Today in Bodenburg…

First Air Soft War at Our House

Outside…

Meanwhile, Inside…

I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great time this afternoon.  We hope to do it again sometime soon.

My Favorite Planner

I just noticed that my favorite planner is ready to be ordered.  It is the Catholic Woman’s Daily Planner from Family Centered Press.  They have Mom, Dad, and student versions available that run from August, 2009 to July, 2010.  This company also has wonderful nature journals that we use regularly.

I Knew Tennessee was Different, but…

I could not put my finger on it, exactly.  Today while sitting at our dining room table, Kevin tells us to “take a look at this.”  Down the highway was a bike rider, riding BACKWARDS!  I have never seen anything like it and thought perhaps we could be in the Twilight Zone!

Have a great day!

A New Blog

Vogel Boys 2 —

The boys are at it again! If they were only so excited about their math!

What’s Up Now?

When was the last time I blogged?  Well, I don’t remember either!  Life has been busy and on top of that we (Joe and I) decided that I would go back to school.  I’m a little more than half way to a bachelor’s degree, so online college seems to be the way to go now.  That being said, I officially started school on November 18 at Ashford University. 

Speaking of November 18, Joe and I were married 13 years ago on that day.  For our Anniversary, the kids had a party with our friends who came to babysit (and brought their children as well), and Joe and I went to Florence to our favorite Italian restaurant, Riccatoni’s.  If you’re ever in Florence, you might want to go there as we have never had a bad meal there or a bad waiter.  We then went over to the Gabbetts whom we hadn’t seen for quite a while, maybe even since September in Ohio.  Is that possible?

I want to thank all of you ladies who attended my shower in Pulaski.  We ended up getting a nice exersaucer for Veronica.  The last one we had went through all of our children and two of my friend Sue’s as well.  It was holding up good considering, but we thought it might be nice to have a new one.  (By the way, if you are in Lawrenceburg and are in need of an exercaucer, there is an almost new one for $18 at the Children’s Closet.  If I had known that before hand, we would own that one!  LOL!)  Veronica is not quite big enough for it as we found out one day, but she seems to be looking forward to spending more time in it.    (Please remember that you can click on any picture to make it larger.)

One of the lovely things about a medium sized homeschool family is that the children get along pretty well most of the time.  Here is a picture of a somewhat common site here in our house, our eldest and youngest…

  Around here when someone sees a flash go off, they immediatey feel the need to get into the picture, as can be seen here…

This is November, the month of the Holy Souls.  We have been praying.  The first was also All Saints Day, but several of the children were sick, so we missed the parties.  Friends of ours were also sick, so later in the month we had a late All Saints Party.  Here are the children dressed up.  Can you guess who they are?

St. Zita, St. Steven, St. Mary, St. Aloysius, & St. Lawrence

Here are the girls…

Speaking of the girls, they wanted to wear their green dresses to Mass one day.  Even though it was not Christmas, I let them wear what looks like Christmas dresses.   They like to dress alike, or somewhat alike, whenever possible.

Finally, here is our little Veronica, napping in her little boppy.

Rest in Peace, Steven

Steven’s Mom called this morning around 7 am eastern time to tell me that he had just gone to Heaven.  We will certainly miss him.  Last week we were able to see him everyday, except for one, from Sunday to Friday.  We feel blessed and privileged to have spent that time with him.  Here is the post that I did for his 25th birthday.  Below are some pictures from our trip in May of 2007.

     

Please pray for his family.  Thank you.

What You Have Been Waiting For….

The big squash!!!

I’m only sorry we didn’t photograph the pretty green side.  This is a Long of Naples winter squash, weighing in at 20 pounds.    This was taken before our retreat/vacation and I was looking forward to cooking it up later.   But, things happened and the squash (all 4 of them, this was the biggest) didn’t get put in a barn stall.  When we came home, something had feasted on them.  So, we’ll have to try again next year.    Here is a picture of the last of the harvest from our garden this summer (besides the daikon radish that I pick as needed.)    There is plenty of kale, cucumbers, acorn squash and lots of beets!    If Joe can get a place plowed in the next few days, I’ll be planting more kale, radishes (including watermelon radishes), beets, and sugar snap peas.  The weather has turned colder, but it still gets up into the 80s on sunny days.  By the way, we are getting rain here.  We desperately need it! 

All that produce was picked two days before we left on our vacation.  We were very busy packing up the trailer, doing laundry, and trying to get the place ready to be left for 2 weeks.  We went to Ohio for our annual retreat.  Here are just a few shots from Our Lady of Lebanon Shrine in North Jackson, Ohio…

The alter boys and priests before Mass one day Our good friends Dan & Tina holding VeronicaOur good friends Dan & Tina holding Veronica

Joe with Br. Paschal Allaire holding Veronica Allaire holding Veronica

 

Fr. Tom Fogarty

 

James & MaryEllen on the top of the tower

 After spending 3 wonderful days at the shrine with so many friends, old and new, we went to the Society of St. Paul Monastery.  The children look forward to the golf cart every year.  They also really like talking to the priests and brothers there.  This year the gold cart was broken, but Joe went on Saturday and helped Brs. Paschal and James to fix it.  It lasted for a little while…

   

Well, the rest of the vacation is in our memories because we didn’t take any more pictures.  We went onto Virginia, stayed with our friends and saw many more.  We also went and visited Uncle Jeff.  We had a wonderful time.

Here is one more picture from vacation.  Veronica in her “Boppy”…

As a side note, one day last week we had a homemade red velvet cake.  After dinner it was left on the counter for a little while.  From the other room I heard the sound of a glass on the counter.  I went in the kitchen to see this…

Charlotte is caught!

She was not crying when I walked in.  When went out to get the camera she started to cry.

Now, the part of the post you have really been waiting for….

The Midwife was here today and Veronica is well over 9 pounds.  (I cannot remember how many ounces.  MaryEllen thinks it is 7 ounces.)  She has also grown 3 inches.  Here are some pictures we took today…since so many people have been pestering me for new ones.  Veronica is 8 weeks old today.
 
     

Last, but not least, the beginning of Veronica’s sleep pictures…

John’s Blueberry Kanten and a Trip Down Memory Lane

There is a cookbook called “The Macrobiotic Community Cookbook” written by Andread Bliss Lerman.  Actually there are two, the old and the revised edition.  Even before I went almost totally macrobiotic, I used this older cookbook.  It is literally falling apart!  When we did switch our diet last year James had the hardest time.  Actually, he would have a hard time no matter what becausehe is just so picky!  He likes 4 or 5 foods and that’s about all he will eat.  You can bribe, punish, or anything else and he will not eat new things.  (And he used to be the best eater in the family!)  That being said, when we did make the switch, John Denver was on of his favorite singers.   Well, that old cookbook has a picture of John Denver with his favorite Kanten recipe in it.  I took that book out and showed James and he was impressed.  Last week our local healthfood store had fresh blueberries, so we bought some with the intention of finally making this recipe.  Our John kept joking around saying that we would all start singing John Denver songs when we ate the kanten.  So, I fixed him and pulled out the John Denver CD. 

It never ceases to amaze me how some songs can bring back so many memories.  The CD we have is a live version and the first song is Rocky Mountain High.  (Since John Denver sings this alone, I like to add the harmony!   But, that has nothing to do with the memories.)  Immediately my mind went back a few years to our trip to Colorado.  My brother sent us on a highway, I never thought I would forget that route number, but I have, that they call the Million Dollar Highway.   It was September and we were pulling our Cougar 5th Wheel.  We kept going higher and higher and the temperature kept going lower and lower.  When I looked out the window I could not see the side of the road, I could only see down…and a very long way down.  My palms get sweaty just thinking about it.  But, we made it through.  When we got to camp that night we saw one of the most striking rainbows I have ever seen.  I remember Joe saying, “What would it take for us to move here?”  He wanted to move!

The next song on the CD was Country Home, Take Me Home.  Is that the title?  I’m not sure, you know it is the one about West Virginia.  The first thing that happened was I got a little home sick.  Although I have never lived in West Virginia, I did live in the western part of Virginia, which I think may always be my home, and we lived near the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah River.  My next thought was of my childhood home on Otis Avenue living next to the Grant family.  (Their last name is Grant, but they are related to General Lee!)  I distinctly remember the son, Pat Grant, singing this song, off key, wearing his cowboy hat.  Even in New Jersey, some of us dreamed of living in the country, even then.  One memory leads to another and I couldn’t help but to think of our trip to Tennessee in 1982 for the World’s Fair.  The Grants had two children, a boy who was a little older than us and a daughter, Vicki, who was born 6 weeks after I was.  We grew up next door to each other ever since then.  I spent a LOT of time “next door” and they would take me places to keep Vicki company.   We were good for shorter trips, but After 2 weeks of being together in TN, we were fighting more than anything.  But, after that trip, Vicki and I always wanted to move to Tennessee.  Wow, I’m here!   We also listened to that song driving through West Virginia on our way to Kentucky to my friend’s wedding in Louisville a few years ago.

One of the other songs is Sunshine on My Shoulder.  I can vividly see our house on Otis Avenue and my brothers and sisters being around telling me that was the first song I had ever sung and they had a recording of it.   I like to remember those early times when my brothers and sisters were around because now I realize how fast the time went.  My siblings were so much older than I and that time was really short.  It was not too long before they started moving out and some getting married, and all that family fun.  Now we are scattered a bit, so we don’t all get together much anymore. 

Last, but certainly not least, when John Denver is mentioned I always think of my cousin Kelly who looked so much like John Denver in the 70s!

So, after all that rambling, here’s the recipe:

John’s Blueberry Kanten
by John Denver

8 cups unfiltered apple juice
8 tablespoons agar flakes (kanten flakes)
Pinch sea salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
Dash vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blueberries

Combine all ingredients, except for the blueberries, in a large saucepan and slowly bring to boil, stirring occasionally until agar flakes are completely dissolved. Add blueberries and simmer 5 minutes. Pour into a mold and chill. Garnish with 1 peeled and sliced lime, if desired.

We skipped the lime (because we didn’t have one.) Did they like it? Well, James asked for just a little bit on a spoon. He put it in his mouth and made a horrible face. He went on to have 3 bowls last night and had more for breakfast. John loves it too and so does Charlotte. I got a little bowl and really like it as well. We were all surprised how spicy it is and that really makes it taste great. Before writing this I looked in the refrigerator. There is just a smidgen left for me! Guess what I’ll be making again today.

May Snap Shots

We had another May crowning, this one with our Catholic Homeschool group in the Huntsville area. 

   James spent some time making invitations for his First Communion with a little help from Illuminated Ink and Mom. 

Kevin, the reptile hunter was at it again.  James knocked on the window and asked me to come to the door.  Kevin was standing there with the snake and said, “Um, can you get a picture, Mom?” 

Heard in the car as we were looking for a certain road… 
James: “That ain’t it.”
Mom: Not saying anything but thinking about James’s poor English and how my Mother would have corrected any of us for that word.
James: (Before I had a chance to say anything) “I mean, that isn’t it. … Sometimes I like to speak with a Southern accent. But, I think ain’t is the only word I know in Southern.”

Mom has been in a creative mood lately thanks to a lovely blog mentioning a really neat magazine that I had to check out. (I cannot wait to play with felting, especially with the children.  If you have any old sweaters, please send them my way!!!  Thank  you!)  This morning I finished a dress that I started 3 years ago for MaryEllen. It is not the greatest work, but Charlotte really liked it and MaryEllen kept saying how pretty it is and begging me to make her one.
  And here’s a close up of our little Charlotte…

The second project that I found time to work on is the start of a dress, again started about 3 years ago.  This is my very first attempt at smocking and embroidery.  After taking this picture, I learned a very valuable lesson about smocking dresses.  If you are going to add embroidery, do it after you block the smocking for the pattern.  Now all that embroidery has to come out.  Two good things about that.  1.  It was really good practice and 2. it will give me plenty to do while listening to EWTN at night! 

 Last, but certainly not least, are the shirts that Mom sent me as mentioned in the previous post.  Thanks again, Mom.     And the belly shot.  Yesterday I officially hit the 6 month mark.  Today I officially hit the 27 week mark, which marks the beginning of the 3rd trimester.