My very domestic week

So, it has been a very long time since I have really posted much of anything.  It's certainly not that I don't have anything to talk about, it's just that life gets busy and I don't make this a priority.  

Anyway, I have been very busy recently.  First, I have been doing a LOT of crocheting in my spare time (as if moms really have "spare time").  I have been making some baby gifts for some friends, along with FINALLY finishing the very large blanket that I was making for Timothy.  (He was VERY patient in waiting, considering I started it well over a year ago.)  

Secondly, I have had a very fun week of making things from scratch in the kitchen.  On Monday, we stopped to pick up our fresh, raw milk from our friends who have a dairy farm.  (Before anyone freaks out, yes it is legal to buy and sell raw milk in our state, and no, it is not unsafe or otherwise unsanitary.  In fact, it is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH healthier for you, but that is a topic for a different day.)  Anyway, on Tuesday we made a batch of homemade yogurt.  This was our third time making it, and it is not nearly as crazy, scary or "weird" as I thought. :)  It's really very, very simple (and tasty).  Then we also tried something we had never done before...we made some homemade butter!  It was really pretty fun (and again, very tasty with the raw milk).  It is great for spreading on homemade bread, which we also made twice this week, but it would take a LOT of cream to make enough butter to use for things like baking.  

The most exciting kitchen venture was definitely Thursday night.  One of the ladies in our homeschool group has been making homemade mozzarella cheese for almost a year.  So, at our Mom's night on Thursday, she taught us all how to make it!!! :)  I was SO excited!  In our house, we LOVE cheese!  A lot!!!!  And it turns out that mozzarella cheese it extremely quick and easy to make.  (It only takes about half an hour!)  Hard cheeses are definitely more involved, but maybe someday...
One thing I have to say is that it was AMAZING to all of us to see the incredible differences between using raw milk versus pasteurized milk for making the cheese!  The raw milk took less time to set, the curd formed SO much nicer and didn't stick to the kitchen towel when straining (apparently cheese cloth does NOT work so well, contrary to what one would believe).  Also, the cheese stretches and forms SO much nicer.  And...the whey was completely different!!!  The whey coming out of the pasteurized cheese looks pretty much watery, while the raw milk whey looked basically like skim milk. :)  Bonus science experiment with our lesson! :)  

So, it has been a VERY fun week in the kitchen!  Also, my beloved has requested some homemade chocolate chip cookies.  It looks like we need more butter for that, but that can definitely be arranged. :)  However, there appears to be some debate over what cookies we should make.  When I asked Abby if she wants to make chocolate chip cookies, she replied, "No.  I want strawberry cookies...with chocolate beneath the strawberries...and extra vanilla...and maple syrup...and "cupcake frosting" on them."  So...I'm not sure we really have a recipe for that...  Also, when I told her today that we need to pick up some more butter to make our cookies, she said, "I don't want butter!!!  Butter and strawberries do NOT mix!"  Silly girl. :)

Michaelisms

In my last post (which was quite a long time ago!), I shared some of my favorite things that Abby says that make us smile.  Now that Michael is saying a lot more words, I need to record some of my favorite Michaelisms. 

Shoo- (noun) This can mean one of two things: The first one is somewhat obvious- "shoe".  The second option is a little less obvious- "fish".  The good news is that it is usually pretty easy to determine whether he is referring to swimming creatures or footwear.  This also works for socks or anything else that goes on his feet. :) 

Aye- (noun) This would be Michael's word for "milk".  I am not exactly sure how that came about.  For a very brief time, he pronounced "milk" in the same way that Timothy did at that age, which is even more difficult to try to spell than it is to say- "Blggoobllgw".  While Timothy stuck with that one, (Thankfully we had taught him to sign the word milk also, or we would have been hard-pressed to figure that one out.), Michael switched it up with a much easier word, both to say and spell.

"Eeya Doh."  This would be translated as "Here you go."  It just makes me smile, the way he says it. :) When he wants me to pick him up, he will come up to me with his arms up and say "Eeya doh."  :)

Bubble- (noun)  While this can refer to the obvious- bubble, it is also his word for blueberries- definitely a favorite in our house. :)  

"Ah Ditey!"  Translation- "Alrighty!" 

Pee pee-  (noun)  This is not what you would think.  Instead of being used as a bathroom reference, this is his word for pizza.  Appetizing, don't you think? :)

Eee hee or Hee hee- (noun)  This started out as his way of saying "horsey".  However, more recently he has started saying "Yeehaw!" every time he sees a horse. :)

I am sure there are more that I will have to add, but that is all I can think of right now. :)  I love my kids and I am so thankful God blessed me with being their mama. :)

Abbyisms

Kids are really funny!  They say funny things.  They do funny things.  Sometimes they do and say things to intentionally make others laugh.  However, I think some of the very funniest things are the ones that are just part of that particular child.  Here are some "Abbyisms" that I want to make sure I don't forget. :)

Stripey- adjective.  Relating to the unfortunate condition of having one's socks pulled up too high.  (ex.  "Help!  My socks are too stripey!!!!")

Shovey- adjective.  Relating to the unfortunate condition of having one's feet improperly situated in one's footie pajamas.  (ex.  Help!  My feet are shovey!!!")

Snadie- proper noun.  The name given to any and all unicorns in her possession.

Laffy- proper noun.  The name of Abby's baby doll who giggles when you squeeze her hand.

Nakie- proper noun.  The name of Abby's other favorite baby doll.  (Disclaimer- all of Abby's baby dolls spend their time sans clothing, but this is the only doll labeled that way.)

Pickles- proper noun.  The name of Abby's favorite stuffed bunny.  (Also a favorite food of both Abby and Emma.)

Clo- noun.  Referring to a single item of clothing.  (ex.  Mom, can you help me find Laffy's clo?")  
I can completely understand the use of this word, as I said the same thing when I was her age. :)  When you think about it, it really does make perfect sense.  Generally speaking, most nouns with an "s" at the end are plural nouns, referring to more than one of something.  Clothes is a noun that ends in "s", therefore one might think that this word refers to multiple articles of clothing, such as an entire outfit.  Therefore, it would seem to make sense that when referring to a single article of clothing, such as a dress or shirt, the word would then be "clo".  That completely makes sense, doesn't it?  Ok, maybe it's just me...and Abby.  :)  

I am sure there are plenty more things to add later on, but these are some of my favorites that are currently on my mind.  Kids really are funny! :)

Camouflage birthday

Yesterday was Timothy's 8th birthday!  I can't believe he is that old already!  (I know that sounds really  cliche to say, but it's still true nonetheless.)  

A few weeks ago, I finally broke down and joined Pinterest.  (I definitely agree with the advice that I have heard from several people- set a timer!!!  It's amazing how much time a person could spend on there!)  Anyway, I have been finding all kinds of delicious and fun recipes on there.  There are still WAY more recipes on my board that I haven't tried yet than those that I have, but I have already made several things and all have been delicious!  (Olive Garden breadsticks, a taco pie, an amazing chocolate chip cookie-peanut butter cup-brownie dessert, and several others.)  One of the first things I found on there was a recipe for camouflage cupcakes.  As soon as I saw them, I knew that I had to try making them for Timothy's birthday.  (This child would live in an entirely camouflage world if he could!)  Now, a little disclaimer...I am not all that daring and creative when it comes to making cakes.  I'm sure that I probably could do more than what I have, especially if I had the right tools and supplies.  But I just haven't made that a top priority.  Usually we end up with a 9x13 pan with frosting and some kind of sprinkles and/or decorations.  So, this is the most involved cake project that I have tackled in a long time.  (I did have help from our friend Laura, who was invaluable in this process!  Over the past couple years, any really awesome cakes the kids have had have been made and decorated by Laura.)  :)  Anyway, here is the end result.

I was shocked at how well they turned out!  I can't believe how much they actually look like camouflage!

Some of them overflowed the cups a little and ended up looking like little turtles. 

This is the final product, with the camouflage frosting and orange and green sprinkles.

Here is Timothy's birthday turtle.  It even looks like it has a face and little legs popping out.  There is no way we could have made it do that if we tried! :)

We got to celebrate with an awesome play date with some great friends!  The girls played together and had a blast.  The boys played together and had a blast.  The four littles played near each other and seemed to have fun, and the mamas definitely had a great time visiting and catching up! :)  

Happy birthday, Timothy! :)

Summer Vacation, Part 3

The kids just reminded me that I should really finish posting the pics from our vacation, since it was a whole month ago now.  Since it is already becoming more difficult to remember all of the details, they are probably right. :)  So, here goes.  After spending the third night at a hotel in the Mammoth-Hot Springs area just north of Yellowstone, we spent day 4 visiting Mammoth-Hot Springs.  I really wasn't sure what to expect, since I have never been to that area.  It was really quite beautiful!!!

 This is Liberty Cap, a dormant hot spring cone.  The kids thought it looked pretty cool!

These are pictures of Palette Spring.  The columns, arches and terraces are incredible!  Knowing that they were not created by human hands, but rather by God's hand through the use of the water and hot springs is pretty awesome!

These are pictures of an area called Cleopatra Terrace.  Again, the terraces, along with the contrasting colors, are breathtakingly beautiful, especially in person. :)

Sheepeater Cliff was really cool also (again, much more so in person.)

Here we see evidence of the massive wildfire that spread through the area in 1988.

This was my very first encounter with hot spring pools.  It was really neat to see the water bubbling and steaming, and I was also surprised at the vibrant colors.  We learned that darker the blue, the hotter the water.  

I just realized that I didn't get any pictures of Steamboat Geyser.  We didn't see it erupt, as it is very unpredictable and can go for weeks or months between eruptions, but they say that when it does go off, it is amazing!

I think it is time to end this post as well before it becomes completely ridiculously long. :)  Stay tuned for the next installment! :)

Summer Vacation, part 2

Okay, continuing on with our vacation adventures.  Before I share more pics and stuff, I just have to say that I am truly amazed (and SO thankful!!!!) for how well things went!  By all rights, this vacation really should have been an absolute train wreck.  We had been gone for almost the entire previous week at Family Camp.  We got home from camp on a Saturday, and the next day was Michael's first birthday.  Then Abby woke up that night with the stomach flu.  Including that Sunday, we were only home for 3 days between camp and our vacation.  And that 3 days included stomach flu and and LOTS of unpacking, laundry and repacking.  Additionally, Michael had NOT been doing well AT ALL with sleeping places other than home, or with being in the car.  He did do well with sleeping at camp, but really, how long could that last?  The last time we had stayed in a hotel (in June, for a grad party), I ended up spending almost all night walking the halls and lobby with him.  And did I mention that he had NOT been a fan of being in the car?  Yeah.  We were looking at a week's worth of hotel stays, plus  hours (and hours, and hours) of car time.  Sounds like a recipe for success, doesn't it?  But praise God, it really was!!!  All of the kids were SO good in the car, and generally were so tired at bedtime that they crashed and slept GREAT!  This led to a VERY happy mama.  The only issue we really had at all was that Michael seemed to have a little bit of a stomach bug.  There was no throwing up (that would have been a disaster with a 1-year-old!) but the diapers were awful.  Thankfully, it almost always stayed contained. :)  

Anyway, back to the fun stuff.  Our third day, we started out from Billings and traveled south into Wyoming, via the Beartooth Pass.  This takes you directly up, around and through the Beartooth mountains.  Our plan had been to take a somewhat leisurely drive through the pass and then check out Mammoth-Hot Springs just inside of Yellowstone.  It turned out that the drive took us pretty much all day (not because of any problems, but just because it is SO beautiful and we kept stopping to check things out).  The good news was that we really didn't have a strict agenda, and we had a pretty flexible time table (we really didn't know how long we would be gone when we started out) so we could just enjoy things as they came up.  

This was our first real glimpse of the mountains.  Randy had been out this way a couple times when he was growing up.  I had been to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee before, but otherwise this was my first real experience with seeing the mountains, and it was a first for all of the kids.

Throughout the trip, I was truly in awe of the beauty and diversity of God's handiwork.

We ended up with several family pictures on this trip, which was really fun.  I think this one might be my personal favorite.

The kids thought it was cool to see so much snow in the middle of July!

All I can really saw is WOW! 

The kids wanted to get a picture wearing their shorts in the snow.  We were trying to hurry and get a picture in before the storm came.

I just loved the pointy mountain.  It is exactly what most kids would draw if you asked them to draw a picture of a mountain.

This was a really cool waterfall that we saw along the pass.  Look at the water just roaring down from the mountains!

Considering the number of pictures in this post, I think this is enough for one post.  To be continued...

Our Summer Vacation, part 1

As I posted earlier, we had an awesome vacation a couple weeks ago!  We started out on the morning of Wednesday, July 11 and headed west to Dickinson, ND.  Some friends of ours, Becky and "Cordy" (as Abby called him) graciously allowed us to crash at their house that night.  In addition, "Cordy", who works as a firefighter in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, took us on a little tour through the park.  (Not the entire park, as that would have taken a lot more time than we had available this time.  We will probably have to take another trip out to Medora and the park another year.)  The kids were excited to see their first wild buffalo, as well as some wild horses.  (There is a bison ranch that we pass frequently on our way to run errands, etc, and of course they have seen and been around horses before, but seeing them in the wild was different and very exciting!)

I have been to Medora/part of Theodore Roosevelt National Park/the badlands before, but it really is a pretty area.  

This last picture was the first of several family pictures that we captured on our trip.  It almost looks like we were photoshopped over a background of the badlands, but I promise we were really there. :)

Day two of our trip took us from North Dakota into Montana.  It was fun to watch the landscape change one again from the badlands to rolling hills mixed with HUGE wheat fields, along with open prairies with herds of cattle and horses grazing.  The kids were also excited to see their first long-horn cattle, something we don't really have around here.  Our main focus that day was a stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.  We listened to a presentation and watched the film they had about the battle, and checked out the exhibits in the visitor center before heading out to see the battlefield area.  

This is a picture of part of the cemetery where U.S. soldiers are buried.

These are pictures of the U.S. Soldiers monument on top of Last Stand Hill.  I apologize to the random people in the picture for unauthorized use of your picture on my blog.  This picture was taken from the car as we drove past.  (I would have loved to get out and take a closer look and get a better picture, but we had tired kids, we were running out of time and it was BLAZING hot.  Consequently, we chose to just drive around instead of getting out and hiking around.)

This is a picture of the Native American monument.  

It really was interesting and I wish we had more time to really explore.  Maybe on another trip, when the kiddos are a little older and better able to do more walking/hiking, and perhaps when the temperature is a little farther from 100.  We spent that evening in Billings, MT, taking some time to relax in the pool after supper.  The kids needed a chance to burn off some steam after a lot of time in the car those first 2 days.  I think, in an effort to keep this post from becoming horribly long (especially with all the pictures that we have), I will end this post here and continue our journey in another post.