A few more beach photos.

Busy

Saturday one of the local produce stands had their end of season sale. It was their last day of business for this summer and everything was half off. I sent Randy to get 6 baskets of peaches. But, the prices were so great, he came home with 8 baskets of peaches and 6 baskets of apples.

So, Saturday was consumed with canning about half the peaches (42 qt.) and make 3 batches of jelly (about 26 cups).

Early Sunday morning we woke up to the stillness of no sound other then wind and rain. We walked down in our basement and watched the water flowing in across the floor....no electric means the Sump Pump doesn't work. I called my mom at 7:00 to check in with the outside world. She called my brother and by 7:45 he was here with his generator. We pumped out the water and used the shop vac to get a lot of water out of the carpet. We also plugged in the fridge. Around lunch time he needed to take it back home as he didn't have electric there either. Later in the afternoon Randy's dad brought their generator (they had electric) for us to use. Monday morning we got my brother's generator again (Dad's is rather loud as it had no muffler) and used that until the electric came on around 2:45.

Life without electric was interesting. I couldn't do laundry. Cooking consisted of whatever I could do on the gas grill or what we had that we could eat cold/raw. It was kind of like camping, but without the campfire...which eliminates lots of the food we eat when camping. We did have lots of neighborhood bonding. The local public elementary school was closed on Monday which was to be their first day of school. I was thankful we were only out for a day-and-a-half. I know other people are still out. And I'm thankful for family that pitched in to help us save our fridge and freezers full of food. It's different brushing teeth by flashlight and having everything be totally dark at night.

Anyway, Monday, despite not having electricity, the rest of those peaches needed to be done. Randy took off to take care of the generator and such so he could help me peal them. I was going to take them all to my sister's to can them, but then figured out that I could can on the grill...it just took much longer. After 2 canners full, the electricity came on and I was glad that I had not drug everything up there.

The rest of Monday consisted of finishing canning the peaches, doing laundry, and turning my excess tomatoes into "Chili Tomato Sauce"...a recipe I got from my sister.

This morning I worked on getting caught up with folding wash and cleaning up the house. Zach had his occupational therapy appointment. This afternoon/evening I tackled turning those 6 baskets of apples into applesauce. My parents came back for a few hours and that was quite helpful in getting everything done. I finished up canning the last batch about half an hour ago.

Rest of the week agenda - catch up on household work that has been left slide due to canning, speech therapy, enjoy the lovely weather. :-)

Electricity

is nice to have.

We lost ours early Sunday morning. It came back on about 15 minutes ago....gotta go catch up on everything...will blog about it later.

Supper Prep.

I do not have a set food that I make every week on the same day like some folks do, but if we are going back to the shop on a Friday night while Randy works on his truck, I will frequently take a crockpot full of chili. The recipe varies every time I make it based on what is in my cupboard, but here's today's recipe:

1-1/2 lb. ground beef, browned, rinsed, drained

2 cans (10-3/4 oz.) condensed tomato soup

1 can (14.5 oz.) Petite diced tomatoes

1 can (27.5 oz.) Homestyle Baked Beans

1 can (40 oz.) dark red kidney beans

1 can (40 oz.) great northern beans

1 cup salsa

chili powder to taste.

Combine all ingredients in a large crock pot. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3.

If I have leftovers, I will freeze them for another night.

For dessert I am making Chocolate Picnic Cake. I doubled the recipe and am baking it in my largest 9x13 cake pan (yes, not all 9x13 pans are the same size...this one is more like 9.5x13.5 or maybe even 10x14...I never measured but my other 9x13 nest inside it.

If I have time I may make cornbread or corn muffins but considering how much time it is taking to get a certain little boy to stay in bed, I'm doubting I'll have any extra time after I do all the other things I wish to do while they are in bed.

First Day of School

Wednesday was the first day of school....

Assorted Tidbits

• Today my 3 oldest headed off to school....and we set about trying to adjust...or we would've if we'd been home. We ran errands...discount groceries (which still added up), eggs, coffee w/my sister while the boys played with their cousins. The kids got out at 1:00 so tomorrow will be the first full day of them at school AND us at home.
• Tonight my neighbor and her 2 boys joined us in the backyard since her husband also was not home. Nice for the boys to play together and have some adult conversation.
• The good news - Janae was not worried about bears tonight. The bad news - she misses me when she's at school. Actually, she came home quite excited so I think the tears tonight are a case of adjustment and overtiredness.
• Zach's sensory issues become exceedingly pronounced when he doesn't sleep at naptime. His therapist loaned me the book "The Out-Of-Sync-Child Has Fun" to read, and I think I may need to buy this book for myself.
• Tonight I made the mistake of saying that I thought Micah (and Mark) were finally getting the hang of staying in their beds. Tonight at bedtime I realized how wrong I was. :-) Well, they really are getting better more often. Guess he just needed to check tonight to see if I was still paying attention.
• I froze the last of the beans from my garden today.
• I plan to can more salsa tomorrow and if I have any tomatoes left (and I probably will) I hope to convert them to juice and freeze it.
• Despite having my noisiest child home, the house is much quieter with the older 3 gone...maybe it's that only 3 children are vying for my time and attention instead of 6. And Zach plays nicer with the younger boys then he does when there's an older sibling available. At least for today.
• I have a desire to get a bit more structured/planned with some things (like breakfast menu/clean-up, planning days/times to do specific things), but haven't taken the time yet to actually sit down and do the planning necessary to provide the structure (if that makes sense).
• I recently read the book "The Blind Side". I had seen the movie, read the Tuohy's book and the book by Michael Oahr. Now I finally read the book that set off the movie and the other books. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I am now reading "Clemente". Both were finds at a consignment store.
• Tomorrow's Schedule (in addition to the normal caring for children, straightening up the house and making meals...subject to change as always): Laundry, Make Salsa, Speech Therapy, Make Tomato Juice with any remaining tomatoes, start weekly bookwork.

Beach Photos - a few to start.

When I transferred my photos to the computer today, I was startled find that 2/3rds of them have a stormy look...and then I remembered that part way through the week I had discovered that my camera setting was on "P" instead of "auto"....OOPS! I have no idea what "P" means (and am uncertain where my instruction book is)....Anyway, to late now!

Zach, Randy, & Janae - on our walk to the crabbing docks.

Janae took this photo of Autumn, me, & Randy down by the boat docks.

Micah & I (and Josiah to the left) at the top of the WWII tower at Cape Henlopen.

Heading out to the beach at Cape Henlopen that final Saturday evening.

Question.

Once and awhile I'll get a question in my comments...and forget to answer it.

So, Kimmie, in answer to your question about the stripes on my tie-dye shirt....start at the bottom corner (or one shoulder) and scrunch it up diagonally. Put a rubber band around the shirt every inch or 2 (as wide as the stripes should be). Use a different color for each section. Voila, diagonal stripes.

Vacation - next part

Assorted details:

• As mentioned, 8-16 people consume large quantities of food....there were times when I felt like I was cooking every moment we weren't at the beach!
• Yes, we did laundry while we were there...
• The kids love the ocean, and even Micah was become a duck by the middle of the week.
• Yes, I got very sandy as the little boys crawled over me.
• Yes, we stayed up too late playing cards (Rook and Haus...or however that is spelled).
• Yes, the little ones still woke up early. I think i slept until 7:00 one morning...kind of, because a little wriggly boy crawled into bed with us earlier then that.
• Yes, I should now be in bed catching up on my sleep. :-)

In case you're wondering what we ate?

• Eggs, Bacon, Pancakes
• Scrambled Eggs/Egg Sandwiches w/Bacon
• Overnight Caramel French Toast, Scrapple, Sausages
• Baked Oatmeal
• Cereal

AND

• Grilled Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans
• Lasagna (leftover from an earlier meal at home, frozen, and reheated)
• Cheeseburger Soup
• Freshly caught fish, macaroni & cheese, stewed tomatoes
• Pot Roast (Roast Beef/Potatoes/Carrots)
• Hay Stacks
• Hot Dogs/Tater Tots
• Pizza (homemade, not Grotto's) - Chicken/Bacon/Ranch, Cheese, Ham, Sausage, Ham/Pineapple, Pineapple/Broccoli, and pepperoni.

Not to mention:

• Sandwiches
• Apples/Oranges/Grapes
• Chips
• Rice Krispies
• Whoopie Pies
• Chocolate Cookies
• leftovers

And at the beach:

• Juice Bags
• Assorted snacks....crackers, 100 calorie snack pack cookies, etc.

And that's just off the top of my head. We took most of the food along but did make several stops at the grocery store for items we forgot or ran out of.

Did I mention that I really need to go grocery shopping for here now?!

Vacation

DETAILS:

We had a lovely time. Randy's parents own a house about 15-20 minutes from the beach so it is reasonably affordable for us to spend a week there. We go to the local state parks (Cape Henlopen and Delaware Seashore) instead of Rehobeth.

Saturday - We left at 5:00 a.m. We stopped at McD's in Dover for breakfast, and arrived a bit before 9:00. The day was rather overcast so we mostly hung out around the house...we were there for a week...no rush. The kids did some bike riding with Randy & Grandpa (Randy's parents were with us Saturday and Sunday).

Sunday - more time at the house, more bike riding, more fun watching TV shows that we don't watch at home since we don't have TV. And I think we walked to the crabbing dock. Last year I kept a list...this year I forgot so I may mix some days up.

Monday - Cape Henlopen. First we went to the fishing pier...Randy & some of the kids fished, the little ones and I played in the sand/bay. The fish weren't biting, so then we headed to Herring Point, one of the ocean beaches at Cape Henlopen. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the house (we made sure little ones got naps every day). We had some storms, and went back to Cape Henlopen in the evening. If you want a practically private beach, go on an evening after thunderstorms when the sky is still overcast. Emptiest beach I've ever been to in August! Randy & Josiah went fishing while I & the kids played in the water.

Tuesday - Tower Rd. Ocean in Delaware Seashore State Park. LOVE this beach! But hate the Route 1 traffic. My parents joined us at the beach much to the kids surprise. Such fun with Grammy & Grandpa. We went back to the house for lunch, then Randy & Josiah went fishing and Grandpa, Grammy, Autumn, & Janae went to Cape Henlopen until they got rained out. Josiah, Autumn, & I went shopping in the evening for school shoes and assorted other things.

Wednesday - The development where the house is located is putting in sewer...and they were working in front of the house. So we packed up for the day. We headed to Cape Henlopen beach for the morning, ate lunch at the pavilion at the fishing pier, and drove to Killens Pond State Park. We went to the nature center and walked to the pond (okay, it's really more like a lake in my opinion). Then we went to the water park there...$2/person from 3-6. Kids had a blast! Our friends who were joining us met us there. Around 5:30 or 5:45 (can't remember) we headed back to the beach house. There were now 2 families....4 adults, 12 kids.

Side Note: Multiple people consume enormous amounts of food. For example, during the week (people count ranging from 8 - 16, we consumed 9 dozen eggs).

Thursday - Tower Rd. Beach in the morning, hung out around the house/played games the rest of the day.

Friday - Cape Henlopen Beach in the morning, Consignment Shopping/Grocery shopping in the afternoon while kids (except eldest teenage girl) and dads held down the fort, planned to go to the beach in the evening....but had thunderstorms.

Saturday - Dads & Older kids went bike riding in the morning while Moms & little kids stayed at house and organized/did laundry/cleaned up. Went to the pool. Early supper, and to the beach for one last time...Cape Henlopen bay side/ocean side, bike riding, tower climbing.

Sunday - Ate breakfast, cleaned up, packed up, cleaned the house, quick lunch, finished cleaning, out the door by 12:00.

We're Home.

We just spent a lovely 9 days on vacation. Now we're back. I'm babysitting 2 of my nieces today. Tomorrow Zach has occupational therapy....and then on Wednesday school starts. I love summer (except for heat and humidity) and am not ready for it to end...

Pictures & details of our vacation to come...

Friday

I made Salsa today. One minor thing...I mixed up the lines when reading the quantity of Red Pepper Flakes...should be 1 Tablespoon. I put in 3....well, actually 2-1/2 because as I was dumping the 3rd one in I thought it seemed like a lot and reread the recipe. Umm. Yeah. It's hot! Randy said it's great...he had sweat running down his face. Autumn said it's to spicy. Well, I have another recipe for Salsa I want to try if I have enough tomatoes. Of course, that's supposed to be spicy too. Good thing my husband likes spice I guess!

Oh yes, and FYI, I don't eat salsa at all. I just eat the tortilla chips plain. I will eat that dip where you layer cream cheese and salsa and cheese, but plain salsa, no thanks...I'll just eat the chips!

Gotta run...wash to fold yet before bed.

Country Music

When I was a kid at home, we mostly listened to Christian music...lots of acapella hymns, whatever was on the local Christian station, some classical music and a smattering of "oldies" like the Everly Brothers and Neil Diamond (yes, on record players). As I got a bit older, say 5th or 6th grade maybe? I really can't remember, I got into country music. Sometimes I'd listen to rock (so I would know what everyone else at school was talking about...everyone being the popular kids), but I was generally drawn to County...particularly the 80s stuff. In high school I was pretty much solidly listening to Country (as my friends can attest) with a smattering of Christian...Petra was probably my favorite Christian rock group. Praise & Worship also started becoming "the thing" in Christian circles so I listened to some of that as well. In my early years I was also a dedicated listener to Phillies games on the local AM station....I'd lay in bed listening to the games...and usually fell asleep before it was over.

So as time went on, I find I don't listen to country very often any more...because they play to much modern stuff and not as much "classic" country. Anyway, the other week, on a beautiful summer day, I pulled out some old Alabama (my favorite country group) CDs and stuck them in my vehicle CD player. I now have another generation hooked. Josiah has confiscated my CDs and has them in his room. (I'm the first to admit that I hope the lyrics to some of their songs are over his head!)

The other day, while driving, I came across this song (to forewarn you, the ad at the beginning of this video is...um...not nice). Anyway, it took me back to my teenage years.

Now days I gravitate towards Southern Gospel (country sound, Christian lyrics) and "Praise & Worship"...although I still wish there was a different name for that type of music. "Praise & Worship" should describe lyrics and heart attitude, not a genre! I also like Contemporary Christian and Classical in small doses.

It does make me smile to hear Josiah & the neighbor singing "Song of the South" and Autumn being annoyed because "the song's in my head and I can't get it out". Funny, how different kids are drawn to different music. While they all enjoy Southern Gospel, so far Josiah is strongly drawn to Southern Gospel and Country. Autumn's preference is Praise & Worship and Janae is drawn to more, umm, Christian Rock/Praise & Worship I guess you'd say. And it may be good....teach them to tolerate various forms of music. :-)

And Josiah is listening to Alabama and Alan Jackson in addition to his Southern Gospel favorites....hard for me to believe all that is 20+ years ago....I guess I'm getting old... :-)

Random Thoughts

I haven't blogged a whole lot recently...

• My littlest one is having "staying in bed" issues....anyway. Amazingly enough, even with 6 kids, this is the first one that has been this determined to stay up (naps/night time). I guess I should've been tipped off since he was also the only one to climb out of the crib. On rare occasions he only gets out once or twice...but usually that only happens if Daddy is home.
• I've been rereading old favorite authors (Louis L'Amour, Agatha Christie, Emilie Loring) during the time when I am hanging out around his room to keep him in bed. Once it cools down, I plan to work on Zach's afghan (so far I've been working on it 3 years and counting).
• My Tomato Basil Simmer Sauce sealed and looks beautiful....and then this morning I realized that I forgot to put the tablespoon of lemon juice in each jar....not sure whether that matters or what to do about it!
• I plan to make Salsa tomorrow or Friday.
• I have 8 kids here right now. Last week Josiah had 2 friends for a sleepover. This week each of the girls have a cousin here.
• School starts 2 weeks from today...I still am not ready to pack lunches every day. (And yes, I know they could pack their own, but speaking from experience...my lunches were always better if mom packed them rather then me). :-)
• Speech therapy for Mark tomorrow.
• And I need to go put Micah in bed...again...maybe I'll take my book & flashlight...then he will stay in bed and go to sleep....an hour of putting him back in bed is long enough for me...try again tomorrow.

Those Tie-Dye Shirts (or is it Tye-Dye?)

Here we are, modeling the shirts we dyed the other week. Somehow we missed getting a photo of Josiah. Autumn took these photos.

Janae's shirt has a lot of white...so it kind of glared.

I used the leftover dyes on mine...so it's not quite as vibrant as it would've been. :-)

Autumn made Micah's shirt.

Josiah made Mark's.

Zach made his own (with a bit of supervision).

I love the swirl of Autumn's shirt.

Tomatoes

I have lots of tomatoes on my counter and in my fridge....today I need to do something with them.

Also, today - Zach has his occupational therapy appointment and Josiah & Zach get physicals and immunizations.

Sunday Afternoon

It is quite warm and humid here...stress the humid part!

Kids had a blast at VBS last week followed by Movie Night on Friday night.

Last night we had a great time with Randy's family at our annual summer get-together complete with delicious food, silly string, and candy scramble. It did rain though so we couldn't roast hot dogs on the campfire.

Speaking of rain, we've had showers lately...wonderful!

Another busy week coming up...count down until school starts...2-1/2 weeks.

The tomatoes are all ripening....to fast to eat, but to slow to make something out of them. I hope to make salsa at some point.

Adoption Resource

This conference sounds like a great resource for adoptive families....specifically geared towards "difficult" adoptions...special needs, older kids, behavioral issues.

August 3rd.

The kids have been enjoying VBS this week at our local grove (park). (Curriculum - Truth Quest) The little boys and I have been hanging out at the playground during the sessions.

I am currently reading "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen.

Tomorrow our favorite "Miss Ruth" is coming for Mark's weekly speech class. He's getting better...slowly...slightly.

Everyone's been dealing with some sort of cold or virus....congestion/snot/sore throats/ear aches. Any one or combination of aforementioned symptoms.

School starts exactly 3 weeks from today. So we finally planned the sleepovers that I had promised would happen over summer vacation.

We did piano lessons this morning. I got the kids hymn books on their levels. So much fun to play a song you actually know! They have a duet part for the teacher to play so perhaps I'll need to be practicing now also. Both of them have their sights set on other instruments but I want them to get a basic knowledge of piano first. Josiah wants to play the bass guitar (I'm all for this because then I can learn it) and Autumn wants to play acoustic guitar.

I've had a headache ever since early this afternoon. Several cups of coffee have not put a dent in it. So I think I'll go to bed as soon as the kids fall asleep and read some more of my book.

It was cooler today but very muggy so it still felt hot. We've enjoyed some nice showers recently...although it is still dry.

I think the littlest boy is finally getting the knack of staying in his bed at naptime and bedtime. I've only put him back 4 times so far tonight....quite an improvement. :-)

August...already.

I can't believe we are in August...and only 23 days until school begins again. I'm feeling the pressure to get organized and figure out what we need yet clothing & supply wise. And then there are the things I told the kids they could do this summer (like sleepovers) that we still haven't gotten around too....time's running out! We'll get there I guess...even if it happens in September instead of the summer.I am finding that having therapy Tuesday and Thursday mornings makes it more difficult for my schedule....and I'm considering how that could change to make it work a little better for me. I have no idea how you do it when you have multiple kids with multiple therapies....but I guess you just make it work! It will change in the fall when Mark gets switched to IU13 since he's 3...and I'll need to take him instead of having her come to the house.

Friday morning my sister-in-laws and their daughters (and a friend) (and a neighbor) came over and we tye-dyed t-shirts for everyone. This year I did one for myself as well with an old stained shirt I had. Lots of fun. My sister-in-law is quite experienced and could help us get the patterns we wanted. I also did 10 dozen or corn and 6 gallons of beans. Randy was home and could pick all that for me and help me do it...wonderful! So great to have his help after how challenging Monday was when I did corn and beans. The kids did a great job helping too.
Saturday was a lovely day and we did stuff around here. In the evening Randy & a couple of guys went to Cabellas and my one friend & her kids came over to hang out while they were gone. It's been rather hot again but the nights have been nice and cool (in the 60s) which make it pretty manageable.
Last night our town VBS started. The kids had a good time. That runs every night until Thursday.

Today I'm hoping to trek to the discount grocery store (I haven't gotten into extreme couponing at this point) and to the egg outlet.