This is the picture of the kids (not "dids") at the Space museum.  Did I mention I am computer challenged?  lol Angie

   What a beautiful day it turned out to be.  This morning looked like rain but the clouds cleared and the sun is out.  We had p.e. this afternoon. And Caitlin has soccer this evening.  It seems very quiet because the littles went with Jeff and Caitlin.  

Well, I just got a phone call that Caitlin is sick and they are on their way home. I just hope she doesn't have the flu that has been getting us lately.  Susannah and Audrey have both had it.  

     I guess I will cut this post short seeing as they are only a few minutes away.  I hope everyone has had a great day.  The pictures I included are of my rooster"Ricky" , the dids at the Space museum, and my dog "Dorie".  She is such a good girl.  Angie

Goodbye "Lance"

It is with great sadness that I tell you that one of our baby goats passed away Monday morning.  We took him to the goat vet and she said he had pneumonia.  It is so hard to loose an animal when you have put so much time and effort into it.  Olivia fell apart.  She has been the one to get up in the middle of the night and feed them.  She has been responsible for mixing all the milk for 4 goats and feeding them.  And she has loved them.  They all come running when they see her and not just when it is time to eat.  They recognize her as "mama". Her Daddy and I have been very impressed.  You are growing up my sweet Olivia .                                                    Well on to the weekend. Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  We had company in town.  Friday night we had our usual family movie night.  We watched a movie called "The Seeker".  It was not" The Incredibles", but it was really good.  I would not recommend it for young (my youngest is 9) because it had some scary parts .  I am not setting a specific age for the movie as each family knows their own children and what they can handle.  However the movie is a struggle between good and evil, so there are some dark parts.  But overall it was very good.  Usually on movie night we have pizza.  But I am tired of pizza and my children only enjoy my homemade pizza.  So I decided to make Ziti, a salad, and garlic bread.  Everyone seemed to love it.  And it is easier to fix than pizza.                                                                                                           Saturday Grandma and Eddie came up.  I took Susannah shopping for Spring clothes for church.  We went to Kohl's and that was it ,seeing as Susannah has been sick and is still feeling tired.  But we had "success".  We even found 2 bathing suits.  Its hard to shop for the older girls because modest clothes are hard to find.   And short is in this year.  I was just glad we had a good time (no arguments) and found her some things.  Saturday night we had a bonfire. The kids love roasting hotdogs .  And I love sitting in front of the fire ,visiting with family, and watching the children run around.  And the stars are awesome.  Everyone was worn out. 

      On Sunday we had a huge dinner and an easter egg hunt for the littles and their cousins.  They had a great time.  We enjoyed having aunts, uncles, and cousins here. Jeff was off on Monday so we took the children and some friends to the Space and Rocket museum in Huntsville ,Alabama.  The children had a great time.   I think it took Olivia's mind off of her little one.  She moved the baby girl into the house again for a while.  Olivia will be such a great mommy someday.  

  Well that was our weekend and today I have to go to the dentist because I broke my tooth.  Doesn't that sound like fun?  Hope everyone has a great day.      

Angie 

This week has started with a bang.  We are taking a spring break this week.  We drove Sunday evening about an hour away to pick up a friend of Olivia's.  She is staying with us a few days, as it is her spring break also.  Yesterday  we met friends at the park and had a great time.  The weather was beautiful and I got some great shots of the kids.  I also was able to get my grocery shopping done.  This is our menu for the week:

Monday:  Tacos (soft and crunchy)

Tuesday: Round Steak (crock pot)

                 Baked potatoes

                 Salad

                  

Wednesday:  Chicken and Stuffing

                        Green beans

                        Applesauce

Thursday:   Sweet and Sour Meatballs

                     Rice 

                     Fruit Salad

Friday:  Ziti

               Salad

               Garlic bread

We are having company this weekend.  My mother-in -love is coming.  She truly is a wonderful grandmother and mother-in-law.  She is very easy going, easy to talk to, and positive.  We will have our annual easter egg hunt.  Of course for the older ones we have stuffed eggs with a little change.  They still like candy but would rather have money.  They also help hide the eggs which, is really nice for us. lol. 

  

Not sure what we are doing today.  We did already move the baby goats out to the barn.  They are a week old and it was time.  And as Audrey said "I need my beauty sleep". lol.  The girls have been so wonderful and responsible about feeding the babies in the middle of the night. It's been a great learning experience. We may go to the movies today (since its going to rain)  or we may go to an indoor putt-putt golf.  

Thats about it.  I hope everyone has a great day.   

This is a our barn in the snow.  I have been having trouble getting my pictures to download.  I decided to try just one and  "tada", it worked.  I guess I was asking for too many pictures?  I don't know. We had snow this past weekend and today it will be in the upper 60's .  Crazy! I don't know if you can see some of our goats on the side porch or not. They are such great pets.  The other picture is Olivia ,my middle child, 12 year old, with her cousin. And there is a picture of Jonathan, my only boy, 11, making a snowman.  It was a very short snowman.  

  Today I will be going to the farm supply store for baby goat food.  We are also having some friends for lunch and to play and then we have church tonight.  Of course we will still have to do our school work.  It is going to be a busy day.  I like busy days if I feel like I've accomplished something.  It the busy days where I can't tell a thing has been done that drives me nuts.  I am going to also make chocolate chip zucchini bread for a treat.  This is the recipe if you have never tried it.  It is wonderful and who doesn't like chocolate?  Well , actually one of my daughters does not care for it(unnatural).lol  Anyways, here goes:

                                   Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

                     3 eggs                                              2c flour

                    2c sugar                                            1tsp. salt and baking soda

                    1c oil                                                  1tsp. cinnamon

                    1tsp. vanilla                                      1c nuts(optional)

                    2c  grated zucchini                       1/2c chocolate chips

                    2oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted

         Mix all ingredients.  Pour into two 9x5 loaf pans, greased and floured well.  

         Bake at 350 for 1 hour.  YUMMY!

     Hope you enjoy.     Ang. 

      

Well, as you can tell,I could not get the pictures to post.  My husband said he would help me with it later tonight.  I am computer challenged.  Hopefully they will be up this evening.  Have a great day.  Ang

     This weekend brought some snow.  It began Friday night and by Saturday morning , we had a few inches.  We ventured to my sister's ( a whole mile away) to let the younger three play with their cousins.  They had a great time sledding and building snowmen.  Afterwards they had hot chocolate and played inside while the adults visited. I am glad they had the opportunity because by the afternoon the sun had melted most of the snow.  I have to say it has been a real blessing having my sister so close.  They just moved here in October and I have never lived near my relatives.  So of course I wondered how it would be. Well, it's great and the cousins have really bonded.  

    Since it snowed, we decided that we would stay home all day.  That was wonderful. I washed a boatload of laundry  I had gotten behind on. I love when I have time to get the laundry done right.  You know, no baskets full of wrinkled clothes that need to be put away.  Everything was put away.  Why does that feel so good? lol. Other than the laundry we pretty much rested. Next week, we begin soccer games, so Saturdays will not be ours.   

    Today we attended church.  The discussion in class was about anger and how to control it.  I am finding that anger is usually a sign of something else going on and that you have to ask yourself "Why am I angry, really?"  Is is because I am hurt, diappointed in someone or something,  feeling guilty, feeling a lack of control....?  And what can I do about it?  And if I can't do anything about it, how can I accept it and move on?  Now I am not talking about righteous anger.  I am just talking about anger.  I think where it goes wrong is when we lose our temper or hold a grudge.  I think thats what Ephesians 4:26-27 is talking about.  Anger is an emotion God gave us, but we must use it appropriately.  Because when we lose our temper or hold a grudge, we allow Satan a "foothold".  It is something I struggle with.  I want to just react to my anger instead of listening to what it's telling me.  But I'm learning.

    Dh and some of the children worked in the yard today, moving wood from the barn to the fire pit.  I am looking forward to the bon fires we will have this spring.  I am finishing laundry today. Yes, still doing laundry.  I said I was behind.lol  I must get going but I included some pictures of the snow.  I realize it not as much snow as some other places get, but for middle Tn, it was a lot. Have a wonderful Sunday.  Ang

Well,yesterday was quite exciting.  You see, the new "Super Target " opened in our little town.  I will not have to leave town to go shopping.  It was so shiny and new and clean and smelled so...so... new. I am being dramatic, but it was really nice.  We came home to see the horse laying in the pasture to sun himself.  That is not all that unusual except that two of the baby goats were standing on top of him.  Did I get a picture?  Of course not . I think I will have to become like my husband and carry a camera around with me.  Today we have tutoring and the older girls have P.E.  It has become one of the highlights of their week. The kids in their P.E. group are great.  Very accepting of each other and their differences.  Its refreshing to watch. 

    I am making a beef stew in the crock pot for dinner.  I am so thankful for crockpots. I use mine at least once a week.  Thats the list for today...well, except for the mound of laundry that needs to be done. I thought since I was talking about my two oldest girls, I would include pictures. The oldest is Susannah and she is 16 and on the right.  The next is Caitlin and she is 14. I am off to do laundry.    Ang 

This is officially my first post.  Very exciting but also very scary.  Thank goodness for teen daughters who were able to navigate me through setting up a blog.  Of course my 9 year old probably knows more than I do about the computer.  After setting up the blog and telling my friend about it, I realized I don't know what purpose this blog will serve.  I think for now it will serve as a journal of sorts about our crazy life..... all seven of us.... and the horse, nine rabbits, five cats, four dogs, 11 chickens, two roosters,and six goats.  I won't mention all the things that are caught , brought home, and released. The pictures above are some of our animals.

   Today we started the way it always does. I climb out of bed to walk my DH out to his car and say good-bye, and then proceed to chicken coop.  They are always ready to get out.  My youngest always rides to end of the driveway with her Dad and opens the gate for him.  And then she and my 12 year old daughter go feed the baby goats ( two are bottle fed.) and the horse.  I was moving slow this morning sooo  some of us got up late.  It's funny how some of my children have an internal alarm clock that won't let them sleep past 6:00a.m. while others could sleep all day.  But we pulled it together (still in pajamas) and began school. We are reading through Matthew for bible and we are studying Ancient history. The rest was done on their own.

  Today was our pickup for our food coop.  It takes about thirty minutes to get there. My friend and I always ride together. It gives us time to visit.  It is something I look forward to each month.  We came home and the weather is turning ugly here.  They are calling for snow. The bad news is we are supposed to have soccer practice today.  Wonder if that will happen? 

  Well, that is pretty much my day. I have some picking up to do.  I forgot about soccer when I made out my menu this week.  So I am thinking what I wanted to fix is not going to work. Maybe I should think about this. For some reason, people around here think they should be fed. I say, "let them eat cake".  I have been known to let my children eat left over cake for breakfast.  Hey...I serve eggs with that cake. lol.