Paul's First Holy Communion

The jury has been out about Paul. Is he incredibly sweet and innocent or mischievous and sneaky? Probably a little bit of both. But in any case, it was determined he has in fact reached the age of reason and has been allowed to now receive Jesus' Precious Body and Blood, a.k.a. Holy Communion, in church. The following are pictures to commemorate the special day as his first Holy Communion took place.

Peter is two-years-old

Shortly after we moved to our new house in the country, Peter completed his secondly yearly trip around the sun. Here are some fun facts about Peter.

* He is a little parrot. He will say back to you almost anything you say to him. It is absolutely adorable to hear.

* Peter loves to climb. If you leave the ladder out, you better believe you will turn around and find him at the top. He is quite a little gymnast --sure footed and curious!

* He is a sweet fiend. Maybe it's seventh-child-syndrome or some such. My first child didn't taste anything sweet until she was practically three. He's been eating sweet things since he's been able to purposefully wave his hands in their direction. He knows exactly what cookies and cake are and he will eat them, or complain until they are offered once he knows of their existence.

* Peter has a temper. He can throw fits like none of his siblings. Crying, screaming, throwing self on the floor fits. When Peter is mad, everyone around him knows it.

* He loves to do what his siblings are doing. Riding bikes? He's in. Sitting at the table, make room for Peter! Going on a walk, let him get his shoes! 

Rebekah made and decorated his cake. A pick-up truck with a puppy in the back.

Happy Birthday (last month) to my fun-loving and adorable little man, Peter. May God continue to bless you as you grow and learn and bless our lives. -- Amen.

Camping on The Land

Our new house, "The Cottage" is getting much closer to being done. This weekend we spent a good chunk of time "camping" there. 

The kids were playing Ships and Sailors when we first arrived. This is Five Men Rowing.

Paul keeping it clean. That boy loves to vacuum!

Rebekah spent a lot of time in this position. She is a bookworm for sure!

First, Updates:

Power

We have electric power from the solar panels. The panels are doing great pulling the power and the batteries are doing great storing it. After buying an inverter that was twice the cost of the first one we got, we are quite pleased this this system.

Heating and cooking.

We have a propane heater (with an electric blower) and it is working well. It is a bit loud, but we are adjusting to the sound -- like any heater, it takes a little getting used to. We have our gas range moved out, but are waiting on new orifices to fit it for propane. They should be in later this week. Fortunately we have an outdoor propane grill we cooked on this weekend.

Water

We have a propane water heater (tankless) and I imagine it is fine, but we haven't really tested it because we're having a slight water issue. We shocked the well as we were supposed to, but even after letting it run for numerous hours, the water remains urine colored and brings up sediment. We are hoping to test the water again this week and see if we can figure out what needs to be done. We are complete newbies when it comes to dealing with wells.

The water heater is the upper box on the right. (It's hooked up and all now -- this picture is a little old.) The box on the left is for the well, along with the blue pressure tank.

Plumbing -- poop.

Despite the water being bleh, the plumbing in the new house works well. The sinks run and the toilets flush. Speaking of flushing toilets, the worm bin (aka "natural septic" or "composting toilet system") is in place. Gordie still needs to run the laterals from it, but the worms are there and being fed.

The worms are in this tank.

The Take-Home

Pros

We are really enjoying our somewhat isolated environment. Although the house is small, the rooms are actually quite large. And leaving the ceiling open, coupled with the patio doors letting in so much light, makes the entire house quite inviting and comfortable to me.

Demonstrating some natural light. -- I was going to wait until everything was "clean" to take a picture, but then I figured I might never get one taken!! But in my defense, that mess on the freezer is Gordie's tools and such. 😊

Peter LOVES being outside. He was happy as a claim to play outside for HOURS, just picking up dirt or toddling around or playing in his little log cabin. He is a free-range child. Who knew?

The big kids are especially excited about the KCC (Kids Command Center). Grandpa and Grandma gave this old communications bunker to them for Christmas. We gave it a good wipe down this weekend. Once Gordie gets the two holes patched we plan to move out the "big kid" toys (like legos and board games). Gordie says it won't be hard to run a power line to it and we can just pick up a little propane heater for it, as well.

KCC -- Kids Command Center

Everyone was pleased with the mats being the floor in the main room. And we hung a few toys (the ones that could be moved again -- as we have not planned it all out yet) and those were a big hit.

Cons

The wind. So so so much Kansas wind and no trees! I commented to Gordie that it almost felt like we were on a ship at night as the wind blew and buffeted the house. Granted, everything held and all was fine. But the noises kept Gordie uneasy -- worrying something might break or be wrong. I imagine we will grow used to this.

And Finally, More Pictures 😊

Mom splurged and got the kids pomegranates. They LOVE pomegranates! Here they are patiently waiting for Rebekah to separate them fairly (as I only got three, so the had to share). 

Master Bath

Parents' Bedroom

Got a couple of the cabinets up. We are planning to put one of the ones on the floor in each of the bathrooms.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

We had chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. -- Daddy's favorite.

I got him a sunrise alarm clock. I'll report back on whether or not it works.

The obligatory Facebook collage for this year. Theme: "The Joy of 2005." 😊

7 Quick Takes -- Beginning of the year update

1) Our new little house is almost ready.

We are affectionately calling it "the cottage." Basically all that's left are to put the sinks and shower in and finish hooking up the kitchen things (like stove, dishwasher, etc). So a little, but still a lot. The solar panels and batteries are doing great and the new propane heater is keeping things warm. The well is done but we have not finished "turning it on" yet.

Here is the color we painted all the drywall: Avenue Tan.

2) We did the Shepherd for Advent.

So we journeyed with this shepherd guy (that the kids named Maximus -- or Max, for short) to find Jesus at Christmas. I think the little ones especially enjoyed it. Rebekah helped me mastermind it. It would not have gone nearly as well without her! We are considering asking the shepherd back for Lent.

3) I fit in my jeans again!

It only took a year and half. Guess it's time for another kid now. 😊
And here's some cute pictures of the girls mimicking me as I worked out one morning.

4) Miriam loves me.

She made me this little heart. All by herself.

5) Chores have been going better lately.

However, it's probably because I've turned into psycho Mom one too many times. 

And concerning chores, I posted the following on Facebook a few days ago:

Rebekah had been helping the younger children (Paul, Miriam, and Zipporah) water the plants every other day, but she told me this morning she decided to just do it herself now because it was too much work to have them "help."

I claimed solidarity in how I was trying to raise productive adults, but it was so much easier to just do the chores myself! Then I followed up with, I didn't have many chores when I was a kid and i turned out okay. -- To which Rebekah responded, "You turned out way better than okay. You turned out awesome, Momma!"

Oh that girl, what a blessing!

6) We like Aikido.

Rebekah, Samuel, and I attended the Aikido winter camp -- well, I attended the most of all of us, Samuel made a few days, and Rebekah a few more than Samuel. But it was very fun. We all really enjoy Aikido. And I especially like how the principles can help relate in regular life, too (things like relax completely and extend positive ki).

7) Here's some pictures of our kids playing outside at our new house.