Has it truly been a whole year since I've written an update!!??!? How can that be possible!? That puts a whole new life to the term 'time flies'! I'm really quite amazed...and slightly ashamed. :(  How could I neglect this for that long!?? Well, anyway, lets let that go and move on.

As you may be guessing, there have been many changes in the last year. I will do my utmost to go through them somewhat quickly as not to bore you all with a novel's worth of writing. :)

I really can't remember all the way back to when I last wrote, but I will begin at where my memory works best.  -- A few things about Ruth's development would be that she probably won an award for slowest baby at rolling over! She didn't roll over till she was nearly 7 months! haha Oh well. Everyone tried to blame her cloth diapers, but I don't think so cause Simeon was rolling at 4 months. :)   She started eating solids at 10 months - which took her a while to get accustomed to them - and from there, she packed on the pounds! She went from looking so petite and feminine to looking like someone put a bowling ball in her tummy...thus, not very feminine! ;)

We really enjoyed last summer and I felt like I tried to take full advantage of outdoor opportunities. We went to the parks countless times, where the children could swing for hours if I'd let them! We went on lots of walks and bike rides with our trailer in tow for Simeon to ride in. He loves that trailer and we look forward to lots more use this coming summer!! I had a modest garden - due to the thought that I'd have a garden in the country too and not thinking that we were going to be staying in town all summer. As it turned out, I didn't get to have a garden in the country and we DID stay in town all summer! Haha...Well, at least I planted the bare necessities like beans, peas, lettuce, beets, zucchini, peppers and best of all...tomatoes!! Tomatoes are a real staple around here for canned salsa, canned tomatoes, pasta/pizza sauce and eating raw. Mmmmm. I found out that I didn't plant enough and will have to plant twice as much or more this year cause I'm already almost out of sauce AND I'm down to my last jar of canned tomatoes! YIPES! I'm really looking forward to this year of gardening but I also know it will be challenging because I'll be breaking new ground and it always takes a year or two to get the soil nice and conditioned. However, we have been taking every opportunity to fertilize the ground with scraps, manure, milk, and whatever else we can think of. I hope we don't over do it! :)

Now, perhaps some of you don't know that we've moved and are confused by my talk in previous paragraph. Well, let me fill you in. :)  We put our house up for sale in late summer/ early fall. The day the realtor listed it, a person inquired about it, came to look at it a day or so later, came again and made an offer. Within the first week, I think, the house was sold! Talk about good timing and answered prayers! THANK YOU, LORD! By the time everything was sorted out and settled on, we had about 2 weeks to move! Crunch time begins....our house in the country that was being built, was not ready and not able to be lived in. But, with a little pressure my brothers rose to the challenge and we had our hands quite full with getting 10 years worth of accumulation (the length that Chad had lived in that house...4 of which included me) to go through and pack up! I would try to comfort my hubby by reminding him that I am from a family of great procrastinators and we'd be able to get it all done. In the end, he was very surprised we did! ---Who cares if we were finishing up at the house in town till 2am the night before closing?? ;)   -Just making the best use of our time. :)

Beginning the second week of September, we were officially country folk! Complete with beautiful, big barn and silo...not to mention tractor and hay equipment with hay being made in the fields! Phew! We don't waste time around here! :D  --However, we must give credit where credit is due. If it weren't for the help of my selfless family members, we would not have been out of our house in time, nor would we have the haying equipment or making hay, NOR would we even have this lovely house we are in now! God has really blessed us in many ways! --My brother Jer was the one to push for the haying equipment. Through discussions and prayer and debate, we've worked out a nice family situation to do a type of share-farming with the equipment and hay yields. The experience has been challenging, fun and rewarding in ways...definitely has helped to create memories too! :)
Now, with all this hay, we NEED animals to eat it, right? ;)  Chad agreed that I could, as a birthday present from him to me, buy myself a horse within a certain budget! I began to do my bargain shopping and soon found TWO horses within that budget! They've turned out to be great! I especially have been impressed with the horse I found for Chad! He is such a laid back, 'gentle giant' kind of guy whom anyone could ride...if they aren't afraid of heights! :)  So, with those two and boarding my sister's 3 horses and (of course) a pony for Simeon...we soon had 6 horses on our farm!
In early November we bought 27 chickens and a dairy cow...a week later we got a young heifer beef cow and about a month later, we got a second beef cow who was also bred! ---Like I said, we don't waste much time. -- Oh yes, and lets not forget our 2 loveable barn kitties! (Ruthie's favorite) <3
This new life for us, we've all been enjoying! We've been milking everyday since we first got our Jersey cow, Minnie and had been enjoying that. We just decided to dry her up though and have been also enjoying NOT having to milk every day! :)  We decided to dry her up a month earlier than planned due to Chad's work. We are hoping to travel with him for a couple months before Minnie has her calf in the summer; for when that happens, nobody is going ANYWHERE!

Now, unto our little children. First of all, they aren't so very little anymore! :(  Simeon is going to be 3 next month and Ruth is about 15 months! Simeon is, as my Dad continually says, 2 going on 8. :)  Yep, it sure is easy to forget that he's still only 2 when you are having a full, intelligent, perfectly comprehendable conversation with him! He's "smart as a whip", as the phrase goes. He really surprises me with things he says, understands, and accomplishes. He's a kind boy that seems to have a soft heart. He does struggle with controlling his aggression at times but he has really come a long way in the last few months...especially when it comes to Ruth. He used to have such a hard time with her. He couldn't stand to let her have any toys and had a problem with hitting her...but now a lot of that has been replaced with sharing voluntarily, reading books to her, holding her hand and taking her somewhere to see something and giving her random hugs and kisses as he says "watch Mommy" or "Take a picture of this". HAHAHA! That one REALLY makes me laugh! I must get the camera out more when they are 'getting along'. :)  He also has been delighting me with his manners. He's usually quite diligent about saying please and thank you but he goes beyond the usual 'good manners' and says things like. "Thank you, thank you Mommy for giving me some, that was nice of you." Or various other sentences like that. His sincerity absolutely warms my heart some times and I feel a smile of gratitude grow across my face. Gratitude to God for this precious gift He gave to us. Gratitude to my husband and myself for deciding together on how to raise our children and demand -and now can expect- that 'little extra' from our children. Gratitude to Simeon for being willing to learn, and genuinely loving and respectful. Of course none of us are perfect and yes, we may not ALWAYS be sweet and respectful...but the point is we try and in the end, we expect that from each other.

Ruth. Ruth is a character! She is "Goofy Roofy". She is so diverse and delightful...that's how I'd describe her. One moment she is sweet with hugs and kisses galore and the next she is sassy with a major attitude and stubborn streak running up and down her! Never a dull moment with that lil one! She probably makes me laugh more than most people I know! Especially at night! When she gets tired...much like her mama...she gets SO GOOFY! Almost like a little ritual, each night when I am singing them songs before bed, she will be going all over in her crib! Popping up and down in an ultra fast Peek-A-Boo fashion, flopping on her belly, putting her face up and down in her pillow about 50 times a minute, rocking back and forth on her knees and abruptly flopping over with arms and legs flailing - all the while making some kind of humorous noise! I try, for Simeon's sake who is being told its bed time and time to be quite, I TRY to keep from bursting out in laughter...but I just can't help it...really, I try! When that happens, its like she got her big pay-off and kicks it into high gear! Which, in turn, has me and Simeon laughing so hard! UGH! That silly lil girl! she really is SO FUNNY sometimes! --Now, to her 'darker side'. :)  She also has her mama's stubborn streak. Must be that German in me ;)  That streak has its challenges but she is also proving to have a soft heart...for which I am grateful!  --She began walking in early December at 13 months old and picked up on it like a real pro! She didn't really have those traditional practice falls all the time. When she decided to walk, she, like her brother, took off like it had been an every day occurrence! Now she's about 15 months and about a week ago I decided to put her on the potty chair when I spotted her 'pushing'. I didn't feel mentally ready to potty train her, but I wanted to just see what she'd do. Simeon was 15 months when I trained him for the final time so I was curious about her. She went, we celebrated, and after that she started asking to sit on it at least a couple times every day since. Almost every time she sits on it, she goes. Yesterday her diaper was dry most of the day with only 2 little 'wets'. She has really surprised me with this! I wish I felt more mentally ready for this; I'd run with it and be getting her up 2 or 3 times every night and controlling her water, etc. like I did with Simeon. But unfortunately I just haven't done so. I hope it doesn't backfire on me! :/

Lastly and quickly... since the post has gone MUCH longer than I originally wanted! Chad and I are doing well, enjoying eachother, enjoying being parents and...yep, you guessed it, keeping busy. :)  Chad's been quite busy with his work and I with farm duties and wife and mama duties. The morning animal chores typically take over an hour and another 30-45 mins at night. Some mornings, when Chad is gone, I come in from ''chores'' and I feel like I'm ready for a nap, but instead am just starting the morning with hungry kids that are still in their PJ's. So, God grants strength and carries me through the day on His wings of grace!
Chad has been traveling a very consistent and predictable schedule lately (which is very unusual since we've been married). Its been good and not so good. Good because at least there's expectations and a set schedule that we can work around. Not so good because he seems to be gone a lot because of its consistency. It's half of one month and a week out of the next...half of the next month and a week out of the next and so on. When he's home he still has work to do for them...but thankfully, not a lot. We are hoping to go with this coming week and the 2 weeks in March...from there, we'll see.

Well, I do hope I didn't type you all to sleep! That was a lot....but as you can see....there has been a lot going on in the last year!
Thank you for reading and caring...it really means a lot to me!
I pray you have a blessed year this year full of love, laughter, trials and triumphs!
May the grace of God be upon each one of you; and may you know His victorious life and unfailing love each day!

~Jennifer