A Fuller Quiver

A Happy Day...

2012-02-02T00:20:00.000-06:00

My washer died 4 weeks ago and we've made do with Kevin's mom, my mom, the laundromat, the place where I clean to get by with getting our clothes clean each week. We wear things a long time and there hasn't been a whole lot of laundry but it was getting to be a bit of an annoyance, especially for a laundry freak like I am. Every night I like to go to bed with the laundry all caught up and dried and folded and almost empty baskets!!! I walked into my laundry room every day and it was piling up and it smelled because of wet towels and cloths!!! :( The old washer and dryer were sent packing!

Here is my over 19 year old dryer. We bought it used when we moved to Wyndmere so I don't know how old it really is.

My washer wasn't that old but we must have used it up past it's time because it broke last month and it was costly to repair and then the repairs might not have worked. We called different numbers on Craig's List and I was determined to buy a newer used set. I was sure that was the way to go but then I cleaned house last week and used her machine to do a couple loads and got to thinking "I like this washer!" and I was thinking maybe for our family a used machine isn't the best idea plus it never worked out when we did call someone. So I went shopping online. I kept my choices to Maytag and it helped to narrow down the machine for us. I found that if you bought 4 appliances you got 25 % off and called my sister-in-law cause she'd mentioned needing a new set and we checked it out, they went and looked at them in town and bought 4 appliances. We got the same washer and dryer.

Here the children are having fun watching the washer clean a load of clothes with the glass top. It holds a bit more laundry and can do large quilts, comforters and sleeping bags. We'll sure do that.

They were just so fascinated and wanted to stay and watch the whole 58 minute cycle at 11 p.m.

Here they are side by side. How wonderful to have a matched set!

Em did a quick clean-up of the laundry room and took this picture.

The new set looks so nice in our newly remodeled laundry room.

Cracker Jack...

2012-01-31T21:23:00.000-06:00

Here we are playing a game I had when I was a little girl. I can't remember where and why I got it. It is called Cracker Jack. It is a cute little game.

There are "prizes" hidden under each box like the actual cracker jacks had a toy surprise in each box.

You spin to get a card or a surprise.

If you have the card and pick up a box and your surprise matches your card you get to keep it.

Here Lena is matching her surprise to her card.

Everyone wanted a turn when they saw the game. I have to be careful playing with the kids. They are so rough with it and I have had it 30 some years and it is in mint condition. It's only a game but I can't get over how there isn't any reason to be so obnoxious when you play a game. I think it comes partly from being the only girl in a family of two kids. I was able to keep my things neat and tidy. My brother wasn't interested in my stuff usually. I have many games that still have all the cards and pieces to them.

Izzy boy...

2012-01-29T21:53:00.002-06:00

Caleb had a "cool" hairdo and thought he looked "cooler" with his eyes this way! He just informed me he was a mad scientist and these are his glasses.

My 14 year old boy, Isaac.

Isaac picked Pizza Ranch for his meal out with mom and dad.

Isaac stuffing his face with pizza. This is his favorite food.

Dad decided to have a friendly arm wrestle with Isaac.

Isaac proved to have some muscle.

We came home to another of Jordan's creations, a lego creation this time!

Isaac took his own money and bought the game Risk tonight. He played it with Caleb and another boy at our recent camp weekend and loved it and has wanted it ever since. I'd rather they played a board game any day over being in front of a TV or computer!

Really Easy French Bread...

2012-01-26T15:16:00.000-06:00

Today, I made some bread and decided to try a french bread recipe I got offline. It was so easy and it suggested making these 6 in. loaves which were great for the kids to eat with some soup today. They were so excited when they saw they got their own loaf. I'm also making some Maple Oat bread there in the background.

Home canned tomato soup and parmesan cheese topped french bread.

The Recipe is: Add 1 1/2 TBSP of yeast to 1 1/4 Cups warm water. Let sit for 15 minutes. Put 3 cups flour in mixer (I used half whole wheat) with 1 TBSP honey and 1 1/2 tsp salt. Use bread hook and mix. After yeast sits 15 minutes add to flour and use bread hook and mix until blended well. Let rise until doubled. Form into 6 in. loaves (makes 6 of them) . I cut slits at this time and brushed with oil and parmesan cheese (you can do what you want)(I would have used egg and added sesame seeds but had no eggs) Bake 375 degrees for about 15 minutes and they are done. It was fast, easy and they tasted great with butter and garlic powder.

New products...

2012-01-23T20:00:00.001-06:00

We made something new for the next farmer's market; marmalade and jelly. Here I was cutting up the oranges for the orange marmalade. It was a three day process of soaking the oranges and their rinds.

Today, I canned up the marmalade. It is wonderful. The comments on the recipe said they loved it too and it is tasty and so pretty.

Rebekah made up some apple preserves that had lemon slices in it and nutmeg. Again, it is pretty looking.

Here are the jars Rebekah is filling.

I had a lot of lemons to use up from a juice cleanse I decided to abandon so made lemon marmalade with ginger and it was also a very pretty and smelled and tasted wonderful. There are chunks of fresh ginger in it and it gives it a bit of a bite but with all the sugar it is still quite sweet.

Apple preserves, lemon/ginger marmalade and lemon jelly (the lemon jelly did not set yet so I am setting it my basement and hoping it will in a few days). It has pectin in it so I sure hope it does something. The lemon jelly was the most costly to make so I was hoping to sell it. If it doesn't sell I bet it will taste great on plain yogurt or on ice cream.

We are getting soft...

2012-01-21T21:26:00.000-06:00

We've been letting Dakota in the house at night. Only one incident that sent him to his kennel. One of the kids brought a bowl of compost stuff and put it on the laundry room counter top. A few moments later we heard a crash. Dakota had gotten up and pulled it down off the counter. It was only avocado peels and pits so I doubt it was worth getting kicked out of the house! One night he stayed the whole night and did great and was still laying there when Kevin came out in the morning. There is hope for him!!!!

Babies...

2012-01-20T13:04:00.004-06:00

So Big Lane!

The D man is so smiley.

He never stops!

Open wide!

Lane discovered the piano yesterday and really likes it!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of my counter this morning. Kitchen Stewardship had a "try a new cultured food on Monday" and it was so funny to read that email because I had just started sourdough starter the day before. I haven't done sourdough before. Monday I also got my kombucha mothers working again (far left) and today I got two jars of water kefir going (with limes added). Water kefir is still the favorite of everyone here but Kevin drinks up the kombucha for us. I know it is chock full of good things!!! Here is what I found on one website:
Kombucha contains multiple species of yeast and bacteria along with the organic acids, active enzymes, amino acids, and polyphenols produced by these microbes. The precise quantities of a sample can only be determined by laboratory analysis. Finished kombucha may contain any of the following components:

Acetic acid, which is mildly antibacterial
Butyric acid
B-vitamins^[4]
Alcohol
Gluconic acid
Lactic acid
Malic acid
Oxalic acid
Usnic acid

Normally kombucha contains less than 0.5% alcohol, which classifies kombucha as a non-alcoholic beverage.Older, more acidic, kombucha might contain 1.0% or 1.5% alcohol, depending on more anaerobic brewing time and higher proportions of sugar and yeast

I don't actually do as many fermented foods as I should, as I know how to do. It seems so time consuming.

Family Camp...

2012-01-17T09:54:00.000-06:00

We love Family Camp!!!! Here is the chapel filled to the brim with most who came this year. Kevin Swanson from Generation with Vision was the speaker. He came to the Home School Convention a couple years ago. He is a great speaker with a lot of wisdom and great insight.

Activities for the kids and some moms and dads filled the weekend with fun!

Rollerskating is my girls' favorite activity!

There was rock climbing this year! Way to go Moriah!

Some fun with the older boys/men with a bit of arm wrestling!

Kevin posing again!

Lots of great visiting and deep conversations all weekend!

Food! It's the best ever and so much of it always! This was a snack but the meals were great!

Courtship! Two new couples this year are courting!

Babies are so wonderful at these things!

Hot cocoa is an absolute favorite of all!

See her little heart shaped head with the piggy tails. Love her!

Visiting happened everywhere!

Friends!

Dads and daughters spending time together!

Micah!

Tired out! Late nights are a given at camp. Kevin is usually the one saying he's going to bed early but I went to bed the first night by midnight or 12:30 and he ended up coming in at 2 a.m. (great conversations with some of the men). One night a kid came in at 4 a.m. It's the only place I know you don't have to wonder what kids are doing at that time of the night. Adults were up at that time too so it wasn't just kids talking and getting into potential foolishness. Although, I'm not saying there wasn't ANY foolishness! :) (but not the normal kind of foolishness teenagers engage in).

Fun on the ice. It was beautiful weather. Sun shining and the kids had fun skating and being outside!

19....

2012-01-09T15:04:00.002-06:00

Happy 19th Birthday to Jordan!

Aunt Lois and her granddaughter Zoe!

Grandpa Rich and the mug Emily made for him for Christmas!

Jordan and Aunt Lois and the angel food cake Aunt Lois made for her birthday cake. My Grandma Anna used to make me an angel food cake for nearly every birthday so it brought back a lot of great memories!

Lena and Zoe enjoying the cake together.

Aunt Lois gets to be in a lot of pictures this year. Here she is with Jordan and Emily.

Here is my cousin Waylon with his daughter Zoe. Check out his cool purse!

This morning Grandpa Rich left to go home! Our traditional picture. You forgot your sandwich and salads! Too bad you didn't have them for the ride home! Thanks for coming and staying with us! Dakota misses you and Boyka. If you could hear Dakota right now you'd hear him barking for Boyka!

Fish oil please...

2012-01-05T23:36:00.000-06:00

Lena brought me the bottle of fish oil and asked, "Can I have fish oil, please?" She's so sweet!

Here she is taking elderberry syrup I made a few weeks ago. It is good for coughs and colds and she's been coughing a bit at night and sounds congested. The kids all love elderberry syrup. I boiled down elder berries and used the decoction to a make the syrup with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. It's tasty!

Here is Lena the other night after we found the curlers we used to play with when I taught preschool.

The finished product!

I love the lip sticking out!

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday...

2012-01-01T21:37:00.001-06:00

Rebekah is now a 10 year old! She got to go out to eat with Grandma and Grandpa on her birthday. She picked China King buffet, just like Gideon did the other day.

Emily is now 15!!!! I can't believe it. I remember my 15th birthday very well. We didn't take Em out on her birthday today, we hope to do it later on. She's thinking about where she'd like to eat.

Emily got Rebekah a mini-pie baker. It looks like a lot of fun.

Emily!

Happy Birthday to you Bek and Em, Happy Birthday to You!!!!

The most delicious chocolate layer cake with the most wonderful frosting. We had it with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Jordan did a great job on baking a great cake again.

Happy Birthday Gideon...

2011-12-31T11:10:00.002-06:00

My two 9-year olds. They are 9 together for 2 days!

Kevin just won't cooperate with getting his picture taken.

Kevin and I took Gideon out to eat at a restaurant of his choice. He chose China King buffet. Mmmm. I know I loved and ate way too much. While we were gone the girls were busy constructing his birthday cake. I had Gideon convinced we were only having ice cream and that there were no presents because it was going out to eat or getting a gift. I asked him what would he have chosen: gift or out to eat? He said out to eat. Well, I was not serious about no presents or the cake so he was happy!

See Lena's mouth puckered to blow. Gideon had a little troubled getting them all out.

Gideon and his dragon!

Familyfun.com

For a birthday activity we colored masks and I have a few Zorros in the house.

Center of the show!

Measuring the birthday boy to see how much he grew!

The birthday kid writes their name under the line and dates it. Gideon is a little shorter than Rebekah and Caleb at the age of nine.

Working outside...

2011-12-29T16:04:00.000-06:00

The boys are filling the wheelbarrow today so we can mulch the asparagus tomorrow.

Hard to believe we are doing this in December in North Dakota.

We just finished raking the straw back onto the garlic we planted this Fall when the chickens

smelled it or something. It's a ways away from the chicken coop so

I don't know how they sensed we just put a new bale down?!?

While I was walking around Lizzie kept looking at me.

She may have wanted to try my camera out for a taste.

Jane looked so nice standing there. We are hoping they are all pregnant. We took the buck out today because for some strange reason he keeps drinking the milk out of the goats.

Chickens scratching in the yard in December. It would be nice if this lasted another month, save chicken feed and it would help the kids who have to milk everyday!

Hot cocoa fun...

2011-12-28T20:16:00.000-06:00

Drinking hot cocoa with a chocolate covered "snowman" spoon. Lena's snowman fell off in her hot cocoa and she says "He died." I think she knows a whole lot of death from the boys and their guns and swords! :)

She doesn't usually drink the cocoa, just eats the chocolate off the spoon!

Chocolate face Moriah with a huge cup of cocoa.

Gid-John enjoying his cup!

Caleb!

We dipped the spoon in melted chocolate, added the marshmallows and peanut butter or butterscotch chip had and mini-chips for eyes (held on by dabbing in melted chocolate on side of spoon. Then cool! Then dip in hot cocoa and watch your snowman melt away. We dipped some in butterscotch chips and decorated with chocolate drizzles, added mini-chips sometimes and did some different variations. We had them at a friend's house so copied them for our Christmas craft at the party we went to. Very easy for any age child to make.

"I'm melting!!!!!"

Merry Christmas...

2011-12-25T16:43:00.000-06:00

My sweet nephew Zaners (His name is Lane). Isn't he a sweetie pie.

Nephew Hunter with Caleb!

Emily! She doesn't particularly like her pictures taken!

Jordan!

My niece Levi!

Gid-John

Lena got a pink trike!

Mom who hosted all of us! Great meal of prime rib, baked potatoes and salad! Mmmm!

Kevin, another family member who doesn't cooperate with picture taking!

Brayden with the snowfling we got him. Unfortunately for all of us that night there is a built in whistle!

My bro Chris, his wife Chris and little Lane!

Grandpa is feeding the baby.

Here is how Kevin usually poses for a picture!

Here is an unposed picture but too good not to include!

Great night with Grandma and Grandpa...

2011-12-24T00:41:00.001-06:00

Kevin's parents came for supper and present opening tonight. I was gone in Fargo with a couple kids so Jordan and Emily had to make supper. They made meatloaf, baked potatoes, green beans, beets and salad. It was so good.

Rebekah got pajamas!!!! She loves them!

The girls got some neat guitar hooks for hanging in their room.

Caleb's new shirt!

Isaac and his!

Grandma's opening a gift Caleb bought her himself.

Grandpa likes the mixed nuts that Rebekah got him! We had a really good time. I love when they come. Thanks Don and Rose for taking the time to make our night so special.

Grandma Gretchen...

2011-12-20T12:19:00.002-06:00

Great Grandma Gretchen passed away last week. Her funeral was on Thursday. She was a lovely person to visit with. We enjoyed her stories from childhood and youth. She was 94 years old, married to her first husband 50 years before he passed away and then married Kevin's Grandpa Louie 19 years ago. We miss her!

The latest clean-up project...

2011-12-18T12:50:00.001-06:00

Here is part of the project I did before the girls came home. I had already gotten a good amount put away before I thought to take a picture. The rubbermaid tubs are filled with clothes that I cleaned out of the storage room. I also threw away 4 large garbage bags full. All the stuff at the end of the room went to the garage for the thrift store or for a possible rummage sale. Stuff seems to control my life sometimes.

Here is the finished wood stove project. We have had this sitting upstairs doing nothing for 10 years. It feels good to have it in and to be using it. We set our thermostat at 71 and the furnace rarely kicks in. It hasn't been very cold yet either so we'll see how well it helps with heating once it is 20 below.

The light downstairs was causing the pictures to have these spots. Here is our usable basement space again. The kids have enjoyed playing foos ball again. Every few months we have to uncover the table and clear the clutter.

We moved some bookshelves downstairs and it seems homey and cozier than before. There are a lot of books on the shelves that weren't getting read because they were upstairs in a room rarely walked into. The kids have discovered some great reading.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig...

2011-12-12T14:12:00.000-06:00

They aren't coming home from market but my two girls are home!!! We welcomed Jordan and Emily home again by going to get them at the Jorgenson's farm. The Cutler's hosted the girls but the Jorgenson's invited everyone over for the day. What a day!!! There were a few families there when we got there for lunch. The kids went ice skating (they had enough skates in all the sizes for a lot of people, maybe 30 or so), they went horseback riding (again they had enough horses and a whole lot of saddles for a lot of people), got tours of their great farm with turkeys, milk cows, goats and a lot of other animals! It was fun. We ended up being the last ones to leave at 10 p.m getting home after 11:30 p.m. (they live in SD). It was worth the tired day today!

I know the girls had a great week at Josh and Annie's because they never have stopped talking about all they did or how Annie makes this or how Annie does that! It is a really great thing if you can find someone like this family to mentor your young girls. I am so encouraged by the things they told me. Annie kept telling me what a blessing it was to have them but the blessing was returned 10fold in her example to my girls. Praise the Lord for His goodness to them this week.

Not the way I planned...

2011-12-08T21:46:00.001-06:00

Here is Lena with tea bags on her eyes. One of many home remedies used for the eye.

The two oldest are gone this week and it's not going as I planned. We ended up not feeling great. Some kids have colds that make them have a headache and are too tired to do much of anything. I had hoped we would have some cookie baking, bread making, game playing days. We do get our school done each day and the laundry and dishes stay caught up but not feeling good has me down. I've got it in my head, throat, ears and sinuses. I'm gargling with cayenne pepper and taking other stuff so maybe it's helping not to get worse. Trying to keep Lena from touching her eyes and anything else is the worst of it! She's got goopy eyes. She's taking drops now so it should clear up soon.

Jordan called tonight to tell me what they are doing. They've painted a floor, played with the kids, played violin (Annie is a violinist too), put up and decorated their tree, written up Annie's Christmas cards (Jordan says she knows their address now :) ), washed a ton of laundry, and other things. Tomorrow Jordan's friend Shauna is coming over and they going to a Hutterite colony to play and sing. It's going way too fast. I hope to get the house in shape Saturday to welcome them home so we can put up our own tree. Rebekah and Moriah have been enjoying the girls' big bed though and now would like me to get them a double or queen in their room. I've looked for one before on Craig's list so I'll keep that in mind again. It would make their room half the size it is now with bunkbeds though. I'm not sure they are ready not to have a place to play dollhouse and other things.

Have a Happy Friday! We may take the day off so I can get the house in order. We didn't take Thanksgiving Day off just so we could take it off another day! :) We'll see how the morning goes!

Kids pics...

2011-12-05T22:19:00.001-06:00

Yesterday afternoon we traveled to SD so the kids could have their "school" pics taken. We used to do it at Sears but it is so much cheaper to find someone to take the pictures and then print them out on Shutterfly or something like it. Here is a sneak preview of some of the other shots. I have some ready to order for grandparents so you will get an updated picture soon.

She was too cute looking off to the side. This isn't the pose I'm printing off but I loved it!

We did the shot of the whole kids as an after thought because that isn't what we were aiming for but they were fun anyway. Jordan ended up matching well, even though she didn't dress to have her pics taken since she had her grad ones done this year.

After the kids pictures were done we headed further away to the brother of the person who took the pictures. I left my two oldest girls there for the week. Annie had a baby last day of Oct. (#6) and the girls went to be a help to her in someway. It is so great to do this for others. We had people do it for us and now we can pass it on. Jordan stayed there a week last year and had a really good time. Today, the other kids all helped each other milk and feed animals. They really came together to do it. We aren't going anywhere all week since I have the babies to take care of and no older girl to stay home with some of the kids! Yeah! I need a week of no running.

Fun pics...

2011-12-01T00:59:00.001-06:00

Here's a fun family picture from Thanksgiving Day!

The two babies playing together.

Lane just won't leave him alone. D. is all smiles and happy about it.

D. gets up but there is Lane grabbing his leg!

Baking...

2011-11-29T20:18:00.001-06:00

We've been spending the last three evenings baking Christmas goodies for 30 plates I've put together for the Farmer's Market. The kids are worried they will all sell and they won't get to taste all the goodies. We had a tea party today with the spritz cookies. I'm pretty sure they won't all sell but it would sure be nice if most of them sold. I have plenty of extra cookies to keep here in the fridge and freezer. I've made 12 different kinds times about 8 dozen per cookie or more is over 1,100 cookies!!! Wow! It's been fun.

Making little cracker looking cookies with cream frosting between them. You prick them with a fork four times each to give them the cracker look. I got these from a cookie exchange last year.

Cookie Turnovers


Spritz Cookies

Cookie plates in the fridge, there are more than that.

An almost finished plate.

Happy Thanksgiving...

2011-11-24T12:21:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving Day! We are preparing Jordan's first place apple pie right now in preparation to our Thanksgiving Dinner. The kids just finished their math lessons for the day! I said they could either do it today or tomorrow so now everyone gets Friday off. I really want to be done with math in April so we are trying to stay caught up! :) Poor kids! They tried to tell me it's a holiday. I said we are home schoolers, there is no such thing as a holiday! They still get Thanksgiving Dinner :) God's Blessing on this Day!

Someone who buys my pickled beets at the Farmer's Market called me a few minutes ago. Her and her family had just finished their relish tray and she now wants to buy all of the pickled beets I have left! She called me during Thanksgiving with her family just to check how many jars I would have for her and her mom! How neat is that! It surely lifted my day! (She was thinking maybe we'd be eating them ourselves this Thanksgiving. If I put a jar on the table today, I'm pretty sure I'd be the only one eating them, maybe one other person.)

Too cute...

2011-11-18T11:13:00.001-06:00

This is a page out of Gideon's schoolwork. I went to the chiropractor this a.m. and Jordan was checking over Gideon's work and found this. He crossed out the word "hate" and wrote love.

How cute of him to change that?!?!

Calling Jim..

2011-11-14T18:54:00.001-06:00

I was deleting a comment from someone today and I looked at all my comments and found that Jim Russell had left a comment that I didn't see back in June. I was super busy getting ready for the graduation party so......if Jim still checks this blog you can leave a way for me to email you and I will. I am sorry I didn't get your message. There wasn't a way to contact you through your comment. Anyway, howdy cousin.

Photo Card

2011-11-14T18:41:00.001-06:00

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The Ball...

2011-11-12T01:53:00.001-06:00

This is our 5th year going to this ball. It is sometimes a Thanksgiving Ball, a New Year's and last year was in February. This year they celebrated 11/11/11 at 11:11p.m. It was great fun this year.

Here is Emily and her friend Mary.

Jordan and Isaac dancing.

This dance was really neat. Lots of movement and going under tunnels like this.

Caleb's first year at the Ball. You have to be 12 years old.

Sisters!

Jordan and Isaac!

Jordan and Isaac. Can't remember the name of this fast paced dance.

I think this is the Posties Jig.

Isaac dancing one of the last dances.

Rosettes and krumkake...

2011-11-11T15:59:00.001-06:00

Today, we made krumkake for a shindig we are going to and the kids found the rosette iron in the drawer where we keep the krumkake iron so I went on the internet and found a simple recipe and here we are, just like my Grandma Anna and/or Aunt Lois used to make. It brings back a lot of memories.

Rebekah and Emily got the hang of making the rosettes.

Here is our package for tonight's thing. More pictures to come later.

You'll see some of the kids all dressed up spiffy and fancy:)

Homemade toothpaste...

2011-11-08T14:01:00.001-06:00

It's been years since I've quit buying toothpaste with fluoride in it. I've had numerous arguments with my dentist about how detrimental it is to my children's teeth. The last time I was there he actually conceded the point to me! :) I pointed out that we don't drink soda but maybe once a month, we drink water or other non-sugar drinks at our meals and between so don't you think the no fluoride toothpaste balances out the not much sugar sitting on the teeth? He agreed. Soda was the number one culprit of cavities they see in places where there aren't usually cavities. I am happy to report that we have maybe had 6 total cavities in all the children combined. Jordan pointed out that she has had 3 of them and she used the most fluoride toothpaste of all the kids, so how much did it really prevent for her???? This isn't a discussion on should you use fluoride or not, I was sharing that we don't use it and here is an alternative I found recently.

I really like how my teeth feel since starting to use this toothpaste. I use expeller pressed coconut oil (doesn't have the coconut flavor). I made a jar with cold-pressed coconut oil (with the coconut flavor) and it's in the kids bathroom. We all prefer not to have the coconut flavor though. I used a lot more peppermint oil to get rid of the baking soda taste and I really like it. I probably used 20 more drops than they have in the recipe. I also used a whole packet of stevia. I do just swipe my brush along the side of the jar each time. It may sound gross but the coconut oil is an anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti- some other things so I feel safe that any germs are killed. I haven't figured out how not to touch the tube of toothpaste to my toothbrush anyway. My teeth are smooth feeling so I think it is working on the plaque build up.

This made one of the smallest canning jars I have which I used to use for baby food. This recipe is taken from the internet.

Homemade toothpaste:

2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 tablespoons baking soda
1/2 small packet of stevia powder
20-25 drops of peppermint oil*

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl, using a fork.

*Add about half of the amount of peppermint oil to start, andtest the toothpaste to see how much you want/like. I used NOW brand peppermint oil, and ended upstopping at 25 drops which is still not as strong as I am used to, though itdoes taste nice and minty! Julie notedin her instructions that using part spearmint oil will make the toothpaste notas "hot" as using all peppermint oil

Rag tying...

2011-11-03T21:08:00.000-06:00

Emily has been busy rag tying hair before bed. It is like getting a perm. It lasts a good long time.

Here is Moriah at the end of the day after having her hair rag tied last night.

We had 4 loaves of bread left after the first winter market started tonight. They are trying the market once a month throughout the winter months and into spring. We made 11 loaves of wheat bread, 4 parmesan herb bread and 9 loaves of zucchini bread. We sold 15 loaves total! We also sold about 12 jars of jelly and jam and beet/watermelon pickles. Yeah! It was a good first night. There wasn't much advertisement and actually the "jelly lady" and the "bread lady" weren't there tonight and they might be next week. We'll see how well we do then. It gave us enough to fill the van once! I also got a cleaning job tomorrow. Praise God for providing when we need it!

Early morning...

2011-11-01T07:16:00.002-06:00

My first baby comes at 7:30 a.m. so instead of going back to bed I got on the computer. I'd rather go to bed, but baby number 2 comes around 8:30 so I thought I'd check emails and other things. (but I'm going over to pick him up so technically he's not coming soon). We started watching the 2 babies at the beginning of the school year. The kids just absolutely love having them here and I hardly do a thing. The first month they were here I didn't change a diaper. I've got several "mommies" in my family. It makes me smile to see my boys fight over who gets to hold one of them. It's all training for parenthood some day.

Baby #1 who comes at 7:30 a.m.

He is 8 months and pulling himself up on things. He can crawl and get into tight spots. Very cute!

My nephew Lane and baby #2 who come about 8:30 a.m. He's 6 months and about twice the size of the baby up there. He's not crawling but can get most places by rolling there. He is a bundle of joy!

At first it seemed they were going to be a constant distraction to getting school done and I wondered what I got us into but we have a routine now and a very uncomplicated schedule this year!!!! We don't go to AWANA and basically have one day a week that is busy with lessons and such. Some kids get their school done before the first baby gets here on some days. School is amazing this year. My kids have great attitudes and have figured out that to get it done means "free-time" and a "feel-good" feeling that "I did it and it didn't have to hurt that bad."

Fall farm life...

2011-10-23T18:09:00.000-06:00

Horses are out to pasture, in our yard! We've let them loose and they haven't wandered far. I figure it's such a long winter for them that a little green grass before they are penned up was a good thing.

Our 5 geese wondering around being noisy and messy. We hope to get 3 of them butchered soon.

Kevin borrowed a tractor and tiller and got our new garden tilled. We put it near the high tunnel with hopes and dreams of someday putting another high tunnel over it. The high tunnel we have is 24 x 72 feet and this one is about 32 x 100 feet. It looks so small. When you start planting the space goes fast!

Yesterday, we had a big clean-up day and got the fences for peas down, weeds, plastic, tomatoes and peppers that were outside, etc, etc, all put away and ready for winter. The kids were reluctant but even admitted that it felt good to get so much done. The pool got washed up and dried and put in the garage. This is the main garden in the back.

Here we are expanding the strawberries just a little bit. Jordan has asked why? I said give me good reason why not? She thinks she can come up with lots of why nots, but the strawberries will all get eaten, we just have a bit more weeding to do :)

Another view of the strawberry patch.

My next expansion project for next year is berries and fruit trees. Kevin is now on the east side of the high tunnel and putting in 4 rows that are 75' long. I plan to get currants, honeyberries, blackberries, elderberries, chokecherries, plums and apples to plant here in the Spring. I've always wanted to do more but haven't know where they would go and this spot is perfect. I'll put 75' of soaker hose the first year under a layer of plastic and that way we can hook up the hose to water each row one at a time without having to drag a hose over there and lay out. It'll be so great.

Once the berries are all established I hope it will look like this. These are the grapes we moved this summer. I love that they are edged and have rock. It should be a snap to take care of this next year.

The ducks foraging in the grass. They blend right in with the fall looking colors (or absence of color).

Our high tunnel bounty...

2011-10-17T15:57:00.000-06:00

Picking tomatoes last week in the high tunnel.

Jordan is picking green beans. After we got the poly up the beans that looked almost done were revived!

A revived bean plant!

Some beans just planted 4 weeks ago!

Lettuce that was planted also 4 weeks ago. Not all of it germinated though.

Here was our haul of tomatoes then. I was able to put up 33 pints of salsa, 16 quarts of tomatoes and we still have some left over to make something else this week. It's fun to see the high tunnel produce something, we didn't get to can much in August partly because we were busy but also there wasn't anything to put up.

Can you spot the mistake? We didn't until the birthday party was done!

I guess we need some spelling lessons.

Purchasing organic foods...

2011-10-14T23:27:00.000-06:00

I was researching some recipes last night on a website and came across the dirty dozen and thought maybe someone might be interested in this. I need to keep a copy handy to remember this when I'm looking at the sales in the store.

Whether you are on a budget and need to prioritize your organic purchases, or you would simply like to know which type ofproduce has the highest pesticide residues—and which do not—the following guide from the Environmental Working Group will help.

12 Most Contaminated

Peaches
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Pears
Grapes (Imported)
Spinach
Lettuce
Potatoes

12 Least Contaminated

Onions
Avocado
Sweet Corn (Frozen)
Pineapples
Mango
Asparagus
Sweet Peas (Frozen)
Kiwi Fruit
Bananas
Cabbage
Broccoli
Papaya

Grandpa Sam's Birthday...

2011-10-11T13:47:00.000-06:00

We had Grandpa and Grandma and my brother and his family over for chili, home made bread, apple crisp, and Aunt Christine's carrot cake. It was great!

Here he is with all of his grandchildren!

Wedding Bliss...

2011-10-02T17:20:00.001-06:00

Caleb and JoyAnn. We went to their wedding yesterday. I really wanted to stay home because we have been so busy but I am glad we went. Another beautiful couple to find each other and bless us all with their joy!

If you have seen the movie Fireproof, you may recognize the cross in the background above. They also had the salt and pepper shaker on top of the cake to symbolize together. If you try to take one of the shakers off you will break the other. Beautiful.

Courageous the Movie...

2011-09-30T21:39:00.000-06:00

Wow! This was a great movie! Even greater to see it on the big screen. If you get a chance, go to this movie. Bring lots of tissue (especially if you are a woman), although I hear from some of my kids that they needed tissue too. Sherwood Films did another excellent job! Courageous the Movie Check out the trailer. The trailer is nothing compared to the actual scene.

2011-09-30T06:41:00.002-06:00

Our last day at Farmer's Market! (Unless they do a winter market and IF we do that. It's always nice when something so busy comes to an end for awhile.) We started out with the little card table, expanded to the two tables in the middle and last night grabbed the bench and wagon to put the squash on. It was nice to have enough to sell.

In my high tunnel, my tomatoes are doing great so it was a treat to be able to offer tomatoes. Many people came for beets and cucumbers though and I only had one bunch of beets and no cucumbers.

This year I had a good selection of peppers. I raised Habanero and Cayenne as something a little different. I discovered the trick to ripening those colored peppers. Last Thursday, I picked peppers for the market and they hadn't turned all the way red or yellow or orange so they sat in the garage covered while we were gone camping. When we came home, the peppers had turned all the way the color they were turning. They were beautiful. If I let them turn all the way on the plant, they will get a rotten spot somewhere and then I can't sell them anyway. We still cut that part out and eat them.

Last week squash really went well but this week I went home with most of it.

"The Bread Lady" hasn't been to market for 2 weeks so I decided to add whole wheat bread to our table. I made 11 loaves on Wednesday and I only came home with 1 loaf!

Hayride and Pie Contest...

2011-09-27T21:29:00.001-06:00

Rebekah's Triple Berry Pie for the Pie Contest at the Cutler's annual hayride. This was our 10th year of going! It's always so much fun.

Jordan's Apple Pie!

All the contestants. Emily's is over here in the very right hand corner; a raspberry custard of some sort.

The winning pie was: Jordan's apple pie. She was surprised because apple is so plain and ordinary. Rebekah got 2nd place and most all the pies were gone after the shared meal we had. They were good.

Happy Birthday...

2011-09-20T07:23:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Kevin! Here we are at nearly 10:30 p.m. having cake and ice cream. We went out to Paradiso (you eat free on your birthday) to eat and did a bunch of errands and got home and had to have a celebration with the kids. Chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate chip ice cream. Mmmm! Late night means late morning. Thank God for the flexibility of home schooling. The kids will still get the sleep they need and get their work done.

This is the effort of the girls and I. We got 58 jars of food canned yesterday. On then end is tomato soup. I had the tomatoes already made into sauce and just had to add the rest of the ingredients and heat it up and can it. One of my favorite home canned "ready to eat" meals. Someone gave us about 40 pounds of beans. Our beans are not growing well and I sold the little we've had at market so I buy 10 pounds last week and get 7 quarts out of it. Wow! You cannot buy your produce to can for a family of our size. It was $20 for 7 quarts. While I was waiting for the canner to get done I made a batch of salsa to cook and Jordan canned it up while we were gone. This doesn't happen very often so I had to take a picture of it. I used to can as an event. I had the kitchen perfect, counters cleaned, floors washed, jars all ready but now I can as a part of the day so I usually only do 1-2 canners at a time and wash jars as we need them. This time the girls and I picked the ends off the beans and watched a different version of Jane Eyre. It was not as good as the version we like so well. We were glad we had watched the other one so our minds could fill in the blanks of what this shorter version missed. We started snapping about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night and Jordan said she was going to bed (we were up late to a niece's wedding on Saturday and up early Sunday), but as soon as she watched just 5 minutes she was hooked and said, "Oh, fine, I'll stay up." She's like me, if you start watching it, no matter what, you have to finish it.

High Tunnel...

2011-09-15T21:30:00.001-06:00

Kevin took the day off Wednesday and spent it outside assembling our high tunnel before the possible freezing temperatures last night. It was a very long day for Kevin, Isaac and Caleb. Kevin started at 7:30 a.m. and finished about 11:30 p.m. with 2 fifteen minute breaks.

They finally got to putting up the poly on the ends while the sun was still up.

My dad (Sam) and my brother came over to help get the poly on. I should have taken a picture of the two vans parked on either end so we could stand on them to pull the poly over the top. A neighbor also came over to help.

Finally, in the dark of the night the top is getting secured on with wigglewire.

Emily and Kevin are working by headlights. It paid off and the plants were all saved although it looks like it only got to 34 degrees. Today it was about 80 degrees in there. My tomatoes will love it. I had a good day at the market again so maybe next week I'll have a ton of tomatoes and do really well again! It may be the last market day so I sure hope we do our best day then.

2011-09-13T09:41:00.000-06:00

Here is Lena doing her "school". Emily has been teaching her to write her name. She is a noisy student who talks the whole time, hard to do math with her around. She hardly stops talking during the day and has said some cute things. Gideon bumped her ear yesterday and she cried to him to say sorry to her. Then she came to me and told me she needed garlic in her ear and a kleenex (that's what we use for an ear ache). The telephone guy was here trying to figure out why we didn't have an internet connection and we were doing school. She was looking at a book about Martin Luther and saw a picture of Luther praying and folded her hands, said "Dear Lord, You (pause) are (pause) nice. Amen." He looked at her and I wonder what he thought!?! She sure makes us happy!

My computer won't put this right but thanks to two friends telling me in the same week that they had eggplant parmesan and liked it because Wow, was it good. We made it last night and it was so tasty. Of course the eggplant is dipped in egg, then flour with crouton crumbs (can use bread crumbs), and fried in oil before you use it so it doesn't really resemble eggplant. We used bought spaghetti sauce. I could have used home grown tomatoes and made a home made sauce but I was canning raspberry jelly and the stove was busy already. I got 25 more jars of it! Pray for a good turn out at the Farmer's Market this week. We did so good last week, it was exciting to see some fruits from our labors.

Here is our garden/home made supper last night. Eggplant parmesan, garlic herb bread, tomatoes and cucumbers. I had two kids try it and then couldn't eat it because of the idea of the eggplant. I don't think they gave it a fair shake.

2011-09-07T20:36:00.001-06:00

Straining raspberries for jelly. We really like raspberry jelly, but I hope it all sells at Farmer's Market tomorrow. We have enough juice to make twice this much on Friday though because I ran out of pectin and time. I'll make a good profit because I didn't have to technically pay for the raspberries! The kids are tiring of picking but only a short time more and they will be gone.

Here we have a mix of garden produce for a veggie soup I'm canning. I had 14 1 pound bags of baby carrots leftover from graduation to use up so those aren't from the garden but the beans, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and peppers are. Thanks to my wonderful kids for all their hard work. They helped in picking, washing, digging, peeling, blanching, cutting, snapping, stirring, snitching, etc.

Our spelling came today!!!!! The girls were very excited. I didn't think Gideon would be happy about it but he seemed to be. Tomorrow our Grammar and Vocabulary should arrive!

Garden bounty...

2011-08-29T11:25:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful garden supper on Saturday night. It was all fresh picked that day except for the squash and carrots. The squash was fresh cooked from squash that was still in our basement. I've been terrible about eating it this winter. It's a shame because I have so many squash eaters. We had squash with butter and honey, mashed potatoes with a touch of garlic, cilantro and parsley, coleslaw with shredded carrots, sliced tomatoes, green beans, fried onions with yellow squash (we love to eat this on mashed potatoes)(I do anyway), lettuce salad, and sliced cucumbers, sliced peppers and celery with ranch dip. The celery ended up being favorite of some kids. I was surprised. They were quite strong tasting and a bit chewy. We were stuffed and had leftovers.

We ended our evening watching Tangled (a Disney movie). I normally would not recommend a Disney movie because of how they have added "junk" into it. This movie actually had no language (Disney is very known now for it's minced oaths and other expletives that kids think are funny but are still bad words to me), it had no sexual references or jokes (even adult inferred, another commonality of newer Disney movies) and it had a plot that you could follow along with an action packed theme. We all laughed much. It followed along with the fairy tale theme of Rapunzel with some magic (there was a magical flower that when eaten or you recited a poem, it would heal that person). As I write this, that sounds a lot like witchcraft. If fairy tale witchery doesn't bother you then this is a movie to check out. There wasn't a sorcerer or witch in the movie.

Market...

2011-08-26T08:13:00.000-06:00

Farmer's Market yesterday. We started out with a little card table and finally have enough to fill our two small tables. It was great. We made smaller loaves of zucchini bread and added banana bread this time and had good success. We sold a bit of jam this time. These pictures are more at the end of the market day. We had several things on the ground and on a chair and by the end everything fit on the table. I had two crates of tomatoes and got down to what is in the picture.

The vendors sell a variety of things; most have produce, some other things sold are jellies, eggs, chickens, pasture-fed beef and pork, crafts, snacks, bread, plants. Someone also sells perennial plants that she is cleaning out of her yard. It is a little community. We took part of our earnings and went to the laundromat and washed 7 loads of laundry because...

Sunday night our septic backed up into our house. The boys and I dug the hole on the right side all the way down, it was the wrong spot. Kev has found a cracked pipe but we aren't sure that is the only problem. We had a plumber come help locate the problem.

This is half the buckets we had to take out and wash and dry and then carry back down. This is oatmeal, wheat, beans and other staple items. Jordan washed about 100 jars and other things that got sewage and other water on them.

A bright spot in the week; my cousin and her husband and two boys (from the Cities) came a bit out of their way just to visit us. They couldn't make it to the graduation and so we got to have them for supper a couple days later. The boys got to ride the barrel train and dig in our hole. It was great! I'm so happy they were here!

Happy Birthday...

2011-08-24T22:24:00.000-06:00

to Lena Mae!! She is 3 years old! We are praising the Lord for giving us this special joy!

Mud cake! Mmmm! A very favorite crock pot cake that is gooey on the bottom. Lena only ate the ice cream. She doesn't really care for cake.

Thank goodness for the birthday box. I didn't remember to get something for her birthday but I've had this Little Pony in there for a few years now.

The Party...

2011-08-22T19:20:00.000-06:00

Our Family at the graduation.

Kids were busy on the merry-go-round all day.

Volleyball, no gathering is complete without it, we don't play but there is always a group that likes to. Kevin actually got out there and had a good time and so did a couple girls.

Someone is going on the zipline. It's been out of commission for 2 summers. Kevin built the platform a couple days ago and lowered one end of the line on the pole and it was also busy the whole day.

Late night card game, Dutch Blitz.

It is after midnight here and some are enjoying a sing. Josh is an amazing piano player. You can't see, but his wife is sitting on the chair in front of them. She has a beautiful voice too.

Some families stayed the night so we got to enjoy their company until late and again in the morning. The last person left about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.

We loved the whole weekend, getting ready for it and now the aftermath. (Unfortunately for me I am thinking of all the things that didn't happen or people I didn't talk to, things I forgot to do; the dessert didn't have a spot to be, I forgot to put out the wallet pictures of Jordan for friends to take, didn't get to the needle in a haystack game, the targets for the big archery weren't out until way late, the tubs the water were in leaked out all the ice water, I didn't get to have a good conversation with several people (every time I thought I'd come right back I got pulled away for a food related thing, a kid or something :( ) In time I will get over this but it is fresh in my mind. We all did have a grand time and didn't want it to end.

I made twice as much food as I needed and we are enjoying a bounty of meals. Breakfast today: strawberry shortcakes (they were kind of breakfast like because they resembled biscuits so they were no different than having strawberries and cream on pancakes). Lunch was hotdogs, beans, watermelon and cowboy salsa. We could have hotdogs for a couple weeks. I'll have to freeze some of them again. I bagged up about 14 family size servings of shredded chicken, yeah!!! It was like I did that cooking for a month in a day thing. We have many bags of home made buns in the freezer along with many shortcakes leftover. Again, yeah!!! If you are going to plan a big thing like this plan food that freezes well. I didn't think of that when I did it but we made the food over the two months before the day of the graduation so it had to freeze well for us.

We missed those who couldn't be there with us and we thank those who were able to make it. Off to make chicken sandwiches, noodle salad and veggies and dip ( all grad food).

Exhaustion...

2011-08-18T23:44:00.002-06:00

I don't know what keeps us up so late exactly but I need a really deep long sleep! We have much done and much left to get ready. Now it's down to the nitty gritty, all those details that you can't even write on a list because you don't know about them until they are happening. Today, we spent some time making zucchini bread and picking produce for the Farmer's Market. I needed to run to town to pick up some trays and a roaster at the church so I thought, "Hey, might as well earn the money for the gas while I'm here." About 6 p.m. I was getting anxious to get home and get to work and wondering why I spent my time that way but we made enough. The market was slower than usual today but I sold 6 of 7 loaves of bread, all the beans and a couple jams and some zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and cukes. It was a decent day. They were selling farm fresh food to eat for $2 a plate. You got your choice of hamburger, hotdog or brat on home made buns, corn on the cob, and a dessert thing. It was great and I didn't have to find something when we got home at 9:30 p.m. Anyway, off to bed, maybe. Tomorrow is another day! Kevin took tomorrow off to get tables, chairs, etc. 12:52 a.m. Good night!

Tina...

2011-08-16T13:35:00.006-06:00

My friend Tina came to visit for the day awhile back. Tina goes way back with me. She used to live 5 miles away but I didn't know that until I met her at a homeschool gathering. By then she was getting ready to move to New Hampshire. We became phone friends for years. When Isaac was ill she call everyday without fail to get an update. Well, here she is. She now lives back in ND but about 80 miles away. We see each other more often and talk a little less than everyday but at least every week she still calls. She's a great encourager. We ended up having a common bond. These two kids were born on the same day, two rooms apart at the same hospital but we didn't see each other or know each other that day. We both remember the girl who came in about 2:30 a.m. screaming in labor. We were on either side of her.

Here are two of her girls with two of mine.And her youngest Katie with Moriah.

Some finished projects...

2011-08-15T12:00:00.002-06:00

Here is our family room in the basement. My friend Val came last week and painted the floor. The room has shrunk in size because the wood stove is going in the far right corner and we are trying to separate the room from the rest of the basement. It worked great for a movie night and devotions Saturday. We want to put pine siding on the far white wall so that isn't finished at all. It was the last carpet in the basement and it was covered in mold when we took it out. It is a relief to have it done (well mostly). We tried to get to it all winter.
Here is our finished flag. We finally got the stars painted and Kevin used caulk to stick them to the building. Now if the birds will quit building nests under the eaves and dropping things everywhere!

We have five days to clean and make food for the graduation. It feels like a million things to do. Today we have some specific cleaning projects and some baking. It rained this morning and forced us inside. That is a good thing for me because when I start weeding or working in the garden I find I can't leave. It forced me to tackle some indoor projects. I've got little girls washing walls and doors and such and normally I would be too obsessive/compulsive to let them do it for fear they wouldn't get it quite right but I'm not going to let that bother me even though someone tipped over a bucket of water on the carpet! :(

10 days to go...

2011-08-10T21:19:00.002-06:00

We have ten days until the party. My house is a disaster and I'm sure I need a month to get it in order. I was tying up tomatoes today, mowing in the rows of the raspberries (my tiller gave out on me), mowing the neighbor's yard, cleaning for someone in town and nothing to help get my house looking ready. Thankfully, my friend Val came yesterday and painted the last room in the basement needing painting and painted my front entry. She called the night before and I told her that she didn't need to come. We would get it all in but she wouldn't accept no for an answer and I was blessed by her kindness. Her daughter Renae helped Emily wash most of the windows. Wow! I didn't realize we couldn't see very much out of them until they were really clean. I think I've washed windows in this house once in the ten years we have lived here. They are temperamental and difficult to do. Tomorrow's a busy day but Friday I hope to get that basement put back together and we can start cleaning the house. Jordan has been busy making buns and cookies for the party and got the strawberry shortcakes all done last week and in the freezer. It's coming together. My kids have been great! I'm so pleased to see them being helpful without attitude this last week!

I like cherries...

2011-08-01T13:24:00.003-06:00

Lena said, "I like cherries." at lunch today. We got our Azure order and had wonderful cherries for lunch.

Everyone thought it was a great treat. I wish I would have gotten more so I could can some.

Sharon, if you read this, I apologize for not staying and visiting with you. The dog barking was just too much and I couldn't think straight. Since Monday last we have been up to about 2 a.m. every night butchering chickens and last night we went to fellowship in SD and got home real late so I am sensitive to noise and light and everything. One more night of chickens and we will get some rest, I hope. We still have dozens of things to do to prepare for the grad party.

More butchering...

2011-07-26T09:37:00.003-06:00

Here is Kevin skinning the chicken. It's a bit like taking off the chicken's coat.
It comes off in about one piece. It saves dipping them in boiling water, putting them in a plucker, plucking the rest of the feathers that the plucker didn't get and then scorching them with a torch.

While Kevin does that I pull out the insides and then take them and wash them really well. We wash them twice before bagging and freezing them.

Butcher time...

2011-07-25T10:14:00.002-06:00

I tried to take a picture of the finished chickens but my camera batteries are dead. We got 10 chickens done this morning. At about 11 a.m. Kevin finally left for work. I should have had more ready last night and then we wouldn't have spent an hour getting buckets and water ready and knives sharpened. We decided to opt out of plucking this time and Kevin is skinning them. I was going to but I just couldn't stomach it for some reason. Now, the weird thing is, I had no trouble gutting them. No queasiness at all :) Once we were in a pattern it worked well that I did that and cleaned them and by the time I had one done, Kevin was ready for the next to be done. We are going to do 10 more after swim lessons tonight. Oh what fun life is:)

A bit of a setback...

2011-07-20T21:23:00.002-06:00

Emily broke a jar when it hit a shelf in the refrigerator and had to get 9 stitches on Saturday. Too bad it is such a busy time with gardening, painting and all the other busyness of our days. The two girls are each the head of a team and one week the team does dishes (which is the most time taking chore) and the other team does laundry. Well, Jordan had just finished her week of dishes and now is taking that over as I am usually outside gardening or something. Jordan also has to milk everyday now instead of every other. We have about 5 days until the stitches come out and then we'll see how the recovery is. She was moving around goat milk and her first words after the cut were, "I hate goats, why do we have to have goats?" :)

Some success...

2011-07-18T21:51:00.002-06:00

We decided this year to join the Farmer's Market in our area and try our hand at selling our wares. We had our first night and it went well. We had strawberries (the very last 7 pints in the garden, they were almost sad looking, very ripe but they all sold), peas (all sold), 3 kinds of lettuce (mostly sold), zucchini bread (sold), strawberry jam and rhubarb-strawberry jam (sold 4 jars) and cookies (sold 1 bag). The kids helped pick and make everything. We are wondering what we will have this next week. My strawberries are gone, lettuce is looking sad and peas may be gone by then. I may have some zucchini (I planted 4 different varieties) and we may have a few peppers. We'll have to do some more baking and see what sells. There is a variety there: jams and jellies, pasture-fed chickens, beef and pork, bread, some other canned good, perennial plants and other veggies. I sure wish I had gotten started sooner with my garden.

We started swim lessons tonight! The kids had a lot of fun. Lessons were always in the morning before and now are in the evening which is a bit warmer. Isaac did a super job keeping up with the other kids. We missed lessons last year. I called a week too late to sign up so the kids are all older than the other "town" kids and a bit further behind.

Boy, the heat is suffocating. Kevin put an air conditioner in my garage. Remember my really messy garage? Well, it is more than half empty of that junk and I'm happy that most of the junk is thrown away, scrap metal or on it's way out. I've been washing the walls and ceiling (I'm sure it has never been done before) and clearing it out! Saturday I did most of the washing and was dripping wet by one hour into it. We remembered an air conditioner Kev's parents gave us and he picked it up at his shop and we have cool air! I hope it is painted by the end of this week but I've been hoping that for about a month. We'll see. Happy heat wave to you all!

Step up the supervision...

2011-07-13T14:31:00.002-06:00

Two things have caused me to pause and think about, "how safe are my kids?" I was at a local library recently and the kids quickly grabbed books and computers to play games (not internet accessible) while I walked around wondering what I'd like to look at for the hour we had planned to be there. I checked out the kids movies for movie night and then not finding anything I was interested in I picked up a book sitting on the top shelf. You know, it was displayed because it was a new release, trying to catch your attention. I started reading it and I was interested in it because it was the kind of book I would have read around 11-13 years old. It was about a girl who moved around a lot and had a hard time making friends. She made a new friend and her friend was quite different. The more I read the story the stranger it became and then I figured out what was going on. The step dad and 12 or 13 year old had something going on and they were EXTREMELY graphic about it!!!!!!! Please be careful what your kids are reading in the public library. It was more than disturbing. If Rebekah or Emily had read that book I would be horrified, it was pornography. I asked the librarian if she had read it and the reply was, "No, but that author visited our library." I told her what I read and she gave me a form letter to file a complaint and ask for the book to be removed. I used to check books out for the kids quite frequently. Looks like we have to go back to that practice. This world is not our home! The Bible says to not be conformed to this world. We need to be vigilant in fighting for our kids to be raised without this kind of influence.

The second incident happened in Wal-mart in Fargo on Sunday night. We were on our way home from fellowship and I had forgotten something at Wal-mart on a previous visit and went to customer service to get it. Four of the kids had to go to the bathroom so they came in with me. It took me less than 2 minutes to pick my item up and wait for the kids outside the bathrooms. The three boys came out together and were agitated. They told me how a man with a red mohawk said, "Hey, kid, you have any money." to each of them. Well, after we got in the van and the kids were describing what they were doing and what he said to each of them and how they responded it turned out there was a second guy blocking the doorway. They didn't know the two guys were together until after Kevin went into the store to see if they were still in the bathroom. The two guys walked right by the van and that's when Isaac said that the one guy was in front of the door. He moved away from the door when they said they didn't have any money. All of the kids were shaken up by the incident and Rebekah was scared in the night of kidnappers. Nothing happened in there but sometimes I let them go all the way to the bathroom when I'm clear across the store. I'll be more careful in the future about this too. It gave us some discussion on how do you handle this kind of thing. I told them to start yelling for their mom! I wonder what those guys would have done then? I did tell the first employee about them because I didn't want them harassing anyone else. I don't know what else I should have done.

Peas...

2011-07-11T16:03:00.003-06:00

We picked peas today. I know I could just buy a bag of peas but we like to eat them fresh and there is something about garden fresh produce and the work is rewarding. Tonight, we'll sit, watch a movie, and shell peas. Memories!

2011-07-04T21:17:00.003-06:00

Isaac and Kevin constructing the "rafter" part of the high tunnel today.

My dad Sam, stopped by to put a bale in the horses' pen and ended up digging some holes with Kevin. It was great help because Kevin was not looking forward to it. With the kids' help he got the ground stakes all tamped in on the other side.

Here are the two they assembled and attached to the ground stakes. Kev's got to call the company and ask about some water that is down in the stakes. He's wondering if they will freeze come winter and cause problems. We are in a severe weather watch right now. Praying the tomatoes, peppers and other produce make it through!

A few good tomatoes...

2011-07-01T17:40:00.002-06:00

The kids and I have been busy with many things outside this week. Monday we recuperated from a weekend camping trip. We almost didn't get to go camping. The bus was giving us trouble. Last year it ended up in the fix-it shop on the way to this very weekend camp. Kevin was able to get the brakes "unstuck" and we had a great time of fellowship and food and playing and worship! Monday, we picked about 45 pounds of strawberries which we sold to someone. The kids get a portion of all the strawberries since they are doing a lot of the work. We hope to participate in the Farmer's Market this year and the kids get a percentage for their weeding and picking. It's more fun to help when you get rewarded for it.

Tuesday, we picked this huge mound of weeds from this little garden. There are some sticks under those weeds but it was a great group effort and so rewarding to see the garden. The weeds were nearly as large as the plants. Marigolds and tomatoes are all that's here plus 3 little pepper plants. I have some to transplant out there but they aren't doing so well in the house.

Wednesday, up at 7:30 a.m. picking strawberries again and then Em and I cleaned houses for others. Thursday at 7:30 a.m. we picked again and ran errands. Last night was a Farmer's Market meeting and we got home about 10 p.m. I told Jordan that we should get the house picked up and then we can sleep in. She reminded me that I had a chiropractor appointment!!!! I had to leave at 7 a.m. :( :( Supper is in the oven, Kevin is working late so he can have all day tomorrow off and we hope to have movie night yet tonight. Tomorrow we are hoping to have a big workday. Only 6 weeks to the graduation party on August 20. We ordered the announcements last night and they are already being shipped! Way to go Shutterfly! We saved a huge amount of money picking a different card than the traditional grad announcement plus there was a great sale yesterday and I saved over $50 with coupons and the sale price. I'm so glad I didn't order the night before. Whew!!

Strawberries...

2011-06-22T09:08:00.002-06:00

Our strawberries are ready! Lena loves to eat them as does our whole household!
The kids and I picked these all yesterday! We have gotten this many once before. We are having strawberry shortcake for the graduation party and I think I have enough in the freezer now! It's fun to have something "finally" produce in great proportions!

Finished planting...

2011-06-20T19:25:00.003-06:00

Here is my high tunnel. Kevin has not had time to do anymore than the East side of the posts but I had to plant it so Friday, Saturday, a little yesterday and today we got it finished. It was fun to see Moriah and Rebekah planting peppers and doing such a nice job. We planted 98 pepper plants and 98 tomato plants. We also got snap beans, okra, eggplant, watermelon, cucumbers, cantaloupe and beets planted in there. I got about half of the tomatoes staked and about half of the walkway laid down with cardboard. Now for a little sun and humidity and we will be doing good. I hear rain in the forecast for the next few days. We don't need that!

First I laid out the soaker hoses 30 inches apart the whole length of the garden. We will have 8 full length rows. I thought it would only have room for 6 rows so I didn't get enough hoses to finish it. Then we laid the plastic over the hoses marking where they were with garden staples. Then we tucked the plastic in the dirt. I cut the holes and all the girls helped plant (except for Lena). It was great fun and a learning experience for the girls. I usually do most of the planting. I do believe I have finished the planting for the year with the exception of some more lettuce and cabbage.

Long time friends...

2011-06-19T08:05:00.002-06:00

Jordan and Cynthia

They both graduated this year from home school. They are the oldest child at home of many siblings and both are book-nuts so to speak.
All of the Jeub's and the Blazek's (correction: some of the Jeub's are missing) All of the Jeub's that came to our house yesterday (13 kids and dad Jeub)! They used to live in our area and we were friends through AWANA and home schooling but they moved 10 years ago to Colorado. We have seen them twice in that time. Jordan and Cynthia have been long distance friends through writing letters. Sometimes the letters are 11 pages long (front and back). They have a lot in common. Wendy and new baby Elijah were not along and they have two children out of the home now. We were blessed that they could stop at our place for awhile yesterday on their way home (they were driving all the way home too (17 hours there)). The kids had a lot of fun on the go cart, playing dolls and many other things.

I'm singing about God...

2011-06-15T20:32:00.003-06:00

Lena was eating supper tonight and a CD was playing a song and she was trying to sing along but didn't know the song. I said, "What are you doing?" She replied, "I'm singing about God." It was so cute. The song was Wonderful Words of Life and I'm not sure you can hear that it is about the Lord but she knew it was.

Lena's first trip to the Buffalo in Jamestown. Here she is with her daddy under the big head.

She really enjoyed the buffalo. She said goodbye and everything.
Here's the girls' attempt at making it look like Moriah is a giant person petting this huge buffalo! Looks pretty good.

June got busy...

2011-06-13T07:55:00.002-06:00

We went to a wedding just this weekend. Two beautiful people from our home school world.

The weekend before we spent the day in Milnor for the celebration they have every year. Caleb and Gideon drove the go-cart in the parade. Here they are right in front of Kevin's shop.

The week before that Kevin and Caleb worked on the high tunnel. It's been slow-going with everything else we have to do. Kevin has been busy at work so hasn't had much chance. I bought the tomato and pepper plants for it and will get them planted this week when we have the ground all worked up. Kevin will have to construct the thing around the plants. I had to buy them before the tomatoes were too picked over. The Roma's were already gone! :(

There are 40 ground stakes to put in the ground. They have to dig a 4 foot hole and tamp down the stake. They only got half of them in that day.

And on June 1st we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. There is a couple from church wed on the very same day in the same year so we went out to eat with them. Kevin brought me this beautiful flower arrangement. We were actually late meeting Doug and Janet because he had forgotten them in his shop! :)

What a storm...

2011-05-31T15:38:00.004-06:00

My hot caps for my tomatoes were smashed to the ground and ripped to bits. I don't know if the tomatoes are going to make it with all the wind last night and then again today.

I have three beautiful trees in my back yard that give the house shade and us in the summer. Two of them were damaged. After Kevin trims out the damage they will look quite strange.

This one has a large crack down it. We are hoping it doesn't mean the tree is a loss.

This one will have no more branches on this side :( :( :( I know it could be lots worse and I know others had it worse than us but it is so sad to see these 30 year old trees brought down this way. We won't be able to raise any like it up while we are here.

The winds did some damage at our place last night as well as many around us. Our billy goat's pen was picked up and dropped in the horse pen. It's a bit damaged. It took awhile but we found the billy. He was OK.

From the window it looked worse than it was. The wind took the canopy on top and pulled it back. It got stuck on the chair and table in the picture and so didn't set back down. It's a little crooked but not damaged.

We spent some time in the basement and the kids were a little frantic with worry. We did go to sleep eventually but then were awakened to smoke alarms going off in the middle of the night when the electricity finally came on and the dog was barking because of the electric company coming out to check on the lines by our place. Sure wish we could have a peaceful, warm, June to plant gardens and spend outside.

A finished project....

2011-05-27T19:41:00.002-06:00

I started ripping my perennial garden apart (again) last summer. It was so out of control with weeds. By the time the girls and I would have it all the way clean from one end to the next, those really hard to get weeds would creep in again. I took out all the plants last year and started laying down fabric and Kevin edged it and we mulched. We cut it down by 16 feet also. It used to be 64 feet long and now it 36 feet. We cut the width almost in half.

Here is the finished product!!! It would have been finished last year but let me give some advice, buy all the mulch you need right away! We needed about 6 more bags. Kevin was in town last Fall and picked up some and it was the wrong one. Then this Spring, Kevin picked up some more and again it was wrong. Well, Menards no longer carries the mulch we bought last year so what to do!?! We were at the chiropractor and went to Pamida there and they had some that looked just like it and thankfully it matched!!!! I was happy to get the last corner done!

Right now it all looks the same but there are all kinds of colors waiting to explode with bloom. The kids got me some new ones for my birthday and they are pretty. Unfortunately, my ducks love the perennial garden and make beds for themselves in it and forage through it making a mess. I'm considering some kind of fence around the edge but it won't look quite right.

Yeah!!!

2011-05-20T19:19:00.003-06:00

New cabinets in my laundry room!!!!!!! We started turning this room (formerly a three season porch used for storage by us because it was cruddy and had 6 leaky floor to ceiling windows) into a laundry room 5-6 years ago now. First it was adding the floor since the previous floor was a cement slab at ground level. Then, we had windows put in, then the plumbing, then walls and then a couple years later the floor and now three years after the floor we have cabinets. I personally am seeing the benefits of taking so long to finish a room. We used it a long time as an entry and laundry room and got a feel for what we really wanted. At first, I said no to a sink in there and now I am excited to have a place to wash garden produce. All of the goat supplies have a home in the far right cupboard instead of on top of the refrigerator in that room. We had the Hutterites in our area put them in. They did the cabinets and counters in Kevin's office area at Crossroads Electric. They were able to custom make the one wall. Kevin wanted an 18 inch cabinet and counter instead of the standard 24 to make room to walk and not close the room in too much.

All that's left is trim on the windows, baseboard, door painted and trim around that and the plumbing for the sink! I will not say it will definitely be done this year or even next the way we do projects. We have had this dryer 18 years and we bought it used. It's been a good machine for us!

We love babies...

2011-05-15T21:52:00.002-06:00

Baby chickies are so fun and adorable. Lena especially loves them and tonight when they took her out of the chicken coop she cried and cried. After supper she asks, "Please mommy, take me to the chickens."

Moriah and Lena and the baby chicks.
They were all alive when we went to the post office. It's nice that the Main post office is open 24 hours a day and they called us Saturday and said they had some chicks for us and we were able to pick them up yesterday. Otherwise, they would have been delivered tomorrow sometime. We got to get them water and food almost two days earlier. I hope it makes a difference in how strong and healthy they will be.

Two little lovelies!

First of all...

2011-05-13T16:00:00.004-06:00

The lost/stolen/missing bike!!!! I lost some sleep over this! Emily had an idea when she was outside the garage doors one day to open the North door which we never really use and there was Caleb's bike. It was in a corner of the garage that no one would even think to look because the garage is quite full of junk right now and you can't even walk over to that corner of the garage from the inside. We would not think of it except now Kevin remembers opening the door and putting there one day:) Praise the Lord it wasn't stolen!

I should be too embarrassed to show this. The bike was way over in the corner on the back side of the tractor. You cannot walk to it on either side of the tractor so no wonder no one looked too closely there. It was last seen outside so we concentrated our search to that area. I show this to you because within the month you maybe amazed to see me transform it from this chaotic picture of disarray to peaceful bliss. The stuff is going I tell you! I am painting the walls and maybe the floor and then when I look outside my door it will fill me with calm. I should show this to my chiropractor and he might know one reason why stress in my life is preventing my neck from healing :)

Grandpa likes toys and he likes to get our kids toys. He usually makes things home made from welding things together and such. I'll have to have a post someday showing what he's already made us but today he stopped by and dropped off this!!! He's been promising the kids to build them one but hasn't gotten around to it so found this on Craig's list there in Duluth and decided to go for it. Too bad it is so cold and then it started to rain. Kevin and I thought "Oh, good something to bribe them with to get their jobs done!"

While Grandpa was here his dog Boyka and Dakota had a grand time.

What are we doing?!?

2011-05-11T08:29:00.004-06:00

OK, so my life just got a little scarier and probably busier than I really want! I just placed the order for 100 chicks (which we weren't going to do this year, Kevin called and said, "Let's do it.") and I finished the order for a polytunnel (24 feet by 72 feet)! (This is a picture of the one we are putting up). I am also planning a graduation party for Jordan complete with games and fun for the whole family. (Jordan thinks it's getting too big but how often do we have people over?!?) I plan on making it memorable and fun (for me at least since I'm doing most of the work). :)

It's time to plant!!!!

2011-05-07T21:19:00.002-06:00

We had a great day today beginning the garden. With some help I got 5 rows of potatoes, 3 rows of peas and two wide rows of onions planted! Last year these things were in the ground 2 weeks by now so it must have been a little wetter here than usual for us even though I felt it was less water than last year. The back half of the garden was a bit mucky but we planted anyway.

Kevin got the third side of the chicken coop sided! Progress! He also, with some help, cleaned out the chicken coop! Whew! You could smell that all over the yard today. It was nasty. I think having three ducks in there makes it messier and smellier.

Happy Mother's Day tomorrow to all you mothers out there!

Couponing????

2011-05-03T21:18:00.002-06:00

Jordan and I volunteered at a Scholastic Book Fair today in Fargo. It was kind of fun. It was a long day standing. We volunteered 5 1/2 hours. I say couponing because I am always looking for ways to coupon and this was to me a bit of extreme couponing. We each made $10 in books per hour we worked. Since combined we made $110 you also get a bonus of $25 so we got $135 in totally free books!!!!! Here is a sampling of the books we got; One on sharks, snakes, famous paintings, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Houdini, The History of Spying and Espionage, The President's Daughter (about Teddy Roosevelt's daughter), a picture atlas, three cookbooks, making 12 different airplanes (3 of them), Buried Treasure kit, 2 different build a book sets, the North and South Pole, etc, etc, etc.

Happy Birthday...

2011-05-02T18:29:00.002-06:00

Caleb! In front of the door where we measure height.

Chicken Pot Pie. Caleb's requested birthday meal.

Chocolate zucchini cake. Thank God for summer produce in the freezer.

Random...

2011-04-29T17:06:00.002-06:00

Lizzie has not had her baby or babies yet! I don't have to go back to the chiropractor for a week but am wondering a bit at how I'll do. It still feels so stiff. I need to walk and of course it's 6 p.m windy and a bit chilly and I'm making lentil soup for supper which I could walk away from at this point. It's about the easiest soup I've ever made. I just boiled the ham bone from Easter, added three cans diced tomatoes, two onions, salt, basil, garlic, and a good scoop of lentils, and about 12 cut up carrots. Kevin and a couple kids will really like it. I on the other hand and the rest of the kids will be eating pb and j or something. I will eat some of it :)

Caleb's bike is missing. The kids have searched our whole place for it. I have searched the whole place for it. It was taken out of our yard either Easter Sunday while we were at my mom's for dinner or in the middle of the night. The kids think they had it Monday afternoon, they are positive so that rules out Sunday. It was missing Tuesday sometime so that leaves someone taking Monday night or Tuesday during the day and we were home! I'm frustrated and a little worried. I looked outside last night before I went to bed half expecting someone to be walking around out there. The good thing is most of the stuff we have outside is junk! We've had most things a few years and wear them out well; like the wagons, wheelbarrows, etc. They didn't come in the house or garage as far as we can tell. Again, unless they take my new stainless steel spoons and other new things there isn't much. Caleb's bike was the nicest thing outside that we owned and someone had given it to us last summer and it was real nice. Most of the kids don't have bikes anymore and some have wheels missing so no surprise but it does surprise me. Was someone just driving around and randomly picking places or did they stake us out? We are pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I feel a bit vulnerable for that. We are going to report it just in case other people are having things taken too and then the police can see if there is a pattern here.

Most thieves on shows steal your TV. Well, they can try. It broke this week. It's just that time for us that everything old must go. It isn't even that old. My mom and dad gave it to us for Christmas one year maybe 6-7 years ago. It had a DVD player and VHS in it. It was great for us. We didn't have the box so we couldn't watch any outside TV on it. We could only watch our own movies on it. We used it mostly for school and Friday movie night. It's a bummer to lose the bike and TV in the same week. The plus for the TV is that it is summer soon and we don't hardly have time to watch it but the downside for the bike is that it is summer soon and it would be nice to have. I'll find him another one but what's going on in this world today. What's mine is yours????

Baby goats...

2011-04-28T22:16:00.002-06:00

Here are Jane's twins. She gave us twins last year. A lovely surprise when someone went outside yesterday.
Here is Georgiana's baby born today. She had only one. She did not have a baby last year so hasn't been milked in a long while. We won't milk them for awhile to let the babies get strong. It will be hard to wait. We have been without milk, yogurt, etc. since the first week in March.

Now Lizzie needs to have her baby(ies) tomorrow and it will be complete. We are praying for 2-3 baby girls. These are all boys and we are hoping to get a bigger milk herd.

Out with the old and in with the new...

2011-04-26T15:11:00.004-06:00

We ended up getting a few things with part of our tax return. We paid off debt mostly but left some to get some tools for our jobs around the house; much used and needed tools.

My eclectic collection of measuring spoons. I have 3 Tablespoon Spoons here, a broken 1 tsp, a 1/2 tsp, 1/8 and a 1/4th. While they all work just fine and I cook mostly by pinches and such it will be nice to have a new set. The stainless steel ones are actually Jordan's. One got into the garbage disposal so that's why it is broken. When we are baking or cooking a meal we can go through quite a few measuring spoons so having more than one of something is handy when using oil and then a powder.

I am getting into stainless steel so I got some new stainless steel measuring spoons. They are sturdy and don't seem like they could come apart like the other ones, all one piece construction. They are beautiful and long! I used them for measuring oregano tonight and they fit nearly all the way into my tall container.

Here again is my eclectic collection of measuring cups. I have two sets. I think the Tupperware set was from when we got married and the 1 cup is broken and we have it taped together and we are missing the 3/4 cup which maybe isn't used much. The other set only has two left and the 1/2 cup (which is used all the time) is cracked all the way across the bottom. Again, we use a couple of each while cooking or baking so it is nice to have extras.

My new stainless steel set. It even has an 1/8 cup and my missing 3/4 cup.

This is my new blender. I didn't get a pic of my old one. It was cracked and leaking all over whenever I used it. I researched a few weeks to pick out the Oster Beehive. You can put a regular mouth canning jar on it and use it that way. It has a glass pitcher and all metal drive. I can't wait to make goat milk yogurt smoothies with strawberries from the garden. I've also wanted to make home made mayonnaise and need a blender to do it.
My old iron. I think Kevin had it before we got married. I can't quite remember, but I'm sure I didn't buy it since. So, it is over 20 years old. It quit heating up. It was sporadic and difficult to do last minute touch-ups as you are running out the door because you are already late!

My new Rowenta! I also researched this and it is also a steam iron, meaning you can steam drapes, dresses, etc. with it by holding it upright like in the picture. It is also a self-cleaning iron, never heard of such a thing. We have used it a few times now. It's nice to have things that work.

We got a new 12 quart stock pot too with pasta insert and steamer basket. Both of my stockpots are only a thin layer and have scorched so many times that they start to scorch earlier and earlier in the cooking process. At first we didn't mind the taste so much but after opening jar after jar of scorched tasting home canned veggie soup we would like to start the canning season with something new. I am going to baby it and make sure it stays nice and clean. It has an encapsulated aluminum ring in between two layers of stainless steel and seems much sturdier than my other ones. It seems all the stuff from when we got married is breaking down. It's hard to spend the money like this but it is also nice to have the proper tools for what we do.

Not so extreme couponing...

2011-04-25T22:29:00.002-06:00

I was at my mom's yesterday and she taped a show for me to watch on Extreme Couponing! Wow! My couponing today was not so great as some of theirs. I definitely don't have 60 hours to devote to it like one woman did but she got something like $1200 worth of stuff in one shopping trip for $51 or something like that. I can't remember the exact amounts but that's close. I probably spent $51 today and got about $200 worth. I would love to do more than what I am doing but I live so far from the stores that I can't get there for the weekly deals so I have to be content to do what I can. Plus, some of their purchases are ridiculous. She had 55 years of body wash stocked up and lifetime supplies of other things. You don't need to turn every room of your house into stockpiles for things you may never live to use. It seems a waste of your time and space to do that. She didn't have much of a life outside of couponing. It was a bit of an addiction. I would be content for a year's worth of things at a time. Anything more would be a burden on our household for storage and trying to live a normal life! Whether you eat or whether you drink, whatever you do, do all for the glory of God 1 Corinthians 10:31 OK, so the chips want to be on their side. I got them for $1 a bag! Hornbacher's doubles $0.55 coupons up to $1.

A pretty good deal at CVS pharmacy and Walgreens! If you try the Nexcare bandages they send you back the money you paid on them per style of bandage! I paid $2.99 each and the rebate will come $2.99 X 3. Plus I had $0.55 off each one in a coupon but the rebate will still be the full price so I made $1.65 on this. The Always were a good deal for $6.99, I had a $2 off coupon and they gave me $2 in Extra Care Bucks. I turned around and bought an Infusium Detangler for $4.99 with a $2 coupon and the $2 extra care bucks it was $0.99 (Rebekah recommended I get this one, she has horribly tangly hair). The gum was $0.25 a pack and the toothbrushes were $0.79 each after coupons. I think I got the $2 off 2 Reach toothbrushes on Target or coupons.com if there are any other wanna-be couponers out there.

My really fun Target run. You can do this too or some of it. I got 2 coupons on Target.com for $1 off two greenworks products. Well, today and for awhile longer they have buy 3 cleaning products and get a dishsoap free. I has the $2 off and they were about $5 for all 4. They paid me 3 cents for the floss. They paid me 99 cents for the Carefree (this coupon was in my Sunday paper insert; Target coupon getting them for 1 cent and then a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off), they smell and I don't like them so I'll give them away but they made me money that went off the rest of my receipt so they were worth the time! Right now lightbulbs are on sale for $2.50 a four pack and Target.com has $1.50 off. The Nivea bodywash was $3.04 and I had $3 off each one!!!! Two of them have no dyes in them. Kandoo flushable wipes were $1.42 and I had $1 off. I got hamburger juice all over my arm and thankfully had these wipes in the van. Razors are always easy to find a deal on. The Bic Flex 4 were on sale for $4.99 and I had $3 off each one. You can buy these on ebay (I didn't, got them in my paper again). Coupons.com has $3 off some games. You can use the connect 4 coupon off the travel size and get them for $1.99 (gift idea or AWANA store). The Revlon files for nails were $1.27 each and I had 2- $5 off two. I made $4.92 buying these! This total was $83 before coupons. After coupons it was almost $27. I hate buying anything anymore unless I have a coupon for it. Every item here had one coupon or two.

I went to Hornbacher's before we left town because they had Bird's Eye veggies for $0.68 per bag, limit 4. I had 5 coupons for $1 off 3 and asked the manager if she would let me buy 20 bags but in sets of 4. She agree this time although she said it isn't supposed to be allowed. Each bag ended up costing me $0.43 each! I think normal price is around $2!!! Great fun to have peas and broccoli in the freezer for awhile! I told her about my Target deal and she said that's nice but you probably got a bunch of stuff you won't use. I assured her that wasn't true as you can see from the above picture. You can buy these on ebay too although I didn't have to this time. Just check for the expiration dates before you commit to buy. You don't want them expiring before you get them.

Salve...

2011-04-22T22:13:00.003-06:00

The salve I was making in the crockpot was ready to strain today. I used cheesecloth and am squeezing out every last drop. I then heated it on the stove with some beeswax to make the salve. You can leave it like this and use it as massage oil but that sounds oily and messy to me.

Here I poured it into these nifty tins that I got from Bulk Herb Store when I ordered the herb mixture. It should be kept cool and in a dark place. I like how these tins fit right in your hand.

Here is the finished product cooled off and ready to use. Kevin put some on his sore shoulder tonight. It is a muscle salve mix. I started the liver tonic from the herbs I bought from the same place. We had to go into a liquor store tonight and buy vodka for it. I started steeping the tonic when we got home from Church. It takes 3-4 weeks to steep this tonic. Liver tonic is useful for allergy issues, eczema and just overall health. I have a couple girls with eczema again and am hoping this will give them some relief.

Miscellany...

2011-04-19T13:49:00.003-06:00

Lena loves to go outside right now. Here she is all dressed up in butterfly water boots, hat, coat and mittens which she takes off usually.
Jordan is holding Lane (new cousin/nephew born last Wednesday). He slept the whole day (Saturday) when we saw him.

Jordan performing in her trio at a hospital. It was her final Symphony performance :( We enjoyed all of the pieces played that day.

Kevin and I were just to the chiropractor again. My neck feels good and I can move it all around now and not feel like I have to hold it in place and baby it so much. I'm going to attempt to clean some in the basement today. We have graduation this year and I try not to let that unnerve me but there is so much I would like to do to get ready for it. We are not going to redo huge parts of the house although painting the outside of the house and new flooring would be my dream, it isn't going to happen so my house will be as it is only very clean (I hope). I have the little things to get ready; like putting pictures in a photo album for Jordan, decluttering and touch-up painting, cleaning out the garage and maybe painting the walls and floor. I had hoped to have a lot of this done during the winter but I decided school was top priority and it is so overwhelming. I do much better on small everyday chores or big outdoor projects. I just can't get rid of stuff. I have too many kids yet and something might get used and I do have the room to store it so why take the chance I have to buy it again. It just looks and feels cluttered! and that's what I can't stand!

I just received my order from Bulk Herb Store and I have Muscle Salve mix steeping in Almond Oil in a crockpot on my counter. I got it for Kevin and his shoulder issue. It is full of great stuff like peppermint, St. John's Wort and Comfrey and more. You steep it in a crockpot for 3 days on low in water, drain it, then melt beeswax with it to make a cream for soothing and healing muscles. One bag is a whole lot so if anyone else wants to try it they sure can. I am doing a small batch in a small jelly jar to see how it goes. Jordan has gotten a couple books from here and is studying herbs and how to make tinctures and creams out them. We ordered some herb seeds and she will grow some of her own this summer!

Shingles, peas and icy roads...

2011-04-16T10:41:00.003-06:00

Isaac came down with a nasty case of shingles about a week ago. The rash started after a full day of playing outside so we didn't think much of it and we were leaving for the weekend the next day. It progressively spread and got more painful. It didn't itch as much as there was increasing pain. This picture shows part of it but it goes around to his back. In this picture the blisters are scabbed over and it doesn't look so inflamed but just 4 days ago it was bad for him. I was going to the chiropractor and he is also our expert on all ailments so I took Isaac with and Dr. S. knew what it was immediately by the path it followed along the nerves. He tested him and he is on drops for the virus causing this. We also checked out EarthClinic.com and found how others have dealt with it and after several applications of Apple Cider Vinegar and 4 days on the drops I am happy to say Isaac feels normal. The pain is gone and he can move and function normally. I know shingles can really affect your life and by the stories I read some people deal with them off and on for up to 20 years. Dr. S. said he'd treat Isaac for the next 4-6 months to make sure the virus is under control. Praise the Lord for the knowledge God gives!

Here is a picture of my new ice pack. I guess the trip down the water slide wasn't such a good idea for someone as out of shape as me! I had crunched my neck in the van the week before but when I tried to slow myself down on the water slide by putting my arm up I hit my elbow pretty hard and it compounded the neck injury I already had. I have been to the chiropractor three times this week and have to go next week too! It is progressively getting better but the pain and stiffness is still there. Dr. S. recommended peas because they are cheap and easy when you are out of your home and need to ice something. I love them because they move around my neck unlike the hard ice packs we have at home.

The first adjustment caused me to cry out and sob. I cried for about an hour. Moriah was worried because she hadn't seen me like that before. I have NEVER been in such pain in my life. I've been in two roll-overs (over 200 stitches once), gave birth 8 times and various other bangs and bruises but cannot recall this level of pain. Each time he adjusts me it gets easier to bear. Yesterday, Kevin went along to get an adjustment too and we drove on icy roads and blizzard conditions to get there but it was worth it just to have a little more range of motion. We saw many cars in the ditch and barely made it through the streets of Valley City for the slushy conditions. The people of that town are fighting flood waters and didn't need this hassle.

Thankfully we are on the mend and even though I could do without the disruptions to my week, I saw my older kids fill in the gap and help kids get their school done. Also, thankfully, we are almost done with school so a few unproductive days doesn't hurt right now. I have three kids done with math and 2 almost! Jordan got in some driving practice because she drove a couple times so there were some positives. Hopefully all your weeks were less eventful. Blessings!

Meet my new...

2011-04-13T20:54:00.003-06:00

Nephew! His name is Lane Edward and he's only 3 hours old in this picture. My brother, his wife Chris, their kids; Levi, Hunter, Brayden and now Lane!

I got to hold him although I threatened to keep him if I got him in my arms.

He was so snuggled down in his blankets, everytime I tried to pull them away to get a good picture he cried so I'll post another picture after I get him at home.

Weekend get-a-way...

2011-04-10T16:11:00.002-06:00

Rebekah and Moriah under the mushroom of water.

Rebekah coming down the water slide. The water park at our hotel.

We went to an Encouragement for the Home School Family Conference. We stayed at a hotel with a water park and the kids had a great time. We got there early Friday so they could swim and it was a good thing we got there when we did. We planned to stay two nights but there was a misunderstanding when I made the reservations. I thought we were getting a two room suite for a certain price and when we got there they had two two-room suites reserved for us because you are only allowed 6 people per 2 room suite. I have to say it was ridiculous. The room was huge!!!! We would have easily fit in the one suite but they would not bend and we had to pay for both but they did allow us to cancel the other night. It was a big disappointment because I made food for all our meals (crock pot meals) and had planned to spend last night swimming and just having a good time for two days.

The water slides were quite large and my kids just climbed the ladder and came down. I was amazed at how Gideon, Moriah and Rebekah went down them over and over. I was especially amazed after I went down the yellow one. I was terrified and do not plan to ever go down a water slide like that again!!!!!

The conference was wonderful and a huge encouragement to us all. Isaac said he wished he would have taken notes at the sessions he went to for young men. I pray my kids and husband and me remember what we learned and implement some changes to help our family become less "me" centered and more "Christ" centered. Check out their website at www.Titus2.com. They have some great materials. Kevin purchased some for our family to enjoy so as we finish each book or CD we could give a review of what we learned from it.

Swimsuit search...

2011-04-06T23:39:00.004-06:00

We started the swimsuit search about a month ago. Jordan and Emily both needed a new one. So, we narrowed it down to two choices that the girls would even consider and this is what they have. You might think that THAT isn't a swimsuit, but it is a swimsuit. I bought the pattern from a company in Canada, and the material from ebay. The material is 4-way stretch lycra made especially for swimsuits. They feel like swimsuits. I started cutting out the patterns Monday night and Jordan started sewing Emily's yesterday and finished it today plus started her own today and finished about 10:30 tonight. She made the leggings for them too out of black lycra swimsuit material. I think they are beautiful. Jordan is so talented. She sews so well for someone who has a mother who cannot sew a thing! I'm in awe of her talent. This was her first sewing project following a pattern. She's always made up the pattern for her other projects. I picked out a blue pattern identical to Jordan's suit for myself. We may try to get it sewed up tomorrow. We have need of swimsuits Friday night so it's nice the girls have something now. I don't usually swim when we go somewhere because I haven't had a suit for a few years now. It might be fun if I got to jump in with the kids and I won't be worried about my swimsuit looking low or showing too much flab in one of these! They were so cost effective especially since we bought the pattern. I bought 2 patterns: one size XS, S, M, L, and XL all in one and one for girls size 8,10,12,14. I plan to have Jordan make Riah and Bekah suits too. The older girls suits were about $70-80 cheaper each than buying the suit already made from the website! We saved a lot making them ourselves and buying the material on ebay.

Last concert...

2011-04-03T22:30:00.003-06:00

Sigh... I wish it weren't over. Symphony has been very enjoyable for me. The concert today was so good! I'm going to miss the concerts. (A big apology to my parents; I thought I had told them the date of the concert, well, I did in a Jan. email but I really thought I had mentioned it since.) Life is sometimes so busy!!!! This week was an especially busy one in school and in activities. And then Thursday I crunched my head getting in the van to put Lena in her seat and I spent Friday in quite a lot of pain. It crunched my neck real good. I couldn't get into a chiropractor so have had to live with it. I won't be in town until Thurs. I can't wait to get some relief!!!!! Needless to say, I'm not that great on communicating with people. I tend to put it off until later and then I remember at 11 p.m. or later! Can anyone relate? I'm notorious for waiting until the last minute. I sure wish I would have called to check if they had it written down. I made a big assumption! I added some pictures of the girls together and Jordan and her conductor and Emily sitting with her stand partner before the concert. Jordan does have her chamber concert April 14th at noon. She is in a trio and then another larger group. It will be so neat to see her play. She sat in the back this year and while the concerts are enjoyable we don't actually see Jordan playing the songs. April 14th for any who are interested. All I know is that it is at Sanford Health. We don't know where exactly yet but she has one practice before then so we'll find out then.

Coupon madness...

2011-04-01T11:38:00.007-06:00

Well, not madness but it might look like that to some. I did some ebay shopping for coupons and found some great ones for Muir Glen Tomatoes ($1 off), Tom's of Maine ($2 off), Seventh Generation ($1 off) and Jimmy Dean Sausages ($1.50 off 2).

Forgive me for boring you. I am a detail person. Now, Newman's Own does have an organic line. These are not part of that. I emailed them and found out what is in each of their sauces looking for MSG and other additives. I couldn't find anything I didn't like except soybean oil (we avoid soybean oil, except for mayo right now). If you go to the website for Newman's own you can find some $0.50 off coupons for any product. I chose to buy the spaghetti sauce because we have been without it for so long. In one Walmart it is $1.88 and in another it is $2.97. I bought 7. It made it a little more affordable to have spaghetti. We ate it for supper last night and for lunch. The tea is only $2.28 a box but with my $1 off each one it makes it a real good deal. My kids really like to drink a cup of tea before bed or when they wake up.

This is my best deal I guess. There aren't many coupons for tomatoes out there so when I got a $1 off in my weekly papers I checked online and found some for sale on ebay. These cans are $1.38 each at Walmart. With the cost of coupons I spent $0.69 on each can. I bought 40 cans yesterday. About 2 weeks ago we used up our last jar of home canned stewed tomatoes so this was good timing. I use 4 quarts of tomatoes to make up chili so I will have to use 8 cans for one pot of chili. Again, my grocery budget doesn't allow for me to buy some things like this very often. I didn't get many tomatoes in my garden last year or else I wouldn't be buying them at all.

I bought 16 packages of Jimmy Dean natural sausage made without MSG or other additives. A local grocery store must have bought these and they didn't sell because they have had them for $2.99 each for several weeks now. I noticed the expiration date is use or freeze by Feb. 2011. Good news for me. I was able to secure 20 ($1.50) off 2 coupons for just $1.25 on ebay hoping to find these All-Natural ones. I was not able to find them in any other store. So, when I went to Econo last night for a package of hamburger I was pleasantly surprised to find them still in stock. I only used 8 coupons because you have to buy 2 for each coupon. I have 12 coupons left. It makes them $2.25 each and the regular sausage is over $4 for one!!!! Crazy! If they continue to have them each week I may buy a few more but I thought 16 was enough for now. My plan is to have them on hand for egg bake since we have chickens now that actually lay eggs :) With our family size we do have to make up two packages each time. It is a special treat because I cannot afford to make two pans of egg bake when it starts out over $8 just for the sausage. I also picked up some little smokies (all-beef, and no MSG). I am planning a cook-for-a-month in a day soon so needed these for a recipe for that. Plus, I had a coupon $1 off the Earthbound Organic lettuce that I got online somewhere!

Tom's of Maine stuff was $2 off each item. I stopped at Swanson's (local vitamin/nutritional store) and found floss for $2.39 (I got three, one already is in my room), 2 deodorants that were on sale (aluminum free), and fluoride free toothpaste. The toothpaste wasn't my first choice in flavor and other ingredients but it was cheap with the $2 off and fluoride free which is a big must for me. The bandaids were only 50 cents off but Target had them on sale for $1.88 and the razors were $2.94 at Walmart for 10 and $2.59 at Target. I got my feet wet buying one at Walmart and found them cheaper at Target. I had a coupon for $2 off each!!! Not a bad deal! The Seventh Generation products which Target carries were $1 off each with a bonus Target coupon for $1 more off. I like to stock up on these when I can get them for so cheap. I also got a fingernail clipper and a tweezer for free at Target again and when I paid the machine spit out two more coupons for $5 off two Revlon products. We'll see how many times I can get that coupon. See, fingernail clippers are only $2.24 and so was the tweezer so I made $0.54 on buying them.

In all yesterday, I spent about $139.00. I saved $92 in coupons which was more like $72 in savings since I had to buy some of the coupons. I did purchase a package of hamburger, two baby wipes containers, copy paper and plastic protector sheets, two packs of notecards, M&M's and crackers plus everything in the pictures. It took several trips to the van to carry it all in! Couponing for us seems to be a necessity. With the debt we incurred when Isaac was sick over 2 years we have to try to cut back so that we don't have to cut back! Does that make sense? We still want to live life. Someday we will be free from that debt-load and I pray our somewhat frugal living will be part of the reason why.

Still hanging on...

2011-03-29T08:43:00.002-06:00

We still have little things (illness things) hanging on to a few of the kids. Mostly we have the whole sickness beat and on the mend. We had our first real meal together last night since the illness started when we were eating in shifts it seemed, everyone eating something different. We had shepherd's pie. Mm mm. Everyone raved about it again. Kevin was especially pleased! Poor guy hasn't had a decent meal in a few days because of the chaos of sickness here. He likes to eat whether he is sick or not. Good news for us is that I have one kid that finished their math for the year!!!! Lots of jumping up and down here. I have 3 more kids that are a few days from reaching that goal. Getting math over with this soon will really free us up to do some other things. We started school early in August and haven't missed too many days. Even the day one of the kids was throwing up they still managed to do their school. That person said they have a goal date to finish and want to keep on top of it! :) More stamina than I'd have had when I was in school. Although I have to say I don't often get sick and that was true back in high school especially. I rarely missed. Have a good day!

Another sickness...

2011-03-26T13:50:00.002-06:00

We don't seem to get sick much this year but here we are again with a virus. For a couple people in our house it has lasted nearly a week. Thursday night 2 kids came up the stairs and had to throw up and didn't make it to the bathroom. Gideon got sick later that day and did make the pail and then last night Bekah was sleeping on the couch because her stomach hurt and she threw up nice and neat on the blanket in front of her. While I went to get a rag to wash her hand off she laid back down and threw up all over her hair, the pillow, the sheet and the couch!!! Yuck! Kevin got up and cleaned all that while I helped her take a shower. She had thrown up down the inside of her shirt! Double, triple, yuck, yuck, yuck. Everyone feels pretty good right now. Movies, video games and books on tape are our fare for these last two days. I haven't had much for meal prep. Lena's had a fever though through it all and did throw up once yesterday. She wakes up several times in the night for a drink and for us to sleep next to her. We have not gotten much sleep. Looking forward to well children and a good night's sleep. If I had some blackberry brandy I would be taking some tonight.

More coupon goodies...

2011-03-19T18:39:00.004-06:00

In the last week and a half I've saved over $80 using coupons! All useful things and I didn't pay out much to get that much savings. One Target receipt says $23 with a savings of $31! Last night I spent a little and saved $10 again at Target. It was so fun! Last night I got two fingernail clippers for free because if you go to http://www.target.com/ and scroll down to find the words get coupons and click on them you can find $2 off a Revlon beauty item. It is not a Target coupon as sometimes on Target when you print it will come up a manufacturer's coupon as it does this time so you can use it anywhere. You can go back and print another one. It always lets you print 2 per printer. Well, I bought a clipper at $1.59 and a clipper for $2.24 and used 2 coupons that said $2 off each. At Target, they will apply the extra savings to the rest of your cart if you are buying something else otherwise if I bought only the clippers I would not have gotten money back. Wal-mart and other stores usually adjust the coupons down to reflect what you actually spent on it. Then when you get your receipt at Target the machine will spit out other coupons to give you sometimes related to your purchase and it gave me a $5 off the purchase of two Revlon beauty products. Whoo Hoo! I can go get more clippers or a tweezers this time. Clippers disappear around here :( so I may seem a little too excited about a clipper but I'm most excited because they were FREE!

Also any Seventh Generation product users go here and find 4 coupons on those products. If you are a Target shopper they frequently have Target coupons for these and you can use two of them to get $2 off something! I often get the dish soap and spend only $0.69 for a full-size bottle, my other favorite is the toilet bowl cleaner. They are the two most inexpensive items.

We have been busy with a lot of things this week! Em and I cleaned once this week and then AWANA, Jordan taught lessons, babysat for friends, we went to town for errands and then Public Speaking Night for the kids last night. Today, I have kids with colds and headaches. It seems a viral thing because I've got 2 kids that have been on the couch all day! We'll see how it plays out. Kevin didn't feel good last night with similar symptoms. We were LAZY today, no chores just dishes and laundry and reading our history book. We are about to have movie night and eat a supper of baked potatoes, meatballs, Acorn squash (from our garden) and green beans (also from our garden). Have a blessed Sunday!

Lunch...

2011-03-11T14:51:00.004-06:00

OK, so this doesn't look spectacular and isn't anything to rave about but today I made tuna hot dish with spinach linguine noodles, tuna in olive oil (we like the Starkist Selects in olive oil, they don't cost much more per can and they don't have broth in it like other tuna does, and broth can contain MSG and other things they don't have to label if they use the word broth) and it's made of a new cream of mushroom soup. Click on link if you're interested in checking out the ingredient list. If you usually use Campbell's you can get a can out and compare the ingredients. We love cream of mushroom soup in a lot of things. Over the last couple years, especially when Isaac got sick and was on special diets we avoided our usual recipes that called for it because those dishes were ones Isaac particularly liked and he couldn't have. Now, we think it gives some of us a headache because of the MSG in it and other things. Today, we tried Amy's brand. We have a Pacific foods in the pantry to try another time. The box is so small though I'm not sure what I'll make with it.

Tuna hot dish with carrot sticks.

The kids did like it and ate their whole helping gone! So, it will work as a substitute.

PS. We are tuna eaters. Since it is Lenten season my coupon inserts had $1.50 off if you buy 3 of the selects (the very ones we use) and it comes to more than 1 can free. Yesterday, I stocked up on 15 cans! I ordered 20 more coupons from ebay yesterday and will stock up on 60 cans of tuna if the stores have that many of the olive oil cans. I often buy 10 at a time and take all they have so we'll see what I find. The coupons cost less than $4 to buy and will save me $30 if I get to use them all! We don't eat tuna in a lot of things but like tuna sandwiches and tuna hotdish. I can't think of anything else we eat it with. Occasionally we eat it on top of a salad.

Breakfast...

2011-03-11T14:30:00.006-06:00

No matter what I do it downloads this picture sideways. This is our ideal breakfast (from a few days ago); home made goat's milk yogurt topped with local honey and home made granola with orange slices and a glass of fresh juiced apple, carrot and beet juice. It is so nutritious. This is a rare breakfast for everyone to have. I used over 2 quarts of yogurt for everyone to have a bowl and we haven't had much milk to make yogurt with. Our goats are actually finished milking now until after they have their babies :) It is a nice break for the girls. They didn't get a complete break because they still go out every morning to give them their grain and mineral.

We have been juicing every morning now for this week and adding beets to help cleanse the liver! Rebekah is the only one who doesn't care for beets in it. This morning I kept it just carrot and apple.

Prayer Request...

2011-03-08T20:02:00.002-06:00

Please pray for my friend "T". She was 19 weeks along and the ultrasound showed the baby wasn't alive last week and on Wednesday they induced her and on Thursday she had a baby girl who wasn't living. The whole ordeal has been difficult for her besides which this is her 3rd miscarriage in a row. She is questioning why and having a difficult time understanding God's purpose in this. Having been there three times myself but not quite so far along I know some of the things she is thinking. You start to question whether you are a good mom or not because God must not think you are since he won't let you keep any of these children. They don't sound like sane comments to you and me but it's what is going through so many women's minds at the time. Your body is changing so drastically with the hormone drop that you don't think clearly and then you tend to make up your own thoughts. It is important to keep trusting God is there and understands your pain but sometimes that is hard to feel.

Home school convention...

2011-03-07T23:05:00.004-06:00

Thursday: Left at 6:30 a.m. to go to home school convention. Em and Bekah were enrolled in a writing workshop with Andrew Pudewa. He is an excellent writing teacher. Rebekah took me to his booth at the convention and picked up the book on writing style and said you need to buy this for me. It had 500 alternative ways to write said (declared, insisted, rebuked, sighed, etc.) Mr. Pudewa recommended it and she has been busy writing stories ever since we got home. Later that night we went to the civic center for the used book sale. I found a few items I needed. One was a math book I bought for $1. Yeah! Both boys are in the same book so every year I need to buy another since I already have one of all books up until 12th grade. They cost over $50 brand new so $1 was a great deal!
Friday: We were up early to get to the convention center by 8:30 a.m. We enjoyed the day visiting with friends, checking out books and listening to various workshops. We ended the day with a big potluck meal with a group of friends. The kids got to swim and enjoy fellowship with kids they see at these kind of events. We then went over for share night; you could share a song, testimony, skit, whatever for about 5 min. It was about 1 1/2 hours long and so entertaining. Afterwards we stayed and a bunch of kids got out their instruments and sang hymns together. Jordan got to borrow a violin and play a little with them and sing. We had a late night but it was fun.
Saturday: Again, up early to be at the convention by 8:30 a.m. There was a home school choir this year and we wanted to make sure we saw it. A full day again keeping track of kids (I brought the 5 girls with me), looking at vendor's wares, making final purchases, listening to workshop speakers. Mr. Pudewa is one of the best speakers at a home school convention yet. He had an excellent session about How to teach boys when they'd rather be out building forts. He really said a lot of things I knew about boys but many more things that explained a bit about how they are wired differently than girls and how to teach them. It was so excellent. I meant to buy that session on CD but forgot. We ended up doing the potluck by the pool with another large group of people and left for home about 10 p.m. getting us there about midnight! We had to stay up and share with Kevin and the boys all we had experienced so it was 2 a.m. before we were in bed! What a night! The Convention is one of my favorite things to do during the year!

Random happenings....

2011-03-02T19:55:00.002-06:00

Here is Caleb doing handbook time in AWANA with his wonderful leader, Mrs. Scott.
Here is Moriah holding the AWANA flag during flag ceremonies one Wednesday night.
Gideon is off to the left in a red vest.

Here is Lena being the "cook" with Moriah's birthday present. Don't the cookies look good?

Here are my three ball goers after we got home. I had forgotten my camera at home that night. At the ball, they danced the night away doing the Scottish Reel, Patty-Cake Polka and other fun, lively dances.

Here is Gideon doing a nearly perfect cartwheel. He cartwheels everywhere he goes! See my double sink vanity in the background. Someday! Someday! Kev has more mudding to do in the downstairs bathroom and then it's ready to paint and then we can get the toilet and sink in :) Someday!

A tribute...

2011-02-28T21:52:00.002-06:00

Here is a dear lady who touched many lives. She passed away this last week and her funeral was today. Family and friends rejoice because she is heaven with a new body and with her Lord. Lena was baby #499 for her to deliver. We were blessed to have her as our midwife. She was so caring and wise. We knew her for only a few hours but she was like family to us. To Becky: may her memory draw others closer to the Lord!

Here is Becky with Bekah and baby Lena!

Happy Birthday Moriah...

2011-02-23T16:15:00.007-06:00

Moriah Clara turned 7 today!
She is a photogenic child!

I think she looks so much like Lena here!

The kids all chipped in and got her the Movie Toy Story 3.

We had a tea party for her birthday meal. We got her a tin tea set and cut out cookies for her presents. Also a tea party game that is adorable. I just fell in love with these things on Amazon.com She had fun with them but Lena had a melt down because she wanted them all to herself. I was thinking they would play together with them but Lena has the mind they are all hers! Cute but it didn't last long and Lena was put straight down for a nap!

Little treats that were 1/2 price after Valentine's Day. Perfect tea time treats.

Jello jigglers. We love this jello made with Welches Grape Juice, gelatin and honey.

Chicken luncheon meat sandwiches. Jordan discovered she could add the heart and butterfly shaped cheese to her sandwich.

Italian pizza dip. MMMM! Big stars here. You mix 8 oz. cream cheese with 1/2 cup pizza sauce and put on bottom of pie pan. Then I layered green peppers, onions, fresh mushrooms, and black olives. I put three cheese blend on it and baked it for 18 minutes at 350 degrees. We served it with Ritz crackers. It was great. I got this recipe from a coupon book at Super Bowl time.

We had peppermint tea, taco dip with tortilla chips, noodle salad with peas, pigs in a blanket, spinach dip and carrots, the Italian dip with crackers, cheese, jello, cupcakes and sandwiches. It was a lot of fun to plan and prepare. We used all our best dishes. My mom and sister-in-law Christine came with her baby (she's due April 13th, so not a real baby to hold but it was nice to see her this far along:) Kevin came home from work to join our party and just now left to go back to work. We are off to AWANA.

Need some new recipes...

2011-02-21T18:19:00.005-06:00

I found the best website on cooking with real foods using the Nourishing Traditions book as a guideline. I cannot get enough of copying out recipes. Right now I have her Shepherd's Pie cooking on my stove getting ready for the oven. We have made this before but it inspired me because I have the ingredients! It is also made with home made broth (you can use canned if you must :) It smells wonderful. She is called Kelly the Kitchen Kop. She has great links for all kinds of natural living. I love this site! The post today is from Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride who wrote the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome. We followed that diet for almost 2 years. Another website committed to grain free living and also the Nourishing Traditions diet is Health, Home, and Happiness. I have found numerous recipes here too. Even if you don't desire to go grain-free, you can find nutritious information on meal ideas and even more info on healthful living.

On another topic, Emily and I got a new cleaning job. We worked 6 hours today! I love it. I would honestly rather sit around at home watching movies and eating chocolate but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. It works so well with our school schedule. It's a job that will be ongoing and an answer to my prayers. I have wondered about advertising but not sure I want to. This job was word of mouth from another client (Thanks K.). The home school convention is coming up and so it couldn't have come at a better time. Em loves it too as she can get some money for things she wants and even has a savings! I need to start wearing gloves. My hands are pickled :)

Cleanse...

2011-02-19T19:14:00.003-06:00

I have come off my cleanse that I was doing the last 18 days. The first of February I was just going to do a water and lemon juice fast for five days and it turned into 18. I ended up following The Master Cleanse for 15 of those days. Today, I am attempting the ease-out routine but I'm not doing so well. I haven't eaten any food for 18 days and my stomach knows it but my senses don't. My senses tell me how good that roast chicken would taste, it tells me to eat some of that soup even though you are only supposed to drink orange juice today. So, I've "cheated a little". I do it very little here and there but now my stomach feels a little full and crampy. I am going to try to go slower but I know I have NO will power. I was hoping to do the diet 10 more days but feeding the children each day is challenging and most challenging is the lemon taste in my mouth day after day. I felt absolutely great, lots of energy, more energy than usual. Food can really slow you down. I was doing it to detox, lose a little weight and hopefully jump start my eating habits back to a better level. I did lose 20 pounds but I know that as soon as you start eating you gain nearly all of that back. I hope to keep some off by trying to add an exercise routine but that has been a challenge for me in the past.

I researched online about all kinds of people who have done the Master Cleanse and found someone who did it 40 days. I really wanted to but I don't think she has any children. If there wasn't the smell of baking bread most days and other tantalizing things cooking in my kitchen I could easily do 40 days. Again, I am amazed at how much energy I had. It was great to make it as long as I did. I hope I can do it again in the future.

Giveaway...

2011-02-19T01:15:00.000-06:00

Enter to win this clay package at Keeper of the Home.

http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2011/02/giveaway-wee-living-clay-package-from-natures-cleansing-clay.html#comments