More chickens and more updates

   We are getting 4 more chickens this week!!  Yay!  The chickens have been doing really well laying an egg a day each.  Having 10 chickens will be nice and a good supply for our sized family.
    We are getting ready to close the pool next week.  It has been so enjoyable this summer and I look forward to next summer when we can get in it again!
    Hubby is heading into his last week at the museum.  I'm sure it is going to be hard saying goodbye to such great friends and coworkers.  I'm so excited he will be home now!!  What a blessing for our family :)  He is busy with updates to his side business.  He will be launching a new website design soon for his software (hopefully in October) and it is looking fantastic so far.  We are very excited and hoping for an increase in subscribers as well.  Hubby was able to share with his coworkers what he will be doing after he leaves the museum and he received alot of great feedback.  God has blessed so much!
   I've been swapping out the kids summer clothes for their winter outfits.  The cooler weather has been so nice.  I LOVE the fall!  Looking forward to the cool evenings and the walks up to the road and back.
    School is going well and the kids are looking forward to Science soon (one of their favorite subjects)  We have finished up Geography and almost done Civics, so we will head into learning about the human body.  Always an interesting and fun topic!!
    Baby girl is doing well.  No teeth yet, still haven't started her on solids yet, she is close to clapping, not sitting up yet, she does get her knees tucked up under her but no crawling yet.  She is a happy, happy girl.
    I think that is about all the is new around here......

Happenings

So we have been busy, busy, busy around here.  Our chickens are enjoying their new home and producing 6 eggs a day.  The kids love the 'chore' of collecting eggs and letting them out to roam.

We've been having lots and lots of rain so mowing is becoming a weekly thing.  We have about 5-6 acres that needs constant mowing so it can take several days to get it all done.  I actually LOVE mowing the grass!!  I get out on the riding lawn mower and have several hours of quiet time which is nice :)

We have had company as well.  My parents stopped in for a visit, then we had friends from Maine pass through whom we haven't seen in 15 years!  He was hubby's best man at our wedding.  All the kids got along wonderfully well and didn't want to see them leave!!   We also have guests this weekend as well.... busy, busy, busy!

Hubby has a side business that has supplemented our income for several years now.  God has been so gracious in blessing this business to where it is going to be hubby's full time employment.  He has loved working at the Creation Museum and will miss his co-workers (and friends) but we are so thankful for this opportunity for hubby to work from home!  This will be his last month there.

All the kids are doing great.  School is going well and we are getting much accomplished.  The kids are enjoying lots of new books, so I will have to share their new favorites in another post soon!

Much to update

   We have had a lot going on around here lately.  Mainly our little 4 yr old had some major dental surgery and it went extremely well so far!  It was her first time under anesthesia and she did great.  Her recovery has been phenomenal with no pain and no pain medication.  Let me tell you I am a firm believer in homeopathic medicine now!!! (along with God's graciousness and healing first and foremost!)  This is the second time we have used homeopathy (first time was for a bout of croup/fever) and it has been amazing.  I would love to write a long post about homeopathy in the future but for now I will just say that I have been extremely pleased with the results.  After her dental surgery we used Arnica (which is for inflammation/swelling from bone injury, absorbs bleeding from within the body) and some Hypericum (which is for nerve injury).  We brought our little gal home a very weepy, drugged girl and within hours she was back to complete normalcy.  It was definitely nothing like what we were told to expect for the next day or two!  We are so thankful for the Lord's goodness to us and her protection through this.
 
We also have some new 'additions' coming on Sunday.  We are getting 6 adult laying hens which we are looking forward to!  We moved into our new home a little late in the season so we couldn't get any chickens this year.  We are thankful this opportunity came about.  The kids are excited!  Now to build a chicken coop on Saturday in time for their arrival!!!  Fresh eggs.....yay!
 
And our boy got his birthday gift a little early (a month early).  He has been loving his gift and so has the rest of the family.  There has been some healthy and fun competition going on around here lately.....

Wildlife

This is what we had in our yard the other day.  It is so cool all the wildlife we get to see so close to home! (5 turkeys and a deer)

Share a Coke

So we don't drink pop ever!  But with this new, fun advertising from Coke, we just had to pick these 2 up when we came across them (for a keepsake:)  Everyone got a kick out of it here!  We'll have to keep our eyes open for any more family members.....which I highly doubt will be out there.....

pics

This little 2 yr old is a hard one to take pictures of.  She is constantly worried about the flies buzzing by or the wind blowing through her hair.  Every once in a while I will catch a smile.  Here are 2 recent ones....

Updates

Not a whole lot new going on here lately.  We have started our school year already (so thankful to FINALLY get into all my homeschool boxes!!)  We have a 6th grader, 4th grader, 2nd grader and one heading into kindergarten.  They were excited to get new binders etc and look forward to most subjects.  Math is usually the dreaded subject that they are not too thrilled about.

They have been enjoying the summer outdoors.  They are all so dark and tanned.  It's actually been quite cool this summer so our pool days are few and far between lately but we manage to brave the cold water some evenings after supper.  Everyone has a bike now so we are enjoying the 1/2 mile long driveway (1 mile there and back)  It is great exercise!!  I've also been on the big riding lawnmower and even tried some weed whacking yesterday.  This is a heavy weed whacker ( a professional one designed for over 2 acres)  My arms are killing me today!  I think I'll leave that to hubby from now on and enjoying sitting in the riding mower :)

We are hoping to get a greenhouse built this fall.  Since we moved here later during the summer, we missed planting a garden this year.  We would like to get some things started though, so hoping to get a greenhouse built!

Nothing else really new that I can think of.  We are enjoying our new place so very much and are so thankful for God's provision and blessing.

My girl

My little tanned 4 yr old....they have all gotten so dark this summer already!

More of my babe

Some more pics of the kids

I have so many 'props' and new places to take pictures of the kids!  This is going to be fun!

5.5 months

11 yrs old

9 yrs old

6 yrs old

4 yrs old

2 yrs old

Pics of our girl

5 1/2 months old.....

Pictures finally!!

So I have a few moments to finally get some pictures posted.  These are some of the house and a cousin pic from this weekend.  We missed getting a cousin pic from the weekend before!!  We have such a beautiful view from our front porch!  

Front of house

Back of house

Swimming pool out back

View from front porch

Panoramic shot from our front porch

Happy birthday

Our oldest boy has turned 9!!  I can remember by 9th birthday so clearly.  I thought I was soooo 'grown up'.  Nine felt so mature!  His party will be this Saturday when we have some cousins, aunt/uncle, Nana and Grandma/Grandpa here.  We just said goodbye to my sister's family last weekend.  The kids had so much fun with their cousins during the week.  Can't wait for the next visit!!  Hope to post some pictures soon.  I haven't been able to get my photo software working but I hope to soon and will post pics of the property.  We are definitely loving it out here in the country!!
Well, happy birthday to our boy.  We love you so much!

Moving

The past couple weeks have been very busy moving into our new house.  I haven't had a chance to blog lately and I have pictures of the house and property that I would like to post.  I will get to it soon once I am able to unpack and get stuff organized around here.  Dad has painted almost the entire main floor, mom has been busy cleaning and organizing what things are in the house, and my brother-in-law finished our new staircase today.  Things are coming together!!  It is great to finally be done with the rental now and I look forward to when there aren't so many boxes staring at me!

Birthday videos

Going through some past videos and thought these were cute.  This is birthday's from January and April.  One doesn't have enough hot air, and the others anthem is "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to"

My littles

Here's my 2 littles....my chunky monkey and my spider-midget :)

Updates

Baby girl has found her thumb....and inserts it in her mouth....NOOOOO!  I am determined to break this before she forms a habit.  She takes the pacifier very nicely but when it falls out, she finds her thumb.  She also has mastered rolling over and now sleeps on her belly.














In other news, we have been packing, and packing, and packing!!  We can't even sit in the livingroom now.  Our couch is unseen at the moment and our recliners are almost entirely in the kitchen!  Good news is our garage is pretty much completed, so only the den left to repack.  I'm hoping that will go a lot faster.  We should take possession of the house hopefully on Monday.  Then it will be cleaning up over there.  I can't wait to get the camera out and show some pics of the area and all our new 'toys'.  Hubby will finally be the proud owner of a nice riding lawnmower!  I know he's excited about that.  The kids love the 'gator' we have which is similar to the pic below.  The previous owner took them for a ride in it and they had a ball!!  We will also have a tractor (similar to the pic below) which will be interesting to see hubby on....*biting my nails*.  We're hoping to have the owner back out to the property to take hubby for a ride and teach him the ropes of tractor driving.  The kids are going to love living in the country...and hubby and I are excited as well!

My girls' first haircut

Oh how cute she looks!!

Updates

We finally closed on the house and it is officially ours!!!  Thank you Lord for your goodness to us!  It is so humbling to see how God blesses us continually and meets our needs, and how much more humbling when He grants us our desires as well!  We are not sure of our move in date yet.  The current owners have 30 days to move out.  We are continuing to pack here.  Our livingroom is becoming less and less of a 'living' area :)  The little ones like climbing on the boxes though.  We are hoping this weekend to really get into the garage and den to clean and repack.  Not looking forward to that at all.  It will be so nice to finally get moved in and unpacked after 2 1/2 years of most of our belongings collecting dust.

In other news, we came home the other day and almost jumped out of our skin.  We arrived home and opened the front screen door to see a long black snake curled up.  Our 6 yr old was the first to open the door and let out a scream!  I dislike snakes immensely!

Tonight I went over to friends house to pray with her, talk to her and hopefully encourage her.  She just lost her first precious baby to an ectopic pregnancy (baby attaches to the fallopian tube instead of the uterus).  She was rushed into surgery because her tube had ruptured.  Hubby and I are all too familiar with ectopic pregnancy (I've had one on each side) and miscarriage.   We have 6 children in heaven and 6 here on earth.  We thank the Lord that He is in control and that our friend is recovering and healing.  I know how much she desires to have children and I pray that in God's perfect timing He might see fit to give them their desire of children one day.  How thankful I am for my family that God has blessed me with!

Birthday picture

Finally got another birthday picture done a few months late.  Here is our 11 yr old.

Winner

Woohoo!  Look at what I won!  These look like great reads to help out this mama!!  It is an 8 book bundle containing the following:

(http://thecharactercorner.com/8-ebooks-bundle-giveaway-3/)
Learning to Treasure God’s Word – A Study of Psalm 119
Charts & Tips for Stress Free Planning & Scheduling
Training & Correcting the Heart With Scripture
Building Character Into Our Children
Character Trait Copywork
Dealing With a Difficult Child
Sibling Squabbles
Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the BEST Mom of All?
Looking forward to reading these!

Updates

Well, our closing date has come without us closing.  Looks like closing will be set for Monday now.  First, the owner had to go away for a conference today and tomorrow which moved the closing and the lender keeps asking for more paperwork before he gives the go-ahead to close.  As of today they have everything they need, so hopefully Monday we will all sit down and finally get this finished!!!  We are just anxious to finally be done with it all and call it OURS!  Packing is going well here at home.  I almost have all the kids clothes packed with just the summer clothes left out.  We have packed up all homeschooling materials, books, winter coats etc.  We are working on downsizing ALL the stuff in the garage.  We are throwing alot away and I have to repack much of our belongings out there because of some not-so-friendly critters that have left their filth behind on all the boxes.  Can I say how much I dislike mice!!!!
As for the kiddos....all are doing well.  Baby girl is a whopping 16 lbs for 3.5 months old.  She is just getting to the stage where she will giggle if you tickle her.  She loves to smile!  I can start to see her trying to roll over.  She hasn't done it but she is beginning to twist her body.  She is not too happy with tummy time.  She only lasts a few minutes before crying.
Our 2 yr old is such a little monkey.  She is so funny!  Her vocabulary is now starting to include phrases.....things like 'daddy's home', 'i want you',  'i'm scared' (vaccum!!)  'where's shoes?', 'want juice'.  She can hold a pencil well and colors on things she is not suppose to!   She is such a mimic too, constantly doing whatever big sister does.  She is buddies with her 4 yr old sister.
As for our 4 yr old, I still have not started alot of schooling with her yet.  She can write her alphabet and her name, she loves to draw and can do people quite well.  The other kiddos still have about a month and a half of school left.  We took all of Dec/Jan off at the end of my pregnancy which put us a little behind for the year.  Looks like we will finish in July.
Nothing else exciting right now.....

Yahoo!!!

Appraisal finally came through and now we just wait for our closing date to arrive!  Oh how excited we are.  We are so close....and so very ready to be in a home of our own!  We can't believe how God has provided for us with this home.  It is the type of set up we have always dreamed of and prayed about.  It is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home that sits on 38 acres (most of which are cattle hills).  There are several acres of nice flat ground for our big garden, our chickens/ducks/guineas.  There is a pond and a wonderful long driveway for some good walking!!  Hubby and some of the kids went out there today to go around the property with the owner and they met one of the neighbors.  The inground pool was also opened today and they say it looks wonderful!!  We will not miss our little rental here, but are so very thankful how the Lord provided it for these past 2 1/2 years.  We will however miss our wonderful neighbors here.  We will keep you posted as things progress and post pictures when we finally move in!

Today's photos

3 months old already!

Catch up

These are late in coming.....but here are the birthday pics of our 6 yr old and 4 yr old.  Still have to catch up with 2 more birthdays!!

Today