I'm Still Here!

Alright, so I haven't been writing on here.  If you have a small farm of your own, you know what a busy time of year it is!  I will be posting again in the next 2 days... ASAP anyways...

Until then, hope your Clothesline Challenge is going well!  I think mine seems to be alright, except there has been a lot of rain, and I think tonight I HAVE to use the drier... boo...

Talk to you SOON!

PS-  also, still trying to get pics onto my computer...  Since I have to replace all of that and I have NO time, it's been a job!  :)

Computer Fixed!

I JUST got my computer back last night!  And it seems as though it is all fixed!  When I type, the letters come up right away (as opposed to several MINUTES later!).  And the pages come up faster, even bringing on pictures is faster!.  So it shouldn't be such a chunk out of my day to do a post any more!  :)  YAY!

I have a few things coming up that hopefully will work out.  I am hoping to post soon about my "Clothesline Challenge".  And I am hoping to do a "30 Days on Muddy Boots Farm", which you can follow me each day in what I do on our farm, and more importantly, see what the animals are doing and how my garden is growing!  :)

I hope I haven't lost all of you...  Now I am so excited to type on my computer!  :D

I will post again VERY soon!  See you then!

Ugh! Sickness!

I had big plans for this week on here, but I ended up getting sick on Tuesday with a headache, body aches, cough, sore throat, and did I mention body aches????  Yeah, it's been fun...  I guess it's going around but, why did I have to get it now?  I'm still not caught up from being home from vacation!  Well, today I just have a headache and chest cough that doesn't feel so hot, BUT I am at least able to get up and do somethings!  So I'm done complaining...  Sorry.  :S

I DID want to share with you two things, before we head into the weekend. 

One is that on my vacation I told you I was blogging for i.seeKissimmee.com.  They have finally gotten some of the posts that I did, up and going!  So see what I did each day.  Go HERE!!!  Tell me what you think!

Also, you MIGHT want to come back Monday, because I have a review and giveaway for you!  So make sure you visit back here by Monday, and get entered!  You're gonna love it!

Party's Over...

That's right, I'm back!  And still trying to recover from not sleeping at all the first night and just a little the LAST night of vacation!  Poor me, right?  Ha!

From the pool of the house we rented, at dusk.

Well, we did have a great time, but we can't LIVE on vacation, can we?  Though I would love to try it, reality of life calls us back.  Plus, who can leave some of the precious furry faces that we have at home?  Not me!

Well, we arrived back LATE on Friday night, well I guess more like EARLY Saturday morning!  It was crazy going from Florida, who is starting to have their Spring with all of their grass starting to green, to Indiana where everything was covered in a few feet of snow!  Talk about a big change!

When we got home...

But, you quickly get used to it, though I hate to hide my skin now, because I actually FINALLY have some color on it!  Lilly White is NOT a color, tan... now that looks nice!  But, we have to hide our tans under socks, and sweaters.  Oh well...

I have to tell you though, that I am excited to be back, and excited to share some fun things that we will be doing in the coming weeks and months.  And maybe some giveaways!  Woot!  But that will all come soon.  Well, after I get the house back in order and when I catch up on that sleep...  Don't worry, it won't take long. Until then, I want to hear what kind of weather you've been having...  Please share, I want to know I didn't loose all of you while I was away! 


What kind of weather have you been having?  Any snow?  Spring like weather (jealous!)?  Please share!

Comin' Home Soon...

Ah vacation....  Well, it is coming to an end for us...

I am now packing and with in 38 hours we will be back home, in blizzard beaten Indiana.  I look forward to getting back to seeing how all of you are doing also!  I will try to post something on Monday at some point.

Until then, I will leave you with a few pictures from our vacation.

Talk to you soon!

On the way to our Character Breakfast with Mickey!

My boys on the beach

Mickey and Me!

Koen on the Beach

Gone Too Long....

Hello Friends!  I wasn't counting on being "gone" for so long, but with my boys being off school ALL last week and preparing for Christmas, I started a blog entry but didn't finish it!  :(

I wanted to touch base with you all now though, and ESPECIALLY to wish you all a LATE Merry Christmas!  We were busy, BUT it was wonderful to get together with our families.  We hope yours was great as well!  It is wonderful to get to REALLY be able to share the reason for the season, with our children especially.  And it is really amazing to learn what great things that their Bible class is teaching our children!  We talk about things of importance quite often with our children, but it is REALLY great that not just our church is supporting us in this.  Because they were able to tell us some of the great things that their teachers in their Bible class shared with them.  (Yes, their PUBLIC school DOES teach an optional Bible class!)

We have been busy here in our little farm, and it is actually REALLY cold right now too!  My husband and I were talking and it seems like in past years, it would snow and then it would melt off.  It would snow, then melt off again... It would continue and do this on and off all winter.  But last winter and THIS winter it STAYED and didn't melt off, so no chances for that slippery ice to melt.  In the barn yard, the ice is starting to build up.  When we empty the buckets (morning and evening) to give each area fresh water, we toss the water outside.  The bad thing about that is, the water freezes into ice.  And the ice outside the barn is building up!

We are also a bit closer to baby time!  We have started to feed out female goats some grain.  When they get closer to baby time, all animals need to gain a bit more weight so they can support their growing babies (in the belly then after they are born!).  Right now we are just feeding the goats a little each day, but mid January we will have to up it to about 1 lb per day per goat.  At that time we will probably start feeding our sheep a bit of grain too, then increase theirs around Mid February. 

It is also good to keep their grain up for a while after birth, to keep the mom healthy.  We feed grain until the Spring grasses are coming in really well, for the sheep (because we don't milk them).  But the goats, we actually will leave babies with their mother for about a week, then take them away and bottle feed.  These babies will be bottle fed for a few months, and will be VERY friendly and loving animals when we are done!  Great for 4H!  :)

Cows are getting bigger everyday also.  Can't wait to have our grass fed beef!  I absolutely HATE buying beef from the grocery store.  It tastes horrible, and the beef with "less fat" is still SO greasy!  I can't stand it. 

The chickens are still producing well also.  That is if our dog doesn't squeeze his skinny butt through the chicken door, and eat the eggs...  If we make the door any smaller, the chickens won't be able to get in.  We need to find our dog a new home, but we haven't been able to do it yet.  So for now, we have to try to figure out how to keep him away from the coop, it's not working so well.  But we ARE still getting enough eggs... 

Well, that's all I have time for right now.  But I will be back soon, I promise!  Hope to get back to check out some of YOUR blogs this week too and hearing how things are going for all of you!  Have a beautiful day!

Long Week

First of all, I want to apologize for being neglectful to my blog!  I actually have a couple posts started and one post that was SUPPOSED to come up last week!  But, We had the FLU run through the house last week...  And it ran through with a furry!  My husband, who is usually pretty healthy and doesn't get sick, GOT SICK!  We had one son home on Monday last week, with the flu.  Then Thursday started the snowball of everyone else, including myself!  Luckily, we didn't have any engagements until Sunday! 

In the end, everyone in my house got sick EXCEPT for the littlest one!  Which is ironic, because he is a thumb-sucker.  And he is into EVERYTHING. 

But, we thank God for healthy bodies, and quick recoveries. 

So, I will go back and revise anything that needs revised and I will be posting later today, one of those posts that was supposed to come out last week!  Check back!

See You very soon!!!!  :) 

Beautiful Days...

While these beautiful days last, I am trying to get some outside work done!  It has been in the mid-60's, and by the weekend, it will be dropping to the 40's around here in Indiana.  So, on my plate today is the chicken coop!  I want to get a good cleaning done before the "stuff" freezes to the floor.  Plus the "girls" like to push hay out of their boxes, and I need to replace some of that...

Also today, I MAY be selling my two Jacob rams...  A gentleman is coming to check them out today, and may be interested in both of them.  We will see!  I hope we can sell them in time to get our goats back home.  The two little males are kind of "lost" right now.  Not really having a Home of their own.  We have them in with the little goats right now.  The space is so big for these 4, that they don't even socialize!  But when our 3 girl goats come home, we will have to put them in the same pasture, and I don't know how that will work.  May have to move the boys if they aren't gone at that time!

Also, on my plate today is HOPEFULLY some laundry.  Our septic system has been running a little slow, so we can't use anything that uses a large amount of water.  Today someone is coming to take a look at it, and hopefully today they can get that figured out without much money out of pocket! 

I have a post coming tomorrow about some classes I took through Purdue Univ. Extension office on the care of sheep and goats.  I hope to have some info that may help some of you learn some new things, just like I did!  It was great information!

Well, time to get back to work!  Are you enjoying some nice weather too?

Next Week...

Lord willing, I will be covering a few different things next week! 

One is thanks to Alla at Mountain Valley Farms.  She participated in a fun little activity called "A Day in the Slow Life", in which for a day she kept track of all she did and posted them for us to see...  She tagged me to participate, so I will be participating in it this week! 

Also, coming up for our family is a big extended family vacation.  We, as a family, have been planning for a few years to go on this vacation, then this summer my in-laws (brother /sister-in-laws, kids and mother/father-in-law) decided they would also like to go.  Starting next week, I will share with you WHERE we are going, staying and playing, HOW we are doing it (financially) and other thoughts and ideas, and links for Vacationing with Family!

We also have our "From Scratch..." series, where you can share what you have been making from scratch that week!  I have come across some great recipes, as well as those of you linking are sharing some delicious stuff also!  You will want to check it out on Thursday!

Plus, we will be keeping you updated as to new things happening here on the Farm!  And there ARE new things! 

If you want to keep updated with what is going on here, please "follow" us (to the right of your screen) or add us to your Facebook (links are posted within minutes of blog posts).

We will see you next week!  Have a great weekend!  :)

All coming up starting Monday

Weekend Briefing...

So how was YOUR weekends? It was kind of nice to have that "extra' day in there!

Our weekend was as cool as 63 degrees on Friday! And it got up to probably 80 on Monday... It has been windy, sunny, cloudy, cool, warm... Crazy weather!

But we enjoyed it!

Hubby worked on our chicken coop a bit. It needed some work, the nesting boxes were less than desirable, and now HOPEFULLY they will LOVE their new nesting boxes SO MUCH they will lay LOTS of eggs! Pictures later!

My oldest son, Deklyn, who is now 9 years old, decided he wanted to be Baptized! So, on Sunday, he was baptized in a service that our church held. I was so proud! He is growing up very quickly! I snapped lots of pics, but I will have to show them another day...

Because! Last night, my littlest guy, Koen, got sick in the middle of the night. Nothing messes up a day more than waking in the middle of the night to a sick child, and then the lack of sleep, as I kept waking up to listen to see if he was doing OK... BUT, as of this morning and even into this afternoon, he is doing well. So I'm not sure if something just didn't agree with his system or what. But he is eating and drinking well today.

So, we have lots of great things going on in the next week! And I think you will love to be a part! Please come back and visit, you will be happy you did! In the mean time, I am going to try to catch up on some things...

I will see you all soon!

Busy Week, Not Much Getting Done...

What?

I know. This week has been SO busy, but still I don't have much to show for it. We have had VBS at our church in the evenings, and last night my little sister (one of them) gave birth to her first child, a baby boy! He is, of course, beautiful! And we are looking forward to another day of nothing to show for it, as I take my boys down to see him.

The boys had a "check-up" appointment with their pediatrician this week also. Everything is looking good, and they are growing like weeds! They told me that Austin (#2), if he keeps on his current growth trend, will be 6 foot 1 inches, when he is grown! And Deklyn (#1) will be 6 foot! My brother is 6 foot 5 inches, so it runs in the family. Though hubby and I are a few inches shorter!

I haven't put up anything from the garden this week... (BOOO!) And I feel like I am slacking badly!

But, like I said, today is not going to be any better! We NEED to see the new baby! :) Some things are JUST that important! :)

I MAY be adding to our farm family again... but you will have to wait until next week to find out what's happening!

How is YOUR week going??? What have you been accomplishing, or NOT accomplishing? :)

Guess Where WE Are This Week???

Horsing around with Grandma!

We are camping this week with the In-laws... Will post when I can!!! :) Have a great week!

Just a Note...

Happy Memorial Day! I and my family are SO thankful for all of the men and women who have fought for our country. We are thankful to have the right to worship our God and to be able to be a free country! Thanks to all who have fought and who are currently fighting. We THANK GOD FOR YOU!

Be sure to check back with us tomorrow as we show you some new "family" on Muddy Boots Farm! I'm so excited to tell you! ")

Also, check back on Wednesday, when I announce an awesome giveaway! YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS IT!!!

Update!

Just a quick update on things going on. I didn't post too much last week, mostly because of our youngest son being sick. I am glad to report today though that he is just about back to his normal self! It had been DAYS since we heard him talk or saw him smile, but yesterday he worked out of the "funk" he was in and was nearly his normal, happy self.

I am also glad to get back to "normal" this week. My house is in need of a good scrub down, my garden could use a little more attention and finish planting, and I am getting a new animal at the end of this week! YES, I know! I might be crazy... but I might be PURE GENIUS. :)

I will post again later, but wanted to let you all know what was happening! Thanks for all of your prayers, it worked!

Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Sunday is here! Our God has defeated sin and the grave. And He did it all for YOU...

Praise His name today!!!

Busy Week...

Boy, this week has been Spring Break for the boys. And added to the TOP of that, is that there has been 3 birthdays in our house, and my mom and mother -in-law's birthdays to celebrate! So the last 2 weekends we have had 2 parties, and on the birthday DAY, we have to make special too!

I just cannot believe I have a 9 YEAR OLD! And that my baby is 2 already... My heart hurts to think I can't keep them small, and enjoy the adoration they have for their dad and I. But, I DO enjoy seeing them become young men... But SLOWER would be great! I don't want to see them grow up so fast! :)

Monday, I will be back to blogging as normal.... But family life is the most important thing to me, so blogging waits.

Mmmm... birthday cake batter!

New Updates & What's Coming...

Farm update coming later this afternoon (with pictures!)~ After a trip to town to do some grocery shopping! Come back and check it out a little later!

***********

We have a few updates, here on the blog. To the left, you will see I am going to start keeping a count of how much our farm produces! I am taking this idea from one of my favorite blogs , The Urban Homestead. I hope our numbers are good, but even more, that our cupboards are full!

Another new thing, is we now have a fan page on Facebook! If you would like to get updates and MORE from your Facebook page, become a fan! This is all to the right side---->

See you a little later!

Spring Cleaning...

Join us Monday for some Spring Cleaning over HERE... Starting with our Entry Area!

(I am SOOOOO ready for this!)

Don't Forget...

Lots of great stuff starting to happen. I just wanted to give you all a reminder this week of some things coming up!

Don't forget to set some goals this week, and try to make some stuff from scratch! It can be a side, a snack, or a whole meal! Whatever it is, please share on Thursday! Don't forget to take pictures and post on your blog, or at least share in detail in the comments on Thursday!


Also, on my other blog, one week from Monday, we will be starting to Spring Clean together! Starting tomorrow on Beautiful2God, I will give a brief rundown of dates, rooms, and what we need to accomplish in those rooms. Of course everyone's home vary, so tailor this to what YOU need! So join us this Monday for the low down!

This and more, coming up! See you later! :)

We Made It!!!

I just wanted to let you all know we made it safely to Florida. Thank you for all of your prayers!

We got to Florida yesterday, and made a stop at Disney Marketplace in Orlando, which the kids LOVED.... of course! I wish we could have stayed longer.

But we got to Ft Myers LATE last night.

Today, we got alot accomplished and tonight we got to go to the beach!

I will try to keep you updated, and maybe post a few of the normal - "Things I Love Thursday" and such. Talk to you all soon!!!