Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls

When I realized we were going to be at 'Papa & Nana's' for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning I could not resist asking to have Grandma Jones make her famous cinnamon rolls. Nothing like them. When she was making her 4th batch of the day it dawned on me that these were pictures that needed to be taken. So - if you have ever wanted to know how to make 'Grandma's Famous Cinnamon Rolls'... Here you go...

You start by making a batch of bread/roll dough. Either by hand or in the bread machine. Melt a cube of butter in a 9x13 pan (by sticking it in your oven that is preheating to 350* )

Sprinkle a moderate amount of brown sugar over the melted butter in the 9x13 pan - set aside.

After the dough has risen roll out into a rectangle and spread with soft butter.

Sprinkle with white sugar...

...and cinnamon ~

Roll up in a loose roll from the wide side.

Cut into approximately 1" pieces with either scissors or using dental floss...

...and arrange in prepared pan.

Lightly press down with your hand.

After pressing down cover with a cloth and let rise.

When nearly double in size pour cream over the top and let set a few minutes so the cream can run down between the rolls.

Bake at 350* for about 30 minutes

(aren't they beautiful?!)

Turn upside down on cooling rack when taken from the oven.

(this is my mom/'Nana' in this picture!)

Enjoy!!!

(Just like my nephew Jacob did!)

Edited to add:

1) Grandma uses some of the butter melted in the pan to spread onto the dough

2) One pint of whipping cream should last for 2-3 batches

Some pictures...

Thought I would share some pictures from our last... week ?... (has it only been a week?!?!?)

(yes - the layout is a little odd, but I am tired of fighting it! So it is what it is! :p)

Beka and Caleb meeting Charlyn at the airport. Beka was very excited, Caleb was not sure what to think at first! After picking her up we ran a few errands - each time Charlyn got back in the car his eyes would light up and he would exclaim 'Ninny, Ninny' (Charlyn... 'Lyn...'Nin...'Ninny)

Charlyn came home on Seth's 11th birthday. Our original birthday plans fell through due to the weather so on the way home we picked up some things at Roth's (grocery store) and had a lovely evening celebrating and watching it snow - if only we knew.... :p

So Seth got a sister for his birthday... curious to see if either Abigail (Feb. 4th) or Nicole (Feb. 9th) will get a new sibling for their birthday?!?!

Required Snow pics...

Here is Beka with a poncho Seth gave her for Christmas - he sewed it in sewing class! Very cute! Below left is Abigail cooking our Christmas breakfast on the wood stove. We had scrambled eggs, pancakes and bacon. Not the planned menu - but delicious!

----> Caleb playing with a gift received on Christmas Eve while waiting for Mom and Dad to get moving so the stockings can be opened! (see the stockings on the love seat to the left?) All in all the last week or two has been crazy, but has given us many memories! We do look forward to catching up the laundry! (if that is possible!)

Christmas Day

A late Merry Christmas from Hodgepodge Acres ~

Our phone was working when we got home Christmas Eve, we got our power back this afternoon, Dennis should get the water back up and running tomorrow. It has been quite an adventure! :)

A Hodgepodge Update...

Once again I am behind on updates. Life sure can get crazy. Thought I would do an all in one post at this point - hope to add some pictures later.

Today is Christmas Eve (Wednesday) We have been without power since Saturday afternoon. Yesterday Dennis decided we needed to make a break for it. Not as easy as it sounds!

Ok - backing up some...

It has been snowing for over a week now, so amazing. Last Thursday (the 18th) Charlyn flew in, we had no problem going to get her. It is lovely to have her home even if only for a couple of weeks. Thursday was also Seth's 11th birthday. We picked up some deli food as well as a cake on our way home from the airport. Had a lovely evening celebrating and watching Charlyn try to stay awake. :p

Friday, more snow, Dennis came and got me during his lunch time as I was scheduled for an afternoon appointment. I had no desire to drive on the less than desirable roads, especially since my tummy is very close to the steering wheel - makes me nervous. Also - Dennis wanted to be driving our Suburban (4WD, traction tires) vs. his work car. I had a great appointment - next one in two weeks (a sign we are getting close!) and got some grocery shopping done while in town. I also got some quilting done while sitting in his office later watching him work.

Saturday - the power goes out...

Sunday - no way we are making it to church...

Monday - a third day of all nine of us together all day! Yikes! We have played games, got packages 'ribboned', and the kids have played outside quite a bit! It is a new reality as to how short the days really are.

We are going through candles and batteries like crazy, but at the same time making some wonderful family memories. :) yes, I say this with all seriousness!

Tuesday... Dennis decides we need to make a break for it - not as simple of a task as it sounds. By this point we are up to 2-3 feet of snow, depending on where you looks. Totally amazing! After it taking a while to get out (and a neighbor with his tractor) and hearing it may be up to a week before we get power (and water since we are on a well) and possibly phone back - it was decided to head to my parents to night.

So here we are now enjoying running water, lights, and Internet! (the important things in life!) We will head back tonight after celebrating Christmas Eve with my family.

On the way to 'Papa & Nana's' we did stock up on bottled water and some easy to fix food so are going home in better shape then we left yesterday.

Time for me to scoot and enjoy time with my family.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas IS coming!!!

One of the downsides (?) of having a large family is that even when not buying much per child there are a lot of gifts to be wrapped and or hid. Since we can not find a good hiding place for all the gifts we find wrapping them is the best way to hide them. Usually about now they would go under the tree but since 1) we have two family gatherings between now and Christmas and 2) we have a two year old that would not hesitate to open anything left on his level when not being watched we felt the need to get them up and out of the way until Christmas morning. Once again - finding an out of reach place is not easy when dealing with a 'monkey'. Dennis decided that a book case outside our bedroom would be a good start and made it a challenge to see how many he could fit up there. Since he likes doing puzzles - he did amazingly well. :)

Dennis and I have enjoyed hearing the kids discuss who the different gifts might possibly be for as they can not see any name tags. Oh the joys of parenthood! :p (Bahahahaaa)

We have also found a variety of stools and chairs near the

bookcase... A sibling took this picture of Caleb trying to figure

out if there really is a way up there. (No, he was not allowed to climb)

Now where to put the rest as they are wrapped?

Let the Games Begin...

This title would have made more sense if I had made the posting when I planned to - a couple of weeks ago (I think - time is a blur) Anyway - this is about our Christmas happenings so far - and to think Christmas is still two weeks away!

A tradition at our house is to keep out wooden train set, Christmas books, DVDs & music put away until after Thanksgiving. (we do need to have a family meeting on the Christmas music issue!) I had hoped to put a picture of all (three!) of my boys playing with the train set but have not gotten a good one yet. But here is a pic of Abigail reading Christmas books to Caleb.

We got our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving in preparation for a Christmas party at our house the coming Monday. Dennis and the kids went out and cut two trees (he let them have one downstairs) I stayed home and took a nap in a deliciously quiet house. Here is Caleb helping get decorations out. I think everyone needs a 2 year old to help out with their tree decorating! And re-decorating... Not sure what the tree is going to look like come Christmas day! :p But that is ok - keeps things interesting. And come not long after Christmas I will be chomping at the bit to get things put away as once Christmas is 'put away' we can start getting baby stuff down and ready to go! (72 days left on the countdown chart!)

We did have a lovely Christmas party here for the homeschool mom's of our support group. Twelve ladies in all counting Nicole and myself. Amelia made us some lovely soups and the ladies brought finger foods to share. We also had a 'white-elephant' gift exchange with which 'candles' seems to be the theme! Can't go wrong with candles!

Last but not least was the family Christmas party at Dennis' work. Somehow I got put in charge (yikes!) but once we got a framework on the event many wonderful people stepped in to help out. The day of I really did not do much except keep an eye on my own kiddos. I believe there was about 55-60 in attendance and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. First I have to say - having helped plan many of these parties over the years it was a special thrill to not have to look for a location to hold the party. They are in a BEAUTIFUL new building that has a large training room that was perfect for our purposes. I the room are three very large TV's mounted in corners. We had all in use. One had a Wii playing (which was ALWAYS in use!) another had Christmas cartoons playing, and the third had the Army-Navy football game going. (no, that was not in my plans, but if it will get dad's to come I am all for it!) I did learn that this is one case when Marines are 100% behind the Navy - guess that proves there is an exception to every rule! :p (to anyone that does not know. Dennis was in the USMC way back when - the first 6 years of our marriage) We also had crafts, games and cookie decorating going on. A wonderful potluck dinner with the main dish close to catered. :) yummy! The afternoon wrapped up with a visit from Santa. He was great. A gift was put under the tree for Dennis - in order to get the gift he had to sit on Santa's lap. So that is where I will end this lengthy post! On to see what else this Christmas season has planned for us!

A Couple More Birthdays

Ok - so I am very much behind on my blogging. Life has gotten to be crazy busy and not showing any signs of letting up. So today I decided just to make it a priority. The picture to the left is Amelia on her Sweet 16 - amazing how time flies. Her day did not go quite like she would have liked but she seemed pleased in the end. Her birthday was is on Nov. 30th, which this year was the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. Hard to make plans with friends that way. We went to church in the morning came home and had pizza, floats and cake when she also opened gifts. In the evening we were back to church for the annual Praise Banquet - she was able to sit with friends at that point wearing new clothes! The picture below /to the right was taken on Charlyn's 20th birthday! This was the first time for one of our kids to celebrate a birthday away from home. Nicole was able to fly back and visit Charlyn for a week including on her birthday, it sounds like they both had a great time. (Nicole is on her way home now!) In the picture are... L to R: 'The Bentley girls, Jonathan (a friend from Oregon that also lives in VA), Charlyn and Nicole. This was taken after a concert Jonathan was in. Sounds like they had a fun and full day. Maybe she has blogged about it on her blog (link to the left on the main page)

It is so amazing to watch our children grow up into adults. *sigh*

This post is being made just to say that it may not be the most wise move to do your blogging while alone in the house with a 2-year old. Whew! I am pooped. I think there is a full-fledged exercise program being developed here. Caleb has done too many things in the last two hours (he is a large part of the long-length of time!) to list in one post. A couple things - playing with 'Dad's' computer (sorry Dennis, hope your game is still there somewhere) and asking 'please mom' when asked please what? He very clearly replied.., 'please, scissors?' Yikes! (and no, I did not give him the scissors!)

I find evening like this make me wonder the sanity of having yet another but then given this smile with the statement 'Cute'... No, that is not the reason for having another little miracle, but it sure makes the busy days easier. Oh, and listening to his wonderful 2 year old giggle right now does not hurt either. I will admit I do look forward to having a little person that can not move for a couple of months. A little snuggler sounds like a wonderful balance to a busy two-year old boy!

and the birthdays begin...

At our house all birthdays except Dennis' are from Nov. 22nd through March 2nd. That is not a long period of time for 8 birthdays (soon to be 9) as well as the holidays and Dennis & Carolyn's wedding anniversary. I find myself calling this time of year the 'birthday roll-over', and yesterday it started. Rebekah turned eight. She had the birthday excitement as only an eight year old can, you could practically see it oozing out of her fingers! Most of the day was a work day around here. Mom seems to be starting some 'nesting' tendencies and is wanting much of the house scrubbed down and painted. Partly brought on by a baby on the way and partly brought on by at least four Christmas get-together schedules to be at our house in the next month plus. Yikes! It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for things by the way! In the evening our friends the Carver's came for dinner as did Nicole's boyfriend Kevin. Beka had wanted a breakfast birthday meal (something we found works great when Dad is on swings and graveyard) we went ahead and had our breakfast for dinner. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. As you can see by the candle picture she opted for doughnuts over a cake. Having so many close birthdays we have found out a couple of things... one being there is such a thing as too much birthday cake and two, you can put birthday candles in most anything. All in all Rebekah seems to have had a good birthday for which we are glad. And I find myself thinking one down.... seven (actually eight!) to go. :)

San Diego Trip

Ok we will see how this works. I had my lap top back for a couple of days and had to send it back, guessing I will not get it back until Thanksgiving. (Our choice not to make the trip) and the only thing slower then working on my laptop with dial-up is working with the desktop computer and dial-up! But... if I take it slow and not check-out other sites (like Facebook) while doing this we should be fine. I am trying to upload a picture (not a great picture, but a picture) if it does not work now I will add it later this week.

All that to say, Dennis and I had a great trip to San Diego. It is the first time I have flown since Nicole (now 21) was a baby. Things have changed ~ I think the seats are smaller. :-o All in all it sure beat driving the distance from Oregon to San Diego. It was a first for us to travel totally car-less. While there we depended on walking and shuttles. We walked a lot. Whew! And yes, it felt very good to crawl back into a car in Portland when returning home - then again maybe it was just the fact we came home in a rain storm!

Anyway, while there Dennis did have classes and such to attend. (Since work was paying for his portion of the trip and all!) :p The conference was HUGE, neither of us have ever been to anything like it. We had purchased a pass for me to have full access to the convention, it was fun to be able to attend classes and go in the exhibit hall with him. I can now tell you about the website DiscoverPolicing.com, about the police car of the future and tell you about how San Diego PD has dealt with repeat nuisance houses. (in case you ever need to know!) I saw more 'cop' stuff then one could ever imagine existed - fascinating. We also came home with many freebies (how we fit it in I will never know!) It felt like 'Trick-R-Treating' for adults. (pens, little flashlights, clips, squishy balls... as well as a few baseball hats and some shirts)

Other then convention related things we did spend quite a bit of time with Dennis' Chief and his wife. We enjoyed getting to know them, they are a great couple. We did a lot of walking all over San Diego (or so it felt!) We toured The Midway, a HUGE aircraft carrier and on another day took a ferry over to Coronado Island and walked through the Hotel del Coronado - it was built the turn of the last century and is close the beach - beautiful! While we were there they were starting to build a temporary ice skating rink on the front lawn that would overlook the ocean. How would that be for a way to spend your holidays?! The workers there seemed very proud to tell us what they were doing, they also told us that the hotel always has the best Christmas tree around. So if you are looking for somewhere warm to go for the holidays - I would suggest checking them out! The picture to the left was taken on our ferry ride back to San Diego - we were told it has been in movies, I just do not remember which one(s).

On Monday evening we went to 'Host Chief's Night' (hosted by the Chief of San Diego) It was a huge party held at Petco field. They had live music, food and entertainment everywhere you went. Now the ice cream cones, they were a bit tough to find, (just ask Sue!) Not the kind of 'party' Dennis and I usually go to, but we enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a fun evening. (and we did eventually find our ice cream)

It was hard for the bargain hunter in me and the cheapskate in Dennis to pay the prices we did for food. Near the end of our time there we had finally stopped thinking about what things cost (like $2.50 for a yogurt, $1.10 for a banana, and $2+ for a bottle of water) and just got what we felt we needed. Dennis even went and bought me oatmeal a couple of mornings since it was what I was wanting. I have no clue what he paid for that, but it sure tasted good! (what a guy!)

We left San Diego on Wednesday (11/12) afternoon with the weather being clear and in the mid-70's and flew into Portland that evening into a rain storm. It was fun to visit a sunny place during less then stealer weather for our area, but we know more then ever that this is home.

100 days and counting...

Dennis and I returned from a trip to San Diego, I hope to blog on that soon, just need some time to get my thoughts together. BUT I did want to share an exciting milestone...

As of yesterday we are 100 days from my due date for our little peanut! In order to help pass the time for myself and the kiddos I made a '100 Days Chart' ~ on the chart I marked each day, I color coded each Sunday (for the week beginning), each Friday (a new 'week' for baby), all holidays and birthdays that are during this time period (7 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and our wedding anniversary) We plan to cross each day off as we go. So when we cross off today - we are at 98 and counting!

Halloween Outfits

Our church puts on a fun 'Harvest of Fun' event on Halloween evening. Amelia and Abigail wanted to help so it was deiced we would take the crew. The only requirement was that they had to be creative with their costumes working with things we had on had. We did end up buying a couple little things - all in all I think they did great!

Here is Amelia (15)the cowgirl, Abigail (13) the McDonald's worker from the mid-80's!, Seth (10) as Gilligan, Rebekah (7) the ballerina and Caleb (2) the cowboy!

We did go by a local grocery store on our way to church where they all got some hot cider, an apple, a doughnut and a little bit of candy. Then it was on to church which was buzzing with a lot of activity and food. After coming home we let them munch on their candy and popcorn while watching the movie 'Kit' (American Girl) - I think everyone had a good evening! :)

A Yay! List...

• Yay! for working appliances, our (2nd) new dryer seems to be working ... (Washers and dryers are a very cool thing to have!)
• Yay! for two-year-olds ... they might be loud, messy and busy (very, very busy)but there is nothing like seeing those little eyes light up when they see you. And who else runs to get a hug when you get home. (All the cuter when accented by a puffy black jacket with hood up and brand new rubber boots!)
• Yay! for being done with jury duty for at least 2 years ...
• Yay! for the 'Durable Medical Equipment' benefits with our health insurance ...
• Yay! for active little (unborn)babies that let mom know they are there ... (nothing like it!)
• Yay! for a hubby that can (and will) do quilt math ...

And if you are wondering, Yay! is the opposite of Boo! (I looked it up!) :p

Do you have any "Yays!"?

~ Carolyn

Chef Caleb

Caleb has picked up a new passion. Cooking. He likes to put all the potatoes he can find into the oven, close the door and then in a minute or two (if that long) where ever he is at he will start yelling 'Beep...Beep..' at the top of his lungs while running for the kitchen. He will then, very carefully with hot pads, remove the potatoes from the oven while declaring them 'Hot, Hot...' We all get a huge kick out of watching this and don't worry, the oven is never on when he is doing this. (and yes, he is in training pants! That's progress, slow progress, but progress!)

21 Week Ultrasound

Today we had our 'mid-pregnancy' ultrasound. Everything looked good. Baby weighs about 1# already - Woo-Hoo! Now the growing begins. Yikes! :) S/he is also facing down and is pretty much completely on one side, that explains some lopsided issues. :-/ Here are a couple of pictures. The 2nd one is a 3-D pic, it is kind of weird, but interesting as well. (I think anyway!) Ok - for direction as it seems to be needed! What looks like a bottom at the top of the pic is the top of the head. Below that looks like there is a huge nose Then a cute little mouth with a hand mushed to one side of the chin. Does that help?! Oh, yeah, We stuck to our guns... We are officially excepting a little surprise! :p

Remembering Andrew

You may have noticed no new entries on our blog for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes things happen in life that we are not exactly sure how best to react to. We have had one of those happenings in our life recently. After giving it much thought I (Carolyn) strongly feel the need remember a special young man here.

After fighting a diabetic coma for about 4 weeks my 17 year old nephew, Andrew Lawrence Prak, left this earth to be forever with his Savior in heaven. He was born April 11, 1991 and left this earth on September 14, 2008 ~ he was the son of my sister Suzanne and her husband Daniel Prak.

Included here is the picture of him that keeps coming to my mind as I have thought of him over the past month and a half. It was taken the one time Dennis and I and the kids (6 at the time) visited the Prak family in Hollister, California. (Daniel was in Cambodia when we visited) This visit would have been just after his 10th birthday. I believe it was the day we arrived their family cat had a litter of kittens. As always the kittens were a hit. I have always enjoyed this picture of Andrew with hie cute grin, as well as the one of Suzanne looking on. :)


Andrew... You will be greatly missed, we look forward to joining you someday!

Lots of Love,

Aunt Carolyn for all

Stain Removing 101

For school this year Amelia is 'taking' Home Ec. ~ we have no formal curriculum, so she gets to do whatever her 'Home Ec' teacher deems important. (wa-ha-ha!) This week she was to study laundry and in the process came up with these tips...

Stain musts:
1. Always apply removers form the inside of fabrics.
2. Put a folded paper towel under the stain to blot it

· How to remove Butter or margarine: spray with WD-40 then work in undiluted dish soap and wash on the hottest cycle safe for the fabric.
· Did your pen leak on your clothes? Well here is several ways that claim to remove Ink. If one does not work try another.
o I found several different places warning not to use hair spray because most have oil in them and will just spread the stain.
o Rubbing alcohol, either use a sponge or soak in a glass. (for tough stains try Denatured alcohol)
o White toothpaste (not gel) rub firmly into stain then pretreat and launder as usual.
o Milk soak stain in milk and the milk should dissolve the Ink.

And do you know those stains that kind of look like grease stains, and seem to just appear from the middle of no where (A.K.A. the dryer)?
The most likely cause: your fabric softener!

o How to fix: for dryer sheets dampen the stain then rub with a pure bar soap like dove or ivory for a few minutes then re-launder.
o For liquid fabric softener, use liquid dish soap, dampen then rub in dish soap then launder


Quick tip 1#: to reduce fading on clothes wash them inside out
Quick tip #2: tired of losing socks when you wash them put the socks (inside out) in a cotton pillow case (or a machine washable bag) then close the end with a hair rubber band, and wash and dry as usual.

Most of these tips were gleaned from the following two books:

• Talking Dirty with the Queen of Clean by Linda Cobb
• Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson

Next she wants to type out our homemade laundry detergent recipe for you!

On A Lighter Note...

I thought I would add a picture sure to make you smile! Amelia took this out in Papa & Nana's shop last Saturday. I think he has some Jones in him! :)

Quilt Memories

Last night I finished sewing the binding on Charlyn's quilt. This is the quilt I made her when she was 4, I believe. I started quilting when we first moved to McMinnville and I found myself with time on my hands. I first cut out a Double Wedding Ring and after working on that for a bit I realized it really was out of my league... WAY out of my league! :p Those pieces still sit in a box in my sewing room. I am quite sure I will never piece it, but can not bring myself to toss the project. (the pieces were poor quality fabric and poorly cut) If I ever do make a Double Wedding Ring it will be with new fabric. Anyway - after shelving that project I decided to go more simple, way more simple and made Nicole and Charlyn 9-patch quilts for their beds. Nicole's was first and done in purples, I honestly do not know what condition hers in at this point. Then was Charlyn's - she INSISTED on pink, even way back then. My mom added the binding to the quilts, Charlyn had a pre-made silky binding that over the years was loved off. She wanted it shipped to her in Virginia, but I insisted on adding a new binding before doing so. This time making my own from start to last hand stitch last night. I think I have made progress over the past 16 years! This binding was even cut on the bias. (yuck! but the gingham looks better at an angle) It was kind of bittersweet sewing it on. Thoughts of my little girls (now 21 & 19) playing with their quilts would be inturupted as I pulled off yet another LONG hair. Part of me struggled at seeing what my work looked like back then, but then I would remember these quilts were made to be loved...

I think my goal was met.

A Random Post...

My kids love to use the word 'random' so I thought I would use it as well! :p I do not have one 'major' topic to post on but thought I would just share some 'random' thoughts.

Last week we started school, it is going well. Not great, but it is going. There is always something to interfere. Yesterday it was mom not feeling well, today - mom had a cleaning bug. :-o Tomorrow there is a homeschool picnic - we will have to make some deals to see if we go to that. :) My kids love the picnics so we just might get somewhere a little easier then normal.

Normally Seth and Beka both go to sewing class for 1 hour on Wednesdays. But last week and this they each went once for 2 hours as they both wanted to sew Christmas presents for siblings. Once both finished gifts for each other they both chose to sew for Charlyn next, I found that interesting. :)

Friday I had a regular OB appointment - baby's size was right on for dates (perfectly 16 weeks) the midwife was happy with that. Heart beat was 150/160. Some would say that means a girl... time will tell.

Saturday morning we headed to McMinnville's CityFaire - it was held in an lovely open park in town (Discovery Meadows) The atmosphere was great (and everything was free!) We all got a bit 'sun kissed' but had a great time. The kids (After a LONG wait in line) got to take a (tethered) hot air balloon ride.

After we were done at the park and a trip to McDonald's we headed to 'Papa & Nana's' (my parents) to pick apples and pears. While there one of the girls got this great picture of Caleb watching my nephew, Zach, working on a transmission. I thought it was too cute not to share ~

That is all the 'randomness' I can think of for now!

~Carolyn

A Hodgepodge Picture

Today was the first day of school for the Hodgepodge Acres Academy 2008-09 school year. Can you believe this is our 17th year homeschooling?! Yikes!
Anyway - at one point I was making my rounds checking on my students and did not find Beka - when asking where she was I was told 'the deck' - I expected to see her playing but instead found her outside doing her school work with a kitten (Fritz to be exact!) snuggled up beside her school book. This picture is even more fun (to me anyway!) due to the chicken wandering by - this is an old chicken of ours we can not keep in the pen, the best we can figure she thinks she is a cat - I also love the stack of wood to the left side. Dennis was off last week and having wood ready to go was a goal of his. He did good! :) We are all looking forward to those first couple of fires come this fall.

Blessings of a Large Family

Yup, two posts in one evening. When it rains it pours. I often write lovely blog posts in my head when away from my computer than forget when actually able to write them. So who knows how this one will turn out. :p

It is not unusual to get questions about having a large family. (my biggest piece of advice? Throw out the odd socks a couple times a year, a huge stress reliever) One thing we seem to have different from many large families is spacing. Nicole should be 22 by the time peanut #8 is born. I personally do find it challenging to have kids in so many age groups all at once, one minute I am dealing with young adults than another I am down to toddler-hood or grade school. It can feel like mental whiplash! :p But God says He will not give us more than we can handle, I believe it includes this challenge!

But with the challenges , come perks. Help with cooking, cleaning, driving and such is lovely. (Oh, and not having to change diapers when dealing with morning sickness is GREAT!!!)

There are also the heart tugging moments. There is nothing like watching older kids interact with younger siblings. Such as the above picture of Nicole reading to Rebekah and Caleb.

Coupon Savings...

Ok, maybe not exciting to most, but I had someone say they missed me sending e-mails detailing my coupon shopping trips. A week ago we had one of the best ever so I thought I would do a break down of it here. For this particular shopping trip I spent $21.24 and 'saved' $73.23 - I write 'saved' that way since if it was not for the sale, coupons and the fact this store takes competitors store coupons I would not be shopping there. :p But it is a fun number to see. :) $5.25 of my total was newspapers, we buy 3 Sunday Oregonians every week (as well as 1 News~Register) mostly for the coupons. But in a family our size, 3 sets of comics does not hurt either. (and when we hit 'birthday season' the kids use the comics for their wrapping paper)

Anyway - here is what I got for about $16 (no, it does not quite add up right, no idea why, but stopped worrying about it, not worth the stress)

4 - GUM Toothbrushes .25 each
20 - Dannon Yogurt - .30 each
3 - bottle Ken's Salad Dressing - FREE
3 - bottle Ken's Salad Spritzer - FREE
3 - loaves Sara Lee Bread - FREE
6 - pouches Purina Cat Treats - .25 each
6 - 6pk boxes of Sun Maid Raisins - .50 each
3 - Doz. Med. Eggs - $1 each

There you have it ~ It was a fun trip. :) This weeks trip, not quite so exciting. Spent $14.50 and 'saved' $22 ~ we got 9 boxes of Kleenex, 10 cans Campbells tomato soup and one package of flour tortillas - all things we needed.

Quilt Projects...

As promised, here is a picture of Amelia with the wall hanging she made at Nana's a couple of weekends ago. Now that I have the binding finished on it I need to get working on a quilt top I am making for 'Sewing for Jesus' at church, I also need to get new binding put onto Charlyn's old pink quilt I made her when she was a preschooler. It was one of my first quilts (2nd to be exact, I believe) and the original binding is LONG gone. It was much loved. I am impressed it is still kicking. Anyway - I can not in good conscience send it to Virgina as is. After those projects are done, I am on to baby quilts! One boy, one girl. :)

Nothing Exciting Here...

Not too much to report on. But I thought I would type up a couple of things of non-excitement. :)

Our chickens started laying recently. Seth and Beka check for eggs several times a day. They love getting them while they are still 'hot' - and as always the little eggs are ever so cute. We have about 18 hens, once they really get going we are going to have more eggs than even we can use! What a lovely problem. These days it seems like we are always running out.

A while back our front door knob broke. So living where we do we opted to go with out for a couple of weeks. This past weekend we bought a new one finally! Woo-hoo! (it does not take much to excite us) We opted for an electronic one that takes codes to open. The kids think it is great fun. Too funny. Everyone but Caleb has their own code to get in the door. He is mad he does not have one. Ok, that can get pretty funny as well. He does know how to ring the doorbell so we are good.

The process of moving bedrooms continues. These things always seem to take longer then one would think. The boys are now in their new room (was Charlyn & Beka's) and painting is underway in their old room which Amelia and Abigail will move into soon. Then Nicole and Rebekah will take over what was Nicole's old room a couple years back. So far everyone is happy with the arrangement. Whew! Nicole did a great job in the boys room - it looks like the inside of a castle with stone walls. Very fun! Amelia and Abigail are going for a 60's Flower Power looks, sounds like a good theme for a couple teenage girls. They will have fun with it.

I think that about wraps it up for us for the past week or so.