A Few More Of Baby G!!

Grace's Newborn Pictures!!

These pictures totally speak for themselves!!

 I have to admit this bottom one is my FAVORITE!!! 

Thank You Jen!! 

Baby G's Homecoming :)

Sweet Baby G in her coming home outfit on her blanket that I made her :) 

Home again Home again :) Baby G's 1st trip in an IHC!! 

Baby G Pictures :) Kids Meet Their New Sister!!

The NEWEST BIG BROTHER!!! He didn't quite know what to make of this little bundle in his lap. Because he hasn't been a big brother or sister before he was the 1st of the kids to hold her. He really likes her hair and strokes it when ever he gets close enough. He's also really enjoying taking her tiny diapers to the garbage!! Big helper!! 

The sweet BIG SISTER!! 

The BIGGEST SISTER!!! She was SO tickled to hold Baby G. 

The Proud 2nd BIGGEST BROTHER!!

The proud BIGGEST BROTHER!!! Goofy little R beside him :) 

Sleeping in the hospital. She actually did very little of this :) 

6 Little Griggers :)

Proud as can be!!

She Is Here!!

Grace Rebecca Ruth Griggs arrived at 11pm, November 18th weighing 8lbs, 4oz and 20 inches long!! According to dates she was one week late, according to appearance she was about a week early!! We did induce labor as my water broke early that morning. She is healthy and a wonderful snuggle bug. The kids are all loving her and we are all enjoying her cuddles. I don't know how to post pictures from my iPad so they will have to wait til we are home! Sorry! Rebecca is after our great friend Mrs B and Ruth is after Papa's sister Auntie Ruth!

How To Keep 5 Small Children Busy

Let them give the baby a bath!! He loved it!! They all had to change their shirts and E's pants when they were done but they had a blast!! 

Some Wood Fun!!

The kids wanted to make some $$ this week so Papa and I told them if they stacked the firewood on the trailer FULL UP they would each earn $3. Well it took them awhile, girls stacking boys putting the wood in, but they did it. Papa spent time out there too and made them a fire to warm up around and moved the trailer so they wouldn't have to haul it very far. They were working in Maggie's pen and she REALLY liked the fire, she singed her self!!, and when the load was finished Papa moved it and the kids to the wood pile!! Maggie was VERY confused about that!! She followed right behind them like a mother hen!! The kids had a great time and the weather was perfect for it. Not too cold that R froze solid. They watched Papa unload it with the skid steer for a minute then ran inside to get their money!! We have a ton of change around here so I paid them in change.. each one differently and used it as a math lesson :) They loved it. 

Winter, are we ready for this?

YES I THINK SO!!!! YAY!!!

After all the stresses with Papa's back and him being flat on his back for a couple of weeks we have really been working hard at getting our winter 'to do' list done!! Now that Papa is on the mend and able to sit again we've really chopped that list into manageable bits and trashed them :) Today we are doing a bit of window plastic and sealing the old door on the trailer and cleaning up some hoses so we can find them again before spring but pretty much everything else on the list is FINISHED!!! Oh wait the calves do need to go to the neighbors yet but not just yet :)

SO
~ The chickens have a sealed winter house with a light and a pen made from panels, with straw for bedding. They will need more straw for bedding over the winter.

~ The cow has water, hay (covered) and her winter pen set up. The milk machine is covered with a tarp and heated :) She has a sheltered spot Papa made with some of the large straw bales. She also recently got AI'd to a jersey bull and will hopefully calve in 9 months :)

~The addition is plumbed and sealed and the water is ready for winter :) The milk sink got TAPS and the hose is no longer in the house.

~The two extra pigs we had here for the summer are butchered.

~The skirting on the trailer is fixed of holes and sealed up :) The water tank is closed up and has a light. The heat tapes that keep our water running all winter are plugged in and working :)

~ The pigs have the rest of the old large straw barn that Papa and I dismantled and are totally enjoying digging through the straw. They also have a barn filled with straw. Their water is ready for winter as well :) Papa had to make them a step so they could get at it :)

~Chip and the cat have a bed under the front porch :) It's cute how they share it. The cat gets days and Chip nights :)

~Both the car and the Travelall have winter tires :) I do need to put together our 'emergency pack' for trips in the winter : granola bars, candles, blankets, and other things to keep us warm if we do end up waiting in the cold or anything like that.

~The kids outside toys are safe in the bus :)

~Each of the kids have hats, jackets, snow pants, gloves and everything else they need for winter. Actually they each have work and town jackets and gloves :) As farming is dirty work :) Though the boys boots from last year need replacing we found out Saturday which means a trip to the 'city' soon.

~We have a nice row of FOUR dump truck loads of firewood and I believe 5 or 6 pickup bed loads of poplar firewood all under a large white tarp that makes it look like we've got a pile of snow beside the house!!

~The kids are DONE their term 1 school stuff and it's going to town with Papa today to be sent away to their teacher :)

~We PURGED the house and took SEVERAL boxes and bags out of here of tools, summer/out grown clothes OUT to the floor or the shed :) Boy does that feel nice :)

~Papa went through the trailer and sealed and cleaned all the vents and we are hoping this will enable us to run the furnace in the trailer on fan which pulls heat out of the house *wood heat* to heat the under side of the trailer and the back bathroom which has freezing problems. We sealed all of the vents except the back bathroom two, which will have filters over them,  so that NO dust can come up EVER and irritate E's asthma.

~The skid steer is ready to plow and we have extra ether and fuel waiting for those plowing days.

~Part of our getting ready for winter was also getting ready for Baby G :) Her bed is set up, carseat and diaper bags are ready to go, blanket finished, and baby book bought. Clothes are washed and placed in drawers. Diapers in TINY sizes bought and the camera has fresh batteries :) Baby sitters are set up and clothes for the older kids packed just in case, now we're just waiting on her arrival.

Winters in the North are LONG and COLD and we do our best to prepare for them the best we can. After several years of 'OH NO we forgot ____!!!!" Papa and I really hoping to get everything covered this year.
 So help us out.. WHAT ARE WE FORGETTING??!?!?!? 

We do have pigs for sale :) They are no longer weaners and I believe at their size they are considered 'growers.' We have a bunch to get rid of yet so if you know anyone who wants some nice sized pigs PLEASE tell them about ours :)

Interesting Fact :)

While we are now officially due with Baby G, Papa and I were talking this morning which lead to a little bit of internet research. Papa was right. Four of our five children were born on a Monday. E was the only one who wasn't and she was born on a Sunday. Very interesting!! I wonder when little Miss G will arrive? Will she follow the pattern or make her own? I guess we'll all just have to wait and see!

Reading Program FINISHED!!

YAY!!! We now have 2 more people in the house who can read!!! Congrat's L and E!!!!

Homeschool Center

The re-organized living space, taken from the living room :) Looks well lived in hey? The chairs in the middle of the room are J3's addition.. I think he's going to be a designer or something.. he's always moving chairs around and I have a feeling the only reason he stops at chairs is because everything else is too heavy for him. 

We recently bought this older TV stand and turned it into our homeschool center. The dresser we had before still fit beside it which was a huge bonus though we think we might move it to the other side so it's easier to get into the drawers. R's tote is there under my blue folder holder :) where she can get into it by herself. The orange thing fit nicely where the TV would normally go with some room for a few extras besides. It's not completely organized just yet but it's all pretty much in one place now and BOY IS THAT NICE!!! The totes on top are crafts and paper but I would like to put all the kids games and puzzles up there at some point. 

A 5 Year Old Girl Birthday!!

E with her cake and princess dress!! There were flower cupcakes as well!! 

 A bunch of cousins!! Two of my sisters kids and mine :) Missing 7 of the whole crew of cousins. J is the oldest at 7, J3 is the youngest at 1. Their ages are, 7,6,5,5,3,3,2,2 and 1! 

 J3 delivering a card for E while Papa and several cousins look on. 

 Grandpa F showing E how to use her new fishing rod.. or at least in practice. 

Just a few pictures for you :) 

A Sweet Flower Girl :)

My cousin Amy got married a couple of weeks ago and R was honored to be her flower girl. She did a great job!! It was a truly beautiful wedding!! Congratulations Amy and Stefan!!!

Sasha did a great job on her hair!! 

The best of a bad lot of pictures Papa took while she was on stage.. she did really well!! Apparently Uncle Joe had to have a little talk with her before she went up because she was super nervous and for the first little while on the stage you could tell and then she relaxed and started smiling!! 

After the wedding! She got to keep her flowers which just made her week!! E got one from Amy's bouquet later and they stayed in a glass in the kitchen for several weeks!! They LOVED them!!  

A Small Papa Update.

Papa is almost back to his normal self :) YAY!! Thank You for your prayers, help and sympathy. He's slowly weaning himself off his 'drugs' and is down to about a third of what he was taking at my last update. Life at the Griggs household is ALMOST back to normal.. just in time too.. for our Littlest Newest Member will be joining us in the next couple of weeks and then it'll all be craziness for a bit again :) Papa is doing most of the driving again, THANK YOU LORD!!, and we are actually managing to do our winter Prep list!! PTL. He's sleeping better then he has in months, eating like normal (though he has lost some weight and it still shows) and pretty much back to normal life. He won't be quite 'normal' for a bit yet I don't think. He still moves slower and is a bit fuzzy headed for him. *Normal for me :) Together we are making a lot of lists and reminders etc. He's still taking it easy as much as possible but I think the worst is done. Thank You all for your prayers and help :)

Ahhh Now This Is Mega Laundry!!

The long and short of it is.. when you have 5 kids, soon to be 6, on a farm and your husbands a mechanic and a farmer.. you do A LOT OF LAUNDRY!!! We've gone through a used washer roughly every two years since we've lived here!! They just don't seem to last long. The last one had been on it's 'last legs' for several months. You know you got washing machine trouble when you have to hand turn the churny thing in the middle so it'll churn the clothes down so they'll wash!! :) I told Papa, NO MORE USED WASHERS!!! And it took us a bit but we found one we liked online, paid for it over the phone and got it delivered right to our door!! SWEET!!! I LOVE it!! It easily does a full TOTE of laundry at a time, and they still come clean!!, and spins the clothes so dry you could almost wear them right out of the washer. No Joke!! The 1st week it was set up I did about a weeks worth of laundry, normally 8 loads, in 4 loads and ALL IN ONE DAY!! Because the washer spins them so dry I can use my dryer again without it taking HOURS to dry my clothes. About 50 minutes in the dryer is all it takes for a TOTES worth of laundry.. before it would take TWICE that long for HALF as much!! No wonder our dryer was costing us an arm and a leg to run!! ( We totally quit using the dryer last Feb because of this!!) The washer is 5.2 cf and sings a little song when you turn it on or off.. and when your load is done. Very cool!! lol. The lid is a no slamming lid and the kids love it because they can 'watch' though the glass window. The loudest part of washing used to be the addition spin when the washer did.. now the loudest part is the water pouring in.. and I have to admit for someone who has been filling her washer with a hose for several months, OK a year!, the water noises this thing makes has made my head thump and my heart turn over and for at least a second or two I wonder if I've, yet again, left the water running and the washer is overflowing! Then I remember that there is NO LONGER a hose in my addition and the washer is plumbed into the hot and cold like a normal washer and there will be NO MORE overflowing of the washer.. at least not that will be MY fault!! :) And that does my heart good :) 

$25

Such a small amount of money. But can make such a BIG IMPRESSION!!

Papa and I have slowly watched the destruction of the kids outside play balls.. Chip has chewed several, the cow stepped on a few, several more just never showed up after a while. Anyway we been wanting to get the kids some new balls, something the dog can't chew and the cow won't easily step on.. something that might have a chance to last for a while. While we were in the 'city' recently with the kids we took them to the ball section of our local StuffMart and let them each pick one. They were SO pleased as they each picked a large ball and put it in the cart. J3 was in the front of the cart and he was pretty pleased too.. all these COOL balls to throw on the floor.... so we ended up getting him one too. We made quite a sight Papa pushing the cart with J3 holding a ball bigger then himself in the seat. Then, 1, 2, 3, 4 BEAMING children each holding their very own large ball, various colors, and me taking up at the back. Keeping the strays in line and making sure no one got lost.. R couldn't even look over her ball!! People stopped to stare, several counted kids and balls. One little girl cheered them on. We managed to get to the check out without loosing a ball or a child which was quite amazing considering. I took the kids out and Papa paid for their balls and later when we got home they each proudly brought their new ball out of the truck and on to the front porch. I'm still kicking myself for not having my camera that night. Their smiles just about split their faces.

The Other Day E came RUNNING Into Our Bedroom.....

"MOM!!! My head fell on the floor!!!" She cried!!

*SNORT** Papa and I both managed NOT to laugh.. she was in earnest you see.

I couldn't resist..and Had to ask her. "Did you pick it up and put it back on?"

I'm not sure she ever thought it was funny but after a quick kiss she was off again and Papa and I laughed out loud!! Because it's not every day you have a head fall off you know!!