Cruising Alaska

I live in the small Alaskan town of Valdez.  It's a cozy little thing perched right on the edge of the water.  There's lots of fishing, fish processing, and tourism going on around here in the summer.  This weekend we were invited by our friends to go on a cruise on their tourist boat.  We took it as an opportunity for a "date" with just the Bigs (Bigs refers to Sydney, Hannah, Elijah, and Mattie) and sucked Aunt Chelsea into babysitting for us for the day.  Elijah opted out of the cruise so it was just us, the girls, and our friends that were visiting from out of town.

It was a kinda rainy day so we dressed in layers (You can always take it off if you're too hot but if you get cold and don't have more to put on, well, sucks to be you) and headed for the Lulu Belle.  (Visit their website http://www.lulubelletours.com/ for more great, Alaskan pictures)  As you leave the harbor there are two fish processing plants.  There happened to be a boat docked there unloading fish so I snapped a pic.

 

The next thing we saw was a group of otters.  There's a technical name for them and Fred, the boats captain, told us SEVERAL times what it was but clearly I wasn't listening and I'm not concerned enough to google it! LOL  Aren't they cute little things?  We actually have otters in abundance here.  The kids and I regularly head down to the docks to look for our favorite otter, "Spot", named that because we always "Spot" him.  Truth be told it's most likely a different otter every time but they all sorta look the same so.........



Next up was a hump back whale.  We had so much fun watching this guy.  At one point he was about 40' or so off the front of the boat.  He was clearly feeding and kept getting closer and closer to the land which dropped off sharply under water making for a perfect back scratching area!



I think it may have been quite possible to sit there and watch him (her?) all day.  His movements were so fluid and perfect.  It amazes me how perfectly God designed these massive creatures to be able to move so deftly through the water.  And to live on something as tiny as krill and shrimp to boot!  I mean, seriously?  Can you imagine how much that guy has to eat just to get a belly full?  Anyhow, on with the show.......

I think the next thing we saw were the Dall Sheep.  We saw a Mama and her very tiny baby.  Can I just tell you that to THIS Mama it looked like that mountain was straight up and down?!  I know those things are very sure footed but I was seriously having a heart attack!  Would somebody please get that baby off there?!!

We also saw a group (pod?) of Dall Porpoise.  Those guys are so fun!  If you stick right around 35mph they will come right to the boat and swim and jump ahead of you.  They are smaller than a dolphin with the coloring of a killer whale.

One of my personal favorites (for sight, certainly NOT smell!) are the Stellar Sea Lions.  I could watch them all day!  They don't really DO much other than sit around on the rocks, occasionally fighting with each other, making burping noises......Wait.....that sounds a lot like my dinner table!  JUST KIDDING!!! LOL  My kids don't burp.  They tell knock-knock or "why did the chicken...." jokes.  Speaking of which....Why did the duck cross the road?  Because the chicken was on vacation!  I know, knee slapper, right?  Never a dull moment around here! LOL 

Oh, no!  It won't let me upload any more images!!!  I guess this will be a 2 part post?  OK, up later are sea lions, ice bergs, and a picture of Don and I.....But I think it'll wait until tomorrow!







Freezer Cooking

I will be the first to admit that the "me" in my head has it all together.  The real "me" does not.  I am the person that thinks about what I'm going to make for dinner at 8am.  Then I get busy with my life. (Children have to be bathed AND dressed you know) I think about it again later,  "Oh, yeah, I need to get that meat thawing right after I......"  Soon enough its 6pm and I'm scrambling to get some sort of tasty goodness on the table before Husband gets home.  I need a plan!

I love those people that cook once a month.  I love the IDEA of cooking once a month.  I've even bought books on cooking once a month.  This week, I used them. Please don't ask me how long I've owned them.  The answer would be truly embarrassing.  Since Mattie recently announced that she really enjoys cooking and would like to be my kitchen helper I enlisted her help in thumbing through this book......

and we picked a few recipes we thought would work for our family.  For the sake of being first timers we only chose recipes that used beef.  Well, that, and we buy beef by the cow so we happen to have more of it on hand.  We decided on four "recipes" from the book......sorta.  We used their Salisbury sauce as a stroganoff sauce instead of on meatballs.  Then, we basically used it for ideas.  Lasagna, mozzarella meatballs, bean, beef, and cheese burritos....We used the leftover lasagna sauce to just put in bags for spaghetti.  We made our own "refried" (actually, just cooked and slightly mashed with seasoning) beans for the burritos and added cooked rice to help thicken it up.  Much less expensive than buying it by the can.

We started with 22 pounds of ground beef, and about 10 pounds of misc. cuts for stroganoff.  We also purchased 2 #10 cans of spaghetti sauce and one #10 can of diced tomatoes as our base for the spaghetti sauce.  I always start with store bought and then doctor it up! LOL  I bought several other items as well but this gives you a general idea of HOW MUCH cooking we did!!!

So, here's a few pics......

Mattie, ready to throw her bread in for rising.

We use an artisan bread recipe for dinner bread around here.  It's so easy.  Just look it up....Artisan bread in 5 mins. a day.  All it requires are flour, water, yeast, and salt.

I used cottage cheese that was 50% off instead of ricotta this time because, well, we still own two houses and we're broke. LOL  None of the kids even knew the difference!

The kitchen in the midst of the cooking mess.

Meat balls!  We stuffed each ball with a piece of mozzarella cheese stick that Joslyn cut up for us.

 For the meat balls I use ground beef, minced garlic, minced onion, eggs, evaporated milk, chili powder, and oatmeal.  Don't bother asking me how much.  I'm a dump and pour kind of cook!
(That said, would you believe that it DRIVES ME CRAZY when I call my mom to ask her how much such-and-such to put in something and she says, "Oh, about as much as would fit in the palm of your hand."  LOL  I'm so random!)

The sauce consists of ketchup (a #10 can), minced garlic and onion, brown sugar, and liquid smoke.


Two of the finished lasagnas.

It's now the end of the day and I am utterly EXHAUSTED.  I hear my bed calling my name.  We ended up with........

 5 lasagnas (minus one for dinner tonight)
4 meatball dinners
2 spaghetti dinners
6 burrito dinners
5 stroganoff dinners

in the freezer
 5 loaves of artisan bread baked and half eaten.  LOL

 

All in all, I think the day was successful.  I have several turkeys in the freezer yet that I would like to do something with so we won't be eating beef every day but this was a great start! 

Shrinky Dink Bracelet

The other day my sister found a wonderful Mother's Day gift idea on PINTEREST!  It's a shrinky dink bracelet with a square from each of the children.  So, this is the blog I used for directions.  I HAVE NOT BEEN TO ANY OTHER PART OF THIS SITE AND AM NOT SPEAKING FOR ITS INTEGRITY SO CHECK OUT OTHER SECTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

http://rustsunshine.blogspot.ca/2012/04/shrinky-bracelet.html

To be fair I should tell you that I ordered shrinky dink plastic from Amazon and did not recycle a #6 container.

Measuring the plastic pieces.  *NOTE*  Make one and then use it as a template so you don't have to do the math over and over!

Hannah clipping the corners so they wont poke Grammy when she's wearing the bracelet.

Punching holes in the corners.

The finished project...Modeled by the Lovely Mrs.  Rachel Johnson.



Sydney had other pictures of the children actually working on their projects but if you've stopped by her facebook lately and witnessed her prolific use of the word GUTS you know that she lost over 1,000 pictures yesterday due to technological difficulties.  Those were some of the pictures.  Bummer.

The sun has been shining in Valdez so we've been playing outside almost constantly!  I have wonderful pictures of our time at the beach yesterday for those of you who aren't FB friends but they'll have to wait for another post.  See?  There's my carrot to get you to come back and read again!  ;)

Mother's Day

Let me just begin by saying....THE KIDS ARE HOME!!!! I'm so happy!  I will have another whole post about their time in Tatitlek so keep watching.  For today though, I thought I'd share about being a mom.  I mean, it's Mother's Day, right?

A couple weeks ago Husband and I took a trip to Anchorage alone.  It was a lovely drive.  6 hours each way with no one to interrupt our conversation.  We aren't "weird" at home.  Everyone knows us.  Everyone knows we're expecting our 10th child.  Everyone knows our kids.  OK, maybe we're still considered weird, but at least everyone already knows it! LOL  But going into a different town is.... well, different.

We don't have shopping where I live so I usually do a hefty amount when we go to "town".  It's inevitable that at some point while buying $1500 worth of groceries or 9 different sizes of clothing that the subject of how many children I have comes up.  This time it was Old Navy.  I was bantering back and forth with the checker, who was a BRAND NEW trainee (I was her fourth customer) and the manager that was training her.  I was kinda giving her a hard time.  But in a fun way.  We were all having a great time.  And then it came.......

"So, is this your first baby?"

"No, she'll be my 10th"

At this point you can almost physically hear jaws hitting the floor!  It's really somewhat entertaining.  This time I was met with lots of  wows and good for you type comments.  Sometimes it's not like that.  This time it was though, and we had a great time talking about my masses and how things work, etc.

But, it also reminded me how weird we are. LOL

Then, to top it off, on the way home that weekend Husband says, "Honey, do you realize we're moving into DOUBLE DIGITS?"  As if there was something momentous about that.  Like it's a big thing.  I shrug my shoulders, "Yup."

But it gets me thinking......about 10.....about the NUMBER 10.  Why don't I think I have very many children?  Why don't I think about our "huge" family?  Why doesn't my jaw drop when I think about the size of our family?  And then it hits me.  I don't have 10 children.

I JUST have Sydney.....my artist.

I JUST have Hannah.....my helper.

I JUST have Elijah....my scientist.

I JUST have Mattie.....my sensitive one.

I JUST have Luke.....my special gift.

I JUST have Joslyn....my drama queen.

I JUST have James Michael....my fine blend of Tigger and Dennis the Menace.

I JUST have Israel....my little "Echo".

I JUST have Liberty....my "baby"

I JUST have these children.  Not 10, but 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1.  Individuals.  My children are not a herd.  So yes, 10 might seem like such a huge number to others.  But to me, I just see them one by one.

I am the most blessed mom on the face of the earth.  I hope you you had a wonderful Mother's Day today and you took time to "count" your blessing one-by-one, I did!

Day 3

I would love to tell you that I've been diligently working, getting all sorts of projects finished.  I DID get all our homeschool materials unpacked and organized yesterday.  It took ALL DAY but I had great company so I didn't mind so much.

Today, I did nothing.  Zip.  Zilch. Nada.  It's my sister's birthday today so the kids and I went shopping for gifts and then met Rachel and Chris at the Totem for brunch.  My pregnant self is perpetually indecisive so I ordered two breakfasts under the guise of feeding one to Liberty.  I ate a little of both.

When we got home in the afternoon I tried unsuccessfully to take a nap.  The little stinkers were tag teaming me.  No nap today.  But I did get to lay in bed for a little while and relax.  I'm not going to lie and say it was as good as a nap.  It wasn't.  But, it's what I was given so I took it.

Now on to the fun stuff!!!!  I bathed the kids and got them ready for bed (Yes, right after nap time LOL) and then I fed them....Are you ready for this?.....Bananas, yogurt, and a half a brownie for dinner.  They're pretty sure they're in heaven!

After "dinner" we got busy putting the caterpillars we got in the mail the other day into their individual containers.  We do this every year.  We order a classroom refill kit from insectlore.com as well as a praying mantis egg case.  Usually we get more but we ran out of school allotment this year for the first time ever!  So here's the pics...............

Israel and James Michael getting ready to make caterpillar homes.

Mashing down the food in the bottom of the cup to keep the caterpillar from getting lodged underneath.

James Michael helps Israel re-locate a caterpillar.

James Michael makes a new friend.  He named him Iron Man.  Israel, who has recently been nick-named Echo also named his Iron Man.  Can you guess why we call him Echo?

James Michael and Israel playing with their new buddies!

Liberty helped too, of course.  She was in her high chair rubbing yogurt in her freshly washed hair.  Nice Kid.

Day 1

So, yesterday was the first full day with just the Littles (and Sydney ;)  ).  I said in my previous post that I had assigned myself given chores for the week to dig myself out of the neglected areas of the house.
Day 1's chore was the pantry.  I always hate cleaning out the pantry.  It's kinda like cleaning out the fridge.  Now I know how much food I DON'T have! LOL

The red writing  is my Anchorage shopping list.  The black is our chore chart.  The blue is items I am on the search for at garage sales this summer.  (All are dry erase)

With my "chore" done I got to do stuff I wanted to do for the rest of the day.  I painted the cabinet Husband built me for our double oven.



Notice how the color is lighter than the drawers?  It's supposed to be the same.  I'm not thrilled but it still matches so I guess it stays.  The flash on the camera made it MORE noticeable so it's really not as bad as it looks.  Just more purple than black.

Next, I was going to finish painting the hutch but I took a nap while the children were napping instead.  The boys wanted to have a fire and it was a LOVELY day so we roasted hotdogs for dinner.  I did discover a major unforeseen downfall to not having any big kids at home.....I had to load my own groceries into the car at the store.  Yes, I am THAT spoiled!

So Quiet

Several of the children left this morning by boat to a village called Tatitlek for Cultural Heritage Week.  They will spend the week making Native Alaskan crafts, eating traditional foods like moose and salmon, and being wowed by Yup'ik story teller Jack Dalton.  Jack is a fantastic young man and the children just adore him!  You can watch one of his clips here......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf4spK0rYv8

Tatitlek is different from Valdez in that it actually has a sandy beach front!  The kids are so excited to find sea glass, sea stars, and to jump off the dock into the ocean.  They always bring me a lovely bag of stinky nastiness that smells like rotten ocean  treasures!

Last year they made weaved baskets, beaded scissors cases (My Gingher scissors look lovely in there), dream catchers and other fun items.  This is the first year Luke and Joslyn have gone so I don't know what type of projects they will have for the younger children.

Meanwhile, I'm going to catch up on housework I've been ignoring while working on the dining room and do some crafting.  I made this wall hanging a couple weeks back.......

I have a friend who has offered sell some for me at a craft fair where  she will be selling kuspiks and aprons.  I'm  hoping to make a little money but first,I have to have something to send!

 I have my list all made out of which jobs I'm going to tackle on which day.  With just 3 Littles and Sydney (17) at home this week I'm foreseeing lots of processed junk food that isn't normally found in our house (think Kid Cuisine LOL).  I'll make dinner every evening but I'm going with things like frozen lasagna that take no prep from me. 

And then there's the puppy.  Hannah's puppy.  We just got him last week and I'm going to be playing "Grammy".  He's not yet potty trained so he really can't be left alone....ever.  He sure is stinkin' cute though!  See?

We'll see how this week goes!  I'll be sure to share some pics.  Oooh, and pics of the (mostly) finished dining room!!!  God Bless you tonight!

Broken Hearts

This is such a long post!  Please read all the way to the end....I don't want you to think I'm a COMPLETE jerk of a parent! LOL

Oh Ladies!  Yesterday, I broke a little girl's heart.  Well, sorta.  I UNINTENTIONALLY broke my daughter's heart. 

One of my daughters came to me with a basket of stuffed animals.  She said she was willing to part with them and asked what I would like to do with them.  They were in great condition so I told her to put them in a trash bag and set them in the back of the car so I can take them to the thrift store.

Fast forward 4 hours.  I've been remodeling the dining room and I needed some supplies.  I had called and asked the hardware store to give them to Hannah when she stopped in but they forgot.  Off to town to grab the supplies I go.  I figure I might as well make a trip to the dump at the same time.  You know, kill two birds with one stone type of thing.

I get home and the Littles are asking about where I went.  Daughter informs them that I had gone to the dump, hardware, and thrift stores.

"I didn't go to the thrift store."

"Then what did you do with my stuffed animals?"

"What stuffed animals?"

"The ones I put in the back of the truck."

"YOU PUT THEM IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK?!  I said the car!  Well, I guess they're at the dump then.  I can't go back and get them."

Fast forward...again.  I hear crying.  No, all out sobbing coming from the other end of the house. (And we live in a REALLY BIG house)  I have to be honest.  I'm not handling this very well.  I know she's crying over those stinking stuffed animals.  The ones she was GETTING RID OF!  Why is this such a big deal?  I have so much to do.  I DO NOT have time for this.

"Why are you crying?" (Knowing the answer full well)

"Because........and you're always asking me to get rid of some......and I was just trying to make YOU happy."

*Screech*  Wait, back up.  Now this is MY fault?  My mind is reeling.  I have about a million and one things to say.  None of them are very nice.  I simply say, "Well, if you had listened to my directions when I said put them in the CAR you wouldn't be in this position.  We've been working on following my directions.  Usually it just costs you extra time.  This time it's costing something more valuable.".......And I walk away.

I give Husband a call.  (Yes, I call him Husband)  I relay the whole story to him.  I'm expecting some sort of back up here.  And then I hear it.  "Well, we should make sure to really encourage her for being so giving."  WHAT?!  She doesn't listen, gets her heart hurt, blames ME, and now we're gonna encourage her?  She doesn't DESERVE encouragement!  She needs to learn her lesson!

But my heart knows he's right. (How I love that man)  I mean, how many times have I not listened to God, completely failed at whatever it was, and then blamed HIM when I fell on my face?  More times than I can count.  *sigh*  Better yet, how many times have I started with good intentions, not at all INTENDING on being a stinker, to disobey, but got so caught up in pleasing God with my actions that I actually failed to stop and listen to what it was He actually wanted?

Was I met with anger and indifference?  An "I told you so, hope you learn your lesson" kind of attitude.  Nope.  Grace and mercy.  Gentle direction. 

*Insert conviction here*

A couple hours later Daughter was walking past.  I pulled her into my arms.  Told her how much I 'm sure it hurts when you give something away to be loved by another little girl and find that now it's not going to have a new "home" at all.  I told her how proud I was of her heart that wanted to bless me by giving some of her stuff a new home, even when it hurt her heart a little. I told her that I always love her whether she gets rid of stuff, or not.

She hugged me back.  Smiled. Nodded.  "It's OK, Mommy."

I'm wondering which of us learned the bigger lesson?

What's in a Name?

I thought long and hard before I named this blog.  I wanted something that would even come CLOSE to revealing my heart.  You see, really, this blog does have a purpose.

I've been praying long and hard about how to go about writing about my family.  For those of you that don't actually KNOW me, my husband and I are expecting our 10th child in August of 2012.  This makes our life different.  Just that one number....10...brings up pre-conceived ideas in the minds of those who know us.  Or, just hear about us.  Not necessarily BAD ideas....or GOOD ideas.  But ideas none-the-less.

In our culture where more than 2.5 children or children with disabilities are seen as...well...a burden.  Not by all, but certainly by many I want you to know how valuable these kids are.

But I don't want to be a Polyanna.  And I don't want to make my life out like the Old Lady in the Shoe.  Somehow, I want to share how hard it is...and how great. I want to encourage younger wives and moms but I don't want to paint an impossible picture in the same breathe.  Do you see?  Is it even possible to find the right words.  Words in black on a screen?  I'm going to try.

I am in the trenches.  But let me tell you what a beautiful view it is.  Not JUST the trench of motherhood...fighting to raise God honoring people of character. Not JUST the trench of salvation....fighting to die to myself and have a heart and eyes that reflect Jesus.  Not JUST the trench of marriage...fighting to honor my husband.  I am in the trenchES...all of the above.  But let me tell you girl, I might be getting my hands dirty, some days I may even get knocked on my back side,  but I'm decorating the place.  These trenches are home and there's nothing out there more worth fighting for.  My goal is to fight the noble fight.  Thanks for joining me.

And so it Begins.

A blog.  Can  I just say right here, right now that I have NO IDEA what I'm doing.  I don't know how to make this thing pretty or add cute little buttons.  In fact, it took me an hour and a half just to name it and figure out how to get an URL.  LOL.  If you're looking for a literary stroke of genius or at least something with vocabulary that exceeds a fifth grade reading level, you've come to the wrong place.  I write in much the same fashion as I think.  Scattered, my mind constantly running from this place to the next.  I use a lot of ... (Did you know those three little dots have a name?  I learned it in 2nd grade the other day.  They're called Ellipsis.)  By the way, I'm not in 2nd grade.  But I homeschool grades 12, 8,7,5,2, and K. 

I'm excited to share my family with you and I can't wait to post my first "real" post.