Here is a picture of the crew. Evie(7) aka babysitter, holding Ella Grace(10mos), Jacob(3), Grant(2), Kaden(22mos), Jake(3), Brant(5) and Kolin(4).
and here they are making funny faces
Monday, December 22, 2008
A Christmas Visit from Friends
I had 2 girlfriends over today. We've been friends since junior high school. Between us we have 8 children! 
Here is a picture of the crew. Evie(7) aka babysitter, holding Ella Grace(10mos), Jacob(3), Grant(2), Kaden(22mos), Jake(3), Brant(5) and Kolin(4).
and here they are making funny faces
Here is a picture of the crew. Evie(7) aka babysitter, holding Ella Grace(10mos), Jacob(3), Grant(2), Kaden(22mos), Jake(3), Brant(5) and Kolin(4).
and here they are making funny faces
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The salt lick in our kitchen
I'm not going to mention any names, but a small blond-haired boy got a hold of the salt shaker and decided to add a little bit to his beef stew.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
News from the Ranch
Well the weather is frigid and it certainly feels like winter even though winter doesn't officially arrive for twelve more days. We are anxiously awaiting the birth or our first kids, though we have no signs of their eminent arrival. Farmer Kaul says those nannies better start having some kids soon or they will be sold to market!
T-Bone is doing good, getting bigger all the time. Today was the first day he did not eat all of his food. This is a good sign, it means he's full and he has already eaten all he wants. This is also good news for the budget because he eats 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket full of different feed. He eats crushed corn, sweet feed and a couple other treats, plus hay. Yesterday I went out to feed him and he was nowhere to be seen. He was chilling out in the pond area back in the woods. By the time I finished delivering all his food and water I saw him standing back there, just looking at me. Normally he is waiting for his food by the gate, bellering loudly for all the neighbors to hear, but I was a little earlier than usual. All the water troughs have been frozen over for days. Even though the temperature gets over 32 all the ice doesn't melt so we have to break it and pull it out so the animals can drink. T-Bone is big enough and the ice is thin enough that he can push it down and get a drink but the goats are another story. I don't know if it's because they are too small or if they are just cranially challenged.
Sunday we got two new barn cats. One male and one female, they are both fixed. One is white, currently named Snowball, the other is gray, named Smoky. So now we have 4 barn cats. Hopefully they will all get along once the two new cats are released and will begin to suppress the mouse population.
Kash has become an accomplished escape artist. First he squeezed through the gate, we're not positive but we think he sometimes goes under, and now he jumps between the top two rows of fencing. We added some chicken wire to his fence but that smart creature jumped through anyway and was heavy enough to bend the fence down enough to get through. So now he is either being locked inside his dog house or allowed into the house (which was his main goal to begin with). Have we been outsmarted by a dog? I have enough challenges with our two human children I can't fight every battle with the four-legged ones too!
T-Bone is doing good, getting bigger all the time. Today was the first day he did not eat all of his food. This is a good sign, it means he's full and he has already eaten all he wants. This is also good news for the budget because he eats 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket full of different feed. He eats crushed corn, sweet feed and a couple other treats, plus hay. Yesterday I went out to feed him and he was nowhere to be seen. He was chilling out in the pond area back in the woods. By the time I finished delivering all his food and water I saw him standing back there, just looking at me. Normally he is waiting for his food by the gate, bellering loudly for all the neighbors to hear, but I was a little earlier than usual. All the water troughs have been frozen over for days. Even though the temperature gets over 32 all the ice doesn't melt so we have to break it and pull it out so the animals can drink. T-Bone is big enough and the ice is thin enough that he can push it down and get a drink but the goats are another story. I don't know if it's because they are too small or if they are just cranially challenged.
Sunday we got two new barn cats. One male and one female, they are both fixed. One is white, currently named Snowball, the other is gray, named Smoky. So now we have 4 barn cats. Hopefully they will all get along once the two new cats are released and will begin to suppress the mouse population.
Kash has become an accomplished escape artist. First he squeezed through the gate, we're not positive but we think he sometimes goes under, and now he jumps between the top two rows of fencing. We added some chicken wire to his fence but that smart creature jumped through anyway and was heavy enough to bend the fence down enough to get through. So now he is either being locked inside his dog house or allowed into the house (which was his main goal to begin with). Have we been outsmarted by a dog? I have enough challenges with our two human children I can't fight every battle with the four-legged ones too!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
T-Bone
Our steer arrived late Monday afternoon. He will be in the pasture until next spring and then he will move to the freezer. I go back and forth on how I feel about this, this is my first venture into raising my own animal food. Konrad is pretty excited to have a steer on the farm, that's good because he will have to be the one to take care of it on most occasions. I don't want to come to like the cow. We only plan to keep half of the meat, our friends the Thomas' are taking the other half.
T-Bone will stay in the barn for about 3 days and then be released to the pasture. KC wants to go check on him all the time and is currently calling himself "T-Bone the Cow". KR is very interested in T-Bone but got scared when T-Bone bellowed out while KR was in the barn adn cried all the way up to the house.
T-Bone will stay in the barn for about 3 days and then be released to the pasture. KC wants to go check on him all the time and is currently calling himself "T-Bone the Cow". KR is very interested in T-Bone but got scared when T-Bone bellowed out while KR was in the barn adn cried all the way up to the house.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Eight Years
We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary with a night out without the children to eat sushi and have adult conversation. Yippee! Thank you to family and friends for the cards and congratulations.
goat house
This is our new goat house. Konrad found it on an empty lot about a mile from the house and conned one of his buddies into riding over there and lifting it on to the trailer (pulled by our beautiful new truck). This is a picture of the two of them celebrating their loot with a non-limed Corona-sorry guys. They were both thankful not to be arrested during the endeavor. That would look very bad on the resume of a police officer.
We've been eyeing the house for a while now. This is my first close look at it, it doesn't seem to have a door. I guess was used to cover something they didn't want anyone to have access to. Konrad promises it was trash and that we were doing them a favor. If this is true I have to wonder A) why it took him so long to get up the nerve to do it and B) why he was panicked as he passed a sheriff on the way home. Mmm...nonetheless, it is currently still on the trailer behind the truck leaking oil (and probably several other fluids) on our newly sealed driveway.
and while I'm giving Konrad a hard time, let me tell you about Mr.-spoiler-pants.
So I'm out tonight and I didn't get to watch survivor when it aired. I was not worried, I can watch it later on the Internet. He and I are talking about random things after the kids went to bed and he just blurts out, "Jackie got voted out." I didn't even know what he was talking about at first. He works with a Jackie so I was trying hard to connect the dots and then he added, "on Survivor". I wanted to thump him on the forehead! He's much bigger than me, so I didn't, but I am still wondering why he would just blurt something like that out? He's very tired from all these crazy shifts, so I'll chalk it up to exhaustion.
Dinner A'fare
Tonight I went with some friends to make some meals at Dinner A'Fare. I didn't like my mandated hat in the picture of me, so I am putting up a picture of friends instead. This is Donna and Amy, mother and daughter. I made shrimp newburg and some other delicious-sounding meals. I have been to this place before so I'm sure they will taste as good as they sound. While I was gone, Konrad took the boys to the pool and was reaffirmed that Gordon would indeed drown himself if he didn't have a life jacket on. He sinks like a rock, but jumps in anyway! Scary. I was glad to hear that my parents covered their pool for the winter already. One less concern when visiting them.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Ranching
Today we bought our first hay bales. We got 25 square bales. Konrad says they cost a little more than we wanted to pay, but we only had to drive 1/2 miles to get them so we figured we made up for the extra cost in gas savings. The boys erally liked the John Deere tractor and baler. We unloaded the hay into our barn and set up a fall scene that we will pose in front of soon. Konrad says that will probably be our Christmas picture. 
Friday, October 3, 2008
Cupcakes
There was a message on my phone this morning that I just HAD to go to Julia's Bakery and purchase a cupcake. So I did. I actually purchased two. I chose the Andi's Mint Cupcake and the Reese's Cup cupcake. I took a bite of each before it dawned on me to take a picture of them, but you get the idea. You will be happy to know that they were indeed delicious!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
lost
Something very scary happened today. We had our first (and hopefully last)incident of a lost child. It was a VERY scary event.
I dressed KR for church, the went to change KC's shirt. When I came out of the bedroom, KR was gone. I thought I had heard the door shut so I looked out back but didn't see him. I had put his shoes on so he knew we were going somewhere.
I looked outside on the deck and in the driveway by his trike and sandbox but didn't see him so I figured he must be inside. I searched house but it wasn't like him to not be right where I was so I started to get worried. After a run through of the house, I ran outside and up to the street, he wasn't there. I went to the back and looked in the yard, the neighbors yard, calling his name, nothing. I went back inside, searched again, asked Konrad who was taking a shower if he was upstairs with him, no. I searched the house and yard again, then went back inside and got Konrad out of the shower to help me search for him. I asked him if I should call the police and he said, not yet. I really wanted to call. I wanted help on the way, pronto! We looked and looked for several more minutes, the street again, the toilets, the toy room, the car, nowhere. I asked Konrad if we could call the police yet, again he said, not yet. I was saying to myself, 'This CAN'T be happening, where is he?? I ran around the neighbors houses calling for him, Konrad headed down to the field. Then he hollered, "There he is!"
I have never felt such relief! I could hardly breath. I'm a bit teary just retelling it.
Konrad found him down in the field with the goats. He was a LONG way from the house! He must have run, he was only gone like 3 or 4 minutes. Not only did the 18th month old go down the stairs, but he must have RUN down the driveway, crawled UNDER the gate and went out into the field PAST the barn. I think he must have been crawling under the gate the first time I looked down there because normally I can see his head as he walks down to the barn, but if he was laying down I wouldn't have been able to see him.
So, thank God, we found him and he was fine. It is now many hours later and my adrenaline is just about back in check. Because of the delay we were late to church, but I figured I'd better go and not miss an opportunity to thank God for our wonderful healthy children that are now safe at home.
I dressed KR for church, the went to change KC's shirt. When I came out of the bedroom, KR was gone. I thought I had heard the door shut so I looked out back but didn't see him. I had put his shoes on so he knew we were going somewhere.
I looked outside on the deck and in the driveway by his trike and sandbox but didn't see him so I figured he must be inside. I searched house but it wasn't like him to not be right where I was so I started to get worried. After a run through of the house, I ran outside and up to the street, he wasn't there. I went to the back and looked in the yard, the neighbors yard, calling his name, nothing. I went back inside, searched again, asked Konrad who was taking a shower if he was upstairs with him, no. I searched the house and yard again, then went back inside and got Konrad out of the shower to help me search for him. I asked him if I should call the police and he said, not yet. I really wanted to call. I wanted help on the way, pronto! We looked and looked for several more minutes, the street again, the toilets, the toy room, the car, nowhere. I asked Konrad if we could call the police yet, again he said, not yet. I was saying to myself, 'This CAN'T be happening, where is he?? I ran around the neighbors houses calling for him, Konrad headed down to the field. Then he hollered, "There he is!"
I have never felt such relief! I could hardly breath. I'm a bit teary just retelling it.
Konrad found him down in the field with the goats. He was a LONG way from the house! He must have run, he was only gone like 3 or 4 minutes. Not only did the 18th month old go down the stairs, but he must have RUN down the driveway, crawled UNDER the gate and went out into the field PAST the barn. I think he must have been crawling under the gate the first time I looked down there because normally I can see his head as he walks down to the barn, but if he was laying down I wouldn't have been able to see him.
So, thank God, we found him and he was fine. It is now many hours later and my adrenaline is just about back in check. Because of the delay we were late to church, but I figured I'd better go and not miss an opportunity to thank God for our wonderful healthy children that are now safe at home.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
News from the Ranch
We have been busy fencing. We just completed fencing a 3rd pasture. The goat herd has amazingly cleared out the 2nd pasture. There is nothing green left from the ground to a height of about 4 feet. Our neighbors are beginning to clear out their side of the fence row. We figure they must want to see the beautiful goat herd. Either that or they are excited about finally being able to see through the fence row to the open pasture. It will be a nice and extending view for them.
Konrad is not working so much overtime these days. This is really throwing me for a loop. I keep asking, "Aren't you going to work tonight?" and when he says no I am continuously surprised. We are enjoying having him home and he is enjoying getting work done around the ranch.
We were so glad to hear that Uncle Grant and his family made it through hurricane Ike with no major damage. We, however, had some wind damage. We thought the strong winds had passed but evidently we were wrong. Now we can add 'Glass for patio table' to our project list.
Konrad got a new TV for his birthday. Thought you might like to see a picture of it.
It is a 42" flatscreen. We got a good price on it.
KC started back to school. This is a picture of his first day. He is doing well and is working on learning to write letters, he is currently working on the letter C. He is also in AWANA Cubbies at church and is memorizing scripture so feel free to quiz him. Also, we are not sure who taught him, (probably Dr. Sandy) but he can correctly identify several states-and can tell us who lives in that state.
Konrad is not working so much overtime these days. This is really throwing me for a loop. I keep asking, "Aren't you going to work tonight?" and when he says no I am continuously surprised. We are enjoying having him home and he is enjoying getting work done around the ranch.
We were so glad to hear that Uncle Grant and his family made it through hurricane Ike with no major damage. We, however, had some wind damage. We thought the strong winds had passed but evidently we were wrong. Now we can add 'Glass for patio table' to our project list.
Konrad got a new TV for his birthday. Thought you might like to see a picture of it.
It is a 42" flatscreen. We got a good price on it.
KC started back to school. This is a picture of his first day. He is doing well and is working on learning to write letters, he is currently working on the letter C. He is also in AWANA Cubbies at church and is memorizing scripture so feel free to quiz him. Also, we are not sure who taught him, (probably Dr. Sandy) but he can correctly identify several states-and can tell us who lives in that state.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Happy Birthday Konrad!
For Konrad's birthday we went on a date and ate sushi.
Here is a closer pic of the tractor cake that I made for Farmer Kaul.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
New friend
Here is a picture of little K holding...
...and carrying around his new friend.
In case you can't see his new little friend, it is a black beetle that unfortunately for the bug, fell into Kash's bowl and is now the delightful play-toy of our 18 month old!
...and carrying around his new friend.
In case you can't see his new little friend, it is a black beetle that unfortunately for the bug, fell into Kash's bowl and is now the delightful play-toy of our 18 month old!
Chattanooga-Aquarium
My friend Stephanie and I had been trying to get to Chattanooga to take our boys to the TN Aquarium for a while now. We finally got the opportunity to go. We stayed overnight with Ryan and Alice. They have a really nice house with a great view of a lake and nearby dam. Stephanie's little boy is 2, mine are 3 and 1. They played so well together. They wrestled ALL NIGHT long! All three of them, it was really cute and fun to watch. We were so glad they played so well together. They were all on neutral territory, I think that helped.
The Aquarium was great. We had a really nice time. It was a beautiful day, also good for driving, the boys had good behavior and we saw lots of aquatic life. We'll have to do it again soon.
Wrestling
...and more wrestling
Ryan, Alice, me and boys
Boys packed up in their car seats, heading to the aquarium
The boys really liked the big saltwater tank. Here they are closely watching two sharks swim by.
Here we are inside a shark cage.
Outside the penguin exhibit
The Aquarium was great. We had a really nice time. It was a beautiful day, also good for driving, the boys had good behavior and we saw lots of aquatic life. We'll have to do it again soon.
Wrestling
...and more wrestling
Ryan, Alice, me and boys
Boys packed up in their car seats, heading to the aquarium
The boys really liked the big saltwater tank. Here they are closely watching two sharks swim by.
Here we are inside a shark cage.
Outside the penguin exhibit
Fencework and Goat fights
We have been busy adding fence, fence posts and gates to the ranch. We just completed a third, goat-secure pasture. Our friendly goat, April escaped within 4 hours. We think she jumped over the fence from a high spot inside the pasture. This new pasture is full of heavy brush. We took some BEFORE pictures and are looking forward to see how quickly they clear it out.
Our bully, Samantha, is not being nice to April. She just butts her for no reason, just because she is in the same vicinity. I feel bad for her. I'm considering getting rid of Samantha. I would really like to have really docile herd. The bad thing is that she is probably our best looking nanny. So it may be April that goes, if anyone. We'll see. Konrad thinks we should just keep them both. I just want them to be one big happy family. Why can't we all just get along?
Fencing Crew
The new corner! all three posts are new.
The gate is up, the job is complete!
Our bully, Samantha, is not being nice to April. She just butts her for no reason, just because she is in the same vicinity. I feel bad for her. I'm considering getting rid of Samantha. I would really like to have really docile herd. The bad thing is that she is probably our best looking nanny. So it may be April that goes, if anyone. We'll see. Konrad thinks we should just keep them both. I just want them to be one big happy family. Why can't we all just get along?
Fencing Crew
The new corner! all three posts are new.
The gate is up, the job is complete!
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