It’s Dusty Around Here

by Steph // Wednesday, November 30, 2016 // Comments off

Why, hello, you all!!

I dusted off the blog just now and decided to sit awhile and catch-up a bit.

Life is flying by with all kinds of crazy, crazy but very exciting things…..none of which include sitting still!

I saw my big camera somewhere, I know I did. Haven’t used it since Thanksgiving day though!

This post will be life through my phone photos!

Hunting season brought some free time while my men headed to the woods!

It brought some free time for Kayla too, so we had a shopping and lunch date!

We did not need much, but the littles did need new hats and mittens.

When you get a hat THIS cute, you wear it the rest of the day. With pink sunglasses. Of course.

The way home from our shopping day was QUIET. Ahh. We have one certain someone who talks ALL THE TIME, just saying.

There have been some superheros in this house.

Superheros have a hair style all their own.

We had lunch at David and Kay’s for David’s birthday!!

I do not have one non-blurry photo of Clyde. But blurry photo or not – he is just so irresistible!!

Little did we know that we would be moving them out of their first place the afternoon of David’s birthday lunch because of a huge mold issue.

They have been living with us here on the farm!

We have enjoyed having them here SO VERY MUCH!

Clyde is our sunshine!!

Tate scored some chocolate cereal and chocolate milk after a long doctor’s appointment one day!

We have had some snow flurries here!!

We had a tough day after Thanksgiving with our sweet baby.

We let her decompress with a “show”. Which, of course, drew a crowd!

When everyone was gone but the littles, and the littles were napping, this happened.

Maybe. Ok, really. There is photographic evidence.

Why does the end of the year turn me into a crazy lady?

I can say our home is sparkling clean because of it!

And the chest freezer has been defrosted!

With the holiday we did not have our normal grocery run, so when everyone else was not home I took the littles to do the grocery shopping!

I was rethinking this whole plan when we pulled into the parking lot of the local Co-op and they were SOUND asleep!

I promised a treat when I woke them, and they were the BEST helpers.

Sweet kiddos!!

I gave them their treat while I unloaded grocery.

That meant that I walked away.

After this cute photo and then me walking away, they crumbled up with their hands every cookie in that $4.39 box of allergen-free cookies. All over that table.

Aren’t they cute though?

When I cleaned a closet, I found a scrapbooking project I had not finished.

Spent a holiday afternoon working on that – it was a great creative outlet for me!!

I have others that like to be creative too!

The landscape has changed in our neck of the woods!!

Winter is here!

If you follow on Instagram, you may know about our newest member of this crazy crew!

Meet Jax.

Jax is five months old.

Yes, we are crazy.

Yes, we did just have a flea epidemic.

And a lab puppy who needed IV’s.

I told you we were crazy!

But there is no fun in being normal!

And we simply LOVE, love, love this puppy!

We had fun deciding his name! And had to sleep on it before we chose! Jax suits him so well!

I am not sure he liked his first bath.

He has settled in to our family PERFECTLY.

What a gem!

With the best personality!

We dedicated Lane, Tate and Eliza at church this Sunday!

It is a simple ceremony to show an outward expression of our desire to raise our children in the nuture and admonition of the Lord!

Now all of our children have been dedicated!

Yesterday and today are moving day for David and Kayla!

They found a new place to rent in Cashton – which – to my dismay – is 25 minutes from the farm.

BUT – it is perfect for them! And we are SO excited that they will be bringing their sweet foster baby home very, very soon!

I helped Kayla yesterday clean their new place and put all the kitchen stuff away.

It was SUPER FUN!

Today, I am in charge of everybody under 12 years old and all things with four legs.

I think I got the BEST job!

Ok, nuff of this sitting still stuff!

I have all littles napping and middles running the big dogs!

It is lightly snowing outside!

And I also have a new recipe for a peppermint mocha calling my name!!

Hope you all are having a GREAT week!!

Thanksgiving 2016

by Steph // Friday, November 25, 2016 // Comments off

Did you all have a nice Thanksgiving Day? I sure hope so!! Maybe you haven’t finished all of your Thanksgiving celebrating yet? Enjoy this blessed holiday weekend!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Not only do we have the blessing of David, Kayla, and Clyde living with us right now, but Blake, Grant and Addie Mae were all off work for Thanksgiving Day as well!

We had a great time getting the food and the house ready for friends that were coming over!

Addie Mae and I planned a finger food feast for our Thanksgiving celebration!

The guys shot some clay targets after we ate. It was way too cold for me – us girls stayed inside!

We had such a wonderful time of fellowship! My heart was SO full by the end of the day!

Eliza has struggled greatly today. It has been quite awhile since we have had a day like today – so it had me reflecting on what could have caused her struggles.

The obvious thing is that the house was full yesterday. We also have not had structure this week with David and Kayla being here and the holidays. I also wonder if removing the railing from her bed might have caused some insecurity. I have been wanting to remove the littles bed railings for awhile, so while I have big helpers here I grabbed the opportunity. Maybe I should have waited to the rest of her world was more normal?

I am SO grateful though. Today made me realize how little we deal with days (or even moments!) like this one anymore! Our sweet baby is SO brave and strong. She KNOWS, really KNOWS all that she must overcome. And she TRIES. I couldn’t be more pleased with how well she is doing!

Also – about the Thanksgiving holiday. I enjoyed it to the FULLEST – but we choose to live in a state of thankfulness every single day. No need for a holiday to be thankful. It should be the state of your mind and heart at all times! Jesus tells us to rejoice always!!

That is something I really truly enjoy doing!!

Have a wonderful weekend, you all!!

Fun Facts Friday!!

by Steph // Friday, November 18, 2016 // Comments off

Yippee, it’s Friday!

And it’s the beginning of a big change in our weather!

It actually is going to look and feel like November in Wisconsin – imagine that!

The cold snap is starting tonight – with some SNOW predicted!

It was 64 degrees yesterday!

I don’t think our bodies or minds are ready!

God has really been showing off here on our ridge lately!

Such beauty every single day!

This week has been about a sick puppy.

It broke my heart to see Sadie so sick.

Sunday we called our vet and she met us at the clinic. Sadie could not even lift her head.

She had a 105 fever, and some blood work showed she has Anaplasmosis. For those of you who do not live in a tick infected area, this is a tick borne illness. We have pulled two ticks off of Sadie recently.

Monday Sadie got much worse. I took her back to the vet myself, and she received IV fluids and a big ole shot.

She looked much better afterward!

She spent the rest of Monday like this. Zoe would not leave her side! Normally Zoe does not tolerate Sadie!

I am happy to say that Sadie is back to her normal self! Except she may be a bit more spoiled than before! Because I have been cooking ground meat, brown rice, eggs, and bone broth for her! And because she has been laying in our laps! Sweet girl, it’s ok that you are spoiled!

Speaking of sweet things – sweet Clyde Strength is gaining speed these days! He is bravely walking in between things, and runs when holding our hands!

SO – the big question of the day –

Are you all before Thanksgiving Christmas decorators or after Thanksgiving Christmas decorators?!

This is serious stuff!!

I am having a hard time getting in the mood, beings it has been so incredibly warm here.

BUT, we are going for the before Thanksgiving Christmas decoration look this year! Except for our Christmas tree, which we will go and cut down next weekend.

We are very excited for Thanksgiving day!!

This tree is as far as I have gotten!

It may have been unseasonably warm here – but hot drinks have been my afternoon treat.

This Cinnamon Rooibos herbal tea? YES, please.

Pumpkin Spice Latte? Every single day? UH HUH.

SO easy to make!

Heat 1/2 to 1 cup of half and half or whole milk (coconut creamer in my case) with a heaping tablespoon of pumpkin, and 1 tablespoon of sugar (I use stevia instead of sugar) in a pot on the stove. Heat until it starts to roll into a boil, but do not boil. Turn off the heat.

Add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, and a small splash of vanilla. Blend with an immersion blender until frothy, being careful not to splash yourself. Or your children! Do not ask me why I know that.

Make a small, strong cup of espresso or regular coffee. I just use the Keurig and make the smallest size cup of coffee. Pour your latte mixture over top of the coffee, tap a little pumpkin spice on top to make it gorgeous looking, and ENJOY!!

Good thing those colder and winter like days are arriving, because I have been in serious winter project mode.

Why not get a head start?

My winter project list is mostly the same every year, but sometimes I have new things to add to it as well.

I use my men to help pull out fridges and freezers to clean behind. We touch up paint in every room that needs it. I move all my photo files off the computer to a cloud. I order blog scrapbooks, and this year I will be adding Instagram Chatbooks. I dust the walls (yes, I do!), clean the junk drawers and closets, defrost the freezers, and wash all the light fixtures. I also do the huge project of cleaning the filing cabinets and all the files.

I tackled this one already, and my hands have touched every piece of paper in those filing cabinets. This job had been neglected for FAR too long, and it was time to conquer it. Conquer it I did! We have two drawers of bills and paperwork files, and one whole drawer of adoption paperwork files. So glad to have that done!

My grocery crew grew by one today, and they are out with a HUGE list that includes our Thanksgiving plans. So grateful for this crew!! They have so much fun going after grocery, crazy kids!

Hope you all are having a GREAT FRIDAY too!!

Happy weekend!!!

School Days

by Steph // Thursday, November 17, 2016 // Comments off

My focus has shifted lately to some winter-like projects I do every year, even though it has been in the 60’s this fall around these parts.

When my focus shifts to something like big winter projects, other things usually fall away without much notice -until they are noticed!

I haven’t been good about taking photos of school lately.

It takes thought and purpose to do so in the midst of our busy school days!

And then it takes time to edit them, upload them and post about them!

I LOVE to look back at photos of school since time passes so quickly though.

I better make a note to remind myself to take more photos!

I do have a few to add to my little scrapbook here!

The littles were learning the letter “P” when I took these photos of painting with pom poms!

SO fun!

This is the look I get from Tate when I tell him to smile with his eyes open!!

I am still loving paper plate crafts, and “P” week had us making a pink pig.

Last week we rowed the book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and besides so many fun things we learned about, we water colored a picture of Mrs. Rabbit.

Lane’s favorite school assignment is illustrating in his Science journal.

The week before last we rowed the book Wee Gillis.

Such a cute story!

We spent one day learning about our lungs.

The kids loved seeing how much air capacity each of them had in their lungs by doing this experiment.

We also cut some straws to make them make musical sounds, since we were learning about bag pipes.

They were SO loud! And they mysteriously disappeared during nap time!

During our lunch and play visit to Kayla’s this week, we put together some gift bags to hand out to people in need.

This week and next week we are having a unit study on Thanksgiving!

I ordered as many picture books as I could find about Thanksgiving from the library, and we are making all kinds of crafts too.

Chad even likes to participate! I love that about homeschooling!

The littles have been learning the letter “K” this week.

Painting “K’s” with glue and then sprinkling them with Kool Aid made school smell rather fruity!

In Math Lane is learning equations with an unknown number, and Chad is working on Finance right now. Lane tells his Daddy almost word for word what he learned about flying creatures in Science each night, and Chad is 3/4 of the way through his Human Physiology and Anatomy curriculum. They both have beautiful cursive handwriting, and Chad’s typing skills are gaining speed. Lane never misses a spelling word on his spelling test each week, and Chad is flying through the Spelling Power curriculum. Chad announced to us this week that he wants to attend Seminary and become a Pastor. I better kick into high gear for Chad’s High School years!

These days are BUSY. We are enjoying them to the fullest though! The kiddos are challenged, learning, growing and joyful. That means prayers are being answered and my goals are being accomplished!

Praise be to Him!

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Strengthen My Hands

"…Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." Nehemiah 6:9

It’s Dusty Around Here

Thanksgiving 2016

Fun Facts Friday!!

School Days