Story N Splash Time

Went to a pretty cute little story and splash time a couple weeks ago. Everyone had a good time and we even saw Aunt Ninny (Bobby's Sister) there! Since she lives in Cleveland, seeing her at a park in Conroe was a surprise - that woman is everywhere!



Jack watching all the going on's....
















Bella watching all the going on's......



















Bella joins in the going on's.....















Katie and Jack spending some quality time













I wish this picture would have focused better - it was so cute to see Card watching Jack who was watching me! Very sweet the love between these children - I love being their Mama!

The Grandma's

Nanny and Jack


















Mimi and Jack

Another day in paradise

Bella likes to play "baby" so here she is sitting in Jack's highchair...although I guess it is technically Card's highchair passed down to Bella, passed down to Jack.....
Behind her is our "verse board" where we have our weekly Bible verse written out for everyone. I also started a weekly hymn memorization - this week is "Holy, Holy, Holy" - I have a book that we can study the story behind the hymn, the writer, and has ALL the stanzas.













Our little Jack..well, not really anymore! Weighing in at over 16 pounds these days!


















The babies (we refer to Card and Bella as "the babies" or "the middles") love to feed Jack.











He enjoys it too!

His bib says it all - "Back off, these cheeks are loaded!"

4th of July

Katie made this beautiful cake for us and our visitors.....
















Not the best pictures, but this is Dad-Dad helping the kids shoot of the fireworks..I think he kind of enjoyed it too....













Dad-Dad, Katie and Trenton in the background. Our good friends the Carikers came over to help us eat our cake and shoot our ammunition....













Bella enjoying the show (and her thumb...)

Interesting find....

Reading through "Dumbing Us Down" and found an interesting historical fact that was unknown to me...
“Our form of public schooling is an invention of the State of Massachusetts around 1850. It was resisted — sometimes with guns — by an estimated eighty percent of the Massachusetts population, the last outpost in Barnstable on Cape Cod not surrendering its children until the 188o’s, when the area was seized by militia and children marched to school under guard.”

Wow, I never realized the militia was used to enforce compulsory school!

Supervisor Jack

"Back to work....no benefits!!"

Moving Along....

Started the addition this weekend....














all the guys worked very hard :)

















last post.....













and the beautiful finish.












Thank you to my wonderful husband, son, father-in-law and brother-in-law. Thanks to my mother-in-law for helping me feed all these hungry guys! YEA!!!!

Raw Pecan Pie

This is adapted from the recipe book RAWvolution by Matt Amsden

Crust:
2 cups raw almonds finely ground in food processor
add 1/3 cup agave or honey until well mixed. I have to scrap sides a few times. Can also grind almonds first and place them in a bowl - then add agave and stir.
Place crust in a pie dish or 8x8 pyrex (we put ours in the pyrex)

Filling
2 Tablespoons coconut cream concentrate
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup pecans (reserve 1/4 cup for garnish)
1/2 cup raisins

Combine in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth (make sure raisins are no longer grainy). Put filling in crust (will have to spoon it in) and top with whole or chopped pecans.

This is such a great recipe! So much quicker than cooked pecan pie and SO much better for ya!

Katie's 10th birthday....

We ate at Katie's favorite resturant - Cornellis. Great italian food and wonderful lady. Her and Katie get along wonderfully and when Will and I go alone she send Katie home a special dessert...











Birthday girl.....we will be showing this one to her future husband someday.......

MFT

During our Bible reading time a few mornings ago, Card asked if he could "read" a few words from his Bible. Reading from the MFT (Modern Farmer Translation) he quoted the following
"and he tractoreth the land...."

Pecan Surprise

I made this for the Above Rubies conference and it was gone in about 20 minutes (both batches!)
I am calling it Pecan Surprise....
4 cups pecans
2 cups pumpkin seeds
2 cups coconut
1 cup raisins
1 package carob chips (optional - can also use cacao chips or another dried fruit)

Coat this mixture with maple syrup until it is damp - should not be any maple syrup sloshing around in the bottom..

Dehydrate at 115 overnight

For those of you without a dehydrator I would put it in the oven on the lowest setting and prop the door open just a bit. I would probably start it in the morning so I could keep an eye on it - would probably take 6 or so hours. This will crisp up a bit more after it drys.

I am working on other recipes to put on here - due to popular demand! :)

How the adoption is going....

Wow - the Lord is at work in Greg and Cara's life! We have some wonderful friends - Greg and Cara Green, that are adopting two beautiful little boys from Haiti. I wanted to tell you a bit about them and ask you keep them in your prayers and even consider helping bring these two boys home to them - Here is their blog . Greg and Cara are a wonderful couple that have been praying for a baby for many years now. They saved up for a long time for Greg to go back to school and now they are living in Florida seeing that dream come true. While in Florida they felt the Lord calling them to adopt ("what!" they said - "don't you see we have no income right now!") - still they felt they should adopt and went forward on faith that the Lord would provide - and provide He has. It still amazes me to look at their blog and see the boys homecoming get closer and closer. Talk about trusting in Him - I think I would have said "Oh, Lord, we will just wait until we are financially ready".... Thank God for Greg and Cara's faith in Him and that I am allowed to see it in action. I can honestly say I cannot wait for those boys to be out of the orphanage and in a home with two VERY loving parents. Let's help get these boys home where they belong!

The Kill

Cookie has earned her keep - this is a very large rat she is proudly displaying in front of her! He has the scar on the side of her face to prove she fought for her dinner yesterday......

My Little Ones - A Happy Mothers Day!

My 4 precious gifts!
Katie is 9, Card 3, Bell 2 and baby Jack is 8 months!


















Normal Card face - looks just like his namesake....






















Smiling Jack - rare these days, I think we are teething!


















Katie

















The Girls!

Name That Dugger

Want to help name the newest Duggar baby???

Name That Duggar...
I of course picked Jack as the boy name - help it get some votes!

#18 On The Way

The Dugger's are at it again! I just checked this site two days ago and it did not have this!

Happy Mother's Day:
Woman pregnant with 18th child
By JILL ZEMAN,
Associated Press Writer28 minutes ago.
It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman as she's pregnant with her 18th child.
Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins."We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square- foot home. All the children have names that start with the letter J and are home-schooled.Michelle Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores or "jurisdictions" are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said."The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores. Duggar said she's six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it."The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

Not the best written article....Congrats for Michelle!
Some fun Dugger facts :

Michelle’s been pregnant for 135 months of her life
Average number of months between Duggar births is 18
The Duggars do approximately 200 loads of laundry each month.
Every Duggar child learns to play both violin and piano.
The only person in the Duggar family whose name doesn’t start with "J" is Mom — Michelle.
The Duggars feed their entire brood for less than $2,000 per month.
The Duggars are debt free.

Sweet Boy

This is my sweet boy. In this picture he is peeling bananas to freeze to make banana ice cream (we put the banana's through the juicer and it makes a raw ice cream). This little boy (as rowdy as he is) is the sweetest 3 year old I know. When he sees me sit down he brings me a glass of water. If I dont have a snack he offers to bring me (and of course himself) a nut bar. He colors me pictures everyday and I always have fresh flowers in my windowsill. He is always thinking of me and was so sad that daddy did not get me a shake the other day when they stopped - he gave me his. I was thinking on this today and I know that children learn things from their parents - I believe this little boy has been learning from the master - Daddy! Will is always thinking of me and the kids and Card sees that. Our daddy works very hard so we can live here and have our home and our farm. We are so blessed to have the best daddy in the world - thank you Lord!

Feet

Card loves to take pictures of feet - here are some of his latest shots....

































got a 3 for 1 here :)

Bella Hair

I promised Will I would not post the one of him in his sweatshrit and boxers - he and the kids made pacncakes a few mornings ago. I think the boots just make Bella's outfit - dont you? Mommy has this weird rule that we all dress before we make breakfast, but no such non-sense with Daddy!

Katie Piano Recitial

I am finally getting around the posting these! Katie had an awesome recitial - she played a number that she herself wrote :)



Katie with Papa and Mimi















Jack with Nanny














Katie's piano teachers mom decorates cakes - this was such a neat cake!



















Katie and her teacher Beth


















Katie swinging with some friends after the recital

Trip to Old Style Working Farm & Garden in Houston & To get Poop....

We have spent some time this month visiting other farms for ideas, encouragment, etc....
Here are some pictures from our adventures....


First off is Sand Creek Farm which is the first raw milk dairy to be licensed in Texas. It was a great trip! They had all kinds of great things - grassfed beef, raw milk, cheese, yougurt, etc...
(Read about some of the benifits of Raw Milk )
They plow the ground with draft horses, they have 300 chickens, some pigs, gardens - it was a treat to spend the day with them and taste their homemade raw ice cream made with maple syrup...)











The Atkins joined us at the last minute - here are Angelica and Bella in the chicken field..















Fearless Bella on the chicken tractor













Al, Nathan, Will, Card and Bella walking to see the pigs












Here was our trip to some organic gardens in Houston - right there in 3rd ward....on a concrete parking lot at that....


Will and Glen picking some Sorrel - great stuff!















Card collected lots of greens for mama! My sweet boy!














See the raised gardens right on the concrete...















Zach, Nathan, Katie and Joel














Katie, Card, Bella, Glen, Andrew, Nathan, Farmer Joe, Will, Zach, and Noah and Joel up front.












Went to get some organic poop the other day and in April in Houston the kids needed their jackets!

Above Rubies Retreat.....

First we listened to Serene and Pearl





















Then to Pearl and Meadow












Katie was so scared to talk to Meadow - once she got over that, her and Meadow became fast friends!