My first time eating cereal and I like it!
Tired out with daddy!
The corn is knee high and it's not quite the 4th of July!

The Stall is done! It looks as if it's always been there - another neat picture (these are Curt's photography skills! Isaac running away from the sun?!

Amber and Erin walking in front of the middle field of corn. Lyndsay and her bonnet - notice I am hiding (bad hair day!) I was trying to get a tan and plastered my hair all back!








Beautiful sunset last night at the property!

Sunday...

Amber, Me and Lyndsay walking on the newly mowed trail - see the corn to the left?!
Jeremy finishing up the mowing!
Isaac and Erin climbing the sand hill
Isaac jumping down!

Well, the stall is done! Gent seems to like it and he was in it Friday night! Yesterday, we went out to the property at 1pm and after working on equipment for a few hours, we started mowing the trails, etc. Here are a few pictures of that!

We got home at 10pm last night and put the kids to bed. This morning we went to church, then off to Heather's house to ride Gentleman. Brooke and Curt aren't going to their dad's until Thursday now which is great since I have this week off! So, we had a little cookout in the barn with our small grill and had hot dogs and chips and pop! Brooke rode first and then myself and Jeremy before leaving to come home and get ready for church. Tonight was our youth pastor and his wife's last night at our church. They got a job at his home church and are leaving tomorrow. The kids (teens) sang "I saw Jesus in you" to them and we had a finger food fellowship afterward for them. That was a tearful night! My husband just finished cooking garlic shrimp from Schwan's (yummy!). The girls have 4 girlfriends over for a sleepover and are playing the WII game. Isaac is in his room watching Godzilla and Erin is in bed as well as Lyndsay! In the morning, I hear Lyndsay and go in to get her and she's at the other end of the crip looking out for me! She's so happy and moving all of the time in excitement!

Well, gotta go and finish the movie I fell asleep during last night so here are the pictures!

Chris

We are off one whole week now!

YAY! It's Friday and I have all next week off for the 4th of July! I am so excited about not waking up at 4am tomorrow! This week was a busy one as well! Monday we had the day off for a vacation day and came over to Heather's and we all went for a horseback ride on the dikes across from her house along the river. We took Gentleman, Star, Synara, and Sunshine. Heather, Jeremy, myself and Kyle Williams went and we were gone for about 2 hours! Gentleman didn't act like a gentleman for the first 1/2 hour or so, we ponied alongside Heather and Star and then I felt safe enough to go it alone and he was fine! I did end up hugging his neck once when we cantered for the first time and he stopped dead in his tracks to check out some wood on the side of the trail! But, I didn't fall off!

Wednesday night my mom, Phil, Chelsea, Heather, Brian, Carly and Maggie came over to wish me a happy birthday and brought some nice gifts as well (clothes from Mom, a shirt from Chelsea, and some pretty dessert plates from the Walsh's). I am so lucky - I even got some balloons that spelled 40!

I got some cute pictures of Isaac hoola-hooping with a hoop and with the WII game! Amber posted it on her facebook page I guess (something new I need to check out!). We have been over to Heather's a few nights this week, working on the new stall. Tonight, Brian and Jeremy are finishing it up. Lyndsay is playing on the floor by my feet and Erin is upstairs playing with Maggie. It started raining so we came in to make dinner and Curt, Carly and Isaac are still playing outside. Heather has a sand pile with some tents and toys set up and the kids have been having a blast playing out there! We were going to stay at the camper tonight, but there are supposed to be storms going through the area.

This week I am getting my hair cut and might do a few other things as well (nails, new dress, etc.) - we are going to a wedding on the 6th and spending the night of the 5th there (it's in Holland, MI). Brooke and Curt will be at their dad's all week and Amber is babysitting another boy at our house yet. She is working at her cleaning job she used to have tomorrow as a fill-in. She and Brooke are at a youth activity tonight - they went to Pontiac to a LOONS game I believe.

Well, Lyndsay is calling for some attention - I will update more later with some new pictures as well!

cHRIS

Never enough sleep!

I've gotten about 7 hours of sleep the last 2 nights, but still doesn't seem like enough! This morning I woke up later than planned - we came home from Heather's at midnight last night after working on the stall again and must've been tired - set it wrong! I still made it to Lyndsay's doctor appointment at 9am and took all of the kids with me while Jeremy went to Millington to work on tractor stuff. We got Lyndsay all taken care of - 13lbs, 4oz and 4 shots later much to a baby's dismay who was so devastated she took a long nap afterward. Off to Grandma Melchor's we went to talk over open house stuff for Amber's open house. Then, off to Sam's club I went to buy some things for Amber's open house. Most everything else now is just waiting until a few days before to buy the fresh stuff and buying more pop the next few weeks as I find it on sale! Then, we stopped at the Food court at the mall to eat before coming home. I thought about looking for a new dress for a wedding we have coming in 2 weeks, but I was too tired to look! Amber stayed at the mall to meet up with Mrs. Newbold (youth pastor's wife) for lunch. We came home and I vegged on the couch with Lyndsay for a half hour or so before deciding there is too much to be done to lay around. So, in my room I went and started cleaning - I just finished cleaning the computer desk off and here I am! I guess I needed a break already! Erin is taking a much needed nap - I think she fell asleep before her head hit the pillow!

Yesterday was a good day, didn't get ready in time to go to breakfast for my birthday, but starved myself instead cuz I knew I'd be going to Red Lobster for dinner after church for my birthday! We ate a wonderful meal with my Mother in law, Len, Jenni, Alli, and Jessi and Jeremy, Isaac, Erin and Lyndsay. It was a great time visiting and I got a few nice gifts as well that I can't wait to set up! I have been a little weepy this week, maybe it's turning 40, maybe it's missing Danielle a little more than usual, maybe it's Amber moving on with her life, maybe it's being tired bringing all of that on, who knows!? We stopped at a few Home Depots in Flint to see if they had any horse fence with no luck. Came home, went to church again and then went to my sister's to work on the stall. Jeremy got one side of boards up while we cleaned in the lean to next to the barn to make room for hay. The kids were extremely tired out and passed out as soon as we put them in bed! Amber and Brooke stayed at Heather's to help her with a colicky horse again and came home a little after 1am.

I am now waiting to hear from my husband to see where he's at and what is next! Never a dull moment around here! I don't know when I find the time to fit work in! Today, weather permitting, Jeremy, Heather and I are going to go on a horseback ride down the dike across from Heather's house and see how the horses behave while together outside the arena. I'd better start praying that I don't get bucked off, or none of us do for that matter! But, I'm sure it will be fun!

Well, I'm off to get the boys busy doing some more chores for me - the van needs vacuuming out and then I'm off to clean my bathroom! The kids will be glad to see me go back to work after all the work I'm having them do today! I was going to push mow the trim, but it's raining again so I'll have to wait until the next sunny patch of clouds come through!

I took a bunch more pictures, but (think I'm too tired?), no CF card in the camera again - I left it in the computer after putting the last batch of pictures on the blog:( Sorry!

Have a great day! Chris

More pictures from today

Helping mom clean out stalls tonight!
Isaac and Erin helping clean the barn!
Lyndsay was pooped out (appropriate word while cleaning up poo)from watching us clean the barn - what a sweetie!

I can't believe one week has gone by so fast!

Erin with Aunt Heather's dog, Candy and Dusty the cat
A before pictures of where the stall is going...

Boy, where does the time fly? We have been busy as usual this week! The girls were gone to camp in Kentucky all week. Ms. V and the other fantastic four had a great time. She stayed with us all week and was ready to run by Friday:) Just kidding! We went and saw our horse a few times, I rode him Friday night outside of the corral and did okay. I did jump off at one point when we got farther away from the barn buddies and he started doing a little too much prancing for me. I was bucked off a pony we had about 10 years ago and I don't care to get bucked off again! Anyway, got him back up to the front of the property and got back on him, rode him around up there and about halfway to where we ended up before, then went into the arena and rode him some more before being done. He did really well -it's just me that's the problem! I'm too paranoid! Jeremy worked on the hay cutter at the property a few nights this week. I bought some electric fence for dividing the pasture at Heather's. We started working on a stall tonight - Jeremy got the posts and header board all in. He's waiting for some more parts for the cutter to come in, so we'll work on the stall until then. Anyway, I'm really tired so here are a few pictures I took tonight. I guess it is now officially my birthday since it's after midnight! The big 4-0 for me! I'll post more tomorrow or monday - we have monday off (Lyndsay has a 4 month check up/shots). Have a good Sunday!

Sore Sore muscles!

They love their sister!
Save me mom!
Goofing around with big sister!

Wow, the WII fit game does wonders! I hit a milestone in the weight department today! I don't mean going up, either:) I did the program again this morning and boy am I ever sore! I think I am starting to get leg muscles again between riding Gentleman and these exercises! We stayed home this morning, cleaned a little, looking for Jeremy's car keys (we thought Erin did something with them), and ended up finding them in our bed (I had made them in the bed without knowing it). Sorry, Erin! Oh well, atleast the basement is clean! The girls were packing for camp because they won't be home tomorrow at all (going to Jerry's for Father's day). I was making a meal for my friend at church that just had a baby. I also made our favorite dessert and a breakfast casserole for tomorrow morning for them as well. At 3pm we delivered the meal, then went to a cousin's open house and got to see all my relatives which was so great! It was fun visiting with everyone and hearing what everyone is up to, etc. I remember being a kid and hanging out with our cousins a lot more often. My kids hardly know their cousins (2nd) and that is such a bummer! But, people grow up, move away and get busy it seems... My poison ivy is puffed out on my lip making me look like I had a major pimple outbreak or someone popped me a good one:( Jeremy's is terrible looking on his ankle - he soaks in in alcohol, no thank you for me! Then, we went to Millington and I took over the mowing from Jeremy and finished while he took the blades off the hay cutter. We cut a hay field at his dad's and it desperately needs to be cut - we're just waiting on the weather! Before it got too dark, we went for a walk out to the back of the property, checking on the growing corn on the way and saw atleast 4 deer grazing out in the back field - so cool! Tomorrow we go to church, then to Millington to deliver 17 chickens to someone from work (he only wants 5, but by word of mouth sold 12 more!).

Two of my 8 favorite people are sleeping sound in my bed next to me (Erin and Jeremy), it is cute, she's laying just like him. Tonight, I put Lyndsay in her crib and she fell asleep all by herself, laying on her side holding her silky blankie that Aunt Heather gave her! So sweet, but I missed cuddling with her!!:( Four months old and wants to lay down and go to sleep on her own already. She has been rolling over since Thursday from her belly to her back. She thinks she's pretty cool. (If I told you that already, sorry).

Well, the girls leave Monday morning for camp so Ms. V will be babysitting for the week so pray for her:) (Just kidding) The kids always enjoy her and have a great time! I will try and post a few pictures before going to bed myself - Amber, Brooke and Curt have to leave at 9am tomorrow morning so I have to raise the dead early for them for a summer day!

See ya, Chris

Busy busy!

Hi there! It's Friday night and it's been a busy week as usual for us! Last Saturday Jeremy and I went out and left Isaac, Erin and Lyndsay at Aunt Jenni's. Earlier in the day we went to the property and dropped some chickens off at Dad Fitch's, then went to Diamond C for some horse things. I went to an open house that day as well for my nephew. Sunday was church. During the week, we've gone to see the horse (Gentleman) a few times, riding him a bit as well. Just getting to know him and get myself back into the saddle again comfortably. He is so nice! He will pretty much do anything we ask of him. We are trying to help Heather out by cleaning stalls, etc. as well. We were going to work on a stall tonight since it rained, but got a little too relaxed here at home. We were originally going to spend the night in the camper at the property, but it started raining/thundering. So, we vacuum-packed the chickens we have left here (going to deliver some more tomorrow as well!). We are pleased to see that people are really interested in them and after eating them are impressed with how good they are!

The kids have enjoyed playing at Aunt Heather's during the times we are there at night. Brooke and Curt were at their dad's this week. Brooke came home a few days early and spent most of that time at Heather's with Gentleman since she is going to camp all next week! Tomorrow we will be going to the property at some point. We need to mow and clean the place up a bit. We have an open house to go to in the afternoon. We have to work this Saturday:() So, this will be a long week!

Amber is at an open house with her friend, Rachel. Isaac is talking to his cousin on the phone, Curt is playing a computer game and Brooke is cleaning up after dinner for me so I can be typing here. I just finished using the WII-fit program a little bit and now Jeremy is doing it. We finished fencing in our backyard this past week also. The chain link is all the way around with 3 gates so that we can drive throught to the back where the garden and horse will eventually be. This way we can hopefully lock the gates to ensure that Erin stays in the yard and doesn't end up out back with the horse. While working on stretching the fence in the back section, Jeremy had to weed whip on both sides of the fence. I ended up putting the ties on the fence while he finished the gate. I told him I was probably going to end up with poison ivy. YEP, sure enough, I got poison ivy. I have it on my shoulders, the back of my neck, my legs, and my lip and eyelid. YUCK! Jeremy only gets it if the juice gets on him and since he was weed-whipping... he ended up with it all around his ankle where his boot was. Talk about both being miserable! We let our dog, Thunder loose in the yard and he had the greatest time running around with the kids - his ears were flying in the wind and he looked like he was grinning from ear to ear. We can't leave him out there unsupervised for fear he might dig into the chicken pen...

Well, I've got to help Erin with some clothes issues. She has a problem making it to the bathroom before having a bit of an accident... I will post more pictures later = Amber has my CF card from my camera! Have a great weekend!

I slept in!

It was getting dark, didn't have camera set up right - thank you Aunt Heather! This is fun!
Test riding!
Isn't he pretty?!
Getting ready to brush and ride...
Good morning (Today) - couldn't get her to smile at the camera!

Well, Lyndsay woke me up at 6am this morning and has not gone back to sleep - but this is sleeping in for me! She's playing on the floor right now so here goes! Well, Monday picking up the chickens went fine. We have been putting them in the freezer as people pick them up. The freezers are full (1 upright, 2 refridgerator freezers). The chickens are delicious - we have had it 3 times, maybe 4 now.

Monday night we went to Kingston to look at a horse that was supposedly free (long story). Tuesday after lots of phone calls, etc. we bought the horse and went out to pick it up that night. We have been working 9.5 hours all week and don't get home til 6pm so it was late to begin with. So, Heather, Carly and all of us went to pick up Gent. He didn't like the ramp on Heather's trailer, so it took awhile and we ended up loading him into a stock trailer, backing Heather's trailer up to it and then leading him into her trailer that way which worked out great! So, we got him back to Heather's around 10:30pm and into a stall. So, the next few night were spent over there, riding him and getting to know him. He loves the kids (or anyone for that matter) and will stand there and let them brush him from head to toe without budging! He doesn't seem to get too excited and when he does, is easy to calm down. He used to be a lesson horse at a riding stable! He is saddlebred/arabian and very pretty. Brooke is just tickled pink! All day Tuesday we prayed about the horse being available to buy... After we brought him home, she hugged me and thanked me and said "Mom, I've been praying for this for so long! I can't believe I finally got a horse!" There you go! Everyone loves riding him (including Jeremy) and Erin says "This is fun" while on him! Curt is the only one who isn't too interested yet! So, we are all tired out from the long week. Jeremy started clearing out Heather's barn to build another stall for now. We will keep him there and start getting an area ready here as well as at the property. We looked at electric fence stuff last night at TSC, but ran out of time and need to do some measurements first. I bought all the essentials (brushes, fly spray, treats, etc.) last night and have to go to a tack store yet for a new halter, bridle, bit, etc. Jeremy got out my old saddle from 20+ years ago and I will be cleaning that up today. I knew I kept it for a reason! So, thank you Heather for the great find!

Today we have 2 open houses and hope to go out to Millington at some point. This was the first week home from school for the kids. The boys have been working on getting the pool cleaned out and went swimming yesterday for the first time. Lyndsay has been growing so fast and is pulling herself up to a sitting position in her swing/carseat, etc. She loves to talk/coo at everyone! Well, she needs me now so here are the pictures - enjoy!

A new family member...

No, I'm not pregnant again! We have a new member of the family named "Gentleman" or "Gent". He joined us on Tuesday evening. More later... Gotta go to bed, been going to bed at midnight all week long and tonight will be early for me! (it's 10:50pm now)

Chris

last of the pictures

Grandma Coe, Aunt Heather and Maggie
Aren't they sweet? Isaac and Erin

Pictures #3 Graduation!

The high school choir
Amber getting her diploma
Pastor and Amber
The whole crew!
Grandpa Len, Nana, Jeremy (with Lyndsay), Grandma Reid, Erin, Isaac and Grandma Teresa

Isaac (in the pig costume)
The "play"
Isaac in the suit! He cleans up nice, too
Brooke with Grandpa Steve and a tired Lyndsay
The chickens this morning on the way to the meat market - nice job on the cages!

pictures

Isaac and his cake
Surprise!
The silver streak

Curt cleans up pretty good!

Six years old and cute as a pig?

Hi there -what a weekend! I had one graduate from high school and one graduate from kindergarten all in one week with a birthday to top it all off! We couldn't really figure out what to get Isaac for his birthday. We did end up getting the go-kart for the 3 little ones to enjoy (when they grow into it) and it was a big hit with Isaac! The only downside to that is that we have a remote control to the thing to shut it off if needed, but we have to stand and watch him as well so it's not much fun for everyone else after standing there watching him go around in circles for an hour:) We also bought the kids a WII game system for doing well in school, etc. I got the WII fit game and that is fun - everyone is enjoying that! So, we celebrated Isaac's birthday Thursday with just us and then again on Sunday! Saturday I took the kids all shopping for some things and then home to go to an open house, then home where Jeremy had been working on the chicken cages all day except for taking a break to go to the open house. Sunday I Got up, put 2 meals in the crock pot (1 for family at church that just had a baby). Went to church, then home to get 1 meal ready to deliver and had family over for dinner and cake and ice cream. Then to church to watch Isaac's program and graduation. Last night, after church we worked on the house while Jeremy and Brooke worked on the cages some more.

We decided after throwing several ideas around last night that I would call in today because I have more time off left and take the chickens in and pick them up later. We were going to have Amber do it, but it got too complicated for lots of reasons. There are 86 chickens in all going to slaughter. So, this morning (after going to bed at midnight), we woke up at 4am (Jeremy, myself, Amber and Brooke) and went out and loaded chickens into the cages. Jeremy left for work and at 5am (after feeding Lyndsay), Brooke and I left for the meat market in Millington. We got there at 6am (only drove 35-40mph) and dropped them off. That was extremely gross! Note to self: bring gloves next time! I had to drive home with the window down to keep from losing my cookies from the smell of poo on myself! We stopped at a car wash and hosed off the trailer and boards and came home to shower! I am so glad we didn't go with the idea of Jeremy and I dropping the chickens off and going to work from there! That wouldn't have worked for me! So, after showering and starting some laundry, I took a 45 minute nap until baby woke up!

Today, I have to pick up the processed chickens at 2:30pm and am going to look at a horse with my sister at some point during the day after Brooke's piano lesson at 11am! Here are some pictures from the week - enjoy!