Love You Grandma

I grew up with strong and amazing women surrounding me. I am glad I was able to say goodbye in person to one of them last week before she passed.

Each new baby I had and brought to met my grandmother, for some reason I was surprised all over again to rediscover she was a bit of a baby hog. And there are oh so many pictures of her holding and smiling down on her grandchildren. Her obituary said she had 117 grandchildren, including the greats. 66 grandchildren and 51 great grandchildren. 

She told me how she loved us. That every day she prayed for her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren. That she was thankful and grateful. I honestly can't remember her saying anything bad about anyone. She changed the direction of conversations if they steered towards gossip. She was optimistic even in hard times.

She handmade rosaries from wooden beads she got from taking apart seat covers. The earliest versions held together with baling twine. They are made to last, and I have 7 around my house.

When I was little I was proud to have a pirate Grandmother. I'm not sure how old I was to realize that eye patch does not equate pirate. I loved hearing her stories. I never left her house feeling worse than when I came, always better and more at peace.

She discribed herself as being spoiled and managing to  get her way a lot. She could have also been described as being capable of being stubborn. She did what she set her mind to do. She grew beautiful plants, flowers, and gardens. Her library was filled with stories of the Saints. She giggled and stayed up late laughing and talking with her sister like they were still kids themselves. 

She was devout and had a strong deep faith. Her homes were always so fun to explore. There was generally a puzzle you sit down in front of and help work on. She had a photogenic memory, and could share so many things. And I loved her very much. 

Sugar and Spice...and everything Hair?

Random perk of parenting. Bear lets me play with her hair and practice hairstyles and has the ability to hold still.

My other little girls sometimes want me to do their hair, but holding still is hit and miss.  Maybe by the time school starts in the Fall I will have mastered some cute styles with staying power. The Twinks hair is very fine and straight and nothing stays in. As it grows out I will play with some styling product.  However I except they will come home looking like wild mares by the end of the day.

2021 Calving Season Begins

1st calf has hit the ground. I am down the road on the text chain, so a better picture will hopefully be captured tonight. I have not yet heard if it is a bull or a heifer calf. My source is driving water truck at the moment and doesn't have first hand knowledge. 

When the Hubby gets off work, we will all go with him to the farm for evening chores. And to ooh and ahhh over the new baby.  Much to his annoyance I will have the kids name him/her. Its a tradition he doesn't appreciate, but the first calf needs a name. 2020 saw a bull calf named Haywire. Maybe this will be the year we branch out from Hay related names? But calves are also dubbed with a moniker. (Boo, Thumb, Haybale, Haystack, Haystack II, and I think there was a Haystick)

Sunday we went to check out baby goats. March brings calves! Night time checking routines will begin, the kids will stake out watching the calving camera. Its beginning to feel like Spring! 

Six Siblings Share a Room

Six kids in a room? How do you do it? 2021 Verision.

Yesterday we added a triple bunk bed to the mix. The room has gone over multiple arrangements and changes over the years. In its current form, all 6 kids have a twin bed and 3-4ish have their clothes in the room.

The twinks share a 3 drawer dresser/entertainment console in the living room. Their dresses and other hanging clothes are in the kids' bedroom closet.  Sunshine has a Plastic 3 drawer dresser like thing, that doubles as an end table in the living room. Basically a place for Mom to put her coffee.

My oldest 3 share this 10 drawer dresser. With hanging clothes in the closet.

The boys have the wooden bunk bed. Bear and the Twinks get the new bunk. They ALL got the bed they wanted. A miracle really. 

The closest generally is bit tidier. When the kids put their hampers away 4 fit perfectly. Then I wash all clothes, one hamper at a time and eliminate the need to sort. For the most part all the kids but the 2 year old can put their own clothes away. Winning!

Next on my agenda is a fresh coat of paint for the walls. I have scrubbed a lot of crayon, marker and pen off the walls over the last decade and at this point more paint comes off the toddler artistic expression. I would also like to take up the carpet and refinish the hardwood floors (which are in marvelous condition) and put a nice big rug (that is also washable). I am also playing with the idea of removable wallpaper. 

We have been reading the Chronicles of Narnia Books 📚. There are 7. We staryed the 4th in the series this week.. Anyway, with that in mind I have been dying to put  wallpaper similar to below inside the closet.

The idea of removable wallpaper also has me considering an accent wall or maybe all the walls! The Hubby isn't convinced, though the closet is still doable.

The bottom left I would actually love to do in dining room, with the chair rail. Now the floral might be a bit too feminine for a room with boys, but they will be getting their own room in the basement. What do you think? Would you give wallpaper a go?

Twas' the Day Before Thanksgiving

Twas the day before Thanksgiving and all through the house, 

Children were lounging with nary a care. 

Most hadn't even brushed or combed out the snarls from their hair.

School work was canceled, 

Mom's pleas to pick up ignored. 

Would someone please at least let the dog out the door?

The kitchen was gearing up for pies, rolls, and dough. 

Parents were thankful for mild weather with no snow.

Outside trailed the kidlets, 

woof barked the dog, 

Ma flour'd the table, rolling out pastries with her mind in a fog.

The prime rib was thawing, a reminder set to season.

Mom going through her menu, much larger than reason.

No Turkey here, we ranchers in Montana prefer beef!

What can I make today? How long to reheat? 

If I cook enough now maybe I won't need to do it again 'til next week!

2020 marked the first year I cooked everything for Thanksgiving. As a college student I was known to make a turkey sandwich, or benefited from a friend dropping a plate off at my work. As a single working woman, I came home for the big extended family Thanksgiving. Gradually bringing more than napkins and bags of chips.

Since being married and raising a family I have only missed one Thanksgiving, due to some sort of plague, and my little fam brought me home a plate of fixings. Because my MIL made them.

This year the decision was made to stay home. So I got to cook for the 8 of us. The menu was supposed to include my Grandma's rolls, but I didn't get them made. I was also supposed to have roasted brussel sprouts, but the Hubby vetoed them.

I tried my hand at pie dough with a new recipe. Roughly 8-10 years ago I gave up and just bought premade. I haven't decided what I will do going forward. The pie crusts turned out flaky and delicious...I don't like rolling it out and struggle getting a remotely round shape.

Prime Rib

Mashed potatoes (I think this recipe is why the Hubby proposed) 

Pine Nut cous cous

Grape Broccoli salad (a recipe I have tweaked to perfection) 

7 layer salad with hard boiled eggs added

Homemade Cranberry Sauce (Pioneer Woman Recipe)

Beehive rolls (local grocery store)

Relish tray: sweet peppers, carrots, celery, dill pickles, okra pickles, olive, grape tomatoes w/french onion dip

Crackers & Chips 

Pecan Pie

Mini pumpkin pies

Mini cherry pies

Sparkling Grape Juice

Barefoot Riesling 

The littles and I enjoyed leftover mini pies for breakfast. No soggy bottoms!

Unexpected Discoveries

In the last week or so, we have had drama in our house. We have a 1.5 bath house. The laundry room has a half bath, stool and sink. We banished the boys to that bathroom long ago, around the time Bear was potty training and the twinks were itty bitty and we were so sleep deprived our hair hurt. Good times.

Anywho, now that we are done with potty training, it turned into the boys using the laundry room bathroom and the girls the main bathroom. Unless one is occupied. A household of 8 people, it happens.

Sunshine potty trained beginning of October. We still have accidents fairly often, typically right before bedtime. The coveted - All Day with Dry Roonies Reward just minutes out of reach. 

Anywho - the children had full access to the bathroom. Always a sketchy situation for toddlers. The Hubby had taken apart my Dyson to deep clean/investigate why it wasn't working. For some reason this meant washing in the bathtub and then leaving all parts and pieces on the bathroom floor by the heater vent to dry - conveniently located directly in front of the toilet. Where multiple curious children have a need to go multiple times a day. Generally unsupervised. 

I was tired of tripping over the parts, they seemed dry. Or as dry as I was willing to let them get, I was regathering pieces for 3 days and over it. I moved everything into the bathroom closet. 2 days later Hubby discovered they were moved and lectured kids about not touching things and lost parts. I glared and said I moved them. He had the Bug fetch O-rings, reassembled the vacuum...and left both the standard and matrix boxes of O-rings in the bathroom. The next morning the Bug caught Sunshine flushing them by handfuls down the toilet.

I locked the deviants out, and started trying to sort O-rings. I soon lost interest and threw them into a ziplock bag. I expected an angry husband that night, instead I got one that giggled and said at least she only opened one kind and didn't mix the standard and metric. The ziplock bag and two boxes are still living on my dresser. Why things never get put away is a rant for another day.

In the next day or so, the toilet clogged. Not that big of deal, plunged and moved on with life. But, then it continued to clog. Like every time or every other time it was used. We plunged, husband used a snake. We banished all children to the laundry room bathroom. 

Still clogging. After the test flush fine-ish, usually kinda. Sometimes holding down the handle it slowly flushed, but still wasn't working right. I was sent to buy a toilet auger/snake...our snake was deemed not good enough. Husband went to work and couldn't find a clog. Main bathroom now used for only showers.

8 people sharing a bathroom stinks. 8 people sharing a bathroom with a newly trained toddler leads to lots of frustration. Husband decided we needed to remove the toilet completely to investigate. Twins still using main toilet and not flushing. Horrible flood on my bathroom floor. We moved the stool to the tub and tipped it over. Ran water throw it, from the shower head and filling my big stock pot and dumping. Flushed some little turds and pieces of toilet paper. But didnt seem to be a clog. Husband used the toilet auger again. Then new wax seal down and toilet replaced. Test flush a-o-kay. I bleached, scrubbed, mopped and disinfected the bathroom surfurces and bathtub. Then went to bed.

Heard muttering and banging from the bathroom. Then husband roars directed towards the littlest 3. After round # "I lost count" of snaking the now very clean inside and out toilet, he had finslly worked out the stick from an xylophone. An xylophone? Huh.

My money is still on Sunshine. She makes sure we replace toothbrushes more regularly than 3 weeks. In the middle of this on going clogged toilet debaucle I found floating toothbrushes in a near overflowing unsanitary toilet. At least the toilet flushes. We have now decided the laundry room is the kids bathroom...until the toddler masters opening doors I expect the parents bathroom to be a less scary place.

Kids are blessings. They are blessings. They are blessings. They are blessings.

Halloween 2020

Friday afternoon the kids and I hit the down town trunk or treat and mainstreet businesses circuit. We went with a friend and her two boys. 

My little skunk wanted to scamper off and was constantly being chased or carried. Big sister Elsa declared she would share candy and carry the bag. The Twinks, aka Fox and Unicorn also decided they wanted to share and the fox toted around their candy bag. Spartan Locke (Halo baddie) and the Wraith (who was supposed to he High Volt but his mother didnt have her act and craft supplies ready intime) were both capable and happy to have their own bags for goodies.

We didnt hit all the businesses but enough to keep the dentist in job security.

Then came Saturday, the actual day of Halloween! We decided we would just hit family inside of going door to door. Plus it is reminiscent of my childhood. Living in the country we hit a handful of neighbors. Drove to 4-5 places, spent a half hour visiting on then on to the next hacienda. 

We hit Grandma's first. Because Aunt C and Uncle R were getting ready to go out to supper and the boys hadnt been returned from the farm by their father. We turned on the garage light, and set a chair with a bowl of candy underneath and headed out. I couldn't find bug's Wraith costume and still didn't get the ambition to whip up the costume he actually requested. (Mom Fail)

I love getting the kiddos picture with Grandma each year. Bug went as a Farmer for the rest of the night, because he was still dudded up for chores. The Big D changed at grandma's. All in all happy kids, plus we kidnapped Dad and made him come with us. We only slightly regretted that choice after he stayed and visited with one of his Uncle's after we loaded up in the car for the next house...and continued to wait for another half hour. Luckily the kids had bags full of sustenance, sugary, crumbly, sticky making Mom vow no more food in the car ever again sustenance. 

Phew. Happy Halloween.