Latest News

Thought we would share our latest news with you.  We are going to be adding to the blessing in our family!  Our new little one should arrive the middle of April! ( I do always end up going overdue though, so it just might end up being a May baby.)

Psalms 127:3  Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Other then being sick and tired we are all excited!
Blessings

let's try this again......

As you can see from all my postings.... NOT.  I have been without internet again for the past month.  It has been a busy around here.  We took a family vacation out east!  We were in 5 different states and Canada in the 10 days we were gone.  It was a lot of fun making memories with the children.  We spent time visiting with family and some friends!  We tried to make sure we did a few field trips too.  One of the highlights was the Almanzo Wilder Homestead.  I will try and post some pictures soon!
Upon our return home we have been busy trying to get some more canning done.  We did up apple pie filling, apple sauce, and then today we did up salsa and tomato soup.  It sure smells good in here! 
My hubby has been busy getting things ready to combined corn.  I have a feeling that it will be ready to do before we know it. 

long time no see......

Sorry I haven't posted in soooooo long.....  our Internet hasn't worked at all this last month.  It has been a busy month.  Lets see if I can give a quick summary of it! 
We had an open house for our son who has graduated from high school.  *Pats self on back*  I can't believe that we did it!  It seems like just a few years ago we started teaching him...... then I turned around and he was finishing up his senior year.......  now on to the next phase of life... he is going to take some dairy classes online this fall, along with classes he is staying home and working along side his dad on the farm!

We have spent a lot of time doing straw lately....I even had to drive tractor a lot.  I am so thankful for older girls who could keep things running at home while I was out in the field!  They ended up having to do a lot of the milking so we could get the straw in before the rain. Thankfully that is finished for this year!

After we finished up straw we even took a little time off and went out to the lake!! 

 Blessings~



Finished up 1st cutting...

Thought you might like to see a few pictures of how we do hay around here! 

Ben drove this tractor pulling the chopper and a dump truck...

Then the dump trucks are driven from the field to the bunk and dumped off....

the hay is then pushed up into a pile and  packed down

Elli even got a little ride!

After we took all the hay off we then had to cover the pile with plastic.  The plastic is put on the pile to keep the oxygen and rain out.  It helps keep the haylage from molding!  We hold down the plastic with tires... I guess I will have to post a picture of that later.  I didn't get one on my camera yet.....  Blessing~



Rain & Spring Planting

This past few weeks have been busy, but what is new!  We have been trying to get the rest of our corn in.  We are down to about 200 acres to go!  Which should go within the next few days.  It is late this year due to all the rain we have had.  We have had a lot of fields under water most of the spring. 

This is what our little creek looked like after one of the rains we had. 

I finally got some of my garden in!  I cheated this year and bought some things already as plants!  And last night I got them all mudded in!  Hopefully I will be able to get more of the garden worked up tomorrow and start getting my seeds in!  I can't remember ever getting it in this late.  I did look for seeds with the shortest number days till mature!  It will be interesting to see how everything turns out~
JUNE is dairy month!  Let's celebrate with a smoothie!  Blessings~

A little peak into our day!

6:20  Alarms went off (it was nice being able to sleep in a little!!)
6:30  Coffee was made and the guys headed out to the barn to start feeding the cows.  Normally it only takes one person, but my hubby's tractor is broke down till tomorrow.  That leaves him using the skid steer to load the feed into the mixer.
Abby headed out to do up her chores too.  She had to feed her veal and gather the eggs.  Then head in to get breakfast started.
7:00  The rest of the girls get up (all but Little Elli!) it is time for them to get their bedrooms cleaned and then head out to the barn to get their chores done.... more calves need feed, goats need feed and milked, and the bunnies get feed.
8:00 Breakfast is ready...... the girls are all in and ready and Ben comes in!  Great!  Called to let Dennis know that breakfast was ready.... you know just in case he lost track of time!!  He was busy helping a cow.... she wasn't feeling the best after freshening. (which is having a calf)  So, as soon as he finished giving her an IV he came in!
9:00 Finally having breakfast and Bible time!
After we finished up breakfast and Bible time it was time to finish up "services" while I cleaned up the kitchen.  (Services are the the jobs that they each have to do around the house!  Jobs or chores just don't sound fun!!  So instead we go by services!!!)
10:10 Leave to head into violin. This morning the girls met their new violin teacher!  She was very nice and looks like she is going to be a great teacher!  While us moms talked with Miss Joanna the children all had a chance to play together!  That is always a highlight of their day!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of these two when I came out!  They are just to cute!!  This is Ezra and Elli! 
12:40 we got home and quickly got some lunch
1:00 time to get going on school!!  Thankfully we are just about done for this year so it doesn't take that long!!! And then it was time to start fixing fences.... after those were finished we needed to build a few more fences for the horses!  We did get one finished, now just a few more to go!!!    
5:30 It is time to go and get the evening chores done.  Which included feeding and milking the goats and feeding the calves.  Oh yeah, and "stretching" the horses!!  LOL or in other words riding! 
While they were all out doing up chores I did a little more housecleaning.  And made dinner! 
7:00  we all enjoyed a meal together of homemade pizza out on the deck!!
7:30 time for dinner dishes, any unfinished chores, and then SHOWERS!!!
8:30 younger girls head to bed!  Followed by anyone else who is wore out after a long day!!

Hope you have all enjoyed a glimpse into our day!  I should get off now to get the little girls into bed!  And hopefully before to much longer my dear hubby gets back in from the barn.  I am not sure what all he had to get finished up after dinner.  Blessings!  

Fun times!

This is what happens when a 2 year old dresses herself!  She thought she was big stuff!  She went through her drawer to find something to wear because she wanted to go "outside" and momma wouldn't let her with go out with her little WHITE dress on!  Just a little reminder~ we have had over 5 inches of rain this past week......  white and mud just don't go well together!!  "Elli cute now!"  Gotta love it!

In between the rain we have been getting we have been working in the flower beds!!  The ones that aren't under water are looking so nice!  One good thing about all the rain is that our ducks have a lot of places to swim!

Not to mention that the girls have a spot to do mud baths!  Isn't clay good for you!  (They had better make sure they clean up after themselves!)

It is the little things that somehow make each day such a blessing!  Hope you enjoyed a few of the "fun" parts of our life!  Blessings!