Our Family Pictures

Family pictures.... UGH!  It doesn't matter who you are, how old your children are, they are always work to get a good picture.  What makes a good picture?  It is different for each family.  Most people like everyone smiling at the camera.  Thats what the typical traditional family picture usually looks like.

It's been over 2 months ago that my friend came out to our house to take our family pictures.  It's been 5 years since our last one.  How did so much time go by without taking one??  Oh, I remember... It's STRESSFUL planning family pictures.  Organizing outfits that everyone likes and will wear, getting a time everyone can be together before the sun is to low in the sky, making sure everyone is ready to smile for the next hour... the list goes on.

Let me give you a snapshot of my three very different children.

Micah- I will stand where you tell me and smile when you tell me, lets just get this done as quick as possible.

Tyler- I might stand or sit or squat in the area around where you want me, I might smile or make a funny face or give you a blank stare.  I will joke and make it much more painful for Micah who just wants to get done, because that makes me laugh and smile and that's what Mom wants from me, a nice smile.

Jilli- I will stand where you tell me and a few other places that I think would be cool.  I will smile when you want me too and also give you a serious face, and a half smile.  I will make slight adjustments while your taking pictures to make sure we get the best angle.  I am happy as long as the camera is taking pictures.

Now throw in Kevin who is more like Micah but with a little more patience for Tyler's antics.  Then there is me, who is more like Jilli because you can never have too many pictures, but lets not have this take all night and lets just listen and follow the photographers instructions because she knows what she is seeing.

As you can see, it's a recipe for a disasterous photo session, but that's the dynamics we are dealing with and honestly, I got a lot of really great pictures (despite all the crazy) that I am having a hard time deciding which ones I want hanging on my walls.

I do want to share my favorite with you.  Back to the whole "traditional family picture", I am not like most people.  I would hang this on my wall because it is exactly what our family looks like right now.  However, the one reason I might pick a different picture to enlarge and hang is because there is one head that is missing.... but if you know Tyler, you know that this is the most perfect picture EVER.  His head isn't in it, but everyone knows that he is the center of attention and making everyone laugh.

So there is a sneak peek at our family picture.  I will probably share more as I slowly choose my favorites, and maybe, just maybe I'll update the pictures on my blog!

Blessings!!

Missing Cats and My Ladies.

I promised I would be writing more... so I'm going to try and stick to that.

Thursday night we all went to bed like any other night.  We woke up the next morning and WhiteSocks was no where to be found.  We didn't think anything of it because he is often off hunting in the morning.  As the day went on and he still wasn't around we started getting a little concerned.  By the evening we were all upset, because it isn't usual for him to go missing all day.

Friday night Kevin and I put the kids to bed then went driving in the neighborhood across the street looking for him.  This is the same neighborhood that he went to the last time he went missing.  We couldn't find him.  Saturday morning Kevin went hiking in the woods behind our house looking for him.  Then we walked through the neighborhood as a family calling and looking for him.  Saturday night Kevin went driving again and at one point he did see a cat in an open field.  He jumped out of the car all excited that he found WhiteSocks, but it was a black cat that went running away as soon as he heard Kevin's excited calls.

Sunday morning dawned and Kevin and I got up early to go looking for him again.  Kevin went out in the garage to go start the car and get it warmed up when he noticed a very thirsty kitty drinking water and then going after the kitty food.

The kids were all up getting ready for church when we all heard Kevin come flying in the door hooping and hollering holding WhiteSocks.  He had been missing for 48 hours.  Where did that stinker go??  PopPop said he went to see his girlfriend, we just laughed until.....

Last night the boys were at youth group and we had to go pick them up.  It was dark, we hopped in the car and turned on the headlights to see 3 pairs of glowing eyes looking at us.  Two pairs were belonging to our beloved WhiteSocks and Phantom (his brother), the other pair was belonging to a cat we tried to rescue 5 weeks ago, we named her "Momma Cat".  

She was a ferrel cat that had been living in the city.  The people who's deck she had been living under, wanted a better place for her and her daughter "Boots" and also Momma Cats brother, "Uncle".  We took all three of them in, but Momma Cat bolted within minutes of arriving on our farm.  We thought she was long gone.  Well.... she is back and causing a little bit of jealously between WhiteSocks and Phantom.  

We have no idea what to think about the new situation, or how this is all going to play out.  Last night we locked all our kitty's in our garage so that we knew they wouldn't run off in the middle of the night.  We are also investigating gps tracking system for our cats.... I know, I know, they are just barn cats but Kevin cannot handle anymore missing kitties.  So, our "barn cats" will probably be going high-tech for Christmas.

We also have some exciting news and it comes in the form of brown EGGS!!  Yup that is right, my ladies are starting to lay!!  So far we have collected around 27 eggs.  I think only 3 or 4 of my ladies are laying right now.  

Each morning is kind of like a redneck easter egg hunt.  My chickens don't follow the norm when it comes to chickens.  They don't roost up high at night and they don't like to lay their their eggs in their nesting baskets.  They are forming little "nests" on the ground in the coop and laying the eggs.  Which can be rather difficult to spot being that there is all dried leaves in there as "bedding".  All the brown colors makes the eggs quite camouflaged.  Then we have one chicken that prefers to go up high on a wood shelf and lay her eggs there.  Nice soft place to lay... NOT!

I can't tell you how rewarding it is to have fresh eggs just a few short steps from my backdoor.  I will have to take some pictures of where the girls are laying their eggs to show you.  One of the awesome benefits to having my own eggs is that I can keep them on my counter.  No more taking eggs out of the fridge and letting them get to room temperature before baking!!  I can't tell you how many times I set out to bake and forget the eggs in the fridge and scrap the whole project because I won't have time to let them warm up before I have to leave.  

Quick farm lesson... When a chicken lays an egg, there is a protective coating around the egg called the bloom.  It keeps bacteria from getting through the shell.  Commercial eggs you buy from the store have all had this bloom washed off of it.  That is why 1. you have to refrigerate your eggs and 2. you are more likely to get sick off of raw store bought eggs.  Also, it takes weeks to get an egg from the chicken to the store, so it's already pretty old by the time we have a chance to buy them.  

Isn't the bloom amazing?!  The more I learn and experience, the more in awe of God I am and how he cared enough to create the bloom to protect a little egg, except that bloom not only protects the egg, but it protects me from getting sick from an egg riddled with bacteria!  Mind blowing... Creator God in all of his wisdom created the smallest of details that impacts so much!  

That's about all for today.  Hope you enjoyed the cat saga... and the farm lesson, I'll keep you updated on any latest developments.  

Blessings!!