We have 2 new girls in the family!  We finally found out today that we will be having a girl, Catherine Joy (“Kate”), in February!!!  It is nice to be able to talk about and pray for little Kate by name now.  Mike and I are thrilled, and I feel like it is more real now.

This afternoon we went and got a little female dog named JJ; she is a silky terrier mix.  She is a sweet little girl who is about 1.5 years old and weighs about 20 pounds.  A neighborhood friend drove by yesterday to let us know that he had put JJ up for adoption because she and his other silky terrier didn’t get a long, but that she is a great dog.  God is so good- JJ meets EVERY ONE of our “specifications” for a dog AND she was FREE!  I am sure I will have better pics in the future, but here are some quick ones that I snapped today to show everyone. 

I found this yummy (and not very sweet) recipe for cookies on a website for the paleo diet: http://www.sonofgrok.com/2009/02/recipe-carrot-cake-caveman-cookies/.  I made some modifications based on the comments I read at the end, our own preferences and the desire to keep more enzymes and vitamins in them.   Here is the recipe I used…

1 large and 1 small carrot

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup shredded coconut (I used a “powder” that I got at an Indian food store for a good price)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 egg

a few shakes pumpkin pie spice

chia seed (a couple of tablespoons or so… I was just experimenting.  I think you could toss all sorts of things in  like sesame seeds, hemp seed, etc).

Bit of honey (probably about 2ish tablespoons)

Do you like how specific I am???  I grated the carrots in the food processor and then mixed everything else in there.   I dropped them by the tablespoon full on the mat of my dehydrator trays and then flattened them a bit.  If you want to put them in the oven, you can put them in at 400* for 10-11 minutes.   I dried mine at 125* for 2 hours, flipped them (removed mat from tray) and dried them for another 2 1/2 hours.  You could do more if you want them drier, but I figured they might be best more chewy.  I hope someone will try this!

Wow!  I have been such a blogging slacker lately!  The combo of pregancy, lots of sickness (bronchitis, sinus infection, cold- and that is just ME), and starting to homeschool Daniel for preschool this fall has taken over any possible extra time I have.   In addition, I have been trying to figure out the new camera, and finally took a BASIC photo class from my dear friend, Holly, last week.  This week I start knitting AGAIN… too bad they don’t have remedial knitting!  Maybe something will stick this time???   Okay, enough of me- I just had to make that disclaimer if anyone even looks at this site any more.  

Back to Daniel’s birthday; we celebrated on Sunday, October 18th even though his birthday was the 21st.  All he wanted to do was go to the park and play with his friends, and that sounded great (and easy) to me.   He also wanted to do a Winnie the Pooh cake with plates and cups.  However, the cake we ordered for his friends was Blue’s Clues.  Hmmm… he just wanted to be well-rounded, I guess.  Even though it was windy, it was a BEAUTIFUL day, and we had a great time.  Here are some of his good friends:  

Bessie, Sebastian, Camille and Isabella.  Quite a few people were late, so we had a small start. 

Off to play!!!  I love this shot.  I do wish, though, that I had had my photo class before his birthday.  Oh well- we are always learning, right? 

Cousins!  Nadia and Selena.  I can’t believe how big and beautiful they are getting.

Camille was having fun with her party favor!

Daniel and Nadia look like they were just “hanging out” talking. 

Daniel and Tia Julia!

On Daniel’s actual birthday we had fun going to Little Gym where he finished his last week of basketball (he says this is his favorite sport, and I think he looks pretty natural here).  Then we went out to lunch at Los Cabos on the river.  I sure do love our incredible little ball of energy!

Meet my sister, Adriane, and her husband, Boxley, and beautiful little Elliott (I think I am spelling her name wrong, though).  We drove up to Asheville from Atlanta with my parents and 2 of my nieces, Madison and Makenzie, to celebrate our new family!  They had a wonderful casual wedding at their house, and we had a lot of fun.  I will try to limit my pictures again, but I sure got a lot of good ones!!!

Daniel, Madison, and Makenzie at the hotel before the wedding.

A  three year old trying to be patient…

“I choose you because you smell YUMMY!”

FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of my FAVORITES. 

Parents!

Sisters!  (yes, I am exclamation point happy… I had a great time).

We just got back a couple of days ago from a 9 day vacation with my parents ranging from Cocoa Beach to Atlanta to Asheville, North Carolina.  It was a wonderful family vacation, but we are still recovering.  I thought I would add a few of my favorite photos since I haven’t posted in MONTHS.  I will do one post for Florida and one for North Carolina.  It is really difficult to come up with just a few pictures since I took 170 of them!!!  The picture above is taken from the balcony of our condo the first morning we were there.  It was perfect! 

Dancing with grandmother after dinner!

Worn out!

Talk about RANDOM… why in the world am I showing you these strange photos of Daniel???  Because I was hoping to show in pictures (you know, the picture is worth a thousand words idea) why we ended up sadly giving Baxter back to Niki yesterday.  Daniel had a blast with him, but he just couldn’t hold his own with a strong 50 pound dog!   They would have fun wrestling, but inevitably Daniel would get PINNED under Baxter and then Bax would chew on him (playfully, of course).  I would hear Daniel crying- because it would never happen right by me- and go running to free him and inspect his new cuts and bruises.  I was trying to show you his poor little body, but I don’t think my dying camera captured it very well (but Mike has told me that I can officially look for a new camera, so better photos from me are on the horizon).   We have consoled Daniel with the thought that we will look for a LITTLE dog when we get back from vacation because we know it has been wonderful for him. 

You just can’t beat homemade!  I had to show you a picture of one of my favorite meals from this summer… BLT, fries and garlic dill pickles.  Can you tell I’m pregnant?  The sandwich was made with homemade honey wheat bread, organic, nitrate-free bacon (I love Applegate Farms), and tomatoes from the garden.  I made the fries with organic russett potatoes cooked in beef tallow- I could have stuffed myself silly with them (wait, I DID THAT!).  Lastly, this is my first batch of lacto-fermented pickles that has turned out, but I can still do better than this.  Unfortunately, I let the garden go, and I did not have my own pickling cucumbers to use, but I did use my own dill at least.    I used the Wild Fermentation recipe for these because the Nourishing Traditions one came out AWFUL.  

Like I said, the theme today is random!  I just had to share this photo with you because it makes me laugh.  I got these phonics fridge magnets for Daniel this morning at a garage sale, and he is having a blast with them asking me to spell words.   He said, “spell magnesium, mama”… how many 3 year olds ask for that one???  That gives you a window into life at our house. 

Wow!  My awesome husband sure does send me beautiful flowers!  This is one of the most beatiful and exotic ones that I have seen; it even has a tropical picher plant in it.  Thank you, mi amor!

It seems like this is one of those times in life where everything is happening all at once.   Of course you know about the house remodeling in the early summer and the new dog we got a couple of weeks ago.  We had to get a back privacy fence put up as well as a new gate since the previous one didn’t latch (not good for keeping kids or dogs in the yard).  We also finally had our water purifier installed- it has been sitting in the garage for the 4 years we have lived at this house because everyone had told us that they couldn’t figure out how to do it.  I also got my top braces put on about a month ago- this has been an adjustment. 

Of course the biggest news (most of you already know this) is that we are finally pregnant again!!!  I say “finally”, but when I look at the situation realistically I know that God’s timing is perfect.  In fact, it is better than perfect, if that can be possible.  I have been free of mercury for over a year now, so my body has had time to recover, Daniel is ALMOST free of mercury… we are hoping that he will be by December (which means less medicine and WAAAAAY less money spent on medicine), Daniel gets more and more fun every day and is at an age where he can understand what is going on and help out.   I probably could go on and on saying why this is the best timing, but I will spare you.  We just could not be more thankful. 

The baby is due February 20th, and I am about 11 weeks along.  I have been really sick for the past month, and this is why I hadn’t posted anything in soooooooooo long.  First I was really nauseous, and then I got asthma and bronchitis.  Needless to say that this has not been the best time physically in my life.  Thankfully, though, I seem to be coming out of it, and I am hoping that the nausea will subside in a few weeks as I hit my second trimester.  We decided to try to have the baby at home with a midwife and a birthing pool.  I am really excited about this since I have been researching it for the past couple of years and had hoped that I could do this despite my previous c-section.  I have my first appointment with my awesome midwife, Ruth, tomorrow, and I can’t wait to feel like this is for real.  I have kind of been holding my breath since I had a miscarriage at about 12 weeks in 2006.  Once I get past this, I think I am going to throw a party.  Please pray for us and the safety of this pregnancy!  Well, that’s all for now.  I’m worn out, and I think it is time for a power nap.  

For the past week, every morning has been filled with Baxter for Daniel.  The above picture is one of the few “clean” times they’ve had together.  Today Daniel decided to try to be a doctor with Baxter, and I happened to catch one photo where the dog wasn’t chewing on the doctor tools.  Usually they are outside playing in the dirt, and I have to hose Baxter down plus change Daniel’s clothes 1-2 times before breakfast!  I can’t complain, though.  Daniel loves having a constant companion (well, he isn’t quite sure about being knocked down occasionally or nawed on).  Here are some other morning photos.

By the way, please ignore the garden that has gotten out of hand and the pile of rotting cucumbers of various varieties that I was too lazy to pick until it was too late.  I am trying to get back on track for a SMALL fall garden.  You CAN pay attention, though, to our nice new back fence that we had put in at long last!  We LOVE it!!!!!!

 After all that play, they are usually worn out… yipppeee. 

This is my first year with “cut and come again” lettuce, and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!  I don’t think I will ever buy another kind.   It has produced a ton, and it is still growing strong. 

Part of the herb garden: cilantro, dill and comfrey.

A massive oregano “bush” from last year that is planning on taking over the whole garden.  It is snuggled up with some violas that came back on their own all over the yard.  I like using them on cakes, in ice cubes, etc.

Basil, feverfew, sage (and more violas).

Sugar snap and snow peas.

Bright lights swiss chard.

There are 4 types of cucumbers growing… we’ll see which is best. 

This is an experiment with the “3 sisters” planting.  You plant corn, then beans (which grow up the corn and give the soil nitrogen), and then pumpkin or squash around the bottom.  I planted sugar pie pumpkins… you can barely see one at the bottom right of the hill. 

Our tomato patch with a ton of weeds. 

Our first elderberries are finally growing after 3 years!

Raspberries

Blackberries

Huckleberries… I’ve never eaten them, but I thought it would be fun to grow another fruit.  I actually started these from seed in the house, and they are doing great!  I will definitely post about them once they are ready. 

Our brown turkey fig tree.  It didn’t do anything last year, but I think it is much happier this year.  We also planted a black mission one next to it this year.

Yarrow and melons.

Phew.  Just typing all this makes me tired.  I need to get to weeding and fertilizing, but I don’t feel like there is enough time in the day.

Daniel is enjoying summer coconut milk ice cream!  I sure love our ice cream maker.  I have some recipes to post later, but I wanted to get back in the swing of things with my menu plan (just dinners this week).  My garden is bursting with green things- sugar snap peas, green beans, swiss chard, lettuce, and herbs- so these will be all over our menu plan.  I am working on a garden update post that should be done tomorrowish.   

Monday:  Tortilla soup, swiss chard, salad with fruit and mint (one of my new favorites).

Tuesday: Lamb chops with mint-pepper sauce, carrot salad with oregano, roasted potatoes.

Wednesday:  Roast chicken, sugar snap peas with mint, salad.

Thursday:  Chicken salad, broccoli salad, potato chips, and peanut butter cake  (picnic at Riverwalk before free AWESOME John Waller concert… my current favorite singer).  Anyone want to meet us there?

Friday:  Ribeyes, lemon-thyme green beans, salad, and possibly s’mores if we end up camping in the back yard!

Saturday:  Minichurch (salad night).

Sunday:  Spaghetti and meatballs.