S is 9 months :)

I'm a NINJA!!

Awww.. Tired Baby. 

Um.. Mom? E tied a car and a ELEPHANT to my back!!! 

Is that OK?? 

I am a SUPER CUTE baby.. and I have a tooth :) 

S is 9 months old, eating solid everything (except cows milk, nuts and honey), he sleeps from 9pm to 8am almost every night. He love his siblings, they entertain him all the time :) He loves bacon and chilli and will only eat pancakes if you put syrup on them. He loves ketchup on just about anything and seems to enjoy the way his crackers break on the floor when he throws them! He waves goodnight and bye bye, he gives nice open mouth baby kisses, and signs 'please' if you catch him desperate enough. He drinks quite nicely from a cup and loves to cruse, stand and climb up on things. He recently got 'high centered' at Grandma's house on a stool and even got him self off! He can go up and down a stair or two and is a very happy little man!! 

R is 6!! Birthday Pictures :)

Excited to be 6!! 

Party time! 

New hat Grandma made her :) 

Her very own fishing rod!!! 

April 13th Snow Levels

The plan is to retake these pictures next week and compare snow levels. 

Fluff Had Kittens!

Above the ceiling in the straw bale house!!  There are at least 3. Two orange and white and one black and white. 

Our International Ambulance :)

The Sign

The start anyway. Papa and I are talking about adding the number on the front and Family Homestead under it, each on their own slab. Kids and I talked about adding flowers under and on top of each post. Our slow kids sign is going bye bye too as soon as we can find a replacement. 

On a totally different note. We saw our first robins of the year today!! Yay. A whole flock of them! 

House Update

So work on the house has re-started. Papa has; put in these lovely doors (master bedroom and bathroom), 

And this bedroom door, 

Built this wall and installed the electrical panel and doors (still need staining but he wanted to make sure they fit), 

Here it is from the kitchen side, 

Built all the interior walls :) (this picture is looking into the two side by side bathrooms and the master bedroom down at the end. The door on the right is the on-suite bathroom door.)  

Here is looking the other way, before the bathroom wall split that space in two. 

And I took all the doors off the kitchen cupboards and removed the hardware and started sanding them (loving the belt sander btw) 

I've got the first rough sanding on the doors, and a couple small cabinets, done. Next job a fine sanding on the doors and staining the doors. Painting the cabinets needs to wait until we get a bit warmer temperatures. Oh and this is not the final placing of the kitchen cupboards. :) The sink is in its spot though :) 

We also spent a day in the city buying supplies, researching others and stocking up on groceries and buying needed footwear for kids :). The kids are still doing school full time and so my time is split between the daily grind and the sanding. 

This week we'll be working on plumbing, wiring and kitchen doors. 

Some of the supplies we got in the city. I'll admit I'm super excited about toilets, light fixtures and all of the little things that make up a house! 

G's Quilt, Finally.

Look who has been sleeping under her new quilt since Saturday :) Little Miss G has a long ways to grow before she'll outgrow this one :) 

The Vitamin Man :)

My boys had a blast making faces with my vitamins the other day :) Super cute little man don't ya think? 

Baking Days.

Thursday and Friday are my prep days, the days I try and make all the things we eat for the next weeks meals, and I rotate meals/buns/ goodies and make lots and freeze the extras. It's a system I just started and so far I love it. Here is the baking I did yesterday and today :) 

I made my baked oatmeal recipe times 9. No joke! One mix up of 5 and then one of 4.  Made 48 baked oatmeal muffins and put 3 large 9x13 pans in the freezer. Neat trick I just learned. Put bakers paper in the pan, than your stuff, cover with wrap and freeze, take out of pan, bag up and label, and put it back in the freezer...when it's time to eat just put it in the pan and bake! BONUS the pans just need a quick wash instead of a deep clean when your done :) 

Here's the recipe..

2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup brown sugar, I do less 
1 tsp cinnamon 
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup melted butter
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups oats
1/2 a cup raisins or craisins 

Mix it all up and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 

If you want a 9x13 pan full, double it! That's a meal for my crew :)

It can be a little hard to get the frozen stuff out of glass dishes. I placed mine upside down, inside the bag I was going to freeze it in and set it in the sun. About 20 minutes is all it took and the glass popped right off and I could take the pan out and label and freeze the meal. Part of the problem was I trimmed the bakers paper too short and couldn't get a good hold on it to pull out the meal. Leave it long and fold it over! This picture was before I trimmed it. Yes I made the lasagna with homemade cottage and cheddar cheese, only the Parmesan cheese was store bought.  I use little noodles so it's easier for the kids to eat, no cutting needed, and cheaper! These lasagnas need the cheese on top and they are done! 

Yesterday I put 3 lasagnas in the freezer and today 3 baked oatmeals using the same pans :) I've done this with 9x9 pans and 9x13 pans. Less waste than tinfoil pans and stack easy in the freezer. I learned this neat trick from a Momys on my Momys.com board! Oh and this can be THM too if you use a approved sugar :)