Craziness...

Almost four months, and you'd think I'd have something to write about... or not?
Wow. I don't even know where to begin, really.
Daisy had boy/girl twins on March 5th. *K* named the babies Dana and Dexter.

Bubbles had twin bucks the next day (March 6th) so in three days we had three sets of twins.

Of course both does had their babies at night so no good pictures or video could be taken right away. The lighting in the barn is horrible even in the daytime.

I bought *K* another copper satin doe rabbit to replace the one that died a few months before. Her name is Cindy. She is much larger now but this picture is from the day I bought her.

I bought another milk goat. Her name is Willow and she a half sister to Bubbles.

Then this happened on April 4th! Yeah, crazy, right? But such is life here in North Central Pennsylvania.

... and did I mention that this happened at some point? No, probably not! Kittens! They are cute but I really could have done without.

... and then there was more of this on April 9th...

We had baby bunnies!

The baby goats played in the yard...

Buttercup had a baby boy that *Z* named Buddy, on April 16th.

   So, as you can see there is a whole lot of nothing going on here. Oh, and we built more garden boxes and got the garden area fenced in. YAY! Sounds really nice but I still haven't gotten anything planted in the boxes.
   Life just isn't turning out the way I had planned it, so long ago. It has taken a detour recently. As much as I've always felt I am raising my boys alone, even with their father living here, it is real now. I've known it was coming for at least the last two to three years so it isn't too much of a shock. I can honestly say it doesn't feel much different because he was never present anyhow. He wasn't really interested in any of the projects I was working on or even anything the boys wanted to show him or do with him. Financially things are going to be a little more stressed until I figure something out, but that department has always been stressful anyhow. At least now I know I'm the only one who will be spending, so it'll be easier to save for something, instead of hoping that he didn't spend all of the money I was trying to set aside for something we needed. Its going to take some getting used to but we (the boys and I) will be okay. If any of you have any suggestion on things I can do to make money from home, please let me know.  

Who is thinking about the County Fair in February???

That would be me. Not only does it help pass the time on a cold winter day, it helps me know what our plan is come spring time. For example: My boys like to enter the doe with litter and meat pen classes. We have to plan the breedings for those litters to be no more than 70 days old at the time of the fair. Same goes for the meat pens, but depending how your bunnies grow out, you don't want them too big because the meat pen bunnies have to be at least 3 pounds but no more than 5 pounds at the of the show. Roasters have to be under six months old but at least five and a half pounds but no more than eight pounds. Stew rabbits are required to be at least 6 months old and at least 8 pounds. Oh, and on top of all that, the entries need to be sent in by July 1st - 4 weeks before the start of the Fair. So as you can see it does take some planning. You can't just wait until the week of the fair to decide what you are going to enter.

This is my son *Z*'s Doe and litter

The meat pen that *Z* entered.

We took 24 rabbits to the fair last year. Here are both boys in front of some of the rabbits.

The boys were thrilled (contrary to the look on *K*'s face) that every rabbit they entered got something. All but one got at least 3rd place or higher. The one that didn't got fifth and still got an honorary which happened to be rainbow colored and my 4 year old (at the time) was into everything rainbows at that time so he thought he'd won the big prize -  and wouldn't you know that is the ribbon that got eaten by the rabbit. *K* was so bummed!
So, hopefully, with a little planning now we will have more bunnies to enter this year. The boys love showing their bunnies and goats at the fair. Planning for showing goats will have to wait for another post... oye.

Thursday, October 1st.

There are days I get the feeling T thinks I've sat around doing basically nothing while he has been at work all day. Today I've decided to track my hours.... or at least attempt to.

6:20 a.m. - Alarm goes off.... of course I push the snooze button. Did you really think I was a 'jump out of bed on the first alarm' kind of girl? If so, you are so wrong!

6:30 a.m. - Wake up. Take a few minutes to get out of bed, let the dog out, & see if Z is awake.

6:50 a.m. - Go see if Z is awake & realize I should have come in a few minutes earlier. He is still sleeping pretty soundly! Ugh. I don't like mornings like this. The last few days he's been awake when I got up. I like those days better than having to force him out of bed.

7:10 a.m. - Z is finally on his feet and out of his room! Once he is up, getting him to get dressed and ready doesn't take long. Good thing because the bus will be here by 7:30. He likes to eat lunch at school so most mornings he wont eat anything here.

7:27 a.m. - Bus is here. K is out of bed and running out to tell Z “Good-bye” to which I have to reign him back in because he is in his underwear, no pants. As soon as he realizes it he hurries to shut the door “we don't want them seeing my undies”. No, K, we don't want them seeing you in your undies!

7:30 to 7:45 a.m. - K and I take the papers out to burn. Today is garbage pick up day, so we set that out by the road too. He is such a good helper – when he wants to be!

During the time we were taking garbage out the big trucks from Hoffman's Farm started coming in. Must be they are going to cut the corn in the field behind Mom's house this morning.

7:45 to 8:30 a.m. - Fed the dogs. turned the eggs that are in the incubator. Now it is time to feed the outside critters. We started with the quail then moved on to the rabbits. We had just started watering the rabbits who are penned outside the barn when K headed for the house saying he was cold. He had shorts and a long sleeve shirt on but that wasn't enough on a morning when its a damp 47°. He never did return to help me. When I got back into the house he was sitting at the counter eating a can of peaches that he had opened all by himself. I guess it only makes sense – If I have to feed the furred and feathered critters, the kidlet must be hungry too.

8:30 to 9:00 a.m. - Clean up all of the toys that are scattered around the house. Not sure how we didn't get to this last evening before bed, but that isn't anything unusual. Sweep the floors. Then go back over the living room and dining room floors with the vacuum. K points out how much more dirt went into the vacuum canister even though I had just swept a lot up with the broom. I explain – again – if he and his brother would take their shoes and boots off as soon as the come in from outside there wouldn't be as much dirt on our floors each day. I swear it is a challenge for them, every day. To see who can track in the most dirt and mud. No worries, boys, your dad has you beat - hands down!

9:00 a.m. - I sat down to have a cup of coffee and check my email....”Somehow” I ended up on Facebook.

9:25 a.m. - I realize the time and decided I better get moving. I still haven't eaten, but that can wait.

9:30 to 10:00 a.m. - I cleaned cat litter boxes while K started to empty the dishwasher. I don't remember what distracted me but I didn't get back to help K. Then all of the sudden I heard Whiskey (the outside dog) barking and I realize that I hadn't taken him out by the barn. I like to do that so he doesn't scare 'my extra kids' who are coming for the day and their mother. Whiskey normally likes everyone but for some reason does not like they kids' mom. He was barking because the other kids are here. I ended up just bringing him through the house and onto the back porch while for now.

10:15 a.m. - Its time for K to start getting ready for school. He is in the afternoon Pre-K class so my Mom will be coming to pick him up soon. She gives him a ride to school on the days that I watch the other kids.

10:40 a.m. - “K you need to get out of the tub. Its time to go”. Typical day. He doesn't want to get a bath but then once I get him in the tub he doesn't want to get out.
Get him out of the tub, start getting him dressed and … Oh NO! … I still haven't packed his lunch!.. I know, I've had all morning, what seems to be the problem? … I throw something together really quick while Mom is helping him get his socks, shoes and coat on.

10:50 a.m. - K and Mom are out the door. They have twenty minutes until he has to be at the school door. Good thing they only have three miles to go.

10:50 to 11:45 a.m. - I spent this time reading to, redirecting and playing with the 1, 2, & 3 year old kiddos.

11:45 a.m. - The three Littles were all so chilled out this morning, I was about to lose them all to naps so I decided I better start lunch before they all fall asleep. Normally we don't do lunch until around 12:30 but today they are all extra tired or something. The three year old sounds like she has a cold so maybe that is why she's tired today.

12:00 to 1 p.m. - Lunch for the kiddos. I folded a load of laundry while they were eating. Got them all down for naps. Cleaned up from lunch.

1 p.m. - I ate lunch and spent some time catching up on emails and a few bloggers who I follow.

1:30 p.m. - Got a package of burger (just delivered to us last night) from the freezer, for tonight's dinner. The beef was raised on my land. The owner has cows but no land, I have land and not enough animals to eat all of the grass. This works out well for all of us.
Changed out the laundry, and put a load of towels into the washer. How does a family of four use SO many towels and wash clothes?

1:45 p.m. - Started writing this blog post. There are hundreds of things I should be doing, other than this, right now but there are three sleeping kiddos in my house so … Shhh.
I did manage to finish the job that K had started.... I emptied the dishwasher and then refilled it.

3:00 p.m. - How is it possible that its time to wake up the Littles! The older kids will be home soon.

3:30ish - 7:00 p.m. - Three crazy hungry kids get off the bus.
The other kids were picked up.
I made dinner. Everyone ate dinner.
I had Z practice his spelling words for tomorrow's test then K and I went out to start feeding animals, while Z watched tv with his dad.
I still have not located the crested ducks that we let out of their pen last week. I saw them one or two times after letting them out. I'm not sure if my pekin male has chased them all off or if something has eaten them. While feeding the buck goats I see that there is a white duck sitting in the pasture, all by itself. I sent K to herd or carry it back. He was a little leery at first because I've been telling him all summer to never go in the pasture because the bulls were in there. The bulls were sent to freezer camp last week, but K forgot that and was like "Mom, the bull will come get me". Poor little guy. I had to remind him they were no longer here. But I'm glad he knew to question me. He ended up carrying the duck to the fence and I carried it the rest of the way back to it's pen. It is very thin. I don't think its been eating or drinking for a few days. We looked around but still can't see the rest of them. There were five crested, two pekin, a black and white Swedish, and a grey and white Swedish. Maybe they've become coyote dinner.
Just as K and I were finishing up chores we heard the coyotes start howling not far away (at the base of the hill) and K got scared and decided he was going in the house. I have to admit they give me the heebie-jeebies too.

7:00 to 7:35 p.m. -  Bedtime routine for Z and K.

7:45 p.m. - Remember the load of towels are still in the washer... guess I better empty the dryer and fold those clothes so I can dry the towels.

8:15 p.m. - Get a call from my mother saying she forgot she has an appoint and can't take K to school tomorrow. Now I have to figure out how I'm getting K to school tomorrow, or will he just stay home with me and the other kids for the day.

9:09 p.m. - Are you kidding me!?! The towels still have not made it into the dryer! I'm going to do that right now. As tired as I am I should go to bed, but anyone who knows me well, knows I'll still be awake a few hours from now.

Wordless Wednesday

Late Saturday Night....

Saturday evening was a rare night out for *T* and I. My mom came to stay with the boys while we were gone. *T* brought me home around 8:45 pm then went back out to spend some time with his fellow firefighter friends. We try to have the boys in bed by 9pm every night but that night they were excited, as they always are when we leave them with someome else for  a few hours. Mom stayed for about an hour after I got home and then I sat down to watch a show on tv. In the meantime the boys were playing quietly in their bedroom and about the time I was going to get up to start getting them ready for bed *Z* came running into the living room and was digging in his one toy tote and went back into his bedroom with a handful of toys, then came running back and was digging for more. On his first trip through I asked him what his brother was doing and he said "just playing" and went running out of the room. I knew I had to go see for myself because they had been quiet for too long.

This is what I found when I got to their room. Now lets not forget that *K* is only 11mths old and doesn't even walk yet and it was 10:20pm when I took this photo. He was playing so contently that he didn't even know I had walked into the room until the camera flash went off.





He is sitting in the middle of *Z*'s bed playing with his Little People Tow and Pull Tractor.  That is when I figured out what *Z* was digging for in the tote in the living room. The tractor was in the bedroom but all the animals and people were in the tote in the other room. 

*Z* came back with his second load of animals and climbed up there and started playing with his brother. It was the cutest thing ever. I said "don't you think that you should be going to bed soon"? and *Z*'s reply to me was "we ARE in MY bed Momma"! I just shook my head and went back to the living room.... there is a point when  mom knows she may as well surrender!

I love that *K* is getting old enough that the two of them can sit and play now. I just wish for now they'd do it at a lower elevation. I hope *K* doesn't fall off the bed and get hurt in the mean time. I guess he is so determined to be a big kid he doesn't care that he momma says he is "too little" to be doing these things.

I also couldn't believe how wide awake they were for it being so late. I did finally get *K* to go to bed around 11pm and then *Z* and the dog fell asleep on the couch with, the cat standing guard around 11:30pm.







New Look

It was time for a change....
I was tired of the old color combination of this blog so did a little rearranging. What do you think?

Not much to report here on the home front. I've been busy with the boys.

Yesterday morning *K* figured out that he can climb onto the bottom shelf of the changing table, so that quickly because a game for he and his brother. The kept taking turns crawling in and out of the space... so cute to see finally starting to play together,
Later, I found *K* standing on *Z*'s toddler bed turning the light switch on and off. He was in the bedroom playing and I noticed the light was going on and off and went in to tell *Z* to leave it on and found it wasn't *Z* after all.... EEK..... He's too little to be doing these things already! He's only 11 1/2mths old for goodness sake and can't even walk yet... well unless you count a few lunging steps toward something "walking".
After that I couldn't keep him off the bed for anything. As soon as I'd take him to another room he'd crawl as fast as he could into the bedroom, crawl up there and bounce on the bed, sometimes hanging onto the rails sometimes not....oy vey.... I had to push it against the wall and put the huge tote of toys in front of it so he couldn't climb up there anymore.

Saturday *Z* was sneaking around the house. I asked what he was doing. "Tracking a ghost!" he says "I see ghost footprints - I follow 'em".... no doubt this old house could have ghosts but he was really following one of his white cats. He has started calling them ghosts lately and I have no idea why.
Later that day he asked me to make him some "Pawp" (pop). He seems to have the impression that I can just go to the kitchen and whip up whatever he wants. I may need to get some water kefir grains from my friend so I can try to fill his request.
He also thinks I'm the coolest mom ever (forget the fact I'm the only mom he knows) because I make him "ice cream" for breakfast! Little does he know (and you better not tell him) that what he thinks is ice cream is really yogurt and ice cubes, and the "ice cream maker" is my blender.
Oh and the latest.... "Sorry, Momma, it was a nois-ident"!!! ........ He must figure noise that he did mean to make is equivalent of an accident. So it is a Noise-ident.... ♥

There is never a dull moment around here....... I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Our new Christmas Ornament

A couple of days before Christmas my almost three year old came out to the kitchen saying "Brudder binky in Christian Tree, Momma". (He call the Christmas Tree a "Christian Tree" - love it!) At first I thought he had taken it from his brother and threw it in the tree, but he was acting too proud for that to be the case. "Come here, see" he said as he turned and ran back into the living room. This is what I found when I got there...

It was just too cute not to share. We decided to leave it there because *K* (10 1/2 months old) doesn't really use it anymore, other then as a toy. So it is now officially part of the Christmas decorations. A first Christmas Ornament - so to speak.
I've been so blessed! My boys both gave up their pacifiers around 10 mths old. They just seemed to be done all of the sudden. No warning, no fussing, nothing -  just done. One of my worst fears, when I decided to start letting them suck on a "binky", was that it would be SO hard to break them of it once they started. Thank you, God - for giving me such easy going boys!

4 Years Ago Today

So far today....

   I woke up this morning around 7:00 hearing my 2 1/2 year old son whining that he wanted to go to "Neese's" ( a friend of ours)... serioiously Kid! You haven't even been up for two minutes... and your eyes aren't even completely open yet and you are asking to go to someone else's house? I must be a terrible morning person if the kid is ready to leave me already....LOL.
   I got him convinced that we'd go to Neese's in a little while after his baby brother wakes for the day. I had him feed the dogs to help distract him ... got my coffee and went into the other room to sit down and noticed something up in the corner.....



Ick...



   Bats are the creepiest things, it's just my opinion - but it is a VERY strong opinion so don't try telling me how benificial they are the the eco system either!

   Within minutes of getting the bat out of the house my Mom stopped in to show us what she just picked up from the post office.

Thirty baby chicks. Not sure what breeds she ordered but they sure are cute. *Z* decided to go home with him "Mamma" to help her get the babies set up in their new home. That will help distract him until it's time to go see Neese.

*K* just woke up and Mom and *Z* are coming in the front door....

To be continued...... as the day progresses









Where have I been.....?

I've been here, just not blogging.

Can't even remember everything that has happened since last June but one thing that happened that I haven't told you about is:

Keith Elliott

He was born February 9th, weighing 7lbs 4oz.

He is 9 weeks old today and is nearly 13 pounds and 22 inches long. Such a sweet baby boy

*Z* is 27 months old now and is as adorable and sweet as ever. Here is a picture of him from last week.

*Z* is so excited about his new baby pigs that we got a couple of weeks ago. I'm thinking it is a good thing we decided to get two females as they will most likely stay and become brood sows instead of ham and bacon.



Yesterday the pigs got out of their pen and outside the barn. I tried for a while to get them to go back into the barn, I figured if I got them in the barn they would eventually go back in their pen and I could shutt them in. I had no luck with that plan. So decided just to leave them out and wait until *T* got home to help me, the boys were napping in the house so I didn't want to be outside too long. So I went back in and kept an eye on the pigs so I knew they hadn't run off somewhere. Most of the time they spent just wandering around the yard and rutting around in the puddles of water down behind the barn. When the boys woke up I took them out to feed the animals. While I was feeding the goats the pigs followed *Z* into the barn, so I closed the big door, and breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were back in the barn we'd figure out how to get them into their pen later. *Z* was following them around clapping his hands and jabbering at them when I went out to the other part of the barn to get feed for the chickens and when I came back the pigs were in their pen and *Z* was closing the gate. OMGosh, he is truely a farmer at heart. Here I had tried for a good half hour or forty five minutes to get them into the barn (let alone their pen) with no luck and *Z* is out there for a total of fifteen minutes and they were in the barn AND in their pen with the gate closed. All I could do was shake my head and tell him he did a great job. He was so excited too, the first thing he told his Dad when he got home was "pigs....pen.....gate!" nodding his head the whole time. He isn't talking much but he gets his point across.