lovin' life

Tanner saying "bababa"

2012-02-06T23:00:00.001-05:00

Video Faithy took of Tanner saying "baba" with Cassie :) Ain't he so cute?!

In other news, that video was taken with my new ...**wait for iiiiiiit* iPhone!!!

I am seriously loving it. I knew I would, I mean having facebook and email and messaging and a camera and a video camera and a kindle (if I can get it to work! haha) at my fingertips... AWESOMENESS :)

I feel so cool now :)

*****
I haven't got the link for the commercial as of yet. I promise to share it when I do, it is SO STINKIN CUTE, other than the part I am in! LOL

8 months!

2012-01-28T14:00:00.001-05:00

Tanner is 8 months now :) He is kinda miserable lately, not sleeping much, because he has a cold and seems to be teething, although he has no sign of teeth yet in his mouth, he is definitely showing signs of teething...he pulls on his ears and keeps getting a slight fever and is slobbery as all get out :)

I have a new puter now, so I am hoping to blog more often and not leave anyone out in the cold (Sorry I haven't been here Nezzy, thanks for thinking of me!)

Tanner and I did a commercial the other day! It is a breastfeeding support commercial for the WIC/Health department :) Tanner was ADORABLE!

As soon as I get a link I will show it on here as well as on Facebook.

That's a short wrap up and I am afraid that is all I can do at this point! I have already had to stop three times to deal with 7 year old drama as well as the poor teething lil slobber box ;) hehe

Bath Baby

2011-12-09T02:14:00.001-05:00

Aint he the cutest? :) I am sorry I do not update my blog as much as I should. As you can tell from the time (2:16 am!) It can get a little difficult to do more typing than a quick Facebook post. But here are some cute bath pics from last night. Tanner is now 6 months old <3 He loves taking a bath. You can please ignore the mess and ugly counter tops/sink ;) We WILL get new counters and sink someday. WE WILL! :)

Some recent pics :)

2011-10-03T16:36:00.001-04:00

Photo Challenge Day 7

2011-09-07T00:06:00.000-04:00

Day 7: Something New

My living room {actually looks presentable after 17 years}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May as well tell you, the walls are actually chocolate brown and the carpet is beige

Stinkin' phone camera...lousy coloring

Photo Challenge Day 6

2011-09-06T00:07:00.000-04:00

Day 6: Childhood Memory

This picture could be me {Raechel at Winding Road Church}

Photo Challenge Day 5

2011-09-04T23:46:00.001-04:00

(Finally continuing the challenge WAY LATE!)

Day 5 :Someone I love

Kevin {The father of my children and love of my life}

Challenge Days 3 and 4

2011-08-04T14:15:00.001-04:00

Clouds

clouds {at my Aunt Linda's house}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Favorite Color

Red {or anything Tanner is wearing at the moment}

Sorry I missed a day, I am at my aunt's house!! :D Having a good time as usual :)

Photo Challenge Day 2

2011-08-02T14:03:00.002-04:00

What I wore

The latest in cool sweet Kress accessories: Tanner! :)

pic taken by Kevin on his droid phone

Photo Challenge Day 1

2011-08-01T23:03:00.009-04:00

Self Portrait

Me
{kissing a baby's soft head}

My Epitaph :)

2011-07-29T16:52:00.006-04:00

Song for a Fifth Child

Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Mommy n Tanner July 2011

Life happens

2011-07-18T15:40:00.007-04:00

Eeeek! New blogger format! Been gone too long haven't I? Just thought I would share a few things going on since Tanner's been born. :) And maybe a pic or two :)

These few weeks have been hard on me. I think I was suffering slight Postpartum Depression because of some of this stuff! So, first off I need to relate what happened concerning the doctors, then Tanner's weight!

Ok, so when you see a Professional Midwife, you must also see an OB to get the required (by law) testing done on pregnant women. So I was seeing an OB recommended by my midwives, and I had several conversations with her about having a home birth, and of course she said she could not promote it but she definitely seemed ok with it! So it came as a very great surprise to me, when after Tanner's birth as I called to schedule his circumcision (per her instructions to me during one of our conversations about me having a home birth!) her receptionist seemed very elusive, and then gradually stopped answering my phone calls altogether. It was very unprofessionally done. I finally stopped by when he was 18 days old and the receptionist looked worried but went back to ask about the circumcision, and came back out to inform us that the doctor would "..do it tomorrow, but that will be the last time she will see you. She is dropping you from her practice because you had a home birth. You will get a certified letter as well." I was like WHA?? I told the receptionist that she had always seemed so ok with the home birth, and the receptionist agreed and said she didn't know what had changed since then and now.

So he had his circumcision relatively late. But he recovered in about two days, and so all was well with that :)

(Addendum: I found out later that she has dropped other home birth mothers from her practice, and even with those who have births in the hospital she is not continuing Gynecological care!! Idk what her deal is...)

The other problem we had with doctors was with our Family Practitioner, who I called when he was 4 days old, because I had him on Friday of Memorial Day weekend remember! Anyhow, the receptionist there told me my dr was not taking new patients. This is our family doctor, we are all 6 her patients! I told her that the dr had already told me she would take him, and she said she would have to call the dr to double check, and I said for her to do it by all means, nd then she had the wrong dr in her head anyway... But she did call and the dr said she would take Tanner, which I already knew, and the girl proceeded to tell me she didn't have any appointments til the 13th of June. I was like... "Uhhh, this IS a newborn we are talking about here. Don't you think she will want to see him like at a week old? He will be 17 days old on the 13th!" Cuz it never crossed my mind that she wouldn't want to see him at a week! :-p The girl said no, that the first available would be the 13th. So I took it, against my better judgement, and then on that morning the office called and CANCELLED the appointment!!!! I immediately made an appointment with a Pediatrician that was recommended to me at my WIC office.

He was nice, but he confirmed what I already knew: that Tanner had lost too much weight and was not gaining any. :(

Tanner was a chubbi-kins at birth, weighing in at 8 lb 6 oz. When I took him to the dr (finally) at 18 days old he weighed 7 lb 11 oz. :( Babies usually gain back up to their birth weight by two weeks.

The doctor immediately suggested formula, but I wasn't ready to give up on my breast milk totally. I asked if we could wait a week and see if he gained, because I knew that I had been dehydrated, and that my milk supply was low, but I had been doing all kinds of things to boost it back up. Well he agreed and the next week we weighed him again and he had only gained 2 oz :( The doctor asked me to please supplement after breastfeeding, so we tried it for 3 days and he gained 6 oz. So I tried a week without any supplements and he gained ZERO. So then I went ahead and began supplementing him in the afternoon when my milk is so low and he has finally gained back up to 9 lbs at 7 weeks! YAYYY!

I am planning on just keeping up with the two or three afternoon supplements until he starts on solids. I also plan on starting him on solids at about 4 months. I waited a lot longer with Faith and Raechel, but they never had a problem gaining weight! He cannot take any formula in the mornings or at night because I have so much milk that he doesn't even want it all. He is actually just beginning to be able to take a bottle within an hour's time. It takes him forever to nurse and it takes him forever to take a bottle. So I think he had several small issues that caused this whole weight problem: first, my dehydration at the beginning; second, his difficulty latching on and sucking - which might be caused by a slightly high palate; thirdly, he was kind of a lazy eater and also slept through the night since he was a couple days old.

He is doing great now. I am sooo sooooo happy that my baby is getting his chubs back. I seriously could not talk about this for a long while without crying bitterly. Now that he is doing better, I am doing better :)

Tanner at 6 weeks

Gratuitous Tanner Pics :)

2011-06-20T16:24:00.000-04:00

First pic of Tanner :)
with his daddy :)

With his mama :)

The whole family :)

One day old :)

One week old :)

2 weeks old :)

3 weeks old yesterday :)

Tanner's birth day (May 27th, 2011)

2011-06-02T10:00:00.004-04:00

I think I should be able to claim a three week labor :)

My contractions really were steady for weeks, just not too painful til about three days before I actually went into hard labor. They weren't really too painful at that time either, but they had painful periods, like an hour or two where they hurt and were about five minutes apart.

Anyhow, on Thursday night, I was having regular and increasingly painful contractions every 5 to 10 minutes apart, and I was just kind of hanging out in the living room on the exercise ball like my midwives had said to do to get him to turn around (he was posterior, or "sunny side up"). Kevin was working in the office and I didn't feel like going to bed, so finally about 1am, I laid down on the couch and fell asleep.

At 3am, Kevin came in and asked if I wanted to come to bed, he was finished with his work. So we headed for bed, and I was laying there having contractions every 2 to 4 minutes that were starting to hurt in my back. I could not sleep at all.

I asked Kevin to time them for me for a bit (that's how I know they were every 2 to 4 minutes) and finally I got up and started walking around the living room to see if they would go away.

About 4am I got hungry so I ate some applesauce. About 5am I decided it had been 2 hours and they had only got stronger, so I better call my midwife, Donna. So I did, and she thought it sounded promising so she asked me to call her in two hours to see what was going on then.

At 6am I got in the shower where (sorry about this!) I promptly puked up my applesauce! After that the contractions only got worse. So after I got out of the shower about 6:30 I called Donna back even though it hadn't been two hours, I was feeling pretty bad and needed some encouragement. So she called her assistant (who lives closer to me) and they headed my way :)

Her assistant, Holly, got here a little before 7am.

Kela had got up and was up there with me around 6:30, as well. She was rubbing my back for me before Holly even got here. And you know? She never left for even a minute! She updated facebook for everyone :)

Right after Holly got here, we heard Mommy and Daddy go by on the Ranger, and it was so funny. We heard her say something, and I told Holly and Kela I knew exactly what she said. She had said "Oh look, someone's at Lawanda's, I bet we're getting a baby!!" And I was right, that was what she said :)

When Holly got there, she started putting pressure on my back during the contractions, and it was wonderful. It helped so much, especially at first. After they first got there, I mostly labored sitting on the edge of the couch, and Holly, she is so tiny, she would get behind me and push on my back like a pro athlete!!

Because Holly and Donna are both so tiny, and I am so big compared to them, I did keep feeling like I was hurting them during my contractions, because it helped to lean back into their pushing on my back. Once, I apologized to Holly and told her I hope I wasn't hurting her, and she said "It's ok, I don't need my head this week!" LOL! I think I may have even smiled when she said that :)

I wasn't smiling or talking too much because I was in such pain, but it was bearable pain with the help of my awesome midwives :) The thought of hospitals or medicine never once crossed my mind, truthfully.

The only think that kept crossing my mind was that I wanted it to be over and why wasn't it over with already! LOL

Patience is NOT my strong point ;)

My other girlies and Kevin had all been sleeping most of the time I was laboring. It worked out really good that way. They woke up after my water broke, which was apparently around 10am. My water broke ON ITS OWN. I had always had to have my water broke with all my girls. (Which makes you wonder why!)

After that I was really impatient so I kept saying, "Come on Tanner, let's do this!" haha Also I kept saying, "Lord help me, please Lord help me do this!" and when I asked Raechel later if I scared her with all my hollering she said no she heard me say "come on Tanner" and she heard me pray ♥ I thought that was so sweet.

All the girls, and Kevin, and the midwives assured me that I was not being loud, but I know I was. :)

Anyhow, after my water broke, Kevin was helping me, and I also felt like I was beating him up, but he said I was not, so I am choosing to believe him. :)

Oh I forgot to tell you, I had our king sized sleeping bag on my floor and that is where I mostly stayed while laboring, especially after my water broke. I labored a lot standing up and swaying my hips. It helped.

I tried pushing on the birthing stool or just on my hands and knees on the sleeping bag for a little while. I was not feeling the urge to push, I was just ready to have him :) (No patience!)

I gave up on that after a little while, because I could tell it wouldn't work, so I sat down in the middle of my sleeping bag and proceeded to relax. Believe it or not! I did. I relaxed somehow, and the contractions came slower. They didn't hurt as bad. I slept! In between the contractions. And during the contractions it helped just to wiggle around on the floor. I am sure I looked ridiculous, but obviously I did not care at that point :)

I stood up once and felt a strong contraction, and gave a big holler. And then sat back down. THEN. I stood back up and yelled, "Here he comes!!!!!!" Donna came over (she had been sitting on the couch right in front of me) and said, "She's not kidding!!!" Holly, who had run to the bathroom, came running back in and said "That's the fastest I ever pulled up my pants!" LOL! (She did wash her hands, not to worry ;) hehe)

In the mean time, Tanner's head was out :) Donna was catching him and said I should try to wait if I could to push him the rest of the way out, but the next contraction already had him all the way out before she finished saying it, I never pushed! :)

She picked him up toward me and the funniest thing happened! He grabbed on to the bottom of my t-shirt with both hands and was just hanging on for dear life! It was so CUTE!!!

I was pretty shaky so they had me get on my hands and knees and they laid him beside me on that sleeping bag, and he pinked right up. His apgars were both 10s!! :)

He wasn't crying, but he was breathing for sure. I was whimpering and saying, "He's ok, right? He is good isn't he?" I did the same thing with Raechel, only she was far away from me. I loved having Tanner right beside me, even if he wasn't on me, right after birth!

Kela cut the cord :) And they handed him to Kevin to warm him up while I tried to get that darn placenta out. Kevin even brought him over and held him up to my breast so he could nurse a little while I was delivering the placenta.

It took me what felt like FOREVER (no patience, sheesh) to deliver the afterbirth. In reality I guess it took about 30 minutes. I delivered it sitting on the birthing stool. It helped a lot!

I only tore just a tiny little bit! Not even enough for a stitch. I was so relieved, because that was one thing I worried about. Dr Sims, he always just cut you no questions asked, so with my first three I was cut. Dr Lowden, I asked him not to cut unless completely necessary, and I tore with Raechel and had to have several stitches. So I was very relieved not to tear bad with Tanner. And he was my biggest baby too! :)

I was really anxious to have them weigh him, and when they told me he was 8 lbs 6 oz, I was just tickled! I had been saying I wanted him to be 8 lbs 6 oz!! Just because I think that is a good size, my brother was 8 6 and also, I just wanted him to be bigger than Kela, who was 8lb 3oz.

:)

And he was 21.5 inches long, even tho the first time she measured she got 22 ;) hehe

After I delivered that placenta, I got to sit on my couch and nurse my baby. It was so comforting having my girls and Kevin, and then my mom and dad, all there with me in my own living room with our newest addition to our family nursing away ♥

And My brother came down to see him for a minute, and then my sister, and then my Aunt and cousin came down that evening, and my mother in law came and stayed the weekend. And the visiting began, because I had visitors nonstop :) We even sold our horse, and I talked to the people who bought her, I think that was the next day though :)

It was a wonderful WONDERFUL birth. If I ever have another baby (not saying I will, because I probably won't get that opportunity but...) I would definitely have another birth at home! It was just wonderful. ♥

Nope, no baby yet! :)

2011-05-21T09:36:00.000-04:00

I started yesterday having regular contractions tho. They are not too hard, nor too consistent, but they did come all day, and so far today I have had them fairly regular all day too :)

So I would say we will at least get us a May baby! YAY!!

But, I got some very pretty maternity photos done!!! I was soooo excited to get them done, since this is likely my last pregnancy (altho I would not object to going for it one more time, I doubt I will ever convince Kevin of it before I hit Menopause! LOL)

So here are a few of my favorites:

My family

2011-05-13T17:00:00.001-04:00

My mil took this pic yesterday and Kela edited it and made it all pretty n stuff :)

Now that is poor Kevin in the back, he is still recooping from surgery. Although, he really doesn't smile for pics very often anyhow ;)

And on the left is Faithy age 11; and Raechel age 6. On the right is Kela age 15 (16 in one month); and Cassie age 14 in front :)

The chubs in the middle is me, carrying Tanner, front and center there ;)

I hope he is big, or I will be embarrassed. Look at how big that belly is!! hahaha

I have been having contrax all night and all day, minor ones. Nothing painful at all. I just hope they are doing something for me. I was dilated to three on Monday when I went to the dr.

I am hoping this means I will have a May baby!! :D I never did dilate before I had pitocen in me before!!

YAY PROGRESS!!! :D

Cuz I am ready. My poor feet n legs are so puffy they feel like they might bust. But my blood pressure is good, so I am not worried. Just a wee bit uncomfy :)

So here's hoping the next update will be a cheerful "BABY IS HERE" update :)

I still have three more weeks!

2011-05-08T23:19:00.000-04:00

Or sometimes I feel like this:

I ONLY have three more weeks!!

haha I am really excited to have Tanner in my arms :D But I can wait. As long as I don't have to wait FIVE more weeks!!

I am just worried cuz Kela, she was due June 7th. She didn't come til June 23rd.

I am so worried Tanner is gonna wait til June 14th! ACKKKK!!!!!

But I hope not. I really hope not.

Right now he is in the "sunny side up" position. I forget the actual name of it, its either posterior or anterior. I always get them wrong.

But his nose is up toward my belly instead of down toward my back. His head is down, so he is not breech. But Faithy was in this position when she was being born, and the BACK LABOR. OHHHH the back labor!! It was AWFUL.

I really don't wanna do that again. So I been laying my head on an exercise ball on my hands and knees. It is supposed to help them turn the right way. :)

My friends Michelle and Amber are having me a diaper shower Tuesday evening.I am looking forward to it. I really appreciate all their hard work. It is so sweet of them :)

I hope plenty of people show up so as to make it worth their time!

But not too many, tho, since I will feel so SILLY. :-p

In other news, my Mother's Day was very nice. I got home made chocolate candy and heart boxes painted with love :) And the most important part: hugs and kisses. Very nice :)

AND!!!

Kevin is doing so well he went to church tonight! :D

Isn't that awesome? It sure tickled me :)

Kevin's surgery went well!

2011-05-06T11:44:00.001-04:00

The doctor said it looked great. He came home last night and seemed to have had a good night. His pain is manageable, and it seems like the surgery fixed his problem. Even though he says his two little toes on his left foot still seem numb. I am hopeful that will go away :)

Now he should be able to hold Tanner by the time Tanner is born :D

He won't be able to lift over ten pounds for a while though! haha

He is so funny. As soon as he got to his room yesterday, me and Daddy were waiting on him to get there, but they wheeled him in and the first thing he said to the nurse was, "I ordered a cheeseburger, where is it?!" hahaha

She laughed and said his sense of humor was intact ;)

So anyway, tha first night there in the hospital was a bit rough, but I would say that is to be expected when you have just had a surgery like that.

The incision was larger than we were told, it was more like three inches. When we went in to the doctor, they said about an inch and a half. I don't know why that is, maybe we will find out at his appointment next week to get the staples out.

SO anyhow..things are going relatively well for Kevin, since his pain seems to be less than it was before the surgery! :)

Just the randomness going through my head

2011-04-30T11:39:00.000-04:00

Kevin's surgery is next Wednesday. He is going in for pre op on Monday.

I also have an OB appt Monday.

I need to reschedule my tutoring appointment for Wednesday because Kevin will be in surgery, but I do not have Brandy's (the mommy of the girl I am tutoring) number. Grrr.

Chili is just NOT AS GOOD without baked beans in it!!! Another grrr. (They ate all my beans with hot dogs EWW!) (I might be a little irrationally cranky about this due to pregnancy)

We have to get this English school work done or I am toast.

Nominative, possessive, and objective pronouns are all equally annoying when you are nine months pregnant.

So are goats who keep escaping their pen. Or getting their heads stuck in the fence.

I really think I must be the most crankiest person on the planet at this second!

I am so glad Daddy didn't have cancer or something bad. You know the thoughts that go through your mind when they tell you someone's white blood cell count is skyrocketing and they don't know why. But it was luckily sinus infections that can HOPEFULLY be easily healed with antibiotics. He is already feeling some better.

I truly dislike grown-up teenage girls. :(

And especially the ones with boyfriends.

I truly like my daughters though. They are really sweet girlies, and I hope we can always be close.

I even like Kela's boyfriend.

I am enjoying being prego, but I am getting exctited to meet lil Tanner <3

I hope I can get back to a good weight when I am no longer carrying around a sweet baby :)

I wish people could just get along and understand how others might feel differently than themselves, without it being a "sin"!!!

I am so sad for all the devastation in this world, but I cannot think about it too much, and I am afraid that makes me heartless, but that is just how it is.

I wish I was more like my mother. (hard worker, getting things done, helping people)

I wish Mommy would sometimes be more like me! LOL (easy going, not freaking out about everything)

This has made me feel somewhat better. Even about the chili. If you read this, bless your heart, I feel for ya!!! ;)

In limbo

2011-04-14T12:45:00.000-04:00

I could not remember that expression at all the other day. I tried and tried and just could not remember the word "limbo"! haha I cannot remember what it was I was needing that expression for, but I sure can tell you it had me pretty upset I couldn't remember it! I felt like the Alzheimer's had set in early!

So... I am so glad I can remember the words I am trying to say now!

We are "in limbo" now, just waiting on a surgery date for Kevin.

THANK GOODNESS his disability claim finally went through this afternoon. That was a big relief off his mind, because he was stressing out about losing his job :(

He loves his job :) It is mainly sitting on a fork truck, but even tho that doesn't sound bad, it is apparently causing nerve damage where his discs are bulging...

So, he has to be on this here short term disability, which is nice, because he still gets paid a certain percentage of his normal pay, and it lets him keep his position! I am thankful for this program!!!!

I had planned on going up to my aunt Linda's next week and we still may, depending on when they schedule Kevin's first appointment and surgery.

Luckily we are very flexible with our schedule and so is Linda ;)

Anyhow, there's an update for ya :) It was fairly positive wasn't it?!? I am trying to be positive instead of negative!!!! :)

Breastfeeding - disgusting??

2011-04-13T13:55:00.001-04:00

This has very little to do with me. *I* have never thought breastfeeding was disgusting. But, I have heard that statement about three times in the last week and I have to admit it REALLY ticks me off!

The fact is, that there is milk in a new mother's breasts whether she decides to use it or not. To say it is disgusting really irritates me!!

Many bodily functions can be described as "disgusting" but YA STILL DO EM! If you don't, you die. Good example: urination.

I have heard people say that their breasts are for sexual pleasure, and breastfeeding ruins that for them. What? The whole sexual thing, I just DO NOT GET. I mean, men urinate using the EXACT same part of their body they have sex with.

Many people have trouble explaining breastfeeding to their kids, and it isn't any wonder since people would rather buy their food from a store in a plastic package than see where it really comes from.

This is how I explain it all to my kids: God gave each of our body parts functions. Some functions are things you cannot see on the outside, like your heart beating, and blood pumping through veins. Some things you can see after a while, like a baby growing in a Mommy's uterus. And after the baby comes out (through the Mommy's vagina. GASP! HOW DISGUSTING! How can the vagina still be SEXUAL after THAT?!?! haha ok, I don't tell the kids that part necessarily! ) the baby will need food. All mammal babies get milk from their mommy. Human milk comes from the Mommy's breast.

Actually, I don't have to sit down and formally explain all this to my kids, never have. Because they have always been around animals. And we all kinda take for granted the knowledge we get just from observation of other animals.

The lack of support for breastfeeding comes from our culture, plain and simple.

Many, many women do not breastfeed because they have zero support from the people around them. It is very sad, since many MANY health problems babies face could be alleviated by them being fed human milk instead of food made from cow's milk.

And the only reason people don't think the COW'S milk is "disgusting" is because they are not there when it is being pumped from the dirty gross stinky COW!

They like formula because it comes in a nice plastic package just like all their other food.

SAD SAD SAD!!!

I know I said I would try to be positive....

2011-04-11T10:26:00.000-04:00

But this post is going to start out negative.

Kevin has been off work for two weeks and he is getting the run around concerning his short term disability claim. :( They did an MRI Saturday, and I am guessing they will want to do surgery sometime soon. But if he cannot get his short term disability from work, I don't know how we will ever afford it (even with insurance we are having to put out a lot of mulah here.) So, as I posted on fb, money is on my mind.

And I hate it when I have money on my mind. It is never good :-p

Anyhow, in other news (more positive, even tho we have to come up with money for this too! ha!) Kela is taking her placement tests for early admissions at West Virginia University at Parkersburg today :)

I hope she does well. She is pretty excited and nervous :)

I will try and keep you posted on both the negative and the positive :)

That's the breaks kid...or Poor Kevin :(

2011-03-30T13:07:00.004-04:00

Well. Life obviously doesn't always go as planned....

Remember my exciting trip around the country I had all planned out and was so excited over? The one we were going to take even tho I got pregnant and we'd have a wee babe to take with and show off? :-p

It is not going to happen this year.

Kevin. My poor hubby :( Has been down with his back. And when I say down, I mean it quite literally. He has had to use his days off for being in excruciating pain :(

So. We will have to wait til next year to take our awesome trip!

But that's ok. We roll with the punches around here :-p And next year Tanner may be easier to take care of anyhow :)

Kevin could sure use some prayers, if you got any to spare! His pain does not seem to be getting better at all. He has been to two chiropractors and to the massage therapist a few times. They are looking at possibly giving him a pain blocker shot in his back :-/

So there is the scoop. Tune in next time for a (hopefully) more cheerful post!!!

There's work and then there's work...

2011-03-22T00:23:00.000-04:00

My working days as a waitress are coming to an end. While I am sad to be leaving all my friends at work, I do have to say I will be glad to not be on my feet for 34-40 hours a week any more!

Did I tell you about my surprise baby shower?

It was hysterical :)

I had absolutely NO CLUE the girls (at work) were planning it! They had told me that one of the other girls' son would be having a birthday party and I would be helping one of the other waitresses work the party. And then that other waitress, she took me to the back to help her decorate the cake... well basically: I decorated the cake and then started cleaning up and then she told me I had a phone call, at which I got so worried (cuz I hadnt got any calls on my phone at all!) and started directly for the phone at the front of the restaurant...all this time the girls had been madly decorating the back banquet room and I passed RIGHT BY the decorations and people in my concern to get to that phone! LOL!

So they turned me around and I saw my kids and I was thinking "Why are my kids at her son's party???" and then I saw my cake I had just decorated with some added baby boy stuff on it, and my mom standing there taking all kinds of pictures and all my co-workers laughing at me! hahaha

It took a whole minute I think for it to sink in, really! LOL!

I have never said I was very bright ;)

Anyhow, it was SUCH a lovely surprise and my friends got Tanner all kinds of ADORABLE stuff!!!

I have such wonderful friends <3 They all lost their bets tho, cuz they had all bet that I would start bawling seconds in, and I was so surprised I just couldn't quit smiling! Altho one point when my girls came over to me (They had kept the secret too!! LOL) and hugged me I nearly did burst into tears... LOL

So you see? Who could blame me for being sad at not working with those lovely girls anymore? But in reality, my real work has always been at home, and believe me, my absence has created a lot of extra work to get done around here!! :) I will be very happy to get back to my "real job" and I can always go down and eat and visit with my work friends :) :) :)

27 weeks

2011-03-04T14:24:00.001-05:00

I feel huge, but I know the hugeness will actually come later ;)

I have had a UTI. It is a pain. Literally. But other wise I am healthy and happy. We are having baby goaties, and while we did have one to die, the rest seem to be thriving. There are pics on my facebook:

Ael y Bryn Farm

Only the last two pics are of the newest babies. All the others are of our first baby, born 2 weeks ago :)

No news is good news :)

2011-02-03T12:37:00.003-05:00

Sorry I keep forgetting to update my bloggy *guilty grin*

I even told Jo the other day of a post I would post, and guess what? Prego brain! I forget what it was! I know it was about Raechel, but I forget what it was exactly... hmmm....

So anyhow, I will just give you a general update:

We are all well :)

Kevin has been working a lot, trying to get some overtime, in spite of his poor poor back :(

I am regularly working too, and doing ok, mostly because I know it is temporary!! I am not a work-outside-of-the-home girl, so it is a little rough on me. The kids, on the other hand are enjoying the mom free time. heh heh Teens, what do ya do? LOL

Kela is still going with her boyfriend, Isaiah, and they are doing pretty good. I think they are too young for such a relationship, but of course there is no telling them that! hehe Luckily he is one of the nicest boys I have ever met, and if they were older, I would make her marry him ;)

Cassie is all excited right now, because she and Kela may start volunteering at the nursing home where my aunt Louetta lives :) I say may, because it is kind of a hassle. They have to have the two week TB test and give references and their SS numbers and ... basically its just like they are applying for a job, only they won't get paid. I just had no clue it was so involved... Cass is so ahead on some of her school, she is waiting for Kela to finish so she can start on her books. LOL

Faithy is struggling with Math, but Cass has been helping her and she seems to do better with her than me! Kevin made us a new schedule so that we have weekly chores instead of daily, and Faithy has really taken to it. She enjoys doing the same chore, knowing what to do every day already :) She is so excited about Tanner, it is not funny. She talks about him the most...well she and Raechel do :)

Raechel is just her same ole ornery lil self :) She likes the new chore schedule too, even tho she likes to pout over doing hers ;) I help her out with her chores (I did the kitchen duties, and she just set the table on her week to do the cooking and kitchen cleaning) and she is so funny: when I told her it was time to go down and sort laundry, she crossed her arms and said "I don't wanna do laundry mom... ITS HARD!" then she went down and started and had a BALL sorting and putting laundry into the washer :) LOL

We have been looking at their baby pictures a lot lately. They all wanted to compare their ultrasounds with Tanner's :D Tanner's is MUCH clearer than any of theirs! (BTW, in case you didn't know already: our baby's name is to be Tanner Edward, after our adopted grandpa Ed Haught, who actually has a label in my posts on here :) it is under Ed and Mazie)

They have all really been loving putting their hands on my belly and "playing" with Tanner. I think they are a mite excited :D

So, there ya go, and update to let you know we are all alive and kicking (especially Tanner, on the kicking part ;) hehe)!!

thanks for checkin in on us!

OH BOY!!!!!!!!!!! :D

2011-01-18T12:40:00.001-05:00

So we went for our ultrasound this morning :)

The tech was super sweet and let all the girls come in :) They were very good. They really enjoyed seeing the baby's feet and toes and hands and fingers and nose and eyes and heart and.... BOY PARTS! LOL Sorry, couldn't resist!

I saw that it was a him first :) Of course, I did have the best seat in the house :)

But I said to the girl, "Is that what I think it is?" and she said "Yep! You got your boy!"

And we got to see the parts several times, so there was no mistaking he is a BOY!!

Of course I don't got pics. Remember last time I got an u/s, they were out of paper? Well this time, their printer was broke. BOOHOOOOOO! I got my pics from last time, and they said to check tomorrow and we should be able to get these pics :)

So hopefully soon I can show YOU the boy parts!!! hahahaha

We changed our minds on a name though. We were thinking of Levi or Colt, but we decided against both of those. We haven't thought of anything yet, but I am sure I will tell everyone once we nail it down.

Kevin did not act excited at all, but I think it was cuz he was trying not to cry :) He IS excited. VERY excited! :)

the girls are all thrilled. You should have seen and heard Faithy. She LOVED the u/s. Girl after my own heart. I love u/s too. :)

She kept saying things like "OH LOOK! I SEE HIS EYES!" and feet and heart and toes! LOL

It was LOTS OF FUN! This day is one of the good things life brings :)

I am so thankful we got our boy and he looks healthy at this point! :D

Thank you Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Just thought I would share my growth (haha)

2011-01-12T14:50:00.000-05:00

It is funny, you can see how my wall changed as well ;) haha

This is awful, I think I must not have felt well.

12 weeks

16 weeks

20 weeks Today :)

Sweet

2011-01-01T01:10:00.000-05:00

Well, if I ended 2010 on a sour note, I will just begin 2011 on a sweet one :)

Sorry 'bout that!

I will blame it all on pregnancy hormones :)

I am getting my gender ultrasound on January 18th :) I will be 21 weeks. I so hope they can tell what my lil ping pong ball is! :) He/she bounces around just like a ping pong ball :) This is the best part of pregnancy!! :) I can't wait til others can feel it. raechel keeps trying, but baby is not big enough yet! (Altho, looking at my belly you'd think so! :-P)

So in other news, I have a job now. I am a waitress at a local family restaurant. I enjoy it a lot. I love people, so it is a good job for me. And everyone babies me since I am prego! LOL It is good :)

My girlies are the joy of my life. I love how Raechel is a little sponge, and just learns every moment it seems. Last night she was laying in bed with me and was adding on her fingers. I told her she should try to sleep and she said, BUT MOMMY! I am adding here!! haha Too cute.

Kevin has been having back trouble, but it has not been stopping him. He went today and got 150-some bales of hay for the horses and goaties. He fixed us steak the other day, it was awesome. Whataman ;)

Ok. There is a "positive" update to cancel out my negativity earlier :)

Complain, complain, complain

2010-12-31T10:33:00.000-05:00

I was gonna do a whole post regarding what is going wrong or making me feel bad, but I decided to spare ya :)

You can email me or facebook message me if you would REALLY like to listen to me complain! ;) I am sure I wouldn't turn down a sympathetic listener.

But! if you do decide to ask me what exactly is my problem(s)... be prepared for an onslaught of complaining!!!!

That's all folks.

Yep.

That's it.

I am just a bundle of negativity aren't I?

(sorry!)

Oh! Hi!

2010-11-01T18:12:00.000-04:00

Ummm.... were you wanting to read something? hahaha

Ok. So I am not doing too great at keeping up with the blogging...mine or anyone else's.

But thought since I was here I would just post a little post. :)

We are all well :) I am feeling fine. I have my moments of not feeling great, but they are few and far between. No Puking. I never did really. (Hope that doesn't mean it is another girl! :-p)

We have picked out a couple of boy names. Kevin said we should pick out girl names, but I refuse, until I have to ;)

My favorite is Levi Marshall Kress. What do ya think?

Kevin is stuck on Colt, but I would like to avoid the "CK" names We already have a Keith, Karen, Kevin, Kela, and Cassie!! :-p

I think we need an "L" name ;)

So anyhow, I think he will be ok with Levi, if we have a boy. He does like it, cuz, he picked it; or well, I had made a list of all the boy names I liked, and he picked out about 5 of them he liked, and Levi was on his list. :) Colt is his number one though.

Middle name Marshall, is after my Aunt Linda's family. Their last name is Marshall :)

So. We should find out the gender.... oooohhhh.... along about New Year's. hahaha Got a while to wait huh? LOL

But that is an update for you to read :D

The beans are spilt

2010-10-04T17:32:00.003-04:00

LOL

Well, between me and my mom, did you really expect it to last as a secret????

YES! I am pregnant!

YAY!!!

hehe

So it happened like this: I got prego. And I decided not to tell for a LONG time. Of course I told Kevin though, and we told the kids. But then I told my aunt Linda. And then I told a few close friends. that is how it stood for several weeks.

Then I told my mom.

And she was like all so worried that the kids were going to spill the beans. She was like "Lawanda, you should not have told them! Of course they are gonna tell EVERYONE!"

hahahahahahaha

Yeah. My kids told NO ONE!

But my mom? She told my Aunt Wanda. Who told my cousin Paula, who told my cousin Nathan. So everyone up there knew and my own brother and sister and DAD, still had no clue!

Then we were at the Red Hill reunion, a neighborhood reunion for anyone who has ever lived here in our sweet community :) and my mom was introducing us and she introduced me as her daughter with 4 kids and one on the way!

There were about 70 people there. Some of whom we go to church with.

So I figured I may as well tell it on facebook.

And to everyone at church who doesn't have a facebook.

LOL

SO do you see the adorable irony in the fact that my mom was so worried about the girls spilling the beans, when in fact it was SHE who dumped them all over the place??

Love it.

Anyhow. I am only 6 weeks.

And yes, Kevin is happy about it :) And yes we do indeed know what causes this. And yes, we do indeed enjoy what causes this. LOL

Actually Kevin is getting a motorcycle out of the deal ;)

We literally made a deal. He could only get a motorcycle if I got another baby.

We are so mature like that ya know ;)

Aren't you so glad I am raising the next generation???? hahaha

Anyhow. We really do hope for a boy this time, and I have a not-so-secret wish of having twins <3

We are STILL going on our trip out west next year as planned. We knew this was coming, cuz we uhhh, well we had been trying for two months before we got a positive home pregnancy test :)

There, you will never get me to admit that again ;) (Idk why, just kidding really)

We are all over the moon with joy. I am planning a home birth with this baby. I am SO EXCITED.

I have a long loooong time to plan though. I won't be due til May 31st, which means we will prolly get a baby some time in the middle of June :)

That is the only thing I do not like about knowing almost immediately when you are prego.... it makes it laaassttt soooo muuuchhh lonnngerrrr!

Ok, I will cease and desist!

I know how annoying I can be when wound up... :-p

15, 13, 11, and 6

2010-10-01T18:05:00.000-04:00

My babies are growing up on me!

Today is Faithy's 11th birthday!! I sang to her this morning and so she gave me a kiss for it :) Such a sweetie pie.

She is having a sleepover with a friend and her cousins, Samantha and Patience, tonight.

Tomorrow is gonna be so busy. First we have a reunion, for our area, and then we have Faithy's party directly after.

WHEW!

Gonna be busy.

Right now her friend is here, and she is down there showing off her goats :) It is so cute how she likes the goaties so much. She just loves animals in general, but small ones the best I think. She loves Layla (the half Jack Russel/half mini pinscher we inherited from my cousin Paula, because she is prego and too sick to care for a dog and a two year old at once!) who is a tiny dog. she loves the cats. And she adores her goaties.

She cannot wait til the babies start arriving :)

So I hope she really enjoys her bday party tomorrow. She should :) Kela is making her a cake too, and Cassie helped her plan some games and stuff.

Raechel is 6 today!!!

2010-09-23T09:08:00.000-04:00

She has been SO EXCITED about her birthday this year. She has been cutting things out of the toysrus sale papers we get in the newspaper, and she lays them on Kevin's night stand. "So daddy knows what I want for my birfday." (Yes, she still says "f" for her "th" sometimes. I don't mind, I know she won't do it forever. Although it does bother certain members of my family.... but they just forget that time and life will move her on.... sigh)

This was her list for her birthday:

A zuzu pet (spelling? idk?!)
A barbie WITH SHOES
A cake
A party

:)

I need to get her a Barbie WITH SHOES. But we got her a pink zuzu pet (I need to just look at the box to see the spelling...)

We also got her a little baby doll changing table. It is cute, and as much as she is into baby dolls right now, I think she is really gonna enjoy it :)

We normally don't get our kids this many toys. But I guess we are getting soft in our old age ;)

Preparing for the grandbabies? LOL

Kela was just talking about that with Cassie the other day. They were saying how in just a few years Mom will be a grandma. I was like "Nah, that is like ten 15 years from now." But really? It could happen in 3 to 5 easily. Oh yes. EYE OPENER.

This getting old stuff is not for sissies, I tell ya. That blow right there nearly knocked me over with its truth! Whew.

Anyway. Back to Raechel. (I always manage to talk more about me than anything, sorry, I think it has something to do with the human condition.... :-p)

Her party is Saturday. She cannot wait. She has been planning it with Kela, who is to make the cake. It is gonna be a "girl" cake. It is a Barbie cake pan (one of my grandma's old ones!) and She said to me, " Do you think this is a girl named Charlotte?"

LOL!

I told her I thought it was a Barbie, and she was very excited!! She does like Barbies. (At one time I may have worried about that, but eh, nothing to worry over at this point...)

So they are figuring that all out and havin' fun with it.

I am glad Kela and Cassie and Faithy like to plan parties. I was never any good at it! Kela is good at baking and decorating cakes, another thing I was never any good at. Cassie and Faith are great at designing invites and planning fun stuff too. And they all sit and discuss it like adults, it is so cool.

What a nice family I have!!!

In order to shove the previous post down....

2010-09-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

haha

I don't got a lot to share, but since I was feeling so mean and preachy yesterday, and I am not today... How about we just push the negativity down on the blog wall, shall we?

Well, I am in the midst of not enjoying teenage years at the same time as enjoying them. Isn't it weird?

I don't like always feeling like the MEANIE, BAD PARENT.

But, I do love it when you hear the words, "I love you, but you are driving me crazy!" come out of your teens mouth. So sweet.

And the maturity unfolding in Kela is just astounding. I forgot how it was to grow up, I guess. One minute you are acting like a spoilt rotten two year old and the next you are acting like a mature kind adult.

It is so weird!! Or normal. Idk. I know one thing. It is gonna be the death of me. Especially if Kela keeps baking delicious deserts, which I can't refuse ;) LOL

Ok. I think this is long enough to where the next post is far enough down the page ;)

Just a few thoughts

2010-09-16T19:45:00.005-04:00

Since I am feeling icky (mean, possibly premenstrual, idk!)

My mind turns to politics and the mess we have ourselves here in our beloved country.

Here is an article about how much people dislike Obama now, compared to how much they are liking W, better now.

Nationwide, Obama’s approval ratings continue to sink to 40% – a rating that took Bush five years to reach.

Well, here is my opinion on why we don't like our presidents much anymore...

We don't like ourselves much. We want someone to save us from ourselves.

That is it, I think.

Oh, but we don't wanna be part of the solution! Oh no!!

We continue to go downhill as a society, and do not like the consequences of all the fake freedoms we chose to believe we had, such as

"free love" - or basically free sex, have sex with anyone and everyone whom you so choose. Why didn't anyone think of STD's?? It isn't like they are a new thing!!

"Screw marriage" - as in we don't need it, it is old fashioned and not worth the papers it is printed on... basically the right to break up a marriage over any ole thing and move on to a second or third or fourth or even fifth to break up over nothing as well.

"the right to FEEL GOOD NOW" - as in let's get high, or let's get drunk! Who cares if it is addictive and will become an OCD disease that we cannot kick. Or how about this touchy one? The right to become the most obese nation the world has ever known....

"the right to everything with out working for it" - let's spend our welfare money on lottery tickets. Let's sue anyone we can so we don't have to work another day of our lives.

Oh man. I am really feeling mean, can ya tell?

Unfortunately, I do believe it is the truth. Whether I am saying it or not. We want someone who will pull us out of the miry muck we find ourselves in, but it just won't happen. Because no man can do it without major changes. However, suggesting major changes makes everyone call you insane. (Just like they did Jesus!)

Suggesting that people be kind to one another, and take better care of their bodies, and their marriages and families - why, that is somehow trying to take away their FREEDOM. (???)

I guess there isn't much I can do about it. Especially since I am as bad as anyone. I love to eat, especially bad-for-me food, without regard to how it might affect my kids, when they have to care for me later in life...

But I do try to do better!! Maybe I will manage. I do hope I manage not to be too much of a burden to my kids, or whoever ends up taking care of my poor abused body! :-p

School's in

2010-09-13T07:36:00.002-04:00

We are doing swimmingly in school, so far :)

Friday we took a day off since the girls had worked like troopers Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and went to the Kanawha County Fair School Day. They had booths showing the children all kinds of historical activities, such as Spinning yarn, Black-smithing, Tanning hides, Metal working, making Applebutter. I tasted the applebutter, and I am not trying to brag or anything, but it didn't hold a candle to ours. I'm serious though. It was SOUR. ICK. lol

The kids also got to ride the rides, and the admission price was only $3 per person, which was awesome! My friend Anne had called and invited me, so it was a short notice thing, but it was WELL WORTH IT! (Thank you again Anne, if you are reading this!)

Anyhow, today we are back to the grindstone, I hope. I am hoping to really work it this year so that we can be ready for our trip next year, whenever we get to go :)

So that is it for me, just school work, school work, school work :)

Oh, here is a pretty awesome website with downloadable worksheets, in case ya need one:

Education.com

I found PERFECT Kindergarten weather worksheets on there :)

Since I am no good at keeping secrets anyway...

2010-09-02T18:18:00.003-04:00

haha

We are planning a nice big fat ROAD TRIP next year!! :D

We might possibly borrow my sister-in-law's camper and camp along the way :) Or if that is not possible we will just go in the van and stay in motels along the way. Either way, we hope to learn a lot and enjoy traveling across the country!

We have several main destinations. The first being Seattle, Washington; where Gephry, Andrea, Larissa, Bonnie, and Renee (all friends of mine) live. I have met all but Gephry n Andrea in real life! And if Gephry happens to move before we get there, why then we will make her new home, wherever that may be, another Main Destination :D

One other place we want to go is back to Texas to see my aunt Wanda. We will hopefully catch her on the way home :)

And I would also like to go through South Dakota on the way out and catch some friends in Rapid City. :)

I also have several other friends in that direction I hope to squeeze in too ;)

ANYHOW

So as you can see we are totally in the pre-planning stages here. We will be going to several historic places along the way, and we also will be seeing many friends if it all works out how I hope it will :)

Fun stuff is afoot at the Circle K ;)

(modified Bill and Ted quote there..in case ya missed that. LOL)

Now that is my kind of school work :)

School time!

2010-08-31T13:50:00.000-04:00

We are starting school next Tuesday.

Hopefully our barn will be at least completed enough to where we have the goats moved in.

That is our goal, anyhow :)

If not, we are starting school regardless and will just have to do school work AND barn-building work. We can do it, no matter what.

Now, for this years school we are planning something TOTALLY EXCITING AND COOL!!!

We are only in the planning stages, but I can tell you that we were inspired by my dear sweet friend Larissa ;)

Does that give you a hint? It will if you know Larissa!!! :D

If you don't know her, here is a very broad hint. It will be very expensive! LOL

But we are doing it. And it will be an experience few school children get to have as part of their education.

Although I was a lucky duck, because my parents regarded this type of educational tool as very necessary :D

as we are still in the planning stages of this, we haven't decided the ins and outs, but it is all very exciting and I will be clue-ing you all in on more details as we figure them out ;)

In the mean time, if you figured it out --- SHHHH! Don't tell everyone!!! :-p hehe

I am alive, I promise

2010-08-24T20:42:00.002-04:00

I have been contemplating what to post on ye olde blawg, but since I am on facebook so much I generally just share my thoughts there.

Not that my thoughts are in any way more interesting there than here, but it is always on... ya know? :-p

Anyhow...

The Summer of Homemade is coming to a close and we have done awesome. The girls were great. They haven't managed to get on their blogs to post their menus any better than I have though :-p

I may have them start their blogs back up for some creative writing this year.

We are all prepared for school, other than figuring out the actual schedule :)

The kids are actually excited about Math this year with their Life of Fred books. They really enjoyed them last year :)

We are not starting school work til we are mostly finished with the barn, though. Oh yes, btw we started our barn!! YAY :)

To watch our progress you can feel free to "like" our farm on facebook!

CLICK HERE, AND THEN CLICK LIKE - TO LIKE US

Thanks for your support.

So what have you all thought about this here Egg Recall?

It sure does make me grateful for farm fresh eggs, I can tell you that! Whew. It makes me want to get my own chickens even more though. :-p Right now we get our eggs from Mommy, and I cannot wait to get my own chickies!!! :D

After the barn is done, we are gonna hopefully rig us up a chicken run! WOOT :D

On the goatie front, I am fairly sure several of the goaties are now pregnant! :D

Time will tell, but it seems likely we will have us some baby kids running about before too long! SQUEEEEE! :D

K. That's it for me. How 'bout y'all? :D

Summer of Homemade

2010-07-20T18:19:00.001-04:00

I say that with a booming announcer voice :)

THEEEEE SUUUUMMMMERRRR OF HOMEMAAAAAAAAADDDDDE!!!

:)

That is our project we started this summer. It is supposed to be a school project, but it is too fun ;)

So, it goes like this:

Each girl (the older three, not Raechel...I don't trust her quite yet to cook! LOL) gets a week. They plan a menu. They make a grocery list. They shop for their food for the week. And then they cook it all week long :) Breakfast, lunch, and supper, snacks too. They have a budget and they have to include at least 5 homemade items (can be home-made version of something they like or it could be something made totally from scratch)

So far we've had delicious cheesecake from Kela, perfectly fluffy pancakes from Cassie, and a really yummy version of Ham and Cheese Hot Pockets from Faithy.

This is Faithy's second week that we are in right now. She started it, cuz the other girls were at camp the first week of summer :)

So I just got done eating the best Soup beans and home made cornbread! :D

Anyhow.

They are really enjoying it. I have helped Cassie and Faithy both with their menu plans and grocery lists, but not Kela. And so far they have come under budget.

I think it is a good learning experience. Not to mention that it helps us eat better when I am SO STINKIN' BUSY!!

I cannot seem to get UNbusy! LOL

Like my friend Larissa said on FB "Aren't summers supposed to be relaxing?"

Sheesh!

Ahhh well. Busy is good. We have lots to be thankful for and I have very good cooks for kids :D

Kela is 15 today

2010-06-23T17:08:00.004-04:00

It always stuns me when I think of my kids being the next age up on their birthday. I don't know why. But, like today, I have been walking around in amazement going, "Kela is 15. Wow." haha

Anyhow, I have told you all about my other kids' births, so I will tell you about Kela's :)

She was my first, and I was SO CLUELESS. But it was ok :)

I had very little morning sickness, only vomited one time. But I did get a stomach virus, followed by what I think was pneumonia. I was in my room for about 4 weeks, basically. It was right at the end of my first trimester.

After that I was good. In February, Kevin had to travel by plane to Marshall, Minnesota for his job. He had never traveled by plane before, so I was excessively nervous. And also HE WAS GONE ON VALENTINE'S DAY!

So I went up to my aunt Linda's in Sistersville, WV while he was gone. I had no idea I was beginning a long tradition of going to my aunt Linda's while Kevin traveled while I was preggers. LOL

ANYHOW

So, my due date was drawing near, and I stopped working on June 4th. I worked at Walmart in Vienna. And my due date (June 7th) came and went. And it was SUPER HOT that year, starting in April, we'd had 90 degree days. By June we were having 100+ degree days. :-p

So I went to the dr a week after my due date and he told me that if I did not go into labor by the 42nd week, he would induce my labor. I was walking all day every day trying to get my labor started. I even tried to take castor oil. Ugh. I nearly vomited, and did not wish to repeat the performance. lol

So the 22nd came and he had told me to report for duty to the Hospital at 6am. I got there at 5.

They were very quick, and I was VERY surprised. I am naive. You know this right? I had NO IDEA they would shave my pubic area and give me an enema. I mean, yeah, I read the book What To Expect When You're Expecting, but I still didn't EXPECT that!!!! I guess I thought that was somewhere else that they did that kinda junk! lol

Anyhow.

Then they hooked up my IV, told me I was already having contractions, (enema anyone? Eww. gross way to kick-start labor), started the Pitocen; and I just waited.

Well for about an hour it was not bad at all. I was like, "EH, people complain about THIS? I have had worse period cramps!!!"

hahahahahahahaha (sorry had to take a second and laugh at my stupid younger self)

So then they got worse. And I just laid there. It hurt pretty bad for several hours.

They kept checking me, and saying "Nothing." or "No change."

Well Dr Sims decided to break my water long about 4 pm. Ten hours of pain was tiring me out, especially cause I hadn't got any sleep for prolly two weeks.

I thought the contractions hurt before, well I can tell you THOSE were NOTHING.

My brother came in to see me about that time, and he said it was WEIRD. I was not making any noises he said, but you could tell when the contractions would come on, because my face would look like I was gonna cry, and then like I was gonna scream, but NO NOISE. haha

If you know me, you know that is just not like me.

Anyhow, later on that evening, I had FINALLY dilated to ------- 4.

Yes 4.

I had spent the last three hours dilated to 3. The dr actually wanted me to get a c-section at this point...He was insisting that I should, and I was insisting that he would have to kill me first. (I am not big on surgical knives cutting me..)

So my dr had said I could get the epidural when I dilated to 5, but then changed his mind when I was still only at 3 for so long, and ordered it the second I was 4.

It took them about a half hour to get it, and it was awesome (at the time, I mean come on, I felt like I was dying.) I took a nap. It was the first good sleep I had had in ages! :)

It felt like I had a three hour nap, but it was just over and hour and a half I believe :) I went from 3 to ten in that length of time anyhow.

They woke me when it was time to push :)

And had to tell me whether or not I was actually pushing or not. That was a mega numbing epidural. Seriously paralyzing!

But a complaint one never fell from my lips, because I was in a HAPPY mood. I was about to meet my baby and I had had a great nap!!! :)

So I grunted and they said STOP! We have to wait for the dr! So I stopped, waited for him to come in (he had gotten a nap too) :) and grunted again and THERE SHE WAS! My beautiful baby girl. Born at 12:12 am on June 23rd!!

She was very pink and screamed immediately. Loud and long. And then they cut the cord, wiped her off and handed her to me to look at, then took her away to get clean. While I pushed out the rest. They had to check her out as soon as she was born because she had meconium, lots of it, all over herself and in the amniotic fluid.

I had a REALLY hard time pushing the after birth out. I couldn't feel anything remember? I think it took me about a half hour to get that after birth out!

So FINALLY I got it out, the dr stitched me up where he'd given his usual procedural cut, and then I ate a turkey sandwich and drank some Sprite :) That was the best turkey sandwich I had ever had. And FINALLY got to nurse my baby!! :)

Then they took her away to the nursery again, and brought her back a couple times for me to nurse her. I kept her with me after that though. We stayed one more night and then went home the next morning.

Kevin had to go back to work that night because he'd used up his vacation, that he took when I was due :), so I would have been alone, but my MOMMY came up and she made me go to bed, and stayed up with the baby :) She would bring her in for me to nurse and then take her back out when she was finished :)

I slept pretty good that night!

Kela was a high needs baby. (This should not surprise you, she is still a high needs kid, always needs attention! lol)

She pretty much cried unless she was on the boob. ;)

Would not take a bottle or pacifier.

Finally when she turned 6 months old she took a pacifier, and a bottle.

And then a month later, she was completely weaned and on a bottle.

If I had known then, what I know now. *sigh*

Oh well. She cried all the time, she only took ten minute snoozes. No naps. BUT thankfully she slept all night long, and I mean like 8 hours, from the time she was about 6 weeks old.

I have always loved being her mommy. And I know I complain about her teenagerish ways, but really I feel so very blessed to have had her in my life all these 15 years, and I thank God for her every day.

THIS is why I got goats!

2010-06-11T15:03:00.001-04:00

I have started milking Mama Goat! YIPPPPEEEEE!

haha

Laugh if you will, but I am so EXCITED. Kela and I were able to get the front pen cleaned out a couple days ago, and so we had a place to put the babies separate from their Mama :)

So I milked mama two mornings in a row! WOOT!

I only got about a half a cup both times, but I think that is rather impressive considering the following facts:

1. I have never milked anything in my life, unless you want me to count MYSELF. (bahahaha, sorry. that totally cracks me up, every time.)

2. I have no stanchion. And Mama KNOWS that I have never milked anything in my life! LOL

3. I am SO CLUMSY! I have spilled about half the milk out both mornings just from clumsiness on my part, not counting orneriness on Mama's part ;)

So, this morning I had one day old, chilled, perfect, raw goat's milk on my cereal, and guess what? It was DELICIOUS. Very sweet, and the after taste I was expecting just never even showed up! :D (There was a *slight* after taste, but it was SO slight I almost missed it ;))

And I have another half cup of it for tomorrow's cereal! WOOT!

Just call me Farmer Lawanda! ;)

Or just Lawanda. Either one. :-p

Because like I said on FB, I don't guess I quite qualify for exact farmership, having gone on a Hot n Ready Pizza run for lunch today ;) hehe

Take a little trip

2010-06-01T15:44:00.000-04:00

Kevin and I went out to Seneca rocks, Dolly Sods, Spruce Knob, and Blackwater Falls to celebrate our 17th anniversary (coming up, June 5th :))

We had fun :)

Kevin is fun to camp with, he does all the work ;)

Really. He does. lol

Anyhow, here is a link to the pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79579&id=1570339579&l=da24820773

I haven't uploaded the Blackwater Falls ones yet.

We weren;t going to go to Blackater, but on Tuesday afternoon, a TERRIBLE thunder storm started! Kevin and both agreed we didn't wanna stay there if it was gonna pour the rain and lightening all night. So we packed up and left thinking we could try Blackwater Falls, and possibly stay in a motel there.

Well, no sooner'n we got down all 241 (I think that is how many it said) steps to the falls, the sky broke open on us!

By the time we got back up to the car we were SOAKED to the skin! I had run out of clean clothes (cuz I went swimming, and hadn't really planned on it) so I wore Kevin's gym shorts and his hoodie.

Well then, we decided we wanted to go see amovie at Bridgeport instead of going home, so we went to Target and I got a pair of shorts and my own hoodie, because Kevin said he didnt wanna be seen with me looking like a boy ;) hahaha

So we went to see Iron Man 2, great movie :)

Before that we had stopped at Canaan Valley and ate at a place where we;d been when we took our ski trip there several years ago.

It was nice.

So, we had a nice adventurous weekend trip, and I am glad to be home.

Now the girls and I are going to be helping my mom get ready for her huge yard sale :) The girls already have been helping. :)

Just an update

2010-05-24T19:00:00.000-04:00

To let you know I am alive ;)

Not a lot to update. Work is winding down with the Census. They have said they may send me to Ravenswood, but then I believe that was a no go. I asked them to keep working as long as possible though. I need the cash. Gotta get this barn built. The dozer's been here for weeks now, but it has been just too too wet. So I am hoping this week with its dry weather will see our barn started!! :)

I am still working at night :)

In August I will have me a baby to babysit :D

She is due any day now, and I cannot wait!! :)

I still would like my own baby, but I go back and forth on if I really want to have another pregnancy at my age. I am closer to 40 than 30 now, after all.... haha

Anyhow, not much to say except HELLLOOOOOO OUT THERE WORLD!!! :)

Hope yall are well :)

Oh boy.

2010-05-17T20:38:00.006-04:00

I saw my life flash before my eyes today!!!!!!!!!!!

First, I went to my meeting with my boss and she had several of us there. So she was handing out the leftover books, and this other guy took them first, so he grabbed the Spider Ridge Road book. I asked him if I could have it because that is basically my neighborhood. He was kinda jerky about it. I could positively KICK that guy right now.

I got the Bull Run Road book. Lovely road, Bull Run. < / sarcasm> It is gravel most of the way. Well. This one driveway, it looked a bit muddy, but I truly didn't think anything about it, living on MY driveway like I always have, so I started down it. OMGoodness - I thought I was done for. My van went SIDEWAYS (still on all 4 wheels, but cross-ways in the road) UGH. I got it straightened, made it up the next rise, and decided to stop while I could. I called Kevin and was nearly crying. I decided to have a giggle fit instead. I was a wreck, even though I didn't actually wreck! lol

The owner of the Most Horrible Driveway in WV came up behind me at that point and he was very nice. He got in my van and got it about halfway out. But he asked me to get out and go ahead and walk up to wait for him, because he was gonna try to turn it around and come up the hill front-ways :) My poor van it scraped and drug and sounded awful, but luckily he finally got it out with no damage. At least none we could tell.

Well, after that ordeal, you'd think I would be smart enough to get on home, but OH NO not me! lol

I kept plugging away. It was DUMPING down the rain. I finally had to go pee bad enough to try and find me a place. I had to go clear back out to Route 2 to a gas station. I went in and asked where the RR was and she said out back and to the left. It was a porta-potty. WITH NO DOOR HANDLE. So basically I had to hold the door with my finger nails while trying to pee and pull up my britches.

If it was more private it would have been nice. But unfortunately for me I had an audience. UGH

Stupid rednecks. :-p

After that, I went home.

I am so exhausted from the stress and nerves!!! But I hafta go to work tonight too. Ahh well... tomorrow has GOT to be better, right?!

:-D

Hair cut day

2010-05-12T21:47:00.000-04:00

We all got our hair cut today :) Raechel donated hers, she got 13 inches. Cassie donated hers and got 11 inches. Faithy just got hers shaped and Kela and I got ours layered :)

Don't mind my tired face. I have bags under my eyes BAD. I am pretty exhausted. Karen was here today and she took the girls (older girls) through the mall while I stayed at the play area with Eli and Ethan and Raechel. That seriously wore me out :)

More work!

2010-05-10T20:40:00.000-04:00

That is all I am doing right now. So... nothing to talk about.

Still enjoying it all :)

We rode the horses a lot this past week, but it looks as if we are getting nothing but Thunder Storms all week this week, so no riding for us!

The goats are doing fabulously :) :) :)

We have ten now, I am not sure I told you all but we got lil Mr Jackson a friend so he won't be lonely. The new boy, who is a wether (castrated male), is named Mojo and he is cute as a button! :)

The girls are being super helpful while I am doing all this outside work. They are pretty good girlies, I guess I'll keep em ;)

Ok, that is all. I am leaving to go to the elderly couple's house in a few!

Idk how people do this!

2010-05-06T21:40:00.001-04:00

I have been working this week. How do people manage to keep on top of all their stuff - their kids, their house, feeding everyone, getting any time at all with their hubbies?!?! When they work?

Of course I am working two jobs, but really, I get to sleep (somewhat) there, and my kids are in bed and my hubby at work while I am there. But boy it just seems like I am missing an awful lot by working!

But I am REALLY enjoying it!!!!! I have worked nearly 30 hours this week on the census. And I have seen people and roads and places I haven't got to see in YEARS. It is wonderful.

I keep meaning to take my camera, because let me tell ya folks, West Virginia has some BEAUTIMOUS backroads. I have passed this one area several times, it has an over hanging of rock on a creek that is JUST GORGEOUS.

and some of the old farm houses and barns. Wow. I really wish I had my camera.

Of course, there are some dumpier areas too. Once I thought I was gonna fall right through the wooden porch! EEK. And cats and dogs, I think everyone has cats and dogs!!!! The cats usually keep their distance, and the dogs usually try to lick me or sniff me to death! Luckily none have tried to bite me yet.

And some of my maps are simply NOT ACCURATE. I promise there are places on them that DO NOT EXIST.

I spent quite a bit of time yesterday and today trying to figure where the heck this one road/house was supposed to be. Never did find it. Asked every neighbor I could find, and since 911 recently changed everyone's house numbers, of course no one had a clue!

I think I have a sunburn maybe. It may be windburn. (You may have noticed my complainy FB status...)

and my eyes. OH MY EYES. They are tired and burning. :-p

So yes, I am gonna go to bed, since I am being EXCESSIVELY cranky with my poor children!

Carry on, carry on. I will still be here plugging away :)

Hope you all are doing well!!

Lots going on here

2010-04-28T16:11:00.000-04:00

We got our horses home. I am working on posting some pics on the Farm website, so check there periodically if you would like to see them, and are not on my facebook :)

I am on day two so far of my training, and I think I am gonna enjoy my job. :)

Tonight I am working the night shift at the elderly couple's house. Cuz I don't work tomorrow for the census.

Kevin is having a terrible time with his wisdom teeth. He may have to have them surgically removed. Kela does NOT have to have her tonsils removed at this time. Hopefully never at all. But she was having such a time breathing this last time, I hope that doesn't happen again...

And I hope she doesn't grow up and then get told she has to have them out at age 28 or whenever. That is too rough!!

Anyhow...she is feeling better right now, and for that I am glad :) We are not into medicine and doctors and surgeries!

You may notice (or you may not have noticed) my lack of Menu... well... I am not cooking much, working 6 to 8 hours a day, and whatnot... So we have been a mess as far as eating. Maybe next week we can get back on track, since I will be on a much looser schedule with the Census.

I appreciate the census for its original purpose by the US Constitution - that of counting people so that they may have correct representation in the congress - but I have to say, I truly dislike all the extras the government uses it for... I believe most of them are unconstitutional. But what are ya gonna do.

One lady I was talking to today said when she did the census 20 years ago (First Bush administration) it was much more basic, just counting the number of people in the household and the genders and ages.

At any rate, it is a very interesting job. :)

So I am home for a few hours, going to church tonight, then going to work afterwards. Tomorrow, I hope I get to sleep all day! lol Yeah right ;)

American Idol again :)

2010-04-27T20:59:00.002-04:00

Shania Twain!!! I am gonna know every word tonight YES!!!!!!

LEE! I LOVE LEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He sang Still the one. Best song for him, and the judges all agreed. He was awesome It was like his softer side. I LOVED IT. He sang BEAUTIFULLY!

Big Mike sang It only hurts when I breathe. Tacky. Randy is crazy. He is not in any zone except a boring one. Ellen is nuts too, he was BORING. Kara is just a broken record. And Simon at least can spot it ;) WET. Sappy? The opposite of dry... a little girly feeling!! hahaha YES SIMON! Simon is HILARIOUS.

Casey singing Don't... I bet it will be pretty :) Oh yum. Casey is hot stuff. Ohh. Sorry... back to bloggin the song... He is still not the best singer. Kela says he kinda sounds like a goat sometimes. Hmmm... I think she is right! Over all I liked it. So did the judges. Best Performance So Far.

Crystal - No one needs to know right now! I love cheerful songs :) Crystal is SO CUTE!!!!!!!! I love it :) Love the harmonies :) Idk, though Crystal never seems nervous, but she did to me...Until the end! VERY GOOD! Randy said it wasnt his favorite... Ellen stammers a lot. Not her fave, but like she said Crystal is brilliant. Kara, IS RIGHT. But she is so full of it. Her fave word? Believable.. ugh. Simon did NOT like it. BUT he don't like country, big shocker!

Aaron - It's in the way you love me. He has such a great voice. If he wasn't such a BABY!! haha Randy and Ellen are right. Kara is so repetitive. Simon is right, he did really well tonight. :) Good voice, just SO YOUNG.

Siobhan - Any man of mine! MY FAVORITE SONG EVER! hahaha She did good. I knew she would. She is cute. I think she is a little too geeky, though, I don't know that she will go much further. Her version was very country though. Surprised me! And the end was pure Siobhan, I liked it! A LOT. Simon WON'T! OHH HE DID LIKE IT! He did not like the screaming, which is what every one else loves! hahaha Love the whole giving birth comparison ;) hehehehe

Work!

2010-04-22T11:14:00.000-04:00

I dug two post holes yesterday and my mom told me not to dig anymore. Because Daddy has a post-hole-digger on his tractor. YES!

Do you know how hard it is to dig post holes in red clay mud? It is a bit difficult, I will put it that way :) Boy I tell ya, though. I think they should have let me dig the others, I bet I would have had some chiseled shoulders by then end of it ;)

Oh well. My shoulders are hurting today, but we are also digging out a spot for our barn today! YAY!

We are TRYING to get ready for our two new horses! :)

We went up to Zville not long ago to visit with my parents-in-law and see the horses. We loved them immediately. they were all sweet tempered, friendly, and seemed to really like the kids.

So we decided to go ahead and get them!!

So Saturday we are headed back up to the Zville to pick em up :)

The two we are getting now (we would love to get the third) are part Tennessee Walker. And they are gaited!! :D

The other one is part Fox Trotter, and also gaited.

(I may have that all confused, actually, now that I think on it...)

We are getting one gelding and one Mare.

The gelding is named Stroker Ace, and the mare is Mary :)

Kela has claimed Ace, and Cassie - Mary to take to horse camp. But we will see how that works out. Next year if Faith wants to go to camp, she can take Babe :) This year she is going to Younger Camp :)

Sooooo....anyhow. We are trying to get a bit of work done around here to get horse ready :)

I also went to look at another goatie :D

Lil ole Jackson needs a buddy. He gets so lonely, it is so sad to listen to him whine after us when we leave him! So this little fella will be ready to come home with us next montha nd Jackson will have a friend! :D

I think that is all I wanted to say. My brain isnt working real well. I am pretty exhausted from working at night. The gentleman feels the need to check and see if I am still in there sleeping about ten times a night ;) He turns the light on and when I ask him if he needs anything he says, "No." So I say "Ok, I am going back to sleep then." and he says, "Ok, if that is what you wanna do!"

Isnt that hilarious?

Maybe you gotta be there, but I find it quite funny :)

Ok. I better get back out there to see if Daddy or Kevin need any water. Working on those big ole tractors can make a man thirsty ;)

AI!!!!!

2010-04-20T21:04:00.002-04:00

Casey - YUMMY, but actually kinda boring! LOL

Lee - AWESOME

Siobhan - eh

Tim - Tacky

Aaron - Overdone and tacky and boring

Big Mike - more eh

Crystal - "Inspirational" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I got the order wrong maybe, but it was something like that.

Menu!

2010-04-19T17:27:00.001-04:00

I didnt forget! :) Cassie and Faithy made up the menu this week :)

Monday - Chili (Cassie made it and it was delish!) with cornbread

Tuesday - Homemade Pizza

Wednesday - Cheeseburger Soup

Thursday - Hot turkey Sandwiches with mashed potatoes and green beans

Friday - Broccoli and chicken alfredo with pasta

Just stuff

2010-04-13T16:21:00.000-04:00

I went to my first night of helping with the elderly couple last night.

It was an experience, for sure. Going back tonight :)

We are sticking to our menus! I love it when that happens. I also started tracking. I started to last week, quit again, and now I am hoping to continue, and also to make a difference.

I took a short walk today.

That walk is what I need to get back into. But I walked a part of it, and then gave up. Maybe I will try again tomorrow....

I had to take a nap today because I won't be getting much sleep at my new job, even though they said that I could sleep. The gentleman kind of gets up and roams around at night. He has Alzheimer's.

My pants are all too tight, and I DO NOT LIKE IT.

Hence the tracking and the (attempt at) walking.

Kela was giving Raechel a bath today and she said something that made Kela remark that "We are so hick." that tickled me. Cuz we ARE! lol

Ok.... well...(deep subject, alert)

So...I am having a time right now, trying to figure out a religious belief that I hold. It is, of course a lot to do with LOVE, as anything christian should be. But also focus. And the Bible. And what exactly God wants from us.

I may lose focus at times, but the Lord is always in my life, every day. And I am having an issue with some things I see getting done in the lives of Christians (my own in fact) that just aren't how Jesus would like it, if the Bible is any indication (which in my opinion, the Bible is the only indication we have of God's mind).... BUT I am not talking about sins. I am talking about the things (mostly attitudes) that creep in that will cause sins later.

So, that is the outskirts of my issue, and I just cannot detail it for the world to see, but apparently I wished the people I have contact with to know I was thinking on something that was aggravating my mind... lol

Menu (2 weeks in a row. BOOM-BABY!)

2010-04-12T00:29:00.000-04:00

Monday - Tangy Pork Chops (recipe Below)

Tuesday - Taco Salad made with this homemade seasoning, and black beans (I will let you know if we like it)

Wednesday - Pancakes and eggs and bacon

Thursday - Beans and Rice burritos

Friday - Cheeseburger Soup

Saturday - Baked mac and cheese

Tangy Pork Chops

6 bone-in pork loin chops (approx. 7 oz)
2 tsp Olive Oil
2 Celery ribs finely chopped
1 Small onion Finely chopped
1 TBS Butter
1/2 Cup Ketchup
1/4 Cup Water
2 TBS Cider Vinegar
1 TBS Brown Sugar
1 TBS Lemon Juice
1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Pepper
1 Small Onion thinly Sliced
1 Large green pepper cut into rings

In a large non stick skillet coated with cooking spray brown chops and oil in batches. Transfer to a 13x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray. In same skillet saute celery and chopped onion in butter til tender. Stir in ketchup, water, Vinegar, brown sugar, lemon juice, W. sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly reduced. Pour sauce over chops, top with slice onion and pepper rings cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or until meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees.

Did I say I WAS busy?

2010-04-09T09:33:00.001-04:00

I was wrong.

I am GOING TO BE busy soon!

I got hired for the census.

And I might have another job helping care for an elderly couple at night.

Plus I hope I still babysit some.

I told the girls they better hurry up and get on their schoolwork if they wanna ask me any questions. Because from now on they are on their own! LOL

Which is not totally true. I can pick my own hours for the census, and the other night job is only nights, and I can sleep there. So... it won't be like I am gone anymore than I am now.

I often joke that for a stay at home mom, I am not home much. And it is true. And it is hard on me. Cuz I like being home. Unless there is the possibility of seeing someone to have a nice conversation with, I would prefer to stay at home in my comfort zone ;)

ANYHOW

So see? never complain about being busy (although I wasn't complaining, more like remarking on the obvious) because then you really will get BUSY!! haha

So. I am a busy gal

2010-04-07T00:16:00.000-04:00

I have

9 goats

4 children

3 nieces

3 babysitting kids sometimes a 4th too

We are supposed to go up to Zanesville a few weekends for the girls to try out some horses for horse camp.

Plus I am TRYING to help the girls finish up schoolwork BEFORE JUNE!!! EEEK!!!

Well. Ok. It doesn't look like I am that busy, but trust me I am! :)

But I sure do have me a good life! The only thing missing right now is a barn and a pool. And, well, also, my motivation to eat healthy and exercise!! I hate to think about my weight right now. It looks as if I am starting over. Sad, but true. I hope I can do it, with my menus and with the nice weather coming on :)

Oh! So I have been reading Louis L'Amour books. Good books. They FOR SURE make me grateful for:

1. Indoor plumbing
2. Running water
3. My comfy dry house
4. MY BED
5. That I do not have to kill or catch animals to eat, it is already done for me...and I don't have to worry where my next meal is coming from
6. Did I mention MY BED???? haha
7. Soap
8. My gas stove and oven
9. Indoor plumbing & HOT running water (FOR REALS!)
10. That people don't shoot people anymore (well. you know what I mean. like all the time you had to carry a gun.)

Monday - Hamburger Stroganoff and mashed potatoes

Tuesday - Pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday - Pasta, broccoli, chicken Alfredo

Thursday - Grilled Chicken over Spinach (recipe below)

Friday - Baked tilapia, beans and spinach (recipe below)

Saturday - BBQ chicken sandwiches

Recipes for the new stuff I am trying. I got these from Taste of Home magazines :)

Grilled chicken over Spinach

1 to 2 TBS olive Oil
1 TBS Cider Vinegar
1 Garlic Clove minced
1 tsp dried Thyme
1/2 tsp dried Oregano
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp Salt
dash of Pepper

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
------------------------------------

Sauted spinach

1 green onion finely chopped
1 to 2 garlic cloves minced
1 to 2 TBS Olive Oil
Half pound fresh mushrooms sliced
1 package fresh spinach torn (10 oz)

In a bowl combine first 8 ingredients. Mix well, pour over chicken. Grill uncovered over medium heat for 7 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.

In a large skillet saute onion and garlic in oil for one minute, stir in mushrooms, saute for 3 to 4 minutes or until tender. Add spinach, saute for 2 minutes or until wilted. Transfer to a serving platter and top with chicken. 4 servings.

Now I haven't tried this yet, I am trying it tomorrow. I will cut down the oils, cuz I never use that much oil. I also haven't tried this side dish yet either :)

Beans and Spinach (Friday's side dish above)
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 TBS olive oil
2 large onions chopped
1 lb fresh baby spinach
1 can white cannellini beans
1/2 cup white whine or reduced-sodium chicken broth (I will ue the broth)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In large non stick skillet, saute garlic in oil til tender. Remove garlic and discard. Add onions to pan, saute til crisp-tender.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook and stir over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Serve with slotted spoon.

===================================================

Since I really need to start back watching what I eat (I have literally gained back half the weight I lost last year.) I am also going to list some secondary meal (our supper, most other people's lunch) and breakfast ideas too.

Breakfast:
yogurt
fruit
oatmeal
eggs

Other meal:
deli meat sandwiches
egg salad (with light mayo, relish, and two hard boiled eggs) sandwiches
Bean salads (recipes to come)
Salad
LEFTOVERS!!!

Cassie was born, angels rejoiced :)

2010-04-03T00:03:00.005-04:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet Cassie!! My lovely second daughter is now 13 years old *sigh*

She was a gorgeous gorgeous baby. ♥

Kevin had just got a traveling job with Schwan's when I got pregnant with Cassie. He would travel for an entire work week at a time. Mostly he left on Sunday night or Monday morning, and would be back on Friday morning or so.

It was on his first (possibly his second) weekend home that I got pregnant with Cassie :) What is it they say about absence? Making the heart grow fonder? haha

Anyhow. I had a great pregnancy.

When Kevin would leave, I would pack up Kela and head up to my Aunt Linda's in Wellsburg, 2 and a half hours up Route 2.

Grandma came with me sometimes :)

I spent a lot of time at Linda's, because Kevin traveled every week, and I stayed home very few.

This way I was not lonely or depressed. :)

So anyhow. I stopped going up when I got to my last month, just in case. :)

Kevin was away when I started feeling contractions. They were coming about every 5 minutes the whole day. So I called my mother in law, and she ran me down to the hospital after lunch where they checked me, and said I was dilated to 1. And I asked them if I should call Kevin, and they said that I probably better :)

So I did.

My contractions were GOOD. They were every 5 minutes that whole day. I forget exactly what time Kevin got home, but it was in the evening. By 1 am, I was timing my contractions at about every 2 minutes, and they were NOT sporadic, at all.

I took a nice hot shower. Stood in there for about 15 minutes, and had about that many contractions, and when I got out, I told Kevin maybe we better go to the hospital. :) I was, naturally, very ready and very excited to have my baby :)

So, we got there around 2am.

They checked me. I was at 2.

So, they said they could not admit me til I was at 3. Even though my contractions were STILL regularly coming about every 2 minutes, at that time.

So they basically went ahead and hooked me up to an IV. Why? I have no clue. But they hooked me up and told me to walk up and down the hallways, til I dilated to 3 and they could officially give me a room.

So I did. I was very frustrated at this time.

By 8 am, I finally was dilated to 3, and they let me rest. 6 hours of walking up and down the hallways, all the while having fairly regular painful contractions (although not the really bad ones, obviously). I do not know how I did it!!

My dr told me she thought perhaps I needed Pitocen, and I asked if it was necessary. She said yes, and I didn't argue, I was a bit busy. Later I found out that she wrote that I had refused the Pit. Which I did not, I just asked if I had to have it... but anywaaaayyyy..

I was already hooked to an IV, so I didn't see *not* getting it, since I was EXHAUSTED by this time, from all the walking all night long. So they started it around 9 am.

My contractions were very irregular by this time. And so they put the Pit into my IV, and they came more regularly for a while. Then around 11 am, I think, after they checked my progress (dilated to 3 still) Kevin noticed that the contractions were coming irregular again. He looked at the Pit thingie, and found out that someone had accidentally pulled it out of the IV, and the Pitocen was flowing freely all over the floor.

That was exasperating. I was SOOOOO tired.

So they hooked it back up and then broke my water. That was about noon. They gave me an epidural. Back then it was the kind that pretty much numbed you from the waist down. Paralyzed actually. I never felt any urge to push. I never felt nothing! They gave me the epidural at around noon, too. I took a long nap! Having been up since about 4 am the previous day, I was more than exhausted!

I woke up when they told me it was time to push, pretty much. I pushed once, on command of the nurse, and she said OK WAIT! I pushed again once the dr had his gloves on and was ready, and THEN: I had my sweet baby :) They handed her to Kevin while I delivered my placenta. I had had trouble with this with Kela, because of the lack of feeling and having nothing to push against (like the baby..) it was just hard for me. But with Cass, I had no problems that I can remember. But Kevin held her until they took her to get cleaned up :)

I had Cassie (basically without the Pit except that last hour) by 1:20pm. I had dilated from 3 to 10 in less than an hour... That is what a good nap will do for ya! LOL

SO they cleaned her, weighed her, checked her sucking reflex with a bottle (this caused me major painful problems later since she could not latch on to my breast properly, although I had no idea at that time) and FINALLY gave her to me around 2pm.

I nursed her and rejoiced.

Kevin had decided while I was pregnant, after MUCH bugging from me, that we would name her Cassandra Joy. He liked the name Cassandra, and said we should not shorten it to Cassie or Sandy.

But I think he called her Cassie from the moment she was born!!! LOL

I called her Cassie Joy :) I still call her that. She is a joyful person (mostly) haha

After our first nursing issues with the bloody, painful, cracked nipples; we did good, and I nursed her until she was 11 months old, at which time she started taking a bottle in church and a cup every where else :)

When the WIC people yelled at me for giving her bottles, I told them it kept her quiet in church and that is all I cared about. haha She was completely off the bottles when she was about 14 months old, so they had no reason to worry.

She was an absolutely easy baby. I was so glad. Kela was not easy til she turned 1!

Kela was a wonderful big sister though :) She loved "her baby Cassie" ♥ Kela was 22 months old when Cassie was born, but she was already potty trained :)

I remember when I came home from the hospital, and Kevin and my mom had made signs and decorated the house with balloons. The signs read: Welcome home Lawanda and Cassandra Joy!

Kela played with the balloons and would happily stop every few minutes to come over and rub her baby's face and give her a kiss, and say "I wub you Cassie Joy"

♥

If you care to look

2010-03-30T16:41:00.001-04:00

Over at my farm website I added new pics of the goats and the girls :)

You may have already looked, but the two new pics we took today.

Faithy LOVES the goats. She and Raechel go out and play for hours with the babies! It is so sweet. I can't help but think how much better for them it is than being on video game thingies all day long every day!! :)

Here ya go if ya wanna peek:

PICS

The older two girls spent the day at the barn with the horse.

We are hoping to go up Saturday to Zanesville and possibly ride the horses we may buy for them soon.

I wasnt up at the barn, so no pics of them :) But they are into the horse, for sure :-p I was like that as a teen too. I would spend entire sunny days with my horse.

Ahhhhh....life. :)

Is it time to create a new government?

2010-03-25T13:30:00.002-04:00

Everyone knows this part of the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

but did you ever read the next part?

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Maybe it is time to start over?

When I read things like this article, and I quote:

T.J. Cosgrove, a representative of the King County Health Department, told KOMO that it's "always best if parents are involved in their children's health care, but they don't always have a say."

I simply do not feel SAFE.

I do not feel safe for my children.

Of course I do still have the right to homeschool them, and not put them into the care of people who I do not trust anymore... so there is still an amount of freedom with that.

But seriously. The Founding Fathers? They were trying to get away from just this sort of thing!!

Read it again:

...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends (the unalienable rights of people to be alive, to be free, to pursue happiness), it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

So, obviously people who are against abortion have not been able to alter the government... maybe we just need to found a new one?! The premises and declarations are already written! We just have to USE THEM and go by them again!!

Did you get pinched today?

2010-03-17T22:19:00.002-04:00

I did, several times. haha

So much for being Irish ;) Well, I AM Irish, but I just didn't feel like getting dressed today, so I wore my pink sweats and t shirt that I slept in all day :-p

So my family made free and easy with their pinchers ;)

Anyhow.

Thanks Nezzy for the touch of Irish cheer ;)

And I just had to jump back on here to say that I didn't expect Lacey to leave AI this early. I was hoping it was Paige, but maybe next week! :-p

The girlies enjoyed the beautiful sunshine again today. Played with the goaties again. I posted the pics from yesterday on my Farm Blog :) But I am gonna give you a CUTE kid/kid pic here today! This is my youngest niece, our adorable Clara with our precious lil Jillybean:

Idol

2010-03-16T22:01:00.000-04:00

American Idol, while it has a regrettable name, is the only tv show I watch with any regularity at all. Last year I missed some, and I think even the year before I missed some, but this year I am hoping not to miss much, cuz I like these people!

So, here is my synopsis of the Top 12 doing the Rolling Stones, in case you care ;)

Big Mike Lynche - Eh. He don't impress me much. Except he is a HUGE GUY! lol And he sings nifty songs... Just not too impressive in my book, and I hope he doesn't win the whole thing...

Didi Benami - LOVE HER. She reminds us of Regina Spektor, and this is good :) I hope she goes on to win the whole thing, personally. She did Playin' with fire good ;)

Casey James - YUM! and ROCKER!!! Two words, and that is enough ;) But I don't think he will win, nor do I wish it.

Lacey Brown - She is BEAUTIFUL, she has the BEST eyes! Her voice and singing, notsomuch. Tacky version of Ruby Tuesday.

Andrew Garcia - I like HIM!! I like how he sings, although I wish he would pick different songs sometimes. Like tonight. Kinda "eh" for me. He has a SWEET voice not a Rocker voice...No War songs anymore please!

Katie Stevens - she should never have made it to the top 12. BORING. Although I loved her dress.

Tim Urban - I loved it last week when Ellen hugged him! He is ok, in a High School musical kinda way...WOW ten kids! One shower! Whew. He is a doll, except his mouth. And he needs a haircut. Great eyes though. Now, the singing: Ummm... its ok. LOL I guess I can sum Tim Urban up by the word: Ok. I did not particularly care for his song choice, Under my thumb. Kinda ugh.

Siobhan Magnus - One of my faves. Love her name, love her voice, love her look, and I think she is a sweetheart. Hopefully she sings well tonight. Not lovin' her glasses! Love her family :) Love her Cape Cod Accent! :D PAINT IT BLACK! YES! She picked the perfect song, and sang is AWESOME! LOVE HER DRESS TOO! Cute curls too :) Listen to that voice!!!!!!! Throw a little of that Irish feel in there too! That was AWESOME! Siobhan is DA BOMB!!

Lee Dewyze - I think he is going to make it pretty far, as long as he can keep his pants pulled up (they kept falling down one performance!) :) Beast of Burden? He is SO LIKE CHRIS DOUGHTRY! He is consistent, I will give him that :) good performer. If he had a good song, he would be AWESOME. This song is boring! I agree with Simon - he needs a MOMENT :)

Paige Miles - Another one who should NOT be here in the top 12. Good song for her! Honkey Tonk Woman is one of my faves from the Stones :) she ain't too bad, still not my fave though. the short short jump suit look is kinda tacky imo!! :-p Laryngitis?? You could not tell!! :D

Aaron Kelly - Eh. Cassie loves him. If he looked more like a grown up than a little boy, maybe... He is a good singer.... Maybe the new hair will help :)

Chrystal Bowersox - she ROCKS. Great voice, great talent. One of the best. PERFECT song choice! WOOHOOO! That was HOT BABY!! :) Awww her momento for Lilly was So sweet!

My picks to go home: Paige, Aaron, Katie, or Tim.

Who better stay, but might get booted: Casey James, or Didi. If Didi goes home, I will be upset :(

It is time once again

2010-03-11T17:03:00.002-05:00

To start bloggin' the show I love best!!

American Idol!!! Hey, I adore singing! Don't judge me ;) teehee

So.

Do you have a favorite yet? Of the girls, my favorites are Didi Benami, Siobhan Magnus, and Chrystal Bowersox, and Lilly Scott is ok.

For the guys I like Lee Dewzye, Alex Lambert, Casey James (because he is a hottttttay!), and Tim Urban... I also am ok with Todrick Hall after he did Queen last night :)

Opinions on who should go home tonight?

I think Paige needs to be GONE! And after last night I bet Katelyn will be voted off, but I hope Katy goes instead.

For the guys, I am thinking Casey is in danger, unfortunately, cuz he just did not give a strong performance. everyone else did, even though I was not overly fond of Big Mike's performance.. Randy J loved it.

Kevin is ready to SHOOT me!

2010-03-08T16:35:00.001-05:00

Lookie what we brought home this morning:

AREN'T THEY ADORABLE?!

lol

Kevin is actually being very sweet. These were such a great deal, I could NOT pass them up. We didn't have to drive miles and miles to get them, and they are all three registrable :) The mom is already registered :)

They are:

Mama - Just 4 fun Bandit

Honeysuckle Hollow Comma
Honeysuckle Hollow Llama
Honeysuckle Hollow Pajama

Comma has black ear, Llama has white ears, and Pajama is black :)

They seem to be doing great :)

I think it is very cool that the farm name is so similar to Jackson's "Honey Hollow" :)

Jillian arrived on Saturday. She is a PETITE lil miss! Very tiny. She is JCH Mountain Farm Jillian :)

We have already nicknamed Jackson and Jillian, they are Jackie-boy or Fluffball, and Jilly-bean or Lil Miss :)

We have had such a fun day playing with our new babies :)

I will get better pics of Mister Fluffball aka Jackson, soooooon! The cameras keep dying on me.

We're havin a partay!

2010-03-04T00:09:00.000-05:00

For my Mom :)

Her 60th birthday is March 18 :)

So I am trying to get a nice SURPRISE party ready for her, and I keep spazzing out because I KNOW I am forgetting something, and it will be important and the party will be ruined because I have no brain. :(

BUT

I think even if I forget the drinks or something, it will still be fun. LOL

I can always send someone to buy drinks.

Or you know, whatever else it is I am completely forgetting!!! :-p

I have got a few memories now! That was the main part of the party. I am asking everyone to share good and fun memories of Mommy and when the party is over I plan to make her a scrapbook of them :)

Some of them are FUNNNNNNY! :D

I hope she enjoys her party.

I hope everyone else does too.

I hope I don't forget the drinks orrrrrr ...... AnYtHiNg!

ACK

Ok, < /freakout >

LOL

So anyhow. I have been especially busy. Today I even had to go up to Vienna twice because I ended up having to take my babysitting boy to his MRI for his knee. His original ride's car broke down!

We had planned on taking some brownies to a friend who just had surgery recently and has been recuperating. I had promised him brownies and a visit ages ago, but I have ended up babysitting a lot lately! And I don't wanna bring extra kiddos over to bother him!! Plus - there have been lots of snow days!

So. Eventually Sam will get his brownies! (And Elsie too!!!! LOL) whether they want them or not! ;)

That is about it for what I am doing... I just hope all goes well this weekend, and everyone has an enjoyable time. Luckily for me, my aunts have both been helping! Even aunt Wanda in texas :) She is buying the fruit and veggie trays and my aunt Linda gave me some mulah to put towards the party. Oh and Randall is buying the AWESOME CAKE from Edee!! haha ;)

My family is like that though :) Helpful and sweet and always helping people and trying to make people happy! ♥

Check it out

2010-03-02T13:35:00.000-05:00

I made a new website for our farm.

Please tell me how it is. I need to add several things, it is by no means finished! But I thought you all might like a sneak peak :)

Ael y Bryn Farm

If that doesn't work yet, let me know, and I will post the other link I have for it :)

I am happy today!

2010-02-27T02:58:00.001-05:00

But before I go into why, please read my previous post. I posted two today :)

I got my test results all back on my goaties!

They are all good!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know what this means?????

I am getting my sweet JACKSON!!!! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I need to go and actually get him soon, because the sweet lady I am getting him from is needing his stall for a birthing stall! She has several goaties about to kid in March!!! :D

And she has been SO SWEET!!! and helpful! You couldn't ask for a more helpful mentor!!!

She has even helped find a DOE!!!

HERE SHE IS!! -- ok, you have to search for her on this page... she is the doeling labeled z9, fourth picture :)

I am trying right this minute to convince Kevin that the snow will all be gone tomorrow and we can go get them tomorrow (which would actually be later today since the insomnia has struck again)!! LOL

I haven't convinced him yet though :)

Anyway, Faithy was pumped that she got to name the new doe :) She wants to name her Jillian, because then we'd have a JACKson and a JILLian :) The other two girlies want to name her Jillson, because of Jackson and Jillson in The Mysterious Benedict Society books. we love those books, but Faith hasn't read them yet.

anyhow, I am so excited! Both of these sweet goaties have GREAT milking in their genes. So here's hoping that we can get some milk someday soon!!! :)

BEEEA-utiful!

2010-02-27T02:50:00.005-05:00

There are rules involved. To accept the nomination, one must......

1. Thank the person who nominated you

2. Copy the award and paste it on your blog

3. Link to the person who nominated you for the award

4. List 7 interesting things about yourself

5. Nominate 7 beautiful bloggers
--------------------------------------------------
1. Thank you, Jenn!!

2. Tried, will have to work on this when I am not so tired!

3. Classless? Hardly!! Jenn rocks my face off! :)

4. I aim for readable. Interesting is pushing it, but I will try. I am so not interesting. As a matter of fact: I copied Jenn's clever layout for this post almost exactly. Cuz I am not interesting!

5. Let us begin sharing the beauty:

1. I am starting with the exact same person as Jenn, even! Because she is clever, witty, charming, elegant, beautiful, and FUN! And I know all this without ever having even met her! :)

Nezzy, you rock! Your sweet comments always make my day! Bless your heart!!

2. And secondly one of my oldest blogging buddies, who I have actually met in person, and who waited patiently for some promised yarn for FOREVER!

Birdie, please tell me you finally got that yarn? I hope it was ok. I actually had different (better) yarn to send you and it disappeared into the cave that is my laundry room, and hasn't been seen since. I am sorry, thank you for your graciousness and patience!!

3. Thirdly, I am gonna have to go with a very dear friend who I have known from ScrapChat for several years now.

Julia is always so kind, and even if she is going through a rough patch her self, the most encouraging and sweet individual! Plus she makes AWESOME soaps!! :)

4. Fourthly (yes, I am being redundant by posting the cardinal AND ordinal numbers, but I cannot help myself tonight for some reason!) I nominate my inspiration for staying on Weight Watchers, and not pigging out on junk food all day long..

Amber, who has yummy recipes on her brand new blog, and is also starting to sell jewelry! Although I am not sure that is on her blog yet...

5. Fifthly, since she has always been my friend, I believe I shall also nominate ...

Michelle, who is about the most creative scrapbooker on the planet and is the girlie who does Scrap Camp in the Spring and fall. :)

6. Sixthly, This is one of the sweetest girls you would ever wanna meet. Her kids are HI-LARIOUS! They are super smart and funny, and when she writes about their exploits I always have to laugh!

Larissa is just too too cute for words ;) And her blog title says it all :)

7. Seventhly (there is no seventhly? Or is my spell check wonky? Stop it with the red underlining already! grr) I am going to nominate another girl with super cute and clever kiddos whom I love reading about -

Marie, who is super sweet and very good at Lexulous (a word game on Facebook) :) And I just now, this very second, found out she is expecting again! CONGRATS BEAUTIFUL MARIE!

Okay I must break the rules...because my 8th beautiful blogger is super special.

GEPHRY is like the coolest blogger chickie out there. Imo, her blog is always fun, always clever, always full of interesting stuff!

She basically went on a Walk-about when she was younger. And she is one of those independent people who make you wanna be independent too! Did I mention she is a mother of three geniuses, and is herself this very semester taking a Shakespeare college course? She is just uber cool, I am tellin' ya.

------------------------------

Now for the part of this award where I tell you seven interesting things about myself.. instead, I am just going to blog what I was going to blog originally this evening, before I saw my name in the Marquee on Jenn's blog (ok, so it wasn't exactly a marquee, but it felt like it...)

It is exciting!

go here ;)

Take the happy with the sad

2010-02-23T17:18:00.000-05:00

The happy is that we got our Life of Fred books today :)

They are awesome. Kela is going ahead and working her way through Fractions today :) She has been reading the chapters aloud to me, and we have been giggling excessively. The humor is right up our alley ;)

Next up on Fractions is Cassie.

I have Faithy writing down her multiplication tables. Because after she does not do them for a long period of time (in this case over a month) she forgets them. She knew them backwards and forwards, but I guess I am a bad teacher, because I forgot to have her work on them since we started WV History... Ooops.

So she is working on remembering them before she starts back up on the mathematics :)

In other news, we have had a sad day. A family friend died last night of cancer. Karla was 41 years old. She was an identical twin to Marla and had never been married. She and her father had recently been baptized. She has had cancer that was in remission for over a year (I think). Then she became ill with pneumonia (I believe, sorry I am a bit sketchy on the exact details) and had to be hospitalized. And when she found out her cancer had returned and it was terminal, she insisted on being let go from the hospital and went directly to be baptized, and then her father was too.

We are distantly related on my mom's side of the family. They go to Lost Pavement church, where Mommy grew up worshiping.

My mom wrote a poem for Karla a couple weeks ago, and it was very sweet. They had asked Mommy if they could read parts of it (it was long) for the funeral.

So I have been crying alternately with my giggles when Kela reads to me from her Life of Fred book.

Karla's mother is a very dear sweet lady who I have always loved, and I am so sorry for the whole family.

Well, I spoke to my vet's office about the goaties

2010-02-19T17:34:00.001-05:00

She said that he (the vet) wanted me to give them all three LA200, which is long acting penicillin; today, and then in 4 days, and then again in 8 days.

Apparently they have:

low glucose
high billiruben
high lymphocytes
high white blood cells

The last two show a possible infection, which is obvious to me. The other two? I have no clue.

But, he didn't say WHAT would cause these things, or to do anything but give them the antibiotics for the 8 days. She also said he didn't think it was anything to worry about....

So.

I feel like I got NOTHIN'...

But I will give them the antibiotics, and then just keep hoping for the best, like I have been.

No word yet from the necropsy on Patches...

So I feel like I am going no-where fast with my goaties :(

Life of Fred

2010-02-15T10:26:00.000-05:00

I just ordered the Life of Fred math books.

I hope these help.

I have had the most trouble with Kela doing her school. We always get stuck on Math, and it NEVER gets done.

Well it does... but slowly and painfully, for all involved.

Her attitude has been such lately that I am completely ready to put her in High School, and just not have to deal with her all day long every day.

But.

Her dad does not want me to do it. He thinks I need to wait and see.

So I ordered these books. Because I needed some help I am obviously not doing something right.

The idea of these books are that they break it down so basically, you do not need answer keys even.

So she can do it herself, or we can do it all together, which is what I am thinking...

And it is fun. Not boring. :)

I hope it helps.

Cuz I am about to go NUTS.

---------------------------------

Along with the school stress, most of you prolly already know that I lost another goat. :(

Patches died on Thursday last week.

We took her body to OSU Vet Hospital for a necropsy. And then we took our alive goaties to a Vet in Belpre.

The vet said my animals look healthy, although Belle is thin. Which only makes sense because Patches always ate all the food. :-p I am hoping she will plump out now, since the vet did seem to think she was pregnant! YAY! :)

I hope she has healthy baby(ies). That would be so positive. And I am tired of negative when it comes to my goats. :(

I plan to milk her too.

I had decided I just could not go forward with my plans to get Nigerian Dwarfs at this time, because I keep losing goaties :(

I would hate to bring them here and them die. I just could not handle it.

So I let Jackson's owner know. and she is soooo sweet. She is going to try to keep him a while so that if I still want him in a while, I can still buy him.

I really would love to start my own little Nigi herd, someday.

But just not while I am having goaties die on me, seemingly every month.

SO.

While I am not moving forward with my goat plans, I am just considering them ON HOLD til I figure out what is going on here. :)

I WILL milk my own goats someday. I WILL. :)

Menu-ing again!

2010-02-07T21:32:00.012-05:00

Monday - Soup beans and ham with corn bread, which we did not have last week because we had veggie soup instead

Tuesday - Spinach Cheese Frittata

Wednesday - Pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans

Thursday - Enchiladas! Guilt free even ;)

Friday - Pizza sounds wonderful to me.

I ♥ Pizza Fridays.

Lovin' Life

2010-02-06T21:30:00.003-05:00

I am revisiting all my blog titles, I guess.

My life is so good. I love it even when things are getting me down. I would not trade my life for a million bucks! Although I wouldn't scoff at a free million to keep my life ;)

I am sooooo tired. We had SOOO much fun today at the auction. Kevin's chest he built went for $65, the people got a GREAT deal. I should have pics of it soon, although lousy pics, because at the time the camera was on the blink, but Kevin has fixed it now :)

Anyhow, my scarves were well received :)

My friend Amber bought the green set! It looks AWESOME with her dark hair!! I was so glad she came. She is so much fun! Mommy and Daddy came too, and so did Randall and his girlies.

The kids all ran around and played while the auction was going on, the little kids I should say. The big kids were toting all the auction stuff up to the stage for the Auctioneer to sell to the highest bidder :)

I was proxy for my aunt Linda, but I didn't do much good for her. Although she DID get a gorgeous hand-painted Fenton glass bell for $15! :D

Kevin bid on a gift certificate for a free night at the Hampton Inn and dinner for two at a local restaurant. :D Sounds like a date to me!!! LOL They have a pool! ;)

So anyhow, it was all fun. Made me realize over again how much fun this life is :) I love it :)

Kevin did not get much sleep cuz he got home after 2am, and had to get up at 6 am to go to the bottom of the hill and collect the babysitting kids. Cuz there is simply no way their auntie would have been able to get them up the hill with all this snow!! So he went to bed soon after supper!

We don't have as much snow as up North, Linda has 18 inches! And my in-laws up in Zanesville have about the same! My cousin Nathan lives up in the mountains and they had 43 inches this morning and it was still coming down!!

But the snow didn't even stop our fun today :)

I hope we can go to church tomorrow still too! :)

Whew!

2010-02-05T23:59:00.002-05:00

I just finished my last crochet for the auction. (Although Kela wants me to make another hat, to match the scarf she made...I don't think I can do it! lol)

I made a pink and cream colored hat to match the scarf.

Here is Faith in both:

And Here is a bad pic of Kela's scarf she made for the auction. It turned out really cute.

My stinkin camera will NOT read the sd cards! I hate that. We just cannot seem to keep a camera for very long...They always break or something goes wrong with them.. ??

We had a super busy day today trying to get ready for this auction.

I had to go to town twice. The first time, I forgot to take the papers with me so that I could get donations from my hair place and back massage therapist. And the two girls who are friends of mine who had said they would donate some stuff, they weren't home!

So - second time, by the time I left it was too late to head clear up to Vienna to try and get to the businesses before they closed. But I met the one girlie, Edee, at the Rt 50 McDonald's and she handed me the CUTEST 4H cookie bouquet ever! She is so stinkin talented! And then I drove on over Core road to Michelle's house and she gave me a REALLY nice Scrapbooking basket-full of goodies from her Scrap Camp operation ;)

Anyhow, in between all that runnin' and all this crocheting, we baked 70 three inch brownies! And I am in the process of finishing 70 hot rolls. The last batch is in the oven right now. Of course I cheated and made them from mixes, and frozen dough. :) But it was still quite a bit of work!

Cassie is still up and she and Raechel are doing dishes. I am honestly so tired I don't have the energy to make them go to bed right at the mo!

SO.

Tomorrow... poor Kevin (who won't get home from work until after 2am) has to get up at 6am and go to the bottom of the hill and pick up the babysitting kids!!

And then he has to put the finishing touches on his toy box, and then it is TO THE AUCTION we will go. I think we MAY need a sled to get there!!!!! LOL

We don't have as much snow as surrounding areas YET. We only have about 3 inches right now...

So. I am going to hop off here and get these girlies headed to bed-ward!

I will surely post how the auction goes, since I have put so much work into it! haha

But it may not be til Sunday. Afternoon!

More crocheting :)

2010-02-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

This hat and scarf is also for the auction :)

I posted this adorable pic of Faithy in the beret on FB :)

And here are pics of Raechel and Cassie in it :)

And here is the scarf I made to match this evening :) It has the puff stitches like in the hat :)

And here they are together. I think they turned out pretty. I hope someone will want to buy them...

Still got the wonky date on my camera. I need to have Kevin take a look at that... I am going to try to make a hat to go with the pink scarf too. :)

I am tired!

2010-02-02T02:39:00.004-05:00

If you'll note the time at the bottom of this post, you'll understand wy :)

Our 4H Donations are taking shape!!

I started a scarf this evening (finally) and had to finish it up, or else it would have sat, and sat, and sat; and never got done. :)

(I do not know why the date says April 12, 2008. Something in my camera must be messed up)

Here is a close up :)

I may make a hat to match tomorrow. I also might perhaps make another, different scarf and hat too :)

Kevin made a toy box. It is going to be NICE. He is almost finished with it.

I hope whoever buys them enjoys them :)

Call me Butter, cuz I am on a roll! ;)

2010-02-01T00:00:00.004-05:00

haha

MENU!! AGAIN!! Can you believe it?! I am so happy with myself. As happy with myself as I was upset with myself for all those weeks of NOT posting a plan.

AND GUESS WHAT?!

I am TRACKING too! YES! I gained a pound last week, but last week involved a trip to the lovely Olive Garden as well as several other things that put me over my points. I tracked faithfully though, and have done it again this week.

Hopefully this week I will lose again :) I have been working out everyday but Sunday! I *have* used my entire 35 extra points plus one, but it should be all good, as long as I don't go overboard today. Because I do not count my Activity points, so I have those to use, and just do not use them (except like now when I have gone over by a point..)

Kevin is starting his new schedule this week. He is going on afternoons 4 days a week. So he is off today and will work 3pm to 2am Tuesday thru Friday. SO that means these will be lunches instead of dinners. :)
So..

Menu:

Monday - Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, corn

Tuesday - Spaghetti and sausage

Wednesday - Pot roast with cabbage, potatoes, carrots

Thursday - Baked Mac and cheese with Broccoli

Friday - Soupbeans and ham with cornbread

4H Auction

2010-01-30T00:17:00.005-05:00

Our 4H Auction Fundraiser is coming up on February 6th :)

Kevin is going to work on some things for it tomorrow :) He said he may try to make a Baby Doll Crib and a Toy Box :)

I need to get some crocheting done, so we can have some stuff to sell, too.

How long have I known I needed to do this? haha AGES!! Why have I not done it? One word: PROCRASTINATOR!

It was a lot of fun last year, although I didn't quite get the concept. Hey, in my defense we always MADE applebutter for our 4H fundraiser. You know: we worked and made something with our hands and then sold it at a festival, while we made more! :)

So for the fundraiser Auction, they ask that you get donations from places of business which you frequent. HA. I go to Aldi and Walmart and that is about it. LOL

But I am getting a donation from the place that does my hair occasionally, one from our preacher's wife who owns a bookstore, and one from my friend Michelle who does Scrap Camp. Plus all the stuff we'll be bringing, that should do it. Because we are also making brownies and hot rolls for them to sell for people to eat while they bid :) **Edit** I forgot about the APPLEBUTTER my mom is donating! LOL Mommy is also helping us make the hot rolls. So they will be YUMMY :)

PLUS, I have invited EVERYONE I can think of to come ;)

So hopefully we will get a good turn out, and lotsa people get lotsa good stuff for their time and money :)

They use the money to pay for the kids to go to camp :)

Kela loved camp :) Cassie is going with Kela this year, if we can find her a decent horse. They are very excited about it :) I always loved camp too :) SO much fun.

I have got to get it into gear tomorrow and start crocheting!!! :)

It's amazing!

2010-01-29T08:26:00.000-05:00

Isn't it amazing what a good night's sleep can do for you? haha

I don't sleep well normally.

Last night I actually slept very well! And I woke this morning EARLY feeling very refreshed. I helped Kevin (not a lot, mind you, but a little) take care of the goats, and then after he left I laid back down, but instead of falling back to sleep, I did all my thinking that I usually do at night.

The fact that I did enjoy a good night's sleep is quite amazing in itself. Because I had a Moolatte yesterday! (Don't tell my workout buddy, Amber! LOL)

Caffeine usually keeps me up for days!

Of course, Amber (said workout buddy) did spend the previous two nights with me, and we enjoyed a 2-night slumber party; watching movies, eating popcorn and cookies (WW friendly - both of those snacks)... :)

So I have a feeling that with all that slumber-partying and working out (she brought a killer workout video and forced me to do it both mornings) I would say my body was exhausted enough to finally get some rest. YAY!

I watched Goonies with my kids last night. I had forgotten how many cuss words is in it! WHY?! Why do the movie people feel the need to do that? It is a great movie, and the kids loved it. I just wish we could avoid listening to all the garbage. I really want one of those tv editor thingies. Maybe someday :)

Anyhow...we had a nice relaxing evening :) I think that may have also helped with my good night's rest. Because it seems like usually, even though we don't have tons of places we need to be always, we are still constantly on the go!! So it helped to relax with a couple girlies on my lap enjoying a favorite movie from my childhood with my kids (and my babysitting kids too *smile*)...

In goatie news:

Kevin is planning for our new barn. We are hoping to have enough of a tax return to build it soon. I am excited. I am hoping he takes my suggestion and includes a nice big milking area :) Cuz I do also want to get me a jersey cow to milk someday too, along with all my goaties :)

I hope to be a regular old farmer soon ;)

Prepare for Grumpy

2010-01-25T23:20:00.002-05:00

I have a lot on my mind, but mostly, it is depressing.

I have a sick girlie, Raechel. Took her to the dr yesterday, and they gave her meds for coughing that were supposed to "knock her out" but they have had the opposite effect. She is crazy wild and will not go to sleep.

Ugh

And she is keeping Faithy awake as well. So that is one depressing thing...

I have an idea for my goat farm name, but Kevin doesn't like it. That is depressing as well.

I would like to join the throngs of people I know who are pregnant right now, but I am not joining them, nor will I be anytime soon I would guess. (Although that is up to God, obviously, and not entirely in our hands)

SO there is some more depression...

I feel at a standstill with my goaties. I finally talked to the vet, and they were not of much help... Simply said that if my other goaties seem fine, they probably are, and that if I want to have them tested I need to contact another dairy goat breeder and ask THEM what to test for. Which I have already done that... I just thought they might help me out with why my goats have died :(

I am planning on going ahead with breeding Jackson to Bella and Alice when he gets here. And I am planning on milking them :)

If all goes right (knock on some wood for me here) then my other two goaties should have their babies and be ready for milking this summer. Then I should be able to milk them at least until the other two kid, and their babes are weaned. then I will have all four a-milking or at least the latter two (Bella and Alice)...

So. I am hoping for some milk this summer.

But anyhow, with all this depression going on in my little world, I almost made my facebook profile picture GRUMPY the dwarf when I heard about the fictional character thingie...where you put a fictional character as your profile pic who best represents you...

Yep. Grumpy... or maybe Eeyore!!

Thanks for noticin' me..

Menu AGAIN

2010-01-25T00:55:00.000-05:00

Can you believe this? Three weeks in a row?

:D

Monday - Cheeseburger soup

Tuesday - Sausage gravy and biscuits

Wednesday - Pork roast with sauerkraut and potatoes

Thursday - Mexican chicken

Friday - Pizza, hopefully :)

Menu and thanks

2010-01-18T16:24:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for reading my previous post and for your ever so kind comments.

I have had a rough weekend, and actually the previous week was already not a picnic... but I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to get things off my chest and for actual people who listen and encourage me!

Sometimes I feel like the internet is a curse, because I do have issues with overuse of it :) ~~cough*facebook*cough~~ haha

But I am so glad for it, just for the simple fact of all the wonderful friends I have made online!!

Thank you my sweet internet friends for being here for me!!

Now. New business :)

I am looking forward to my little Jackson coming to me! I am talking to that vet again tomorrow, and hoping to get some answers as to whether he thinks my other animals are in danger of having this problem, or possibly carriers of this problem (like, I was hoping it was not a genetic problem, since I really want to breed and milk Bella and Alice. However, they came from the same farm as Hope and Lydia, and they were all related, even if it was somewhat distantly, so if it is hereditary in some way, I will not be breeding them!)

So, I am trying to be positive. I am BELIEVING that I will have milk goats someday soon, and hopefully my BELIEF will carry me to the actual HAVING (and milking) of them! :)

And I have a menu plan!! My menu plan helps me so much with my food issues! haha

Monday - Hot Dogs (because, hey! I have 10 kids here today!)

Tuesday - Shrimp scampi with broccoli and pasta

Wednesday - Pork Chops, mashed potatoes and corn

Thursday - Chili and cornbread (this has been requested by Cassie for a couple weeks and I kept forgetting about it! Oops! lol)

Friday - Pancakes and sausage :)

I can't deal with much more of this kind of thing.

2010-01-15T14:43:00.000-05:00

Our sweet, silly, noisy, nosy, adorable and lovably persistent goatie Hope died sometime this morning.:(

I will miss her. We all will.

We got her after Lydia died last May, to keep Bella company. Cuz it is not good for them to be alone, you know. :)

She was one of my favorites for her mischievous ways :) If you are on my facebook you may recall that I have some awful cute pics of her :) Most recently, being stuck underneath the feeding trough :)

Actually. I am thinking that may have been what caused this. :(

If you remember, I said she made a beeline for the grain bin?

Well, there was old grain that I had separated out because I had smelled mold on it, in the bottom of the bin. I hadn't had a chance to throw it away, and I honestly never thought about it until I began reading about her symptoms online. We have been giving them grain from a new bag for quite some time now, because of that moldy smell.

I didn't think she had gotten into the moldy grain at all, but she must have. That is the only explanation, because we feed all the goats from the same feed and hay. And (so far) they are all fine. However. Hope was PERFECTLY fine yesterday morning at feeding time, as well.

Yesterday morning, she was the first to the grain (always is) buttin' the littles out of her way (always does :)) and playing like normal... NOTHING out of the ordinary at all. ate her hay fine, drank her water fine...

So when my house was quiet last night (unusual circumstance itself) I heard her moan out there, and I could immediately tell something was wrong.

I scared Raechel and Cassie to death, cuz I hollered for them to be quiet as I was listening on my way out the door, without telling them what I was doing. So I scared them! My reaction didn't help when I went outside to check on the goaties and found Hopey laying on the ground moaning, her legs twitching, her body stiff and her poor little neck starting to bend back toward her withers; because quite frankly I started crying hysterically and ran for a phone.

They cried too, cuz they saw her :(

I called Kevin. He was at a forum at the court house for ideas for farmers...checkin' it out to see whether it was going to be worth going to... He could not come home immediately. He told me to call Daddy.

I interrupted his supper :( I was still crying like crazy, and had no idea what to do... I thought it was already too late because this is what happened to Lydia, and what we did didn't help with her.

Anyway, Daddy left his supper to come up and help me. He kept moving her legs and head around trying to get it to loosen up somehow. He gave her an egg, and some penicillin, and then we gave her some vitamin b. I gave her more later but it was the people kind, melted in a glass of water, and given through her mouth... but I have since read that it doesn't do any good like that... you have to give the injectable kind, in extremely large doses.

Because what happens, I guess, is when they get ahold of mold (or other things could have caused it, but this is the only one that makes sense for Hopey... Lydia's case was possibly too much fresh green grass) it causes a disruption of the enzymes in their rumens and they need extra vitamin B, or mostly Thiamine...

Anyhow, she stayed pretty much the same all night long. We checked on her pretty much all night, rubbing her neck and moving her around a bit, and when we checked on her early this morning, she had died. :(

Kevin and I left for TSC so we could be there as soon as they opened. Because I was going to give all my other goats a vax for Tetanus and also some more Vita. B, and also buy some more penicillin in case we needed it again :( I hope we don't for a good long forever!

So we spent the morning vaxing them, and shooting them chock full of Thiamine. Which we are going to do again, the B vitamin, because it can't hurt them (although is a bit hard on their livers, I guess, but hopefully won't hurt their livers too much, because this is all I know to do, and it makes me feel much better to do it!!!) and may keep them from getting the same thing Hope had, which I already showed you the link for the Goat Polio/Listeriosis...

Anyhow, if another goat dies, I am simply not going to be able to handle getting more. I have already talked to the girl I am buying Jackson from and she thinks I should go ahead and move on with my plans to breed Nigerian Dwarfs, because she says this happens, and there is nothing you can do about it. Which I know that is true... But it worries me that something is wrong here that I need to look into.

So this morning, after Kevin went to work, I spent the day calling Vets.

Well. No vets in Parkersburg, or surrounding area will look at a goat. I called about 17 of em. (Slight exaggeration, but merely slight ;))

they all told me to call one up in Marietta, so I did. I was wanting info on possibly getting a necropsy, which is similar to an autopsy in people, to test and see if I needed to do something different, or to see if there was a problem that could be passed on to my other goats, etc. You know what I mean?

So.

I totally got the run-around.

I mean to tell you I talked to 20 people. And half of them were rude!!! They told me to call here, they told me to call there, they told me I had to call the Vet back and tell them that THIS is the way they need to handle this...blah blah blah.

Most of it was dealing with the Vet in Ohio, and the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

So I got hung up on (that was the vet office) and I gave up.

I decided to try the WV department of Agriculture.

Mind you I have never dealt with anything like this before!

Anyhow. THERE IS NO PHONE NUMBER FOR THEM IN THE PHONE BOOK. There is a listing, but no phone number! (What gives? Heck if I know!) So I called the first government number listed :)haha And I asked them for the phone number. They gave it to me, and were very nice about it.

So I called them. Talked to the operator, who connected me to the EXACT person I needed to talk to the FIRST time. Amazing! haha

And she was a SWEETHEART. She told me a vet to call in Charleston, and told me to give them her name, and call her back I had any trouble. So sweet. I needed that!

So I called them, and the vet was awesome. and he said, in short, that a necropsy was not necessary, too expensive, but they are wanting to possibly run tests on the other goats to make sure this does not happen to them.

I was crying tears of heartfel joy and thanksgiving by this time, let me tell you!

I think he might have thought I was some kind of crazy goat lady ;)

But that is ok.

I think I will be a goat lady for a while, if I don't keep having bad luck :( Cuz I really love my goaties.

ps, if you read all this THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Hope

2010-01-14T22:03:00.001-05:00

Hope started having symptoms like Lydia, our first goat who died.

She is alive right now, but not doing well at all.

I feel like the world's worst goat farmer ever.

Like maybe I should not bring another goat onto my farm. :(

We may not end up getting Jackson if I feel like I cannot take care of them properly.

I am sooo sad.

Here is a site about her symptoms.

I will update in a bit. I have given her penicillin and tons of vitamin b, but it is not looking good.

This is what I am thinking

2010-01-11T00:59:00.007-05:00

I bring this little boy home... put him with my little goats and hope they all take. It may end up more than 5 months (their gestation period) to get babies, because I am not sure when Jackson will be mature enough to breed...

But then I will have more babies and more milk whenever it happens :) then I figure I will sell the babies, because they will be mixes, although CUTE mixes! :D and they will make nice animals for people who are not into registered animals, but who would like some small grade milking goats :)

Kevin does not want to sell any of our original goats. :) I suggested selling Belle and Patches, because we are going to have to keep them separate hereafter because I do not want to lose anymore babies. And they are just still mean to the others. But he does not want to sell them :) I love that man! haha

I do not know if Belle and Patches are pregnant or not. We won't know til they kid! Which will be the last week of March at the earliest. If they do not kid by the first week of May, then we will know they did not breed, and the girlie who we took them to said we can try again. :)

I am hoping they get a boy as well as some girls, because I am planning on wethering (neutering) a boy for a companion for Mr Jackson. They do better when they have a wether companion. that is what I have been told by many people! And wethers are mild. :) So even if he is bigger than J, they should get along well :)

So about the little goaties...

When I buy my 1st Nigerian Dwarf girlie.. I am thinking it will be June, but I may possibly wait til the next round of breedings and ask her for a bred doe. The girl in Buckanon WV who I am going to buy my next goat from has all nice goats, so any of hers are good for me ;) haha Anyhow, when I buy her (already bred), I will breed her offspring with Jackson.

I think I will need to buy another bred doe, though. I want to buy them from different farms, because I want them to be able to be bred to Jackson.

If I buy does who are already bred, I can breed their female offspring to J. Then I can breed THEM to J. And if I get two girls who are not related, I can breed them to any bucks from the other doe.

Follow? haha

It has me all confused, but I think if I buy two bred does from two different farms, we should be able to get a good start. And Kela, Cassie, Faith, and Raechel can each have their own to start their own herds with! :D

They have all expressed GREAT interest in trying their own hands at it! lol

I have to say, they are all three helpful with the goats. They all feed and water them. Faith and Cassie may do a little more, but Kela helps a lot as well :)

Faithy actually wakes up and asks if I have already fed them. :) Cuz she wants to do it :) I usually let her do it. :) cuz I know how much she enjoys it. Plus, I am old, and my bones crack when I go outside in this weather!!

After I have sold some of the goats, I should be able to buy some more bred does and basically start again. and that way maybe I can also make a little extra money as well as enjoy goat's milk and also enjoy the little goaties too!! :D

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Menu Monday!!!

Monday - Sausage gravy and biscuits, maybe eggs

Tuesday - Pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday - Mac and Cheese with broccoli

Thursday - Hot Turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy

Friday - Shrimp scampi with Pasta and broccoli

I am buying a buckling!!!!

2010-01-08T00:49:00.004-05:00

I am SOO EXCITED!

I am getting a sweet little polled (naturally hornless) buckling (baby boy) Nigerian Dwarf from Honey Hollow Farm in Pennsylvania!!!

I am so excited! He will be ready to come to my house in February or the beginning of March! We have to get ready for HIM!!

I am so excited!!

He is registered and his lines have star milkers all through them!! WOOT! We hope this is a trait he will pass on :) I plan on milking all my girl-goats! :) His grand-dam is the farm's best milker!!

His name is Jackson! Here are some pics of him, he was born in December:

Is he not CUUUUTE?!?!?

Did I mention I am excited?

Grateful

2010-01-06T13:08:00.000-05:00

I am very grateful for what I have. A family in town's house burnt down, and they were lucky to all get out with their pajamas on.

That makes me feel very grateful for what I have and thankful I am warm and comfortable in my own house.

That would definitely be devastating.

But it got me to thinking. I am sure they are just as grateful for what they have now at this moment as I am for all my stuff.

They still have each other. They have kind friends who are taking care of them.

When things like this happen, it is tragic, yes, but it always brings out the best in people.

Several people have posted on facebook the sizes and needs of this family, and you should see the response.

Kindness abounds when tragedy strikes!!

I strive to be kind even in non-tragic situations. I don't always manage! I am going to try and use this example and keep myself on track. People need kindness in their every day comings and goings, not just when they are at the lowest point in their lives!

I will try to remember.

Soooo.....

2010-01-05T12:56:00.000-05:00

I have been reading several books lately. :)

Not that I may need them in the future or anything... or... well, I hope I might, but.... It is all up to Kevin, really ;) I may perhaps be wearing him down!! ;)

Anyhow.

This weekend I read Husband Coached Childbirth by Dr Bradley, and Ina May's guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin :) I especially loved Ina May's book. She is QUITE a hippie, but she is more "down to Earth" than most people, and I like that.I like natural. And that is exactly what Ina May is :)

My family mostly thinks I am full of it, for even wanting to be pregnant again... but I most sincerely want more children. And I most sincerely believe God will bless me with more. :) If he does not, I am good, though. I try to be content. Naturally, I can't help the feelings of longing I get when I see or hear other babies or babymamas. But do you really think that is actually discontentment?? I can't help but think it is not me being discontent... just having a natural reaction to getting older and being "barren" for so many years now...

Anyhow. ;)

I do plan on having my next baby at home, if God so blesses me :)

AND, my family thinks I am nuts for that too. Their theory is that I will not be able to have the baby at home. Because my labors were long and rough and my cervix was kind of a pain. It always got stuck at three centimeters for like EVER.

HOWEVER, after reading these two very informative books (Bradley is an OB, who favors natural childbirth within the hospital surrounding) I have come to the conclusion that my cervix is NOT defective, but that my surroundings were not very encouraging for optimal cervical dilation to occur! :D

And so.. I firmly believe in my ability to give birth to any future progeny at my home with very little to no problems :)

And I am going to try it if the Good Lord gives me the chance. :)

I will however be needing some encouragement... so anyone who has given birth at home or knows someone who has successfully done so, feel free to share the good stuff! :D Thx! haha

Menu!

2010-01-03T22:58:00.001-05:00

I have been making pancakes and freezing them, because a girl at church came to my house for New Year's and brought us all this WONDERFUL fresh BUTTERMILK! YUM! Great pancakes!!! :D :D :D

Anyhow... so here is my menu:

Monday - Broccoli Alfredo Shrimp Pasta

Tuesday - Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday - Hamburger Gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans

Thursday - Spaghetti and sausage

Friday - Pizza sounds good to me ;)

Goaties goaties goaties!

2009-12-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

Did I say Nigerian Dwarf goats?

Maybe I meant Mini-manchas!!!! O my goodness, these goats are adorable!!!!

I may buy one from a lady in california. Haha I know, right? California?? Well she has a lady bringing some goats to Tennessee, so well... I mean Tennessee... it's not THAT far from me, is it? hahaha

It is registered, but she has lost the paper work, so apparently that means I would have to register it as NOA in TMGR. Whatever the heck that means! haha No that means they cannot be proven to have purebred parentage but look like the breed enough that they are that breed. Well, look here. This explains it better then me.

SO!

Whadya think?

The non registered is cheaper, but then again, there is the gas money. And I haven't really looked around here close to see if I can find a Mini Mancha closer to me!! LOL

I know. Sproadic is my middle name. Not really, it is Joy, but you know what I mean. ha

Ok.

So now I got you wanting a MiniMancha milking goat, don't I?

Admit it!!! it is ok. I know how ya feel. *sigh* LOL

New Year's a comin'

2009-12-28T16:00:00.002-05:00

:)

I love New Years :)

I enjoy fresh starts :)

I hope everyone had a nice christmas. We did :) Very enjoyable.

It was definitely hectic!! We had like 4 (I think it may have been 5?) Christmas get-togethers/parties.

Fun fun stuff I tell ya.

DEFINITELY consumed too much food!!!

So weigh in tomorrow is going to be killer. We only skipped walking one or two days though :) So hopefully that'll help :)

Ok.

Here is something new I been thinking on.

I think I want to look into Nigerian Dwarf Goats.

They are ADORABLE!

Pint sized, but give about 2 quarts of milk a day :) I think they'd be totally worth it. Unfortunately I will hafta save up for them, as they are purebreds, but I think that will make them easier to sell eventually ;)

I may be crazy, but I am going to look into them and hopefully get me some this next year! :D

At least he waited til after my birthday...

2009-12-21T21:03:00.002-05:00

:) Kevin brought home a tree for the girls to decorate :)

My birthday

2009-12-20T00:21:00.001-05:00

This is a repost, which I enjoyed, and wanted to share again :)

Go to Wikipedia and type in your Birthday month and day only.

December 20th

List 3 Events that occurred that day:

First this is cool - December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of the year.

Ok three events:

1192 - Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the crusade.

How cool. I enjoyed reading Ivanhoe and Robbin Hood. Interesting!!

1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

Ok, kinda boring... haha

2007 - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

Rock On Queen Elizabeth!! Poor Prince Charles! LOL

And I had to share these two birthdays as well:

1982 - David Cook, American singer, winner of American Idol
1990 - JoJo, American singer

I love The David ;) And my kids adore JoJo because of her part in Aquamarine :)

You will never believe this...

2009-12-08T19:22:00.000-05:00

but I have.... a..............

MENU!!!

:-D

It is a two week menu. I made Kevin sit down and plan it for me. Is that bad or what? :) So here it is:

Monday - Pancakes, bacon, eggs

Tuesday - Spaghetti, Italian sausage

Wednesday - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn

Thursday - Texas Beef skillet

Friday - Chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans

Saturday - Turkey, stuffing

---------
Monday - Shrimp scampi

Tuesday - Frozen pizza

Wednesday - Fish and fries

Thursday - Hot Turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy

Friday - Tuna pasta casserole

Saturday - Christmas dinner with the extended Fam at my mom's :)

Well...

2009-12-04T20:21:00.000-05:00

I have been trying to get my christmas card for a header, but it is not working. Nothing I have tried has worked. I thought about trying to change my template, but honestly I love this one! So I don't wanna! :) So I give up.

So, Joanna, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

I haven't got a thing to say though.

I have even been having trouble thinking up statuses for fb!! Can you believe it? haha

This time of year is stinky. I always feel bad. And everyone expects me to feel good. But I just DON'T.

So I get to feeling a little rebellious. And I guess I am afraid if I say too much, it will be cranky, and I know how much I dislike it when I read other people who constantly come off as cranky, so I would just as soon just not say anything about "what's on my mind.." :-p

Because it is very BAH-HUMBUGGY trust me!

I dislike christmas trees, christmas decorations, christmas songs, hearing about them, hearing about how fun/meaningful/wonderful they are, hearing about how much everyone enjoys them... blah blah blah.

See?

Bah HUMBUG!

So I won't be talking about it much more. Just so everyone won't unfriend me, or disown me as a blog-buddy :)

Happy Holidays!

2009-11-23T20:31:00.000-05:00

You all are the first to see our holiday cards :)

My friend Sherri made them, she rocks!!

She made this one a little silly. I printed one of it... to give to Kevin :) I think he will get a kick out of it :)

Sunshine erase my blues away!

2009-11-21T14:18:00.000-05:00

Note to Carol: this is when I feel silly for blogging...after I post a note about how sad I was, and then I feel better. It just seems ridiculous that I was so sad. But I was!

And I just found out another friend of mine is expecting, and I got another twinge of jealousy.

But overall, I am doing good today.

The sunshine REALLY helps.

Being busy with several extra children also helps. (I am babysitting my two regulars and their two cousins, one of which is Riley who used to be my regular. If you could follow that, congrats! haha)

Plus being reassured that people still love me even when I am silly, that helps too :)

Also, resolving to do better helps.

And walking helps.

Did I mention knowing that people love me?

That helps a LOT. :)

Having cute goaties helps too :)

So.

Overall, even though I get sad sometimes, and cry, and feel awful, I bounce back. Because I have a LOT to be grateful for. I have people who love me. And I also dislike bad feelings. :)

Even though I know the bad feelings will come back (it is a fact of life) I know I will come out on the other side next time, just like I am/have this time. :)

The SADness has set in

2009-11-19T10:55:00.004-05:00

I always forget how bad it can get. This year is a bad one.

I always have at least a mild case of SAD. But some years I get it bad.

I am fairly certain this is one of those years.

I am really trying to be grateful and content and not sad.

I am grateful and content, but I am still so sad.

It is hard when your hormones are working against you. And when you would just really like to have a baby, and it seems like everyone you know is pregnant or just had a baby, and even some people are pregnant with twins...And especially because you are trying to be happy for them (and you are happy for them) but you are kinda jealous....And especially especially because you will probably never ever ever get to have your own baby ever again.

It is really hard not to be sad.

But I will be fine.

I just have to keep being grateful for what I have got. :)

lovin' life

Tanner saying "bababa"

8 months!

Bath Baby

Some recent pics :)

Photo Challenge Day 7

Photo Challenge Day 6

Photo Challenge Day 5

Challenge Days 3 and 4

Photo Challenge Day 2

Photo Challenge Day 1

My Epitaph :)

Life happens

Gratuitous Tanner Pics :)

Tanner's birth day (May 27th, 2011)

Nope, no baby yet! :)

My family

I still have three more weeks!

Kevin's surgery went well!

Just the randomness going through my head

In limbo

Breastfeeding - disgusting??

I know I said I would try to be positive....

That's the breaks kid...or Poor Kevin :(

There's work and then there's work...

27 weeks

No news is good news :)

OH BOY!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Just thought I would share my growth (haha)

Sweet

Complain, complain, complain

Oh! Hi!

The beans are spilt

15, 13, **11**, and 6

Raechel is 6 today!!!

In order to shove the previous post down....

Just a few thoughts

School's in

Since I am no good at keeping secrets anyway...

School time!

I am alive, I promise

Summer of Homemade

Kela is 15 today

THIS is why I got goats!

Take a little trip

Just an update

Oh boy.

Hair cut day

More work!

Idk how people do this!

Lots going on here

American Idol again :)

Work!

AI!!!!!

Menu!

Just stuff

Menu (2 weeks in a row. BOOM-BABY!)

Did I say I WAS busy?

So. I am a busy gal

Menu

Cassie was born, angels rejoiced :)

If you care to look

Is it time to create a new government?

Did you get pinched today?

Idol

It is time once again

Kevin is ready to SHOOT me!

We're havin a partay!

Check it out

I am happy today!

BEEEA-utiful!

Take the happy with the sad

Well, I spoke to my vet's office about the goaties

Life of Fred

Menu-ing again!

Lovin' Life

Whew!

More crocheting :)

I am tired!

Call me Butter, cuz I am on a roll! ;)

15, 13, 11, and 6