It's Not Raining!

Yesterday we worked outside all day.

Oh it was lovely.

I made a little fence from branches and twine to go in front of my apple tree:

I'm hoping it will keep Quincy from running through that garden/flower bed.

Any ideas on what to do in the area between the apple tree and the deck? That's where I'm standing to take the picture.

Here's another perspective of the same area. I don't know what to do right there, I suppose I could just leave it grass but it gets so wet there when it rains that I just don't know.

The kids worked on defining their play area, I found this sign tacked to the tree.

Marilyn has decided she likes to be rocked to sleep but sometimes it's hard because she (as well as all the kiddos) eat chives all day long and the smell just lingers on their breath.
But Clayton remarked the other day that, "we will never starve when we're outside because we can eat chives".

Hopefully we'll get the garden planted soon and things will grow this year, then maybe we can find more to eat outside than just chives.

Special Ed and Safe Ly

Back when my sisters and I were politically incorrect...oh wait...we still are...when we were little though we used to call each other "special".

One of us would say, "You're pretty special." and another of us would say "Yeah, special ed."

To which the insulted party would respond, "Who's Ed?"

When I got married I think we discovered who Ed was...it can either be my husband or myself...both of our initals are E.D. (Hence the blog address of specialedswife).

But we also discovered that Ed has a brother. His name is Lee.

Once upon a time I shouted the common "Drive Safe" after my husband to which he responded "ly". Such a stickler for grammar.

So the next time I had need of that phrase I shouted, "Drive safe and take ly with you too."

"Who's Lee?"

"Ed's brother."

So in our family we have "special ed" and "safe ly".

If ever we call after you "Drive safe and take ly with you too." maybe you won't look at us so strange...ly.


On another note, Ivan moved up to a bigger bike so we put the training wheels back on Ivan's old bike and bought Clayton a helmet. He was so excited that he's been wearing it whenever he can. I think the special-ness runs in the family.

Food Allergies

Oh where, oh where to start.
Many of you know the struggles we've had with Clayton's allergies. If you don't know you can click here.
Clayton has not had a rash or real flare up of eczema for about 2 years now but we decided to have a food panel done on him anyway, just to make sure we weren't missing anything. For the two years we have been very watchful of what has gone into his mouth. Only things that have been minimally processed or not at all. I grind our wheat. We only eat whole plain yogurt and use cultured dairy products when we can't get raw dairy products. We stay away from corn and corn syrups, msg, yeast extracts etc. We eat grass feed beef and eggs from chickens that are mostly raised on pasture, and lots of fruits and veggies. We cheat maybe once a month and get dinner from Left Coast Siesta or a pizza from the Pizza Garden but other than that we don't eat out much.
Our eating habits changed about 5 years ago thanks to a wonderful cookbook called Nourishing Traditions. It was put out by the Weston Price Foundation and I think it has been crucial in how Clayton has done so far.
We had Clayton tested in April by our new ND (Dr. Dramov in Tigard, OR) and went today to find out the results. This food panel tested against 96 foods and they rate the foods according to the antibodies against those foods in Clayton's blood. Rated O-VI, O being low and VI being extremely high.
Here's the thing.
Clayton tested in the III-V range (low to very high) for different types of dairy, eggs, and wheat but he hasn't had any reaction in the last two years and these are common foods in our house.
So what's the difference?
I believe it is the way we eat those foods. Our eggs we get from a local source where the chickens are pasture raised. Our dairy is whole, cultured, minimally processed and because I grind our wheat, it has no preservatives, no added nutrients, and then most of the time we soak the flour in an acidic medium to help break down the hard to digest stuff. He also tested a II (or low risk) for almonds and peanuts. But again, when we eat almonds and peanuts, they are nuts that I've soaked in salt water and then dried with low heat in the oven. Thus they are basically somewhat predigested. All stuff I learned from Nourishing Traditions. Clayton has also been taking cod liver oil and probiotics every day, though this is more recent.
I was so afraid that I would have to relearn to cook and we'd have to be even more diligent in guarding what he puts in his mouth but what we're doing already is enough I guess.
But if he starts to react to something, if his eczema flares up, if he develops asthma or gets a cold and can't quite shake it we will know what foods to avoid but as of right now we can continue on doing what we're doing, eating what we're eating and keep praying that he grows out of it.
Praise the Lord.

Nursemaid's Elbow

Last night we took Marilyn to the ER for the very first time. (I'm hoping also the last...) Nothing too terribly serious, but I accidentally pulled her elbow from the socket.
How does that happen you ask?
We were at church eating dinner and she was running from the fellowship hall, I ran after her and grabbed her hand and wrist to pull her back into the room and she was still running in the opposite direction. Apparently the ligaments in the arms of 2-4 year olds are not very strong and sometimes one of the bones in the forearm can be dislocated. It's actually more common than you might think and they have a name for it, it's called Nursemaid's Elbow.
And apparently, this is what my mom did to me when I was little, only at that time the doctor told my mom how to pop it back in over the phone.
The ER Doc that we had laughed and said, "Well we better teach you how to do this so when Marilyn does it to her child someday you can help her pop it back in."
Nana was wonderfully kind to come watch the other kiddos and when we got home last night at about 10...something; my house was clean, the dishes mostly done and laundry folded. THANK YOU NANA!
As soon as Miss Moddy's bones were all in the proper place she was asking for a banana and this morning she's not even convinced that we went to the doctor last night, silly girl.
But she does like her "bracelet" and has been wearing it most of the day.
Oh my.

With

This morning the kids are cleaning their rooms and about 20 minutes ago Clayton came running from his room holding a blanket, "Momma, Momma! I thought this blanket was lost but I looked under the bed it isn't lost, it's with me now!"

It's funny when some little phrase catches you off guard. I fully expected him to say, "I found it! I found it!" but no, he said, "it's with me now!". And it set my mind to thinking.

In the parables of Jesus he talks of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (Luke 15) and there is rejoicing when these are found. But these things are not just found, they are now with the finder. With implies interaction.

Sometimes we find things just to put them on the shelf or to put them in the place they belong but when Jesus finds us (or we find him) we are found to be with him. We are not found to just know where we are...we are to be with him now. In his arms, being carried by him, interacting WITH Him.

It's a small little word but it made a huge difference in my outlook this morning.

Table Tent

A few weeks ago on Cowgirl Clippings, Chelsea shared a tent idea that she found on the blog, The Artful Parent.

Oh my, it was love at first sight.

I love forts, always have. BUT...and it's a big BUT... now as a parent and a stay at home mom trying to keep some order to the chaos I have started to loathe the building of forts, because it takes all my chairs and strews many blankets across the floor, house and furniture. BUT...and it's another big BUT... just because it may irk me some does not give me a good excuse to deprive my children of the joy of fort building.

So today I pulled out my sewing machine, a couple old sheets, an old table cloth, and a basket of leftover quilt binding and got to work.

And here you have it:


Three windows and a door, and the oldest three are, as I type, enjoying it fully.

I've even gotten a few random hugs of joys and a thank you every couple minutes!

I'm going to go see if I can squeeze in and join them.

Garden Treasure

Saturday I took recycling to Cart'm and surprise, surprise, I found another treasure.

Erik rolled his eyes.

He does that just about every time I go to Cart'm; at least every time I come home with treasures from Cart'm. Which, if I'm being honest, means just about every time I go to Cart'm.

But this time I found this:

I have no idea what it was used for before I found it. It was a box with a window hinged on it. The boards on the short ends of the box stuck out past the box part by about a foot on each side and the back had weird notches cut out of it.

I bartered and came home with it and Erik helped me cut off the ends and then he cut out the back. Then we set my new cold frame in one of the garden beds and Miss Moddy helped me plant lettuce in it.

I'm so excited.

A few of my seeds I planted weeks ago are actually growing. Not many, but there are a few snow peas poking up.

My parsley is doing really well, but that's not new. It's been growing for awhile. I just love the green!

And do you see the shadows? Do you see the light? The sun actually came out for a visit!

Oh it was beautiful.