Sunday, May 31, 2009

Getting Caught Up...

We have been busy! I have a lot of photos to post.

While Zoe still isn't crawling, she can get around when there is somewhere that she wants to go. We treated ourselves to some Cheetos from the surplus table at the food co-op (just to point out that they are organic crap instead of just regular old crap :-p ). Natalie was eating some and got up to go to the bathroom. She thought that she left the bag well away from the baby. She came back to this...




Yesterday we went to an old fashioned kid's festival up on Copperhill/Ducktown. It was in an old building that was used in the copper mining years ago. The kids threw darts at balloons, played Bingo and Ben took part in an old fashioned cake walk. Of course, the golden boy he is, he won a cake! The child seems to win everything he enters while I don't know what I have even won anything in my life!





There was an old set of stairs that fascinated Ben. In my effort to let my children explore their world, even when (or maybe it is *especially when*) mainstream says it may be *gasp* dangerous...I let him explore. He got to the bottom of the stairs and exclaimed "Oh wow! I'll see you later" and that's when "adventure mom" switched places with "cautious mom". I thought he was about to go down in a mine! It turns out that it was just a tunnel that led under the hill we were standing on. So I walked down to where it came out on the other side and we explored that as well.




Wednesday, May 13, 2009


The yard work continues. I have tried to plan out what I want my yard to look like and put it on paper or on the computer but I just cannot visualize it. I do better by just going out and *doing* it. I kind of get "in the zone" and work in a frenzy and then stand, exhausted, and see what I have done.

Here is Zoe sitting in the tipi to keep out of the sun.


Here is a photo of the fence/herb drying rack that I am building.

This is a photo of the kids and I that was taken yesterday.


While I worked Ben checked on his arrow head that he made out of the red clay that is so abundant in our yard. Then he borrowed my shovel and started trying to dig a well. He says he thinks it will probably take him about five days. :)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

This is a photo of my medicinal herb garden. I have a goal of learning more about herbs and natural remedies before next winter (cold and flu season). I ordered just about every herb that Baker Creek carries...all organic and heirloom and made this little garden beside the chicken coop.


Then we went for a walk to scout out local plants that I thought would look nice in the yard. My goal is to have my entire back yard planted in something besides grass. It is my belief that there is no such thing as a "weed". All plants have a purpose, some have just been forgotten to time. So we got the red wagon, plopped Zoe inside and off we went to find plants. I took the ones that spoke to me - not really knowing what any if them are. I hope to identify them later in one of our field guides (and make a school lesson out of it - bonus points!). Poor Zoe ended up in a wagon full of plants and dirt.


I spent the next hour or so digging holes for my new plants while Ben dug holes looking for Cherokee Indian artifacts. :)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Zoe is Nine Months Old!


Nine month old. Now she has been on this Earth as long as she was in the womb. We are only three months away from a year old. I have greatly enjoyed her babyhood...I think that I relax a little more with each child.


She still is not crawling and she still has no teeth. Both are fine by me. :) A nursing baby with no teeth cannot bite as hard as a nursing baby with teeth! And a baby who will sit in one spot and play is easier to care for than a baby who has discovered that they can get around.


She loves to eat and still growls at us and moves her hands in little circles as she is growling...this is her way of letting us know that she wants a bite! She is starting to be able to get around on her own, even without actually crawling. She uses her head and kind of throws it in the direction in which she wants to move. She is also pulling up on daddy and I when we are in the bed.