Passover 2012

Here are a few pictures from our Passover celebration. We had such a great time!

Our little curly top boy...he's such a lover.

Our sweet girl...with a cold, but still all smiles.

Solomon is growing right up. My little man.

Here's our family...I feel so blessed.

Queso Blanco

Sounds fancy, right? Well, fancy it isn't...but it sure was fun to make and yummy to eat! Yesterday, my friend invited me over to teach me how to make a basic farm cheese with her fresh goat milk. I've been so excited at each opportunity to learn that I gladly accepted!

Fresh goat milk from this week.

Here's me~week 28~stirring vinegar into the milk once it reached 185 degrees.

We made two batches, using 2 gallons of milk.

The strainer shows the cheese...the mason jars on the left contain the leftover whey (being saved for Italian feather bread).

The final product after being seasoned and spiced. It came out great, and I enjoyed sharing it with my family. This was a very basic recipe and a perfect place to start for first timers.

5:30 AM feedings.

This morning came early for me. I got up at 4:30 AM and bundled up in all my snow gear so I could make a 5:30 AM feeding...for our goat. 
I milked a goat for the first time ever! I know it probably sounds lame or less-than-fun to most anyone reading this...but, to me, it's all part of this amazing adventure. I'm excited when I learn something new! It was way different than the image I was playing in my mind. I was imagining dirty, hairy, stinky...and got none of that! I got to milk our baby goat's mother (our baby goat is still name-less), then strain the milk. Then we heated the milk up to 110 degrees, and poured it into bottles for the two babies. I enjoyed feeding our girl, and then watching her and her brother learn to frolic and play. They're so adorable!
I brought home the extra milk for my family to try. I was hesitant but to all of our surprise, it just tasted like regular store bought cow's milk! We let ours chill in the snow for a few hours before we tried it. The kids even agree..."it just tastes like milk".

Dreams of strawberries & peas.

Precisely the contents of my dreams lastnight. Spring is so close I can feel it in the air...the 40 degree air. Right now it's been raining every day, and there is still an abundance of snow on the ground. Last week I was so happy to get my seeds started inside!

I've been dreaming of plants ever since. The broccoli and lettuce heads are already sprouting after just a few days. I can't wait to get to our local nursery for some strawberry plants! Come on, spring time!

She's here! She's here!

Don't get any ideas. I'm only just in my 26th week of pregnancy!  :)   But, our sweet baby Nubian goat was born yesterday! Here she is...

Asher with our baby girl. The bigger one with the white ears is her "twin" brother. One day our girl will provide enough milk and soft cheeses for our family.  

Meet Jack.

So, we got a new puppy. He's a shepherd/mastiff mix and 10 weeks old.

He belongs to my husband, Matt...but I love him, too.

By the looks of his feet, Jack is going to be huge. He has what is called "double dewclaws" on his back feet. That's 6 toes per paw.

Welcome to the family, Jack.



Prefolds to fitteds.

Here's a little peak at the start of my "newborn stash". I'm 24 weeks into the making of our newest little babe. The idea to cloth diaper didn't come around until Asher, our 3rd baby, was 6 months old. I had no idea what to buy, so I went with cuteness. The diapers I used for Asher worked well enough, but I've found that all those synthetic fibers eventually begin to stink.

This time around, my husband and I decided to go with 100% organic cotton. My searches continually lead me bak to Green Mountain Diapers, and I finally took the plunge and ordered a dozen organic newborn and a dozen organic small prefolds. They looked like this when I started.

We ordered the orange edge and the yellow edge to start.

I went searching right away for a tutorial to convert my prefolds (flat diaper square) to a fitted cloth diaper. I found an excellent tutorial here:

http://cloth-crazy.blogspot.com/2009/04/prefold-to-fitted.html

So, this is how Grandma and I spent our Sunday afternoon...whipping up adorable fitted diapers for my little sweetness.

The inside of the diapers.

Here's the outside. I should add that I purchased a set of snap pliers and colored snaps from kamsnaps.com. My cost per diaper was just over $3 (including the cost of the snap pliers and snaps). GMD sells fitted non-organic diapers similar to these (converted from prefold to fitted) for about $10 per diaper. Yay for savings...and yay for saving my baby's tiny tush from disposables that are loaded with chemicals!

We also bought 6 of the GMD 100% cotton sherpa flats, and we used the same tutorial to whip these up. I'm so thankful that my Momma taught me to sew when I was growing up (and that she's here now to help me with all my ideas and projects)! Thanks, Mom.