Silly Goose Farm

Taking a break

2007-11-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

Well, last Sunday the last of our sheep went to a new home. Best wishes to the great folks who took them! We are taking a break for a bit while Daddyman finishes his schooling and we figure out what our next step in the journey is. We hope to move next summer and then we'll see... But I definitely see more agrarian life for in the future, the children are absolutely against living in the "city" or the burbs. They are bonafide country bumpkins!

One last funny story for now, overheard by me in another room, not sure what she was referring to--

StoryGirl: "Well if you poked a pin in his head you'd pop his personality!"

Best wishes and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Noonie's 8!

2007-06-11T10:36:00.000-05:00

This is one of my all time favorite Noonie pictures. I think she is six here, but she looks the same now just taller:)

She was born at 6:11pm so this time eight years ago I was still in excruciating induced labor, with no pain meds. I tell everyone I can--DO NOT GET INDUCED. Like no insanity I've experienced before or since. But finally after 22 hours of intense labor she made her debut into the arms of our beloved midwife. I asked the midwife, "What kind of baby is it?"

"A girl kind of baby."

I was so sure she was a boy that I asked if she was sure?! She laughed. It took us another eighteen hours to name her.

She is such a special part of our family, I won't trade her for 100 boys! (Especially now that I've had some boys, LOL).

Happy Birthday, Noonie!!!!

What we've been up to

2007-06-02T14:25:00.000-05:00

The sheep have been shorn. Yummy told Pooh, "Look ReRa is grumpy."

"Why?"

"Because he's all nakey."

Limbo

2007-05-19T09:05:00.000-05:00

Well we are waiting and I don't like waiting. Our offer has been accepted on the house we all like and we have a buyer for our house. We are waiting to see if Gammy's house sells. It has been on the market a week now and has been showing so we wait and see. We have about three more weeks on our contract on the new house to sell her house(is that clear as mud) or we don't move this year. We have a narrow window as once Daddyman's back in school this Mama is NOT moving, not by myself!
So we wait, and wait, and wait.......................Did I mention I hate waiting:)

Lambing Update

2007-04-28T09:02:00.000-05:00

Well, this will be brief as there is nothing to report. No new lambs:( We used three rams in the fall and I thought the ewe lambs might not get bred, but I have two three winter ewes which do not appear bred which is a bummer. We still have a weeks worth of window, but it doesn't appear likely. I think one of my ram lambs might have been sterile or not yet "mature", but either way he is heading to the butcher with another yearling in May. We could use the meat and I'm trying to keep the flock really small because.......
We are currently house hunting with my mother, trying to find a place with an in-law apartment. We have a narrow window to hunt as we need to be moved before Daddyman starts school in the fall. So if God intends us to move He'll work it out and if not we'll stay here another year and look again next year. Either way I am resolved to be content, like Paul in Philippians 4:11-13:
11Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be
content.
12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am
instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Lambing season is definitely here:)

2007-04-14T12:30:00.000-05:00

Woke up this morning to two more lambs. Moon gave us a black ewe and a white ram, both horned. The ewe weighed 8# 10 oz and ram 7# 10 oz. Mama is skinny, but good. I may have to give her some extra nutrition

this year, she is nine now and pretty bony, though she is still plenty aggressive at the feeder. I wonder how much of the bony-ness is sagging:0 I ask this from personal experience.

The picture on the top left is NaRae still holding vigil over her cute little lambs. She is very cautious and protective with them. Moon on the other hand does whatever she wants and them bellows to her lambs to follow. (chuckle) Just like us human mommies and our different parenting styles.

Noonie has named NaRae's lambs Johnny and Lisa and Bubby named the new white lamb Spiderman and the black ewe is Naomi.

OUR FIRST LAMBS OF 2007

2007-04-13T16:26:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the picture. Noonie took the picture and the lambs were asleep and she didn't want to disturb them. We'll try to get some better ones tomorrow.

Both lambs are white, a ram and a ewe. They weighed 7# 7 oz & 8# 1 oz at delivery. Cute little buggers and mama NaRae is doing a super job, her lambing record is now 2,2. She is two years old, so great fertility from this ewe. Hopefully she passed on her gorgeous horns as well.

And yes that is snow on the ground, plenty of wet snow (sigh).

WE NEVER DOUBTED!

2007-04-09T08:48:00.000-05:00

Daddyman received his official letter of acceptance to the second year of the nursing program at Vermont Technical College. We are all very proud. He was nervous he might not get in as spaces are limited and applicants are many, but with all the hard work he's put in these past two years plus his natural aptitude, I knew he'd make it. And he got in at his location of choice!
God is good!

Our Natural Dyed Easter Egg Experiment

2007-04-07T16:54:00.000-05:00

We decided to try natural dyes this Easter for our eggs. We chose blueberry/pomegranate juice(we found this at our local discount grocery), beet borst(also from the discount store), grape juice concentrate, cranberry juice concentrate, spinach, turmeric, paprika, and instant coffee. It was exciting to see what came out of the pot when the time was right. Our favorites were turmeric, grape juice and blueberry juice. I also like the creamy color we got from the coffee--almost looks like chocolate. The spinach was a bust--not sure if it wasn't fresh enough or maybe I should have added vinegar. I don't think I'd use cranberry juice again, I think it was too acidic--the shell could be rubbed off in layers.

I'm glad I got this photo. That is Flat Savannah standing in the middle visiting from Georgia. I'll post some other time about Flat Traveling (inspired by the book Flat Stanley).

The next day the twinnies got into a room they are not supposed to be without supervision. We have gated off the dining room and keep all important projects and things we don't want "explored" by the twinnies in this room. However someone (I'll withhold the name to prevent further embarrassment) forgot to shut the gate and in no time flat Beezer and Gooey were on the table laughing and smashing eggs by throwing them across the room!!! Thankfully we were able to salvage a couple and we had egg salad for lunch:)

Oh Wait I think I like this one better

2007-04-06T18:49:00.000-05:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Imperial Majesty Jessica the Portable of Gallop Hophill
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Strange things found on the internet

2007-04-06T18:47:00.000-05:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Milady the Right Reverend Jessica the Kind of Chipping Sodbury
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Spring Flinging

2007-03-30T16:28:00.000-05:00

Well Daddyman was home this week, spring break from school, and the "spirit" moved me and we went on a cleaning frenzy. I've sorted through just about everything in our home in the last two weeks. I have a closet left and I haven't done anything in the kitchen. Now I'm listing items to give away and sell on various group lists I'm part on. I was able to sell the twin baby carrier we used when Beezer and Gooey were younger and also a twin nursing pillow that we never ended up needing.
And speaking of "twinnies" if you think of it keep our little Gooey girl in your prayers. We are feeling some pressure from the docs about her lack of weight gain, so we're putting in some extra effort to try to pack on the pounds! I tell her everyday she needs to buckle down and get fat already, but she's just not feeling it;)
Keep checking back, our sheep are due to start lambing in the next week or two. I'll be sure to post lambie pics--lambies are the best.
Have a great weekend.

Whoa, a whole month flew by!

2007-03-23T19:14:00.000-05:00

Well we are still here! We've celebrated a few more birthdays, we're a little front loaded in the year--all our birthdays fall in the first six months of the year. So Happy Birthday to StoryGirl and Jeeves, and Gammy had a birthday too. Daddyman is another year older much to his chagrin, and little old me will be 33 in a week.

We've had another snow storm and now we have officially entered mud season. We have a couple of ponds in our driveway and I've done six loads of laundry today because everyone has changed their clothes a half dozen times because they were soaking wet. It was a beautiful day today, sunny and high 50's, even Beezer and Gooey went out for a little fresh air.

I've been bit by the spring cleaning bug so I've been organizing and getting rid of in earnest. Daddyman has "school vacation" next week so our goal is to deep clean the whole house and bring the new life of spring feeling inside as well.

I'll keep you posted!!

More to be thankful for

2007-02-19T11:02:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for friends who let all nine of us invade their home for several days.

I am thankful for my husband who handles puking WAY better than I do:)

I am thankful for days to lay on the couch and watch favorite movies with my family even if it is because we are not physically able to do much else.

Update

2007-02-19T10:54:00.000-05:00

Well last week we went to visit some good friends out of state. DaddyMan had the week off from school so we took a little family vacation and we all had a great time. And then the Nor'easter hit so we stayed an extra day and a half. Our neighbor was very generous and plowed our driveway, however the snow piled in front of our door took forty five minutes to shovel just to get into the house. We were then greeted with frozen pipes and an unhappy cat. He "expressed" himself all over our bedroom. We did the best we could and the repair man came Friday morning and after a large bill we had water again. Then the puking began....and three days later we are still recovering and have also developed runny noses and a bad cough.

We don't think we'll take any "vacations" in the winter again;)

Happy Belated Birthday, Bubby!

2007-02-06T08:40:00.000-05:00

Bubby had a birthday in January. We did celebrate it and I meant to post sooner, but now I'm belated. Above is a picture of some work he did on knights, weapons and armor. We have a book called Castle byDavid Macaulay that has some pictures of armour in it, so Bubby made himself an armory of clay weapons.
Bubby is the king of clay and sculpture. He is very tactile, touching everything, wanting to know how things work, trying to replicate what he sees in clay. It started to become an "issue" for dh and I, always stepping on clay and clay getting stuck in everything (including babies' mouths). So we made a clay pit. We took one of those playyard structures designed to coop up babies and toddlers and instead use it to contain clay. The rule is you can play with clay all day, but it has to stay in the clay pit. This satifies my son's need for tactile stimulation and mom & dad's need to not find clay stuck everywhere!

My Favorite Jeeves-y Monkey Story

2007-02-02T17:49:00.000-05:00

Jeeves loves the color pink. He always has. When asked what he wanted for Christmas, he answered, "Um, pink shirt, pink pants, pink belt, ummm, pink socks, pink shoes and pink tie and ummmm, EVERYTHING PINK!"

I replied, "You remind me of Buck (my father). He liked purple and used to have a purple shirt and purple socks and we called him 'Captain Purple'."

Jeeves scrunched up his face and emphatically informed me, "I do NOT want purple!!"

I inquired why.

"Purple is a GIRL color!"

Well then, there you have it:)

Another thing I'm thankful for....

2007-02-02T17:43:00.000-05:00

This is my sister, we call her "Pooh". Those are her cats she is holding, they are spoiled rotten.

Anyway, I'm thankful for having her as a sister and for all the help she gives us. She usually comes down once or twice a week to visit and help out with the chil'ens. She is single and I hope someday when she marries and has kids we can help her out as much as she's helped us. Jeeves prays everyday for her, "Dear God, Please help Pooh to bring a godly husband." Now how could He not answer a cute prayer like that!!!!

Our Family's Version of the "Glad Game"

2007-02-01T09:25:00.000-05:00

"Buck" (my dad) hanging with Jeeves and Bubby

I haven't been the easiest person to live with this month. I've realized something about myself. In a crisis I'm really good, sort of kick into 'function with minimal emotion' mode. I remain very calm and rational for the most part and plow through. However eventually the emotions do come to the surface, though usually long after the event and at seemingly inappropriate times or else seemingly unrelated moments.
My father died suddenly two years ago. He had been ill, but was getting better and then one night out of the blue, started hemorrhaging and passed away very quickly. A few months later I found out I was pregnant and then we received the TTTS diagnosis and I moved into another crisis.
So now my babies are nineteen months old and doing well, but I'm crying a lot, at really odd moments. I'm irritable and tired and I'm not pregnant (I checked just to be sure). I realized I'm grieving on a slightly delayed schedule.
So in an effort to head off depression, I'm self prescribing: permission to cry whenever the need is felt and a daily dose of thankfulness.
When my father was ill, everyday he and my mother would think of something to be thankful for, counted their blessings, similar to Pollyanna's glad game.
And in this spirit I post my first "Thankful" entry:

I'm thankful for the legacy my father left me and our family. A legacy of laughter and fun, silliness and jokes, giving and serving and an attitude of thanksgiving.

What is TTTS? (Part 1)

2007-01-25T13:39:00.000-05:00

In January of 2005 we learned we were expecting a new baby. My pregnancy moved along, but it was definitely different that other pregnancies. I was vomitting alot and has no appetite due to constant nausea. I was losing weight, but then realized my uterus was really big for my gestational dates (this being my seventh pregnancy, I knew something was off). In April I was measuring around forty weeks and was so big I couldn't get comfortable no matter what I tried. In May we received some surprising news, we were expecting "identical" twin girls. We knew this because the babies were sharing a placenta. Our older daughters were thrilled that now the girls in our family would out number the boys.
However, we were also told that "baby A" (Beezer) was producing WAY too much amniotic fluid and "baby B" (Gooey) was stuck in a small sac down in my pelvis. I would need to go to Maternal/Fetal Medicine department at Fletcher Allen Health Care for a more extensive ultrasound and testing.
And so the roller coaster began.
After a four hour ultrasound (yes, you read that right) we were told our girls had Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome and we had a fifty percent chance of walking away with one live baby. Whoa.
We were scheduled for an amnio-reduction the next day.
I'll post the rest soon. For more information please visit this great website: TTTS Foundation

Grocery Shopping "Secrets"

2007-01-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

My children are far from perfect and we are not blessed with naturally complient kids. Often when we are out and about we receive comments, such as "Your children are beautiful and so well behaved." This has become a bit of a joke at home. When the natives get restless and the volume rises and the house starts shaken I will look at my husband and sweetly say, "You have such beautiful children and they are sooo well behaved!"
Because we a bit of spectacle in public I'm often asked how I "do it" (I assume this means why am I not screaming and pulling my hair out). So in the spirit of answering this question I've written this post to assure you all I am not magic, nor are my children different from any others. I just have been forced to become better prepared on a daily basis to face the proverbial angry mob. Now on to grocery shopping:
Because grocery shopping has to be done and because my children enjoy going out with me I've set clear boundaries for behavior and they must be followed.
At home BEFORE we are out of the house I gather my kiddos and tell them the plan, "We are going to the grocery store (or wherever). The grocery store is not our home and there are other people who will be there and there is certain behavior that is acceptable (or okay) at a grocery store and other behavior that is unacceptable (not okay)." Then I tell them what I expect, "No wandering away from mommy, no yelling, no running, if I ask you to get something from the shelf you can put it in the cart" etc. Then I reveal consequence and reward. "If you can follow directions at the grocery store we will (insert reward here, could be reading a favorite book, a movie or other kind of treat), if you can't then the next time you will stay home with a sitter or family member (and I mean it and have followed through on this)." If they (each child individually considered) can't hold it together I follow through on the consequence, but with a positive tone,"Well you had trouble last time, so you'll stay home this time, but next time we'll try again and I know you'll do better."
I've found that I can really affect the tone of the experience by my tone and attitude. If I am stressed and grumpy and expecting them to fail, they usually meet the expectation. However if I can remain low key and upbeat they are more positive and cooperative as well.
And one last thing, you might want to let them do something before you go to get out some energy and let off some steam before they need to use their self control.
Happy Shopping!

Tension Schooling

2007-01-20T12:14:00.000-05:00

In our culture the word "tension" generally has a negative connotation. We usually think about people disagreeing, arguing, an uncomfortable strain in the room. But there is also a good tension, think tension on guitar strings--too much and they will break, too little they go spaghetti-limp and make no sound. However if you work at it and find just the right tension you get beautiful music and this is how I strive to teach my children. Too much structure and planning and my children get overwhelmed, cranky, frustrated and learning "breaks", stops happening. Then we've tried no structure and they wander around, aimless, "bored", start picking fights with each other and again learning stops, goes "limp". So now everyday I try to find the right tension, a little direction, but enough freedom. Then I wait to hear the beautiful music of my children learning and thinking and discovering and questioning and wondering. "What's the formula for getting this tension?" we all want to know. Wouldn't it be nice to find this answer in some book? It's very obvious if our day needs some"tuning" and then my job becomes to be present, in the moment, watch and listen and try some tweaking. Have you ever watched someone tune a guitar? They are very focused on the instrument and hold their ear close to the instrument, then they make just the slightest twist to tighten or loosen a string. This is what "tension schooling" requires of me as a parent, to be engaged and involved in my children's lives and the fabulous side effect is closer relationships with them built on trust and time invested.

Winter Time at the Farm

2007-01-19T13:43:00.000-05:00

I realized I hadn't made any "farm" related entries yet. That is because it is winter. Winter is pretty slow as far as farming chores are concerned. The sheep get fed hay and kept watered, but other than that they just hang out growing baby lambs inside (well the girls anyway). The ewes were bred in November and they are due to lamb in April. In April we will post lambie pictures, it is a very fun time of year, all the new life and fresh beginnings!

The photo here is one of our rams during his first winter. His name is ReRa, he is now in his third winter, has gorgeous wrap around horns and he still has wonderful lustrous wool. He's very gentle and laid back which is good for him because around these parts if a ram gets pushy he is sent to the freezer no matter how pretty he is!

Sign Language for Babies

2007-01-16T14:57:00.000-05:00

Nothing is more frustrating to me (or them) then a toddler shreiking and grunting, pointing, shouting frantically and me having no idea what they want. A few of my babies started talking around a year old, but for those that have not, sign language is an excellent help. Beezer and Gooey are 18 months and make sounds like "ma", "ba" and "da", but that's about it. For Christmas, Gammy bought Baby Signing Time dvd and we bought a first signing board book. I cannot recommend these enough. In about two weeks time the girls have learned almost all the signs, they love dancing to the music and they are so proud of their accomplishment. We had Gooey's occupational therapist at the house last night and she said sign language is great not only for the small motor and communication, but also is a great initiator for speech. Gooey was signing "book" and saying "bu" which pleased the OT and all the rest of us as well!
Happy Signing!

Unfortunate Milestone

2007-01-16T14:47:00.000-05:00

So the "twinnies", as we affectionately call them, have made a proud accomplishment today: They both learned how to climb out of their portacribs (which is what they sleep in all the time because they take up less room than full sized cribs). StoryGirl and I spent an hour this morning putting them back in their beds to get them to take their nap. I was looking for something to do with my spare time................................

How do you get good pictures of toddler twins?

2007-01-11T19:52:00.000-05:00

Beats the heck outta me. Noonie and I have tried several times to corral them, but to no avail.

I can't get them to stay close enough together long enough or if they are together they won't look at the camera or if they look at the camera someone makes a silly face.....

Oh well, this is the Dynamic Duo IN ACTION.

Is it safe yet?

2007-01-11T11:35:00.000-05:00

I think it is safe to say we are over the stomach flu. The mighty fell slowly, one every couple of days until last Friday when three went down together. Then someone got it again four days later. Go figure, anyway, final count six out of nine of us got sick, the other three are standing strong. Last ones standing? Beezer, Gooey and ME.

Thank you, Kendra

2007-01-11T11:09:00.000-05:00

For anyone who homeschools or anyone who knows a homeschooling family, you should read this great post by Kendra at Preschoolers and Peace. Kendra, in a round about way, I found this post very encouraging!

Stairs

2007-01-08T09:12:00.000-05:00

I saw a post over at Camian Academy a few days ago about babies and stairs. I posted a comment over there, but thought I'd post here about it as well.
We used to live in a condo and had a set of stairs that I chose not to gate. I didn't want gates (INPS, idealistic new parent syndrome, I think). So when each of my first three babies started crawling I took a couple days and taught them how to slide down the stairs backward. I followed them up as I encouraged them to climb the stairs and them pulled them slowly down by the foot on their bellies talking and encouraging them. Yes this is a little tedious, and maybe crazy, I'm not sure, but we knew other people with stairs and I hate the "watch the baby on the stairs" and the "keep the baby away from the stairs" games while trying to visit with friends. Up front it was more work, but in the long run I could relax and let them explore.
Now we are in a house with no stairs and we have lots of gates LOL, go figure, but we have toddler twins now and I needed to keep my sanity. Actually we were at a family members home recently and because my twins aren't familiar with stairs we ended up running interference with the little girls all evening because I was afraid they would fall.

GFGs

2007-01-06T11:57:00.000-05:00

Gluten Free Guys. In our house this is how we refer to Jeeves and Yummy at meal and snack time. Celiac disease or gluten intolerance are gaining awareness and it is becoming easier to find food for our guys.
Avoiding gluten is more than just not eating wheat. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, spelt, kamut, barley, rye and in our case we avoid oats as well. These grains can all mask as other ingredients in processed food, such as modified food starch, malt flavoring, and other fillers found in things like soy sauce, canned soups and salad dressings. When we first realized the problem with Jeeves, I was not to intimidated as I had shopped natural food stores for awhile and knew "gluten free" products existed, but I didn't realize how many products contained gluten. My son's staple foods were crackers and toast. This was three years ago and I've since found a good white bread recipe. All the store bought GF breads we tried were dry, crumbly and frankly gross. My house rule is my children do not have to eat anything I would not eat. (Unfortunately for them there are very few things that I won't eat. There are things I don't care for, but my father raised me to eat what is put in front of me, so I'll eat it, so this doesn't help my kiddos much.) But in the GF arena there is much I can't gag down, so we've tried and thrown away quite a bit. We're still trying to find a GF whole grain bread that I can stomach. Thankfully the boys were diagnosed young enough that they don't really know the difference, so they will eat a lot of things I won't.
Just recently I found what looks like a great recipe for whole grain bread at Barefoot Meanderings. I'll post how it turns out after we try it.

Fabulous Friday

2007-01-05T19:26:00.000-05:00

Friday nights at our house is much anticipated. The children stay up "late" and we eat popcorn for dinner and watch a movie. We even eat in the living room! Then we call the dog inside to clean up the mess. It saves me making dinner and the children think it's quite a treat (so does the dog).
Tonight we are watching "Meet Me in St. Louis" with Judy Garland. Nobody really sits and watches, rather the children act out scenes and songs and dances. Actually there is very little sitting or quiet in our house, just lots of activity and fun and living:)

Another Piper Down!

2007-01-02T23:12:00.000-05:00

Well it is official, we have the flu running through the family. Yummy is vomitting and it's anybody's guess who's next.
On a more positive note, StoryGirl saw the dentist today and received a reprieve. He added some compound to the top of her teeth and filed down the rough edges for now. The roots of the teeth are not fully developed and so for now they will look as though they are perpetually growing in.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T08:37:00.000-05:00

StoryGirl and I spent New Year's Eve in the emergency room. Not exactly how I'd envisioned celebrating the New Year. StoryGirl, Bubby and Jeeves were sledding at dusk and apparently StoryGirl and Jeeves had a collision. Jeeves was carrying his sled on his head and the sled hit StoryGirl in the mouth...and sawed off her two middle bottom permanent teeth. It was pretty painful for her. They couldn't do much for us at the ED so we'll spend the rest of the week finding a dentist and trying to get her mouth "fixed".

On a different note, Daddy-man, poor guy, spent the entire night at home locked in the bathroom with the stomach flu.....

It can only get better from here, right?

No, We do not raise geese.

2006-12-30T17:54:00.000-05:00

Sorry if this disappoints anyone, but when we first moved here it was our intention. However we were unable to find any locally that were the breed we wanted, then a few babies were born and then well you know, Life Happens. Anyway, I get inquiries on a fairly regular basis about this and I thought I'd just go ahead and deal with it head on:)

I really need to learn to be more specific!

2006-12-30T13:53:00.000-05:00

There will be lots of posts about "Yummy" because he is a wild and crazy guy. He is 3 1/2. We also have 18 mos twins "Beezer" and "Gooey" and so this year our Christmas tree was behind a fence, kind of looks like a zoo cage, some of the children actually wanted to get inside and pretend to be lions, but I digress. I walked into the living room to find Yummy balancing himself on the edge of the gate reaching out and grabbing for the tree. "Yummy, no touching the tree, remember." He looks over at me incredulously and responds "I'm not touching the tree, I'm touching an ornament."
Well, there you go........