He Got Them!

I could just kiss that sweet little face. (I do a lot actually).

He is so excited about his new glasses.

And in the 3 days he's been wearing them, he's not complained of a headache once or cried because his eyes hurt (which he has been doing since his mono last summer poor guy).

I am really praying that it will help him this week and the day we go next week for summer school.

He said he sees a whole lot better and the letters aren't so confusing.

Hurray!!

A Trip to the Dentist

Can I say that I am in love with our dentist's office?

In love? Really?

Yes!!!!!

We start taking our kids to the dentist when they turn 3. They basically just get used to the chair and loud instruments before anything else. If they get a teeth cleaning, all the better. If not, they are establishing a healthy relationship with the person who will take care of their teeth for a long time.

We had a great experience with our local dentist for the first 3 years.

Patience and Understanding and a Quiet Voice is important when dealing with small children who don't want you to put a spinning metal object into their mouths.

We loved ours...until he said he could no longer work with Precious Jewel because she needed more professional help. AKA: an Orthodontist. (we still love that dentist by the way, but we are now onto the big leagues). And since I don't want to go to several different dentists for my children when they could all see the same one, I picked the one I'd heard about on our radio and made a visit.

This is what we saw when we first got there.

Yeah, AWESOME in a word!

She liked the animals. The boys like the jeep crashing through the side of the building.
This was gonna' be a fun place to get your teeth pulled, jaw widened, and teeth straightened. Hehe.

My sister was here a couple of days ago and came with us for Precious Jewel's Orthodontist Consult. She needs braces pretty bad, but they have to widen her jaw first and make room for the teeth that aren't in yet. Yes, she is just 8, but she's lost nearly half her teeth because she simply has a tiny mouth. Mr. Razorback Gorilla greets you at the front door. You can't see it, but Nater Mater and Good Lookin' are excitedly holding his hand.

Walking in the front door, you have to be extremely careful not to fall into the ravine below where there is raging rapids and I think a crocodile or 2 waiting with open (and may I add very perfect shiny teeth) jaws.
Upon entering the reception area, we are greeted with a Horton Hears a Who type elephant who is about to crash into the giant aquarium. Wait! Stop! Don't kill Nemo!

And yes, Nemo (the real fish) does live in our dentist office tank. So, does Dorey and Joque, and several other whose names I can't remember. Mr. Smiles asked me last Spring if Darla ever came to the office and if the dentist stopped her from tapping on the tank. "Swim free Nemo." I heard him whisper the first time he saw the tank. "Swim free!"

Then there is all the PlayStation 2 areas and Nintendo DS spots to keep one occupied. When Precious Jewel had a tooth pulled last winter, she climbed the snake on the wall behind her and sat in the tree that I forgot to take a picture of. It was her own quiet place.

If that isn't enough to keep your mind of any impending pain, there is a fun surround sound movie theater for your convenience. Seriously. And they truly do kid-friendly G-rated movies.

This time though, Precious Jewel was just here for a consult to see what the next step was in teeth care.

Jaw widening. Now we just wait on insurance approval.

So, you'll have to wait until next time to see what is beyond the reception area.

For now, I'll leave you with the boys playing the Lightning McQueen racing game!

Happy Visit to the Dentist!

Camping...Haak Style

After 9 1/2 years of marriage and talking about getting a tent the whole time, we finally did it. Luke and I bought a tent a couple of weeks ago! I am so excited.

We broke it in just a week ago on one of the (seemingly) hottest days of the year.

Luke and I took the kids to SAM'S Club and picked out the one Luke had looked at on-line. We wanted one big enough for all of us right now...plus our stuff.

8 man tent for six people (I like my space and most of the people are little--for now).

We decided to start out our camping easy.

The front yard.

(A few of us were excited about getting to sleep with their cats....or so he thought).
Being boys and having that innate ability to turn even a sandwich into a gun or weapon, the tent stakes were a huge hit.

Luke and I have had one real experience camping since we were married 9 years ago. We took Precious Jewel to Silver Dollar City as a 6 or 7 month old and camped with our former pastor from Nebraska. It was fun...if you don't mind not sleeping for 2 days.

Precious Jewel was very happy; she just hardly slept the entire time we were there and when she did sleep was not when we needed her to.

Needless to say, we kept saying we wanted to try again, but have been a little scared....until now.

Our 4th is almost 3 and it's time to step out of our comfort zone.
So, let's start at the very beginning.

A very good place to start...

and starting in the front yard just 10 feet from the front door and the comfort of our beds seemed like a good place to start.

And what would camping be without a campfire?

We've used the fire pit many times before, just not in 95 degree weather. The kiddos weren't all that happy about the heat mixed with the in-your-face intense heat. Not to mention, the little roasting sticks you buy at Walmart are so stinkin' short you might as well just put the hot dog or marshmallow on your finger, but we sure liked the results!

Next time I'll not be so hasty in my spring cleaning and save a handful of those horid wire hangers.

hmmmmmm......gooey yummy goodness!!

I love the little pinky flair!

All their personalities came out even in their style of marshmallow eating!

Mr. Smiles said he'd never had one before. I know (at least I'm pretty certain) he has. Either way, his eyes lit up when he took the first bite.

Good Lookin', being the sensitive and perfectionistic child that he is, was not happy that his cracker broke in half. After that, he just ate marshmallows and chocolate.

Much less distressing...don't you think?

And Nater Mater, well, he doesn't like marshmallows.

Seriously! Who doesn't like marshmallows?

He wasn't interested in the graham crackers either.

He went straight for the Hershey's chocolate bar and ate half a bar before we caught him.

Now that's my boy!

The evening's entertainment was provided by daddy and the Happy Hollisters.

I am loving introducing our kids to all the "old literature."

Some of us were a little young for the Hollisters, so the 1950s The Happy Man and His Dumptruck and a cup of milk kept him entertained.

And did they make it? Amazingly, all but Happy Man boy. And I was quite happy to walk the 10 feet to the front door and tuck him back into his own bed.

Potty Training

It's that time again.
Potty Training--the time when all mothers wonder whether or not their sweet little child will ever learn use the toilet instead of their diaper.
Potty training time is when a mother can look forward to the end of cleaning up someone else's poop and pee. Because you know every woman always thought it would be glamorous to wipe off someone else's hiney. Deep sarcasm here.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my children. I consider it a privilege to kiss their cuts and scrapes and rock them when they have a temperature and read them stories "just because."
However, cleaning up poop has never, and I do state NEVER, been part of the "delights" of motherhood. Especially that poops that finds their way out of the diaper and either up the back of child or down the legs and onto the floor.
Motherhood is a joy. Poop is not.
But we do the yucky along with the lovely because they are our treasures.
Sweet Precious Jewel potty trained just before the age of 2. Then we took a 2 week trip to see my parents in Mexico. It was rather distracting for an almost 2 year old and she couldn't be bothered with using the toilet instead of her diaper. It was 6 months before she re-trained successfully.
Mr. Smiles was a breeze. He was just within weeks of turning 2. He was speaking in full sentences and I thought, "why not?"
I thought boys would be difficult. He wasn't. But, I think it's because he is so close in age to his older sister and he already copied everything she did. Potty training was honestly done by her and not me.
I just took him to the store and let him pick out his favorite underwear and then told him not to poop on Thomas's (the train) face. He took that duty very seriously and trained completely within just 3 days much to my surprise and delight.
Good Lookin' was also very articulate by the age of 2, and was showing signs of wanting to get rid of the diaper (by the way, I used cloth with my first 3 and I think that also has something to do with potty training early).
However, I was just a couple of weeks from due with Nater Mater and we were facing a move as well as a possible C-section. I did not want to try potty training at the same time. Who really wants to drive themselves crazy with more than they have to? Not me.
My mom came right after Nater Mater was born and stayed for 2 weeks. She noticed that Good Lookin' was ready and she potty trained him. Again, quick and easy, but I can't take the credit.
Now for child #4. He is a bit different in some ways than his older siblings.
The most obvious is that at the age of 2 he was NOT talking in complete articulate sentences. No, he only had about 6 words and that worked just fine for him. His older siblings understood what he wanted and doted on him, so what was the point of actually forming the words? (my theory)
He also is the child I only used cloth on for the first year and then put him in "store diapers."
Needless to say, he is now almost 3 and just beginning to potty train. I don't really care.
So far, I've never met anyone who went off to college un-trained and I'm fairly certain he'll be trained before he starts Pre-K in the Spring.

We tried starting a month ago. After 2 weeks of him totally not getting it and instead thinking it was funny to "poop on Mater's head," I decided to back off and try again later. Just this past week, he was out in the garden with me watering the plants. He decided to strip off his diaper and play in the water. Suddenly, he looked down and SAW he was peeing. He was delighted!!! Totally and absolutely delighted!
He then tried to go around the yard and pee on every tree stump and small bush and blade of grass that he could get to. He grew a little frustrated that his "pee not woking mommy!" I laughingly explained it would soon again and that he could pee on the grass later. "Otay mommy."

This is my attempt to get him to use the toilet. Polar Express worked for his older brother. It did not work for him. He peed right over the edge and onto the floor and then asked "why mommy? why?"

I roll eyes and clean up floor.

He's got it now thanks to the grass and yard!! And he no longer grins when he poops "on Mater!"

I am still letting him go around in just his cute little undies.

1. Because we have no neighbors and no one knows where we live.

2. His siblings don't care and neither do I.

3. It's so much easier to just get underwear off than a pull-up or pants when you are not quite 3 and not so coordinated.

Now, if I can just toilet train him, I will consider myself successful. So far, he simply likes to run out to the yard and "pee in da' gwass mommy. pee in da' gwass.

New Puppies!

Here they are!! We don't have them yet. The puppies are only 4 weeks old, so we won't get them until the first week of August, but the kids are sooooooo excited! This little girl is Ginger. She's named after Ginger in the book by Eleanor Estes. No matter that Ginger Pye in the book is a boy; it's the color that counts.

We haven't exactly decided which boy we want yet. We know we want the brown girl, but the boys are still un-decisive about what boy we'll bring home. And yes, the name is still Junkyard. I'm hoping they pick the biggest one. At least he'll fit his name!

When we saw them last week, their eyes were still mostly closed and they were still scooting around. This week, everyone was bright-eyed and taking wobbly little puppy steps. So cute!

We can't wait until they are weaned, and having two should help the separation from their siblings. More picture to come when we bring them home!

On Making Simple Goat Cheese

FINALLY!!
Here is the post several people have e-mailed or face booked me for.

Also, my dear hubby bought me new camera. It's a little cannon that I can keep trading up for if I want. Thanks Wendy for telling me about that. I had no idea Cannon had an upgrade program. Luke knows how addicted I am to taking pictures and that we are going on our first huge vacation in just a few weeks.

Anyway......How to Make Goat Cheese.
Just a preface here: I am no expert. This is simply what I've read and have attempted with the resources that I already have on hand. This type of cheese is most like Chev re or Cream Cheese or Ricotta.

First things first, when you are making Goat Cheese you need one of these or access to their milk:

(We can hook you up if you want.) ; D
We use all stainless steel equipment because it is the easiest to sterilize. I am lucky that my dishwasher has a restaurant-type sanitizer cycle because I truly truly HATE the amount of dishes that milking goats produces on top of the normal amount of dishes that a family of six produced....as well as babysitting 9 months out of the year. I think I'd go insane if I didn't have a dishwasher.

Next: You need to hear a gallon of milk to 190 degrees in a sterilized (and I prefer stainless steel once again) pan. Stir it constantly. Boiled over milk is absolutely disgusting and hard to get off your stove once it's burnt on. (trust me, I've done it several times).Once your milk has hit 190, pull it off and let it cool down to 100 degrees.

Once it has cooled, you can add either 1/4 cup of APPLE CIDER VINEGAR or LEMON CONCENTRATE. I haven't found the taste to be much different between the two.
Stir it up and it will curdle like this:

(Now I understand the little rhyme Little Miss Muffet who sat on her tuffet eating her curds and whey). I used to think it was porridge. It's not. And the thought of eating or drinking this is utterly revolting.
If you have Cheese Cloth great, I didn't and didn't want to buy it if I didn't have to. I have some old flour sack tea towels that I washed with unscented soap (I have to for our allergy kids anyway) and then dried without using any fabric softener. The idea of possibly tasting fabric softener is kinda' gross too.

I hung it over my mixing bowl and put a rubber band around the edge of the bowl to keep it from slipping off. We also have a milk filter for filtering the milk right after milking. I use one of those on top my cheese cloth to catch all the curds. It's not necessary though. Let it drip all through. It might take an hour or more.
Then I hang it up and let it drip for a couple hours more...squeezing it every so often to help it along. I jimmy-rigged it here in my cupboard. I fell out a couple of times until I sandwiched it between my plates.

I spooned out the cheese and scraped the sides of the cloth to get all I could (another reason not to have used fabric softener if using flour sack type dishtowels.

Here's your finished result with a little sea salt and chopped up basil from my garden! I'm going to get some sun dried tomatoes and make another batch with that and garlic.

Hmmmmm!!!! It's really yummy on crackers or as a veggie dip.
And EVERYONE but the one boy who we started this all out for likes it. Fortunately, he likes it in dishes that I've started cooking it with and I can start making some of his favorite foods again that I haven't made in two years.

His little brother loves it though...especially with some chocolate chips that he got into while I wasn't looking.