Herbal Remedies at My House.

I thought last week with boys club, primary,and Christopher's birthday would be the busiest week ever...but this last week has managed to top it. I have made myself very ill with staying up too late at night to get work done and then being woken up throughout the night with kids needs and then having to wake up early to get kids started for the day. I feel like my life is falling apart because of sleep deprivation. I feel like we're getting only one day of "school" a week done at my house, and the rest of the time I'm running around putting out fires.

I'm realizing I am just doing too much and need to cut more out of my life so I can feel sane again. I know part of it is due to harvest season and primary program. I don't know when it's going to calm down, though. Life is just busier than ever, and I am missing those old days and weeks when we had nothing but school going on and I got to read books to the kids every night.

For example, yesterday I was gone from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. I took Angel and Julianna to my friend Ann's house, then picked up 3 of her kids to take with 2 of mine to a horse field trip. (Dorathy had earned this field trip by fulfilling a contract with me and reading 10 horse books).

We spent the morning in Silverton riding horses, learning about the history of horses, training horses, etc. It was a very informative and fun field trip. Then we played at a friend's house in Silverton. Then we all carpooled to Woodburn where we helped move 100 tons of Cauliflower into giant wooden boxes to be loaded onto semi-trucks to be shipped to hungry families in Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Utah. In return, we got to take as much free cauliflower home as we wanted. It was a great service project and experience for all of the kids.

It turns out that a local farmer had met his quota of cauliflower to sell and ship, but by law he was not able to sell anymore because his competitors had to all sell an equal amount. So he had acres and acres of cauliflower ripe just sitting there which would rot in the field. (SOUND LIKE ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand!) Luckily, Salemharvest and Farmers to end Hunger gathered together and with Federal Grant money payed to have the fields harvested. There was a total of 200 tons of cauliflower on tarps in a giant parking lot. My kids climbed through the leaves and hauled out cauliflower heads to put in boxes. They worked like troopers! The men there called our homeschool kids a "Kid Army" and said they moved the cauliflower much faster than the adults did the day before. We worked so fast, we actually finished the harvest 3 hours early.

I went to Costco on the way home for gas, groceries, and ice cream for the kids.

When I got back to Dallas at 5 p.m. I found that Julianna was feverish and cranky. She was lethargic and not herself. Ann told me she hadn't had a stinky diaper all day....for Julianna, that is a SHOCK! She eats fruits and veggies constantly and typically has 5-6 messy diapers a day. Ann said that she was worried that she was stopped up.

This freaked me out, because Julianna is always putting strange things in her mouth, and I was worried she had swallowed a toy the day before and was blocked up. I took her home, but she wouldn't eat. I was able to get her to take some smoothie, but she was feverish, and her skin was hot and dry.

I was very worried about Julie because she was acting so strange. She was making grunting sounds and acting like she would throw up. Then she'd drop to the floor and cry in agony like she was going to die. She would roll around crazy like an irrational lunatic, then she'd lay limp as a rag with glassy look to her eyes.

Very scared, I called Michelle Nagel (our local Master Herbalist) to ask what to do. She very calmly walked me through some steps to make sure Julie wasn't suffering from appendicitis. She instructed me to make a catnip tea (YAY for the herb plants I got 2 wks ago!!! ) and when it cooled to room temperature, to give Julianna an enema.

This, she assured me, was safe and very good and healthy and would help her have a bowel movement soon. She instructed me how to massage her abdomen with olive oil.

Feeling ill with fear and trepidation (and sleep-deprivation...I had stayed up till 2 a.m. the night before paying bills and doing paperwork) I followed all of her instructions to the letter, despite feeling ill and dizzy myself.

As a result, something utterly opposite to what I expected happened. I thought Julianna would have a bowel movement. She didn't. I gave her TWO full doses of catnip tea, but nothing. I couldn't believe ALL that liquid went in, but NONE of it came out! Where did it all go? I wondered.

But after a few minutes, Julianna returned totally back to normal. Her fever went away and she got all spunky. She began running up and down the halls and her eyes looked better. She cuddled up like normal for books and songs and asked to go to bed.

I called Michelle, all concerned that Julie didn't have a bowel movement. I was worried something worse would have to happen. But when I told her how much better she was acting, Michelle said, "Ah! She was dehydrated. That's what the problem was." It turns out that when people get super dehydrated, they get all glassy eyed and go a little crazy. The best and fastest way to rehydrate is with an enema. Your colon and intestine sucks the water right up and you body receives the help immediately.

Obviously, Julianna wasn't able to communicate at my friend's house for all those many long hours and she had become super dehydrated. I think she also had a fever which dehydrated her faster. It complicated the problem.

Little kids can get deathly ill very very quickly from dehydration. For all I know, Michelle just saved Julianna's life....especially if she was that far gone, and wouldn't drink much. I'm glad I asked for help instead of just putting her straight to bed like I first was inclined to do.

I am very grateful for Michelle's expertise and knowledge, and her calm help in my time of worry and trouble.

This is just one more testimony to me that we all need to learn more about herbs and how to help heal and take care of our own families naturally and self-sufficiently.

Today, my younger kids are still under the weather. Julie has been feverish and clingy on and off all day, though she seems much better tonight. But Angel has whatever Julianna had yesterday. Angel is complaining of being cold, having a headache, she has a low fever, and she just wants to lay around and sleep all day. Thankfully, Julianna is back to normal with messy diapers, so that's one load off of my mind. ;)

It was an absolute Miracle that I was able to attend the Primary Program with as much sickness as we had at our house on and off all week.

The night before the Primary Program, Julianna kept us up ALL NIGHT with a severe case of tummy gas. I've never seen anything like it. At first I thought she was ill and dehydrated like earlier in the week. But she wasn't. Every few minutes she would go stiff and start screaming like someone was stabbing sharp knives into her. After 15 to 20 minutes of wailing, she'd get a little gas out. This went on for hours and hours. We tried massage, warm baths, and mylicon drops all to no avail. I began to have a severe case of gas cramps myself. I made myself a fresh ginger tea which helped immensely, but I couldn't get Julianna to drink any of it. Finally after 2 a.m. I went to bed and let Scott stay up with her the rest of the night. It took her about 2 hours to recover. I have no idea what caused it, the whole thing was so surreal. I wish I had something that could have worked better to prevent or heal her suffering.

I am grateful, however, for the little amount of knowledge of herbs I 've been able to gain so far, and how much it has helped me and my family.

We've healed burns, bites, colds, and lots of other stuff. I've seen my sister's Plantain oil heal Angel's wasp stings and my own spider bites. Almost immediately, the pain, redness, and swelling disappeared entirely.

I get overwhelmed when I realize I've only scratched the bare surface of a new iceberg of information!

I wish I could clone myself and read all night!

My new favorite herbal remedies for headaches and allergies:

Large glass of water with as much cayenne pepper as I can stand. If you have a cold or sore throat, or you think you are getting sick, add as much fresh garlic as you can to the cayenne water. If you want it as a more pleasant drink, put it in hot honeyed chocolate or lemon drink.

Herbal remedy for indigestion/gas:

Ground ginger root steeped in warm water for 5 minutes. Can also use fennel, anise, and peppermint in any combination.

I put a bunch of ground ginger in vanilla ice cream for Julianna the next morning after her bad gas bout, and it really seemed to help soothe her tummy.

Angel's Tooth

Angel had a bad fall at the pumpkin patch and damaged her front tooth on October 1st.

We had already been at the pumpkin patch for over 4 hours. I was getting tired and wanted to go home, but the kids were having so much fun and there was still more to do. I was tired with chasing and guarding 5 kids all day by myself. We walked to the playground equipment. Angel was right behind me, but then she ran off to the Hay Castle to be with big brother Christopher.

Right when I saw her run off, I felt a inner prompting inside that said, "Call her back. Call her to come to you."

I opened my mouth to call to her. Then I stopped. I thought, "I'm so tired, and I'm already taking care of Julianna. She's younger, and should take precedence. I'll have to chase her around the swings. Angel will be fine with Christopher won't she?"

Again the feeling came strongly to my mind. "CALL HER BACK NOW...Something bad or dangerous could happen! Call her to you, call her name."

I looked up at those tall hay castle walls...could Angel fall off of them and get hurt, I wondered? But by the time I was done wondering, Angel had run inside the castle and was with Christopher. I mentally shrugged my shoulders. I thought, "Angel is always so cautious...she'd never do anything unsafe. She's nearly 5, it's okay for her to be with her brother!"

I didn't feel any more warnings after that, just a strange emptiness. But I was busy chasing Julianna round the slide so I soon forgot it. Less than 3 minutes later, I could hear Angel crying in a loud torrent of sounds.

Angel came to me across the field, wailing, holding her hand over her mouth.

I felt a sinking weight of dread. Why didn't I listen to the Holy Spirit's prompting? Or even just to my Mother's intuition that I shouldn't have let my young, sweet, tender Angel run off by herself? Yikes, I had been selfish! and now Angel had to pay the price for my stubborness! All I had to do was open my mouth and call out to her! That wouldn't have taken so much extra energy or time....

As Angel came to me, I saw with a twinge of horrific guilt that she had a bloody nose. Her face was all scraped up. Her hands were scratched up bad too. Worst of all, she was holding a front tooth and wiggling it. She was crying, "My tooth hurts! My tooth hurts!" Her front tooth was very loose and wiggly. The flesh of her gums above it was purple and black. It looked very bruised and traumatized.

I was very upset over the whole situation, and had a hard time not crying and having a nervous break down right there on the spot. Was Angel going to be okay? What did it mean to her future? Did we need to spend the rest of the day at the Dentist office?

No mom wants their kids' beautiful face messed up! It took me a while to calm down. I had to remind myself that loosing baby teeth early is not fatal, just a minor inconvenience.

Much to my relief, Angel hadn't fallen off of the high hay castle walls. She had changed her mind that the castle looked too big and scary. When she saw me so far away, she was running back to be with me. In her anxiety to catch up, she tripped over a big black rubber liner, and did a face-plant, with her full body weight being caught by her front tooth.

Our fun day cut short, we spent 2 hours at an urgent dental care facility. I spent a long time frantically calling dental offices to see who could take us, as it was nearly 5 p.m. The kids were so wiped out from the long day, I had Christopher stay in the van with all of them and feed them snacks and play a movie on the mini-tv-screens.

They took an x-ray to make sure there was no fractures or worse damage. They needed to verify if her tooth was broken beneath the gums where we couldn't see. The dentist confirmed that Angel's tooth was badly traumatized. It was the nerve. He doesn't think it will fall out, but he says we have to play the waiting game to see if Angel's tooth will live or die.

He said in the next few days to 2 weeks, the tooth could turn light gray to dark gray or black. If this happens, the tooth is dead and Angel may need a root canal to keep the tooth.

Angel's tooth could heal and recover, however. In 2 weeks or so, her tooth could once again harden in place and last her a few more years. We just have to be careful to not let her USE her front teeth (haha, this is so hard) She has to chew with her back teeth.

Angel was so cute, once she recovered from the initial pain and shock, she was enjoying all the attention! Angel is my kid who LOVES the doctor and dentist and would take the smallest excuse to go. And here she got to spend 2 hours there! To her, that was a treat. She delighted the whole office with her coquettish smiles and shy waves. She talked the Dentist's ear off, too. They were impressed with how eager she was to do everything they said.

Later, Angel enjoyed telling every friend, family, and neighbor about her tooth and showing it off. It made her feel so IMPORTANT!

So later that same day, I caught her with a big hard apple. She had taken several bites without me knowing it. She comes to me later, saying "Mom, my tooth hurts again" I nearly screamed and fainted right then and there. Poor Angel was crying because of my reaction! I had to tell her she could only eat apples if they are sliced THINLY and she chews them with her BACK TEETH!!! Yikes, that was tough.

Courtney, who is 7, just lost her first front. So Angel would have a 3 year wait for a grown up tooth, not just 1 or 2 like most other kids. My kids are notorious late bloomers when it comes to teeth. I didn't loose my front teeth till 2nd grade when I was 8.)

This was a perfect opportunity for me to use my new herbal knowledge.(limited as it is!) I gave Angel a small internal dose of B,F & C formula from Dr. Christopher 2x a day. It has a variety of herbs, including Comfrey which will help support her body's ability to heal. I also have some herbal tooth powder that I will pack on the gum and tooth every night. It has a large amount of white oak which is suppose to help teeth in many different ways.

The Indians used to brush their teeth with white oak twigs!

I am suppose to treat her in this manner for at least 2 weeks, but Angel is NOT being very cooperative. I guess no kid wants bitter powder in their mouth. I am hoping that these herbal remedies will give Angel a great advantage towards keeping her tooth alive! I mixed the B,F, & C formula in Honey in the hopes she would take it better. She's doing okay with that.

Everyday that I put the tooth powder on, I noticed a huge improvement in the look and feel of her gum and teeth. After 5 days, her tooth felt totally firm in its socket!

So, silly me, I thought, "Hurray, she's healed! I don't have to wrestle her in bed every night to give her herbs. I can stop now, she's all better!" So I didn't do the full 2 week treatment, and stopped after the 5 days.

Well, I'll never know if the full 2 weeks would have made a difference.

About 2 weeks after I thought her tooth was healed, I began to notice a subtle difference in the color of her front teeth. Everyday the old hurt tooth looked a shade grayer.

At first, I thought it was my imagination. In a few days, however, my worse fears were confirmed. Angel's tooth looked black. Some days it seemed very loose. Other days, it seemed just fine.

One early morning, I awoke to hear Angle pounding on my door, "Mommy guess what! Guess what! My tooth is loose! I get to see the tooth fairy!"

I tell her she has to STOP wiggling it so she can eat apples again. She wants so much to be like Courtney and loose her teeth.

Strangely, just recently her tooth looks almost back to normal. It's whiter and less dark. I have no idea what this means. I'm going to get Angel referred to a special Pediatric Dentist so that they can keep tabs on what is going on with her teeth.

I just hope she gets to keep it instead of having a "window" in her mouth for 2 to 4 years!

I keep hoping someday I'll magically become a perfect, omniscient parent, and know when to not do stupid things. Not in this life, I guess! The most I can hope for is to live and learn....and decide that the next time I feel the Holy Spirit Whisper a message to my heart, that I'll obey RIGHT AWAY!

Kinda Busy!

The last 3 weeks Scott has been on vacation. It hasn't been a typical vacation for us this year, however. No camping. We were going to camp for a week in the Redwoods, but we canceled it because we had just bought our huge van, and finances were slim.

We orginally had all kinds of fun plans for those 3 weeks, but none of it panned out. The kids and I stayed home and worked, and Scott went to work and worked. Scott worked a good part of the time in a Portland Hospital watching over an inmate who was having heart troubles. Scott actually got to observe an open heart surgery. He said it was an amazing experience.

With a bunch of bills piling up, Scott did a very generous thing with his time. He worked almost 2 weeks of double overtime shifts at work so he could bring home a little extra income. By the end of those long hours, he was exhausted, and I was worn out. The extra income will be a wonderful blessing, but it was a huge sacrifice for Scott who was already burned out from work and had been counting down his hours before his vacation.

To save our sanity, Scott decided we needed a little trip away to recover from kids and stress. My Dad let us use some of his Worldmark points, and Scott and I got a four day trip to a The Running Y Ranch close to Klamath Falls, Oregon. My Sister very generously took all 5 of my kids for the duration, even though she had in laws coming that same week! Thankyou Dad, Thankyou Mary, you are angels of mercy!

I will do another post on our trip. I've lots of great pictures of Crater Lake!

When we returned home, we really hit the ground running. I had to unpack the kids and all our stuff, clean my home spic and span, and plan my big 3 hour class I was teaching the next day.

Every other Friday I teach 10 boys at my home from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This time we were learning about Johnny Appleseed. We had terrific time, and everything turned out great. We did lots of science experiments with apples, played games with apples, made caramel apples and apple cider, ate apple crisp and applesauce, discussed the true life of John Chapman and compared it to the Tall Tale Legend of Johnny Appleseed. It was a whirlwind of fun and activity.

My whole motivation for doing this class is social. But if we learn a lot along the way, all the better! My focus for the kids in this class is to help them be inspired by great men and great leaders, not to stuff a bunch of useless facts into their heads. Thankfully, whenever kids are excited and having fun, they absorb everything like a sponge, anyway!!!

Here is my class info:

Boys Club Schedule 2010/2011

For Boys ages 8 thru 13

Theme: Explorers & Naturalists

Cost: $5.00 per class

Fall Semester: $40.00

We meet the 1^st and 3^rd Friday of every month from 11 a.m. to 2p.m.

Parents may drop their boys off for the duration of the class, but they are always welcome to stay and observe or participate. Please do not bring younger siblings unless you have made prior arrangements with me. I would like to spend the bulk of my time giving attention to teaching your sons.

Boys are to bring a sack lunch, and to have read about and studied our historical figure on their own. I will provide books for them to borrow or keep for some of our historical subjects. Otherwise, please feel free to research them online or choose your own books from the library.

Every class will be filled with activities, discussions, snacks, and social time. We will have field trips!!! There will not be other assignments or homework unless the boys have an idea and they volunteer to do it. I have to charge per semester instead of for each class to cover my expenditures for activity supplies, books, research time, field trip costs & gas. I have room for up to 10 boys each semester.

Fall Semester: EXPLORERS

September 17th: Daniel Boone

October: 1^st: John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)

October 15^th: Lewis & Clark

Oct 29th: Field Trip to the Lewis & Clark Fort in Astoria

November 5^th: Davy Crockett

November 19^th: Jedediah Smith

December 3^rd: Richard E. Byrd & Roald Amundsen

December 17^th: Neil Armstrong

Spring Semester: Explorers & Naturalists

Spring Semester: $60.00

January 7th: Marco Polo or Charles Lindbergh

January 14^th: Nathaniel Bowditch

February 4^{th: Joseph Banks}

February 18^th: Carl Linnaeus

March 4^th : Captain James Cook

March 18^th: Louis John Rudolph Agassiz

April 1^st: Henry David Thoreau

April 15^th: James Audubon

April 29^th Field Trip: Picnic & Hike at the Baskett Slough

May 6^th: John Muir

May 13^th: John Burroughs

May 27^th Field Trip: ?Evergreen Science Museum or OMSI?

June 3^rd: End of the year celebration & Project Display

So my husband did this great apple cider demonstration for the boys, and he took the opportunity to get 400 lbs of FREE WINDFALL APPLES! The Jonagolds were amazing. He processed 96 quarts of Apple cider! They were SO tasty!

The next day he picked 2 huge boxes of broccoli (again for free, we have such amazing opportunities up here for free produce!!!) and we blanched it into 14 gallon bags to use throughout the year.

Next we want to pick and process grapes and tomatoes. Plums didn't do well this year.

In the midst of this, Scott has been cutting and hauling wood for our yearly supply. I am SO SO thankful for the warm dry weather we've been getting which is allowing Scott to get this work done before everything gets wet and soggy.

So our vacation this year was...well, work! But it's been worth it!

Maybe we'll get to go camping or go somewhere fun this spring!

(hope hope!)

state Fair 2010

Every year, my family looks foward to the fair! Usually we try to enter some contests so we can get in for free, but they've changed the rules to make that almost impossible now. I guess the felt people (like us!) were taking advantage of it! Scott had recently removed 2 different beehives from the State Fairgrounds, and so he got to show off to us where he'd been working.

This was the first year EVER that I wasn't either pregnant or nursing a baby at the fair. It was a nice feeling! Julianna hardly needs the stroller anymore, now it's more of a luggage contraption. Julianna enjoyed sitting on Dad's shoulders to get a great view!

Funny story: When we were first waiting in line to get into the fair, Julianna got her first glimpse of the rides. Her eyes got wide and round, and her mouth dropped open. She was frozen in excitement. The next thing I knew, she'd wriggled out of her stroller and ran into the fair shouting, "Swings, the swings!" She saw the amusement park ride of the swings that twirl around super fast. She was in love!

We had quite the meltdown when we had to grab her, go back and pay for our admission, and then drag her into the fair another way. She was not too happy about that!

We have a tradition on how we see the fair every year: Eat a picnic lunch, see all the animals and horse shows, then treat ourselves to a huge ice cream cone, and then go through all the other exhibits. At the end for the finale, we let each kid pick 2 rides, and 2 rides ONLY! (Budget, budget, budget). At the end of the day, if we're not too wiped out, we eat dinner out at the Hometown buffet. It's our reward for not going crazy buying super expensive food at the fair booths. It's hard, because they always smell so amazing! It costs MUCH less to feed our family at the all-you-can-eat-buffet than it would if I bought each of my kids a hamburger at the fair.

Dorathy did not like the stinky pigs.

We had a terrific time at the petting zoo. They had fawns, baby kangaroos, and even a donkey Julianna called Eeyore.

This is the Mascovy duck. It is the duck Scott wants to get someday because they are supposedly QUIET!

Funny Story: A few years ago when we were first experimenting with getting animals in our yard, Scott bought 6 ducks off of a farmer. He had heard that the Japanese keep ducks in their gardens to eat the pests off the produce. Great Organic symbiotic relationship! It sounded wonderful to him, so we wanted to try it out!

So even though it was illegal in town, we had 6 waterfowl in our garden. We even gave them a cute little swimming pool to hang out in. At first they were really quiet. They were scared, and we couldn't get them to come for food when we called. They loved to hide among the corn stalks. After 5 or 6 days, Scott and I breathed a sigh of relief...the ducks are so quiet! They don't quack at all, guess they wont' bother our neighbors, and we'll be able to keep them! Then the next morning at 5 a.m. we heard,

"QUACK QUACK QUACK!"

Turns out our ducks were just shy. They finally felt at home, and decide to demand their breakfast. They were hungry, and they wanted someone to know it, too! Turns out those ducks were frightfully NOISY!!! We decided to get rid of them ASAP. We packed them all up and gave them to my sister who was very disappointed to discover that Ducks didn't eat the pests off of produce...they ate the whole plants, produce and all!

Those ducks not only ate her garden, but they manged to get eaten, every single one, by coyotes. They stuck together, and then wandered off in the forest together. When they came back, there was one less duck. This repeated over and over till they were gone. We concluded that Ducks were pretty stupid. There is a reason that Daffy Duck and Donald Duck were inspired by real life ducks. Ducks look foolish...and they are! And so were we, I guess, for putting Ducks in our garden!

Momma & baby girl

Everyone's favorite part of the fair: the Massive Ice cream cones!

This is the first year Julianna got one of her own. Last year she had to share.

I was impressed that she managed to eat all of it. She did wear a good portion of it, though.

I wanted to get pictures of everyone eating their ice cream cones, but my camera battery died!

We finally did get to go on some amusement park rides, and everyone had a wonderful time. Julianna fell in love with the kiddie boat ride. She talked about it for weeks afterward. Julie even went with her big sisters on the smaller swing ride. I went on the BIG swing ride with Courtney, Scott, and Christopher. Julianna was very upset that she couldn't go with us. She's such a thrill seeker. Courtney was really brave about doing the big ride. She grinned and laughed all the way through it. Dorathy was torn between the big kid rides and the small rides. She wasn't quite ready to do the big stuff yet, and that's just fine! She had a lovely time with Julie on the smaller ride.

All the kids were beat after a long day on the fair pavement. Julie threw fits all the way home because she was so tired. Listening to her cry and scream makes us all so miserable! Next year maybe she'll be big enough to handle the long day better.

David turns 40!

My Second-oldest brother just turned 40! So we had a super-fun ultra-kid-filled birthday party!!! It was fun to use my van to carpool my sister's family and I up north to Vancouver! What a carload!

Athena has a marvelous pouting face when things aren't going her way. I can't remember what she was upset about, though. Taking the picture distracted her.

Dorathy is growing up SO fast! I can't believe she's 9!

Dad & Scott! How about those Cougars? They are having a rotten season this year!

Julianna is patiently waiting for her cake. The cake had a picture of a mountain...oh, I mean a HILL! hahaha, it represented David being over the Hill now. hehe.

Julianna got soaked at the party, because we had the back sliding door open a crack to let in a breeze. There were so many bodies, the house was too warm. Julianna didn't care that it was raining outside! She kept sneaking outside to play, and getting all wet and muddy. She's an outdoor girl. First thing she does in the morning is run to the door and ask "Outside? Outside?" She's one of those kids who would run barefoot outside in the snow and not care one drop that her feet had turned purple. I'm not looking forward to how unhappy she is going to be once the weather turns rainy. It's not going to be a picnic trying to keep her inside.

Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday, Courtney!

My girls LOVE to help in the Kitchen, especially if it means making a treat. I'm trying to cut down our sugar intake to one dessert a week, and that means everyone is very excited to create a masterpiece! Here the kids are making Seven Layer Bars for our Family Home Evening treat.

Even Julianna wanted to help, but sometimes there are just not enough stools to go around. Plus...what she really wants to do is EAT it, not MAKE it!

Courtney Turned 7 years old on September 15th! She wanted a WALL E birthday party theme, so we made an EVE cake from the movie! I'm so glad she chose something simple enough that I could make it. It wasn't hard at all!

I made a pumpking chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. The Chocolate part is just plain Ghiardellie chocolate buttercream frosting.

The Birthday girl with her best friend and cousin, IVY!

Christopher and Sanford are going to public school everyday for Band and Choir this year. They are really enjoying themselves. They are both going to play the Clarinet!

Dorathy and Athena: Best friends and Cousins. Dorathy really misses Athena when she is at Public School and Christopher is doing homeschool stuff with his cousin. Such is life!

Hyrum & Angel: two peas in a pod! What crazy expressions and hairstyles!

Julianna is very in tune to birthdays. She loves to sing the Happy Birthday song. Her favorite part, of course, is being there for cake and ice cream!

Mary Cate got her hair cut all short, too! Now we are the short-haired sisters! So fun!

Seven Pink Candles for my pink-loving princess!

Courtney got a nice wooden treasure box from her Aunt and Uncle, a pretty dress from Grandma and Grandpa, and a fun cushy gymnastic tumbling mat from Mom & Dad.

After cake and ice cream, we all watched Wall E To celebrate!

Turning Over a New Leaf

Last month, I went to the State Fair with an old friend and saw that she had chopped all her hair off. I really liked her new hairstyle and the freedom it gave her. I began to think about how I've had my hair long for 4 years now, and I've been going through a lot of changes lately...so I felt like it was time to turn over a new leaf! Another reason I decided to cut my hair is that the bottom half of my long hair had become quite damaged from Triathlon training at the pool. My hair was WAY too long to fit under a swim cap, and so I had been swimming in my braids. The hair at the end was just too brittle and old to hold up under the chemicals, and I began to get split ends. Since I knew I had to cut off at least half of it, I figured...why not do the whole thing? I've only had my hair above my shoulders twice in my entire life.

BEFORE PICTURES!!! I've been growing my hair out since Angel was born (4 yrs ago) and my Hair got below my tailbone! That is the longest I've had my hair in my life. I really enjoyed the cool hairdo's I could do. I felt like a real princess with my hair all braided up and pinned to my head...BUT it was heavy and it was a pain. It sometimes took 2 days to dry. Sometimes my kids would pull on my braids, and that really annoyed me. The week before my Julianna grabbed my hair and hauled me to where she wanted me to go, and that decide me...The braids were going away! As soon as possible!

Angel got to come with me to the salon as well. She hates it when I comb her hair. I'd love to do her hair all pretty everyday, but she doesn't tolerate it, and it's not worth the contention. So Angel got her first big haircut as well. She is LOVING it! Isn't it cute?

Okay, I know I got carried away and took WAY too many pictures. But Angel was so cute and animated. She was telling me a story. She loves attention! Angel's most favorite thing in the world is to go with Mommy somewhere, just us two.

Here is the after picture! Sorry about the oil stain on my shirt: casualty of not using aprons in my kitchen!

My hairstylist down the street cut my braid off! I kept it for Scott. ;)

Here's the back view. I'm free, I'm free! I think I lost about 2 pounds of hair!!! It's fun because not only is it short, but it's layered, and it has added all kinds of bounce and waves to my hair. I'm really enjoying it! At this point, I have no intention of growing my hair back out. Who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind in a few years, but for now, I'm going to keep it this way.

Changes I'm learning with right now in my life:

Being called to be my ward's Primary President:

This job is SO huge, I'm still in shock and recovering my balance.

I will be conducting a ward primary program in 2 weeks,

presiding over cub scouting, activity day girls, and sharing time during church. I will be over about 40 teachers. Wow! Let the learning begin!

Radically changing my eating habits:

I'm closer to a raw food vegan than I'd ever thought I'd be.

Learning about Herbal Healing:

Did you know that fevers should usually be enhanced, not diminished? Did you know Cayenne Pepper could save your life? Did you know that almost any ailment can be treated without relying on doctors? (Doctors are still good, I will still go to one, but we really should treat ourselves when we can!) I've only skimmed the surface of the knowledge that it out there, but I look forward to learning more. I fully intend to become self sufficient enough to care for my own family's needs. My family recently got very sick, and knowing some of these principles vastly helped us out .

Changes in running my household:

I packed all my kids movies away into the garage, hid the computer games, and packed away 85% of my kids toys. I'm still trying to figure out how to simplify our life and home governing style so I can spend more time on the things that really matter.

Getting in Shape and loosing weight:

I've lost about 10 lbs since beginning the triathlon. I still have 10 more lbs to go to get down to my goal of a size 6.

Who knew that I would ever consider a 12 mile bike ride a joyful exhilerating experience?

Being a homeschool "Teacher"

Choosing to teach a big class by semester for young boys. It's new territory, and will be taking up a considerable portion of my time.

There's more, but that's all that I want to list on my blog. So getting a new haircut kind of helped me feel like a new person! Cutting off the old, and beginning anew is always a good feeling, even when change is hard. It's hard to make so many changes at once, and I'm struggling a bit, but am trying to have patience with myself as I'm on the learning curve.