I really hope those that have followed me here will follow me at my new blogging home.  It has been something I’ve debated doing for a long time now, but there is so much history here that it’s hard to move.  I’ve saved my blog though and I think w/ the change in seasons I will change my blog slightly too.

The name is staying the say (essentially), I’m simply moving to Blogger.

http://our-domestic-church-rachel.blogspot.com/

The main reason for my move is allowing people to comment without having to join any where.  Many people have expressed an interest in commenting on my entries, but without joining Xanga you can’t do that here.

This summer has been very busy and I’ve been extremely quiet here.  I’m not sure what has been so busy other than normal day to day life, but I found it very hard to sit down and write or even post pictures.  I’ve thought several tims about sitting down and doing a “summer in installments” type of thing, where I write about our summer and post pictures in segments, updating here with all we’ve done, but that seems to daunting to me and I don’t think I’ll get it done.

So now that summer is coming to a close and school is starting again, I’m hoping life may slow down…some what.  My school days are busy, but life in the fall and winter seem to take on a routine and sense of quiet and calmness that summer doesn’t allow for.  We’ve got our new schedule in place and we’re slowly moving our morning wake-up time earlier and earlier, hoping to finally reach that final goal of 6am.  I huge challenge for me, since I really don’t like getting up early, but there is too much to cram into every day without making the sacrifice.

We started school slowly this year, starting with half days a couple weeks ago, working our way slowly (still) to full days.  Today we took time to enjoy Mamma’s last real day home before heading back to school herself and the beautiful sunny day.  So after lunch we packed into the van, picked up a small treat and headed to the park in town to play at the playground for awhile.  Augustin always asks me to stop at a playground, but I always say “No” because we have so many things to play with at the house, but the sun was shining, the breeze was blowing and it was perfect.

Some of the boys enjoying lunch outside

Grant and Veronica enjoying a snack

We checked out the river to see how high the water was after the tropical storm this weekend.  It was really flowing.
  

After throwing some sticks into the river we headed for the playground.  We were the only people there for most of the time and the kids had fun running all over.

Augustin running; he loves to move ALL THE TIME

Augustin and Samuel really liked these rocking animals
  

Matthias and Augustin

Grant, the big guy, sitting on top of the climbing structure

And now standing inside it.  This gives some perspective of how tall he’s gotten this summer.  He’s now just shy of 5ft 9.5 inches and is wearing a size 13 shoe

And there were also the money bars; he had a great time showing us how tall he was

While the boys played, Veronica enjoying sitting in the grass.  She’s been able to sit for awhile now, but prefers to be moving.  This was the longest I’ve ever seen her sit still.  She’s 9 months old now and had a great check-up yesterday.  She’s 15lbs 14oz and 27″ long.
       

She loved this leaf

Samuel was all over the place, running, climbing, sliding

He insisted on climbing this ladder…I”m almost ready

I’m ready, take my picture now

And take it again as I climb through here

And at the top of the slide

Samuel is a real ham for the camera

Parker was really enjoying running up the slide and then dramatically sliding down on his belly
Here’s the warm up for the run

And then the slide down

Grant got in on the action and chased Parker up the slide a few times

And another run, climb, slide
  

Ok, she as just too cute sitting in the grass, so I had to keep taking pictures of her.  She doesn’t normally sit still for this long and I was enjoying capturing some smiles without having the chase her around
 

Matthias had been off on his own swinging, but finally came over to check out the rocking toys

And then give me a nice big smile

As was said before, Augustin LOVES TO MOVE ALL THE TIME.  I don’t think he stopped moving the entire hour we were there.
    

They finally discovered the swings and they had a lot of fun there.  Matthias had discovered them very early on and was happy when the other boys decided to join him.  I got a cute shot of all of them on the swings.  I had to stand very far away to get them all in.  Some how they all ended up in age order from left to right. There were 6 swings and 6 children.

Samuel isn’t very fond of swinging, never really has been.  Going to fast hurts his tummy, he says.  So if we kept it nice and slow he was happy.
 

Veronica got in on the swinging action and she loved it
    

Matthias loved swinging and some how he convinced Augustin to push him….for a long time
  

Augustin got his own swinging time in though.  He’s quite good and quite the acrobat too
 

Grant and Parker were having a contest to see who could swing the highest
 

And one last shot of Veronica, braving the grass and starting to crawl

So tomorrow, it’s back to school.  I’m hoping we get a full day in as we settle back into the rhythm of fall.

Augustin is so cute, I to see him come into the milking house in the morning. I typically get out there before him and I’m already milking before he comes up. I can almost always count on what I’m going to see when he walks through the door….cute little boy with really tan skin, a twinkle in his eye, a big smile and this….

Pajamas, a winter coat with fur lined hood (pulled up) and today it was sneakers; typically it’s rain boots.  It doesn’t matter that it’s summer, the winter coat with the hood is standard for him.  I love it, so cute.

Well, today was one of those days, where I had to just sit back and laugh; I could have cried thinking about it, but it really was just way too funny.  One of those days where if it could go wrong, it did.  It all started before 6 am too; Veronica waking up before 6am should have been my first clue.

1.  Veronica was awake at 5:52am.  She normally sleeps until close to 7am, so with Mom and Dad on vacation, I was planning on getting the morning milking, chicken feeding and baby chick work done early rather than waiting utnil after she was up and fed like I normally do.  Thankfully she went back to sleep!!!!

2.  I had errands to run, so when Veronica woke up at 8:45am, I had everyone dressed and ready to go.  I get the every one in car seats and go to start the van….dead.  Won’t turn over, clock won’t even turn on.  One word…SAMUEL.  He decided to “play” in the van yesterday and I thought I’d checked everything when I sent him to time-out.  He must have gone back in when I wasn’t looking and turned EVERYTHING back on…head lights, flashers, inside lights.  Battery is dead.  So I get everyone out…I wasn’t happy.

3.  I head up to the chicks at 11am; just 2 hours after having been up there to turn off the heat lights and check on them for the 3rd time.  Only thing time I had a surprise…almost half of them are running around the large enclosure.  Chickens (and chicks) like to dig … a lot!!!  So they dug and dug, right along the edge of their heated enclosure and got out.  Escaped! 19 in total, running all over.  I tried several times to catch them, but nothing worked.  I finally just gave them food and water and figured Brad could help me when he got home.

4.  Teaching a last minute NFP class tonight.  I had dinner done early, house cleaned and get the course stuff out, go to put the dvd in the dvd player and can’t find it.  Ugh.  Just one more thing to add to my already crazy day.  I look and look, but still can’t find it.  Before wasting more time looking, knowing class is starting in less than 2 hours, I decide to call another teaching couple and see if I can borrow their dvd.  I am so thankful they were home and I was able to pick it up and make it home well before class time.

5.  Van…battery is DEAD.  Really dead.  As in, won’t turn over even when jumped.  So Brad is now on his way at 10:20pm to his parents house to borrow a battery charger to see if  that will work.  Not how he planned on spending his evening.

Chick update: they are all once again contained and warm for the night.  Logs are now lining the inside of their space in hopes that they won’t dig themselves out!!!

It’s definitely summer and things around here are busy, busy, busy.  We have the gardens going well, wild flowers are in bloom, we are getting the hang of the goats and our chicks are growing.  We’ve only had the chicks for a little over a week and they’ve doubled in size already.  They will be outgrowing the brooder soon.  I wish I had taken some pictures last week when we first got them so there was some comparison because they are noticeably bigger; hard to imagine since they still weigh under 3 ounces.

Speckled Sussex Chicks, approximately 10 days old
    

Some of them are very curious.  This little one stood very still and just looked at me while I took the picture; several pictures to be exact.  Most of them run away and try to hide, but this one was very curious.
      

The wild flowers are so pretty this time of year.  The line the driveway on the hill side and I love to watch how they change throughout the spring and summer.  Right now it’s coreopsis and black eyed susans
          

Yesterday afternoon I was talking to my Dad in the living room and had Veronica with me.  She was playing on the floor while I talked.  I looked away for a few minutes and when I looked back she wasn’t there.  She’d made her way all the way to the kitchen and was standing at the stairs trying to climb them.

Augustin joined her and she enjoyed playing with him.

I’m not sure if I’m ready for this, but I don’t think I have too much choice in it, she is obviously ready to keep up with her brothers.

Every June our parish has a Father/Son camping trip and for several years now, Brad has talked about taking the boys, but for one reason or another it has never worked out.  This year everything fell into place and he was able to take Matthias and Augustin with him.  They were so excited.  Neither of them had been camping before and Brad and I haven’t camped since well before we got married.  We borrowed some camping equipment from his father and some friends and they got ready to leave.

Brad took Friday off and after making sure they all had enough clothing, blankets, the tent, sleeping bags, etc they were off at 10am to meet up with a group of other fathers and sons to head north to Glen for the weekend. 

Papa said goodbye to them once they were buckled into their seats.  The car was packed!!!!

The scene going north….cloudy, rainy and foggy.  Basically the predicted weather for the weekend; no sun expected until some time on Sunday.  Not ideal for camping, but they figured they would make the best of it.
 

The first thing I did after they left was pull out the vacuum and clean the living room.  I had high hopes of getting the entire house cleaned, but that was a little ambitious for me.  After cleaning the living room and getting Samuel down for a nap Grant and Parker enjoyed the quiet afternoon and watched movies while I got a few small things done.  Grant and Parker then left for their own camping trip and I was left with Veronica and Samuel, which turned out to be a rather nice combination to have home; they both did remarkably well.  I then spent the weekend looking forward to hearing about all the fun they had on the trip, as I was hoping they were having as much fun as I envisioned it being.

I don’t think the boys were disappointed at all.  They enjoyed hanging out with their friends, playing games, watching movies on the big screen one of the father’s brought (along w/ projector) for night time movie viewing.  They had bon fires, ate s’mores, drank soda and ate junk food.  So even with the not so wonderful weather they had a great time and both boys want to go again next year.

A view of the tents and cars from a distance

One of the food tables and a small fire.  Notice all the canopies?  They were very popular and I think everyone was glad there were so many because it helped keep everyone and everything dry.  Under that mass of blue tarp in the background were 3 tents, set up close together and then covered to ensure dry sleeping.
  

The view of the tent Brad and the boys slept in (in the middle) and two close friends on either side; with the canopy our front.

A little quiet time with board games.  Augustin is in the front on the right in the blue shirt

Time for some water balloon fun
                

Staying dry and cooking food.  Brad “bought in” with several other guys for the “Dan Sevigny meal plan” where Dan purchased all the food, then several of the men got together Thursday night and prepped as much as possible and then all of it was brought up and they all cooked and ate together.  So Brad had to bring nothing for food for the weekend and they ate well….ribs, chicken, breakfast sausage, s’mores, juice boxes, soda, etc.  Tons and tons of food to feed the troops.
   

Doesn’t really look like “roughing it” does it?  That is one pretty fancy grill!!!

A view from under the canopies.  I guess it rains almost every year, so I think they’ve got this whole canopy thing down to a science now.

Hanging out
       

Augustin hanging out in the car while Matthias rides someones bike

Packing up

Heading home

Of course there were some blue skies to be seen as they headed south on Sunday
    

They made a pit stop on the way home and the boys enjoyed climbing on some rocks
                   

It was a great weekend for all, lots of stories to tell and another weekend to look forward to next June.

Last night was the annual June, Court of Honor for Grant and Parker.  It was Parker’s first Boy Scout Court of Honor so it was extra special for him.  Grant received 3 merit badges and Parker received his troop “neckerchief” and his first official scout rank.

Brad, Matthias and Augustin were camping, so I took Samuel and Veronica.

Isn’t she sweet?  I love sleeping baby pictures and almost never get pictures of my own kids.  They always seem to wake up when I come in the room, or maybe they just don’t sleep enough.  Until Veronica came along.  She LOVES to sleep and I’m not complaining.  She sleeps a good 10 hours at night and then another 4-7 hours during the day.

A few mornings ago, I had to wake her up and she didn’t wake up when I came in the room, so I ran down two flights of stairs to get the camera and back up and she was still sleeping. She looks so sweet, which she really is.  It is hard to believe it’s been 7 months already.  She is growing up quickly too.  She is able to truly crawl, but still prefers army crawling, she’s starting to attempt to pull up on the furniture, climbs over short objects and is officially getting into everything the boys wish she wouldn’t.  They’ve learned very quickly that they can no longer play games on the floor if she’s awake.  She can destroy a game faster than they can move her out of the way.

She is also the happiest baby around, smiling all the time and she loves to “yell” when she seems someone she knows come into the room.  And of course she gets a reaction out of everyone which just encourages her.

Hope and Dahlia are doing very well. It’s hard to believe it’s only been 3 weeks since we got them. We’ve all adjusted very well to the daily routine of milking and caring for them.  They have quite the personalities that always keep us laughing.

Hope is a feisty thing with a very stubborn streak.  She knows what she wants and she attempts to do it.  She is definitely the herd leader and tries to be the leader at all times. She’s figuring out that she isn’t always in charge.  She love attention, especially if Dahlia is getting some and makes sure to push her way in to make sure she isn’t being left out.  She also doesn’t stand still very long, so it is hard to get a good picture of her.
 

Dahlia is very sweet and calm.  She is very good natured and loves everyone. I’m really interested to see how she does on the milk stand and if her calm disposition holds true for milking as well.  She is a little Houdini and will get out of just about anything she wants to get out of. She’s been out roaming around more than Hope.  We’ve found her out several times now.  There is a chance she may be pregnant which would mean babies the end of August and another milker.  We are really hoping this is the case.
  

So 3 weeks in and we’re still loving the goats.  We’re getting around a quart a day which is great and everyone loves the milk.  We’re hoping to make cheese and yogurt this weekend.