Gingerbread Couples :)

The only gingerbread men/women we made this year.

It's a craft kit and they loved it :) 

Bonus....

it's not fattening :) 

Lines go up and down..

Left to right.

J, L, E, R and J3. 

When they were done we hung them up all over the house!! 

If only they smelled as nice as real gingerbread!! 

New Neighbors.. of the Fowl Kind.

See it?? 

It is a grouse sitting in a spruce tree. 

The spruce tree is at the end of our driveway. 

It's not our tree actually it's Mr. M's but our driveway goes right by it.

I discovered our new neighbors one day while I was walking back down the driveway.. 

I'd gone out to take pictures of Papa bringing Maggie home.. I wanted one of him walking her down the road home.. I never got the picture I wanted as Maggie decided to NOT follow him and we chased her the whole way! Anyway.. I was walking back to the house with the camera and I was a TAD distracted as I was also taking the opportunity to train Tucker to stay on the house side of the raised beds and NOT follow me down the driveway, when something EXPLODED right beside me.. 

Yeah.

 I knew what it was the minute my heart went out of PANIC MODE. 

Grouse are known for this little trick. It must have been less then 3 feet from me and I panicked it and it panicked me and Tucker took the opportunity to come a bit closer.. 

I yelled at the dog and marveled a little at myself.. I had NOT dropped the camera you see! 

I gave myself a mental shake and turned around to see if I could find it and calmly took a picture. 

My heart didn't actually stop racing until I got inside. 

I walked up and down the driveway several more times that day and saw two grouse in all. 

Over the next two weeks we saw 4 in all, sitting in the trees, walking across the driveway like they owned the place. Chip barked at them. Tucker went to sniff them out and got yelled at. 

I think they may have been attracted to the area by our hay pile.

Then one day they were gone.. moved out. Found a better place to camp I guess.

Anyway now that they are gone we kinda miss them.. they were fun to watch. 

Even if they did like to get your heart rate a boost! 

Kids Projects~ Cheese Making.

Stir, stir stir the milk while it heats to 120F!!

 J is stirring, E is checking the temp.. they all had a turn doing both. 

L measuring the vinegar for this simple vinegar cheese! 

3/4 of a cup per gallon of milk.

Taking a look to see if it's the right temp yet! 

Yes they are in their PJ's!! It was a lazy fun day! 

Pouring in the vinegar!! While his sister stirs. 

Stir stir stir!!

Normally it changes color. The cheese stays white and the whey goes greeny. I'm not sure why it didn't.. maybe because she's not on green grass?? The cheese looks good though! 

We let it sit for 30 minutes, drained it off and let it drain for 4 or so hours before putting it on a plate in the fridge. I use this cheese for breadstix and lasagna's and IN stuff. You can also slice it and salt it and it's a pretty good melting cheese for sandwiches or what have you. You can drain it just a tiny bit, crumble it before adding salt and pepper and cream to make a cottage cheese but I prefer to use rennet for cottage cheese now that I know how :) 

First Steak... A Moment of Drooling...

Right before we went on 'the BIG TRIP' we butchered our 2.5 year old steer.. Steers-eye. His name was Bulls-eye (You know like the BBQ sauce)  but when it no longer described him we changed it :) He was the very last of "The Bindy Line' a line we are happy to be done with as they tended to be more high headed then we liked. ANYWAY!! When we got back from 'the BIG TRIP' we got some steaks out and Papa BBQ'd them!! WOWZA!!! Yes it was a picture taking moment.. we ate the last of our last beef in March.... traded some chicken for a little bit during the summer (a roast and some hamburger) but this was, quite likely, the 1st steaks we've had since last year at this time... and Man oh MAN did they taste good!!!! I think he BBQ'd 6 steaks.. and I don't think there was any left!! 

Merry Christmas!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday from life in general and wishing God's blessing on you and your family for the new year!

Christmas hasn't started here yet this morning. The tree lights are on. The fire is cracking and popping merrily. The stockings are full and waiting. My mocha is almost finished. Papa is sleeping beside me. The kids are in their beds, asleep, I checked. We watched The Nativity Story with them last night and they got to bed after 10, so it's not too surprising. The house was a bit chilly with -15C outside, but the fire is warming it up. When the kids get up we'll pour Papa a cup of coffee and bring him his Bible and he'll read to us the Christmas story in Luke. Last year he planned on changing it for this year and going through Jesus's life with the kids Christmas morning. The prophecy's surrounding Jesus before his birth, his birth, life, death on the cross, his resurrection and the second coming of Christ. I believe he's changed his mind though as our wonderful friend Mr. M preached that very same thing last Sunday in our house church. What a wonderful way to see the WHOLE gift of Jesus and what he did for us.

After the Bible reading we will decide what gifts to open and when to open the stockings. The kids used the stocking like mail boxes this year for gifts to each other. I added a few things after they went to bed. I think the new minnow nets I found for each of them are going to be a big hit! At the beach last summer they were catching minnows in cups which is a LOT harder then nets :)

Papa wants to make waffles with bacon for breakfast. I'm hungry already :) Being pregnant I will probably eat a little something, like cinnamon rolls :), before then! The kids requested blackberry sauce on their waffles and we still have some, I've been HOARDING it, so we'll have blackberry sauce on our waffles...maybe even with whipped cream :)
Anyway I better go Papa's waking up and it sounds like I need to shut my fire down.  Hope you all have a very merry Christmas and enjoy the smiles and awe of your children this morning. Make many happy memories and maybe even a new tradition :) Merry Christmas!!

Serious Fry Making.

Papa got a new potato slicer a while ago and had to try it out. 

It has 4 blades; tiny, med, large and wedges. It works great but it really does need a anchor board to hold it still.. Half his energy went into holding it still while the other half went into pushing the potato through the knifes. It makes great fries! 

He deep fries them in lard on the front porch (what a nice change from inside on the stove!!) on our outdoor burner. They are the best fries EVER!!! I think once we get it set up so it's easier to use I'm really going to like the wedge knifes for baking wedges... YUM!!! 

Thankful Thursday. Dec 20th/12

Tonight I'm thankful for many things.

I'm thankful that Papa's job is no longer out on the hwy driving truck in all weather.. as the roads are terrible today and the freezing rain is not helping.

I'm thankful for a nice warm house, our wood heat, and for able youngsters to bring firewood to the porch.

I'm thankful for the Internet, computer and phone.

I'm thankful for my new Know How.. kids and I made caramel popcorn this morning.. 1st time ever! YUM YUM!!

I'm thankful for my Mother in Law :) It's her birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Mom!!

I'm thankful for the new baby and that my energy levels appear to be on the rise now that we are pretty much done with trimester #1.

I'm thankful for the 3 hour nap G is having.. and wondering if I should wake her!

I'm thankful that Papa has to work tomorrow and then has 5 days off!!

I'm thankful for simple traditions and making memories.

I'm thankful for chicken... it's what's for dinner ;)

And for the odd one...drum roll...

I'm thankful that even though I felt like doing laundry today.. there wasn't any anywhere!! So I didn't actually do any!! Amazing!

Washington Trip!

Yes we did. We traveled to Washington state this fall to see Papa's side of the family. We had a BLAST!! Packing was fun. I stood at the table and the kids ran to their bedroom and got the clothes I asked them for and we packed 4 outfits per child. Pants, shirts, underwear and socks all in neat little piles. 3 sets for daily wear and one for American Thanksgiving and pictures :) 

After driving 12 hours we made it across the border and to our 1st nights hotel. The kids love hotels :) We were messaging to Grandpa G who met us the next day in the tri cities area to visit with his mom; Granny. The next morning we drove 5 hours to Granny's house. We had a great time on a long stretch of road watching the tumbleweeds cross the road in droves. We carried 3 of them with us into the city! 

The visit with Granny went really well. The kids had a blast in her yards and eating the snack lunch. After lunch we went to a local park and let the kids play on the playground! Even little G was all over that playground! When Grandpa took Granny back to her place we found some crackers in the truck and headed down to the water to feed the geese! They saw the crackers and mauled us! Ok MAYBE maul is too strong of a word, but we were surrounded and the crackers made a quick snack for a bunch of apparently starving geese! They were super tame and the kids were petting them. We also took a walk down to the boat launch area where we last said good bye to Granny's husband Bruce on our last trip to Wa. two years ago. 

That night we went out for supper at a Mongolian BBQ with Grandpa and then got back in the truck and drove a few more hours before stopping for the night in Hotel #2. This made our last leg of our trip MUCH easier the next morning and gave us more time to SHOP in Spokane!! :) Toys R us!! Here we are!! After spending several hours picking out Christmas gifts and eating at one of our old haunts, Longhorn BBQ, we finished the drive off while most of the kids napped and made it to Griggs House right after they'd started eating supper ;) We do tend to be late :) G's birthday party was the next night and here she is having a bath in Gramma's tub while J3 looks on... actually I think he was stripping.. He was soon in the tub as well. 

Pies are TRADITION at every Griggs Holiday feast and man were they ever good!! YUM!! We had smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, 2 kinds of stuffing or dressing, squash, ham, and I'm sure I'm missing somethings!! 

Papa's parents had the unique privilege (or not?) of having all of their descendants under the same roof while we were there! Here is a picture of the kids with their cousin Morgan taken on Thanksgiving day! Our family picture on the Christmas letter was also taken that day. 

We were quite busy, haha actually I spent a lot of time Baby watching which suited me fine, while we were there. Auntie Ruthie gave E, R and J3 their very first ride on a horse! J and L both have had rides before but neither of them really remember.. so it was a pretty big deal to all of them. I'd have taken pictures of their ear to ear smiles but the sun was going down and the lighting was lousy. They went hiking, and hiking and exploring in caves and streams and canyons and hiking some more. We had a wiener roast and another hike and mine exploring at M&J's, Papa's aunt and uncle, before heading home to play games and do puzzles and play games and cards. We lost G twice as she learned how to climb stairs while we were there. She climbed up all the stairs to the second story and explored up there before finding the toys in Morgans room! She can move pretty fast when she wants too!! Auntie Ruthie and I drove to town and spent a goodly chunk of a day shopping and enjoying ourselves just the two of us :) 

This game of Risk started out with kids and Papa and slowly became Auntie Ruth and Papa. R officially won even though she did very little playing. Lots of fun, some tears and quite a lot of cheering.. along the lines of  "Get Papa, Get Papa." lol. The game lasted much of the day and this picture was taken so they could set it up again after supper! 

When the time came to leave we packed everything up, we had to add two totes to our truck!, said our good byes and wished we didn't have to go just yet! We fueled up at our favorite little store ever where Papa found a friend to talk to, and headed home... 12 hours of driving later we arrived at home. I don't actually remember much of the trip. Turns out I was fighting more then just morning sickness and motion sickness, I also had a bit of an ear problem that made noise un bearable and spent much of the day trying to sleep and wishing the Tylenol would stay down!! We did stop for fuel a couple of times, to puke once, to eat a few times and of course with every stop a bathroom run. The kids had new games to play and had a good trip home. Papa was a bit barn sour as they say and I just looked longingly at every motel we passed. We were all very glad to be home!! Tucker grew a couple inches and Chip climbed in the truck when Papa opened the door!! 

J kept a tally of animals we saw on our trip. We saw

100 buffalo

10 swans

36 ravens

40 sea gulls

390 ducks

14 wild turkeys

2 grouse

1 nuthatch

3 moose

17 deer

24 bighorn sheep

21 hawks

4 eagles

7 pigeons

and 6 flickers.

I did a rough count of cows on the way down and got around 2000. Thankfully all the critters stayed off the roads and we had safe driving there and back! 

Total hours in the truck equaled out to about 32 in 8 days. 

We just want to say A HUGE THANK YOU TO GRAMMA AND GRANDPA, AUNTIE RUTHIE AND MORGAN for letting us stay with you and feeding us so very well!! Also to Morgan for sharing her room and toys and showing us around her school, which was neat as it was the same one Papa went too for a while. Thank you very much too for all the laundry you did!! I was amazed at how it piled up with only 3 outfits and two sets of PJ's per kid! (Next time I will pack more per kid!!) I was doubly amazed at how it seemed to magically get washed and dried!! :) And thank you too for Grandpa meeting us in Tri cities I know you all gave up something so he could be there with her and us. 

THANK YOU!!! 

Thankful Thursdays Dec. 13th/12

Well today I'm thankful for know how. Know how isn't perfect. It's capable. It's knowledge. It's the first step but not always the last.

I'm thankful I know how to make bread, and eat it!
I'm thankful for know how which makes our lives easier.
I'm thankful for know how which keeps us from making the same mistakes as last time.
I'm thankful for other people with know how who like to share!
I'm thankful for know how to do things the 'old fashioned' way, make butter, bread, cheese, etc.
I'm thankful I know how to run a house, a farm and a home school.
I'm thankful I know how to be a friend, even if I don't tend to be great at it.
I'm thankful I know how to type, which makes blogging much easier :)
I'm thankful I know how to turn a frown upside down.
I'm thankful my kids enjoy know how and what it entails. In fact they seem to thrive on it.
I'm very thankful Papa has a LOT of know how in many areas.. many of which I have no know how in at all!!


Know how... it's a pretty useful thing :)

You got some??

~Announcing #7~

For those of you who may have missed it on FB or the feed on the side of the blog :) 

G Is ONE!!

Little Miss G is 1!! Happy Birthday little one!! 

At 1 year of age she weighs about 16.5 lbs and is 18 month clothing. She still not walking but can get around, and UP anything she wants. She drinks from a straw in a cup and about 2 weeks after turning 1 she weaned herself. She loves to play trucks with J3 and let the kids walk her around holding on to her hands. She loves food and eats A LOT for her size! She nods YES with her whole head and chin and has just started not nodding if she doesn't want something. She really dislikes her 'pink marshmallow snowsuit' and looks offended every time we get it out. She loves to sing and dance. 

Super excited for her cupcake!! 

Finally!! 

J3 blew the candle out as is tradition :) 

MINE!

Ahh....

 these three pictures were taken in about 40 seconds!! 

GOOD STUFF!!! 

Yes I have a chocolate icing beard.. I LIKE IT!! 

Done!! Boy did I make a mess.. then I got a bath at Gramma Griggs house!! (More on that later :) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!

          Wowza!! The Christmas letter already!! We've had a busy year as per normal but I’ll give you some highlights ;)

          -The Griggs Family is learning, growing, and enjoying life together; enjoying our new, since the last Christmas letter, home church group; and enjoying watching each other grow in God’s word and love and in many other ways!!

-The Griggs Family Home school is still going strong! We've added a science program called Apologia to our ACE curriculum this year and we are loving it!! With 3 children in two grades, 3 and 2, and Rose doing sort of a pre grade 1 work we have a busy kitchen table J With Jesse, age 2.5, and Grace, almost 1, we also have a busy living room.

-The Griggs Family House Building is going really good. We got what we are calling the ‘half addition’ floor, ceiling, window frames and walls, except stuccoing, pretty much done this summer/fall. The VERY TENITIVE plan is to move into it next summer sometime.

-The Griggs Family Homestead is filling freezers with beef and pork, feeding critters, collecting eggs, making cheese and beer, curing bacon, selling piglets (28!! This year!), and generally keeping busy!  With butchering season upon us and snow on the ground it should slow down soon. Just in time for the holidays!

          -Ages and Stages Of The Griggers J

                   *Jed is almost 9 years old and in Grade 3.

                   *Levi is 7.5 years old and in Grade 2.

                   *Emmaline is 6 years old and in Grade 2.

                   *Rose is 4.5 years old can’t wait to do school next year!

                   *Jesse is 2.5 years old and officially toilet trained J

                   *Grace will be 1 when you read this and is trying out this whole walking thing J

*Some one new will be joining us around June or July of 2013 J.  We are excited to see who he/she will be J

“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21.

Merry CHRISTmas From

                                                         The Griggs Family

The littlest Grigger..