Dough Works.

Dough Works.. several of the balls of dough have a couple of chocolate chips in them. The kids had a great time!! L's is the big man, R's is the little. E had the snake and faces and J had the two balls on the right. J3's is the face top left. 

G's Quilt Top.

She's very excited!! 

Baby S's Blanket.

Here are the 6 types of squares for Baby S's afghan I'm making :) 

I've made one for each of our children before they were born. 

It's tradition :) 

If you didn't know what sex the baby is, I guess you do now :) 

I have to make one more of each and put them together and I'm done :) 

Quilt Tops :)

E's is the purple and R's is the pink :) 

G's is on the list for tomorrow :) 

Backs are also on the list for tomorrow. 

They are laying on the wool blankets they will be covering, and have some room to spare.. 

Perfect :) 

YUMMY!

Beef roast from the other night.. 

Papa's on day shift... and renewing his love for BBQ!! 

Baby Pigtails! G!

Hee hee I'm so cute!! 

Pigtails!!

 Mom is so unused to putting in baby pigtails in baby hair that she couldn't get them even and could only get one in a picture at a time... until she got a shot from the top! 

Lift Power :)

First I have to say THANK YOU STEVE!!! For the wonderful idea!!! :) 

Lovely little addition to the farm this weekend..

What is it you ask??
It's AWESOME!!! 

L and E trying it out while J and J3 look on. Tucker in the way... as usual. 

The cows were pretty sure we should feed them as we did spend about 45 minutes in the milking area putting it all together and trying it out.

Here is a little clip to show you how it works. 

This wonderful idea makes it super easy to get those heavy milk buckets on to the porch after milking and makes it possible for me or J, maybe ;), to milk the cows no matter how much milk they are giving!! 

Just for reference Maggie is now giving 8 to 10 gallons a day... that makes for a pretty heavy bucket!! Much more then a 9 year old or a 7 month pregnant lady should be lifting!! Papa may even use this system to keep his back in better shape!! 

Maggie's Calf! March 22nd/2013

 I knew Maggie was in labor yesterday when I saw her with her tail up and how restless she was. She would lay down and get up and lay down and get up. When I went outside to take a looks see after several hours of watching from the window I saw this! There wasn't even time to go get the kids...I did get it on camera though and a MOVIE of his birth!! 

She just turned around, laid down and pushed him out!! Two pushes :) She MOOOOO'd while she pushed which I've never seen a cow do before! Isabel was quite excited too but after he was born she left. J and I pushed him up to her head as she wasn't getting up and she cleaned him off a bit. Finally I was worried because she wasn't standing up, after about 35 minutes, and got purposely too close and she got up. He got up right after that and was nursing very soon after that! When I saw how active he was I called Papa.. we'd not decided if we wanted him to nurse her or not. I thought we did because it's so much better for both of them but we've also had trouble with calves who suck til they are 2... or in the freezer!! As soon as Isabel saw him trying to suck SHE WANTED HIM!! I had to fight her off!! J ran back to the house and got a bucket of sweet mix and called her and sure enough off she went a running. He got her locked in the milking parlor, GOOD JOB J!!, and Maggie and baby had some alone time. He had a good meal and she cleaned him off. 

Isabel got left in the milking parlor for about 90 minutes.. I wanted them to have a little time together before I had to take him away. These same to cows fought over Isabel's calf last year and it got a bit rough so we figured it would just be safer to take him away from them both.. the same thing we did to Star last year. Isabel was actually using her head as a wedge to get between Maggie and the calf. She also used her head on Maggie a few times to chase her off.. what a circus!! When I found out we had a bull calf I WHOOPED super loud!! We don't know her exact dates but the later they calve often means heifer where as the sooner they calve means bull. I really wanted a bull!! 

So now he lives in his little pen in the front of the house! I'm SO glad Papa put it up on his last day off as I'm really not sure where I would have put him if not for the pen. Here are the kids checking him out. He's tired.. He had to walk, get pushed, a long ways from the hay bale, to the milking parlor (Maggie WOULD NOT go in without him) and then to the front of the house and his little pen. After I got him in I milked both cows and let them out. Maggie searched for him for about 20 minutes and unless he bawls she doesn't even call for him. He has a heat lamp because he was shivering. I also covered him with straw. This morning we hit -15C here and he was as far away from the heat lamp as he could get and still be in the pen.. so I think unless it gets really cold he will not be needing a heat lamp anymore! 

Last night when Papa got home we took a bottle out and got about a cup into him. His cord was still bleeding, which I'd been worried about all evening and googled, so we tied it off with a piece of dental floss.. what Google recommended. :) We had to do it twice as the first time didn't work but the second did and it stopped bleeding and this morning it's looking nice and dry like it should be. 

So here he is! He needs a name.. 

an M name, because he's Maggie's bull calf. 

We already have a Meatloaf.

Papa is thinking Milton . 

He is all black.. not a speck of white on him. 

I think Milton sounds smart and he is that!! This morning he drank a bottle full like a pro!! I don't see weeks of force feeding in my future with this little guy!! 

Still I do like my name too... Melt'n :) 

As in Melt'n in my mouth :) 

Maybe this guy will be Milton and his, hopefully, soon to be stall mate from a local dairy, will be Melt'n. :) 

So what do you think?? 

Good Morning.

We got our camera back from the camera doctors and I've been taking quite a few pictures. Papa was playing with the camera the day we got it home and I thought he was just making sure it was in good working order. Later in the day I picked it up to take some pictures and as it turned on it said "Good Morning." in Papa's voice! Gave me a bit of a start the first time. Of course I turned it on and off a few times and showed the kids and we all enjoyed it. Now every time I turn the camera on a smile comes to my face and I remember just how much I love that guy!!

Forgetful Fridays. March 22.

I think everyone who lives in the North has a selective memory. Wait hear me out. I know I have a selective memory.. Every summer/fall/winter I choose to forget how long it really takes for Spring to come to the North. My sister in law posted on FB yesterday that work she planted peas and got some rows ready for corn. Here are some pictures of our place I took yesterday afternoon... about the same time, as it turns out, she was planting peas. 

The yard. 

Looking into the place.

Looking out down the driveway. 

The plow line.. that lump in the middle there is one of my raised beds....

J on a pile of plowed snow.

L on his 'ship' making a railing beside his captains chair.

OH and this is what it looks like in the summer.....Oh I can't wait to see green again!!  

Quilt Works :)

A sneak peek of the girls new quilt top and G's new blanket :) 

The kids and I just finished putting them all over the living room in groups of 4, making sure there were not two the same in each 4 square. We had 3 left over. I'm not sure if I'm going to make one more or just leave it.. I guess it will depend on if I need that last 4 square when I go to put them all together! 

Thankful Thursdays!! March 21st!

Miss Maggie heavy with calf! Look at that bag!! I can't believe it's still getting bigger everyday! From the back you can't even see the quarter lines! She looks very rectangle these days. She is very fat for a Holstein and we are excited to see how much milk she'll be giving!! 

The cows salt block is on a stump in front of her.. she's licking it. Yes.. ON A STUMP!! 

We do have that much snow. 

Miss Isabel. She's been officially milking for a year and 8 days. Still gives about 4 or 5 gallons a day. We will probably dry her up when Maggie calves.. We recently AI'd her for the 2nd try and if it doesn't take we will probably take her to a bull. She is a good quiet cow who has really only bonded with Maggie. Where as Maggie has bonded with the dogs as well as Isabel and will lick all three! 

She was staring at Tucker.. 

Tucker.. handsome is't he? I need to get a picture of him standing next to Chip or Papa so you can see how big he is. We thought he'd stopped growing UP awhile ago but then just last week I noticed he's grown UP again. He was already bigger then both his parents before this last growth spurt so we really aren't sure how big he'll get! I love his coloring!! 

The calf pen waiting on Maggie.. Yes this is just outside my front door.. Yes I like it that way :) 

Makes chores so much easier and it will keep the calf under shelter. The plywood is to block the wind. The gate is on the left by the pallets. The little 1X4 fence is because Star, our last calf, always tried to jump on to the porch and where this pen is at is LOWER then where Stars pen was at. 

Big Momma enjoys the sunshine!! Little 'Hairless' is beside her.. She has very little hair and most of it on her head. Born that way and it never did grow in.

Anyway our camera is home and working so be aware :) LOTS of pictures to take and post in the next little bit. Critters today.. Kids/Snow/house/Beer stuff coming soon :) 

Camera!

Our camera is home AND IT WORKS!!!! Yay!  Lots of picture taking/blogging happening soon :)

Forgetful Friday. March 15th

Last night the kids were doing P.E. in the living room as they didn't get to go outside. P.E. inside is things like jumping jacks, stretches, push ups, sit-ups, Simon says ( known here as Momma says) and running in spot. They mostly like it :). G loved it! She did push-up;, lay down/stand up. She did sit ups; butt in the air/lay down lol. She did jumping jacks; clapping and jerking herself up and down with her knees but not jumping as she can't yet. She momma says and copied the others with a big smile on her face, but I think her favorite, and mine too, was the running in spot! She can really pick those little feet up fast! Up down up down like little pistons! And with the BIGGEST happiest grin on her face. I wish I could have taped it! She was also moving around the other kids pretty good though and I just kept getting snatches of her grin. She was having a BLAST! This morning we tried to get her to do it for Papa and she did it but only half heartedly. Next time I'll work hard at getting her on camera. That grin is not something I ever want to forget.

Thankful Thursday March 14th.

Outside my window snow has been falling for almost 24 hours straight! Thankfully it has not added up to as much as it could have had it not fluctuated from tiny almost unseeable flakes to huge pretty flakes and everything in between. I think so far we have about 8 inches. The weather man says we should get several more before morning. I believe him, for once, and it really feels like January or February out there..not the middle of March.

So things I'm thankful for today include:

Healthy kids! Yay! After over a week of sickies we are all among the well as of this morning!

Pine firewood. I just love the easy way it heats compared to the poplar we've been burning the last several years.

Naps. R, J3 and G all had a two our nap today.

Homeschooling. While the littles napped the bigs and I did school. Well they did school, I marked their work and did some math with E and L. I love having them home all day and not having to worry about buses or roads or what they are being taught.

Spring, sounds kinda backwards being thankful for spring in a snowstorm, but it is March and in just 6 more days it will apparently be spring. According to the website I just checked out that means that there will be equal hours of sun and darkness on that day which this year is March 20. I wonder if that is true for us in the North. No matter. We often have snow well into April, sometimes even May!, so spring will come snow or no snow.

And the 'off' one for this Thankful Thursday is Eggs! I love them fried, hard boiled, deviled and many other ways. I dislike washing them and how they seem to sneak into the fridge when your not looking and full it up :) and after a week of sickies...the fridge was feeling less food storage and more EGG storage! And after 4 egg meals in 2 days we still have more eggs then we normally store!
                                                  Eggs! It's  what's for breakfast!

Wacky Wednesday :)

The title really covers it. Wednesdays are wacky around here. It's Papa's first day back at work..so it's kinda our Monday. This Wednesday was wacky in more ways then normal. This morning we woke up to snow falling. About 2 hours later it turned to rain, then a bit of sunshine, then it POURED rain, and then we had a couple of hours of the sun trying to shine and now it's snowing again. When it started to rain I checked the temp and it was -5C. Seriously! POURING rain and -5. It did get up to 0 later with the weak sunshine.

Today was catch up day. The kids and I spent about an hour outside this afternoon. Them playing, me working on the never ending lathe on the house. They also went out this morning to do chicken chores and firewood. They have been sick for about a week, one or more at a time, and today was catch up day for several things. Firewood, egg washing, outside play. We managed to keep up school work by working for short periods of time through out the day. We are doing a bit extra a week so we can take a couple of weeks off in April. Papa has two weeks off and we don't want to have to do school then.

Wednesdays (and saturdays) are also suppose to be shower/bath night. If it goes smoothly it only takes about 45 minutes. Sometimes when we've already had a long day it's hard to get motivated enough to run the gauntlet, I mean showers and bath marathon.  The boys are a big help. Both the older boys can get the shower water the right temp and run a sink full of bath water and wash their own hair/bodies in the shower. So we normally get the baths started, J3 and G together, and then the boys watch the those two while I shower the girls. (Girls hair! ack!) When the girls are done the boys hop in the shower and I get the little two out of the bath and get them dressed and brush hair. The boys have also been washing the littles hair in the tub but only while I'm helping. They like too...honest!

Anyway on this wacky Wednesday we are having open faced egg sandwiches, cupcakes and apples for supper while the kids watch a movie in the living room and I'm writing this post! Easy and requested supper, relaxing evening (before shower/bath time) after a wacky weather Wednesday. We did really good for our Monday. School got done, house is clean, chores caught up and we even played outside! Thankfully only the weather was wacky on this particular Wednesday!

G 16 Months Update and Pictures.

G is now 16 months old, walks like a pro, loves to dance (with or without a baby in arms), kiss (smooching noise and all), talk (and makes a bit of sense!!), play (babies, cars, whatever! My sewing machine!! How DO you put the foot back on anyway hmm G??) and EAT!!! She eats as much as L does on a fairly regular basis. She also likes being cute :) 

G almost always has crazy hair... conditioner keeps in down for a day or so but after that it's EVERYWHERE!! 

She has quite a vocabulary for 16 months and can say Papa (her favorite word), Momma, yes, drink, more, bye bye, kitty, I, me, hi, tickle. One day we all heard her say Me More food several times. Often I hear her say ME DRINK! She also says variations of the kids names.. none of which I'm going to try and write out the way she says phonetically as I don't think I'd come even close! 

Here is a short movie of her saying Papa and kissing her baby! 

Cow Update March 9/13

Just a quick note to tell you that Maggie is slowly bagging up and is looking like she will calve in the next month or so. Papa and I have tenitive plans to buy a dairy steer when her calf is born and raise the two together. Two is very little more work then one and the way we've been going through beef we are gonna need two! Besides that we will skip a year with beef if we do not and we are enjoying it too much to go without it unless absolutly nessasary.  

Isabel was checked recently and found to be open, in other words not bred. So we are once again watching for heats and hope to try AI-ing her again soon. This time to a brown Swiss bull! On the 13th of March she will have been milking for a full year. She started at about 8 gallons a day and is now down to about 5 gallons a day! That is really good! She is in good shape for a Holstein as well and seems to be able to blance her wieght loss and her milk production really well. Some cows give all their weight to their milk production or produce less milk and keep some wieght. Isabel seems able to do both. Other then Papa's sweet mix at milking time and a salt block she is just getting hay!  Maggie on the other hand looks bullish she is so fat!

      Maybe I will wander out there with my Ipad soon and take a picture of them for you. They are bonding and sometimes we see them licking each other for hours.

      I wonder if Isabel will make a pain of herself while Maggie's calving the way Maggie  did when Isabel calved a year ago? I hope we are around to see the birth! Maggie's last calf, Meatloaf (who is living with the neighbours herd at the moment and will be beef this fall) was born about 6 o'clock in the morning and I just caught the tail end, punny!, of the birth through the window. He was born in November 2 years ago now on the same day we butchered Billy the steer who was Bindy's second last calf. It was an interesting day that's for sure!

If you want to read some fun stories about cows click on the word cows or calves on the side panel and you'll get a bunch! Happy reading!

Forgetful Friday :) March 9th/13

My kids have been sick with a stomach bug the last several days. I have to say I'd rather have sick BIG kids then sick LITTLE kids.

Big kids throw up INTO the bucket!

Little kids throw up where ever they happen to be: bed, couch, you name it.

Big kids dump and rinse their puke bucket.

Littles play in their puke until you remove them from the mess and clean it up.

Big kids can tell you what they feel like eating, and often keep it down.

Little kids eat whatever and then puke.

Big kids will sit and watch a whole movie and remember that they are sick and should rest at the end of the movie.

Littles watch a movie, start playing, wear them selves totally out and do more harm then good to their healing bodies.

Bigs complain about how sick they are.

Littles mostly just look sick. Very little verbal whining. (Mine anyway)

Bigs understand why a little water at a time is good for you when your sick...as opposed to drinking a whole cup full and throwing it right back up.

Littles fall asleep anywhere when sick, I just took a sleeping G out of her high chair and transferred her to her bed, super cute!

So things to remember and things to forget today.

L is a sympathy puker, anyone pukes and L turns his head away and leaves the room. Just like me. Papa is the puke cleaner upper around here.

Once when E was much smaller and had the runs she pooped out of her pull up and made a mess on the living room rug. She and L had been playing together and he saw her mess and made an even bigger one of his own. Thank goodness for steam cleaners! The funniest thing about that story is that my uncle R was over with his son and he thought it was the funniest thing ever and went out side and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Camera blahs.

We got our camera back from the camera doctor last week. After a frustrating couple of days we finally called the company that should have called us several days before, according to our Internet tracking system and sure enough they'd had it for a couple of days already. Small town businesses sometimes leave a lot wanting! It didn't have a phone number on the package but really how hard is it to type a name into the yellow pages and wait the 2.2 seconds until our phone number comes up. We are the only Griggs in town! Papa made sure they got and wrote down our number in their contacts book so hopefully when the camera gets sent back again this time we'll get it when it arrives in town.

Yes it has to be sent back. The zoom works fantastic (why we sent it off in the first place) but now it refuses to admit there is a memory card in it or store photos at all. Not much use as a camera with actually storing a picture. I can take them but they just don't exist. Are we happy? NO! Did we call and talk to them, yes and they tried but can't do anything over the phone. So will we have a camera for a certain 4 year olds 5th birthday...NO! I'll use my iPad and my mom is bringing her camera so it won't be a total loss, but it just goes to show...all our planning ( the gap between J's birthday and R's birthday has the biggest gap in birthdays until after J3's birthday in July! ) and it still doesn't always work the way we have planned. Makes me wonder what God has in store for us to learn from this. I wonder if we'll ever know :) I just hope we get it back before L's birthday in April.

So I'm very sorry to have to tell you we will all just have to put up with the iPads picture quality until our camera is once again home to stay. Hopefully sooner rather then later...till then squint a little when you look at the pictures...lol...and have a fantastic day!

Quilts Update :)

Well this is what I've been up too lately!! Sewing all these strips into sets of 3. There are 33 sets of 3 which means 99 strips total! They are each different! Some have the same 3 fabric's but the order they are in is different. Now I iron these and then cut them into squares. I'm following this video...Here! and making each of my girls a blanket cover or quilt. I bought some wool blankets from my mom for E and R's quilts and bought some cotton in fill for G's. I was actually only going to make them for E and R as G still has lots of blankets but my wonderful sister R pointed out that I had enough fabric to make G one too.. so I'm going to. One will have a purple back, another a pink back and the 3rd back will be yellow :), all flannel backs. The diamonds will be a dark purple... and I have it washed, but need to iron and cut it up yet. 

Sorry the picture is so blurry. I'm still taking pictures with the ipad. The colors are a bit off too.. 

sigh! I went to take these pictures with our camera, freshly back from the camera doctors, only to find out the camera now refuses to admit there is a memory card in it.. and therefore will NOT save any pictures. Grrr... 

Anyway I will keep you updated on my progress :) I'm also working on a crocheted baby blanket for Baby S which keeps my hands busy while my feet are up :)