Spring Break 2018

Ram's parents visited during Ram's spring break so we let the Lambs also take spring break. I'll try to briefly say what we did while they visited.

They arrived on a Saturday and we went out to eat for sushi. The Lambs had piano contest that morning before they arrived and everyone was tired so we called it an early night.
Sunday we all went to church and then ate at Blaze pizza.
Monday we did some shopping including looking at iPads for Lamb 1-that is a requirement for his high school next year. We took Lamb 2 and 3 swimming. We ate lunch at a chain restaurant and supper at a wonderful local fish restaurant.
Tuesday we did some house shopping with our realtor, but none of the houses that we looked at were right for us. We ate a small lunch at a chain restaurant, mainly to feed the Lambs after house shopping. We went to the art museum since the Lambs had never been there and there was also an exhibit of high school artwork. That evening we took the Lambs to my parents and just the adults went out for a nice prime rib dinner. After that we went to another restaurant for drinks and dessert so we had more time to talk without the Lambs. I really enjoyed our adult night out.
Wednesday we made Paleo pancakes with coconut milk whipped cream and lingonberries. I took Lamb 2 to vision therapy. Ram and his dad did a few handyman tasks that I have wanted to do for a long time and was afraid if we didn't set a day for that, they wouldn't get done for several more months. I was very excited to get all that done. I had planned on cooking supper, but we went out again, this time to BJs Brewhouse.
Thursday we went to the Botanical Conservatory to take some family pictures since the weather didn't cooperate to take them outside. Then we went to see Black Panther, Lamb 2 wanted to see it the most and we had heard good reviews. The movie was so loud and I haven't been to the movies for a long time. I couldn't really tell you very much about the movie because it was so loud. Lamb 2 and 3 loved it though. Then we ate supper at a steak restaurant.

As you can see, they spoil us when they come to town, and Ram and I both had a spring break from cooking too. Their visit went too fast and it was time for them to head to visit some other relatives in MI. ID is just too far from IN and we have to fit a lot into seeing them one week a year. They left on Friday so it was nice to have a couple more days of spring break before Ram had to return to classes. We were all pretty worn out after all those fun days! Ram doesn't have another school break until Thanksgiving so we made the most of this break.

Year in Review-March 2017

March 2017

In March the first Lamb became a teenager!

My mom enjoyed having Lamb 1 over to decorate his own cake. She taught home economics so was glad to use her skills to teach her grandson and spend some one on one time with him.

Lamb 1 received this huge Lego set for his birthday. He built it quickly and displayed it in his room. 

Lamb 2 took a gymnastics class. He loved it and would like to do more, but we only allowed him to do one session mostly because of the time commitment, but also the expense.

Ram had spring break in March and I thought we should do something fun during his break. I convinced my boys to go to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. I grew up about an hour from Indy and my family were members and went to the museum several times a year. The Lambs were a little old for it, but they put up with it to make Mama happy. I especially enjoyed the old exhibits that have been there since I was a child, even if they have updated some of them.

Same carousel that I have judged all carousels since I was a child . I think because of childhood memories, this carousel is the best!

One picture to prove Lamb 1 was with us. He really felt too old for the museum, but found some of the minerals interesting.

Some day I'll have to find the photos of me driving the Indy 500 car just like the Lambs are here.

Lamb 3 had the most fun at the museum as he was the youngest.

The special exhibit was about the circus. The Lambs had fun, but it was way too loud and too much stimulation all at once. 

Of course they had to go down this giant slide before we left. Even Ram did the slide!

We went on Pi day (3-14) and the only thing about Pi day that the museum had was this in the gift shop where you could jump the first several numbers of Pi. Everyone besides Lamb 1 had to do it in honor of Pi day. We had worn our old Pi day shirts.

After the Children's Museum we went to Blaze Pizza for $3.14 pizzas. This was the first time we went to Blaze Pizza and we were glad to hear that Fort Wayne was getting a Blaze later in 2017. Ordering pizza is difficult for our family. Ram wants gluten free; Lamb 1 wants dairy free; Ewe and Lamb 2 want as many toppings as possible; and Lamb 3 prefers just cheese. A place like Blaze can make each of us a pizza the way we want it! It was a great deal on Pi day, but it is always reasonable for our family because we can each get the pizza the way we want it. They are large enough that most of us take leftovers home.

We had a fun day trip on Pi day, but were glad to come home instead of an overnight trip.

My mom's cousin visited. He is actually closer in age to me than to my mom.  My grandma and his mom were 16 years apart and he is the youngest in the family. We had a fun afternoon with their family at my mom's house. Our two families had a total of 6 boys and just one girl. The girl is not in this picture, but all the kids played together well even though it was too cold and rainy to play outside. The Lambs don't have any first cousins, so I am glad they are getting to know some more distant cousins.

My mom and I worked together to cook lunch when they visited.  She is not used to cooking for large groups of people. She had fun making this relish tray and the relishes were quickly eaten once all the kids saw it. Days like this make me thankful that we are back in Fort Wayne when friends and family visit.

Year in Review-February 2017

February 2017

In February there was a wedding at our church. They had the wedding as part of our regular Sunday morning service. It is my prayer that my boys eventually have a beautiful wedding like this one. I continue to pray for my boys future spouses. The entire congregation was invited to a simple lunch after church. There were many friends from the community at our worship that day and it was so fun to fellowship after. We were still pretty new members of our church at this point, but we knew plenty of people that day. I kept pinching myself that day, because for the past 14 years I would have talked to my friends that would have attended that wedding as I would have not been able to attend when we lived out of state. But this was one event where I shared with my out of state friends about the great day! Bonus: We sang the same version of the Te Deum that was sung at our wedding. It is our desire to stay in this area after Ram graduates, but we don't know if that is what will really happen. So I tried to be in the moment and soak in the memories of that day as we might not be here in a few years to make memories like this.

I don't know why Blogger is putting these pictures in a different order than I did, but my dad turned 77 at the end of February.

We gave him red silk flowers to attract hummingbirds to his backyard after reading about that in botany for homeschooling.

Ram took a tour of the campus as part of one of his college classes. He took lots of pictures to show me. This light fixture is star shaped.

My brother-in-law had an Army retirement ceremony in February. We weren't able to attend, but the Lambs wore some dog tags they received from an Army recruiter on that day in his honor. Lamb 2 was scratched by another Lamb so he has bandaids on his face.

Our book club read a biography of Rosa Young. The hostess served Southern food to honor Rosa. Bonus: I sat by a mom with a baby!

The photos didn't turn out the best, but the Lambs attended a chemistry homeschool day at Science Central. Lamb 2 was picked assist with an experiment. Lamb 3 had a lot of fun testing the ph of different liquids.

In 2016 we didn't do much shopping during the months of moving and getting settled, as  we were trying to use things from our pantry and not have more things to move. But we did put our moving truck/several items for house repairs/and some needed items at our rental house on our Costco credit card. All that added up to our biggest reward we ever had. I tried to make it last as long as possible when we received it. But we were still restocking our pantry after moving and it didn't last that long, but we were thankful for the trips of "free" groceries while it lasted. It was another example of being blessed while we were in a year of transition. We are glad to be members of Costco and get the reward every year.

The things they say...

Lamb 2: Mama, may I have a licorice box for wrapping presents?

Ewe: I'm sorry, but I don't know what a licorice box is.

Lamb 2 came back in a few minutes with a liquor box!

When I was a sophomore in college...

I never imagined that I would have a conversation with my husband 20 years later about which version of Epic of Gilgamesh was worth keeping in our library. I also didn't imagine that having too many copies of Epic of Gilgamesh would be a problem.

BTW: My version stayed in our library! Thank you, Dr. Ferry!

Spelling

Lamb 2 and 3 are doing spelling together this year. Lamb 2 has caught on quite quickly, Lamb 3 is taking a little longer. Usually I do spelling with them together and then later in the day do the same lesson with Lamb 3 again by himself. This has worked well and so far they are staying at the same level by doing it this way.

After they are finished I check over their spelling list that they wrote. One of today's words was "some". Our recent family read aloud was Charlotte's Web.

As I looked over Lamb 2's spelling book here is part of what he wrote.

has

some pig

if

He didn't say anything while he wrote his words, I just found this surprise when I looked over what they wrote today!

You know...

Ram made a lot of trips to the hardware store for the toilet repair job when his phone notified him how long it would take him to get to Home Depot in traffic...one week later! Thankfully they were done with the job by the time he got the phone notification.

May 4

We haven't celebrated with her for 11 years, but today will always be Grandma Frieda's birthday. My Lambs like Star Wars much more than I do, but I can't think of "May the 4th be with You Day" as much as Grandma's birthday.

Today we made cupcakes and frosted them with green "grass" and put jelly beans on them like Easter eggs, similar to what Grandma Frieda always made every Easter.

Lamb 1's Day

The local pizza place has a name of the day where people with that name can make their own small pizza for free. They have chosen Ewe, Lamb 2, and Lamb 3 names and we participated. As far as we know, they have not chosen Lamb 1's name in the past few years. They do not have gluten free pizza so Ram does not want to participate even if they have his name day.

When they had Lamb 3's name day I told them that Lamb 1 was disappointed they have never chosen his name. The employee said they do have birthday of the month days and we could let Lamb 1 participate in that. The March birthday day was on March 4, one day before Lamb 1's birthday. Here are a few pictures of his fun day. It was busy, but not as busy as I expected since all March birthdays were allowed to participate.

Lamb 1 was happy to make his own pizza without cheese!

Thank you, Flying Pie Pizzaria!

What are you teaching your kids?

We've been reading Little Town on the Prairie. One chapter talks about what Laura saw while she worked in town. Last week before track practice, Lamb 2 was repeating what he heard in the book. I was horrified to hear him saying over and over again:

"My name is Lamb 2 and I'm DRUNK!"

*The Lambs participate in track with the Idaho CHRISTIAN Running Club.

Christmas Photos

I heard one time that you should take down all your Christmas decorations before the Presentation of our Lord Feast Day which is today. When our Lambs were younger it took the pressure off of me to give myself that long. I decided that I should probably post Christmas photos today too.

Lamb 1 was Joseph. This will probably be the last year that he dresses up as a character at our church. Next year he will be in confirmation class. He will probably be a reader, but not in costume.

2014 Sunday School Christmas Program

Shepherd-Lamb 3

Shepherd-Lamb 2

Just for fun-Rudolph-Lamb 3

Christmas Eve 2014 at our church

Girls Club/Boys Club Day

Today it was my turn to host the girls at our house and my Lambs went to another house with all the boys. I made sugar cookie dough last night and today we made cut out heart cookies. We made frosting and they insisted on coloring some pink and some purple. They decorated the cookies with frosting and sprinkles. It took a long time to make, bake, and decorate the cookies. I couldn't get over their conversation while they were working. I heard comments that my boys would never make. "Your cookie is so pretty. Will you show me how to make one like that? Would you mind if I copied your idea?" The only "fighting" was everyone wanted a turn to cut out cookies at once. I would roll out the dough and all 4 girls would crowd around and cut out as many cookies as possible from that batch before there was no space to cut out any more. They didn't believe me that everyone could have some time to cut out cookies. After a couple of pans I called them over individually to cut out cookies while the others decorated cookies.

Then they gave themselves "recess" and ran around my backyard for a little while. I apologized for not having a trampoline or swing set. They didn't seem to mind, just wanted to be outside after making cookies. I have no idea what my neighbors thought of girls running around my backyard without my boys home.

Next I had a small craft ready for them. I did this when I was teaching and found I had plenty of leftovers already cut out and ready for them to make. It was a heart with a clothespin with a magnet on the back to hang papers on the refrigerator.

Then I gave them lots of art supplies-construction paper (pink and purple), markers, stampers, fancy cutting scissors, stickers, etc. and let them make homemade Valentine cards. All 4 girls were very creative and I couldn't get over how much they wrote in their cards. My boys write "Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Lamb 1" and are done. The girls wrote whole paragraphs and covered every space on their hearts. I left them in our schoolroom to be creative and tackled some of the cookie mess dishes while they worked.

They had all eaten way too many cookies as they decorated them so our snack time was light. Bagels with peanut butter, oranges, and a few scones for dessert. I pulled the scones from the freezer.

I asked them what they wanted to do next time they come to my house. They all answered something without so much sugar next time. Some suggested cooking or baking something not so sugary, some suggested more craft time, and some suggested more game time like last time when we played board games. I'm not sure what we will do, but I have several months to figure it out.

I enjoyed the day and the change of routine for a few hours. I enjoyed having girls in my kitchen. I enjoyed seeing pink and purple cookies. I enjoyed leaving them to be creative in the schoolroom. I loved hearing kind comments to one another. I enjoyed the afternoon without so much competition as our house usually has.

The mom that had the boys said the boys play with more focus on Boys Club Day. She loves having the boys because she only has one boy of her own. This is a win for all three families involved in Girls Club and Boys Club. I'm so glad we came up with this plan and have a fun afternoon once a month.

I started smoking a few weeks ago

I had never even heard of an incense smoker before Glenda blogged about hers. I did a fast Internet search and decided as much as I wanted one, that was just not going to be in our budget ever. We no longer live in MN so we can't stop at a Scandinavian/German specialty store. New online was quite expensive.
Ram and I don't exchange Christmas presents with each other, but this year he put a note in my stocking that I could purchase a smoker. I spent a long time searching online stores, Ebay, and finally found what I wanted at Etsy. As much as I loved the idea of Glenda's St. Nicholas smoker, we have plenty of Christmas decorations. I wanted an "everyday" smoker. This is what I finally chose.

I bought it from an Etsy seller in Germany. I enjoyed tracking my package from Berlin. It is a fascinating thought to me that I can buy something from Berlin while I'm in Idaho! I can't imagine being able to do that when I was a little girl. I was surprised shipping was only about $5 and it arrived in about a week and a half. This seller picks up vintage items at places like garage sales and then puts them on Etsy. The smoker I purchased was never used for smoking before I got it. I have purchased a few unique items from Etsy and I have not been disappointed with any of them.
My new afternoon routine is to clean up the kitchen and then get my smoker going and if the Lambs are outside then put on some classical music. It is very relaxing and a fun way to get necessary chores done after the Lambs have their school work done. Plus I'm trying to get my kitchen cleaned up before allowing myself this fun.
I skipped my new routine for a few days and Lamb 1 asked when we were going to use the smoker again. Ram especially enjoys the incense smell.
(Note for my friend that calls me Granola Girl: This has nothing to do with my diffusing essential oils.)
I love the idea of our smoker is a shepherd for our family of Ram, Ewe, and 3 Lambs.

Hey Ewe!

Look what finally came in the mail today! Ram plans to put them on our new minivan this afternoon. Now you will know which car is mine when I come to visit you!

How our Lambs watch football

This is how a typical Sunday afternoon goes at our house.

Lamb 1 turns on the TV when we get home from church and scrolls through the listing to see what time what games are on. We have had our TV almost two years and I have no idea how to do that. I don't need to learn how to do that because Lamb 1 always does it.

Then begins the negotiating for Lamb 1 to try to convince one or both of his brothers to play football or soccer in the backyard. Usually Lamb 1 and 2 play while Lamb 3 stays inside. Lamb 3 watches the game closely enough to yell outside at the Lambs playing outside when there is something exciting happening in the game. Sometimes Lamb 3 plays while Lamb 2 stays inside. The Lambs that are playing outside take frequent breaks to come check on the game. Lamb 3 can't be trusted to tell them when it is almost halftime or end of the game so they have to check themselves.

All afternoon they ask me which team I am cheering for. Usually I could care less. They just can't believe I don't have a favorite team for all the games! They pick which team based on the team colors usually. Lamb 2 cheers for SF because they have gold. Often different Lambs are cheering for different teams.

I never imagined my boys would watch and play football at the same time. It seems to work for our active Lambs though! This is all done with our antenna, we don't even have cable.

I can't believe I said this today!

Ewe speaking to the Lambs:
"You may only watch Jeopardy and 1 hour of Antiques Roadshow, that will be plenty of TV for today."

*Lamb 1 likes the once a month that he has Cub Scouts on Wednesday instead of Monday so that he can watch Antiques Roadshow.

Schnitzel and spaetzle and bretzels

Tonight we took the Lambs out to eat at Idaho's only German restaurant. I had a coupon that was going to expire soon. It turned out that kids eat free on Sunday so that was a better deal than using the coupon.

When we got there the Lambs complained about the choices on the kids menu. They were out of one item so that left the kids choices of schnitzel, brats, or cheese spaetzle. Lamb 3 was not about to eat any of that. So we allowed him to order a cheese pretzel. Lamb 2 was willing to try schnitzel and spaetzle. (Lamb 2 went with the flow tonight-decided what to order right away, didn't complain that the food took a long time, etc. I can't express how huge that is for Lamb 2 to do that!) That left Lamb 1 who doesn't want anything with cheese and said he didn't want brats. He unwillingly ordered schnitzel with spaetzle because I told him there was no way he was going to order something that cost more than my entree on the adult menu just because he wasn't willing to eat anything on the kid menu. (Do those of you with pre-teen boys have this problem when eating out?) Ram ordered some German street food-brats with a curry ketchup sauce and fries. Ewe ordered brats with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. The mashed potatoes were excellent!

It took a long time for the food to come, the restaurant was busy and they make the food homemade. When the food finally came every one was very pleased with what they ordered. Lamb 1 and 2 ate all of their food (and the portions were not small even off the kids menu!) and Lamb 3 ate all of his pretzel. They claimed they were still hungry so Lamb 2 and 3 ordered cheese pretzels and Lamb 1 ordered a plain pretzel. Lamb 3 was not able to finish his second pretzel but the other Lambs ate all their food. Ram ate all gluten free and Ewe only took a few bites to try the Lambs food that was not gluten free.

The atmosphere was neat-it is in a fancy area of town but was made to look like an indoor beer garden with picnic tables and flags on the walls and lights. The Lambs enjoyed going over what German vocabulary they know and seeing the German signs on the restrooms. Ewe enjoyed the pictures from German places on the walls.

It wasn't exactly a cheap evening out, but it helped that Lamb 1 and 2 had their meals free and we just paid for their pretzels. Eating out is not cheap any place any more and we had huge portions of food. The Lambs liked it enough to ask if we could go there again. Ram and I thought maybe next time we would order what we want and pick up a carry out and just serve the Lambs something they like at home. Or perhaps some time we can have a date there without the Lambs. But I'm glad we took the Lambs this time-perhaps it will get through to them that it is fun to try new foods and places and you may be surprised, it might be really good! I would rather just go out occasionally to places like we went tonight instead of going out more often to chain restaurants. And I do enjoy taking the Lambs and giving them new experiences too.

Tie one on day 2013

Are you ready? Put on your apron, make a baked good and deliver it on Wednesday to cheer someone up. Look for more info here. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year instead of going out of town and so far everyone is healthy, so I'm looking forward to actually participating this year on the day, not waiting until another date.

A surprise

One day a few weeks ago Ram brought home an envelope from church. I would have sat down and blogged about it right away, but we didn't have Internet at home yet. A Looper that I have never met before sent me a gift. She didn't know my home address so she sent it to church. That is what is so nice about having a pastor for a husband! She sent a really nice card with it to encourage me as she knows moving is hard. She knows that we used to live 1 1/2 hours from Target and now Target is right down the road. So this is what she sent. I had never seen "gift coins" before. They were perfect for the Lambs to each get a treat and Ewe was allowed to use the extra coin on herself. It was good timing to get a gift as Ewe was discouraged-the washer had leaked water all over the office, we didn't have Internet at home yet, we found out that the post office wouldn't forward our mail, unpacking wasn't going as fast as Ewe would have liked after Ram started working at church, etc.

Ram took the Lambs to Target one day and gave Ewe a few minutes peace. Lamb 1 chose Legos and Lamb 3 chose Duplos which did not surprise me. They chipped in a little of their spending money with their gift coin and were quite happy. When they got home they claimed that Lamb 2 had spent a lot of his spending money in addition to his gift coin. Actually what Lamb 2 chose was on sale so he didn't spend that much extra with his gift coin. He chose a Busytown Richard Scarry board game. It surprised me that he didn't buy Legos. I thought that this would be a good learning experience for Lamb 2 with his spending money. It turns out that the Lambs have played this game several times almost every day since he bought it. They can all 3 play it or just 2 of them. It is huge spread out on the floor several feet. Yes, Lamb 2 won't have as much spending money as the other two Lambs the next time they go shopping. But it turns out it was a very good purchase for him. Add in that many of our games are still in the garage and it makes this even better. Once again the cashier was patient as the Lambs counted out their own money along with their gift coin to make their purchases.

So thank you to my Looper friend for not only thinking of sending a small gift, but also getting it in the mail. I often have good intentions but time goes by and ideas like this don't happen. I haven't used my coins yet, but one of these days we'll have to go to Target so Ewe can get her treat too. Hopefully some day I will get to meet this Looper friend in person.

Our phone number

When we first moved here I went to rent a movie and really confused the person at the counter because I had the same address and phone number as the former pastor but a different name.
We just had a guest preacher who married a former pastor's daughter of our church. He called the night before church to tell us he was here. He enjoyed dialing the phone number because it was his wife's phone number when they were sweethearts (I think about 25 years ago!).
I'm sure most of our members have the pastor's phone number memorized because it has always been the same. That fact makes the telemarketers that call for a former pastor worth it.