Shaggy and Short

April Showers bring May Flowers

We're trying to get more into the yard and garden stuff now that we've been in the house for almost 2 years. Well, I should correct myself- John's getting more into the yard and garden stuff and I'm huffing and puffing along behind trying to give my opinion but not willing to actually do much. Though I must admit that a baby on the hip or in the belly doesn't really make for a great gardener.

Last fall we actually thought about putting a few flowers in before it got too late, and this spring we were rewarded with about 20 beautiful white tulips in front of our brown barn. Ava thought they were pretty cool and had fun posing in front of them.




Here is the normal Ava we all know and love- shaggy hair and all.

After looking at these pictures I realized that Ava really needed a hair cut so off we went to the local cosmetology school, where she got a fancy new hair cut. She loves it because it doesn't get any "knotties" or tangles and she can brush it herself. I love it because I don't have to fight her on fixing her hair anymore and it's out of her face. Win-win!

Meanwhile, what does one naughty little boy do while his mom is having fun doing girlie things with his sister? Why, make messes of course.


Ava decided to paint the other day and I realized Nathan's never been given the chance so I set him up too. Now I know why he's never been given the chance. Although it bought me 15 minutes of computer time, it took at least that long to clean him and the table up- not to mention the health effects of sucking on paint.

And my thanks for letting him have this fun?


A dirty, twerpy look when I told him we were through. My nice little toddler is morphing into a naughty 2 year with an extensive vocabulary overnight. I'm just glad I only have 3 more weeks until this next baby comes out because Nathan's to the point that I have to physically remove him from situations and he's quite a brute.



But sometimes he's so sweet too........

Since a few people are actually looking at our blog......

Here's a few more recent pictures of the kids and life here on the farm in Virginia--

Riding in the truck wait for Dada to move cows- they look deceptively happy about this



Fancy Schmancy in their Easter finery. John bought me a fancy camera for my birthday last year but since I haven't figured out how to work it I'm still getting their pictures taken.


Suave Nathan at 22 months. He's quite the little man and loves to talk and repeat anything I say- good or bad. His latests are "knifes for mama, no nasin" while nodding his head enthusiastically since he's gotten in trouble a few times for nabbing a knife when he shouldn't. He's also mastered a little funny hop in circles when he's really excited about things. If I knew how to You Tube I'd post it but I'm not quite that good.




Ava Mava in her fancy clothes. She picked the dress out herself and was very excited that I let her wear a cool necklace. She's only 3 but she acts like she's 6. And she's about as big as a 6 year old too! She's become very independent since I've gotten lazy and fat with this next baby but she still likes cuddles and hugs (mainly only from her Dada though!). But don't let looks decieve you: her favorite things right now are wrestling goat babies (we have 50 in the field behind our house) and dinosaurs (she's currently obsessed with them and is dead set on having a dinosaur party for her birthday in July).




One of those adventures you get into without really knowing why. Chickens. We started with about 10 last fall and then I lost track when I started the morning sickness. Next thing I know we have about 40 laying hens and 45 baby chicks (we heard there was a very high incident of death among baby chicks but we must have done too good a job since all but 1 lived). So everyday we get eggs galore. We used to sell them to a local store but now we're too lazy to wash all of them each week so they're just accumulating in the fridge. Anybody want some dirty eggs?

Sad Day for Carlos

So today we came home from church to find the horses fighting and sure enough, who was in the middle of it but Carlos, the big dumb horse who doesn't know enough to stay away from the mares. This is the third time that it's been the mares "time of the month" which makes Carlos a little wild and crazy. (These pictures are from last winter- not May in Virginia!)



This time he broke down two wooden gates to get to them and John, to put it mildly, was NOT HAPPY. Each time Carlos gets out or does something dumb (which seems to be happening frequently) John marches into the kitchen and announces to me, great with child and usually in the middle of making dinner, that I "have to do something with that horse or he's getting rid of it". I've learned to just listen quietly as he raves, then I usually catch Carlos and things move on.

But today I think he might have reached his limit and so we're now in the dilemma of trying to figure out what to do with a naughty horse who is too big for his britches and who we just bought a very fancy cart to use him with.




Our options are: sell him, breed him to another horse and keep the other horse and baby and sell him, or geld him (remove his boy parts in the hopes that he would forget what fun it is to court those mares- this probably wouldn't work anyway, since he's 15 and isn't likely to forget easily). So I'll keep you updated on what actually happens but let's hope it's a happy outcome. Remind me again- why do I have a horse when I have (almost) three kids under the age of 4? Yeah, that's what I thought.

The Day Has Come.....

So probably no one will ever read this anyway, since it's been almost 3 years since we moved to the country and lost touch with civilization, but I just thought I'd let the world know......that WE HAVE HIGH SPEED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, I'm sitting in my bedroom typing, rather than tethered to the computer downstairs in the kitchen. We've been trying for months to get some sort of high speed internet out here but have hit dead ends everywhere. Until today, I have been dialing up at the lighting fast speed of 9.8 sometimes and 28.8 at the very fastest. I kid you not. It was enough to make me give up internet, all except checking emails and CNN which occupied an hour of my time just to do that. But not anymore, since my wonderful husband just got us Sprint highspeed. I can now actually see your email pictures, open your blogs and (gasp) watch things online!!

Anyway, we'll see if this makes me a better blogger or if my excuses just change. Hopefully, you'll hear more from me!

Try this again!!

So my great friend Chelsea is here and teaching me all about blogs- her's rocks - and I'm trying to post to mine again. We've been having a blast the past week staying up late, making projects and driving around the farm. We bought a huge Christmas tree the other night and then realized why it was so cheap. It was massive and never trimmed so I spent the night trying to get it managable. It fills the entire corner of our dining room. But it looked such a treat for our farm Christmas Party on Friday night. It was really fun. We let all the kids eat their ginger bread father from the ginger bread house...rather funny!



Chels and I did a bit of arty farty stuff last night till 2 am while the boys played cards. Here's the finished product. An old window found in a barn here on the farm, filled with jazzed up black and white photos. We probably spent 30 minutes admiring it after we had made it. Cool!!!



And a cute pic of Nathan and John..... love my boys!

Happy Halloween

Here are our farm animal kids- Nathan got shoved into Ava's old calf costume and Ava got to be a donkey to go along with her Shrek dad.

AVA'S POST

Avvvvvvvvvvvvvva wannted ttttoo post her own pictures. sso he re it is .



John's black eye is from a horse that didn't want to go into the trailer nicely and Nathan's just got the fat around his eyes that makes him look like he's got a black eye.

Almost ready!!

After waiting 9 months I can't believe the house is almost ready to move into. I'm pumped. But now I'm nervous about trying to decorate it. Here's the fireplace that we opened up in the kitchen. It's one of the coolest things in the house. We built a desk right next to it too. I'll try to post a picture of the whole kitchen eventually.

Rock a bye baby

Here's a new one of Na-sin, as Ava calls him. I thought I better get him into this cradle before he gets way to big. He's a pretty happy guy most days.

Ava's Style

A few days ago we caught Ava in this outfit of her choosing. Old lady pink hat that she wears to all her "tea parties" she invites us to, farm girl thrift store boots that are the only ones she can put on herself, a set of broken pink pearls, and of course, no pants. Ah, the joys of girls....especially farm girls......

DoughBoy DoughGirl

-Somehow whenevr I'm making bread Ava finds a way to get into the dough. I remember doing this all the time as a kid and don't really blame her, but her breath stinks of yeast all afternoon.
And this is our little dough boy with a grin for his mama. I think he looks a lot like me but I also see John in him. He's a good mix compared to Ava who we have no clue looks like.

Baby Boy

Here's our newest addition to our family- Nathan Embry Genho. He arrived on May 23rd, 2006 and he was 8lbs 10 ozs. He's now 6 weeks old and I'm thinking somewhere in the 13-14 lb range. Pretty nice weight gain, but what else would you expect from a cattleman's son?

Update-- I went to the doctor yesterday and he's actually 16 lbs 8 ozs at 7 weeks....Nice and chunky to kiss. Some of you maybe getting these announcements if I ever figure out how to get them printed online.... and if I have your address. Cheers!

Easter finery

So after skipping Sunday school to try to get pictures for Easter, we realized it probably wasn't going to work. Here's the only decent one.