Blow-ups, Puff-ups

As a family, we welcome the holiday season with tree decorating, lights, green and trains. The children were eager for the afternoon of Thanksgiving for that was when they could raid the attic for Christmas decorations. That afternoon Hannah disappeared - where was she? - in the attic gathering the lights. She is our lights girl. Drive by our home and all the brilliance and color is her doing. If she had her way, we would also have a yard full of blow-ups and puff ups :)

The most raved about decorated home in our household is not our own but rather the house down the road with 10 to 15 large blow up ornaments. When did Blow-up/puff-ups become the in decor for the front yard? Growing up we had the glowing plastic 8 reindeer with Santa and his sleigh. I also remember as a child reveling over its magical glowing qualities.

We were in the hardware store yesterday buying more lights and they had the Santa on motorcycle blow-up. It was deflated and the children had the privilege of watching it inflate. They marveled and giggled as it transformed from a pile of colored plastic to a full size lawn ornament. Wow, I thought to my self, wouldn't they love seeing the house down the street inflate all their blow-up ornaments. A letter in their mailbox for such a request is on my to do Christmas list... I will let you know how it goes.

When we leave the house the children get so much joy in passing the blow-up/puff-up house. They have come to expect it and it makes our trips out full of humor and good attitudes. Returning home last night I thought the world was ending. We passed by the blow-up house and there was no blow-up; just limp piles of color throughout the yard. This was the conversation in the car the rest of the was home. Daniel said "It is 5:02 and they don't have their blow-up/puff-ups up yet!" Hannah replies "ooh, they are slacking. Their timers must not be working." I interject "Maybe they don't have timers and maybe they are not home." Daniel replied, "they are home their two cars are in the driveway." "Yes" Hannah says, "They are home, their lights are on."

That evening we had a 4H meeting to attend and so we all anxiously piled in the car see if the the blow ups we up. No luck but surely they would have them up on the way home. As we approached anticipation built. "I see some lights" Jonathan said. "No that's the house next door" Hannah replied. I said "what if they are not up?" Oh, mother you know better than that. They always have them up" came the reply. Well, as we drove past the yard was filled with darkness. Daniel said "They forgot". Silence filled the car for the entire trip home. (talk about expectations and let down!)

To our delight this holiday season we found another home close by that was filled with every blowup, light and movable gadget imaginable. I told the kids we will not have all the lights and blow ups in our yard...my liking is a simple and quiet Christmas but the displays are sure fun to look at. Hannah has great plans for her future; Christmas light decorator. She said she will have to move out of our house someday so that she can fill her yard with 'blowup - puff ups'. Someday, I told her maybe she can decorate the garden:)

Expectations

Our family toured a commercial greenhouse yesterday viewing their display of over 6,500 poinsettias they raise from plugs to sell over the holiday season. I had planned this tour over a month ago and in the last week had been gearing up the kids to see such an amazing display normally not open to the public. After the tour I had planned to visit the retail division with one of the largest Christmas displays in Maryland. We all were excited and the kids had gathered their wallets and money to purchase that special something at the retail center.

I pulled into the wholesale parking parking lot and while turning off the car Daniel(6) asked in a grumpy voice "where in the world are we...I thought we were going to Homestead Gardens." I preceded to tell him that we first would do the poinsettia tour of the five acre greenhouse then go the to retail center. "Oh drats, that is not what I want to do" was his reply. Now granted he missed his nap yesterday because he and dad had an afternoon of fishing and being tired was a viable excuse. He grumbled the entire tour and carried a scowl that I thought might wilt the poinsettias. It was unusual for him not to enjoy the poinsettias and see the workings of the 5 acre mechanical and glass greenhouse. At the end of the tour his only response was "good lets get out of here!" In the car all three of the kids received my lecture of appreciation and gratitude...not that it really helped!

At the retail center we watched the display of trains and ate our bagged lunch. It gave me an opportunity to talk with the other home school moms that came a long on the tour and sip on a latte. Daniels rumblings followed me around. He kept pestering my to walk around and look for something to buy. The group disbanded and me and the kids walked around. We started with the flowers and another grumble came from Daniel "This is not what I want to do." "What do you want to do!" I asked. "I want to go look at the Christmas trees and ornaments." We eventually made our way to that division and to my surprise he did not spy anything to purchase. Jonathan wanted to buy a cactus or pansy and I ignored his pleas. My reprise for the day was Hannah who just enjoyed looking. At the check out register as I finished paying Daniel snuck a little red bird ornament on the check out platform. "This is what I want to buy" he said. "Why do you have to buy something? I swear that money is burning a hole in your pocket!"I retorted. Of course this set Jonathan into a rage. "I want a bird ornament!" Jonathan screamed. Jonathan continued his screaming and threats all the way to the car. "I am going to get out of this car and go back in there"! he yelled. "Go ahead," I said " we are leaving and daddy will pick you up on his way home from work!" "Noooo! he yelled. Driving seemed to settle the raging storm.

At the end of the day I laid in bed wondering 'what happened'. Why was Daniel such a Grinch on that day. The word that came back to me time and again was 'Expectation'. He had a different expectation of the day than what was planned - what a let down for him! Some where he misunderstood that our trip would include touring the poinsettia greenhouse first and then shop the retail center. He had played in his mind what we would do...he established his expectations of the beautiful ornament he would purchase with his crisp 10 dollar bill stuffed in his deep pockets.
Expectation can sure form havoc on ones life, even if you are not a 6 year old. There has been numerous times I have held expectations of loved ones behavior, family vacations, restaurant experiences and even work related issues and been let down with the outcome. Ah, I say then why plan...no that is not the point. I just have to tell my self not to be caught up with the outcome. When you expect something it leaves little room for surprise and the workings of spirit in your life in miraculous ways. So my lesson....allow spirit to work miracles in my day even if it is not going the way I had planned :)

I Visited My Garden Today

I visited my garden today, the first time in over a week. I was not looking forward to seeing the perennial grasses popping up all over the vegetable and flower beds. To my surprise the grass, I believe it to be Kentucky blue grass, is throughout all the beds and is forming a nice turf in all the wrong places. I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Oh, well, it will wait until spring.”

The weeks prior I had spent endless hours pulling and hoeing the grass. With the cool damp weather upon us, hoeing would not kill it. It resprouted everywhere I hoed it to. With the grass barely one quarter inch high, pulling was like plucking your eyebrows with your fingers.

Walking through the garden gate, I peered to the north where the tomatoes had wilted with the last few nights of frost. To the south, the blooming white alyssum throughout the pathways were sending forth their brilliant snow like color. The gourd, pumpkin, sunflower and sweet corn plots stood bare and quiet. I inhaled deeply, breathing in the solitude before me. I exhaled all my expectations of the perfect garden. At the end of the breath I became one with the stillness, one with the eternal cycle of life.

Walking through the garden, I found myself tip-toeing and whispering so as not to wake anyone up. I laughed outright and enjoyed the splendor before me. The pumpkins and gourds had battled the squash bugs and cucumber beetles and yet were able to produce a fruit for harvest and seeds to carry on the cycle. The sunflowers sat withered with an abundance of seed heads to feed the gold finches throughout the winter. The tomatoes produced an endless crop of sweet juicy fruit until Thursday, our first hard frost. Of course they are exhausted, withered and dead! During summer, the peak of the season, the plants were alive with color and vitality. It is now their time to breath deeply and slowly, to lie down and rest, heal and rejuvenate; to die and send forth their seeds. It is time to sleep the winter away.

I no longer enter my garden with the fervor to battle the bugs and weeds, the eagerness to harvest the fruits and vegetables or the excitement to pick a bouquet of flowers. I now retreat to my garden to rest.

SNAP SHOTS
OF
AUTUMN

Meadows & Monarchs

Jonathan's New Kitten, Mingo

Homeschool suprises

Hannah's new kitten Crystal

Horse'n around

Fall Rockfish

Visit from Grandpa & Grandma
sister Mary and her husband Marty.

Apple cobbler & warm fires.

Did we tell you, daddy wants to be a cowboy :o

I Love Summertime!

Where do I Begin? We often ask ourselves this question. We have many on going projects and and a long list of projects to accomplish. The projects are best tackled by simply napping on the porch swing.
















We adopted two kittens this summer, Ben and Jerry. Ben keeps us amused with his fun loving, tantalizing personality. He follows Daniel around like a dog. He warmed up to the chickens in no time. His stunt is to run up to them and pretend he is going to attack. The chickens flutter in all directions and Ben stands laughing his cat laugh:) Ben even took it upon himself to stalk a deer. Ben remained crouched in the grass with the doe stomping the ground repeatedly. Ben slowly crept closer until the doe decided she did not like the look of the black blob stalking her and her fawn. It was comical. Jerry is Hannah's proud prince. He loves to be held and carried everywhere.

Wild blackberries were a treat this summer. Daniel and Jonathan dressed for winter so as to keep the thorns at bay. Needless to say their picking diminished rather quickly. Mom ended up doing most of the picking. We froze most of them for ice cream treats in the heat of summer.

We have concluded; It is easier raising

two cats rather than one :) One foal is all we can

handle for now. Jenny remains a sweetie!

Hannah loves to ride and has a passion to jump. She is trotting over jumps for now until she can better control Lady at the canter. Lady gets very excited when she canters over the jumps and is a handful to handle even for mommy! With practice, we are hopeing Lady will learn to contain herself :) Top rated judge, Daniel inspects Olympic rider Hannah and her mount Lady.

Summer is not summer without puddles.

Rosie having her teeth filed (floated). unlike human teeth, horses teeth grow. We have them filed once to twice a year. And I thought braces were bad!















It is wonderful being the center of attention!

What is summer without fishing and horse shows!

Kevin and Jamie brought to our farm a pair of Kestrels that were trapped at BWI airport. The birds posed a danger to airplanes. The bird pictured here is a male. Hannah released both birds. We had sightings of them a couple of times over the summer passing over our farm. Thank you Jamie and Kevin for thinking of us! We will never forget the Kestrels!

Jenny Foal

From my bathroom I noticed that Dollie was pacing and looking over to Rosie's paddock rather than watching Mike walk down the drive to get the paper. It was the morning of Sunday, March 2nd and we all strolled down to let the chickens out and feed the horses. Hannah noticed something odd looking in Rosie's paddock; She thought it was a goat but then realized we don't have goats. Sure enough it was Dollies baby 10 days early. Dollie had her foal between 7 am and 8am that morning in the corner of the paddock. The foal slipped between the post and the barn and ended up in Rosie's paddock. When we found the foal, Dollie was pacing back and forth along the fence and Rosie, being the sweetie she is, was gentle and curious.

Dollie would not let the foal nurse because her bags of milk were tender. Between Mike and I were able to hold Dollie and help the foal nurse. The foal was an early surprise and we were not completely ready. That day Dad fixed the larger openings in the fence. We are very fortunate that no harm came to her that morning. Spirit was watching over her!

When Daniel saw Jenny the first words out of his mouth were "oh, mom she's beautiful... we can't sell her". That night he asked how much we were going to sell her for with every intention of buying her. She is beautiful, athletic and most important has the sweetest personality... she is a keeper so Daniel can save his money for his ocean liner he is going to build some day:)

The foals registered name is Genuine Sunday Surprise and her barn name is Jenny. Just like our other horses, she is a quarter horse. She melts my heart when she greets us with her high pitch foal whinny and attempts to stick her fuzzy nose over the stall door.

Chickens

32 chickens arrived on Monday February 11, a frigid and windy morning, in a little 12" x 12" box with round breathing holes. We were expecting them on Wednesday, so the phone call from the post office at 8:30 am came as a surprise to Hannah when she answered. I received the message from Hannah at the door after returning from feeding the horses. "The chickens are here, The chickens are here" was her greeting at the door. I would loved to have been a fly on a wall when she got the phone call and for the hour she waited to tell me.

When I received the chicks it was as if some one gave me a newborn baby to hold; the familiar mothering instinct came over me. Hannah held them the whole way home. For the first week they stayed in Hannah's room. Then the cage became too small and we built a cage out of card board boxes which we put in the family room. This contraption worked great until they started to try out their wings at 3 weeks. They did not fly out much but enjoyed perching on the sides and looking out at the array of chairs and peering out the sliding door. At 4 weeks it became urgent for Dad to get the chicken coop built. The coop was finished on and the chickens were transferred from the living room. I missed their little peeps, but surely did not miss all the dust from them fluttering all over the place. Another week and they would have started perching on the furniture.

Of the 32 chicks 6 were roosters. The different breeds included Araucanas (blue egg layers), Silver Spangled Hamburgs, Buff Rocks, Black Australorps, Golden Laced Wyandottes, and New Hamshire Reds. Daniel and Jonathan each picked out a rooster and Hannah a hen to call their own. Hannah was going to pick a black Australorp but when the chicks arrived she could not decide which one she wanted to call hers because they were all so cute. she decided to wait and see how their personalities developed.

Hannah chose an Araucana and named her 'LuvSum', Daniel a Silver Spangled Hamburg and named him "Spring Blossom". Jonathan delayed in his decision for a few Weeks and decided he wanted a black rooster. He named the rooster ' Mr. Goldleaf'.

Most of the chickens have names and the list is as follows; Three roosters remain, Mr. Goldleaf, Spring Blossom and Colonel - the hens include Luv Sum, Nutmeg, Coleus, Henrietta, Chilly, Snowflake, Daisy, Buttercup, Red, Tilly, June, America, Tiger and Hepatica . The only hens without names are some of the black ones - They seem to look the same especially when they act the same. It amazes me that Hannah can tell most of them apart.

In June Dad and the boys added an outside

run for the chickens so we could keep them contained when we went away. The chickens free range when we are home...we have to watch out for Mr. Foxy.

The chickens have been a great experience for all of us. In the morning we let them out and they follow us to the horse barn for hand outs of oats. There is a group of 5 hens that always come running when they see you... I love their waddles! Buttercup and Tilly follow us every where and cluck non stop. Hannah takes them wild strawberry picking and bug hunting. The horses are not afraid of the chickens. In fact, when Hannah rides in the ring and the chickens enter, she and Lady love to chase them. Instead of chasing cows, she does it English style...she chases chickens.

The roosters are a delight to hear through out the day and are so beautiful. Mr. Gold leaf's bright red comb echoes against his lustrous black feathers, Colonel whispers when he eats hand outs and is rather awkward/goofy looking but so sweet. The more he matures the more handsome he becomes. Spring Blossom is our small black and white night-in-shining armor.

Mr. Goldleaf and the boys are still rallying for who is going to be boss. We enjoy the roosters, but they must know their manners. I am not sure how many lives chickens have, (they say cats have 7) but Mr. Gold leave has one less life left because he jumped on Jonathan. If he does not mellow his attitude he will be our Halloween dinner (or I hope to find him a home without children). Jonathan has disowned Mr. Goldleaf and now calls Tiger his hen.

Oh, and the hens have started laying their beautiful eggs. June was the first with her brown egg. We have an assortment of brown, blue and white. They started small and are getting bigger. We are getting about 12 small eggs a day and expect to get 4 to 5 dozen per day. They taste so good and have so much more flavor compared to super market eggs. Once the hens start laying regularly, the children are going to sell the eggs locally. I guess we should get working on the sign and marketing:)

We love our chickens. I never dreamed they would make such wonderful pets for the children and give us such enjoyment. They have such personalities and are a delight to be around. On a good day, even Mr. Goldleaf is a shining star.

Check back soon for I am compiling pictures of the chickens with their names.)

A Blessed Season - A Peacefilled New Year

Ever have one of those days when things just won't go how you want them to. Christmas pictures is something I look forward to and this year was no exception. It is a challenge in itself to get the children all smiling or looking at the camera but throw in the horses and it spells disaster. Have you ever tried to get a horse to smile!


The day was off to a fine start. It was warm and all the horses were brushed and the children dressed; everyone was clean and free of mud...all six of them. I knew I had to work fast because mud comes easy around the farm.


I hung the garland and wreaths which peaked the interest of the horses. Rosie and Dollie would not leave it alone. They kept pulling it off the posts. I called everyone over... Hannah, Daniel and Jonathan were still clean but Rosie had already rolled. She got another quick brush and then it was time to snap some photos. A large dark cloud appeared over the horizon and we got blasted with a cold front. This frighted Jonathan and stirred up the horses. I called all the horses close with the use of grain and peppermints and the children were positioned on the fence. Jonathan started to cry because the horses started to fight over the grain. Lady, the boss, was biting at everyone because she did not want anyone to have her peppermints. Dollie finally just walked away - she had enough and Rosie just stayed close enough to antagonize Lady. Lady would come up to the fence then quickly pin her ears back and leave to chase Rosie away... Thank goodness Rosie was on the other side of the fence. So if you are wondering why Lady is the only horse in the photo now you know the story. Halters and leads may have worked but we had none on hand that were clean... again the mud thing.


We found a lovely tree this year and something out the of ordinary for us. Usually we settle on a Frazier fir - uniform, even and tidy. We arrived at the Christmas tree stand and realized our tastes had changed. We all fell in love with the soft free flowing form of the Douglas Fir. It was such a special tree and fit into our informal country setting. It glowed with radiance and the children would sit by it every minute they could get to view its splendor.


We had wonderful times of sharing and laughing. Grandma and Grammy and Pop Pop all visited before Christmas. Christmas day was quiet - just the five of us.! It is too far to travel to be with other family members and we prefer to stay home for the holidays. We spent the day sharing, cooking and eating Delicious wholesome food. By the end of the day we were overflowing with the love and joy of the season and blessed with a sunset that left our hearts on fire. Hope you have a blessed year full of peace and joy!

a