The Abrams, Christmas piano recital and Christmas preparations....

The Abrams came to Billings during Thanksgiving and we had a few fun hours with them.  I told Cozi to take a few pictures of their friends and they were mostly of my kids.... 

Kaila, sleeping?

 Grant

 Niviah sitting on Lizzy's lap

Zeb, Bjorn, Owen and Grant

 me and Becca

The old gang

 all the girls

Christmas recital at Saint Johns retirement home.  Unfortunately, we had a poor seats.  One of our friends said he was videoing it and he would give us a disc.  Very sweet of him.  Thanks Marc!

 Cozi- she played Up on the House Top

She was so cute.  When she was done, she got up and started walking to her seat.  Half way their she remembered she needed to bow and so she did. 

 Hannelora played We Three Kings

 Hannelora said she loved it.  She told me, "Mom, I didn't care how red my face was, I just wanted to keep playing!"

Baking for Christmas!  

Fudge-totally GAPS legal

 Mounds

Caramels

 I also made snickers and pecan shortbread cookies.

DONUTS!  Our neighbor Vicki let us borrow her Donut maker.  So good and moist!

 So easy Cozi made them

My mom wanted me to paint this picture of a baby Great Dane resting in his mom's paws.  It didn't turn out so bad.  I don't think I have painted on a canvas since college.  My mom cried when she received her gift.

Braces in November

One of the biggest expenses this year was 2 kids in braces.  $5,000 a piece, at least our insurance covers a thousand each.  Yikes!  The good news, Cozi has stopped sucking her thumb because I told her she wasn't going to get them unless she did. 

 Unfortunately, Cozi had to have 2 teeth pulled.  She was so brave acting like it was no big deal...  Until the gal called her name.  She stood up turned around and looked at me and started to cry.  She was so good, she actually went.  This is a miracle, I am certain a year ago she would have clung to me and would not let the dentist do the procedure.  Had that happen before.  Nothing is more frustrating when a mom makes an appointment and then has to walk out and rescheduling.  I kept telling her I was so proud of her.

 This has nothing to do with braces, but I was so proud of my bbq beef.  It was so good and tender....  mmmmmm.....

Laquita gave us some clothes from Aaron and this was in there.  Analise and I begged him to try it on.   SO funny!

Love the clip on tie!

Food and Ferments....

I actually made them!  I am so proud of myself.  Fermented food has wonderful and beneficial bacteria in them.  As much as I hate them, I have 3 kids asking for them almost daily.  So I figured I should make them myself and see what they think.  Also a friend emailed me some recipes and I thought I would try some of them.  Really good.  My kids love salad and man did they love the grapefruit in it. 

Orange Chicken and lettuce, avocado and grapefruit salad with Italian dressing.  

Yum!

Shepherd's pie with cauliflower as the potatoes.  Honestly, I had to add some extra stuff to the the meat mixture like tomato paste and cheese.  Also, I prefer the the cauliflower on top over regular potatoes. 

Dilly Carrots

Whey from my kiefer I also added dill seed, garlic and sea salt

 Ketchup also has whey

 kimchi - all of these need to sit out for 2-4 days to ferment and then I can put them in the refrigerator to eat.

December 30, 2014

PS:  My kids hated them....  Fortunately, my brother actually asked for them when he was here last week and I gave him what I had.  It was either him or the chickens....  hee, hee!

Zeb's decision.....

Drum Roll please....rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  To stay home!  I sat down with him Friday morning and we went over the pro and cons, this is his list:

Pros for Home school
finish earlier
better breaks 6 weeks on 1 week off plus most of December and all of August off
study Greek History
sleep in more

Pros for public school
easier
recess-play 4 square
see friends everyday

Cons for home school
tougher
subject I don't like Suzan Barton

Cons for public school
in school from 8:30-3
can't eat food at school or any treats
get up at 7 and be gone by 8:15
potential bullies
walk the path and stand in lines when it is cold

I told him that whatever he decides we are sticking with for the rest of the year.  He understands what I expect out of him and hopefully we will have a great rest of the school year.  I happily can say that I didn't try to persuade him any which way.  As a mom I thought it best to sit down with him and figure out both sides of each decision.  He seems to be happy with his decision and I think so because he got to make it entirely on his own.  My goal for him this year is responsibility and I hope he embraces it with fervor this year!

Pictures of Cozi's and Analise's rashes

No fun!  It takes about a week to run their course.  Cozi even took sourkrout and broth to help heal it.  And then Cozi broke out in a different rash all over her body.  It looked like a different rash this time. I really wanted to go into the Naturapath but I didn't have $166 since Cozi would be a first time patient.  So I sucked it up and went to the regular doctor.  He thought it looked like scabies!  Gasp!  No way, how on earth!  I was horrified!  I bought spray for the mattresses to kill the bugs and washed all the girl clothes, towels, and bedding.  Hannelora and Analise had it mostly on their hands and some on their back and neck.  Yuck!  They had to put a cream from head to toe and repeat a week later.  Everything is starting to go away. 

A dear friend asked why do I and another friend who has been on GAPS almost as long as I have develop so many skin rashes?  I don't know the full answer to that, but I can assume it is because our bodies show us ways that they can't handle what is going on inside of us.  Most of us have never had major stomach pain, except Hannelora.  Mine was always acne and skin itchiness.  If I think about it, it makes perfect sense that my girls would break out from something they ate that isn't from clean eating.  If we have been use to taking out all nitrates, grains, nitrites, sugar and then introduce them once in awhile, our bodies won't know what to do with the toxin are bit of food that is hard to digest.  It will be very interesting when we slowly introduce new foods back into our diet and see how we react.  It truly does stink. 

This has not been the easiest thing I have ever done.  In fact, just yesterday, I was craving gummy bears.  Silly! Of all things!  I was trying to justify that it would be ok to bring them back because they had juice in them!  Hee, hee!  We don't even drink juice unless it is freshly squeezed (highly processed).  No way am I going to waste precious fruit so I can have some juice.  Anyway, I have grown accustomed to many things about this diet.  It is easier to come up with different foods off the top of my head now a days.  Now if we can stop the cold that is going around.....

Pumpkins and Squash oh my!

We grew over a 100 pumpkin and squash this year.  Thank heavens we split them between my parents and us.  Yikes.  We canned yesterday from 10a.m.-10p.m. UGH  I am so glad we are done canning for the year.  Unfortunately, we weren't sure they sealed correctly so the quarts are sitting in our freezer.  What a bummer.  It would have taken less time if I would have frozen them in baggies.  Oh well.  Nathan for the first time tasted our squash bars and really liked them.

I think Sebastian is waffling back and forth about the whole public school situation.  In fact, I think he is wanting to stay at home.  I realize the importance of actually taking a child's complaints serious.  I think he just wanted to feel heard and validated.  In fact, I catch him often saying yes, ma'am more often.  It throws me every time.  He is reading the Percy Jackson series and has fallen in love with Greek mythology.  I told him we will be studying it at home next semester and that also has made him want to stay at home.   2 more weeks left.

We took the week off of school, I am going to go every 6 weeks/1 week off of school.  Except in Dec. and August.  We will take the whole months off.  It sounds quite wonderful.  I love having scheduled breaks.  Otherwise I would never take them or if I did I would feel like I wasn't doing a good job with school because I was taking too much time off.  Everyone seemed to like it.  I got a lot of cooking done so I didn't get a break and sometimes it felt more stressful because I wanted to get all the things done on my list.  If it will make the next 2 or 3 weeks run more smoothly and peacefully than it was well worth it.

I keep thinking we have only 2 1/2 months left on GAPS until we slowly wean ourselves off.  Quite frankly, I don't know how much we will change.  I really have gotten use to no bread and other stuff I thought I could never live without.  I don't want to go back on sugar, I think we will stay on honey.  I will no longer do cereal unless it is granola and hopefully one day, oats.  I can't wait for reg. beans with substance.  I love black beans.  However, I think I will always stay away from canned foods as much as possible.  I will always make my broth, cook and soak my beans, so realistically we will stay 80% on it.  Cosette and Analise broke out in a rash on their face and now Hannelora says her neck is itchy.  Last night, we had pizza and Nathan also sprayed for bugs.  Analise has broken out with a rash since Wed.  I know it can't be that.  Who knows.  I am making them eat broth and sourkrout.  It is so fun in my house right now.    We have 2 major Holidays coming up and it really stinks about the food.  I won't lie about how difficult it is, especially during social occasions.  It would be so easy to give in and eat them and suffer at home but it isn't important enough.  Sometimes I feel like we are making ourselves social outcasts because we are being left out (our decision totally). I suppose it really is no different than making the decision of homeschooling, listening to christian music or having chickens in our backyard.  I just pray our sacrifice will keep my family as healthy as possible.  (Yes, we get sick with colds- I knew this wasn't a miracle cure going into this) 

 oh the strain....

 my helpers...  Cozi ran out early

 pumpkin seeds!