Here, Let Me Help You...

Meal times in our home are often interesting.  
You can imagine the flurry of activity in gathering our 7 family members around the table, drinks for everyone, and a hot meal on the table. All the kids have various jobs in getting things ready...Caleb sets the silverware, Sophie sets the dishes, Ethan places the salt, pepper and any other condiments we need, and Emily puts on the napkins.  Titus somehow escapes the table prep, and now that I'm seeing it as I write it...things may change.  

  As the children are getting older we're trying to make sure that they know proper table manners, how to handle eating certain foods, and things like that.  We also try to help them eat well, without making big messes.   Naturally, kids are messy. Hopefully, the older kids are a bit neater.  Naturally, smaller kids need more help.  For example, Fifi may think she can put just the right amount of dressing on her salad, only to accidentally squeeze out enough salad dressing for the entire family!  Rather than setting myself, or my precious Fifi up for continued failure, I'd rather just help her put it on until I know she is capable of controlling her "squeeze".   Same with ketchup, mustard, etc.  WHY add another possible mess to the spilled drink, dropped noodles, and shmear of sauce if I don't have to?

Now that I've said that,  enter this particular evening, at our cozy kitchen table...

Baked Chicken fingers sizzling in the pan, fresh steamed brocolli wafting its horrid smell into the kitchen, and a  delicious bed of cheesy egg noodles awaiting to be served. 
A prayer of thanks is offered..."Thank you God for my delicious food that Mother prepared for us, for my wonderful flamily, our wonderful house, my beautiful room and for giving us this food.  Amen.
Food is served and all is well.  Kids are hungry and its quiet-ish. Emily asks for mustard, grabs it and starts using it quicker than I can intervene.  Through a rare meal miracle, she manages to escape a reign of mustard terror.  Next, she asks for Ketchup, she likes to mix the two.  THIS time, I intervene. There will be no mass ketchup carnage at my table tonight!   (Enter hero fanfare music here) "Here, Emily...Let me help you with that...", says I, the matriarch of the proper table.  Then, with a slight shake, a quick flip of the cap, and a twisting of parental fate, the ketchup squirts out all over the table and my hand.   Fail.  Epic ketchup fail.  Ha!  
Too funny for this to happen just as I step in to save our table from certain doom.  Well, Sophie got up and got me a rag, I cleaned up, gave Emily her ketchup and the meal continued. 

 However.
Approximately 10 minutes later, Emily asked for more ketchup.  This time I was wise to the ketchup's wily ways.  I won't shake it this time.  I'll tip it ever so slightly.  I won't squeeze it at all.  Nice ideas, but as soon as I opened the bottle it happened again!  Turns out, we own a ketchup bottle from the dark side!  No matter how you open this ridiculous bottle it spews ketchup onto whatever is in its wake!! 

We all had a good laugh over my misfortune.  Sophie, the future blogger/photographer raced for the camera, and Caleb blurted out "blog!".  
It was funny,  and in a funny little way, I'm thankful that it happened.  Sometimes our kids make mistakes, have accidents, and make messes that are out of their control.  Us adults, often aren't very understanding. It is good to have an event like this to look back on.  It will be helpful, at some time later, to be able to mention this event to that child who feels like they messed up again.  A lesson in reality for all. 
 And time to shop for a new bottle of ketchup.  

The Wonder of Homemade Shower Cleaner

It all started HERE. Andrea, over at Simple Organized Living featured a post about homemade soap scum/shower cleaner.
 Since I was again, on the quest to be even more cheap frugal than I already am.   It sounded pretty good.  It fit my basic criteria...cheap ingredients, few steps to make, and a tolerable smell. I do have some allergy issues when it comes to scents, so I'm not one who goes looking for heavily scented things.  Most, if not all cleaners that I've ever purchased from the store have made me sneeze...and sneeze...and sneeze.  Cleaning the shower and latrine is bad enough without having to stop every 45 seconds to blow your nose!

Let's say,  you did a search for homemade shower cleaners.  If you used Google, you would come up with at least 10 pages of results.  THAT is a lot.  I chose to take my search to Pinterest instead and see what I came up with there. This one that I chose turned up on Google and Pinterest.  It also didn't have cheesy pictures, which to me, is important. 
Anyway...
In all of the preparations that  I read about there were several common characteristics.  Vinegar, Dish detergent, Empty spray bottle, water.  

Some of them say to heat the vinegar to really hot, some say lukewarm...I chose to not heat mine at all.  Turns out, it works just fine.

Some say use equal parts vinegar and dish soap.  Well, that seems like a lot of soap...so I added about 6 oz. to my 16 oz. of vinegar

Some add baking soda, extra water, borax, or essential oils.  Ya, I got none of that, so we did without...and it works just great!

Some say to only use the original blue Dawn dish soap.  Well, I only use the original green Palmolive dish soap, so guess what?   I used that instead and it works just fine.

Some say to leave it on the area you spray it for 20 minutes to overnight.  Ya, I didn't do that either. However, it worked just fine.
I did, however, notice that if you leave the shower door open with the shower head projected at the open door, you will get wet. 

Since I was so over the moon about how well the cleaner worked on my fabulously evil shower doors, I decided to give it a go on the ever aging eyeliner stain on the toilet seat.
 Back in November, you may remember a certain incident that included Emily and waterproof eyeliner.
It just so happens that I was having a hard time getting some of the eyeliner off our wooden toilet seat. In fact, short of sanding it down and refinishing it, (which was not going to happen) I think I had tried everything! 
Fast forward to April and the newly discovered Homemade Shower Cleaner and we have success.  Normally, one would post a picture of their hard won cleaning success.  However, it seems a little wrong to post a picture of one's toilet seat on the internet.  Guess I'm just shy like that.

If you'd like to try making your own Homemade Shower Cleaner in the same fashion as mine, here is what you'll need...

1- Empty Spray bottle
16 oz. Vinegar (white distilled...the cheap stuff)
4-6 oz. Liquid Dish Detergent (NOT dishwasher detergent)

Mix and clean!

If you're wondering how it smelled... It smelled like vinegar and dish soap...not bad, but not like a field of fragrant wild flowers.  The next batch I make, I might add a few drops of Lavender oil that I have, but that is only if I can remember where I put it. :P

Good Gifts

Today, as I was making my way through one of my favorite stores.
I was delighted to see a brand spanking new pair of running shoes! I have needed a new pair for some time, but was putting off shelling out the cash for a new pair. My current pair have issues.  They squeak when I walk or run. Really, an audible squeak comes from my shoe. Nothing short of annoying.

Not only were the shoes I found adorable,  they were also Brooks shoes, which I often like, but can't afford the sticker shock. 
The shoes retail for around $ 120-140...too many dollars for this chick!
This time, however, they were a price that only The Lord can give me.
This time they were a whopping $ 8.99!
 Talk about shoutin' time! And yes, they were exactly my size. 'Cause my God is like that...Thank you Lord!  
Now, off I go runnin' my little heart out and praising The Lord for his blessings!

Our Greenville Adventure

After arriving late at night and discovering that we were blessed with a great place to stay, we decided to go check out the fine learning institution of our wonderfully talented sister, Laura.  Her schedule for the day was on the lighter side, which was definitely in our favor!  After figuring out how to find the agreed upon "mailbox landmark", we set out to park in the garage and make it to our meeting point. Our goal was to make it there without breaking any regulations that would embarrass Laura in her final days of college. We were also meeting up with the Hayden Sr's (That's George & Martha, not to be confused with the Senior, Laura Hayden) Not that we're often prone to mischief or anything, but you never know what ridiculous scenario we might find ourselves. 

We successfully met up with Laura and made our way through somewhere on campus to visit Laura's Band practice class.  It wasn't as if we could sneak in, after all there were 9 of us, so they kindly set up chairs off to the side and got down to their business.  The children were really impressed and enjoyed listening to the band play, as well as listen to the delightfully animated conductor of the band.  It's been years since I've been to a band practice. It was so fun to hear the conductor speak and instruct with language as only conductors can do.  After having a nice lunch together at a place I'll call Cafe La Bleu, it was decided that we would go to a park.  Gramps was to serve as our tour guide, and he would take us to some park that we were sure to love.  As we made our was through parts of Greenville that we'd best not travel after dark, I was a little less sure if we had chosen the right way to spend our afternoon.  Would I have to use my Ninja skills after all?  No, surely it will be fine...I should just relax and wait to see what we find.  Finally, after driving past a photographer doing a photo shoot in a colorful alley way, I began to relax.  If it's safe for him to carry all his gear down here, that shows promise.  Everything will be fine now. 

And sure as the day is not night, we arrived at our destination.

 We were at Falls Park ! The website boasts, "Far more than a nature lover's paradise, Falls Park, located in downtown Greenville's Historic West End, is one of Greenville's greatest treasures. "   
 The website failed to mention that Laura was almost mugged here one evening, but during the day it was charming.  Truly, it was pretty.  The weather was warm, it was sunny, and a delightful 76 degrees!  Since it had been snowing in Dayton the day before we left, we were pretty much basking in the warm weather.  You can see a nice shadow picture of our family that I took from the bridge.  Can you recognize us? 

 After viewing the falls from the very cool Liberty Bridge, we decided to go take a walk down by the ducks and see the waterfall up close. 
Little did we realize, Spring was in full force down in the green grass with all the duckies and geese!  We arrived to see what looked like a scene from a National Geographic movie.  Typical boy ducky chases girl ducky wucky for the furtherance of all duck kind.                   Emily thought they were playing tag and that the girl ducky, who was quacking her ever living head off, was laughing about how she was running faster than the boy ducky. This is, after all, a family friendly blog here, so that's all I'm sayin'... 
 Hey KIDS, let's go look at the waterfall!! 
 The waterfall was pretty and there were a lot of people who came by as we were there to have their pictures taken near it. I did have a fleeting thought about how the water probably contained mass amounts of toxic waste and therefore we should not touch it, but I am told that is all in the past. Nevertheless, "Swimming is Discouraged" by some carefully placed signs by the attentive folks from City Hall.  

As Ethan was tromping around on the rocks, looking at cool stuff, he happened upon a very small Copperhead snake.  This little fella thought that Falls Park was a fine place to come out for a little sunbathing.  Little did he know, Copperheads are NOT welcome.  I'm not sure what was in store for this little fella's future but, I'd venture to say he may experience relocation, etc.  
Here is a birds eye view of the park, courtesy of Whitty & Al.  (In case you're wondering who are Whitty & Al.. Who knows, but through the magic of google images, I found this picture on their blog and decided to borrow it. Thanks guys, you're the best!)

Also, on this adventure to the park, we happened upon another new phenomenon in Greenville.  It isn't often that you get to view something that many folks have not observed before.  We were so privileged to view this in its beginning stages. 

OH, wait!  That's Laura! What?  Why is she carrying those gorgeous red roses? ...and who is that ever attentive gentleman by her side?  Why, I do believe that young man is Nathan, her new beau!  ...I bet he gave her those roses... 
Stay tuned, for the continuing saga of "Our trip to Greenville".  The future is promising!

Road Trippin' to SC

As many of you know, Laura, my darling, amazingly talented sister will be graduating from college this May (yaay!)  As one of her graduation requirements she was giving her Senior Recital.  This was the reason we were taking our road trip to South Carolina.  Not that we don't want to see her graduation ceremony, but compared to her Senior Recital, it would be soo disappointing, not to mention full of hoards of people that we don't care about seeing.  Not that they aren't fine people, but I'd rather watch one delightful person that I know rather than a thousand fine people any day.  

A Road trip with our family is always a special occasion of sorts.  (You can imagine all sorts of implied meaning with that last sentence.)  However, this road trip was going to prove to EXTRA special because we were adding an extra Hayden to the mix.  No, NO! I'm not pregnant, not that type of adding! (shame on you for going there!)  What I mean is, we were joined by none other than George Hayden.  Gramps.  Brian's Dad, my Father-in-law.  He flew into the Dayton airport on the morning of our departure and was going to drive with us down to Greenville, South Carolina.  Turns out, it was cheaper for him to fly to Dayton than to fly to Greenville and he decided it was worth saving money to take a road trip with us.  (Not sure if he'll choose to save money again like that but...)

So, after an exciting trip to pick up Gramps with Titus and Emily, we began our great journey to the south.  

And as all good road trips include sitting in traffic for an obscene amount of time, we began ours as such. In Cincinnati.  For several miles.  Of course, I had to take a picture of the traffic.  Then, I digressed to taking pictures of the pattern of my sweater with my ipad.  Don't mind me, I wasn't bored or anything.  Its just the sort of thing a photographer does when she's trapped in a car with 7 other people, while surrounded with cars while standing still on the interstate.

How far is it to Greenville, South Carolina from Dayton, Ohio? According to Google, who obviously hasn't made the trip with 5 kids in tow, it was 463 miles and should take approximately 7 hours and 44 minutes. Give or take 7 hours.
BAH! Of course, that is excluding stops for food, potty stops, gasoline, and a couple of um, potty stops. (I even made sure NOT to fill Emily's water bottle to the top or even close because we allll know that Miss Mini Bladder can't go for long without a potty stop if she has a drink!)

 I think they should have a "Travel time with Kids" option on Google Maps.    Highlighting all public toilets, McDonalds, and Starbucks (for the parents) all along the route would be golden. Truly...on the money, people.

After our bout with the traffic jam, it was pretty much smooth sailing.  I can say we went over the river and through the woods, though we did not go to Grandmother's house, we did indeed see her.  She had already flown down to Greenville a few days earlier and was planning to remain there for a few days after we left as well.  As you can see, Grandfather was very happy to be driving along with the troop.  Especially happy to be able to stop at Chick-fil-a for lunch along the way too!  Just look at that smiling face!
One of the challenges of a long road trip is keeping the children occupied so that they don't end up arguing and turning the back seat into a boxing ring.  While I'd like it if they would just sit quietly and gaze out the window just aching to drive 100 more miles before stopping... Reality is, much, much different. I have several minutes worth of video of Emily singing the same song over and over and over again just to prove it.  I will not, because I like you, post that here and now. 

As we traveled through the "mountains", we couldn't help but to notice how much they look like the foothills of the mountains that we grew up around.  Our younger kids were astonished at how big the mountains were...Wow! oh, Wow!  While the rest of us were a little less impressed.  Not to say that we didn't appreciate the beauty of what we saw, we did.  It was interesting that even though the temperature was in the mid 50's, most of the waterfalls along the road were frozen falls of ice.  Just imagine that because I didn't take a picture of it.  I do however, have a photo of  a random semi truck, some hills, and clouds instead.  Maybe not, but that's just how I roll sometimes.

After many long hours in the car, we did arrive at our destination.  We were blessed with a wonderful place to stay, courtesy of the Brown Family.  It was truly exciting to be spoiled by complete strangers.  She baked our favorite treats and didn't even know it!  She stocked our favorite snacks!  The kids were in a wonderland of Ping Pong and bastketball, and I got to watch the Food Network!  
Next up!  The Greenville Adventure!  

Groundhog Roast!

It would appear that the dear little furry critter has lost his touch. According to a bit of research, the Groundhog Day prediction is about 39% accurate. Which, even in the saddest of grading scales is waay beyond FAIL.

Sure, we all know its a worthless tradition...a rodent coming out of his hole? Truly? Over our country's wide open plains how many other rodents come out of their holes on different days and see their shadow or don't ....how do we KNOW we've got the right guy? Maybe Prairie Dogs are more accurate, or gerbils? Yet, despite all this silliness and inaccuracy, we all (admit it), place a tiny little bit of validity into what happens on Groundhog Day.

Today, as we're preparing for between 1 and 10 inches of snow, I'm thinking it may just be time to fire up the barbecue, rig up a rotisserie, and roast that little groundhog into retirement!
Who's with me?!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Take a minute and see if you can tell what is wrong with this picture.  Something is a little weird, and its not the fact that the box is printed in Spanish.  Guess again.

Never mind those stacks of books behind Sophie, that was a left over from a library explosion. 
If you guessed that there is a hand coming out of the box that couldn't possibly be Sophie's, you are correct.
Turns out that Emily is the perfect size to fit into a heater box.  Who knew?  I guess when you're the same weight as most two year olds, you can fit just about anywhere!
This is just one of the pointless things that I thought would be fun to try.

Here is a little experiment we did one day ...

This particular day is was a balmy 10 degrees outside.  It was a bit windy, which made it a little colder, but our thermometer said 10 degrees. 

Here is what we did...

Exactly, here is what we did...

• We boiled some water. 
• Told all the kids to stand back or watch out the window from a different angle.
•   Brian poured it into a pitcher and then he threw it up and out.  

 There were a few very small drips that made it to the ground,

 but for the most part it was all gone. (We used about a quart and a half of water)

As you can see and hear from the video, it was pretty cool (ha ha).

If you're interested in the science behind what we did, you can go HERE and it will explain all the gory details about why it did what it did. 

Honestly though, what the kids remembered was how cool it was that the water never touched the ground. 

We also did another cool science-ish experiment, which I will tell you about at another time.  I am still getting the video ready, so you'll just have to be patient.  

In other news, It is time for me to refill my coffee cup and grab a smackerel of chocolate. Whoa, I know, earth shattering isn't it. Be inspired, or better yet go get your own!