Hurray for September!

Well, hello there!  I'm beginning to miss you, my blog!

I love September - my birthday, my anniversary, back to school.  And the winding down of the hot, muggy weather (if you don't include today and tomorrow!)

Summer has treated me well this year.  No depression slump as I've had the past few years in late July through August - yay!  It's been a busy summer - a vacation in June, Friday morning bible study for me, Tuesdays in the park with our homeschool group, swimming in our neighbors' pool, visiting friends and having friends over, 3 VBS's for Aaron, a family celebration for my parents' 70th birthdays in July, several movies, a couple trips to the beach, and the list goes on with ordinary daily things that somehow get fit in.

I'm looking forward to getting back into our homeschool routine. Less running around, and more structure to our day. Although I also find myself sometimes day-dreaming about what it would be like to send my kids to school and be alone all day (can I do it just for a couple weeks?!), it's interesting how the boys become more content to be at home knowing that their friends are at school and can't play during the day.

I'll be back soon with a few pictures from summer, but for now I need to get things done for our last summer Hurrah! We go to a family camp with 3 other families we've known since college. We don't live close enough to see each other often, but our kids have known each other their whole lives with yearly get-togethers. It's such a special bond we have with those friends, and although it's a busy activity-filled weekend that leaves me needing to catch my breath, these weekend make memories to treasure.

Ramblings

After adding an additional medication for my depression, which had been acting up off and on since last fall, I've been feeling some renewed life in my mind and body for a few weeks now. As one who prefers not to take any medicine, I wasn't thrilled at first that I needed to add another one. But if the new combination improves the quality of my daily life, and therefore my family's, then gladly take it I will!

Signs of spring, highly anticipated, are slowly arriving! We saw our first robins a couple weeks ago and even more birds are showing up every day. Snow piles are finally gone. Longer hours of daylight. The trampoline is up and running. And the dog is tracking mud into the house if we don't catch him in time - not my favorite sign of spring!

We enjoyed a visit from Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) this past weekend. My mom and I sorted through and organized several boxes of their photos that they brought up. Especially fun was seeing some oldies but goodies from the 70's and 80's!  Always brings back memories and lots of "Oh, I remember that!". My muscles are still thanking me for a game of bowling on Saturday. Grandpa is a great bowler; the kids love to bowl with him. Isaac even beat Grandpa by one point on the first game with a score of 170! How's that for a 12 year old against a 40-year bowling veteran?

I've gotten into a much-needed whirl of scrapbooking since a cropping weekend away with three friends in February. I'm quite behind - I'm still working on 2006, but I'm making progress and am hoping to keep up my momentum on into 2007 and 2008. It feels good to be accomplishing something creative and productive!

The Snow is Always Smoother . . .

 * This is a re-post from January 2009. I liked it then and it's still true now, so I thought I'd share it again! *

You know what they say -

"The snow is always smoother on the other side of the fence". (Don't they?)

Here's a picture I took today over the fence, of our next door neighbor's back yard:



And here's a picture of our backyard:



Our neighbors are in their early 60's and their children are grown and out of the house. Their backyard looks peaceful and serene. Our yard doesn't. Our yard has obviously seen lots of activity - trampled on over and over again by 3 boys and a dog. Some days I look over the fence and envy the calm.

I know, I know; some day our yard will look like our neighbor's, and I'll eventually find myself missing those footprints all over the back yard . . .

But still, for now, can't I sneak over the fence and live over there every once in a while?

Tis The Season

The season for Birthdays around our house!  Both Isaac and Aaron have birthdays at the end of November, right after Thanksgiving.  It's tricky planning what presents to give for birthdays and what to give for Christmas. And then plan celebrations at this busy time of year.

We had a party for Isaac on his actual birthday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We've gotten fairly creative with birthdays over the years. One year we did a treasure hunt which the kids loved, and ever since then it doesn't seem a birthday party without one.  Each year we have to try to out-do ourselves!

We also did a photo game this year for the second time.  We came up with 10 different situations that the kids have to do, which then have to be photographed.  Thank goodness for digital cameras!  We used to do this type of game in our youth group when I was young, except then it was called a Polaroid Relay, and we competed in teams.

This year's highlights:

everybody on the roof of the shed

everybody stuffed into the trunk of the car

 

 

duct tape Isaac to the wall

Monday our family went out for dinner to Steak 'N Shake on Aaron's birthday (his restaurant choice, because he loves their mini hamburgers and "the best strawberry shakes"!)

He had a small treasure hunt around the house to get his present; his first own Wii game!

can you tell that he was a little happy?!

And then tomorrow is Aaron's party at Chuck E Cheese, with just 2 best friends. This will be his first "real" party, not shared with Isaac, so he's super excited!  And then birthday week will officially be over and we can start to concentrate on Christmas!

Halloween Fun

Yesterday we hosted a hobo, a hippie, and a glow stick man at the house.

 

 Aaron (almost 7)

These are the coolest costumes! Glow sticks taped with clear packing tape to black clothing.

 

Isaac (almost 12) and friend

Dancing glow stick men!

This is what they look like in the light

And here ...

Noah (15)  Groovy! He played the hippie role way too easily! Far out, man!

I don't usually dress in costume, but I could have been an ice cube, as cold as it got while walking with the kids trick or treating! At least it wasn't raining. Okay, Halloween done, now a new knitting project to start!

In and Out

More out than in actually!

I had thought I might have more time to do things like blogging during the summer, but life instead has been more busy in different ways.  Holidays, family visiting, park dates with friends, sleepovers, garden & flowers to tend to, swimming in neighbor's pool, day trips, boys' friends at our house, homework for Beth Moore's Esther bible study at church, planning landscaping, and on it goes, as well as some times of rest to recover from all the fun!  I may be taking more pictures than usual, but why did I think I'd have time to blog about them? I haven't even had time to download much of my photos yet!

So I may be scarce around here for the rest of the summer.  I need to spend my time and energy living life instead of at the computer blogging about it.  But okay, first, I will post 2 pictures from the 4th of July parade!

Rashed, Isaac, Noah, and cousin Brandon

Grandpa and Aaron

 





I've been reminded that homeschooling actually keeps you at home! Just me and the kids. A simpler kind of busy I guess.  Summer activities - not so much!  So I'll "see" ya when I see ya!

More Laughs from a Six Year Old

A couple more things that Aaron has said recently that made me laugh.

Yesterday he helped me make cookies (which are somewhat rare around here because they're too hard for this Mom to resist eating!)  While I was cleaning up, I turned from the sink to see Aaron licking spilled sugar off the counter, like a dog, which was funny enough!  But then he told me, "There was so much sugar that I couldn't even taste the counter!"

Later, he declared "I love cookies!  They're my favorite circle thing!"

He's also still calling pirates "Pie-Rips", which cracks me up every time.

Here he is, ecstatic after beating everybody at UNO!  What innocent joy!

Dog-sitting

Our dog Chester is having a 6-night sleepover with his friend Pharoah.  Well, perhaps calling them friends is not exactly accurate.  Chester is a little annoyed with having another dog invade his territory, but they're getting along better than they did the first day.  Maybe by the end of the week they will be friends!

Don't they look like they could be related?  Chester is the smaller one.  Pharoah lives up to his name and is the larger, grander one.  We love Shelties; they make great pets!

Moooooo!

This is Lucy. She is part of the Cow Share program that we just joined. I'm so excited! A cow share program is when you buy an interest in a local farm's cows. And then you get to regularly pick up your share of the raw milk from the cows each week.

Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized (heated) or homogenized (processed to keep the cream from separating). Raw milk retains all of the natural vitamins and minerals, enzymes, and healthy bacteria which are killed during pasteurization. Real milk is naturally very healthy, while commercial processed milk can be linked to dozens of chronic health issues. One study I read recently found that calves who were fed pasteurized milk taken from their own mothers died within 6 months! In most states, it is illegal for farmers to directly sell raw milk to customers. But through a cow share program, non-farming people can get nutritious REAL milk. (see www.realmilk.com or www.rawmilk.org for more information, and different state laws and farms.)

When we go to the farm, we fill our half gallon jars with milk from a huge, silver refrigerated milk tank. The milk goes straight from the cows to the milk tank without ever being exposed to oxygen. Raw milk is safer than it may have been in the past due to modern milking equipment and refrigeration.




This week I made butter from the cream that rises to the top of the milk jars. It's very easy using a food processor.




I went to a "milk class" at the farm last weekend where I learned how to make yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, butter, and ice cream. All are very easy to make. We may have to increase our share to get more milk each week if I make various dairy products regularly. We're going through it faster than we thought we would! A friend is also gong to teach me how to make mozzarella cheese. I can't wait; I love fresh mozzarella cheese!

Two of our boys, as well as myself, have had sensitivities to commercial milk in the past and could not have it regularly. But all of us are tolerating the raw milk just fine (which is very common). I'm enjoying drinking milk again!

Happy Holidays

The holidays seem long past now, but just so I can feel free to move on, I'll post a bit about our Christmas and New Year's Eve.

We celebrated Christmas with my family in Illinois. After the ice storm on the 24th, several inches of snow came on the 25th & 26th. For once, more snow than back home in Michigan! Saturday the 26th, we traveled with my parents through the snow to my brother and sister-in-law's home in Chicago.


Aaron with chocolate money from his stocking


Isaac, apparently happy with the stash of goodies he found in his stocking


Noah found the hidden pickle ornament!


hanging out with my uncle's sister's grandchildren on Christmas evening, whom the boys had never met before!


driving slowly to Chicago on the 26th


opening gifts at my brother & sister-in-law's apartment in Chicago


My brother's dog Manu being friendly with Aaron!


family picture at my brother's


quiet, snowy residential block in Chicago


a quick drive down Michigan Ave. in Chicago

Back in Michigan for New Year's Eve, we celebrated at home by ourselves. We pigged out on steak (grilled on my new stove-top grill pan!), with cheese and chocolate fondue. Then everybody, even Aaron for the first time, stayed up until midnight playing games, watching TV, and goofing around, as usual.


fondue! Just for Aaron, we tried dipping tater tots in the cheese. It was a hit!

Waiting for the ball to drop, just before midnight:






I crocheted my way into the new year working on an afghan, that looks more like a scarf so far. We'll see if I can get it finished before the end of winter 2010!


Here's to a happy and healthy 2010!

Santa, Reindeer, a Christmas Tree, and The Parsley That Wouldn't Die

(I enjoyed writing that title!)

Here's a bit of what we've been busy with the past 2 weeks, other than finishing up school for the year, and getting ready for Christmas . . .

A week and a half ago, we still didn't have a Christmas tree. So when Rashed had a day off work, we decided that would be the day to find our tree. First, we went to a lot with cut trees set up near a local shopping area. After only 5 minutes of wandering through the lot, with the wind blowing hard, and near zero degrees wind-chill, we found ourselves questioning our sanity and asking "WHY are we looking for a tree outside today??"



The trees were very pretty, but we decided their prices were a bit too high for us, so we hurried back to the warm van and went to Christmas Tree Place #2.

Christmas Tree Place #2 was Horrock's - a local specialty grocery store and garden center that we love. Their trees were outside, but blocked by much of the wind - yay! We quickly found a fair-sized tree that caught my eye for some un-known reason because they were all bound up and you couldn't see their shape. But this one called out to me, and home it came. After thawing out a bit in our garage and relaxing it's branches, we put it up in the house the next day. And it had a great shape!









a growing Snoopy ornament collection, that started with this first one which I've had since I was a child







(sorry, he's out of focus for some reason, but I didn't want to leave him out)

The next day, we went back to Horrock's; this time to see Santa and 2 real live reindeer. I've never seen real reindeer before. I thought they were very cute - like a mix of moose and deer.

We've never made a big deal about Santa at all, and Aaron has never done the sit-on-Santa's-lap-and-tell-him-what-you-want-for-Christmas thing. So after I quickly explained the drill, he eagerly climbed up on Santa's lap and told him he wants Legos and cars and Sponge Bob stuff for Christmas. And then Santa just kept chatting with Aaron for a couple minutes, it was so cute! After Aaron got down from the sleigh, he stopped and turned around and said "Santa? I have a question. Are you real?" Exactly like that, word for word! I guess Aaron was confused because we had told him that the story of Santa delivering presents to kids all over the world in one night, with flying reindeer, was not real. Santa poked his arm and his cheek and pulled on his beard, and said "Looks like I'm real!" Aaron just looked at him for a minute, and then said Okay! and walked away.






(aren't they cute?? By the way, the owner said they have to keep them in an air-conditioned barn in the summer!)

And finally, The Parsley!

Maybe I'm just ignorant about the hardiness and strength of parsley. But weeks after putting our garden "to rest" for the winter, one of the boys noticed that this potted parsley, which had been sitting just inside the gate to the garden, was still green and alive! We brought it up near the house, and I actually used some in November! It hasn't continued to grow, but it certainly seems to have no plans on dying this winter, as evidenced below:

December 4: (after 8 inches of snow)


December 11: (after 14 more inches of snow over 4 days)


December 14: (after several nights of temps in the teens, and wind-chills in single digits)


We're calling it our Miraculous Christmas Parsley. We'll see if it holds up in the new year!

May you have a joyful and blessed Christmas!