Expatriate Buckeyes

No News Is No News

2011-01-17T20:32:00.004-06:00

Hi Grandmas!

No we are not dead, yet.

We do have several various forms of the plague making the rounds at our house.

There is the sick to my tummy plague. Only a 24 to 48 hour variety which seems to resolve itself pretty quickly.

Then there is that hacking, coughing, I swallowed a frog, running a fever, fell like I was hit by a truck plague. So far I'm on day 5, being the first to experience its joys. I keep thinking I'm getting better, but then the cold medicine wears off.

So far Nasa Guy, Gameboy and Little Miss are the healthiest of us. Let's hope it stays that way.

"You should have a little boy just like your father and your brother."

2011-01-04T20:08:00.005-06:00

Yep, that's what my Momma told me when she found out I was having Gameboy. My question was, "What did I ever do to you?"

So today when Gameboy nicked his thumb with his new multitool his Dad asked why he was so accident prone. (Nasa Guy never went to the ER as a kid. Luckly this injury didn't require a trip to the ER, although I thought it might.) I told him it must be because Gameboy took after his Grandpa and Uncle. And gee, he just turned 13 last month, wonder what lies ahead in his teen years. Gulp!

Photos by The Mom, who is still learning to use her camera.

Cowboy Caviar

2011-01-04T07:26:00.007-06:00

This stuff is Yummo! Nasa Guy asked me to post about it, it's that good.

I was looking for a new way of having black eyed peas for New Year's. While we were visiting Nasa Guy's folks up north I saw a recipe for Cowboy Caviar and thought it looked good. So when I got home I used Allrecipes.com to find Texas Caviar I. Of course you can never make a recipe as printed, so we did a few of our own tweaks. It was great, the kids even tried it and thought it was good.

Tonight we are having burritos with Cowboy Caviar, as we call it, and left over pork roast. Yum!

2011-01-02T19:48:00.003-06:00

She's a Sunbeam!

Little Miss is no longer in nursery. She is now in Primary in the Sunbeam class.

I was a little bit worried about dropping her off to opening exercises at Primary, but she did great. The really sweet thing that happened was that her Nursery leader, Brother L., who is a grandpa saw her walking down the hall and held her hand and walked her to the Primary room. I think he was having a harder time with her moving up than I was.

1-1-11

2011-01-01T12:27:00.007-06:00

Happy New Year! 2011 I wonder what you will hold for us?

The kidlets stayed up to greet the new year for the first time. Well, everyone except Little Miss. She curled up with her blanket and snoozed her way into the new year. For the rest it was Wii, Wii, Wii all the way home.

They have really been loving playing on the Wii. There have been some problems with not stopping to do things like putting away groceries or fold laundry, but for the most part it has been a good addition to the family. (I must confess I love playing archery and bowling myself.)

Little Miss even gets into the action. She uses her "Wiimote" and "wins" at everything.

Toast of the Camp

2010-07-30T10:10:00.003-05:00

Hey, two posts in one day - um yeah - don't get used to it. There were some new pictures uploaded so I wanted to post them.

See Gameboy is making toast, hence my catchy post title.

Group photo! (Gameboy - front row on the right)

Anybody want some cake? Love the Jambo logo.

And for fun, now that's the way to get around.

Card Shark

2010-07-29T15:27:00.007-05:00

So how is my boy spending his time in camp? Why playing cards, of course. And is it me or do his cheeks look a like sun kissed? Use more sun screen kiddo!

Another day another card game.

Last night Gameboy got to make a call home. And I missed it because I was at the Y with the siblings. Dad got to talk to him though, lucky him.

Gameboy is having the time of his life. His biggest problem is that there is too much to do; the merit badge midway, scuba, ect. Oh what a problem to have.

It's Show Time!

2010-07-29T12:36:00.005-05:00

Wednesday morning was the big opening ceremonies. Below the scouts are ready to leave from the campsite to the arena. According to the Scout Master's post:
It was an early to rise day with everyone tired from yesterday. The boys were slow to get moving but were able to rest during their short stroll to the arena show, just about 1:45 minutes of walking, give or take an hour.

Headed to the show with just a "few" other troops.

Gameboy siting - white socks by the light pole.

Again from the Scout Master:
The arena show was typical speeches, occasional attempts at humor, some interactive games, and a few demonstrations and songs. In all a pretty neat hour long event stretched into 2 hours without commercial breaks. Miss America gave a motivational speech opening with how glad she was to be here with all us "girls". Oops, can you say canned speech.

What a great way to show off the flag.

The twins hope the rifles aren't loaded.

I want the giant inflatable eagle.
Imagine having to feed all these scouts!

"Drink water or you will die. No, seriously, you will die!" The boys are always quoting this axiom from their scout leaders. Glad to see that they had water for the boys to drink. And if you look if front of the middle pack of water the boy wearing the backpack is Gameboy. Hope he was wearing sunscreen.

Hello Mother, Hello Father

2010-07-27T21:32:00.005-05:00

Day two of the Jamboree and a few more photos to share. Only major news update is that Gameboy's troop took second place in the Dodge Ball Tournament.

Hey, I want to cook.

Actually in his e-mail to me today he said that he really likes that they get to cook instead of eating at a mess hall. That's my future chef.

Sky divers, how cool is that?

Tent Sweet Tent

Good to see the leaders are on top of things.

These next two are from Sunday.

If you look at the boy's feet in the second row four boys from the left you will see a pair of white socks, that's Gameboy. Too bad you can't see his face.

Nose bleed seats at the baseball game.

Pitching In

2010-07-26T20:05:00.006-05:00

Setting up camp at the Jamboree

Today we got our first e-mail from Gameboy. Hooray for technology! Here's what he wrote:

Hi guys things here are great I got to help put the tents and cook dinner. Wait I should tell you about D.C. The build are amazing. I Got to see the the Library of Congress, The House of Congress, & best of all the Grave of the unknown soilder. that was my favorite . Camp great I tell more about camp in the next email.

Me (P.S. Yes mom I'm Home sick )

From Your crazy,Smart,Weird,Fast brother & Son

Very sweet huh?

We also got another update from his troop leaders:

Well its near bed time, cant ask for a better camp site. We didn't get hot at all during the day of setting up camp. This is because of the trees we have for the shade. As we drove in we saw so many camp sites out in the sun. Couldnt ask for any better location. Great way to spend the last national Jamboree at Ap Hill.... It's going to be a great week. I'll be uploading more pictures throughout the week, and will also be uploading tons of pictures from previous days at D.C when I get back in town next week. All the scouts are doing great, and I'm proud to be a part of such a great troop!

And a few pictures of them setting up. Can't find Gameboy in any of them, so I'm glad we got the e-mail to confirm he is alive.

Game Called on Account of Rain

2010-07-26T09:11:00.007-05:00

Day 3 of the trip to DC and Troop 1834 went to visit Arlington National Cemetery. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was something we had talked about in school this year. How neat for Gameboy to go there and see it in person.

Where's my scout? We finally decided he is behind the boy on the left who is standing up, mainly because his best buddy is sitting right there.

So what did they do for the rest of the day? Let's check with his Scout Masters.

"On Sunday we went to Arlington, took a wrong turn and toured Washington some more - then off to Baltimore for a Major League Ball game. Wow - who knew a hot dog and bottle of water could go for $18.99 (mustard extra)! The game ended in the 6th due to a powerful storm. We arrived back to the hotel which had no power. "

"‎5 am and all is well. the power came back on at 2:37 this morning"

Good thing that scouts are used to having to rough it. That might explain why we didn't get any pictures of the boys at the baseball game.

I really loved hearing this last comment from Gameboy's Scout Master.

"A few more comments before boarding the bus - our guys are GREAT! Best troop on this trip. They are on-time or ahead of time. They are courteous. They are calm. They do not get lost. Best Jambo troop I've ever been associated with - and this is my 10th or so. So we press on to the Hill! For the last time. 29 years ago this morning I made my first trip to A.P. Hill."

Day at the Museum

2010-07-25T20:07:00.004-05:00

Day two in Washington DC and Troop 1834 was riding the Metro in to downtown. Definitely a new experience for our Scout. I wonder where they could be going?

Why of course, the Smithsonian.

And which part of the Smithsonian do you want to see the most? The Air and Space Museum.

"Beam me up Scotty"

Here is a short summery of the day from one of Gameboy's Scout leaders.

"We traveled by the metro rail, a first for many of the scouts. This method was much preferred over another eventful bus ride. We let the boys break off into their patrols this morning to create their own tours of the Smithsonian institutes and museums.
Believe me when I say it is a testament to our troop when we consistently have everyone show up, on time, at the appointed location...we only wish all the other boys in the other troops were as punctual. After a delay waiting on a few lost souls we made our way out to Dulles airport to the Udvar Hazy center to view an impressive array of aviation and space flight equipment. The afternoon heat was quite bearable in the air conditioned hanger. Another bus ride into town and back with dinner at a mall food court wrapped up the day. Now if they will only go to bed."

Having a Capital Time

2010-07-24T09:41:00.008-05:00

You just have to love technology. Thanks to Facebook Gameboy's Scout troop has been uploading pictures and letting us be a part of their travels.

Is that my son? Wasn't he supposed to be sleeping on the over night bus ride?

Ah, Union Station in Washington DC, were could we be going?

Why it's the United States Capital.

"Now if you direct your attention to the ceiling"

Most of the other troops from Middle Tennessee went on a tour of the White House. There were not enough slots for all the boys though, so Troop 1834 decided to do something different rather than splitting up their troop.

With the help of a Bi-partisan coalition of Tennessee lawmakers the boys were able to have lunch in a private members only Congressional dinning room and a behind the scenes tour of the Library of Congress. How cool is that?

I wonder if that is the Annoying Orange?

And of course at the end of any busy day you need to go for a swim. I'm not sure which one is Gameboy. Can't wait to see what's next.

BSA National Jamboree

2010-07-22T21:54:00.004-05:00

It's official, tonight we loaded Gameboy on a bus with his Jamboree troop and sent him away for almost two weeks. Hooray and Boo Hoo! Oh the Mama drama. I don't think I'll survive when he leaves on his mission.

Isn't my boy a cutie? (center front row with the black ball cap)

Waiting for luggage tags, before they loaded all the gear. His big duffel for the Jamboree was big enough for his dad to fit in, and yes Mark wanted to stowaway.

Ready to board the bus and start his adventure. Can't wait to find out what happens next!

One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish

2010-07-22T11:09:00.004-05:00

Little Miss had her third birthday and her first birthday party with friends!

For her birthday she had asked for pet fish. So Daddy and Mommy got her a fish tank and three goldfish. Everyone loved looking at the fish and watching them swim.

The other big hit was the bubble blowing machine her siblings gave Little Miss. Turns out that 10 year olds love bubbles. The twins have played with it more than Little Miss has.

Since it was a fishy party we played "catch the fish in the net".

We also caught fish with magnetic fish and fishing poles. It was a dollar store craft I made. Each child got to take their fish and poles home, fun!

Some how we missed getting a picture of the cake. It was a giant goldfish, just like a goldfish cracker. Very cute and yummy! Little Miss thought so.

Happy Birthday baby! I can't believe your such a big girl now.

Putting Your Best Face First!

2010-06-24T12:05:00.002-05:00

Last night we went swimming at the YMCA as a family. The kids had a blast. We have only had our membership for about a week and we have already been swimming 4 times.

Little Miss loves jumping in the pool to Mommy and Daddy. "Again, again!" is her favorite phrase. The older kidlets like jumping in the pool almost as much as their little sister. Cowboy has finally gotten over his fear of jumping in the water, so he's joining in the fun too. So we were having lots of splashing and jumping.

Princess learned a very important lesson about jumping in the pool last night. Do not jump into the pool backwards, or this might happen.

Can't spot her injury? Well, I'm sure you can see it now. Ouch! The ER doctor put in 7 stiches.

She was a super trooper. She did better than some of her brothers when they had to get stiches. When I asked her how she keep from crying she said, "I just thought about my ballet recital." That's our girl!

Undercover Angel

2010-06-14T15:35:00.011-05:00

I love looking at crafts on the Internet. My favorites bar is loaded with ideas for projects I'd love to try. Lucky for me my niece, Maple, gave me an excuse to try one.

Isn't this a cute carseat cover? I love the velcro straps to keep the cover in place. Grandma VO might recognize the fabric from her stash. At least I'm pretty sure that's where it came from.

I had a friend suggest that using a mesh knit fabric would make things more breathable for Summer time and warm climates.

Maple seams to approve! She and Mommy got to go shopping together today while brother and sister were at Vacation Bible School. Ahhhh, the joys of shopping with only one child again, eh, Little Red Hen? (Now we know why they call it "vacation" Bible school. Hee hee!)

Little Miss Maple

2010-05-25T15:10:00.006-05:00

Announcing the newest member of our family!

My niece, codename - Maple.

Why Maple you ask? Well, she was made in Canada with American parts.

Mom and baby are doing great.

Just wish I could be there to snuggle her.

God Willing and the Creek, Er Lake Don't Rise

2010-05-12T12:16:00.007-05:00

After having been through the flood here in Nashville, I have a new understanding of the meaning of the saying "God willing and the creek don't rise." I thought that I'd show you what happens when the creek rises.

This is the sewage pumping station near our home. It sits on one side of the road and Piercy Priest Lake is on the other side (or at least that is how it is suppose to be). I took these photos about a week after the flood. As you can see, the lake decided to come visit the sewage pumping plant. Luckily it didn't do this by coming up over the road...

This is a view of the lake. I have never seen the water even touching the trees that you see sticking out into the lake. As a matter of fact, there is usually about another eight feet of shore that sticks out into the lake. It is pretty common to see people standing out there fishing. And again this is after a week of waters receeding.

This is the colvert that connects the lake to the small creek on the other side of the road. So you can see how the lake kept from going over the road, just barely. At the height of the flooding, the lake was only about a foot from the road.

Murdered by Pirates Is Good

2010-05-07T14:16:00.013-05:00

Arrg! t'was them there twins birthday. And shiver me timbers they had them a party. And of course it be that X marked the spot. (Note the pouring rain, this was the weekend before the Nashville Mayday Flood. Who knew a week later you would need a boat to get around?)

It was a battle be twixt the forces of Captain Chris Moody and Captain Calico Josh. Each press-ganged them a crew of stout hearted sea dogs. The first skirmish was to protect yer own cannon ball that be attached by chain to yer leg, while destroying that of the other bilge rats.

The Captains then declared a truce and took some time to enjoy the booty their crews had brought them. Arrg, them be mighty nice bags their Sainted mother got for their gifts.

Then it be back to the battle. What else would pirates be want to do arrg, but to search for treasure. Each crew were made to scuttle like crabs and find three bags of map pieces.

It then be up to me hearties to assemble them the "treasure map" double time or the Captain be making them walk the plank.

And what be the message? "Eat your cake or walk the plank!" (Cartography by Gameboy the Puzzle Master.)

Aye! Eat cake we would, but first there was a ship to scuttle. Gangway!

Shiver Me Timbers! That be a mighty fine looking Jolly Rodger.

Happy Birthday twins!

Just a Little Nutty

2010-05-07T13:30:00.006-05:00

A while back I said something in passing about having the boys weed the front flower beds. So Wednesday before last they asked if they could weed instead of starting school first thing. Since I was surfing the net I let them go do some weeding.

After a little bit one of the twins came in to show me a nut that they had found that was starting to sprout.

Then they found one that had a tap root and sapling. Pretty neat stuff. Weeding and a science lesson at the same time. Ahhh, it's just another joy of homeschooling.

How High's the Water Mamma?

2010-05-06T08:01:00.005-05:00

We survived the Nashville Mayday 2010 flood.

Our family was very blessed. We live above the dam on J. Percy Priest Lake. Currently the lake is straining it's banks, the water is easily 10ft higher than normal, but it is nothing compaired to the floods that took over downtown Nashville, Bellview, and Opryland.

Here are links to a couple Youtube videos that give you a sense of the damage.

How High's the Water Mamma

and

Here Comes the Sun

We had a friend that had to abandon her car on I-24 as the flooding over took them. Then it was almost hit by the building that came floating down the interstate. She is safe, but her car was totaled by flooding.

We had another family at church that had just moved to Nashville. They lost 3 cars and their trailer was flooded. The drywall had to be torn out up to 4ft high.

We are going over to help in the clean up today, pulling out staples and sweeping up. It will be great to be a part of helping.

It has been really annoying that this disaster has gotten so little attention in the national media, but we are Nashville. We are strong independent people who are banding together and serving one another. We will recover, rebuild, and carry on! Nashville I love you.

Tea Time

2010-04-04T22:29:00.007-05:00

It was the Princess' birthday last month. She and I had a grand time planning her party. It's always fun to have a reason to get dressed up and have a Tea party!

Everyone dressed up in their best party dresses. There was lots of fancy food to eat. Like these strawberry ladybugs, fresh pineapple cut in flower shapes, and red grapes.

Here's our court of ladies in waiting. Each is a Polly Pocket doll with a custom made cupcake coture icing dress. Ooooh la la.

A close up of the fancy icing dresses. They really weren't that hard to make and I had lots of fun tring to make each dress special and diffrent.

The remains of the day. I was happy that the girls ate as many of the tea sandwiches as they did. My favorites were the peanut butter and jelly flowers. They are the ones with the red centers on the cake stands. Verrrry labor intensive to make, but sooooooo cute.

It was a great party. Just ask Little Miss. She wasn't very happy when it was over and everyone went home. (Ya just gotta love that face though.)

Back in the Saddle, Again

2010-04-04T22:17:00.003-05:00

So, gee, it's been a bit since my last post.

Christmas is always a busy time. So I had planned to do better at the first of the year, but our computer had other ideas.

First it started randomly crashing, lots of blue screen of death threats on it's part. We tried to fix it, but to no avail.

So, no computer = no posts.

Now we have a new computer and I'm trying to get back in the posting habit.

Wish me luck!

My Grandma's Orange Cookies

2009-12-09T13:52:00.012-06:00

I love my Grandma. She was a wonderful baker and always made Christmas special. In a fit of nostalgia my sister had my mother send her Grandma's recipe for Orange Cookies. No Christmas was complete for us as kids with out getting to have some of these wonderful treats.

Grandma Fern’s Orange Cookies

2 cups- white sugar
1 cup- butter, lard or Crisco
1 cup- buttermilk/sour milk
2 eggs
juice of orange (1/4 cup)
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Baking powder
4 cups of flour (enough to make a soft dough)

Put soda in buttermilk/sour milk, put baking powder in the flour

Icing
2 lbs powdered sugar, 1 stick butter melted and cooled, orange juice to make consistency to spread (juice of about 2 oranges), grated orange rind of 2 or 3 oranges

Note- to make sour milk 1 Tbsp vinegar in 1 cup of sweet milk

Bake 375 degrees for 9-10 minutes
Makes 4 dozen

I love the lack of directions. Everyone baked all the time back then. So you just knew how to make cookies. For those wanting a little more direction - Cream sugar and butter, Add egg and beat, Combined milk, oj and soda in a small bowl, Combined flour and baking powder in another small bowl, Alternately add liquid and dry ingredients to sugar, butter and eggs till soft dough forms. Chill dough for about 1 hour. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. These are more of a soft cakey cookie. Cut out circles with a floured biscuit cutter or glass (about 2 1/2 inches each). Bake. Cool. Ice. And eat. Merry Christmas.

And the Award for Best Photographer Goes To...

2009-12-09T12:24:00.007-06:00

I realized that I didn't give credit to our wonderful photographer.

Christina Cole Photography!

Christy is the best! She was sooo patient working with our crazy kidlets and my ideas for photos.

This running shot is exactly like I had hoped it would be. Don't you love the energy!

Strike a Pose

2009-12-09T11:10:00.007-06:00

Two notes at the outset.

1- Yes it's been forever since I've posted. It appears that for me Homeschooling and posting don't mix. I'll try to work on this.

2- Photo heavy post alert. For our Christmas present to the Grandparents we had our family picture taken. It had been about four years since our last family photo, and seeing as Little Miss is two (the same age Princess was in our last family photo) it was about time.

How cute are these kids? I love this photo!

Yep, that's my boys for you. Stick = sword.

I wanted to get a photo of them "sword fighting"

because this is what they are always doing.

How sweet are these two?

Ya just gotta love her smile!

I really love this pose. Check out the two bookends. Silly geese!

Together Forever!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-08-13T17:55:00.005-05:00

Hi Mom! See I'm posting, for your birthday!

Just thought that I would let you know that I love you.

Thanks for always being there for me and loving me.

You're the best!

Lions and Tiger and Bears, Oh My!

2009-07-16T09:52:00.009-05:00

One of the things that we have always liked about the part of Ohio that we were from is all the great places to go hiking. Just with in a few minutes of each other are John Bryan, Glen Helen, and Clifton Gorge. Since the Little Red Hen had her In-Laws with her, and Grandma VO could use some piece (I mean peace) and quiet we decided to go for a hike. The little girls fell asleep on the way there so we mommies hung out at the cars while the girls napped. Uncle Dan, Grandpa and Grandma G took the troops for the hike.

Ya gotta love all the fun of climbing and getting to explore caves. The Master, my nephews nickname, even got to find a "wild bear" (Uncle Dan).

Park it!

2009-07-15T10:21:00.005-05:00

We took all the cousins to the park to play. It was chaos in motion, but lots of fun!

"Whee!"

Slides are fun!

Stuntwoman on the run!

"Take my picture!" Uncle Dan does his impersonation of the kids.

"Spider Boys"

King of the "hill."

"We should play at this park more often."

Group photo!

How do you play?

2009-07-14T13:18:00.005-05:00

There was lots of fun to be had when we had our visit with the cousins at Grandma's house. Stuntwoman and Little Miss loved playing together. (Do ya think they might have learned about talking on the phone from their mommies?)

The boys did what boys love to do. Yep, you guessed it, they were TV zombies.

And of course the mommies had to have fun too. We raided Grandma's fabric stash! We also sorted through the button boxes. Check out the Little Red Hen's blog to see the cool bracelet she made with some of her buttons.

Happy 4th and Happy Blogiversary

2009-07-13T15:25:00.007-05:00

Wow! Has it been a whole year since we moved to Nashville? Guess so!

This year for the 4th of July we were in Ohio visiting Grandma and our "Canadian" cousins.

We got to go to the parade in the town I grew up in on the 4th. It has always been one of my most favorite things about coming from a smallish town. The parade is a true slice of Americana; marching bands, civic groups, business people, politicians, churches, and lots of fun!

Cowboy had the best quote about all the candy he and his siblings collected, "It's like trick or treating, except the houses are coming to you!"

Hope y'all had a great 4th!

Uhmm, yah, I'm still blogging

2009-06-09T02:18:00.003-05:00

Well of course things have been crazy busy around here as usual. So I guess I'm a little behind in posting anything. And of course for a little bit it's not going to get any better.

Our friends will be moving out of their house this weekend. As of Monday we will be renting their house. We are happy that they will be able to be closer to work for the dad and that they will get to spend more time together as a family, but will be sad that they are about 2 hours away from us.

We are only going to be using the laptop for Internet once we move, because we won't have access to DSL and would have to use Cable which is way too expensive. So I'll have to figure out how to post photos. (Sounds like a job for NASA Guy!)

Anyway, just wanted to say we are still alive, just busy!

It Must Be Spring!

2009-04-07T14:12:00.003-05:00

How do I know that it is Spring? Because there are caterpillars sitting on my kitchen counter. Well they were all caterpillars yesterday. Today they are all hanging from the top of the cup and forming chrysalids, so I guess they are pupating. I took a few pictures of Little Miss and the caterpillars yesterday.

Little Miss wanted a closer look and these strange crawly things.

I love her expressions.

Can't wait until we have butterflies! If you want some of your own visit Insect Lore.

Gameboy's Game Day

2009-02-16T18:32:00.007-06:00

Opps! I found this sitting in my drafts. This was Gameboy's 11th birthday party, so I'm only a little late posting it.

This may seem original... but for Gameboy's Birthday the theme was games! Yep we are really creative like that around here.

One of his favorite games to play is Heroscape. We got it for Father's Day last year. The neat thing about this game is that you can set up the playing field however you want. Then afterwards it is similar to Dungeon's and Dragons. The neat thing about it is that it is quick to learn and easy to play.

Look it's games on the computer!

And games on the TV.

And a game controllers cake. (Should have used fondant.)

Happy Birthday Gameboy!

A Boy and a Bridge

2009-02-08T04:21:00.009-06:00

He's no longer a Cub Scout.

Gameboy earned his Webelos rank and the Arrow of Light.

NASA Guy made him this super cool skin to keep all of his scout awards on.

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of the bridge that NASA Guy made for the boys to cross. You can kinda see it a the bottom of this picture. It was pretty cool though.

Here the 11 year-old Scout leader and NASA Guy are making the joining knot. This rope was the hand rail for the bridge as the boys moved from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.

And here they are on the other side, so my oldest is now a Boy Scout. I better not blink 'cause next thing I know he's going to be earning his Eagle.

Tagged - 4th Folder, 4th picture

2009-02-08T03:39:00.010-06:00

I was tagged a while back by my sister to go to my pictures and post the fourth picture in my fourth folder. Here's what I found.

Last year the twins, Space Man and Cowboy, got a praying mantis egg case as a birthday present. It was really cool watching all those little buggies hatch out. It was amazing to see how tiny the are when they are just newly hatched. Here's a picture of them right after they had hatched. The brown blob in the bottom of the container is the egg case. One case can hold around 200 baby praying mantises.

We really didn't have anything to feed them, so after a day or so we let them loose in our backyard. And wondered if we would ever see any of them after they had grown up. (Space Man and Cowboy moonlight as entomologists in their spare time.)

So my fourth/fourth is of one of those little itty-bitty mantises all grown up. NASA Guy found him/her crawling on the wall of our carport. Pretty cool huh? If you'd like to try hatching your own praying mantises check out our favorite bug place - Insect Lore.

The Dancing Princess

2009-01-26T11:59:00.010-06:00

Princess has started taking ballet lessons.

It was love at first sight.

Here are a few pictures of what she has learned so far.

Little Miss had to try on her sister's ballet slippers.

Eternal Helpmates?

2009-01-25T23:27:00.003-06:00

You might have noticed that my posts are now signed by Eternal Helpmates. So why the change? Well, NASA Guy and I have started our own blog together. Were starting on our career on marital counseling with this new blog. So why don't you come over and check it out and let us know what you think. The website is eternalhelpmates.blogspot.com

Papaya

2009-01-24T20:45:00.009-06:00

Our sweet kitty Papaya is no longer with us.

She went to be with Heavenly Father last night.

We loved her very much and will miss her greatly.

Papaya you will always be our Princess Kitty!

More Pictures with Grandparents

2009-01-21T19:50:00.005-06:00

Remember my brilliant plan at Christmas time to get the kidlets pictures made with their Grandparents? Well, here are the ones we had made with NASA Guy's parents.

Notice any family resemblances?

Back in the Saddle Again

2009-01-21T19:40:00.002-06:00

Howdy! Y'all might have noticed that there ain't be much postin' here lately.

Sorry 'bout that, but I've been a mite under the weather.

Ya see I did something to throw out my back on Jan. 1st and I've been really cozy with my heatin' pad since then.

Things are a mite better though and I'm gonna try to get back ta doing some real postin' again.

And So the End (of Another Year) Has Come

2008-12-31T14:21:00.004-06:00

Here we are at New Year's Eve and it's time to review another year. We've faced some really big changes in 2008. Nasa Man finished up with his part of the Ohio project and moved on to Tennessee. This meant that he lived in Tennessee during the week and Ohio on the weekend from late April to about August.

In July the kidlets and I officially moved to Tennessee and we got our current apartment. We did spend some time back in Ohio for Cub Scout and Webelos camps, and getting our house ready to be put on the market.

We have really enjoyed being here in the South. We are in a really great Ward and have made lots of friends. Daddy has been able to come home for lunch most days, which is a real treat. We love only being 5 minutes away from his work instead of an hour and a half like we were in Ohio.

The boys enjoyed having the Princess join them in being Home Educated. They all have really grown and blossomed. It has been especially exciting for me to have Princess start reading.

December has been busy for us. We have had the usual Holiday bustle. Visits from Uncle Dan and Aunt Kay, and Grandma and Grandpa Van Hoose added to our fun. We also saw Game Boy make the big transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. (Post about that to follow)

We look forward to a bright and exciting New Year, and hope that the blessed peace and joy of this holy season is your's throughout 2009.

Pictures with Grandma

2008-11-24T22:11:00.004-06:00

This year I got smart for Christmas. Normally we get a nice picture of the kidlets to give to the Grandparents. Well, this year I had a stroke of inspiration, why not a picture of the kidlets with their grandparents? Genius! And since we are here in Ohio visiting it's even a plan I can pull off.

So, here's my darling cuties with their Grandma Van Orman.

Grandma loves her girls. Everyone tells her that Princess reminds them of her. They are both very beautiful and strong individuals. Little Miss loves to give her Grandma smiles that remind her of Grandpa Van Orman. Those smiles are very special to her.

Grandma waited quite a while for these handsome boys to show up in her life. She was 71 years old when Gameboy was born. He was her first newborn biological grandchild. All of the boys love spending time with Grandma. I'm so glad that when they were little they got to go over to her house often.

Thanks Mom for being such a good mother to me and teaching me how to be a good mother to them.

N 36° 08.604 W 086° 46.525

2008-11-13T12:45:00.026-06:00

One our favorite things to do as a family is to go geocaching. “Geocaching?” Click the link for a great article about it on Wikapedia.

Last Friday we went to what is now our favorite cache ever, Tour Of Historic Fort Negley. This cache rocked. Lots of fun and adventure, plus Mommy could take lots of pictures. “Because you’re going to blog this, aren’t you Momma,” said Princess.

This cache was extra fun because it was a multicache. We had multiple locations we needed to find and collect information from in order to find the cache at the end of our search. NASA Guy and the kids getting started.

The boys loved jumping around on these concrete pointers. I wish I had a better camera so I could have caught them in flight. Make sure you check out the visitor's center in the background. They have a really neat film about Nashville's place in the Civil War and some cool interactive displays.

The signage for this historical site was really fun. Both for peeking through and for learning more about the Civil War. Great for some hands on Home school education.

And while we're at it we might as well get some more P.E. time in, so ya'll just run on ahead.

Gameboy, true to his name, found that a stick and a hedge apple can be quite entertaining .

NASA Guy gets some help from Cowboy and Princess to locate the next piece of information we need. Little Miss was happy to supervise everyone from her chariot.

Fort Negley is often used by Civil War reenactors, and we were lucky enough to be there while a group was setting up. The kids were fascinated by all the attention to detail. We really wish that we could have come back to see them the next day. Maybe another time.

Being major history buffs we loved reading all the signs. Who ever put all the information together did a really great job. And the site is really well maintained, no graffiti, etc.

Looking in to downtown Nashville - then and now.

The Union soldiers who manned this fort would be glad to see that Old Glory is still waving here.

Just the Saturday before this NASA Guy and the kidlets had gone geocaching with out Little Miss or myself. NASA Guy had wanted to check out another Civil War battle site. Peach Orchard Hill was the site of some of the bloodiest fighting during the Battle of Nashville. We thought it was really cool to find information on their last cache while searching for this cache.

Yes, I labeled that picture wrong. Oh,well, you still get the idea.

And look, there in the background, could that be the Adventure Science Center?

Here are a few shots of the reenactors as it was getting dark. The soldier to the left of the tent is stuffing his mattress with hay. Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

The ladies with the group were really sweet. She cracked me up because she really has down that vintage picture expression. She said that the reason so many people didn't smile in pictures back then was because they had bad teeth. Who knew?

It was a great day. I'm glad that we decided to find this cache. Wonder what will find next?

I So Smart

2008-11-13T10:45:00.003-06:00

Check out our cast of characters at the bottom of my blog. Just keep scrolling, scrolling, scrolling to the very bottom. Traveling Longhorns had posted her cute family at her site. Unfortunately our family was to big to fit in a regular post, so I put our gadget at the bottom. Maybe some day I'll play around more and try some other arrangements.

With a Name Like Ike Ya Just Knew Someone Was Gonna Get Hit

2008-10-25T08:43:00.000-05:00

There are just some names that shouldn't be used for hurricanes. I think Ike should be taken off this list.

Here are a few pictures of Ike's visit to Grandma's house. What a rude guest he was.

There used to be a 17ft carport awning here.

Thank goodness this branch didn't blow into the windows.

Oh, here's where part of the carport awning went to.

Yep, Ike doesn't need to come visit again.

Tag I'm It

2008-10-21T20:39:00.000-05:00

Kathey of From My Window tagged me. Using my Pictures folder, I was supposed to find the fourth picture in the fouth folder, and post it on my blog. Here's what I found.

The funny thing about this photo is that it's in a folder labled "Princess" Bath, but this is a picture of one of Little Misses first baths. Guess I need to relable that folder. :P

Hey Go Longhorns, did you see that you were tagged too?

The Boys Get It Wright

2008-10-17T09:28:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday the boys had a really neat opportunity with their Cub Scout pack. They have a really great Cub Master who tries to have at least one outing a month. At one of the local municipal airports there is a group that has free airplane rides for youth once a month. There were different types of general aviation aircraft, including kit-built and commercial aircraft that they boys could see up close. Then they had the chance to go for a ride in one of the planes and get Young Eagle Certificates. Daddy went with them, as he is the Bear Den Leader, and took lots of good pictures and video.

Ar Force One - the World War II Era plane the boys flew in.
Checking out their wings.

Getting ready for take off.

Taxiing out to the runway.

Game Boy actually got to taxi the plane for a little bit. Cool stuff!

Here are some videos of the boys taxiing out and taking off.

Please Draw Only on Paper

2008-10-16T18:03:00.000-05:00

Little Miss is becoming quite the artist. She loves draw on anything, especially the hallway walls.

Eat your Rootbeer Float

2008-10-11T07:18:00.000-05:00

Some people are true foodies. They make fabulous creations. They take fantastic pictures of the cooking process. People follow their blogs just to see what their next great creation will be. Like my wonderful blogger friend Chocolatechic.

Me, I'm just a simple girl. Every so often though I find a recipe that is so simple but so fabulous. This is my favorite super simple cake. It's even easier than Dump Cake. So let's make...

Rootbeer Float Cake

The cast of characters: boxed white cake mix, oil, egg whites, rootbeer.

Pour the cake mix in your bowl.

Add oil and egg whites according to the box mix directions.

Now for the magic -

add the rootbeer in place of the water called for on the box mix.

Blend according to the box mix directions.

Normally I would make this as a 9x13 sheet cake, great for potlucks,

or as a layer cake. This time though I was taking these as a dessert for

a Relief Society activity at church. So I thought I would try making

them as mini cupcakes.

Bake in oven according to box mix directions.

Aren't they cute? They need to cool completely.

So while they are cooling let's make some really yummy frosting.

Cast of characters: Dream Whip, rootbeer.

Mix according to package directions replacing milk with rootbeer.

It's best to chill the rootbeer and if you want the beaters and bowl.

Then frost and place in freezer to chill. After all this is rootbeer float cake.

Serve chilled! Yum!

A few extra notes. Use a good quality rootbeer, we love IBC. The stronger the flavor of the rootbeer the better you can taste the rootbeer in the cake. Chilling really brings out the flavor. And if rootbeer isn't your "cup of tea" you can use any flavor of soda you like. I love making this recipe with Stewart's Orange and Cream soda. I'm thinking of trying it with Stewart's Key Lime soda. Enjoy!

And now back to our semi irregular blogging...

2008-09-26T15:30:00.000-05:00

Gee. I guess it's been a while since I posted anything. Things have been a little crazy though. We've started home education for the year. Including going to once a week home education co-op, or as I call it; yippee! I get to talk to other adults time. Then we had the emergency trip to Ohio to have a new orthodontia spacer made for Cowboy. Oh and then there was trying to find out if our house in Ohio made it safely through the remnants of hurricane Ike. Luckily it did.

So after all that you would think that I wouldn't be surprised to find this in my freezer.

Well, where else would you keep your Mr. Freeze lego guy? I thought the ice cubes on top of him to keep him in the middle of the glass was a nice touch. Hope your comfy Mr. Freeze.

Davy Crockett's Cornbread

2008-08-26T15:50:00.000-05:00

Last week we went on a field trip with some friends of ours from Church who are also homeschoolers. We visited David Crockett State Park near Lawrenceburg, TN. Our friends were a little bit late so we got to spend some time with Ranger Hannah getting to know the resident corn snake at the park. Her name is Cornbread. Cute huh?

Ranger Hannah taught us a lot about snakes. Here's what we learned about snakes. (Going from left to right and top to bottom in the picture.)

Gameboy: Only three of the 32 species of snakes living in Tennessee are poisonous.

Princess: Cornbread is not a poisonous snake.

Spaceman: A snake is poisonous if; it has eyes like a cat, it's head is shaped like a triangle (and has puffy cheeks), and it's tail has only one row of scales. (By the way, doesn't he looked spaced in this picture?)

Cowboy: You can tickle a snake by rubbing your finger gently down their belly.

We really liked Ranger Hannah. She took us out to the little stream behind the Visitor Center and taught us how to catch salamanders. The kids had lots of fun splashing around in the stream.

Spaceman even caught a salamander. Mommy is still learning to use the camera and forgot to use macro mode. Too bad the salamander came out all blurry.

Once our friends showed up Ranger Hannah gave us a tour of the Visitor's Center and showed us what life would have been like in the early 1800s. The boy's especially liked the knife that Davy Crockett would have used. No matter how much they asked Ranger Hannah would not let them touch it. Sorry boys.

Living with a Gourmet Chef

2008-08-23T15:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe that's streching it a bit, but Gameboy really enjoys all parts of cooking, including making a good presentation. When I was unpacking this time instead of putting all the pretty fancy bowls away I decided to keep them out and use them.

There is a song by Zoe Mulford, Elegy (Crystal Glass), that talks about not saving things for just special days.

Glasses may break if you use them every day
You can keep them safe - but what good are they
if they just stay shut up in some chest?
Why wait to use the very best?

So in that spirit we have been using the fancy glass bowls. For lunch last Thursday Gameboy came up with a very creative use for the hobnail milkglass candy dish my Mom had passed on to me.

Yes, those are corndogs.

Don't you think they complement the dish beautifully?

Gameboy and the Princess think so.

Little Miss on the move!

2008-08-22T22:39:00.000-05:00

Little Miss is very much on the move now. She loves running away from her brothers when they are trying to catch her and keep her out of trouble. It's really cute to watch.

For her first birthday I had wanted to get her the Brilliant Basics™ Stroll-Along Walker™ and Baby’s 1st Doll. Grandma VH bought her the stroller and Grandma VO bought her the doll. She really loves both. Grandma's are so wonderful!

Here she is pushing her stroller.

We named her doll Rosie.

Can you tell that Little Miss put Rosie in the stroller?

It's so fun watching Little Miss and her sister playing dolls together. They are both such sweet little mommies. I love to see Little Miss patting her doll on the back. She is such a sweetie.

Chocolatechic Cookies

2008-08-18T19:11:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday Mark and I were in Ohio for a get away to celebrate our 12th Wedding anniversary. We stayed at one of our favorite Bed and Breakfasts, Donna’s of Berlin. They are located in Holmes Co., Ohio, in the heart of Amish country. The kidlets stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Van Hoose.

We also got to visit one of my favorite bloggers, Chocolatechic. We had a wonderful time visiting and of course got to try some of her homemade goodies. I’m highly recommending that you check out her blog and get the recipe for these uberyummy cookies.

Our taste testers were up to the challenge.

And the verdict is...

YUM!

Hali thought so too!

Lost in Space

2008-08-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

The best part of our trip to Adventure Science Center was the SpaceChase exhibit. All of the big kids had to try the Moonwalker to see what it would be like to walk on the Moon in 1/6 gravity.

Here are our intrepid Moonwalkers!

What? This isn't the Tinkerbell ride? -Princess

I am Ninja Spaceman! -Gameboy

Hey, that was a pretty good rodeo! -Cowboy

Wow, this Nasa training is fun! -Spaceman

There were lots of other fun things. One that the kidlets really liked was an interactive globe. It's called a Tilt a World. "Using a specially designed navigation table, visitors can tilt and twist the surface to explore the Earth. A robust database of satellite imagery allows the visitor to zoom in to find their favorite location or zoom out to get the big picture".

Little Miss liked trying to catch the swirling stars on the floor.

Adventures in Science

2008-08-03T20:54:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us. We had a trip to Ohio and a busy week here in Music City. So we decided to take some time out in order to have some fun this weekend. We went to visit the Adventure Science Center. The kidlets had earned free admissions for themselves through the library summer reading program, pretty cool huh?

Here are some of our favorite highlights!

This won't hurt a bit! Isn't she a cute doctor?

Gameboy's got his work cut out for him with
this giant pinball trip through the intestines.

Cowboy helps a buddy pull himself together.

Watch out Spaceman! He's right behind you!

We had a great time!

I'll have Mom post more tomarrow!

Let's just say, it was a "ball"!

Historical Happenings

2008-07-21T08:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a very important day in history.

It was the anniversary of the Moon landing!

Oh, yeah, and it was Little Miss’ first birthday!!!

She really enjoyed her birthday dinner.

Spaghetti!!!

Her favorite gift was the cell phone that came in her purse.
Mommy made a butterfly cake.

Is that for me?

Mmm, that was good!

Happy Birthday Little Miss!

Things just wouldn't be as fun with out you!

If You Teach a Boy to Fish...

2008-07-19T14:12:00.000-05:00

This morning the boys went fishing with the Cub Scouts. They had to be at the church by 7am, so it was an early morning. This was their first Cub activity in our new ward so they were excited to go.

Bishop Boughton organized the trip. The boys really think he is a lot of fun. He had prizes for the first fish caught, biggest fish caught, most fish caught, and the biggest one that got away. Spaceman was the winner for most fish caught, with three. Here are a few pictures that Bishop sent of the boys fishing.

Spaceman reeling in a catch!
(That's Gameboy in the back ground with his head cut off.)

Cowboy showing off his big mouth fish!

Brother Can You Lend Me a Book?

2008-07-16T20:29:00.000-05:00

We have always been a library going family, so of course one of our first family trips was to check out our new local library. Let me just say that it was love at first sight. When we pulled into the parking lot we saw that there was a playground right behind the library. How cool is that?

When I met the Head Children’s Librarian and told her that we are Home Educators, (Here in Tennessee it’s “Home Education”, not “Home School”. Don’t we sound smarter already?) She just beamed and said “Then we’re your school library.” I immediately fell in love. She is such a wonderful lady. She had all the kids sign up for the summer reading program. Even with moving and running back and forth to Ohio we managed by the skin of our teeth to finish by last Saturday.

I haven’t told the kids yet, but this October their Pediatrician’s office is moving next door to the library. Talk about location, location, location! Oh and did I mention that two of my favorite grocery stores are just down the street?

Can We Go to the Playground?

2008-07-09T08:54:00.000-05:00

It's probably the first question I hear most days. "Can we go to the playground?" The kidlets love being able to have such a fun place to play. I love it because it is so close to our apartment. If it weren't for the leaves on the trees I could look out my front window and see the playground.

I'm glad that we do have a good place to play as our back yard is rather sad.

What's in the Box?

2008-07-05T22:28:00.000-05:00

In theory this move was supposed to be easier because Mark's company paid to have movers pack, load, transport, and deliver all of our stuff. And while that part of moving was easier, the unpacking has proved to be very interesting.

After all of our things were packed and on the big moving truck, one of our friends gave us the best moving advice. I will share it now with you; if you ever have movers packing your stuff follow them around and label the boxes yourself. Believe me, you will find your things so much easier and be able to unpack sooo much faster.

Now don't get me wrong. Our movers did a pretty good job. At least in most cases I can tell what room something came from, but not always what's in a box. For instance one box was labeled: Basement linens. I'm expecting to find the extra blankets we always kept to cover up with while watching TV. Instead I found a Mexican blanket I hadn't seen in years and a bunch of misc junk. Another box was labeled Attic books, inside I found a bunch of the boys toys and general junk they had squirrelled away in their room.

All in all though unpacking has gone okay. Most of the boxes are pretty well labeled, so we have found most of the essentials. And it's been a lot like Christmas opening boxes and finding things you forgot you even had. So if y'all will excuse me I gotta go unpack some more boxes, and figure out where I'm putting all these books!

So Here We Are.

2008-07-04T22:26:00.000-05:00

So here we are.

It's the 4th of July and I just sent the kidlets to bed a little bit ago.

We have journeyed beyond the great Ohio and found ourselves in a new and enchanting land. We miss so many things about our beloved Ohio, but are really starting to warm to our new home in Nashville, TN.

We got to watch the most awesome fireworks display! Nashville has the 2nd or 3rd best fireworks show in the nation. It totally rocked. And we were only watching over the Internet as one of the local TV stations streamed the show live. Next year we are going to have to try to see it in person.

All the kidlets loved watching the fireworks, but Miss M got the biggest kick out of them. She clapped along with the music, bouncing and singing. She even said, "Firework, I like." She is such a little smarty pants!