First Day of Preschool/First Day of School Eve

I wish I could update you on all kinds of exciting and fun things we did in August, but there's nothing to report.  We did the usual, mundane, everyday things to round out the summer and had a great time doing it.    All of a sudden I woke up this morning to The First Day Of Preschool and First Day of School Eve.  My little Willie J was up bright and early at 7:30 this morning after having spent the night in our bed coughing. ALL . . .NIGHT . . . LONG!  

I'm not sure if this coughing is illness related or allergy/season related.  Maggie went through a bout of it after the Farm Show earlier this month, and still has coughing spells.  Now Willie has it pretty bad and he decided it would be best for him to keep his dad and me up all night because of it.  Apparently that made him feel better because he slept like a log where as his dad and I were not so chipper this morning.  The fact that Willie went to preschool this morning is beyond belief.  I don't feel like any of my children are old enough to even be in school, let alone three of them.

Yesterday, to celebrate, Mimi came over and took the kids on a quad ride picnic lunch.  She always comes up with fun things for them to do and I really appreciate her doing that for them.  I allowed them to take the little camera with them and they had a great time and some of the pictures are so funny.

This day has been creeping up on me all summer, yet I am still surprised it is here.  I've been doing all the required paperwork, completing forms, making appointments and still, the fact that Maggie and Walker start school tomorrow is completely shocking to me!  

As is required, we did the back to school pictures with Willie today.  He had a great time except for the 15 minutes at 8:45 this morning that he stubbornly refused to go to school.  

 I thought it would be awesome to take a picture on the new outdoor sofa I got at Rogers Auction for only $1.  It desperately needs repainted and new cushions, but it is very sturdy and my attempt at a slip cover and pillows brightens it up and hides its flaws.  But, it was in full sun and Willie was not cooperative.

 So we moved to the side steps where the impatiens look so beautiful.  And of course, everyone had to get in.

 I have a picture of Walker sitting similarly to this on his first day of Preschool.  I love those little guys.

I also wonder if they will ever look at these pictures and the ugly insulbrick on our exterior and ask, "When did our house have that green stuff on it?"  Strike that.  I HOPE they look at these pictures and the ugly insulbrick on our exterior and ask, "When did our house have that green stuff on it?" because I hope by then we will have finally finished the exterior!

 Willie at school.

Willie and his classmates coming out of his classroom to meet us.

Willie and his friend, Ellie, after their first day of school together.  

We've known Ellie just over a year, and a while back, I made a comment (because all of our kids are the same ages) that we should just go ahead and betroth the first three because we like each other and the opposites match up.  Willie and Ellie have taken the joke to a whole new level acting like an old married couple all ready.  They seriously act like those old couples you see out at the mall, bickering at each other, but holding hands and supporting each other.  It's so funny.  And kind of strange.  Because the "love" seemed be reaching a kind of inappropriate level in terms of seriousness with them, we have had discussion about being good buddies, not boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., but they refuse to cooperate.  Both Willie and Ellie (from hence on to be referred to as "Wellie" have relatives planning weddings and so marriage and weddings are in the forefront of both of their lives and randomly, they will announce to us (the mothers) "When I marry Ellie, I will . . ."  and they will proceed to tell us the plans of their wedding,  where they will live, etc.   So now they get to experience preschool together and if they ever do make it down the aisle as they are predicting, we sure will have LOTS of cute pictures of them together for their wedding slide show.

Now I'm off to prepare for our supper and get the kids ready for their first day tomorrow.  Walker has to be up at 7 am to catch the bus at 8 and Maggie has to wait until 12:30 to leave for Kindergarten.  It's going to be an interesting day.  

Goodbye, Summer.  It's time for a new season to begin.  I can't say I'm looking forward to it yet, but I know there are lots of good things to come.  So I'm officially declaring this to be the FALL O' FUN here at Goodness Grows Farm.  Let the FUN continue!

Winding Down

I was looking at my calendar yesterday and realized there are only three weeks left of non-school filled summer for us.

This is breaking my heart.

I am not ready for summer to be over.  I know, I should focus on the three weeks we have left, but when you factor in the week we will be spending at the Butler Farm Show,  the preschool orientation, the Kindergarden orientation, and the last few appointments we have of the summer, there aren't many days left!  Even though there have been days where my kids are picking and fighting, screeching and screaming, whining and begging, I am not ready to pack them back up and send them on the bus/drive to preschool.

I was cleaning out some old folders yesterday and came across this "letter" from a newsletter of a MOPS group I used to attend.  It was kind of my unofficial motto for summer without me even knowing it.  I gave up on any heavy duty chores for the summer, which is why my house now looks like I am prepping for an episode of hoarders .  The cobwebs are killing me!  I literally have them everywhere.  In fact, I left my Kitchen Aid mixer on my counter last night and this morning there was a cobweb from the mixer to the cabinet!

I was talking to a friend yesterday who told me she had spent an unreasonable amount of time at a local shoe store trying to get her four children fit into sneakers for the coming school year.  As she told the story, I vowed that I will not take my kids back to school shopping.  They don't need anything and I am going to try to avoid the realization that school is going to start as long as possible.  As I finish out these fleeting summer days, I am going to keep this letter on my refrigerator to remind me that these days are going by way too fast and my job is to create memories and have fun with my kids.

Just for this day.

Just for this morning, I am going to smile whenever I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning, I will let you wake up softly, all rumpled in your flannel and I will hold you until you are ready for the day.

Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you outside to play.

Just for this morning, I am going to eat a huge breakfast , with bacon eggs, toast and waffles, and you don't have to eat any.

Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the
computer off, and sit with you in the garden blowing bubbles.

Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to 'fix' things.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you put all kinds of barettes in my
hair, and put lipstick on my face, and I will tell you how pretty you have made me look.

Just for this afternoon I will take you to McDonalds and buy us both a Happy meal so you can have both toys.

Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born, and how much we love you.

Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the bathtub and not get angry when you throw water over your sister's head.

Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the
porch swing and count all the stars.

Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours and miss my favorite show on t.v.

Just for this evening, When I run my fingers through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.  I will think about the mothers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers who are visiting their their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer, and when I kiss you goodnight I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer.  It is then that I will thank God for you, for all that I have and not ask for anything, except . . . just one more day.

When everyone is in school, I will have time to tediously clean my house, clean out the kitchen cabinets and wipe down all the contents, and do all the mundane cleaning I feel that I should do now.  And someday, no one will be here except me and Erik, and I will be like our neighbor and invite the neighbor kids down to play because even though I haven't vacuumed in a month, there are no foot prints in the carpet.

So, today, when I thought I was going to "crack down" in an attempt to get our lives back on track, I looked at this letter again and decided the kids didn't have to match their clothes, comb their hair, or clean up the playroom like I had originally intended.  I will do the chores that must be done (if I don't fold and put away clothes today, no one is going to have any underwear) but after that, we will see where the day takes us.  Because all too soon, I am going to be telling them, "In just one more day we go back to school."  

Random Summer Moments

Maggie got her ears pierced!  She was so very brave.  She sat on my lap and I hugged her tight as the ladies pierced both ears at once.  Her beautiful pink flower earrings are a source of great pride now!

She couldn't resist showing off her red tongue from the TWO lollipops she was given for being such a brave girl.
Photos of the kids playing at my Papa's pool earlier in the month.


Poor Maggie was trying hard to keep up with the boys.  They had ganged up against her but she held her own.  



Ooops- they finally got rid of her.  Look how she's getting ready to cry and tattle on them.


This smile is one of, "Ha ha - my momma says you have to let me play too!"  
My dad got the kids this blow up slip n slide and they really enjoyed it.  Chris & Walker were a little too brave with their "sliding" but they had a super-terrific time.  All of the kids tried it out and had so much fun.  Walker could be heard saying many times, "This is the best present Pop ever got me!"





Erik lets will take a turn.  He didn't stay as steady.

Going . . .
Going . . .

Gone! 
Still sliding . . .
SPLASH!
Chris gets a turn too!  Chris started the daredevil antics of jumping up HIGH before sliding down.  He taught Walker to get a little too high, but they had a blast and it was a lot of fun to watch them.





Livvy Lou!  This is my niece, Olivia.  She is so funny.  She is about two and a half years old and cracks me up.  My favorite thing to have her do is to get her to say "grandfather".  A few weeks ago, we were playing and she was pretending to talk on the phone.  I said, "Liv,  who are you talking to? "  She says, "My Dam-fodder."  I started to laugh thinking that maybe my sister and brother in law were having some tiffs lately and Liv over heard Katie referring to my brother in law as "your damn father."  But, I got reprimanded by my sister for having my mind in the gutter when she looked at me and stressed, "Olivia is talking to her GRANDFATHER!"   I still like to play house and I tell Olivia to answer the phone:  

Me:  "Liv!  Pretend the phone is ringing and it's your grandfather."  

Olivia:  "O-tay"

Me:  "ring ring"

Olivia:  "Heddo"

Me:  "Liv?  Who is on the phone?"

Olivia:  "My dam-fodder."

Me:  snicker, snicker, snort, snort as I laugh childishly.

As the days FINALLY have gotten hot, summer is winding down and I looked back over the photos and realized we did a lot - even though it didn't seem like it.  

It's matin' season 'round these here parts

This here goat is Thunder.  He's new to Goodness Grows Farm.  He's got one job to do and that's to make dirty backs.

Seems he's been doin' his job. 

You might think I'm being facetious, but I'm not.   Beginning in July, we separated the does and some went with Ranger and some went with Thunder to begin the mating season.  This summer has been ideal for the goats as the temperatures have been so mild.  In hotter summers, the billy goats really have no desire (literally) to service the ladies in their care.  They get hot, tired and listless and the last thing on their minds is servicing a herd.  That is why last year instead of having 25 babies born in January, we had 25 babies born in April - it was just too darn hot for our billy.  Thunder here is taking to his job with GUSTO.  Ranger hasn't been persuaded to perform so much, but he's a late bloomer, so we'll depend on him to catch any of the ladies that may have missed their time with Thunder.  

A few Sunday's ago, Thunder and his does happened to escape their pasture and were grazing in the yard.  I started taking pictures of them from the deck because part of Thunder's herd are does that still have kids.  We don't wean our kids from the does at a certain date.  We believe that these babies need and deserve their mama's milk for as long as possible.  It has been our experience that having that milk helps grow stronger and healthier goats.  So, we send Mama & baby together to the "billy pens."  Then we watch for dirty backs.  

This poor doe was just not going to escape from Thunder's attention.  She was one of the few without a dirty back that day.  She kept running from him and he just kept a followin' her.  Round and round they went.

Up on top of Erik's trailer where most of the babies chose to doze as the sun set behind the trees.  I'm betting the wood on the trailer was nice and warm and made them feel real sleepy because they didn't stir an inch.  Which is funny because that doe and billy kept tearing up one side and down the other of that trailer.  It had to have been quite disruptive to the little kids on there.  But bellies full of milk and a sunny day kept them quiet.

Down off the trailer and through the grass . . .

Nothing thrills a farmer more than to see a herd sire performing his mating ritual and Erik couldn't have been happier over these photos.  And Thunder was performing with gusto.  A male goat, like most males, has a set of "moves" he uses to persuade the ladies to choose him.  The most obnoxious is peeing on himself - his beard to be precise.  I won't go into lengthy detail about how that happens, but it does.  And it causes a billy goat to stink to high heaven.  

I took most of these photos using my zoom lens.  For those of you familiar w/ our place, I was literally just steps from our back deck and I could smell Thunder even though he was at our garden.  I'd guess that's a good 100 feet or so.  And he smelled STRONG!  The rest of the mating rituals performed by the billy goat have to do with making these faces, sticking out his tongue and making a spitting/snorting noise as he chases down his lady.  

He was so excited to chase his ladies and prove his manhood!  This poor lady wasn't as excited about his romantic gestures.  But she could have just been leading him on.  The does aren't as easy to read until, well, the actual moment.  Not so different from the human race, I guess.  

All in all, if we go by dirty backs, we're going to have quite a successful kidding season this year. 

Thanks, Thunder.  We appreciate your help.

A rodent saga - a tail from last summer.

I found this post unpublished when I was going through the archives.  It is too good of a story NOT to tell, and it gives you a very good picture of what my life can sometimes be like here at Goodness Grows Farm.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, Erik always seems to come out on top in situations, and I always seem to get the short end of the stick.  The sad part is that prior to meeting Erik, I was always of the "glass half empty" attitude.  Life with him, while maybe hasn't completely made me a "glass half full" kind of girl, I'm definitely moved to a "glass 1/4 full" attitude.  

A perfect example of why I'm not a total optimist can be read below.  After reading it, I think I will have to post a couple other stories about my mishaps here at Goodness Grows Farm.  One involves living with a well - stay tuned for that one!

June 2008:

Many of you are aware that we have had a terrible problem with a specific rodent. I'm not going to name the specific species in case there are lovers of that animal, or PETA, or even the PA Game Commission in my audience. This animal species is making a HUGE mess in my attic - scattering insulation and their waste all over my storage containers. Everytime we would enter the attic, we would see these animals scurry around. It freaked me out and I would not go in the attic without Erik. This was somewhat a problem as I was needing to get up there and sort through clothing for the kids. I attempted to go up there myself one day and 4 of them crawled over my head on the ridge!

That was the last straw so I made Erik put two large rat traps up there. I knew there was at least 4 of them up there but never expected the results we had! We ended up trapping 11 in our traps! This brings our total to 12 - but let me tell you about the 12th one!

It was a Friday night. We had gotten home from supper at Bill & Shelly's. We were having a special evening with Aunt Cathie (Bill's sister from Seattle) and Jim McKinnis & his family. We had a lovely visit, the children all got along well and we had gotten our brood to bed. Erik & I were watching TV when Erik sprang out of his recliner and yelled, "I just saw a rodent!" I thought he was joking (I have long suspected they have traveled the house through the chimney, but had only one instance where it was evident). He jumped up and tried to chase it but it escaped into our laundry room. After a few minutes, Erik came out and said I was going to have to help him.

To give you a visual, our laundry/bath is small. To the right is Erik's toilet & shower, to the left is the washer & dryer in between is the walkway to the back door. Oh, did I mention that there is also tons & tons of laundry!

I made Erik wait while I located and put on sweatpants, t-shirt and his old crocs.  We head into the laundry room, brooms in hand.  The rodent is behind the toilet, Erik begins moving things and it jumps - nay, it FLIES across the room onto and behind the washing machine.  We move the washer and dryer and it crawls up the wall, across the ceiling and down the other side to hide behind the toilet again.  We re-dig the toilet out because at this point, we had moved all the dirty laundry, washer and dryer over to the toilet side of the room.  At some point, we even brought our Australian Shepherd, Maverick, into the room because he is great at catching moles, mice and rats, but the room was too small and cluttered for him to be effective.  He basically laid down on the floor and whined because he couldn't get at his prey.

Our laundry/mud/bathroom is only about 8 feet wide and only 6 feet deep?  Between the toilet and the washer there is only about 4 feet of space - we are basically sliding things back and forth to no avail.  We repeat this process several times, almost catching the dratted rodent.  On our next to last attempt, Erik almost catches it by covering his hand in a plastic grocery bag and reaching into the corner to grab it.  He is closing is fingers around it when WHOOSH - it takes off again, jumping over the dryer, flying towards my face and RUNS ACROSS MY FOOT! I scream as I see the furry creature heading towards my face and I jerk my body as I feel furry feet and small claws poke through the holes in the Crocs I am wearing.  As I jerk,  I slide out of the Croc, twisting my left foot.  At the time I thought I had hurt my ankle - I had heard a crack, felt some pain, but adrenaline must have taken over because I then grabbed the broom, found the rodent hiding in the corner behind the toilet and like a starving contestant on Survivor, my instincts took over because I speared that little rodent with my broom.  

Erik yells, "Did you get it? Did you get it?  Jennie!  Quit!  You are getting blood on my baseboard!"

Like any great hero after a bloody and long battle, I threw down my broom and limped out of the mud/laundry/bathroom into the family room to rest and tend to my wounds.    I left my trusty sidekick to clean up the stinkin' mess we made, not only with the rodent, but all of the appliances and laundry.

I started to feel my foot throbbing - it was pretty sore, but nothing I really felt anxious about.  Out of the blue, I recounted a story to Erik about a time when my childhood best friend, Keely, was visiting me one summer at my Seven Fields townhouse, and we had taken a walk.  We were going through the neighborhood and I had slipped off the edge of a sidewalk and hurt my foot.  At the time I thought nothing of it, we finished our walk, got gussied up and went out for dinner, and as I stood up after dinner to walk to the car, I could barely put weight on my foot.  Poor petite little Keely had to let me use her as a crutch as we made our way out to the car and back to my townhouse.  I crawled up the steps to the first floor, and onto the loveseat.  Keely, a chiropractor, felt my foot and said it was too swollen for her to figure out what was wrong, so she made me soak my foot in an ice bath.  I am a horrible patient, and I think Keely may have been ready to smack me in the head with the ice bucket if I asked her one more time, "Do you think I should go to the ER?"  Then crying, "I don't want to go the ER!"  The ice bath was possibly the worst experience of my life.  I had to submerge my foot in a bucket full of ice water on and off all night long.  In the morning, the foot was sore, but I could walk easily on it and there seemed to be no lasting damage.  But I never forgot that ice bath.  

It was almost like that recalling that story was a premonition.  Erik and I finally made it up to bed that night and I fell asleep pretty easily.  About an hour into my sleep, I started having weird dreams.  Then, I started getting cold (mind you, it was a HOT summer night) and restless.  I tried getting up to go to the bathroom and as I stepped down onto the floor, I knew right away that if I put weight on my foot, I would die!

Ok, maybe that is an exaggeration, but I couldn't put weight on my foot.  I crawled on my hands and knees into the bathroom, splashed myself with cold water and took a look at my foot - the same foot I had injured in my youth in the story that I had recounted to Erik earlier that night. It was swollen, but I couldn't really see anything else wrong with it.  I thought, I'll just go back to bed and sleep it off.  Well, after that, my foot throbbed in pain.  I couldn't sleep and all of a sudden, I was shivering so much I was shaking.  I added a fleece robe to my summer pajamas and pulled the comforter up over me.  Still no warmth.  I would fall asleep slightly and have crazy dreams and wake up, still shivering.  Finally, when my teeth were literally chattering, I woke Erik.  Erik is one of the fortunate souls that once he is asleep, he wakes for nothing.  He was a little groggy and didn't understand what was going on - I think he may have mumbled something about wearing warmer clothes to bed and turning off the AC unit in the window, but I smacked him awake by telling him I thought I may need to go to the ER because that rodent had broken my foot.  He said, "Calm down.  We're farm people and we don't go to no ER for a painin' foot.  Suck it up, Buttercup!  You're a farmer's wife now!"  

So, he really didn't say that.  Instead, I told him of my foot pain and the shivering and while not exactly super empathetic, he came with me downstairs to help me.  He did even offer to take me to the ER if that's what I thought I needed, but I told him "let's wait."   I slid down the steps on my butt (relieved that we hadn't carpeted the steps).  Erik asked what I thought I needed, I told him some Tylenol, a drink, and gulp an ICE BATH for my foot.  I dunked my foot into that ice bath all night long. Ten minutes in, 20 minutes out.   It was the second worst experience of my life.  Even worse than going through natural child birth TWICE.  Childbirth was nothing compared to forcing yourself to put your foot in FREEZING cold water and keeping it submerged.  It was complete torture.  I subjected myself to it as long as I could through the night and eventually, my chills and chattering subsided and I was able to sleep.  The next morning, my foot was sore, it was still difficult to walk on it, but it was much, much better.

So, what exactly is the moral of this story? 

Call an licensed and trained professional to take care of any rodent problem you may be experiencing.  And if you can't afford one - I am available.  I am not licensed or "trained", but as you can see, I'm highly efficient and I get results.  

Especially if threatened with the consequence of an ice bath.