I did something with my daughters this weekend that was a lot of fun and that I hope will work out more often.  Saturday, I took Susanna (3) out to lunch-just her and I.  We went to McDonalds since I knew she'd be thrilled w/ a happy meal.  She's getting to be so much her own little person & it's so fun to talk to her.

Sunday, I took Hannah (12) shopping & then we went to Applebee's for lunch together.  I didn't tell her we were doing that, so she was surprised.  I really enjoyed our afternoon together & our conversation.  She told me more about her time at the equine college w/ the 4-H leader & kids.  This was not her leader or group, but she & a friend from her 4-H group went w/ this other group.  Plus, she knows the leader well as she taught the hippology class & is one of the main judges for the 4-H shows.

Anyway, Hannah told me that there was this older girl there that was so mean to her mother and that it was hard to listen to & that the mother never said anything.  Finally, the girl told her mother to shut up and Hannah said she couldn't take it anymore.  In front of this girl's mother & everyone else there, Hannah said, "if I ever spoke to my mother like that, I'd be in big trouble."  Another girl spoke up and said that she'd never dare to talk to her mom that way.  The girl didn't respond.  Then, Hannah said, "but, Mom, I couldn't believe it-her mother made excuses for her!  She said, 'I used to talk to my mother that way and now that I'm an adult, I regret it.  So, I hope that someday my dd will be sorry for treating me this way.'   -Mom, I'd want her to be sorry right when she did it.  I don't think that's the right way to train children."

I agreed with her & I'm thrilled that at 12, she knows this. We also talked a lot about training the new horse that is coming-discussing our strategy & methods.  Oh, and at the equine college, they learned to harness up percherons & she got to drive them.  She also learned some showmanship techniques w/ the percherons.  She said they are so big, she was a little afraid of them stepping on her-they're feet are enormous & they had shoes on.  Ouch!!

When we got back, Hannah helped Pat & Jonah as they had started cutting trees where the paddock is going. Pat, Jonah & Susanna had gone to the tractor store to get stuff for fencing while we were gone.   Pat cut trees.  Hannah & Jonah used the winch on the tractor to pull them out.  Jonah hooked the trees up & Hannah ran the cable to Jonah.  They worked well as a team.  I got dinner ready & the house ready because we had company coming for dinner-Wayne & Michele.  That was fun-Michele brought a lot of the food because she didn't want me doing all the cooking.  She brought extra so we'd have leftovers-so I don't even have to cook tonight!  yeah!! Wayne is our veterinarian, too, and we really enjoyed listening to his stories about crazy & dangerous large animal calls.  He just does small animals now, but has been very helpful to us w/ advice & ordering shots for us for the horses & cows when we need it.  Then, I give the shots-this saves us a lot of money!  He did do our coggins tests last year, too. 

He told us the most bizarre "my wife is in labor" story, too.  I think it's the best one I've heard.  He was the only vet on & couldn't get ahold of his partner. His parents were in from out of town & there were 7 evergency animal calls.  Finally, he was working on a dog & since he was short-handed, his dad (who had cardiac problems) was holding the dog's leg still while he started an IV.  His father passed out & fell, taking the dog down with him.  His father wasn't breathing, so he started CPR.  Then, his wife yelled to him that she was in labor & needed to go to the hospital.  Wayne said, "um, I'm doing cpr on dad & I need help!"  They got him stable & taken care of & his mom in charge of getting more help for him.  Michelle held the dog's leg while Wayne got the IV in (while having contractions), then they raced to the hospital.  She delivered an hour & a half after they got there.  Isn't that incredible?? 

Sunday, I also helped Pat w/ beef cow chores.  My body was actually able to handle it this time.  I even helped lift a big cattle feeding gate & hold it up so Pat could attach it to the post.  He was replacing the old gate.  But, then he wanted to carry a chair for me.  I looked at him like he was crazy-I just picked up a cattle gait, but I can't carry a light folding chair!  LOL

I hope to have a lunch date w/ just Jonah this week-he needs work boots & t-shirts, too. 

Let's see...what's going on here...the horse stalls are almost done. Abbie got spayed.  13 bulls were castrated (with tight bands around their private parts-not surgery).  That took all day on Tuesday.  A lot of people knew Pat was off from work this past week, so there were calls to see if he could help them with things.  I normally don't mind this, but this time I do.  We had hoped to get all the Spring projects done this week-which is why he took the week off.    Plus, he's had no time to tackle the things in the house I hoped would get done before the baby gets here.      

Consequently, we're not ready to get the new horse this weekend-maybe next weekend, but I don't see how.  I really hoped to get the horse on a training schedule before I have the baby in 3 weeks.  Also, my hopes of actually seeing him this week were dashed and that is probably what is bothering me the most.

One nice thing this week is I have gotten to spend some time with our 3 horses-helping Hannah w/ Retro's soreness, taking Slugger for walks early in the morning so he can eat grass. We have to gradually get him used to green grass before he goes to the big pasture.  Last year he got spasmodic colic from eating too much grass at once (first time that's ever happened).

I also got to hear Hannah on our local country music radio station.  Her 4-H group was interviewed live by the DJ as a way to promote their fundraiser for Dream Factory.  They're raising money for chronically or terminally ill children. It was neat to hear my dd on the radio!  Her group also got to help tape something for the DJ-he needed the voices of a group of kids.  Hannah said it was a lot of fun at the radio statio.

Jonah has spent most of his time w/ Pat this week-so I haven't seen him much either, but he is learning lots of new things & is loving all the man time. 

Susanna has been my little constant companion, which I always enjoy.  She is such a joy to be around.

My moods & emotions have been all over the place-happy, sad, fearful, miserable, etc.  I'm having lots of back, hip & round ligament pain.  I did read some really encouraging things yesterday.  I even have moments of being a psychopath-over ants in the kitchen & 2 extra roosters who wouldn't leave my poor hens alone.  I was out there the other day stalking them & throwing rocks at them when they were about to jump on the hens.  I must have looked like a lunatic. Pat shot them both yesterday & today they are chicken salad. 

As I was making the chicken salad, it was wierd to think they were running around the day before.  Our food usually goes into the freezer before I can use it.  This time, from yard to sandwich.  I probably won't be able to eat it.  Susanna had some already, though-she said she likes rooster salad.  LOL

Now my little flock is again a tranquil, peaceful unmolested group of chickens meandering around our property.  LOL  There is 1 rooster now, but he takes good care of the hens.  The other 2 were awful.  The hen who hatched chicks last year is getting into that frame of mind again now.  I sure hope she has mostly hens instead of roosters this time.

Hannah got evaluated on 3 horses yesterday evening for the 4-H summer shows.  She did well & now will be able to show a total of 4 different horses in several classes-english, western, pleasure, some events, walk, trot, canter.

Today she is at a college w/ a very good & large equine program (I actually went there 18 yrs ago for their Harness Racing & Standardbred Management program-that was before I went to RN school).  Her 4-H group went there for a day of seminars on driving draft horses, nutrition, leg & hoof care, training classes etc.  And, they will get to drive teams of draft horses, too.  She was really excited this morning when I took her to meet up w/ her group.

Pat & Jonah left last night to take a tractor trailer load of pallets 5 hours away.  They're on their way home now.

Today is my birthday & so far I've spent it just w/ my little Susanna, but she & I have been enjoying ourselves.  My brother & Virginia called & I got a card from my mother, which was really nice!  I am thinking of getting myself some daffodils for the table.  I love bright flowers, especially when I can plant them in my garden to flower again the next year. 

I haven't had time to write much the last week, but I do have some pictures that I'd like to share.  The weather is getting nicer here & there's been lots of projects going on.  Here's Jonah rolling the lawn.  He also did the big summer pasture:

Here's a pic of Susanna-for some reason, she's been wearing this Tigger costume a lot.  LOL

We've done a lot of science the last week or so on Earth systems & soil.  Here, the kids went on a soil treasure hunt & analyzed their soils samples that they collected from 3 locations-the woods, the meadow & the compost pile.

There's been lots of work going on w/ building horse stalls. Here's Jonah using the pneumatic nail gun to put up boards:

Here's Pat cutting boards to size:

This is where the stalls are going-under the overhang next to the existing barn.  This area was full of firewood, which was all moved last week.  Pat is giving me his crazy smile here, but I don't think it shows well here:

Today starts Pat's week off from work.  He hopes to get all this building & fencing done this week so we can get the new horse this Saturday.  Today Abbie, the guide dog puppy, went to the vet's to get "fixed."  Poor girl. Pat & Jonah got more wood & hardware this morning.  Pat got 2 sections of bars put together to be welded for windows for the stall fronts.  He's making these himself because the kits were way too expensive.  I had an OB appt-I'm still pregnant-LOL.  Everything looked good.  I have 4 weeks to go.  We've decided on the baby's name finally and both love it now.  It's Alyssa Rose.  She is a very active little girl.  We are getting very excited to meet her!

Hannah's been working on Retro and he has improved a lot-he has just a trace of lameness/soreness now, but she's not going to be able to ride him for the fund raiser for Dream Factory next week. She'll ride 2 horses from the stable instead.  Hopefully we'll be able to get him sound & conditioned for the 4-H show season.  If not, then she can use the stable horses.  Her riding instructor asked her to show 2 of her personal horses-both very nice & athletic appaloosas-a 12 yr old mare & a 6 yr old gelding.

I'm so thrilled to have my dh home for this whole week-I may not post very much w/ him being home.  The kids & I are taking the school week off for the most part, too.  I plan to use some time this week getting the quarterly reports done for the 3rd quarter. 

I know lots of HS Moms who are either pregnant or nursing right now, so I thought I would share this link.  Reading this article sure makes me glad I let my youngest dd nurse for as long as she would-and that I ignored those who thought it was odd:

Stem Cells Discovered in Breast Milk

Here are just a few encouraging quotes I've read lately that have come to my inbox from various places:

 "Homemaking--being a full-time wife and mother--is not a destructive drought of uselessness but an overflowing oasis of opportunity; it is not a dreary cell to contain your talents and skills but a brilliant catalyst to channel creativity and energies into meaningful work; it is not a rope for binding your productivity in the marketplace, but reins for guiding your posterity in the home; it is not an oppressive restrain of intellectual prowess for the community, but a release of wise instruction to your own household; it is not the bitter assignment of inferiority to your person, but the bright assurance of the ingenuity of God's plan for complementarity of the sexes, especially as worked out in God's plan for marriage; it is neither limitation of gifts available nor stinginess in distributing the benefits of those gifts, but rather the multiplication of a mother's legacy to the generations to come and the generous bestowal of all God meant a mother to give to those He entrusted to her care."

-Dorothy Kelley Patterson, Where's Mom? The High Calling of Wives and Mothers, pg. 47