They're here!! They're here!!

The baby chicks have arrived.  They are being smothered mothered by all the girls in the house.  Even TL has gotten into the action.  They sent us 5 extra so now we have 29 hens and one rooster.  Wow.  Anyone need some eggs in a few months? 

The girls are getting attached and wanting to name them. I have to keep reminding them that we will probably lose some and hope that they aren't too attached.

 

 

I have most of the garden in.  Its been rainy and cloudy everyday.  I don't know how much we're going to get this year.  Its a very strange year.  Many of the farmers never got their crops in and half of those who did are plowing theirs under.  Too much rain.  Over 12 inches in May and we usually get 3.  The lawn just keeps growing and growing.  I hope it dries out tomorrow so we can mow before it rains all day on Saturday.  The strawberries, raspberries, cherry tree, and three plum trees are doing well.  I had cancelled the order with the pear and peach trees because of the snow in May and then all this rain.  I hope to get them in later this year. 

 

We're done with school except for math, reading, and spelling.  Those are the subjects that we will be working on this summer.  TL also has to work on his Spanish. 

 

I'm going to be cleaning out the asparagus patch which is a giant weed fest.  The strawberry patch that the previous owner also had, is just as bad.  There is a tree that is trying to grow in there but its really viney so its choking the strawberries.  I also need to work on the flowers beds.  The previous owners left the house vacant for a year so everything is really overgrown.  I cleaned out the bed by the garage the other night and mulched it.  It looks really nice now.  I need to take the after picture.  I have the before, but it started raining and I couldn't get the other shot in.

 

 

Thought you'd enjoy Monkey's photo.  She's really great at applying lipstick y'know?



 

And they aren't ours, but our back 8 has cows.  We have rented it out to our neighbor and the kids are super excited.  They love watching the calves. 

Summer plans

I still haven't been able to put my garden in.  It has rained almost every day for the last two weeks.  And I mean rain.....either drizzle all day long or major storms with over an inch of rain.  I was hoping for a little relief today and tomorrow but we have 70% chance of rain.  I think I'll just start building an ark.

Our friend  has put some cows out in our pastures.  The girls are naming them....pretty little girl names......I wanted Ribeye, Hamburger, and Steak, but they didn't agree.  He is renting the pasture from us because we don't have any animals yet.  It works out well for us, he's giving us 1/2 cow in return.  We just have to pay for the processing. 

Monday we get our chickens.  I still need to do a little reading.  The coop is all done and I'm hoping it will be warm enough to stick them out there.  I really don't want them in the basement.

TL still has about two weeks of school left to do for history and science.  He got behind on those assignments.  He'll be working on spelling, math, and Spanish this summer.  He's a little over halfway through his math book.  We didn't start it until Jan.  He also has to read every day.  I have a list for him to pick from this summer and he can also do his pleasure reading.

The girls have to work on math, spelling, and reading everyday. 

Trouble and I really need this summer to get her starting to read.  I end up putting her aside because she's playing or I'm busy with the bigger kids.  She's anxious to learn to read so I'm excited to have some time to spend with her.

The big girls will be honing up their baking skills and working on meals this summer.  I will be teaching TL how to grill and make side dishes.  IF I ever get sick again like I did last fall, at least they'll know how to cook more.  TL also has a ton of mowing to do.  We spent five hours the other day.  He rode the rider for about four hours and I pushed for about two.  We were desperately trying to get it done before the rain started again.  We almost made it and of course, with the rain we've had, we have to start all over again. At least gas prices have dropped to under $4 again. 

Last night was the last American Heritage Girls meeting.  The girls got their awards.  They are Explorers and worked on three badges with their troop and earned two on their own plus a service star.  Service stars are awarded for doing volunteer work.  As Explorers, they are required to do 10 hours to earn a star.  This summer they are attending a four day camp with all the girls in MN and a two night campout with their troop.  Should be a lot of fun!

End of the year blues

It has finally gotten nicer outside.  I itch to be outside gardening and cleaning up but we desperately need to finish our school year.  We are ending at the end of the month, but continuing with a few subjects for thirty minutes a day four days a week. 

The big girls are going to focus on math and spelling.  They will also be required to read for thirty minutes a day.

TL has to catch up on some math.  His main focus will be spelling and Spanish this summer. 

And Trouble and I will be working on addition facts and reading skills.  She's behind for her kindergarten year.

I plan on taking July totally off.  The kids have camps and other activities to work on during that busy month.  We will start up again in August and continue until our "official" start of school in Sept.

I'm hoping this will help them catch up in the areas that they have fallen a little behind on.  This year has called for some big improvements for them all, but they still need help in these few areas.  This year was crazy with the move and then delay of moving into the house and my illness this past October. 

Have a wonderful week.  I will be praying for those families in Moore, OK.  I pray that they find the rest of the children and they are safe.  May God watch over the families and rescue workers today.

Farm life

Here's some photos of the farm, now that I finally have a camera!! Enjoy!  Will post more later this weekend.

Building the chicken coop inside the corn crib

TL hanging the tire swing

Raspberry and blueberry plants

Plum trees

Monkey enjoying the tire swing

Bug-a-bug enjoying the second tire swing.  I've been told we need to add two more.

Tree fort cut into the pines

Cherry tree lower left corner.  This is the view out onto the road and this was just this past weekend.  We're finally getting leaves on the trees now

Chicken coop (yes there's a door leading out for the chickens on the other side)

Sunset

bug-a-bug resting

Two years ago a twister hit the area.  Both barn roofs had to be replaced and notice this tree right next to the house.  None of the branches were broken off by the twister......it just twisted all the of the branches so that they face south now. 

Little Miss watching daddy hang up the tire swings

Princess riding the mower.....I think that after mowing for a couple of hours, she'll be done with this 

No time....

I don't have time this morning to update on our school progress.  I'll just update on life these past two weeks. 

I've been crazy busy with school.  Three weeks left and I will be done and graduate!!  yippee!!  Unfortunately, the last two weeks and next two weeks are going to be murderous with trying to get my 25 page term paper done.  Working on the rough draft today and this week.  Hope to have that done by Thursday and then work on the final.

The weather has been less than cooperative lately.  Last Monday it snowed, yes snowed here.  We only had two inches.  Our friends 40 miles west had 8 inches.  He took off of work this week to build a deck.  Not the best time to do it in.  He has had TL over twice this week and I'm taking him over this morning before church to help him out.  Hopefully they finish today since he has to be at work tomorrow. 

The last two days has been really nice.  We've been doing yard work....lots of sticks to pick up.  We have about thirty oak trees and the branches are all over the yard from winter.  I also never raked well last year so we're paying for it this year.

My neighbor brought over another burn barrel so TL spent most of the day yesterday burning trash.  We still have about six bags left.  We got really behind with the crazy weather the last month.  I have to take the recycling in today and that will finally clear out the garage.

We have three evergreens that have grown really close together.  I took trimmers in yesterday and cut out some branches on the inside of them and make the girls a little fort in there.  It will be nice and cool in the summer.  The dog seemed to enjoy it yesterday. 

Hubby arrives home on Tuesday night for ten days.  We have lots to do.  Of course, the weather doesn't look like it will cooperate too much.  Wednesday is rain and 45.  Fifties the rest of the week.  We need to finish the yard work and get the 250 cement blocks I had delivered yesterday set up for our garden; we're doing raised beds.

That's all for now.  Hubby is bringing his camera so I can finally take pictures!!

Oregon Trail

One of the things that I'm trying to incorporate in our homeschool is project based learning.  The day to day grind of workbooks get to everyone, even with the added plus of living books to read. 

I decided to have the big girls work on a project for the Oregon Trail and found this absolutely fantastic website! 

This week that girls have set up their wagon families.  They decided who they were going to be on the trail and made up information about their families.  Princess is married with children and her parents riding in a separate wagon.  Bug-a-bug is a child with siblings and parents.

Today we spent time working on the Supply List.  The girls had to decide how many items for the tents and bedding that they needed and what the cost was going to be.  Some of the items weren't on the list so we discussed how easy it would be to make these items.  We will be covering food and cooking utensils tomorrow and other supplies later this week.

Next week we will start on Monday, packing our wagon and determining how many animals we are going to take along with us.  We started reading Bound for Oregon by Jean Van Leeuwen.  The girls are loving the story.  Tuesday we will be off on our trip and following the trail and sites along the map.  I'm going to look up some of the sites so that they have those to look at and reference.  If I get really energetic maybe I'll make a power-point.  Okay, probably not.....this term paper is due soon and I need to concentrate on that first. 

One of the things I love about this website is that there are FATE cards to follow along with.  Some are good, some bad, some are just quick decisions that may hold you up a day to see something special or do some hunting; but all are very interesting and fun. 

I hope you get a second to take a look at this website!!  Its absolutely fantastic!

Enjoy!

Winter STorm Warning

We are under a winter storm warning until 7pm tomorrow night.  Freezing rain and snow.....yes, snow.  Up to four inches.  Really?  All that other snow finally just melted!! 

I wanted to share some websites that I found.  We really love Tapestry of Grace.  I am trying to incorporate more project learning for the kids and wanted a project that they could work on the next few weeks.  We are currently studying the Oregon Trail era. 

I found this website about an Oregon Trail project.  It is a five week long project where the kids build wagons, gather supplies, get a pseudonym, and then travel.  They stop at points along the way to gather supplies and best of all see the area where the pioneers stopped.  I love to that they have to make trail decisions along the way which affect their traveling. The girls are starting this next week.

TL took an awesome six week Oregon Trail class online through Currclick and Apples of Gold Academy.  She also did his Lord of the Rings class.  Apples of Gold is fabulous!  If your looking for something new to do in your homeschool, I highly recommend her classes.

So anyway, another Oregon Trail project seemed ridiculous so I wanted to work on the Gold Rush, Transcontinental Railroad, and the Pony Express.  This site has directions to start your own Gold Rush Town and this website has a little info on everything.  I hope to have him work on the Gold Rush for two weeks and Transcontinental Railroad and Pony Express for one week each.  We'll see.  If I see there's too much I want him to do, I may cut one or make the projects longer.  Hopefully it will be fun for him.

Take care!!  Enjoy your spring weather!!  Looks like we won't see any for a while yet!

Spring is in the air!

I saw two robins and a blue jay yesterday.  On Easter Sunday, I woke up to rabbits hopping all over the yard.  I'm surprised that I hadn't seen a rabbit since we've lived here and that they chose Easter to come out.  The temperature is rising.  Its supposed to be close to fifty today.   

I have to go and order my supplies for my garden.  We're making raised beds out of cinder blocks.  I need about 200.  Sometime this month all of my trees and plants will be arriving also.  We need to clean out the corn crib and prep it for the chicken coop. 

good new though, Kevin will be arriving at the end of the month for ten days.  I have his honey do list all ready.  He'll mainly be working on the chicken coop and helping with garden stuff.  I hope to get some painting done also while he is here.  It depends on how much of my own school I have done.  I have a 25 page term paper that's due during that time frame.  If I can get it done before hand than I'm looking good! 

Today, TL and I are going to look at an area rug for his room.  He has the smallest one at 12x8.  We priced having carpet put in and its almost $500, which is ridiculous.  It wasn't even great carpet!  Since most of it will be covered by furniture anyway, we decided to get a nice quality area rug for half the price.  He is looking forward to having some soft and warm flooring (he has hardwood now).

I'm also going to pick up my seeds to start my seedlings in a few weeks.  Still too cold to start doing it yet, but it will be nice to have it all once I'm ready.  Need to pick up some shovels, another rake, and some other gardening tools.  Also going to buy some new pillows.  We bought cheap ones when we moved here and they are all as flat as a pancake!! 

And so I'm off.  Not sure how much I'll be blogging in the next few weeks.  I have to get all of this stuff caught up with my school and planting and everything else!!  Crazy busy but exciting!