many hands make light work?

The first weekend of October, Bryan was home for a visit from Arizona. It was to be his last visit, although we didn't know it at the time.

The house, car and family were all in need of desperate attention. The budget dictated that he spend some time fixing Vanilla Bean's brakes. Our savings were dwindling after a week requiring repairs to both Pickle and Vanilla Bean totaling a couple grand.

Thankfully, Bryan is great at working with little helpers and Saturday morning found half our crew watching and "helping" Daddy fix the car.

Madelyn, 11, holding Evelyn, 8 months.

Mason, 5, driving. Nolan, 2 1/2 "working".

Nolan repeatedly tried to push Daddy out of the way, saying "Me do it. My turn."

He is actually quite dexterous for a toddler, operating the torque wrench was no problem. Well, except for exerting enough torque!

In the end, Vanilla Bean was repaired for a budget-friendly $9.97, with the added bonus of building relationships with Daddy-starved kiddos.

Back in the day, Bryan and I watched The Red Green Show, where a common refrain was "If she can't find ya handsome, she should at least find ya handy!" I am exceedingly blessed to have a man who is both. Besides fixing Vanilla Bean, he replaced an electrical outlet that was shorting out and magically fixed the bath tub drain lever in the front bathroom.

Before Arizona, I would have taken all these for granted. The experience of being handy-husbandless for 3 months gave me new eyes to see and appreciate all those little things that I can't take care of, things other people have to hire a professional to fix.

I am not sure that the work was accomplished

more efficiently with these many hands,

but it was accomplished more joyfully.

house of chaos and contagion

Here we are on day 2? 3? 4? of chaos and contagion.

This is the current view in our living room.

The curtains are drawn to enhance the movie theater feeling.

Madelyn holding today's accessory- the cup. The cup is a definite upgrade from yesterday's accessory- the bowl. Yesterday, I barked at any child seen without their bowl buddy.

All of my large, easy-to-hit bowls were pressed into service, starting with the mint-green tupperware barf bowl of yesteryear up to and including my nice, deep pasta pot.

Panning to the right we have Sarah, who has escaped unscathed thus far, eating breakfast.

Continuing the living room tour, Evie in her swing. She loves the swing, a fact that saved my sanity yesterday when it was just Gavin and I tending the puking hoardes.

Mason also wanted breakfast. This may be a rather optimistic move, only time will tell. He is wearing mismatched jammies because everything else he owns is stained with evidence of sickness (from one end or the other).

Gavin, the hero of yesterday, has finally succumbed. Let me tell you- I would be bald and in a straight jacket if not for his noble help yesterday. He changed nasty diapers and dealt with even nastier, sickness-covered loads of laundry. Loads and loads and loads of nastiness. Plus, he got up in the midnight hours many, many times to change Mason's bed linens and empty his bowl. This heroic deed gave his mother a few, precious hours of sanity-saving sleep.

Now that he is one of the sick, we have given him the entire couch plus control of the movie choices. It's only right.

Last stop in our living room tour- Sirena and Nolan cozied up on Sirena's mattress in the middle of the floor. Sirena decided that trying to make urgent, midnight bathroom trips from the top bunk was a hazardous proposition. So, she prudently relocated her bed to a location that allowed for easier and quicker exits. Thankfully, she is on the upswing and may even eat later today.

It all looks so peaceful and cozy, yes? I won't traumatize you by photographing our laundry. I will say that the bathroom has never been so clean.

My routine yesterday went something like this:

1. nurse the baby

2. change the baby

3. change the toddler

4. empty the bowls

5. bathe the child

6. clean the bathroom

7. transfer the laundry

8. clean the carpet/floor/chair

Repeat

Anything else accomplished was a miracle. Today, however, is a brighter day. Only one child is hugging a bowl, and he, most thankfully, has good aim.

wistful

On a hot, hot day, two very small people contemplate the unfairness of toddlerhood.

Nolan (14.5 mos) and Liza (17.5 mos)

See? Madelyn's having a great time out there...

Nina is clearly having a fabulous time...


Gavin, too.

Cousin, how long does it take to grow up?

Family news

Lots of doings here at The Shoe.

- We started school Mon., 9/15. I am mostly pleased with our schedule but we need to figure out how to keep the preschoolers quietly occupied during our hour of family learning time (History, Scripture memory and character studies.) Mason is NOT a quiet child.

Every year I search for the perfect organizational tool to keep us on track for homeschool. This year we are trying the CM Organizer at Simply Charlotte Mason. (You can take a video tour here.) So far, I find it very helpful. It made planning so much easier. As a person who loves checklists, it fills my need for little boxes plus it is the simplest method for record-keeping that I have found. At the end of each schoolday, it is a simple matter to record what has been accomplished. I am looking forward to using the Reports feature at the end of each quarter. Record-keeping has never been my homeschooling strong-point. Paper is my bête noire; I always have multiple stacks of things needing attention so a paper based record-keeping system hasn't worked simply because I can never decide how to keep it tidy and accessible and intact.

-The weekend of the 5th to 7th, we went camping with the Wilkinson side of the family. A good time was had by all until Sunday morning. At our pancake breakfast, Grandma Dorothy, my dad's mom, was holding Nolan. She stood up and started walking across the campsite to bring the baby to my aunt and caught her foot on the rug in front on their motorhome. Her only thought was to protect the baby -and she did. Nolan came through the incident absolutely unscathed. Grandma did not. She fell hard, dislocating her shoulder and breaking it in 3 places. As we were waiting for the ambulance, after the first shock was over, she was very worried about Nolan. (We had hustled all the great-grandkids to another campsite.) After she left for the hospital, my Aunt Colleen had the brilliant idea of taking a picture of Nolan on her camera phone and sending it over to Grandpa's phone for Grandma to see. I say brilliant because once Grandma Dorothy saw the picture, she was able to stop worrying about the baby.

I'd say that he is obviously "fine" in this photo, wouldn't you?

-Yesterday was a very special day as we welcomed Bryan's Aunt Alice, Aunt Dale and Uncle Larry plus Cousin Rick into our home. Aunt Alice is nearly 80, lives in Southern CA and doesn't get around so easily anymore. It was such a blessing to have her here. As each of our children arrived, she put together lovely blankets with panels of embroidery. They have always cherished their "Alice blankets" but had never met Alice. What a delight to spend an entire day with her! When I find the camera, set somewhere during the festivities yesterday, I will upload a picture of the whole crew.

((I let the kids sleep in this morning since we had guests until 10 p.m., but now it is time to roust them out of bed and get this day rolling.))

quick note

Nolan is now a month old and life hasn't settled into any sort of normal. Now, that's not because he is a fussy baby but because life has continued at a crazy busy pace. No babymoon this time.

The good news is that baby is thriving! We weighed him this morning and I was mildly surprised to see that he has gained over 2 lbs since his birth, weighing in at 11 lb 12 oz. Only mildly surprised because it is obvious to anyone with eyes that he is filling out quite nicely and should have rolls someday soon. He is my first gourmand baby and takes nursing very seriously.

We have had extra kids, visiting from Alaska, this past week and that has added to the chaos a bit. Nine kids is different than 7, even though the extras were both big kids. The feeling was very reminiscent of a slumber party- lots of laughter, meals at odd hours and too many videos. It ended all too soon. Back to our normally scheduled chaos.

Poor Mason dotes on the new baby and doesn't seem to feel "displaced" but he is having a hard time coping without a schedule. My goal in the next couple of weeks is to hammer out a schedule, because the old one just isn't working. Chores are getting done, but not in a timely manner. Tempers were (are) wearing a bit thin, so this week has included a lot of time curled up with a stack of books. (Henry and Mudge have been good friends!)

In fact, Mr. Putter and Tabby are waiting for us right now...

Nolan pics

Nolan

Finally getting around to taking some photos. Life is busy with 7 kids. Especially with 7 kids who are recovering from several major events. Everyone is a little bit fussy this week. It feels like we just brought Nolan home, that his first 10 days were some surreal dream.

For those who are wondering, the wedding was lovely. (I will admit that the weekend had it stresses, but I think that dwelling on the positives is definitely recommended.) The sun came out to bless the nuptials in full force. We jokingly said that the reception dinner was going to include Fried Ring Bearer and Toasted Flower Girls. Mason performed surprisingly well for a 3 year old- no amazing stories there. (What a relief!)

This mommy held up pretty well until the evening of the wedding. We had left our trailer at around 1:30 p.m. to get the kids ready for 3 o'clock pictures for the 5 o'clock wedding. I started feeling a little panicky by about 7:30 p.m. We had 2 poopy children and were out of diapers, it was 400 degrees at the reception house and I was feeling both my age and lack of sleep. By 8:15 p.m., I was crying and couldn't stop. Embarrassing. Humiliating. Bryan lovingly took me back to the trailer and gently tucked me into bed.

And now, without further ado, the pictures-

He is a curious little guy and spends several hours
each morning just taking in the scenery.

The Promised Acknowledgement plus a little extra

Surprisingly enough, only one person placed a guess for May 9th! Perry, our friend over at Just Another Day in Cubeville, guessed 5/9/08 at 11:46 pm. Thank the Lord I didn't have to wait another 9 hours to meet our little guy.

I am almost tempted to break my own rule against sparkly, noisy animations and insert some confetti or applause. Almost, but not quite. Perry, you will have to settle for congratulations!

PLUS-

Nolan is doing well. We had a rough couple of days earlier in the week as breastfeeding wasn't going very smoothly. Thankfully, the problem was fairly easily corrected and we are back on track. He is a mellow baby right up to the moment he feels those pesky hunger pains and then it's apparent that his lung development is more than adequate.

He is fairly well on his way to being spoiled by his siblings. His parents would give it a try if we ever got to hold him.

We are leaving town tomorrow for a 4 day weekend Wedding Festival in Sunriver. My brother, Kam, is the groom and 5 of our kiddos are in the wedding. I can't wait to see Gavin in a tux! We promised to get some "James Bond" type photos in order to reconcile him to the idea of escorting a young lady down the aisle. (He knows all about girls, having 4 sisters, and isn't enamored with the fairer sex at all. Of course, he is only 12. There's still plenty of time for that...)

The girls, as Flowers Ladies, will be fine but my dear readers should expect a good story out of Mason's performance as ring bearer. The big kids have been coaching him, but I have a hard time imagining a smooth performance when it is showtime.

Traveling prayers would be appreciated. This will be our first outing as a family of nine. NINE. 9. Hmmmm, it doesn't matter how I type it, nine is still a crazy big number. This will take some getting used to.

Stories when we return!

Nesting update- 37+2 weeks

Today is my first day thinking again after a marathon freezer meal party last weekend.

I shopped on Friday, spending more in one trip than I ordinarily spend in a month. (I've been saving up for quite awhile.) Gavin came along as my "lifter."

Saturday, Bryan and I precooked and cut the meat.

• 15 lbs of ground beef
• 20 lbs of stew meat that became shredded beef
• 20 lbs of chicken breasts that became chicken breast filets
• 10 lbs of chicken that we simply cooked, cooled and chopped

Sunday, the girls and I cleaned the house and prepared a buffet of tea, salads, fruit & brie and sandwiches in preparation for "THE PARTY." Shortly after 1 p.m., my mom and 2 sisters-in-law arrived. We ate our lunches, chatted and I went over the plans for the afternoon.

Then we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. In 4.5 hours we packaged up 53 meals for my family to enjoy after the baby is born. Amazing, yes? Wonderful, if you ask me. I am incredibly grateful for the loving hands that helped me get this all done.

Elizabeth

sweeter than sugar

triumphant (and relieved) mama!

Kameron's first moment holding his daughter.

the new family

first bath
This was just about the only peaceful bit, she didn't exactly love the tub.

good sized
(but way smaller than her mama was at birth!)

Kameron snuggling with his baby

resting after a long day

My first niece!

Born to my brother Kameron and his lovely lady, Allison

more to follow...after I
speel, um, sliip , hmmm.....S L E E P...

Quotable

The burden of their children's training must be borne by the parents alone. But let them bear it with easy grace and an erect carriage, as the Spanish peasant bears her water-jar.
-Charlotte Mason


It is too easy as a mother of many to be the noble martyr or falsely cheerful. My earnest prayer is that I learn to bear this delightful burden with easy grace.

_________________________________________________

The summer and early autumn have been full of change and activity. I have accumulated many stories that I hope to find time to post here.

Until then, let me leave you with our most special news: baby #7 is due April 30th, 2008!

We are deep into the name wars as I surface from the weariness and sickness of the first trimester. I'll keep you posted.

a silly moment

Have you ever played the "I've got your nose" game? In this game, you pretend to snatch the toddler's nose with your hand and then show them the nose you have snatched. The nose they see is actually the tip of your thumb protruding between the first and second fingers. Hard to describe but very popular with little kids at our house. "Again," they shout. "Again!" Of course, we always put the nose back in place at the end of the game.

This morning, as I was getting ready for the day, Mason came into the master bathroom to chat with me. I noticed that his nose was snotty and wiped it with a tissue. I then tossed the tissue into the toilet. Mason loves to flush toilets and immediately ran over to pull the handle.

"Bye-bye water," he shouted gleefully, as the water and tissue swirled away. Suddenly, a worried look crossed his face, "Nose bye-bye?"

A quick word was all it took to reassure him, but, for the briefest moment, he thought I had snatched his nose and tossed it in the toilet. I am still smiling, a fact that probably reveals my truly evil nature.

Aloha

The view from our lanai, looking to the right.

Here I am in a little coffee shop enjoying a Kaua'i morning. Cup of mocha and sticky bun at my elbow, free wi-fi and that indescribable coffee-shop atmosphere make me feel right at home. Be prepared for a long post!

We are swimming and snokeling everyday. Well, the kids are. I am enoying my beach chair and unbrella. The company is fabulous- Aunt Dale, Uncle Larry and Bryan's cousing Damon are here from Texas and we celebrated Aunt Dale's birthday last night. It is great to be with family. We are laughing a lot. There have been whales and spinning dolphins playing outside the reef and we sit on our lanai (patio) watching them jump and splash. At night, we take our flashlights out onto the beach to chase crabs.

We survived the journey intact. I wouldn't want to repeat that day. Neither Mason nor Sadie slept on the 5 h 52 m flight. Oops. That's not entirely true. Sadie fell asleep about 10 seconds before the wheels touched down. Despite all our OTC help, Mason's ears hurt during the descent and he screamed for about 10 minutes. "Owie, owie, owie!" Our neighbors on the flight were very gracious and understanding. They repeatedly complemented our children for their behaviour.

The long flight was from Portland to Honululu. We had an hour layover before catching an island hopper to Kaua'i. Everyone was thrilled to be running around even though it was very, very warm and the humdity must have been 102%. Mason loved seeing the planes until we boarded. I think that the ear pain was still fresh in his memory. Once the engines started, so did he. He cried for about 10 minutes of the 20 minute flight. Lovely.

Landed in Kauai, finally. I was starting to get a nice vacationy feeling when we were informed that our luggage hadn't made the transfer at Honululu. "It should be here in an hour."

We decided to pick up our rental car(s). Check in went smoothly and the lady told us, "The minivans in the first row by the fence." Nope. There was nothing there. When we asked, we were informed that they were all being washed and would be around shortly. So there we waited, for almost an hour, for two clean vehicles. It was around 3 or 3:30 Kauai time, which was two hours behind Oregon time. In other words, I had 6 children who had all been awake for 12 or more hours standing in a shadeless parking lot. The rental care people are lucky I am such a nice person. In fact, everyone was lucky I was a nice person. Let's just leave it at that.

Back at baggage claim, we found 3 of our 8 bags. The others would be in sometime soon. Maybe an hour. Island time.

Drove back to the condo with our carry-ons and the kid's luggage. The missing bags included 2 carseats, the portacrib, some snorkel gear and Bryan's & my bag. This was one of those times when my family rose up and called me blessed for packing an "emergency" bag that had swimsuits and underwear for all- just in case they lost our luggage.

The condo is beautiful and the view is even better. Mason was in full meltdown mode as we were settling in. By the time we had found dinner and fed everyone, it was 6 pm (8 pm home time equivalent.) He was still un-napped and definitely unhappy. Still waiting for his bed to arrive, we laid him down on a towel on the floor of our bedroom. He fell asleep instantly. Poor baby.

A very, very poor baby woke up crying two hours later. He had vomited all over himself and his bed. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. He had a stomach bug. The barfies lasted 12 hours but the runs held on for 4 days. It was embarrassing to call housekeeping and say, "My son had diarrhea -again- and we need towels, sheets and pillows -again." So far, Sadie is the only other child to catch the bug and it only lasted 24 hours.

Please pray that this bug doesn't spread. We are having a lovely time and I could write forever but Bryan reminds me that life is waiting beyond the computer screen.

I'll try to sneak away later and post some more pics.

Update(s)

Update1: Mason will be receiving his little blue card in the mail sometime soon, and he may be eligible for a passport after all. Here's hoping.

Update2: We are leaving for 14 days in Kauai on Thursday! My house is one large staging area, with suitcases and laundry everywhere. I am washing, folding and packing the necessary items straight into the suitcases.

I have listsmania. There are lists for packing. Lists for chores yet to be accomplished. To do lists broken down by days; lists of food to take and food we'll purchase there. Red list, blue list, one list, two lists. Which brings me to another important list- the list of books to read to Mason en route. I have been telling everyone, "If we can just get there, we'll be fine." Traveling with a one year old for 5 hours in a plane makes me a bit nervous, so say a prayer for traveling mercies Thursday morning.

"See" you in a couple of weeks.

Aloha!

So close

It was a pleasant hour-and-a-half at the local social security office yesterday. Peoples of many diverse enthicities, speaking many forms of English were united in a common ordeal. We exchanged jokes about who had the better number and commiserated about how long
we had been waiting. All in all it was a lovely melting pot experience, but I wasn't the least bit sad when my number, C313 was finally called. By some strange coincidence, the same woman who helped me last time was the one who called my number. She didn't know me from Eve, but her compassion last time made me more at ease as I presented the documentation- his birth certificate and the new, proof-of-existence letter from our family doctor. After a few questions, a close examination of my photo ID and a signature, I was a handed a significant piece of paper.

It is with amazement and joy that I announce that Mason's application for a SSN was accepted. Now, before you celebrate prematurely, let me explain that just because the application was accepted does NOT mean that they will issue him a number or card. First they have to verify that difficult-to-obtain, delayed-filed birth certificate. If, and only if, all the information matches, they will most likely issue the long-awaited number, this is what that precious and significant piece of paper promises.

There are many people who choose not to acquire a SSN for their children, for one reason and another and they have my understanding. We have chosen to comply with this farce simply because we hope that if we follow these rules they will leave us to live in peace. It may not be fair, but I am not necessarily interested in fairness, not believing this to be an inalienable right. That newborns must apply for a tax id number for a system they will not be contributing too for at least a decade is ridiculus. That we must use this tax id as proof of identity in order to claim our children as deductions for income tax purposes seems more ridiculus still. There must be a better way but until there is a legal alternative, we will stay within the system.

Baby Wearing

I love to wear my babies, enjoying both the closeness and convenience. Sometimes you just need to hold that wee one but you also just need to be able to cook dinner or fold laundry, you know? When Sadie and Mason were infants, I used slings to keep them close, but as they have grown the slings are just too hard on my back. It is one thing to have 10 - 15 pounds suspended from one shoulder but 25 - 35 pounds is just too much. (Ask my chiropractor.)

Since we are leaving for Kauai soon, I have been searching for a baby carrier that will work with both toddlers and my fragile back. Enter the Ergo Baby Carrier. Yes, Above Rubies readers, all those glowing reviews are true. I found an Ergo on craigslist and arranged a time to try it on- complete with toddler. I knew as soon as I finished adjusting baby boy that this would work. I felt no pain whatsoever and very little stress to my back and shoulders.

When I arrived home, I put him back into the carrier to walk around the house. He prefers the front carry position so he can give me frequent nose kisses. The kids watched the instructional DVD with me and were soon begging for a chance to wear the babies, too. So, I adjusted the carrier down to fit Gavin and he walked around the house for a good 30 minutes with Mason on his back. Mason needed a diaper-change, so we snugged Sadie into the pack, and he walked around for another 15 minutes or so with his 3 yo sister on his back. Sirena and Madelyn were just as anxious as Gav to try out this baby-wearing contraption, so we adjusted the carrier to an even smaller size and let Sirena wear Mason for a time while I prepped dinner. Makes a mama's heart proud to see her older children wearing the younger ones. Both children, wearer and wearee, were delighted with the arrangement. I found it amazing that my 52 lb 8 yo could carry my 35 lb 3 yo without difficulty.

I have now had the chance to make the bed wearing my 35 lb toddler and I stick to the wonderfulness of this carrier. I won't say that it was as easy as making the bed without the toddler riding piggy back, but definitely doable. Sadie is harder on the ole back, so I will leave wearing her for Bry or the older kids. It isn't really a problem if she sits perfectly still, but she likes to lean off to one side or the other which makes for inequal weight distribution.

Bryan liked it so much that he asked me to buy a second one (also off craigslist) so that we'll have one for each baby during our trip. I am already sighing with relief at the thought of having both babies safely in carriers while we collect our luggage and carry-ons and children and in-laws. Much better than the "have you seen the toddler?" routine.

Under the Weather but On Top of the World

This week was filled with challenges and joys.

Most of the children have been in various overlapping stages of a nasty respiratory virus which includes runny noses, coughing, head and body aches, fevers up to 103, lost appetite, lost sleep, and lots of whining/crying/sniveling. We have run through an unusual amount of homeopathic, herbal and allopathic cold remedies.

Gavin is the only one of the children to have avoided the virus up to this point. Bryan had his turn with it last weekend and I am living on Echinacea Elder tea and Vitamin C in hopes of warding off the bad bugs. We haven't accomplished much in the way of school this week, but the children have been fed and the house is clean, except for the drifts of tissues in the living room.

The wonderful part of the week included the birth of baby Jonah! His birth was my first as a primary-under-supervision (aka intern) midwife. It went fairly smoothly with just a bit too much bleeding while waiting for the placenta to detach. I must say it was a real confidence booster to be able to handle that situation quickly and efficiently. My lovely, supervising midwife was there, ready to step in if needed. Hmmm. All this time studying and apprenticing seems to be paying off.

There is still a long road ahead- I need to serve many more women to finish my training but as of today here are my numbers:

Births I have attended as
A participant: 6 (in chronological order: Mara, Gavin, Sirena, Madelyn, Sarah and Mason)
An observer: 5
A doula: 40
The apprentice or assistant: 19
The primary: 1

I have been the baby-catcher for 5 of these precious births. My smallest catch weighed in at 5 lbs 15 oz and the biggest "little" guy tipped the scales at 11 lbs 1 oz.

Boys: 36
Girls: 32

Small numbers, to be sure, but I have worked hard to get even these numbers and I am proud of them as a good start.

Anyone need a midwife? Have birth bag, will travel.

So proud!

Here is a portfolio of recent work for my dh. He is an amazing craftsman! I am blessed to be married to such a creative and skilled guy. He is both handsome and handy.

Unintentional Substitutions

I pride myself on being a good cook. And we all know that pride comes before a fall.

Twice, not once - T W I C E in the past 2 weeks I have added an absurd ingredient to our dinner. The first mishap occurred on a typically harried evening when I was rushing to get dinner on the table. After tasting the taco meat, I decided that it needed just a bit more chili powder, grabbed a large container of darkish red powder and shook a liberal amount into the skillet. Immediately, the aroma confused me. I stirred and pondered, pondered and stirred. Ah! It needs cumin, too. Added a dash of cumin but it just didn't smell right. Bryan came to investigate the odd smell. "Are we having breakfast for dinner?" No. "What's that smell?" And then it hit me: cinnamon. I had added cinnamon to the taco meat. There was absolutely nothing I could do to fix it but neither could I really afford to toss the food in the trash. We don't eat meat all that often anymore and this was a real treat. My family gracefully accepted the meal and Bryan went so far as to ask that I make the same addition sometime in future. "It tastes kind of Moroccan!"

Take two- last night was another crazy, "I have meat but what do I do with it" night. Aha! Hamburger gravy over baked potatoes with a large side salad. Perfect. I browned the hamburger with garlic and onions. Once I had added the flour, I reached into the frig to grab a milk-substitute. We most often use rice milk or almond milk, but I will use whatever is handy. I noticed that there was a little bit of non-dairy creamer left. I haven't been using much since I am trying to eat more healthful fare. "Oooh, that will make the gravy nice and creamy," I thought as I dumped it in. There wasn't enough so I reached into the frig again, this time for the almond milk. While I was searching, the aroma from the gravy reached me and started me down that same "something is not quite right" path. Being the second time in as many weeks, it didn't take long to discover that it was hazelnut creamer. Hazelnut doesn't complement garlicky, hamburger gravy.

I turned in my housewife card and went to the bedroom to eat my dinner. If mommy can't cope she needs a timeout. I most definitely needed a time out.

Here's hoping life slows down enough that I can prepare tasty meals without mishap!

(This post was taken out of mothballs for "Get Real Tuesday" at the Well Fed Homestead!  Click on over here to read other stories from REAL kitchens!)

Shredded Proof

This is what happens when you cross proof of existence with a 110 lb chocolate lab.

(Thankfully our doctor has a great sense of humor and has agreed to write a replacement note.)