Josh and Devon's calves

Josh and Devon decided to try to make a little extra money this coming year by raising a couple of calves to meat out. This past fall, the purchased a couple of newborn dairy bulls and then bottle fed them for several months. Now they are getting bigger and are eating hay for the winter, but I wanted to get their pictures posted while they were still small.Devon's calves are Spot and Spunk, and Josh's calf is Beef. As you can see, Sage likes to make sure the cow's faces are washed after they're done eating! Unfortunately, Spot passed away for an unknown reason this past Saturday. Devon was very upset. He really enjoyed the calves... not just because of their money making potential, either! Sometimes I wonder if the boys will get too attached to sell them for meat this next year!

Monkey see...

Last month, after returning from Scott's, I had noticed the air was low in one of our van tires. So I used the foot pump to put a little more air in so I could drive it to get it fixed (there was a nail in the tire. The next day, I was outside with Carolynn, taking care of the animals and what not. I turned around and she was gone. This is what I found her doing...
Monkey see, Monkey do!

Sunday at Scott's

Sunday dawned warm and sunny. Caelin went to church with Mom, me and mine. I think Caelin sat the best of all the kids. After church we went for a walk again. Chase and Carolynn shared the wagon. They loved being pulled by Granny all over! The weather was absolutely beautiful! We drove to the "beach" near the opening of the development and the kids waded into the cold water and played in the sand. Chase didn't really move from the spot he was placed for a good 15 minutes as the others played and wandered around the beach.

That afternoon, Trevor and Caelin carved some pumpkins for Halloween. The boys helped clean out the guts and Granny and I carved the faces they designed. Carolynn and Chase wandered around the yard, checking miscellaneous items throughout the experience. Then everyone posed for pictures.

The rest of the day, was spent relaxing and chatting with Lori (who fixed a fabulous dinner), watching the kids play, and trying to decide if we should stay and enjoy the company, or if we should go home in the morning so Trev only missed one day of school and I had a chance to catch up on the laundry before I had to go back to work. We decided to leave early in the morning and head back to PA, taking wonderful memories home with us to treasure.

It took us a bit longer to get home. We stopped to get breakfast, stopped to get gas, stopped for a potty break, and stopped for lunch. We left around 6:30 am, and got home in time to pick up Josh from his football game around 5:30 pm. I think I like driving at night better!

Thanks to Lori for a wonderful visit. I look forward to seeing everyone again, hopefully soon!

Saturday at Scott's

I know. It has been about a month since I wrote anything on here. I have a lot to write. Unfortunately, as it goes around here, some things may be left undone. Hope you enjoy what I am able to do!

Anyway, I'll start with my visit to North Carolina. Mom had told me that she was planning to go see Scott before he was shipped off to Iraq again. After thinking a few seconds and realizing it had been at least 2 years since I had seen him last and that I had never even met his son Chase who is 2 months older than Carolynn, I decided I wanted to go, too. I planned to take Carolynn with me, and a week before the trip, we added Trevor to the visitor's list. He was very excited to go see Caelin. I had to beg some fellow co-workers to trade days with me at work (which ended up causing some minor difficulties with Mike's schooling) in order to have the time to drive the 9 hours down and 9 hours back and still have time to visit. Trevor would miss a day or two of school, but I wasn't that worried.

We left Saturday October 10th in the evening about half past 6 pm. I figured if we drove all night, then the kids would sleep in the car, making for a more pleasant trip for them. We had a back-up plan to stop if Mom and I got too tired too drive. We made great time, only stopping once for gas and potty and got down to Scott's a little after 2 am. Carolynn had fallen asleep shortly after we left Granny's, and when I tried to move her into the playpen to sleep in the house, she woke up. She decided she wasn't tired anymore (even tho I was exhausted because I really hadn't slept the whole way), and even after I tried putting her in bed with me, she stayed awake until after 5 am. Then shortly after 6 am, Caelin, excited to start playing with Trevor, came in and woke me up with a cheery "it's morning time! Time to get up!" And the day's adventures started!

We started off the morning with Caelin's soccer game. Caelin didn't seem to care much about the game, but he did go after the ball and actually got a kick on it a couple of times. It was hard to get good picture as my camera's zoom isn't that great and the kids all tended to converge around the ball making a good shot nearly impossible. Caelin was #6. Scott spent most of the game entertaining Chase while trying to watch Caelin.

I finally got to meet my nephew. And Chase is absolutely adorable! Beautiful curls surrounded his cherubic face. His whole face lights up in a smile when he is happy, and he has the most adorable giggle! Unfortunately, that evening before Scott left, Lori cut all those beautiful curls off of Chase. He sat very patiently, never uttering a complaint through the whole procedure. And when he was finished, he was just as cute as he had been when she started!

Carolynn loved playing with someone her own size. She and Chase were the best of buds as she played with all his toys, jumped on the trampoline and rode in the wagon with him. Chase was a little slow to warm up to this creature invading his domain, but he was sweet and didn't fight back when Carolynn wanted the toys he was playing with. And Carolynn has never seen such fabulous toys in her life! Not only did Chase have fun things to play with, but he had two dogs bigger than her that didn't even try to knock her over!

Trevor, in the meantime, was having the time of his life with Caelin. Caelin's bedroom floor, spotless when we arrived, was quickly covered with Transformers, cars, dinosaurs, and myriad other toys. And after spending hours playing with toys in the bedroom, they went for walks with Granny and I, caught frogs, jumped on the trampoline and acted like boys. Trevor was as happy as could be playing with Caelin and his toys! That afternoon, Granny and I took the kids to a playground where we had a blast playing tag, swinging, and climbing around. That night, Caelin introduced Trevor to his Xbox 360. You can guess what Trev wants (and isn't getting) for Christmas now.


Scott left for Iraq Saturday night. Our prayers follow him. I know I don't say it often, but I love my brother. I am so glad I got to see him before he left. He is remembered in our family prayers every night, as well as many times throughout the day in my personal prayers. Thank you, Scott, for the service you give to our country. Thanks to you and the other men and women of our military, I can tuck my children in at night and know they will be safe in their beds. I know the sacrifice it must be to leave those beautiful children you have so that my children can have peace and safety. Thank you. I love you.

Carolynn's hat

A couple of weeks ago, Mike's dad had gotten a cute little cricket hat for Carolynn. Of course, Carolynn being herself, she wanted nothing to do with the hat. She doesn't wear hats. You put them on, she pulls them off. The queen must not like the way they feel or something, I don't know. Anyway, Carolynn didn't seem to want to wear the hat, but I think all of her brothers have worn it at some point in time. I have even worn it to try to get her to wear it! Grandpa wanted to see a picture of Care-care in the hat, but I could never get her to leave it on long enough to get the camera in position!

Finally, I came up with the brilliant idea of using bribery to get a couple pictures. When she was in a really good mood, I got out the hat, got out some fruit snacks, and told Care-care if she put on the hat and let me get a picture, she could have the fruit snacks. She not only did that, but she even "cheeeese"d for me! She is such a goof ball! I just never know what to expect from that little cutie!

Next day, while I was at work, the boys said Carolynn decided to put the hat on again (maybe she wanted more fruit snacks?). They said she ran around the house just a laughing and giggling with this hat on, being all cutesy. Unfortunately, the hat is still just a little too big for her, and the one time as she turned the corner, the hat slipped down over her eyes so she couldn't see, and she ran smack into the piano. The boys said she tore the hat off and cried hard for a few minutes. She's been wearing a nice bruise on the right cheek ever since, but I can't get her to wear the hat any more!

Damean's Visit

Yesterday I had a dental appt. and Liz watch Carolynn for me. When I picked Care up, I took Damean home with me while Liz went to work. Carolynn is such a cute little thing at home alone-- she gets her own way, has the run of the house, etc. When Damean was over, her bad side came out. Damean touches and plays with her toys. She doesn't want them until Damean wants them, of course. Rhett is going to be an awesome babysitter, though. He kept the two entertained by giving them ice cubes in cups. They sucked on them, they shook their cups and made noise and watched the ice cubes fly all over the floor, then picked them up and sucked on them some more (you aren't reading this are you, Liz?). I think it kept them entertained for about a 1/2 an hour at least!! When they got tired of that, Austin and Trev were back from school, so we got out the laundry baskets and the boys made a train. At first Carolynn was in the front, but the queen didn't like that. Damean didn't care, so they traded places. The boys worked and got worn out while I got dinner. Damean smiled and laughed the whole time. The queen wasn't as pleased... she had to share a laundry basket! She couldn't figure out how to sit in both at the same time... I'm gonna have to have kids over to play with her toys more often!

The grass is always greener...

All summer long, we got very little rain. Up until a month ago, the lawn was nearly dead and brown. Then the weather cooled, and we finally got some much needed rain. Unfortunately, the lawn now is in desperate need of mowing. I told Mike it was a shame to let all that good grass go to waste when we have these animals that would love to eat it, so intead of getting the mower out, Mike and the boys moved the corral panels to encompass part of the yard for the calves to nibble. When I got home from work that night, I noticed that the silly cows had trimmed a nice area of grass right along the fence line. Mike moved the panels a little bit the next day. Even though there was still plenty of lush, thick grass inside the fence, Rosebud insisted on eating out as far as she could...

I guess she thought it was true... The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!

under construction

The addition is coming along slowly, but surely. Merlin Miller (Stephen worked for him back when he was in high school, and David is good friends with his son, Justin, who Mike has played football with) is the man we hired for the construction. So far he is doing very nice work. He only has a crew of two other guys, so he doesn't move real fast, but he is thorough and does a very good job. I highly recommend him to anyone who needs some remodeling or anything. He has worked very well with Mike and I to help us get what we want. Here's what it looked like as of Monday...

Mike and I are thinking we might have him build us a little barn for the animals when he's done with the house...

Fun at football

This past weekend, Rhett, Austin, and Trevor had football games -- both at home. Fortunately, by standing at a point between the two fields, I was able to watch pretty much all of both games. I hate missing one of their games! One of them might make the most spectacular play of their life... and I wouldn't be watching...

Anyway, last Saturday, Austin was sick with a low-grade fever (Rhett and Trevor both missed school today with the same thing), so he wasn't able to play in the game. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Mike had clinicals, and I'm not willing to miss a game if at all possible, I made him dress warmly and dragged him out in the cool air anyway. Rhett played very well, as usual, scoring the first touchdown for his team and making some spectacular flying tackles. I got a picture of one of his great tackles -- although you can't see him very well since the big guy that was holding him (note the yellow flag on the ground) stepped in front of my camera. In spite of being held, Rhett made the tackle, as usual. I'm gonna have to work on getting better action shots!

I did get some really clear action shots of the spectators. It was a fairly cool morning -- mid 50's. Light misty rain continually. Perfect football weather! Carolynn really doesn't seem to watch much of the game, but she does have fun entertaining herself! She especially likes being able to climb in and out of the chair on her own.

Michael T wasn't with us at the game -- he was competing in a cross country meet with 9-12 other schools. He did wonderful!!! -- he placed 18 out of over 75 other highschoolers and even got a medal!

I also got a couple of pictures of Trevor's game. I don't know if you have ever watched a flag football game, but they are quite entertaining. Half the kids really don't know what to do and run the wrong way with the ball, tackle the kid with the ball instead of pulling his flag, or just simply dance to their own tune on the field. Trevor actually stays in tune. Having older siblings who play with him at home probably helps. He played a little bit of every position during the game, but I had the camera only while he was on the line. I'ts hard to see, but he's the one closest.

Saturdays with football are fun, but long days. I'm sad... I'm going to miss this coming Saturday's game... I have to work. Maybe I'll get lucky and get called off...

Life moves too fast

I know, I haven't been keeping up so well with this blogging thing, have I? Life has been awfully busy lately. With work for Mike and I, Mike going to school two nights a week, football practice for Rhett, Austin, and Trevor 3 nights a week, Michael T's cross country after school, Josh's Junior high football after school, Michael and Devon in Seminary every morning, Michael T with On the Road Driver's Ed every Monday, Devon with Driver's Ed every Wednesday after school, etc., etc., etc, I just can't seem to find the time to update this thing!! I'm so glad I have a good husband that is willing and able to help get all the kids where they need to go (when he's around), that I have the ability to get them places when I'm available, and that I have such fabulous parents and siblings that pick up the slack when Mike and I fall short!

Oh! and I have so much to update! Where oh where to begin?

The laundry basket

Children are absolutely amazing. They have fabulous imaginations! Over the past while, I have watched as my children created fun toys out of everyday household objects. I'm sure all of you that have ever had a cardboard box in the house with children present have discovered that kids really don't need toys if they have a cardboard box. Unfortunately, cardboard boxes probably wouldn't go over well in the birthday gift department. So, thanks to my children, I have a better idea for a birthday gift -- something to show that you actually spent some money and didn't just go dig through the grocery store dumpster... and I have pictures to show some of the varied uses...

A laundry basket is a fabulous gift idea! Carolynn thinks she is Queen in her laundry basket. Michael gives her wonderful amusement park rides while swinging her back and forth, around and around in her basket. And she protests loudly when the poor young man tires and sets her down for a breathing spell! And kind-hearted Michael usually picks the basket back up for another go-round!

Next we have the, uh, rowboat??! Notice the strategic positioning of couch cushions for comfort while rowing with toy guns across the carpet. (Try not to notice the myriad other stuff all over the floor). And you probably thought laundry baskets were for laundry!
Again we see our talented model posing in yet another use of laundry baskets... pet carrier! I believe Rhett is pretending to be a dog in this photo... I don't think it has anything to do with cramped quarters..
Along the same lines of a pet carrier, laundry baskets make excellent child carriers, as well. I have also seen my children line the basket with blankets and pillows and make a bed for their little sister to sleep in ... a portable crib!

Another favorite past time involving laundry baskets is that of being pulled across the carpet as if in a wagon. Carolynn loves it when blankets and pillows are added and she can lounge in the basket while being pulled around by her brother "slaves". And believe me, if they stop before she wants to stop, she lets them know! Not that she is spoiled or anything...!

Now, I know laundry baskets may not be your style for the ultimate birthday gift, so I have another idea for those of you on a tight budget. How about a pillowcase!