One of the things that we regularly do is to pick fruit together as a family.  This builds tradition, which is very important to me.   It also provides us with fruit for year round use, because we freeze most of it.  The children are really good strawberry pickers.  This year we picked about 53…

Last week, I needed to find a picture of Indigo. I don’t even remember why.  But as I was looking, I came across pictures of Indigo and Jade as princesses.   They were princesses in 2009  And princesses in 2010. They were still princesses in 2011.  As well as 2012.  And I predict they’ll still…

My Emery is twelve today!! Birthday hugs from the family: Emery and Fletcher fighting to see who can stand taller (they’re the same height): Emery taller than Colter: We had to explain to him how a woodburning kit works:  Some of his siblings got him The Muppet Movie:  He also got a playmobil set, but…

With homeschooling eight children and running a business, I’m on the computer a lot.  Really, a lot.  Sometimes too much. Because we have slow internet, I admit that I have also been known to work on two laptops, side by side at the same time.  OK, I admit to doing that a lot. I’m not sure…

Our first baby was a little girl – Brett. Then we had five boys in a row, which was fine with Jim and me. But not Brett.  With the birth of each of them, she would cry because none of them was the little sister she longed for.  Until 2006, when Indigo was born.  Finally, Brett had a…

It has been one month. One month since the tornadoes came. One month since our friends lost their house, but kept their faith in God. One month since another friend lost her legs, but kept her children. One month. It’s amazing what a month can bring. It has brought people across the country together, as…

Recently, we changed the sleeping arrangements around here. I have the old boy’s room, (which still smells funny from 7 years of boys living in it).  The little girls are still in the purple room, and all the boys are upstairs. Ginger and Gypsy have decided that my room is now the best room in…

Two days ago, I recorded a podcast about the importance of sleep.  I’ve been paying extra attention to make sure that I follow my own advice by getting to bed early and getting quality sleep so I can have a great day. So…  Last night I turned the lights off at 9:00, lit some candles,…

The story of how too much milk led to a funny shopping incident… In 2005, I got dairy goats because I wanted to be able to feed my family healthy, raw milk.  We had never tasted goat milk before, but we quickly fell in love with it and began consuming it in great quantities. When…

A couple of weeks ago I had a television interview in Indianapolis.  I had two segments on the show.  After my first interview, the hosts interviewed ex-Celtic’s basketball player, Walter McCarty. He is REALLY tall… OK – and I’m REALLY short! (And very glad that Jim isn’t 6’11”!)