Bluebird Gap Farm

Wednesday we took a trip to a local "farm" called Bluebird Gap Farm.  I love this place.  It is kind of like a mini-zoo, but FREE!  It has turkeys, ducks, swans, peacocks, owls, emus, chickens, deer, racoons, goats, horses, cows, sheep, donkeys, snakes, ... I am probably forgetting something, but you get the point.  Regular animals, no exotic things like lions and tigers and bears (Oh my!).  It also has a picnic area and a playground as well.  The kids love it! 

One really cool thing (to me at least) is that they have a beautiful white peacock and when we were there on Tuesday he had his tail feathers all spred out.  So beautiful!

Here are Nathan and Elizabeth looking at a donkey and a pony.  So cute!  Nathan loved that there was a horse that was "just my size".

And who is that adorable little baby in the stroller?  Did I have a third child? Meet Micah.  I have been watching Micah since he was only 5 weeks old.  He is 4 months old now and I just can't believe how much he has grown!  This was the first time that I tried him in the umbrella stroller.  Normally I keep him in the front carrier or in the big stroller.  He did really well though. 

Here is Nathan in the barn pushing Micah.  Nathan appointed himself as stroller pusher which was wonderful!  He could push the stroller while I helped Elizabeth.  She kept getting destracted by ALL of the animals, where Nathan was content to just look at the ones that he wanted to.  Micah was just along for the ride!

Nathan loved looking at the antique farm equipment.

Eventually Elizabeth decided that she wanted to push the stroller.  She is such a big helper!  She helps with bottles, diaper changes, all sorts of things.  She just loves to help. This unfortunately caused a little battle between Nathan and Elizabeth as to who got to push the stroller... so guess who pushed the stroller for the rest of the morning - you got it - Me!  It was fun while it lasted and I am glad I got pictures of it!

The Shed is Up, the Garden is Planted

I meant to post this earlier, but time just got away from me...  I have mentioned before that we have been in the process of building a shed out back.  Various family members (My mom and John's Dad) came together for Christmas to make this possible for us.  Well, it's finally up! 

Of course the day John had to put it together was a crazy windy day which makes putting together a metal shed quite a challenge, but here it is in the process...

Here are Daddy's helpers near the end of the project

And finally the finished shed!

That same day I was finally able to plant my garden!  I am very happy to say that 2 weeks later it is doing very well.  I just wish the weeds would go away, but I guess that is part of gardening.  If I remember correctly that is what I hated about gardening when I was a kid...

John took this picture of me as I was planting.  Not my favoite picture, but I decided to include it as you can see my helper for the project - our Springer Spaniel, Sunny.

And the garden newly planted! I am very much looking forward to fresh produce in the near future!

 

Nathan's First Fishing Trip

This past weekend Nathan got to go on his first ever fishing trip!  And as far as first fishing trips go I have to say that I think this was one of the best fishing trips ever!  It was amazing!  We lost count of how many fish we caught!  John would cast the line for Nathan an it would only be like 30 seconds to a minute later and he would be reeling it in with a fish on the line!  Here is a picture of Nathan's first catch - which did not have just one fish on the line - but two fish!  Nathan was so excited!

Here is Nathan and John - what a proud Daddy!

For the most part we would reel the fish in and Nathan would net them so that John could take them off the line and throw them back.

Here is Nathan with Pops.  Thanks Pops for taking us out on the boat!  We had such a great time!

Nathan and Mommy

Elizabeth came on the fishing trip as well, but did not fish... She did however get to "pet" one of the fish!

Oh, and a disclaimer because I know someone will notice... we did have a life vest on Nathan too while the boat was moving.  We accidentally grabbed the wrong life vest when we left home so the one he was wearing was too big and he had a difficult time moving.  But yes he did wear it the entire time the boat was moving!

The new love of Elizabeth's life

Elizabeth has a new love of her life... she has finally discovered baby dolls! 

 At Christmas when she got a few baby dolls as gifts she carried them around for an hour or so, but now, now these baby dolls are her love.  She thinks about her baby dolls all the time and must make sure they are well taken care of.  Now, she has 3 different dolls that she loves, but she loves them all as a Mommy loves her baby. 

Here is Elizabeth with her other love - her "night night" (made by Mimi) which is a blankie with a fleece side and a silky side.  She always sleeps with her "night night" and here she is getting ready to swaddle her baby doll.

Sorry, did not get a picture of the finished product.

Here is a picture of her with another baby doll... and "night night" yet again.  See a theme?

Speaking of things that Elizabeth loves here she is as I have just laid her down for bed for the night.  Surrounded by all her loves.  She has her "Ten Rubber Duckies" book which great grandmother Schafer gave to her.  She must have this book read to her before every nap and bedtime.  She will also carry it around the house with her baby and her "night night".  Then there is her Baby Minnie Mouse given to her by Uncle Eric.  Then the pink pillow is a Disney Princess pillow book given to her by her former babysitter "Nanny".  Then she has her glow worm given to us by Jerilyn White.  Her "night night" of course.  And finally her blanket made for her by Aunt Chelsei.  There you have my little girl , surrounded by all the things she loves!  Good night my little Lizzy!

The new pool

Last week I bought the kids a new pool.  The kind of pool that I remember loving as a little girl.  I remember it being one of the best pools (from a kids point of view) because I could actually "swim" in it.  Well, so the adventure begins....  Saturday evening after I got home from our 1710 project, but before John got home, the kids asked if we could fill up the pool.  It was hot, it was the beginning of what is supposed to be several hot days so why not?  I can do this right?!   

Nathan was very eager to help and how hard can it be?  I read the directions on the back of the box.  Sounds simple...

This picture was taken just after I "took a break".  Meaning that I was about ready to kill anyone who got in my path! My poor children - what was supposed to be joy for them was turning into Mommy coming very close to loosing her temper.  I had to step back, take a deep breath, say a prayer asking for God to give me patience and a sense of humor.  Nathan was trying his best to help me I have to give him that!  Here he is trying to hold the sides of the pool up so that the water won't continue to spill out the sides. 

Here is a picture of the back of the box... notice a mom and her little boy easily setting this pool up together... Yeah right!

Well, we finally got enough water in the pool to hold up the sides (about 1/3 of the way full) and that was good enough for me and for the kids.  See my very happy children!  They enjoyed the pool and all the pool toys that I gave them.  We all survived the filling of the pool, that is until next time...

And as a side note, as the kids were playing in the pool I sat down and read the actual directions that came inside the box... it says "3-4 adults needed to assemble".  Nice.  Who actually reads the directions beforehand anyway?

Penninsula 1710

The church we go to - Northside Christian Church - does several times a year something we call Penninsula 1710.  We break up into teams and go into the community to help various people in the community.  These are people who are not part of our church, but who have been identified to our church as people in need of help.  John has been able to participate several times in the Penninsula 1710 projects, but this was the first time I have been able to join him.  The kids got to spend the day with Mimi, Grandad and Aunt Chelsei which they enjoyed very much.  Thanks you guys for helping out so much with the kids!

We got to do the project with our community group from church.  We have an awesome community group - I love them all so much!  This was such a great opportunity to get to serve together.  We all got to know each other a little more, and those families with older kids brought their kids along with them.  That was really great to see how the families served together as well.

We worked on a moble home, there were several things that we did but the big things were replacing the skirting around the bottom of the trailer, replacing the outside lights, replacing all the screws on the outside of the home, re-painting the top of the A/C unit, and... the bigest project of the day... fixing the stairs that led to the front door of the home.  Here are some pictures of the days projects:

What a wonderful day! 

Matthew 25:40 " The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'"

Our backyard playground

Well, looking back at my previous posts I realized that I had pictures of our travels to various parks, but did not have any pictures of our own backyard where we spend most of our time!  So, welcome to our backyard playground (as Nathan calls it!)

Here is the kids' playset

 

Nathan and Elizabeth love to play in the "fort" part of the playset.  The top part is their "fort" and the bottom part is their "house".  It's so interesting to hear them pretend in both the "fort" and in the "house" as the play is very different in both areas.

Both kids love to swing!  I would have to say that right now swinging is the most favoite activity for both kids!  Nathan has finally learned how to swing by himself which I am so very excited about!  It's exhausting pushing two kids for what seems like hours on end!  Now I only have to give Nathan one push to get started and then I can just stand there and push Lizzy.

Here is the slide.  Of course Nathan goes up the slide just as often as he goes down the slide...

And, an update on how the shed is progressing... well, the floor is all the way done now!  Next John just needs a weekend and some helpers to get the actual shed put together!  We are so close!

Nathan is such a good helper.  He is going to building things all by himself before we know it!