The twins are growing up!

Miracle Moo and Molly

Frances Butter and Mama, Hershey

Miracle looking past the fall decorations,

"My they look delish!"

My Three Girls

"OH, HELLO, Franci!"

Good friends and Firewood!

With all of the health issues Man has been having we've been behind on getting ready for winter.

We heat with wood, so firewood is essential for us.

Great friends of ours (Boy's Best Friend's family) arranged for some wood to be dropped off and also brought another load.  We had a firewood work day as all the "boys" cut and split wood.

When it was all said in done, we had another 3 cords to keep us warm this winter!

A HUGE THANK YOU to our friends!

My handsome young MAN

Well, it has happened.  My Boy is no longer a Boy, but becoming a Man!  

I will still call him Boy (as he will always be to me, my Baby!), but as you can see from the pictures, it's not a very accurate term!

Today he turns 14 (Sob)

I am very proud of who he is becoming.  He is pretty thoughtful and polite.

He's becoming more responsible.

He has always been a sweetie!

He's taller than I am, and weighs more than his Daddy did when we got married.

It's hard to see but the markings on the wall next to me below are his measurements since we moved to the farm 5 years ago.  The first mark is near my elbow.  Now he is about 6 foot!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY PRECIOUS SON!

A Homestead Birthday Gift from Boy's Best Friend

Boy's Best Friend gifted him a great homestead gift of a chainsaw.

He's so excited to use it!

Our Boy's Dream Come True....Combining

The day before Boy's birthday, the fields around our homestead were harvested.

And Boy got to ride along!!  He rode along in the combine a few years ago.  

This year he rode in the Case International Harvester Steiger.  Otherwise know as the "Dingle Hopper Truck". (It's the red truck) It's the "chaser" truck with a hopper trailer for the combines to empty into out in the field and then it comes back to load it into the semis to go to the silos. 

He would love to drive these million dollar machines for real in the future.

In the meantime, I am so grateful that we live in a place where it's even a

 possibility for him to watch and ride along!

I am a BAAAD blogger....

This summer/fall has been crazy busy with the normal, and the not so normal stuff going on.  I haven't blogged, I've barely facebooked.  Now that things are starting to wind down on the farm, I am going to try to retro post all that went on this summer and fall!  And it's been a lot, so be sure to page back occasionally.  The current plan is to work oldest to newest, but keeping this reminder post at the top.  So I will be going back to August time frame to post.

You may or may not remember that I have a looming "101 in 1001" deadline (23 days to be exact.)  And one of the goals is to have the blog caught up by then.  We're looking at almost 50 posts going up in the next 23 days.  Hold onto your hat!  And I will also have some "guest posts" from my Man.  He has spent a bunch of time this summer stuck in his chair, and he HAS been updating what he's been doing on a Homesteading board we are a part of on Facebook.  So I will be reposting his pictures and commentaries too!

And as Jackie Gleason used to say...And away we go.....