Yummy Green Smoothie Recipe

Merry Christmas! Here's a yummy green smoothie recipe amounts are approx.:

1 cup of almonds (soaked at least 6 hrs is preferable, but not necessary)
10 dates
2 1/2 Tablespoons of carob
4 ripe bananas
5 frozen strawberries
4-8 large green leaves such as kale, collards or chard or other green leaves you have
10 ice cubes
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
a capful of vanilla (homemade is best)
about 6 cups of water or to fill the blender

Blend it all in your high powered blender if you are lucky enough to have one til it is smooth, creamy, yummy and healthy. You can also leave out the cinnamon for just chocolate banana flavor or leave it out and add peanut butter for peanut butter chocolate. Endless possibilities here!!

I often also add high calcium dried herbs such as nettles, oatstraw, horsetail, comfrey and others without a strong flavor. It makes it a super green smoothie!!

Healthy Recipes

I made this pecan maple pull apart bread today, and it was awesome. Just wanted to share!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to you all!! I have printed my cards, I did that a week ago, but just can't seem to get them in mail, so be patient with me friends and you will get one soon!! I should have put Happy New Year on them instead of Merry Christmas.

Anyway, it has been a great break so far. We are going to eat our Christmas Eve dinner in about 45 min. and then sing songs, read stories and go to bed soon after. There's no snow though. My husband took the kids for a hike. Fun , fun and I got to do a new aerobics video while they were gone and I got the kitchen clean and dinner started. Yay!! Very excited for tomorrow!! What a wonderful contrast from last year when I was very pregnant in a remodel mess and hardly able to move or do anything!! YAY!!

Printing Update/ scrapbooking

Printing whatever I want is so nice. I have refilled the cartridges twice and everything is running smoothly. My favorite scrapbook program is called canon photo record. It does everything I want it too and it makes scrapbooking so fast and much nicer than anything I would do with paper. I can crop, size and place my photos on whatever background I choose and I can add text in different fonts and put different frames around the photos and the text. I wouldn't scrapbook at all but the kids love looking at the pictures. I'm excited to be able to print more for them now that I have figured out the printer. It is so nice and very fun. Just wanted to share.

The Saddest Movie Ever

"Crossing" is the saddest movie I have ever watched. It is about a family in North Korea. The mother gets sick and the only possibility of obtaining medicine is to cross over to China. So the father tries to do it leaving his son and wife behind, and one sad thing after another happens-- I don't want to spoil it for you-- you can watch it here.

I think the saddest part of it is that there are real people who have and do experience some of the things portrayed in the movie as part of their life. It is so sad to see, but it also helps me see the world differently. It gave me a better understanding of North Korea and what it is like there. Even though it is sad, it is worth watching.

Food Storage

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put out this pamphlet on food storage a couple years ago:

http://www.providentliving.org/fhs/pdf/WE_FamilyResourcesGuide_International_04008_000.pdf

I think it has some really good info. Start somewhere. Build up your 3 month supply of food you eat regularly. Then get some longer storage items to just keep like wheat, white rice and beans. Those longer storage items will keep for 30 years. It's insurance. But if inflation keeps us and the economy keeps worsening, we may need that insurance sooner than we'd like.

For water we really like our Berkey-- we use it daily, but it's supposed to be good enough to clean water from a stream. www.berkeywater.com

My new Homeschooling blog

I devoted a blog to just homeschooling. I've got 2 posts up so far. Check it out

www.academichomeschooling.blogspot.com

How to WIN the Printer War!!!!

What is the printer war?? It's the fact that ink costs as much or more than a printer. Also the cartridges are next to impossible to refill and the printer knows if you try and if you use a different cartridge. Well, no more for me after months of not printing because I didn't want to spend the money on ink and some attempts to refill existing cartridges I spent 2 days researching printers and ink. I picked HP Photosmart Plus printer for about $90 and bought the refill kit for about $40 ( I already had ink) from

www.inkproducts.com

This company is so awesome!! they have all kinds of ink refill kits for all different printers. I chose mine because of their recommendation page and then bought their empty cartridges refill kit. It even came with a tool to remove those nasty microchips and a special plastic cover to place them on to trick the printer into thinking you are still using its own cartridges.

Good job Inkproducts.com We love to print and now we can. I'll probably start my digital scrapbooking again!! I love being able to print a lot. I refilled for the first time and it all still works beautifully. The quality is awesome. It makes homeschooling so much nicer. I love having a copier and an unending supply of worksheets and coloring pages!! YAY!!!!

LDS General Conference Oct. 2010

I love listening to conference. It is the voice of reason, truth and happiness in a crazy world. I have to admit that I really don't get much out of it during conference with soccer on Saturday and a bunch of happy kids needing things during the sessions, but I love to relisten to the entire sessions on my mp3 player at night while I tidy up and get ready for the following day.

We did get everybody to sit quietly and listen to Pres. Monson's talk on gratitude. I especially liked this quote found at the Deseret News of his talk:

President Monson asked, "Do material possessions make us happy and grateful?" He answered, "Perhaps momentarily. However, those things which provide deep and lasting happiness and gratitude are the things which money cannot buy: our families, the gospel, good friends, our health, our abilities, the love we receive from those around us. Unfortunately, those are some of the things we allow ourselves to take for granted…. We often take for granted the very people who most deserve our gratitude. Let us not wait until it is too late for us to express that gratitude."

What a wonderful simple reminder of how to find happiness!! Just be grateful for what you have. I am soooooo grateful for my sweet family, my husband, the gospel, our health, my abilities and my friends and many loved ones. It's true, money can't buy any of those things and life would be so empty and lonely without them. Gratitude!!

Education in Utah

I know a lot of people around here are really confused about why I would want to homeschool when the schools out here, especially in my neighborhood are so good-- these are the best schools in the state after all!!-- so they say.

Well Utah education may not be as good as they think. I realized this when I was at BYU and would often not understand references people made to historical events and famous literature like the Odyssey for example. I had zero understanding of history and I graduated from high school with a 3.9 GPA with lots of honors classes and 4 classes worth of AP credit. I began to grasp how much I had never been taught and started wondering if those who told me I was smart and great knew what they were talking about. Thus the open mind to research homeschooling when I came across it. Many people I think, think they don't know things because they didn't apply themselves or pay attention as well as they should have, but for me I did my best and tried hard and did every thing they told me I should, and I got out and realized I didn't know much and it was because it wasn't taught. Utah schools don't teach Latin and Greek. They don't teach history very well. There are no formal logic classes. There are no rhetoric classes unless you count debate which is not true rhetoric. They are great at sports and dance competitions. Math was decent- I got through calculus. The music programs seem O.K. Science was O.K. But overall, my education was poor. I did not feel well read or educated. I did not even know what my deficiencies were, let alone how to make up for them. I felt cheated once I realized what I had missed. I guess that's the big reason I'm homeschooling now- to give my kids the education I wish I had received.

This week the Deseret News had an article about the the fact that when Utah test scores are compared to other states in the nation, Utah comes out somewhere in the middle of the nation, but when Utah is compared with other states with similar demographics of low poverty and high ratio of parents with some college education, then Utah is way at the bottom and often last.

That is very interesting for Utah. I don't fault anybody for sending their kids to the public school, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking they are receiving a superior education. I would really like to see the schools do better. I think we would all benefit from more people having a better understanding of history and the ability to think logically. And I would appreciate people understanding my position a little better. I'm not trying to one up anybody. I'm just doing what I think is best and there are valid reasons for it -- even in the best school district with the best schools in the state!

A Great Talk and New Church Websites

I was checking out the some of my churches' new websites. I really like the www.newsroom.lds.org It has a lot of basic info about the church as well as church news that is quite interesting.

I also like www.new.lds.org. The search is really great. I'm looking forward to using it. But I couldn't find the link for the online ward directory so I gave up and went to the old site to find a phone #. I'm sure I'll get used to it and find other great stuff on the new site. I really want to start having my kids watch Mormon Messages and download them to watch on my mp3 player. Then I read a great quote on the site and followed the link to the whole talk here:

https://new.lds.org/new-era/2010/09/line-upon-line-precept-upon-precept-2nephi-2830?lang=eng&signmein#

It was given by Elder Bednar in 2001, actually on 9-11, anyway-- it is a great talk on listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and how to tell if it is just yourself or if it is really a prompting. Elder Bednar points out that the Lord works line upon line, and often gives us many small answers that lead up over time to a big answer. He gives the example of dating his wife. He never felt like he got a specific one answer that this is the one, but rather over time as they got to know each other he could see that she was a good person and that they would get married. He said they dated for 15 months and knew each other 4 months before that before they got married. I very much enjoyed the talk and feel edified from having read it. Here is a quote I especially liked:

The process of discerning between our will and God’s will becomes less and less of a concern as time goes by and as we strive to rid ourselves of worldliness—and thereby cultivate the spirit of revelation in our lives. That is, as we mature spiritually, we begin to develop sound judgment, a refined and educated conscience, and a heart and mind filled with wisdom. It is not just that we have grown older, nor have we simply become smarter and had more experiences on which to draw, as important as those experiences are. Rather, the Holy Ghost has over time been expanding our intellect, forming our feelings, sharpening and elevating our perspective, such that we increasingly think and feel and act as the Lord would under similar circumstances. In short, we have made steady progress in obtaining “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

Thanks for reading!

Schedules

I ordered the book, Managers of their Homes by Steven and Teri Maxwell because a bunch of bloggers posted their so-called MOTH schedules. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with the house and school. We do alright, but I would like to do so much more and I thought this might help. It was a good reminder for me about how important it is to have a schedule. The authors brought up some good ideas like having older children play with younger children to free up time for working with other children and how that is good for everyone involved. Also, she talked about scheduling babies, so I think I'll try harder to get my babies on a schedule although I will use it more as a guideline. But the most value I got from the book was motivation to schedule and plan our days better. I spent quite a few hours on my computer today doing just that. I didn't want to use the enclosed kit. I need a different schedule for each day!! Then I needed to make sure we got each subject on the schedule enough times each day so that the kids will be all done with everything by Friday afternoon. I've got our field trip day and the park included, so I'm pretty proud of that and I think it will be a lot of fun.

I also have scheduled cleaning times for everybody. I've been having the kids clean up certain zones and that helps a ton, but we've got to start folding clothes everyday and following up on the dishes better. I do about 3 loads of laundry per day, and leaving it to be folded once a week is just overwhelming!!

The schedule is pretty close to what we've been doing. The biggest difference is that I am going to have to get up much earlier if I want to exercise, which I love. The kids were looking at the printed schedules and I think they are pretty excited. They all went to bed at 8 and I checked on them and turned the lights out at 9.

Now I just have to schedule and plan our meals and food prep better and get our music and Spanish lessons better planned. Right now though I think I'd better get to bed so I can get up at 6!!

Step by step-- one thing at a time!!

Easy Vegan Soaked Wheat Blender Pancakes

I have made these several times-- they are super easy and nutritious:

3 cups of soft white and hard red wheat mixed soaked about 24 hrs. and drained-- if you don't make them in that time, still drain the wheat and let it start to sprout-- too much of a sprout doesn't make good pancakes, but it's perfect for manna bread or soaked crackers which is what I do with the sprouts I don't use for batter

1/2 T each of baking soda and baking powder ( AL free)
1/2 of a ripe banana
1 1/2 cups of water

Pre-heat your pan or griddle at a medium low heat-- between 4 and 5 works great for me. Too hot-- they'll stick and be very frustrating. Then combine all the ingredients in a heavy duty blender like the vita-mix and blend until nice and smooth about a full minute. If you don't have a heavy duty blender then halve the recipe so it doesn't take forever mixing, but most blenders should be able to handle pancake batter. Grease your pan with cococut oil or palm oil as they don't break down under high heat. Pour the batter on the pans in the desired pancake shapes. Once they bubble-- turn 'em over and pile them on a plate.

We eat ours with 100% maple syrup, fruit if we have it and some organic margarine from the health food store. It takes about 3-4 batches to feed my growing family of 9 (including 2 babies who don't eat them yet). The hardest part is remembering to soak the wheat!

YUMMY!

Awesome site for free audio books

I had heard of this site before but forgot about it:

www.booksshouldbefree.com

I just downloaded a bunch of children's books to start listening to tomorrow. I'm excited to play them on my new awesome mp3 player through the stereo system while we clean or work on art or other projects. Now I just need a radio converter so we can listen in the car!!

Strabismus and Stereovision-- our experience

My little 5 yr. old has had glasses since he was 9 mos. old. Our good eye doctor passed away a couple years ago, and I didn't like his replacement so it wasn't until last year that we found another one we liked. My daughter's vision was fine with her glasses, but my son was referred to a surgeon to because his eyes continued to cross even with the new glasses. That surgeon then referred us to a pediatric opthamologist because his eye muscles moved both side to side and up and down. The pediatric opthamologist was really nice and I'm sure totally competent, but he was also very honest about the fact that surgery may not solve my son's vision problems although it would help. But surgery was the only thing he was able to offer us at that time. I now had a name for my son's condition and hoping to avoid surgery I got on the internet and started reading about strabismus which led to learning about vision therapy.

Basically strabismus is where the eyes don't work together. The person can have double vision, or one eye will shut off and turn in or out. My son had developed a lazy eye because of the strabismus but his weak eye was strenthened by patching the strong eye and forcing him to use his weak eye, but now he was switching off eyes to see and not using them together which meant that he could not see in 3-D. It's different than the way we see with one eye because our brain is so used to seeing things in 3-D that when we close one eye we still see in 3-D, but for someone who has never used their eyes together, everything is flat like on a t.v. screen. It is explained very well in the book, Fixing My Gaze by Susan Barry. She gained her stereovision while in her 50s after a lifetime without stereovision. It is fascinating and it also helped me to understand what we needed to do to help my son and why vision theraapy may work for him,

There were 2 offices listed on the website in Utah, so I called and made an appointment with the one 45 min. away. She told me she would be able to help him after the surgery but she would not be able to help with the up and down movement. So I then called the office 1 hour away and I guess being board certified makes a difference because he thought he would able to help and studies show that a waiting 6 months to do surgery at my son's age wouldn't make that big of a difference so it was worth a try.

So I have been driving my 7 children down to the eye doctor 1 hour away once a week for 2 1/2 months now for vision therapy. Fortunately our insurance covers a lot of it-- we just have a $25 co-pay each session. The exercises they do are varied and interesting. I'll explain them some other time if anybody's interested. But they did an evaluation 2 weeks ago after 8 weeks of eye exercises at home and weekly visits in office and his vision has improved 1 line on the eye chart and now this week he told me that things are starting to "jump" out at him which means he is using both eyes together!!!

Yay!! I'm so happy for my little guy. I'm so grateful for people with effective tools to help us in this. I'm grateful to my Lord for showing me the way. We still have a ways to go, but what a relief. I think we are headed in the right direction and all the sacrifice is worth it!!

My new Garden Blog

I've started a garden blog in hopes of keeping better track of what I've been doing to it and why it doesn't grow at all. It is totally stunted. I have sent in a couple of soil samples. I really want nice fresh produce from my own back yard. You can check it out at www.ambersveggiegarden.blogspot.com Wish me luck!!

A poem by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.


By Mother Teresa

Words to live by, I especially love the last 2 lines.

Why study Latin and Greek?

I got this question in my comments-- here's the drawn out answer:

My husband had the unique opportunity of studying Latin as a high school student and one year at BYU. More than anything else he attributes his ability to think clearly and logically to his study of Latin. Also by learning Latin, he learned Grammar with a capital "G", most of us won't understand what he means until they study Latin. Grammar schools get their name from the schools where the kids attended to learn Latin, like in Anne of Green Gables. It was and can continue to be done.

Latin is a very organized language. The nouns, adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech will have a different ending depending on what it is doing in the sentence-- subject, direct object, indirect object, possessive, or what word it is associated with etc. Therefore, in order to make a sentence properly in Latin, it must be clear exactly what it is you are tying to say. Same with the verbs and other parts of speech. I think the Grammar is what makes it so difficult. There is so much to keep straight which trains the mind very well. Also, by learning Latin, the student will learn English grammar as a by product and way better than they would by studying any modern language.

Another reason to study Latin is that many English words come from Latin, so it helps us understand our own language so much better. Latin is also the underlying language of our civilization. By learning Latin, we learn about history, art, science, and everything else Latin has touched which is just about everything in Western Civilizaiton.

So now why Greek? Greek has one less declension than Latin, so it is not quite so involved. So the Grammar is a little easier and that makes it a nice precursor to studying Latin. Many English words also come from Greek and how cool would it be to read the New Testament in the original Greek? And it is pretty fun to read in a different alphabet.

Tough subjects turning out disciplined minds?-- yes, just what I want. Do my girls like it-- yes when it's easy, and no when it's hard. They sure are pleased with themselves when they struggle through and finish what they thought was insurmountable.

Check out these articles from Memoria Press on studying Latin, scroll down to the bottom to see the Latin section. The section on studying formal Logic is also enlightening.
http://www.memoriapress.com/articles/


Need a short answer?
Mean Verbal SAT scores for 2006:

LATIN STUDENTS: 672
Spanish Students: 577
French Students: 637
German Students: 632
Hebrew Students: 623

Average for all students: 503

This year's Homeschooling Plan

I am really looking forward to getting back into schooling full tilt! I've got preschool, kindergarten, 2nd grade, 4th grade and 6th grade this year. Check out other people's plans at latter-dayhomeschooling.com

Math-- Each child does Singapore math at their level, the 2 older ones should finish the series by December and both should start Algebra around January -- I am very excited for this.

Grammar/Latin- We are studying Koine Greek with this fabulous curriculum called Elementary Greek. Not only is this a fabulous way to really learn English grammar and lots of Greek root words and the Greek of the New Testament, it is great preparation for learning Latin which we start when the child has finished the third year book which should be by May or June for the 2 oldest girls. This will become our focus. Preceding years, our focus has been in math. They need to start Latin by 7th grade to fulfill our requirements.

Science-- We use Singapore Science once the kids are proficient at reading and writing. The sixth grader should finish the program by May or June to be ready for junior high material next year. For the younger kids I am really excited about some expensive books I bought from a door to door European girl salesperson printed by Southwestern. They are actually really good. I was worried about the money, but I think it was worth it. We also bought a set of 5 used Southwestern Student Handbooks that have some great info and really fun experiments and and games for science, math, geography, and nature.

Writing-- All the children are required to write in their journal each school day. They can write whatever they want at least one sentence long. The little ones draw a picture, tell me what to write and then copy it. They also practice writing in workbooks I bought at Sam's Club and when we get our printer figured out, they will trace the scripture of the week in cursive. The older ones copy the scripture of the week each school day and write 1-2 compositions per week all in cursive.

Spelling-- I use The Natural Speller to find words for the kids to practice. When I was taking care of babies, I had my older girls practice typing out of a typing book I had bought. Now the older one may spend time typing her stories and I call that good for spelling.

Reading-- Once the kids can read well, they are required to read a book from a list for at least 30 min. per day. They love this part and have read books they wouldn't have otherwise read and have loved it. The younger kids learn to read by first learning their letters and sounds from the Letter Factory DVD, then by reading out of the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. We supplement that with Phonics games from LDFR.com and the McGuffey readers.

History-- I started out homeschooling by reading the story of the world to my kids. It worked for me at that time because it was all new to me, I had no sense of history at all and it was a great starting point. However, now I think it is just too long jumping around too much for these little guys to keep up and let some of the events sink in. So now the older ones do 15 min. of history reading a day from books we bought at yesterdaysclassics.com . I also read books to the younger ones mostly from yesterdaysclassics and some picture books we have and from the library. We will be reading about American history together this year.

Group Time -- We'll have story time for the younger kids various classic stories and pictures books, history, science, and scriptures, also poetry and time for memorizing scriptures and poems, we sing primary songs and other fun songs and songs in Spanish and French, then we have Spanish class and Greek review and art and experiment hands on time.

outside activities-- 4 kids in soccer!! That will be busy-- violin lessons, piano lessons, boys club, drama, and book club.

Good thing we don't do everything everyday, we just do something each day. The kids have a list what they must accomplish each day. We include make your bed, brush your and get dressed among other things. They have to do Math, Greek, reading, journal, and scripture 4 times per week. Instruments must be practiced daily.

So that's the plan for this year. I still have to work out some of the details but I think we are all excited to get back into it yay!!

Herbal remedies

I have been reading a ton about herbal remedies and the uses of plants for all different sorts of things. My favorite information come s from Dr. Christopher and his School of Natural Healing. I can't justify spening the money on a full course but I have bought a bunch of herb books and I am learning a ton. I love plants and I love finding uses for them especially since I have been gardening challenged but not weed or herb challenged. I have a fabulous herb garden and some nice weeds.

Here are some I have been using recently:

Comfrey-- as a salve for eczema and blemishes in the skin, I've also been adding it to our smoothies for its high calcium content. There is apparently some question as to its safety, but I think that used in moderation it is very beneficial and definitely very healing

Herbs high in calcium for nursing and growing children--- nettles, oat straw, horsetail, lobelia and comfrey -- I've been making a tea out of these aded with red raspberry especially when my body is feeling over taxed with the burden of nursing 2 babies full time and I add them to our morning smoothie. Lobelia is another one where it is recommended that it be used carefully.

Colds and illness--- I always use echinacea and vitamin c, if it's really bad and not the kids I add cayenne, garlic and goldenseal

Tooth infection--- I use colloidal silver, garlic oil, clove oil mixed with white oak bark all applied to the affected area and then make a water rinse with a couple drops of spearmint oil

Mosquito repellant-- water mixed with a few drops of citronella essential oil and put in a spray bottle to cover exposed skin while camping-- works great and so much nicer than that stinky off stuff

Plantain-- rub leaves on any kind of bite or sting-- I blended some with some comfrey oil to rub on my daughter's eczema-- worked great also worked for the mosquito bite I got before the citronella stuff was sprayed

Hurray for herbs! I'm really enjoying learning about all the things they are good for. I will definitely be planting more of them and learning how to make my own tinctures and salves.

Www.herbal legacy.com. Is a great resource on the web as well as the books recommended by the school of natural healing and their free newsletter and www.mountainroseherbs.com is a great place to buy them and check out their books for sale too. Very fun and empowering.

Great April 2010 LDS General Conference Quote

This one came from Julie Beck, President of the Relief Society, actually quoting Eliza R. Snow, 2nd Pres. of the Relief Society :

… Women should be women and not babies that need petting and correction all the time. I know we like to be appreciated but if we do not get all the appreciation which we think is our due, what matters? We know the Lord has laid high responsibility upon us, and there is not a wish or desire that the Lord has implanted in our hearts in righteousness but will be realized, and the greatest good we can do to ourselves and each other is to refine and cultivate ourselves in everything that is good and ennobling to qualify us for those responsibilities.

I have to admit that I was feeling a little sorry for myself and all the work I have to do to get things to even run semi smoothly and how little appreciation I ever get. This quote changed my whole outlook and I am much happier. What does it matter if I am ever acknowledged for what I do. Lots of people do things and they are never acknowledged. Things have to be done. I just needed to buck up and get to work and stop feeling sorry for myself!! What matters? I feel so much more control too. The harder it is, the harder I have to work, but I can over come-- by the way my twins are getting older and my life is getting a little easier and I do enjoy it!!

Thank you Sister Beck-- you are such an inspiration. I love your talks and your messages!!

Read the whole talk here

What's up with the Oil Spill?

Each day the news seems to be worse than the day before. Rense.com seems to have the best compendium of local news stories and info of what is actually going on down there as far as we can tell. I know they're not telling us the full story. Check out this article and this video



I think we are definitely in the last days. Revelation 8: 8-9

8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.


I don't know if that's what this is, I would think the previous verse would have had to happen first or maybe we're not to those angels yet, we are still in the warning phase-- it's looking like we may be headed for a famine or worse-- read that article I linked to especially if you are or have loved ones in Florida. This is not a good time to be wicked. Let's be as good and righteous as we can so that if we die, we'll be ready!! I'm not really looking forward to going through a refiner's fire, but things sure look bad. I will trust in the Lord.

Check out Helaman 10-12 and Nephi's lamentation over the wickedness of the people and the famine. Maybe the Lord is trying to stir us up unto remembrance and repentance. He wants us all home and sometimes we get so hard-hearted that a famine is a last resort before the destruction. Chapter 12 occured 11-7 years before the destruction in the Americas right before Christ came.

The Amazing Joseph Smith Story

Not too long ago I had a Christian friend tell me that she could accept many of the doctrines of my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but not the story of Joseph Smith. I have run across blogs where other people kind of say the same thing-- they like the teachings of the church, but they just cannot accept Joseph Smith. And then there are those who leave the church because they feel that Joseph Smith must have been a fallen prophet because of polygamy mainly.

In case any of you don't know the story, you can read it here in Joseph's own words. Basically as a 14 yr. old boy, Joseph Smith wanted to know which church was true, so after reading in James 1:5 of the Bible, he decided to ask God for himself to know which church to join. He prayed in a secluded area, a grove of trees, and God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ actually appeared to Him and gave him instructions that he was not to join any of them. A few years later, a Heavenly messenger appeared to him and a few years after that, Joseph began translating a book similar to the Bible in that it was an ancient record of a people and God's dealings with them, The Book of Mormon. Soon after that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized with Joseph Smith as Prophet and President of the church in these latter days.

That is a super summarized version of how Christ's true church was organized after being taken from the earth when the early apostles died. It is also just the beginning of the many marvelous works and teachings that Joseph Smith performed up until his early death as a martyr in Carthage Jail. I am amazed by all the things he was able to accomplish. I know it is because he was called of God and given the power and ability to do what he did. So to answer the concern that his story of actually seeing the Father and Son when he prayed in the Sacred Grove is too surreal or amazing or that that kind of hting doesn't happen anymore:

I say -- why not? Has God ceased to be a God of miracles? The Bible is full of miraculous stories and events and of prophets communing with God. Why should it be any different today? And on top of that, the Lord has actually given us proof that we can read for ourselves-- The Book of Mormon. If you read the Book of Mormon with real intent and ask the Lord if it is true, then He will give you an answer, and if that answer is yes-- which it will be if you are sincere-- then Joseph Smith must be a modern day prophet because he's the one who translated it and he must also be telling the truth about how he got it and that he saw the father and the Son in Sacred Grove. There is nothing out of place about it. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Then there are those who read a bunch of anti-Mormon literature and lose their testimonies. I wonder if they spent as much time studying the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, the History of the Church and conference talks as they do reading anti- stuff, if they wouldn't be so swayed. I have a learned a few things about Joseph Smith that don't put him in a very good light especially with regards to polygamy and the secrecy that surrounded it. But I wasn't there, and I know I don't know the mind of God or the overall purpose of the whole thing, and maybe Joseph Smith was wrong about some things-- but this I do know-- that he did a lot of good and he was definitely right about a lot of very important things. He restored Christ's true church to the earth. He translated the Book of Mormon so we would have something tangible that we could search and know the truth for ourselves. He restored the keys or authority of priesthood so that baptisms and sealings and blessings could be done by the power and authority of God. He received countless revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. He translated the Pearl of Great Price. He built the first temples in the Latter days. There is more, but those are the big ones. He sacrificed so much in order to do what God commanded him. I am very grateful to him for his sacrifice.

I am very grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know there are many good people out there of other faiths. I respect that, but I hope that they will be open-minded enough to really look into my church and learn for themselves that God wants to give us even more than just the knowledge that He is there. He loves us so much. He wants us to be happy and to return home to Him with our families. There is an added benefit to having the priesthood in your home, to being sealed to your spouse, parents and children, to having the words of modern day prophets and apostles to guide us in the last days before the 2nd coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

This is my testimony. I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves us. I know that Joseph was a true prophet and that he restored Christ's true church to the earth. I know the Book of Mormon is true and was written for our day-- it helps me still on the 20th time reading it. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet and the one chosen to direct the work of the Lord and His true church today. I hope writing this will help somebody someday. You don't have to believe me-- read the Book of Mormon and find out for yourself!! God is still a God of miracles and He is as involved today with man and prophets and apostles as He was in Bible days.

Find out more at mormon.org.

Poison Hemlock in my Backyard!!

I just killed and disposed of one of the most poisonous plants in North America in my back yard!!! We basically have a wild forest in our backyard complete with Poison hemlock!! It is gone now. It is quite a pretty plant, part of the carrot family with feathery fern like leaves. It grows to be about 2-5 ft. high and flowers white umbel flowers. The stem is spotted with purple dots or stripes. My specimen was about 2 feet tall, not flowered yet. I'll post a picture of it sometime. The Romans used it to kill prisoners. It works pretty fast destroying the nervous system. It is most often confused with wild carrot. So glad to be rid of it!! Know your plants!!

Mother's Day by my daughter age 11

Mother's Day

Today is the day
When Mothers get their way.
No one will scream or yell
Not even do a tattle tale.
When presents are passed along
Everyone sings a song.
Flowers come in May
Winter! Winter! go away!
Music may fill Mothers ears
And remind her of the Happy Years
Children is the reason why you are a mother
You must teach them to love one another
Birds will chirp and sing
You may hear bells ring
Sometimes Mothers ask for strange presents
not stuff and elepheasants
When this is her way
Everyone.....

Happy Mother's Day!


Pretty good-uh!! What a happy day. I got to sleep in a bit. I'm very thankful to have 1 o'clock church this year!! I got lots of cards and happy wishes and flowers and 1 1/2 tons of compost from the dump-- that may be the strange present. I also want a valve replaced for my garden and some ink for the printer-- stuff we just don't get around to sometimes, but on mother's day and my b-day I get what I want!! Thanks! And happy Mother's day to all the mothers out there!!

Parenting and Educational Philosophies

Apparently there are a lot of confused parents out there. There are lots of books, classes, groups, shows and blogs on the best way to parent children. I'm all about progress and finding the best way to do things, but recently I have become extremely bothered by a couple philosophies floating around out there. Especially being a homeschooler, I come in contact with all kinds of people and ideas. So I'm going on the offensive in this post, because I just have to get it out and let people know that not all Utah Mormon homeschoolers are this way or have such strange ideas.

Here are some ideas I am very bothered by - mostly from the Utah Mormon homeschooling community in general:

All you have to do to raise bright, responsible, independent, good children is to provide them with the proper environment. Get rid of all the distractions in your life and their life including most of the toys including puzzles and legos, stacks of paper, dumb craft projects, television, computer, video games and anything else that might interfere with your greatness and your children's progress. Require your children to help you with the housework everyday, so they will gain discipline and your house will be a model of cleanliness and tidiness, but do not require your children to do any kind of academic work unless they really want to because you might squelch their natural love of learning. Model great scholarship to your children in the afternoons by reading great books and learning on your own. Call it Free Time for you and them, and make them use that time to do whatever they want on their own as long it does not involve any of the distractions you have already removed from the premises. The only interesting thing left in the house is books, so this will inspire and encourage them to read a lot. This is also free time for you to study, and you should not be bothered unless it is really important. Your home will be a place of peace and beauty this way. The children will feel more secure and will grow to be truly great only troubling themselves with the very best this life has to offer-- the best books, the best music, the best food, the best organization, the best education...., even though you don't require them to do academics.

Do you think I'm kidding? I wish I were. There are people who really do think this way. What an easy way to homeschool. The only thing you have to make sure your children do is clean your house in the mornings, and clean up after themselves which gives you the benefit of a constantly clean house-- every mother's dream. Then you have the afternoon to read or work on things you are interested in. No worries about curriculum. No encouraging the child to keep going even though it just got hard. No continual repetition or waiting patiently for the child to figure out that long word, or that weird story problem or to remember how to say something in another language. If the kid is not interested, they stop. There are no messes from children's "crafts" or a refrigerator cluttered with 10 drawings of the exact same thing. Everything is neat and orderly and clean and structured. What the mother says is law. The mother has figured out how to run a smooth domain with no mutiny, and has figured out to explain it so that it sounds like this is all done with the children's best interest at heart.

There are so many problems with that philosophy, I'm not sure where to begin. Most people, I think, can see that this is not a good way to raise or educate children. So instead of analyzing each piece separately I will just give an overview of what I think is a good, normal parenting philosophy and what has worked for me so far.

The children can make whatever messes they want as long as they can clean it up when they're done. If the children start misbehaving, I give them a warning that they will lose some thing or privilege they value if they are older, or they will have to go on time-out if they are younger. I do not threaten things I am not willing to follow through on. If I don't want to carry a kid all the way up the stairs to their room, then I will not threaten to take them all the way up to their room. The corner right there will work just as well, so that's what I'll threaten. I won't take away a privilege I really want them to have. Whatever I do threaten, I do follow through on. Consistency is key. A warning is necessary also, so that the child knows what he did wrong and what he needs to do to make it right. This also gives them a chance to explain themselves and sometimes I find that the situation is not what I thought it was. I try to be as fair as possible in each circumstance. I have to find out exactly what is going on, and if I can't, then they get a warning and a lesson on how to act properly and be nice to each other.

We do have certain rules that need to be followed such as no eating on the carpet, no jumping on the furniture in the front room, sitting still and being quiet during scripture reading, etc. When any of these rules are broken, then an appropriate consequence is given to fit the crime. For example, those who eat on the carpet get their food taken away. Those who yell at the dinner table get sent to their room on time-out. Those jumping on the front room furniture have to sit on the floor, etc.

That's pretty much it for rules and consequences. Be consistent!!

Then for parenting and ensuring that my children are receiving a proper education, we have decided to homeschool. This means that we have reviewed and picked the best curriculum for the various subjects we want them to know. We schedule and organize a time and place for that to happen. We have requirements for each child to fulfill. The children are responsible to keep track of their books and fulfill the assignments and chores we give them. Once they finish those, they are free to do as they please pretty much.

That's pretty much how we operate. The why we do that and what we hope to accomplish by doing that are subjects for another post. This is way too long already. I think it is pretty easy to see the difference between my idea of good parenting and educating and the idea of some of my fellow homeschoolers. My way requires me to do a lot with my children and follow through and work with them and guide them along their academic path, as well as provide lots of different opportunites for them to try and explore all different kinds of activities and ideas and eventually, I hope, find their passion. Some of my fellow homeschoolers ( thank goodness, not all) have chosen to let their children kind of fend for themselves when it comes to academics. They have also chosen to limit what their children can do as far as what is available to them, i.e. limited access to media, stacks of paper, art supplies, toys, etc. They have chosen to steer their children towards what they want for them i.e. great readers by having few interesting things available to them besides books and maybe piano or something similar.

So this incredibly long post is not for those already involved in this flawed thinking, although I do feel sorry for them. It is for those of you who may know some of these people and associate homeschoolers to this type of idea. Homeschooling has so many benefits and advantages and I want to do my part to define it the way I think will provide the best benefit for all. And that I think is to be a normal, caring parent who is involved with their children and guides and teaches and helps them along the way. I also want to point out that this has also been done and is being done successfully by parents who send their children to public and private school. Parenting is parenting. Thanks for reading!! Comments are welcome!!

3 year olds!!

Yesterday in tears after pinching his fingers, my 3 yo asked '' Mommy, can i watch GeoTrax because I'm crying." What would you say?

Often we don't understand what he is trying to say and when someone tries to step and help he says in a frustrated tone of voice almost at a yell and definitely a reprimand " I'm talking to mooooooommy," or "I'm talking to Daaaaaaddy"

He was on the floor in the kitchen yesterday while I was making dinner and kept saying "mommy tell me o.k." So I said "O.K." "noo, he said, "tell me o.k." "o.k" "noo, tell me o.k." after 2 more times of this, I figured out he wanted me to ask him if he was o.k., "Are you o.k.?", I asked. "yes" he said with a happy smile and gave me a hug. He had slipped and fallen. Such simple joys, I just have to figure out what he wants. He just wants to be understood!!

The Princess and the Frog -- Loved IT!!

We watched Disney's new movie, The Princess and the Frog a few weeks ago. I absolutely loved the message. The whole movie was very well done all the way. It is set in New Orleans in the 50s and is about a girl who has a dream of owning and operating the restaurant her father never got to open even though he worked so hard. They are a black family and the contrast between them and her rich white friend is nicely done without condemning or unnecessarily glorifying either race. There is some voodoo in the movie, that's how she turns into a frog along with the prince who she falls in love with, but even that is shown as truly evil. Anyway, the princess has devoted her life to working in order to buy the restaurant despite all the nay sayers and friends and even her mother who hopes for grandchildren. She gets turned into a frog after kissing a frog prince who was turned into a frog by voodoo and they start on a quest to turn human again. The prince has played his whole life and never really had to work, but has been disinherited. He learns that he can work and learn new skills and he loves the princess, but she has a much harder time slowing down and discovering what is truly important -- namely relationships and the most important relationship of husband and wife. She is forced to choose between gaining her dream and losing her lover- the frog prince, and realizes that love is more important than working forever on a dream no matter how worthy it may be. Of course in the end she gets it all-- her frog prince, they turn human again, and the restaurant. It is a great message of love. The side love story of Raymond and Evangeline is also sweet and a great complement to the story. This movie is a masterpiece. It is so nice to have something modern to assist in the teaching of my children rather than working against it constantly. If I had the ability to create a story with a good message, this is the message I would create. Thank you Disney!!

Singapore Math-- should we switchover from Saxon?

That is the question I answered on another blog this way:

We love Singapore math. I started my first on Saxon and we both hated it for the constant repetition and it's sooooo dry. The Singapore books are like you're playing. If you did have your kids go back, they'd probably actually enjoy it it because there are so many codes and mazes and things to , so if they already know the concepts it would be a fun review and practice but you can have them take the placement tests on the Singapore site to see where they are.

I have posted a couple posts on our math experience on my blog if you want to read about it. My first daughter had a bit of a hard time transitioning and we took a loooong time on levels 1 and 2, finally by level 3 I decided we needed to really focus on math and get her caught up. Level 4 was tough, but now she's onto level 5 and whizzing through. I'll find out tomorrow how well when she takes her test which is the placement test on their site. I'm hoping she'll start Algebra by the end of this year, she'll be 6th grade age.

It was a tough transition I think mostly because she got a sour taste for math from the boring Saxon books, and she's more of an artsy imaginative kid not real math minded. The other kids who started with Singapore have just whizzed through with no problem. They slow down when we get to a harder section, but once they get it, they're off. They should be fully prepared to start Algebra when they finish level 6, and the story problems are amazing. I'm learning how to solve them without Algebra. Then we plan to use the Algebra and Geometry books from McDougall Littell. We haven't picked the Trig or Calculus books yet.

Also the US edition Singapore math books are the ones they were using in their schools when they were ranked #1 in the world for math. Tried and tested with excellent results. Love it!!! Good luck on your decision.

Winter in Spring and Cute Babies

Have you ever seen anything soooooo cute? They are sooooooooooooooooo CUTE!!!!!!!!



The winter picture was taken in the winter, but that's exactly what it looked like outside today!!! Come on spring, come!!

Math/Homeschool Update

My almost 11 yr. old passed the Singapore Math 4B test with a 94% after taking it 4 times. She kept missing different answers, they were mostly silly mistakes adding wrong etc., but I finally went over the whole test with her and just kept making her take it again until she got it right. She has already finished her 5A workbook and will finish corrections and take the test this coming week. Her 9 year old sister has also finished 4B and had to take the test twice to pass, but I don't remember what she got. So I think that 4th level just has a lot of new concepts that are tough. We'll see how the rest of the levels go, it only goes to 6B and then they'll start Algebra. I'm really proud of them for working so hard because it is not always easy. My 7 year old boy just finished 2A and passed his test on the first try. I'm a much better teacher after going through the books with their older siblings. Poor oldest child-- such a guinea pig, but still better off than I was, I think and hope!!

They do get tired of all the stuff they have to do, but don't we all? It's just part of life. I didn't make them do anything extra today because I was tired too. I was considering taking a spring break, but I think we'll wait and take one when their daddy can join us and we can do something fun. I have started to do more of our enrichment activities and it is fun and rewarding, but time consuming. It's nice to get back to normal!!

Simple, Healthy, Tasty blog

I have been visiting this blog regularly and have tried a few of her recipes and ideas. They have all been great. Her philosophy on food seems to match mine pretty well. Basically we stay away from all the food additives which means anything prepackaged except for a few things at the health food store, we stay away from meat and dairy and refined sugars also. I serve green almond smoothies for breakfast a lot, and we eat a lot of fruit and a lot of dark green leafy salads in addition to the regular vegan type meals like oatmeal for breakfast, rice dishes, Mexican rice and beans, hummus,Italian, potatoes etc. This blog is full of great practical recipes for a family which I have very much appreciated-- plus they're good!!!

We especially like the honey peanut butter popcorn, the sunflower seed sour cream, the ginger snaps, snickerdoodles and the inspiration to remind me of the many yummy Mexican type meals there are as well as pizza and cinnamon rolls and such. I go there often for inspiratiion on what to make for dinner!! I even added a button and a link on my sidebar.

www.simplehealthytasty.blogspot.com

Protect your children against pornography

This is a great article and reminder on the fact that we must educate our children against the seemingly unending evil in the world of today. I read it last night and talked to my kids about it today and then we listened to the Safety Kids #3 by Janeen Brady about protecting our minds. The Safety Kids do an excellent job of explaining the dangers without scaring the kids or telling them more than they need to know.

So anyway, here's the blog post from Diane Hopkins on her blog

Preparations for the Earthquake in Chile

I found this article to be very inspirational. It is about the preparations that were made a couple weeks before the earthquake hit after the mission president and his wife received a prompting that they should be ready for one. It is a great reminder to me to live in such a way that I will listen and heed the promptings of the Holy Ghost in my own life. How exciting for the mission in Chile as more people are open to listening to the gospel. Very interesting to read what it was like to experience the earthquake. Enjoy:

http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/100303chile.html#_begart

The Difference between a twin pregnancy and a singleton one

This is all based on my recent personal experience. I am now about 6 weeks postpartum.

1st trimester-- I was twice as sick with morning sickness than usual and my tummy started poking out much sooner than any of my previous singleton pregnancies. I was unable to continue eating the nutrient dense salads and raw foods I had gotten used to eating prior to the pregnancy. I figured out that they were just too strong for my tastebuds I needed very plain food or anything I didn't have to make. I had to pretty much quit the raw meals because I couldn't make 2 meals- one for me and one for the family, the one for the family was barely making it. I did try to juice wheatgrass more often and I did keep up on the dark green leafy salads and smoothies, but I couldn't eat my previously favored dressings and I couldn't keep up making sprouted wheat crackers or breads.

2nd trimester- was not too bad. I started feeling more normal and had a couple months of good housecleaning and school teaching. I started to be asked when I was due. I decided to pretend I wasn't as big as I was or I wouldn't have gone anywhere. I was still able to exercise and funciton on a normal level. I was much itchier though and I had a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions than with my others. Not a huge difference so far although certainly different. The worry for the babies and if they are O.K. is twice what it is for a singleton. It seems so many more things can go wrong. The twins would switch positions every time I went in- twin A breech, twin B head down, etc. Worry about a c-section if both twins are not head down at time of delivery. I had an ultrasound every visit to the doc about every 3 weeks.

3rd trimester-- this is where the variance is the greatest. I got to be very slow. It was hard to get around and I was very tired. I had to quit exercising because the wieght of my pulling on my ligaments was just too uncomfortable and I realized that I'd better save my strength for sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor. I had a terrible itchy rash on my ankles, back and arms, just a couple spots on my belly. It was awful. At least it was in the winter and I could wear long sleeves. It cleared up by about 3 weeks postpartum. It was so itchy. about 35 weeks I started to swell really bad especially in my ankles. I think some of that was from being so immobile. We were remodeling our house to make room for everybody and I really didn't want to have the twins come during that awful mess so I stayed down a lot and I really swelled. I was able to cope with the bigness-- and I was humongous-- my belly was anyway- I actually gained the same amount of weight I did with my other babies mostly because of my diet I think-- anyway I could cope with the size and the being tired and itchy, but when my feet started to swell and my hands too, I knew it was going to be time to have the babies soon. About week 30-32 I found that preparing dinner on a tall barstool was very helpful. It was just hard to stand up for any length of time. I pretty much quit doing any kind of deep cleaning. We were in survival mode especially with the remodel. I usually would reach that desparate point of immobility at 37 weeks with a singleton and I would say I was there at 28 weeks, but I had a good attitude and was really looking forward to raising the babies. Fortunately, my husband picked up a lot of the slack. Then when it became almost impossible for me walk because of the pressure on my pelvis,I knew the babies would need to be born soon. My body wouldn't be able to go on much longer and it wasn't going to get any easier. Plus the babies were good sized by 32 weeks they were about 4 lbs. each and I had them at 37 weeks and 2 days and they were 6lbs 10 oz and 6 lb 11 oz which is really good size for twins. I'm only 5'2" though and that was a lot of pressure on my frame.

The Delivery-- My doctor agreed to induce me and the delivery went smoothly although I had to deliver in the operating room and I pretty much had to get an epidural to avoid a c-section. If I had to do that part over I might consider getting a midwife familiar with twins so that I wouldn't have to get the epidural, but I'm thankful I didn't have to get a c-section. So I'm not complaining much, my doctor was competent, and I had to go with what she was comfortable with and knows. I didn't feel a single contraction. Usually I feel them right after the doctor breaks my water, but not this time, maybe because the other bag of water was cushioning it. The epidural worked right away even though I asked for the smallest dose possible just enough to give me some if a c-section was necessary so that they wouldn't have to knock me out, but I didn't feel a thing, not even any pressure, just pins and needles through my legs and feet the entire time. I pushed 3 times to get the first baby out and the second one was born 5 minutes later with one push and the vacuum.

Postpartum-- The afterpains were not too bad with my motherwort tea and the red raspberry leaf tea I had taken throughout the pregnancy. I did take one dose of ibuprofen, but that was it for prescription meds. The feeling in my legs returned about 6 hours after delivery and i felt pretty good. I came home the next day with both babies and I felt like a deflated balloon. I was worried about the muscle separation in my stomach, it felt like there was a herniated muscle in the center. I felt like a bulldozer had just run through my insides and torn up everything. Fortunatly I have a book I had great success using after a diastais (muscle separation with baby #5) called Lose your Mummy Tummy and it has great exercises i write about when I have my waist back. So I started those including Kegels and I don't feel quite so torn up anymore, but I have a ways to go to get my waist back and to get my abdominal muscles back together. It took about 2 1/2 weeks for my swelling to go away. I could fit into my pants a week later, but my belly looked eformed from the diastatis. I was about 5 fingerwidths a week after delivery and am now down to 2 fingerwidths. If I was more consistent at the exercises I'm sure the diastasis would be even less, but slowly but surely I will get those closed up. I feel close to norml with everything else and have started exercising again although getting the twins on a common schedule haas been a challenge and it is harder to do things like that now.

It felt so good to not be pregnant anymore. It feels so good to be able to walk around bend over and clean the house and make dinner easily. I won't feel completely normal until my diastatis closes completely because I just know my core is fragile and I don't want to risk any further damage, but it was worth it!! It was extremely difficult with homeschooling 5 other children, remodeling the house, eating healthy, and running a household, but we made it and the babies are so adorable and wonderful. I would do it all over again although one set of twins is plenty!!

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas

I finally figured out how to read and get on the computer while nursing 2 babies, so here's a plug for The Count of Monte Cristo-- AWESOME!!! It is an incredibly long book, but so worth it I really didn't want it to end and my version was abridged and I sort of wish it wasn't. This book reads so quickly from the first page to the end and has a great underlying message. i'm not going to get into the plot because you just have to read it and if you have read it, you can comment on how much you liked it. It is really just pure entertainment and fun. My husband and children were glad to have me back once I finally finished it in about 3 days!!!

How to make Manna Bread

For those of you not familiar with Manna bread, you can buy it at your local health food store in the freezer section. It is about $3 per loaf and it is not a big loaf, but it is yummy. The only ingredients are sprouted grains and whatever fruit, nut or veggie type flavor you choose. Our favorite is by far carrot raisin. Anyway, it is a gooey sticky kind of bread and rather sweet. All my kids like it except for the one picky eater who now suddenly likes lentils-- anyway, my husband doesn't really like it either, but I love it!! It is so healthy I hate to refuse any to my kids and after my last purchase I determined that I needed to figure out how to make the stuff consistently--not being pregnant helps!! And you need the right tools.

So here it is for plain manna bread since I keep forgetting to buy raisins I haven't attempted the carrot raisin loaf yet:

Soak red wheat and white wheat berries overnight to sprout
Drain them in the morning and let them start to grow
They are ready to use as soon as you see the little sprouts grow
Remember to rinse them preferably twice a day-- I use a colander and leave them in it a lot of times
Don't wait too long to use them, try to use them before they get real big 1 1/2-2 days of growing after soaking overnight is ideal

Here is the secret: Run the sprouts through a champion type juicer with the blank plate, my brand is something green I bought at Good Earth, this makes a dough. Then with wet hands shape the dough into small loaves about the size and shape of the kind you can buy, put them on a cookie sheet and let them bake at 250 F for 2-3 hours. I have been doing it at 3 hours but the crust is rather dry and tastes like Grape-nuts so 2 hours may be long enough. That's it!! Healthy and Cheap!!

They're Here!!

My twins were born on Thurs. I asked about going to a different hospital since I could no longer even walk and I had started to swell and was 2 days past 37 weeks which is usually considered full term for twins plus the timing would be great with Martin Luther King day being a holiday. I was medically induced and unfortunately opted for the epidural, which I hate, to make sure they would not give me a c-section. I'm disappointed that my doctor didn't have more confidence in my easy labors and deliveries, but I am very relieved to have my twin boys here safe and sound. My labor took about 3 hours, and really couldn't have gone any better except for the epidural. So I am counting my blessings.

Anyway, twin A was 6 lbs. 10 oz. and twin B was 6 lbs. 11 oz. and they look nothing alike, nor do they really look like any of my other kids. It's pretty funny. I'm so looking forward to raising them and having such a nice big family. I just love newborns. It's nice for the older kids too because everybody gets a turn to hold one of them. So far they are sleeping a lot. I have to take advantage of it. It's going to take some time for my body to recover from this amazing pregnancy. Thanks for all your kind words in my complaining post!!

Any ideas on going into labor?

I'm 37 weeks today which is considered full term for twins and they probably weigh more than 7 lbs. each now. I am huge carrying 14 lbs. of baby alone, then add the other 35 lbs. I've gained from the fluids, blood, fat and placentas and you can imagine that I am having a hard time getting around, not to mention all the stares and questions I get about when I'm due. I'm thankful that the babies are looking so healthy and doing well, but I will be very glad to have them out of me and on to the next phase of life. Any ideas on how to naturally speed this process along? I just may have to wait 2 more weeks to be medically induced like I was with all the others. Oh well, I really can't complain.