The way to win a girl's heart (whether she be 3 or 33) :)

My mom (known as nanny) stopped by this morning as she was heading out and this conversation happened....

L: Nanny, go wif you.
Nanny:  "No honey. I have too many stops today.  I'll buy you some mac n cheese"
L:  I LOVE YOU TOO, NAN.


Mac n cheese is clearly the answer to all our problems.  :)

Mini Vacation #1

This year instead of one big long vacation, we are doing several little mini vacations....and we had a chance to do the first one a few weeks ago.

We took all the kids to Medieval Times.  We also stayed in a hotel with a pool.  What more does a family need for a little get away?  Oh yeah, hotel also had a really nice hot breakfast.  :)

Everyone had such a great great time!  The food was phenomenal and our serf was totally great with the kids   "dragonblood soup for you sir"  or "Here's your baby dragon....it tastes a lot like chicken."  The boys loved eating with their hands.  I wasn't sure L was going to eat cause she LOVED the horses.  LOVED them.  It was a perfect mini vacation.  I didn't get many pictures (cause I was eating with my hands too).  But I got a couple.

Ready to head in.

waiting for them to unlock the gates

So excited!  yay

All the kids got swords and shields....I tried to get L to get a princess hat but she wanted a sword and shield like her brothers.  I have a feeling she is going to be a tomboy  ;)

Announcing the start of the games.

bring on the horses

bring on the knights

bring on the food

We wear green crowns because we are in the section of the green knight...

presentation of the knights....and time to put the camera away.  :)

Our family is growing......

Meet Betty and Lois.  (l-r).  Our newest "kids"....they are so cute and fun and friendly....and LOUD!  :)  These are a dairy breed so hopefully by next spring we'll have more babies and fresh milk.  I'm sure goat milk will take some adjustment but I'm excited about it.  :)

And "Bacon"....he is also friendly and the kids love chatting with him cause he always snorts back.  But they also know his name determines his destiny....I am sure some people think that is cruel or mean but so many have no awareness of where our food comes from.  Unless a person is 100% vegetarian then everyone eats animals that started out as cute little babies...and many times not in the 5 star lifestyle our animals grow in.  ;)   

And our ducks....One is Donald and another is Aflack but I don't know which ones...the rest are probably named too but I don't know what.  We are looking forward to seeing how many males and females we got here and trying duck eggs....and then hopefully having duck babies....we will not be butchering these cause duck meat is icky....and I'm sure it's similar to butchering chickens which is a job I loathe.... :)

The kids were bummed when they figured out this kiddie pool wasn't for them.
But the ducks LOVE it!  And the kids literally sit out there and watch them play.  Who needs tv?
HA

We also got our garden in.  And they helped a little.  :)

I love spring.  It is such a time of possibilities.  I am always excited to garden and I pray this year that the garden is successful.  I've planted zucchini, cukes, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, brussel sprouts, green beans, peas, cantelope and watermelon.  Fingers crossed.

Back to work I go!  :D  Happy spring to everyone!

SPRING!

Its Spring....kinda.  We had to have the heat on the last couple nights.  But the temp is above freezing.

With the seasonal change has come a WHIRLWIND of activities.  I can just barely keep my eyes from not spinning.  This means that I have sadly neglected this blog and those who read it.   I am going to try to tell some stories from the last few months in the next week.

But today I found a blog post that struck a chord with me....so read this one since I've dropped the ball in my little corner of the blogosphere.  It is called simply "I am a birth mother."  I still cannot fathom the strength of a birth mother.  Sure, there are times simply being a mother is hard.  But to be a mother from afar seems unfathomable to me.

For the record, in our home we do not use the words birth mother because L's first mom did much more than give birth to her.  We use the phrase "first mom."  I think it is more fitting for our situation.  :)