farm chores

Who knew that establishing a once-per-month-travel rule would keep us so busy?  I certainly was not expecting that.

Maybe it's the wonderful weather we've been experiencing here, maybe it's the sunshine (even on the chillier days) and maybe it's good old fashioned Spring Cleaning and finally kicking the winter blues and cabin fever, but we've been on the go.  I guess "go" shouldn't be taken literally, since we haven't gone anywhere (and it's been so glorious) but have been keeping busy around the house.

Last week, we babysat a farm.  Wow.  That was an experience.  First, I learned a ton.  Second, I'm grateful that we stared just with chickens and didn't go all out with everything all at once, especially with two little girls.  Third, we were so glad when our friends came home to reclaim their farm.

Personally, I enjoyed the work, and I think Jesse did, too.  There is something incredibly satisfying (for me at least) to work hard with my own hands and muscles.  What made the whole week a bit stressful wasn't the animals...too much.  It wasn't taking care of over 100 chickens/turkeys/guineas, 5 pigs, 17 cows (two of which were new calves), rabbits (3 of which gave birth to bunnies) and a greenhouse to manage.  It wasn't the guinea I found dead one morning (oops) or the 3 times in one day that three of the cows decided to make a break for freedom and the newly green pastures, the rascals.  No.  The stressful part was doing it with a 10.5 month old and a 2.5 year old in tow.  Emma spent most of the chore hours either in the hiking backpack on my back while Lily and I fed, watered and collected eggs; in the stroller in the cow barn with Jesse as he took care of those guys; or confined to the pack and play when she just got too heavy and she got too wiggly.  Lily, on the other hand, started the week terrified of the cows and stayed like glue to me and became my little egg gatherer.  She loved it and would get so excited to help me gather the eggs.  She also loved helping me change the bedding of the baby chicks and turkeys that were inside out of the weather.  Some of you have seen the video, but before too long, she was the one making sure the babies didn't fly out of the box, and would carefully pick them up and return them home if they did manage to escape with an excited "come 'ere, guy!"

Only one morning did I have to do the whole show by myself, as Jesse's allergies were incapacitating (did I use that correctly?) and I sent him to the doctor instead of letting him go do chores.  The girls were troopers for the entire 2 hours it took us/me to feed, water, scoop poop, gather eggs, and check the bedding for everybody.

The cow story before pictures and moving on.  Those rascals had behaved all week until the morning our friends were coming home and we drove down together and I said "oh look, the cows got out...yay."  We had made it all week and they decided TODAY to get out?!  Our friends were headed home!  Anyway, with E on my back and L standing on the bed of a pick up truck from a safe distance away, Jesse and I tried to catch the 3 cows that had been enjoying the field.  I learned that a) those guys are heavy, and they weren't even fully grown cows!, b) rain boots do NOT protect against being stepped on and c) even though I am taller than said cows, they had no problem knocking me off balance when I tried to show it who was boss.  On the next two escapes of the day, Jesse had a stroke of brilliance and just went and got a bucket of food and they happily followed him back into their stalls, so that was pretty anti-climatic.

Lily and I had killer style that week.  She was kind of jealous of my "jump pants" that I got to wear to protect my regular clothes, and kept asking if we could look for some in her size at the store.

Oreo, one of the escape artists

you can just tell he's feisty

those pigs

Things around here have been pretty good.  Keeping busy with little projects here and there, getting ready for vacation and upcoming trips and visitors.  We are finally getting the basement reorganized and back together after the construction in November, so that is good.  I'm able to hang my laundry up on the clothesline so our clothes smell so good and there is just nothing better than climbing into bed with freshly washed sheets straight off the clothes line.

Now some pictures that the girls let me take this morning and I'm off to clean and get some more stuff done!

inspecting a dandelion

not so sure about this jacket thing

That's it for today, I guess!  More stories coming soon.

something new. and a little annoying.

I could probably list the number of people on one hand that will be interested in this post.  Feel free to look at the pictures and move on.  I will post more pictures of the girls soon.

So over the past few weeks, we have seen several tree trimming crews up and down our little road.  I didn't think too much of it.  About 2 miles down the road, we also saw a red helicopter pretty low over one of the hills.  Again, didn't think too much about it, but I did wonder what the helicopter was doing. 

Fast forward to late last week, when one of our neighbors filled us in: they were trimming the trees along the power line right-of-ways, and he told me to have my camera ready because they'd be to our place soon.  Lovely.  

Fortunately, Lily was fascinated by the "airplane" and thought it should live at our house.  She now knows that it's a helicopter and right after we put the girls to bed last night, it came back to do a little more trimming and Jesse looked out the window, pretty annoyed, and said "perfect, right in time to wake our girls up."  This from the guy who always argues that if the girls can sleep through jack hammers in our basement, they can sleep through anything when I tell him to be quieter after bedtime.  I didn't say it, because I'm pretty sure Jesse is annoyed they were killing our trees with nothing we could do about it, but I thought how we'd moved to the country for the quiet and we can't seem to get away, apparently...

here it comes...what's it carrying?

circular saws.  just swinging away.  did I mention how windy it was yesterday and that this was directly across from my house?  

And I really do mean windy.  The pilot had to keep doing huge circles away and coming back to wait out the wind.  I had to keep reassuring myself that these spinning blades of death were not going to detach and come hurdling towards my girls and house.

I mean, I could pretty much see the pilot

"look, Momma! an airplane!"

fascinated

sitting to watch 

destruction.

I learn something new every day.  Never a dull moment in the country, don't let people tell you otherwise.

spring cleaning

Jesse tells me it's been 15 days since my last post and that it's time to update again.  So I'm back to it today and trying to remember where I left off. 

Lily was sick.  And then, she demonstrated, quite effectively, that she is listening as Jesse and I try and teach her the concept of "sharing," and proceeded to share her bug with me.  And then Jesse took his turn.  Then poor Emma came down with a particularly nasty cold...we almost didn't get to go celebrate Easter at my parent's house because we just all seemed to be struggling to get healthy!

We survived though, and made it to Findlay late Friday night.  Lily was her usual silly self and super excited to see everyone.  A typical trip to Findlay involves kenneling Zeke, which kicks off our Friday mornings.  Normally on this trip to the kennel, I fill Lily in on the weekend plans.  On this trip though, she started asking about who we'd get to see and then listed everyone she could think of.  And really, we got to see everyone she listed over the weekend!  Which made for a super busy weekend, but we got to see so much family that it was worth the busyness, I think.  

checking out a new bath toy, thanks to Nikki and Rick! 

My aunt from Florida drove up to celebrate with us, and finally got to meet Emma.  Additionally, Great Grandpa Pagano and Pat came to visit, as well as Aunt Terri!  On top of all this, I got to see one of my best friends before she heads off to Alaska to be awesome AND Jesse and I got to go out to lunch with the Brennan family.  Nikki, Rick (with their twins), Uncle Don, Aunt Patty and Paul came down from Toledo to see us.  We had quite the party and family filled day.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera for any of it, apparently.  Bummer.  Jess, please send me some pictures of the Easter egg dying?  I heard that Lily loved it.  And my mom should be the Zout spokesperson, because apparently, there was dye and paint or something everywhere...and Lily's shirt is perfectly clean.

Easter Sunday came and we all went to church then headed to Primrose to have dinner with my grandparents.  Delicious food, good company and it was all over way too soon.

Lily's "Easter basket" was a Rasca this year!  incredibly excited to be able to use these for everything!

Lily was unchallenged in the Easter egg hunt this year.  Daddy was just being nice..

blowing bubbles with Gigi

stealing Poppo's cake

Now.  This past weekend.  Whew buddy.  I looked at Jesse yesterday and said "well, I think we can consider this weekend carpe'd!"

We further procrastinated on all indoor chores and projects to work on outside things because the weather was so.gorgeous.  Oh, how good spring is for me.  The main thing we tackled was the garage. Jesse has a beautiful workbench out there that is huge and flat, so of course we stack piles and boxes there which makes the space unusable.  Well, it's usable now!  We worked very hard to clean it up out there and even unburied and unpacked a box that may or may not have been even looked in the past 3 years because when we started unpacking it, we were shocked at what we were finding and have no idea when or where we used it last.  So that was a success.  Jesse did some modifications to our chicken coop taught me to change the oil in my car!  I'm pretty excited about that, and plan on doing it myself next time.

Oh!  I forgot!  We finally got our chickens.  Lily is a huge fan and loves going to check on them and greets them with a "hi, ladies!' and when we leave, she says "bye, friends!"  Zeke isn't too sure about them.

Anyway, today was another gorgeous day.  I got to hang up 2 loads of laundry on my clothes line and then decided that I should take some 10 month pictures of Emma, especially since I think I never got around to taking 9 month pictures...

At 10 (give or take a week) months, Emma is awesome but grumpy.  She is trying to get the hang of sleeping better through the night, she is napping much better, finally is getting her first tooth and has decided that crawling is for the slowpokes and is about 70% walking.  She will attempt walking the majority of the time, but will fall, stand back up to take a few steps, fall, stand back up for a few more steps, then give up and crawl.  But she is able to easily walk short distances.  

Then Lily wanted her picture taken...

I just need to take more pictures down in our field when the trees and grass are green...so we actually would have a pretty backdrop.

Lily loved her "scarf"...I'm not really sure why she thinks skirts are called scarves..

oh my word I love this.

Lily was twirling for the chickens

I have more pictures..but both girls are awake now so that will have to wait. 

please pass the Lysol..

Well.  Lily is currently working her way through her first stomach bug.  We've all passed around multiple colds, possible sinus infections and she's had RSV, but this is the first stomach bug we've had in the house- excluding morning sickness from me.  It.  is.  misery.  Poor kid (since she corrects me when I call her baby and tells me her name is Lily, not baby...).

She started crying in the middle of Friday night and when I went in, she told me she had "spit" everywhere.  Sure enough, puke alllll over the place.  I cleaned her up and then dumped her in our bed to cuddle daddy (what a lovely awakening for Jesse) while I cleaned up and changed the sheets on her bed.  I'd finally settled back down and was just dozing off- which took much longer than normal because I was now worried about her- and she was calling for me again.  More "spit."  After the third such episode, I was now mostly out of clean pajamas for her and definitely out of clean sheets.  Unfortunately timed, I hadn't gotten to those loads of laundry yet.  Anyway, I cleaned her up again and set Jesse to covering the couch and making her a place to sleep up front and getting me a blanket and pillow to join her up there.  We both slept eventually, and between the two girls, I was up quite a bit that night. 

Laundry seriously took all day.  This is not an exaggeration in the least, and I probably ran 4-5 loads through the wash.  Our poor leach field was struggling to keep up by the end, I think.  To be fair, one load didn't pass the fresh smell test, so it had to be re-done.  Lily laid around all day, watching Mickey Mouse and trying to drink water, watered down juice or Pedialite, all of which just bounced shortly after hitting her stomach.  She finally was feeling better after a very long nap, and happily walked/frolicked down to the barn with us later to see the chicken coop.  Of course she over did it, and barely could move the rest of the evening, though she was able to keep liquids down.  She had a bite of banana and tried to be interested in apple sauce, but really just went to bed after a nice bath.  

She's doing a little better today..only in that she hasn't thrown up, is still keeping liquids down and had half a banana.  I hate that she feels so miserable.  

Emma is avoiding whatever it is so far, so that's good, but she was just off all day yesterday too, which made me extra paranoid.  Between the two girls, I was probably up every hour last night, so that wasn't too fun, and am running on fumes today.  And coffee.  Plenty of that. 

All the sickness aside, Jesse was able to get a lot accomplished yesterday while still helping out with the girls.  He worked/finished out chicken coop, completed 75% of the bathroom floor, went into town for a Lowe's and Wal-Mart trip for sick Lily foods, grill some chicken and was still up and kicking long enough to tinker on my 4wheeler some.  I was just pleased to sit down after the girls went to bed, forget doing anything else.  

So let's do see about some pictures now.  Sorry my brain is semi-fried, I had a lot more to say but will have to try and find motivation later this week. 

spring is here and flowers are coming up :)

Jesse teased me for taking pictures of a muskrat, but I told him I was trying to document different wildlife that I see at our house.  so there.  plus, I couldn't see exactly what it was and found my camera (with the zoom) before I found binoculars.  and for some reason, he didn't think it was silly when I didn't get a picture of the mink I saw..he asked if I got pictures that time.  I don't know what he wants.

And now, finally...progress pictures of our "winter project."

the best before picture I have.  you can't see the dingy linoleum that well..

oh hey, there's me.  note the lovely light fixture.  possibly the best part.  right after the peeling wallpaper.

Lily liked trying to help pull the wallpaper down.  which was horrible.

goodbye ugly medicine cabinet mirror

changing the main light/fan

ahhhhh better

much better

hm.  ok, well this is the best picture of the cabinet area I have.  I painted it white.

bathrooms have a surprising amount of space if there is no toilet in there...

pretty new floor!  it isn't quite done in this picture, but it is now!

So, what we have done: removed wallpaper- sanded, spackle, sanded; primed and painted the walls; replaced the over the sink light fixture; replaced the main light fixture- which involved patching a hole in the ceiling; added texture (because it was smooth?) to the ceiling and painted the ceiling; painted the cabinet; replaced the flooring.  We are close to being done.  Jesse is currently replacing the faucet fixture in the sink and then will be working on cutting moulding for me to paint before we get that replaced.  Then add our mirror and I think we'll be done!  Final pictures will come eventually.

For pictures of the girls, go to my other blog.

 

a breath of fresh air.

I.  Love.  Spring.

Like so many, we experienced some outstanding weather this past weekend, and it was so needed and welcomed.  Saturday hit 60s and Sunday was in the 70s.  I think that everyone I talked to was enjoying the weather immensely, taking full advantage of it and being outside as much as possible.  The fresh air did wonders for me, and I actually had the windows open yesterday afternoon.  Don't get me wrong, I am ok with winter...as long as there is pretty and deep snow where I can go sledding or build snowmen with Lily.  Other than that...the dreary just drags on too long and I get down and moody.  Evident by my last several posts and lack thereof.

However.  Spring.  ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Saturday started off kind of chilly, but was warm enough for me to go for a nice run outside during naptime while Jesse started smoking some chicken on our grill.  We bought a Weber charcoal grill last summer and have gotten more than our money's worth out of that thing, and I am completely fine with grilling/smoking being one of Jesse's hobbies, because he's pretty good at it and the results are delicious.  Anyway, with the nice weather, Jesse "got to hankerin'" (his words...) some smoked chicken and that just made Saturday the best day we've had in awhile.  The girls and I played outside and Emma just loved it.  Lily was all kinds of excited too, of course, but Emma was too little last summer/fall to really enjoy anything besides the texture of grass, but she was happy as a clam crawling around our patio and eating dirt before I pulled her bouncer outside to confine her.  AND *drumroll please* she has only been up one time in the night the past two nights.  This.  is an outstandingly new record and if playing outside and fresh air is the reason, you can bet the girls and I will be outside every day that we can.

Yesterday went way too fast.  We did some work inside, some outside, and Jesse even got a chance to try out his new clay pigeon thrower.  I didn't get to this time, but I will soon enough and show him up.  Or I will just get to give it a try...

big girl at 8 months

spinning in circles

I think as a parent, some days, you can absolutely be exempt from work outs and lifting weights.  because let's be honest, Lily loves this and she is heavy.  especially when she wants to do this for minutes on end and when you set her down she says "again, again!"

why yes, we are now standing unassisted.

I felt like I had so many stories to share, and now that I've sat down, I can't think up too many.  We had a great weekend and it was over too fast: we are absolutely looking forward to many more like it as the weather continues to warm up.