What Levi is thankful for (in his own words)

Why I Am Thankful For My Freind Micah

I am thankful for Micah because, he will play whatever I want to play. For example, one day I wanted to play Tag and he wanted to draw and we agreed with Tag. He is also VERY, VERY, FUNNY!!!!! He is funny alot when we are playing Tag. Like when we are playing tag he says come and get me to his brother Dawson. He sometimes even makes a funny face with it. Micah is also responcible. For example in Kindergarten he was, pushing in chairs, closeing locker doors, and he rememberd to bring his coat home, and for that he got a responcibility bracelet. I did to but forget me we are talking about Micah here. He is also very caring. For example one day when we were playing kick ball Alex a freind of ares got skraped. Micah was kind enogh to stop kick ball and help him up and bring him to the nurs. that's all I half to say about Micah right now! BY!! BY!!

Grandma's Popcorn Balls

I made these popcorn balls tonight for Levi's class party tomorrow. I forgot how amazing they are--the perfect blend of sweetness, and salt, and buttery goodness. I wish the colors would have been a little bolder--tried to make Christmas red and green, and they're more springtime pastels, but I was trying to work quickly and didn't worry much about the color. So fun to have our Japanese friends here to help with forming the balls--they are amazing, and we're having a blast!
Here's the recipe, if anyone's interested--I could eat the whole bowl!

7 cups popped corn--I used more like 14 cups--7 didn't seem like enough. They were plenty gooey with the same amount of other ingredients.
Mix in saucepan:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter

Cook to 250 degrees, using candy thermometer. Stir the entire time. Remove from heat and add 1 tsp vanilla. May add a couple drops of food coloring at this time if desired. Shape with buttered hands into balls (press pretty tightly together). Makes 12-15 large balls.

Best Friends

When I was a senior in high school, our family hosted a Japanese exchange student, Mai. We had a great year together, and have kept in touch, seeing each other 6-7 times since then. Last night, she arrived with her daughter, son, and mother, to stay with us for 5 weeks. The kids couldn't be more excited. Within minutes of being reunited (they last saw each other 1 1/2 yrs ago), they were holding hands, playing ball, playing dress-up, and acting like they'd never been apart. It has been soo much fun to watch them love each other! What a special gift it is to get time with them.

Poor Kei Kei hit the point of exhaustion late this afternoon, and this is how we found him.

Snow Day!

While Sarah's been inside sick, Levi has been outside for about 1 1/2 hours, playing in the snow, shoveling the neighbor's driveway, and sledding with his neighbors. (Jas only made it 20 minutes or so--came in crying because his mitten had fallen off--his poor hand was purple!) I'm so thankful for our kids' friends!

Thanksgiving in the garage

I'm stealing my sister in law's blog post and changing it a bit, because I was having a hard time getting my pics to upload. Above is my adorable 14 1/2 month old nephew--my little brother's son. He was so cute following all the "big kids" around all weekend!

So, with 26 people in my immediate family, my parents are always trying to make the most of our space when we're all together. We showed up to find two big rolls of carpet put down in the garage to have a warmer place for kids to play and eat....and sleep! There really is room in the house for the kids to sleep but it was an exciting novelty thing, I think. Nine kids (plus my parents) slept out here one night! Probably not the best night of sleep for any of them, but they sure have some great memories from it--including my dad's famous "Hopscotch" stories that he used to tell me and my siblings when we were little. He is the BEST story teller ever! And they each got an Archie comic book to keep by their pillow so they had something quiet to do after the 7:00 whistle woke them up.

No pictures of our big main meal (a yummy soup dinner with homemade bread bowls Mom made) ... and more pies than you can even IMAGINE--apple, pumpkin, cherry, raspberry cranberry, pecan, key lime, and sour cream raisin!
One morning all the men were in charge of breakfast--it was wonderful!

We had a blast with both Robbie's side and mine--of course my favorite Thanksgiving tradition with the gals in Rob's family is our Black Friday shopping. We are super structured, with it all mapped out and our lists gone over for hours on Thanksgiving day--then splitting up to get the most good deals possible! So much fun!

The Flick Trick

Today Levi told me, "Whenever I get a thought stuck in my head that I don't want to think about, I just flick my fingers above my head, and the thought bounces up and down in my imagination and then flies out the window into a junkyard." I think I'll try this next time I can't stop thinking about a piece of cheesecake!

First snow!!

...and I have a very excited little boy!

Post Game Therapy

After a discouraging football game, our kids set out to make grandpa feel better. Here's what they came up with!

Loving my little helper

Sarah begs me to let her cook with me almost every day. Here she is, making some cinnamon and nutmeg muffins--pretty tasty! I love it that she never gets tired of being in the kitchen. Doing dishes is still a great treat for her. I wonder how many more years it'll be before I can turn kitchen duty entirely over to her???

Teddy Bear Picnic

Yesterday Sarah's classmates each brought their favorite teddy bear to school for games, stories, measuring and graphing--a day full of fun! Their wonderful teacher read them a story about a teddy bear picnic, then surprised them by having any available family members join them for a pizza party for lunch. It was soo much fun seeing their surprised faces, observing Sarah include her friends who didn't have a parent there, and just watching my little princess smile. She just kept giggling and smiling and clapping like it was the greatest thing she'd ever experienced! Here she is with one of her best friends, Emma...
...and another college-aged special friend, Jade, who came along with us...

...and her favorite teddy bear bride...
...and of course we had to stay to watch her play at lunch recess. Robbie and I stuck around to watch Levi play kick ball--his new favorite recess game--but I forgot to get any pictures of him...bummer! He's really getting into this game, and comes home lots of days will stories of who made the highest kick (I guess Zachary kicks the highest), when Levi caught Zachary's ball and got lots of praise from his teammates, and the like. Love these kids!

Song for Veteran's Day Parade

Here's a cute video of the kids practicing one of the songs they'll be performing in the upcoming Veteran's Day parade. I can't get enough of these singing videos!

Weekend fun

We had a fun weekend at Robbie's parents' home--Robbie and several other family members re-roofed his Grandma's house, the kids got to play with their cousins (whom they ADORE), we went trick-or-treating, I attended a training seminar for my Challenge work, we participated in a celebration for Robbie's parents' church's 50 year anniversary, we ate lots of good food, ... My kids BEGGED me to let them














go through a haunted house, and I was mean mommy and said, "No way. Probably not even when you're 15!" Took a while for them to forgive me, but I didn't lose sleep over it! Aren't these kids and their cousins beautiful? I love every minute we get with them! Okay, my pictures aren't moving around the way I want them to, so here's my hubby roofing in the middle of the kids--hard working man!

Dogs don't...dogs do

Jason got this hilarious book for his birthday from aunt Shari and family, titled, "Dogs Don't Brush Their Teeth". We laugh every time we read it, and it's becoming Jason's favorite. Here's a long video of him reading it to me, with lots of, "What's that called again?" He's like me--can never place the words he's looking for. Sooo cute!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch with our church on Friday night--hayrack ride, pumpkin picking, corn maze, bonfire, chili feed, ... I think my kids were made to live on a farm. Levi loved throwing sticks and hay in the fire and making sparks fly up into the dark sky. Fun times!

Homemade laundry detergent

So I've always been curious about making my own laundry detergent--I go through a big bottle of that stuff in no time, and I hate to keep forking out the money for it. I was talking to a friend the other day who makes her own, and her recipe only calls for 3 ingredients, plus water. Sounded simple enough--thought I'd give it a try, and I actually think I'm going to like it. The recipe I used is posted online here--The Duggars on the TLC show use it and seem to be super thrifty, yet clean. I figure that if anyone knows how to make laundry soap, that mama probably knows better! (She's going on her 19th child, so I hear!) I used the recipe for the liquid detergent--she says it's the best deal, so I believed her! So, it took me all of maybe 5 minutes to melt the grated bar of soap in water and mix it all up. I then let it set up overnight--made a congealed, strange texture which looked a little strange, truthfully, but it smells nice and clean. I stirred it up and poured it into a used laundry soap bottle that I had, and tried it out this morning. My clothes look and smell clean enough for me, so I'm happy! Best part--I didn't do the math, but I read that this stuff costs 2-3 cents per load. I seriously think if might even be less--it made sooo much detergent! I'm going to be using this batch alone for probably a year! If you're interested in making your own, I couldn't find the Fels-Naptha bar or the Washing Soda at Walmart--had to go to Dillons to get them, but these are cheap ingredients--under 10 dollars for lots of months worth of detergent. Oh--and if you're looking for a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, I've heard Walmart has them to give away in the bakery dep't--they get their icing in the buckets and like to get rid of them after it's used up.