Kids are Funny

Shelly fell into the toilet. That's why her shirt is wet. Just in case you were wondering...

'Someone lifted up the thing you sit on - but it wasn't me!!' - at least that's the story she's telling

I wouldn't have even thought to ask, but she volunteered all of this all by herself. It was cute.

Skunk!

The kids found a baby skunk by the well house. It's cute to look at, but not fun to smell... Baby's are more potent than adults. We did our best to stay back.

Spring on the Farm

Here is a completely random assortment of picture from our first spring back on the Farm.

Jason was helpful trying to give Emily a bottle of water.

Graduation! Too bad she hasn't even started school yet...

It's amazing how much fun the kids have in that sand box - even when it's cold enough to need a jacket outside.

Popcorn and a Movie (and a nap for Jason)

Heather giving the kids a ride on the horse.

All three kids riding one of Uncle Martin's horses.

Emily was quite helpful to Grandpa while he fixed the phone jack. She helped get in the way, and block the light and hide the tools he needed. Not sure he could have gotten a better 'helper'

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wonder what Emily found to eat... Maybe it was a banana?

Shelly helping hoe the garden.

Burning the garden so it's ready to plant.

Emily's taking a ride on the sled. Too bad there's no snow.

Shelly was a good helper getting the garden ready.

Giving the baby a ride in the wagon.

Who can resist a mud bath?

Over their clothes?

They look like Amazon natives (or survivor contestants)

More scrubbing for good measure.

Dirty Man. Hiding behind Aunt JB's legs.

Not the most attractive face picture ever (more like Rosie O'Donnell than a cute Emmie-Sue), but it's her legs I was going for. She does this pose all the time, but somehow I've always missed it with the camera...

The kids wanted to play cowboy with the hobby horse - Hats and all (the shorts and jackets don't quite mix, and Shelly's in one of my sweaters, but they didn't know the difference)

Jason's turn.


Grammy playing with Emily and Jason.

This is an old pipe that we dug out of a dump pile. This is how they used to move water. Boards wrapped with wire. When the boards got wet they would expand, filling in the gaps in the pipe and the wires would keep it together. The things you learn living on an old farm...

Snow in May?!?

It's the end of May. I'm not sure why it's allowed to snow. We just got the garden planted last week! Oh well. The kids had been here for the last real snow of the season, but by the time we got here we had missed the snow, so Mark and I were kind of excited to get to play. We took the kids a bit farther up where there was more snow and had fun playing!

Mark helped the kids make a snowman while I held Emily in my overlarge jacket. Somehow we neglected to bring her anything warm.

Here's the snowman the kids made. The two random sticks on the upper half of it's belly are it's moles - according the Shelly.
I can't imagine why Jason would be cold...He's got rain boots and a jacket. Wimp!

Getting everyone in for a group shot with the snowman was an adventure...

Emily: 5 months in one post

There's one benefit of being under one year old. Change happens more quickly, and more pictures get taken. Of course, when you have a slacker mom, that means that about half of your life gets condensed into one short post. Sorry EmmySue!

Singing in the Rain anyone? 'Make 'em laugh!'

Yea?

Yea?

No?

Oh well, it was worth a try.

She crawls! The world will never be the same.
(ok, it's a scoot - but it's all we'll have for months, so we'll take it)


Did you see her roll over? Feel free to watch it again if you missed it. It's after she falls on her face and I steal her toys.

Just chillin'

I'm not sure what this is about...


This is a better sample of her scooting. She's not quite as fast yet as she'll get over the next few months, and she's not doing the alternating arms she learns later, but pretend you don't know any of that since I should have put this up before I did either...


Dancing to the music that's only in her head (and apparently only sometimes - not sure if I should have her see someone about that...)

Hey there!
(see those boxes of clothes in the background? Remember when we went through them? Apparently we took a break at some point and took some pictures)


I love this laugh - it's only about .7523 of a second or so, but it's still fun

What's up with that face?

Emily took to that dinosaur, although in Jason's defense Emily just wants to eat it's tail.

We love having such a fun kid to play with!

Mark made Swings out of a Clothes Line

This used to be a clothes line. The other half was a home for wasps, so it gone torn down. Turns out the base of these things is in 4 feet of cement - no idea why it would need 4 feet of cement. It's a clothes line, not a bomb shelter, but either way it was enough effort just to get one of them up, that we left the second for another day and then made swings out of it!

Mark even used the old line to make the swings!

Shelly and Jason were helping. Sometimes it actually is helpful, but not always.

Emily was trying to share the grass she found. She's good like that. She likes to share, but not always to let go once you have hold of the other end.

I love that face! I wish I knew what she was thinking when she's being silly like that...

Shelly's form of helping for a while was keeping Emily happy. It worked out well for everyone.

This is our cat Fluffy. Yes, we know he's not really all that fluffy. We had been watching VeggieTales just before we found him (he was abandoned at our house) and had been saying 'shoo there Fluffy' and the name stuck. It wasn't until later we decided he was worth keeping around. He's a great mouser (catches mice - very handy on a farm), neutered (we didn't do it, but it's a nice feature), tame (he even lets Emily pull his whiskers), and a great way to not feel bad about wasted food - we just give it to the cat. I'm not sure if you can tell, but he's also a rather large cat.
Emily trying to stand up in the wagon and crawl/fall out.
Jason gets his first turn on the swing!

It turned out well enough that we made another one on the other side. Double the fun!

Jason's first recognizable drawing (sorta)

Just in case you can't read that note on top: Jason's first drawing of his Dad. Hands, feet, hair eyes & mouth (with eyes & legs & hands)