2-27-13 A Frog Story

by Tori

On the cupboard in our laundry room, we have a jar of water with a frog in it. It makes a great discussion topic. Because we have had the frogs for over 10 years, Mom decided that they deserve a blog post.

Way back in 1999, Jesse, age 5, got a certificate for 4 African Water Frog tadpoles from Grandpa and Grandma Kaiser for a Christmas gift; in January of 2000 they came in the mail. Mom kept a daily journal on their growth and also sketched pictures of them at different stages. Of the four, three made it to adulthood. We had three for a long time, until about three years ago when another one died. A third one died last winter, leaving us with just one. Since their lifespan is 10 to 15 years, the last one may not live much longer, which is why Mom wanted the post done now.

The funny thing about our last frog is that it is older than over half of us kids. Kate, Ben, Sarah, Jewel, and Josh don’t know what life is like without a jar of frogs. Every week until about 4 years ago Jesse changed the water, and then Kate took over. Jesse still feeds it every night, and will continue to do so until the last one is gone.

Here are a few of the notes Mom took about them.

The lone survivor.

So that’s the history of our frogs.

 

ps from Mom: another strange thing about these pets is that nobody ever named them. Lone frog is still just that: frog! And the kids are already talking about getting more for Josh and the younger kids when this one dies.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

2-25-13 Monday

By Kaitlyn

Dueling banjos.

Last night we went to Grandpa Steiner’s birthday party. We had a lot of fun!

We see a lot of our cats out catching mice in the morning. Sometimes we see them with mice in their mouths.

Quiet time.

Did you find 6 kids in the picture?

Ben slipped in the mud outside!

THE END.

2-23-13 Catch-Up

by Tori

Levi has been in Alabama with a work team all week and is getting back today. This is from Monday I think. Thanks Chad for the picture.

Wednesday I painted Kate and my new bedroom.

Thursday I babysat Lincoln and Creighton all day, and yesterday Maria and Hanna came for the morning. Then afterwards, Mom & I went out for lunch and did some shopping.

Thursday night it snowed, though we didn’t get out in it till today.

Diamond and Gray went berserk in it once we let them out of the barn.

Today Mom and Dad went to Springfield and picked up our new four-wheeler.

First drive.

Going out for the afternoon. We went down to the creek bottom and drove in huge circles, which sent the round sled flying.

This morning Kate and I stained doors, trim, and shelving, and Jesse built shelves into our new closet.

2-22-13 The Vacation, Chapter 2

by Ben

The Wallet

The next morning Ted slept until 10:30. He got up and fried some eggs and ate them. Then Ted went for a walk. Then he saw a wallet. He picked it up and looked inside. There were ten 100 dollar bills in it! There was a picture of the person who had lost it, and his name was there too.

“I’m going to return this,” Ted said. “Because I would be glad if I had lost 1000 dollars and someone gave it back.”

Ted’s Dad agreed, so they Ted took it to town and yelled, “I found a lost wallet! Come get it if it’s yours!”

Soon an old gruff-looking man came up.

“It’s mine! He said gruffly.

Ted knew the man was lying so he said, “How much money is in it?”

“33 dollars and 44 cents,” he said.

“Well that’s not the amount that’s in here, so that means it’s not yours. Where did you lose your wallet?”

“I lost it at the town restaurant,” said Mr. Grump. (That’s what Ted called him.)

“That’s not where I found this one, so I’m not givin’ it to you.”

After Mr. Grump left, another man came up. He was nice.

“My name is George. I lost a wallet. I lost it away from town. It had 1000 dollars in it!”

“I found this wallet this morning while I was taking a walk,” Ted said.

Ted gave George his wallet and told about the other man.

“What did the man look like?” George asked.

“He had red hair and he had a pink shirt and a black hat and blue eyes and dirty brown jeans and he had glasses,” Ted said.

“Those are some good clues, Ted,” said George “You see, I’m a cop, and me and the other cops have been trying to catch that crook for years. Where did the man go when he left just now?”

“He went to that yellow house over there.”

“Ok! If you will help me, we could catch that thief right now, Ted. The family who lives in that house is gone and the thief knows it so he’s just going to walk right in and steal some stuff. Watch him. He’s trying to get in the front door but it’s locked. Let’s follow and catch him. He’s going to the back door because it’s not locked.”

They followed him inside, and George told Ted his plan to catch him.

“Ted,” George whispered, “You hide behind the stairs and when he comes around you jump out and push him over.”

The plan worked perfect. When Ted pushed Mr. Grump over, George jumped out from behind the piano and hand cuffed him.

“You did a great job!” George said. “That was a pretty big hit!”

“I didn’t want him to keep standing because if did, he probably wouldn’t be in jail right now,” Ted said.

Ted got 100 dollars for helping catch the thief.

2-21-13 Cheeseburger Soup

by Tori

This is one of our favorite wintertime meals. We make 12 quarts at a time and it is always gone with 2 days!

Cheeseburger Soup

In 12 quart kettle place -

2 1/2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and diced

12 carrots, peeled and sliced

3 onions, peeled and diced

1 1/2 cups shredded celery

12 cups water

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

8 chicken bouillon cubes

Boil 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Whisk 2 1/2 cups flour with 12 cups milk. Add to vegetables mixture; stir until thick.

Add 1 1/2 lbs. cubed Velveeta (3/4 loaf) and 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese; stir till melted and DO NOT SCORCH.

Add 2 quarts cooked ground beef and 2 packages real bacon bits. Due to the kettle being really full by this time, it is best to crumble the ground beef before putting in.

Enjoy!

2-20-13 Sauder Saturday

by Kate

Ben and Wesley went outside and helped Dad almost all morning.

While the little girls played games.

And read books.

And loved on Lainey.

We also built some sugar cookies. We had lots of help.


Jacob was working so hard he just had to have a rest.

Ben and Wesley played K’nex a lot of the afternoon.

More games.

Josh and Whitley had fun playing with the marble roller.


We also went outside and rode the horses for a while. It was freezing out.
We had a lot of fun playing with the Sauder kids.
THE END.

2-16-13 Random Week

by Tori
On Wednesday we made heart cutouts for Valentines Day.

Tuesday afternoon Mom took the youngest five kids to the library. By Wednesday night she had got out all the bags so there was quite a lot of reading going on.

Making Valentine package tags.

The last week it has been around 45 degrees every day. The kids always all go outside in the afternoon and most days they don’t come back in till 4:30 or 5:00.


The wrecked ice rink.

This one’s for you, Grandma.


The recipe for cheeseburger soup is for a 12 quart kettle – I guess when it says 12 It means 12.

Dismantling the rink yesterday.



A little fish survived the winter under the ice…


only to be enjoyed by Rascal.

Josh was loving the mud (of course).

Time for a story with ASK.

Music after supper…

turned into a pillow wrestle.



Littles fled to safety when Jacob -

and Jesse joined the game.

Four little Sauders came for the night. Here they’re watching home videos with Jesse.

Lainey spent some time reading with Kate.

Mancala.

Mom bought a new battery for Ben’s helicopter; Jesse and Jacob put it in and it works again.



Have a good weekend.