History, Family, the Mayflower, and also Incest

I have always been interested in the history of my family, but have never really done much with it. Recently, my niece went through Ancestry.com to put together a family tree under the free trial period. It got me interested, so I went through and started poking the bear. Here's what I found, in shortened terms-

I can trace my paternal Grandmother back 23 generations to the early 1400's. The 21st generation back were a pair of first cousins married- their fathers were brothers.

I had a step-grandpa named Justin Case, and another named Charlie Brown. Both were married to the same Grandma- my Great-Grandma on my paternal Grandfather's side.

My paternal Grandfather's side fizzled out when they immigrated from Canada, because I didn't spend $30 to access World records, as opposed to English records.

My paternal Grandmother's family came over from England in the early 1600's, at some point between 1613 and 1639.

My maternal Grandmother's family came over from England in 1620- on the Mayflower. Not just 1 relative, but 10 so far. This line is listed as my pedigree- a direct line from them straight to me. They were:

John Aldan - crossed as the ships Cooper, and decided to remain in the colony.
Priscilla Mullins - crossed with her brother and parents. Soul survivor of the 1st winter in the colonies. Later married John Aldan.

John & Priscilla became the ancestors of Luna West.

John Howland - crossed as a servant to the Governor.
Elizabeth Tilley - crossed with her parents, aunt, and uncle. Sole family survivor after the 1st winter in the colonies. Later married John Howland.

John & Elizabeth became the ancestors of Jabin Bosworth.
 
In 1773, Jabin Bosworth married Luna West. They were 9 generations directly back from me. The name Bosworth was my family name through to my Great-Grandma, who was born a Bosworth, and married a Brooks.

At some point, my Maternal Grandmother's family inter-married, but they were at least 3 generations apart from being immediate family, so at least there's that going for them.

Thus far, we've come across some unique names, including:

Experience
Desire
Royal (twice)
Ransom
Lucretia
Ebenezer
Ichabod
Jabin (twice- this was a Mayflower descendant)
Attaresta Melista
Philemon
Mindwell
Theophilius
Thankful
Mercy
Deliverance

We found French, Canadian, English, Dutch, Jewish, and more floating around.

I'm really surprised at just how far back I'm able to go. In fact, the hardest part is getting past the previous 3 generations. Finding people alive who remember real names, birthdates, etc. That was the challenge. Once I had those, it was pretty easy going, unless the family tree crossed the border, then they stop.

Once I fluff out my HUGE family tree, I may spring for the extended records and see if I can reach back further.

On my Paternal Grandfather's side, I am currently 6 generations back, but have some leads to go further.

On my Paternal Grandmother's side, I am currently stuck at 23 generations back, which is when the family immigrated from France to England.

On my Maternal Grandfather's side, I am currently stuck at 6 generations back. I am hoping to find out a bit more that will hopefully push be through to more generations.

On my Maternal Grandmother's side, I am currently 14 generations back, with more leads to go further.

All in all, it's been easy so far. Once you push past the more recent generations, the chances are high that you'll discover someone has already done some of the work for you in researching their own family tree.

You do need to try and verify what you find- when you find a common name, some history gets mixed up with each other, so you have to pay attention to birth year, parents, children, death dates, and more.

I'm LOVING it, though.

Kids Fall 2011 Portraits - My how they've grown!

4 years ago, now, I put my foot down, and decided that school portraits both A) Suck, and B) Cost an arm and a leg. So, to get around it, I decided to pick up my own little Kodak point and shoot, and try my hand at taking the photos myself.

I wasn't sure where that would go, but it wound up becoming a part time job that I love. I've long since upgraded from a point and shoot to a Sony DSLR that I absolutely love. And as for saving money? Well, I suppose when you factor in the cost of my camera, I really didn't save money anymore, but it's something I love, and it does make me some money on the side.

Anyway, here is a look at how far I've come, and how much the lil monsters darlings have grown.

I have seen a lot of growth both in my SOOC (straight off the camera) photos, and my editing skills over the past year, and I love seeing how they turn out each time I do a shoot.

This summer, we were out a lot- we did a 5 day family vacation, a few small weekend things, and I went on my own kid-free, spouse-free vacation for 5 days as well.

With all of this, I did not do nearly as many photoshoots this year as I did last year, but it picked up this fall, and since September, I've done 3 senior portrait sessions, and several families. Fall is just a fun time for photos!

My baby is in high school

14 years ago, I was worrying about what to dress my darling little baby up as for Halloween. She wound up going as a pumpkin. It was a homemade costume made for a 4 year old, so it was HUGE and round- only her little head poked out- but she won 1st place in a costume contest with it.

Now I'm worrying about how to do her hair for homecoming. Homecoming. She's 14, and a freshman this year. I stopped and thought about it a few weeks ago, and was shocked- from here on out, I'll have a high schooler every year for 10 years. 10 YEARS!

Someone tell me how she leap frogged from this:

to this:

I'm wondering where the time went? Sure- everyone tells you it goes fast. But while it's happening, it doesn't -seem- fast. It seems slow. Very slow when you add in my two younger kids. Now? She's a freshman, and looking back, I can't help but wonder...  didn't she just graduate from Pre-school?

Keeping up with Heather's Family

It's been a long week. Well, actually, it's been a long few years, but that's a whole different matter. Anyway, if you guys are at all interested in what I've been doing, you can check out my family blog, Minions X 3.

Counting Down

My Grandma collected snowmen at Christmas for as long as I could remember. She had a massive collection that encompassed decorating a huge house. She had a Christmas tree that was decorated only in snowmen. There were walls of just shelves filled with snowmen. Snowmen could be found in bathrooms, on the sofa, in the windows, outdoors, and more. She loved her snowmen.

Over the years, I've picked some up, and inherited several of Grandma's snowmen as well. However, last year, I finally settled on something I want to collect at Christmas time that takes up less space, and won't break- stockings. I love stockings! They're so cute, and fun, and the designs are endless.

One thing I've been trying to do for years is find an advent calendar that was reusable, and big enough to fit a small treat in it for 3 kids. It's harder than it sounds!

Last year, I finally figured it out- stockings! After Christmas, when Dollar Tree had their items 50% off, I picked up 12 2-packs of mini stockings for only $.50 each. This year, I plan to string them up along our large archway, and number each stocking.

At night, after the kids are in bed, I'll fill the next day's stocking with some small treat. They can count down to Christmas, get a small treat, and I get to indulge my love of stockings.

I was reading Family Fun tonight, and came across the same idea, only using colorful children's socks in place of stockings, and hanging the sock up each day one at a time. It included a list of ideas for what to fill the stockings with that I really liked.

Here are the ideas it listed:

• Special Coupons: Get Out of Chores Free, or Pick A Movie Rental, for instance.
• Puzzle pieces to a Holiday puzzle- the pieces are collected, and put together through out the month.
• Trading Cards
• Special coins- foreign coins, for instance, or even chocolate foil covered coins.
• A small gift card for a special treat, such as a sundae at a local restaurant.
• Jokes & riddles- stick the answer in the next day's stocking for more fun!
• A mini game, Mad Lib, Sudoku, or even a Christmas coloring page.
• Art supplies.
• A special ornament to hang on the tree.
• A new pair of socks!

Our kids love hot cocoa, so I think that might be a nice one to add as well. You can melt chocolate and cover a plastic spoon with it. Once it dries, wrap it up with plastic wrap on the chocolate end, and add it to the hot cocoa for the kids to stir with. An extra chocolaty treat!

You could put in the pieces to a game for a family game night, too. A coupon for taking the kids sledding, or out to look at the holiday lights would be a fun family way to spend some time, as well.

I hope to make this our newest family tradition, in a long list of traditions I have started over the years. Some are passed down from my family, some from Nick's family, and some are things we've come up with on our own over the years. For instance, we never put candy canes on the tree- Santa does that when he stops by on Christmas Eve.

I know more and more families are shying away from "Santa", but I was raised with Santa, and my kids are raised with Santa. I don't see any harm in it, and the kids eyes just light up when they see the stockings filled by Santa on Christmas morning.

Frugal Halloween Meal

This year, with Halloween on a Saturday, Nick and I have decided to host a party before Trick or Treating for the kids and some of their friends. For the party, instead of a bunch of sugary treats, we are going to serve dinner type foods. When Halloween falls during the week, I always feel so rushed- pick the kids up, get them home, make sure they are fed, get them into costume, get makeup done for them, and get them out the door again. Rush! Rush! Rush!

The appeal of a weekend Halloween is that I don't have to Rush! Rush! Rush! to get the kids from one place to another. We can take our time, eat, get ready, and head out later in the day.

Our menu for the party is going to revolve around kid favorites- pizza and bread sticks. My first idea was to make individual pizzas out of English muffins. However, I just stumbled onto a recipe that looks great, and festive for the spooky holiday- a Pizza Snake! As I have yet to try this, the recipe is from the website, Divine Dinner Parties.

Pizza SnakeThis is one of those Halloween recipe ideas that's fun to have the kids help with. If you're making this for the first time, I'd suggest buying an extra can of crescent rolls to have on hand in case you need to patch your dough in places. Any openings in the snake will split and leak during cooking.

Serves 10-12 as an appetizer. (I think I'll make up 2-3 of these, as it'll be used more as a dinner food!)

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz.) cans crescent rolls
flour, for dusting
1/2 C. prepared pizza sauce
10 oz. thinly sliced pepperoni
10 oz. thinly sliced ham, chopped
10 oz. Italian sausage, cooked, crumbled, and drained
12 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 C. fine, freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Decorating:
Liquid food coloring, your choice of colors
4 egg yolks, divided
2 peppercorns
2 pimento-stuffed green olives
1 roasted red pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. On a lightly floured surface, spread out your two batches of crescent dough end-to-end lenghtwise. Be careful not to let the sections separate.
3. Pinch all the seams together until you get one block of dough.
4. With a flour-brushed rolling pin, roll your crescent dough into a large, long rectangle. Don't roll it too thin, or it will split.
5. Spoon pizza sauce on top of dough, leaving an inch of bare dough on all four edges.
6. Sprinkle meats on top of sauce, followed by any other optional toppings.
7. Sprinkle with cheeses.
8. Fold one side of the dough lenghtwise over the topping, up to the half-point of the rectangle.
9. Fold the other side over to meet it. Pinch and press the dough together on all sides to seal.
10. With a pastry brush, brush the beaten yolk of one egg onto the top of the dough.
11. Fold your filled dough in half lengthwise. The egg yolk should help it stick. A seam should be created lengthwise along the dough. Pinch this seam together to fully seal and make a sort of cylinder. Be sure all seams are well closed. Any open seams will open further during baking.
12. Gently manipulate ends into a snake shape-- one end should be tapered for a tail, and the other shaped for the head. Don't curve it into a snake yet. You'll do that right before baking.

Decorating Instructions:

1. Beat each of your remaining three egg yolks in a separate bowl.
2. Add the food coloring of your choice to each bowl to make three separate "paints."
3. With a pastry brush or a food-safe paintbrush, decorate your snake as desired.
4. Transfer painted snake to a foiled-lined, greased baking sheet.
5. Gently shape as desired, into an "S" or other snakey shape.
6. Stick two peppercorns into the front of the snout for nostrils.
7. Slice your roasted red pepper into a forked tongue. Insert into front of head.
8. Bake your snake about 20 minutes, until golden and cooked through.
9. Remove from oven. Attach olive "eyes" to the top of the head using toothpicks. Pimento centers should face forward.

To go with our Pizza Snake, we'll be serving "Hairy Witches Finger Bread Sticks"

I found this recipe online a year or two ago, and it works out great!

Ingredients:

Tubed bread stick or pizza dough
Green food coloring
Shredded cheese (we use Mozzarella)
Almond slivers
Pizza Sauce (for dipping)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven according to the package.
2. While wearing plastic gloves, knead green food dye into the dough, until the dough is a witchy green color- not to bright!
3. Form the dough into small thin bread sticks, creating a lumpy middle for the knuckles.
4. Insert an Almond sliver into one end as a finger nail
5. Bake for half the time the package states, then remove. Sprinkle the cheese on top, and continue baking. You want the cheese melted enough to stay on top, but to retain it's shape and look like hair. You can also sprinkle with Parmesan cheese for some added flavor, before adding the shredded cheese.
   
6. Serve on a platter with "blood" (Pizza sauce) as an appetizer!

I was able to luck out a few weeks ago, and found a large glass punch bowl, complete with 12 tiny glasses, for only $.79 at my local Goodwill! I'm excited to use it for the party! We are going to just make green punch, and float frozen creepy crawlies in it.

Green Punch

Ingredients:
Green Hawaiian Punch
Squirt (or a generic Grapefruit Soda)
Ice cubes with plastic spiders in them- you can also add gummy worms, plastic bugs, and anything else creepy crawly. Just make sure the plastic is clean, and there is no glitter that can come off in the punch as the ice melts!

Mix the punch & soda, and add the spider ice cubes to the punch before serving!

Halloween Treat Containers

With Halloween knocking on the door, here are a few fun Halloween crafts to do with the kids this year.

**Make sure which ever container you use, that you wash it out thoroughly with hot soapy water, prior to use!!

Pumpkin Treat Carton- Craft found originally at DLTK's Crafts, though I changed it around a bit.

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 gallon milk container, or a 2 liter bottle of soda, empty
• Orange, Black, & Green Construction Paper.
• Glue or Tape
• Scissors
• Stapler if you have one.
  

What To Do:

1. Cut the top portion off the milk jug or 2 liter, starting 1" below where the walls curve inward near the top.
   
2. Cut a 1" straight strip from the top- this will be used as a carrying handle.
3. If you have a stapler, use it to staple the plastic strip to the top, creating a carrying handle. If you do not have a stapler, cut a horizontal slit just below the top edge of the carton, one on both sides, just wide enough to slide the strap into. Slide the strap into from the outside, then use tape or glue to secure the ends to the inside of the carton. Let the glue dry before moving on, if you used glue.
   
4. Using Orange construction paper, cover the entire outside of the container, securing the paper with either tape or glue to the carton.

1. Fold the green construction paper to wrap around the handle, securing it with tape or glue. Cut some leaf shapes, and a stem, and glue it to the top of the front of the container, where the face will go.
2. Cut a Jack O'Lantern face with the black construction paper, and glue it to the front.
3. You have a cute container for passing out treats, or for Trick or Treating!

Bat Treat Container- Again, this was found at DLTK's Crafts, and adapted. This is pretty much the same as the one above, just decorated as a bat, instead of a Pumpkin.

What You'll Need-

• 1/2 gallon milk container, or a 2 liter bottle of soda, empty
• Black & White, yellow, or purple Construction Paper.
• Glue or Tape
• Scissors
• Stapler if you have one.

What To Do-

1. Cut the top portion off the milk jug or 2 liter, starting 1" below where the walls curve inward near the top.
   
2. Cut a 1" straight strip from the top- this will be used as a carrying handle.
3. If you have a stapler, use it to staple the plastic strip to the top, creating a carrying handle. If you do not have a stapler, cut a horizontal slit just below the top edge of the carton, one on both sides, just wide enough to slide the strap into. Slide the strap into from the outside, then use tape or glue to secure the ends to the inside of the carton. Let the glue dry before moving on, if you used glue.
4. Using Black construction paper, cover the entire outside of the container, securing the paper with either tape or glue to the carton.
5. Fold more black construction paper to wrap around the handle, securing it with tape or glue. Cut some wing shapes, and glue it to the back of the container.
6. Cut a Bat face with the white, yellow, or purple construction paper, and glue it to the front.
7. You have a cute container for passing out treats, or for Trick or Treating!

Thanksgiving Treats

Thanksgiving is coming faster than I anticipated. Already, I'm looking forward to the lazy day at home with Nick and the kiddos, a warm house, food on the table, and the parade on TV while Nick and I make a wonderful Turkey dinner.

One thing I plan to do this year with the kids, is make some edible Turkey's out of cookies and candy. They're super adorable, and the kids will love them! We've never tried them before, but they look super easy to make.

What you will need:

• Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, or Oreo style sandwich cookies
• Candy Corn
• Chocolate frosting
• Hershey’s Whoppers
• Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
• White tubed frosting

First, you take the cookie, and 6 pieces of candy corn, and insert them into the sandwich frosting, tip first, so that it creates a tail fan.

Next, take the frosting, peanut butter cup, and whopper, and let's make a body. Unwrap the peanut butter cup (actually unwrap two- one to use, one to eat), and turn it on it's side. Smear a bit of frosting onto the top, and press the whopper into it.

From there, you will want to use the white frosting to create two eyes, and a small mouth on the milk ball- you'll want the smaller flat side of the peanut butter cup facing outward.

From there, cover the larger flat side of the PB Cup with more frosting, and press it onto the cookie, towards the bottom away from the tail fan. Use a second cookie to lay flat, and use frosting to secure the bird to the bottom cookie, so it has a 'stand'.

You can play around with other items- some people break the tip of a candy corn off, and use it for a beak on the whopper for the turkey.


For the next treat, you will want:

• Round, baked sugar cookies
• Chocolate or Vanilla Frosting
• M&M Mini's
• Orange tubed frosting

Frost a rainbow type arch along one side of the cookie, and start laying out candy corn on it, to create a tail fan- these can either stick out past the cookie, or be completely on the cookie.

Using more frosting, secure 2 M&M Mini's in the middle to use as eyes.

With the orange tubed frosting, use the small round piping head, and pipe on two feet, and you have adorable Turkey sugar cookies for Thanksgiving!

Gillian, 2009

The First 6 Months of 2009- Gillian

Gillian walking to school, January 2009

Easter with Papa Lyle

Riding her scooter down to Dairy Queen, May 2009

A school field trip to Binder Park Zoo, May 22, 2009

Hawk Island, June 2009

The Beach at Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground, Mackinaw City MI
June 2009

Welcome!

It's probably been around a year since I removed the Herber Kids website. I didn't do it to end it, but rather, I kept meaning to update it, and just never have.

I have recently gotten into Blogging, though, and find it to be an easy way to communicate, and show off photos of our family as I do. So, from here on out, this will be where you can find information about us, updated photos, frugal tips, and more!

Welcome to the Herber Family Blog!

Gillian, Raegan, & Chris in front of the Mackinac Bridge,
June 2009. I took the kids up for a vacation by myself
this year- Nick stayed home!