Herding Squirrels...

Have you ever been there? Nine kids under seven years of age, three moms, the wind blowing at 25 knots (no lie!) and miles of unexplored 'wilderness'. We came up with the only definition that fits - Herding Squirrels". Just try it, if you are brave enough!

We (our co-op) had taken a field trip to the Springs to go to Focus and to take a hike. After all the noise and chaos of Whit's End, we thought a nice walk would finish out our day. Little did we know that the wind had picked up and the kids had all renewed their energy at lunch and were raring to go. We also did not take into account that it was Spring Break, and that Garden of the Gods would be a busy place!

So, off we go, two strollers and a wagon in tow, trying to get all nine kids safely across the parking lot and into the park. All the trails are paved, so that was not a problem, but apparently it was not spring break everywhere, because there were groups of elementary kids all over the place! They were climbing the rocks (guess they did not see those 'no rock climbing signs'), chasing each other on the sidewalks, and shrieking at the top of their lungs (must have been the howling wind).

We headed off down a trail and found that it is impossible to keep any kind of order! The bigger kids took off in the front, running and having a great time. One of them found a rock that would write like chalk, so that set the tone for the rest and the "search for the magic writing rocks" was under way. Then we have that group in the middle, who have to stop and inspect every (and I do mean every) hole, stick, bug, dog, stick, rock, hole, stick, rock, bug, dog that they see - while walking backwards, into oncoming foot traffic. Did I mention that the park was very busy that day? And that is was really windy, so no one could hear anyone else? And then there were the few, who just wanted to hunker down in the dirt, and play with the rocks - and they were not moving - period! And then, there were the sweet darlings of our group, two cherubs who happily sat in their respective stroller and wagon and enjoyed watching all the mommies running around herding squirrels!!

Wish you could have been there!!

t

p.s. just in case you want to know how I knew how fast the wind was blowing - just check this out: http://www.disastercenter.com/convert.htm

A look into our Passover experience...

Everyone at the table, coats on, shoes on and "staffs" at hand.

No lamb left on this plate!!

We asked him if he wanted one olive or bunches and you can see from his plate he said "bunches", but he made the same face every time he ate one!

The best part of the meal - no forks!!!

We are reading this week about all the things that happened to Jesus in the week that leads up to Easter, and I decided to have a Passover/foods that the Israelites might have eaten night. Tonight being the night that the Last Supper was celebrated (as calculated in the Christian calendar), I decided to do it today.

So we read the account of the first Passover meal, where God told Moses to have each family slaughter a lamb (no, Eric, we are not going to be slaughtering our own lamb - you could just see him trying to figure out where that was going to happen), and put the blood on the door posts (no, we are not putting blood around our door!) and that they needed to eat the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and that they needed to do all of this with their cloaks on, their sandals on their feet and their staffs in their hands. I added, that I thought they did not have forks then, so what were we going to do?! "Eat with our hands" was the response, and so we did.

So we did as much as we could with the attention span we have at this point, and this is what we did: We had lamb in the form of chops and parsley, I also did pita bread and hummus, boiled eggs, olives and green beans (we couldn't not have a veggie, right?!) and we all drank water. We all wore our coats, and had our shoes on ("where are we going, Mommy?" - "Bye bye Daddy", from AJ because Daddy went into the garage to get something - he did have his coat on, after all!! ). Everyone had a walking stick under their chair (the thrill - they got to bring sticks in the house!!) and best of all, they got to eat the whole meal with their hands! Wow!!

It was a great dinner and we really had a lot of fun putting the story into a bit of context for the kiddos. Hope you enjoy the pics!

t

Ta Da!! It's Done!

Hi all! Finally, here are the newest pics of the kitchen. I have been trying to get it looking like a magazine shoot, with nothing on the counters, etc, but then I realized "I have three kids, I homeschool and am trying to keep this house running, so magazine just ain't gonna happen!" So please forgive the avocado growing in the old salsa jar and all the tools still on the counter and enjoy my beautiful new kitchen!! I can't wait to have you all here for a meal!

If you click on the pictures, they will get bigger, so you can see details better. Dad, don't be lusting after those 2" lamb chops on the counter by the stove!

t

Birthday Girl!

Our Sweet Potato had a birthday yesterday, so I thought I would post a few pics for those of you who are far away.

t

Kitchen update

Work has been slow this week - life must go on!! But here is a picture of what the drawers look like, painted and with their new handles.

Tired but happy!

Well, I got a lot done today! I finished sanding, painted the insides of all the cabinets, painted all the black on the bottom cabinets, got the first two coats of paint on the upper cabinets and we had something for dinner that did not come out of a bag! Pretty amazing!!!

I am so excited to watch this all come together, I wish you could all come and see it! I will keep posting and let you know when it is done!

Pictures, from the top - taking time to smell the...violets; two views of the kitchen with what I have accomplished today.

t

It's Done!! - Kind of...

Well the tile and glass are all done, but now the whole place is a disaster area because I started sanding the cabinets to paint them. Hopefully in a few days, I will have better pics!

I had the kids help me today, you can see them hard at work peeling paper off of a cabinet shelf, above. I decided that they needed to be a part of what was going on, instead of always hearing "out, out, out!", and they really jumped in, helping to empty cabinets, peel paper, what ever I asked them to do.

Tomorrow, the installers come back to seal the tile/glass, so I have to have all of this dust out of here so that they can work. The plan for the day - finish sanding, clean, start painting inside the cabinets. Pray that I can get it all done by tonight amidst three therapy sessions for boys, breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks, dirty diapers and books that need to be read...it's gonna be a great day!!!

t

and on, and on....

Oh my land of mercy!!! I am so loving how this is turning out!!

We are going to add a bookcase under the counter to the left of the window. Also, all cabinets are going to be painted - black for lower and dark tan for the upper. Headed to the paint store now!!

Enjoy the pics - they should finish tomorrow, so I will get nice pics up for you to see.

Trina

And the work goes on...

The guys have been working steadily for the last three days and things are really coming along! We have granite on the bar and around the sink, and I believe they are working on the small piece to the right of the stove, now. Juan said that they will get the skirting in on the bar today and then tomorrow, they will install the back splash, finish the skirting and grout the whole thing. Yippee!!!

You know what I am really excited about? Getting my sink put back in working order! It is quite interesting feeding six people three meals a day without a sink!

t