Our week, April 21 to April 27, 2013

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Eliza holding one of our cats!  They love being handled . . . and that's a good thing!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Emmet watching the hose that's connected to the washing machine hose and is flushing out the line.  It is important that I have a working washer!  And you might be a homeschool household if you have school papers taped to the washing machine.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

This was supposed to have been a picture of the snow flurries but is instead a picture of the van.  A muddy one at that but that's all part of living on a gravel road in the springtime.  

We used this day to take Eden to the doctor for a follow-up appointment.  Everything is okay for now.  We also stopped at the chiropractor and he could tell that Eden was out of alignment so after a pop and a twist and an electrical stimulation to her pinky finger (to help with bed-wetting) we were on our way home.  

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Grandma Twyla came over to help us mark clothes for our upcoming garage sale.  Good thing because we had a lot of things to mark!  

And then the marking of garage sale items turned to people marking and it got a bit silly!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Our last art class.  The 1pm group with their latest project--scratch art.  The boys are in the middle row, far right.  Ephraim's picture has a green frame and Emmet is beside him with a blue frame.

Emmet is playing on the local Rookie ball team.  He's had a few practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the games start in May.  

The girls playing on the bleachers while Emmet practices.  Ephraim is usually helping the team, kind of an unofficial manager of sorts.  

Then Eden lost a tooth during Emmet's practice.  Actually, I gave it a little yank and it fell out.  It's in my hand but you can't see it very well.  This makes 6 teeth that she has lost so far!

Friday, April 26, 2013

We had some good friends over and the children played in the sandpile with water while Stephanie and I were in the house making freezer meals.  

Saturday, April 27, 2013

A look at the garage sale--many tables inside and outside.  I was happy with the amount of money I made.  And what didn't sell is on the next semi to Mississippi.  There's a semi in Pella that is just waiting to be loaded with donated goods and then sold at a thrift store in Mississippi or given away to the needy.  It was a win-win situation for me since I didn't come home with anything.  

Cute Calves

Just some cute cow pictures for you to enjoy . . . 

The boys especially like the black/white face calves.  

Emmet's new joke:  What do you call a sleeping boy cow?  A bull-dozer!

We often take time to just watch the cows and calves.  We count them.  Make sure there are no troubles in the lot.  We make sure they're all well fed, happy and not sick.  

Mama with one of her twins!

Both twins have white faces and they are cute!  Here is a picture of the mama in the head gate so that both calves can get some of mama's good milk.  It doesn't always happen that a mama will accept both calves but in this case she did and both are doing well!  She only needed to be locked up for the first couple of feedings and now it is going well unassisted.  

Love the little Hereford heifer, Emmet's calf.  Say that three times fast "Hereford heifer."

On Saturday, April 13, Emmet was spending the morning and afternoon with Seth.  The other children and I got out the halter for the bottle calf and decided to take him for a walk.  

Here's how that ended up . . . it was more of a run.  That calf was anxious for some wide open space.  

We got him under control and tied him to a post so he could chomp on some grass.

Eden taking a turn giving him the bottle.  

It was a lovely day to be outside with the calves!

Garage Sale

I'm having a garage sale.  I know.  Shocking, isn't it.

I've kept A LOT.  From the children's baby things to clothes.  It's time to sell it.   Okay, maybe just some of it.

And what doesn't sell is going on the next semi to Mississippi.  Seriously.   There's a semi in Pella waiting to be loaded with donated goods, headed for  Mississippi.

Please come to this garage sale I'm having with my aunt and cousins.  Or maybe my aunt is the one having the sale and I'm the one barging in.  Either way, there's plenty to sell and what doesn't sell is not coming home.  It's a win-win situation.

The Town Crier has the Pella garage sales listed.   We're the one at the bottom at 648 228^th PLACE, north side of Pella by Heartland Reformed Church.  

THIS SATURDAY, 8-12.  Please come.  

Our week, April 14 to April 20, 2013

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Sunday after church Eden came down with her sickness again.  She's had it twice so far and we've had her to the doctor once for it.  Anyway, it came back and so did the fever of 102.  Enough of that.  I took her to Urgent Care.  Of course by then her temperature was 98.  Ugh.  I hate when that happens.  Regardless, I wasn't leaving until I had some answers.  I wanted a urine test and a blood test.  Well, one of the two would be enough in this case.  Apparently, she's been struggling with a urinary tract infection but doesn't have the typical symptoms.  She gets a high fever and feels nauseated--sleeping with an ice cream bucket at her face.  

Anyway, after an hour or more we got our antibiotics from the InstyMed machine and we were on our way home.  That diagnosis would explain the recent bed-wetting and the fact that no one else has gotten this "virus".   We have a follow-up appointment made to make sure we're taking care of this infection.  

Monday, April 15, 2013 

Eliza sporting her "rhino ponytail" as she calls it.  A little ponytail with her bangs, right in the front!

 Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Thanks to my mom for converting some jeans from non-adjustable waist to adjustable waist by making a casing, inserting elastic and sewing on buttons.  

Also thanks to Seth's mom for putting new zippers in two of Emmet's coats.  

All sewing projects that I could have done but just haven't had the time to finish.  

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The rain.  Lots of it.  And thankful for every drop.   

Thursday, April 18, 2013

A look inside our art class . . . 

Using oil pastels to paint over, all prep work for next week's lesson in scratch art

Emmet with his bear from last week.  

Ephraim's bear is on the top and Emmet's on the bottom.  I think they did a pretty good job!

Ephraim with his bear.

The girls sit off to the side and draw along with the big kids.  This week's lesson was prep work for doing scratch art next Thursday.  

Friday, April 19, 2013

Family field trip to the Science Center, previously blogged about.  

Saturday, April 20, 2013

On Saturday, the girls were home with me getting items ready for a garage sale.  The boys went with Seth and worked with some cattle, worked on the 720 John Deere we bought from Seth's grandfather and helped Grandpa with his lawn mower.  

We're off to the Science Center!

A while back there was a good Groupon deal for the Science Center of Iowa.  I snagged it (and I think many others did too).  I was saving it to use while they had the dinosaur exhibit going on now.  This past week, I told Seth and I was wanting to take the children and Friday looked like a good day.  It had been rainy all week and Friday was going to be chilly and Seth took the day off too!  Turns out we spent the whole morning running errands for him before we even got to the Science Center so we were able to make it a productive day.  There are not pictures of our stops at the tractor toy store (to spend a gift certificate) or Hawkeye Breeders or Sprayer Specialties or our lunch at the Iowa Machine Shed.  

Here are the Science Center photos!

A group photo.  I was a bit bummed that Ephraim was the only one who wore the clothes I picked out for them.  I wanted everyone to match/coordinate, but it wasn't to be.  

The most complete t-rex skeleton, found in South Dakota.  

Having some fun with the pretend bones!

On the weather screen.  

And Emmet lost his head!

In front of the moon rover.  We also enjoyed the short movie about landing on Mars.  

I don't have any pictures but the children all built rockets and had fun seeing how far they could go.  

Generating electricity!  I think this was Seth's favorite part.  

Or this.  I want one of these on one of our walls.  Seth says it wouldn't be hard to build.  ;)  It's a glorified marble machine for the wall with pvc pipes.  

The girls sorting vegetables.  

One last look before leaving.  

Checking out the pendulum that swings but always in the same spot . . . the earth is what's moving and knocking down the rings on the clock.  We stayed until closing time at 5pm.  It was three hours of fun!

On the way home, I packed a supper for us of peanut butter & jelly, oranges, chips and bars.  We got home about 6:30 and Emmet wanted a bowl of cereal.  I guess his tummy needed topped off.  He had that and then came in and asked "When are we going to have supper?"  I was puzzled and said that the sandwiches on the way home were supper.  That was just a snack to him!  I guess he was hungry from our field trip!

RAIN!

We got some much needed rain this week!

When the rain's coming, the "Ladies Guild" huddles together, protecting the calves from the brunt of the storm.  Just waiting for the farmer to open up the barn so they can have a warm, dry spot to lounge.  Thankfully, all these cows have had their calves and we don't have to worry about calving in the mud, rain and cold.   

A look at the terrace, completely full of water and extending into the cattle lot.  

The rain gauge, at the end of the storm . . . completely full at 5 1/2 inches and then some more in the funnel.   I'm sure we got 6 inches in all.  It was some much needed moisture and now the farmers are ready for a little sunshine, a little wind and get that corn in the ground.  

The children and I like to take walks to the crick.  This day was no exception but we were careful not to get too close, considering the raging waters.  

Taking a close look at the terrace and trying hard not to loose any boots in the soft mud!

Up the road a mile, all that water you see is not normally there.  The Cedar Creek was out of its banks and over the road.  

And we were without power for 5 hours.  From about 10am until 3pm, we were in the dark.  It was pretty dark in the house, given the daytime hours.  We used flashlights for our lessons and sat by the window some.  We had a cold lunch and played some fun games to complete our "black out" time.