I tried this recipe yesterday, and I must say, it was fun for me to use some of my red wheat - I'm still waiting for my grain mill to arrive - and it was fun for Samuel to run the blender.

Edited to add: The recipe calls for soaking the grains overnight. I didn't, because for one thing, I don't have buttermilk, and secondly, I'm not 100% sure about soaking. It's supposed to make the pancakes even lighter and fluffier but they seemed to do just fine without. Eventually I'd like to try both ways. ~A~

And none of us had any complaints about the pancakes! Of course, they are a bit denser but they rose perfectly! And we coat ours with homemade peanut butter and syrup. If all you are used to is butter it might be a bit harder to get used to . . . .

There was so much else going on that I really didn't take the time to evaluate the pancake too much; I was three bites in before I stopped and thought "Huh, this isn't really bad. At all! Cool." I don't think my boys either one noticed a difference.

I did notice a few things, though. The single pancake was much more filling and "stuck with me" longer than a normal, white-flour pancake would!

We used 2/3 whole wheat and 1/3 oatmeal. I thought that would be fun, and honestly I couldn't really tell that they were made with oatmeal at all.

That was a very encouraging experience, and in the future I can see playing around with other grains, too. White wheat, maybe a pinch of brown rice or millet or something. Just for kicks. I love to "tamper" with recipes! It took me a long time to venture off the printed path . . . but I'm finally starting to get adventurous with cooking!

~Ashley~

A bunch of funny things have been happening lately. And just plain enjoyable times!

So last night, Jonathan walked into the bathroom and called for me. Perched on the lid of the white throne were two stuffed monkeys staring at him!

There was a stuffed monkey in the fridge this morning, too!

I've been on a fruit kick lately - just craving it. A store we have around here is selling monster Pomogranetes. So, sooooo incredibly good! They are a quarter more than Wally World's but well worth it, I think! They are bigger and sweeter.

So almost every evernoon Samuel and I decide we want one, and we make growling, happy, hungry noises and scream "Pomogranates!" over and over while we run through the house (yes, I sorta move faster than a walk) and then I usually end up with him in my lap while we munch and crunch. It is usually a very yummy, very fun half hour where we just sit together and eat yummy fruit very slowly and just chill out together. Even Elijah enjoys them, if he's awake.

I can't bear to try to eat one alone! It would be too sad . . . . 

Even Elijah is getting in on emptying the dishwasher these days. It's so nice to have him walking and faster on his feet now! He gets a huge kick of walking through our beaded curtian in the master bedroom. I wish I could capture the thrill he gets out of it with my camera, but images are only part of what really happens . . . .

Yes, I did decide shortly after this that he had to finish his cookie at the table! 

Oh, and Elijah is into silverware now. I don't let him ramble about with a fork, but he sometimes gets one at the table. You can tell he feels grown-up!

He even gets some on the fork, as you can see in the next pic:

He knocks a lot of food off right now, but I have a hunch that Samuel's early proficiency with utensils at the table came about partly because we let him try.

Well, I have to go. Pancakes are on the menu this morning, and I'm trying a new recipe. Hope you are enjoying the rest of your week!

~Ashley~

I've been slowly falling for my cast iron griddle and 5" pan. Now I'm on the prowl for more! I'd still like a big skillet and a square skillet . . . mainly for frying bacon!

And I'm really getting intriqued by whole grains. It's facinating, really.

A few years ago, if someone had metioned grinding my own grain, I would have listened politely and never looked into it. I was already neck-deep into learning about cooking, or herbs, or something else! Whole grains was just too much - it would have been the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

Now, just as I was plunged about a year ago in learning about herbs, I'm diving right into the grains now. There seems like so much to learn . . . I hope I never stop learning!

For one thing, flour loses so much - 40% of the nutrients are oxidized out after the first day!

The third trimester is such a good time for learning things . . . I'm also browsing some gardening books and learning how much I don't know . . . .

Oh, and I just found out Elijah has a tooth! His very first one!!!! He crawled under the desk and bit my foot, which is how I found out.  Hooray! His brother didn't have one until 15mo . . . Elijah is just speedy when it comes to everything. He walked later, but he caught on faster.

My little boy has a tooth . . . ack! He can't hit this many milestones all at once! He can't be this big yet! *sniff* Where is my little boy gone?

~Ashley~

We drove around town looking for garage sales Saturday. We only found a couple, but I found a really cute little step stool at one.

I’m standing there, waiting to pay my dollar, and this young woman holding a little girls says:

“Would you like to buy a child?”

I totally wasn’t prepared for such a comment. Honestly, my mind raced. Really?

The mom continued, seeming so earnest it was hard to take her for anything but serious: “I’ll give her to you for a nickel.”

My first thought was honestly, I have a nickel! And secondly, Jonathan wouldn’t mind. Any child is worth more than a nickel! Last of all, surely she isn’t serious!

“She’s really cute,” I said.

“Oh, you’d bring her back in 10 minutes,” the mom snorted. “You’d be like here, I don’t want her!”

I smiled and rubbed my stomach. “I wouldn’t be so sure. This will be my third under the age of three come January.”

“Good ---!”

Yeah, she thought I was crazy. So I said something about how much we love our boys and I looked at this adorable little girl and said “But we don’t have a little girl yet!”

“Well, she’s fine until she’s teething. Then it’s like ‘Go to sleep! Go to sleep!’” the woman explained in a screech. The little girl looked calmly at me from her mother’s arms as they walked away.

Jonathan told me I should have told her both our boys were teething last week so she would fit right in!

We wandered by an auction, where a huge, beautiful table sold for $7.50. We watched the house sell for $1,500 . . . it was crazy. The woman who is going to be moving to an assisted-living home was sitting on the front porch, watching it all unfold.

Jonathan approached her to ask about what was going to happen to the contents of the house. She said she was taking it with her. “Oh,” he told her, “You have some lovely lamps.”

“Lamps?”

“Oil lamps,” I explained, starting to turn away.

She brightened visibly. “Are you interested in them?”

We stood there and talked to her about oil lamps and the auction and her house and heard about how neither of her sons could be there to help her. She told us our boys seemed well behaved. She looked at me, and I could see memories tugging at her.

“Unless it’s dangerous . . . or really obscene . . . they'll be okay. Enjoy your little ones.”

And her eyes welled up and she tried not to cry as we stood there, and I wondered what it will be like to be old and have nothing but memories of when my children are little. She reached up under her glasses to wipe an escaping tear.

Jonathan said that we need to buy a lamp from her, she was so nice and old and alone. She wants us to call her in a week and she will let us look at the lamps she has left. She only wants to keep her grandparent's lamp. She has so many! Some were very neat.

"Bring your little boys" she told me, "And I'll give you a better deal."

As we go everywhere together, I told her we would.

I told Jonthan that I just love oil lamps. I warned him that some day we may have a housefull of them! He grinned and me and said he didn't care. Perhaps because I only have three right now, so a "housefull" may be a slight exageration! lol

I'm in the third trimester now. Month Seven! Part of me is nervous . . . I'm scared that this baby might come early like Elijah did last time. Part of me is taking comfort in the fact that this baby is riding quite high. Everything about this child points to s/he being strong and healthy, but I still worry about this one in a way I didn't worry about Elijah.

I'm cleaning up my diet even more. These next 8 weeks to get to full-term feel so important! I'm craving fruit this week, and so I bought some good quality fruit for the days ahead. I'm drinking milk. I'm eating my protien. I'm careful to drink enough water so that I don't bring on extra Braxton Hicks . . . .

I hope everyone has a great Monday! And if you see a young woman with a little girl that she's offering for a nickel, tell her I asked my husband and he said she'll fit right in!

~Ashley~

Note: For everyone who has so kindly asked, we won't know until the baby's birthday if baby is a boy or girl. We have names picked out for both, and enough boy/girl clothing to see us through the first few months ... we enjoy the suspense and eager anticipation of not knowing that builds up as we get closer to meeting this precious child. Thanks for asking!  ~A~ 

So last night we watched a movie in which the power was lost to New York or some such place with lots of big buildings. I told Jonathan that I didn't think too many of those people had grain mills.

He laughed.  I think he was amused that this was the first thought I had!

I've been researching grain mills for a good solid week or better. And while I would enjoy the ease of an electric mill, most of those are "impact" mills, which means the kernel of wheat implodes when the high-speed teeth hit it, turning into fine powder. That's fine and dandy, if that's all you want.

For variety, and quality, and something that is going to last a long time, we went with the Country Living Mill.

Trust me, I'd love to have a Daimant mill, but they are just out of reach.  

This is the absolute best page I could find comparing mills. You would think there was more out there! If you are really wanting to look at the nitty-gritty and not just the varied and conflicting opinions out there, check it out.

There is also this Grinder Flour comparison page.

I love this sort of thing!

Okay, so you want to know why you should grind your own grains? Check out THIS or THIS or THIS or THIS.

Now, I just don't want the extra nutrients that come from grinding your own corn and wheat, but I would also like to have stuff taste good. So, I invested in some cookbooks.

First, I ordered The Amazing Wheat Book and also Cooking With Home Storage to see if I can't get some ideas from those. And I'm hording links that would seem to teach me the difference between white wheat and red wheat.

Yeah . . . did I mention I enjoy research?

~Ashley~

I had a post yesteday, but I forgot to hit "post". So I was shocked this morning to find out it wasn't blogged.

Ooops!

I can't believe I'm in the 27th week of pregnancy. We reached a milestone recently - the one where I ask my wonderful husband to pick the hair brush up for me off of the floorboard of the car because it's too uncomfortable to get it myself.

Other than that, I'm doing really good. I'm entering the beginning of the season where I slow down a bit. I can feel it creeping up on me, just around the corner. It's still a ways out - 5 or 6 weeks, I think - but it's coming. I have my crochet box out, new yarns looking temptingly at me, waiting for when I just want to read and do more things that require sitting.

Seasons are  so interesting . . . so much variety added to life! Watching my boys grow, time passing in cycles. There are times I have so much energy and it's easy to keep up with the house, and then it cycles forward and I have morning sickness or I grow heavier with child or I have a newborn . . . seasons. They come, they go. I keep up with the cooking, and then everyone gets a cold and we cycle slowly into health again . . . everything growing and living and breathing and changing!

My boys, growing. They won't always be little. So snuggly, so clingy. I remember when Samuel started not to want to be held . . . that happened this weekend with Elijah. We were at a store and he just wanted to walk. It was so bitter-sweet for me, to walk behind him, my arms aching a bit with emptiness. Yes, he'll still want held at times in the future - Samuel still does. But it's not as often.

Seasons . . . .

Leaves falling. The first snow will delight Elijah  just like it did Samuel a few seasons ago. The wonder of that on his face . . . . yet the  senes of so much time having passed since I saw Samuel experience the same thing!

The laundry has changed, with time. At first there were a few tiny, adorable pieces mixed in with our gigantic adult items. Then, Samuel grew. Slowly. Elijahs' clothing was added . . . suddenly Samuel's seemed so big! Now Elijah is in long pants, and I fold four different stacks of clothing. Soon, tiny, adorable pieces will be worked into the laundry once again . . . and the shape of a load of laundry will shift subtly to accomidate the clothing for another tiny person . . . .

Jonathan and I will be outnumbered when this baby arrives. It's so strange . . . two people get married and start living together, and then other people come to be (unless you do something to guard against the possibility). The family grows, changing shape and number. Without really doing anything unusual, another human comes to live under the same roof. A total responsibilty just . . . arrives. How incredible! You don't have to buy a baby, or fill out paperwork to apply for one . . . what an incredible gift!

I hope you are enjoying whatever season you are in right now in life. May you find many new ways to explore it and use it to the uttermost of your ability!

Praising Him,

~Ashley~

So, just because I find the state of the economy an adventurous thing, doesn't mean some aren't feeling something more akin to a mild state of panic. I found this on a blog today, and I'm posting it here. While being married to an engineer I'd love to know what figures this is coming off of to know just how accurate it is . . . I think we often err in down-playing the awesome power of our God.

Is He not our Father? Does a Father not care for His Children?

Enjoy,

~Ashley~

The Logistics Of The Exodus

*I got this in an e-mail, it's pretty cool*

Exodus 12:37-38 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. Many other people went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.

Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 to 3 million people requires a lot of food.

The people needed 2,000 tons -- four million pounds -- of food each day.

To bring that much food each day, would require three freight trains each a mile long!

In the desert they needed firewood to cook and keep warm. Each day this would take 4,000 tons -- eight million pounds -- of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long.

Of course, they needed water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11 million gallons each day, and a freight train with tank cars 1,800 miles long, just to bring water!

And then another thing: They had to get across the Red Sea in one night. If they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through.

So, there had to be an opening in the Red Sea, 3 miles long so that they could walk 5,000 abreast to get over in one night.

Each time they camped at the end of the day, they needed a campground two-thirds the size of the State of Rhode Island, about 750 square miles.

They journeyed in the desert forty years.

Do you think Moses worked all this out before he left Egypt?

Moses put his trust in God.
God handled things every day for 40 years.

If you think God can't handle your problems . . .
THINK AGAIN!

Just lately, Jonathan and I had a pow-wow about Samuel's eating habits. We decided that we had better nip it in the bud early, rather than late.

I really didn't think we had much of a problem, but mainly that Samuel was putting off eating until just before he went to bed. We were bothered that he was no longer eating with the family . . . which is just so weird.

So, if he didn't eat with us, we didn't make a big deal out of it. Over the course of the evening, he would ask for other things . . . .

Apples.

Plums.

Cheese sticks.

Candy.

And we consistantly pointed him back to the dinner on the table.

The next day he didn't want his breakfast. Until 1:30pm.

[Below, being tickled by Mommy's big foot.]

What has been facinating for me to watch is his additude in other areas. When we have held firm on this one, seemingly little thing, he has become much more respectful in *all* other areas. Esspecially for me, during the day.

Every meal for 2 days was a "battle" to the extent that he didn't eat until he was really, really hungry.

Until today, when he woke up, ate breakfast. And then he ate the lunch he "said" he didn't want. And then he ate more lunch, and asked for thirds. (I knew he liked the meal, so it didn't suprise me.)

Consistancy is so important for children. Here I didn't even think it was a big deal, but watching him respond to me now, he felt like he was getting away with something!

Now, least anyone get the wrong idea:

We never made him actually "finish" a meal. We're not worried about quantity, but willingness. Additude. We're not trying to make him eat an unreasonable amount of food, just enough that we can feel he actually tried. Not even picking up a fork is not effort, and not even tasting something is a pretty poor additude!

Secondly, he was never "made" to go hungry. He had food, and he knows his options. He could drown it in ketchup or ranch or take Mommy up on an offer to heat it up. Samuel David made the choice to let it sit there. Until he was hungry enough that it looked good.

I'm so happy to have discovered this before it became a bigger, uglier issue. I'm so happy with the subtile little changes in his temperment - when I say "no" you can see the wheels turning in his mind that it really means . . . No.

*sigh* It's so good to be home!

~Ashley~

The first half of this pregnancy, I did a lot of thinking that this baby might be a little girl. Then, a few weeks ago, I started having "sypmtoms" that I personally relate to having a boy that I had with both Samuel and Elijah.

Now, I haven't had a little girl so I could definatly be wrong!

I told Jonathan that well, we might just be having a third little boy. I watched his eyes brighten with a snap and start to sparkle. "Wouldn't that be so great?"

Well, yeah.

Right after we announced to the whole world that I was expecting again, I was swamped with comments about 'how maybe this one would be a girl' and how they 'hoped for my sake' and 'maybe finally'.

I visited my dental hygenist. She "tried four times for a girl before she called it quits".

I'm sorry, I just can't grasp that. Let's say, for an example, that you have four girls. You really, really, really want a son.

Okay.

"Trying again" means that, worst case scenario, you have another precious little girl. Why is that bad? Is there something wrong with your other girls? What would it be like to know that the only reason your parents "kept going" and had you was in hopes that you were a boy? And they finally felt they couldn't "risk" another girl?

Wouldn't you wonder if you or your sisters were really so bad that your parents had to stop?

Just curious.

I love my boys.

I love the idea of another one!

It does cross my mind that we'll probably be the subject of a bit more "pity" because we don't have our girl "yet" . . . . and I find it strangely amusing to think that when/if we have a girl, some people might actually mentally sigh we relief that we can "be done now".

Done? I hope we're just getting started!

At an event a while back, I had quite a few strangers ask me if I was hoping for a girl this time. The more people I answered, the more I realized I really, really don't. I'll take either. Actually, in a way, my hopes are still leaning a tiny bit towards another boy. Which I know hardly anyone will understand, so I don't voice it, normally.

I like boys. I love all of mine!

Regardless of gender, I think of this child as my "strong" child. Samuel was my spontanious, active one. Elijah was even more active, yet even in my womb I could tell he was going to be more "delicate". His hickups were tiny, but he was predictable!

This baby is just plain strong. Everything about this child feels sturdy, filling me up on the inside already. And when it comes to predictability, this one is somewhere between Samuel and Elijah - not as scheduled, but not as spontanious. Quite simply, strong and steady.

I'm getting so excited to meet this child. Only about 14 more weeks . . . . if, Lord willing, I reach my due date with this one!

I do so enjoy pregnancy . . . .

~Ashley~

I have always detested curtains. To me they are bits or swaths of fabric you hang, they look pretty, then they get dusty and you wash them once a year.

If I ever had curtains, I said they would be lace.

Oh, well.

It crossed my mind last week that curtains might also insulate and thus also serve a very practical purpose.

I like practical, purposeful things.

So I have curtains now.

I'm not married to a procrastinator!

Needless to say, we also learned that curtains also give you a feeling of privacy. Which we just love. They block out so much light, from the street you can't tell if we're home. I could dance a jig for joy about that . . . .

Here is the bedroom, which is the "fanciest". Please remember, I'm in the learning process of figuring out curtains!

Yes, this is what my bed looked like all last winter with the winter quilt. So I finally broke down and found some different shams!

These curtains block out so much light, I sleep better. Even though those windows look into an alley, there is a lot of light in the city!

Now, here is the "romantic" and "feminine" touch I added to our room. Jonathan says it makes our room more pretty and he's the one that uses the word "romantic". But he says that a romantic setting for a bedroom is a good thing, for a guy!

Introducing:

It's a lead crystal dish full of potpurri. On a doilie. I found them both at a garage sale for $2.50 and plunked it on our dresser as it will be as protected as anyplace. Highly romantic, no? It gives the whole room a "romantic" touch, I'm sure.

Elijah got a haircut. As a yearling, it was just time.

I have yet to get a really good picture of the hair cut. He loooks so grown up!

And he's walking! Everywhere! Even if he plunks to the floor, he just stands up and moves on! I love it that he's even more mobil now!

I really need to capture some better pictures . . . .

~Ashley~