Do you have a problem with dogs begging at the dinner table?

We don’t… anymore.  We used to have a particular problem, when we had a baby in a highchair, with our dogs rearing up and trying to steal food she had dropped in her seat.

Our solution?

Let the children take turns on guard with a Nerf gun.

Simple. Fun.

Works For Me!

Don’t forget to come back Thursday, March 11 for the debut of 4 Moms, 35 Kids – How Moms of Many Manage!

(Photo by Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures)

Did you know making your own cake frosting is a breeze?  We make our own for most of our cakes using this simple recipe.

Creamy Butter Frosting

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pound (3 1/2 cups) sifted confectioners sugar
• 3 to 4 tablespoons milk

Preparation:

Cavatini is a family favorite at our house. Whenever I make it, I always make sure I have disposable aluminum pan on hand so I can freeze one to giveaway if there is a family in need.

If you like lasagne or spaghetti, you’ll like this hearty dish.

Cavatini Recipe

2 9×13 pans
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, chopped
12 oz. pkg. Italian Pasta Trio (tube, curly & shell pasta)
2 32 oz. jars Prego spaghetti sauce
2 sm. cans mushrooms, drained
2 lbs. hamburger
1 lb. ground pork
1 pkg. pepperoni slices
Mozarella cheese, grated to cover top

Brown hamburger and pork, onions and bell pepper. Put sauce, mushrooms and pepperoni in a large pan. Add browned meat and simmer about an hour.

Cook noodles. Drain. Add noodles to sauce mixture. Put in pans and cool. Cover with cheese. Bake 10 minutes at 400. Make one to eat and one to freeze.

This post is linked at Tasty Tuesday.

**Remember this Thursday is the big launch of the “4 Moms, 35 Kids” series! You won’t want to miss it!

My sweet, super smart, indispensable daughter has created a carnival over at her blog.  The idea is to show off a crafty creation you have found that another blogger has posted.

I happen to know a 14 year old girl who has made some darling clay animals that she would like to sell so she can donate the money to the folks in Haiti.

Here is just one of the charmers:

Head on over to the Etsy shop to see the others and go ahead and buy one if you would like to make that girl jump up and down with glee.

And don’t forget to click on the cute green Crafty Creations button at the top to link up to some crafty items yourself.

I’m happy to report that we all had a fabulous visit with our friends. Here is a picture of all 18 children.  

Do not ask me what is up with my 5 year old daughter’s jeans. Maybe she is starting a new fashion trend? And even though it looks like two of the boys in front were about to have a throw down in the driveway, you’ll be glad to know there was no blood spilled the entire day!

Actually, the children played together peacefully and quietly while The Mommys enjoyed visiting.

Thanks for all the fabulous suggestions for what to serve for lunch. After considering the “mess factor”, I finally decided to go with some hot dogs we had in the freezer that my husband had snagged on sale a while back. I served those with sides of  popcorn and pineapple chunks, mandarin oranges, and banana slices.

So, now I’m curious. Have you ever entertained this many children in your home? What is the largest family you have ever invited over? Does this picture frighten you?

Hi everybody!  It’s MaddieLynn, the oldest Smockity kid.  While my mom is preparing for our guests, I’m excited to tell y’all about a brand new carnival that I’m going to be hosting on my blog, My Favorite Things, every Saturday!  It’s called:

What you do is write a blog post about someone else’s cute/nifty/adorable/crafty creation, link their website in your post, and then link to your post in my Mr. Linky!  Easy as that!  Here are the rules:

• You can’t link to one of your own products. This carnival is about sharing cute things that others make!
• Please don’t enter your link in the same Mr. Linky more than once.
• You can link to more than one product in the same post if you want to.
• In your post, you must link to the blog/website of the person whose product you are talking about.
• Please copy and paste this HTML code in your post:

It’s the URL for my button, so that other people can click on over and join the fun!

The carnival goes live on my blog  at 9:00 AM tomorrow, so get typing!

Not

I am extremely excited to announce a new series coming to Smockity Frocks and beyond!

I am collaborating with three wonderful bloggers to bring you our experiences in large family living. Each Thursday we will all tackle the same subject from our individual points of view. By checking all four blogs, our hope is you will come away with a balanced impression of “How Moms of Many Manage”.

As opposed to, say, getting all your ideas about large families from one fairly wacky lady who sometimes talks to herself and then types it all out for the world wide internet to read. Ahem.

Our first topic will be all about scheduling and will be posted next Thursday, March 11. The following Thursday, we will all be live blogging throughout the day with updates on how we are (or aren’t) sticking to our schedules. I expect to be updating with a lot of, “History lesson derailed because baby dunked new roll of toilet paper into toilet. Again.”

Don’t you judge me. I’m just keepin’ it real. It’s all for you. My peeps.

Now, meet my team!

KimC is a Christian, a wife, big sister to 13 sibs, and the slightly-crunchy homeschooling mom of 10 children: 9 on the outside and 1 on the inside.  She lives with her very large family in a very small house in south Texas and finds peace in chocolate and blogging at Life in a Shoe: the methods and madness of one family of 12. Her family shares their little house on the hill with dogs, gerbils, snakes, and tarantulas, and a 10 year old cat named Tim.  The chickens stay outside.  Usually.

Kimberly, from Raising Olives, is a second generation homeschooling mom to her soon-to-be 10 children.  She is married to an amazingly patient husband, who also happens to be a magnificent father. Their family’s primary goal is to glorify God and to raise children who will do the same. For that reason they attempt to examine every decision that they make in the light of God’s word.  Many of their decisions may seem strange to the world and they’re good with that.

The DeputyHeadmistress is shy and blogs behind a pseudonym which she intended to be amusing and somewhat self-depreciatory. She and the Headmaster locked eyes in a high school Sunday School class in 1979 when she was 17, and they have been merrily married since 1982, in spite of the fact that at 17 the DHM nearly got the HM beaten up by her other boyfriend, and at 20 she nearly got him arrested by a cop from church. Happily God helped her grow up, and He is gracious and forgiving, and so is the Headmaster. They have seven wonderful Progeny both by birth and adoption, two handsome sons-in-law, one adorable grandson, and two precious unofficial foster sons, ages 5 and 3, who live with them about half the time. They have been homeschooling since 1988. The DHM, and occasionally some of the Progeny, blog regularly about politics, family life, living in the country, books, music, cabbages, kings, and living the countercultural Christian life at The Common Room.

You’ll definitely want to pop over to their blogs to see all the wisdom/crafts/stories/recipes/advice/etc. they have to offer. But be sure to come back here, because I’m still your favorite, right? Right?! Hello? Tap, tap. This thing on?

My family can go through 10 gallons of milk in one week. Seriously. I KNOW!

We buy 5-6 gallons at a time, but it seems like we are always needing to run to the store for more milk.

That’s why we use dry milk in recipes.

When a recipe calls for milk, we simply follow the directions on the box for adding the appropriate amount of dry milk and water. Another option is to just toss the amount of powder called for in with the dry ingredients and then add the corresponding amount of water with the liquid ingredients.

Just today, my MaddieLynn made sugar cookies that called for 6 Tablespoons of buttermilk. We don’t usually have buttermilk around, but we didn’t worry because with dry milk and vinegar, we can make our own “buttermilk”.

I certainly don’t want our precious milk supply used up in baking, so I always pull out the dry milk for recipes.

This tip is linked at Works For Me Wednesday.

Everyone in Smockityville is looking forward to a long overdue visit on Friday with some of our good friends I have posted about before. They now have 11 children, from ages 2-ish to 15-ish. 9 of those are boys, so my son is especially excited!

I need your help, though! What should I serve 18 children for lunch? Keep in mind the growing boy factor, which means all suggestions should be hearty and filling. Other factors to consider are ease (did I mention there will be 18 children running around my house who will need varying levels of attention?), and frugality.

We are working with an extreeeeeeemely tight budget these days, so I would love to hear your suggestions for super frugal meals which are quick and easy, but hearty and filling.

Is that so much to ask?

And while you’re in the mood for giving advice, I’m having trouble deciding on how to spend a $15 dollar credit I won at Mimi’s Babies Etsy shop. Hop on over there and you’ll see why I can’t decide! Everything is super cute PLUS! What should I choose?

Thirdly, (WHAT?! I’m indecisive, okay!) Sodderbug has offered me one of her necklaces, PLUS a giveaway for one of you. (More on the giveaway later.) The trouble is, I don’t think I can fit my seven children on one of the necklaces without shrinking each one down to the size of pinpoint, and, well, what’s the point of that?

So, I’m considering a Bible verse or a saying. What do you think?

My super smart daughter just made the most DELICIOUS chocolate caramel cake EVER!

If you are like me and can’t think of two ingredients that make a better combination than chocolate and caramel, head on over to her blog (by clicking the link above) to get the recipe, PRONTO!