A Lot of New

 A Lot of New

I feel like we were really stagnant on the farm for a long time, mostly focusing on house project. All of sudden, things have exploded, and we are loving it!

We bought this for Will Will's party, though we hardly used it because of the rain. Still, the kids absolutely love playing in it!

Looking on pinterest,  there's a million adorable lessons that you can do for your kids on the daily. I'm lucky if I get one in every week or two. Mostly, I focus on letting Rylee learn through play, coloring, and outdoor time. I also try and involve her with farm work and house work as much as possible. 

(In this activity she sorted animals by land versus water, and we watched short video clips on the ones she wasn't sure about)

Rylee did work her first puzzle (with my help), which I was very proud about! We have a deep, deep love of puzzles in this family. 

I've been trying to establish a daily routine of sorts. It helps me keep the house cleaner and also gives me more time to do school work. This semester is kicking my butt since I'm having to make all the powerpoints and assignments from scratch. Here's my attempt at distracting the kids while I prepped for class one week (it turned out to be a bad idea as the food coloring stained EVERYTHING blue). 

Cleaner kitchen means more motivation for me to make things. 

(French Madeline lemon cookies). 

(braided honey oat loaves)

We tried to take the kids out to the lake or pool a few times this summer to get them out of the house. Rylee liked swimming in the lake and even jumped in from the steps a few times. William didn't really like it....mostly because of the lifejacket which squished him like little marshmallow. 

Sam found a FANTASTIC deal on leftover hardwood from a flooring project by some fellow Catholic Lexington  Diocean parishioners. This is unfinished red-oak hardwood of the exact same dimensions that we have in the upstairs of our house. We managed to buy it from an incredibly nice family for around $1.00/square foot. If you know nothing about hardwood prices.....that's an insanely good deal.  

Sam broke the bush hog by running over a fence post. We have sense purchased a welder and he managed to get a nice machine shop guy he works with the cut out the exact parts he needed to replace. Hopefully, he will finish welding soon so we can start building the fenced in rooster yard we want to put in the barn lot. 

We started a mini-orchard! Two apple trees, one pear tree (one more to come soon), four blueberry bushes, and a line of black-raspberry bushes. 

We got turkeys! And then the turkeys all died except one, and then we got another turkey to match the lone hen survivor! We still aren't sure why the other three died, but these two are doing well! We even have some turkey hatching eggs in the incubator that should be hatching mid October. 

For those of you who have wondered about how we take showers at night....here you go. Spoiler, we FINALLY got the tub installed! We are still working on the plumbing, so I don't have any pictures. But our days showering outside are numbered! Which is good. Because it's getting cold. 

Pancake is warming up to everyone (except the farriers). He loves treats of all kinds. 

He also has a special attachment to William. He comes up to let him pet him all the time. 

He's a little more weary of Rylee, but he will occasionally let her pet him, too. 

Rylee helped her Daddy change the car oil. She is a Daddy's girl through and through. 

William is getting much too big!

We found a local dairy and buy a gallon of milk ($6/gallon) a week from them. Rylee likes to go and pet the kittens they have running around. We also walk in the back to look at the cows, but she's a little more weary of them. William is usually asleep in the car by the time we get there. 

One of the jobs Rylee took upon herself is to remind me to dump out Pancakes water frequently (so she can fill it back up again). I think it's just an excuse for her to play in the water. 

William helped his Daddy mow the other day (after we had to fix the mower because I broke it). This was his third nap of the day. Apparently, he can't resist sleep on a mower!

When he woke back up from his nap, we lit a couple bonfires around the property to help Daddy clean it up a little more. 

As I said, lots going on! We have even more going on this weekend that I haven't even started to tell you about! I'll save it for the next post. Hopefully, I'll do a better job and not wait three months for another farm update. 

Pax Domini cum spirito tuo temper sit,

Torey, Sam, Rylee & William

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