Highlights

My neglect of this blog forces me to list the highlights of our summer in a bullet format:

• Elysia's garden got bigger this summer with the highlight being a new patch of strawberries, and some additional rhubarb plants from some local farms. We really enjoyed eating the fresh peas, cucumbers, lettuce, etc. 

• Our cat ran away after only two months of making our home its habitat. We put out fliers, looked for hours and spent time chasing down leads to no avail.
• An active summer of driving around for appointments, weeks of Bible Camp, and airport runs kept Elysia in the driver's seat much of the time. The time driving aggravated her hip condition and back pain thus changing her mind and scheduling hip surgery for September 2.
• Ethan spent two weeks in May teaching in the beautiful African country of Uganda. two months later in July, he travelled again, this time to teach pastors in South Asia.
• Ethan spent Father's Day in bed with pneumonia.
• Gretchen and Peter John experienced ministry first-hand by loving the poor and serving on a mission trip to South Dakota in June.
• Amy and Elysia went to the Sherburne County Fair. She rode a Ferris Wheel for the first time!

• Peter John was our faithful keeper of our yard through weekly lawn mowing and trimming.
• Gretchen improved her culinary skills (and kept our kitchen hot) by her daily baking and cooking projects.
• An inch worm got into our A/C Heat Exchange wall unit thus burning out an off-brand Korean machine with an expired warranty and no options for replacement parts. Amazing what a little worm can do.
• Lizzy and Amy devoured the books on our shelves and at the Princeton Library. We visited the library every Monday on our way to violin lessons. The girls are learning so much from their teacher, Jill Musick Selin, who teaches out of her farm house in rural Princeton. Gretchen has excelled under her tutelage as well.
• Ethan's sister, Sharon, spent five days with us while her son was at Bible Camp. While she was here, she helped Elysia repaint our basement bathroom a light Aqua color to match the turquoise and pink decor. Yay!
• Peter John was invited by his Uncle David to spend a week in Utah and Montana with him and cousin Andy which included a backpacking trip to a lake for camping in Yellowstone Park. David put him in the front of the hike because he was a good pacesetter. PJ is almost six feet tall now at age 12.

• Ethan's nephew, Tim, from Dallas spent some time with us in August so that he could also attend Bible Camp at Inspiration Point. Sadly, Peter John missed camp because of a persistent fever virus. 
• Lizzy's grandparents flew her out to Arizona to visit them for a few days before our family reunion in August. Elysia gave up her sweet daughter as an "unaccompanied minor" on an airplane flight entrusting her into The Good Shepherd's hands. Lizzy was the first in our family to ever see the Grand Canyon! She took lots of pictures.
• After some major work on our cars at Integrity Automotive, we packed up Waldo, our little trailer, and took the minivan packed with camping gear for our family car trip to Montana and Eastern Idaho. The first weekend was spent in Billings to attend our nephew, Mark's confirmation and to hear his dad, Bill, preach at Yellowstone Lutheran Brethren Church. Elysia's parents and ancestors are from Montana, so we drove to Sunset Memorial Gardens to visit the graves of her grandparents and other relatives. 
• We saw Ethan's entire family for our family reunion at his brother's cabin in Eastern Idaho, and we enjoyed Bear and Moose country. What a feast for our eyes. The mountains were lovely, albeit covered in a smoky haze from the western forest fires. After the reunion, our little family rented a forest service log cabin with no electricity or water in the wilderness of the Gallatin Mountain range of Montana.  than was in his happy place. We cooked in cast iron over a fire and brought gear to protect us from the Grizzlies. We carried water from the natural spring in buckets for washing and filtering for drinking. The undistracted, quiet secluded life gave us time with each other, with God, and alone with ourselves. The girls especially enjoyed the natural springs near the cabin, and we all enjoyed mountaineering and playing in the creeks. Ethan, Gretchen, PJ, and Amy made it to the top of Pika Point on a seven-hour hike. Elysia's hips and back forced her to turn back. Lizzy went with her along with the bear spray. Ethan kept the wood stove burning at night, and we awoke to frost outside three mornings in a row. On our hikes each day we saw screeching hawks, squirrels, many small birds, mule deer, woodchucks, gophers, a pair of beavers at a mountain lake, ducks, and horses. The flowers up high on the mountain caught our attention, especially the Indian paintbrush and the lupine. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

  

  Pika Point, Montana

  
  
• Lizzy got braces!
  

Recipes for a Growing Boy (Manboy?)

OK, it is official! PJ is now taller than me.  Five feet nine and a half inches tall as of yesterday!  I need to kick up the calories in our meals.  So, my oldest daughter and I have been baking up a storm.  Yesterday, she made a lovely Day Cake with strawberries, and she made Monkey Bread also.  Today I am working on Grandma Blomberg's Excellent Rocks, a most excellent oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.

Here is the recipe, transcribed word for word from my sister, Kirsten:

Grandma Blomberg's Excellent Rocks
serves 4 dozen

1 c. sugar (brown is better)
1 c. shortening (butter is better)
1 c. raisins, cooked in ¾ c. water
2 c. flour
2 c. oats
2 eggs
5 Tbsp reserved raisin water + 1 tsp. soda
1 tsp salt (or less)
1 tsp vanilla (2 is better)

Mix oats, flour and salt.  Set aside.
Mix butter & sugar, add eggs, add vanilla & soda water.
Stir together wet and dry ingredients and drained raisins.
Cook 10 mins. in 350 degree oven.

I added an extra cup of rolled oats to the recipe (3 c. total) to make it a little healthier for afternoon snacks.  This made them more chewy and less cakey, too.  However, they are delicious with only 2 cups oats.

For dinner I plan to make a one-pot meal with barley, vegetables, tomato sauce, and a combination of ground beef and ground turkey.  Making enough food to fill these growing children's tummies is a challenge, because they can be picky eaters, too.  I enjoy making casseroles or one-pot meals made in the crock pot or on the stove.  I do not cook with a lot of meat because of the high cost of meat, so we must supplement with vegetables,  grains, and legumes.  My favorite cookbook for this is More With Less.  

This cookbook emphasizes conserving the world's resources, so it has been very helpful for me during lean years because the recipes are so inexpensive yet healthy to make.  

Recently I borrowed a book from the library called, How to Feed a Teenage Boy. 

The recipes were not earth shattering, by any means, but it did give me a few ideas.  These boys need lots of protein, carbohydrates, calcium, and vegetables.

How about you?  What are you feeding your son?  I need some SERIOUS RECIPE IDEAS and soon!  Feel free to leave a recipe or two in the comments or on Facebook.  Thanks!

Classical Music Goes to the Movies

I enjoy listening to classical music on Minnesota Public Radio while driving the minivan from place to place.  Twice in the past week, my kids have recognized pieces because of their interest in the comics, of all places.  Here is Charles Gounod's "Je Veux Vivre" from Romeo and Juliet sung by "Bianca Castafiore" in The Adventures of Tintin. A fantastic operatic piece!

Then driving the little ones to school yesterday, one of the girls shouts out that the song playing on the radio was called "The Barber of Seville Bugs Bunny!"  I had to laugh.  It was actually called the overture to The Barber of Seville by Rossini but you may enjoy "The Rabbit of Seville" by Looney Tunes here:

It's A Prairie Girl Birthday!

Seven years old today! 

Ten girls for cake and lots of smiles.

I love this darling girl.

Pic from the past - Growing, changing, learning, sharing.

Sweet prairie girl at two years old.

She runs ahead of us every time.

Happy birthday to our youngest child! May your love of learning, love of people, love for God, and courageous character take you many places for the Kingdom of God and for the praise of Jesus' name!

Gretchen's First Violin Recital

This was Gretchen's first year taking violin lessons (her second year playing).  She performed two pieces from the Suzuki book 2.  This is her second piece "Bourree" by G.F.Handel. What a smashing performance!

Newspapers!

Peter John and Gretchen have been earning some of their own money on local paper routes.  It has been lots of work for Mom and Dad, too, helping them get set up, make decisions, and solve problems.  My friend Angie's kids have paper routes and it has instilled a great work ethic in them and given them some of their own spending cash.  When Ethan was growing up, he and his siblings had paper routes, too, so this is nothing new for his family.  It has been a great way for them to get to know some neighbors who seem to really like these two kiddos.  

Most of this week we had temps in the 90s plus high humidity. Those days were definitely a trial. The kids lacked the motivation to go out and do it.  Their dad had them wet a cap and put ice in it before placing it on their heads, plus they had plenty of water in a bottle to carry with them.  I am so proud of them for persevering through some tough days.  They survived!  Lots of prayers were going up to God for them from Mommy.  Today we had a great rainfall and break in the heat with cool weather in the 60s!  What a relief!

Winter Fun

Amy celebrated her FOURTH birthday on the 9th! We had a blast playing a game of bowling. I think Lizzy won with flying colors. Congratulations, Sweetie! And a very Happy Birthday, Amy!


It has been such a warm winter this year, but the past few weeks have finally brought us some cold weather and a bit of snow. Surprisingly, because there has been so little snow we were able to skate on a local lake without shoveling off the snow! This is a bit strange for Minnesota. We normally have several feet of snow on the ground by now. We had SO much fun over at Pebble Lake last week. There were several ice houses out on the lake. One guy was drilling holes that day so Ethan chatted with him a bit. He was drilling 18-20 inches before hitting water. This explains why Minnesotans drive their trucks on the ice. There were about five trucks or cars out there that day. We had so much fun, and though the kids fell a bit, they got right back up and kept going. Fun!

Pinewood Derby Baby!

Pack 304 set up at the Cleveland Gym tonight for their annual Pinewood Derby. All the Cub Scouts who completed a car competed against other cars from their age group. Peter John and his dad took it very seriously. Here is Ethan filing and sanding the nails so there are no bumps or nicks to cause drag. I was his assistant, holding down the drill:

We had so much fun watching the races. We brought along a few of the girls' friends, and enjoyed seeing all the unique cars.





Peter John's car won third in his age group. And for a special surprise, Peter won a trophy for "Cub Spirit" because of his attitude and enthusiasm for scouting. We are so proud of him!

Ribbons!

We had so much fun at the WOT County Fair last week. Last year my friend, Angie, told me about an opportunity to earn money by entering items into the fair. Angie's kids have entered for many years and won several ribbons. We decided to give it a try, and the kids and I all entered some of our hard work into the Open Exhibition where they give ribbons and awards to the first, second, and third place in each category. The kids entered several of their artwork pieces as well as woodwork, legos, and sewing (Gretchen). For the first time ever, I entered some of the crochet pieces I have done as well as fresh vegetables from my garden. I also entered two of the preserves I have made this summer: pickled sweet beets and rhubarb jelly. We were so surprised by the results!

Wednesday was the official day to enter all your items. It was SO hot that day (about 95 degrees and humid). The lady at the counter who received our items told me I did not enter some of my vegetables correctly. For example, for yellow beans, you must have 10 beans to display, and I had only 5 beans. I decided to go home and return later with the correct number of vegetables and the proper way to display. I had to cut off the green tops of the onions and the greens off the beets. After some more work, we returned, and all was entered. If I ever enter again, I will know a little better how things need to be done, and I will remember to bring plates to display them on! (I forgot this year and had to borrow from the fair ladies).

Here are the results from the items we won ribbons on. Gretchen and Peter John were in the same category for age. Lizzy and Amy were in another category together for age (up to age 7):
Gretchen -
blue, apron sewing
blue, Father's Day poem
blue, watercolor
red, colored pencil drawing
white, Sacajawea poster

Peter John -
blue, woodwork
blue, pencil drawing
blue, colored pencil drawing
blue, freehand painting

Lizzy -
blue, pen drawing
blue, pencil drawing
blue, finger paint
blue, watercolor
red, crayon drawing
red, marker drawing ladybug poem
white, freehand painting

Amy - She entered only one item and was so proud to receive a red ribbon for her pencil drawing!

Elysia -
blue, crochet baby poncho
blue, crochet infant sweater
blue, crochet baby afghan
blue, fresh beets
blue, canned rhubarb jelly
red, crochet baby booties
red, canned sweet pickled beets
white, beans, yellow
white, crochet baby bonnet
white, white onions

Summer Dreamin'

My missionary friends, the Haydens, once posted on their blog a video of their kids observing some bugs they bought in the market. They said this is what delights kids without TV. Well, my kids don't have TV either, and part of the time the result involves plenty of mayhem and fighting, but many sparks of GREAT creativity. They play outside a lot, do a lot of creative activities, and there are some frustrating moments of boredom at times. But, for the most part, they have done a lot of healthy playing and creating.

This video brought a smile to a weary mother's face today. It is an example of some of their creative moments playing outside, and it made me long for summer during today's snowstorm here in central Minnesota:

Training Your Children to Understand Money

Here is an outline of Randy Alcorn’s article on ways that parents can help their kids learn to think biblically about money.

1. Give your children something greater than money—your time.

2. Use life’s teachable moments to train your children.

3. Take a field trip to a junkyard.

4. Teach your children to link money with labor.

5. Teach your children how to save.

6. Get your children started on the lifetime adventure of giving.

7. Provide your children with financial planning tools.

8. Teach your children how to say “No.”

9. Show your children how family finances work.

10. Never underestimate the power of your example.

Read the whole thing for an explanation of each point. It is well worth your time... parent or not.

HT: Justin Taylor

Broken Down Dam

Not too far from where we live there is an old dam that broke many years ago. It is now a park for people to enjoy. We have had such a dry spring that the roads and trails are practically free of mud. While Ethan is out of town working, I decided to take the kids there today to hike. Here are some photos of our hike:

Beautiful!

Here it is with Peter John in the forefront.

At the top of the dam.

I was amazed at Amy's ability to hike up and down the steep path.

Still a little snow left in the shady spots.

My baby is in a bed.

Time is going by too quickly. Amy is out of a crib! We found this toddler bed on craigslist, and picked it up today. I am having surgery Mar. 1 and will not be able to lift things for about a month, so I had to do something to help Amy get in and out of bed on her own. God provided this bed for only $35. So, here she is. Let the games begin!

Trip to the Cities

We had the privilege of seeing our dear friend, Tracy Groves, who is a missionary in Kyrgyzstan on furlough in the U.S. until February. We took a last minute trip down to Cottage Grove, MN where she is staying with her parents. We had a great time of fellowship and spent the night at Ethan's cousin Mary's house in Woodbury. Sunday morning we took advantage of the opportunity to visit a church in Bloomington that we had heard about. Sadly, Lizzy missed out on the trip because of a fever, but she had a fun time staying with Grandma and Grandpa Frank, so she was not disappointed.

Tracy took us to an indoor playground in Woodbury so that we could talk while the kids played.

I can't believe this playground is all in the public library in Woodbury! Great entertainment for the long Minnesota winters. It costs money to go, but it was definitely fun.