THE COUNTY FAIR

We love to go to the fair and see all the animals. A lot of the kids show goats, calves, pigs, and sheep. There are also chickens, rabbits, ducks, and whatever fowl people want to bring. We walked around and looked at every animal. The goats, sheep and pigs all look the same to me. But the boys are excited. They want to take a pig and maybe our Top Knot chicken. We have a lot to learn. Isaiah and Haylea can even show something if they have something.
The best part was we took everyone to the rodeo last night. It was fun to be there. The highlight of the night was the kids chasing the calves to get a tag off their tail. There were probably 50 kids chasing these calves. James, Carl and Spencer (a little friend of ours) did it. It was so funny to see these kids chasing 5 calves around. James did get a tag. Carl and Spencer almost got a tag. I wish that I had taken my camera. It lasted about 10 minutes but I think everyone had a great time. Haylea and Isaiah really wanted to do it, but we told them they had to wait a year. Now they have something to look forward to.

WEEK ONE NO SHAMPOO

Ok it really isn't no shampoo. I have been reading about homemade shampoo. My hair was needing to be washed everyday or else it gets really oily. And as I read someones blog about this I became interested. It seems as though I will try almost anything at least once. So I did some research and I am using baking soda and water. That is it. I boiled the water added a couple tablespoons of baking soda and put it in an old shampoo bottle. Then I mixed about 3 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar with water in a squirt bottle to use after the baking soda. It is suppose to give your hair shine. Well I looked around some more and found that lemon juice and water is suppose to do the same thing. So I switched to lemon juice. It doesn't smell so bad.
I started this on July 20th and am pleased with the results. After one week I am liking the way my hair feels. It does not feel so weighed down. With fine thin hair that likes to lay flat against my head I need all the help I can get. And I thought I would have a problem with tangles, but I really don't. They say that this helps get rid of dry scalps and eczema. It is also a lot cheaper than buying shampoo and conditioner. I think I will try a natural conditioner in a couple of weeks. I will let you know how that goes too.

KIDS PICS

This is for Cara and anyone else who wants to see pictures of the kids. We had a lot of fun taking pictures. It is hard to get a good one of James. Usually he is making a silly face. I was excited to get this one. And the rash on Adalyns face is a reaction to medicine. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

ADALYN CRAWLING UP THE STAIRS

Adalyn loves to crawl up the stairs. Haylea thought it would be fun if we took some pictures of her.

CATCH THE PIGS

James told the boys that if they wanted the pigs to be friendly they had to catch them and pet them. So here are some pictures of them catching the pigs. The kids had a lot of fun.

BEDROOMS

Four of the five children sleep downstairs in the basement. It is an unfinished basement and all the beds were along one wall. Well I had been planning on making each their own room for a few months now. I just had to figure out what I would do for walls. Aunt Karen had a roll of fabric that is mesh and about four feet tall that she gave to us. I used some rods that we had for curtains and hung the fabric from the ceiling. The thing is that there are only two lights on the that end of the basement so the child in the middle doesn't have that much light. So Carl, Isaiah and James have one end of the basement and I put Haylea on the other end of the basement, so she is not with the boys. I was even able to hang a rod so that each boy has their own closet. And they figured out how to have their own dressing rooms.
They are all excited about having their own room. I keep telling them that they need to keep their rooms clean and they can earn a treat at the end of the week. They also like the idea that they don't have to let the others in their room. I am hoping that this causes less fighting and less of a mess. I will see.

SICK BABY

The last couple of days have been rough around here. On Sunday Adalyn was acting funny. All she wanted was her mama. When I brought her home I took her temperature and it was 103.8. I quickly worked on getting it down. She was up two more times during the night. Monday morning I took her to the doctor and she gave a prescription for medicine. She ran a fever all day on Monday. She slept a lot and when she was awake all she wanted was to be held. On Tuesday her fever went down but she still wanted to be held when she was awake.
This morning when she woke up she had a rash on her body, so we have stopped the medicine. But the great thing is that she is on the floor playing. Yes, I am able to get some work done without having to hold her. I did get some of the Book of Mormon read while I held her. That was great. I am just glad that she is felling better.

CHICKEN UPDATE

Our chickens are doing great. They are finally coming out of the chicken coop. They wander around the yard. If you walk by them they run to the chicken coop, or in that area. Here are a few pics of some of the chickens. I tried to count them yesterday and I think I counted a total of twenty-seven. That includes the four Guinea Hens. It is fun to watch them get the bugs or chase bugs. At night they go into the chicken coop by themselves and then the boys go out and shut the door. It is great.

This is a Top Knot chicken and three of our Guineas. The Top Knot has feathers on its head. We have two of theses. This is the prettiest of the two. They are small then the other chickens.

These are the original two chickens. They stick together. The red one Haylea named Sarah and then we realized that he was a rooster. The chicken on the right is Isaiah's and he named it Scooby, and it is a hen. How funny is it that they are backwards.

THREE LITTLE PIGS

On Saturday the Holgates and our family, minus James and Carl, went to go get our pigs. The Holgates brought the pigs to our house in the back of their truck. The kids had a lot of fun with this. They carried them by the legs and thought is was great. I have some cute pics on my phone, but I can't get them off. Haylea, Isaiah, James and I worked hard to get ready for this day. When we went out that night to check on them we found them asleep in the feed bowl. We startled one and it jumped up and stood like it is in the picture below. It was sleeping on its feet.

The pigs have been a joy to have. We have been feeding them the scraps from the kitchen. We are working on getting close to the pigs. They run every time we try and get close to them. The other day I went out with some peaches and sat in the pen to see if they would come close. They didn't come very close, but they enjoyed the peaches. I also did this with apples another time. They loved the apples also.

James and Carl are in charge of feeding them. They are really enjoying it. They fed them tomatoes last night when James got home from work. They say that they like those too. I am thinking that they will eat anything. This is exciting. They get all the uneaten food in the house. I might be able to keep the fridge cleaned out better.

We have two boys and a girl. The girl is the littlest one. They are two months old. I will keep you up on our pig adventure.

GETTING READY FOR THE PIGS

When we went to go get more chickens the other night we looked at the pigs before we left. The man said that he would give us a deal if we took all three pigs. We told him that we would have to talk to our friends and see if they wanted one. So James called the Holgates and they agreed to the third pig.
I went back the next day to tell him that we wanted the pigs. I left a deposit because someone else had stopped by and said that he would be back for them. If I left a deposit, he would hold them for us.
We are working on cleaning up the area for the pigs. The roof is collapsed right now. As we cleared away the weeds we realized that there is concrete all where we want to put them. So we cleared away the dirt. We have to put up some fencing, then we can bring our three little pigs home. Haylea and Isaiah are excited about this. They keep asking when we get to bring them home. Our little farm is comig along.

THE BOYS ARE GONE

Last week Haylea and Isaiah went to my sisters for a couple of days. When they other children and I went to go get them, the boys talked Grandma into letting them stay. I agreed to it, and the boys have been at Grandmas since Tuesday. I called them and asked if they wanted to come home, and they say that they are not ready. I told them we were getting pigs, and they still don't want to come home. They don't do anything different at Grandmas then they do at home. I just can't figure it out. I guess Grandma is cool.
I have been enjoying my time with just three children. We enjoyed some baseball with the older boys, and some relaxation. I have enjoyed my time with the younger ones playing and enjoying them without their brothers. It is like I have new children when all five are not together to get on each others nerves. I will enjoy my time with them being gone, but I will be glad when they come home.

LABETTE COUNTY VS.

James' first All star game was last night. His team played Coffeyville. It was a heart pounding, or a nail biting game the whole six innings. James played first base. The games was tied up 1-1 and it didn't seem to get any less stressful. Labette County pulled off winning 6-4. They worked good as a team. The boys hit the ball well also. Today they play Independence at 3:30. The winner will play tomorrow, and the loser will play Parsons at 5:30. I really hope that they win so they don't have to play right after their first game.

CARLS BASEBALL PRESENT

On Saturday we went to Joplin to do a few things. We headed over to Academy Sports to look at the baseball stuff. The kids had tried on all the catching gear in the store that fit. Carl had been asking for catching gear for the past two years. I thought more about it after James got his black eye. We decided that for Carls birthday he could get it. Isaiah was sad, because every time that we go there everyone else gets something and he never gets anything. He really wanted catching gear that fit him. We talked him into a bat, and a tee so that he can learn to hit the ball. We told him that he had to share with Haylea so she could learn to hit the ball.

We then took the boys to the batting cages to work on their hitting. Once they figured out hitting with the speed of the machine, they both did very well.



Isaiah hitting the ball

Carl in the catching gear.

Since we have had the catching gear and the tee, they have been put to use. The kids got out in the morning after the rain stopped and played. James and Carl switch off catching and pitching. And Isaiah likes to hit off the tee. He is not bad I have to say. Haylea hit too.

Last night for Family Home Evening we went to the ball park and played. We had so much fun. Even the bigger boys are using the tee to practice their hitting. I think that we will get much use out of our new equipment.

OUR LUCK

Tonight was pack night for scouts. Sister Richins asked us to take her and Spencer because they didn't have a car. So we picked them up and went to pack night. We enjoyed hearing pioneer stories, singing songs, and roasting marshmallows. We take the Richins home and we get out of the car and you can hear the air going out of the tire. Yes, another flat tire. This time the driver rear tire. Remember we destroyed our spare tire on Sunday. Our luck is that the Richins have a Suburban that is not drivable right now, so she allowed us to use their spare tire. And the jack that we said we should put in the Suburban, never made it in, so James had to use the little jack that comes with the car. I say that if they are going to sell a big car they should but a big jack in it. It was nice to visit with Sister Richins and the children were able to play. So tomorrow we will be off to get the tire fixed. For now we have two tires in the back of the Suburban that need to be fixed.

BASEBALL SEASON IS OVER

I am sad to say that baseball season is over. They played their final games this week. Carl played a makeup game on Monday against Edna. He did so awesome. He hit two homeruns. So his dad will be giving him some money. He played first base, and had many outs. It is great that a lot of kids hit the ball to first base. There was also a play where the ball was hit to third base and the player threw it to Carl and made an out. I know it sounds like this should be done a lot, but in Carls team never had practice after the first game. It has been quit annoying. Carls team was suppose to play against Chetopa last night, but Chetopa only had 6 players and had to forfeit the game. That was alright with us because James' game last night against Chetopa was played in Chetopa and not Altamont where Carl's game should have been played at.
On Tuesday we drove to Chetopa for James' game. He played first base for the first three innings. All the players played well. Their hitting was really good tonight. James pitched the fourth inning, and seemed to be struggling. He slid into second during one of his runs and ended up hurting his knee. I think he is alright but he was pitching funny. Altamont won, and I don't remember the score I think it was like 15-2. Chetopa needed another game on their books for All stars so we played them another game. This game was much closer. They played three innings and the final score was 12-7. Altamont was behind in the second inning by one, but then they had a good comeback. It is tough on the boys to play this long. We were there for four hours.
Baseball is enjoyable for everyone. Especially when Haylea and Isaiah have someone to play with. Now we are doing All stars and will enjoy it. James' team seems to have a pretty good chance at making it to state. I know that it is one step at a time. They will practice Thursday of this week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week. They have a bye on Thursday and play on Friday. Oh how exciting this will be.