First Fishing Trip of 2017

Yup, we're still here!  I know it's likely that no one will read this, but our family is still here and well.  We walked out to our pond for our first try at fishing this year and I got some great pictures that I wanted to share with anyone that might still visit this blog.  We now have six children.  Did I ever even post that we had a sixth child?!?  Anyhow, Samuel is 12, Sarah is 10, Andrew is 8, David is 5, Anna is 3, and Abigail is 1.

It was a windy day for a fishing trip, but the children didn't care.  We started off with a quick and simple picnic lunch.  We had to keep holding our plates down because the wind would gust and try to blow our plates away!

Then a couple boys kept an eye on some tadpoles while the rest of us finished eating.

I love this picture.  Andrew looks like a peaceful country boy.

Andrew and David can act like the best of friends sometimes and bicker like they're the worst enemies at other times.  They enjoyed fishing together today though.

You can see the house in the distance, so it's not too far of a walk to get to our pond.

Samuel caught one fish.

Andrew was the winning fisherman.  He caught three fish today.

Today's little fishing trip got us to thinking about another project we'd like to tackle on our homestead.  It would be so nice to have a big picnic table (or two tables) under a covered pavilion like they have at parks.  We'd also like to put in one of those charcoal grills like parks have as well.  We'd love to have other families over to fish with us and a shady place to sit would be nice.  It would be extra handy to have a place for a playpen to sit in the shade in case another baby were to come along too!  The project list never ends!

A Cold, Winter Walk Around the Property

Yesterday Shawn took Sam, Sarah, and Andrew on a walk around the property.  The property is certainly much prettier in Spring, Summer, and Fall, but there's still a calm quietness that's to be appreciated in the Winter months.

They started walking on the trails that Shawn had mowed back in the Fall.  Shawn took this picture before either he or any of the children had stepped foot on the trail.  All of those tracks are made by various animals.

Then they made their way out to the pond, which is still frozen.

This is the spring that we call the "Deep Spring."  Despite everything else being frozen, the Deep Spring still has water flowing out of it.

Then they went out to the back pasture that we call The Forbidden Meadow.  This used to be all grown up, but Shawn was able to mow everything down with his new (to us) tractor recently.

If anyone has kept up with the blog from long ago, they might remember a post I made about The Toilet Tree.  Here's yet another picture of the tree the children have named, The Toilet Tree.  (In case you don't remember, The Toilet Tree got its name because my children like to sit in the circular part of the tree and pretend that it's a toilet.)  Back then the Toilet Tree had no water in the creek below it, but now the creek is very full and very frozen.

This is the other spring on our property.  We call it The Mule Pond.  While our pond is frozen, our two springs are very much not frozen, and also very full.  I love the color of the water in our springs.

Lady the dog went with them on their walk.  She found a deer's leg bone to chew on.  She's a happy farm dog and a great companion to the children.  She's also an awesome mole-catcher!

Here are the children in front of the stream that forms from the runoff of The Mule Pond spring.

When they came back around the back side of the property Shawn had to take a picture of his new (to us) tractor.  We've lived on this farm for four years without a tractor.  This old 8N tractor is turning out to be really handy around here.  My Dad took it fixed it up as Shawn's Christmas present.  Dad got everything running in tip-top shape and also found many attachments for Shawn to use with it.

The children are standing in the carry-all implement that my Dad found for Shawn's tractor.

The children with Shawn's farm truck.

So, after their journey around the property, they all came back inside and I had some hot chocolate chip cookies ready for them.  I hope the children remember these times when they're grown and can pass the stories down to their own children.

A Winter-time Week On Our Homestead - Saturday

So, I've decided I feel like blogging again!  I decided that I would like to start off by simply documenting the next seven days here on the blog.  I'll be taking pictures and sharing the normal things that we do on an average day.  I don't even know if anyone visits the blog anymore so, in the end, the only people that may see this are our family and Grandma Colette!  I think this is something that she and Papa Mac will enjoy.

So today was Saturday.  We got up around 7:30 this morning.  I nursed Anna while the children did their morning jobs.  Andrew went and let out the chickens for us.  Shawn got a phone call from a friend this morning, so he spent a bit of time on the phone catching up with him.

I cooked up a big, late breakfast of homemade biscuits and sausage gravy with some scrambled eggs.  It was yummy good.  After breakfast the children went outside to play in what's left of the snow.

Despite the snow outside I still wanted to go ahead and get some seeds started.  Eventually Spring will come and we have high hopes for a decent garden this year.  Shawn rounded up all the supplies for me and then he went outside to work on the new bike building.  

(On a side note..Some nice "Homestead Homeschooling" was able to occur today when Shawn was getting the supplies collected for me to do the seeds.  We keep the potting soil out in the root cellar.  When he started scooping it out of the bag and into a bucket he discovered a frog had buried itself in the soil.  It was alive, but slow-moving considering the cold temperature.  So, we were able to talk to the children about why the frog had buried itself in the potting soil for the winter and why cold-blooded animals move slower when it's cold.  Then, after Shawn dug a little hole in the compost pile for the frog, we were able to talk to the children about why compost piles steam in the wintertime.)

This building is supposed to house all of the children's outside toys.  All of the bicycles, Tonka trucks, wagons, and balls are overtaking Shawn's shop.  Shawn has just about completed the building.  He was working on the doors today.  He told me not to post a picture of the building under construction because he wants me to give it a post of its own.  He'll probably have it completed later this week so I'll be able to share those pictures then.

I checked on the chickens and then came inside to work on the seeds.

We've started seeds for cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and then some culinary and medicinal herbs.  We have jugs of water on the bottom rack so that our "Great Tower of Seeds" isn't accidentally toppled over by wild children.

When Shawn brought in the mail this afternoon I was excited to receive some of the seeds that I had ordered and my replacement filters for my grain mill.  The replacement filters only cost $1 each, but then I had to pay $8 in shipping to get them here!

By around 4:30 Shawn was tired of working out in the cold so he put things away for the day.  He refilled food and water for the animals and even managed to get the chickens put to bed a little early tonight.  The hens gave us 13 eggs today.  I'm glad to see the number steadily increasing.

Tonight's supper was "Clean Out Momma's Fridge."  I had a lot of leftovers filling up the refrigerator so we ate it up tonight.  We had a variety of chili, Spanish rice, and roast chicken with peas and green beans.  After supper we had the children do their nighttime jobs and put on pajamas.  Shawn got the kitchen cleaned up while I took a shower.  Then Shawn popped some popcorn for us and we all sat down to watch a WWII documentary that we recently purchased.  

And now the children are in bed.  The house is quiet and it's time for Shawn and I to relax!

Updated Pictures of the Children

Today was such a beautiful day.  I grabbed the camera and decided to take some pictures of the children playing outside.  Since it's been so long since I've posted any pictures I thought I'd go ahead and share them today.

Here's Sam explaining to David the workings of the pecan tree:

Sarah taking a lovely stroll with her doll, Jessica:

David battling Lady the Dog to see who is King of the Mountain:

 

Andrew scooping up the leaves with his digger:

 

Big sister Sarah holding sweet baby Anna:

The best picture we can get with all five children together:

 

Then Lady wanted to be in the picture:

Happy Fall everyone!

Our First Walk of 2011

We love walking around our property and this evening was the first time this year that the weather's been nice enough to do it.

First we made our way out to the pond. We were amazed at how full it looked. Late last fall when we came out here last the pond was horribly low due to drought.



Water was flowing from the springs and the creeks were full. Just like the pond, this is a sight we hadn't seen for a long time because of last summer's drought.



The kids enjoyed getting to explore the woods once again.



Cat enjoyed himself also.




Andrew lagged behind everyone else because he was busy picking up every acorn he could find on the ground.



The kids have loved having Shawn home from work this week.

A Walk In The Woods To See The Toilet Tree

Ok...I'm guilty of playing catch-up again. Here are some pictures of a family walk we took since my last post.

Here are Daddy and Sarah patiently waiting for Momma and the boys.


The kids were excited to find what they call "The Toilet Tree" in a dried-up creek bed.


And here's why they call it "The Toilet Tree."


Sam and Sarah found some of the year's last flowers.



Daddy and Andrew leaving the flower-pickers behind.

A Homeschooling Adventure

Yesterday, we joined some homeschooling friends to visit a nearby Wildlife Refuge. It was a beautiful day for it..not too hot and not too cool. Between the four families, we had eight children in attendance. The oldest of the eight was only six years old, so I don't think anyone was too surprised that we didn't see any actual wildlife! I'm pretty sure the Wildlife Refuge was emptied of all wildlife by the time our noisy children left. However, we did still have a great time and the kids did get to learn a bit about nature and wildlife while we were there. After a picnic lunch, we all took off on our walk.

The Refuge had a very nice boardwalk area that went through the swamp. (Which was also nice in keeping the children corralled!)


The Refuge is under construction, so eventually the nice boardwalk ended, but we were able to continue walking the path.






The children found animal tracks in the mud and we had a good time identifying them. We found coyote, deer, and raccoon tracks on our walk.


On our way back we found some neat pods on the boardwalk that must've fallen from one of the trees. One of the moms took them home to see if they could be identified.


It was a really fun day for the kids and myself. It's always nice to get together with other like-minded families. I'm very thankful that we have a strong homeschooling community in my area.