Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

  • Home
  • Our Family
    • Our Home
  • Courses
  • Shop
  • Contact

I am 1 of 9

November 12, 2012 By Erica Deuel 14 Comments

I am excited to begin this series of “tidbits of me”.  I hope you find it interesting in hearing a little about my story and what has made me…me.  A huge part of who I am is where I came from.  I have a big family.  I am one child out of nine.

This picture is from a family trip to Washington DC in 1999. I was a Sophomore in high school.

I have five brothers and three sisters to be exact.  This is not a blended family or made up of step siblings.  We aren’t Mormon and we aren’t Catholic.  (Those are answers to a lot of questions I get when I mention my siblings to new people.)  We are just the good old fashion family of nine children from the same two parents.  Who, by God’s grace, are still married today.

Hearing it that simply and plainly makes me feel like one incredibly blessed girl.

This picture of me with my sweet parents was taken last night.

I am the second oldest.  My older brother is 32 (sorry Nathan for spitting that out there ;)), and my youngest brother just turned 16 last month.  We are all two years apart, and alternate turning even and odd numbers every other year.  This was the year we all turned even numbers (32, 30, 28, 26, 24, 22, 20, 18, and 16).  Knowing this trick has really helped me keep everyone’s ages in check!

Growing up in such a large family was a lot of fun.  There was always some kind of commotion and excitement going on.  There was never a dull moment.  I have fond memories of being at the ballpark all day on Saturdays as we had baseball and softball games literally back to back or overlapping.  We went to them all too.  It was embedded in us to support one another and go to each other’s events.  All our extended family lives in Ohio, so it was just us around and we hung on to that.  It is still like that today, and I feel so blessed to have that kind of family behind me.

This picture was taken on a family trip to New Orleans in 2002. I was a freshman in college.

We were all homeschooled at one point or another.  I was homeschooled first grade through fifth.  I have dyslexia, so it was hard for me to learn to read.  My mom pulled me out of first grade to give me the attention I needed to learn to read.  She had to teach me to read by memorization and then went back and taught the phonetic way.  This began our family down the homeschool road.

After studying Hawaii, we created a Hawaiian themed dinner with costumes and decorations.

I loved being homeschooled.  We did LOTS of fun activities and outings.  This of course, has played a large role in us venturing down the homeschooling our kids road.  One of my favorite memories of being homeschooled is of my mom.  One day we were driving home and there was a freshly killed raccoon along the road.  It was obviously dead, but not squished.  We had been studying native American culture and had just seen a private talk about their heritage and ways of skinning.  My mom pulled the van (which lets be honest was a 15 passenger van) over and scooped that thing up and brought it home.  She read up more on the process and showed us all how to skin a raccoon.  No joke.  She did it, and the “fur” hung on our wall for several years after.  My mom is awesome, and I often think she should be the writer of this blog other than me.  So many of my creativeness or boldness in doing different things with my kids stems from her.

A few things that pop to my mind when I think back to my childhood are these memories:

*Being in seventh grade, it was not “cool” to get picked up in what looked like a “church” bus.  I remember crying when my mom told us she was pregnant with my youngest sibling, Gus.  Her steady reaction was “Erica, ok.  If you had to get rid of someone, who would it be?”  I didn’t have an answer.  So, from there on, although it was embarrassing at times to get “counted” by your head at stop lights or when you walked into a restaurant, I think my complaining was less.  I loved every one of my siblings.

*Every family meal, that we were all sitting around the table, would have about five different conversations going on at once, and every one was a part of them all (at the same time).  It was loud, and I would say I am still loud to this day.

*My siblings and I  tried to build a tree house out in the backyard, and the “danger” of our invention led my dad to making us a HUGE gorgeous tree house that we played in like every day.  I even tried to swing a zip line from it across the yard.  That was a complete failed attempt.  I’m pretty sure my handle bars shot into the air and almost landed on me when I fell straight to the ground.

*Playing outside for hours on end with my siblings is the stem of so many of my memories.  We played hide and seek, made dirt paths in the back yard for our bikes, and even tried digging tunnels across the yard to “hide” in.

*I always shared a room with one of my sisters, and I remember talking way after the door was shut and “good-nights” from our parents were said at night.  We also had lots of “girly” fights over the bathroom, which ultimately had my parents take the bathroom door off the hinges for a time.  We couldn’t bang on the door and yell, if there was no door.  There is nothing like having to shower in your bathing suit.  Lesson learned.

This was taken at my sister, Annie’s, wedding in March 2008.

I could go on and on with memories and things that we did as kids, but I know that would easily lead to a book.  We were blessed to grow up close-knit with parents who were devoted to us, and wanted to give us everything that any other kid (from a smaller family) might have.

My dad ran (and still does) his own landscape design company and his hours were flexible.  I remember him coming home for lunch, and how often is that the case in any family to have lunches with your dad everyday?  We were blessed.

As we have grown up, we are starting to slowly spread out across the country, and that is hard.  I remember a few years ago processing with Matt that we were so lucky to all be living in the same town and how it was going to get harder to have everyone together for birthdays and holidays.  We are now there as two of my sisters live in different states.  Insert: Tear, tear…lump in my throat here.

This was at my brother, Tony’s, wedding last fall.

Are you too from a big family?  I’d love to hear what your take away is from living and growing up with so many under the same roof.

Thank you so much for reading a little bit about me.  Next Monday I will open up a little bit more with information about my Formative Years in becoming an adult, but until then I have some other fun posts planned for this week!

 

 

 

 

Update:  Click on the following link to be directly taken to the next post in this series.

Tidbits of Me part II:  The Formative Years

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

My Grandparent’s House-an ode to a place I love!

July 25, 2012 By Erica Deuel 5 Comments

As you know, last weekend I went to Ohio for my grandparents auction.  They have lived in Farmersville, Ohio for the last thirty years in a log cabin that they built.  I grew up visiting them at this house.  There are so many awesome memories of family trips and family reunions here.  At one point they owned lots and lots of acres, but as they have gotten older they held onto only six acres and sold the rest.  These acres have a creek and open field with a closed in gazebo that has been called the “campground”.  There are corn fields all around them.  As city kids, my siblings and I loved visiting them because it was a kids paradise.  There was always an adventure to be made and things to discover.

Recently they bought a smaller house in a retirement community.  It is a really cute brick house with neighbors and a cul-de-sac.  I’m excited for them as they are excited about this change, but it is very different from the way of life they have lived.

(My boys here are attacking my 15-year-old brother, Gus, in the front lawn.  They were some kind of superhero here…aka..getting energy out after a nine-hour drive!)

As my grandparents have gotten older, it has been harder for them to keep up with such a big house and large property, so they decided to downsize.  My grandparents are some of the hardest working people I know.  They owned and ran a drug store for a long time.  My grandpa has always run his tractor and cut the fields/grass at their place.  He is an amazing wood worker.  His work shop and collection of tools is a craft-er’s dream!

Although we (the family) all knew it was the right thing and time for them to sell, it is still hard to say good-bye to such a special place.  Isn’t change hard!?!  After we got in town and saw the new place they bought, we drove down my favorite roads to their old house.

There is something so simple and beautiful about country roads with corn fields on either side of you.

I think it is stunning!

Now, here is your tour of the house I love and keep rambling about!  You pull in this long driveway and pass a huge barn that at one point held their motor-home.  That has long been sold, but it was they way they traveled to Georgia to visit us for many years.

I am so thankful that I got to go say “good-bye” to this place and also share it with my boys.  I wanted them to see a place I love so much.  It’s so hard to get so far north with three kids that we haven’t been back all as a family since Caleb was about 16 months old.  J and Reagan weren’t even here yet!

When you walk in you are immediately on a long screened in porch, that leads into the kitchen.

It was so weird to see their house empty.  All the furniture and items that didn’t go to the “new house” were already set up in the barns for the auction the next day.  I love this light fixture they had above their dinning room table.

The family room is open and was full of couches and chairs that we all hung out in.  In the winter ,they always had the wood burning stove going.

When you looked the other way in this room, you saw the exposed loft.  It is HUGE.  It held like a king size bed, a queen size bed, and a pull out day bed.  This is always where we slept.

Haha my mom would say it was always hard to visit because putting nine kids to bed here was well hard.  (Yes, I am one of nine kids…all from the same two parents!!)  As kids, we loved it!  We would peer over the railing and listen in to the “adult” conversations below.

My grandparents have kept their bed at this house and still have been sleeping there up till the auction.  That bed is  the only thing in their room right now except for a small dresser.

Here you can see the back of the house with the long screened in porch.

In the basement, was two rooms that were my grandpa’s wood working area/shop.  It’s so weird to see this empty.  It was his hobby/love to work and create down here.

I Love the huge deck they built!  We ate out here a lot.  There is also a hot tub around the corner in this picture.

The deck over looks the creek where we spent lots of time wadding in and throwing rocks.  My boys fell in love with this spot…just like I did.

My Jeremiah is a nature boy.  He would spend all day, everyday outside in the woods.  He couldn’t get enough of this creek bed.

Following the creek to the right you go into the back field “camp ground area”.  One of my best recent memories of this house is a bottle rocket war, at a family reunion, about six years ago.  It was Matt’s first time to my grandparents.  There was a mad football game too.  We got home from this trip and found out a week later we were pregnant with our Caleb.  We had no idea while I was out there running around and being rough and rugged that I was carrying a baby.

These pictures will always be special to me.  This post might be more for my family that weren’t able to go and say good-bye, or maybe just part of my processing that another phase/season in life is changing.  Trips to Ohio will not be the same, but I am so thankful I still have my grandparents and family there.  That love is stronger than a love for a house.

Thanks for checking out a place I love so much!  I will post #2 of this weekend showing the auction soon!

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
YouTube-Channel
Erica Deuel

Subscribe for Weekly Updates!




Most Popular Posts

DIY {easy} Burlap Wreath
Painting Flower Pot Party Tips
DIY Paper Butterflies- Spring decor for cheap
Chiffon Flower Tutorial
DIY Outdoor Table
DIY Outdoor Checker Board
For the Love of Color!
School Desk Makeover
Cheap lamp to Industrial Beauty
To Clean or Not to Clean?

Categories

  • All About the Kids
  • art journal
  • Blogging
  • Christmas
  • Craft Projects
  • Dancing Zebras
  • DIY
  • Eddy's postcards
  • Embroidery Journal
  • Family
  • Featured
  • Fireside Chat
  • Foster Care
  • Giveaways
  • Guest Posts
  • Home
  • Homeschooling
  • Kid Activities
  • Kid Craft
  • My Heart
  • Our Outings
  • Project Spotlight
  • Send Out Love
  • Shop
  • Sponsored Posts
  • Spoonful Lab
  • Spoonful Tribe
  • Tips + Tricks
  • Traveling
  • Uncategorized
  • Vlog

Favorite Categories

Subscribe for Weekly Updates!

Favorite Categories

© 2023 Spoonful of Imagination, Inc.