Crazy Days!

The weekend after McKenzie's birthday just she and I took off for Stone Mountain. We had fun and I worked very hard to keep up with her the whole time! It was amazing what we crammed into two days, we even climbed the mountain.
On top of the mountain.

Life has been anything but dull lately! The day of McKenzie's birthday my husband drove over an hour away to buy two new Nubian goats. One of them is a pregnant female and the other is her mate. I have discovered that I don't like goats! The males smell bad, and they jump all over you. They make very strange noises and just aren't very cute! We were eating with grandparents this past weekend and Mariah proceeded to hold up a black bean and announce that that was what goat poop looked like.

Last week my very pregnant sister came to visit with her five children. Ten children and two pregnant mamas under one roof. We had a good visit and it really wasn't too much of a zoo. The worst thing that happened was Matthew hit a baseball and cracked our van's windshield. He now has a list of jobs to pay his dad back for the damages. Hard life lessons! The children all got along great except for a few minor incidents when her two year old clobbered our two year old. Malachi still talks about "Lebi (Levi) hit my head!" I guess he will be scarred for life! :>)

CousinsPregnant bellies!

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Today we all loaded up to go to piano lessons and run errands. Our very wild yellow lab was tied out on a stake. We bought a long heavy duty dog cable that was supposed to be made for large dogs. She either stays in her pen or has to be tied out because she will chase the chickens. We pulled up in the driveway and saw her sitting there. When we got out we discovered she had gone for a swim! We have an above ground pool and there was a cover over the top of it. I have no idea how she jumped in (because of the two year old we don't leave the stairs in it) and can't believe she didn't get tangled in the cover. She did all of that with the heavy cable still tied to her! We now have two holes in the top ring of the pool. Hmmm........ I guess another job to add to Matthew's list!

Some days you have to laugh to keep from crying. I think this is why the Lord gave us Mariah! Here are some of her latest.

While shopping for groceries I jokingly said, "Should we get some eggs?" (We have 40 laying hens.) She said, "Oh, our chickens would be SO jealous!"

We (or more accurately our ten year old) are potty training Malachi. The first time Mariah saw me take him tee tee she was mortified that I didn't wipe him. I told her a little boy doesn't wipe tee tee because they have a "hose". She said, "I wish I had a hose."

Today she was looking out the window just in time to see her white rooster "Tom" jump on the back of one of the hens. She shook her head with her hands on her hips and said, "Oh, that Tom! He is trying to make eggs again!" I have no idea how she even figured that much out! Nothing like animals to teach your kids the facts of life!

Happy Birthday McKenzie!

Sixteen years ago today I became a mom. My husband and I married while we were in college. I was only nineteen and he was twenty-two. I had big plans to finish college and go on to get my Master's in Early Childhood Education. The fall of my senior year I found out I was expecting a baby. I was very surprised and wondered how it was all going to fit with my plans. The last day of my senior year instead of being at college I was in the hospital giving birth (eleven days late!) to a beautiful baby girl. Until you become a parent I don't think you can even imagine what it is like to lay eyes on your first baby. Everything changed the day she was born. It no longer seemed important to be a school teacher and it definitely didn't seem important to go on and get my masters!

It is funny thinking back on those early days as new parents. I remember changing her outfits several times a day just to see something new on her. I took pictures and videoed everything she did. I remember my husband racing home from work to see her because he was afraid he was going to miss something! We have videos of her laying on a pallet with music playing and both of us talking to her as hard as we could. It is a wonder that she isn't a nervous wreck to this day!

I am so glad that the Lord had bigger plans than I had. I often wonder what my life would look like if I had gotten my way and started teaching school. It is sad to think of the blessings I would have missed. Each one of our children are unique and have a special place in the family. I am SO thankful as our family continues to grow that He knew I would need McKenzie to be the first-born. She is a huge help to me and a blessing to the entire family!

We love you McKenzie and hope that you have a wonderful Sixteenth Birthday!

Farmer Malachi

Malachi loves to help water the garden. We have called him "farmer Malachi. Last night when he saw me watering he came running saying, "I be farmer!" (Notice the plant he is watering OUTSIDE the raised bed garden. This is a result of him dumping my seeds out when I was trying to plant. We now call those plants "Malachi's garden".) It is kind of funny, you are so careful to have your dirt just right and plant the seeds perfect. His seeds were just dumped on top of the ground and the plants are beautiful!

Catching Up

Well, I knew when my daughter (http://www.pecanpastures.blogspot.com/) talked me into doing a blog that I wouldn't be very consistent! That has proven to be true. My intentions are there, I just don't have enough hours in the day!

I am close to 22 weeks along in the pregnancy now. I went to the midwife the day that I figured was 20 weeks (they say I am three days further) for my ultrasound. We debated on just me and my husband going or taking the whole family. We have always taken the children with us to the 20 week ultrasound. We have never had a two year old like Malachi though! I hated for the others to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity, so we all packed up and went. The lady that does the ultrasound was very sweet and didn't seem bothered by the large crowd in her tiny room. Malachi watched the big screen on the wall and immediately said, "baby!" We saw a very healthy baby................................ and decided not to tell anyone! :>) All of our children know except the two youngest. As we were leaving I asked Mariah (6) if she knew what the baby was. I was curious to see if she had picked up on it while everyone was talking. She said, No, I know I can't know."

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Baseball news


Matthew hit his first home run on the big field!!! It was his goal at the beginning of the season to hit a home run and he really thought it would be cool to hit it over the fence and hit someone's F-150. I told him I thought that was a terrible thing to wish for, but he thought it would really be cool. Well, this week is the last week of the season and he had only hit one home run during a practice. Last night he was up at his first time to bat. He had two strikes on him and he slammed one so hard that it was like a bullet. It flew right over the fence and slammed into the side of a moving.............. yes, you guessed it, a new, white F-150!!! I felt bad for the poor man that was bound to have a big dent in the side of his pick-up truck, but I was so excited for Matthew! He looked like it didn't really sink in with him as he rounded the bases and was greeted by his whole team at home base. It was so cute seeing his grin. For those of you that know Matt, he is a pretty low key guy. He didn't show a whole lot of emotion, but he did have a grin! :>)

We had been praying this whole season that Matthew would have success this season. He is so diligent with his practicing and is just such a good boy. When I see how a lot of boys his age are, I am so thankful that he is still just an innocent boy that works hard and plays hard. When Marc was still coaching high school ball he was told by a fellow coach that didn't understand the life he chose to live that "Good guys finish last." I am so thankful that Matthew is learning at a young age that hard work and diligence pay off. Good guys CAN finish first!

Busy Days

We always look forward to strawberry picking in the spring. We canned about 14 jars of jam so far and have eaten lots of them fresh!Malachi playing hard!

Playing outside. I never know what kind of outfits the girls will be wearing! Madeline out running around with her apron on. McKenzie made it for her for Christmas and she loves it.

Some funny things......................................

One day last week Mariah and I were taking a big brown paper bag of corn shucks out to the horses. When we got outside we saw our two roosters fighting. The white rooster is Mariah's and she is very protective of him. Of the two, he is the friendliest. The black rooster was accidently sent to us last spring when we ordered pullets. He is very aggressive and charges at us anytime we are near him. I was scared to get near their fighting, but it didn't look like the white rooster was doing very well. Mariah ran right in the middle of them swinging her bag at the black rooster and screamed, "Stop it! Stop it! My rooster is a CHRISTIAN rooster!"

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Last weekend we attended a homeschool conference. We don't have television at home so anytime we stay at a hotel it is a big deal to watch something like Animal Planet. I overheard this conversation between Madeline (10) and Mariah (6).

Mariah: "It is a good thing I have a mommy and a daddy because I would watch that thing all the time."

Madeline:"No you can't do that, it kills brain cells."

On the way home the weather was bad so we stopped to get some icecream. Mariah's icecream cone dripped on the table and she stuck her tongue out like she was thinking about licking it off the table. Madeline quickly scolded her and said, "Don't do that! You will get the swine flu!"

(What would we do without those big sisters to look after us!?:>)

Here is Mariah's first day of the first grade. I decided to start now since the baby will be here in September.

Now, some not so funny things! Malachi has been a ball of energy lately. Here are a few of the things he has done just in the last week! Dumped several bottles of shampoo into the tub with him, dropped eggs that had just been gathered onto the laundry room floor, dumped a brand new bottle of liquid dish soap on the kitchen floor (early one morning!). While I was cleaning it up he stood watching and shook his head and said, "Why, why, why, why why!" (I don't know where he has heard that!) This picture shows him climbing the pantry shelves to get the bag of balloons down. The next picture is where I found him this morning when he was out of my site for two minutes! (Notice the laundry detergent. He has something for soap!)

Thank goodness he does go to sleep eventually! :>) This was his first night in a "big boy" bed. He is going to bed like a dream now! Too bad we didn't do it weeks ago.

Nineteen Weeks

Life's Lessons

Well, I missed posting about week seventeen and now I am almost to week eighteen. It has been a very busy week.


This past Thursday was a very trying day. I (like every other day) woke up with my mental (and some on paper too) list of things I wanted to accomplish that day. The day was already not starting great because the night before my husband brought home two seven week old baby boy goats. We were supposed to get girl goats. (That is a whole different story!) The fencing for the goats was not complete so they were put temporarily in the dog pen. The dog (a very high strung yellow lab) was tied out on a chain. I was busy trying to get my agenda done for the day: cleaning, laundry, homeschooling, phone calls, and keeping up with my two year old. It was after lunch and time to lay him down for his nap. I normally lay him down and while he sleeps I go for a run. He has always slept in our walk in closet in his play pen. (It does have an air vent!) He has never been a great sleeper, which is why he has never spent one night in his crib upstairs. It has always been easier just to keep him in his dark little closet with his fan running. It was perfect until he learned how to climb out. This particular day when I had a million things to do, I really needed him to get to sleep. He probably got up at least twenty times! I spanked him and talked to him until I thought I was going to cry. Saying he is going through a strong-willed time is an understatement! My oldest daughter said she thought I was going to cry. I was close. By the time he finally went to sleep I didn't have a lot of time. I had a hair appointment for one of my daughters, so I needed to hurry and get home to shower and get her to town. When the run was over and I was ready to take her to town I remembered that my husband had taken my van to work and I didn't have a set of keys to his car! After a frantic five minutes and almost calling to cancel (which would have messed up her picture appointment scheduled for the next day), I remembered we had a spare key in a drawer. As I was going out to make sure that key fit his car the dog came bounding towards me and I spilled tea all over my legs and she jumped up and scratched me. She somehow had gotten off her chain. With chickens roaming the property, we cannot leave her to run loose so I spent the next few minutes getting her tied back up. I did finally get to the hair appointment and we were only five minutes late! (Oh, and one more thing that happened was the chickens ate all the seeds out of the garden that I had planted!)


Later that night as I was laying in the bed reading my Bible I came across this verse from Proverbs. "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps." Proverbs 16:9 I wish that I could say that I handled the frustrations graciously, but the dog kind of sent me over the edge! I am trying to learn to be more flexible and realize that I am not in control of my day. Kind of funny, I was just talking to my teenage daughter a few days before about being flexible and dying to self and I find I still need to be reminded too!

The perpetrators


One of the other perpetrators!


And the cutest little perpetrator!