Shirley The Jersey. A Christmas Story.

Some friends of ours wanted to go on a trip, but they had a cow they needed taking care of . Papa said sure and told me later, but I was fine with that. They brought her over the 22nd of December. Her name is Shirley and she reminds me of a large happy dog. She is inquisitive and alert. She walked right over the wire fence to explore the pigs and right back in again when Papa put the fence down. She is easy to catch and lead and she seems to be, very much, a people cow. You know; instead of a people person? She's a people cow. Shirley is a purebred jersey cow with a rough coat. I'd never seen a Jersey with a rough coat. Looks neat. I knew she was in labour the night she got here so I put her in our new calf pen with Ivan, Isabel's calf, and watched her for a bit. Until 1am actually when my feet were frozen and my eyes kept closing all by themselves. I went inside to bed but resolved to wake up in a couple hours to check on her. I must have been tired because the next hour I saw was 8am!! I thought, for sure, there would be a calf but no! While I was still scratching my head over that she lay down and gave a little push and I saw feet!! I ran inside and woke up the kids, made them get jackets on and boots and we all went out to stare at the cow! Then we went back inside as nothing was happening..that friendly cow kept saying 'good morning' to everyone and wouldn't lay down again to push the calf out!!   I stayed outside and watched her and when she was down again and staying down I called the kids and they all came out and watched the calf being born! Papa stayed inside with S but the other 6 were all there. Wonderful experience! Shirley did so good and after the calf was out and she was up she shared the love and licked Ivan all over just the same as she did her calf! A Christmas Eve calf! What a wonderful reminder of life and love and Jesus! 

L hand milking Shirley. Norman is the red calf, Ivan the black calf. 

 What a busy day it was. A friend and two of her children came for breakfast, a wonderful lady dropped off a quilt, a couple of guys showed up to pick up a freezer full of old meat for bait (a very big pig that died a couple years ago in the bush that we were going to feed to the dogs and never did as it smelled so bad!), Papa took the oldest 4 kids skating with church family for two hours while I cleaned house and napped littles,  R and her 6 kids came to see the calf and have a quick visit. C's and their 4 boys stopped in to see their cow Shirley and name the new calf Norman (city slickers anyone?). At one point there were 17 children in the house! Papa and Mr. C went to pick up some hay. Everyone was visiting and having a great time! I totally forgot it was Christmas Eve! The dog barked, the kids yelled, Grandma and Grandpa are here! The families were introduced, the calves seen again, the snowsuits, gloves, hats and children packed up, hugs given, good byes said, Papa and Mr. C arrived. R and her children left, C's packed up their boys, checked and double checked for mittens and jackets and oh don't forget the babies boots! Than a moment of silence. Ahh. 

Children chattering excitedly, Christmas Eve! We've remembered! Gingerbread houses and snack night and Grandma and Grandpa and excitement reined! I remember Papa hugged me and I smiled at him and we went into the kitchen to set up for the gingerbread house decorating. We decorated, we chatted and ate, we even opened gifts and hugged and laughed and then we were saying good bye again to Grandpa and Grandma and yelling MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Then again the house had a moment of silence before the little excited voices. Reminding us. Another Tradition. A wonderful Tradition, the annual watching of 'The Nativity Story.'  

Later that night after the kids were in bed Papa and I took a couple deep breaths and finished a few surprises for the next days giving. When the house was ready for bed I went out once again in the dark cold night to check the calves and Shirley and marvel. Every birth is a gift but God becoming man, being birthed into this human world to save us from sin is the greatest gift of all! What a personal reminder of the magic of life, the God thing that opened my eyes and quiets my heart. Thank you Jesus! 

*Disclaimer. Our children close their eyes for several minutes several times in the movie 'The Nativity Story' we also fast forward the first part and both births. 

G's Quilt

Little Miss G got her quilt made with love from Grandma and her aunts, my sisters and sister in laws, today. Each grandchild has receive a quilt and each are different and beautiful. G was being super shy and did not want everyone looking  at her but Papa got some good pictures of her later and right now she's snuggled up in it watching Beauty and the Beast. 

Valentines Day

Beautiful flowers from Papa. True to form he brought them early, this year a day early, which brighten my day.

 Actual Valentines day was very sad as we learned that a friend of ours, my oldest sisters best friend from way back, had lost her 14 year old son,  Brandon, in a moose vs car accident that morning. My heart has been mourning for her and his family ever since. He sounds like a great kid and he will be missed by many. 

Papa and I have been rethinking several things in our lives since this happened and resolved to make some changes. Some on paper some in hearts. 

Our prayers are with you Sarah and Family. I'm sure for you Valentines Day will never be the same. 

Snow Volcano

This is a Pinterest find :) Bury a vase in the snow, add baking soda and color and vinegar and watch the foam roll! We didn't measure anything, just wing it :) It works! 

Super fun! The kids loved mixing the colors and making new colors! 

Black Eye

Papa after a floor hockey night a while ago! 

Thankful Thursday Feb 2014

The kids and I are watching The Sound of Music. They picked it as we got school done early and tonight's meal, leftovers, wasn't, so they requested a snack night and I added a movie night in to the fun evening. The last 10 days have been long and a night off is welcome.

 It's been cold, never warmer than -10C and going outside has been few and far between except for chores. Winter has apparently hit at the Griggs Homestead and surrounding area. We haven't got much for snow yet this year and what we have gotten melted in December and January and is now a slick layer under the very little we have left as snow. The new woodshed keeps a lot of the wind out of the milking area but seems to attract water and the ice is several inches thick at the opening. It sure makes splitting the large rounds of firewood tricky. Thankfully there is a bit of straw/ hay/ wood chips to give our boots a grip. 

Another nice thing about the cold weather is all the school work we are getting done. End of term is the 21st and we should be finished early. The plan at the moment is to finish the term and then do all the teacher intensive stuff for term 3 until April when Papa has a couple weeks off. While Papa's home the kids will do PACE workbooks which are easily done independently and marked in the evenings. This allows them to continue school while Papa and I concentrate on the house.  

We got another load of hay last week. It was -2? and the kids and I watched Papa unload the bales from the window. They took the straps off there by the driveway and then Papa used the bobcat to push the bales off from the road side into the ditch and than when the truck left he went and brought them all in and stacked them up right there by that snow pile by the trees. 3 refused to be moved as they were too far into the ditch. J got his first bobcat driving lessons a couple of days later, when it was a bit warmer, in helping Papa move the bales out of the ditch with a chain. He did really well and now all the bales are in the stack. L got to figure out chains and angles with Papa and helped give J directions. 

On one of our very cold days we baked this pork roast all day on a low temperature. It was fantastic! 

J3 and G have been napping on the couch. The kids room is simply too hard to heat for nap time. At night the 6 of them warm it up and we can leave the door open and the heater on. I turn the heater on at 7ish pm to start the warm up for their 9 pm bedtime. Normally it wouldn't be too big of a deal just to leave their door open but with S crawling in the living room it's just too cold of a draft on the living room floor and he chills really fast, even in two layers of clothes! 

*Update. It got to -31C last night and our water Almost froze! (If you're wondering how water almost freezes, it's when some of the pipes do freeze a bit and no or very little water comes out but the pipes don't break and turning a heater on will save them and allow the water to flow again.) Papa now has the heater under the trailer going on at night. S was up 3 times because he was cold, even in two layers of clothes and two blankets!,  and he will now sleep in the living area for nights to stay warmer. We are all going to be so very glad to get out of this trailer :) 

 

S can Sit!

I think he may be the first of our kids to learn to sit after he learned to crawl! Such a cutie!