A Father's Dream Come True

Emma had long been lobbying to ride the mower. Erik's legs aren't quite long enough yet. But Emma's are...Here's pictures of Emma mowing the area outside our fence (because there are no obstacles). The funny thing is that Doug wouldn't let her drive in high gear. She was going very S-L-O-W-L-Y! I think Elisha could have run faster than Emma was driving ;-) Erik can't wait for his turn to drive the mower. Of course, he'll have to wear goggles and a mask because of his allergies! And Doug is just counting the days when he will no longer be responsible for the yard (I'll find something else for him to do...)

Pear Butter

Last spring, Emma and I took a canning class. We were anticipating a great harvest from our first garden. Well, the tomatoes didn't cooperate...although Everson enjoyed picking tomatoes as soon as they were ripe...and eating them right off the plant!

Last week, I split a case of 150 pears with someone from our produce coop. They weren't ripe when I got them. But it seems that my 75 pears all ripened at the same time. After forcing pear upon pear to each of my family members, I decided to actually put my canning class to good use. I had made pear butter before, only to have it eaten immediately by my children. Ellie and I processed a TON of pears. My wrists were sore from peeling. Poor Ellie's hands were tired from wrangling slippery pears so she could slice them.

At the end of the day, I had made a whopping 7 half-pints of pear butter. One was used at dinner on fresh bread, served with chicken noodle soup. One is in the fridge and the remaining 5 are in my pantry. What a great feeling! I can can anything! Last night I found a recipe for a marmalade that uses carrots, oranges, and lemons. I think I may just try it on my unsuspecting children. They DO like carrots, but the thought of spreading cold, mashed carrots on bread gives them the shivers.

Fortunately for me, my mom has done 3 estate sales this fall...and I have benefitted greatly...I have many many canning jars and rings.

We learned a lot from our garden this summer...how to grow things in the hot hot Texas sun...how our compost has to be more diverse...how strawberries need to be planted in the part of the yard that has more shade...

Next summer, I want to make and can spaghetti sauce and salsa!

An update on some close friends of ours: Many of our NY friends and family know David and Becky Pence. Pence Camp. "Parents" of Napoleon the Hedgehog...Ellie's first cousin ;-) Becky was diagnosed with thyroid cancer a few years ago. She has annual cancer screenings involving an iodine-free diet and radiation. This past winter, Becky was treated with her radioactive iodine...and then found out that she was pregnant. Before treatment, a pregnancy test was run...and the tech didn't read the report. I've pasted her email to this update so you can know and pray. Also, last Christmas (before the radiation and pregnancy), David and Becky completed foster parent training and were called with a placement for an infant. So in the midst of all of this, they have been parenting Aimee...and planning to adopt HER. I'll leave the rest of the information to Becky to explain. I'll keep you posted.

1. Madeleine Elise Pence was born on Monday, October 20th at 3:59 pm. She weighed in at 7lbs 4oz and was 20 inches long. We still do not know what, if any, effect her prenatal exposure to radioactive iodine had. So far she's been a bit of a human pin cushion as they draw (or attempt to draw) blood to run tests. She will see a pediatric endocrinologist on Monday for further evaluation. We're hopeful that, by then, they will be able to run the appropriate blood tests so that the doctor can give us some information.
2. Aimee turned 1 on September 17th and started walking not long thereafter! Her new daycare center also finally opened...just in time for her to start daycare before Madeleine arrived! It seems hard to believe but she will soon be with us for over a year now. She's getting so big and has quite a little personality of her own.
3. Aimee's parents had a crucial court date in early October. At that time the judge heard testimony and ruled them negligent parents...the first step towards terminating their parental rights. The next court date is scheduled for December 1st. On the 1st the judge will rule as to whether or not her parents have abandoned her (since they will not have seen or attempted to see her in over 6 months by that time). If the judge rules that they have abandoned her then their parental rights will automatically be terminated and she will be freed for adoption on the 1st! Once that happens, it's just a matter of filing the proper paperwork and waiting for a court date to finalize the adoption. We're hoping that it will be finalized in early 2009!

A recent conversation prompted me to give consistent blogging another try. Regardless of whether people leave a comment or not. Regardless of whether people send me newsy emails...though it would be nice to hear how your life is going...

We're in the throes of ballet and basketball. 3 hours of basketball practice (homeschool jr high boys) coached by Doug. Erik goes to practice and gets quite the workout. 5 ballet classes and a total of 7 hours of Nutcracker rehearsals last week. Plus AWANA.

And, oh yes, school.

And legos for Everson.

And Demolition Activites for Elisha...That kid is B-U-S-Y. His current favorite toy: anything with a cord. My blender base. The electric pencil sharpener. The handle to my electric knife (minus the blades, of course). Oh, and he likes remote controls too.

The kids participated in a History Fair last Thursday night. It's an annual event for our homeschool association. Erik and Ellie made a display on Lewis and Clark. Ellie even dressed up as Sacajawea and Erik was Meriweather Lewis...complete with coonskin cap and paper moccasins. Emma and her friend Stephanie did a display and mini-speech on The Great Depression. They even dressed up in 'depression-style' dresses and went barefoot.

We've been watching The Waltons on Wednesday nights after AWANA. The kids look so forward to popcorn, apple slices and The Waltons. Last year it was The Brady Bunch.

Monday and Wednesday are my stay home days. Today I'm doing some baking. I've already made homemade graham crackers - YUMMY and will be baking some bread this afternoon.

NUTCRACKER NEWS

If you have ever remotely considered coming down to TX to see Emma in the Nutcracker, you might want to consider coming this year. Not only will you see Emma as a Party Girl, Soldier and Tea - you'll see Ellie make her Nutcracker debut as an angel (on stage TWICE) AND you'll also see a cameo appearance by ERIK as a Party Boy and a Gingerbread Kid (the ones that come out from under Mother Ginger's dress).

Contact me for performance dates and to tell us when to expect you.

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY

MISS ELLIE CHRISTINE!

As our youngest daughter,

she's more than we could have asked for or imagined.

Our lives are full of laughter and joy because we have Ellie.

In case you were wondering...

ERIK IS STILL ALLERGIC TO MILK!

Last night at the dinner table:
"Mom, this soymilk tastes funny."
"Erik, that's rice milk, not soymilk. Just drink it."

Upon watching Erik take sip #2, I realized that he was sitting in Everson's seat. Not his regular seat. Drinking Everson's milk. Not his rice milk.

"Erik! That's cow milk!"

Up he ran to get his allergy bag and drink 2 teaspons of Benadryl...then started coughing. And coughing. And saying things like, "My throat feels funny." Lips started swelling. Eyes started watering. Ears started feeling funny. Coughing progressing.

"Erik, get your shoes on," said his father.

Upon entering the lobby of the Emergency Room, I tell the nurse that we were in early anaphylaxis. A moment later, she reappeared with a pulse-ox meter and said, "We'll take you right in."

An hour and a very big and painful steroid shot and 2 back-to-back breathing treatments later (and jittery from the drugs), we are discharged with an rx for a steroid to take for 4 days.

"Tomorrow, we re-establish our dinner table routine," said his mother.

(Bald head happened 2 weeks ago)

Happy 1st Birthday Elisha John!

Weather Forecast for the week...

H-O-T
B-L-A-Z-I-N-G
S-C-O-R-C-H-I-N-G

101 today. 103 Monday. 100s all...week...long...
Nighttime lows...mid 70s.
(But still better than a New York Winter)

We'll be swimming many many times this week. Everson wants to go swimming 11 times today.

A week of milestones...

Elisha began crawling...

BOTH Emma and Erik conquered their fears of falling and taught themselves to ride a bike.

Erik can finally enjoy the 2 wheeler he bought himself LAST year with birthday money. Doug took Emma out on Saturday to buy her own bike.

Ellie continues to develop as a swimmer and bike rider and Everson still loves to jump in the pool and swim underwater across the pool.

Hi y`all in NY.
Emma here. I`m just going to tell you about what`s going on here. It`s so hot here! I am so tan it`s not funny. I look like a peanut ! LOL.
Ballet is good. Ballet summer intensive starts soon, it`s when we do ballet classes for one week in the summer , Ellie and I both are doing it!
VBS is tomorrow. It`s hawiain theme ! I am exited!
This year I am trying out for Nutcracker AND THE WIZARD OF OZ!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can finally ride a two wheeler bike! $I earned ten dollers for it!$ : )
Thats really all. Bye!

LOVE
EMMA

Pictures from May in no particular order...

This picture of Elisha is actually from late April...my how he's growing!

My Three Sons...looking clean and spiffy for church. Of course, Everson has on flip flops ;-)

Everson loves to climb the ladder of our new pool, then jump off and swim across the pool. Definately a water lover!

Everson is making his best "I'm-Indiana-Jones-don't-mess-with-me" face.

The older three spend LOTS of time in the pool! With temps in the high 90s for 3 weeks, they are quite tan...and they sleep well at night!

THE GREAT WALL OF WEST TEXAS

Since we moved in, I have dreamed of a brick patio next to our house. Kept it in the dream category, since I was not going to spend the $$ to buy bricks. Tom came across roughly 2000 clean, used bricks. He loaded them onto his trailer...all by himself...in 3 trips. Doug and the kids unloaded them. Then Doug got to work on clearing and leveling the ground between our house and garage. Forkful by forkful, the job was completed...mostly by Doug with some help from me and Erik...Erik did a super job with the bricks and the pattern...just like using legos!
This is just the beginning. The patio will go past the blue stroller all the way to the basketball hoop. If you scroll back to the top picture, you can make out the basketball hoop by the tree...just to get a sense of the S-I-Z-E of the patio that is getting put down. I'm sure Doug knows the exact dimensions, but all I can say is that it's BIG.

Update: Doug says it's about 15 x 30.
All we need now is a truckful of sand to be delivered so we can fill in the cracks and level out any wobbly bricks.

Kids on Easter Sunday. My mom had bought the dresses a year ago for the girls.
Cute...even though he's sideways. I'm too busy to fix it right now LOL
Bathtub buddies.

My mother and Tom bought us some fruit trees...NINE of them. 2 pear, 2 plum, 3 peach, 1 gala apple and 1 fig. So this weekend, Doug and the kids got to work on digging holes. Here's some pictures of their work. They are all a bit sunburned...Doug is the worst off, but seems to be faring well. Looking forward to the day that these little trees help lower my grocery budget! Come on down to Armstrong Farms!
Behind Emma is Tom's Chuckwagon-building-site.

Elisha enjoyed some snuggle time with Daddy at the Airshow on Saturday. The USAF Thunderbirds performed. INCREDIBLE! Didn't get any good pictures...it was my turn to hold the baby and cover his ears from the noise. Next year, we'll bring earplugs for him.

Glimpses of February...enjoy the show

Sickness abounds. Again.
As soon as I can stop coughing long enough to load pictures I will. Oh and I have to finish sterilizing the house from top to bottom. Again.
This one I'm blaming on Doug. ;-) He came home Monday not feeling well and was full-blown sick by Tuesday.
And it's supposed to hit 80* today! Too bad we'll all be too sick to enjoy it...

Emma participated in an annual art competition here for 5th grade students. Each fall, the Symphony Guild holds an "Art to Music" Competition. ALL 5th grade students in S.A. compete in this competition...I think the number is around 1500 (can't find the letter that says exactly how many, but that's the ballpark). The students were split into groups, each group listening to one of the 4 movements of Respighi's The Pines of Rome. As they listen, they create a piece of art with their interpretation of the movement. The pieces are then submitted and judged. Emma placed 4th for her movement, making her one of the 16 finalists...out of the 1500 participants... Next Saturday we will attend the Symphony, along with the other 15 students and families. The Maestro will recognize the students prior to the piece. The winning artwork will be displayed in the atrium as well as during a slide show during the actual symhpony performance. It's all quite exciting for Emma. Can't wait to see what our little artist created!
This is Everson and his best buddy from church, Joey. They bought these matching hats at AWANA Cubbies "store night". And yes, Everson has this little 'attitude' much of the time LOL.

Sickness...

Have been to the dr 3 times in 3 weeks with sick kiddos. Having 5 makes me wait until I'm really sure they need to be seen. Erik had the sore-throat-swollen-tonsil-thing from October and was given more antibiotics. Elisha now has RSV. Thanks to his age and, ahem, girth, he doesn't need hospitalization. Just nebulizer every 4 hours. Fortunately, Erik knows all too well how to use the nebulizer, so he and Emma are the "lucky" ones to do most treatments. (I knew I had so many kids for a reason).

Funky yuccy weather...happens each January for a few weeks. Then our winter should be ending.