Growing

The kids are growing, the animals are growing, and now the garden and orchard are growing. We're growing apples, apricots, peaches, pie cherries, plums, hazelnuts, mulberries, raspberries, strawberries, dry corn, dry beans, pumpkins, red potatoes, yukon gold potatoes, purple snap beans, onions, garlic, beets, 4 kinds of tomatoes, jalapeno and bell peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon, summer squash, fodder beets (for the sheep), cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, and several herbs. Whew! No wonder we stay busy, right?

Here are some of the lambs just a few days old. And a picture of them now that they've more than doubled in size. Aren't they adorable?! I LOVE having sheep. Who knew it could be the best hobby ever?

 The kiddos absolutely LOVE it when we get irrigation water, and we've been very blessed this year with irrigation. Every single turn we've had, we've been given at least one of our neighbor's turns also.

 Of course, when it's time to clean up after we get our water, there's a LOT of clean up.

 But it's worth it.

 The boys have been working really hard with Abram, building fences, planting, sifting rocks from dirt to make raised garden beds, and so on. Elijah's been working especially hard, and earning some money to buy fishing gear.

 The babies mainly "help" me in the house. They've also more than doubled in size.  ;)

So that's life at Meadowlark Homestead right now. Hopefully we'll get some of the biggest projects done this month and get to do a little more playing. I'm also planning to do some landscaping this week. I'm excited and a little nervous! I'll try to post some pictures when I get it going.

The winter

It's been forever and a day, I know. But I thought I'd write to you anyway, to let you know... (Di? What's it from?) 

We're still here! Mostly tucked in to our warm little home. It IS January, you know. We had the most magical Christmas we've probably ever had last month. Sawyer is getting into ev.ery.thing, and making us smile all the time. Heidi is potty trained! And talking SO well. McKay is learning to write his letters and never wants to wear anything but his underwear. Elijah is doing exceptionally well in 1st grade, and is really enjoying it now. Abram's principal told him yesterday that he loves coming to Abram's class, and that he (Abram) is the most improved teacher in the whole school! And I just keep busy with kiddos, the house, and most recently I made a conceal carry leather purse for a neighbor's wife, in trade for him helping Abram fix our truck's transmission.

So enough talk. Enjoy the random assortment of photos from this "long cold lonely winter".

 

Joseph helping Mary onto the donkey

New kitchen for Heidi and McKay

Chef Heidi, and McKay pointing at the sheepskin rug that Abram tanned for me!

Heidi going for a ride to help Pappa with chores

Elijah helping Pappa with the chores

Sledding up and down the road - the black blob on the right is Ranger speeding along with the car

Sawyer found a cracker under the table

Potty trained!

Elijah playing with Ranger after school

The front of the purse

Back

Subtle but significant blessings

Our little family has reached many milestones since my last post. First and foremost, this little beauty, Miss Heidi Alice, turned two!

We had a fun birthday for her. She got a homemade dolly and matching skirt, some cowgirl boots that she wants to wear allll the time,

and two little kitties. Okay, so we were going to get them anyways as mouse catchers, but her birthday seemed like the perfect day to get them. She loves those "kickies". And the "goggy" Ranger. And the "shee".

Thank you for joining our family two years (plus a couple months now) ago!

And Elijah started 1st grade. He never ever wants to go, but he almost always says he had a fun day. And he is SUCH a great reader! He loves to read books. And he's the best little artist. I really should do a post of his amazing art work. (Note to self: do a post of Elijah's amazing art work.) He's also incredible with math. Last night we played a game called Pass the Pigs. Some math is involved in the game, and I said, "What's 16 plus 5?" Elijah almost immediately blurted out, "21!" Sheeeeesh, kid.

We had a wonderful General Conference last week, in which we were reminded that the Lord blesses us with many, many subtle but significant blessings when we pay our tithing, which is exactly what has been happening with us. Those blessings are the whole reason we have this sweet little 5 acre homestead, a cute little home, good health, nice vehicles, fun animals, all the food we could wish for, and so on. We also learned so much about families, missionary work, how to be meek, and much more. It was uplifting and it inspired me to do better and to be happier. It was also fun to get to lay around in the living room together for two days straight. :)

This morning we woke up to about 4 inches of snow! It was gorgeous, even though I'm not ready for winter. Fall will be back, right? (Right? Pleeeease.) The craziest part about this snow is, it's about the 4th snow storm we've had this month! Yeah. Serious. We've also had, oh, maybe 10 rainstorms in the last month. See the pattern here, subtle but significant blessings. In August our sheep were completely out of grass and we thought we'd have to feed hay all through fall. Nope. They've been eating grass in the pasture for a month now! Since when does grass grow so well in the fall!?

And last but CERTAINLY not least, this sweet baby boy turned 6 months. Okay, and now 7 1/2 months. He army crawls all over the house and smiles at everyone. He is the happiest, loviest (it might not be a real word, but it should be) little guy. What a joy he is!

P.S. Ranger, the kitties, and the lambs are all 6 months old now too. Lots of babies on this homestead.

Pioneer Day

We had a belated Pioneer Day yesterday with the family. It was the most fun we've had in a long time. We pulled Sawyer, Heidi and a picnic in a handcart up to a fresh spring lake full of fish. We ate wild raspberries all along the way and talked about the Pioneers. We went fishing, played by the lake, and hiked back. For dinner we had a bean and "rabbit" (okay, leftover chicken) stew, fry bread, and fish. Then Abram helped the kids make pioneer toys and we played stick wrestling. Then Abram shared President Monson's message about how the world needs pioneers today. It was SUCH a perfect family pioneer day. I think it needs to be an annual tradition. (And I think I need to go get some raspberry starts!)

Home

Oh give me a home

where Icelandic sheep roam

and the corn and the canteloupe grow;

where children are heard

saying cute nonsense words

and in the skies someone's tent blows away.

 ("I didn't even know deer and antelope were friends!" -Elijah)

Happy, crazy, non-stop life on the homestead

Here's what we've been up to lately. Planting, playing, working, digging, more planting, more playing, and oodles of silliness.