Friday, June 25, 2010

Hold On to Yer Horses, Folks!

We're trying to catch our breath down here. This month is speeding by with so many activities and daily responsibilities. Josiah has been working with all his chickens, and they're growing quickly. Stennes has been busy at the U-Pick, and we're hoping that his job will be finishing up around July 4th. He's gone from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. some days. That's a lot of work in the hot Georgia sun! He brought Mean Ol' Mama her first watermelon of the season. The kids shredded zucchini for the freezer. We'll be able to make bread all winter long.
Our Very Special Cousin filled a basket full of surprises for the kids on our upcoming vacation next month to Minnesota. They can hardly wait!
Look at all these tickets The Girl won! We had our monthly homeschool meeting at the local skating rink, and she spent some "quality time" with the fun video games. She's hoping to "buy" something special at the little store inside the rink.

ChubChub and Poppins were snuggled up on the couch together, sleeping soundly. Mean Ol' Mama thought this photo of their feet was sweet.
Anders helped Poppins put together a bicycle that he [Poppins] won for 10 years of good service at his job.
Branch bought a beginner microscope set at a yard sale for a grand sum of $2.00. He and The Girl enjoyed checking out many interesting things on the slides.
We invited Doctor Peter and his family (including his mother and father from New York) over Saturday evening. They also brought 2 extra kids, so the little folks really had a good time being silly together.

In the next photo, Poppins is leading an experiment on the center of gravity while lifting chairs.
Speaking of chairs, the young folks put up their heels on one chair, rested their neck on another, placed a third chair under their middle, and then pulled the chair out! It was really fun to watch them balance in mid-air (so it seemed)! Aaahhh, to be young again...

Stennes helped ChubChub get situated on his chairs after he begged to try. That little charmer was actually able to do it on the first try!

Poppins thought about impressing the kids, but then he decided that it wasn't worth a sore backside if he were to fall!
Doctor Peter decided to try, too, but then chose to impress us all with the size of his inflated belly! The kids really enjoyed that!
Peter and Poppins then sat down, linked arms, and stood up without letting go of each other. Quite a feat!
Those two old fogies were quite pleased with themselves!Now the little ones had to try, too!
Well now. Peter and Poppins had to hold on to their "IMPRESSIVE" title, so they decided on a show of leg wrestling.
And of course, the young fellas had to do it even better!
Did you know that Poppins had blue eyes? He doesn't.
Mean Ol' Mama screamed when she saw this in her kitchen sink Wednesday morning. It isn't real, but how was she to know B.C. (Before Coffee)? Boys...
Speaking of boys, this is what Mean Ol' Mama found on her pottery shelf Thursday morning: a vulture's egg, a miniature shovel, an eye-dropper for Josiah's chicken medication, and a dead dragonfly. Hmmm....
Mean Ol' Mama came home from teaching Wednesday night and found an adult tricycle ready for cruising. Even though it was late, she took it for a spin. What fun!
Branch showed off a nest, complete with 2 speckled eggs.
The Girl hosted her 8th birthday party Thursday morning. We all had a good time.
The theme was A Cowgirl Party, so the enamelware dishes were very appropriate. The food was delicious, complete with a cowgirl cake!

She was excited to receive a beach towel to take on our vacation. Gotta love colorful paisley!
Branch had cut himself badly just the morning before, and all the playing and excitement of the birthday party caused his wound to re-open and bleed profusely again. Fortuntately, Ms. Beth was at the party, so she "operated" and sent him on his merry way.
Old fashioned play is always fun...
We have prepared food for about 175 people just this week. Mean Ol' Mama is trying to stay on top of her College papers that have to be checked. Poppins is working steadily. The boys are busy with their activities. We have 4th of July performances coming up (new songs, speeches to memorize, etc.). Hold on to yer horses, folks!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Busy Busy Days

We have received lots of sweet corn from friends and from Stennes' job. The boys have faithfully cut it off the cob to freeze for winter time. Yummy! Mean Ol' Mama has been busy, too, with work from the College. Lots of essays to correct...
Schoolwork has been a bit sporadic these past 2 weeks. Gardens and animals have priority right now, and the kids do their work whenever they can. [The Girl works diligently on her Greek...]
The kids have also been cooking a lot because Mean Ol' Mama is busy-busy-busy. Fried egg sandwiches and fried potatoes make a tasty lunch.
Do you think we have enough potatoes? It's the same with zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, etc. Lots of yummy, fresh food.
What are you drawing, ChubChub?
An airplane!
The Girl has enjoyed making a few crafts.
Our Very Special Cousin has now moved into the Pink House, but she had to store most of her furniture, so the fellows lent a hand... We have had a total of 32 people in the home throughout the past 3 days. It's been fun, and we've eaten/cooked a lot of food!
Poppins gave the boys handgun safety classes. They really enjoyed targed practice!


Stennes attached a lightswitch plate that Mean Ol' Mama bought for 10 cents.
It didn't quite fit, so he had to re-drill the holes. Kind of handy to have a clever boy...
Cute, eh?
On Saturday afternoon, Poppins and Doctor Peter took the boys to a chicken auction. They returned with 159 chickens! Yep, you read that number correctly. Thankfully, 17 have already been sold for a profit, and 4 more were...well, shall we say that those 4 contributed to lunch. Keep reading to see what happened to them...
Our Mexican friends wanted to cook us a "rancho" meal, so they came early Sunday morning to get things rolling.


Levi brought down two huge buckets of zucchini to add to the caldo (soup with chicken, carrot, squash, and potato).
These two roosters were fighting, so Josiah had to separate them from the others.


The Girl helped Doris make a mountain of tortillas.
Gamaliel kindly tended the pot of caldo. They are such kind people.
Lookind foward to another busy week...