A funny for you

See the post below with the picture of our old house? Today I showed Theo ad he says "Hey! I really like that house!" I cracked up, and then he did too, when I told him it was OUR house. Then.....I'm showing Sarah, and she says "Yeah, I like that house too!" Oh, to be young and distracted again.

The Tale of Three Trees

Today we read The Tale of Three Trees for our Catholic Mosaic selection to celebrate the Feast of the Exhaltation of the Holy Cross.
Then we painted and decorated wooden crosses and ate + shaped cookies.
At supper they took turns narrating the story to Matt. They did a great job! I was pleased, and they were proud.Clockwise, starting with the light blue:

Mama's, Amy's, Sarah's, Theo's and Marty's finished work.

I love how they each have their own unique ideas!

In other news, Matt was sick last night and this morning. He is feeling better, but is wiped out. We are all praying that it was fluke and nobody else will get sick. Vacation starts Monday morning--no time for sickness!

We accepted

an offer on the house in Creston today. I know this is good news, and it really is, but I will admit to an air of sadness. It means we are not gong back. Of course, we weren't anyway, but as long as the house was there and it was ours, we could have gone back.

It was a good offer and we will come out even. No gain, except for the 3 1/2 good years there, and that is enough. The "farm" as we call it now, held us close and let us be in touch with nature during a time when we needed nurturing from the harsh realities of life. The girls started school in that house. Theo started school in that house. Marty came home to that house. We built the treehouse and spent many happy afternoons having picnics in the yard, and just plain messing around. And then we moved on. We will keep good memories of "the farm" in our hearts for a long time and we pray that the new family will have as many if not more. I always feel like a house blesses the family that lives there, and that sure one did.

Some thoughts about candle dipping

OK, I can't get the blogger to do what I want it to do in the order I want, so bear with me. I have posted below about candle dipping, which is where I want these thoughts to be, but blogger won't let me do it how I think is logical.

Anyway, I digress.

If I had to produce candles for my home, for the whole year, with 4 kids helping, without electricity, without water, well, let's just say: It would be dark at our house.

No really, we had fun. Really, we did!

Candle dipping

Hot wax and boys.....
lovely girls and hot wax
On the path around the kitchen
Something so simple can be so lovely!

Enjoying the fruits of our labor

Here we are enjoying our afternoon snackof bread with fresh butter. Yumm!!

Making butter

Monday after the allergy testing, we made butter to emphasize that EVERYTHING was made by the family, at home, in Colonial times (because, as Marty says "They not have a Wal Mart.")

Here are some pictures of our adventure. Sarah shaking......
Amy shaking.....
Marty shaking.....
Theo shaking.....
Butter and Buttermilk

Couple of funnies

Sarah: Mama! My cruncher is loose!
Mama: What??
Sarah: My cruncher is loose!
Mama, looking: Oh, you are going to lose your first molar!


Amy: This was a great day, Mama.
Mama: Why's that?
Amy: We had so many surprises! Cleaning out the shed was worth it!

Then Marty's comment about Wal Mart (see below) was just too great. These guys kill me! And I know T-Bird said something funny today--he's getting pretty clever lately :~)