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Carnival of Kid Comedy #8

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April 30, 2006 By kimc

New arrivals at the Carnival this week:

I was in bed this morning when my 4-year old daughter (almost 5) asks if she can buy our bed. She has a price match, coupon, and blank check! I understand where she got the price match and coupon, but blank check??

Repeat visitors:

Season pass holders:

  • more Bruggie Tales: Hide and Seek With Rose – this made me think of the old nursery rhyme that begins,
    I’m hiding, I’m hiding and no one knows where; for all they can see are my toes and my hair…

Are you wondering what our kids have been up to since last week? It seems all of their pets started blogs:

And remember the poor, unfortunate roosters? They started one, too.

Helpful links:

Kid Comedy rules & submissions
Submit a Link
Carnival #2
Carnival #3
Carnival #5
Carnival #6

Thank you to everyone who participated, including all the children who helped out by being short and funny.

If you contributed to the carnival, please consider putting a link to it on your blog. If you didn’t contribute, please consider linking to it and contributing next week. :)

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A post I should have done a long time ago

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April 28, 2006 By Kittykait

In the description to my blog I promised stories of Seven Southern Sisters, And I said some situations might include snakes, stinging scorpions, and today I will tell a story the has to do with my grandpa Brown and a copper head snake (I don’t know if I’ve told yet but my grandma, grandpa, and 7 aunts and uncles moved back from NY) in probably 2004 my grandpa I forget why but he was getting a pan out of the cupboard, I was standing right behind him so I saw the whole thing, he opened the cupboard and slammed it shut for what he saw was nothing other than a copper head ready to strike. Springing into action he turned around and said “Give me two pares of tongs quick! And everybody stay back! ” Then he turned to the back to the cupboard and cautiously opened it and grabbed the snake! Ran out side with it and chopped its head off with a shovel. But it did not die for a really long time so the adults let us hold the body by the tale. The head on the other hand was snapping trying to bight us and it still would have killed us if it could bight us so we weren’t aloud to hold it, not that anybody wanted to!

Note to readers:
I did not actually take the picture

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April 28, 2006 By Deanna

Oh the memories this picture brings! I am the one on the left and My Dad’s little sister Abigail who happens to be one of my two best friends is on the right. I remember that the boxing gloves were way too small because they were a six year olds Christmas present and they hurt my hands but I didn’t want to give up. But she beat me -I had to give up because my hands hurt. Even though I may look short in the picture I have almost always been at least an inch taller than her, And I am just a few days over seven months older than Abigail. But me and Abigail weren’t the only ones who were boxing with those gloves, Dad and his brother Thomas were boxing, and Jonathan and Grandpa Coghlan, William and Patrick Henry, Kaitlyn and Loly. (short for Alaura)

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CBD music & free shipping

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April 28, 2006 By kimc

Check out Christian Book Distributor’s selection of 3-CD sets (most are $6.99) and don’t forget to use the coupon code (234625) for free shipping on any size order!
Here are some we have and love:

Here’s what I hope to order today – or sooner

Find more choices here.

Find more of our own recommendations here.

And if you really really like us and you already know what you want to buy, use the search box on my sidebar. Thanks. I like you too.

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Sarah

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April 27, 2006 By kimc

Every time I feel our baby kick inside me, I say a short “thank you” to God. I want to stroke my belly, smile and say to the baby, “Hi! You’re still there!” This attitude has a lot to do with Sarah.
As I approach the end of this pregnancy, little Sarah has been much on my mind. Sarah was our 7th daughter, born June 14, 2003. She would be turning 3 soon.
When I was 4 months pregnant with Sarah, we began preparations for an abrupt move from Ohio to Texas. This move was something we had longed for and when God finally brought it about it happened very quickly.
I hadn’t seen a midwife yet due to poor road conditions (standard for Ohio winters), and scurried to do so before leaving the area. I measured quite large and she suspected twins. She encouraged me to schedule a sonogram – my first ever!
At the sonogram, I saw a beautiful baby girl – just one. We decided to call her Sarah. For the first time ever, one of our children had a name and a face before birth.
We moved, and I found a new midwife here in Texas.
I had a rather difficult pregnancy: lots of morning sickness, severe hypoglycemia, and the stress of living with our 6 children in a small travel trailer in Mom and Dad’s driveway while we bought land nearby and started building our house. During much of the day, our household was integrated – not always smoothly – with Mom and Dad’s already crowded household of 13. It should have been 14, but Grandma was in the hospital and died less than 3 weeks after we arrived.
On Sunday, June 1 at 34 weeks gestation, I realized Sarah hadn’t moved in quite a while. At a prenatal checkup 3 days earlier, she was fine. I didn’t immediately panic: She had never been a highly active baby and I had a lot of amniotic fluid, so I generally didn’t notice movement unless I was really looking for it.
But I was concerned; I talked to my hubby. We talked to my mom. She had a stethoscope, and we tried to find a heartbeat. Finally, we thought we succeeded. It was slow for a baby but too fast to be mine – or was it? In retrospect, it must have been my own. But we were a little encouraged. I called my midwife who strongly suggested that we go to the emergency room, and we didn’t doubt her. It was late Sunday night, the kids were in bed, and Hubby and I were in the car in minutes.
That night I had my second sonogram, but this one was not like the first. There was our little girl, but no heartbeat. They called in a second doctor to confirm the news before spelling it out to us, but it wasn’t hard to read their sad and sober faces.
They suggested that in the absence of other known causes, gestational diabetes was a good guess. There did seem to be something wrong with one of her kidneys – no one was quite sure if that provided an explanation.
We were relieved to hear that there was no pressing reason to induce labor right away – labor should start naturally soon enough, and could still be done at home as all our other births had.
Half numb with the shock, we went home to share the sad news with our 6 daughters, my parents, and their 11 children who still lived there at the house, not to mention extended family and friends.
After a couple of days of bleary-eyed sobbing on my part, we settled down to wait. The midwife explained what to expect:
Labor would probably start naturally in 1-2 weeks, and would be very much like a normal labor and delivery.
The body would be very soft, her skin very delicate. She would not really deteriorate in the womb – we would have a funeral to plan and a child to bury.
I needed weekly blood tests which she would administer, to monitor the levels of certain toxins in my own blood.
In the end, it took nearly 2 weeks for labor to start. I’m guessing that she died 3 days before the hospital visit, so really it was even more than 2 weeks.
Those were long slow days, but not a nightmare. I found myself waiting on the Lord’s timing, resting heavily on Scripture. I actually looked forward to labor, finding great comfort in David’s actions first while he fasted and mourned and prayed for his son’s life, then rose and ate and dressed upon learning that the child had died. I was puzzled at my own feelings, but I was sure that the worst had already passed and the funeral would be a true relief for me.
God made our path straight throughout this trial: funeral planning was simple. Mom and Dad have a private cemetery on their land, and Grandma had just died a few months earlier so we knew just what needed to be done. A woodworking friend built a lovely little coffin for us, and Hubby chose a nice spot in a secluded corner of the cemetery. The men in the family helped him make a deep hole in the hard, rocky earth. It was hot, sweaty work. Mom and I padded the coffin and lined it with soft, pretty fabric. There is something very therapeutic about doing funeral preparations. I think we miss out on this aspect of “closure” when the funeral home does everything for us.
The county coroner was notified of the situation and would expect a call after the baby was delivered. He would do his duty at the house, and we could proceed with the funeral at our own convenience. No need to send the body away to strangers in strange places.
Labor started late Friday night. As with our other children, she born on a holiday: Flag Day, June 14. Labor was uneventful, and the birth was a quiet relief. Mom and I held her for a while. She looked like some of our other daughters: lots of dark hair, round pretty face. There was nothing hideous in the experience. She was beautiful and very still. I understand now why it is called a still birth.
The coroner came and went, and we called family and friends.
When the sun came up, the children wanted to see her. They said she looked like a doll – a little baby girl too still to be real.
The funeral was held the following morning, and it was indeed an event of quiet and solemn joy – for me, at least. There were a few tears, but smiles came quickly afterward. Our daughter wasn’t with us, but we knew where she was. How could we begrudge her the bliss in which she lived now? Why should we question our Father’s wisdom in taking her there so soon? She has beaten us to the end of the race – she won. We labor on for the time.

Farewel dear babe, my hearts too much content,
Farewel sweet babe, the pleasure of mine eye,
Farewel fair flower that for a space was lent,
Then ta’en away unto Eternity
Blest babe why should I once bewail thy fate,
Or sigh the dayes so soon were terminate;
Sith thou art settled in an Everlasting state.

By Nature Trees do rot when they are grown.
And Plumbs and Apples thoroughly ripe do fall,
And Corn and grass are in their season mown,
And time brings down what is both strong and tall.
But plants new set to be eradicate,
And buds new blown, to have so short a date,
Is by his hand alone that guides nature and fate.

By Anne Bradstreet, in memory of her grandchild who deceased August, 1665 being a year and half old.

Sarah’s short time with us has not left us fearful. Rather, it was encouraging. We have experienced what every parent fears, and found that God was in that dark valley with us. We were never alone. It was not an experience beyond what we could bear.

The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

We always knew, but have been reminded of how precious life is, and will never take for granted that children seem to arrive on a regular schedule in our household. I have more aches in pregnancy now than I did earlier years, but I have learned to love being pregnant in ways that I never understood before. I look differently on the discomforts and inconveniences of pregnancy. Queasiness and creaking hips and aching feet are not a trial to be endured, but daily reminders of a blessing: these things remind me every moment to thank God for the child I hold in my belly, whom we will soon (Lord willing) hold in our arms.
I don’t believe that it couldn’t happen again, but I’m not fearful. This child – all of our children – belong to the Lord. He knows His plans for them and for us, and we trust Him.

Filed Under: birth stories, Christian living, grieving, pregnancy/labor, thoughtful stuff 50 Comments

Carnie call

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April 27, 2006 By kimc

Just a reminder to send your contributions for the next Carnival of Kid Comedy by midnight Friday.
What made you smile and thank God for the Little Blessings underfoot?

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A picture

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April 26, 2006 By Kittykait

I made this picture on a little kid program called paint brush and it is what I named my blog after. I am going to make it my blogger Id picture but first I have to put it on the internet. Deanna’s has a book on it because everyone knows Deanna loves books. In mine you will see a halo over my head because I’m perfect:). In Lydia’s she is all dirty because when we lived in Ohio she would go outside for 20 min and come in and say “Look Mom I’m Grubbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”. In Megan’s she is really dark and an indian because she really was like that. In Natalie’s there is a rose because her middle name is rose. There isn’t much to Becca’s but she’s cute and short. There is a lamb in Rachael’s because her name means ewe (that is hebrew for lamb)

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Skunk

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April 26, 2006 By Kittykait

To tell this story I will have to tell 2 stories. In the first I will explain about some roosters. Well, my Dad’s boss Mr. Turley gave us 7 roosters to butcher and we were tying string around their legs. We haven’t had much experience with roosters so we were a little bit scared of them and we weren’t sure how smart they were so we had got 2 tied up we were about to do the next cage. We took the piece of plywood off the top of the cage. One jumped out “Close the cage Deanna!” I yelled as I chased him but before she did another one got out. So she ran after it and as if two weren’t bad enough 4 y/o Rebecca opened a little door on the side and let the other three out! So from 11:00 AM- 8:30 PM Saturday we chased roosters through the very thick woods and we only caught two of five that were lose! Monday (butchering day) each one got away at least once. Here is when the skunk comes in. Before all of them were caught I found a feather and a idea. “Lady” I called to our dog and I gave her the feather “Go get it” she ran off in the direction were the woods got even thicker. I followed and I followed her. Every once in while she would stop to take a sniff or to let me catch up. After a while we got to a field she ran over to a pile of brush and started to jump up and down excitedly and run around it as to try and block the “chicken” from getting out. So I walked over to it and saw a skunk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ran as fast as I could about twenty feet away and started yelling for Lady to get away from that skunk! She didn’t come. Running faster than ever before I went through the thick thick woods and up to the house yelling “Skunk! Skunk! Lady is going to get sprayed by a skunk!” I told mom the whole story and she warned me against letting Lady in if she comes running up as fast as she can from where I saw the skunk because it probably would mean she got sprayed. Later Lady came up but the skunk had not sprayed her thank GOD.

Note to readers:
I did not take this picture

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Poetry

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April 26, 2006 By Deanna

I love poetry so I think that I’ll post some every once in a while.
What really grabbed me was the part about the beloved books,
I think that I like whoever wrote this!

Home

Home!
My very heart’s desire is safe
within thy walls;
The voices of my loved ones, friends who come,
My treasured books that rest in niche serene,
All make more dear to me thy haven sweet.
Nor do my feet
desire to wander out except that
they may have the glad return at eventide-
Dear Home

Home! my very heart’s contentment lies within thy walls.
No worldly calls hath power to turn my eyes
in longing from
thy quietness. Each morn
when I go forth upon the duties of
the day
I wend my way
content to know that eve will bring me
safely to thy walls again.
Dear Home.

by Nellie Womack Hines

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Ding, Dong, the roosters are dead…

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April 25, 2006 By kimc


The young and zealous roosters who have been waking us up at 3AM died last night. Not at my own hand, mind you, but at the hands of my Hubby and children.
We knew they weren’t city kids; they have witnessed and helped with the butchering of a few deer, hogs, etc. But I really did expect a moment’s hesitation before they whacked off the heads of the poor creatures.
But there was no such silly city-girliness among those who wielded the hatchet last night: after watching Daddy do the first one, the others were rarin’ to go. Our sweet, tender little 7, 9 and 11yo girls each dispatched a rooster, along with my 8 and 10yo brothers. The 4 and 6yo sucked up their tears and tried hard to understand why they needed to wait til next time. Hubby got double duty, as there more rooster necks than willing and able hands.
But anyone who has done this before knows that the chopping is the easy part. We were up far too late last night and more than one of us had no appetite for dinner when it was all said and done.
I guess this explains why chicken is good for the health and the budget. I certainly took in less calories yesterday; there are plenty of dinner leftovers for tonight; and nobody was interested much in breakfast.
Another benefit: we got to sleep in late this morning. Nobody woke us at 3…or 4…or 5…

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Big girl naps

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April 24, 2006 By kimc

My 6yo and 4yo still take daily naps, but we’re testing a new technique. The 6yo has branded it “Big Girl Naps.”
Rather than lying down for an hour and a half, with frequent admonishments to be still and be quiet, we set a 30 minute timer. They must pretend to sleep until the timer beeps. If they open their eyes, move about, make a peep, or fake a snore, the timer starts over. If they don’t, they may get up when the timer goes off.

If they’re still awake. :)

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Great post on homeschooling

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April 24, 2006 By kimc

Guilt-free Homeschooling has a wonderful post on answering 50 reasons why I could never homeschool. Some of the answers are tongue-in-cheek and others are dead serious. I love nearly all of them!
And a penny’s worth of my own thoughts: I often hear people say that they know plenty of children who went to public schools (we prefer the term government schools) and turned out fine.
We don’t need to prove that every person who attends government schools is scarred for life; this whole objection is meaningless.

  • define “fine”
  • I know plenty of people who have crossed streets without looking both ways and turned out fine.
  • I know more than one person who has shot himself with a gun (accidentally) and turned out fine – though not without scars.
  • I suspect there are many who have played Russian Roulette and turned out fine.

Just what do you think the “turned out fine” reasoning proves?

Go read Carolyn’s answers to 50 mostly-meaningless-but-commonly-stated objections.

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What’s on the menu?

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April 24, 2006 By kimc

Breakfast:

  • Oatmeal with apples, raisins and cinnamon

Lunch:

  • 6 lbs. of bologne & hotdogs
  • 8 loaves of bread
  • 6 gallons of milk

Dinner:

  • 20 lbs. of pork spareribs, slow-cooked outside in the electric roaster then quickly BBQ’d on the grill
  • 6 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 lb. of bacon – anyone got a good recipe to use this with the chicken breasts?

Breakfast tomorrow:

  • 10 lbs. of various types of sausage
  • 4 large cans of orange juice concentrate
  • the appliance repair-man’s heart; I could use a recipe for this as well

Can anyone guess what we discovered this morning between breakfast and lunch? Our gi-normous upright freezer quit working. Maybe I should have blogged on Saturday about how it wasn’t staying quite cold enough, so I had a repairman come out and check it. After all, I didn’t want to lose 80 lbs. of meat, etc.
He smiled condescendingly and showed me where the thermostat was located. He adjusted the thermostat and waited 10 minutes. He checked the temperature and found it at 25 degrees and falling, so obviously all was well. I paid for the service call and breathed a sigh of relief.
We were gone all day yesterday.
This morning, everything in the freezer is either completely or partially defrosted. We’ve had some problems with defrosting in the past due to the door being left open a crack, so I’m a good judge of just how long it takes to achieve this level of defrostification. Just to clarify, this was not one of those times; the door was not left open a crack.
However, based upon my extensive defrostification experience, I’m guessing the freezer quit working 90 seconds after the repairman left.
After I discovered the problem, I sat down and drank a very hot cup of coffee very slowly. This seemed like a better idea than what I really wanted to do at that particular moment. It also had far fewer long-term consequences.
Then the girls and I crammed everything that was still somewhat frozen into the little freezer on top of the fridge, and threw away everything that was gross and/or drippy. The roosters, who by all rights belong in the freezer, also scored a few choice scraps.
The rest went into the fridge or the electric roaster.
I still feel like killing something, but I won’t. The roosters are the most convenient targets and their carcasses would pose a new problem. I couldn’t exactly stick them in the freezer.
Maybe I should drink another cup of coffee. And chocolate. I definitely need chocolate. My chocolate chips were in the freezer and they defrosted, so I have to eat them, right? All of them. Good thing they’re dark chocolate chips.

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Carnival of Kid Comedy #7

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April 22, 2006 By kimc


Alright. I think I’m really and truly online again.
My kids have been having loads of fun, but I can’t tell you about it because it’s online and we haven’t yet decided if it will remain anonymous. You’ll just have to take my word for it: it’s really cute and funny, and we’re all laughing over it. We’ll probably spill the beans for next week’s carnival, cuz I just can’t keep a secret over a week.

The carnival is short and sweet:

Here’s what’s happening in our neck of the woods:

Hubby was given 7 young roosters last night. He suggested this morning that the children might want to tether them out for the day so they could forage until we kill them tonight.

The girls had a little accident and let 5 roosters loose. They spent several hot sweaty frustrating hours trying to catch them again. 3 are still loose in the woods near the house.

During a short break, they decided to name the roosters. “Don’t get too attached, ” I warned in my motherly voice. “Don’t worry, ” they assured me. Their voices did not sound at all motherly.

The names?

Casserole, Enchilada, BBQ Drumsticks, Stir Fry…

Next carnival will be here. Now that my computer situation has – dare I say it? – stabilized, I would welcome guest hosts. If you have already offered to host the carnival, there’s a good chance that I’ve lost your offer while playing musical computers lately so please contact me again.

Helpful stuff:

Email me: homeschoolmarm @t gmail d0t.c0m

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One Cup Cookies

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April 22, 2006 By kimc

One of our favorite cookie recipes. All the good-for-you stuff doesn’t ruin the flavor a bit, and this is one of those rare recipes that we don’t have to double.
This comes from my Tastes of Country cookbook, which came from my very dear Grandma. I still have the sticky note that she stuck on the title page. I can’t wait to see Grandma and Grandpa when they come visit this fall!

One Cup Cookies

  • 1 cup margarine (we use butter)
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup white flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 3 cups oats
  • 1 cup bran
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 cup coconut

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, and eggs. Add water; mix well. Add dry ingredients; mix. Drop onto greased cookie sheet and bake 12 minutes at 375.

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