Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Earlier this month, Pa-paw sent a picture of the newest lambs!  Doug and I noticed something strange right away...

The ewe had a set of twins, a girl and boy, but one is black in color!  We raise Dorsets, which is an all-white breed.  After a little research, and talking with a few different sheep breeders, we now know we have a "Natural Colored" Dorset.

Dallas and Reba were able to see the little guy when they spent the weekend with Pa-paw and Ma-maw.  Daddy already asked if we could call "dibs" on showing him this next summer.

Until next time...

Reader's Theater

Dallas' class put on their first "Reader's Theater" this afternoon, and Julianne and I were able to attend.  Mrs. Schuler, his teacher, said they will do one of these at the end of each reading unit.  As the year progresses, the skits will get longer and more involved.  All of the students did an excellent job, but I especially proud of Dallas.  He paid attention to the other students as they read, and he always knew when it was his turn.  He also spoke in such a clear and loud voice.  I can't wait to see more of these "theater" productions!

The first group to do their skit.  It was about a little girl learning not to be afraid of spiders.

The second skit was about two frogs having a hopping contest.  It was super cute!

Dallas' group was the last one to go.  That's Dallas' best friend, Ryan, waving to me!  Their skit was about a dragon that was causing trouble for a town.  Dallas played the role of Sir Drake who changed the dragon's behavior :)

Here is the video I took of Dallas' performance.  Unfortunately, there is a terrible "buzz" throughout the clip, and you will also hear Julianne heckling the actors...

Until next time...

Park Videos

Until next time...

Introducing Little Jerry and his Ladies

A couple weekends ago, the kiddos spent the weekend at Pa-paw and Ma-maw's.  Doug met up with them on Sunday to drive to Eastern Kentucky to pick up a new ram that we bought.  On their way home, Doug made a side trip and bought three new chickens - two hens and a rooster!

Doug has decided to name the rooster "Little Jerry"

These 3 chickens are almost two years old, and they are Salmon Faverolle/French Hens (just like the ones Reba picked last spring)

The lady that Doug bought these chickens from said that they have hatched their own eggs; therefore, we are not collecting their eggs in the hopes that they will do it again.

Until next time...

Playtime at the Park

The weather has been great for this past week; therefore, the kiddos started asking about having a picnic at a park.  Lucky for them, our Saturday was open, and we headed to the Haubstadt park.  And wouldn't you know, as soon as we arrived, a train came through!  {It's one of their favorite things about that park.}

We then made our way to the picnic tables and enjoyed our lunches.

Then, it was time to play!

This was Julianne's first trip to Dallas and Reba's favorite park, and I believe she might think it's pretty awesome too!

Gotta love that springy duck!

Until next time...

Corn Harvest '14

Daddy's work group finally made it to the Poseyville location to harvest this week, and yesterday, they had 3 combines in the field!  Therefore, I picked Dallas up from school, and we made our way to the field.

As soon as we arrived at the field, one of the combines was unloading!

Dallas and Reba couldn't get out of their seats fast enough

We then found out which combine Daddy was running and set up our camp to watch

There he is!

The pass that we saw Daddy complete was his last round in the field, so we watched him unload...

...and then we followed him to the cooperator's farm to load the combine so he could head north to the next field!

Until next time...

Fun Friday Fotos

Until next time...

Playdoh Princess

 Reba loves to get out the playdoh while Dallas is at school and Julianne is napping.  I will sometimes sit and play too, and I try to come up with something to "elaborate" to make.  This was what I came up with the other day...

Little Miss loved it!  Then, she wanted to make one for her momma, too.

The princess and the queen

While Reba was making my crown, I made her a watch.

Today, we played again, and this time we made angels

Until next time...

The Last Days of my Garden

I think our garden is finished for the year.  Doug helped me dig/pull the carrots over the weekend.  Not half bad for the low amount that sprouted from the two varieties that we planted.

Doug also dug one of the sweet potato plants.  There were some good size taters on that plant - this was one of the largest.

Yesterday after school, the kiddos helped me dig the remaining plants.  Enjoy the pictures I was able to capture between digging and supervising.

 

Dallas even took this picture for me.  All those taters came off one plant!

I think Dallas had a wheelbarrow load from each plant we dug; there were 23 plants!

About half way through, my helpers left me to finish by myself (there were two rows on the edge of the garden)

This sweet tater was poking above the ground when I pulled away the vines

There were only two potatoes on the plant!  One HUGE sweet potato and one average-sized tater.

When it was all done, I had two 5-gallon buckets and a wheelbarrow full!

Until next time...

Reba Swinging

Momma has one less kiddo to push on the swingset!  

Little Miss has master pumping her legs!!!

Until next time...

Now and Then

At the beginning of the school year, St. Wendel hosted a "Meet the Teacher" night, but it was for parents only; therefore, our three kiddos spent some time over with our friends, the Schenk's.  Carla sent me the following picture shortly after dropping the kiddos off...

I thought it was pretty good to get all 5 kiddos on their Gator.  Then, as I have been working on catching up my own blog, I ran across this picture...

Dallas and Ciara riding on our Gator - 3 years to the date earlier!  Things have changed just a little...

Until next time...

Double Take

Today was picture day at school, and Dallas chose this outfit...

I did a little "digging" and found this picture of Dallas...

Yep, exact same outfit!  There is 2 years difference in the pictures (the bottom one was his first day of PreK).

Until next time...

Dentist Success

Happy to report that Dallas and Reba had great check-ups at the dentist this afternoon!

Until next time...

St. Wendel Summer Social

One of our school's biggest events is the Summer Social held at the beginning of September.  It is a two day event that begins with Saturday evening mass followed by a pork chop supper.  The games and raffles begin shortly thereafter, too.  The party goes until 10 or so in the evening, and starts up again with Sunday morning mass, followed by a fried chicken dinner.  The games, raffles, auctions, ect stay open until 10 pm on Sunday as well!  We had so much fun this year.  Dallas and Reba couldn't get enough of the inflatable area, Doug and I enjoyed seeing many friends, as well as getting to know more of the parents of our kiddos' classmates.  As always, the food was excellent, and to top the cake - the weather was AMAZING!  Enjoy the photos...

This is what greets you as you enter the Social...

Dallas and Reba are in there somewhere

Julianne even did a little bouncing (from the outside)

The inflatables area is fenced off with orange snow fencing.  This year, I was a lot more relaxed with the kiddos.  I told them as long as they stayed inside the fence, they could go from bounce house to bounce house.  I (or Doug - and sometimes both of us) stayed in the center of the area so they could find us if they needed something.  Dallas and Reba loved the freedom to run around with their classmates without having to wait on Mom and Dad (and Julianne)!

 

Dallas loved the dunk tank.  He actually did fairly well.  He hit the target more than once, but not always with enough force to trip the dunk.

Julianne finally crashed on Saturday night

On Sunday, we headed back to enjoy more of the fun.  Daddy took the kiddos to bounce while I worked a shift monitoring the "Big Kid" inflatable area (ages 10 and up).  After my shift was over, Daddy went through the carry-out line and got lunch for all of us.  We then sat under a shade tree in the "Little Kid" inflatable area to eat.  Dallas and Reba finished their meals quickly and went back to bouncing while Doug and I finished ours.  It was perfect!

Reba then wanted to play some games to try and win some prizes.  First us was the Plinko Drop

And then it was Pick a Duck

Reba won a tattoo at the Pick a Duck, so we had to go to the bathroom right away to apply it!

It was then time for the Pedal Pull!  Reba's age group was up first.  She got a full pull on her first run, and had a good pull in the pull off, but she was edge out of a top 3 placing by an inch!

Dallas' age group followed next.  The sled was a bit heavier, and not a one in the class got a full pull.  There was though, a tie for 2nd place - and one of them was Dallas!

Dallas did great in the pull off, and finished 3rd in his age group.

Dallas then headed back to the dunk tank!

And, Reba played a few more games before heading back to the inflatable area!  We had planned on leaving about mid-afternoon, but Dallas and Reba were having a great time, Julianne was very content, and Doug and I were enjoying ourselves, too.  We ended up eating supper at the Social, and finally made our way home close to 8 p.m.  Enough time to brush teeth and crash in bed!

Until next time...