Baking Day

Tuesday morning Julie and I donned our aprons and set off on a baking day. Julie had a list made and we were ready for action. Never understimate two moms on a mission!!

Here's some of the supplies...meat and more meat. You can't see all the fruits and veggies that got turned into baby food.

David and Julie grinding some wheatberries to make flour for the muffins made later in the day.

TWELVE(!!) hours later, the kitchen looked like this...

Our "To do" list looked like this...

And we looked like this...

But in the freezer was a lasagna, two meat loaves, two ham loaves, three pounds of taco meat, 20 brownbag burritos, one bag of burrito filling, spinach and rice casserole, one tray each of prunes, carrots, squash, rice, peas and carrots, pears, apples, and sweet potatoes for baby food, a dozen blueberry crumb muffins, a dozen banana crumb muffins, orange and spice rice, two bags full of homemade refried beans, and sliced ham. AND we did 7 loads of laundry!

It was so great to get so much done. The last two hours we worked during the commercials of The Biggest Loser, getting our own workout as we ran up and down the stairs to get as much done before we heard the call of the kiddos "Show's back on!!". Man, I love having a sis around. Now we just need to schedule a time for her to come and fill MY freezer!

Wednesday we were both pretty wiped out and were planning on doing not much of anything (or as much of that as can be done with 6 kiddos around!) but we ended up cleaning out a closet and listing a bunch of stuff on Craigslist and researching homeschool curriculum. We both figured we could do "nothing" next week when we're not with each other!

Springfield update

So far the tournament process in Springfield has been disappointing. Two games played, two games lost. Bummer! They are in the process of playing one right now as we speak. I'm really hoping for a win.

Aside from the disappointment of the losses, I think everyone is having a good time. They've had chances to spend time hangin' out with some boys from the team and their families. They've seen a couple of families that we know from Memphis who have players at the tournament.

They've had time to hang at the hotel and go do things around the city.

Here's J&J at Bass Pro Shop waiting for a game to start.

Looks like they'll have a game tomorrow and Saturday and then we'll head back to Texas. I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Oklahoma is OK!!

While Michael, J&J are headed off to Springfield,MO for the Homeschool National Basketball Tournament, Jeffrey and Josiah and I decided to stay in Oklahoma with my sister and spend the week. It was a tough choice to stay. I really LOVE watching J&J play basketball, but the reality is that they will probably only be playing a total of 4 or 5 hours all week long. The rest of the time we would have to be hanging out at the gym or the hotel with thousands of other people. There are 35 different courts all around Springfield where the games will be played, so that would mean LOTS more time just hangin' at gyms than we had at the state tournament. So, we decided to stay here and play.

Today, we cashed in big on Chick-Fil-A coupons and other freebies. The CFA here in OK has a "Repeat Reciept Day" where if you keep your receipt from a certain day in Feb. you can come back any day in March and get the exact thing for free! What a deal!! So combine that with 3 other coupons for free food that Julie and I had and you get all this food and drinks....(this pic was taken with my camera phone, which accounts for the wierd margins)

for $10. We also traded one of the kid's meal prizes (which was a Reader Rabbit CD) for an ice cream that all the kids shared. Then we went and picked up two free movies and Blockbuster and Redbox which we're going to employ tomorrow when my sister and I have a big "baking day". Gotta love freebies! I'm getting Julie hooked on cheapness...um I mean frugality! We scored several 25 cent Colgate toothpastes and $1.19 Tom's natural toothpastes and free Garnier Nutrisse shampoo and hair products last weekend. Her comment was "Yeah, I can see how this can be addictive!" No joke!!

They even make metal look good! Brace yourself!

Yesterday was a big day in our family life. We made the trip to the orthodontist and the braces came on! J&J were really excited about it. I think I can safely say their enthusiasm has waned significantly now that their mouths hurt and they can't eat all the things they are used to eating. In fact, Jeremy made a comment that was funny. He said "I feel like I'm now a toddler again instead of a teenager! I have to have really soft foods and everything cut up into smaller pieces!" I'm thinking about going to get some Gerber Graduates for them! They've had plenty of applesauce, yogurt, smoothies, etc. Junk food is coming to a screeching halt as well. No chips, popcorn, hard or sticky candy, gum, etc. We'll take this opportunity to form new habits, esp. eating small bites and chewing food slowly (I'm thrilled about that!) and eating good foods. Even green smoothies!



We went to Pappasitos right before the appt. 'cuz my sister and her crew were in town. I'm sooo glad we did! I'm glad J&J were able to really enjoy a yummy meal before the braces. I really have no idea about how much pain to expect, having never been in this situation before. Michael said he vividly remembered the pain of braces and the desperate longing for a hamburger. Couldn't eat them for a while b/c his teeth hurt.



Jeremy told me last night that he prayed that the "Heavenly Dentist" would come and give him some anesthetic and move all his teeth really quickly so this could be over with soon. We'll pray that's true as well!



And I must say, they look handsome, even with mouths full of metal! And I'm not surprised, they've got a good gene pool (even though crooked teeth also float in that gene pool!)

Jonathan-before

Jonathan-after. He choose red braces.

Jeremy-before.

Jeremy after. He chose black. They can change colors when they go back if they want.

Gloria, Gloria... I think he's got your number!!

Jackson did it. He did something I didn't think he would do, though I'm not sure WHY I thought that! He killed a chicken yesterday. Super sad day. He got out in the morning and I wasn't thinking to put the chickens in the coop. "He's not going to bother them", I thought. WRONG! A couple of hours later, I was on my way to Walgreens (with the boys at home) when Jonathan called me with the horrible news. Why is it that these things happen when the mom's not home???!!!


Well, let me tell you, if I didn't care about Jackson as much as I do, we would not have a dog today. I was so mad! Sometimes this circle of life thing really stinks! At least the fox that killed our other girls was hungry, Jackson was bored and looking for a thrill. Urgh!!! Could someone please send "The Dog Whisperer" to my house to talk some sense into my dog!!
Gloria was the Rhode Island red. Here's a picture of her.

From L-R, Comet, Pocahantas, and Gloria

Thankfully, the other girls and Hawkeye, the rooster-hey where were YOU when all this was going on??!!-are all still present and accounted for.

My bloggin' boy

Jeffrey's caught the fever! He's been on me for months to let him get a blog. Last weekend while we were at mom and dad's, his cousin showed him how to do it. So, if you got an email from farmboytx inviting you to a blog, that's Jeffrey. If you want to read his blog and didn't get an invitation, just leave a comment here with your email address and we'll add you to his list.

Way to go, Jeffrey!

The fighting Texas Aggie Band

One of the super cool things about Texas A&M (well, there's thousands!) but one that stands out is the band. Only, it's not "the band"! It's the "Pride of Aggie Land World Famous Fightin' Texas Aggie Marching Band". Saturday afternoon, the FTAMB did a free performance for the public to honor the 75th Annual Bandmasters conference. Since we were in town (like we have been for the past 4 weekends!! :-)), I took the boys. My sis and her kiddos were in town as well, so we got to bring a girlie along!

Here the band is making their famous "Marching T" (for Texas A&M, in case you can't figure that one out!)

Everyone waiting for the band. Some more patiently than others!!

Gotta love having cousins!! Isn't this a totally cute pic!

Controlled chaos on the field. The boys kept saying "How do they not bump into each other??!!" Lots and lots of practice!

Here's the kiddos at the fountain at the Memorial Student Center.

Girlie legs get tired faster than boy legs! So, big strong legs got to track a tired cousin across campus. Here they are in front of the Academic building. It was so fun walking around the campus (the small part that we saw) and telling the boys about the buildings where I had classes. It's been a while since I've been on campus. I'd forgotten how pretty it is!