Happy Thanksgiving, you guys!
Man, this time of year is my jam. I LOVE Thanksgiving, I LOVE giving thanks, I LOVE showing gratitude, showing love and feeling the love and I LOVE how blessed our life is.
We've been super busy, as usual, and I have thought many times of posting because I have so much to share but time is slipping by too quickly. I don't actually have a long post tonight, though.
-We are on "calf watch" at the moment as Maybelle's body is prepping to calf pretty much any day (likely in the next two weeks at most).
-We shopped Black Friday deals and bought ourselves a brand new 70" TV to replace our 'barely used but broken by a toddler' 70" TV. We got a KILLER deal on our new TV and are thrilled. It also came in early and we got to pick it up today instead of Friday! Win-win.
 |
| Eric and I are watching Jungle Cruise tonight... |
-We bought our first non-live Christmas tree. I am not a fan, I've gotta tell you, but, we figured when we go back to real trees (availability and quality sucks right now - last year too), we will use the non-live tree downstairs for the kids or in a different part of the house. We got an awesome deal on it for Black Friday too.
-We are nearly done Christmas shopping for the kiddos and just have some small stuff to finish up. We cut back this year. It was necessary.
-We are prepping for some long-term house 'guests'! More on that later.
-Gramps is gone hunting in Idaho again. This time, he is hunting Elk. He will bring both the deer and elk (if he gets one) home with him along with more seed for our pastures when he is done.
-We are plugging along in school and continuing to LOVE it. I look forward to the school day and we rarely miss an opportunity to be in the classroom now. Last year, it was the complete opposite and we both didn't see a lot of progress with the kids. This year, between the shift in the schedule and the curriculum, we are so happy and seeing so much progress. Nico is reading so much now and I am sure some people may be thinking "well, he's 8, he should be reading with no problem" (or something maybe less judgmental sounding) BUT, he hated reading and he was not grasping it YET. He has made so much progress. I truly think it is the difference between Eric and I being so positive about homeschool and spending so much more one-on-one with each kiddo, the curriculum is very engaging and he's more positive and excited about the school day. It feels so good.
Eric is loving the progress he's making in history, science and math. Nico even found a Boston Tea Party coloring book that he had in his coloring book stash and has been a coloring maniac. By the way, Lily thought that the Colonists were dumping bottles of Gold Peak or Pure Leaf Tea into the harbor during the Boston Tea Party. Eric and I got a huge laugh out of that.
This week we are continuing school as much as we can to keep up momentum. We won't do school on Thursday. Today we did Thanksgiving crafts, writings and coloring pages. It was an easy day.
 |
| Lily's pilgrim and scarecrows... |
 |
| Nico's pilgrim and scarecrows... |
 |
| Tristan's scarecrows and pilgrim. He had already ran out of the room so he is not pictured... |
 |
| Eric's "I am thankful for..." page... |
 |
| My "I am thankful for..." page... |
 |
| Lily's "I am thankful for..." page... |
 |
| Nico's "I am thankful for..." page... |
 |
| Tristan's "I am thankful for..." page... |
-Now that all of our harmful plants are dormant and cut back, we have decided to let the horses graze the entirety of the property again. They could not be happier and it makes me happy to see them get all of that green grass. We have been stalling them nightly for about five or six weeks now and are loving the schedule and the routine of it. I love working in the barn, even on the super cold mornings (today was 26 degrees) and the horses love it too. Not to mention, their body conditions have improved as they are each able to get their own grain, supplements and quality hay. I love the bedding we have switched to but I miss the price of the sawdust. The pelleted bedding is AWESOME and mucking the stalls each morning is so much easier. Yesterday morning I found a dead rat inside of Auroras water bucket. YUCK. I think one of the cats may have dropped it in there. It couldn't have been in there long, though, because I clean and fill them daily. We were having to close up the feed a lot for several months and we got mice and rats (despite having EIGHT cats, yes, I said EIGHT) but now that we put gates up on each end of the barn, we are able to keep the stalls open and all of the mice and rats have been killed off now. Unfortunately, they get brought to us as trophies but I'll take that over having them infest the barn.
I also typed up new cards for the horses feeding schedule and routine and hung them up in the barn again. I put them in those plastic sheet protectors, fold them and staple them to their stall doors. It keeps them from getting dirty and makes them wipeable. Here is an example of one of them...
Feeding Instructions:
Buttercup
1. ½ LB (cup scoop) of MINI HORSE MIX
2. 1 tiny (blue) scoop of PROBIOS
3. 1 tiny scoop of HOOF PELLET
4. 1 tiny scoop of FLY PELLET
5. Mix all together in a small bucket and hang in her stall on the bucket bracket
6. ½ flake of GRASS HAY by water bucket (on the floor)
7. Fill water bucket by stall door to top
-Since we started eating with Gramps in the barn weekly, we decided to shock the well. The water was a little stinky and I didn't trust it. The well didn't need to be tested when we bought the house as it is not the main water source for our home (eventually we want to have everything on a well). So, we thought, why risk it? We have shocked our previous well several times and this one was no different. I smell and see a big improvement.
-All of the kids have been skateboard, scooter and bike riding fools and Tristan fits his new bike so much better. He is enjoying riding again. Score.
-Happy Veterans Day to all of our Family and Friends who have served and are serving our country. We appreciate you more than you know. Gramps and Eric (my favorite Veterans) always celebrate together by going out to breakfast and sometimes lunch. We missed the Knoxville Veteran's Day parade but plan to attend next year.
-We celebrated the birth of the most amazing husband and father... Eric! Last Sunday, he turned 51 years old. Saturday, we had Ivann and Andrea over and grilled steaks, chatted, ate cake and relaxed. Eric requested red velvet cake so I decided to buy one this year along with some red velvet mini cakes and a tiny chocolate sheet cake for the rest of us. Sunday was his actual birthday and we had a game day and made a charcuterie platter. We watched a movie and spent the rainy day indoors.
-I have been doing a bit of crafting and have one thing to show for it. I am hoping to be able to post a few things next time. I have been dying for a new "everyday" wreath for my front door but didn't want to spend the money to buy one when I probably can make it myself. So, I watched a video (like 45 times) and copied it. It's not perfect, but it'll do for now. I plan to make several more for holidays and seasons...
-After I posted last time, I regretted saying the animals were all good. Callie ended up getting a blockage in her intestines (probably from eating horse poop covered in eco flake). Thankfully, we were right on top of it and filled her with pumpkin and miralax and that did the trick with no vet intervention. Also, with all of the fires we have been having each night, we have some pretty comfy, sleepy cats and dogs, Callie fits her big body in the smallest dog bed we have, the cats sleep in the biggest dog beds we have.
-My mom sent the twins gift cards for their birthday and we finally spent them on little mini sofas for them to lounge in while watching TV. They love them and were so excited. My mom also sent Nolan a special gift for doing so well with potty training. He got two packs of new undies and the cutest, funniest book called "Taylor the Tooting Turkey". It's hysterical and I want to collect them all.
 |
| Nolan crashed hard the other night... It was so cute and sweet... |
-We finally bought a new pool cover because when we went to cover our pool, the old cover was junk. We also bought an air pillow to help with the ice and we bought a "pill" to throw in the water to help with opening the pool back up in Spring. So, the pool is winterized and we will see how it all does come Spring. Cooper can walk on top of the cover and does and also drinks rainwater off the top.
 |
| This type of cover is meant to collect rainwater to hold it in place. We will see if we will need to vacuum it off... |
 |
| We have moved the pillow to the center of the pool as it is supposed to work best there... |
-I placed a huge scholastic order for Christmas and got a few throw-in books. I had duplicates of "The Boy with Big, Big Feelings" and gave them to the twins. Nolan has requested it nightly. I love the book and it makes me think of Nico and Nolan with their passionate hearts and deep, deep feelings.
-Nolan and Harlan are more wild than ever and are such a handful right now. They get into everything, think they are capable of doing everything we can do (but better) and they are so mischievous. They also play together a lot right now and proclaim to be one another's best friend. We did have a big incident recently that scared the heck out of us. Nolan turned on my wood burner and dropped it on the floor of my craft room. He burned a large hole in the carpet, pad and started to burn the subfloor. Thank God I had walked by the office before dinner and smelled the smoke. I didn't see anything though and accidentally stepped on the dang thing and burned my sock and foot. We poured water in the hole and watched it closely and it was fine. I also went through and unplugged everything in the office and the rest of the house and we had a serious talk with him. He thought he was being helpful, turning off a lamp that was next to the wood burner- then got curious. So, locks are in place on two new doors of the house and he is being watched even more closely.
 |
| Trying to keep clothes on Nolan is quite the challenge... He is such a farm kid. 💙 |
 |
| These two are the primary reason my hair needs colored monthly... |
 |
| Harlan trying on daddy's glasses... |
 |
| Nolan has fallen asleep in the living room a bunch since the time change. He's waking up super early and plays super hard all day... |
