What's been goin' on...

Here's an update of what's been happenin' around the Musser household.

Klaus is growing! He's a chubby 4-month-old who drinks a lot of milk, loves to smile at his parents and his siblings, and sleeps all night. What a wonderful baby. He's everything a baby should be! He'll laugh, especially for Daddy.

Felicity is fiery. She's got a temper which is normal for a 3-year-old. It must be hard for her to keep up with the big kids all the time. She likes to sing (on her terms) and get dressed up in all of the princess paraphernalia we own so she looks like a young, gaudy Queen of England!

Ella is smart and silly. She asks questions like, "When was God born?" and says things such as, "You are in my soul." She loves to read chapter books (keeping up with the big kids, again!) and has started on text books! She rides her bike and plays in the mud and feels awful rich with $10 in her pocket.

Abby has a new dog, a part beagle-part black lab named Wilbur. We all love him. He'll jump up when he wants some attention so that the kids hold his front paws in their hands and dance with him. He's a sober dog so Abby can play with him easier because he's not too boisterous. She loves to play with him. She's an expert bike rider and story-writer. Mostly her stories are about dogs involved in some kind of a love triangle.

Kian has not been as interested in computers of late (what a surprise!) Or maybe it's just because he has to clean his room before he gets to use his computer and he doesn't want to clean his room! His current ambition is to grow up and become a professional Lego Designer. I told him we can look at lego.com today and see if there are any job postings! His birthday is coming; he will be 10. He wants to invite his classmates from his Lego stop-motion video class. I visited the class last week to see how many children this included--I was surprised to see teenagers and girls! That will be an interesting birthday party. He is going to earn his Bear badge tonight for Cub Scouts. On to the Webelos den now! Mommy is especially proud because she is the new Cubmaster for his pack.

Rhyetta is so thankful the weather is changing. It is May! It is Spring! The spring garden is growing. It's not as big as I want it to be, but I'm raising a baby this year and have to remember I can't do everything. We harvested some radishes yesterday that were delish! All of our chickens and guinea hens have died so our yard feels empty without any farm animals. It's alright though because we've got Wilbur now. I feel busy with keeping house, planning cub scout pack meetings, and attempting to school the children. Ella keeps asking, "When are we going to do kidschool again?!" So I'm trying to do a little tiny bit here and there.

Matt is finishing his second year of teaching. Only 3 more weeks till summer. It's been a great year. When he's home, he stays busy mowing the yard, cutting down trees for firewood, fixing bike tires, etc. Most Saturdays he is outside all day working, working, working. But on his new riding lawnmower, it's fun too.

That's life here. Hope you all are doing well!

Gotta Love It!

It's that time of year in the public education arena where students from 3rd grade on up see how effective their teachers have been by taking their state tests. Today my class started their round of standardized testing. Let me just say that there's no finer time in public education that state testing. (Of course I say that with tongue in cheek!)

There are moments like this when you get warm fuzzies all over. Gotta love it!

It Finally Happened...

Our car's transmission has "gone the way of all the Earth." It was a good mini-van, and was well used. We were fortunate enough to have found a new, though slightly used, Kia Sedona mini-van that will hopefully serve our family just as faithfully. We will take our car to get smashed and salvaged, or in other words... take it to the car graveyard.

May we have a moment of silence for our loss...






Thank you.

A Whole Lot Of Cooing

It's My Right!

While I was putting together a new tool, Kian noticed there were going to be some parts (nuts, bolts, washers, etc) that weren't going to be used. Kian always wants things that are left over to create his own thing. He asked if he could have them and I mentioned that maybe his sisters would want them. He continued to mention how he wanted them and that his sisters wouldn't want them.Our conversation soon came to an end when Kian declared, "I was the first-born and it is my right to claim things that are yours!" There was nothing more I could think of to say.

Never Ceasing to Amaze Me

This is not a prideful comment, but I believe that Kian is a genius and totally in-tune with the Holy Ghost. Let me explain...

We have what is called a yard hydrant that provides us plenty of water for our garden. It has had a leak that has gradually worsened (to the tune of a $100+ water bill last month. YIKES!!!). We went to home depot and purchased a 3/4" garden spigot to replace the hydrant. As I took of the old hydrant, I quickly learned that the new spigot I got was too small. So I took the old hydrant to the hardware store. I purchased a new one and placed it where the old one was. After turning the water on, to my disbelief, the water was coming out of a closed hydrant more than it was leaking from the old one. As I came into the house retelling what the current situation was, Kian chimed in. I didn't want to listen to what he was saying at first, but decided to listen. He suggested putting the new spigot onto the hydrant where the hose would normally go. Man, why don't I think of great ideas like this??? Needless to say, it worked. No more leak (hopefully). Yes, the new hydrant still leaks, but with the two pieces working together there's no leak. I came into the house hailing Kian as a genius and that he is so in-tune with the Spirit.

It never ceases to amaze me of the validity of "out of the mouth of babes" do we learn great things.

What will I do with myself?

I’ve been without a certain major appliance in my home for over a year. With four children and a newborn baby, some might consider this appliance a necessity. But I think I’ve handled its non-presence pretty well. Can you guess what it is?

It’s a clothes dryer. A top-notch washing machine I’ve got. Thank goodness with all the cloth diapers that are washed around here. But it’s mate—a very nice dryer we purchased five years ago—had to be sold to someone else because it runs off gas power and our wonderful home in the woods here only has electric power.

Compared to the summer before last when I was washing and drying the clothes by hand because there were not enough quarters for the machines at the laundromat, just having a washing machine in my home again was heaven. I haven’t even missed having a dryer. Hanging up clothes is better for them anyway and the savings of electricity was a benefit by not running another energy-guzzling appliance.

I often have clothes hung up all over the house. With diapers to wash and towels and bedding and clothes for seven people, I run out of space in the laundry room frequently. The chairs around the dining room table get used as a hanging up place as well as the crib and the doors and the ironing board and wherever else I can think of!

But now…thanks to some generous friends of ours who moved away and had an extra, we are the owners of an electric dryer! I used it this morning for the first time on a load of cloth diapers. How exciting it was to turn the knob and select the appropriate setting again. Permanent press, no! Knit/delicates, no! I need high heat for these little rags. Timed heat, yes! 50 minutes later I heard the familiar BUZZZZZZZ of the dryer that I haven’t heard for so long.

As I pulled the warm, dry diapers from the machine I marveled at their softness. My diapers haven’t been this soft for a looong time. How exciting it will be to dry my towels! I’ve had stiff towels for just as long and feel embarrassed when I offer them to my guests.

It took me less than five minutes to pull them out of the dryer, fold them and put them away. What used to take 20 minutes will now only take 5. Multiply this times at least 10 loads/week and I’m going to be saving a lot of time! What will I do with myself?!

I might just sit and wait to hear that familiar BUZZZZZZZ that sounds so lovely in my ears!