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We have been looking at buying some property closer to town. We are looking at one area that has between 4-6 acre lots for sale in our price range. The covenants allow for enough animals for a mini-farm which is what I really want.

I would like the boys to be able to raise a lamb in the summers for the fair. I did this when I was young, and I think it is a really good experience, and will allow them to learn about the work that goes into earning money.

I want to have some chickens so we can have fresh eggs and meat, and I have even contemplated a milking cow, but I don’t think I am ready for that work yet. Maybe I should just get a steer each year to fatten up and butcher for meat. We did that when I was little too. My grandpa named the steer the first year “Dinner”, and the steer the second year “Many Dinners!”

I am hoping to get a few ducks and maybe a couple of geese so we can have fresh birds to eat! I wonder how turkeys do in Alaska….

Ah, and I want to have a garden…finally, a garden! I would love to grow lettuce, zucchini, broccoli, peas, beans, potatoes, carrots, and hmm….what else might grow up here? I really want a greenhouse too, so I can grow cucumbers and tomatoes! Yum!

Not to mention the flower garden I want….sigh….all in due time I suppose!

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I bought a Bosch mixer and Nutrimill (grain mill) at the homeschool convention last weekend! I needed it for making bread. I have been making homemade loaves for over a month now. This new Bosch will make about 6 loaves at a time! Compare that to the 2-3 loaves that my Kitchen Aid mixer can handle, and that saves me a LOT of time. I have been experimenting with different recipes. I use whole wheat flour, honey, and olive oil. I would like to get a supply of coconut oil and try it. So far, the kids and Craig have liked every one I have made, even if it didn’t rise very well! :)

My children are not picky eaters. We have never allowed them to be, so I believe that is why they are willing to try many things. They like things that I don’t even care for! Naomi and Ivan (3 and 5 years old) love green olives, and Ivan even likes jalepenos! He says, “They’re not too spicy! I love them!”

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I made bread again today…another experiment. The grinder I bought at the convention would *NOT* work, so they are mailing a new engine to me. In the meantime, the owner of the business I bought it from loaned me a small grinder called the “Family Grinder”. You must have to have a *small* family to have the time for this thing…! Ack! It is *so* slow when I need 12 cups of flour! Anyway, she gave me directions on how to attach it to my new Bosch, but not on how to use it.

So, I wound up grinding the flour too densely…or whatever you want to call it…not fine enough. Well, after following the directions, the dough was still *way* too sticky, so I put it back into the Bosch and added more flour and kneaded it longer. The end result is that the bread is pretty good, but it didn’t raise very high.

Well, now I know better…it probably would have been perfect with a few cups of the heavier flour, but not 12-14 cups…sigh…oh well, it is good snacking bread! I am sure I can pawn a loaf off on my MIL…

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Goodness, God works in mysterious ways. When we pray, we ask for his help, and it seems to come in a totally different way than we expect. This happened to me last night. I have been praying for God’s help about something for the past several months. I think His apparent answer is even better than I was expecting, so I am excited, but guardedly so. I want to make sure that we are not pushing into something that just “appears” to us that it is what God wants. A couple of things appear to be falling into place, but we will see. Please pray for God’s guidance and peace for us as we make some decisions and wait for other major items to “fall into place.”

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Craig and I made the best burritos tonight! I found an old box of Rice-A-Roni red beans and rice in the pantry, so I made that up and used two Burrito seasoning packets with some hamburger. I spread refried beans on the tortilla, a 1/3 c. of the meat sauce, the rice mix, shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. I then rolled them up, put them all in a pan, sprinkled more cheese over the top, covered them with foil, and put them in the oven for 15 minutes or so. While they were in the oven, Craig shredded lettuce and spread it on our plates. When the burritos came out of the oven, we set them on the lettuce, topped them with a dollop of sour cream, and gobbled them up! We had tortilla chips and leftover meat sauce and rice on the side. It was *SO* good, and very filling!

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The boys played outside for quite a while today. Ceva (our dog) keeps heading over to our inlaws house to visit her sister. She never took off until one of their dogs came over and led her over there. Craig gave her quite a spanking, so hopefully she won’t be heading over there again for a while. So many dogs run around in the neighborhood that it is a little frusterating, since they teach the new dogs bad habits.

I tried to bake bread today. It was Honey Oatmeal bread made with whole wheat flour. I also added some flax seed to it. The first rising went well, but then I punched it down, let it rest, and formed it into loaves, it didn’t rise very well. I don’t know what I do wrong. I can never seem to make a decent loaf. Craig and the kids really like it though, it is just very short….

Craig rented “The Bridge on the River Kwai” for the kids. They are watching it as I am typing.

Oh, I almost forgot to give an update on Naomi! She woke up this morning without a fever! She is still really lethargic. She just wants to be held all the time. She and Micah took naps this afternoon together, and she woke up about dinner time. She ate a lot for dinner, and is now snacking on popcorn and apples. I think she just need some energy and then hopefully she will be on the mend again.

Thank you Lord for healing our daughter. Thank you for my family and the love they have for each other. Please continue to bring our family close together.

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You know that Dr. Seuss book that says, “what a day Dad had…”? Well, that describes our day, except it should read “what a day *Mom* had! We did school in the morning, and got ready to go to a homeschooling sledding/pizza party at 3pm. Naomi was still feeling pretty poorly, and I had to wake her from a nap to go with her grandma while the rest of us went to the sledding hill. She woke with a fever of 102.8 and was acting miserable, so I gave her more pain reliever.

Craig’s mom came and picked her up, but when I stopped at the gas station for a cup of coffee, I saw a lady who has been an EMT since I was a girl, and after talking it over with her, decided I should call the doctor once again about Naomi. He concurred with me that I should bring her in again for another urinalysis.

I dropped the boys off with friends at the sledding hill, picked up Naomi from my MIL at her church, and headed to the doctor. I got there, and there were two other patients waiting. We sat there for about 45 minutes reading books, while we waited for the doctor. We finally got in, did the UA, and she is improving! The fever could be from and ear infection, or a virus that is going around town.

As I was heading back to the sledding party, I passed the friends, who were obviously done sledding, and were headed to the pizza parlor. So…I dropped by my MIL’s church to give her an update on Naomi, went to the library to pick up some books, and headed over to the pizza parlor. Everyone was already eating when we got there, and started dessert before we even got dinner, as some had to leave. By the time we finished eating, everyone was pretty much gone, so we packed up and headed home. I am still trying to get used to hauling five kids around, plus the diaper bag, hats, gloves, coats, leftovers, etc…it is amazing we didn’t leave anything!

At the pizza parlor, there was a big screen tv, and they were playing “The Cat in the Hat.” What a worthless movie! Of course, the kids couldn’t keep their eyes off of it. The sad thing is the other family’s kids all had watched it and heartily recommended it! Ack! We have been avoiding it like the plague!

I had been trying to get our bedroom clean before Craig came home from town. I didn’t quite make it, but the boys helped me do a lot at the last minute, and he definitely noticed a difference! There are just a couple of things left that hopefully I will be able to get done this weekend.

I will be so glad to fall into bed….