Sparks of Life

He's 1!

2011-02-23T09:15:00.001-05:00

A whole year old! Can you believe it? I can't.Finally I have a baby that has never had a drop of formula. Yay for boobies!

The third child was harder than I thought it would be. I certainly could use an extra arm or another wife now and then. But I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

I'm so excited to watch Levi continue to grow and develop his personality. I love to watch him interact with his brother and sister. He prefers to play with Georgia, but with Austin's toys. I think that there might be some entertaining scenes to come. ;)He loves to put on sunglasses and headbands and look "so pretty" as we tell him.
If you ask him if he "wants to go bye-bye" he'll start waving with both of his hands and then clapping.
And of course he loves to be where he isn't supposed to.
Happy birthday baby boy!

When turning five...

2011-02-15T09:12:00.000-05:00

You get up for preschool and put on a new outfit from your birthday party. Then look at your mother and make her nearly cry because you look 15.You go to school and then drop your brothers off at day care. Your mom treats you to your favorite lunch of McDonald's.You and your mother then hit up the local cosmetology school. Your mother spends $19 and you both get your hair washed, cut and styled...manicures...and you get a pedicure. (I didn't get any pictures of the adorable purple toe nails.)

You then go back to day care to pick up your brothers. And of course have a birthday celebration there.
Then your mom takes you and your brothers to your tumbling class.Your mother forgets how long an hour tumbling class really is and attempts to entertain herself and your brothers.
Your father then comes and watches the end of your tumbling class and you and your family hit up the Chinese buffet for dinner.
Your mother then comes home, smears the internet with photos of you and praises God for such a beautiful daughter.

Georgia, smile for Momma.

2010-11-01T10:19:00.003-04:00

Delight.

2010-10-20T09:50:00.003-04:00

I'm cruel. But sitting back and watching the interaction of my children simply delights me.

Here are Austin & Levi together. (PS- Notice at the very end Levi finds a sticker on the floor and it ends up in his mouth.)

7 whole months

2010-09-23T09:42:00.002-04:00

Can you believe it? Levi is 7 months old! Why does that seems so old to me?

His list of tricks is growing by the day. He can sit for long periods of time if you put him in the sitting position. He army crawls like no body's business. He loves going after things he can't have, cords, paper, tiny toys, etc. He enjoys his pacifier. Putting it in and out of his mouth as he chooses.
He finally interacts with the other kids. I love it. I'm getting lots of complaints that Levi is touching their toys, or knocking over their fences, or moving their animals... It is really cute!

I'm pretty sure his two bottom teeth are just about there.

He is developing a fine crop of blond hair.His eyes are still blue!

The Stats.

2010-09-07T10:52:00.001-04:00

Levi had his 6 month (really 6 months, 2 weeks and 1 day but who is counting?) check up today.

He is 18lbs 2oz and 28 inches long.

He is very tall, a little chubby, very happy and very much loved!

6 months!

2010-08-23T08:12:00.001-04:00

A whole half year already!My little bald and still blue eyes baby is still a very happy guy. He has regressed a little in sleeping. He was sleeping in his crib swaddled, but then he started rolling. I'd swaddle him, he'd roll on his belly, get stuck, get mad and cry.

So right now Levi sleeps all night long, but in the swing, not in his crib. And it is with the swing off. We'll work on it. But for now, he sleeps all night and it isn't in my bed, so I'm okay with it! So cute!

If you have forgotten...

2010-08-02T19:23:00.001-04:00

I am lazy.

Not only am I lazy, but I hate to spoon feed babies.

Levi has entered that "let's try solids" phase. Yuck.

So, like the other two, if he wants it, he needs to get it in his mouth. (I am well aware of the fact that I will not be getting mother of the year ever.)

He is doing very well with the self feeding and loving making the mess.

These hands are amazing.

2010-07-16T21:25:00.001-04:00

Levi found his hands.

He finds them very impressive.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T20:37:00.002-04:00

Here are pics from our picnic today!

Healthy boys!

2010-06-30T22:09:00.004-04:00

Work has been keeping me busy! But things are good.

The boys had their well baby/child check ups yesterday. Since I was at work, Casey took them.

Austin at 3 years is....
39 3/4 inches tall and weighs 35 lbs, he's 1.5 inches taller than Georgia at 3, but they weighed the same. Austin was so excited to see corn in the grocery store. There was no way he was going home without some.Levi at 4 months is...
26 1/4 inches tall and weighs 16lbs 12ozs! He's 20 ounces fatter than both Georgia & Austin at the same age! And he is taller than both of them. There was a concern from the steroid he was on that his growth could be restricted, obviously not a problem. Levi tried a couple bites of cereal, he wasn't impressed. We'll try it again in a week or so.

A Quick Update

2010-06-12T08:47:00.003-04:00

Well, if you haven't heard, I finally got a job! It only took 10 months to find one. I'm pretty excited about it. I start on June 21st. It's just a lab tech position working with metal alloys, but it is a whole new field for me and I'm excited to learn it.

The position is also 2nd shift. That is going to take some creative thought to work out. I am training on first shift, and then moving to 2nd. Our daycare lady closes at 6pm. Casey's mom is going to help out until the start of the school year with the 6pm until Case is done working time, we just need to work out something for the fall.

Georgia is beyond excited to start going back to daycare full time. She is the type that has to be doing something or going somewhere. She is also my little Mama. She loves to help with Levi.And speaking of Levi, did you see who still has blue eyes? The hair that is coming in is so light. The recessive genes are strong in this boy!And my other boy. Austin is such a die hard farmer. He farmed himself to sleep the other day! He broke the hitch on his toy plow and he sobbed for hours. When I ask him what he wants for his birthday he replies, "Skid steers, tractors and dump trucks!".

Levi

2010-06-05T09:53:00.004-04:00

His eyes are still blue and the little bit of hair he has is blonde! He's getting so big. He is so happy. He completely lights up like this whenever he sees a face he knows.
His gangster baby look.
I brought out the excersaucer and thought that he'd still be too little to use it. He loves it. Just look at that face... "Of course I'm big enough for this Mom. What did you think? That I'm some sort of tiny baby? Watch me even grab my toys and drop them on the floor!"He is also a drool/spit up monster. He always needs a bib on.

Memorial Day

2010-06-01T08:32:00.000-04:00

The morning was spent doing puzzles. In the afternoon we went to a picnic. It's the same picnic with the same friends and family (Austin & Mason below), and always fun.I made peanut butter brownies (double the recipe), which were very good with chocolate frosting as Georgia demonstrated. And blue cheese dip (use a food processor to mix), which was also very good served with french bread or crackers.

After lunch we headed down to the gully. It's so neat. The water at the deepest is maybe two feet. The kids just love walking, swimming, splashing in it. We even talked Case into coming down with us!
Levi slept the whole time. He stayed up at the pavilion with Nana. It's about a quarter mile hike down to the gully.
And what picnic isn't complete without beating Nemo to shreads with a baseball bat?
We go in reverse age order and only three hits per kid. Each kid got two turns before Nemo was laid to rest.
And then we came home.

Hey there.

2010-05-22T08:24:00.004-04:00

Not much new has been happening here. Casey has been working at his part-time engineering job, our farm, the dairy farm and in a hurry to get all of the corn planted before they have to start doing hay. So we haven't seen much of him lately. Usually the kids see him when we bring him dinner to whatever field he is working in. Thankfully it is just temporary.The kids are doing good. Georgia has two tumbling classes left for the year. And she has taken a very strong interest in her clothing. Ugh, thus is begins.
Austin play farms all day long. And if he isn't pretending to drive a tractor he is pretending he is a "mama cow" or a "mama pig". It is cute.Levi will be 3 months old tomorrow!! He's so sweet and chubby. He loves to grab toys, coo and see what is going on. He has a strong hate for tummy time. And bottles. He is definitely mommy's boy. I can't wait to see how much he weighs at his 4 month check up. Our scale at home says he is already 16lbs!I've had two phone interviews this week. I should hear back on both of them next week. I'm hoping they both lead to face-to-face interviews. It's just nice to get calls. I've been sending resumes out like crazy since AUGUST! A job offer would be really wonderful. I've loved being home with the kids, but two incomes are nice and I like to be able to talk to adults now and again!

Kiddos

2010-05-10T11:05:00.002-04:00

Eleven weeks old tomorrow and his eyes are still blue!Look at those hams! Levi is now up to 14 lbs 4 ozs.
And my double trouble. I'm guessing by the end of the year they will be the same height.

Rock Stars

2010-05-05T16:25:00.003-04:00

The other day Georgia & Austin came to me with sunglasses on and informed me that they were now rock stars. I guess it just takes a pair of cheap plastic sunglasses, who knew?Austin is nearly three years old and at bath time, could get his pants & undies off by himself, but got stuck with his shirts. So I buckled down with him and taught him how to completely undress himself. It's nice for bath time. But during the day he will become "sweaty" and strip down to just his underpants. This is why he is just in his underpants in the photo.

And last Sunday after church we were being lazy and I tried to take a cute picture of the kids with me in them. Such easier said than done. This picture cracks me up. Look at Georgia and I. Our hair and eyes are the same color. You can tell that she is my offspring. Then look at Levi. This pasty white bald baby. If I wasn't there, I might start doubting where he came from!

New Boars

2010-05-02T19:49:00.002-04:00

Remember our new boars? I mentioned that their piglets often look like dalmatians? How cute is this?

He is too cute for words!

2010-04-29T14:19:00.001-04:00

Georgia

2010-04-28T10:07:00.005-04:00

Right now Georgia takes two tumbling classes. She started when she was two, and now she is starting to gain some skills.

She has mastered the somersault and back bend and is now working on her cartwheels. She really enjoys her classes and practicing at home.

Here is her back bend.
And here she goes into a head stand...
Then gets ready...
And pushes up into a hand stand!

Two Months

2010-04-23T15:52:00.002-04:00

Levi is two months old today! He has turned into a talking/cooing machine. He will talk to anything that resembles a face. It's so cute.

He has his well baby visit today. His lungs are finally clear! Yay! But he is to stay on the steroid for another month because there has been more RSV breakouts locally. The steroid is inhaled with the nebulizer. The steroid can also suppress his growth. :( But it doesn't seem to be. His stats: 13lbs even, 23.25" long which puts him about the 50%.

Here are some pics:

The comparison. He doesn't look like the other two.
Look at those blue eyes!
And giant smiles!

They are still blue...

2010-04-09T18:59:00.000-04:00

My Three Musketeers

2010-04-01T18:58:00.000-04:00

When they have their sweet moments like this, I want a whole dozen more. But then they talk, move, cry, get things out, get things dirty, need to be fed, washed, butts wiped, and then I'm okay with just 3.

5 Weeks

2010-03-30T18:54:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of Levi.
Hanging out in the bouncy seat and actually looking at stuff.
Snoozing in the car seat.
Sleeping Georgia at 5 weeks. I don't think they look alike.
Austin at 5 weeks.
Levi sporting the same outfit in the same chair. Levi is so bald.
I don't think that he looks anything like the other two. He came from the completely different area of the gene pool.

Outside!

2010-03-13T18:56:00.000-05:00

Finally- We got outside!

Sometime we all just need a nap!

2010-03-02T18:51:00.002-05:00

He's Here!

2010-02-25T11:02:00.002-05:00

Levi Case arrived 2/23/2010 at 8:32am. He was 8lbs 4ozs and 20 inches long.

We are all happily adjusting to our family of five.

Still waiting.

2010-02-16T11:07:00.002-05:00

We are still waiting for the arrival of our new family member. Things continue on here.

Today the kids were out to help me. I was hoping pulling them in the sled might bring on contractions, no luck.
Georgia did help and pull Austin some of the way.Here's a sow that is no longer waiting to have her litter. We have 17 litters right now. And the kids showing off their new trick. They are both able to climb over the gates without help. Here they are on the way over...
and ta-da!

Still here.

2010-02-11T16:02:00.004-05:00

We are still here.

Still no baby. This is the point where the wait gets long.

We got hit with some snow this week. On Monday, it was sunny and beautiful, some of the grass was sticking out of the snow, then it snowed all Tuesday. Boo! I am really looking forward to spring getting here!

Here are some pictures from the past week.

Hopes of Spring

2010-02-03T17:08:00.003-05:00

You can hear the snow melting and water running. It's wonderful.

We hopped outside for a little bit to help bed some of the pigs.

Here the kids are chasing after Case in the skid steer.
Their attempts at making snow angels.And Austin's find of a "gold medal". He really wanted to bring it in the house, but I told him no.

It's in her blood.

2010-01-25T18:39:00.003-05:00

My darling daughter has dairy farming in her blood. She begs to go to the dairy farm daily. And once there, she wants to spend all her time in the parlor. She even tells me to go away, that she is fine in the parlor. Too bad she is way too short to really help. She either has to be lifted up, or she drags a stool around with her to reach the cows.

Here is Casey lifting her up to reach the cows, applying the post-dip.Holding the post-dip just waiting for a cow to finish milking so she can dip them.Casey & Georgia bringing up the cows to be milked.And Georgia cleaning poop off of the free stalls.

Family Pic!

2010-01-24T13:19:00.001-05:00

Sometime in the next month, or so, we'll be adding one more little blessing. ;)

Getting outsidte

2010-01-23T07:09:00.002-05:00

There is one part of the pig farming that I don't really do to much with, castrating pigs. I'll happily help load the piglets up and hang things to Case that he needs, but that is it.
Case and his dad do the rest.
The kids and I went out to see if they could use our "help". Here they are watching the action.
Georgia talking to the piglets.Austin talking to the piglets.They loved that since the pigs were contained they could pet them.After I took this picture they hugged each other to the ground then proceeded to roll around in the crap. Ugh!

Bird Feeders

2010-01-16T12:11:00.003-05:00

The kids go to day care two days a week. They love playing with the other kids and I love having two days to clean and run errands, etc.

This past week they made bird feeders. So we hung them up this morning.After hanging up feeders they came with me to check pigs. Austin spent his time digging in the snow looking for "gold" and "medals". And Georgia played with her barn cat. But they did come into a couple pens with me.We took the sled out, I pulled both of them. Georgia pulled Austin all the way back for me. She's so sweet. And since the driveway is nothing but packed snow, it isn't hard to pull at all.Roughly only 40 days until the arrival of baby #3. I'm starting to get things ready. I'm not sure if we'll really be ready for three children. ;)

Neighbors.

2010-01-09T09:41:00.001-05:00

I was out the other day and saw a handful of deer running across the property to the west of us.

Just for Fun

2010-01-04T08:18:00.000-05:00

Here we are, 32 weeks with baby #3.

The Sun Came Out!

2009-12-29T20:07:00.004-05:00

Other than being a little cold, it was beautiful out today. The sun was shining brightly. The kids even got to help bed pigs today.

The kids playing with the Tom cat.
I pulled them in the sled out to the pig pen.Austin and Case brought a bail of straw in the pen.Georgia helping Case. She told me that she was "sweaty" from working so hard. Austin and I took the easy route and drive the skid steer with the bale of straw on the forks.Some of the piglets.A sow not too impressed with me being there.And the whole back yard. The sky was so blue today.

Not Much New

2009-12-23T12:41:00.003-05:00

There hasn't been a whole lot new here. Which is good. I am a little worried because I think that it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Everything is frozen outside right now, which means little mud, so little bedding is needed. But once it rains, things melt, pigs get wet and everything will need bedding.

Here are some random pictures from today.

Austin offering everyone a chocolate snow man.The kids enjoying watching their new DVD players while I check pigs.The snow covered back yard.Market hogs enjoying their warm barn.Feeder pigs enjoying their barn as well.
And Merry Christmas to all!

And then the sun came out.

2009-12-14T08:46:00.002-05:00

The sun finally came out and most of the pigs needed more bedding. Here Case is bringing a bail of straw to the sows while I stand watch with the gate open.
More pig paths.
Steers. These guys are being sold today!
Case bedding the gestating sow lot.

I've declared it a blizzard

2009-12-11T17:53:00.005-05:00

I'm not exactly sure of what is all involved in declaring a blizzard, but I've decided the the past two days qualify.

It's been nasty out. Here's the backyard.
Here I am, freezing my rear off.One of the nice things about the pigs is they are lazy, and make paths for easy walking in the snow.
The west barn. Look at all the snow that got blown into it!
And the poor freezing steers. We have no place for them to go, so they've been stuck in the yuck!

Our Luck

2009-12-10T08:41:00.002-05:00

I went outside yesterday to check pigs. Of course, knowing our luck, I walk into the pen where the new boars are and wondering, what is that under the snow?

It was a new boar. Dead.

It looked like he walked 10 feet outside of his shelter, fell over and died in the snow.

He better have at least bred some gilts before dying on us!

Trying to Enjoy the Snow

2009-12-07T15:32:00.004-05:00

We needed to bed the newest litters today. I had the brilliant idea of putting the kids' snow gear on and letting them enjoy it.

It took longer to get them dressed than what we were outside for. I need to Georgia a new pair of snow pants, I had to stuff her into a pair of 3T's (which is the same size bibs that Austin is wearing).

We let them walk around in the pen while I drove the skid steer with the big bale of straw while Case put the straw into the small shelters.

I looked over and they were both screaming because a sow was walking over to them. The kids then started to walk towards us, Austin slipped into a mud puddle, lost his boots and mittens and kept walking in his socks.

I was able to get his boots back on him, but the mittens were not happening. So after he finished eating the snow, his hands were freezing....
so Austin got to wear my gloves and a fast track ride to the house. He didn't keep my gloves on either. We were able to get what was needed outside done.

The Last Trimester

2009-12-06T11:51:00.004-05:00

Yay! Hello week 28. I don't care, I've declared it, the start of my last trimester!

Please try to guess on the arrival of this baby. Please!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://bebepool.com/sparks

Snow!

2009-12-05T17:19:00.002-05:00

It thankfully took until December for our first snow fall to actually stick. The mud has frozen making walking around in the pens so much easier! My boots are no longer being pulled off with every step.

Here's looking towards the house.
We currently have 5 new litters. They look warm and comfy.Fat pigs in the barn. They are very warm and comfy!
And we are now down to 7 steer. We don't have any place to house them in the winter and I think the last will be sold soon.

Finally, a nice day!

2009-11-24T14:20:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since we have had a nice day. And I finally remembered to bring my camera outside with me.

Here are the steers that are left, we are down to 15 of them, just hanging around.
And Casey's new purchase. Six new Berkshire boars. This type of pig is known for having the highest quality pork and the pork is red in color. They take longer to finish out, so we hope by breeding them with what we have we can have a fast finish hog with high quality meat.

The Berkshire hogs have the 4 white feet, white snout and tip of the tail. Their piglets are usually born with the neatest color patterns. Often there are piglets that look like dalmatians. Hopefully I can post pictures of their piglets in 4 months or so.
Some of the piglets we currently have.This group of pigs were recently weened from their mothers and moved into the finishing barns.
The outside of the finishing barns. This spring Case had the Amish come up and add the doors on the barns. The past two winters the ends have been open. I'm so glad that we added them. They really help keep the heat in.

New Pigs.

2009-11-14T13:29:00.002-05:00

In the past 2 days we have had 7 new litters born. The weather has been so nice and wonderful outside!

He's an....

2009-11-04T08:28:00.004-05:00

We have 16 boars.

15 of them are no problem. They stay in their pen and do their job.

There is just one, that thinks he can come and go as he pleases. And he does.

A couple of weeks ago we looked out the window and saw him walking around with the steers, obviously out of his pen. We hurried up, chased him back, just to watch him jump over the fence. So, we let him go.

Here he is yesterday. This spot is where the steer feeder was, so he was cleaning up what they spilled on the ground.
It was feeding time for the pen the boar is supposed to stay in. Here is a video of him deciding that he'd join his friends and hop back into his pen where he belonged.

More Children.

2009-10-21T13:22:00.002-04:00

Austin asked for a snack last night. I open the refrigerator and he found the celery and specifically asked for it. He loves fruits and veggies. It just cracks me up.I found that it's cheaper (and most likely healthier) for us to make our own ice cream. They just think that it's so fun to watch it spin around.
And Georgia at tumbling. She can push up into a back bend. Over the past couple of weeks they have significantly improved. The next skill she is working on is a cartwheel. It might take her a couple of years to get that one down.

Nature Walk

2009-10-14T19:06:00.003-04:00

After dinner today I took the kids out for a walk. It's finally drying up a little back there, and fresh air always helps them sleep. Here are our pictures:

Aren't we cute?

I stopped and looked behind me and they were holding hands!
Georgia up on the hill.
Looking down at the farm from up on our hill. As to why they didn't build the house on top of the hill back in 1903 I'll never know. The view from up there is great!

Tom

2009-10-12T14:02:00.002-04:00

Here's our big old mean Tom cat.
He's not really mean or old. Georgia just loves him to pieces and begs everyday for him to come in the house.

Wet Wednesday

2009-10-07T11:53:00.007-04:00

It's been raining and wet here for a while. And not a whole lot going on.

Here's Georgia complaining. We were outside less than a minute and she was ready to go back in and "take a nap".The steers. I think they are looking tasty. It won't be long before we are taking them to auction to be sold.We had a load of crushed concrete dumped off and Case was using it to fill the giant holes around the feed pads that the pig dug. Of course he had the steers to supervise him.Case and the kids on the newly filled in hole.Austin inspecting Casey's work. He really just wanted to sit and play in the mud.

My Little Man

2009-10-02T18:07:00.003-04:00

We went to the Harvest Parade yesterday and Austin felt that it was best enjoyed as close as possible by lying in the street.
And when we got home, he surprised me with feeding a baby in the high hair. I think that he might do well as a big brother. He was very tentative to making sure his baby ate.

A quick trip

2009-09-30T18:02:00.000-04:00

On a whim, we decided to go to the World Dairy Expo. We left our house Monday at 3:30pm, drove to Loves Park, Il, because I was going to loose it if we spent any more time in the car, spent the night, got up, drove to Madison, spent the day at the expo, left at 3:30pm, drove straight home, got here at 11pm.

And since we left on a whim, I just did a quick google map from Hesperia to Madison and called it good. We drove through Chicago both ways. I know, not every smart. But we didn't have map, and it was kind of neat to see the city and the kids were sleeping. We only missed 2 tolls the whole way.

Here are some pics:

Driving through Chicago.

Finally getting to a hotel!!

All set to go to the Expo.

Posing by a ceramic cow. Enjoying the machinery and having one sleeping child. Georgia driving away.Oh, look, another ceramic cow.

Cook out

2009-09-19T20:23:00.004-04:00

Thanks to all who came and stopped by! It was great to see all!

Dig, dig, dig.

2009-09-15T14:13:00.002-04:00

All the water on our farm comes from one well. Everything, from our house to every pen. Yesterday Case worked on digging up the one line we had with a giant union outside of the house and moved that into the basement, with many lines. It was a dirty mess. This left us with no water anywhere and...
and son that looked like this, and his sister was equally dirty. They both had tumbling class yesterday. So that left me scrambling to get the kids to my in-laws, washed up, changed and to tumbling within about 20 minutes. We did it!

What a sibling is great for...

2009-09-14T11:09:00.001-04:00

Waking up with!Helping you put on their old shoes...
And patiently waiting for your Dad to come home!

Swinging

2009-09-11T07:22:00.001-04:00

Who needs an audience when you have steers watching you?

1 week

2009-09-10T07:59:00.002-04:00

In 1 week we will be heading down to Temperance to visit with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncles Mark & Tom.

The kids are so excited! I am too.

We'll be there Thursday and leaving on Monday, it would be great to see lots of people while we are there!

I'm trying to talk my parents into hosting a little cook out.... hopefully everyone can stop by!!

Labor Day

2009-09-08T08:20:00.003-04:00

We went to a picnic at a family friend's house for Labor Day. They have a pavilion built in the middle of a hay field. Surrounding the hay field is a woods with a deep gully in it. The gully has a small creek at the bottom. Every year we take the kids down to the creek and walk along in it.

This was the first time I took Austin down. When he first got into the water, he was not happy and wanted to go back, but then changed his mind and by the end of the walk, he was soaking wet.

25 weeks

2009-09-06T18:36:00.001-04:00

25 weeks until this baby is due.

I feel like that is so far away.

25 weeks ago was Tommy's birthday, 3/15, and yep, that seems like a long while ago!!

UGH!

Daddy's Little Girl

2009-09-03T19:48:00.001-04:00

Old Projects

2009-09-01T18:06:00.004-04:00

Way back in March we ripped off the entry way that was on our house and added a little "boot room" on. When we re-did the house before we moved in, we never touched the entry way and this past winter the roof was leaking horribly. It had to be done.
Before:After:And yes, I did not inherit my mother's gardening gene. I like to do as much from my lawn mower as possible.

Anyhow, the outside was complete by mid April, electrical done in June, and that was it. Since it has started to get cold at night, and with another one on the way we have finally gotten up to finishing it. I've been insulating the past two days. I should be done by the end of this week, hopefully. Then Case plans on dry walling himself. Which, I don't think that he has ever done. I'm just excited for all the storage space that we will have in there.

And here's a picture of me hanging up the plastic vents on the ceiling before putting up the insulation.

Not too much

2009-08-30T16:24:00.003-04:00

Not a whole lot going on here.

I took Georgia out to a garage sale on Saturday. Here she is modeling her new clothes. They had lots of Dora clothes there and she was in heaven.And here is Austin after enjoying his lunch of spaghetti. He has been a pistol lately. And thankfully his naps have been closer to three hours a day. I certainly need a break during the day from worrying about what he is doing and what he is into now.And the new baby has officially reached the second trimester. Other than feeling big, nothing new to report there either.

Pigs & Raking Hay

2009-08-27T14:16:00.005-04:00

This morning we went out and did our pig chores. I think that our closest neighbor is about a half mile away, so going outside in your big boy underpants is completely acceptable.

Here Casey is filling the feeder for the farrowing sows. We have 17 litters as of this morning.Some of the litters that we first born in this group are getting big enough to follow their mom around the pen. I'll have to work on getting some closer up photos. The coloring on the piglets is so vibrant. You can see the red, brown, black, white, and even some blue in them. Or maybe it is they are just much cleaner than the older pigs.Just to get out of the house for a bit after lunch we went and helped Case raking hay. Georgia told Case that he was going over too many bumps.

Promising!

2009-08-26T17:25:00.000-04:00

Austin has been in undies all day and we've only had one accident so far! Knock on wood that we are on to something!

It's all about exhaustion!

2009-08-25T14:28:00.004-04:00

The kids have been sort of driving me batty lately. I'm sure that it's an adjustment in both of our schedules. I'm not with adults all day and they are stuck home with me. I've been trying hard to find things to do that they find fun and exhausting.
Yesterday we went to the park for about an hour. Austin fell asleep before we got home. Georgia does not take naps, but she did go to bed early.Georgia looking cool riding on a duck and Austin giving me a heart attack climbing all the way up this on his own.This morning the weather lady warned that today would be the warmest day for the rest of the month and maybe even the summer. I filled the pool this morning and after lunch let the kids play. I dragged out a kitchenette set and they had a blast cooking with the water and washing the skid steer in the sink. We must have needed to stay outside longer because Austin is still awake now. I just need to figure out what we can do tomorrow that will tire them out (without tiring me out)!

13 weeks!

2009-08-24T20:46:00.003-04:00

Well, I thought that I would be taking the kids with me to the OB today. But my SIL called with an offer of them to play in the baby pool with her kids, so my kids turned a visit to the doctor down.

Everything looks good. Baby is measuring on target, and I'm good.

The doctor had a harder time finding the heartbeat with the doppler so she grabbed her handy ultrasound machine and took a peek. It looks like the baby's placenta is attached to the front of my uterus making it harder to hear the heartbeat. I got to see the little one move it's arms. It's heartbeat was in the 140's. Below is the picture that was printed for me. It's the baby's profile, it is looking to the right.

Good Morning!

2009-08-24T10:43:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not all three, well three and a partial, of us fit in the skid steer! Case loaded up the bucket with small bails of straw, we drove and bedded the new litters. We have 10 new litters as of today.

40 Years

2009-08-23T12:02:00.003-04:00

Last night we went out to dinner to celebrate my in-law's 40th wedding anniversary. This is much easier said than done with 5 of the grandchildren 3 years old and younger. Georgia of course had to wear her Dorthy dress. Dinner went well and was really nice.We went out on the deck to watch the sunset over Lake Michigan and I tried to take some cute photos of my children.Austin's "say cheese" face.

This morning we headed to church. The church that we go to has a children's message where the children sit up on the alter and listen to a short story. Austin needed to make himself a little more comfortable and took his shoes off and laid down.

Tomorrow is an appointment with the OB. Hopefully all is good. I plan on bringing the kids with me to hear the baby's heartbeat.

Sew Saturday

2009-08-22T15:28:00.004-04:00

Since she got the ruby red slippers, we just had to make the Dorthy dress to go with it. It's a little big, but I want her to be able to wear it for a while. I think that it turned out pretty well. She's super happy with it. And it didn't take forever to make.

Getting a gift in the mail

2009-08-21T13:56:00.003-04:00

I've been working with the kids on certain key areas. They have charts and each time they do something on the chart they get to put a sticker up. Their chore list includes: Sleeping in their own beds, helping with the pigs, picking up their toys, and brushing their teeth. They both have over 10 stickers in the sleeping in their own bed category and to celebrate Grandma sent them a little gift in the mail.

The kids.

2009-08-20T09:19:00.003-04:00

Georgia loves cats. She just adores the barns cats. I have no idea where she gets this because I won't even touch them. The first thing she does every morning is goes outside and feeds them. She changes their names daily, and it is never anything normal, one day one was "Princess ohhh-laa".

And with Austin, I'm starting to wonder if farming is genetic. He was telling me here that he was chopping corn. Whenever we drive by a corn field he yells "corn!" as loud as he can, like it is the first time that he has ever seen a corn field. Of course, every field that isn't corn is hay to him. We are working on that. ;)

Farming

2009-08-18T06:02:00.009-04:00

A busy morning!

We had some new litters born. They are so cute!! These sows are first time mothers and they seem to be doing pretty good so far.

I don't think that they liked me taking pictures of them. I thought that one of the sows was going to chase after me.

The next older group of piglets are getting big. They were weened from their mom about a week ago.

Georgia and Austin enjoy helping with pig chores from their comfy ride.

Inside the first finishing barn.Casey and his dad, Glen, loading pigs to sell from the second finishing barn. The steer were more than willing to come over and supervise the operation.Loading the pigs into the big trailer. We had 30 pigs to sell. The livestock trailer holds a total of 180 hogs. Once completely loaded from West Michigan it drives straight to the slaughter house in Iowa.Austin was very impressed with the giant trailer and wanted to take a walk around it. Here is picture from the other side of the trailer from where they were loading in. Glen is chasing our pigs from our little livestock trailer into the semi.

A new day

2009-08-16T20:01:00.003-04:00

Things have out of the blue turned upside. I'm trying hard to keep it together, and let God have control and show us the right way to go. It is going to be hard, but we can do it.

On a lighter note.

We have our health, our family, our friends, our farm, our home, our beautiful children and another on the way. Things are good.

And some photos... Georgia, after putting on her own make-up.And she loves to take my camera and photograph herself.And me trying desperately to keep Austin quiet and still at a wedding.

This and That

2009-08-01T08:04:00.000-04:00

This week...
I was laid off from work this past week. So we spent it on the beach with Case's family. The beach house was only 36 miles from our house. We spent two nights there. But that was all I could take. It was far easier to spend the day, go home and sleep in my bed and go back the next day.

This decade...
This guy came around offering aerial photos. He said that he comes to each area every ten years. So we signed up. We bought the CD with all the photos on it. He gave us an untouched up print today, here is the scan of that. Low and behold, the Sparks Family Farm. If you look really closely in the middle of the driveway heading back to the pigs you can see two specs, it's Austin and I on our way to check on the pigs. Georgia was sleeping when the pics were taken.And that baby...
I asked the doctor about it coming early, since Austin was 3 weeks early. She said that once it hits 34 weeks, there is no stopping it. And there is no way to predict when it will arrive. I guess we just wait and see.

That's my fetus!

2009-07-27T08:08:00.000-04:00

Just got back from the doctors.

Blood pressure good, down 2 lbs, and she found the heartbeat with the doppler! At 9 weeks! 160 bmp!

The doctor's eyes got huge when she found it. She was pretty sure there was no way, but thought she'd try it for fun. As soon as she put it on my belly, right there was the baby's heartbeat, this is one stubborn little one. It just had to prove that doctor wrong!!

Love it!