A perfect mix. . .

My son is loud. 

My "thon" has a lisp.

My son talks all the time. . . all the time. . .ALL the time. . .

My son loves "monthter truckth" and "legoth". . .

While a lot of him is all boy, when he is actually quiet, no need to worry and fear the worst. . .

You will find him in the craft room engaged in his other favorite pastime. . .

Give that boy some paper, markers and some scissors and you won't be seeing him for at least an hour.

What does he spend all that time drawing, you might ask?

Monthter truckth, of course!!!

A bit of advice to become a great artist. . . the tongue helps. . .

Summer evening. . .

Went for a walk with my fellas around the pond a few nights ago.




I then had to run back into the house for my camera!!!

This was the amazing sunset over our pond through my camera lens.

Not to be out done, Farm Boy took his own version from a different spot. Perty!

Next thing we knew the kidos busted out the Barbie Jeep

And went for a cruise. .

Happy trails, Lil Pardners. . .

Our table. . .

Welcome to our dining room! 

It is the first room to be called finished in our house.

We didn't really do anything much. The paint color was already here, and I have always loved yellow in the kitchen.

After a marathon trip to NC a few weeks ago it is now fully furnished!

The china cabinet was made by my mom's cousin's father. . .try saying that five times.

I believe it was made back in the late 40's or early 50's. His craftsmanship is amazing!

We are so grateful to be stewards of these furniture pieces!

This drop leaf table was also made by him. My Great Aunt Eva served up many a meal made with her loving hands onto this table. She was a woman whom I can only aspire to be. . .

caring, giving, serving, selfless. . .

I love having her memories tucked away inside the corners of my house.

We hope to welcome many to our own table in our forever home!

Visitors welcome.

My Old Man. . .

Farm Boy had a birthday this week.

We got to have a quick kid-less dinner on the day and then some cake before we put the runts to bed.
Yesterday I made his birthday dinner and presented him with his card.
Morgan picked him his favorite wildflowers (daisy fleabane), which smell delightful!




 When I was 19 years old I met a man that would become my best friend. 
Three years later he would become my husband. 
Eight years ago Morgan made him the father of my children. 
Two months ago he became my Farm Boy in earnest. 
Today he continues to be the hardest working, most dedicated man I know.
 I get to share my life with this amazing man.

Happy Birthday, Love!!!

My son's favorite color. . .

Orange. Orange. Orange. Everything orange. Orange shirts, orange sippy cups, orange crayons, orange paper, orange juice, oranges. My son loves anything orange.

You may wonder why this fact is important?

I'll give you one little clue. . .




Farm Boy bought a tractor this week.

Andrew insists that his daddy bought HIM a tractor. . .

And why not? It is orange after all. . .

The following photo series is my boy living his dream.

It is quite possibly the best photo series EVER!!!!

 Oh, the joy!!!! 

Wouldn't you want to be Andrew right then?

So glad I was able to capture that moment!

While the boys were mowing MJ and I amused ourselves.
Me with my camera walking around the barn.

Morgan with her net intent on capturing a frog.

Still mowing. . .

Still searching. . .

My boy has ninja moves.

Has anyone ever known a cat that allows you to bury it in sand?

Dipstick is just plain weird!

MJ finally taking her ride. She had a much more subdued reaction.

But I think she liked it!

The evening ended with me and the kids sitting down to dinner and Farm Boy still mowing. He had a lot of catching up to do since spring had come so early this year and we lacked any way to mow the grass. 

Mow on Farm Boy. . .Mow on. . .

My Baby Girl is 8. . .

This is my baby girl. She turned 8 on Saturday. 8! Seriously!!!! She has since reminded me that 8 is almost 10 and 10 is almost a teenager. . . .whaaaaa!!!!

Alright, I feel a little better getting that off my chest.

On Saturday I had a portion of my family out to the farm for the first time. I had cooked for 5 hours the day before, gone to work for 10 hours that night and then slept for 4.5 hours. I was not quite sane, but now that I think about it, when have I ever been quite sane? Hmmm. . .

Morgan decide that she wanted a crumb top apple pie and I decided that one pie would not be enough, so I made my favorite mandarin orange cake.

One thing that I discovered is that I should not bake when I am not well rested. I pride myself in my ability to make delectable and attractive deserts. . . these desserts were just so-so. The pie looks a little raggedy because my mom and I kept sneaking apples off the edges, "just to see if they were done." Riiiiight!

This is Morgan practicing her candle skills.

I experimented with the icing on the cake this year. The original recipe calls for cool whip, and I have banned my family from eating sweetened plastic. I decided to try and used whipped cream instead and it worked just fine. Yeah! I think, however, that I put too large of a can of oranges in the cake mix, so it turned out pretty dense. . .oh well, at least this one looked pretty. . .

Regardless of how injured my pride was, my baby was happy and that is what counts!

No party is complete without the party favors, and I accidentally got the ones that don't make noise. . .

Ooops, I am soooooo sorry, honey.  *snicker-snicker*

They enjoyed them anyway.

Mikah enjoyed abusing Grandma a bit.

And the tiger (aka Lukas) enjoyed them as well.

Happy Birthday to you! 

Make a wish!

The self-satisfied look on her face is because she anticipated the tiger's advance and blew the candle out before he could make his move. Watching this scene play out gave me a sense of deja vu. . .

Not sure if it is the costume or what, but I seemed to remember a female tiger at the table on her 6th birthday, so I went through my pictures and it is just as I thought!!!

There is a tiger helping her blow out the candles!!!

We miss that little tiger. . .birthdays just haven't been quite the same without her!

I never could have known when I sat and sewed that costume for her when she was 2 1/2 that it would still be stalking me around the house 5 years later! Love it!

Well, another birthday under the belt. It was a wonderful day.