Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Seating Assignments

Dear Jacob, it is not polite to set on your siblings. Mommy said you can set next to them not on them. 
Pamela

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Merry Christmas

We did not do Christmas pictures this year. I am okay with this picture. This picture shows you how we really are. 
We had. A wonderful Christmas. Full of laughter and silliness and a few melt downs but that is okay. 
This year we were together. I will never take for granted that we were together and healthy. 
Pamela

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Wordless Wednesday

I am obeying mom, I am laying down even if it is on the edge of the couch where I know I should not be. 
Pamela

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Acting Classes

My children have learned that if they want something they ask Jacob to beg with them. 
They have also taught him how to faint or how to act upset. 

Pamela

Flat Daddy


Jacob is old enough to realize dad is not home. He realizes dad is not in bed at night. He loves face timing with dad. 

I am so grateful we have flat daddy. I really think I should get a updated picture for Jacob though. 
Pamela


Sunday, November 15, 2015

Drama

I have the best helpers here. Hope was asked to mop and in true Hope fashion she decided to turn on Its a hard knock life and scrub on her hands and knees. 
Jacob on the other hand does not understand the drama. He does not believe in drama. 

Pamela

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Thief or lover of Jelly

This is the look you get when you try to take his store bought jelly away from him. 
He sneaks into the fridge every chance he gets. 
Pamela

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

White Squirrels

I know this is not worthy of a blog post but I love looking at this picture. 
One of the fun things about living here is the amazing white or all black squirrels. 
Pamela

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Smore's Dip

I love having company over. I try to have quick snacks available for them. 
Today we found a new recipe. Pour a bag of chocolate chips (we only had white chips) into a cast iron skillet. Cover with marshmallows for 8 minutes or until  marshmallows are brown. 

Pull out of the oven and let set a couple of minutes. We scooped out this dip and put on graham crackers. It was a huge hit for my kids and took no effort to make or clean up. 
Pamela

Saturday, November 7, 2015

How we Homeschool

This year we have five children being homeschooled. Several people have asked me how you homeschool when you have little ones. 
I will say it takes practice and patience. Some days go smoothly and some days we just laugh through it. The current plan is that I work with the littles while the big kids wake up and do morning chores and typically the baby is still asleep. The littles think it is fun and they are still up really early. 

I work with the three big kids in the morning while the littles play and wat h TV. Yes, they watch TV. I monitor what they watch and there are plenty of healthy things for them to watch (leap frog, veggie tales). During this time Jacob is running around between both rooms. I always have crayons at the table. 
  Then we have lunch. After lunch the big kids can finish up school and I can work with the littles more while the youngest two nap. 
  Some things that are helpful to me in keeping it together are to remember not every day will be the same. We will not get everything done everyday and that is okay. Because some days we get more than a days work done. 
And honestly some days we just give the baby pudding to keep him busy. 
Pamela

Friday, November 6, 2015

Pinterest Fail Half Way

So I jumped on the band wagon and made my husband salads in a jar minus the dressing. 
I love the look of them and they were fun to make. Sadly, my husband did not love it. He said he could not get to the bottom of the jar with a fork so he had to pour it onto a plate. 
 I think I will try it again with wide mouth jars. 
Pamela

Baby Wearing

Hope was suppose to do the dishes but someone else thought he needed extra love. She said she could not ignore him so she is carrying him in a back pack. 
When she could not carry him in the back pack he cried. Then he decided he would just act like a dog. So she is holding the leash. He will play and be content as long as he is close to her. I have no idea how he will handle things when we start school.

Pamela

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Peek a Boo

Everyone plays peek a boo with the dog. I can almost guarantee when we are not home the dogs take a deep breath and relax.
Pamela

College Bound

I was excited to share our back to school pictures with you. You know make cute little signs. 
By first born starts college this morning. He also picks up his car from the dealership. I was thinking I would at least get a smile. I tried to bribe him but this is as much as I got. 
I love this boy and hope he had a great day. 
Pamela

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Price of a Salad


Sometimes I get so angry. We recently went away. During this trip we decided to eat at the hotel. We had a couple of options for our family. We could order. Pizza for $12.99 that had 8 pieces or we could order salads. The salads were $8.99. They said this salad would feed 2-4. Let's be honest it fed one. 
  What angers me is that not everyone has the money to buy both like we did. So of course they would choose the pizza that feeds more. Seriously it had four slices of tomato and a few slices of cheese with the lettuce. 
  So since I am on this topic let me tell you some ways that you can eat healthy on the road. First, pack healthy snacks. We always pack apples and bananas and carrots with us. Stop at the closest store and pick up salads to eat in the room. Pack a cooler with water bottles and healthy juice to avoid buying vendin machine sodas. I am not going to lie we also pack granola bars and mini chocolate bars. We also pack popcorn. This sounds horrible but I love having popcorn in a hotel room because I do not have to vacuum it up. 
Pamela

School Helpers

This is how we focus on school. Hope is responsible for the dogs. 
And Faith helps Jacob know he is working with her. 

Some days this goes better than others. 
Pamela

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Calming Down

I love homeschooling. I love that when my girl is struggling we can just stop. On this day I asked her to just walk laps outside. I know her well enough that to just walking around outside would help. 
I was not very specific with her so she completly decided that one of our goats should walk with her. 
  I don't mind, I love how therapeutic our animals are for her. A couple of minutes of being outside and she was calm and back to studying spelling words. 
Pamela

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Great Wolf Lodge

I know I have told you before how much we love love love Great Wolf Lodge. We had the chance to go again recently, 
This time was so much better in several ways. First, Jacob was not scared. He loved the water (which was scary for me), he loved Oliver. He loved Oliver so much that he would not leave him alone. He was very concerned that Oliver did not have a swim bracelet on. He kept showing Oliver her bracelet and pointing to his ankle. 

One of our favorite things about Great Wolf Lodge is that they have so much to do without leaving the hotel and spending extra money. The kids all enjoyed having their face painted. They enjoy story time. 

Pamela

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Yumm yumm and triple yummy! How about a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and reece peanut butter cups on top. 

I made this cake for a event at church. I have to be honest and say I took it in Sunday morning even though I knew I would not need it until Sunday night. 
   I love this cake stand. A friend found two of them at a thrift store and bought them for me. I could not wait to try them out. 


Grace does not like peanut butter but wanted you to know she is thinking about eating this cake. 
Pamela

I am Getting Married

Hello, my name is Banter and today my parents said it was time I got married. I did not agree to this. 
I will fight them every step of the way.

I have been told my new husband is handsome and strong and comes from a strong milk line. But honestly I just do not want to leave my family to meet my husband even though I know I will be home soon with babies in my belly. 
Banter 

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Good Night Baby Boy

This little boy spent his first night away from me. A couple of nights a week Hope will take Jacob to bed with her but they never go to sleep. 
This time they both went to sleep rather quickly. I love that he went to bed with his cup and shoes. He slept all night with her. He has not done it since. I am pretty sure this little boy will be out of my bed soon.
Pamela

Wordless Wednesday

Honestly are there any words needed for this post. 

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Homemade Pizza

I love our little military post. At first I was concerned about the size of the comisarry. Then I realized that small works in my benefit. The sales are amazing. 
Recently I picked up crescent rolls for 75 cents. I normally would not buy them unless they were for a recipe. I did not realize until I got them home that they were garlic flavored. Glad I realized before I filled it with chocolate and peanut butter. 
So I had two options be mad that they are or what I planned on or turn it into wonderful homemade pizza. 
  I am now glad I made this mistake and could make pizza for lunch. 
Pamela

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Safety

When we work on making soap we have to be super careful. Jacob agrees that safety comes first. 
This week we decided to use a ladder to make sure no littles came in the room. They could have easily came over the ladder or through it. It was a gentle reminder that they should not come in the kitchen. 

Sometimes we forget that kids  are kids and that even though they hear you when you speak they are kids. So just because I tell them to stay out of the kitchen they get excited and have to run in. Even though I say stay away from the road the ball will roll in the road and they will take off running without looking. 

So I try to put gentle reminders in place.

We have always played a game. We start the game when they learn to walk. We practice it even when they are ten. No matter where we are I will suddenly yell STOP. The game is to see who will stop the fastest. 
This helps as a gentle reminder that they need to listen. That way when we are walking through a parking lot and a car pulls out they will be able to stop without thinking about it. 
  I would love to hear some of the ways you help your kids obey. 
For me it is about learning for the long term. 
Pamela

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Ketchup

In our house ketchup is a meal. I buy it by the case. 
Yesterday the kids brought up three cases of ketchup only they were empty. So we had dinner without ketchup. They were not happy. I kindly reminded them that if they brought the trash upstairs then mom would know to buy more. 
  What are the staples in your house? For us we must have ketchup and baby carrots. 
Pamela

Saturday's

This is my first Saturday at home in months. I love the farmers market but I have to be honest, I miss this.
Babies are not little for very long. 
Pamela

Friday, October 23, 2015

This Child

This child makes us laugh on a daily basis. He drives me insane just as awesome. 
Yes he is wearing a suit jacket and pajama pants. I would laugh but I was so excited that he has on clothes. 

Because when he gets mad the first thing he does is strips his clothes off. 


Pamela

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Feeling Beachie

I have not done a Feeling Beachie in a while. Now that farmers market is over I am really hoping to get started again. When Hilary asked me to co-host I instantly said yes. I love reading everyone's responses. The statements are: 1.Have you _ever fed a apple to a goat?____ 2.Growing up summer meant _lots of concerts in the park and lots of time watching my mom have fun?____ 3.The weather outside is beautiful, amazing, perfect._______ 4.My favorite teacher taught me__clean the cords on appliances, take pride in my property and enjoy what I cook.___

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Sick Babies

This has been a hard week. Sunday morning my baby girl passed out twice at home. We rushed her to the hospital. 
They did blood work and we waited. The blood work came back that she did not look sick. The doctor said she must have just been dehydrated and released is. As we were walking out she passed out again. Only this time it took much longer for her color to come back. They did a chest X-Ray and decided she has pneumonia. 

So after a antibiotic shot we were sent home. 
We followed up with our pediatrician who said she did not hear pneumonia but it looked like she had strep throat. That test came back negative. The doctor said maybe she just did not hear the pneumonia. She still had a fever. So for now we watch her. 
She is feeling much better and is ready to be allowed off the couch. 
Please continue to pray as I have another baby who is coughing. 
Pamela 

Thursday, September 3, 2015

K5 Learning


I am so so SO excited to share a new program with you. I recently wrote about how I keep up with the little ones while I homeschool. One of the things I did not mention was one of my easiest ways to keep the kids going when I cannot be right there. We really enjoyed our test of K5 Learning. Some of our favorite things were that they got to earn arcade game and the colors. This was one of the first programs that was not full of cartoon figures but not too mature for the little ones. They loved that each thing built on the last. As a parent I enjoyed the fact that I could assign what I wanted to work on. They did not just pick what was easiest to play. My husband likes the fact that they had placement test so we knew where each child should start. I enjoyed that they had so many options for each grade and that they had extra worksheets when we need it.
They even have a free trial period. This is great for our family because I have learned not all programs work for the way my kids learn. This program worked well for all my kids.
Disclaimer: I did receive a free trial to sample this product.

Feeling Beachie

The statements are: I have not been great at keeping up with Feeling Beachie. I really enjoy the questions every week but this is my prime baking time for farmers market and I cannot get on the computer. Because we all know if we get on the computer for one minute it turns into twenty minutes before we look up and a hour before we get up. •__Shut__ your _mouth____ because_I said so._____ •I am in denial that it is already _September and winter is coming.______ •My purse is empty without _a spare diaper and business cards ______ •Camping to me, means _sleeping in a RV, family time and smores._____
 
Content Troppetrie | Design Poppiness Designs