The mullberries are dropping, get out the tarps and shart shaking!

Almost every day the boys and I take our rounds in the wagon or "blue dragon" as Eli calls it. We check the chicken's food and water, then the peas, then the greens bed, then Britt's flower bed, then the herb bed, and the blueberries bed  and so forth around the "farm" until we check up on everything, but the whole time we are going around all Eli can think about is MULBERRIES.  If we are picking strawberries or smelling chocolate mint he is saying...Ummm cai ha some muberries.  For weeks we had been watching for the wonderful day when the mullberries would be ripe and finally it came.  The first few days you have to hand pick them.  The boys can eat them almost as fast as I can pick, so at first we don't get too many to save, but soon they started dropping.  Then we get out the tarps and start shaking.  It's like berry rain. 

This was our berry cleaning party from our first shaking. We froze 4 gallons of berries, because the boys love them frozen and they are great in our green smoothies. 

This was our first batch of jam.  We froze some strawberries and made some strawberry jam too. 

The Garden is growing rapidly, Green beans are close to picking time, little tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos are growing, squash are beginning to flower, and we ate our first cabbage head. 

We Love Missouri: Rock Bridge State Park

 

We decided that we needed explore the state we live in a little more thoroughly.  We always say to everyone that we love it here, and we do, but we realized we hadn't done much exploring.  So we have a goal to see more of what Missouri has to offer because, well, we want even more reasons to love it.   The first place we decided to check out is Rock Bridge State Park.  It is just about 45 minutes away from us, and we couldn't have picked a more lovely day to go.  We also didn't even see the half of what the state park there had to offer, so be forewarned, we will probably be revisiting this title down the road.   You can see the main attraction  in the above picture.  It is this massive rock bridge (duh!) in which a stream goes through.  The really amazing part about this whole place is there wasn't a "Stay on the designated path" mentality.  There were paths, but park rangers said to feel free to go under the bridge and explore off of the path as well.  If you know me and Kenny at all, you know that is definitely the way we like it.

Before we started our trek, we had a picnic lunch.  A cute fuzzy caterpillar joined us as well and was a highlight for the boys.

There was a little stone plaque right by the picnic area that the boys got all sorts of use out of while Ken and I finished eating.

Here is a view of us heading into the tunnel.  The boys had a blast throwing rocks into the water and keeping their eyes opened for bats!

We decided to have a go with some of the boardwalk paths.  What you don't see in these pictures...there were soooo many stairs, sometimes 20 or so at a time and they went up and down and up and down.  Eli loved it!  Which is great.  He didn't want to stop.  He wanted to just keep going.  No nature admiring for him, just pure climbing and energy disposal.  Needless to say, he kept me warm and a little out of breath.  Notice cute Shiloh's walk and how big he was carrying his own backpack and both sippy cups.

The story that you can't see from this pic:  Shiloh having a freak out just prior and Eli rolling his cup off of the boardwalk for attention, and me, daringly mind you, climbing over the fence and onto the mountainside to get the cup to avoid further screaming from Eli.  We lucked out because a tree root stopped it from rolling off the twenty or more foot cliff into the stream below...  The things you do for your children and, maybe more importantly, for a little peace.

Just outside the Devil's Icebox, a very chilly cave with bats.

Shiloh in the cave.  He got to see a few bats and was very excited about it. I didn't go in.  I have seen enough bats in my life that I was content to just let them alone.

This is a view looking up from Devil's Icebox. The walls were covered in moss and ferns and it was just gorgeous.

We loved this outing.  The boys had a blast, Ken and I had a blast, and we got to discover more about where we live.  I am actually really excited to see more of this state park and to explore the other state parks that are close by.  Stay tuned for more posts about why we love where we are.

Summer Cuts and Swimming Pools

It's starting to feel like summer! We've been in the 80's more often than not, the garden is all planted and growing, the pool is put together and filling, and yesterday us boys all gut buzzes.  Here are a few "pre-summer" pics. 

 Last weekend we did a backyard campsite preparation and test run.  We re-cleared our fire pit area and campsite, Cooked silver turtles in the campfire (Foil Dinners- no we did not roast the turtle in the picture below)  Set up the tent, tried popping some popcorn in the fire, told campfire stores, then broke down camp and went inside for bed.  It was fun.  Soon we will do the real deal

 Turtle season is in full swing.  Our dog Sammy brings us turtles almost daily, or we pick them up on the road and bring them in to our turtle "sanctuary" The boys get to play with them for a while and they are safe from Sammy and then we take them to a stream or let them go somewhere when Sammy is not around. 

Here are a couple garden pics.  This year we planted 2 plants each of  30 varieties of heirloom tomatoes.  We will have yellow, orange, purple, black, green, striped, white, multicolored etc..,  and various shapes, and sizes of tomatoes.  The peppers will be almost as assorted as the tomatoes.  It will make for some interesting Tomato Sauces and Salsas.  The Green Beans, Peas, Potatoes, Sweet potatoes, Broccoli, Cabbage, and Cauliflower are growing great, and the Melons, Squashes, and Gourds are just coming up. We also just started eating strawberries and mullberries.  The Boys ask to go check/try the mullberry tree and strawberries multiple times a day.  This year we also planted more raspberries, blueberries, and elderberries. This is a fun time of the year.

Tadpoles

There is a little place that we like to go called Runge Nature Center.  It has paved and unpaved walking trails, ponds, and indoors there's an area for bird watching, aquariums for fresh water fish, animal puppets, a nature library, snakes, turtles, lizards, and animal shows, but all my little boys needed from there on this outing were.... TADPOLES.  We started a little walk.  This little pond is about two minutes down the path.  It is ritual to get on the rocks and look in the pond.  Sometimes we see bugs or a frog.  They were so intrigued with the tadpoles.  They stayed there staring for about a half of an hour.  It was cute.

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Here the boys are after we had almost finished the hike.  Eli had been a stinker the whole time, when it came to pictures, so this is the best one of him.  It isn't a great pic in the first place, but Shiloh's smile so  sweet that I had to add it in.

Chickens Update

 The Coop is finally finished and painted. 

 About a week ago the chicks spent their first night in the coop.  They seem to love the space and the roost to sleep on.

It took them a couple days to get the concept of going in and out of the coop, but I think they have it down now.  At first we didn't have the fence/gate for the chicken yard finished.  I don't recommend trying to chase down and catch 18 chickens without a fence--that don't yet know how to get into their coop.  It was so frustrating we almost had a couple of chicken dinners. 

Barrett's Esophagus and my interview with a Health Blog.

A family friend of mine, and a couple of her friends, have a health blog called Three Healthy Mommas.  I always appreciate someone who will share their wealth of knowledge on a subject that I am just recently trying to immerse myself in.  They post about exercise and healthy food. They also interview a person once a month who has made healthy changes to better their lives.  Shauna asked if I would be interviewed for their blog and tell about my experience with having Barrett's Esophagus and changing my diet and lifestyle.  Anyway, if you are interested in checking it out, click here to read it. 

PARTY!!! - or - Happy Anniversary! A trip to St. Louis with no children.

Kenny and I went away to St. Louis for our anniversary.  It was the first time that we had taken a trip away from the kids.  I was a little anxious, but it sure was worth it. My good friend Sharon came over Friday afternoon to stay with the kiddos and we left.  Sharon is a saint.  Everyone in the whole world needs a friend even just half as good as Sharon.  She is the best!

We went to the St. Louis temple on Friday afternoon.  Then we hit a Japanese restaurant.  It was delicious, and of course, I have no pictures.  We didn't think to break out the camera until the next day.  It was just really awesome to eat dinner and not have anyone cry or ask for something else before I even got to take my first bite of food.  I think we could have had PB and J for dinner and it would have seemed just as heavenly. The delicious food was just a cherry on top.

Then we went to the hotel.  We swam. We ate ice cream.  We watched movies.  We didn't do anything we couldn't have done at home, but it seemed so different.  I did worry about my kiddos, but then again, I trust Sharon completely, and my kids LOVE her, so I didn't worry too much.

The next morning we visited the St. Louis Botanical Garden.  It was beautiful!  It was the perfect outing.  We got walk around and chat and look at gardening stuff.  I think we might have been close to heaven.  Kenny is a budding photographer, so he got to practice a whole lot on some really beautiful scenery.  I will have to do a post of some of his flower pics.  They turned out great.

Here we are in a temperature controlled dome.  We saw all sorts of plants that we wouldn't have normally seen.

Here we are in our truest forms.  We really had such a fun time together.  I can't believe it has been 8 years.  Time just flies when you are having fun, and chasing two little tornadoes around all day.  Happy 8th anniversary to us!

Hippity Hoppity Easter

We had a fairly low key Easter this year, which was good.  I only got pictures of the Easter egg hunt we did on Saturday because, besides Easter dinner on Sunday, we just hung out outside enjoying the 75 degree weather.  It was gorgeous.

Shiloh and Eli both enjoyed the Hunt.  This year, Shiloh was experienced and he remembered what was inside of the eggs, so he wanted to open them on the spot and eat and/or play with whatever was inside as he gathered the eggs.  We had to coax him to look for all of the eggs first.  On the other hand, Eli had no clue that there was anything in the eggs.  He was just having fun running and yelling out the color (although 50% of the time it wasn't the right color) of the egg he was finding.

Here is the best pic we could get of them opening up the eggs and finding the loot inside. (p.s. don't mind the awkward facial expression I am pulling, just notice the 2 adorable kiddos)  They were too excited to sit still for anymore pics.

Caught Up - Spring is Coming

Last Week we finally got some Real Rain and not Rain/Snow. In fact, we got over 7 inches of rain in 3 days.  Our stream was running again so it was time to get out and go out exploring.  The boy's favorite thing is to throw rocks into the ponds.

Catch Up - Christmas and Birthday

Here are some of the Christmas Presents for the Boys.  We had fun making many of the presents this year.  We did not make this marble run, but it is really fun.

We made stacking blocks from a cedar tree in the woods

Brittani Re-Furbished this Rocking horse that was beat up.

We made this kitchen set out of two night stands

Brittani made these two dolls.

Here is painting time.  One of Shiloh's favorite things to do.  He gets very serious and in to his paining. 

Pinewood Derby Painting Project.  Shiloh was quiet and accurate, Eli Screamed because he got paint in his fingers.  Eli's car was broken before the day of the race, Shiloh's was carefully preserved and watched over. 

Shiloh's 3rd Birthday. 

Shiloh wanted a rainbow.  Brittani made a beautiful Fruit Rainbow