25June2009
Posted by Emily under: Around the House; Children's Doings.
We recently purchased the most entertaining toy a little boy ever had….
Yep, Sharp Shootin’ Western Engraved Durango Pistols. Or, as David and Jonathan call them…just their guns. 
Since we bought a two holster set, there was only one belt. Since there was only one belt, we had to be creative. Jonathan figured out the perfect way to carry his gun without a formal, fancy professional-looking holster……
Well, he looks professional enough, doesn’t he?
Well for what he’s doing, he is. These are our sharp shootin’ coon hunters at work:
Oh, no! A coon in the closet!
And a coon in the basket!
Recently, Dad shot our notorious, thieving, sneaky intrepid coon who was stealing cat food out of our shed every night. Since then, the little boys have been enamored with “shooting the coons”.
There have been any number of “bad coons” in all the different rooms in the house for the past day and a half.
This morning, a second coon was caught in our live-trap. The little boys quickly gathered up their guns and rushed out to “get the coon”. (This was their first live-coon-hunt by the way…)
Since the purchase of the guns, the little boys have hardly been seen without them. They put them beside their beds at naptime, and as soon as they wake up…..”I want my gun!” Then it’s on to “shootin’ the coons.” Who would ever have thought that all we needed to get to make them perfectly happy……(for now) would be a couple of cap guns?
24June2009
Posted by Kathy under: Animals; Farm Life; Life in Missouri.
For about the last month I have been trying to outsmart a raccoon who kept stealing our cat food. The cat food was in a big rubbermaid-type storage container inside the shed where the cats sleep at night. The first container we used had those little flip lock handles on the side. Every morning I would find the container hanging open. It took awhile before I realized that it wasn’t someone else in the family leaving it open. But once I was sure it was getting closed every night, I knew it must be a critter of some kind, since the cats certainly couldn’t get the lid off the container.
So I tried switching to a different type of container with a snap on lid. This is the type we have in the barn, and they are never open in the morning. However, he got it open every night also.
Next I tried sitting heavy objects on top of the container. But in the morning I would find them sitting beside the container and the lid hanging open.
So I slid the container under a shelf that only had a couple of inches clearance. After a bit of tweaking, this actually worked. But the morning after my great SUCCESS, I found the coon in the shed AFTER we put the cat food in the cats’ bowl.
Finally we gave in and bought a live animal trap (it was on a good sale) that catches the animal without killing it (this was the only option since we knew we may catch our cats in it also). The first night we baited the trap with cat food. The next morning the food was gone, the trap was sprung, but there was no coon - it was empty.
So we set it again the next evening, again baiting it with cat food. This time we caught JoJo, our white cat. After we released him we caught Oreo - another cat. After that we decided to bait it with cracked corn instead. That ended the cat catching.
The next morning we finally had our thief :).
I was so excited, until the next morning, when I found the lid off of the cat food container :(.
Time for round two.
20June2009
Posted by Kathy under: Children's Doings.
If you have ever looked into buying the modest swimsuits, you know that the ones online run from about $60 (for small children) to $100 (for adults). But we found that we could make them for much less than that - and they were REALLY easy!!
This is all you need:
We found that shirts made for swimwear or at least from the same fabric are easy to find. Christina’s was in the children’s swimwear at Target ($10). Allisons was in the children’s clothes at Kohl’s (on the clearence rack for $4) and I’m guessing it was just sold as a sports top. Emily’s (she got two) were in the adult sports clothes at Target ($24).
Next we added leggins - some made from the swimwear fabric and some not. Of course these are easy to find. Emily got hers as part of a set from the children’s clearance rack at Kohl’s ($10) so she got an extra shirt. Allison’s were also from the clearance rack ($10), and Christina found brown ones to match her top at Target ($7).
We got the skirt fabric from Jo-Ann’s swimwear section. The fabric is expensive, but you don’t need very much - just the distance from hips to however long you want it. We got 1/2 yard for Christina ($5), 3/4 yard for Allison ($10) and 1 yard for Emily ($15) - but 3/4 would have been plenty.
We added a camisole under Allison’s ($3) and Christina’s (free - used one she already had), so that we could attach the skirt. This was the only sewing required. I sewed down the selvage of the skirt fabric then serged the bottom. I machine gathered the top of the skirt…
then attached it to the camisole (white t-shirt for Emily).
By attaching the skirt to an undershirt we found that it is not only very easy to sew, but it also allows for coverage if the shirt were to float up in the water. So basically you have leggins under a tank-dress (any length skirt) with a shirt over top.
Total cost: Emily’s was $49 (but it would have been $45 if we had bought less skirt fabric, and she also got an additional shirt :)). Hers would have been $99 online. Allison’s was $27. Hers would have been $79 online. Christina’s was $22. Hers would have been $59 online. Total online cost would have been $240. Total homemade cost was $98 :).
And how did these modest swimsuits work in the water? Emily said neither the skirt nor the shirt floated up in the water, it didn’t cling when she got out of the water (we had heard that clinging was a problem with some ordered online) and that the fabric was not too heavy. They loved them.
20June2009
Posted by Emily under: Other.
Today, we got outside and took our summertime pictures…
Chrissy is getting to be quite the photographer. :) She took my picture…again.
Alli painted her fingernails red, white and blue, as these are also our 4th of July pictures…
We couldn’t find red, white and blue clothes for Chrissy, so she wore her circle skirt and a red shirt with a blue sash tied around her waist….:)
I was able to get some good pictures of David…
and Jonathan…
Summer is one of my favorite seasons. There is so much to do and see in the summer. You can see so much of God’s creation. It’s wonderful.
Here are some of our favorite “Summertime Fun” activities….
Silver Dollar City…….of course! :) Jonathan’s favorite rides are the frogs and the bugs. Hmmm, I thought he hated bugs??? Dad, Chrissy and I rode the American Plunge, and loved it.
Another thing we like to do in the summer is….
Yep, that’s right, swimming. We had a wonderful time last weekend swimming at our friends’ house during a birthday party. We also had a slip-n-slide made from an old dance floor. It worked GREAT!!!!
So yes, summer is one of my favorite seasons. But….it’s a good thing God made different seasons also…..:)
This is another day that the LORD has made……we will rejoice and be glad in it.
8June2009
Posted by Doug under: Dad's Perspective; Farm Life.
We’ve all heard about the black holes in outer space that supposidly suck up all matter, including light. I didn’t know microscopic ones existed on farms however - and that they roam around randomly consuming various objects.
In the last month, we’ve had a few very mysterous disapperances here. I brought home a bag with a couple of PVC pipe fittings on it a couple of weeks ago, and the next day - it was gone. I mean, search the entire farm three times kind of gone. Then Saturday I went out to fix a leaky faucet in our pump house. A couple of months ago I bought a pipe, PVC fitting, and a new faucet. I found the pipe and PVC fitting, but the faucet was gone. I mean search the entire farm three times kind of gone. I guess the black hole didn’t want PVC this time.
And of course, you already heard about the missing duck. I mean that was truly strange. No blood, no feathers - no duck. (at first I thought the duck was raptured, but that doesn’t quite square with my theology. It was gone) I mean search the farm three times… You get the point.
8June2009
Posted by Kathy under: Gardening.
We were so excited that we were actually getting fruit on our little fruit trees that we planted last fall. The cherries looked beautiful and were ripening quickly. (I would show a picture but I am unable to upload them again.) We noticed one day that the ones on the lower branches had disappeared. We later learned that the chickens had stolen them. And the birds were starting to show interest in those on the higher branches. So we reinstalled our “chicken sprinklers” (motion activated sprinklers that we had taken down when we put the fence around the garden) and turned one on the cherry tree. (We put another on the strawberries which were also beginning to ripen, but the birds got them before us every time.)
This worked great (we get wonderfully bright red strawberries all the time now), until one afternoon when we accidentally left OFF the sprinkler that was protecting the cherry tree (you have to turn it off when you are working there unless you want to get soaked every time you move). That one goof cost us ALL of our beautiful cherries (except three which the birds later bravely ate despite the sprinklers - I guess they were REALLY tasty).
Next year we have to find a better way to protect our cherries. But for now we will enjoy our strawberries and prepare to do battle for our blueberries, which are just starting to ripen).
29May2009
Posted by Emily under: Children's Doings.
David is our biggest talker. He talks and talks and TALKS!!!!!!!!!!! What does he talk about? Anything and everything. He may be only two and a half years old, but he would AMAZE you with his talking abilities!!!
The other day, David was eating his bean dip, and said, “I want some chips…really bad.” Isn’t that cute? He pauses between, whatever he says and “really bad.” Another “really bad” sentence is “I want some clothes on…really bad.” It’s so funny and cute.
One conversation from today was:
David: I’m soaked, Emily.
Me: I see that.
David: Will you change me?
He can even maintain a conversation with someone!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the things David loves to do is go bye-bye in the Suburban. The way he puts this “Go bye-bye in the Suburban to later?” Which is his way of asking, “When are we going bye-bye?” and combining it with “I want to come.”
Sometimes, David has a mind of his own when it comes to bye-bye. We were getting ready to leave for Silver Dollar City, when David sits down on the floor and informs us that he is “staying here.” (The exact words? “I’m stayin’ here.”)
He and Jonathan both get their Southern accents in when they’re talking. Jonathan in particular likes to say, “My comin’?” (Which is “am I coming?”) It’s hilarious and cute.
One of the things that is unique about the way Jonathan talks is the way he stops to take a breath in between every couple of words. Some specific sentences are not as long and drawn out, but most of the time, his conversations go something like this…
Me: Jonathan, are you ready to go bye-bye?
Jonathan: My comin’?
Me: You’re coming.
Jonathan: Oh
Me: Let’s go.
Jonathan: (screams) Bye-bye…suburban!
Last Tuesday at volleyball, I was carrying Jonathan into the YMCA and he says: “watch…bolleyball…Em-lay?” It was too cute!!! I said, “Yes, Jonathan.” He goes, “Oh.” (Which by the way is his response to nearly everything right now.)
At the moment, David is having one of his lively conversations with…the air. (Or practically.) It started when he ran into the house and noticed a raisin on the floor. He picked it up and squealed, “Oh, that’s a raisin!” Then he promptly began explaining to everyone else what everything is. He picked up some play-dough and said, “Look, it’s play-dough.” :) Does every little kid talk this much???
