A Plain Home

Need Help Please

Alot of people in my house have alot of stomach problems. From acid reflux, to constipation and bleeding ulcers. I was told along time ago by a good friend of mine that her sister in law made her families own bread and that she never bought store bought bread.She said that not one person in that family had any problems with their stomachs. I recently read an article about homemade bread being better for someone with stomach problems. I would love to find some recipes on home made bread and to ask anyone if the store bought wheat flour is good enough or should I try and get it from a health food store. If any one has recipes or good ideas I would be forever grateful...

Love,

Rebekah

Photo Album Friday

Here are some random pictures from our photo albums!

Me & my BF Niki.  I was 9 months pregnant with my oldest, Ashley.  See the baby bump?

Don't ask me why we look so cheezy because I don't know.

1993

Me pregnant with my youngest, Katie. 

1996

Me, Ashley & Katie

1998

Ashley

I don't know why she liked to rub food on her feet!

1994

Ashley

Ashley

1999

Katie

She was sooo sick here.  I wanted her to pose with the cake I made her so we took a really quick picture before she threw up again.

2001

Katie & Suzy the cat.

Katie with hair extensions.  LOL!

I wanted to see what she would look like once she finally grew some hair!

Katie

1997

Katie with her Pooh cake that I made her.

2000

Katie

1999

Ashley & Katie

This was Ashley's first day of kindergarten.

1999

Katie as Baby Bop & Ashley as the pumpkin.

1999

Ashley & Katie playing Barbies.

2000

Ashley & Katie

2000

Katie & Ashley sharing a rocking chair.

2000

More recent news....

aka the Biggest Photo Blog EVER!!!! Haha!

You ever get so far behind on news that you end up skipping major things, otherwise you'd have to put up like 8 posts in one day?

I do that.

But not today! Here is the whole enchilada.

We celebrated my brother's 23rd birthday a while back. THAT IS CRAZY! I was married 6mo when I had my 23rd birthday! That mean's I've been married 4 years. Okay, I know, we celebrated our 4th anniversary in June but it's just different to watch a younger sibling hit that kind of milestone....

Happy Birthday, bro!

More pics from the farm....

We stayed late.

Oh, and before I forget, which I have forgot numerous times, here is my new sink:

And here is the $5 dresser after Jonathan finished working on it and moved it to the boy's room. I wonder if it will be my boy's and girl's room before long?

Then, Jonathan's brother and  his wife visited from Florida. We went to the Zoo together and hung around for an entire week generally making constant pests of ourselves. The boys really hit it off with their aunt & uncle!

Here is Elijah with his Aunt Clare. Clare is pregnant. A month ahead of me, but I'm the one getting the strangers asking about my pregnancy. I guess by #3 you don't have much left to hold it all in. Oh, well, Jay is thrilled that I'm "showing" this time around sooner. And it is fun telling people that it's our THIRD when they ask, of course, if it's our first. It makes it seem all that more real. Our third child!

Five years ago we had our picture taken "with the bear" and it was just the two of us. I love, love, LOVE having my lovely family doubled!!!

My boys really liked the zoo.

On Friday night, a soon-to-be Air Force .... guy. .... took us up on a Cessna 172. Did I mention he's 3 years younger than me and Jay? And that made me feel old to trust him to fly us up into the sky?

The airplane was ENTIRELY TOO SMALL. It made our car feel huge when I was back on the ground. Every little thing made it dip and buck in the sky. It was like a rollercoaster without anything beneath us. My stomach churned. Samuel freaked out. I had to comfort him by saying things like,

"The airplane is just bouncy! It's fine! Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy! Isn't this fun?"

.... while resisiting my urge to grab the pilot's shoulder and beg him not to kill us all.

Right before he freaked:

A field. Full of round bales. BIG BALES, folks!

My parent's farm. I tried to get Jonathan to take pictures. I really did. He said I would do "fine". Then, after we had circled and I took the camera full of pictures and we headed back, he turns in the seat and says:

"You took all the pictures zoomed in all the way, right?"

Appearantly, he was so confident of my answer he turned back around without waiting for one. It was too noisey and I deemed it the wrong time to tell him . . . NO. I hadn't even thought of such a thing, while trying to take pictures out of the window over my son while bouncing through the sky. My bad.

I still contend that Jay is partly to blame. He should know I'm no photographer by now!

It was a good flight anyway.

And that is about all, except I wanted to share two pictures of my boys. This old picture of Samuel (he was 7mo):

And this one, of Elijah (he's 11mo but probably close to the same size his older brother was):

My little boys! They are growing up so fast! I'm so ready for a tiny little newborn that wants to snuggle and nurse, this tiny new person that is bumping me from the inside to get to know. A unique, different individual that will be somewhat like the rest of us yet totally different in a whole new way . . . .

Still no washer and dryer. I have some tile to walk on (ungrouted and unsealed) now but it's a big, big project. I probably won't be able to do laundry until Monday or Tuesday or possibly later. My hamper floweth over, but we haven't come close to running out of things to wear. So it's all good!  And when it's behind me, I shall have tile!!!

~Ashley~

Summer's last days...

  The weather has been blustery and rainy here the past few days on the homestead. It hasn't been this cold since April!  We have had temps in the high 50's and low 60's...... so unusual for NW Missouri in early September.  I am ever so thankful for the moisture, as we needed it. The grass was beginning to become brown up and the last few days of rain has "greened up" everything again.

No doubt about it.... fall is on the way!  Did I mention that fall is my favorite season of the year? The colors are spectacular here in October ~~ our homestead has a good 25 acres or so of Oaks, Maples & Walnuts.... so the colors are something to behold. I am looking foward to that.

On the home front we are busy, busy renovating our "parlor"...... it's not too big of a room ~~ about 15 x 16 or so..... but it faces south and gets lots of sun, and overlooks the woods and fields. This is a favorite place to sit and read on a cold winter day. We have stained the new wood windows, and have painted the cieling and installed a new light/fan. We are almost done with the wallcoverings..... I chose a very "old fashioned pattern"..... it actually looks like the original pattern that we discovered under the sheetrock! It makes things look very "old" and I am excited about that!

I apologize that I have been remiss at posting photos of our recent renovations. Life is so full with schooling, renovating, and all the other "stuff" that this mama has to do each day. I am finding I am only able to blog a few times each week as life is simply filled to the brim. ( No complaints here)

In the kitchen we have been busy baking some fall treats...... the weather put me in the mood for pumpkin pies! So, this afternoon my eldest daughter and I were busy making some for desert. I am so happy to share that my 13 yr old daughter has truly mastered the knack of making homemade pie crusts and does a superb job! She is going to be such a blessing to her future husband and family! She loves to help me in my homemaking endeavors and she is a precious helper to have around!

The pumpkin candle is burning........and the air does have a nip to it in the evenings now.

Supper is in the oven ready to serve....... a hot pan full of swedish meatballs.

It's that time of year...... when smells fill the home........

Well I am off to spend the evening serving my beloved family.

May God bless each and everyone of you!

~ gloria ~

Musings...of Autumn?

Thrifty Thursday

Do you use a  lot of tomato juice?  How much do you pay for a 46oz . can? 

Is it $1.00?  $2.00?

At Walmart, I pay $.78 for a 58 oz . can of tomato juice.

How?

I take a 29 oz . can of tomato sauce, dump it into whatever I am cooking & then add another 29 oz . can of water.  Now I have 58 oz . of tomato juice for $.78!

You can also do this with smaller cans of tomato sauce if you need less.

Picking Berries...

I am having Chelsea read through some readers to try and improve her fluency with reading.  Today's story was about picking berries.  It was a nice warm story of one family picking blueberries. 

This afternoon, I was working in the garden and got what onions I could find out.  We also got some tomatoes and then I remembered that Dh showed me last night that the elderberries were ripe. 

I called Megan and Chelsea and asked them to come help me.  I grabbed three buckets and out we went to collect some elderberries.  We have a small patch that is quite easy to get to.  A second batch cropped up this year in a pile of brush.  In trying to reach the elderberries, I had to climb onto crackling logs and branches which were buckling under my weight, but thankfully did not come crashing down.  The girls enjoyed my gymnastics and had a good time out there together picking berries... just like in our story.  Chelsea even commented on us picking berries... hope we don't find any bears... just like in her story earlier.  She is 16yo, and was poking fun, but it was a smiley fun and she didn't mind picking berries at all. 

I have spent some time pulling berries off their stems, but I needed a break, so thought I would let you all know what I will be doing the rest of the evening!  My fingers are already purple and I smell of berries.  My hope is to get enough berries to make a batch of elderberry jelly and a batch of elderberry muffins.  We will see what we come up with. 

Well, I guess I had better get back to plucking berries into the bowl.

Warmly, ~Melissa

Pepper Jelly...

Yesterday I made 14 jars of pepper jelly.  A friend had asked if I would make some for them at the beginning of this summer.  I've been thinking about it for quite some time, waiting for the peppers to ripen... and finally I had enough to make some.  I was really glad to get that job done. 

I will be making some raspberry pepper jelly as soon as I get to the store or Farmer's Market for some jalapeno's.  Dh requested that jelly.  My jalapenos didn't come up in the garden, so I'll need to purchase those. 

Nice to get something into the pantry for a change! 

Warmly,  ~Melissa

31 Days of Prayer for my Children

Here is my third entry for 31 Days of Prayer for my children...

Wordless Wednesday