This morning after going out for the usual Saturday morning routine we headed over to Patty's (a tech from my work) to trim her pig and goats hooves. We were wrangling up the pig and I was trying to get Jacob out of the way as the pig ran through the barn and I stepped on her son's little toe. I said, "I'm sorry Colton, He said, "thats ok" then his sister who is 6 said, "Yeh, his feet get stepped on all the time". Time for ear pluggs, Jared grabbed both back leg of Bud and he and Patty flipped over the big pig. He squeeled loudly. I trimmed the back feet first and then the front. I took a while because my nippers are small so I can only do a little at a time. The pig pooped and then peed right into Pattys shoe. Then I trimmed his 4 teeth with the nippers. Her little goat Branson was right in our faces the whole time, chewing on my hair, and even jumping up onto Bud with all fours. We took a little break and watched Jacob and Colton played in the sandbox. The Patty and I trimmed the goats hooves. The goat is easy to do. My hands are sore and blistered from doing the pig. After the trimming we headed home. Jacob ate a banana and drank some milk on the way home. After he took a nap and then ate some lunch we headed over to Moms house to go swimming. It is in the 90's today and very hot and humid. We stopped at a couple garage sales and salvation army on the way. Then we stopped for ice cream cones. I gave Jacob some of mine. It was so cold he didn't want more than a couple bites then he was done. Melissa and her kids were at my Mom and Dad's when we arrived. They were all going swimming. Kenzie was there too and then Vik and Rody came a little later. Jared took Jacob in the pool and then sat him in the dolphin. He had fun. This was Max's first swim in a big pool and he really liked it too. I took Jacob over to slide and then Dad swang with him on the swing. He had so much fun with Papa. Then Papa attatched his little car to a rope and pulled him all over the yard with his feet up. After Jacob took a short nap and had dinner we went over to visit with Grandma. I trimmed Taylor's toe nails and hair out of his eyes. Jacob walked over by the hot stove and I said, "No No, Don't touch" and then Jacob said, "Don't touch". We went back to Moms for strawberry shortcake.

Kimmy

Jacob was tickeling me and then Aunt Missy this morning. He would come at us with both hands together like waving and laughing when we pretended that it tickeled. We were trying to get him to tell the dog shhhh and put his one finger in front of his lips. He thought it was fun to put his finger in front of our lips as we said shhhh. When I walk in the door after work Jacob is usually sitting playing or doing something. When he sees me walk in the door he drops whatever he's doing and comes over to me to give me a big hug. We had pizza rolls for dinner and then Jacob shared a banana with me. We went outside and Jacob played on his new tricycle and went over to smell the flowers in the pot. Daddy and Jacob went over in the round pen to play in the grass and I watered the flowers. Jared had been watering the garden when I got home. We went out for some ice cream and to returned something to Best Buy. As we were leaving we saw a police officer searching the big ditch at the end of Cassaday on Stark. Around the corner on Bombay another officer had a man in the back of his car. We think they were looking for drugs?? or something. The cop came out of the ditch looking through a brown paper bag. At home I asked Jacob if he wanted to play ring around the rosie. He got so excited and ran over to me holding up his arms and stomping his feet. We played and he fell down but a little early. Jared and I lay him in his crib for bed and he went right to sleep.

Kimmy

Kimmy

Thursday, June 15, 2006

This morning before leaving for work, Jacob sat in his rocking chair and crossed his legs. I thought it was cute so I took his picture. At Mel's I cut Max's hair for his baby book. Mel had me do it because you can still see the spot she cut on the back of his head 5 months ago. I was holding Max and Jacob was playing when Hailey walked out wrapped in her pink blankey covering her head so only her little face was showing. Mom picked up Jacob today after Grandma's chemo. She took Jacob in her pool in a wraft. He really liked that. Amy (tech at my work) gave Jacob a tricycle. I was still in the box and I put it together over lunch. I was missing one little piece. Mom dropped Jacob off at my work at 5pm because she had to be to her motorcycle thing at 5:30. Jacob sat on the tricycle in the middle of the office for a while. I gave him a bell to play with. Then he got off and pushed it around. When we got home Jared fixed it cause to the piece missing and now its like new.

Kimmy

I'm off work today and so happy to be able to spend the day home with Jacob. Jared brought him into our bedroom this morning and he lay there with me for a little while. He sat up, leaned over and hugged me. I got up and sat on the couch holding him and he snuggled in just as close as he could. He ate his breakfast really good. We went outside to check on the animals. Then we went into town to take my check to the bank and do a little shopping. Went to Walmart for some groceries. In the parking lot I found a little kids blankey, sippy cup and kids plate. I turned them in to the greeter at the door. She gave me a coupon to get Jacob a cookie each time we visit. I went over and got him the cookie. He wouldn't eat it until I broke it in half and gave him one for the other hand. Lately he like to have one snack in each hand. Then we went to Salvation army. By the time we got home it was almost time for Jacob's morning nap. He slept for a couple hours. My project today is to wash all of Jacobs clothes in the "pink room" - whick by the way is ALOT! I had a several large loads of darks and two large loads of whites. I am washing them in Dreft and rinsing them twice. Jacob likes to sit on the washer when it shakes towards the end of the cycle. He likes to touch the nobs. Jacob and I went outside to water the flowers and walk around. Jacob bent over to smell the flowers in the pot. It was very warm outside. We went inside so that I could make some dough for pizza rolls tonight. I made little mini rolls for Jacob. When Jared got home we all went outside for awhile. Daddy gave Jacob a horsey back ride over to the goats. I asked Jacob "where's the tractor". He walked right over to me so that I'd pick him up and take him over to the tractor. He sat on the seat and scooted to the edge so he could reach the levers and buttons. He pretended to push them all and then hung on to the wheel. Jared started it up and he grinned. He did not want to get off. Jacob took a little nap then it was time for dinner.

Kimmy

Animals that Call the Rockin R "Home"

Jared here, Kimmy took some pictures and it's up to me to write some captions to let ya'll know who's down on the farm. E-I-E-I-O

This is Truman he's our Yellow Lab...and he's our biggest baby. Loves to sleep under the covers at night, even on hot nights. Knows all kinds of tricks, from shake to paw, to sit, lie down, dead dog and two paws. Very smart boy.

This is Kate... aka Crazy Dog. She's an Austrailian Cattle Dog, or a red healer. She's a strong willed dog, and has selective hearing. She's more of a Chicken Dog on our farm, she'll pin any chicken we point her towards. It's because of her that we can catch our chickens when we want too. Good Chicken Dog.






Tiger is our barn cat...he came with the Rockin R. The only request from the previous owner was that we keep Tiger as he just wouldn't fit in anywhere else. He's more like a dog than cat so I didn't mind him staying.















Next are the horses, and first off is Sammy. aka Sammy Lammy. Sammy is awesome! He truly is a bomb proof horse, anyone can ride him young or old and he just keeps on keeping on. He's a Standard Bred and a retired harness race horse, his dad was a famous race horse here in MI and Sammy was quite the winner in his time as well. He's starting to show some age, but he's doing great. After retirement he was used in the handicap riders classes, Kimmy helped out with these classes and I believe this is where Kimmy found him and the previous owner basically gave him to her.









And this big black monster is Celest, she's HUGE!!! and the grocery bill shows it, just teasing. She's our draft horse, she's a Percheron about 17 hands high. She's kicked me once, but that once resulted in a trip to the ER ... I guess I shouldn't of cleaned out my wound with my own spit. Hey, who'd of thunk manure and spit could cause such an infection. The sound of her back right hoof hitting my leg was a sound I don't think I'll ever forget. Like a rifle shot.









This Nutmeg, She's awesome as well, although quite a spirited horse, she's gotten me out of the saddle a few times. The first I was about a half mile from the barn and she put me on the ground with a quick side step...and then proceeded to fly back to the barn leaving me stranded....nice horsy. She's fun, broke and trained her myself...very cool.














This is our sheep Maude. She's a really fat sheep. It takes two of us to sheer her, too heavy to hold on your own. How fat is she you might ask...and mind you she only eats grass... well once I found her lying flat on her back in the pasture...so fat that she rolled on her back and couldn't right herself. A gentle shove from me was all she needed to roll back to her feet and up she went. Crazy sheep.












This is Clarence one of our pigmy goats. Mind you all of our goats are in some way related...I'll try to walk through how they're related. Clarence is half brother to Fred. And Ethyl below is his full sister from a different year.










This is our pigmy goat Lucy, Lucy and Clarence were born about the same time and are the best of buds. Lucy is Niece to Clarence, as Lucy's Dad is Uncle Clarence's half brother.
















This is LockJaw, she was kicked by a horse somewhere in her life and her bottom jaw doesn't line up with the top. LockJaw is Fred's Mom, and Fred is LockJaw's only surviving kid (baby goats really are called kids). Clarence from above is out of Fred's Dad, that's where that half comes from.













This is Fred, he and Ethyl are the same age and they are half brother and sister...Fred like I said is LockJaw's son and half brother to Clarence.
















This is Ethyl...I've been trying to figure out where she fits into the puzzle... she is whole sister to Clarence but a different year. And half brother to Fred....
















Are you still with me...if so tell me where I'm at.....

Ok ok...enough with the family Goats... on to Chickens. This is our Rooster Marty...he's probably the 2 or 3rd Marty. As we've given a few Marties away over the years...so everytime we realize we have a rooster we end up naming him Marty...We got them all as chicks and someone mixed up the pullets with the straight run chicks...so I believe he started out at Mary...but once he started to crow he became Marty....he's got free range of the farm, just don't turn your back on him...you just never know with him.










This is a picture of Road Runner, she's on the left...Marty aka her husband is on the right. She was getting picked on by the other hens and so we had a shotgun wedding and married the two off. We gave his first wife a break. Just look at her shape and you can sort of tell why we named her Road Runner...and we named on Coyote but she turned up missing...not sure what happened to her but I have a feeling the Acme Co. was involved somehow.







This is Martha...she's a Buff Ophington (spelling I'm sure isn't correct.) No stories be hind this one..she's just a funny squat round shape.
















This is Jan, she's our Barred Rock...she was one of our first batch of chicks...it was Marsha Jan and Cindy...Marsha turned out to be one of the Marty's.
















This is Beatrice...she's a very friendly chicken...and she's got feathery legs, very cool looking.

















I'm pretty sure this is Mary, tough to tell from the picture, but she was the roosters first wife. Laid a pile of eggs in one of the stalls that was really cool looking.















This is Betty, she too is one of the original chicks. She's the nicest of all the chickens. Our neice Mykenzie picks her up and carries her around all over the farm...Betty loves grapes, swallows them whole.















And last of the chickens is Cindy, she's one of the original chicks. Everyonce in a while she'll lay a double yoker.

















E-I-E-I-O

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 (Pictures)

Jacob riding in the wagon while I took pictures of our animals. He had fun playing with his bubbles.

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This morning Jacob was cuddeling with Daddy on the couch while I finished getting ready. I heard Jared say that Jacob had peeded through onto his lap. We got him changed and headed off for work. Kenzie was sleeping on a mat on the floor in the living room at Mel's. Melissa offered to move her into the other room so Jacob wouldn't wake her but Kenzie said she didn't mind if Jacob woke her up. Kenzie told me Uncle Bruces blueberry muffin's were the best (especially heated) so we all had some. Jacob liked them too. When I got to Melissa's after work Jacob was swinging along with Hailey. Jacob was all smiles when he saw me. When we got home Jared was there to greet us as always. Jacob was happy to see Daddy. Jacob had fun playing with the egg carton's our neighbor gave us. He walked around with one in each hand. We went outside to check on the animals. We pulled Jacob around in his wagon with his bubbles. We blew lots of bubbles but he doesn't care much about the bubbles, he'd rather put the stick in and out. Jacob crawled up our steps to look at the flowers in the pot. He loves to bend over and smell them. Gave Jacob a quick bath and he was excited when I said, "Lets brush your teeth". He loves the new bubble gum flavor. We went back out to play with Daddy and read some books. Jacob loves to watch Daddy juggle the balls. He had two balls in his hand and was moving them up and down. When I took him in his room he wanted me to hold him for a little bit. We cuddled and then I lay him in his crib.

Kimmy

Parade Day

Today is the Bavarian Parade. I've gone to this parade since I was very young and couldn't wait to take Jacob. Lasts year he went but he was only 2 weeks old. This year he really enjoyed watching the different things as they passed by. He liked the fire trucks and their load sounds to the horses, clowns, and tall bikes. What fun!!!!! We met at Mel's house cause Bruce had to work and Jared is going to drive their van there. We dressed our boys alike and they looked adorable. When we got there we put Jacob and Max in the double Jeep stroller and Hailey in Jacob's Jeep stroller. We didn't notice til we got to our spot that Jacob had ditched his hat somewhere. Mel and I went back with the boys to look for it and found it. My Mom, Dad, Vikki, Rody, Kenzie, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Tom, Matt (cousin), Uncle Fred and his son Freddie, Aunt Dorothy and her friend, Jim and Denise were there already. Amanda (my cousin that was in our wedding) is going to be spinning a baton in the parade. Jacob had a soft pretzel that he really liked - Aunt Missy shared her's with him. Before the parade started Jacob sat with Papa for awhile and then with Nana. He sat on my lap throuh most of the parade. He ate some licorice and drank some of my lemonaide. Aunt Vikki held him for a while too. Towards the end of the parade he was getting really sleepy and Papa asked to hold him again. Jacob lay his head on Papa's shoulder and I thought he was going to fall asleep. On our way over to Aunt Debbie's house we stopped to visit Oma (a sweet German lady that my Dad used to live with growing up). She has a strong German accent and I love to listen to her talk. Jacob was really tired so I took him out onto her porch with Hailey and Kenzie. At Aunt Debbie's house I took him up to her spare bedroom and lay down with him. He fell asleep in less than 10 minutes. I put 4 pillows around him and covered him with his blankey. I went upstairs to check on him every 5 minutes. I didn't want him to wake up and get into something that he shouldn't in the room. We ate some dinner and sat out by the pool. The kids were swimming in the cold pool - burr. I had a nice time chating with family. After I ate I took Max and walked aroun with him rocking him and trying to get him to sleep cause he was very tired too. I took him with me upstairs to check on Jacob. Jacob had slept for a couple hours and he was waking up. I sat with Max and rocked him in the chair and rubbed his face. He fell asleep while Jacob was waking up. Jared came up and picked up Jacob and I lay Max down. Bruce was able to come after he got out of work. Jared got his swimming trunks on and I got Jacob in his. Jared took Jacob for a little swim in the big pool. He started to shiver so Jared handed him to me and I wrapped him in a large towel and sat in the sun. Kenzie rode with Uncle Bruce. She had to ride in the car with her bathing suit on cause Vikki must of packed her clothes when she left. She is going to spend the night at Melissa's house and I'm going to bring her clothes in the morning. The kids played on the swingset. We took Jacob up to the top and let him go down the curly slide by himself a couple times. I had a big smile on his face when he got to the bottom. We almost hit a deer on the way home. I shouted deer, deer, deer, deer and pointed in a panic. Jared had seen it and slowed down. When we got home we walked around outside for a little bit but it had gotten really chilly outside. Inside I put Jacob's laundry away and got his things ready for tomorrow. I was cutting up peaches for his lunch tomorrow and I took him a bite in the other room. He came running back into the kitchen wanting more. He ate them all and I cut more up for tomorrow. Jared and Jacob sat at the piano and played before bed.

Kimmy

Jacob woke up at 2:30am crying hard. I went into his room to try and comfort him. I turned his bear light on and rubbbed his back. He fell asleep quickly. He slept til about 7:30 when we heard him talking happily in his crib. We went out for the usual Saturday morning routine. Went to Salvation army. When we got home Jacob played on his slide. He loves when I stick my finger up the holes in the bottom of the fort when he's standing in it. He starts stomping his feet and talking. Jared got out the chain saw and ladder and worked on trimming dead branches of the trees. I put Jacob down for his nap and went out to work on hoeing the garden. Then I helped Jared put the big branches in piles. Jared cut down a large tree that had very few leaves on it. Mary from our church call and asked if we wanted to meet her and her husband at a graduation party of a girl from church. They only live a couple of miles down the street from us. We took Jacob to get his pictures taken. He was so good and it only took a few minutes. What a relief compaired to the last few photo shoots. Jacob took his afternoon nap which we had to wake him up from to get to the graduation party on time. At the party Jacob kept walking over to two little boy sitting in the grass eating. They kept laughing at him. He kneeled by them and whinned for some of the food they were eating. We walked over with Ray and looked at his tractor that we are going to be buying from him. We are so excited about it. Its a Ford 9N - BEAUTIFUL!! I can't wait to have this on our farm. Jared's going to have so much fun and so am I. And maybe Jacob someday down the road. When we got home Jared went down to our neighbors house to pick up 17 bales of hay were buying from him. We will get some more when he gets his second cutting. Jacob heard Jared coming in and in the picture above he is running towards the door saying "Da Da" and he gave Daddy a big hug.

Kimmy

This morning at Mel's Jacob got out the shapes and colors book. Melissa said yesterday every time he got to the page with the big circle he'd sit on it. He did it again this morning. I talked to my Grandma today and she said she was reading my blog and read about Jacob eating pizza the other day . That got her thinking about pizza and hungry for it. My mom made it for her and she loved it. Her appetite hasn't been great lately so I was really happy to hear that. When we got back home Jared told me that the goats had gotten loose and ate down the aspen trees we had planted in front of our barn. We put Jacob in the wagon and went out to the paddock with the goats and sheep. Hopefully we can keep them in their pen so they don't destroy other things. Only two, Clarence and Ethyl, get under the fense. They are the friendliest goat we have and the ones always into trouble. Jacob played with his bubbles and then we went over to his slide. He slid down to me a few times then went around to Daddy on the other side to help him climb up. He loves standing up in the fort part. He stomps his feet and says "Da Da" over and over very loudly. Our neighbor came over and brought us some egg cartins that he's been saving since he saw that we had built a chicken coop. There was quite a pile. We chated with him for a while. I put Kate in the house so we could talk. He told us some stories and told us to come down to their place at the end of our road and check out his stocked pond. Well Jacob wants me to hold him and is trying to type so I gotta go.
Kimmy