Our Family

We finally got a family picture all together! =)

Travis' 40th Birthday ☺

His birthday was a couple of months ago, but I L♥VE this picture!!!

My Kids! =)

again...

So now Bethany is sick.
She started running a fever yesterday...
Very bad cough, using an inhaler, and I'm cleaning/bleaching the humidifier so she can use it tonight.
Good news, sorta... the piano teacher called and canceled piano tomorrow.  She rarely does that, so this is good.  No one will have to go out, although I'm not sure we would have.  But at least I don't have to call and cancel again.  We've already missed 2 weeks in a row, and now this will be 3. 
Rebekah is nearly well, just a little cough.  JohnDavid is still coughing.  I gave him cough meds before he left w/ Travis to go to the Hunter's Safety Course class.
This is, I think, the 6th time they've been sick since school started.  I told them maybe they would graduate by the time they're 25!  lol.
Looking forward to spring!  =)

I have a facebook Fan Page!

I don't know why I never thought of it before,
but I created a fan page for Easy Access Recipes.
See it on facebook!  =)

Going out with Travis♥/Bacon & Egg Cups

Travis told me last night he was taking me out tonight and leaving the kids home!  It's nice that they're old enough for that now.  =)
So I didn't think I'd be cooking anything today that I'd be taking pics of and posting on my recipe blog, but then I decided to make Bacon & Egg Cups this morning.  Yum!
Hee hee, move the mouse back and forth over the bacon 'n eggs to "salt" them!
(I'm crazy)
ETA: The 'glitter' feature has been removed.  I'm still crazy.  =D

Falling Mouse-Glitter!

Here's how to get the mouse pointer glitter effect: (which is not on my blog anymore)
Copy the code from here.
Go to your blog and click on Design.
Click on Edit HTML.
Checkmark Expand Widget Templates.
Use the Ctrl and F (find) buttons to search for the < head > tag (with no spaces) or just look near the top of your HTML code.  It's just a few lines from the top.
Position your cursor after the tag, and hit Enter.
Paste the code.  Click Preview to see how it looks on your blog before you Save Template.
Easy Peasy!
Remember:  If you think you messed up your HTML code, just click View Blog and do not save anything. ETA: for some reason, this works better in Firefox than in IE.  In IE, the glitter is an inch or two behind the pointer.
???

Sweet!

Awww, Bethany just brought me fresh-squeezed orange juice!  Mmmmm, so much better than bought OJ, and it has pulp in it.  Yum!
My sweet Bethany.  =)

Sick =(

Well, the kids are sick again.  Rebekah started running a fever Monday, and at one point it was 104º but it's down a little finally.  Still some fever, but down.
JohnDavid started the coughing, nasal congestion Tues pm, and now has a fever.  102.4º.
What is it this year!?!  This is the 5th or 6th time they've been sick since school started.  I mean really sick.
Poor kids!  If they went to reg. school, they'd have failed by now.  =\

Wrong Slice

Yesterday I sliced my thumb good while making these:

Visitor Log

Hello, and thanks for visiting my blog!  100 VISITORS as of TODAY!  =)
If you'd like to, please leave a comment as a visitor to my blog!
Even if it's just your first name.  =)
Thanks,

The John Marshall Family - You Are My Hiding Place ♪♫

My mom loves this song! ...and so do I
They sing it so well that you almost don't realize there is no music!

The John Marshall Family - A World We Never Touch ♪♫

I love this song!

He shoots, he scores! Woo-hoo Travis!

At camp this past summer, we came to the last evening service and picked up the kids.
This was in the gym after service.

Yeah!  Ain't he great!?!

Homeschoolers - how we do it =)

hahaha!

Birthday Soup!

Rebekah and I have had a joke going for several months. She'd brought a can of Great Value chicken noodle soup and a can of cream of chicken soup to me at the computer and we were laughing at the fake-looking noodles, etc. on the labels. She then left the cans sitting at the computer. So later, I took them to her room and sat them on HER computer desk. She put them back on mine. I hid a chicken noodle one in her pocketbook. She hid it under my pillow. CLUNK. (ow, my head!) And on it went. We hid that soup a LOT!
So last month I decided she needed it for her birthday! =D

In the pics, the gift bag says "This gift is not a lemon."
We used this bag once before and gave it to Grandma Shelby (my mother-in-law) and put an ORANGE in it. Well, it was not a lemon! =)


Well, last night, I went to my room to get ready for bed, and THIS is what I saw on the headboard above my bed!!!

So Rebekah got me back!  hahaha!!!  (Didn't know I had this many!) 
Now I've got to come up with something v e r y creative...
6/21/10 Got her back!  =)

Rebekah got her permit today! =)

She did!
She didn't drive all the way home; I had a couple of errands, and going home, it was around the 5:00 traffic.  But she did drive home from Cousin A's house.  We went by there so all the cousins could see her.  =)
Cousin A was taking pics as we Rebekah drove down the driveway.  =D

cross-eyed daughter? LOL

This morning when Rebekah started school, she put on her glasses and said it did not look right!  She said her sight seemed... different, not focusing.  She said she felt like before she had glasses - her eyes felt slightly crossed, out of focus.  She kept wearing them for a few minutes more until she couldn't stand it any longer, than came to tell me.
WHAT???
No way can someone's sight worsen that much overnight???
I said, "They are your glasses aren't they?"  I knew she wouldn't mix them up with her cousin's glasses that were more oval, and I knew her Grandma's were different. She assured me they were indeed hers.
We were mystified.  Why weren't her glasses working??? 
After several minutes of discussion and wondering I said,  "Weeeelllll, maybe you need to clean them..."  But I just knew that wasn't it.  But she went back to her room and got the cleaning spray anyway.
A minute later she came back with a funny look on her face.
"Mama, you might not like this..."
"What? You do have someone else's glasses?"
"No, um... I sprayed one lens, and when I sprayed the other one, the spray went right though!  One lens is missing!"
That was so funny!!! Here she had them ON, and didn't even notice the lens was out.  haha!!!  And I'd seen them on her from about 5 or 6 feet away, and didn't see it either.
Ok, I was worried about trying to find the lens, but was trying not to laugh and be serious about this.  Didn't work too well.  =D
After about 10 minutes of searching, Bethany found them in Rebekah's bed.  It must have fallen out while she was reading last night.  So she popped the lens back in and started school and is now practicing piano.  =)
She told me I should have seen her face when she realized it was out.  She even poked her finger through the frame to make sure!  LOL!!!

P.S.  I just love this picture!  =)

6/22/10 The lens has stayed in ever since.  Don't know why it came out that time. 

MY scarf... well, the one I made

Ok, here's the scarf I finally finished!  I'd started making it sometime last week for Bethany.  SHE decides she wants to make one, too, and makes it Friday after school.  =\  Ok, I'm still doing mine... and she passes me.

So now she has two new scarves, and Rebekah has none.  Well, no new ones, just the one I made last year.  I'll be making her one next... IF I get it finished before winter is over!!! ha.
And I've got to see what kind would suit JohnDavid.  The one I made last year is too short! And I think he needs one a little more 'manly.'  =)
Yes, I can crochet, but the Knifty Knitter makes it neater.  When I crochet, my scarves have a tendency to curve.  =\   
 Rebekah said I was a cheater, lol.  
I said, "A neater cheater!"  ☺

Bethany's scarf

Bethany made this scarf yesterday after school.  Love it!  =)
I'll have to get a pic of her wearing it! 

Thicker scarf - using both sides of the loom

Bethany used 8 pegs (times 2, for both sides) to make this scarf, and used this figure 8 wrap for the first 2 rows, and this zig-zag wrap (faster) for the remaining scarf (without the extra piece of yarn tied in) until the last 2 rows, then switched back to the figure 8 wrap.  For a different look, you can use the figure 8 the whole scarf.

To get started, tie the yarn around the outermost end peg, and begin looping on the end peg that is in the row of pegs.  From left to right, wrap clockwise so that there is only one strand of yarn on the outermost part of the peg.
1. figure 8 wrap
2. how to do the end
3. one wrap will go straight instead of crossing over
4. heading back for second row of figure 8 wrap
(Click any picture to enlarge)

1. after 2 rows of figure 8 wrapping

2. hold the end of yarn while doing the first couple of hooks

3. showing the zig-zag wrap - go down wrapping every other peg in a zig-zag fashion, then back, getting the hooks that were skipped.  Don't forget to hold the end of your yarn for the first couple of hooks.

4. looking good!

She used 8 pegs in length to make this scarf, and it turned out to be 3 inches wide.

When your scarf is as long as you want it to be, cut the yarn, leaving a few inches as the tail.
1.  Starting at the end opposite the yarn tail, lift the loop off the peg and onto a crochet hook.  Go STRAIGHT ACROSS and lift that loop off also.  You'll now have 2 loops on your crochet hook.  Pull the second loop through the first.  Continue this way until you are finished, pulling the tail through last.  You might want to knot the tail to the scarf.
2.  We used this green loom, which is about 16-17 inches between the end pegs, to wrap yarn for tassels and then cut into two pieces.  You can use anything you like.  I think we used about 11 yards, and cut into forty-eight 16" tassels.
3.  Since Bethany used 8 pegs, using a crochet hook she looped 3 strands of yarn through each of the 8 'holes' at each end.  We didn't cut off the tails at either end, but blended them in with the tassels.  You can trim and even up the tassels a little after they are finished.

Finished length: 5 1/2 feet, plus 8" tassels at either end, so over 6 1/2 feet.

Here's one I'm doing.  I'm using all 12 pegs (times 2) on this loom, and it's finished width will be 4 inches.
(finished scarf)

Happy Knitting!

starting back

We started school back yesterday.  And got to start science!  We do history and science half a year each.
I really hope to be done in time to have the whole summer free.  We are behind a little in math/algebra, and one child is behind in English.  Maybe we can get it caught up!  =)
I hate that feeling of trying to catch up.
Seems like we've been doing that all year, and getting behind for one reason or another.  Seems we've been sick more this year, too.
But algebra is my favorite subject, so yeah!  We can do it!

my sister and family are here!

It's nearly 2 AM... I have a 10yo, five 12yo's, a 14yo, and two 15yo's.  Didn't realize there were that many 12's!  Eating snacks and boys playing the Wii... girls going to watch a DVD on Rebekah's computer, so they'll all get quiet soon.  My sis and brother-in-law are always great about it, putting up w/ the racket -- our traditional big sleepover the first night of their visits to NC.  =)