Catching up!

We had two birthdays go by without a post from me.  I will allow myself the excuse that our internet went down toward the end of April and was fixed just last week.  It turns out we actually had to have a new phone line put in.  Good times.  The boys got a kick out of watching the Verizon Man, as we dubbed him, climb up the tall, tall ladder, and replace the phone line.

Sammy turned 5 on April 20th, which also happened to fall on Easter this year.  I remember that day being very busy with church, little birthday party with the family and then Easter dinner with some extended family.

Sam really seemed to enjoy the fact that it was his special day, and funny thing, his favorite gifts seemed to be the watering can and the clip board that I got for him.  Those two things say so much about Sammy.  The watering can was important because I have been talking about planting flowers since probably December!  He's been so excited about helping me with planting and especially the care of the flowers.  When we went out shopping one day for some soil and supplies, he spied some flowers and was determined to get one.   We finally allowed him to get one provided he purchased it with his own money.  He pulled that little piggy bank up and proudly paid for his pretty little impatien.  He got such a thrill out of the whole process!  He brought it home and told anyone who would listen about his beautiful flower.  We potted it, and recently moved it to the flower bed.  He has faithfully watered and cared for that little flower.  He's also been so good to water the new grass and the other flowers.  He can be quite the little helper.
He also asked for a clip board like Mike from Monster's, Inc.  He likes to make lists and clues, he calls them.  He does seem to like being in charge, (I sometimes call him the other mom of the family, haha) and he enjoys organizing things.

He's a little thinker, and he likes to talk - a lot.  Once, when he was playing with some kids during a Bible study, the babysitter told me that the little girls in the group were telling Sammy that he talked to much.  He's a talker, that one.  Even now as I type, he's been in bed awhile, but he just called to Peter to tell him what was on his mind.  He wants to make a snowman out of mud and rocks.

We worked at school last fall and this spring.  We don't spend a large amount of time on sitting still learning which is why I love the idea of home schooling especially for little guys.  They do have a hard time sitting still for long periods of time, but boy are they ready to learn.  He's learned to read which is so fun!  He's also enjoying his math and the bit of science and history we throw in mostly through hands on learning and library books.  He'll be an official first grader come fall which is hard to believe!  Where does the time go?

Last week a city pipe broke and we took a walk down to check it out since it was just down the street.  They were letting the water pour out of the fire hydrant so they could enough water out of the pit they had dug and get to the broken pipe.  The kids loved that, and walked down a couple times to view the progress.  They are so fascinated by the way things work, and by the big machines and, of course, the river of water that was running down the street.  Sammy and Marcus now note every hydrant we pass - just fyi, there are a lot more than I realized!

Sam's been a blessing to our family in so many ways.  He does keep me on my knees which is one of those blessing in disguise.  He is very different from me in his determined and sometimes defiant self.  I don't want to change him because I know God has made him the way He has for a good reason.  I just often have to ask God for wisdom because his personality is so very different from my own.  He is very responsible and cares for Isaac very well.  He does tend to let Marcus get under his skin, but, hey, it's a sibling thing. :-)  When they get along, they are so cute to watch as they giggle and wrestle each other.  Sam is also such a big helper to me.  We sure love our Sammy!

Here we have our little thinker a few days after he was born...

And here we have our crazy, fun, dramatic 5-year-old...

Happy belated birthday, little man!

Gluten Issues and Sourdough

I finally took the plunge a few weeks ago and activated the sourdough starter that I had ordered months ago.  I heard about a book on Facebook called, Vintage Remedies Guide to Bread, by Jessie Hawkins.  I was able to download it onto my computer and began reading it with much interest.  The author has done extensive research on bread and how it used to be made compared to how it is made today.  She also goes into detail about gluten and how the sourdough process almost completely breaks the gluten in the bread down to a nearly gluten free loaf by the time it is baked.  I won't be able to go into all of the details here, but it is truly fascinating.  My oldest son has struggled with loose bowels anytime he eats gluten since he was very little, (probably from the time he started eating solids; I just didn't realize it right away.)  He's been gluten free for the last 3.5 to 4 years.  Whenever he has gluten he will complain that his tummy hurts and will have diarrhea for a few days.  While I don't mind cooking gluten free, and have gotten pretty good at it, if I do say so myself, I just can't seem to figure out a good bread/pizza crust, etc.  More than that, the cost is pretty steep for us.
I remember talking with someone once about the Paleo diet, and he made the comment, that bread wasn't even in the Bible.  I know that is not true, and so I began my quest to find out how bread was made in the olden days, and to try and make it myself.  The book mentioned above was incredibly helpful to me.

I tried giving Sammy some of the sourdough pancakes I made a week ago, and he got diarrhea.  I got really discouraged, but then remembered that he'd eaten some samples at Costco with gluten and he'd had a cookie which also contained gluten the day before.  So, I decided to let his body clear all of that out, and then try the two-day bread.  I gave him his first slice on Sunday, and another on Monday and another today.  He still has not gotten any diarrhea!!  This bread is half barley flour and half unbleached white wheat flour.  He has not complained of a tummy ache either!  I am going to give a full week to see if this continues, but if it does, I am really excited.  I just don't have the time to go into more detail (wild boys live here) about all of this, but, if this continues to work well for him I am thrilled.  The bread tastes really yummy, and there are many other baked goods you can make with it.  I've got pita's rising as I type!

Here's my trusty starter.  This is San Francisco sourdough.  One of these days I will try to catch my own.  

Here is my third attempt at the two-day loaf.  It's getting better each time; still not where I want it to be, but yummy all the same!

I've also started making home made kefir.  We love to buy it, but it is pretty expensive, too.  A friend gave me some grains to get started, and now we have a quart of yummy kefir ready in a day or so.  We like it best with banana and strawberries in it.  I've really been enjoying all I have been learning, and hopefully I'll continue to share.

Kefir in the making!

It's the season of the birthdays at our house...

This little booger gets the spring birthdays started at our house.  He was born on March 23rd, 2013 and turned one this year!  He has had a great first year, and he has had to learn a whole lot of flexibility.  Right after he was born we moved into a house that was dubbed by Sammy as, "yucky".  Which, in all honesty, it was.  It has come a long way for sure.  Isaac spent a lot of his first year attached to my hip because the floors were just too dirty to put him down.  He also learned to be way more content then his brothers were in his bed and  bouncy toy.  He has had the hardest time, (although Marcus pulls a close second) with his teeth.  Up until 5 months Isaac was a really easy baby.  He slept a lot, and was happy and content for much of the time.  Around 5 months he started teething, (didn't pop the first one until either 8 or 10 months - I can't remember exactly) and then everything changed.  But, despite the grumps that can come on him when a new tooth is on the move, we still adore him.   When he's happy, he is so happy!

At 12 months, he has 6 teeth, is nearly walking, (my other two were 15 months when they walked, so this is early for me), says, "uh oh, mama, dada, nana (banana), and some other babble.  He loves to make his brothers squeal.  Right now our dining room table is not accessible due to construction, so Isaac LOVES to crawl to his brother's little table (which he is thrilled to be able to reach) and try and make a mess of their food while they are trying to eat.  He will repeat this process until, you guessed it, he winds up on my hip.  Now that he's getting heavier than my bicep and back wish to deal with, he also ends up in his high chair while his brothers finish.  Sammy and Isaac are really pals and they play well together.  Marcus tends to see Isaac as an annoyance that needs to be removed - ah, siblings!

Isaac has truly been a blessing to our growing family.  I can't wait to see him toddling around outside this summer.  He points to outside whenever I have him next to a window and says, "uh....uh!"  He LOVES the time we've spent outside this spring so far.

One other cute thing about Isaac.  He loves music.  When he hears a song, (even if it's a random short song from one of his toys) he starts bouncing.  His favorite song is a rewrite I did of "Black Betty."  I call it, "Fat Baby."  Fat baby has a butt, bam balam, fat baby has thighs, bam balam, fat baby as cheeks, bam balam, fat baby has a belly, bam balam, oh fat baby, bam balam, oh fat baby, bam balam,oh fat baby, bam balam, oh fat baby bam balam.  When we sing this to him, he starts dancing and giggling.  It's really cute!!

We sure love our little man Isaac.  We're blessed to have him in our home!

Living and learning

Friends,

Due to the sensitive nature of the situation with my family, I have removed my previous post.  You are welcome to contact any of us with questions or concerns.  What we all need more that anything is prayer for wisdom, peace, healing and anything else you can think of!  God is at work, and we are all confident of that.

On a completely different note:

I have been meaning to post pictures of the progress of our kitchen.  It is mostly fully put together now, so the pictures below are a little out of date, but we are sure enjoying the progress.