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.

Our Summer

Life is hitting a nice rhythm this summer in our little corner of the world.

This week was fabulous with NOTHING PLANNED! I've cleaned house, had a couple of play dates and played with the kids.

The second week the kids were out of school they (the older 3) attended a great VBS at a local church in town.
Then last week I sent Precious Jewel to another one and I spent the week pricing stuff for a garage sale that I was in that Friday.

I had been hoping that my 2 trips to town a day would end when school ended, but that didn't happen until this week and my gas tank and pocket book thanked me.

It's been fun though. The kids loved VBS and were so blessed with some great staff. Precious Jewel came home at the end of last week with a chunk of Scripture memorized and was proudly reciting them to anyone who would listen. We were all excited that it coincided with the current book we're reading together as a family...Little Pilgrim's Progress. Mr. Smiles got it for his birthday at the end of April, but we were in the middle of reading Ginger Pye (another old and fabulous children's story. So, we just started Pilgrim's Progress a little over a week ago. Some of the wording is a bit archaic, but I read about a sentence ahead while I'm reading out loud and change whatever wording they wouldn't understand. Sometimes I'll read what is written and they'll look at me like I've grown a third eye. I'll explain it to them and later that day hear them trying it with each other. REALLY FUNNY to hear a 2, 5, 7 and 8 year old re-enact the story and hear, "now get thyself up from thy despair! Let us go and make daisy chains for the baby to please him!" (drag un-willing, yelling 2 year old over to the dandelion puffs and try putting them in his hair). We're on the second half of the story where Christiana takes her younger siblings to the Celestial City.

Another fun tidbit....we are getting puppies!!! Yes, more than one! The kids are so excited and it's making it easier to let go of the dog we currently have. Leah isn't really ours. She is Jessica's, who lived with us a year ago during her Senior Year of college. We knew the day might come when we would have to give her back, but we are all really sad. Dear Mr. Smiles breaks out into random tears at times crying that she is leaving and then crying for Princess, the dog we had to get rid of because she kept burying dead chickens in the sandbox. (You all remember the maggot eating story). Anyway, a family in our church is giving the kids some sweet little black lab puppies and yesterday Luke and I took the kids to go pick out the two we wanted.

We decided on two because after getting rid of our ankle biting yappy little Thomas who naughtily chased Papa's cows and nipped at the heals of our new goats--even after nearly killing him with a shock collar, poor Leah became very depressed. She missed her annoying little companion (after she'd put him in his place by nearly killing him several times). The two had become fast friends and she moped for weeks after we had to take him to the pound and get rid of him. Mr Smiles has been crying for Thomas too now that I think of it. We haven't had a lot of luck with dogs. They have been sweet and great with the kids, but every dog we've gotten (all pound puppies and strays) have terrorized the local chicken, cows and now goat population. Not good when you are trying to start up a small farm from scratch or live next to any other people who own livestock or poultry. "Excuse me dad, but your cow's milk production might be low due to our ankle biting and un-trainable chihuahua-corgi."

We are hoping that by getting two: 1. they will keep each other company, and 2. getting a puppy instead of an adult dog, we can train it NOT to terrorize the animals. (Although, Leah doesn't and that makes us sad to let her go for that reason as well). I even trained her not to eat the sole chicken that has somehow survived the possums and coons in our woods. We need to name that thing because I find it in random places curled up with (I kid you not) the cats or Leah. Yesterday I walked out to find the chicken tucked in next to our very pregnant Nubian goat.


So....now that my animal tales are about done, we are naming the puppies Ginger (after Ginger Pye) and Junkyard. Of course the boys came up with that one. It better look mean when strangers come because calling out "Junkyard" to a happy drooling dog is gonna sound stupid.


Oh! On another note, the momma goat that I found sleeping with the lonely chicken yesterday had her baby this afternoon! She had JUST had it when we were walking out the door to get allergy shots. Needless to say, I'm sure the Allergy Care Center has not had a call that someone couldn't come to get their shot that day due to watching a baby goat being born. The kids insisted on seeing if she would have another and we waited for a good hour only to watch her deliver the afterbirth. GROSS! Not nearly as entertaining.


That's our summer so far!

Blessing!

It Broke!!

My camera broke!!

I have a little hand held point and shoot, but takes good outdoor pictures Nikon that went dead yesterday.

DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't get a new one for several months! : (

I record EVERYTHING with this little piece of technology!

I Never Thought I'd Google That One!

Ok. I thought my kids had eaten every gross, strange, disgusting thing out there that was (mostly) non-toxic. Was I ever WRONG!!!
Precious Jewel at the ripe old age of 9 months ate a dead fly on the kitchen floor. I was not a germaphobic mother at that time, but I was waaaaaaaay more so than I am now. I shrieked at this sweet happy baby drooling clear wings, snatched her off the floor and nearly drowned her, I'm sure, trying to rinse her mouth out. She flailed wildly and shrieked back and probably thought momma had lost it. (You ain't seen nothin' yet baby).
Then (a very short time later) along came sweet little Mr. Smiles who had this thing for our dog's tail. If he could stuff the tail into his pudgy little mouth before momma could get to him, he would. I had thought flies were gross, but a dog's tail was far worse. I'm convinced he soon began to use his little tail stuffing maneuver just to tease me because he'd rapidly crawl over to our sweet little hound and go to chewing on her tail while watching me leap across the room to try and stop him. My leaping usually involved impaling my foot on a wooden toy or two and hopping and hollering while on my way. He never seemed bothered. It just made him grin and shove the tail in farther.
Our dog. She just sat there soaking up the baby drool and attention.
The little traitor.
Mr. Smiles also ate a few dead bugs, but by then they didn't freak me out as much. What's a few dead bugs compared to a disgusting dog's tail?
I hadn't seen nothin' yet. At the age of one, our very oral Good Lookin' ate the grossest thing yet.
We were outside painting our tornado shelter that we'd just had installed in our backyard and I'd set him in his favorite location, the sandbox, to keep him from crawling off as he was apt to do. It was literally 5 feet from where we were painting and he rarely moved from it when placed there. Should be safe right?
Precious Jewel and Mr. Smiles were each given a paint brush at the ripe age of 3 and 4 and told to commence painting. They happily sloshed away painting everything from the shelter to the grass to themselves and our legs. I looked over to where Good Lookin' was supposed to be playing and saw him trying to dive headfirst over the side of our sandbox. Did I mention that it was a huge old tractor tire? I walked over to help him crawl out and noticed something peculiar on his face that did not look like sand. Then I shrieked my freaked out mother shriek that calls all good father's nearby to come running.
"He ate them! Oh my God! He ate them! Oh help! Princess (our dog) buried one here and he ate them!!! Help me Luke! Call 911 and help!"
Of course, Luke panicked not knowing what I was screaming about. Good Lookin' was spitting and I was still shrieking and causing every small person around me to dissolve into terrified tears. (I don't handle extra grossness to well, but I'm working on that).
Luke grabbed our wailing child from me and ran to the phone. I called poison control in a panic.
"He ate maggots!" I sobbed to the confused operator.
"He ate what?" I'm sure the guy thought I was drunk or something.
"He ate maggots!! Our dog buried a dead chicken in his sandbox. We don't own chickens but our neighbors do and our dog killed one and hid it in his sandbox. He ate maggots!" I blubbered away.
I don't know if the guys was laughing or not or thought I was just one of those highly neglectful mother's. I was too hysterical to care.
He told me to calm down and explain to him what had happened. I gulped (still gagging) and explained that we lived near a chicken farm (not ours) and that our dog loved to catch the chickens that escaped and eat them of course. "She's a good dog really! She just likes to eat them!"
He then asked if Good Lookin' had eaten any of the buried and rancid chicken.
"I don't think so, " was my tearful reply.
The guy kind of choked back (either gagging himself or trying not to laugh) that maggots have never been proven to honestly harm anyone, but dead chickens have. "Just keep an eye on him and maybe chain your dog."
We got rid of her instead much to our true sadness and the children's. They still ask about her and want to go visit her.
Then, this last week was our latest (and hopefully last) disgusting-toddler-eating-an-inedible-food episode.
Cat Poop.
Yes, I said cat poop. Are you nearly ready to pass out with me? I was.
This is the child who is mildly allergic to cats as well.
Nater Mater came to me grabbing at his tongue and spitting, "yucky, Cupcake yucky."
"What cupcake?" I asked wiping his mouth thinking at first that he'd eaten a rock or some dirt.
"Cupcake yucky" he repeated. (Cupcake is our baby kitten)
Where was I you ask when he ate this? About 5 feet away helping to tie his big sister's crazy double-laced shoes that I will never buy again.
I gave him some milk and cleaned him up and brushed his teeth still not realizing just what part of Cupcake he had eaten. I thought he had gotten some fur in his mouth. "Cupcake poop yucky." He stated again.
"Cupcake poop!?!" (insert slightly raised, squeaky, trying-not-to-shame-the-child momma voice).
I have gotten better at my reactions I have to say. I calmly gave him some more milk and then loaded all the kids in the car to head to a friend's house as planned. She was supposed to watch the 3 boys while I took Precious Jewel shopping to find some summer shorts.
He seemed just fine, so I dropped him off and continued on the afternoon as planned.
The I got the call.
My friend oh so sweetly said in my voice-mail that Nater Mater had just thrown up a large amount of whatever. That they'd cleaned him up and he was playing happily as normal. I could come get him or leave him. Whatever I thought best.
I turned around and drove back to pick him up.
He threw up about 6 more times in the course of 24 hours each time stating that "Cupcake bad."
"Yes dear, Cupcake's are not meant to be eaten."
I googled (I kid you not) Help! My child ate cat poop! You would be surprised at how many other children out there have survived this oh-so-disgusting cat poop and kitty litter eating disaster.
We also saw our Pediatrician the next morning who also told us to keep an eye on him over the weekend, but that he would probably be fine once it was all out of his system.
Can I add that these are the stages that I am glad my children have grown out of and are almost grown out of?
Now, if I could just get them to eat vegetables.