State Fair!

We went to the Missouri State Fair today...it sure was hot!!! We tried to get there early...by 10:30am, but it was still 95 degrees. By the middle of the day it was over 100 heat index. We still had a good time though. This is the boys going on a little roller coaster. I think it is the only ride Brody did...he is a little more cautious. Thats OK, I needed someone to hang out with!!
Even though you really only see Eric and Mason...Taylor is in there too!! It was hard to get a good picture...they were so high up!! Brody and I watched from below and it made him a little nervous seeing them up there!

This is one of those "tornado" type rides that spins you around faster and faster. This was Mason's idea actually and when he got off he said "that was the best one yet!" I sure hope Eric has a few more years of these kinds of rides in him cause I am not going to be any help!!

We also saw the animals of course...horses, cows, pigs, chickens, etc. Almost like being at home!! We enjoyed all the great "Fair Food"...hot dogs, snow cones, funnel cakes, fresh lemonade. It was a long, hot day but it isnt summer without a trip to the State Fair!!

WE HAVE BABIES!!!

This morning I went to feed the chickens and I got the COOLEST surprise!! I know there are two in this picture, but at first there was just one. When we got home this afternoon there was the second!! And just in case you are confused...yes that is a chicken and those are baby DUCKS!! This hen has been diligent about sitting on eggs for a few weeks now.
I think it was kind of a "group effort" on getting these two little ones hatched. There are two female Welsh Harlequin ducks and this hen that have been spending all their time working on this batch of eggs. Im not sure if there will be more babies in the next few days or it might be another week or so....if we get anymore at all. Its hard to know which eggs have been there how long. The ducks dont mind too much if I come in to take a look, although they do talk to me alot. This hen is a completely different story...she is now an attack chicken. I had to really zoom to get this shot and I still was a little worried about her going for me. I thought our rooster was mean!! Dont mess with this hen and what she thinks to be "her babies"!!

You can tell the one on the right is the newest...still a little damp. The other one looks to have a little bit of black spots...so it will probably be black and white. The one on the right seems to be all yellow right now and white later of course. Nothing cuter than babies is there?

Hillbilly Shower!!

A couple nights ago Eric was trying to power wash the drive and front patio. The kids kept running in front of the sprayer....so he decided to just start spraying them!! They were having so much fun!! I thought maybe the force of the spray would hurt a little, but I guess not...they kept coming back for more!

It has been so hot lately also. Over 100 degree heat index.

Any chance to cool off!!

SNAKE!!

This snake was found in our back field a few days ago. The guys were clearing out some brush to put up a new goat fence when they came across this! They killed it with a shovel before they realized it was just a black snake. It is at least 4 feet long!! When I asked the kids if they wanted to take a picture with it I thought for sure I would get a "No Way!"

We have had a couple more run ins with "critters" this summer. The dogs found a family of skunks in the back field...which we found out from the smell of course! We went back to investigate a few days later and realized they had actually caught a couple of them...

I was mowing last weekend out in the field where the grass was at least 3 foot tall...when I turned the mower around I noticed something flopping in the row I had just mowed...it was a baby bunny!!! It did not have any cuts on it but was bleeding from the nose and didnt make it. That ruined my afternoon and I was done mowing after that. Erics response was of course "they will eat the garden!" but I just cant stand the thought of killing a bunny!!!

A New Fort & Smokebombs!!

Well, I broke down today and built a fort after much asking by Taylor!! Her original idea was that I dig a tunnel under the backyard with a room on the end of it!! And she was actually serious about it...I said "Taylor that is pretty much impossible" and she came back with "Mom...nothing is impossible!" How can I argue with that!!

I think I did a pretty good job, dont you? It is made with 4 bamboo poles, sheets, and bailing twine!! They were all easy to impress though!

The inside was all decked out as well...plenty of pillows, blankets, toys...even granola bars for when they woke up in the morning!! Which they did not make it to...as soon as the dogs barked Taylor was inside and the boys soon to follow!!

Welcome to our new fort!!

Sunday morning the 15th we will be traveling to bring this little guy home! He is our new buck. He is bigger than this picture now...about 4 month old. They have been calling him "domino" and he is probably the size of the little guy in this next picture.

Im not sure what we will call him but we decided we needed TWO bucks and when we saw a picture of this one we just couldnt pass him up!! We will pick him up on Wednesday. I think we are done now until the babies start arriving in April!!!

The kids had a GREAT time with the smokebombs over 4th of July!! We probably went through 8 bags of them!! Eric couldnt light them fast enough...The boys especially liked them because they have been really into Spiderman lately.

Pretty funny, huh? They spent a lot of time like this running through smoke with their hands on their noses!!

Hope you are all having a GREAT summer!!!

The rest of the Animals

Is this about the cutest face you've ever seen?! This would be "sissy"...Taylors favorite little friend!! She is 8 years old, just like Taylor, and we have had her for about 3 years I think. I got her from a clinic I was working at when her previous owners brought her in to have her put to sleep because she had a broken jaw. The clinic convinced them to turn the dog over to them and let them try to fix her...the surgery went great and then they let me take her home!!

Some of you may not like these next two "pets" of ours....they are rats!! "summer" and "surf" are two pet rats we have just recently gotten. They really do make great pets for kids if you can get past the fact that they are rats!! They never bite like hamsters and they really love to be handled. Check out this great cage we got for them....it is like a mansion!! Sissy really likes to check them out...I think she wonders how they taste!!

summer is in the strawberry and the other would be surf...do you think they're cute?!

This is old faithful Dirt....he is 12 years old. Eric got him as a puppy right before we met, so he has been around for it all you could say! Our neighbors across the street love him too...they let him in the house and give him treats. A couple nights a week they will call us to say they are letting Dirt out so we can put him up for the night...they really spoil him...he also takes a walk with them every day.

This is "Trid", which some of you may not know is dirt spelled backwards...I know we are a little strange! We got her from the animal shelter about 10 years ago right after we moved here. Her and Dirt have been together a long time...great buddies.

Oh what a good boy this is!! His name is Rhus, which is the botanical name for sumac. He was one of three puppies we brought home in 2002. He had a brother named Acer (named for Maple tree) and a sister named Willow. They are border collie/dachsand (or at least thats what the shelter thought). We lost Willow only about a week after bringing them home. It ended up that they had parvo....a horrible puppy disease! Acer also got terribly sick with it and almost died...the vet really thought he was a miracle dog. After coming out of parvo, Acer ended up getting hit by a car. Anyway Rhus is the last one of the bunch and he is a great dog! He can catch any rodent that happens to get in the yard...he can even find where the moles are hiding under ground and dig them up!!

Our one little cat...Callie. Eric is allergic to cats, but he sure does love this one. She stays outside all the time unless it gets too cold during winter, then she's allowed in the garage.

Here is one more picture of the goats and their dog, Dingo. I know you have seen them before but I couldnt resist putting in one more. They are all about 5 months now. We will be picking up our buck in a couple weeks...he is 3 months old. Dingo is already close to 70 pounds...and he is doing a real good job watching his goats.

This is a new picture of the Silkie babies...they are getting more "poofy"!! You cant see their eyes anymore. A couple nights ago I went out to shut the coop door and I saw a little white thing standing in the middle of the duck pool. Sure enough...one of the silkies somehow got in the pool and couldnt get out. It was almost up to its neck in water so I scooped him out and got a towel to dry him off a little. He ended up being just fine....

Here is the garden...we only have tomatoes and peppers in it but there sure are alot of them!! I guess we will be selling these soon!

Thanks for looking everyone...

The Boys Turn 7!!!

Mason & Brody are 7!!! This year was all about Spiderman...I think they have about every toy possible between the 2 of them. They are so spoiled...but I guess they are worth it!!
On the 10th we had a few of the boys' friends over to the house for a little party. One of Taylors good friends, Rachel, just happens to be the sister of one of the boys' friends....so of course she came over too!!

We rented one of those jumping things for the party and they all had a great time in it! The morning of the party it poured down rain for a couple hours...but by evening it turned out pretty nice. Here is the whole crew...Rachel, Taylor, Tyler, Preston, Brody, Mason, Garrett...

Everyone's Jumping!!

Taylor and Rachel were having a good time trying to go around the outside of the jumper without falling off...they finally got it mastered.

The boys birthday fell on a wednesday....that day we went to Big Surf Waterpark. It was the first time the boys had ever been and they had a great time!! We were there almost 4 hours and they still werent ready to leave!

Taylor standing in the wave pool, she is getting so tall!!!

The boys in the wave pool. This was a favorite location...we spent a lot of time in here. The other favorite was a big yellow slide that you take an innertube down.

This picture was actually on the morning of their birthday, June 6th. I let them open presents from mom and dad when they woke up.

Taylor and Eric went for their first golf outing the other day. She had a great time and I heard she golfed pretty good for the first time!! They now go every monday afternoon. She is really enjoying it...and cant wait to golf with Grandpa Ronnie and Grandma Barby!!!

I found the boys out in the greenhouse the other day....they are standing on top of the potting table playing "spiderman"! They had all of their spiderman guys out there and were sitting there playing in the dirt....what more could little boys ask for?!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!!!