My Lap is Big Enough

My lap is big enough to hold my oldest granddaughter, Ashtyn Claire, and my youngest son, Caedmon, while grandsons Chase and Eli and my other son Jackson snuggle close by to listen as I read them a book.  You can see the little boys each take turns counting the pirates as I turn the pages.

 Another day the little boys enjoyed homemade lemonade popsicles on the swing.  Poor little Ashtyn Claire wanted one, too!

Chase is at that age where he likes to be a clown.  He'll soon be five years old.  Every time they come the first thing they ask me is if we can "play school"!!  They are coming tomorrow to spend a couple of days with us while their mommy, daddy and little sisters go to the homeschool conference.  And yes, we will be "playing school"!

Newest Blessing

Carolina Belle was born Friday evening, February 3.  She is a big girl, weighing just over 10 pounds and is 21 inches long.  Our daughter, Lauren, is doing well.  Just dealing with those severe afterbirth pains that moms of many get.  I got to sit and hold her for a good while on Saturday and we'll head back down in the morning with a Yukon XL full of supplies from Sam's and ready to settle in for another long baby fix.  So sweet to hold a newborn baby and listen to their little grunts and moans.  Blessed sweetness!

Thoughts to Ponder and a Giveaway Reminder

Just wanted to remind you all that the giveaway for Victoria Botkin's Curriculum Advice vol. 1 and 2 ends tonight at midnight!  Click here to sign up in the comments.

Things are a little chaotic around here with some croupy sounding coughs and little boys who need help with shoes and snacks and jackets and, well, pretty much everything!  The following quotes were posted on FB this morning and I thought I would share them very quickly for you to ponder today. 

Now I am off to take care of some kitchen duties that have been piling up all week.   I also noticed that there are a few piles of laundry that have accumulated in the hallway and lots of muffin crumbs in the dining room and, well, you can imagine what all there is to do today after having a quick dinner last night before heading out for piano recital and then home to quickly get the dishes done and then piled the little ones in the beds.  Twelve people make a little more mess than eight people...especially when three of them are three and under!  I know that the work I do in my home is not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of my family and, if done well and with a thankful attitude, brings glory to God.

"Feminism is mixed up with a muddled idea that women are free when they serve their employers but slaves when they help their husbands." ~G.K. Chesterton

You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, and training them up in God's fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts." -Charles Spurgeon.

Around Here This Week

Please continue to share your favorite children's books here.


Around here this week there has been lots of cooking.

Around here this week there has been lots of eating.

Around here this week there have lots of diaper changes.

Around here this week there have NOT been lots of naps.

Around here this week there has not been lots of school time.

Around here this week there has been lots of laundry.

Around here this week there have been lots of little boys.

Around here this week there has been lots of toys.

Around here this week there have been lots of olive shoots around our table.

Around here this week there has been three generations worshipping together each evening.

Around here this week there has been lots of "Mom-Mom, look at me!"

Around here this week there has been lots of lap time.

Around here this week the noise level has gone up just a tad.

Around here this week we realize how blessed we are....once again!!

Cowboys and Indians...Elisha, Jackson, Chase and Caedmon

My sons are the Indians.  My grandsons are the cowboys.

Caedmon makes a ferocious Indian!

Cowboy Chase

Sheriff Elisha

Me with all the cowboys and Indians

Ashtyn Claire--at six months she is crawling and starting to pull up

tearing up

Ahh! The Simple Life of a Stay at Home Homeschooling Mom

Last year I posted on Facebook about the joys of hanging laundry on the clothesline.  It wasn't too hot yet and the birds were chirping, blue skies were cloudless.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.  Someone commented about how they wished they could live a simple life like me.

Now, I truly believe that God has called me to this life I lead.  He has given Jeff and I the desire to have children (and quite a few at that!), to homeschool them and to lead a very productive life.  But, really, it is anything but simple!!

Simple is transferring that laundry from washer to dryer (which I do more often than not).  Not taking the time to hang them out!

Simple is buying those boxes of extruder pressed cereal.  Not making your own granola!

Simple is whacking a tube of biscuits on the counter.  Not making homemade biscuits a couple of times a week!

Simple is stopping by the bread store for a few loaves of bread.  Not grinding your own wheat to make up four loaves that will be gone in less than 2 days!

Simple is sending those kids to school for 8 hours a day.  Not being with them 24/7 and teaching and instructing them in the way they should go!

Simple is going out to eat or stopping for take-out a few times a week.  Not cooking 2-3 meals a day from scratch!

No, I don't work outside the home.  In fact, I try to stay at home as much as possible.  I know that if you work outside the home you don't have time to do all that I do.  But please, don't think the life of a stay at home homeschooling mom is simple, 'cause it just isn't so!  I feel so blessed to spend this time working and learning with my children.  Learning, exploring and creating as God leads.  It is a very blessed life, but it's anything but simple.

This is my list of things that I need to accomplish today.

-a few loads of laundry

-dust and vacuum master bedroom

-scrub, vacuum and mop  master bath

-tidy the schoolroom and den

-set out cream to begin the process of making cultured butter

-make applesauce in the slow cooker

-make yogurt in the slow cooker

-dehydrate mushrooms

-make a big pot of vegetable pilaf for lunch--decided not to do this after I cleaned out the fridge.  There is plenty of soup and we made a broccoli salad to go with the bread.

-make four loaves of bread   bread is rising

-make dinner

-do math and phonics with Jackson and go over the other children's school work

And did I mention my mother-in-law will be here in just a few hours?  And my oldest daughter with her three children?

So I will take breaks to rock the baby, walk outside with grandmother and the little guys and hopefully take some pictures.  I'm sure there will be lots of chasing, hugging and loving on little ones in addition to the above list.  Today will be a very busy day.  But it will also be a very blessed day.  Even if it's not so simple!




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Musings from the Grocery Store and Some Frugal Kitchen Tips

 Yesterday afternoon I took a little grocery shopping trip by myself.  I usually have at least a couple of children with me as we shop on piano lesson day, but piano lessons were out for spring break.

Which takes me to my first musing---apparently EVERYONE is out for spring break and decided to do some shopping as well.  Both of the Kroger stores and Sam's were very busy!  Sam's looked like the week before Christmas.  I suppose as it was a dreary, cool and windy day there wasn't much else to do outside the home.  Thankful was I that we did not take off and my children were at home finishing up some school work.  Right, children?  You did finish it, didn't you?

Musing number two-There were a lot of grandparents with grandchildren out shopping.  I had noticed one particular little boy who looked to be about 6 who was following grandma around with tears in his eyes.  I was headed out the door and had to stop for a moment as this little guy was in my path, chasing a gumball that escaped the machine.  His grandmother was trying to hurry him up.  I told her, "Don't worry about it.  I have a 6 year old just like him at home." And gave her what I hoped was a pleasant smile.  She responded within her grandson's hearing, " I wish I didn't have him."  I sincerely hope she meant that she wished she didn't have him with her at the grocery store, however, that is not what she said and I am sure the little guy heard her.  Grandma, I am sure little guy wished you didn't have him, either.  How sad is that?  Mom and dad are working.  Little guy is out of school for spring break and it's too wet and cool outside and he has to go grocery shopping with a grandma who would rather not have him.

Musing number three-Increased prices don't seem to have any effect on some folks shopping habits.  I'm a nosy shopper  and folks are still buying lots of junk food and sodas.  I also saw several folks leave the grocery store with only one partially-filled bag.  With the high cost of food and gas, I would think that people would be leaving off the junk and instead of going to the store every other day or so, saving the shopping for once a week, every other week or once a month and buying more.  Just think of the time and gas savings alone!

Musing number four-  Already alluded to above, but prices are going up!  I have been carefully watching butter prices and the butter jumped up a couple of dollars for the four pound bundle at Sam's in just two weeks.  There were other price increases as well, but the butter was much more drastic.

Musing number five--I think stocking up on staples and canned goods is a good idea.  Yes, I do.

Enough of the musing and on to a few tips for frugal dining.

-When I bake a whole chicken for dinner I bake two.  We eat one and the other is carefully wrapped and put in the freezer.

-After we have eaten dinner from a chicken, I put the whole leftover chicken in the crockpot and cover with filtered water.  I then add some chopped celery, onion, garlic, carrots or whatever I have along with a dash of apple cider vinegar.  I cook on low all night.  In the morning I strain the broth out and pick the meat from the carcass.  I can then make a pot of soup adding fresh vegetables and seasoninsg or I can bag the chicken up for another meal and freeze it and I freeze the broth to use for soups, gravies and casseroles.

-Turkeys will soon be on sale for the Easter holiday.  I usually stock up on them AFTER the holidays when I find them at reduced prices.  This weekend I baked a turkey that I had purchased reduced afer Christmas for our Sunday dinner.  We had company for dinner and still had a good bit of turkey left over.  Yesterday I put the turkey carcass in my large stockpot and covered it with water.  I added peppercorns, onions, garlic and a 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar.  The vinegar helps get all the nutrients from the bones.  I brought it to a boil and then let it simmer all day.  After dinner last night I strained off the broth and picked the bones.  I now have 4 bags with 2 cups of shredded turkey in each and 20 cups of fabulously rich turkey stock.  Turkey salad, casseroles and pot pies will be made with this and the stock will be used to make my veggie rice pilaf that I make frequently and some will be used to make dressing for our Easter dinner.    I think I paid about 7 dollars for that turkey!   Twelve people ate dinner on Sunday and we will have parts of at least 6 meals with the rest of that turkey.  Frugality is fun!!

-My last tip is really easy.  When we prepare the evening meal, we generally make enough to have leftovers for lunch the next day.  Last night I  used about 2 1/2 pounds of ground chuck and made hamburger steaks with mushroom gravy.  I bought mushrooms reduced to 50 cents a box yesterday, so we will be eating lots of mushrooms this week.  I think I got about 14 steaks out of the meat and we had rice and butter beans with this along with my homemade bread.  Several of us will be able to eat this again for lunch today.  So easy to take just a couple of extra minutes to save lots of time later!

And there  you have today's musings and tips!  I would love for you to share some frugal shopping or cooking tips with me.  Do you have some great tips on saving money and time in the kitchen?

Busy and Blessed

It has been another busy week here at Busy Hands Busy Minds.  My sister was working in our area this week and stayed with us two nights.  We enjoyed having dinner together Monday and Tuesday nights and the kids had lots of fun playing games with her.

Lauren came with her children and spent one night with us as well.  That is always a sweet time watching the little ones play and getting in a hug or two as well.  Here are pictures of Ashtyn Claire and Eli from the other day.  Apparently Chase was too busy to get his picture made.  Poor quality due to pulling them off of Devin's Facebook!

My first granddaughter...Ashtyn Claire

Grandson Elisha Jeffrey will be two years old in just a few weeks!

Uncle Caedmon and Ashtyn Claire

We have been eating "around the world" this week.  It wasn't intentional, but Monday night Devin prepared a couple of wonderful Italian pasta dishes for our Valentine dinner.  Tuesday Tracy treated us with Chinese takeout.  Wednesday night we had a cheap US dinner of pinto beans and cornbread.  Last night was a Middle Eastern theme with shish-ka-bobs, rice pilaf, flat bread and different spreads.  Tonight we will have Mexican with chicken enchiladas, beef nachos and rice.  We do like a varied diet around here and so enjoy good foods from all around the world.

Have any of you noticed the prices of foods going up in your area?  Yesterday I needed to do some grocery shopping.  We have two bank accounts as Jeff has a home business as well as his work with American Family Association, so he rolled money from one account to another so that I could shop.  He told me how much he was putting in so I needed to be careful not to go over that amount.  It was a generous amount, but we do a lot of food storage and I always buy much more than we need for the week. I knew my purchases for food storage would be limited.  I checked the Kroger sale ads and only found a few items that I wanted to purchase and I needed a couple of items for our menu for the rest of the week that are not available as Sam's which is where I do most of my shopping these days.

At Kroger I noticed produce prices were up!  A package of three colored bell peppers was over $6!!  I generally buy them in the six pack at Sam's and was eager to see how much their cost went up.  At Sam's 6 peppers were around $7.  A better deal than Kroger for sure, but still about $1 higher than 2-3 weeks ago.  Butter at Kroger was over $4 a pound.  At Sam's 4 pounds were a little over $8.  I have been buying reduced milk at Kroger for $1.25 per gallon, but yesterdays milk was reduced to $2.  I still stocked up, but that is a substantial increase.

Do you buy reduced foods for your family?  I have been for our entire married life!  For an example of items that I find reduced I will tell you about our Middle Eastern dinner last night.  I made shish-ka-bobs using reduced ground pork to make meatballs.  I included mushrooms that I found reduced yesterday, onions, bell peppers and canned pineapple chunks.  I made a wonderful rice pilaf that was chock full of veggies including organic celery that I purchased reduced.  It also included grated carrots and cabbage, onions, garlic and a 32 oz. box of chicken broth that I purchased reduced.  We made our homemade flat bread recipe and spread it with roasted garlic and had a Greek yogurt dip and hummus which were both purchased at reduced prices.  I cooked so much food that we have plenty for lunch today!  There is no telling how much money I have saved through the years buying foods at reduced prices.  It really pays to look around your grocery store for those little stickers on reduced foods!  I always feel so blessed to have found such great deals on good food.


 The warm weather we have been having has gotten Jordan itching to be outside.  He has used up all of our scrap wood making several new raised beds and even scrounged up enough smaller scraps to make a planter box.  He thinks he can find enough wood to make one more planter box and then we will have to break down and buy more wood.

From the top

Side view

Raised bed garden on top of carpet remnants to keep weeds out

Last night I was just wiped out!  Cleaning, schooling, shopping and coming home to put away all the food, plus cooking a big dinner last night just wore me out. I also think my iron levels are low as I keep a glass of ice nearby to chomp on all day long.  Not good!   I was looking forward to going into my nice clean bedroom, lying in the bed and watching my last Net Flix interest...BBC series Larkrise to Candleford.  Jackson, however, was really wanting me to lie down with him and Caedmon as they went to sleep.  I have been doing this as I am trying to get them to go to bed earlier and Caedmon just recently became Jackson's bed partner.  Usually we snuggle up with Caedmon on my shoulder and Jackson holding my hand.  So sweet!!  Last night Caedmon went to bed earlier and I was just going to send Jack to bed without me.  I really felt the need to be alone!  Jackson really wanted me, though, so as soon as Jeff finished some recording he was doing Jackson and I crawled in my bed and watched the next episode of Larkrise on Jeff's big computer screen.  Jackson had the biggest smile across his face!   As we snuggled and watch the movie he told me he was having the greatest time!  Later he told me how much he loved me and held my hand.  Then before the hour was up he was softly snoring.  Later, Jeff carried him to his own bed.  This morning he awoke with a smile on his face, gave me a huge hug and told me again how much fun he had last night.  Special times with a special little man.

My Babies

The Saturday after Ashtyn Claire was born we packed up a lunch of white chili with fixin's and blueberry cobbler and ice cream and headed down to visit the new baby.  Chase and Elisha had gone on a trip with their other grandparents, aunts and uncles, so we didn't get to see them, which was probably a good thing because Caedmon had thrown up again on Friday night and then again when we got home from our visit.  Sigh!  We kept him away from the baby, though!  Lauren was still in the "don't take a picture of me" phase, so no pictures of the mommy or daddy that I can post.  We did get a few pictures of them but she made me promise not to post on FB or my blog.  So I will be nice and not do it!

Aunt Devin and Ashtyn Claire

Uncle Aaron with Ashtyn Claire

Caedmon had fun playing with James'  old highway patrol hat.

Aunt Kaelan was excited to hold her first niece.

Uncle Jackson and Ashtyn Claire

Uncle Jordan and Ashtyn Claire

And a week later Devin went back to help Lauren out while James worked the MSU ballgame.  She had not been alone with all three children yet and the new baby doesn't like to sleep at night.  She is one tired mommy!  You can already see how the baby is changing.  

Chase and Eli were back home and glad to have Aunt Devin play with them.

Isn't Chase a handsome little boy?

Aunt Devin and "marshmallow boy" Elisha

He is VERY fluffy!

I am so very thankful that ALL of my children love babies.  How can anyone not?

Psalm 128:  3-6   Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table.  Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.  The Lord bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.  Yes, may you see your children's children.  Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 127:  3-5  Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;  They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

Grandson Elisha's First Birthday

Last Thursday was Elisha's first birthday.  Lauren had a family celebration Sunday evening with the Phillips and Chamblee families and a couple of Elisha's great-grands.  

Devin went down to Lauren's the day before to help her prepare.  She decorated the cupcakes.  We also had lots of pizza and ice cream.

I think Elisha was enjoying his cupcake just a little too much!  It looks like he is winking in this picture!

Big Brother Chase, 2, covered in pizza sauce!

Uncle Jackson, 5, also covered in pizza sauce, but always ready for a picture!

Chase is 2!

Chase's birthday was July 12. He really enjoyed his first taste of ice cream!