Thanksgiving Blessings

I have been very delinquent in blogging since September, but this has been a year of spiritual growth, and business with my family.  I don't apologize for stepping away from the computer - It was very needed.  Anyways, here are some pictures from the Thanksgiving visit of our family -- This was the first time since JA's brother Phillip graduated from college that his mom and brothers were all together.  I loved being able to meet my two nieces for the first time.

Click here and here to view the pictures.

Bugs, Lizards, and Weeds Oh My

This has been a fantastic week of school.Click the title to read this post.

Sugar Beets

The time has come to begin clearing out my garden.  This is a great lesson for the girls in beginning homemaking.  Thursday Lydia helped me harvest the beets.  We kept the taproot attached and then cut the stems to about two inches.  We brought them into the house where Kara washed the beets and placed them in the blancher.

We then boiled the beets until the skins were able to be rubbed off.  Both Kara and Lydia helped me skin the beets and then I chopped them and placed them in the pint jars. Adding a 1/2 tsp of canning salt to each pint then sealing it with a lid and ring.  This is all the girls were able to help me with.  I am always a bit nervous about using the pressure canner, so no kids are allowed in the kitchen when the pressure canner is building pressure up.

This was the first time I've used the pressure canner this year, so I had to do a quick review of what I was doing (by calling my very experienced gardening/coupon friend!).  I processed the pints for 30 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure (or 11 pounds on my canner since the extension office told me my gauge is off by one pound when pressure gets to 10 pounds).

After all the beets were processed we have 20 lovely pints of beets.  Now, hopefully the kids will enjoy eating them :)  I don't think I've ever fed them beets before - Total cost $1.40 for 20 canning lids (I already had the jars and rings, and the lids were purchased using $1 off coupons for .$69 each).

Homeschooling has begun

We have started our schooling up again.  If you are interested in following our schooling adventures, click here or on the homeschooling tab at the top of the blog.

From Reading to collecting bugs, we hope to make this school year a great year for our family. Please share any great activities or helps that you have used in homeschooling.

Happy Birthday Lydia

Tomorrow my little girl turns 6.   Lydia is my sweet sensitive one.  She feels everything, and is concerned about everyone and everything.  While sometimes this can be frustrating -- because she loses complete control when she even THINKS that she is in trouble, this aspect of her personality is also a blessing as she is very sensitive to spiritual things.  She is concerned about obeying God and hates the idea of any of her friends not knowing God.

Lydia's first time fishing

 Lydia is also my peacemaker.  She can play well with Andy, or she can play well with Kara.  She tries to be loving and kind.  She can be easily persuaded by her oldest sister, but she is learning to stand up and say "No, that's not the right thing to do." 

 Lydia loves Cats - probably because of Kara's passion for cats.  She greatly misses Shalom, and whenever we go down to visit the grandparents she asks if we can go visit Shalom.  Lydia loves animals.  Lydia is also very detailed oriented. Because of this, she does her work slowly - because she wants to make sure she gets everything right.  But, if I need things vacuumed very well - she is the person to ask :)

 Lydia loves to explore, and will often get sidetracked by something and not realize where she is going.  Because of this, when we are out we need to keep close tabs on which direction she is going.  But, we've only lost her once - last year at the zoo.  I even hate admitting that, but am very thankful we found her quickly (before she really even got upset about it).  Now, I am sure to count heads repeatedly whenever we move about at the zoo or mall.

 Lydia has a very vivid imagination.  While Kara prefers to bury her nose in a book, Lydia much prefers to act the book out.  She also loves being artistic.  She made a pillowcase in 4-H this year, and I have a feeling this was just the first of many projects she will be completing this next year.

 Lydia loves books, but she will tell you she doesn't know how to read (she can, but it takes a lot of effort on her part- so she would much rather have you read the book to her).

Lydia is a sweetheart, and I love her so much.  Her sensitive nature and daily reminders to pray for our soldiers.  She has a sweet love for her brother and desires to give him whatever he wants.  Lydia is a blessing, and I am excited about the many creative things she will do for God in her life.

Happy Birthday Lydia

Strangers to my Rescue

Have you ever watched someone trying to juggle too many things at one time, and thought to yourself "I really should go and help that person"?  Next time, please do.  I'll share with you why.

Wednesday, a church member was having surgery two hours away.  JA wanted to be able to be with the family and pray with them before the surgery.  So, he asked the kids and I to ride along to keep him company (we have had a very busy month, and both of us are a bit sleep deprived.  So, having company on a long drive is a huge help.)  I said sure, the town has a McDonald's with a great play place, so I figured I could drop JA off, take the kids to McDonald's and we'd have a great time.

Well, we dropped JA off, headed to the mall to try to redeem our free summer reading books from Waldenbooks only to discover their liquidators are not honoring anything from Borders (should have called ahead before lugging five kids out of the van).  However, we were doing great.  Kara, Lydia, and Andy held hands singing "Oh How I Love Jesus" as we walked through the mall.  I had Ezekiel's hand in one hand, and Gabe's car seat in the other.  We walked back out of the mall, into the van, and headed to McDonald's.

McDonald's was great.  The kids obeyed as we walked across the busy parking lot.  They stood still as I ordered our lunch, and filled our water cups.  They even patiently obeyed while I filled my ice tea.  Here is where I must have gotten too confident and needed a bit of humbling.  I picked up Gabe's car seat, and then I picked up the food tray (which, by the way had a large cup of sweet tea on it).

I don't know what happened!  The kids were obeying, but I was holding a car seat, and a tray of hamburgers, but my tea was all over the floor and me.  A lady told me to take care of my kids and she would get someone with a mop.  I set down the hamburgers and just had the kids head over to the play area. I paused only to joke with a lady who was sitting watching us (she had three kids of her own, and was obviously pregnant) - "That's what I get for trying to juggle to many things at one time!"  I told Lydia, Andy, and Ezekiel to take their shoes off, and was about to have Kara watch Gabriel so I could go get the hamburgers when a gentleman came up with our tray.  He actually apologized to me for not having stepped in and helped me before the spill!  I was shocked.  This complete stranger was apologizing for not having helped me avoid a STICKY (and I mean it was sticky) situation :)

Even the lady who was cleaning up my mess was great about the whole thing - "Thank you for giving me some work to do, I was getting board."  Wow, God is so good and has really blessed this time with my kids.  I tend to get very anxious about taking all five kids out by myself - especially in a busy place.  If you knew Ezekiel, you would understand why (see my previous post).  But the wonderful attitudes at McDonald's helped encourage me that it really isn't so bad taking them all out by myself -- just next time get the kids seated somewhere before trying to carry the tray of food.

The children enjoyed a wonderful time playing on the play set, drinking their water and eating their hamburgers.  I enjoyed watching them play and make friends with the other kids there.  I even found a few minutes to be able to do my Bible study (which had been delayed because of the early morning drive).  I am so thankful for my five precious blessings, and for the lessons God daily teaches me through them, and through complete strangers.

Hey, this even gave me the courage to try taking them through Sam's Club by myself before picking Daddy up again -- I'd saying we are definitely making progress.

My Challenge, My Comedian

Ezekiel riding in the combine

Can it be that my little Ezekiel is almost 3 years old?  My joyous surprise the morning he was born and the Dr. called out - A Boy!  My poor boy nameless for a few hours while Daddy and I struggled to come up with an acceptable name for our fourth precious blessing.  Like all parents, we have taken considerable amount of time choosing the right name for each of our children.  With Ezekiel, we did this twice - however since the first name was for a girl, we had to think fast.  As JA listed names from Scripture, we would look up the meanings to find the perfect name for our little boy.  At the time we settled on Ezekiel Paul (until a nurse came into my room later that day and said "Ezekiel Paul Hall" - I am not into rhyming our children's names).  Thus his name was quickly changed to Ezekiel Peter.  He was named Ezekiel because the name means God has strengthened.  At the time, I took joy in the definition because I knew I would need strength to raise four kids.  Little did I realize it would not be me, but Ezekiel who greatly needed God's strength. You can read it here

 Ezekiel is my WILD Child.  Literally, he is my crazy, do what he wants kinda guy. He is his own little man - capable, in his own eyes, of doing whatever everyone else can do.

   

With his independent streak, he is also my imaginative one.  He will spend all day shooting bad guys, or sword fighting to his heart's content using anything that even remotely (or unremotely) resembles the item in question.

 

Ezekiel is also my clown. He absolutely loves to laugh, and enjoys nothing more than to get you to laugh with him. Whether it be by making the goofiest face you've ever seen, or surprising you with a tickle fest.

 

Ezekiel is a child with no fear - oh, he will act all shy and fearful if you try to force him to do something, but if left to his own, I have no doubt he would sit on the edge of a high cliff and enjoy the view.  He would probably sit their for hours if his bouncy self didn't fall off the cliff when he gets excited about seeing a bird or a buffalo :)

 

With Ezekiel, I can always know that he will enjoy the small things.  Whether it be a bird in the sky, a deer in the road, or especially a cow grazing in the field.  He is my happy boy (if he's not being terrorized by older siblings).

My precious little Ezekiel.  Born quickly and fighting for the abilities he has achieved - Ezekiel is a child of strength.  Trust me, if he is bowling towards you with a gleam in his eye, you had better step aside. He has a VERY hard head :)

Six Month update

Gabriel is now almost seven months old.  At his six month appointment, he was 12 pounds -- just barely on the growth charts -- but in the 25% for height and weight.  All of my boys have been super small from three months to about 15 months.  As far as development, Gabriel logs in at about 8 months.  He is able to sit on his own, and he literally crawls all over the house.  He LOVES to eat.

Driving a semi

Playing on vacation

I love riding on mom's back

I love being able to turn my head and see mommy

Yummy apple while watching the ball game

Rhubarb Mint Cobbler

While JA and the kids were at VBS, Ezekiel and I took on a cooking project.  Again, trying to use what I have available in my yard, I googled rhubarb and mint and found this recipe.  However, after I went out and picked what I could (without stripping my rhubarb in an unhealthy manner, I could only get 1 pound of rhubarb (you shouldn't pick more than a third of a rhubarb plant at a time).  Thus, I am going to share the recipe here that I halved. Since, unless you have several rhubarb plants, you won't be able to harvest much more than a pound at a time (I have two plants).

Mommy's helper in picking the mint.

 We picked the rhubarb and the mint, and then washed and trimmed the rhubarb and rinsed the mint.  Remember to make sure you don't have any leaves left on the rhubarb.  I don't want you to get sick.  I actually found a fresh leaf growing up at the bottom of one of my stalks when I washed it.

 I then sliced the rhubarb, and chopped up the mint (1/4 cup) with my Pampered chef Food Chopper.   Add rhubarb, mint, and 1/4 cup, 1 tbsp, 1-3/4 tsp of sugar (I used splenda since I ran out of sugar yesterday!).  Add 1 tbsp of butter (oops, I guess I forgot something).

The rhubarb, mint, and splenda ready for the oven (forgot to add the butter).

Make sure you add the butter as this will help keep the rhubarb from sticking to the pan.  Place your pan in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven when rhubarb is soft and bubbly around the edges and stir with a rubber spatula.

While the rhubarb is cooking mix up your biscuit mixture - I would recommend using the full biscuit recipe if you like biscuits.  I halved the recipe, and think I ended up with too little biscuit mixture, so if I was making the full recipe with two pounds of rhubarb I would recommend doubling this.  Mix 1 cup of flour (I used fresh ground whole wheat flour), 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 5 tablespoons of sugar, and four tablespoons of butter. Mix together until the butter has the size of a grain of rice.  Then add 1/2 cup of milk (less one tablespoon - I just poured the milk just below the rim of the measuring cup).  Mix until the dough gathers in clumps (you may want to just use the spatula for this.)  Divide dough into eight equal pieces (ok, I know where my problem came -- I didn't divide the number of pieces in half :).  Lightly form each piece into a shaggy disk the size of a sausage patty.

Arrange biscuits on top of the hot rhubarb and sprinkle them with sugar (oops, another aspect I missed in the recipe - Hopefully all of you are better at following recipes than I am.)  Put the dish back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes or until the biscuits are nicely browned.  Serve warm with vanilla or strawberry ice cream.

Now to take the small pan next door for my neighbor.  She is always showering us with cookies and fresh produce.  Now to return the favor.  Feel free to share what you have cooked up recently from what you found in your yard!

Mulberry Syrup

Today began my first day of canning for the summer.  On the corner of the church's property we have a Mulberry Tree.  Over the past couple of years I have had minor uses for the mulberries - put them in pancakes, and mash them up and cook them with sugar to make a jammy syrup.  However, I've never put up any of the mulberries for use during the rest of the year (OK, maybe  I did freeze a small sour cream container of the jam type syrup).

This year is going to be different.  One of the things I am trying to do this year is figure out how I can take some of the things around us and use them for food and maybe even some of our staples or gifts for the rest of the year.

On to the discussion of the mulberries:

Picking mulberries is no fun.  Most of the branches are too high for us to reach, and the ground is littered with mulberries, so we have to either go barefoot and have purple feet, or have our shoes stained purple.  Most of us choose to go barefoot.  It also takes a really long time to handpick the berries.  We could be out at the tree for an hour and only have the bottom of the bucket filled.  So, we developed a new approach.

Armed with a tarp, three children, and two pails JA and I took on the mulberry tree today.  We spread the tarp out under the tree and two of us held the corners of the tarp close to the road (the ground slopes and we didn't want to get the mulberries off the tree just to feed them to the road).  Then we took turns shaking the tree.  One person would shake the tree and the rest of us would get pelted by flying mulberries -- Take note where purple clothes or clothes you don't care about getting stained.

After we finished shaking the tree, we ended up with about two ice cream pails full of mulberries.  The kids headed out to the backyard to play while I went inside to get to work.  I started by soaking the mulberries (to get the bugs and spiders to float to the top (we really don't need the extra protein).  Then I rinsed off the berries and put them in a pot filled with water (just to the top of the berries) and brought to a rolling boil.

After they began to boil I pulled them off the heat.  Now came the fun part.  Turning this mulberry mush to syrup.  I tried mashing the mulberries -- no luck.  I tried straining them -- This was working but taking a really long time.  you see, mulberries have a lot of seeds and they are edible, but they tend to get stuck in my teeth so I didn't want a lot of seeds in my syrup.  Finally I remembered the juicer we bought back in our Northland days (we were trying to be healthier by juicing raw fruits and veggies -- then we decided the expense was more than the little bit of juice we got was worth).

After digging the juicer out of the basement, I poured the mulberry/water mixture in, and within minutes I had 19 cups of mulberry juice (a lot more than I had expected to get).  I poured the juice into a stock pot, added 25 cups of sugar (The recipe I was using called for a 1:2 ratio of mulberry juice to sugar).  I'm glad I ran out of sugar because this syrup is sweet enough.

I brought the syrup to a rolling boil and pulled it from the heat.  Poured into jars and processed in a boiling water bath for 10 - 15 minutes (the second batch a bit longer because of an episode I'll share with you later).  The final result was 17 1/2 pints of mulberry syrup.

Thursday we are going to go back out and shake down some more mulberries and I'm going to try my hand at mulberry jam.  Now to see if I can find a sugar free jam recipe since I have no more sugar in the house :)

Cost break down - $7.68 - sugar and $4.50 (probably less) lids = $12.18 for 17.5 pints of organic fruit syrup :)

Happy Birthday Kara

Wow, seven years ago I was sitting in a Bible Study at Northland Baptist Bible College and my stomach started feeling a bit strange.  I began watching the clock, and sure enough, the feeling came every ten minutes.  I was feeling the start of labor for the first time.

The next day, at 4:30 in the afternoon I was holding my sweet baby Kara for the very first time.  My mother was so excited when she found out we were having a little girl.  Her desire was that I would have a child that was just like me.  Thankfully, Kara was not the cranky colicky baby that I was.  However, she is every bit as stubborn, hard headed, and independent as I was and still am (although I do try to pretend I'm not).  

I can hardly believe my sweet adorable little baby girl turns seven tomorrow.  In truth, I find it hard to believe that I've been married for more than seven years.  God has truly blessed us with this precious blessing.

Kara's favorite things are: reading, reading, and more reading.  Oh, and she likes to eat.  I am seriously afraid that people think we starve our children because it seems like she is always asking for more to eat.  She does love her sweets, but I think she is equally happy to eat green onions and tomatoes straight from the garden.  She even loves her salads and fruits. 

Kara isn't one to venture out and try new things.  She is still shy about performing with her violin.  She has absolutely loved learning how to play the piano this year as well.  We are homeschooling her right now, and we will be homeschooling her next year as well.  We are just taking it one year at a time to determine what would be best for her.

Kara is a great help around the house, and she enjoys her baby brother.  Although she does say she isn't ready to start changing diapers yet :)

Happy Birthday Kara, I hope you enjoy your 7th birthday!

Seeing Christ

Wow, the last two days have been spiritually refreshing as I've spent a lot of time beside J.A. on the couch viewing the Gospel Coalition.  I would challenge you to look through the messages and take some time to listen here.  I can guarantee you will be challenged to dig deeper into your Bible study, and to take a second look at your reasons for doing ministry (or even if you are active in the ministry).  I will try to repeat as acurately as I can some of the comments that stood out to me.

Mark Dever made the comment, "If you call yourself a disciple of Jesus and you aren't reaching other people, then what do you mean by 'disciple of Jesus'"

Keven DeYoung stated "Make disciples of Christ by serving people, don't just serve people as Disciples of Christ."  I think this statement really helps me to reevaluate the reasons behind why I serve.  I think this will also help in taking some of the pressure off of trying to be involved in everything.

I don't know who stated this, but "Churches need to focus their energy on training EVERY PERSON for Gospel Ministry."  I think a lot of our churches have forgotten this aspect.  We are so busy with 'programs' for the single's ministry, youth groups, children's activities (not that any of these are wrong), but all of these should come after our primary focus of teaching the people in the church to be a Preacher of the Gospel to the lost world around us.

Another statement that hit me is James MacDonald's statement "The surest antedote for the fear of man is the fear of God."  Wow, no explanation needed with this one.

We serve an awesome God.  If you attended, or have listened to any of the sessions from The Gospel Coalition, please share in the comments what you learned.

One of the songs sung during the conference has be replaying in my mind, Behold the Lamb (The Communion Hymn).  You can download it for free here. You can download both the music and the sheet music for Behold the Lamb, Come People of the Risen King, and The Power of the Cross.

A New Life

 We are so blessed.  Not only have we been entrusted with five amazing children, three of our children have asked Christ to be Lord of their life. 

Last fall, Andy came downstairs and told us that he no longer had a black heart, but that he now had a white heart.  We questioned him, and have questioned him several times since then, and every time he tells us that he has asked Jesus to forgive his sins and be his Savior.

 After each of our kids have professed salvation, we have given them a Bible.  Andy's Bible is the ESV Seek & Find Bible.  I really like the set up of this Bible.  It has boxes scattered through out it explaining different things in the passage and shows pictures.

Andy is thrilled and excited to have a new Bible of his very own.  Now to teach him to read it :)

Things I Never Dreamed I Would Do

When we first moved to Kansas five years ago, all I knew about the state of Kansas was what I learned from watching The Wizard of OZ: obviously I knew nothing.

Well, since moving here I have done so many new things, and grown used to doing things differently.

1.  I learned how to garden.  My mom had a garden when I was growing up, and to my shame, one of my mom's most embarrassing stories about me comes from when she told me to go weed the garden and came home to find me sitting on a bench by the garden "raking" the weeds.

2.  I have learned how to can and store up food for the winter.  When we lived in Wisconsin, I played around with canning -- making blueberry freezer jam and freezing corn (thanks to generous people who donated blueberries and corn to Northland every year).  Now I've learned how to can tomatoes, salsa, jellies, green beans, applesauce, and so many other things.  I'm hoping to learn how to can venison this fall if we get a deer, and maybe eventually to dehydrate fruits and jerky.

3.  I've learned how to make bread from scratch, okay I do admit I knew how to do this before we moved to Kansas, but not to the extent I do now.  I tinkered with making rolls, and used my bread machine to make bread on occasion, but now we don't buy bread unless we are traveling (and I don't use my bread machine except to make cinnamon rolls).

4.  I've learned that I can make my own flour -- I had no idea this was even possible until we moved to rural Kansas.  JA bought an ice cream pail of wheat from the Co-op to use as a sermon illustration, and that wheat must have sat in my fridge for several months (at the time I didn't know it didn't need to be refrigerated).  I finally asked someone, and I borrowed a friends wheat grinder, stored my flour in the freezer and used in recipies.  Last fall, JA let me buy my own wheat grinder, and since January have been freshly grinding wheat to use in my bread.  In fact, we haven't bought any flour since January.

Mrs. Kimbrough's cookies made with freshly ground wheat :)

5.  JA has learned how to clean our own wheat (I know this isn't me, but I did all the research!!!).  We have been buying our wheat directly from the Co-Op.  You can't beat $7 for 50 pounds of flour.  JA has been sweet enough to clean the wheat for me (pouring from bucket to bucket in front of a fan), and has already cleaned almost three bushels of wheat this year (we've only used up one bushel so far).

6.  We have begun making our own laundry detergent.  This has been fun, and the kids love helping to grate the soap.  (I'm hoping to learn how to make my own dish washing detergent soon).

I have learned so much on the practical side of living, but one of the most important lessons I have learned since we have moved here is the importance of being a good steward of what God has placed in my care.  Whether it is the money my husband earns, the health of my children, the education of my children, the beautiful home we have, or even my own time, I must take careful account of how I care for things.

I am still working on becoming a good steward of my time, I find it so easy to waste a few minutes here and there, I will be working on this over the next few months, and hopefully becoming a better steward of my time will allow me to find more time for blogging about how God is working in my life and the lives of my children.

Spring Break

We had a wonderful break from school last week.  I would love to show you a lot of pictures of all the fun and exciting things we did -- Visiting the Sedgwick County Zoo, playing at the Exploration Place, and just hanging out with Oma, Opa, Uncle Timmy, and Aunt Beth and Uncle Joel.  The kids had a wonderful time and were not ready to come home and start school up again.  I enjoyed some fun shopping with my mom, and attending their church's Tuesday night Ladies Bible Study.

Unfortunately, my camera batteries were dead, and I never put the rechargeable batteries that my dad lent me in my camera (there still in my purse -- Sorry Dad, I'll get them back to you some day - Maybe :) I was able to take a few pictures on my phone.  You can view them here

My Special Valentines

I always loved when my college roommates would receive one of Mrs. Kimbrough's giant cookies  (They were always very kind to share).  I thought this Valentine's day I would share that treat with my kids.

 Each kid received their own giant heart shaped cookie

 Of course Daddy received the biggest cookie

 Ezekiel was asleep when I gave the kids their cookies, so I had to get a picture of him eating it instead

JA and I made lunch for the kids together - Quesadillas

A Really Great Giveaway

I have been trying to find different areas in our budget that I can save money.  The one area I haven't even considered is reducing my use of the dryer  I just can't stand the flimsy drying racks that you buy at Wal-Mart.  They take forever for clothes to dry, and if you even look at them they collapse.  However, Life in a Shoe is doing an awesome giveaway.  There is nothing flimsy about this dryer rack.  If I had something like this, I think I could handle reducing my use of the dryer :)

A New Feature

For those of you who frequently visit my blog, but do not use a feed reader, I have added a new feature to my blog.  In the top right corner of the blog, there is a box where you can subscribe to my blog through e-mail.  This will allow you to know when my blog has been updated so you don't have to keep returning to the blog and finding the same posts you have already read. 

While I have good intentions to blog on a regular basis, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to stay on top of it.  In fact, if my intermittent blogging over the last few months is any indication, I will probably be blogging in spurts followed by long periods of rest :) Well, the rest will only be on my blog, I can guarantee that there will not be a lot of rest around our house!

An Amazing Husband

 I love bragging on my husband, and he makes it so easy for me to do.  I absolutely have the most wonderful husband in the WORLD!  In the first couple weeks of Gabriel's life it seemed like he wanted two things -- To Eat and be Held.  The main problem came when mommy was holding him.  If I was holding him, it wasn't enough to be held, I had to feed him.  That meant for the first week, I didn't get much sleep.  One morning, J.A. woke up when I was exhaustively feeding and trying to get Gabe to fall back to sleep;  He reached over, took Gabe, and carried him downstairs to the living room so I could sleep.

 

 When I woke up, I found J.A. and Gabe both sleeping soundly on the couch; and I felt so much better.

 Tiny Gabe, only two days old.

Gabe just a few hours after birth.

My Little Babysitter

 Kara loves to help "Babysit" her baby brother.  He absolutely loves her.  If he's crying, she'll pick him up and start singing to him.  He just looks at her admiringly and smiles.

 Kara has been a great help to me so I can get some things done without having to hold Gabriel the entire time.

I think in a few years she'll be a great babysitter.