Yummy, yummy milk!

I LOVE goat milk!!  

For those of you who read that sentence and immediately thought eeeewwwwww based on personal experience, you must have only had store-bought goat milk.  You know, the stuff in a carton that has been pasteurized, homogenized, and has sat around for too long.  That stuff doesn't taste like fresh goat milk.  It does, however, taste like you licked a goat.

Just to clarify, I like the taste of this:

Not this:

What I'm talking about is the real deal--from the goat to your fridge to your table.  Nothing's better.  I can easily drink a gallon of the stuff (though I don't recommend drinking a gallon of anything in one sitting).  So you can imagine my excitement when a friend e-mailed and said that she was going to have some extra milk from her goats and would I like some.  YES, YES, YES!!!!

We all managed to control ourselves and only drank one glass each this evening (though I had to take a few extra sips from the kids' glasses, just to make sure the amounts were all even, you know).  And one of my daughters has a dairy allergy.  So I should probably drink her share, too.

I've been having the hankering lately to move back out to the country...milk goats of my own...hmmm...

Sandwich, anyone?

My two-year-old wanted me to share her latest recipe with you all.  Having two children who are gluten-intolerant, we hadn't fed her gluten until she was old enough to be able to tell us if her tummy or head hurts, etc.  We recently tried her with wheat, and it seems that she does fine with it.  

So she recently had bread for the first time ever.  She LOVES it!!  She also had Cheerios for the first time ever.  She LOVES them!  If they're so good apart, she must have figured they'd be even better together.  Hence, the birth of the Cheerios sandwich.  Warning--this recipe is NOT gluten-free!!

Take one slice of whole wheat bread and a handful of dry Cheerios.  Mash the Cheerios really well into the bread--they don't fall off as easily.  Promptly lick off any Cheerios that stick to your hands instead of the bread.  Then fold the bread in half to help them stay in even better.  Now enjoy!!

I must admit that I haven't tried this recipe for myself.  Based on the relish with which she scarfed down this sandwich, it must have been pretty good.  In her own words, it was "yummy in mine's tummy."

What fun recipes have your little ones tried?

The Great Clothing Purge

I'm forever trying to get my house organized.  It's way easier said than done.  Especially when you have 8 people living in one house.

We are very blessed.  Very, very, abundantly blessed.  We actually have an over-abundance in some areas.  Like toys.  Maybe that will be my next big project.  Today, it's clothes.

I have way too many clothes in this house.  I have clothes in every size.  Clothes for every season.  Clothes for both genders.  Maternity clothes.  Skinny-I-hope-to-one-day-fit-into-you-again clothes.  In-between-I'm-not-pregnant-but-I'm-still-holding-on-to-way-too-much-baby-fat-and-I'm-really-craving-cinnamon-rolls-and-going-to-give-in-but-I'll-blame-it-on-the-baby clothes.  But limited storage space.  The end result is not pretty.  Especially when you start pulling clothes out of everywhere because you're trying to look for one swimsuit that you know is somewhere, but apparently when you put it away, you thought it was size 5 instead of 6 mo.  So you looked in nearly every other bin before the size 5 one.  Easy mistake to make, right?

But once you have all of those bins pulled out, your classroom looks something like this:

And this:

And your laundry room looks like this:

And this:

So I've started purging.  Would you believe that I had 15 footie jammies size 6-12 months?  FIFTEEN!?!?!?!?!?  Now, I love seeing my babies in footie jammies.  But do they really need a whole drawer of them?

So the LifeCare Center is going to have a huge donation.  Some things will be given away on Freecycle.  Others have seen better days and are ready for the garbage.

Maybe, once I have everything nicely finished and put away, I'll actually have some empty bins!!  Maybe I'll post some after pictures.

Then, it's on to the toys...

Mother's Day

I had the most wonderful Mother's Day ever!!!  It started out a couple of days before, really.  My wonderfully hubby built a gorgeous "roof" over our back deck, which faces due west (it's not a full roof, but spaced wood slats.  It's GORGEOUS!!!).  Then he bought me some flowers and hanging tomatoes and strawberries to put out there.  Aren't these giant impatiens beautiful?

But the best part came on Mother's Day itself.  I've spoken before about how my grandmother has Alzheimer's.  She knows the various members of our family are her people, but gets very confused about which people we are.  For example, the last time my sister visited her, she was convinced my sister was my dad's cousin's wife (did you follow that?).  But when I walked in on Mother's Day, she looked right at me, broke out in a large smile, and said, "Why, there's Nellie!!"  (My grandma has called me Nellie my whole life.)  It was such a joy to hear those words!!!  She did great through my whole visit with her, even though she couldn't even remember the names of other residents she lives there with and sees all day, every day.  It was such a blessing.  I got this picture of her and I to forever stamp this day into my mind and heart.

I hope your Mother's Day was just as blessed!

Homemade Taco Seasoning -- Gluten-Free

I LOVE tacos, taco salad, enchiladas...well, anything along those lines (well, in reality I like most any type of food.  Except for water chestnuts.  Those things are just nasty!)  A lot of taco seasoning packets you buy at the store have fillers, preservatives, gluten, etc.  So I decided to make my own.  All you need are some spices and a container to store it in.

This is the BEST taco seasoning recipe EVER!!!  Feel free to tweak it to fit your tastes and your family.  If you like it saltier, add more salt!  If you're on a salt-free diet, leave the salt out!  If you don't like eating corn, feel free to leave the corn starch out.  If you like it spicy, add more cayenne.  Well, you get the point.  I always make at least triple the recipe at once, then I leave it stored in the cabinet until I need it.  Then I just use whatever amount I need.  

Here's the recipe:

1 Tbsp minced onions

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Simply measure all the ingredients into a container with a lid...

Shake vigorously, and voila!!  Taco seasoning without all the junk!  Enjoy!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Butterfly Hair Clips

As I've stated a few times before, I love making hair clips out of various items that weren't originally intended for hair clips.  This time I totally scored at Dollar Tree!!  I was walking through the aisles when I came across these gorgeous butterfly picks.  I bought one in every color.  The package on the far right are felt butterfly stickers, found in the scrapbooking section of some store (can't remember where).

For the butterfly picks, I used wire cutters to cut the metal pokes off the back.  Then I lined some clips with ribbon and glued the butterflies on.  They're gorgeous!!

My 5-year-old daughter loves the pink and purple ones together.  What little girl doesn't?  Especially when they have sparkly "jewels"!!

For the felt stickers, I stuck them down onto like-colored felt, trimmed around them, and glued them with a couple of dots of hot glue.  Then I lined clips with ribbon and glued the felt stickers to the clips.  For the four little flower stickers, I cut out a felt leaf and glued them to it in a bunch.

For just a few dollars and few minutes of my time, I was able to make the following clips, plus 5 others that went to my neighbor's 4-year-old daughter.

Now I need to make another hair clip holder.  Theirs is entirely full.  But a girl can never have too many hair accessories, can she?

Star Wars T-Shirt: Jawa

So, this past week my Little Love #5 was sick.  I got virtually nothing done, other than the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt (which is totally fun and going on all month)!

So, Happy (belated) Star Wars Day last Friday, and "May the Fourth" be with you!!!  (Yes, my husband calls me a Super Nerd.  Coming from him, I think that's a compliment.)  =)

In honor of Star Wars day, let me share with you my latest Star Wars t-shirt.  This one I made for myself.  I got my hubby to model it for me, which is way hilarious since it's too small for him.  You can totally see his muscles under it, which makes me really like it on him.  hee hee

Anyway, here's my little jawa!

Isn't he so cute?  Of course, I made him using the same method as all of my other Star Wars shirts.

I hope you all had a wonderful Star Wars Day and a great weekend!!

The Miscellaneous Things in Life

I love some of the miscellaneous things in life.  You know, the things that make you wish you had your video camera on or make you want to grab a snapshot so you remember that moment.  Things that make you smile or laugh or cry (in a good way).

Things like these drawings of Yoda that my four-year-old son did.

Or all those funny faces tiny babies make.

Or the sweet ones.

Or going for a motorcycle ride on a gorgeous day.

Or my seven-year-old son choosing to do his schoolwork in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Or $1 metal baskets and buckets in fun colors.

Life is good.