Lambs Haven Picnic

This post is a little late, but this last year we were blessed to be able to attend the Lambs Haven Family picnic again in August.  We managed to arrive on time this year, and it did not take long for Mia make friends and start having fun.

The boys got to play some volleyball before lunch.

Jennie and the little girls enjoying some fellowship time.

Lunchtime was yummy with plenty of food.

Lily is enjoying Mrs. Organ's homemade donuts.

Listening to some wonderful music.

Pastor S.M. Davis preached twice throughout the day.
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After lunch we played some kickball.

Evan is kicking.

Ethan's turn.

It was a great time and we enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, encouraging fellowship, and time in the Word. 

 We seem to be very behind on our blog posts, so we have decided to outsource some of the blog post creation to Ethan.  This was his first post, and we slowly worked through it so that he could understand how to put it together.

July Beach Visit And Family Gathering

On our way to a family gathering outside of Astoria we stopped at the beach to play in the sand.

Oh, but first here is Gracie working in the kids kitchen with her leg warmers on.  Those things are coming back around.

It was a little cooler at the beach than we had planed, but we still got come sand castles made.

The only kite we have in working order is Mia's, here Ethan is helping her get it up in the air.

Momma and Grace actually stayed in the van where it was warmer.  They hung out in the back and played with toys, until was time to view the castles.

Lily Bug

Ethan

Ethan helped me work on this castle most of the time, here it is before we packed up.  

Do you know about the wonders of baby powder at the beach??  We always have baby powder on board when headed to the beach.  It dries out the wet sand stuck to your body so that it all brushes off.  Each kid gets doused in baby powder before getting in the car, and we all smell baby fresh afterwards.  It is great, try it out!

On to the family gathering.  Luckily the weather was quite a bit nicer further in land.

Jennie and Grace were spent some time visiting with Great Grandma Johnson.

Some friends of the family had brought a large rock display with lots of activities for the kids to learn about rocks.  Here the kids are trying to dig shark teeth out of plaster of paris with just a tooth brush and a couple of other blunt instruments.  It was quite a bit of work but apparently that is all they give you when working at a dino dig.

2nd Annual egg toss, some of the eggs appeared hard boiled.

Ethan and Evan in the wheelbarrow race.

Garlic Braids

So, this last year I purchased see garlic and planted it right at the end of November.  It grew really well through the winter and we mulched around it with some straw after doing some weeding.  In early July it seemed to be starting to die and turn brown so we dug it up.  I have always thought that braided garlic would be a neat way to store it and be decorative as well.  We ran across a tutorial on one of our favorite blogs.

Jennie actually did the braiding while I stood by for support.

We ended up hanging them in our kitchen and look forward to snipping off the bulbs for some homegrown garlic.

Supposedly it is really healthy for you especially during the winter cold season.  One time I even tried eating a clove whole when I was starting to come down with something.  I had heard raw garlic was even better than cooked.  Well I would NOT recommend it!!  My stomach did not care for the raw garlic and I felt bad for at least a day.

June / Father's Day

June started off with lots of work in the garden.  However we apparently have not taken any pictures of the garden, so I will have to try and work that into July.  Here the boys are taking a break on the deck.  We work them hard  ;-)

 Can't complete the month without a cow picture, here is Carmel.  I finally got her to eat some hay out of my hand the other day.

We setup a small area with electric fence for the calves to keep them separate from Carmel because the smaller guy, Reese, seemed like he was eating too much and starting to bloat.  We wondered if it was peer pressure to keep up with the big girl.  The boys have both been shocked numerous times by the fence, but they are learning.

Mia took a couple of chicken pictures.  Here are the chicks in their outdoor run.  Just today we put them in with the older girls, which will probably cause some stress over the next couple of days as they establish the pecking order.

I was so impressed with my breakfast one morning I took a picture of it.  Jennie made these delicious little sandwich's, I call them Breakfast Sliders.  She put an egg on some slices avocado, and then in the whole wheat rolls. This was quite a treat as we have been mostly gluten free for a month or so.

Evan and Lily playing Fathers Day morning while I slept in.

I finally had to sneak out of the bedroom to see what was going on.  I hid under the ironing board until Ethan kicked me by accident.  Then I was scolded for sneaking out as they were busy trying to get breakfast ready.  

Here is the spread.  On the right we have bacon (Yumm) then chocolate mini donuts with sprinkles, then eggs, then pumpkin donut holes, then large chocolate donuts.  All were dairy and gluten free.

Lily enjoying a donut!!

We then headed off to Champoeg park for a small hike.

We had a picnic lunch there after spending some time at the welcome center.

Hiking along!!

Ethan carried Grace for the whole hike.  He was pretty tired when we were done.

Artsy photos.  The guy that gave us the tour of the 1860's kitchen garden told Mia he liked her hat.  She was not sure what to say.

Ethan & Grace

Jennie has started soaking some of her seeds and nuts, apparently it helps in digestion.  Here are some of our first cherries.  We have since picked all that we could reach, and the rest were left for the birds.

The girls playing in their sleeping bags.  While the boys were away camping with Grandma & Grandpa, the girls wanted to camp out as well.

The pool was finally setup, and the kids found some mud to squish between their toes.

It will take a few days to fill the pool.  I am afraid to run the water too long for fear of running our well dry.  So we fill it three times a day for 45 minutes or so.

Cleanup time.

Momma and Grace self-portrait.

Lily's a big 3

We had great weather for Lily's Birthday, which let us enjoy the outdoors.  The morning started off with baked oatmeal, with a heart cutout.

Lily with her cake that Momma made.

Evan has recently decided he likes to serve ice cream

Lily enjoying her cake and ice cream.

The shade of the curly willow was nice.

Penny with some nice glasses on.

Present time.

We thought it would be fun for the kids to plant some flowers to take home with them.  I have not heard if any of them ended up growing.