Use what talents you possess

"The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there... except those that sang best."

-  Henry Van Dyke

 "The nesting boxes would be very empty if no chickens laid eggs there... except those that laid the largest."

-  Dawn Callahan

 Small, medium, large, extra large, itty bitty... I love all sizes and shades of fresh eggs.

Spring is a comin'!!  Yippee!

Oh Happy Day!

Savannah got her Driver's License today.
Girl was a nervous wreck, but she did it... whew!

And Christian got his Driver's Permit.  Must add the little tidbit that he merely glanced at the manual, stinker!!

Today... I have some seriously happy kids!
They shall bask in the joy of their new found freedoms... next goal?  Boating Permits... I speak from experience that the test is a doozy.  Even Christian will need to study for that one!

the SOUNDS of a storm

We don't have TV.
We do have a weather radio to keep us aware of weather concerns.
But way before any sirens blare, or radios bleep... we are well aware when a storm is coming.

 Donkeys.
They get anxious.  Ewwwwahhhhhhhh!  They call out over and over... our own personal sirens.
The horses run.  Not sure why, but they run in circles, galloping... such a powerful sound.
And the goats get antsy.  I guess they know that they will soon need to huddle into the barn so they make the most of the minutes before the storm hits... to jump non-stomp and be silly!
Closer to the house the chickens make a ruckus!  Rooster is sure to send out many a doodledoooos!
And the exclamation to all the sounds... Cooper gets to howling.

Minutes later... items are blowing off our backporch.  Sheets of rain that are solid white and we can't see inches past our back steps.  And all the animals are silent.  They snuggle into the barn, coop, doghouse... having exhausted themselves thoroughly, and having done a wonderful job taking care to warn us humans.  Jobs well done.
We sure had a nasty line of storms come over the farm today.  Other than tremendous wind and rain that threw or carried things all over the pasture... all was safe and fine.  I actually love a good rain.  It smells and feels so good out here now.  Content sigh.

Hints of Spring

I don't have any daffodils planted on the farm, and my many tulips are planted in mostly shade so they are slow to emerge.
So my first blooms of Spring are my Ivory Prince Lenten Roses.

 I love the backs on the blooms the best... backwards, right?

Can I just tell you how much it bugs Shawn that I won't let him rake all the dead leaves and tidy things up a bit?!  Letting the leaves lie where they may sure saves me in costly mulch and picking weeds later.  Sometimes the 'natural' look is just not embraced by my sweetheart but my tantrums ,to leave the leaves be, usually win out. 

Shall we call it a 'Mutual TimeOut'?!??

Ummm.
There has been a bit of a phenomenon that has taken place in our family dynamic since there were little boys present in our family.  It was not created for Savannah, in fact, to this day this specific re-occurring event has never involved her... and I hope now that she is 16 she doesn't reverse that track record.  This phenomenon of which I speak could be loving called 'Mommy and Me TimeOut' or perhaps 'Mutual TimeOut'.

 Since I have omitted the word 'hate' from my vocab... I shall instead say that I very, incredibly, undeniably, dislike intensely... POUTING.  There.  It's true.

 I'm of the opinion... SAY IT (of course with respect and some amount of self-control)... but darn tootin' USE YOUR WORDS.  inhale... exhale... one moment please...

 OK, composure regained, I think.  Don't even get me started on the EVIL EYE.  Truth is when I get the evil eye from any of my children... I can't help but, then and in that very second, laugh my head off.  Funny stuff!

 So, back to by original train of thought... I actually do have an actual train of thought.
Many a times, and many times A DAY, when Christian was a youngster there would erupt from our happy little home a DECLARATION of Christian AND Mommy time-out.  Please don't say I am alone in this event.  Me ordering Christian to his room, then me promptly storming off to my room.  Only to hear my little son innocently ask minutes later if OUR timeout was over yet.  Truth be told there were several very long winded timeouts in those days.  Ahhhh, good times, snicker.

And so with the birth of Ty, the mutual timeouts have become a bit of a family tradition again.  Stubborn!  HIM not me, of course... I am the shining example of patience and long suffering after all.  Yep.

 It must be documented that Today it wasn't Math OR Cursive Writing OR the study of the tilt of the Earth's axis... that brought on the overly animated sulking.  Nope.  It was a request on my part for him to unload the dishwasher.  So unforeseen!  Apparently this was the straw, him the camel.  Then came an unfortunate event of the camel pouting and evil eyeing me and me laughing hysterically which in no way helped the situation.  I can be a tad immature in these moments.  So to make a long story finally conclude, yep, Ty and I found ourselves in separate rooms, a mutual timeout.  Him, very reminiscent of his older brother, asking in 2 minute intervals, "is OUR timeout over?"  We'll find this funny later, much later, like years from now, right? 

 And this is very similar to how Ty looked when the whole dishwasher unloading explosion and following timeout was over.  All better!

 I guess it is a good thing that mommies find their babes so loveable!

Since I determined it unwise to grab my camera and take photos of Ty today in the throes of his epic pout, I instead have graced you with old photos.  Cute, huh?

I love 'em... I just do!

You know something I love about our oldest two kiddos?  They are pretty easy to please.  They can both have fun doing about anything.  I am finding that this is not always the case with kids their age, and I truly appreciate that they see the effort others put forth on their behalf. 

 Last night they had a Youth Dance in Decatur.  The theme was 'Oscars Night'.  so they got all dolled up, survived the torture that is having a mom that needs a quick picture... and they left for a night of lots of dancing and fun with friends.  They both came home exhausted but ecstatic... it was a great night.  I am thankful that they have a wonderful, protective environment to go and socialize like these dances. 

And I must include this classic photo of little brother horning in on the attention.  Ty fulfills his obligations as pesky little bro quite well.

I want to document a cute conversation Ty and I had while I was fixing his hair for him earlier in the day.
Ty:  "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Me:  "Well, son, I am actually already considered grown up."
Ty:  "NO YOUR NOT... you don't have to grow up until your done being a mom."
Me:  "Oh, okay... then I want to be an Innkeeper of a Bed & Breakfast when I finally grow up."
Ty:  "Are you sure you and dad will be OK when all us kids are grown up?"
Me:  "Are you kidding?  Dad and I are gonna party till the cows come home!"
Ty:  " You're weird sometimes."
Me:  "  That's true!"

And might I add that since I hope to NEVER be fired from my motherhood gig... I don't ever have to grown up... technically, right?  I like the sound of that... I think I'll roll with it!

Today...

Today I am having a HUGE crush on my daughter, she is in a cute mood... love her!
Today there are more chickens OUTSIDE of the chicken fence than inside, grrrrr.
Today I sat on the back porch barefoot.
Today I had a pb&homemade (by me) blackberry preserves sandwich and cheetos for lunch, yum.
Today I am over the flu, didn't want to jinx myself but for the past 48 hours I have felt much better!
Today I have pinto beans in the crockpot and Christian is going to make cornbread for dinner.
Today I will go to Misty's loft and hang with Cari, Noah, and Eden... oh, happy Thursdays!
Today I planned on painting a dresser but now I don't wanna... maybe tomorrow.
Today I am going to take a nap, yep.
Today I can't wait to kiss my husband when he gets home, he looked so cute this morning.
Today Ty and I did 3 straight hours of school and neither of us got grouchy once, whew.
Today I laughed at Christian so hard that I got the hiccups.
Today I stole 2 dark chocolate kisses from the freezer, someone tried to hide them, but I  found them, now I must beg forgiveness.
Today I sold something on craigslist and the cutey gal that came to pick it up stood in my entry and gushed and gushed over our house, land, chickens, border collie, etc.  She asked me to adopt her.
Today, later today... I will talk with Shawn about adopting cutey craigslist gal, although Misty is adamant that I need to adopt a little China girl and name her Molly.
Today is a wonderful, blessed, ordinary, normal DAY!!       


"Normal day... let me be aware of the treasure you are.  
Let me learn from you, bless you before you depart.  
Let me not pass you by in the quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.  
Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so..."                   Mary Jean Iron