LIfe According to Mary

Wanted to record a few things before we forget.

We have been talking to the kids about not overwhelming our guests with shouts of "LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO" and "WATCH THIS!"  We had a guest over last night and I reminded the kids to ask the guests questions about themselves and to make our guest feel at home. Margaret Mary greeted our guest at his car and then RAN to me beaming.  "Mom!, This man is so kind. Before I could ask him a question about him, he started asking me questions about ME!"

And an observation, "Mom, when you leave out cold things, they get warm, and when you leave out warm or hot things, they get cold.  It's like they go the opposite."

Bubba Love

When Henry was born, Margaret Mary was amazing with him.  She was gentle, she sang to him, laid down beside him and made him smile.  I expected the same thing of Henry was baby Peter was born.  Ha!  He LOVED baby Peter and wanted to be beside him all the time, but he didn't want to smile and coo at the baby, he wanted to press his head into his side and snuggle with him roughly.  I guess the saying "Girls bond by talking and boys bond by doing things together" is true.  So here is how Peter loves on baby John; by giving mama grey hair!  It makes me so nervous, but John loves it and laughs and smiles and only eggs his big brother on!  I guess it is preparing him for the wrestling that will be expected of him as he gets older.

Can't you just hear me?  "Peter! Don't do that beside the baby!"  :) 

Peter:  See Mom! He likes it!

Lets see how hard I can press my head into his head without knocking him over....

"Giddy up John, Giddy up!"   Lots of cowboy play around here.

I hope I always remember John and his side lying pose-

"Just da boys!"  Lots of craziness around here.  Many times I have to take a deep breath and say "Katie,  this is normal, YOU are the one who needs to chill out."

Always a happy camper. 

A Full Weeknd

I still need to post pictures from Christmas, but wanted to post some to-date pictures of this past weekend.  Friday night we killed two of our pigs and hung them to chill overnight like rednecks in our front yard.  In the morning, we cut them up and now have a freezer full of delicious pork!  Butchering and then wrapping the meat in freezer paper is always exhausting, but as a book I read recently said, "someone somewhere is working hard for your food." It's either you, or someone else.

We had just started reading Charlotte's web when we butchered the pigs and I was worried MM would have a hard time, and she did a little.  She was sad, and we told her that it was okay to be sad.  She sat beside the pig while it was beeing scalded singing, "we will meet again my friend..." It was too cute.  She still enjoys the process of butchering.  She even helped to scrape the hair off with a knife, which she thought was VERY COOL.

Later in the week Henry asked if Wilbur was going to be butchered, "I want to read THAT chapter!" he said with a grin.

No pics of the kill this year- was trying to keep an eye on Peter to see how he was handling it.  It is the worst part in the whole process.   Clifford only make a small incision for the pig to bleed out, so it was better, but last year our friend cut off about half his neck and that a little too much for me even!

scalding the pig and removing the hair

two men came to help. Clifford, one of them, is our neighbor and does this all the time. So he has the one in charge and leading it.  This is only our second time butchering pigs.

watching

ready for gutting!

Jason and Clifford doing the detail work before gutting the pig.

This is always one of my favorite parts.  I love seeing how the inner parts all fit together.

I didn't take any more pictures because I was busy wrapping meat, but here is John enjoying some porkchops the next day!

Sunday, we needed rest and leisure.

Isn't Henry looking old? He's not a toddler anymore.

Peter is looking older too, but he's still a toddler.

Please tell me that you never forget the sweet feeling of being cheek to cheek with a baby. So precious.

As usual, I have so many more pics to upload to the blog.  I just wanted to give a quick update. Thanks for being patient with me!

You know you live on a farm when...

When your daughter, after reading the first chapter of Charlotte's Web, looks up at you with big eyes and asks, "Can I get a baby pig?," and you smile and say "Yes," knowing that all the fencing is already in place and that she will do a fine job of raising one.