'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Baby In utero version)

'Twas the night before Christmas,
When all through the house
Two creatures were stirring
My mommy and her silly spouse (a.k.a. my daddy but that doesn't rhyme).

Stockings were hung on the fireplace with care,
And mommy and daddy were busy preparing for something exciting
I could sense it,
Even inside my warm little lair.

When I heard the talk of presents, of gifts and of play,
I decided that I needed to get out of here,
So I could participate in such a day.

So I pushed and I prodded,
I elbowed and kicked.
Then on came the contractions
I thought I had done the trick!

But my mommy's body is quite stubborn,
This I have learned as she has gotten fatter.
All night I tried to get out,
I even head butted her bladder.

But Christmas morning came,
And I remained warm inside my mom.
So instead I set myself,
To doing random photo bombs.

There seemed to have been alot of fun,
That went on there that day.
My siblings were excited
With all the new things to play.

As for me I'm still waiting.
Guess a birth day on Christmas wasn't meant to be.
I hear it's up to Someone Else
The One Who has formed me (Psalm 139: 13-18).

So I will continue to grow,
To punch and kick with all my might.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas all
And to all, except mommy, a restful night.

The end

Farewell 2013 Pigs and Giving Thanks

It was a dark and stormy night as we said farewell to the pig yesterday evening.  I just realized I did not get any pictures of them this past week.  I think the last pictures were from last week.  Anyway....

Piggies at 8 weeks old-

 Pigs around 25 weeks old (sorry I didn't get a better picture of all 4)-

We estimate they weigh around 250lbs each.  So they put on about 200+ lbs in the 17 weeks (4 months) we had them.  250lbs is around the ideal weight you want to be sending them off at.  This is for efficiency reasons.  Maybe I will post more on that later.

Corralling them into the trailer last night was an adventure, in the dark and in the mud.  Thankfully Jonathan was home to help man handle them.  We managed to get the biggest three in without too much stress but the smallest pig slipped out the trailer door before we could get it closed.  Pigs are VERY smart, crazy strong and can be VERY dangerous when panicking.  Once the smallest was separated from the group it panicked and became quite hard to get into the trailer.  Jonathan and our friend did a great job handling the pig and thankfully no people or pigs were hurt in the process.  Might I add that Jonathan did NOT grow up on a farm so kudos to him for learning how to handle these animals and not afraid to muscle the pigs around.  There was alot of contact and muscling that went on.

We are very thankful that all 4 pigs were sent off healthy yesterday.  We're keeping 1 pig's meat for our self and have sold the other 3's meat to friends.  This 'thanks' even made it onto our Giving Thanks Tree-

Baby girl is thankful for simple things as well-

I would like to make Thanksgiving as big of a deal as Christmas in our house.  Taking time to give thanks is super important (you don't have to wait till Christmas to give thanks for our Savior being born)!  I know it is hard to compete with a holiday that brings presents but I believe many things can be done to amplify a holiday.  Kids are easily swayed with cookies and crafts. :)

I am by no means an organized mommy, so doing simple things like crafts and cooking with the kids is NOT a part of my everyday life (some mommies have this skill).  I do my best though.... even if it brings on false labor pains in the act. :)

Hoping everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and takes time to truly give thanks!

State of the Garden and The Garden State

We extended our garden this year with thanks to our new/used tiller.  We had hoped to extend it even more but ran out of time to turn it over for the sod to rot.  So far we have harvested a small amount of snap peas, cilantro, arugula and blueberries.  Nothing huge but its something in our bellies.  For the blueberries, I put up a net to keep birds AND baby girl out (she would pluck it clean, ripe and un-ripe ones)-

Summer planting was a few weeks late due to unexpected travels and lots of rain.  Special thanks to my husband for stepping up (all the while working lots of overtime at his job) and planting when I wasn't able.  He saved our garden.
Little man helped me plant beans.  Here is a new heirloom variety we are trying from Botanical Interests called Calypso Beans.  They are drying beans for soups and such-

I have to admit, it's hard to let a toddler help you do something you need to hurry and complete.  But teaching time and quality time do not come everyday, so I have to prioritize and suck it up.  He asks to help and I want to encourage that quality, not turn it away.
I made him a measuring stick to space the beans-

Here's what we've got going so far.  It has been a rainy season but so far nothing has rotted.... so far.

The heirloom sweet potatoes were shared by the Seaton family in TN.  This is a very old variety that has been passed through many generation of their family.  These boogers get BIG, tubers AND vines.  I am very grateful to them for sharing with us.  I love sweet potatoes.

Another share we are thankful for again, the garlic from Matthew and Maria in Syracuse.  These will be ready to dig soon-

Another new addition for us is asparagus, generously given to us by Jonathan's parents.... along with expert growing instructions-

Other end of the garden-
Tomatoes, blue potatoes,  beets (not doing so well), red bell peppers, pickling cucs and eggplant (doing the best we've ever had eggplant do)-

Now onto The Garden State (a.k.a New Jersey).
We were recently invited by some dear (and super cool) friends to join them on a vacation in lovely Ocean Grove, New Jersey.  This area is very special to our friends and also Jonathan's family.  Jonathan's grandfather used to preach in nearby Asbury Park.  Alot of family vacations and special memories were made in this area.  I enjoy the small vacation town feel and how nice the people in this lovely beach community are.
The lovely strip with shops, food and ice cream.  Peaceful like a vacation should be-

We spent as much time as possible on the beach.  Mrs. A is a beach and water lover (she used to lifeguard here when she was younger).  Her sweet daughter is a water lover too.  My kids loved playing in the sand more than the water.  His friend (Mrs. A's daughter) was kind and played with him on shore too-

Baby girl became somewhat obsessed with her shovel and pail-

Becoming one with the sand-

She enjoyed some water time with daddy-

We headed down to Point Pleasant for some fun activities-

Little man taking his driving job very seriously.... keeping the wheel to the left the whole time.

Shark lover-

Showing them who is top of the food chain-

Fourth of July, Jersey Shore style (on the Point Pleasant boardwalk).  Jonathan mentioned something about guys with blowouts.  He had to explain that was a haircut for guys.... to a mommy with two in diapers in means something completely different.

Back in Ocean Grove, Fourth of July parade-

Isn't little man's friend soooo cute!

With the sirens and marching bands, it was loud at times.  The photographer in the neon green shirt (in the distance) took a picture, laughing, at the kids and their ear protection.
Lifeguard jeep/float-

There was some damage from hurricane Sandy to the boardwalk and stores-

More fun times with great friends.  Dancing-

Red cheeked girls-

Little man's favorite activity, running on the beach at night.  Well... running anywhere is his favorite activity-

Kid-less picture-

We are very thankful to our friends for inviting us along on their vacation!!

Christmas Firsts!

This Christmas started a new chapter for our family in regards to how we celebrated the day.  One major difference was that we were actually home (New England) instead of with one of our families.  This was exciting but also alittle sad for me :(  it felt wrong without any extended family..... BUT.... it gave us the opportunity to start our own traditions and festivities.  Jazz hands excitement!

One tradition I wanted to implement was to share our celebration with someone who needed a family to celebrate with.  Since we celebrate Christmas for the coming of Jesus, the ultimate giver of good things, I thought this would be a good way to show that.  WELL..... this ended up being our only guest-

A friend's elderly and special needs dog.  I was happy to help to allow them to travel and see their family.  She did delay festivities for a little bit-

Yes, thats me shampooing the carpet.  The accident happened minutes of her coming in and before we could even wrangle her into the downstairs bathroom (reinforced my not-so-fondness of indoor pets at the moment.... my Parson Russell terrier currently living with my parents is proof of that).  It made the first gift presentation to the kids a little tricky also since that gift was this-

An outdoor/barn cat that we adopted (free from craigslist).  For mousing and rodent reduction.  Teensie is his name at the moment and he is house broken, if needed, and very friendly.  We actually got two cats but we like Teensie the best at the moment.  The other is solid black too and has long hair.

It ended up being a fun, low key day with just the husband and kids.  We had a delicious meal-
Brined Pork Rib Roast (oh my stars!!, I love my pigs) and roasted beets with herb cream and feta gratin.

and just played with our new things-

To end I wanted to share another first from this Christmas.  Last week we traveled to Upstate New York to have a brief Christmas with family.

Ambitious west coast Sister T declared this Christmas we could only give homemade gifts.  The awesomeness of these gifts has to be shared, it was fun.

Here is what my husband made the guys-
Useable fishing lures... he whittled, painted, detailed and balanced them himself

He used mesh fabric to paint the scales detail and tied the tail himself-

Here is what I made, not as impressive-
For the ladies... knitted dish clothes, nylon mesh knitted dish scrubbies and hand painted necklaces (how to linked for necklace, but I made the beads smaller and changed the colors).

Work apron for Dad T (for his awesome woodworking, you will see later)-

Door draft stopper for Brother T-

Dad T made baby girl a Xylophone (yeah, he made that beautiful toy)-

And each family a cribbage board that has a slide pocket on the back for the pegs-

AND if that wasn't enough, Adirondack chairs too!!

Little man got a truck pillow case from Mom T (he LOVES trucks! and sleep most nights)

She also made us these beautiful table runners (very, very pretty... its on our table now)-

And homemade strawberry and rhubarb jam (death to store bought jam)-

Brother T gave us a garlic braid from their garden (you cant buy garlic this good in the store so we were excited) and some shallots too-

West coast Sister T took a metal working class and made all the girls copper formed necklaces, very pretty and kid friendly (yay, I can wear a piece of jewelry now that the kids cant yank off and break).  I LOVE one of a kind jewelry.

And herb drying racks (pictures don't do them justice, nice frames with screens as the rack)-

NY sister T made homemade vanilla extract (yes, seriously) and salted caramel hot cocoa mix (AWESOME! said with vibrato)  homemade food items are in a different world from store bought.

Last, my mom sent another cleaver DIY food Christmas gift.  Homemade 'canned' carrot cake (jar is sealed so its preserved).  Yum, we like getting food in the mail-

I hope I didn't forget anything, there was sooo much good stuff.  High standards set for our first homemade gift Christmas.

Exciting HOUSE UPDATE news.  Our BAY WINDOW is scheduled to be replaced/rebuilt this week. Will post pictures as soon as able!!!!