Hay-baling and Pond Goo

"Mamma! It's hay-baling!! Come see! Where's me socks?!" Actually it was HAILing, but to a three year old that hasn't heard the word much it translates into hay-baling. It works. I knew what he meant. Too cute.

This morning I got dressed and went out to scoop frog eggs for this afternoon. The water level on the pond is waaay up, which means the frog eggs are now waaay down. That and all the ones the children have brought home I have kindly asked they return them and they were put in the middle of the pond, only to sink to the bottom. Long story short? We don't have as many frog eggs today as we'd hoped.

I saw a nice glob of them about 2' out in the water off the steep side of the bank. I was prepared! Me in my flip flops and bucket I hunkered down, belly and all and streeeeetched out only to come within inches of the glob. I reassured my footing and streeeeetched again. Then it happened. I overstretched...or over-balanced and slipped & fell in the freezing cold pond. Let me assure you , it was cold. I crawled up the bank, got up, made sure no one was looking and non-chalantly took Micah's hand and walked back to the house. Hey, it got me a nice warm shower and lots of sympathy from my children! What can beat that?

Only bad part(besides stinky sticky pond goo) was that I only have one pair of maternity compression hose left and I can not be without them during the day. I had to shower with them ON and then sit with the hair dryer to dry them off best I could while wearing them. Why am I telling you all this? It should be humiliating, but it makes for a good blog/journal entry.

Stay tuned for 2009 Petting Zoo photos....

Petting Zoo reminder..

We just wanted to extend our invitation one last time to our 2009 Petting Zoo...it has an *annual* potential, we're thinking. Danny is studying up on rabbits, Emma her chickens. It will be simple and small, I want you all to know that!

Little bunnies, a chicken, baby goats and a dog or two...oh...and the frog eggs. Just holding those little bitty bunnies are worth the drive! Their nails can't scratch yet and they fit in the palm of my hand. Stop by anywhere from 2:30 to 4pm Thursday.

See you here!

Haircuts, Fencing and Elbows

My goat and I(her kids had to come along, mine stayed in the house) just took a very nice walk. Sometimes I was pulling her and sometimes she was pulling me, but we had a nice looooong walk. While out, Micah thought it would be neat to snip off that sweet little curl I had captured and pigtailed on the top of Gracies head. Why did he do it? " Gracie told me to do it." This is now the third time Gracie has been given a hair cut, oh the joys of being #6.


In copying a friends blog I shall write what everyone is doing at this exact moment, 5:14pm. Life is pretty boring here right now, can you tell?

Grace... is in bed talking to her baby doll.

Micah... is riding his plastic John Deere tractor in the field.

Emma... is all dressed up in fancy shmancy clothes and playing wooden trains. (the trains talk, have babies and live in "houses")

Daniel... is fencing with Daddy.

Jacob... is in the field with a maul and ax chopping firewood the ole fashioned way. He has a muscle shirt on and shorts. He walks with his arms bowed out a touch and glances out of the corner of his eye to see if the car going by sees him. His pride is getting the best of him.

Jessica... is all dressed up in fancy shmancy clothes and playing wooden trains with her sister, humoring her. I don't think however, she would be to happy to know I am blogging it.

Me - blogging, warming up from my walk and pushing elbows and knees back where they ought to be in the first place.

Paul - Fencing the pasture. Not a fun job, but he loves me, therefore, he loves my goat.

Productive Day.

It is done. I did it. Danny and I got all our remaining groceries for my batch cooking late last night as well as bought the rest of the stuff for my homebirth kit.


This morning I woke knowing I had to tackle those meals today. We put on a movie for the toddlers, deep cleaned the kitchen and away we went. Jessica and I managed to get 3 - 9x13 of veggie lasagna, 4 - 9x13 of Cheesy Chilada Bake, 4 bagged meals of Cashew Chicken Stir Fry, 4 bagged meals of Sweet Asian Chicken, 2 9x13 of Arie's Sweet and Sour Meatballs, 2 9x13 of BBQ Drumsticks and 6 bags premixed topping for our canned apple cobbler dessert. Whew. That and the box of corndogs I bought totalled 20 freezer meals. I NEVER could have done it without Jess, she is the marinade queen. Only one vegetable lasagna ended up face down one the floor next to the garbage can, our only fatality. Pretty good.

My favorite cookbooks. Well, one is stolen...but she hasn't asked so why offer?

Jessie shredding 12C of cheese. There seemed to be a cup missing,

we aren't sure what happened there. Hmmm....

I also was able to get all my baby boy clothes out of storage, sorted and either soaking or washed. Everyone was ooohing and ahhhing over the itty bitty onsies!

For my lunch break(my hubby was home today) I ran to Second Chance and found a good book for .25. I really need a refresher course on parenting, it is a forever learning process isn't it?! I get so disappointed in myself as I know what is right, but do not practice it. My biggest enemy is my own flesh. I read over this blog and think wow, I got a lot done today. Work HAS to be done, but what matters is HOW I preformed that work. Did I throw a fit when my lasagna was dropped on the floor?...yes. Was I patient and put the children first even in the midst of a busy day?...not as much as I could have. Did I serve my family a wonderful meal after all that cooking today? Nope, they got Cheerios. It isn't how much work is done or how we *appear* to others, it is truly if we glorified the Lord during our work. Cindy, Marie, Kristine, Julie, Leslie, Chessa, are just a few, you guys inspire me so much. You have all these little ones(or older ones) and honor your husbands, manage you homes SO well and bless others with your kindness daily. You give us examples to live by and truly live out Titus 2.



My puppy dog.

Please don't email me about proper hygiene in the home. I could have chosen NOT to blog this pic, but it was just too funny. Jess dropped cheese and WHAM! Gracie was on that one!


Did I mention she likes the camera?

Pssst, Marie. Look!!
I DID THIS, by myself!
Granted my technique is terrible and it took me forEVER to do this, but I did it.
Purling is the worst.
R U up for a quick lesson after church Sunday?

Don't Underestimate A 10 yr Old Boy

As if yesterdays sudden onslaught of snow wasn't enough, the temps had to dip down in the teens and catch us off guard. The block house door was open and no light was on. Not good. That and the fact we didn't run water during the night, oblivious to the low temps mixed with the heavy winds, so when we woke this morning there was no water pressure...

our pipes were frozen.

I called my hubby at work and asked him what to do. I guess during our last storm in December he taught Jacob how to cure frozen pipes? Wow. My 10 yr old man donned his insulated Carhartt coveralls, his boots, gloves and mask and headed out the door assuring Mommy that he would take care of it all and I would not have to go outside. He found the blockhouse door open, scooped out the snow, and got the door to seal. The heat lamp would not work so after changing the bulb & checking the sockets we finally replaced the whole fixture and the heatlamp started thawing the blockhouse.

He broke loose the frozen crawl space cover and crawled under the house to listen for burst pipes...no running water a good sign!

After this he, by himself mind you, got Daddy's drill and some tools from the shop, found a HVAC elbow and unscrewed the dryer vent from the outside of the house. He installed the elbow which takes all the heat from the dryer vent and re-routes it under the house to warm things up. he insulated it and came in. We turned on the empty dryer and ran it for 20 minutes and wallah! The faucets started running!

Daddy never had to come home, like in the past, his 10 yr old son saved the day. I wish you could only see him now with that big smile and red chapped cheaks to prove he spent the morning outdoors. What a blessing he is!

Jacob shooting my brothers AK-47(M-16).

I don't really like this picture.

The children said I had to blog...

...And say we are in the single digits today!!

Snow???

This picture was taken just last night on Tuesday. The rainbow was brilliant!


Then......

Our walkway

O.k., when...where..how?? I get up this morning and the weather report states "a light dusting of snow late Wednesday night to early Thursday morning." By late Wednesday afternoon Micah couldn't even play outside in the snow because it was so deep! I had NO idea this was coming. Jacob, Danny and I spent the afternoon in B-ham, visiting my midwife and running errands. It is so fun with these two tripping over each other to see who can get the doors for Mamma. ;) It is a noble thing for a budding young gentleman to get the door for his mother and others, but not a noble thing to argue over it. (sigh) We'll get there.

It was snowing in B-ham, but not a flake was sticking. We came home to a blizzard! I went through two white-outs on Pangborn Rd in between the raspberry fields, literally no visibility. Kinda fun. The older children just got in from taking turns pulling the sled behind the 4-wheeler...it is 9:37pm. Ah, Daddy is so kind.

I have plans to throw together 20 meals for the freezer for using after Little One arrives. Every night I plan and every night I peter-out. My goal is by Saturday night they will all be packed up. I think I can...I think I can...

Look mom, fur! We are cute now!

Paul came home tonight and checked on the bunnies to find that the snow was blowing over the top of the cage and wrapping right into the baby bunnies box! Poor things were buried in snow! They seem fine, but I got another excuse to hold them all as I gently cleaned out their box of snow and refluffed the handfuls of fur their mother plucked out and wrapped so tightly around them. They will stay in the backroom for the night to keep warm.

Ramble warning: You may stop reading this blog now.

I stand in awe at our Creator. Not only because of the simple fact He has chosen me to know Him, but how he has put in all these animals the instinct to care for their young. You all know I enjoy animals, but the truth is I enjoy just observing them and how the Lord has caused them to behave. I should do a whole blog on tadpoles and the neat things we have learned about these creatures over the last few years...really there is so much tell! Goofy things. Then these rabbits. How Mamma pulls out her hair and arranges her nest just so to birth her babies right in the middle of a tightly woven nest and keeps the babies surround with fur. Then you have the process of a chicken brooding eggs. How the hens body sweats to adjust the humidity around the eggs, only the last two days, so if a chick pips through the egg the thin membrane around the chick will not dry out, squeeze and suffocate the chick before it has time to hatch. It is a delicate balance recreating this environment in an incubator. I have killed more than one chick accidentally because my humidity was too low.

One of my favorite quotes I tell my children is always stop and smell the flowers. You never know what may be lurking under the petals.

And stop they do.

Easily missed facts we've learned by observing...

Confessions of a Tree Hugger

Australian Crab Spiders in my garden

Always Listen to Your Mamma

Petting Zoo March 5, 2:30- 4pm

My children would like to put on a petting zoo(in hopes of getting Auntie Dawn and her children here) for our friends. If you are a friend, you are invited! Next Thursday, March 5 We will have a goat pen with two baby goats, a bunny box full of 12 day old bunnies and a chicken(Emma's best friend) set up in our living room if the weather is yucky. As much as I'd like to run with this and make it full of games and whatnot,

but we will not. Come for cookies, juice or coffee.

Anti-bacterial soap provided.

Balloons and cotton candy? NAH! We are taking it to another level...

FREE FROG EGGS for everyone, we even take orders, lol!