Boys will be boys!

So I told you about Joshua's affinity for spicy things and the insanity involved in it. He convinced a few of his friends to join him in the insanity. And I filmed it. Doesn't this look painful? And they did it on purpose!

Joshua got religion and started doing a old fashioned gospel clap!

This poor kid was in shock for a good 5 minutes!

See the pain!

That gallon of milk was brand new. They drank the whole thing plus ate a half gallon of ice cream. All within about 20 minutes.

This kid was the only with any brains! I don't know who was crying harder, the boys who ate the pepper or me and the friend filming because we were laughing so hard. 

Boys!

TTFN!

She's a mother!

Remember Jeffrey? She's been broody for a while. We tried REALLY HARD to break her of it, but she wasn't having any of that! We would trap her outside the coop and she would walk around it all. day. long.  We finally gave in to her toddler like demands and let her sit on some eggs. The kids would get the biggest kick out of opening up the coop doors to hear her screech. 

She had three eggs. One hatched in the wee hours of the morning and didn't make it :o(  We saw another one hatching, but it seemed to be taking a long time so we asked Dr. Google what to do.  Meet the chicken obstetrician.  Joshua......

Joshua VERY patiently broke small pieces of shell off with the tweezers while keeping the membrane moist. It took several hours. Meet Colby (as in Colby Jack.)

Baby chicks are so sweet and Jeffery is such a good mother!

Oh yeah, the other egg was a dud. We candled it and there was no chick. Jeffrey doesn't seem to mind.

TTFN!

I can't believe it!

I can't believe I forgot to do a birthday post for sweet daughter Anna! I'm so sorry!! We were getting ready for our trip to Dallas that weekend. I guess I was preoccupied.  On their birthday, our kids get to pick dinner and dessert. Anna is getting very wise in her choices. No more pizza or macaroni and cheese for this girl. No, she wanted STEAK! That's my girl!

Happy Belated Birthday Anna!

 TTFN!

I'm so proud!

Did you know there's a way to get college credits without having to use up four months of your life and several hundred dollars? There is! It's called CLEP testing. For several subjects (mostly stuff you'd take in the first two years of college) you can pay a small fee, take a test, and, if you pass, get college credit! Joshua took the biology CLEP test this week and passed it. Now he's got 6 college credits. Way to go Joshua!!

Where have I been, you ask?

It's been a crazy busy week! For the first half of the week, I took 8 teenagers AND a toddler on a 3 hour drive to north Dallas. Insane, yes, I know! But it was for a good cause. We were going to a prolife training seminar with Justice For All. If you've never heard of them, I HIGHLY recommend their seminars. It was utterly amazing! The first day is spent watching videos and doing extensive role playing. The next two days are spent on a college campus striking up conversations about abortion with total strangers. I told you it was amazing!  No, really, it was.  If you've always known that abortion is wrong and you believe life is a precious gift from God, but wouldn't know how to have a logical, respectful, CALM conversation with someone who disagrees, then JFA is just the group for you. The group of teens I took blew me away! There was not one ounce of timidity in the group. They boldly shared their faith in the presence of loud, obnoxious, in-your-face protesters.  Truly, it was awesome. I just can't explain how awesome it was!

Well, after four days carting teenagers all over town at very early hours in the morning, I was exhausted by the time we got home. I didn't do anything remotely requiring thinking for the next few days.

Last night some good friends of ours had a barn dance! It was so much fun! I've often wished someone we knew would do something like this. It was almost midnight by the time we got home. It sure was easier to dance the night away 20 years ago!

Last, but not least, Anna is doing something called Nanowrimo. She's living on the computer every waking moment. Since we've been so busy AWAY from the house, I've had to give up my own time on the 'puter for her. She's still behind on her word count though.

Whew! Are you tired yet? I'm still exhausted. Could have been the dancing last night ;o)

TTFN!

Just another Manic Monday!

Ok, so I went to bed with a bit of a cold last night. My plan for today was to take it easy. I had two small errands that I had to do because Monday is the only day they happen. Fine. I can handle that. Do the errands. Come home and put my feet up.  Yeah...... Right......

It all started with the words, "Mom, I think one of the chickens broke a leg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yes, it had that many exclamations with it. We got some meat chickens about two months ago. They had a date with an executioner next week. One of them couldn't wait that long. I bet you didn't know this but it's actually dangerous for a meat bird's health to let them get TOO big. They get to where they can't carry themselves around anymore. Their hearts begin to be stressed and then they can just die anyway. So it's really doing them a favor to butcher them! Did you know that?

Apparently this poor chicken got too big for his britches. I couldn't stand the thought of coming this far with him only to have him die of fatness. He's supposed to go in my freezer, doggoneit!  So instead of my lay low day I had planned, we butchered a chicken. On Halloween! And we don't even celebrate Halloween!  The execution date for the others got moved up a week so hopefully we won't have any more surprises.

Now I'm going to go make a cup of tea. That's life on the farm!

TTFN!

Note to self

Don't leave a child's tooth in a cup inside the cupboard because you're too lazy to go find the tooth fairy pillow at 10:30pm. It's liable to be mistaken for an old crusty piece of yogurt or something and washed down the sink. Bad Mom!!

TTFN!

A Perfect Day!

What do you do on a perfect fall day in Oklahoma? When the weather is sunny and in the 70s? Why, you go to the pumpkin patch, that's what! We went in the evening so we could do the corn maze in the dark. The larger than life checker board was great even if I did get beat by one of my children. That's what I get for teaching them games, huh?

Nothing like playing king of the mountain on a giant hay bale.

Who would've ever thought a few metal buckets would be so much fun! Especially when they're hooked together and being dragged by a tractor.

This was the cutest pumpkin in the patch!

We had such a great time! Aaron and Elijah kept saying "we are SO lost" while we walked through the maze in the dark. We took a hay ride around the farm twice, once in the daylight and once in the dark. It was a beautiful night!

TTFN!

These are a few of my favorite things!

Morning sun shining on the homestead.

Caramel apples! Yum!

Chubby cheeked little boys with bobbing blonde curls and big blue eyes!

Pumpkins! Have you ever made a truly homemade pumpkin pie? I have! Nothing compares.

Walking through crunchy fall leaves with a talkative young girl!

These are a few of my favorite things!

TTFN!

Happy Birthday Micah!

For Christmas 2009, we had a very special little elf at our house. He was the sweetest baby. Hardly ever cried and was adored by all.

His sweet smile engaged everyone who looked his way. The older he got, the more his adoring fans fawned over him.

He's the smartest of babies. Always figuring things out for himself.

His chubby cheeks, big blonde curls and deep blue eyes are irresistible.

We had a birthday party at his cousins' house. The kiddos all dressed up for the party. Micah didn't have a choice in his costume. His personal dressers chose the Mickey Mouse costume.

Look how tall he's gotten! I can't believe Micah is already two! Where has the time gone?

Happy Birthday my little sweetie!

A few things I love about my sweet Micah:

1. You're so cute walking around holding your shirt tag.

2. You have the best manners, always saying "tea too" (thank you), whenever appropriate.

3. It's crazy adorable how you say "pee boo" (peek a boo) whenever you find something you've been looking for.

4. Your ability to do 100 piece puzzles at not quite two years old AMAZES me!

5. You are a sucker for a tractor ride!

TTFN!

WWYD?

There comes a time in a mom's life when she has to let her kid do something not too bright and let the cards fall where they may. My oldest son, Joshua, and his dad love their spicy food. I often jokingly say I'm going to start making the exact same thing for meals everyday because they always put Tobasco sauce on everything anyway. All their food tastes the same!

Joshua came across a pepper called the Ghost Pepper. He's watched some rib cracking videos on You Tube about fools who ate this pepper. He wanted to try it. I hesitated in letting him. The people in the videos were in PAIN! Should a mom allow her flesh and blood child to do something like that? On purpose?

Well, I did and I laughed just as hysterically at him as I did at the videos. You want to know how smart he is? He's going to do it again with some friends tomorrow. Where did he get these brains from anyhow?

TTFN

A picture's worth a thousand words

We were on a road trip recently and one of the stranger things we saw was on the return trip home. It was a little rainy so the pictures aren't as clear as I wanted. Well, that and we were going 70 miles an hour. What do you think?

TTFN!

PIZZA! Finally!

Since we've moved out to the country, I rarely find it worth the gas to drive for take out pizza except in dire circumstances. The kids all still want pizza for Friday night dinner as often as possible though!  I tweaked a bread machine recipe for the dough and we all love the result!

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup bread flour

1 tablespoon yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

This makes enough dough for two 16 inch (give or take) pizzas. So, of course, I have to make two batches of dough. Roll the dough into a pizza shape.

Top with your favorite toppings. We like cheese, pepperoni (nitrate free of course), mushrooms, spinach and feta cheese. Some of us are pickier than others.

There! Doesn't that look good!

TTFN!

Link up!

Deep questions with Elijah

Don't you just love the age when kids start asking deep questions?  You know they're really starting to think about things.

We were in the car earlier and Elijah calls from the back, "Mom?" I could tell it was going to be a serious question. "How do they make Monster Trucks?"  See, I told you it was serious!

TTFN!

What is he doing?

Micah has started something strange. I'm not sure where he came up with the idea or why he's doing it. See that cute little chubby hand up by his chin? He's holding his shirt tag! He checks all his shirts now for the tag and walks around holding it all day. He's become one handed and so far, hasn't found it frustrating enough to stop holding the tag. 

Isn't he funny! (You don't see the dirty floor, right? Yeah, me neither!)

TTFN!

Another one bites the dust

I really thought we were through with this stuff. It's been a week for goodness sake! See, same chair, different kid and that age thing still holds. Keeping my fingers crossed that maybe NOW we're finished. 

TTFN!

A look at the chicken coop

We call this the "Chick Mahal."  Bret, being an architect, couldn't just make a coop. Noooooo  This coop came with 3 dimensional plans done up on a computer program.

I'm kind of partial to the color red, but apparently all paint isn't made the same. After careful selection (ok, an hour of looking) of just the right farm color of red, I took the card to the paint counter. The helpful guy told me he could only get that tint with the really expensive paint. (That's not exactly the way he said it, but that's what he meant.) I looked at him and said "Really? This is for a chicken coop. Can't you get close?"  I think he did pretty darn good, don't you?

The girls seem to like it ok! They're really starting to give a good amount of eggs and we're oh so thankful for that! Having chickens is something I never knew I loved!

TTFN

Reason #163 why we like homeschooling

Going to the zoo on beautiful fall days!  See alllll the people there? Oh wait. That's us! When we go in the fall there is never a crowd to fight. We get front row viewing for all the animals. Each time we go, we set a goal of seeing or doing something new, something we've never seen or done before. Today's trip was a bonanza!

Anna was playing with a sea lion in the aquarium. She would trace her finger on the window and the sea lion would follow her every move. Even spinning in circles! I bet we stood there doing that for 20 minutes.

One of the big highlights for the smaller people was feeding the giraffes. This is a new thing at our zoo. We took our place second in line to get the special "nutritional supplement" to feed the giraffes. Many signs warned of the dangers of feeding the tall critters "people food." Don't want to upset their delicate nutritional needs.

Imagine my surprise when the zoo lady shows up with a huge rubbermaid bucket of .....lettuce. Yep, the most expensive lettuce I've ever bought. At that price, those giraffes better be getting organic lettuce!

The monarch butterflies were migrating and they were everywhere! It always cracks me up because we'll see the most ordinary critters (think squirrel) and the kids will just stop and watch it like they've never seen one before.

We LOVE the zoo. It's almost our second home in the fall. The days are so beautiful. The animals are out being playful and noisy. We get to see it all front and center and my kids get to run ahead of me without the worry of mom yelling at them to GET BACK HERE! Maybe tomorrow I'll post some pictures of our new baby elephant. We saw her last week. So cute!

TTFN