Post Christmas

Another Christmas, another year has come and gone. The last event to finish out the year is Sammy's 8th birthday! Where has the time gone???? It just blows our mind that Jared is 11, sixth grade, on his way to the 'other side' next year; this is his last year in Awana. Sammy is... what can I say, he is Sam. All boy, rough and tough, he's going to be the quiet handsome one. Kenly turned five this summer and started Kindergarten, she is learning all the site words and starting to read; her whole world is opening up. If only we didn't get any older.

We ended December 2009 with the birth of Angel. Dallas was born in late January but didn't survive - Pete was in Texas and I was rendered helpless in an effort to save her. In February Sami came right before the 2 blizzards. Paddy came along right below St. Patricks day; and April well she arrived in April. I guess 4 out of 5 isn't too bad.

Joseph was just born this week, and we're only expecting 3 come Spring; these should be 'baldies' since their daddy is a BIG red hereford.

Nothing much

I was going to delete the Blizzard Videos, but I'd thought I'd leave them until Summer's end; just in case we happen to forget.

Spring has Sprung

My oh my how time truly flies! Can't believe it was 3 months ago when we were buried in 4 feet of snow. The tulips and daffodils have already finished their dance; now the roses are unfolding their beautiful layers.

All is well here on the farm. Nothing new or exciting. The kids are growing, way too fast now. The garden is still under control. The cows are happy grazing. Pete is trying his best to keep all the farmers 4 counties far and wide, happy and moving.
My mother has been with us for 4 months now. All is well there too.
And me, I do what I do best; a little bit of everything, everywhere :)

Jared is playing baseball once again - he pitched a great no-hitter this week.
Sam got a black eye on Tuesday.
Kenly is busy doing what little girls do.
We are counting down the days til summer vacation.

Snow Videos

They are calling it a "Storm of Historic Proportions"

Kinda of makes me mad, that last weekend, I finally deleted all my "old" photos from the computer then I could have shared my photos from the last "storm of historic proportions" from February 2003 and the only reason I remember it, is because our Sammy was just a month old! WOW has time passed, now 7 years old and growing like a weed and conquering 1st grade!

Wishing everyone a great weekend, be safe!

Behind the times

Ok, I'll admit it, facebook has taken up a lot of my time; thus I've failed to keep the blog updated.

Time is flying for sure. Sammy just turned 7 on 12/31 and then lost his first tooth last week! Now all of a sudden he looks 3 inches taller and older. Jared is doing good in his school work, struggling with the "study" factor, but keeping those grades up. Kenly is just happy doing whatever we do.

What a wonderful winter. Just love all the snow, makes it really "feel" like winter instead of just boring dead brown outside. The seed catalogs are arriving almost 2 a day now, hard to believe it's right around the corner.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic New Year thus far !!
Love to you all.

Way behind

It's so easy to lose track. I dont know where to start. So I'll wait for a sleepless night to catch up.

Hope everyone is well.

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

FALLEN HEROES

In Honor of my Grandfather, Richard Norman Pray, April 26, 1905 - October 18, 1972
WW II Veteran.

I have to say watching Pete and the boys raise this flag 6:30 this morning was far more than just sentimental. I can not imagine the emotions my mother felt when they handed her this flag 37 years ago. I was only 4 years old when he passed away, so my memories are only those captured and stored within a tin box full of old polaroid photos.

I can proudly say, I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN and am overwhelmed by the sacrifices of the many men and women who have come before me.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Proud Moments

Pround moments.... dont we love them! Jared's 90 second debut was executed perfectly!

It's Spring

The pictures prove it, right?! The garden is sprouting it's first fruits already! We've got, peas, onions, broccoli, spinach, turnips, and carrots sprouting their tiny heads thru the dirt. It just amazes me every year, we wait and wait and wait for the grass to turn green for the leaves to bud, for the grass to grow for the birds to sing, and BAM we get up the next morning and it's all right there! The grass turning bright green is just a beautiful sight, until you realize at the same time it needs cutting :) I think this year although Jared is tall enough, we need to strap some ankle weights around his waist and make him heavy enough to operate my John Deere mower!

Always something to do.

It's not Spring yet, but life on the farm is busy, busy, busy. Our new herd is producing the first calfs from our bull, who remains unnamed at this time.

#12 aka Louise had "Crystal" (in honor of Frosty the Snowman's wife) on January 31; the kids input is very important in this naming process.

Red, because when we bot the herd her fur was definitely red, not so true now which is interesting, however she had "Frosty Valentino" on February 15; while we were in church. He's a BIG boy.

Then this past Wednesday, I discovered "Otis" outback, not exactly sure when he was born, we are guessing it was last weekend, Feb 22. It was cold and windy so we hadn't spent as much time outside so Pretty really surprised us, we knew she was expecting but we missed all the normal signs, mainly because she never appeared huge.

Now we have to wait for Ugly, I know the name seems cruel, however you'd agree :) besides the fact she tried very hard to hurt us last Spring when she had "Cookie" (who will be aka hamburger in the Fall) He's another whole story. So anyway, her name has stuck. And then #47, mother of Archie last August.

We also added two new heifers to the mix, so they should have calves in time for Christmas.

We are also awaiting the "peeps" to hatch down on the haystack, should be any day now.

Now we have the Maple Syrup business going on..... Last weekend Pete took a branch out of a maple tree and the sap started running; so Jared, our young engineer grabbed a hammer and a nail and started banging on the tree, with Mom's help we improved upon his creation and so far have gathered 3 quarts from that tap.

Now today, Pete and Jared started tapping the remaining Maple trees on the farm, now I know we're not in Vermont and the syrup may not be LLBean quality, but it's the experience that counts. So they made 5 more taps and we've got sap everywhere!

My Angels

This is proof, they can be angels! Still waiting for the "big one" to hit us, this year isn't looking very promising either. It's been 6 years since we've had a big snow. Sam was just a baby. The world stopped for at least two days. It was wonderful.

Farm Style Science Project

I dont know about you, but I've never seen a hard-boiled, double-yoker before. So I thought I'd try it. I don't know, I thought maybe during the boiling process the double yokes would explode and become one or something. Curiosity killed the cat, right?

So the kids were pretty amazed, even Pete was impressed and I'm happy.

Believe it or not! Now you've seen a hard-boiled, double-yoke egg. And yes it was from one of our chickens.

These are my Christmas Blessings.

May the Lord's Blessings be upon you and your family and friends.

Ok I'm stupid - Here is a puppy video.

Puppy Love

5 weeks old and ADORABLE!!!

We have given them temporary names: Texas & Minnie are the girls. Bruiser, Scooby, Scrapple, Mickey and Batman aka Crybaby round up the boys.

Ready to live in your home January 3, 2009!

Great Sorrow

It is with a heavy heart, because you all know how attached I get (while they are babies) to report that Thaddeus died today. He was only 3 weeks old. We did not know that he was sick, which makes me feel incredibly guilty.

TWINS!!!!!

I was right, Bessie had TWINS!!!! In honor of my sweet friend "Dee", Thaddeus and Thelma were born late yesterday afternoon. Thaddeus is red and white, Thelma is black and white. How adorable.

They are here!

We'll we didn't find the calf this morning! Instead we found 7 puppies!!!! 5 boys 2 girls!!!

Life's little miracles

Whether a newborn child, kitten, chicken, puppie or calf, there is nothing more miraculous than new life.

Our third calf is due any minute, and of course this seems like forever. Just like watching the pot to boil. We walk out to the pasture, just to check, every couple hours, and nothing. Which probably means Pete will be calling up to the house tomorrow morning 5:30 am to say "It's here" I'm hoping he'll say "they're here" for some odd reason I think that big fat cow is going to have twins. I finally named her Bessie, instead of #5, although #47 seems to be stuck with her number. Tomorrow is a new day full of hope and new promises.

Why would I want to be anything more than a farm girl. This life is so quietly exciting, some days I can't stand it.