do.

~I remember checking off 30 days on a calendar. One check mark for each night I didn't sleep with my mom and dad. My reward was a Drowsy doll.

~I remember my first kiss. I was five, his name was Tracy, and he kissed me over the phone.

~I remember being told (and believing) that you got freckles from kissing boys.

~I remember staring in the mirror after my first kiss...and finding a huge new freckle. I was so afraid that someone would notice and know that I'd been kissed by a boy.

~I remember running away from home when I was five. The only reason I turned around and came home was because my mom yelled out the door that Sonny and Cher would be on soon. (The house I was running away to didn't have a TV.)

~I remember bobby pinning a towel on my head so my hair would be long like Cher's.

~I remember seeing a mouse run up my baby brother's pant leg and watching him giggle--and then start to cry when my mom started screaming.

~I remember the day we left Iowa and moved 'back home' to South Dakota, right next to Grandpa and Grandma.

~I remember watching Captain 11, Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch after school every day.

~I remember having a horse named Black Beauty, dogs named Rusty and Midnight, a cow named Daphne, and a cat (actually numerous cats) named Fluffy.

~I remember family reunions and cousins who visited from Norway.

~I remember being mean to my little brother by pretending I cut his heart out. I would taunt him by telling him I had his heart and he could never get it back. He would be screaming and crying, "Give me my heart back. I need my heart. I will die without my heart!" (Sorry Buddy.)

~I remember being mean to my younger sister by telling her that mom and dad didn't love her as much as me because she was adopted. (It was retaliation because she would tell me that mom said she was her favorite.) She wasn't adopted, but it was the only thing I could say to her that made her cry. (Sorry Sis.)

~I remember plugging Frazzled Farm Wife's sister's nose while she was asleep. I am pretty sure it was Chris' idea. (Chris, could you tell Cheryl I am sorry about that too?)

~I remember in confirmation class my pastor telling me that we won't have the same relationships with people in heaven that we do on earth. If we have husbands, wives, moms, dads, we won't know them there as we do here. We will only know that they were once significant in our lives. His comments scared me and I was bothered for a long time (years). I didn't really want to go to heaven after that.

~I remember the time I saw my dad cry, the morning he and my mom told me Corky (Chris' dad) had died.

~I remember the day I became a true believer.

~I remember that all I wanted to do after high school was to get married, have two boys and two girls, and to be a stay at home mom. Would ya look at me! I stay home with my children, and I did get my two boys and two girls...I just got a bonus...three more boys!


I tag:

Frazzled Farm Wife

Weavermom

Little Ebling's Academy

Life in Seasons

Hold Tight

I have so many updates regarding the basement. But I can't find my camera to download the photos. I wish it had a page button like my phone....

I may have spoken too soon....

On Friday Scribe made a new batch of bread. Apparently his teacher forgot to mention a very important tidbit of information. Make sure you use the dough hooks in the mixer. You MUST use the dough hooks. Always use the dough hooks when making bread dough.

I was so concerned with safety and making sure he kept the lid on the mixer, that I must not have emphasized enough he use the right mixing tool. My Kitchenetics has a dough hook, a French whisk, and a thick batter/thin cookie dough whip. I had been the last person to use the mixer and left the thick batter attachment in the bowl. He just used that.

A loud clunking from my mixer led me to the kitchen. "Mom, some thing is wrong with the mixer. The bowl (which should be locked into place) is spinning too." I gasped when I saw the thick batter whips. "Is it bad?" he asked. Shrugging my shoulders, I picked up the base of my machine up and gave it a shake. The sound of rattling plastic led me to believe it could be broken. Yep, it was bad.

I called the company to see if it could be repaired. How bad is it? Here are my options:

Repairing the motor base of the machine: $250.00

Purchasing a new motor base: $250.00

New thick batter whips (which now need to be replaced): $39.00

New model trade: $399.00 -$50.00 credit for old machine= $349.00

Switching to a Bosch (best price on Internet/free shipping) $349.99

Seeing my 9 year old serve "his" bread to guests: Priceless

I guess you could say that our last two loaves of bread cost somewhere between $289.00 and $349.00. (Painful smile.) So until I can decide what I should do, I think Scribe will have to learn the art of hand kneading.

Our Daily Bread

Here is Scribe holding our daily bread.


He has mastered the process of baking whole wheat bread from scratch.

Since the beginning of this summer, I have been teaching him how to bake bread. The other day, I told him he was ready to do it on his own.

He was so excited, when he woke up the next morning, he got right down to business.


The first step is to get the wheat berries ready to grind.

The reason Scribe was chosen to be the bread baker is because he showed a fascination with our NutriMill. I told him he could run it on his own if he would let me teach him how to bake bread.

He was more than happy to learn.



Here he is looking at his freshly ground flour. Our favorite wheat berry is white winter wheat.







An open wheat bucket is like a magnet in our house. The younger three LOVE to play with the berries.

I don't blame them. One of my favorite memories as a child was playing in wheat in the granary with my friend. (Actually we would jump from the rafters into the wheat, which now looking back, I realize was not a very safe thing to do!)

We keep the bread recipe posted on the inside of the cabinet door.

Squire is Scribe's moral support. He told me he's not very interested in baking. He would rather make things that don't take so long...like our oatmeal in the morning.

Once Scribe gets all the ingredients together, our Kitchenetics mixer does the mixing and the kneading.


Shaping the loaves is his second, and everyone else's favorite part. He gets to choose a helper, since he has two sisters and a brother who want to 'play' with the dough. This day he chose Squire, while promising Duchess she would be his next helper.

He makes 2-3 loaves each time he bakes and needs to bake about every other day. The entire process takes him about 2-2 1/2 hours. He still needs a little help in figuring out how long to let it raise before baking, but that will come with practice.

He is one proud bread baker, and I am one happy mama!

Maiden: Mom, we need a girl baby. That One (pointing to Prince Charming) pulls hair.

Mom: So you want a girl baby and a boy baby?

Maiden: No, take him to the doctor. The doctor will give us a girl baby and keep him.

Mom: But he's your brother. You love him. We don't take babies back.

Maiden: That One pulls hair. We need a girl one.

(I am getting a little worried. I don't know if I should be more concerned that she has clearly distanced herself by not calling him by his name, or that she has obviously given this an enormous amount of thought.)

Mom: No, we will keep him forever. God gave him to us. We love him and he loves us.

Later in the day when I was changing Prince Charming's diaper....he was screaming and squirming, trying to get away.

Maiden: See, I told you. That One doesn't like you. We should take him back to the doctor and get a girl one. She will like you. Girls don't pull hair.

Who wouldn't pull hair trying to escape this "grip of love"? Sorry Maiden, I don't think trading the baby in for a new model will solve your problem.

My Balloon Popped

This little girl took way too long getting here. It took years to persuade The King into pursuing adoption and once the process finally began, we had two more years of official waiting. She is a joy and so full of life. Sometimes I look and her and can't believe she is my daughter. Created by God, nurtured in another woman's womb, then placed in my arms. How blessed I am to have experienced this thing called adoption. How thankful I am that her birth mom chose life.

Each morning she runs to her special place....my arms. "Snuggle me mama," she says. In our pajamas and snuggled under a warm blanket, we quietly contemplate the day ahead. There are times I am so filled with joy I feel like I am floating on a balloon. Today was one of them. Rather than sitting in silence I prayed aloud, "Lord, thank you for this child. She is a blessing to our family and I am so thankful you chose us to be her parents. Help us to raise her to love you."

The problem with balloons is that they deflate or can easily be popped. After my prayer, Duchess lovingly looked up into my eyes. She obviously had something to say. I was waiting for something profound, for my balloon to be filled more. Soon I would be floating even higher. Her loving glance became somewhat disturbed. After a slight pause she bluntly stated, "Mom, your breath is stinky."

Freezer Cooking

One of my favorite things to do is to prepare freezer meals. My hubby travels quite often so I am left to care for our seven children. The days I am alone caring for our busy household and home schooling three of our children I feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and outnumbered by the time I should begin preparing dinner. Freezer meals have kept us from driving through fast food restaurants on the nights dad is out of town. I have been a member of a once a month cooking club for almost two years now. Between cooking with a group of friends and making meals on my own, I keep a great supply of meals on hand.

Multi Tasking Mom's recipe swap this week is make ahead meals. Here is one that I can easily make in large batches, separate and freeze I found it in one of my grandmother's church cookbooks. My kids love this meal, and we rarely have leftovers. It is a little bland in color, so I make a side of peas, carrots or a tossed salad to liven it up. My friend Rapunzel puts peas right in the meat mixture for a one dish meal.

Just a note: If you do have left overs and want to reheat in the microwave, we peel the biscuits off, heat the meat mixture until it's hot then add the biscuits for about 10 seconds more. This keeps the biscuits from getting hard.

CB Casserole
Serves 6-8

1 ½ lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2-8 oz. packages cream cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of milk

Have on hand: Three tubes of refrigerated biscuits (the cheap kind that come in a four pack).

Cooking day instructions: Brown ground beef with onion. Thoroughly cream the milk, cream cheese and soup together. Add ground beef mixture to soup mixture. Spread in bottom of greased 9 X 13 pan or in a freezer container. Do not place biscuits on top of casserole at this time. Label and freeze.

Serving day instructions: Thaw. If frozen ahead in a freezer container, spread into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake meat mixture at 375° until it bubbles all across the top (20-30 minutes). Cut biscuits into fourths. Place biscuits evenly over the top of hot mixture. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until biscuits are brown and completely done.

Baby News

I had the greatest gift given to me on Saturday. A friend of mine told me I could be in the delivery room with her. I have always wanted to see a live birth other than my own. All I can say is, "Wow." It was a pretty complicated delivery, but she was amazing (so was her hubby). The little guy (I mean big guy) weighed in at a whopping 12# 3oz. Most impressive to me was the fact that she did it drug free.

So to you my friend, thank you for allowing me to experience something so unexplainably wonderful. What a blessing, I am truly honored.

Basement News

Don't be jealous, but look what I've got:









The Wirsbo tubing has been installed in my basement.

These two (Jouster and The King) installed it last night.

It was not easy getting to this point.

The King had to remove 1 1/2 inches of gravel/dirt before he could lay the foam. Three days of work and the dirt was gone.

He got the foam insulation laid...and taped together. Then it rained. We had water in the basement. A call to the waterproofers forced The King to pull up the foam insulation and place a layer of poly over the dirt. Back down with the foam. He was finally able to lay the tubing.

The best news is that he said we would be pouring cement THIS FRIDAY.

Nothing happens as planned. The cement guy can't make it Friday. He has to come THURSDAY instead. Yippee!! Cement more than a month before my 20th anniversary! That means only one thing. It can't be my anniversary present. Remember, I was holding out for cement as my anniversary gift. But now that the cement will be done 48 days before our big day, I am pretty sure I can squeeze something else out of The King.

Here's my plan:

1. About the first of November I will start hinting that our anniversary is coming up.

2. I will nonchalantly ask The King what kind of amazing gift he wants from me.

3. Giddily tell him I can't wait to see what surprise(s) he has in store for me.

4. Remind him that I love jewelry. If he gives me 'the look', I will add that I like kitchen appliances and vacuum cleaners just as well.

5. Convince him that since the weather is now turning cold, he would really enjoy a tropical vacation...with me, of course. If I get 'the look', I will mention that it would also be fun to get away for one night without the kids.

6. Take the check book out of my purse and leave it on the kitchen counter for him to see. If he doesn't notice it there, I will put it on the keyboard of his computer.

7. Occasionally tell him he looks likes he's been up to something.

Any other ideas? Do you think my plan will work? I'll keep you posted.

Mitch McVicker

A few weeks ago, along with The King's twin brother and family, we attended a Mitch McVicker concert. (Mitch used to play with Rich Mullins and was seriously injured in the same car accident that killed Rich.)

I can't believe it, but I left my camera at home. The photo of eight cousins sitting in five chairs in the front row would have been priceless.

I'm sorry Mitch, your performance, as wonderful as it was, was not my favorite memory of the evening. It was a comment from Maiden that I will never forget. Before the concert started Duchess was poiting out a bass. She said, "Look, there's a big..." Maiden innocently finished her sister's sentence "...fiddle."

The concert was a small gathering in a church sactuary, but the music was great! They are on tour promoting the release of his newest CD, which is awesome. The kids and I have been listening to him every day. Check him out, you won't be disappointed.

Happy Birthday

Jester is 16 years old!

Here he is at one day old...with The King and I who were 16 years younger.

He was the fastest baby we had. He tried to enter the world with no doctor or nurses in the room, but we were able to hold him back until help arrived.


Who would have known sixteen years ago that he would become the comedian of the family? He makes me laugh every day. He never gets overly excited about anything, is pretty easy going and laid back, and never in a hurry. We must have stifled him when we didn't let him enter the world with a bang like he originally intended.

He is such a helper, especially with the younger children. People near and dear to us tell he acts like a third parent, always helping with and correcting the younger children. When The King is out of town, he steps right in and helps me get the little ones ready for bed, reads to them, prays with them, and tucks them into bed while I finish tidying the house. He knows that the reward will be an enjoyable quiet evening. That is really a blessing to me after a long day as a 'single parent'. I know he will make a wonderful father one day. He has had plenty of practice.

We love you Jester. Happy Birthday!

Cake Man

Jester finished his second cake decorating course.

This course focused on royal icing. Each week he

learned how to make different flowers. They were

then dried and saved for the last week.

The course finale, complete with a basket weave finish:

I think he did a great job! But now we must wait a month.

He was too stressed out to go on. That one night a week was just too much for him. He thinks he will start again in November and learn fondant techniques. Stay tuned...

Wordless Wednesday