Pioneer Day, Week Two

You know you have a large family when...

...you have to carry three health insurance cards in your wallet- because that's how many it takes to fit everyone's name.
...you take the wrong child to the dentist...simply because your handwriting on the calendar was messy and both started with a "j".
...grocery shopping for 30 children and 12 adults for a two day camp constitutes a "small" shopping trip for you.
You find yourself relating some small incident to your husband and starting with the words, "Well, I only boiled twenty-six eggs for breakfast..."
...you buy a 40 pound box of bananas intending to make banana bread and freeze a bunch for smoothies...but your children eat them all first.
...you find an afternoon root canal relaxing.
...it takes you twenty-three minutes on the phone to schedule your children's dental appointments.
...you've given up on using your toaster entirely and make all of your toast under the broiler in you oven.
...you are seriously tempted by the stacking cribs you see at Goodwill for $19.99.
...you find yourself thinking, "Wow, the house is so quiet and peaceful with only nine children".
...you have enough children to constitute not one, but TWO large families.
...you have a laundry basket devoted entirely to lonely socks seeking their mate.
...when you got to buy your children those cool "spin toothbrushes" because you think they get their teeth so much cleaner...but the store doesn't carry enough styles/colors for your children to each have a different toothbrush.
...when you can't take all of your children to the doctor's office at the same time because the waiting room has only 10 seats.
...when you still have seven children that are required by law to sit in a carseat or booster seat.
...you call the doctor to get your children tetnus shots, and they tell you they don't have enough in the office and need to order more from the health department.
...you take up more than one entire pew in church.
...you take only half of your children to the library, and STILL get asked if they're all yours.
...you go to fill your children's flouride prescription at the phamacy and you clean them out of every pill they have...and it's still not enough.
...you spend sixty dollars on socks...and not everyone gets new socks.
...you go shopping at Costco and the cashier asks if you're having a soccer barbecue.

February 15, 2008

This week we made butter in pint sized jars. We filled the jars with whipping cream and tooks turns shaking, until we had a thick glob of butter in the middle.

Hallie apparently found the experience rather painful.

Once we could feel the thick glob of butter, we (read: Hilary) strained out the butter, and set the buttermilk aside. Then we (read: Hilary) rinsed and rinsed and rinsed the butter, until the water ran clear.

We then added salt, and just like that, we had butter. We let the children try the buttermilk, and they all loved it, and asked for more. We ate a Pioneer lunch of baking powder biscuits and gravy.

In keeping with the theme in that week's chapters, the children made owl puppets.

We even gained two new Pioneers this week.

Everett and his sister Isobel.

06:51 AM in Homeschoooling | Permalink

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Comments

We used to make homemade butter all the time when I was a girl. Since we got our milk straight from a farm, we had lots of cream readily available. We used to use an old jar with a paddle in it, specifically designed for making butter. Then we switched and...gasp...made it in the blender! :)

Fun memories...thanks for sharing what you're doing to create such memories for your children!

Posted by: Davene | February 15, 2008 at 11:58 AM

I noticed that your creative pioneer children made semi-automatic machine guns out of their plastic blocks things! Also a sword, in the hands of your newest pioneer. Looks like they'll defend your wagon train for you.

Posted by: Delia Brands | February 15, 2008 at 05:23 PM

I laughed when I saw the sword and guns. Those same blocks are part of our math manipulatives. It made me feel sorry for public school kids. I bet they never get to create weapons with math manipulatives....

Love your Pioneer theme. We are huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fans. My husband reads the series to our kiddos every few years. It would be fun to do this some time. Just curious, did you put marbles in the cream to act as paddles?

Posted by: Michelle | February 18, 2008 at 06:22 AM

Posted by: emily | January 26, 2009 at 01:51 PM

The data explained in this report appears to be interesting, however I may not be able to post appropriate comment related to this topic.

Posted by: axa verzekering | March 15, 2009 at 10:29 PM

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A Baker's Dozen: Daily Life in a Large Family

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You know you have a large family when...

February 15, 2008