Happy Birthday Nolan

Today is Nolan's third birthday. Nolan keeps me on my toes. He is all boy. Loves trucks and tools. Loves Papaw's big equipment. He is a very physical kid, constantly on the go. He climbs everything, and thinks he can do anything that his older brother and sister do.

He is a very sweet natured kids. He sleeps with his red blanket. He and the blanket often find their way into mommy and daddy's room in the middle of the night. Most nights he cuddles up on the floor, just happy to be near us. He is cuddly and very affectionate.

He is also a big stinker. Full of curiosity, he often explores and gets out things he shouldn't. It is hard to hold the line with him sometimes because he is just so darn cute. He also knows how to play that "so darn cute" card.

He also has quite the stubborn streak in him, as I've posted about here and here. Sometimes there is just no reasoning with him. Once his mind is set, he will battle till the end to get his way.

My little boy is full of life and energy. Though he challenges me daily, he truly is a blessing, and I am so thankful for him. Happy Birthday little man! I love you!

Four Seasons

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Wordless Wednesday

And a Link, Link There

It is a busy morning so today the links are short and sweet!

Make It From Scratch

Carnival of Homeschooling

Festival of Frugality

Learning in The Great Outdoors

Carnival of the Recipes - This week, International. Next week Mac & Cheese.

Carnival of Family Life - Anniversary Edition

Write Away Contest - Theme Vacations, Deadline May 15th.

We are off to our co-op picnic. The weather looks perfect for it!

With a Quack, Quack Here

The newest farm members:



We were expecting to get four, but apparently last week King Duck took out the competition. (The other one was a male that one of the hens hatched this spring. ) We are hoping that they will hatch some ducklings this summer yet, so we will have to read up on how to protect the males. Any advice is appreciated. I've never had ducks before so this is all new.

Our one chicken is not too thrilled with the arrangement. One of these days I must devote a whole post to the antics of our one chicken. She is quite entertaining. And to why we have only one chicken. We would like to get more, but haven't taken the time to make it happen.

As you may have noticed, I haven't been around much. I almost couldn't believe I hadn't posted since Thursday! How can that be? It has been busy. I went to a women's retreat with our old church on Friday. It was a wonderful! I don't really have the words to explain it, but I deeply miss the fellowship we had there.

We've been busy outside too. Working on gardens, wild foods and animals. The weather has been very comfortable and nice. I long to be out there digging in the dirt. In fact, I went out and planted after the kids were in bed. I was planting until 9:00! Hope the enthusiasm last through the harvest!

My nephew, Jude, was here today. The kids were so excited and they all played and played and played. They are sleeping well tonight. My SIL and niece are coming tomorrow, and my brother may stop in while he is in the area for a business trip.

In other news, we are getting new residents (yes humans!) to the 100 Acre Wood. They will be moving in this weekend. I'll post more about that later.

M.R.'s birthday is this week. This is probably the first year ever that I haven't been a little down at this time. I'm really trying to not expect anything, but deep down I'm very anxious for contact. Kellen asked me yesterday when we were going to meet her. I wish I knew son, I wish I knew.

Sorry for the rambling type post tonight. I'm a little tired, and feel like I have so much to catch up on! I have a feeling my posting and visiting will be a bit irregular through the summer. Apologies in advance. Maybe I will get a better written post in tomorrow! Hope you are enjoying fabulous weather in your part of the world too!

I'm No Superwoman TT #4

Over the past few months I have gotten many flattering comments. I appreciate them, really, please do not stop! But it occurred to me that you are not seeing the whole picture. There are many, many things I don't do well, or do not do at all. Here are some from that list.

1. Iron.
Tim does that. They are his clothes after all!

2. Windows.
Can't remember the last time I've cleaned them. Never at this house!

3. Boxed Mac & Cheese.
As you may have noticed in this video.

4. My Van.
Constantly embarrassingly dirty. I haven't cleaned it out since we left for our vacation. Well, since Tim cleaned it before our vacation.

5. Bathrooms.
I hate cleaning them. They get pretty bad. I thought I had the solution: cleaning them while the kids were in the bath, but got out of that by having Tim give the kids their baths.

6. Dusting.
You could write your name on my desk right now.

7. Yelling.
I yell more than I'd like, in a tone that makes me cringe when I hear the kids use it with each other. Not proud of this, but keeping it real here.

8. Kids' Rooms.
Desperately need a de-clutter and thorough cleaning.

9. Exercise.
Don't I get enough chasing Nolan (almost 3) ?

10. My Husband.
I take him for granted. Thanks for all you do Tim!

11. My Self.
I don't do my hair, rarely wear makeup, have trouble keeping up with shaving and with painting my toe nails. Finger nails? Only care they get is a quick trim.

12. Friends & Family.
I'm not good at keeping in touch especially with those far away. This blog serves that purpose to a point, but I really should make more phone calls and write more letters.

13. TV
I let the kids watch shows so I can get some quiet! There I said it!



I don't stress over the things needing improvement. What is the point? Being a mom, a wife, a responsible human is hard work! We all have things we do well with, and things that need improving. We all have the same number of hours in the day, and an impossible number of tasks to complete in those hours. We do the best we know with our time and circumstances. We look for ways to improve where we can. I'm no more superwoman than the rest of you. We all are superwomen!

Thursday Thirteen

Baby Sign Language

This is our 14 month old, Vivian.

Wordless Wednesday

Is a video stretching it?

Linking Up

We've been having some beautiful days here. We've been working on the garden and fencing in the pasture. The guys cut up a couple of locust trees to use for post. We all (ok they did most of it) had to hoof them up to the fence, over the fence, up the bank and load them on the trailer. I love all the outside work, but my body is reminding me it is much more physical work than I'm used to. It's all good. I need the exercise. Now, if I could just stay out of those chocolate chips!

Here are your Tuesday links.

Festival of Frugality - May Day Festivities
Full of good ideas to save you money! My entry ((Low Cost (and Free) Flower Beds)) made the top ten! YES!

Money Stories
These are personal stories about money issues.

Postie Carnival
A little bit of this and a little bit of that from Pay Per Post Affiliates.

Carnival of Recipes - Quick and Easy
I may need some of these. We were working outside until after 8 yesterday. The kids go to bed at 9. Talk about needing a quick and easy meal!

Next week's edition is International Recipes. I love international food. Can't wait to see what is offered.

Carnival of Family Life
Jennifer did a wonderful job hosting this large, but great carnival.

Carnival of the Story Tellers
Stories to entertain. Some true some fiction.

Make It From Scratch

Michelle has announced this month's Write-Away Contest topic: vacations! Should be a good one!

Have a great day!

That aint no filly!

Papaw got a closer look at the foal today, and what he thought was a filly, is actually a colt. So, think boy names. Blaze is a good one don't you think, Delilah? (Sorry I couldn't resist!)

Introducing

Mamaw and Papaw's newest GrandAnimal:



Sophie had her foal early Sunday morning, a little filly. She is a cute, leggy little thing. No name yet. We are waiting to let Miles and Ashley help with a name this weekend. Mama and baby are doing great!

You'd think Mamaw and Papaw had a new grandchild. Sunday they were calling family members and we had to take the camera to church to show people pictures of the new girl.



The next animals we are expecting are ducks. Not baby ones, but four adults. Ducks weren't exactly high up on my list of animals to get, but a friend is giving them to us. Hard to pass up free (useful) animals. We should get them next Sunday. We are hoping to let them hatch out some this summer too! All these new animals! This is the fun part of the farm!

From Tree to Siding

By all rights, this is Papaw's story to post, but since he has abandoned his blog, I will have to tell you how he is making siding for this house.

You may wonder why put siding on a house that is temporary? Good question, and one I've asked as we put in a permanent foundation, a new roof and a very large deck. The reason is that this house is temporary, to Tim and I. In fact, we just rent it from Papaw and Mamaw. The house itself will be staying for other family members that may need it, or for use as a guest house if no one currently needs it to live in.

We joke that Papaw is making this double wide so nice, we may never leave. He is quick to respond that he will have to raise the rent to get us out of here. Tim and I believe that Papaw and Mamaw will probably end up here, while Eric stays in the house they live in now. They say that is not the plan. I guess only time will tell.

At the top of one of the hills is a place we call the clearing. At the clearing you will see a pile of logs. These are all logs that were dead, or were cleared for the power lines and mobile home sites. Late last fall, Papaw purchased a saw mill. Not a cheap endeavor, but he reasoned that by the time we build the houses, the outbuildings, and other things like, rabbit hutches, it will pay for itself.

Last weekend he had it up and running to cut boards to side this house with. Tim posted a video of it, if you would like to see it in action. Papaw is siding the house with oak in a rustic barn like style. It looks very nice. He has the back side of the house more than half done. With the new roof line and the new siding, this house will not look like a trailer at all, from the outside.

That is Papaw's story of taking the trees from our property and turning them into siding for our house. I'm sure he is saying that he doesn't have time to post about it, because he is too busy doing it!

The Post I Can't Post and One I Can

What I can't say:
I have this great story to post. I want to tell it so badly. I want to remember it later.

But I can't post it. It's not offensive, but Kellen (8) says it is embarrassing. It is nothing he did, but it is about him. I've tried to tell him that in ten years (or less) he will be happy to have a story like this. He doesn't believe me.

Out of respect for Kellen, I'm not posting the story. I'm just putting this here so I remember it later. Memory Joggers: And we were worried about Lydia. I'm not sure this story would be so cute if it was about Lydia. (Why do we feel more protective of the girls than the boys?) He's got a face that more than his mom can love.

What I can say:
Rabbits again! Regular readers may remember the stories of the rabbits breeding that we didn't want to breed. A few weeks ago, when we got back from vacation, we finally had the New Zealands we want to breed, and we had a four day window of breeding time for the 4-H.

We put the first doe in with the buck. He was trying, but she was not interested. We tried one of the other does. She was a little calmer, but he acted like he could care less that she was in there. So, we tried the last doe we had. Neither seemed to care about the purpose we had them together for! ARRRGH! Now that we want rabbits to breed, they aren't cooperating? Whoever heard of rabbits not breeding when given the opportunity?

Kellen's remark, "I think he is a Christian rabbit. He only wants to be married to the first doe."

We called the breeder, and made the hour trip to exchange the buck. We were under a serious time crunch for the fair. The new buck was very frisky.
(I really considered not posting Kellen's remark. I hope I don't offend anyone. Please know it was made in innocence. I'm not sure he even fully understood it.)

Kellen's remark, "I think the new buck must be a Mormon."

The does again were not that cooperative. We did what we could, and are hoping for the best. I'll let you know in a few weeks if things were successful.

You can never be too prepared. . .

. . . for dinner?

Wordless Wednesday

After Much Waiting

No really, much, much, much waiting!

Last fall Papaw & Mamaw bought two Black Agnus cows. Both were bred and the previous owner said the one should have her calf in DECEMBER. December came and went, then January, and February, and March, and even half of April, and we began to wonder will she ever have this calf?

A week ago she finally did! Meet George:



George is a little bull calf. He wasn't supposed to get a name. See the plan is female calves will be kept. Papaw wants to have five total. Males calves. . .well they are destined for the dinner table.

You don't name your food, but when Nolan saw the calf, he said, "He looks like George." George the monkey? I am not sure, but the name has stuck. Hopefully the kids don't get too attached.

This should be the beginning of lots of births here on the farm. We should have a foal next month, and baby rabbits, and then another calf. Fun and busy times here in the 100 Acre Wood.

Good Reading

Lots of great carnivals and festivals out there today. Here are some things to entertain and to make you think.

Carnival of Debt Reduction
Must look here for more ideas!

Festival of Frugality - Definitions of Frugality Edition
Good posts to get you thinking, and practical applications too.

Carnival of Homeschooling - The Bee Edition
There are lots of entries, not just about bees either.

Carnival of the Recipes - Tour of Italy
Is it wrong to be craving lasagna at 7:00 AM?

The Carnival of Family Life
Laughs and knowledge to be had.

The Thirteener Carnival
This is a carnival for participants of Thursday Thirteen and their other posts. No lists in this carnival.

The Carnival of SAHM
Not sure how I missed this carnival before. Looks like some good stuff!

Is that enough reading material for you? Enjoy!

They Just Won't Stop Growing Up!

After taking her first wobbly steps over a month ago, Vivian has decided walking is the way to go. The steps are still wobbly, but come in 10's instead of 1's. She has also decided that staying put in the stroller or being carried is not the way to go. She wants down to show off her new skills, and isn't afraid to let you know!

Lydia is reading! We are on lesson 23 of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She is reading sentences like, "This is a rock. Sam is at the rock." We have Storybook Treasury of Dick and Jane and Friends (Dick and Jane). I bet she could read those stories, easy. She is so proud, and so am I!

Nolan is playing Elmos Preschool. It is a CD-rom we got when Kellen was a preschooler. Nolan looks so big sitting on the computer, headphones on clicking away with the mouse. His favorite game is making silly faces. He especially likes the mad face.

When Kellen saw Nolan playing the game, he remarked, with nostalgia in his voice, "Ah, I remember when that was such a fun game!" And I think, "Wasn't that just yesterday?"

Pets TT #3

There have been a lot of pets in my life. When I was in grade school, we lived on a farm, so I've had many and some unusual pets. I thought I'd share some with you.

1. & 2. Ponies named Betsy and Metsy
These were the sweetest things. My best friend and I rode them everywhere. We had no idea what we were doing. We first started riding them bare back, with baler twine tied to their lead halters. Eventually, we did get bridles, but I don't ever remember having a saddle.

3. & them some? Lambs
I had several lambs. Sadly, I don't remember their names. I didn't have them long. They were 4-H market lambs that ended up on the auction block, and then well. . . the butcher block. The first year I cried like a baby at the auction. I got a very good price that year.

4. A cow named Joy
She was a Guernsey; a dairy cow. Her off spring ended up at the butchers, but she was my pet.

5. Bunches of rabbits
When I was little we had a chicken house full of rabbits. I don't remember any of them by name, but I do remember it was my job to care for them.

I would feed them before school. One morning I got up to feed them, and slipped on my jeans and coat over my night gown, as normal. I went out and fed them, and came back in the house. I sat on the couch, for a minute that turned into a half hour. I woke up to the sound of the bus honking.

I jumped up and ran to the bus. About a mile down the road I realized I was still in my night gown. The bus route went past my best friend's house twice. I begged and pleaded, and convinced the driver to let me off the first time by. I borrowed a sweater. It was rather tight, but not nearly as embarrassing as wearing my night gown to school.

6. Brandy, the Irish Setter
She was a good dog. Much calmer than other Irish Setters I've known since.

7. Lady, the mutt
After Brandy was put down, we got Lady. She was the sweetest dog. She really was more Jake's dog, but we all loved her.

8. More cats than I can count, but one by name.
On the farm we had lots of barn cats. Many too wild to ever consider pets. One that was tame was a calico, named Calico. So creative, I know. She was the only cat we took with us when we left the farm.

9. Another cat
When I was in college, I really wanted a cat. One of my room mates picked up a stray kitten. She was disgusting, and sick. I cleaned her up and took her to the vet. She had this green discharge from her nose that didn't clear up for a very long time, but we loved her. We named her Stoli, yes, like the Vodka. Why we named a black cat after a clear alcohol, I can only explain by saying, "college days."

She didn't like Tim much. When we got married she started peeing on things occasionally. Funny how it was almost always Tim's clothes.

10. Rabbit
When Kellen was a preschooler, Delilah gave us Scotty. He was Kellen's first pet. He died a few months ago.

11. Another mutt; Pac.
He was the first animal we bought after moving here. As a puppy, he was pretty rambunctious. He seems to be calming down now. He has been a great companion for Kellen, even though Kellen sometimes gets frustrated with him.

12. 13. & beyond: more rabbits.
We now have six rabbits. Two, Cha Cha and Peter are strictly pets. Cha Cha is Lydia's girl. Lydia carries her around like a baby.

The other four are New Zealand's; meat rabbits. We are breeding them now, which has been its own story, and subject for another post. Within a month, we should have quite a few more rabbits.


Many good memories of my childhood revolve around animals. Now my children are creating those type of memories too. I hope that one day they will look back at all the pets and farm animals with fondness. Thanks for joining me.

Thursday Thirteen

Birds on Posts

Wordless Wednesday

Our OBX Vacation

As promised, my vacation story and pictures. (I kept the pictures small here. If you click on them you can see a full sized image.) Remember you asked for it! LOL This vacation was our second to the Outer Banks, North Carolina. The first trip was with my parents and Jake and his family. We stayed more toward the middle of the Outer Banks then.

This time we were at the Northern end, in Currituck. We shared a house with my parents, and two other couples. The other couples each brought one older child and a friend. There were 16 of us altogether. We ate dinners together and did some activities together, but did most things on our own or in smaller groups.

Overall, sharing the house worked out well. There were some minor annoyances, but no big deals. It was not a stress free vacation, but the times I was really stressed were dealing with my own children, who were out of schedule and lacking sleep. Once they settled in, we were all able to relax and enjoy.

Easter Sunday we had our own little worship service, and just took it easy. Later in the afternoon, we walked to the beach. It was chilly, so I was not prepared for water play. The kids though, could not resist the water and the waves. The boys walked back soaking.





Monday, we went to the Wright Brothers National Memorial. There were some nice historical displays, full sized reproductions of the gliders and planes they built, and a very informative presentation by a park ranger. And Kellen thought he was on spring break! HA! This was one big field trip disguised as a vacation.




The next day was Tim's favorite. We went to Corolla. There are no roads there, just sand. You drive on the beach up to the Virginia line. There are all kinds of huge vacation homes there too; all with sand roads. The whole group went, taking 3 Subaru's and one 4x4 truck. We later read that AWD vehicles (like the Subaru's) are not recommended. 4x4 are the recommended type of vehicles. I don't really understand the difference though. The cars did fine as long you kept them at the tide lines. They did get stuck if you were in the loose stuff. Luckily we never got stuck, but two of the other cars did.

In this area there are wild horses. We were lucky enough to see three of them. The were drinking the sea water, for salt, I assume. You could tell they were used to being around people, but they weren't exactly tame. After they were done in the water, they rolled around in the sand.




We drove as far as we could. There is a fence a bit after the Virginia state line. We walked around some and ate our lunch at the beach, flew kites, and played some more.





The next day we visited Currituck Beach Light Station, and climbed the 214 steps of the lighthouse. Mamaw was a bit unnerved by the climb. She made sure that I had a firm grasp on Nolan the entire time. I have to say though, that looking down the spiral steps did make my stomach a bit queasy.




At 30 mph, the winds on the observation deck were intense, but the view was stunning.




Adjacent to the lighthouse is the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education. This also had some excellent educational displays. While there we also learned that they offer free classes. Most of the classes offered during our remaining time were full, but they did have some openings for a nature journal class the next morning. It wouldn't have been my first pick of the classes, but since the weatherman was calling for rain that morning, I signed us up. Kellen, Lydia and I went. We enjoyed the class and learned a bit more about some shells and local wildlife.

Though it rained that morning, the afternoon was gorgeous. We relaxed and enjoyed. Friday morning we did the same, and headed for one last trip to the beach in the afternoon. The thick skinned played in the water, but mostly we built sand castles.
Saturday we loaded the car, did a little shopping, had lunch and headed home.






It was a nice family vacation. It is nice to have a change of pace and see new things. It made a wonderful field trip too! :)

Tuesday Links - Lite

Today's list is a bit smaller than normal. With vacation and all, I just didn't get that many gathered, but here is what I have:

Make it From Scratch

Carnival of the Recipes - Meatless Edition

Carnival of Environmental Education

Better list next week!

We are Back!

We made it back, though I would have liked a few more days. Apparently, Nolan would have like a few more days too. He keeps saying, "I want to go to our big house." A big house it was, but with four families there, a big house was needed.

Overall, we had a very good time. The weather wasn't great. It was a bit chilly most days, but it didn't rain much, and we were still able to enjoy the beach and the sites. At the beach, the chilly weather didn't seem to bother the kids, (or the biggest kid, Tim) for that matter. They still played in the sand and even splashed around some in the water. Too cold for me though!

I will be posting more later. Now I need to get laundry started, and try to get us all back in the routine. Tim did a post a video of us driving on the beach. That was a lot of fun! I promise I will bore you with more stories and pictures later! :)

Links from the Beach

From the Outer Banks, here are the Tuesday links!

Make It From Scratch

Festival of Frugality

Carnival of Family Life

Carnival of the Storytellers

Enjoy! I'll have beach pictures and stories for you later!

I Lost Dinner

This is the kind of week I am having. As the kids say, "Two sleeps until the beach." Normally, I am a pretty productive and efficient person, but this week I am having trouble focusing, and feel like my head is going twenty directions. Here is the latest example.

We got most of the groceries for vacation yesterday, but today I wanted to make one more stop to pick up some chicken breasts that were on sale. The store was on the way to Kellen's orthodontist appointment, so it really wasn't much extra to make another stop.

While there, I saw some pork chops marked down, because they were close to the sell by date. Yesterday the kids and I joked that we weren't eating anything until we went on vacation. It seemed like all the groceries we unloaded were quickly repacked for our vacation. There is food in the freezer, but since I hadn't gotten anything out, those pork chops looked like a quick and easy dinner to me.

Upon arriving home, we unloaded, and put away the groceries. After that last bag was empty, I realized I hadn't seen the pork chops. I looked through the things set aside for our trip; not there. I dug through the fridge; not there. I searched for an over looked bag in the van; not there. I walked around outside, looking for chewed up packaging, thinking maybe the dog got a hold of it somehow; no such sign.

I can only hope that the package never made it to my van. My fear is that the package is sitting in a cupboard or other some such place, and won't be discovered until we return from vacation to a house wreaking of rotten pork.

Two sleeps until the beach, and I can't even keep track of tonight's dinner. How I am I supposed to organize and pack all the things a family of six needs at the beach for a week?

A Spring Maiden

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Links

For your browsing pleasure:

Make It From Scratch

Postie Carnival- Food Theme

Frugal Upstate- Improve Your Blog Month

Scribbit's Write Away Contest - April Theme: Growing

Carnival of the Recipes - April Fools Edition

Carnival of Craziness

Bits of Beauty - Beauty Carnival

Enjoy. I have lists to make and packing to do! {sigh} It will be worth it next week!

A Busy Weekend and a Rough Monday

Grandma and Grandpa (Tim's parents) came for a visit this weekend. Uncle Kent came too as a surprise! They came Thursday afternoon and stayed until Saturday afternoon. It was a weekend jammed with family fun!

Grandma brought three new games:Apples to Apples, UNO H2O Splash, and Blink . We played games most of the weekend. We played out on the deck, and in on the table. We played morning, noon, and night. We all had a lot of fun. She left the UNO and Blink. I am thinking about getting the Jr. version of Apples to Apples before we leave for vacation.

When we weren't playing games, we were eating. Yes, we did a little more than that. A rabbit hutch was built. Grandpa, Uncle Kent, Kellen, Lydia, Tim and I went for a hike to the creek. Grandma stayed back with Vivian who was running a fever, and Nolan, who actually asked her to tuck him in for a nap!


It a was a great day for a walk. It was sunny, but not too hot. We found wild flowers, a turtle, and
some oyster mushrooms. We enjoyed the mushrooms as a side to dinner. The adults took a little break, while the kids and the dog played in the creek. Then we headed back.

Vivian was still not feeling great, but we had a belated birthday party. She made it through with a little help from some infants Tylenol. She wasn't too sure about the cake or the ice cream, but she did enjoy the presents! She would grab them (mostly clothes) and then whip them beside her, and grab the next one. It was really cute!



Saturday afternoon Grandma, Grandpa,and Uncle Kent went with the three oldest kids to an Easter party at Mamaw's work. The kids reported they had a great time. They brought back a ton of candy, if that is any indication. Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Kent headed home from there.

Vivian seemed much better in the morning, but by afternoon her fever was pretty high. She was very grumpy, even with medication. That night she slept well, until about 1:00, and then was up about every hour.

I stayed home from church with her Sunday. She finally did sleep, and slept most of the morning. I tried to get some sleep too, but mostly laid there thinking about everything I need to do. I ended up walking around, trying to get a few things done in that groggy state called exhaustion.

This morning her fever was all but gone. Unfortunately, she is still pretty grumpy. We all had a rough morning. Everyone is a little tired from the weekend, and it is hard to get back into the routine.

We leave for the Outer Banks (N.C.) on Saturday. I'm trying to get laundry done, knowing I will probably have to do a few loads at the end of the week to finish packing. I'm trying to plan and pack for our vacation, but my head still feels groggy.

I think for now I'm just going to concentrate on laundry and the house. I can do those with out much brain power. Tonight the three oldest are going with Papaw to pick up the cousins. Then I will sit down and start my lists. I am a list maker you know. I need a list for clothing, food, (we are in a house, and will be cooking most of our meals)games, toys, and baby stuff. It will get done, I know. It just feels a little overwhelming coming off a busy week, and weekend with a sick baby.

Well enough of my whining. We really did have a great weekend, and are looking forward to a relaxing week in North Carolina. Now, I better get back to that laundry!

Blogging Parents

Jennifer over at Parenting Toddlers added me to her list of parenting blogs almost two weeks ago! Sorry Jennifer, it has been kind of crazy here.

The idea here is to list parent blogs. I get to add up to five more. I was looking at my sidebar and all the blogs there, except The Family History and Kellen's, are blogs written by parents. I also noticed that my links badly need updated. I decided to make my add ons places I do regularly go, but don't have listed over in the side bar. Some I've been reading for awhile, and some are pretty new to me. There are a wide variety of places listed, so go enjoy! If you go and visit any of these, tell them I sent you! :)

Here are the rules:

1. Write a short paragraph at the beginning of your post and link back to the blog that put you on the list in the paragraph. This isn’t a suggestion. You need to break up the duplicate content string. Someone took the time to add you so the least you can do is give them an extra linkback.
2. Copy the list of originals below COMPLETELY and add it to your blog. If you would like a different keyword for your blog then change it when you do your post and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword.
3. Take the adds from the blog that added you and place them in the “Originals” list.
4. Add up to 5 new parenting or (Mommy/Daddy) blogs to the list in the “My Adds” section.

My additions:
Mom's Musings
Special K Family
Baseballs and Bows
Contolled Chaos
Bean Sprouts

The originals:
A Work of Art: Raising Our Exceptional Son
Ever After … My Way
Adventures In The 100 Acre Wood
An Island Life
Adoption and Fire

Lala Girl
The Bookworm Broadcast
Parenting Sites 411

Cass Knits
Geni Desu Yo

No Average Mom
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Wordless Wednesday

Swamped

Why are some weeks nice and easy and others jammed full? Why do all the extras like field trips, appointments and others fall in the same week? This week I am swamped. There is something going on everyday, and Tim's parents are coming Thursday for the weekend.

Next week I am swamped. Not quite so many appointments, but some. The cousins are here, and we are leaving for vacation on Saturday. A vacation I just may spend doing nothing after these two crazy weeks.

All that to say, if the posting is light or I'm not visiting much in the next three weeks, it is because I am spending two weeks going crazy and the following week recovering. You understand right?

Anyhow you didn't come here for that, here are the Tuesday places to go and things to do:

Make it From Scratch

Carnival of Family Life

Festival of Family Flair

Carnival of the Recipes

Carnival of Homeschooling

Celeste over at C's Life is asking us for a little help.

Sorry for the short and sweet list, but it is late, and I have a busy day tomorrow. I'll try to update it in the afternoon with some that don't post until the morning. Have a great day!

A Story in My Life #7

Just when I think there won't be anything to tell about this story for a few months, I get a letter in the mail. (If you don't know this story, click the MR label at the end of the page to catch up.) A letter that brought tears; first of sadness, and then of happiness.

The letter was from the adoptive father(R). He had just received my letter from 2001 and the letter written last month. He had written a paragraph or two in the first letter I received years ago, but all other correspondence has been with the adoptive mother. He was writing this letter because he and MR's mom divorced several years back, and MR now lives with him, and his new wife.

This brought me to tears. It shattered my illusion that MR had the perfect life, with the perfect family, which of course would be affirmation that I had made the perfect choice. Soon I remembered there was no perfect choice. When facing an unplanned pregnancy, all the choices are difficult, all have life long consequences, and none are perfect.

There are no perfect lives or families for that matter, and that is ok. Hard times expose our foundations, and our values. They break down walls around our heart, and humble us. For Christians, they are opportunities to allow Christ's life to grow in us. I can't expect that any of my children will be spared the hard times. I can only pray that through those times they will truly find their life is in Christ. I hope that has been MR's experience.

R apologized for the lapse in communication, and explained that they had always intended to stay in contact, but things got lost in the shuffle. I certainly don't blame him. It happened. It can't be changed now.

He sent recent pictures. She is a beautiful young woman. In the letter he described her personality a bit more. A beautiful young Christian woman. Again, from the picture and the description I could see so many attributes of myself and her biological father. I look at the pictures and it seems unreal that she is actually the baby from that hospital so many years ago.

Then the best news. In R's words, "MR has all along wanted to meet you as we have. MR is almost 18 and I think it can be arranged. We are heartily looking forward to it." I am crying as I type this. Yes, I admit to a bit of nervousness about this, but I am so excited! And so you know how awesome my husband is, he is just as excited as I am.

So where does this story go from here? I will probably write a letter in response. M.R. needs to contact the agency, and then I assume they will contact me, or perhaps since I gave permission, for them to help her, they will just give her the address. I am really not sure. One way or another it looks like we are headed toward direct contact. I couldn't be more thrilled, and I will keep you updated!

Marriage Meme

Sara tagged me for this meme.

1. Where/How did you meet?
Well, that is a story. We grew up in the same town, but I am five years older than he is so, we never were in the same circles. In fact, one of my best friends used to babysit him. Ridiculous isn't it? I don't recall meeting him as kids.

I went away to college. My parents started leading a youth group. I came back from college, and Tim was part of the youth group. He was a senior, and around our house a lot. More on this in another question.

2. How long have you known each other?
I guess that would make it about 14 years.

3. How long after you met did you start dating?
Continuing from #1. . . Tim would follow me around. I thought it was so cute he had a crush on me, but I was the sophisticated college graduate, not interested in a high school kid. In fact, I had always dated older guys, make that older jerks!

Tim and I became friends. We hung out, talked and played volleyball together. I remember thinking that I would like to marry someone like Tim, but of course, someone who wasn't in high school!

I don't remember exactly when we crossed the line to dating, but it was fall sometime. It didn't take long. I'd just moved back in June.

4. How long did you date before you were engaged?
That also didn't take long. Started dating in the fall, had decided we wanted to get married by spring. Crazy isn't it? He was 18 for goodness sakes!

5. How long was your engagement?
We got married during the winter break of his freshman year of college, so about 8 months.

6. How long have you been married?
Twelve years.

7. What is your anniversary?
December 31. New Years Eve. It was the only Saturday, that would work during his winter break.

8. How many people came to your wedding reception?
About 200 I think.

9. What kind of cake did you serve?
Oh man! I really don't remember. I'm thinking we had some layers of white and some of spice, but I'm not sure.

10. Where was your wedding?
Lighthouse Christian Fellowship. Millersburg, Ohio

11. What did you serve for your meal?
Your killing me here. It was a buffet. Let's see, pasta, bread, fruit, salad? We ate in a hurry, so it is kind of a blur.

12. How many people were in your bridal party?
4 total

13. Are you still friends with them all?
The ladies - I lost touch with both of them. I did reconnect with one of them a few months back, though.

The men- One was Tim's brother, so yes, they are still friends. Lost touch with the other.

14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?
I think we both teared up. He sang to me as a I walked down the aisle. Hard not to tear up during that.

15. Most special moment of your wedding day?
see #14

16. Any funny moments?
While I was getting ready, I couldn't find my lipstick. Seems silly now, but I was pretty frantic. My lovely bridesmaids teased me about it, saying, "Steph can't get wed without her Ruby Red." It is funny, now.

17. Any big disasters?
No, not really. Tim did try to put my ring on the wrong finger.
One thing that most people didn't know. My oldest brother and his wife were helping at the reception. We sent them right after the ceremony, forgetting they need to be there for the family pictures. I've always felt bad about that.

18. Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We went to a secluded cabin in rural Ohio.

19. How long were you gone?
One week.


20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change?
Honestly, I don't think I'd have a wedding like that at all. Though we tried to make it simple, and keep the cost down, it still seemed like a production, and cost a good chunk. I think I'd rather have had a much more relaxed wedding, and kept it to immediate family. If I was going to spend a good chunk of money on a wedding, I think I'd go for a destination wedding.

21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
Right side. Before we moved I slept on the left side. Not sure why we changed, probably b/c the right side is closer to the bathroom!

22. What size is your bed?
Queen

23. Greatest strength as a couple?
Our differences. No, really. We are wired very differently. In the early years it was hard to appreciate those difference, but now that we do, it has made us much stronger. Our differences compliment each other. He is strong where I am weak. I am strong where he is weak. We are a great team.

24. Greatest challenge as a couple?
Finding time for each other.

25. Who literally pays the bills?
For most years of our marriage, I've paid the bills. He has here or there.

26. What is your song?
? See #27

27. What did you dance your first dance to?
When I Fall in Love by Celine Dion from the Sleepless in Seattle Soundtrack. That was the first movie we saw together.

28. Describe your wedding dress:
The dress was very special. Tim's grandmother made it. The fabric was a brocade. The dress itself was simple with a bit of bead trim. I'm hoping that my daughters will want to wear it too.

Previously, I posted an engagement and wedding photo. You can see them here.

Who'd like to tell their wedding story? I'll tag Mandy, Crystal, and Delilah, if they'd like to play. Of course, anyone else is welcome to play too!

What do you think she is thinking?

Wordless Wednesday

I Guess this is a Regular Thing Now

In what has become a Tuesday tradition, here are a list of things you might be interested in checking out:

The Regulars
Make It From Scratch

Carnival of the Recipes , the Irish edition.

Festival of Frugality The Frugal Duchess chose my article, A Frugal Balance, as an editors pick this week. Though I detest being in the spotlight in the real world, I love it in the blog world! :)

Carnival of Family Life

And a couple of new ones for you, just to keep it interesting.
Money Stories. This is a carnival about our personal experiences with money. I submitted Kellen Gets a Lesson on Brand Names, if you want to know what kind of things you may find there.

The Beauty Carnival

The Postie Carnival. In this carnival all participants are PayPerPost Affiliates. This week's carnival has a TV theme. Posties talk about their favorite shows, hated shows, memories and other thoughts about TV.

The Carnival of the Story Tellers is a carnival of just that; stories. Real life, humor, drama, nonfiction, and memories are some of the categories found there.

Hope you enjoy all the links!

Our Continuing Rabbit Saga

No, this isn't another story of indiscretions, unplanned pregnancy, and babies that didn't make it. This is a happy story. After encountering numerous obstacles, we finally found some New Zealand does to mate with Scotty for Kellen's 4-H project.

Saturday we traveled about an hour to retrieve them. We brought home three does that are about six months old. Their names are Blanche, Snowball, and Cream. Don't ask me who is who. I can't tell them apart yet, but Kellen seems to be able to.

They are cute, but energetic. The kids will need to learn to be more careful with the doors. We've already had three escape attempts, something that was never a problem with our other rabbits.

Regretfully, the story does not end there. This is also a very sad story. Our long time pet, Scotty, apparently, could not handle all the excitement. We hadn't even put a doe in with him yet, but the thought of it must have been too much for him. He passed away about five hours after we got home with the girls.

He was our pet for about four years. He was Delilah's pet before. He lived to a ripe old age, for a rabbit. He never married or had any offspring, but he will be missed by his human family at the 100 Acre Wood.

And the rabbit saga continues. Another trip will need to be made to the breeder, an hour away, to bring a new buck home. The girls will get their hubby, and we will get bunnies for the fair and for meat, eventually.

To read previous segments of the saga click on the "rabbits" label.

Frog Music

After posting this picture, I lamented here that you could not hear the "music" that goes with the picture. Fellow West Virginia homeschooler, and mommy to one of Kellen's best buds, Crystal, came to my rescue. She made a video to record the frog music. Isn't she the smart one?! You can have a listen here.