A picture is worth a thousand words....

Too long...

Yep, its been too long. Of course I have been busy, but I also have felt uninspired to write. Plus, I felt the need to share things chronologically, and frankly, that just felt overwhelming. Perhaps Facebook is to blame for part of my laziness concerning blogging. I love the instantaneousness (is that a word?) of Facebook. I have a few thoughts rolling around my head...

First off, due to a persistent ear infection in Gracyn, followed by 3 weeks of various antibiotics, we have Thrush. We are treating it with Gentian Violet (Thanks, Carole, for the recommendation). Gentian Violet is BRIGHT PURPLE and so Gracie looks like she has been sucking on a purple ice pop for a week. Lets just say it leaves a stain on some *ahem* "interesting" places on me as well. But, it is working, and that is what is important. Can I just say I love "natural" and "homeopathic" remedies?

On top of the thrush, I have a cold...blah...who likes being sick? Not me, and especially not in warm weather while my lilacs are in full bloom.

I'm looking forward to our vegetable garden this year. Each year I get a bit better at keeping up with it. This year I'm going to search for Heirloom plants, so their seeds can be kept to grow future gardens. I'm also going to try my hand at growing some lettuces. I'm thinking spinach and buttercrunch?

We will be welcoming a bunch of chicks onto the property. We have raised chickens for our own fresh eggs for about 6 years. We are down to just one of the original hens. Its time to bring on some fresh cuties. This year we will be buying day old "Red Star" chicks. Sidenote....I was originally going to order these through Murray McMurray Hatcheries, however, due to EVERYONE and their brother raising chickens this year, there was over a 2 month wait for their chicks. I tried a different hatchery with a 6 week wait. I think I'm going to buy local off of craigslist. There is a guy about 50 minutes away with 40 Red Star eggs in the incubator. Maybe we'll clean him out of his pullets. The price was also better than buying via a hatchery and shipping them.

I'm reading an amazing book about children's health and nutrition by Dr. Sears. Its called, The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood. It talks about cutting out certain fats, food dyes and high fructose corn syrup. Its amazing where you find HFCS...bread, ketchup, yogurt, etc. I'd like to significantly reduce, if not completely cut out HFCS from our diet, or at least only consume it on special occasions. I'm learning about the hormones in milk and how some people suspect it leads to early puberty and breast development in some girls. I have decided for now to not introduce any milk to Gracyn, other than my own breast milk. I figure, god designed my milk to be best for her, why would I wean her from my milk, only to introduce cows milk, which really was designed for calfs? When the time does come to introduce her to cows milk, I'll probably start her on hormone free or organic milk, although I'm completely balking at the prices...does anyone know where to obtain good quality, hormone free milk without paying $6 a gallon. We go through LOTS of milk around here!! I don't really want to have to get a part time job just to pay for milk, LOL!

On that note, if anyone has any healthy recipes they would like to share, I'm all ears...or eyes, if you choose to email it : ) This week I'll be making hummus for the first time, ever. I also made cranberry cous-cous last night for dinner. I've made cous-cous numerous times before, just never added cranberries. I also bought some flaxseed to start adding to foods. Anyone use flaxseed? Beuler? Beuler? Just kidding...anyone recognize that movie line? (Not that its a hard one...)

Rainy day friends...

...are wonderful friends!

They don't mind relaxing with you in the hot tub on a rainy afternoon, or in this case splashing around and treating the hot tub like a swimming pool ; )

They eat snickerdoodle cookies with you and play trains and blocks. They let you run around and act crazy, all while your mom and their mom talk away the hours. Chatting about natural, healthy living, cloth diapers, childbirth, midwives, cooking, adoption, and everything else under the sun.

Yes, its true...rainy day friends are wonderful friends!

The face of exhaustion...

I know how you feel, buddy. The last few days have been a whirlwind of exciting things, but I'm feeling the effects of being busy and away from the house so much...dirty home, dirty kids and exhaustion. I'm off to see if I can remedy the first two right now. I'll post more about my excitement very soon!

"One step forward...two steps back"

Or is it "Two steps forward, one step back"? I can not quite figure that out right now. As far as responsibilities and duties, I seem to have a difficult time finding the right balance. I suppose it all comes down to time management. Let me explain...

It seems like when my house is in good order (not perfect, but picked up and mostly clean), I am less stressed. I know this. But, it also seems like when my house is in good order, that there is less time to do school with Rylee, call a friend, catch up on my blog or email, etc. So, I set out to rectify the school issue and put aside more time to spend with Rylee. Then, dinner is late, the dishes are overflowing the sink and the same load of laundry I put in the washer at 8:00 am is still sitting in the washer.

This past Sunday night I started to get a little stuffy. I figured I was coming down with a cold. Monday I felt tired and very sneezy, but was really OK. Tuesday night I only got a couple of hours of sleep between my achy ears and head and Gracyn waking over and over. I had a fever as well as congestion and achiness all over. Matt actually stayed home from work to help care for the kids and do the necessary running around that comprises my Tuesdays. By yesterday, I felt mostly better and was fever free. I found no clean pants for Noah, so I had to dress him in a pair he had worn the day before. Don't worry...they had only been worn a few hours the day before, but it quickly became obvious we were in crisis mode as far as laundry was concerned. I had to use a big dish towel just to wipe Gracie's hands after breakfast because all the dishcloths were dirty. So, yesterday I started putting the house back in order. You ladies know how it gets when you are sick.

It seems like I can get a couple of areas of my life to really run smoothly, but then I turn around and the other areas have fallen into neglect. I feel like one of those circus acts where the guy starts spinning china plates on top of a pole. He gets one spinning, them moves on to the next, then the next. After a few moments he has to go back to the first plate to get it spinning faster again, or else the plate crashes to the ground. Every day its painfully obvious that I am NOT Super Mom or even Super Woman, for that matter. One day my kids are thriving and the house is kept up, but I have neglected to send out several birthday cards, my laundry room looks like Kilimanjaro, I have not spent any time reading my Bible or praying, and I realize with horror that I cannot remember how many days its been since my kids were bathed. Ouch...just keeping it real. I know I can not be the only one who struggles with the balance of life. Motherhood seems to find me striving to keep a tenuous balance of the different areas of my life. One day I am Super Wife, but Lousy Mom. The next day I'm Martha Stewart, but griping at the kids for tracking mud into the freshly cleaned kitchen and annoyed that once again school took a backseat to life.

I guess it comes down to this; choices. How do I choose to spend my time? I'm the first to admit that I spend too much time on the computer. I also know that I need to pray for wisdom and grace. Wisdom to know how to prioritize my day and spend my precious time, and grace to stick with that plan and manage it all. It does help to know that I am not the only one who deals with these same dilemmas. So, fellow mom's, its confession time. Let's be honest and take off out "Super Mom" cape and mask and share. Did your kid have to wear dirty clothes like mine did this past week? Do you have leftovers that are weeks,not days old in your fridge like I do? Does your yard look like a toy graveyard like mine does right this minute? Please share and make us all feel a little better...Are you brave enough to be honest and keep it real?

Overheard...

Overheard today while I was loading the washing machine with yet another load of laundry:

Rylee, to Brock, my nephew, "I really wish there were six of us kids in my family!"

Awww! I love that she wants to be part of a big family! I asked her about it to be sure I had understood her correctly, and she confirmed that she would love there to be lots of kids. What a great kid. I'm happy to hear that as its always been a desire of both Matt and I to adopt from the Foster Care system. We also would like more biological children as well, so its likely that Rylee will get her wish ; )

Baby Girls...

Reason #1 why baby girls are so much fun...



...you get to paint their itty, bitty toes with sparkly pink nail polish.