Christmas break

I do love Christmas, but am very ready to take down the decorations and return my house to slightly less chaos. Hopefully that will happen this weekend before my return to work after a lovely week off. My list of things to accomplish this week (i.e. clean/organize house, complete projects, catch up on "me time"...), well, those didn't really happen. BUT, I did get lots and lots of quality time with my sweet (and sometimes not-so-sweet) girls. And I guess that was the most important thing to accomplish. As an added bonus, my time with the girls has allowed Farmer Allen to make lots of progress on the playhouse. Pretty soon Emma will be asking to move in out there! I am looking forward to moving quite a few toys from my house to the play house, so I'm not complaining!

We have had an eventful Christmas with 11 new baby chicks and the first calf arriving. Hopefully Farmer Allen will report back two new calf births soon.

Oh, and for the picture - girls' new matching pj's thanks to Granny and girls' new bunk beds thanks to Santa.

Santa!

The girls were lucky enough to visit with Santa at cousin Reid's Gingerbread Housing making party!!! Emma and Reid seem to be sharing the same expression; Olivia and Mary Claire seem to be sharing the same slight bit of distrust. Merry Christmas!

Almost Christmas!

What crazy warm weather we have had for December. Of course every few days it gets quite cold and begins to feel like Christmas! This years Christmas card photo (below) was taken December 5th on a gorgeous day.


And the runner up photo:

Goodbye Elf-Elf!

We received an Elf on the Shelf last year around Christmas time. Emma was NOT a fan. After reading the book and hearing about how Elf on the Shelf works, she immediately requested she go to her room, shut her door, then we open a window and let the elf fly out and go to someone else's house. She was not okay with the idea of a flying visitor in our house. The elf was short-lived because of Emma's fear and went to live in our attic for the remainder of the Christmas season. This year we decided to give it another try. The moment she saw the box descending from the attic she let out an exasperated sigh, "Not the elf!" She then went on to remind us that she does not like the elf. We made every effort to calm all her fears and even managed to have the elf out for a full 24 hours. The girls named him Elf-Elf. Unfortunately, Emma just still was not comfortable, even though we assured her he couldn't really fly and that it was all pretend. So, into the garage went Elf-Elf. As of today Elf-Elf has been shipped to another home to live a happier life outside of his box. Emma gave a little cheer and happy dance as I escorted him out of the house this morning. So much for the Elf on the Shelf Christmas tradition! Emma did inform Allen that if we really want to move something around, we can move around the nativity scene. "So we would move it to different places in the house?" Allen asked her. "No. You can move the people around the baby Jesus."

Sweet.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our farm to yours....Here's hoping everyone else has as many reasons to be thankful this year as we do.

Christmas-Gift-In-Process

That's right, The Playhouse is finally under construction. Emma has been bugging Farmer Allen about this for oh-so-long. She already has great plans for her metal sink with wood cabinets, table, chairs, big fluffy couch, TV, and possibly two additions. Oh, yeah. Excited.

And when the sun goes down

The only cure for cold nights.... fire in the wood stove and mugs of hot beverages. Consider me thankful for a husband who chops wood.

How we roll.

Halloween

Our weekend of festivities started first with waiting for a small Halloween parade. Mary Claire was a bit chilly, but Emma's excitement kept her warm!Here are the big girls and myself outside the Halloween dance, cooling down a bit. Emma took her dancing quite seriously and busted out some impressive moves.
The girls were quite enthralled with the weeping willow. One day we will have one by our pond....
Sunday = Church Carnival (and Olivia's main Halloween activity).
And finally..... Monday meant trick or treating. Mary Claire wasn't too keen on standing beside Emma for a photo op and chose instead to stand in front and scowl. It's like she is Snow White and Grumpy all mixed into one!
And of course a family shot before the girls and I head out. Emma just happy, Olivia ready to run, and Mary Claire trying to tell Olivia what she should be doing. Yep, that is about how it goes around the farm!

I thought I was being punished for my less than spectacular blogging skills by the complete lack of comments over the last few months. While I cannot completely rule that out, it has been brought to my attention that for some reason, my "Comments" does not seem to work. And sadly, my computer-inclined friend was of no help to me this time around, so please be patient with me while I attempt to figure out how to bring back the ability for you to leave me a little something to read. Or email me instead (smgatlin@hotmail.com).

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. My fairy (Emma), Snow White (Mary Claire), and pirate (Olivia) definitely did. And Farmer Allen and myself are enjoying the spoils of their labor. Thank you to all who donated last night to feeding my sweet tooth. And the holiday eating begins..... (yes, I can consider Halloween candy as the holiday eating precursor to Thanksgiving feasting and Christmas cookie spectaculars). We have officially entered the two months of the year were we have more than ample goodies all around us and yet I will not be able to stop myself from random baking and fudge making. Insanity, but I love every delicious minute of it.

My Farmer

To Us!

In less than 2 weeks Allen and I will celebrate our 7th anniversary. And, seriously, what I busy seven years we've had. Quick recap.... we bought a house that needed MAJOR repairs and required we live in the driveway in an RV from months. Literally. While Allen worked on renovating the house, I graduated from Francis Marion University and became a short term (gag) substitute teacher. Fast forward two years and a much better job and, of course, pregnant with Emma, we bought the farm situated literally a couple miles from our house. In an area called Friendship. That was a big seller for Allen. One baby led to two more. Allen became a stay at home dad/farmer about 2 years ago. And here we are. I'm blessed to have been through all this with Allen. Of course without him, I cannot say there was a high probability of me ending up a farmer's wife. I think my parents are only now, five years post-farm-purchase, getting over the shock of me as farmer. So here's to my husband, the Man with the Homesteading Plan. I love you.

I think this is my third attempt to start a new post. But I get stuck. Title? Nope. Topic to write about? Nothing. I doubt you want to hear about my job (hectic) or the weather (dreary), so here is quite simply my attempt not to wait too long to between posts. Tah-dah.

Charleston

So I have approximately 300 pictures from the beach, but that would just take much too long to upload. Instead, here's a quick glimpse into our last day - the only day we actually made it to the beach. The rest of our weekend there was a bit too chilly for beach-going.

Emma is definitely a beach girl. She went straight to the water and was soaked head to toe in no time. She loved every second of it.

Mary Claire was a bit hesitant of the water, but definitely came around.

Olivia is my no-fear girl. She wanted to simply walk straight into the waves, preferably on her own.

Her daddy did a great job of keeping her upright. Me.... not so much. But I did get the picture of her falling face-forward into the water. That's what all good mothers would have done, right?

Goodbye, September

Is September really ending?! Life is flying by... I am looking forward to October though. Halloween, of course, should be quite fun with two trick-or-treaters this year. And we get to celebrate my niece's first birthday! And of course you have Mary Claire's birthday, both Papa's birthdays, and Allen and my 7th anniversary (could it really be that long?). Oh, and my first ever 5k! I will be jogging on Oct 9 (with good friend, Allison - her first 5k as well) in Fort Mill to support the Childrens' Attention Home. Great cause, free t-shirt - win/win situation.

On a side note, we are trying to refinance the farm, so everyone cross your fingers and say a little prayer for us! It's not exactly what one considers to be a conventional property, but boy would a slightly lower payment be nice so close to Christmas!

The girls

Just a random picture I snapped while the girls and I were enjoying this beautiful weather the other evening.

Fall? Is that you?

Has fall arrived in September? Or are the gods just pleased with us right now? Maybe this is my present for being a good girl and sticking with my decision to take up jogging? Either way, I am in love with the crisp, cool mornings and the warm, but not overly hot mid-days. It's been cool enough to allow me to drink my first (two) Pumpkin Spice Lattes of the season without feeling too silly for drinking a hot, fall-tasting latte while summer is still blaring upon us.

This blog entry brought to you by my love/hate relationship with Starbucks. Starbucks, if you are reading this, please consider helping a poor girl out and dropping the price of your overly addictive overly priced PSL to less than the cost of feeding my entire family a meal. Thank you.

Yes, we are still here.

My job has gone nuts in the past two weeks. This means two things to Farmer Allen: lots more kid-time and lots less farm-time. This also means two things for the blog: no time for me to write and nothing I'm doing would be exciting enough for any of you to want to read about it. Thus... lull in posts.

We did just hatch our first 4 silkie chicks, of which 3 appear to be gray and one white. They are about a week old and ab-so-freaking-lutely adorable. We also have a ton of mice hanging around the lean-to. Not so ab-so-freaking-lutely adorable. Mainly just freaking aggravating. I guess they are enjoying this lovely weather as much as we are. Other than chicken upkeep and lots of tractor riding (I think maybe he just likes to ride the tractor and listen to music b/c, really? How much time can one need to spend on a tractor?!), the summer heat has slowed down the farm. We are all ready for fall....

Speaking of good weather, should I feel bad that I LOVED how the hurricane made it feel at my house this weeken, dispite all the poor people put out of their homes, dealing with loss of power, flooding, etc?

And finally, in upcoming news.... we have actually scheduled our FIRST family vacation since our honeymoon that did not involve a set of grandparents being there as well. Granted it's only 3 days long, but it is 3 days in Charleston in late September. Of course, we will be getting some Gran-Gran time while down there (Allen's g'ma), but I am choosing not to count that as family joining our vacation since she will be staying in her house; we will be staying in our hotel. Now the question becomes: beach with a 4 year old, 2 year old, and 1 year old: vacation or hell (for lack of more appropriate term)? Guess we will see...

Farm tip

Not sure if your eggs are still good? Place them in a bowl of water. Good eggs should sink to the bottom; bad eggs float.

And to go with your random fact, a random picture. Babies on the farm:

Auction day celebration

On Monday Farmer Allen sent our 4 bull calves and Pookie to the sale. Tuesday is sale day, so Farmer Allen and the girls watched the live feed on the computer as our cows auctioned off. Emma loved the announcer - her first taste of an auction. And today, just two days later, our check came in the mail. We love you, Chester Livestock Auction! And a special thanks to Blake for coming out to tote our cows there for us! And another special thanks to the mamma cows still out in the field who, three days later, have finally quit calling (constantly) for their babies. We even had a neighbor call us to ask if our cows were alright! We are now back down to three mama cows and our Oreo bull, Bill.

One year on the farm

As of last Friday, the Farm has officially seen it's last first birthday. Guess whose?!Olivia is now diligently helping prepare for a brunch in her honor.

Waiting by the door to welcome her guests.

And working on her intelligent conversation topics.

We love you, Olivia! Happy birthday, baby girl.

Sunset

Misadventures in homesteading

Life on the farm is constantly teaching us something new. Unfortunately, the information we gleam from the lessons would have been much better to know in the beginning of the process instead of the middle, but I guess that wouldn't make for nearly as entertaining of a story.

This year our herb garden taught us something very important. Don't plant licorice-flavored herbs near ANYTHING else. Thanks to a Thai basil plant and another random French herb (that of course I don't remember the name of and was never cooked into anything), most of my regular basil has a unwanted licorice quality to it. Licorice pesto? I think not. You would have thought that last years squash-cini would have taught us to really consider how close you plant what. At least squash-cini turned out to be fairly tasty!

As we dable more into the concept of homesteading, I get the feeling that our trail and error days have only just begun.

Food

Thanks to an entry on someone else's blog, I now know why the pictures I take when I'm cooking always look sickly. It's my timing. I work during the day and have kid-time in the evening, which leaves night time for any cooking-binge I get on. Unfortunately my kitchen lightening = poor quality photos of yellow-tinted food. So, I guess you will just have to take my word for how mouth-watering some of our new farm-fresh faves are:


Pepper Jelly - I've eaten it before but never made it myself. Even Allen is singing its praises. Definitely a 10.

Babbaganush - Not only is it a ridiculously fun word to say, but it's another use for eggplants, a vegetable we are always trying to find new ways to eat. Slathered on a fresh slice of bread... delish.

Cucumber Salsa - this one isn't new around here; we've been making it for years. But it's as if during those long winter months I forget just how marvelous and refreshing it is.

Side note: Allen has been cooking some stellar meals straight from the garden. These are just some of the stuff I've been piddling with. His main dishes and sides are another post for another day!

Oh my it's hot.

I think that sums it up. And only leaves us with one option:
Hope all y'all are staying cool.

Lightening hits the farm

I love a good summer shower as much as the next fella (how else would my yard be producing these marvelous flowers?) , but what in the world?! Lovely evening showers have turned freakishly ferocious. This week's storm managed to strike our house just right to kill our modem, cable wiring, Netbook, cordless phones, and wireless router. Seriously?! (Please note - I had NO qualms with the storm that required my insurance company to buy me a new roof and gutters but definitely take offense to the storm that wreaked havoc but without meeting our deductible)

Any how... the lightening didn't just leave it's mark on our electronics. It also left it's mark on our pecan tree. So will this years pecans come out of the shell tasting toasted...?

Thankfully, we had some marvelous mid-week visitors to take our minds off everything else. I can't think of a Wednesday evening that I have enjoyed more in ages. Dinner fresh from the garden, red wine, pseudo behaved kids, and a refreshed sense of how nice adult conversation can be. And Australian accents as the cherry on top.And for all those out there wondering... "how could my child get some awesome tie dye like that?", it's quite simple actually... http://www.etsy.com/shop/AuthenticBonesTieDye?ref=pr_shop Enjoy!

Our computer is still gone. Prayers are being said, but no word on if it will make it or not yet. The picture-less posts continue. I can only imagine how full my camera's memory card is getting with each passing day... Yes, even though I'm slack about posting pictures, I do actually take a decent number of them. Of course most of the pictures are of questionable quality or only to be used for the later-in-life embarassment of my children.

In other news - we've got SQUASH! And CUCUMBERS! And TOMATOES! Summer has arrived. We really enjoyed a nice cool week. You know, temps only in the 80's. Unfortunately, for Father's Day Allen will be receiving temps in the upper 90's again.

And the washing machine buzzer beckons. Time to hang out towels and diapers!

Another crash

I blame it on Allen. I, obviously, am way too computer savvy to crash our desktop... again. The first time, we were not being good computer-parents and left our CPU undefended (aka - we did not have any virus protection). So, last spring a new hard drive went in and new anti-virus software went one. Fast forward to this week. Allen was browsing the web (what else is a farmer to do in the oh-so-hot afternoons while stuck home with three little girls?!) when.... (is the anticipation building?) it died. Just black. No warning, no nothing. And when turned back on, it will not reboot. We are sure. We both tried turning it off and on approximately 12 times. Same result each time. I guess it's the denial stage of the grieving process that made us think if we just try it one more time, maybe it will load and show us our happy little desktop. Nope.

Allen unplugged and unhooked the CPU and sent it off to a man who can hopefully make it all better. Or at least (please) save my pictures. Yes, we computer-crashing people (2 laptops, and now second time on this desktop) still haven't learned to properly back up our computer. I did get an external hard drive (read: on top of things) and then used it once (read: not so on top of things) approximately 4 months ago. That would be directly prior to months 6 - 10 of my baby's life. My oldest's 4th birthday. Little things like that.

So, is there a point to this story? Yes. No pictures. We are surviving on the Netbook (as close as I ever want to get to "roughing it"). And now, we wait.

Carrots

My bit girls are of the opinion that one of the greatest things in life is pulling a carrot out of the ground, letting Dad wipe it on his shirt, and then eating it. We still aren't quite to the summer produce yet, but we definitely have carrots!Olivia still settles for a little grass. Much easier to grow, but not quite as tasty.

And on a side note, I do believe this makes post 100. I am quite proud of this and would spend longer making this one a "special post" except my "special baby" is currently exploring the dirt portion of one of the house plants.

What does it take to get the farmer off the farm?

Bonitos.

Corn

I wish I could say we grew it, but nonetheless, this weekend marked the eating of the first fresh corn of the summer.

I've been posting pictureless lately. I'm slack. I have no good excuse. So now for a raondom, captionless picture post. Enjoy.