The Farm

by Steph // Saturday, April 25, 2015 // Comments off

At the end of last week when it was so summer-like, our cows were convinced the grass was greener on the other side of their fence.

Well, it was. And still is.

Starting last Sunday it turned cold, wet, cold, and colder….so their enthusiasm to get to the greener grass waned.

Which was a good thing, because they were trying to get under the fence to get to it!

It is supposed to warm up again this week. So this morning we moved the cows to the pasture.

We made our “wall” with vehicles, to encourage them to stay on the right path.

Once the gate was opened in the paddock, it all happened so fast that I did not get very good photos!!

Our littlest guy wasn’t interested in following his buddies, so Grant used a harness to move him.

I had run back into the house by this time because I had muffins in the oven.

But Addie took over the camera and holding Eliza for me.

Right at the end of the day today the skies cleared and the sun shone so beautifully!

Brownie, Whitaker, Ollie Oliverian, and Otis are loving their summer home.

It has been a great day on the farm.

Freezing cold or not, we just had to be outside.

Eliza even took a little nap in her swing.

My hubby lived underneath that broken truck again, and the boys cleaned the land, the paddock, and spread manure in our garden beds.

Couldn’t imagine a better life!

Although I did imagine Tate with us today.

Hurry home, buddy.

Hurry home.

There is so much waiting for you here.

Another First

by Steph // Friday, April 24, 2015 // Comments off

Even though Eliza has been home nine months, she is still experiencing firsts.

Today, I took her for her first haircut!

Remember our sweet girl nine months ago?

We have been growing her hair since then, but it was time for a trim.

Sitting on my lap, she was really enjoying the pampering.

Which would explain this huge yawn.

Did you just yawn looking at that photo?

Me too!

Every “first” we get to experience with Eliza is not lost on us.

We missed a lot of firsts before Eliza was placed into our arms nine months ago.

What a privilege to not miss anymore.

We can’t remember life before you, sweet baby.

What a precious gift you are.

Miss Rumphius

by Steph // Thursday, April 23, 2015 // Comments off

I have been rowing the cutest book with Lane and Eliza this week!

We are still using our tic-tac-toe word boards, and Lane shows Eliza where to put her dot.

Lane’s reading skills and vocabulary skills have taken off with Five in a Row!

Because Miss Rumphius worked in one, we learned about the library, the Dewey decimal system, and read a great book about it all (the one on the left).

There was a Curious George episode about the library (Eliza loves George still!), and we are going to the library this afternoon to experience it all first hand!

We also opened a coconut, because in the story Miss Rumphius drank one. Grant helped with hacking the top off, and then we feasted on all its goodness inside.

We have opened coconuts before, but not since Eliza has been home.

Everyone else hesitated to put a piece of the coconut meat in their mouths to try it, except Eliza! She grabbed a huge piece and stuffed it in – that’s my girl!

Then she spit it all right back out. But I love her spirit!!

We made a delicious smoothie with the coconut water and the meat. We had to add more coconut water to make a smoothie big enough to serve us all, but God has blessed us with Costco for big family servings! We buy our coconut water there.

I sent the younger boys to the freezer to get some fruit, and they brought back every kind we own. So we made a banana, peach, mango, triple berry smoothie! And, no, that is not pepper on top – just some ground chia seeds to give all that fruit sugar some protein. Doesn’t that coconut meat look delicious?! It was!

We talked about the health benefits of electrolytes as I served the smoothies, because coconut water is full of them. It was delicious! Grant drank his and told me he could feel his white blood cells doing a dance.

Miss Rumphius was called The Lupine Lady because she planted lupine flower seeds to make the world more beautiful. We ran with this into the study of botany, seeds, flowers and their parts….there is just SO much to learn!

We watched two episodes of Magic School bus about plants and seeds.

We soaked, peeled, and examined the insides of pinto beans.

We also put some bean seeds on a wet paper towel in a baggie and hung them on the window.

We couldn’t fit this book into five days either – so we will keep rowing – and take time to document what happens to those seeds and finish the other things I have planned!