New Year's Eve 2009

Happy New Year !!!

Dear Lord,

As the new year dawns upon us

We seek your forgiveness for the sins of the past.

May our one resolution for this coming year

Be to walk with you from the first day to the last.

AMEN!

Hopper is Happy

Hopper and Patches came to our farm in October of 2004. We acquired them from a friend of a friend. They were several years old at the time and had several litters. They both got along great living together and since Hopper was "fixed" there have been no litters on our farm. Sadly, earlier this year his mate died of old age. When it came time to take Patches away he didn't want her to go. He placed his paw on her shoulder when I tried to get her out of the hutch. It was sad for him and sad for us. I am glad to report that Hopper is o.k. now.

He's a happy Hopper once again.

Here's Hoping Hopper Has a Happy 2010.

Star-Girl

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From my small farm life to you!

No More Wisdom

This morning, bright and early, Alex had all 4 of his wisdom teeth removed. He is seen here explaining how he wished he could have shoved the doctor out of the way and out of his mouth.

(just kidding)

He is hoping this doesn't affect his SAT scores.

Banana 201

Little did I know that there was more than one way to eat a banana.

When Sarah wanted to have a banana today I asked her if she wanted the whole banana or just half. For the first time she said "Whole". I said, "Are you sure? Are you that hungry?" And she said, "Yes". I then gave her a whole banana and went about washing the dishes and when I turned around to check on her this is what I saw.

Another way to eat a banana.

The Lone Ranger

HI HO SILVER!

Let me just say, I love Netflix®. Netflix® is one of the few places I can find movies like The Lone Ranger for my kids to watch. So many of the old black and white movies are good for all age groups. In contrast, so many of the movies made today - are not. It's a little nervewracking for me to even turn on the T.V. in the middle of the day. You never know what your children may hear, let alone see. So this holiday season I have introduced the kids to John Wayne, Curly, Moe & Larry, The Lone Ranger, and Tonto.

I love it that my fifth grader can recognize a John Wayne accent.

And I love it that my kids get it when they hear, "HEY, KEMOSABE!"

The day after Christmas

This was Kevin's favorite Christmas gift. They're called Freeline Skates. And they are like individual skateboards for each foot. It is CRAZY HARD to learn how they work but after a few hours Kevin is going places in these. (I'm still trying to just stand still on them.)

My hope is that Brian and I didn't just buy Kevin a trip to the emergency room for Christmas.

'Twas the day before Christmas

'Twas the day before Christmas,

when out on the porch...

Long about the middle of Christmas Eve while I was baking and cleaning and washing and cooking and folding and shining; I realized I hadn't heard from Sarah in a while. I soon found her on the porch up on the swing lazily pushing herself back and forth..... back and forth..... back and forth. (Notice she was wearing my flip-flops.) I thought she looked so happy and calm that I took some time to sit with her and enjoy the beautiful day. Then I went back inside to frost and decorate these wonderful muffins to look like ornaments for our Christmas breakfast. And later that night Brian and I were up half the night putting tags and bows on presents and getting them all under the tree. I just love everything about Christmas. Even the cleaning and washing.

But especially, sitting on the porch swinging back and forth..... back and forth..... back and forth.

Christmas boots (A few days early)

These are Alex's new hiking boots for his Outward Bound trip to Costa Rica in February. He went on a hike today at the beach to break them in with two teachers and some of the students that will be going. (He put 30 pounds in his backpack to create a more authentic simulation.)

OUCH!

Anyway, the good news is he came back with no reports of blisters.

Not everyone was that lucky.

Gingerbread and Graham Cracker Village

The kids had fun creating a small village of edible houses two days before Christmas. Ranae and Sarah decorated the gingerbread house and later Kevin added to that and decorated the gingerbread tree. Matthew made houses out of graham crackers and Alex made a stable with a gumdrop star and googled Baby Jesus for a picture to go in the manger. (Don't you just love that anybody can google Baby Jesus!) The oranges with cloves didn't catch on but I finished two.

So now I have a centerpiece for the Christmas buffet line. Voila!

And it kept two girls busy for a couple of hours. Double Voila!

Christmas Piano Performance Fundraiser

This year, once again, four of the kids performed beautiful Christmas piano music at the local Bell Tower outdoor mall. Now that's something you can't do up north in December! Then again, how would I know. Maybe people play the piano outdoors all the time up north in December. Maybe they play in snow up to their knees. Anyway, it was a cool, comfortable, sunny day and an enjoyable morning. But I couldn't help saying to myself that it would be the last time I would see Matthew perform Christmas music at this event since he will be at college this time next year. (Wince.) Well, I just wiped that tear away and enjoyed the morning despite my wandering mind. I also reminded myself that next year Sarah might be perform-ing. (Smile.) That just goes to show ya, sometimes wandering minds can be of help too.

After the performance we headed home to host our 4-H Christmas party where we ate lunch together, built bird houses and exchanged Christmas presents. It was a busy, wonderful day filled with lots of smiles and joy.

Matthew

MATTHEW

• I can't believe he's 18.
• I can't believe he will be going to college next fall.
• I can't believe he's so smart and honest and good looking.
• I can't believe how much I love him.
• And I really can't believe he's comfortable making this face in public.

Nutcracker

Sarah performed in her first Nutcracker this Christmas! She was in the party scene for the first 5 minutes at the very beginning of the ballet. She had to have her hair in Victorian curls and thankfully, with a few curlers and hair spray, her hair played the part wonderfully. She was so excited to be wearing REAL ballet shoes and dancing on stage with REAL ballerinas. And the music was so beautiful. It always gets me in the Christmas spirit.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Sleepy "Old Man" Prince

Sarah and I were coming out on the porch to eat lunch today and found Prince napping nearby.
He turned and looked at us, as if to say, "If there's food, then I'm awake." (This cat will eat everything.) He is also headed to his 13th birthday and that has promted us to add "Old Man" to his name. Go back to sleep Old Man. Peanut butter and jelly is not for you.

Aunt "T" visits

Aunt "T" visited us on Sunday. It was a rare, special treat. We had lunch together, played games, took a drive down to the beach, and talked and talked and talked. It was so nice to see her and have her in our home. We are hoping she has a smooth sailing vacation with lots of time to rest and read. All of us say, "We Love You Aunt T!"

The Duke

DUKE

July 31, 2000 - November 27, 2009

:-(

The day after.......Thanksgiving.

It's the day after Thanksgiving.

We ate so much,

we still can't sit up.

The Feed Room

The feed room smells so good. Every morning and every night when we head out to the barn to feed the animals we open the feed room door and smell fresh hay. Ahhhhhhh. Sometimes I just take a big whiff and smile. It's a nice smell and something I always look forward to. The sweet smell of hay.

Does this goat look pregnant to you?

DOES THIS GOAT LOOK PREGNANT TO YOU?

If you answered yes, then you are right. This goat's name is Ester and she is indeed pregnant and due sometime this winter. (By my calculation, between February 13th and 23rd)

The trouble is she looks MORE pregnant than any other goat on our farm which makes me wonder.........Did she visit our buck, Jericho, when no only was looking? (highly unlikely)....or.......

Is she pregnant with multiples? (likely) You see, most goat breeds have twins but this breed (Nigerian Dwarf) can have more. And last year, the first year that Ester ever had kids, she gave birth to triplets. So.........would anyone care to guess how many she'll have this year?

"All by myself!"

Today, Sarah made up her bed all by herself ! Yea Sarah ! This is not easy, first, because she is only four and second, she still has a guard rail on the side of her bed.

When she first moved into a "big girl bed" we didn't have the guard rail. But hearing a loud thump in the middle of the night coming from the direction of the girl's room got me wondering. I quickly learned that this was Sarah falling off the side of her bed to the floor. So, now we have a guard rail. And since then there have not been any thumps in the middle of the night. During the day - yes - but not the middle of the night.

Halloween at DISNEY !!!

With the kids in 4 different schools, it can be hard to get the same days off. So when the vacation days line up, we go for it! We had a great long weekend at Disney and celebrated halloween too. The girls went to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique in Cinderella's castle to get princess hair to match their costumes. This was a first and so much fun. (Although the magic "fairy dust" is still in Sarah's hair 3 days later.) And the boys won't stand by just any character now. So getting them to stand with Tigger is a plus. All in all, we had a truly magical time. We LOVE Disney.

Kevin - A.K.A. Chewbacca

CHEWBACA

(Kevin)

Kevin wore this costume to Disney at Halloween and it was SO MUCH FUN. We did some trick or treating at Downtown Disney and people were coming up to him all night wanting their picture taken with him. As strangers passed by they would smile and yell, "CHEWIE!" . I snapped this picture on the bus going back to our hotel. Even though it was warm on the bus Kevin kept the mask on and interacted with two little girls and their mom all the way. I couldn't stop laughing and smiling. I also know that a year ago Kevin would not have been able to pull this off. Not because he didn't have the personality but because he did not have the height.

A short Chewbaca just would not have been the same.

A Name for the Pig.

Naming a pig is harder than we thought.
Ranae has liked many names and tried them all out. So, the past few weeks we have called her Olivia, Lily, Stinker Bell, Porkahontas, and Miss Piggy. But none of those names seemed right.

Then......
Her brother Alex suggested she name her H1N1.

But I was quick to point out that it might be hard for someone to buy a pig named H1N1. And since Ranae is raising this pig as a 4-H project with the ulitmate goal being to sell her pig for a profit at the county fair..... she decided on something else.

So Ranae's beautiful, healthy pig is named....................."Piggy Sue".
A great name for a great pig.

Our small farm life.

When I think back on all the changes, improvements and additions we've put into our small farm life it becomes amazing to me.

It has been so much fun building this life together.

This is indeed a wonderful home and farm.

A great place for my children to grow. An oasis that warms my heart.

A small, peaceful, kingdom.

Thanks, honey. For this, and more.