6 Months and 4 Hours 'Til a Hot Bath

November 1st marked 6 months of being on our farm!  It's been  wonderful and horrible, a dream come true and a nightmare!  Really, the good has outweighed the bad, by a long shot!  We have met lots Amish, have some very nice neighbors, we have found a great church where we feel very welcome.  We have acquired some of our farm livestock, milk cow and 40 chickens!  We have explored our new surroundings and have had several nice family drives!
Some things we haven't accomplished yet, self-suffiecentcy.  We are really lacking in that.  The "simple life" can be quite complicated!

For example, you want a hot bath.

1. You ask a boy to haul some wood to the basement.

2. You ask a boy to haul some wood to the basement.

3. You ask a different boy to haul wood to the basement.

4. You haul some wood to the basement yourself.

5. You start a fire in the boiler.

6. You fill the boiler with water from the spigot.

7. You restart the fire in the boiler adding more paper and kindling.

8.  You go upstairs and gather everyones pj's and towels.

9. You go downstairs and check the fire, add wood and test the water.

10. Repeat step 9 four more times in the next 3 hours.

11. Finally....the water is boiling hot!!

12. You start with the littlest people and give them baths 2 or 3 at a time!

13. Tell a boy to go get in the tub.

14. Tell another boy to go get in the tub.

15. Tell another boy to get in the tub.

16. Ask Kegan and Ileigh who wants to go next.

17. Wait patiently for Kegan and Ileigh to get done.

18. Get ready for your own bath.

19. Get the bucket and fill it at the boiler.

20. Carry 5 gallons of boiling hot water to the smallest, oldest bath tub ever made.  Pour it in and start the cold water running.

21.  Go back to the boiler for a second bucket................there is no more hot water!!!!!!

22. Go back to the bathtub and take a lukewarm bath in 3 inches of water:(

23. Vow to be the FIRST bath next time!!!!!!

Needless to say we don't bathe everyday!!  It is simpler, there is no hot water heater to break, no propane to pay for, or gas or electricity.  What I have found is, what you don't spend in cash you put out in hard work!!

I know it's been so long since I have posted.  Busy? Yes but no more than usual, just lots of stuff I am not at liberty to discuss at this point in time!  I hate it when people do that!  And here I am doing it, sorry!
I will try harder, honest!
Have  great day!

Quick Update!

Howdy all,
After a unintentional "blog break", I am back!!  I have several really good posts in the works!  We have been SO busy!  Company and summer ending and fall beginning, YEAH!!  The weather here is wonderful, I can't tell you how spectacular it is, dry but the temperatures are fabulous!  Thank you Lord, that everyday isn't a summer day!!


Up-coming posts:

Wild animals in our neck of the woods, (and I don't mean my 6 sons!)

Solar showers, (because even in the summer warm water feels good!)

Thrift store treasures, (turning an ok bargain into an amazing bargain!)

Old-Fashioned school, (using 150 yr old curriculum!)

Sewing for young ladies, (information on patterns, fabric and sewing for little girls!)

That's just a few in my line-up, if I had unending hours of spare time and lightening fast internet you might see all those posts before Christmas.  But, Hey, I'll do the best I can, have a wonderful day and enjoy Autumn!

PS
 NO calf yet, I think Trudy might be pregnant FOREVER!!!  She has really bagged up, her udder is HUGE and hard.  She has lots of goo, (sorry to Auntie Linda, and others who really didn't want to know about the cows goo;).  I'm hoping she'll go soon, I want MILK!!!!

"Cooking With Rohan"

Post has been fixed - NOW you can comment and make a 9 year old boy VERY happy!!    Thanks!!!



Hello, My name is Rohan and I LOVE to cook, I can cook lots of food by myself!  Today I thought I would show you how to cook sausage on our wood cookstove!

First wash your hands, this is very important!

After opening you sausage, you want to smash pieces into round patties.
At our house we need 20 patties so everyone can have two!

Getting the sausage ready can take some time, but it is an important step.

Now slowly brown your patties on the hot part of the wood stove,  it takes a while to cook sausage on a wood cookstove so start early, or your brother might get impatient!!

When you think they are done, be sure to check and make sure there is no pink!!

YUM, breakfast is ready!!

"Everybody needs a Trudy in Their Lives."

Octavian - almost 2!!

It's time to announce the winner of the "Guess the Cows Name" contest!!    

As you can tell from the title our new milk cows name is TRUDY!
Jen and Becki guessed correctly!  I couldn't choose just one of them so if you BOTH will email me I will send you the home baked treat of your choice!!

Why did I pick Trudy?  I'm sure your all dying to know!  Last winter when we still had electricity and a big screen tv the older children and Dane and I watched the TV series MONK on netflix.  We watched all 8 seasons in about 3 months!!  We enjoyed Monk and and I loved the name Trudy!  Not enough to name a daughter that but enough to give it to a cow!!  It was hard though not to name her Ruby...I LOVE that name, I think I might save it for a baby, maybe!  If she would have been more refined, more beautiful, less       Trudy-like I would have named her Ada, I love that name too!  So Trudy it is and we are finally getting along a bit better, although I think she loves me just for the grain I bring her!
Now we are waiting on pins and needles for a calf!  Soon, I'm told, no signs of imminent labor yet.

Thanks to everybody for participating and if you guessed Trudy,  please remember to email me!

Today Is Quins-Day!

 Hi,

I'm Quinlan, I am 14 years old and the 3rd oldest in our family.  I thought I would take a minute and do a guest post on our blog.  

Here on the farm there  are a lot of  "creatures"!!  Spiders, moles, snakes, birds, bugs, frogs, and many, many more!!  Here's some shots of just a few of the creepy crawly critters we've seen!

Here is a giant moth, at least as big as my hand!

Fuzzy Caterpillar!

The yuckiest,  ugliest, nastiest spider I have ever seen, huh Poppy?

The cutest, tiniest, snake I have ever seen!!  Ferran rescued this one from a spiders web!

Here is the first frog I found, he's so tiny, but dangerous, I didn't know it at the time but he secretes an irritating oil  behind his legs!  

Rohan caught this one, he was HUGE!!  He is what they call a bull-frog.  They make the loudest noises!

Hope everyone enjoyed this post on Quins-day, have a great day and enjoy all Gods creatures!(well except maybe the spiders!!):)
Quinlan

How Now Brown Cow

 UPDATE: The "What is the Cows Name Contest" will end midnight on Friday the 12th.  We will announce a winner soon after! (depending on cell phone signal:)
Have Fun!


She's here...........My very own, just what I always wanted, JERSEY MILK COW!!!!!!!!  She is about 5 years old and this is her 3rd pregnancy.  She is due to calve in about 2 weeks more or less!  I am having a ball with her!!  She is a bit people shy, anyone from the cow boards reading this, do you have any suggestions?
We got her home fairly easy.  Our Amish neighbors sons mounted their horses and our boys walked beside and we kinda "herded" her home.  She went right in her new stall and after a few days seems quite content.

I have had a few dairy cow names kicking around in my brain for about 7 years!  Names are very important to me, so getting her's just right was a challenge, but now she has one!!  There were a few names in the running:

RUBY

ADA

LUCY

TRUDY

LILY

IVY

JOSEY

DAISEY

Wanna have some fun?  Let's play  "Guess the NEW Cows Name!"  Those of you who correctly guess her name will have their names put in a hat we will pull out one, that lucky person will win their choice of Fresh Farm Baked Goodies!!! You can choose a loaf of wheat bread, cinnimon raisin bread or a batch of cookies!!  Sound good?

Ok, to enter you need to leave a comment with your guess, then you need to "follow" us, if you already follow then just let me know in your comment!  If you have a blog, please make a post about our name contest, linking back to our blog!  When you have completed all of that, comment and let me know!! For each comment you make it will increase your chances to win!!!!

Summer Daze

Octavian listening to the weather radio....Will there be rain?

Kegan and Rohan reading on a hot afternoon!

Ugly spider we found.....yuck!

Ellie the runaway is glad she's back!

Free museums are fun on hot summer days!!

Baking Day!

Yes, you read that title right. Yesterday, one of the hottest days yet, was baking day!  I asked my Amish neighbor how and when she does her baking in this heat.  She told me she picks the hottest day and fires up the stove.  Her reasoning was that it was going to be unbearable anyway so the heat of the stove wouldn't make much of a difference.  I had been missing baking, I really enjoy it and I need snacks for the kiddos who are going through food like there's 16 of them not eight!!
Tuesday was forecast to be hot, hot, hot, I decided to jump in and bake.  I woke up at 5am, yes, I really did, if you know me "Morning Person", is the last thing to describe me!  Anyway I got up early, and started a fire, it was so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it was going to be 115 with heat index and I was starting a FIRE!!  But I did!
I made 3 loaves of wheat bread, 1 loaf of cinnamon bread for french toast this morning, 4 loaves of pumpkin bread, one of the kids favorite snacks, a batch of cookies, and a double batch of corn bread for dinner tonight!!  YUMM!!!
And my neighbor was right, it didn't seem any hotter than it already was, I meant when it's 110 in the house what's a few more degrees radiating from the cookstove!!  I didn't realize how much I had missed working with the cookstove, despite the heat, I had a nice morning, plus it's always nice to bake yummy things for appreciative children!!

In other news, our bratty  sweet little pony escaped in the middle of the night Sunday night.  The big boys went to check on her, she was making quite a racket in barn and we had heard coyotes pretty close that evening.  Well when they got out there she had gotten herself out and was making a break for it, she nearly ran Kegan over and headed up the driveway and down the road at ninety miles an hour.  It was one of those situations where there was nothing to do but pray, so that's what we did.
Next morning we drove around and asked the neighbors if they had seen our pony.  But nobody had.  In the afternoon we went to the neighbors for milk and they said they thought they saw a pony in a vacant field up the road, Donagan and I drove over there, and sure enough it was Ellie.  Now, we have chased Ellie ALL over our own property, she NEVER comes or stands still long enough for you to put a lead on her.  As I got out of the the van, in my newly sewn town dress, I asked the Lord if maybeHe could please make her stand still so we could catch her and it wouldn't be a huge drama.  Donagan  walked up to her and she took off...uuuggghhh!!  I took a deep breath and called her like Ileigh does, "Ellington, my pretty pony...".  She looked up, pricked her little pony ears and started to walk toward me!!!!!  I was speechless!  Except to say "thank you Lord for small miracles"!!  We put a lead on her and got in the van, Donagan held the rope out the window while we drove ever so slowly home!!  It was great fun to see the looks on every ones faces when we pulled in the driveway with our little pony!  It was also nice to know the Father listens and answers even the "little" prayers!!

It is supposed to cool off this week and we are very grateful, enjoy your day and keep smiling!!
Misty

Hotter than Blue Blazes

When I was a kid my Grandma Frankie used to say it was, "Hotter than Blue Blazes!"  I remember not knowing what it meant exactly, but that it sure was hot!  Well it sure is hot here!  Since the mid-west is locked in the middle of a week-long heat wave I thought I would let you know how you might know it's hot.

You Know It's Hot When:

The dogs are laying in the shade having done nothing but are panting like they just ran a mile!

The chocolate chips in your pantry, (which is supposed to be one of the cooler parts of the house), look normal but when you touch them they are a melted mess!

The littles children strip and run to the kiddie pool, and just lay there and don't move.

The Amish buggies don't zip by at their normal jaunty pace, but slowly clip-clop with the horses bathed in sweat.

The children complain that the pond is no longer refreshing, it feels like bath water!

You look for any reason to get in the van, to go anywhere, as long as the AC is on!


Things around here are pretty humid too, if you can't tell if you live in a humid area, some of these might help you.

You Know It's Humid When:

Your corn chips don't crisply crunch, they bend.

Your pasta can be eaten right out of the bag, as it is chewy, no cooking necessary!

Your toilet paper comes "pre-moistened".

You get out of the shower and dry off, but you still feel wet, so you dry off again, but you still feel wet, so you dry off again, but you still feel wet, so........................

You can't remember the last time you used lip balm or lotion, besides if you did it would mix with the liters of sweat pouring off of you and it would just slide away.

Your clothes, despite being on the line at 95 degrees for 3 days are still damp.

You swatted some flies forgot to sweep them up, they molded!
Ok, well I won't get started on the mold, this desert raised girl simply doesn't know what to do with it, where does it all come from?  UGGHH!!


So keep cool no matter where you are, sit in shade, or in the house if you have AC, drink some sweet tea and remember,
This is the Day that the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!!!!

Weather Or Not?

 Storm clouds gathering over the farm at sunset.

Since we have transplanted ourselves from the high dessert of New Mexico to the lush green valleys of Northeast Missouri, we have had several weather experiences.  From nights spent in the basement for fear of tornado's, to days so hot (110 heat index) that all you want to do is lay rather unlady-like in the kiddie pool.

Just this Tuesday all 8 children and myself were in Wal-Mart, my least favorite place to be, when the employees began rounding us up shouting, "Get to the Back Wall, Quickly---Tornado Warning!!"  If that doesn't put a damper on your shopping trip I don't know what would!  I just kept thinking, I hate Wal-mart what am I doing here?  The last thing I want to do is pick my way out of a bunch of imported from China junk!  But it was just a warning and after about 20 minutes they said it was "all clear" and we could continue our shopping.   We promptly went home.

We have no electricity so of course no AC, my but does it get hot here!  Last summer we turned off our AC and lived au natural, it wasn't too bad.  The thing is in NM it may be 95 during the day but it cools down to a nice 55 or so at night.  It doesn't do that here.......um no!  It heats up to 95, then there is the humidity which makes it "feel like" 110, no breeze and you sit and roast, until about 2am when it s l o w l y cools down to 78!  Yup hot here!  If there is a breeze it really isn't too bad, but if it's like it was this last weekend, no breeze and ungodly hot, your just miserable!  I keep telling myself it's the price you pay for green.  Everything grows here and fast, it really is lovely.

My favorite weather here is the thunderstorms!  They are great, the lightening goes on and on and the wind blows hard and the rain falls like it's being shot out of the sky!  I love it!  We have lost 2 trees and half the woodshed wall and the outhouse blew over, (not a fun clean up job!), but the storms are still very exciting!
I know call me crazy but I have always loved inclement weather!

Our garden has become a victim of the Amazing Missouri Grass, I have never seen anything grow like the grass here.  The tomatoes are buried somewhere in about 3ft of grass, the kind people pay to have put in and then pay to water back in NM!  We have tried weeding and pulling, but when the ground is wet, which it almost always is, you pull up tomato plants when you try to pull grass, all the soil sticks together and up end up up-rooting your vegies!!  So we are at a loss right now as to what to do about it.


Still saving our pennies for an antenna booster, but we have found a milk cow to purchase from our neighbor, so cow first, then booster!!  I can't wait to get that cow, to me it is the epitome of farm life, I have waited years for a milk cow of my very own!  I am beside myself with anticipation!

I just read through my post, I don't want you thinking I don't like it here, quite the opposite I am very, very happy on my farm, such a feeling of contentment here, even in the heat.
We will try to upload some pictures tomorrow when we go into town to do our laundry, Have a blessed day!
Misty


"When I bought my farm, I did not know what a bargain I had in the bluebirds, daffodils and thrushes;as little did I know what sublime mornings and sunsets I was buying."
                                                                                              -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Explanations

It's been a long time, are ya still there?
Our Internet and cell phone signal leave MUCH to be desired around here.  I have spent a lot of time in prayer trying to figure where to go with our blog. I think folks are interested in our journey and we hope to be a blessing to those who are thinking about moving off-grid or living plain.  I think our experiences and our mistakes could be helpful. Plus, we were blessed with a lovely new laptop, so I feel we must push on a try to make it work.  The signal at our farm is virtually non-existent.  If you stand on the back porch and hang off the edge of the railing you might get enough bars to talk to someone!  Our Internet access is through a mobile "hotspot" basically our cell phone.  So not much signal to work with.  We have tried walking all over the farm with our phone and laptop, we must have looked like crazy people!
I was making posts at the local laundromat but then for some reason, there is no signal there now!  I usually can post while in town, but it takes forever for the pictures to download, and to me it's not really a post with out pictures!  SO, our only option that we can see is to try a cell phone signal booster.  Not the cheapy $4.95 kind but the pricey $189.99 kind.  It should work.........but I have read reviews on Amazon from folks who couldn't get any more signal with the booster, than without it.  But there's a money back guarantee, so we're going to give it a try as soon a the next $189.99 becomes available!  Please if any of you have any experience, good or bad with signal booster let me know!

Well after one hour of trying to download pictures, I gave up!  Sorry maybe another day!

Words of Wisdom

Ileigh just finished reading Farmer Boy to the children before bed.  It was such an enjoyable book, especially now that we're on a farm!!  We have 6 Farmer Boys of our own!  And  2 Farmgirls too! 
At the end of the book Almanzo is trying to decide whether or not to become a farmer or go to town and begin an apprenticeship with a buggy maker.  This is what his Father has to say;

"A farmer depends on himself, and the land and the weather.  If you're a farmer, you raise what you eat, you raise what you wear, and you keep warm with wood out of your own timber.  You work hard, but you work as you please, and no man can tell you to go or come.  You'll be free and independent, son. on a farm."


If this doesn't sum it up for us I don't know what would!!

Puppy Pictures

"Ok, Drover let's take a picture, look at the camera."

 

"No Drover the camera is over here!"

"Now Drover you have to smile, like this when sister says 'cheese'."

"Perfect, you are good puppy!!"

Strawberry Avalanche

I have never had any fruit bearing plants of my own, ever.  Now I am the proud owner of tons of them.  Strawberries are in season now and we have them coming out our ears!  They are so lovely, we have made 7 pints of jam thus far and will be making more jam and syrup in the very near future!  I am so thankful the previous owners planted such a great variety of things we should be very blessed with fruit this summer!!

Recent Projects!

We are overwhelmed with farm projects, so much we want to do - so much we need to do - so much we have to do!  We are having trouble prioritizing.  And we all want to do our project first!
One thing we can agree on is the garden must be put in the ground!  To that end we have been working on it each day.  So far we have 40 tomato plants in the ground, 12 cabbages, 30 ft of lettuce, beets, squash, and bell peppers!  We still need to plant; acorn squash, peas, sweet corn, green beans, carrots, watermelons, pumpkins, popcorn, and gourds!  It rained today so no planting, if the ground is not totally mucky tomorrow we will finish then.

Ileigh and Donagan have been working with the pony, Ellie.  She was left here for us as a gift.  She is very tiny, but pretty sweet.  Although like most ponies she can have a bit of an attitude!  The other day Ileigh, Donagan and Ferran took Ellie down to our Amish neighbors to buy milk.  Ferran rode Ellie, and she did great.  The neighbors milk tank was empty but they gave the children cookies and cold water.  Donagan said it was worth the walk just for the cookie!

My projects have mostly been inside, with the exception of the garden.  I have been getting used to cooking on the wood stove.  There is nothing like an egg cooked on a wood stove, nothing!!  They cook very slowly and calmly, they taste like a cross between a fried egg and a boiled one!  YUM!  I've made fried chicken, baked ham, cookies, spaghetti,  biscuits, sausage, lemon bars, grilled cheese.  But my biggest accomplishment has been homemade bread!!  I've made it twice, the first time was good but a bit heavy, the next time it was a bit flat, because it rose too long. I was trying to get oven hot enough, and there was a lack of wood.  The boys have had a hard time realizing I need wood all day, every day, and they need to bring it in to me!! But they are getting there!

All in all we have been very busy, there is so much to do.  We just get done what we can in one day and go to bed thinking of all we can get done tomorrow!

Trying to find a Solution

I am sitting at Mc Donalds in our town using their wi-fi because ours is all but useless on our farm.  The signal out there is just about non-exsistent.  I had hopes of posting every few days and puting up tons of pictures, but alas that is not to be.  I try not to go into town more than once a week, so the plan for now is to bring the laptop with me and blog then.  Not the most relaxed way to blog, but it will work!
I would like to make a few more posts now, but the weather radio, is saying severe storms are coming so I need to get home and batten down the hatches!!  By the way the tornados that hit Mo this week have been very south of us, so we here are thankfully fine!  Please remember the victims in your prayers!

Night Light

Here is our farmhouse at dusk, I love the way the oil lamp create a soft glow.  It relaxes the children and the grown-ups!  By 9:30 those of us not in bed are ready for it!!  It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be to not have electric lights, the children use flashlights upstairs, and we use the lamps and lanterns on the main floor.  I have been surprised by how quickly we have gone through lamp oil.  We have always had oil lamps, but we just used them for fun and power outages, when you use them every evening for 2 or 3 hours, it really goes fast!  

If you have any questions please feel free to ask, we're not experts on off-grid living, but would love to help you if we can!

Letters to Grandma

                                                       Dear Grandma,
I wanted to write and tell you all about my wood cookstove.  She is simply beautiful....lots of shiny chrome, and a firebox with a window in it.  I think you would be impressed!  We had some trouble getting it hooked up, the correct stove pipe was hard to find, and although there is lots of Amish around here we couldn't find anyone to help us get it going.  Dane persevered and we finally got it up and running.  I LOVE seeing the fire in the box, it is really nice!  The stainless steel top turned black as the fire got hotter, apparently this is normal, but at first I was appalled and worried we'd done something wrong!  So far I have cooked about 90% of our food with it, we are still using the propane burners Mom and Dad got us for Christmas some.  I LOVE coffee cooked on it, I can put a pot of coffee on in the evening and stoke the stove and go to bed, when I get up......hot, strong coffee, it is so tasty.  I am actually having a cup right now, I wish you were here to have one with me, I think you would be proud of what we're tyring to accomplish here!  My stove is such a part of my childhood dreams, I ALWAYS wanted one, I loved when you would cook pancakes on it for me, clown face ones!!  I can still see you standing front of it, poking wood in the firebox, moving pans and pots around, asking what shape we wanted our pancake!  Thank you, for such pleasant childhood memories, you made my life complete!

                      Your Granddaughter,
Misty




My Grandma Frankie played a MAJOR part in my life as far as old-fashioned living was concerned, she made the simple life fun and enviable.  Sadly she passed away in 2007, I wish more than anything I could show her my stove and my farm, I think she would approve!

Some Pictures, Trying something new with our internet server!!

Ok, let's see if this works!

We Are Still Here

Hello Bloggy Friends and Family,
I feel so bad about not being able to post or answer emails.   We have NO signal here at our farmhouse and it's not much better in town, apparently our cell phone company is not supported in this area, I am looking at different options, hoping to find one that does not cost an arm and leg!!
Here are some pictures, this is not how I wanted this to work, I am sorry, soon I hope to have this all figured out!
Ok, I can't get the pics to work, I am going to publish this now and work on pics in a minute!

We Did Make It !!

Hello all,
Sorry, sorry sorry for not posting sooner, our laptop battery was dead and it took us until today to find the inverter to charge it up!  We have tons of pictures and tons of news.
A few highlights,
Have managed to heat water in the wood fired boiler for bathes for everyone, yeah!
Have met our Amish neighbors, and had some stay for lunch!!
My boys have hauled manure all day and were complemented by above mentioned neighbors for their willingness to work and stick with it!  Made me proud!
Our stove has been delivered and sits waiting in my kitchen to be hooked up!!!, tomorrows job, yeah
Have met new friends who were very kind and brought us Morel Mushrooms, yuumm, and phone books and offers of help whenever we need it!!
I would say all in all it has been a successful few days on the farm.  I have MUCH more to tell you and MANY pictures to show you, BUT Ileigh is asleep and she is the only one who knows how to get pictures on the computer, so that will have to wait for tomorrow!
If you think of us please say a prayer as most of the family is quite ill with a cold and cough.  Thank you very much, more to come I PROMISE!!

Go East Young Men

 

just outside of Chama NM

There have been several times over the past few days that I wanted to post, but simply did not have the time. This week has been full of excitement, hard work and sadness. It was a week of good byes and soon to be "nice to meet ya's"

Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Kent's Beautiful Home

My view for twelve hours yesterday

we are currently motoring across Kansas, what a very flat and windy place! Yesterday we drove for twelve hour with eight children, four dogs, two cats, two roosters two grown ups, one motor home and  one van. Last night we had the privilege of staying with Dane's Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Kent, in Alexander, Kansas. What A warm welcome we received they have a beautiful old farmhouse, the dogs and children were able to run in there spacious yard! We were treted to a home cooked hot meal and ice cream and cake for dessert. Everyone was very happy!

Lunch Break

It is currently 7:45 a.m. Kansas time, we anticipate arriving at our farm aroud 2:00. Last night felt like Christmas Eve when I was a child, I could hardly sleep. Today is the day, I can't wait to see my childrens faces, when we give them this gift of a lifetime Our Farm. Updates to follow.

Taking a Break

Saturday was ZOO DAY!  We took a break from moving and cleaning and took off for the Zoo and Botanical Gardens!  We try and take the family every year, we thought the Saturday between the moving truck coming and us actually leaving seemed the right time to go!!  All week Rohan has been very excited, he LOVES the zoo!  He spent his week asking everyone what their favorite animal is, and what their top ten favorites are.  We also took our neighbor boy Avery.  My boys and Avery play all weekend and we will all miss him when we move! We also took my Mom with us the children really enjoyed having her along.  Here are a few pictures of our Zoo trip.  Enjoy!!

Eeek big scary snake!

Elsah like to take "pictures" too

The boys!

Kegan and Octavian hanging out!

Rohan and Elsah, "Zoo Buddies"

The whole crew!



This isn't even half the pictures Ileigh took, she is such a wonderful photographer and really enjoys taking pictures.  She has started a new blog to showcase her photos, you can find her here.  Why not stop by and comment, or follow, it would make her day!!!

Just 4 more days and we take off for Missouri, we hope to keep you updated while on the move!!

We Did It!!!

Dane's thinking, "Will it all fit?"

It's hard work watching the men load up the truck!

The truck came on Tuesday morning!  Dane, Kegan, Quinlan and my Dad spent the next several hours stacking, cramming, balancing, re-stacking, and finally shutting the door on all our earthly possessions!  Whew!!  What a day!
 There was a time in the afternoon where it looked like all of it wouldn't fit, but my men have a knack for packing and eventually got it all in there!  They picked the trailer up this evening and we will meet it next week in Missouri!  It was kind of surreal watching our things drive away.  It was good too though, to realize it's just stuff, it can all be replaced, what's important is the people in our lives.

Hmm how do we get the divider in?

YEAH!! We did it!

I would like to take a moment and thank my parents for all their help and time.  I know the last thing in the world they want is for their daughter, son-in-law and their only grandchildren to move 1200 miles away.  They have been gracious and giving, and we really appreciate it.
Thank you Mom and Dad, for everything!