Mooooooooo!

Yeah! Our White Parks are here. Unloading them was awful because the trailer kept getting stuck in the mud. My poor father in law, it was his property getting torn up! For now our 4 heifers are in his pasture with his cows. They are pretty cool looking cows, for a picture scroll down.

So why am I showing you a picture of flour? Well this is freshly ground wheat flour. It isn't the best picture, but this is the flour I am going to try and use 100 % of the time now. I bought a hand cranked flour mill and used it for a while, but it took too long to grind to do it all the time. My mother and father in law bought me an electric mill and I used it for the first time last night. I LOVE it. We have been weaning out white flour as much a we can for a few years now, but it is difficult to substitute 100% whole wheat for all recipes. I learned online (through the Heavenly Homemakers Blog) that white wheat can pretty much be 100% substituted for regular white flour. I have also struggled with finding wheat berries to grind. We planted wheat this past fall, but it won't be ready until summer. Well, the country variety store (Amish ran) that I frequent carries white and red wheat berries. I bought a 50 lb bag. It worked out to be 70 cents a pound to buy. I have no clue if that is a good price or not. The red wheat berries were around 50 cents a lb so I could have gone cheaper. I hope I can really do all my flour this way. It will be way healthier for us and no doubt cheaper in the long run.



Here's more canning I have been doing. I made corn chowder. It doesn't look real "chowdery" because the dairy has not been added. It is not recommended to home can dairy product or "dense/pureed" soups. I am sure there are ways around this but I am not taking any chances. No botulism for us please.



Here are the soup and beans that I canned. I am not sure that it is cheaper to buy dehydrated beans and can them or to just buy cheap canned beans. My sister in law and I had this discussion just last week and I have never done a price comparison. I need to. I am sure it would make sense to buy bulk beans also and see the price. Anyways, I had these beans just sitting in my cabinet (where they had been for at least a year).



Asher can be such a ham. I was getting a picture of all the kids eating breakfast (the next pic) and Asher climbs up on the chair and says "cheeeeeeese." It was pretty funny.



Eating breakfast on a rare weekday morning that Leah was home (no school Monday). Mmmm, oatmeal.

Ryan and Asher out checking out our new cows.

Anna, our little animal whisperer.

Two of our girls. Pretty eh? I guess you would have to like cows to think they were pretty, but come on, these are some nice looking animals! All four of our heifers are due to calf this spring, probably early May.

All the kids making sure the cows like their new home.

Later Gator,

Julie

Normal Stuff

Life is finding it's groove for us post vacation. It's a good thing. So, here some of the normal stuff we have going on....

Madeline and I picked up Leah's 4H chicks on Saturday. They are bantam Silkies. Bantams are much smaller than standard chickens. We bought some from TSC a couple years ago and they are great. They are very friendly and lay eggs pretty regularly. They just aren't real purposeful except for their tiny little eggs. Anyways, they are interesting chickens. They have black skin, 5 hairy toes, and big poofs on their heads (when they are full grown). We now have 10 silkie chicks in our garage. Only 2 or 3 of those will make to the fair to "compete."

Cute eh?



Here they are in their box.



We celebrated Grandma's, Leah's and my cousin's boy, Jaren's birthdays on Saturday. It was fun, but a mad house. We did it at Der Dutchman and there were like 40 of us. Lots of kids, presents, etc., etc. I failed to get any pics. Here's a cupcake I made though for the occasion. It was an orange creamsicle cupcake and very moist. Pretty yummy.



The other night I got a hankering to snap pictures of the 4 little kids and how they sleep. It was pretty funny. Here's Gee with his dino pillow pet, his blankie and Patches, his "goggie." (It is under the blanket). Gideon will often just throw off all his regular covers and ball up under his blankie. He looks so old in this picture to me.



Here's Anna with her blankie (We bought her this blankie at the Brookstone store at the airport on the way to Guatemala. Her's was the original and Gideon's and Asher's followed). She also has a bunch of babies surrounding her that you can't see. We got all the kids electric blanket this year to keep the chill off.

Yes, this is Madeline and yes she is actually sleeping like this.

Asher almost always sleeps on his belly. Usually with tushy sticking way up in the air. He is still in a pack n play in our room/bathroom. This kind of stinks, but he still gets up pretty early and we really don't want him waking the older kids up. I think we are going to stick him up in his crib anyways though and see how it goes.

Look at these beautiful flowers. These are from my most excellent husband. They weren't really even for Valentines Day or anything. He really is the best hubby ever!

I am very much getting ready for spring. It helps when we have these 50 degree days. I am starting to think about my garden and livestock stuff. Tomorrow we are having our cattle delivered. YEAH! We have been working on attaining these for months now. They are Ancient White Parks and are a really cool heritage breed. I am so excited about getting these. We are getting 4 bred heifers, so we will have babies in a couple/few months. We are also really getting our 4H stuff going. I am going to help advise this year, so I have to do some training, etc.

Like usual, life is busy, but good and blessed!

Julie

The Anniversary of a Miracle!

Exactly one year ago tonight Ryan and I took Asher to a Columbus ER on our way home from church. We were up all night shuffling the other 5 kids home and getting transferred (by squad no less) to Nationwide Children's hospital. I remember that night so very clearly. I won't replay all the details, but I will tell you God was there. I was more scared than I had ever been, but at the same time I experienced the peace of God more clearly than ever before. Early in the wee hours of Valentines Day 2010 Asher was admitted for Bacterial Menengitis. I know we have never been so close to losing a child. I also know that God saved Asher, not only from possible death but also from serious complications.

I still reflect often on the love that was poured out to us from friends and family. People took care of our kids so Ryan could be with us as much as possible. They brought food to the house and just made a hard situation as easy a possible. Above everything though, it was the prayers that we felt the most. I have no doubt that Asher is here and is who he is today because of the hundreds of people that lifted him up to God. In hindsight, as heart-breaking as that situation was, it was probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced.

Today Asher is strong, happy and healthy and I do not take that for granted. I just praise God.

Julie

Vacation Pics

Cutie Patootie Asher:



Shopping for souvenirs with daddy (God bless his soul).



Super cool Lego dragon at Downtown Disney.



Gee made his own Lightening McQueen! He loved it. It was like a build a bear for car lovers!



Here he is screwing in a bolt.

Gathering his supplies!

Waiting for the ferry at Magic Kingdom.

Asher was not feeling great at Magic Kingdon, but he still managed a smile!

Look at those faces!

At Minnie Mouse's house with the cousins.

Ok, so here is my silly band warning: They May cut off the blood supply to your child's hand, making it blow up like a balloon. Gee got a pack of silly band and 3 of them were WAY too tight. They were not doubled looped or made to be rings, etc, and Gee has tiny wrists. I snapped these pics like 3 hours after the tight bands were taken off.

Leah and Ava celebrating their birthdays!

Asher showing Naomi the love. This was such a nice thing because Noami doesn't typically care for Asher and she was very graciously allowing the hugs to happen.

Naomi and Coleson sharing the love.

Noami and Gideon sharing a hug. Now these two get along great. They are pretty cute playing together, even though Gideon is over a year and a half older.

Asher giving Lucy a ride.

Me getting the birthday sundae bar ready.

A birthday cookie (a crooked birthday cookie because I am too lazy to figure out how to flip it).

Leah's freshly pierced ear.

Only 8 more years Madeline.

Leah being brave?!?

Asher in the exact sink he took a bath in last year. Yeah, it's a little small.

Toy Story army man.

The three Tower Of Terror newbies. It was their first big kid ride.

Maddie and I pre-ride.

The yearly grandkid line up. Yikes! That is a lot of kids.

Some of the cousins took a rest in our bed every day. They would all snuggle up and watch a movie.

Logan and Ethan with Mickey Mouse at Chef Mickey's.

Asher meets Minnie.

Truett, Gideon and Asher playing in the baby pool.

We stopped at the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta on the way to Florida. Here is our whole crew.

Asher being sweet.....

........and ornry (before we left) ......

Until Later,

Julie