Day off at the beach

We decided to take the morning off and go to the beach since the weather was so nice.  This is really a lake and it isn't the best spot, but it is nearby and the kids have a lot of fun.

Somehow Tanner always ends up being some type of monster.

But in the end they always have a really great time.

 We caught up with some friends while we were there and they had lots of fun playing together.  Tanner loves getting buried in the sand.
  It was the most calm that he has been in days. If only he could stay that still at home sometimes.

He wanted J to completely cover him, but he just couldn't stay still long enough to accomplish it.

Happy Mother's Day

I don't normally focus this blog on my family or our life, it is usually just about the farm.  Today is a special day to me...it is Mother's Day.

Here I am with my wonderful children...isn't this the greatest picture?  It would have been just a bit better if Tanner had been smiling, but it was a long day and we had already taken a lot of pictures trying to get it right. 

I have some of the sweetest kids.  Morgan is the most awesome 16 year old.  She is my ever present helper.  I know that when I really need something done I can always count on her.  She looks out for her brother and sister even though they frustrate and annoy her at times.  She is sweet and loving and creative.  She loves to spend her time reading or listening to music in her bedroom or watching one of her favorite shows with us on netflix.  She is also the best shopping buddy around...I call her my personal shopper, I can always find something awesome when we are shopping together, but on my own...not so much.

Madison is my outside girl.  She loves to work with the animals and she helps with the fences and just about everything.  She is the one that nurses the lambs and she does a great job being the 'animal mama'.  She is super caring and giving and has such a beautiful heart.  She is great at playing with her brother and keeping him occupied when necessary or getting them both into trouble when she thinks she can get away with it

Here is Tanner, my little man.  This present was more accurate than his Sunday School teacher knew.  When he was just walking he would help clean up, put trash in the can, put dishes in the kitchen and try to sweep.  It was so cute.  He may not do all those thing now, but he tries really hard to me my little helper.  he has so much energy, sometimes I don't know what to do with it.  He is like a monkey climbing all over the furniture and balancing on things.  However he is also the sweetest little angel.  Every night he cuddles with me while we either read or watch a movie.  He tells me every day (many, many times) how much he loves me and how beautiful I am.  How can a mother not be absolutely in love with this little boy.

This was my best Mother's Day present ever.  They made this card...when closed it is a number 1 and says 'You're Awesome because...' on the inside are all these adjectives describing me.  If you can read them you know they think I am great...I just hope I can live up to it :)  I don't know if I am the luckiest mother in the world...but I sure do feel like it, even on the days when things go bad and it is tough to get through.

Babies, babies everywhere

This is Sophie.  She is one of Maggie's kittens.  Tanner was so excited that his cat had kittens and the kids finally convinced me that we needed to keep some of them.  Unfortunately all of them look exactly the same as Maggie, so we will have 4 gray tabbies.

Sophie really loves sitting with Madsion

The puppies are now 8 weeks old.  Runt left with her new family on Saturday and the rest ended up inside the house this morning because of a storm.  

You may be wondering why a storm would cause all the puppies to be in the house.  Well their grandfather Tank really hates storms.  Last night there was a storm and when we got back from church Tank was tied on the porch post (neighbor must have found him and tied him there).

I decided to let him there till morning and deal with him then...he really is a big baby when it comes to storms.  So when I woke up in the morning bright and early at 6am I heard all kinds of crashing and banging.  I forgot Tank was on the porch and there was another storm.  Then I made the mistake of opening the front door to deal with him.  He promptly cam in the house and cowered in the closet.  Because he was still attached to the cable I couldn't close the door. 

Next thing I know all the puppies were in the house along with Holly Houdini and one of the chickens and we couldn't keep them out until we could tie Tank out with another cable (this one was knotted on the porch post).  So I went to town and bought a really strong chain while the girls got the lamb and chicken out of the house...we let the puppies inside, you just need to pick your battles sometimes and that was one we would have lost. 

Now Tank is back out by the shed and the puppies are back outside.  But they did really enjoy their little vacation on the living room floor.

Photo Session

We took the camera out in the pasture with us and Morgan got a hold of it.  If you didn't already know, Morgan likes to take pictures.  She doesn't take just one, she likes the candid shots, so she just clicks and clicks...and clicks.  I think I had about 50 of them inside a few minutes.  Here are a few of the best.

As you may know from the previous blog, I was never seen (always behind the camera), now that Morgan has discovered that she really enjoys this I guess I will be seen more often.  These are the lambs that we saved before we sold our ewes this winter and our Nubian does on the right Shadow (black and white) and Valentine and her baby Cinnabon (brown).  In the middle there is our buckling Jethro.

We had to bring grain over to get all the animals together to get any pictures.  I had some in my hand, but they wanted the bucket.

They wanted the bucket really bad.  They just about climb over each other to get to it.  It is the standing family joke that the sheep and goats are like zombies.  Instead of brains they want......GRAAAAINS.  And they don't stop until they get them

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These are some adorable puppies.  They are the latest pups from Lizzy and Samson.  In this picture they are about 8 weeks old.  They end up in the yard because the holes in the gate are too big and they can get out.  The one in my arms is Momo and she is the one Tanner picked to keep.

This is Emerald and she is a cuddler.  You may wonder how she got that name.  You see all that white on her chest, well when she was born it sorta looked green, just a slight hint of green, but it took weeks for that to go away, so we just had to name her Emerald.

Here is Tanner with his cat Maggie.  He really loves her.  He makes sure that he feeds her every day and that she is taking care of her kittens.  He is so proud of her for being a good momma.

I finally got the camera back and was able to snag a few pictures of Morgan while she is outside.  Morgan isn't real fond of the outdoors in the spring and summer while the bugs are out, she would rather be out when it is colder, when the bugs are all dead or hibernating.  So when she is out in the spring/summer I try to get as many pictures of her as I can.  As you can see I only got a few.

I guess you could say this is a picture of all my kids. Morgan with her favorite pup Momo (named after her) and Madison with her favorite chicken. 

6 weeks old

The puppies are growing so much.

This is the runt and yes...we named her runt.  She is the sweetest of all of them and is always the first to come see us when we go out.  Luckily for me she is already spoken for or I may have a mutiny on my hands when I tell them we can't keep her.

Look how big she got in just 6 weeks!  Tanner just loves having puppies.  I told him he could pick the one we keep and he picked the one that looks alot like this one, but she is a bit bigger.  I just love this breed, the puppies are already guarding and have been for weeks.  Can't get better than that for protecting your farm animals.

New puppies!

This is Lizzy's first litter of puppies and she is such a good momma.

They came really early in the morning and she had then all cleaned and fed by the time we got out there.

It was really cold that night but she kept them all warm.  3 girls and 3 boys. 

Is that not the sweetest thing you have ever seen?

Violet

This is Violet

Violet is a Jersey/Dexter heifer.  We got her to be a family milk cow, but the opportunity we had to have her bred didn't work out so she has just been here eating the grass.

She has been very lonely since the other steers went to slaughter in November.  She really misses having friends.  So we have some jersey calves coming at the end of the week to keep her company.  I just hope she is nice to them, she is a lot bigger than they are.