Merry Christmas!

Yes, yes, I know. It's been far too long since I updated this blog. :)

December has been a change of pace for us...as it always is.
We are busy with all the family gatherings, which constitute far too many trips to Wal-Mart!

Next week is Christmas, and I'm not done with shopping. It seems that I've been a bit unorganized this year...no...wait...I think that happened last year too. Ok, so maybe I'm generally unorganized when it comes to Christmas shopping. I do recall being done with all the shopping by October one year. That was a crowning achievement for me.

Jasmine and I went to Bellingrath Gardens to see the Christmas lights. We went with Amy Davis and her boys. We had a fantastic time! The kids were able to play and run since there weren't many people there. The kids didn't want to leave. :)

I may not get to update again until the new year rolls around, so I'll say Merry Christmas to you all! :)

My Sweeties!

Looking through a Christmas Catalog

Three Musketeers!
He loves to show off those new teeth!

Marshall has learned to clap!

Word Spins

I find that my children have an interesting spin on some words. I find it amusing. :)

Gabe: Pbutter Sanch= Peanut Butter Sandwich
Gabe: Mooskick= Music

Gabe: Cons = Pecans
Jasmine: PEcons with lots of emphasis on the P.

Jasmine: Always says Marshalls instead of just plain Marshall. I suppose she thinks it's too boring without the 's'. Reminds me of Anne of Green Gables when she specifically requested her name be spelled with an 'e'. :)

Gabe: Jejus = Jesus

Two Milestones

We've had some milestones in our house. Gabe is potty trained! Thank you Jesus! I was beginning to think that I would be dealing with this until he was a teenager. :)

Marshall said Mama today. Oh, the way my heart melted!! Gabe and Jasmine both said Dada first, so to hear Marshall say it was great!

I'm so proud to hold the title of Mommy, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Want a muffin?

I made muffins today. I think I made the biggest mess I've ever made in my kitchen, but it was worth it since I got 114 muffins out of the deal. Yes, that's right, 114 light and fluffy blueberry muffins! My official taste tester, Jasmine, had one(ok, three) and she gave them a thumbs up. That's a good enough rating for me! Josh also tasted one after he ate supper and liked them as well. That's an added bonus. :) Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner!

Now, if you're wondering why I made 114 muffins today, I'll tell you. My sweet friend, Amy, loaned me a book called "Don't Panic, Dinner Is In The Freezer". It's a fantastic book for anyone that likes to be able to take a finished or nearly finished meal from the freezer and have it on the table in short order. :) They have everything from breakfast to dessert in this book. I recently made the Chicken Alfredo Pizza out of it, and it was SO good. Anyway, back to the muffins. They have the recipe for one batch and then they have them measured out by x2, x6, and x12. I made the x6 batch. I can't imagine how many I would get from the larger batch! They are excellent for eating on the run, or in my case, to have something different for a change. I don't think I'll have to make muffins for awhile. Of course, they are rather tasty...I think I'll go have another. :)

New Adventure

I asked to be put on the list to teach the 3-5 year old kids at church. Our (mine and Josh's) first time to teach was last Sunday. Our lesson was about baby Moses,how God kept him safe and how God keeps us safe. We had fun making baskets with play doh, and they got to take that home. I'm sure their parents just love me now. :) Time went by remarkably quick. When I thought to check my watch, it was 12 and we weren't done yet. We did manage to finish before parents came to get them.


We have it again Sunday after next. Our lesson is on Moses and the Red Sea. I'm trying to think of some fun activities for them to do. I found a few online that we might try. I'd like to keep them moving so they don't get bored or distracted from the lesson. We had 9 in the class last week. I prepared for 10. I think I'll have to bump that number up some since all of the children weren't there. :) I'm looking forward to this new little adventure.

Changing

Marshall is growing in leaps and bounds. He now has 3 teeth, which I am very proud of. It took a lot of crying and wailing and late nights to get them. (Marshall cried some too. :P )
He is also pulling up on anything he can get his balance with. I know he will be running through the house with Gabe and Jasmine before long.


I've noticed so much change in all of them in the last few weeks. It's like they get together at night and decide to spring all this new stuff on me at once. It's fun to watch.


Jasmine has been showing a small streak of jealousy the last few days. She's been rather clingy with me for the last month or so, but now she has extended that to most every area. My husband was attempting to give me a hug and kiss as he left for work. She immediately starting crying and saying "Mama! Maaaaaaaaaammma!" We just laughed, but she didn't think it was that funny.
I'm sure it won't take long to break the habit.


My stomach is telling me it is time to cook supper. I've been having a hankerin' for some tomato gravy, so that's what we're having tonight! MMMMMMMmmmmmmm Good!! :D

Birthdays

I'm not sure when it happened...but it happened. I used to enjoy and even look forward to it every year. Now, it's not a big deal. I turned 27 on Sunday the 13th. I was once again surprised to feel no particular emotion about it. I'm not sure when I stopped looking forward to my birthday. I have no qualms with getting older. It happens to everyone. I don't really feel any older than I did when I was in my early 20's, and I would hope I don't look that much older. (However, I don't feel that is a very realistic expectation after three kids!)

I remember feeling such excitement when I was a child and even into my teen years when my birthday would come around. Choosing a party theme and inviting all my friends to come celebrate was such fun! I had some wonderful parties and have very fond memories of those occasions.
I just wonder why it is that the excitement fades as you get older. I still see many of the same friends, although we don't get to spend much time together. I've made new friends that I do see often and love to make memories with. Surely, it isn't as easy to plan a party or get together when you have small children, but we do manage. So, what makes it so different now? I haven't quite figured that out yet.

I do look forward to planning parties for my children. I love a child's excitement when there is a special day coming up. I think that might just be enough to make up for the lack of excitement on my own day. :)

Cooking with Jasmine

Jasmine is really into cooking now. She takes her pots, pans and whisk and whips up a masterpiece on her little stove. She likes to cook in the bathtub as well. She frequently tells me that she's cooking tomatoes or potatoes. Yesterday evening, she was outside playing in the dirt, which she loves, and informed me that she was cooking. I asked her what she was making this time and she said "I'm cooking cake." I said "Oh, how wonderful! It smells so good!" I then asked her if she was cooking the cake for Daddy. She affirmed that she was. Daddy soon comes walking up and I told her to tell him what she was making. Suddenly, she couldn't remember. She just said "Dirt". I said "What did you tell me you were making a minute ago?" No answer. I gently reminded her in a low voice "You said you were making Daddy some cake." The look that she gave me nearly put on the ground laughing. It was such an incredulous look that said "I cannot believe you would even say such a thing! I never said I was making cake! How could you say that?" There was never any response. Just the look. (Way to show Mommy up Jasmine!) I found it quite humorous....but it might have been one of those things that you just had to see for it to be really funny.

Jasmine also love bananas. As a matter of fact, she ate three yesterday. She's having a small amount of trouble saying the "B" in banana. She puts a "P" there instead. She can say a "B" sound without any trouble at all, just not on the word banana. I tried getting her to say the B sound first: Buh, Buh, Banana. She said Buh, Buh, Panana. Too funny! :)

Back to Life!

I am finally back among the living. I have been sick for nearly two weeks, and I must say it has been the most horrible experience. However, I'm very glad to be feeling better!
The only good thing that came out of the sickness was some weight loss, which I hope I can keep off. I don't recommend losing weight in this manner, though, as it is terribly unpleasant.


My dear family helped me tremendously while I was sick by keeping my children. My sweet brother, Derek, has gained much parenting experience! I think he's ready to return them now. :) I have Marshall back home with me today, and I plan to get Gabe and Jasmine tomorrow. I sure have missed them! I think this has been the longest period of time we've ever been apart.


In other news, Marshall got his first tooth in on Monday. I can see the other one next to it, but it hasn't quite made its way through yet.

I'm afraid I don't have anything else interesting to report after all this time, since I haven't been doing much myself. I'm sure I'll be able to come up with something when the children get back home. ;)

Furry Friends

We have 20 more eggs in the incubator. Tomorrow is hatch day, but we already have 4 trying to make their way out into the world. We are going to have a whole passel of chickens before it's over! :D All from our first hatching survived except for two. I don't guess I've ever noticed how quickly chickens grow, but they seem to shoot up overnight. It won't be long and we'll be able to tell how many roosters and hens we have.

I did manage to take some pictures of the goats and our dog Tank. The only thing left to do is get them off my camera and onto the computer. I'm hoping to be able to do that this week.

I hear a loud chirping from the bathroom(where we have the incubator). I think we might have our first baby out of the egg!

Stages

My kids are going through so many stages. Marshall is trying his best to play with Gabe and Jasmine. He army crawls wherever he wants to go. Gabe's vocabulary is broadening and he constantly picks up new things. I love theses stages. Life with children is never dull!

The latest stage is one that Jasmine is going through just this week. She has always been a good sleeper(all of them have), but she has decided she would prefer if mama lays down with her until she goes to sleep. She crawls up on my bed, gets under the covers, grabs her blanket and asks me (in a rather pitiful voice) to join her. I comply because I can't resist the chance to snuggle. There were a few times during the week that the newly created routine felt a little inconvenient; but when she slipped her little hand in mine all of that melted away. It felt more like a little piece of heaven. She's such a sweetheart.

The Bradley Kids

After some irritation, I finally got a slide show together! It isn't perfect, but it's not too bad for the first try. :)

Sara Jones told me about the program she used on her slide show. It's a nice program!
You can download it for free at http://picasa.google.com/

Slideshow

I'm in the process of learning something new. I'm trying to put together a slide show of the children. We'll see how long it takes me to figure this out. :)

More Photos

Jasmine always wants to be like mommy and so she decided to give mascara a try. This was the result.

















Marshall is sitting up now to play.



Jasmine is my little helper on Sunday mornings. She sits on the counter and "helps" me get ready. :)




Bath time is fun time! :D

My Babies

Here are a few pictures of my sweet ones! I have more on my camera. I just have to get them off the camera and onto the computer. We'll see how quickly that happens. :)



Marshall loves to play in the bathtub.



Jasmine decided she wanted to sleep with Gabe.




Jasmine and Gabe having fun on the slip-n-slide


This is usually how he looks.
He's a very happy baby!

Milking Lesson

Well, I did it! I learned how to milk a goat. There wasn't as much to it as I thought there would be, but I'm certainly not complaining about that! Mind you, I'm not very good at it yet, but I should get better with practice.

The goat is named Valerie(which I think is hilarious) and she belongs to my friend Amy, who was nice enough to teach me how to milk.

So, that is my accomplishment for the day! :D

Lunch With Jasmine

Jasmine has started telling me that she wants yogurt all the time. I'm glad that she likes yogurt, but I would like for her to eat something a little more filling along with it. She used to love to eat peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Apparently, she's over that.

Here's a short conversation that Jasmine I have been having almost daily.
I find conversations with a two-year-old quite amusing.

Me: Jasmine, do you want to eat a sandwich with Gabe?

Jasmine: Me hungry.

Me: Well, would you like to eat a sandwich?

Jasmine: Me hungry.

Me:Well, then what do you want to eat?

Jasmine: How 'bout yogurt?

Me: You can have yogurt after you eat something else.

Jasmine: Gabe want yogurt.

Me: I don't think Gabe wants any yogurt.

Jasmine: Marshall want yogurt.

Me: Marshall can't have yogurt. What do you want to eat?

Jasmine: Me hungry. How 'bout yogurt?


It's an enormously entertaining conversation until about the 5th time. :D

She isn't a picky eater really. There isn't much that she won't eat. I'm thankful for that.

Susie

We got our dairy goat yesterday! :) Gabe's friend, Trevor, was nice enough to allow their sweet dairy goat to live at our house. Her name is Susie, and she's a sweetie! I won't be milking for awhile, which is good since I don't know how. :D Amy is going to give me a lesson soon. I sure hope I'm a quick study! I'll let you know how the lesson turns out.

I haven't taken pictures yet, but I will!

Healthcare Bill

Here is an overview of the healthcare bill they are trying to pass. I read this, and I just want to puke! This is what we'll all have to live under. All of us except for congress! They will have their own, better plan. Let me tell you something, if congress is going to pass a bill for all of us and they don't want to use it, I certainly don't want any part of it. You better read this now because if the people don't stand up, we will be living under it shortly.
You will have no privacy and no rights to anything you actually "own". They own you!

http://www.liberty.edu/media/9980/attachments/healthcare_overview_obama_072909.pdf

Rambles

*DISCLAIMER* This blog post will more than likely ramble around in no certain direction. :)

I was just sitting here thinking about what I would write today and a few things came to me, but none of them were long enough to be very significant in and of themselves. SO, I decided to put it all together, and here they are:

I am making my own laundry soap now. I really like this stuff! You get to make some nice "slime" in a bucket and it's useful! It's much cheaper for me to make it than it is to buy it. No, it doesn't take much work either. :)

I got the recipe from this site: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/03/15/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent-and-save-big-money/

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I frequently look up medical issues or topics on this site: www.mercola.com
He has some great information if you like to look at things from a different perspective than what most of the medical field offers today. There are hundreds of articles and a nice search engine to search for any topic you want more information on.

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Another website I have been checking out is http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/breadmaking101.htm

This lady has been making her own bread for a long time and gives wonderful directions on how to do it yourself. I plan to try some soon.

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I do have an odd sense of humor sometimes and I found this to be quite amusing.
(FYI: I'm not against having babies in a hospital and I do think it's needed sometimes.
However, this article makes sense to me.)
http://www.bellybelly.com.au/articles/birth/birth-as-a-bowel-movement


That's all my rambling for today. :)

Flip Flops and the Flip Flop

My husband and I made a much needed trip to Mobile last Saturday to buy a few things.
I had just been given a pair of cute flip flops and decided to wear them on our outing. The soles of the shoes had some major wear on them, to the point of being a little slick, but they still look cute.
Since Gabe and Jasmine were staying with my parents, we decided to eat out at a nice restaurant. (Longhorn was our choice, and I must say that it was VERY good.)

During the meal Marshall got tired of sitting in his car seat, and so I ate while holding a squirming six month old. I find that I am really quite talented at this. ;)
When we were ready to leave, I told Josh if he would bring the car seat, I would carry Marshall out. We were just about out the door when my slick bottom flip flops met the slick hardwood floor. Yes, you guessed it! My foot shot out from under me, and I landed on my right knee. (I had Marshall in a death grip, so he didn't go anywhere.) The oxygen level in the room went down dramatically from all the gasps from waiters and people waiting to be seated. A few of them rushed over to help me up, and I assured them all that we were fine.
When we left, I realized that I didn't feel embarrassed about it. A few years ago, I would have nearly died of embarrassment. Now, I really don't care.

I looked at my knee this morning, and I've got a nice bruise there that reminded me I should probably go put those flip flops away. :)

Tank's Leftovers

We have a Great Pyrenees dog out in the field with the goats. He does his job and looks very intimidating while doing it. :) He's a very friendly dog and doesn't mind the children petting him or loving on him. Generally, I've been told, these dogs are not overly friendly when they are trained to be out with goats or sheep. They aren't mean, but they are aloof and they do their job while you do yours. Tank, is the best of both worlds it seems, and I'm thankful we were able to find a trained dog that is so good with the children when we have to out there.

We currently have our Kiko billy enclosed in our holding pen because he's becoming quite attentive to the does, and we are not ready to breed them yet. So, I've been cutting grass for the billy every morning and putting it in the pen.
I had started to see a small glimmer in Tank's eyes when I would open the gate...as though he would like to explore other areas of the property. I haven't had any trouble with him trying to get out until this week. (I must make a quick note of Tank's size. He's quite large and looks somewhat like a polar bear. I have never been a real dog lover, and I must admit that I do find him a little intimidating because of his size.) Feeding the billy is a family affair, and so I'm pulling a small wagon load of grass and trying to get two small children inside the gate with Tank standing right there. I open the gate enough for them to get through and Tank decides that now is the time to try out his escape plan. He has discovered that I'm a push-over...literally. I found that it's quite impossible to stop a rather large dog from exiting when he gets it in his head to do so. (Yes, you may laugh at the picture in your head...ha!) So, here I am looking at the escapee and wondering how I'm going to get that dog back in the field! He isn't a pet, so he's never been trained to come when called. I tried pulling his collar but the thought of making him upset doesn't appeal to me. (My attitude toward him is more like gently suggesting that he go back into the field with the goats.)
I was standing there wondering what to do when I had a small stroke of genius. Dogs like food scraps right? Yes! I have leftovers! I run to the house and pull out some leftovers, which needed to be thrown out anyway. He very willingly followed me back into the field all the while sniffing and jumping to see what smelled so tasty. Problem solved right? Yeah....until tomorrow. ;) I'm running out of leftovers!!

Monday Thoughts

I think the final count on our chickens is sixteen. There are more eggs in the incubator, but they don't look like they will hatch. We are proud of what we have! :)



I was thinking over the weekend about how I respond to correction in my life. I came to realize that my response often depends on the person doing the correcting and not the issue itself. Why is that? Does it really matter who it is? I think our hearts should yearn for correction that turns us more toward the Lord. From now on, no matter who brings an issue to my attention, I am determined to listen and and ask the Lord to show me if it is truly a problem in my life. If the Lord affirms the corrective word, then my behavior should change immediately. My time would be better spent accepting the correction, changing my behavior and moving on, than it would be to become offended at the person who dares to bring up one of my faults. We hold such a negative view of correction. I know I do. We all hate the thought of being weak and if someone shows us an area we need to come up higher in, we get offended. We get the "Well, who do you think you are?!" attitude. Correction can be brought in the wrong way, certainly, but I'm asking the Lord to help me look through that when it happens and see the real issue. I want to be pliable and easily corrected so I can move up higher in my walk with God.

Memories

I am sitting here at my desk holding Marshall and listening to Gabe and Jasmine run through the house. They sound like a herd of cattle. :) Marshall acts as though he would love to be running with them.

It's hard for me to reconcile with the fact that Gabe is 3 and Jasmine is 2 when yesterday they were both sitting in my lap like Marshall is now. Perhaps I'm feeling somewhat sappy today, but I like little reminders to hold them a little tighter and to make time to stop and play during the day. I've been asking the Lord to help me remember what is more important, having a spotless house or having fun and making memories with my children. As much as I would LOVE to have a spotless house, it doesn't look like it will happen with toddlers running through the house like cattle anyway...so I might as well join them and make a memory. :)

Our Babies

I took some pictures earlier today of the baby chicks that had hatched out. Gabe and Jasmine just love them!










It's 9:30 p.m. and we now have 9, with more on the way!

Our New Additions

We have a few fluffy additions to our little farm. Amy (Howard) Davis let us borrow the incubator she uses and after 3 weeks of waiting, we have some baby chicks!

Gabe and Jasmine(especially Jasmine) think that they are pretty grand! Jasmine is my animal lover and constantly asks to go see the babies. We put over 2 dozen in the incubator, and I'm really hoping we get a great majority of those to hatch out. I'll have pictures to post later on after I figure out how to do it on this site. It's exciting to see the children watch and learn how new life begins.


We've also recently become proud owners of Kiko goats and a rather large Great Pyrenees dog. The dog stays in the field with the goats, and the kids love him. His name is Tank, which is quite fitting for his size. We are planning to get a dairy goat from Amy as well. I'm sure I'll have lots of adventures to share!!