If you remember my 2012 family letter I spoke of the concern that my Grandparents health was failing and the preparation in my heart that we would soon say our goodbyes. When I wrote that I thought I would still have 5-10 years with them. It was just that I knew they wouldn't live forever plus Grams had been diagnosed with a degenerative nerve disease. However, I had no idea that truth would be that we would only have 2 more weeks with Grandpa and 4 months with Grams. My Grandpa passed away on New Years Eve 2012. It came totally unexpected and out of the blue. As in, I only visited him twice the very week he died and I just had no idea he was going to pass. My Grandpas was the biggest pain in the butt but I loved some of his quirks. And I sure didn't want him to die. That was how my family started our 2013- Grieving. We also found ourselves newly expecting #8!! So much happiness and sadness wrapped into one time period.
89 days after my Grandpa went to Heaven, Grams joined him. She had just been diagnosed with Renal Failure and was battling pneumonia. 56 years together! It was a sad sad start to the year. As they lowered my Grams casket into the ground I looked at the grass clods still waiting to be replaced on Gramps grave... and I looked in and saw his concrete encasement around his casket. They were back together...
Spring arrived in full force bringing us renewed spirits about a new year. Life was moving on. Sarah and I spent much time running around with the hose spraying fruit trees in the early hours of the morning. Once again I broke a valve or two and I screamed, bawled and kicked the frozen spikets. You would think we would have learned by now to drain everything, warm up the valves THEN try using them on a frosty morning! Our efforts paid off and we enjoyed a decent fruit harvest for it being a young orchard.
In June, Fern had a stillborn calf. But we were still full of milk! She has been an immense joy to have around here and keeps us very well in milk. Her extra milk and whey was dumped on our garden and it was our first year without a single tomato lost to blossom end rot. (first year ever!!) Despite me being heavily pregnant, we had our biggest garden yet to date and it actually turned out pretty successful. We added a few more fruit trees and a few more blueberry bushes. More than once we headed down the road for free composted mulch to add to our trees. It is so helpful with our sandy soil here.
In August we attended our County Fair every single day. It wasn't our best year but we did okay. The two oldest spent time helping the adults with judging so they were able to get a better feel for what the judges are looking for and it should help them with their exhibits for next year. We got hooked up with 2 different 4H groups that we joined recently. The kids will be doing their usual craft, baked goods, veggie exhibits but on top of that we will be also showing rabbits and cows. Sarah will be taking Fern, Tyler will be taking our Holstein Calf, Max and Mikayla will be getting a loaner calf from the nearby dairy farm. A few children will be showing Holland Lop rabbits. Thanks to pinterest we have a good head start on ideas for projects.
We canned approximately 1000 jars of food this year that all came from either our local farm market or from our garden. Excellent year!! and then we gave birth to little Emma right in the end of canning season! We spent much time at the State Park this year like most years. It is our favorite place to go outside of being at home. Once a week we met James/Daddy there after he got out of work and we would have our grilled dinner and then proceed on a hike or bike ride. We were blessed a couple times this year through James' getting raises at work. He also has been able to maintain a full time job when so many in this area were reduced to 29 hours or less due to impending changes with Obamacare. Life has been good!
Sarah turned 15. She is at that age where she struggles between holding onto childhood and becoming an adult. It can create some struggles but she is still exceedingly easier to raise than what I put my parents though! She is really taking a strong interest in the area of gardening, flower gardens etc. Our neighbor has highly encouraged her to look for a career in this type of field. She has several 4H projects planned that is strong in this area of the sciences. I love tailoring her projects according to her passions! It makes learning so much more fun for her.
Mikayla turned 12... Our little runt started growing a lot this year and is nearly up to the normal size of a 12 yr old. I still think about how little she was when she was born. The doctor said she was a little peanut! a little angel of perfect shape and size. (She was born 5 lbs 13 oz) She is much like her Daddy in personality. I can count on her to clean without being asked and she does a wonderful job. She doesnt like to quit before its complete and she very much enjoys order.
Tyler turned 11. He is becoming quite the little worker bee. He loves construction. He builds me things all the time like nesting boxes, rabbit boxes, step stools and sometimes I am not even sure what he builds. He spent his Spring and summer fixing two different riding lawn mowers (and he did very well) He likes tearing things apart and putting them back together.
Noah turned 10.. He spends a lot of his days pulling around wagons or pushing carts. I received a free push mower that works with muscles instead of gas. THat kid ran around all summer pushing it whether the grass needed it or not. He was able to capture 2 Bee swarms in our hives using some Lemongrass Oil. Sadly they didn't have queens or something because the colonies dwindled away. Next year he hopes to get a good swarm and that it will stay around. He very much loves honeybees. He thinks he is a bee whisperer! He will open the hive up without special clothing and check on them. We fed them a little honey and it was amazing to watch them drink it up. He tells me when he grows up he wants to always have a bee hive.
Laura turned 8... She has her mamas humor. She is a sassy upbeat confident girl. She doesn't take much flack from her brothers and always has a smile on her face. She loves reading and writing. In fact I do believe she can read and write better than both of her older brothers. She spent the entire year asking for a mini horse. Not sure where she got that crazy idea from but I foresee her as someday having one though I cannot say it will be while she lives here :) She says she wants to grow up and be a waitress. She really enjoys serving others and enjoys being in the kitchen too.
Jenna turned 6. She has thoroughly enjoyed her new role as a big sister to Emma. From the day she was born she wanted to be Emmas second mommy. She begs to change diapers and change Emmas clothes. Whenever someone comes over she lets them know that her and Emma were both born here at home. She really enjoys sharing that bond with Emma. She also thinks she is quite a comedian. She tries to be very funny. I guess Mamas sense of humor is rubbing off on her too. However I think it will be a year or so before her mind catches up to her tongue. She is cute in her own way as she tries hard though. She loves playing chess and coloring.
JOsiah turned 3...He hasn't acted his age in awhile and this year he continued to grow up faster and faster. He discovered games on Mamas phone and he loves playing them. Most of them are related to color matching so he is learning both his colors and technology at the same time. He absolutely loves cooking with his Mama too. If he sees me get out a bowl and flour he will drop his toys and race up to me and beg to help. He has a very sweet laid back personality. He might be 3 in age but he acts as mature as Laura. I think the woman who marries him some day is going to be a very lucky lady. He cooks, cleans and snuggles.
Emma was born! She is a wonderful baby. I cannot complain for even a second.
We took our yearly camping trip but stayed locally this year. This allowed us to come home to do our animal chores but still enjoy camping. We stayed 10 days at our favorite state park! We went when Emma was just turning a month old. It had its challenges but it had even more rewards.
Then just recently we added on a few new critters, one of which is named Max. He is a holstein bull calf who will be steered and future cheeseburgers. Fern adopted him without any arguing. We still get the milk we need for our daily needs and he otherwise keeps her drained. Win-win!
I suppose that is our 2013 in a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed! you can follow our regularly updated homesteading news at
http://mandahillbilly.blogspot.com/
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