handsful

This post will chronicle my first try at putting up green beans. Not canning…haven’t made that jump yet! We’ve decided to freeze most of the beans, so I had to learn the process of washing, trimming, blanching, etc. These pics are from last Tuesday, but I did another 3.5lbs today. :)

4lbs, washed and ready to go!

Trimming the ends. This time, I cut each bean into about 3 pieces. Today, I snapped the beans into two. Lainey helped.

Brought the pot to a rolling boil, dumped the beans (in shifts) and blanched for 4 minutes.

Then, cooled them quickly in an ice bath for another 4 minutes.

Shiny, bright green and ready to bag!

I realized, when I cooked a bag last week, that I didn’t put enough in each. There were only 4 of us, and there was barely enough. I added more beans to each bag today. Our garden, canning, processing…it’s all a learning process :) And, we’re enjoying it all!

It’s just me and the wee ones this week, with Randy out of town for work and the big kids on choir tour. It’s been WEIRD. I’ve only washed clothes and ran the dishwasher ONCE. Unheard of.

It’s also been nice, spending time with them. We’ve worked together to get the chores done (I now appreciate my boys even more for lugging the trash cans and recycle bins down our looonngg driveway). We’ve played, and we’ve been lazy.

Today I told them we were going to do something fun, and I think I delivered on that promise. With the heat we’ve been having lately, finding a play place indoors was key!

Excuse the phone pics, it’s all I had…

Fireman’s pole complete with a real truck to climb on

Not to be outdone…

Grocery store…Lainey’s working the register.

C’mon, you know you always weigh your milk and ice cream too, right?

A quick climb…it was hard for Dylan, imagine climbing this without being able to bend (put weight on) your leg? Hmmm…

My new doctor…she looks trustworthy, huh?

Climbing on a sunken ship…

Flying a plane!

Driving a race car…

and, a boat! This place had it all.

Lainey’s face says “hey, I’m trying to bring in the crops here, leave me alone”

Their favorite room was the Cafe, which I have no pictures of. That’s because I was busy sitting at the counter, ordering food, and eating. They were busy rushing around the kitchen, pouring tea, bringing ice cream, and bringing me my bill!

They were already asking when we’d come back, before we even left. Score, mom!

Six kids, a dog, 4 duffle bags, backpacks, sleeping bags, and pillows were piled into the van this morning at the lovely hour of 6:15am. Abbey, Marley, Payton, and Ethan are off on their first Testify youth choir tour to Ohio!

After everyone arrived, Susan gathered everyone in the church for some “pumping up” time…devotion and prayer, plus a couple of songs (well, they ARE a choir…)

Even after nagging…I mean reminding them about the main things they needed, someone still forgot her pillow. Here she is happy that her weary momma drove back home to get it for her.

After making sure I got hugs from all, they boarded the bus and we waited to wave goodbye. The littles entertained themselves by lovin’ on their friend, Jackson.

I won’t lie, I got a little choked up and teary after walking back to the van. It’s hard to let your kids go THAT far away without you for 6 days/5 nights. I’ll be praying a lot :) I know they are in good hands, both physically (all the chaperons and counselors are fabulous) and spiritually…God is ALL over this tour, and I can’t wait to hear how He moves in the hearts of these kids and in the people they encounter.

Not so sure how to “categorize” this one! Just a few photos to share…

My parents came down last Saturday and stayed with us, so they could attend the kids Testify concert Sunday morning. It went GREAT, and I think Grandma and Grandpa were impressed.

I made Randy take this one. A collection box in the fellowship hall. I considered whether or not my children were “gently used” enough to donate.

Same weekend, the day before…

We had 2 of Marley’s friends spend the night Friday night, and another friend of hers came over the next day. Somehow they talked the boys into makeovers. Attention from girls? Sign them up. The results were impressive.

The “goth” look suits them, huh? Scary. I didn’t get a shot of their black fingernails.

Mad goth scientist?

Anyone else see Marley in this shot? Ethan will love that…

Fast forward to Tuesday. Randy left to go out of town on Monday, so it’s just me and the kiddos for the week. I was taking Marley to horseriding and running a few errands, so the littles were with the other kids. When I left, they were planning on taking them outside in their bathing suits and squirting them with the hose (no lake or pool for us anymore…wahhh!!)

When I got back, the littles were all bathed and in their jammies. Wow! How sweet of the big kids to do that for me. After praising them, here’s the photo Abbey showed me.

Gulp. It’s a good thing I wasn’t here, cause I’m not nearly fun enough to allow this! I had to wash their clothes and Dylan’s prosthesis belt. There’s still a little clay stain in the belt (if you live in NC, you’ll laugh here), and I had to wash out the prosthesis itself. But the rest came clean. Later on, I found the bathtub. I should have taken a picture of THAT.

Life is anything but dull.

Abbey, Marley, Payton, and Ethan are in two youth choirs under the ministry of Testify Youth Choirs…confused yet? One choir has about 35 members (this being their first year) and the older, more established one has more than 100. They each have their own local concert series this month, and they both go on tour (one to Georgia and one to Ohio) at the end of this month. Testify season is fun, crazy, and very busy.

This past Sunday, the North Meck choir (smaller one) had their first concert.

Look hard and you can see all four of them in this shot. This concert was at a Presbyterian church in Charlotte.

Same here :)

Abbey has a solo, and she did a great job.

This has been Marley’s first year doing Testify. She’s really enjoying it, but still isn’t completely comfortable being on stage…she’s working on it.

See? She’s even in an ensemble piece…

That also includes her brothers. The guys are also in one of the hip-hop dance routines. That’s hard to catch in a photo, though.

This looks a little wild, but it’s one of the choreographed pieces that I just love.

After the concert, the kids (including the guy in black) had to take a turn on the spinny thing.

Too funny.

Now, on to tonight’s concert. The Mooresville choir performed at a Children’s Home in Barium Springs.

We only had the zoom lens for this one, so no wide shots of the whole group.

The kids don’t have singing parts in this choir, but the boys are in the same dance routine. Again, hoping to get some shots of that at a future concert.

Caught three out of four kids in this shot…

As busy as this time is, the kids are collecting so many memories and experiences that they’ll have with them forever. Not to mention the impact that they are undoubtedly having for the church. We are proud of their commitment and hard work!

It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but never really thought I would. Then, maybe a year and a half ago, I began growing it out…casually, not sure I’d really go the distance.

I’ve loved it long, had fun putting it up in clips and braids. But, the last couple of months seemed to crawl by. I was pretty much over it, and counting the days till today’s cut. Interestingly, I woke up today feeling really crabby and just on edge. I was so nervous! But, once I got comfy in the chair, I was ready!

I brought along a famed photographer (and her assistant) to document the process.

Donna (my stylist friend) separated my highlighted hair and plopped it on top of my head. The program we used through Pant*ene doesn’t accept processed hair. Thankfully, my highlights are only on the very top layer. Here, she’s dividing the hair into individual pony tails. I promise I wasn’t as nervous as I look. Well, maybe a tiny bit.

4 ponies, ready to be snipped. Deep breath…

I swear, each one took about a minute to slowly cut off! Well, it felt like it anyway.

And, then she was done. 4, 8 inch ponies ready to be sent to the Beautiful Length*s program!

After a wash, cut, and style :) It’s honestly not as short as I thought it would be and I love the cut. It’s taking some getting used to…it feels so light!

Donna surprised me when she told me there was no charge…standard procedure for her when someone donates. Sweet :)

I’m so thankful I did this, and I pray that my hair is a blessing to someone in the future…what a privilege it is to do something so simple and hopefully make a big impact on someone else’s life.