Sunday, June 26, 2011

Hail Storm

Last night we had a hail storm.  We're kinda bummed out.  I asked Josh if he'd rather have a slow death to the garden by flood (like Roger and Sue) or quick (like the hail we had last night).  I'm not sure which is better, but Josh said stuff is starting to pop back.  He thinks most of it will be okay, it's just set back.  Here is what it looked like last night...
Johnny went "Ni Ni" on his puppy.

The hail was over, but it was still raining.

This is the flowerbed right beside the porch.

Nice pile of hail by the door.

Cedar's house and Pump house.

Kinda ironic...A pile of hail fallen off of the Chicken Coop roof with the sun setting the background.

Here is a rainbow and the weird colored storm right after it passed.


Paddock Garden.  I think all of these tomatoes (Early Girl) are gone.

Raspberries...I hope they still fruit.  They were loaded with buds and green berries before the storm.

North Pasture Garden

Only two tomatoes in the Pasture Garden were destroyed and this is one of them.

Here's a pic of the new strawberry bed covered in hail with the rainbow in the back.

Onions in the Paddock Garden

Johnny was about ready to go to bed when the storm hit.  Me and the kids went down to the basement during the short time of destruction.  John then came outside with us to assess the damage.  He thought the hail was "Snowing!"

We got dents in the new steel on the chicken coop.  Thankfully, the vehicles weren't damaged and no windows were broken.

Garage Flower Garden

Garage Flower Garden

There was a drift in the Northwest corner of the house.  There was still some hail there this morning after we got home from church.

House Garden.  The lettuce and spinach and strawberries were just gorgeous before the storm.  Lettuce and spinach was ready to be picked, and the strawberries were loaded with green berries.

The storm was pinkish after it had passed.

Here is the edge of the storm clouds.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Johnny's Life Lesson...

....Meat comes from dead animals!

We butchered 110 chickens this weekend.  It went really well.  We did 2 pens on Thursday after Josh got home from work (early-4:30), and we did the last pen on Friday morning (starting at 6am).  We wanted to do as much of it as we could while the kids, especially Olue, slept.

Johnny stayed out with us the whole night on Thursday...Not the plan, but things were going well...no whining "Heavy!  Heavy!", so we kept going.  He was a little shocked when Mommy and Daddy started putting the chickens upside down in those big metal cones and chopping heads off.  After a while, he got used to what we were doing and was more interested in the chickens that had flown out of the trailer.  He was chasing those ones around the yard.  He finally lost all interest in the chickens and went to play with his new sandbox and tricycles that we got as hand-me-downs from Darcy.

We were done with the "butchering" on Friday morning around 8am.  That doesn't include all of the bagging and cleaning up...So poor little Johnny didn't get breakfast til 10:30.  Ooops!  He survived.  It was kinda nice he was up really late the night before, so he slept in and then watch cartoons til Mom got done with all the dirty-clean work in the kitchen.

Butchering went really really well.  The chickens were gorgeous!  We had gotten just pullets and I think that made a difference.  There was one rooster in the whole batch.  The rooster was large boned, difficult to gut, and just tough looking compared to all the pullets.  Never again will we get roosters or straight run...Only pullets.

We're now busy getting the yard and house looking nice for the Fourth.  Can't wait to see everyone then!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Missing Family...Excited for the 4th!

John loves his cousin Addy!  Today he found a picture of him and my cousin's daughter when she was about Addy's age.  John brought it up to me and said "Addy!  Addy!"  I think he misses her.:)...Cute!

I just lost a 15 chicken order today, because we are adding a $5 delivery charge to Bismarck.  Needless to say, I feel a little down.  I am definitely ready for everyone to come out here in (less than) two weeks....Too bad my house isn't.  Ha Ha!  I better get cleaning while the kids are asleep!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day!

John and I made Father's Day cards last week.  We had a good time.  John loves to color!

We went to Fargo on Saturday for Tyler and Randa's wedding.  It was fun, but a very big, very long day for us and the kids.  We got to see the whole Loegering family.  It's a little hard to see and talk to everyone in such a short amount of time.  I'm glad we'll be seeing you all for the 4th, except for Stacie...tear :(.  We met up with Jake and Ruth and Addy at Scheels to do a little shopping b/4 lunch.  We then went out to eat with Roger and Sue and kids (the ones still at home) at Paradiso.  Then off to the wedding.

Right before the wedding party procession, the organ keys got bumped and started Johnny to let out a big "Woah!".  Then, when the beautiful bride and her mother came out (Randa and Faye), he shouted a big "Yeah!"  He thought Randa was "pretty".  Both outbursts were heard by everyone in the Cathedral and got a murmur of chuckles/giggles.  He's pretty cute!  When I got dressed that morning, he told me I was "petty" (pretty).

John and Grandma at Paradiso

Roger and Sue and the Grandkids

Roger and Sue and the Grandkids

Josh with our radishes for CSA this week.

Christine and Olue at Easter.

John and Olue at Easter

What a cutie on Easter Morning!

I just got these Easter pictures from my parents...Thanks!

Here's that toy from Great Grandma and Grandpa Hayes.  (I've been trying to upload this for a while.)  He says Thank You in the video...pretty cute!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Playtime!





A poppy from the flower bed.  Almost as big as John's head! (It is the one we got from Sue)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Happy Birthday Johnny!

Lu and John playing together.

Lu Lu loves her crazy brother!

Crazy kids with Daddy!

Happy Birthday to you!

We were surprised that Johnny blew out his own candles this year!

John and his Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake.
Josh suggested that I make Johnny a Cars cake for his birthday.  So I tried my cake making and decorating skills.  I had absolutely no tools, besides knives and toothpicks, so it was a little difficult.  I had a lot of fun, and it turned out pretty good.  I plan to make it a tradition of decorating cakes for the kids' birthdays, but next time I'm definitely getting a few cake decorating tools!!

Yummy Cake!

Wow!  This present came in the mail from Great Grandma and Grandpa Hayes.  It was his favorite of the night.  He didn't even want to go back outside! 
I have a few more videos to post, but our Internet isn't that fast and it's time for bed, so they'll come later.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

It's been awhile.

It's been awhile since you have seen any cute pictures of the kids...So here it goes!
Now that Olue can roll, I frequently find her on her tummy with an arm or leg sticking out of the crib.

Daddy took a break from taking down the plant stand to play Airplane with Johnny.

Lu snuggling into her blankie.

Addy & Lu playing together on Memorial Day.


Here are all the cousins.

Lu Lu & her Godfather, Uncle Jared

John's favorite toys are cars, trucks, and tractors.  Sometimes he tries to hitch them together and calls them a car train - "Car Choo Choo".

Lu playing on the floor after a bath.  She likes to lift up her arms and legs when she's on her tummy.  I tried doing it with her one morning.  It was hard work and reminded me of a Pilate's work out.:)

Johnny with a late night snack...Root beer float.

Lu loves playing with her feet.  I often have to change her socks multiple times a day, because they are wet from her sucking on them.

John and Lu on our way outside.  John always want to ride in the stroller too.  I usually have Olue buckled in and then John rides on the foot rest in front of her.  She kicks at him the whole time he's on.

Bad Hair Day!  She usually looks like this after I take her piggy tails out.


Josh sends John down to rescue the lost ball behind the couch.  We were playing a sort of "Dodge ball/grenades" game.  Probably a little dangerous in the house, but we sure had a good time.  You can hear that we're all breathing pretty heavy in the video.
We've been pretty busy around here with normal spring-summer stuff.  The gardens are planted.  We're working on mulching.  I finally got to the greenhouse to buy the few thins we didn't start from seed...parsley, basil, and petunias for my hanging baskets.
We got a second batch of butcher chicks last week.  We didn't have as good of luck with them as the first batch.  Josh thinks they got chilled, because for the first few days every time we went out to check on them, we had bets on how many dead ones we'd find.  The strong have survived and are doing well.  Honestly, we're kinda happy to not have to butcher as many.  We have plenty to sell to the people who have requested and to eat ourselves.
Both John and Olue are talking a lot.  Olue is Babbling a lot.  Her favorite is "Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah-Dah....."  She is usually very loud when she talks.  Sometimes she talks herself to sleep after her early morning snack (around 4am).  I have to turn the baby monitor off, so I can get back to sleep!  John is always saying new words.  He learns them by repeating things we say.  Some of his favorites are...Lightning McQueen, Good Boy, Apple (I'm not sure if that's what he's saying or not???), Book, Read, Car, Cedar...
Josh is at Tyler's bachelor party this weekend.  I hope their having a good time on the lake...It's a little chilly today for water fun.  I was a little jealous that Josh was going out to have fun and leaving me with the kids on a Saturday, so besides chore...we're having a no work day today:).
We're trying to start some new routines here this week, hopefully they stick.  John has been getting to bed way too late, so we started going outside as soon as Josh gets home, then having a later supper and putting John to bed at 8pm.  We can then go back outside and work until dark without having a tired, whiny little boy with us.  I have been getting up with Josh at 5:30 in the morning to help him with chicken chores and have coffee.  We both really like the relaxing coffee time.  The chores go faster with the two of us, and I get some productive work time in before the kids get up for the morning.
Well...John is up from his nap now.  Gotta Go.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Quick Update

It's been a while since I've posted, so here's a wordy update on what we've been doing.  I'll post some pictures later.
  • Last Week Monday-Thursday:  VBS at the church.  It went well, but I'm glad it's over!:)
  • Last Thursday:  Josh helped sandbag for the flooding Missouri River in Bismarck.
  • Last Friday:  We finished planting the gardens..Yay!
  • Sunday Night/Monday:  We went to Jake and Ruth's and got to see Jared.  It was fun to be together.  It's fun to get the cousins together and watch them play.
  • Tuesday:  We also moved the first batch of broiler chicks out to the movable pens in the orchard.  We had order 110 (they always give you extra).  They have done so well this year that we still have 112...crazy!
  • Wednesday:  The kids and I went to the church to clean up after VBS.  I had help cleaning and organizing some storage of costumes and supplies, and watching the kids. We bought a brand new zero turn John Deere mower....Exciting! 
  • Today:  The mower was delivered!  I drove it into the garage.  I wanted to take it for a spin and see how it works, but I figured I better let Josh do it first (so I don't get in trouble:).
  • Tomorrow:  We will be getting our second and last batch of butcher chickens.
In between all of this we still seem to find time too...
  • Work in the flower beds - planting, wood chipping, weeding.
  • Take care of our 35 laying hens, 25 replacement pullets, and 112 butcher chickens.
  • Work in the gardens - weeding and mulching...the 4-wheeler and trailer is so nice for moving the heavy straw bales to the gardens.
  • Bake - bread & muffins.
  • Mow and rake the lawn.
John spends his time...
  • Playing in the dirt.
  • Helping Mommy and Daddy....Water chicken, gather eggs, water Mommy's "Fowers" (flowers),  pick up toys...
  • Telling Mommy everything.  I can't believe all the new words he can say!
  • Learning his colors.  Everything is either "Eh-wow" (Yellow) or "Boo" (Blue).
  • Playing with his "Cars" and "Tactors".
  • Playing with Lu and making her smile.
  • He's also getting in those nasty 2 year old molars on the bottom..."Ahowee!"
Olue spends her time...
  • Rolling all over.
  • Sleeping well at night with 2 good naps during the day.
  • Growing like crazy.
  • Playing with John's old toys and her new ones.
  • Going outside on the nice days.
  • Playing with Johnny.