Thursday, July 16, 2009

Norah's 6th Birtday







Pull out the Ballons and frosted Cake were celebrating Norah's 6th Birthday today! We plan on Cake and her favorite meal tonight and a trip to the Hyland Park reserve to a park called Shots and Ladders. It sounds a little low key but Sunday Grandma Betty came down and her, Cait, Maddi, Norah (AKA birthday girl) and myself went to the Mall of America for a lovely lunch at the American Girl Bistro followed by the American Girl Shop. Norah picked out her very first American Girl doll named Rebecca. She also got to pick out a beautiful dress for Rebecca and a dress for herself. We then headed over to the AG hair salon where Jess (AKA Maddi's American Girl) Had her hair done up for the party and Rebecca got her ears pierced.
At 1:15 we headed up to the Bistro where we enjoyed amazing meals and the American girls got to sit at our table. They were served lemonade, rootbeer, fruit and dessert. Norah choose some Veggies to get started. Then a picnic lunch which was a mini hotdog and a mini hamburger with fun shaped fruit on the side. Oh I forgot and tons of curley fries. She had a shake, which strangely her sisters drank and she had water. Lastly for dessert Milk and cookies with a candle on top. The day was so much fun and Norah got to be the star. With 4 other siblings days like this don't come often enough.
Our garden is growing like crazy, 18 tomato plants alone. Some are 5+ feet tall and I feel like Im walking through a jungle in there. Remember I am under 5 ft so everything seems taller. We have about 6-8 broccoli plants and I can't keep up eating Broccoli the asparagus was good but the season has ended for those lovely stems. The zucchini is finally in also and we will get our first tastes of it tonight. The rabbits and chickens have enjoyed the overgrown Zuchinni (rabbits didn't care for this one), Carrots, strawberries, and spinach. The Lord has provided a harvest much bigger than we could have imagined. We have so much more coming in also Tons of Eggplant, watermelon, blueberries, grapes, onions, apples, rasberries, strawberries, onions, Bell Peppers, jalepenos, ancho, banana peppers, thai peppers, to many peppers to name (I think like 15 different plants out there) Acorn Squash, Spagetti squash, butternut squash, Garlic, herbs galore, Cucumbers, Rhubarb, and beans. I will be canning like mad. I already canned 90 jars of Jelly and jams. Yummy! The jelly took first at the Ramsey county fair and the jams took 2nd. Will see how everything does at the washington county fair next month. I am also entering a ton of garden goods.
I haven't posted inawhile but Garet is finally out of Cloth! He is fully potty trained. This was an emotional time, my last baby. I got so into cloth diapers, I sewed them, personlized them, and sold some. Many memories with the diapers. I even got a letter from Sesame street stating they would sue if I sewed one more Oscar on a diaper butt. I find it flattering that they noticed my diapers. LOL! So I sold my supplies, sold my snap press, and am moving on to the next thing. Its looking like dresses for Norah. She seems to wear a dress everyday and she only owns about 4 that fit her. Mother if your reading this, Norah has wore her Cupcake birthday dress everyday. I predicted this when we bought it for her last Sunday. I bought a ton of the Olivia the Pig material and may be off to make some school clothes. All post pics.
As for the new button on the side of my blog. That is a link to the creators website of the Not me Mondays. Each Monday I will give a confession of the things I should have done but didn't. If you would like to add this link just go to her website and you can find the button code. I am under the impression she is from the metro area after seeing some areas she has been. We got the idea of Chutes and Ladders park from her website. I randomly was searching for things to do today and ran across the site. Nothing exciting on there but the woman does sound alot like me. I do like her idea of the Not me Mondays so I thougth I would try to incorperate it.
MJ just finished up some courses at the College of St. Thomas. She is in 8th grade and was selected to go to a 3 week camp at the college for free. She is a 4.0 student and has some crazy but for her realistic life goals. We are incrediably proud of her.
Caitlynn is fast approaching swim season where she was selected to be the Captain in Training. She will be a Captain her senior year and this year will shadow the Senior Captain. This is a huge honor because there were only 2 girls choosen out of the whole team. Cait also finished her Lifeguard Certficate this summer and is trying to get a job. Next week she will be the big 16 so she can officially apply for jobs.
Rollan was diagnosed with ADHD late Spring. Jeremy and I are confused how we would like to treat this so prayers are appreciated. he is currently attending a summer reading program to help him read better. Imagine a family memeber who has trouble writing, spelling and reading. OK everyone can clearly see I should have received some help but I excel in other areas and I feel he will find his niche too. Madison was in summer school and had troubles until about 4th grade then she bloomed. She writes books carries a 4.0 GPA reads non stop. So Im not to worried. Caitlynn also struggled until about 4th grade and I expect Norah and Garet to do the same. Sometimes parents know so much more that teachers and doctors. Caitlynn also is a wonderful student when she turns in her homework.
jeremy has been busy building a new rabbit hutch, and a huge Chicken coop. The coop run is about 35x15 which is large for our 3 hens. We will be adding another 9 meat chickens and 3 Easter Eggers, 1 black Frizzle, and 1 Blue silkie to the bunch. This will be our last run of Meat chickens for the season we will start up again in April. If your are unfamiliar with meat chickens we keep ours for 10 weeks and then send them to be processed at a local butcher shop. Our egg layers we keep for good. We ended up getting one Rooster in the bunch and he sounds like he is going through puperty. He is about 4 1/2 months and his crowing is aweful. He is going out to Jeremy's mothers this weekend to enjoy a truely free range life at the farm. Norah also got a unexpected birthday suprise. She got a Lionhead Rabbit she named Carrots. All the kids feel in love with it so since Caitlynn has hubert Norah has Carrots Madison decided she needed a lionhead and will be picking hers up next week. It name is Peas. Rollan feel in love with the English Lops he picked out a Blue Broken English lop that doesn't have a name yet. He is very excited, these rabbits have ears that are approximatly 11-14 inches in lenght each I think is the average. Rollie will be able to show his rabbit at the local fair and so will Norah if they want. I would love to get them into 4H.
Jeremy and I ran Grandma's. Jeremy ran the Marathon and I did a half this time. During that time I lost my Wedding ring. It has been a bummer but the nice side is insurance is covering the ring. Since I never wore my ring unless it was somewhere special I decided to buy a used one or a cheaper one. This leave Jerdog and I with a little cash in our pocket. I think we will be buying a feezer for all our chickens and stockpiles and a new Patio door. With the new energy tax credit this could be a great thing to pick up plus our door in the winter is like a freezer door open. It leaks so bad with the huge gaps in it. All post some pics of the new rabbits later. I will also post pics of our 4th of July weekend. You can also find picks on my Facebook page of everything.