Gardening

I know I need to post the remainder of our Easter pictures, but today was a fun day of gardening and I wanted to post them. My mom came over and we attacked the grass and weeds taking over. I of course have not the energy or strength to really keep it up, so my little plants were lost! It looks much better now and I will plant the rest of the okra, watermelon and pumpkins this weekend. Or should I say, Daniel will. We also have to clean up the corn. The Sunflowers are as big as Graham!

Why girls are different than boys...

The differences are amazing when I look at my two boys and how they play and then I see Braxtyn trying to keep up with them outside in her high heels, trying to keep her purse on her shoulder. You would think that Braxtyn being raised with two older brothers surrounded by animals and dirt, that she would be such a tomboy! Don't get me wrong, She has her moments of mud slinging and dirt lobing, rock throwing and chasing animals down. However, she is pretty concerned about what she will be wearing during those times. Every morning is a battle of fashion. She only wants to wear dresses, not just any dress, the dress must fit certain criteria. 1. Is it beautiful? 2. Does it fit just right 3. And does it twirl. Once we have gone through a few of her favorites and have picked one out, she then must match with the right shoes. It all depends on her mood. Normally it is bright pink cowboy boots, sparkly flip flops or plastic princess high heels. Naturally she must find the appropriate hair style, down, ponytail or braid? Yes, to answer the question. She can take longer than me to get ready. If we have to go anywhere it is a battle of the wills to complete this process by ME winning the final outcome and pushing it along.

I think my boys are particular about their shoes and jeans. Graham must wear dark wrangler jeans and boots, Noah is particular about the length of his jeans and loves his Velcro shoes. However, this is nothing in comparison to what my little girl goes through in a day. The boys have always been happy to stay in the same outfit for the day, even the next two days if I let them! Braxtyn is changing about 5 times per day and then proceeds to do spins for each of us and declares how pretty she must look!! Did I tell anyone how many time her family tells her she's pretty:)

Now she has finally decided to go potty on the potty seat, she tells me diapers are for Cozette and she's bigger now. So we'll see. We have had three days of 0 accidents! So we went to Walmart to buy new underwear, princess of course. I wasn't surprised when she had worn three pair from the time we got home until bedtime. There was nothing wrong with them, just needed to try them all on. I just think these differences are so funny that I probably indulge in them way to much. I guess my mom did too, I used to go to my friends houses with bright blue shadow and red lipstick and I remember breaking dozens of plastic high heel shoes outside on the rocky dirt. And hey, I'm ok:)

What fun are the joys of little girls and little boys. I can't help but wonder how another little girl will change the dynamic of my little threesome. It will be an adventure I'm sure of that!

Easter Pictures, Part 1

Braxtyn on the rope swing

Daddy's girl

Finding eggs

Graham on the swing

Noah on the swing

I used to play under this tree when I was little!

April update

The kids are over the flu, not the stomach flu but influenza type A. Yuck! We were quarantined for about 2 weeks. We did enjoy a quiet Easter and actually got to leave the house go to Orme Dugas. I'll post pictures soon.
Daniel and I have been very busy waiting on God and trying to complete anything we can, to keep things afloat in the business world.
Home life is, as always a bit crazy and busy. My garden is growing, weeds and all! I'm hoping for produce before the heat really makes it hard. But everything is green and looks good. I do have a patch of lettuce ripe for one salad, yah, should've planted more of that:). We adopted the new goat but lost one duck. I had a feeling he was the culprit for my egg production going down. And as soon as he was removed from the chicken coop I got about 13 eggs, two days later. He went to live with the goats, unfortunately for him, that was short lived. It still remains a mystery as to his disappearance. That of course was not my intention, I had planned to get him a girlfriend so he'd leave the chickens alone.
I have been working on getting all of my 1st grade curriculum together for Noah and pre-school fun stuff for Graham. I have found some cowboy workbooks and he is excited for that.

Cozette is making life a bit more difficult, she insists on growing big enough to come out. I'm quite content to stay in my second trimester, it was pretty uneventful and I had lots of energy. The third trimester has snuck up on me and now with about 8 weeks to go, she is determined to let me know she's here and ready to start soccer as soon as she's delivered! Actually, I can't wait to hold her and get to know her better.

Noah was excited about 1st grade and now he's complaining about the amount of school work he has:), he's such a smarty pants I don't think it'll take him long to get into the groove of things. He loves sports and riding his bike. No new injury's thankfully!

Graham has no interest in organized school ,but loves to ask questions and learn about everything. I'm just trying to harness that big brain around some numbers and letters. He just learned to ride his bike with no training wheels this weekend. He is thrilled to keep up with Noah! We cut his hair short tonight. It was His request and he loves it, it was very hard for Daniel and I but he was determined to have us shave it off. We compromised a bit!

Braxtyn's favorite thing to do is dress up. She wears about 5-6 outfits per day and pairs it with as many accessories as possible. I caught her painting her own nails the other day! She has decided that she doesn't really like playing games with the boys so she has been hanging out with me a lot. That's the fun part about having a girl! She's begging to get her ears pierced so she can wear earrings like me. I think we'll wait on that! She's about as good with pain as I am:). She has become my little encourager and my little destructo. One minute she's praising us for some accomplishment she thinks is worthy and the next, she's tearing apart the VCR tapes and rubbing butter across the walls.

Well that is all I can keep up with tonight. I can't wait to read this 5 years from now!

Rosie

It's funny when things are crazy and you're waiting for God to do something big; how you notice the littlest things. It seems that God's work in my life and His subtle answers to my small insignificant prayers become largely magnified to my senses. I wonder how many things I miss when I'm not open to His miracles... So this particular little answer is quite insignificant and kind of funny, but really lifted my spirits and the kids!

Last week my aunt in Prescott said she had baby goats and they needed a home, I of course was interested only if I could raise one and bottle feed it so it was super friendly. I know, what am I thinking? I will have a baby to bottle feed in no time, who we hope is super friendly LOL!! So I of course declined. Well Tuesday afternoon as the kids and I were driving home our neighbors where waiting at our gate with a goat. She was little, and very friendly and they assumed she was ours. She wasn't, but I took her in because I didn't want her to be somethings dinner. That night we laughed at this little goat's antics, she was always running into the house and we had to drag her out, she wanted to drink out of Braxtyn's sippy cup and she got out of every animal pen we have. She ended up pulling the blanket off the chair and sleeping cuddled up at our front door. Anytime we left her she would cry for us until we came outside. We named her Rosy and quickly realized she must be someones very special pet. I told the kids we needed to put up a FOUND poster so her owner would not be worried. Two days ticked by, no one wanted to see if Rosy had a home. This was the little goat I had wanted and the kids were so attached that when Graham yelled at her for eating my roses, Braxtyn scolded him saying" Don't yell at her Graham, I love her!".

Today is Friday, and on our way to the birthday party we were going to put up a FOUND sign...

My neighbor, Mr. Gary called and said he saw the MISSING sign for a little red goat. Well, I'd held off for long enough, it was time to find Rosy's owner and give her back. I called the number and a very nice lady answered, she was very surprised we had her and she was safe, I told her we loved her and the kids were attached and we were going to put up a FOUND sign tonight. We knew she must have had a wonderful home because she was so nice. The Lady's name was Tammy, she told me Rosy's real owner's didn't want her anymore, they were moving and she was adopting her and going to build her a pen. She wanted to come and see her, but she knew that Rosy would be happier with us at the Suchawee Ranch. She had seen our place and new Rosy needed kids to play with and other goats. So she wanted us to adopt Rosy. I know it's just a goat, but it was that little answer to a whim, a want, not even a prayer, just a passing desire....that God answered out of nowhere. God loves us to the tiniest details of our hearts.

So know when you come to visit you may want to jump out of your car quickly so Rosy doesn't jump in, run to our front door and slam it quick so she doesn't run through the house, and don't walk around with food or drink or she'll jump on you like a dog! What a menace, right? Don't ask me why these thing make me laugh and bring me joy but I heard a saying once. "The outside of an animal is good for the inside of a child". Its good for my inner child too!

Cozette Grace at 30weeks

We had our last ultrasound today and because the kids were sick, Daniel had to miss his first ultrasound ever! The ultrasound tech was so sweet, she sent home a disk for him to look at with video and 4-d pictures. They are so amazing. The side of her face is a little obscured by the tissue inside the womb and you can see the umbilical cord over her left shoulder. But it was clear to me that she is adorable! She weighs 3.5 lbs which puts her in the 49th %, just perfect, and I measure at about 31 weeks. Her heart rate was about 153, they said that was an active rate. I already knew that. I think she'll probably come out screeching, I'm pretty sure that's the prominent sound she hears right now from her siblings! I might need to invest in some Mozart and headphones pretty soon.