Mairs Momilies

Here I Am...

2011-09-20T08:16:00.000-04:00

Well I seem to have gotten lost in cyberspace somewhere but I'm going to try to post a bit more frequently again (more frequently than once every six months is really setting that bar high, huh?!). But I find myself awake at previously unknown to me hours and so I'm thinking perhaps I can use that time to continue to record the crazy life in our household.

Our world has been rocked. Turned upside down. All we ever knew has been tossed with yesterday's garbage and replaced with today's adventure. Four of the kids are now in Public School - that evil place I swore I'd never make my children attend. My day now begins at the ridiculously early hour of 6am. Gone are the days of sleeping until 9:30 and starting our day at 10:30. I now have four kids on their way, laundry started, dressed, email checked, baby fed dressed and returned for a morning nap and my breakfast eaten by 7:30 am. Who IS this woman?!

It started with JT. He's been bugging us from the beginning of Time to play soccer for our local high school. Daily reminders that several Baltimore Blast players got their starts at this school coupled with endless repititions of WHY can't I go to school? earned him a tryout for the team. Well, he made the team and thus earned a seat on the Big Yellow Bus since MD law prohibits homeschoolers from playing sports on public school teams (I won't even begin on that one....). Sooo....one down...why not some more? He was followed by Philip at the same school, then Ruth at the middle school and most recently Andrea at the high school. Miriam is my last hold out and her attitude about it changes by the hour. She'll turn 16 next month and will get a big graduation from homeschool party and then it's on to Public School for her whether she likes it or not...but most likely she will.

Once Miriam boards that short bus for the first time we'll have JT plus all of our special kiddos as card-carrying members of the Public School Club. That sure does make the Homeschool Club look verrrry different and we are loving it! Honestly, I'm not sure why I didn't make this decision sooner except that I know I needed to feel confident that I had taught those four all I could possibly teach them before passing on the baton. Now our days have gone from one therapeutic goal to the next to an endless realm of adventures in learning with those who CAN learn leading the way, sprinkled with the usual Adventures in Toddlerhood.

It's a whole new world in the Klopcic household these days and we are looking forward to a new homeschooling year like never before.

The Missing Pieces

2010-10-11T21:43:00.000-04:00

Besides being terribly behind on blogging about birthdays and family trips and the usual Tali antics and Davidisms, I have also been remiss in reporting a few other small details of our lives....like starting a family business...and, oh, having another baby.

The business came first - an idea inspired by Ben's chance comment about his future in the entertainment industry. "Mom," he said to me one day while standing in the kitchen, "I want to be the guy who shows up at the party with the moonbounce and the magic act and the cotton candy machine." A lightbulb went off in my head, my ears literally perked up (they can do that you know, if sufficiently aroused) and I said, "Cotton Candy! Hmmm....." And thus was born Squeaky Clean Entertainment, the proud peddlers of old fashioned party entertainment and all natural NatureSpun cotton candy.

For years I've been feeling a pull to start up a family business - something all the kids can be involved with, something that will be there for them as they get into high school and college and need to earn money, someplace where our more compromised children can find a niche, a laboratory for the arts, science, math - the Uber-Homeschool Project. And now here it is - hawking cotton candy and marketing party entertainment.

We thought this would be a great time to start up a business. Having lost years of our lives and the dream of owning and living on a farm to the mess of a church from whence we came, we were beginning to talk redemption - reclaiming what we lost, moving forward, putting ourselves on a fast track to long-neglected goals. And we were resting from having children. Twelve was a good number. Long ago, Tad said he'd get to twelve and consider the contract (I said I thought we'd end up with 16 but I granted him his considerations). So we started off on monthly monitoring and a whole slew of other nonsense intended to temporarily cease any new fetal development. In true Klopcic fashion, however, it wasn't long after our business was adopted into the family that number 13 showed up in my womb. Yes, we know how *that* happens but really I have no idea how it happened this time around - we had it all figured out - or so we thought....and now we have a wee one due on or about April 1st. God's joke on us - a wonderful, glorious joke!

Dear October,

2010-10-11T20:42:00.000-04:00

Please stop acting like June. The internal temperature of my pregnant body is already high enough without you flirting with it and egging it on to go ever higher. Besides, you know I'm trying to change all the clothes over to our Fall and Winter wardrobe and you are making this much more difficult than it needs to be. You're not funny - so just get on with it please.

Regards,

Mairs

Happy Birthday Little Man!

2010-09-13T11:15:00.021-04:00

Nathan's twin finally caught up to him in age - just a few weeks late...He invited his very best friend Gabby over and her little brother Benjamin. The two of them fit right into the chaos and loved every second of running around with all the kids. They made their own pizzas together, had cake and then Miah enjoyed opening his presents. Although, I'm not sure who enjoyed some of the presents more...
Happy Birthday Little Man!!

Boys and Tinker Toys

2010-09-11T00:36:00.000-04:00

I love these things! They've always fostered such creativity in my kids. Now they're getting high tech too.

Today's Excitement

2010-08-31T22:45:00.000-04:00

So today this little fella was running about on our driveway and in our garage. I took this picture with my cellphone sans zoom - I really got this close and still the little scamperer didn't even flinch. Ben found him and the little thing immediately latched onto him and began to follow him everywhere. Ben went out to the driveway, Baby followed him, Ben went in the garage, Baby followed, Ben climbed up a tree, Baby scampered up about two feet and then got stuck there. Everyone who went outside today was privy to his shenanigans. He just would not leave our family alone, as if to say "Look, you already have a gazillion, don't you want me too?!" A bit worried about his behavior and not at all familiar with juvenile squirrel antics, I put in a call to Animal Control. Mr. Animal Control guy arrived and identified our little friend as Orphaned Squirrel - round about age 4 weeks. He suggested Mama Squirrel probably met up with a car somewhere and left little Jr abandoned to the wild world. He captured Orphaned Squirrel, put him gently in a cage, had me sign a paper saying I was the owner of Orphaned Squirrel and I was willingly relinquishing him to the care of Mr. Animal Control and then set off in his van to deliver Orphaned Squirrel to a local rehabber who, he promised, would carefully care for Orphaned Squirrel for the next two weeks and then release our little friend into the wild. So long little friend! May you fare better than your poor mum!

It's Official...

2010-08-09T23:24:00.000-04:00

I now have a son taller than me. I tried to squish down those dreadlocks but it just didn't work. He has me by at least a half inch....sigh...

Tali A-Go-Go

2010-08-05T22:59:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th Nate!!

2010-07-30T22:34:00.002-04:00

Swim Lessons

2010-07-30T22:13:00.005-04:00

Nine kids. Two hours. Ten Days....GO!

On the second day of class JM came to me and whispered in my ear "My teacher is wearing a zuchinni." "Oh dear," I said. "Did you tell her that's not allowed in the pool?" His eyes got bigger and he said "Why? Is there a sign that says that?"

Where I've Been...

2010-07-05T01:10:00.000-04:00

So it all started about two months ago or so. Ben, who has been enjoying providing entertainment for a few of my friends' kids' birthday parties, was discussing his hopes and dreams with me one day. He said, "Mom, I want to be the guy who shows up at the party with the moon bounce, the entertainment and the cotton candy machine. I want to be the guy all the kids love." Cotton candy...hmmm....great idea. And the next thing I knew my whole life was turned upside down.

Tad and I have had a life-long dream of owning our own little piece of Earth - a small farm, maybe 20 acres with a stream, woods for the kids to romp in, a big roomy old farmhouse, a place for the chickens to free range, maybe a pony for the girls....but there's been problems along the way - wrong turns in the road, decisions made away from our dreams rather than on a path toward them. And so we've been thinking and praying and counting up our pennies and realized if we want to get back on that road less traveled we'd need to bring in some more income. But with 12 kids with whom we really enjoy spending time, more time away from the family for Dad didn't seem worth it and Mom, well...not much demand for MA's in Theater History these days - even if it does come from an ivy league....

But cotton candy...who can resist? I couldn't and I began to research the ins and outs of owning my own machine and spinning sugar for a living - or at least to have some money to throw at a dream. And so we are now the proud owners of a Paragon Spin Magic - turning out 3 cones of all natural goodness per minute inside the double bubble and set upon a beautiful little cart. It's the perfect business for a large family. Who can resist the Research and Development phase when it involves inviting your neighbor friends over for free cotton candy?

So, while I've been neglecting my blog, I haven't been lazing about. I've been researching health department regs and license requirements, filling out forms, meeting with The General about liability and taxes and spinning sugar and brain cells to pull it all together. It's gonna be good.

The parent company is there for Ben...and Betsy...and whoever else grows into the talent to provide entertainment and for John Michael who wants to get into the food industry and for those who will need to learn a trade so they can stick with us and for all of us to see our dreams come true. It's called the Squeaky Clean Entertainment Company and it sells a product called NatureSpun cotton candy which is made with all natural ingredients - nothing artificial in our white clouds of fluffy goodness. We're having a blast growing this thing together and working toward a common goal. So I apologize if you don't hear from me - follow me on facebook, Squeaky Clean will be there soon - and if you have an event you'd like us to serve just give me a ring or shoot me an email and I'll come spin ya some suga, Suga! But for this week, it's more forms and spinning and Circus Camp at our house!

Another Month in the Year of the Teen

2010-07-03T00:58:00.000-04:00

It's Philip's turn to turn 13! As usual, his birthday involved his buddy Nate. Happy Birthday Phlip!

DOD

2010-06-30T22:55:00.001-04:00

I was in the basement folding laundry today when David came down, stood next to me and proceeded to do what looked like his pee dance. But before I could get out the question he blurted out, "Mom, I *don't* have to use the potty, I'm just *that* excited about having s'mores on the Fourth of July!"

My Little Naturalists...

2010-06-27T22:02:00.000-04:00

FAITH:

and TALI:

It's That Kind of a Day

2010-06-27T00:38:00.000-04:00

It's been a really rough day today. The whole day literally went to the dogs but here's an excerpt just to give you a sampling....

I've been rearranging furniture in our office and have lots of books and important papers and what-not stacked up everywhere. So I saw Tali head for a pile and sternly instructed her *not* to go where she was heading. Of course, not only did she head in that direction but she took off her diaper on the way and proceeded to relieve herself on the floor with a widening puddle approaching my piles of books and important papers. I picked her up and unceremoniously dumped her into the tub then used up the last 4 baby wipes to toss on top of the puddle until I could get there.

Meanwhile, in crawls Faith, also in need of a tubby. I finish up with Tali, toss her into bed for the night and strip off Faith's diaper only to find that she has pooped. Of course, where are the wipes? Yep, used up on the puddle on the floor. I rediaper Faith into her poopy diaper and go in search of a new pack of wipes. I get her wiped up, sit her in the tub, get her cleaned up and jammied. Then I turn to the toilet to rinse out the poopy cloth diaper only to find the toilet is clogged. So I set the poopy diaper back on the floor next to the potty and begin to unclog the toilet at which point the clean and happy Faith crawls back into the bathroom, spies the poopy diaper and crawls as fast as her little legs can move toward it. I pick up a foot and place it on her forehead in order to slow down her progress as I continue to plunge the toilet. Getting the picture? Hopefully you find it more amusing than I did in the moment.

I could go on and on about the rest of the day but I think you get the idea...

Tally Ho to Two!

2010-06-11T23:39:00.010-04:00

Tali had a great birthday - started off by licking the beaters for her cake, then a dinner of cheese, crackers, grapes, applesauce cups and popcorn (very popular with the whole family), a piece of cake and presents! She's really not the princessy type - the sword is much more her style although she was pretty psyched to try on those underpants even if she has no intention of ever using them for their intended purpose...
Happy Birthday Squeaky!

DOD

2010-05-31T23:12:00.000-04:00

On Saturday David, Nathan and JM all went to a birthday party for our priest's son - Matthew. Matt had a pirate themed party and each guest got an inflatable sword with their name on it. At one point in the party, I was sitting next to David on the front porch and talking with Pani Chris - Fr's wife. She decided to try to round up the swords and get them to their rightful owners. So she picked up Nathan's sword and handed it to David and said, "Here's your sword honey." David calmly looked at her and said, "But that's Nathan's sword." "Oh, so it is." So she looked around and handed him John's sword. "Well, *here's* your sword." "No," David said, "that's not mine either." Then he patiently looked her in the eye and said, "Pani Chris, it's spelled D-A-V-I-D."

Oh the Horror!

2010-05-15T11:19:00.001-04:00

I dropped JT off at soccer practice this morning. As we pulled up into the parking area, JT pointed to a man standing next to his car chatting with his son. Then in disgust he said, "That's so-and-so's dad. He's always doing that." Wondering what Soccer Dad faux paus this poor man had committed I asked him, "Doing what?" "Standing around wearing a muscle shirt and shorty shorts."

Checklist

2010-05-14T15:04:00.000-04:00

4 prs size 2T shorts. check.

9 stuffies. check.

3 prs church sandals. check.

2 toothbrushes. check.

4 books. check.

Yep, two teenage girls are all ready to go camping.

DOD

2010-05-05T15:04:00.001-04:00

Recently, a few of the younger kids had an opportunity to visit the Baltimore Symphony. Since I couldn't take them myself, I enlisted one of our volunteers, Greg, to be their chaperone. The symphony was Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens. I was discussing the concert with David in the car today:

David, we never got to talk about how you liked the concert you went to with Mr. Greg. How was it?

It was ok.

Just ok? What was wrong?

Well, Mom, the music was all wrong.

What do you mean?

They used all the wrong instruments and the tempo was way too slow.

Oh, really?

I mean, Mom, that is *not* how Beethoven's Fifth goes!

Happy Birthday Tad!

2010-05-03T00:55:00.003-04:00

Tad wasn't up much for actually celebrating so we made him a great sandwich for lunch and JM baked him his own Big Top Cupcake. It's nice to have Tad working at home a few days a week - he can always take time out to celebrate the little things with us! Happy Birthday Young Man!

WorkVelcro

2010-04-20T02:05:00.000-04:00

I finally got to show off all my WorkVelcro handiness to our TORCH group last week and decided it's time to do the obligatory blog post as well. I came up with this system whilst laying in bed pregnant all Summer, trying to figure out how to keep nine schooling kids occupied enough that I could sleep in with what was soon to be a nursing newborn. It started in my mind as a pile of index cards stuffed into those little cardboard library card holder thingys and taped generously to the front of their schoolwork boxes. The more I tossed and turned over it, I was able to eventually develop the idea into its current incarnation. Once I had the idea up and moving I discovered this thing called Work Boxes. It's a remarkably similar system but I decided to stick with mine for a number of reasons, mostly due to the sheer number of creatures I school on a daily basis.

So here's how WorkVelcro works - I think most of these are of Philip's cards.

Each kid has two index card holders in their schoolwork box (I got these at the Dollar Store)- one holder for storing all the possible cards they could use and one for storing the day's active working cards.

Each evening before I plan to use the system, I move the cards they are going to need for the day from their storage holder to their working holder. Before they go into the working holder they have a number attached to each card which tells them the order in which to do their cards. The numbers are stored on this chart - the letters represent the child's first name to avoid confusion about whose cards are whose.

As they work through the cards, they pull off the number and replace it on the chart. This is so first of all I can see how much of their work they have completed at any given point in the day, and it also resets the numbers for the next time the system is used.

The main reason I implemented this system was to utilize all the fun educational resources I've collected that otherwise sat unused in my school cabinet. Their cards may have such activities as:

Puzzles
Play a Game (alone or with a few sibs - will be assigned)
Play a Computer game (specific games are assigned along with this card)
Ride scooter (this is a therapeutic goal for several of them - many of the cards incorporate therapeutic activities as well)
Speechercise
LeapPad or Leapster
Various types of Math drills - Flashmaster, flashcards, math games, etc
Wii (we've been using Wii fit Balance games to meet therapeutic goals)
Read chapter books or history books
Cooking task
Brain Gym
Read to a younger
Workbooks
Math assignments

If a task card is included which involves a larger item then that item can be found on this shelf with the child's initial velcro'd to the item so they know which ones has been assigned to them. They use the item and replace it on the shelf as is. If they are assigned to play a game with another child and that child is not yet ready, they are instructed to keep going through their additional cards until they can come back to the shared activity.

And that's it. Putting together the laminated task cards was the most time-consuming aspect of putting this into effect. I think daily of more cards I could add to the system and will continue to mix in more activities. The kids *love* this. I don't get the cards ready every day and I don't expect myself to. If we do the cards 2 or 3 days a week then I've had a good week with the system.

DOD

2010-04-14T09:36:00.000-04:00

I have a 5 year old who totally gets money. I've never had one of those before. It was fun listening to him talk to Adora this morning who was totally unprepared for a 5 year old to actually know what he was talking about when he has a fiver and some change in his possession.

Adora, I have six dollars and five cents.

You do?

Yeah. I have a dollar and five cents.

What?

I have five dollars.

Huh?

I have a hundred and five cents.

You do?

Yeah and I have five dollars.

Oh.

So I have six dollars and five cents.

Huh.

Faith - Eight Months

2010-04-11T00:41:00.002-04:00

She's grooving much more on those wipes than the turtle this time around...

Phlipism

2010-04-10T18:21:00.000-04:00

Philip has some trouble forming sentences and hearing what he's said or written. Currently he has a very difficult assignment, then. He is doing a "research" report on Amerigo Vespucci and I asked him to write down five new things he had learned about Amerigo in complete sentences - must start with a capital, end with punctuation and have a noun and an action word. Once he wrote his sentences, I asked him to read them aloud to Betsy since he can't see if they are lacking without hearing them in action. He turned in his paper and this sentence apparently made perfect sense to him: Amerigo to school.

Bright Monday

2010-04-05T22:18:00.000-04:00

Bright Monday liturgy was followed by an egg hunt for the kids. Thanks Pani Chris for the fun hunt!

The Resurrection Nerf Battle

2010-04-04T23:22:00.000-04:00

So...after staying up all night for Liturgy, gorging ourselves at the Paschal Feast, sleeping for a few hours and then hunting down baskets in our own yard it was off to Aunt Great's house for an epic nerf battle and egg hunt for the wee ones. Adults v Kids. 3 eggs per team. Get all the eggs on your side to win. GO!

The kids won....of course....Meanwhile Maegan and her friend Sarah occupied the little ones with an egg hunt where everyone won...of course...

Hunting Down Easter

2010-04-04T22:25:00.001-04:00

Another successful and way fun Easter Basket Scavenger Hunt. We started this tradition last year and the kids liked it so much we did it again but modified it a bit. We repeated the idea of picture clues printed out on the printer in black and white but this time they found their baskets along the way instead of all of them in one spot at the end and the boundaries were expanded into some of the neighbors' yards which meant a bit of traipsing up and down the street. We had a couple of mix-ups with climbing the wrong tree due to Hunt Master error and searching the wrong picnic table due to Hunter Reader error. The older ones had a bit more....challenging basket recovery while the younger ones retrieved their baskets early on and made short order of the contents.

The Blessing of the Baskets and Paschal Feast

2010-04-04T22:12:00.001-04:00

I love my church family and I love this tradition of breaking the fast together after the Paschal Divine Liturgy. This started at about 3:30 am and we partied til 5:00!

Paschal Divine Liturgy

2010-04-04T22:01:00.001-04:00

The Evolution of Sleep:

Faith - The Paschal Party Animal!

Holy Unction - Wednesday Evening

2010-03-31T21:53:00.002-04:00

Gymnasts

2010-03-29T15:10:00.000-04:00

Observation Day for Gymnastics last week. Here's a few shots of the action - Betsy, John Michael and David are our gymnasts this year.

Everyone Needs a Mary

2010-03-23T01:34:00.000-04:00

I have a friend named Mary. We think alike which most people would say is a scary thing to have *two* brains like ours in this world. I first met Mary at a Catholic charismatic prayer meeting in somebody's living room. I'm not even sure which somebody but I'm sure it was a living room since that's the only place we ever met for meetings. That was shortly after Tad and I were married - so I guess I've known her for going on 16 or 17 years now. It was love at first sight. She was among the many who prayed JT into our lives after the medical professionals pronounced us infertile. She didn't stop there - she may be single-souledly responsible for the next 11 as well as she is probably our biggest prayer warrior ever. That and very early on she had a vision of me in a denim jumper surrounded by children of all ages and nationalities. I think she was determined to see that vision become reality. As you can imagine, she's perfectly thrilled with how things have turned out.

Over the years I've learned everything about Mary. She calls me on the phone at the most random times and we have hour long conversations. I've heard all about her children - one of whom grew up in Tad's circles and when a mutual friend of theirs died at a too young age they reconnected at the funeral. When her daughter was in a terrible car accident I prayed hard for her and her unborn baby. That unborn baby has since become a tall and athletic young man but he'll always be "my Michael" when Mary talks about him to me. I never met these people - they've come alive to me over the years in our phone conversations. Her people became my people and they never knew it. One day Mary called me up and said "I know what your baby looks like and I know where she was the other day and I know she's really cute. Do you know how I know all that?" I hadn't a clue except that she's Mary and Mary just seems to know things about me. Turns out "my Michael" is Mick - the kid with long, curly hair on JT's travel soccer team and I had unknowingly developed a side-lines friendship with "my Julie", Mary's daughter. Turns out I know things about Mary that even "my Julie" doesn't know.

My kids love Mary. She shows up at completely random times, always loaded down with goodies she's bought on clearance at the Dollar Store (only Mary could find clearance items at the Dollar Store). She sweeps into the door demanding hugs and kisses and showering the kids with lots of "oh you've gotten so tall"s and "is that really you?! I never would known it - you've grown up so much"s. Then she plops herself down on the floor in the middle of them and starts pulling things out of plastic bags as they climb all over her and giggle and try to peek in her bags. Once she distributes all the toys she sits back and grins from ear to ear, watching them play.

After a few minutes of that she gets real serious and pulls them all up around her and says, "You know what I want now. It's time to sing me a song." Ben will step forward and start a rousing rendition of My Mommy's A Pirate or the German Water Drinking Song - which always makes her laugh - before I steer them into a church song we've been learning - most recently the hymn to the Theotokos - which always makes her cry.

One time she visited, instead of bearing gifts she came bearing ice cream for the freezer and slipped me some money to buy the kids a real surprise - something a bit more lasting than Made In China toys. The last time she came we broke out the two cotton candy makers she had bank-rolled and she and Tali ran from one to the other licking up the stray sugar and sharing wisps of fluff right out of the machines. That time she also brought boxes of toys that came from her niece who works for an adaptive PE equipment distributor. What fun to have among those boxes team pinnies numbered from 1 to 12. Of course she made them all put them on in order and get their picture taken. That was the same visit the kids unveiled the mii they had made of Mary on the wii. Mary has no idea what a wii does but she was tickled pink with her mii.

Mary loves babies. Over the years she's done things like rock drug babies in the hospital, prepared maybe as many as a thousand bassinets for young mothers who have nothing for their new babies - and taught us how to prepare them as well. She's prayed for babies she's never met and she's held every one of my babies. She grandmothers women who have had abortions and loves them out of their pain at Rachel's Vineyard retreats. She spends equally as much time with the elderly. She's just awesome like that.

Somehow I always know when Mary is going to call. I can feel it in my soul and then the phone rings. She always leaves me with nuggets of wisdom - usually the very same things I've been grappling with in my spirit are the thoughts she names for me. "It is what it is", "The older I get the less I know", "Children are so much smarter than the rest of us." She collects stories and shares her personal pilgrimage through life with me and then she listens as I share mine. Everyone needs a Mary. Who is yours?

Faith - Six Months!

2010-03-23T00:11:00.000-04:00

DOD

2010-03-07T21:48:00.001-05:00

Trying to get everyone to confession before Pascha is a bit of a challenge. So last evening I took JT, Ben, Ruth and David to Vespers. David is very interested in singing in the choir so on lightly attended services, I pull up a chair for him to stand on, put him in front of a music stand and whisper the words in his ear so he can follow along. That worked for a while until he started to lose ground and looked at me with little pleading eyes and said, "Mom, Miss. Peggy is going too fast!"

After the service, Ben, JT and Ruth moved over to the other side to indicate to Father they wanted him to hear their confessions. Not wanting to be left out, David followed along and sat right in line with them. A few of us smiled at him which made him realize he might not be doing what he was supposed to be doing so he came back over to me and asked, "Mom, what is confession?" After I explained it to him he answered with, "Oh, I think I'm not tall enough for that" and went along his merry way.

The World's Best Neighbors

2010-02-15T22:25:00.000-05:00

I feel singularly qualified to say that we have the World's Best Neighbors. I present you with my evidence - and note that I am actually *in* these photos. Not only do they regularly host events such as these but they take pictures and send them to me as well! Zee's - YOU ROCK!

Blizzard of '10

2010-02-11T17:24:00.000-05:00

We've experienced an unprecedented 2 consecutive blizzards now. So I guess I should give it a nod at least. Anyone who knows me knows that SNOW is a four letter word in every aspect in my book. I ignored the first blizzard but finally decided the second one deserved some camera work at least. So here you go. Pictures.

Kids in the Kitchen: Food Challenge Feb 9, 2010

2010-02-10T23:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday somebody got the idea to have a Food Challenge a la Food Network's Iron Chef America. Ben threw the gauntlet down before John Michael who accepted and they were off and running. The challenge: Choose a team of chefs to create a three course meal with a beverage for the panel of judges. Judging was based on Presentation, Taste and Teamwork.

The teams: Team John Michael Sous chefs Betsy, Timothy and Tyrone

Team Ben Sous chef Aaron

Team John was up first preparing lunch. They prepared cheesey pretzels as an appetizer, JT's signature

Ketchup-Infused Hotdogs for a main course, oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert and coffee milkshake for the beverage.

Here John Michael describes his dishes for the judges:

The judges then went to the difficult work of tasting and evaluating. Each judge could issue up to a total of 80 points: 10 points each for Presentation and Taste for the appetizer, main course and dessert, 10 more points for the beverage and up to 10 points for Teamwork. I thought Team John worked together remarkably well. The adults served as judges and we had a blast. I should have videotaped the final judges' panel as Tad and Carlos really went to town on the formal critique - way fun!

JT served as a judge since Tad wasn't home for the lunch presentation so he filled in for his dad and they worked together on the Team Ben part of the challenge.

He was the toughest judge of all.

Team Ben included just Ben and Aaron. They got off to a bit of a slow start on the teamwork but once Ben realized he was selling his partner a bit short he quickly adjusted his attitude. They chose a very ambitious menu which took them many more hours to prepare than they had anticipated. It was a verrry late dinner. For the appetizer they served shrimp cocktail, then for the main course we enjoyed sloppy joe

on homemade bread with steamed veggies. Dessert was homemade donuts

and hot chocolate with whipped cream (with homemade whipped cream and chocolate syrup). They served lemonade as their beverage. Here's Team Ben presenting their dishes to the judges:

And then dessert:

And the judges were back at it, eating, scoring and critiquing. In the end, Team Ben won by about 25 points out of a total 320 from all of the judges. It was great fun and we were so pleased with all that a group of kids accomplished completely on their own.

Mission Field

2010-02-07T22:40:00.002-05:00

Here's the rules to the nerf game we came up with. I think it's a good game and it worked out really well with two teams of about 10 people on each team. We called it Mission Field (I'm lovin' how much fun the nerf guns are but still a pacifist at heart so I tried to at least make it *sound* good.)

So there's two teams and each team has a Village Chief. The chiefs' first job is to choose teams. From there they are the unofficial leaders of their team and coordinate all decisions and team strategy. Each team gets a color and each member of the team must wear their color on their arm or their head. We used strips of blue and white fabric for the two team colors.

Each team then chooses 2 Doctors and a Missionary (see how wholesome this is?!). These should be your stealthiest players. All other team members are Villagers. Letting the other team identify your Doctors and Missionary should be avoided for as long as possible.

The game is played like freeze tag. Once the game begins each team shoots at the opposing team. If a player is hit with a dart, they must freeze. (no weenies allowed - if you get hit, take your blow and admit defeat) Once frozen, two things can happen to free them:

1. They are tagged (by hand - not with a dart) by one of their own Doctors and resume play or
2. They are tagged (by hand) by the Missionary from the opposing team and now become a Villager for the opposite team. The Missionarys carry extra colors and issue their team's colors to the converted Villager.

In later attempts at this game we added in the rule that once tagged and unfrozen, the Villagers must touch a team base before resuming play. This avoided the strategy of having Doctors follow directly behind Villagers and touch them quickly each time they are hit with a dart. You could also keep extra team colors at the base instead of having the Missionary rather conspicuously carry them around.

The game ends when either all the players from one team have been frozen or converted to the other team. Once a Doctor or Missionary has been converted to the other team they become Villagers for that team. Their loss will always be the beginning of the end of the game.

Happy Pelting!

Finally....

2010-02-07T11:58:00.002-05:00

got some Christmas pictures up. They are posted here.

Testing Hospitality

2010-02-06T23:01:00.000-05:00

The call came on a Sunday evening a couple of weeks before Christmas while I was sitting on the couch watching tv with the family - a rare occurrence around here. It was my "friend" Beverly whom I'd never met in real life but with whom I'd had a friendship for many years through a yahoo group of other Christian moms who homeschool large families - we have a lot in common. Since it was rather late and she had never phoned me before I suspected what the call was going to entail. Her family had hit a string of bad luck and poor choices over the past several months and I knew they had lost a house and had since moved from place to place with their eight children - all boys - and were probably in crisis seeking a place to stay. As the months had unfolded and she had shared her story with the group I had continually offered a place to stay in our home should they ever need it. The time had come, they needed it. I kept thinking what it must have taken for her to actually pick up the phone and call me - a stranger, but not a stranger - and beg our provision for her and her large family. I could hear something in her voice, a weariness perhaps, maybe even shock of having been rejected by her own family and turned out on the streets. Of course we would have them come to our home and of course they could stay.

Since it was late and they didn't have a vehicle large enough to get them to our house in one trip I asked if she could find provision for the night and we would come in the morning and pick them up in our large van. She didn't know. I gave her the number for another friend from the same group who lived closer to where they were and instructed her to make plans for the night and give me a call back. About an hour later we talked again and her mother had agreed to let them stay the night at her house - but just one more night and then they were to be on their way. If ever there was a time to be Christ to someone, this was our time. How could we turn away this family when they had nowhere else to go?

We spent the next few days gathering up enough mattresses and food to feed and house a household of now 26. We collected gift cards from friends and family, furniture from freecyclers and a mattress from a friend who cleans out foreclosed homes for a living - there was some small irony in that one. Those eight boys took over the basement, covering the floor with mattresses, blankets and bodies. The washing machine began to run, along with the dishwasher and the shower, and they haven't stopped since. Betsy gave up her room to Beverly and Carlos and their youngest two sons and took up residence under Miriam's day bed. Tad networked their computer into the household network and Beverly immediately set to work on the internet hunting down new job opportunities for Carlos - while he continues to commute 1 1/2 hours one way to his current position. (Philip took up residence in John's and David's closet from whence he could spy on Beverly's computer screen.) They hope to move the family to North Carolina or some other point south when all this is said and done.

Our weekly "adult meetings" have been productive. Carlos feels like he's finally back on track - able to save up enough money for a security deposit and first month's rent at whatever their next stop shall be - hopefully their final stop for quite some time to come after being in this transition period for close to nine months now. I have to admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed when they first asked us for two months in our home but a silent "Lord have mercy" is a prayer that goes a long way to assuage doubts and fears in the face of serving others and we agreed to let them stay until March 1st - actually more like 2 1/2 months. There are lots of challenges they need to meet - they still need to navigate through transportation for 10 people and their belongings once they decide on an ending point. And, those belongings? Well, they're scattered over about 3 different households and a storage facility right now and will need to be gathered into one place and transported. Then there is the emotional toll this has taken on their family. The boys desperately want to be in a place they can call home - but not just home - *their* home. They often talk about how good it's going to be and just as often they get frustrated with the things they don't have now - things like the freedom to eat a snack when they're hungry, wear sneakers that fit them because they aren't sure in which house they've been left, play a video game when they want to chill out or be a player on a team sport. They want to feel like winners when relying completely upon others is not a winning situation.

I'm doing my best to provide some sense of at least equality among the children - to not make our guests feel like second rate citizens. If there were three Christmas gifts for each of our children under the tree - by golly there were going to be three for each of them as well and if one of them was a nerf gun then there would be weaponry for all. Things like snacks, candy, movies and even chores can quickly become a sticking point if it seems that "ours" are getting something "they" can't have. My constant striving the past couple of months has been to eliminate the "us" and "them" thinking. To that end, there's been nerf battles waged, chores assigned and posted, movie nights planned, late night snacks overlooked, extra rounds of candy bingo, provisions snuck in to Beverly in paper bags and many, many, many conversations which always seem to center around the themes of extending grace and love in all circumstances.

Twenty-six people means 26 personalities. We already had our share of interesting challenges before this family arrived and now we've added to that 10 more people who need to be understood and allowed to express themselves - and who need to understand the special needs of our family to promote tolerance. This is no small task and admittedly, I'm tired. Our last adult meeting looked like something from the set of a zombie movie - 4 exhausted and frustrated bodies with glazed over eyes slumped in chairs around the room trying to navigate through the land mine of personalities that are our children. The next day Ben and I spent sequestered in my room creating the rules for a nerf battle in which all the adults could play too so we could model good sportsmanship and show our kids it's still possible to have fun together. A pizza party broke the ice before that battle. We won more than just a collection of foam darts that night - we won back the hearts of our children, at least a good part of them. That's the real work of living together here like this.

Meals are like running a camp kitchen. We already had our evening meals divided up between myself, Adora and the children so we simply added Beverly into the rotation and it's been doable. I usually start my meals with a big pot - a pot in which a friend served a meal in that first week and which I have decided to call my own until the end of this journey. She's ok with that. Her kids are all grown now and the pot is too big for just two. We try to pray together as a family before our evening meal and then dinner is served buffet style with the youngest ones being served by moms or older siblings. The grown ups don't usually sit down but there are plenty of seats for all the kids - our post-fire renovations have provided more than enough room for that. The challenge is continuing to keep an additive free kitchen, which means home cooked meals for many more than usual. Homemade pizza night and taco salad seem to be the two favorites.

So here we are coming down to the last few weeks of this commitment we've made to this special family. There is a part of me that's so tired and worn out and looks forward to returning to the day to day struggles of "just" 16 members of our household. But there is something else in me that just can't quit, that wants to get to know this family better and better, that wants more than anything else to part at the next fork in the road as not just friends but comrades in arms, soldiers who survived the trenches together. Please pray for our friends. Please pray that the next stop truly is the last stop for them, that these boys can have a house to call their own and feel like winners again. Lord have mercy.

Faith - Five Months!

2010-02-05T01:55:00.000-05:00

These Boots are Made for Walkin'

2010-02-05T01:46:00.000-05:00

I used my birthday money and got me some go-go boots. I don't know what took me so long to discover these - they are so comfy and practical as shoes go.

And it was just a matter of time before Tali got a hold of them.

How do you do it?

2010-02-05T00:50:00.000-05:00

This has to be one of the top two questions we are asked right after the asker exclaims "You've got your hands full!" My stock answer is "we pray a lot" and truthfully we do pray a lot but I've been thinking quite a bit about this one. How *do* we do it? I mean, what are the real nuts and bolts of doing "it".

First and foremost I think we are actually doing what we've been called and equipped by God to do. If we work against our God-given nature and talents we are going to spend our lives spinning our wheels and banging ours heads against proverbial (and perhaps literal) walls. Flowing with the stream of God's provision is much easier to do than stubbornly portaging upriver against our natural inclinations. Not everyone has it in them to give birth to 7, adopt 5 more with special needs and homeschool to boot. Good thing too, because I am not equipped to deal with the "real" world and all of its ridiculousness. I don't have the patience to spend my days with needy, cranky people and be sure their true basic needs are being met. I'm not equipped to be a medical missionary in Zimbabwe and I'll never be able to translate anything into another language. We are able to do what we do because we are doing what God created and prepared us to do. I understand that what we do seems like a lot more than what other people may be called to do and I just accept that this is the way God made us. I certainly don't put expectations of what I'm called and equipped to do on anybody but me and my family. And there are, whether you want to believe it or not, people doing what we do who are far more amazing than I. Doubt me? Take a look at this. I hereby defer sainthood.

But the nuts and bolts of doing what we do is knowing how to say no - setting boundaries that empower us rather than limit us. Jesus was not a doormat and He doesn't expect us to be one either. Believe it or not, we don't say yes to every thing/person/situation that comes our way. We carefully weigh what we're called to do and can handle. Then if it doesn't seem healthy for us - or for others - we say no and don't look back. The no's can be seemingly insignificant (like no candy before breakfast) or they can be huge (like breaking from a destructive friendship) but all of them are equally as important. It's the discipline of evaluating each and every decision we make and then sticking to our guns that matters. The key word here is discipline - it takes practice and effort to make your no be no and your yes be yes.

Of course the flip side to every "no" is the resounding "yes" that results from our decisions. It's really the yeses that energize and excite us and give a sweet place of rest from time to time. Here's a little run-down of some of our more recent no's and the corresponding yeses:

No to a relationship with a drug-addicted neighbor until she agrees to get help for her addiction. Yes to freedom from the tyranny of the unpredictable and yes to safety for my family.
No to kids staying up past 10:00 (that one takes a ton of nightly discipline). Yes to some down time for Mom and Dad in a quiet living room before bed.
No to 2:00am nursing. Yes to 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep for Mom (unfortunately also yes to the same 5 hours of sleeping on the sofa with the baby for Dad).
No to the many, many demands of three year olds. Yes to a bit of peace and the knowledge that they are learning the life-time benefits of understanding delayed gratification.
No to regular meals of processed foods, fast food and petroleum laced artificial additives. Yes to kids with more self-control and less behavior problems.
No to endless hours of screen time. Yes to kids who enjoy being outdoors, reading for pleasure, playing creatively with one another and have a passion for good old fashioned interactive board games.

Alternately, sometimes it's the learning how to say yes first that makes the difference. This year for our schooling I have committed us to classes almost every afternoon of the week, including three separate co-ops. While that may seem like a lot, I know that if I knew I didn't "have" to do something, it would quickly slip out of our schedule and our kids' education would be lacking the depth and richness it currently possesses. Because of the yes to these time commitments I have girls who are doing sports they love and spending time with instructors who love them, my "juniors" have had two playground days a week - in good weather or foul, our whole family gets to spend weekly quality time with grandparents, an aunt and cousins *while* taking classes in Art and Constitutional Law, I'm re-learning Spanish after 25 years, building up a friendship of my own with another mom and teaching our children how to put together a logical argument and recognize fallacious thinking in advertisements and politics - absolutely invaluable, all of it.

We have in our family a standard of behavior and expect our children to live up to it, regardless of disability. We aren't accepting that "kids will be kids" as an excuse for poor manners, destructive acts and inappropriate childishness. We know that God's best for them is better than that. Often we receive compliments on how well-behaved and happy our children seem to be. They know the rules, they follow them and they are happier for it. They are also (for the most part) capable and likable. I am a firm believer that the best gift we can give our children are good, strong boundaries. This means saying the tough "no" in the face of their protestations and it also means helping them explore the "yeses" in a safe, resourceful and joy-filled environment.

And just for the record....

2010-02-04T14:09:00.001-05:00

Faith got her first tooth today!

Nathan Figures it Out

2010-01-28T20:24:00.000-05:00

"Tali doesn't have a penis because she can't pee."

That clears it all right up.

The Third Eyebrow

2010-01-25T23:46:00.000-05:00

It really wasn't as bad as it looks.

Now That's Lazy!

2010-01-20T13:41:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the kids were playing tag on the playground. Andrea was it. I overheard this bit:

Philip - Andrea, come get me!

Andrea - No, you come here.

Sigh...I really need to get some dupas in motion in our family.

London Bridge is Burning Down!

2010-01-08T16:43:00.000-05:00

We had a great time today simulating the Great Fire of London in 1666. Each of the kids recreated a building which we put together to make a city (complete with rats running rampant) and then burned it down. There were some great little details the kids included. The fire supposedly started in the bakery (created by guess who? Food Many John of course!). We dropped a match stick head in there to simulate the coal that escaped from the bakery oven and then dropped a lit match. It wasn't long before the whole city was in flames since the buildings were all so close together. We even had JT play the part of the Lord Mayor and exclaim, "Pish! That fire could be put out by a woman!" David's cooper's shop had a couple of barrels, the shipyard had caps to simulate the tar in the warehouse which supposedly exploded as it burned. That was fun to hear the little popping sounds as the caps were set off by the fire. It only took maybe 2 minutes to burn completely to ashes.

Happy Birthday JT!

2010-01-08T11:35:00.001-05:00

Thirteen Candles!

Decree of Adoption

2010-01-07T14:53:00.000-05:00

Whereupon, it is this 7th day of January, 2010, by the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, Maryland,

Adjudged, Ordered and Decreed that the adoptee is hereby declared to be the child of Joel Thaddeus Klopcic and Mary Kalbach-Klopcic for all intents and purposes; and is entitled to all of the rights and priveleges of and is subject to all of the obligations of a child born to the adoptive parent.

Adjudged, Ordered and Decreed, that the name of said adoptee be declared Andrea Kathryn Klopcic.

Tali Potato Head

2010-01-05T21:59:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T13:59:00.000-05:00

January 2010

To all our dear friends and family,

Last year we didn't manage to get the annual epistle together, a symptom of the painfulness of 2008 which we were all more than happy to put behind us. 2009 has been a kinder, gentler year, although a typically busy one. Our family is larger, wiser, and more compassionate for all we've experienced over the past two years.

For those who have been completely out of the Klopcic loop, Tad eventually had to lay down his priesthood and we exited the Charismatic Episcopal Church forever. It was an extremely painful and frustrating leave-taking. While he misses some aspects of being in that ministry, he is thrilled to be back to full-time ministry as a husband and dad to his crew. At last report, that crew was about to add child number 10, Talitha Hope, who tally-ho'd her way into the world in July of 2008. Now at 19 months of age, Tali continues to delight and frighten all in her path with her determined personality and zest for trouble.

2009 has also brought a couple of new family members into our midst. Andrea came to us in July from India via a disrupted adoption to parents in Texas. She clocks in at 12 years old (making her our fourth child with a birth year of 1997), has some special needs including a hearing impairment which is corrected with the use of a bone assisted hearing aid (BAHA) and has fit right into our household. She and Miriam have become fast friends and good companions. She will become a permanent member of our family in Annapolis Court on January 7th. That adoption was complicated a bit by another pregnancy and Mairs once again balanced adoption paperwork off a growing belly. Natalie Faith entered the world on August 31st and rounded out our numbers to an even 6 girls and 6 boys. For the first time ever, we were able to keep her sex a surprise until her delivery, which caused no small amount of consternation amongst her siblings over which way the gender scales would tip. And now, for the 3rd time in our child-rearing years, we find ourselves with 5 children ages 6 and under. And for the first time we find ourselves the parents of teenagers and our therapist has found himself hard at work.

After wandering a bit through churchlessness we found a home in the Ancient Christian faith. Tad's seminary studies came in handy as we sought out the Orthodox faith he had studied as a seminarian. We stumbled across a Ukrainian Orthodox church and immediately fell in love with the ages-old practices of their liturgy. In 2008 our entire family was chrismated as Eastern Orthodox Christians and now both Tali and Faith have the joy of being our first "cradle" Orthodox family members. Besides falling in love with Eastern Orthodoxy in general (Benjamin is now a self-professed "Orthodork"), we have also been warmly welcomed into our small mission parish family. They have taken our large numbers quite in stride and showered us with love and blessings beyond our wildest imaginations. For the first time in a very long time we have found joy and freedom in our faith life and our church family.

Our homeschooling continues, now encompassing students in preschool through middle school. This year we recruited Muffy and Granddad to help with the teaching load which has given us opportunity to connect with all of Mairs' family on a weekly basis. Sports-wise we have ventured into rugby and track over the past year and JT has been able to play with a travel soccer team and get some fantastic coaching. Philip, Miriam and Andrea are playing basketball in the Discovery League where Philip has earned a reputation as a real hotshot. Philip, Ruth and Betsy have joined Tad and Mairs in the Four Evangelists choir and we are all getting quite an education in ancient chanting methods, tones and themes, while Ben and John Michael have been serving on the front lines on the altar. The older girls have found a wonderful dance instructor who has been inspired by them to go back to school to become a special educator while Betsy, John Michael and David have enjoyed taking gymnastics together. Ben and Betsy are also taking acting classes and continue to be involved in performances on both our own basement stage and out in the great wide world. Their acting class is putting up a production of Oz in which both have various ensemble parts. As a final project last year, Ben was instructed to write a parody of a fairy tale as a stage script and then stage a full production. His basement production of Knight Black and the Three and a Half Giants was outstanding. He and Betsy and Tad have also been rehearsing with the Radio Buffs and will be part of an old-style radio recording of It's a Wonderful Life in March at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

We ended 2009 with a surprise opportunity to watch God at work. Mairs got a call two weeks before Christmas from a friend she'd only met through an internet support group. Beverly, her husband and 8 boys had found themselves without a home and as a last resort called us to see if we had room in the inn. Of course we said yes. So with Beverly and her family added to Adora and Nehemiah and the rest of us, our household has swelled to 26 - 5 adults and 21 children aged 17 and under. We can honestly say that this has been the most meaningful Christmas we've ever experienced. If you want an opportunity to experience the wonder of God coming to us as a baby - ancient, great and wonderful, yet small and new - then open your home to those who need Him most and love them for all you're worth. No words can express what that act will teach your heart.

May you all have a joyous and faith-filled 2010! Glory to Jesus Christ!

Tad, Mairs,

Miriam, JT, Andrea, Philip, Ben, Ruth, Betsy, John Michael, David, Nathan, Tali, Faith,

Adora, and Nehemiah

New Year's Day Landscape

2010-01-01T10:29:00.003-05:00

Some Christmas Moments

2009-12-25T10:46:00.011-05:00

Baptismal Liturgy Out-takes

2009-12-13T00:58:00.001-05:00

As with most major events, we did have a few things go awry during the Baptismal Liturgy for Faith and Andrea. I thought I would share our out-takes as well as the solemnity of the Liturgy. This picture I used in the puppies post was actually taken shortly after the baptisms. David got a bit close to the camera trying to see what was going on on the other side of the lens and I snapped this shot. This totally says David to me.

Faith's baptism actually took two tries. Father Greg began to baptize her and then realized he had neglected to pull up the sleeves of his vestments so he stopped and handed the baby back in order to get himself better prepared. I have a video of his first attempt cut short.

And these photos are priceless. The ladies had gotten Faith all dressed in her sweet little gown after the baptism and neglected to remember that her feet would need to remain bare for the chrismation. So we had to remove the little socks and shoes during the service and then when Alex and Lia sat down with her again they tried to redress her feet. It seems Alex had forgotten how to use shoes and socks and when I glanced in their direction all I could see was Alex's big hands lost in the folds of gown, his brow furrowed in perplexity, and Lia in hysterics. I think Pani Chris finally came to his rescue.

In this photo Peggy, Tali's godmother, came to our rescue while we were trying to take a gazillion pictures into which Tali was not invited. She insisted on crashing the photo party until I finally dumped her into Peggy's lap and begged her to keep Tali occupied. The last I heard they were looking at an icon of the Hospitality and Tali was gleefully shouting out her favorite phrase, "Eat! Eat!"

I adore our church family. I love that we have these pictures and memories alongside the more traditional memories of the occasion. I love that we're all human and in this together and that there are so many hands and hearts willing to love our children. I love that.

Taking the Puppies to Church

2009-12-12T14:23:00.000-05:00

While I was pregnant with Faith, I occasionally missed going to Divine Liturgy. On those occasions, I would stay home with my feet up and we would leave JM, David and Nathan home with me. On one such Sunday Tad had the following exchange with one of our parishioners:

Where is Mary?

She's home with the boys.

Oh, I miss the boys.

Really? They're, um, not exactly all that well-behaved.

No, but I like all their activity.

Really? Hmm...

Yes, it's sort of like going to church with puppies.

I like this. I like it a lot. It has totally changed my perspective of the business my 6 and under crowd performs throughout Divine Liturgy. I know they can't sit still for 2 hours but the shenanigans they go through during those two hours would give a circus acrobat a run for his money. More often than not, they are rolling on the floor, wrestling with one another, picking their noses, unpacking someone's purse, rifling through the choir director's music, banging on the metal chairs or just banging their bodies together in various forms of Smash the Brother. I try. I really do. I try to keep them quiet and contained and paying attention but sometimes I just need to accept that puppies will be puppies no matter where they are.

Dancing Girls

2009-12-12T13:49:00.000-05:00

These are a few pictures of the girls at their last dance class of the semester. The recital is coming up this Friday. We loved, loved, loved this dance teacher. In fact, after having this class of our three girls and their friend Dasia, she decided to go back to school to get a degree in Special Education. How cool is that?!

Court of Honor

2009-12-12T12:32:00.001-05:00

On Thursday evening Pack/Troop 2513 held their court of honor. This is an awesome troop just for kids with special needs. Philip is one of the higher functioning kids which helps him feel a real sense of accomplishment when he can take a bit more leadership than he does among a typical peer group. We can't say enough good about this troop, Gary their scoutmaster, Maria the awesome scout mom and the whole program. This is one of those blessings we would miss out on if we didn't have children with special needs. Philip earned his tenderfoot this time around and also some other badges - fishing, Indian lore, reading, selling popcorn and a badge for attending Camp Ware. Way to go Phlip!

Preparing to carry the colors.

Reciting the scout oath. The troop is both a cubscout pack and a scout troop so they say both oaths.

Lighting the candles - one for each part of the oath.

Receiving his badges from his way awesome scoutmaster, Gary

Carrying the colors out at the close of the ceremony.

A few of his troopmates:

Christmas Traditions

2009-12-06T19:29:00.000-05:00

It is always my hope that each Holy Day will be celebrated with our children as Holy indeed. This year we're revamping some traditions to try to keep Christ in the center of our celebration. Keeping the Orthodox fast throughout Advent is one way we are being drawn ever closer to our Lord as we truly sacrifice throughout the season of preparation. Hungry tummies have a way of creating discipline, giving teeth to the feeling of emptiness and need which cultivates awareness that there is something wonderful coming which can fill that emptiness.

We've also been involving as many of the kids as possible in learning the Orthodox Nativity hymns. The hymns are beautifully arranged and spell out every aspect of Christ's Nativity. I am especially moved by the litanies in which the choir chants God is With Us as the priest chants profound truths about Who God Is....stunningly beautiful to the soul.

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be simpler this year - with the whole focus on our church family and the gathering together in the services and prayers. The gifts will be simpler - each child receiving three gifts just as the infant Christ received three gifts from the wise men. Their stockings will be filled with candy for each one to ration until Pascha and the many little gadgets and breakable, disposable toys will be absent this year.

So far the Advent season has been peppered with various other feast days. We took Thanksgiving as our own, stayed at home, invited a friend who was without family for the holiday, the grandparents who came and went as they pleased and all of us worked together to plan and cook and play and rest. It was glorious. Today we celebrated St. Nicholas' feast day. The children received small gifts in their shoes this morning and visited with St. Nicholas at church. In another week we will celebrated the Feast day of St. Lucia as well (and Ruth's birthday).

The pace will be slower - and set by the rhythm of our church services. I'm excited. I think this year the children will really begin to understand the Spirit of the celebration of the Nativity in a new way - I know I have already.

It is, however, a Feast - a joyous occasion, and as such I don't want the joy and the magic of the Nativity season to elude us. So some of our sillier traditions will continue - I'm sure Muffy and Granddad will put a theme gift in each stocking for a family picture, we've already broken out the edition of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and there will be a large gift for the family to enjoy together which will bring tremendous joy to the children. In researching various traditions, I came across this one...not sure we'll go quite that far but it's worth the word picture to think about.

Anne M. of TX
Everyone gets new underwear for Christmas. Then we take a picture of all of us with the underwear on our heads. It started when my kids were 9,7 and 2. They are now 28, 26 and 21. And now we have spouses in the pics!!!!

Feast of St. Nicholas

2009-12-06T00:54:00.000-05:00

In Myra you proved yourself to be a priest,
a servant of divine things, O Saint,
for you fulfilled the Gospel of Christ, O holy one.
You gave up your life for your people
and saved the innocent from death.
You have been sanctified
for you were a great guide towards the things of God.
—Antiochian Orthodox

JM Getting Ready to Play in the Snow

2009-12-05T15:25:00.000-05:00

Mom, there's something in this boot. It might be a stick. Oh, it's a battery...and a...pair of scissors.

Friday Photos

2009-12-04T10:13:00.000-05:00

Faith at 3 months!

When Puppies Take to Gymnastics

2009-12-04T10:06:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was observation day at Gymnastics class. Betsy, JM and David have been taking a 5-8 year old class together and watching the boys in particular was a real hoot. They have learned some skills but they also just cannot keep their hands off of each other. I had a great time watching them and, when all the pictures turned out blurry, decided to switch to video where I caught some great standing in line action. I think this is hilarious enough to endure 5 minutes of video but maybe that's just me...

Betsy's contribution was much less comical but still fun to watch:

And just for Muffy's sake because Dad won't let her download video viewing software here are some regular ol' pics of the event:

Friday Photos

2009-11-27T06:48:00.002-05:00

I was inspired by my photographer friend Jocelyn to snap some pictures on Sunday of my girls with their godmothers and their icons on their baptismal day. I love these pictures. We decided we need to retake them when the godmothers have their icons handy also. Andrea is holding St. Catherine and Lia has St. Natalie.

Presenting the Newly Illumined Catherine and Natalie

2009-11-22T20:43:00.001-05:00

We had a beautiful Baptismal Liturgy this morning to welcome Andrea and Faith into the Family of God. Andrea took St. Catherine as her saint after her own middle name, Kathryn and we gave St. Natalie charge over Faith. In the Orthodox tradition, they will now use these names as their Christian names, particularly when participating in the sacraments. The liturgy was a bit unique as Fr. Greg wanted to revive the older tradition of the Baptismal Liturgy in which the baptism and chrismation are integrated into the Divine Liturgy. It was absolutely wonderful - so much more organic in the prayers and flow of the liturgy and sacraments.

I adjure you by the Living God, Who has shown forth the Tree of Life, and posted the Cherubim, and the flaming sword that turns about to guard this: be rebuked, and depart, for I forbid you, through Him that walks on the waves of the sea as upon the dry land, Who forbade the storm of the winds, Whose glance dries up the deep, and Whose threatenings melt the mountains; for it is He Himself that now forbids you through us. Be afraid, and depart, and absent yourself from this creature, and come not back, neither hide yourself in him (her), nor encounter him (her), nor influence him (her) either by night or by day, nor in the morning or at noon; but get you hence to your own Tartarus, until the appointed day of Judgment.

Drive out from her every evil and unclean spirit, hiding and lurking in her heart. The spirit of error, the spirit of evil, the spirit of idolatry and of all covetousness that works according to the teaching of the devil. Make her a reason-endowed sheep of the holy Flock of Your Christ, and honorable member of Your Church, a hallowed vessel, a child of Light, and heir of Your Kingdom.

That this water may be hallowed by the might, and operation, and descent of the Holy Spirit; let us pray to the Lord.
That there may be sent down upon it the Grace of Redemption, the blessing of the Jordan; let us pray to the Lord.
That there may come down upon this water the cleansing operation of the Supersubstantial Trinity; let us pray to the Lord.

But do You, O Master of All, declare this water to be water of redemption, water of sanctification, a cleansing of flesh and spirit, a loosing of bonds, a forgiveness of sins, an illumination of soul, a laver of regeneration, a renewal of the spirit, a gift of sonship, a garment of incorruption, a fountain of life.

do You Yourself bless this Oil by the power (+) and operation (+) and descent of the Holy Spirit (+) that it may become an anointing of incorruption, a shield of righteousness, a renewal of soul and body, and averting of every operation of the devil, to the removal of all evils from them that are anointed with it in faith, or that are partakers of it.

The servant of God is baptized in the Name of the Father. Amen. And of the Son, Amen. And of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

A robe of divine light bestow upon me, O You that for vesture array Yourself with Light; and bestow many mercies, O Christ our God, who are plenteous in mercy.

The servant of God is anointed with the Oil of Gladness, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

For healing of soul and body

For the hearing of Faith

That she may walk in the paths of Your commandments

Your hands have made me, and fashioned me

THE SEAL OF THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AMEN

As many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Alleluia

The Reading from the Holy Gospel

First Holy Eucharist

Glory, bless (+) this Your servant, who is come now to make offering the firstlings of hair shorn from her head

I do see the resemblance!

2009-11-18T10:17:00.000-05:00

Thanks Jen!

Princess Atti-tu-tu-de

2009-11-16T19:42:00.000-05:00

Friday Photos

2009-11-13T05:00:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday we read about the Taj Mahal in our history book while the kids all colored pictures of it. I happened to ask Andrea if she had ever seen it and, rather surprisingly, she began to describe it to all of us. Apparently her original adoptive parents took her to see the sights before they brought her home to the states in 2004. I rifled through my CD's for the one containing pictures of Andrea given to me by her adoptive parents and lo and behold I found a series of pictures of Andrea standing in front of the Taj Mahal! I just didn't know what they were when I first looked at them but was thrilled I remembered to give them another look. She does look a bit lost and confused in these pictures - I can't imagine what was going through her mind at the time. She later told her adoptive parents that she thought her dad had actually come to India to take her back to the United States as his bride! She's come a long way since these early pictures of her were taken. At any rate, how cool is it that my daughter has seen the sights from our history book half a world away and I didn't even know it?

DOD

2009-11-09T17:09:00.002-05:00

Mom, you know if you keep eating those peanut butter cups there won't be anymore left.

Le'go Eleven!!

2009-11-07T23:08:00.001-05:00

We now have 4 children in the household whose births occurred in the year 1997 - JT in January, Andrea in June, Philip in July and Ben brings up the rear of the year in November. Each year from the time JT turns the next year over Ben eagerly anticipates his turn at a new age. This year he finished up the end run of 12 year olds - which means 2010 will be The Year of the Teenager for us - with all 4 of them turning 13 and Miriam having her 15th birthday.

Ben decided to celebrate with his dad's favorite meal - pepper steak with rice -

and bypassing the traditional birthday cake, he opted for pumpkin pie. Quite incidentally he had his friend Luke here for dinner and quite intentionally he also had his cousin Sam spend the night. Since our two year cycle of parties is history we are now back to the pick-a-friend-and-a-parent-for-a-date themed celebration. Cousin Sam was the friend, I got to be the parent and we traveled down to Arundel Mills for the grand opening of the brand spankin' new Lego Store. It was quite a day...if one enjoys standing in lines. We briefly stood in line for the chance to build a brick to put in the 12 foot Christmas tree being crafted completely out of legos by a Master Builder. Once we realized that was probably an hour or so wait we bailed from that line (and thus lost our chance at getting a certificate with which we could stand in another line for half hour to cash in for a chance at winning a $50 gift card to the Lego Store) and instead stood in yet another line for an hour and a half just for the opportunity to actually walk into the actual Lego Store. It was well worth it according to both boys (or at least they knew better than to say otherwise). They decided on some purchases and I stood in the check out line for another 20 minutes while they explored the fun parts of the store.

It was a cool store - esp being only 1 of 2 stores in the country with a lego classroom area. The classroom was really neat. It has four areas - a rug area with large rubber legos for toddlers, a huge table of traditional lego pieces, a robotics table set up for programming a few robotics tasks, and a floor space full of girlie legos. They teach classes there and I'm hoping to make a homeschool field trip out of it at some point in the school year.

Ben had a really good time and it's always fun to see him with his cousin Sam who is real kindred spirit for Ben. Happy Birthday Bear! I'm glad it was a fun one!

Friday Photo

2009-11-06T06:30:00.002-05:00

This is what I absolutely love about homeschooling. I was upstairs in my bedroom recuperating from childbirth whilst Ben was outside, unprompted, leading all the small ones in some adventure - complete with costumes, plot line and character assignments. I don't know what I love more about this - that Ben can lead them all into a creative adventure, or that they are all willing to follow. It is not unusual for me to abandon the formal school day to some plot that has developed when I turned my back for a moment.

How to Put on a Party Hat

2009-11-06T00:14:00.000-05:00

TA DA!

Remember Remember the Fifth of November

2009-11-05T22:03:00.001-05:00

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
the Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent to blow up King and Parliament.

Three score barrels were laid below to prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s mercy he was catch’d with a dark lantern and lighted match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

We had a blast celebrating Guy Fawkes Day today. Tad thought it was a bit off-color for an Eastern Orthodox family to celebrate a basically Protestant Reformist holiday but what the hey - all in the name of History so why not. Each of the kids created an effigy of Guy - mostly out of paper and markers but some got a bit more creative. Miriam, in fact, made a fox - not quiiiite understanding how to pronounce Guy's surname.

I stuffed my pockets full of candy and pennies so they could bring me their Guy and beg "a penny for a Guy?" Who needs Halloween when you can celebrate a tradition like that? After a while they got it into their heads to beg from one another as well. By the end of the day Betsy was carrying around two mini lunchboxes full of treats - one for the girls and one for the boys - and Miriam had handed out all the chocolate Jo-Jo cookies she'd gotten for her birthday. As soon as Tad came home I stocked his pockets too.

Adora and Miah baked us a parkin cake and I finally bit the bullet and made Feingold approved caramel apples after fruitlessly scouring candy aisles in 4 different stores for caramels without corn syrup or artificial flavors. I thought the caramel was fabulous - and stuck to the apples better than other recipes I've tried which just slipped off. The kids complained about the stickiness and said they tasted too much of honey. Ah well, it was a lot of work so if they don't ask for them again I guess I won't be too disappointed. At any rate, I've tacked the recipe onto the end of the post for anyone who wants to try them. I tripled it for our crew:

The actual celebration began after supper. We started out by heading out to the driveway with some sparklers to simulate fireworks. Then we headed inside where the kids started a fire in the fireplace - not quite the bonfire with which the Brits celebrated the day I'm sure. Then Ben stood up and told the story of Guy Fawkes and his attempt to blow up parliament, three of the kids recited a famous poem about the day and then they all chucked their mini-Guys into the fire while chowing down on caramel apples, parkin and apple cider. After all that excitement the party moved upstairs where there was raucous dancing 'til bedtime.

Caramel Apple Recipe

Please be careful when making caramel apples, you will be working with dangerously hot, sticky, ingredients - I always put on an apron and make sure I have a closed-toed pair of shoes on when making candy. Be extra, extra careful if you have kids around. On the ingredient front, I typically go for a mild clover honey when making caramels.

6 - 8 small apples, unwaxed, cold
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup honey
Special equipment: candy thermometer, and lollipop sticks

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Push a lollipop or popsicle stick deep into each apple - in through the stem.
Fill a large bowl 1/2 full with ice water and set aside.
In a medium, thick-bottomed saucepan heat the cream and salt until tiny bubbles start forming where the milk touches the pan - just before a simmer. Stir in the honey. Bring the mixture to a boil. Now reduce the heat to an active simmer and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for about 15-20 minutes minutes or until the mixture reaches about 255-260F degrees. To stop the caramel from cooking, very, very carefully set the bottom of the saucepan in the bowl of cold water you prepared earlier - taking special care not to get any of the water in the caramel mixture. Stir until caramel begins to thicken up - you want the caramel to be thin enough that it will easily coat your apples, but not so thin that it will run right off. If the caramel thickens too much simply put the pot back over the burner for 10 seconds or so to heat it up a bit.
I tilt my sauce pan so all the caramel forms a pool on one side, and use my other hand to dunk and twirl each apple until it is thoroughly coated with caramel. Place each apple on the parchment lined baking sheets and allow the caramel to cool and set.
Makes 6 - 8 caramel apples.

101 Cookbooks http://www.101cookbooks.com/

Parade of Effigies:

This was Andrea's second attempt which she chose not to cut out since her first Mr. Fawkes lost his legs after suffering from severe torsal anemia.

A bit embarrassed by the whole fox incident, Miriam recreated Guy as a wee little human her second time around.

I love the black eye on Ruth's Guy.

Betsy was kind enough to outfit Nate and Miah with their Guys so they could beg for candy and pennies along with the rest of them.

JT doesn't display his artwork to the public so he opted to offer up this pose sans Guy.

Shhh...don't tell anyone but I think John Michael's might be my favorite. He was the first to create his with match and lantern in hand.

Always the dramatic one, Ben's Guy comes complete with the dramatic pose and cardboard reinforcement for re-enactment stability.

I'm not sure what's going on with David's Guy here but it scored him lots of candy.

Philip cleverly disguised his gunpowder kegs as piles of poo...very creative!

And, last but not least the Betsy pose. It just doesn't get much cuter than that...

Time to get Funny

2009-10-29T23:31:00.001-04:00

As if I don't have enough to do, I've launched another blog - yes, for those of you counting, this makes three. I've long been on the prowl for good, clean fun. Rated G comedians are tough to find and when I find one I wanna hold on for dear life. Anything that makes me belly laugh in the midst of my crazy days is worth its weight in internet gold. So I've decided when I do find something that makes me laugh, I'll just throw it onto my new blog where good clean fun is one stop shopping. I've added the Good Clean Snort to my blog list to the left so you can visit anytime. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Look around, watch some videos, read some jokes and have a good laugh on me.

The Turning of the Tide

2009-10-29T19:52:00.001-04:00

Miriam celebrated her 14th birthday today. We are, as a household, rapidly moving toward teenagerdom. 2010 will be our big year with 4 of them turning 13 between January and November. There's definitely a shifting of things, a multi-layered dynamic, a maturing and growing happening here. I must say that I find it an interesting place to be - alternating between nursing, potty training, teaching phonics, travel soccer games and dropping kids off at "work". Conversations now range from uni-syllabic utterances to potty humor to the causes and idiosyncrasies of the 30 Years War - sometimes within moments. I am caught in a time warp where I can experience a myriad of ages and periods of development minute by minute. I think it's making me a better mom - certainly one with a lot more perspective on things. At any rate, this post is about Miriam - and wishing her a happy birthday. My little Girly is looking so young lady-ish and is sporting the attitude to match. Here's to the 9 years we've shared with her so far and many, many more to come! Happy Happy Birthday Girly!!

Rest in Peace, Pooka

2009-10-26T20:09:00.003-04:00

Pooka slowly slipped away in the garage this afternoon while life went on in the house. She's been ailing for many months now - having daily accidents in the house, vomiting up any people food she was able to get ahold of and, most recently, requiring her dog food be fed to her by hand by Tad each evening. It was time.

We figure she was about 15 years old, maybe older. We adopted her right after we moved to Eldersburg a couple of years after we were married. She had previously been adopted by a family who had adopted sisters from Guatemala. One of the girls was acting out her adoption angst on the dog and thus she needed a new home. We should have seen the writing on the wall...that was to be the first of our adoptions. Actually, Alex had come to us a few years prior having been abandoned along with his siblings on a farm property close to Bucknell. Send us your abandoned, your abused, your cute and your cuddly.

When she came to us her name was Becky - which she shared with Tad's sister. Unable to call his dog by his sister's nomenclature, he dubbed her Pooka - a nickname she then shared with her "Aunt Becky". She was always a high maintenance animal. Her energy level and attention span dubbed her our ADHD dog. While Alex was content to roam the yard within the confines of our electric fence, Pooka learned to race at it with all her speed and grit her teeth while jumping through the electric charge. While Alex spent his days laying in "his" spot at the top of the stairs, Pooka roamed the house looking for trouble. Even up until a few days ago she managed to reach a plate full of food sitting on the 4 foot tall counter standing on her supposedly crippled, arthritic hips. The day Alex died, Pooka layed down in "his" spot at the top of the stairs and declared herself Queen of Everything. She ate every companion we brought home to try to fill Alex's empty spot in the family.

As soon as the first baby got to be about 6 months old Pooka learned that she now had a new best friend. From that point on, she could generally be found sitting next to the high chair waiting for the inevitable scraps to fall. As one baby turned into another, she grew bolder and decided that high chairs were intentionally designed to have the tray at her nose level - a fact she then turned to her frequent advantage, so much so that the question always begged to be asked whether the baby had eaten, not if the baby had been fed.

She didn't just eat baby food and rival dogs, though. Over the years she ate one garage door and then was working her way through its steel replacement. She ate two separate crates - one plastic, one metal. She devoured carpeting, at least two bedroom doors and a bathroom door. She once ate a remote control for the television. We tried channel surfing by squeezing her sides to no avail. All of which makes her recent inability to even pick at her own dog food a sad irony.

When our house caught on fire, she was tied to a rope in the back yard and had managed to tangle her rope around the base of the trampoline. At the point of the very loud thunder clap she was scared and stuck. A neighbor came and cut her off of the rope but she was never the same after that. She grew timid, terrified of all loud noises and even more dog aggressive. She slowed down, stayed close to us and stopped trying to run so fast and furiously. She was almost...well, calm.

And so she spent the past few years living a near normal existence. We long ago grieved the loss of Pook's real personality. Now we grieve the loss of what was left of her spunk and fire. Rest in peace, Pooka. You lived fast and furiously and ate well.

Friday Photos

2009-10-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

Here's a few comparison photos this week to show what a difference a couple of years can make!

THEN:

NOW:THEN:

NOW: THEN:

NOW:THEN (the HAIR!):

NOW:

Friday Photo

2009-10-16T00:01:00.001-04:00

Adora and Nehemiah have been with us for three years now! Here's Adora with the twins when they were just wee little tykes.

I'm working my way back to you, Babe...

2009-10-15T22:45:00.012-04:00

So sorry for the long hiatus on meaningful blog posts. I owe a particular apology to Grammy in Ohio who counts on my ramblings in order to keep up with the long distance grandparenting thing. So, Grammy, I very am sorry. (Now if we could just get Grammy to get with Facebook she might not feel so out of the loop....). I have finally managed to (almost) recover from childbirth, get the baby to sleep 5-6 hours at a time at night, switched over all the Summer clothes to Winter clothes (felt so good to slide those bins back into the attic today!) and finished up our Jesse tree project - 104 ornaments went in the mail yesterday! Now it's back to blogging and homeschooling I go! In the meantime, here's a few photos of the kids to tide you over...

DOD

2009-09-27T19:58:00.001-04:00

Hey Dad, is space made up of gravity?

Um, yes David but that's a rather advanced Physics concept.

Yeah, I thought so.

Freecycle Funny

2009-09-19T20:51:00.000-04:00

Posted on Freecycle today:

OFFER: One Wheeled Death Machine

Sat Sep 19, 2009 1:43 pm (PDT)

Have you not severely injured yourself this summer or want to put your health insurance to the test? Then I got a unicycle for you. A unicycle mysteriously appeared in my garage. I questioned the kids, I questioned the wife, and I questioned the dog! Everyone denied any knowledge so I texted my oldest son and he said it was....... mom's. Then she remembered that a long long long long long time ago she did have one. Her dad dropped it off because he felt it was better to clutter up our garage than his basement. This is absolutely a true story.

I don't need another unicycle, believe or not I have two of my own.

So if you want to try to kill yourself or you have a child who needs a broken arm, then let me know!

DISCLAIMER: What can I say, if you don't know how to ride one, you are going to end up bruised and bleeding, but once you get the hang of it, they are a blast to ride. Not responsible for damage to one's body from attempting to ride said item or from tripping over it in the hallway. Item comes as is complete with dirt and cobwebs.

Prefer pick-up today!

Friday Photo

2009-09-18T08:01:00.002-04:00

In preparation for Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary party (yet to be blogged...I got a back log!) our family prepared a singing act modeled after a singing act Mom, Dad, Heidi, Beth and I had done as kids. We called ourselves Sarge and the Goldbricks as Dad had earned the name Sarge from all of his confirmation students through the years. For the original act, we all donned Dad's army fatigues and sang a few favorite tunes for the church's rendition of the old Gong Show (remember that?!). So, in honor of the big 50th, Tad and I dressed all of our children in fatigues and sang the same songs. Our original vision had JM and David sharing the same pair of pants since we were shy a few pairs. That idea fell as flat as they did every time they tried to stand up and sing but we did manage to snap this photo before we scrapped the whole deal.

Tali's Fall Jammies Line-Up

2009-09-12T19:48:00.006-04:00

There are some small problems in coming from a large family - especially if one is a young lady and one's older sister's baby clothes were all lost in a house fire. To demonstrate this particular problem, I present to you Tali's Fall jammies line up. Let's see, we have...
Doggies... Dinosaurs... Football.... and...pirates...

where are the pirate jammies?

Oh...she's wearing them! Arrrrrrr!!

Friday Photo

2009-09-11T07:40:00.003-04:00

This was taken in our exile year after the fire. We no longer had living room furniture so we were using a couple of mattresses for a sofa for the last few months we lived there. I just *love* this photo - it's all about being a large family. In case you can't identify the little ones, that's David with JT and JM with Ben in the middle.

Sneak Preview

2009-09-10T21:51:00.007-04:00

Since my arrival upon Facebook I'm afraid I haven't been keeping my few faithful blog supporters up to date on life in the Crazy House. I plan very soon to blog about the birth of Natalie Faith who celebrated her 10th day of life outside the womb today by shedding her umbilical cord stub. She was born on Monday, August 31st at precisely 10:00 am. She weighed in at 8 lb, 11 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She was born au natural without any complications and is absolutely beautiful. She will go by her middle name, Faith, as Natalie is just a little too close to Nathan and Tali to keep this mom of many from getting the names all mixed up. The full story to come but for now enjoy a few pictures!

Presenting a Betsy Moment

2009-09-04T11:54:00.002-04:00

Betsy has always been a bear of her own mind and lately she's had some moments which could truly top the "blonde" scale. Our evening chores are arranged around "jurisdictions" with each child assigned a part of the house to tidy. Ben and Betsy are responsible for clearing and wiping the dining room table, sweeping the floor and wiping the baby goo off the floor - no small task. The other evening Betsy was working alone in the dining room and I inquired after Ben's whereabouts to which Betsy brightened and announced,

Mom, I made a great deal with Ben!

What's that Bets?

I'm going to do the whole jurisdiction and then give him 5 pennies to build something really cool with my legos!

Ok, Bets...sooooo.... you do all the work while Ben gets paid to play with your legos?

She paused for a long moment and then deflated a bit and said, "Oh."

I thought she had learned her lesson until last evening she was again doing the whole job on her own. When asked about it she said

Well, I made a better deal with Ben this time.

And what's that?

This time I get to watch him build with my legos!

Uh huh....

Debunking The "What's One More" Myth

2009-08-17T10:50:00.002-04:00

The response to our family is generally split in thirds. First of all, there are those who assume that we couldn't possibly handle one more thing and so they never, ever want to impose upon us. They won't call, they don't allow their children to suggest playdates at our house and they would never, ever stop by unannounced. They won't participate in carpools with us without committing to do all the driving which, consequently, usually means it isn't happening. We miss these people. We enjoy their company and our kids would really like to develop friendships but that's just a wee bit tough to do when they are afraid to talk to us. I'm terrible about making and receiving phone calls - you're more likely to get an email or a text message from me just because our home background noise is not conducive to telephonic conversation. But that doesn't mean we don't want you around! I suspect these people carry around a lot of guilt about being our friends because they never actually *do* anything with us in spite of their good intentions. And I also suspect that their expectation is that they will serve our family by not adding one more thing to our plate which means if they are going to get our children together to play, they will pick up all of them at once, host, drop off, feed special diets and run an errand for me on the side - which is unrealistic for all of us which is probably why we never see these people.

Then there are the ones with a more middlin' attitude. Those are the realistic folks we're probably most comfortable with. They let their kids play here, they invite ours over from time to time and they realize that, just like for them, some days are going to be better than others. They give us a call before they send the kids over or they call after they've been here for a few minutes to make sure the arrangement is working for us. Their kids are comfortable here, they know the rules and their parents don't mind if we call them on it. They don't mind if their kids show up and I promptly send them home because I'm incidentally having one of those trying-to-get-tons-of-people-fed-and-out-the-door hours. They also realize that I drive taxi too so if I suggest the I'll-drop-them-off-if-you-pick-them-up option they recognize that this would be *helpful* to me. Sometimes they take on a younger sibling or do me a favor but that's not the expectation and we all know it. It's no big deal to say No once in a while.

The ones who really get me, though, are the ones who look at our household and say, "What's one more?" They just assume that there's enough chaos in our household that we would never notice one more kid. Unfortunately, these are usually the kids who don't like rules and we have plenty of them. One more kid in the mix *can* really, really make life miserable here. I've been mulling this post over for a very long time and I've come up with the things that make our household seem like a foreign land to some kids - especially kids from very small families. Here's the low-down:

Food Rationing - yes, food rationing. We have a lot of mouths to feed at least 3 times a day. Food is expensive and we splurge on the side of healthy, additive-free foods to boot. Grocery shopping to replenish depleted stores takes time and energy I just don't have a lot of. We serve 3 significant meals a day and then close the kitchen until the next meal. If I made it, they eat it. No arguments. If you put it on your plate, finish it. We can't afford to feed to feed the trashcan. Occasionally there are snacks served if people seem to be getting peckish but don't ask me for one - I'll let you know if it's happening. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cleaning up and preparing in between those meal times but just because I'm in the kitchen doesn't make it open for business. Standing around and staring at me with big eyes only irritates me.

A Thing - Our kids know exactly what this means. There are some things that are just way too complicated to get into with everybody. While coloring may be a great activity for one or two kids, make it 8 with a couple of toddlers thrown in and it can become a huge messy affair. So if our kids want to initiate a new activity they need to ask and make sure they are not starting "a thing". As soon as one gets an apple -the rest are going to want one and the next thing I know I've gone through an entire 3 lb bag of apples. One of them mentions a craft involving cutting things with scissors and my entire floor is now covered with scraps of paper which nobody seems to know how to clean up. One kid is allowed to read a library book in their room and now they all think it's ok which explains the $23 fine on our next trip to the library. Yeah, you get the idea...whatever you do, Don't start A Thing.

It's Everybody's Business - I can't do it all. I gave up that expectation long ago. So if something needs to be done I will call on the closest hands. You may be asked to pick up a stray toy, coddle a baby or switch the laundry over. We expect it to be done without argument, and we don't care if your last name is Klopcic or not. Helping out is second nature around here. There is no such thing as "but that's not *my* job".

Leaving is an Hour Long Process - It takes a long time to leave the house, especially if we are headed to an activity that either involves taking food or feeding people before we leave. Everyone should have their shoes on the steps so they are easy to find on the way out the door. We have three in diapers who need to be checked and changed before exiting the house. Anybody is fair game for a job - fetch me diapers for the bag, grab the hotdogs from the freezer, find the 3 year-olds' shoes outside, buckle a baby into a carseat. In order to leave all hands need to be on deck and available, they may not be able to play and they sure as heck better not be making a mess somewhere.

Rules, Rules, Rules - we have lots of them and they don't often make sense to people not in our household. To further complicate things, everyone's rules are different. We have preteens with a lot of responsibilities and privileges and we have teens and preteens who are not allowed to do the most basic things due to their limitations. Age does not necessarily mean more privileges around here. Toys all have a place and they are not to leave the place. Train tracks go in Nathan's room and they are not to leave Nathan's room. Food gets played with in the girls' room and don't even *think* about taking the chalk out of John's and David's room and away from the chalkboard. It's easy to tell when these rules have been broken - the house looks like it's been attacked by a hurricane within just a few moments time.

No Cacophony - people who do stop by our house often comment how quiet it is. I suspect most people expect chaos to reign here which is just not the case. (As I type this there does happen to be a large amount of screaming and running about which is due more to my pregnant state than business as usual.) Just because we have a large family does not make us uncivilized. Screaming and yelling is not allowed indoors, neither is ball playing and wrestling should be done in the basement - out of sight, out of earshot. Good manners are practiced (practiced, not always perfected) with due diligence at all times. This goes hand in hand with the next point:

Quiet Time is Quiet - When on our usual schedule we institute a daily quiet time. The expectation is that this time will be quiet. All should be in their rooms, reading a book or doing a quiet activity and not chatting with others or bumping about. Usually if we have visitors during quiet time they may play outside with whichever of our kids is hosting them but they may not come inside and disturb the quiet.

It always seems to me that it's the "what's one more" proponents whose children cause the most grief around here. Their parents toss them in the mix and they immediately go into shock when asked to follow a rule, are denied a snack, put in time out for whining or are expected to keep their voices down. Fortunately, we don't have a lot of these friends - and most people will say it only jokingly without ever actually tossing their children into our home unannounced. We have lots of kids who are welcome here just about any time and they are ones who understand that "just one more" can make a difference.

How To Have a Fun Stay-Cation With 12 Children While 37 Weeks Pregnant

2009-08-15T21:01:00.011-04:00

This past week was our annual vacation which we couldn't really afford to go on and which coincided with my 37th week of pregnancy, thus making any real travel impracticable anyway. Soooo...we decided on the new trend in recession family vacations - the StayCation. We booked a 7 bedroom house in MD for FREE which we used as home base for a week of day outings. Adora, unfortunately, was *not* on vacation this week and so we added Nehemiah into our mix of activities. Somehow I managed to take pictures on Monday, drain the batteries to my camera and not get them recharged again until this evening so unfortunately I have very few photos. So here was how our week went:

Monday: Ravens Training Camp (free) - we drove 1 1/2 hours to Westminster to sit in the blistering heat and watch the Ravens practice from across the double practice field. This was a very popular event for the more die-hard among us and not so much for the smaller ones. The Fan Zone fun area was a great way to keep the dissenters happy. They got to bounce around in the moon bounce, run the inflatable practice field obstacles, slide down the gigantic inflatable slide and whack the heck out of each other with giant padded sticks. We followed that up with a trip to Baugher's, the local ice cream place and then went home and celebrated David's 5th birthday.

On Monday we also announced the week-long project - a movie/story parody contest. The kids were to pair off with whomever they chose and perform a parody of any movie/book/show they chose. They had until Friday to plan and rehearse.

Tuesday: Three "B" Day - All the B's were a surprise as the day wore on. They were told only to get up and get ready for the first B by 9:30 am. I had managed to save enough MyPoints to get us some gift cards to Cracker Barrel where we had our first B for Breakfast (which turned out to be more like Brunch but, hey, it still starts with a B). We went home and regrouped and then headed out to our second B - Bowling. We managed to correspond our B day with the homeschool bowling at the local lanes so it only cost us 2.50/game/kid with free shoe rental - pretty good on our budget! Nathan beat the pants off nearly everyone and Ruth surprised us with her very unique but effective pinball style bumper bowling. We came home and threw some supper at the kids while Tad and I skipped gleefully off for a date night while Adora handled the final B - Bingo. I had raided Trader Joe's and bagged up a bunch of additive-free cookies and snacks which they earned while playing several rounds of Family Bingo. They ended their B day with a bonus B - Bug's Life - before heading off to Bed.

Wednesday: Game Day. I was anticipating the need for a break for me and baby so planned a day at home base in case I needed to just sit and rest. We pulled out any and every game anyone wanted to play. Our neighborhood gaming friends came over and spent hours playing LOTR Risk and Viktory II. Meanwhile, the younger crowd broke out Elefun, Uno, Moose in the House and a whole score of other games. Dinner was Panera bread sub night. Instead of dropping the $65 it normally costs to feed our family from Subway, we spent $20 in delicious breads from Panera Bread and broke out our home supply of lunchmeats and garden veggies for make-at-home sandwiches. That was a real hit for supper and the older boys got a whole day of gaming with their dad - a very rare treat.

Thursday - Water Park Day. Every year we try to do an amusement park day. This year I looked at every amusement park within a four hour drive, combed the internet for coupon codes and figured and re-figured how to make group rates work. Even at that, I couldn't get us into an amusement park without dropping close to $500 for one day's entertainment. Finally, our priest's wife tipped us off to a parks and rec pool facility in Calvert County - Cove Point Park Pool - with some of the things our kids love best about water parks - fountains, slides and pouring buckets. For under $60 we were able to get everyone in. It was a two hour drive spent listening to the Focus on the Family Novacom series on CD (listening to stories on CD is a favorite family past-time). When we arrived there we found that some punks had vandalized the lap pool and it had been closed and drained. But we still had the run of the water slides and attraction pool. The older kids enjoyed that while the littlest ones spent the day splashing in the kiddie pool which featured a row of 8 inch fountains and a spouting whale in the center. That kept Nathan and Miah entertained for the entire day as Tali crawled in and out of the 9 inches of water. We packed a lunch and ate outside the pool gates. For dinner I headed to a local Food Lion for a rotisserie chicken which I took back to the pool so they could stay in the water as long as possible. A few die-hards - JT, Philip, Betsy and Ben stuck in the pool until the closing whistle while the rest hit the showers and cleaned up for the long drive home.

Friday - Performances and Girls/Guys Night Out - In the morning all got up and readied themselves for the Big Contest. We gathered in the living room (baby and I were too tired to head to the stage in the basement so we made do with a living room performance space). Tad and I acted as judges. Ben and Philip were first up with their parody of Kung Fu Panda - Fon Du Panda. It included some wonderful collaboration between the two and some fantastic mask work by Ben. That was followed by Betsy and Miriam's collection of scenes from Ice Age and Cinderella which involved two very hairy costumes and a lot of faux food consumption. They won an award for best Musical Adaptation with their song Amazing Grapes. Next came Ruth and Andrea who also parodied Ice Age. Their scenes were fairly unintelligible but they did manage to work together with a lot of grace and won the Best Collaborative Effort award. David spent the week being a Royal Pickle and rejecting every offer to collaborate with every team in turn. He finally decided to work alone, then chickened out at the last moment on his plan and hollered out one of PT Flea's lines from Bug's Life for which he (begrudgingly) won Best Character Study. JT and JM collaborated on an animated food show. JT picked up the technical end of the animation while JM helped with the story-line and did the narration. It was a wonderful little piece with some nifty technical work by JT for which they won Best Television adaptation. JT and Ben won special awards for their technical and mask work respectively. Prizes were awarded from Monday night's leftover Bingo stash.

We ordered Papa John's pizza for dinner (with 2 scrip cards I've had in my wallet for eons plus the XL pizza special) and then off to our respective Night Out. The girls headed to a local church to see Beauty and the Beast performed by a cast comprised largely of their homeschooled friends. They were bedazzled by the beautiful and talented young lady who played Belle and were quick to secure her autograph as soon as she appeared from behind the scenes.

The boys took in the movie G-Force in 3D (probably our biggest money splurge of the week) - Tad had the difficult task of trying to find something to excite our boys, aged 3 - 12, and so he pulled out the big guns.

Both of us ended our evening out with a trip to Cold Stone for ice cream and Tad's crew got home first to relieve the babysitter with whom we'd left Tali (her first time ever without family! She was so excited to have us all home she managed to weasle her way out of bed and didn't go back again until 10:30 pm).

Saturday - Picnic Day - Somehow we managed to line up two separate picnics on the same day. The first was a noon picnic at the home of a fellow John Carroll alumni. A group of Tad's friends from high school have reconnected through Facebook and decided to gather together in person. It was loads of fun to meet some of them for the first time and to see others again, gathered with spouses and children. From there we went off to the annual TORCH homeschool picnic, arrived home around 7:30 stuffed to the gills and filthy dirty. All were bathed, prayed up and bedded down.

Welcome Andrea!!

2009-08-15T20:26:00.003-04:00

Andrea finally came home to us last Sunday! The past week has been full of fun family stuff as she timed her arrival perfectly with Tad's vacation week. Her whole foster family brought her here from Pittsburgh, where she's been living with them for the past year and a half or so. With Andrea, they were a family of eight children so the large family thing is already old hat to Andrea. We shared pizza together, chatted, the kids played and Andrea got some of her things unpacked and into drawers in her new room. Then her foster family went home a family of 7 children and left us as a family with twelve (counting the tiniest one still in the womb).

This week has been a fast and smooth adjustment for her. By Wednesday she was beginning to call us Mom and Dad, by today the names are sealed. She loves to play with Tali and she and Ruth and Miriam have really hit it off - which is good because they have to share a room with one another for..well, probably a long time to come. She fits right in at Miriam's and Philip's level of functioning and we see lots of issues and circumstances that look awfully familiar. It's nice to be experienced parents bringing in a child with Andrea's challenges as opposed to the naive and new parents we were when Philip came off the plane all those years ago. We feel very equipped this time around with our experience, skills, resources and expectations. Parenting her is satisfying, natural. She is a good fit.

Welcome Home Andrea! We are looking forward to building a life time of memories with you!

Friday Photo

2009-08-06T20:58:00.003-04:00

This photo commemorates a very momentous occasion. On Sunday, our daughter will join her new adoptive family! Andrea will be arriving here with her most wonderful foster family Sunday afternoon to get moved in and become part of our crazy household. This picture was taken the first time we met Andrea when she visited us along with her foster family (minus a couple of theirs). Andrea is the smiling face on the far left in the pink sweatshirt.

Friday Photo

2009-07-31T00:18:00.000-04:00

This photo is from my parents' 50th anniversary celebration which I have yet to blog about in spite of it having occurred in March. I love this photo of my two nephews washing dishes. I have a sneakin' suspicion whatever they washed got re-washed by my brother-in-law later but, hey, at least they tried. These two were born exactly one month apart and have been best of friends ever since. They are as different as night and day and yet they "get" each other - you couldn't ask for a better friend than that. They've remained close even as they've grown older, made new friends, gotten into different things. JT joined them in preparing for the party by putting together a way fun powerpoint presentation. The party, by the way, was a smashing success. It was such a wonderful tribute to 50 years of our parents' life together.

Nate Enters the Terrible Threes

2009-07-29T00:45:00.012-04:00

I've always thought two gets a bad rap compared to three. Three has historically been a horrible year around here - they're still acting like 2 year olds but it just isn't cute anymore. They argue longer, scream louder and test you harder. Last week I found myself arguing with Nathan about the fact that he was arguing with me...sigh... So it is with fear and trepidation that I post about Nate's third birthday. We even celebrated it a couple of days early (he'll never know the difference) to accommodate the two scout meetings we have on his actual birthday on Thursday. For this year he just got the usual family affair - a day spent making his own decisions, helping bake a cake, picking out his birthday dinner then eating the dinner, the cake and opening presents. Next year I may throw him a party - I usual do for Four since it is a time for me to celebrate the end of the Terrible Threes.

Party hats must be worn.

Hamburgerth and hotdogth for thupper with thoda.Our new fave cake recipe - Chocolate Zuchinni cake (Nehemiah blew out the candles the first time - they had to be re-lit and then we watched Nate spit on the cake for quite some time before they were out again).Elmo underwear from Adora and Miah.Some cookies and candy, a fire engine puzzle, a wooden fire engine from Muffy, a magnetic chalk board with magnetic letters and a box of dinosaur magnets.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Friday Photo

2009-07-24T07:09:00.001-04:00

I look awful in this picture but I really love it. I am so digging Tad with a beard and how cute is Alex? This was taken in the park in Lewisburg right before we graduated from Bucknell. Alex was our love child - we got him free from a local farmer who had the whole litter abandoned on his property. There were two other Bucknellians with Alex's siblings we would see on campus from time to time. We kept him in my dorm apartment for about the last month or so of classes and snuck him around everywhere we went. At the time Tad and I were taking a religion class together (we won't spend too much time discussing why the Engineering major got an A and the Religion major got a B in that class...) and we would bring Alex to class and he would sleep under the desk at my feet. I was also running a light board for a production and Alex would sleep under the board. Tad would come up to the booth every hour or so and take him out to do his business. Alex died on Father's Day a few years ago and we still miss him. This is a digital picture of the original photo and it does have lots of fire damage so I'm surprised it came out as good as it did. This photo makes me feel all young and in love all over again. I am crazy about that bearded dude!

Hey Look!

2009-07-22T22:40:00.002-04:00

The baby in my widgit hit 34 weeks and flipped upside down! What fun! I can only hope the real baby is actually in that position. Baby was in perfect position and then last weekend went through some major gyrations that made my midwife a bit unsure if baby's bottom is bottoms up or bottoms down....sigh...seems like this has happened before...

How to Make a Feingold Sno-Ball

2009-07-22T22:27:00.002-04:00

Go to your local sno-ball stand and buy 14 cups of plain ice (you can't do this at home unless you have one of those ultra ice crushers that makes the really fine ice and oh, and you might need to scale down a bit on servings for your family). I can get all 14 cups of ice for about $4 from my local stand.

Add kosher for Passover Pepsi or Coke or Dole Pineapple juice.

Hand to your kids.

Watch children smile and make a mess.

Friday Photos

2009-07-17T09:47:00.006-04:00

These are some shots from New Year's Eve I never got around to blogging. You can see who made it and who didn't!

DOD

2009-07-12T11:35:00.002-04:00

Overheard in the hallway a few minutes ago:

Dad! Dad! I know how you can get tinker toys to come back to you! You throw them against the wall and they come right back to you!

Just Keep Swimming...

2009-07-10T10:28:00.007-04:00

I've enrolled eight of the kids in swimming lessons - 2 weeks of 50 minute lessons every day at an indoor pool located within a local public middle school. They are having a blast - (except for JT who is grumpy about being put in the "C" team and wants to know why he can't win every day...sigh...you can take the kid out of the competition but you can't take the competition out of the kid.) Thanks to Grammy and Tata for helping to subsidize this great learning adventure too! JM and David are focusing their efforts on getting their faces wet and floating. JM's back float has gone from a perfect "V" shape on Monday to actually having his hair touch the water yesterday - now *that's* progress!! David has concocted a whole pool-full of sea creatures which he spends his down time blowing up complete with sound effects. The girls share a teacher with one other student and are working on various types of locomotion through water while the big boys are working on perfecting their crawl and butterfly strokes. I don't envy them that butterfly thing - never could get the hang of it myself. Philip, with his inherently noodly body, is actually able to best perform the proper undulations. They are all doing fantastic though and it puts my mind at ease a bit that they are getting the practice and skill I never had the opportunity to develop. Bonus points for getting eight kids involved in the same activity at the same time and place!!

Phlipism

2009-07-10T10:09:00.002-04:00

For the past several years the family has grown a garden with the understanding that Philip is sort of "head gardener" since he's always had a bit more interest in it than the others. Yesterday he went out to water the garden - which he does faithfully every day rain or shine - and I asked him if anything is ready to pick from the garden. He couldn't answer me as it seems he doesn't actually *look* in the garden when he waters it. So I suggested he look around this time and see what's growing. I looked out the window a few moments later to see him enthusiastically plucking minuscule cucumbers and zucchini from their vines. I told him to stop picking and explained to him that what I wanted was for him to *look*, not pick, and then give me a report about what's growing. He followed my directions, came inside and reported to me and then went back out to finish the watering. But first, he picked up each vegetable he'd plucked from the vines and carefully replaced them back in the garden from whence they'd come.

Mairs Momilies

Here I Am...

The Missing Pieces

Dear October,

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Boys and Tinker Toys

Today's Excitement

It's Official...

Tali A-Go-Go

Happy 4th Nate!!

Swim Lessons

Where I've Been...

Another Month in the Year of the Teen

DOD

My Little Naturalists...

It's *That* Kind of a Day

Tally Ho to Two!

DOD

Oh the Horror!

Checklist

4 prs size 2T shorts. check.

9 stuffies. check.

3 prs church sandals. check.

2 toothbrushes. check.

4 books. check.

Yep, two teenage girls are all ready to go camping.

DOD

Happy Birthday Tad!

WorkVelcro

DOD

Faith - Eight Months

Phlipism

Bright Monday

The Resurrection Nerf Battle

Hunting Down Easter

The Blessing of the Baskets and Paschal Feast

Paschal Divine Liturgy

Holy Unction - Wednesday Evening

Gymnasts

Everyone Needs a Mary

Faith - Six Months!

DOD

The World's Best Neighbors

Blizzard of '10

Kids in the Kitchen: Food Challenge Feb 9, 2010

Mission Field

Finally....

Testing Hospitality

Faith - Five Months!

These Boots are Made for Walkin'

How do you do it?

And just for the record....

Nathan Figures it Out

The Third Eyebrow

Now *That's* Lazy!

London Bridge is Burning Down!

Happy Birthday JT!

Decree of Adoption

Tali Potato Head

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day Landscape

Some Christmas Moments

Baptismal Liturgy Out-takes

Taking the Puppies to Church

Dancing Girls

Court of Honor

Christmas Traditions

Feast of St. Nicholas

JM Getting Ready to Play in the Snow

Friday Photos

When Puppies Take to Gymnastics

Friday Photos

Presenting the Newly Illumined Catherine and Natalie

I *do* see the resemblance!

Princess Atti-tu-tu-de

Friday Photos

DOD

Le'go Eleven!!

Friday Photo

How to Put on a Party Hat

It's That Kind of a Day

Now That's Lazy!

I do see the resemblance!