Visiting on Tuesday

Oh, my! Look at the clock -- is it that time already! And there's someone at the door again, and *I wonder if they just heard me yelling at my children.....how embarrassing....*

Oh! It's you! You DO have good timing, don't you? LOL

Come on in -- things haven't changed much since yesterday, except that I got up late today, and didn't get my morning routine done (yet), and the whole household is a little out of sorts. Well, really, I'm quite a bit out of sorts, and grumpy; and the kids' general ferality (that is now officially a word, okay?) is stressing me out to the point that my shoulders, arms and hands are actually tingling with repressed frustration.

Granted, I've brought it on myself, by getting out of bed late; which I brought on myself by going to bed late; which I brought on myself by being on the computer late last night. It's so *nice* being able to talk with my sis in the evenings, or just taking time out, that many times I have difficulty tearing myself away.

Discipline. Working on that. :-)

So, anyway, I'm making lunch and dinner just now. Trying to use up some things in the fridge and pantry: I found in the kitchen fridge, a smoked sausage which magically migrated from the mudroom fridge; which silently says to me that dear hubby would like it to be cooked before the expiry date. LOL. Also have a bag of broccoli-slaw, which was supposed to have been eaten as broccoli-slaw, only I forgot it was in the veggie drawer, and so today, it will become broccoli soup. I apologize that we'll be eating "nothing special" today, and to make it up to you, I will puree the soup, since that makes it a bit nicer. I don't puree anything very often, because I don't enjoy having to wash the blender. But for you, we will puree. :-)

So, for dinner -- we'll have some sort of green bean/potato/onion/smoked sausage thing cooked in the slow cooker. I don't have a recipe, but I think it will be good. And for lunch, the other loaf of bread from yesterday, and (pureed) broccoli cheese soup.

But as we've just added the milk and cheese to our puree, and it's heating through, and I just spied my purse on the countertop and remembered what was hiding in there.....cranberry macadamia extra-dark chocolate.....want some?
Time for the children to take a break from their "schoolwork," (which today, evidently, involves some sort of toddler/olders kicking/tickling competition, grrr......) and sit down to lunch.


We usually break a little bread into Woby's soup, to soak it up and make it easier for him to eat.

Woby likes the soup. He just learned how to say "Yum Yum" yesterday!

Jr Spragus likes the soup, but I bet $100 he won't finish it.

Nothing much happening today, and nothing much will be happening, because generally, my morning routine takes something over 2 hours to accomplish in the morning BEFORE the children get up; or, it takes all day if I get a late start and the children are needing attention.

Now, if I do not get a good chunk of this (what I think of as prep-work) out of the way before kiddos get up, it TAKES ALL DAY LONG, and the whole day is put off. You see, the rest of the day is full of other things that must be done: Homeschooling; helping the children with their outdoor science work; making and cleaning up meals; feeding, changing, and holding the baby; more laundry; meal planning and grocery shopping, and all those other things that have to be done. I know you know what I'm talking about, and I don't really know why I'm even talking about it. Let's move on, since you're here to visit :-)

So, that's today. An off-day. I hope you don't mind if I "chore" while we "chat."

Jr Spragus has soccer training this evening at 6pm, and Joman has soccer training tomorrow evening at 6:30 pm. We don't find it particularly fantastic that soccer training interferes with 2 evening meals, but we do try to work around it.

We were watching a Nancy Campbell DVD the other day, where she addressed this very issue, commenting how children's sports are inevitably scheduled for dinnertime -- when families would be more blessed, to be enjoying each other's company, around the table. Although we occasionally eat fast food on these nights, we DO manage to eat it together around the table, although we hadn't given it that much thought -- dinner together is a habit, here. Tonight, we will probably eat after practice; and tomorrow night, we will probably eat before practice.

The workbook, The Family Meal Table and Hospitality, by Nancy Campbell, is an absolutely fantastic, and incredibly Biblically researched, resource on the vital importance of families being together around the meal table -- preferably, daily.

In it, she gives an acrostic which I think sums up much of what should, and does, happen around the family meal table:

T -- Teaching, Training, and Togetherness
A -- Affirmation, Anointing, and Atmosphere
B -- Binding, Building, and Blessing
L -- Loving, Listening, and Laughter
E -- Encouragement, Example, and Enjoyment

At any rate, the blessing of the crockpot is that the timing doesn't matter too much -- the crockpot will have our dinner hot and waiting at whatever time we sit down to eat.

So, just now, I need to attend to these children, and address some issues we are having today, and begin to set a better example of diligence and productivity, I guess.....ooookay. Let's be real. Block your ears, because I'm gonna yell. I'm also gonna assign some of the chores that I haven't gotten to, yet, to these children who seem to have both extra time, and energy today.

Deb posted a challenge today on her blog -- to take 15 minutes to "make something less gross." There are more than one items on the "gross list" around here, but these plants are really bothering me, so I'm going to tackle them, as soon as I've finished doing the things I ought to have done before breakfast.

Look at this baby. Is she not the cutest?

About a week ago, she was sitting in this little swing, looking at the toy, just so:




Isn't she a bit young for that? Correct me if my memory is wrong, but I THINK they don't usually do that at 5.5 weeks? Clever girl. :-)

While we have olders happily engaged in constructive work, and babies in bed, and preschoolers at soccer practice, would you like to take a quick walk with me?

We'll go down and see how the creek is faring here, at the end of the summer. We've had no rain in a while (thankfully, given the state of many roofs in the area), and the creek is not flowing --
See the fish trapped here in the ponded water. There are maybe 10 or so, just here in the bend of the creek -- big, foot-long carp.

Garden is done for, pretty much.

This bee is done for too, I think -- or preparing to take a nap, because it sure isn't moving a whole lot! He's awesome to look at though. I have a little something for bumblebees, don't you?

Well, the day's coming to an end, and I need to put on some bread for tomorrow -- the older children have their farmday program tomorrow, and need a packed lunch. Dinner is just about ready, and when Daddy and Jr Spragus get home, we'll eat.

Perhaps, if you visit tomorrow, we will look at scrapbooks or crochet a little, maybe try to catch up on some unfinished projects...since we will not have homeschoolers at home!

Come back soon!