Sea of Green Life

Hiking up Jonvick Creek next to Shoredge in Lutsen. AnnaBelle and Carter (niece RaeAnne is on left Carter is her brother same age as AB) hiked quite a bit and had fun splasing in the water. Highlights of the last week. My friend Stephanie and I with help from Court and GV painted daycare some crazy colors. AnnaBelle said shoe when hers was falling off. Gideon fell asleep with a half eaten burrito in front of him. We got all the carpet in our house steam cleaned (we are still undigging from that yesterday). I hung a clothes line outside because our dryer broke, Gid isn't pleased with the upstairs fridge, downstairs has major issues and our bathtub well... we probably need a new one. How exciting! Busy week talk later! Sara

Oh joy! AnnaBelle tested negative for Celiac Disease!! And her other two tests were normal too. Also another break through we had a formed BM today. I'm sure everyone is just as excited as I am. So we are sticking with the no dairy. I'll continue to monitor her weight with the Wii. Maybe in another few weeks if her diapers stay normal we'll try cheese or yogurt. I will also be looking for information on the milk allergy/intolerance. Gevie is going to Vacation Bible School with Courtney at the Baptist Church in town. They are having tons of fun and have a program tomorrow. Gideon really wants a cheeseburger but doesn't want one blended up (I offered). He eats Jello and pudding for lunch and mashed potatoes for dinner. Sara has to register for fall semester classes and order books. Classes start mid August. Get pix posted soon of vacation.

We are back and all super tired. We got here about 1:30 am today. Gideon's tonsil surgery went wonderful and he is back at work today, even on time. Two of AnnaBelle's test came back normal, so we are just waiting for the Celiac test. I finally got the link over there. Our niece Courtney is visiting, she hasn't seen the playground yet. I bet she'll go crazy. More later

Not the best picture, apparently I need to take more. This is when we hiked Cascade up by Pike lake Road. So no news is good news but AnnaBelle's check up had a surprise! I love surprises. Actually, since we had already taken dairy out of her diet, we kind of knew there was something going on. So.... AB has always had chest congestion, like a cold that never goes away. We cut out dairy and have so far seen great improvement. We'll stick with it to see if its just a fluke. However at her check-up our Dr. noticed that she hasn't grown--for the last six months. She's always been "petite" but now she is falling off the charts. So they drew some blood (great fun for AnnaBelle) and are testing her blood counts, liver and kidney function, and testing her for Celiac disease which means she couldn't eat gluten. Gluten is EVERYWHERE, almost every grain, sauces, toothpaste, oh I can't imagine. I'll include a link to more information on Celiac. For anyone thin...

So here finally is all the details on our worm bin. It is homemade and mostly functional. The spout doesn't work well because we couldn't put it low enough. The worms get fed once a week or every 4 days if we have a ton of food. The eat everything that is good for you but take forever to break up hotdogs and french fries I am told. The black is wet peat moss then a layer of shredded packing paper and leaves. On top is a garbage bag to keep in moisture. The ice cream bucket is where we scrape our plates for the worms. How do I like it? I think it is great. We haven't made a full rotation so I don't know if the worms have eaten everything I gave them two weeks ago. The bin doesn't smell even though there is chicken, watermelon, muffin, and various other things in there for two weeks. How do you feed worms? Put scraps in a bucket and put a lid on so no flies lay eggs and make more flies. Once a week or so, dig a hole in the worm dirt and bury the food. Make sure it is...

I guess I did tell almost everyone, but anyway we are starting to vermicomposting or--composting with a worm bin! The worms got here today, and we have to finish thier house. It is a very large plastic pin (28 gallon). I'll upload pictures and updates on how the worms like our garbage after the craziness of this weekend is over. I have a show toinght, a work night at church (and scrapbooking) Friday, and an aution to go to and a wedding on Saturday. Sunday-- I love Sunday. A day of learning, reflection, and REST. Check out my worm lady: http://www.lavermesworms.net/ . She came up for the Small Footprint Living Fair, very helpful. Sara

No not the weather, the life inside. This is totally crunch week for Sara's summer class, Media, Persuasion and Society. A really neat class that has opened up each section of the media (magazine, newspaper, tv, radio, songs, ect.). But I have 8 chapters to read and two test in 6 days. The chaps are about 40 pages a piece. Gideon being ever so helpful said thats nothing, I am a fast reader-which is true--with a novel not on textbooks! So we'll get through Tomorrow is Gideons Birthday. He has training and I have Bible study so we'll be a day late. I think we'll go to Moguls for dinner, we have a gift certif. I also made Pepperoni pasta salad on Sunday for him which is his new fav. Gevie is ready for swimming lessons to start on the 5th or something, but she did really good when I took her tonight. She still thinks she can swim. She tried swimming several times without the noodle--and sunk. But at least now she knows the basics of trying to stay afloat. I'll type lat...