Our New Home! - Life Changes Everyday!

It has been quite some time since I've been able to post online. We did not get internet in the house until the week before Christmas & Facebook is about all I could do on my old phone. I was not able to inform my blog friends that we had moved.
We decided in mid-September that we were tired of not getting anywhere on our plans for a homestead and we lived too far away to even look into any affordable land. So, the search began and ended quite quickly. We drove about 3 hours west toward the mountains and looked into some rental properties that were available on September 23, 2012.
The first property we saw was very small for a family of 6 with a mini library as my friends called it. I know that compared to the library I now very much miss, I have but a fraction of a library. Nonetheless, this one was too small for our family.  This one particular property was a place we were not originally scheduled to see.  This owner had another property that would need some work before we could move in, since it was not even stable on the foundation yet. We were only able to peak in the front door. I knew that this would work.
We continued looking at the other properties to weigh our options, but by the next day we had decided with much prayer on my part that, this was going to be our new home, temporarily.
We moved on November 3, 2012, 3 hours away from all our friends, family, church, library, and troops. It was really busy until we rang in the New Year with unpacking, new church, new American Heritage Girl Troop, friends and family visits throughout November & December. Our friends really stepped up to help us pack & unpack our things. It was such a blessing! I can't even put into words how much of a blessing they are!
We started official school subjects with the eldest right before Christmas which didn't really work out too well. We learned quite a bit about how to help her stay focused on the task at hand. We showed her the consequences of not finishing her schoolwork before, let's say, American Heritage Girl's mommy/daughter sleepover. Wow, when we put in perspective, all of a sudden she knew exactly what to do without all the whining. Amazing what a little incentive does.
The younger 3 children have just started official lessons the first week of January. We've been reading, watching science videos & playing a lot of educational games throughout Nov./Dec. We really enjoyed getting out the renforcement activities and reviewing things from August/September to refresh their little minds. They are ready to read in full force. We got some new TAG books and maps for them after Christmas with their gift cards from family. Also we received a wonderful telescope from Aunt Jess and Uncle Luke. If only the sky would clear up so we can use it!
After a week with the Flu/Cold yucky stuff, I am feeling better and ready to get back into the Math lessons this week. Then we will be back into the groove and flying ahead. Winter is the time when we do a huge bulk of formal lessons. Lots of Reading & Math also tons of books & good movies! Indoor experiments are so much fun on wet dreary days.
My daughters completed the Cake Decorating & (almost) Kitchen Scientist badges since we've been here. We have 1 more experiment for the Kitchen Scientist badge. They have done several community service projects for 2 different churches and are starting their individual badges to finish for their level awards.
My sons are working on the Cub Scouts Bear book and plan to complete it by the end of May. We just can't squish it in before the Blue & Gold this year. They said that was ok with them.
Now, that we have caught you up on some of the happenings here, I need to get ready for a new day of learning! Have a blessed week. In a future post I will tell about moving chickens & rabbits and all about our new temporary homestead.

Our Family's Alfredo Sauce Recipe & More!

There are a lot of foods out there that are not good for our family to eat. We have allergies that don't send us into Anaphylaxis (Anaphylactic shock), but send certain behaviors to unbearable levels. So we have created homemade recipes without all the fake sugars, preservatives, food dyes, etc that taste awesome!

Newman's Own Organic Alfredo Sauce is one of the sauces I used to byu as an alternative to the regular brands with High Fructose Corn Syrup & artificial flavoring/ coloring. Below is the ingredient list taken right from the Newman's Own Website, with links to sites that explain what they are.

 Newman's Own Alfredo Pasta Sauce

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All Natural Ingredients:

Ingredients:
WATER, CREAM, PARMESAN CHEESE BLEND (GRANULAR AND PARMESAN CHEESE [PASTEURIZED MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES], WATER, SALT, LACTIC ACID, CITRIC ACID), CORNSTARCH, EGG YOLKS, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: SHERRY COOKING WINE, BUTTER, SALT, ROMANO CHEESE BLEND (GRANULAR AND ROMANO CHEESE [PASTEURIZED MILK, CHEESE CULTURES, SALT, ENZYMES], WATER, WHEY, SALT), SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, GARLIC*, SPICE, ENZYME, GUM ARABIC, GUAR GUM, NATURAL FLAVOR. *DRIED. CONTAINS: MILK, EGG. 

1. Soy Beans are natural Estrogen, which is fine if SOY wasn't in EVERYTHING in the grocery Store. This being a problem because Several cancers occurring in men and women are due to an excess of Estrogen. "leading cause of breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, infertility, and low libido is unopposed estrogen, or estrogen dominance." from the link above ----> click Soybean Oil to go to article

2. Citric Acid is usually derived from corn  instead of the natural acid occurring in citrus fruits. So allergens watch out for both.

3. OK - so reading about Lactic Acid, Gum Arabic, Guar Gum. What I found is that all of these are sugars of the plants they are taken from, and the GUMs both do the same thing ---> thickening agents. I use Flour (wheat berries) for thickening agent. Wheat Berries grown right here in the US. Oh did I mention both the GUMs come from the Middle East.

This explains why even the Organic / Natural products are not all what they're cracked up to be. Though they are a great stepping stone toward eating better than the regular Alfredo Sauce. Don't get me started on Ragu or Prego.

We have several recipes we are still tweaking, but the following recipe is a favorite! Hope you love this recipe as much as we do.

Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:

1 Tbs butter          (real butter no margarine here)
1/4 c. Flour           (we have freshly ground flour in the freezer)
2 tsp salt               (not your grocery store salt - Sea Salt or Real Salt)
1 1/2 tsp garlic Powder     (or 2 cloves minced)
Pinch of Nutmeg
1 1/2 c.  freshly grated Parmesan cheese    (this means you grate it, no preservatives this way)
3 c. milk               (Raw or Organic Milk - we use Whole milk only as low fat milk has Vitamin A Palmitate in it, which contains BHT)
1 tsp. pepper
Cooked Fettuccine (make your own or try one that only has 2 ingredients - they are out there at Food Lion)

Directions: 

1. Melt the Butter in a sauce pan over Medium Heat
2. Add Flour to butter and whisk for 1 minute
3. Whisk in milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and garlic
4. Bring to a boil, whisking slowly to keep it from sticking
5. Reduce Heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes
6. Add Parmesan cheese and keep stirring.
7. pour over your cooked Fettuccine

Variations:
1. Add 2 c. cooked chicken (cook chicken in salt, pepper & garlic powder - gives great flavor!)

2. Add 1 c. cooked spinach (we cook up the organic baby spinach with the stems pulled off) & use Farfalle Pasta


Here is an article I found that would have been helpful to use a few years ago.
12 Dangerous And Hidden Food Ingredients In Seemingly Healthy Foods

Happy Healthy Eating from our table to yours!

Summer Break is Officially Over!

Wow, I have missed my blog. I wish I could have found the time to blog between July and August, because I would have had a lot to say. The last 2 months have been full of School shopping, planning, training, American Heritage Girls, and good family time. Here are some pictures from our summer. There is more writing after the picture show, so keep scrolling down. Enjoy!

These are pictures of our Back yard during a pop up thunderstorm at 5:30 am last Saturday

These are of the front yard and street

Found this guy at a park while we were taking a walk last week.

My 5 year old...nuf said. He never got shocked. Praise God!

Found this guy on our house

This is near our house in the "bamboo forest"

Found this Huge dragon fly on the way taking a walk with friends

Spidey & Stella taking apart the old gateway PC

Yummy canned tomatoes, I love canning tomatoes.

The Blackberry picking crew

Persimmons

they're not ripe

I can't feel my mouth, mommy.

Super Spaghetti Squash from the garden

Cat had kittens

swimming

 

School plans are being updated and finalized this week. I will re post the updates when we complete them. We are not officially in full swing for school yet. We have worked on just the morning routine last week. This week we have done Phonics & Math lessons with Red (5), Spidey(7), and Stella(8). It has been a roller coaster! This has been a learning experience though. We have found that no one can come to the house before 2pm. Otherwise, we lose the whole day. Not only time wise, but also mentally. Do not let mental disruptions blindside your day.

Also, 7:30 am my 'mommy time' is over, whether I like it or not! That is throw the laundry in, clean the counters and start breakfast. The kids are waking up around 7:15 on their own so I need to be moving by 7:30. I think my new wake up time is 5:30 am because I really like the 2 hour early, alone, morning! Our newest activity is up and out by 6:45 am to go to the local track to do conditioning and running for about 1.5 hours, Mon/Wed/Fri. It is not easy to get out of the house this early even though I'm up, but the kids drag me out and I need it! There are 6 or so families of fellow Field Hockey players and siblings that we meet there. The young ones run/walk over 1.5 miles each time we go. The moms walk/run about the same. Though Wednesday we walked 3 miles, Whoa. That hurt a bit the next day. Love it though!


We have been planning, training, planning and more training for our new American Heritage Girls Troop. I can't wait till this transition period is over! Woo Hoo! Our first meeting is in 2ish weeks and we are so ready! Stella has completed a lap book on American Heritage Girls this week. It goes over the History, Oath, Creed and some other things that she needs to know for her Joining Award.

 

The garden is ready to be turned into the winter garden. I am a little scared to be doing this myself. I do need to read a little more on caring for the garden and such before I spill money into another garden. The chickens are doing great! They love all the rain we are getting, NOT! They do feast on the worms though. The rabbits are ready to be processed. The freezer is ready and waiting for them....yum! The first batch was yummy too. I think the two mommas are pregnant again. One more batch of rabbit before winter.

School is creeping along these last few weeks for JoJo. She asked for all her schoolwork on Monday to get a move on it, but then ran into a rough patch at the end of the week. Today she is plowing through though. I am proud of the work she is doing today. Laying down those Rails early! They really work!




 Cleaned out the pantry during the crazy storm last weekend! I can find everything! No critters here!

Top Shelf  Before

Bottom Shelves Before

Bottom Shelves After

One last thing, I am starting to put recipes up on the blog. I waited because I wasn't sure how I was going to do post them. These recipes are universal for your family and mine. They can be used with short cut ingredients or with homemade ingredients. The choice is yours. Enjoy!