Another fun weekend around the house :)

Ethan being a monkey as usual, climbing the trees.
This is our female goat, Chloe....resting in the dog house that serves as her shelter for now :)
Caleb chillin w/daddy by the fire after eating.
This is our male goat.....Eddy ;) He thinks he's a dog and LOVES to jump up on you and rub.

Brianna making silly faces w/Micah.
The whole crazy bunch in their mismatch country playclothes! LOL
Oh yeah, Caleb had to make a funny face too :)
I just love these kinds of pics of the kids......and Micah is probaly the biggest ham of them all....he'll stop just about anything to say cheese!

Ooops, caught drinking dad's drink :)

A first time for everything ....

Brianna and I are in a group called "Keepers of the Faith" and Brianna gets to learn so many skills and lessons in etiquette. Well this month they were supposed to host a tea party :) At our monthly meeting they talked about proper etiquette for a tea party and they types of foods you might see then told the girls what they needed to do to earn their badges. So today was her long awaited day!! Last night she made the chocolate covered strawberries and angel food cake then today she made the sandwiches :) Everything was beautiful. I couldn't choose which pics would be best to share so I had to share all of them :)

Her guest.......mom......along w/Ethan who was also on his best behavior!!
And here's the food :) doesn't it look yummy!
Ethan and Brianna patiently waiting through all of mom's and my pictures.
And me with the two of them.
And us three girls :)
Ethan sipping his tea. He had 3 different kinds cause he's say he liked it then change his mind and try another kind :)
Brianna REALLY liked the strawberries she made. I think she ate 10!!
Caleb HAD to have a nap, but we woke him up a tad early and let him in on the party too :)
The place setting Brianna made for me.
..........and for herself.......
..........and for Ethan....notice how messy his spot got ;)
......and Grammy's.........
.....and last but not least..Caleb's :) weren't they beautiful!!
And of course as a true hostess would SHE did the dishes!!! All in all it was a beautiful afternoon and definately something we'll be doing more of :)

settling in

Well, the goats finally have names :) Chloe is the little girl and Eddy is the boy. Chloe has already been taking us for a bit of a ride! She was apparently sick when we bought her but is hopefully now on the mend. I took her to a fellow homeschooling mom's home (who lives WAY out past Locust Grove....almost an hour away) who raises goats to get checked out and get some medication. She soooo graciously gave Chloe some shots she needed as well as giving me LOTS of great advice. After some VERY strong doubts about what we'd gotten ourselves into I think we're gonna be ok ;) Eddy is great, he eats like a champ and loves our company. The kids are having a blast with them and their friends think it's pretty cool that we have goats! LOL I haven't taken many pics yet but I'll get some and get them on here :)

Ahhh, the adventure!

Well, is there really ever a dull moment in the Taylor house? I think not!! David and I have been talking off and on for awhile now about getting goats or a cow. We started getting some information about where we can buy them cheaper at least to start out. What they needed for care and food, and all the likes. So today was the big day to go check out the auctions and see how they work. Oh there were cows, horses, goats, sheep....... The kids really enjoyed seeing all the baby animals of course ;) and bummer :( I forgot my camera!! Anyway, they had a BLAST petting the baby goats who were the only animals accessible. Well, we watched and they were going cheap..........so we bought TWO goats for $25!! Now we go to find out more detailed info......um they don't give you that! So we have 2 goats (David is gone to pick them up now!) that we aren't sure their exact ages....or if they are fully weaned....and all we know is that 1 is a nigerian dwarf goat!! How's that for an adventure :) Well I'll post some pics later, he's on his way home and we've got to build a "house" for them and probably get some bottles!!

family time

You know, we've never been super great about the family time thing. I mean I'd love ideas from those of you w/an age mix of children like ours.......9 down to 20mo.........as some things just aren't very do-able. Games w/small pieces (little ones choke or throw pieces everywhere), movie nights (little ones don't sit still through them), but the older ones are still young enough to not be up much later than the little ones either.... BUT last night was GREAT. We taught daddy the game "poor kitty" after I had taught and played it with the kids earlier that day. They had a blast and Micah played nicely with some toys in the same room. THEN Caleb REALLY wanted to play "duck duck goose" so to appease him we decided to play a few rounds. Well I wish I could have captured it but Micah joined in walking the circle saying duck on everyones head!!! It was adorable then when the person who was REALLY it said goose to someone he'd get in on the chasing!! It was absolutely priceless :) It was his first "big boy" game that he kinda played :) A HUGE step for me to see that the wonderful family time I so want is one step closer!!! It is indeed a work in progress ;)


PS. Now I've added a digital recorder to my list of wants so I CAN post videos ;)

.......and the garden takes shape!

Well, we've been slowly preparing for our first garden.....deciding what to plant, buying seeds, clearing the area in the yard. Then finally this weekend came the time to do the tilling and getting the rows ready to plant.


The older kids were helping alot while the younger two were back and forth playing and "helping". Micah was to cute, we were picking out the weeds and grass roots and he just saw us throwing chunks, so he came over to pick up dirt chunks and carry them off ;)

Brianna was hard at work picking out all the weeds.

Dad took the oppurtunity to talk a little about seedtime and harvest and how this should all work.
Caleb had long since lost interest..........until the camera came out! Then he wanted back in for some pics :)
Micah was trying to pick up a garden hoe to help too....
So when all was said and done we got corn, cantaloupe, green beans, watermelon, lettuce, onion, okra, chives, basil, and carrots. We still have to get the strawberries and tomatoes in but we're supposed to get some nighttime frosts over the next couple nights so we'll hold off a bit longer for those. Now here's to hoping it grows and animals don't eat the better part of the harvest. So now we just need some goats and a cow!!! LOL Who would have ever guessed *I* would be the country girl..............

Fun times with family

Well, it's been a BUSY week. Dad and Cathy were here visiting, along with Robbie and Katie. They stayed with my sister and of course I forgot my camera every day but the last!! So here are the pics all in one shot. Dad won Micah over the first day with food.......parmesean goldfish :) Micah took right to him. He's the one that also stuck around and hung out with the grandparents most as my other two were busy playing with their cousins and their aunt and uncle. (Robbie and Katie are 14 and 11 so the kids had a blast playing with them.) I wish we could have seen them more while they were here, but there's always next time............






Brianna, Katie, and Kenzie
Micah had gotten one of the boys nerf darts that had suction cups on the ends.....this became a source of great entertainment for him for probably an hour. He went back and forth between my sister and her husband, and both my dad and Cathy. No surface was safe!! LOL

The boys with their "serious" smiles.......

And of course being boys, they had to do silly faces too!! LOL

Of course more dart fun!!

Caleb didn't have many of these moments with the adults as he stayed true to form and played shy except with the kids :) I'm sure Robbie had more than enough time w/this 3yr old, he stayed right there along w/the big boys and fought for his chance to sit by Robbie too. All in all it was a good week.

Fun at Helmzar

The kids got to go to the Helmzar triaining course for PE this week. They had a BLAST!! It was a crazy week w/dad in town and all, but the kids DID NOT want to miss this so we went ahead and went ;)


Brianna was getting her security harness on.
Ethan getting strapped in!
Brianna's almost done.
Ethan just needs his helmet tighened up.
They're getting some instructions and Brianna is all smiles :)

Of course Ethan was the VERY first kiddo to go!! No surprise there ;)

Now Brianna gets started.



And the boys ran around and played w/a ball, or Caleb pushed Micah in the stroller some, so fun was had for all!! If I can figure out how to do it I'll get some video loaded up :)