Hello!  It's been a couple of weeks, hasn't it, since I posted?  Let's see, what have we been doing?  My Honey took the four oldest children up to the mountains last weekend and they four-wheeled.  They children had SO MUCH FUN!  They excited talked of thinking they were going to DIE driving up such steep roads with cliffs on the sides!  They may exaggerate...They picniced and ran around at the top of the mountain, and all together forgot to take any pictures!

We have been continuing with decluttering and organizing, but have done nothing dramatic.  The pool is being used daily.  BabyJ clung to his daddy the first time we took him in the water.  He was not frightened, yet he was not his usual adventurous self, either.  The second day, he was paddling around by himself (he has a floaty suit to keep him up) and even began jumping in from the diving rock! 

After he jumped a couple of times, I told ddA (who is 5 and developmentaly delayed) that she should jump in from the rock.  She had mastered "jumping" in from a step (it was more like purposefully falling in), but was terrified of the rock.  Whenever someone "helped" her stand on it, she would cry and fight to get down.  To our great surprise, she climbed out of the pool, ran to the rock and jumped in!  A real jump, up in the air and everything!  Now she's a pro and jumps in often!  She seems to mature in spurts.  She'll do nothing new for weeks, then just do something new and act like she's always been doing it.  I hope she begins talking like that!

OH! I know something else that's new!  I have finally arranged to actually use our vision insurance and my Honey, ddE and I went for our eye exams.  The rest of the children will have exams later on in the month.  All three of us have astigmatism and needed glasses.  That was not a surprise, as I thought we all would...but I wonder how many others will need them?  I'll have to get a photo of us wearing our new glasses!

I hope that my Honey will photograph all my books for E-Bay, and I can post them this week...watch for an announcement when I do get them listed, especially if you use Ambleside or Sonlight!

I want to share a new recipe that I will be preparing this week.  Try it and let me know if your family likes it!

Chicken Hash

1/4 cup butter

1 cup onion, diced (I'll use less)

1 green or red pepper, diced (ditto)

5 cups cooked chicken meat, diced

4 cups potatoes, diced

1 can cream of celery soup (I make my own, canned soup is yucky!)

1/4 tsp. EACH salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400.  Melt butter, then saute onion 5 minutes.  Add peppers, chicken, potatoes, soup, and spices.  Cook 10 minutes.  Spray a 9x13 with oil and spoon in the mixture.  Brush egg on top and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes.

Blessings, and have a great week!

Momma