A Peom

Blogging is making me fat.

For I sit in my chair like a cat.

I look and I read

then I click and I type.

Oh, I can't miss any of that Lutheran hype.

Blogging is making me fat.

Blogging is making me fat,

drool runs down my chin to my hat.

There are photos of food

and recipes for the mood,

all you need is this and that.

Oh, bogging is making me fat.

Blogging is making me fat,

because I like to post pictures in fact.

I sit at the keyboard looking at photos of chicks,

they are cute in their hats or playing with sticks.

I need to get up and cook some more food.

Oh, blogging is making me fat!

By: The Hen

A nod

I got an award from the Aardvark and I was not even trying. He was very merry this Christmas and mentioned many people on his blog. By the way, we were golden Aardie winners. You should check out all of the notables because you might be surprised.

Pay-It-Forward Contest

This is going to be something new for me. I am a crafty person and some of you may or may not know that. I was a winner at Barb's blog so now I will give everyone a chance to win something that I will make for you by hand. Now you will not know what it is but I will give you a hint. It will be sparkly and lovely. Here are the rules: You have to have a blog of your own and you need to agree to send a handmade item to three of the readers of your blog if you win. If you want a chance to win you must comment on this blog by Jan. 31st and I will pick three winners. You should receive your prize by the end of Feb. I wish you all the best of luck and you had better comment away if want a sparkly gift to make your face beam!

For the ND relatives

I have found this post about lutefisk for all of my family from North Dakota. I hope that you get a laugh out of it.

toddler logic

The funniest things comes out of the mouths of little chicks sometimes. I am always so surprised by their logic. Last night chick #4 was having a grand time playing with a magnifying glass. He was looking at many different things with it and was pretending to find clues. I then explained to him that the magnifying glass "made things bigger", notice that I did not say make things look bigger. Today we went out to the mall with my parents so the little chicks could spend their $10 that they received for Christmas from one of the Rooster's aunts. Chick #4 picked out a Spider-man toy that shoots out foam darts. The toy is a little small to fit his wrist and he is not happy with the way that it feels. I do not know how small this toy company thinks that little boys wrists are but if it is tight on a almost three years old's wrist I do not think that a five year old could play with it very well. Chick #4 was walking all around my parents home looking for his magnifying glass. I remembered that he wanted to take it with him to the mall, but he had to leave it in the car. I asked the Rooster to get the magnifying glass for Chick #4. He was very happy to have the magnifying glass again and brought both the glass and the new toy up me. In his most sweetest voice he looked up to me and asked, "Now Mommy? Can you make my spider-man shooter bigger with the magnifying glass? It makes things bigger."

Merry Christmas from the Hen House

Here is copy of the Christmas letter I sent out this year. It has been slightly revised for web use. I hope you all enjoy it.




Saints before the alter bending, Watching long in hope and fear, Suddenly the Lord, descending, In His temple shall appear. Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the new born King. LSB Hymn367
May we all find peace in the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
The Hen house was full of activity and wonder this past year. I do not know if it could be another way. This year I let each of the children write what they wanted me to tell everyone about them so here it goes.
Chick #1 turned *ten* on October 29th she also got two trophies this past year in 4-H. One was in the speech contest and the other was for decorating and sewing a skirt. She was very proud of that. She also did softball and this time she got to pitch a few times.
Chick #2 did the goat show in the county fair this year. He is now playing basketball. It is a little harder than he thought. He had a lot fun playing baseball this summer. His home run was a hit for his family and the team. He is now a very wonderful 8 year old who loves to help out with Chick #4.
Chick #3 got a blue ribbon at the county fair. She got the ribbon for her pen holder that she made. She was suppose to use it for pens but now she uses it for ribbons. She is also in dance class on Saturdays and she is five years old. This past summer she went to swimming lessons and passed to level two.
Chick #4 is now two years old. This past year he learned how to use the potty chair. He also sleeps in a big bed and no longer uses his crib. He likes to try and do everything that his big brother does. His favorite thing in the world is milk.
The Rooster is the ever faithful husband who is willing to support me with all my new ideas. He stood by me while I ran miles and miles to complete a
half marathon. He is also very willing to watch the children while I sing with the choir.
I am forever in love with him and support him while he puts in extra hours in at work. I sit in the pew with the children while he helps during church services with his elder duties. We are very happy and love the vocation that God has given us.
Finally, The ugly duckling, our dog has grown up but he is still very much a puppy. He loves to tease the kids and get things he is not suppose to have. Here is small list of the this he has tasted this past year; a life jacket, a shoe, a shirt, a garden hose, a sprinkler, a lawn chair, oh and another lawn chair, rocks, sticks, bug spray, blankets, a veggie tale pirate, green army guys, matchbox cars.... You get my drift right? May the peace of God be with you through this next year.

Whack!

Just so every one knows that little chick #4 is completely fine I am posting this picture of him. He can not make snowballs so he grabs a stick and starts whacking.

Chick #1 was defending herself with the snow shovel. Who do you think could be doing all of this attacking?
Yep! Chick #2, the oldest boy, was after just about anyone. Well actually I kind of started the whole fight when I wanted a break from shoveling. I got this boy, smack, right in the middle of his back and he loved it!

Chick #3 just looks cold and all she wanted to do was make "butt prints" her words not mine.

Almost time

It seems as though Christmas is just about here. I have mailed the packages, wrapped the little chick's gifts, wrapped the Rooster's gift, and baked more than I care to mention. We have enjoyed time with friends and advent church services. Today we had one of our Sunday School practices for the Christmas eve service. At the first practice everyone is pulling out their hair wondering how it will ever come together. God never fails to calm our nerves the weekend before Christmas. Today the children sang well and sat still. It is always sad for me to see the bigger kids singing in their last Christmas program. Fourteen years ago I taught one little boy in the nursery class and he would hug me every Sunday after church. Now, this same boy is 14 and he towers over me. Instead of hugs he teases me but always tries hard to do as I ask. It only reminds all to well that my own little chicks are growing way to fast the oldest will only be in 4 more Christmas programs. I have taken some beautiful pictures of cookies that I have baked. So please be careful and do not drool on to your keyboards.

Chocolate Crinkle

Coconut Macaroons

Spritz

Chocolate Butterscotch the most favorite cookie of the Rooster.

Staples Gone!

This was no small task. The poor little chick, he went through more today than any little two year old boy should. The removal of staples in a wound is usually a very simple procedure but not today. It seemed that the staples were not put in correctly. I thought it was strange that I could hardly see them, but I also thought it had just scabbed over them. The doctor tried to take them out but one of them was in the wound and had healed into the skin. Yes! It was as bad as that sounded. Chick #4 cried so hard that he broke some capillaries around his right eye. I could not hold him alone so a nurse came to help and then another came. He is a strong little guy. The doctor than tried to numb it up a little and Chick #4 let out a wail again. He than said that they would sedate him a little and numb it so they could do surgery to get it. Now this was not full blown surgery, they just had to make a small cut to get the second staple out. (By the way, the first needed to be taken out also.) Then it was on to the hospital part and out of the clinic area. Little chick #4 had to drink a little tiny cup of juice that had the sedative in it. The nurse was impatient, but with a two year old, you have to let them drink it at the own pace. I could not pour it down his throat. Then I sat in a room with him till he got a little loopy. I could tell the meds started to work because he said he could not see the TV and his speech was slurring. I then carried him to the room where they would take the staples out. The nurse wrapped him, tightly, in a blanket. He thought he was just getting all comfy cozy for a nap. Then nurse firmly held his head and I held everything else. Then the nurse told me, "Now get ready because he is going to bust loose." WOW! He screamed and writhed even though they had given him drugs. The doctor felt so bad that this cute little boy had to go through all of that. In the end they did get the two little staples out and it looks just as bad as it did last Saturday. I should have just kept him at home and let God heal it in his own way. From now on I will not run my children down to the little hospital and I will go with my mama gut feeling. He is all back to normal now and playing happily. At least the sedative they gave him made him forget a little of what happened. Let me add just one more thing. It is not easy carrying a woozy 40 pound two year old. During the worst of it I could not let him sit by himself. Chick #1 and #2 had to help support him while he was sitting in a chair so I could put my coat on. The other chicks were very brave during this. The nurse let them sit in a waiting room and watch TV while I took care of Chick #4. Chick #1 said that she almost started to cry when she heard him screaming. I wonder if he was heard through the whole hospital. He started out being so brave but once they started digging in his head that quickly vanished. I do not blame him.

A.K.A. Staple Head

There was a little happening at the The Hen House today. While I was busy getting our lunch prepared and The Rooster was helping out in the dinning room, we heard a thump followed by a loud cry. This is never a welcomed sound in a house with four children. The Rooster was the first to swoop up little Chick #4. He was very scared, hurt and only wanted mommy. I held him tightly in my arms and whispered words of comfort into his ear. I then tried to look him over to find out what hurt so badly. There was drips of blood on his hair, and more was falling onto my hand. I told the Rooster what I noticed and he became a little shaken. Those people out there that know me already know that cuts makes me a little squeamish. The Rooster tried to see where the cut was and soon found that it was at the back of his head. Chick #4 calmed down very well and let us clean the cut and look at it. He had fallen out of a chair,, and hit his head on a corner on our computer desk that then caused a small puncture wound right smack in the back of his head. I called our pediatrician and asked the nurses if they thought a wound like that would need stitches. The nurse told me that it should be looked at but they could not get him in until 3:30. At that time it was 12:30 and I did not want to wait that long to have someone look at a head wound. It would also take about 40 minutes to drive into town to this office. Did I also mention that we had had an ice storm the night before so everything was very slippery. We decided to take the little chick to a small local hospital that is only about 20 minutes away. It is not a wonderful hospital but OK for very minor things like cuts that may or may not need stitches. All six of us piled into the suburban and arrived safely at our destination. Little Chick #4 was doing very well with the cut only slightly bleeding on the way to the hospital. After the nurse and the Doctor looked at it they thought it would be best if the cut had two staples put in it. Then it would heal much faster with out a lot of fuss. Quicker than a wink to staples were put in his head and all was better. Chick #4 took it a little personally that they hurt his head some more but he did not cry long and I got him to tell them "Thank you", in the end. Later on during the day while the chicks were playing at home, we kept hearing a door being slammed. Slamming doors in this house is against rules so The Rooster and I wanted to know who kept doing this. Chick #1 quickly piped up and said, "It was Staple Head!" Now how is that for a nickname.

A type of homeschooling?

Only in my house would this happen. This morning after breakfast I tell chick #1 to go and take a shower so that we can do our errands. After I finished getting Chick #4 dressed down to the shoes, I begin to look for the ever famous Chick #3. I have to brush out her hair and make sure that she actually has socks on her feet. Low and behold I find her in the bathroom and she holding the children's encyclopedia for Chick#1 so that she can learn about plants while she is in the shower. What! Now reading books is all well and good but I must draw the line at trying to read books in the shower. Another thing I am pondering is the fact that Chick #3 is an accomplice in this. Is she Chick#1's lady in waiting? It is just so funny to witness the things that these little Chicks do.

More visitors

Mark, Gina and John came for a clinic appt. with John's doctors in our area. I was more than excited to have them stay here at the Hen house for a few days. The chicks were all very excited to play with John again and visit with this kind family. They will be back in a few weeks for more appointment so we will be together once again. John kept the table entertained during breakfast by hiding under the table cloth or place mat. As soon as he got the chicks laughing he would ham it up a little more. Last night we had a little looper gathering with 8 adults and 16 children at Diane's house, 14 of the kids were 11 or under. As you can imagine there was a lot of activity in the house. Diane took picture and I might get to post a few of them later on.

A Week With Parents

My Mom and Dad came to spend the week with us over Thanksgiving. It is always so wonderful to have family staying at our house. The house just seems warmer and I love preparing food for more people. While they were here, we went to a pancake feed to help a seminary in Russia.
This was an ultimate pancake feed with fruit topping and whipped cream. My father is the man with the beard in the red and my mother is sitting next to him in the blue. You may also recognize the red headed pastor from some of the Higher Things conferences. He goes over to Russia and teaches in the seminary every few years.

My Dad was busy working on some questions for a lay leadership course he is taking. Little chick #4 wanted to do work on a laptop just like his PaPa.

NaNa, the Chicks and I went for a lovely walk on Monday. The weather was beautiful with a high of about 73. It is not often that one can go for a walk in November without a coat on. We are shown here walking on our local bike trail. I simply love these trails and have seen them change all year long.

Then on Thanksgiving we had a lovely dinner! It was very wonderful to have such good company and good food again! On Thanksgiving Eve I had to miss church because Chick #3 was felling a bit under the weather. She felt so bad that she could not go to church with every one else, but after I explained to her that we did not want anyone at church to get sick too she seemed to understand. I held her and talked to her while we watched a movie. Then I read a few bible stories to her while she rested.

Later that night we made a gingerbread house. My mom had never made one before and she and PaPa had a lot of fun decorating it with the four little chicks.

During the week there was one unwelcome guest at our house. A pesky little stomach bug made the round from chick to chick. My Mother was a great help and did a lot of my laundry from the week. I washed my fair share of sheets this week too. I think that it is now gone through all of the chicks and is over. I am feeling a little under the weather today but it is not anything that I can not live with. Chick #1 was the last to fight with the bug and today she is back to her old self. She helped clean a lot of the house by wiping things down with disinfectant wipes. Those sure do come in handy when you are cleaning bathrooms a few times a day. Hopeful tomorrow all will be well in the Hen house again.

Ahhhh!

I have found myself, this afternoon in a completely quiet house. This happens to me every now and then. If I were to put a number on it I would have to say maybe 6 or 8 times a year. The Rooster had to run and errand this afternoon and took the older three chicks with him. I am home the the littlest chick who is taken a much needed nap. At times when I am here alone (almost) I wonder what my life will be like when these little chicks have flown away. Will my days still be spent at home making a nice place for The Rooster and me? Will I maybe find a job outside the home? Will all of my little chicks stay close by and I will be baking cookies from them to munch on. Meanwhile I will enjoy my little bit of solitude and then vacuum the house. After all, my parents are coming to visit for of whole week this evening. It will be a wonderful week.

Italy, here I come baby

I like the boots plus the food would not be to bad either.

Your Inner European is Italian!

Passionate and colorful. You show the world what culture really is.

Who's Your Inner European?

It's all good

Nothing can be better than an evening filled with good company and good food. A fellow MartinLooper came to my neck of the woods for some shopping with her Mother. She wanted to know if I wanted to meet her and visit for a while. I, of course, jump at the chance to get out of the house and spend some times with friends. So I sprang to action and called fellow loopers and planned an evening. Diane, a good friend came along and then we drove to pick up Gina and John. Diane and I had never been to the Cheesecake Factory. So we suggested it as a meeting place. Wow! The restaurant was amazing! The decor was breathtaking and food was divine. It took our group of ladies quite a while to decide what to order. We giggled and laughed while reading through the menu. Finally, the orders were placed and lively conversation ensued while we waited for the meal. John was all smiles the whole time and kept everyone entertained. When the food was brought out to our table we gasped at the enormous size of the plates and portions. I really believe that my salad could have fed a third world country. OK, I may be exaggerating but it really was a huge plate of salad. I ate about a third of it and then enjoyed the rest for lunch today. Her I am with the gigantic salad!

John is one of the most patient little three year old boys I have ever seen. He sat so well during our two hours visit. Here he is with Gina lovely plate of pasta.

After a while he did want to move around a little so the little guy sat between Gina and me. I have spent a lot of time with him over the past month but usually the Chicks are playing with him while Gina and I talk. I did not get into the act of playing with him so often. Last night he really was teasing me. He wanted to sword fight with the butter knifes and I had to defend myself. Then he would giggle and carry on. He wanted me to tickle him with my long hair then he would pretend to cut it with his butter knife. Tiger, his semi famous stuffed toy, had to get in on the act too. I made a Kleenex cape for him and he flew over the table. I tryed to get John to eat one of the little madarin oranges that were in my salad. But he thought it was more fun to squish them up and try to feed them to Tiger.
We could not go the The Cheesecake Factory with out ordering cheese cake could we. The menu of cheesecakes was just as overwhelming to me as the entree menu. After we finally ordered and the cakes were brought out, John knew just what to go for. The whipped cream! It was good to seem him enjoy it. Notice his round little cheeks? We can only pray that they will become rounder with time. Gina just called me after lunch today and told me that they are going home today. This is a time of rejoicing and sadness. I am so glad that John is now strong enough to return home but I will miss getting to see my new found friend. John will have to be coming back up to the hospital here is a few weeks and Gina, Mark and John will be staying at The Hen House. It will be good to see her again. During that visit we will be having another Looper close by so there will be more laughter with Wendy and her lost boys.

When it rains it pours

Just ask my husband and he will tell you that it is true. It never fails, that if one thing break in our house there will soon be another thing to follow it. Lets go back to last Saturday. My trusty kitchen aid mixer was kneading my bread dough and I walked away to check on one of the little chicks. Suddenly, The Rooster came up to me and told me that he turned off my mixer because it stopped. WHAT? I was trying to wrap my chicken brain around what he was telling me. How does a mixer just stop? Maybe he was trying to say that he turned it off? I always set my timer to beep when the mixer has kneaded the dough for the right amount of time. It usually takes about 6 min. for the dough to turn out right. I asked The Rooster, "You mean that you turned it off, right?" "No", he said. "It shut off so I turned the switch off". Now my mind was racing, could my mixer be broken? Oh the horror, I use this thing all of the time. It was the The Roosters idea to buy me this heavy duty mixer after I kept burning up hand held ones. The model we bought was a reconditioned model because we could have never afforded to but a 6 quart mixer any other way. The Rooster and I established that, yes, the mix was broke. I then look at my husband with pleading eyes. "Dear", I say, "You are able to repair presses that are as big as our house, surly you can fix this little mixer." The Rooster then took apart my mixer, that I am secretly in love with, and figured out that the motor is going bad. Good! We just need to get a motor. Well that statement is easier typed than done. Now the Internet is a wonderful thing and after much surfing and a phone call to acquire and differ part number, he was able to locate a company that sells the motors for these mixers. Mean while, in the hen house, that left me to do manual labor.

Poor Poor mixer!
Notice the bulging muscles from kneaded dough for 6 minutes. Just joking! Let me tell you that those women of the past must have had wrists and elbows of steel. Mine began to hurt after only a few minutes.

The vacuum then decided that it would try to copy the mixer buy busting a plastic piece that holds that tubes together that are used with the beater brush. Duck tape temporarily fixed that break down so I could vacuum the filth and live with the way the floor looked. Hopefully, both of these parts will find their way through the postal system and end up on my door step soon.

cooking and baking and chopping

Yesterday I had a busy day at home. In the morning while chick #3 was at dance lessons I took the older chicks out for nice bike ride. The weather was a little cool and Chick #2 and I really enjoyed the ride. Chick #1 is not a girl up for challenges so she did not have as much fun as we did. But at least we made it home safe. Then I was to spend the rest of my day in the kitchen. I had to make a potato salad for our soup supper at church. Then I finished up the bread that I had soaked the day before. I made green chili for lunch and garlic chicken for supper. The green chili was an accidental dish that I was forced into making because we did not have any canned tomatoes. That is really a bummer when you have your heart set on something and then a key ingredient is missing. I recalled that I had heard you can make green chili using green tomatoes, so I gave that a try. After I perfect the recipe a little I might blog about that and then you can try it. We all agreed that it was good enough and everyone liked it. I then decided to freeze some of our many green tomatoes. If you read this blog often you remember that this is not a good year for tomatoes here. This is me whining about it.

Here are some of the green tomatoes that Chick #1 went and picked for me. I figured I should try them in something because there are just so many of them. I know that the Ugly duckling has been snacking on them because I have found them laying around in the yard.

Chick #3 helped with the washing and the taking off the tops. She talked for the tomatoes the whole time she helped me.

Then I did the chopping.

They look pretty don't they.

Then the little guys were stuffed in bags. Chick #3 thought that this looked liked the best part and, of course, the best job. She had to try her hand at this too. But the tomatoes got a little to excited in the ride they had in the spoon from the bowl to the bag. Every time she would have about five pieces end up on the floor and just could not figure out why. I figure that I now have enough for three batches of green chili. The next time I make some I will share that adventure with you.

Holidays

Happy Halloween and Happy Reformation from the Lutheran Hen! May the chocolate harvest commence!

Birthdays

This is a picture of chick #1 when she was a wee little babe. Today is celebrating her 10th birthday. She is very excited to be growing up and learning more new things.
We had her party on Saturday with three of her friends plus the other chicks. There was rollerskating in the morning followed by lunch and then cake and ice cream. She still has that beautiful dark hair that she was born with. I gave her a special gift since she is turning ten and is now a pre-teen. She received a girly bag this morning with the American Girl book about growing up in it. I added person care items, lip gloss, a little training bra, a cute little bag, body spray and shower gel. She is looking forward to all of the new changes that will soon be happening to her.

She also received this dress from her Godparents and their daughter and son-in-law. It matched one of my skirts so well that we thought we would dress the same for Church on Sunday. Chick #2 took the picture of us because the Rooster stayed at church for the voters meeting. I thought I would add this picture of myself because it is my birthday today also.