In Loving Memory of our dog Ratchet

Our much loved and energetic dog Ratchet died unexpectedly yesterday, leaving our family far too soon.  I can't even type without tears so I won't say much but keep all five of us in your thoughts and prayers as he will be VERY missed.

Our little buddy, constant companion, joyful playmate and fierce protector.

Ratchet, you will be forever missed here on our gravelly road.

Hello and Goodbye Deer

Adoption Days and News

Little Cottage on the gravelly road

We have a new bit of fun in the backyard.

A new playhouse.

Dad started working on it the weekend of the fair, and then last weekend Grandpa and Grandma came to help him finish.

The kids are having so much fun, though it not usually a house, cabin or cottage.  Instead according to the kids, its usually an ice cream store here on our gravelly road serving all sorts of interesting ice cream flavors made of all natural ingredients (grass, dandelions, sand, rocks, clover, variety of leaves).  Never a dull moment.

I have discovered that the shade on the porch of the playhouse makes it a nice spot to take pics of the kids on sunny days.  Several times they've been silly on the porch while I took quick pics.

Some of our new fun in the backyard on the gravelly road.

Fun at the Fair 2015

Its one of our signals that summer is nearing its end... we just enjoyed the our county fair this weekend.  Again this year, the everyone entered projects this year but a few less per person than previous years since there are 5 of us now.  We tried a few new categories that went well... the boys created vegetable animals/people and our little girl "dressed a potato" (like a baby).  Our kiddos enjoyed finding their projects in the open class crafts and garden buildings.  Our course coming home with lots of ribbons was fun too -- they played "fair" for several days after, passing ribbons out to their stuffed animals.

Of course the barns were a hit, plus we watched several groups doing cow sorting which the kids enjoyed.  Each also built a Home Depot project, filled out the animal survey to get a free ice cream, and rode the dragon "roller coaster".  One unexpected highlight this year though was the free climbing wall, yes free.  Each kiddo tried it twice.  (Dad did too). Younger brother made it all the way to the top each time to ring the buzzer.  He was so determined and so brave.

Another day of fun at the county fair, then back home to the gravelly road.

Five Minute Friday: Here

This week I'm again participating in Five Minute Fridays at Kate Motaung's blog, (after another long hiatus) encouraging bloggers to write on a prompt unedited for five minutes.  This week's prompt: Here

START

I think I said it about over a hundred times yesterday.

"Come here"
"Over here please"
"Please stay here"
"Just wait here a minute"
"We are playing here now, we can go over there together later"

and about every other variation.

Managing three young kids at an indoor hotel waterpark is no small task for me.  Life jackets, towels, walk don't run, slides, kids jumping in wanting to be caught, carrying tubes, and making sure they stayed together.  Yet we had fun playing while Dad worked.

All afternoon and evening, I was "here" with the kids, present and away from distractions that can fill our days at home: chores, cooking, dishes, emails, etc.  Instead we laughed, splashed, swam, and wore each other out until all three kids were camped out on a hotel bed watching cartoons before bedtime.

I want them to know I'm here for each of them, ready to help when they fall, cheer when they try hard, the person to come to when they hurt or sad, or just need to talk.  Building that trust and connection is work for any parent, yet feels like a more intentional task when kids join your family not at their start.

I want to be here, in the moment, with them.  I want to witness their days  I want to a part of their everyday moments and hear their silly stories.  And as I am with them in the here and now, the day-to-day, I pray to find ways to connect them to the One who witnessed their past and holds their future.

END

Good bye chickens... for now

We came home Sunday afternoon after a weekend of camping (close to home) to find that a creature had slaughtered our chickens Saturday night.  It was so incredibly heart breaking! 

Our hens were locked up safe in their coop when we stopped at the house Saturday evening and all 7 were dead the next day.  The culprit (likely a raccoon) broke through two layers of fence to get into the main coop, making a hole the size of a dinner plate.

I'm so thankful I spotted the problem and hubby was home to clean up the mess before the kids saw anything from the backyard.  A weekday morning we might not have been so fortunate.  The kids are having a hard enough time with the fact the chickens are gone without having the mental image of the coop.

I know they are just farm animals, but I miss the rhythm and routine they added to our days... getting eggs in the morning, letting them out after lunch, locking them up at dusk, talking about them with the kids during the day.  I'm sure we'll have chickens again, likely not until spring through unless we find someone local with more chickens than they need.  Of course hubby has already been discussing improvements to our coop set-up in hopes of doing better at keeping predators out -- though we have been pretty lucky before now, only loosing a few hens over the last 2.5 years.

But for now, good-bye to our chicken adventure on the gravelly road :(