At the Park

Jade and Oliver at the park

Oliver's 1st Birthday!!!

Today was Oliver's first Birthday! Like most one year olds, he had no clue what today meant.He actually did what most of us adults would love to do on our birthdays,which is sleep in.He slept in until 9:15 this morning and I went in to wake him up.But, as for the rest of us,especially his siblings,we were all excited and couldn't believe that we were already at this milestone.One whole year has past,and so very fast,just like we all say when our children age another year.

Craig had to work today,so until he came home we all kind of just had a "regular" day,with the exception of a "throw down".Sebastian and Matthea decided to have a Bobby Flay style throw down and test their food on Jade.It was divided into 3 categories; burritos, salads and then desserts! That was exciting to see them in the kitchen tripping over each other trying to get their food to Jade first for the taste test.Jade was not holding any cutting remarks back either.I won't mention whose dish,but,one of the dishes Jade made the comment,"it's cold and disgusting!" OUCH!!!! They all were great sports about the whole event.

Matthea decided to make spaghetti for dinner and a nice salad for her dad.She did a splendid job,the noodles were cooked to perfection!! She and I were anxiously waiting for dessert....the birthday cake.Which I had discovered at church a couple of weeks ago.Someone had brought in a store bought cake,which I normally loathe,that was to die for.It had a strawberry mousse filling inside that was delicious.So,I had to ask where they bought this great cake.To my surprise it was from our local Costco Bakery!!! We all have been waiting for Oliver's birthday to hurry up and get here, just so we could have this strawberry-mouse-filled cake! We actually almost ate it yesterday.None of us had the patience to wait another day.We were trying to find reasons to celebrate his birthday the day before,just to eat his cake.We are terrible,aren't we?Thankfully we all stuck it out and had our fill this evening. Matthea asked who's birthday was going to be next and when,just so she could know how soon or how long she would have to wait until we were able to have another cake!!!

It was fun watching Oliver trying to understand why there was something in the middle of this cake with a flame on top of it and everyone was singing this song that he just learned a few days ago AND they all seemed happy!!! The puzzled look was a very cute moment.

Anyway,we let him poke his fingers into his cake,and kind of got the same bewildered look.But, as soon as he figured out that we approved of this,he had fun licking his fingers and of course, was a happy kid! Then it was off to opening the gifts! After he had opened them all,he couldn't decide what to play with.He kept going back and forth between all of the toys and stayed up until 9:45 playing with them!!! I hope he will sleep in a little later because of it.

Life goes on..........

A Day,A Week,A Month in the Life of......

We have been so busy this last month! I am getting sooooo tired of saying that. Since my last post we have lost Clover as well,due to bloat.A condition that is fairly common with goats.Unfortunately we dismissed what we thought looked like a problem and put her away for the night,and she was dead by morning.Of course we all were very upset,but,I think it was me and Jade both who have grieved the most for her.I still well up with tears when I think of her.She was buried the Sunday before Easter.......




We still have our 5 hens and rooster,and also we kept one of the 28 roosters that were given to us.He just looked too nice to kill.He is a happy sight to see in the backyard and is always on time with his crow at 6:10 am. What a lovely sound to hear in the morning!The hens have been producing about 4 eggs a day now.One of the Orpington hens is a slacker though,she has not laid a single egg since she has been here.We keep hoping that things will change with summer approaching.It doesn't look so great for her though.

Craig and I got the kids started on their seed trays.They each will have their own plot in the garden this year.Growing their own plants will also serve as part of their science.(botany/agriculture)The fun part is that they can't understand how this can be school,because it's so much fun.Ah Hah!!! That's what learning is all about,isn't it?
We've also incorporated some life science into their day.We went ahead and purchased some fertilized Silkie (a type of chicken) eggs and borrowed an incubator from a friend.The children were extremely excited about this project! They have to make sure the eggs are turned at least three times a day,and they take turns doing this.Also, they have learned how to "candle" an egg to see whether or not it is a fertilized egg and to check on the growth of the chick to make sure it hasn't died.Before we actually put them in the incubator,the kids wanted to know if we could put our chickens eggs in there as well.Since they are most likely fertilized because there is a rooster among them.Craig and I gave them the okay and they each have their own hen's eggs in the incubator too.So far, we have had one egg that was a dud,it wasn't fertilized.Another egg was accidentally dropped during one of our candling sessions and there was a chick in there.Both of the eggs were cracked open so that the kids could study the contents.Both of those eggs were of the Silkie batch that we had purchased.Darn! But,we are definitely curious to see what our own hens chicks will look like,since some of them will be part Polish and the others will be full Polish.

Our other chicks, that we have kept in a brooder, are all growing and doing well.No fatalities there.They have all started to get their feathers and don't look like the cute little chicks that they once were.They're still cute,just not so little.

We had a nice Easter,dying our "own" chicken eggs made it so much more fun,we made a nice meal and hid the eggs for the traditional "hunt".I also found some edible green Easter grass that I put with the kids candy and surprised them when I grabbed a handful and put it in my mouth! They didn't know what to think.As soon as they found out it was edible...well...they were all grazing on the green stuff.Little did I know, the grass had aspartame and some other cancer causing stuff in it.There was even a warning label,in red, on the back of the package.Hind site! I am usually really good about reading labels.But this was one of those times where I just grabbed and purchased.ughh!Craig even put a small piece in Oliver's mouth and then apologized to him later for doing that.Oliver just stared at him and wondered what his dad was doing.

Oliver has been,well,like all babies,CUTE! We started teaching him some sign language when he was about 7 or 8 months old.At first he would imitate some of the hand motions,but after about a month he gave up,so we thought.We have kept on signing to him though.I guess he just didn't put the two together, hand motion = word. Until recently he has started to use what he had learned earlier and has put them with an actual object or word.Yeah!!! He understands what he is doing!!!! He says,"more","all done","eat". Last night Craig came home from work and had to go to bed about an hour after he got home.Due to his new schedule,he's been working 12 hour shifts and only has time to sleep eight hours and then he has to get up and go to work.So,we only have about an hour with him after he gets home.Anyway,Craig was saying "good night" to everyone and Oliver was upset and his lower lip came out and he started waving "bye-bye" and then he did the sign for more and said "da-da" along with that! "More Da-Da!" AWWW!
Craig took him to bed with him and he fell asleep with his Da-Da. So cute!!
He hasn't started walking yet,although he cruises around with no problem and sometimes you can catch him standing unsupported until he himself realizes what he is doing and then grabs onto something.He also has had some eczema that started about a month ago and this past week it has gotten really bad.So at the recommendation of our wonderful Chiropractor, in Illinois,he has had a hair analysis and we are waiting for the results.We have cut back on a lot of "foods" and are giving him just the basics that he was on when he started solids.That has already made a huge difference.The spots are starting to dry up a little,they aren't as RED as they were,yet they are still there.We are thinking it may be yogurt.He's had Gerber baby food yogurt before,but we started giving him regular yogurt about a month ago.Not a lot we bought two big containers,one strawberry/banana and the other was mango.That's when we noticed the eczema starting.Then he got some yogurt melts,that are made for babies,and ate the whole thing in like 3 days!The eczema went from like 7 spots on his body to like 30 or more,covering his chest and back and some spots on his legs.He also started nursing less about a month ago too and has been drinking more formula.We've cut back on the formula as well.It will probably come up as something completely different.But,you know how parents are,"was it that one thing?" or"Maybe it is the-----?" or "what if it's the----?"
oh boy.The good thing is that he doesn't even notice it.It isn't itching him or bothering him in any way.It bothers us more than it does him.Poor thing.We should hopefully find out something in a couple of weeks.

Well, we have had some beautiful weather here until yesterday.We were getting so use to the 65/70 degrees,which is what got us planning for our garden.Then we were hit with a severe "winter" storm that brought 3-4 inches of snow and 34 degree weather as well.Now the forecast is saying that it was just for those two days and starting tomorrow we will be back to the "heavenly" weather.We will even be getting up to 79 degrees,I think by Sunday. With all of the warm weather we were having before,it was bringing out the garter snakes.We have finally pinpointed where they have been coming from and the kids just keep checking to see how far the snakes have made it out of their hole before they go out to make their kill! The largest snake so far on record in 2 feet 7 inches long!Yes, they are also taking measurements of the reptiles! Most of them are a little over 2 feet long.One day we had 8 snake kills and Sebastian had them laid out on the sidewalk by the front door,next to each other like sardines.Luckily we don't have too many people stopping by the house,otherwise we would have had some frightened folks! I was concerned about the mail lady having to bring any packages up to the door though.She didn't have any that day.whew!

Happy Spring to All !!!!