3 Girls, 1 Guy and a Zoo!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

The walk

It has been absolutely beautiful out here lately! Of course we have been taking advantage of it. We walked everyday that its been nice. The girls have really enjoyed it. We documented our journey one day...although blogger is NOT cooperating and isn't organizing my pictures the way I would like. I'll work with it as is, instead of continuing to fight with it!

Marissa and her horse...being blinded even with the cool shades!

What a cheeseball!

Marissa was giving me idea's on what to take pictures of...SILOS!

Can you find the kitty?

The hike continues

Madalyn's turn to pull the friends

Making sure we are still there...

"The Friends"

Our house still covered in snow but on the melting side of it.

Puppies came too

They wanted me to take a picture of them holding hands...

But they wouldn't keep walking HAHA

Shadows!

The moo friends

The cat came too...

Another kitty hiding...can you find this one?

Still following

The water is flowing...

...on both sides of the road

See the tracks from all the deer?

They have been eating like kings and queens at our corn pile all winter!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Play dates...

I had to clean up our infant car seat last night for that friend at church that I have mentioned prayer requests for. She is on the safe side now at almost 37 weeks and close to delivery. So I told the girls we had to drop the seat off at "Grace's" (their best friend) house for her new baby brother or sister. Marissa pipes up from the back seat.."Can I please ask Aunt Denielle if Grace and I can have a play date?" HAHA

I don't believe I have ever used that phrase so I'm not sure where that came from but it was super cute!

Aunt Chelsea came for a visit...

As always the kids had a blast! I haven't heard whether Aunt Chelsea was able to get out of bed the next morning or not. I know the kids had no trouble! LOL

Now that takes talent!

Getting some lovin'

Smarty

Everyone taking a break

Madalyn trying to fix the snowman that got knocked down...

Marissa lasted another minute or so before she slid down.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

"We wanna look like you Mommy!"

This is the first time the girl's hair has been all the way up like this...couldn't help but capture it!

Ya never know...

Madalyn is at that stage where you never know what she is going to come out with next. This morning she took her pull-up off and went into her room to get some underwear. Next thing I know she is coming out (without the underwear), holding her butt. "What are you doing Madalyn?" "Do ya know I have a little butt?" "Yes Madalyn you do have a little butt." "I have little toes too, do you have little toes, oh wait you have BIG toes!" LOL I love it!

This morning she requested "Box -n- the Hound". So we are watching that and getting ready for church while we wait for Daddy to get home with his big helper. I apologize for the lack of updated barn pictures. Seems like either both girls don't want to go, or Madalyn doesn't and I end up staying home. The few times this week we all went, I forgot! OOPS!

Hope you all have a good day, and don't forget to smile!

Saturday, March 6, 2010

LOVE

If this isn't love...

I don't know what is!

(Of course they don't have a clue what is going on because the TV is on, but still cute!)

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Lemons and money

I'm starting to wonder about us. Seems like no matter how frugal we try to be, whenever we purchase something we end up with lemons instead. Is it just us? 3 years ago we bought a new heating system. The house that we bought was Doug's grandmother's and had electric heat in the living room and dining room, leaving the rest of the house without any heat. We put a space heater in the nursery and kept the heat settings in the house at 60. We were freezing all the time from the house not being a consistent temperature throughout it. The bill ran us about $650 a month. It was awful. So we decided to get a wood burning boiler and put in in-floor heat. Doug did a lot of looking around at different makes and models. We chose an indoor model and installed it in our basement. This is our third winter with it and we have had countless chimney fire scares, and pieces breaking on the thing. The company doesn't care that its still covered under warranty, they say its our problem. So after another piece breaking 2 weeks ago, we seriously contemplated throwing it out the door. We called a company that Doug is very interested in purchasing a new stove from and asked them if they would be willing to take our stove in on trade in. They came and looked at it. Although they were not interested they did comment on how its hooked up to our hot water for the house. We are always running out and they said that shouldn't be happening. So they explained how it should be hooked up. Doug went and got all the pieces to change it around. In the process we found out that the minerals and such in our VERY hard water had settled and was blocking up a pipe to the hot water tank. Now not only do we have a piece of junk for a heating system and no money to replace it, but we also need a $400 water softener! Doug got a piece to fix the stove and as of right now we are back loving it. However this has happened in the past and within a month we have serious issues again. We will see. We did order the water softener and will be picking it up on Thursday. Then yesterday, the desktop computer decided to go up. Doug is pretty sure the hard drive is shot. Its a Mac and we have only had it for 3 years. I told him thats not speaking very well for Macs and he said, "well, like everything else, I can almost guarantee that we bought a lemon." Grrrr. Why is it as soon as I'm able to stash a little bit of money, something big goes up on us and a whole lot more goes back out. Sometimes, I don't care what anyone says, I really wish we hadn't bought but were renting instead. I know "its a waste of money", but at least all this stuff would be someone else's responsibility. LOL Oh well, I guess this is where trusting in God comes into play. I know sometimes we get "too comfortable" and then we take our eyes off Him and all he does for us. When stuff like this happens we have no choice but to put our total focus back on Him. When you look at it that way its a blessing in disguise. Ok, I'm done rambling now!

Oh a good note...its Doug's week off again. My goal this week is to get pictures of the girls in the barn feeding the cows. They are soo cute!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Farm Show pictures!

As promised here are the pictures from the farm show. Grandma brought her camera and had her hands free...I had two kids and two dogs so it was harder than I thought to get my camera out and start shooting pictures. So I just let her do it and then I stole pictures from her. Some of them aren't the clearest, but you'll get the just!

Meet "Lucy" (French Bulldog)

She belongs to Doug's brother and his wife

Trying my hardest to keep track of 4 kids and 3 dogs with Aunt Laurie's help!

Ashton on "his" tractor (Marissa and Madalyn's cousin)

Marissa has to pick the biggest

Jack, Case and Chloe

Madalyn found the one she wants!

So cute!

Great picture of Owen

(Ashton's brother)

Marissa's turn

What a goof ball

Love this picture

This is like a yearly picture with the kids

Jack's turn...although he would have much rather been peeing on the tires!

This one makes me laugh!

Testing out the stalls

If you were to ask me where I would see myself in 10 years, I never would have guessed that I would be here. However, I couldn't be happier! I'm very happily married to the love of my life and have two girls. We have begun our journey towards adoption and I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us over the next couple of years. I'm a stay at home mom who home-schools. I enjoy researching and finding things out for myself. This blog allows me to share with others my passions and keep in touch with family that I wouldn't normally be able to keep in such close touch with.

Daddy is such a blessing to me. We met in college and became best friends. About one and a half years after we met we were dating. The rest is history. Together we have grown in the Lord and learned many lessons even in our few years together. Things haven't always been smooth, but together and with the Lord's help we can accomplish anything. He is the love of my life and my true soul mate. He is 100% committed to his family and the Lord. He is currently working for Dairy One in Ithaca. He loves to ski, ride dirt bikes, tinker on things, mow the lawn :) and spend time with his girls.

Marissa is our oldest. She was born in May 2005. She is 100% Daddy's girl. She is a home body and usually isn't away from home for long and she is asking to go back to our house. She always claims a job and sticks with it till its done. She is very quick and catches on fast. You have to be careful what you show her, because before you know it she is going to be attempting it herself. Madalyn is her best friend. She loves church and loves learning and singing about Jesus. Marissa is now is school and she is doing great. She loves to read and do projects. She LOVES animals and has decided that she wants to be a Veterinarian when she grows up!

Madalyn is our youngest. She is 100% Mommy's girl (nice of them that they split us up so that one isn't quite so overwhelmed isn't it?). Madalyn knows what she wants and goes for it. She has no fear and is usually the leader of my two even though she is younger. She does love to shadow her older sister though. She is my girly girl, but also my one that is always getting messy. She loves her hair done, to get dressed up, and shoes! We are in trouble with this one! She loves school and is super smart. She has decided she wants to be a "snow plow driver" when she grows up. She is also going to build a house RIGHT next to us and live there so she can still see us every day ;)

Case was actually our "oldest child". Sadly we said goodbye to him on October 29th, 2013. He was a black lab/ red-tick coonhound. He loved to roam the fields, swim, play ball, catch frisbees, go hiking and spend time at the barn. He also very much enjoyed those black and white cats that roam in the dark and have stripes down their backs...or he must have because he kept getting sprayed! He hated to be abandoned by his family and preferred us to all be in the house by 9pm or he started pacing. His biggest dislike was winter. He hated the cold and would rather hold his potty all day long than to go out and pee. Even when he did go out he barely makes it out the door and he was starting to go! Haha He was our "little boy in a doggie suit" as my aunt says. We love him and miss him like crazy.

Cali is our first cat together as a married couple. Sadly we said goodbye to her on October 8th, 2014. We got her from the barn shortly after we moved. She had to be one of the softest cats you had ever felt and of course one of the best looking calicos. LOL She was a great mouser and spent alot of her time in the basement hunting. She had a funny quirk. When she got ready to settle down and sleep, she parted the hair on her tail so only a few hairs were sticking up and then she proceeded to suck on those hairs.

Beaker is a litter mate to Cali. She is a great mouser. She loves to sneak outside when she gets the chance but if you say her name she quickly darts back in. She is VERY attached to Doug and is always coming up to him purring just as loud as can be begging to be picked up. Beaker of course never does this to me. She doesn't like change and isn't fond of strange dogs, although she has gotten much better with the dogs. She will still swat at Molly but it's not angry, it's almost like she is playing.

Sid was our Marshall Ferret. We said goodbye to him in 2012. He was amazing! Great with kids and other animals, but a total goofball. He definitely lived up to the typical ferret personality and a total thief! Sid's favorite thing to steal was pacifiers. He would take them right out of a baby's mouth if given the opportunity and then take off running! He always hid everything in the same place, so at least we knew where to find them, but of course they were always ruined. Anything rubber was in danger of ending up in the said spot. We definitely miss having him around.

Chloe is Cairn Terrier. She is a blast to have around and I'm definitely sold on the terrier family! She is great with the kids and loves spending time outside. She is a great woodchuck hunter and will sit at an occupied hole all day till she catches one. Even in the winter time she will spend forever out there and come back looking like a snowman. She loves to swim and will swim in any temperature water. She loves to mother other animals. Whether it be kittens from the barn, Case, or her own litter of puppies, she is a great mother! We have since fixed her. Although I'm sad there won't be another litter, it's for the best with the probability of us moving and having to find a new vet.

Meet Molly, our newest dog addition :) After taking some time to heal after losing Case, we decided that our household wasn't the same without a big dog around and we were missing something. So we took the plunge and went full out this time. Molly is a purebred, mis-marked mantle, Great Dane :) She has grown into one good looking pup! I'm still in love with this old picture though, so I'm not changing it! She stands about 31 inches at the shoulder and weighs over 100lbs (although honestly I'm not sure how much over because I can't lift her anymore!) She is great with the kids and loves to cuddle. She shares our bed and is the biggest baby ever. She is very protective and does not like when anyone is pinned down. She is right there to break up the "fight" LOL We love her to pieces!

When Doug's sister and her husband started breeding rabbits, I had a feeling deep down that it was only a matter of time....Here she is! Peterette started out as "Peter". When Madalyn realized "he" was actually a "she", she settled with Peterette. :) Peterette is a flemish giant, which according to what I have read is the Great Dane breed in the bunny world! Figures right? She is super sweet, very laid back and loves to be cuddled and pet. She'll stick her nose out of her cage when you enter the room just so you will scratch it!