Merry Christmas

Hope you all had a good Christmas....I had a really hard time focusing on anything Christmas this year. Not sure why. Maybe all of the snow that we have had, which made us miss out on a Christmas Eve service. We have pretty much been sticking close to home for the last week and a half waiting for it to all go away. Praise the Lord we still have B#1's 4wheel drive pick up truck. We really used it! This year for Christmas we really wanted to cut back on the amount of stuff the kids ended up with so after talking to the grandparents and working things out we decided to get them a Wii. Now usually I am absolutely opposed to video games but this year I was intrigued by the Wii and the fact that there are so many active family friendly games to play. I was afraid of what the kids reaction would be when they realized that we didn't get them individual presents this year. I was so impressed by all of them. We drew names amongst the 9 of us so they still had some fun things from each other. B#5&6 didn't even make mention of the fact that they didn't get any toys. They have all been taking turns playing the Wii all day, boy are they gonna sleep good tonight. Lots of action in their and I think they are using muscles they didn't even know they had.

B#7 was so happy with his mop and broom that his sister picked out for him.

Wish we could have been with family this year. We miss you all but hope to see you in the months to come.

The First Snow-Fall

The snow had begun in the gloaming,

And busily all the night

Had been heaping field and highway

With a silence deep and white.

Every pine and fir and hemlock

Wore ermine too dear for an earl,

And the poorest twig on the elm-tree

Was ridged inch deep with pearl.

-By James Russell Lowell

I've always loved snow. Its wonderful to wake up and find that the world outside is coated with a crisp, sparkling, pearly white blanket of snow. Not to mention the delight of being the first to step in the snow, or the fun of having a snowball fight with your siblings (if you have siblings, that is). It always takes my breath away seeing the majestic, white-capped hills, or the regal evergreen and pine tree's snowy boughs, which look like frosty fingertips reaching out to the wintry world below them. With the wonderful little gadget, the camera, I was able to photograph these things. Enjoy!

-B #3

This is the life...

Big sister, B#4 is giving B#7 his daily blanket ride. This time ,however, he decided to lay down and really enjoy it. Smart boy!

A friend of mine gave B#7 his first real little boy haircut. Mom tried but only made things worse. He is growing up so fast!

A Day of Rest

Sometimes a day of rest, especially where we live, means a day of rest from the rain. Although we do usually try to rest on the Lord's Day, today was one of those days where we rested from the rain. There is always some work to be done out here so today we took advantage of the sunny fall weather and did some work.

Dear Hubby works on the never ending pile of wood.

B#3 helps with the huge leaf pile left by an unwanted cotton tree.

B#4 helps with B#7, trying in vain to get boots on his chubby little feet.

And B#2 stands by watching it all with her broken wrist. She claims she is supervising!?!? B#1 was up on the hill burying some pipe. Mom wasn't willing to walk all the way up there for a picture of him so you will just have to use your imagination. B#5&6 were busy playing instead of helping so they didn't get their picture taken either.

A Good Book

"Every part of a child's day, whether he is learning how to get along with others, or studying history, or learning to do his chores. or listening to discussions of current events in the world, should be from God's perspective. This is true piety and holy living."

So starts a good book that I am reading through for the second time called "The Little Book of Christian Character and Manners" by William and Colleen Dedrick. It has an adorable cover and wonderful parenting advice based on the Bible. I would recommend it to anyone raising children.

Soap Making

Last month several ladies and girls got together at a friend's house to make soap using real lye. I have always wanted to learn but using lye scared me so I never pursued it. It was amazingly easy, especially when all of the ingredients were provided to us already measured out. B#2 and B#4 had a good time making several batches while B#3 helped me with the little ones to keep them out of the kitchen. A good time was had by all and we were pleased to be invited to join in with the ladies this year. We are looking forward to next year unless we get brave enough to try it on our own here at home.

There were two different ways to make the soap. One way was the "hot process" which we did using crockpots. One lady needed to do hers in the oven and that seemed to be a better way to do it. The other way was called the "cold process". That one went much quicker but had to cure for two weeks to let the lye become safe to touch. We added essential oils and fragrances to our soap to make different smells. My favorite it the lavender, as that is one of my favorite smells and flowers.

Birthdays continued

Okay, I am back to finish up with the birthdays for the year. I will be missing B#6's birthday since I don't have any photos on my camera card that far back. If I find one I will add her birthday too. If not, hers is right around the corner again.

I couldn't resist posting this picture of DH's cake. Looks like we might need to call the fire dept. Sure is alot of smoke coming off of his cake:) According to the cake he is 29 but we know that isn't true, I just ran out of candles.

B#4 just celebrated her birthday this week. For the longest time I just didn't know what to get her. But the Lord put an idea in my mind and I ran it past dad who thought it was a great idea. Obviously from the look on her face she thought it was a great idea too. I think dad liked it just as much as she did. Any guesses? A camera. Now she can leave mine alone.

Well that's all for now folks. I am all tuckered out from birthdays, now on to Christmas!

Birthdays

The kids have been after me because I haven't blogged about anyone's birthdays after B#1. I thought I would just wait until we were done with birthdays until 2009. As I worked on adding pictures it seems that I can only add so many pictures to one blog so I will have to post again to add the rest of the birthdays. B#2 wanted to have strawberry shortcake for her birthday, hence the photo above. It isn't all that easy to have candles in strawberry shortcake.

For B#2's sweet 16 birthday we decided to get her some pretties for her hope chest, which actually was more like a hope box but we forged on anyway. I found lots of pretty things at Goodwill, people must not like to entertain with pretty things anymore. I found her a pretty silver tea pot at the local antique store. She was with me when I purchased it, boy was that hard to keep a secret. Her mamaw and papaw decided that a girl needs a proper hope chest so they bought her a beautiful oak one to put all of her pretty things in.

B#7 comes next in the birthday line-up. We used to go all out for birthdays, even for a one year old but we have grown older, wiser and added more children to the mix so we really try to keep things simple. For his birthday he had over one friend from church to help him open his presents. I do think he liked the boxes more:)

For B#3's birthday we bought her a big person bike, no more little bikes for her:) We decided that if you get a bike for your birthday then you need to go riding. We went to a local state park for a beautiful day of riding. I pushed the stroller as a bike just isn't a good idea for me. B#2 kept me company.

As I mentioned in our Reformation post, B#5's birthday falls on the 31st of October but since dad had to work he got to celebrate it early. We did offer him the option of waiting until after but for some reason he didn't want to wait:) He is very interested in anything space so we bought him a space set at the local museum and put it on top of his cake. He also loves science so we bought him a big jug of his very own vinegar and a box of baking soda. What more does a boy need?

Farewell family and friends

B#2 here, for the last time. Mom mentioned a few posts ago that I was considering doing my own blog. Well, I did it and will now leave you poor readers alone. :Sigh: No, I will no longer pester you with my odd writings and musings.
But wait. There's good news. You can visit my blog whenever you want!
You will find me at www.kingschild-caitlyn.blogspot.com I'm still getting started so there isn't that much on there but, I'll catch up eventually. :)
Goodbye for now.

~B#2

A message from our Pastor after election day

Many of us were disappointed last night. If you were not and all your candidates won, bear with us :>)

What can you do?

"Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit."
I Thessalonians 5:17-19

1. Pray without ceasing. For 8 years many of us have been, though we hate to admit it, trusting in George Bush. Now we need to do what we should have done all along - pray fervently for our nation, the unborn, marriage, religious freedoms, and for the grace of God to give us strength to suffer for doing right. The church has spent most of its history under bad governments and we have been spoiled. If the Obama administration and the Democrat congress were to accomplish what it says it wants, this is going to be a bad time to be a half-hearted believer in Christ. I will be praying that they will not accomplish their desires, but if they do, you will need to know Christ intimately in order to stay with Him.

2. In everything give thanks. For what? That nothing, no nothing, can ever separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:31-39). That Christ died on the Cross because He loves us that much. That to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). That we live in a country where we are still allowed to vote. That the structure of our government is based on the Word of God with checks and balances other governments do not have. That we have a church like ours. That attacks on the church and the family, if responded to in the right spirit and in the power of Christ, have historically strengthened and purified the Body of Christ. The list goes on.

3. Quench not the Spirit. Friends, if there was ever a time when you and I needed to be about the Lord's business, this is one of those times for sure. In Romans 8 we are told to set our mind on the things of the Spirit and not of the flesh. Search the Lord's Word in prayer and as the Lord leads you, follow Him. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual world (Ephesians 6). The coming days could be the best days yet for the church. Don't dwell on the news of the world, but look for ways the Lord might use you to advance His Kingdom during these times. "Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer." (Proverbs 25:4) Focus on the spiritual in your life, allowing the Lord to "take away the dross" from your life. That dross was the scummy or dirty part of the silver that had to be removed through the purification process. Then, when the purified silver remained, a fine piece could be crafted. Let's not quench or block the Spirit of God as He seeks to make us, the Church, useful to accomplish what He would during this time.

Anxiously awaiting the future activities of His Kingdom and blessed to be your pastor.

Reformation Party

One of the older girls reading about Martin Luther to the kids.

Our family has chosen not to celebrate Halloween and that decision was made even easier when B#5 was born on October 31st. Generally we celebrate his birthday that day. This year, however, dad had to work on his birthday so we decided to celebrate it earlier in the week so when we were invited by some good friends to a Reformation Party on the 31st we gladly accepted. The kids had a great time playing games like "Chucking Bibles into Germany", an Indulgence throw-away relay race, reading about Martin Luther and making crafts, bobbing for doughnuts(very messy), a hymn sing, lots of food and wonderful fellowship. All in all there were only 7 families but we had 35 children, lots of fun! B#4 took some pictures of it all so enjoy and happy belated Reformation Day.

B#6 bobbing for doughnuts. You thought there was water involved, didn't you?

Making cinnamon dough ornaments.

Coloring and still making ornaments.

Interesting Times We Live In

I did not start this blog with the intention of ever putting anything politcal on it but during these very interesting times I decided to do it anyway, at least this once. Below is an interesting article about Obama from the Boston Herald( I believe)...enjoy, it's pretty short:)












These pictures were taken by my dear husband at a 9-11 memorial event in a town near here to remember all those who died that day. There was a flag set up for each and every individual who died. How quickly America forgets what terrorists did and how quick we are to vote in someone with terrorist ties all for the sake of our own pocketbook.



Five reasons to vote against Obama
By Howie CarrSunday, November 2, 2008 - Updated 3h ago+ Recent Articles
Boston Herald Columnist
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Five reasons to vote against Obama? Only five? I could give you 50, no problem.1. He wants to tax working Americans back to the Stone Age. He lies when he says he will cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans. You know its nonsense because they can’t keep their numbers straight from hour to hour. Obama claims everyone making under $250,000 is safe, or is it $200,000 (the infomercial) or $150,000 (Joe Biden)? On Friday, Gov. Bill Richardson cut it to $120,000.
Oh what a tangled web we weave. The fact is, the wealth-spreaders have vowed to do away with the Bush tax cuts. So everybody who pays any income taxes is going to take a hit. Plus, the friends of ACORN also plan to get rid of the cap on Social Security withholding taxes. That means everyone who makes over $102,700 will be slaughtered. I don’t have room to talk about capital gains.

2. The federal courts. In that famous 2001 Chicago radio interview, Obama wistfully talked about the need for the Supreme Court to break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution. You know, those pesky constraints that make us a nation of laws, not governed by the whims of the Friends of Obama, or Jeremiah Wright. You think Breyer and Ginsburg are beyond the pale? Obama’s crowd thinks they’re too conservative.
3. Teach the Obama-worshipping bumkisser media a lesson. Have they ever been more in the tank for anyone? They’re all worried about the Patriot Act and terrorists’ rights at Gitmo, but they had no problems printing flat-out lies about Sarah Palin. More recently, they took handouts from Obama thugs in Ohio on Joe the Plumber’s tax liens, divorce problems, child-support payments etc. - worse violations of privacy rights than anything that’s happened under the Patriot Act. But who cares - Joe the Plumber is just a typical white person.
3. The character of Barack Obama. You can always tell a Harvard man, but you can’t tell him much. He lectures you that your kids will have to learn Spanish - your kids, not his. He’s always railing about economic justice, but his illegal-alien aunt lives in poverty in Southie. Hey Barack, I thought charity began at home. Like John Kerry and Joe Biden, he doesn’t believe in donating to charity. Obama is a classic liberal hypocrite: He’ll give anybody the shirt off your back, not his.
4. Michelle Obama. Another pampered semi-literate Ivy Leaguer who still considers herself a victim, even with her $360,000-a-year job as diversity coordinator at a Chicago hospital. Can you stand four years of this harridan lecturing you on your greed?
5. All the other stuff I don’t have much room for. Where the heck was Barack Obama really born? Dont forget his pal Bill Ayers dedication of his 1974 book “Prairie Fire” to, among others, Sirhan Sirhan. (Are you listening, Teddy and Caroline?) If Obama loses, Gwen Ifill’s book tanks. The return of the Fairness Doctrine to censor free speech. Joe Biden, a heartbeat away. And the No. 1 reason of all to vote against Barack Obama: If he loses it will drive the moonbats absolutely bonkers.


Kelly

Hooves abounding

I have been dying to post for a long time now but as you know, our computer has been down.

But :chuckles evilly: I now once more have the power!!

We just recently got a second horse; well okay, we recently got another boarder. :)

Ladies and gentlemen please welcome Jazzy.

Jazzy is an ex-racehorse who has been forgotten in somebody's back pasture for about five years. She's 18 years old 15.3 hands tall and is a beautiful dark bay. While she is pretty she is also full of bad habits. She cribs, meaning she will grab on to any surface she can and suck huge gulps of air, which can cause colic and other disorders. She also is extremely barn-sour and herd-bound. She head tosses, is disrespectful of your space and likes to spook at nothing to see what you will do.

But despite all of that I still like her. :) She is a very aristocratic animal and is a ham for the camera. B#3 and I do ride around together in the pasture and maybe someday we can actually take her on the trails in the 98 acres.

~B#2

To everything there is a season

Fall is my favorite season. I don't know why. I suppose most people would say that Christmas is their favorite season but not me. I do love Christmas, don't get me wrong. But I just love fall. The colors are so wonderfully vivid and the air is so crisp. I could go on but I think pictures speak much better than I can.

We are back!!!

After two aggravating weeks of knowing our computer had a sort of virus and then finally getting it in the shop....we got it back and fixed today. I know many of you have commented about waiting for there to be a new post. Sorry it has taken so long. Lots of good pictures were taken while we waited for our computer to come home to us so I will try tomorrow to get a real post on here. B#2 is hoping to start her own blog so that I can have mine back, but we shall see since that means I will need to keep everyone posted more often:) So until tomorrow....

Day #2

Hee, hee. I couldn't think of any other title. :)

Peaches is doing better today. Last night we gave her some "horsey Tylenol", put some DMSO on her leg and wrapped it in a splint boot. This morning I had to get up at 6:30 so I would have time to take care of the animals and still have time to get ready for church but I did pretty much the same thing except I first bathed her leg with soap and water to get the DMSO off, then I soaked her leg in an Epsom salt solution for 20 minutes; following it up with more DMSO, putting the splint boot back on and giving her another dose of "Tylenol". It's actually something called Butte but its basically just Tylenol for horses; it numbs the pain for them. It's interesting trying to get her to take it. :) You give it to the horse orally so you have to keep their head still while shoving a huge syringe towards the back of the throat, squirting it quickly and then hoping that you got it far enough back to keep them from spitting it out. Fun, fun, fun.

She was looking great by mid-afternoon. The swelling has gone down, she'd been putting weight on it and you can touch her leg without her flinching.
Tomorrow we're going to try doing nothing but the DMSO and seeing how she does because she is healing up very quickly.

In case you're wondering what in the world DMSO is I'll give you a quick fill in.
DMSO is a hot/cold liniment that you put on sore joints. I don't know what the DMSO stands for though. It's really weird putting it on her because you can actually feel the heat right through your glove. That stuff gets hot! and then if you rub it in long enough then it will suddenly feel really cold. You do have to be really careful with it though; if you get it on you then it seeps into the pores on your skin and you end up tasting garlic for a week. When you open up the jar you smell a disgustingly overpowering smell of garlic. I like the smell of garlic but... not quite that much. :)

We will still have to keep off of her for about two weeks still but....guess what?
We just might, might being the key word here, be getting another horse! Miss Jennifer is looking at a couple of free horses, an Arabian, a Tennessee Walker/Freisan cross, and a thoroughbred. So who knows what will happen around here!

I'll try to write again tomorrow to let you know how Peaches is faring.

~B#2

No hoof, no horse

The saying no hoof, no horse is a very old but very true saying. Horses' legs are very delicate and they can be hurt easily.

Yesterday morning I noticed that our dear Peaches seemed to be favoring her left front leg. I examined it carefully but couldn't find anything wrong with it so I decided to just keep an eye on it. This morning when I went out to take care of the animals I took one look at Peaches and knew something was wrong. She was holding her front left leg up, the pastern and fetlock were visibly swollen and she trembled with pain every time you touched her leg. I gave her some extra hay to keep her from trying to move and then went in to call her owner, Miss Jennifer.

Miss Jennifer came a little later and with her she brought three friends of hers; all experienced horsemen. They gave her a very in-depth examination and decided that she either has a serious sprain, she twisted her fetlock or she has a fracture somwhere. They suggested soaking her leg in an epsom salt solution twice a day for 30 minutes and putting a liniment on as well. Then seeing how she was in about three or four days. If Peaches doesn't start recovering in about four days then we will call the vet to come and take a look at her and probably take some x-rays.

I really can't figure out how she could have hurt herself. She been in our little fenced pasture where there aren't any holes or anything. And I don't think she has been running around.

So hopefully she will be better in about two weeks.
I'll keep you up-dated on her.

~B#2

Nothing in particular

Shame on me, I haven't been blogging as often as I should be.

Things have been busy way out here in the boonies Er, I meant to say Sheridan. :)
School has started, well actually it's been 'started' for about three weeks now but I've been so busy with it that I haven't had time to tell you (Sorry!). I'm in eleventh grade this year; HURRAY! one more year and then I will be done....done for good....done,done,done. Did I mention that I would be done? Math is as math usually is: not fun, boring, hard and ummm...it's math! I am really enjoying my Language arts though. So that makes up for the math a little bit

Okay so you've probably noticed that I'm in a quirky mood today. :) Everybody's gone except me, B#3 and B#4. Everyone else went into town. I'm very much a homebody and prefer to stay here whenever I can. But... I got a little bored so I told myself that I would do some blogging.

For a couple weeks now I have been asking mom to let me change the blog look. She's contemplating it, which usually means that she's hoping I'll get tired of waiting and give up.
I need a change, or maybe I just want a change, I don't know yet. But I found a really nice new look. Do you think we should change? Or would that be too....changed?

Change of subject for now. :)
One thing I really, really have been wanting (yes this is a want not a need) to do is to start raising rabbits again. While we do still have three rabbits left it's just not the same as raising rabbits. I've been raising rabbits for five years now; before we sold our rabbits we had around 21 and we've had over 45 different rabbits over the years. When I stopped it just felt like something was missing in life. I just really miss seeing all my rabbits in the morning jumping up at their doors waiting for breakfast, getting them ready for shows, waiting for the does to kindle, going nuts over trying to figure out all those pedigrees etc. etc. I could start raising them again; mom's fine with it (at least, I'm pretty sure she is) But I'll have to wait a while until I have sufficient funds to start again. I sold all of my rabbit stuff so I now need cages, nestboxes, feed, and of course the rabbits! B#4 wants to start rabbits again as well but we are both looking at different breeds. I would looove to start raising English spot rabbits. They are pet, show, meat and pelt rabbits; they're medium sized, gentle and the kits grow fast.
B#4 is looking at raising Rhinelanders. They're a lot like the spots only a bit bigger. I tried to post pics of them but failed my mission. Maybe some other time.

Are you asleep yet?

You could always exit this site if my musings are boring you. Hee, hee.

Peaches is doing great. Of the late we girls have been riding her bareback with just a halter and lead rope. It's been really fun. Have you ever ridden bareback in the rain? Okay, go ahead and laugh, but that's what I did yesterday. It wasn't pouring or anything but I'm sure a more sensible person would have at least put a coat on (I forgot mine). :D

I can't think of anything else to write about right now so I shall end here.

Have you noticed how I can never, ever seem to write a short post? I just have to much to say I guess.

Okay I really am going this time. :)

~B#2

And kitties make eight

I couldn't help but give a squeal of delight this morning when I found Olivia with her new litter of kittens. Yup, that's right, she finally had them. :)

I knew it was coming though. Early this morning when I came out to take care of the animals I noticed that Olivia was acting very strange. Number one, she was actually rubbing up against me; now for Olivia that is strange indeed, she hates to be touched and doesn't really like to be near humans. Number two, She looked sunken around her hip-bones. That's a sure sign that an animal is going to have them soon and she just had this really weird "Find me a nest box very very quick." attitude; if you know what I mean.

So I quickly got an old blanket and put it in our official "cat nest box". Olivia leaped in there and immediately started making it comfortable.

Two hours later I went out and found 7 adorable, fluffy newborn kittens! I can't help it; I should be sick about having another litter but I can't help but feel a delightful sensation when I get to see a newborn baby, kitten or human. :) It's always exciting knowing that you are the very first human to get to see these little treasures (well, at least I think that they're treasures).

Three of the kittens are pure white, three are white with black patches and one is a tabby.

Maybe we should be cat farmers....We certainly get them in abundance here. $100 per kitten would be a fair price don't you think? LOL.Life is precious.

~B#2

Falling into Autumn

Hee, hee. Those fall puns are fun to do. :)

Anyway. After our tea I decided to do some hunting. No not with a gun but rather a camera. My prey? Anything that had "fall colors". Lucky for me I don't need a hunting tag for that kind of game. LOL.

I meandered around our property, taking snapshots of anything pretty that caught my eye.

Some wild Rosehips I found.

I found a wild apple tree too!

I love the color on these flowers.

Our peonies are dying but they give a show of color right before they die.


I don't know what kind of tre this is but, it's pretty!



Peaches counts for "fall colors" right?

Don't ask me why I like this shot...I just do.


I felt like I had just found a treasure when I discovered these.

Aaaahhh....Autumn.

~B#2