HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

We had a busy but fun week leading up to Christmas but one of my favorite things was Zoolights which we attended for the first time.  Here are some pictures from zoolights and a few others...

The zoo train...we had tickets but the line was long (over an hour wait) so we returned them.

Gumpy and the boys in front of the zoo store

The kiddie Christmas tree.

The family at Zoolights (Colton is in the baby backpack you can just make out his forhead between Xander and me).

Christmas Eve

I made Mason and Xander Snuggies...they were very excited.  Carson got a Cars blanket and pillow,

Colton got monkey pj's.  Afterwards they wrote their letters to Santa, Xander's was the best, it read:

"Dear Santa, I know that Christmas is not about presents it is about Jesus birth.)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Christmastime Is Here

Christmas

So We went last Saturday and got a Christmas tree for the front room...which means we have two now!  I have been having so much fun getting ready for Christmass in our new house!  Even Jonah, who can be a bit of a grinch, has been excited.  I will post pics soon of how the house looks with lights on it and of our trees.
I have been really into red and silver as well as snowflakes this year and I have had a lot of fun getting a few new decorations that fit our new home.  We have also decided that we will have Christmas morning here before heading to Salem to be with family instead of just spending the night in Salem.  We are definately excited and looking forward to starting our own family traditions for Christmas.  I am still hoping to get around to Christmas cards but we will see if it actually happens.


Xander

So Xander and I spent all day yesterday at Doernbecher Children's Hospital getting Xander tested for aspbergers.  We basically came away with a lot of information but not a definite diagnosis.  They have already determined Xander has ADHD and they have also diagnosed him with an anxiety disorder.  The autism tests came back at a level consistent with a diagnosis of autism but they have given us a to be determined diagnosis instead because they want to make sure his anxiety did not interfere with the tests.  In the end they suggested working with a psychologist to control the ADHD and anxiety and then come back for a re-test in a year.  So I guess we will see how things are going a year from now.  The diagnosis really only means something if it allows him access to different modifications in school which may enable him to be more successful but his current school is so good about it that I dont know that it will matter.  Now I get to meet with his teacher and the school counselor plus a few others to determine what to do for him at school so it will be interesting to see what they think.  Just goes to show that life is full of adventures.

Church

So I am excited to say that I got a new calling at church.  Jonah laughs at me because I say it is my first "grown up" calling; meaning that I am the one ultimately accountable rather than working in a group where someone else is in charge.  Anyhow I have been called to be the humanaties specialist.  I don't have a full understanding yet of what all that entails but I am excited to learn and get started!  Well I guess that is it for now....

Amazing...

Just saw this link posted by a friend on facebook, this is so cool!

Here's To You Amanda

Okay so my sister so kindly pointed out to me that I needed to update my blog so here we go...

First off I am not sure what to write about because I don't feel like anything special has been going on.  We had a busy week getting ready for Thanksgiving since we hosted at our house this year.  It was so much fun being able to enjoy the holiday in our new home!  I am amazed at how much more we feel at home here, more so than even the home we had in Rainier.  I love Newberg so much there are so many great families, lots of kids, and great schools I just love it here and I am so glad we have been blessed with this home.  Now if Amanda would move here it would be perfect (altough your probably tires of me saying that) ; ) 

Otherwise...Mason has been doing great in school, and has been enjoying cub scouts.  Xander also has been doing well in school and is being evaluated next week at Dornbecher Children's Hospital to make sure he has no other learning disabilites or anything other than the ADHD that he has been diagnosed with.  Carson has enjoyed having new friends and participated in the co-op preschool we have been participating in with some of the other families from church.  Colton has been growing like crazy and is climbing everything, I feel like I spend half the day pulling him off the kitchen table. 

We have all been enjoying our Christmas preparations this year.  For the first time ever I went black friday shopping aat 3:30 am.  I went with 2 great friends and it was crazy but fun and I was able to get most of the Christmas shopping done.  We have our fake tree up and are hoping to get a real tree this weekend for the front room.  Well thats the short of it....I will try and do better about updating this more often.

Oh What Do You Do In The Autumn Time?

People always speak about their favorite season, I used to think mine was spring, and I do love spring, but the more I thought about it I realize that my favorite season is the time when seasons are changing. I especially love the time between summer and fall as well as the time between winter and spring when all of these changes are so prevalent. This year we are in our new to us home and are experiencing all the seasons here for the first time and creating first memories to go with them.

Here are a few of the things we have enjoyed this year as summer has started fading into fall…

Moving into our new house

Mason’s baptism

Starting a new school year at a great new school

Getting the outside of the house painted…just getting done before the rain really started pouring

Apples…going to the apple farm, eating crisp fresh apples, and canning apples for the first time (apple pie filling and applesauce)

Pumpkins, especially the pumpkin patch

Halloween
The anticipation of Thanksgiving being just around the corner…thinking of family and blessings

I am sure there are many more and I will try to update this as they come to mind.

Halloween

Well I feel like I should finally get around to writing again since it has been a few days, but I have been really busy and distracted between Halloween, the boys having no school Thursday & Friday last week, and just trying to get things done around the house.  We had a good weekend for the most part, we colored and did projects throughout the week and went to the ward trunk or treat (trick or treating tailgate style) party Saturday night.  Of course it was raining so the kids did trick or treat inside aftter all.  On Sunday they wanted to see Gummy and Gumpy so we ended up at their house and didnt hand out the candy we had purchased...that means I have a bunch of candy while I am trying to avoid eating it.  To be honest it is not really much of a temptation to me but I know the boys will consume it over time and I was really hoping to have them avoid eating too much candy this year.  Today Colton got his 15 month shots and I met my friend for lunch afterward at Costco.  It was nice to get together and get some shopping done although I really wish Costco carried some whole wheat flour and a larger selection of organic baking ingredients.  After we left Costco I stopped at the apple farm and they had a pretty good deal on apples since they close for the season at the end of the week.  That being said I have 50# of apples which I am going to can for pie filling and applesauce.  It wont translate to a lot but it will give me a good idea of how we would use it and give me a good starting point for next year.  Well thats all for now but here are some halloween pics...

BTW...Carson was sweet this year, he wore 3 costumes to different events/parties.  A construction worker (witch unfortunately are not on the computer yet), a fireman, and a puppy.  As you can see he also really wanted to be Batman but the costume is still a little big so he settled for a picture.  Xander on the other hand did not want a costume at all and chose pajamas.  Sweet, silly boys. 

Self Reliance

So I have been really excited since we moved into this house about becoming more self-reliant.  There are many ways to do this but we plan to focus on a few key things that work for us.

 First we are planning to get out of debt as quickly as possible; right now this means paying off our car.  In the long run it means getting into a bi-weekly auto pay plan for our mortgage (as well as hopefully being able to make an extra payment every year).  Doing those things alone should help us pay off our mortgage at least five years earlier than if we made a traditional monthly payment.  Also along with getting out of debt we hope to re-establish a savings, most of which was used when we purchased this house.

Second, we plan to plant a garden.  I never really cared about having a garden until two years ago when I saw how excited Xander was by the idea of having plants of his own; since we were in a rental until late this summer we haven't had room for anything but strawberries and tomatoes but seeing how much the boys enjoyed growing them has inspired me to try something on a larger scale.  I plan to start our garden early this coming spring and hope that within the next three years I will be able to have a year-round kitchen garden established wherein we are able to produce most of our own vegetables.

The third, and last goal we have for ourselves on our path to being self-reliant is to increase our food storage.  I have been trying to start researching this in my "spare" time and I am mostly in the early stages of gathering resources but in addition to the church website here are some links to some sites I like.  This site has been reccommended to me by a family friend many times and seems to have a lot of great ideas.  Many of you may also have heard of Shelf Reliance from shopping at Costco where they carry their shelfs from time to time you can visit their site here, it is a great resource for planning out what you need as have user friendly food calculators, recipes, and tips in addition to selling the food and storage systems if you want to go that route.  Another site that I have enjoyed looking at has a program that helps you get started in a very simple way using checklists and worksheets which can be found or purchased on their website.  The last website I enjoy is a site that belongs to my "other" grandmother Barbara Salsbury who has written many books and is quite an expert on emergency preparedness; she also has a way of taking a subject that can often be boring to read about and making it interesting and even humerous at times. Well I love her and you can meet her by clicking here. 

I suppose that is all for now...please let me know if you have any suggestions that may help on my quest toward self-reliance.  I am particularly interested in local companies that use organic ingredients as that is the direction I would like to be headed down.  Also if you know of places that offer food grade containers, such as 5-gallon buckets, please share.  The same goes for gardening tips as I have never really done this before and am somewhat nervous that I will somehow find a way to kill everything I plant!

Healthy Living

October has been a very interesting month; I started seeing a naturopathic physician and I feel like a new person!  First I suppose I should share a little background from the past 15 mos of my life. 

My fourth baby was born in July 2009 at which time I had my first epidural (I do not reccommend them by the way) during the epidural my spinal sac was punctured which led to a spinal (or positional) headache.  For those of you who have had one nothing more needs to be said; however if you have never experienced one here is the somewhat abbreviated version.  A spinal headache (click here for a link) is like the worst migraine you have ever had multiplied many times over; the only good thing about this headache is that it mostly dissapears when you lay down.  The reason this headache is so bad is because your spinal fluid is leaking out of the spinal sac (I think its called the dural space) the lack of fluid means that when you sit up all the fluid that surrounds  & cushions your brain is all of the sudden leaking out of the hole the puncture left.  The only treatments for a spinal headach are: 1- basically living with it and hoping it heals on its own in which case the only pain management that really helps is massive water and caffine intake, or 2- to have a blood patch done.  I had a blood patch where basically they take (their words) "a little bit of blood" and inject it back into the dural space.  The point is that it equalizes the spinal pressure and creates a scab so no more fluid leaks out. This really is a quick and relatively painless "fix" but the "little bit" of blood is really 2-3 of the biggest needles I have ever seen filled with blood.  Anyway since all that happened I have basically been living with severe headaches and migraines (although none of the doctors will say they are related to the spinal I really belive the trauma of it has lasting effects on your body).
In this time I have seen many physicians, including neurologists with no results; my only relief started to come when I persued natural and alternative therapies. 

Around October 2009 I started seeing a chiropracter and massage therapist and after a few weeks my severe headaches reduced greatly and were all of the sudden managable but I have still been getting them every day.  Now that I have started seeing the naturopath they have been reduced again and I feel like I finally have someone who is as commited as I am to banishing these headaches for good.  In one month I have gone from daily doses of pain medications to 2-3 doses a week.  The solution to get to this point was actually pretty simple- cut out white sugar, white flour, and milk (the only dairy I eat now is hard cheeses and yogurts).  I also increased my water intake, started doing accupuncture, and some natural remidies.  This is all much easier than it sounds and I feel like I am really not giving up anything at all because I have been learning how to replace the things that I took out of my diet.  I hope that now since we have discovered that I have low magnesium that I can get rid of these headaches for good but if not at least I can be confidant that the naturopath will work with me until they are!

Busy Bee

MONDAY

So we had a busy Monday, after the boys came home from school we cleaned off the pumpkins and started carving.  Mason made a monster face, Xander (who chose a white pumpkin) made a ghost, and Carson made a skeleton.  Too much fun.

After I made breakfast for dinner (whole wheat pancakes and bacon) and then we made Healthy (well healthier) Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  We used whole wheat flour and coconut oil in place of margarine.  These cookies are a-maz-ing you can taste just the slightest hint of coconut and so yummy.  What a fun family day.

TODAY

Well I had a busy day starting out when I took the boys to school, then dropped Carson off at preschool.  I saw the naturopath after that and found out that it is quite possible that my headaches, nausea, and leg cramps are due to low magnesium.  If they are that would be great because the solution is so simple and just requires a magnesium supplement.  I also learned how to omit white sugar when baking and now I am really excited to try it! 

When I came home I did some boring housework before going to the chiropractor and to get allergy shots which of course was fine until I had a reaction to the shot.  Nothing major but they had to give me an extra dose of some special antihistamine and I had to wait for an hour before I could leave.  It was oh so much fun.  Oh well what can you do?

Overall I have just been feeling greatful for my family.  My husband is so wonderful to support me the way he does, watching the boys while I go to all these appointments trying to feel better.  I also appreciate my boys who are so cute, and sweet, and lovable, hugable, kissable, unbelievable.  I love you all.

Sunday Is A Family Day

Had a nice peaceful day to follow up with my crazy Saturday which was much appreciated.  Had the chance to attend church with the boys and Colton was being so cute just walking around and smiling at everyone. 

When we came home we got lunch together and then made pizza dough, it was a fun experiment making a whole wheat pizza dough that turned out amazingly yummy. After we got all that done we headed off to Salem to do Halloween things with Gumpy and Gummy (Grandpa and Grandma). We got to make ghost pizza from the whole wheat pizza dough. The boys loved it, and there was not one complaint...I love dinners like this and with 4 boys they are so few and far between. We also made, well started on, paper mache jack-o-lanterns. This was supposed to be a project for the boys but they all hated the feel of the glue so it turned into a mom and Gummy project. Overall a nice calm day.

Whole Wheat Pizzza Dough Recipe
(This makes 3 pizzas)

Ingredients


1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 tablespoon white sugar

2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

3 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions


1.In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit until creamy; about 10 minutes.

2.Stir the olive oil, whole wheat flour, salt and 1cup of the all-purpose flour into the yeast mixture. Mix in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume; about 1 hour.

3.Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into three equal pieces and form into rounds. Cover the rounds and let them rest for about 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

4.Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into the desired shape, cover it with your favorite toppings and bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for about 20 minutes or until the crust and cheese are golden brown.

(I adapted this recipe from Stephen Carroll's recipe from allrecipes.com)

Save Me Please....

I woke up to boys fighting which seemed like it would turn out ok because then they started playing which of course led to yelling (as in playing loudly), which led to...you guessed it- fighting again.

I finally went and shut myself in my bedroom without any luck because the two C's just came and started pounding on the door and crying for me.  Just when I got that dealt with Jonah walked in so I gave him c (little c) and headed back for the bedroom.  But C (big C) just followed me AGHHHHHH........  Anywho all of this has led to my feeling like I need to get out of the house but seeing as how I let M unlock the door yesterday and my keys have now mysteriously dissappeared I don't think that is going to happen either. 
That leaves me with the only responsible alternatives which are; to make cake and actually eat it vs. having one bite and making other people finish the rest before my self control is tested beyond limits, or blog about it.  Hmmm....maybe I will have to do both. 

I'm sure this day will get better, at least I keep telling myself it will get better, I actually feel kind of like the little engine that could.  Of course while I am typing c is doing a science experiment to see which will break first... Will it be the phone, the sliding glass door, or my patience?  I can't help but feel that the only thing missing is a dog like Marley from "Marley & Me".

Windows

How much should windows cost?  We had Penguin Windows come by and give us a quote on windows last night and I think you might be suprised at just how much it really does cost to replace windows.  Our house is not a big house; 3br 2 ba and only 1300 sq. ft, so when Jonah told me he expected it would cost $10,000+  I laughed.  Well I wasn't laughing when the quote came out to $27, 000...were the windows made of gold or something?  Granted that it would include a lot of "remodeling" in that we would be moving the sliding door, adding a window, in and replacing the front windowwith a bay window.  The price also includes all the permits, and labor.  The estimates they have estimate you get an 84% return on your investment if you sell your home, they also guarantee a 31% savings in energy costs which translates to approx. $1000.00/month, plus the transferabble warranty, and best of all is the lifetime warranty that says they will replace any window or screen for any reason for the life of the house.  Lets do the math...if I save $1000 per year it will only take 27 years for the window to pay for themselves.  Is it worth it; what do you think?

Pumpkins Anyone?

Well Thursdays are always crazy and today was especially so with a trip to the pumpkin patch on the schedule.  C, c, and I went to French Prairie Gardens with the preschool group and the boys had a great time.  It was so sweet to watch all the kids enjoying the hay mazes, slides, and animals.

Well, I wish I had more to share tonight but it has been a long day and I am very tired.  So istead I will share some pictures of our family pumpkin patch trip to Heiser Farms.

Inspired

So Amanda, my sister, inspired me with her blog and the fact that she has actually kept up with it which is amazing to me. Long story short is that I decided if she could do it so could I; forget that she is a stay at home mom just pregnant with her first baby and I have four boys running circles around me. Well at least with four boys there should be no shortage of things to write about.

Another reason why it is a good time for me to start now is that there are so many changes in my life right now. We have just purchased a new to us home and moved from Hillsboro to Newberg, OR. So far we really love it here, we moved into a great ward and great school district. We have been trying to beat the clock getting things done around the house before winter. The house was in forclosure and is definately what you would call a fixer upper and so far we have been taking care of an overgrown yard, tearing out a broken down deck, painting the outside of the house, and more.

A little about us....

My name is Jennifer and I have enjoyed our move; while I miss our friends in Hillsboro I am excited about the new ones I am starting to make. I have also been busy trying to plan out a garden space which I am hoping to start in the spring, I have been wanting to do this for a few years now so I can hardly wait and I feel like a kid at Christmastime. The other thing I am working on is trying to make our home "green" I am looking into making my own laundry soap, as well as other products and I am just trying to have us eat more natural foods as well. Jonah, my husband, is busy doing whatever projects he can and working to try and pay for the house and everything that comes with it. M (8) is doing well in 3rd grade and has had a big year. So far he has been baptized, joined the chess club, and joined cub scouts. He also loves reading and anything science related. X (6) is in 1st grade and doing great with school he had a rough year in kindergarden so I was not expecting him to enjoy school this year but he has really blossomed. He is becoming a great reader as well as doing well with math and other subjects.  Big C (3) is busy and precocious as always. He has started to attend a co-op preschool that we have joined with some other families from church, it just started last week but seems like it will be great for him and we are looking forward to our pumpkin patch trip tomorrow. Little c (1) is my sweet baby boy, he is growing up fast, as babies do. Right now he is teething like crazy, I think he is working on 3 teeth at the moment.

That is us in a nutshell. Now comes the true test...to see if I can keep up with this blog!