Linked

I love when someone tells me about a really great website. I love when I can use that website and I love when I can pass the website on to someone else. Like you.

Today I have three websites that I would like to share with you.

The first is about organization and planning. I've been looking for a good way to keep track of what I do with the kids as far as homeschooling goes. When Josh turns seven, I will be accountable to the government as a homeschool mom. So right now I am experimenting with a system that works for me. I am more apt to type something than to write something, but I didn't want my information on the internet. I finally found some software that I could download (for free!). So far it's been working. I've been pleased with it so far and I hope that this is the way to go for us. Here's the link:

Homeschool Tracker

The next website that I've only begun to scratch the surface of: Tipnut.com

It has lots of tips and ideas of how to clean, lots of recipes, food tips, beauty tips, how to tips, etc. Lots and lots of stuff on there!

The last website has to do with food and our well being. After Joel and I read the article we stopped buying juice, we stopped consuming high fructose corn syrup and margarine, we make hot cereal for breakfast-no more box cereal, and use only whole milk.

Here is the article, but beware! Ignorance might be bliss.

Dirty Secrets of the Food Industry

Have fun exploring today!

Hobby Farm

Today we and another family took a field trip to a hobby farm! It was cold and windy, but I was grateful it wasn't raining! The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

First we saw the chickens and their eggs.

Joshua and friend, Trinity peeking into the hen house.

Joshua and Boston (right) held some eggs.

Then we saw the goats. There were several babies, a few of which had been born just a few days ago!

Then the highlight of the trip was riding Pinky the Pony:

Do you see the look of pure delight in Rachel's face?

Worth More than a Chickadee

I was watching some of these today:

It's so fun watching these little birds flitting back and forth between the bird feeder and the large spruce tree in our front yard.

Herbs?

My friend, B, has been making tinctures. I had no idea what a tincture was, until a few weeks ago.

This website explained what a tincture was. Basically, it's a concentrate of herbs soaked in vodka or rum. You use this concentrate to cure whatever the herb is good for.

My friend had tried a cough tincture. She said it worked for her and her family. I was amazed so I started exploring the vast world of herbs. I'd only gotten as far as The Bulk Herb Store and became so overwhelmed, I quit.

But then a few days later, I tried again. This time I slowly explored with a few minutes here and a few minutes there. I gathered enough information from the website to start a few tincture ideas of my own, running the ideas past a more experienced friend. She gave me several tips and suggestions. I wrote down my shopping list and asked permission from my husband to buy some vodka from the liquor store.

I went shopping. I bought the herbs first at our local co-op. I found most of what I was looking for. I glanced quickly, out of habit, at their "free jars" section. Guess what I found? Praise God, I found three tincture bottles with droppers! For me, that was from God. I was making three different tinctures and there were the bottles for them. Thank you Jesus!

Next stop. The liquor store. This was awkward for me. I walked in and asked the two ladies at the front where the vodka was. They pointed me in the right direction, a wall of vodka. I found the cheapest bottle I could find and noticed all the labels saying, "made from grain." My heart skipped a beat. I realized Rachel might not be able to ingest even one drop of the medicine I was making if it had wheat or rye in it!! But I asked the ladies who worked there what vodka was made from. They were pretty sure it was from corn. But, somehow I had mentioned to the workers that my four year old daughter could not have wheat. One just looked at me and said, "You shouldn't feed your daughter wheat...or vodka!"

I explained my situation, which surprisingly she was interested in and wished me luck with it.

Later, I did a google search for vodka and gluten. I found that any distilled product does not contain gluten. So even though I found that vodka can be made from a variety of grains, including rye and barley, Rachel can safely ingest the tincture.

So to shorten this story, I have now four tinctures in the making. One for coughs, one immune booster, and two pain relievers: one for the children and one for adults. (Some herbs are more powerful than others and should not be given to children).

The leftover vodka I am making into vanilla extract.

So I'll let you know the results! If this works, I'm excited to never buy cough syrup again!

"Beautiful Things" A Post from Renee

I'm tired.

I know we just had a baby. I know we just bought a house and moved into it. But I'm still tired.

Things are tough right now. Every day is a battle and right now the battle feels overwhelming.

Among a few other things, I am finding encouragement in this particular song:

Beautiful Things
All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make me new, You are making me new

Field Trip!

We are part of a homeschool co-op now! hurrah! Our first field trip with this group was to the Post Office. Josh has wanted to go since Christmas. I forgot my camera though. grrr!

We were able to see the back side of the PO boxes and listen to the explanation of the whole process. It was neat.

We look forward to next week's field trip!

Family Photo

Mush!

Last weekend my brother, Ryan and his wife Emily came up for a visit. They have a precious daughter, Evelyn, who is one month older than Madelynn. They are also expecting a second baby, a boy!

The highlight activity of the weekend was attending a dogsled race. The race was to benefit breast cancer awareness so there was a lot of pink, much to Rachel's delight. The race started out on a large, long lake. We missed the start but we made it to a different location just in time.

Here is Evelyn watching the race. Notice the musher dressed in pink:

Uncle Ryan with Hudson:

Thanks for visiting us Ryan and Emily and Evelyn and Baby! It was good to see you again!

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

This song has been close to our hearts. This particular version has been our favorite right now.

Tree Felling

Jake and Miles finished up the job last Sunday. They did a great job considering some of the trees were pretty close to the house. Five trees in all and lots and lots of brush.

The brush was cleaned up by Joel and our friend Dave. Dave was our neighbor at the "old" house. He has a tractor and a pick up truck, so it worked out nicely to take a few loads to the local brush pile.

I am working on getting some pictures of the house, outside and inside. I will be getting those up on the blog soon. Thanks for your patience!

Two Month Hudson

Update on Homeschooling

We took about a 7-8 week vacation there from "official" homeschooling.

We are gradually starting more "school" now. In the morning I read aloud stories to Madelynn and Rachel. And then they have blanket time while I read aloud stories to Joshua that are more at his level. This way R and M learn to sit still upon their blankets, playing with some quiet toys yet still listen to the story with no pictures. After this we have been reading science books (fun ones, not textbooks!!)

In the afternoon during the girls' naptimes Joshua does his math and copy work.

Wednesday I hope to take the morning and do some science experiments with them.

Thursday is our first homeschool co-op meeting! I am excited for this.

I think Next week we will start the Letter of the Week and Flag/Country of the Week.

Maybe even some potty training???

Our Madelynn...the goof

Yes that's a watermelon dress and she has a ribbon tied around her head.

The rhino bend! Nina taught her this move. (it's called the rhino bend because Madelynn is very rhinocerish. Did you know that a herd of rhinos is called a "crash"?)

Notice her bulging pockets. She is also our "marble queen": Madelynn almost always has a marble in her hand.

Seven Week Hudson

Hudson James is eight weeks old now, but these pictures are of him at about seven weeks.

Hudson and Joshua had matching baseball stickers after a doctor's visit.

The kids continue to love on Hudson.

He weighed in at 12 lbs and .05 oz (7#14oz at birth). He is now 22.5 inches long (20 at birth). He is a solid boy and very serious. I've gotten about two smiles and one coo out of him. He's very content and I know he's happy (he hardly ever fusses).

Here's a few recent pictures of Hudson that make us chuckle:

"Does this sleeper make me look fat?"

"That's MR. Hudson to you!"

"Really, I'm smiling on the inside."

One Month Old!

Yes, ok, this is past due, but here's a picture Daddy took of Hudson at one month old:

Cutie, ain't he?

Today...

Madelynn and Rachel (and Joshua too) watched some good ol tree felling today.

That's Jake on the ground tossing a rope up to Miles in the tree. They felled four out of five birch trees today. They'll finish up on Sunday.

Why are we cutting down the trees?

1. One of the trees is touching the roof of the house.

2. Birch only last about 25 years.

3. It's windy here. Birch drop lots of branches and they have shallow roots.

4. Cutting these trees down open up the yard quite a bit.

5. We're hoping to put a driveway here.

It was fun to watch and listen to the BooM! when the trees toppled over.

Joshua Turns Six!

Joshua, our oldest, turned Six years old! Wow! We are so blessed to have six years with this boy. It's exciting how much he has changed and grown, not just physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. Joshua is our level headed child; practical, observant, quiet but definitely a goof ball at the same time. He asks good questions about the world around him and shares his observations with us. I look forward to doing science experiments with him next year!

Here is a video of the "birthday moment". Our friends Mark, Kelley, Oliver and Karis were able to join us for the occasion. Much to the delight of the boys! The cake is a peanut butter cookie with frosting made to look like a baseball:

Scattered Thoughts

So we have been living in our "new" house for one week. Things are still scattered and there are plenty of boxes laying around for "getting out of bed" motivation. But slowly things are being put away and organized. The kids told me it's starting to feel like home, but not all the way yet. :)

The move last Saturday went really well. So many people came and helped! I was amazed, and humbled by their sacrifice.

Joshua's birthday is on Tuesday! He turns six years old!! I asked him what he wants to have for his birthday dinner: He gave me a slow grin and said "Pancakes and Green beans!" No problem! That's easy. His "cake" will be a peanut butter cookie (giant) with frosting made to look like a baseball. He's our crazy pb eater so he liked this idea better than a cake.

Rachel, our little four year old princess who shines for Jesus, has completely amazed Joel and I. One morning this last week, I saw her doing a floor puzzle. You know, like a 24 piece jigsaw puzzle. She was doing it by herself. I was mildly surprised that she was even attempting it, much less without any tears or frustration. A little while later, she called for me and showed me her final result: a finished puzzle! Wow! Completely by herself! She was so excited to have done one by herself, that she does several everyday. (we have quite a few puzzles in our house, good problem solving/math activity) And then, the next day, the basement had been organized enough to make a play area for the kids to ride around on their bikes/trikes/push toys. Rachel was sad that Madelynn had taken her little push bike (the kind a small child sits and moves it by pushing with their feet) Rachel started crying. I suggested she try the tricycle. She had only tried it a few times at our old house, but not much success. She tried it while I worked on laundry. I turn around at the sound of happy laughter and I see her riding it back and forth with perfect ease! Yesterday the puzzles, today the tricycle!

Hudson is growing. He is getting fat. He is starting the leg rolls and the wrist rolls. He is seven weeks old today! He looks like Joshua. Sometimes I look at Hudson and feel strange calling him "Hudson" because he looks so much like Joshua did. Hudson is a serious baby. His smiles are next to nil. But he is content and he seems happy though he does not show it on his mouth.

Madelynn is there. Yes most definitely. She has arrived. Where? The Terrorific Twos. She is cute, she is adorable, she has the biggest bluest eyes with the biggest bluest alligator tears. She has the cutest goofiest grin that can change in two seconds to the reddest loudest wail. All because Mommy said, "wait please."

Well, my time is up, it's been great to blog again, but Mommy duties call and thus I must answer. :)