Minding the Menagerie

Figures

2012-01-30T15:25:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, the half marathon training is in full swing. I've been logging about 9 miles during the week on the treadmill and then I do one long(ish) run on the weekend. So yesterday I head out at nap time (or the glory time as I call it). I mapped out a nice six mile run on the dirt roads around our house. I've learned to enjoy running on the dirt roads. It's much lower impact than pavement, nicer scenery, almost no cars. The down side is when a car does go by you get eat dust and there are dogs. I'm not a fan of free roaming dogs, they almost always seeing a running person as a target. So I got myself a nice can of Mace that straps to my hand. At least I feel a bit more prepared in case a set of pit bulls start heading my way. Anyways, the long six mile run went great. I got a phone holder for my arm that holds the hubby's smart phone. He loaded a running app on it that keeps track of my speed and distance. It was awesome and will be used for future runs.

I get home from this run yesterday, pick up the dog to take him outside and proceed to fall down the back steps. Heard a snap and the next thing I know I'm laying in the dirt, the dog ran off (but came back) and my ankle hurts like hell. Sprained the darn thing. I've sprained my ankle many times in my youth but this had to be the most painful one. The whole evening I just laid on the couch like a veal. Ice and Ibuprofen seemed to do the trick. Poor Sean got to feed the kids, bathe them, get them to bed and feed all the animals. I'm sure thankful to have him around! I just got back from the doctors office, had to rule out a broken ankle. No broken bones, just a whole lot of swelling. Thank goodness. Doc said no running for at least two weeks. Dang. Figures, I have a nice long run with no problems and then fall down two steps when I get home.

The unintentional goat post.

2012-01-28T21:00:00.000-06:00

Wow it's been a long time since I last blogged. I have been nursing a sick goat for the past several days but luckily she's doing a lot better. Tuesday Dym the goat stopped eating her grain. Always a bad sign. She was active and moving so I didn't freak out. Plus she was still somewhat eating hay. So I took her temperature which was exciting (please note the sarcasm). If a 150 pound goat doesn't want a thermometer up her bum then she's going to get her way. Naturally I was too lazy to lead her into the shop where the milking stand is still set up. With her head in the stanchion I would have easily been able to get an accurate reading on a thermometer. But as it was I ended up shoving her up against the shop, grabbing a hind leg (she she couldn't run off) and getting that thermometer where it needed to go. Seeing as she's got some weight on me I was thrilled to have won that battle. Her temp was a little low but not too bad. I wormed her and gave her some probiotics to get her rumen working. I also made her some MAGIC (which is equal parts molasses, corn oil and corn syrup) to give her some energy and iron. She loves that stuff. Next day still wouldn't eat grain but ate her hay with a vengance. Finally got her back to eating grain yesterday. Still don't know what was wrong with her so I'm going to get a fecal done at the vet clinic, maybe they'll have some answers for me.

Dym's babies turned a year old on new years eve. Coco, the girl, has turned into a flirtatious little thing. She had her first heat and was romancing the heck out of GoatMan. GoatMan hasn't been romanced ever so he was really enjoying it....to say the least. I was under the impression that after a goat had been neutered they would loose all of the hormones that would make them "flirty" with the ladies. Boy was I wrong. I just stood out there watching this in shock and awe. Coco would come dancing up to GoatMan, nuzzling him, batting her eye lashes, then turn around and flick her tail in his face. This would drive him nuts and off they'd go, rutting like crazy. I had to cover the kids eyes at one point because it was a bit too graphic for their young eyes. Plus, it lead to way too many questions. I'm just seriously hoping that they castrated GoatMan correctly and didn't miss a testicle, because I don't think I can handle another round of goat milking.

Looks like this is turning into an animal post. Last weekend Sean was nice enough to scoop out the corral for me. Manure really piles up in the winter since I'm too lazy to go out and shovel it when it's cold. I would LOVE to own a tractor with a front end loader. That's what I drool over on Craigslist. But spending 8-10 grand on something that would be used for scooping poop just doesn't add up. So Sean gets out the old Cub Cadet with the front blade on it and shoves the manure into piles in the back of the pen where it composts and I can then scoop it onto the garden in the spring (with the wheel barrow). Maybe one day I'll have a nifty small tractor that I can play with.

It's been such a mild winter that I discovered several brussel sprout plants still alive out in the garden. Here's a little video of the animals enjoying it.

Fresh Sand

2012-01-17T15:24:00.001-06:00

I know spring is far off but lately it feels "spring like" around here. The balmy 65 degree weather makes me itch to start projects. Outside projects. So this weekend we hopped in the truck and went and bought eight 4X4's. Why you ask? The kids outgrew their sandbox about a year ago and it was time to upgrade. So now they have nearly an 8X8 foot sandbox filled with a half ton of sand from the quarry (I love living only a couple of miles from a quarry...1/2 ton of sand for $2.94). Thanks Sean for all of your hard work! The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and it's going to be hard to keep them out of it now that the weather has returned to 30 degrees. At least that's one spring project marked off the growing to-do list.

Concrete slab with "old" tiny sandbox.

Sean and the frame for the new one (he screwed in the lag bolts from the bottom so it's upside down right now).

New sandbox, hardly got the sand unloaded before the kids were in it.

"Helping" me unload sand.

Sophie and Cody hopped right up to help me sweep out the bed.

Wesley got a sand digger from Santa for Christmas, he loves it! Thanks Santa!

Accountability

2012-01-11T15:44:00.001-06:00

So I'm going for it. I found a local half marathon the end of April and I'm officially training for it. Although not much is changing in the training department. I am now running three miles, three days a week and then doing a long run outside on the weekends (either Saturday or Sunday). My "long" run on the weekends has been only four miles because I lack motivation to make it any longer. That is going to change now (I hope). The only roadblock I can foresee is the weather actually becoming more like winter. It's been unseasonably warm lately. Like 60 degrees, kids playing in the sandbox warm. It's awesome. I suppose the dreadmill, I mean treadmill, will work in a pinch for the long run but for some reason I hate running on that thing when the kids and hubby are around on the weekends.

One thing that is making the longer three mile treadmill runs doable is our fancy new cordless headphones (Santa brought them ;). I put them on, go to streaming NetFlix and run while watching a Vampire Diaries (don't judge me, they aren't all that bad...Sean even watches them). A 45 minute show makes running almost enjoyable.

I can't forget to mention the music. For the long outside runs I've been venturing out and listening to all sorts of music. I used to be a strictly country music gal. But it's difficult to run to country, so I've been experimenting with pop and rock and like it! I'm now a big fan of groups I'd never even heard of six months ago. My current favorites are Coldplay and Mumford & Sons, but I'm sure I'll be into something else by next month. Gotta keep it fresh. I'll definitely need some fresh tunes to run the 13.1 miles on April 29th. Can you tell I'm pumped?

Sick Day Bubble Bath

2012-01-10T18:55:00.000-06:00

The kids have been pretty puny lately. They caught some bug which produced a pretty high fever, one that couldn't be brought down with medicine. So the scary kind of fever. They've been moping around so we decided to have a fun afternoon bubble bath to lighten their spirits. It worked wonders!

The Hunt

2012-01-08T20:31:00.000-06:00

One of the Hubby and my favorite past times is playing Playstation 3. We each have our games that we are into and this time of the year is when we start back into playing them. Well, my favorite game series of all of them is Ratchet and Clank. I've played all of them since they released the first one back on the original Playstation. A new one (All 4 one) was recently released and I received it for Christmas (well actually I bought it for myself). The fun thing about this one is that it's a multiple player game, you need a partner to get through it. So Hubby and I have been lounging around on the couch in the evenings playing this game like a couple of kids. It's been something I look forward to doing all day. It's quite fun. So last night we prepare for our evening of play and go to put the game in, only to find the disk and case completely gone. It's stored next to the TV, up high on the built in entertainment center. Frustrated, we scoured the house last night. Looked in cupboards, under couch cushions, in toy boxes and behind drapes. We looked everywhere. The only conclusion was that one of the kids took off with it. Meaning it could be anywhere (for example the oven, or the trash can, or the toilet). It's always a surprise (please note my sarcasm).

So first thing this morning we asked Wesley if he remembers taking the game down from beside the television. He thought for a while and said:

"Hmmm, yes I remember watching cartoons and taking it. I put it in a lunch box with three beavers."

Sean and I look at each other and immediately look into the shelves where some of the toys are kept in the living room. We dig back until we find a yellow lunch box. Pretty much the ONLY thing we didn't look in. Sure enough it's sitting inside of it with a few Alvin and the Chipmunk toys on top. At that point we are just busting up laughing. Such a pack rat, that one. Having kids has been such an adventure. A strange, exciting and often hilarious adventure.

Resolutions

2012-01-05T10:26:00.001-06:00

2011 was a big year of personal growth for me. I hope 2012 is equally enlightening. With the beginning of a new year brings new resolutions. Here are mine:

1. Be a happy mom. It's simple to write, I wish it was as simple to accomplish. Being home with my children every day is great. I'm happy that I can do this for them. But if we are being honest here, sometimes they drive me nuts. Hide in a closet nuts. By the end of the day I'm counting down the minutes until the Hubby comes home to take some of the crazy off of my shoulders. They are young (4 & 2) so I'm hopeful that this is a stage and the crazy screaming, running through the house hitting each other phase will at some point fade and they will be easier to handle. But until then, my resolution is to be a less stressed, more well adjusted, non screaming, happy mom to my kids.

2. Keep running. I've found that the key to my happiness lies in a piece of equipment in the living room. The treadmill. Running keeps the crazies away, and it's a whole lot cheaper than therapy. Ever since I started running regularly (back in May) I've been a much more even keeled person. The ups and downs of life are easier to handle, as are the children. Endorphins are magical things, I'd even go as far to say that I'm addicted to them. I'm logging about 10 miles a week right now but hope to increase that gradually as the weather warms up. Running is time just for me, no kids screaming at me, no dogs barking, no worries at all. It's much needed "me" time, something that we all need...not just the mom's of the world. This year I will keep running.

3. Have more dates. When kids come along it's really easy to fall into the rut of being a parent. After all, it consumes every waking hour. This year I will make time to have more date nights with my husband. We are also planning a trip to Hawaii (a second honeymoon perhaps?). Now just to find a babysitter that will take the kids for a week.

4. Blog more! I've taken a little hiatus from blogging over the past several months and I'm going to try and get back to it. Here's hoping!

Happy New Year?

2012-01-01T10:54:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you are ringing in your new year on a better note than we are in our household. The dreaded stomach bug from hell has been visiting for the past few days. I swear I've never washed more bedding in my life. The washing machine has been going for the past two days without stopping. Greta threw up on Wesley's bed, then Wesley threw up all over his bed then it hit Sean and I. Luckily we've just been queasy....so very queasy. Like a roller coaster ride you just never can get off of. I ventured out to WalMart yesterday for my weekly food run, the whole time wishing and hoping I wasn't the cause of "clean up on isle 4". Luckily, I made it home without losing my lunch....oh wait, I haven't eaten much of anything in days....not much chance of losing anything.

Not a whole lot happening around here. I thought I'd share my newest rodent story. Yes, I know more rodent stories. I seem to be fixated on them. But I swear I've never had so many issues with them until recently. I'm starting to think Kitty did more to keep them at bay then I thought she did before she passed away. Anyways, while we were out of town for Christmas my friend Jessica came over to feed the animals. She's a life saver in the fact that I don't know of anyone else that would be willing to come over and feed the 20+ animals that we have. We'd never go anywhere without your help, thank you Jessica! Unfortunately things seem to happen when she comes to take care of the animals. Not her fault of course, just bad timing. The morning I left, I noticed one of the chickens wasn't walking very well. This hen has done this before and recovers just fine so I didn't worry too much. I asked Jessica to look in on them that evening. She came over, after dark, wearing a head lamp (you know, those flashlights you wear on your head?). She opened the door to the hen house and had the feeling that the floor was moving. She focused her headlamp on the floor and the ground was covered with mice, all of which stopped what they were doing and looked up at her before flooding the door way and spilling out onto her boots. She said there were so many she couldn't count. The whole time resisting the urge to scream like a little girl. *shiver* Poor Jessica. I knew we had a mouse problem in the hen house but I didn't know it was to that extent. She went in after the automatic light had gone off for the night and the hens were all roosting for the evening. I don't go out that late so I think I was oblivious to the problem (I'm going to tell myself that anyways).

So I decided to declare war on the mice. If you'll remember we built the hen house in the shop with an outside aviary attached. Things I didn't realize when doing this is that we are providing a prime real estate location to hundreds of mice. They live in the shop and go into the hen house to feed on all of the uneaten chicken food (chickens are very messy). I even have a constant supply of heated water in there. Plus our shop kitty passed away this fall so they don't even have predators. Well, they have me I guess (insert evil laughter). Two nights ago I placed 24 mouse traps on the floor around the hen house. It took half an hour and while I was baiting the traps (with peanut butter) I actually caught two mice. By the next evening I had caught 23 mice. Twenty three! So, I bought 16 more traps yesterday and will probably catch 16 more mice by tomorrow. Yuck. Talk about wiping out the population. I will just keep traps out there at all times from now on.

Oh and that chicken that wasn't walking well? She was dead by the next morning and her sisters had cannibalized her. They literally ate her. So poor Jessica had to scrape her half eaten frozen body off of the ground. Apparently caged chickens (non free range like mine) are prone to cannibalizing each other. Even after seven years out here with animals there are still things that surprise me. Let us all hope the new year brings fewer disgusting animal stories. Or maybe I should just stop sharing them?

Santa Came!

2011-12-25T22:09:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas all! We are in Kansas City celebrating with my family. This year has been exciting witnessing Christmas through a four year old. Wesley has embraced the concept of Santa and the North Pole entirely and his excitement grew with every passing day. He got to meet Santa when he came to his preschool a couple of weeks ago, even sit on his lap and tell him what he wanted (Angry Bird toys, puzzles and a sand digger). Last night, after all the presents had been placed under the tree, my sister took a pair of shoes outside and collected dirt....making dirty footprints from the chimney to the tree. It was great. The kids woke up this morning, came out and just stared, wide eyed, at Santas footprints and half eaten cookies. The kids all made out like bandits, it was a good Christmas. I hope everyone had a nice relaxing day and remembered the reason for the season. Merry Christmas!

Pictures at JC Pennys the day before Christmas.

Blake and Baby Bennett.

Greta and I.

The boys (one being thrown in the air).

Wesley with his new hat. We all laughed so hard, thank you Granny Randi for knitting it.

The expression made me laugh. He wears his beard well.

Betsy and Bennett. Little dude is getting so big!

Love the "Ohhh!" expression on Emery. Robot was a hit.

Playing finger puppets with Papa.

ABC Girl

2011-12-17T13:16:00.000-06:00

Greta has been dazzling us with her ABC's for a couple of months now. I thought I'd share it with you. Disregard her lack of pants, they are optional in our household.

Christmas Program

2011-12-12T16:13:00.000-06:00

Wesley had his Christmas program last night and it was very cute. It was pretty much a repeat of last years songs but the four year olds got to do a few special things that he was too young for last year. He had to memorize his line of The Little Drummer Boy and preform it on stage. He did wonderfully! I sometimes wonder how he's my child, as I'd be petrified to be onstage. Here are some pictures of the evening and a video clip of the little darlings singing. Hope you enjoy!

Aren't they all just adorable? Wesley is back row, third from the right.

Little intermission. They look like they are having quite the conversation.

Classic Greta smile. She thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Group picture.

Weekly Winners

2011-12-06T16:52:00.001-06:00

My dad brought over his new iPhone, the kid is in love!

Princess shoes and a Remington Gun hat. Makes a Dad proud.

Silly kids taking one of many "fake" naps during the day.

Killing zombies on the iPhone, it's a family affair.

The kid loves Angry Birds, pretty good at it too!

A Sticky Situation

2011-12-02T14:03:00.002-06:00

I'm starting to wonder if strange rodent related problems only happen to me, or if people just don't talk about it. Yesterday morning I'm awoken to the sound of tiny thumping. Immediately I think of the glue trap under the bed. Yes, I bought a pack of glue traps to try and catch some of the brown recluse spiders we have in the house. For some reason we have quite the problem with them in our bedroom in the summer. I never thought we had mice in our bedroom. So anyways, I peek under the bed to find this mouse dragging the glue trap around by its tail. Only its tail was stuck. I jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen to get a container so I could catch him and get his tail out of the glue before he got his whole body stuck. Sadly by the time I got back to the bedroom he had firmly planted all four feet in the glue. I felt awful. Poor little thing was freaked out trying to get out. Darn glue traps, what was I thinking? I actually thought about donning oven mitts and trying to use rubbing alcohol to get his little feet unstuck. Yeah, that idea flew out the window when I saw how freaked out he was. So I did the only humane thing I could think of at the moment. I used tongs and picked up the trap, slid it into a empty Teddy Grahams box and popped it all in the freezer. I know, I know.....horrible. But I figured he would just go to sleep instead of sitting on that trap for days starving to death. This will haunt me for months I'm sure.

Ironically, after I'd put him in the freezer, I Googled "Mouse on a sticky trap" to find that there are several ways to remove a mouse from a glue trap. The most popular method is to place the trap with mouse in a lidded container and drizzle some vegetable oil on the trap. Apparently in a matter of minutes the mouse will be able to work itself free. The problem? You then have an oil covered mouse in a box. I couldn't exactly dump it outside in the 29 degree weather. Poor thing would have just turned into a popsicle anyways. I suppose I could have given him a nice bubble bath and blow dry before sending him on his way, but somehow I don't think that would have worked. So please learn from my mistakes, don't use glue traps. Oh and I'm never going to look at a box of Teddy Grahams the same again.

Fall Update

2011-11-27T00:09:00.001-06:00

So my ability to blog on any regular basis has flown out the window. Instead I plan to do one rambling blog post a week to catch you up with our family happenings. Last weekend we joined Wesley's preschool class on a trip to a local Christmas tree farm. Ironically it was the same Christmas tree farm that my parents used to take my sister and I to every year to cut down a tree. It was a blast from the past. We learned all about how a tree farm is run, the parents getting more out of it than the kids. It was nice and it made me want to trade in our fake tree for that of a real tree and all the Holiday traditions that come with it.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. It was just the four of us this year, the first time as just a family. We truly missed having family around for Thanksgiving this year. But after last year I think we needed a year off from traveling. I made way too much food and we all gained way too many pounds. Darn you strawberry cheesecake you call my name as I write this.

On the subject of food. The kids and I were out in the back yard running around and we meandered back to the big dead garden. I, unlike most good gardeners, leave my dead ugly garden to decay all winter because I just don't care enough to go back and clean up all the dead corn stalks and black vines. I do all that in the spring when the gardening bug bites me again. Anyways, we were back there wandering around when we saw green leaves. At the end of November after we've had many many freezes there was signs of life! Strangely enough there was a whole row of green onions stalks and big bunches of carrot tops. I planted this special mix of carrots I bought from Burpee called the Kaleidoscope Mix based purely on the fact that the carrots are all different colors. They mixed a variety of different kinds of carrot seeds, some that were white, red, purple, orange and yellow. Cool huh. Well they didn't grow all summer, nada. I thought I got a bum package or it could have been because it was the hottest summer in 20 some years. Who knows. But here it is November (darn near December) and I have carrots! Really cool, colorful ones at that!

For four years now I've been a bit of a Twilight fan. You know, that gay vampire movie? Well I was a fan of the book, books I should say. I started reading the first book right after Wesley was born and quickly devoured the other three books not long after. That book came along at a time in my life when I was doing nothing but sitting in a recliner with a newborn stuck to me 24/7. I will always be appreciative to Stephanie Meyer for conjuring up that story line that allowed me to fall so easily into a book, and then going on to write me three more. Ever since that first movie came out, Jessica (another fan of the books) and I would go to the opening weekend. We'd sit there amongst the teenage girls and feel just as excited to see the movie. I have to say, the movies are not good. The books are fun, the movies suck. But any chance to get out of the house and I'm on it! So last weekend we headed out for opening weekend of the last movie. Donning Twilight t-shirts no less. Ah fun times. Oh and this latest movie? Didn't even suck too bad.

Boy, this post is long winded! This is why I'm supposed to break these up into individual posts throughout the week. Doh. Well, last but not least is Wesley. He's having fun in preschool. They are learning to write their names. He tries so hard but is having a rough time. We sit down daily and work on writing letters, he's getting better by the week. He loves to lay on the floor with Greta by his side and trace letters in his workbook. I love looking down and seeing those two concentrating so hard. Thick as thieves those two.

Weekly Winners

2011-11-13T13:31:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the picture overload. I need to post more often! These were two weeks ago while visiting my sister.

Emery loving the leaves. Happy Birthday little man!

Betsy and Baby Bennett....and his light saber.

Such a cute picture of a happy Wesley.

Father and daughter at the pumpkin patch.

Betsy, myself and the boys on a hay rack ride.

Look at the happy face on Greta! She had a blast.

My cute parents.

Greta loved the sandbox.

My Dad and Wesley spent a lot of time at the duck races.

Wesley working the water pumps, he had a blast.

Conversations with a Four Year Old

2011-11-11T15:02:00.002-06:00

This one was too much of a gem not to share. We are in the car on our way to preschool.

-------------------

Wesley: "Mom, do you remember when Greta was in your belly?"

Me: "Sure do."

Wesley: "How did she get out of your belly?"

Me: "Uh, very carefully."

Wesley: "Did you poop her out?"

Me: "Uh.....something like that? Aren't you a little young to be asking these questions?"

Wesley: "Did you know that some people eat animals?"

Me: "Boy, your little brain is on overdrive today isn't. Yes, some people eat animals. We eat animals."

Wesley: "........"

Me: "Dude, what do you think a chicken nugget is made out of?"

Wesley: flustered "Mom, you are silly!!"

Me: "That turkey sandwich you had for lunch, made of a real turkey....gobble gobble."

Wesley: clearly shocked and trying to digest it all. "Mom, you are super silly!!!"

--------------

Perhaps that was a little too much information for a four year old to digest in a course of three minutes.

Monster Dash

2011-11-02T15:22:00.001-05:00

I ran in my very first 5K this past weekend. My sister invited me up to Kansas City to run with her and Blake in the Monster Dash on Saturday morning. It was a lot of fun! I've been running nearly daily for the past couple of months and felt it was time to try out a road race. What I wasn't prepared for was how long 3 miles felt! I run 3 miles all the time but I know where the end is when I run on the dirt roads. This race was through town and around every turn I was expecting the finish line. It was a lesson in patience. What also made it fun was that you were able to dress up in costume for the race. I spent a large portion of the race just chuckling at the characters running along side me. We had the clan of zombie cheerleaders, the gal in the massacred bunny suit, the guy in the tequila suit with this partner in a lime suit and we can't forget the woman in the Jane Fonda workout suit (I don't think I can erase that image even if I tried). Betsy, Blake and I all donned wigs and capes and I had some witch tights (which helped keep me warm but still froze since it was 39 degrees). I wanted to bust my butt and do a 9 minute mile (which is fast for me) but ended up with a 9.2 mile which I'm still really happy with. It will make a good challenge to try and beat my time of 28 minutes in the next 5K. I plan to find another one around home soon. Thanks for inviting me Sis!

My sis, brother-in-law and I before the race....so early it's still dark out.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T23:57:00.003-05:00

From our crazy clan to yours, hope you had an enjoyable and safe Halloween!

The Leaf Pile

2011-10-30T15:18:00.000-05:00

We had a great time spending the weekend with my sister. They have a massive amount of leaves in their backyard which made for some awesome piles to jump into. Take a gander at Sean diving in.

Holy Cow

2011-10-26T00:25:00.000-05:00

After attempting to clean the basement I've decided we have way too many toys. I can't even clean the basement, where to put them all? I find this embarrassing.....so what better to do then post it on the internet? Me thinks it's time to have a garage sale.

Fall Activities

2011-10-17T15:57:00.000-05:00

Fall is my most favorite time if the year. I just love it. One reason is the traditions our family has. Fall means parades and pumpkin patches. So I'm squeezing the recent activities into one post. We do most of these activities with Jessica and her kids, so therefore there are a lot of kids in the pictures. Enjoy!

Parade time = large amount of candy.

Cute Greta really enjoyed herself this year.

Pumpkin patch kids with their chosen pumpkins.

Wesley and his preschool class.

In addition to a corn maze, they had a Milo maze.

The clan.

Lovin the barrel train!

Weekly Winners

2011-10-09T12:14:00.001-05:00

The Tighty Whitey Avenger and his trusty sidekick.

My Dad rocking out to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance while showing off his dance moves he learned online for the song. He's a riot. Love you Dad.

The new Nerf gun is getting some serious action......from Sean.

Morning cartoon time

Cute kid (if I do say so myself).

Swing girl

Rest in Peace Lady. Kitty passed away two weekends ago. We miss her a lot.

Dear GoatMan

2011-10-07T10:17:00.002-05:00

Dear GoatMan,
We've had you for six years now. For six years I've been wishing and hoping you'd magically turn into a nice, happy and well adjusted goat. Last week you gored my leg with your horn. My calf is now a lovely shade of green and yellow. I am tired of you and your evilness. I'm tired of the red gleam you get in your eye when you see me enter the pen. I'm tired of your dominance you have over all of the other animals including the miniature horses that each have 150 pounds on you. It saddens me when I see you chase the goat babies around the pen trying to catch them. It gives me pleasure to see them outrun you and your overweight body. I don't know what to do with you. I'd eat you if I was that kind of person, but luckily for you I don't eat my "pets". I don't classify you as a pet though. Pets aren't normally spawns of Satan. Pets don't gore their owners. I don't normally will my pets to fall over dead. But you, I am making an exception. Every day I hope to find you deceased. What a happy and joyful barn yard it would be. Hay would be easy to eat, without you dominating every pile. Sleep would be uninterrupted without you running amok terrorizing all. I would be able to enter the pen without a whip at my side. But alas you seem to be the hardiest goat on the face of the planet. Since you try to kill me on a daily basis I find it unnecessary to worm you and trim your hooves. After all I can't even catch you without you trying to dismember me with your horns. Satan is calling you home GoatMan, listen to him.

Yours Truly,
Goat Mom

El Crappy GoatMan up on his royal perch.

The Forgotten Garden

2011-10-05T15:56:00.002-05:00

There are people out there that garden year round. These magical beings must have more energy than I. They have spring crops such as lettuce and snap peas, summer crops like corn and zucchini and then they are out planting asparagus crowns in the fall. I am not one of these people. I put 110% into vegetable gardening in the spring and summer and once the heat of August comes and the plants start to fry in the heat, I'm done. I then recharge my batteries for the following spring. Hence my "garden" looks like a graveyard right now. I haven't even been back there in weeks, so you'll understand my surprise when I wandered back there last week to find thriving plants with fruit hanging all over. I'm swimming in peppers, up to my eye balls in sweet potatoes and even still finding the occasional forgotten onion. I planted eight bell pepper plants that are now producing in gusto. Then there's the hot peppers. What do I do with all the hot peppers? There's about 20 plants ranging from Jalapeno, to some mild salsa peppers (I forget the name) to the Cayenne peppers. The Cayenne peppers are drooping from the hundreds of peppers hanging off of them. Anyone know what to do with one of the hottest peppers on the planet? Because I'm scared to even touch them, little own bring them in the house where my unsuspecting two year old could somehow get a hold of them (and their oils). So alas they will probably rot on the plant unless I become motivated enough to go don gloves and do something with them. Any ideas?

I kid you not, there are hundreds.

What have we been up to?

2011-10-03T10:46:00.001-05:00

Nothing much really. This is the time of year that we slow down. This summer really knocked it out of me, energy wise. Maybe it was the 53 days of 100 degree temperatures, or maybe it was something else. Sean tackled one of the biggest projects he's ever tackled, the house siding. We are so glad to knock that off the giant 'to do' list. Now that Fall is officially here we have just been wrapping up loose ends, preparing for winter.

Sean bought a new toy about a month a half ago. He's been itching for a new milling machine but they rarely come along falling into our price range. Yet one day he was surfing Craigslist and ran across a Bridgeport milling machine that was spot on. It's rough and in need of a lot of TLC, but a project is what he wanted so it was perfect. He hooked up the truck to a rented trailer and off he went to pick it up. Ever since it's been home he's been out there nearly every evening working on it. Removing rust, making gears work again. He's going to turn it into a CNC machine. The only problem he's run into is that the ceiling in the shop isn't tall enough for this machine, so he's had to make a few "modifications" to the ceiling.

And here is his new toy, in pieces due to it's size.

I've taken up a new hobby. Running! I bought a treadmill about a year ago and was jogging on it on and off and then got motivated to start using it regularly. So I started using it daily. I felt good, had more energy than ever.....something I was lacking. With two little kids running around, energy was in short supply. My goals started out small. Run one mile a day on the treadmill. After a few weeks I was able to do that. So I bumped it up to two miles a day, then three. I'm in between two and three a day right now and I feel great! I never thought I could be a runner, it's nice to prove yourself wrong. My sister told me I should try running on the road and so last weekend I ran through our little town logging five miles. It was fun but much harder on my joints. I got some new shoes and tried it again yesterday, logging 6.5 miles. It was fun and I'm motivated to get out again next weekend. Maybe a marathon will be in my future...my goal is to do a full marathon next Fall. This new hobby inspired me to make other changes as well. I hacked off 10 inches of hair and got my ears pierced while Sean and I were on our little mini vacation. I sat in the little chair at Claire's Boutique and told myself if I can have two epidurals then I can have my ears pierced....I am 32 years old after all.

That's about all that's happening around here.

Greta's Great Birthday Bash

2011-09-28T16:29:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we celebrated Miss Greta's second birthday with a little get together. She had a blast and we were grateful to everyone that could come. She's a lucky little lady to have such wonderful people in her life.

Got the hat on her for 2.7 seconds. Still better than LAST YEAR.

Dad and Baby Bennett. He's gotten big! Bennett, not my dad. :)

Looking fabulous in her party dress.

Jessica and Josh and the reclusive Abby, stuck to Mom's side.

Presents!

Loads of little ones. All under 5.

Auntie time with BB.

It's Marmot feeding time.

Glazed over look in her eye BEFORE cake eating!

Yum!

The three amigos!

Pre-Birthday Bash

2011-09-24T23:57:00.001-05:00

What a fun day! My sister and her family are in town and my father invited us all to go to the local amusement park this evening for his birthday. I had no idea it would be so much fun, we are so going back soon! I also didn't realize my four year old is now old enough for 90% of the rides. He had a blast, I haven't seen him that giddy in a long time (if ever). Thanks Mom and Dad for a great evening!

The gang.

Not quite big enough for much of anything. But a darn cute picture.

Tall enough for most everything! Yea Wesley!

Go carts here we come!

Way too much fun.

Betsy with Emery on the carousel.

Greta hamming it up with myself.

Giant slide also a hit! Lots of crying when we had to leave.

Helicopters that went up and down, also a big hit.

Dragging Dad to the Ferris wheel.

Dad made the cage go round and round, upside down. I thought there would be puke everywhere. Nope, just one REALLY happy kid.

He got to drive this one all by himself.

Fast asleep once we got in the car. A sign of a great evening.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

2011-09-22T17:19:00.000-05:00

I got to join Hubby on his out of town trip to work the job fair at our college. I had six glorious hours all to myself (without kids I might add...Thanks Jessica) to roam the town seeing all the changes that have happened in the ten years since we graduated. I got to get some quality shopping in as well as a campus visit. Talk about a blast from the past!

Here is my old dorm. Oh how I don't miss ye. The ancient building was hot in the summer and cold and drafty in the winter. I did smuggle my cat in there for a full year. I likely would have been in big trouble had they found out, but they didn't. Jessica, my roommate, and I had a great system for hiding him. Anyone knocked on the door, the other would scoop up Dexter (the large white cat) and run into the closet. We lived on the wild side back then (please note the sarcasm).

He would often squeeze his fat body between the metal blinds and the window and I would spy him on my trek back from class sunning himself in this window desperately trying to get us kicked out of the dorms. Ah good times.

I spent way too much time in this building, the art building. The art department used to be shoved into the top two floors while the science department got the main floor and recognition on the sign out front. It seems in ten years the art department has taken over the whole building, shoving science somewhere else....probably a newer air conditioned building.The main floor, which used to house the giant Chemistry rooms now has been transformed into a rather nice art gallery and art department office. I was impressed.

Next stop was to the College of Education to visit my old boss. I worked tech support for four years while in college and he was a great boss. It was nice chatting with him and seeing all of the changes that have taken place since I was there oh so long ago.

While I was at it I had to visit my first apartment. It's looking more ghetto than ever these days. It was a rat hole when we lived in it. Tina and I decided on it because it was one of the few apartments in town to allow pets (everything revolves around pets for me). We ended up with a dog and three cats in there. I could never forget big Crazy Vera that lived upstairs from us. There was no wondering why that apartment was vacant.

Last but certainly not least, I couldn't visit without seeing the place I got married. Great memories here.

It was a fun and memorable trip, I've got great memories of this town. I'll have to return when I can stroll down memory lane with Sean, and definitely show the kids around town one day.....after all there's a good chance they'll attend college here.

Happy Birthday Greta!

2011-09-21T23:23:00.000-05:00

Whew! What a day! Wesley and Greta had their very first sleepover with my pal Jessica and her kids. Hubby had the opportunity to be a representative from his company at a college job fair. It happens to be the college we both graduated from so I was more than excited to join him on his trip. Then Jessica offered to watch the kids overnight. That was last night. You can read how it went in Jessica's own words HERE. They sure had a blast. Thanks again Jessica, I owe you a million. We got back rather late and didn't even have a chance to celebrate my little girl turning two years old so we are having a small celebration this weekend. After all it is my fathers birthday too. Happy Birthday Pops! Pictures and more from both the birthday get together and the campus visit in the next few days. In the mean time, Happy Birthday Greta! You are my little angel.

Waiting

2011-09-15T09:20:00.000-05:00

The kids had a play date with their friends Alex and Abby and decided to wait for them to pull in the driveway. I told them to go find something to sit on, notice Greta brought over her potty. It made me laugh.

Rubbing me out of the picture completely.

2011-09-13T15:56:00.000-05:00

I believe that is their master plan. I'm ok with that.

Conversations with a four year old

2011-09-08T17:59:00.001-05:00

We were over at Aunt Jessica's house today for a play date. Greta is in the sandbox shoveling sand into her mouth.

Me: "Greta if you put anymore sand in your mouth I'm going to kick you out of the sandbox!"

Wesley: (shocked) "Ouch! Won't that hurt her?!"

Jessica and I laughed. Wonder when they stop taking everything so literally.

First Day

2011-09-07T23:27:00.000-05:00

Can you believe I'm sitting here at 2 o'clock in the afternoon in a perfectly quiet house? That might not seem special to you, but to me it's freaking awesome. You see today is Wesley's first day of preschool. He's now in the four year old class and he's so excited to get back to school! This year Miss Cindy is doing a morning class and an afternoon class to accommodate all the four year old kids. There seems to be a giant influx of children in preschool this year. It should make for a large kindergarten class next year.

Wesley is in the afternoon class instead of the morning class this year which makes it nice since we don't have the morning rush. The downfall is that the afternoon class is during Greta's nap. Thankfully Alex, Wesley's best bud, is in class with him and Jessica is able to bring him home for me. Thanks Jessica!

So here I sit, with one child sleeping and the other at preschool. The house is quiet and I have it all to myself. I think it's time to dive into a good new book.

This year I remembered my camera for the first day of school! Miss Cindy is such a great lady.

Hamming it up with Sis.

Wesley is so pumped to have Alex in his class this year.

Family Pictures

2011-09-05T21:37:00.003-05:00

We didn't have any family pictures with poor Greta in them so I finally felt it was time. I'm pretty impressed with the photographer being able to get a two year old and a four year old to smile. We'll definitely go there again. Here's just a sample, if you're family you'll be getting one for Christmas...so act surprised.

Weekly Winners: Dress Up

2011-08-28T21:15:00.000-05:00

I didn't break out the camera much this week so there are only a few. The kids are really into dress up now and take any opportunity to pile on the clothes, hats and shoes. Then they immediately ask me to take their photo. It's been fun.

My little ham.

Cleaning out the closet today, they found the winter hats. My children are hat kids! Thanks Granny Randi for knitting them, you rock.

Even Dad is dragged into the fun....pink cowboy hat and all.

Our once every decade purchase

2011-08-27T16:32:00.001-05:00

It's a special day in our house. We did something we do about every ten years. We actually bought a new computer! I know, I know...this probably isn't that special to everyone else but this is big news for us considering computers are used for my business and Sean's career revolves around them. We've been hobbling by lately using a laptop that a very generous friend gave us. But it's battery finally died for the third time and we felt it was time. So we packed the kids up in the car and off to Best Buy we went to search for that special new member of family. Walking the isles of laptops left me a little disappointed. They all seemed so cheap and flimsy, even the expensive ones. So perhaps a laptop is not what I was looking for after all. Then around the next turn I saw it. This big, beautiful screen that beckoned to me "Buy me!". I fell in love with the all-in-one computers. They have a giant screen with the computer built in. The kicker here? The thing that made me buy it was the touch screen. It is so cool. It's like a giant iPad.

We knew we could get a better deal for it online than at the store, so I wrote down the model number of the Dell I liked and Sean came home and did oodles of research. He finally found one on Dell's site that was refurbished and about $150 less than the one in the store. Then at checkout we saw the coupon code slot and Googled "Dell Coupon Code" to find a code for 20% off. Turns out it worked! Got another $123 bucks off. All in all, it was a steal! We're feeling like pretty savvy consumers right about now. I have to admit that the very best thing about this whole purchase was sitting in front of a 23 inch full screen of Farmville. Pathetic? Yes. But so worth it.

Funday Sunday: Jalapeno Bacon Poppers

2011-08-21T07:53:00.001-05:00

These things are simply sinful. I actually had them for the first time down in New Mexico for Thanksgiving. Someone brought them as an appetizer and I sat there and inhaled them since I was starving. They are a bit spicy but if you pop em in your mouth without letting them touch your lips then you avoid the burning lips. They are oh so good. Give them a try especially, if like me, you have a ton of jalapenos hanging out in the garden. If I get a hankering for these I'll run out and grab 4 or 5 jalapenos and make enough for a snack. You can also make a huge amount for a BBQ. Tasty little suckers.

Jalapeno Bacon Poppers

Ingredients

20 whole Fresh Jalapenos, 2-3 Inches In Size
2 cubes Cream Cheese, softened
1 pound Thin(regular) Bacon, Sliced Into Thirds (or you can use the already cooked bacon for small batches, just place it flat on top)

Preparation Instructions

If you have them, slip on some latex gloves for the pepper prep... Cut jalapenos in half, length-wise. With a spoon, remove the seeds and white membrane (the source of the heat; leave a little if you like things HOT). Smear softened cream cheese into each jalapeno half. Wrap jalapeno with bacon pieces (1/3 slice).
Bake on a pan with a rack in a 375-degree oven for 20-25 minutes. You don’t want the bacon to shrink so much it starts to the squeeze the jalapeno. If, after 20 minutes, the bacon doesn’t look brown enough, just turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish it off. These are best when the jalapeno still has a bit of bite to it.
Serve immediately, or they’re also great at room temperature.
Yum!

ATV

2011-08-19T22:41:00.001-05:00

I busted out the camera this evening, something I haven't done in a couple of weeks. We went over to my folks house to see their newest toys. They recently purchased two 4-wheelers to take out to Colorado and we thought we'd take them for a test drive before they took them out there. I've never driven an ATV before and, boy, was that fun! Wesley had a ball too, we could hardly pry him from the seat when we were done. It made for some cute photos. I'm looking forward to trying them out in the mountains!

Wesley and Papa


My cute parents

Wesley and I raced all over that yard.


Greta was too small for the ATV so she got to ride the tractor.

Nothing much cuter than that smile.

Father and son.

Bad Blogger

2011-08-18T15:09:00.000-05:00

I'm a bad blogger. It's been over a week since I blogged last. There are no excuses, well maybe one excuse. It's summer! The time of the year I dream of the other nine months of the year. So I've been trying to fill it up to the best of my abilities for these kids. Yet it's slipping away. Next week is the preschool open house and then Wesley starts back up at preschool the beginning of September. This year he'll be going three days a week and he's super excited. I'm kind of excited too....perhaps I'm not supposed to admit that?

We've been working on various house projects on the weekends. Lately it's been clean up projects. We have tons of rotten siding piled up and ready to go to the dump. The pile of broken up tiles in the house are next to go. Sometimes I think the clean up can take as long as the actual project itself. I'm so looking forward to finishing up the floor project and having thick, plush carpet put down. I literally can't wait.

That's about all that's happening. Wish I had more to blog about....pretty slow around here.

Weekly Winners

2011-08-07T14:19:00.001-05:00

Swimming day with friends!

Accurate picture of the insanity. I love it!

Greta adores Abby.

Cucumber eating dogs....they've cleaned out the garden. Cody goes back there and drags a cucumber with the vine back. I'm able to laugh about it now.

Tunnel from a garage sale with two kids and an adult in it.

The face of sheer defeat.

Baby Doll

2011-08-05T10:48:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty sure she's pushing the weight limit on her doll stroller. They did this for over an hour.

An Overgrown Garden

2011-08-03T16:05:00.002-05:00

Looks like I won many battles but lost the war. My poor zucchini are wilting and dying. The squash borer is doing it's damage. It's really sad to see considering all the work I put into keeping the blasted things alive. I have a new theory on squash beetles and squash borers. Do what ever you can to keep them under control
but you will never eradicate them. They will kill your plants eventually, it's all about how long you can keep the squash plants alive to produce. I kept mine alive long enough to make many many loaves of zucchini breads, muffins, brownies and more. Now that I know then end is near I've been shredding all that I can find and shoving it in the freezer for this fall and winter (I've read that it freezes well shredded and not blanched). Here's ten cups worth:

RIP zucchini, see ya gain next year.

On a happy note, the cantaloupe is producing like crazy. I planted eight started cantaloupe plants in the spring, along with twenty seeds and now have 26 cantaloupe out there among the vines. We've already harvested three and ate one last night....oh how I LOVE cantaloupe, as do the kids. The watermelon is having a bumper crop as well with 13 melons out in the garden. Next year: MORE cantaloupe and watermelon. They are winners!

The sunflowers didn't dissapoint. With a name like "Sunfower Forest" it had to be good! The big ones on the edge of the garden (where the goat manure got spread) are a huge 11+ feet tall. I've read there are even larger varieties which I'll order and try next year.

Tomatoes are going nuts too. Looks like it's time to make some salsa! Too bad my cilantro puttered out in the heat. Still got onions and hot peppers though. It will be a salsa making weekend. Yum! In the mean time I found a good way to get rid of tomatoes. Skin them and hand them to a little girl. Greta will devour a big tomato in about 30 seconds.

Proof of Greta's little tomato addiction.

Beating the Heat

2011-08-02T00:05:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's summer. It's the time of year when the kids are outside running around screaming, something good is grilling on the BBQ, and sitting in chair under a tree with a cool drink sounds pretty good. Right? Wrong. It's so hot the the kids stand next to the tree with you, with their little red cheeks, begging to go inside to the air conditioning. Nothing is grilling because you might as well save the gas and toss the meat on the sidewalk. It's absolutely unfathomably hot. So on that note, what better to do on a boring Monday? Drag the kids to the fair! Yep, the county fair was going on this week, so I picked Jessica and her kids up and we all headed out. All in all not my brightest idea, the animals were all spread out in their pens miserable from the heat and the kids just drug their feet around. Oh well, can't say we didn't try.

We got the new slip n slide out and got it set up, boy did that turn out to be a hit! There is one section of the grass in the backyard that I keep watered, so I set it up on that grass since it would provide some cushioning while sliding (you know, verses the virtual dust bowl that the rest of the lawn is). The problem turned out to be too much water from the slip n slide created a nice mud pit that attracted the kids more than the slide. I gave up and let them have their mud fun, then hosed em down. At least it was a great way to beat the heat!

Oh to be young and crazy again.

And look! Goats grazing in the dog kennel in the background....can we all say "redneck"?

Extremes

2011-07-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

Thirty-six. That is the number of days we've had in the triple digits this summer. Fifty-one is the all time record and we haven't even gotten into August yet. Looks like this summer could go down in history as the hottest summer on record. Phew. It's tough on everything out there. The heat is killing off or severely stunting the growth of grasses meant as food for livestock. Herds of cattle are going to auction because there is just no way to feed them. It's pretty depressing around here, as it is for most of the country.

I was a little worried about getting hay this year for the animals but it worked out ok. I'm lucky enough to have an "in" with Jessica's family and they look out for me. Which I'm grateful for. They gave me a heck of a deal on 160 bales of prairie hay. That along with the 20 bales in the shop are enough for a full year of hay. The two miniature horses are "dry lotted" or kept in an area where they are unable to graze due to their easy ability to founder. I feel bad for them not being able to go out and graze but after seeing how painful founder is I'm ok with keeping them locked up in their pen. The goats get out to graze nearly daily but they are overgrazing since it's not growing with the heat. I think that keeping livestock happy in the summer is nearly as difficult as it is to keep they alive in the dead of winter. We went from having a -16 degree winter to a 111 degree summer. Talk about extremes!

I've talked to a few hay dealers and they said farmers are getting about half as much hay as they did last year, therefore with supply and demand they are asking upwards of $7 and $8 dollars a bale. Last year was $3 a bale. That's some CASH when you are looking at feeding herds of cattle and horses. Many people around here are heading north and bringing down loads of hay to store for the winter. Having animals is expensive at times.....especially during a drought.

On a sad note, I did loose one of my hens at the beginning of the month. I believe she died from the heat, I found her lying in the hen house which can get pretty warm. It was a 105 degree day (aren't they all?!) Poor Poppy.

Hay, glorious hay!

Bennett's Baptism

2011-07-26T15:03:00.000-05:00

We traveled to Kansas City this past weekend to be there for baby Bennett's baptism. He's such a sweet laid back baby, just a smiley happy little thing. My sister is one lucky gal. We had a nice time seeing everyone and a good time was had by all.

Such a smiley little baby.

A nice baptism.

Greta let down her guard around Uncle Blake.....as long as there were books involved.

My kids were very helpful when it came to opening baptism presents.

Church nursery was a hit!

As was Aunt Betsy's slip n slide. We are now on the hunt for one....nobody has any.

He's in his tighty whiteys, we were too lazy to go out to the car to get his swim trunks.

Ten Years

2011-07-21T23:55:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it's been ten years since that incredibly hot day in July when I married that handsome, young college boy. It's been a wonderful ten years and I can't wait to see the next ten.

Funday Sunday: Zucchini Brownies

2011-07-20T16:42:00.002-05:00

Yep, I'm aware that it is not Sunday. I don't care, I had to share this awesome recipe for zucchini brownies. You see I am drowning in zucchini. I've won my battle against the squash beetle (well still battling I guess) and I am left with more zucchini than I know what to do with. It's a wonderful thing to have this problem. So I've raided the internet in hopes of finding something new and exciting to make. I've burnt everyone out on zucchini bread and sauteing it, so the newest thing is zucchini brownies. They are moist and so delicious. Please give em a try if you too find yourself with a zucchini or two to spare. Best thing? The kids don't know they are plowing into something packed full of shredded veggies! I even got Wesley to eat the batter (no egg in it) and he came back wanting more. If a 13x9 inch pan of these is too much you can successfully halve the recipe and put it in a round 8 or 9 inch pan.

Zucchini Brownies

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Frosting

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched. To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

Tuesday Tidbits

2011-07-18T16:39:00.002-05:00

-Guess who canned today for the first time? Me! I've been wanting to learn to can for awhile, and now that the garden is producing in abundance I felt it was time. So today I went out and picked a few pounds of cucumbers and made some dill pickles. It was fun, easy and super messy. The stove looks like something exploded all over it. The next thing to can will be jalapeno jelly, yum!

-Horrible picture, I know. She's going to kill me when she gets older. Well, Miss Greta has shown an interest in potty training so I figured it was time to start the process. I know she's not even two years old but she's acting ready. She likes to take off her diaper when it's full of urine and come give it to me. She'll tell me when she needs to go number 2 and then go hide behind the couch to actually go. Today she came up to me and told me she had to pee so I ran up and got the little potty seat out of storage and she sat on it for a good 10 minutes. I can hardly wait to have the last kid out of diapers, and so it starts.

-The siding project is nearly done! Hubby started tearing off the rotten siding over the July 4th weekend and finished up this past weekend....just have to put up a little trim around the window. We laugh when we think we could have completed it in that long four day weekend. He did an awesome job! I think climbing all over 15 feet of scaffolding has helped him get over his fear of heights. The red 2X4's you see in front of him he actually nailed to the house to keep himself from falling off the roof of the bay window (which he's standing on). The scaffolding couldn't be put over the bay window. I'm so happy he survived!

Piggy Pinata

2011-07-16T21:01:00.001-05:00

So one of the things that Wesley wanted at his birthday party was a pink pig pinata. Don't ask me why. After some searching the internet for an evening, I settled on a nice big pink pig pinata from Amazon. Two weeks later I was filling it with loads of candy and hanging it from a tree. The rest was captured in this video. Pardon the laughing, I found it to be hysterical....but it was 105 degrees so I might have just been delusional.

Dad holding the carcass.

Chapter Closed

2011-07-14T16:46:00.001-05:00

I do believe I am done with milking a goat. Whew. I've been trying to dry Dym up since April and boy, has it been a challenge. You see there is very little information out there on how to dry up a goat with the udder that Dym has on her. She's got long, pendulous teats with an udder that isn't attached very well to her body. Add to that she produces a HUGE amount of milk. Combine all that and you have a goat that's difficult to dry up (stop milking). In April I went from milking her daily to milking her every other day. Two weeks later I skipped another day. And so on. Finally last month I was milking her once every six days and still getting two gallons each time. I felt that this could have gone on forever. So I talked to a few knowledgeable people and was told to just stop milking her. So around the middle of June I milked her out and left her alone. She wasn't too pleased with me but she got over it and finally it looked like she was done making milk. The problem with her udder was that she couldn't reabsorb the milk in her bag since it didn't attach to her body very well. Poor goat was just lugging this bag of milk around everywhere. So I let a month go by and last night I milked her out for a final time. I think everyone involved is happy that experience is done.Thanks Dym for letting me learn on you.....you are an awesome goat.

My homemade set up....worked for six months. Thanks Brenda for the use of the milking machine, you saved my hands. Literally.

Sweet Dym.

Come on Ma! Share the good stuff!

Dym's cute kids sure are getting big.....the boy is nearly as tall as Mom.

Birthday Boy

2011-07-12T16:02:00.002-05:00

Wesley turns four years old today! I can't believe we have a four year old now. He's growing so fast it's hard to believe it's already been four years. Crazy! We celebrated with a party this past weekend. A while back I had asked him what he wanted for his party and he was very specific. He wanted a giant blue cake and a pig pinata. Yep, I thought it was a strange request myself, but was happy to try and make a reality. So I hopped on Amazon and found myself a pig pinata pretty easily. Then Saturday night I whipped up a "giant" blue cake. It was a fun party and was nice to see my sister, her hubby and kids, Jessica and Josh and the kids and my parents there. Wesley had a blast!

Birthday boy in his hat....got a picture of him in it every year now. Can't wait to take a picture of him at 18 in it.

He seemed to enjoy his big (leaning) blue cake.

Yum!

The kids having lunch.

Everyone was very generous and the kid made out like a bandit when it came to presents. My Mother-in-law called to ask what he might enjoy this year and we had to brainstorm over the phone trying to figure out what might be a good gift. I told her that Wesley LOVES to clean. He's constantly wiping stuff down with rags and he even has his own kid sized broom and mop. He'll take the cushions off the couch and ask me to get the vacuum out to suck up the dirt, so I suggested a Dust Buster. A few days later a nice box showed up on the doorstep. Sure enough he's thrilled with his new portable vacuum. As soon as he gets up in the morning he's already got it down and is walking around sucking up stuff in his pajamas. It's hilarious. He'll literally use it until it's battery is low, then we have to put it up to charge. He loves it, thanks Granny Randi and Papa Rich!

I doubt many four year olds have a hand vac....and love it.

Immediately trying it out on the couch dirt.

Four kids playing with the air craft carrier...oh wait, that's three kids and my Dad. Another hit! Those Imaginext toys are awesome. Thanks Mom and Dad!


Mom with baby Bennett....what a happy, laid back baby!


Oh and can't forget Dad with Bennett.

Water Fun!

2011-07-11T17:15:00.002-05:00

My sister and her family came down for the weekend for Wesley's birthday party. It was sure nice to see her kiddos. Baby Bennett is already three months old and growing like a weed, as is Emery who is roughly the same age as Greta. The sun was shining and we thought it'd be nice to let the kids play in the pool. So after slathering them up with sun block we let them splash around in the kid pool.

After a bit, the little one's diapers swelled up so bad with water that we took them off. So two of the three became naked little swimmers. I'd like to say they took to the water like ducks but not so much. There was so much slipping and sliding and coughing up water that it was exhausting. Not to mention it was a thousand degrees outside. Luckily we weren't outside very long since we discovered it was almost literally a thousand degrees outside.

Man this is one hot summer! Broke all sorts of records with this temperature. Hope everyone is staying cool wherever you are. Birthday party pictures tomorrow.

Under the Weather

2011-07-07T16:35:00.001-05:00

We had our first experience with ear infections yesterday. Poor Greta started screaming around noon and wouldn't stop. Nothing could be done to console her. It was sad....and very loud. She sat at the table for lunch with one hand pressed over her ear saying "Head!" I called the pediatrician and was able to get her in later that afternoon. Sure enough she had fluid in her ear but the ear drum hadn't burst yet. The doc prescribed some antibiotics but I asked if they were necessary. According to the pediatrician they give antibiotics to children under two years old. Over two years old they wait and watch and give only if a fever spikes or it continues for longer than 48 hours. Since Greta is two months from her second birthday I opted to wait and watch, the doctor was fine with that. When we got home Greta just laid on the couch for three hours without moving (pictures below). I gave her Tylenol every four hours. She was acting pretty puny. Poor little girl. She slept last night for nearly 14 hours straight and woke up her bubbly energetic self. She's only said "Head" twice today so we are laying off the Tylenol as well. Looks like she's over it. Hopefully our first and last experience with ear infections.

Mid Summer Garden 2011

2011-07-05T22:05:00.001-05:00

The garden has exploded in growth! It resembles the Amazon back there. I'm getting dozens of cucumbers a day, along with several yellow squash a day. The zucchini are growing well but only giving me about one every other day....so far enough for two loaves of zucchini bread YUM! The corn is almost ready, maybe just another week on the early variety. But the thing I'm most excited about? I have half a dozen cantaloup growing and about a dozen watermelon. I'm so excited to dig into melons!

I'm still fighting the squash beetles but their numbers are nothing like they were last year. Every seven days I spray the squash with insecticidal soap and once every two weeks I spray the cantaloup and watermelon with an insecticidal oil. The soap was too expensive to spray much with ($5 a bottle and I needed two every week just to do the squash) so today I picked up some concentrated Neem oil. It dilutes to 2 Tablespoons per gallon and the bottle was $19. I'll have the bottle around for a couple of years I'm thinking. Much better deal than the soap. Hope it works as well. The only plants under attack are the squash so far, but last year the beetles spread to the cantaloup and wiped it out within a week. So I'm keeping my eyes open. I'm sure enjoying the garden this year.

First kid that was dragged out to the garden.....the whole time "Mom, it's too hot, I want to go inside."

A sea of cantaloup vines intermingled with Butternut squash and cucumbers.

Watermelon!!!

A whiny Wesley among the sunflower forest. Those things require A LOT of water. They are all about up to his belly except one, a few feet from his left shoulder, that is taller than him.

Greta was wondering why Mom dumped her in the middle of the squash and ran to take her picture.

Cantaloup!!! I took this picture three days ago and now they are softball size. Cool.

Butternut squash! There has to, literally, be 50 of them out there.

Zinnias are now my favorite garden flower. There are going to be so many zinnias next year.....I might have to devote a whole bed to them. Beautiful flowers and they bring all the excellent pollinators to the garden.

Children of the corn.....and one picking her nose!

Weekly Winners

2011-07-03T21:00:00.000-05:00

The kids LOVE watching YouTube videos. The flavor of the week? Reba Mcentire's "Turn on the Radio." Wesley knows about 70% of the lyrics. It's a hoot.

Painting time in Daddy's old t-shirt. She's a pretty good painter....maybe a chip off the old block.

When it's 103 degrees out, it's chair sitting time.

Or stump sitting time. Greta likes to dip her head in her water table.

Reading time with Grandma. Greta piles the books in your lap and yells "READ!".

Our Rotten Problem

2011-07-02T23:46:00.004-05:00

This is what poor Hubby gets to do for his long Fourth of July weekend.

Right about now you are saying to yourself "Wow, glad I'm not him!". I've caught myself muttering that phrase a few times. If the kids weren't so young I'd be out there with him working but ~~luckily~~ unfortunately I have to babysit. He's a trooper! He's gotten all the rotten siding stripped from the east side of the house and will start putting up new stuff tomorrow. I was out in the shop late tonight painting siding. There will be lots and lots of painting. The old siding wasn't painted on the back or edges so it rotted faster than normal.

To add to the insult, it's been over 100 degrees here the past week. It hit 103 on Friday. Talk about miserable. It's strange how many house projects we've started lately, yet the outdoor project is the one we focus on when it hits 100 degrees. It's not raining and that's what is important. Wish him lots of luck and balance.

The Demolition Zone

2011-06-28T16:15:00.004-05:00

So the tile demolition hit a snag last weekend. The one room went rather smoothly with the tiles popping up. So Hubby moved into the dining room to find that the tiles were attached to the floor with something quite a bit stronger than the previous room. He was getting about 35 tiles an hour popped up in the first room and about 1 tile an hour in the dining room. Poor guy looked absolutely defeated. So I called the local rental store and explained our predicament. They had a machine called a Bear Cat Stripper than is used to strip linoleum, carpet and tiles. It didn't sound strong enough but we thought what the heck. So I went in and rented it. While I was there I wanted to see what else they had in case the Bear Cat thing didn't work. Second option was a demolition hammer. Then if that didn't work they had a jack hammer. The jack hammer was the last possible option since it might damage the slab. So I decided to rent the Bear Cat stripper and the Demolition hammer, hoping one would work.

Hubby tried the Bear Cat thing first to find it just wasn't heavy duty enough to do the job, it got a few tiles up but not any faster than the air hammer he was using in the first place. The he tried the demolition hammer. Jack pot! He looked like a kid on Christmas morning he was so happy. It tore right through those tiles like they were butter. Of course the poor guy was getting quite the work out having to be the brute strength behind the tool. He got all 170 tiles chipped up in three hours. We are officially done taking up the tiles! Next step is to rent a concrete grinder to grind down all the uneven places where the foundation work was done, tear up the old carpet in areas and put down new carpet!

The strange thing about this video is that the kids are completely unphased by the sheer destruction and NOISE going on in the next room. They are just playing away like nothing is happening. Bizarre.

Picnic

2011-06-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

Sean's company picnic was yesterday so we loaded the kids into the car and headed out. It was held at a farm that has been converted into place you can rent for such occasions. We actually had been here for the last picnic three years ago. The difference between yesterday and three years ago? We have two walking, active children. No stroller needed this time. It was really fun, despite the 103 degree temperatures. It had a lot of hiking, a nice playground, games to play, a stocked pond, a petting zoo, pool, paint guns and hayrides. They had a big lodge that was air conditioned that we cooled down in periodically. It was fun and the kids had a blast. Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Peek-a-boo!

Sean and his MiniMe.

What ever Dad can do...

...I can do too!

We are eating and I look over to see Greta sitting like this pointing....

...to the wall of dead animal heads. She loved it!

She doesn't look thrilled, but she really enjoyed this thing.

Wesley and I on a hike.

Fearless child crossing a flimsy bridge.

More fearless people crossing the bridge of death.

Catch up

2011-06-20T15:20:00.000-05:00

What a long, hot weekend it was. We had our very first garage sale over at Jessica's house. It was the city wide garage sale weekend so we hauled out all of our unused, well loved baby gear, clothes and toys. I couldn't get over how many people came! We sold all but a few things and those things I sold this morning from Craigslist. You wouldn't believe how cleaned out the garage is, it's wonderful! It's so nice to know we are done with babies and are able to get rid of big stuff like the stroller, high chair and portable crib. I also cleaned out all the old toys from the basement. I never knew there were that many toys down there. Ugg. Trash bag after trash bag was loaded in the truck. It was so invigorating! Made a little cash too, a win win situation!

Jessica with the giant amount of baby clothes.

Hubby started working on tile removal in the middle of the house this weekend. We bought a cheap little air hammer last year and he was able to get about 35 tiles and hour chipped up. These are being removed because of the foundation work we had done. They had to place piers under the foundation and slab and had to remove large chunks of tiles (none of which I can find replacements for). I'm so excited to have this project finished and nice new carpet put in it's place. It will be glorious.

Wesley enjoyed watching Dad work, always had his safety goggles on.

Home improvements are on the brain apparently. We've rented some scaffolding from the local rental place and plan to start tearing down more rotten siding. It's a big job and one that hubby isn't looking forward to. Plus it's been raining all the time lately. Our spring rains came late this year. It's been difficult finding a weekend with no rain in the forecast.

Greta is officially eating at the big table now. No more high chair for our baby girl. She loves being part of it all and it's nice having the table full.

Enjoying her first ice cream cone! Yum!

Another use for duct tape

2011-06-14T15:34:00.001-05:00

I have to admit I'm a bit obsessed with the garden this year. I really like gardening! It's my zen part of the day, when the kids aren't around and it's just me and the plants. I've also declared war against the squash beetle this year. I've researched all I can research online about the dreaded pest and have educated myself about the different organic methods of removal. The best method I've found is mechanical means. I go out there twice a day and bend over each plant and pluck off the adults (they are usually mating on the under side of the leaf) and then scrape off all the eggs I can find. This started about two weeks ago and I was finding about 30 adults a day. I'd put on my gardening gloves and just pick em off, take them over to a stump and smash them with my flip flop. But over the past few days I've found an even better method. Duct tape. Take a loop of it and with the sticky side out, put it around your first two fingers. This is an awesome way to get rid of those eggs. No more popping eggs between the fingernails. Yuck. Now I'm finding about 5-8 adults a day. Definitely winning this war. So far anyways. I also spray the zucchini squash, yellow squash, cantaloupe, watermelon and butternut squash with insecticidal soap once a week. Whew, this is a lot of work for squash. Better be delicious!

Greta of the corn.

Greta likes the garden....she likes to stomp around smashing stuff that is. She's crouched between a row of zinnias and yellow squash (intermingled with radishes).

Funday Sunday: Lemon Delight

2011-06-12T21:39:00.000-05:00

I was on the hunt for a unique lemon cake recipe when I ran across this gem. My mom loves lemon and this fit the bill for her Birthday cake. It's called Lemon Delight and it's simple and delicious for a summer cake. Try it out!

Lemon Delight

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, with juice
1/2 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Topping:

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant French vanilla pudding
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, sour cream and eggs until smooth and creamy then mix in the mandarin oranges with juice. Beat well to break up the oranges. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
To make the topping, stir together the pineapple and instant pudding mix in a medium bowl. Fold in whipped topping. Frost cooled cake.

Big Trucks

2011-06-11T21:36:00.003-05:00

Parents as Teachers was putting on their annual Big Truck Show for the youngsters last night so we took the kids. My two kids were a little slow to warm up to the idea but once they started climbing all over fire trucks and ambulances they warmed up fast.

Who knew three youngsters could fit in a Bobcat?

Playing in the cherry picker.

Wesley got to shoot the fake flames out of the windows.

Couldn't pry the kids from the Gator.

The big scoop

Cute little thing.

Greta really liked the school bus......and Aunt Jessica.

Tractors and suckers....boys two favorite things. Alex is super silly.

Darn Pests

2011-06-07T23:32:00.000-05:00

Whenever I complain about the dogs, whenever I get mad at them for barking at nothing or jumping up on the counters, whenever I curse at them for running through the garden or waking me up in the middle of the night to go outside.....I need to stop and remember what they did this weekend. They killed a really big. freaking. snake. I went into their pen to turn on the water and almost stepped on the chunks of body of this dead snake. There were pieces everywhere, they had way too much fun dismembering this poor snake. I'm glad it's gone, I'm not a snake fan.

Then I went out to the garden this evening and spent an hour scraping insect eggs off the underneath my zucchini leaves. I've been spraying all the squash plants weekly with insecticidal soap and they still managed to get in there and lay their eggs. I think I'm going to have to give up the idea of organic gardening if I want to actually harvest any zucchini squash this year. When I looked it up online it said that certain varieties of squash aren't often affected....including butternut squash. Sure enough my butternut squash don't have any eggs on them, either do the yellow squash. We'll see if manual removal of the eggs is enough. There was a whole lot of squishing going on this evening. Yum.

Weekend Rewind

2011-06-05T23:58:00.001-05:00

We've had three days now at 100 degrees out. The grass already crunches under my shoes and watering has become my second job. Summer is here. The time had come for a pool, so this weekend I went and bought one. Wesley couldn't be happier! He's been in it all weekend and is all smiles. Greta is a little apprehensive at the idea of placing her little toe into the cool water, so for now she plays and splashes big bro from the sidelines. I think if I got in then she'd get in....so this week I'll be donning a swim suit (gasp!) and joining the kids.

In the meantime, Miss Greta has found the water table and is quite at home playing in the water that way. She loves to wash rocks and show me how pretty they are.

It was such a nice day that the chickens got to come play in the dog kennel, in the shade of course. They are currently molting and look horrible. There is one that seems to be in a constant state of molt and gets picked on often. Poor chicken. I guess that's where the term "pecking order" comes from. I remember reading in one of my poultry books about how you want your chickens to look a little rough and disheveled...it's the sign of a good layer. If that's the case, then I've got the best layers around. They are still giving around 7 eggs a day. I tell my "laydies" thank you each and every day.

I couldn't not add this cute picture of Coco. She's the most curious and inquisitive little goat ever. She likes to lie, flat out, next to this wood fence then stretch a little until her head is under then she squirms a little and poof! She's on the other side of the fence with all the yummy backyard goodies to eat. I'm a little afraid I'm going to come home one day and find her back in the garden. I think a string of electric wire on the bottom of the fence will keep curious little goat from sliding under. She sure is a cutie.

Hope everyone had a nice and relaxing weekend! Here's one last picture, aren't my kids too cute?!

The Wednesday Write Up

2011-06-01T23:52:00.001-05:00

Boy it's been a week since I've blogged. I've become one of those bloggers. It's really just because I have so little to blog about. Nothing new around here, same old same old.

-The garden is growing well. It's scary how much work is needed to keep it looking good and weed free. The mulching method is not working as well as it did last year. I'm using the same mulch as last year and so it's a bit more composted and thus weeds are sprouting from the mulch this year. It's frustrating. So next year I'll be rototilling in the old mulch and putting down new stuff, this is for the birds. I keep walking past the garden plants at our little local grocery store and occasionally I take pity on the poor little wilted, dried out veggie plants and take a few home. I then scour the garden for an open spot to cram it. I've now added brussel sprouts, more watermelon, and red and green cabbage to the garden this way. We aren't really cabbage people but the chickens love the stuff, so if it produces heads of cabbage then the chickens will be super happy.

-On a financial note, if you all weren't aware our mortgage rates in this country are at an all time low......like 3.5%. So if you were at all thinking about refinancing your house, now is the time. That's just what we are in the process of doing and we'll be free of a mortgage payment before Wesley graduates high school. That's so exciting!

-Summer is finally here. Can you believe it's June? Last week we were still in sweaters and jackets, what a cool spring it's been. The kids love being outside. We live outside during the day. Greta wakes up from her afternoon nap and immediately says "side!!".Then you must take her out there without delay or she'll scream at you for the next hour. Then once she's outside she walks over to my flower beds and yanks out my flowers. She thinks she's helping me weed. She likes to bring over the carcass of the pulled flower (roots and all) so I can praise her for her awesome weed pulling ability. Hard to get mad at the little darling.

-I just ran across a really great product and want to share. We pay quite a bit for our home phone service, not enough to replace them with cell phones like many people do, but still quite a bit for just home service. Over $50 bucks a month. Verizon just released a product called Home Phone Connect. It's a little box that you plug your home phone into and it uses the cell phone towers to provide your home phone service. You don't use your phone lines in your house. It's $19.99 a month for unlimited minutes (including long distance). We looked at the reviews and they were glowing. Some people said they would take this little box with them on vacation, plug it in at their hotel room and have home phone service where ever they went. You can even use it in your car if you have a place to plug it in. Imagine using your home telephone in your car. How funny would that be? I'll let you know how it is, ours should be showing up via UPS tomorrow. Isn't technology amazing?

Preschool Wrap Up

2011-05-25T16:02:00.001-05:00

Wesley's first year of preschool is behind him now. I never thought it would go this fast, I wonder if school is going to go this fast. To wrap up the end of the year his teacher put on a little program for the parents. I'm amazed at how much work she puts into these kids, she's such a great teacher and I'm so happy Wesley is able to grow and learn in her class. He's learned so much this year and I'm thinking next year, his fourth year, is going to be even better.

He got to sing several songs with his class and then do actions to a few songs. It was really cute. He's the little dude second to the right on the first row. This is the 3 year old and 4 year old classes together.

Weekly Winners: Zoo Addition

2011-05-22T23:51:00.001-05:00

I did the annual trek to the zoo last week. Jessica and her clan came too. I love going to the zoo (imagine that!) so I get excited for the yearly trip. I try to instil that excitement into my kids by really pumping it up to them. So all last weekend I was telling them how much fun we were going to have, how they'd get to see some really cool animals and maybe feed some. They seemed excited. Then Monday rolls around and 20 minutes after we get into the zoo Wesley starts with the "I want to go home". *sigh* It was frustrating how much time and effort goes into preparation for these little outings just to hear that phrase repeated ten times in five minutes.

I have to admit that the zoo was an utter madhouse. I believe every school in the area was having their last field trip that day. We were, literally, herded through the buildings like sheep and it wasn't as fun as usual. So I kind of see where poor Wesley was coming from. He's got a little of his Dad in him, that's for sure. It's just disappointing. I finally had to con him into being good by threatening no visit to the zoo gift shop if he kept up with the whining.

Maybe zoo visits will become fun again when the kids are older than 1 and 3 years old.

Got some cute pictures though (even if I was making Wesley smile for them).

Greta thoroughly enjoying the penguins.

Two happy boys in the petting zoo.

Every year the kids get to pose for the camera at this spot.

Feeding Giraffes.

Posing with the Gorillas.

Want some juice?

Free at last

2011-05-19T22:40:00.000-05:00

This is one of those blog postings that get labeled with the "things I blog about but shouldn't". Can't say I didn't warn ya.

Now if you missed the exciting story about the vasectomy go here.

Then if you missed the follow up story about the sperm count go here.

So our story continues. Almost exactly nine months have passed since that fateful day that Sean had his "man surgery" and consequently was taken to the hospital via ambulance. Per orders of his doctor he has been returning to the doctors office every two months to make his "man deposit". In most cases it only takes two months (or less) to get a sample that is free of sperm. My husband? It took nine months. Nine months of going: "Ah crap, they must have botched the vasectomy".

This week he dropped off his sample and the nurse called with the all exciting news that there were indeed no swimmers! It was kinda funny how excited she was.

The doctor was going to give it a year and then figure out what had to be done. We are so glad it didn't need to come to that, what with the whole initial experience and all. Never again. So we are officially done with kids. It's nice to know there will be no accidents, no oops, no botched vasectomies. Lord almighty we're free at last!

Weekly Winners

2011-05-15T23:48:00.003-05:00

Greta and Aunt Jessica. Greta loves her lap and is always in it.

The goat family has been released into general population, and all is happy.....after the pecking order is established. GoatMan (goat on right) is the King.

Thanks Noni and Papa for the big box / playhouse.

Look at that face! That is a little boy who is in love with his "new" garage sale toys.

Give us food. Now.

Garden 2011

2011-05-13T22:18:00.003-05:00

Do you ever read those articles in magazines where they give every day ideas on how to burn calories? Things like vacuuming or mowing the yard that burn as many calories as a work out. Well gardening is always on those lists. I now know why gardening is on those lists. Oh my gosh did I get a work out this past weekend! I got the garden completely planted. Maybe this doesn't sound like a big feat, but it was. You see the garden grew from last year. This year it's 30 X 40 feet. That's 20 rows, each 30 feet long. I planted 500 seeds of corn alone. If each one actually grows and produces an ear of corn we might be a bit overwhelmed. I'm ready to be overwhelmed. Bring it on!

I took last years garden and improved it. For one, I took out all the crops that didn't grow to my satisfaction. I took out all the crops that grew but I never wanted to eat. And I added some new and exciting crops. Last years seeds that didn't return: broccoli, tomatilos, eggplant, okra and cauliflower. This years new and experimental plants: sweet potato, hot peppers, butternut squash, pumpkin, radishes and white cucumbers. Last years winners that are back for more: Sweet corn (trying new varieties of Kandy Korn, and Peaches and Cream), pole beans, carrots (a carnival mix with different colors), onions (red and yellow), zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, watermelon and cantaloupe. And flowers! I planted a whole row of zinnias, nasturtium, marigolds and many many sunflowers (I'm super excited about the sunflower forest for Wesley). If that doesn't bring the pollinators to the garden I'm afraid nothing will.

This year I also did quite a bit of research on plant companions. What are those you ask? It's the task of pairing plants with other plants that help one another out. For instance I planted a row of carrots and onions together. They are beneficial to each other. Same with planting peppers close to tomatoes and beans with corn. I'm trying a suggestion I found online to conquer the squash beetle problem from last year: sow radish seeds among your squash. Supposedly the radish will help deter the blasted beetle. We'll see. It's cheap insurance. Maybe I'll end up liking radishes too.

I've already got beans poking up through the dirt along with corn and squash so it looks like the 2011 garden is off and running.

Estelle

2011-05-10T16:08:00.001-05:00

Well we bit the bullet and got a house keeper.

Yep, you read that right. Between the dogs and the kids, this house was in need of a regular deep cleaning that I don't seem to have the time to accomplish. It took awhile to convince Sean but since he doesn't even know where the broom is kept I eventually wore him down. Her name is Estelle and she's cleaned once now and I'm really happy with her work. She's very thorough, even cleaning under the crib.

The best part of Estelle? She tells me when her canister is full.

Estelle is a Roomba 560 vacuuming robot.

I've wanted one for some time now, constantly drooling over them on Amazon. I read all the reviews, weighed my options and savings (along with some Birthday money-thanks all!) and bought one last week. Happy Birthday to me! It came yesterday, I was so excited. I charged it for 8 hours and it went to work cleaning the floors last night after the kids went to bed. I, for some reason, don't trust my kids around my expensive new toy. I wonder why. Anyhow, I was told by my parents (Roomba owners) to clean the floors before letting it loose for the first time. By cleaning the rugs and sweeping I was preventing myself a huge headache of emptying the canister every 4 minutes. So I swept the rug and hardwood floors and then let Estelle loose to buzz around vacuuming like crazy. Even with my pre-cleaning it still had a stuffed canister after about 20 minutes. It did a great job, I can't wait to erase floor cleaning from my stuffed daily schedule. Thanks Estelle!

a mom

2011-05-08T23:32:00.006-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the brilliant, loving, witty, beautiful Moms out there. Being a Mom is what I am and what I do. It's my number one job. I can't imagine doing anything else than care for these two tiny little people. They make me laugh, cry, scream and smile all in the span of an hour. It's the best and hardest job I've ever done.....and will ever do.

Being a Mother at this stage in my life means: dealing with flying food at every meal, helping a little boy learn to wipe his own bottom, the constant search for the beloved "Bunky", knock down hugs, helping Greta put on shoes then take off shoes then put on shoes, don't eat that, take that out of your mouth!, putting baby dolls hat on 233 times a day, where did your pants go Greta....please stop taking off your pants, quiet time with just Wesley, shopping with Greta during preschool, pushing both kids on the swing set, planting seeds with Wesley, no more unauthorized viewing of YouTube by Wesley, watching Curious George every morning, seriously why don't you have any pants on?, Wesley taking his sister for a ride on his motorcycle, digging sand out of diapers, ecstatic kids running to Sean when he gets home from work, marco polo, long wagon rides down dirt roads, soaking up every. single. moment.

Happy Mother's Day all!

The making of a mud pie.

2011-05-06T23:14:00.001-05:00

Step 1: Use cat water dish to scoop water from horse tank.

Step 2: Carefully take water from horse tank to planter full of dirt.

Step 3: Dump water.

Step 4: Look up to find Mom taking pictures....briefly wonder why she's allowing this to happen.

Step 5: Shrug, then proceed with mixing of dirt and water...making sure to get as much on new sandals as possible.

Step 6: Show Mom what she'll soon have to clean up. Victory!

A New Project

2011-05-03T15:59:00.001-05:00

My Hubby is in hog heaven right now. A few weekends ago he got a new project. A car project. He loves car projects! My parents had a massive hail storm come through about a month ago that did a job on pretty much everything on the property. We're talking ping pong to baseball size hail. You know, the scary stuff. The crazy thing here? We live barely five miles from them and thankfully didn't get any of the huge stuff. They are in the process of getting bids on a new roof, garage doors, windows, guttering.....everything. My dad had a few project vehicles outside that got damaged as well and offered Sean one of them. Of course he said he wanted it so now we have a 2000 Focus out in the shop. It wasn't running at the time so it was hauled over on the trailer and pushed into the shop. After a week of tinkering around on it Sean got it running and took Wesley for a test drive. Who knows, it might be Wesley's first car. Sean is looking forward to making it road worthy and eventually making it his daily driver to work. Thanks Dad for the fun new project!

You spin me right round

2011-04-29T11:30:00.000-05:00

We found a Sit and Spin at a garage sale and my son has been spinning and singing this song all day. He won't spin unless he's singing the song. Turn your speakers up for this gem.

Conversations with a three year old.

2011-04-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

So Alex and Abby were over for a play date yesterday and Alex was sitting on the couch talking to himself saying "A-L-E-X....Alex". Curiously I looked at Wesley and said "Wesley, do you know how to spell your name?"

He said nothing.

So I said "W....."

Wesley looked at me and said "E-S-L-E-Y, yeah Miss Cindy taught me".

Good to know I have no clue what my child is learning in preschool. :)

Diary of a retired goat milker.

2011-04-25T16:12:00.002-05:00

My days as a goat milker are coming to an end. I will honestly say I won't miss it. I think it's an interesting task to complete in life but I have no desire to ever milk anything again. Dym has done wonderfully teaching me the ins and outs of milking. She's put up with my inexperience in the beginning. My total lack of knowledge that almost resulted in a bad case of mastitis, but luckily it didn't. We were in a nice routine there of milking twice a day. Her kids were growing like weeds, the milk was flowing. I got her down to once a day milking about a month and a half ago. My life got easier. Now we are nearing the four month mark and I'm ready to move on from this gig. The kids are now ginormous, she's done a wonderful job raising them. Dym is a very good mother and I'm thrilled I didn't have to bottle feed them....from what I hear that's a miserable job.

Two weeks ago I started the daunting job of drying up a dairy goat. I went from milking her once every evening, to milking her once every other evening. It was like I was alive again! For one solid day I didn't have to haul the milking machine out to the shop, lead her in, make her jump up on the milking stand, hook her up and hold the machine under her teats for 10 minutes while my knees screamed out in agony. I didn't have to bring in the equipment and sanitize it. I was free! That first time I milked her after skipping a day I got two gallons of milk out of her. Two gallons. Can you imagine carrying two gallons of milk between your legs? She's a 150 pound goat, so that would be like me with two gallon jugs of milk hanging there. To say she's a good milk goat would be an understatement.

So I did the every other day milking for two weeks. Today I'm changing it to taking two days off between milkings. We'll do this for a week or two. I thought everything was going to go smoothly and she'd be dried up by the end of May. That is until I looked out the window this weekend and saw that sneaky little baby boy goat nursing away. He's got to be nearing the 90 pound mark and there he was crouched under her nursing. Guess I'm going to have to separate the kids from Dym. I hope the neighbors like a whole lot of screaming goat babies. Lord help me.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:46:00.002-05:00

Happy Easter to everyone! It has been an enjoyable, relaxing weekend of fun, friends and family. Friday we were thrilled to have some dear friends over for a visit. Dru and Charity were in town and came to see us with their two little girls. Wesley had a ball with them and I was amazed at how well they all played together. It was so nice to see Serenity and Isa, as I haven't seen them in a year and a half. It's amazing how fast little ones grow! We've decided we are going to make a trip out to visit them this summer, can't wait!

Wesley started off the Easter weekend on Thursday with his preschool class having it's Easter party. It was the first of three Easter egg hunts. Yikes, three! He was supposed to gather only the eggs with his name on them but we didn't know this so he just grabbed all he could see (like most egg hunts). I finally figured this out after looking around seeing each Mom bent over going "No Seth this isn't your egg, put it down." Oops. So we quietly dumped out the massive amount of eggs from his basket and quickly made a get away. It was fun and Wesley enjoyed seeing the Easter Bunny.....even though they whole time he was saying "I'm pretty sure the Easter bunny is Miss Cindy (his teacher)."

Then yesterday we went to our local city's Easter egg hunt. They had advertised it as having 5000 eggs with $400 dollars hidden inside the eggs. Sounded like fun to me. Apparently it sounded like fun to every parent in the city because it was a mad house. At least they divided up the eggs into different categories according to age, otherwise poor Greta would have been trampled by the bigger kids. Both kids were in the three and under category so Wesley was able to make out like a bandit.

Greta is going through her "stranger danger" phase and is stuck to me like glue most of the time when we are in public.


Alex and Abby were there with us, they were mad collecting fools.

Then today we had another egg hunt at our house. Kids love hunting for eggs, so we might as well live it up while we can! Wesley colored the eggs all by himself this year. I was impressed at how careful he was with them, not making much of a mess at all. We colored two dozen although we could have easily done four dozen since the chickens are laying like crazy. I have eight hens, I get eight eggs a day. Anyone want any eggs??

My favorite picture of the weekend. All kids together this afternoon.....Greta in one of her moods, not loving all the new people around the house today. Poor little doll, I'll be happy once the "stranger danger" phase is over.

I wish you all a happy Easter....I hope better than Greta's.

Off to see the wee one.

2011-04-17T23:57:00.001-05:00

I got back this afternoon from my whirlwind trip to see my newest nephew. With Greta in tow, I left Saturday morning for a two day trip. Greta did awesome on the car ride, enjoying Elmo's Word most the way. Little Bennett is one super cute newborn! He's so quiet and mellow, I don't think I heard him cry once all weekend. It might be due to the fact that he was, literally, never put down. How does my sister luck out with all the mellow babies? I hope she knows how lucky she is!

Greta is in her "stranger danger" phase and tears up if anyone even so much as looks at her. Needless to say she was stuck to me like a baby monkey. It took several hours for her to warm up to everyone and start playing with her cousin Emery. Those two played pretty well together, looking like two little twins side by side. After all they are only 7 weeks apart.


Greta's baby doll stroller was a huge hit with Emery. He took his sippy cup for several long walks.

I had a great time seeing everyone including Blake sister, Stephanie. Thanks Sis for letting me come up and see that adorable little one, congratulations!

It was always either Stephanie holding Bennett....

.....or me.

The Wednesday Write Up

2011-04-13T23:03:00.000-05:00

-As the kids grow so does their ability to push each others buttons. I swear all I do all day is break up their screaming matches. It's utterly exhausting. All Wesley has to do to make Greta cry is growl at her. Literally he walks up to her, bends near her and growls like a dog. She then melts into hysterical screaming and runs to hide between my legs. He sits in time out a lot these days. *sigh*

-I'm going to see my new nephew this weekend and am very excited! Can't wait to hold that tiny little man. I'm thinking about bringing Greta with me just to split the two kids up for a couple of days. It should be fun!

-I can't believe Easter is coming up so fast! It should be enjoyable this year with two walking little ones. We'll be going to the city Easter egg hunt and I can't wait.

-I forgot to blog about Abby's birthday. Jessica's little one turned three years old this past Monday and we celebrated it on Sunday with a small party. She's a doll and we were all happy to be there for her. Happy belated birthday Abby!

The birthday girl and her horse cake, which Wesley can't take his eyes off of.

More horsey stuff.....me thinks she likes horses.

Greta was there but clung to me like super glue.....stranger danger is strong in this one.

Released!

2011-04-11T16:03:00.000-05:00

We finished up the new goat pasture and let the three out yesterday to graze. They were so excited. It took four weekends, some rainy, but it turned out awesome and I have to thank my hubby for all of his hard work. He's not really an animal guy so this means a lot that he'd do all of this for me.

I think he's more excited that it's done than even I am because now he gets his weekends back! Poor guy. Now on to the next project!

Fridays at the Park

2011-04-10T00:28:00.001-05:00

The park was calling to me on Friday so I packed up the kids and off we went. I brought bread to feed the geese and ducks, hats and lots of sunscreen. Can you believe we're already hitting the 90's on a regular basis. Geez, it's the beginning of April! Oh well, the sun was out and the kids had a ball. I discovered Welsey is quite the ladies man. If there was a girl on the playground he was next to her talking to her. When it was lunch time he didn't want to go because he would miss his "girl". The whole way to Wendy's he told me to hurry up so he could get back to his girl. Oh boy, I'm not ready for the infatuations. We got back to the park just in time to see his girl drive away. He was so sad until a new girl appeared. He immediately took his kids meal toy over to her to show her, and poof! A new friendship was created. Off he went to build tee pee's under trees and dig for buried treasure.

My little boy is sure growing up and I credit preschool for him coming out of his shell. I'm thrilled with our choice to send him to 3 year old preschool. Best $65 a month we could spend. Greta thought she liked the ducks and geese until she fed one and 47 showed up immediately. It was a bit overwhelming for a 18 month old.

It was a great time and we now have a standing date with the park every Friday. Wesley is hoping his "girl" will be back.

Spring Happenings

2011-04-04T17:27:00.000-05:00

Busy busy busy! That's spring in our household. The garden is being planned out since I have a ton of new plants to squeeze in. I got my seeds from Burpee and have started several indoors. I've got trays of bell peppers, hot peppers, chives, cilantro, lettuce and lavender. Every day Wesley goes over there with his spray bottle and thoroughly drenches everything in sight. We're having fun with it.

Hubby was out again this weekend working on the new goat pasture. He made some good progress but without both of us working it's slow going. I'm the babysitter. Greta is not at the age where she can wander around unsupervised. She's still into placing everything in her mouth. Hubby did get 40 something T-posts put in and all the 4X4 corner posts set in concrete. Everything is ready for the field fencing to be put up this coming weekend.

The future inhabitants of the pasture are more than ready to trade in their current pen for the new one. They have been forced to stay in their pen instead of the backyard ever since they discovered the tasty deliciousness that is baby cherry trees. Oh boy do they make their displeasure heard. I never had any idea that baby goats could be THAT loud. We're talking brain numbing screams. I imagine it would be the same noise if they were being eaten alive. I hope, for our neighbors sake, that their voices change soon. Our two full grown goats aren't loud at all, maybe around dinner time they'll call out but it's a low octave, not this high pitched cry. This new pen will all be worth it if they will just be quiet and eat grass.

I'm still milking Dym every morning and I just want to quit. But I can't. I have no idea how to dry her up and I've been trying different things to no avail. I believe she's weaned the kids as I haven't seen her nurse them in about a week. I've got to try harder to dry her up....so tired of milking.

The other set of kids (my children) are enjoying the spring warm weather. We spend hours outside discovering new and exciting things. Greta discovered walnuts this weekend and proceeded to go into the walnut grove and fill her little plastic golf club container with the nuts. She's just like her brother, always collecting stuff. Hope you are out enjoying this weather as much as we are!

Welcome!

2011-03-30T22:26:00.001-05:00

I'm happy to announce the birth of my newest nephew! Bennett Byron was born this morning at 9:19, weighing 7 lbs 12 oz. Congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law! He's a cutie, can't wait to hold him (the baby, not my brother-in-law...hmmm that might need rewording)!

I was showing the kids pictures of their newest cousin on the internet and Greta really enjoyed looking at the baby. I had to get a video because she was positive that little Bennett was a character on Sesame Street.

Rainy Day Fun

2011-03-29T17:40:00.002-05:00

What do you do on cold, overcast, rainy days? Us? I load up the kids into the car and drive twenty minutes to the grocery store where they have fun car carts and I push these kids up and down the empty isles while they scream in delight. They LOVE it! The funny part about all this is we go there for the fun of it not because I need groceries......although I always pick something up....need it or not.

All Clear

2011-03-28T16:27:00.000-05:00

I've been somewhat dreading this day. Today was Wesley's first dental visit. I grew up dreading dental visits because of the dreaded C word. Cavities are scary, especially for kids. It means getting a big fat shot in your gums and drilling, oh the horrible drilling. I don't have a ton of cavities but I've got a few. So I was keeping my fingers crossed for Wesley today, hoping for the best. And I wasn't disappointed, he did awesome. I'm so proud of that little three year old. He laid in the that chair and let them take X-rays, and do a thorough cleaning. Some credit has to go to Sponge Bob Square Pants that was on the TV right in front of him, but hey, gotta do what you gotta do. They said his teeth look great. He must take after his Dad. Good job Wesley!

Weekly Winners

2011-03-27T20:53:00.001-05:00

The plumbers assistant. Wesley loves helping his Dad, even brings his own tools.

Silly face for a silly little girl.

Greta: "You mean you are supposed to DRAW with these tasty wax cookies?!"

That's silly!

Sealing the chimney. What would I do without my fix it man? Oh that's right, I'D be doing it.

The swing set is back in use, we LOVE spring!

Crashing during quiet time. Still in love with Nigh Night Doggie, it's his best friend.

The Wednesday Write Up

2011-03-24T00:06:00.001-05:00

-The spring chore list is already off and running. A portion of the walnut grove has been measured and flagged and last weekend Hubby was out there digging holes with the gas powered auger. He got two corners put in and set with concrete. The goats are just drooling in their pen waiting to be released into the almost lush grass of the grove. Maybe we can get it done this weekend, here's hoping.......sometimes I wish we had a babysitter.

-My garden seeds came a few weeks ago and I can't wait to get them planted. The peppers have already been started indoors and are peeking up through the dirt. I'm trying a lot of new things this year including butternut squash, watermelon, cantaloupe and hot peppers. Oh and the sunflower forest, that should be fun!

-My sister is scheduled to have her baby next week and I can't wait to meet the newest member of the family. I'm desperately trying to dry up the goat so I can head up there to meet the baby. Milking a goat every morning doesn't make it easy to leave home for any amount of time. Plus I am SO ready to be done milking the goat. That is something I'm happy to add to my list of things I've done in my life, but not something I'd prefer to do again.

-Wesley is on spring break this week so no preschool. I didn't realize how much I miss preschool. Greta and I go grocery shopping while he's at school so I had to do a little change up this week since dragging two children shopping is not happening.

-My folks are traveling to see family in California this week so we are dog sitting their two dogs. A couple of times a year we watch the dogs and have developed a good schedule to incorporate them into the menagerie. They don't get to run around the house anymore like they used to, I'm done cleaning up urine. They are caged dogs. I'm sure they can't wait until their Mom and Dad get home.....only four days to go.

Greta at 18 months

2011-03-21T16:42:00.000-05:00

Guess who's 18 months old today? Miss Greta! Both Sean and I comment on how much we like this age. She's mobile and can entertain herself to some degree, she's beginning to talk more and more and she's happy most of the time.We know what happens around two years old so we'll take this happy, content little girl as long as possible. At 18 months Greta is:

-in love with her baby doll. She carries it around constantly, always trying to put on it's hat and blanket. She pushes it around in it's baby stroller all day long. It makes me smile.

-quite the Daddy's girl. The happy screams that come out of that girl when Dad gets home could make you deaf.

-a mad demon on the ride on toys. We have a few different ride on toys that they ride around on the hard wood floors and she can keep up with crazy Wesley when it's time to race around. It's cute seeing them play well together (it can be a rare occurrence).

-walking everywhere! She's pretty fast now and I think running will be happening soon. She's also very good at going up and down the stairs (something we have many of).

-cutting teeth like crazy. Her lower two molars have just come in.

Fruits of our labor

2011-03-17T11:09:00.001-05:00

In my constant need to be as self sufficient as I possibly can, I spent the afternoon planting fruit trees. Yea! I've wanted fruit trees ever since we moved out to the sticks and it looks like this year is the year of the fruit tree. I think I've just figured out that we're probably gonna be living here forever (knock on wood) and it's time to actually LIVE here. I, of course, didn't do any research at all on buying fruit trees and just went to Wally World and bought some. I started out with two sweet cherry trees and one sour tree and while loading them in the truck read that they need a pollinator tree. Doh. Naturally the store doesn't sell the pollinator tree. Double Doh. Why would you sell a fruit tree but not the pollinator tree that makes it produce fruit? So for instance I bought two Bing cherry trees. They need a Stella Sweet cherry tree planted around them to pollinate their buds to produce the cherry. So I went to Lowes and sure enough they had the Stella Sweet. Victory! BUT, then I looked at the sour cherry tree, a Montmorency cherry tree, and it needed a pollinator tree as well. They listed a bunch of trees and there on the list was another Montmorency tree. So I bought another one at Lowes. I guess they pollinate each other? This is about the time I started kicking myself about not doing a little research. So I went out to buy several different kinds of fruit trees and ended up coming home with five cherry trees. If this all works then we are going to have cherries coming out of our ears. And I can't wait.

I also discovered that buying the trees was a lot more fun than planting them. Luckily we've been getting a decent amount of rain so the ground is nice and soft, great for digging big holes. I was almost done with the last tree and decided to let the goats out to graze the back yard a bit. Bad idea. I let them out and Dym, the Momma, goes B-lining for the freshly planted trees. I thought "What can she do with trees with no leaves on them?" HA! She ran right up to the nearest one and ripped off the lowest branch (one of only five branches I might add) and proceeded to eat it whole. I just stood there with my mouth open watching the massacre. After a lot of screaming and waving my arms she moved off to graze elsewhere (away from the crazy woman). So the goats aren't allowed in the back yard anymore. It was really just a matter of time, the garden seeds will be planted in a month and other things will start to bloom soon.....and the goats eat EVERYTHING. So, the newest project is to fence in part of the walnut grove for the goats. There they can eat to their hearts desire while not eating anything they're not supposed to. Plus they can take care of our poison ivy problem in the grove (a delicacy for goats).

Deceiving picture, I actually dug ALL the holes minus half of one.

Motorcycle babe.....we're gonna need another motorcycle.

What a trip!

2011-03-14T00:07:00.000-05:00

One parent, two children, and one screaming goat kid. Oh what a fun trip! And this was on the way TO the vet, he hadn't even been neutered at this point. Oddly enough he was very quiet on the trip home.

Oh what a difference......

2011-03-11T13:56:00.001-06:00

......nine months makes. Wesley looks the same, yet Greta grew a small animal on her head.


June 2010


March 2011

We are back to picking up "yucky old trash" (as Wesley calls it) on the dirt roads. After a long winter indoors it's nice to be out and active again. Last week we took a plastic bag, like one from Wal Mart, and filled it within a quarter mile from the house. The kids love it, trying to spy any and all garbage while I haul their hineys around in the wagon. It's amazing how many beer cans can be collected in a half an hour stretch. Yuck. We're thinking of starting our own Adopt a Country Road campaign.

The Wednesday Write Up

2011-03-09T15:05:00.002-06:00

-Greta is officially a walker! Finally! For about a week now she's decided crawling is for the birds and walking rocks. It's great. I can finally set up another well baby doctor appointment since she's now walking, the doc said she needed to be walking the next time she saw her. 17.5 months old and a walker. She is quite the talker too. This morning Hubby said bye to her and she said "Bye Daddy". So it looks like she's starting to string together two words. There doesn't seem to be a word that she won't try to pronounce.

-I just enrolled Wesley in the 4 yr old preschool class for this fall. It's a big enough class that Miss Cindy had to make an afternoon class in addition to the morning class (that he currently is in). Instead of Tuesday and Thursdays he'll go Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She was pleading with parents to at least think about moving their kids to the afternoon class (apparently a more undesirable time?). The afternoon class is from 12:30-3 which is right when Greta is taking a nap so it was out, but Jessica is enrolling Alex and offered to car pool him home at 3, so it looks like he'll be in the afternoon preschool class. Yeah! No more insanely crazy, running around mornings.....at least until he starts kindergarten......but at least then I won't be milking a goat too. :)

-I am dropping off my application for a CPR training class tomorrow. Our little town offers the class four times a year and it is time. I think all parents should take a CPR training class and I'm sad it's taken this long to follow through with those plans. But after April 3rd, I will be better educated.

-Project: Fight Fatigue is in full swing. The treadmill is getting it's workout every day for 20 minutes. I'm keeping it right at 3.9 speed and a 5 incline and that royally kicks my hiney. It's about as fast as I can go without running....I'm not a runner. I don't know if it's giving me more energy but I seem to be a happier person so it's a win win. That along with extra Vitamin D (thanks for the suggestion Becca....the gummies rock) and fish oil (a known mood increaser) I'm hoping will help me dig my way out of my blues.

-We've been having fun with Netflix lately. I love HBO's series Big Love. I've watched it through the years and just finished up the fourth season, man was it good. If you can get over the strange plural marriage thing, it's a suspenseful, well written show. Highly recommended.

-I just set up Heston's brain surgery appointment (neutering). As of this Friday he'll no longer be a humpy little boy goat. Poor guy. It's for the best though.

That's about all that's going on around here. Hope you all are having a good week!

Weekly Winners

2011-03-06T07:00:00.000-06:00

Classic three year old.

I couldn't decide between this one....

....and this one, so you get them both. She still loves that swing.

Baby goats on the swing set, jumping to new heights.

One of my favorite times of the day......bedtime.

Such a happy little smile.

Spring is in the air

2011-03-03T16:43:00.000-06:00

You can tell spring is in the air. Birds are everywhere, they seem to have appeared out of nowhere. Baby grass is poking up among the brown and this is all I see:

Heston is one horny little goat. The goat babies turned two months old this week and seemly overnight the male hormones kicked in and he became a horn dog. It seems to be more of a game for him to chase his sister around trying to launch his body at her. Sometimes he'll just rest up there like she's a Lazy Boy recliner. She wants nothing to do with this and usually just lies down eventually. He gives up and goes about his business. I'm desperately trying to wait until 10 weeks old (a week and a half away) to neuter him but I feel I'm going to cave soon. The thought of more baby goats running around just doesn't do anything for me. I'll be making an appointment at the goat vet to have his procedure done. They are just going to band him. That's where they put a strong little rubber band over his family jewels which shuts off circulation and they eventually shrivel up and fall off. I was going to band him myself but the tool costs about $15 plus shipping and the vet will do it for $5 (and I don't have to do it). Bonus! Maybe if I ever had to do this again I'd just buy the tool, but THAT WILL NOT BE HAPPENING. It's good to wait as long as possible to castrate, if the goat is intended to be a pet, so their plumbing can mature to prevent bladder stones. We lost Buddy the goat to Urinary Calculi about two years ago, and that is something I never want to witness again. I've learned more about raising goats over the past two years and hope to prevent any issues with my two current (one almost) wethers.

I was curious yesterday as to how much the kids weighed since they just turned two months old so I hauled the bathroom scale outside and picked each one up and weighed it. Beef cake #1 (Heston the boy) is already 56 pounds. Yikes! He was exactly 30 pounds at one month. Almost a 30 pound weight gain in a month, no wonder people eat these animals! That's crazy. Coco, the girl, weighs 42 pounds at two months old. They sure are growing like weeds.

They moved out of their shop pen this past weekend. The night temperatures have been staying above 25 degrees consistently so it was time. They enjoy their pen in the horse pen and enjoy it more when I let them out every morning. I think a portion of the walnut grove will be fenced off at some point for them to graze down as we don't want the back yard to become grassless and poop filled.

Woman Tea

2011-03-01T20:56:00.000-06:00

I know I'm not going to be able to share this stuff forever so I'm going to while I can. Having a three year old (soon to be four year old) in the house is quite hilarious at times (other times you just want to crawl under a rock). Lately it's been pretty funny. Wesley enjoys "cooking" for me. This involves his little kitchen and me sitting on a bean bag chair right next to it. He then whips up all sorts of different dishes for me, most of them containing jelly beans as the main ingredient. Last week he started making tea for me. Woman tea.

Wesley: "Here Mom I made you some tea (offering me an empty plastic cup)!"

Me: "Oh cool, I really wanted some tea, what kind is it?"

Wesley: "Woman tea!!"

Me: "What is woman tea?"

Wesley: "It makes you turn into a woman when you drink it!"

Me: (confused) "What am I now? I thought I was a woman?"

Wesley: "No, you're just a mommy."

So now I drink woman tea at least three times a day in a desperate attempt to turn back into a woman. And as I pretend to drink my woman tea in his presence, I contort and make horrid faces as I turn from a mommy into a woman. He cackles.

Project: Fight Fatigue!

2011-02-28T10:25:00.000-06:00

Something has got to change. I am so tired all the time. This isn't something that has come on quickly, I've been exhausted ever since Greta was born. I'm going to attribute it to having two young children, but I suppose it could be due to anything (you know like milking a goat, having a part time job, being a stay at home mom, being a zoo keeper....you know anything). I'm not talking about the occasional fatigue in the afternoon, but to the "drag your butt through the day" kind of tiredness. Sometimes I'll lay down on the floor in the living room while the kids are playing and I'll fall asleep, then wake up about twenty minutes later to Greta smacking my head with her hand. I get a solid eight hours of sleep a day, watch my sugar intake (I'm a tad bit hypoglycemic), take my vitamins and try to stay active. So far it's not enough. So this weekend I bought a treadmill off of craigslist. It's a nice big behemoth of a treadmill with all the bells and whistles. My hope is to use it three times a week and magically gain more energy. I wasn't sure if the kids were going to let me use it three times a week so I'm coinciding my workouts with Curious George on PBS. That's a solid half a hour when both kids are glued to the tube. So far so good, worked beautifully today. Wish me luck!

Giggles and fresh sand

2011-02-24T18:01:00.000-06:00

I've got nothing to blog about, so I shall leave you with a video. I know, a cop out....but there really is nothing going on around here. The kids are thoroughly enjoying this spring like weather we are having. I'm loving it as well. Outside is so much better than inside. Fresh sand in the sandbox doesn't hurt either.