Trains, Tomatoes, and Watermelon?

Somehow the train tub made its way upstairs recently.  With that, the kiddos have been playing daily with the tracks.  This has to be my best track design to date!

Once Julianne went down for her nap, Dallas and Reba volunteered to help process tomatoes!  Dallas cranked almost the entire time and Reba place almost every tomato into the funnel.

After work, Daddy decided it was finally time to pick the first watermelon!  We were all so excited to sink our teeth into that heavenly juiciness...

Until next time...

Baby Food

Remember all those green beans I picked a week or so ago?  After I reached my goal for canning, I decided I had better prepare some baby food!

I was in the middle of packing pickle jars when the beans were done steaming, so I asked Doug if he would be willing to help fill the ice cube trays with the puree.  Dallas and Reba quickly asked if they could help too.  The more the merrier!

Until next time...

New Little Helper

We have a full line up of sheep shows in the next week and half; therefore, we have spent the last two nights washing and clipping sheep.  Dallas and Reba were busy riding their bike/trike, so Sugar decided to give me a lending hand each night...

When Julianne isn't helping, she's tagging along on the back of Reba's ride

Dallas even helped wash a couple lambs

and Daddy sheared a couple bellies!

Until next time...

More Chicks?!?!

I let Doug and the kiddos go to Rural King without me...and what do they come home with?  A box of chicks!

Now, I will cut him a little slack because they were "free".  Currently, RK is running a sale on straight-run chicks where you get the full amount back in form of in-store rebate.

There are 6 new chicks, 5 of them are bantams and the other one is a guinea.  Doug was feeling kind of sorry for Reba because the one bantam chick we hatched died not too long after it was moved to the garage.  There were a couple more that hatched in our second batch, but none of them made it past a day.

Doug also came home with this adorable picture...

Until next time...

New Adventures

Not sure if you remember my post from early December about the green egg layer we bought.  Anywho, in that post I mentioned how we also got an incubator and egg turner in the deal.  Well, we have been saving eggs for a few days now, and we finally have enough to try our hand at hatching chicks!  Dallas and Reba helped Daddy put the first "round" of eggs in this evening.

Yes, Dallas is excited about all of this...he just chooses to do the opposite of what I ask/want for pictures.

Reba was more than willing to put the bantam eggs in first!

Dallas requested to put the green eggs in the turner.

The turner holds 41 eggs.  We didn't quite fill it tonight, but we do plan on saving some more in the next few days and adding them later.

Wish us luck!

Until next time...

Custom Work

Doug enjoys painting and customizing his tractors during the winter months.  And since Daddy enjoys it, so does Dallas!  The little guy is becoming quite good at it too.

He received a 1206 with a bush hog for Christmas, and he wasn't happy with the wheel color on the bush hog...

nor was he happy with the wheel centers on the tractor.

Until next time...

Nashville: Miracle on Broadway

Doug and I were given the chance to attend Kelly Clarkson's Miracle on Broadway, which was a fundraiser for four Nashville non-profits.  Aunt Josie and her good friend, Emily, had a couple extra tickets and offered them to Doug and I.  Once Josie mentioned that there were to be appearances by Reba, Trisha Yearwood, Ronnie Dunn, and Garth Brooks, we were sold!

Pa and Gram were kind enough to watch the kiddos.  So Doug and I took off on Saturday afternoon.  We met up with Josie and Emily for supper at Caney Fork River Valley Grille.  Talk about a cool place!  We were seated right next to the catfish pond, and were able to watch the fish swim while we ate.

After supper, we made our way downtown to Bridgestone Area.  I made Doug stop for a picture before heading into the concert.

There were probably 12 special guests performers throughout the night...here are a few of the pictures I tried to capture...

Any Nashville watchers? Recognize the first guest? That's Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten)!

Meghan Trainor was the second guest on stage

followed by Kix Brooks and his wife

Kacey Musgraves also performed

Martina McBride sang with Kelly and on her own.

Ronnie Dunn also joined Kelly.

One of the highlights for me was when Trisha and Reba joined Kelly to sing "Silent Night"

The other highlight was the end of the show when Garth Brooks appeared on stage with just his guitar to sing "Little Drummer Boy".

We walked downtown after concert, and man there were a lot of people out!

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...

Unwelcomed Visitor

Ewww...My heart is still racing after running into this visitor while doing chores earlier this evening!

Yep, I was getting ready to go out the back gate (by the dog kennel - mind you), when I nearly touched him!  Needless to say, the hens didn't get their cracked corn treat tonight.  I was NOT going through that gate.

He wasn't in a hurry to leave because he laid there the entire time I was doing chores, nor did he mind me taking his picture!

Apparently, the cats weren't bothered by his presence either.

Also, I should make it known that Doug is out of town this week (he's pollinating corn in Canada), so he wasn't here to escort him back to the woods.  He was gone the last time a snake decided to visit my house too.  I'm hope this isn't a common trend...

Until next time...