Sylvia Turns Seven!

I don't know how it happened, but my baby girl has turned seven! That big little girl you see signing the number '7' is Sylvia!!  So hard to believe that seven years ago, I gave birth to her in the bedroom, my one and only home-birthed baby. 

 As I do for all my babies, I let them plan out a birthday menu for the whole day and then we go shopping together to get what we don't have. Sylvia wanted waffles for breakfast, tacos for lunch, sloppy joes and onion potatoes for dinner. She wanted a cherry cake with vanilla frosting and cherries on top and neapolitan ice cream to go with it. 

 Since this is an odd-numbered year and all the kids turn odd-numbered ages, we won't have any birthday parties this year. Andrew and I have agreed that kids don't need a party for every birthday and this is how we can easily keep track of who had a party and who didn't. It's pure luck that we had all four kids on even numbered years.

We keep it simple with birthdays and besides the special birthday menu, I hang up the birthday banner for each kid. We give two gifts-- something to wear and something to play with. In this case, a pretty dress for a pretty girl and a baby doll to play with. Grandma gave pajamas and a Lego set. A phone call from Grandma and Grandaddy made her day, too!

Sylvia is such a sweetheart, always thinking of others and perfectly happy to play on her own.  She doesn't care much for movies and usually, while everyone else is watching a movie, she'll wander off and find something else to do. She's sensitive, easy to cry and gets upset when she does something wrong. We always say that she has an old soul, she seems so content with life and it's not often she'll complain about things, but just keeps going, life goes on.

We love that girl-- our one and only born in West Virginia baby. 

Happy Birthday Sylvia!

We love you so very much!!

xoxo

Halloween 2011

The thing about living in the country is that we're so spread out from neighbors that children can't trick or treat around here. People look for other ways to go trick or treating, like the mall or other venues. A local church in town hosts a 'Trunk or Treat' in the parking lot out of the trunks of their cars. It works well, the kids yell "trick or treat" and a little something-something gets dropped in their open bags. We thought we'd try going to one of the little neighborhoods as well and I was quite surprised, though I really shouldn't have been, at how many people were parking their cars and walking around the neighborhood.  There must have been hundreds of costumed kids! I hope those houses stocked up on candies! We went to a couple of houses and then decided to head back to the car, there were just too many people and cars and I didn't think it was safe anymore. Plus, it was cold and started to mist so after a quick walk through the small shopping strip where each store was also giving out candy, we came home.

I made Peter a Transformers costume!

He loves Transformers and has several cars he goes to bed with. I found an image of Optimus Prime from the original Transformers cartoons and used that as my inspiration. I purposely made the outfit a little bigger so he could wear it longer and while I was sewing it he was so excited, trying on unfinished pants and sleeves and shouting in his little 3-year old voice: "Transformers! Transformers!" It's made from warm fleece, which could also be used as jammies or a regular outfit.  I also made a mask from the Transformers autobots logo but he refused to put it on for the picture. I could barely get him to stand still long enough for a picture.

So, time for trick or treating and what does Peter do? Absolutely will not put on the costume. Fine. He can use the Popeye shirt. Nope, won't use that either. I know! We'll put him in camo pants and he can use his camo jacket and he'll be hunter boy, except his camo pants were in the dirty clothes basket and after a sniff-test, determined to be too stinky to wear. We finally managed to get him dressed in regular clothes and after much screaming and whining, got him buckled in the car to go. He perked up once we got out of the car and went trick or treating.

Miss Gretchen as a pink princess.

Someone tell my girls to stop growing up! They were so excited for make-up! I never use make-up myself, but I had coupons to get free make-up, luckily, and bought some eye shadow, blush and lipstick just for Halloween.

Evelyn started out as Frankenstein's bride, but morphed into a black princess bride. I wasn't able to get to the store and buy hair stuff to make her hair black and add white stripes to her hair, but she was ok with that. She was just as excited to wear make-up and I tried to make hers a little more dramatic and boy, did she look like a different girl with all that make-up on! She made Piggy a costume, too!

Miss Sylvia wanted to be a princess, too, and while looking for a fancy dress to wear, she spotted this old Cinderella costume we had that was down in the basement for a couple years. It just fit her and she opted to wear this. Flimsy and poorly made, but she was happy and that's what matters.  I made her wear a shirt and tights underneath since it's see-through and it was cold.

Happy Children make for a Happy Mama.

I'm disappointed Peter didn't wear his costume, but I know he'll wear it later. I enjoyed making it anyway.

Hope Halloween was good for you, too!

Yard Sale Finds

We haven't been yard sale-ing much this summer. When we do go, I try and make up for lost time and hope, hope, hope that each yard sale I stop at, something good pops up!

Pickings have been so-so, but we did get lucky and found these adorable doll beds!

 They stack to become bunk beds and the girls really love playing with these.

We've talked about making blankets and pillows but there's so many other projects going on, we haven't gotten a chance yet. Probably later, during the colder months when we're all cooped up in the house, those long-awaited projects will get started. For now, they swipe their old baby blankets from the closet and fold them over to use for their dolls.

Want to guess how much I paid for them?

Two dollars!!

Score!



More Milestones

We've had lots of milestones lately. As the family grows, the milestones come more frequent and I am constantly reminding myself to take photo evidence of each event. When Evelyn was born, we easily filled several photo albums of pictures with nothing but Evelyn. Along came Gretchen and we barely filled one album of photos. Then the digital camera entered our lives and along came Sylvia, then Peter, and I have yet to even put one photo into an album since. I'm so grateful to this blog, or else the kids will grow up and wonder if perhaps they were adopted, as there are barely any pictures of them to show otherwise!

Sylvia lost a second tooth recently. Another easy pull and pop! it was out. She still has the remnants of sun blisters on her cheeks from the sunburn we all got while in Florida. Evelyn has a bunch of loose teeth and Gretchen has been wiggling one... We may have to start a fund for the Tooth Fairy!! :o)

Gretchen got her ears pierced! I always told the girls that when they felt ready, they could get their ears pierced. She's been fretting over whether it will hurt much and here's what Evelyn told her: "First, Sharon will numb your ears, then you'll feel a pinch, and the next thing you know, you got a hole in your head!" It was a little more complicated than that. :o) She burst into tears after the first earring was in, wailed that it hurt and tensed up. I could see that if it had been me doing the piercing, she would be pushing my hands away by now. Sharon, the piercer, was wonderfully patient with Gretchen and offered soothing words of comfort. Plenty of experience guided her to know she needed to move quickly and while I was bribing Gretchen with a milkshake afterwards, she deftly pierced the second ear and it was done! Four days later, she is happy with her decision and following orders to keep turning the earring and keeping it clean. She is eyeing the pink dangly earrings I am wearing and I promised her she could have them at the end of her 6-week healing period.

We had our first corn-on-the-cob this year, here. We had cobbed corn in Florida, but this is our first at home. Not grown by us, obviously, but we couldn't resist and boy, was it ever tasty! A common summer meal for us is BLTs and corn-on-the-cob and we had an early start on it this year.

Just seeing Peter enjoying that corn so much makes me want to eat one, too! I'll try and refrain from buying any more corn unless it was grown locally, but just this one time... :o)

Milestone

A major, major milestone for Miss Sylvia-- her First Tooth!

Such a practical kid. When I asked her to open her mouth, she opens it. No struggle, no clamping shut of the mouth, just: "ahh!"

So easy, this one!

As soon as she was done gargling with the salt water, she put her tooth under her pillow and didn't even listen to Daddy phone the Tooth Fairy. I told him he was wasting his breath.

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On the other side of the spectrum:

Miss Gretchen was upset after I pulled out Sylvia's tooth. I thought maybe she didn't like the sight of the blood-- I pulled it in the dining room, just to see if it was ready and it came out easily. Gretchen holed up in her room and when I checked on her, she was crying, but didn't want to talk. I finally got it out of her. Wanna know why she was upset? In between sobs, she asked, "How come it was easier for Sylvia?"

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I'll tell you why it was easier! With Gretchen, everything comes with a little bit of drama. A loose tooth? As soon as my hand comes even close to her mouth, she clamps it shut and whimpers and whines and cries that it's going to hurt. After much pleading and bargaining and cajoling, I might get my hand on her tooth only to have her pull my hand away. Going out? She'll complain she has nothing to wear and takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to pick something out. New clothing? If it isn't the right color or even a little bit too big, she won't take it. Meal times? The pickiest eater ever! Chores? Let's not go there.

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Hopefully, when Gretchen saw how quick it was for me to pluck Sylvia's tooth today, the next time she has a loose tooth, she will just open wide and let me get my hands on it, without clamping shut her mouth or whining or pulling my hand away at the last minute. I'll remind her how easy it was for Sylvia and it could be easy for her, too.

Wish me luck! :o)

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Birthday Girls

2011 is the year of odd-numbered ages for our kids. Through no planning, all the children were born on even-numbered years. This month, Sylvia turned 5, and Gretchen, 7. I like to make the day special for each birthday by asking them to plan the menu and pick what kind of cake they want.


Sylvia requested cherry cake with chocolate frosting, so I made a yellow cake and folded chopped cherries into the batter before baking and between layers I put in cherry jam, then topped it with homemade chocolate glaze poured over the top. It was rich and yummy.

Gretchen wanted strawberry cake and strawberry frosting and I confess, I bought the cake mix and frosting at the store for this one. She was with me on our 'mama/one kid' day out and we went through the baking aisle and she spotted the cakes and frosting section. So I let her pick out what she wanted. It was good cake, but man, that frosting was sweet-- it made my teeth hurt!

On Saturday, my Aunt and Uncle stopped by to give the girls birthday gifts, so I made yet another cake-- this time carrot cake with raisins added, yum! Next Saturday, Andrew's folks are coming over for birthday gifts, so I'll make another cake-- not sure what yet. Four cakes in a month, that's some kind of record for me!

Happy Birthday girlies-- We love you both so very, very much!

Love,

Mama and Daddy

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Catching up

* None of the fallen feathers from the chickens go to waste around here. The kids like to gather them up and make things with them. Cat toys are the main project, but Evelyn crafted this indian hat and was so proud of it. With all the sales on school supplies going on, I am stocking up on plenty of markers, crayons, pens, construction paper, and glue. Glue goes fast around here and we have already used up one bottle within a week of purchasing it!!

*Sylvia's 'attachment' preference is tape. Lots of it!! She uses so much of my tape that I have to hide it or else it will be gone. On one of our little visits into town, we decided to let the kids have fun in the dollar store and pick one item each to get since they had behaved well that day. Sylvia picked tape! 8 rolls of tape for $1! I tell ya, that was the best thing she could have ever picked! She likes to wrap little toys in construction paper ( trying to get her to switch to newspaper) and lots of tape to seal it up, then she leaves her "presents" around the house for us to find and unwrap. I swear she uses half a roll of tape just to tape one present! But it's her tape and her dollar, so I'm not saying a word. I try to show her she can use less tape, but she pushes my hands away and keeps at it.

*Andrew has the day off on Sunday, so I am going to butcher a rooster or two for dinner that day. It cannot be put off any longer! Just this afternoon, looking through the window, I caught 4 roosters, taking turns, mounting one poor little hen! Poor girl! I rushed outside and scattered them, but told myself it's time for them to go. The young ones are almost as big as the older ones, and if it wasn't for their non-existent spurs, I'd never be able to tell which is which! Only the two older roos have long spurs.

*Working on a wet walnut how-to post. I should have that up next week. I popped open one of the jars I canned last week, poured some on ice cream and it's so good! I'd like to try it with pecans one day, just substitute the walnuts with pecans. Maybe over the holidays when the nuts go on sale... This is when I miss living in Louisiana where we could pick fallen pecans and fill paper bags full of them for free!

*I think Peter is ready to be potty trained. He keeps taking off the diapers or he sticks his hand down the front of the diapers to play with his willy and then the fit gets messed up and the pee trickles down his legs. After the supply of diapers I have runs out, I'll be switching to training pants and then start potty training. I can see the light at the end of the diaper tunnel!! hooray!! more than 8 years of constant diaper changing and I'll soon be done!

*One of the young hens laid their first egg today! Pretty soon, the other ones will start laying and I should be getting at least 8-10 daily. When I have several dozen, I'd like to try and sell some. Make a sign and hang it out front. I might be able to avoid doing that and sell to friends and family only. Did you see that massive recall on eggs the other day??? Good grief! Makes me happy I have my own chickens.

*My mom feel down twice this week. Makes 3 times this year. Nothing broken or sprained, but she gets sore and hurts a few days afterwards. I need to keep a closer eye on her and get her in for a check-up. I want her to live a good long time, watch her grandchildren grow up and hopefully, she'll live long enough to see her great-grandchildren, too.

*Good news/Bad news:: I got my period/I'm not pregnant! It's never fun or easy when Aunt Flo comes to visit me every month, but when she is here, it's a relief to know I have dodged the pregnancy bullet once again. Andrew has an appointment for a consultation for getting snip-snipped! I can't wait! No more worrying when Aunt Flo is late or having to deal with raincoats anymore! Was that TMI??? :o) It's my blog, I can write what I want!

*It's almost time for that children's consignment place to start up again. I think I'll be selling the kids' out-grown clothes there for sure. The foyer has boxes and boxes of too small clothing they don't wear anymore and it looks like a yard sale is not going to happen this year. I am considering volunteering one day a week with the sale, because she added a new bonus to volunteers this year:: for every hour past the required 4 hours you volunteer, 1% will be added to your percentage of the sale. If you just consign, the percentage you earn from the sale of your goods is 50%; with the volunteer hours, if I worked 2 8-hour shifts, that would net me 12 (16 hours minus the required 4) extra percent to my sales making my total 62%! So if I sold $100 worth of items, I'd get back $62 instead of $50. Makes a difference.

Andrew usually gets 2 days off per week, so if I can leave the kids home with him, get there early and stay most of the day, I could handle a day or two per week and try to volunteer at least 4 days which would give me, hopefully, 48 hours of volunteer time. That would be equal to 44 percent added to my 50 which makes 94%! In the past, money earned from the sale of our items went to pay for car insurance. It sure would be nice to have that extra money again. The sale starts Sept 13th, so that gives me a month to get ready for it.

*It's the weekend! Andrew is working Saturday, so I'll be canning tomatoes in the cool of the morning before it gets too hot. Off to bed for me!

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Lingering

Last Saturday, the 10th, I thought most of us were mostly better and we all went to the birthday party/easter gathering. Andrew and I were still sniffling, but the kids seemed to be alright.

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More than a week later, most of us are still down with the sickies. I am so sad that my children look like this most of the time:

Poor Sylvia.

There have been lots of early nights, much napping, lots of wadded tissues found here and there, cough drops to ease those sore throats, and extra blankets on these nice Spring days.

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Poor Andrew is hit the hardest, I think. He has chills and lots of sinus troubles and I think it may be a combination of the sickies and the pollen around here. Our local paper says it's the first time in nearly 100 years that apple and peach trees have blossoms at the same time and also a first is redbuds and forsythias blooming together. It's an explosion of colors and flowers here and oh so pretty to look at when we drive out.

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Nearly all our flowering trees are blooming, or have already bloomed-- the lilacs, dogwoods, azaleas, redbuds, rhododendrons, peach, pears, and cherries.

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Hopefully, we'll all soon be completely done with the sickies. I'm sick of being sick.

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Random Winter Thoughts

Heading out today to the Library, I was pleased to see that the snow is finally starting to melt. I'm not tired of the cold, but I am tired of looking at the same, dirty snow from before Christmas. The snow by the road is yucky and brown and the snow in the yard is dotted with chicken, dog and cat droppings. No wonder the kids don't want to play in the snow!

The weather has warmed up slightly and I had the windows open to air out the house! It got up to the 50s the other day and my mom thought I was nuts! I thought it was nice out there and it was so lovely to smell the fresh air coursing through the house. It's funny how after several weeks of 20-degree weather, 50 can seem so warm!

One of my hens is going broody. I don't like to interrupt their laying process so I wait until after they get out of the coop to gather eggs, but every time I check, the same hen is still sitting on her and the others' eggs. After awhile, I reach under and collect the eggs. It's too soon to let her sit and try to hatch eggs, but maybe sometime in February, I'll let her sit on them. I figure by March, any chicks hatched will be alright with mama if it gets chilly, but it shouldn't get as cold as it has been by then-- knock on wood. If she is successful, she'll save me money on buying more chicks.

Garden dreaming is on the brain these days. Andrew and I are determined to do better in the garden this year, so we are planning and thinking and talking. I'll be making a small greenhouse for my seeds to start in, and we are coming up with ideas on how to build it and where to put it. Meant to get it in before the snow but.... oh well. It'll get started when the snow is completely melted.

Tax-time is coming. ugh. 2009 is the first year in a while where Andrew has worked the whole year at one job. It won't be the biggest, but it should be something, better than last years refund, I hope. The first thing we'll get, if possible, will be a new chainsaw for Andrew. He really needs a new one, as the old one keeps crapping out and parts keep getting replaced. I watch him get so frustrated with the old one and because of all the trouble it gives him, and we really didn't prepare enough wood for the winter. We are being stingy with the wood stove and if it's possible to be warm by adding a sweater instead of starting a fire, that's what we do. There's a local chainsaw shop that gives credit for trade-ins so maybe that will cut down on the price a little bit.

I'm dreaming of cherries. I know it's way too soon for cherries, but I am down to my very last jar of cherry almond jam and I am savoring every bit. On a whim, I added almond extract to my last batch of cherry jam and it has turned into something the whole family cannot get enough of! I only had 4 pints of it so we tried our hardest to make it last. This coming cherry season, I'll be sure to make several batches of cherry almond jam!

Evelyn got a sewing kit from an auntie for Christmas and she has just blown us away at the stuff she is creating! I think she has my knack for coming up with things without a pattern. The kit came with several pre-cut felt pieces to sew together and stuff to make a cat, dog and elephant and some fabric to sew into a pouch to hold it all. She made the stuffed cat and the pouch, then raided my fabric scraps and started making her own designs-- a purse with a latch and a pocket on the front; a little stuffed flashlight with a button for the on/off switch; little purses for her sisters.... She now talks about making a basket and after telling me how she is going to do it, I am impressed with her thought processes. If she keeps this up, I'll give her my old sewing machine whenever I get myself a new one. Hmmm... a chainsaw for Andrew and a sewing machine for me??? Oh please let this be a nice tax year for us!

Sylvia has mastered the computer and now begs to play computer games every time I get on here. She is pestering me now, and I need to get off anyway, so til next time!

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Introducing Youngest

Exactly 4 years ago today, I had Youngest at home with the help of a midwife. She was a surprise pregnancy and when I figured out the day she was conceived, it was on the very last night in our old house! We were too busy packing and painting and making moving arrangements, plus we had two little ones to care for, to have any fun but we made sure to have one last farewell romp in our old bedroom. Hmm. :o) After moving here, I couldn't stand how the office smelled, to the point where I was ready to gut it out. Andrew couldn't smell anything weird and smart guy, he managed to prevent me from doing anything drastic. I finally figured out I was pregnant when I missed a period *gasp!* Well, good thing we moved to a bigger house then, right?

As with the first two, we wanted another old-fashioned name. Once again, we had no idea what the sex of the baby was, but we still couldn't settle on a boy name. We had several girl names we liked, so we thought maybe it would be a girl. After 3 pushes, the baby was out-- a girl! Meet...


...Sylvia! Today, the birthday girl turns 4!! Happy Birthday Sylvia!

She is such a sweetie, a tender-hearted little girl, who plays well by herself as long as she is within sight of me. A girly-girl, she loves pink, pink, and did I say pink? If she could, she would wear dresses every single day, just like the one she is wearing here. I have to make her put pants on or put on a long-sleeve under it because it's 27 degrees outside!

Here's her birthday menu requests: Pancakes for breakfast; Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for lunch; sandwiches and potato salad for dinner; strawberry cake with chocolate frosting.


Andrew calls her my shadow. Where I go, she goes. She is always near me and when I go outside, she'll come with me. Even if it's just a quick in-and-out, she wants to come with me. When it's time to pick tomatoes or grapes or something from the garden, she'll always be my helper. Though when it comes to the chickens, she tends to stay in the house-- She doesn't like the rooster because he pecked her before and tried to keep her in line like he does the hens. I tell her she is bigger than he is, but in her eyes, he is the big one. Maybe come Spring, her fear of him will loosen and she'll help me gather eggs.


Her older sisters tend to play together and leave her out sometimes, though we try to stay on top of that and encourage games and other activities that include everyone. When it does happen, she'll play with Baby and if he's napping, she'll play by herself. She imitates her sisters, always trying to sing what Gretchen is singing, or using Evelyn's language or copying her attitude. Evelyn was always starting a sentence with: "The problem is..." even if it had nothing to do with the topic. So little Sylvia was saying that: "Mama, the problem is...I love you!" Always a pause after saying "The problem is..." I would be busy feeding Baby and she is impatiently tapping my arm, which is kind of annoying to a deaf person, and then when I snap "what?!", and this is what I'll see-- Sylvia signing "I love you" to me and then I feel bad for snapping at her.

Such a sweetheart, always giving me hugs and kisses and only wants me to put her to bed at night and always sneaking her way onto my lap when I'm at the computer or when we are watching a movie together. She sits next to me at the table and will not have it any other way.

We love you Sylvia, very, very much! Happy Birthday little one, and may you have many, many more!
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