The zoo, the zoo, the zoo is on fire!

So I've been busy for a few months, but I'm back now. And I did promise pics of the fire shirts, so here we are:

These pics are from a zoo trip in May. We really got good use from our Dallas Zoo passes the last couple years, but we're checking out the FW Zoo this year instead.

Apparently, I'm awesome.

I think I'm a pretty decent cook. I try hard to serve my family tasty, nutritious meals. Heck, I grind my own wheat for bread. Well, apparently, last night I outdid myself. As we were eating, my eight year old proclaims, "Mommy! You are the most amazingest, most beautifulest, most wonderful woman in the whole world. All the daddies in the world should WISH they'd married you."

What, you ask, inspired this praise?



That's right. Jiffy freaking Corn Muffins. Sigh...

(Pics of the Fire shirts are coming. Just can't find the camera. Again.)

What is it going to take

For God to get through to us? I keep living my life like a normal American, comsumed with the busyiness of life. Sure, I do few things I feel honor God. You know, we say grace, we read the Bible, we go to church, we try not to swear. Heck, we even school our kids at home so we can teach them about Him.

But am I really all that different? When are we going to come to the place where we really change it all up? Where we reject the consumerism that binds us and run wholeheartedly after God. Where we start getting rid of things and debt and every sin that so easily entangles us and start visbly showing His love to the people around us.

I came across this today and was just floored. How can you look at those faces and not have your heart be broken? The kids and I are going tonight to find a Compassion child to sponsor. And we are going to see what we can do to free up money in our budget to sponsor more.

What do you call.....

a girl who loves to cut everything with scissors?




A Cliptomaniac!

Cowboy roundup meal and tie dye shirts, part one

So here are the Ocean tie dyed shirts. After washing, I remembered that last year's shirts were much brighter when we left them overnight. Oh well. I do like the colors though. The kids would NOT sit still for a picture, so here we are:



Then we had our Cowboy Round Up meal. It was nasty muddy outside, so we ate at the table instead of our fake campfire in the backyard. We talked about cowboy clothing and why the cowboys wore bandanas. I gave them a hint, "It's something that bothered you at t-ball practice the other night." (I was looking for "mosquitos" or "bugs"). Abby starts frantically frantically waving her hand, "I know, their tags were itchy!!!!" What??



MENU:
Baked Beans
BBQ Brisket
Biscuits





The kids liked their meal and afterwards we took them for a walk around the neighborhood with their ponies. Daddy showed them how to poke an ant hill with their stick ponies. You know, 'cause that's a life skill.





Daddy was a good sport too:



We'll wear the Fire t's tomorrow.

Tie Dye

I love watching the Duggar family on TV. Nate says, "Mom, we should totally have that many kids - it would ONLY be 13 more." Gulp.

Nate's wishful thinking aside, I really do admire this family. I just finished their book and got some great tips for parenting a large family. One thing that I've noticed is that when they go out as a group, they wear matching clothes. This makes it easier for Mommy and Daddy to keep track of everyone.

Well, because we are such a PFUN pfamily, we can't just do matching clothes. We have to make our own TIE DYE matching clothes. Last year we did two sets, brights and camo. This year we changed it up a bit.

This is the dye kit we used.


The dye bottles inside look like this. You just mix with water.


Start with your plain white cotton shirt (don't use cruddy poly/cotton).


Get it wet, and wring it out. Pinch the middle and let the rest hang down. Apply rubber bands and 2-3 inch intervals (see the shirts on the sides above).



Apply the dye. Really squeeze it down in there, as it is going through many layers of cloth. We called these "Fire":


And these "Ocean":


Cover with trash bags and let the dye set for 6-8 hrs. Clip off the rubber bands and throw the shirts into the washing machine. Wash 2-3 times until the water is clear.

Free tips:
#1 Use better gloves than the ones that come in the kit. My hands look terrible.
#2 For super bright dye, leave overnight before rinsing.
#3 Do not use the sorry cheapo trashbags to protect your counter. They don't (protect). Use the Hefty's.

Tomorrow I'll show you the finished products! And we are celebrating the end of our horse unit with a cowboy roundup! (We are forgoing the suggested backyard bonfire. I don't think our neighbors would appreciate us burning down their houses.)

What we do in our free time