Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was pretty busy at our house. We are trying to get some projects done now because our summer break will only be about a month. We girls worked on getting all the school books from last year put away in our brand-new pantry that Daddy and Jordan made. Now we have a little more shelf space. I think this is the first time we have ever had a bookshelf that wasn't completely full!

In addition to the pantry, Daddy and Jordan finished leveling out the little hill in our backyard. Now if we could just get some grass!

A Very Large Group!

Sunday we had a wonderful experience. We went to the Parish's and finally got to meet the Telians! It was a wonderful blessing and we had a meal, rode horses, played frisbee, and of course sang. Here are some photos (sorry about the blur on some of them) hope you enjoy!

Some active employments,

some less active employments before dinner.

frisbee players.

our favorite activity of all!

Kayla

Chickens

On Saturday we got some baby chicks. We were going to babysit them but we got to keep them. They are only three weeks old so we were going to keep them inside but we put them in the chicken coop. Kendra and I got to name them. The one on the left is Sarah and the one on the right is Alice.

Shauna

Rearranging

Those of you who have know us for a long time know that we can hardly help rearranging the house every few weeks. We have had friends come over and say to Jordan, "Okay, where is your room this week?" This time it was Kendra's turn to switch rooms with me. She moved in with Nikki and Kayla, and Shauna and I decided that our room needed a paint job. We painted it a tan, and then started to stripe it.

Jordan offered to help us with the taping off of sections. It was a good thing he did. I had already used most of the masking tape in the house, and the only other tape we had was his duct tape. He generously let us use it (the whole roll and a half).

While Jordan and I were measuring and taping, Shauna painted and Kendra handed us the rag when we messed up. The work went so much more quickly with us all in there. Jordan was tempted to sigh at me because I got the tape stuck to itself a couple of times (oops:), but I told him that he was being prepared for working with his children someday.

These are the two walls that we striped. We have a lot more to do in the room, but it will gradual. We eventually want a country cottage type look. For now, though, we are happy with the walls, and being able to sleep in our room again. Come over and see it if you can!

Playing in the Mud

We have a hill in the backyard that we are moving to make room for a trampoline. To make it easier to dig up, we ran some water over it. After Shauna and Kendra moved some of the mud, they made some of it into a plaything. Their handiwork on the outside wall.

Shauna refused to get her hands dirty, so Kendra mushed the mud pie while Shauna held the pan.

They had some cleaning up to do before they came inside!

Scripture Memory Celebration

Exodus 20:1-17 And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD the God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's. Every month Daddy picks a passage of Scripture for the whole family to memorize together. If we all memorize it, then we get to have a celebration night. This month's passage was Exodus 20:1-17, and we all got it. Shauna made us a special dinner of whole-wheat buttermilk pancakes, with jam, peanut butter, and bananas for the toppings.

When dinner was over we all made cookies together with our favorite kinds of candy bars chopped up and added. After chopping up all eight different kinds of candy, we found out that caramel doesn't work well in a food chopper, but regular chocolate bars with nuts is perfect.

While the cookies were in the oven, we were cleaning up until something made us pause. "What's that smell?" Nikki asked. We looked at each other in consternation, then I ran to take the batteries out of the smoke alarm while Jordan and Mommy opened the doors and windows. Some of the cookie dough had slid right off of the pan onto the bottom of the oven. The kitchen and living room got really smoky, but Daddy and the little girls waved the smoke out the door in just a few minutes. By the time the smoke was gone, the rest of the cookie dough was finished baking. After Kayla separated the cookies, we sat down to enjoy them while Daddy read to us. It was the perfect way to end a Werzinski Scripture memory celebration.

To A Friend

To the Parishs especially!

You entered my life in a casual way,
You saw at a glance what I needed;
There were others who passed me or met me each day,
But never a one of them heeded.
Perhaps you were thinking of other folks more,
Or chance simply seemed to decree it;
I know there were many such chances before,
But the others- well, they didn't see it.


You said just the things that I wished you would say,
And you made me believe that you meant it;
I held up my head in the old gallant way,
And resolved you should never repent it.
There are times when encouragement means such a lot,
And a word is enough to convey it;
There were others who could have, as easy as not
But, just the same, they didn't say it.


There may have been some one who could have done more
To help me along, but I doubt it;
What I needed was cheering, and always before
They had let me plod onward without it.
You helped to refashion the dream of my heart,
And made me turn eagerly toward it;
There were others who might have (I question that part)-
But, after all, they didn't do it.

From The Best Loved Poems of the American People, edited by Hazel Felleman, copyright 1936.

Strawberry Jam

Today all of us girls were able to make strawberry jam. Kendra got all ready in her pink kitchen garb.

Mommy has always made an effort to teach us the old-fashioned arts like making jam and bread, sewing and embroidery. Now that we are getting older and more of us can help, it doesn't take very long and it is fun to do together. Sometimes we do have trouble finding an apron for everyone, though!

We are so blessed to live were fresh fruit is readily available and high quality. We were able to buy the strawberries at a road-side stand just hours before we started the jam. Being raised in California, we didn't realize how good our fruit was until some friends of ours went back east and had hard, dry peaches that were top of the line for Missouri. They came back singing the praises of California fruit.

This is some of the finished product. We have to take a picture, because it doesn't last very long, especially since it is strawberry. That is Jordan's favorite, and he is right in the middle of a growth spurt. We don't mind it disappearing, though, because that means everybody likes it, and that's what we make it for.