Tag Archives: holidays

Spring Break with Simple and Frugal Family Fun

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The crew has been on Spring Break lately, so I’ve been hashing together a schedule between work and home to spend time with them–even if it occasionally means I’m working while they’re playing. It’s a joy to be able to hear them laughing (and squealing!) in the background! What are some of the simple and frugal (actually, mostly FREE) family fun we’ve been enjoying this week? Well, scrubbing water troughs for one! The kiddos had to empty, scrub and refill all the water troughs. Since we just recently rotated the … Continue Reading…

When You Force Your Kids to Smile…Christmas Eve Pictures

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I make my kiddos take a lot of pictures. {smile} Sometimes they like it, and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they come out feeling a little forced… Sometimes I get the “eww…I’m not touching him!” Or I get fake smiles and James Bond {sigh}… And sometimes you just have to let them be who they are… And eventually you don’t get the “right” picture… But you get the best picture ever! Is that just kinda like life? Sometimes you just have to let it be what it is, and enjoy the … Continue Reading…

New Babies, New Jammies, New Year…the Daily Farm Adventures {96}

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As you may have seen on Facebook, we started off our Christmas holiday with a new calf on Christmas Eve morning! The Cowboy found him out there with his Momma while doing the morning chores. Molly is such a good momma that she’s never needed any help–and always has boys! Good for the freezer, but I wish she’d throw a heifer because we’d definitely keep her. Her calves also always start out such a lovely fawn brown, but eventually turn gray like our bull Chester. We spent the rest of … Continue Reading…

Being Unplugged for the Holiday

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I was pretty unplugged for the Thanksgiving Holiday this year. Only sent a few Happy Turkey Day texts and liked a few lovely family pictures on Facebook and pretty much put the phone down and enjoyed some time with the family. It was a nice break. Our kiddos didn’t have much screen time either and I only had one or two requests for “tablet time”–which I answered with a NO. We watched a miserable football game on Thursday night (sigh) and did a little shopping on Friday, but none of … Continue Reading…

Another Birthday for Our Ladybug

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The world was a different place, and I was a different person in it 11 years ago when the Ladybug was born…when we brought her home from the hospital in an old 1970’s blue Ford pick up (which ran out of gas on the way, but don’t you EVER, EVER, tell Mr. Fix-It I told you!!). Without a/c. In Virginia. Smack in the middle of August. {smile} We were so young. We had no idea all the things we didn’t know! I could put a lot of words to this post, … Continue Reading…

Family Camping…the Soaking Wet Version

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Well, we tried going camping again this past 4th of July. We enjoyed it last year and it seemed like a great idea. We definitely made some memories–of being rained out and wet. {smile} The Cowboy didn’t even have to fall in the creek this time to end up soaking wet. We got there about 9:30 am and Mr. Fix-It set us up with a “kitchen” this time. Car camping is so much easier than backpacking! You can bring all the little conveniences with you because you don’t have to … Continue Reading…

We Had a Birthday!

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Mr. Fix-It doesn’t get off work very often. It’s the nature of working for a family-owned small business. The benefits are not the same as what I take for granted. He doesn’t have much paid leave, and what he does have, he tries to save for holidays or traveling to see family. So when I decided to take the first couple days of summer break off with the kiddos earlier this week, I was tickled that he up and decided to schedule a day off to spend with us. And … Continue Reading…

Sailboats, Birthdays, and Blue Chairs..the Daily Farm Adventures {63}

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Usually the Daily Farm Adventures are filled with…well…farm adventures. {smile} But this weekend our days were filled with sailboats and shopping for the Ladybug’s birthday. She turns 10 today, ya know. And she celebrated in grand style by winning the church’s first Sailboat Regatta! The kiddos and Mr. Fix-It have been working on their first sailboats for a week now. They sanded, and sanded, and sanded, and sanded some more, and then painted. This was the first time they used spray paint. There were a few runs, but mostly on … Continue Reading…

Run While the Sun Shines…the Daily Farm Adventures {44}

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This weekend it was sunny and 70 degrees and we were on the go all weekend. We woke up well before the alarm clock on Saturday to a cow bellowing in the driveway. There’s no fencing in the driveway, so there should not be cows in the driveway. Ha! Turns out he was the least of our troubles. He was bellowing for the rest of our little family herd–who were across the street grazing in the neighbors front yard. The good news is that right now the animals are used to … Continue Reading…

Skylanders Birthday Party

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I’m taking a break from our Lambing Help series and sharing about Speedracer’s recent Skylanders birthday party. This whole party was an interesting quandary for me because our kiddos don’t play video games. At. All. We don’t have a Wii or a Playstation or an Atari or whatever. {grin} The closest they get is occasionally playing Wonder Zoo on the tablet. Our kiddos know Skylanders from colorful comic books and their friends at school. We bought them some of the toys at Christmas because I got a great Cyber Monday deal on … Continue Reading…

10 Books for RUBY…Valentine Surprises

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If you follow us on Facebook, you might have seen my post the other day about finding a book with Speedracer’s name in it. His real name, I mean. It’s a treasure, and a tough find! I love finding books with our kiddos names in them because it makes them really connect with the character–which also makes having good stories especially important! It’s something that’s going to stay on their shelves long past the age when they appreciate the story. It’s a love gift more than a literacy gift. Which is … Continue Reading…

Finding Christmas

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How was your holiday this year? Ours was beautiful. And it surprised me.  Let’s face it, Christmas isn’t always easy for a lot of folks. The first few years after losing my parents, our children were very young and I was desperately sad and our holidays sort of coasted along…our kiddos enjoyed themselves but I never really did. And when it was over, I never really felt like we’d had a “real” Christmas. I never found the joy and excitement that we always had “going home” for Christmas in years … Continue Reading…

Homemade Cowboy Birthday!

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As I mentioned before, we don’t do birthday parties every year. But this year everyone gets a party. And the Cowboy wanted a cowboy party. Naturally. I think we were able to pull it off pretty well. Pinterest was a bit of a help to me–but honestly, in this case it was also a bit overwhelming. I’m…speechless…at the lengths some parents are going to for birthday parties. Especially for 1, 2, and 3-year-old who won’t even remember it other than the pictures in their scrapbooks! But I digress… Most of … Continue Reading…

Christmas Tree Hunting

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Other than a brief poultry assault on the back porch, it was a quiet weekend on the farm. We had the Cowboy’s 7th birthday party–and I’ll have more to share about that tomorrow. And then we went Christmas tree hunting. It was cold. And raining. But we came back victorious. This year we even had company. Ms. Maya and her youngest brother joined us for the evening after the party and were part of our tree hunting expedition. We get our tree from a tree farm, but not from a … Continue Reading…

The Cowboy is 7 Today

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How do you go from this… To this… I don’t know, but it happened! The Cowboy turned 7 years old today. Sometimes in the middle of life you don’t feel like anything has changed…anything is changing. Then you look back and realize that you don’t know where the time went! Our Cowboy is strong-willed. He is passionate when he’s right. And when he thinks he’s right. And when he’s wrong. He is a justice-seeker. He is a lover and a fighter. He is a Believer, and a believer…in God, and cowboys, … Continue Reading…