Garden planted

Josh, Noah, and I planted the garden this afternoon. We put in sunflowers, sweet corn, silver corn, lima beans, cabbage, lettuce, 2 varities of onions, cantaloupe, watermelon, and carrots. I am waiting a bit for the pepper plants and tomato plants. We had frost on Mon. and Tues. A.M., but none this morning, it was 40. Today it reached 81 and sunny, a beautiful day. I also finished putting the insulators on the T posts. Getting closer to electric fence!
Kitten update: Minnie is venturing outside and leaving the kittens a lot longer. She was meowing a lot today, so I let her out and she joined the boys and I in the garden. :-) I noticed tonight when I was by their box that several are sneezing. Hope this is normal, as I haven't really watched kittens this close. Ours growing up were barn cats, and normally pretty wild. The cat we had when we first married, Salem, that had kittens, had them in the insulation under the trailer we had at the time.
We went to school tonight for success night. This is a new thing the school put on to show what the kids have done throughout the year. Hard to imagine only one more year for Hannah and then she is off to the "big" school. We learned tonight our favorite teacher is retiring this year. I was hoping Zachariah could get her next year, 3rd grade, but I'll keep praying God will give both of them the teacher that is best for them. It is getting harder each night to get the little ones in bed. They are so ready for summer break (5 days left!), and so is Mom! I love having them here at home with me all day. Even on the full moon days and its crazier than an unorganized zoo, how wonderful I feel to be blessed with these children, and how undeserving to have a husband devoted to me, and little arms to wrap around my neck.

Family Day Fun, and Hannah's talent show

We went to a family fun day this morning, and the kids had a blast, until we got rained out! The fun day was sponsored by an excavation company. They have heavy equipment for children to ride on. Zach and Josh rode on a bull dozer and a large track hoe. There was a pig chase, pony rides, bounce houses, archery activities, petting zoo, kiddie tractor pedal pulls, straw maze, smoke house and more. They had lunch for a dollar, and that bought a slice of pizza, bag of chips, and a pop. This was the 3rd year we have gone there. Here are some pictures.

Hannah also played in the school's talent show. Here she is playing, sorry for the jiggles! I was holding Noah and filming. You did a great job, Hannah! We are so proud of you! The girl announcing Hannah had a bit of trouble. I think her nerves were getting her!

It wasn't raining here yet when we got home. So, I mowed grass, Shawn burned brush and put in some fence posts, and while little ones were taking a late nap, Shawn took down the woven wire fence I put up a few months ago, while I drove more fence posts in. We are getting ready for bigger, electrified fence, pasture. Good night to all!

We have kittens!

Yesterday afternoon, Minnie had her kittens. All 6 of them! 4 white, 1 black, and 1 that looks like its mother. Sadly, tonight, the runt died. Here are some pictures of the cute little ones.Here is momma and 2 babies.Pardon the blood, Hannah put this diaper box with hay in it in our garage, hoping Minnie would use it. We were sure surprised to come home and find 2 kittens in the box and Minnie walking around in the garage greeting us! What a cat. I picked her up and put her with the 2, and several hours later she had 6. I watched the tail end of 2 being born. So neat. She is doing better than I thought since she isn't much more than a kitten herself. She is 10 mos. Let me know if anyone would like a kitten!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, JOSHUA!!

Happy 4th Birthday to you, Joshua! Wow, look how big you are getting. We had a wonderful birthday with perfect weather. Josh and his sister and brothers and cousin, Emily, played outside together all day long. We had a small birthday party at 2, with Grandma Karen and Papa Chris, Aunt Diana, Aunt Sandy, and Emily.

The highlight of Josh's day was riding in Grandpa's tractor! He was gone all morning, and came later this afternoon. We moved the kids play gym today, getting ready for more pasture field. We also had Grandpa move a tractor tire feeder for the horse and goat. Grandpa took Josh for a ride in the tractor, while Hannah, Zachariah, and Noah rode in the bucket. The kids had a blast playing in their "new" play area.

We took Josh to Cracker Barrel for his birthday supper and for Mother's Day. He got a little embarrassed when the waitresses sang to him.

So, little buddy, we are so thankful we still have you after Mommy accidently dropped you and caused your skull fracture, when you was a tiny 6 month old. I still get upset with myself even today, after 3 1/2 years. We are so glad that God put you in our family.

Here are a few pictures of our day. Birthday boy with cake and presents.Riding with

Grandpa.Hannah a little bit scared! See the new leaves? Here we go!

Noah on his own!

Hauling the tractor tire.What a cutie!Boys playing in the gravel.

I felt the baby kick!

I was so excited yesterday morning while doing the morning feeding. We have been trying to decide if Beauty is really pregnant or not. She definetely is! After graining her, I stood watching her sides to see if I could detect movement. Sure enough, I did. So I put my hand to her side and received a healthy wallop! The children were so excited when I told them Beauty's baby kicked me, although they thought she or he was already born. I took the boys out last night for the night feeding, and after we grained the goat and horse, both boys felt her stomach. Zach accidently clanged the buckets together and startled the baby, we watched it give a mighty kick as soon as the buckets hit together. We are looking forward to the due date, which is suppose to be June 1st. So, watch for more pictures to come of hopefully a healthy foal!

More babies will most likely make their presence known. Our kitten, Minnie, now almost 11 months, is due. Her sides are swelling tremendously! We thought we had time to get her fixed before this happened. Oh well, the kids are excited about these babies too! Here are a few pics of the mamas to be!