This week has been sunny and warm for a nice change   With this nice change in the weather, we were able to get our garden tilled.  The lady (who owns the tractor/tiller) came by Friday morning and whipped through our garden.  Friday afternoon.. my husband took me to one of the local family owned plant stands.  We bought two flats of veggie plants… I can’t wait to plant them!  I am hoping to get the garden planted Sunday afternoon. 

With this nice weather, comes more outside time.  This past week we had a family picnic/gathering.. I wanted to share a couple pic’s

My youngest daughter on the left, my oldest daughter in the middle.. playing with their cousin

The boys and Sam were able to get a little game of baseball in Thursday.   All in all.. We had a wonderfull sunny week!!

Today my 4th child turned 9.  I am always amazed about how time flies!!  As I was thinking about him turning 9, I was remembering back to his birth.  How thankful I was to have been given another chance to have a baby.  He was and still is a true blessing – All my children are  

We started a new birthday tradition this year.  We decided to let the birthday child pick the dinner meal… They get to tell me what to make for dinner!  And, they can choose what everyone gets for dessert  

I asked Nehemiah what he wanted.. He replied, “I would like fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy & broccoli”… and for dessert he wanted chocolate cake.  Here I was expecting him to say hotdogs or hamburgers or something of a kin… lol…  So, for dinner tonight, I fixed a YUMMY fried chicken meal with chocolate cake (I didn’t actually have any cake.. but the rest of the family did).

My youngest daughter, Eliorah, has found a new hobby.  She LOVES to pick flowers.  She follows me (and anyone else) outside and instantly starts picking flowers.  She has learned many of the names and will bring us a large variety in her bouquets.  We recently went on a picnic with some of our friends… she spent a great deal of time picking flowers in the park   We have been talking within our family.. wondering if she will aspire to be a florist

To me, it’s a win-win.. she loves the pretty flowers.. and I love to have those pesky dandilions picked out of the yard, before they blow their seed everywhere

Spring break seemed to fly by.  My husband took the whole week off from work, and I’m sad to see it over.  We accomplished so many projects.. not to mention had a lot of fun   Our biggest project was our windows.  Our windows are the cheap alluminum type.  This past week we had half of them replaced with nice vinyl windows.  I am looking forward to not dealing with the black mold & mildew in that half of the house.  After the contractor’s installed the windows, we took the responsibility of replacing the trim ourselves (to save us quite a bit of money).  For the most part, that was finished up yesterday…

We built and finshed another livestock pen with shed.  I needed another pen to corral our lamb.  We delivered another set of triplet goats.. with one last goat remaining, due 4 days ago!

My daughter, Abby, moved home this past week.. that has been a lot of adjustment in the house.  She and her friend cleaned and painted her bedroom.  It is shaping up real nice..

Our family took a fun hike.  The children learn so much on our outings   On this hike, we were able to show the smaller children how to determine the age of a tree – by counting it’s growth rings. 

Also, on this particular trail, there are many markers along the way with historical facts about that particular location.  This trail is called, ‘Sawmill Trail’.. named for the old sawmill that occupied that area.  We hike it often.. it’s close to home and easy for the children to manuever.

Of course.. it’s always best for the boys to wear their ‘muck boots’… what boy can avoid mud puddles? Lol..

I wanted to update everyone on a couple of my recent posts.. Turns out that my kids do have chicken pox – atleast the two youngest.  I am preppeing for the next two to get them in the next week or week in a half.  Thankfully, the youngest two have breezed right through it.  I would consider their cases medium.  They have quite a few spots.. but they are not ‘covered’ head to toe- most of their pox are from head to rump.  I was reading that kids exposed in public places get a milder case than those kids exposed to siblings at home.  I assume its the amount of exposure they get.  I will find out when the next couple come down with them I’m still unsure of where the youngest got them.. maybe at this months homeschool skate?  I haven’t heard of any other cases?? 

This is a pic of Jacob & Eliorah soaking in their oatmeal bath at the very beginning of their chicken pox.. now they have many, many more… Poor little guys

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Also, wanted to follow up on my triplets last week.. Guess what?  I had another set of triplets 2 days ago.  I have never had triplets before this year… now, within 5 days I have 2 sets   Out of two does, I have 2 doelings and 4 bucklings.  I am just amazed!!  And very greatful for them to be all healthy

Here is the first set out exploring.. I can’t think of anything cuter than a handful of baby goats out frolicing!

My younger kids had a bit of a cold over the past weekend.  They are all doing much better on the sniffles end of the cold.. Buuut today, I noticed a watery blister on my youngest childs neck.  So, I started pulling up shirts and dropping drawers to find lots of them.  My 5 year old has had quite a few pop up on his back since I first noticed them late this morning.  And, they are very itchy.  So, I am thinking we have chicken pox.  My first three had chicken pox about 8 years ago.  My fourth was 8 months old at the time and got 1 big chicken pox on his stomach.  I am not convinced he is fully immune (my guess is he was still getting some of my immunity through breastfeeding).  That leaves the three youngest never being exposed.. and my fourth who is if’y at best.

If this is chicken pox, I am very happy to get them over with.  I would much rather them have them now.. than when they get older.  Way back when I worked, I had a co-worker who came down with chicken pox in her 40’s.. she was sooo sick.  It hospitalized her. 

For a long time, I have felt that learning how to play music is important.  When I was young I had the opportunity to play the clarinet.  I played it for a very short time before I realized I was waaay too busy for that sort of thing   So, I quit.  To this day, I regret that decision.  My oldest daughter is an exceptional clarinet player.  She has been playing for about 7 years now. 

I came across a local youth orchestra about 1 1/2 years ago.  I had heard rumors through the homeschool loops about it.. but never really was seeking info.  We decided to put our oldest and second oldest sons in the orchestra.  What a great experience it has been.  It is very affordable.. and for a bonus there are many, many local homeschoolers.. (it’s not exclusive homeschoolers, there are public school children also). 

It amazes me each and every time I hear them play.  My boys went from not knowing a note, 1 1/2 years ago, to playing beautiful music.  The lessons are once a week, with two concerts a year.  We had this years first concert a couple nights ago.  Elijah (our oldest son) plays viola and Nehemiah (second oldest son) plays violin.

There are 4 levels in this orchestra ~  Pre-beginning, beginning, intermediete & advanced…  My guys are in beginning this year.  When I listen to the whole concert.. each level, I am in total awe of the older teens who have been playing for years and years -  they have become quite accomplished musicians.

Beginning level youth orchestra in concert 1-26-10.

My oldest daughter was given her first car a week or so ago… followed up today passing her driver’s license test!!  I once again got to see her grin from ear to ear     She now has to get a job to support her car…. lol..  This all brings back fond memories of when I got my license and first car.  My grandfather gave me my first auto.  It was a 1978 Ford Currier pick-up.  It was the funnest little truck.

We started the day off with yard work… cleaning the barn, mowing, weedeating and watering….  A trip through the garden to pick, etc..  By the time lunch time rolled around, it was HOT outside!  Sam’s brother called to see if we would like to swim -  Needless to say, he didn’t need to twist our arm   

Towards the end of our swim, he asked us if we would like to go to the movies….  Again, we didn’t need our arm twisted too hard, lol.  It had been four years since we have watched a movie at the theaters before tonight.  We saw Ice Age 3… Too funny!  There are numerous one liners… the ones that make it funny for the parents.  Our littlest daughter (2 11/12 yrs.) did great!  The only noise she made is when she saw everyone else eating popcorn.

Durning the summer, we try to take the kids swimming ‘atleast’ once per week.  Usually when they are wading around, they find crawdads.  All the boys have become skilled crawdaders…  No, we do not eat them…  the boys just like to see how many they can catch each trip.  Last I heard, their record was 17 caught in one trip.  That is a lot of little pinchers moving around.  Here is a picture of my son and one of his catches