Quick update

Well, a few weeks ago we thought one of the guinea hens had gone on to that big field in the sky. We even found what we'd thought was a guinea hen skeleton and some feathers, so we WERE pretty sure! When we got home from church on Sunday we were surprised to see all 6 of the hens back out in the yard! We wondered what in the world had happened! Jim went over to investigate and that's when things got interesting. They started screeching to beat all. One charged at him and chased him around for a minute. Then he saw a line of "keets", baby guinea hens, running along one of the buildings! So, turns out that one wasn't killed, but was "brooding" or nesting for the past few weeks. So now we have all 6 guinea fowl (they're obviously not all hens!) and a pile of baby keets. What on earth have we gotten ourselves into???

Cute Kid Quote:
Toby (2) was chatting with a dinner guest and told him that there was a cricket over there by the wall. "What's he doing?" "He's cricket-ing" was Toby's definition of the noise of the cricket!

We Have A Winner

I wanted to wait until I had contacted my winner for the little shoes. Ashley from MA has won the handmade shoes! Congratulations on your little bundle, Ashley! Enjoy!

Blogland giveaway!

Shannon over at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting a blogland giveaway! Literally hundreds of generous online bloggers are giving away TONS of stuff. Head on over there and sign up to win any of a number of items! I was struggling with what to offer. This morning, inspiration hit! I will be selecting one VERY lucky winner to receive these adorable shoes I just made last night! They are very comfy looking and soft cotton and suede. The main body has little purple flowers and the inside is a small pink floral print. The sole is a faux suede material. I would keep them for my daughter, but she's too skinny for them and they keep falling off her little feet! Hence, they are SLIGHTLY used, she had them on for about a total of 4 hours during which I put them back on about 4 times! So, if you are interested in signing up to win these beauties, please leave a comment. I'll randomly select a winner sometime on Friday. All you have to do is leave a comment, one per customer please and, sorry, but US addresses only. I do have to be able to contact you via email or your blog and you have my word that I won't share your information with anyone. Thanks and good luck!

***The contest is now over and we have a winner! Congratulations going out to Ashley from MA!***

Woo Hoo for Me!

I made a pair of shoes for Avery! :) Here they are! They were really quite easy, just took one short evening. Love them and am excited to make some more. I can take orders if anyone is interested in having a pair made. All reasonable offers will be accepted! :) They're like those little Robeez shoes, very soft and comfy!

And a bonus cute baby picture! :) Don't you just want to eat her up with a spoon?

Pass the overalls, please.

This is me. Tonight. Driving a tractor. Our tractor on our farm. It is actually moving and I am driving it. Whoa. Who'd a thunk???

Farm stuff

Yesterday Jim and Evan took a trip to the Minnesota/Iowa border to go farm stuff-shopping. Their first stop was the home of 78-year-0ld Ron Haugland, grandfather of some of Jim's students. Ron took them around and showed them a few farm stuffs and his methods for modifying and improving old farm stuff. As they were about to leave, Ron said, "Yeah, Roger's a real good son-in-law. 'Course, our politics don't agree. See, I'm a Democrat."

As Jim and Evan drove away, Evan said, "Wow, he's a Democrat." There was contemplative pause, and then he continued. "And we spent all that time with him."

Pictures to come! :)

Works For Me Wednesday

Today's works for me Wednesday is an idea I borrowed from a more seasoned mother. I've made a rotating chore chart for my three boys. There are two circles, one smaller than the other. The outer circle has a job listed and the inner circle lists the names of the kids. Each boy has a different job to do each day. Some people might change the jobs every week or month, but by keeping it a daily change I keep them intersted and excited about the different jobs! Here's a picture of the chart. The mail man has to run out to the mailbox and get the mail (or put outgoing mail into the box). The "Laundry Man" brings laundry down from our upstairs and sorts it into the laundry sorter. The "Odd Jobs Man" does those little jobs that come up and need doing like setting the table or stocking the diaper drawers. All of the jobs are adjustable according to the age of the "Man". Every night after kids go to bed I rotate the name circle one job clockwise. Each morning the kids run down and find out what their job is for the day! Works For ME! Check out Shannon's blog at Rocks in My Dryer for other great ideas!

What I've Learned Today

I'm not sure if I agree or not, but it's fun! I much prefer a double raspberry white mocha, but hey, this is what the computer thought of me. :)

You Are an Espresso

At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping Your caffeine addiction level: high

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Bad blogger

Oops. Been a while. We're busy here making some changes here and there. The lady who lived here left a TON of paint in the basement and barn. Jim opened one gallon and it sprung a leak. Since we liked the color he painted our bedroom with it. Yesterday morning. Starting at around 9:00 am. When we had guests coming for his birthday lunch at 11. And of course our house being what it is, I ended up vacuuming a box of cheerios off the floor. Then a half a cup of beta fish food off that same spot on the floor. Maybe I should watch Toby a little better...

We're also discovering a little about asthetics. That gallon of paint that Jim found and used on our bedroom made a world of difference to both of us! It prompted us to figure out a way to get our queen box spring up the stairs. It only resulted in a little demolition of the house, nothing that we can't repair. :)

And, since I don't have a before and after picture of the bedroom, I'll post one of my first home decorating project. The kitchen was in sad shape (which I knew before we bought it, really a step, no, a leap down from my old kitchen). Here is a shot of it:

Pretty bad, huh?

Now here's an after shot:

I added a coat of paint on just the cabinet fronts, some knobs and curtains. you can't see it, but there is also a mason jar of miniature daisies in the windowsill. Pretty darn cute if you ask me! :)

Hummm, cute kid quote for the day??? I know there is one, but I just can't think of what it is. Darn darn darn!

My City Son

Yesterday we drove past a herd of cattle on our way home from church. The following conversation took place:

Mom: Look, boys! Cows!
Evan: Those cows are for sale you know.
Dad: How do you know those are for sale?
Evan: They have tags on their ears!

I give up

Well, I was intending to start a new blog with a new site and a more veiled identity. I've decided that I am just too stinkin' tired and busy to do that, so here's the update from the FARM!!! We are now living on a 5 acre hobby farm right smack dab in the middle of a corn field. Really. If you hit corn or the road you've gone off the land. Children of the Corn, that's my family! (Minus the creepy horror flick parts of course) And oh what an adventure this has been.

We've encountered petrified cat yack (Which I cleaned up thank you very much), a drippy ceiling in the bathroom, enough cat hair vacuumed up to create an entire new cat, 6 ticked off guinea hens (they screech for about 10 minutes when chased by a screaming 6 year old), blown fuses in the well pump (no water for a day while we figured this out) and the list can go on and on and on...

Last night we were creating a brace thinger so the wires to the well pump don't whack together in the wind and blow out the fuses when it's windy. (Yes, these are all technical terms.) I was sitting on a board while Jim was drilling through it. Toby was telling our friend, Scam (who is un married and has no kids), something that Scam could only decipher as, "I don't want Mommy to get skrewed." Scam was totally amused by this and came to tell us about it. Turns out that Toby doesn't know an electric drill as an electric drill but as a screwdriver. Since I was sitting on the board getting drilled, Toby was concerned that I was about to be "skrewed". So nice to know that he's looking out for his Mamma!

All in all we've had a pretty good time out here in no man's land. The boys have a huge room which isn't even a quarter full of bunk beds, a crib and two dressers, so they have plenty of floor space to play, I mean spread their toys all around. The boys are having a ball with a gigantic oak tree (or it might be maple, city girl can't tell). Anyway, has a tire swing already as well as a "Tarzan rope".

The bottom line is that we feel a little like the Israelites wandering in the desert. They were given enough manna for just the day. We are living out of suitcases, with minimal cookware and dishes, minimal everything until we sign the final papers (financing glitch, hope to close on Thursday). We are receiving just the amount of grace and sanity needed to get through one day at a time. This has been a great lesson for us in patience, working together and trusting in God to get us through one more day. Pray for us this week as we wait to finally close on this house and are able to make it our own!

Did you know?

When done by two boys loading the dishwasher is a full contact sport??? Yes, indeed. Complete with bum smacking and spitting. Don't come over for dinner unless we're using paper plates!

We're moving!

Well, it's official. We're moving away. We're moving to 5 acres away from my life as I know it. Since we're moving, I have decided to take a break from my blog life. Don't worry, I'll be back! This just seems like a good time to put into place some more secure features. A while back I put in a site meter just to see if anyone was reading this thing or not. Turns out, lots of people are! That's encouraging as well as not. I've found some people finding this blog while looking for things COMPLETELY different!!! So, I'll be changing things up a lot including things like using initials for the kids instead of their real names and trying to hide our location better. If you'd like a personal email invite to my new blog when it's up and running please leave a comment or email me directly and I'll send you a link when I have one. Thanks for reading and I'll see you when I see you!

Oh my oh my oh my

We are actually considering moving to the COUNTRY!!! And I am excited about it! Me, who's never lived more than 10 feet from another house in my whole entire LIFE, city girl through and through. I am actually excited about moving myself, my husband and my four kids to a 5 acre hobby farm in a city 15 minutes from my church and life as I know it. Currently there are 2 dogs, 2 roosters, 4 geese (big ol' white ones with the knob on the beak), 4 guinea hens and 4 actual live peacocks living o that property with an almost 60 year old lady. And the animals stay with the property. Yikes. What the heck do you do with a guinea hen or a peacock anyway???

Mommy Bonding

Before I get to the Mommy Bonding story, I'll update you on our house situation. First off of course, our house sold. In a day and a half. With two offers on the table, one of which was above asking price! Second, we have offered, counter offered, countered and accepted an offer. Now, since the home is under forclosure, you'd think that the bank would be HAPPY to get rid of it, collect their money and get on with life! Not so much. We were sent a 12 page addendum with incorrect information on it, told to "just sign it, it's fine" and I don't think so. So, now we've got a message in to the realtor who's working with the bank that says, "put in the right information or we walk". Of course, if we walk, we're walking homeless on June 14. Soooo, needless to say (though I'll say it anyway) we're AGAIN looking for houses. Ugggg!

Now for the fun part! Jim is at Schaeffer's graduation tonight. Evan begged me to go to the park, so I loaded up all four kiddos and off we went! I chatted with a few mommies and their kids in the sand box. One mommy was helping the kids with sand castles when I saw her 4 year old boy run off behind a tree to take care of his business. I told Nikki (the mom) that her son had done so just as my Aidan announced that he had to go potty too and started running off for the tree! Nikki went over just as I noticed that Aidan was not merely watering the tree but adding fertilizer as well. Eeewwww! As I ran to the van to find some wipes and a diaper to put the "stuff" into I noticed Nikki also coming over with a pile of paper towels for HER son's fertilizer! Once we got our respective kids bums and messes cleaned up we went back to the sand pile and commisserated about the wonders of boys. Remind me to remind Daddy that he needs to set up some boundaries for out of doors "business"!!!

I won something!!!

I was invited by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer to participate in a Mother's Day writing contest at Kisses of Sunshine. Sure I was just wasting my time, I zapped out a paragraph introduction to a short essay my mom wrote and passed on to me. You can read the essay and the other entries at Extra Kisses of Sunshine. Enjoy and Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers out there. And a peaceful Mother's Day to all those who are missing their mothers or children or the fact that they are not yet mothers today.

Aidan's take on life

I have two hilarious quotes from Aidan that I've debated blogging about here. I decided to just go ahead and share. If I offend, so sorry, but hey, I can't make this stuff up!

The first one came a few weeks ago. We'd had a speaker at MOPS sharing about how to talk with your children about the birds & the bees, starting with just giving them correct termiology for body parts. I decided that I should just tell the boys that Avery has a v*gina and that it is different from their p*nis. (Shrouding actual terms to avoid sickos from finding these stories, sad, but they're out there.) Anyway, a few days later Aidan and Toby were watching Avery get her diaper changed. Aidan wondered when Avery was going to get her p*nis. I told him that Avery wasn't going to get one, but that she had private parts called a v*gina which is inside her body. A while later I heard him explaining this to his brother. "I have a p*nis, but Avery's is 'in China'!!!" It is soooo hard to try to explain things like this when you're on the floor laughing your head off!!!

The next cute Aidan-ism came just this afternoon. We were at Mel's house for lunch and her newborn decided it was time for lunch too. One thing to note here, I am a white girl through and through. Mel is half Mexican and has a darker complexion. Aidan noticed that Mel looks different than I do and wondered, "Is Ananiah getting chocolate milk?" We were laughing so hard we were crying!!! It was a good thing our friend Mercy who is African-American wasn't there for this one!!!

Works For Me Wednesday

I have a van with two sliding doors. LOVE IT!! Will not go back to a single side slider. Anyway, I also have 4 kids. When I unbuckle them, as I go around to get more out I have the kids "stand on the line" of the parking lot so they're not running around and trying to get themselves run over. If the line has been worn off, I have them stand on a crack or touch the door. Then when we're all lined up and ready to go I tell them they can walk! This really works for me. It gives me a peaceful start to most any trip we take (of course, that doesn't help the rest of the trip, but at least we've started out on a good foot!)
Head over to Rocks In My Dryer for other great tips!

My celebrity look alikes

The View From Here

I am overdue for an update here; it's been a busy weekend.

My parents came up for a visit which was a great diversion from life! We're putting our house on the market tomorrow, so now I have to return to normal and start cleaning and packing unnecessary stuff away (or just give it away). We're not going far, just somewhere with a little more elbow room for boys to run.

Avery is overall doing better. We're learning her "I'm tired, put me to sleep" cues and jumping on them to get a happy napper. She's smiling and cooing all over the place. Quite a difference from the sad baby I had a couple of weeks ago. Zantac seems to be doing the job!

Toby is a kick. He's such a ham and gives us something to laugh about every day. Right now I'm lifting my self-imposed ban on Caillou. I hate that kid's voice, but since it's keeping Toby entertained, I'll let it go for now.

Aidan just provided me with a reminder that I do indeed have boys. I came downstairs from putting Avery down for a nap. I saw the sliding glass door open to the deck and one "shiney heiney" out there on the deck and Aidan, ahem, relieving himself on the deck!!! It is so hard to explain how we are supposed to use the potty while I am cracking up!

Evan is on a field trip to the MN zoo today. He has directions from his teacher that if he does "one little thing wrong" he'll be in the visitor's center with the teacher for the rest of the trip! I just told him that he had to be good or they would leave him in the monkey cage. Bad idea on my part, he thought that sounded like fun!

My girlfriend Melanie had her baby on Friday. Ananiah Eileen was born on her due date, quite a difference from her big brother who was born at 25 weeks 6 days! She was almost 7 lbs, a giant compared to 2 lb Zane. Everyone is doing great!

In other news, please continue to pray for Heather. She came through her brain tumor surgery well, but found out that the tumor type it is carries with it a life expectancy of 3-5 years. She has three kids ages 10, 7 and 5. The 5 year old is autistic and a heart transplant patient. Pray for Heather, Mark, Easton, Eli and Emma as they deal with this news. Her spirits are good and she is leaning heavily on God to get them through this chapter of life.

Blessed be the name.