Christmas!!

Christmas is upon us again!! Such a wonderful time of year. Even with all the craziness of picking out presents, I just love seeing them under the tree Christmas morning. I don't put ANYTHING under the tree prior to bedtime on Christmas eve. Even if it is a package that comes in the mail, it simply goes in the closet and waits for the appointed time. There have been many years where Christmas was "small" due to financial circumstances, but due to the generousity of relatives and friends the morning of Christmas always has had LOTS of gifts under the tree. ~~ well, at least it has seemed to the kids since there was NOTHING under the tree when they went to bed! One year, my brother came and stayed the night with us so that we can have all the kids be together on Christmas morning. There were so many gifts!! At midnight we were bringing present after present out. WOW--what a feast for the eyes come morning!
Have a blessed season this year! Relax, love and enjoy your family!!!
Praise the Lord for the blessed life that you have been given!

Snow

Snow!! This storm that passed through Monday and Tuesday, brought us about 7" of new snow on top of the 3" that we already had. It is beautiful out. We have been blessed with no wind so the pine trees are heavy with snow. The other blessing of no wind is that the house stays warm!! We have so many windows in our home, that it cools down quickly if given proper conditions. The bummer part of the whole snow thing is that during our gale force wind storm we lost our sled!! We have hunted for it, but to no avail. So we are in the market for one, so to speak! :)

Thanksgiving was spent here at home with just the 4 of us. Our friends were unable to join us. We did knock off one of our turkeys for dinner. Good thing it did end up being just us because it was the SMALLEST turkey on record! A whopping 9 lbs! It was quite yummy though and we did get a bit of leftover sandwiches made and I made a turkey soup too.

The day after was spent putting up our Christmas tree (yes, it's a fake....) and getting everything decorated. Trevor is spending most of this next month with Bill and Leanne while he has audio therapy. I will go over next week and help out a bit with driving. Well, with him being gone, we wanted to make sure that he was apart of getting that tree up! Trevor LOVES Christmas!! Well, so does Jack, so needless to say there was a lot of crazy energy about!

We are still traveling to Twisp for church. We are looking forward to see what God has in store for us regarding a 'home' church. In the meantime we continue to pray for direction. We have not received a phone call as of yet for a foster child placement, but know that it will come probably sooner than later! We are attending a foster Christmas party on December 7. Gifts are provided for all foster kids and parents bring gifts for your biological kids. There will be a santa to pass out presents; food; games. We are all excited (especially Jack!) about meeting other foster families. (well, I think Jack is actually more excited about attending a party!)

That is it for now--

Have a blessed day!!

Thanksgiving

Well, I'm back--at least for a time. Dealing with internet servers is really not my idea of a good time. We are looking into getting faster internet, but cost is its own subject!
We are well here. The end of October we became offically licensed to be foster parents!! We have not had a call for a placement yet, but are looking forward to the opportunity!
Currently we are getting ready for Thanksgiving. We really were not paying a whole lot of attention to the prep for the meal since Clay, Veronica and Tristan were unable to join us this year. But we are (weather permitting) getting together with our dear friends Ken and Sabrina and their clan!! Sabrina has a couple of Pioneer Woman recipes that are going to be on the table for sampling this year!
Trevor starts audio therapy this coming Monday. It will be in Bellevue, so he will be staying the majority of the next month with Bill and Leanne. I'm going over at some point the second week of December to help with driving Trevor.
Have you started Christmas shopping yet?? I have got a few things and am hoping to actually start wrapping BEFORE Christmas eve! I just read a short article in Guideposts magazine about a family that decided to buy all presents for their family from second hand stores. She says that everyone really enjoyed the thrill of the hunt and things were actually affordable and kept everyone out of the busy stores. Fun idea......
The artic blast that was predictied for around here has begun to strike. Since Saturday, we have had 30-50 mph winds along with single digit temps. With wind chill we should have negative double digits tonight and tomorrow night. THEN it should warm up to almost 32. Ah, and its only November! We are looking forward for the wind to stop so that we can work on getting the ouse warmed up. It's craziness trying to keep it warm with all this wind. The animals are cold, but so far seem to be doing ok. We just have to bring water out to them a couple times a day since it freezes so fast. Life on the prarie! It's an adventure! I'm so thankful that we do have a beautiful house, a wood stove and LOTS of wood. How did people survive these winters back in the 1800's and early 1900's???? It's truely remarkable what a human can with stand!
Give thanks for the beauty and warmth around you. Give thanks for the beautiful family of yours and let all know how much they touch your life.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday

Our home visit went awesome! We are so excited! We just need to get the banister and hand rail up in the stairway; baby gates; one more fire escape ladder; move Trevor and Jack to the downstairs bedroom and set up the crib (we are on the list with a preference for babies). Such minor stuff! Oh, and Jeremy needs to get his first aid/cpr class done. We could be licensed as early as sometime in November. Could be some extra fun around here for the holidays! Now if the tiredness I'm feeling from fighting this cold would go away, I'd be set!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Monday

We had a wonderful surprise Saturday night! We got a surprise visit from our dear friends Adrian and Rebecca! It was so wonderful to see them, though our visit was VERY short! Now we need to get over to Bellevue to see their new house!
Tomorrow morning we have our first home visit. So today I'm working on making sure we have most everything done that needs to be done and cleaning house. Please pray that all goes well and we can finish the last of our licensing process quickly.
Calvary Chapel Okanogan Valley is starting back up again as a bible study! We will be meeting on Sunday evenings at 7pm starting on Oct. 17! We are all excited to get going again. Had a wonderful prayer meeting last night with Ken and Sabrina. Would you be willing to pray for us and our bible study? We have a blog set up that will be updated hopefully once a month or so--
the address is: kinzle.blogspot.com
Back to cleaning......... :)

Soccer and Awanas

Here is our little adventurer from the last couple of days. Jack had his first soccer game on Tuesday night. Their team lost, but I don't think anyone cared. He spent the whole time smiling! Wednesday night at Awanas, Jack said his memory verse, which was John 3:16 and in turn, earned his Sparks vest and moved to book 1! Life is so good for this little 5 year old! :)

We're Back from Dino Land

We have returned and things are now back to normal! It was a beautiful trip. The picture of all of us here is at the top of one of the hikes we did. Saw lots of beautiful scenery and cool dino bones. The first campsite we stayed at was so nice. It was totally like camping at a resort. CLEAN bathrooms with HOT showers! We camped next to the covered group kitchen. This 'primitive' camping kitchen was covered and included: 2 refrigerators; electric stove; wash sink w/ hot water; microwave; coffee pot; toaster.......you get the idea. Oh and we also had the whole place to ourselves! We stayed here for two nights then on Wednesday, we headed for Biggs, OR which is on the Columbia River (Oregon side). Jack caught two fish with his Spiderman fishing pole and Jeremy actually picked one up with his bare hands--yes, we are impressed! LOL We stayed at a state campground there and then headed home on Thursday. We were blessed to have Tristan and his friend, Dale come and stay at the house and care for the animals. I was so happy to be able to see them, though it was a short visit. Also, Saturday after we got home, Clay and Veronica came over to see Grandma and Grandpa too. Everyone ended up leaving on Monday, including Trevor who left with Clay and Veronica. All of a sudden we were down to only me, Jeremy and Jack. VERY quiet!! :)

So now we are in our routine of soccer game on Tuesday; Awana on Wednesday; soccer practice on Thursday and soccer game on Saturday. Luckily it won't be for long since soccer is done before Halloween.

Life is awesome!!!!!!

Sunday Packing

Well, we have a new soccer star in the family! Jack is having a BLAST!!! We will be having games 2X a week.

We are leaving on our Dinosaur vacation tomorrow morning. We had Ken and Sabrina's youngest 3 last night overnight and Tristan and Dale just got here. Tristan and Dale are guarding our farm while we are gone--pray the animals survive.....LOL They are actually excited about hanging out at home this week. In the midst of all this, we have stuff everywhere trying to pack!

Please pray for our safety while we are gone. We'll be taking lots of pictures!!!!!

Have a blessed week!!!

Tuesday

I am alive up here on our little mountaintop. My computer has been having issues getting online--I really should take it into a computer doctor! :)
Things are well. Jack starts soccer practice tonight! I forgot how small the shin guards and cleats are at this age. I'll try and get some good pictures. Jeremy is working in Bellevue this week (again). So as usual to kill time during the week, I decide to start 'cleaning' and end up with stuff EVERYWHERE and end up doing a mad dash trying to find some kind of home for it all before he gets back home!
Yesterday, I took Jack to the pet store and I bought him two zebra finches. They are pretty cute: orange beaks and feet. Jack named them Bob and Oscar. I've been trying to place what their little tweets sounds like. Then it came to me. Have you seen the Pixar short called "The Birds"? The funny little chirp those birds make actually sound like Bob and Oscar. (yes, making that connection makes the birds more fun for me). Jack absolutely loves them and spends a lot of time making sure they have food and water.
This week will also be spent getting things together for our little Dinosaur Vacation that we leave for on Monday. Tristan gets here on Sunday, we leave Monday and come home on Thursday. Jack has a soccer game Thurs. night and Saturday morning. Tristan leaves on Friday. The Jetmore's get here on Sat. pm and everyone is leaving on Monday. My only question to myself--"are you going to be smart and make a menu so that you are not stressed?????????? " I'm all over it......as soon as I put all this stuff away that I'm organizing..........LOL!

Fall is Here

It is only the second day of September, but the beautiful season of fall seems to have arrived! The air has a crispness to it--sunny and warm, but has the feel and smell of fall. The grasses that have been brown due to end of summer dryness now has a golden/orange color to it. The leaves are already changing colors---can you believe that? That started a couple of weeks ago when it should of still been warm lake weather! This last Sunday we actually had a fire in the wood stove since it was really cold and pouring rain! Today and tomorrow are to be our warmer days, so though the water maybe cold, I may still take the boys down to the lake just for the heck of it!
Aside from the weather, we started school this last Monday. Jack is LOVING it!! As soon as he finishes one thing, he is asking 'what's next???' I actually had to convice him that for the greater good, mommy really needs to eat lunch......and yes, we are going to be done for the day because we cannot do a whole year of school in one day. His response, "why??" hmmm......
We are leaving for 4 days in a couple weeks to meet up with my in-laws at the John Day Fossil Beds in eastern Oregon. Look it up online-I think that we will be staying in the booming town of Spray, OR. Yes, that means camping! Though if it gets really cold there are a couple of hotels at a nearby town. Jack is excited to go camping and go to a dinosaur museum. I'm going to be buying him his own camera so that he can document the trip from his view and also so that he is not constantly borrowing mine!! :) His photography has gotten pretty good and like his sister, can take some GREAT self-portraits!
Back to finishing up baking bread (another great 'fall' smell!) .

Social/Sick/Training

Yes, I am here and still alive! August can be summed up in three words: social/sick/training
Social and sick actually go together in the sense that we had LOTS of wonderful visits: My sweet friend Martha and her kids drove out to visit for a week. On the first morning she was here, Martha's little Eric threw up. It was quick and he was back to hard core playing and running within an hour--weird, but we went with it. We had such a great time and were even able to hold conversations at times that were more deep than, "Do you want a hot dog or chicken nuggets???" LOL The day before Martha was heading out (Sunday), my brother Alan and his family came! Yes, on Sunday night we had a grand total of 15 people in the house: 5 adults and 10 kids!!!! It was not as crazy as one would of thought! Sunday night about midnight, Jeremy and I found Trevor walking in our room and heading for the bathroom.......you guessed it sickness flowing from his back end. As I was tending to him, Jeremy went to Trevor's room and found that he had threw up EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!! Oh goody!!!!! So, we got that all cleaned up and got him settled back in bed. Too bad for me though because literally EVERY hour and a half he was sick from both ends, if you know what I mean! So, on Monday morning Martha headed home (well, probably running since I doubt she wanted to get sick again, which if you follow Martha on her blog, you will have noticed that Bridget got sick again.....). Monday was visiting and hoping that Trevor recovered quickly since his birthday was on Tuesday! Alan and Jeremy did take Julie on the grand tour on Okanogan and Omak--she was highly impressed! :) Tuesday was Trevor's 18th birthday!!! He was feeling better, so we headed for Omak Lake for the day!! Met up with the Kinzle family--soooo much fun!!!!!!! Wednesday all is good until lunch time, when my nephew Chris gets sick at lunch......Wed. about 10:30 pm my neice Paityn gets it. My other neice Syrenah feel AWESOME this whole time!! :) Alan's family heads out on Thursday afternoon. Thursday night; Friday night and all day Saturday Jeremy and I are at foster parent training classes. Oh, yes, I'm sick all day Friday. We had the last of our training classes this last Thurs; Fri; and Sat. and are done with those!!!!!!! We were so blessed to have our precious friends take time to care for the boys while we were gone!! :)
In the midst of this month, I should mention (for whatever reason) that 3 out of 4 weeks of August Jeremy was out of town working! ~~even with all the craziness, it was a great month with lots of memories!!

Homemaking website

I also found a cool website:

www.homemaking911.com

Shelves and Relationship

I cannot believe that it's only 1:45 in the afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For some reason, this has been a VERY slow moving day! On the upside, I did clean and reorganize the kitchen shelves. That was a gross job. I honestly thought I cleaned all that not that long ago but was I wrong--who would of thought that dirt got THAT sticky......... So I do feel slightly better about myself for cleaning that one portion of my house--(no I didn't take any pictures!) :)
Last night we had the most amazing lightening and thunder storm I have ever seen! The lightening bolts simply lit up the house and a few seemed to touch the ground in my fields! The thunder cracked and shook the house! Praise the Lord, we didn't have any fires on our mountain and didn't lose any trees around the house. Today is breezy and sunny--no sign at all of anymore storms, though according to the weather service there is a chance of another tonight. The cooler weather is nice, but it does mess with our lake and pool time!

You know how I said that it is a slow moving day? I think I'm just in thought regarding a book I'm reading called 'Walking in Total God-Confidence'. There are a few things that are standing out to me, but one at this point is what I 'get' to do for God--not what I 'have' to do.~~forget about the "Rules of the Christian Life" and focus on my "Relationship with the Living God".
Which motto will I choose to live by: Have to? or Get to?

Quote from Hannah Whitall Smith:
Here Lord, I abandon myself to you. I have tried in every way I could think of to manage myself and make myself what I know I ought to be. But have always failed. Now I give it up to you. Take entire possession of me. Work in me all the good pleasure of your will. Mold and fashion me into such a vessel as seems good to you. I leave myself in your hands. And I believe you will, according to your promise, make me into a vessel unto your honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work.

Ramblings for the Day

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to go over and visit with Jeremy and the kids! Jack and I left on Thursday morning and had lunch with Jeremy and Tristan at Costco! Jack loved the big pizza! :) Then we met Veronica after she was off work. We met at the most beautiful store! It's called Common Folk~~beautiful vintage and antique pretties! Even with Jack in tow, we managed to spend over an hour and easily spent thousands of dollars in our heads! :) Jeremy, Jack and I were able able to go out to dinner with Clay and Veronica and stayed the night at their house. Friday, I was able to have a short visit with Martha and the kids -- got to hold the beautiful, squishy baby Kally, aka Peaches! Then had a short visit with Melissa and her kids and then Jack and I picked up Trevor. We were then on our way back home!
Jeremy was home for the weekend, but is now back in Bellevue for another 2 weeks--
In the 1.5 days that he has been gone so far, Tina and Lucy both managed to get their heads stuck in the fence--thankfully at separate times. Oh, on Sunday, (thank goodness Jeremy was home for this!) Tina somehow managed to get her lip caught on some chain link and was standing on her hind legs hanging from the fence via her lip...........not a boring moment around here!

Jack's Room

Oh, I forgot to explain a little of Jack's room. He has decided to make our downstairs bedroom his room. He says that he likes sleeping with his toys. So for the past week or so, he has been happily sleeping downstairs while the rest of us continue upstairs. Though he says that when we have guests over, he will let them borrow the room. If he wakes up in the night, he walks up to my room; wakes me up and asks me to sit with him downstairs. So down we go -me trying not to kill myself as I'm sleep walking down the stairs.
It is interesting that he is doing this. Up until the last year, he was actually afraid to go upstairs by himself if everyone else was down. Now he is ok with sleeping on a different floor? Go try and figure the mature 5 year old brain........

Cleaning Day

Today has been a 'stay home and clean day'! It is going surprisingly well. I even moved the couches and cleaned the dirt flim from under them--vacuumed and mopped. In order to do that, it meant taking the cushions off the couch. Which means pure enjoyment for my little man. I've got everything moved back now, except the cushions. Him and his stuffed animals made a fortress outside his bedroom door (which is also our guest room--i'll explain that later) and the room is the dungeon. He has socks on the heads of the animals (they needed hats since they are guarding the gate). It is actually pretty fun to listen to and watch.
Trevor has been gone since last Thursday visiting with Bill and Jeremy left yesterday am to work in Bellevue for the better part of 3 weeks. Last night Jack and I were going to see Dispicitable Me but the sound was NOT working at the theatre so everyone got a refund to try again tonight. Yes, I left the theatre last night with a crying five year old. Not pretty. We went to the library though and he turned in his reading program paper and got a little prize. That did help a bit. So we are praying that we can see the movie tonight.
My little brown goat, Tina, keeps going under the fence to the wrong side of the pasture. So last night, I was hammering 8' long 2x6's along the base of the fence for a temporary fix until Jeremy comes home for the weekend and try and fix what I was trying to fix. (does that make sense??) Well, I was feeling pretty good about myself since that was more effort than I was expecting (he makes it look so easy!). This morning when I was awakened a 5:30 by a crying goat, I look out and there is Tina with her butt in the air and her neck stuck under the one part of chain link that I did not put wood in front of. Out I go in my jammies to free her. After Jack woke up, I went out and put the last piece of wood up. So far so good. Jack informed me that I'm a good builder girl like Wendy on Bob the Builder..........that would be great if I could actually read a tape measure correctly!
I will now go back to finish the day's cleaning so that I can hit the movie tonight.
More later!!

The Garden is Growing

By request of one of my blogging "fans", I'm posting a couple of pictures of our garden. Out there in that craziness is: strawberries; raspberries; lettuce; onions; tomatoes; peppers; corn; peas and beans. All are doing well except the tomatoes and peppers. That is a bit of a bummer since I was planning on using those to try and make salsa.......oh well. Maybe it will be better next year! I really enjoy having a garden--that is a big thing for me to say since there is NO WAY I would suggest such a thing several years ago. I still don't like weeding very much, but am willing to deal with it. I really have a problem with those darn biting flies, but have found great joy now in the wind--blows those little pests away!! :) Jeremy had to work this morning, so I managed to wash the swimming clothes/towels; vaccumed up and downstairs AND clean the bathroom floor. I feel really accomplished, though I still have a HUGE bunch of papers to go through; get Jack's school papers organized for the beginning of the school year; empty the pantry so that Jeremy can seal the floor; and empty the basement-which included sweeping it out and organizing the junk (aka: go to the DUMP).

Off to enjoy the day on my back patio and read my MaryJane Farms book...........

Aimless Rambling

This is really turning out to be a bit of a lazy day. I'm actually ok with that since yesterday we were out all day--swimming lessons; picked up Trevor in Wenatchee and then went to family swim at the pool. Today Sabrina guarded Jack and his towel for me during swim lessons while I took Trevor to the department of licensing to get his WA State ID card. He is now official. Jack thought it was his drivers license and figured that Trevor could take him to the park and Mc Donalds. He was a little bummed at the news, but was glad to hear that I can still drive! :)
My plan today when we got home was to get the dusting done and bathrooms cleaned. So far I have washed dishes; read a magazine; watched a movie w/ the boys and worked on a blanket for my friend's birthday. Now that I'm looking at this list, it does LOOK like a lot. There is still time though to get my stuff done before Jeremy gets home today!
I got our application all sent into DSHS for foster parenting. We are signed up for our class for the end of August! Now we just need to get through the 'make your house safe' list. It is all stuff that really is a good idea, but that for some reason have never really got to: smoke detectors; fire extingushers; fire escape ladders; fire escape plan; make sure medications are all together in a SECURE area......little things so that we don't appear to be negligent parents! LOL
I did have one friend ask me what our 'story' was for wanting to be foster parents. I don't know if there really is a story. We do know that we really want more children and with Jack being 5 now and he is still currently the youngest, our big question/prayer was: Ok Lord, you placed us in this huge house in the mountains--what are we to do with it all??? Not long after that we both felt that maybe it was to foster parent. So far all doors have been WIDE open in this direction. So we continue on in this direction. At this point we have put in child age ranges from newborn to age 6. Depending on what goes on there, will determine raising our age range. I just pray that we can give a hurting child hope in their lives through Jesus Christ and give an example of a normal family. (well, in our case--crazy, loud normal!!) We just keep praying for guidance in this area.
My brother called today and him and his family should be out next month!! Can't wait for them to come and visit!
Ok, I need to stop rambling and get the housework done while Bob the Builder is building on TV in the background!!!!!

SUN!!

Does this picture say 'summer' or what? LOL! They both think they are pretty cool sporting goggles around the house.

Today is another hot one. Supposed to get to 101 today! After all that rain, and now it is suddenly summer! Notice that in the background of this picture, the fields are still green and there is still water in the pond!

Going to meet the Kinzle family at Omak Lake this afternoon (sorry Martha....). We will be pre-bathed in sunscreen and will simply working on staying as comfortable as possible. Off to make snacks....... Have a great day!

Fourth of July Weekend Fun

Dave and Melissa and the kids came over to visit on Saturday afternoon and stayed until this afternoon. It's amazing what you can do in less than 2 days---on Saturday evening we went to family swim at the Okanogan pool. After feeding the kids a quick dinner after we got home, we put everyone in bed and AFTER that we had a great adult only dinner of bbq meat and corn on the cob! YUM!! On Sunday all were up early so that we could head out to Twisp to go to church. In the midst of getting all ready for church we needed to pack the coolers and bags up with picnic food and towels. After church we headed directly to the city of Brewster which is located right on the Columbia River. At the city park, our church had a great picnic area right on the water complete with bbq; LOTS of food and jet skis! There was a little parade as we were leaving. LOVE small town parades--as each parade participant goes by, they throw out handfuls of candy for the kids! We didn"t stay for the fireworks since everyone was so tired! After coming home and getting people in bed, all us big kids went out to the fire pit and made smores. This morning before they left, Jeremy and Dave made bat houses and got those all hung up.
So needless to say we are ALL going to sleep well for the next week or so! :)

Swimming and Goats

Wow-time really got away from me regarding blogging! Things have been good. I had a good birthday and we had a good anniversary. Since the blessed day was on a Tuesday, Jeremy got off work early and we took Jack out to mexican food thanks to money that was sent by my mom and dad. Calvary Chapel Eastside was visiting our church for the week with VBS activities. We were unable to attend VBS due to the fact, that many of you know, that Jack had his first week of swim lessons. We ended up going up to church for dinner on Thursday pm; on Friday after swimming we went up for lunch and there was a huge bouncy castle; lego table; facepainting. On Saturday we went back up and after picking up hay went to church for more activity. Saturdays adventure had all the above activities for the kids and also included a huge blow up water slide! Needless to say, Jack (and us!) were exhausted!

This last week was week 2 of the first swimming session. We picked up Trevor in Wenatchee on Monday afternoon. He has had a cold all week but is feeling better now. As for swimming--we had Jack signed up for the preschool class since he had never did lessons before. Since he was doing so well, they ended doing all the level 1 skills also and now this next week during sign ups for the next session, he can go straight to level 2!!!! We are so excited for him! Also we got him signed up for soccer! 5 years old is starting out so far to being a big year!

The other thing this last week, is that we traded Edmund the goat for a little female goat. We named her Tina. She is 12 weeks old and her and Lucy are enjoying each others company. Tina has been taking her time to get used to us, but we found her secret love--animal crackers! Not the frosted kind, but regular everyday ones. Lucky us, we have a huge container of Winnie the Pooh ones from Costco. We will win Tina over yet! :)

Dave and Melissa called last night and asked if we are going to be home for the holiday and since we are, they are coming over today until Monday. Need to get the house picked up!!
Have a wonderful 4th of July all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Relaxing Day

Since we don't have quite enough farm animals yet, we got 5 baby turkeys Wednesday night. They are really cute now--hard to believe they will be big ugly birds in a few months! ~~Tasty though!~~ Currently they are living in the baby chick box with a heat light on my dining room table for awhile until they are a little bigger and can handle being in the pen outside. Ill work on getting some pictures of them and post them next time.
Goats are all good. We are in the process of weaning Lucy and Edmund from Dora, so we separate them at night. Everyone is reunited in the morning after we milk Dora. We have a friend and our neighbor are both interested in Edmund to use for breeding. So he'll go to one of them hopefully by next week. If our neighbor takes him, we are going to trade for one of her female goats. I still want to get 2 sheep to add to the mix. I want to learn how to spin wool, so one of my next things is to find a good spinning wheel. Too bad my mother in law doesn't live closer--I might have to steal hers! LOL
The garden is coming along. The strawberries; raspberries and onions are doing awesome!! There are also signs of the watermelon; crenshaw melons and squash. Tomatoes and peppers look horrible. I may just have to go to Home Depot and pick up several of their beautiful plants and then pop those babies in the ground. With all the rain and balmy warm weather we are having, the weeds we seriously beginning to encroach upon my plants. I spent about an hour out there this morning. I forgot what good exercise that is when you are picking up the big stuff and using a shovel! Who knows, I might get in shape yet!
Jeremy has been gone since yesterday to the other side of the mountains to finish up a bathroom he was doing now that their new cabinets are in. Looks like he will finish ahead of schedule and be able to come home late tonight! Then he will be working here in Okanogan/Omak for the next month, then back to Bellevue to work.
Jack is all signed up for swim lessons and starts on Monday! We are so excited for him. 5 is a big age around here: swim lessons; Awana; kindergarten; soccer----It will be so much fun to watch him develop this year!
We did our first orientation class to become foster parents last week. Now the mound of paper work begins.........by the time all is said and done, it should take 90-120 days to get licensed--sometimes sooner. We are really excited to see who God is going to put in our care!!
Well, it's snack time--we are going to have chocolate chip muffins and apple slices......YUM!!!

Party Week

Well, our "little" one is now 5!!!!

This was his 'magic' age--so he is feeling pretty good about himself currently. Of course this morning as I was brushing his teeth he told me that he is looking forward to being 6--

Last week, the Caldeira family came to visit for the week. The guys worked during the day, so the game plan was for Melissa and I to take them to the lake each day to wear them out--can you believe that we had terrible weather the whole time????? We did finally get sun on Saturday though-the day of the party. The kids seemed to have a good time playing and eating popsicles (though Jack ate enough popsicles for about 8 kids!). Clay and Veronica picked up Trevor on Friday and got here on Friday night.

We had a great party. We invited 2 other families, which made for LOTS of kids since we all have bigger families! We did a Transformer party and had a pinata. After the party, we all had a snack and headed to the lake. The Caldeira's left for home from the lake and after awhile, the rest of us headed home. We BBQ'd burgers and had another "friendly" game of Phase 10 with Clay and Veronica--I think I won this time! (sorry Clay!)

Also last week, my friend Martha had baby #4!!!!!!!!!! Kally Brooke got here on June 8! She is such a cutie and I can't wait to meet her!! Other big news--my newphew Chris turned 11; nephew Orion turned 6; my cousin, Roxanne's oldest, Cameron AND my bestest friend, Marnie's oldest, Kyle AND Trevor all graduated from high school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many awesome and blessed stages of life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was wonderful for the main fact that my husband was home!!! It was so wonderful to have him here and have another adult to talk to! :) Talked to Veronica yesterday and she had a wonderful birthday!! Next is Jack's birthday!!

Those of us following the 'camping' experience, I told Jeremy of the idea and vision for our retreat, and he LOVED the idea!! He is even willing to sleep in a tent outside and be our personal chef if we want! I told him that would be awesome, but he is not invited to hang out with us---he was totally ok with that!

On Saturday and Sunday we ended up planting what veggies we do have starts for in the garden: onions; tomatoes; lettuce; peppers. Then we went to Home Depot and I got 2 lavender plants and several varieties of pretty flowers. Don't ask me what kind they are, but they are orange, yellow, purple and a fun looking red one. While Jeremy was digging making new garden rows, I decided to go outside the front door and work on reclaiming the front dirt area from weeds. Normally I HATE pulling weeds--I mean you pull and pull and pull, turn around and you didn't even TOUCH the area you are working on! I decided to take my litttle shovel and draw a square in the dirt and only work on that section before moving onto the next. Then I realized why gardening is used as an analogy with the ways of God. Pulling weeds is hard and there is so many of them. But, like sin and the quest of making us more God-like, Jesus works on a small section of our life and pulls until it is clean. As weeds grow back in our life, He is patient to go back and pull again. Painful, stressful, annoying (there are a lot of little bugs in the air to discourage us from the task at hand)--yet in the end satisfying and beautiful! Lord, please give me peace and pleasure as I'm working in my garden; knowing that you are working on Yours............

Rain......

Rain, rain, rain, rain........Holy cow, I'm beginnig to think that I'm back in Seattle! It has not stopped raining for the last couple of days and it is still raining. We have received almost 2" of rain! Which is good for fire control over the summer and green fields and all.........I think I would of rather been snowed in during the winter so that I can be sitting at the lake right now!
Oh, well.
After my last post, I'm excited about everyone's responses to 'Camp Omak' @ Simkins Farm!
Everyone please keep this idea in prayer and also for everyone's personal situations to be able to come!!
Jeremy should be coming home late tonight!!! Except for a couple of days here and there he has been gone for 3 weeks and I'm so ready for him to be home!! Pray for his safety while driving back-like I said there has been a lot of rain and it is holiday weekend.
Veronica will be 22 on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that crazy?????? She is loving married life! Jeremy took her present to her last night. There were 2 crock pot cookbooks she wanted, so he bought those for her. The gift bag was a cute reusable bag he found at Michaels for her. ----birthday season has officially started in our family!!!!!!

Camp Omak

Well, technically we should call it Camp Okanogan, since we don't technically live in Omak.......
Yes, a girl weekend. Only adults (and little babies, like Peaches). A weekend sometime in late spring/early summer of 2011. Those that are interested, please pray about this! I'm seeing eating yummy food; fellowship; a devotion each day; walks/hikes; maybe going to farmers market; eating.........

Today, Jack and I were going to head out to town for awhile, but a big wind and rain storm is currently going on, so I think we will put a fire in the wood stove and just be at home again today. We will try again tomorrow.
I've been working on putting things in the car that we simply do not need or use so that it can be donated. It's very exciting --my closet is getting bigger and bigger! :) Now I just need to go through the large pile of papers!

Have a blessed day!
2 Samuel 22:31
As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Morning Exercise

Ok, those of you city girls will find my little adventure this morning pretty funny. So, I go out and give the goat their morning hay and grain. They are happy to see me (well, happy to see food!). I talk to them for a couple of minutes and move on. Then I let the big chickens out for their daily trek around the farm. Then, I look over at the pre-teen chicks and notice that their food is low, so I decide to be nice and feed them now instead of later this afternoon. As I walked into their pen, I notice that they are on the far end and I think, "how cute--they are exploring the area! i'll just get some hay for them to scratch in." I go get a bit of hay and as I toss the hay out to them, they all totally freak out---all kinds of noise and several of them climbing the fence wall! As I'm trying to comprehend all that is going on, I quickly discover that there is a small hole in the chicken wire at the back of the pen. Of course I notice this as one chicken got through the hole and is now looking at me quite confused on the OUTSIDE of the pen! Lovely......So out I go trying to catch this little girl, but to no avail. So as I'm giving up on her (because it is pretty much impossible to catch a chicken in the open by yourself) I notice that she ran towards some fencing by the garden and was sitting inside the rolled up fencing. So I did what any smart woman would do, I picked up the roll of fencing with the chicken trying to hide inside. Then I took one end of the roll and shoved it in the pen doorway and shook the roll of wire fencing until the chicken came out in the pen. The girls all huddled together with much stressful clucking over the matter. A total of 25 minutes later, I head back inside and promptly make a large cup of chai tea and sat on the couch!
Ah the glamorous farm life! As for my "Camp Omak" girls, maybe we can plan a little women's retreat up here Spring 2011????????????

"Man" Weekend

This was a big weekend. Our friends, Chris and Martha allowed their son, Eric to come and get out of the city and stay the weekend with us! It has been fun and exhausting for all!! Actually, I'm not really sure why I'm tired: the boys have been TOTALLY occupied with each other--I just throw them food! Since Jack is so busy with Eric, I've been trying to get as much misc. housework done. Jack and Eric have been running EVERYWHERE! They were 'hunting' the other morning for wild animals and bad guys; jumping on the trampoline; eating popsicles; playing with all the indoor toys! Eric has to leave early tomorrow morning to head home though........we will miss him!!!!!!!

Omak Lake!!!!!!

Well, here is a little picture of our morning spent at Omak Lake. It was the first pilgrimage of the season with a beautiful 79 outside. We were the ONLY ones there, which is always kind of nice. In this picture Jack is holding a little butterfly he found "swimming" in the water. He ended up setting it on a rock to "help" the little guy dry off. Jack had a blast and as playing with rocks he informed me that he was doing 'water science'. LOVE homeschoolers--we turn EVERYTHING into a school project! I defintely need to get an easy tarp thing to use as shade. I used to be able to handle sun for long periods but now in my 'maturity', I really could use a little bit of shade! --Plus also we totally need SOMETHING else to carry down to the water! LOL I can't wait to share my favorite summer spot with my visiting family and friends!!!!

Atmosphere

There is much atmosphere around here these days! On this last Saturday, we got four goats!! We received them from our dear friends Sam and Daniela who, due to a new city ordinance, were unable to keep themselves. So, we received the blessing of them GIVING us the goats. The mom is the goat with no horns. Her name is Dora. The one with horns is Dora's daughter, Boots, who was one year old this March. Dora gave birth to twins on April 26: Lucy has ears that stick out like Dora and Edmund has floppy ears like Boots. For those who want to know the types of goats: Dora is a purebread Saanan goat and the father of Boots, Lucy and Edmund is a purebred Nubian. They are a wonderful addition to our farm. Jack is so excited about the whole thing! He says: "Finally, we have a normal farm!" Well, I don't know how 'normal' we are--but we are here! Even though Dora is still nursing the twins, you have to milk the mama goat once per day to help with milk production. So in case you didn't figure it out yet....yes, I am milking a goat. A very funny experience. I feel like an idiot out there, but you know, if little kids can do it, then by golly so can I! Jeremy is working in Bellevue for the next 3 weeks or so, only coming home on the weekends, so needless to say, I'm forced to quickly learn on the job--which is probably good since otherwise I may just sit back with some lemonade and watch him! LOL

I just finished reading the book, "I Dared to Call Him Father". Marnie had recommended it to me--WOW! I really don't know what else to say. I was trying to read it fast because I wanted to know what was going to happen, but at the same time needed to read slow so that I wouldn't miss anything! I learned many things by reading this book. But one of the things is knowing when the presence of the Lord is with me or not--and noticing, if I do leave His presence, to ask forgiveness. Peace will reign if we are as one with Him.

The weather is turning warm and so beautiful. Jack and I are heading out to Omak Lake for the first lake run of the season!! Can't wait!! Just need to find the sunscreen................

She is Married!!!!

My girl is married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a beautiful, blessed day!!! Everything went perfectly and the weather was SUNNY!!--that in itself is amazing since April in Seattle, is not always known for sunny and comfortably warm weather! So many people made a selfless effort in setting up and cleaning up--and many people traveled many miles--including 3 families that were guests that came from CA--

They had a beautiful honeymoon in Oregon and are now back home; working on organizing the apartment--LOTS of presents to find homes for! :)

Three days after coming home Sabrina (our pastor's wife) and I headed to Easton (about 3 hours away) for the central WA women's retreat. It was such a beautiful time--all was based from Exodus 3:14--I AM who I AM. Learned sooo much!!

Now I'm back home working on getting things back to a schedule and get the house organized for the summer. Gardening has now begun--we have strawberry plant and raspberry bushes planted so far, and in the next few weeks when we are not have anymore frosty mornings, then we can get our veggie starts into the ground. Goats should be arrived within the next month after "Dora"s twin babies are ready to weaned. The baby chicks are growing quickly! We go through so much baby chicken food!! They are pretty funny looking right now--feathers on the bodies and fuzzy heads--somewhat awkward looking!

Mother's day is on Sunday--bless the mom's in your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Less than a Week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, we are now less than one week until Veronica's wedding!! I'm just so excited for them!

Apple butter for the wedding is complete. I want to put something decorative on the jars, but that is not my 'gifting'...... LOL Well, it will still be wonderful to have all the jars out there. As some of you read on facebook, I did 100 lbs of apples and 130 --1/2 pint jars. Have I said that already? I just hope it tastes ok and that no one dies from my efforts!! LOL Sorry all I've been talking about is apples! :)
My next mission is to find a fitting dress for mom of the bride!! I do have 2 options, but my sweet husband said that on Thursday when we head to Southcenter to pick up tuxes, I can check out Macy's. Hopefully the Lord will show me the perfect dress to wear. Well, I should just KNOW that He will show me!!
Jeremy has been gone for the last week and is to come home late tonight!! Then I will get my hair done tomorrow morning and we head to Issaquah on Thursday morning!! I'm really excited and am going to do my best to not stress over things. It will be a beautiful wedding regardless--this I know! Must remember my camera!
It is soooo sunny outside! It is 68 now on our mountainside--high 70's when Jack and I went to town earlier for storytime. Feels so good to be warm! When we get back from the wedding, we will work on planting a garden and will be getting our goats!
Looking forward to summertime visitors!! I hope that we get some! :)
If I don't write before Thursday, I'll will post when we get back from the wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ready for a little break!

As of this evening I've done 106 jars of apple butter!! It will be good when I finish so that I can write about something else--though I'm not sure what that would be! Trevor and Jack have been SO patient with me! Tomorrow we are heading for Wenatchee for the day. Bill and Leanne are taking Trevor--weekend hiking fun for them!! Jack and I will go to Goodwill and Fred Meyer. Tomorrow evening I'll work on making another applesauce base and then back to it on Saturday. It's supposed to be really warm though, so maybe Jack and I will head to the park or play at the lake for a little while.

Today while the crock pot was going, I was talking to Melissa on the phone about kitchen designs--next thing I know, I'm totally rearrange cubboards and wiping down the insides of them. Got rid of a few things; and found that quite a few things could be put down in the pantry. The counters look quite nice and clean!! I'm totally going to crash tonight!!!!!!

One week from tomorrow I'm going to see my dearest friend Marnie. We have known each other for 31 years this fall and we get to see each other all next weekend for the wedding!!!!!! Her husband Kurt is coming too, which is good because Jeremy will need someone to talk to while we are talking constantly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Productive Day

Well, today I got 27 jars done!!! Woo Hoo!!! Applesauce base is premade for tomorrow's batch. Making the applesauce is defintely the messist part. I decided-twice- to "help" the blending process along and stuck a spoon in the blender and another time a knife in the blender. Needless to say, I now have one less spoon; one less knife and had A LOT of applesauce everywhere!
Today was such a beautiful day outside! It was sunny and 60--which is very warm considering that we are at 2600'! Also got Trevor and Jack's hair cuts done so that they will look good for the wedding.

A very productive day today! ~~ Bedtime in 1.5 hours...........

75 Pounds of Apples.......

Yes, I have, as of tonight gone through 75 lbs of apples! I've been making apple butter for my daughter's wedding which is in 1.5 weeks! My goal is to have 150-200 jars of apple butter done by the end of the weekend. Will I make it? Well, I'm not going to give you a play by play of my cooking like in 'Julie and Julia', but I will report when I finish! :)
Aside from being as one with the makings of apple butter, we got 10 more baby chicks this last week. They are very cute--they are just starting to get their wing feathers and are quite fuzzy! They are the type that lay pastel colored eggs! Isn't that so cool???? Maybe we won't have to color Easter eggs next year! LOL
Jeremy is working in Bellevue for the next week, so it's just me and the boys hanging out at home. Jeremy is also able to go on the men's retreat this weekend also. He is really looking forward to it!
Oh, we got a giant trampoline!! AND we got it for free from a lady at church!!! It is sooo much fun! Needless to say Trevor and Jack are sleeping quite well at night and I'm getting some much needed exercise! After the wedding Jeremy will then be able to set up our playground set that is currently sitting in a large box out back. It's like having our own park and with the animals our own petting zoo out back!
Hope you are having a blessed night tonight--I'm going to crash and rest up for tomorrow's cooking day!

Spring Snow!!!

Yes, you read that right--spring snow!! On Friday we got 3"! Yesterday on the way to Twisp to go to church it was snowing over Loup Loup Pass. By the time we got home our snow was melted and it was a beautiful afternoon. This morning it started snowing about 7am!! We are currently back to just short of 3" and it is still snowing!! It is really beautiful--odd though, when Jack wants me to rehide all his easter eggs so that he can have another egg hunt! :)
Jack was sick on Friday but did better yesterday. I started getting sick on the way home from church~~ GREAT! LOL I am, thank goodness, feeling better today and am enjoying the day in my jammies while doing laundry (and hiding eggs.......)
This week I need to get my apples so that I can get started on making apple butter!! The wedding is getting so close!! I'm so excited for Clay and Veronica. They get the keys to their apartment at the end of the week and Clay will be able to get moved in. In the meantime, we are going to start sending all of Veronica's stuff over (via Jeremy as he heads over the mountains to work) so that she can work on going through everything. Still need to make our hotel reservations for the wedding~~ another job for this week!

Books, Wedding.....

I was so excited to get the mail today! I ordered 2 books from Amazon on Saturday, and they actually came today!! ~~For me this is amazing since anytime I order anything from Amazon, it takes WEEKS to get here!! So I ordered my 'Radical Homemakers' book and also 'The Pioneer Woman Cooks'. ~~Because I totally needed another cookbook!! LOL Well the Pioneer woman book is sooo beautiful! Have you seen your website? My friend and sis-in-law both told me about her! Great website! I found someone who takes more pictures than I do!! Yummy Yummy book--I'm probably putting on weight as I write!
Wedding plans are coming along very well. Veronica called this am and her and her dad met with Twelve Baskets and got everything taken care of!! YEA!!! We have received many RSVPs and are looking forward to seeing family and friends that we haven't seen in a long time! I really really need a dress! Marnie~~ when you get here, we maybe shopping!! :)
My next move now is to get apples and jars and make apple butter! Veronica wants to have jars of the tasty stuff out for 'wedding favors'.
Farm life is good. It's almost the calm before the storm. Jeremy is almost done with fencing. He is working in Bellevue all next week and ending the week with going to the men's retreat. Then we have the wedding. After that----gardening; goats; tear down 2 old barns. Oh, and get the playset and trampoline set up too!! If anything else, I'll have a great tan!! :) My gardening (for what it's worth!) will be done in spurts since I can only be working in the sun for short amouts of time. But I'm sure it will get done if I just keep working on it!! Food for this year includes: lettuce; cabbage (red and green); carrots; cilantro; tomatos; potatoes; zucchini; yellow squash; spinach; strawberries; raspberries.....YUM!
Jack loves to run around in the fields. He is getting so brave! LOVES to run around outside (finally by himself!!) and we have started rock painting season! We are going to be coloring eggs later this week. Can you believe that it's almost Easter????

Enjoy your celebration on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!! HE IS RISEN!!!

The Fire Pit

As I sit at the computer waiting for dinner to finish cooking (turkey/stuffing casserole!), I notice that Jeremy is adding more wood next to our little fire pit! It is just a little cinder block ring, but it is so wonderful to sit outside in the evening by a little fire and talk and look at the stars.
Yes, I think it will be quite pleasant to do that tonight! ~~I actually bought stuff for making smores at the store the other day too!! :)

Springtime Saturday!

I love these quite spring days. For the last week or so, we have had 80-100 ducks on our pond. They swim around in little 'family' groups. When the wind is not blowing you can hear them quacking and splashing. Our resident blue jay has not appeared in a few weeks. Hopefully he'll be back (even though he does eat A LOT of bird seed!).
Jeremy has been working on fence lines to enclose the pasture we are going to use for our goats. I think that we are going to wait until after Veronica's wedding to bring them home, since Dora is due to give birth the first week of May. We just really feel it's better not to move her so close to birthing time. We are actually feeling a bit better about it--not quite the rush to get everything ready! :)
I just read about a new book that I think I'm going to buy, and with just the review I read in Hobby Farm Homes, I would recommend it. It's called: 'Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Comsumer Culture' by Shannon Hayes www.radicalhomemakers.com
~~"redifining what 'wealth' means and moving away from the images media and society feed us that more and bigger is better"~~ Check it out--interesting!!
Enjoy the day!!!

Home Again

Well, I'm finally home AND the computer is working!! I have been wedding shower hopping and also had the opportunity to go on Calvary Chapel Eastside's women's retreat. Veronica's first bridal shower was the end of February and was simply beautiful! Many women from church attended and she ended up with lots of fun kitchen stuff and cute personal items! The 2nd weekned in March I went on the CCE women's retreat. It was really small-maybe 28 women. It was so awesome having a small group-you actually get a chance to talk to others! I was up VERY early on Friday and picked up Veronica and Melissa in Kirkland and we headed up north to Sumas. On the way home we went to the outlet mall--and ended up really needing to boogie since I forgot to set the clock in my car ahead. Thank goodness Melissa noticed--Oh, on Friday night, Veronica, Melissa, Martha and I managed to get lost in the darkness of farmland after picking up snacks!
My dad ended up in the hospital the Saturday that we were at the retreat, but did get out on Tuesday. After only 3 days home, I headed out with Jack this last Thursday to Tenino (20 mi. south of Olympia). We stayed one night with my parents and then headed to Bill and Leanne's house. Cooked some yummy desserts on Friday to ready us for Veronica's family bridal shower on Saturday. Another beautiful party!! Saw ladies there that I have know anywhere from 20-24 years, many of which I haven't seen in probably 10 years! A couple of ladies brought their daughters--wow, they are ALL grown up. Which we all decided was really strange since none of us had aged at all! LOL!!
Got home about 2pm yesterday (Sunday). Jeremy left again for the other side of the mountains to work this am. Hopefully he will be home Wednesday pm or early on Thursday.

Oh, we are getting goats in a couple of weeks!!!!!! They are already named Dora and Boots. Dora is due to have a baby sometime in May! The farm is growing and I'm continuing to educated myself on farm life--my current reading: the FFA manuel on raising goats!! :)

Have a great night!!

The sun has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!! We have had so much gray, drizzly weather the last couple of weeks!! Spring weather had defintely arrived here--early this year!! The snow is almost gone and the mud is drying up! But now that it's sunny and warming up we are having our signature hurricane winds! Oh, well.
We got The Wizard of Oz from Netflix yesterday. Trevor is LOVING it! Bouncing everywhere and dancing to all the music. This is the first time that Jack is seeing it and thinks its really cool. Unlike Tristan at this age, Jack liked the flying monkeys! :)
Next weekend, I'm heading to the other side of the mountains for Veronica's first bridal shower! It will be fun to hang out with her and talk 'wedding' and see all the ladies who are able to come to her shower! I'm only staying one night and heading home after the shower since Jeremy and I teach sunday school that Sunday and Tristan and Nikole are coming for a visit for the weekend on Saturday. We are doing her family shower on March 20 at Bill and Leanne's. Lots of little commitments the next couple of months--Jeremy and I actually have to coordinate our calendars!
Jeremy is in the process of getting his general contractors license back. He has several opportunities for jobs on both sides of the mountains--lots of bathroom and kitchen remodels! He will be traveling a lot, but we are so thankful that the Lord has given us clear direction as to what he is to do for work. I'm going to be doing the books, so I'll be doing the Quick Books training and getting other training to be a certified bookkeeper. I never thought I'd have a 'desk' job, but thanks goodness I live on a farm so that I'm not stuck indoors all the time--plus, my boss is a SWEETIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

More later......

Don't you just love the smell of bread baking?? I do! I just finished baking 2 loaves--the house smells soooo good!! Such a simple thing, yet so satisfying.
The snow is melting quickly. It snowed yesterday morning, but today is sunny and blue skies! There is more snow in the forecast for tomorrow though. I've never really have been interested in the gardening aspect of spring, but after we did a garden last year, I'm actually looking forward to it! We also have a play set to put together for the boys once we can dig in the ground and have plans of getting a trampoline and a basketball hoop!
Can you believe it's Valentines Day on Sunday???? Jack worked on making Valentines today for the majority of schooltime today. He is really excited to get a valentine! Of course he is leaning towards the idea that this maybe a great opportunity for a new toy.

Off for now--getting a haircut today!!!

February 1, 2010

Well, I LOVE the idea of having a blog, but I didn't realize what an effort it would be to remember to write, let alone hope that I have something interesting to say!! Well, it was one of those foggy, drizzly days today. Jack and I have been simply relaxing today since yesterday was such a long and busy day. Jeremy is out of town for the week for work. I don't have any major household projects to work on now. Usually when he is gone, I rearrange the furniture or find some cubboard or drawer to empty and organize.
Tomorrow we will head out to go to the bank and then to the feed store. Maybe I'll grab something fun and interesting for dinner!

Quiet Day

Today is a quiet day here in the mountains. Going to our youth group meeting tonight. We are going through the book "I kissed Dating Goodbye". It is a good book. It has been enjoyable so far having the opportunity talk with the girls.
Jeremy brought home a playset for the boys that was on sale yesterday!! As soon as the ice melts, we will get it all set up. Jack is excited to have a 'park' in his backyard! Trevor will be able to use his check he receives, and we will get a trampoline and basketball hoop too! Our personal playland! :)
Chickens are busy laying!! We have got 11 eggs the last few days. One day, we actually had 14! By what I understand, they are still laying well because we have not had the bitter cold that normally occurs this time of year. Looking forward to when we can get goats and sheep.

January 2010

2010--I have a list of goals to attempt to accomplish for the year and this is one of them! This blog will be my ramblings of moving out of the city to a small town on a farm. EVERY day is a new experience for me!
Enjoy and leave comments if you want!