The Smith Family

Five

2011-11-05T22:22:00.006-04:00

My baby boy turned five. I love all my kids equally to pieces. I truly do. It's a love that's immeasurable. But each one holds the key to a very unique spot in my heart. And for this sweet child of mine, it's something we share in common. There's something about the way that the Lord chose to bring my boy into the world on the very same day that He brought me to life, is just striking. Even after five years, every time I think about it, it just seems too magical to be real. But God does stuff like that. Sort of how two years ago He decided to surprise us with a special gift that was due to arrive on the five year anniversary of loosing my mom. He does things like that to remind us that He's there. And He's more powerful than we can comprehend. And that He loves us beyond measure.

Back to the boy. He is such an amazing little kid. I will say, the majority of the grays that I now proudly adorn are probably due to this giggly little thing. The one who loves to talk and tell stories with such animation. Eye brows raised and sometimes burrowed during the intense moments of his story. He's a character. He's a charmer. He's a joy.

He is also nonstop energy. One who keeps me on my toes. All. The. Time. Most everyone who's ever been around him know exactly what I mean without having to explain any further.

He is also so filled with love. More love to share than I've ever seen in a child. And he gets his pleasure by revealing that love. He doesn't hold back. If he feels it, he shows it. And usually tells it to. When he's filled with joy, the world will know it. It's a contagious joy that I wish I had. Full body joy which I adore. But when he's upset, look out. He makes sure everyone knows. He has no issue telling you how angry he is and why and what he thinks should be done about it. And if he feels like shouting out in pain (whether physical or emotional) he goes for it. Not worried about who may see him or what they may think of him. My older two are very reserved when it comes to this. They don't want a single soul to see them upset or have a meltdown. They will hide feelings and bottle them up. I think it's a gift to be able to express himself the way Fletcher does, we just have to keep trudging through the act of self control.

He is all about knights, castles and the medieval period. We have been reading a lot of books about this time in history and he is soaking it up. He and his brother put together their money to buy a very cool wooden castle. And they've been buying the various pieces to go with it ever since. They've accumulated quite the collection. So for his birthday we had a few friends over to celebrate and threw in a few knight touches.

He wanted a bounce house in the worst way so we ordered him an extra awesome medieval castle bounce house / slide combo. When it arrived the morning of the party, we were quite disappointed to see a sports themed one get set up. Fletch had been talking about his castle bounce house for over a week and he looked at me and said "Mom, that doesn't look much like a castle. The things at the top are supposed to be pointy, not a football, basketball, soccer ball and baseball". The guy played dumb about it and acted as if we never specifically requested the sports one even though we made a big deal about getting the castle one, and even made a follow up call to confirm that we were getting the right one. My heart was crushed to see his disappointed little face. I think the guy picked up on it too. He offered to leave it with us for three whole days and pick it up Monday night instead of Saturday evening. And he left us the pool attachment so we could convert it into a water slide. That made Fletch perk right up and he never mentioned another word about not having a castle bounce house again. It wound up raining nearly the entire time of his party, so the kids were soaking wet and wound up having a water slide anyway. They had so much fun! In the end, Fletcher thought it was the best day of his life. And he made sure to tell us so.

This was taken just days before his birthday. This beach is one that we used to visit often during my pregnancy with him. Being a late summer baby, my body became used to being half in the water, half in the sand, feeling the waves pound upon my aching feet. The cool ocean water was right where I wanted to be. The kids affectionately referred to it as "our beach" because we were there so much. We'd often bring dinner here and just play and relax as a family. We even went for a visit one Christmas evening only to find that the only other people on the beach happened to be some of our neighbors which we thought was really funny and strange. I have many pictures of my progressively growing belly taken here and now that it's said and done, I cherish them with all my heart. I guess overtime, we all grew a deep love for the name Fletcher and what this beach meant to us. We lightly talked about the possibility of naming the baby Fletcher if he was a boy but truthfully, everyone had us convinced that he was a girl so I never thought too deeply about it. Even though I felt it was a boy from the very beginning, at times I struggle with listening to the opinions of others over my own intuition.

When the moment was right, on September 20th, 2009, the morning of my 28th birthday, Josh guided our baby out of my womb. As he lifted him out of the warm water that filled our tub, he looked up at me and said with a smile that I'll never forget "it's a boy!". Oh it was such an awesome moment in my life. I get goosebumps as I allow myself to go back to that moment. I know homebirthing isn't for everyone and I know it's not ideal for all circumstances either, but I truly feel that it is an experience I wish everyone could have. Even just once.

After the rush was settled and tub was drained, we snuggled up in bed with our new boy. It didn't take us long to settle on his name. Fletcher Eli. Aka: the Fletch Meister. Fletchy. Or just plain old Fletch. We later learned that his name means "arrow maker". And we think that's pretty rad too. And so does he. As far as Eli goes, it was the name of one of my mom's favorite uncles. She fondly spoke of Uncle Eli. She brought it up over dinner one night when we were discussing options for names when I was newly pregnant with Gracie. When I learned she would be a girl, I stuffed Eli deep down in my heart but it wasn't hard to find and dust off when the time was right.

So as this babe of ours prepared to turn five, we decided to have a little celebration.

On a whim, the night before his party I snuck into his dark and quiet room and pulled out a black tee form his drawer. I had an idea to attempt my first ever freezer paper stencil shirt. Google it, the directions are all over the internet. It was so incredibly easy and I'm in love with the way it turned out. Just what this boy needed to feel like a knight on his special day. I used silver metallic craft paint and I think I shouldn't have put it in the dryer but I did. And I am in LOVE with the results. I should take a picture to show you but it became all vintagy and worn looking. Filled with creases and a few areas where the paint had slightly worn off. It looks so much cooler now than it did in the beginning. I am seriously in love with the look and I can't wait to make more.

Aaron (who also happened to be born at home by our same AMAZING midwife) has been Fletcher's bestest buddy in the whole wide world. This kid will rock your socks off, he's amazing!

Fletch was blown away when this dragon pinata arrived in the mail. It was his first pinata ever and it made him feel like such a big boy to have this be a part of his party. (see that cute little blurry baby in the background? That's our pastor's little bit. I love that she made her way into the picture.)

Aurora (to the left) is Aaron's big sister. And quite a beauty she is. Her beautiful mom was my homebirth inspiration. After hearing her amazing testimony of her homebirths, I knew it was for me.

Fletcher's Grandma and aunt Katie are the absolute sweetest ladies ever. They make sure to never let a birthday go by without an incredible cake to celebrate with. Those of you who have ever baked and decorated a theme cake know that this is no easy task! Especially when there are four little ones who don't seem to stop having birthday's every year.

the ~~medieval~~ sports bounce house

These two are truly two peas in a pod. Fletcher is so deeply in love with his baby sister and most of the time has issues with giving her some space. He just can't get enough of the girl. He caters to her every want and need and acts as if his role in life is to care for and protect this little princess. I think it's chivalry at it's finest.

Summer to Fall Recap

2011-09-28T21:59:00.011-04:00

It's so crazy to me to think that October is nearly here. Where has the year slipped away to? We had an amazing summer of fun that passed in a blink. We continued to home school throughout the summer but took a nice two week break from it when we went to Nicaragua for a vacation. And what an incredible and eye opening trip it was! We seriously didn't want to even think about having to come back home again, we loved it that much and felt right at home there. Something about being in a humbling third world country where people aren't driven by materialism really drew us in. Not to mention in a country that just so happens to be breathtakingly beautiful. The surf was incredible, beaches were amazing and nearly deserted, cost of living was nearly as low as it gets and the people were completely beautiful, inside and out. What's not to love! Did I mention the garbage truck is a man on horseback pulling a rickety old wooden trailer? It was totally right up our alley!

Now here it is fall already (although you wouldn't know it here in sunny south Florida) but none the less, we are full swing into our new year of schooling and having a great time with it. We are so in love with the curriculum we use, My Father's World. I love that all the prep work has completely been done for me, it is richly Christian oriented, and is just plain fun. The kids are really enjoying it as well. Last year with My Father's World we studied countries and cultures and this year we are focusing on history from creation to the Greeks. I am learning just as much as the kids, if not more. One thing I love about homeschooling is I get to learn too. I'm sure I had to have been taught most of this stuff as a child, but I'm now at an age where I'm truly interested in absorbing it and excited about learning new things. And it's just so exciting to learn along with my children, sharing in their joys of discovering new things and figuring out how the world works together. I'm so blessed to have been called to this position. I'm starting to realize that God is using this experience called homeschooling to teach me more about his love and draw me closer to Him. It's an awesome thing for sure!

We recently celebrated two birthday's in our family and are preparing for two more soon to come. I'm sad to say that one of those soon to be birthdays is my baby girl's. How in the world have two years possibly gone by already? I'm having a personal pitty party over it but am just trying my hardest to turn those sad feelings into feelings of excitement for what's to come. I realize that the older she gets, the more we are able to do as a family and the easier life gets. We can all go out and work in the barn together and even the baby grabs a broom. It's so sweet seeing her having a heart to help. We can attend more school activities regardless of her nap time, knowing that she can be stretched through her nap if need be. And she truly is becoming the sweetest, most fun little girl, the older she gets. That makes us all smile. But why can't she just stay 1 forever! If I could bottle her up and keep her just like this, I absolutely would.

The first birthday of the season was my first born baby girl's. Not too long ago I was whining about her turning two. Now she's eight. For her birthday I organized a small surprise party for her at the last minute. I had four of her friends come over while her daddy had taken her out clothes shopping for her birthday. When she arrived back home, she was a little shocked but super excited to not only find four of her close friends here but to find out that they would be having a sleepover!

The girls were so incredibly sweet. I had the boys sleepover at my aunts so my time could be solely devoted to the girls. Thankfully Josh was home to keep up with and care for Maggie and he took duty of the kitchen so I could stay focused on our projects. I bought an assortment of girly fabrics for them to choose which fabric they would like to make a heart pillow out of. I had a template for them to use that they traced onto the fabrics of their choice and cut it out. Before sewing the two sides together I had them cut out a mini heart in a contrasting fabric and taught them how to applique the small hearts onto the larger ones. Then one by one I gave them each a quick sewing lesson as I assisted them in sewing their pillows. In the end, the girls were so proud as they snuggled up in bed with their new pillows that they made with their own two hands. It was pretty cool to see the beautiful smiles this experience gave them. We also filled in the time by making fabric covered button hair clips.

We took a break half way through our project to go outdoors and get some wiggles out. The girls were anxious to get their hands on some animals.

back inside we finished sewing and stuffing...

and then it was sundae time...

and present time...

{some of our hair clips...}

we finished our projects and were ready for dance time...

and karaoke time...

ending it all with snuggle time..

but before long it was church time...

and after church it was pond time...

but in a blink... our party was done.

A Season of Babies

2011-07-02T21:54:00.004-04:00

{This post is only 3+ months after the fact, but hey, who's counting right? Heck, I was amazed to see this blog still in existence! Love the concept of it, totally unlove that there is no time to document all the amazing things the Lord allows us to experience. But I'm not complaining! So grateful for these opportunities.}

As soon as the excitement of the fair season wrapped up, a new excitement was blooming. Birth supplies were ordered, stalls were freshly cleaned and bedded for the newest arrivals who were soon to come.

{Don't these girls all look super excited about becoming moms for the 1st time?}

This was a moment we had waited for with some anxiety but mostly with joy as we passed the time by enjoying the bumps and kicks we could feel in the mama's bellies.

{gracie was on the other side of the gate with treats}

Our first goat due just happened to be our youngest, and our own bottle fed baby, Matilda. We purchased her at three weeks of age and she has been the most mild mannered, sweet little girl. We weren't planning on breeding her so soon but... well, let's just say it doesn't take a whole lot to get a goat pregnant. It happened in a blink and then there she was. A sweet little mama to be. We were just thankful it was with one of her own kind. We are raising two different breeds of dairy goats so we have one buck of each breed. Nubian and Oberhasli.

{our two lovely Nubian ladies with their elegant long ears}

{Matilda, growing wider every day}

So on March 3oth, in the weeist of hours, our barn video moniter let me know it was time. I gathered the troops (and the supplies) and we all sat in the stall gathered around our girl cheering her on as she pushed out her baby boy. What an experience it was! For all of us! I had the honor, I guess you could say, of helping a fellow mother out. Her baby was stuck with one leg bent back so she needed some assistance to get this big boy out of her tiny body. When I was finally able to get him out we were oh so relieved and even though he was a boy, we celebrated with our girl.

{wowzers that hurt!}

I didn't wake Fletch or Maggie up for the birth but when he did finally wake up, we had a big surprise for him.

And boy was he excited!!

I don't know if I've ever seen him smile so big.

{such a good little mama our M is}

{love the tongue!}

In the end, we had 7 babies born on the farm this year. Many, many joys and celebrations, and one huge heartbreak. I'm quickly learning you have to have tough skin to raise goats. It's definitely not easy. Not on the body and not always on the heart. But the love and life lessons we're gaining are by far worth the price.

Meet Lola

2011-02-10T08:10:00.001-05:00

{October 2010}
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See Lola grow!

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The final days with our Lola are coming to an end. This definitely is bitter sweet. We knew going into this that we (Colton) were raising a market hog for the fair. The reason? Lessons to be learn, hard earned college money to be made. It has been a LOT of hard work. For us average adults it probably wouldn't be a big deal. And for us who already live on a farm and have to go out and feed twice a day anyway, raising a pig truly doesn't create much more work.

The difference is we adults are not the ones raising her. A nine year old (sometimes lazy) boy has been. Getting him out there at least twice a day to feed, supply fresh water for and the stinkiest of all, clean out a icky muck filled stall has been no easy task. At times he moans and groans about it, especially on those few 30 degree early mornings that we've had. Overall he has learned many lessons in raising her and hopefully created some good memories. According to him, pigs can be very stubborn and a LOT of work! They can be pushy if you don't train them enough and they like to make a mess of their stall, or in other words, be pigs!

We have been busy helping him prepare his record book, which to be honest has been our least favorite part of this whole thing. In this book he documents all the specifics of his project along with writing a story about it and including photos too (which is my very favorite :) Let's just say the details that the paperwork asks for are even over our heads. But I think we're figuring it all out. On top of this, Colton and Gracie are both showing three chickens each and that requires record books for them as well. Colton said today that he's never done so much writing in all of his life. And he's correct. It was our fault however for waiting until the very last minute to cram it all in. So typical of the Smiths.
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When Lola leaves she will be freeing up a much needed stall which is all in perfect timing. We will use the extra space to allow some very special expecting mamas on our farm to have a safe, cozy, quiet space of their own. We are thrilled beyond words to hopefully (don't count your goats before they hatch, or... you know what I mean) welcome some new goat babies. Looking like it could possibly be early April if my calculations are correct. Woo hoo! We can't wait! I have been doing a lot of research and getting prepared for the big events to come. That is when I'm not helping out with pig or chicken books. :)

I truly was expecting the end of this project to be super hard for our sensitive little guy. And I'm sure it will be. However, one thing I didn't expect is for him to get so run down from all this work and begin counting down the days until it's over. Maybe just God's own way of making this whole goodbye thing a little easier on his tender heart.

I will absolutely have to think of a big way to reward his hard efforts and keep his mind focused on the prize.

As for this boy and his pig, they are ready for the fair!

Richer Than Rockefeller

2011-02-07T16:15:00.010-05:00

In abundance I have been blessed. More richly than I could ever ask or imagine. Looking into the faces of these beautiful children whose presence grace my each and every day, I am in total awe. It's absolutely hard if not impossible for me to explain. When you live your life not focused on materialism but on true meaningful subjects that will carry on to eternity, you realize how much you truly have. When I take a second to slow down and realize just how blessed I am to have been given this family to live life with while being here on earth, it excites me greatly. But more so it THRILLS me to know that this is my family who will be joining me in heaven. For eternity! Now that is something to be joyful about! I praise my Father each and every day for these little blessings that He has so graciously given us. He didn't have to. That strikes me strongly. He didn't have to give us Colton, Gracie, Fletcher or Maggie either. There is nothing we could have ever done to deserve these blessings. I do believe that He has given us hearts to further His kingdom instead of growing our hearts towards earthly riches. And because of that I feel that He has blessed us with these instruments to use towards growing His kingdom. And they certainly are cute little instruments if I ever do say so myself. Sometimes stubborn but then again, so are the ones who are raising them. Our hope is to build little lights that will shine His love wherever their heavenly Father may lead them.

{trying to find a smile after a little meltdown}

Shine on my little loves!

Matthew 5:16 let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Un, Unus, Uno, En, Eins = One

2010-12-14T11:28:00.001-05:00

Our sweet little babe who came flying out into the arms of her daddy on that early first of November morn is now a whole year old. The year feels like it slipped right through my fingertips even though I tried to grip on tightly to the days. Yet it seems as if there wasn't ever a day that her joy didn't fill our hearts and home. It's funny how before a new baby enters your life you can't imagine ever loving someone as much as you already love your other children. It may seem as if you're heart is overly full. Can't possibly hold any more love.

Well it absolutely isn't true. At least that's what we experienced when this beautiful girl came out of her warm cocoon looking for love. As I locked eyes with this new girl whom I'd learn to care for and be her mama, I realized no matter the number, the love is just as deep. Immeasurable. So strong it almost overpowers you at times.

Every thing she does makes us smile. The bonus to this is seeing the joy in her siblings faces as they celebrate each milestone with her. That's enough to make a mama tear up. When she took her first few steps hearing the claps, laughter, praise and endless hugs that they poured out on their baby sister in such a proud manner made me realize this is what the hard work of raising a large family is all about. These tender moments we share together as a family are priceless and are worth everything to us.

teething on her brother's mini skateboard

The Magnolia Maggie tree that was planted not long after her birth. Her placenta has nourished it well.

still loves her newborn binkie

We had a little party for our girl on Halloween eve. It was simple, not over the top, no fancy decorations. Just a gathering with family and friends to celebrate just what a gift this girl is to us all.

Aunt Joyce playing "I'm gonna get you!"

Maggie and Macrae

The goats and pig serve as our party entertainment. Notice my son's the only one out there barefoot and shirtless. And the other one's up in the tree. Like true redneck boys! ;)

M's princess castle cake made with love by her aunt Katie and grandma

At the party I served my first attempt at goat cheese. It was a success!

{nice hair uncle A}

I think I've got another baby lover. If she's anything like me, this means I'll be blessed with many grandbabies! :)

Sweet Aurora has been a special friend to the family since she was Maggie's age

knew it wouldn't last long!

Maggie is our plumpest one year old yet. I think the addition of goats milk has helped with that. She babbles a LOT, will carry on full conversations with you at times, although it only makes sense to her. She loves... her daddy to pieces and shouts out "dada" as soon as he enters the house each day.

She is a moderately good sleeper. We spoil her a tad bit and allow her to fall asleep in bed with us and then transfer her to her room in her crib. Some nights she'll sleep until morning and others she comes in bed with us at some point in the night. She loves to eat! Especially pears, peaches, grapes (cut up into quarters), bananas, yogurt, mac n cheese, just to name a few of her favorites. She still nurses infrequently but I think those days are dwindling. I'm not used to having a baby wean so early but I'm following her lead which makes it all the more easy to do so. She LOVES her goat's milk bottles though.

She also loves, loves, loves living on a farm and I think she is crazy lucky to get to spend so muc time with chickens, cows and goats each day. Oh and a pig too! And let's not forget a dog and three cats :) She has two toy cows that she often carries around saying "moo..." and she has taken a love for her biggest brothers stuffed animal cow that he's had since he was a baby. I think it's almost officially hers now.

Maggie has seemed like she was coordinated enough to start walking at an early age but she's been overly cautious about it for some reason. I know she took a couple falls when attempting to walk some time ago and I think that scared her to the point of not being confident enough to give walking a try. But half way into her twelfth month she took her first few true steps and by thirteen months she is walking pretty much anywhere she wants to. She's still super wobbly which is down right adorable and she does still crawl here and there but overall she's now a walker.

We have done half and half cloth diapers and disposables since her birth but recently a friend gifted us with her cloth diapers and I purchased a dozen Sunbaby cloth diapers which are super soft and cute so we are now full time cloth diapering. Even at night and also while out of the house. It has been a smooth transition and even Josh just goes with the flow of it. Cloth diapering has come a long way and it's super easy and not messy like you may imagine. There's a certain technique to it which makes it all doable. And I have such a great feeling about this whole thing. Not having to overload the landfill like I have done in the past and not having my baby saturated in chemicals 24 hrs. a day just makes so much sense and gives me peace in doing this.

But in saying all of this, this next photo happened to be taken before our cloth diaper transition. Before the last disposable ran out. Oh and our cloth diapers are so... much cuter than these disposables!

Now that she's the big uno she gets to join in the cupcake fun. This was after eating one of grandma's Frankenstein cupcakes. Bath time baby!

I don't know if a baby was ever more loved than this little chickadee. She couldn't possibly bring us any more delight than she already does. God certainly knew what he was doing when he decided to sneak another little blessing into our lives. Can't even possibly imagine life without our little girl.

We all love and adore you Maggie Eliza!!!

October in a Nutshell

2010-12-06T19:28:00.000-05:00

I fought off the urge to post Christmas happenings since I knew darn well that I was about two months behind. Obviously blogging has taken the back seat in my life, or better said it's in the trunk now, but I do want to post these memories for my little ones sake since Lord knows I don't have time to journal. I truly do want to but so do I desire to craft and sew and organize and decorate and make soap and oh I think you get the picture. Our days have been full and October was no exception. As I looked through the tons of photos from the month trying to choose which ones to preserve on this blog I smiled at the realization of my life at it's current state. I have been blessed with three kooky kids who love each other dearly and have so much fun living life together. I am so grateful that Maggie is reaching the age where she likes to be right in the middle of whatever it is they are doing. Although it still saddens me knowing the baby days are nearly over, I am excited for what's to come. As she gets older it is easier for us to venture out and do more big kid stuff. And there is more freedom that little babes just don't give as cute and sweet and snuggly as they might be. But regardless I'm hanging onto each and every baby moment by a thread. Not wanting to let go but knowing the fun times that are ahead when I do.

I love this picture of Fletch in his cape and sword. But more so I love that I have learned to let my boys be boys.

These two Knights wouldn't let anyone harm this little princess

Maggie LOVES... her big brothers just about as much as they love her

If you know Fletch then you know that he can't keep a serious face for long!

This is what I mean by Kooky. They are lucky I love them anyway!

Loving the freedom to allow our babe to sit in the hay as we stuff our scarecrow.

Not loving that the mosquitoes won't just leave her sweet cheeks alone!

Daddy hung an overly large tire from an old oak. This little boy thinks it's pretty cool.

What I notice and love about this picture:

Colton wearing his Halloween Knight shirt from 4 years ago. Fletcher in a Jack Sparrow vest shirt with a Zorro mask and a different gun in each hand. All while watching his big brother remove the hook from a bass.

This picture is one of those that will forever bring me back to this time in our life.

When we'd be in the middle of school and the kids would declare a dress up break time.

Then dress up would suddenly be interrupted by the urge to run out to the pond and catch a fish or two.

*in the rain*

they painted some pretty spooky skulls

and baby got to model it for everyone

I take loads and loads of photos at the pumpkin patch

Always have always will

Pumpkins just make me happy. Especially the funny looking ones.

Fletcher truly adores his baby sister. I wish I could capture it more on camera than I do.

It's so nice having another mommy always on hand and ready to step in my place

the stem sold us right away

Sometimes I catch Maggie just sitting still taking it all in. Especially as she watches her big brothers and sister play. I know she'll be so happy when she can keep up.

this man's got talent!

she looked so proud of her pumpkin

The ones who came home with us. The pumpkins too.

We went to a crazy hair party. I forgot to take photos before we left for the party so this is after we got home late that night.

The wall of ghouls. I love Maggie Mae's little bitty foot print up there.

Fletch fell asleep in the car on the ride home from the crazy hair (and eyebrow :) party so he woke up the next morning looking extra groovy ;)

yummy desserts were made by Suzanne and Katie

miss m

Have you ever seen a cuter Ninja Turtle? I didn't think so ;)

This is about as creepy as the smith family gets

Gracie and I planned out the details for this costume and made it together. When I look at this picture not only do I see a beautiful peacock, but I see beautiful memories that my daughter and I made together.

We're ready for some trick or treating followed by a very special 1st birthday the very next morn!

Big Boys are Movin' In!

2010-10-27T10:48:00.005-04:00

We were excited to add a few new additions to the farm this week. Actually we purchased these three new goats back in early September but decided not to pick them up from St. Augustine until we returned home from Costa Rica. One thing led to another and life got in the way of us taking a family trip to go get our goats so finally last Friday Josh offered to take off of work and go pick up our new goat friends.
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The family we purchased them from live in the St. Augustine area and the daughter is big into showing her goats. At the show last weekend she took Jr. Grand Champion for her Nubian doe. Now that she is approaching college age they are selling off their prized herd. They mainly raise Nubians and Oberhasli's which I have long been drawn to Ober's. Not only are they elegant and beautiful but I was eager to get to experience their quiet nature and sweet temperament that many have spoken about. I don't know if I ever blogged about it (most likely not since I pretty much gave up blogging) but we were forced to sell our Nubian Gracie who was our family milker due to her loudness. She was obnoxiously loud and our neighbors were becoming our enemies because of her so she had to go. We also sold her younger sister Ruthie along with Gracie because not only was she nearly as loud but she was Gracie's sidekick and rarely left her sisters side. I couldn't bare to separate the two of them so they went to a Jewish family down south who are planning to start up a big goat dairy farm. It deeply saddened me to see them go but at that point in time I knew we didn't have another option. Josh jokingly said we'd have to put bark collars on them if they stayed so that meant it was time for them to go.
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So back to the Ober's, the two that we bought both both came from excellent show and heavy milking lines. The doe's name is Brioche and the bucks is Qwilleron and they both derived from Devonshire farm. Brioche's grandmother Hassida won national champion Ober and Grand Champion Udder and is also the dam (mom) of the highest selling Ober doeling ever sold which went for $4800. I know this is totally more than you care to know about but it is fun to brag about my goats instead of my kids for a change. Also I am learning so much recently about pedigrees and what it can do for your line and I'm just so excited to have a piece of such a great lineage.
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Our Ober Buck Qwill is not so bad himself. His grandmother Nikki is a highly valued Ober who also is a Grand Champion and earned her star milker status and his other grandmother Remote is a Reserve Grand Champion and Reserve Best Udder so this speaks a lot about Devonshire Farm. They produce top notch Obers for sure!

This is a picture of the previous owner and Qwilleron. He is so big but very gentle.

We also were given the opportunity to buy their Nubian yearling who also came from a great line of show Nubians. His name is Heart Throb but the kids are trying to come up with a good strong nickname for him. Qwilleron is so bold that Heart Throb needs to match it so he can keep up with Qwill's manliness. Heart Throb's grandfather is the well known Extreme Style from My Buddy's Nubians and his sire (dad) Extremist was bred with a gorgeous doe to produce him. I think he'll make a great match for our two Nubian does who are ready to be bred along with any other Nubians that shall come live on our farm in the future.

Here is Heart Throb's picture taken with his privious owner.

So far so good with the boys. I was slightly hesitant if not scared about having bucks of our own but we did our research and came to realize that if we plan on raising goats for years to come then having our own bucks is going to be the easiest route. By the time you travel to go breed your does along with the stud fee it adds up when you have multiple does. And we are already at six. But the boys have been very well behaved and quiet for the most part and although they would do anything to get into the does territory they keep to themselves in their pasture. We are waiting for signs that the does are in heat and then they can go on dates with their men. I am so excited for babies! If all six happen to breed successfully imagine the little ones that will be hopping around come spring time. As the babe of my own prepares to turn one, I think having some cute needy kids around will help cure me from baby fever.

Here is a picture of my sweet Brioche. We started calling her Brie for short but Brioche is rubbing off on me and it's a fun name to say.

She has proven to be true to her breed and is definitely the quietest goat on our farm along with Qwill who I don't think I've heard make a peep yet. She is also as gentle and sweet as can be.

A picture of the handsome Qwilleron. The kids love his long beard!

Bucks are very funny though. You have to really know what you're getting into before you get them. They are not pets, as they can't be trusted during their breeding season called rut. This season usually lasts from August through January. Even the kindest bucks have known to cause harm to their owners due to their strong desire to breed with something, as crazy at that sounds. They pee on their heads to emit a strong odor that the does find irresistible. Thankfully they are kept at the very back of our 5 acres so we don't smell them unless we get close. So far they've been as gentle as we could hope for and their previous owner said they never had issues with these two so hopefully that will stick. But still knowing what we know we don't allow the kids to go back in their area and we too take caution when doing so.

Brioche fits nicely in our herd of does. They took to her right away and she is so gentle and sweet that she doesn't stir up any issues. Our spotted Nubian Mary Rose is the queen of the herd. She keeps everyone in line and often pushes them around.

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The sire (father) of our three Alpine triplets was an Ober. Oberhasli used to be in the same category as Alpine until it became a recognized independent dairy breed in 1980. We are going to breed them with Qwill our Ober and although they are registered goats they will be a mixture of Alpine and Ober. I think they are about as gorgeous as any goat gets and they will make lovely family milkers. They all have such sweet and friendly personalities and out of all of our goats they are the most loving by far.

Costa Rica part 1

2010-10-22T00:46:00.004-04:00

Being that I have about a zillion and four photos from our trip that I'd like to post, I am overwhelmed at which ones to post and which ones not to. So randomly I'm selecting pictures not necessarily my favorites just so I can move on with this months excitement.
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On the morn of Sept. 20th, the birthday boy, his birthday girl mom and the rest of the clan piled into a jet plane and sailed the blue skies for the first time in all of his four years of life. Outside of the womb anyway. He couldn't have been any more anxious about taking a ride on a REAL airplane and was so excited about all the details of the day.
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As for me, my heart was as full as it could possibly be on my birthday. It was all a flutter as I boarded that plane just as my belly was four years earlier when a nearly full grown baby was stirring inside of me. At the time I had no idea what an incredible little being was preparing to emerge from me. A person so full of spunk, thoughtfulness, and love. And such a fun boy! This would be our first baby that we'd be surprised at birth by the gender. I was the least bit concerned about the gender and was just so grateful to have the chance to be mama to another little person whom God entrusted me with.

So to celebrate the fourth birthday of our sweet little guy, we made plans to venture back to the amazing country of Costa Rica. And it wasn't too bad of a birthday gift for me neither. Now that my brother Brian, sister in law Kelly and two darling nieces are living there, it was the perfect opportunity and reason to take a visit.
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We had such an incredible journey and are already dreaming of when we can go back again. Costa Rica is like eye candy to us. Everything is so green, lush and full of life. We couldn't believe how dull Florida looked on our ride home from the airport. Our eyes were so adjusted to seeing color and lots of it! There is beauty everywhere and especially in the people who live there. Oh my goodness they are so genuinely nice over there. Not only do they have such big hearts but are overall very happy content people. It seems that it didn't matter their circumstances, they were just as grateful and full of joy as they possibly could be. The kids did a research project on Costa Rica after returning home and learned that they have one of the longest life expectancies. No surprise there! Stress doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary like it is here. After spending some time there we have a deeper level of respect for the country and it's people. And we understand much more now how my brother managed to pack up his family and leave us to move to another country. We can't blame him a single bit and we feel very blessed to be able to go there and visit them. Hopefully as often as possible!
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Colton has already let us know that if Uncle B. is still living there when Colton becomes an adult then he's moving there too. After hearing my brother say the same thing after he visited Costa at a young age, I know that anything is a possibility. I am already preparing myself mentally to be a supportive parent no matter how far my children choose to move. As hard as it may be for me I would never want to hold them back from living our their dreams. My mom was always Brian's number one supporter about this dream of his and I know that she is smiling from heaven and as proud as she can be that he followed that dream and made it come true. Life is just to short not too! I know that God has a plan for each and every one of my four precious children and I'm excited to see where He takes them. And I have already promised myself that I will stand strong and be their number one cheerleader through it all!
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Here are random pics from our trip, not really in any order. I seriously took more photos than I knew what to do with. It was slightly mind boggling going through them all and trying to decide which ones to keep and which ones to toss. I'll try to post a part 2 of our trip to add more photos. We were able to do some really neat things. I especially need to blog about the birthday boy's adventure in zip lining. That kid is crazy!!!
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For Fletcher Eli and I, 9/20/10 will be a birthday we will never forget!

After getting off the plane and getting our rental van, we stopped for a bite to eat at a restaurant and they even sang us "feliz cumpleanos". It was a fun start to our trip.

We arrived to B and K's house really late that night. But the toucans and howler monkeys woke us up bright and early to the most beautiful view.

There house looks out onto the beautiful pacific ocean. They frequently see humpbacks frolicking in the waters from their back porch.

uncle b. and fletch (and little domi) woke up early to play some cards

the view from their bedroom balcony

bright beautiful colors everywhere

more birthday celebrating

manuel antonio beach

isn't this piece of driftwood beautiful?

in the rainforest there is so much to see

yummy lychee's

Not sure what this pose is all about but it makes me laugh. She is only seven right?

monkeys everywhere

check out that monster forming behind them

so glad C got a little surf in too. He loves it.

fletch and his buddy "uncle" Clint

some monkeys are almost too tame but it was super cool to get to see so many of them up close

G bought this necklace made of coconut the day we arrived at Costa and took it off for the first time yesterday, exactly one month later. Guess she really loves it.

"I spy..."

I love this picture of a rainforest tree. They were beautiful!

Me and my Magnolia

cattle drive across a river. yes they still do things the old fashioned way there.

mountain road

lobster claw heliconia

I'm starting to believe that we're a little too infatuated with our baby

The whole crew. We all survived 10 days together!

this cute shirt was a hand me down from the Sylvester girls

maggie loved the rocks and the freedom to explore

a costa rican swimming pool a few minutes from their house

Pura Vida is Costa Rican saying meaning "pure life" in other words "all is good"

Fletch was playing poporatzi and took this picture of us while out to lunch at Los Suenos.

Stay tuned for more....!!!

Rainbow Party

2010-09-15T10:45:00.000-04:00

My cute little side kick turned seven last month. In celebration of her sweet life we had fun at a rainbow dance party in her honor. The girls danced, feasted on Gracie's favorite pizza from Anna's, painted treasure boxes in all colors of the rainbow and ate the most delicious cake that even Rainbow Brite would be proud of. Here are the glimpses of her day.

{i made her this super cute and easy hair tie by tying strips of ribbon to an elastic band}
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{what's better than a rainbow fabric flower hair clip? well an overly large rainbow lollipop that's too large to possibly eat of course!} whew... try and say that five times. I dare you!
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{the cake masters suzanne and katie (aka grandma and aunt katie) did it again!}
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{it wound up being so tall that the top red layer had to get left out!}

{i've been making the kids these shirts by ironing on felt letters or numbers and stitching around them with the machine followed by hand stitching a yarn border. another super quick and easy project. love it!}

{my favorite home school friend danielle with her little pumpkin faith who happens to be only 3 days older than my girl.}

My little lady has one of the sweetest yet toughest hearts I know. She has a heart to serve others and does acts of kindness not for rewards or acknowledgements but just to put a smile on the face of another. I adore that about her. She joyfully helps out around the house often without being asked to and rarely turns down an offer to help with her baby sister. She has made having a baby so much fun because she really helps out when I need a hand with Maggie and gives me much needed breaks throughout the day to be able to juggle all that I need to do.

But on the other hand she is also one tough girl. Not too much bothers her and she easily brushes off situations that would most likely have our boys in tears. She is known for coming back with a positive remark about a negative situation as she always seems to be looking on the bright side. Josh thinks she's going to break boys hearts one day because it isn't hard for her to just tell it like it is about how she feels and then move on with her business. She'll probably say "Oh dry your tears you'll be fine. You'll find the right girl eventually just keep looking." Ha! I can hear her now!

She still continues to do really well in school and is in the second grade this year. As far as her interests and activities go she is going to start a weekly horseback riding camp soon and is also starting piano lessons. She will continue with dance but we haven't decided on staying with ballet or switching to jazz. She really likes the fun fast paced jazz style of dance but she's been taking ballet since she was three and I don't want her to just walk away from it completely at this point. She still really enjoys it but with ballet alone being two days a week how many activities can a girl have! She also recently started girl scouts with our home school group and will also be in 4 H this year along with Colton.

I am big into being home as much as possible because when families get overly busy and are running hectic lives going this way and that I don't feel that it's beneficial to anyone in the family. When we are home we have so much here to do on the farm to keep us busy not to mention the many projects with crafts, sewing and cooking that we love to get to only if time will allow. When our schedules fill up we just don't have time for anything extra that we enjoy and it seems like everyone gets cranky and life just doesn't flow as well as it could.

With that being said I am trying to be very selective in what activities we commit ourselves to and if it requires too much time from us than I have to think long and hard if it will help develop their character or make a positive impact in their lives long term. When my kids are grown their character, morals and values will be of number one importance and that is what I feel God wants me to focus on. That makes them who they are. Sure it won't hurt for them to be a graceful dancer, to have a little rhythm, to be able to hold their own during a sports game and maybe even stroke some keys in sync on a piano so that is why I try and make some time in our lives for those things. But they certainly will not rule our lives and take over our weekly schedule.

We've got milking to be done, chickens to be fed, family sports in the yard followed by a quick dip in the pond before we end the day with story time in mama and daddy's bed. That's the simple life I know and love and don't want to ever let that go.

The Three B's

2010-08-28T16:59:00.007-04:00

We have new B's on our farm. B's as in Blair, Bonnie and Bliss, our three new Alpine triplets. We were fortunate to meet an awesome lady near Alachua who has been raising Alpine's and Oberhasli goats for many many years. She was an incredibly neat lady! And her farm. AH! I could go on vacation there and be in heaven. It was GORGEOUS! She had a beautiful log cabin set high upon a hill on many, many acres filled with the most amazing shade trees I'd ever seen. I was nearly drooling. This lady was like a Mrs. Dr. Doolittle. I'm sure she understands what animals are saying when they talk. Her goats are so very loving and I could sense a state of peace among her farm the moment we stepped out of the truck.

The sad part of the story is that she has a bad back that's getting worse as she ages. And her sister is very sick with cancer so she is leaving her farm for some time to go take care of her. So for these reasons she can no longer care for her goats and this is where we step in. She gave us an amazing deal on the three youngest members of her farm family. Three triplet girls whose mom died of Ketosis after she delivered them. What is Ketosis? This gets sort of scientific but it is the result of the high energy demand of multiple fetuses in late pregnancy. Does carrying triplets have a 240% greater energy requirement and when this demand exceeds the supply, fat is metabolized into glucose. The kids health is secured at the expense of the dam and because of this her health fails. To complicate matters, multiple fetuses produce more waste products, which leads to the doe becoming toxic if she does not flush them from her system. So these three girls were bottled fed from the get go and think that us humans are their mama. They adapted to us very quickly and seem to feel right at home on our farm.

So let's meet the three B's shall we?

First we have Blair. Meaning: Child of the fields. Pretty fitting I'd say.

Blair is strinkingly beautiful. I love the strong contrast of darks and lights on her.

Next we have Bonnie which means "pretty"

A note about Bonnie. She is the calmest, quietest one but she is always the first to get in front of the camera.

Yes Bonnie, we think you're pretty

And last but not least is Bliss which means joy. And that she is. She is such a joy and is so pretty as her white self prances around the pasture.

These girls certainly are loved.

I think we might have a goat whisperer of our own in the works.

Either way we make sure they know they're well loved.

Home Cookin' with Ree

2010-07-15T16:03:00.005-04:00

Do ya'll know about the Pioneer Woman? If not, you must run and jump on the bandwagon. This lady is something else. I have been reading her blog for a few years now but just recently started cooking from her recipes. And they are TO DIE FOR! So much so that I broke down and bought her picture filled mouthwatering cookbook. Her own photography cover the pages and will make your heart fall in love with life on the ranch. I know it made mine.

Another thing I love about this cookbook is how each recipe has step by step photos along with the directions. Being an overly visual person I love this! It get to picture compare and make sure that each step into my cooking looks just as it should.

I also love what this mama of four has to say about homeschooling her punks, as she lovingly calls her children. You can read that here if you'd like.

She has some great recipes in the cooking section of her blog. We love, love, love her creamy mashed potatoes. I'm going to go head into the kitchen as soon I lay the babe down for nap time and cook up some of her recipes for supper tonight and for tomorrow night's small group dinner. Yum!

The Great Curriculum Debate

2010-07-14T17:26:00.008-04:00

I have been spending the past few months reading, reviewing and researching for a curriculum to use for school next year. I knew I wanted to stick with a Charlotte Mason approach to teaching but just wasn't sure how to go about it. The thought of compiling my own lesson plans was beginning to feel daunting and I was getting a little concerned whether I would figure out what to do in time. The summer is going by faster than I'd like. I now have a 2nd and 4th grader to teach so it's not all fun and games anymore (although we try are hardest to make it that way).

I finally got to the point where I stopped searching on my own and left it up to God. If it is He who calls us to this adventure of homeschooling than surely He will show us the right curriculum for us. Today, He answered that prayer. I used a curriculum called My Father's World for Kindergarten and 1st grade and loved it. The kids loved it. School was fun. Projects galore and I loved how all the subjects were tied together so nicely. And there was hardly any planning on my part to be done which was really nice and easy. I would sit down about a week in advance and review the upcoming week, putting library books on hold that coordinated with the subjects we'd be learning and pick up any needed supplies at the store for our projects. I stopped using My Father's World when we joined Classical Conversations and that became our curriculum for Kindergarten (Gracie) and 2nd grade (Colt). And then last year we didn't rejoin Classical Conversations and basically did what we could do to squeeze school into our busy days. We focused on making sure we covered the three R's and just tried to keep up with all that life was demanding from us. Pregnancy, selling our home, rebuilding a new one, moving, birthing a baby, raising a newborn, starting a farm, you get the picture. Last year was mostly about building life skills and character while throwing in a little reading, writing and arithmetic while we were at it. It really is incredible though to look back into our year and see all that we as a family learned and experienced together. Those things will stick with us I know.

So this year I wanted to get reorganized and start with a fresh approach. The more I researched Charlotte Mason, the more I loved her style. I knew I wanted to base my schooling around her philosophy of teaching. At first I thought I could make my own lesson plans for the main subjects using various books and try and piece it all together with bible, art/handicrafts, science, nature studies, history, etc. The closer the school year approached the more overwhelmed I became with this idea. It got me searching for a solution which eventually led me to completely turn the whole situation over to God and give my mind a break. Something I should have done from the very beginning.

In the meantime I knew I wanted to use my old My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum for Fletch this year. He will be nearly four by the time the school year starts and will be well ready for it. I used the Kindergarten program with Gracie too for preschool as it is pretty basic in teaching ABC's, learning to form letters, learning basic numbers and so on. But the curriculum is so much more than that and has an awesome creation study that I just loved and am so excited to do with my little Fletch. So as I went on the MFF website to order him a set of the student materials something else caught my eye. Their program for grades 2-8. That program is reviewed below and I'm posting it here for those who may be interested in reading more about it. I for one think it sounds great and love how I will be able to teach my children together. Not only is it more fun for them to be studying the same thing at the same time but it allows us all to learn together as a family and I think that's what it's all about. Fletcher too can listen in during story time and can participate in the projects as well. It's amazing how much knowledge he has gained this past year just from being present in the same room while we were doing school. He is learning to recognize and say the names of the presidents, locate states on a map and we catch him skip counting while he's playing... "8, 16, 24, 32, click click (of the tongue) 40, 48 and 56 (click, click)" and so on. These are not things that I am teaching him, at the age of 3, just things that he hears the other children learning and picks up on it. I think that's pretty cool!

Okay, on with the review.

Product Review by: Heidi Shaw, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father's World

By Marie Hazell

Let me start by saying that this is no ordinary curriculum, and the Hazell's are no ordinary authors - these folks have spent eight years in Siberia, following the Lord's leading, and translating the Bible for a previously unreached people group. David and Marie and their family have been whereof they teach, they have seen the world, felt the need, and now they are back in the U.S. writing for children with the prayer of equipping a generation of children to see God's hand in all of history, and share God's heart for the nations. They also support the ongoing work of translating the Bible into languages for minority groups that don't have their own written language.

Just knowing this about the Hazell family intrigued me. I couldn't wait to see what they would come up with in terms of a geography curriculum, and I was totally blown away. Following the teachings of Charlotte Mason, with their own uniquely developed ideas for unit studies, Marie and David have produced a geography unit study package that is one of the best I have seen in every way. Ease of use, enjoyment, variety, and academic achievement as well. I am a veteran high school mom now, and I long ago stopped looking for the perfect curriculum, but let me tell you, this one comes as close as is possible - and it has appeal and interest for everybody. Come take a look with me.

Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father's World will open your student's eyes as to how vast and varied this world is and how big and magnificent is the God who created it all. Focusing on geography for the first of a projected five-year plan is, in my opinion, a great idea. Helping the kids get a handle on the size of this globe, on the types of environments people live in, and on the cultures that other children grow in can only give them a firmer grip on the unfolding of history as they learn it in later years. They will know when learning about Ancient Egypt and the Nile river valley, because they will know where Egypt is! They will understand about the Mongols and the invading hordes, because they will have studied the vastness of Russia and China. They will connect with the stories of the Aztecs and Incas, because they have already learned where South America is and learned how the people of the jungle developed their own unique cultures. So, set sail with your children and enjoy alongside them the amazing creativity and genius of God in the building of this planet where we live.

No matter what your style or stage of homeschooling, MFW has something for you. Moms new to homeschooling will love the well laid out weekly lesson plans. Complete on one sheet for each week with any extra instructions on the very next page, you won't have to fret about flipping around big teachers manuals to find your space. The lessons are easy to implement and the books can all be copied for extra children in the home. You can relax and enjoy your journey with the children knowing that the bases have all been covered and you can easily keep track of where you are at any given time!

For moms of many, you will be thrilled at how adaptable the program is to differing ages and stages. All the books are able to be copied and each child will be making their own notebooks as they "visit" different countries. The difference will be in how much detail and content each child brings to their book. All grades from two through six can join in together and read about the same missionaries, discover the same countries, and share the same discussions. The older ones go on to build a more detailed book with pages from World Geography, among others. There are easy instructions for each activity and art projects are also included right in the book, or the accompanying Global Art book. There should be plenty to keep your children active, so even if you need one-on-one time with a certain child, the others can carry on or delve into the book basket for some reading at their own levels. Responsibility for their own work is rightly handed to the older children, while still having mom close by for accountability and encouragement. And no one feels left out because all are studying the same theme each week.

For the veteran mom like me, you may well consider this program a gift from God. If you have always planned and sourced out your own curriculum and made your own lesson plans, Exploring Countries and Cultures will be an enjoyable respite for you and, I discovered, a delight to be able to be in anticipation with my kids as to what was coming next (I only read one or two weeks ahead, so then it is fun for me too, and I can still order books from the awesome resource lists to put in the book baskets when we get there)! The library is indispensable to me as a mom of five and Marie has prepared great reading lists for each unit, placed with each unit, so I can find it easily and get the books coming in on time. There is enough flexibility and free time with this program that you can easily schedule in extra activities, field trips, or service projects for your kids while still following the lesson plans. Another thing I like is that the lesson plans are not dated so you can stop and start if need be and always be in the right spot! Or you can tweak it and jump around a bit in the units, to follow your children's specific areas of interest. No harm will come from visiting Australia before South America or vice versa - it just flows beautifully however you arrange it. I encourage you to take the opportunity to try an all-in-one unit study, and maybe, like me, you will be pleasantly reminded as to why you began homeschooling in the first place - you can all be learning together and enjoying each other!
Those of you who love CM philosophy and techniques, you will find oodles of great things in these pages. Marie loves the CM philosophy of gentle, natural learning, and it shows! The nature walks some of us only dream of starting are built right into the plan, along with tons of great ideas, living books, and "twaddle-free" activities. Lots of dictation, narration, and read aloud will let you follow the principles Miss Mason espouses, and allow you the freedom and time to enjoy them!

For those of us who like to have traditional, text-based programs, you will enjoy this program as well. Marie has written a schedule for each week incorporating specific books, most of which could stand alone and be worked on independently, just as with text books. The kids can set their own pace to get through the books and they have the benefit of having great art projects to choose from to give some variety, and tons of great reading selections, any of which you can use for book report material, if you so desired. The programs that Mrs. Hazell recommends for spelling and writing were designed to be used on their own rather than as part of a unit of study, so you can always structure your time the way you like it.

As you can see, this program has broad appeal for all walks of homeschooling. I have learned we are a very eclectic group and I am amazed at the versatility built into this plan.
The whole Exploring Countries and Cultures program can be built on your own, requiring purchase of the guide only. However, I strongly recommend you consider purchasing the whole package. Everything comes together, even the stickers for the passports the kids will be using. I have SO enjoyed this year not having to go looking for everything I will need. I am one who likes to get the best deal on everything, and I love the hunt, so I was a bit surprised at my own reaction. I just loved receiving the box full of books and it is very economical. Everything is reproducible for your own family and so you always have the core books. I know that we will use a lot of them over again in years to come. Many are non consumable like the wonderful Windows on the World and Hero Tales; they will remain a part of my library forever.
Bible is an integral part of this curriculum, and rightly so. Every week, handwriting practice and dictation will be used to help students memorize verses from the Bible. The Hero Tales book will be used for dictation of character qualities, and you will be reading about missionaries and the work they have done in almost every country you visit. The books chosen have been selected with great care. As Bible translators themselves, David and Marie know the importance of God's Word and how vital it is to our daily lives. I like that I find this sentiment throughout the program. I really feel that we are accomplishing something with a more eternal purpose than just our math and reading skills.

The first two weeks of the program are building block weeks. You will learn and read about the world as a whole, learn the basics of map reading, learn how to identify where a location is in the world and generally get a taste for different cultures everywhere. From there, you will be touring the globe, visiting different continents and countries within those continents. Science is incorporated every week, and the topics here integrate into the area you are visiting. During science, you will be discovering the different climates, eco-systems, and topography found in the area of study. You will travel from desert to mountain to tropical rain forest and meet the animals and vegetation in each location. The science books were chosen carefully, for their excellent academic content and high interest level. You will find some evolutionary comment, as these are not purely creationist books, because the Hazells were looking for the best to discuss the topic needed. What you do with that information is up to you. I tend to agree with the authors that this is a perfect opportunity to discuss with the kids the whole creation vs. evolution topic. Read up and have answers ready for them. There is not much in these books to disagree with and it's important that the kids know what the rest of the world believes. That we have the privilege of teaching them the correct point of view with no distortion, is a joy to me, and I find the kids really like the discussions that go on in our house!

So, what will you need to add to MFW, Countries and Cultures'? Within the package, you will find books covering Bible, geography, science, and some language arts. music, art and math drill are also included. You can choose to add the specific recommendations for English (Primary and Intermediate Language Lessons), spelling (Spelling Power), and writing, (Writing Strands), or you can do as I do and integrate the programs you are using already. The lesson plans block out the time frame for you, how you use those times is up to you. This flexibility of MFW is another thing I love about it. I can take the fantastic plan they offer, add my own flavor to it, and have a wonderful year to which we will look forward. I can't wait! You will need to use a math program - anything that fits your family will work well here. There are some math activities included, such as learning about each countries' currency and how to exchange it, and what it is worth compared to our own. There is also a time blocked for math drill and there are great little drill cards included in the basic package.

Great reading lists are also included, as I mentioned above. Marie has this wonderful part of the plan called "Reading Basket." This is time set aside for the kids to choose books to read from baskets that you have stocked with choices from the lists. The result is that even when you have to be one-on-one with a child, tending to a baby, or busy elsewhere, productive time is still happening. The kids choose and read from pre-stocked baskets that correlate to the country they are studying. My kids LOVE having their own choice, and yet I still control the content.

You will also find sample schedules - including what works for the Hazells' busy family. You will also find many great hints and ideas to help your days flow. I love the music, Wee Sing Around the World, included in the basic package, gives our days some fun and variety. All the extra sheets you need for copying each week are in the appendix at the back of the book. There is so much variety in each week's suggestions that it never becomes predictable. Some activities carry on from week to week and others appear interspersed throughout the weeks.

There is also a great fellowship board available to access from the main web site. The web site is http://www.mfwbooks.com/ and the board is mailto:boards@mfwbooks.com. Marie often stops in to answer questions and to encourage. The ladies on this board are all as excited about this program as I am, come on over and find out why!

By the end of your year in My Fathers' World, you will have completed activities, built your own notebooks, met wonderful missionaries, discovered cultures, and traveled around the world. It doesn't get much better than this! Bon Voyage and don't forget to write!
TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

Doesn't this all sound like so much fun? I am finally getting super excited about starting up the school year again! To me searching for curriculum is sort of like the feeling you get when you go back to school shopping and that confident excitement you feel deep within when you find that perfect outfit. Homeschooling allows the parents to customize their children's education to fit their optimal learning style and I love that freedom. It just makes so much sense to me.

I feel so blessed that God has called our family to homeschool and love how we have choices as to how we educate our children. Being that there are endless amounts of ways to homeschool and choices in choosing curriculum to do so, it may not be exactly easy to make the decisions on the tools we will use to teach these children God has entrusted us with. But the great news is that we don't have to be left alone to make these choices. If we go to the source He will lay it out clearly for us and we can rest assure in His plan. I love that I have the ultimate teacher ahead of me guiding my each and every step of this journey. God is so good!

Big Bundle of Love

2010-07-13T15:43:00.005-04:00

Every month I tell myself that this sweet girl of mine couldn't get much cuter, but she sure continues to prove me wrong. Now at 8 months old not only is she the cutest thing ever but her little personality is unfolding and she is becoming loads of fun too. She is really starting to babble quite a bit and after conquering mama she moved on and started saying dada on Father's Day. I'm sure it was sheer coincidence but I like to think that it was a planned gift for her daddy for all he's done for her. After all, he made her entrance into the world just as calm and serene and he possibly could have and didn't even drop her slippery little body as he guided her out.

She likes to dance a LOT which is so stinkin' cute, she shakes her head as in saying "no" quite a bit too but doesn't truly know what it means yet. She just knows she's being cute and gets lots of laughs and attention when doing so. She also recently learned how to make music with her mouth by running her closed fist back and forth across her lips while humming. Oh the look of pride she shows off when she realizes others are amazed by her talents.

She has learned to pull herself up on her crib bar and is working on getting the crawling thing down. Every day she seems to crawl further and further. She has definitely mastered getting up into a sitting position though which is helpful for those times she topples over and she can get herself right back up again.

She still loves her binky and has been our only baby to be as attached to it as she is. One day I may regret her being so hooked to it but for now I really love the fact that I am not a human pacifier as I have once been before. In fact I'm finding that now that she's eating solids and loves it and has also become quite the busy lady these days, I'm having a harder time getting her to sit still long enough to nurse much. I'm sure she's getting more than she needs though because her thighs tell me so. ;0

She is beginning to prefer finger foods that she can pick up and feed herself instead of mashed up foods. It makes it somewhat more challenging for me to try and figure out what she can handle and what she can't but it is also helpful to put her in her seat and let her feed herself. But her favorite food so far is... you'll never guess. mac and cheese. If you know my other three than this will be no surprise to you. The kids had a sleepover at our friends the Mackie's on Saturday night and they took them to Sonney's for dinner. I asked Gracie what she had for supper and she told me mac and cheese, corn bread and french fries. Oh my, we've got a lot of work to do! :)

After being so patient with Maggie and bedtime for 8 months now, she is finally learning how to sleep. For most of her life so far she has only really slept in her swing but I've been trying off and on to ween her from it. But the problem is on the nights she'd sleep in bed she'd hardly sleep at all so out of my desperation for sleep I'd put her back in her sleep machine. Our routine for now is I nurse her to sleep (yes I know, BIG mistake but we're taking baby steps here) and I lay her down in her crib. Typically she'll go right to sleep but on a few occasions we've had to put her in her crib and let her cry herself to sleep. Thankfully it usually doesn't get to that point though because that's hard on this mama's heart. She has been waking up once at night to eat and if I'm good I'll put her back in her crib (which is still in our room) where she'll usually sleep until morning but if I fall back to sleep then she'll stay in our bed maybe waking up again to nurse at some point in the night. Saturday night since we only had Maggie we went out with Katie and Austin and our friends Terry and Rachel so Maggie wound up staying up late being a party animal. It was so much fun and reminded us of years ago past when we just had Colton and would bring him out in his infant carrier to meet up with friends. She was so tired by the time we got home that she slept straight through and I even had to wake her up Sunday morning to get ready for church.

We have come a LONG way baby so this new sleep pattern is awesome to us! Through times of not getting much sleep I have never let it get me down because I know all too well how soon this stage will pass and honest to goodness I will miss the demands of my wee little one. But oh how I welcome sleep back into my life. It's a glorious thing for sure.

On that note look at this glorious little girl who makes our hearts sing each and every day. Can you believe she's 8 months old already? We are filled with crazy amounts of love for this little honey bun of ours.

Don't you worry 'bout a thing, as soon as photo #4 was clicked I ditched the camera to dig the flower from her mouth. But it was so darn cute seeing her execute her plan of action and watching her close her eyes as she tasted success!

'

I LOVE when she has these little bows in her hair. I don't know why I don't do it more often than I do. In case you are curious how I get them to stick, I found a little secret online and I tried it and it works like a gem. A little dab of Karo syrup does the job perfectly and with a little water it melts right off.

Sleepy girl has had enough photos I guess. It's nap time baby.

She figured out how to do the cutest thing by putting her thumb into her binky hole to keep it handy for easy access.

Smart girl I say!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my farmhouse sink! I have always dreamed of having one of these and if it meant going through all the restoration process that we have gone through and are still going through than so be it. I am glad for it because there is no better way to bathe my babe.

Fabulous 4th

2010-07-11T13:10:00.001-04:00

We had a fun and relaxing 4th of July weekend hardly doing a single house project at all which is huge for us. Josh and Colton went to a Nascar race in Daytona on the 3rd and didn't get home until nearly 4:30 the next morning due to a major rain delay in the race so those two sleepy heads slept for half of the day. When they finally were rested enough to party we went over to Pam and Al's for their yearly 4th get together. It was just as fun as always and keeping with tradition it rained for some of it too. Fantastic food, fun volleyball games, and fabulous friends to spend this special holiday with.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'm going to seriously try to get better about posting more regularly, at least once a week. It will get easier I hope when I don't have to use Josh's computer anymore. I just need to get better about recording these moments in our life all together as they only seem to be going by faster and faster as time goes on.

Maggie was the least bit impressed by the fireworks we did at home and cried through most of them but she really seemed to enjoy the big fireworks put on by Stuart and couldn't take her eyes off of them.

The three big kids all helped make a tissue paper flag which we displayed on our fridge.

all about the red white and blue or I guess I should say the blue white and red

It is so fascinating how fire shows up in photography at night.

You can totally tell that the kids were not into photo taking. Before climbing into the car to go to the party I made them sit by the pond for pictures. To add to their antsy pants it was also drizzling out.

But Maggie Mae sure did look patriotic in her star dress that Grandma got for her. She's becoming such a ham for the camera and I love it!

Some of Gayle Harrell's grand kids who were here visiting from San Fransisco.

Gracie and I made a layered red, white and blue cake for the second year in a row to bring to the party. It barely stayed standing during the drive over and did shift a bit but somehow hung in there. I have plans to improve upon it for next years party though.

Cinderella

2010-06-10T23:08:00.003-04:00

Tonight I decided to sign onto my blog and see if it still exists. Yep, there it was, along with a lot of wonderful memories. I even saw a post or two that I had started and saved as a draft waiting for my return. This is one of them. Since I started this post was back when, my computer took a dive on me only to find out this week it was only the charger that went bad. So a new one is on it's way and should be here sometime next week.

But being without my library of photos along with very little time or desire for blogging left this ship abandoned. Quite honestly not only has time been a tad slim these days but the few moments I do feel like jumping online it hasn't been to blog. Sadly. I know how important it is to preserve these memories that are steadily exiting my mind but I have had more fun things to do. Fun to me anyway but probably not to most. Searching online for porch ideas, barn designs, fabric shopping, school curriculum researching, and let's not leave out the world of facebook which is a great time waster while being a great connection to the world at the same time. These things have all stolen my computer time.

But I'll try to catch up here and now and see if I can't get better about it. I know, I know, how many times now have I said this? Let's not count please. Here are just a few images from a post I had started but never fully imported all the photos to go with it which for now they are stored on my dead computer. They are from after Gracie's ballet recital this year showing all the flowers her fans gave her. The theme of the dance was Cinderella and her class played the part of Cinderella's working days. I'll add more pictures of my beauty when my computer comes back to life.

Spike

2010-05-30T12:13:00.000-04:00

So I did it. The war is over. I finally lost my long curly haired battle. I have always loved little boys with long hair. Especially mine. Colton's hair was once long with curls along the bottom until he was two and a half or so. My dad did me a "favor" not long after Gracie was born and took him to the barber with him for a trim. Have I ever said how sweet my dad is? Well that sweet daddy of mine brought my little guy home with his scalp suddenly visible. He was not on my good list for awhile. A long while.

At his own will he eventually chose to grow it long again and kept it that way for many many years until he realized that shorter hair is much less work and tends to feel better.

So this leads me to Fletcher's story. He was gifted with that soft fine hair and just happened to have the curls that I adore so much too. I savored his hair as long as I could. Many times Josh felt the need to cut it but I'd always persuade him differently. It wasn't until my darling long haired boy (who often would get called a girl) continued to beg me for short spikey hair that my heart started to turn. It wasn't about me anymore. How could I look into those beautiful eyes of his and tell my him that no, he was not allowed to have a hair cut because his mama likes him just the way he is. Curls and all. What kind of message would that be teaching him. Not the kind that I want my children to learn. When it comes down to hair, it is their preference to how long or short they want it to be. I believe in picking and choosing your battles and this is not one that I'm going to pull out the big guns for. They are individuals too and as long as their father and I don't find it harmful to themselves or others or disrespectful in any way then it is their decision to make.

So spikey hair it is.

Doesn't he look so grown up and handsome? {weep...}

cousin love

2010-05-17T19:27:00.015-04:00

Oh how we love our cousins being here. They say you don't realize how much you take something for granted until it's gone. Well I'd say that's pretty true. Thankfully Kelly has been so great about making sure to come back from Costa for many visits but they're not a quick ten minute drive away anymore. That's the part that stinks and is hard to get used to. One cool thing is that Josh's sister and her husband are renting their house so at least we still get to go over to their lovely house occasionally. It's been a labor of love for my brother and he has worked for over ten years making that house what it is. And it represents his artistic style very well.

These cousins love each other so........ much and the way that they embrace each other after not seeing one another for several months just makes my heart crumble. The way they hug each other so tightly not wanting to let go of one another and how they show each other all that has changed since they've last been together. Like lost teeth. Inches grown in both body length and hair. New talents learned.

Ava and Kaya really took to Maggie. They thought she was so cute and had so much fun making her laugh and of course holding and loving on her. She was in heaven with all the attention. That's one thing this girl will never lack.

We had a blast during our two weeks together and made the best of each and every moment.

This little miss is our water baby. She loves it and has never made a peep about going into a cold pool or having the water run down her face in the bath or shower. Go figure, she's the one who didn't wait in time for her planned water birth.

I adore this whale bathing suit from Gymboree. My mom bought this for Gracie and I have many pictures of her at this age wearing it. I should dig them up and do a compare and contrast of the two of them. I haven't done that in a long time.

She could sit here all day and watch the waves come rolling in. Reminds me of the man snoozing right next to me.

I love how the kids got clever with nature. Use whatcha got -- I love it.

baby prints (via mommy's help)

While we do sit here and wish they were back here at "home" permanently, we honestly are slightly envious, okay truth be told -- very envious of their adventures in Costa Rica. It is just a gorgeous country with beautiful people. A completely different way of living that is so unknown to most of us until you go there and see it first hand. I am proud that they are having this opportunity to experience living this life and I know they'll be forever changed because of it. I just think it's awesome that the girls get to go to school there and learn the language and to not be dependant upon all the material things like we are here in the states. They live in a very remote area and have to travel something like 45 minutes inland up into the mountains to go to a store comparable to a low key Walmart. Like what I'd imagine Walmart to be like 50 years ago. No fast food. No stop lights. No over population. But what they do have is lush green rainforest. Sloths and monkeys. Toucans, parrots and hummingbirds. Beautiful waterfalls. And waves galore. Surfers dream waves. Brian surfs twice a day often and he's as happy as a clam there.

But man do we miss them...

Ruthie and Matilda

2010-05-03T08:41:00.000-04:00

We have two new girls on our farm and they are absolutely sweeties! We purchased these two little loves from an awesome Nubian breeder down south. I happened to stumble across her website late one night and started drooling over her beautiful goats. Not only are they gorgeous but they are treated better and loved more than any animal I have ever known. These gals (and guys) are her babies and she pours out her life to them and it shows. She has even accomplished the art of house breaking a few of them. How cool is that! Anyhow we were so fortunate that she was willing to part with a few of them and we are striving our hardest to pass on the love and attention that they would have received in her care.

So without further ado... meet our two sweet girls...

Ruthie...

and Matilda...

Wherever I go they are right at my footsteps and I love it!

Ahh... life on the farm.

Easter 2010

2010-05-03T06:27:00.001-04:00

Easter was extra special this year with our newest little bunny to celebrate with.

We dyed our eggs first then swirled them in a oil/dye mixture. Not quite like Martha's but we liked how they turned out.

I LOVE this pink and blue one. It reminds me of the speckled bubble gum eggs. Yum!

Josh's mom sent us the sweetest package in the mail with a variety of Easter crafts and decor to help get our house looking festive. We took these bunny cutouts and painted, punched holes in and strung a ribbon through to have an instant Easter bunny banner.

Now that we live on a farm we were able to get the kids Easter ducklings this year. Yay! Sadly the three little cuties only made it two weeks with us.

Our friends dogs were living in our RV parked out back by Josh's shop while they were in between houses. One broke out of the RV and Josh woke up in the morning to her attacking the last one but it was too late to save her and the other two were already done. We don't know why she did it because otherwise she was pretty friendly but we do know these guys were a part of our family for not nearly long enough. We had a sweet little burial service for them and said our goodbyes. Life on the farm I guess. These things will surely happen.

Maggie was quite puzzled at why she had to share her bumbo. She did find them quite entertaining though and I would scatter them around her seat to keep her occupied long enough to cook supper.

Here's the bunch on Easter morning. Again, their amazing grandma pulled off another set of adorable matching outfits for them all. Love it and so... appreciate it!

The end!

Farm Name

2010-05-02T09:16:00.000-04:00

We're being pinned down to come up with a name for our farm. We are becoming members of the American Dairy Goat Association, better known as ADGA, so the kids can show their goats and we need a farm name when we register. Also so the goats can have our farm name initials tattooed inside their ears which will be happening pretty soon. This is a requirement by the ADGA. I have brought up several suggestions to Josh and so far he only likes one of them. Every name I mention he has some sort of negative comment for. Not in a bad way he's just trying to look out for the family. And the farm.

Take this for example, I LOVE the color Goldenrod. I think it's tied to be my favorite color. Neck to neck with robins egg blue. I thought it'd be lovely to plant several of these beautiful Yellow Tabeuia trees in the entrance of our farm and name it "Goldenrod Farms". Then when you open our front door you'll be greeted by a pair of cheerful goldenrod colored chairs. Perfect right? Well Josh thought the name sounded a little perverted and said his buddies might just tease him over it. What do you think? Tell me he's just being crazy. I can almost picture it all.

Well veering away from that for a bit, here are more pictures of our unnamed farm. One of these pictures just might give you a clue as to what name is currently highest in the ranking.

On Josh's ranking that is. Geesh!

Any guesses? Any suggestions? Feel free to share! Thanks!

Be Little

2010-05-01T22:08:00.004-04:00

I think I just may have the worlds sweetest baby. I know all mother's must say that, it's kind of like a rule, but I'm serious. I truly believe I do. And she is super yummy to look at too. She's my eye candy for sure!

my little bundle turned 6 months today

believe it or not it's true

I must force myself to comprehend that

but no it's not easy to do

I am more and more convinced each day

that she was sent from up above

cause I'm sure God will tell you too

that only angels are so sweet and full of love

since God has asked me to love and care for this angel of His

I agree to do it gladly

and He has also told me

that it's okay if I cradle her in my arms all day

and smother her sweet cheeks with kisses

and nibble on these dirty little toes

and let her sleep in the middle

and give her hope

give her praise

and give her love everyday

and just let her be little

'cause she'll only be this way for a while

St. Patty's Day 2010

2010-05-01T13:29:00.005-04:00

Better late than never I say! :)

Here are pictures from our St. Patrick's Day. We continued with our usual traditions. Wear green, drink green sprite (or water for our non buzzy drinkers like Gracie), and the must have corned beef and cabbage for supper. This year we added a new tradition. Green eggs and ham for breakfast!

The look of these eggs grossed me out a bit but Gracie and Fletcher weren't bothered a bit by it. And Colton is our non egg eating kid so he had tan pancakes and got pinched for it plenty.

We don't believe in luck but made a traditional St. Patty's day rainbow anyway. Just for fun.

Gracie and I thought she'd better wear a little green to ballet that day so after fumbling through my fabric to make a flower for her hair I realized this is as good as it gets for green. It was all I had but it did the job just fine.

Once Again...

2010-05-01T11:20:00.000-04:00

I am trying to play catch up. Okay, so I've got to figure out a way to better keep up with this. I must. I get so behind and feel overwhelmed at the thought of even attempting to get caught up. Then on top of that my computer has been slower then slow so that makes it even less appealing to sit down and write a post. When it becomes time involved I don't even bother with it. Too much else to do.

Anyhow, we've had a fun and busy March and April mainly spending time on the farm. Thank goodness we don't work and school outside of the home or I don't know how it'd keep up with even half of it. It certainly is a lot of work and unfortunately my house has suffered for it. From waking up to feed the animals, to spending time with them and also bottle feeding the goats three times a day, it definitely can be time consuming. But we truly feel that it'll be so worth it and we're on a mission with this. Not only do I think it's so great for the children to have the life lessons of caring for and raising farm animals but we're hoping to one day raise all of our own meat consumption. Free range, grass fed, all natural chicken, turkey, beef and eggs. And we're hoping to have all the fresh goats milk that we could ever need. And maybe, my little helpers and I could learn how to make goats cheese. And yogurt. And goats milk soap too! Oh the options are endless. And gardening, we desperately want to plant a garden with a colorful variety of produce. We have a small one started already (okay, miniature) and we are attempting to grow carrots, tomatoes, basil, parsley, eggplant and lettuce but I have no idea what will actually produce. We have also been making an attempt at buying locally grown produce. We have a u-pick farm just down the street from us and there's also a farmers market that sells organic produce just across 714. So there is no reason we can't make the commitment to eat more locally grown food when we can't grow it ourselves.

I have hundreds of pictures stored on my computer that I haven't shared yet so here's a bunch to help get me caught up. Some are older from March and some are from April.

Enjoy :)

These pictures of the goats were from right before we sold them. We decided to sell all eight as a group and start fresh with hornless female Nubians that will give us something in return other than trimming down the weeds and a tax exemption. I have dreamed of having my own dairy goats for quite some time now and I'm absolutely tickled to actually be a Nubian owner. Not only are we raising them for their dairy production but they make very lovable pets and we're going to get the kids into showing them as well. How fun will that be! Not only fun but it will teach responsibility, and give them a special connection to goat raising while also connecting them to other goat loving kiddos.

I'll post pictures of our new sweet goats soon. They are beauties and we are in love!

Not only are we having fun with our little critters but this little beauty brings us shear joy every day. We are beyond blessed to have her in our family. She's got the cutest little personality and is so much fun!

We had Lauren and Abby over for a day on the farm while they were here visiting from Texas. They are my sister in law Kelly's nieces and our kids pretty much think of them as their own cousins. They always have a blast playing together.

{this was miss maggie's very first kayak ride :) }

Lauren turned 10 in March and Abby turns 7 in May so they are very close in age to Colton and Gracie.

How do you like our new (yet old) chairs and table set up? The kids actually were the ones who spotted them and after sitting in one for a few minutes I was begging Josh to buy them for us. They are so comfy and make the perfect reading spot. The new kitties in the house really love them too!

Fun in New Smyrna

2010-03-31T23:57:00.000-04:00

For Colton's birthday we surprised him with tickets to the Daytona Supercross race which is a huge motocross race. It is held each year in Daytona at the Daytona National Speedway during bike week. It just so happened to be a cold... weekend too. So with our four little munchkins all bundled up we made our way to our seats and had a great time cheering on the riders. I must admit it was a spectacular sight! Even Maggie enjoyed it. Though it was frigid, the roaring of the motors sent her off to dreamland.

These pictures are on New Smyrna beach with our friends little boys named Wayne Dale and Finnegan. Don't they have the coolest names? You walk across the street from their house to this beautiful beach. Lucky duckies!

We stayed in their aunt's condo in the same complex as their home. It was a fun time catching up with longtime friends as our children made friends with each other. And they are very cool friends at that. Just check out these cape shirts they sported!

Having a Ball of a Time!

2010-03-31T23:04:00.000-04:00

Where oh where did you go March? The month seriously zoomed by as I chased goats, changed diapers, prepared for parties, decorated for holidays, cracked up with the babe as she learned to crack up herself, and marveled at the thought of having a nine year old. Such fun!

That's right, I did say NINE! My sweet, sweet baby boy went and had another birthday on me. And now I have to learn how to parent a 9 year old. A whole new array of challenges arise with each passing year. I'm expecting this year to bring the discovery of lots of unknowns for him. Topics that were once easy for me to just bluff off will have to be explained. For example, while at the Dr.'s office today, Colton took Fletcher to the restroom for me while I stayed in the waiting room with the girls. He came back from the bathroom holding a shiny blue condom wrapper asking "mom is this one of those napkin things" (wet nap). "Uhhh... NO!!! Colton go put that back where you got it. QUICK!" I know if we don't explain certain things about life to him soon, then he'll find out from someone else which is NOT what I want to happen. That is bitter sweet for me. In some ways it's exciting to see him emerge from young childhood to a person who "gets" life. It makes for some fun and... let's just say very interesting conversations. Am I ready for all of this? I guess I got to be. Ready or not the time is here.... or near.

It's strange how it seems like yesterday I was lying in a hospital bed in the middle of the night as my 6 pound 12 ounce baby locked eye contact with me. Through my blurry tear filled eyes I stared at the boy who I would raise to become a man. I think about that special moment often as I'm staring into the eyes of my boy who is not so little anymore.

Seeming like yesterday yet I can hardly remember life without him. Life before I became his mama. That seems so foreign to me. Me with no kid on my hip. No sippy cup to fill. No tear to wipe dry. No I love you - I'm proud of you - good job little one, to say. That's a life I am glad to no longer know. And the sad part? The life I now live is only a small chapter in my life and one day, not long from now, the life I'm living will be a life I no longer know. (oohh... a tongue twister. I love those!) To be completely honest, it makes me a tad bit jealous of Michelle Duggar. She has been able to hold onto childhood for so much longer than most of us get to. So, so much longer. Most people would think I'm strange for feeling this way and simply just wouldn't get it. But that's okay. I don't know why God gave me the heart for little ones but I am grateful for it. It is such an honor and a joy to spend my days with these precious children He has entrusted me with. I get such a thrill out of it and I can't imagine living my life any other way. I will say It's made for an incredible chapter of my life so far! It's a journey for which I feel very blessed, yet extremely inadequate to be on.

We may be doing it all wrong but I trust that as long as we're seeking God's direction in how we're doing it, we can't be doing all that bad. Right? (this is where you nod and just agree)

******************************

While we were trying to celebrate Colton's birthday, stomach bugs and ear infections were attempting to crash our party. Maggie had been extremely irritable, like screaming all day miserable so it was all I could do to take care of her. Then on top of that we all started to not feel so good which later that night we learned was the start of a vicious stomach bug. I was a tad bit overwhelmed to say the least and was not functioning well off of hardly any sleep from the "baby no sleep" night before. I just couldn't pull it off. Thankfully Colton's birthday wasn't a complete flop as God gave me AMAZING in laws who quickly came over and took care of every single detail to make his day extra special. The smiles in the above pictures are the proof that it was a great evening. Josh and I were walking Zombies so I'm glad to have had these pictures to look back on since I barely remember being there at all.

We waited to do his friends party until his cousin Dillon came into town from Gainesville with his mom Kim. We were so happy that my Grandma and Aunt Janet came down with them. We had a great time being together as always!

My mom's mom Marjorie has always been so special to me and I admire her dearly. She lived on a farm in south Georgia and had a huge beautiful garden that I could only dream of having one day. I can still hear her voice coming in to wake me up in the morning saying "rise and shine! The blackberries are waitin'"! Or her ringing that old farm bell telling us it was time to mosey our way back to the house. Oh... the simple days of life on a farm. That place was a dream. Floating in the pond on a black inner tube one minute then catching fish in that same pond the next. Going on moped rides down those red clay roads letting your hair blow wild and free. Swinging with a farm cat on your lap on the back porch watching Grandma pin the clothes on the line. And those evenings of eating Papa's homemade caramel corn while watching Lawrence Welk. The good ole' days. The type of days I'm trying to bring back and give to my kids. 5 acres might not quite do it but it's a darned good start I say. By the way, if you ever stumble across one of those farm bells give me a holler. My poor strained voice would greatly appreciate it!

We had such a blast with this group of boys. This was by far the simplest and easiest party yet. I'm sure that's because I didn't do a darn thing except for make the phone call to set it up with the alley and make Colton's request of "dirt" for dessert. Josh and I took separate vehicles and drove all the boys except for two brothers who's mother brought them. So it was pretty much just Josh and I, the kids and an awesome young party attendant that works at the Stuart Lanes. I'm starting to wonder if all of these extravagant (not to mention pricey) parties that we throw for the kids really mean that much more to them than a little get together like this. Colton seemed on the top of the world that night and talked about it for days. Doing something he loves with some of his closest friends, I don't think he could have ever imagined anything better.

Agape

2010-03-13T09:59:00.001-05:00

Three things will last forever -- faith, hope, and love -- and the greatest of these is love. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13

Did you know the word love is used over 500 times in the bible?

God has a lot to say about love and because of this, we celebrate Valentine's Day not only in honor of our love for each other, but our love for God and His great love for us.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ~ Deuteronomy 6:5

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~ Romans 5:88

For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. ~ Psalm 37:28

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me. ~ Proverbs 8:17

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. ~ 1 Chronicles 16:34

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. ~ Zephaniah 3:17

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. ~ Psalm 13:5

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. ~ Proverbs 3:33

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. ~ Psalm 59:16

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. ~ Psalm 36:5

You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. ~ Psalm 86:5

He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor. ~ Proverbs 21:21

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ~ John 3:16

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. ~ Romans 5:5

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ~ John 15:12-13

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ~ Matthew 22:37-39

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. ~ 1 Corinthians 2:9

Do everything in love. ~ 1 Corinthians 16:14

Little Miss 4 Months

2010-03-12T13:11:00.005-05:00

Miss Maggie 'Liza' as her big brother Fletch calls her is such a gem to our family. Oh how we love and adore this little sweetness of ours!

We have had so much fun these past four months loving on her and watching her grow into the precious little girl that she is. Each and every smile and giggle that she gifts us with melts our hearts completely and makes our day just that much sweeter. The days of her infancy are flying by ever so fast but we have taken not a second for granted.

Maggie is plumping right up (she has a weakness for milk) and is rapidly learning new skills. She's rolling over, is very 'talkative', and has started to grab at anything in her reach.

She drools like crazy and often makes raspberry type sounds with her lips. Funny girl! Typically if she doesn't have her binky in her mouth then she's sucking on her fingers.

We often sit and look into her pretty eyes and wonder what we ever did without her. She has blessed our family so much with her sweet soul and we are excited that this is just the beginning. We grately look forward to living life with this treasure of ours and can't wait for the memories that we will all create together. With our daughter, our sister, our blessing from above.

Have I mentioned how much I love surprises?

Farmtastic!

2010-03-09T16:52:00.000-05:00

We have begun our long time dream of raising farm animals. My favorite thing about our experience so far? Is how we are all learning about raising and caring for animals together as a family since this is new for each of us. Oh and watching the kids (baby goats not our kids) run around with buckets stuck on their heads. We call them bucket heads. That comes in at a close second.

Here are some pictures that show our favorite things about farm life.

Riding to the feed store with Daddy to load up on hay, grain and milk replacer for the calves. And sometimes coming home with a new chick or two.

We have a cool trail in the back of our property that if quite fun to walk through. This was made when we had a path cleared out for our fence to be put in.

Driving daddy's tractor is always a favorite.

The night our animals arrived we were all so excited! A friend of ours picked them up in two different towns in Florida and delivered them for us. It was late by the time he got here so Fletch was already in bed but the rest of us went out to the trailer to meet our new family members.

Colton named his cow Nickleback or Nick or sometimes Nickey. It didn't take these two long to become great friends. Nick was 3 weeks old when we got him and is a Holstein cow.

Gracie named her cow Benedict or Ben or sometimes Benny the Bull. Ben was 1 week old when he came to live with us and is also a Holstein cow.

The lady we purchased them from said we'd have to bottle feed them twice a day. Oh boy, what were we getting ourselves into! Thankfully we realized they would drink their milk from a bucket too which is so much faster and easier. It turns out that it hasn't been much work at all to feed these two.

Handling cows has been a learning experience for all of us. Josh has had bits of experience with farm animals from his high school years but as far as owning and raising them, this is new to all of us.

Gracie picked out Benny because of the heart on his head. I thought Romeo would be the perfect name for him but when we voted Benny one.

And onto the goats! These little guys are so much fun! I really wanted to purchase a few dairy goats and learn how to milk them and make goat cheese and soap but for now we picked up a herd of eight miscellaneous goats to quickly meet our agriculture exemption quota and to try our hand at goat farming. Although they have been perfect at keeping the bushes and weeds at bay along with giving us our much needed tax exemption we think we will sell some and replace them with some dairy goats like I wanted. Most of these goats were used as pasture goats and haven't had much human handling in their lifetime so they are very skittish around humans. All but two are brave enough to come up and eat out of your hand but most don't like to be pet.

We are hoping to buy some babies that we can bottle feed and raise to be friendly little fellas. Oh yea and buy ones that have already been dehorned for safety. Although I think their horns are absolutely beautiful, I just worry that at some point one of our kids will become victim to them. And I don't like how they push each other around with their horns to get to the food. It's just meanness that I won't allow on our farm!

"Prance" as Colton named her is our youngest baby of the three littles. She was born on January 20th but is so skittish, the only way you can hold her is if you manage to catch her which is no easy task. Just ask Josh! But isn't she adorable!

If you look closely in this next picture you'll see Nickey getting ready to suck on Ben's ear. He uses his ear as his 'binky' all the time and it cracks me up!

We love noticing the differences of the personalities of these two. Nick is so sweet and very playful. He loves to run around the yard and play games. Full of energy just as toddlers are! Little Benny is so laid back and calm and lazy. He's a big love bug!

I need to take some recent pictures of these two because they aren't nearly as little anymore. Nick especially is growing up so... fast!

This farming experience has been so great at teaching the kids responsibility. They know if they don't go out twice a day and feed their animals that they will go hungry. This means waking up early even if it's 40 degrees outside and putting on those boots and getting to work!

It's amazing to think just how huge these cows will grow. Look how itty bitty Ben is right now!

This big guy Oakley is the largest and most friendliest goat of our herd. But there is one little problem. He is a male. An unaltered male. So he must go! We are going to weed through our three males who do nothing but chase down the females all day long. What a way to teach the kids about the facts of life though!

From left to right we have, "Black mama", "Brown boy", little girl "Prance", and "mama" (Prance's mama). In the back is the female goat that won't come near anyone. She is so scared of us and we think she's pregnant. Either that or she has a big tumor on her right side. We also think Black Mama is pregnant too. She seems to be growing wider and wider each day. Unless we're just spoiling her with too much sweet feed!

Mama and Prance. Little Prance never leaves Mama's side.

Fletch feeding Mr. Oakley

Brown boy is a Pygmy goat but will be going bye bye soon. He is such a pig and horns the babies and mamas out of the way so he can eat all of the food. He's very pretty though. At least he has something going for himself.

Oakley is a Boer goat. Boer goats are raised and sold for their meat. Dinner anyone?

The kids love to snuggle with their cows.

The twins! These are Black Mama's babies. The one on the left doesn't have horns and is a female and the one on the right is a male. We don't know if they dehorned her or if that is just how she is naturally but we're just glad for it. Her brother is going to be leaving soon however because we've read that goats can become pregnant as young as 3 months of age and he already likes to 'have fun' with his sister. We aren't exactly sure of their age but think they are at least 3 months. We've also read that it's not healthy for them to become pregnant at such a young age. No surprise! Can you imagine? Another thing we're learning is that it isn't wrong for goats to be bred to their siblings or even parents. This is practiced by many goat breeders to enhance good qualities in goats. Interesting!

It's pretty cool to think of how Maggie is growing up from a tiny infant surrounded by animals. I hope she never knows a day that animals weren't a huge part of her life. I can't wait to see her running around the pasture in her Wrangler diaper covers (I have them already don't worry) and a pair of pink boots on. And her hair in a little pony on the top of her head, if she ever grows any. Ha!

I like to sing to the cows. "Hey Mr. Knickerbocker boppity-bop. I like a the way, that you boppity-bop" is Nickleback's all time favorite. He says "MOO...ORE" when I sing it to him.

Have you ever sang to cows before? You should try it sometime. They won't even laugh at you, it's GR.R.REAT!

Chow Cow!

Here a Cheep

2010-02-24T15:22:00.000-05:00

There a cheep. Everywhere a cheep cheep.
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That's what's going on at our house these days. Chickens are hatching like popcorn kernels.
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We decided to give chicken farming another try. Our first go around was an amazing experience that I am grateful for but the end result was a little distressing. Picking up chicken feathers scattered throughout our yard is not how we wanted to end our brief journey with chickens.
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So now that we can actually keep our chickens and raise them to adulthood we've given it another shot. But this time hasn't been a walk in the park either. The morning after we put our 20 eggs in the incubator for their 21 day incubation period, Colton came in and woke me up saying "one of our eggs is cracking!". He was thinking that a miracle super chick was about to emerge after just a single night of cooking. Well the egg was cooked all right. The little man in the house had pulled a chair up to the incubator, which I thought was out of his reach, (yea I know, nothing is out of Fletcher's reach) and decided to play with the temperature knob. When I went to see this super chick what I saw was a bunch of boiling eggs. The temperature had maxed out at 120 degrees when it is supposed to remain at a constant 99.5 degrees and the eggs were beginning to crack and ooze. Okay, we're not off to a great start so far.
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A few days later we visited a local chicken farm, and a sweet chicken lady sent me home with a fresh batch of eggs to stick in the incubator and told me to toss out the cooked ones as they'd never hatch. I decided to wish for good luck and keep those old eggs in the incubator along with the new fellas just in case. Well, before we knew it we began to hear cheeps coming from the incubator. And on the morning of our homeschool Valentine's day party 3 beautiful chicks came into the world, one with crooked toes and all. No, it's not normal for chicks to have crooked toes but remember, these chicks were partially baked at one point. But it's fitting that crooked toes just happens to be Fletcher's chick which he so lovingly named Zorro. Zorro's alive and well and that's all that matters! We love him just the way he is even if he does walk a little funny!
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While waiting for our other batch to hatch we came home with four new feathered friends after visiting the feed store. We just couldn't resist these fluffy cuties. And before we knew it our new batch was hatching so we have joyful peeps filling up our home these days.
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And here the pictures to go with the story.
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{zorro, just minutes old}

{gracie's barred rock baby named cleopatra}

{an australorp we bought at the feed store}

{the night we first heard the peeps coming from the eggs, fletch was all giggles and said "mom, this is going to be awesome!!!}

{colton's lacy, a silver laced wyandotte}

{fletch calls this one cheep cheep. she is a buff cochin}

{maggie's rhode island red named henrietta. she's a real sweetie!}

{zorro does look a little half baked doesn't he? poor guy!}

{here are our newest hatchlings that arrived february 19th}

{just hatched. not so cute yet, huh?}

{so excited to have another plymouth barred rock. these chicks have always been one of my favorites!!!}

The Absent Blogger

2010-02-22T23:33:00.001-05:00

After taking a long hiatus from this blog I decided I either needed to ditch it or carry on with it staying more diligent about posting on a more regular basis. Since I am so seriously bad about journaling in a book for the kids, I love the fact that this can serve as a sort of journal recording special events in our life that I'm sure to forget about. So with that said, I have decided to jump back into it with full force. To play catch up from where I left off, I am just going to simply say that we had a beautiful Christmas and enjoyed the past three months of "laying low" with a newborn at home but are ready to dive back into life now as a family of four. I have a massive overload of pictures I am going to post from the past few months to get me caught up on where we are today so this will be completely scattered and random. So if you start to feel dizzy, don't worry, it's not just you!
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So let's get started!
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I procrastinated on doing Christmas cards this year until the very last moment. One morning I woke up and thought "okay, if I am going to do this I'd better do it now!" So after getting the kids all ready I went to grab my camera and head out back to the pond and... uh oh! "Where is my camera? KIDS!!! WHERE IS MY CAMERA?" We searched and searched but no camera we found. I panicked! Okay, slightly panicked. But then I figured I'd better get out my back up camera (just a small throw in the diaper bag type of camera) and take some pictures before the kids start shedding off their outfits or the baby starts crying. So off we headed to the pond.

Aren't the kids so cute how they were all matchy matchy? I love it! As corny as it is, I have always been one to love dressing my kids in similar or matching clothing. I can remember after Fletch was born thinking I've got to get these boys of mine matching baggies! And that is just what I did and still do. I have to give credit on their Christmas outfits to my mother in law for putting this ensemble together so perfectly. She even sewed Maggie's dress and coat to match Gracie's outfit. Amazing!

With a little photo editing they didn't turn out too too bad. I found my camera as soon as I came inside and opened up Gracie's bedroom door (which is still being used as a storage room) to find the cord to import the pictures we had taken and what do I see sitting on top of stacked up home depot moving boxes? My camera! Oh that's right. I set it down there the day before. Oops!

carrying on...

There are two things about this picture that make me smile. The pretty little babe in the basket and the cool old door behind her. I am in love with old doors. Especially the key holes on them. Oh, and old windows too but it wouldn't have been practical to put old windows in this house.

(ps... my mother in law made their blankets too!)

Is there anything cuter than a chubby little munchkin'? No? I didn't think so.

Maggie and Fletch received Colton and Gracie's hand me down pottery barn chairs with new covers. After Fletch got kicked out of their chairs for so long now, he was pretty pleased to claim that this is MY chair!

We had our first fire in our fireplace Christmas morning. Don't you love how I'm wearing a tank top? It certainly wasn't cold out but we thought this was the perfect day for this special "event"! There was something so magical about the kids opening up their presents in front of the fireplace.

Oh boys and their toys! Santa didn't bring the bb gun Colton asked for but brought him this instead! A paintball gun! So far no injuries just a little added color to our backyard. ; )

Our Christmas was pretty special with our new wee little one to share it with. She's the youngest babe of ours to celebrate her first Christmas.

We cherished the time we spent with the Sylvesters this Christmas since they no longer live just a short drive away. We miss them dearly but respect them for making this life change that they have. Life is too short not to take adventures and follow your heart. And besides, Costa Rica has got to be one of the most beautiful places to live!

Fletch missed his uncle b. so very much and was happy to have him back to be his buddy again. As you'll see in the picture he also has a fetish for ears. He does this all the time to Colton when they're lying in bed reading or watching tv and now he does it lots to Maggie too. He's such a touchy feely kid. He has always loved rubbing on my arm and elbow since he was a baby. He hasn't been a fan of this winter season as I am often in long sleeves. He'll say in such a sweet little voice,"mama, take your shirt off." He's too funny!

Father and daughter

Can you tell by Gracie's smile how overjoyed she was to have her best friend and cousin here? Words can't even say how much she misses her sweet Ava Rain! So sad to think that it'll be months before we see them again. : (

This visit was Uncle B.'s first time meeting Maggie. Kelly had come down just a few days after her birth but oh how she changed since first meeting her.

We had a boom of babies born into our family when Gracie, Ava, Kaya and Fletcher were born (4 babies in barely 3 years). Maggie is the first baby to be born in three years (Since Fletch) so she gets lots and lots of lovin' from everyone! It seriously makes me want to cry thinking that she could be the very last Sylvester baby to be born between my brother and I. Come on B & K, it's time for you to catch up! : ) An aunt can only dream!

We had a delicious Christmas dinner at Katie and Austin's where Fletch had fun with their pets. He always has been a big animal lover. A touchy feely animal lover! ; )

Ladies in red... Suzanne (Josh's mom) Florette (his Grandma) and Paulette (his aunt)

The day after Christmas Pop Pop (aka Maggie's husband) celebrated his 87th birthday. His daughter and her sons came down from Jacksonville and we had a grand ole' party for a grand ole' man that we love dearly!

Now moving right along, I wanted to share a few homemade Christmas gifts that we received that I LOVE. There is something so special about gifts that one creates out of their hearts and from their hands. Homemade is the best!

The first picture is a small section of the print that my brother gave us. It is one of his first paintings done since moving to Costa Rica and I love how it reflects the beauty of the sky and trees there. I love the rain forest canopy shown. Something I look forward to going to see again hopefully sometime this year!

Josh's aunt Paulette made these super yummy pretzel treats that we all enjoyed so much!

Check out these cuties below. Josh's mom Suzanne sewed these (yes, for realz!) for the three big kids. I especially loved how they each had their own names... Bob, Billy and I think Gracie's is Sally. So unbelievably cute!!!

Josh's cousin Joy made crocheted dish towels. Oh how I'd love to have the time to learn how to do this someday. It's on my ever growing list of things to do.

These next pieces of art weren't made by anyone we know but a local Tico (a native Costa Rican) made them and they are really cool! Pura Vida!

I didn't get to make all the gifts that I had planned on but I did embellished some of these bags and loved how they turned out - minus the wrinkles. A big minus! I ironed them as well as I could before adding the monograms and fabric flowers but they still looked as wrinkled as ever. Hmm... I'd love to make more but need a wrinkle solution first.

One of my favorite things about cozy cold winter days was snuggling in front of the fire for reading time. This became a favorite of ours! I even learned how to start the fire myself for the times when Daddy was working. Thank goodness for gas fireplaces to get things started!

Maggie fits perfectly in our farmhouse sink. Love it!

And she fits perfectly in here too.

Uncle B. and Maggie meeting for the very first time. I think she likes him!

Colton loves the freedom of cruising around the property each day. I think it makes him feel so grown up!

When it's nice out the three big kids take their surfboards out to the pond for a little paddling practice. It is so neat to see my girly girl also have such a tomboy side. I'm sure it's a combination of living out in the country and being smushed in the middle of two boys which helps her to be this way but I love her versatility. She'll build mud castles, catch crickets, run barefoot down the dirt road, and swim in the pond one minute then it's off to shower to get ready for ballet the next minute where she fits in perfectly there too. I think she'll make a very good wife one day as she's got the nurturing / homemaking thing down pat yet she likes to get dirty and work hard too.

And here are pictures of my girl at 3 months.

Loving my new Mommy of 4 shirt! I thought there could be no better feeling than having three children, but I have come to realize that there is something so undescribably magical about having four. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! The love it brings is so powerful! And I also believe that it's something only a mommy of 4 (or more) could understand. Because I certainly didn't until now.

We often go visit our neighbors donkeys while on our way home. The kids like me to drop them off at the donkeys then they run home down the dirt road as I follow closely behind. Exercise in any form is good so I gladly drop them off!

I am sitting here pondering on the question of why time passes by so quickly when you have kids? Is it just in this time period or does it continue like this until the end? Wait. Please don't answer. Because if you're going to tell me that it's going to fly by, I really don't want to hear.

My first born is almost 9! I am in awe over this!

My sweet G is now 6 1/2! Amazing!

My silly little man is almost 3 1/2! It feels like yesterday that I first cradled him in my arms.

And my little miss Magnolia is almost 4 months. Somebody please push the pause button quick!

Hey, it's great to be back! I'll be posting about our adventures with animals real soon! I'm going to try and get on an every few days system. Try is the key word here. I haven't updated Maggie's baby book since... uhh... week 3 I think. And oh my she is "talking" up a storm and rolling over and giggling and just growing up way too fast for me! And her biggest fans over here didn't think it was possible but we've all admitted to falling even deeper in love with this daughter and sister of ours each and every day.

Disconnect

2010-01-08T05:37:00.000-05:00

After going round and round with our phone company over the horrible phone reception in our new home we finally pulled the plug. We have resorted to using our cell phones until we can figure out a solution. The disconnect not only means no land line but also no home Internet. It truly hasn't been that bad because we both have Internet on our phones but it is killing me that I can't post all of the pictures I have from Christmastime.

It truly was such a blessed Christmas but wound up being more emotional than I could ever explain. It was a mix of feeling overwhelmingly blessed by this new gift from God and a blend of realizing this very well could be our last time of ever celebrating Christmas with a new baby. And coming from a mama who adores her newborns that was enough to open the flood gates for me. It started at Christmas Eve church service. There was something so incredible about singing the traditional sacred Christmas songs to Him while looking down at His new creation. She was ever so sweetly staring into her mamas eyes absorbing every word I sang until the crying overcame me and I could no longer get the words out.

Then once I finally contained my emotions it all started again while singing Silent Night. Seeing the glow in the faces of my three older children and husband as they held onto their candles was such a beautiful sight to me. The feeling of how incredibly blessed I am with the knowing of how greatly I don't deserve to be left me wanting to cry out to my Father giving Him more thanks and praise than I believe I ever have before. Once I could sing again I belted out one final song, "Joy to the World", just as loud as my vocal chords would allow me to.

After coming home from that beautiful Service and tucking some overly excited children into their beds I tackled the dishes in which my beloved made while preparing the Christmas breakfast for the next morning. The best gift that he has ever given me was to take over all of the cooking and cleaning in preparation for our family to join us for Christmas breakfast. Besides doing the dishes for him I was able to sit and relax and enjoy Maggie's first Christmas with her. Stress free! It made for an awesome Christmas for sure.

Something about this Christmas that was extra special too was we had our first fire in our fireplace. It was so cozy and beautiful seeing
the flicker of the flames as we opened up gifts and sipped on mimosas while listening to Christmas music. We have been able to use our fireplace a lot during this cold winter and we are in love with it. Just tonight we snuggled on the couch in front of the fire with our baby girl as we watched the Texas & Alabama game. And Josh went on a very cold 4 wheeler ride tonight to collect enough wood so the kids and I can make a comfy bed on the floor and read stories today by the warmth of the fire. This has been our favorite reading spot these days. I just love it!

Well I sure wish I could add some pictures with this overly long post but I can't until we have home Internet again. I am typing this at
5:00am as I woke up for Maggie's first feeding of the night. So sorry for all the run ons and rambling but I still have sleep on my mind. Just figured I'd better jump on here and post a pictureless entry while I had a free moment. About Maggie's sleeping, the girl loves her swing and has been giving me 7 hour stretches at night when I let her sleep in it. Gotta love that!

Stay warm and snuggly my friends!

Joyful Times

2009-12-20T13:34:00.017-05:00

Seeing the joy in my kiddos faces during this sacred Christmas season is just the best gift any mama could asked for. I know I have been so incredibly blessed by not only the ultimate gift that my savior has given me but also the gift of an amazing husband and our four precious blessings. What more could a mama ask for this Christmas?

It is so easy to get overwhelmed by the rush of the holidays and let's be honest, there is just way too much for us ladies to get done in such a short amount of time. It really is easy for us to be all consumed with the gifts, parties, decorating, baking and so on and forget about why we are doing all of this anyway. I am trying to make it my goal to not feel the pressure to overload my daily schedule but instead to spend as much time as I possibly can cuddling with my family reading Christmas stories or watching a good Christmas movie. Elf is one of our favorites! We bought it for $5 at Target this year so we never have to try and catch it on tv anymore. I want them to always remember Christmas as such a magical time when we together as a family had fun as we celebrated Jesus' birth.

I get so emotional when thinking of my little ones first Christmas. It truly is such a special time and I look forward to so many more years of celebrating with this precious girl of mine.

I do enjoy the baking and crafting that comes along with Christmas so I've tried to incorporate that into our family time hoping that my kids will learn to love it as much as I have. I think it's working.

And where is Maggie while we do these projects? When I look down, this is what I see. Snuggled up in the nest of my sling as she listens to the giggles of her sister and brothers. I can't wait for her to join in the fun next year.

The other day I let the kids out of the car on our way home and let them walk home and collect these to make reindeer. (don't worry we live on a quiet country road these days and I followed them to make sure they were safe)

I made one of these reindeer many years ago in girl scouts and still have it. Such a fun little project and quite inexpensive too! The kids like to play with their reindeer and have them talk to one another. Pretty cute!

(if you look closely you'll see Josh in the background as he was building our mantel)

Aren't the kids aprons so cute? I have been blessed with a mother in law who sews some really cute stuff!

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Gracie totally gets into crafting and the whole concept of the joy you feel when making for others. We use clothes pins for so many purposes around here but mostly for holding bags closed like chip clips and for keeping papers neatly together. They can also be stood up for holding a picture or with a magnet on the back to hang on the fridge to hold notes or pictures. I made some of these last year and they were so easy that I thought she'd have fun making them this year. And she did!

I also made some simple little lavender sachets that I had the boys help with. I bought lavender potpourri and had them crush it into pieces using hammers and other heavy tools. Boy did they love this! Then we added lavender essential oil to give it a stronger scent then scooped it into these little pouches I made to hold them in. I didn't put down that bottle of lavender oil for the duration of my labor with Fletcher as I would breath it in during contractions to help me relax. I don't know how much it helped but I can't ever smell lavender without a flood of memories of my precious boy coming into the world. I even had lavender oil in the tub water when he was born. Go figure that he'd say it smelled like poop while he was helping with this project! He's too much sometimes!

I couldn't wait to make this next project. This was the first bit of sewing I'd done since Maggie's arrival and it felt so good to pull my machine out and put it to use again. And it was just what I needed... quick, easy and instant gratification! I just love it!
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Oh... and check out our fireplace mantel Josh and I made the other night. I had him bring me home some cheap plain pine boards at Home Depot then I let the kids go to town banging on them with various objects. They used hammers, chains, putty knifes, screw drivers and the such, and we made some grooves in them to give a distressed look. We finished by staining the boards and putting a few coats of Waterlox on top for the finish coat. Then Josh cut them to the proper size and constructed a nice chunky mantel for me. It was just what I had envisioned and we made a family project out of it!

I love my fabric banner so much that I thought it would be a fun gift to make for my nieces Ava and Kaya who are here for the month from Costa Rica. They share a room and I am hoping that each time they look at it they'll think of just how much their aunt Jenna loves and misses them!

I love the combination of pinks and browns. So pretty!

Prior to Christmas we really hadn't done much decorating since we're still focusing on finishing the house but we did have fun decorating for our first Christmas here. We actually have stuff to look at now instead of just furniture scattered about.
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Through the years I have loved collecting vintage Christmas decor at various thrift shops I've visited. These old things have so much more wear and love to them than buying brand new and I can't help but think of the many people who must have enjoyed them through the Christmas's of the past. I'm sure there are many stories and memories behind these items that I will never know about. That's my favorite thing about antiques. Every piece has a history and a story behind it yet most will remain a mystery. Ooh.. a rhyme!

This old (and somewhat creepy) Santa was purchased by Fletch last year for $.50 at a yard sale. He loved it and had to have it! The red Santa bag is not old but was made for us by Josh's mom and we love it. Typically we fill it with the smaller gifts that we've wrapped but there aren't any yet this year.

My favorite bowls ever from Anthropologie along with a thrifted Santa mug, a star that was my mom's that I've painted and a thrifted old hobnail milk glass vase.

And more milk glass with some really old glass ornaments that my mom has had since forever along with her cow creamer that I inherited. My mama had good taste I must say!

I love these little old wooden ornaments. I found them at a thrift shop for around $.25 to $.50. I hope to collect more someday. They are so cute and make me smile! : )

This pretty little bird was my Grammy Maggie's. Can't help but look at it and picture it on her tree many many years ago. So special.

Aside from Christmas stuff little Fletch has been loving living on the land. I love this next pouty picture of him. Fletcher came out of the house just as Josh was parking the tractor...

and he became so upset that he missed the ride. He loves to join Josh whenever he's using the tractor but this time he missed out. This picture shows Daddy trying to comfort him and letting him know that he'll get to go next time.

He spends many hours out in the pond trying to catch minnows. He hasn't quite caught on that he has to be extra quick cause these little buggers are fast!

But with the help of big brother and sister his fish bowl gets filled up quick!

Here are pictures from our visit with Santa. Colton surprisingly still believes but I get a feeling this will be his last year although I said that last year too. I'm prepared to tell him however that when he stops believing that'll be the day Santa stops delivering to him. That way hopefully he'll keep his lips zipped so he won't spoil it for the other kids. He asked Josh while we were at the mall "If that is the real Santa, then where is his sleigh?". Josh quickly said "well you know, Santa usually parks up on the roof." Colton's quick come back was "Dad... there is no chimney on the roof of the mall!" And Josh jumped right back with "well of course Santa takes the elevator silly! He'd take the elevator at our house too if we had one".

At Macy's mailing their letters to Santa.
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Colton...

Dear Santa,

I think you are really cool. If you think that I've been a good boy I would really like a Wii, a bb gun, a remote control airplane sunglasses and a DS game.

Gracie...

Dear Santa,

I think you are really nice. For Christmas I would like 2 barbies, bouncy balls, makeup and a DS game.

Fletch...

Dear Santa,

I love you. Please bring me anything you'd like. Merry Christmas.

Jenna...

Dear Santa,

You charged incredibly way too much for my kids to come sit on your lap so I could take a few pictures. $26 is outragious! Yes you did give me a couple little pictures for this price but I didn't want those anyway nor do I even like them. Shouldn't we "remember to love one another" like you told my kids and just let me take my own pictures already? I would have much rather given you 10 bucks to do this than to get your cheapy little poor quality photos. ps... don't be surprised if you get stale cookies this year.

For the record, Colton is not geting a bb gun. Maybe in a year or two when he has matured a bit more but not quite yet. He has a wooden gun that shoots rubber bands and he knows the rules of it. No shooting it in the house and never shoot it at others. Lets just say that that rule gets broken often.

I bet next year she'll be in tears when she meets Santa!

But for now, look at this silly little girl! Isn't she the cutest?!

Merry Christmas ya'll! ; )