Bike Riding with a Six Year Old

Yesterday morning before all the rain started, I took Alicia and Justin for a bike ride to the library. (Carl is at summer camp this week.) We had some books we needed to return, and of course, we wanted to look for some new ones!

It was on the way there that I remembered how much of a hoot Justin can be!

Justin: "Oh, Mom!!! Look out!!! You were almost hit by anti-aircraft fire!"

ME: "Hmmm..."

Justin: "Mom!!! There's a lot of flack up ahead! Be on the alert!"

ME: "What do you mean, Justin?"

Justin: "Well, the filled-in potholes are flack. If you run over them with your bike, you're wounded. The potholes that are still holes, are the anti-aircraft fire. If you hit one of those on your bike, you're done for. Approaching vehicles are snipers. They can come at us from in front or from behind. And they can be off to the side as well. If a dump truck or a cement mixer passes us, they are a B52."

ME: (Thinking to myself) So many rules for a simple bike ride to the library.

But as I joined in his play and warned him of approaching snipers (which as a Mom, I'm going to warn him about anyway), I was reminded that you get out of life what you put into it. If you put a joyful, fun attitude into a bike ride, you're certainly much more likely to enjoy your ride!

So, the next time you take a kidlet for a bike ride, watch out for the snipers, the flack, and the anti-aircraft fire. And trust me, in Michigan, we have a lot of anti-aircraft fire!

Cake Class!

Alicia and I finished our first cake decorating class last night. It met for two hours once a week for four weeks. And we learned a lot! It really was an enjoyable class. Two other mothers and their daughters (who were about Alicia's age) made up the rest of the class. And one of those mothers was a good friend of mine in elementary school. So, even though most of the classtime was spent learnin', I enjoyed catching up with her and getting to know her daughter a little bit.

So, what did we learn? We learned how to make a double-layer cake, complete with filling. We learned how to make stars, flowers, roses, shells, rosettes, and leaves. (I'm sure there were a few other things we learned, but I can't remember right off.) Last night we learned and practiced writing. We also decorated our final cake for class. Alicia and I decided to stick with a patriotic theme since this Sunday is the fourth of July. Red frosting is hard to make! It tends to want to come out pink! And pink, white and blue just won't do!

Anyway, here are some pictures of our final cake. And today we're making four dozen cupcakes for church tonight. ~smile~

In Our Home ~ April 4, 2010

1- The highlight at our home this week was purchasing a new-to-us van. It's a 2001 Oldsmobile Silhouette. It's got a few more miles on it than we originally wanted, but we didn't have to raid all of our savings to purchase it either. Hopefully it will last us many years without many repairs! It's going to be nice to have wheels again!

2- The chicken coop is completely done. At least for now. ~grin~ I think I want to add another vent to it. We had some warm days this past week. (Over 80 degrees!) And that ol' chicken coop got pretty toasty. I think another vent would be a good idea. It's all painted and the shingles are on it. It looks great!

3- I got a lot of groceries this week, but nothing to eat. Amazing how that happens sometimes! Because the little grocery store where I shop is closing for remodeling (and opening under a new owner), everything in the store was 25% off. I had a bunch of their store coupons as well. And having spent some time earlier in the week spring cleaning my cupboards, I knew which stuff we needed to stock up on. So, I purchased a lot of flour, sugar, canned beans, etc. It's nice to have the cupboards full again. And because I had coupons, and because this store was one of the least expensive stores around, and because everything was 25% off, I got some great deals! Now, I just hope that when they re-open, they don't raise their prices. ~sigh~

4- Yes, I did spend some time cleaning my cupboards. I'm not a big spring cleaner, but every once in awhile, I like to tackle a project and get 'er done! This was one of those projects. My spices are now all organized again. It's actually delightful to open my cupboard doors now!

5- I was nauseous most of the week. It was a bad side effect of the Typhoid medication (vaccine!) I was taking. I took my last pill Thursday morning, and I was still quite nauseous this morning (Sunday). I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

6- Justin was under the weather this week, and now Carl seems to have it. Just lethargic, with a sore throat and a fever. (102 or so) I hope it will end with Carl and that we won't all get it.

7- Carl sang and played his guitar in church this morning. I know I'm partial, but I thought he did a great job. I love seeing young people publicly declare their love for Jesus. To think that he was able to sing in front of that many people while he wasn't feeling well... It made this mama's heart happy. He said he wasn't feeling well when he woke up this morning, but I figured it was just nerves. I told him he could stay home if he wanted, but at that point he wanted to go. But as the morning progressed, he kept getting worse and worse. So, right after church, he made a bee-line for his bed, and he spent most of the day there. Poor kid.

8- The kids and I went on our first bike ride of the year. We rode up to the eye doctor to get Carl's glasses adjusted. (The result of an encounter with a ball.) It was so nice to ride a bike with no pain in my ankle! What a blessing! I ordered an odometer for my bike to track how far I ride this year. My goal is 500 miles. I have no idea how far I'll be able to ride. (Time constraints being a big factor) But we'll see.

9- We also had the first "ICE CREAM DRILL" of the year. This is when we get all the kids in bed, and then Wayne and I go out on the front porch and yell, "ICE CREAM DRILL!" The kids race out of bed in their pajamas, and pile into the car for a quick trip to the local ice cream shop. This time it was to McDonalds for caramel sundays. Yum!

10- That puts this past week in the books. It's always exciting to see what the next week will hold!

In Our Home ~ March 27, 2010

Let's see, what went on in our home last week?

1- I finished another lesson for our Wednesday night kids' club at church. I only have one more to write, and then this year's lessons are done. Good thing, since the year ends next month! Then I get to start on next year's lessons. I'm looking forward to finishing this year, and I'm looking forward to starting next year's lessons. What a blessing it is to be able to do that!

2- I visited the health department with Kristie (my friend who is going to Kenya with me). So, we're up-to-date on almost all our vaccines. I got Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A and B, and Typhoid. The Typhoid is a oral vaccine, and it makes me a bit nauseous. So, I'll be glad when that's done! I need to get a Polio booster from my doctor as well as a perscription for Malaria. Then I'll be all set with that!

3- Wayne got the chicken coop primed. And he painted all the trim. Now just to paint the main part and shingle it. I'm amazed at how much water those little babes drink. Wow! I think we'll splurge this week and get a "real" waterer for them.

4- When I stopped by my favorite grocery store this week, they had a sign declaring that March 31 would be their last day open because they are remodeling. I hope they are truly remodeling and that they will indeed reopen. I'd hate for them to go out of business. ~sigh~ That definitely wouldn't be good for the grocery budget.

5- Carl had an activity with the teens from camp. They spent Friday night playing games and doing skits. He had a great time... as usual.

6- While he was there, I connected with one of my geocaching buddies. Kathy and I had fun geocaching in Greenville. I didn't realize Greenville is home to so many cute little lakes. We had a great time, even though we ate too much at Ponderosa!

7- Saturday afternoon we helped a friend at the Bible Club Fun Day. I ran a booth for the kids. Very fun.

8- Wayne and Carl went to a Griffin hockey game. They had a good time, in spite of the fact that the Griffins lost.

9- Justin's comments never cease to make me chuckle. While the big boys were at the hockey game, we went to visit with the wives and younger kids. When Justin realized he'd be the oldest boy there (The only other boy is about three.), he said, "Mom, don't you know that boys go through three stages? They like girls. They don't like girls. And they like girls. I'm in the middle stage. I don't like girls." What a hoot!

10- We were also discussing some other people we were going to stop and see, and Justin said, "The last time we saw them they were in a motor home." I couldn't figure out what he meant. Then he said, "Oh, wait. That's someone else. The last time we saw the DeKornes they were in the motor home." Then it hit me. Motor home... nursing home... they must sound alike to a little kid! ~smile~

11- The tooth fairy also paid a visit to our home this week. Justin lost his first tooth. ~sniff, sniff~ My baby's growing up. She brought him a gold-colored dollar coin. He loves his new treasure.

Hope your week is filled with the anticipation of celebrating the joy of our risen Lord!

In Our Home ~ March 21, 2010

Well, another week has come and gone, and this one hasn't been very eventful. (That's not necessarily a bad thing!





1~ Wayne had Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off work. So, we used a couple of those days to start building our "coop de poop." Our chicks are getting bigger every day. Sunday I had to put our fireplace surround thing around it because they were perching on top of the cardboard box. The fireplace protector is about 2-2.5 feet tall. Two days ago, I caught one of them perched on that! Their feathers are not all in yet, so I'm a bit leary of leaving them outside in the coop all night. (Feathers are what keep them warm. Fuzz is cute, but not so warm.) So, by day, they are in the coop with their heat lamp. And in the evening we bring them back into the kitchen.

2~ The coop is coming along nicely though. Basically, we just need to prime and paint it and then add the shingles. Then we have to figure out how to move it to where we want it to be. I don't think that is going to be an easy task. It's quite heavy!


3~ I went geocaching on Tuesday with one of my friends. We found 13 caches and enjoyed dinner together.


4~ "You'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind." I read that somewhere this week, and it has stuck with me. Rather than just making and look at to-do lists, I actually need to focus on just doing it! Quit planning (sometimes) and just do it! Hopefully I'll remember this, but temper it with a bit of planning first!

5~ We got to babysit my sister's kids Wednesday morning. The more the merrier. All the kids had a ball playing outside, and I didn't have to do anything! ~grin~


6~ Justin and I have practiced his reading and writing by leaving messages for each other on his magnadoodle. He calls them text messages. He's doing reading and he's not even thinking about it. What fun!


7~ The trees have stopped running. So, our syrup making is done for this year. It seems a bit early, but what do I know? I'm just a rookie! We made a half gallon of syrup this year. Yum!


8~ All in all, it's been a very uneventful week. But the chicken coop is almost done. Hurrah!

In Our Home ~ March 13, 2010

This has been a fairly tame week. We're still without a van, and since Wayne worked every day this past week, we've been pretty much home-bound. But here's a run-down of what we did.

1~ The week was very overcast, and so the sap stopped running in our maple trees. We boiled down all that we've collected, and we have about two quarts. It's delicious.

2~ The kids worked hard on their lessons this week. Alicia and Justin finished their science for this schoolyear, and all three kids are done with history. The more subjects they finish, the more time they have to work on other subjects. I'm looking forward to the snowball effect!

3~ We had dinner with some good friends on Thursday night. They had invited someone over from church who tends to be a bit more "quiet." So, adding our family to the mix made for easier conversation. It's always a wonderful thing to spend time with other believers, and the delicious food is an added bonus!

4~ Our garage floods every spring when the ground thaws. And every winter it becomes strewn with stuff. (Our garage is under the house and opens to the backyard, so we never part there. We use it for storage, and we keep a stack of wood for our woodburner in it.) We spent part of one day cleaning it all out in anticipation of a wet floor. So, we're ready for the thaw!

5~ Justin, Alicia and I picked up all the piles of dog poop that were in the yard. That's always a big project in the spring because it accumulates all winter long. I am so glad for my helpers. Because of them another big job is crossed off the to-do list.

6~ Justin has finally grasped the fact that he can read. We've had a fun time the past few days "texting" each other on his magna-doodle. All those tears earlier in the year were worth it!

7~ Alicia is also finally grasping the concept that she isn't as dumb as she thought when it comes to math. She actually asked to do more math today because she likes it. Just a few weeks ago it was all tears and emotion. Thank you, Jesus for this change in attitude!

8~ Because I don't feel like grocery shopping when Wayne gets home from work (due to the one-vehicle situation), we've been using up some of the odd things in our pantry/freezer. It's good to have a bit of elbow room in there.

9~ I've been saving old pairs of jeans to make a quilt for our bed. I noticed that I have quite a pile of them, so I've been cutting them up. First I cut all the good material off them. I have a big tote full of good material, so I guess it's time to start cutting out some squares! Maybe I'll have it done in time for a Christmas present for Wayne. (Planning ahead never hurt anyone, right?!?)

10~ Now that the weather is warmer outside, it's also warmer in our basement where my "office" is located. When winter comes, my computer moves upstairs because it can get down to 47 degrees in our room. Brrrrr! But now that it's warmer down there, I took some time to clean up the mess that accumulates on my desk over the course of a winter. (It's akin to the mess we cleaned up in the garage now that it's warmer out there!) My desk is now so much more inviting to sit at.

11~ I've been enjoying the book "Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret." It's a great read. Very insightful, and very challenging.

12~ That's it for this week "in our home." Hope your coming week is a great one!

In Our Home ~ March 6, 2010

1~ For those of you who don't know, my son Carl publishes a monthly newsletter. A yearly subscription is $12 ($20 if you need it mailed). In his newsletter he includes a main article of something interesting we've done in the previous month, a recipe, a book review, funny sayings from his younger brother, a detailed list of what we've done this month, one of his favorite verses and why it's a favorite, etc. (If you're interested in seeing a copy, let me know.) He's saving the money he makes on his newsletter for flying lessons. He is passionate about planes and learning to fly. Well, one of my great uncles had his pilot's license. He's now in a nursing home, but when his wife learned what Carl was up to, she asked him if he'd be interested in some of her husbands old "flying stuff" in exchange for a subscription.

Carl's been sending her his newsletter, wondering how we'd ever get to Arkansas to pick up his "stuff." Well, my parents decided to visit her on their way home from Alabama. Yesterday Carl got his stuff, and to say he is thrilled would be a complete understatment! He went through those boxes as if they contained treasures, and to him they did! I know nothing about flying, but he now has a flight computer, lots of other little things he'll need some day, and more how-to books about flying. He is devouring them. His appetite for that type of thing is insatiable. It's great to see him challenging himself to learn more. So, he's been busy studying and practicing on his flight simulator.

2~ We are trying our hand at making maple syrup. Not having any taps to put into our maple trees, I improvised with what I had. Carl drilled a hole in a few trees, and I stuffed flexible plastic tubing into the hole. We caught a lot of the sap, but a lot of it ran down the tree. It was working, but we needed a better method.

The hardware store in town didn't carry taps, so until Wayne had a day off, we were out of luck. He had this past Thursday off, so we loaded up the car and headed to Blandford Nature Center. I knew we had purchased one tap from them years ago. So, we walked their sugarbush trail, asked a lot of questions, and bought "real" taps! They work much better than the tubing. We have very little waste now.

We didn't have any big buckets that we wanted to use for this project, so we are using those big gallon aluminum cans that food comes in. We had taken the covers off when we enjoyed peaches, beans, and chocolate pudding on Justin's birthday. So, we added a hole to the side of the can so it will hang on the little hook, and they work rather well. I made a couple covers out of old ice cream bucket lids. And I'm pleased with the results. Of course, we have to empty them more often than if we had used 5-gallon buckets, but we're home all day anyway, and it's kind of a fun treat to empty the cans and bring the sap into the house.

So, I feel like we're doing a good job collecting the sap, but I'm not sure about our method of boiling it down to get syrup. To get one gallon of syrup, we need to start with forty gallons of sap! That's a LOT of boiling it down. That's a lot of time with the stove running. I tried evaporating some of it yesterday in my crockpots, but that seemed to take forever. This morning I've got it sitting on our wood stove, but again, it's not hot enough to get it to a nice boil. So, we're still looking for the best method of reducing the sap to syrup. I'm wondering about using my electric skillet. I'm not sure how much power that uses to run as opposed to the stove though.

One thing we have tried was to freeze the sap for a little bit first. The watery part freezes first. So, we removed that and we're boiling what's left. I kept the frozen part though, just to see how sweet it is once more of the water has been removed, and it does have a bit of sweetness to it, but not nearly as much as what didn't freeze. So, I think freezing it will help save on the electric bill.

What we do have boiling tastes wonderful! And we are all anxiously awaiting our first batch of pancakes with homemade syrup. Yum!

3~ The weather has been beautiful this whole week. Bright sunny days, and clear cold nights. Perfect for collecting sap! But not so perfect for our qunizee. It's still standing, but it has a nice sunroof now! ~smile~

4~ This beautiful weather has me wanting to plan my garden. I'm itching to get outside and dig in the dirt for awhile. Last year I got a garden in, but my ankle surgery prevented me from keeping up with it. This year...

5~ We've been faithfully plugging away at lessons. I'm hoping to have all the kids done with school by May 1. Carl should be done in just a few weeks. Then he'll have more time to pursue his own interests, like studying those flight manuals! I'm ready for the school year to be done, and it's only the first week of March. This isn't a good thing.

6~ I saw the first bluebird today. What a delight!

7~ I spent Thursday afternoon geocaching with a good friend. For those of you who don't know what geocaching is, it's using a GPS to find "treasures" that other people have hidden. It's fun, but it's just as fun to spend time with my friends. It was a gorgeous afternoon to be out and about. We found 13 caches. What fun!

8~ I've been saving up for a trip to Kenya. One of my best friends moved there last July, and I knew I'd want to go see her. Especially since Van and her husband, Jeff, are expecting their first child the end of April! All the more reason to make the trip! My friend Kristie expressed a desire to go as well, and yesterday we put our money where our hearts were and bought our tickets. We fly out of O'hare on May 19, and we will spend a little over a week with Jeff, Van and Baby before heading home on the 29th. I am absolutely thrilled about this opportunity, and I am excited to see them again and spend time with them.

9~ Well, that's it for what's been going on in our home this past week. May God bless you throughout the coming week!

In Our Home ~ February 28, 2010

1- Because we are without a vehicle due to ours "dying" while we were on vacation, we're continuing to be home-bodies. But we're getting some things done around here that we've put off for awhile.

2- One of those things is sorting books. I've culled about two banana boxes worth of books from our bookshelves. We still have a ton of books, but now the shelves aren't as jam-packed. It looks (and feels) much better.

3- Carl sent out his latest edition of "Carl's Capers." This is his monthly newsletter/magazine that he writes to make money to pay for flight school. It's about six pages long and includes what we've done in the prior month, a recipes, a book review, funny sayings, computer tips, photos, household hints, etc. A year's email subscription is only $12.

4- We finished building the quinzee that's in the backyard. The kids have been having a riot playing in it, but it's a bit warm today. It's going to be sad to watch it melt. :( We had fun building it and playing in it.

5- I've been doing some research on one of our latest projects. More details coming soon!

6- The Olympics have been on television the past two weeks. We've spent a few evenings watching the atheletes compete. That's always fun, although we all agreed that we hate to see someone wipe out who has trained so hard for so long.

7- Yesterday we went to World Visions's travelling exhibit on AIDS. It's called "World Vision Experience: AIDS." I really didn't know what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised at how well-done and well-organized it was. The exhibit was visited was held at a local church, and it was free to attend. What the experience involves is the stories of four children. After you sign in, you will be given the choice of which child's story you'd like to listen to. (You may go through the exhibit again to hear the other stories.) Two of the stories are a bit more graphic, so we steered away from them since we had our kids with us. We listened to the stories of Emmanuel and Babirye. They gave each of us a set of headphones and a custom-made MP3-type player with the child's story on it. The exhibit is made up of different "rooms" separated by curtains. The MP3 player would tell us part of the story and then direct us to walk through the curtain to the next "room." This made the exhibit rather quiet because everyone was listening to their headsets.

Emmanuel was a little boy whose parents died of AIDS. But he had his big brother to look after him. His big brother was nine. These two boys were completely on their own. Relatives blamed them and would not allow them to stay with them. In fact, one of the aunts even took almost everything the two boys had before she kicked them out of her life. So tragic.

Babirye was a twin girl who had AIDS. She got it from her mother. Her father died of the disease, and her uncle came to get her mother when she got very sick. This left the girls alone. A few months later, their mother came back. She had found medicine to help, and now she helps others who have AIDS.

This was a sobering exhibit, but one I'm glad we took the time to experience.

For more information, check out http://www.worldvisionexperience.org/.

8- We're continuing to plug away at our learnin' lessons. This is the time of year when I really get anxious to start completing some of the subjects we're studying this year. I keep having to remind myself to slow down.

9- We said goodbye to a good friend this past week. It appears that a heart attack is the way God choose to bring Bill Winglar home to Himself. Bill was a godly man who will be very missed. He was a fixture in our church. Not only was he still in good physical shape, but mentally, he was still very sharp as well. I will always regret not having him over for dinner to hear his stories of when he was a boy growing up with my Grandpa. Good intentions run amuck. Let it be a reminder to me to not put off until tomorrow what I can do today!

10- Wayne started taking pictures of all the things in our home, for insurance reasons. What a time-consuming, huge task! One I'll be glad to have behind us!

11- That's it for this edition of "In Our Home." May you have a great week.