With only one day until Christmas, we wanted to take the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We wish you all the blessings in 2022.
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| Buttercup is our photo bomber. This photo was supposed to be in height order but Nolan ducked down... It's a lot to manage that many little people. lol |
We are all set for the holidays and are really looking forward to all of the celebrating this year.
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| I cut 120 snowmen and sent out 100 greetings this year. It was a lot of fun, I actually liked this better than the usual way I have done our past Christmas greetings |
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| I made a new Christmas wreath for our front door |
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| My Cousins, The Nelsons, sent this to us to celebrate our growing herd (of cows, not kids). We love it so much 💙 |
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| My sister, Kelsey made this for us a few years ago and it's a favorite |
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| She made this for us too... I love them both |
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| Grandma Webb sent each of the kiddos cards and they are so excited to open them on Christmas Day |
-On the 23rd, we had the Garcia Family over (Ivann and Andrea) and together with the Casner family we had a little party. Traditionally, we do a big soup bar for Christmas so we decided to do that and play our family game "Society Craps". We had so much fun together. Then, today, Christmas Eve, we will have a more traditional supper with Turkey and Ham and all the fixins' then go look at Christmas lights. Christmas Day, we will have leftovers and fix up a charcuterie tray for a day of grazing, gift opening, movie watching and relaxing.
-A few days ago, I locked myself inside the bunker and finished wrapping gifts. Eric worked in the woodshop to finish some last minute gifts and the kids played outside in the sun, explored the forest and rode bikes. It's a balmy 41 degrees outside but the sun is out. It's supposed to get up into the 60's on Christmas Day and the following day is supposed to be 70. I think our hopes of another white Christmas are gone this year but I am so totally OKAY with that to have the higher temps.
-We are loving having this time with the Casner Family and we are really working to get into a groove. It's so nice to have people we love close by during the holidays and makes us miss our other family a little less. Here is a picture of the girls together on the first day reunited.
-Gramps is still in Idaho but he DID get his Elk about a week ago. The lady that processes them isn't available until today to process it and there was a storm coming into the area so we asked him to be safe and just stay with Aunt Rose and Larry. At least he is with family and enjoying a white Christmas. He will come home with a freezer full of Deer and Elk meat. We will miss him this Christmas but don't want him rushing home and taking unnecessary risks.
-Eric doesn't know this (yet) but I plan to do a fireworks show again for our New Year celebration, so we will need to go plus-up our firework supply. We love to ring in the new year with a bang.
-We are all working on our resolutions for 2022 and making plans to make it an even better year than 2021 (which was a pretty amazing year for us).
-We have another calf due on the 12th of January (at the soonest) and it should be good and cold by then. Jack Sparrow is growing like a weed and his face is the cutest thing ever. I avoid spending much time with him because I am trying not to bond too much. We have to disbud him in the next few days. He plays so adorably with Missy and is starting to have the cutest little 'moo' (can you tell I am not attached 🙄?).
-This is the "ugly" time in East Tennessee as far as the colors, trees, grass and land goes. If I am being honest, the ugliest time of year here is prettier than the most other places I have been on their best day so we are really grateful for that. Our trees are bare, our grass is short and dormant in many spots, our grazing is not wonderful, we can see way into the forest, we have mud and it is so stinkin' cold. But we still think it is paradise.
-We had quite a little adventure last Monday. I have been letting the horses out on the main part of the property to graze since we have so much thick grass. Well, they finally discovered that we have a huge opening on the far side of the property that leads to a very lush, vacant 97 acres next to our property. I looked out of the classroom window and saw them grazing over there. I asked Eric if we should go get them and we both agreed that we could let them graze for a little while then go get them. Well, after school Tristan headed out back to play and immediately came to us and said "the horses are in the forest". Eric and I were quite displeased (with ourselves for not going and getting them right away) and we got all gussied up to go get them back. The twins were making their usual after-school demands so I was a little delayed in getting to the forest.
Eric grabbed Lily and headed out there to grab some or all of the horses. Buttercup had already come home to tattle on the others so, thankfully we didn't have to try to find her. As I reached the upper part of the property with Nolan after ditching Harlan with Tristan, I saw that Eric and Lily were already all the way over to the other side of the property line, nearly out of the forest. So, I decided to not climb the fence and instead circle back and head to the big opening in the property where the horses had exited the property. Nolan and I headed over there and as we were just about to the vacant property, Harrison came charging home. I heard Lily screaming at the top of her lungs so I took Nolan to the fence where I could see him and left him there with strict instructions to stay put (he did). I went running to the forest and Lily was coming out crying and furious. As it turns out, she accidentally let go of Reese and she bolted back into the forest all the way back up to the fence line of our back pasture (it's far). Anyway, I told her to head home and pen Harrison up, brush him and give him a little grain until we could get the other horses home.
By the time I was headed into the forest, Eric was headed out with Aurora. The issue was, as I entered the forest, I noticed a barbed wire fence that was partially down but located about eight feet inside of the tree-line. Eric explained to me that he actually had all four horses with him the first time he was headed out but Patch got tangled up in the barbed wire (just a little bit, thankfully) and freaked Reese out. Lily couldn't hold her so they both bolted. He took Aurora home and I headed up to get Reese and Patch. It was quite a trek. It is super hilly and very heavily treed with thorny, nasty little trees. I finally made it to Reese and I turned around and made it about 90% of the way out of the forest. Patch would only follow a few feet. Mind you, this whole adventure happened just feet from our property. We could see our cows, our other horses (who already made it home), the kids playing and we were just 15 feet from our property line. But we don't have a gate on that side and the barbed wire is up about 4 feet or so most of that way. We basically did an "L" shape around our property but had to go ALL the way back the way they came in because there is no other entrance to our property...
Anyway, I made it about 90% of the way out of the forest with Reese, struggling to keep her with me the whole time because she just wanted to go over the fence instead of around it and be back with her friends. I tied her off to trees like three or four times on the way out just to catch my breath and calm her down. Nico was waiting for me when I got to the part where we had to step over the barbed wire and had laid a few branches on the fence for us. I was still struggling to control her and lost the lead rope. She bolted and headed ALL the way back up the hill to our back pasture fence. I decided that was a good time to sit down and not pass out so I took a little break. As I headed back to get Reese a third time, I passed Eric who had Patch. He had climbed over the back fence and grabbed him.
By now, I was planning to jump on Reese's back and try our best to jump the fence (in my head I am quite the equestrian and can pretty much conquer the world on horseback. In reality, I have only ridden the horses twice since adopting them and can barely saddle them up by myself). Recently, I saw her jump the big water trough and was wildly impressed so I figured a five-foot fence should be doable too. Or, I thought, where are my bolt cutters when I need them? I will just cut the fence and let her through then repair it after. Which is actually work for Eric, not me, as I don't really know how to stretch fence, nor do I want to. As I crested the hill, I had a new plan. I decided to take her back the way she came in. But when I got up to our back pasture fence line, I couldn't find her. I headed past our property to the neighbors and still couldn't find her. I stood for a few seconds, trying to not panic and started forming a plan when I heard her whinny. She was in-between our property and the neighbors property in this little eight-foot section FILLED with brambles, berry bushes (with thorns), trees and other bushes. In her attempts to get to the other horses in our pasture, she had gone about 30 feet down the property line in all that junk. So, I ventured in and grabbed her. I couldn't see far ahead to see if it was clear at the other end and I didn't know if our fence was open at the bottom to just basically do a "U" shape around our property and bring her home via the front part of the property. I figured I had a great plan but as I (not so quickly) learned, the path was blocked ahead with dense berry bushes. Reese and I had made it about another 15 feet or so when we had to try to turn around.
So, we very slowly and painfully headed out of the bushes and brambles. They were snagging my face, my arms and my legs. I was bleeding ALL over. I had to stop at the end by the forest and pick out all of the thorns. Reese was a champ though and handled it well. Her legs were a little bloody but overall she was unharmed. My face was bleeding and my arms were ridiculous. I was in a short-sleeved shirt.
By the time we made it out, I saw Eric coming up to the back fence line. He came to me and grabbed Reese from me. We all headed out of the forest and by this time, with me following behind and talking to her the whole time, she was much more calm. When we got to the exit of the forest, Nico thought it would be cute to jump out and scare us which didn't go over very well. Reese jumped and Eric nearly lost her lead rope. Finally, we led her out of the forest and home. I took her through the back yard just in case I died or passed out. That way she was in a fenced area.
The next day, my arms blistered and festered and I looked like I had been eaten alive by millions of bugs. My neck, legs and face were not great either. My biggest fear was healing in time for a doctor appointment I had the following Monday. I think the tips of the thorns had broken off in my skin and had festered. I scrubbed them really hard in the shower and it helped a lot. I am basically healed now and my skin is almost back to normal. Eric and I were beyond exhausted for like two days. It was great.
-As most of you already know, prior to the forest incident, Buttercup had a short hospital stay. She was there for two nights. She had a blockage in her intestines and was showing signs of colic. They flushed her and got her working again and she came home and was as feisty as ever. She has been great ever since but I am monitoring her closely. I don't know if she was eating her pelleted bedding or acorns.
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| Her neck where she had her IV and fluids |
-School... We are still really loving school. We finished our Safety unit and have moved on to Maturation and Sexual Reproduction. Initially, I was apprehensive to teach them about the birds and bees but I like the unit quite a bit. Tristan is definitely the most awkward about it. Nico did not want to be left out of the unit and after looking it over, Eric and I decided it is age appropriate for him as well, especially living on the farm. He also informed me that "he can handle anything" so he was good to participate. We have completed two lessons in the unit. Eric will finish Marine Biology before the first of the year and will start on Space Science after the New Year. Emery melded right in and is only participating in homeschool until after the first of the year when she enrolls in public school. She is excited to make new friends and get back to school. Lily and Emery both are very art focused and are really talented. We are trying to support that with both girls as much as possible while also balancing other activities. Language Arts is awesome and I love working with the kids each day. Math is much the same and the kids understand it very well. Lily & Nico switched spots in the classroom because Lily wanted the sun shining on her desk and Nico hated it and was constantly taking his shirt off from heat. Hahaha.
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| Andrea's Dad made some homemade chorizo and they shared some with us. Eric ate it for like three days straight. It was so delicious. |
-We hosted a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon a couple of weeks ago and it was. a lot of fun. We had the Garcia's over and I made my grandmas calico beans and some snacks. It was a solid 11.5 hours of movie watching and I didn't make it all the way through. But it was such a good time and now Andrea can say she has watched most of each movie. Lol. We all nodded off at one point or another.
-Nico has been a cookie making fool. He loves baking and does the majority of the work himself. His cookies are delicious and he tries really hard to do the best job.
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| Prior to snapping this photo, Miss Kitty was all stretched out in this pot and absorbing all the sunshine |
