Ruthie {aLmOsT 6 mOnThS}

Ruthie is still as sweet as ever! I still can't believe how laid back she truly is.

Most of the time, she is either in my lap perfectly content looking at the world or playing on a blanket in the floor. She has plenty to watch with her older sisters and plenty of little kisses throughout the day from them too!

She is a wonderful sleeper too so I'm very thankful for that.

Ruthie has two teeth. And they aren't just barely in....they are two big teeth. All three of my girls have gotten their first tooth by 4 months old.

She hasn't really started a whole lot of solids yet. I plan on following the Weston A. Price's recommendation for "Nourishing a Growing Baby"- minus the feeding liver part. I still can't do that!

I made lots of whole foods for Laney Rae and didn't do the baby food in a jar thing- just my preference. We eat lots of steamed veggies so this was fairly easy for me to do.

But, I didn't hold off on giving grains until one year like WAP recommends doing. This time around, I'm going to try that out with Ruthie. It makes perfect sense since grains are harder for our bodies to digest.

I've been reading a lot lately about natural whole food diets in general that are rich in fruits, veggies, and meat. So far, this makes the most sense to me, but it's the entire opposite of what I did Kaylyn (our first) and what I knew then.

Some of the first foods they recommend at 6 months are:

- Boiled Egg Yolk (not the whites since that is where the allergens are)
- Pureed Meats
- Vegetable Puree of either squash, sweet potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas, carrots or beets- Individually
- Fruit Sauces of peaches, nectarines, apples, blueberries, cherries, pears, or berries

Basically anything that is considered a real whole food.

Ruthie was too cute sitting in our mother daughter chair in the living room yesterday. I wanted to capture the moment and savor it forever.

Goodbye Rowdy

This morning we awakened to a horrible tragedy.

{RoWdY}, our farm dog, companion, and friend was found hit and killed by the road.

If you've ever been out to the farm, you've met Rowdy. He was our Blue Heeler. What a character he was- full of energy and personality.

He was a terrific hand out on the farm herding cattle, pigs, and chickens.

If we were out working in the pastures, Rowdy was right there with us.

If we were in our little farmhouse, Rowdy was on the porch waiting for us to come out and take on a new adventure together.

If we were sitting out by the fire, Rowdy was there snipping at the embers that drifted away to the stars- we always thought that was a little weird, Rowdy biting at fire.

If we were blowing bubbles, Rowdy was there leaping through the air chomping away at the round shiny floating clusters.

We thought we had broken him of the habit of chasing cars. Blue Heelers by nature are chasers and herders. It's what they live for. Rowdy had his whole entire muzzle ran over by the trash truck before. He walked away with the most mangled up teeth you'd ever seen. The top part of his mouth was split in two. Rowdy was rushed to the vet in town. They vet said he'd be just fine. And he was.

But, last night a car got the best of him.

We've lost two amazing dogs to the road we live on. It's a busy highway.

I don't know if I can bare to have another dog. We love them, raise them, train them, and welcome them as part of our family- then they are gone. Sounds a little dramatic, but it's true.

But, what is life in the country on a farm without a dog?

Rowdy, we'll miss you.

We are very sad not hearing your "broken bark" as the farm buggy fired up this morning.

You were such a wonderful asset to this farm! It won't be the same without you.

a very happy farmer's wife....

{taken yesterday on our anniversary}

Can I just take a moment to tell you how amazing my husband is?

He pulled out the big guns this year and blew my socks off!!!

I've been wanting to grind my own wheat for quite some time now for my homemade breads. The only problem was that I didn't have a wheat grinder.

And I really wanted a hand wheat grinder in case we are ever without power for long periods of time....that's another post:).

There is something fun and magical about turning a handle to grind wheat.

Jason gave me The Country Living Grain Mill for our anniversary and I couldn't be more excited!! This was such a great gift. He is the BEST gift giver and always goes all out.

Thanks Honey!


I can't wait to try it out and begin grinding my own wheat, corn, and beans. How fun!!!!

I just need a reliable source to order my wheat berries from.

Any suggestions???

9 blissfully wonderful years!!

Today is the day I married my best friend 9 years ago.

Right about this time 9 years ago, I was getting all fancied up for my wedding awaiting the moment that I would say "I do" with excitement.

I remember our simple little wedding very vividly. I could have cared less about the details- just ask those in attendance:). I hadn't ever attended a wedding prior to my own. I was 19.

All that I cared about was being the wife to the most incredible man I'd ever laid eyes on.

Jason,

I love you.

I think I say this every single year, but I love you more than I did last year. I didn't think that was possible. But, as the years pass by and babies are added to this little farmhouse, I fall more and more deeply in love with you.

I'm so thankful that you have made Jesus Lord over your life and this family.

Its an honor to live out my days beside you loving and serving you. You make it so easy for me to do.

These 9 years have been amazing. I can't wait to see where the road ahead takes us.

Love,
Your Bride

Halloween 09; the bride, the cowgirl, and the cheetah

This year for Halloween, the girls were dressed as something very fitting to their character. It just sort of worked out that way.

Kaylyn wanted to be a bride after recently attending her very first wedding of this special couple:). Needless to say, she was inspired at the thought of being a bride! She wore my actual wedding veil that I wore in my wedding. We made her a bouquet out of silk flowers that she chose at Walmart (yes ma'am).

Kaylyn could NOT be a bride without the bouquet toss! Oh, and at the wedding she went to, she practically stared the recipient down who caught the bouquet until she gave it to her. The bouquet sat in a vase for weeks on her dresser.

Kaylyn tossing the bouquet to herself.
Laney Rae wanted to be a cowgirl like her daddy. That is what she says all of the time. If we ask her is she wants to be a cowgirl, she always replies,"Yes, I wanna be a cowgirl like daddy!" Ha! How cute! Oh and she wore this outfit to church a few weeks ago too for no apparent reason. Its a multi-use costume. Gotta love that! This is her favorite outfit these days.

Here is Laney Rae saying "Yeeeee Haw!" for her picture.

Ruthie didn't really have a choice in the matter. She dressed up as my little cheetah cub. I've had this costume for years since we've had Kaylyn. But, Ruthie has been the only one that has been able to fit into it right around Halloween.


We had a great low maintenance Halloween. The area churches in Brenham all get together at the fairgrounds and have a big Fall Festival with free food, live music, and fun games for the kiddos. It was a great night!

I didn't get any photos of the actual event though. There were people everywhere and I was busy holding the hands of my wee ones.

Here are a few more pictures of the little misses in their costumes. Enjoy!

Kaylyn is such a great big sister!

Cowgirls don't get any cuter than this!

{{tHiNkInG}}

Forgive me for my lack of posts:). Don't know why I feel the need to apologize, but there you have it.

You see, I'm a researcher by nature. I LOVE learning, growing, challenging the way I think, and moving forward.

Frankly, these past two weeks have been so hard, but so good. There is a lot churning around in this brain of mine. The Lord is challenging me like never before in the way I think, eat, and just plain ole' do life.

I want this blog to be real. A place that I can put whatever is stirring within me into words.

Well, I haven’t had the words a lot of times these past few weeks. I’ve tried to put lots of this digging into words only to have written a sizeable novel by the time I’m done with it. Geez! Who wants to read that??

I get overwhelmed at the amount of information that is flooding my life- some God stuff, some good stuff, some downright awful stuff, some homesteading stuff, some false stuff, some sad stuff, some school stuff, some health stuff.

All of this “stuff” causes me to dig really deep in the things that are competing for my attention. I've discarded the things that don't matter and am clinging to the things that really truly do matter. That, my friend, is freeing!

But, every time I’ve sat down to write (and there have been many....you should see the posts that have began but not yet posted), I can sense the Lord just wanting me to “rest” in it for a while and let it truly sink in.

He wants me to put into action the revelation and words He is breathing into me.

My desire is to bring glory to God in everything I do. One thing is for certain....He is my Rock, my Fortress, my stronghold.

"The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1

Time is fleeting. Each day that goes by is one day closer to seeing the King of Kings- whether He comes back at any time or we go see Him.

A few gift ideas.....

I recently purchased Farmer Jason some Frogg Toggs for a gift. He totally LOVES them and would recommend them as a gift for any man that is outdoors quite often whether it be for work or for recreation.

They come in a variety of colors (including cammoflauge for the hunters out there). They are rain proof and windproof suits made from lightweight waterproof fabric. What we love about these is that they can be worn together as a suit or individually. Jason wears the jacket a whole lot.

Another thing we love about them is that this whole suit costs less than $100 (much less).

If you are searching for a gift for an outdoors loving guy, this would be perfect! I purchased mine locally at Academy but you can get them at Cabela's or Gander Mtn. as well.


Something I'm LOVING these days is my Kindle. A Kindle is a wireless reading device that is purchased through amazon.com. This wonder machine stores up to 1,500 books, is lighter than a typical paperback, and can go anywhere with you. The prices to purchase your books on Kindle are also much cheaper than buying a hardcopy of the book.

The Kindle would be a perfect gift for the avid reader in your family.

This has came in so handing as many hours of my day are spent rocking and nursing in a chair holding little Ruthie Claire. I've developed an extreme love for reading over these past few years and have read more books because of this! I have a small house and LOVE to look of books thrown into the decor, but I haven't the space for the volume that I go through.

However, let me say that any book that has a "How To" skill that will come in handy if something happens to go way wrong in America and we loose power for a good length of time or never regain power (hypothetically speaking....not going to even cross that bridge right now), I buy the hard copy. The pictures aren't that great on Kindle either so anything that is photo intensive wouldn't be good to purchase on Kindle either.

There you have it!