Rolling Days

My how the days roll by! I think they go faster as I get older. My Momma warned me they would. It seems the months just evaporate before me. Lord, help me to make the most of this time in my life and to be a blessing to those you have blessed me with.

My allergies are better, thank goodness! After seeing a docter and several days of 7 different treatments, they are at least under control. Whoo hoo!

Shaun has spent the better part of April on call so we havn't seen alot of him but, it could be worse. He has been home at night, mostly, so that's good. I know he gets tired and so do I but I must remember to be thankful for the overtime.

Alexandra had her first birthday slumber party this past weekend. It was a lot of fun. We had 6 little girls running around here and it was interesting seeing all the different personalities. I have the best memories of mine and Kelly's slumber parties. I was very busy with six girls but I can remember my mom having at least two parties for us that consisted of 14-16 girls! She was Superwoman! Thanks Mom for the great memories ;-)

We are winding down in school. I am glad we will meet my goal of 175 days of school this year. For the next month I will be working on review and trying to solidify the new concepts we covered in Math and English this year. History and Science are like bonus subjects for us, we enjoy them so much. It can be difficult to focus though, when the weather is so nice and playtime on the farm calls our name through the classroom window....
Morgan has almost mastered writing her name. She can get through to the g before she needs help.

All the farm animals are doing well. Goat and cow mommys are raising pretty babies and
we have Chihuahua puppies due the 1st of May from Honeydew. I hope all goes well for her this time. Last time she welped with two very sweet babies, but sadly they didn't make it.
I'm praying for a much better outcome this time around. We added a chicken coop and 8 baby chicks to the farm. I've needed a coop for awhile and we finally found one we liked for a good price. The girls each chose a chick to raise for the fair this summer. We have quite a mix!

Church has been good, we've been studying different worldly veiws. Last week was Hedonism or the pursuit of pleasure. It's been a very interesting study. I always enjoy the messages and discussion that Mary and Dennis bring. The fellowship dinners are always tasty too!

Well, I must get off the computer and back to work. Lunch just doesn't prepare itself and girls get cranky when their hungry and my daughters 4 lb. Chihuahua, Buttercup is barking visciously at the bag of potatoes in the floor. They must be Chi eating potatoes!

Spring Summary

It never fails that when the weather is at it's very best in the spring I can barely see out my eyeballs. I am cursed with horibble allergies to budding and flowering trees. I can roll in the hay, ( which I very much enjoy ;-)) pet animals of any kind and stand in a ragweed field in full bloom with no trouble. But the moment our Sugar Maples or Redbud trees decide to bloom or leaf out, I'm stricken with this uncontrollable urge to scratch my eyes out. Along with terribly swollen and red eyes, I have serious sinus and nasal drainage and a scratchy throat. No amount of Zyrtec, Benadryl, Clairitin, herbs, vitamins, or home remedies seem to help this particular affliction. It's very exausting and I look horrible. You know it's bad when the Schwans man comes to the door and the first thing out of his mouth is," Oh my gosh, are you ok?"
Oh well, ......at least the weathers nice.
Our days have been fairly peaceful on the farm as of late. Even though we had a pretty big storm a few days ago, all are doing well.
We've had a good week in spite of the allergies. Last night we went to my Mother-In-Laws house for dinner and Fight Night. We don't have cable and she does, so we go ove there on Wed. night to watch thwe UFC fights. We had a good time. I'm glad she and Isaac moved to town. It's been a blessing having them near.
The baby goats are getting big and eating us out of house and home. They are on a really good growth rate and we are quite pleased with this bunch of girls.
I am getting a solid 4 gallons of milk a day now from the milkers and have begun to crank out some cheese. This week I think I'll give cheese curds a try. The only problem with them is they are best fresh. Although still tasty after being frozen, they lose their best qualities after being frozen or refrigerated. But, in any case I'm going to try it.
The newest additions to our farm are 3 grown ducks and 2 more laying hens. (Thanks Neecy!)
The ducks are adorable and have made themselves at home in the gigantic mud puddle in our driveway, which is endless entertainment for us as we can see them directly from our bay window at the dining table. The girls each claimed one immedietly and proceeded to name them Willy, Charlie and Romeo respectively. They also feed them tons of corn and I am beginning to wonder if ducks can get Diabetes.
The hens are beginning to lay now that they've settled in but aren't happy with the annoying little Mal-Chi that likes to chase them. Luckily the annoying little Mal-Chi got her nose pecked by one of the hens and decided maybe it wasn't such a great idea to chase chickens.

School has become a simple routine everyday now. The girls are accustomed to the schedule (or the lack of one, depending on the day) and get their work done fairly quickly. I have already begun to research and get ideas for next years curriculum. We'll probably only take a 2 month summer break. We did well with getting a good amount of days in but I don't want to lose any ground.

I guess I should go finish some laundry and thaw out some beef for supper. It's taco salad night ;-)
All for now......