Our Homegrown Tribe: on the farm

Showing posts with label on the farm. Show all posts

the last warm day

it's winter time around here

there is a carpet of white snow covering the prairie

and ice coating the trees

but days before winter set in

it was warm & beautiful

we brought our blanket

and games outside

the kittens quickly join us

there was lots of giggling

and kitten loving

purring & playing

our toes felt the warm sunshine

and we soaked up the peaceful beauty around us

the boys were in the field working

while the girls and kittens played

there were books, puzzles & games

smiles, love and joy

on our last warm day

Ramblings of a pregnant mama

I'm addicted to raw carmel dip and apples.

Seriously addicted.

I made a triple batch on Monday and it's gone today.

It's the perfect fill-er-up and is actually good for you

...so I don't feel too bad.

The kids and I saw what we thought was a badger the other night on our way home

...it was huge, and black and scary looking.

My husband saw it later that night and confirmed it was indeed a badger.

After an hour or so of research we all now know a lot about badgers,

and we hopefully have nothing to worry about.
Although Ozzie keeps talking about how it bothers him to know it's out there.

I think my nesting has rubbed off on the 3 little kids. They completely rearranged the girls room yesterday. Moved the bed, all the baskets, their smallish book shelf & even moved their taped up art work to another wall.
If only they had the desire to organize the clothes storage too.

It was 47 degrees the other day and the little kids thought it was an all out heat wave

...I tried to tell them it wasn't quite swim-suit and sprinkler weather.

But they didn't believe me,

and actually spent nearly an hour playing in the sprinkler.

It has been a rare day to have all 6 of the kids home lately.

1-2-3 and sometimes all 4 of the boys have been out in the field,

working, digging, rock picking, rock burying, dirt moving....

the tractor-machine knowledge these boys have already blows my mind.

I was a born and raised city girl,

and I am totally raising country kids

...that know more than me sometimes. {grin}

I am 35 weeks today.

It has me a bit emotional about this milestone.

They girls were born at 35 weeks due to my car accident.

I wasn't ready to be done with that pregnancy and it was difficult

...to emotionally and physically recover from that ordeal.

But I did. And I'm incredibly grateful.

And feeling oh so blessed for each additional day this babe is inside me.

savor has been my word lately. completely savor.

I am still up and going, a little bit slower though

...and by late afternoon I am sore.

I can't complain though, this pregnancy has been so easy thus far.

I am feeling a bit smothered in this tiny farmhouse lately

and the thought of another little person needing their own space too. sigh.

I know we won't always be in this tiny house,

but we are right now and we have to make it work.

And really it's not just making it work I desire

...I want to be content with what we have,

content with what God has provided for us.

because really, it is enough.

I just emptied an entire month of photos off of my camera.

I haven't been using it quite as much lately.

Ebb and flow. Ebb and flow.

I miss it though.

There have just been other things calling my attention.

Grandpa has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now.

It's a blood clot in his leg.

They tried a procedure that didn't work and eventually did a bypass.

It's been up and down

...on the up now and hopefully staying that way.

With the big boys gone nearly everyday

...in the school of hard rocks as we joke

I've been spending a lot more time learning with the littles.

no set curriculum, we moved away from that type of schooling a while ago

but more life learning, soaking up more opportunities,

and letting their interests lead.
It's been a breath of fresh air.

The kids are getting increasingly excited about this little babe

We started a paper chain countdown,

which makes it seem really really not very far away.

Ozzie saw a baby at a restaurant the other day,

he spent most of the dinner carefully watching that little baby.

Later he told me all about the babies tiny hands and how they were clenched together.

He told me about his tiny nose and how he made squishy faces.

I loved sitting there listening to him tell me all about this baby.

He is going to be such a good big brother, again.

off to finish up the chickpea veggie curry I have cooking,
before the ever-hungry stampede of boys walk in the door.

talk to you soon friends.

cookie monster & the trash fairies

taking out the trash

can be

lots of fun

when you bring along

cookie monster & the trash fairies

late night talking

Gavin sprained his foot, badly.
and keeping him off of his foot has been insanely hard
...he is my go-go-go all the time boy and this has been torture for him.
Especially during harvest. sigh.

my garden is still producing like crazy
...and I am savoring each and every basket full.

the last 4 nights we've had at least one of the littles climb into bed with us
...they seem to snuggle up to dad more than me
I think they've missed him being so busy with harvest.

the girls are practicing their baby crawl and baby walk
...so they can teach the baby
they've also been rocking & singing their babies to sleep in their cradle.
I think they are practicing.

they gave my belly a hundred kisses tonight...
and then prayed that the baby would love them. oh my.

The girls and I took Ozzie out to the field to ride with dad this afternoon
...the combine was broken down so we monkeyed around in the pick-up
and when he was finally ready to roll Ozzie had changed his mind.
I think the fact that he had eaten everything out of his lunch box had something to do with it. ha.

Grayson has been out with the men from morning till night...
driving the pick-up, manning the service truck, un-hooking trailers, filling fuel
...and that's just what I've seen him do.

It's only a glimpse of what this farm is going to be like when there are 4 {or more} boys out there working the farm with their dad
...and that amazes me.

We had popcorn topped with crushed kale chips and homemade raspberry ice cream for dinner.
...because that's how we roll when mama is tired and already cooked for an army today.
The phrase barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen has been coming to mind a lot lately. ha.

Feeding a family of 8 three meals a day is hard work
not to mention snacks and now all the packed lunches for the field.
I honestly love preparing healthy food though
...it's the cleaning up I could do without so much of.

There were 2 skunks fighting in the farm yard near our house last night.
they were screeching and spraying, oh my!
The boys shot at them with pellet guns and a pistil and the skunks didn't care one bit
...they finally ran off but not without leaving behind their nauseating stench for us to enjoy all night and most of the day.
oh, and I had left clothes out on the clothes line. sigh.

The kids are already talking about snow,
and making plans for what they are going to build in the snow
...oh and snow ice cream.

I am 28 1/2 weeks pregnant
...seriously how did that happen, it's going by so fast
yet so slow, I am still in awe of this little miracle growing inside of me.

This little babe has had the hiccups quite a bit this week
...which means I can tell that he/she is already head down.
All of my babies tend to go head down early and stay that way,
we'll see what this little one does.

It's been so long since I have sat down and just wrote
...blogging has always been and ebb and flow thing for me.
finding time to sit down at the computer is rare,
at least I have instagram now.
I guess that's how my life goes, and i'm okay with it.

that's about it friends
for now.