Josiah's turn for a "Daddy trip"

As most of you know, Michael has for a number of years now taken the boys each on a weekend trip away alone wherever they want to go. Generally the rule has been that when as soon as someone writes a report about the destination of their choice, they are good to go. Michael's taken Jonathan to Colorado Springs and Key West, Jeffrey to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch (in
Arkansas) and Miami and Jeremy to Washington, D.C. Fun trips all, to be sure!

Well, finally Josiah's old enough to go! He's thrown around such exciting locations as Lincoln, Nebraska (!)-don't ask why!!- and Atlanta, GA. But all that went by the wayside when his BFFTNAB (Best friend forever that's not a brother....because after all, shouldn't your brothers be your best friends??!!) Jack said that he and his dad wanted to come down from Memphis and take a trip to College Station to watch the Aggies play. This was going to be Josiah's weekend. We never go to see Aggie games! We are TV fans. Michael takes the boys to watch the band practice (with Shipley's donuts in hand, of course) and watch the corp march in and to the Fan Zone where there are lots of games and things to do near Kyle field before the game starts. But we're not ABOUT to pay the insane amount of money it would take to get into the gate. So, they head home and watch on TV or the computer.

Not THIS weekend, though. Michael "paid in" (as Josiah likes to say) and bought four tickets and a parking pass for the big weekend. A&M vs. Utah State....a game they even had a chance to win! Josiah lost sleep for nights in a row out of excitement thinking about the weekend. Josiah is a boy who LOVES football, and who loves Jack even more. He was so cute. He would just get a smile on his face thinking about it. The countdown started something like 15 days ahead. But then about 10 days before THE weekend, we got a bad phone call, Jack's dad had to have emergency surgery and may not be able to be well in time. Lemme tell ya, prayers went up early and often for Jack's dad. And still in the end, he wasn't able to make the trip. I was bracing myself for tears, tears and more tears. But dear Josiah didn't cry even once. Sure he was disappointed! No doubt about it, but he took it like a champ. Michael gave him the choice to skip the weekend and do something else, but he decided that he wanted to go ahead and make the trip.

So, last Friday afternoon, Michael and Josiah headed over to B/CS. Friday evening, they saw Allen Academy (a local private school) play 6-man football and then headed over to watch the Rudder Rangers (the NEW high school in Bryan) play a game. It was an evening full of football! That evening, Josiah called me with the funniest question. They were at the Rudder game watching the half time show. He called and said (with awe in his voice)"Mom, YOU were one of the girls who twirled the flags??!! " When I said I was he said "Wow, how long did you have to practice?" I told him we practiced a couple of hours ever day after school (I know dad, NOT as long as the football team....I get it, I get it! :-)) Well, he was just in awe. Michael said Josiah enjoyed the football game, but was awed by the flags!

So after the Friday evening full of football, they got up early on Saturday morning, got Shipley's and went to watch the band practice.
Isn't he cute!! Notice the Dallas Cowboy's football...he rarely leaves home without it! This is one ball-loving boy!

After the band, they went back to mom and dad's, ate some hot wings at Wings And More, and Michael TRIED to get Josiah to rest. It had been a late night on Friday and with a 6:30 start time on the Aggie game, it promised to be another late night. But Josiah was just TOO excited.

They headed to the Fan Zone and played around....

Lots of junk, I mean treasures, to be purchased! Thankfully, Josiah came home with NONE of it!

They headed off to the game and had a wonderful time. Josiah got really tired by half time, but Michael made him stay. I think they made it to the 4th quarter. I'm STILL hearing about great plays and all the fun they had. I know he loved having daddy to himself all weekend long!! On Sunday, I took the other boys up to New Braunfels and Michael and Josiah met us for the last day of the season at Schlitterbahn. It was a great weekend!

Comments on the post without words

Sounds kinda like a piece of prose doesn't it...."Comment on the post without words"?? The funny thing is, that post about sums up my week the last couple of weeks. It has been an amazingly crazy busy couple of weeks, going on month. My schedule has actually rivaled a normal "Cheryl Hagen" schedule....which means lots of trips here there and everywhere. I've even coined the term "auto gypsy" because the last two weeks that's how I've felt. We've been somewhere for hours at a time every day for the last two weeks and five days out of the last two weeks we've been gone from home for more than 12 hours each day! So, I'm not at all surprised that somehow I've posted a blog post with no words. In fact, I'm surprised by the fact that we've made it everywhere we were supposed to be with shoes on (that doesn't always happen) and dressed....well, there was Josiah's horrible nosebleed in the car on the way to Classical Conversations (which is 45 minutes from home), but the "GO bag" saved the day on that one. We've not left anyone anywhere accidently, but we've come close, remembering at just the right time (thank you, Jesus!). And we've even gotten SOME schoolwork done. But it's been stressful. I'm teetering on the edge of a cold, but thankfully am not going over. I've been chugging Throat Coat and HerbaTussin herbal teas and Berry Well by Beeyoutiful and so far it's really helped. Who has time to get sick??!! Our laundry pile is higher than it's been in I don't know how long and the dog hair is taking over the corners of many of the rooms in the house, and admittedly, there are times I just want to plop on my bed and cry. But I choose to be thankful! I'm thankful that my boys never complain about being in the car...and no one's crying in a car seat because it's time for a nap...other than me :-) I'm thankful that no one is sick at our house, beyond a mild sore throat or stuffy nose. I'm thankful that we have a wonderful home, even if it is far away from where we do most of our "stuff". I'm thankful (SOOOO thankful) for a husband who is so actively involved in what the boys are doing. I'm thankful for moments that God gives in all the business that just make me laugh. Here's one...on Tuesday we left the home for an orthodontist appt. at 9:45, knowing that we wouldn't return home until probably 8:00 or 8:30 that night. It was a full day and the boys all had a backpack full of schoolwork. We arrived for football practice about an hour early and got all of our stuff out of the car and took it to the covered patio at FEAST where there are lots of round tables and plastic chairs. We were going to spend our time getting some schoolwork done. By the time I made it from the car to the patio, one of my children (who wishes to remain nameless) had a plastic chair stuck around his neck. It was one of those chairs with a hole in the back. Somehow, he had managed to stick his head through (WHY?? Don't ask me why! But I had seen this same boy do the same thing with the telescoping handle to his backpack earlier in the day.) but couldn't get his head back out. He was pretty much hysterical at this point. I tried to calm him down and explain to him that if his head went through the first time, then there was a way to get it back through. We just needed him to calm down. Well, he wouldn't be calmed so I told him, when you're ready to be calm, I'll help until then, try and get some schoolwork done, "I'll get your books, you already have a chair!" Yep, I said that and that's when the laughing started. It wasn't really anyone but me who was laughing, but I couldn't stop. My dear sweet boy looked a little like a turtle with a shell on his back. I was trying NOT to laugh, really I was, but it was really kinda funny. I asked him "Can I take a picture to put on the blog?" trying to get him to laugh. He didn't think it was funny! I did get a picture with my camera phone to show Michael later, but I DID promise not to put it on the blog. So about 5 minutes later, we try again to remove the chair. Still won't budge. By the way, it's not tight on his neck. The chair can move around freely, so there's not any chance of him being choked...that wouldn't be funny! I just KNOW there has got to be a way to get the chair off. An angle that's just right. So, I have him stand up and turn around. At that moment, he just ducks his head down and turns it just "so" and pulls his head right out. Why he didn't do that 20 mintues before, I don't know. Except that I needed a good laugh!

So as things are still crazy and busy, I remember that it won't always be this way. And I'm going to make a point to be thankful and look for things the Lord puts into my days just to make me laugh. He knows me, He knows that's so therapeutic to me. Here's to laughter!!!

Now, you can read the next post, which is the pictures and words to the "post without words".

A great game....a post with pictures and words this time!

Last Thursday we travelled up to north Austin for the Patriots' second game of the season. It was a GREAT day! The game was at 5:00 in the afternoon which meant he wanted the team there at 3:30. **Sidenote....I still don't quite understand WHY the teams have to be there so early. I mean, did the BAND/FLAG CORP ever have to show up that early to a game???Well, I guess there's more to do and warm up for the football players than the band?!? Anyway...Michael turned the day into a work day by stopping by and working at a Central Market store (vacation day saved, yeah!). We left the house at about 7:00am, picked up Levi, another team member and drove to Austin. I dropped Michael off and the boys and I went to the Bob Bullock Texas history museum. Turns out, it was homeschool day which meant we got in FREE!! (It would have cost $8/person to get in!) We looked around the very cool museum and then went and picked up Michael and headed to lunch at Pappsitos. My mom and dad met us for lunch and then we headed over to the field. I say "We", but I mean "All the guys". Mom and I headed to Starbucks and Kohl's. WE didn't have any warm-ups to do!! :-) And may I say how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE living closer to mom and dad! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE how they take time out of their day to drive a couple of hours over to Austin and watch their grandsons play football! Thanks, mom and dad, you're awesome!



Jeremy was still in his boot, but he wanted to "suit up" sort of for the game. So he's wearing his jersey and his khakis. He was on the sideline with the team the whole time cheering them on.

Here's Josiah, waiting for the game to start.

Jonathan talking to Coach Dagerath.

Mom and dad waiting on the game to start. The weather for the game was absolutely gorgeous! It was about 65 degrees and cloudy the whole game!

Patriots in motion...

Jonathan being congratulated by Coach Porter. Jonathan scored a touchdown, an extra point, recovered a fumble and made lots of other really great plays. Way to go, Jonathan!!

Jeffrey in the stands. He was supposed to be the team manager, but he got the game off and spent most of his time playing with the other younger brothers of team members.

Isn't this a great picture!! J&J are ALMOST as tall as Pop. Gulp!

This week we face a team who supposedly has been gearing up to play/beat FEAST all season long. They have a set of twins who weigh about 170 lbs each. But one of the twins has a hurt leg. Sound familiar?? We'll see how the game goes. I'll post a report soon.

A great game

We've got science "in the bag"

As part of Jeffrey and Josiah's Classical Conversations science memory work this week, they were to learn six parts of an animal cell. Julie sent me a cool website that showed how to make an animal cell using these ingredients....

We improvised a little and used a date instead of a plum and gummy worms instead of ribbon candy because...well...we had those things and I didn't want to go to the store!

So here is our animal cell with the six parts the boys had to memorize:
1. nucleus (the date)
2. cytoplasm (jello)
3. vacuole (jaw breakers)
4. mitochondria (raisins)
5. cell membrane (baggie)
6. golgi bodies (gummyworms)

The directions say you can eat it when you're done....but YUCK why would you???!!! But hey, it was fun!

Scout it out!

Jonathan, Jeremy and Jeffrey have decided that Boy Scouts is a "go" for this year. In fact, Jonathan is serious about becoming an Eagle Scout and is planning and plotting his way toward making it by his 18th birthday (the requirement). He's been studying the Scout Manual and practicing tying knots. And he's getting good at it! Jeremy would like to do it as well, but the whole broken ankle thing has thrown a damper on his enthusiasm toward it all. I have a feeling that it will all pick up again since his leg is now "free"!

Last weekend Michael took the boys on another camp out with the troop. (Let me just pause to say how awesome my husband is....I mean, it was rainy all week before so at the very least there is a 100% chance of MUD even if there's no additional rain and there was a 70% chance of rain. So intead of eating cheese dip and watching college football, he took his boys to a camp out in the mud and rain, just because his boys want to do scouts. Awesome!) They went back to Camp Fawcett. This campout was a "Bear Creek Challenge" so each patrol competed against each other in seven different challenges. Turns out, Jonathan and Jeffrey's patrol (Cougar patrol) won the entire competition!! Way to go guys! Jeremy was very bummed about not making it. But he's said many times since then, "I'm going on the next one!!!"

Here's the patrol running on a task. Here they had to climb over a gate, tie a timber hitch around a log, run the log down a taped path, touch a tree (the one in the background) and then run back with the log, untie the timber hitch climb back over the gate and head to the next station. Jonathan is the second from the left (the tall one) and Jeffrey is behind Jonathan. He's in a dark green shirt that's not so easy to see.

Here's the Cougar Patrol pioneering. They had to tie a round lashing, tie three taught lines, tie a sheepshank knot (the bonus knot that Jonathan knows how to tie VERY well now....he's been practicing!!), fall in and "dress left" with the patrol leaders, "dress right dress" (to space evenly) and do the scout sign, say the Pledge, the scout oath and the scout pledge.

Here's the patrol getting their award for winning.

On the way home, Michael stopped in Hondo so the boys could get their picture taken with the Cadalliac chicken at Church's Chicken. It's Church's chicken's version of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.

Here's the campers! Don't they look great!

The cast is the past!

Today Jeremy went back to the orthopedic dr. for another x-ray and check up. He was VERY hopeful today that this would be the last time we saw this.....

Isn't that a hopeful face??!! Looks more like pleading, but we were there too!

And GOOD NEWS!!

A plaster-less leg! He's got a ped egg (love those!) in his hand because he was trying to get that baby smooth skin back! :-) He still has to wear a boot that looks like a storm trooper boot. He's supposed to wear it anytime that he would wear a shoe, which is why he's not wearing one now. We NEVER wear shoes at home. I'm not sure if the dr. knew that or not, but he'll find out soon! Jeremy's so excited to be free and "feel wind on his leg" (his words). He said he spent about 5 minutes just scratching his leg after he got his cast off. AND he got the "OK" to climb the ladder to his bed, so tonight (much to the dismay of Jeffrey!) Jeremy gets to spend the night in his own bed!!! He's so very excited about that! I'm sure he'll wake up in the middle of the night, roll over in his bed, scratch his leg in his sleep and smile!

Baking Day....it's MY turn now!

Remember back in March when I was at Julie's and we had a baking day? Well, this time when she came to my house, it was time to stock MY freezer. Actually, it was sort of a last minute thing, but thankfully, I had just about everything I needed to pull it off without going to the store. So, now here's what's waiting in my freezer to be eaten (on a day when things are so rushed I won't have time to bake-or when I just don't feel like cooking! :-) )





Banana bombs (bananas rolled in flaxseed-that will then be drizzled w/ melted dark chocolate-yummy!!) We usually eat these for dessert, but they may just show up as a lunch addition or breakfast entree'.

40 chocolate chip banana muffins. These actually aren't from scratch, their from Fiber One banana nut muffins that I got a great deal on at Target this week. I just added chocolate chips.

Wet burrito casserole.

I got a great deal on this produce at mom's Kroger. So we had stir fry for dinner, and....

put another batch in the freezer for another day.

Got a great deal on avacados so we sliced up the ripe ones and froze them for guacamole.

Four jars of juiced greens and 2 jars of fruit smooties for the freezer.

1 pan of Johnny Bazzai (a family favorite). I'll add cheese to the top when it's ready to cook.

About 50 meatballs ...

8 pepperoni rolls-the boys LOVE these. These go fast!! I'll have to serve these w/ a big salad, or make more 'cuz 2 a piece won't go very far.

Farmhouse chicken-actually a variation of a recipe that I'd seen on a blog. Looks good. Hopefully it'll taste good.

It was sooooo much fun having Julie here to help with all of these yummies. And while we were baking, all the cousins (except Jeremy who's still in a cast :-( ) were out playing in the rain (!!!!) and getting muddy. Yep, it's been raining for almost 3 days straight. Love it!! Everybody had such a fun morning!

Free food...no labor involved!

Lovin' Chick-Fil-A! On Monday (Labor Day) CFA was offering a free chicken sandwich if you wore your favorite team's logo. Well, of course, we HAD to do it. And what made it better was that we were in Bryan where almost everyone was wearing Aggie logos! And what made is soooo much better was that cousins were in town! (Notice Katie's PINK Aggie shirt!)

It was a fun lunch! And mostly free....awesome!

Another funny Tim Hawkins video

Just for a laugh today, here's a politically INcorrect video from Tim Hawkins....enjoy



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2eh6f5Go0

Blackfoot village

Last week, we got to play "host home" to two favorite friends from Memphis, Mason and Griffin. Their mom and dad were in Dallas for some training with Pioneer Bible Translators (their family is going to Tanzania in January) so we got to keep Mason and Griffin to keep them from horrible boredom while mom and dad were sitting in lots of meetings! :-)



We had loads of fun while they were here. They went with us to Classical Conversations, we went to Incredible Pizza, and they played outside LOTS! Josiah and Jeffrey just loved having friends their age to hang around with.



One day (and it was most of the day) we took off school so work could progress on what was termed "Blackfoot village", mostly because the dirt turns you feet very black I think. It was made up of teepees and lean-tos. The boys did a great job of building!! Here are some photos...



Jonathan and Mason.

Mason sitting on the "vice president's chair".

Here's a shot of a tee-pee and a couple of the lean-tos.

Even a cool fire pit...with tee pee shaped starter pieces.


Jeffrey and Mason decided "Blackfoot village" should also be a "hen refuge", so they put up this sign. Think the chicks could read it????

Well, Pigeon made herself at home quite nicely, thank you.

And Comet is coming in as well.

And Squanto was keeping his distance. Maybe they CAN read the signs!! I should put one up on the deck that says "NO POOPING!"

The Blackfoot Village building crew (Jeremy was actually just there posing for the picture. He didn't help w/ the building. Mom said no!)

Oh, we killed the old red rooster, now it's done!

"And we won't have chicken and dumplings when you come."

Well, it had to happen. He was bringing it on himself. And truthfully, if he wasn't so downright pretty, it would have happened sooner. Hawkeye (as Michael put it) found the wrong end of a shotgun last weekend. He's been way too aggressive not only with the hens, but also with US! He would fly up or come at you if you were doing something near one of HIS hens. Something like, feeding them! or checking for eggs! or opening the coop to let everyone out for the morning! It was a little crazy and made me nervous to be around him. I usually just sent one of the boys out to do whatever needed to be done (they didn't mind and Jeffrey even liked to "dare" Hawkeye to try something!) but we didn't want to wait until something happened to one of the hens or one of the boys until we took some proactive action. So, while I was gone to Dallas (thanks, honey, for waiting until I wasn't around!!) Michael "eliminated" Hawkeye. I think I heard Goldie singing all the way up in Dallas! It sounded something like "Ding, Dong the witch is dead!" or maybe it was "The Hallelujah Chorus"! Either way, I know it certainly has been more peaceful since he's been gone. All the girls (new ones included) now hang out together with Squanto as their benevolent leader!

Rest in Peace, Hawkeye! (And NO we didn't eat him.)

Random summer snippets

As fall is coming rapidly upon us, I realized there were a few summer moments that went unblogged. So, before the barrage of fall happenings gets documented in blog-style, here are two fun happenings from the summer.
First, I got a grain mill! It was my birthday present from Michael and the boys. (Well, that and a fabulous trip to Dallas with Julie). The great thing about this grain mill is that it is an attachment to my stand mixer, so I didn't have to get another huge kitchen appliance. Another great thing is that there's also a "hand cranker" so I can grind wheat even w/ out electricity. Of course I say "I" can grind it; what I really mean is "the boys" can grind it w/out electricity!!! :-) They actually think it's really fun and cool to hand crank it, so voila, the job is theirs!



So, I get this great flour.....

Starting w/ some wheat berries...

Adding the berries to the hopper on the attachment....I don't know if you can tell, but the mixer sits on its side to grind the berries.

Then stand the mixer up, and make some chocolate chip cookies! :-)

In garden news, we got a watermelon. Just one for the season. Well, there was another one, but it got dropped on the way in (it wasn't very big anyway) and the chickens REALLY enjoyed it!

Here's our prize.

Isn't that beautiful???!!! And it tasted wonderful as well. I've learned next time to train the melons up a stake or something. Between the watermelon vines and the cucumber vines, those babies took over the garden. Live and learn!!

We're putting our summer garden to rest tomorrow. We're opening up the fence around the garden and letting nature take its course (i.e. letting the goats, chickens and deer eat to their heart's content!). We're planning on planting a fall garden, so I'll keep you posted with updates. Hopefully the rain situation will be a little more favorable and temps cooler to help our little garden along. The summer garden seemed like more work than reward this summer. Aside from a handful of cucumbers, the melon, some basil and about 3 jalapenos, it was pretty barren. But I think I've gleaned some wisdom on things to do differently. Like, watering. That'll help! :-)