Kansas City was a blast

K really did well competing in KC this last weekend-- we had a lot of fun! We are also exhausted!  It was a fast and furious trip up and back, but it was very enjoyable. We stayed at a nice hotel in Overland Park, and the school where the volleyball tournament was held was not very far (in Olathe).  We were also close to the church where Bible Quiz and Trek Games were held.  It was an awesome site to behold to see all of those 7th & 8th graders reciting verses (the easy part of quiz).  Not to mention the high schoolers!  We also got to listen to one of the missionaries that was detained in Haiti for 20 some-odd days.  (that was a little long)
What really struck Lance and I about KC was how NEW everything was!  There seemed to hardly be any building that was over five years old!  I am guessing that Overland Park and Olathe are growing areas.

K and I are looking into taking a sewing class together.  It is something I have always wanted to know how to do, and she would love to know how also! Some of the competitors from our church really take Bible Quiz seriously and wanted to match each other, so they would sew (or have their mom) skirts or dresses to match.  Even the boy teams would color coordinate!  And not just our church kids matched;  there were churches from all over (this was regionals) whose kids teams matched! SO we thought a sewing class might be just the ticket for us! And very fun.  OK, with daylight savings in effect and 606 miles traveled in two days, we are all pooped!

New pic of W and A

My friend Rebecca took these- there are more but this is a sneak peek! 

Check out her website at http://www.olivetreeportraits.com/

 

W has for all intents and purposes "caught up" with A- he is weighing in just under what A was at six months, but not by much!

Chicken Bliss in Full Swing

Well, Chicken Bliss is officially in full swing!  We travelled down to Wewoka (lots farther than we thought) to pick up our chicks last week.  As it happened, an earthquake was going on in Prague; I was driving and kept telling Lance that I was having trouble keeping the van on the road- I just chalked it up to I-40 :)
Then we decided to eat in Shawnee since we were SO close.  And it was a LOT closer to dinner than we had planned.  Like almost 8pm.  That is sort of close to dinner time, just the wrong side of close.  We were going to eat at the Hamburger King, but it was closing, so we had to go somewhere else.  From the screaming that ensued you would think we were torturing some of the kids: Chicken Bliss quickly turned into Chicken Hell in a Handbasket.  But we made it home all in one piece and with full bellies.   Since then it has been quite a chore keeping everyone on task, especially since E killed one chick.  Now everyone is on guard duty. 

They are now getting big enough that we are worried they are going to be able to jump out of the brooder-- Lance is building a lid tonight!

8 days til chickens!

Here are some drawings of the types of chickens we will have in eight (countdown already in full swing) days:

The all black ones are called black Australorps, the golden ones are buff Orpingtons, the black and white one is a barred Plymouth Rock, the reds are Rhode Island Reds, and the multicolored ones are called Ameraucanas.  They are super cool because they lay multi-colored eggs in shades of pink, blue and yellow. 
The kids are on super chicken overload.  I took them to Atwoods the other morning on a "chicken field trip".  I thought they might explode with their chicken delight!  The names that are being bantied about are the funniest thing: fat louie, Asoka, Anikan, and even Sateen.  Yes, we have a bunch of clone wars fans.  And a princess.

W had his first cereal today and did very well; hopefully the rice will help keep his milk down!  He is on the verge of crawling away-- he is army crawling everywhere in just the last few days, and he is on all fours some of the time now!  And if he can't get where he wants to go that way, he just rolls!  Nothing and no one are safe any longer! (can you hear the Star Wars theme song in the background?  I can- I have three or four kiddos humming it at any given time!)

Why I would vote Ron Paul for President

Three words: TAXES TAXES TAXES! How we can have six children and a mortgage and still owe taxes blows my mind!  Google Ron Paul- he is for small government and pro business.  http://www.ronpaul.com/

Spring is in the air!

Our front garden, last summer- taken by Maddie

The first watermelon of the summer

Our fledgling tomatoes

 

Looking for butterflies & caterpillars

The first watermelon grown by us ever!

Even though these pictures are from last spring and summer, they have me excited about the possibilities of the coming season!  Our little garden was so blessed last year, even though we only had four small raised beds. We ate yellow squash nearly all summer, and had tomatoes into December!!!

Winter IS coming to an end (weather it will admit it or not), and it is already time to plan and plant (yes plant) next years garden! We are so ready to get out and get to work on it!  We already have seeds sprouting to transplant as soon as we can get out there!  We are expanding our garden this year because last years garden was such a success.  We are going to include a few more things, and look forward to again having jalepeno jelly and pickles!  I am hoping to get a pressure canner and expand my repertoire!

It was very satisfying to make our own jams and pickles, even if the pickles weren't crunchy. 

Spring really is in the air; God blessed Lance with a new job this last week- we had been praying that the industry would pick up soon, and God answered that prayer in the nick of time!  Since his employer cut his pay by 60% in January we have been praying for one of three things: restoration of wages, more side work, or a new job altogether.  God opened one door and allowed another to close.  That is good, because we would not have survived another month on only 1/3 of his paycheck!  Taking into account that the first check of January was only half of a reduced check (they took a week of furlough between Christmas and New Years) and you begin to see how we were quickly taking on quite a bit of water financially!  I had decided to go and apply for food stamps!  Being reduced by 60% ate up what little savings there was;  it will be three weeks between his last check and the first one from the new employer, so hopefully we can keep the gas on between now and then!  Because for some reason winter has been hanging on with a vengence this year- we have had more snow than I can ever remember. 

This is where longing for last summers bounty comes in! 

But this year will be even better, and we are adding chickens to the mix! 

I really can not wait for fresh eggs and spinach to make homemade quiche.

Having no money has forced me to bake and make things from scratch ( I have used more flour in these last eight weeks than I used all last year!) and the kids have loved jumping in there and getting their hands flourey and messey!  The thing with a large family and meals- if they like it there are really not any leftovers! But it does my mothers heart good to see them go back for seconds and thirds and enjoy what they are eating.

If the way to a man's heart really is through his stomach, then I have secured myself another 16 years of marriage!

Still refusing to facebook

Although I am still totally refusing to get on facebook on the principal that it is a time-stealing throwback to the anonymous notebook of seventh grade, Lance and I did decide that it might be nice if you guys had a digital way to keep up with the goings on of the Tribe.  Since I am terrible at responding email (no time) and not so good at keeping up over the phone (no time) and not even very good at getting pictures posted on photo sharing sites (no time) or even sending birthday cards (you guessed it) I thought that an occasional blog post might do the trick.  Plus -added bonus- you can all critique me on my grammar and spelling, since I teach those at home to the kids. 
I am attempting to add some pictures and figure out how to keep the entire world from looking into our living room.
So bear with me, I really don't have much time for this tonight!