Queen Bee

Our beautiful baby Sarah Beth has been a suprise to us in SO many ways! From her unexpected beginnings to the funny things that come out of our mouth at 20 months old. She seems to have us all wrapped around her little finger! In theese pics, she has taken her rightful place on the throne...only problem is---that throne is suspended over a table 3 1/2 feet off of the ground and is held in place by a teeny tiny pink ribbon. The really scary thing is that Taylor and Raegan, who are both in contention for world record tattle tailing, must think this is normal, as they didn't even look up from their coloring!

A Day in the Life!

Just a peek into our daily life. Spent outside riding bikes, walking lambs and tending the flowers. Peter and I are so blessed with three wonderful girls who are turning into wonderfrul friends and playmates!

Home Improvement

My ever increasingly handy husband has embarked on several new projects this spring and summer. Bless his little pea pickin' heat! While being our muscles, fitter and truck/trailer driver for our various jonts acros rural Iowa, he has also been blessing us with his "inner engineer". He has built fence for our horses (they are forever greatful) and has aquired a shed for my chickens...which are ariving next week. He has to re-roof our beloved shed and build a door as to secure my cluckers at night and then they will be snug as a bug in a rug come winter time! Our lovely horses have helped him immensley by checking the integrity of our fence, thus leading us to install an electric fencer, for which they are not so greatful! We love looking out our back windows and seeing three beautiful creatures grazing on a pasture of green! We are eagerly anticipating having fresh eggs and home raised chicken to fry...hopefully by fall!

I am also enjoying a beautiful year in my flower garden! I am giving all credit to my mother, as she has an extremely green thumb and helped me early on. It also helps that it is the third year for my landscaping...time helps! I can't believe we will be starting our fifth year in Iowa on June 27! Time flies!

The Big Day!

Hello all!

We are trooping through our journey through "lambville". Today was the day Peter and I have dreamed of for atleast 6 years...maybe more. Taylor showed her first animal today! We have been working hard with them at home and had our family goal was for Taylor to not let them go while in the ring. She showed her whether (Ty) and had a very nice young man show her ewe (Rosie). She did very well and we stood middle of her class. We learned a lot, had lots of fun and Taylor is anxious for her next show. The day brought back so many memories for both Peter and I. We look forward to many years of fun times together as a family. As my mom and dad always said..."this is the REAL quality time". Some families go camping, some play sports...we go showing!

They are HERE!

The lambs have arrived...or should I say, "The grand experiment has begun!". Peter and I have been planning the first time Taylor would walk into the show ring since before she was born. We probably wouldn't have guessed it would be with lambs, however, none the less, here they are. Meet Ty (the bigger one--Short for Tiger {go MIZZOU}) and Rose (the smaller black one). Peter and Taylor welcomed them to our humble acreage last weekend. They both seem to be setteling in nicely, and are currently learning to walk on their halters. Taylor is learning lots, at the same time. Her primary concern is that they were "dirty and needed a bath" followed closely by the fact that they "were just toddlers, mom...you can never tell what they will do". Shearing and baths are in the works for this weekend. Do you use woolite on a lamb?

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend! Peter and I spend Good Friday in preparation for the busy weekend. We had a fabulous photo shoot with the girls in their Easter dresses (good news!!! Sarah Beth figured out how to pick her nose during the shoot!). We then took time to have a good ol' Iowa breakfast with the girls at a family diner. Saturday was marked with daily preparatons including the coloring of the Easter Eggs and going through the resurrection eggs. Sunday was marked by a nice church service and fried chicken lunch. The girls had a great time looking at their baskets and hunting eggs. It was topped off with the annual decorating of the bunny cake, which later had to be pitched due to the sugar ant problem in my kitchen!

Rae's new "do"

Our beautiful Raegan has a most striking face and haunting eyes...however she has not been blessed with gorgeous golden locks (yet). She doesn't even refer to her hair as "hair", but calls it her "crazies". Fortunatley for her, she has an awesome head shape and can pull off a short do. This compounded by the fact that she viamently opposes any form of "hair pretty", as we call them at our house, lead us with only one solution. We consulted our family stylist, Holly, (or as Rae calls her "Pollywood") with our delimma. She suggested a short, easy, feminine style (posh spice) that we are all ABSOLUTELY in love with for her. We don't fight over keeping hair ties or barrettes in and it takes literally 2 seconds to do in the morning. She feels very sophisticated and confident since, "Pollywood cut all my crazies off!" in her own words. We have decided that she might be our one who is on the cutting edge of fashion and who knows what else...she tends to walk to the beat of her own drum!

THE TOOTHFAIRY COMETH!

We have entered the phase of "monetary compensation for your loss." Taylor has LOST her two top teeth and has FOUND that it is to her benefit that the toothfairy very rarely has change for a $5. We quickly explained that her new form of income is not viable in the long term, as the tooth fairy only rewards the top two more greatly, as they are the most noticeable. We then had to reiterate this fact when tonight, as she was sitting on the couch, she was trying to loosen another tooth by slugging herself in the mouth, in hopes for another visit from her nocturnal friend! Peter was so proud. She hasn't decided how to "invest" her new found earnings, but has mentioned that it is between some sort of barbie and buying a tent for the "poor christians" in India. (Church missions project). Aunt Alicia was pleased to discover that her "S" sound was only minimally affected by her losses. Peter and I just can't believe that she is growing up so fast! Each time she looses a tooth, we hold it in our hands and reminisce about the day that tooth came in. Morbid, I know, but makes us realize that we only have her for a season, and that season goes by pretty darn fast!

alright already

OK,

so its been like 5 months since I posted anything on this blog. I have to admit, I got caught up with a nasty little habit called Facebook. Nothing against face book. I love it! I just neglect the broader aspects of communication with friends and family that blogging offers. It is much easier, I admit, to browse through every one's one liners and feel updated on all of the latest, however not nearly as personal. So, here I go in an attempt to reacquaint you to life in our CRAZY household. Since October:

• Our princess and the Pea, Sarah Beth has turned 1. She is evermore bossy and ridiculously in love with bananas (she eats at least 4 a day), saying the words "kitty, kitty, kitty" and "juice" and running in her birthday suit up and down the hallway after a bath. She has recently discovered how to climb onto things and is a bit cat-like in that she doesn't have a good exit strategy in mind when she begins. Fortunately for her, she has two ever vigilant older sisters who attempt to transfer her out of peril without mom knowing.


• Raegan has new career ambitions to be a singer on American Idol, although most of her songs are original compositions and consist of "no, no, no" along with some other phrases thrown in the mix. She is signed up for preschool in the fall, which she will be attending 2 days per week. It is just down the road from my clinic, so I will be able to be close, which is good for my comfort zone. She is also potty training, which is huge for this household. She is very proud of this fact and it turns into a family cheering section when she triumphantly comes out of the bathroom and announces "I did it...now I want a fruit snack!" She might have rotten teeth, but will proudly wear big girl panties before it is all said and done.



• Taylor Reece (who has recently been nick named by Rae "poopsie poops") is our big girl. She is about ready to complete her 1st book in Sparkies for Awanas at church. She co-starred in a skit at school regarding table manners which was performed in front of the whole school, and in her own words "even the 6th graders". She is going to show 2 lambs this summer, who will be coming to live with us soon...more on that later. She is a beautiful, articulate young lady, who we are amazed with on a daily basis.



• Peter and I-busy, busy, busy. Between the girls, Strides Therapy and church, at times, we feel that we don't have a spare second. It takes our mothers to faithfully remind us that the Lord has blessed us with so much and we shouldn't complain, but be happy that "we are hyper" (as I write this at almost 11 o'clock at night.) To complicate this matter, we have a longing in our heart to adopt a healthier lifestyle and become self-sustaining. Our first step to this is turning off the TV. Yes, you heard it right. We shut'er down, folks. No Fox and Friends, no Mark and Olly in the Mechegenga, no office or Idol. We are also getting chickens (12 to be exact) this summer. Peter has designed a magnificent plantation style coop with yard. We will see how this project goes. We may be eating a lot of fried chicken by next winter :).

That's a brief update on our lives... I promise to be more faithful in posting, especially when I have no TV to watch. More soon, Kelly