Ohio Trip

On Monday, July 27, I met my parents halfway between our houses at a Cracker Barrel in Pennsylvania, and we switched the girls over to their van, because the next day was the start of GRANDMA/GRANDPA CAMP, which is the total highlight of summer for the under 10 girl crowd around here!  This year both Aunt Claire AND Uncle Jim flew to Texas from Utah, and then they flew with my nieces Emily and Elia up to Ohio on Tuesday.  I'm sure you can imagine the giggling and shrieking from these 5 girl cousins ages 9 down to almost 6 when they were all back together again!

They were busy having fun Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday:  they went to the local children's science museum, they went to Youngs for miniature golf, the big slide, and ice cream of course, and they also hit the base bowling alley.  Then the rest of us drove in Friday night.  Bob was even able to drive out with us for the weekend, and then he flew home late Sunday night.   We were busy having fun as well!

• Many games were played, especially of Stratego

•  The girls had a special breakfast at Mimi's

•  We made cinnamon rolls

•  We went to the church, and the girls wore these adorable matching patriotic dresses that Grandma had found for them

•  Uncle Jim grilled his famous flank steak, which was sooo delicious

•  Grandpa took the kids out for rides in the Model A--and Micah wasn't scared this year!

•  The girls made pies with Grandma and Aunt Claire--a delicious chocolate one, and a strawberry nectarine one that I was a bit hesitant about, but was *really* good

•  The girls had a make-up session with Aunt Claire, after which they had to run down and put on Nana's costume jewelry for the picture!

And then, all too soon, it was time for Emily, Elia, Aunt Claire, and Uncle Jim to fly back home. It's never long enough, and the girls were full of plans for us all to move to the same place! 

 Mom bought the girls 3 sets of matching outfits, and they were all so cute!  They love to match when they do all their Grandma/Grandpa camp stuff, and people always comment on them:  "Are they triplets and twins?"  So fun!  You can definitely tell the 5 girls are related.

Wednesday and Thursday we were able to spend time with Amy and her kids, including her niece, who is in between Anna and Grace in age.  The girls had a ball playing with her!

 Zachary has really shot up and filled out!  He was a wonderful big brother substitute for Verity, who definitely missed Nathan and Luke while they were gone.

Caleb and Jonathan spent Wednesday night over there, playing with Jacob, and they were thrilled to have something special for them to do.

 Thursday morning, the younger kids and I went back over, as well as my mom, so we could have lunch with Amy and her mom. We had such a great time!  Amy made a delicious chicken salad using freshly butchered chickens raised by her dad (and guest-fed by Amy herself  while her parents were on a cruise--we heard hilarious stories about that, as well as Amy's stint as assistant calf castrater!  They were definitely book material!)

But unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and we had to come back to Virginia and our stressful life here.  It is definitely getting harder and harder to do that!  Friday morning we left at 8:00 so we could pick up Nathan at WSS.  He did indeed have a fantastic time on AOX.  He said everyone bonded really quickly, and it was obvious everyone was there not just to have fun, but to grow and get prepared spiritually to go off to college.  I am always so thankful for the impact godly people at WSS have on my kids, just as godly people there influenced my walk back when I was a teenager.  What a blessing!

It was really great to see Nathan again, and we got to see Luke briefly, since he wasn't actually done until Sunday.  I actually drove back up Sunday morning to pick him up, getting there in time to eat lunch.  A friend of mine, Carri, who was on staff with me back in the day (the glory years, we said), was also up there from Kentucky to pick up one of her daughters who had also been on staff with Luke, so we were able to visit over lunch.  It was so lovely to catch up!  Then General and Mrs. B invited us over to their house on our way out of town for Gen. B's famous milkshakes, and well, who can say no to them?!  So we stopped over there, along with Carri and the 4 kids of hers she had with her (we both have 10 kids each--isn't that amazing?!  20 kids from 2 support staffers!).  Fun times!  We finally got home around 7:00, and we were finally all together again--for one more week, until Nathan leaves.  Wah!

Must Have Been Friday . . .

 . . . because we were once again making a trip to White Sulphur Springs!  Somehow we managed to maximize our trips to WSS this summer.  Nathan went up for 2 weeks after we got back from TX (although the L's brought him up--thank you!!), and we picked him up on a Friday.  That Sunday Caleb and Jonathan had to be up there, but this time Amanda L. was looking for more practice driving hours, so she and Ed took them up (THANK YOU!!).  They got picked up the following Friday, and just I went up, although I still took the girls to swim practice in the morning, so I left a lot later and got there just in time for lunch, completely missing Caleb and Jonathan's zip line trips.  But I got to eat lunch there, visiting with Kim U and Amy M, so that was definitely not a wasted trip!  Then Anna and Grace had to be up there on Sunday, 2 days later.  And they got picked up yesterday.  At least we had to drop off Nathan and Luke for 2 more weeks as well yesterday, so we don't have to go back again on Sunday!  We've definitely been burning up I-70 between here and there this month, though.

Yesterday we really wanted to make the zip line, since it was Anna and Grace's first time at camp, and I knew Grace for sure would be apprehensive.  Their time was at 10:00, which meant we had to leave by 7:15 to make it.  We also brought up another boy who is on Luke's staff, and I felt bad that he had to get up so early to go with us, since they technically didn't have to be there until 2:00!

We did make it there right at 10:00, and we watched 7 campers whiz down before Anna went.  She confidently zoomed down, and then it was Grace's turn.  She spent the next at least 10 minutes, maybe longer, on the platform, being encouraged by the counselors, as well as her large familial cheering section down below.

She eventually made it all the way to the edge of the platform, but I really didn't think she was going to going to ever let go.  I thought she was the last camper (there were only 10 kids last week), but then I realized there was actually one more boy waiting *very* patiently down below the platform.  At that point, I pretty much told her to fish or cut bait because people were waiting, and so lo and behold, she let go and zipped away.

Nothing bad happened, and she arrived at the end in one piece, just as we had all assured her would happen!  I don't really know what she was so afraid of, because she goes on all sorts of big roller coasters at the amusement park, and she has no problem there.  Maybe just the actual act of stepping of, since in a roller coaster, they do that for you?  Who knows!

Dailey took this picture of the kids and me, since all 10 kids were together for a few minutes.  Now Luke is on staff, and Nathan is there for 2 weeks as well.  He'll be doing special projects for the first week, then going on AOX for the second week.  AO is an outdoor adventure time, with rapelling, whitewater rafting, ropes courses, etc., and AOX is a special invitation-only week for seniors who just graduated, with a focus on discipleship.  I'm so excited to hear what he learns!

In the meantime, it's hitting home that just one week after Nathan and Luke get back, Nathan will head off to college.  That's hard to think about!  I miss having him and Luke around in the evening to share funny things with.  Drew was so funny yesterday.  We ate lunch at Taco Bell about 30 minutes down the road.  When we were standing in line, he was looking around the restaurant, and he got all excited.  "Look!!  There's Lukey!!" as he pointed to a Taco Bell employee sitting on his break at a table with his back to us.  Well, no, Pumpkin, we left Luke at WSS . . . he's not actually working here at this Taco Bell.  Although the guy was young and had short brownish hair, LOL.  So while Faith, Micah, and Drew were VERY happy to have Anna and Grace back, they were not at all sure it was a good trade to lose Nathan and Luke.

10 Months Old

This happy girl is 10 months old today!  She's gotten in 2 more top teeth, for a grand total of 6, and having those break through seems to have solved her diaper rash issues.  She is happily eating all table food, which is definitely helping her put on weight.  I haven't actually weighed her since we were at Dan and Melinda's (and I never did get in for a 9 month well-baby appointment.  Oops.), but I am confidant she is gaining, because she seems a lot chunkier.  She nurses happily first thing in the morning--and then sometimes one more time during the day, but usually not.  She's not angry about it; she just smiles, turns away, and flat-out refuses to nurse.  So technically she is still somewhat nursing, but who knows how long I can keep up with once a day feedings.  That is bittersweet for me, since I've been nursing for so very long, but it looks like the end is in sight for my nursing days.  Weird to think about!  She's still taking a bottle with no problems.  I need to get out the sippy cups again.  I tried her on one earlier, and she could not get the hang of it, LOL.  She just sort of chewed on it, which is exactly what her oldest brother did as a baby.  I bought at least 5 kinds of sippy cups, trying to find a spout where Nathan would figure out that he needed to suck on it, not chew it!  He took forever to get the hang of straws too.  Ah well, look how far he's come.  I have hope for Verity as well!

Verity is also walking, albeit unsteadily.  She took her first steps in a row on the Monday Nathan and I left for his orientation, and I was so happy to be able to see them! She had taken one or 2 before, as reported by various kids, but never confirmed by me.  She can now make it all the way across a room with those wide, wobbling steps of the new toddlers.  If she does crawl, she looks like Mowgli doing the Elephant March, with her rear in the air and her knees of the ground.  Occasionally she'll put her knees down, but she doesn't prefer it.  She's one of my earlier walkers.  Caleb was also walking before he was 10 months.  I've been thinking about this.  Verity and Caleb's birthdays are separated by only about 6 weeks, and both of them were ready to start standing and taking steps in the late spring--when babies stop wearing socks and shoes, footed sleepers, etc. all the time, and start going barefoot.  I think that helps my babies anyhow start walking earlier.  Verity is always looking for more things to get into, and she has become really speedy at going up the stairs.  I need to spend some dedicated time working with her on turning around to go downstairs.

Orientation

 Nathan and I just had some mother/son time--2 days of orientation!  We drove down Monday night and stayed at a hotel so we didn't have to get up super early to drive Tuesday morning.  As it turned out, we could have either slept in that morning or driven down then, because we did not have to get there as early as we did!  We arrived and parked, getting over to the student center by 8:30.  Nathan registered, picking up a cheaply made string backpack that broke a few minutes later filled with a nice t-shirt (which he is wearing above) and some other trinkets.  I registered as well and paid for my room and 3 meals on campus.  We stopped in at a coffee for the Corps of Cadets, where we met the AFROTC officer and chatted for a minute, and then we wandered around the resource fair, picking up more trinkets for a long time, since we didn't actually have to be at the main intro session until 10:30.  Ah well, live and learn.

The morning session was pretty peppy, and I have gotten very cynical in my old age, as it turns out.  Well, actually I was never that enthusiastic in crowd settings before either, LOL.  Several people gave speeches, and I was very impressed with their speaking skills, since they didn't use notes.  Eventually 30 of the peppiest, cheeriest, most enthusiastic students on campus came up to lead the new students around in groups.  They all trotted off to eat lunch and have their own presentations.  We parents got box lunches which we could eat anywhere.  I sat on a comfy chair in the student center and read the book I brought, The Sports Gene:  Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance, by David Epstein.   What an interesting book!  I can hardly put it down!  I gave my AP biology boys for this year a choice of a few books to read over the summer, and this is one of them, so I thought I should read it too.  It gets great reviews on Amazon, and I have not been disappointed!

After lunch, we parents went back in the ballroom (I sat in the back half of the room because the chairs were more comfortable and also spread slightly more apart--I was sandwiched closely between Nathan and a large guy during the morning session!) for more presentations by a wide variety of people from every different office you can imagine on a college--resident life, police, dining services, student advocacy, counseling, medical center, financial aid, etc.  There were 12 presentations in all over 3 hours, with 2 ten minute breaks.  It was grueling!  I got the sense that the administration really cares for the students and wants them to succeed, though, so that was nice.  Honestly though, I felt like the presentations were geared more for helicopter-type parents (although they say they never use that word!), because they were just full of a lot of info that I really had never even thought to be concerned about or even really cared all that much about, and that is pretty much all somewhere online.  When I think about going through this 9 more times, I make a mental note to sit in the very back and read my book, LOL.

Eventually Nathan and I met back up again, and we went to a session introducing us to the Corps.  There was no peppy cheerleading here, so I felt a lot better about it!  I really like the Corps, and it really seems like they want each cadet to succeed as well.  They showed a graphic with the average cadet GPA the first year back in 1992 being a 2. something (3 maybe?  I should have written it down), and that has trended upward, with last year it being a 3.1.  They really help the cadets learn how to manage their time, and what they're doing seems to be working.  Plus, as speakers in the other session kept emphasizing, you have to make the big university become smaller by finding a support group of close friends--that is provided in the Corps.

Then we headed off to an engineering orientation meeting.  It was good, but I don't remember any details.  I was pretty hungry by this point, LOL.  Actually, what I kept thinking was, "I am SO glad I'm not pregnant!"  Ha!  Finally we were able to make the long trek back to the van where we got our overnight stuff and checked into our 2 dorms.  The parents stayed in a renovated dorm with air conditioning and these humongous rooms.  I think the rooms were literally twice the size of Amy's and my room in college.  And each room had a private bathroom.  Nice!

Nathan and I met up again for dinner in the main dining hall, which has a bunch of different stations and is all-you-can-eat.  It was super-crowded and a bit overwhelming.  I was really hungry, so I just looked for the shortest line and got some Indian food.  One point everyone made a zillion times was how great the food is there (ranked #1 in the nation!), and the head of the dining services even said, "If your student comes home at Thanksgiving and doesn't eat your food, it's not our fault!"  I have to say my tikka masala is better than theirs, LOL.  But it was nice, and I could see that they have a ton of variety, so no one will get bored with the food.  I did note the next morning at breakfast that they do not have Cocoa Puffs as a cereal option, as good colleges should, so I could not give it my highest approval, unfortunately.

The dining hall was really crowded so we asked a family if we could share a table with them.  They were super-nice, as actually all the parents were that I interacted with, and we sat around chatting for another half an hour after our kids left to meet up with their groups for more games/fun.  Then I went back to my room, where I sat in the absolute silence and read for a long time, interrupted only by phone calls with my mom and with Bob, and with texts from Amy and Luke.  It was sooo heavenly!  I skipped out on the "parents reception" with a cash bar and everything for this time of peace and quiet, and it was so totally the right choice for me!

The next morning we ate breakfast and then Nathan had his advising session.  He was in a room with a bunch of other engineering students, each at a computer.  The department had pre-registered everyone for classes, based on AP/DE credit.  Nathan came in with 30 credits, so that helped.  He was most delighted that his 4 on AP lit got him out of both semesters of freshman writing!  He'll be taking chemistry, multivariable calculus, intro to engineering, his Corps/ROTC classes, and a lit class (because they have to take some classes from different areas to be well-rounded).  The speakers the day before mentioned a dozen times as least "Moms and dads, you WILL be separated from your sons and daughters during their advising sessions", as if that was going to be hugely distressing or something.  There was an advisor or 2 circling the kids in the room, helping whoever had questions, and it was fine.  Nathan and I had discussed beforehand some things he might ask about, but I really wasn't worried at all that he wouldn't be able to deal with anything that came up.  I went to a parents of engineering session, with another good extemporaneous speaker who was pretty funny as well.

Then we headed off to get all the ROTC stuff in order.  Lots of paperwork, fittings in the tailor shop, etc.  While Nathan was busy there, a cadet took up parents over to see a room.  The cadets will have to be 3 to a room for awhile, because the new dorm they are constructing is not yet finished.  The rooms will be . . .  tight . .  with 3 beds, dressers, and desks in there.  This picture is from the doorway.  One bed is lofted, with a desk and dresser under it.  The closet is on the right, past the sink.

 This picture is taken from the window, and you can see the other 2 beds bunked, with one desk in the middle of the room, and one desk against the wall (where the boy is sitting), and one dresser under the bed.  The third dresser is in the closet.  The commandant of the Corps said they are having "Operation Light Load" when everyone moves in, with everyone encouraged to bring the absolute minimum!  Fortunately new cadets don't need all that much, since they can't have anything decorative, any civilian clothes, etc.

 So then we did some running around, picking up Nathan's computer, getting his student ID card, etc.  While he was finishing that, I drove over to Taco Bell and picked up lunch, which we ate in the car as we were driving home.  We ended up leaving a little after 1:00, and we got home around 6:00, with evening traffic.  Just in time for me to go to a swim meet!  Back to my normal, loud life, LOL.

Cinnamon Rolls

I wanted to share Elizabeth's cinnamon roll recipe on here.  This way it will be nicely typed out, even for me, since what I use, I hand-wrote on the back of a piece of scrap paper a million years ago (okay, not really, but it seems like it)!

I'm not the best at yeast doughs, but this recipe has always turned out well for me.  Plus it tastes delicious!  I usually make these at least for Christmas morning, which is definitely something the kids look forward to.  The recipe makes up 2 big pans of rolls.  The dough fits well in my Electrolux Assistent and Elizabeth's Bosch, but it would not fit in a KitchenAid, I don't think--for sure not a 5 qt. one.

If I was one of those fancy food bloggers, I would have a bunch of artistic pictures of a cinnamon roll from different angles and in different stages of preparation, but I'm not--and the pan Anna made on Thursday is long gone, so I no longer have any "models".  Alas.  You'll just have to make your own!

Elizabeth's Cinnamon Rolls

1 c. warm water
2 tsp. sugar
2T yeast
1 c. flour

Proof together for 5 minutes.

4 eggs
1 c. water
2T salt
2 sticks butter or 1 c. oil (I used 1 c. coconut oil)
3/4 c. sugar
9-10 c. flour

Mix these ingredients into the proofed mixture.  Add 6-7 cup of flour slowly, then the last few cups, so that your dough doesn't end up too dry.  Knead for 7-8 minutes.  Cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Punch the dough down, and divide in half.  Roll out each half as thin as you can in a rectangle.

Melt 1 stick of butter; spread on dough all the way out to the edges.
Mix up about 3/4 c. sugar plus 1 tsp. cinnamon, and sprinkle all over the rectangle.
Roll up from he long side.  Use dental floss to cut off 1 1/2 inch slices.  Place on greased cookie sheets or jelly roll pans.

At this step you can go a few different directions.  You can let the rolls rise on the cookie sheet for another hour and then bake them.  You can refrigerate them over night, letting them come to room temperature in the morning for about 30 minutes before baking them.  Or you can even freeze the rolls, putting them back on a cookie sheet and letting them thaw for a day or so before baking them.  That's what I usually do with the second pan, in an attempt to discourage gluttony, LOL.

Bake them at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Frosting (probably enough for both pans)

2 oz. cream cheese
3T butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar
1-3 T milk, depending on consistency

Or if you don't have cream cheese, just use 1 c. powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and enough milk or orange juice to make a good spreading consistency.

Summer Accomplishments

I go into every summer with a big list of organizational things to accomplish around the house, and each year it seems like none of them get done.  This summer I'm taking a different approach, and assuming my house will remain just as messy and unorganized, since there are still all these people living here, many of them still in prime mess-maker mode.  Instead, I've got some other more long-term rewarding projects going on.

First was potty-training Drew.  I knew that when we came back from Texas, this was my big shot at it, since we have a few weeks where we're not making a big trip.  I told him over and over before we left for Texas that when we came back, he'd be wearing big boy underwear.  He started peeing on the potty fairly often, especially down in Texas, when he was getting in and out of his swimsuit 10 times a day, LOL.  I think that really helped get him used to the whole idea.  Then last Friday the L's came by to pick up Nathan, since they kindly offered to give him a ride up to WSS with their family.  Elizabeth also dropped off a big bag of Theodore's underwear that he had outgrown--even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ones.  Micah was quite impressed with this sacrifice, and he was more than willing to pass ALL of his underwear down to Drew, since he had this whole new bag to choose from.  So Monday Drew started wearing underwear, and he hasn't looked back!  He's had 3 little accidents since then, which is really quite good, and the whole business was quite painless this time, I have to say.  Yay!  Drew's favorites are either Thomas the Tank Engine or Cars.  Hard to pick a favorite from those 2 good options, LOL.

Swim team has been taking an inordinate amount of time.  We have kids in every possible age bracket for morning practice.  Micah starts off from 7:30-8:00, then Faith and Grace are from 8:00-8:30, then Anna and Jonathan from 8:30-9:15, and then Caleb from 9:15-10:00.  I have never been so happy to have Luke not be swimming, so at least I don't have to cart Verity and Drew around the whole morning. Since the pool is about 10 minutes away, and no one wants to sit over there for 2 1/2 hours, I usually end up making 3 round trips.

Micah is the wild card.  Our team decided to offer a "junior swim team" this year for kids who couldn't make it across the pool.  They just had to be 4, which Micah turned not long before registration.  I was hesitant, given Micah's history of balking uncooperativeness, but Bob thought a summer of swim lessons sounded great, so we signed him up.  The only problem is that his practice is the earliest, and it's always the coldest.  So there are all these scrawny little kids crying about getting into the cold water, and Micah is right there with them (ETA:  Bob wanted to be sure to point out he is definitely a ringleader, not just a follower, LOL).  When he does get in, he does great with his little kickboard.  I just hope he will go through enough practices this year that he will get the idea of his arms working too.  If it looks like it's going to be cold or rainy in the morning, though, we've started just not taking Micah.  That makes the other practices just work out better.  Hopefully next year he'll be in the 8:00 slot by being able to cross the pool!

This morning, since it was after a meet, they didn't have a regular practice.  Instead, the little kids dove off the diving board into the waiting arms of their coaches.  Bob dropped Micah off this morning on his way to work, and he called to tell me he didn't think Micah would jump at all.  But when I got there to pick him up and drop off the girls and Jonathan, he had in fact jumped off 5 times! He was pretty proud of himself.  We'll see what tomorrow brings . . . I think it's supposed to rain.

Everyone else is doing really well.  Caleb and Jonathan are doing well, although Caleb is not thrilled about moving up to the 13 and up age bracket, where it seems like everyone else is huge and muscular, LOL.  Grace has really made huge strides.  She has been winning her freestyle and backstroke races!  Anna is an excellent swimmer too, although this year she's the younger year of her age group.  Also, she's had to learn the butterfly, as well as work a lot on breaststroke, her least favorite stroke by far.

This is Faith's first year on swim team, and she's doing great too!  She's just learned the backstroke, and she is so cute when she does it.  She pulls to the left until she hits the lane line, then corrects a bit, until she arcs back over to that left lane line.  It's a scallop pattern, LOL.  But when she figures out how to go straight, she'll really take off!  In last night's meet, the first time she swam backstroke, one of her coaches was in the lane with her, just in case she had trouble, but she didn't have any (aside from hitting the lane lines, LOL), easily making it across the pool.

Another rewarding project I've been working on is cooking with Anna.  She's really wanted to do more cooking, and she loves watching cooking shows on youtube, but I have not had a ton of extra time to teach her during the school year.  So far this week we've made some jam-filled cookies, banana muffins, and today's project of cinnamon rolls, using Elizabeth L's recipe.  They were just as delicious as they look!  She is really improving in reading through the recipe a few times, instead of just throwing random things in willy-nilly.  I don't know what tomorrow's project will be, but everyone else in the house is really enjoying the fruits of her labors!

We've also been doing some school to finish up some things for some people, and to do some new things for others, like Micah.  He has seemed really interested in learning to read, but again, I just haven't had a ton of extra time during the school year.  This week I got out the old "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons", and we've started plugging through that.  He has watched the Leapfrog Letter Factory video a bunch of times with the girls, so he already knows a lot of the sounds (love that video!).  After doing a lesson or 2, I give him some letters to trace.  When Nathan was preschool age, and I desperately wanted to do *something* to show I was homeschooling, my friend Suzanne recommended taking an Usborne beginning handwriting book, tearing out all the pages, and laminating them, so the kids could just write on them over and over with a dry-erase marker.  I did that with 2 books (a handwriting one, and a space connect the dots one), and all the kids have loved using them.  Best thing I ever did, for sure!  So I got those out, and Micah and Drew have been having a ball each morning with those.  We'll see if he maintains his interest.  If not, no big deal.  He's having fun right now though!

So my house is still cluttered, messy, and unorganized.  To paraphrase my sister-in-law's sign at her house, "My house was clean for Nathan's graduation party on June 6 . . . sorry you missed it!"  But other important things are getting done, things with more lasting value.  Now I just need to fit in time to plan for my classes next year . . . I guess that will be July's big project.  Sigh.  I am not looking forward to diving back into it all again one bit!

ETA:  Oh, I almost forgot an accomplishment I'm so excited about!  I finally finished my snapfish photobook about our space-a Hawaii adventure from back in February 2014!  I think I started it over Christmas break, but it's taken me forever to finish.  One reason is because I incorporated my blog posts into the pages, so I had to deal with text boxes, and text in tiny fonts, which I couldn't take in big sittings.  But now it's on its way, and I can't wait to see it!  I hope it's a wonderful memory of a wonderful trip.

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

 Nathan turned 18 on Wednesday!  Like they say, the days are long, but the years are short.  I can't think of anything more rewarding I could have been doing for these past 18 years than raising him and his brothers and sisters.  Nathan is a huge blessing to our family, and we are certainly going to miss him when he goes off to college in August.  In fact, anytime he gets ready to go anywhere for at least a night, Faith asks, "So wait . . . this isn't when Nathan goes to college, right?  He's coming back this time?"

 We did not do too much celebrating on his actual birthday.  We did treat him to a shopping spree at Walmart, though--everything he could find on the new cadet packing list!  So now he has a big tub of random items up in his room, which really makes it seem real that he is in fact heading off in the not-too-distant future.  Bob and the other kids were at a swim meet Wednesday evening, so Nathan picked out a box of frozen barbeque pulled pork from Sams, and we had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner that night.  Thursday night we grilled chicken for his actual birthday dinner, as you can see on the special "Celebrate" plate above.  It was yummy!

Nathan didn't get too relax too long--Friday he left to be on staff at White Sulphur Springs for a few weeks.  I'm sure he's having a fantastic time there, as always, and we are missing him more than he is missing us!

 We've come a long way in 18 years!  This is a picture from December, 1997, when Nathan was dedicated at our church in Colorado Springs.  Bob and I were so young!  I had no idea at that time that 18 years later, I would still be changing diapers and nursing.  Probably better I didn't know, LOL.

Nathan is almost 2 here, still in Colorado Springs.  As you can see, he looks a lot like the rest of our kids.  We have a strong stamp, LOL.

One thing I have been remembering these past few weeks is my wonderful moms' walking group at Peterson AFB.  At some point a few months before I was due with Nathan, I noticed a flyer for this walking group up at the USAFA maternity clinic, where I went for appointments.  I started walking with them three times a week, and that group of ladies was such a wonderful support the rest of the time we were in Colorado. I really valued their friendships!  Three of us ended up having our babies in 3 days in 1997--my friend Gemiel had TJ on June 22, I had Nathan on June 24, and another girl, Mary, had her baby 6 weeks early up in Denver also on June 24 (she had been hiking in the mountains, and her water broke early).  We had a super-fun combined 1 year birthday party for the 3 babies the next year!

It is funny to look back and remember what a huge difference a few months of baby age seemed.  Jennifer had her first back in December, I think it was, and she became pregnant with her second not long after I joined.  She was so much wiser and more experienced, it seemed to me.  Felicia had her daughter a few weeks earlier in May, so Samantha seemed huge compared to newborn Nathan.  Dawn had Fredrick a few weeks later than Nathan, in July, and then it was Nathan's turn to seem huge and so old in comparison.  I am friends on facebook with Jennifer, Felicia, Gemiel, and Dawn, and it has been so fun to keep up with their kids, all of whom are graduating this year--a few months or weeks really makes no difference at all, LOL.  They're a great bunch of kids, though!  

Cousin Fun

The kids have been having such a fun time here in Texas with their cousins!

Friday afternoon Melinda took us to "Safety Town" in a neighboring town's fire station.  I was expecting something where the kids climbed on fire engines and stuff (and there was a fire engine they could sit in), but it was so much more!  They have built a literal little town, with 4 blocks of little buildings, crosswalks, stop signs, cross walks, roads, etc, and they have 15 of those battery-powered jeeps for the kids to drive.  So the kids sit through a little presentation where they are reminded to stop at the red lights, stay in their lane, drive courteously, and so on.  Then they get to drive around this little town for 15 minutes.  Micah and Drew were too short to actually be the drivers, so Micah rode with Grace and Drew rode with Anna.  Faith was by herself, as were Emily and Elia.  The girls had so much fun driving!  There were definitely some boys who treated the whole thing like bumper cars, LOL, but it was a great program.  The girls would have loved to drive longer!

And of course there's the pool in the back yard.  The kids have been in there several times a day each day except yesterday, when we had stormy weather from tropical storm Bill.

The pool is big enough for all the kids, and it's set up just perfectly for a wide range of ages.  On the far end is a large flat "sunning" area, which is perfect for Drew especially to splash around in.  He and Micah also like to play in the "hot tub", which is not actually any hotter, but has a bench all around it so it is not too deep.

They also have a bunch of fun floatie things, like this airplane.  Micah has really loved this little ring.  In that, he kicks around the pool wherever he wants to go.  I will be glad when he learns to actually swim, though--hopefully by the end of this summer.  He's on the "junior swim team", so essentially he's having swim  lessons for June and July.  Of course, he can be not so cooperative, and the water was pretty cold in VA before we left, so he hadn't made any great strides, LOL.  But hopefully when we get back . . . he and Drew are both really enjoying the water here in Texas!

Faith and Elia are 2 peas in a pod!  They have such similar personalities.  They are so funny!

Poor Verity was not an initial fan of the pool, even though she was surrounded by her doting helpers, Anna, Caleb, Faith, and Elia.  When Caleb and then Luke held her, she was happier.  The next day I went in the pool too.  I held her at first and then put her back in her little boat, and she was okay with it then.  She was so cute in her little Winnie the Pooh suit and sun hat!

Drew has been really enamored with an alphabet puzzle they have here.  These are his favorite letters, along with an actual carrot because who knows why.  You will notice they are all food pictures--nuts, jelly beans, waffle, ice cream, carrot--and then "footprints".  The first time he did the puzzle, he called that piece "chocolate milk", so I guess in his mind, it does go along with the whole food theme.  Now the footprints piece is missing, so hopefully it will show back up again.

Tuesday night after dinner the younger kids and I headed over to a local park with Melinda and the girls.  It had a really nice playground, with lots of things to do, so it was a good way for the kids to burn off extra energy, since they hadn't been able to swim a lot that day either.  Yesterday they couldn't swim at all, and we really noticed a difference in how wound up and bouncing off the walls all the kids were last night!

Grace called this an "action shot".  At the base of this pole a little frog lived, the discovery of which caused great excitement.

Here is a picture of all the cousins except Nathan, taken right after church on Sunday.  We parked and as I came in the door, I told everyone I wanted to get a picture--but the girls had already started changing in to their swim suits!  I told them to change back into their church clothes for just a few more minutes, LOL.  The 5 girls really look like they are all related.  They all went to a local vacation Bible school this week in the mornings, and when Melinda would walk them all in, everyone thought she had 5 girls close in age, and commented on how busy she must be!

Texas Road Trip!

Last Tuesday we said goodbye to my parents, and then we packed like crazy people.  On Wednesday, June 10, I drove to the airport early to pick up Bob's sister Ann and her husband Wally who were flying back from a fantastic vacation in Hawaii.  When I got back, the kids were loading up the van, and as soon as we said goodbye to Ann and Wally, the kids and I drove off too--on our way to Texas!  Bob had to stay behind to work . . . and to take care of Bruno, of course.

The main reason we were going at this time is because Nathan was selected for a Civil Air Patrol special activity at a base in Texas.  We had wanted to visit my brother and his family last summer, but the timing didn't work out, so we realized this year we could combine the 2 things.  So we drove to Dallas, Nathan flew off to San Antonio on Saturday, and we stayed on with Dan, Melinda, and their 2 girls.

Luke got a lot of practice driving the old big van on the highway.  It is most certainly NOT a dream to drive, especially surrounded by semis!  It was really nice to have 3 drivers--Nathan, Luke, and me.  Also, I wasn't pregnant.  That made a *huge* difference in my comfort level, although the big van will never truthfully be called "comfortable".

The day before we left, Nathan, Luke, and I spruced up the back of the big van with these ThinkGeek Star Wars stickers.  There was much discussion about how to assign the stickers, and where to place them.  This configuration was Luke's idea.  We were stuck in a lot of construction and accident traffic during the drive, and I'm sure we provided something interesting for the people behind us to talk about . . .

The drive was not without its share of noise and tantrums.  Drew in particular had some difficult times, such as this one!  He appears to have picked this trip to start a new phase of tantrums.  Joy!  But we just turned up the music or the books on CD, and eventually he would settle down.  In the best cases, he would go off to sleep.  We listened to Caddie Woodlawn, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as well as The Horse and His Boy over the course of the drive out.  Although Luke pointed out that he and the older boys had listened to the Narnia books many, many times, the younger kids have really not heard them that they remember.  We just haven't been taking as many long driving trips lately, and when we have, like up to Boston last summer, for some reason I didn't bring any books on CD.  I think I was worried it would be too loud to hear them in the van!  But I can't imagine doing a drive of this length without them--even just to keep me awake!

Verity was not a huge fan of the long drive either, but usually she gave up and went to sleep without too much problem.  She did develop a huge, angry diaper rash as a combined result of being in her carseat for 2 days straight and having a hard time teething her upper front 2 teeth.  Poor girl is still having a hard time of it, and now I think it has turned into a yeast infection.  I am hoping I can get it under control before we start back on Sunday!

We stayed Wednesday night on the east side of Nashville. Drew was so tired, he stayed asleep Thursday morning on the floor, even after the girls were all up and talking!  He does not quite get the concept of sleeping bags, LOL.

I had a terrible time getting reservations, although part of that was because I couldn't really focus on this trip until after Nathan's graduation party, so I didn't even try until Sunday afternoon.  Still though--I could hardly find any hotel with one room, much less 2, for Wednesday night.  As we were driving Wednesday, we kept seeing cars with paint all over the windows with some variation of  "Bonneroo or Bust".  At first we thought "Bonneroo" was a college, or some team or something . . . but eventually we googled and discovered it was in fact a big music festival south of Nashville that started on Thursday--which explained all the trouble I had getting reservations for a hotel.  At least we'll be avoiding all the young somewhat-ruggedly-trendy people with their headbands and sports sandals on the way back.  And it was easy to get 2 hotel rooms too!

Happy Graduation, Nathan!

 Today we celebrated Nathan's graduation from high school.  Our first graduate!  Nathan wasn't at all interested in the whole gap/gown ceremony deal.  All he really wanted to do was eat ice cream and play games with his friends, like we did at a graduation party we went to last weekend.  We compromised by having a VERY short ceremony where Bob opened in prayer, I said a few brief things about how rewarding it has been to homeschool Nathan all the way through high school, not just because of his academic and athletic accomplishments, but because of his character and relationship with the Lord, and my dad closed in prayer.  Then we took a few pictures with Nathan's diploma, which was freshly minted off the internet.

 Then we opened up the ice cream bar!  Christine had ordered for me 2 3-gallon tubs of ice cream from her frozen food co-op.  It was an amazing bargain--$18 for 6 gallons of ice cream!  So we got a chocolate tub and a vanilla tub, those huge round cardboard ones like you see in an ice cream parlor.  We also had a gallon of mint chocolate chip because . . . well, you really can never have enough ice cream.  We ended up with about half a gallon of vanilla, a gallon of chocolate, and half a gallon of mint chocolate chip left, so we did pretty well, I think!  We ended up with about 75 people, not including out large, ice-cream-loving family.

You can see some of the graduation decorations hanging there and also on the table.  I bought a pack of them from the party store.  I'm putting them away so we can drag them out again in 2 years for Luke.  We should get our money's worth out of that pack of decorations!

 We had tons of toppings too.  To start with, you could choose a brownie square or a banana half to pt in your bowl before the ice cream.  Then we had 6 different flavors of toppings, oreo crumbs, M&Ms, gummi bears, sprinkles, crushed pretzels, sliced strawberries (the kind that are frozen in syrup--yumm!), chopped peanuts, walnuts, and pecans, and whipped cream.  Nathan had said when we were planning this thing that he wanted to be sure to have pretzels, so I bought some from the commissary and put them in a  bowl.  But no--Nathan wanted them crushed into pieces so he could put them on his ice cream.  I had never heard of that, so I tried it, and wow, was that good!  Salty and crunchy in there with the ice cream!  I'm a fan!  Who knew?!

 One thing I did was make this tri-fold board with pictures of Nathan from birth to now.  It was so fun to make!  The older boys were all up Thursday night while I was assembling it, and it was so fun to reminisce about things we did.  I printed off some VT images, and I wrote up some Bible verses on power point.  I figured Jer. 29:11 is always an appropriate graduation verse, and  Nathan has always really liked Josh. 1:9.  I Cor. 16:13-14 are verses I had never really noticed before we studied I Corinthians last year at Bible study.  It was what I ended my little speech with, as our graduation charge to Nathan:  "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be [a man] of courage; be strong.  Do everything in love."

I also made a little scrapbook on snapfish with a lot of the same pictures.  At the end, I left some blank pages for people to write words of wisdom or whatever.  In fact, I hounded people to make sure they didn't leave without signing!  I figured that would be a nice keepsake for later for Nathan.

 We had a really good turnout, and after a week of cold, wet, miserable weather, the Lord was gracious to give us a beautiful day!  The kids spent a lot of time outside.

 The adults spent a lot of time inside! We were visiting, and the chairs were more comfortable, LOL.  Plus, food was easily accessible . . .

 Eventually the older kids came in to play games.  They had a rousing game of Apples to Apples before going outside to play Knock-out.  Then they went off to the field down the walking path to play Speedball, a game I have no clue how to play.  Much fun was had by all, I'm told.

 The younger crowd took advantage of the trampoline, as well as used just about every bike in our well-supplied garage (I think we have at least 10 in there), and also various scooters, skates, tricycles, etc.  We have plenty to go around!

My parents got in Thursday night, to be here for the celebration.  Friday was a really busy day too, so we are looking forward to hopefully some downtime these next few days.  My mom's 70th birthday is Monday, but thanks to Ed and Elizabeth, we managed to surprise her and have a little dinner party before Bible study Friday night at the L's house.  Ed grilled up delicious pork chops, and Elizabeth made pasta, mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, and cinnamon apples.  Since Jonathan's birthday was Tuesday, when she walked in, and we all said "Happy Birthday!", she thought we were talking to him, so she was a bit confused at first!  So funny--she was definitely surprised!  We're so glad they could come for this weekend, and we wish all the rest of our family on both sides could have been here too!

So one graduated . . . 9 more to go.  Only eighteen more years of homeschooling!

End of an Era

Today's trash day was certainly bittersweet, as we threw away our exersaucer, bumbo, and baby bathtub.  You may think we should have donated all of them, but you would be wrong.  They have all served very faithfully, and they are past the point anyone else would ever want them!

The exersaucer was given to us by our friends Ruth and Chip after they adopted their daughter (who is Anna's age) from China.  So Grace was the first of our babies to enjoy this exersaucer, which was MUCH jazzier than our old one, which we kept down in the basement.  The little toys were much more interesting, and they played music!  But now, having had 6 babies bounce around in it (5 of ours, plus Lily), it has seen better days.  The toys don't stay in (and some don't work anymore), the seat part is falling apart . . . it is ready for a nice retirement.

The bumbo was given to us by my brother and sister-in-law, Dan and Melinda, also when Grace was born.  Somehow her birth brought about a significant upgrading of our old baby equipment!  That has been one of the most useful things we had for babies, and I was so thankful they gave it to us, because I'm sure I wouldn't have bothered to buy one myself!  (The thing about having more and more kids is that with each one, you know the probability of them being the last one is getting higher and higher, and who wants to buy new stuff after 5 . . .6 . . . 7 . . .8 . . .9 . . .kids . . . so the later kids are stuck with older and rattier stuff--except when you have kind and generous friends and family, LOL.)

The bathtub should receive some sort of meritorious service award indeed.  We bought this tub back when we had Nathan, so it has held all 10 kids.  Several kids back the drain plug started leaking.  I attempted to fix that with duct tape, which didn't work, so Bob ended up glopping a ton of Shoo Goo around the plug.  That stopped the leak, although we could no longer drain it out the bottom.  But it went on to bathe the rest of the kids, so that was a small price to pay.  The yellow padding started to come off, so I super-glued that and never had any more problems with it.  I have always loved that you could fold this tub up for storage.  That is probably why we were able to keep it so long!  I would have been hard-pressed to move and store one that didn't fold up all these years!

So it was a bit hard to see these things go, after all these years, but I can certainly say we got as much use as possible out of them all!  And I am very happy to not have to store that exersaucer in the basement storage room anymore!

Exciting Times!

The past few days have had a lot going on, some good and some bad.

Verity ran a fever over the weekend.  I wasn't worried, but when she woke up again with a fever over 100 Monday, I decided to take her in, just to make sure it wasn't anything, because Monday was the only day I really could do that this week.  As so often happens, as soon as I made the appointment, her fever went away and never came back, and she perked right up, LOL.  So the trip to the doctor was pretty much a waste of time, as she was obviously healthy as can be once we got there!  She is up to 15 pounds, 1 ounce, which is smack-dab at the 5th percentile, as I just plotted out.  But she's eating so well!  She loves table food, and she's still taking a bottle, although she stops when she's done--I can't force her to eat more.  Actually, today she decided she didn't really want to nurse, but before that she's also been nursing fine.  I really hope she's not self-weaning right now, but that's what it has seemed like today.  Gah . . . weight issues.  SO frustrating!  Anyhow, Verity's new skill is climbing up an entire set of stairs, so now we really have to watch her!  It's just like those malnourished babies to be climbing staircases at 8 months . . .

As we were driving back from Bethesda, Bob called with the unsettling news that our main refrigerator in the kitchen smelled like burning wires, so he had unplugged it while he cleaned behind it, just in case dirty coils were causing it to overheat.  Before I actually got home, however, a man from VT arrived at our house to personally present a scholarship to Nathan--he was in the area, presenting scholarships to students in area high schools, so he wanted to come to our house to present Nathan's to him.  Wasn't that nice?!  So after he left, and after Bob got home from attempting to drop everyone off for swim practice (it thundered right as they got there so they turned right back around), we plugged it back in again.  And again the smell of burning wires floated throughout the kitchen, so we unplugged it pretty quickly (picture my sinking heart as I contemplated moving all the stuff in there to various other fridges and freezers . . .)  Of course we are so thankful we HAVE other fridges and another freezer--but the timing is terrible!  We're having an ice cream social graduation party for Nathan on Saturday, so our freezer has over 7 gallons of ice cream in it, and our fridge has a bunch of stuff like 6 cans of whipped cream!  But the good news is that Luke googled the problem and found the answer, which enabled Bob to find the fried part.  What happened is that the filter to our ice maker (which is inside the fridge for some reason) got a little bit lose, so water leaked down the tube and down a hole in the bottom of the fridge . . . right into the compressor.  So a part fried.  I'm thankful it didn't cause an electrical fire while we were sleeping!  Bob ordered the new part, so hopefully it will get here soon . . . and work once installed.  (Praying, praying . . .)

Today Nathan and I drove to Bethesda bright and early so he could get his wisdom teeth out!  The procedure went well and didn't take too long.  I didn't get to see him until after he had already come out of the anesthesia, so no funny stories or video, unfortunately!  He was quite aware and lucid, although a bit mumbly with all the gauze.  He sounded a bit like Micah and Drew!  We are hoping he recovers quickly because, like I said before, we're having his graduation party on Saturday!  And even sooner, he has to go to an awards banquet on Thursday!  He just got notified tonight that he received a $2000 scholarship from a local service organization, so that was very exciting!

Today was also a special day because it was Jonathan's 12th birthday!  We anticipated it might not be the best day for celebrating, not only because of Nathan's teeth, but also because of Civil Air Patrol, so we started the celebration on Saturday.  Above you can see a strawberry tart that Jonathan made with strawberries from our own little strawberry patch on the side of the house!  We really do not have green thumbs, so to be able to make something yummy from stuff we actually grew ourselves is always an amazingly special occasion.  It was yummy too!  Jonathan, Caleb, and Anna all really enjoy cooking, and it's fun to get to sample their creations.

Saturday night we had Jonathan's birthday dinner, so Nathan could celebrate too.  Jonathan had ribs, pierogies, glazed carrots, and fruit salad.  Delicious!

Jonathan did open his presents tonight.  He got a model rocket from Aunt Ann and Uncle Wally, a snap circuits kit, a book of optical illusions that is really interesting, and a kit of science experiments I picked up at Sams a while back that looked right up his alley.  Oh, and a new watch to replace the one that broke a few months back.  Also the assortment of candy I've been giving each child since Luke's birthday.  Jonathan' selection included Whoppers, Swedish Fish, M&Ms, and peanut butter cups.  Yum!

Now we're looking forward to my parents coming out here on Thursday so they can be here to celebrate Nathan's graduation.  This will be the first long car trip for my mom since she got her knee replaced in April, so we're praying she tolerates the trip well, and can handle all the stairs in our house! The excitement never stops around here!