A visit to a friend's farm

Today I took the kids to my friend (and our former dog trainer) Jen's farm. She and her husband Chuck are trying to fulfill their dreams of living a self-sustaining lifestyle. I am truly inspired whenever I read her blog or talk with her about how they are beginning to fulfill this dream. I know I can never achieve what they are trying to, but I enjoy learning from her and try to apply the knowledge as best as a a lay person can. Here are the links to her blogs in case anyone is interested:

http://www.duskwindfarm.blogspot.com/

and

http://www.ilanapeterson.blogspot.com/

The kids enjoyed the farm. Jake wouldn't feed the animals, but he was fearless of them. He walked right up to the Highlander (again for the lay person....the red cow with the horns) and was like "hi"! The cows were all very curious of the kids, as were the sheep. Ryan was brave enough to feed them some grain, with me holding his hand of course. She showed us the ducks, and their eggs, the chicken and their eggs, the rooster-which Ryan said "cock-a-to-do" to. It was a lot of fun. We also got to see her daughter Ilana, whom we hadn't seen since she was just a few weeks old. What a porkchop, a true example of how good breast milk can be for babies.

It was a very pleasant day, and we would have loved to stay longer, but with 3 young kids, I was lucky to get the time that we did.

Playing with friends

Ryan's best friend Colt came over to use our driveway to test drive his new tricycle. The kids all had a blast.

Mother's Day

It's a little late, but I wanted to update anyway.

Mother's day was spent at home with the kids, Joel's parents, and great Grandma Pete. We were also also lucky enough to have Jazmin for the day, and that was wonderful. We played outside on the swing set, had supper for 9, and later, Joel installed my mother's day present....a new garbage disposal. I asked for a clothes line, but about 30 seconds later, the garbage disposal went on the fritz and I re-arranged my priorities! All in all it was a wonderful day spent with family, and most importantly my kids and foster kids and I couldn't have been happier! To be blessed with so many wonderful children in my life, and family that's supportive of our life choices is really all I could ask for.

Pizza Party at Davvanis

Today we went to Davvanis with a bunch of friends from ECFE. One of the moms used to manage some stores and told us of a "build your own pizza" day that they do. It was lots of fun. I'm not sure how many of us there were, I think 17 kids and 5 moms. They brought out individual pizza crusts and toppings for the kids and they all got to make their own pizza. Then they baked them, we ate, and then got a tour of the kitchen, ovens, etc. The kids loved it, and the store employees really seemed to enjoy us being there. Although I don't envy the ones who had to clean up after us!

Fixing the Boat Trailer/Friends come to play

Joel needed to do a brake job on the boat trailer, so we thought we'd see if our friends wanted to come over and play/help. They came over and the dads worked on the boat(well Ryan too.....) and the kids/moms played in the yard. It was a good time for all!

"Drinking" and Driving

Jake finally figured out how the go-kart power wheels works. He too doesn't know how to steer, but it's fun to watch. The Diet Coke can was empty he just wouldn't put it down.

"Pound-Dog"

Kendall and Bobby have a dog named Hound Dog. For some reason Ryan calls him Pound Dog. They brought him up for the weekend, and the three dogs played till they tipped over (literally)!