Seppy's News...

For those of you who may not get it... as I know some in my family had a hard time catching on...Seppy is currently our youngest. :)

Football Helmet Cakes

The boys are into football this year. They love to play the game after church with a bunch of kids and especially at home with Daddy. They also started collecting football cards and trade with each other. While they each collect everyone's favorite team -- the Packers, they each decided on various teams to collect. They can sit for an hour or more looking over their cards, rearranging them, trading them, and whatever else you can do with cards. And so, when I saw a football helmet cake pan knew that would be a perfect cake for Pete, Re-Pete, and Tank for their birthdays this year and they agreed.

Because I had three cakes to do I did plan ahead and baked each cake in advance and then wrapped and froze them right up until I was ready to decorate them. Of course each boy wanted a different flavor. Pete has his standard carrot which is always a favorite. Re-Pete chose my absolute favorite -- chocolate cake, and Tank wanting to be different out of the blue decided on lemon which was strange being that I never make any white/yellow cakes. That is one I still need to perfect. Anyway, while they all liked the Packers none of them wanted the same cake so it was decided that Re-Pete would get the Packer helmet while the other two selected their second-favorite team.

The only problems I had were with tinting the frosting. I try to avoid using a lot of food coloring but as it turns out to get a true red you need a lot, and I mean a lot of red coloring. Oh well, it is only a few times a year. The second problem I had was when I was going to tint the frosting for the Packer helmet. For some reason I had green in my head and put a dollop of green in the frosting and no sooner had I done that but it clicked that the helmet should be gold! Ahh! I tried in vain to turn that green frosting yellow but it ended up a "Shrek green" as my Mom said. I was bummed being that this was my favorite cooked frosting and takes a bit of time to make in addition to wasting butter! But, my Mom assisted in that and started the frosting for me. Now, what to make with my extra frosting.

As it turned out, the boys (George, Pete and Re-Pete) assisted with decorating the cakes by pipping on the frosting. I was happy to oblige as then I really only did one entire cake myself. I decided to forgo even attempting to pipe on the logos and instead printed them out, covered them with plastic and put them on at the end. Much easier! These were fun though. Look for another football related cake in July!

[caption id="attachment_782609" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Pete's cake"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_782610" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Re-Pete's cake"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_782611" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Tank's cake"][/caption]

Tank turns 7 today!

Another birthday and oh how happy Tank was to wake up to his special day! On Friday when it was his brothers' birthday he had a hard time watching them and did not want to wait another two days. Today he was a very excited boy though and caused himself such anxiety that he couldn't even eat his birthday breakfast. And then he couldn't eat his favorite food, lasagna, for the party. He is a strange boy but unfortunately takes after his mother on that front. :)-

I have a hard time describing Tank's personality but basically he marches to the beat of his own drummer. Our first three boys kind of seemed like cookie cutter children, much the same. Then Tank came along, well, around the age of three he became very interesting. :) His nickname used to be "Captain Chaos" and thankfully he has calmed a bit in that area. We do  love that boy spunk and all!

Happy 7th Birthday to my "chocolate" eyed boy!



[caption id="attachment_782604" align="aligncenter" width="256" caption="Tank at 3 years"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_782605" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Taken at the family olympics. I love his goofy grin!"][/caption]

Two turn 9!

It is birthday season at our house and today Pete and Re-Pete turn 9 years old! As always with them a countdown has been in progress for so long I can't even remember. To assist in that John put a countdown on our computer to the exact minute and second and they have had fun with that. We will celebrate on Sunday along with Tank so today I have some preparing to do. They selected football helmet cakes for this year which I thought would be easy since I bought the pan for it but we'll see seeing as I have three cakes to decorate. Two are already in the freezer waiting and the other I will bake today. Pete as always chose carrot cake and Re-Pete settled on chocolate (I don't think he has a real favorite yet).

We had yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast and the boys are just playing today. For tonight the boys decided that John and I will take Luke out to eat so that Jonah and Thomas won't have as long to wait. Alone time with Mommy and Daddy is a cherished thing -- and we really enjoy it also!

A Very Happy Birthday to my peas in a pod! Very similar in so many ways but yet increasingly more differences too.

[caption id="attachment_782591" align="aligncenter" width="478" caption="Curly hair after a bath. One of my favorite pictures. Do you know who is who? :)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_782592" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Best Buddies"][/caption]

My Grandpa

My Grandpa had a heart attack  two weeks ago. He turned 90 years old in June but still lives on his own. He does his own cooking and loves to bake and enjoys finding a good deal. He has been on his own since my Grandma died, I can't believe 15 years ago. We have enjoyed getting to know him better (well as much as you can when he can't hear and doesn't talk too much) over these years. His great-grandchildren love him, especially when they are toddlers and can climb up on his lap. He always has candy in his pockets for them.

When my sister called to let me know that Grandpa was being taken by ambulance to a hospital 30 minutes away I immediately thought the worst and was in tears. Afterall, Grandpa had heart problems 18 years ago and ended up with bypass surgery at that time. My mind kept going to the fact that he is 90 and figured that this time God would call him home. I waited that night with George who was also quite concerned to see if it was to the point that we needed to head to the hospital. Grandpa was ready to die and in his prayer requests for the year said, "Daily I'm looking for the day that He takes me in His presence. What a glorious day that will be."

But gradually, things improved. Grandpa did have a major heart attack and I am glad I wasn't there because my Dad said it wasn't anything I'd want to see. I am thankful my parents could be with him. At the hospital they did a catheterization and put in three stents in the clogged arteries, two of which were 99% blocked!  After that he began feeling better. I am amazed at the technology! I wonder what advances there will be in the next 18 years!

Grandpa was not in the hospital very long and is now staying with my parents until he regains his strength. God's timing is perfect because the day after Grandpa's heart attack, my Dad retired and is able to care for him instead of having to be in a nursing home. And while it isn't really home to him, Grandpa would never complain.

And so, God has blessed us with more time to be with this special man. A man who desires to serve the Lord "until the day He calls me".

Opa and Missy having fun playing a game on Christmas day

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and your family a Very Merry Christmas! Joy to the World -- the LORD has come!

Catch-up

I guess I have been on quite a long blog break here. I am not thrilled with the setup and some hang-ups of Homeschoolblogger and so it is not as enjoyable to blog. I am playing around with setting up a new blog on another site but that won't happen until sometime in the new year.

We have been busy as I am sure all of you are as well in preparations for Christmas.  We started off with walking with our 4H group in the Christmas parade the day after Thanksgiving. It went well but not sure if it is worth the time put into planning (I was in charge with another Mom) to walk down one street on a cold night! We were thankful to spend a bit of that week with John's parents before they headed south for the winter.

We have had the "fever sickness" moving through our house in various forms and various lengths of time for each. Unfortunately we did not all get it at once as I so hoped for. No, it lingered and passed on every 4 or 5 days beginning two weeks before Thanksgiving and the last person to get it (me) was last weekend.

We had a Nature Club field trip to a tree farm the first weekend in Dec. and learned all about evergreen trees. John met us there to cut down our Christmas tree. I think he enjoyed having us pick it out before-hand. Last year it took awhile for someone to find the perfect tree.  (me) It reaches our peaked ceiling and is quite beautiful and I absolutely LOVE the smell of a fresh cut tree in our home.

[caption id="attachment_782564" align="aligncenter" width="228" caption="I had to put this one in as it is so typical of the boys. I didn't use the most dramatic one so it doesn't look as bad. :)"][/caption]

We celebrated my Mom's birthday, and enjoyed having college students over.

I kept waiting for the snow to fall as I always want to try and get our Christmas card picture taken with a snowy background. We finally got snow and so we took our picture outside on the day the sky was heavy with an impending blizzard. Unfortunately the temps were also dipping low so we had to be quick. The last child I would think didn't feel like cooperating but it worked out in the end. I am finally getting our cards printed (after too much thought in designing it in Photoshop) so hopefully in the mail before Christmas Eve.

Our blizzard did arrive and we had a nice relaxing Sunday snowed in. We apparently got 7 inches but after all of the blowing it drifted in most places to 1 1/2 feet. It is SO beautiful and I debated trying to get another family picture with the snow piled on our pine trees but I thought better of that. Maybe next year.

[caption id="attachment_782565" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="This is the location of our Christmas card picture. So, when you see our card, just imagine the snowy covering."][/caption]

Friday the children and I dressed up with friends and went caroling at a nursing home and will go again this week. That was a real joy and a lesson in being a servant as one of my children initially didn't think it to be something he wanted to do. Afterward he realized how much joy it brings to others.

Last night we had our church Christmas Program and the children and John were all involved. I love to watch how the children change from year to year and gain confidence. Missy Blue was most dramatic in that the last few years when they would sing she would move in time to the music but had her fingers in her mouth or looked uncertain. This year she stood tall and sang out her best. She is growing up too fast! My boys are too but it seems more obvious in a girl. The program was a simple one with scripture recitations and songs from the children and then a play with a clear gospel message reminding us that Christmas is for sinners -- not good people as the hype of Santa and such leads us to believe.

And so we come to the final week and countdown excitedly to the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Here is a clip with Seppy and Missy singing "Gentle Jesus" with their group. I can't get it to embed here so click on the link instead. Watch as Seppy has to stop and swallow quite a few times. John and I thought he might throw-up he did it the whole time he was in front but he is still sweet as can be. Missy sings out her best although she said when she didn't remember the words her "mouth stopped moving".
Gentle Jesus