Papa's Schooling.

Well it's official. Papa will be starting his 1st year of school for his apprenticeship starting March 29th. First year runs for 6 weeks. He'll be taking the car (good on gas) to 'the city' every morning and coming home every afternoon 5 days a week. It's about a 50 minute drive to the college. He has book work type stuff in the mornings and actual mechanical stuff in the afternoon. One of his bosses thinks he will be bored out of his mind the entire schooling time. Not just this this 6 weeks but ALL 4 six week programs he has to do to finish his apprenticeship. Papa's 2nd 6 weeks (for his 2nd year) of school is right after the 1st years. So it will be 12 weeks total that he'll be in school and we will be without a paycheck. Eek!! So far his schooling has cost us about $550.00 and we are expecting to cost us about $1,500.00 total with with books and everything. Fuel is extra! Thankfully he will be able to receive UI for 10 of the 12 weeks and we have been saving up for spring things like chicks and feed and other costs. Our fuel bill will go UP but it hopefully will not be too bad as city prices are often MUCH better then our small town prices. Papa's bosses have also told him that if he gets more then a certain % they will pay for all his schooling costs which is wonderful!! His last day of school is the 18th of June and our new baby is due on the 22nd of June :) Thankfully the last 3 babies have been 10 days late so if this one follows suit he/she should be born the 2nd of July. Or around there. Who knows with babies :) One really nice thing about his schooling (besides the fact that he will be half done!!) is that he'll have Saturdays off and should be home by 6ish every night. That will work perfectly for our spring farming and clearing up the rest of the trees that we've fallen and will fall again this spring as we can work 30 to 60 minutes, or more, each evening and get a LOT done. By then it will be light enough too!!

Longer Days and Shorter Nights :)

The days are getting noticeably longer now. We now have light until after 5 pm. In the heart of winter it would get dark before 4pm and light around 6:30ish am. Now we have light til almost 5:20pm. I'm not sure what time it gets light in the mornings as I'm well tucked into my nice warm bed and really don't care too much. I do know it is still dark at 4;30am as I was up then last night and it was dark. I've already taken advantage of the extra light to send the boys outside more and more as we have some nice weather. They have been playing 'pirates' on a lump of snow which covers some old boards that serves as their 'boat.' They have TONS of adventures sailing here and there and looking for treasure. As they get older they can spend more time out of doors then they could before as they can come inside when they are cold and 'warm up' and I don't have to worry about them so much. They also bring firewood to the porch and soon I will have them running up and down the driveway again running off some of that energy that little boys seem to never run out of. For myself the longer days mean more time to remember that we have a farm and to get my brain ready for spring and the total lack of ice, snow and cold weather. One thing about living this far north that unless you go to a gym there really isn't any way to get exercise with out equipment during the winter.. the days are too short or too cold, or it's much too icy. So we end up living inside during the winter and outside in the summer. We don't get green grass here until the end of May and often it's only days between snow and ice and green grass and mud. Days between sleds and bikes. By May it'll be dark around 10pm and light as early as 4:30am. Boy am I looking forward to that!! But this is nice too and I always have some inside projects to be done. I better get going and get some more finished as I've only got 3 months til May and spring work and baby piglets :)

Family Update Jan 2010

Well the new year has started and so far it's like every other year. Some good stuff and some bad. After our unusually cold spell we have now had a few weeks of nice warm weather.. very unusual for January!! Normally we get our -40 F spell in January and as of today (the 28th) the coldest we've had is about -18C (about 0F). The kids have been outside a lot which is wonderful!! There is a thick layer of ice everywhere and we are having to be VERY careful at how we walk or as we call it.. the winter waddle. After falling 2 times on my hip in the cow pen I'm VERY careful!! Thankfully no damage was done!

Well I guess I'll start smallest and go up! Griggs baby #5 is growing well and has made herself/himself known. I can feel kicks and twirls and jabs and the baby moves around and gets more mature. At almost 20 weeks he/she is almost 6 inches from head to bum and weighs almost 9 oz. He/she has everything including eye lids and hair and can suck it's thumb and swallow! At 20 weeks he/she could survive outside the womb with lots of care. I always like passing the 20 week mark just for that reason! And at 20 weeks we normally have the ultrasound and find out the sex of the baby. Papa is still very sure it's a boy.. I'm not convinced. :) Our ultrasound date is the 23 of February and I'm sure we'll keep you posted!! I'm regularly asked if this pregnancy is larger or smaller then the last 4. Honestly I have no idea. There will be 27 months between R and this new baby and between them I dropped 3 pant sizes. My body is in a much different shape now then it has been in several years... since I was pregnant with L! I do have a baby belly all of a sudden (to me anyway.. I belly bumped a kid the other day and was shocked.. I had no idea it stuck out that far!!) and not just the baby fat belly I've had for years! I call my baby fat belly my 4 layers of fat.. one for each child. It really should be 5 since I had a bit of one before the 4 layers of fat came to be! Anyway we are growing and healthy if tired and a bit lazy with all the COLD weather we've been having this year.

R is growing up! The other day we took apart her crib in the 1st stage of moving her and E into the bottom bunks of the bunk beds. (the boys will have the tops) She is now sleeping on her crib mattress on the floor.. it's a great learning stage between can't fall out of a crib and can fall out of a bed!! She loves it and slept great last night. The 2 nights she slept in the tent after Christmas is when she came to 'visit' in the middle of the night. After putting her back 2x a night she's now staying put!! She's also eating at the table with us without a tray on her highchair but sits a bit too low yet and I'm going to move her out of the highchair and into a seat at the end of the table. Table Shuffle!! LOL. These are also steps that need to be taken to give her some responsibility so when we come to potty training at age 2 she'll be able to and ready for more!

E is a giggly, wiggly teaser of a 3 year old which a touch of attitude and a flaring of temper. She loves to play with J and L and thinks she can do anything they can do. Nothing new there. Often she does it too! She asked me almost everyday when the baby would come for almost a month.. now she asks her self and answers herself. She is very excited about the new baby and is quite positive that it's a girl. As both boys think the baby is a boy they have some interesting arguments!! No one wins though as we don't know if it is a boy or girl yet. She is learning to take her plate, fork and cup from the table when she's done eating and put them where they belong. She totally dresses herself and can put her boots on as well. She can put her jacket on too sure she always gets it upside down.. with the hood over her butt!!

L recently discovered LEGO and can make cars following the instructions that came with the kits. He took to it like he'd been born to it and loves it. He's also really into coloring and can spend hours at it getting it just right. He is learning to shower himself with brother J as a informer.. he informs L of when there is still soap on him or informs me when L needs help. They shower together so L is really learning from J. I still have to put shampoo in their hair and makes sure it's totally washed out but other then that they shower completely without help. Very nice!! The two boys are quite the team and together they do a lot of things that only one couldn't. Like bring in a sled load of firewood when the stack was nearby, collect eggs and feed the hens, set up the table in the living area for picnic's, set the table, bring me ingredients for baking, emptying the dishwasher and putting away laundry. Some things they only need the others presents for courage.. like the hens and the ability to reaffirm where the clothes go but they work very well together and I'm proud of them. It's interesting to watch them as they often take turns being the one in charge. J is a natural leader but often they switch and even if L is asking J what to do next he still 'tells' J what to do next. They are quite the pair!!

Well J recently turned 6 and has taken on some new challenges.. LEGO and following directions is so easy when L does it but J struggles with it and has to redo every project at least 2 times before getting it to work right. This is good for his "I know everything" ego and is also teaching him patience with himself.. something he's never had a lot of. He's done a bit of the training of Chip and that dog listens to him better then me!! J got a tent for Christmas and a fishing rod for his birthday and is totally looking forward to going fishing with Grandpa 'when the snow goes away and Grandpa is off work!' He can now turn laundry right side out and fold some of it! Both the boys can fold washcloths and L can turn shirts outside right but J can fold pants and socks as well as turning anything right side out. Great help when we do our gobs and gobs of laundry every week. He also put his sheet on his bed for the 1st time the other day!! He and R have an understanding and he's the best with her. He can wash her hands and once in a pinch put her on the toilet! She was naked for a shower with E (who I was busy with) and wiggling like she was going to pee on the floor. I said J put R on the pot! FAST and he picked her up just in time to get her on before she peed on the floor. I'm not sure who was more impressed of the 3 of us. J for putting her on, R for peeing or me for the quick reaction of both!

Papa worked 1.5 days in the 10 over Christmas and New years which gave us both a needed rest. We got almost nothing done and watched a lot of movies and I read several books. I got him the new FOOD INC book and his nose was buried for hours at a time reading up on his favorite subject. It was quite cold the whole time he had off so outside work was not really possible. He did milk the entire time for me which blessed me immensely as I was wiped out by the holidays and the 1st 3 months of this pregnancy. We had a great lazy Christmas with only 2 gatherings and lots of Griggs time! We made our annual gingerbread house and this year a tree also and decorated them Christmas Eve and the boys smashed them New Years Eve. The girls (E and R and Brianna) tried but couldn't hit it hard enough.... not that any of them really tried. M & A joined us for New Years Eve and after stuffing ourselves on appys we sat with 5 of the 6 kids and watched Ratatouille putting kids to bed in stages until the movie was over and the last 2 asleep. Papa brought in the new year milking Maggie which I told him was fate.. and that he should take that as a sign to milk all year long and leave me out of it!! He didn't think so though and I'm still milking once a day. I really didn't think it would work but it was worth asking. We have a line on a milking machine and Papa is going to look at it this week. We also took a day to plan our spring/summer plans for pigs, cows, meat birds and fingered out when we can hopefully expect piglets, chicks, the baby and Bindy's and Maggie's calves. (in that order!! Busy Spring!!) We've been planning on getting fruit trees this spring and after looking at the current busy spring decided to wait a year before putting $800+ into them as we will not have the time or energy to learn properly how to care for them. So we've decided to plant that area to grass and see how it does for a year before planting the trees.

Chip is growing and his back is over my knee now. He's finally learned to bark and will bark at people but only if they get out of their cars and preferably if he's under the porch. Ha bark in the OPEN... he's too chicken. Fine with me!! I just want to know when people are here! He's made friends with most of the people who come every week and will even come out to be petted by a few. This suits us just fine! He still loves the cows but Bindy does not love him.. though she does tolerate him. He can go into the cow pen again now. For a while there she'd chase him out over and over and over but he never gave up. He does love his Maggie. Speaking of Maggie the 2 of them gave us a scare the other day!! Papa looked out the window and saw Maggie licking a small black thing on the ground. He instantly thought CALF and panicked! A second later he realized it was only Chip who had turned to lick Maggie back. But his heart stopped for a second and we both had a good laugh over it! At the time it was -35C (-30F) and no time to be messing with calves!!

Maggie and Bindy are doing well together and seem to have bonded. Bindy is the "head" cow though and tries to stop Maggie from going in to be milked. I've had to chase her out twice because she stands SO close to the door Maggie needs to go through that Maggie will not pass her to go in even though she wants to be milked and loves her sweet mix. Bindy also loves the sweet mix and if your not careful she sticks her head through a hole and eats with Maggie. Maggie being the 'teenager' lets her!! But if we put the feed carefully on the other side of the box Bindy can't reach and scratches her way through the milking instead!! Papa fixed this the day after I wrote about it!! :) Note: We went and bought the milking machine today and what a sweet deal for $400!! Cheap, cheap cheap!! Yes!! That is one great thing about our cows is that they totally pay for themselves, their feed, hay, fencing and now extras too. Maggie has even taken us out for lunch or supper several times!! We are looking forward to the day when the cows will pay for some of our groceries too!! Oh and right now Maggie is paying for Chips dog food too!!

We have a new critter on the farm these days. A 550 lb critter who is thankfully only visiting. We borrowed a Berkshire boar to breed our 3 Berkshire gilts. He is HUGE but Papa informs me he is a very friendly pig. I can't get over his size enough to find out. I'm going to go out and take some pictures yet.

Update. We got the bunk beds up and sorted out and it's working great. It also gives them lots of room to play and if needed we can put a crib up in there as well. R has the most enclosed bunk on the bottom and hasn't visited us once since we set them up. One day at naps she tried to get out and went the wrong way and got lost on the end of her bed!! She was not fully awake and sat there and cried til I rescued her.

A L funny!! I was laying reading on the bed last night and L came over and put his hand on my belly and informed me I was FAT!! Papa and I laughed and explained to him that my 'fat' was his new sister or brother and that I would get much 'fatter' yet!!

A Six Year Old Birthday.

His Lion cake.

The Crew!!

Grandpa F and J. The have the same crazy hair!!

Opening the card from G&G G! Loved his face when 2 five dollar bills fell out!

Hard to believe we have now been in the same town for 6.5 years now. But yup J's birthday just proved it. When we moved here I was 3 months pregnant with J and he just had his 6th birthday. He's growing up so fast. He loves a good party and we sure had us one. Chocolate cake, ice cream, new balloons and toys. It was a great night. G&G F and the T family joined us to celebrate and we all had a great time. I made bread sticks and meatballs and sauce and we had them with oranges and chips and crackers with salsa and sour cream. What a feast! The kids really liked the cupcakes and J loved the lion on his cake. He really wanted a lion and so I washed a piece of glass and put a large lion wall sticker on the glass and placed it on the top of the cake. He picked out his 6 candles, 3 blue, 2 pink and 1 green and the candies for on top of the cupcakes, chocolate coins, little chocolate men and chocolate balls. He REALLY LOVES chocolate. He got his 1st Lego blocks and he and L are having a great time putting cars, castles and planes together. E really likes the horse J made out of Lego's and all and all they are a HIT!

Home Again Home Again. Jiggity jog.

Well Bindy is home again. After all our planning and fussing it went off lickity split. Bindy was corralled in the morning by our wonderful neighbor Jim and when we got there she seem to remember us and actually came right to Papa and he fed her some of our sweet mix and put her halter on her, with it's new cow chain. We planned to remind her how to behave on a lead properly right from the start! Then Papa walked out of the pen and Bindy followed and off we went!! The only time he had any troubles at all was when a car drove by on the road and all she did was walk into the ditch. Smart cow!! When we got home 20 minutes later (Papa walked her the whole way! I drove just in front of him and then behind him down the drive to cut her off if necessary!) she walked right into the milking area and into the stanchion. Papa brushed her for a bit just to firm up the bond and we called Maggie over so they could meet across the fence. Maggie REFUSED to come until Papa went out where she could see him and called her.. then she came running. It was interesting to watch them through the fence. The 2 year old dairy 'machine' who is learning to be a cow and the 9 year old short jersey Holstein who is a COW in the fullest sense of the word. Even for all their differences they both seemed shocked at the sight of the other. Bindy has really only ever been the ONLY cow here in the 2 years we've had her. And Maggie hasn't seen a cow since we brought her home in Sept. I was right about one thing. Bindy does NOT like Chip but after a few head bunts and some smelling her and Maggie are getting along well. Bindy went almost straight for the hay bale when Papa let her out and I have a feeling the cow pen will soon be a bit of a mess. Maggie only poops in 2 areas really and Bindy really just doesn't care! Both are fine with me as the reason the cows are there this winter is to get some fertilizer on that piece of ground. I told Papa that it really looks like Bindy caught the 1st month she was with the bull. Her belly is BIG and she's in all around good shape. But what do I know.. I waited almost a month for a calf that she never had!! Papa thinks she's bred too. And as the problem last time was the bull and not Bindy we are hoping she will have her calf this year! Oh and for all our worrying about her bag it too is in great shape. No funny lumps showing, just empty quarters hanging just as they should. So hopefully all is well there too. We won't know for sure until spring when she bags up to calve. I got a pretty good picture of them meeting and you can see how much shorter she is then Maggie!! Bindy looks like a chubby matron and Maggie a long legged teenager!! Papa and Chip watching Bindy (this side) and Maggie meet over the fence.

Maggie and Bindy side by side. Maggie is a LOT taller!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

NEWS!!!

Well it's been awhile and I thought I'd better catch you all up!! We have been busy getting ready for winter and Christmas and just plain old busy!!! Part of the reason I've not been blogging is not that I don't have lots to say just that I couldn't say it without alluding to the big thing that is happening for us right now and I found it very hard to keep the 2 separate!! We are going to be parents again this spring and we are SUPER EXCITED about it. I am 13 weeks and it's time to share!! Ever since we found out that I was pregnant we've had to keep a bit of a lower profile as I've been REALLY tired and a bit sick. Fairly normal for me during the 1st three months. We told the kids at a surprise American Thanksgiving that we made for Papa and they are all excited too. E took great pride in telling several people (but amazingly only when we told her she could!! She can keep a secret!) including Grandma and Grandpa F that "Mommy has a BABY in her tummy!!" L and E are the most excited of the 4, with J coming in 3rd and R a confused 4th!! Though she likes the idea of 'baby'! Papa has decreed it to be a boy! Don't laugh or scoff he's been right the last 4 times. We'll see soon enough! For those of you who don't know Papa and I have found out the sex of the baby at each ultrasound and gone out for lunch or supper after and named the baby the same day! That's our tradition and we love it. SO we should know if he's right around January. I think. My due date will change after I see the Doc but I can tell you it will likely be the 1st week in July as the last 3 kids have been 10 days late!! The only reason J wasn't was because he was induced! My friend Mrs. T is also pregnant. We are due within 3 days of each other and NO we did not plan it that way but we are happy about it.


L is Thankful for the new baby in Mommas tummy. And for Space Chimps!! ( a movie we borrowed from the T's) The way he said it made it a close thing!!



The kids are growing like crazy and L is wearing pants that J wore the week before!! J is getting better and better about helping without being asked and takes great pride in helping us. 'surprising us." L has started to make up funny stories and enjoys telling them to anyone who will listen. E is growing a bit taller and gaining more grace daily! She has started missing people when they are gone for a while and it's amazing to see the 'girl' emerge. R is copying in sentences now and talking 2 words at a time. The other day she was saying something and so I asked e what she said. Little kids can often understand younger kids. E gave me a LOOK and said. "How am I supposed to know?" I laughed so hard. The other day while we were shopping we were all talking and E pips up. 'IS IT MY TURN YET!!!" She really HAD something to say!!


On other news we have our barn almost finished, the roof needs one more strip of plastic and we may end of putting plywood on the walls in the pig area as they are trying to crawl into them. Other then that we are ready for winter. We still need to bring Bindy home but it can get cold now without us having to worry about the pipes or animal waters. (Plastics on windows, heater under house, skirting sealed off, hay over sewer so it won't freeze like last year, ) And BOY has it gotten cold. This morning we woke up to a chilly -35C which is -3oF!!! Burrr. Both Maggie and I shivered while I was milking this morning. BUT we have water!! Nothing froze not even the cow water!! Finally Papa says "A winter I WON"T have to spend hours under the trailer thawing everything out." Trailers are SUPER horrible to keep warm in these temps.


We have 1 pig left to butcher and cut and wrap and then the total for the year will be 6 pigs, Bobby the beef and our 1/4 of Moose from B&B. It was a bit insane there for a while and very exhausting. Papa set up the meat saw on the house floor and I put up some tables and with the new hanging area right there where the wood used to be it made for a nice working area with access to the kitchen through the windows. This worked lovely as the people wrapping and labeling stayed indoors and the cutters were outside. The grinding and sausage was also out doors which we really liked as the cold weather (-3C 0r 30ishF) really helps with a nicer grind. We personally made 90 lbs of sausage. 8 different kinds. Anywhere between 3lbs and 20 lbs of different kinds. Pepperoni, McGriggers, Mennonite, Dakota hot dogs, 5 alarm hot dogs, a new cheese garlic one in which we used my homemade cheese, a Argentine Chorizo, and a Alsatian. The 1st 5 we did last year as well and really liked and the last 3 were Papa's experiments. And I'm not sure if we'll do them again. They are good but not great. We got our sausage smoked by a neighbor who did a great job and we are very happy with the final outcome of all that work!! Sorry that I took almost no pictures I was simply trying to make it through a long work day.

Thankfully we are all healthy, happy (we have our moments but we are mostly happy) and ready for winter.. good thing too because it's here. We have about 8 inches of snow, a Christmas tree and it's beginning to feel a LOT like Christmas time!!

Eagles!!

At least one of the Eagles we had last year is back!! They are after the pig butchering leftovers in the back and as beautiful as ever!! Today is the 1st I've seen it and it flew right down over me by the house. Gliding along on the breeze. I love to watch them as the glide and soar.

That White Stuff!!

R and E in their snowsuits. Neither last long outside but the boys love it.
L and what was left of his snowman after Chip jumped on it.

J and Chip and J's 1st snowman of the year.

Snow!! yup it's that time of year again when the snow starts to fall and STICK!! Ready or not here it comes. We are mostly ready. The trusses are up and that was our last big outside project of the year. We'll still peck away at tree cleanup and firewood for next year when we have time if the snow isn't too deep but mostly it's done now. Papa gets home around 7pm and it's well and dark by 6:30 so there isn't much he or we can do after that. We do have lights that go around our foreheads for things we HAVE to do out side after dark but it's too dim to cut with the power saw or hook to trailers or stuff like that. This is our 5rd snow of the year but the 1st that may stick. But I don't think it will and that may be wishful thinking but I hope not. On our 3rd snow of the year the snow was falling off the roof in great WHOOOFFF thunders while I was milking (Maggie was NOT impressed!!) and it was still snowing and by late afternoon everything was dripping. The area on the drive way where Polly our Travelall was parked all night is dirt already. (even though it snowed on it for several more hours after Papa left for work.) The kids were super excited and 1st thing after breakfast was a hunt for snow pants, boots, gloves, hats and jackets as they all got ready to go out and play in the new snow. J and L both made snow men and the girls went in and out from under the carport checking out the snow. After the kids were all outside I grabbed an empty tote and took all the spring, summer and fall stuff OUT of the entrance area and organized the winter stuff into hats, gloves and adult gloves and I know this will help with the daily mitten/hat/scarf search. For the little people and the big!! We've had 2 light snows since then and nothing is staying. Though they say we should get a couple of inches tomorrow. We'll see!!

Beauties and Beasts!!

The Beauties!!And the Beasts!!
Papa got these costumes 2nd hand a while ago and the kids love acting out their favorite movie!! Now that E has a 'Belle' dress they can really go all out!!