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Sam's First Birthday !!

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Thanks to all of the people at Aspen Transportation...

This is really a late Christmas post. All of the employee's at Aspen Transportation gave our children gifts at Christmas this year. I mean they got them what was on their Christmas list ! I still can't get over their faces when they saw their gifts ! It was priceless !
As you can see the photo's were impromptu, so they aren't dressed cute but I think you can understand with 9 kiddo's and you say gift time you can't stop them to get them dressed....We decided to let them open them before Christmas because we wanted them to know who gave them the gifts, we didn't want them to think they were from us.
Even the cute stocking came from them..It was awesome !!
We can't thank them enough for taking time out of their busy lives to even think about us. I got just a few pic's then my camera battery went dead !

Ummmm.....

Can't wait until the broccoli and cabbage are ready. They are really doing well this year. We planted them earlier than we usually do and I believe that has helped.

Beautiful spring weather finally...

It is a little chilly still and the wind is blowing but you can see that it is really spring ! I went out to the garden and to my surprise there are berries almost ripe ! YEA !

Great News !!!

Tessa's appt with the Dermatologist was great , he said not to worry about the growth on her shoulder!! YEA!! Also, Sam's lab work is perfect , absolutely no sign of kidney failure!!! God is good!
On a more somber note , Mike's mom had a cat scan which showed some blockage on her pancrease, she goes to the GI dr today to find out the outlook.Please pray for her and the family .
Until next time....

Whew ! Officially worn out....

We finally have gotten into gear on our garden and today we planted three rows of English Peas and 5 rows of potatoes. Yesterday we planted 81 strawberry plants! Yikes, I hope I can get out of bed in the morning...LOL...I will try to post pictures tomorrow. I still have beets, carrots, lettuce and swiss chard to plant this week...We have already planted a few onion, cabbage and broccoli...
well, til next time..

An "Almost catastophe'"

This morning as I was trying to down my first cup of coffee, Mike came in from outside with some wood and told me that the chick house door was open all nite! Evidently , the girls had fed them and some how didn't get the latch quite shut.They were lucky as the chicks were all present (all 71) . It's a miracle with all of the cats we have.
These chicks are 4-H projects that the girls will show in the fair this year, then will sell eggs or pullets. This is the second year that they have done this and it is amazing how much money they make off of eggs ! So all's well that ends well....
until next time...

Food for thought....

I was driving home from the Dr with one of the kids last Friday and I was cruising along just listening to the radio when an announcement from the Justice Dept came on the radio. It was talking about the dangers of home invasions and how to possibly avoid them ect... they suggested different methods to protect your self from intruders, things like alarms, bars on windows, not opening the doors...and then at the end said perhaps getting a dog....
Well, I am wondering at that moment in my car, like where the heck have I been that it is now so dangerous to live here that our government is now telling us how to protect ourselves over the radio...I really at that moment felt like I was in another country. It really didn't feel good to me at all. I, in the past possibly could have been a little paranoid about that type of thing but now feel justified ! After all our government is now paranoid for us ...YIKES...and I live in the middle of no where. So, all you people who live in the city , look out for your broadcast it may be like Orson Wells " End of the World".
Also, same trip, same station they talked about the three earth quakes that occured just south of me near Conway Arkansas. They were mild but a week before that there had been two other ones...Now I have lived here for 10 yrs and not heard of any quakes so what the heck is going on? Well, I looked it up on a site for world wide earth quake activity...Pretty interesting , we were on there twice pretty recently. I can tell you where not to live or visit, that is Chili they have activity all the time.
I just wanted to give folks some food for thought. Surely I am not the only one wondering what the heck is going on.
PS- we (Arkansas) have our own earthquake center...go figure...
til next time...

What a sweet heifer...

Here is our two oldest girls milking Sassy, one of our Jersey heifers. She had just calved and she is the gentlest heifer we have ever had, or cow for that matter. She is milking between 3-4 gallons per day. We have milk out the waazoo, Cheese-Making here I come....
until next time...

Canning Fish !

Well, I was told that canned trout was better than Tuna or Salmon so I decided to give it a try !
Cody is constantly fishing so I had him bring some Trout. I had enought for three pint jars for a sample. You put the rinsed off Trout in the jars, add 1/2 tsp of canning salt and 1 tsp of Catalina salad dressing...Yes , Catalina salad dressing...then you process with 10 pounds of pressure for 90 min...
Well, Madeline who is the fish lover pronounced it delicious! It was just as good as Salmon, although I thought the texture was softer. It is certainly alot cheaper ! We will now can fish
until next time...

St Judes....

Well, we took Tessa back to St Judes to see what the "growth" on her shoulder is and her new oncologist wanted to take the "wait and see approach" Ha Ha....we told her we have been down that road and we weren't planning on visiting it again! So , we will see a Dermatologist in Memphis on March 11th the earliest appt. I am sure it is nothing but we just have to make sure.
Thanks for all the "extra" prayer and keep them coming!
til next time....

A Dreary Day....

Well, yesterday was beautiful and full of spring promise. I got the irrigation for the berries planned and spoke with my son about him "mapping" it out for me.Looked through all of my seed catalogs trying to decide what to order... and then today has been miserable; it is cloudy, raining and we have a possibility of SNOW tonite...YIKES when does it ever end...I am really ready for spring...and yes to those of you who live South of me (you know who you are ) I am a little jealous of the warm weather but come July I will be glad that it is you and not me..
til next time...

Tessa's last trip to St Judes.....

Well, we went to St Judes last Tuesday and Tessa had her eye exam on Wednsday. It was great we don't go back until May for her eye exam but.....
well I guess about a week ago I noticed a "blister like" place on her shoulder. I thought imediately that it was chicken pox because it is going around.She never developed anything else and it has never gone away. Dr Wilson looked at it when Tessa what under anesthesia and said that it looked like a small hemangioma because it blanches...well he said to watch it and if it gets ANY larger come in...well, of course those of you who know me , know that I am not a "wait and see kind of a person" so I have called and she goes back on Monday for her oncologist to look at it. I really want it removed NO MATTER WHAT! Call me paranoid.... I will keep ya posted.
On a lighter note Sam has started to crawl!!!
Until next time....

Noodling......

I decided that I would try my hand at home-made noodles because I have memories of my Dad making them and they were delicious! He made a mess but it was worth it...Well, I doubled the recipe and it still wasen't enough for all of these hungry mouths! All it takes is flour,egg,salt and a little milk but next time I will roll them out thinner and cut them into more of a narrow noodle. They were good and the kids loved them. I served them with Boiled chicken.
If anyone wants the recipe just let me know!
Until next time.....

Winter Wonder Land....

Marie with Madeline, Katie and Annie Grace going sledding!
We have gotten about 10 " of snow now it is really crazy. I have been home bound and making cheese, yogurt, cookies and any other thing I can think of ! Yikes it better warm up soon or we will all be bigger than the barn!

Fulton Co Fair 2009

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Samuel is sitting up !

Sam is 6 mo and is sitting up really good. Of course the minute I get my camera out he drops down to tripod!!

Great Appt for Sam....

Well, Sam had a great visit with his nephrologist today. His liver looks great and his kidney function is awesome to!! We don't return for three months....Yea
until next time....

Sam's appt ...

Sam has a ultrasound in the morning of his liver and kidney's . We also see the nephrologist. We will see how his kidney's are functioning and also if his liver is affected. We are praying that it is not! He is quite a "chunk" and weighs in at nearly 21 pounds!! His nephrologist says he doesn't look like a baby with kidney disease. Hopefully he stays that way. I will update after his appts tomarrow...until next time

Brrrrr......

Well, as you can see it is pretty cold out my front door! Tonite it is supposed to be 1 degree....One of the kids had a Dr's appt and I tried to go ( check up ) it was pretty funny, I couldn't get up the hill to the main road in my Van. Cody had to come and get the van up the hill and then take us back home in his VW...Crazy Weather...Must be all of that "Global Warming"
til next time...

Birthday Girl!!

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Got to luv that Magic Bullet.....

I was out of butter this morning and we live 11 miles from town so I made us butter this am...the kids call it "Wendy Butter" because the cow we are milking is named Wendy..LOL.
It is really great having an endless supply of milk . Last nite we had home made Tapioca pudding and hot cho this am...I am going to try cheese next...
til next time