Sick

We had a sick goat, she got into the chicken feed, and it was a mess! He pooh turned into cow patties. I was told to give her some pepto so I pulled my hair back put on crappy clothes expecting a war! She just nicely licked it all LOL I was hoping to give u all a funny story but it's pretty boring. She fine now and her milk productions is back to normal. The others are doing well, Billy is still a horny teenager! Rosie is going through heat again so the kids stay away since he gets a little playful!
Micah was been practicing his milking he's getting pretty good at it!

Farmer Brian

hoping to get it enclosed this week!

Brian has had to cover a lot of thee animal care the last few days since I've been so busy with the wedding.  He has learned how to milk now :) The house may be a mess, and the barn semi clean but the animals managed to get fed and milked the last few days!  Tonight when I went to put the chickens up I only counted 15 which lead me on a hunt.  I called Brian out and with big flashlights we started our hunt!  She was hiding in the garage behind a seeder. This one is one of the good layers so I'm glad I was able to keep her safe.  Mr. Cluck Cluck must have heard me talking to her because he started cock-a-doodle-doing until he laid eyes on her.  When I put her in the coop he jumped down and pecked her neck, talk about a control freak!  I stayed till he settled back down I didn't want any domestic abuse tonight.  I guess when your trying to juggle 15 girls your anger comes out on someone :D  Well off to milk!

Wedding Week

This week we are preparing to celebrate my sister's wedding.  The big kids are excited because there will be a party and they get to walk down the isle at the church, which is typical since they love parties and being the center of attention.  Tonight we had the rehearsal which allowed me to meet all the brides maids and grooms men.  It was such a fun group the wedding will be a blast!  The dinner was at a great restaurant downtown, and of course no trip to minneapolis would be complete without a trip past sex world.  As we were stuck at a red light in front of it I was hoping Micah wouldn't try his new reading skills!
   After yummy food we headed home only to have a drunk man fall of his bike in front of our car.  (A quick 911 call later we were on our way home).
 School this week is going great! Micah has learned to read, Thank you All About Reading! It's so fun watching him blossom, he is eager to read now, something I thought would never happen!
  Our animals are doing good, still all crazy, but good.  The hens are still laying we have added a couple heat lamps (we really should put some plywood in front of the opening to keep the heat in).  we're still getting over 10 eggs a day. One of the girls loves to sit so I'm thinking we'll have some chicks in the spring.
  Rosie and Buttercup are doing well.  Rosie has already started her heat cycles, and I'm praying she's pregnant...less to milk in the winter!
  Well off to bed nails in the morning.

God grabs our attention

A few weeks ago I started thinking it may be time to start looking for a new family vehicle.  Since I bought the van almost 6 years ago I haven't even looked a "new" car.  Anyways I dismissed the thought, since we're saving for a new house.  I shouldn't have done so. After a relaxing labor day morning I took all three kids and ran to the outlet mall a few miles from home.  Did all our shopping, loaded all the kids up, and the van didn't start.  It wasn't not the battery.  THe car wouldn't register the it being in park so therefore wouldn't start.  The tow truck brought us home and we ended up leaving it at the mall since i didn't know where to have it towed.  The next day Bri and I ran over there and rechecked it looked at all the spark plugs.  Today the truck brought it to a dealer when I showed up with the keys it started right up! I sold the thing to them and we're looking for a new car.  Next time I think it'll be cheaper to just listen to God when he gives us a nudge we won't wait for a shove.
   School is going well the kids are having fun with it still granted we're only 3 days into it.  Friday, is homeschool group and the kids can hardly wait for it.  Micah has a speech eval tomorrow.

A week of crazies!

dead mouse number 1 and best of all he did get the cheese, trap is reset and ready for mouse #2

Auntie Allie and Micah 

 I have a moment to breath and the computer happens to be in front of me.   This week has been crazy but when I look back I'm not sure with what!  We've been dealing with mice in the house.  My first attempt was a fail I basically just fed the stupid things.  However, I got new traps and caught one last night, and learned we have HUGE mice! My dad asked if they were cross bread with rats!

 Yesterday, we enjoyed a day at the lake cabin with family.  The kids ran and played hard all day.  Passing out in the van on the way home.  At supper Eli started screaming like crazy when I looked at my watch it was 7pm on the dot. This child is going to have ME on a schedule soon!  Anyways we rushed home and he was in bed by 745 out cold!  

ready for bed!

At the cabin Chris brought his kayak so the kids paddled around in it. I think the adults got just as much as a workout from playing as the kids did!

Micah Cameron and Sarah

Today Dad and Mom came over to help fix my computer, the wifi wasn't working.  While Dad was working on that Mom was outside taking lots of pictures with her super duper camera.  As a result I now have wonderful pictures of all our wonderful animals.



Below is a funny stories but content revolves around animals in heat, you have been warned!

Lady sticking out her tongue at Rosie

Thing One and Thing Two eating

Mr. Cluck Cluck strutting his stuff looking for one of the girls

Lady

Todays eggs

Baloo waiting for a signal, he LOVES herding the girls!

Rosie and the girls 

My horny adolescent goat "Billy"

 SO Mr. Horny here is in full swing of puberty right now, if he was a human he'd be locked up for indecent exposure and ATTEMPTED rape!  Rosie started her heat cycles for the year.  Goats are in heat around september through march, and are only fertile 1-2 days a month.  Anyways a few days ago I was milking one of the girls and Brian was out talking to me.  Billy got out and jumped on the milking table he was out of my site.  Brian yells, "Holy COW" I look up thinking he's giving me crap about my pants being to low or something. I looked up at him and he was wide eyed staring at Billy. I looked over Buttercup and There was Billy with his 8" fire truck, now if he was just cleaning it no big deal but Billy is a special goat and was practically nursing on it!  The next few days after this event he was driving the girls crazy trying to mount them every chance he got.  We kept the kids inside that day just incase Billy got to frisky and bucked at the kids.


 

busy

This week had been so busy we've had something everyday this week!  Luckily mema and papa are taking the big kids tonight so we can have some rest time! more to come later with lots of pictures!

Teeth already?

Mr. Eli was up 3-4 times last night instead of his normal 1, and was fussy today.  I noticed earlier that his top 4 teeth are moving down but still had a way to go. At supper tonight he was laughing and I caught a glimpse of a bottom tooth breaking through.  Poor baby lost it not long after.  With him being only 3 months old I had nothing on hand, so I made a quick trip to the store.  Of course there was no infant drops and only stuff for 2+ a call to the nurse on the way home got my Tylenol dose.  Poor baby had fussed almost the whole time. It took 40 minutes to get him calmed down and comfortable. He's asleep now and back on schedule.  He has his doc appt. in the morning so we'll see how much this chunky monkey weighs my guess is 18 lbs!

KEEP OUT!

So we have an all purpose building, garage in front barn in back.  I love it because it's all right there what I don't like is animal poop all over!! Apparently the garage side is the place to be! THe chickens and goats hang out over there if they can get in. I had this wonderful idea to make a gate and fence it off.

Big smiles before we started

 My dad came over to help with my little project. This is what it looked like before we started.  Notice all the straw and hay on the ground, now imagine that all over! I got to work cleaning that out while he constructed a door made out of scrap wood we found in the burn pile.  Brian had the great idea of doubling the fence up to make it stronger! 

Door is up!
we got the door up with some hinges that had been saved from the old house.  Brian had to go back inside since his allergies were killing him.  I keep suggesting shots but my big strong husband will avoid a -itty bitty needle even if it means suffering every day. Once we got the gate up we made a little lock for it.  Sarah thought this was a "great idea" and entertained herself most of the afternoon going in and out of the door. 

Finishing up the fencing

We added sheep and goat fence with little tack staples.  Dad is just putting the last few around the gate.  He was way faster at this than I was I kept missing and had those things flying everywhere!  

Kisses from Rosie!

During the rummaging of the scrap pile we came across half a pallet, and thought it would make a great temporary hay older.  (NOTICE THE TEMPORARY! I still want my nice one Brian!)  This thing was a pain in the butt! I have a hug bruise on my foot from it falling. Dad has a enormous one on his forearm.  We needed to remove two of the boards which were not wanting to come off.  I bet it took a good 20 minutes to get them off.  but once we did legs were added and hay and we had happy goats!
 

All done happy goats and Happy Sarah!

CRAZY GOAT!

Billy being the adolecent he is had to go around to the main gate crawl under and then come into the barn to check it out freely.  

Great Minnesota Get Together!

This morning after chores we (I) got a great idea Bri had the day off so we loaded up the kids and headed to the fair.  I was oozing with excitement since it had been over 5 years since I made it to the fair.  (Living out of state sucks this time of year!) I was also excited for Brian and the kids to see it!  We found parking just one block from the gate (I remember when you could pay 5 and park now some people want 20!).  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the State Fair, its serious business around here! Someone told Brian it's like the world series of fairs!  People who live near the fair grounds turn their yards into parking lots. You basically don't see grass on yards within 10 blocks of the fair just cars!

Brian giving free rides

Micah coming down the slide 

  After we parked our first mission was to find pronto pups! we gobbled those down and started walking around.  We got to the big slide Brian took the big kids down it.  Micah went by himself and didn't think he wanted to do that again. We took a little stop by the butterfly house once again Brian took the kids in while I feed Eli.  It was really fun to watch Brian was board out of his mind but the kids had a blast.  Once baby was full we made our way to the animals.
  This was one of my favorite parts I was able to get some really good information in the pig/goat barn by talking to others. Did you know there is a dip formulated for winter that helps against frost bite?
   While in the cow barn I noticed my husband was no longer with me, when I looked back he was at a booth that had info on dairy cows!!!! NOOO!!! I asked a lady how long it would take to milk a cow, she told me just 5 minutes or so.  when I explained I meant by hand I was told "I don't know ANYONE who milks by hand anymore"  Well I my name's Jenna! LOL I think a milker will be in order if we get anything else that needs to be milked.   I cannot believe that my grandpa's family had 7 of those things that were milked by hand 3 times a day!

Sarah showing me how easy milking is!

   We finished off the fair with rides and a walk around the colosseum where I managed to score some books for school.  We left the fair with 3 tired kids, and a unimpressed husband.

Ready to head home!

   When we got home I headed out to milk only to realize that Billy had gotten into the feed while we were gone and polished it off, leaving me with nothing to entertain the girls while i milked.  So not only was I being eaten alive by an army of mosquitoes I had dancing goats.  Brian had to come hold buttercups head while i got her since she was not stay in place.  Once she was switched out for Rosie, I relaxed a bit but shouldn't have.  Rosie has a bit of an attitude she wasn't happy about the lack of grain so she gave me a look and plopped her food in the bucket.  What a stink!  None the less they got milked and the kittens and dogs got a bucket full of milk to drink!

Peaceful day

I did it! I managed to get the lower part of the house and the mountain of laundry clean! I was doubtful this morning when we woke-up at 9, but I was able to get it all done, and early too!
  Last night (or ridiculously early) the dogs started going crazy, which is something they only do if there is a reason.  Granted half the time the reason to us is absurd.  Anyways Bri went out there to find goats out and dogs running around barking.  He put the girls up, and came back in, just as he got back into bed they were barking again.  Since there are coyotes around here and since we have chickens there is a little concern when they bark.  Back outside he went with a light.  In the middle of all this the phone started ringing.  Brian is outside in shorts and a t-shirt wearing my boots (okay their really his but he's got more than one pair and I have claimed these ones). The phone is his work calling so I'm running outside in my nighty yelling for him.  He doesn't hear me, when I met up with him at the barn door, he looked at me like I was crazy outside in my night clothes. Needless to say I got back to bed and I think he rested a bit more although I'm not sure I was out.

Micah Filthy as can be!

  The kidos spent the morning outside getting as dirty as possible, while Eli napped and I cleaned.  Once they came back in Micah had me "help" him play batman on x-box.  For those of you who don't know I get horribly motion sick on any gaming system higher than Nintendo.(which we do have but he thinks its boring).  I was able to play for about 20 minutes before I was replaced by my 4 year old. Half the time I was playing Micah would grab my controller saying, "here mom let me do that for you"  when I would kill a bad guy he'd praise me.  LOL man am I getting old!

Eli watching Micah and Sarah play Wipeout on Xbox

  Eli is settling into a nice schedule, which will be great with school starting up soon.  Today he spent a great deal of awake time watching the big kids play.  It's a nice change of pace from me holding him constantly! He's starting to think they are funny too, which both Micah and Sarah get a HUGE kick out of...

Totally Cheese? Another Yogurt fail

I am finding out that Buttercup doesn't like being milked so much anymore for the last 3 days she has tried to get the bucket, which she succeeded yesterday, she didn't spill that much milk but her foot got in the bucket, therefore, we had to boil the milk to kill any germs.  I figured since the milk was hot anyways we'd have another go at the yogurt.  Once it was cooled to 115 I added the starter yogurt and wrapped it up in towels and stuck it in the van.  I figured it would stay warm in there.
  Meanwhile the kids were playing around, Sarah managed to gather eggs without breaking any today which is great! We pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon outside playing and discovering new things.  Apparently we have frogs around here (in the middle of know where).

THere was a great deal of squealing at this little guy .  towards the end of the afternoon Micah discovered something that gave him this.   We're still not sure what caused it but a trip to the doctor revealed that it was nothing other than an allergic reaction.  At least it wasn't poison ivy or oak!  After the doctor we stopped at Bunny Foo Foo's for supper and swimming.  It had been about 6 hours since i did the yogurt, which was still in the van, so i brought it in and we gave it a try.  It smelt like yogurt so i was hopeful but it tasted like cheese. UGH I'll get it one of these days.

  You may be wondering why the title is totally cheese.  Cheese is apparent but my daughter has discovered a new word. Everything is totally! She was totally helping me with chores and then she thought going for a walk was totally cool, I could go on and on I think she used the word at least 40 times throughout the day.
  Luckily the rest of the evening went by without to much more excitement.  We did have some visitors last night but more about that later.

Cleaning!?!

Yesterday was one of those days that you seem to live in the kitchen.  Looking back i'm not even sure what I got done, there was an attempt to get it clean.

notice they are ignoring the lower feeder!
Milking was an adventure this morning, after I got it all done the goats some how got out and I turned around for one minute and  then found this, I guess the felt they needed more feed!

After morning milking I made french toast and egg~n~a hole. The kids got out the xbox games and i listened to shreaks of joy as they played wipeout. At one point the kitchen was clean so I started laundry about then the kids who where taking a break from the gaming brought in eggs, only 3 cracked this time, I guess that's what happens when you send a 4 year old to gather.
  Eli let me put him in a stroller without screaming

Almost asleep! Hoping this means more walks!

those poor kittens get touted all around

so we followed the kids around the yard in the jeep. Until he feel asleep.
  After a fairly relaxing afternoon we headed to church for the homeschool meeting.  I am really excited to start this year it will be great to have a group of supporters in the area!  The ladies I met yesterday seem like a great group who will help and some of the them have 9+ kids and have volumes of wisdom. hopefully we'll fair better this year!  Both the big kids will be doing pieces from kindergarden and 1st grade, hmm writing this reminds me I should dig stuff out and get it organized!
  After the meeting we rushed home to milk and get three tired crabby children to bed.  We did learn something important though, we HAVE to be home no later than 8:30 or schedule baby has a meltdown!

First Attempt at Yogurt...Fail!

I have been putting off making yogurt for a week now, no reason we have plenty of milk the girls are giving me well over a gallon a day.  I have the starter yogurt but there is was some apprehension.  I am guess I don't want to make anyone sick. Plus you leave it sit out, milk should be in the fridge! But anyways I set out to make it.  The big kids had a friend over so there were busy the baby was napping (it didn't last long!) so i thought why not.  I started to heat the milk, from what I have read it kills some of the bacteria which makes for a sweeter yogurt. I thought if fruit was mixed in with it there would be less work in the future since it wouldn't have to be done EVERY time someone wanted yogurt.  Anyways while in the middle of heating the milk and warming the frozen fruit i glance over at the running dishwasher, and see white foam creeping out of the bottom! it was like a movie, that doesn't happen in real life! I give the milk a quick stir, and open the door to the washer, yelling for the boys to get towels, when i opened the door it was like the blob of bubbles was trying to escape!  It felt like an episode of I love Lucy there was bubbles falling everywhere.  I wish i would have thought to take a picture!  I grabbed the milking bucket and started scooping.  Needless to say I did get it fixed and working (Hmm maybe i should run down stairs and just make sure there is no mess right now)

  Back to the Yogurt once i got it to the right temp and mixed it all up i stuck it in a cooler and wrapped it up tight, came back 6 hours later to a kifer like consistency and it was tart! Oh well Bri will drink it when he gets home, it does look pretty though!