I just can’t seem to think of anything to write today, no inspiration, which is kind of rare for me.

So… I thought I’d browse through my old photos and share a few.

I have 1655 PAGES of photos on flickr.

That’s 29,783 photos.

I think I “might” just be able to find a few to post. Hee hee.

However, my kids might not like me after this!

Our eldest, at about 13 years of age, so about 6 years ago? 

Joshua, about the same time, so he would have been about… 11 years of age. Such a sweet boy, isn’t he? 

Alesia and Elsa, September of 2006. Wow, Elsa is now TALLER then Alesia, and taller then myself I might add.

Now here’s a favorite photo of mine! Joshua was trying VERY hard not to be caught by the camera, but I got him anyways.

So cute! He’ll hate that I said that, but it’s true.

Dear sweet twin sisters. The best of friends!

When I found out we were expecting twins, I just knew it was two girls. I could just feel it.

Elsa, isn’t she just so cute too?

So cute that she almost towers over me now. The year I snapped this photo she went from being about 4 foot nothing to over 5 foot tall in a matter of about… ohhh… 6 short months?! Now she’s just barely under 5’5, yet has smaller feet then me!

I should actually measure her again today, it’s been a couple of days so she’s probably grown over 5’5 now. It’s like she just can’t stop growing!

I gave birth to this ‘once upon a time’ pipsqueak!

Have I ever mentioned she was a breech birth?

Yep. No c-section either. I won’t get into anymore details right now. Hee hee.

Speaking of growing…

Just who is that scrawny boy over there with those tiny little girls?

That can’t be my son, the boy who’s now pretty much 6 foot tall and no longer scrawny?!

This is our favorite swimming ‘hole’. I have many many photos of the kids here.

The photo above was taken on Oct. 3rd 2006. We had just heard about this place and drove by to check it out. It was SO warm, and SO beautiful, that we could not resist dipping our toes in.

The kids then couldn’t resist swimming, BUT, they had on fall/winter clothing.

I happened to have a bag of clothing designated for the thrift store in the van, so they rifled through it and found some shorts and tops to wear. Ha ha!

It was a fun day.

And now we have many memories because we set aside our plans for the day, and stopped for a moment.

We went off on a rabbit trail.

We follow quite a few rabbit trails.

Quite often.

I think it’s just about time we went back to our favorite swimming hole again. Hopefully the weather will warm  up soon!

And the next time I have no inspiration, I guess I’ll rummage through my photos again. I only made it through the last 6 or 8 pages out of 1655!

I think I may be able to find a little more inspiration next time!

No, I’m not referring to photos of children, but rather, photos TAKEN by children.

You really gotta love the peek into their perspective!

The other week I spent some time moving photos. I was trying to clean up my computer, as it’s OVER loaded with photos and I’ve lost photos once before, and don’t care to go through a repeat. I still mourn each time a photo comes to mind, and I realize it’s lost, forever.

Anywho…

I was transferring photos over and thought it might be fun to share a few.

These are some of my girls horse photos. These are their Shleich horses.

They collect them. All the kids do actually, even the older two. hee hee

I love how these were posed as a family. So sweet.

Lots of mama’s and babies too.

Love the artistic sepia affect of some of these.

Having raised one of our own foals, with the help of her mama of course, makes playing with mama and baby horses all that much more meaningful.

Lions and tigers, oh my!

And thus, is a look into the photographic life of a child!

First off, I want to say that this is not a ‘paid’ review. No one asked me to do this review. The website I am sharing doesn’t even know about me, or that I’m even reviewing their product. This is strictly me sharing something that came across my desk, that’s working for us, and that I think is worthy of being shared! It’s been very helpful to us! Best of all, it’s FREE to use.

Raising five children leads to lots of extra chores on the homestead.

Add in the fact that every single one of  us loves animals and… you’ve got even more chores.

The work doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it bothers any one of us.

What does bother me though, is when things are supposed to get done, and don’t.

We are a busy family. It’s just a fact.

With the older two working aprox. 6 days a week outside the home, yet not being able to drive alone yet (both are on their way to their full licence but it feels like it’s taking soooo long. I think dear hubby and I will do a great big happy dance when one of them does the final test and is on their own with driving! Then we’ll do an even bigger happy dance with the next one! ha!) the busyness of two businesses, homeschooling, all the animals and everything they require, having our house on the market and then you’ve got the typical busyness of just trying to keep everything under control, and everyone fed, well…

It gets busy.

It also gets very hard to keep on top of everything, and everyone, all the time.

As a mother, I find that to be the most exhausting part of it all. Trying to make sure everything gets done, and everything is taken care of, and nothing is forgotten.

With the kids growing up, I also feel like this shouldn’t even be much of my own responsibility any longer. They have brains of their own, which can be used for such things as:

• remembering to feed the dogs
• letting out the chickens
• brushing the dogs
• brushing their own teeth (although they’ve mastered this one, thankfully. hee hee)
• cleaning up the doggy doo
• cleaning their room
• having a bath…

I post quite a few photos of my tiniest lap dog.

Teagan, our longcoat Chihuahua, who was born a ‘runt’ and has only reached 2 and a  half pounds at his full size.

Teagan is hard to resist with the camera.

He’s just so darn cute,

and tiny,

and he’s always with me.

However, we do have three other dogs.

Shiloh, Jasper, and Levi.

Shiloh and Levi are Shetland Sheepdogs, or most commonly known as, Shelties. Shiloh is Levi’s uncle.

Shiloh is almost 9  years old. Levi just turned 7 in February.

Shelties are EXCELLENT family dogs.

They are ‘herding’ dogs. So they really enjoy ‘herding’ the children.

Shiloh is Joshua’s dog, and where ever Joshua is, so also will you find Shiloh.

Older photo, Joshua’s grown quite a bit since this was taken!

Levi is not really any specific person’s dog, he’s really simply the “girls” dog.

Where ever the girls are, so also will you find Levi.

Always.

To me, having dogs is invaluable. On a five acre hobby farm, I like to know where the kids are at all times. If I can’t see the children, but don’t really want to disturb them, I simply call either of the two shelties and which ever direction they come from, that’s how I know where the kids are. Levi will come from the direction the girls are in, Shiloh from where ever Joshua is. If Shiloh is asleep by the workshop door, I know Joshua is in the shop. If Levi is over at the barn, I know the girls are at the barn.

They are also really great at alerting us when ANY ONE, or ANY THING, comes on the property.

They’re also very cute, and great companions.

Jasper, is also very cute, and our other ‘lap’ dog.

Jasper is a Pappillon.

We haven’t quite figured out Jasper’s full “purpose” here on the Homestead, other then to keep everyone company, and to often keep everyone annoyed. Ha!

He can be quite yappy, a tad spoiled, and he’s very high strung compared to our other three dogs who are all very relaxed and easy going.

Jasper is almost 3 years old now and he’s just recently begun behaving when we have company. Before, every time someone would stop by, he would bark and bark and bark and bark and bark… you get the picture. No matter what we did, he wouldn’t stop. Mind you, we don’t get a lot of company so it’s been a hard habit to break him of with no way to ‘practice’.

But finally, just recently, he’s learned how to settle down when ‘strangers’ come into the house. He still starts off barking like crazy but at least now he will settle down after a bit, and even say hello to our company.

You wouldn’t know it from this photo that he’s such a nervous ninny!

He is however, a constant companion to us all.

He’s wonderful with the kids.

And according to him, he kept me safe at night while dear hubby is away this winter!

He’s the Great Protector!

Jasper and Teagan are both ‘protector’ breeds.

Originally bred to guard kings jewels, and to be companions.

Good thing we have these two protectors.

You just never know when someone may attempt to’steal all our jewels…

Most of all though, why we love our dogs, is for moments just like this one.

There’s not much sweeter in life then a boy and his dogs.

We decided to have our Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday since it was calling for rain on Sunday and Monday.

I thought I’d share a few photos. Just the three youngest went hunting this year. Alesia was at work and Joshua helped Graydon and I hide eggs.

This is the ONLY time they are allowed in my flower beds…

The hunt was ON!

I so badly wanted to hide just one egg in the hen house, but Graydon and Joshua said that would be GROSS. I thought it’d be funny for one of the girls to find it the next time they go looking for eggs in there. I might still do it anyways, just for fun. hee hee

When I saw this next photo, I told Graydon that this is what it’s all about. Why I love country living so much. We have photos of the children with horses in the background, dogs running beside them, nature all around them. I love it and never take that for granted. It’s a wonderful way to grow up.
When I was younger, from about the age of 6 until about 11, we lived on a small acreage and since that time I always loved the country, and always wanted to get back to that type of living.

When you have an acreage, there’s no telling where you might find eggs.

The kids have been discussing what it might like to have an Easter Egg Hunt on an even larger farm. They were pretty excited at the thought, and discussed it in length. About how they could possibly do their egg hunt on horse back and mom and dad could go on the quad/atv to hide the eggs all over the hundreds of acres and then they could spend the entire day hunting for them everywhere on their horses. Ah, the joyous thoughts of children. To dream a little dream…

The little 2 pound terror thought it was all a lot of fun to watch!

He couldn’t resist trying to get right in there.

Something smells like candy!

Everyone should have a tiny Teagan to love.

Or a larger dog like Jasper.

Elsa doesn’t like her photo taken, so she put Jasper in front of her face instead.

So I sneak around getting other shots of her anyways.

Sometimes I even get a tiny bit of ‘face’ in the photo!

Even our horses behave like big ‘pets’. Raiah wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

Then everyone else had to come and see too.

And that was our Easter Egg Hunt.

The day was so gorgeous and felt so warm after a long wet and cool winter, that the three younger girls stole the kiddie pool from the chicken run and used it to play in all afternoon while I worked.

In the evening we had our first bon fire of the season and roasted our dinner over our fire.

Then Joshua challenged me to try out his new pellet gun, a pistol, which he had bought that day. I’ve never shot a pistol before, but I’ve shot a 22 many many times, since I was about 7 years of age.
He dared me. Said I couldn’t hit the target in the first shot. Hee hee. I did of course. I only took one shot. Hit that target and and gave him back his pistol.

This morning we went to church. It was a nice service. When we first got there, someone asked me if I would be willing to do the children’s ‘time’ at the front of the church which they do each Sunday. The women who usually does this wasn’t there today, so would I be willing to fill in. We’re still relatively new to this church, but I am NOT new to NOT enjoying speaking in public. However, as about a thousand excuses ran through my mind of why I SHOULD NOT do this, including “I really do NOT like speaking in front of people!”, I found myself saying, “OK”. First I actually tried to convince Alesia that she could do it! Hee hee. She, like her mother, does not care to do any sort of public speaking and quickly said “NO!” and I realized how could I expect her to be willing if her own mother wasn’t?! I also realized if a homeschooling mother of 5 children can’t find something to do/teach/read/say to a small group of children at the spur of the moment, in front of the church, there really wasn’t hope for anyone, so how could I say no.

Besides, it’d be like a lot of our class lessons.

Me, flying by the seat of my pants, teaching a small group of children something in a matter of a few moments of time.

Hee hee.

A quick browse through their bookshelves , I found a Precious Moment’s book of Bible Stories, and I knew I’d be ok. It was something to start with. It was Easter! How much easier could you get on a Sunday morning?

I just kept telling myself to only look at the kids, pretend like NO one else was there, and just do it. I can handle talking to kids. That I can do. Talking to adults, well that’s a whole other story and I didn’t even want to think about it.

I did it, and it was fine, I actually survived and lived to tell about it.

Now we’re home, we dropped Alesia off at work, the turkey is in the oven, no one else can make it for dinner so it will be just us.

The nice thing is, the store Alesia works at is closing at 6 this evening so we actually get to have our Easter dinner all together.

A Family Feast.

We’re going to decorate our eggs after I get a couple of hours of work done while the turkey cooks. I shared on facebook that we’ll be trying a real ‘tie dye’ egg decorating this time, with actual Ties!

This blog shows you how!

http://www.mommyknows.com/

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And the winner of the 7inch Tiny Liner give away is…

amanda {the habit of being}

i swear by coconut oil for everything. i’ve replaced store bought moisturizer and eye cream with coconut oil, lip balm and body lotion too! i always have a jar in the kitchen and a jar in the bathroom

Congratulations!
Email me at homesteademporium(AT)gmail.com with your address so I can send your prize to you!

Take away love and our earth is a tomb.
                                                                   ~Robert Browning 

Today, is Earth Day. I think that’s absolutely great, and we’ve been celebrating this week with some tips, photos and even some contests. I thank each one of you for participating and making this an awesome Earth Week!

I also thank you for sharing all your tips! I hope to highlight some of them in a future blog post but if you haven’t already read through the comments in the previous three entries, take a moment to do so when you can! Some great tips have been shared! I appreciate everyone taking the time in the busyness of our lives to leave their comments.

However, today is even more important to me personally for another reason.

Today is Good Friday.

As Robert Browning wrote so many years ago,

“Take away love and our earth is a tomb.”

On this Good Friday, and this Earth Day, I want you to ask yourself:

Is your personal earth, a tomb?

Is it void of love?

Have you been receiving love?

Have you been giving love?

In today’s society we can so easily become SO self centered, so self absorbed.
We all have our own personal difficulties that it can often be hard to see life past our own circumstances.

Judgement can get in our way of being loving.

We are often judging others, who are not like ourselves. Can this be love?

A good friend wrote this on her facebook status the other day, I hope she doesn’t mind me quoting her:

I learn so much from the animals…the cows don’t look at the ducks wallowing in the mud or the chickens pecking in the manure and point out how stupid they are…and the fowl don’t call the cows brainless cud chewers….they’re all just being themselves & there’s no need to criticize or ridicule. Why can’t people be a little more like that?
~ Holly M.

Why can’t people be more like that?

It’s a very good question.

I love today, Good Friday, because it reminds me of true love. Selfless love.

The greatest happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved — loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.
~Victor Hugo

It is because I am loved, just as I am, and before I was even capable of loving, that Good Friday is so meaningful to me.

So today, on this Earth Day, this Good Friday, this Easter weekend, if your own personal earth is feeling somewhat like a tomb, stop for a moment, and ask yourself, if there’s any special way you can love this weekend without expecting anything in return.

Brighten up your Earth, your Life, by thinking of another.

Our society is so busy. Much too busy.

I am totally guilty of this myself, and often feel ashamed for not taking more time for others. I also never saw it more prevalent within my own life then when I was without my husband for three months. I was so grateful for the few friends who helped when help was needed, but often felt quite alone when no one was able to be there for us. It made me realize I need to change my own priorities, and teach my children better as well. I’ve failed miserably and often think of only myself instead of others. I’m going to keep trying though, and I hope you will too!

To you I wish a Happy Earth Day, and even greater still, a Happy Easter weekend!

May you feel love, and may the earth not be a tomb this wonderful season!

I had planned to post photos of our zoo visit from the end of our recent house/farm hunting excursion today but I’m simply not in the mood so I’m just going to post some total recent randoms instead.

Yesterday a dear friend passed away after a battle with cancer. I am so sad that he has passed away, but so glad he did not suffer for much too long at the end. When we visited him last week, he was still able to bounce right up on his feet from a chair and walk us to the door. That was just one week ago. Now he is gone.

He was a good friend, a good man, and will be missed. He was also Elsa’s favorite person in the world. We don’t even know why really, it wasn’t that he treated Elsa differently from anyone else or gave her special attention. She just bonded with him. Elsa is our aspie child and really doesn’t “like” all that many people, and when she does, she doesn’t really say so. But this friend, whom she’s known since she was just 1 year old, she always remembered, and always spoke about, even when we would sometimes go a year or more at a time without seeing him.

We must always remember, our daily actions don’t always just involve us. We need to consider those who are also involved in the reactions of our actions.