2008 Everybody Birthday Party

The annual group shot

Well.....here I am finally getting around to this....hoping to have it done by the time Ivye arrives. As I have said in the last 15 entries.....time on here is near non existent these days. This will be a post of few words seeing as how pictures pretty much say it all.......and the fact that the younger 5 all happen to be asleep at the present moment giving me some time to work with, limited though it may be.

As I mentioned before, we hosted the annual Everybody Birthday Party this year at our house. It was here last year too and we all had so much fun we figured it'd be fun just to do it all over again. There's space for everybody to spread out and enough to do around here that it keeps everyone quite entertained. I suppose I have changed over the course of the last few years from seeming to never enjoying hosting anything to absolutely loving opportunities to surround ourselves with friends and family here. It seems natural. In years gone by I dread the work that has seemed to have gone along with having company but somewhere in there I have found the joy that comes from opening up our home to everyone willing to travel this way.

And lots of thanks to Daddy for being the picture taker of the day!!!!!

Welcoming the cousins

And I can't help but say that it's immensely fun planning it all these days. I made homemade potato salad, homemade whole wheat dinner rolls and started in on the deviled eggs...though I must confess that Mother had to bail me out on that one and finish those up. Mother brought the fruit salad and Jackie and Curtis brought the veggies and dip stuff. Brad was in charge of the main stuff like brisket and hot dogs. It's a full day of fun, food and fellowship. Seems like I made something else on the menu but can't remember it now seeing as how it's been almost a month ago.

A rare shot of Brad and I......so I've decided I'm sick of my hair and am getting something done with it.......not sure just what quite yet....and is it time to be unpregnant yet??????

It's been a ton of fun going up there every 5-6 weeks but I have to say that it's a bunch of fun having everybody here too. There's nothing like being surrounded by family. And I love the treasure and the friends I have always had and have come to embrace in Mother and Jackie and the treasures that the children are to each other. I miss being close to Scott beyond words and I have grown to miss Daddy's and my lunch dates just to talk over the latest happenings and discuss the children's funnies. So I love these days that come along when we are all together. If you've lost count by now there are 16...going on 17......children and 7 adults. Daddy and still unmarried Scott, Mother and Thomas, Jackie and Curtis, their 9, and then Brad and I with our 7 +1. I find it humorously funny each year that all of these kids came from 2 women. That old question posed years ago from the old lady watching the 2 of us out together with all of our kids still rings funnily in my ears...."Are y'all part of that religion where you're married to the same man????" Um......definitely not.

Woman with a firearm

Everybody out shootin'

Dusty, windy west TX

Madison and Milly

Carefree and spontaneous cousin Mercy with Channing

Garrett on wheels...and a pro at it he is!

Loving the chicks

Some sword fighting activities of the day

Gettin fired up

Experiencing the bus...I don't think we've ever all laughed so hard

Filling it up

(cousin Pearce saying hi)

Taking the headcount

Brad the Busmaster

Scott's favorite part of the day....Brad's bald head up in the driver's seat

Uncle Scott

Loving on Granny

(note the guys in the background of the 1st pic)

Uncle Scott and cousin Cyrus

Sweet funny boy with his favorite toy in the house

Best friends out doing whatever boys do

Hanging out watching the action

Grant and cousin Channing

Good lookin boy

The annual sibling shot.....in birth order as always

Daddy and Scott

Nothing like jumping with Granny

Can you tell Brad ordered the cake???????

Cousin Maggie and Aubrey

Cousin Charles and Garrett having a wrestling match.....these 2 are, oddly enough, inseparable when we get together!

Sweet, sweet Garrison

These Things Called Goats

.....pretty much suck. Ummm......yeah. It definitely puts a damper on the whole dairy goat ambitions. I'm a little late in getting around to telling our newest, latest and greatest farming endeavors story so this actually took place a couple of week ago. Seems computer time between schooling children on the computer and lack of any motivation to do much of anything right now except the bare minimum makes all computer related projects a little tardy.

So.......only a mere week or so after shooting Big Billy, in which the children have merrily come up with their own Ole McDonald song going a little like this......"Ole McDonald had a goat....E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he shot that goat....E-I-E-I-O. With a bang, bang here. And a bang bang there. E-I-E-I-O." Is that even healthy????? No...come to think of it, I don't even want to know the answer to that question.




So, a mere week after that whole episode Grayson comes in one morning pretty calmly....does that dare mean we are getting used to things just casually dying off in our care??????.......and says to Brad and I, "Hey, y'all......the mama goat's dead." I looked at him incredulously and said, "What?" He said simply and all too calmly, almost as if pulling off some sort of prank, "Yes ma'am. She's just laying out in the middle of the pasture dead." I then said sternly and with great direction, "Grayson, That's not even funny. Don't even tease like that. It's mean." With an all too honest look and eyes that spoke nothing but truth he again proclaimed that she indeed was dead and he had no clue why or as to what happened. It was then I guess I started to believe this new bit of morning info. Brad got in on it now and wanted to know what happened. Apparently it was "no animal attack and maybe a snake bite? She's really really big....like a balloon." according to Grayson. Oh my gosh. What else is next? Not having even the slightest desire to go look at yet another dead goat Brad donned his boots and traipsed off to the pasture with Grayson by his side and alot of other younger curious onlookers. According to Brad she was so bloated that she had to be shot before she could be hauled off for fear of her popping. Ugh. Can I puke now? And, of course, Brad is going to come in with that story since it's another reason to put the gun to use. The saddest part was John Wayne still laying by her side, I suppose, waiting for her to awaken. I couldn't bear to hear his baby goat cries. He is still just an animal, and less of a pet than most of any we've had...but the thought of baby crying for long lost unresponsive mother was way too sad for me to contemplate. So, Brad and Grayson went out and shot her back down to size and hauled her off. He stood at the gate crying and crying. Within a matter of 1 week he'd lost both parents and the only herd he had, given the fact that our herd has been slowly whittled down to their little family trio. Before finding out she was dead we had been hoping she was pregnant again and the billy had opportunity to take action before being killed himself. We'll for sure never know now. After Brad and the boys hauled her off to her goat burial they returned so we could brainstorm what to do with baby. As he stood at the gate crying, waiting for her to return, we all thought it tremendously unfair to keep him as a loner. It was talked of going to the auction that very morning and bringing home more nannies but this kind of had derailed that plan when spending all of our time dealing with it all and having to haul her off. So, after a few emails and phone calls to fellow firefighter/farmers we found that the baby could be taken to auction that very day if we hurried. It was the best thing for him since it was much too late to try and castrate him and we knew he would eventually have to go anyway with billies no longer being an option for our family. Better now than waiting even longer. It was only a matter of rushing it by a few weeks. So, in all of our debt free, Dave Ramsey, redneck ways we loaded the dog kennel up into the bed of Brad's truck since we do not yet own a trailer for any of our collection of livestock and rounded John Wayne up into his traveling carton. Once on the road with all of the boys in tow Brad called to confess the degree of our redneck ways. He said you know you've hit the point of no return when you drive through the fast food drive through with a goat in a dog kennel in the bed of your truck and no one even gives it a second glance...and, in fact, just gives you the west TX, finger-flick-above-the-steering-wheel "howdy, neighbor" wave.

Checking their new home out

Brad's handmade nesting boxes.....pretty impressive! We still have to put hay in them and "homey" them up.

So, they eventually made it to the auction and dropped John Wayne off in our attempts to give him a better life....maybe fathering many Boer/Spanish babies and living in wide open, spacious, green pastures roaming free. We chose not to go down the whole meal-on-someone's-table thought process. Garrison came home with stories of how John Wayne had gone to his goat pasture with LOTS of other goats....that would be his auction pen. Oh well. He seemed to think it a great accomplishment and promotion for goats.

The view from the front of the coop......Bertha, the lead rocket. There she sits waiting for her next road trip

That leaves us where we are now.......completely and totally goatless after a year of trying to raise these finicky animals. When Grayson tallied it up he came up with something like 9 goats that we've gone through now. 9 doesn't sound too bad until you figure we've only ever had 9 to care for. I think the final cause of death was determined to be either snake bite, which is kind of far fetched since no fang marks or bite sight could be found on her, or pathetically...worms. So.....we worm these things. I was even worming them every 6 wks instead of 3 months like what had been recommended after finding out from some of the guys that during the rainy season you had to double up on it. But apparently we bought the crapped out stuff that the worms quickly built up a resistance to. I had a hard time coming to terms with the worm diagnosis since it was Grayson, Evye and I that had sweat our butts off chasing goats down and wrestling them to the ground to squirt this disgusting white liquid into their mouths. It definitely gave a new meaning to the words rodeo roundup. All of that for what exactly.......to have them die anyway? Right. And, if it was worms why in the world was the little one still going with his smaller body when the bigger mama goat succumbed to them? After some talking to others it supposedly came down to the fact that he was a Spanish/Boer cross so therefore much heartier than the pure bred Boers. Boer goats are well known for their tendency to die off at the mere thought of anything that might be wrong with them.

Caring for them all

I figure I'll take on this new dairy goat challenge about like I did the chickens. RESEARCH. And read, read, read. Educate ourselves. Now that I finished up the chicken books I've started in on the dairy goat books...at night for leisurely reading, no doubt. The goat pasture now sits vacant, which I am fine with at this point. I figure we can get it really cleared and tilled now and plant some coastal before taking them on. In the meantime I am gleaning all info I can get ahold of concerning their care and upkeep. Maybe, just maybe, we can keep these things alive. Maybe.

Checking them out to see how they're adapting.....

On a surprising note......the chickens are amazingly still ALL living. I thought for sure we'd kill at least half of them off. But education paid off in every way and we have managed to keep every last one of them not only alive but thriving. They finally outgrew their dog kennel brooder....yes, that would be the same kennel that hauled the goat to the auction.......and so just yesterday the coop had the finishing touches put on it and they were promoted out to it. Well, finishing touches as far as what they need to survive out there. As far as aesthetics go, I still have to paint it. Despite the cooling fall weather I'm still opting to wait until the days get no higher than 80. If I can get to it I'll do it sometime in Nov before Ivye makes her arrival...if not, I'll just do it in December once I"m up and around again. I'd rather be bundled up doing it rather than sweating profusely. I'm definitely quite limited in just how much I can strip before the town starts calling in out of fear of what they are having to look at. But, so far, chickens are growing and we will have eggs sometime in January if all goes according to plan. We did opt not to order the other 26 chicks until the spring. Since they could not be delivered until the week of Oct 20th and the children and I are leaving only 3 short weeks after that to stay gone until baby gets here I kind of had to rethink that whole plan. Though Brad could easily care for them any OT shifts and then having to come up to FW for a day or 2 when Ivye does come leaves them potentially unattended for a few days at a time. No good. So, we'll wait til spring and warmer weather, where the risk of freezing and/or starving them to death isn't such an issue.

Their temp floor boxes until they figure out their nesting boxes are above

So, dead goats but thriving chickens. Maybe that evens the death score out a little????

Breaking Records

To start with....Gavin has now officially broken Aubrey's record of taking the absolute longest to walk. Aubrey took 14 months and we thought that was forever. I seriously thought something was wrong with her. But it turned out she just got around MUCH faster when crawling and didn't ever want to slow down long enough to figure out how to get good at walking. She finally tried it out only a day after she turned 14 months and after she figured out life was much more fun on 2 feet and she could keep up with everybody she never hit the floor again. And now here we are with Gavin....though I should say with a lot less worry on our parts and a lot more laughing at what he does. I love giving up the worry part of parenting for the chilled back side of just letting them get to it when they do. He is now almost 14 1/2 months and still just rather prefers to jet around at lightening force speeds on his butt and hands. His newest thing is scooting the laundry basket around as a walker and running through the house. But.....he just can't bring himself to let go. He walks perfectly holding onto just 1 little finger of anyone near him but if you even try and gently and unnoticably wiggle it out his butt hits the floor. So he crawls....or runs races with the laundry basket going before him, plowing down everything in his path that might stand in his way or impede his speed. He also discovered he could accomplish walking while pushing the dining room chairs around but due to their very significant weight he only opted for that choice a few times. We're all thankful for that. Anyday he'll take off...but until then we're just kind of enjoying his authentic scoot/crawl and laundry basket derby.

Rounding corners

On the other record breaking note.......my platelet count for this pregnancy came in at a whopping 132,000 on this last blood draw. The last 2 pregnancies it has started its downhill fall at about 20 wks. By 30 wks it is usually already down in the 80's and by my due date it usually hangs in the high 60's/low 70's. The lowest it ever hit was 58 and the goal was to try and keep it above 80. 50 was the cut off for homebirthing so the 58 reading with Garrett's pregnancy was reason for much prayer. THough I was extremely low with Gavin it stayed high enough that we were pleased with the high 70's and low 80 results. So, as we start the end of the journey with this pregnancy my blood is drawn regularly to see how we are faring. Much to everyone's delight and utter shock at 30 wks I had a count of 132. We all rejoiced! Jean, our dearly beloved midwife, gave much credit to the change in eating habits and getting rid of most processed food along with the regular intake of Chlorophyll and everything else we try to keep it up there. Though there is still no proven link between platelets and anything you can actually do to alter a low count I have been through this enough times now to realize when something does really have an effect on it. We definitely know that Chlorophyll alone does not change it, though it does elevate it a little, but between everything we are doing now and the simple everyday changes we are making it has been enough to keep it up there even past the 3o wk point. Hopefully, it will continue to hang out there for the remainder of the pregnancy just so I can say I've had at least 1 pregnancy and birth with platelets that actually stayed above the 80's count!

On the run!

Ever happy Mr. Personality

Successes on the Homefront

Well........here we are. I have to admit that on somedays it is all I can do not to sleep the day away....but most days I do pretty well and stay away from the temptation. Once night rolls around though I find myself turned off by any thoughts of even remotely getting on the computer. Even talking on the phone during the day seems like an exhausting effort and one that cramps the day even more due to everything needing to be accomplished. Sooooooooo.............anti-social? Yep....pretty much there. Crossed over into hermitism? Affirmative. Am I ok with it? Yep, more than ok. No guilty conscious here, and no feelings of needing to live up to anyone's expectations. Probably because I'm perfectly fine with just trying to live up to my own these days.



We made our way into our 2nd week of this school year and, so far, it has been absolutely incredible. I still stand in amazement over the miracle of homeschooling and the progress I am able to watch within my own children. They seem to transform before my very eyes each and everyday. I have to say that this, by far, is the best start to homeschooling we have ever had and it shows no signs of wavering. Granted, the 1st day was pretty close to making me rethink why it is we ever even attempt to do this. But after making some changes and working with what we have the 2nd day was a vast improvement and everyone is on a roll. The change in weather seems to lift everyone's spirits and the cool days with windows wide open and autumn breezes blowing through seems to refresh minds, hearts and attitudes. I assigned Evye to Garrett and Gavin from 9-9:30 and her job is to do nothing but keep them happy, busy and occupied while Grayson does handwriting and I work with Aubrey, Garrison and Grant. At 9:30 I am done with their reading work and the 3 of them move on to their little pre-k and K books. Grayson then takes over the little 2 while Evye does handwriting. By 10 Aubrey, Garrison and Grant all feel like they have done their schoolwork and have had undivided attention showered upon them. They are ready to hit the yard, trampoline and their wheels and take off. Garrett takes off with them and Gavin is usually ready to lay back down by then. So, I am free to work in the kitchen and focus on whatever help the older 2 need. We decided to go with Saxon math due to the CD aided lessons and the tirelessly patient tutor that instructs them. I knew Grayson was ahead in math but I had no idea he was already into 6th grade work when we ended last year. But his math has been a huge blessing and I love turning him loose and knowing he'll walk away feeling uplifted, encouraged, and have absolutely gotten and understood every concept. It's still a very freeing feeling to me. Evye is excelling with it too. They both have typing that also ties up the computer and then Evye has Spanish on here. So, during the day, when I could be blogging, our lone family computer is usually tied up with schooling children. I figure it's best that way since it keeps me from being holed up in here and away from everything else that is needing to be done. Plus the fact, I am starting to feel the need to get ready for baby Ivye's arrival. It seems unreal to think there are only 8 wks left. And it hit me like a bomb yesterday when I realized that at my next appt I will be 36 wks with only 4 left to go. I'll probably have a 36 wk appt, maybe a 38 wk one and then the next one will be on my due date when we go to stay there until she comes. So, only 2, maybe 3, appts until we have a baby. It's a bit surreal.

The sleepywrap came! Everybody had to try it out. This by far had to be the funniest though.

Back to school though.......Aubrey is beginning to read words already. True to it's high acclaims "Teach Your Child How to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" is just that. Since she is the 1st child after Grayson that I have attempted to teach to read my fears and inhibitions were a bit larger than life. I was so tired and emotionally exhausted that by the time Evye rolled around we sent her to public school. In the few short months she and Grayson were there they taught her how to read and it was a huge burdened lifted from my shoulders. To see Aubrey excel like she has though has boosted my confidence and just amazed me. It amazes me that a child can ever even learn to read and it amazes me that I have actually taught them. I suppose the next huge milestone after potty training would be the whole reading issue. To cross that line and actually conquer it is astounding to me. There are no words to express the fulfillment that comes from watching them change and discover it all right before your eyes. Garrison and Grant are both falling right in behind her. Although they have not picked it up quite as fast as she has they are both able to read 2 letter words now such as it, is, if, am, an, as, so, to, do, etc.

Garrison being Dr. Vador......that would be he and Grant's name for Darth Vador. Somehow they crossed Little House on the Prairie's Dr. Baker with Star Wars' Darth Vador and thus brought into existence Dr Vador.

To see them all succeed is music to the ears and food to the soul. It's an incredible journey...this mothering thing. Garrett is no longer in diapers at all except for nighttime security on my part. I still have no desire to be awakened by wet bed sheets. On the rare occasion when he does need to go in the middle of the night and is sleeping too hard to wake up I do not have to mess with a wet bed. The true test came when we spent the entire day in town and not only did he stay in underwear the entire time and told us when he did need to go but he was able to go for 4 hrs at a time so that we were not seeing every bathroom in every store we happened to be in. And he made the day trip to FW for my appt in underwear. I still don't know why this is such a novelty to me but it just excites the heart everytime I see his success and this milestone that has been crossed yet again...just as I have stated in the last 4 posts. I think it's even more amazing to me not to be buying diapers for the first time in years.....for the first time in a decade. The miracle of cloth combined with the miracle of potty training is an amazing thing both for the heart and for the budget.

Then they all went and found every other baby sling we have and had to try them all out...but weren't happy until a real baby was used.

In an effort to teach Evye how to be a keeper of the home and Grayson how to cook, as Brad and I have both decided that all of our boys will know how to cook and cook well, we have been having "home-ec" classes. This would just be the fun of getting in the kitchen and having everyone pitch in and learn how to do it all. I"ve been working with Evye intently lately in order to have her ready to do everything once Ivye comes. I definitely did not come from a family that cloth diapered or was even remotely open to it and we only made our own bread for a brief period in history. I was rasied with the basic fundamanetal knowledge of eating entirely healthy and making our own bread. We even had a Vita Mix, bread machine and flour mill while I was growing up. Yet I walked away not knowing how to do any of it. I know that Evye needs to be prepared to do all of this when I am down for a week or so and it is my desire to teach her how to do these things that seem to be lost in today's expensive, convenient driven society. Even with Mother coming for the week I feel that in the event that Mother does not take well to the cloth that there is somebody here who knows what to do and can carry on or, at least, can show her the ropes as she figures it all out. So it is that she and Grayson are learning how to grind the wheat, make the bread, cook, make the wet wipes and change diapers. Let it never be said that the true art of cooking was lost as I seek to learn how to garden, cook, can and preserve for our little family and then instill those traits into them. It is my desire to bring back the lost art of homecooking from scratch and teach it to all of our children instead of turning them loose in a culture that depends on boxed macaroni and cheese, Raman Noodles and every prepared meal in the frozen food section.

Everybody wears babies

I got this book from The Urban Homemaker and found that it inspires the soul. It is just a simple beginning to cooking with whole foods in an organized, planned out way. Since it even included the grocery list and had a 4 wk menu plan it was exactly what we needed to get jump started. Since our dinners are what suffer the most it greatly aided me in getting us all at the table together for a huge family meal each night, made it easy for me to throw together and also accomplished the goal of sticking with the really whole nutritious stuff. And the children LOVE cooking and "helping" with the dinner efforts. The other night we even tried out our 1st whole wheat, organic, homemade brownies made with Rapadura instead of white sugar. Amazingly, they were REALLY good. I was a bit skeptical going into it.

And for my birthday Mother gave me one of my most desired gifts.....a flaker attachment for the Bosch. So, now we are able to cook with our own home ground oats. It flakes out the oatmeal perfectly and it is sooooooooo much fun. It's like having a new toy. I'll try and post some pics of using it tomorrow. It's a good homey feeling every morning to wake up and fix a steaming bowl of fresh milled oatmeal with a hot cup of coffee. The morning temps are now in the low 50's so the oatmeal and coffee are part of the new chilly fall morning routine. The children love it too and I LOVE how friendly it is to the budget...not to mention their little bodies. It's one of Gavin's favorites so I mix it up with yogurt and pureed fruit for he and Garrett. The older ones mix in agave nectar and coconut oil and then whatever fruit they want to top it with. This part of life and whole foods cooking is still such a novelty in life too. I never imagined it would be this easy, this fun or that it would bring such a sense of fulfillment and contentment with it. It's really just about taking the baby steps.

Bathtime buddies

Now just to acquire some soft wheat berries, or more commonly known as what will be ground into pastry flour. That's next up in line in order to start making all of our own whole wheat pancakes, waffles and muffins. Evye discovered a recipe for applesauce oatmeal muffins and has been begging to make them every since. But, we need pastry flour before we can set to work on those. We've got TONS of homemade applesauce now to start with though!

West TX baby toys....those would be the bullet shells Grayson left in a formula can on the cabinet

As we have changed up the routine and started preparing everyone for their parts to play in Ivye's arrival Aubrey Garrison and Grant have received their promotions. They are feeling quite big and are now an active part of the duty assignments. Aubrey has now taken over folding all loads of towels. She has folded towels in the past and greatly aided Grayson's and Evye's efforts but she has now earned the right to fold her own baskets of all towels and washcloths. Garrison and Grant shared the official responsibility of cleaning off the table and wiping it down after every meal. Whoever has dining duty that day has the job of instructing and reminding them how to do it properly and then going back to make sure it was done right after each meal. They also have floor pickup and vaccuming. That is quite the hilarious event to watch. We've all taken truns having a good laugh over it.....and, of course, they think they are about the biggest most growup thingsi n the world to be taking on such grand and huge chores. There again, whoever has dining/floor duty has to instruct and remind them how to do it properly. Aubrey is now also learning how to do dishes, though she still falls a bit short when it comes to reaching the sink. So, we 're working on a routine where she places all dorty one in one side and once rinsed places them in the other. We're still experimenting with her loading the dishwasher once they are all rinsed or just having an older helper load as she rinses. Not sure how that one's going to pan out. For now and from the looks of it, it may just be more useful to have her have an older helper to load the rinsed dishes. I still am amazed by how quickly things are getting done when you have 5 going at it instead of just 2. I love seeing the fuirt of out efforts finally begin to pay off and having so many of helping age now. It makes all of the years so worth it and all of the tireless efforts of training and trying so hard to instill character into them all seem so short lived. It makes me excited about the years to come and what we will get to do together as the time is more and more freed up by helping hands.

Aubrey hard at work on her towels

And look at these diaper covers I found for Ivye. I can hardly wait to start in on the prefolds now just to use these things! Thanks to Bethany for introducing me to these! I'm also going to try Sue Ellen's recommendation and try my hand at making her diaper covers from diaperkit.com. They also have a nighttime diaper kit that I really want to try making. I'd love to try it out on Gavin since he's such a heavy nighttime wetter. If it's successful and I end up getting really good at it I want to buy the cover pattern so I can make Ivye a ton of covers but pick out my own fabrics. I've got to get the hang of it first though! Oh yeah........those little pajamas I was making for Garrison's and Grant's birthday.......well, they're now going to be Christmas presents instead of birthday presents. So much for having them completed on time. Yep........moving on to conquer the growing sewing pile and learning how to can and preserve. That's next up in the line of to-do's.

Quick and Easy Brownies

2 cups Rapadura

1 cup expeller pressed coconut oil

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp Mexican vanilla

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp Real Salt or sea salt

1 cup carob chips

Mix all dry ingredients together. Add oil, eggs and vanilla to dry mix. Pour into 9x13 inch greased pan. Sprinkle carob chips on top before baking. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes