New Additions

The Horse Proud owner, Shelby. "Oreo" as she named him is actually an early 13th birthday present for Shelby. She saved her money for almost 2 years to buy the saddle and all of the other long list of supplies necessary for horse ownership, and we gave her the horse. This was on May 22, the day we moved Oreo to our farm. What a happy day this was for Shelby as well as our whole family. David and I did not grow up with horses, but so far horse ownership has been a wonderful experience for our family. For anyone who "knows" horses and wants a little info. on Oreo. He is a 6 year old black and white paint, hence the name :), and although it took several months, lots of wasted time trying out many other horses, a few heartaches and disappointments, we finally found the right one! He seems to be the perfect fit!

The Minature Donkey (the free gift with purchase)

This is Bradley or Bratley as we now call him. He was Oreo's pasture mate at his previous owner's place. He has kept Oreo company and has not been all that bad. He does try to chew on the horse brushes and other supplies including the reins and saddle - Big No No! He is quick to get into mischief, but he is a big hit with the under 6 crowd at our house. He is really quite cute, and I think he is a keeper although we came extremely close to sending him up to Elaine's farm (thehortonhome.blogspot.com) By the way, Elaine and her family have exciting news happening at their house with children from Ethiopia coming to stay a month for CWA's Summer of Hope program. Plus they are adopting 2 girls from Ethiopia. Check out their amazing journey!

The boys dressed like cowboys all on their own. They came down stairs ready to ride - the donkey that is! We thought they were too cute for words!

The Kitten

On Friday, May 29 as we were reading our history lesson in Story of the World (so we can finish the book before the next volume in the fall), Katie says "What is that in our yard?" Sure enough this little guy was at the back of our yard near the trees. We live in the country so I have no idea where he came from. Of course, David and I tried to play the practical parents with many speeches like the following: "We don't need another kitty. We already have 5!!! cats. Plus we have 2 dogs, numerous chickens, and we just added a donkey and a horse. No, we definitely do not need a kitten!!!!" Then we got replies like this "But we will pay for it with our own money. We'll do all the work. He is SO Cute! He must belong with us because God sent him here!" Well, he is still here and yes, the oldest 3 children are paying for all of the vet bills (which are quite pricey for a kitten) as well as the kitten food. And they are doing most of the work. His name is Caramel by the way which was the only name Shelby, Fulton, and Katie could all agree upon.


The Baby Chicks

We have had chickens for a few years and enjoy the fresh organic eggs. We have even raised baby chicks from our eggs by using an incubator. Well, today for the first time ever, we had baby chicks hatch "naturally" meaning one of our hens sat on a clutch of eggs for 21 days. The children were SO excited. Today 3 little chicks hatched but the clutch of eggs has 23 eggs total so hopefully our 2 Momma hens will continue to sit.

Wedding Pictures

The wedding day was so hectic that I failed to get a good picture of the couple, my sister Michelle and Nick. Here they were looking fabulous together at the rehearsal dinner. Congratulations and Best Wishes!


(Just realized that I posted reception first instead of the wedding -sorry :)

Could we have a drummer in our future? I sure hope not, but isn't she cute? We were looking around for Lilly and then David spotted her making herself right at home on the drums while the band was on break. We all got a huge laugh out of that including the drummer himself who gave Lilly a few pointers too.

As close to the perfect family photo as we can get these days. At least the background is "perfect".

I love this picture of Ethan and Lilly peeking through the window to look at everybody dancing. Too cute!

Ellie was beautiful and did great with all the weekend's festivities. Of course she loved the reception- lots of yummy food and fun dancing!

My sister, Michelle, made such a beautiful bride, and her wedding gown was gorgeous! The wedding and reception were both lovely, and she planned it all while living 4 hours away and working 60- 80 hours/week as a resident physician. Superwoman!

Lilly did great although after standing at the front of the church for all of 5 minutes, just long enough for the bride to make it down the aisle (thank goodness), she then quietly bolted for her daddy and Ellie who were sitting on the second row. Did you guess that dad had lots of ammunition i.e. candy! Once or twice I heard "MINE!" and a whine or two. I'm sure if one looked closely they could have seen my whole body tense up, but other than that, the girls were really good!

Almost time to walk down the aisle. The stress of it all was so worth it because the children all looked so beautiful and did what they were suppossed to for their Aunt Michelle and Uncle Nick.

Don't they look handsome- despite the similar yet hilarious thing they are both doing with their mouths! At that point, I was just glad they were dressed and willing to walk down the aisle. Perfect picture wasn't important.