Lula at Eight Months

Lula, at eight months of age, is perfectly content to explore the house.  She crawls from area to area, picking things up, sampling them, or whacking something to see what it sounds like.  She prefers to do the one knee, one foot crawl.  It won't be long before she is walking around! She already takes steps when I hold her hands!

Something captures her attention! A noise!  What could it be?  She crawls over to investigate. (See the one foot?)

Oh, guineas!  They are so loud and strange sounding.  She has her own exclamation of excitement.  It sounds like she is clearing her throat and laughing at the same time.  She does it when she sees the chickens and when she hears the water in the bath running.  And when she sees her family.

When you see her make the face on the left, you can be sure the face on the right is close behind!  She does not like being startled or surprised.  This morning, Mark got flat on the floor to be face to face with her.  He didn't jump at her or growl, but just the fact that his face was not six feet in the air bothered her and she cried.

She forgives us quickly though.  And laughs when she sees these pictures of herself!  In fact, she is trying to climb up the keyboard to get a closer look at herself!

Baked Oatmeal: Anna-the-Amish-Wannabe Style

While we were in Pennsylvania, my sister bought some baked oatmeal from the local store.  It was SOOOO good!  I had a hankering for some this morning, but with a large family with mostly young children, a sink I haven't seen the bottom of since I returned home, and a desire to keep everything as simple as possible, I had to create my own version.  It only took a few minutes, really.

First, I like recipes with even measurements.  For example, I prefer one stick of butter instead of 1/3 cup.  Also, I like recipes that use lots of eggs.  When you have 17 dozen eggs in the refrigerator and have learned that it costs more to sell them than it does to use them, well, your eggs tend to accumulate.  Third, I like regular oatmeal instead of quick oats.  And lastly, I don't like using a bunch of bowls to mix dry and wet ingredients separately, one big bowl for combining, and one baking dish.  Like I said, we haven't recovered from my trip East yet, even with running the dishwasher twice a day!  And you know you have a large family when you stop using 1 cup measuring cups and start using large tupperware to scoop oatmeal out of a bucket!

Bucket of Oatmeal: Since 2011!

I created my recipe by reading a bunch of recipes online and rounding measurements to suit my needs.  This recipe makes one 9 by 13 pan.

Baked Oatmeal

• 6 cups oats
• raisins and cinnamon (or other fruit, use to taste)
• 1 stick butter
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 4-5 eggs (depends on size of egg)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease baking dish and layer oats, raisins, and cinnamon.   Microwave butter in small bowl, using the wrapper to cover butter and eliminate splatter.  While butter is melting, use Vitamix to blend the rest of ingredients.  I add the milk first and use the measurements on the side of the canister.  Pour butter in Vitamix and whirl a bit more.  The butter is hot, so you need to pour while the mixer is running so the eggs don't cook prematurely (this is the "curdle" that happens in homemade puddings).  Pour immediately over the oats in the baking dish and place in oven.  Bake for 45 minutes or until center is set.

"Must...get...every...last...crumb!"

Results of my experiment: Because I didn't soak the dish overnight like most recipes recommend, my baked oatmeal turned out more...oaty.  Instead of the oak flakes being uniformly mushy, they tended to flake off, especially if they were on the top of the dish.  So it looked more like cereal.  However, my kids loved it (they aren't picky) and the dog loved the scraps!  I'm going to make it again for tomorrow, but soak it overnight (which means I will make it during dinner prep so I don't have to be in the kitchen for extended hours!).

Computer Animation

Ian taught himself how to create animated video clips.  Here is his video titled Bill Takes the Cake:

He then taught Shane.  Shane's video is called  Bob and Pie:

I am impressed!  They just tackled a program Mark had on the computer with no (or little) help from anyone.  Their next goal is to figure out how to add sound!

Kingdoms Outside

For those of you who are my friend on Facebook, you already know that I sent the kids outside few weeks ago for some "hands on history."  Their goal was to mimic what they have learned about kingdoms and empires and leaders trying to take over the world.  My goal was to get them outside so I could have some quiet knitting time by the fire.  Little did I know this game would get them outside on any dry day!

Today, Lula got to join everyone outside!  She spent a little time sitting on the blanket and ripping up grass...

 ...and then she was off and crawling through the grass!

She loved it when Fiona hauled her back to the blanket.  I went out into the woods to see the kids' kingdoms and offices.

IJ and Daniel conduct some rock business

Fiona did not like being left behind on the blanket, but she also didn't like being in the woods!

Doesn't Daniel look happy? No nap, sunny day, siblings to play with...life just doesn't get any better!

A good view of the newly flattened orchard. We just need to add more trees.

First vinca

First taste of dandelion!

World's naughtiest, most pathetic doberman.

So, yes, I'm guilty of wearing my slippers outside.  And Pathetic Doberman, who missed me terribly and chewed pieces out of these slippers while I was in Pennsylvania, is SO PATHETIC that she curled up with my slippers outside.  One would never believe this same pathetic dog was the one that viciously greeted the Fedex man today with every hair standing on end.

Evie loves Lula and pretended that she was her baby.  She got Lula to eat an entire jar of peas and then another jar of applesauce and blueberry!  All that fresh air made her hungry!

Pennsylvania Part 3: Sight-seeing

This movie, that I made of myself, sums up my copilot job and my new-found smart phone ability.

The first morning we were in PA, my sister was scanning the map of the area on her phone to find the best way to Hershey, PA.  She was listing off close towns and said, "...and here's Gettysburg...and here's..."   WHAT??? We are close to GETTYSBURG? Why doesn't anyone TELL me that we are close to one of the most famous historical sites in our country??? Hershey was cancelled and Gettysburg was ON!

History Lover

The second morning, we headed to the closest town, Lititz.  First we headed out to a museum that featured items from Pennsylvania German culture.  It was just like going to Fort Nisqually, only there were no beaver pelts!  Then, we visited the site of the first pretzel "factory" in America and a chocolate "museum" that polluted the town with the luscious smell of chooooocolaaaaate.  Mmmmmm!  They were fun trips, but nothing too exciting happened.

Pretending to wipe his boots.  I want a boot-wiper that that one!

My Nana lives in Lancaster County, so there are lots of Amish and Mennonite people living around.  It was fun seeing a horse-n-buggy tearing down the road, but the buggy was all tricked out with flashing lights and windows.  I decided that Lancaster was just like Lynden (neighboring city of our old home town), only East.  I really wanted to snap all sorts of pictures of the Amish people, but I felt like a touron (a tourist moron).  And I think the real Amish are hiding far, far away from Lancaster now that Amish Mafia is on TV.  I took a picture of laundry hanging over a cow pit and then felt guilty about taking such a personal picture.  But I take pictures of my own laundry hanging in my backyard and blog about it, so what's the difference?  Oh, yeah.  I give myself permission to post my laundry and I didn't ask theirs.

Boot scrapers-again-but at Independence Hall!

The last bit of sight-seeing we did was in a last-minute rush before we returned home.  We had just enough time to experience Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Benjamin Franklin's grave before we rushed down I-95 to return the rental car and catch our flight.  I can tell I'm getting old because I got all emotional while in Independence Hall.

Tour Guide Extraordinaire in the Supreme Court Room

Our tour guide was the best tour guide I've seen in a long time.  As a homeschooler, I see leaders try to keep things upbeat and moving, always trying to keep your attention and be louder than the group.  This guy was pretty nonchalant, kept his hands in his pockets, and spoke so quietly no one (except the occasional child under five) dared to whisper to their friends.  Maybe it's an East Coast thing, but he acted like if you wanted to hear what he had to say, you better listen up because he wasn't going to repeat himself.

Liberty Bell

So we had a great time.  I wish we could go back someday and see everything we missed.  I started to dream about taking a year and a couple of tax returns to cross the country with the kids and experience the country first-hand...

Pennsylvania Part 2: Airports

I haven't been on an airplane since IJ was a baby and I have never flown with children, so I was a wee bit nervous about this trip.  Okay, I had insomnia for two days before the trip!  I was mostly worried that I would miss my flight...but then I used my favorite "worry" trick: I imagined the worst possible scenario, and then followed it all the way through.  Missed my flight? Well, I would just turn around and go home and I wouldn't have to be gone from home for five days.  No problem.

What IJ did during the flight

I was also worried about going through TSA with my children, knitting projects, and food.  I didn't know they had a special line for families, so we got to go straight to the front with other people who were juggling strollers and diaper bags. Score!  My knitting needles weren't even questioned-maybe because they were bamboo and not metal.  I learned that yogurt is considered a solid and allowed if it is frozen and a liquid, therefore forbidden, if not frozen.  Lula's bottles went in a special scanner and were never even opened-something I was worried about.  I think we spent a total of three minutes going through TSA.  We purposely minimized metal on our clothes so we could avoid extra wanding.  What I didn't realize was they would want to feel my legs because I was wearing a long skirt.  They asked permission first, but I was like, "Who cares? I'm wearing long johns!" and pulled my skirt up enough to show that my legs were not lined with weapons.  Of course if I had a black belt, my legs themselves would be weapons!

What Lula did during the flight

The SeaTac airport has a wonderful play area for small children.  My sisters and I were able to let our kiddos run around until it was time to board.  When it was time to board, we got to load first because of the kids.  Best of all, the airlines blocked the seat between the two I reserved so Lula could have her own spot.  I was able to keep her in her car seat for most of the trip!

My little nephew! I snatched him out of his seat as soon as I could!

My three-almost four-year old niece is a champion flyer.  She has her own Hello Kitty roller bag complete with Leap Pad and DVD player!  Her electronics did not keep her from popping up to visit with her cousin, Boy.  Boy is Ian's new nickname.

"Smile for Auntie!"

Now, I purposely left my preschool aged and toddler children at home so I wouldn't have to worry about behavior issues on the plane (or anywhere else for that matter).  That and I don't have the money to fly my kids across the country!  But my sisters did and they were great on the plane.  The kids sitting right behind me cried the whole time though, so a little running up and down the aisles was no big deal.

Junior TSA Officer and Junior Captain!

The Philadelphia airport wasn't as pretty at the SeaTac airport, but the TSA there was very nice as well.  They brought me to the front of the line, but I didn't have any tickets for my niece (my sister was running a bit behind).  The security guard noticed my niece's "dance," sent me to a close bathroom, and watched Ian and Lula for me.  When we returned, he let us go back to the front of the line.  This time I forgot to take my shoes off and set off the alarm.  TSA was very cool about it and did not send me to jail for kidnapping or for disturbing the peace. Whew!  I was able to rest at our gate for about 10 minutes before boarding.

Benadryl works! (My other nephews)

What I didn't know coming home was that the flight was TWO HOURS longer because we were flying into the wind.  I tell you, we were SO READY to get off that plane.  The kids were behaving nicely, but Ian and I were tired, thirsty, and ready to see the left-behind kids.

So, if I ever travel this way again, which I probably won't, I will pack light, carry non-liquid foods in a backpack as a carry on, and drug my children and myself with either Benadryl or Nyquill for a pleasant flight.

Pennsylvania Part 1: Blessed Assurance

I know everyone is anxious to read about our trip to Pennsylvania.  I completely filled my memory card with pictures and movies that I can't wait to share...but I won't burden you will all 397 photos and I won't put it all in one post.  The purpose of this trip was to gather with my relatives on my dad's side of the family to celebrate Nana's 90th birthday.  Nana is my dad's mother and for whom I write this blog. *smile*

Nana has had an exciting life with many changes, but one thing has stood the test of time: her love of music.  When she was a young girl, her mother passed away and her father had no choice but to put her and her younger brother and sister in a children's home.  Her oldest brother was able to work and did not need to be homed.  It was at the orphanage that she started singing.  She became part of a traveling group of children that sang to raise money for the home.  After her father remarried, he brought the children back home.  Her "second mother" was Anna and this is who I am named after.  The four total children sang together, each one taking a part.

One of the best moments of this reunion/party was witnessing Nana and her brother and sister singing hymns.  The eldest brother has passed away, so my dad sang his part.

Nana is on the left, singing alto.  My dad is the baritone.  (Great) Uncle Harry is tenor.  And (Great) Aunt Margaret is soprano.  I had no idea such talent existed in my relatives.

Great Aunt Margaret told a story of how when she was in high school, they wanted her to sing for her profession.  She went home to tell her family and her second mother Anna said, "God gave you this talent and you can only use it for Him."  For the next hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness, a cousin added piano accompaniment (and Erika, my older sister, and I hummed along).  I love how the women don't even need the hymnal.  These words are part of them, as they should be a part of us.  If you watch the video all the way to the end, you see a surprise! Another first for Lula!

I can't say it enough: the opportunity to hear Nana and her siblings sing was priceless.  Thank you, Dad, for bringing us all together!