A new home for Afro

The time finally came that we needed to find a new home for Afro, our dear rooster. His crow started out really quiet and wimpy, so we didn't think too much about it. Well, not any more. He was loud and clear. We live around a bunch of other homes, so it isn't quite considerate for us to have a rooster. So I took Afro to my friends house that we get our eggs from. I took Jileigh along to hold him. We were kinda sad to see him go, but we can go visit him anytime we want to and we have!

The incredible, edible eggs

Farm-raised, pasture-fed, cage-free eggs are a big part of our diet. I buy them for now from a friend for $2 a dozen. They have nice dark brilliant orange yolks. I feed my kids eggs and I eat two a day. After we have completed a carton, we put the eggshells back in the carton and put it in the pantry to deal with later, Well, later finally came. I had the kids pull out all the egg cartons and put all the shells in a bin. Then we smashed them down and put them out in the compost pile to be tilled into the garden. The cartons we save for the fireplace and now we will save them for our own eggs. A couple of our chickens actually started laying eggs. We get about 2 a day. They are small, but they have dark yolks and strong shells.

low carb pizza

A big part of my life right now is exercising and dieting. I want to get back into my size 8 jeans and have them fit comfortably. So, 6 mornings a week I either bike about 8-9 miles or jog 3 miles. Yesterday morning I jog/walked 4 1/2 miles. Two nights a week I go over to my friend's house for ZUMBA! I was a bit apprehensive about it at first, but now it's almost addicting. I can hardly wait to go. My friend is a certified aerobics instructor and she holds these classes in her garage that most of my friends go to as do I. It is so much fun! I am also doing an pilates ABS video to get my abs in shape. As of today, since I started exercising in the middle of August, I have lost 10 pounds. It has been a really hard journey, but well worth it. I still have another 15 pounds or so to go, so it's going to continue to be a long hard journey. As far as my diet goes, I eat low carb, low starch, and low sugar and I thoroughly enjoy my healthy fats like butter, nuts,and fish! One night I made pizza for the family, but I didn't want to eat a bread crust. So I ground up some almonds, put in ground flax seed and then a couple of eggs and seasonings. I rolled it out, baked it, put the toppings on it, and baked it again. It turned out pretty good, but I don't think I will put the ground flax seed in it next time.

Anyway, life is pretty tough to keep up with. My life consists of fixing breakfast, getting kids off to school, exercising, doing dishes, checking email, facebook and blogging when needed, getting kindergartners home, feeding little kids lunch, doing laundry, tidying up the rooms, cleaning up after kids, preparing an idea for dinner, feeding kids a healthy snack, making kids do homework and chores, making dinner, cleaning up after dinner, bathing kids, having family scriptures, family prayers, getting kids to bed, exercising, showering, and falling into bed.

Peaches, peaches and more peaches

On the morning of Labor Day, we went to the church orchards and gleaned peaches. I think we got a little over our heads. We spent the whole day canning peaches. Then yesterday we did some more in the freezer and in the dehydrator. The kids were really good to stick with us and also to take a turn holding Elody. We were exhausted by then end of the day.

Sunday news

Today Talon passed the sacrament for the first time. He was a bit nervous. He went to church ten minutes early so they could show him what he was suppose to do. He did a really fine job. I lead the music in sacrament meeting so I am right up there and I can watch the boys. None of the other boys sing during the songs and some of them were talking, but I let Talon know before hand that it was not acceptable behavior. He behaved beautifully. He was the only boy singing the hymns and he and another boy were the only ones being reverent the whole time. Kudos to my boy!

So, Elody and weaning. After my last post, I decided to try to feed her more meals to get a little more use to food. It got to where I was nursing her about 4 times a day. Then it went down to three. I was producing less and less milk. Then last week I nursed her only two times a day and then only once a day. I haven't nursed her since yesterday morning. So.... I think we are done! She eating meals so much better. She likes eggs, cowboy toast, muffins, cottage cheese, soups pureed, pancakes and custard, she even ate my homemade cereal. There are more things, but that will do. Now I can get a little more serious about dieting and exercising. I have been for a couple of weeks now and have lost a few pounds. I really like to bike, but I also have been walking/jogging. I am trying to cut down on carbs and starches and sugars. It's hard but the end results will definitely be worth it!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins

The kids went out and picked all the ripe pumpkins out of the garden. The kids were determined to have pumpkin pie. I told them that I wasn't up to all the work, so they did it. They(mostly Jileigh) cut, cleaned out, baked, skinned and pureed the pumpkin. Matt made the pies. The rest of the pumpkin puree, we put in quart size freezer bags for future use!

Saturday tasks

It was a nice hot day yesterday, Saturday, so we did some things outside. First, in the morning, Matt, Talon, the dog and I went for a walk. I have been more consistent with my exercising lately. Then the kids washed the dog. As much as that dog hates water and getting wet, she stood there very patiently and let the kids bathe her. I guess if she continually craves attention, that's one way to get it. Then I got all the kids a scrub sponge and we scrubbed the bottom of the pool. It had some mineral deposits and dried algae on the bottom that needed cleaned up before we put it away. It was kind of fun. The kids soaked themselves, even Elody.

Talon's birthday

For Talon's birthday we had a couple Matt's brothers' families come over to celebrate with us. They both have sons Talon's age. We had a build your own sandwich dinner and Matt made a peach oatmeal cookie bar dessert and homemade ice cream.

Matt's birthday

August 19th was Matt's birthday. He left at 9 am and didn't get back until 4 pm. He went 4-wheeling and hiking up a stream that he wanted to check out. Then we went to dinner. At work the day before, one of the ladies gave him a pineapple upside down cake. So that was his birthday cake.

Sunday fun building a guinea pig house

Sunday, the 29th of August, while the parents were taking a nice Sunday nap, the kids decided to make a guinea pig house for their g-pigs out of VHS tapes. It kept them entertained for a good long time.

Picture of Jileigh and Grandma Nora from July

I was recently looking at the pictures on Matt's mom's camera and saw this one from the H family reunion back in July. I thought this would be a treasure picture someday and wanted to post it. For the reunion, we were going on a little family history tour of the town that the H family was raised in. Jileigh was helping Matt's Grandma walk over the sandy terrain to our destination.

Safia's first day of Kindergarten!

Safia had her first day of kindergarten. She was a little nervous so I walked in the classroom with her and helped her find her seat. After a bit of coaxing and assurance that I would pick her up when it was over, she finally let go of my leg and sat in her seat! Then I got to go bike riding with my friends, get Elody down for a nap, took a shower, got bones on to boil for chicken broth based cauliflower soup and eat my second breakfast.

Lasagna for dinner!

The kids have been asking for lasagna lately, so that's what I made for the very first time. I called my sister Jeanette who brought lasagnas to our family reunion and asked her how to make it. So here it is. The kids loved it! We all loved it! Unfortunately, it didn't really love me. I got heartburn and a headache a little later.

School has started!

School has started for my kids. Talon goes to the intermediate school and leaves at 7:30 on his bike and rides 3/4 of a mile to school. Jileigh goes to the middle school and leaves at 7:45 on her bike and ride 1 1/2 miles to school. Angelique and Jaren go to the elementary school and leave at 8:45 on their bikes and ride 1 mile to school. Safia starts kindergarten tomorrow and I am hopefully going to get her to ride her bike with me along beside her with the two little ones in the trailer carriage.

Cousin Isaiah's birthday party

This past Saturday we went to cousin Isaiah's at the splash pad. We were there for 3 hours and the kids had a ton of fun. I made wheat buns to make sandwiches with. On our way back home, we got pulled over by the highway patrol. Apparently, our registration was expired and we didn't even realize it. The cop was totally cool and let us go with a verbal warning. So now our registration is renewed thanks to the online renewal site.

wing clipping

A little update on the chickens: They started flying up on the fence and down into my garden. I don't share my tomatoes very well, so it was time to clip the chicken's wings. At first it made my stomach turn to watch him, but then it was no big deal. The chickens would go run around back behind the hen house after they tramatizing event and there they all gathered.

Elody's need for sleep

I had already nursed Elody, but she didn't go to sleep. I knew she was tired, but I needed to get dinner going so I could spend anymore time with her; so I gave her to Jileigh. She took her in her room and just let her play on the bed. This is how they ended up. Too cute to not take a picture of.

hmmmm....

Elody is now 14 months. I still haven't decided to wean her or continue nursing, Hmmmm to wean or not to wean, that is the question of my life right now. She eats food, but only bits-not enough to fill up on. The same goes for a sippy cup of milk. She will take a couple of sips, but not enough fill her. Then when she is tired she comes over to me and asks to nurse, but patting on my chest. This system works right now so.... why fix what's not broken.....why wean her if she is happy with nursing and I certainly don't want to intentionally become fertile again by weaning her. Some tell me that ... she's too old to keep nursing and others tell me ... If it works for both of you, what's the problem, keep nursing until it doesn't. On one hand, I feel depleted and fat. If I wean her, I can keep all my nutrients to myself, my nails will grow back strong, and I can start dieting and start losing weight. On the other hand, I will never get to nurse again, I love nursing my baby. I will be fertile again, I won't have an attractive upper figure anymore - I will look like I did in Junior high in that area, mosquito bites! So.... for now I will keep nursing until I decided different I guess,(which will probably be when I start ovulating again). Any thoughts......

Friday afternoon

On Friday, July 30th, Matt was working and we were at home listening to the audio book Princess Academy. Elody was tired and fussy so I nursed her to sleep in my arms, and as any nursing mom know, it is very intoxicating. Sneaky Angelique took these pictures of us sleeping and Beau sleeping too. I usually don't like pictures of me, more or less even post them, but I liked these one for Elody's sake.

Elody and Hannah

Elody and Hannaha are 2 1/2 months apart, Hannah being the older of the two. They are now just starting to interact and play with each other. They, Nate and Candy and kids, came over the other night for a few minutes and these two little girls were playing together in the toy jeep. It was super cute so I had to take a picture of them.