Brrr....

I'm ready for the snow.  Snow means it should warm up a little!  This morning when Joe left for work it was -3!  Janie went out to defrost the chickens' water and twenty minutes later it was frozen again.  I worked in the hen house this morning spreading a new bail of straw and defrosting the water more thoroughly.  Some of the hens even had frost on their feathers.  I felt so bad for them that i locked them all back in their house to dig through the fresh straw--a favorite pasttime of theirs--and, hopefully, stay warmer.  Back in my toasty house I'm thinking of something cozy to make for dinner and maybe some gingerbread men.  I'll add the new recipes to the blog today.  We're praying for Joe who has to work outside all day.  I'll have to have a hot cup of tea waiting for him when he gets home.  Hoping you stay warm wherever you are today!

Our Thanksgiving

Well, I've been meaning to update you on the Thanksgiving festivities at our house.  Unfortunately I came down with morning sickness that weekend and, due to many late nights, a good case of exhaustion so I haven't taken the time to sit down and write.
Jackie came out the week before and sat down and got me organized.  She forced me to allow others to do some work, too and listed all of the dishes I could prepare in advance.  It wound up being my saving grace in all of this.  She also loaned me a card table and five chairs which worked out great to put in the family room.  With 21 diners in all even my 90 inch table couldn't hold everyone!
Well, everyone arrived late Wednesday and came out to the house.  Most people ate but since it was after 8pm some had already had dinner on the road.  Only one family cancelled at the last minute but we had an addition of two more so it all worked out well.
I failed to take very many pictures... I think I was too busy talking but I did take a few..

This is a picture of Makaily on Thanksgiving morning.  She and her dad and I went out to take care of the chickens.  We were all still in our jammies and Makaily donned my pink plaid rubber boots and barn coat.  She looked so cute and was definitely very serious about her job.  Her dad dropped the bucket of scraps while 'Kaily and I went in search of eggs.  Luckily we found two!  She also found this barred rock who didn't mind being pet first thing in the morning!  Talk about unusual!  She turned around and gave 'Kaily a look but didn't shy away from the lovin'.
I took most of Thanksgiving morning off and let Joe and the others take over the kitchen.  After all, thanks to Jackie's plan of attack, most of my work was done for the day!  I was in total heaven with all of my family around.  Twelve kids and nine adults roaming (and sometimes running) around the house and the yard!  We gave thanks and all ate an amazing dinner of turkey, homemade stuffing, cranberries and cranberry salad, mashed potatoes and homemade rolls, gravy, pumpkin and apple pies, green bean casserole and sweet potatoes with marshmallows.  It was really great and a lot of fun.

This is a picture of a table we set up by the fireplace.  Jackie made the centerpiece and it looked so beautiful in the middle of the table.  I added some pumpkins from our garden, candles, silk fall leaves and grapevine pumpkins.  Pretty nice for the kids' table!
We finished the evening with a kettle fire outside.  I wish I'd have gotten a picture of that for our landlords but I just got so wrapped up in enjoying everyone that I forgot.  I was sitting at the fire and passing out marshmallows to the kids and just absorbed the moment.  It was dark out and there were kids swinging on the rope swing.  Some other kids were playing flashlight tag and some of us were around the fire.  About four or five guys got in the hot tub and they each took their littlest kids in with them.  Some people were inside playing video games.  I wish every day could end that way!

When we came inside, Uncle Jim got out his dremel so everyone could carve their names and ages in the table leaf.  Everyone wrote their name with Sharpie marker first and then Donna Marie went over it all with the dremel.  I sent a picture to my Mom.  I know she would've rather seen the table unmarred but I told her it was my forever table and that it was going to tell a story.  I think it turned out perfectly and I'm so happy with it!
I passed out the Christmas catalogs from Penney's and a Sharpie for each kid to mark what they wanted from Santa this year.  I told the parents that I was promoting commercialism among their children. :)  The kids loved them, of course!
The next morning everyone had to leave for one reason or another so we fed them all breakfast and off they went.  Most of them encountered a little snowfall on the mountain and I think that was probably the perfect end to the weekend.
Family is the most important thing in my life.  I do miss them all but am grateful to be able to live in the most beautiful bit of country on God's green earth!

Surprise!!

Well, yesterday I got a little curious and decided to take a pregnancy test.  No big deal, I keep a spare in the house just to reassure me when i get to wondering.  I always "fail" the test.  Yesterday I passed.  Yikes!  I've never had a baby that I didn't plan!  The control freak in me kinda went numb.  I was thinking about having another baby.  Maybe we'd work on that this summer.  God, apparently, had other plans.  He has pressed us into a position where we must let go and trust Him.  Financially it will be a challenge.  Physically it will be a challenge.  Emotionally it will be a challenge.
All that said, we are excited despite the hurdles that will need to be overcome.  Everyone thinks that it's time for us to have another girl.  I'd like that.  So now it's on to eating more healthy, exercising with purpose and getting things organized for a new baby.  Wish us luck!

The "finalized" Thanksgiving Plans...

Well, the preschool teacher in me has kicked in and I've planned excessively for our family visit. In the spirit of this blog I'd like to list the ideas I have in case you'd like to use any as your own. I'm borrowing a little bit from the past and hoping to create some new traditions for the future.
Because I love Mexican food, Wednesday night we'll have a Mexican food buffet available as our family arrives in town. On Thursday I think I'll gift the children with their own Christmas catalogs from JC Penney's. Since there are a ton of kids coming, they may have to share a bit. Maybe I'll give them each their own color of Sharpie so they can clearly mark what is on their wish list. Of course, Thursday would be Thanksgiving which means it's the day of wearing elastic waist pants! :) We'll cook, bake and eat til we nearly pop! I thought we'd finish up with a cup of coffee or cocoa or cider by a bonfire in the lower pasture. We've been collecting branches and other yard debris throughout the fall so we should be plenty ready.
On Friday we can do any number of things! We can do a little shopping (since our options are limited, I doubt we'll do that), we can visit Gilstrap Brothers Winery for a tour and tasting, do kid crafts, Christmas baking, play games or watch Christmas movies. If there's snow on the mountain maybe we could go up to Anthony Lakes and go sledding. We may just sit around and talk while the kids play and that would be ok with me, too! I'd like to finish the day with the Brazil's coming to do a little bluegrass jam at our house tho. They're so fun to watch and listen to!
The Saturday after Thanksgiving at our house is traditionally the day we go to the tree farm and cut down our family tree. We'll spend the day decorating the house and the tree. I'm hoping to convince Donna Marie to take our family pictures that day, too. Maybe even a picture of ALL of us... cousins, aunt and uncle, brothers and sisters.
Sunday, before everyone leaves, we'll have a send-off breakfast... I think I'll post the menu's I'm planning later this week. If I'm REALLY good, I'll have a basket for each family to take home with them. Farm fresh eggs, fresh bread and something we canned this year like jam or applesauce... maybe some salsa. Ambitious, aren't I? I plan on enlisting lots of help to get ready for the holiday. I just can't wait!

Peace in the Valley... everyday life

The last few days at our house have been so peaceful. I find that, that peace brings me hope. Joe stayed home from work feeling a bit ill the other day. Seems like everyone has come down with a little something lately. It was a great day, tho. We did science experiments and read in our history books. Janie and I corrected her algebra test and Mitch and I played a game of fraction bingo! It's the time of year when we always have a fire in the woodstove and everything feels so cozy and comforting. It was lovely to have everyone in the house for the day.
Yesterday we went into town to my great friend, Jackie's house. She helped me with some homemade sausage that Joe and I had taken too much fat out of. She is really smart and I'm lucky to have her as my friend. She took Mitch and her kids to the library for homeschool story time while I took Janie up to George and Lucy's for her weekly Spanish lessons. George and Lucy are friends that have adopted my children as their very own grandchildren. I picked up Mitch from the library and we went up to enjoy their company one last time before they head to Arizona and Mexico for the winter. George made balloon animals and did magic tricks and made us lunch as the snow started to fly outside.
It's a snowy morning today and the fire is burning hot. I finished up some sewing and made a special breakfast for my family. Janie is snuggled up on the couch feeling a little under the weather... is she really sick or is it that she doesn't have her Israel report finished? Hmmmm....
Well, greetings from the mountain! Hope your day is as cozy as ours promises to be.

Your Thanksgiving...

For Thanksgiving we are blessed to have lots of family showing up for the event this year! I can't wait! I'm looking for all of your input on what Thanksgiving means to you. What traditions, food and such that just "say" Thanksgiving to you. For me it's always a massive dinner around the table with extended family, eating til you think you're gonna burst and falling asleep in front of a football game (the Cowboys, of course!). It's also the day that kicks off the holiday season for me. As a kid I'd go through the Christmas catalog and mark all of the things I wanted. Whenever I'd try to show them to my Dad he'd say uh-huh a lot but whenever I looked up he was more than likely to be watching TV instead of looking at the hundredth thing I wanted to see under the tree. :)
Ok, so tell me about your perfect Thanksgiving... I'm dying to know!

The New Normal

I know you've heard about my friend, Lisa. She was killed on September 11 in a brutal and terrible way. Slowly but surely we are learning how to live again. We're trying to get back in the "groove" of life when everything seems to have changed so much.
I've learned so many great things and met and reconnected with so many wonderful friends during this tragedy. As hard as it's been I can look back now and realize that God was preparing me for what I'm sure He knew was inevitable. Scripture that didn't seem to make sense at the time but was clearly preparing me for the stressful time ahead.
God placed David in our lives. He protected Lisa to the best of his ability and now protects our Elizabeth. He also gave us Sarah, our legal "interpreter". Sarah keeps me steady when all I want to do is freak out. Tammie. Because we were both so close to Lisa I can say things to her that she understands like no one else could. I'm grateful for my new friend, Leslie. Lisa wanted us to meet and so now we have. It's like her gift to me... someone with a sense of humor as off course as mine! :)
It's amazing to me how God takes care of every little thing. How He places people in our lives and how He anxiously awaits me to allow Him to give comfort in my time of need.
So now we are on to the new normal, as my friend Elaine puts it. Realizing more and more the impact Lisa had on our lives and being thankful for it. The lesson we have learned is that life is short and we only have today to make our impact on people. There were 400+ people at my Lisa's memorial. That's the kind of impact that I want to have. What kind of legacy do you want to leave? Today is the day. Tomorrow may never come.

School is going great, but...

Well, Max has been into EVERYTHING lately! Yikes! I do a lot more hands-on teaching with Janie this year and Max seems to be constantly pushing buttons on the tv, eating chips, climbing on things, playing with the computer, whining or making a general mess. Ah, the "terrible twos"! So, in true Dorene style, if this were your kid I could tell you exactly what to do and I would be right. :) With my own kid, tho... well, I need you to help me focus. What do you suggest I do with him when he's driving me nuts or, better yet, how do I head him off before he drives me nuts?

It's a Country Sort of Day...

It's a busy day here! The children woke up to their mama gently coaxing them to get out of bed and put on their best lumberjack gear! We were going to cut firewood! We set off with a mug of coffee, a pitcher of milk and some yummy doughnuts! The kids were great helpers. I kept reminding them how lovely it will be to wake up to a warm fire on those fabulous but cold winter mornings in Eastern Oregon. We were able to get a cord today and will head out to get another one tomorrow. Our permit allows three cord so we'll have to plan another day to get the last one. Due to the fire season we aren't allowed to use power saws in the woods after 1pm so our time is limited each day.

Once we got home, the kids and Joe unloaded the truck while I started on lunch and got a couple of loaves of bread started in the mixer. Within a short while everyone was eating, the bread was rising in the bowl and I had a load of clean laundry drying on the line in a gentle breeze.
I called my Mom and she stepped out to the garage so I could hear the "sideways rain" that they were getting at her house! I'd like a good storm here, but I'm not over-anxious for it just yet.
Joseph worked again at trying to get the crab apple, hot pepper jelly to set up to no avail. We've had the worst time with that sort of thing this year. He had doubled the batch which probably wound up being the issue. There are plenty more crab apples to attempt another batch.
Joe made dinner tonight which is always a special treat for me. He made stuffed green peppers. All ingredients came from our garden save the rice and the beef. Don't know that I'll ever have rice patties but growing miniature herefords is something that's piqued my interest of late, I have to admit.
As is my habit, I called my Mom as I went out to do the evening chore of putting the chickens "to bed". No eggs tonight but I noticed that Janie had gone to check for some earlier today and brought some in. The chickens seem to be noticing the cooler weather and the shorter days already. Four of the seven are more than a year old... middle aged for a layer, I suppose. Seems there are fewer and fewer eggs every day. Won't be long til we're putting a light on a timer in the hen house to maintain some level of production!
I pulled the last of the clothes off the line in the dark and brought our old kitty, Cali indoors for the night. Tonight the low is supposed to be near freezing and her old bones just can't handle that kind of cold anymore. Hoping my tomatoes make it through the night...

Finally Fall... Preparing to be Purposeful

So, we started school last week and it was a great success! Janie is going to the high school in the afternoons and Mitch is in class at the grade school in the mornings. This gives me lots of one-on-one time with everyone. Janie really feels like she's going to be learning more this way and it gives me the opportunity to do some character training with Mitchell. He's really impulsive and has a tough time controlling his anger when it comes to his family. I'm interested in any suggestions you can give me for purposefully teaching him different ways to consciously stay in control (like role-playing a situation or something). Do you have any suggestions? Can you suggest a book that is helpful for raising boys or difficult children? Mitchell is a good boy who has a hard time remembering what's best for him in moments of frustration. He also gets bored easily and CRAVES time alone with both Joe and I. Do you have suggestions of no cost things to do with him or my other kids or as a family? Something away from the house would be great so we have a change of scenery.
Alright, let me know!

Our Weekend

Mom and Dad have been here this weekend and will stay all week. We're having great fun! We started the weekend with killing roosters! Turns out that every chick we got this Spring was a rooster! Joe was teaching Mitchell how to shoot them.
In the meantime the rest of us were harvesting and canning all weekend. We processed corn on the cob, green beans and tomatoes. I made huckleberry/cherry/raspberry jam yesterday.
Janie volunteered during the "Fun Run" on Saturday for the annual Cove Cherry Festival. We all went down to the parade and then over to the Ascension School Grounds for the festival. There were bagpipers and a kids train ride, flavored lemonade and spinning wheel demonstrations. Janie ran around with her friends and met up with us around lunch time.
Mom and I chased chickens, cleaned the hen house and bought a laundry basket and more clothes pins for the wash we've been putting on the line. We dreamed up all kinds of plans for the day when we own lots of acreage of our own. We've pet horses and cats and collected eggs. AND we discovered that the skunks are back! Sigh.
We went to church on Sunday and my parents were able to visit with the friends that they've met here. We made plans to have dinner with a family at the end of the week before my parents head back for home.
Mitchell's best friend, Clancy, was here all day... Janie was babysitting while his parents are working out of town... and Janie's best friend, Kimi, was here for a few hours this afternoon.
Tonight we went for a walk only to have the cutest puppy follow us home. We're pretty sure he belonged to our Mennonite neighbors so we packed him up in the bed of the truck with the kids and tried to run him home. He was so cute and wanted to come home with us. Everyone wanted to keep him and Mitchell cried when the dog didn't wander his way back to us despite the fact that none of the Monnonite neighbors were home. (we joked that they'd probably been raptured) :)
It's getting late and time to put the tired kiddos to bed...

So, I decided to start this blog to talk about all of the great things we talk about as girlfriends sitting down over a cup of coffee. We talk about home, our health, kids and their school, money and family. We solve the worlds problems with one tiny little cup... or a pot or two! Suggest a topic or add to one. Let's get started!

Save Me Money! :)

Alright. Lately I've been looking for great ways to save money on anything! One way I do that is by hanging my clothes to dry instead of using the electric dryer. My friend, Elaine, said she saves $30/month doing that... my Mom saves about $10/month. Elaine has 10 people in her family and my Mom just has her and Dad. Post your best money saving tip!