I'm On A Roll

OK, last post of the day, promise!

Check out my cousin's awesome new website:

www.modestlysassy.com

Great idea Jandy!

Wait! Save Those Turkey Bones!

Today I am making a turkey stock from our leftover bones. Stocks are an important way of getting essential minerals in our diet. And gelatin. Gelatin taken with food aids in digestion and helps many intestinal disorders. Gelatin (not talking Jello here) also contains amino acids. Stocks have been used for years to treat everything from colds to cancer. Grandma knew what she was talking about when she said eat your chicken soup!!

Turkey/Chicken Stock

save your bones and pieces that don't look so tasty (gizzards)

put in a crock pot with cold water

add: onion, carrot, celery (you can even just throw in your celery ends a chunk of whole onion and a chunk of carrot, it doesn't need to look pretty)

add 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (helps to leach out the minerals)

cook 12-24 hours

strain

store in your freezer in a glass jar

pull it out whenever you make rice, soups, noodles, whatever for added nutrition and excellent flavor!

A Traditional Thanksgiving

Menu:

Pastured Turkey

Mashed Potatoes (made with cultured butter, raw milk and sea salt)

Green Salad

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

"Dirty Rice" Stuffing (made with brown rice, sausage, liver and spices)

Sprouted Grain Muffins

Homemade Sauerkraut

Pumpkin Squash Pie

Apple Pie

Homemade Whipped Cream

Homemade Spiced Cider

*(all ingredients 100% organic)

It was intimate Thanksgiving this year with just the Madskaggs and Grandma Ann and Grandpa Ran. Therefore, we kept the menu simple and spent the day relaxing and enjoying each other. It also helped that it was 72 degrees at Grandma's that day, so the boys spent the day outside, while the women folk cooked ;)

The food was absolutely delicious and satisfying... just how food should be. Amazing down to the last drop, no guilt involved, just traditional, wholesome, real food. If you are curious about what I mean by "traditional", you can click on my traditional foods link on this page or google Weston A. Price. Traditional foods are the foods humans have thrived on for thousands of years. They are the foods that build strong, healthy bodies. Only recently have we been eliminating good fats from our diets and adding the bad fats, much to our detriment. Indigenous cultures around the world, use every last piece of the animal they have killed. That includes the fat! They would never only go for the lean cut of meat. They know how important those saturated fats are for our bones, muscles, brains. In our fat free, cholesterol free, carb free world, heart disease is at an all time high, as well as many other degenerative diseases.

Moving on...

We spent the rest of the weekend, hiking, relaxing, sitting by the fire and today, enjoying the SNOW! Our first real storm hit last night. We had about 3 inches. Just enough to go sledding and build a snowman in the back yard. As I sit here typing I can hear their little shrieks out the window as they play in our winter wonderland with their Daddy. I have much to be thankful for this year. Despite our stresses of the job, the finances, the house and wondering when will it all change... we have our HEALTH! We have three funny, smart, active, sweet, completely different, 100% unique, amazing kids. I have a husband who would do ANYTHING for this family, who would rather spend his day playing with his children, who loves to make me smile and is a treasure to this family and those he works with. I am thankful for Grandparents who love these little kids SO much. I am also thankful for great friends. Without them, my days would be lonely, I would be grumpy and I wouldn't crack up in the middle of the day nearly as often! They make me feel like I'm a good Mama, despite my days of little patience. They listen to me vent, bring me treats, send me funny and thoughtful emails. My girlfriends are like my co-workers. They are my soul-sistas! The icing on my organic cake :)

Preview

We had a little photo shoot the other day and I made sure we got one of just the two of us. I seriously can't remember the last time I saw a picture of my husband with ME. I'm usually the one behind the camera. Isn't that the way it seems to go? Never any pics. of the mamas and the papas!

And the whole fam.! This was an extremely early morning for us to even be out, nevermind the fact that we all had to be nicely dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, which is a feat in itself. Lately my rule is, if you've accomplished anything associated with grooming in the past 24 hours, you're good.

...And This Little Piggy Had Flu.

Piggy Flu, Swine Flu, H1N1 whatever you call it, it seems to be all the rage right now. We just had our dose this week. I'm pretty sure we had another cold mixed in there too. Things are looking up finally. And I have to say sick kids=tired kids and that's not such a bad thing! Earlier this week I had 3 WHOLE HOURS where I was in my home in the middle of the day sitting in complete silence. Oh, the things I could've accomplished that afternoon, but I didn't. I just sat and stared, had some tea, read a magazine, lounged around. When is the last time any mom with three kiddies six and under can say that?

Sleep

Sleep is the best meditation- The Dalai Lama

and that's all I have to say, or rather can say, until I've meditated.

Long week. TGIF.

Afternoon On A Hill

I will be the gladdest thing Under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers And not pick one. I will look at cliffs and clouds With quiet eyes, Watch the wind bow down the grass, And the grass rise. And when lights begin to show Up from the town, I will mark which must be mine, And then start down! Edna St. Vincent Millay Growing up, my mom read to us A LOT. That was one thing she found relaxing and something we could all enjoy together. I'm finding out I'm more and more like my mom everyday. When I was a teenager you couldn't have paid me a million dollars to say that, but yes, it's true, and not such a bad thing after all! This was always one of our favorite poems. We also loved Shel Silverstein and now I'm reading his hilarious and witty poems and stories to my own kids. And I'm realizing why reading to your kids is so wonderful. You get to sit still, they are quiet (for the most part) and you know you are doing something good for them, so you don't have to deal with the almost always nagging mommy guilt. Nothing like reading on a cloudy day by the fire, snuggled up on the couch with a blanket and tea. Some of my other favorites that I still need to find for my kids are: "The Magic Friend Maker", "Nothing To Do" and "August Explains".

Fathers and Funnies

They've bonded. I think this little girl is going to be all about her Daddy in the very near future. As soon as she wakes up all we hear is a little whisper "dadadadadadada..."

And here's what the madskaggs have really been up to :) Yes, we sit at the computer and make crazy faces to pass the time. These are only a brief introduction. We thought about using one of these for our Christmas card. What do you think?

Ebb and Flow

While last week I was definitely Ebbing, this week has been wonderfully flowing. I know it's only Monday, but I don't think I've had such a flowy day in a long while, so I had to document it! The baby slept all night, sat patiently while I showered, we got to school early, baby napped, play time at gymnastics, baby napped, walked to school (weather has been amazing) to get D, played at park, walked home, dinner, bath, kids in bed before 8pm. No screaming, little crying, good eating and pottying. I wish I could send this day through my copy machine and copy it a hundred times and then just pull it out when we were on the ebb side. To celebrate this day I will now post something beautiful as the grand finale! Monday, November 9th, I love you.

Isn't this the best sweater from Anthro? I love it almost as much as anything from Sugarboo.

Favorite Auntie and First Snow!

My favorite Auntie Dawnie came to visit with Uncle Skip. Just what this girl needed to break up the day. Uncle Skip entertained my little boy and Auntie tried to make friends with Miss Avi. I love my Auntie. I wish she were closer. She's a girly girl just like me and she's absolutely beautiful. Look at her! She's in her mid-sixties!

The same day our very first snow storm of the season hit... not with much avengence. And my poor aunt and uncle thought they were escaping frigid Montana!

Pretty trees with just a dusting

And then it was gone. Just the kind of snow I love.

Halloween

I have neglected to write for the past week and I now have to play quick catch up! Here are a few Halloween pics. We had so much fun this year at the festival downtown with Grandma Ann and Grandpa Ran. The shops all handed out candy. My favorite was the Emergen-C from Winter Sun. Someone's got the right idea with all of this H1N1 stuff around! After downtown, the boys trick-or-treated around the neighborhood while us girls sat by the warm cozy fire sipping tea and talking. I'd say the girls definitely lucked out this year.

D was a proud Army man.

Sory was last year's dragon last minute. Not sure what happened... as he was all set with his Bumble Bee the Transformer costume. Oh well, maybe BB next year?

And our little flower girl. This was such a last minute find. I'm just not that motivated or crafty when it come to my kiddies costumes. They wear them for a couple hours and then what? So, Happy Halloween everyone! Hope it was super spooky. Next year the ENTIRE madskaggs fam will be dressing up. No exceptions! All Star Wars? All Wizard of OZ? Hmmm...