Baby #6 has some talent!!

Baby 6 had always loved music. Just turn on some music or sing her an song and she turns from screaming to a little princess. We have a recorder that the kids use for school and she had figured out how it works. It is so sweet. She blows and moves her fingers to get it to make different sounds and them grins like a cheschire cat when it works. Babies are so wonderful in that they show pure joy at simple things. I wonder when we loose that.. it is so hard sometimes to just enjoy life. Things have been busy here and we have spent way too much time with doctors lately...but I have really been enjoying the greenhouse,sewing and my new coupon love. I guess being busy is a good thing......

Learning new things is fun!

We use cloth diapers for baby #6 and a few weeks ago there was a diaper swap at our local cloth diaper store. I was able to sell off the diapers that were getting too small and in the process I met a lovely lady. We were stationed close to each other during the swap and we got to talking. She was amazing and I learned a very use full thing from her that I have always been curious about..coupons. Yep I know it is silly but there have been several times in my life when I have been at the market behind some lady with a buggy stacked with groceries and hands the checker a fist full of coupons and her total ends up being something like $4.23!! How do they do that??? I really have wondered... we don't buy much processed foods and our grocery budget is not horrid with the huge garden and animals, but you still have to buy some things, why not get them for cheap??
So anyway we went to lunch and she told me all the scoop on coupons. I came home and was really excited to get started. One major problem was getting the coupons, we live in the country and getting the Sunday paper delivered doesn't work and we do not shop on Sunday.. what's a farm girl to do?? Raid the recycling that's what and I scored big time. I came home with the coupon inserts from several weeks. I found a great website that tells you what coupons to use and where so I ventured out. Walgreens is close and they had a few things that were on sale that we use. I have to admit that I was worried... what if all this doesn't go as planned and I have this buggy full of stuff and not really wanting to pay full price for any of it. I watched as the checker rang me up....23.56..47.79...85.61...my total was getting higher and higher..till it finally reached 120.64! (OUCH!! I have NEVER spent that much at Walgreens) I was probably white as a sheet.. I handed over my coupons...OK here we go I thought this is not going to work out and Hunky Hubby is gonna kill me.... 120.64..95.25...87.23..74.00..62.29..40.99..34.75.... and finally 31.89!! 31.89?? really?? Oh my GOSH!! that was so COOL!! I also got two coupons for my next visit to Walgreen totaling $8.00. So I got $120.64 dollars of stuff for $23.89... Yep I'm hooked

Back in the groove of things........

Baby #6 will be one in a few weeks, my how things change. She is a happy baby and we are so blessed to have her in our home. With her arrival I decided to take some time off from just about everything. We stopped milking,stopped the CSA and had a very small garden this past summer. With a year to just hand out with my kids at the pool and play I am really ready to be productive again.
I have started the garden plans for this year and am doing a VERY limited CSA. I love being outside and having my hands in the dirt. I am excited to get things going again and see all that lovely produce.. I have been drooling over the seed catalogs. When the weather is cold and nasty it is so fun to dream of gardens and tomatoes!

pears

We have a lovely neighbor with a rather large pear tree. The poor tree was so loaded with fruit that the branches needed support. I asked if we could gather some of the fallen pears for pear butter and to my surprise she said that we could have all the pears we wanted! I love pears but they take quite a bit of time to preserve. My sweet Mother in Law came out and helped. We peeled and chopped pears for most of the day. Our efforts payed off and we have lots of canned pears for this winter. I am still working up some of the smaller pears for jams and butter. What a blessing!!

The view outside my bedroom window.....

Farm life is a busy one....

When we bought this farm I was sure that we would be busy, I really didn't have any clue how busy we were going to be. Hunky Hubby and I are creative people.. which means that we ALWAYS have projects in the works. Some are small and some are huge. We are currently adding an addition to our house, we have two bedrooms right now.. Yep do the math 8 people in a two bedroom house. It's crazy! With the five kids in one bedroom and hunky hubby, myself and baby#6 in the other we learn exactly how far we can push our patience.
We began the addition bits and pieces about a year after we moved in. We are building ourselves ...which equates to conversations like:
Hunky: Hey can you come out and help me lift up this wall?
Me: ummm OK let me finish feeding the baby, and I will be out
Hunky: OK well can you hurry up
Me: thinking how exactly do you get a baby to nurse faster???
OK so I go outside...
Me: I am here what do you need..
Hunky: well help me lift this 20ft wall with two window headers and sheeting up...
Me: how much does that weigh???
Hunky: oh maybe several hundred pounds
Me: and you want ME to lift that????
Hunky: ya I'll help it will be easy
Me:....thinking you gotta be kidding.. that wall weighs more than twice my body weight and with the wind that we ALWAYS have I could be smashed like a pancake in 2.6 seconds.....well OK if you think it will be OK... by the way I like the hospital that is south of here better that the one north.. just so you know

OK so with a great effort the wall goes up!!

Hunky: OK hold that there while I brace it up
Me: you want me to hold this huge wall up all by myself while you bang on it with a hammer????
Hunky: ya
Me: you know that I am NOT a construction worker right??? and this wall is huge and if it falls in me how the heck are you gonna get it off me???
Hunky: it will be OK just hold the wall......

We now have all the exterior walls and interior walls up!!(thank heavens)
now hunky says its time for the ceiling joist.....someone please call a construction worker for me.

Baby #6 is 9mths

We have had some cooler weather and I am loving baby#6 and her wool longies. I purchased several pairs from some really talented knitters but they were a bit pricey. I had made some covers with up cycled wool sweaters and decided to make some longies. I found a wool/angora sweater at the thrift shop that is super soft. I brushed off the sewing machine and whipped up some super cute ruffled butt longies. They are so sweet and I love how cuddly baby is in them. Now I have to go find my stash of wool and make some more.. this is addicting