Decisions, Decisions

As most of you know, we have been trying to decide this pregnancy what we wanted to do in terms of our birth experience. After 24 hours labor, followed by a C-section, we gave birth to Levi. When I became pregnant with Ruby, we talked quite a bit about a VBAC. (vaginal birth after cesarean) At 38 weeks, after arguing constantly with my OB about it, I finally agreed to let him schedule a C-section, 1 week after my due date. If I hadn't gone into labor, then I would consent to a C. Ruby was born via c-section.

2 falls ago when I was pregnant, I knew immediately I wanted to switch OB's to increase my odds of a VBAC. After talking with numerous people, we switched to a different dr. In the end, it didn't matter, because we lost that baby. When I became pregnant again this last fall, I stayed with who my "new" OB was.

I made my thoughts to him very clear from the get go. After several appointments that didn't go very well, and just not feeling like I was connecting with him as a Dr, we made the decision to switch back to my old OB (who, minus the whole C-section bit, I really liked). I knew when I made that decision, I sealed the deal in terms of a C-section vs. VBAC, but in the end, I was okay with that.  The only real option to have a VBAC was to travel to Ann Arbor to UofM, and that's just not in the cards in our life.

I had my first appt with my new (old) OB yesterday. He asked why I left, and why I was back, and I gave him the story of why I was where I was, which most definitely included him. ;) All that to say, in the end, I'm at peace with this decision, and I'm thankful to be back at a practice where I feel like I matter, and feel like the Dr cares who I am and what we are about, and really that's what matters in the end.

Ruby at 2

My sweet baby girl. I cannot believe that TODAY we celebrate 2 years of life. How\when that happened is beyond me. It feels like just yesterday you were born.

That next year was a bit of blur, lots of sleeping, eating, learning to crawl, walk, and you started talking, using a few words, mostly sign language, still nursing.. you were still very much a baby.

At 2 it seems you've grown exponentially... 

you.... 

LOVE animals, especially horses. You can recognize basically all animals and tell me the sounds they make

love having a good time. you like to make us laugh, you like to get into mischief, and just generally have a good time. you especially love playing with your brother, even if sometimes you drive him a little crazy

recognize a few letters, but you don't have the letter obsession your crazy brother has\had

you love helping Mama in the kitchen, just as much as Levi. Most days, it's fun. :)  You like helping make breakfast in the morning with Papa

You talk non-stop. I have no idea how many words you know\say, but it's a lot. You talk in sentences, and I love when you try to use words you hear Levi use, like "actually".. it's pretty cute. I understand you most of the time.

You're a good sleeper, but a massively early riser. You go to bed between 6:30-7, and routinely are up by about 5. We normally put you back in your room, over and over again, until around 6, but you just are not interested in going back to sleep.  You still take 1 nap a day. Normally from around 11:30-2.

Your favorite foods include grapes, peanut butter (budder), raisins, macaroni and cheese, chicken, bananas (ba-na), carrots and green beans.

You are very active, and you like to think you are invincible, just like your brother. I say all the time you will land us in the ER before he does, just because you try to do everything he does, but you're almost 3 years younger. You don't care, you try anyway. You love jumping on the trampoline, and are even already figuring out how to pump your legs on the swing.

Oh my sweet baby girl, may you never stop smiling, and may you grow up to be a woman who loves the Lord, and is compassionate and loving towards other people.

We love you sweet girl, Happy Birthday!

Baby #3

It's been quiet around here for a while, and I suppose the official news is now out....

That would be a big reason for the quiet. We're mostly just getting through the days, and I'm desperately trying to stay on top of everything, while being utterly exhausted. Any down time with the kids, often results in me taking a quick cat nap on the couch, most definitely not blogging.

But, all that being said.

We're incredibly blessed and excited (although a bit intimidated to be outnumbered) to be adding another little person into our family.  For those interested the official stats here they are.....

After 2 miscarriages, we tend to be more than cautious in the beginning, and I'm unlikely to even want to think long term about how #3 would affect our lives. You can ask Mike, he'd want to talk about things, and I would just say, I can't yet. I just couldn't let myself go there emotionally. We just don't take it for granted, because we've seen life twice, only to have, for reasons we don't know, it taken away. Last week we had a 14 week appointment, which was long, and landed me in the ultrasound room crying to the ultrasound tech. (I'm sure she thought I was a nut job). The dr. couldn't find the heartbeat, the intern couldn't find the heartbeat, and then I heard those horrible words of "viability" whispered, while they assured me everything was fine, and sent me to the waiting room to wait for an ulstrasound. I, meanwhile, let Mike know what was going on (he was home with the kids) and tried desperately to keep myself together. When I was called back in, the poor U\S tech asked how I was, and I ended up totally losing it. Bless her heart, she worked quickly to find the heartbeat and give us our first glimse at our precious baby. It truly is the most amazing thing in the world to see a little tiny life squiggly around inside of you.

If you've been around a while, you of course are wondering if I'm sick, and the answer of course is yes. I've been sick since around 7-8 weeks, and it hasn't stopped. I have no doubts that it will last until this little baby makes his\her appearance. It comes and goes, the last couple of days have been particularly awful, but that means that we'll probably have a couple of good days, so here's hoping that's on the horizon, before we're back to being sick again.

My officialy due date is April 16. We are currently trying to decide how we want to go about the whole birth aspect of it all. I would still love a VBAC, though, right now, I'm getting major no's from OB's because I've had 2 C's. I could go over to UofM, but honestly I don't know how I'd even begin to fit that into our already busy lives. Anyway, all that to say, it's something we're still processing.

We are so thankful to the Lord for this little blessing in our lives, and look forward to the adventure a family of 5 will bring.

Preschool

Levi's 'first' day of his second year of preschool.... (Sept 9, 2013)

He wasn't exactly picture cooperative.. but we had fun anyway. :) 

Love this little learner. 

power outages

Last night a big storm ripped through our town. We lost power, but some people have it much worse than us. While, I was not thrilled with our loss of power, there were so many little ways the Lord blessed us through it. So instead of lamenting the annoyances, I want to remember these.

1) I had dinner in the crockpot. The power went out at 5. Dinner was done, easy peasy, no fuss.
2) Just before the storm rolled, I started grabbing large containers to fill with water. In a mater of minutes I had about 7 gallons of water on our counter. We have a well so if we lose power we have no water. I was thankful for the Lord's reminder to do this in those few minutes (literally) before we lost power.
3) Mike made it home safely. The storm came rip roaring through at 5, just as he was leaving work and he was heading directly into the weather. I said many prayers for him while he drove home. It was bad, and I was glad I was home with the kids, and was praying he'd get home soon, and safe. It took him almost a 1\2 hour to get home, (normally 10-15) but he made it home safely.
4) The dishwasher was full of clean dishes, which just felt less stressful and chaotic.
5)  I had to go to church for a rehearsal and A) the church had power and B) that allowed me to plug in our cell phones and charge them so we could communicate with the outside world
6) After a quick trip to get some more batteries for flashlights (and yea for the store having power) We had flashlights and some fresh new candles. Both Mike and I enjoyed reading for a while by candlelight.
7) As much as we are used to power\lights\and WATER (that was almost harder), it was a nice break from the constant 'go, go, go' of life...
8) Of course, I was super grateful when I heard the power kick back on, after being told restoration time was unknown. I was thankful to know the food in our fridge and in our freezer (chocked FULL from the summer) was going to be fine.

This morning, I am thankful for the Lord's grace, and for small blessings in a storm.

Toddler Bed

My sweet baby girl is 20 months old, and, as we did with Levi at this age... we moved her to a toddler bed.

Heaven help us.I forgot how hard the transition is.

 As of right now, it's 6:12 am
We've been up since 4:30 with Ruby.

yup.

Shockingly I've only had one cup of coffee. Though another one is definitely forthcoming.

It's time for the move for a variety of reasons. Our house is strangely fashioned, but Ruby has basically been living in this strange room\hall like area of our bedroom. It's worked fine, but we wanted to move her upstairs with Levi. We were going to move in 2 parts. Adjust her to the toddler bed, and then move her upstairs with Levi, but we (read, I, on a crazy moving whim one day) decided to just do it in one foul swoop.

Ruby and Levi are currently sharing a room. That part is going okay, and I think that Levi is sleeping better. He has been the only one sleeping upstairs for over a year, and I think he got lonely up there, and often came downstairs in the night into our bed. He's been sleeping really well since the move for which I'm thankful. Ruby sleeps okay, and for the most part, actually lays down easily, but she is waking up crazy early. I'm not sure how to fix the early part yet because putting her to bed later doesn't help.... :/ I suppose time will help, though I'm not holding my breath because we just seem to have children who like to get up early.

The other part of the equation, is simply space. I want to turn Ruby's strange little hallway room into a classroom for Levi for school this year. That's the next project. Figure out how to turn a small space into a functioning learning area for Levi. I'm excited to do it, but a little overwhelmed. I look online and everything I find A) requires that you have $1000 to go drop at a Ikea B) you have a HUGE room to outfit... neither of which we have. We'll figure it out, though, I do think we might make a trip to Ikea over the whole thing.

Preschool

This post has been in my heart for so long, and I still feel so inadequate to write about it. My palms sweat, and I begin to question everything that we've talked about for so long. But, we know it's the right decision for us, for our family and for Levi. After a lot of talking, a lot of prayer, we've decided to homeschool Levi this next year.


Homeschool.


Breathe with me, I said it out loud. Maybe I'm just the one who needs to breathe.. it's terrifying to me.  I don't have it all together and I don't know what it will look like, but I do know that we need to do it this year. We loved our preschool experience last year, but, we need to try it on. Someone said to me once, it's like you're standing at a wide river, and there is no way across but to jump, so this year, we're going to jump. We're going to try it. We might sink, we might float, we might tread water, or maybe, we'll learn how to swim. I have no way of knowing, and that is completely unnerving to me.


But, we are going to try it for a number of reasons

1) Levi wants to read. Preschool isn't going to teach him that. I'm not faulting preschool for that, it's just not where most kids are.  I know that I can teach him to read so why not.

2)  We still desire to be in ministry full-time.  If\when we end up in ministry, we feel like homeschooling would be something that would fit our family's lifestyle better.

3) I really do love spending time with my kids, and I'm not ready to send them off to school on a regular basis yet. I want to keep them home, to love on them, to show them how to love others, to love Jesus, and to learn together as a family, so we can be life-long learners together.. (thanks SAU)

4) Maybe it's so that I feel more in control of the situation, but we are going to homeschool him this year, and we will evaluate it at the end of it to see what we liked\didn't like.  If we sink, we might decide traditional school is a better option, if we swim, maybe we'll stick with homeschooling. I don't know, and let me say, I wish I did know, and I wish I already had the answers. I say to Mike all the time, I wish education were an easy decision, but at least in this house, it doesn't seem to be. We do know that the Lord is faithful, and that He has called us to do this as a family this year. We are trusting in Him and His plans for our family, and my planner-self needs to let go and be okay with not knowing the next step.


So there ya have it.
We are officially "that family".

19 months and counting...

My dear sweet baby girl..

I'm not sure where the time has gone, or, how it has passed so quickly. Just about every day, I watch as you, jump on our trampoline, or learn how to climb on the swing by yourself, slide, climb up a ladder, swim in the pool, and I MARVEL at how much a year has changed things. It's amazing to me how much you have learned, how much you have GROWN in the past year.

At 19 months you...

--> LOVE being outside, and ask to go out on regular basis
--> love shoes, necklaces, and all things girly
--> take just one nap a day, normally 11:30-2:30 or so with bed around 6:30-7
--> At your drs appt you weighed in at 21lbs and 12 oz.
--> this past month you were really sick, and we had to have a blood draw, a catheter, and an xray..I'd prefer not to do that again, ok?
--> you are a pretty good eater, some of your favorites include, avacado, cheese, raisins, blueberries, eggs
--> you are a very determined little girl... and you let me know, loudly, what you want.
--> you are fearless, and I really do mean that. I often say, that you will send us to the ER with a broken bone because you want to do everything that Levi does, but he's 4 1\2 and you're 19 months... often, when we're at the park, other moms' ask me if it's okay if you're doing something in particular, because you just look so little climbing up the rock wall at the park, that is most certainly must not be okay.
--> you love animals... cats, dogs, horses are your favorites
--> you talk all the time and more and more I understand. :) your list o words include...
......... mama, papa, 'evi', drink, please, more, thank you, cat, (meow) dog, (woof) horse, duck, all done, duck, swing, cheese, yes, no, choo-choo, up, get down, 'ki-ki' (monkey), swing, shoe, and I'm sure there is more that I'm not remembering at the moment...
--> you're starting to recognize some ABC letters..we play in the bathtub with them...
--> you love to sing, and I'll often hear you singing a song that we is a regular around here... like the ABC song, howdy neighbor, goodnight song, and others...

I love you baby girl, and I'm so thrilled that the Lord blessed us with YOU.

too long...

um... hi?

I'm almost embarrassed to post because it's been so long. I don't know what's happened in blogging world, well I take that back, I DO know.

My 4 yr old doesn't nap anymore and while I admire parents who have this amazing "quiet time" every day? It just doesn't work in our house, or at least I haven't found a practical way to make it work.

So, here we are...
Summer has hit and we are enjoying every minute of it, soaking up the sun, the fun, the water, the swingset, the garden. We are lovin' it!

Levi is almost 4 1\2 now. How did that happen? He's loving learning how to ride his bike, climb trees, and will be taking swim lessons in a couple of weeks. He LOVES to be outside. He asks a million questions all day. Someone recently described him as an "inquirer", and I thought that perfectly describes our son. This past week he participated in his first VBS. He really enjoyed himself, and today alone we've listened to the CD twice, all the way through.  

Ruby will be 19 months this next week. That seems impossible. I often look at her, as she jumps on the trampoline, swings on a big kid swing, climbs the ladder to the slide, and think... you were a lump of nothing last year! My how a year changes things. She is a pistol, a ball of energy, and very much knows what she wants, much to the detriment of the person attempting to figure out what it is she does want. She puts two word sentences together these days, like "all done" "get down" "up please".

Mike is working full-time, and he is also speaking at a weekly vespers service on Sunday afternoons. He is a tireless worker, often out in the garden until 9 at night, while I tidy up the house, clean up, get kids to bed and try to resume some sense of normalcy before we crash into bed ourselves.

I am enjoying summer, teaching a few piano lessons, but mostly, just hanging with the kids, trying to hit the park, the zoo,the lake, the farm, and everything else in between. We recently went strawberry picking was so fun, until my jam didn't set, then it was a nightmare, but thankfully, through some ingenuity of some friends, I managed to get it set.

Levi reads!

My mama heart is proud tonight. Levi has been ready and wanting to read for quite a while now. Thanks to a dear friend, we've been working hard on it for about a week.

Tonight?

He read his first short story. I, of course, painfully recorded the entire 10 minutes it took us to get through 5 pages, but you know what? 

He did it! 

My 4 year old son, who I swear was just born, read a book! How on earth did that happen? When did that happen? I'm overwhelmed and so thrilled for him as he begins this new chapter (ha!) in his life.  And reading? well it opens the doors to everything and we couldn't prouder of him than we are tonight.

You can enjoy all 10 painful, amazing minutes if you'd like. :)

The end of the beginning....

at 17 1\2 months my sweet baby girl, has stopped nursing.

I'm happy, and a little sad
I'm glad to be done, but right now, I miss our sweet moments together

For now, Mike is doing bedtime with her, just so she transitions a bit more smoothly, but I look forward to holding her, rocking and reading to her again soon.

We went away this past weekend, and I was really nervous about leaving her, but she has only been nursing 1x a day for quite a while now. She did great!! I took my pump with me and pumped, but decided, I'd just wait when we got back to see if she asked for it.

She didn't.. and it's time.

It's the end of the beginning she and I had together
but that just means a new beginning is starting.


Thank you Lord for giving us this sweet girl and for allowing us the privilege and honor of raising her.

busy busy.

I feel neglectful of this place. We've been busy.

Mostly, we've been playing outside! It's finally warm, and we are soaking it up, playing on the swing set, jumping on the trampoline, digging up the garden, going for walks, going to the zoo, and just generally enjoying the sunshine!
Also, Levi doesn't take naps anymore, and rest time, just doesn't work well for us, which was when I would always update this place. I better figure that one out!

Anyway, we've just been outside, which is so nice after a long winter.

feeding giraffes

Ruby is 17 months now, and is a crazy ball of energy. She LOVES animals. She points to them everywhere we go, and is slowly learning the names and sounds each one makes. This morning she brought me an animal book, was pointing to the Lion and roaring.   Her vocab is exploding everyday now it seems. Yesterday she said orange, what?!? where did my baby go? I love her so much, she is a ball of energy and fun.

Levi is riding out his last days of preschool. He has 3 days left! He has thoroughly enjoyed school this year. We are thinking a lot about what we want to do next year for him. His preschool recommended he skip the 4's class, and do a young fives classroom. (This was of no surprise to us, he's crazy smart, and LOVES to learn.) It would be a jump, from 2 days a week, to 5 days a week, 1\2 days. We have also toyed with the idea of homeschooling him this next year. (and who knows, maybe more?) Ack! I don't know... homeschooling feels so scary to me... and then you're one of those people.. you know, the weird homeschoolers, and while I KNOW that's not true, and I know plenty of perfectly normal people who home school, it still feels like you might just be one step closer to jean skirts, and buns in your hair...

 I wish there was a easy answer.  I feel like we jump back and forth on the home school boat constantly. I think there a lot of valid reasons to home school, I also think there are a lot of valid reasons for public education. Which is why, depending on any day, I will have a different answer for you if you were to ask me about it. I mostly just wish it were an easy answer, so far, it hasn't seemed that's the case.



And my heart?

It's May, and while, for most, it brings about lots of thoughts of spring, warmth, and sunshine, May for me is always a hard month. If you've been around long enough, you know that we lost our first pregnancy (back in 08) to miscarriage, and I was due in May. It, without fail, brings out thoughts and emotions in me, that never, and I don't think will ever, go away. This year, it feels fresh, as the baby I carried in the fall was also due in May.

I'm so incredibly thankful for the blessing of children. I'm thankful that I've carried 4 children, even if I didn't have the opportunity to hold them all in my arms. That's where my heart is these days, thoughtful, a little sad, but most certainly, thankful.

Levi's book

The other day Levi told me he needed paper and markers.
He later came to me and said he needed to use the stapler.

Do you want to know what he was up to?

My little kiddo wrote a book.

He brought it to me, beaming ear to ear and read me his story.
It makes this Mama heart smile.
So here it is.

Written and Illustrated by Levi

"I like to ride trains"

"I like to eat on trains. I like to drink tea on trains" 

The End. 

Yup. I'm pretty in love with this kid.

Our life in pictures

I feel like just kind of passes us by sometimes without even realizing it. Most days, our lives consist of a morning nap for Ruby, while Levi and I do a craft, project or some sort of learning together, all while I try to do housework and the ever growing pile of laundry.

We normally eat lunch around 11:30, then it's down for naps\quiet time, followed quickly by babysitters arriving so that I can teach piano lessons in the evening.

When the weather is tolerable, we do our best to get outside and enjoy the snow.
There ya go.. our life in pictures.

A PlayDoh Zoo. Bonus points if you can name all the animals. : )

One of Levi's favorite projects as of late. We spent a morning painting and putting this train together.

Levi has been very into wanting to go swimming lately... He spends a lot of his day dressed like this. 

Less laundry, so I let him. :) 

Miss Ruby is ALWAYS bringing me books to look at.

And of course we spend time outside. 

We love winter, unlike most people who live here.

Ruby at 14 months

My sweet Ruby,

Mama is a few days late, but you, my sweet girl, are 14 months old these days. I still have zero idea how that  has happened.

At 14 months you...
--> Are learning new words all the time... your words include Hi, Bye, Mama, Papa, Please, More, Eat, Drink, you use signs with all but mama and papa. I really need to get a good video of you jabbering away, because it really is like you are talking, it's just that I can't understand you.
--> Are developing a bit of a temper, and like to throw fits when you don't get your way. Oh silly girl.... this  means that timeouts are now in your life.
--> Have several teeth now, I"m not even sure how many. You have all but one of your molars, though it's right under the surface and I imagine it will be up soon.
--> Have crazy hair. It's too short to pull up, but too long to not look weird, I guess. I don't know, just different from boy hair, so it's just crazy all the time.
--> Still take 2 naps a day, though the morning one seems to be getting shorter.
-->  Go to bed around 6 and sleep until around 6 each morning. You, more and more, sleep consistently all the way through the night. Mama thanks you for that.
--> Are still nursing, though not much anymore, nursing, most days, just in the morning, and again at night.
--> Favorites still include bath time, books, and more and more you like to try to wear other clothes you find, or you'll turn something into a hat, necklace etc. It's amazing to me how much this boy\girl stuff is different.
 --> Love following your brother around, enjoy playing with him, and even playing hide and seek with him. It makes me laugh, every. single. day.

I'm so thankful for you my baby girl. You bless our lives each and every day.

Levi at 4

My dear, sweet, Levi.

You are becoming a young man (ha!) before my very eyes. I feel like just yesterday you were born, and I head you in my arms for the first time. Instead, it has been 4! years. You amaze me every day with your tenacity for life, your energy, and the fun you have along the way. We love you so much little man. I'm so thankful that God gave me you, and that I have been given the amazing, and sacred, privilege of raising you, to be a man after God's own heart.

At 4......

-- you are in preschool this year, 2 days a week. You love it, because you love learning.
-- you can write all of your letters, both capital and lowercase
--you easily recognize and can write your name
-- you can sound out some small 3 letter words, and recognize many words by sight
-- you can count to 30 without hesitation. you can count backwards from 10.
--  you can recognize and count up to 100 (thank you chicka chicka boom boom)
-- you don't really nap anymore, but you get up around 6-6:30 and go to bed around 7.
-- you love, and I do mean, LOVE crafts. we regularly spend part of our day doing some kind of craft together. painting, cutting\pasting etc..
-- the main love of your life? travis.  yup. you pretty much love him unconditionally.
-- you still love trains of all varieties, and you even got to ride on one for your birthday this year!
-- you love spending time outside.
--you love winter.... love snow, sledding, and all things related. you are definitely my son
-- you love books. we spend a good 1\2 hour each day reading and looking at books. we frequent the library, and you love to pick out new books each week.
-- you are a wonderful big brother. today, I found you, helping to get food for Ruby for lunch. You love her a lot, even when she takes your toys and knocks down your blocks.
-- you are really into playing games right now. we do this quite often as well.
-- you enjoy going to kids club at church, and get excited about going each week

I love you little man, more than you will ever know.

I love you little man, more than you will ever know.

Yogurt Making Adventures

Ahh, the never ending making yogurt task. I feel like I'm constantly looking for new recipes, to find "the perfect" recipe. Of course, I'll never find that one, but it's fun to keep looking .I've had a standard crockpot one for quite some time now. Super easy, hands off, but I felt like when I put it into a different container is got more runny, which, all you yogurt making gurus out there know it's because of the pectin situation.

Anyway......

I was on the hunt, and my good pal, Ingrid, makes yogurt as well. I happened to be at her house one day, and tried some of her yogurt, and I knew I needed to try her recipe. The yogurt was thick, tangy, and yummy. I could stick my spoon in, and it didn't run all over the place.  The good news is that when I made it, it turned out the same way :) She has kind of tweaked and modified a couple of different recipes to get this one... so without further ado, I will entitle it..

Ingrid's Yogurt  :)

You will need: large pot, metal bowl, canning funnel, candy thermometer, crock pot, 3 mason jars and lids, and towels  ( I didn't use a canning funnel, I'm a rebel that way) I also only made enough yogurt to full 2 mason jars because that's how much milk I had.

As a note: sterilize the quarts sized mason jars.
Heat 12 cups of whole milk in a large pan over medium heat. Be careful not to boil it! Stir almost constantly. Keep a candy thermometer in the milk and remove from heat when temp reaches 180. While the milk is heating, put 3-5 tbsp starter (I used Meijer lowfat plain yogurt) in a 4 cup measuring container. I also put some water in my crock pot and set it on warm so that the water heats up.

Pour milk into the metal mixing bowl and stir occasionally. When the temp drops to 105-115, pour several cups of milk into the starter and stir it around. You want there to still be yogurt lumps, so don't try to whisk it or anything! Pour the milk/starter into the metal bowl and stir it all up for a minute.
Unplug the crock pot. Pour the milk into the mason jars and put the lids on. Set the jars in the crock pot water bath and fill to the brim with hot water. I usually set a plate on top the jars before wrapping two towels around the crock pot (so the towels don't end up in the water). I usually let everything sit from 6 or 7 pm until 8 or 9 the next morning. Try to leave it in a place it won't get bumped and jostled!


That's Ingrid's recipe to the T... here were my modifications, which were basically making it smaller.
I used 8 cups of milk (1\2 gallon), and used 3 TB of yogurt. (which was Meijer yogurt as well) The temp dropping part took maybe an hour? I found that to be the most time consuming because I kept running and checking the temp, certain it was going to jump below 105 rapidly and suddenly. :)   Your crockpot lid will not fit on with the jars, so if you put a plate on top, and then wrap towels over and around it, it works well. I positioned my crockpot in a spot on my counter, so that once I wrapped it in towels, I didn't have to move it.  If you don't have a crockpot, I would imagine, a big ol' stockpot with hot water and a lid, wrapped in towels would work as well.

As another note: I used our milk that we get from the dairy farm, but the stuff I ate at Ingrid's that day was made from plain ol' D milk from the store.  I think the difference is that the yogurt "sets" in the jars. It keeps it  a little bit more congealed. That's my theory at least. :)

Happy yogurt making, my crazy friends. :)

p.s. I'm glad I have crazy yogurt making friends in my life. I feel not so crazy. :)

Garden 2012...thoughts on 2013

I've been meaning to write down my thoughts on our first garden where we didn't have to drive to it, for a while now, and, well... Life just gets in the way...

This was the first year since we started gardening 7 years ago, that we were able to have our garden in our backyard. Up until now, we've always driven to someone else's home that had so graciously allowed us the opportunity to dig up their land.  We perhaps we were a bit overzealous in our expectations for what that meant, but we plugged ahead, and planted a ton. We were also privileged to pass on the "sharing of the garden" with some good friends of ours, which just makes gardening more fun. We even named our garden. "Jean Skirt Farms" If you want to know, just ask. :)

It was a oddly strange summer, weather wise, where we continuously fought drought and high heat. Mike was beyond a trooper and faithfully watered the garden for about 3-4 hours every. single. night.   We fought weeds the best we could, but honestly, lets face it, the weeds always win.  Part of our learning curve this year was where things would grow best in the garden. We have trees to the east, and we don't get sun until around 11:30-12 during the summer, but then after that, it's full on sun and heat, until the last rays of the day.

So the recap:

Peppers----- meh. We ate some fresh, and I chopped and froze maybe 20 bags of them.  (not awful, not great)
4 rows of onions---- I froze what we couldn't eat, and we've already blazed through them this winter. We will plant more next year.
Zucchini and Yellow Squash--both did great, and we froze a ton!
Beans, Broccoli, Cabbage, Spinach, Lettuce and Kohlrabi---they were eaten by the pesky deer and other vermin that we battled all summer.. we saw a little return, but not much, sadly.
Our vine plants, cucumbers, and melons------ failed miserably.  We saw no return on them, minus a handful of cucumbers. I think it was just. too. hot. for them to survive without massive massive amounts of water. Eggplant-------it did well, and I was begging people to take it from me.
Pumpkins----- fun, and we enjoyed having them around come September and October.
Potatoes------- fun, and I think we will plant more of them this next spring.

We seriously had a banner year on tomatoes. I'm not sure if it was that we were there to pick as they riped, if it was just a good year (we've heard that), or we just lucked out.. but man alive. We were blessed to can, freeze, store, and "put up" right at 100 quarts of tomato product, whether that was stewed tomatoes, soup, pasta sauce etc. We are reaping and enjoying the benefits of those tomatoes now, and I'm hopeful to get through at least the spring with what we have left.  We were even blessed to have friends come and pick by the bushel full to their hearts content.

Overall, I would say that we were satisfied with our first year of our own actual garden. It was so nice to go out to the garden with the kids, and let Levi learn about what's ripe to pick, and what we need to leave be and let grow a little bit more. We've already begun talking about and making plans for Garden 2013.  We are thankful for the people who have taught us to love to garden, to respect what the Lord has blessed us with, and to be good stewards of that.  I have so enjoyed learning the process of saving and preserving what we can, to help feed our family. It's a blessing.

Ruby at 13 months

Dear sweet Ruby.

Today, you turn 13 months old.... it seems like you were born yesterday, and yet... we've already celebrated 2 Christmas' with you!  You my sweet baby girl, growing up too fast.....

At 13 months you...

1) SLEEP! Blessed sleep, you've finally begun solidly sleeping through the night, for that, I'm truly thankful.
2) You are picking up more and more words saying, Mama, Papa, sit, up, kitty, out, and you're starting to sign as well... knowing more, and all done. baby no more, you are a ever growing toddler
3) At your 12 month appt you weighed in at 18lbs 10 oz, and 28 1\4 inches long
3) You have no fear about much of anything, I attribute this to your big brother
4) You LOVE being outside, you love snow, you love sledding... you are so my child. ;)
5) Your laugh cracks me up on a daily basis, and you still laugh for Levi more than anyone else
6) You are loving books, and it warms my heart when you pick a book out, come over, and ask me to pick you up. You however, don't want me to read to you, you just want to flip through the pages yourself, but, in my lap
7) You have an opinion, and you make it known, sometimes rather loudly. I'm certain this is from your father.... right? certainly not your quiet non-opinionated mother. ;)
8) You love to climb. into a chair, up on the couch, a stool in the kitchen, the bed, and you DETERMINED to figure out how to go down the stairs forward facing. Heaven help me.
9) You still take 2 naps a day. You wake around 6, nap around 8-9:30 or so, nap again around noon-2, and then bed at 6.
10) I feel like you are constantly watching, listening, and trying to do what we do... you want to be big!

We love you baby girl, and we are so blessed to have you in our lives.