We Made It!

After drving a total of 547 miles yesterday we made it to Indiana and we'll stay here with my folks until next Tuesday.
Our route is pictured above. We started the day out by returning library books in Elroy. Then venturing over to La Farge to buys some organic cheese, butter, and eggs direct from Organic Valley's main outlet store (cheap!). Next stop was to Viroqua where we picked up a case of organic apples and a 25lb bag of (you guessed it) organic carrots. The day was going great and we were ahead of schedule. Next stop... Hillsboro for our buying club pick up at 1:45pm.
We arrived in Hillsboro at 1pm, (at this point in the trip we've already gone 80 miles) and set up the delivery site. Reeve and Kyle love to help me set up the tables and then unload the truck. I knew the driver would be there early, and he arrived at 1:15pm. I was the only one there early, so Reeve, Kyle, and I unloaded the whole delivery (about 2 pallets worth) and then we organized it all before anyone else showed up. Out of breath I loaded up my car and headed for Hustler, WI. I had picked up two other orders for friends that live in Hustler in addition to my order. We arrived home about 2:30pm. I made the kids food and then I made some road food. I unloaded the food from the car, and then loaded the car with our traveling gear. I fed the cat in his kitty condo (his outdoor enclosed home), had the kids go to the bathroom, and then suprised them with "I'm ready to go to Indiana right now!" They thought we were going to leave the next day. They were beyond excited and we loaded up and left by 3:45pm! Now you ask... "Laura what was your secrect? How did you do all that in an hour and 15 minutes??" My answer : CHOCOLATE COVERED COFFEE BEANS (fair-trade, of course). Keep in mind I don't drink coffee! As a matter of fact I'm still feeling the residual jolt :-).

Our first stop was for gas in Rochelle, IL. I was cold, the wind was blowing, and somehow I didn't end up with a full tank of gas. Next stop was about 100 miles later in Le Roy, IL where Reeve and Kyle insisted that I pull over at a gas station immediately because they had to go #2! What?!? Just when I thought it was sooo easy to travel with boys. We were successful and filled the tank and I made sure everyone got everything out and we were back on the road. Reeve and Kyle both requested that I play rock-n-roll music so THEY didn't fall asleep, and they didn't! We arrived at my parent's house 7.5hrs later at 11:15pmCST.

Tom is now in Driggs, ID where he's enjoying excellent powdery snow, THE BUM!

Reeve Lost his First Tooth!

After eating 5 apples (shared with Kyle & Mom) then Mom flossing his teeth, Reeve's first tooth came out while he was brushing his teeth. He was so excited and proud! He couldn't believe it finally happened. Kyle was dancing around the room singing about how Reeve lost his first tooth while Reeve couldn't stop looking at himself in the mirror.

We called Tom and told him the news right away. He was thrilled and told us he had a great first day snowboarding in Bozeman, Montana. They're checking out of the Bozeman Inn today and traveling about 2hrs to another Montana ski hill called Moonlit Basin. He said the snow is great and they're expecting more snow today.

Going Rocky Mtn. Snowboarding!

Tommy left at 3:30am this morning to go on his two week snowboarding adventure in Montana, Wyoming, and maybe Idaho. We'll miss him and keep the fire burning while he's gone :-).

Elroy Public Library Homeschooling Group

Yesterday was the first meeting of a new homeschooling group in our area. There were over 32 kids in attendance (age range: 2-13) and several families couldn't attend yesterday. Reeve and Kyle hooked up with some familiar faces from the story hour and met some new faces.

The librarian, who is awesome BTW, initiated the kids with an hour long library tour. She gave the kids a map, which Reeve loved, and then at the end quizzed them where certain things were in the library. Reeve, who is not accustomed to raising his hand, blurted out the correct answers (no one need worry about Reeve being shy). Miss Mary, the librarian, had to ask him several times to raise his hand.... I don't think she's accustomed to dealing with homeschoolers :-).

There were lots of 6 and 4 year olds for Reeve and Kyle to befriend. See the girl with the braids and blue sweater in the pic below? She's 6, and Reeve already told me he thought she was cute.

This group will meet every other Thursday, and we're really looking forward to it.

KYLE'S LYME UPDATE: No word yet on the results of his Lyme titer, but his rash looks better. Last night it was barely noticeable and looked more like a bruise than a rash. He was as energetic and bubbly as ever yesterday, so thankfully no other symptoms have presented.

Lyme's Again! Ugh!!!

It's been an extremely warm winter here and not enough frigid temps to kill the horrid ticks! We never found any ticks on Kyle but the other night we spotted three bullseye rashes on his upper thigh area. One tick bite can cause more than one bullseye and the bullseye rashes don't necessarily appear at the bite site, they can show up anywhere. He and Reeve were playing in the nearly 50F temps all day on New Years Day then the following night we spotted this.


Yesterday morning I called his doctor and brought him to the hospital for bloodwork. I should find out the Lyme titer results today or tomorrow. Even if it was a Lyme tick that bit him the results could be negative because his body might not have had a chance to build up the antibodies. We didn't want to take any chances, so he's on antibiotics for 3 weeks. Luckily he feels great and is his usual high-energy-self. When Reeve was bit by a Lyme tick last May he got to the point where he developed a fever and felt lethargic and stiff. Reeve's 100% better now.

Kyle was very brave having his blood drawn. Reeve and I were right by his side. He was very still and afterward told the tech that "No it didn't feel like a bee sting... it was a WASP sting." The tech chuckled, very relieved that it went so smoothly, and offered him a candy cane. I said no thanks he doesn't want a candy cane, he'd prefer stickers. It was true, Kyle would rather have the stickers and he was completely stoked to get 4 big stickers. Next stop was the pharmacist for the antibiotics. We got him the chewable kind, and thankfully he loves the taste. Now we just need to remember to take them 3x's a day.

By the end of the day yesterday his bullseye rashes had morphed into larger splotchy rashes. I sure hope they look better than this today!

Painting a Bird House

There's nothing like a good project that they both can work on to keep me happy :-). They both helped me assemble the bird house and then they both agreed as to which sides they would paint.


Kyle was in a red mood that day and wanted to paint his two sides completely red. This annoyed Reeve slightly, but he was concentrating on making his two sides colorful.
Now we have to find a place to hang it outside and hope that the Eastern Bluebirds will nest in it.


They are my very favorite bird around here, and a very close second is the Rose Breasted Grosbeak.

Kyle loves to do what we're doing

Tom has been taking an internet course and Kyle wanted to listen and take notes too. There are words on the screen that Kyle was copying, and he did a darn good job. I could read where he wrote "buyers" and "sellers" and then there was some confusion in between.

Notice Tom's new shaven look?

Kyle also likes to do what Mom's doing... counted cross-stitch.

When I ask him what he wants to do when he grows up he says he wants to be a superhero or he turns the question on me and says, "What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you doing that now? Did Papa want to be what he does at work?" After that I just told him it's okay to change your mind.

Jolly Kid Christmas

We had a very lovely relaxing Christmas at home this year. Reeve and Kyle were thrilled with everything they received.


Reeve wrapped about 10 presents on his own this year. A lot of the gifts he wrapped were hand made creations (he loves to make things out of scraps... like tp rolls) that he made for Kyle. After Kyle opened several of them he told Reeve that they were the best presents he'd received and that Reeve was the best brother. We were all touched, especially Reeve.

It's difficult in a consumerism age to emphasize the importance of giving, but I think overall we're doing the best we can.

Christmas Eve Day

As per tradition we always let the kids open one present Christmas Eve. Typically we wait until evening, but these guys couldn't stand it :-) and we let them open one present each mid-morning.

Reeve immediately set to work constructing Fort Timberland and then he put together the Safari Express for Kyle. We were all suprised that Reeve didn't even ask for help! He followed the given directions step-by-step.

They were thrilled with both gifts and it kept their minds occupied and patient waiting for the big day.

First Loose Tooth!

It was just 6 years ago when Reeve started to grow his first tooth, and now that tooth is loose! Reeve has been waiting for this day since April when he turned 6 and learned that's when kids start to loose their baby teeth. He hasn't lost it yet, but he's in total bliss that it's loose. At first he thought something was wrong with his tooth. He told me it hurt him, and I looked in his mouth and saw him wiggle it with his tongue. When I smiled and told him this was his first loose tooth the biggest smile came over his face and I haven't heard a word about the "pain" since!
It's his lower left front tooth that is loose.

Christmas a little early

We were all a little excited to see what the new tent would look like, so we opened this one present a little early. We love it! I think it will suit our needs just fine. It was very easy to set up and even has a room divider in the center... Yay! :-). We can hardly wait to put it to the real test this summmer.

Over 500 miles!

Tommy has logged over 500 miles on his commuter bike, and he's pumped to go another 500! I think even he is suprised at how much he loves to ride his bike to work. With no snow on the ground he's been down about not being able to snowboard. I liken it to how surfers get with no waves. Biking to work takes his mind off the lack of snow.

A good bike headlight can be priced at around $400-$500. Tom found some do-it-yourself instructions on the web, and made himself a pretty powerfull front headlight and rear-red light. We also just recently found his safety reflective vest, so he will be very visible to the other morning communters (deer included!).

One thing he was able to do with the warm weather was to clean all the road salt of his bike. Now if we could get some snow that will stick we will all be tickled :-).

Hay Day!

See the huge haystack the kids are sitting on? We moved it ALL to the muddy spots in our yard. We're having such a warm December with temps in the mid30'sF to low 40'sF and no snow that we're left with soggy soil and a few muddy spots.

Reeve and Kyle had a blast helping us move the hay. We made a nice path for the electric meter reader, path to the front garage door for the mail carriers, a path to the compost pile, and a path down to the southside of the house. We used all the hay! Now we need to get another huge round so we can mulch in the garden. We have a large portion of the garden done, but we need more :-). It really helps when we want to get started planting spinach in the very muddy spring.

These kids have a seemingly endless supply of energy! After we moved hay they wore themselves out on their 3-wheelers.

Despite my constant requests to keep a safe distance, their favorite thing to do is to race around in circles rubbing front-wheel to back-wheel. Afterwards we all went inside and calmed down by doing some yoga. It felt really good to give our muscles a yoga massage after moving all that hay!

Making Goat Feta

My friend Brenda has 3 goats, two girls and a boy, and she gave me a gallon of goat milk to make cheese. I looked up some feta recipes on the internet and found a couple that I used.

The first step is the curding process. I used a liquid vegetable rennet, BUT my first mistake was overheating the milk! I was supposed to keep it at a constant 86F and I accidently heated to 110F. I also used a dehydrated then reconstituted buttermilk for the live enzyme cultures. Next time I'll use a different vegetarian live enzyme and won't heat it past 86F.

After the vegetable rennet curded the milk I hung the curds to extract the whey. In one recipe it stated to let the curds hang for 6-8hrs... in another it suggested they hang for 24hrs.

I let them hang for 7.5hrs. Next time I think I'll let them hang out awhile longer. After the whey has been extracted I covered the cheese with coarse salt and let it rest for 24hrs. Well the end result was a very salty very bland tasting feta. Next time I'll either marinate the cheese in herbed olive oil or I'll do the salt brine process which takes 4-6 months and will most likely result in a better tasting cheese.

I also made 4 loaves of whole wheat bread that day, and I'm happy to say they turned out deliciously! Yum! Nothing beats hot-out-of-the-oven fresh baked bread with a little cultured butter :-).

Frozen Jeans

The temperature here has actually been really warm this past week, but this picture was taken on December 3rd.
Tom wanted to do a laundry experiment... He washed some clothes and then weighed them before hanging them out to dry on a cloudy 30F day. Fun, eh? The clothes did freeze fairly quickly and when he took them in to weigh them at the end of the day they had lost a couple of pounds. They weren't completely dry so he did have to put them in the dryer for about 1/2 the time.

Thanksgiving at the Sullivan's

Thank you Terri & Dan!
We had a delicious Thanksgiving in Atlanta!
These were the two best group pictures. Too bad I couldn't figure that self-timer out on the camera.

Georgia Aquarium...World's Largest Aquarium

We had a lot of fun at the Georgia Aquarium despite the large crowd there.

I really wanted to see the whale sharks. They were incredible to watch, and the aquarium had four of them. We started off at the ray touch tank, but it was very crowded and the kids could barely squeeze in to touch a ray. They didn't seem too upset by it.

I was fascinated by the beluga whales. I'd never seen them move under water before. I was taken back by how graceful they are under water.


We spent a lot of time in the world's largest underwater viewing theatre. There were so many fish to look at. Sydney, Reeve, and Kyle got to sit right up next to the glass and they had a grouper that was fascinated with them. That grouper stared directly at them and was motionless for over 5 minutes. I'd like to go back just to hang out in that room some more. It was very peaceful and didn't feel crowded.

MartaRail in Atlanta

We (Joyce, Grant, Chloe, Sydney, Tommy, Reeve, Kyle, and me) started our Atlanta vacation off by riding on Atlanta's MartaRail. The kids were pretty excited to board the rail system and travel into downtown Atlanta.

Grant wanted to make sure Kyle new NOT to go near the edge. We were constantly reminding the kids to stay away from the edge.

Can you see the pure joy in Kyle's face?
Later when we asked Reeve and Kyle what they liked best Reeve replied, "Seeing the rats on the tracks, riding underground, and riding the escalators." We saw a few large mice scurrying around on the tracks, but I don't think they were rats.
Jessica did a great job guiding us through the Marta Rail system and downtown Atlanta.

We walked right past the CNN building and arrived at the Georgia Aquarium right on time.

Winter Garden Prep

Before we left for our Thanksgiving trip (many pictures to post...hopefully soon) we set up some winter preparation for our garden. We still have delicious Red Russian Kale and some young spinach in the garden. I put straw mulch around the plants, but we really wanted to give them some extra protection in the hopes that we can still eat fresh greens after the snow falls.

It was pretty easy to make once we figured out how we were going to make it. We have a ton of old wire fence that we cut and shapped over the plants. Ideally we need to get some special garden row cover cloth, but we're using some clear plastic that we were going to use for the green house. The plastic didn't work for the green house because the wind ripped it to shreds... which could happen to the row cover, but we can repair if fairly easily. I hope :-). The plants seem happy under there.

This a picture of one of our 5 apple trees that were tortured by deer while we were in Georgia. The picture was take pre-deer mauling. Our next project will be to put up some electric fencing. They must have just jumped over the existing fence. They only do this when we're away. How do they know? Ugh!

Goodbye Dear Friend

It's hard to believe a whole week has past since our cat Jasmine passed away. She was a dear sweet cat that we had for 15 years. She was very smart and gentle and loved attention. She was very good around the kids when they were babies and she let Reeve carry her everywhere. She will be dearly missed. For the last year she suffered from diabetes and we were giving her insulin twice a day. She passed away peacefully and the kids and I were comforting her as she passed.