Memorial Day

Today we went with some friends to ride motor bikes, and roast marshmallows and hot dogs. This has been a tradition for the last four or so year, and we have loved it every time! The kids were so excited that Nicolas went so far as to fix his own hair! He asked me to hair spray it, and I gladly obliged. What a cutie!!

 

Here are some pictures of the fun today:

Elise and Brynlee by the creek

Haley, Shaylin, Brynlee, and friends Ericka and Jarrett Parry recovering from their

hike back from the creek (a very long up hill road!)

Elise and Nels on the bike

 

Dirty Kaden!

Sarah and Me

 

The gorgeous woods when the sun came out to play!

Some very cool stuff growing on a tree stump

Candied Pancakes

I got creative for my last school breakfast and made up a recipe using some ideas from my new favorite muffins.  I named them candied Pancakes because they get this crispy layer of sugar on them from sprinkling the brown sugar over the last side before it's flipped.  I thought they were pretty darn good, but lately, I'm a sucker for oats, so let me know what you think!

Candied Pancakes

 1 c. quick oats

1 c. buttermilk
½ c. wheat flour
½ c. white flour
5 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
¼ c. veg. oil
3 T. sugar
1 c. milk
2 eggs
Brown sugar for sprinkling

Mix oats and buttermilk in microwavable bowl and cook in microwave for 35 sec.  When done add all other ingredients and mix well.  Oil pan and begin cooking pancakes.  Before you flip to cook other side, sprinkle a small amount of brown sugar over the top.  Flip and cook other side.  Since these pancakes are made with mostly cooked oats, they need to cook a little longer than a normal pancake, so make sure it’s not too gooey before you take it off the heat.  Serve pancake sugar side up so it stays crispy, and eat plain or with a very light amount of syrup.

Air Force Museum

We had our first summer trip to the Air force Museum yesterday. We went without neighbors, and had a great time. There were a lot of very cool things to look at there. As we were traveling up, we noticed a ton of Policemen out, trying to collect money on this highly traveled Memorial Day weekend. Because of this, we were trying to watch our speed to make sure not to be one of the suckers they take advantage of. As we were driving home, Sarah started crying, and I was dozing off. The next thing I knew, we were getting pulled over. In the few moments Nels had gotten distracted from the crying, he forgot to watch his speed. I was quite upset that the guy didn't care that Nels was honest and didn't even try to guess a speed that he was going, and now we get to supply Ashland county with some lovely unnecessary statue somewhere (yes, I'm resentful). I know I wouldn't mind getting a ticket if it was deserved, but to catch someone who was honestly trying to drive safe the entire time, and got distracted for one moment, really irks me! Especially the fact that they so heavily set out their forces on Memorial Day Weekend instead of doing their job every day makes me mad. They are instilling fear in traveling for these holidays, not to mention the fact that they just showed each of my children that making a mistake is not okay or forgiven--the exact opposite of what we teach them in school and at home! It was the first time in my life I wanted to say something horrible to someone, and felt like I would truly enjoy doing it! I do not like the Police Force on Memorial Day weekend.

On the up side of it, however, Nels is now a real man, as this was his first ticket, I just can't say he earned it the same way I earned my first ticket! :)
 

Nels with his hotrod!!

The Hardest Chicken in the World!!!

We had a lot of fun the other night. We bought a chicken (or so we thought) from some Amish people, and saved it until the perfect moment. I almost saved it for the missionaries, and it was a good thing I didn't because I noticed the skin seemed very tough as I was putting on the seasoning. I didn't think too much of it until I pulled it out, fully cooked. Usually the meat is pulling away from the bones and the body moves, but this chicken was stiff as a board! I couldn't even bend the legs into each other. I began attempting to carve our beautiful chicken, and noticed that I couldn't even cut thought the meat with a very serrated knife. I handed it over to Nels, and this was the final product:

A crazy husband with a butcher knife!!

He had to hit that sucker with all his might lifting the cleaver about 2 feet away from the bird before coming down on it. And even then, it took more than 5 swats to get just the leg off! So, you can imagine how this was to eat :) We sat there chewing, gnawing, trying to bite through this bird, and I think we each ended up swallowing, whole, 1 ounce each. Needless to say, we enjoyed our mashed potatoes and salad that night, and we're pretty darn sure they sold us there leanest rooster ever, instead of the nice juicy hen!!

School's out for Summer!!!

 

We did it!!! We made it through another year of waking up every morning at 6:30 and rushing around for 2 hours to get everyone off to school mostly dressed, fully fed, and missing only one or two things :)

(These were all taken on their last day of school, except for Elise which was on rainbow day, which was her 2nd to last day, and it was not that cold, but she was determined to wear her hat and big jacket.)

I have thoroughly not enjoyed our morning routines, even on the best day, so I was very glad to welcome the last week of school (which was quite an eventful one). Here's what I go through every morning, "Haley, your alarm clock went off 45 minutes ago!! Get out of bed!!" "Nicolas and Kaden, stop playing and get your clothes on!" "Brynlee, go put your blanket in your bed and get dressed!!" "Shaylin, stop pestering Molly!" "Elise, no, it's not time to wait for the bus, please come back inside!"

I sure do love my kids, even with all the craziness in the morning, and almost every time they are all off, I find myself thinking, "Well, we did it again."

The best decision I made this year was breakfast time together. For almost the entire year, I got up and made breakfast so that we could all eat before Nels left. Since they are not fully awake, this has proven to be an excellent time!!

I Never Expected

I have learned many things as a mother, and a lot of them are things that no one ever told me, or explained.  I'm not sure why, because most of them seem pretty important.  So, as a result of this finding, I have decided to start a new section that I will add to at least once a month.  These are all of the, I never expected's in Motherhood, and even in Pregnancy! 

I never expected that I'd only have time to clean the toilets when they grew enough hair that they were no longer recognizeable as toilets!

Yes, this is a picture of my toilet (I never said these were all going to be the nice, I never expected's).  I thought I'd start with one to break the ice and show those people who have the crazy idea that because my children are dressed each day, that I have everything else done too!  I took the opportunity to capture the beauty of my growing toilet before I cleaned it this morning, and no, this is not the worst it's ever gotten.  This is 3 weeks worth of growth, with a chemical free scrubbing in between (thank heavens for toilet brushes sitting right next to the toilet; now why don't I have the chemical there too, so that I can do this without having to walk into the kitchen, get it, then walk back to put it away?  Oh, yes, because my cupboards in the bathroom are full, and it would just look too messy to put it next to my hairy toilet on the floor!  Pretty funny if you think about it.)  Anyway, the moral of the story is, toilets grow way too fast!!!! 

Sarah's Growing Up

Yes, it's true Sarah is not quite so little anymore.  She has become quite the little grabber, and we are all getting a kick out of it.  Anytime we are holding her, we can expect her to reach for anything and everything.  Once she has a hold of it, it goes straight into her mouth, which none of our other kids have done before.  I think this ones gonna give us a run for our money!!  She has also begun blowing raspberries into the air, and cooing at her toys.  She is so quick to smile, and none of us can get enough of her!!! 

12 Years!!!!

SURPRISE!!!  I am writing on my blog!  I have been inspired to try again!  I wanted to start with this picture because (minus the laundry in the background--hey at least it's folded!) Nels and I have been married for 12 years this month!  I sure love this man, and am grateful for the journey he's taking me on.  With how fast the time is going, I already think about how amazing it's going to be to share all of my life with him!  He has taught me so much, and we have both been through more together than I ever imagined!  My mom recently visited and let Nels and I go to the Bishops' Storehouse together.  It was so fun to work as a team, doing service.  It made me very excited for serving a mission with this great man!