Journey to the edge of boyhood

Summer 2009

2009-10-29T20:11:00.007-04:00

I found Moses in our bathroom looking @ a hunting magazine. I had to frame it and put it over our toilet.
We went to the Gulf in Sept and camped @ a state beach in Destin, FL. It was our second year there and we had a blast. We all had so much fun @ the beach and fishing.
I love this picture and if it had all of us in it I would totally use it as a Christmas card this year!
Cole caught this ladyfish when we rented a boat. He reeled it in like any good deep sea fisherman and if only you could have seen the excitement!!!
Rezin followed with a catfish. I never knew that there were catfish in the ocean....
Man, Rezin seems to grow daily! That sweet face just melts my heart.
For Halloween we have 2 dirt bike riders and a muscle Spiderman.

What we've been doing lately

2009-07-21T17:38:00.007-04:00

Cole caught this huge catfish at the lake by grandma's house. He is totally obsessed with fishing and feels like he don't get enough fishing time. The kids fishes at least 5 days a week!!
Rezin did a "Boy's Only" art camp for a week and loved it. He also got to work with clay everyday:) He is such an artist.
Rezin helping knead dough for supper.
Moses & his pacifier:) How will we ever get him to give it up?
Rezin & Moses having a picnic in the dining room! I love it when the kids have fun together.

A new Old toy

2009-07-21T17:18:00.004-04:00

This is Moses playing happily with a train set that has been in our homeschool room for over a year and has NEVER been played with. So now that I am cleaning and purging we (Dan & I) decided it was time to get rid of it.
Well, Moses and Rezin do not agree!! They have been playing with it in the garage for half the day. Why are toys better when it is time for them to go?
Moses has a love/hate relationship with this train set. He loves it when it stays on track but when they fall of he resorts to this...
Yes, that is a John Deere tractor in the background.

Keeping It Real!!!

2009-05-29T22:27:00.007-04:00

I do have a really sweet friend, Janell and with her there's no pretense, if you're invited over your gonna eat what their family would eat every night and the house is gonna be like it always is, and I LOVE that about her, I love being invited over to be part of the family!

This is what my really good friend Cyndi wrote about me on her blog. You should really check out her blog "www.oldtimecyndi.blogspot.com" and read more on what she had to say on us moms/wifes and all we do, want to do, and want others to think we do! Anyway it got me to thinking.
I could post just this pic of Cole reading to Moses and talk about the wonderful sides of homeschooling and how I love to see my kids help each other out. Only show pics of my house looking tidy, all my kids smiling, and photoshop pics of me if I knew how. So often we only let others see what we want them to see. We don't keep it real.
So many times us moms only see that part! It is so easy to notice what others are doing and what I am not doing. I realize that Satan so wants us moms to either be caught in the trap of being focused on our shortcomings, compared to other Moms, or he wants us to be on the other side and put our focus on how we want to look on the outside. Like Cyndi was saying, wanting others to see us, our homes, families, abilites, etc so much more than they really are. I think that this would be called pride and pride sucks. It is debilatating!!!
Lets keep it real!!! There are only 24 hours in a day. The kids need us, our husbands, friends, we need time with the Lord, house needs cleaning, bills need paying, school needs to get done, and so on. You get my drift.
Moses I just love this kid. He loves, I mean loves his pacifier, and blanket and we have no idea how we will say goodbye to the pacifier.
Little boy booty crack is so cute!!
Cole found these frogs at the lake. They were in the process of mating and he tried to seperate them but daddy frog held on tight. He put them in a tank and the next day we found them still together and the momma was laying a ton of eggs.

What we have been up to...

2009-05-29T22:04:00.007-04:00

On Memorial day we took the kids to Amicalola Falls and the kids swam and fished in the water. Moses was not content to be in the mellow pools of water. He really wanted to make it to the raging rapids. He calls swimming - "swimim" !! Dan and I spent the day being pulled by a really strong and determined two year old.
Everyone but Moses and I caught at least one fish!!!
This is so funny. It was pretty hot out and the boys had been out a lot that morning. They wanted to go back out while I put Moses down for a nap. I was fine with that as long as they both wore a hat. This is what I found when I looked out my bedroom window. They are going down into the creek looking for frogs and snakes, one has a winter beenie (which will NOT protect the face and neck from the sun) and the other has one of my sun hats on. I had to laugh and I still smile when I see this picture. At least they listened.
Can you guess what this picture is? I wish I had awesome gifts to give to the first person to guess correctly, but I don't so I will tell you....GOAT BALLS!!!
I told you that they were kinds cute! I can't believe that I just said that.

All Before 10AM!!

2009-04-30T11:37:00.004-04:00

Our days are always filled with "adventure" and there is rarely a dull moment. Today has been no different.
Cole, Moses, and I went out to feed animals, let the chickens out of their coop, let the goats into the back pasture, and hang the clothes on the line. While I was hanging the clothes on the line I pulled a pair of jeans out of the laundry basket and something feel on my bare feet. You will for sure NEVER guess and let me guarantee you that it would have NEVER happened in California. GOAT BALLS!!! Yes you read that right. When Dan made our male goats wethers he used the band method. You put these heavy duty bands around their ...... you know and they eventually fall off. Rezin found something cool in the yard yesterday and brought them to me. I told him what they were and he decided to save them in his pocket for daddy to see.
So I washed them, not knowing of course and I know that is gross. But, I am glad that I was on top of the laundry because that could have been really bad left in the laundry room.
I found Moses in the creek. When you let him out he makes a beeline for the creek. He brought some "inside" toys out....which means they probably will never make it back in. When I finally got him out, his cloth diaper was covered in mud and poop!!! He cried all the way to the bath because he would rather stay in the mud and poop.
Rezin was on the back porch and was peeing in a fish aquarium that he had tadpoles in. GROSS I know!!! I don't think that the tadpoles would make it. I have no idea what makes them do these things. I made him pee in the grass and not the tank. This afternoon we will be cleaning that tank, I assure you.
Just think if I updated daily how much adventure I could share with you:)

What did you just say????

2009-04-26T22:15:00.004-04:00

Rezin and I were on the couch the other day and I thought that he was asleep. I was flipping through the channels (which isn't that exciting since we don't have the DISH anymore:). Well, anyway... I came across Legally Blonde and you know the older lady that Reese Witherspoon hangs out with who always seems to be popping out of her tops, if you know what I mean!! rezin, who I thought was asleep says, "Momma, I can see her pits!!! He was half asleep so I had to have him repeat himself. Heck, I probably still would have needed him to repeat himself even if it was during the day. He went ahead and repeated, "I can see her pits!!!"
I am trying to figure out what he means...can he really see her armpits I mean she is wearing a strapless dress? That is such a weird body part to comment on! So I say, "Honey what do you mean her pits? Her armpits?" He replies, half annoyed & half disgusted, "those FAT things that girls have!!!" OH MY GOSH!!! He is talking about her chest....he is referring to them a fat things with disgust!!!
Dan and I have been laughing about this ever since and will probably laugh over this as long as we live:) I am just glad he said it to me and not his Sunday School teacher. We are trying to straighten up the difference between our ARM pits and our chest.

I pretty much love our chickens!!

2009-04-14T19:09:00.006-04:00

Ok, so take a look at these beautiful eggs!!! The blueish one is from our Aracuana chicken (we have 2 more we are waiting and hoping that they will start laying soon). The Aracuana "Easter Egg" chicken will lay eggs varying from turqoise to deep olive to shades of brown. Everyone else lays shades of brown. Cole is selling his eggs at church and he tries to make sure that everyone who buys his eggs gets a blue one!!!
So anyway, I just... we just LOVE our chickens and hope to always have them. We have always had a rooster (well, always meaning since we moved to GA and started the country life thing.) We would hear all these stories of roosters flogging people (more about that later if you have no idea). Well we have never had one of those kinds of roosters......
until now!!!! Meet Mr. Flogger!!!!!! He is huge, you may not be able to tell from this picture but trust me on this one. He loves to strut his stuff, cock-a-doodle-doo, puff up his hackle and try to scare the you know what out of people. Well all of his "cockyness" has been making me more and more nervous, and as of today Mr. Flogger and I are no longer friends.
Look at how much bigger he is than everyone else. I would have loved to have taken a picture of him on the other side of the fence but I am terrified!!!!
Here's the story...
I went out this morning with my barn pants (old pair of jeans that get poo, mud, and other yucky stuff on them), my egg basket, and my bin of kitchen scraps to feed the chickens with. I took care of the goats so that they were happy!! Then I let the chickens out and gave them their scraps. One important thing to point out is I also bring a broom, you will see why. Today I had very little scraps because we ate out last night. Well, Mr. Flogger was not happy about that. He meet me at the door of the chicken coop and when I tried to leave with my basket full of eggs he said NO. He wouldn't backdown and when I went a little to the left, so did he. When I went a little to the right, so did he. By now my heart was racing!!!
All I could think about was how Dan was flogged by the rooster twice on Saturday while we where trying to round up goats. Dan though was not scared. He is so very brave!!!! He just did what he keeps telling me to do...Soccer kick him. I don't have my witts about me in that situation to think to soccer kick. I was raised in the city remmeber and never had to worry about flogging roosters. Plus my legs are way too short and if I get close enough to kick him, then that rooster is just way too close.
Anyway back to my story. My heart was racing and I was telling the rooster to "STOP" but he didn't listen. Well I scooted a little bit too much to the right for him and he went up to flog me. Which means he jumped up, and tried to get me with his spurs. They jump up really high (for me anyway) and they are really quick as they try to go pow, pow with their spurs. Thank God for that broom because I was able to scream and pin him to the ground. What good does that do? I still have to get out of there. I can't stand their all day holding him down. When I let go he started all over again and I was yelling "NO, STOP IT!!!!!!" I threw an egg to try and distract him and he didn't even look away from me. He wanted me dead!!!! That is how I took it:) I have no idea what made him walk away, he probably saw a hen that looked good to him. He is such a cocky little punk!!! I high-tailed it out of there and called Dan to let him know that when he got home from work today we would be making some fresh chicken stew!!!!!!
I would have killed him myself...if I knew how to:) I will learn tonight though.
Oh, yeah during all the flogging, he made me break all the eggs in my basket.

Gardening

2009-03-22T19:25:00.003-04:00

Our super nice neighbor Mr. Daryl came over with his tractor and started breaking ground for our garden. We are so excited:) It was so much fun to watch him break ground and talk about all the yummy things that we will be able to grow.
Today I cleaned out the chicken coop and filled a wheel barrel full of poop for the garden. The kids asked if they could poop in the garden? I say no way!!! They want to know why not, if we put chicken poo and horse poo in the garden, why not our poo? I have to think about that one!!!

Kung Fu Rezin!!!

2009-03-22T19:18:00.002-04:00

Rezin is now an orange belt!!!! He has been doing Karate now for about a month or so and he is so funny to watch. Sometimes he is in to it and sometimes he is in lala land.
The one thing about Karate that will always bring Rezin back is kicking. He loves kicking, he is one great "board breaker".

Wild Olive Tees

2009-03-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

You guys have to check out this website:
www.wildolivetees.com
They have the cutest tees with verses. I am so excited to get me one!!
Janell

Georgia Clay!!!

2009-03-10T22:51:00.003-04:00

The boys LOVE mud!!!! This is the damage of Rezin, Moses & a little bit of mud!!! Mud has some type of magnetic force that draws my children. The red Georgia clay is continually growing our amount of "play clothes" because of the stains. So if you ever come over and wonder why my children look like mountain children, it is because they are!!! They have fun outside and they can prove it, just look at this water.

Building a Dam

2009-03-04T21:37:00.005-05:00

The boys can rarely ever sit still!!! We are so blessed to have the property we have because they love every piece of it. Today we enjoyed building Dams. I watched as they busied themselves. They built one up the creek earlier in the week but today they decided to move it downstream. Moses loves wading in the FREEZING water until he is begging for a bath. I love to watch their little minds work and think everything through.

Today was a good day!!

2009-03-04T20:59:00.008-05:00

Today was so nice because we were able to spend so much time outdoors. It has been really cold and we have all been cooped up in the house. The boys are so wound up that they can't keep from wrestling, which we all know turns ugly really quick.

Cole is so in love with these goats (we all are, really). Shadow was giving him a kiss.
Cole would just love to spend all day out with the animals. He would love it if I could follow him around reading to him while he goes about his business. Outside school is his favorite.
Cole wears Dans' boats around outside and they are rather large.
We are trying to get Moses to stop chasing the goats and stay still long enough for Cookie & Shadow to come up to them.
Here they come!!
Cookie and Shadow love to play ring around the tree. They jump out at each other and it is so fun to watch. Rezin was cracking up when they started to play with him.
One of my favorite things about winter is that you truly appreciate a warm sunny day!!! When the warmth of spring approaches you can feel, see, hear, and smell everything outside is out and about, excited to enjoy that warmth. I find that there is a renewed sense of awareness when everything begins to come to life. I am getting way to excited, winter is not over and we will surely have plenty of really cold days to come. But hey, that is what makes the warm ones so fun!!!

Dan is ready to milk a goat!!!!!

2009-02-24T21:33:00.003-05:00

Well the lastest excitement at the Samstag Farm started when I got back from California. I really wanted Sasha (our goat) to wait to have her babies until I got home. She honored that requested.
Here is what happened...
We got home Monday night around 10pm and after laying the kids in bed Dan and I went out to the barn to check on the animals. Sasha had 2 babies !!! One didn't make it (so sad). They were/are both boys because that is how we roll!!!! The problem is that Sasha is so timid that she does not want to be around us humans. This makes it really hard to help her out and tend to her and the baby. Anyway Dan had to take the baby and help dry him off because it was below freezing. Of course Sasha didn't want anything to do with us but Cupcake (the other momma goat) came with her babies to check out the new baby. Then the drama began......and didn't get us in bed until 2 am.
Our super sweet, really good momma Cupcake went in to see Sasha and they started fighting, it was not pretty. The really sucky thing is that Cupcake went on to headbutt Sasha's baby
so hard that the baby flew a few feet. Oh my goodness, I freaked!!!! So we had to separate everyone, it was freezing, late, and a crazy welcome home to the farm. I like it though!!!!
So back to the milking. Sasha doesn't seem to be as good of a mother as Cupcake and every time I went out to check on her and her baby the baby was under the heatlamp and Sasha was on the other side of the stall.
After dinner Dan went out found the same scenerio and we were concerned. The feed stores were all closed but they answered the phone. The ending consenes was that if we don't get colostrum in the baby he won't make it through the night. So remember that Sasha doesn't like to be around us humans and she has horns. So Dan dressed up in his dirt bike helmet and chest protector and told me to get it together and come help him catch the goat and milk her!!!!! So off we went to the barn with the children.
Dan caught her after some effort and it went surprisingly well. At one point Dan had straddled the goat and he had two horns resting on his butt as he was trying to readjust. Talk about sweating bullets. If she freaked out she could have been the one to decide if we have another baby or Dan would have had to go to the ER with some puncture wounds to the butt!!!!
We got 8 ounces of colostrum out of momma and then little bugger wouldn't take the bottle. He fits right in here. He is a boy and he is a stubborn fighter. I will let you know how it turns out. It is 10 pm and we are waiting for the kids to fall asleep so we can go back out to try again.
We are learning so, so much!!!!

2009-02-22T00:03:00.001-05:00

New additions!!!!

2009-02-15T19:55:00.002-05:00

We are so excited to have new babies at our house. We woke up to these two new additions!!!
The black baby looks just like his daddy and the tan, white, and black baby looks just like momma. As you can see Cole is so very proud of his kids. Dan and I are so blessed to watch him nurture these new babies. He is glowing with excitement and pride. He is content to just lay in the barn with them.

I tried uploading the pictures on flickr.com to see if it is any faster. I am just trying it out. Next time I will add the details with the pictures. Slowly but surely I will get it. But anyway, enjoy the pictures. We are having so much fun with all the animals that we have now. We are also learning so much from them.

New life is so amazing not only in us humans but also with animals. Dan and I are so stoked that our kids are experiencing all of this first hand. Just another reason we chose to leave Southern California and move to Georgia.

Love you guys,
Janell

2009-02-15T19:53:00.002-05:00

www.flickr.com

Go to janellsam's photostream

Goats & Kids

2009-02-06T22:51:00.004-05:00

Sasha is very pregnant and we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of her kids.
Moses desperately wants to be in on the action. Look on to see why I don't want him in.
He is trying so hard to get in. (It is in the low 30s and the wind hurts)
Cole & Rezin have decided that they will lasso Billy and teach him to walk on a lead leash. Billy says HECK NO!!! They worked so hard for so long in the cold. I love the determination when it is not against me. They ended up trying to get into his pen with him. I had to remind them several times that he has horns and a much harder head. Cole put the rope on a stick just like Steve Irwin and tried to get that lasso over Billy's head.
Finally he succeeded and it took both if them on the rope to pull Billy out of his pen. Once he was free he bucked and thrashed and got loose. They worked so hard and had so much fun doing it. When they can out of his enclosure Cole told me that he would work with Billy everyday until Billy was comfortable with it. He has been out there everyday.
The reason Billy is apart from his pregnant ladies is because he is so ruff with them. He won't let anyone but Cupcake eat until he is done. He makes eating time a fight. Also we don't know exactly when the girls were breed because he stayed with them all the time. He is not happy to be away from them though. He needs a friend.

Good Morning!!!

2009-02-06T22:40:00.003-05:00

Isn't God creative? So amazing!!
That steam is from my breath because it was so flippin cold.

Boys with Guns!!!

2009-02-06T21:54:00.008-05:00

I have mixed emotions about the boys and guns. On one hand I love how proud they are of themselves when they are using the guns safely.
Like this picture makes me melt a little. If you could only see the look on his face. But then you wouldn't get to see this picture from behind.
Dan does an awesome job teaching them how to use the guns safely and how to respect the guns. They are 4 & 6 so we still have to be ever so vigilent.
Moses even loves the sound of the guns and pretends to shot people as we walk through Wal-Mart and @ church. So glad we live in the south now. I just can't see that going over so well in California.
Rezin gets really excited when he shots. He feeds off of the power of the gun and the noise. He really likes to shot the .22 and the shotgun. Moses just hangs out and enjoys the ride. It will be hard when he no longer fits in the backpack. He has to be contained at all times when the guns are out, for obvious reasons.
The other side of my mixed emotion is that they are 4 & 6 years old and my 21 month old pretends to shot people. Teaching preschool and going to college in CA, I would have assumed that these kids where exposed to violent movies or video games or something else violent. The kids at the preschool were not aloud to talk about guns, pretend guns, or anything of the sorts with guns.

What kind of parents would have a 21 month old who pretends to shot innocent paser byers (are those legit words?) at church for goodness sake? Well the kind of kid that grows up in the country with a dad that hunts and animals that we have to protect. They don't watch violent movies or play violent video games. Well, they did see one of Dan's war games on the PSP but that was brief and all this started way before.
So I am glad to say that this side of my mixed emotion is the one that I have to put in its place. And I am glad that they are learning the right way to handle guns. Dan and I believe that if guns are in our home the kids better know how to use them!!
Anyway , I'm done with my gun talk. The kids are stinkin cute with the guns though!!!

Riding the Garage Door

2009-01-14T21:33:00.003-05:00

A friend reminded me of something that I has forgotten about and never want to forget. When Rezin was about two-ish (we hadn't lived in Ga very long) he had a very scary encounter with our garage door. When I say scary I mean REALLY scary for me and fun and exciting for the boys. I was upstairs and I heard the garage door opening. Something in me said run, something is not right. So I ran downstairs to find that Cole had pushed the button to open the garage and Rezin was riding it all the way up. He was holding on and his feet were dangling and my heart dropped. I couldn't get to him fast enough. It was one of those times where you are running but not getting anywhere. He let go and dropped to the ground but, he was fine.
He must have been just two or younger because he broke his leg at 12-13 months and all I could think was that he was going to re-brake it.
Then I thought of trying to explain to the ER doctor how my child had broken his leg twice at such a young age!!!

Stuck in the Snow

2009-01-11T14:52:00.014-05:00

New Hampshire is so very beautiful!!! The fresh fallen snow on the trees and the flowing brook. Everyone should experience New England at least once in each season.
You could probably leave this part out though!!! It had been snowing ALL day. Dan went snowboarding and the boys and I spent time with family. When Dan got home we went out to visit some family that live out in the country. "In Town" they didn't start plowing until noonish. That seems weird to me!! We had to drive around slippin and sliding. Dan LOVED it. He loves the feeling of not being firmly planted on the ground. I on the other hand usually prefer my tires to be stable on the road. When we got to my familys driveway, where the plow guy obviously didn't visit, I couldn't see the ruts in the road under all that snow. Until I heard ice crack and my front right tire dropped into a icy/water hole. I knew we were stuck and was not happy.
Such a pretty drive though.
Dan was laughing and quickly referenced me getting stuck in our backyard.
Cole really liked it also. Rezin was asleep in the car and Moses was in his seat screaming!!
That back left tire was just spinning and barely touching the ground.
Lots of snow. Well after all my family drove up with their huge 4x4 trucks and laughed at me for getting stuck and laughed at us for having such a large "rig" without having 4-wheel drive they hitched us up bumper to bumper. I was stressing!! Cole was LOVING it along with Dan. They hitched the two cars together with a big chain. Dan had our car in reverse and my Uncle had his trying to pull us out. It wasn't working!!! Guys love to see snow flying, steam from the cars working hard, engines revving and the risk of the cars possibly colliding. Well they had to really work and eventually my car was free. Once my car was free both my car, which could probably referred to as a truck but anyway, and my Uncles truck both started sliding together, hooked up, across the driveway. Exciting but SCARY!! Dan had the biggest smile on his face.
Dan was moving to a space with less snow but on the way there he got stuck AGAIN!!!!! So now time for round two. This time was better though because it was just snow and we were not stuck down inside something. When Dan got loose again he slid across the driveway, "like Lightning McQueen" according to Cole. Luckily he just missed taking out their mailboxes. No, we didn't not have snow tires or anything close to them.
Exciting huh!!!!

Snow in New Hampshire

2008-12-28T20:47:00.005-05:00

Even though there wasn't that much snow by NH standards my GA boys were soooo very excited to play in whatever snow they could. As I am writing this Dan, Cole, Rezin, and their cousin Kristian are out at a school sledding down hills.
Moses LOVED to go flying down little hills on the sled. He was not willing to share.

Merry Christmas From Our Farm to Yours

2008-12-19T13:47:00.011-05:00

We pray that you will enjoy those you love this Christmas season and that you would remember the one who blesses all of us, with those we love. Thank you Jesus!
Salamander
Cole & Rezin are using daddy's pool net to fish out frogs and crawdad's from the creek. Not only do they (the boys, fish, frogs, & crawdads) like to hang out under this tree but so do SNAKES!!! It has rained for the past few days ,which has made it warmer than normal. So the snakes may be out.
After watching Little House on The Prairie where Pa was in a log chopping contest Cole has been going to town with his hatchet. He is so proud of his accomplishment of chopping all the way through this log!!!! Yeah Cole!!
Here are some of our chickens roosting in their coop. They are growing so fast. The boys are so excited for them to start laying eggs for us to eat.
Billy and Cupcake are two of the most spoiled, whiny goats that I have ever met. Well I haven't met that many goats. But, even if I had they would still be the whiniest. They will only eat their hay if I don't feed them anything else for a few days. If we run out of sweet feed or I give all the kitchen scraps to the chickens then they will eat their Hay. They cry at me whenever I am out there. They are lucky that they are cute.
Cole, Rezin and I went to a Christmas Tree Farm as a field trip. I love it when they stop wrestling long enough to love on each other. I have to try and capture these moments so that I can make it through all the wrestling and punching. (Moses stayed home with daddy to take a nap).
The boys are growing so fast and they are just such a blessing to us. God has used them so much to grow my spiritually, emotionally, and to build my character (I have quite a way to go).
"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them... Psalm 127:3-5a

We love Homeschooling

2008-12-08T21:54:00.001-05:00

Just another reason we love homeschooling!!! You can do school dressed like a pirate whenever you want.

Misc.

2008-12-08T21:41:00.003-05:00

Rezin's first choir performance!!
Moses was so stoked to be at a party with a table full of sweets. He just kept helping himself.
Dan's teeth don't usually look like this. This is the first time Dan has seen our used to be dog "Savannah". She now lives with family that loves her and we love them. Not that we didn't love her. The goats didn't love her and neither did the chickens. She just wasn't a good farm dog.

Stuck in the Mud!!!

2008-12-08T21:10:00.006-05:00

This is Moses taking a bath after he fell in the creek. You will understand as you read on.
My tires just kept spinning!!!
This is exactly what I warned Dan about!!!!
Do you think anyone will notice?

The only problem is that it was me who did this!!! I keep telling Dan not to drive through the pasture because it has rained and he will tear up the grass. Well, Dan was out of town. (this sort of thing always happens when Dan is gone hunting or something) The kids and I were going somewhere and I had them changed and "clean" which is a big thing around here. I realized that the animals hadn't been feed yet. I knew that the kids would end up in mud, in the creek (Moses), or something of a dirty nature so I had the great idea of driving them, buckled in, to the chicken pen and then I would run and take care of the animals and the children would be secure in their seats (really long sentence). Well that worked fine and no one got muddy until my big beast of a vehicle got stuck. There wasn't any mud until my car tore up the grass and made some. My tires just kept spinning in the GA clay. All I could think of was me telling Dan he shouldn't do this. I was thinking of all the times I've gotten stuck with him, he was driving of course. We've been stuck in the desert, at the beach, in the mountains. He has been stuck a lot!!! Which I role my eyes and say way do you do this???? I think that I have received a well deserved "FACIAL ". Hopefully we all remember that saying from junior high.
Thank God for a really nice neighbor, who is usually home when things happen while Dan isn't home, came over with his 4wheel drive hunting car thing and got us out. Kevin has saved the day for us more than a time or two. I think that he could start a blog about living next to these CA gone GA people!!!!

Rezin, Rezin , Rezin

2008-12-08T21:04:00.001-05:00

My heart can hardly stand the cuteness of this boy!!!!

Funny

2008-11-23T20:57:00.002-05:00

Georgia Washing Machine is the name of the president on the dollar bill according to Rezin!!! He will fight you to the death he is so sure!!!

Stone Mountain

2008-11-23T20:39:00.007-05:00

This Santa before he was fondled by Rezin. They are willing to sit by the fake Santa but will go nowhere near the "real" one that isn't really real.
Rezin you little stinker!!! Notice Santa's glasses are in Rezins hands and not on Santa's face where they belong. He looks so guilty.
Such a pretty tree. I so wanted awesome pictures amongst all the decorations but, as you can imagine I was the only one willing to sit still. I need to learn to photoshop them all into the same picture.
This is how kids get sick!!! They were decorating cookies at Stone Mountain and just like every other kid they can't help but lick some of the icing as the make a mountain of it on their cookie.
God please bless their immune systems:)

Mating Turtles

2008-11-23T20:30:00.006-05:00

The boys found mating turtles!!!! Poor turtles. They decided to let them go so that they could "keep mating". Lucky for us there were no questions asked. They are learning about the birds and the bees from our chickens, goats, frogs, lovebugs, and now turtles.

My "Flippin" Hat

2008-11-17T13:28:00.005-05:00

They decided to throw gang signs for me. What can I say they were born in Santa Ana!!!
Rezin was running down the hall yelling, " I found my flippin hat!!!!!" As you can imagine his wording caught my attention. When he came into the room I realized that he had on a skateboard hat that he is really excited still fits on his rather large brain:) The skateboard is doing a trick so he called it his "flippin" hat. Some things just sound sooo different coming from a four year old.

Boys # 3

2008-11-13T20:43:00.004-05:00

While I was getting everyone and everything situated so that I could help Rezin cook, he was going through the utensil drawer. He found the meat thermometer and tried to "plug" it into the wall!!!!! Oh my gosh, you can imagine my surprise when he said "momma why won't this thing plug in?" Oh crap!!! (Cole will discipline me on that word) Then I remembered that when he was trying to use it I said that the batteries were dead so, the next logical thing to do was to try and plug it in.

Rezin Can Cook

2008-11-13T20:31:00.005-05:00

Rezin loves to cook. Since the boys watch me in the kitchen following recipes on the computer we decided to make up his own. So here is Rezin cooking Cole and himself eggs for breakfast. Enjoy!!!

Ghetto Blogger

2008-11-12T14:30:00.003-05:00

I don't fully know the ins and outs of blogging. There are things that are frustrating me but I don't have it in me to figure it out right now. The foremost frustration is that the laundry story is out of order. There is probably a way to flip it but I don't know it. I also don't know how to put a few sentences under each picture. I will figure it out eventually, maybe. I know that you all know me, I sure know me, and we are all not that surprised I'm sure!!!

Moses' reaction to the laundry

2008-11-12T14:22:00.002-05:00

The excitement woke Moses up 45 minutes into his nap, which we all know is no good. (that is marker on his face, drawing helps keep him entertained while we homeschool) And guess what, he had WET the bed!!!!! He was all wet and sad. God is so good though. The first thing that can to my mind was, that children are heritage from the Lord and blessed is he who has his quiver full of them. Then I thought what did women do when they had 12 kids and no washing machine? They were the washing machine!!!

Laundry Gone Bad Con't

2008-11-12T14:09:00.004-05:00

I sent the boys outside to play while Moses was asleep so that I could work on my laundry mission. When they got to the door to leave the garage they found this water issue. They were of course loud about it and we were all convinced that our garage fridge was broken and leaking. Until I noticed the water dripping from above us.
The chicken feed got wet!!

Laundry Gone Bad

2008-11-12T14:01:00.003-05:00

I have fallen a "little" behind in my laundry!! Between cold weather clothes, excessive bed wetting, cloth diapers (which I really do like), Dan's hunting excursions which require him to layer to the extent of half a load of laundry, and just normal family stuff, I have been trying to find a legit reason to get a front loading washer. Our washer works "worked" perfectly fine until today. I woke up ready to conquer this task today with much ambition. (there are more laundry baskets that the wall is blocking)
P.S. Notice the pee on the matress cover. Oh, my goodness our kids have huge bladders.

Soccer

2008-11-08T21:53:00.002-05:00

Moses & Cole Homeschooling

2008-11-08T21:44:00.002-05:00

Moses wants to be a part of everything, all the time. He wants to make his mark on everything that we are working on. I think that I spend half of our homeschool day taking him off the table and erasing his pencil marks from Cole's papers, my lesson plans, or whatever else he can get a pencil on.

The best daddy

2008-11-08T21:39:00.000-05:00

Dan and the boys reading bedtime stories.

Rezin as Hulk

2008-11-08T21:26:00.004-05:00

Hulk Smash!!! You're making me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry!!1

Pow Wow Demonstration

2008-11-08T21:03:00.007-05:00

These pictures are of the demonstrations. There were too guys, one represented the east and the other the west. So much more fun to see things then to learn about them in a textbook (we love homeschooling). They described how their tribes were similar and different. They showed us how to make weapons and tools.

Indian Pow Wow

2008-11-08T20:35:00.005-05:00

Today we went to an Indian Pow Pow at Stone Mountain. Dan found an arrowhead in our backyard (he has been looking for 3 years, our neighbor has found a handful of them in his yard). This was so exciting for all of us and ever since then the boys have been into Indians. Rezin has decided that this is the reason he doesn't want to wear shoes, him being an Indian and all. We hope to fine moccasins for him. Anyway, the Pow Wow was SO cool. There was a dancing contest for the Indians and they were amazing. You can feel the pride that these people have for their culture. It made my eyes water a bit:)

Fish Heads in my pocket - Boys # 2

2008-11-05T16:46:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago Rezin came to the house crying he was cold. He was all wet and upset because it was cold. I helped Rezin out of his third outfit by 1pm. As I was taking them off I realized there was something in his pocket. Remember: (I hate the smell of fish). I stuck my hand in his pocket and felt cold, slimy, and I just knew smelly grossness. I pulled out FISH HEADS. My first response was a common one, WHY WHY WHY! Cole said, "Oh yeah those are for our chum bag to catch catfish! The boys let me know that I was overreacting and them showed me a ziplock bag of DEAD fish, lizards, and whatever else that they had been cutting up and saving in the fridge downstairs. I guess catfish like gross, smelly, nastyness. Another reason I don't eat fish. I am sad to say that I don't have pictures of this but, I am also sad to say that I don't think that this will be the last time this happens.
Just picture super cute Rezin and Cole looking at me like I'm the one that is weird and Dan trying not to look at me at all. Punk!!
Dan knew about the fish heads and thought that it was SO funny. He was excited to see my response to the heads in his pocket.

More Hiking Pics

2008-11-02T20:20:00.005-05:00

Looking for Frogs

Fall Hiking

2008-11-02T20:14:00.005-05:00

We went to the mountains to see some fall leaves. God is so good!!!! We are amazed by His creativity. Nature keeps us all in awe of God. We thank God for kids that notice the little things in nature that we could have missed.

Halloween Pics

2008-11-02T20:00:00.003-05:00

"We are camping out in 30 degree weather?" Moses is thinking I'll just sleep inside.
Moses you are sooo cute!!
Dan looks like he has been working in a coal mine.

More Halloween Pics

2008-11-02T19:50:00.002-05:00

Rezin was the Hulk.

We waited to take a picture until all the kids were done. They were tired and ready to go home after a night of FUN.

Boys and Fire

2008-11-02T19:39:00.004-05:00

Ihad tea lights to safely light the pumpkins. But, they had a better idea!! They stuffed the pumpkin with dry grass & hay and then they put burning hot coals from the fire inside. As you can imagine this was very exciting for the ten boys and a few dads at the campout.

Boys #1

2008-11-02T19:26:00.002-05:00

I will start with our most recent boy treat let for me (momma). I got in my car for the first time in two days on Saturday and these little treats are what I found. Look at the windshield wipers!!!! You may not be able to tell but, there is a lizard on each of my windshield wipers. I don't know exactly how long they have been there. The sad thing was that they were still barely alive when I tried to rescue them.

Cole & Rezin

2008-11-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

Moses & Daddy

2008-11-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

Hiking & Camping

2008-11-01T21:27:00.001-04:00

We went hiking while camping at Vogel State Park. This kids caught frogs with their fishing pools. Rezin reeled in a frog on his fishing pool!!! So exciting.

Cole and a Hammer

2008-11-01T21:20:00.000-04:00

Who gave that kid a hammer again? Did I mention that my children are always dirty and never want to take off their play clothes? Well, unless of course they are naked!! It's all or nothing.

Cole's Hammer Picture

2008-11-01T21:11:00.000-04:00

Cole's Hammer Picture - Chickens

2008-11-01T21:06:00.001-04:00

Here are some of the 26 chickens that now live in the chicken coop Dan and the boys built.

HAMMER to the HEAD!!!!

2008-11-01T20:50:00.001-04:00

Here is our most recent event.
Cole was outside helping daddy build a chicken coop for our baby chicks (safe enough?). Well that got boring, soooo, he decided to throw his hammer at the barn to see if he could bust the roof? (BOYS???????) Well, what hits the barn roof will come back. Right back to Cole's beautiful head. Rezin starts screaming that Cole needs us. Cole is screaming and if you have ever seen him hurt you know that scream.
Wait, did I mention that daddy had come to the house to cut a piece of wood by the garage while his happened?
Anyway, Cole had blood coming down his face (Yikes!!) Dan gets out the hair buzzers and a razor. He cuts his hair @ the wound, shaves his head around the wound, and gets him cleaned up. Meanwhile, I am preparing to go to the ER. Do I take three kids to the ER?
Dan says, "Don't worry I can fix this!" If you've know us for long that is not the first or the last you've heard this. He butterflyed the bloody wound up and saved us a ton of money, frustration, funky ER illness, and much drama.
Here comes the kicker. At church the next day when asked did you learn your lesson? Cole's response is, "OH, YEAH I WILL NEVER THROW A HAMMER AT THE BARN AGAIN?
(Again? Again? Why would ever consider throwing a hammer the first time?)

Why a blog?

2008-11-01T20:37:00.001-04:00

Well, we have quite an eventful life with three little boys and one really fun daddy. Life is never BORING!!!! There is always something to talk and laugh about. We don't want our friends and family in CA, NH, & CO to miss the going ons of our crazy life. The kids are growing so fast. We don't want to miss this as parents!!! So I decided a blog would allow you guys to see the kids grow and hear about what the heck is going on.
So here we go....