So my little man begged to make gingerbread houses this year and then he was begging to eat them before we were even finished decorating. I should've guessed the child had ulterior motives.

Evie's is still standing a week later, minus a few swiped spice drops from the aforementioned sweet freak.

Yogurt WIN!

It only took 2 years to get around to it but I finally whipped up a homemade batch of yogurt. Something in me said this was going to be hard but it was ridiculously easy! Well, I did cheat a bit and use my crockpot. Ideally I could get the job done off the grid but for a first time attempt I opted to use this method: http://savingslifestyle.com/2011/07/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-crockpot/. My little Vik gobbled up 12 oz for breakfast before I cut him off so I'm pretty sure the experiment was a success. I love it when the kids dig my cooking!

Holy Pickles, Batman!

A dear friend recently introduced me to the world of canning. She's created a monster, muhahahaha! Here's the Peacock Peck of Pickled Pickles.

10 jars last week, 14 this week and loads more cukes crying for me as I walk past them to feed and water the Dirty Dozen. I am in survival chick heaven. Pickles! Yeah!

Brilliant or Book the Therapist Now?

Sometimes I'll have Evie dictate to me a story that tells about a piece of her artwork. Today's selection was so entertaining I just have to share it. Though the obsession with the living dead does have me a little concerned. :)

This picture is called "Mermaid". The three little rocks don't talk. This is why - When people come they get really shy because they fell down and got hurt and got gray but now they are white. They are called the three commandments about God. They are happy because the Mermaid is not bothering them. The mermaid is sitting on a rock watching the birds flying to their nest. The baby birds fly because the mermaid keeps swimming and the starfish keeps swimming. The mermaid has long hair because it keeps growing and now her hair is 100 long! So the mermaid with the longest hair was sitting on the rock. She was sitting on the rock until at last she swam away. After she swam away a truck came.

*Flip to the backside of the page here*

Once upon a time there was a truck with flying birds all over it and they were flying all over until the driver died. He woke up and was a zombie and said, "Oooh, I'm a zombie! Ooooooh, I'm a zombie!" The truck died too. At last he died again and the birds went away. But he only dreamed he was a zombie. The End.

New Bellybutton

Evie had surgery on her umbilical hernia last Tuesday. It was an emotional experience to watch my darling daughter go through such a procedure but I must say that she bounced back quickly. We get to take her bandage off tomorrow and she is so excited to peek at her "new bellybutton". She's such a brave girl and becoming quite the little lady. :)

Here we go again.

So here we are, two years and five moves after the inception of what I like to call the "difficult phase" a.k.a. "just how much do you trust Jesus?" The rollercoaster that was 2009/2010 brought us full circle and we're back in Northern Kentucky and although I now know better than to say anything is ever completely definite, I think we're staying his time. That is, unless God has another trump card up his heavenly sleeve, in which case I'm gonna need an extra dose of His grace and a bottle of Advil.

Anyways, we're thrilled to be back and excited to get going on our crazy projects (chickens and gardens and learning, oh my!). The chicks arrive next week. I was excited to give them all French names (in my admittedly fruity plan to speak only French in the garden) but apparently my kiddos have different plans. During breakfast last week I made the mistake of asking their opinions on the matter. Evie didn't hesitate. They are all to have names from her favorite picture books. So far we have Angelina, Pinkalicious and Purpalicious. Viktor creatively thought up Milk (guess what we were having for breakfast?). Well, the laughter over Milk led to Chocolate Milk. I see my well laid plans to teach French in the garden can go only as far as labeling the veggies. Ah well. Perhaps I'll have room to slip in a Sophie or Heloise.