We're in full-blown summer mode as of this week, though I ended up getting stuck teaching a class this summer, which was not my plan. I'm making the best of it, though, and working on being very productive and efficient while I'm in the office so that I can make the most of my time with the family when I'm not working. My plan for the summer is to work Tues, Wed, and Thursday and stay home with the kids on Mondays and Fridays. Well, not stay home. More like go to museums, the zoo, the waterpark, and whatever else we can come up with to take advantage of some fun in the summertime!
Life on the farm is good...Miss Peppa Pig is growing up and learning to walk on a leash, which is as funny as it sounds. Ruby still adores her and reads books to her in her room for hours by bribing her with mini marshmallows. We got a baby pool for the ducks (who are now full-grown) to swim around in, but they haven't quite figured out the swimming part yet. They mostly just stand on the edge and get their faces wet. Sounds like we may be inheriting some Nigerian dwarf goats from a friend in the near future. Goats are my favorite, and I can't seem to say no when they're offered up for free. They have such great personalities--like dogs, but cuter!
We went on a quick family outing this past weekend to Canton, TX, home of the the "famous" First Monday Trade Days. It's basically acres and acres of flea market finds, and it happens once a month year round. We had a blast, and there truly was something for everyone. Ruby, our animal lover, spotted a mini potbelly pig in the "animal section" of the fairgrounds, and we couldn't say no. So, here is Miss Peppa Pig in all her glory. We're working on training her to walk on a lead. Ruby is absolutely in love with her piggy, and Aaron has also found a soft spot in his heart for her. I went to take a shower last night after dinner, and returned to find him snuggled up on the couch with Peppa watching TV!
Kai is playing T-ball for the first time this spring, and he is absolutely thrilled about it. He would wear his uniform to school everyday if I let him, and his fun-loving spirit shines out on the field. He giggles his way around the bases, high-fiving the other team's players as he jumps on each base with both feet. It is absolutely adorable, and so much fun to watch.
Well, once again, it's been way too long. Life has just been so busy lately. Thank goodness for the camera on my phone, otherwise I'd never remember to document all of the precious moments in everyday life we've been enjoying. I thought I'd do a little bit of catch-up blogging, mostly with pictures. Pictures are always the best part anyway! Here are some of our spring pics we used for our Easter card this year. We took these down by the creek at the end our our property, and the kids had a blast exploring while I snapped some photos along the way.
January was pretty tough. My dad, who lives in Granbury, about an hour southwest of us, was in a near-fatal car accident on the day after Christmas. He had to be taken by helicopter to JPS Hospital in Fort Worth and has undergone six major surgeries and remains in the hospital on a ventilator. If you're interested in monitoring his progress, I've been posting updates on Caring Bridge (www.caringbridge.com/blakebarker) since the accident. It's been hard on my dad, obviously, but its also been a huge adjustment for our family as well. We certainly did not expect to spend a portion of every day for the past 36 days in the hospital, nevermind juggling child care for the kids, jobs and taking over dad's bills and other responsibilities. Many times in the past month I've wished there were 3 of me, rather than just one! But, we're managing. We're doing what we have to do, prioritizing and re-prioritizing, and trying to enjoy the moments that Aaron and I are together in the same room with all three of our kids. It's been a rough ride, and we're hoping that February proves much kinder. :)
January wasn't all bad, though. Amanda has been such a wonderful support, watching the kids at a moment's notice when I've had to drop everything and be at the hospital. And my mom is amazing. She's made us meals on several occasions and even came up last weekend for an impromptu visit, which was wonderful. We are blessed.
I recognize that it's been over six weeks since I posted last, and
it's stressing me out to try and do a catch-up blog, so we're just going
to skip over the past month and a half and start fresh. Okay? Whew...
Here's
a video of Kai feeding the sheep--I love how his ingenuity comes
through as he problem-solves a way to reach the feeding trough despite
his short stature. :) My little helper.
As
far as an update on the farm goes, we're a bit depleted at the moment.
Our beloved donkey, Leroy, disappeared a couple of months ago and
despite all of our efforts, we never found him. Our suspicion is that
he escaped our pasture one too many times and was taken by some
irritated neighbors that were fed up with his shenanigans. But, of
course, we have no proof, so who knows?
We still have
four turkeys. We're hoping the hens will lay some eggs this spring that
we'll hatch and then raise the poults. So the turkeys survived
Thanksgiving this year. :)
The same can not be said
for the chickens, who, after not having laid a single egg during the
past 2 months, are now in our freezer and ready for the stew pot. They
were old and when they did lay an egg, ended up eating it anyway. So
we'll plan on getting a flock of new chicks in February as soon as the
weather is more consistently warm for longer stretches of time, and eggs
will follow a few months later. For now, though, it sucks, as we're
having to buy eggs at the grocery story (cage free, of course!) for the
first time in the past 7 years!
Life on the farm was
pretty rough last week when the ice storm hit. While we had purchased a
half cord of firewood the week before the storm, we failed to check our
propane tank, and realized a day into the 4 day ice-in that we had less
than 10 gallons in the tank (virtually nothing). We spent 4 days
camped out in our living room with our wood-burning stove, and felt like
real homesteaders when we heated up pots of water on the stove for
baths. That is, until the water pipe in the well-house froze, and we
were without water for 36 hours. One of my favorite shows to watch on
tv is Alaska: The Last Frontier, which is about a family of amazing
homesteaders living in the extreme climate of Alaska, so I just kept
reminding myself that if they could do this year round, we could
probably manage for a few days. The kids actually had a great time and
saw it all as an adventure. By the end of four days cooped up together
in one room of our house, I was thrilled when the ice finally melted and
the adventure came to a happy end.
Kai has vacillated between wanting to be a cowboy and wanting to be an astronaut for Halloween this year. By this, I mean he changes his mind daily. These are the tough decisions that occupy the mind of a 4 year old. Ruby just goes with the flow. And Pla Shee, though much too cool for Halloween, can't seem to make a complete break from the sheer joy that comes from hoarding and consuming ridiculously large amounts of candy. Happy Fall, y'all!
Ruby and I had a great trip to Washington, DC for the American Evaluation Association Conference last week. She was a trooper at the conference, and we got to spend some time exploring the city and visiting friends and family as well. It was so different having the opportunity to spend time with Ruby by herself, and we had a blast. We definitely missed all of our boys A LOT though!
Eating a cake pop for breakfast.
At the butterfly garden at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The giant elephant and other larger than life exhibits were a bit intimidating... butterflies were much more Ruby's speed.
Ruby was not interested in posing on the Mall, despite the fact that I had to ask three different strangers to attempt a decent shot. We failed.
We visited the State Fair on Monday, a family tradition many years in the making. I have such great memories of visiting the Fair every year when I was growing up, and it seems like it really hasn't changed at all. Aaron, on the other hand,despises just about every thing about the fair, but puts on a happy face and comes along because he loves me. What a guy. Pla Shee opted to hang out with Pu Lue and Paw Moo this weekend, so he missed out on the Fair this year. He was pretty disappointed that we refused to bring him a turkey leg.
What visit to the Fair would be complete without some crazy fried food? In addition to a corny dog (a required item for all faithful fair-goers), we tried the Fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (pretty tasty) and the Fried S'mores (sickeningly sweet).
Amanda joined us for our fair day, much to Ruby's delight. She adores her "Aunt Jean."
Posing in the monkey cutout thing. The Fair is very fond of these cut out things, and we took full advantage.
Here are Kai and Ruby posing in the midst of their favorite fair activity, the simulated farm. This is always the favorite, despite the fact that we have a REAL LIVE farm at home. For some reason, feeding the plastic goats and sheep and planting seeds in the fake garden at the fair is tons more fun than feeding real sheep and goats and planting a real garden at our house. Whatever works. It is one of the only free activities at the fair, and it holds their attention for a good 20 minutes, so all in all it's a winner in our book.
Ruby in her pumpkin shirt posing with the pumpkins in the livestock barn. Unfortunately we chose a day that there weren't many animals around, so we did a lot of walking around looking at empty stalls. But they did have a cute kids area with some longhorn cattle and baby chicks that made it worth the walk, especially since there were hardly any crowds in that area.
And we always have to go to the petting zoo, despite the insane crowds. It's worth it to see the adorable baby animals and some of the more exotic animals like zebras and a giraffe up close and personal.
Ruby got her first haircut last week, and loved the whole process. The
boys needed haircuts, and since Ruby was along for the ride, I decided
to see if we could try and turn what little hair she has into something
less scraggly. I'm not sure how successful we were, but she was
definitely thrilled with the pampering.
And speaking of pampering, our miniature schnauzer George has been treated like a prince since his run-in with a coyote last week. He was attacked after sneaking out of the backyard, and was in pretty rough shape. But after a $500 vet visit and quite a bit of TLC, he's on the mend. Ruby's been feeding him his dog food one kernel at a time, and bringing him her baby dolls to keep him company as he recovers. ;)
Our sweet Ruby Nell turned 2 on Saturday! I can't believe we no longer have a baby in our house...it is truly amazing how fast the time has flown by. Ruby is a joy. Her giggles are infectious, and her personality is so much fun. She is talking up a storm, and in complete sentences to boot. A few weeks ago she learned how to climb out of her crib, so she's now officially in her "big girl bed," and loves it. She's easy to love, and we couldn't have asked for a more precious two year old.
Holli had Baby Emmett at 3:18 am on Friday morning! Because the birth happened at Allen Birthing Center, Holli and Emmett got to go home only a few hours later, and I got to hold him only a few hours after he was born. As you can tell from the picture below, I could not be more thrilled that Baby Emmett is finally here!
Just a few pics of the last couple of weeks to get us caught up to speed. We've recovered from the birthday party madness that enveloped the weekend and are now back in the swing of things. Here's a picture of Ruby in the midst of the birthday present bonanza. One of the first presents she opened was this stroller, and she immediately ran to her room to get "Baby Georgia" to ride in it. She was completely done opening presents after this. :)
Here are Kai and his cousin Preston sporting their shark goggles. Preston and his family just moved into a new house with a POOL not too far from us, so we are excited about mooching off of them for some fun pool time for many summers to come.
Ruby and her Daiya at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in East Dallas. We go to the same place every Sunday for lunch before refugee clinic. Ruby LOVES spring rolls! Note her neat dress--we found it a cool vintage clothing store near Waxahachie--it's from the 60s!
My little cowgirl turning on the charm before school one morning this week.
Kai "fro'd up" on the way to school one morning (Yes, in the car), he got to spend the day hanging out in my office watching movies. Note the trash can strategically placed in case any more "froing up" were to take place!
