Introducing Our Newest Princess

Our youngest princess arrived on May 28th at 5 am after three hours of labor.  Such a sweet little thing she is too.  I really can't believe she is already over 3 weeks old!  She weighed in at 7 lbs even and was 20-1/2 inches long.

I would like you to meet Kierrah Jane Slocum.

Taken by a friend(who is a professional photographer) at 3 days old.

Taken by me at 3 weeks old.

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9 years and 9 kids later. . . .

My husband and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on June 6th.  We were married in 2004 two weeks after I graduated from high school!  It seems like such a long time ago now, but really it wasn't.

In those nine years we have become the parents to 9 beautiful children.  The oldest two are now 8 years old and our youngest is a week and a half.  How time flies as it feels like I just found out I was expecting our first!

I plan to start sharing stories of our life, how we met, and what we've been through to get to this point, but so far I haven't gotten those posts written.  I thought I'd just drop in and post this quick little note to let you know that I'm still very much in the land of the living, but my past two weeks have been busy!

I also wanted to share the picture below of the gorgeous bouquet of roses that my husband surprised me with for our anniversary!  He also gave me my traditional gift which is a new rose bush!  I have some really large ones now and of course we also have the ones that have died off.  I don't have 9 living bushes now, but I do have the first bush he bought me that has survived through it all including a move.  May this rose continue to grow and bloom just like our marriage and our family!

My gorgeous dozen long stemmed roses!

And they smell just as nice as they look!

I wanted to edit these pictures a little bit to make them pop out and look professional, but haven't found the time and didn't want to put this post off any longer!  Hope you enjoy them as much as I am.  They're still sitting in my kitchen looking gorgeous! Pin It Now!

Grandma's Pumpkin Bread Recipe -Modified by Me

The best(though not the healthiest) pumpkin bread!

A few years ago I got a cookbook at a garage sale that I wanted to try out.  It was the 1982 Holt County Cookbook (Holt County, MO that is).  I was going through and found a wonderful sounding pumpkin bread recipe.  I wanted to try it so bad.  Then I read the by line and realized my grandmother(mom's mother) had actually submitted the recipe!  I was unknowingly going to make a family recipe!

This recipe is very moist and oh so melt in your mouth good.  I have changed up some things of course.  I've made it gluten free.  It would be dairy free and sugar free if I could figure something out to do with the pudding mix, but it makes this so moist that I don't have the heart to cut it.

I also added the pecan topping which is so yum on top!

Ingredients:

5 eggs

2 tsp stevia(scant)

3/4 c. coconut oil

3/4 c. applesauce

2 c. cooked pumpkin

1 or 2 pkgs instant coconut or vanilla pudding(1 if the large size)

2 c. gluten free flour blend

1 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp guar gum

Topping:

1/2 c. chopped nuts(pecans)

1/4 cup muscavada(this is an organic version of brown sugar--if you don't have just use brown sugar)

Beat eggs, applesauce, and coconut oil together in bowl.

Ready to mix it all up!

Add pumpkin and blend well. 

Add sifted dry ingredients, make sure to mix these in well and try to avoid lumps 

Fold in pudding mix.  

Mix well.  

Mix the muscavado and pecans together and sprinkle on top of the bread.

Place in greased loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Freezes well, very moist.

Shared on:  Wellness Wednesdays, Simple Living Wednesdays, Modest Monday, 

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Our Newest Members to the Farm

We had our first baby lambs today.  It was an odd occurrence though as one ewe had triplets!  You don't see that often with sheep.  We lost the male but have two surviving females.  Very cute little Corriedales.  I went out and took a few pictures and thought I'd share how cute they are!

The bigger of the two little girls.

Newborn lambs are so cute!  Well at least I think so!

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The Power of Three

One of my children came to an unusual conclusion during homeschool the other day.  We were talking about numbers and how they work.  We also talked about favorite numbers.  My oldest boy announced to the rest of us that God's favorite number has to be 3.  When I asked him why he said because God uses three all the time, so since He chooses it the most it must be his favorite.  Who can argue with a 6 year old on that?

A picture I took at the zoo a few years ago. Look at what God can do. Surely He can have a favorite number!

Here are some things that support his saying that God's favorite number is 3(we talked about most of these during school).  Our math class became a Bible class, but that is the joy of homeschooling!!

1) The Holy Trinity:  Yeap this was the first thing he could think of to defend this argument.  God could have chosen to make Himself four in one or two in one, but He didn't.  For some reason(maybe He does like the number 3), He chose to be a Trinity.  The three in one, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

2) There were three crosses on the hill the day that Jesus died.  Jesus could have been on that hill and died by Himself, but instead God chose to allow Him to have the company of two others making it three wooden crosses placed on the hill.

3) To go along with the crosses, they used three nails to nail Christ to the cross.  My kids were very curious about this one.  They thought it should have been four nails because we have two hands and two feet, but they only used 3.  So, my son says that is because God likes the number 3 and wants us to know that He controls everything so He controlled how many nails the men used.

4) Christ was in the grave for 3 days before He arose.  It was foretold of in the Bible and then it was seen to come true.  Again we see the number 3.  It could have been two or even four but instead He was dead for 3 days and then dead no more.  Are you agreeing with Patrick yet?  Is there some symbolism in the number 3?

5) Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the whale.  Now, my kids love the story of Jonah.  They love how he had to come out all stinky and smelly but didn't care about that.  He was just ready to do what he was told.  But he did spend 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of that whale.  Why only 3 of each?  What is the significance behind that number?

There are many other occurrences in the Bible that use the number 3, but these were the ones that my children gave to me while we were having our discussion.  I think they are wise beyond their years and I loved hearing their reasoning.  I loved the way they tell the Bible stories and how for the most part they get them correct.  Maybe they combine two together sometimes, but it is the fact that they are learning, they are understanding, and now they are asking questions and seeking answers on their own.

This made me a very proud Mommy and I wanted to share with you how my children are helping me to have a better appreciation and knowledge of the scriptures in a way and viewpoint that I may have never seen before.  Do you listen to your children and let them teach you about the Bible?

Shared on:  Modest Mondays, Wisdom Wednesdays, Proverbs 31 Thursdays, 

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Cookin Out with the Cousins

I think I've mentioned this before, but my grandmother(father's mother) was a WWII war bride from England.  I love to hear her tell of her growing up years and what it was like in England.  I also love when her family comes to visit!  She had one older sister and two younger brothers.  Her older sister was the only other one in her family that married and had children.  She had a son who married and had three daughters.  Growing up I loved when my cousins would come over as the girls and I loved to play and it was always so much fun!

Now my children get to enjoy the fun of having British cousins.  Today we had a cookout with my cousin Rob and his wife Sheila as well as two of my brothers and my parents.  It was tons of fun and included cooking sausages on a fire as well as sword fighting with the family!

You'll see what I mean by viewing a few shots of our fun day below!!

Monkey Patrick up a tree

my crew eating lunch

let the "sword" fights begin, watch out Uncle Ian

I think Colin wins!

Look at Uncle Ian run!!!!

Cousin Rob having a go with Patrick

the girls lost interest and were looking at pictures with cousin Sheila

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Come Explore with Us!!

Daddy is gone to a reenactment this weekend and today was my Azure Coop day so we spent a good chunk of the day grocery shopping and picking up our coop order.  That meant a long van ride to the "city" and a long van ride back plus the shopping.  Needless to say my kids don't find that especially thrilling so I thought I'd find something fun for us to do!

We went for a nature walk that ended in us having a cook out over an open fire!  Kids loved it!  We used it as a science lesson as well.  We talked about the different plants and trees we saw.  I taught them how to recognize poison ivy.  Walnuts were found and we discussed what they can be used for.  The kids learned first hand about the dyes that they make!

I must say the biggest success of the evening was the looks of awe on their faces when I started the fire with only small twigs and one match.  To watch their faces while the fire grew made me realize all over again what a joy children are and what a  precious gift from God.  I love my babies.  I love watching them learn and grow.  Somedays we just have to stop and smell the roses. . . or walnuts as it might be!

Here are some pictures of our evening.  Hope you enjoy looking at these as much as we enjoyed our evening!

And we're off.  Bridgett carried the backpack.
Fionna got to ride in the carrier on my back and Audry volunteered to hold Zyera's hand!

Loved the sun shining through the trees.

Gathering wood to start the fire.

I just love the green of the grass and her hat!

My one match, no paper fire!

Is it just me or does he look a bit ornery here?
Showing off our butterfly!

I had to share this one of Lucas too.
Oh and that is our dog Stonewall in the background.
He always goes hiking with  us. 

The pile of walnuts.

More walnuts for the pile, and yes in his shirt. . . .

Love Bridgett's face!
Fionna was putting a walnut on the pile and knocked it all over!

The outhouse Daddy built for us when we moved here so we'd have a potty where we go for cookouts.

What a gorgeous first day of autumn view!

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