February family update

We are plugging away at daily routines: 
*Homeschooling with extra work for Lamb 1 to prepare him for high school and Lamb 2 and 3 concentrating on learning to read and spell.
*Our whole family is attending a weekly Bible study on Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the book of Mark, and the Small Catechism. We do the readings together to prepare for weekly quizzes.
*Lamb 2 and 3 are working on memorizing the meanings for the 6 chief parts of the catechism with the goal of confirmation in May.
*All 3 Lambs are practicing for a piano contest in March.
Update on my dad:
He became so weak at the beginning of February that he fell a few times. The paramedics recommended he go to the hospital and get checked out. The hospital was overcrowded and he waited several hours to get a room. He did have the flu and was much better after a few days in the hospital. We thought maybe he would go to a place for rehab, but not counting the hours he was in the hospital hallway that he wasn't officially a patient, he wasn't in the hospital long enough for insurance to pay for rehab. He went directly home and has been doing great since he has been home. We even took him to a high school basketball game last Friday. It is not easy as your parents get older and prayers are appreciated.
Vision Therapy Again:
Lamb 2 competed a long evaluation with a doctor here. We don't regret doing vision therapy in Idaho because it was helpful for several areas for him, but it wasn't enough. He is beginning vision therapy here at the end of the month. This doctor does things differently than our ID doctor and we are hoping these different ways of doing things are going to be helpful for Lamb 2. This doctor does 1 time a week therapy with 20 minutes of daily homework. Lamb 2 will get bifocals. He has 20/20 vision and can see fine in the distance. He doesn't truly need glasses for close up work, but the hope is that this will ease the stress on his eyes as they try to focus to see near work. We are expecting at least a year of therapy here. One nice thing is you pay one price and it covers everything (therapy, doctor exams, computer software for homework, etc.) no matter how long therapy takes. This is different than Idaho and is much better to know exactly how much it costs. Lamb 2 was very excited to go pick out his glasses and is impatiently waiting for them to come in.
After Lamb 2 begins, then we would like this doctor to also evaluate Lamb 3. For a long time he had no motivation to learn to read. Now he does and reading is very difficult for him. I am curious if he also has a vision difficulty and would also benefit from Vision Therapy.
Library volunteer:
A classical school started at our church this year. Our boys are too old as they began with lower grades and are working their way up, but Lamb 2 and 3 take art class there. I volunteered to help with the school library. It has been so much fun to get the books ready for the school children. Most are donated or library discards. The headmaster and his wife are choosing quality literature for the school. It is so fun to see what she finds on the 20 cent library discard shelves.
Lilla Rose:
I just signed up to be a Lilla Rose consultant. I'll blog more about this as I learn more, but if you don't currently have a consultant, contact me for more info if you are interested. I have been wearing Lilla Rose hair clips for about 10 years and I figured it was about time that I had a business card to hand to people when I get a compliment!
Dentist:
Our whole family went at once for dental cleanings and checkups. We all did well except one Lamb needs a tiny filling. Lamb 2 needs an orthodontist consultation because his teeth are so close together plus there is a problem with his canines. After dental checkups we are all extra good about brushing AND flossing AND using mouthwash for awhile...
Cooking:
While Ram is in school I have had to do more cooking than while he was a pastor. I was getting tired of the same old recipes and often 1 or 2 Lambs don't like what I make. I did a little research in my cookbooks and on the Internet to get some new recipes to try. Last night I made beef stew and it went fast even though only one Lamb had more than one helping. Today I made beef vegetable soup and we'll see how that goes tomorrow. I have some more recipes to try this week. The Lambs were shocked that I cooked something new two days in a row!

Thanksgiving Dinner Preparations

Appetizers:
Salmon Dip-purchased
Nut Thins-purchased
Olives-in pantry
Pickles-in pantry
Hummus-purchased and then recalled, ready to return to the store

Turkey-thawing to cook tomorrow
Gravy-will make tomorrow when turkey is done
White Potatoes-mashed
Sweet Potatoes-mashed
Pecans-toasted to add to sweet potatoes
Cranberry Relish-blended in Vitamix
Heavy Cream-whipped
Vanilla ice cream-purchased
Pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies-purchased
Wine-in pantry
Juice for the Lambs-in pantry

This dinner was made when there is a broken pipe in the basement of our rental. We were told to use the kitchen sink as little as possible until it is fixed. This is when I am thankful to have a landlord that takes care of what is broken, but I am not the homeowner so I don't have to pay for the repairs.

I am thankful for all my electrical kitchen servants. It is much easier to cook when you have the correct tools!

I will pick some frozen veggies tomorrow from the freezer so we add some veggies to the menu. Ram will make the turkey and gravy and I'll help if he needs me to.

The menu is not all Paleo. It made it so much easier to purchase pies. I figure we can cheat a little on holidays.

It has been many years since we have had Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. We are looking forward to a day of church, relaxing, and eating!

Bone broth

A few weeks ago lamb chops were on sale just a little more than the price I would pay for hamburger. I bought a few and stuck them in the freezer.

This weekend we had time to thaw and marinate the lamb and make our favorite recipe with it. As I was trimming the meat off the bones some meat close to the bone wouldn't come off. I couldn't just waste that meat.

So I stuck the bones and some water and some apple cider vinegar in the crockpot on low for a couple of days. Tonight I put the broth through a strainer to remove the bones. The whole process only took a few minutes to prepare it and then to strain it.

I am left with some really nice broth. Ram and Lamb 2 have been fighting colds and sore throats so they will appreciate this even more.

My MIL paid a lot of money to buy bones for making bone broth. My boys fought over the leftovers when we visited one time. This only made a very small batch. I don't think the bone broth recipe meant lamb chop bones. But this is my frugal way of making broth and I don't think Ram or the Lambs will complain.

Strawberries and spring cleaning

I haven't blogged much because it has been busy here. Monday-Wednesday we were gone to the pastor conference with Ram. We had a wonderful time and spent some time with another Looper family. We were sad that another Looper family had moved away and we didn't get to see them this time. Pastor Harrison preached at a very nice church service on Monday evening. Tuesday afternoon we had a relaxing afternoon with our family. The weather was the best it has ever been for this conference since we moved here. We got home about midnight on Wednesday after a busy afternoon shopping.
Thursday we rested and tried to get caught up on things here after being gone.
Today Lamb 2 had speech. The local grocery store had strawberries on sale for $1.49 so I bought 10 lbs. I had one batch of jam made before 2pm. I also made strawberry shortcake which everyone loved for dessert after supper. After the Lambs go to bed I plan to make another batch of jam.
Next week Ram's parents plan to visit. I'm trying to get caught up on organizing/spring cleaning the house. I won't get everything done before they come next week, but at least it will look better than when my parents were here a month ago. I really did lose 2 months due to morning sickness and then grieving. One of the tasks we did today was to take down all the artwork that has been up for about a year at our house and change it to more recent artwork from ECFE and homeschool. The Lambs forgot they had made some of the things we hung today. Last week we cleaned the living room and organized toys again. I still have some cleaning projects to do in the next few days (vacuum, mop kitchen floor, clean bathrooms, etc.).
It is difficult for me to assign chores to the Lambs and supervise them and still get my chores done at the same time. I have 3 very active Lambs and it has been rainy so they can't even get rid of their energy outside. They are very helpful for cleaning, but they need lots of supervision. I was very proud that I was able to make a batch of jam in the middle of the day today without them getting in trouble while I was busy. This is the first jam I have ever made before they were in bed for the night. After several busy years with babies and toddlers, this is new for me to both get work accomplished and to have them help with the work too.

Fiber

Ram had some more medical tests last Friday. He had to eat a low fiber diet for two days and a liquid diet the day before his test. We thought that after his test he would be able to eat everything again, but he had to continue the low fiber diet for 1-2 days after his tests.
I didn't realize how much fiber we normally eat until this last week. We bought some plain white bread (yuk!) because we always eat homemade whole wheat. I decided to make French toast with the last 1/2 of loaf while he had his tests. Then he got home and had no bread to eat for the next day.
This was probably the worst time of year for him to have to eat a low fiber diet. We had been given some sweet corn, still had a few blueberries left in the fridge, and have yellow squash and tomatoes growing like crazy in our garden and picked daily. I had also bought a watermelon. I felt bad because the boys and I did eat some of the full of fiber foods in front of Ram because I didn't want to waste them. The Lambs kept asking questions and couldn't understand Ram's diet.
He decided to make homemade macaroni and cheese and we had a very small box of plain white pasta but all the other pasta was whole wheat pasta. He ended up making two batches-one for him and one for us. We cooked a small smoked turkey that was given to us, but he really wanted a big turkey sandwich with homemade bread and tomatoes-not allowed. I thought about making smoothies or milkshakes, but he likes his with lots of fruit-not allowed.
He survived and is back to a regular full of fiber diet again. This experience makes me so thankful for the wide variety of fruits and veggies that God created. Ram told me to get ready to have these same tests done in about 15 years. I'm already dreading that. It motivates me to eat lots of fiber so they don't find anything wrong during these tests!

Coconut Oil and Black Friday

My mom asked me a few months ago about using coconut oil. Rebellious Pastor's Wife had an excellent post on coconut oil today. I used to use Spectrum because we could get it at the grocery 1 1/2 hours away. Then I changed to LouAna from Walmart because it was so much cheaper. But I have not been happy with LouAna, especially for baking. I was thinking of going back to Spectrum but I may try Tropical Traditions now. Also, read the comments on this post because it has some more information.

Today Ram's parents left about 11:30am to begin their drive home. We had turkey sandwiches before they left. The Lambs "needed" their train track rebuilt before they left. They were only here a few days, but we had a nice dinner on Tuesday, church and a potluck on Wednesday night, and of course Thanksgiving dinner. Ram's dad organized my 30,000 (that is not an exaggeration!) e-mails since 2006. Amazing how much faster our computer runs now! He did a few other tasks on our computer and also fixed the Lambs easel and replaced batteries in a few toys. My dad has become the fix-it grandpa so the Lambs expect Ram's dad to also fix toys too. We also took a lot of pictures, especially so I could practice with his nice camera.

After they left we headed over to SD to the town about 20 miles away from us. We went to Farm and Fleet looking for an idea what Lamb 2 wanted for Christmas. He was no help but Lamb 1 had several ideas of what he wanted, but we already have Lamb 1's present. We bought each of the Lambs a small Schleich animal there so they got one thing today. Then I went to Hallmark and the drug store while Ram and the Lambs stayed in the car and played with their new animals. Melissa and Doug toys were 40% off at the drug store but I didn't see anything to buy for them. Hallmark had some good sales and I bought a few items at both stores. Then we went to a store called Alco and bought a few more items on sale, but still no ideas from Lamb 2. We went to the bank and to the local grocery store (great sales there too).
We definitely didn't get up early to shop, nor did we go to a bigger town or city with the big sales. But the salespeople in the stores we went to all had stories. One customer drove 1 1/2 hours and was there real early to go to Menards and found the exact same product locally when she got home for the exact same price. Another saw something too expensive in the town 1 1/2 hours away and didn't buy it and saw it cheaper in the local town.
We were pretty tired from this last week and the Lambs didn't have rest time, so we skipped the town 15 miles away parade and local stores open houses with lots of treats tonight. I didn't feel like fighting the mud outside our house and it was getting colder too. We put the Lambs to bed early. Ram is writing his sermon for a funeral tomorrow. I can't believe it will be December in just a few more days!

Ram's cooking class

Last night Ram attended a Vietnamese cooking class. He blogged about it here.

I was glad that he was the one that planned on attending because I was too sick to go. I was feeling a little bit better so I was able to put the boys to bed by myself and eat leftovers when he got home. I was glad he didn't have to miss it because we were sick.

Ram said one of the women that attended was married to a man that served in Vietnam. He never wants to eat Vietnamese type food again in his life. This was a good opportunity for her to get to eat yummy food although she didn't dare take leftovers home like most of the other ones that attended.

At first it seemed like an expensive class ($35). But Ram was able to eat there and brought home leftovers for me to eat and the boys to try a little the next day. He got the recipes so we can make it again for a special occasion. And many of the ingredients are not found at our local grocery store. It would cost more than the class fee for our family to go out to eat.

My mom attended a Chinese cooking class when I was a child. All while I was growing up a few times a year she cooked from those recipes. We still request her to cook Chinese when we actually get home. I think we may start a new tradition to cook Vietnamese a few times a year now.

We have been looking for ways for Ram to get out in the community and also be able to do non-church related events. This was a perfect opportunity. Our rural area doesn't do activities like this very often-mainly community education classes are things like baking holiday cookies. We will be looking to see next fall which country the home ec. teacher teaches another class and hopefully Ram can attend again.