Mmm, Mmm, Tasty!

 I guess I never posted any pictures of our second round of chicks.  Well they were really cute and this time we got some meat birds for the first time.  Meat birds are a little different than egg layers.  Pretty much they spend their day eating, pooping, and sleeping.  They don't venture out much and are pretty lazy.  But the thing they have going for them is that they are...

 

 

TASTY!!

That's some good eatin'!!

VBS

 

Each year Bob's parents invite the kids to spend a week at their house and go to VBS at their church.  Of course the kids LOVE going! 

 

This year, Grandma sent a set of rules to be enforced the week they are there.  You can read them easier if you click on the picture.

 

 

Gotta love those!!

 

And while the 4 older kids are there this week, I am left with just Abby and Drew.  It's like a vacation!!!  I have never heard Abby talk so much! 

 

We all LOVE Grandma!

 

 



Bob the Gardener

Since this is going to be our last garden here, Bob wanted some pictures.  It's a bit sad to leave our garden because of all the work Bob has put into it.  When we moved in here this whole area was woods.

 

 

I can't take any credit for this neatly kept garden...it's all Bob's doing.  I just get to do the fun part which is the harvesting and creating meals with it all!

 

 



9 Months Old

 

 

Drew turned 9 months old today!

I missed his 8 month picture, so there are his accomplishments for the last 2 months:

 

He can crawl now.  The sitting but not crawling phase didn't last too long.

 

He now has 6 teeth.

 

He has a very strong gag reflex!  He's not going to die choking because he gags everything up!!  I've been waiting for the day when he can feed himself some Cheerios, but by the looks of it that day is still long into the future.

 

He loves people, especially his siblings.  He is totally content until he is left alone in a room.  It doesn't take long for the wailing to ensue.

 

And I just love when Abby talks to her "Dwoowie".



Chickens

Somehow in my blogging I have failed to mention that we have acquired 31 more chickens which brings our total up to 41.  Half of the chicks, though, are meat birds and will meet the butcher in a few more weeks.

 

The other chicks are an assortment of egg layers, six of which are Americanas that can lay blue, green or pink eggs (or so they say.  We have yet to see.)

 

Above is a picture of Bob's homemade chicken tractors.  As they get pulled across the grass, the chickens have new grass to eat everyday.  Once we get to our new property we will be able to free range the chickens, but while here in our neighborhood we try to keep our chickens from ranging into other people's yards.

 

 The meat birds - this is pretty much what they do all day.  Sit around and eat. And poop.

 

 

The egg layers are much more active.





Strawberry Season

 

 

These are the first two strawberries that we picked this season.  Since Bob is the Garden Guru, I told the kids to let him pick the first of the berries.  Max and Samuel came back from the garden with these two beauties and a story about how if they would have left them there they were sure to rot. At least they didn't eat them...they did save them for daddy to have the first bite!

 

 

We only have about 5 strawberry plants, so we don't get a ton of berries...just a few each day.  So I took the 4 older kids out strawberry picking.  Emily was a champion picker and had such self control with not eating the berries until we paid for them.  Max on the other hand...

 

 

 

I had never made freezer jam before so I figured we should give it a try.  I think it turned out well...there's enough sugar in it that it doubles as an excellent ice cream topping.  And since the ingredients of pectin sound like they come from a chemical lab, next time I think I will search the internet for some pectin free recipes with less sugar. 

 

We were able to make 23 of these half pints of jam.  I was originally thinking that would last us quite a while, but in the week since we've made it, we've gone through 3 jars already!

 



Samuel's First Baseball Season

Samuel just completed his first baseball season and really enjoyed it.  In fact he liked it so much that he passed on fall soccer and has decided to play fall baseball instead.  I guess he's following in his daddy's footsteps!

 

 

 

This year he played coach pitch, but next year it will be onto kid pitch!



Boys and Their Toys

I'm not quite sure who is more excited about the latest piece of equipment that has been added to the Boy Toy Department here at 32 Overlook Dr...Bob or Max.

 

 

I have to admit that I was actually a bit (just a tiny bit) excited about this one.  It's called a dump trailer.  You might be saying, well what's so great about a dump trailer??

 

Bob has been looking for an old beat up dump truck for several years now.   He says that having a dump truck would save him so much time when he has to get a load of horse manure or mulch.  And yes, shoveling it out of his regular truck bed is a lot of work, but I wasn't sold on the idea of having an old beat up dump truck sitting in our driveway.

 

There's more to this story though.  Back when I thought I might be pregnant with baby #6 I told him that since we don't have any parents nearby to help me out from time to time I would love having a cleaning lady for a few years. Being not fully convinced that I might be pregnant he readily said yes.  Well after the pregnancy test came back positive, I reminded him of this matter.  He said, "Yes, their names are Jack and Emily Garvin."  Hmmm.

 

So when he told me that a dump truck would be so helpful to him, he said, "Wouldn't you really like it if it would take less time for me to unload the manure?  I said, "Jack and Emily are available to help!" 

 

That line had worked for him, but for me?  Not so much.

 

A week later the dump trailer arrived along with a giddy little grin on Bob's face.  But the reason why I like it even a tiny bit is because it's better than a beat up dump truck and I just love the giddy little grin:)