10.19.19 Corn Day

"A consecrated life is filled with work, sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated but always work that improves, orders sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires." D. Todd Christofferson, Reflections on a Consecrated Life

I ponder almost daily on the differences in my family's life and those on facebook and other blogs I read. There are never pictures of weekends spent entertaining ourselves. Instead, it seems our favorite hobby is working together. I can honestly say it's easier to manage the crew if they are busy. They are united in disliking what we do sometimes. They can get a lot done. They are pretty cute kids, and nothing confronts a bad attitude like a job you don't want to do and no way to leave it unless you just finish, I do really love that part when dealing with teenagers. 

This day we went to pick up corn. The combine operator had failed to notice he wasn't harvesting rather just dumping the corn. This is a criminal offense in our neck of the woods, waste all that hard work??? No way! So we went and spent some time together picking up the corn. 

Some were less pleased than others. Some did more than others. The little girls rotated through picking up and playing with LIa in the car as it was too cold for her in the field.

We persisted in filing up the pickup and the trailer. I taught the kids what full really means.

We finished the corn and went to town for our weekly shopping trip. We had a quick trip to a local farm stand with awesome produce. Such a delight to see natures bounty. 

We took the corn home and unloaded our pile. That was much easier than loading it.

The younger kids took a few minutes to enjoy riding home in the back of the pickup and shelling some of the corn. Simple pleasures with siblings that are your partners in work and play are the best kinds of days. So no we don't leave our 100 mile radius often. We don't spend much time on pleasure. But we eat well, we share our misery and joy, and we are a family trying to choose the better part.

These are not coerced smiles. Each path is different we just work to end up in heaven together eternally. Another day spent with purpose and a measured outcome. I love being the mom!

10.18.19 Birthday's

My sweet John with his new "rakish" nose. He had a collision at recess with another boy and walked away very bloody with a new nose. He told me last night it would be his "rakish pirate nose!" I told him it was more like a J nose. Nonetheless alls well that ends well, I hope. 

John is a Joy in our home. He is not complicated, he is witty and smart. He loves to wrestle and rough house. He loves to tease and to eat. He is our resident Hobbit, three breakfasts and lunches and dinner with several being desserts would be just right for him. John is insightful and thinks deeply. He remembers what he reads and hears. He is strong and keeps going. He just plugs along until a job is done. He is quiet so he can do what he wants. He is pleasant to be around, not much arguing, back talk or angst. BLESS HIM! He is a big guy 6 feet and counting I'm excited to see where he ends up. Mostly I'm just thankful he gives such sweet hugs and is a joy to have in our home. 

Some days you just get in a bind. This was so funny as it was happening. Afton went to retrieve a ball they had overthrown. Well, she literally got in over her head. Only her feet were left out. Bruce attempted to help but she was too far gone. 

I came to the rescue pulling out the couch and giving her room to maneuver herself out of the hole. Those two are fun trouble. They sure enjoy having the big kids gone. 

This little lady is one year old. She got a baby doll for her birthday. She thought that was pretty neat. She too is busy learning and exploring. Her favorite activity is to be in the kitchen with me moving items from one drawer or cupboard to the next. As most of my lower cupboards are broken and thus open she has free access to the contents. She is happy just moving from one to the other. I am amused at her work. She has recently taken to climbing and has joined me in food prep standing proudly on a bucket by my side. She also likes to be set on the counter to watch me chop and prep

 She insists on being part of the action and we are thankful for her sweet spirit that brings more love into our home. She snuggles happily with any of her older siblings and perches strongly on many of her brother's shoulders for rides. She hollers when she is handled too much but mostly just goes with the flow. She is curious and loving. I'm so thankful she came to our home. That was the promise I had before she came to be that it was my choice to have another and if I did I would be blessed but it was fine if I didn't too. I'm so thankful for choosing to add her to our table. We love our Lia Lia.

10.17.19 Cooking Adventures

One Sunday a friend told me about a show called "Cooking Grannies." Intrigued I watched a few ten-minute episodes and was impressed. Both by their humble cooking and the food that they made that really looked quite good. Always looking for some break in the tedium that is motherhood and all the responsibilities there I decided to try the lasagne technique. 

All their recipes start with making the pasta. I've made pasta before but never totally by hand. It was surprisingly easy to mix the kneading was strenuous. Those old ladies have muscle! To test you poke the dough and if it springs back it is done, if not knead some more. Finished dough. I wrapped it up and set it aside to rest for an hour or so. 

Afton wanted to help and volunteered to peel carrots for the Ragu, meaning vegetable-laden red sauce. Being little she peeled where she could. Oh, my sweet helpers. 

This one watched and tasted as he could. Also offering protection from something, note the pistol to his side he's loved that present.

Next step for the dough was rolling out. Again not for the weak. The grannies had a 3-foot rolling pin and used a different method I think that would be slick. I made my meager 14 inch rolling pin work but it sure worked my arm muscles.

Bringing home the crew from school. This dinner took about 5 hours start to finish, I told them they better love it! I am so thankful for the new bus schedule this year that gets my kids to our town before 4 p.m. It has saved me literally hours and hundreds of dollars of fuel and wear on my car to have them delivered so promptly.

The cooked noodles. The cook in boiling salted water for about a minute then are laid on a towel to dry. 

The Sauce and noodle cooking. Yes, it made a mess boiling the sauce. 

The layering. I noticed two things in the show. One the grannies used a bare minimum of garlic and shredded cheese. They used parmesan sparingly. Much cheaper than the old American way. With the addition of vegetables to the Ragu, the meat sauce went a lot farther too. Instead of ricotta or cottage cheese, they made a basic white sauce no cheese just nutmeg. I was very hesitant about the nutmeg I know that taste and could not imagine it with red sauce. I only used the white sauce on about half the layers but we liked it, it was not too much flavor.
The noodles were also pretty dry so I could stack them with flour. I used 3 cups of flour and 6 eggs. 1 egg per half cup of flour.

The sauce simmered and brewed for at least three hours it smelled so good. A jar of home-canned sauce and a jar of tomatoes.

The finished product was delicious. So much so that John requested it again for his birthday. This time it took only 2.5 hours with baking not too bad and I really like the new flavors. I use more parmesan than the grannies and add some mozzarella cheese because I like it. Yum!

Another day I worked with a friend to make the pie crusts for the school harvest auction fundraiser dinner. The lady who had been doing this for the past 30 years resigned saying it was too much for her. I was not worried pie is something we do often here. After 2 hours and about 15 lbs of flour, we had 37 pies we only needed 25. So we filled a few with apples and made some pies to enjoy here at our house.
It was such a delight to visit with a real adult in my house. I had an enjoyable morning getting to know an associate better and enjoying the steadiness of working as a team. The kids were good and we created a minimal mess.

Balloons leftover from Harolds' homecoming date asking. The kids were super happy to have them for a few days. Bruce was instructed not to pick in the pies as he has gotten really bad about tasting everything with his fingers lately. Life is sweet and good.

One lesson learned from our family's expereince with death is the consideration of others in your time of grief. We also really enjoyed all the kind offerings of food. I hurried and made cinnamon rolls after I got the call reporting the neighbors death. I do this most anytime there is a death these days. My hope is not to stop the hurt but to say I understand in small part and I am here to mourn with you and love you. 

This time it was sweet to get to deliver these small tokens with my sister. I rarely get to spend time with her and she was excellent company. I was so thankful to be spared a collision heading to her house. There were honestly angels with me that day as I had one second to avoid an oncoming car who had been rear ended. There are so many blessings daily if we just notice. I have had some special experiences visiting with those who are mourning and have had my heart touched by their pain and friendship. We have a uniquely good community, with many people working hard to live the life they choose, and accidents happen because of the long hours and big equipment they work with daily. 

10.16.19 Tide Pods

In the midst of all the hoco activities I was busily working away at home. Mondays are my big attack the laundry days along with some more on Weds to get clean jeans for Thursday and do more on Friday and Saturday. So I was working through clean clothes and heard gagging sounds while I was hanging clothes on the line. I turned around to see blue running out of Bruce's mouth and realized he had tasted a Tide pod. A friend bought them on mistake for me. I knew this was serious so I rushed overtook another pod from Alia and scooped Bruce up to take him to the bathroom, he was all the while spitting and gagging. I began rinsing his mouth out and telling him to spit. He did not like that and assured me he was fine. well a few minutes later he was still spitting so we tried a different approach at the sink. 

This was a fun game! He swished and spit for another 3 minutes or so ran off then came back for another round. He was fine, Lia was fine, and I had to stop AFton when I returned to doing laundry. Seriously! I was so glad to finally use the last pod later that day. I was not impressed and less so after the spitting ordeal.

So I sat down and put my feet up and let Lia cook lunch! Not really as you can see our norm mac and cheese and or peanut butter. HEalthy I know, will they eat it and not complain and get full? YES!.

It is a hard transition though to move from whatever you will eat little kid o eating with dad. Millie cries over her bowl of mush many mornings. She got cold cereal when being an at-home kid, but the school kids eat mush! Hearty good for you mush. Oh yuck! She will learn.

10.15.19 HOCO game & dance

Well all the hoopla was about this the big football game which happened to be against the true rivals Nyssa. This was a nailbiter. First half Vale held them scoreless and it was a pretty big boost to the terribly matched up contest of the week before where Vale was pitted against one of the best in Idaho state. Heartbreaking and soul-crushing could be mild descriptions of that event. So this week Vale came out a bit nervous but eager to show they were winners. They did and then they downshifted and the game became tense int he fourth quarter when Nyssa came alive and fought back to come within tying the game in the last minute. An added difficulty was the weather it was COLD! Like, wear lots of layers and huddle in a blanket cold. I did that the first half but the second I sat with my grandma and shivered. IT was good to visit with her and another fan. The best signal of all was the refs saying run the clock! The boys ended up the winners and are shown below receiving the wagon wheel trophy again for the second year in a row. Harold did not play if I would have known he was just going to watch I would have been tempted to stay home. 

We finally wrestled the phone out of our editing hacker Addie she loves to play with the settings. She is a fun lady full of creativity and hope and dreams for me getting my act together and her getting to be as cool as she knows she is.

The next day was full as usual. I took Mark and all the kids to town where the older kids worked on the FFA scholarship auction, Mark went and drove tractor, and the other kids and I went on a grocery run. We stopped at my sisters and I ended up visiting with the sister of the man who had died. Also my best friend growing up. My phone died and all my thought processes of what was needed at home disappeared too. We got some groceries I avoided Walmart and headed home.
Only to remember a few hours later that Anna needed make-up!!! I watched some tutorials on youtube and the internet and hurried to town at 4:45 in hopes of finding something to spiff her up a bit. I called a sweet sister-in-law who graciously answered amidst her celebration for her child's baptism and she helped walk me through some ideas. This is the pile. Any possibility I got. $50 later and we had a prayer of spiffing up. Toothbrushes are another story but a needed item.
Rushed home to find Alena tediously straightening Anna's voluminous hair. That took an hour. I started applying makeup. Aliza woke up and demanded some changes so we tried again and got a better look. 

That's kinda how this whole deal has been. Last-minute oh man what are we going to do. But in the end it was all wonderful and worth the work. Marti Bair a friend, leader, and teacher helped Anna get a date. Harold asked his date via help and encouragement from Uncle Justin and Addie. He asked her dad to verify her age and to get his permission. That was good. He too had a great time. 

The couples meeting for dinner. Anna was officially meeting her date, she knew him from dances but not well. He was very impressive because he works! To us that work all the time that is impressive. He had blisters on his hand from splitting concrete all day. Anna was impressed!

My mom offered to make dinner. When Harold asked Lizzie what she liked she said Chick Fillet. Not an option in our neck of the woods, Annas date suggested Mexican or Indian food. My mom makes excellent Mexican. The kids ate alone in her dining room, then played games. They had to be shooed out the door as they were having lots of fun doing that.

On to the wild dance and dessert elsewhere. It was a great evening. I spent my time with my date in his truck he has engineered together. Proud of his ingenuity and stubborn determination even though it has taken more late nights than I can count or was happy about. The moon was beautiful though. 

My heart was full of gratitiude the entire day for good kids, good families, and the good choices these kids were making. They were all busy doing their activities and responsibilities for the day their date started at 7 because of that but they had great conversation, they were happy and they have no regrets just good memories of a nice evening. That is my hope for all their dates. I'm so thankful they found kids who shared that desire.