Snow

You can't quite tell from this picture because I was not in the mood to step outside to get a better shot but the snow right off the porch is up to Liam's hips. Every child over the age of two has been sent outside for mandatory fun time. One child was heard saying that he did not need to go outside because he did not have any energy to burn off. Perhaps but he did have an attitude to burn off so out he went. The kids are enjoying their snowshoes and skis and tromping in the snow and I am enjoying a wee bit of calm in the house. Seriously, I am so amazed at how quiet it is with only 2 kids in the house.

Molasses-on-Snow Candy

Today it is snowing. Started sometime last night and still has not let up. So what do you do on a day with freshly fallen snow? You make molasses-on-snow-candy. This is our current favorite recipe from the Little House Cookbook. It is a variation of the maple-sugar-on-snow candy that was typically made to celebrate maple sugaring time.
From your kitchen you need brown sugar and dark molasses. 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 3/4 cup of molasses. This will make about 3/4 lb of candy so we doubled the recipe.
Bring it to a boil and cook until the syrup reaches the hard ball stage, at least 5 minutes.
From outside, you need enough snow to fill a few pans. I shouldn't have to say this but just in case, please be sure you use clean snow. This is why I like to make the candy on days when it is actually snowing. Don't fetch snow from places where the creatures may roam.
Simply pour the hot syrup over the cold snow. I really should have made sure we had 3 pans of snow so we could have made designs or something. Some of our candy stuck hard to the bottom of the pans since it melted all the snow so make sure you have tons of room.
Once the candy has hardened, take it out and break into manageable pieces.
Let the hungry kids have at it.
Obviously, they all approved.

Happy Chinese New Year

Today we celebrated Chinese New Year. The older 3 boys all worked on various books and print-outs from EnchantedLearning. Then we made Chinese lanterns.
I don't quite trust 2-year-olds with scissors so Abby got to color a picture of an ox instead of making a lantern. 2009 is the year of the ox.
We used our brand new chopsticks for the first time tonight. The kids watched the short how to use chopsticks video on the Kung Fu Panda movie right before dinner.
They all gave chopsticks a decent try. With varying results. Abby refused to use a fork even though she was having a bit of trouble with the chopsticks. Katie eventually succumbed to the fork after giving it a good try.
The older boys seemed to figure it out rather quickly.
And Gabe just enjoyed dinner in general.
As for the cake, well, I firmly believe you should never pass up a chance to make something special for your own family. Why save desserts just for when folks come over? Besides, I was craving chocolate. I made this super easy depression era cake. I've seen it called a Wacky Cake or a Chocolate Depression Era cake. Either way it goes together in 5 minutes, uses no eggs or milk, is super thrifty and super yummy.
And you must ignore the messy stove in the above picture. This is a working kitchen we are talking about so sometimes there are messes that did not get cleaned up right away. Such is life.

You Know You Have A Large Family When. . .

. . .you think it is perfectly normal and sensible to have 25 lbs of rice stored in your basement pantry. This is, of course, in addition to the 10 lbs of rice we keep in the kitchen pantry and a few large sized boxes of Minute rice we keep on hand for those nights when we need a quick meal.
As for why are they in juice bottles? Well, since we are looking at having them stored in the basement for a few months, this way we can be pretty well certain that they will remain bug proof.

Play-Doh

Alan finally gave in and admitted he was sick last night. So he stayed home with the younger kids this morning while the older ones went to Mass with me. While I was gone, Gabe got to play with Play-Doh for the first time ever. I normally only use homemade play-doh until they are over the eating it stage but we got the real stuff on sale super cheap a few weeks ago. Gabe sure looks like he had a great time and he only tasted a little of it.

Views of Our Weekend So Far

Mr. Blockhead

Abby seems to have a thing for wearing her clothes backwards.

Just Mr. Gabe

Katie

Kieran

He's driving a car. It's not a chair, it's a car.

Snuggling with Daddy.

National Pie Day

Today is National Pie Day. Can you guess what we will be having for dessert tonight? Everyone needs to quickly put a pie in the oven. I mean, you all have homemade pie filling in your freezer, right? You can't let an opportunity to have pie for dessert go by uncelebrated.
Yes, the apple pie filling is still a tad frozen in this picture since it had just come out of the freezer.
Alan has been yearning for strawberry rhubarb pie for quite some time so he threw this together when he got home. Yup, we have lots of rhubarb and strawberries in the freezer as well.

You'll have to deal with the pre-baked pictures because I'm pretty sure there will be nothing left over after they are baked.

Thank You Katie

She brings me a drink. I say thank you Katie, that is very helpful. She says yes it is. You have got to love the simple honesty of a four-year-old.

I'm Not Tired. . . .

. . .and I won't go to sleep.

The Snowman

I was looking out the kitchen window this afternoon and discovered this creation in the backyard.

The Narnia Invasion

This adorable looking gang has been reeking havoc on our house for the past few weeks. I think we may soon be in need of an intervention.

Cute Pictures

This picture of Abby just makes me smile. This is how the kids are normally carried around by Mom and Dad in the winter until they are old enough to march through the snow and muck by themselves. Which is normally when they are about Abby's age since our kids seem to stay small for so long that we can't find real snow boots that fit them properly until they are 2. Today she decided this was the perfect way to carry her baby around.
Gabe woke up for one of his late night snuggle sessions and promptly fell asleep in my arms.

Our Famous Sean

Sean made it into the newspaper, and we thought we would share. Enjoy!

Celebrating Epiphany

So why do we bother to celebrate the liturgical year with the kids? There are so many reasons that it is hard to narrow it down to just one. But seriously, how could you turn down a chance to celebrate something with a cake or cookies or a special meal? Religion should be much more than going to church once a week and saying prayers before meals. Religion should be fun. When it is fun, it is more likely to lead to a lifelong love of the faith and a real relationship with God and the Saints. After all, who could not be drawn to people who give us a reason to have cake.Today we are celebrating the Epiphany. Yes, the traditional feast day is celebrated on January 6th and in the Eastern Churches, that day holds as the big day with much celebration. In the Western Church, the feast day is moved to Sunday so we celebrate today.
The wise men have finished their journey and arrived to pay homage to their King.
I debating making a real King cake but decided that baking trinkets and such into the cake would not be a good idea with so many little ones that would have to be watched. So we settled instead on a regular cake.
Crowns all around. Perhaps next year we will fit in the traditional house blessing and procession but I think we covered enough for this year.

Fixing the Wall

Gabe has figured out how to knock over the pressure gate and climb the stairs so Alan decided that the time had come to fix the wall so we could hang the swing gate back up.These projects are perfect learning opportunities for the kids. Yup, it's much easier to do on your own without kids slowing you down and getting in the way. But the positives of allowing the boys to do real work and spend time with Dad and learn some valuable life skills greatly outweigh the speed issue.
Everyone got a turn to use the saw.
And now we simply wait for the mud to dry so we can sand and hang the gate back up. One of these days we'll start working on painting. Hopefully one day soon.

Car Seat Poncho

The creative urge struck today and collided with the need to keep the kids warm yet safe in the car. We all know that winter jackets, snowsuits, and most car seat cover devices ( the bundle me covers and the like) are a big no-no in car seats. If you are in a collision, the fabric can compress leaving a huge gap between your child and the straps on the seat resulting in a child falling out of a car seat. The low tech solution is to simply cover your child with a blanket once you have them safely buckled in. The high tech solution is a car seat poncho. With a poncho, there is nothing between your child and the buckles, nothing between your child and the back of the car seat. You simply place the back of the poncho over the top of the car seat as you place the child in and put the straps on under the top of the poncho. Once the child is buckled in, you can cover them back up with the front of the poncho and keep them warm. No taking coats on and off every time you get in and out of the car.I made ponchos today for Gabe and Abby. A big plus is I found most of the material in the remnant bin at the fabric store and they were an additional 70% off so under $2 per yard of fleece is a very good deal. I made these ponchos double layer because things get a tad cold around here in the winter. And this way they can stay warm from the car to the buildings and we can simply leave their coats at home for playing in the snow. I'd hoped to make them a tad longer but was working off directions for an infant poncho and forgot to get a bit of extra fleece to compensate for the taller child.
By the time I'd finished Abby's up, I'd figured out how to do the hood properly so her poncho looks much better than Gabe's. That's the price you pay for Mom made, working on the fly handiwork. But they are cute and the kids are happy.

On a side note, if you are one of those parents who are buckling your kid into the car seat with a heavy coat on or a snowsuit or a bundle-me because you want them to stay warm, please do a bit more reading on the safety of such usage. Keeping them safe is much more important than the time saved by not taking the coats on and off all the time.

Borax Snowflakes

Last night Alan helped the older kids make borax snowflakes. Because we don't have enough snow outside yet, we want it in the house as well. The directions are super simple if you feel the urge to try it with your kids. You can find them here. All you need is borax, boiling water, a wide-mouthed jar, a pencil, string and a pipe cleaner. This experiment gives you wonder looking crystals.
The work in progress.
Now they have to sit undisturbed overnight.
The finished product.
Learn from us if you decide to try this. Make sure you really are using wide-mouthed jars or that you make small pipe cleaner snowflake shapes for the crystals to attach themselves to. We are having trouble getting the snowflakes out of the jars because they are a tad bigger than the openings.