New birds

I told you we were getting these! 

Silkies, is their name.  And i don't know much about them, but i hope they lay eggs :)

Rod saw them somewhere and thought our farm needs them.  And my mom was just way too excited to pick them up for us the other day, right mom?!

(I didn't get the greatest pictures because they don't hold still!  i should be used to that :)

So i counted out how many animals we are caring for right now.  And it's 33!  And that's not including a few wild cats that come around for our scraps.  This includes chickens, bunnies, cats, guineas, and a snapping turtle.  No wonder i'm feeling about maxed out in the animal up keep department.  We're actually about to double that number, as we are getting 30 more silkie chicks next month, to raise for a couple months, then resell them. 

(baby silkie)

Apparently we have nothing better to do. 

We will involve the boys as much as possible.  They do a pretty good job with their animal chores, and are learning a lot about about animals and are having fun with them. 

I love animals and think their instincts are amazing.  I'm reminded that God's an awesome creator a lot through our animals. 

If you want to own a Silkie this fall, you know where to find one!



twins!

Ben and Brad holding little Andrew and William!  They are almost 4 months old now, and about the same size as B&B at a year old :) 

Love those little smooshes...

Clay kept wanting to hold them too.  He was in his glory.  Kept asking "Pet it?" 

Nadene is doing a great job with the twins.  We took all 7 kids to the park the other day and we even lived to tell about it.  Good times. 

This week i found myself asking God for strength more so then normal.  Inside i've been feeling overwhelmed with responsibilities, along with some general disappointments throughout the week and it brought me down. 

I didn't want to stay there.  I realized the other day i almost missed out on my week due to this.  I want to be able to take my thoughts captive, like it talks about in 2 chorinthians.. Perhaps i should start with taking 20% of my thoughts captive and go from there :)

The boys have been a great source of joy this week and God used them to help me not take life too seriously. 

They've made a lot of progress in the water.  We had a fun time pool sitting and took advantage of the opportunity to swim.  We went 7 straight days and had friends join in a couple days.  Adam started jumping in, and everyone seemed more comfortable in the water.

We sold lemonade and flowers on Thurs.  The boys were raising money for Haiti, they made over $13.00.  it's always fun to meet the people that stop. 

One van stopped and 6 kids hopped out of the car.  It was so funny,  we had a waiting line!  (for the observant among you, yes adam changed shirts!)

Daddy and the boys are making me a cold cellar in the basement of our tobacco barn.  This fall i will store my access potatoes, red beets, and carrots in the cellar and experiment with how it works. 

Recipe of the week:  http://inthekitchenandonthecouch.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-idea-of-comfort-soup.html

It's called  Tomato-Basil Parmesan soup from Pinterest.  A must try.  It's very good, and even better leftover.  The recipe gives crockpot instructions but i just made it quick over the stove.  I never make soup in the summertime, it's kinda our rule, it's just too hot in the summer to eat it.  Rod must have thought i was mad at him or something when he came home for lunch to find soup on the table.  I coudn't resist, it looked too good!

The funny farm is about to get funnier.  Coming soon, Silkies!  (i think they are chickens)  more on these little goobers later. 

Have a blessed week!

Neighbors

i really didn't have neighbors growing up.  we were down a long lane, like i am now.  but we were surrounded by fields and meadows, and not really any people.  Our closest neighbors were my grandparents and they don't count.  :)

So now that we live here and are surrounded by neighbors (at a distance), i like it.  We have 5 houses close by at our corner.  They range from an old couple, to amish, to a young family our age.  We've been given a hard time from a couple of our neighbors from the beginning.  I won't go into detail in case they happen to read this :)  But i've been really thankful lately for the ones we have a good relationship with. 

Our amish neighbors have offered us their 2nd's of corn.  He sells the first ear to a market or something similar, but they won't take his 2nd ears. So we've been able to come anytime and get those ears.  It's right along our lane too which is handy.  I've gotten several hundred ears, giving most of away, and putting lots in our freezer too.

The neighbors our age, with twin girls Clay's age, have been sharing their inground pool with us this summer.  Starting today, they are away for 8 days, and we are 'in charge' of their pool!  whoo hoo!  (You know where we'll be hanging out all next week.) 

Daddy getting confirmation that he never wants to own a pool...

We went over this evening until dark. 

and of course there's our neighbor girl, who people tease is my daughter.  She goes a few weeks sometimes without coming over, whenever she needs a break from the boys (wish i could do that sometimes) but she always comes back and it's neat to see what she adds to our family.
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We took a walk out our lane recently and prayed for our neighbors, thanking God for each of them and asking Him to help us be a Light in this neighborhood. 

I think it's important to be kind to neighbors.  Never know when you might need them or benefit from what they have to offer :) 

Weekend Beach Trip

Rod came home for lunch Thursday and said our motel in Ocean City has vacancy, do i want to go to the beach this weekend!?  of course i do!  So 24 hours later we were off!

My awesome mom came over Friday morning and canned my red beets, fed us, got us out the door while she stayed back and cleaned our mess, did laundry, and vacuumed so we can come home to clean house.  All the while never mentioning how crazy we were to do this so last minute. 

We had a great time, as always, OC is such fun.  We were happy to see that the heat seemed to keep some people away.  It wasn't completely packed like you'd expect this time of year.   

Since it was so hot, we spent a good bit of time in the water.  The ocean water was 79 degrees, pool water was 85!  that was nice! 

This little one was a handful but he had a blast.

Our setup.  We brought our own canopy, knowing those umbrellas weren't going to cut it. 

Boardwalk..

Horseshoe crab..we saw 2 of these, they are so cool. 

Adam spent most of his pool time looking like a turtle.  He's so into going under water right now.  He's closer to learning to swim.   He holds his nose though.  but whatever :)

Clay liked this position:

The 3 boys shared a double bed.  Thank goodness they were exhausted by the end of the day.

Clay had the luxury of sleeping in the corner on the floor next to the fridge.  He's silly enough to think that was pretty special. 

Giving the birdies leftovers:

Looks like this bird is pecking clay's head!

View from the 2nd floor. 

I'm slightly addicted to this place. 

Confession.

See that picture above?? 
Just felt the need to say that it wasn't as easy as it might look to get that shot....First off, i took a good 60 pictures, just to get one that i like.  Also, Adam is holding a dead bird head in the photo, which him and Ben were fighting over for several minutes, thus delaying our lovely photo shoot.  Clay would NOT hold still, not look at the camera and not smile.  Until, that is, that i made a total fool out of myself with a dramatic game of peek-a-boo.  At the end of the shoot, Adam started crying.  I forget why.  I think he lost the dead bird head or something. 
So anyway, wanted to clear the air, just in case anyone thought for a moment that i'm some kind of miracle maker who can get 4 boys to cooperate so easily.  I am thankful though that they generally go along with my photo ideas. 
There you have it :)

BIG

When i put mushroom mulch in the garden this year, i was hoping to get bigger peppers.  Well i see it may have worked....Our first pepper...This one might get us through the whole summer!

It's interesting how my perspective has changed after the 3rd child.  I tend to let a lot of things slide with Clay.  He doesn't have a crib sheet, a changing table cover, doesn't get hair cuts :) and he's way behind the other boys on his 'knowledge' of colors, counting, shapes, etc.  He has 'baby of the family' written all over him.  Rod and i joke that he obviously must be color blind since he doesn't know colors yet.  ha ha.  more like he couldn't care less what color is what. 
Here is Ben leading a color lesson, asking what color is the grass.  (We would have excepted green or brown:)  I think we will wait to revisit colors until he's 3!  i know these things will come when he's ready.