11.21.23 Abundant blessings

Merle has become our inhouse bread expert. This was a creation last week. Thinking simple indents weren't effective or noticeable enough Merle used the chocolate chips we were snacking on to enliven the rising dough. I picked most of them off when I discovered his addition. It does kind of look like the loaf has a tongue sticking out too. 

We made sure Merle got the end with the chocolate chips. He wasn't so impressed with the final product but the rest of the loaf was devoured. 

It's silly but there are certain times of year I really look forward to the grocery adds. I was taught long ago to shop the adds. They are usually really good this time of year so I was busy researching and comparing last week when they came out. Since then we have made several trips to most of the grocery stores around to get the deals, and enough of the deals. The new limits through coupons is frustrating when I daily feed over 12 people half of which eat very well. 

One of the novelties Lia found was pie. She was delighted that there were ready-made pies available for purchase. Friday night I took all the kids to the bank located conveniently in the grocery store. After we were done banking we got the deals, in the checkout line I thought why not broaden their world so we hurried to the freezer case to select a pie. Lia was sad we had to wait for it to defrost- which worked great with making and eating dinner. After dinner, we opened the pie and shared it carefully. They are smaller and smaller each year. The pie was good but of course not enough for 15. So I rushed to make a similar homemade version for John and Greg who missed out. 

I love the good habits the younger kids learn just by watching and being around the older kids. Of course, there are plenty of unwanted lessons. But life is quicker and maybe richer with older siblings. Andrea is a great copycat/kitten right now. We are working to teach her some sign language as she gets so frustrated we don't understand her grunts and voice changes. She doesn't say many words hi and mom are the most reliable. 

For football playoffs the team does mohawks. I devlined the first round shave off but let the guys prepare for the second game. I think the hair cuts are so silly. The guys worked each other over witht he clippers. 

They were happy with the end result.

Reed is a feisty with his younger siblings but the two littlest sure love him. He's gentle and tough all combined. A major perk of parenting is getting to know your kids as they grow and mature. I'm excited to see where Reed takes us. He is interesting and highly responsible. I'm so thankful for his ability to get things done, even when we are so frustrated we can't find him for hours on end he's usually at least 75% of the time doing what we asked we just can't see it. 

The best part of wintertime is hot chocolate! Of course, everyone must have some. Addie loves hot chocolate as does everyone else. They are all figuring out how to make this nice little treat. 

 We are abundantly blessed. I met a woman in a store last weekend who repeatedly told me repeatedly fertility is a gift. Most people don't pinpoint the obvious so succinctly but I have pondered that the past few days and yes I am blessed with all these people hungry as they may be all the time. Life is good and full for that we are grateful.