I am recovering from the most awful poison oak that I have ever had in my entire life. And I still don’t know exactly how I got it. Either the dog, chickens or the children.  Everybody who has seen this rash has instructed me to stay out of the poison oak. I know this. I have never once been in the poison oak. Yet, since we have moved to this house I have had it non stop. Usually just little spots here and there. I think mostly from doing laundry. The children are all extremely careful not to let it touch their skin. They wear long jeans and boots. But then those jeans get tossed in the laundry and I grab them not having a clue they are loaded with the oils from the plant, and a few days later I’m itching. 

But this time has been horrid. I have a couple of patches that are the size of my hand and are so painful, itchy, and burning that I have thought I might loose my mind. I have smothered it with poison oak itch relief lotions. But there was not much relief. I had to wrap it in gauze because it was weeping so badly that it was soaking my shirt. Very gross. My whole body would involuntarily twitch from all the different sensations running through it. Then it seemed to be starting to get infected. That was when I talked to my doctor. Who quickly called in a prescription of Prednisone. With in 24 hours, the itching had almost stopped and it was already beginning to heal. Now it is looking much better. I’m hoping it doesn’t leave a big awful scar. 

 

We set out Sunday afternoon to find a Christmas tree. The first farm we went to  (which the children had seen last year and chosen for the place this year) was not opened yet for the season. So we headed down the road a way and found another one that was ready to sell Christmas trees to eager little children. And adults too I guess. We stomped around in our rain boots looking for the perfect tree.  We have always had the challenge of trying to get the right size tree for the little corner it will stand in. They always look so small until we get them home and then it’s like they grew in the truck on the way home and now overpower the space intended. But this year, the challenge was finding a big enough tree. Since we don;t have nearly enough furniture in this house to fill it up, the space for a tree is as big as I want it. But this farm didn’t have very big trees. So we tried to find the biggest one, about 8 feet, and then the boys cut it down. Part of the fun for them is carrying that saw around thinking about falling the chosen tree.

 

 

Discussing the best way to fall the tree…

 

With the tree in the truck, we headed home for about an hour, which was just enough time to get the tree in the stand and standing straight and tall. Then we were off to the church to play the parts of the Nativity for a Living Nativity and Christmas tree lighting. We were asked to do it because of Julia. They needed a baby Jesus. And, well the rest of us could pretty much fill up the whole stable as angels and shepherds and a drummer boy. The children were thrilled to hear me say “Yes” that we would do it. They have spent the last few weeks discussing which part they would dress up as.  The older boys immediately chose to be shepherds because there would be live animals. And Gabe wanted to play the drum, so that was easy. And the girls chose angels. And that left Eric and I as Mary and Joseph. The children were supplied with unlimited cookies and hot chocolate by the older ladies of the church. They didn’t want them getting cold outside. And Julia did amazing. We wrapped her up in swaddling clothes and laid her in a real manger on top of a bed of hay. She lay there and grasped at the hay. She would try to eat it every once in a while. I would hear people say “Oh my goodness, look at that, they have a real baby Jesus in there!” 

I often wonder what Mary thought that night. Giving birth in a barn. I don’t think that was part of her “Birth Plan”. Had she brought along special little baby things for baby Jesus? Did she cry because they were surrounded by animals? That her Mom and midwife didn’t make it? All alone with Joseph, who had probly never even witnessed a child being born before. Had never even seen Mary undressed. I am so amazed with Mary. Her willingness to serve God. To help him carry out a plan that would save this whole world. So unselfishly. 

I spent most of the day today driving around trying to find a hose to replace a broken one in our septic tank. Eric thinks we have about a day or two before it starts backing up into our house. Which made me very motivated to be successful today. After eight stores, 100 miles and 5 hours, a part has been ordered. Tomorrow I will find out if it was the right part when I pick it up.  Oh, how I hope it is!

~cheryl

It’s been too long since my last post. Mostly because I just don’t find enough time in the day to get everything done AND then post it. I just downloaded a few weeks worth of pictures from my camera. It’s always fun to look at what has happened and been captured on the camera. Eric took the three older boys hunting and came home with a deer which they turned into different types of sausage. The girls, Gabe, and I went to Grandma’s house to just spend time with her. We had a girls night and got our nails done and went out for dinner. We quilted and drank tea and just visited. It was a special time that I am glad I was able to do.

I got to thinking about this house. Our dreams for it is a total remodel. HUGE. Move walls, change the kitchen to the opposite side of the house, add more garage bays, a hallway upstairs…but that requires saving alot of money before we can start. Which I am fine with. The last thing I want to do is start something that we can’t finish. So as I look at each of these rooms, there is nothing I like about them. Most have never even been painted and what has been done is just plain awful. My original mindset was just bear the ugliness until we can remodel. But then I have really been struggling with contentment. All I can think about is how much I will really love this house someday and how much I really don’t like it at all right now. Then I realized how foolish I was. With a little, ok-maybe a lot, of paint and some hard work shopping craigslist and garage sales, I can make this house a home right now. And if the day never comes that we get to remodel this house, well that’s just ok with me. I am going to love it right now because this is what I have. So…I have a number of projects in the works right now. The nursery, a stairwell, and the kitchen. As I was painting the walls in there, I kept looking at the awfully stained cabinets. And then, all of a sudden, I thought “Wow, those would look really good if I painted them black and distressed them!” But Eric is never really excited about me painting over solid wood anything. So I called him and asked what he thought about black cabinets. He said “Sure, honey. I think that’s a great idea!” So before he even got home that day, I had the boys sanding down the cabinets and getting ready for me to paint them. I still have a lot left to do, but every day it’s looking better.

We found a bunch of clearanced light fixtures at Lowes, so those will replace the hall lights. None of which match. And I have had alot of fun finding great deals at the construction resale store. Oh, and Joann’s Fabric had a great sale on their clearanced fabric, so I have plenty of fabric to make window coverings now. Just need to find time to sit down and design and sew them. 

I love bulbs. Why? Because of the beautiful bouquets that I can cut in the spring and fill my house up with and give away to friends. Now I have never planted bulbs for a couple of reasons. But mostly because we would always be moving again and so planting something that I had to leave behind seemed like a waste of money. But then this fall Costco had bulbs. So I bought some. Then a few weeks later they clearanced them. So I bought a lot more. And without even realizing it, I had 1400 bulbs that needed to be planted this winter. Oops!  So Eric and I spent a few hours this weekend planning where we would plant these bulbs so that they don’t rot. And, so that I will have thousands of flowers to cut next summer!! But I’m thinking that I went a little overboard because I waited for so many years to plant bulbs!

We awoke to snow this morning. The boys didn’t even eat breakfast. They threw on whatever snow clothes they could find, since we seem to be missing a tub, and headed out to the hill on the side of our house. A ramp was quickly assembled and they were soon flying down the hill, hitting the ramp, and sailing through the air. They played all morning till the snow was melted.  Then they came in, did their schoolwork and headed back out this evening when it started snowing again. I always think it looks so beautiful when it snows. So clean and pretty. But I do hate being cold. So I’m not outside that much when it gets so cold.   

 

 

Gabe wanted to sleep in his “Fort” today for nap time. Looks like he fell asleep watching it snow!

 

 

Julia does this funny little thing where she lifts her legs and arms. It looks she is free falling from a plane!

I laugh every time she does it, so now she looks at me, makes eye contact and does it!!

 

Early in the morning..

 

The sausage smoking that Eric and the boys made from their deer.

And it tastes so good!

 

 

Shopping with sister.

 

Tired of Jumping.

We bought baby chicks a few months ago. And now they are big chickens. And because Eric has not had time to fence off our property, he made a “temporary” chicken cage. But, we have 35 chickens.  Eric had thought more would die as babies. But they all lived. They have surived the children holding them. Even Gabe. And then there’s Josh..

I was walking with him back to the chicken cage and he asked me if I had seen “Chicken Fly”. I asked him if he meant “Chicken Run”? “Nope,” he replied, I mean  ”Chicken Fly.” At about that time we were back by their cage. Josh hopped over the fence, grabbed a chicken and threw it up in the air, as high as he could, while screaming “CHICKEN FLY!!!”

At that point I screamed too. The poor chicken. Every chicken was balking and squawking as if to say, “Not Me!! Not Me!! Choose her!!” I explaing to Josh that this was a bad idea and that he could hurt the chickens when he threw them. No more Chicken Fly.

Back to today. I have been feeling awful that these chickens are all caged up. they have eaten every piece of grass, so they just have dirt to run around in. So in the morning, I asked Ben to go open the door to their cage and let them roam free for awhile. Then we can call them “free range chickens” Just kidding. Around 2:00pm, I realized that I need to make sure all the chickens were in their cage because it would be dark when we got home that evening. 

One hour later, and with the help of the three boys, we had all the chickens in their cage. Oh, how I wished I had never let them out. I tried catching them, bribing them with grains, corralling them. I even let the dog try to chase them. It was awful. It has been raining alot here. So everything was mud. I slipped and fell more than once. I scratched my hands up with the blackberry bushes. I accidentally got into the poison oak. I was thinking really bad thoughts about those chickens. Like how I didn’t care anymore if they got gobbled up by some animal in the middle of the night. Or how maybe a shotgun would solve my problem. I even had mud caked under my fingernails. My pink and black rain boots were covered in chicken poop and mud. 

And then finally, we had all 35 chickens accounted for. Locked up safe and sound in their chicken cage. I then raced back to the house in my rain boots, and told all the children to get in the car. We were already going to be late for practice. And all of a sudden, as Josh raced back into the house and past me for the third time, I realized that trying to get all seven of my children into the car took as much skill and determination as trying to catch all 35 of those chickens. Each child has to at least once run back in the house because they forgot something. Or need to go to the bathroom. Or they are thirsty.  And I say “GO!! Get in the car now!! We are late!!” And then the next one comes running in and I say the very same thing again. Over and over, until every child is in the car with their seatbelt on. And we are driving.

Sometimes when I dump my pictures on my camera, there are pictures that show up that I did not take. I try to encourage the children to be creative with photography, so here are their pictures. Not sure who took what. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~cheryl

Today while I was driving, I was talking to the boys. We have spent years working on being dry at night. I am tired of wet beds, buying the Goodnights,and trying to wake up boys who can’t seem to wake up in the middle of the night. We have tried just about everything. And finally, I think we are getting somewhere. So today, as I was buying them a treat for being dry for ONE WHOLE WEEK, I said, 

“Boy’s, I am thrilled to death that you are finally learning how to be dry at night!!”

to which one of them replied…. 

“Guess we better keep wetting the bed, we don’t want you to die from so much excitement Mom.” 

I must remember to be more careful in how I say things! (As I think about that saying, it really is quiet an awful thing to say. Time to remove that one from the vocabulary!)

~cheryl

Today I …

trimmed 160 fingers and toenails

prepared 24 meals (8 people x3 meals each) and 12 snacks

washed 7 loads of laundry

paid bills

broke up fights

cleaned up broken glass

wiped away tears and mended broken hearts

ran my finger along a window sill and made note to myself I should dust someday

painted some words on the wall that were needing to be finished up

hung up some curtains

thought about taking a nap

admired lego creations (Ben and Michael are hoping to get their picture in the Lego Magazine)

encouraged creativity (Josh brought me weeds, grass and a rock as a gift for my kitchen window sill)

took pictures of Jules because she just turned 4 months 

thought about all the things that I need to write on here so I can remember them in the years to come

~cheryl

 

(this is a self portrait of Michael. He loves the timer mode)

 

(Ben did the editing on the pictures of him) 

 

why I have so much laundry. socks. no shoes.

 

the result of chopping wood with a hatchet using the wrong end. It bounced back and left it’s mark. Good lesson learned with very little trauma. For that I am VERY thankful.

 

4 MoNtHs!!! Hoping to get in some more pictures in the next day or so.

 

 

 

 

self portrait

 

 

oh, how i love baby toes!