Before I start sharing pictures to update you all, I wanted to let you know that we're hosting another Project Appleseed shooting event at the farm here this Saturday and Sunday. All are welcome to come!
Now, on to the updates:
On May 14th, my dad turned 60 years old! Looks pretty good for 60, eh?
My mom hosted a nice birthday party for him. I baked the cake...
...and made him a giant doughnut.
Mom had a full house (about 10 guests, not counting family).
Grandma came and stayed for parts of 3 days. She stayed with Michael and I. Grandma even helped me weed in the garden, down on her hands and knees. I hope I'm as hard working as she is when I'm her age.
It was good to see Josephine and Thaddaeus again (we even played volleyball).
Michael and I have been having a lot of fun fishing together.
What a beautiful lake/dam/sunset...
My parents rode with us to church one day and we stopped to get our picture taken by the prairie dinosaurs.
Guess what we did to celebrate our 7 month-wedding-anniversary??
Yep, bought more sheep.
These are Shetlands. We're in the process of shearing them still (Michael does the shearing), but needed to order a new blade and comb for the clipper.
Life is lovelier with flowers....
We put up a little fence around this flower bed to keep the chickens and dogs out, at least until the flowers put down good, long roots.
My favorite kind of flower...
Michael and I put up our hammock, so as to enjoy being lazy together from time to time. :)
The main garden a couple weeks back.
The new garden that Michael worked up (this picture is from a few weeks back). We planted potatoes, beans, sweet corn and lots of squash and pumpkins. We'll have vegetables coming out of our ears this Summer and Fall!
My family of origin agreed to do chores for us so we could get away. Michael and I went to MN...where the trees are many and very, very green.
Kathy (Michael's mom) sent us on a kitten hunt. We found the 2 older ones, but Dale found the newest batch.
On Memorial Day, James and Jenny arrived at the farm too and we all rode down to Kathy's parent's place together. It was quite a big family gathering, with lots of tasty food and many people to visit with.
On the way to MN, we stopped and looked at 2 fishing boats that were for sale. Then, when at the Dalquist farm, Dale mentioned a boat that was for sale right in Randall, so he went with us to talk to the owners and then we drove a ways to look at the boat. We liked it so well that--------yes, we bought it! The couple who owned it were very nice, sincere Christians. We ended up visiting with them for quite a while.
Oh, see that nice stripe on Michael's pickup? He and I worked quite a while at putting that on, making sure it was mostly straight. :)
More excitement:
The M. family from Illinois are letting me borrow their wool processing equipment. The picker (on the right) helps a lot and the drum carder (left) makes a nice bat to work with.
They also found a spinning wheel for sale at a fiber festival, selling at a very reasonable price, so they picked it up for me and I now own my own wheel!!! Spinning is definitely an art. I hope to be able to perfect it, someday. It is harder than it looks.
Last Thursday, we took the boat out for it's maiden voyage...
...to see how it worked and to do some fishing.
It worked!
(An 8 lb Northern)
I caught 1 fish and Michael caught 4.
I asked my husband to open a coconut for me.....
He did.
The rose bush in front of the house is blooming now.
My little rock/perennial garden.
The main garden yesterday:
We've been eating lettuce and spinach salads and Michael's been eating radishes for quite a while already.
I've been keeping busy with babysitting still, at least 2 days a week. It's been a while since I posted pictures of the not-so-Littles, so here are a few.
Johanna loves to help with cooking in the kitchen. She especially loves making fruit salad, cutting the soft fruit with a butter knife....
Tracy Jo loves baking. We made this green doughnut together and she decorated it with sprinkles.
Vonn is in to EVERYTHING these days. Here, he was reading the farm auction paper and making many motor sounds all the while.
Yesterday, I babysat for Amelia, James and Michael. They spent the day here at the farm and loved every minute of it. We put the puppies on leashes and the puppies pulled the children all around the yard. :) We picked up my Michael from the hayfield and went to the Kintyre park for a picnic lunch.
Life is very busy here, but oh so good. :) God has blessed me so abundantly.
