Dinner Out!

Well I guess all the fuss for a baby sitter was wasted. The dinner out tonight was canceled and it was probably a good thing all around. E has a runny nose and all the kids are a bit cranky which makes me wonder if they are all fighting a cold. If they get a cold it will be the 4th one for E but only the 3rd one for everyone else. Which I find interesting because the only difference in food between E and the rest of us is that she rarely eats meat. Of course she could also have a weaker immune system for some unknown reason. Every time she's been sick she's been the 1st one to get it and twice the last one to get over it. She gets the same vitamins as the boys and goes the same places. They are older though so their body's might be able to fight infection off better. Who knows. Baby R is a bit protected through me as she is still nursing so it makes sense that she is rarely sick. Today is going to be a lazy day. We'll probably watch a movie, take some extra vitamins and get a good head start on healing.

The weather warmed up to 12ish F and we have great big beautiful snow flakes falling slowly down outside. Very pretty.

The Firewood Walk!!

In my Turning post I told you that Papa and I went out and got some pine firewood from the back of our property. This is the 'trail' we made bringing in 3 loads of pine. He did the last one by himself as I could hardly move!! You can't see the whole thing. It keeps going down for awhile and then turns to the left. The pine tree was a huge one that was on a rise above the tiny pond we have back there. The fence on the right is our property line. We have a decent sized sled and could only haul 3 blocks at once as the peices were so big!! Notice how high the snow is on the fence post. That is a normal fence!!!

Snow pictures.

This fence is for our cow. Good thing she's not an explorer type. When this fence was put up it was too high for me to step over. About 2.5, 3 feet tall. Cow nose hieght. :) This 1st picture is right behind the trailer where the sun almost never shines. We always have snow here for ages while the rest of the place is clear! This is about the middle line of the property both ways. That small hump you see at the far end is our lagoon rim! This is part of what we cleared. You can still see where they put the line in from the lagoon to the house.

Our International truck isn't going anywhere soon!! You can tell the sun heats up the metal enough for the snow to melt. The flat bed has been clear of snow a couple of times already.

Valentines Day.. Late I know!!

We actually celebrated it on the 12th. We have for the last 3 years. We went for our 1st walk as a couple, he actually asked me if he could court me during this walk, on the 12th of August (which I found out years later was his Pa's birthday!) and we have always kept the 12 of each month as a 'sort of special day'. Some months we go out for supper on the 12, like August, and other months we just say "Happy 12th" LOL. I think it's kind of ironic as Papa would like to have 12 children. So the last 3 years we've celebrated these two days together!! Very sweet. The kids went with Papa to pick out the flowers and chocolates and they each got a tiny box too.

Here is J and his 'cheese ball' grin!!

A Turning

Well things are going better these days!! Much better. Papa had the last few days off and instead of having every little thing go wrong and having to put things off because of all the little things we had a very GOOD productive 3 days.

First I must brag!! My sister Ann recently had a beautiful baby girl which they named Courtney Ann. She is a tiny little bundle. She has an older sister M who is perfectly thrilled to have a baby sister!! M bragged minute I walked into the room "This is my baby sister!! I'm a BIG sister now!!" She is 3 and they are all thrilled with their newest family member. This is my parents 13th grandchild and the only one born my C-section!! I told my sister the baby just had to distinguish herself! In the last 2 years there have been 3 grandchildren a year!! This year Courtney is also the 1st of 3!! (and for the 1st time none of them are ours)

We had a great mix of fun and work this week so far. Sunday morning church was canceled so we headed up to see the new baby. We had a great visit with my sister and family then we headed home to prepare for a fun evening. We had invited B &B and M & M over for a Matrix night!! We started at 3 when the kids went down for naps and watched the 1st one. Then when the movie was over and the kids up we made and ate wonderful appy's and had a great time together. After stuffing ourselves, Papa made BBQ'd pork and shrimp;I made breadstix's, B brought veggies and dip and shrimp rings and M made a great salad and chicken wings, we set up B & B's laptop in our room and the kids watched 101 Dalmatians in there while we watched the 2nd Matrix in the living room. The kids loved their movie, Thanks M, and us adults were all wishing we didn't have to get up early the next morning so we could finish the 3 part series.

Papa had Monday and Tuesday off and we got what felt like an amazing amount of work done. We made a list, like we do every day off, and actually managed to cross all but two things off it; unlike the last several months lists!! Papa made shelves for the kitchen and cut more for the back bathroom closet (where the books used to live!) and I set up the bathroom shelves. I got all my canning off the bathroom counter (it is a very big bathroom) and into shelves!! I also got most of the bathroom organized and now we can walk through it!! Bonus!! LOL. Papa's shelves in the kitchen got finished today and they are WONDERFUL!!! I love them!! I kept grinning for pure joy as I stacked them full. Well actually I even have EXTRA ROOM in them!!! I've already got the curtain material (the stuff hanging on the side. Matching my kitchen curtains.) out and will hem them up soon.

We also got a load of firewood in and brought up some pine from the very back of our 5 acres. We trudged through thigh deep snow for 500 feet or more. Making a path with the heavy loaded sled on the way back. It was like swimming in loose snow. I could not get a footing and as I'm heavier then Papa I would sink farther then his foot steps and bog down. I managed 2 trips and then my legs refused to work. I barely got back to the house before they quit completely for several minutes. I'm still a bit sore now!! I told Papa we need to teach Bindy how to pull in harness!! He said that she did enough work right now just producing milk and he didn't think she'd like it at all. I dryly told him that I didn't say she'd LIKE IT!!! But I sure would. (I've been trying to figure out how to make a movable layer house that Papa and I could move ourselves. Without having a tractor or anything we are rather stuck in this regard, but we really need a layer house that is movable.) The company we got our non-working meat saw from finally sent us the right pictures (they sent our own back first. Makes you wonder really, how bright are these people?) and Papa found the problem and got it all put together right! We even got all the sausage meat from our 1st two pigs ground!! Here is Papa grinding away. I thought it would make a big mess, but it doesn't. Even when he used the saw it only made a little mess on the floor!! I'm impressed!

That night we watched "Swiss Family Robinson" with the kids, ate hot breadstix's, apples and cheese, and J found his "favorite new movie!!"

Tuesday was another great day. We slept in a bit and we were in the middle of general house clean-up after breakfast when friends of ours showed up. They had called ahead, we were just behind, so we visited with them while finishing up and then the guys put the meat saw all the way together and A and I watched kids and visited. Here is Z and Baby R playing together. They are 9 weeks apart in age (he's older) and 8lbs in weight and several inches in height!! But they love each other!! Neither are walking so they are 'practicing' standing together!! They live an hour from us but were coming in to town to visit our favorite Doctor so they stayed for several hours and all the kids napped together. They have 2 roughly the same ages as E and Baby R and with our 4 it makes for a great time. When they'd gone we got the kids up and Papa finished the kitchen shelves and tore apart the dryer. The most amazing thing happen while he was taking the dryer apart. He found change!! LOTS of change. $52.02 worth of change. (and one token to the swimming place :) Papa told me "It's not every day you cut open a fish and get a coin!" (Jesus did this in the Bible for his taxes.) But that broken down dryer did just that!! He also found out that it needs a new motor to spin the drum. Watch the part will be $52.00. :) .

The evening was spent grinding meat with the grinder on the meat saw (something that wasn't even ON the list!), finding a babysitter for a night out, supper and watching a episode of "All Creatures Great and Small." Which we all enjoy

Weather wise we've gotten two dumps of 5 or 6 inches each of snow in the last week and temps hit -22F one night. It's warmed up a bit and we are suppose to see positive temps by early next week. I'm hoping that was our last cold spell of winter but I also know it's likely that we will get another one before spring. The sun has been shining and water dripping on warmer days.

We are getting out a bit more these days, Papa and I. Grandma watched the kids one day so we could go to a friends birthday party. Wings night at a local pub! Great Fun but not kid friendly. And Saturday is a celebration dinner (at the same pub!) for Papa's work as his bosses are finally whole owners of the business!! This evening will make 3 times we have ever left Baby R with someone for a few hours. And twice in 1 week!!!

Baby R eating her favorite food!!

She will even ask for "Nana's" she likes them that much!!

Snow Babies!!

Update Feb 17th.

WELL.. the baby shower was great!! The kids and I had a great time and the twins were very tiny and very cute and they got lots of really helpful and cute stuff.

One of the kittens that we've been taming has recently decided that humans are awesome ear scratcher's and lovely all around caretakers. He, named Patches as he looks just like his mother did (who never did come back), loves to wind his way through my legs as I'm milking with quick foray's into the milk bucket to see if he can reach the milk yet. He allows us to pet him but would rather not be picked up just yet. He is actually becoming a bit of a pest and try's to 'play' with my hands as I'm milking, drink out of the milking bucket, and swat at the milk when it streams into the bucket. As I'm only milking into an old pail these are not serious offences. Yet! This morning I decided that even 'happily friendly kittens' need manners and started to swat at him when he tried to drink out of the bucket. I got a playful swat back! But after a few thumps he got the idea. And as the 'thumps' seemed to come out of no where he is still friendly and playful. The other kitten will not come near, but often plays with Patches tail while Patches sits by me. We have the loan of a live trap and are going to try and tame him when he gets caught in it. The trap is actually for 2 strays that showed up this last fall and are making themselves at home here. They are both Tom cats and neither have any manners or sense. One of them cause our water to freeze the time the bathroom flooded but living under the house after Papa thought he had it all shut up so nothing could get in. We still don't know how he's getting under the house but it must stop.

Papa and I are looking forward to home schooling J and in prep we are looking into different types of programs. Several of our milk people home school and tonight I went to one of their homes to look at what she does and find out more about the program she uses. The kids had a great time playing with their kids and as we left their oldest child started to play their keyboard. J was all ears, riveted on the music and this child only 3 years older then him that was playing it. I got a fair amount of info on home schooling, I really wasn't sure what all to find out, and learned a bunch about that great family.

This week is Papa's 6 day late shift week which means we have mornings together and so far we are really enjoying it. He has time to get some stuff done in the mornings before work which is really nice. And we all get to have breakfast together. Last night he even got home in time to read the kids their book. He's reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder and we are all enjoying the story of that hardworking, constantly eating and dreamer of horses Almanzo Wilder.

This morning every thing finally aligned for the cleaning out of the children's closet. Boy did it need it. I got 8 totes on Sunday when we were in the 'city' to go swimming with friends and today I put them to work. Lots of the clothes were sorted and in diaper boxes, but several were over flowing and missing stuff. So I filled up totes and got everything labeled and sorted and finally finished. I had several piles of too small clothes that needed to be put with the proper size in a new rat proof tote. These totes are going to go out to the shed to be stored until we need them again. I also got the kids toys resorted and some of them re boxed and stacked away in the closet. Because of our small space and my own need for neat living area, the kids toys get put away in boxes then every few weeks we switch the boxes out for new boxes and it's like Christmas all over again. I also found some things I'd thought I lost and some I'd forgotten I had at all!! I put all 8 totes to work and emptied out many more boxes. Oh and I went through all the kids current clothes and sorted out too smalls and moved in larger stuff. E and Baby R are almost ready to share clothes!!! Shirts they could almost already. Not the button between the legs shirts but just T-shirts or sweaters! Soon I will only need one pile for them both! I was in an organizing mood and got my brown cabinets above the microwave done as well. Things are looking up!! Papa still needs to make me some shelves in the kitchen and the back 'pantry' bathroom and then I'll feel almost ready for spring!! Wellll maybe not!!

My hands are doing better now that I picked up some non latex gloves. I use the gloves for dishes and wiping up and I'm amazed how fast they are healing. A few more days of this and I may be able to hold a needle again. My finger tips were so sore that I couldn't even hope to do my next winter project which is a cross stitch wall hanging for Baby R. I've made one for each of the kids. It has a teddy bear sitting on a moon with stars all around and their names and dates of birth on the bottom. I really wanted to get it done as if I don't get it done this winter it will have to wait until next winter.

The eagles are gone I think. I've not seen them for about a week. I was sort of sad to see them go but have decided it's for the best. I was a bit worried they would hang around all year and that would not be good in the spring when we have chicks out and about!! Never mind cats!! They may come back next butchering day but hopefully they do not stay! A few years ago my brother had a pair of golden eagles taking baby goats out of his kidding pasture. An eagle can easily carry 5 or 6 lbs, and can kill a lot of chicks if it has babies to raise!!

Hemmed!!

Friends of Papa's from when he worked in the bush just had twin boys!! Their 1st and 2nd children so tonight we are going to a baby shower for them. I went to Walmart last night and picked up some great boy fabric and spent the morning hemming it into 2 large blankets for the twins. After I got some kinks worked out the hemming went really well. Surprised me as me and my sewing machine are often at odds with each other. Not outright war but close. I'm not a sewing person at all, though I seem to be overcoming this slowly, and the smallest chores on the machine are great achievements!! It likes Papa better then me and will only grudgingly work for me but will willingly work for him. I took the 2 blankets I made and wrapped the rest of the gift up inside the blanket. One for each of them. Really cute and I didn't have to wrap it!! LOL. I always want to have twin boys and so this is really special for me! I told a friend of mine that recently and she thought I was NUTS to even ever want twins. Then I mentioned that 'maybe our next one will be twins! Wouldn't that be FUN!!" And she gave me this HORRIFIED look. LOL. But I still think twins would be fun. Now that our other kids are older it would be even more fun for us all and I'd have a few helpers as well!! No I'm not crazy, or pregnant :), but I can dream can't I??

A great big SMILE!!

Papa showing L how to play a chord on our Ukulele, a gift from Grandpa and Grandma G.

Checkers.

Papa taught J how to play checkers recently. J won. LOL. I helped a little :). But as you can see it was a pretty serious game for a while. I love how cute J is with his little stick on mustache. L took the time to review the rule book for when he's old enough to beat Papa in chess.

Milestones.

Baby R who is almost 1 year old is growing in leaps and bounds. Not is size, though she is now 15 lbs. She's growing in maturity. She has started talking. She can say Papa, Momma, J and L. If you ask her to say E then she says ummumm. Here she is right after she climbed on the couch for the 1st time. She stepped up on a blanket and climbed up. She is very proud of herself. She walks along the furniture but is not brave enough to step out and walk but that's ok. She is getting braver by the day. She also gives big wet kisses and loves 'round and round the haystack'. If she wants to play 'round and round the haystack' she points her finger at her hand until you do it. For those of you who do not know. Round and round the haystack is when you draw circles around the baby's palm while saying 'round and round the haystack goes a little mouse." Then you point on the baby's arm and say "One step." Point higher and say "Two steps" Then you tickle them under the chin and say "In his little house!"

Lazy Sunday Morning!!

Our children love to read books. They have everyday books and 'special' books that they only get at special times to keep them in good shape and keep them always 'new'. Not 'new' as in condition but 'new' as in exciting!!

Plowing or Playing???

Papa has the use of this skid steer through his work and a trailer to bring it home on. It makes short work of the snow on the driveway and piles it perfectly for snow forts!! Papa and the kids have made a huge snow fort and the next warm nice day we have I'm planning on taking some pictures of it for you all. This is taken from the porch. Beside that garbage can is the front porch which is half covered in snow. There are 3 steps up on to it, but only one is showing. The chainsaw keeps the freezer lid down!! LOL. It's a bit twisted and every time we open the lid it refuses to close all the way again. Oh the joys of making do!! Keeps the saw handy though!!!

The Little Things.

The Griggs household has been having a bit of trouble the last 6 weeks. Nothing huge. Nothing devastating. Nothing heartbreaking. Just little things. The new dryer still doesn't work because Papa hasn't had time to get into it, a bit of cow trouble and car trouble. Nothing that costs too much but little things that catch you by surprise and still need dealing with. Our milk fridge smelled all of a sudden ( the freezer quit working and the meat inside made a mess and leaked into the fridge. It's cleaned up now.), the stray cats started fighting with our cats under the house, the laying hens keep unplugging their light and water so that they are cold and thirsty. The appliances went crazy and almost half of them stopped working. The moose is eating the cow hay outside the pen almost as fast as the cow is on the inside (some electric fence should stop him but we only figured it out yesterday when Papa caught him at it.), a shelving project that should take about 3 MAX hours has taken a full month and is still no where near being finished, never mind the bunk beds Papa was going to build weeks ago. We ran out of pine firewood and Papa went out to cut a tree down and brought in a small load but the rest of it is buried under a foot or more of snow because the Travelall stopped working. Several people consistently forgetting milk jars and we had a serious problem. One night when Papa got home from work he put his supper in the microwave and lights or appliances on 5 different breakers went out for no apparent reason and not everything on each breaker went out. He flipped the breakers a few times and they came back on all alone 15 minutes later!! I told Papa "What are we supposed to be learning??" Normally when something like this happens we agree that God is trying to teach us something. Something we need to be learning. It started New Years Eve and hasn't really given us much of a break since. It's just the little stuff. Some of which I can't even remember because it was so minor but every thing plays a part in it. The kids tried to stop sleeping and napping one week, the animals are uncooperative, the phones conk out at odd times, the brand new meat saw we bought this summer is in parts because the saw doesn't line up!! It's never even been plugged in!! Pig butchering has been put off at least 4 times because the saw isn't working and no one seems to be able to figure out what the problem is. Not even the company we bought it from!! Stupid things, irritating things. I got stuck 2 times in 4 trips!! Since when?? I don't think I've ever been stuck before!! I told my mom about some of it one day and she laughed at me!! LOL. She thinks it's because we've been married 10 years this Fall. She told me she thinks a couple should have a wedding shower every 10 years because things start breaking down at 10 years and you have to buy everything again anyway!! I pointed out that we haven't had any of the stuff that's breaking down for 10 years, living in 2 countries the way we have we've very little of the same appliances, and she said it didn't seem to matter. 10 years and everything breaks down. I'm not too sure that's it but it's a good a theory as any I guess. What I find interesting is that 2 praying woman (you know who you are and Thank You) have told me in the last month right out of the blue that they are praying for us. That tells me it's probably something big. Now if we could only figure it out. :) I'm hoping we figure it out soon as my poor hands are chapping in several places from all the washing up. My one thumb is split constantly and burns every time water hits it. Nothing seems to help it heal. Our family dishes wouldn't be so bad but because we sell milk I wash up to 25 gallon jars a week!! Never mind milk dishes 2 times a day. I love our cow but I really miss my dishwasher!!! It surely is a time of testing and trials in it's own small way. I'm just very thankful it's only the small stuff. No one is sick or injured, lost or dying, as with the books (which was another thing, and the lack of water)... it's only things. I'd rather it be things then beings. Human beings that is!! Thank you LORD!! God Bless and have a great day, and if you think of it would you pray for the Griggs family that they would understand what they are to learn!!

Oh and if anybody has any ideas or thoughts I'd love to hear them. On either the little things or my horrible hands. :)

Imaginations...

Children have amazing imaginations. Our children surprise me almost daily with what they dream up. Some days they are Donavan, the Sheriff and Dusty out of "The Apple Dumpling Gang" movie. Other times they are Bagheera, Baloo and Shere Khan or Wilber, Charlotte and Fern or Templeton. Chip and Dale and Montary Jack are regulars as are Aslan, Peter, Lucy, Susan, Prince Caspin and Edmond. They often give names to everyone in the room for a game. For example our friend Blair is always Shere Khan the tiger who 'gets them' and his wife Becca is Baloo who is suppose to come 'save' them. I like to be Kaa the snake as he often has a very small roll or 'naps'. Papa is Bagheera or King Louie in turns. They often are animals. Tigers, wolves, bears, porcupines, black panthers, snakes, cows, horses and a wide assortment of other animals. They hunt in the bedrooms and drag their 'prey' back to the living room to be BBQ'd, of which we all have to 'have some steak', they save Mowgli from the monkeys or tigers or whatever else they dream up. E's baby doll is now permanently named Mowgli and E carries her by the bow on the front of her sleeper with her teeth while crawling on all 4's. They fight dragons, giants, and monsters and win or lose as needed. They roll play being 'momma' or 'papa' or 'baby'. Often all 3 or more in an hour. A laundry basket makes a fine boat and carpet or lino makes wonderful water or lava or rock. The couch is a port in a storm, the chair a rock over looking the 'water'. They 'fish' for toys or each other. They drive cars and have races and play 'town'. They love to be 'the green knight' (Franklin) and one is the dragon or goblin or squire and the other the knight. E flits in and out of these games getting more involved now that she is getting older. A string of beads is a tail one minute and a snake the next. The same beads can be bullets for a pistol or soup to be stirred. J is mostly the ring leader but L makes his wishes known. E is big on copying but is still totally involved. Some days they all play together all day and the next they hardly speak to each other. Each does their own thing and everyone is happy.

Critter Update

Well we think we finally figured out Bindy's problem. She misbehaved for several days, got her bruise on her bag one day, then a few days later took off on me again while I was trying to get her in to milk and cut her bag (front teat same side as the bruise) on the fence between us and the neighbor. She didn't cut it too bad but enough so that it's hard to milk out. Then the next day Papa went out to check her hay and found the problem. At least we think so. Moose tracks. Over the neighbors fence to the bale of hay (they love free food) and then back to the neighbors!! Bindy had reacted BADLY to chickens, she chased them out of her pen for days after we got her, pigs, and cats, so we are not too surprised to find that she reacts badly to moose as well. AND it was eating HER food.

The eagle that was hanging about brought his wife/buddy over and the two of them, I'm assuming a mating pair, have been hanging out!! He sits up in that tree and watches us and they fight the crows and ravens who try and take over the mess in the lagoon. I can't imagine there is much left but they seem to thinks it's worth while. The other day while feeding the pigs the bigger eagle (the male?) was flying over and when he saw me he hovered over my head about 50 feet in the air and 'talked' to me. I just stopped walking and stood there and watched him. They are amazing birds. He 'talked' for about a minute or a bit more and hardly moved in the sky!! His wings gently moving to keep him in place. The talking is high squealing sounds with sharp squeaks. Sort of sounds like a piece of barbed wire being pulled, back and forth, through a fencing staple, but much more prettier.

Travelall Fun and an E funny.

Yesterday we got to go to town in the morning to get our new car, a 1990 Honda Accord. Papa has been looking at it for awhile and he went out and bought it Monday but we couldn't go get it home until Papa got the Travelall running. The car is 19 years old and 19 years newer then the Travelall!! It is the newest car we've ever owned and the 1st to have a trunk!! He got the Travelall running late Tuesday night after spending almost all of Monday and Tuesday on it. I figured it out this is the 1st time the Travelall has really broke down in the 2 years we've been driving it. After we picked up the car and dropped Papa off at work we did some stuff in town then drove to Grandma house for a long awaited visit. When it was time to go I managed to get the back in the Travelall stuck on the down hill side of a very icy shallow hill. Not a big deal I thought and got out to put her in 4x4. Well it wouldn't work. It just made this horrible grinding sound. So I took it out of 4x4 and we managed to get out with out it. As we drove away my Travelall started to make a horrible grinding noise again. I pulled over and in the driveway across from me was a man standing by his truck. So I hopped out and asked if I could borrow his phone then called Papa at work and begged for help. I was so upset. He finally got the Travelall working and his wife goes and wrecks it the 1st time out. Well Papa came down and drove it and we looked at each other and groaned!! OH NO!!! So I limped it back to Grandma's and he went back to work to get some fluid just in case it was just a case of low transmission fluid. He came back 5 minutes later and checked one thing and SMILED!! He had gone back to work and told his two bosses what was going on and one of them had this same thing happen to him!! We are blessed with Bosses as neither of them even turn a hair when Papa has to come rescue his wife and one told him to stop apologizing as had I needed him and that was fine!!! LOL. It turns out the horrible grinding noise was a tiny part that connects the front wheels to the back!! He took that whole drive shaft right out, it took him 15 minutes, and off we went!! We will not have 4x4 until he replaces that part and puts it back in but that's OK I've gotten stuck 2 times this winter already I think I'll just STOP NOW!! LOL.

While Papa was taking out the drive shaft I had taken the kids back inside Grandma's house. E was asleep when I brought her in and when she woke up she asked "Why Grandma's?" So I told her that Momma had broken the truck and Papa needed to fix it. And she tells me "Need to be more careful Momma!!" That is what we tell them when a toy breaks or someone gets hurt. Need to more careful is right.. Maybe it's a good thing I've been stuck at home these last 3 weeks, of the 4 times I have been out I've gotten stuck.

One of Papa's bosses played a joke on Papa a while ago now. If you look really close you might spot it!!

Yes that is a FORD sticker on our 1971 International Travelall!! His boss found one on a pickup somewhere and siliconed it on the front of poor Polly!! Papa sent me out in the middle of the night claiming I HAD to go see what his boss had done!! It was worth it!! I laughed so hard!! Papa gets teased more about his Internationals at work then anything else.