Another interesting week at our house. Our niece from Texas came to visit 2 days this week and she helped me milk the cow. Unfortunately, my 4 oldest kids were sick, so they weren't able to play much one day. I picked a huge bag of beans Tuesday. I think I could get another today. I was hoping to get enough to can for this winter and I'm glad I seem to be getting so many. We picked enough peas for supper Monday evening and Madeleine who is 2 helped me. Samantha and Hannah started to help but decided to go to the river with Mike instead. He put a turtle trap down by the river and checks it every evening. I'm not sure what he plans to do with it once he catches one.

I was making a whole chicken (not grown by me) for supper the other night, and Samantha (our animal lover) overheard me tell Nathan that bird wasn't cooperating. She came over and said is that a bird? So I told her it was a chicken. She couldn't believe I would buy a dead chicken from the store, so I was worried she wouldn't eat it, but she thought it was pretty good. She is always telling me that I shouldn't let anyone kill our pigs or bull, so some day they will go to the market and we will have a freezer full of meat.

My baby calf isn't eating from his mother like he should. I tried to show him how, but he wasn't really interested. I've been feeding him from a bucket and separated him from his mother hoping he would eat more if I could keep a better eye on him, but he seemed too lonely without her so I put him back with her this morning. My mother cow only has 2 working teats, so I (thankfully) only have to milk 2. It is a lot of fun, except my hands get tired fast. She seems to be getting more milk before my hands get used to the smaller amount. I feed her weeds from the garden plus a little grain while I'm milking to keep her somewhat still. My garden has never looked so good.

We planted pumpkins this year and Nathan counted over 120 flowers on the plants. The kids want to sell some by the road this fall which I think will be good for them. They also want to sell extra produce this summer, so we may do that also.

Madeleine is close to getting tubes for her ears. My doctor told me to get her the prevnar vaccine which I did Thursday. She also told me to put her on over the counter allergy medicine because she thinks she has allergies and the medicine would keep her from getting more ear infections. I can't handle going through another surgery with her. Even though it is minor. She still doesn't separate from me very well and I blame her first surgery. She still doesn't sleep through the night either. Between her and Sam, I don't get good sleep. Samantha has febrile seizures, so when she has a fever, I don't sleep very well. She had another one last night and I didn't even know she was sick. She normally comes out of it fast, but last night, I was up forever waiting for her to wake up fully enough to take Motrin.

Hopefully things will be a little less exciting next week.

Excitement

We had a big week. Our baby bull calf was born sometime Tuesday night. He is absolutely adorable. He looks like a small deer. We didn't notice him until Wed. around 5. He was standing at the barn door while his mother was outside eating.

Thursday morning, Hannah noticed that the baby (named Porterhouse) was outside sleeping on the hill. I thought Daisy had left him there to go eat, but somehow, she was in the barn (which is where she stays during the hot days). Porterhouse started mooing and instead of coming out to get him, Daisy came out and watched him walk away. Needless to say, Nathan and I spent an hour or so looking for him and finally found him laying in a spot hard for us to get to. We couldn't get him to budge, so I went to TSC for some advice and halter and replacement milk. He wouldn't take the bottle from me and I couldn't move him so we called my Dad who came right from work and helped me pull that stubborn calf to the barn. We shoved him in and shut the door and he now stays in the barn. I go up to see him some days and he's really scared of people. The kids want to play with him, but with Sirloin in the same area, they can't go in.

I've been starting to try to milk her to get her used to it and I love it. Mike keeps trying to get me to borrow a milk machine from a friend who offered me one, but I think I'd rather do it by hand - which he can't understand. I get swatted in the face by her tail and keep moving because she keeps stepping forward, but today I got almost a quart into my bucket which is a little more than yesterday. I think my hands will permanently smell like a cow.

I have been babysitting this summer which has been really difficult, so I am retiring at the end of this week from the full timers, but I am still going to watch a friend's kids one day a week. It is only for 6 hours so it is much better to handle. I had the other kids 5 days a week for 10 hours a day and it was just too much. I didn't really get to spend any time with my own kids and saw the summer slipping away. I can't wait to sleep in again and take my kids to visit grandparents and take them to Mass once a week.

Hannah is going to the zoo this week one day with a friend and then spending the night at her house which will be her first sleepover with a friend. She is really excited.

We took the kids to the fair yesterday. This was the first year I didn't really care if I went or not. I guess I have so many animals I don't really need to go see more. Hannah wanted to see the horses - which is one of her favorite things. She really wants a horse, so her Dad promised her riding lessons for getting all a's last year and is getting extra special lessons including her cleaning the stalls before riding. He is hoping that will take away her wanting a horse. He also bought Nathan a 4 wheeler this summer. He is having a lot of fun with that. I rode it when we first had it, but there is no thrill in it for me. Mike rode it all over when we weren't home one day. I think he enjoys it too.

My aunt came over today with her grandson and ended up leaving with 3 of my kids for overnight. I hope I don't get a call in the middle of the night. I think they'll be ok together, but Samantha is kind of clingy at bedtime, so now I'm thinking I should have kept her home. She does stay with grandparents, so maybe she'll be all right.

What's been happening

I'm still having trouble posting pictures, so I'll just have to tell you what's been going on. We've had a very busy year. The cow and bull are doing good. My cow is going to have her calf this month sometime. I know she is getting very close. We are all excited about that, but I think I am the most excited. We got 2 pigs at the beginning of May. My brother bought and delivered them as Thomas and Hannah's birthday presents (with my knowledge). We had 4 kittens in March, but 2 died, so now we have 4 cats total. They are getting so big. They are also very friendly. They let Madeleine who just turned 2 drag them around.

June was a very sad month for us. My father in law died on the 9th. We knew it was his time, but that doesn't really make it any easier.

This week, we have bible school every evening which is a lot of fun. My friend Jill and I are in charge of making the snacks this year. We helped last year too. I am also babysitting this summer.

All of the kids are growing. Nathan is almost up to my mouth which is scary. I can't imagine having kids who are taller than me, but it is coming soon. Hannah got braces in May. Thomas lost his first 2 teeth on the same day last week. Samantha shot up (and a little out) this spring. I think Hannah did the same thing at her age. And Madeleine is really starting to talk.

WINTER

I finally got my cow. She came with a bull. They're both pretty friendly, however, they have knocked down everything in the barn. They even knocked down the steps I used to feed them. I think one of them tried to climb up to feed themself and the whole stairs crashed down. I am just glad I wasn't on them at the time. I wish I could post some pictures, but I'm having trouble finding them. My cow is named Daisy and she looks just like the Daisy sour cream cow on tv. She is a Guernsey and is pregnant and due this spring. The bull's name is Sirloin and he will probably end up in our freezer this fall. He is a Jersey. I am planning to have fresh milk soon. I'm really excited about it, but Mike doesn't think it is a good idea. He is sure the kids won't drink it, because they're used to 2%. I think if I put it in a plastic gallon without them seeing, they won't notice.

Mike put up a small fence in front of half of the barn for them to go outside a little during the winter. One day right after he put it up, Daisy put her neck over it and pushed it down and proceeded to walk right out of it while he was standing beside it. So, Mike put up some boards so she couldn't do that anymore. The man who sold them to me said he rents his farm and the renters kept complaining because they kept getting out of the fence. We will be putting up an electric fence before we let them out for the spring. Hopefully, that will keep them in.

My guineas are all still alive. I made the mistake of letting them out last Monday morning and they hated the snow so much they wouldn't walk on it to go back in the coop. There was supposed to be a lot of snow coming the next day, so I tried and tried to get them back home, but they all huddled together in a big pine tree through the storm. The next night, they moved to the tree above the coop and one brave guinea went in to get food and water, so I locked him in by himself while the others huddled together in the icy tree. It wasn't until Thursday when Thomas went up to feed them that they came down and went right in to get food and water. I even put cat food on the ground Wednesday which they love to eat and they wouldn't come down. I guess they had to wait until they were almost starving to go home.

The kids are all doing good. We haven't reallly been too sick since the new year. Just colds and coughs. Nathan and Hannah got all A's at school and Thomas is learning to read. Thomas also has been in speech therapy since August and he has really improved. I'm hoping he will only need it for a year. Samantha loves going to preschool and Madeleine has been getting into everything. She got into the flour about 5 times this week until I realized I should move it. She also threw salt and pepper shakers into the fishtank and numerous other things. I can't wait until she is a little older. She reminds me of Thomas who was my worst behaved child at this age.

I facilitated a Women of Grace class at my house in the fall and am having another one starting in a couple of weeks. My small group and I went to the Columbus Catholic Women's Conference on Saturday and we all had a really good time. We want to keep meeting, because we really have enjoyed each other's company, so we will probably start getting together soon.

I will post my winter pictures as soon as I can figure out how to.

Marco Island, Florida

Christmas Vacation

Thomas relaxing in our pool. We had a pool at the house we stayed at and it was wonderful.

Samantha at the beach at sunset. We went almost every day to watch the sunset. Hannah and Thomas are in the background. Hannah was probably looking for shells.

Nathan jumping into the pool.

Nathan, Hannah and Madeleine in front of the sunset. This beach didn't have as nice of sunsets as Alabama, but the water was blue and there were tons of shells everywhere. We brought home bucketfulls.

We drove to Everglades National Park which was close to where we stayed. Mike and I wanted to take an airboat ride, but Thomas was the only kid who said he wanted to go and Samantha was screaming and wouldn't get out of the van, so we didn't go.

Christmas card pictures

We took lots of pictures to try and find the perfect one for our Christmas cards this year. We tried out lots of different poses. We finally found one that worked, but I didn't publish it. You'll have to wait for our card to see it.

The top right picture is the first day of school. Nathan, Hannah and Thomas all ride the bus this year.

These are my guinneas. I have 7. And Madeleine with our 2 cats. The one with white on it decided to adopt us a couple of months ago. I call her Patches and the kids all call her Socks. She was really thin when she started living here. She catches lots of mice, so we will keep her.