Tackle It Tuesday

So, it's Tackle It Tuesday. Last time I sorta went along and tackled the same thing 5 Minutes For Mom did - Christmas Shopping - one of my favorite things in the world to do. :-)

Today, Mom's Tackle didn't really apply to me (she's working with birthday parties), so I will come up with my own.

I am missing some papers that Artie is wanting to see. He really wants me to write more and I wrote a few things for him over the summer. Now he wants to see them and I can't find them. It's not really I can't find them - I know exactly where they are - they are on my hope chest in a BIG pile of papers and books. So, I'm gonna go through all that mess and find them for him. (don't get excited, I'm not cleaning or filing anything in the pile - just looking through!!) :-)

How do you write if you're not a writer? How do you start? What do you say?

I'm great if someone has a question about my sphere - being a Christian, homeschooling, large families, mothering, children, husbands, ...but to just put my ideas on paper, kinda lost. Any advice?

Anyway, I'm off to find my stuff....


Edited - Okay I did throw away some stuff - but most importantly I found the papers Artie's wanting. They are all nice and crumpled and laying on his side of the bed. :-)

Menu Plan Monday

We're trying to get back on (and stay on) track for the week. I think I'm still catching up from Artie being off work over Christmas. He went back to work last week, but between taking all the little children to the dentist and then our after school appointments I didn't feel like I got much accomplished. With horseback riding on Saturday - I didn't get to go to the grocery store for our weekly groceries. I'm just gonna see what I can do with what I have in the house and then have a big grocery day after pay day.



Monday - grilled pork chops (Artie's the cook on the grill)



Tuesday - leftovers - BBQ hash, stew beef and baked potatoes, Manwiches - fix your favorite of what's in the frig



Wednesday - chicken noodle soup for the littles (me and Artie out to grab a bite alone while they are in church classes)



Thursday - Little Caesar's Pizza (wrestling night)



Friday - Mama's lasagna



Saturday - Chicken and dumpling soup (Rachael Ray- Emily's school cookbook this year - it's called Comfort Foods)



Emily tried to cook this last week. It turned into a 5 day soup. She had to dice celery, peel and dice carrots and potatoes, chop parsley, cube and brown chicken...it took forever. 30 min? Forget it!!! :-) She did a little bit each day. Yesterday, we went to finish it and I ruined it. I had a new pot and turned it up on high to get the broth to boil to add the dumplings in and the pot melted on the stove. Artie did taste it before it was boiling and said it was the best soup he had ever tasted. It never made it to boiling - I scorched it. I called Artie's mom and she said that kind of pan can't cook on high - it didn't say that on the pan!!! So, I'm hoping to go and find another good stock pan this week before I try the soup again. I'm gonna get it ready as far as Emily had it and then let her finish it up. I felt so bad about ruining it, she had worked so hard. We had BBQ hash with a roast Brenda had cooked earlier in the week instead.


Sunday - roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, rolls, green beans

Stephen's Second Wrestling Tournament

Stephen went to his second wrestling tournament last weekend. He did so good!! It was at Eastside High School in Taylors. Troy and Brenda with us.

If you remember from his first tournament, he wrestled Bo - the boy who won the whole competition for his weight class and age. We arrived at Eastside and went through skin and nails check and then weigh it (Stephen's wrestling in the 60 lb group - Bantams). When we went to the chart to see when, where and who Stephen was wrestling - there it was...BO AGAIN first!!!

Wow, that was hard!!! The first time he wrestled - it went for about 10 seconds. This time Stephen held on for 4 1/2 minutes with him!!! Bo still pinned him, but wow what an improvement over last time!!!

I tried and tried to upload the video, but it didn't want to. Maybe because it was too long? :-) (4 1/2 minutes!!) :-)

So, anyway, he's doing great and learning so much. Bobby had so much fun watching the first tournament that he's joined too. Maybe he can be in the next matches - I think they will probably be at Belton Honea-Path in February.

Mama and Emily's birthday!

We had such a fun day. Emily and I got to celebrate our birthdays together. We went to Shenandoah Farms right here in Gaffney and went horseback riding. It was the first time any of the children had got to ride a horse. We rode for over an hour through all sorts of trails.

Troy and his horse Fat Boy acted up a couple of times and my horse - June - had to put him in his place!!! (I really did ride - I'm just not in the pictures - I was the last one on my horse so I was able to get a picture of everyone and then had it the whole ride)

Everyone loved it. Terry loved riding with "no hands" !!! We kept having to tell him to hold on with both hands!!

Brenda's ready to go back for her birthday in August!

Edit: I got the volume turned off the pictures unless you want to turn it on. It was driving me crazy!!! :-)

Emily's Birthday

Salutations friends, (Emily's favorite word from the book)

We celebrated Emily's and my birthday yesterday.



I am hoping to post some pictures later today.

When we got back we enjoyed cake and Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. It was yummy. Emily's cake was beautiful. Emily and I just finished Charlotte's Web on Friday afternoon. (Actually Artie got to finish it with her - I was reading the last chapter with her and then Stephen got sick and I had to run to CVS -is there another store now?- and get some more Pepto and ginger ale for him - Artie said he would help her and they finished the book - so here I read here the whole book and Artie read the last 2 pages and Emily says Daddy and Mama read Charlotte's Web to me!!)

I've been getting children's cakes now for 17 years and this is the first cake I've ever seen with Charlotte's Web on it before. (maybe there were there and I just wasn't looking for them?) This was perfect!

For anyone not up on their Charlotte's Web - that is Fern (the little girl) and Wilber (the pig) on the cake - Charlotte didn't make the cut? :-) And doesn't Wilbur look Radiant?

I am from...

I found an old post from Elizabeth at Real Learning today and decided to try it for myself. Wow, it made me cry to write it.

I am from...

I am from Count Chocula, Spaghettios and Little Debbies, shopping at malls and eating Chick-Fil-A and Long John Silvers (anywhere in a day's driving distance), grabbing a quick chili cheese a plenty from the Beacon (where my mama and daddy use to date) and listening to Elvis.

I am from bike riding, Girl Scouts, dancing and gymnastics. Reading more and more books, the older I get, the more I love them.

I am from a two story white house trimmed in brown, with a room of my own and a play room beside (one of the benefits of being an only child) with a piano in the living room waiting on me to practice!!

I am from a old fashioned Baptist Church - filled with my family and friends and stained glass windows on the sides.

I am from a little southern town, full of yes mam's and ya'lls. Summers spent toasting my body in the warm Myrtle Beach sun, watching the leaves change in the fall and even every now and then enjoying a little snow (even here in South Carolina!!)

I am from THE USC - a converted gamecock through and through.

I am from the USA, my daddy and grandfathers all serving in different branches of service, with my son blazing straight ahead to follow in their footsteps (against all his mama's better judgement!!).

I am from my nanny and papa's house, the one you had to get to by driving up the road covered in trees. I loved to look at the sunshine peeking through every time I road up the hill, sleeping in my papa's night night shirts and helping my nanny cook chicken pot pies for his lunch (we knew there were green peas hiding there - shhhh!! papa doesn't know) and then later playing nurse to my nanny as she was sick and dying.

I am from my Mimi and Grandy, who moved back home to help take care of me when my mama died.

I am from the Oxendines - the most loving people I have ever known, always good for a laugh and a hug, always make you feel better about yourself than you know you really are.

I am from the Clarys - strong, sturdy, God fearing, always there.

I am from my Carolyn, who always stood by my papa's side - even though she wasn't always appreciated for all she did by everyone - she has all my love and respect.

I am from Daria, who taught me what it looked like to love Jesus on the outside of your life.

I am from my daddy, a hard worker with a big heart.

I am from Artie - we grew up together. Picnics at Miliken, days at Carowinds, nights eating tacos and watching movies, hours upon hours planning our lives together (seems like there was talk of having a baby or two?), :-) lots of smooching in a little white Celica. :-) I am who I am because of him.

But most of all, I am from my mama. My heart and soul. My desire. My example.

Looking back over my life as I write, the coolest thing is seeing everyone who made me who I am - all love Jesus. I have been so blessed with such a godly heritage. God is good!!

Here's an old end of year meme I found. I just updated it a little.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?

First Triple Sale

Artie and the children had many more firsts than I did...

Artie - skydiving
Brian - got a scholarship
Troy - got driving permit
Brenda - went to youth beach camp with church
Emily - cut hair for Locks of Love
Stephen - started wrestling
Bobby - started gymnastics
Terry - started speech class

2. Did anyone close to you give birth? no - what a shame!!

3. Did anyone close to you die? my Uncle Jimmy - what a sweet man, it hasn't been to long since I also lost my Uncle Bob.

4. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? a clean house!!

5. What was your biggest achievement of the year? learning how to save more money on our families groceries

6. What was your biggest failure? yelling at my children

7. Did you suffer illness or injury? No, praise God. Brenda did break her wrist - first break out of seven children - pretty good huh?

8. What was the best thing you bought? a zippy little car from my daddy

9. Whose behaviour merited celebration? Artie - he's a doll, such a hard worker and great husband and father - they should give out an award!!

10. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? skipping this answer :-(

11. Where did most of your money go? still with all I saved, the most went to groceries!!!

12. What did you get really, really, really excited about? starting back to church, homeschooling the girls, school days at their grandparents', saving money at CVS :-)

13. Compared to this time last year, are you:

happier or sadder? happier
thinner or fatter? same
richer or poorer? richer, in many ways

14. What do you wish you’d done more of? relaxing, playing with the children, having more dates with Artie

15. What do you wish you’d done less of? cleaning floors (I want to have floors clean - just wish it took less time to do it!)

16. Who did you spend the most time on the phone with? Artie - this answer would have been the same over the past 25 years!!! :-)

17. Did you fall in love in 2004? still in love!!

18. What was your favourite TV programme? The Unit

19. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? nope

20. What was the best book(s) you read? Real Leaning by Elizabeth Foss and lots from Beverly Lewis

21. What was your greatest musical discovery? YouTube

22. What did you want and get? a new camera

23. What did you want and not get? a clean house - (a theme here?)

24. What were your favourite films of this year? not from this year - but still Legends of the Fall and The Notebook

25. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 29? 39? Yeah, I think it was 39 - guess the memory is the first to go? We are going to celebrate this weekend - all going horseback riding

26. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? sticking with the theme - a clean house!!

27. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? can't even answer that one - no fashion concept here!

28. What keeps you sane? Jesus and only Jesus :-)

29. What political issue stirred you the most? none yet, beginning to research presidential candidates

30. Who did you miss? Daria still and now Gwyn. I miss Sandy too - even though she is still nearby, I hardly get to see her.

31. Who was the best new person you met? LeighAnn - Brenda's discipleship leader

Planning Day - Brenda's School

Brenda's school will pretty much stay the same as far as her books.




I have just ordered The Days Gone By by Ted Jacobs. It is poetry set to music. Emily used A Child's Garden of Song and loved it. I hope Brenda will enjoy this one as much. It has poetry by Eugene Fields (Wynken, Blyken and Nod), Emily Dickinson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Whitcomb and some others.





We are hoping to pick up more of Trial and Triumph - somehow it didn't make it in the rotation much last semester. It's a great book of the history of Christian martyrs.





Brenda's main change this semester is an apprenticeship with a man from church called "Stick" - that's "Mr. Stick" to you Brenda. :-) Stick trains labs for hunting and show. She is going this week for the first time with her Daddy and they will set her training schedule. We've been looking for a while for someone to teach her - so hopefully this will work great. She will be able to learn a lot about raising and training dogs. Hopefully Elmo (our new puppy who still loves to potty in the house) will learn lots too. The goal is eventually for Brenda to raise her own dogs to sell for her spending money. We are training her to find ways at home to make money so she doesn't have to go out in the work force - continuing with her training to be a Keeper at Home.








Here is a picture of the kennels. They have a 10 acres area to train. Brenda is so excited to learn it all.

Planning Day - Emily's School

I have spent most of the afternoon (around a wonderful nap!!) working on school plans for the upcoming semester. Most will stay the same. We are changing Emily's history. Troy is our history buff - so he is going to work on history with Emily. We decided to just start with the beginning of our country. They will read Stories of the Pilgrims by Margaret B. Pumphrey. We read this when Brian and Troy were younger and we lived in Gastonia. They enjoyed it very much.










The next book we will be adding to Emily's school is James Herriot's Treasury for Children. This is a beautiful story of animal/nature study. Brenda read this when she was younger. Maybe a story a week from this book.












We will finish up A Child's Garden of Verses and then begin When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne (author of Winnie the Pooh). She is very excited about this one. Jan 18 is Milne's birthday, so we might have to have a little party to kick it all off?? :-)








We will continue with The Blue Fairy Book - (we read Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella last semester). Our new fairy tale will be Little Red Riding Hood. That should be very fun too.







I am very pleased with the way school progressed through the fall. We learned much and have lots still to go!! We are hoping to go much farther with sewing with Granny and then gardening this summer in our Keepers Series. (Emily's cooking is coming along wonderfully!!) We are also hoping to add in some swimming lessons and then maybe joining the swim team for some good exercise????

Stephen's First Wrestling Tournament

Stephen went to his first wrestling tournament today - hosted by Team Indian here in Gaffney. He did so good, even though he didn't win. The boy he wrestled first - Bo - won Stephen's division - the coaches said he's one of the best in the state. The second boy he wrestled, came in third place. So, I was really impressed with how good Stephen did - he got the first take down in both matches. The second match, he lasted twice as long as the first one. I can't wait to see the next time.

He's on the left in the opening of the video - wearing Team Indian All Black. I didn't have enough room to tape the whole match on my camera, but at lease I got a little bit.

Christmas 2007

Hope you enjoy a little of our Christmas. I feel like such a bad mama, I didn't get many pictures. I'll try and do a little better next year. This isn't too bad considering I got 35 minutes of sleep before Artie's mama woke us up letting us know Santa had been there!!! (If you click on the two buttons on the bottom left a little Christmas music will play for you)

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What's a Girl To Do?

I just re-listened to a wonderful tape by Doug Phillips of the Vision Forum - What's a Girl To Do? Great listening if any of you ever get a chance. It speaks to mothers and fathers as how to raise your daughters (and a little thrown in on sons too). Very sage advice.

I think I will have Brenda listen when school is up and running again.

Here's a meme from Footprints on the Frig. I so love books, so this was a pretty easy one for me.

1. One book that changed your life: The Spirit of Loveliness by Emilie Barnes - I so love Emilie's writings. She kinda stepped into my life through her writings and taught me of being ladylike. My second daughter is named after her. Also, Love Life for Every Married Couple by Dr. Wheat - a wonderful book for newly married - great for setting the stage for marriage. We studied this in a young married home group and Artie and I could always tell when the other person had been reading "the book"!!

2. One book that you have read more than once: A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola- one of my favorite homeschooling books; I think I am about to reread Real Learning by Karen Foss - I just got it a couple of months ago and it made it to my favorite home school list too. Then the children's books are uncountable - probably the one I've read the most is Little House in the Big Woods - I love the list of kitchen foods like onions hanging on a rope and hams hanging from a hook.

3. One book that you'd want on a desert island: Bible

4. One book that made you laugh: God Uses Cracked Pots - Patsy Clairmont - I use to shake the bed trying not to laugh out loud when I would read this and Artie was asleep - he would look at me and say "are you reading "that" book again?"

5. One book that made you cry: Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom - not many books make me cry - but this one is so touching and life changing

6. One book that you wish had been written: how to mother 7 children and know they will all walk with God

7. One book that you wish had never been written: Harry Potter

8. One book you are currently reading: Sanctuary by Beverly Lewis, Created to be his helpmate by Debi Pearl, Mere Christianity with Brenda, Charlotte's Web with Emily

9. One book you've been meaning to read: Healing Life's Hurts Through Theophostic Prayer by Edward Smith - my best friend Daria sent this to me months ago and it's taking me a long time to get to it. What I've read so far is very moving - lots to think through. It has already changed the way I see God seeing me.

Once again, God has been so gracious to our family. Christmas was all we could hope for and more. We truly are blessed. We spent our holiday with our family (wishing our closest friends were nearby!!!) and enjoyed each other. Saturday we celebrated with Daddy and family,

(Papa and Karen's house)

(Papa)

Sunday we celebrated with Bobbie and family, Monday we celebrated with our church family, Tuesday we celebrated with Mimi and family and then today we ended it with another celebration at Bobbie's. WOW, what a fun time.

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with our own "little" family. :-) We have been observing Advent and ended it with a wonderful Christmas eve time of devotion and prayer. We followed it up by watching the Nativity movie. It was a little long for the younger children. I think we will save it to watch again until they are a little older.

We did throw a couple of presents in a long the way. Everyone got new PJ's for Christmas eve.

My favorite present isn't even here yet. While Artie is on vacation, he is going to give the children's fort a makeover. We are gonna paint it, add two more swings (plus fix 2 that are broken), add a telescope and a couple of steering wheels, replace the broken monkey bars, add a sandbox off one side. We were originally getting the little children a child's four wheeler but decided this would be safer and give hours more fun. No running out of gas or waiting on their own turn.

So, a couple of other fun presents...

Brian got me a pretty watch and bracelet set

Troy got Daddy a weight bench

(this is the first year the boys have had jobs and their own money for presents, I think they really enjoyed it)

Brenda got Emily a princess coloring poster and some lotion for Granny.

Emily got Artie wire cutters and me a candle holder with burgandy candles.

Stephen and Bobby got Brian silver chunky jewelry that said Bling, Bling on the box. Fit him perfectly!!! :-)

Terry got Troy a phone from the Dollar Store. He was so excited because he knew Troy had been wanting a phone of his own!!! (he's so sweet!!!)

It was the day after Christmas.

The pastor of the church was looking over the cradle when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from among the figures. Immediately he turned and went outside and saw a little boy with a red wagon, and in the wagon was the figure of the little infant, Jesus.So he walked up to the boy and said, "Well, where did you get Him, my fine friend?"The little boy replied, "I got him from the church.""And why did you take him?"The boy said, "Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to the little Lord Jesus and I told him if he would bring me a red wagon for Christmas I would give him a ride around the block in it."

God's Girls in Bethlehem

Here is Brenda's Discipleship Group. LeighAnn (the leader) is in the front with the red shirt. She took the girls to a Walk Through Bethlehem last weekend. They had so much fun. LeighAnn gathered them all a period outfit to wear while they were there. (she's so cute and creative) Brenda is the second from the right in the blue covering. It was a cold night, so the extra layer of clothes was a double blessing. I think it was really great for the girls. Brenda said she was scared of the soldiers who were taking the census. I would love to take the little children next year.

Christmas Eve Chili

This is one of Artie's favorite meals. He usually eats way to much and gets sick from it. :-) We usually have it on Christmas eve - it's so easy. If I was really good - I'd make it ahead of time, but I'm not there yet. I did just get all the ingredients on my grocery list - so I've started.

This recipe comes from an old friend named Michelle. We use to be in a Young Married Home Group together (back when we were young) :-) It so easy, you just open some cans and dump it all in. She use to fix it for work a lot before she was married. (See, I don't know how to cook anything on my own. I've just learned from all the ladies around me.)

Ingredients:

2 16 oz cans of diced tomatoes

2 16 oz cans of lite red kidney beans

2 8 oz tomato sauce

2 packets of chili mix

1 pound hamburger browned and drained

That's it. We usually triple this recipe for out family. It's good to eat in a big shell, or with chips or saltine crackers. We also like cheddar cheese sprinkled over each bowl.

Don't eat too much.

Mimi's Dressing

So, maybe one day I'll get good enough to take pictures after I cook things, but so far - not!! I did get some pictures of the girls making dressing at Thanksgiving - but nothing of the final product. I looked online and couldn't find anything that looked like our, so you'll just have to imagine.

This one is more time consuming that the fudge and pies (cause I need to have a turkey cooked first), but still not hard. (Brenda loves to cook the turkerys now. It's been over a year since I've really cooked one)

Ingredients:

corn bread (directions following)

6 Grands biscuits - cooked

1 onion - diced (Artie hates onions in things, so I puree mine - he does likes the flavor they give)

2t sage (or maybe a little more - that's what makes it to me)

6 cans chicken broth

gravy from turkey (I cook a large can of cream of chicken soup inside my turkey and pour a good bit of it in the dressing when it's done - I save the rest of it and make gravy with it - it's so yummy)

salt and pepper

Pepperidge farm herb dressing

bake 30 minutes

That's all the directions I have. We cook the cornbread and biscuits first and then let them cool. Shred both and add to the Pepperidge farm dressing - mix them up good. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then add in the gravy from the turkey and finish it with the chicken broth. It should be a little soupy. Pour in a 9 x 13 pan and bake. It's a very full pan - be careful.

Bobbie's Cornbread (Artie's mama)

(I didn't fix dressing for a long time because I didn't know how to make cornbread. It's so easy - I can't believe it took me so long to ask how to make it!)

Ingredients:

1 cup self-rising cornmeal

1 cup self-rising flour

1 egg

2 T oil

1 cup milk or buttermilk

Combine all - bake 425 for 25 minutes. Easy enough? :-)

Mimi's Chocolate Fudge

While I still have my cookbook out, I guess I will post of couple more recipes. Here is Mimi's fudge that the girls and I cooked last week and Mimi's for school. We made three batches and it's so yummy!!!

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter

5 cups sugar

1 can of milk

Cook the above 13 - 15 minutes

Then add:

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 large jar of marshmallow cream

1 cup peanut butter

1 t vanilla

Mix well until all melted. Pour in 9 x 13 pan. Also to set up and harden (sometimes I stick this in the freezer as well and then transfer to the frig)

Everything we cook is so simple - but this is a lifetime favorite. I've been eating Mimi's fudge since I was a little girl. We were talking the other day trying to figure out where the original recipe came from. She couldn't remember - maybe the back of the marshmallow cream jar? :-)

Mimi's Peanut Butter Pie

This is one of my favorite recipes from my Mimi (my daddy's mama). It is at most all our family get togethers at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Troy thinks you can't have these holidays without these pies (recipe makes two) and it's so easy to cook up. Often I will stick them in the freezer to firm them up good.

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cups peanut butter

1 cup milk

16 oz cool whip

2 graham cracker crumbs

That's it - simple as can be.

Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth. Add peanut butter and milk and beat again until smooth. Fold in cool whip. Divide in pie crusts and refrigerate for several hours. (this is key, you can't whip this up right before a meal to serve - it's usually best made a day in advance)