Even with all this pink we are still TEAM BLUE!

7 weeks, 15 weeks, 21 weeks and 24 weeks...evidently the color of your maternity clothes does not help predict the gender of the baby...or maybe I should have just chose Purple...it worked the first time!

Well, even though at 10 weeks along we tried out the very cool intelligender test...which tests your urine for the gender of your baby...and the results came in G.I.R.L....but the reviews were sketchy and so it was more of a "just for fun" test. But still, very encouraging....as skeptical as I tried to be!

I don't know HOW I forgot how foggy and unclear everyone's ultrasound pictures always were when I'd see them...compared to the amazing technology that my previous OB's machine's had....but alas, I got excited and payed attention to the pricing plans compared to the number of visits allotted, I scheduled with a friend at a local "ultrasound studio" and ended up a little disappointed with the quality of our first 3 visits....the forth visit ended up producing decent results, thankfully!

Our first visit was an early one, just for a peek at our little bean. We went in at 8 weeks and saw the beating heart and a bouncing little bean of a baby.

I spent all of the early pregnancy playing the baby GIRL name game. I chatted with a couple of my online friends...since Eric wouldn't indulge me much until we knew the gender for sure. I figured I could at least enjoy playing it while it lasted. Oh what fun I had playing "NO BOYS ALLOWED"!

So Eric and I showed up for our 17 week ultrasound..which I ended up being only a 16 weeks along, I suppose I got a little ahead of myself...Well, that didn't seem to matter because our proud little bean showed HIS stuff off nice and clear...I did a pretty good job holding it together, but with every reassurance from my sweetie who was trying so hard to comfort me, I found myself getting weaker and weaker and finally burst into tears when the tech left the room for a phone call. When she returned, I could not pull it together and dry it up no matter how hard I tried...and she so sweetly reminded me that this early the parts can be rather swollen, and we'd need to double check next time we came around. Yea, I've seen boy parts 4 times before, and what we saw was pretty clear. Our FIFTH BOY was on his way!

The ride home was awful, Eric in all his proud papa-ness...couldn't wait to share the news and was just BEAMING...while I tried to muffle my tears and not steal away his joy while he made the calls (which I failed miserably at). I was so angry at myself for feeling SO disappointed. Trying to figure out how I could turn it all off and go announce the great news to my mom who stayed home with the kids....just made it all the worse! We sat in the driveway for a while and I Eric even offered to take ME out for ice cream (I had threatened that I would need it, besides, it had worked for Libby last time around...but I didn't even want any; Not even my favorite Braum's single dip, brownie, hot fudge sundae with nuts and no cherry!

Then I had to get the courage up to face the embarrassment of knowing there's no way to cover up the bawling your eyes out look on my face and come in with a smile and cheerfully announce the news to my mom...and after that I had to face telling LIBBY! I knew she was probably even more hopeful for a sister! She, by the way, took the news so much better than mama...she just threw her head back and said "oh! another one!" (or something to that effect, I am after all a mommy of 5 with preggo brain, trying to recall the exact phrase said over 17 weeks ago...but I"m pretty sure that was it) We didn't even have to take her out for ice cream, what a trooper.

Well, so the name game began...and I don't think I could fathom the enormity of the list of names we would be vetoing...I think I could write a book about it! We have been at it for 17 weeks and the only name we have for this baby is ....Johnson.

I never understood not having a name picked out in stone when the baby arrived, or waiting to see the baby to give them a name...well, looks like I may be getting a lesson on it. I've resolved it might just be they way it is going to happen for this little baby boy. I'm thankful for a homebirth knowing that we won't be pressured to pick a name during a short 2 day hospital stay. At this point I'm just hoping that we can figure it out before the beginning of 2011!

Well, our 33 week ultrasound we were joined by the family...the kids, my mom and dad, Jeanette, Regina and the girls all piled into the ultrasound room. It was verified for the 3rd time that there were, indeed, boy parts. I do admit that I started to think that just maybe the first 2 ultrasounds were wrong since we were having such a hard time with this baby naming stuff. I almost convinced myself that just maybe it was a girl and that was why we just couldn't decide. Oh well, so much for a mama's intuition, when it comes to baby's gender, evidently I have NONE! We did, get some great pictures though! He already has chubby little cheeks and had fun playing with his foot and showing off his thumb sucking skills, what a cutie!




Just this week, I finally wrote in to a baby name blog to get some brainstorming help...thinking, that just maybe with a gathering of baby naming enthusiasts they could possibly come up with a list of ideas that I hadn't thought of. Well...so far, no luck...not even anything worth mentioning! At the top of the bad name ideas...was Benedict and Geoffrey, how ironic! It was even the same person who mentioned both names, in 2 different comments! In my response I made sure to include Robert and Gregory as other related names that would be vetoed on the account of my ex-husband. So much for that great idea!

So here we are, 33 weeks pregnant with a giant "are you ready to pop yet" belly to show for it, enjoying the most comfortable pregnancy yet, thank you to seeing our new chiropractor 3 times a week for the past 10 weeks. I can still stand up and get dressed and sleep comfortably...even if changing position is a bit of a struggle, either way, both instances are an amazing feat this far along in a 6th pregnancy...but I expect to enjoy it to the end!

Well, its that time of the year again...I'm PREGNANT!

For the third consecutive year in a row we will be adding a new addition to our family! It worked out that we have had a baby born each year: Jan 2008, April 2009 and our newest addition due mid December 2010. Even though the babies will still be rather close in age, it feels like its been a while since I was pregnant last. Clayt is still nursing and I plan to continue until he's ready to wean. My cycles were a little different this time around. They did not start back up as early and then when I have had them they have been 5- 15 days longer than normal. I wasn't really sure what was going on, so we tested weekly after day 28 until my period would show up. We kinda got into the routine of just "ruling out" pregnancy with the tests rather than being super hopeful each time. So this last test taking time...I saw Eric do a double take just after he'd dropped in the sample...and heard a WOW...the unbelief sort of Wow, if you know what I mean. The test line showed up at the same time as the control line and was darker than the control, no waiting and no doubts about it! It took us both a little by surprise, but it is the best surprise EVER!

We got a little more technical with telling the kids this time around and had them do a little "science" experiment. We had to go over the details really quick since Aunt Sara was on her way up to the door and we wanted the kids to find out first. So I quickly explained that the test was checking the fluid for a certain hormone. We talked about what the control line and the test line meant and that is why there was a C and a T printed on the tester. Parker dropped 5 drops into the "well" and seconds later both lines showed up. I asked them what they thought it meant. Libby started grinning and jumping up and down, Perry, started nodding his head and said "I know what that means" in a grown up understanding tone....Parker...we'll he didn't have a clue, lol, so Libby said, we're having a baby! Just as all this was going on Sara walked through the door and peeked on the table and figured out the news on her own ;)

We made a few phone calls and then updated everyone else on Facebook, I'd been waiting ALL DAY to break the news! We've had such a positive and encouraging response, which is nice to hear!

Erica says: there's gonna be another Johnson around December 2010....hopefully a female version!

Eric says: Whelp, Shwew! Looks like the Johnson's are taking over the world, ERICA'S PREGNANT AGAIN!

Riding the Undertow! WHEEEE!

We'll I seem to be one of those people who are only happy when they are going full steam ahead and fully emerged in the things that interest them. I've managed to begin a new venture, just a little further down the path into natural remedies. When taking care of my family and the people I love lines up with the Word of God, I have a really hard time not diving in head first! I think it must be the proper use of the addictive nature God gave me! I love digging into His word and learning to live the way He wants me to!

In the past month I've spent my time acquiring a miniature library of books, Young Living essential oils, a massage table and taken 40 hours of Training learning about the Healing Oils of the Bible, Vitaflex, Emotional Release and the Raindrop Technique, and last but not least Chemistry...Yes...a 5 hour crash course in Chemistry....soon to be reviewed over the next year. Can you say WOOSH!

I think the most convincing points for me are:

God gave Moses a special blend of oils and herbs to use for anointing in Exodus. God says leaves are for medicine/healing (Ezekiel 47:12). He instructs us under the new covenant in James 5:14 to Go to the elders of the church to be anointed with oil and the prayer of faith to save the sick, confessing our sins to one another so that we may be healed. Now, the bible isn't an Anointing with Oils instruction manual....so it doesn't go in to great detail about how they were used, but...If you dig a little, you will find some fascinating stuff that lines up with what science is confirming (Imagine that!) Also, remember the people in the times of the bible knew the practice of anointing and oils like we know medicine chests and doctor appointments.

I've heard many Christians point out that God tells us to Fear Not...365 times in the Bible....it must be important if He reminds us so often. We'll when it comes to oils and ointments, they are mentioned over 600 times!

We'll it gets a little more interesting in Galatians 5. Paul gives us a nice list of the "obvious" works of the flesh. Our problem, we aren't so keen on his definitions. Everyone has an idea of what sorcery and witchcraft is...yet Paul, when he wrote it in Greek, said: Pharmakeia. Sounds familiar huh? Yes, it means all those witch-y type things, but the Strong's Concordance says first of all that it is the "use and administration of drugs"- OUCH.

Now, lets not freak out and flush all the tylenol in your cupboard and refuse medical advice....just like everything else in the word, it has to be tempered with wisdom and understanding. Drugs do not Heal...they can not heal because they are a counterfeit of nature. They work by blocking messages and allow the body to not realize there's a problem. When I understand how drugs work, I can see why Paul lists them as a work of the flesh. They are a temporary quick-"fix" as long as you can survive the side effects! God ordained things from nature to help heal us, along with laying on of hands but most of all faith in Him...Jehovah-Rapha...Our God who heals us!


During my first experience with Young Living essential oils we saw results and reactions with just a small group of 4 people. Each person had experiences and they varied in several area from emotional, hormonal to physical and spiritual. The more people I meet, the more testimonies I hear and the more encouraged I am.

So, If you are interested I need about 10 generous people to help me out to complete my training...all you gotta do is be willing to give me a couple hours to "treat" you to an application of essential oils on the back and feet. OH....That is "treat" as in FREE, not as in "medical treatment" ...gotta be clear on that!

And of course I have to include the "disclaimer" that seems to come along with every type of natural "help": Statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug
Administration. Products and/or techniques mentioned are not intended to
diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information provided here
is for educational purposes only and is not intended as diagnosis,
treatment, or prescription for any disease. The decision to use, or not to
use, any of this information is the sole responsibility of the reader.

Leave me a comment or Facebook me if you are interested! :)

Potty time ALREADY?!

Last Tuesday, Corban was a little bored, so I decided some play-time in the tub sounded like fun....mostly because I get a little bit of time to read while he plays! It is one of Corban's favorite things to do. As soon as he hears the tub water come on---- from anywhere in the house, I might add.....there's hardly escaping another bath time! I will for sure be experiencing I very loud protest for a BAAAAAAAAATH, BAAAAAAAAAATH!

Anyway...after he had enough of playing in the water and let it all out of the tub, mama wasn't quite done with her reading so I let him play in the bath room. We'll he picked up the "little-potty" brought it to the middle of the bathroom, sat down and peed in it. Totally figured it out on his own, and was having a fun! I decided to run and get him a "treat" some Sun-drops I picked up at whole foods (organic M&M like candies) Like they are much healthier, NOT! But I felt a little better about giving them and It was only ONE at a time. We'll day one went great...every time I took him to the potty he was able to go and even POOPED in there! Day two...went pretty good, only a few accidents...and by Day 3...we'll my treat "reward" backfired and started...a love for TREEEEEEEEEAT, rather than a love for going potty! He kept requesting TREEEEEEEEAT, and wasn't comprehending the "go to the potty first" rule! So, mama diapered him back up and decided to not worry about it...and FORGET the treats!

The next day, I decided that if he goes on the potty..... great! but I wasn't gonna take him every 30-45 minutes throughout the day. He actually took his diaper off on his own and sat on the potty and went! So, I can see that he's understanding some of it, but we haven't focused on it so much. After he goes, he helps me flush it down the potty, he says bye bye and CLOSES the lid then we go on our way. If we're gonna be home and he wants to put on some underwear...I let him choose a diaper or undies. So far he's continued to go on the potty when I take him.... without fits, and not screaming for TREEEEEEEEEEEATS! whew!

Who knew, a 26 month old boy would be ready for the potty without a lot of coaxing! Not me!

Skinning Shins

So, if you haven't been reading the comments on my face book, I'm pretty sure that you probably have the wrong idea about this post based on the title of the message. No one has fallen down and scraped up their precious shins.

So this week's project is to make homemade beef stock. A few weeks ago, I checked the store, and guess what...they don't sell beef part ingredients for making stock. We'll, I just so happened to get to know a new wonderful family at church and her hubby is a butcher, and we found out a few months later that her brother is Baker, although he is not *a* Baker, that's just his last name. For those of you who don't know "Baker" his name is Eric Baker, and he and my hubby have been buddies for quite a while. Obviously, if you know me and my hubby...they both share the same first name which is why we just call him Baker. We had our bonfire wedding in his backyard.

Hu-mongo thanks to our friends, we were able to obtain all of the *ingredients* even at the perfect price! So, Saturday our friends delivered the marrow and neck bones, but the cow shins...or whatever cow legs are called from the "knee" down, would have to wait until Monday. To my surprise the shins arrived...all 21.5lbs of them arrived with fur, WOW...fur makes it a bit more real.

I knew for sure I'd need some back up. So, my other Amish-wannabe friend (note the hyphen to differentiate that she most definitely is my friend and the wannabe links to the other noun in that phrase) and I got together this morning and embarked on a whole new experience for making beef stock. We did reminisce about how easy it was to just measure out at teaspoon of Wyler's bullion granules. But this way, is the healthful way.....you can can learn why here: beautiful broth. We know it will be worth all the effort. Although, admittedly we knew nothing of how to accomplish skinning shins, but we decided that its much easier to get started when you have a friend there that is just as clueless as you.

So, we spread the table with paper sacks and tied on our aprons and got started. About 2/3rds of the way through our project my friend reminded me that the book did say that the hooves were *optional. We laughed about that and decided we would finish skinning 3 of the shins and to just chop the hoof off the 4th one. We did take a few moments to show the kids how the ligaments worked and printed off some information about the anatomy of the hoof, us homeschooling mama's are always looking for ways to incorporate school into our daily life.

Next we obtained permission to use the hack-saw, but before we got started my gracious hubby offered to do the hoof removal. I have to say that was a bit of a relief. Today was prep day, tomorrow we'll start the stock.

The thought of boiling calves hooves isn't nearly as bad after going through the process of skinning them first. Plus, I learned what to ask the butcher for next time....So much for my Amish training.

Unfortunately my Encyclopedia of Country Living book arrived on the front porch this evening. It as a whole chapter dedicated to raising cows and butchering them.

Well my awesomely wonderful husband helped us with the hooves. I sat idly by and read through my new book to see if I could come up with some helpful info. He tried out a few different saws and it was quite entertaining watching him. He decided to go out to his wood-shop and build a "shin-stabilizer". (I think he just wanted an excuse to build something with his new dado set that arrived in the shipment with my book). Next he attached the hoof to the stabilizer by drilling a screw through it, and used 2 clamps to secure it to the table so he could hack-saw through the first hoof section. He decided to try out the sawzall to cut through the second. So very un-Amish like, but it worked well. Round 2: on to separating the joints on the skinned shins....and after a bit of practice he was able to get the 3rd one apart in 2-minutes and 40-seconds...yes, we timed him just to see how good he was! I'd say that's good!

maple-coconut-chocolate-peanut-butter SQUARES

We'll, first on my list of recipes to try this week was something simple. Or well...maybe I just didn't prepare anything and this one didn't take any advanced prep. It would have been super easy to mix together if I had not chosen the "mini" chopper blade in the food processor with the large bowl, it took dumping in almost all the ingredients and them not mixing one bit...after of couse thinking why in the WORLD would the recipe say to use the food processor, it is totally NOT working. I took it apart and realized my mistake. Whoops!

So, after starting the recipe, I realized that I totally did not have the required 1½ cups of honey for this recipe...so I used maple syrup...only $7.56 worth...it is B grade so it does have a little more nutrition in it!


Providing that you have your area cleared off and all your supplies and proper appliance parts ready this is a really easy recipe. I was thinking I could use it as a good finger food/snack for Corban, but its a bit to dessert-ish for everyday.  So I won't be able to use it like I wanted to. Oh well, live and learn and move on to the next recipe.

It did make a rather large batch. We now have enough for toddler size servings for 12 weeks if he ate a piece every day, which we will NOT be doing. I think it could easily last 4-6months...if I weren't feeding 2-3 little ones.

Recipe source: Really Raw Honey Balls I prefer using a different name...share any ideas, because my title version is a bit long.

Party Time

We'll, hot air balloon themed "party things" don't seem to exist. It probably saved us lots of money in the long run. Daddy used some scrap melamine to make a "dry erasable" hot air balloon. It worked perfectly for table decor, and easy to personalize to boot! The left over plates will be easy to use for the next boy birthday, June will be here before I know it and I will be a mama to a TEENAGER. Oh wow!...actually, mommy brain moment...the next birthday will be Daddy, then 9 days later Clayt turns ONE!

We'll after our previous birthday candle fiasco...we made sure to be extra careful and had no mishaps with the fire! It only took Corban a couple of practice "blows" to blow the candles out (he even got both candles at the same time!) He was cheering for himself after each attempt, it was very cute :) But then everything they do is...we'll most things!




I made the traditional Chocolate Mayonnaise Birthday Cake...I did my best to sneak in a little "health" in there but everybody noticed! I think I would have been okay if I hadn't tried to use half whole wheat flour! But for sure, the extra 1½ cups of sugar wasn't missed at all. Live and Learn, and don't mess with the Mayo-cake flour! (I have a few new ideas for the next go around! *snicker*

Having recent practice opening presents at Christmas...Corban was a PRO this year!



He received a nice variety of Things this year: clothes, Arbonne bath-wash, stacking toys, a nice bit of cash-ola and BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS! which we LOVE!!

Grandma Johnson even found a book with Hot air balloons!

He had a couple of helpers... Josie was the tissue paper queen, pulling them out of the sack magician style, it was so cute, she even showed off the "goods" I suspect Clayt was looking for a tag to taste...



We had a great party with our family, so glad everyone was able to make it over!

Birthday Boy!

We'll our baby boy is officially 2 years old! We celebrated his actual birthday with his first "birthday dinner" We selected "to the best of our knowledge" his favorites...milk, meat & potatoes...there's no denying it, he is his father's son! You will notice a little green on his plate, because I insisted we have a veggie to round out the meal.

The Official Menu:
Grilled Chicken Breast
Onion Roasted Potatoes- Daddy style
Green beans with homemade raw butter
Goat milk for Corban, Raw whole Cow's milk for Everyone Else

We sang to Corban and let the birthday boy have a "cup cake" so he could practice blowing out his birthday candles. We nearly had a "AFV" moment; if only we had been video taping...but we weren't. Evidently mommy..or was it daddy? Whoever it was, needs to practice not crumbling apart the cupcake and dumping lighted candles on the boy. Luckily, the candle was quickly extinguished by Daddies fingers and nothing even caught on fire!

Corban did however enjoy his "cup cake" Mommy found a special recipe for Grain-free Brownies. I think they will make a great addition to our breakfast rotation. They are made out of black beans, eggs, coconut oil and honey. For the party, I whipped up some raw cream with a little stevia and "frosted" them.

super fast

Well, the Daniel fast is over! 21 days of no dairy, refined grains, processed foods, meat or desserts and as far as beverages go I only drank water the entire time. And boy do I feel great!

I let my food nazi-ism slide the last week. We ate some wonderfully de-lish tortilla soup...which I had to get the recipe. It ended up being way beyond my personal guidelines....I just couldn't wrap my brain around dry ranch dip being Daniel fast friendly, and ultimately it is so full of preservatives I think I'd rather come up with a wholesome replacement in the future.... so I skipped that ingredient and just turned the other cheek as I poured in the ranch beans with its "less than 2%" banned ingredient content...and oh yes, the whole wheat tortillas with all those preservatives are definitely a no, but we've managed to almost finish off the 3rd package in less than a week. I had migraine headaches every night I ate the stuff though. hmm, chemicals I imagine. Can't wait on working to reinvent this recipe in a nourishing traditions way and add it to our food menu...in the future...the distant future since we've eaten it about 6 times in the past 10 days and still have leftovers in the fridge. I did find out that its pretty good after being put in the blender and used as burrito filling.

Physically speaking we lost weight (those hard to get rid of, last 8 pounds for me and Eric lost 15 pounds....though he says "I didn't loose weight; I gained health" ), we broke food addictions (chemicals and sugar) and we've seemed to encounter a natural portion control in our eating habits IF we choose pay attention to our bodies and not focusing on the food in our mouth....let me tell you it is so much harder with my favorites.

I broke the fast about 15 minutes after PB called it done...I tested a few crumbs from Corban's birthday brownie cupcakes. It is a new recipe that is friendly to Corban's gluten and dairy free diet. I'll share the recipe AFTER everyone has taste-tested them tomorrow. Eric brought home my favorite..Mr. Mambo's cheese enchilada's. Oh it was hard to not just gobble it all down, but I focused on eating it slow and saved half of my enchiladas for another day. After the first few bites I noticed an odd feeling in my gut, but dismissed it. But 2 hours later my tummy had it's own ideas about the food and afforded me some quiet reading time you know where. I checked out my Nourishing Traditions cookbook and reconfirmed in my mind WHY I need to make changes in our dietary lifestyle.

The fast was the easy part. Holding ourselves to our own standard (and finding a new standard) is a whole new ballgame. But I've been preparing for this day and all last week was quite productive in the kitchen, so I feel at least I'm getting a good start!

We tried out soaking pecans, walnuts and pumpkin seeds and making "crispy nuts" that were very good and nutritionally superior to raw nuts and seeds. We also tried soaking brown rice over night and it was much fluffier, the kids didn't even notice that it was brown rice. I bought a sprouting lid for my mason jars so I can try soaking and sprouting our legumes and other whole grains, but it may be a little while before we introduce them back into our diet...we consumed about 10lbs of beans the past 3 weeks!

Tuesday, I made some garlic-lemonade for the boys who haven't been feeling so great. The dragon breath and burps leave little to be desired, but it seems to really help with the symptoms.

We got our Dairy delivery, raw whole milk, raw cream and cheese on Wednesday from a great friend who let us "hitch-hike" in on her co-op order. THANK YOU!!!!

Thursday, Parker and Perry helped me make a 10 day supply of butter. It's been a while since I last made it, so hopefully it won't take an hour and a half on the next go around! We made it in two batches, as I'm not sure how much is too much for the mixer...maybe next go around I"ll whip up the butter in separate batches, then "clean" it all together as that seems to be the most time consuming part. We made 38 ounces of butter and got 24 ounces of buttermilk out of 4 pints of cream...I think those are decent results. I have one pint of cream that I'm saving to make whipped cream for Corban's birthday cupcakes. Next dairy run, I plan to try making cream cheese and whey The whey will be used to make lots of lacto-fermented vegetables and condiments which provide essential nutrients for proper digestion.

Wednesday, we got our first shipment of coconut oil. I couldn't help but grin at the thought of asking Eric to open it for us as I struggled to lug the 5 gallon bucket through the living room and heft it up on the kitchen table. The kids were as excited as me and wanted to test it out by the spoonful....which of course we did as soon as dad got the lid off for us! He detests the stuff, but I sneak it in when I can. It's tricky.

I made a gallon of yogurt on Friday and a half-gallon of Goat Yogurt for Corban on Saturday. It is amazing to me how much switching to goat dairy HELPS him! With in 5 hours of consuming the milk things start changing for the better. I need to get better at regularly making trips to the Goat farm. I really have no excuse considering its just over 1 mile from the house.

We already use vinegar and water for most of our cleaning, and make our own laundry detergent on occasion, so I decided to try my hand at making some body-care products starting with toothpaste and shampoo. I think both recipes will need some adjustments..but they work wonderfully well. I brushed my teeth before bed and they still felt "dentist-clean" this morning (I guess that is actually hygienist clean, huh?)

So, I guess we're still in progress in figuring the new and improved Johnson family diet. Mr and Mrs Johnson seem to have conflicting different ideas about what is important. So, for now we have our raw dairy, introducing lacto-fermentation and soaking grains, legumes, nuts and seeds and acquiring ingredients for making healthy beef stock. My other endeavor is finding true farm fresh eggs with chickens who are able to be truly free range...and seek out some of their own food, rather than walk outside onto a concrete slab for 5 minutes a day....

Perfect Day

Last weekend we were looking for ways to make changes in our life and Eric asked me what my perfect day looked like. I envisioned ....quiet time with God, quality time for my family, being presentable always, keeping the house "company ready", laundry caught up, keeping track of bills, meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, training and educating the children, and don't forget the all important social networking and recording memories of our life, also known as blogging! Yes, I want to be Janelle English.

Well, I know she doesn't homeschool and not sure if she has a blog (it would for sure be a great one if she did)...but you get my drift if you know her! If you don't know her...she's witty and fun, but confronting if necessary, she loves talking about food, she knows how to organize (and keep it that way), but above all else she's living for God and a great teacher of His word. Ultimately I know God made me who I am for a reason, but I'm thankful for the excellent examples of Godly women, wives and mothers He's put into my life.

So, we sat down and wrote out all the things to try to do and put them into a daily schedule. Simple enough huh? It works amazingly perfect on paper!

The first day I woke up on time, got dressed, started laundry and prepared breakfast. Libby's first comment to me that morning...Are we going somewhere Mommy? hmm, I guess she noticed.

Everything went wonderfully well. Breakfast with my hunny, getting in the Word, fixed my hair, fed the babies...even clayt got some breakfast (as in solid food) for the first time in his 8 months existence, quality meals prepared for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as 2 snacks for the children, one on one time playing with the kids, helping with projects, bills paid, schedules updated, emails sent, training and correcting of children in a nice productive manner, baths and showers for everyone...and we only got to bed 30 minutes late!

So today is day2...and we got a little bit of a late start...must have had something to do with the fact that we got to bed "just a little bit" late. I was able to remove myself from my cozy warm bed in exchange for some somewhat comfy jeans an acceptable colored "black" fuzzy-chenille warm "jacket" with pom-pom ties, that ended up being removed this afternoon. My previous attire- Chenille "movie theatre" carpet jammie pants, and a zip up, ruffle edged 3/4 sleeve, multi-pastel striped fuzzy chenille robe (with pockets!) is going to have to wait until the weekend to come out of the closet again, farewell old friend, see you soon!

I went to the sub freezing garage to start a load of laundry, only to find a load of the children's laundry from yesterday still there. I re-ran the load and moved onto breakfast (which took about 2 times as long as I had planned). Although breakfast was served "on time" I spent my quiet time cooking. I left a bit of a mess from all the cooking and preparation of breakfast when I got distracted by babies needing to be changed and put down for their naps which lead me right into "cleaning time" of the day. Which I am happy to report: successfully completed! And just in time to start serving snacks and preparing lunch.... I spent a little bit of time in the word durning naptime, but more time than I should have working on other blog posts...while I helped Libby with her project and explained how I'm still doing it with her because I will STOP what I"m doing the second she needs help. I see where my self control is lacking. But everyone and their brother, mother and sister know that, if they know me. I"m working on it though!

Paul tells us in Philippians 3:12... Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

And that's just what I plan to do, keep working on my Perfect day schedule until it is attained. Strive to be better each day, learn from my mistakes and make changes. Celebrate the victories, no matter how big or small and above all enjoy and pay attention to the life that I'm living.

Now I best start getting ready for bed...I'm not saying how far behind I am already ;) But my hubby is JUST now on his way home...7 hours of overtime will throw-ya off schedule!

Here we go......

Each year as the time for birthday party planning begins to come around (or, well, several months in advance, because that's how my brain seems to work). I start think about the past year and look for things that stand out as favorites for the past year in that Child's life. Last year, there was no thinking about it, hands down, BANANAS took the cake...and quite literally, I might add, since we served banana cake with banana cream frosting! Okay, time to hop off Memory Lane and back to THIS year!

This year there were a couple close contenders...dogs and pigs...better known as "woof, woof" and "oink". He liked to especially bark at his grandmas, since they both have dogs. Then I'd hear him making his pig noise and searching out each one of his books that had a pig in it He knew right where to look! But most definitely hot-air balloons seem to deserve that special place of honor.

2 years have flown right by,
but not before Corban learned to cry....BALLOON!

He is particularly fond of the Hot-Air type,
that float through the sky
and go bye-bye...

Unfortunately, he doesn't understand
we have no control over where they go
But thanks to the internet we can sit down and watch anytime.
As the video starts he says...Here we go!

Here's the background story:

One wintry afternoon sometime in February 2009, we looked out the back-porch window and saw a huge hot air balloon floating by. We showed Corban and it took a minute for him to see it, and when he did he started saying "boon! Boon!" and then it floated away. At just over 1 year old, Corban didn't quite grasp Dada and Mama explaining that it went bye-bye and we couldn't bring it back, he continued to ask over and over and OVER!

So off to the computer Dada went to find some "boons" We found this nice little trailer for a ballooning DVD and I think we've ALL fallen in love with it. Dada has his special times sharing this video with him and I can tell already that the music has been filed in my heart as one of those childhood moments that will bring me back to the time I was able to cuddle up my little one in my lap and watch the balloons together for the few short minutes while it lasts. It's fun pointing out the different balloons and talking about what's about to happen next. The cutest thing of all is that Corban picked up on Dada saying "here we go" just as it was about to begin, so now as soon as he knows the movie is about to begin, he gets all excited and says here we go, here we go!

Here's the short video:

Whew...I think I made it!

We'll, I think I finally caught up! I'm trying to not let the randomness of my posts bother me, but it is really hard having them all out of order!

One last post of 2009...some playing in the snow!




Perry did the majority of the building for the snowman, but said there's now way I could have got the head on there with out Parker's help!

Parker is hiding out in his snow fort, having a blast out there in the freezing cold!
He doesn't seem to even notice it!

We'll see ya in 2010 (that's twenty-ten) for the Guts folks and the rest of the cool peeps!

Winterfest...am I really still in Tulsa?

Ice Skating, while its snowing...in Tulsa, how can this be?

Well, one of the activities on Grandma's calendar to us was a trip out downtown to go Ice skating.
I'd never ever heard of an outdoor ice rink in Tulsa, but evidently we have one this year.

Libby's friend Abby came along with us, and we had a great time.Everyone did a pretty good job skating and no crashing, even though Parker only seems to be able to go full steam ahead!

Libby and Abby

Libby got ice skating lessons for Christmas from her dad so maybe she'll be able to teach us a few cool moves in a couple of months!

While we were there the boys saw a friend from church and we had a little bit of a snowball fun going on...I even joined in on the fun!

Thanks Grandma and Crappaw for taking us to winterfest, it's was a blast!

Christmas Day Bustle

We'll the day started off especially early this year...5:15 the alarm rang...we didn't get up for another little while but I think maybe we are the only ones who have to actually set an alarm for Christmas Morning. We actually had to wake up the babies first and give them some breakfast, since they aren't quite old enough to be excited about presents. The only thing Corban is excited about in the morning is eating his banana! We had rounds to make, so being up early is the way it is around here! We were supposed to be at Grandma and Crappaw's house at 7:45 and then off to Aunt Debbies at 9:00....but since we were still sitting at mom and dad's at 9:00 we knew the day wasn't going to go as planned. Everything was delayed a bit because we didn't schedule in road conditions when we made Christmas day plans...as it was 60° just 5 days before, who would have expected to get over a half a foot of snow! NOT ME!

Once we got started Corban got the hang of opening presents this year, His birthday is coming up in a month and it should be lots of fun!

We'll after talking to grandma about presents and stuff this year..... ya know the talk I've been having with her every year for the last 3 years or so....how we don't have a whole lot of room for the stuff we have, and I have no idea what to do with a lot of extra things. Since we have 5 kids that even if each child only gets 3 things that's 15 new things...and we do have 8 families that buy them things....which all in all is a lot...A TON of stuff to play with.

So, Grandma made plans this year with all of the adults to exchange calendar's with a few activities written in so we can spend some special times together throughout the year. I thought it was an amazing idea, and we're moving in the right direction away from all this materialism. I was expecting a nice simple Christmas that's not too over done....boy was I wrong! The presents were still stacked to toppling over! I'm thinking maybe she just rearranged the budget to spend it all on the grandkids! GRANDMA!

So, you know how she was sneaky about getting that cool Nintendo DS for Parker's birthday...we'll whoops, she did it again...and now they have multiplied x3....now with games and all the gear a kid could possibly need. Libby also got a "big girl" 20" bike from Aunt Sara and Gramps and GG (grandma pitched in a little too) The boys got a really cool snap circuits set, which we can use to learn basic electricity for School....that was from Aunt Debbie...and grandma as well. We got Candy bags, and wardrobe fillers for the boys (shoes, shirts, pants) and then a few miscellaneous fun toys they were looking forward to, a cash register for Libby, Nerf Tag, Magnetic toys, Aqua Pack (for turning your digital camera into an underwater camera), puzzles and games....Who needs Santa! We went to Aunt Debbie's for breakfast, The Johnson's for lunch. Jeff picked up the big kids around 4:00 and we headed back to Aunt Sara's for Dinner....then finally back home to crash into bed! Whew, Christmas is a lot of work!

Celebrating the Eve of Christmas

Our Christmas Eve Program was small this year due to a blizzard in Oklahoma. Granny says it's the first one ever called in Oklahoma. I guess since we had 40mph winds and 6-8 inches of snow that's what its called! All I can say is that I hope those who prayed for a white Christmas are happy! Dad played pickup and delivery man for the Douglass side, so they all got to be there. Joe and Jeanette made it out as well. The show must go on, so it did!

Libby and Parker sang a song from the Christmas program at church, Perry read a story about Omar the Camel, set to music of We Three Kings. We had the candle lighting ceremony and sang Silent Night as the usual tradition goes...then played "dirty Santa" for the gift exchange. Granny stole my mama's dove ornament and tea mug, Granny's blanket was stolen by Jeanette, and Debbie stole her own gift from me to keep as her own!

We can't have a get together without food and this year we ended up doing something a little different...Frito Pie! Dad J and I dishing up ourselves a plate!

A few random pix of my especially photogenic boys this evening.....

Halloween funtimes

We had a big halloween gathering at Aunt Debbie's house this year. Debbie and Marsha made a HUGE batch of Taco soup, and I brought the cinnamon rolls which unfortunately caused more o a mess than they were worth! It was especially fun this year with lots of families represented I love it when all sides of the family get together. Having daughters seems to bring everyone together, so I better figure out the recipe for a few to add to our side! This year Danielle, Regina and Grandma Johnson joined us as well as the Oylers (Will's parents) We had a parade of 7 kids, and 10 adults...and about a ton of candy after going around the block!

Granny and Gramps stayed in with Debbie and Marsha and passed out the candy, there were over 200 trick-or-treaters this year!

Perry the Ostrich Rider, Parker the Roman Soldier, Libby the beautiful buzzing bee,

Corban the turtle and Clayt the Monkey!


and the cousins came too!

Josie as Tinkerbell and Danielle as a fairy princess

Turkey Day

Well, we all got together for Turkey Day at Sara and Will's house. Eric's family went to Missouri and the big kids celebrated with their dad. It was great getting together with Will's parents and the rest of our people and having all my favorite holiday foods! Eric cooked the turkey and of course it was perfection! I made sure Josie and Corban had some good foods to enjoy...sweet potato, turkey, and avocado, and some green beans! YUM.

Clayt had his first solid food- Avocado. He wasn't so sure about it all, but seemed eager to eat...just like dad I guess!

Evening of Surprises...

We'll this year we explained to Parker that it would be a year of no birthday party, not even a family one with grandma. We told him he could pick out a dinner and a homemade dessert and we'd celebrate at home, *just* the 7 of us (hey, sounds like a party to me!). While I'm sure he was a little dissapointed, I didn't hear any complaints....though he did make sure that it would be a deal for each of the other kids' next birthdays too.


Well, that wasn't the plan at all...we decided to have a surprise party! It took a while for me to come up with the details....did I "queen of detail" just say that about myself? We'll I thought about it so long the time was quickly passing me by to work out the invites. My first idea fell apart when we had a weekend conflict. So we ended up having........not one, but TWO surprise parties.

Perry, Libby and I dropped the babies off at Aunt Sara's house. Dad and Parker went to run an errand. I met with a few of Parkers friends from church at Hideaway Pizza and once we arrived and were seated we gave dad a call. He decided to casually ask Parker about stopping in for dinner, and boy he was a little confused when he saw his friends and siblings and mama all there!

It quickly sank in!

Perry in the back, (L to R) Libby, Parker, Will, and William

After pizza -we ordered Cheese for the kids, and mama's favorite...hamburger, bacon, onion, mushroom and pineapple...as well as a third...off the specialty menu, which I can't remember!

Parker was so excited about getting together with friends for pizza that I think he completely forgot about presents....even more to be excited about!

Instead of doing cake, we ordered a cookie off the dessert menu for each of our guests...I think all the adults were drooling just a little over the aroma of the freshed baked cookies...well worth the price, that for our small gathering cost less than a cookie cake from the store, and much, much yummier...or so the kids say!

We'll the party was over and we were heading home, I enjoyed a little one on one time talking about the surprise and what he thought of it all, but before going home we had to stop at Aunt Sara's to pick up the babies. But what he didn't know...

all of his extended family...Grannie and Gramps, grandmas, grandpas, Aunt Debbie and Marsha, aunt Sara, uncle Will and Josie, Dad, Perry, Libby and the babies jumped out from behind the couch with confetti going everywhere...SURPRISE AGAIN! ROUND 2!

This time, I don't think he was surprised about the presents! Grandma had a little surprise of her own up her sleeve...cause I know I never woulda put *that* on the gift idea list!

The Nintendo DS had to be the surprise of the evening, and what fun they have had playing it!

BTW, I've be come a "foodie"

for my online novices..BTW = by the way :)

Our little Corban would eat and eat and eat then poop and poop and poop, but never getting fed. His food went strait through his system without absorbing the nutrients from his food, staying in a constant state of hunger. His diapers were overflowing and a huge mess multiple times a day and Mama needed a solution. Our pediatrician said he didn't know a whole lot about special diets, so I took some friends' advice and called up a nutritionist.

When we first tried giving him dairy (at 11ish months) it didn't seem to go over very well, even when we used raw whole milk instead of the dead milk they sell at the grocery store, interesting concept. Pasteurization isn't really for our health, but actually for the convenience of shipping milk all across the country.

Corban has been on a Gluten Free and Dairy free diet for the past 4 months....it seems like it's been forever though! He's been wheat and dairy free since April and started an enzyme as well which really helped his appetite. Two days before we went to see the nutritionist we tried giving him some Goat's milk, to see how he would react and he had his first "solid" BM since...maybe ever!

The nutritionist (Lorrie Metford) did a finger prick and we looked at his blood under the microscope. His cells were 3 different sizes and clumped together so she advised that we start a few things. The gluten free diet helped his appetite and nutrition absorption issues some, but she advised that we continue the enzyme as well as the gluten free diet but keep doing the goat's milk, she also added in a pro-biotic, zinc and b complex whole food supplements. Things were shaping up nicely...especially in his diapers! They were what I think is "normal" and only once a day for a change. Which is great when he was having 5-6 a day that were a complete mess!

Well a few weeks ago, I didn't make it over to the dairy to pick up the goat's milk...which is much cheaper there than the store ($9.50 vs $16 per gallon) and I started noticing that his diapers were going back to how they were before we started all the supplements. The past few days we stopped doing the supplements also just to see how he reacts and we aren't seeing much of a change, so I think all in all it's the goat's milk that is really helping the most. Come to find out, interestingly enough Goats milk is the most closely realated to human breast milk and what people have been consuming as "milk" all over the world, and it's mentioned in the bible. Imagine that, God knows what we should be eating, maybe we should ask Him instead of the food network?

I'm prayerfully considering taking him to see a pediatric-dietitian or an allergist. Meanwhile he will continue the healthy diet, and hopefully help get the rest of the family off processed food and sugar....which leads me into my food rant, you have been forewarned: enjoy!

Researching all this nutrition information has made thinking about food very frustrating. We've been convinced over the past 50 years that what we are supposed to eat was based on balancing the profit margins of the main areas of the food industry rather than our nutrition. They have won us over by chemically addicting the American people to THEIR idea of "food" which means as long as it only kills us off slowly, is shelf stable, cheap to make and sell all they gotta do is slap some bold and misleading label...like "all natural flavors" or throw in the tiniest amount of "fruit or vegetable" in the recipe and call it Yogurt Blends or Sweet Potato Puffs....so we feed it to our infants and Voila....our babies are slowly drawn into this unhealthful addiction as soon as they are off of 1st stage foods (that's the little jars that they eat for the first 2-3 months, at least they only contain water as an extra ingredient.)

I knew that processed foods were not the best, everyone does, I think. What about baby formula which is also a culprit and represented as the "only" option (it is not) besides breastfeeding. Since I make my own "baby food" I know for sure what is going into the food and thought using "basic" ingredients would be enough. Nope. I found that I didn't even realize that some things are processed that seem natural. I found that I could get puffed wheat by the bag, the only ingredient listed was red wheat, and it was cheap...Score!! I fed it to Corban around 9 months of age and he loved it, it was a great alternative to cheerios, which daddy is not fond of, even if anyone tries to convince him that they have a "breathing hole". One choking episode with his niece a few years ago was all he needed! Anyway, a few weeks ago, I read about a little study on puffed wheat. you can read it here: should we eat puffed grains? Evidently lab rats are better off eating a card board box than what the grocery store sells as cereal. The ones who got cornflakes died before the ones who got cardboard box and the ones who ate puffed wheat lived 2 weeks, while the ones on regular whole grain wheat lived over a year. I didn't really think about puffed wheat even being processed...who knew, don't I feel stupid! Then there's also the sugar issue, even the rats addicted to cocaine chose sugar over their drugs. We wonder why we're the most unhealthy people in the richest nation in the world. Forget health care, we need an overhaul on the food industry, maybe if we stop filling our bodies with garbage we'll feel better and live longer....but then again it means more time and work and getting past that addiction. I think unfortunately most Americans would rather die and enjoy it while lasts, so sad.

For more information on food check out the Weston Price Foundation its a great resource, very interesting reading.

December Happenings

We took the family to Rhema to see the Christmas Lights...it was Corban's first time and he seemed to enjoy it even though it was super cold!

The Church took all of the volunteers (Eric and I) to see The Christmas Carol in 3-D at the I-Max Theater. Guts Church filled the entire theater, it was a great time of "Gathering and Connecting". We also came to the conclusion that Eric doesn't see in 3-D....but the film was great anyway! When we started talking to the kids about it, they said they hadn't seen it...I couldn't believe it! So Eric picked up the "classic 1980's" version had a movie night with popcorn and reeces pieces.

We went to the Annual Kaplin Christmas Party and got to catch up with great friends and check out their car collection...Perry had a blast! I'm sure it's some sort of sin, not knowing how to identify these cars, and even if I knew what they were I'm sure I couldn't spell it right.

I think this one is my personal favorite :) But what do I know?

We finally got around to getting out the decorations the week before Christmas and we finished the evening we watched Eric's favorite Christmas movie...Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.

Then the 3 days of fun began with the family celebrating my birthday at the Dock Dinner at church, with Parker and Libby starring in the "Christmas Counting Spelling Bee" program at Church. They both did awesome! Parker was spelling bee contestant #5 Ferris Wyler, the "nerd"...who by the way...ties for first in the spelling bee and has the role of Joseph in the Christmas manger scene.






Christmas Eve...can you believe that it started Snowing, and snowing and snowing. We missed the Church's Christmas Eve service, but we did make it over to Aunt Sara's for the Family Christmas Eve Program. By the time we got home there was 6-8 inches on the ground, but with the wind blowing the way it was it there were drifts about 3 foot high in front of the house.