Thursday, February 14, 2008

Boys Earnin' Their Keep


Jacob age 14
Samuel age 12







Our neighbor had this tree fall in a terrible wind storm that came through our area last Sunday into Monday. He called to offer the job to Tommy and the boys before he called his professional tree man. Tommy was on a business trip, but Jacob eagerly and immediately called and accepted the challenge, knowing his Dad would approve.


I have hardly seen the boys the last few afternoons. They took this challenge seriously and have enjoyed hacking away at this tree and have done a great job at it. All their experience gathering and chopping wood with their Dad has really payed off. After the boys stripped the tree of all it's limbs and cleared all the brush, Tommy went over with the chainsaw and cut the tree into logs. The boys then took over again from there.


I have enjoyed watching them work and seeing their progress. They are growing into strong, able bodied young men.


Besides the fact that they love working with tools like their Craftsmen axes, doing a job like this allows them to be outside, get really dirty, have man hands, smell like a Christmas tree, and say things like...."I climbed and jumped out of a forty foot tree today." And "I jumped over a forty foot tree today!"


After this wood dries out, we will have some good firewood. The Lord has blessed us with opportunities to gather free wood all winter long!


Boys were designed and created to work and provide and we love to see ours doing so!


By the way, Samuel is saving money to buy a new bike and Jacob, he just likes to save!
















Abby and Anna Made Bread

Abby age10, Anna age 8, and Wendy age 3

Abby and I have talked for probably a year about teaching her to make homemade bread. Time really flies! We normally make whole wheat bread when we bake. Although taking time to grind flour is not very time consuming, it is something the girls are not confident about doing on their own yet. Our grinder is called a Whisper Mill, but it is very loud. Since I knew the girls would basically be "on their own" and I would be caring for Rose, we followed the recipe as it read and used unbleached white flour. This is a delicious and wholesome recipe with the added oatmeal.

Abby and Anna did a great job as you can see. Wendy watched and "helped" her very patient big sisters. Don't ever think your kids are too young to learn to help in big ways! We had one loaf for dinner and finished the rest for breakfast the next morning.

Here is the link to the recipe we used. http://www.recipezaar.com/72787

Approximate cost for two loaves...$1.55
Read more over at Crystal's Frugal Friday http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm