Can you tell what is on our heads ?

We had a great day today....Church was very good. We came home and had lunch and then Paul pressure washed our back decks and house. We rearrange all the furniture and it seems like a new area. ( Funny how moving things around makes things feel new). I do it all the time in our home and love the way it makes the home feel like a new place....Then after we grilled veggies from the garden and burgers...We had a huge pile of clothes to fold. Usually the folding clothes team would handle it but I promised we'd make milk shakes and have sleepovers downstairs while watching movies....So everyone helped fold clothes so we could get to the fun . While folding the clothes lets just say we got a bit crazy listening to Toby Mac...and had a blast being silly....making memories.

They love to dress up....aren't they cute ?

Playing dress up is a favorite thing for Lila and Selah. They use any and everything to...Did you notice the head gear was shirts or sweaters. They will dress up and undress and dress up for hours :)

We are getting ready and planning for school next year...

This is Ava, Isaiah and Lila doing Learn to Read by Starfall. It is an excellent beginning phonics teaching tool. All my adoptive kids including the older ones started with this program and these 3 are just doing it during quiet time after swimming. Here is a link to it and it is free  http://www.starfall.com/ It is very easy to use and if the child can click the mouse it can be self learning. We are planning our next school year now....We are thinking of returning to a style we taught last in 2005- unit teaching. It is where we come up with things of interest and each week or two all of our subjects are done with that unit. It requires way more on my part to plan but it by far has been the most fun and interesting way to home school. I will share what we do and any things of interest like field trips, crafts and how we incorporate the academic subjects into the unit so stay tuned.

Bike ride on the Canal

Who ever thought Luke would ride a bike :) With his r leg folded like an accordian and attached to the middle of his back...a webbed leg and severe clubfoot :)

Bike ride on the canal - Priceless

Joseph is such a sweet older brother. This is his day off and he decided to take all the boys to the canal for a bike ride. We live just 5 miles from the C and O Canal and it has a wonderful, shady trail to walk or ride a bike. So he piled the bikes in and off they go ...My words after , " Have fun " were, " I don't want any phone calls from the ER :) " That picture of Luke and Isaiah just melts my heart....and people wonder why we choose to surround ourselves with a zillion kids. To see the face of joy and excitement on a child's face is something you can't pay enough money to ever get...simple, child like wonder- priceless. Watching the "child whisperer" , big brother, Joseph take it upon himself to love on his little brothers on his day off- priceless.

Fresh Salsa , Southwest Skillet, and Cherry/ Blueberry Jubilee = Yummy

This am I made this fresh salsa from several of our red and yellow tomatoes. I will share the recipes because it is one of our favorites...I made 8 cups this am and refrigerated it till dinner which was Southwest Skillet and fresh salsa and chips. Both recipes went together and all the kids love Mexican food. You have to peel the tomatoes ( the hardest part of making the salsa) and these kids ate the peels because they love tomatoes even if it is little left on the skins on the inside.

Fresh Salsa

4 cups , fresh, chopped, peeled tomatoes ( yellow and red ones together )
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. ground cummin
garlic- ( I use the minced garlic in oil)
salt and pepper to taste or if you like it more spicy add whatever spice your family likes
Combine and let it set at least an hour

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Southwest Skillet

1 lb hamburger

1 tbsp. chili powder or I use taco seasoning

1 can mushroom soup with a can of beef broth added ( I mix boullion and water )

1/4 cup water

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can ( 15 oz. ) kidney beans rinsed and drained

3/4 uncooked instant rice

1/2 cup shredded cheese

tortilla chips

Cook the hamburger with the season ( taco or chili).

Stir the soup , water, boullion tomatoes and beans into the meat. Cover and cook for 10 minutes

Stir the rice into the meat mixture, cover and remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Top with cheese...Eat with the chips and salsa .

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For dessert we had cherries and a blueberry jubilee- Easy , easy to make and so delicious with vanilla ice cream.

1 box of yellow cake mix

1 can of cherry pie fruit or any other friut ( I made blueberry too tonite)

1 can crushed pineapple

1 stick of butter

Dump the cake mix dry into the 9 by 11 cake pan. Dump the cherry fruit pie can on top . Dump the crushed pineapple on top of that. Cut the butter into little pieces over top the pineapple.

Bake 25 minutes until done.



                                                                                                                                                                                              

So you know what these are ?

This was a surprise that I bought and funny I forgot...then when the girls were picking the garden they asked me about these round things....they are called lemon cucumbers. They don't taste like lemon just are round like them and taste yummy. The kids are allowed to eat as many as they want because we have so many of them :) That does not happen to often in our family of 29- with 23 kiddos home and mom and dad.

Bounty of our hard work is paying off :) Yummy eating

Anna has been the official waterer and picker with Olivia this year in our garden...and they have been picking lots in our garden as you can see....And we are eating some yummy fresh veggies this summer. So many that we share and make lots of delicious summer foods. They picked 100 cukes in one day and so we made dill pickles- they taste just like the store bought ones or better. That nite we put up 20 quarts of pickles...We will make more tonite with at least that many cukes :) Our tomatoes are just coming in and today I made this fresh salsa that we will eat tonite for dinner. I have made lots of things with egg plants and now I have bowls of sweet peppers to put up for cooking later ( probably I will freeze them) Anyway we are certainly enjoying our garden this year......I guess the fertilizing we did this spring helped :)

sweet peppers

cucumbers with our squash starting to die out finally...we are squashed out.

tomatoes

cucumbers

egg plants

dill pickles

Home 5 weeks and life could not be sweeter- "Mommyee, Daddyee"

They have now been home with us for 5 weeks...I always say it takes about 6 weeks for the initial transition of a new life ( born or adopted ) to feel "normal". They are sleeping and eating well and going with the flow of our family naturally. I think we have reached that point where life before the new children is hard to remember. These 3 have come so easily into all of our hearts. We all have not only welcomed them but just can't imagine our lives without them. They bring so much joy to the day...watching them enjoy their life with us, discover new things, and just there personalities fit our family. I love how the Lord always knows what is best for us instead of us trying to control . They all 3 refer to their new names and they also call each other by their new names. They have always called Paul and I - "Daddyee" and Mommyee" and that is such a precious sound to our ears.

Soccer anyone ?

We have enough kids for our own soccer teams...and they love playing it. Tonite the weather was cooler and so we went outside to play. The 3 new ones were actually really good and they fit right in with the rest of them...Lila, Selah and Isaiah finally went to the shed and got their own soccer balls . They were dribbling all over the field in and out of their brothers and sisters. It amazes me how no one even minded that there was a little one in the way.

Outside finally and not only in the pool

Finally the heat wave broke tonite and we had some outside time beside the swimming pools. It was fun...After I took pics the kids wanted to play soccer ( pics above) and Joseph took Selah and Lila for a bike ride on our new bike carriage ( bought at the NC sale ) and they loved it.

Let's just say that we are still learning...but getting better

We are still learing how to do their hair. We have gone on some good sites and I have talked to a friend and my daughter. Their hair is getting longer and so we tried something with Lila's hair. Actually Leah is. I don't do hair well but Leah is good. So she has offered to do their hair. This was her first attempt on Lila's hair and she did pretty good. She is still a cutie pie.

Nite swimming...

The kids were in the pool for hours today but when Daddy offered that they could swim tonite after dark...they all got in their swim suits and jumped right in. Honestly, it is so hot here that unless you are in a pool - being outside even at nite it is hot.