I am still back just going to be spotty until next week. We can't get internet service so we thought up where we are. We have been using our phones but we only get so much per month and it is slow slow slow ( I could just never ever go back to dial up lol). Well someone told me about verizon and they have something called a wifi hot spot that works anywhere, So I am ordering that on Friday and it will be here Monday. See ya ll soon. Michelle
I am back back back and happy to be back. I have been busy busy busy. So much to tell. All are doing well. My biggest news is that I sold my house and purchased the homestead that I have always wanted. It was a little more than I had ever planned on spending, But the sale from the house made a nice down payment and I love love love love it. We are now Okies from Oklahoma. My biggest excitement about the place is the downsizing. Our old house was 2200 sqft and this house is .......1300 sqft. It is a 3 bedroom. So the baby is downstairs with us, The 3 boys are up in the big bedroom upstairs and my daughter is upstairs in the reg. size bedroom. My oldest son ( just turned 19 on the 12th) has a 5th wheel he is living in on the property. It is 2 1/2 acres, and beautiful. It is mostly treed with a wonderful open spot for a large garden. The little kids have been so happy since we moved in, lots and lots of room to run and play with no grouchy neighbors. It is so peaceful and quiet here. We live about 15 miles up in them there hills from a rather large city. I am closer to better shopping and that will help with saving money big time!!!! I am just very very very happy right now. I am going to post pics of our new place tomorrow. All the best to all of you and I missed this soo much, I have been keeping up on your blogs so no worries there. Can't wait to post again tomorrow. Michelle
Tipster Tuesday this week is for me. I really really really need it. Since Jeremiah has been here ( almost 6 months) I have let my household binder go to the wayside. I honestly have not looked at it much since his birth. This has really sent me into a tailspin, disarray and chaos. I am not a naturally organized person. I can get off track extremely easy.....This has happened. I am in extreme need of structure, a schedule and order. So my tip today for me and you is dust off yours and my binders of orderly home papers and get organized and in order. I don't know about you but 3 of my children have decided to take extra curricular activities this year. The twins are doing t-ball and the 15 year old is doing softball. Which I think will be great for them really great. But this is going to throw a wrench into my already disorganized life unless I get control. So tonight when all is quiet and calm (kids are at dad's house and I only have the baby) I am going to sit down with ol' trusty the binder of my life and organize it dust it off and get reacquainted with him. I am going to do my Wednesday good buys on my binder instead, since I did such huge shopping last week there is no need to shop at all this week. I look forward to showing you ol'trusty. Have a great night, Michelle
Jeremiah gardening in the great outdoors!!
Hard to tell but that is my oldest sone(18 almost 19) and Jeremiah the baby!!! Sniffle sniffle I still remember when the oldest was that small, it went by so darn fast. 
Jeremiah just havin fun in his new (used many many times) walker. 
The oldest child Kriztina (20) and the Baby Jeremiah 5 months, I love this picture!!! 
My three crazies and the crazy fun that now makes up my days, Matthew 3, Jacob 6, Joshua 6 !!! 
Jacob always smiling!!! 
Jacob and little brother Matthew at the park playground where they mostly live hahaha 
Jeremiah with his summer hat 
The raised bed garden made with old dressers, leftover pieces of weed and odds and ends!!! 
The potato hole that looks more like a gravesite. 
We had a ton of this stone in the corner of the yard just sitting there, it made perfect walkways so we don't step in mud. 
Today I am going to talk about my garden. I planted my seedling the beginning of March. And they took off. I planted Tomato, Green pepper, Cabbage, Cucumber, Summer squash, Carrots, Celery, Beans, Peas, Cauliflower, Beets, Jalapenos, Red potatoes, Garlic, Red onion, Green onion, Watermelon and a few others that are escaping my memory right now. Everything grew wonderfully. My daughter is helping this year. We have little money but did not do well last year with planting straight into the ground. So this year with little money we are doing raised beds. With the soil and manure taking up most of our funds we had to get creative with the raised beds. We have spent the last year collecting things that could be used to make them. We had several street finds of old dressers and some of our own that were going to be thrown away. We had some old pieces of wood here and there from fixing up the house. Some dog crate pieces and tomorrow she is heading to the Lumber yard to sift through the giveaway pile. She made 2 raised beds today so far. She is taking pictures tomorrow with her phone and that along with some pictures of the little ones will be my Manic Monday post. I was floored when I went out in the back and saw what she had done with so little. I darn near cried. And the plants she got planted looked so happy in their new home and a little more growing room. We are very excited about this year and getting some larger hauls, Fingers crossed. We know it is a learning process, best of all we are having fun and spending time together. One of the twins Joshua did not want to go to his Dad's today instead staying home with me. And he stayed in the backyard the whole day helping her, Just him and her, he loved it and was soo sooooo excited to show me what he had done. It was great. Have a special time with your kids, Plant something...Anything. Have a great week all, Michelle
I just got the mother lode of books in from the library here in town. My oh my do I love inter library loan, I can get darn near any book I come across on the Internet. Lots of times I just put a keyword in amazon and then save the books I want to a wish list, print that list off and search the library for them. That way I get to try the book first and see if it is something I need to put money out for and I want or if there are maybe just a few pages I want to copy and then turn it back in without having to purchase the whole book. This is kind of a funny survival Saturday post. My oldest son and I have been bonding lately. I learned long ago with my boys that if I want to spend time with them and bond I have to think boy hahaha. My oldest son loves Survival and end of the world movies. So I added all I could find on Netflix the other day and we had a late night fest on Friday night. I believe I added 11 movies. We only ended up watching 1 all the way through. Most we just watched the first 15 minutes and deemed it lame. Some just made us mad because from what we have already learned they were completely unrealistic. We ended up watching the Final Storm which was just vaguely apocalyptic, But it was a decent movie. I get a kick out of watching things like that with him. T.V. shows like survivor man etc. We feel like we could be ready for anything that we know alot. Although never put in that situation could be a whole lot different. My son wants to be on the T.V. show the Colony to see how it would feel to be in an apocalyptic situation. Not me ty. hahaha. Anyway we had fun and of course he taught many things I did not know about survival. Have a great weekend all Michelle
Today I wanted to talk about making your own baby food. This is great for several reasons. First it saves sooooo much money, 2nd it is so much better by 1000% for your baby. I made up Jeremiah's first foods this last weekend. Squash, sweet potatoes, bananas ( I do daily), pears, apples. All you need to purchase is 1 sweet potato, 1 squash ( I bought butternut), 2 pears, 2 apples and 2 bananas will last a week or so. Besides that you need a small food processor ( the small ones that are around $4.99, I bought mine free with register rewards from Walgreen's). And the last thing you need is either small baggies or some small little containers that hold approx 2 tablespoons. Apples or Pears Peel and core cut into pieces Boil in water just covering fruit, Boil just about 5 minutes until tender. Keep liquid in pot until you are done blending. Add your fruit to the processor and puree until all pieces are pureed. If it seems a little too thick add some of your reserved fruit water until right consistency for baby. Add 2 tblspoons to a baggie or small container and freeze until ready to eat. Sweet potato Peel potato, chop into pieces, boil in water just covering potatoes. When fork slides off easily ( Just like making mashed potatoes) add to processor. Keep potato water just like with the fruit, You will need it with the potatoes to thin them out a bit. Puree until all pieces are pureed adding potato water as needed. Package same as fruit. Squash Cut squash in half lengthwise. Pour 2 cups water into baking dish. Scoop out seeds and place squash halves cut side down in water. Place baking dish uncovered in oven at 350 until the skins is bubbly and wrinkly. Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle. When cooled scoop out meat and place in processor. Again reserve squash liquid from baking dishes to use to thin out squash. Same mixing as above and same packaging as above. Bananas Cut bananas up, Place in processor, puree and add water as needed to get right consistency. Use immediately as these will brown fast. I made all this in about 2 hours while holding the baby and taking care of the little ones. Quite easy. Now I have premade baby food, I just take out a baggie in the morning set in fridge to thaw and Waalaa. The best part about this baby food is it is nothing but the fruit or veggie and water. No complaints from Jeremiah or any of my other children. * Best containers to use are used baby food jars. So if you know a friend who feeds their baby only store bought and they have used clean baby food jars ask if you could have a few and use these to store homemade baby food in. * I would purchase a food processor to be used solely for baby food. So that it does not get contaminated with any foods you don't want baby to have and be vigilant about cleaning it really well. Don't want baby to get any bad bugs. Have a great weekend. Michelle *** I am so sorry I still don't have my camera fixed yet. My son is working on fixing it. As soon as it is fixed I am just going to do a post of pics lol.
