Twiddling Our Thumbs

A handsome fellow came by for a visit not too long ago-- he's a distant cousin of Thumbelina and Tom Thumb. Meet...

...Handsome Harry Thumb.

He's a funny fellow, keeping the kids roaring with laughter and entertaining us all during these dreary winter days. We were sad to see him go, but something about soap and water makes him skedaddle!

Don't they look like twins??

Hen Output

The hens have been doing a fantastic job of laying eggs lately. They have been laying between 8 to 11 daily!! That's a lot of eggs, even for this family of 7! I have been giving away eggs by the dozen to family and friends because we just don't eat that many eggs, and certainly not on a daily basis. I'd like to sell some, but have yet to take that step to advertise. In the meantime, I don't mind sharing the bounty.

Eggs will be on the menu for breakfast tomorrow. I still have to eat soft foods while my mouth heals from a pulled tooth, and eggs will be perfect! Happy Weekend!
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Year of the Tooth:: Extended

You know how sometimes you think things aren't so bad and then boom! along comes something to make you change your mind? Yeah, you've jinxed things by thinking that.

A few days ago, after that snowfall we had, the one where we sledded and had lots of fun with, then conveniently melted away the next day. That was easy. I thought that we had gotten away with Winter's wrath, compared to last year when we got pounded with snowstorm after snowstorm. So far, all we had gotten was little bits here and there that quickly disappeared almost as fast as it came.

I should have kept my mouth shut.

We got pounded yesterday and ended up with over 10 inches of wet, heavy snow. The kind that sticks in clumps to the branches, bending them over nearly double. The kind that you better shovel as it falls or else it's too heavy when it's all said and done.

And I had an appointment for the dentist this morning to get a tooth pulled.

Lucky us, I didn't jinx us too bad. Our super swell neighbor came by with his tractor last night and plowed our driveway for us. My Mom got the 4x4 fixed so we had a way to get out of our steep, slippery slope and to the dentist's office. The dentist's office was open, despite the whole county shutting down. Yes, lucky me!

And good-bye terrible tooth that had been bothering me for quite some time, waking up to shoot my nerves with every bite of something sweet, or something hot, or even worse, something cold. I'd do the head shaking dance trying to get my tooth to settle down and after awhile, using sensitive toothpaste, gargling with warm salt water and popping pain pills just wouldn't do the trick anymore.

The dentist let me keep my terrible tooth and I'm using it as a lesson for the kids-- to brush their teeth often and well so they don't need to visit the dentist with terrible teeth, too. In all my years of going to the dentist, I've never been sent away with a clean bill of health. I've always had a cavity or two, a crack or chip. Once, I had 6 cavities to be filled when I was little!

I need to take care of the teeth I have left-- I'm afraid I'll end up with false teeth one day, and I'll play jokes on the grandchildren and leave my falsies in the water glass or give them gummy kisses and they'll remember me on my deathbed as the granny with no teeth.

Maybe I'll hang the terrible tooth in the bathroom as a reminder to the kids to brush brush brush! Or maybe not-- ew.

Take it from me and my terrible tooth: Brush your teeth! And don't forget to floss!
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Gretchen's 6th Tooth

We had another visit from the Tooth Fairy-- Gretchen lost tooth number 6! But, oh! The drama that surrounds losing a tooth for Gretchen... phew! She makes pulling a tooth like, well, pulling teeth! It takes me a good 10 minutes to get her loosened up enough to even let me get my fingers on that tooth, and that's if I don't give up in exasperation! It's a lot of coaxing and pleading and bribing and yes, shamefully, begging her to let me pull it. Her tooth got bumped a couple times before and bled, and the new adult tooth was already poking through behind it, so it really needed to come out.

The second it's out, she's all smiles and proud and dashes to the mirror to see her new grin. She's happy to gargle with warm salt water and dutifully uses the whole cup, though it has long since stopped bleeding. Then she poses for the camera before running through the house, showing everyone her new tooth!

Daddy makes the phone call to the Tooth Fairy, putting in the request for a visit. The kids love when he makes the call, and Daddy certainly enjoys making the call. One day, I'll have to write down everything he says when he calls the Tooth Fairy, it cracks me up! She got two dollars for her tooth.

Incidentally, many of Gretchen's pictures look like this. I have to take multiple shots to make sure I get one with her eyes opened. When I asked why she keeps closing her eyes, she says it's because of the flash. She doesn't close her eyes as it flashes, she closes them in anticipation of the flash! Silly girl!

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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Snow Day!

We had a great day on Tuesday-- we woke up to snow! I like it when it snows during the night and seeing the excitement on the kids faces when they look out the window in the morning. Of course we were going to go out to play in the snow-- who could resist that?! Lucky for us, Andrew was off that day, so he got to play with us, too!

The snow started out light and fluffy, definitely not snowman snow, but it warmed up a little and the snow got wetter, and through sheer determination, Evelyn built herself a snowman. She got Gretchen and Sylvia to help roll the head and torso snowballs, but they lost interest shortly after. Daddy came out to help stack the snowballs. She was so proud! Temps got into the high 40s today, and Mr. Snowman felt apart, but at least we got a picture of him!

This is the kind of behavior I like to see-- hugging and smiling! :o)

Our house is on a slant so we have a great sledding hill on the driveway. If you can manuver the turns really well, it's possible to go from the pole barn all the way down to the end, stopping just before hitting the main road. The girls haven't really figured out how to steer the sleds, so most of the time they end up going into the trees that line the driveway, but Andrew and I joined in the sledding fun and they rode with us all the way to the bottom! Fun fun!

You can bet that Peter was ready for bed at the end of the day!


Sylvia and I going for the gold!

Andrew taking a turn.

Even Maisie the dog was having a blast. She really likes to chase us down the hills, and I got frustrated with her more than once when she would grab my coat sleeve and tug, screwing up my steering and crashing in the snow.

I have to admit, though, it was great to see her running and having fun in the snow! That dog has some speed! Good times!

Losing Steam

I might be losing my blogging mojo. After over 600 posts, what else is there to write about? I feel like I'm always talking about my children, or chickens, or couponing, or me, me, me. I have moments when I want to write something, but end up staring at a blank screen, the cursor blink-blink-blinking at me. I have too many unfinished posts to mention-- stuff I started to write, then losing my train of thought and it didn't make sense anymore.

I blame my new camera, partly, for the lag in blogging. I don't like the way the pictures come out compared to my old camera and so the new camera just sits, collecting dust. I prefer to post with pictures, so when there are no recent pictures taken, the ideas for posts seem to evaporate. That's what I get for ordering a cheap camera online without testing it out and getting to hold it in my own hands before purchasing. Maybe if I can set aside enough money for a better camera, I can give the camera I don't like to the kids. Evelyn has been asking for a camera, and she'll be 9 this summer.. wait and see.

I haven't gotten comments from readers much lately, and that kind of gets to me, too, just a little bit. I know I am writing for me and someday for my kids to read, but I still enjoy hearing from people who read what I write. I wrote a few posts that I thought for sure would garner some interesting comments and I would check back eagerly expecting lots of response and getting nothing instead. Not even a spammer comment.

Is there something I can interest you with? What would you like for me to talk about? Anything I've wrote about before that you want to hear more of? Any burning questions you want to ask? I'm game to answer most questions if you have any. Feel free to ask and maybe I can have a Q&A post in the near future.

Being in the dead of winter now, there isn't too much for me to write about. We're mostly indoors, sometimes fighting cabin fever, and there isn't a whole lot going on right now. With the excitement of the Holidays past, it feels like a waiting game now: waiting for warmer weather to get here so we can head outdoors again; waiting for garden season to begin; waiting for certain days to get here for various appointments or events; waiting for the next paycheck so we can get this or that.

I'm thinking of doing a photo series, forcing myself to use my camera and get used to it. Winter seems so drab and bare and I know there is beauty to be found if one takes the time to look for it. Just this morning on my way out, I spotted two bright blue birds (blue jays maybe? they flew so fast I couldn't tell) chase each other in flight and the color was such a jolt to a dreary gray day. Maybe playing around with the camera will be just the thing I need to break the feeling of dread I get when I pick it up.

It may be quiet here for a little bit, unless I get some fresh inspiration or maybe I get some enthusiastic response telling me you like what I have to say. I have some birthday photos I need to post, and another lost tooth post to write, but other than that...