Belle...

This is my sweet belle. She is wonderful. And due any day. Just got back in from checking on her. Udder has been swelling more and more this past week. But a bottom check shows no other signs. It is bitterly cold outside. So cold. Hoping it is ok. Need to get more straw.  Patrick is out running knife shop errands. And I am hoping to head out when he gets home. To get barn stuff and a few groceries. 

    Time to make Stollen. I am excited. I used to love baking cookies this time of year. But the work and mess of it plus gluten free... No thanks. I'll buy a special allergen friendly treat for those that need it or bake a single pan of brownies for them.  Then make stollen for the rest of us. Yummy. I can almost taste it. :)

    

Jocelyn,our cow has the runs. I am hoping to get something to help her out today. She has no other signs. So I don't feel to worried. But can't neglect it either. Poop. The curse of mothers and farm wives. That means I get many doses. Indoors and out. But speaking of poo. Judah. Judah is potty trained. Really. I set him down. Told him I was sick of buying diapers. And really he had to use the toilet.  And I would buy him a treat to have after each use of the loo. He requested chocolate. I gave him several choices and he settled hands down on PB chocolate. So naturally I bought the LARGEST  bag of Reese's Walmart had to buy.   And swore to sell him to the gypsy s if the $7 bag of candy failed me.  Oddly enough it worked. I buy less diapers now. And soon might try Wisdom. I used to push potty training. And fight and kick and scream along with the child. Now. I don't diapers are cheaper than the stress of adding potty training to my day. So until then I will have a potty chair in my living room. And hope she decides kinda soon. To train herself. And if not. I have reserved some $ to bribe her.    Or I just might sell HER to the gypsies. 

    For now I am enjoying my hot chocolate and warm up from my currently routine butt checks. I truly live the greatest life. 

Today

Today was productive for certain. But I've been working with 6 children for 12 hrs. Sun is going down and things are getting tough for us all. Patience running thin. ;)

I almost showed the children I was grumpy til I saw this....

Everyone needs a comic in the family. I happen to have several. This girl likes to get people to laugh. She gets it from her daddy. I love her daddy. 

Vaccinations...

Was asked again today about vaccines. Decided to just blog about it. 

I used to have studies and articles organized and bookmarked on the 

computer. But that was a couple computers ago. So each time I get 

asked I have to refind my favorite sites. Blogging it will save time. 

   First I LOVE the book 

http://www.amazon.com/Raise-Healthy-Child-Spite-Doctor/dp/0345342763 

How to raise a perfectly healthy child, inspire of your doctor. 

By Dr. Robert mendelson first book I ever read on 

the subject.  I don't currently have a copy. Mine always gets given away.

 I need to find a case. 

    I used to be overly passionate about convincing others not to vaccinate.

 I have learned not to talk 

about it unless asked

And even then to keep somewhat quiet. I hope. I know I do better now 

than I did before. ;)

    Here are a list of websites to read up on...

First up the CDC. The pro vaccine people. Our government. 

I include them for 1 reason. 

They agree that bad stuff like mercury and 

Aluminum and formaldehyde are in our vaccinations.

 ( they IMO greatly downplay them though) 

so they are solely 

Here to back up the other sites.

http://www.cdc.gov/VACCINES/vac-gen/additives.htm

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/b/excipient-table-2.pdf

A vaccine ingredient page... Eggs (common allergy food) 

monkey cells, mercury, live viruses, formaldehyde

 and aluminum 

To name a few. Yummy. 

  

http://www.informedchoice.info/cocktail.html

A site that looks awesome. Haven't fully read it though. I do plan too!

 They even have the links to exemptions. 

Which is great for people sending their children to public school. 

  

http://vaxtruth.org/

And here Dr. Tenpenny http://drtenpenny.com/category/vaccinations/

And Dr. Mercola. I don't always agree with him. 

But I do with vaccines. 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/05/12/vaccination-dangers.aspx

One thing that is helpful is looking into each disease and 

weighing them against the shots. 

Like whooping cough it doesn't scare me. 

One reason. Friends that had vaccinated some children 

then quit vaccinating, said their children 

that had shots went through a harder time with it then the unvacced

Children they had. Also I have homeopathic pertussis. 

Elderberry wine and tintures. Vitamin D. 

Vitamin C. Etc.That means if we hit a outbreak here I 

have what I need to protect my children 

Without crap that can highly harm them. 

 Whooping cough is not deadly unless you are in BAD 

health anyways. 

Another thing is if you are PRO- Life then you have to 

morally skip some vaccines due to fetal (baby cells) 

being used in them. 

Also know that vaccines contain DNA of babies and animals. 

That does react with your DNA. 

Is that something you are interested in?

I am not. 

   

 We have only had 1 doctor question/ get upset at us for not vaccinating. 

We had gone to get 

a head injury taken care of. And he insisted we get a tetanus shot. 

We refused but left agreeing

To talk to our personal dr about it.  But before that he loudly 

in frustration said "there are a lot of 

YOU PEOPLE in KS!"

  I wanted to say (but kept quiet) maybe you need to research why.  

He the said I know needles 

hurt but it only lasts a second. They forget the pain fast. 

 Dude. I just let him put 2 staples in my child's head. 

I'm not scared of a prick. It is what the prick 

injects in them. 

   Arming ourselves with knowledge in treating ailments ourselves 

is the greatest defense. 

I have successfully treated earaches,

Flu, upset tummies, ouch ices and more here. With natural herbs, 

oils, and foods.  

     Salves,tintures, tonics, cough syrups, teas, etc are 

weapons in my pantry. Low sugar 

is highly helpful too. We try to eat 1 fresh I

Food a day. Anything. Apple,salad,oranges, carrot, celery. 

Anything. I really think it helps lots!

I hope this helps. Research research research. 

Don't just blindly follow. 

Whether you choose 

all vaccines, some vaccines, 

Slowed vaccines, no vaccines. 

You need to know why you choose what you do. 

Interview doctors. Ask around. Remember drs are employed by YOU,

Soup day!

On soup day the children chop chop chop. They love soup day. Generally we make bone broth based soup. I also make pots of rice to help fill tummies. I like it to last 2 meals. That is getting harder around these parts. ;) 

    I make food from what I have on hand. I don't like recipes or ridgid meal planning. For a few reasons. 1 is cost. They are not budget or farm friendly. 2: we never have all items needed for them. 

    So I made certain days mean something here. It works well. So I have started meal planning. 

 Monday ... Bake over

Tuesday ... Rice

Wednesday ... Casserole

Thursday ... Soup 

Friday ... Pizza

Weekends anything goes. If we have no leftovers we make dang quesadillas,pudding or popcorn.  I like simple food. Easy. No fuss.  I adore soup day. I pack in lots of veggies. And they love it. They make it so to them it is perfect. :) 

All fingers are still attached. 

Notice the ulu knife. Not being used. Ulu is a Alaskan Eskimo knife. Translated it means ' woman's knife'.  Malachi is a man. 

  New crockpot. I love it. Makes soup day perfect. Planning on rice pudding in it later. And the lid clamps down. I plan to start taking it to church for lunch. Eating lunch at 3 or 4 on Sundays does work well. 

This morning so far....

Feels productive. And it is barely past 6 AM. Nursed my woo woo. Deleted tons of spam. Answered emails. Sent the potty trainer to the bathroom. Gave permission for the 8 yr old to make chocolate oatmeal. And I am still in bed. ;) 

    This picture has nothing to do with this post. Except that I love my Joelle. She is a all out bookworm.  To a fault at times. She is currently thrilled since we have our first library card in about 6 yrs. the library's stink here. Small. Lots of empty shelves and lots of stupid books. But knowing us in 6 mths it will be useless to go in anymore. Guessing all worth reading books will be read. 

    Tempting to get a card in joplin and go in once a mth. I hear it is big and nice. And it is closer than grand view which is where most families from here go. 

    Basically I was really disappointed in the library. And it confirmed to me. Why I have always just boughten books. But my house can't hold them all. :( and I am trying to be really frugal. Pleasure books are mostly out. So the library sounded perfect... Boo.

    Oops guess the picture does go with the post now...

Lilley's birthday 8!!!!!!!

Poor girl was sick all day. So we only did a few presents. Parris got her beads. She loves making jewelry! We got her a bible (pink- couldn't find purple) and princess bible cover (also pink, thankfully it is her second favorite color!) and jewelry making tools.

Malachi gave her his hard hat. 

Wisdom looked cute and gave her a cookie. ;)

Tubby also colored a board for her. And wrapped it several days in advance. He couldn't wait for her birthday. <3 fun is planned for this week. Including her birthday meal plans. Which currently seem to change daily....

Malachi climbing.

He wanted me to snap a photo. But I didn't have my camera on me. So my friend Noel was able to grab her camera. It made his day. :) thanks Noel!

Oyster mushrooms!

I did my best to avoid harvesting mushrooms. Joelle has begged for years. Asking if I know what kind they are. If they're poisonous extra. I was able to detour her with finding and eating morels only. Cause we knew knew knew they were good. 

    But my girl is a forager at heart. Anything and everything she can forage she does. Last year she convinced me to try and eat puffballs. We have eaten them several times. And we are all still living. And never even felt sick. :) 

     Tonight. She found these. We left them and got online to research them. They are indeed oyster mushrooms. Back out to pick them. She left some behind. And we have lots here. I'm a chicken. But there are no poisonous lookalike s. except in Japan and Australia. So I should be safe. I hope. They had froze some. So tomorrow I will  help her wash and soak them in a salt water. Then cook them. 

    We have read to never ever eat raw wild harvested mushrooms. They can harbor bad bacteria. And make you awful sick. 

    We also read that you shouldn't eat a pound of them with a pound of butter. Cause you will get sick. And not cause they a poisonous shroom. Pretty sure that was a voice of experience there. ;) 

   But my girl is happy. She convince me of another shroom. 

Wisdoms adorable style.

Coolest. Even in pink.

He knows he is tough. Pink means nothing. Side note: he never wears clothes. Except when it's cold and I make him. Or it is Sunday for church. So since colder weather has hit. He gets mistaken as being Malachi.  It is funny!

Supposed to be napping...

Crazy curly hair!

Wild hair!

Show me your smile!

Wisdom is a very smiley girly. I love her grin. :)

New knitting supplies...

A new hat for Patrick on my needles. Natural colored alpaca yarn. Fingerling weight. But I double it. Identical to his hat from last year. Which was my firs t hat (knitted) ever. Super easy this go round. 

Last minute run to J.Wray Co with a friend got me a few steals. Yarn shops. Hard not to say one of each please. ;) should have added in a skein of yarn for me a hat. But socks are interesting me lots. Just hope I have the patience to learn. Oye. Kinda scared. Not pictured are stitch markers! Yeah! No more using my rings to mark my place! So exciting! 

    

A few photos from December of last year.

This year...we said Goodbye.

We knew it was coming. Patrick's dad, Big Terry, was sick with Bone Cancer nearly ten years.last year was hard. We were in Kansas so much. Every time we left we thought it was the last time. God gave us so much time we didn't expect. But wish we had more. Miss him so much. My babies still want their PaPaw. :(

Farm fresh foods. And a royal cook.

A high farm meal! Joelle's creation. She had wild harvested puffball mushrooms. And took our potatoes,eggs, cheese, butter, and pan fried up a yummy breakfast. With a tall glass of Jocelyn milk. Plus a banana and chocolate chips. < not from our farm;) > and she had breakfast fit for a queen. :)

Blogging....

Been a year. I really really want to blog. But never am I on a computer. Only my phone ( which only now works as a I touch or the iPad. ) but posting without pictures is not fun. I hope to find a way. :)
Momma~