Happy 9th Birthday Matthea!!

Happy Birthday Matthea!!!!!!!!!!!


We celebrated Matthea's 9th Birthday on Friday,November 6th. She's growing up so fast.

Chili Cook-Off and More!

I entered a chili cook off today. I entered it in the hot-n-spicy category first,but,they decided to move it into the vegetarian category. It was,after all, a no meat chili!! Well,I won. Whoo hoo!! I'm excited,and the kids are thrilled too!! What a fun thing to do.I have never really entered anything,ever,in my life! (I don't think I have)Well, that was fun....

A quick update....I got my cloth diapers this past Thursday (22nd).They have been a success so far.We all love them and they really are not hard to use at all. With our diaper sprayer attached to the toilet, cleaning poopy diapers has become a fought after job!! Matthea is always wanting to use the sprayer and hoping that a baby has a poopy diaper so that she can clean it! Funny.



Here are some of the garden goods that I canned.Boy,this had me tired by the time we were all done with it all.


The tomatoes kept coming in,day in and day out until we were left with just one small bowl.I even made barbecue sauce with our Large Cherry Red Tomatoes! That turned out really good.It was kind of by accident too. I sliced and de-seeded all of the cherry tomatoes and set them in a bowl in the refrigerator for a few days.I was just going to make tomato sauce out of them.So I went to cook them down on the stove and instead of being a bright red sauce, it took on the color of barbecue sauce...So, I took a quick break and looked up barbecue sauce recipes and quickly added the ingredients and presto(!) we had barbecue sauce, a sweet,onion sauce.mmm-mmm good.
The 41 1/2 pounds of apples that we had picked from our neighbors all went into jars as apple butter and apple pie filling. We actually have had a few tomatoes still coming in from the garden in spite of the chilling temps. The plants will be cut down in the next week and the garden will be shut down, for the most part,for winter.




The bread baking has now become part of our weekly chore.I am proud to say that I have not bought any store bought bread now ever since that first batch of goodness came out of my oven.I will say,however,that it is harder to keep around,because the kids just love it!!

Fall has come so quickly.Where on earth did summer go? Where did this year go? It seems like only yesterday that we were anticipating Charlotte's birth and now she's here and the summer's over,the crisp air has replaced the hot and dry air and before you know it we will be done with Thanksgiving and celebrating Christ's birth and anticipating another new year!!!! Wow!

We bought pumpkins for the children the other day and for the first time in years,we actually let them carve out their pumpkins.Probably not something that we will continue to do, in order not to be partaking in Halloween with the pagans, or to portray that we are.But, I think that carving pumpkins or other types of gourds/squashes is a fun activity.You can get pretty creative without having scary,ghoulish faces on your pumpkins.These are their pumpkins...(from left to right) Sebastian's, Matthea's and Jade's...

We even roasted all of their seeds too, with a cinnamon,sugar and pumpkin spice seasoning added to them.Deeeee-lish!!!!


That's it for now. God Bless my family and all of you out there! Have a happy Autumn.

I've Entered a Free Cloth Diaper Giveaway!!

I have ordered my cloth diapers and am waiting for them to arrive.They should be here by the 22nd, we'll see. I am so excited to be starting this new adventure. I also have found this website that has a cloth diaper giveaway held every Friday.I'm hoping that I will be able to win at least one time and add to my diaper stash.

Having both Oliver and Charlotte in diapers has us all rethinking the cost of disposables as well as the fact that they lie in dumps for so long SLOWLY decomposing. My daughters are excited to try this out too. I am so glad that they are enthusiastic about taking care of the babies right along with me.

When we had Sebastian and Jade in Diapers, I tried to cloth diaper Jade,but was very unsuccessful.I realize, now, that I didn't have the support NOR the proper information that I needed to do it.There is so much info out there now,via the web, that it can be overwhelming at first,but, a tremendous help for those who are looking to try it out for the first time, or like me, to re-visit cloth diapering.

here we go...

Harvest

Well,here I am,finally putting up pictures from the garden..We have been drowning in tomatoes for the last couple of weeks,as you can tell from the picture above.I am preparing to can these, hopefully tomorrow.
Sebastian, Jade and Matthea all have enjoyed their garden this year. Each one of them planted sunflowers to place in their garden beds. Above is a photo of Matthea's sunflower. We'll be gathering the sunflower seeds and storing them for next year. Jade has already collected seeds from her morning glory and her dill plant.We will collect seeds from select tomatoes as well. They are all so proud of their accomplishment and how their food has been a part of most of our meals!
This photo, of the two carrots intertwined, is from Sebastian's garden.Pretty cool.
We had a few other veggies that decided to grow "together". One of Jade's tomato plants had several tomatoes that did that. The tomato plants were about to overtake our garden. They grew so fast and so big.I have been out there,I don't know how many times, to stake and re-stake those darn plants.Jade has been a big help with that. I had Craig out there too the other day. Unbelievably, it really takes a toll on your back.I think Craig's back is still hurting him,well,mine is too.
Jade has a cucumber plant that really took off.She's had a lot of cucumbers already and there are several more that are maturing.I don't know how much longer we will have for production.The weather is saying that we are going to have some cold weather here in a couple of days.Wednesday is suppose to get down to 30 degrees overnight and only have a high of 45 degrees.Yikes! That may just kill everything.

This photo, above, was taken before the other ones. This was when the plants almost overtook the garden and we were at war with the tomatoes, with stakes in hand!! It's been hard trying to keep up with all of this without Craig here. Yes, he's been in Jackpot this whole time working on that trailer.Poor guy,I had to take away his help,(Sebastian), because of school. So, he works on the trailer a little before and a little after work and then he comes here to do some more back breaking work on his off days.He is wore out,let me tell you. Hopefully this is his last week to work on it.He should be done with it. We have several people interested in buying the place.So, hopefully we won't have to hang on to it too long.

Now that school has been well under way, every minute is precious around here. There just isn't enough time in the day. I finally have Oliver into a schedule.It just had to be done. He's never really been a good sleeper for us. So, when Charlotte arrived, things got a little out of sorts here.Craig and I were not getting enough sleep.Charlotte was sleeping for us just like you would expect a newborn to.But, Oliver was still a problem trying to get him to unwind and fall asleep.He would be up,sometimes, until 11pm or midnight!!! Charlotte would already be asleep,but then be getting up around 1 or 2am for a feeding.So we decided to just put him down in his crib when it was bedtime and let him cry it out. We started putting him down at 9:30 at first and then each night move back the time a little bit.He's now going to bed at around 8 or 8:30.It worked like a charm. We did that with his naps as well.Because we would have the same scenario during the day. He would get so tired and cranky,but had such a hard time falling asleep. We just couldn't have that going on during school,for our sake and especially his sake.

This photo below of Oliver was taken during all of that transition time.You see,for those of you who don't know, Oliver has NEVER liked a pacifier.It wasn't even a little dislike for him. It was a major "I don't like that thing put into my mouth" kind of thing. He would scream and gag if we tried to put it in his mouth. But, when we started to put him to bed at a normal bedtime and I also weaned him from breastfeeding at that same time, he started to use one of Charlotte's pacifier's. Initially we let him do it. I guess because we felt bad for him. But after 2 weeks of using it.We realized he was beginning to use it ALL the time. He even developed a little sore spot on his upper lip from it.
He would take it out to say something and plop it back into his mouth. Here you can see him giving Charlotte a kiss in her swing. He has his pacifier in his hand. He took it out, kissed Charlotte and plopped it back in. It didn't take too long for him to say goodbye to the pacifier. We just had to be firm with him and after about a week, he was over it. I think he may have been just finding his place within the family. He was no longer the baby,but, yet still a baby.
What a cutie.I think you can actually see his little sore spot on his upper lip in this photo of him with me. Now, his interests are picture/word books. I still have some of Johnny's picture books that I used to teach Johnny how to read with. Oliver just absolutely loves them.He's been watching the other kids with their books and he wants to "read" too. It didn't take him long to remember some of the words to the pictures and now he'll point and say a few. He even likes to mimic the kids doing school. So we've taped a roll of brown paper to the table for him. He likes to sit there with a pencil or crayons and scribble away. Matthea and Jade even showed him how to erase! We had the paper taped to the coffee table at first.But that wasn't the same as being at the big kids table! So he's with them at the dining table. If I can figure out how to post a video on here, I will upload a video of him having a meltdown because we were putting away his crayons.We told him that it was nap time and that we had to pick up the crayons and put them away. OH MY! Did he fall apart!!!
and well, I couldn't make a post on my blog without adding some newer photos of Miss Charlotte! She is such a joy! She has started sleeping through the night now.The first night, that she slept through, she slept 12 hours! But, she has been sleeping for about 9 or 10 hours every night now.What a relief,to actually be getting some sleep around here.
The funny thing,after having 6 children, I am actually considering trying cloth diapers. I think I tried using them with Jade.But, I didn't really have anyone show me HOW or even look into anything NEW out there.So I gave up. But, networking with other people, I came across someone using cloth diapers and a whole new world of cloth diapering IS out there. So, I may be doing it with both Oliver and Charlotte. We'll see. I'm going to order a try it out kit and, well, try it out! I've had two in diapers before. Doing it again, makes me think twice about how much this is really costing us!
Anyway, Charlotte is almost 3 months old now and she is a TALKER!! She loves to make her cooing sounds and she'll let out a few squeals that will hurt your ears! If she can engage you for a moment she will be happy to "tell" you a few stories.She will talk away! It's so cute.
She is also, officially, our only thumb sucker! This may turn out to be a problem if this continues and turns into a hard to break habit. She doesn't mind using a pacifier,but, when she is really tired and in bed she'll just spit it out and stick in the thumb.
So much time has gone by since we have moved to this part of the country. It's been two years now that we have been out here. God has done so much for us and we can sometimes lose sight of what our focus should be. With all of our "busy-ness" we have not made enough time for our spiritual growth. This has been weighing heavy on my heart. My prayer for this week is for my family's spiritual well being,to be nourished by the Word , to re-connect with God and for us to strengthen our relationship with Him on a daily basis.
We've had a successful harvest so far, this year, in our garden. May I be as diligent with the garden within my family and take extra care so that there is a more abundant harvest for generations to come. For His Glory......

Just Another Day...Working, Weeding and Harvesting

Charlotte has hit her one month mark and is approaching 5 weeks of age this Friday. I hate how the early days go so fast with babies. It makes me and Craig so sad to watch it go by so quickly, with all of them. They are all growing like the weeds around here!


Well,we have postponed the start of school for a couple of weeks.The virus that had a hold of Oliver had spread to Jade, then me,Matthea and Craig. Thankfully,as of now,Charlotte and Sebastian have been spared. So as we all slowly recuperate things will get back on track.

Craig and Sebastian are away for a while,working on the trailer.They are already terribly missed. The girls and I are working together here with the animals, garden and of course home. It has been really dry here and all of the watering that we have been doing is tiring and time consuming.We are constantly going outside to move the sprinklers. We are also being invaded by weeds! You would think that since it is so dry the weeds wouldn't grow.Wrong! They seem to thrive anywhere.Weed pulling is not everyone's favorite thing to do around here. But, it has to be done. I will say, that not all of the weeds get pulled, so, there are areas that we have just given up on for now.

I keep saying that I will put up pictures of the garden.But, I haven't taken any yet,since we've planted. I really need to do that. I will just have to tell you that the children have planted so many tomato plants that I'm afraid we will be drowning in tomatoes. I need to hurry up and get some more canning jars.Because when it's time to harvest, I don't think we will be able to keep up. Matthea's garden is the largest as far as how many plants they all have and then it's Jade's and Sebastian's is the smallest.He didn't want to plant too many. He says that he's glad that he didn't because there would be too much work to keep it watered and weed free! I told him that he's lucky that I am not making him grow his own food for survival,because he would starve. He quickly replied and said that he wouldn't because his sisters had plenty and if they wouldn't share he would just eat the eggs from the chicken coop!!! Oh my goodness..what can you say to that. A work in progress, a work in progress....I have to keep reminding myself that he is a work in progress, we all are. I really need to be a little more pro active in his progress. Oh boy!
Anyway, Matthea has been providing delicious salads with her lettuce and so far Jade has been bringing in her Basil and Dill for certain dishes.I have had several tomatoes from my plants, so far, to go with Matthea's salads. mmmm... it's so much better when it's fresh.
Our cherry trees have finally been completely harvested. I had Craig pit the last batch of cherries for me. His hands and fingers were stained,but he got to eat some cherry pie afterwards.I also made cherry preserves for the first time. Something that I don't believe that I have ever had myself. It turned out really well. The next thing will be the tomatoes.Something else that I have not done before.

I will post pictures of the garden next time....:0



Time to feed everyone around here and get things shut down for the night.....

The Birth of Our Precious Charlotte - 07/03/09

Well, after waiting 5 more days after my due date,Charlotte made her way into our lives on Friday, July 3, 2009. Her poor little face was all bruised, but, of course, all of that has dissipated.

I began having contractions early that morning around 1am.They were 20 minutes apart up until about 5am. They then were anywhere between 10-15 minutes apart until 7am. I called my midwife, Connie, and said," Can we have a baby today?" and she said, "Sure! Are you in labor?" I told her what our status was and said that we were going to hang out at home for a little while longer until I felt that I needed to come to the birth center. From 7 until 8am they got closer and closer. I kept asking Craig or Jade,(my clock watchers), "What time is it now?", or, " How far apart was that one?",or, "How long did that one last?". They went from 5minutes apart, to 4, and then to 2 minutes apart. I finally called her when they were 2 minutes apart. I told her that I wasn't in my panic mode or even felt like,"Hey I need to get somewhere", but, MY CONTRACTIONS ARE 2 MINUTES APART! and we are just going to come on over anyway. Earlier in the morning,I asked Craig to get the camcorder out and video tape our morning...

He said,"Okay, but it is going to be on the back end of our Grand Canyon tape".

Now, everyone has to have a "story" to tell about their labor day, well, this is where ours comes in....I had reminded Craig several times in the weeks prior to this day, to go and get more tape for our camcorder for this occasion. I was reassured "several" times that I shouldn't worry and that he would take care of it. Now back to the story...

Michelle: "Where is the tape that you were suppose to buy?"
Craig: "I just thought that I would pick it up on the way to the birthing center"
Michelle: "WHAT??!!! You mean we have to go to the store while I'm having these contractions? Are you crazy?"
Craig: "No, we don't have to go to the store if you don't want to. We can just video tape the birth on our Grand Canyon tape."
Michelle: "No we can not video tape on our Grand Canyon tape! We're going to the store!" *I'm the crazy one* "Well, we better hurry up and leave now before I have this baby in the car!" *sheesh! Of all times to be going to Walmart!*

Now, thinking back on this whole scenario, it is quite funny.In fact, reading it here is hilarious. Craig and I always have something like this going on, during a time when it isn't very convenient. It makes our life story quite interesting though.

So, there we are, rushing to get out the door with the children around 8:30am. Craig and Sebastian are sitting in front, Matthea is in the middle and Jade and Oliver are in the very back with me. I wanted to be in the back so that I could lean over the back of the seat during my contractions. For some reason, I just felt better in that position. The drive to Walmart is about 10 minutes, maybe, from our house. During that time, my contractions became a minute apart, lasting 60-90 seconds and I had a few that were right on top of each other without any break in between! I thought for sure we were not going to make it on time.... Craig finally gets to Walmart and runs in and runs out with a tape! And we were on the road again, to the birthing center. We get to the center at 9am. My midwife and her assistants are at the door waiting for me. We all get in and settled. They already have the birthing tub filled and ready for us. I was checked for dilation and I was already at 6cm.I labored in the tub until about 10:20am and had to have a bathroom break, of all times. I couldn't make it all of the way to the bathroom since my contractions were so close together. So, we had to make use of the birthing stool in the room and a bucket. (too much info, huh?) Well, my midwife asked me if I wanted her to break my bag after I was done and before we would get back into the birthing tub and I told her "yes, go ahead". My bag of waters was bulging this whole time and causing a lot of pressure and this would provide some relief. Well, at 10:43 she broke my water and as we were preparing to move back into the tub, I said, " No, I can't go, the baby is coming!" Everyone was kind of thrown off a bit. I was having trouble sitting on the birthing stool to begin with because it was a bit large and Craig was trying to hold me up so I wouldn't slip through and Connie,my midwife, looked to see if the baby was coming and said, "yes the baby's head is crowning! I need gloves!" So we have, Craig struggling to hold me up, the assistants scrambling for gloves, Connie gets one glove on and is struggling to get the other one on and doesn't have time to....the baby is making her way out and so Connie just lays the second glove on top of her hand just in time to catch the baby. She removed the cord from around her neck and we noticed a knot in the cord, they had to move me straight to the bed to cut the cord right away. Our initial "plan" was to deliver the baby in the water, bring in the children so they can see her come up out of the water, and Matthea wanted to be the one to cut the umbilical cord. Obviously, that didn't happen because of the circumstances. The knot, we were told, was a rare occurrence and was usually only found in still births. Our midwife had only seen about 3 or 4 in her whole career, which were all still births. What a miracle to have our baby born alive! She said that the knot was "loose" enough to oxygenate and nourish her apparently. As soon as we cut the cord and I got comfortable on the bed, the children were able to come in to see their new sister. Charlotte Geneva Faith. They were there for the weighing and measuring: 7 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.

I was able to nurse her right away and then she was off to be passed around to her father and siblings while I rested for a bit. We were at the birthing center from 9am - 4pm and then we were headed back home for family time. It felt very awkward to be leaving after only about 5 hours after giving birth. But the experience was great! An all natural childbirth without the drugs, hospital staff and interventions etc... was definitely an eye opener for me.If we are blessed with another child, we are hoping to be able to give birth at home with the next one.




The first night home with Charlotte, I noticed her becoming a little jaundiced around 2am. Connie, our midwife, was coming over in the morning (Sat./4th) to check on me and Charlotte to see how we were doing, so I would mention the jaundice to her then.
When she came in the morning, she said that Charlotte did look a little jaundiced and she wanted us to go over to the lab and have her blood drawn for a Bili level check. Craig and I went over to the lab at the hospital and had the results within an hour. Her Bili level was an 11. Which is high for an infant who is only a day old. So we had a Bili blanket ordered to use at home, supplemented the breastfeeding with formula every other feeding and we would have her levels checked again in the morning...The next day (Sun./5th) her Bili level was at 15! Our midwife, and a pediatrician that she was consulting with, decided that Charlotte needed to be in the NICU with an IV and under some stronger lights to get this under control. They admitted Charlotte that afternoon and started her on an IV and got her under the Bili lights. I stayed over night with her in a recliner and Craig went home to be with the other children. Charlotte's Bili levels were checked throughout the night and the next morning. They slowly came down from 15, 13, 11 and then it was a 10 by the afternoon and they released her.(Mon./6th) We were to continue using the Bili blanket at home and have her levels checked on Tues. the 7th.
We went on Tues.,had her levels checked and they were at 9.The pediatrician told us to discontinue the Bili blanket and bring her in the following day,(Wed.,8th). On the 8th they officially said that she no longer was in danger, was looking good and pink and the jaundice was resolved! Everything has been going great with her,the breastfeeding,the sleeping, the waking etc...She is a very "good" baby. We all felt as if we really didn't get to "know" Charlotte until the 8th,when she was home and there were not any more trips to the hospital.Everything was a little crazy until that was all over with. Thankfully Craig was able to be at home with us during this time.

Then, just 6 days later on the 14th, Oliver starts to have diarrhea. By Thursday the 16th we decided to take him to the doctor, he hadn't had diarrhea that day but he had other symptoms that came up.He was falling asleep just about anywhere and all the time, poor appetite,very fussy, and he was falling down a lot. It was kind of like, when a baby just learns how to walk and they loose their balance and fall back on their behind. He just seemed to be getting real weak. Well, the doctor said was that whatever was in his system is making it's way out and the sleeping and balance issues are probably a result of low sugar from not eating a lot and the diarrhea. He wasn't dehydrated otherwise they would have wanted to admit him and hook him up to an IV. The Doctor said that we should bring him back if things don't clear up or if they get worse.Well the diarrhea started up again Friday the 17th,it's not as bad as it was,but it is still enough to make anyone cranky. His appetite has returned slightly,he's not as sleepy as he was but he's still very fussy and falling down still. This all has been within the last week. So, we will be heading back to see the doctor . Hopefully they will have an answer.

So much has happened and I wanted to have baby announcements made up and sent out to everyone by this time. But,it looks as if I may be late. I also need to send the thank you cards for the "shower" of gifts Charlotte has received.
When it rains it pours....other minor things that have happened:Garage door broke, washing machine broke($800+ to fix/might as well buy a new one huh?),garbage disposal broke, Craig's Bronco was towed to the house and the top flew off and broke the windshield, one of our bucklings, "Independence", died from a pallet falling over on him and crushing him, oh! and the transmission is going out in the van! YEAH!!!

With all of the trials that God sends my way, I need to be reminded that:

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

⁹The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. ¹⁰But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

¹²Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

James 1: 2-12


With all of that said....we are still living life. Craig is back to work, the kids have been faithfully taking care of the animals and their chores,the Llamas get out sometimes and head down the street to visit the neighbors(without permission of course!), we have sold some chickens, Craig, Sebastian and Matthea have been butchering roosters, the kids and I have been working in the garden (I will post pictures of the garden soon), we are preparing to start our school year on August 1st (I am praying that that will come together smoothly) and Craig will be taking some more vacation time in a couple of weeks to finish working on the trailer in Jackpot in order to sell it before the cold weather hits.

Thank you God for this life you have given me.... blessing me with a wonderful husband and the restoration of a fruitful womb.

Cherries and More Cherries!!!!

Well,we've made it to our due date!.....But, nothing is remotely telling me that "it's time".So, in the meantime, I had the children out this morning picking some more cherries! This hasn't even put a dent into the trees yet.So, they have another chore, added to their morning chores, picking cherries every morning! Matthea wanted to know if it was okay to eat some while picking.I told her,"yes,of course!" and then she proceeded to tell me,"Good! because I have been eating a few here and there while picking". Funny how they ask after they have already given themselves permission to do something.
I forgot to post our "desserts" on my last post. The girls are proud of them and we are still eating leftovers.mmmm....I also forgot to mention that we made homemade ice cream last week.I had Craig get our ice cream maker out and he did most of the work.I just pureed my canned peaches and added it to the mixture and he did the rest. Nothing like homemade ice cream! The children say that it beats Baskin Robbins and all those other fancy ice cream places out there. I agree!

We did our grocery shopping the other day and I really need to chop,bag and freeze all of those veggies that I bought.I also bought more flour and yeast to bake bread.After baking that last loaf, the whole family,including myself,feels confident in my bread baking abilities. It really turned out well. So, I need to get some loaves of bread made as well,before baby arrives,and put away. I also need to figure out what we are having for dinner tonight. I didn't sleep very well Friday night and was pooped all day Saturday.So when he came home Saturday night after work,there wasn't a meal. Sebastian and Matthea made themselves (and Oliver) leftover stew around 4:30 or 5:00,but,Craig doesn't get home until around 7:00. So when he got here,Jade and I quickly decided to do bake potatoes for dinner.Craig was satisfied with that,especially since there were 4 different desserts to still choose from afterward. Phew!!! Poor guy, I've been spoiling him lately with all of the cooking and baking that I've been doing and then he comes home (expecting yet another feast) to a baked potato.He was actually starting to call or text me before coming home just to ask,"So,what's for dinner tonight?". Just because we've been doing something new and different lately. I better not disappoint him tonight. Although,I'm not feeling very creative. He may have to settle for something regular and normal.

Right now,Oliver is up from his afternoon nap,Sebastian is weed eating(weeds are growing like crazy),the girls and I are in from taking care of the animals' food and water and weeding and watering the garden.

Life is good and life goes on......maybe we'll enjoy some of that ice cream today.It's a good hot day for that! Sebastian will appreciate the cool relief of ice cream after weed eating in the hot sun.

Counting Down the Days and Livin' Life....

Well here I am at 39 weeks and 5 days pregnant and no signs of labor beginning yet. I had an appointment with my chiropractor today for an adjustment that was way overdue.I have been seeing him every two weeks,except I had to cancel my last appointment,which was two weeks ago.So,it's been a month since I've seen him.I wasn't going to reschedule until after the baby was born.I just thought that I would be good until then.Boy was I wrong.Within a day or two of missing my appointment,I started having a lot of pain in my pelvis and it just got worse.The past two or three days have reminded me of what I felt like in past pregnancies when I couldn't walk,roll over,get up etc... without being in any pain.I finally called this morning and said that I needed to come in.He told me that I was definitely in need of an adjustment.Everything was out of whack.Thankfully I felt a lot better when I left the office.I'm just a little sore from letting it go so long.It should make me feel a little better while in labor too.
We also had an appointment with our midwife.Everything looks fine,I'm still measuring at only 36 weeks and lost a little weight(which is normal).So, we all are just playing the waiting game....on top of dealing with my ever increasing nesting instinct! I enlisted the girls to help me with my urge to bake the other day and we ended up baking 4 desserts and some bread.We finished harvesting the last of the Rhubarb and made a Rhubarb Strawberry-Lime Kuchen,Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp,Rhubarb Strawberry Cream Pie,Sugar Cream Pie and a loaf of bread.They all turned out delicious!


We've had 5 chicks hatch from our incubator and 2 so far that have hatched from our hen who went broody on us.She was setting on 11 eggs and so far we've only seen 2 chicks.But, tonight we snuck in the 5 chicks that we hatched,hoping she will accept them as her own.We'll see tomorrow morning if they have been rejected or not.

Our goat,Jane Doe, hasn't given birth yet.But she is still getting larger and a little more crankier.LOL. Craig and Sebastian have finished her kidding pen and she has been in there,but,has figured out how to jump over the wall!!! I can't believe that she would even attempt to do that in her condition and just the fact that she is so large,you would think that she couldn't possibly get over it.Oh boy.

Anyway,Craig and Sebastian butchered a couple of roosters last week and well...we ate them for dinner. Very good indeed.Those two guys are getting the hang of it.We have a whole lot more to butcher and freeze now.

The garden was finally weeded and tilled.Unfortunately the kids and I did it the old fashioned way,with our hands and some shovels.The tiller is still not in working order...But,the garden was finally planted with all of our plants and the kids each have their own plots to work with.We still have plenty of room for more.It's a big garden.Matthea has,by far, the most tomato plants.She went a little nuts with the seeds when they were picking out what they wanted to grow.But,now we are thankful that she did,because there should be an abundant crop from her!!!Another cool thing is that we have two Cherry trees that have produced a huge crop of cherries.The kids just started harvesting them today.I will have to get photos of all of the cherries on here soon and the garden.Also,sometime last year,someone had told us that Asparagus grows wild out here and you can find it almost anywhere near water,especially the canals.Well,Sebastian was out by our canal the other day and found some!! Pretty cool! We steamed the asparagus and had it with our dinner last night.Yummy.

We have also given Oliver his first haircut! He did so well for me and sat there very patiently while I used the trimmers and scissors.Now he looks older and not like my baby anymore. :(

We've had a lot of things breaking on us around here too. You know the saying "when it rains it pours",well I was already thinking of that when the first thing went....when the tiller went out,that was what I was saying,"what next,you know something else is going to go"....then it was the lawnmower (twice!!)....then the garage door...then the reverse in the van (ughhh,that is the worse thing so far)...then our washing machine ( which turns out to be more expensive to fix than to buy a new one).So,the first thing on our list to fix is the van.Luckily,when we had the technician out to come and look at our washer,I was mentioning how everything just keeps on falling apart around us.I mentioned the latest thing was the van.The guy asked what was wrong with it and said that he use to be a mechanic.So I told him and he went into detail on what was probably wrong with it and what we should do before the whole transmission goes out on us.We took it in to run a diagnostic on it and the tech was right about what could be wrong.But,something else was coming up with it.Well, we have ordered the part and Craig is hoping that he will be able to put it in himself.If not we'll have to take it somewhere and have someone else do it.If that doesn't fix the problem then, it's the other problem and it will cost us a couple of thousand dollars to have a new transmission put in.Oh BOY!
So,in the meantime,we will be washing our laundry at the Laundromat and not opening the garage door until we can fix the van and move on to the next item on the list.


Hey,life could be worse. One day at a time, one thing at a time and still praise God for what he has given us.Even when "bad" things come our way.

Another Year For the Two of Us.....God is Good

Last week, Craig and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. The girls and I made a special dinner and we finally cut some of our Rhubarb and made a strawberry rhubarb pie, for the first time! Unfortunately we all ate dinner and then ate the pie so fast that we forgot to take a picture of our pie! It was actually the best pie that we have ever eaten and the best pie that we have ever made.But,on the bright side, there are still some more stalks left on the plant that we can still make another pie and "share" it with everyone in a photo.


We were just reminiscing about this time last year...when we were celebrating our 12th anniversary....We had been planning an anniversary vacation for some time and it happened to coincide perfectly with our trip to Illinois.After watching my son John graduate from high school and visiting with friends, we started our anniversary vacation.A road trip,back to Nevada....we also had a newborn baby along for the ride.Which made things a bit challenging. But,we took our time and made our way through Missouri,Kansas,Colorado to spend time with friends,then south west to the "Four Corners" Colorado,New Mexico,Utah and Arizona(the kids loved that),then we headed to the Grand Canyon for a couple of days (that was the highlight of the trip),next was Hoover Dam and Las Vegas (Las Vegas was the worst part of the trip),we drove North to Mesquite,Nevada and stayed at a resort for a few days and relaxed by the pool before making our way home to Jackpot! In between all of those stops were of course a lot of hotel stays.The kids still talk about our "trip" and we all hope to be able to do another trip with just the family again. I thought that I would post some of our vacation photos from last year.


Here we are a year later and we are expecting another new baby to join our family! God has grown our family and blessed us with these precious gifts.Craig and I are just filled with happiness and joy and can't wait to see what else He has in store for us this coming year! We have just 13 short days left to the baby's due date and everyone here is just so excited and wondering at every moment if today may be the day.God is good....so very good.

Life is Good....

Well,the last time that I had posted I was almost 33 weeks pregnant,32 weeks and 5 days to be exact.Here it is already June 14th (Flag Day!) and I am at 38 weeks.The last month has gone by way too fast and a lot has happened here too (and not happened...ahemmm).
We are still having GREAT weather,thankfully.We have not had to use our heat(for low overnight temps) or our air conditioner yet.I turned the heat off about 4 or 5 weeks ago and the day time temp in the house hasn't been over 81,which was the hottest it has been.It usually stays around 71 inside,so far. That should change for sure by next month.I should mention that that is the temperature for upstairs.Because downstairs is a different story,the temperature is usually about 15-20 degrees cooler and the kids love that. I think we will all be lovin' it when it does get unbearably hot outside and we can go downstairs and cool off.

Our flowering trees that I had mentioned last time have been replaced with their summer foliage,still just as beautiful.All of the tulips are done blooming,we have a group of Iris plants that have only produced one bloom :( and the summer blooming bulbs that we planted in the flower bed in front of the house are sprouting along with the Lavender plants that we planted with them. I spent 3 days weeding that bed! The weeds had gotten to be as tall as the leaves on the Iris plants! Jade helped me out on all 3 days,but, on the third day I enlisted the help of EVERYONE! My body said,"No more Michelle!".We bought five bags of mulch and couldn't believe that that wasn't enough! That isn't the only area on our property that needs mulching either! We have decided that we will call and have a couple of truckloads of mulch delivered instead.But,for now,that flower bed looks pretty good,if I should say so myself!The kids and I have been trying to keep the flower bed in the backyard weeded as well.That is a chore,let me tell you.It is larger than the one in front and goes around the sides and back of the yard, along the fence line.The children loathe that chore,well just two of them. I love to weed, to me it's a good way to relax, and luckily,Jade doesn't mind it either. She and I could sit out there for hours and just weed and talk! Unfortunately,during all this time that I was "working" outside it was causing a lot of pressure and contractions and my midwife finally said enough is enough.She cut me off of all laborious work at my 33 week appointment!She had a talk with the children and Craig and they were told to "watch" me and not let me lift a finger until I reached my 37 week mark!!Understandably of course,we didn't want a preterm baby.Oliver came 3 weeks early and we didn't want a baby any earlier than that. I was not happy,ONLY because I was in my nesting zone and I was on a roll.I had "things" to do to prepare us all for our new addition.Right??? I wanted to scrub our wood floors and polish them too and now I had to wait to do that after week 37???? UGHHHH..... and the Boise fundraiser walk,I was also banished from.I was instructed to,well, instruct....instruct everyone else to do things for me.I'm not wired that way so this was a challenge for me.I did get caught several times doing things that I should not be doing and then being chastised by my own children and then they would "tell" on me.LOL. Well, we all went to Boise for the walk,but I had to stay at the pavillion and wait for them to finish.Beautiful day trip and I didn't mind so much having NOT to walk. As soon as I hit week 37 I was back to "work" and scrubbing the wood floors and moving heavy furniture.I'm at week 38 now and baby is still doing fine.Although it went from being in a face down(towards my back) to a face up position(looking out right below my belly button)within the last week.There is still time for it to turn around so that I don't have to endure back labor. We have decided to go ahead with a water birth and use the birthing tub at the birth center.This should be exciting.I am still doing some mental preparation for having a med free birth.Out of the other 5 deliveries I have only had 1 epidural,the rest I was on Demerol or Stadol.So knowing that I don't have the option of "crying" out for some drug "help" is a mental hurdle that I need to cross and I am moving towards a more confident state of mind.Thank God! I was really wavering a few weeks ago and very unsure of myself.But I'm better now...I think.LOL. The kids helped me go through some boy clothes and girl clothes to wash, we've packed a baby bag, we got a snack bag (I should say bags) ready,my things are ready to go into a bag,we took a TV and DVD player to the birth center and donated it (the kids will now have something to watch their movies on while they wait)We've secured a girl name and are almost certain on a boy name.We found our crib hardware,Craig put the crib up right away. We also found the girls hardware to their beds.Matthea's bed is up,but Jade's bed needs some repair with wood glue before that can go up.Everyone has their bets on what day the baby will arrive and now we just sit and wait.

Let's see.....we haven't had our consultation yet for Oliver.But he is doing dramatically well.We actually took him off of goats milk too,it was causing alot of diarhea.He's been drinking rice milk.We noticed another reaction after he had some of our snow cones.It was on a Saturday and we had given him just a few bites and his eczema flared up a bit.Then three days later we went out for snow cones again and he had consumed a large quantity this time.He had some of Craig's snow cone,Sebastian's,Jade's and mine! His eczema was the worse that we had ever seen it was all over his face,legs,back,stomach,arms...everywhere and he cried for HOURS.So,we were now down to a couple of culprits,dairy and food dye allergy.The dairy,we have been slowing reintroducing that recently and he has not had any reactions.So we think that the main culprit is a food dye allergy.We checked out the yogurt that we thought was the problem in the beginning and low and behold,it has red food dye in it!That was the last thing on our mind.Our initial reaction was that it has to be dairy.Because that is a common allergy.Our chiropractor suggested to reintroduce the dairy to see what happens and then try the food dye.We are afraid to try the food dye at this point,only because of what happened to him when he had the snow cones.So,for now,we are staying clear of anything that has food dye in it,for his sake.Poor boy.He also has been nursing more frequently,he was just nursing here and there,once a day maybe and then he'd go a few days without nursing.Now it's back up to about twice a day.But we feel that it has been an added benefit to his condition.The fact that he's been getting a lot of colostrum,we feel, has helped to clear up his skin and given him some more enzymes and antibodies.He definitely is a different child now that those symptoms have waned.A much happier boy.He has been walking all over the place and getting into things.Trying to talk,picking up after himself,finding bits of debris on the floor and throwing them away,even throws away his own dirty diapers (I'm hoping he's got the neat gene from me,he'll be the only child so far),and telling us when he has a dirty diaper.He still loves being outside. He will cry so hard if someone goes out and leaves him behind.We bought him some new sandals and tennis shoes and he loves having them on and going outside to walk in them.He has fallen in love with flowers and wants to smell them ALL!!! We even had to give him some fake ones to walk around with inside the home.He makes us all smell them over, and over again.

As for Matthea,we took her to see the chiropractor and YES she was definitely a "Crooked" child!!He said that her whole spine was out of alignment and asked her what kind of acrobats had she been doing?? He put her on daily supplements for some gastrointenstinal things that were going on and just to make sure she was getting a daily vitamin,told her to drink more water, and "straightened" her spine out too! She was shocked that she could stand and feel that both legs were "even" again. She doesn't need to go back unless she starts having problems or we notice her alignment off again. Overall she's doing well,has way too much energy,a bottomless stomach and legs that go up to her neck!!!!

Jade is doing very well. She is becoming more and more of a responsible young lady.She helps me out so much with everything.She is getting the hang of how to run this household with little help from me and the way she takes charge of taking care of Oliver is just amazing.Craig and I are so proud of her. She has blossomed right before our eyes and has transformed from a little girl to a young women in just a few months!! Even people from our area that see her on a more regular basis have made comments on how different she looks from just a couple of months ago.Our midwife's assistant just saw her a couple of days ago and didn't recognize her.She asked us,"Is this your daughter Jade? Oh my gosh,I don't even recognize her!! She has changed so much". She has. She's grown several inches (4 feet 11 1/2 inches tall,almost hitting the 5 foot mark, she was 4 feet 7 inches) in just a few months and "lost" her little girl look.

Sebastian is growing just as fast as Jade is,he's 5feet 4 inches now.He has been working so hard along side his father.I don't think I have ever seen him this tired before, or sore!! They have been working every spare minute that they have.They have even been working before Craig leaves for work and after he gets home,until it's too dark to see anymore. It is helping to mold Sebastian into a totally different boy/man.He's learning some hard lessons on working hard and turning away from laziness,but it has been well worth it.More for his sake than ours, for sure.It's a work in progress, I see the light at the end of the tunnel.He has been working with the Llamas the last few days,trying to get them use to being handled.Noel and Bess will now will let Sebastian pet them and brush them,but only if he's giving them some grain while he's doing it.But,it is progress.They wouldn't allow anyone to touch them before.He's helped his dad put up some more fencing for the goats and chickens,they've been building a chicken coop,they just started on a kidding pen for our doe,he's been keeping our grass cut,he's been setting mouse traps out in the potting shed and showing us his kills (loves that),they are still working on the garden...we've had some problems with our tiller,but that should be close to being done soon too(luckily their plants are still alive and waiting).The other thing I should mention is Sebastian's ingenuity! It amazes us each and every time when we are out there scratching our heads trying to figure out the best way to "fix" or "do" something and can't,Sebastian comes up with a way.Or Sebastian will build something during his "free" time and come in to show us,and we are just astounded at his ability to build something from just his head without plans or anything and it works!!! He's cut out an airplane from styrofoam,put it together and it flies! He's made some arrows from twigs and chicken feathers that work with his cross bow! Those are just a couple of examples of what he's done.Just amazing.....

Craig has been doing well too,though tired,but a good tired.In just a few months he's gone from working a night shift,which he has been doing for years, to a twelve hour day shift(6am-6pm) for about a month and now to a normal 8 hour day shift 10am-6pm.We all are adjusting well to this schedule,even though he is working like a dog from the time he gets up until he lays his head down at night.But,he's happy that he does have this time now to work on things around here,when he didn't before.Before he only had his off days and felt as though it was taking forever to do the things on his list.Which it was taking a long time and he wasn't getting enough rest.Now he can at least sleep 8 or more hours and still do something everyday and as a bonus we get to see him before AND after work AND have breakfast AND dinner with him AND..there's progress at home...life is good....

Also, the eggs that we were trying to hatch in the incubator didn't hatch.They all died.Most of them looked as if they made it to full maturity and possibly died a few days before they were suppose to hatch.So we tried again.This time only with eggs from our hens who were fertilized with the Polish rooster and a few eggs from our Rooster "Cocktail" and our hen "Dorothy".(Before we had purchased 6 fertilized eggs from someone and used some of our own too)Cocktail is no longer with us due to his increasingly vocal,all day,communication! I don't remember how many eggs altogether,but,we've had a successful hatch finally.Four chicks from the Polish rooster,so they are a mixed breed except for one.We got two Buff Orpington/Polish chicks,one Golden Laced Wyandotte/Polish mix and a full blooded Polish chick! And only one chick from Cocktail and Dorothy which is a Buff Orpington/Silver Laced Wyandotte(we think) mix,this one is by far the cutest. The Polish chicks all have the "crest" of feathers on top of their heads.It will be very interesting to see how they all turn out.Probably very funny looking.
Our Doe (goat),Jane Doe,is suppose to be giving birth this month as well.So, we've been keeping an eye out for the "signs" and hoping that she doesn't kid while we are "kidding" at the birthing center!!LOL...

Again, life is good,God has blessed us and continues to do so.
Thank you Lord for my blessings....