Pictures...

Alrighty. 4 were DOA(dead on arrival). One of the blue Silkies, and all 3 of the Crele Old English Game Bantams. I am kind of bummed that all 3 of those were dead, I really like that color pattern. I might get some later this summer or in the fall. We lost one more a few hours later, it just never pepped up. It was a Blue Mille Fleur Old English Game Bantam. I called the hatchery and they are crediting my account for the ones that died. I expected some losses naturally and I was very happy they weren't all dead. This leaves us with 25 peeps, 3 ducks and 2 geese that are doing fantastically. They are warm, eating, drinking, pooing, sleeping and running around. The geese are huge compared to everyone else. The kids and I have been watching them all day, and of course holding them a lot. I want to handle them a lot while they are little so they will be super friendly. Hadley just adores them. She hasn't left the brooder side all day and begs to hold them all the time. She really gets upset when we give them all a break from being handled.

This is everyone in the nifty brooder that we built. We are going to get the second one built this weekend so we can get the geese out of there ASAP.

The Silkies! 2 Grey(the stripe ones) 2 Red(Yellowish) and a Blue-which is really the color black. This happens, it is a blue color thing. That little Black one is hilarious. It makes more noise than any of the other birds and it loves to be held.

2 Turkens(should be girls) Aren't they ugly? They remind Clint and I of little old ladies wearing a fur coat and hat. HA!

2 Barnevelders

2 Cream Brabanters

2 Blue Andalusians These are the most lovable little peeps in the bunch.

3 little bantys. The one on the left is a Porcelain Dutch, the one behind it is the same thing(I think) and the one on the right is a Blue Mille Fleur. The little bluish one on the left is soooo tiny. It is the tiniest one in the bunch.

3 Black Runners! They are so fun to watch.

Last but not least, 2 Geese. I have no idea what breed they are. I am guessing they are a Brown Chinese and a White Chinese but I could be totally off. They are absolutely hilarious. They are so big and clumsy. I love them.

They are here!!!

Clint just left a few minutes ago to pick up our peeping box. I just hope they aren't all dead. It was so cold here overnight. I am worried. I told him to call me as soon as he got there and saw them. The brooder is all ready, the lights are on, warm water. I hope some are alive. I didn't sleep a wink last night. I will have pictures at some point.

I've got a fevah!

And the only prescription is more chicks!!!!

THEY SHIPPED!! THEY SHIPPED!! I am going to set everything up tonight just in case they would happen to get here tomorrow morning. I highly doubt it, buy weirder things have happened. In any case, they will soon be here. Cross your fingers that they all make it. I am expecting some losses due to the stress of shipping but it would be awful to open a box of dead peeps.

One of my hens finally went broody yesterday. She has been acting like she was going to go broody on and off for 3 weeks now. Yesterday she finally committed. I am letting her sit on 5 eggs. If she keeps at it, in 21 days Big Sexy will be a Momma. Big Sexy isn't the one sitting on the eggs, but one of the eggs being sat on is hers. How cool is that? A second generation Beck Farm chicken(Big Sexy the momma, Temp(who was Big Sexy's hatch mate is the Dad). Crazy, eh?

I can't get Oz off my boob. No really. Nighttime is the worst. He thinks he has to have a tit in his mouth to sleep. He refuses a sucky. Isn't even content to just lay next to me in bed. He must be attached to me. I am getting tired of it. I feel awful for feeling that way since in a year he won't give a rats ass about me. Maybe it is the lack of good sleep. He wakes up every couple of hours to reattach. I have to lay all funky. I should be cherishing these last few months while he needs me. He likes to play with my belly button ring while he eats. It is goofy.

Corb is still challenging. It is all attention seeking and "I want to control everyone" all rolled into one. No matter how much attention we give him, it isn't enough for him. He likes 24/7 one on one attention and it just isn't possible. He really likes controlling what Hadley and Lennon do.I think he thinks he can control Clint and I. He is now smacking us when he gets mad. It is so frustrating and hard some days. Then, on the flip side, he can be sweet and helpful. I have been focusing on making a really big deal and pointing out when he does things that I like instead of just getting upset when he does something he isn't supposed to do. I am hoping that over time this will improve his attitude towards us and his siblings.

I would really like a weekend away. Not so much to be away, but to have some time where I only have to worry about being responsible for myself. Just have to think about feeding myself, dress myself etc. Not think-when did I change you? what are we all going to eat? I need to clean that up. I need to wash your clothing. What was I doing before I had to break up this fight? etc. I don't even know if that makes any sense. And, now this turned into a woe is me fest. No one likes that.

Hadley and I are going to a baby shower this weekend. That should be fun...ok, at the very least we will get some cake. HA! No, really, I think it will be fun. I might even get to see my cousin whom I haven't seen since before Christmas. My Mom is also going. It will be neat to see all the fun baby stuff. Mom and I went to BRU last week to get a gift for my other cousin(whom the shower is for). The first thing I thought when we went in was "Whoa! This place reeks of baby!". It really smelled like baby. I never noticed before. I got her nipple grease(I am a big fan and it was on her registry), washable boob pads(also on registry), a sheet saver, a swaddleme, teething tablets, diapers, a cute baby blanket and "The Happiest Baby on the Block". I hope she enjoys everything.

They ship tomorrow!!!

25 little peepies, 3 ducklings and 2 geese ship out tomorrow!!! TOMORROW!!!! All the waiting is almost over.

Another weekend gone

We accomplished a lot this weekend without really doing anything. The chicken brooder is finished and mostly set up. The temp in it holds a good 100 degrees under the lights but provides cooler temps on the outskirts of the lights. The chicks, ducks, and geese will have ample room to move where to the temp they feel comfortable at. Wednesday I'll set up the pine shavings. When Clint goes to get them the morning they arrive I'll add the water, food and turn on the lights. The kids have been asking every day if "today is the day the peepies come". They ship on Wednesday, I predict they'll be here Friday.

We talked about what the kids will be getting for Easter. Each of them is going to get a metal bucket and a really nice shovel. They will each get some M&M's, mini chocolate eggs, chocolate bunny, kit kat bunny ears, and marshmallow peeps. Now for the best part, I was checking stuff out at walfart yesterday, I can color coordinate the candy with the buckets and shovels. How simple am I? I was too excited about this discovery. I need to get out more.

Along with Easter comes Ozzfest(Ozzy's first birthday). We always go really big on the 1st birthday with something they will be able to use for years to come. We've decided to get another wagon. We figure that then there will be 2 kids to a wagon. It was between this and a ride on tractor type powerwheels thing. Wagon won because of the longer predicted use. We use the wagon we have now to bring in our garden "harvest", moving hay/straw to the chickens, taking weeds to the compost and so forth. So, a wagon it is. Luckily we don't have to trek the 2 hours to Lancaster to get this one. There is a place 15 minutes away that sells the same wagons that we have now(the big ass Amish made one). We'll go get it sometime before his birthday.

Along with Easter and Ozzfest comes Hadley's birthday...2 weeks later. We decided on new rain/farm boots for her. Hers are really too small. I love the ones we ordered. I think she will, too. See them here. I found them on ebay for cheaper than that. I love pretty much everything this brand has to offer. I am also going to order a Unicorn book for her. That girl loves unicorns.

Once again, I have to thank ebay. Corby found a little Ty beanie baby from a McDonalds Happy Meal that I had gotten years and years ago in my Mom's basement. He has been carrying this turtle around with him ever since. It reminds him of Franklin turtle. He calls it Little Turtle. Little Turtle basically lives in Franklins shell. Little Turtle jumped ship in the driveway when my Mom brought Corb home on Saturday. Little Turtle was found yesterday ripped to shreds by Dewey. RIP Little Turtle. Corb was very upset. I popped on ebay....BAM, 10 min later and we have a new MIB Little Turtle on it's way to us.

Finally, a note about Corb. He has been peeing in and on things. It all started with him peeing in the bathtub(and I don't mean when he was taking a bath), we talked about it and it stopped for a while. Last Monday Hadley comes running out to us yelling 'Corby peed in his hamper!'. Sure enough he had pissed in his hamper. I made him clean it, talked to him about where he is supposed to pee. He was at my Mom's for a few days. Saturday I hear Hadley "Corby is peeing on the sink!". Sure enough, Corb is standing on the bathroom counter and he had peed in the bathroom sink. WTF? Poor Lennon got the short end of that stick. He got piss in the eye. He kept saying "Corb pee my eye". Again, we made him clean it up, told him why we can't pee anywhere but the potty. Then yesterday he pissed in the bathroom vent(it is on the floor). And again, he cleaned it up, got a talk. We also told him he must tell us when he has to go potty and we will be going with him so we can watch him. He wasn't happy but this is getting nuts. If he was a cat he would be banished to the basement. I am guessing it is an attention/control thing. I just hope it passes before my house smells like a giant pot.

2 more birds at the feeder

A bright red Cardinal visited our feeder. I hope he comes back many times. Another new bird came today. I had to look it up in the bird book. It is a Common Tree Sparrow. Very pretty little bird. Oh, and I need to correct myself...that other sparrow is not a Black Capped Sparrow but a White-Crowned Sparrow. I was trying to go off of memory when I should have just looked it up again. We have 2 of them actually, and adult and a juvenile.

I decided to make bread today. It is a good day for some nice warm homemade bread. I am going to try making one of the loaves into cinnamon raisin bread. Here is to hoping it turns out!

Honestly, who makes it so easy?

Add 5 Old English Game Bantams(mini chickens)- colors: 3 Crele and 2 Blue Mille Fleur. As well as 2 Dutch Bantams-Color: Porcelain.

I swear, that is my last addition. They ship out in 6 days.

Score!

The deals on out of season clothing is amazing right now. Amazing. Hadley needed some new underpants. Hers were too small and they "hurt her butt". I went to the outlets to get some from Osh Kosh...all of their previously reduced items were an additional 30% off! I am talking long sleeve shirts for 2.99 plus the additional 30% off. I called Clint to see if it would be OK if I got some things for Corb and Hads for this coming fall. I got the go ahead. I've pretty much finished up their at home fall wardrobes, got Hads some winter hats, gloves and boots, Hadleys entire summer at home wardrobe, got jammies for this spring and fall for the 2 of them, a bunch of pairs of underpants, some "for good" shirts for Hads and I got Hads an adorable dress, tights and hair clip(horses) to wear for her bday party for a grand total of $150 bucks. All bought at the Carters, Osh Kosh, Gymboree and Children's Place outlets. I think the best score was the pair of winter boots priced at 3.99 and then I got 15% off of that. It was kind of euphoric.

Wait...what??

Yesterday Hadley went into the bathroom. A few minutes later she yells "Mommy! I need you". Corb, ever needing to be in the know, goes running into the bathroom a head of me. After a few seconds he comes running back out all in a tizzy. He shouts at me, arms flailing with enthusiasm, furrowed brow "MOMMY! You have to come. Hadley. Is. Turning. Into. A. BOY!!!" Oh God, what is going on in there. I open the door to find Hadley sitting on the floor, nekkid as a jay bird from the waist down. Spread eagle. Corby says "See that? Hadley is growing a PENIS!!!" Oh God. Corb, go out and don't look at your sister there was my awesome retort. After reassuring Hadley that she is not growing a penis(But Momma, I see that fing growing out!), and that that is just indeed how her "Jay Jay" looks I just held my head in my hands and laughed. What will tomorrow bring?

For the birds

Since I can finally post pictures I figured I would update the winter long bird feeding project. The kids are really having fun watching the birds and can identify quite a few of them by sight now. I can identify a few of them by the sound they make(chickadee, goldfinch, titmouse and bluejay). It is really fun when you walk past the feeder and see a new bird. I like trying to find it in our bird book. Hadley's favorite are the Titmice, Corb likes the Bluejays, Lennon likes them all. So far we have identified the following birds at our feeder...

1. House Sparrows(in hordes)
2. Titmice(a lot)
3. Goldfinch(more than you would think)
4. House Finch(also a bunch)
5. Chickadee(only ever seen 2 at a time)
6. Junco(started slow, now a ton)
7. Nuthatch(Clint saw this one once, I hope it comes back)
8. Bluejays(4 of them and only first thing in the morning, they like the peanuts)
9. Wren(not sure what kind and only seen twice very early in the morning)
10. Black Cap Sparrow(I think that is the name, seen 2 times)
11. Mourning Doves(they hang around on the clothesline but come to the feeder every now and then)

The festivities

Yesterday was a hit. We had pink pancakes with chocolate chips(plain for Hadley) for breakfast. They started off as heart shaped. They turned into all kinds of fun weird shapes. Everyone had their letter(CHLO), then they wanted their numbers(5,3,2,0). Then we ended with snakes, spirals and horseshoes.

For lunch we had pb sammiches cut out into little hearts, cake and "cupid" corn. After lunch we made our Valentines for each other. That was a lot of fun. I think somewhere in there all the sugar from lunch got to me. I used some red food coloring in everyones hair. They thought it was hilarious. PS-It took Clint almost an hour after he got home to even notice it.

Dinner we had our traditional heart shaped pizza. We also had chips, little sausages and black bottom cake. After dinner we exchanged our Valentines. I love doing that. Clint always loves the ones the kids make for him. He takes them to work and hangs them up.

All in all, a very sassifying day. Now, for pictures.

Lennon striking a pose.

Hadley striking a pose.

Corb striking a pose.

Oz striking a pose. I heart his red Mohawk. I think we should leave it like that all the time.

Corb and Hadley doing one of their new favorite things. Painting at the easel.

Happy Valentines Day!

Lots of good fun planned for today. Most of it involves food. HA! Hopefully I will have some pictures to post tomorrow.

Yup

Hads has a raging ear infection. The Farmer said "I wish I had a Med Student here. This is a really beautiful ear infection." HA HA HA! Hads did so excellent. I was skert she would scream when the farmer went to look in the bad ear since she freaked if we got within 10 inches of it. But, she just sat there all purty and let her look. Gold star to Hads! She won herself a round of antibiotics for 10 days. I picked up yogurt for her to eat while she is taking the antibiotic. I don't want to add a "thingy baking bread" on top of her ear.

It is snowing. Ice to come later...I think we will have a movie day today. It is so yucky outside. And cold. Doesn't snuggling up under big blankets watching movies and eating popcorn sound divine?

I made a perfect cup o' coffee this morning. The coffee, to water, to sugar, to French Vanilla creamer ratio was perfect. So good.

Ears

Hads has been complaining that her ear hurts for a few days. Last night she kept waking up saying it was hurting. We are taking her to see the farmer this afternoon.

Snow and ice are coming tomorrow...

We went to Home Depot and Tractor Supply to get all of the supplies needed for building a brooder for the peeps,ducklings and goslings(yes, goslings) coming in just...18 days or so. We got chick starter, heat lights, wood, wire, dishes, zip ties(to tag them so we know who is who) and a bunch of other little things. Building this brooder is going to be fun. I really can't wait to have the little ones here.

Anyway, yes I added 2 goslings to our order on Friday. They really make it way too easy to add things to your order. All you have to do is email and bam, it is done. They should make it harder. I added the goslings after reading that you can use them to weed your garden for you. I want to try it. We spend many hours weeding our pretty big garden. I can just see them out there now...

Speaking of the garden, we made a plan of action for planting. We wrote down what needs to be planted when, what needs to be started indoors, etc. We usually end up planting something too late...like watermelons. It stinks having ripe watermelons in October and not in August. HA!

It's a HEN!

Finally we have confirmation that Big Sexy is indeed a hen!!! I was 95% sure that she was just by her feathers but it was my first "sexing" of a chicken so I wanted some definite evidence. 2 days ago I happened to catch her sitting in a nest box. I decided to wait a few minutes to see if I could catch her laying an egg. After a minute...bam, egg. I was so egg'cited. HA! She lays a purty little brown egg.

It was in the 60's a few days ago. I just looked out the window...it is SNOWING! WTF?

Yesterday turned into a frustrating day. The children just did not want to listen. Hadley did make me smile at one point though. They were picking up their playroom. I overheard her singing "Pick up the toys every day, So Mommy doesn't take the toys away". Goof.

I wanted to make hot dogs for lunch...spoiled. Then, I took the meat out of the fridge to make broccoli and beef. Most of it was a normal raw meat color but there was a fairly large portion that was black. It was gross. It turned out alright though, we ended up just getting subs and pizza. We haven't gotten take out for AGES.

We got our seeds yesterday!!! Woot! Then, we just had to start planning the garden. It is going to be bigger this year. It is going to be so awesome.

Crazy? I think not.

Alright, so the first 2 years or so are crazy but as I watch Corb and Hads playing checkers it was worth the craziness. Those two entertain each other so well. They are even starting to include Lennon in most of their games. When they play checkers Lennon really just sits and watches, same thing when they play tic-tac-toe. But, when they play Bigger(our friendlier sounding version of WAR), go fish, UNO and the Toy Story card game they include and help him. Clint has even been teaching them to play Rummy. I love to watch them playing these games. How great is it that they have built in playmates? Yes, there are times when they don't get along. Those are times when they just need some space. They are good at giving each other some space after I explain it to them. More times than not though they are together doing all kinds of crazy things or just playing a game. It is just what I pictured when we said lets have them all close together. All of these memories they will share.

A romp outdoors makes me windy

It is warmer outside today than it has been in a few weeks. I hurried the kids through breakfast so we could enjoy some of the warmth before the rain came. We ended up only having an hour to play before the rain but it did wonders for everyones mood.

Corb is having fun painting. My Mom got him a set of good watercolors, brushes and nice thick paper for his birthday. He loves painting at the easel. We are going to have to get him some more paper soon. His favorite scene to paint is the sun, sky and an apple tree. He was having a rough couple of days-rough in that he was having trouble listening and picking on his siblings. I finally got him to take a good nap yesterday. The nap coupled with getting outside today has really changed his attitude. That child just needs to always be doing something. He can't stand to be bored. It is challenging to keep thinking up new ways to keep him busy.

Ozzy is getting another toof that he is not happy about. He has been sleeping crappy for a week and a half now. Up every 1.5 to 2 hours at night and he is exhausted. Yesterday he didn't nap at all during the day. Then, last week he had what we thought was an awful diaper rash. Poor guy was bleeding and screaming when he poo'd. I never saw anything like it on the other kids. He spent his days nekkid or in a flat diaper that was changed as soon as he peed. He soaked in a bath twice a day. We tried diaper creams, powder, I even tried boob juice and it still looked the same. This went on for 4 days. Then it hit me like a wall..."I wonder if he is chafing from his butt scooting". We stopped everything and just starting using Vaseline. That did the trick. It was looking much better within a day. I guess we just need to keep his crack lubed so he doesn't chaff.

I believe the seeds for our garden should arrive today. I am more than ready to get things started. I hope the seeds grow well for us. It would be much cheaper to start seeds every year than getting seedlings. We are going to try a few new things this year-Kidney beans, hard corn(to feed chickens) and popcorn. We want to get some blueberries and grapes, too. We are planning to have a lot more carrots this year since last year we used our small harvest more than I thought we would.

The chickens have started laying again! We are up to getting 3-4 eggs(2 brown, 2 green) every day. I missed having fresh eggs so much. It feels so awesome finding those eggs waiting for me when I go out to feed the chickens in the afternoon. Only 24 more days until our first batch of babies arrive. Woot!

Say what?

Yesterday was our annual donut day with my Mom's family. Lots of fun was had by all. Everyone enjoyed my chicken "dramas". Those chooks are crazy. That is for another time.

Hadley said something hilarious. When my Dad asked her where my Papa's hair had gone(he is bald) she looked around for a bit, thought, and then pointed at my Uncle Roy(whom has an abundant amount of hair) and said "He gave it to Uncle Roy".

The kids new thing to do is run about the house screaming "DARE YOU" at the top of their lungs. I have no idea what this really means. They don't dare one another to actually do anything. They just go around screaming Dare you.

Chickens

I'd like to thank my Mommy(birthday money) and ebay for making my spring chick orders possible. Without you we would've been too poor to make this happen. We have many, many chicks coming our way. The first order:

18 chicks 3 ducklings(yes, ducklings I sneaked them in my order) from Ideal Poultry. Their ship date is Feb 27th, that puts them here the 28th or 29th. I'll label them accordingly...Eye Candy, Useful Engines, and Kinda Turns me On.

Blue Andulasions-2 pullets. Lays a white egg. Eye candy, and kinda turns me on.

Gold Laced Wyandottes-2 pullets. In my second order(coming in April) I am also getting the Silver and Blue Laced Red varieties. Lay a brown egg. Eye candy, useful and kinda turns me on.

Barnevelder-2 pullets. Lay a dark brown egg. Eye candy, kinda turns me on.

Brabanter-2 pullets. The cream variety. Lay a white egg. Eye Candy, kinda turns me on.

Sex-link-2 pullets. The gold variety. Lay a brown egg. Useful.

Silkies-6 straight run. Red, Grey and Blue varieties(2 of each). I know, they are foofy looking. I think Hads will heart them. They do have a usefulness. They are really good at acting like incubators. I plan on using them to hatch eggs for me. Lay a white egg when they aren't trying to hatch eggs. So they are-all of the above(eye candy?, useful and kinda turn me on)

Turken-2 pullets. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Lay a tinted egg. So weird I had to get 2. They are nothing...just weird. Ok, they kinda turn me on.

Runner Ducks-3 straight run. How freaking cool are these? I've heard they lay a good amount of eggs. I can't wait to try duck egg. Kinda turn me on.

That's a run down of the first order. I'll be sure to post pictures when they arrive. Only 28 more days.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Go me...it's my birthday
Go me...it's my birthday

I am doing...NOTHING for my birthday. Nothing. We are watching tv all day and sitting in our jammies. The only thing productive I will do today is make myself a cake, and some of my homemade bread. I think I will let Clint cook dinner. He can do that I think. He can clean it all up, too.

I am going to order some chicks with my "birthday" money. But that is a whole nother post.

Ozzy can crawl?

Ok, we will just say he can move on his own. He is not crawling in the traditional sense of the word at all. He scoots, on his ass. He goes all over the place like this. It is hilarious to watch. The older 3 are right pissed that he can now get all up in their business. A strict floor cleaning regiment has been put into action. I forgot how they can find any single little thing laying about. Let the games begin!

Corb makes a funny

Driving home from my parents one night last week Clint was trying to get Corb to do "Knock Knock" jokes. He kept saying "Knock Knock". Corb ignored him. After 5 attempts Corb finally yells "No one is home!!!"

Holidays, part 1 over

Thanksgiving is officially over for us. Our last dinner was yesterday afternoon at Clint's sister's house. Everyone loved my bread. Someone even requested some for a Christmas present. HA!

Clint got all the new parts for the computer, now all he has to do is plug them in and hope that they all work the way they are supposed to the first time. Riiiiiiiiight.....

It is raining...again. I think we've had 2 sunny days in the last 4 weeks. No more sunny days in the forecast either.

I ended up going out on Black Friday with my Mom for a little while. Carrying a 20lb sack of sweet baby fat kinda puts a limit on how much you are willing to do. We hit up Target, Old Navy(where I got a sweet price adjustment on a coat I bought a week before), and the Hershey Outlets. Mom got some wicked movie deals at Target. I got Dreft. YAY.

We are going to get Christmas out of the attic this weekend. It is going to rock. The kids and I will make tree decorations this week. I loved it last year when they all just went at the tree with their own box of decorations. I loved that only half of our tree had decorations because they couldn't reach the top. I love the simplicity of it all.

Hads started off with a cold the end of last week. Now she is coughing like an emphysema sufferer. I tried the Vicks on the feet thing and it did squat for her. Shun me now, I gave her cough medicine so the poor girl could get some sleep. Corb started with a fever yesterday. I expect the cough to follow soon. I just hope Lennon and Oz escape.

Next week I will order the final gifts that we need(Ozzy's build a bear, my brothers gift, and the Polar Express for the nephews). Then, we are done. I can't wait to wrap everything.

Wow..I sure can ramble on.

Can't complain

Life is busy, but fun. We've been doing a lot, the weather has been disgusting and the house is a mess. Tomorrow some family is making the trek up to our shack to partake in some Turkey. But, hey, who isn't? Today I am cleaning and pre-preparing as much food as I can so I have less to do tomorrow. Again, who isn't?

The bird feeder is doing well. We have the usual crowd of Sparrows-they are usually here at daybreak. Next to arrive are the 4 Titmice(giggle). Around 9:00 the 3 quiet Blue Jays have fun scattering the crowd of Sparrows. 9:30 the late riser but much noisier Blue Jay comes to get his peanuts. He puts up a good show with all his racket. Sometime in the later morning a Chickadee announces his/her arrival. That one never stays for very long. Usually around lunchtime a pair of Goldfinches show up. Hadley calls them the Green Birds. For the first time today I saw a Cardinal. I hope he sticks around.

Clint is getting the final parts for our "new" computer on Sunday. Hopefully then I can start getting pictures on this damn thing again. I hate not being able to put my pictures on the computer. Bastard computer.

By the way, it is always a good idea to wear some kind of shoe in the YMCA locker room. Hadley peed on the floor there yesterday. Luckily, it was near the hand held shower thing and I just washed it all down the drain. She felt awful about it but quickly recovered when I offered her a snack.

That busy time of year

We've kicked off our busiest time of year here. Last Saturday was our first of 3 Thanksgiving gatherings. The next is on Thanksgiving here at the shack. Followed a few days later on the 25th at Clint's sisters house. And then, the Christmas stuff starts....

The kids had their last swimming lesson of the session. We are allowed to sit in and watch the last one. I must say, Hadley impressed me. She is a total fish. I didn't see it coming. This from the girl who hates wading in the pool in summer and refused to get her head wet making for horrible bath times. She was swimming all over the pool on her own(with the help of the blue sugar cube floatie). It was insane. She was the first one out so she could be first down the slide when that time came. And she looked so small! Corb is awesome at trying to use the correct technique for swimming. He tries very hard to reach when he is swimming. I loved every minute of it. They are signed up for the next session that picks right up on Tuesday.

Lennon will be starting a "Tot and Parent Tumbling" class on Tuesday. So far, he is the only boy in the class. It is right after Corb and Hads come out of swimming. They will go into the "play room"(babysitting) with Ozzy while Lennon and I go to his class. I fear Ozzy will scream the whole time, but maybe with Corby and Hadley there he won't.

Our computer is still pretty much down, or at least it is such a PITA to use it might as well be down. Clint did order and receive some computer parts. Only to realize when he went to put them together that he is a dumb ass and we can't use our memory, etc in the new case. That means he needs to order some more parts that we had really wanted to wait until after our tax return check to get. Still not sure what is going to happen here but in the meantime it means no new pictures can go on this thing.

No haters

It is Turkey Day with my Mom's side of the family. We are doing it uber early this year because a good portion of the family will be in West Virginia for the actual Thanksgiving Day. We never have a traditional T-day meal with this side of the family. We have my Grammy's kick ass chicken pot pie. Everyone fights for corner pieces. We are switching things up this year and having it at my Aunt Annie's house. She knocked down her old house and built a new one over the last year. It should be tons of fun. We will leave when Clint gets home from work.

On a side note-I am addicted to playmobil. Kudos to you..inventor of playmobil.

Who needs a house?

Since taking an interest in what is going on in our back yard with the birds I noticed our bluebirds are still hanging around. They don't eat seeds and I wondered what/if I could feed them. I found an interesting homemade bluebird banquet recipe. I am going to get the stuff to make it. I hope they like it. It would be so cool to have them winter here.

I also stumbled across a butterfly house in my search. DUH! That is just what my butterfly garden needs! A butterfly house. That lead to a search of other kinds of houses. I want a Toad House, Butterfly House, Ladybug House and of course a Bat House. I hope to make these additions in spring.

How funny, as I sit here dreaming of spring-already-I noticed snow flurries(the first of the season) floating down from the sky. What a dirty whore Mother Nature is.

Birds-a winter long project

We are going to feed the birds this winter and observe them everyday. This is a semi-school related project as I want to have Corb draw pictures of the birds on occasion and I would like to keep track of all the different birds we see, what they like to eat and so on. So far, we've had a male house finch, 3 blue jays(they like the peanuts), titmice and a large amount of various sparrows and chickadees. I even bought a bird field guide so we would be able to identify newcomers. After some online research about what the birds like the most I feel armed and ready to buy some offerings this week at the store. Our feeder is right outside of our sliding glass doors on a small porch.

The sparrows, finch and chickadees do not scare as easily as the Blue Jays. This morning we sat on the floor in front of the doors waiting patiently for the blue jays to come and take the peanuts I had just put out. They fly up, grab a nut and fly away. One did pause long enough to eat one of the nuts. I thought he was going to choke on it, he just swallowed it whole like a snake would. Weird!

Once we get our new hard drive and I can once again upload pictures to the computer I will add some pictures of our set up and some of the visitors.

Shipping WTF?

WTF?

1. Deciding shipping cost based on how much an order costs. You can get an item that weighs 20lbs for 40 bucks or an item that weighs 1lb for 40 bucks and you are paying the same amount of shipping. Really, the person with the 20lb item is getting a deal while the person with the 1lb item is getting ripped. That is just rude.

2. It is getting closer to Christmas, so lets up the free shipping on orders over __. Instead of 40 bucks like it was last week, lets make it 60.

3. Speaking of free shipping minimums, who the hell loves a free shipping of minimum of 300 bucks? Oh, and then make sure you grade your shipping charges on cost to boot.

All of this was sparked because all I want is a fucking playmobil waterfall so I don't have to listen to the kids fight over which one of them had it first.

What is super adorable times 2?

2 week old newborn twins. My long lost bff found on ebay brought her twins to my house for a visit today. She even let me take pictures of them. I tried to load them on the computer and then we ran out of disk space so I can't do anything with them until Clint shuffles some things around. I can't wait to play with the pictures.

The babies were so forking tiny! Ozzy looked like a fricken giant. I could not get over how tiny. The little girl was the same size as Hadley was when she was born. No way was she that tiny. My goodness. There were very good babies. The slept so we got some fun pictures. I could've played with them taking pictures all day but they had to go.

In other news-Clint's birthday was this weekend. We had fun celebrating on Saturday. He worked until 3, then we all just hung out enjoying each other's company. I made his meal of choice-Ham, green beans, potatoes and homemade bread. We had chocolate cake with chocolate icing for dessert. Sunday he worked again until 3. I went for groceries when he got home. Then we all tried to not fall asleep too early. HA! Stinking time change.

Tomorrow we have swimming and Corb's annual cardiologist appointment. After the appointment we are going to drop the kids off with at my parents house so we can hit up Lowes for Corb's xmas present. Then we will spend the evening with at my parents house. Eating dinner and Mom is going to pick up Ratatouille so we will watch that before heading home. Good times!

Christmas take 2

I think we are done. Well, we still need to get a few things in a real store but all of the online shopping is done. Thank goodness. I did sneak in a few extras. Oops :) The things we need to get somewhere are-Corb's tools, Ozzy's Build a Bear(hey I might just order that..hmmm), Something for Hads to give to Lennon and a stocking toy for Oz. Here is the list of things ordered and certain, with as many links as I can find.

TOGETHER:
Jacobs Ladder
Felt Farfalle Noodles
Melissa and Doug 60 piece standard block set

CORBIN:
Set of real tools with toolbox-we are going to put our own together
Playmobil Jet Airliner
2 Books: My First Book of Time and My First Book of Phonics by DK Publishing
Prisoner Tower from Papo(to go with the Castle from my Mom), sharing with Lennon
Figures from Schleich-octopus, dolphin, knight-stocking
Toy Snake-stocking
Mini Block Set-stocking
Playmobil micro world Dude's Arc-From Hadley
Peter Sam-From Lennon

HADLEY:
Plan Toys Kitchen set
36 piece Pioneer and Food set
Dollhouse Dolls Mama and baby
Schleich Figures- Sera, princess-stocking
Playmobil Micro Wold Fairy Tale Castle-from Corby
2 Books about Unicorns from Usborne books
Plan Toys Gazebo-From Lennon

LENNON:
Huge Tonka Truck and Horse Trailer
3 books-My First Tractor, My First book of Opposites and Jumbo Tractor Shaped book from DK publishing
2 Cars cars-blimp and plane- from Corby
Toy snake-stocking
Schleich Figures-walrus, sting ray and knight-stocking
Playmobil Kids Tractor

OZZY:
Build a bear Sesame Character

The spirits were afoot

Halloween Day was a fun day overall. It was a Wednesday so Clint's Aunt Bev and cousin D were on board for their weekly visit.

We kicked off the day playing with pumpkin pie playdoh. That provided over an hour of entertainment.

The kids played for a little and then we decided to make the cupcakes so they would have time to cool before we put the icing and sprinkles on. More playing followed. Later we decorated and this was the result.


We had a lot of fun painting little pumpkins. It smelled funny and the kids were covered by the time we were done but it was fun. From Left to right...D's, Lennon's, Hadleys and Corb's in the front. Yes, that is a wine bottle in the back (shout out to Matty and Emmy!!!!).


Here it is, the beef stew in the pumpkin going into the oven. I have to tell you, this shit smelled reallllly good by the time it was done. Really good. And it tasted good, too. The kids hated it but they hate anything that isn't full of carbs and slathered with peanut butter or cheese.


Everyone waiting to dig in.


Inside the pumpkin. I can smell it now. Mmmmmm......

How many tools does it take?

How many tools does it take to carve a pumpkin? We used many. Everyone had fun carving the pumpkins. Check out the final product below.










Lennon's is the one without the face, Corb is the big fat one in the middle(check out those ears), Hadley's looks like the crime scene victim that has been stapped 42 times and Ozzy's is the itty bitty one with the toof.

Happy Halloween!

What do we have on tap for today? That is a question you might be asking yourself. Let me lay it the fun filled day we have planned. For now I'll say this, every one is going to be shitting orange turds tomorrow. HA!

The Menu-
Breakfast: pumpkin shaped pancakes.
Lunch: I have no idea yet. I want to come up with something good.
Supper: Pumpkin stew, bread and cupcakes for dessert.
Drink: Orange Kool-aid and orange milk.
Snack: Orange Jello Jigglers, popcorn balls and apples.

The Fun-
Painting pumpkins
Making cupcakes
Playing with pumpkin pie playdoh
I decorated the house with streamers and such
Wearing costumes all day

Shoot, Lennon just woke up. I'll continue this later.

Pumpkins

Pumpkins are cool
Pumpkins are fun
They get big and fat from the rays of the sun

We had a fantabulous day yesterday! After being lazy ass slacker's with school for 2 weeks we are getting back into it. I didn't feel so bad though. We did very informal math things with Corb. He can now count to 120 by himself and count by 2's to 10. Yesterday we started learning Clint's cell phone number. We read "Why Leaves Change Color"-very cool by the way. Corb worked on the sound that letter "A" makes. Then, of course, he did is beloved math. He did some addition(half with pictures, half without), some patterns and circle the one that is different.

When Clint got home from work we took a walk at the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art. It was perfect. It smelled like fall, it felt like fall and it certainly looked like fall. The kids had a blast. My only regret was that I forgot my camera. We really had a great time pointing out different kinds of trees and leaves to the kids. Corb was on a hunt for deer tracks. He didn't find any but he sure had fun looking.

On our way home from the walk we decided to carve our pumpkins while dinner cooked. We set the kids up on the floor with some big spoons, bowls and pumpkin carvers. They had so much fun. Everyone was covered in pumpkin guts by the time they were done. Even Oz got in on the action. Lennon's pumpkin is just hallowed out, he didn't want a face on it. Hadley told Clint where she wanted every thing-her pumpkin does not sport a nose. Corb was pleased to find that he could carve his own this year with little help from Clint. He was so proud. I have to upload the pictures yet.

All in all, it was a great family day. The kids even ate all of their dinner(probably due to the fact that we ate so late) and had cupcakes for dessert. I feel all warm and fuzzy thinking about our day :)

Our Fall Barn Party

What a fantastic time we had! Everything went as planned and a great time was had by all. We had wonderful things to eat. From popcorn balls to caramel apples to s'mores on fire. The kids had fun playing on the playset, chasing chickens and bowling with pumpkins. I do have some pictures but not a ton. I stayed with my Great Uncle most of the time. He flew in from California, he only does that once every couple of years. I wanted to make sure he got to spend as much time with Ozzy as possible. My Uncle is Ozzy's "namesake". We gave Ozzy the middle name of "Landis" which is my Great Uncle's middle name also. He was very touched by that. This was their first meeting and he won't get to see Ozzy again for another 2-3 years.


This is the inside of the barn just as the party was getting under way. Like our hay bale seating?

The great food spread inside the barn.

Clint dressed up as Mike Rowe.

Matty and Emmy dressed up as Ricky Bobby and a witch.

Corb-Dinosaur, Lennon-Big Sexy(chicken), Hadley-weird half breed unicorn pegasus.

Ozzy-peacock.

Ozzy and his Great Great Uncle.

Lennon passed out on the kitchen floor(yes I know realize it is dirty, don't you judge me) at 10pm. He had just had a Hershey Kiss and asked to have his face wiped. We turned around after wiping him and he was passed out on the floor.

So much to do, so little time

The countdown to the party is on and there is a ton to do. Must go faster.

Progress without pictures

We got everything planted last night in the dirt patch. I did not get a picture afterwards because I remembered we had some library books due. I rushed to get them back and borrow some new ones before they closed. I saw that they had the first set of BOB books available. I had no idea! I've been wanting to buy them but, this is even better. If I like them that much I can buy them later. Other books I checked out-Franklin Celebrates(Corb hearts Franklin), I Spy Fooky Night, and a neat book called Actual Size. It shows different animal parts at the size they really are. Like a giant moth, a gorilla hand and a huge ass frog. It is cool.

I have that damn Noggin song in my head "Oh, I don't like Candy Corn. No, I don't like Candy Corn.". Why does that Moose have to sing such catchy tunes?

The bath room got a nice deep clean yesterday. It was totally pube-free!!! Now all we have to do on Saturday morning is do a quick wipe down. I started in on our bedroom, then Ozzy decided he wanted to sleep. I had to exit while he napped. I decided to head down the kids bedroom. I figured while I was cleaning out I might as well swap all of the summer clothings for fall/winter clothing. I got halfway done with that room. Then Oz woke up. He wasn't happy to just sit and watch me anymore so I didn't get much more done. Today is another day.

Speaking of today-swimming lessons are today. The kids are super excited. They really enjoy it. More cleaning for me after we get home.

Weekend update

This weekend was a big success!!

Friday-it rained all day. I got all the Thomas trains down, minus the lead filled ones that were already sent back, from the attic. I pushed the couch back against the wall so we had the entire large common area to build. The kids spent the entire day building, destroying and rebuilding. It was so much fun.

Saturday-Clint worked until 3. When he got home we left for the 2 hour trip to see my brother at college. His campus is very nice. His room smelt like boy. It was gross. We had a great dinner with our family and Emmy's family. I love that now I have an actual picture in my head of the places he talks about. Matty loved showing the kids all of the fun places around campus.

Sunday-Clint worked until 2. In the morning I met my Mom at SKH to check out the deals on trees. They have some really great deals right now. Unfortunately, we still aren't sure what exactly we want. We are going to discuss it some more before we actually buy trees. More on that later. I also wanted to scope out the shrubs, perennials, mums and bulbs. We just cleaned out a flower bed next to our barn. I wanted to get stuff planted in it asap. We plan on transplanting some light purple and white lilacs from my Mom's in the spring. I also wanted to put in some butterflies, spring bulbs, mums and something for the summer(I might just end up sticking in some annuals).

Anyway, we ended up heading to Home Depot to look at all of that stuff. I ended up getting 2 large butterfly bushes(pink and white), a hydrangea, 3 nest spuce shrubs, 4 mums and 4 bags of bulbs for 50 bucks. I didn't think that was bad at all for what I got and to replant an whole flowerbed. Score. I'll post before and after pictures tomorrow. We are going to plant it tonight after Clint gets home.

And so begins the 4 day scramble to get everything done before Becktoberfest. I have a long list of things that need done before party time. I will be cleaning pretty much between now and Saturday. I will only be breaking when Oz needs to eat. Speaking of Oz. I am so excited! His namesake is coming to our party!!! My great Uncle, whose middle name is Landis, flew in from California this weekend for an unscheduled visit(family drama) and he has decided to come with my Grandma to our party!!! He cried on the phone when I told him Ozzy was given the middle name of Landis for him. This will be the first time he gets to meet Oz in person..and the first time he will be at our new house!

Severe weather possible

Looks like we could be getting some severe weather today. That means the kids and I will probably end up in the closet. Every time it storms Corb always asks me "Mommy, is it time to go to the closet yet?". Poor kids. We only go there because I am skert of the storms. We take some books and wait it out.

Corb and Hads were very proud of themselves yesterday. They both went under the water during their swimming lessons. Even though they don't like it, they did it, and they were so proud. They also got to go down the slide. That was very exciting for them. Lennon enjoyed playing in the babysitting area. They have a huge truck in there that he is loving.

We have another busy weekend planned. Clint will be working as usual. But, the fun activities planned after he gets home are-visiting my brother at college on Saturday for Family Day. He is so excited to show Corb the dinosaur bones in the Science building. Sunday my Mom, Dad and I are going to take Hadley to the PA Horse Show. I think she will love it.

Ozzy's tooth finally broke through on Wednesday afternoon. He slept much better Wednesday night and even better last night. I am thrilled, as I am sure he is. Oh, and he can sit up on his own now, too. He loves to sit in the yard in the afternoon watching the chickens while I feed them. I think he might be trying to clap, but I can't be sure. It seems awfully early but I've noticed him clapping his hands together quite a few times over the last few days especially if you clap in his direction. I think Corb was clapping pretty early, too.

Teething Blows

If you've been there you know what I mean. Teething blows. End of story. Ozzy has been, what I want to say here is a right bitch but that wouldn't be nice, troubled greatly by the intrusion of teeth into his mouth. He shows his anger in many ways. One being making it impossible for his mummy to sleep. I think I've slept a total of 5 or 6 hours since Saturday. On the bright side, he has not used those teeth on my nipple yet. Thank you for small favors.

Summing up the last few days:

*Teething blows
*Corb and Hads LOVE swimming
*Some yard work has been done(by Clint)
*Minimal school work has been done(again, by Clint)
*Apple Cider Festival Display was fun, but I doubt I will get much business generated from it. Not really worried about that right now.
*My friend that is pregnant with twins is walking around 5cm dilated.
*The house looks like a pig sty. If my second grade teacher could see my house, she would dump it out like she dumped out my messy desk. Then, she would put a large pig on the top of my house.
*I am behind on laundry-there are currently 7 loads waiting for me to wash and 4 loads are waiting to be put away.

Christmas List, take 1

I promised a tentative Christmas list, we will not be getting everything on this list, it is just ideas we've tossed around and agreed on. I'll keep updating it, if I remember. We are going much smaller this year, with more "together" gifts since they all play with everything anyway. The plan is to get them each an individual gift from Santa, a few together gifts, something from each of their siblings and a few things in their stockings. And, to put a good amount of cash in each of their bank accounts. Here it goes:

Together:
Melissa and Doug Standard Unit Blocks
Children's Traffic Signs
Pretend Food

Individual:

Corbin-
Marble Run
Set of real tools. For this we planned on hitting up Home Depot and getting a set of screwdrivers, hammer, wrench, tape measure and little toolbox. He wouldn't really get to play with this, rather keep his toolbox with Clint's and then be able to help Clint when he is doing a project.

Hadley-
Ryan's Room Kitchen Set

Lennon-
There has been talk of a truck for in the sandbox

Ozzy-
New Sesame Street Character Build-a-Bear

In the stockings:

For the older 3-Schleich sea animals for Corb, Dinos for Lennon and Elves on Horses for Hadley.

And there is our tentative list, do with it what you will.

Water water everywhere

Lennon hearts playing in the bathroom sink. He has flooded the bathroom twice. Once on Clint's watch, once on mine. Clint's was the more destructive of the 2. That time water flowed out of the bathroom and down the hallway. It also resulted in total drawer removal for airing out. He is also the first one to hit up the spigot outside. I have to see if there is a way to turn that sucker off. It really isn't such a fun thing to be soaked head to toe when it is 50 degrees out.

Corby has spent the last 3 days teaching himself how to whistle. I admire his perseverance. He gets frustrated but has not given up. He can now produce a soft whistling sound with the occasional louder toots. He is so freaking proud he asks us 10 jillion times a day if we want to hear him whistle. Then his eyes get all twinkly and he smiles so big. It is awesome.

Ozzy got his first toof and he is working on the second. His personality is just starting to bloom. He wants to play with his siblings so bad. I can't wait for him to be able to really get in with them and interact. It will be fun seeing how he falls into the pack.

Hadley is still obsessed with her animals, especially horses. She is going girly on me. Orange is no longer her favorite color, now pink and purple rule. She is big on telling me what I am not allowed to say. There are the words we decided to pull the plug on, when Corb starting using them on people when he was mad, "Stupid", "Shut up", and "Holy Shit". Instead, we now say "Stinky", "Shut the front door", and "Shiznit". Hadley decided to add, apparently just for me, "Oh my gosh". I have no idea why. What a punk.

Pumpkins

That was our theme for today. Pumpkins. It is a yucky day outside today. Raining and cold(finally). We've been spending all of our days outside. We had to do school inside today.

Corb asked to do some writing today so I made worksheets of with his name and "pumpkin". He had fun writing them. In addition to that, we talked about the life cycle of a pumpkin, made a pumpkin book, weighed pumpkins and measured their circumference. With Lennon and Hadley we learned "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater", read "Pumpkin, Pumpkin", made and played with Pumpkin Pie Dough(the kids had fun using this with metal pie plates and rolling pins) and also made some O-face pumpkin bread for our dessert tonight.

School is Phun

Busy, busy weekend.

Saturday-Clint worked and then I went Christmas window shopping. I found a lot of fun things. I also got a costume for Lennon. He is going to be a chicken! Or, as Hadley said, "Lenny is going to be Big Sexay!". We laughed. I got that costume at Old Navy for only 3.50. It was on sale from 22.50 to 13.50 and then I had a $10 coupon. Bam...3.50. It was awesome.

Sunday-Clint worked. We cleaned out the chicken house and gave the chickens new straw. Then we did a bunch of yard work.

Monday(Holiday)-Ozzy had his 6 month well baby visit. He weighed 19lbs 6oz and is 27" long. He got 4 shots, one of them being the flu shot. While we were there we scheduled the other kids to get their flu shots. It was grrrrrrreat fun. Then, my parents watched the kids while I showed Clint some of the things I found for Christmas, and he found a few on his own. I will do a whole other post on that when I find some time.

Yesterday-School day for Corb. We did more math-he loves math. Addition, more and less, fill in the blank and we started measurement. He was really enjoying that. We tried starting 100 easy lessons teaching your child to read but he was not into it at all. He zoned and refused to do anything. I will wait a while before trying it again. He is just starting to get interested in words. We read "The Giving Tree" and made our own apple trees.

Today-no school day for Corb. It is our last story time at the library today and it is visit day for Clint's Aunt and the kids cousin, D. We will probably do some kind of simple art and I think we are going to bake some bread. We just let them play together most of the time.

Worms

Yesterday, Corb did a few math worksheets. He had some trouble with "Less and More". I want to ask the farmer about that on Monday. Corb gets some words confused that are opposites. The big one I notice is "before and after". I want to work with him on that. We read "Little Red Riding Hood"-who has realllly read this? It is violent! I kept thinking "Oh man, I hope they don't try to reenact this one". Crazy! We also read "Peter Rabbit". Not quite so fooky. Then, we had fun with worms. We dug up some worms and looked at them with magnifying glasses. We learned how they reproduce, how long they live, what they eat and where they live. It was lots of fun.

Today, Clint isn't working as late as he usually does so I can meet up with my Mom to do some xmas window shopping. I also need to get Corb a new car seat(he has outgrown his) and replace Ozzy's Knot Block that the dog chewed up.

Sunday, nothing is planned. I am going to spend the day planning school for next week, working on photog stuff for my display next weekend and making a grocery list.

Monday, HOLIDAY! Clint isn't working at all ..wooo hooo! Ozzy has his 6 month well baby appointment and the older kids are going to get their flu shots at the same time. Giddy up. We might go down earlier in the day and drop the kids off with my Dad so we can do some xmas present purchasing. Depends on what I find today.

Big ol update

What have we been up to? Get all your answers now...

Homeschooling-we took a break. Yes, after only 2 weeks. It just wasn't working. I found a book about the Charlotte Mason style of homeschooling. I loved most of it. I decided to apply some of her philosophies and styles of learning. Today was our first day. LOVING IT! Another big change we made is that for actual school things I am working only with Corby. He is eating up that one on one time. We did a real loose interpretation of what I want to be doing one day but it was a good start. Corb practiced writing the number 4, worked with simple patterns, what comes next, dot-to-dots and some simple addition. He also practiced writing his name. With Hadley and Lennon we did a collage on what you wear in the fall and made a womery. Over the next few weeks I want to slowly start adding new things. I am excited.

Swimming lessons-Corb and Hadley will start swimming lessons at the Y on Oct. 15th. They are excited and a little reserved. I told them I will not be able to be right with them, but I will be watching them.

Clint's Aunt Bev has started visiting us weekly. She brings along the kids cousin, D. They have so much fun playing together and I am really enjoying the adult conversation.

We've decided to host our second annual Fall Gathering party in the barn at the end of the month. So far the guest list is rounding out at about 70. I am excited. I have a bunch of fun games in mind for the kids. We are using a lot of things that we have on hand for decorations(hay, straw, corn stalks and pumpkins). I love that we grew most of our decorations. I can't wait to make some fun food for the party, too. Carmel apples, hot apple cider...mmmmmm.

That is us for now in a nutshell. We be busy. HA!

Lennon has learned this all important 2 year old word of power. NO

Just some pictures

I took these the other day. I thought they were fun.

Ozzy's hand and foot. He does this a lot these days. I love it and wanted to capture it so I could always remember it.

Lennon pointing out what he sees in the clouds.

Farm tours and snakes

We've been up to a lot in the last week. Our town was celebrating it's bicentennial. It was hosting a whole bunch of events lasting the week. We watched an old street lamp being lite, went to 2 parades, visited an art gallery and the temporary visitors center, toured an organic farm and watched fireworks. We also had 3 picnics. Whew!

School has been going better. We decided to only do every other day instead of every day. This is working much better. We registered for toddler and preschool time at the library. That starts next week. We will be going every Wednesday and Friday at 10:30. I am hoping it is lots of fun and that we meet some potential friends.

Some pictures....

On the wagon ride at the Organic Farm.

Checking out the composting piles at the organic farm.
A little snake that keeps showing up at our house. We had fun touching it.

Day 2

Change is never easy at first. That is what I keep telling myself. I am committed to homeschooling and making it a great, fun experience. But, right now I am asking myself WTF I was thinking. We had fallen into a easy schedule-TV for some of the day, and a whole lot of free play inside and outside. We have cut out TV all together minus the little bit after our night story time before bed with Clint. The kids are cranky-I am sure because their minds are feeling tired. I am cranky-it is so much easier doing "nothing". But, again, I really want to do this and I know it will just get easier. If I still feel as though we struggling in a few days I will just cut back on some things and try them again in a few weeks.

Today we learned about the calendar and our morning exercises. First we stretch all of our body parts, then we do jumping jacks while saying the days of the week and the months of the year. After that we add the next number or date to the calendar, and say the date.

For our Getting Ready to Read skillz we talked about words and how they make a sentence. I would read a sentence out of a book and Corby would put a stone on each word. Then he would remove the stone when I read the words again. Hadley did this a little bit also. Lennon played with the rocks.

Name Activity-they put stickers on paper that had their name written on it.

Focus Game-"The Knocking Game"-I knocked on different things while the kids had their eyes closed. They had to guess what I was knocking on. Lots of laughter with this game.

We read some poems out of "Where the Sidewalk Ends". Hadley cried a lot when I read "Someone ate the Baby".

Tonight Clint is going to talk about each kids number that corresponds with their age.

Millersburg is turning 200 years old. The town is hosting celebrations all week long. We plan on attending many of the events. Tonight we are going to see the street lamp lighting and have cake.

School Started!

The Beck School of Fun and Farming is in session. Today was the official start of the year long test of the Pre-K. Based on how well this year goes we will decide if homeschooling is for us and if we want to continue with K or put Corb in public school. I will be doing the majority of "school" during the day while Clint fields math in the evening.

For our first day we kept it pretty simple. We talked about what school means. Then we read "If you Take a Mouse to School". After we were done reading it I asked Corby and Hadley questions about the story. What happened first type questions and I asked them to tell me about the story in their own words. After we had talked for a little I had them draw a picture of their favorite part of the story. When they finished the picture I had them dictate to me about what they had drawn. I wrote that on their picture. I think my favorite part of the dictation was from Corb "That his Mouse with the blueish green and he has big giant hair all over him".

We did some "Get ready to read" skillz cards. Today I said a pair of simple words like 'Cat and Bat'-if they rhymed we jumped, if they didn't rhyme we sat down.

We started a "Start of School Ritual". We built Cairns. When we put our flower on top we made a wish about what we would like to learn this year in school. Corb wished to read books. Hadley wished to learn about horses. Lennon just giggled.

Clint is going to be doing the number 1 with the kids tonight.

Some pictures of the Cairns.

Corb and his Cairn.
Hads and her Cairn.
Lennon's Cairn. He didn't want to get his picture taken...big surprise.

You know what is funny?

Funny is when you are sitting in your living room watching the NASA channel...

pause for laughter

...and a horse runs past your living room window. Hadley yells "I see a NEIGH NEIGH!!". Clint says "Did a horse just run past our window?" I get up to check, sure enough there is a horse standing in our driveway next to the Jeep. Fancy.

Clint and the Amish dude are out chasing the thing around right now. Who said country life was boring.

Sorry I suck

Major farming updates.

1. We currently have 8 peeps. 4 black ones, 1 full size yellow, 2 banty size yellow and 1 full size red. They were all hatched last week. All from an experimental hatch. I collected eggs for a week(all Banty or Blue eggs). I put them in a carton in my root cellar. When I had a dozen I put them all under a broody hen at the same time. It takes 21 days for eggs to hatch. One of the eggs broke somewhere along the line. That took us down to 11. They were due to hatch the 3rd of August. All of the full sized eggs started hatching on the 1st. There were 8 of them(and 3 banty eggs). All 8 of them had little peeps. 2 of them died shortly after hatching. The Banty eggs started hatching on the 2nd. One of them had a full sized baby in it but never hatched. This was also an egg color experiment. It seems that most of the blue eggs will turn out black peeps(not desired by us) so I don't think we will be hatching anymore blue eggs at this time. Right now we are trying to hatch out hens that aren't black as the black hens aren't good layers. We plan on eating any black chickens and extra roosters when they turn 6 months. That is if Clint can grow a pair and butcher them by then.

2. We are having a massive harvest. We've been eating fresh corn on the cob every night for supper. We've dug up potatoes to eat. Making a lot of tomato products(and canning extra). Watermelons are just about done. Carrots with dinner. It is all so good and fun to just walk outside and pick supper.

3. We are getting 2 sheep. As soon as Clint fixes his truck(I am not going into it)he is going to pick them up. I am so excited. I want to get collars with big ol bells on for them. How fricken cool would that be? I don't know if they are male or female yet. I can't wait to pick out names for them. It will be fun to hear the crowing of our Rooster mixed in with the baaing of the sheep.