Shaggy and Short

April Showers bring May Flowers

We're trying to get more into the yard and garden stuff now that we've been in the house for almost 2 years. Well, I should correct myself- John's getting more into the yard and garden stuff and I'm huffing and puffing along behind trying to give my opinion but not willing to actually do much. Though I must admit that a baby on the hip or in the belly doesn't really make for a great gardener.

Last fall we actually thought about putting a few flowers in before it got too late, and this spring we were rewarded with about 20 beautiful white tulips in front of our brown barn. Ava thought they were pretty cool and had fun posing in front of them.




Here is the normal Ava we all know and love- shaggy hair and all.

After looking at these pictures I realized that Ava really needed a hair cut so off we went to the local cosmetology school, where she got a fancy new hair cut. She loves it because it doesn't get any "knotties" or tangles and she can brush it herself. I love it because I don't have to fight her on fixing her hair anymore and it's out of her face. Win-win!

Meanwhile, what does one naughty little boy do while his mom is having fun doing girlie things with his sister? Why, make messes of course.


Ava decided to paint the other day and I realized Nathan's never been given the chance so I set him up too. Now I know why he's never been given the chance. Although it bought me 15 minutes of computer time, it took at least that long to clean him and the table up- not to mention the health effects of sucking on paint.

And my thanks for letting him have this fun?


A dirty, twerpy look when I told him we were through. My nice little toddler is morphing into a naughty 2 year with an extensive vocabulary overnight. I'm just glad I only have 3 more weeks until this next baby comes out because Nathan's to the point that I have to physically remove him from situations and he's quite a brute.



But sometimes he's so sweet too........

Since a few people are actually looking at our blog......

Here's a few more recent pictures of the kids and life here on the farm in Virginia--

Riding in the truck wait for Dada to move cows- they look deceptively happy about this



Fancy Schmancy in their Easter finery. John bought me a fancy camera for my birthday last year but since I haven't figured out how to work it I'm still getting their pictures taken.


Suave Nathan at 22 months. He's quite the little man and loves to talk and repeat anything I say- good or bad. His latests are "knifes for mama, no nasin" while nodding his head enthusiastically since he's gotten in trouble a few times for nabbing a knife when he shouldn't. He's also mastered a little funny hop in circles when he's really excited about things. If I knew how to You Tube I'd post it but I'm not quite that good.




Ava Mava in her fancy clothes. She picked the dress out herself and was very excited that I let her wear a cool necklace. She's only 3 but she acts like she's 6. And she's about as big as a 6 year old too! She's become very independent since I've gotten lazy and fat with this next baby but she still likes cuddles and hugs (mainly only from her Dada though!). But don't let looks decieve you: her favorite things right now are wrestling goat babies (we have 50 in the field behind our house) and dinosaurs (she's currently obsessed with them and is dead set on having a dinosaur party for her birthday in July).




One of those adventures you get into without really knowing why. Chickens. We started with about 10 last fall and then I lost track when I started the morning sickness. Next thing I know we have about 40 laying hens and 45 baby chicks (we heard there was a very high incident of death among baby chicks but we must have done too good a job since all but 1 lived). So everyday we get eggs galore. We used to sell them to a local store but now we're too lazy to wash all of them each week so they're just accumulating in the fridge. Anybody want some dirty eggs?

Sad Day for Carlos

So today we came home from church to find the horses fighting and sure enough, who was in the middle of it but Carlos, the big dumb horse who doesn't know enough to stay away from the mares. This is the third time that it's been the mares "time of the month" which makes Carlos a little wild and crazy. (These pictures are from last winter- not May in Virginia!)



This time he broke down two wooden gates to get to them and John, to put it mildly, was NOT HAPPY. Each time Carlos gets out or does something dumb (which seems to be happening frequently) John marches into the kitchen and announces to me, great with child and usually in the middle of making dinner, that I "have to do something with that horse or he's getting rid of it". I've learned to just listen quietly as he raves, then I usually catch Carlos and things move on.

But today I think he might have reached his limit and so we're now in the dilemma of trying to figure out what to do with a naughty horse who is too big for his britches and who we just bought a very fancy cart to use him with.




Our options are: sell him, breed him to another horse and keep the other horse and baby and sell him, or geld him (remove his boy parts in the hopes that he would forget what fun it is to court those mares- this probably wouldn't work anyway, since he's 15 and isn't likely to forget easily). So I'll keep you updated on what actually happens but let's hope it's a happy outcome. Remind me again- why do I have a horse when I have (almost) three kids under the age of 4? Yeah, that's what I thought.