Fall garden-take 2

We're trying again, but this time we started with plants, no more seeds. We got some peppers (bell and jalapeno), tomotoes and eggplant. I think the boys are really hoping the goats find their way to the eggplant plants. They have bad memories of eggplant pizza when we were doing what the boys considered a two week culinary prison camp, a.k.a. the yeast free, diet for Josiah's skin. The eggplant pizza wasn't that great, but not the worst thing we had to eat during those two weeks that ruined the boys on lots of great foods! Anyway, here's the garden.

Hopefully, this one will work. Our pumpkins are looking a little weak in the front pot. I'm thinking I should transfer them to the ground in the garden. I don't know if they don't like the heat or the sun. Though most of the people reading this blog are enjoying the way autumn is SUPPOSED to feel, we're still enjoying (or not) temps around 90-95 degrees. Any ideas on help for the pumpkins??

The goats are doing well and much to my delight eating tall grass and weeds around. BTW, since these goats are all males, there's no milk. I've decided that's a good thing, because half of the time we don't know where they are and ALL of the time, they STINK!! I wouldn't want to have to sit still and milk one of those stinkpots. (I guess that's when I would/should enlist one of the men from my "army" to do the job!) They (the goats, not the boys) are so goofy as they hang around together. (Actually that statement would be true of the boys as well.) It's sometimes a trick trying to get out of the driveway. If they're in the road, they don't move over, they just run faster down the road. And if I honk the horn, they look back and then run even faster. It adds to the giggles on the farm! :-)

Josiah has soccer tonight and Jeffrey started Monday. J&J have another football game tomorrow night. Stay tuned for updates and pictures!

Live it up!!

One of my favorite quotes of all time is by Jim Elliot, "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you know to be the will of God for your life". Well, we know God's will for us right now is to be here in Castroville living in the country. So, we've been trying to live it up here. We've done crazy things we'd never do in the city...kittens, hens, and now...goats. Yep, we did it! Michael went to the store this morning to get some milk, and saw an ad on the community bulletin board about someone giving away 4 pygmie goats. He came home and had Jeffrey google them to find out about them. And then a couple of hours and a trip to the Uhaul to get a trailer later, Michael, the boys and Katie went to pick them up. They had a fun time wrestling them at the guy's house where we got them. They brought them home and let them go out on the property. We'll see if they stick around. The boys said that Michael said that if they start butting the old cars that are on our property, then we'll have to get rid of them. I REALLY hope they leave the cars alone, for lots of reasons. They are really cute, but they do stink. They go everywhere together. Kinda like Jonathan and Jeremy do when Katie and Celleste are around! :-) Their names are Goliath, Jeb, Jesse and Billy. Right now the goats are in the front yard eating the tall grass!! Yippee!!!
Jonathan, Jeffrey and Jeremy getting Goliath into the trailer.
The boys loading more goats on the trailer.
Here's the guys on the trailer when they got home. From L-R: Billy, Jesse, Jeb and Goliath
Here they are heading out toward the grass in our front yard.


It's such a hoot! I still can't believe we have GOATS!! What's next??!!

Patriots and Pinheads

Ok, if you don't watch Bill O'Reilley you don't know what I'm talking about. At the end of his show, he does a "Patriot and Pinhead" segment where he tells about someone who did something great and someone who had a less than stellar moment. So, today's Patriot accolate goes to...The Patriots. The FEAST Patriots had their first game today. Jonathan (#25) and Jeremy (#23) played 1st team special teams (and there were lots of kickoffs) and 2nd team defense. Jonathan recovered two fumbles and almost ran one back for a touchdown. The Patriots didn't win, but they scored three touchdowns. This game was a non-conference game, so it didn't count for their standings. Thursday starts conference play. They can't lose any more and make it to the playoffs. One game at a time. Here's some pics of the boys.

Ready for the kick off. Jonathan's left and Jeremy's right.


Kissing Granna. Granna and Pop (my mom and dad) drove over for the game.

Jonathan (L) and Jeremy after the game.

So the Pinhead award goes to...some of the Patriots. After the game, some of the team members went to Mr. Gatti's pizza. Coach Harris had specifically told the boys in person and in emails NOT to visit the arcades when the team goes out to dinner after games, so that the team can focus on hanging together and enjoying each others' company. Well, even knowing this rule, supposedly (we weren't there) 10-11 of the boys went to the gameroom and were playing video games. Now Coach Harris has a tough decision (Michael says it's not tough at all) about what to do. Do you make the tough decisions that confirm what's been said about character being more important than football, which most likely will mean that those who were in the game room won't be playing on Thursday night? The thing is, many of the boys in the gameroom were starters, even some of the team captains, and one loss will mean no playoffs. Michael says it's a "no-brainer"...don 't let them play. It'll be a lesson that none of the boys will forget. Stay tuned!

Homeschool perks

One of the definite perks of homeschooling is the flexibility to do (or not do) in the house schoolwork when it's convenient. Today it was absolutely convenient NOT to do schoolwork because we had company. Coach Kelley (I think now she's more like Aunt Kelley!) came in last night and brought Katie as a surprise guest. So, we had a field trip today. We went to the movies. We saw "The Longshot" about the first female quarterback for Pop Warner League. We felt it was very appropriate since the boys have their first football game tomorrow. So, we'll call it additional physical education research. Yeah, it counts as school!! And we had a private showing. We went at 10:00am because the tickets are only $4 for the first showing. There was no one else in the theatre. Awesome! Then we studied mulitcultural cuisine...We ate at Panda Express.


Here's a picture of Katie, Jonathan and Jeremy there.

After a short nap for everone, we went to football practice and then out to eat supper. Roll call is super early tomorrow. The van pulls out at 6:30am tomorrow morning. Stay tuned for some details on the big season opener!

A funny thing happened on my way to the mailbox...

Jackson (the dog) and I go walking to our mailbox every morning (it's about a mile round trip) to get the newspaper. The boys are here at the house, usually (supposed to be) doing their schoolwork. This morning when I got in, I heard very funny goings on. Jeffrey was on the karaoke machine microphone and Jonathan and Jeremy were on the couch asking questions. Turns out this was a pretend political question and answer question. Jeffrey was pretending to be the Republican nominee for President and J&J were asking him the "tough" questions.

J&J :"What would you do about the energy crisis?"
Jeffrey: "Well, we currently get only about 10% of our energy from our own soil. The answer is simple, let's add a zero to that number! Let's use our own wind, gas, oil, solar, nuclear power and quit using stuff from other countries. After all, if China called in all of our debts that we owe them, we'd be bankrupt. And that's just China. Let's get out of debt. Trillions of dollars is ridiculous!"
(Not bad for a 10 year old!)

Then it was Jonathan's turn. He was going to be the Democratic nominee.

Jeremy and Jeffrey: "What do you propose to do about the troops in Iraq?"
Jonathan: "Well, we need to still have some troops in Iraq, but let's bring them home as soon as they finish what they're there to do. Wait, that's probably not what a Democrat would say. Forget it, I can't be a Democrat."

*Mom's note: We aren't Fox News: We don't even pretend to be Fair and Balanced here!

Jeremy gets up.
"Ok, I'll be the Democrat"
Jonathan: "What do you propose as a plan for future space exploration?"
Jeremy: "Um...um....space exploration? Well, I would spend millions out of my own pocket to fund the space exploration because it's important."
Mom (from the other room) "A democract would NOT say that!!"
Jeremy: "Well, I'm going to be like Ronald Regan. He was a Republican but was close enough to the middle where a lot of Democrats liked him too."


Wow, they WERE listening when we talked about this stuff!

I've been "tagged"

I was informed today that I've been "tagged". I guess it's a sorta chain letter-type thing where you are supposed to tell 6 things about yourself. 6 unremarkable things, that is. And then you're supposed to "tag" more bloggers who are supposed to tell 6 unremarkable things about themselves. Then I guess we find out..what...that we are unremarkable. Or maybe that we ARE remarkable. That the things that people consider unremarkable, especially about themselves, are really the things that not only make us unique but are the things that wouldn't normally come up in a conversation, but that are really cool and fun to know. So here are the rules: (just in case you end up getting tagged)


1. Post the name of the tagger (Sonya tagged me)
2. Tell 6 things about yourself
3. Tag 6 (or about) other bloggers
4. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged.

Ok for 6 things about me.

1. I was once a member of the National Council Against the Misuse of Pesticides (a very left/liberal organization) and the American Family Association (a very right/conservative organization) at the same time. That made for some very interesting junk mail! It's all about the yen and the yang, right! I am now not a member of either, though I am FAR from being a moderate in social or political issues.

2. I taught myself how to french braid hair one Friday after Thanksgiving ( I think I was in 8th grade) during the A&M vs. Univ. of Texas football game. Though this is the biggest day of the year in the life of Aggies, I still would choose to be shopping with my sister amid the mass of humanity than be watching the game. My sister and I go Christmas shopping together every year, either right after Thanksgiving if we're together, or I fly to her house sometime in Dec. to shop. It's one of MY favorite days of the year! 7-8 hours flys by in a moment!

3. I'm finding myself to be very competitive. This is something that I didn't know was a driver to me unti the last few years. I don't even have to be competing against someone, most times it's just myself. For example, I almost always set a timer to unload the dishwasher, clean the bathrooms, clean the kitchen, mop the floor, iron Michael's shirts, (insert tedious, mundane task) and try my best to "beat the clock". It really gets me moving.

4. I have 20/20 vision, thanks to LASIK. Until 10 years ago, next month, I'd worn glasses or contacts since I was in the 6th grade. One time I even lost a contact on the football field during band practice-and found it! That was a miracle. But now I LOVE being able to see in the shower, read the clock at night, be able to see without contacts at the swimming pool, at the beach, at night. My eyes don't get dry and painful because I fell asleep with my contacts in or anything like that. I've NEVER regretted having the surgery. It was awesome!

5. I enjoy game shows, especially the old ones- Supermarket Sweep (love it!!), Card Sharks, Tic Tac Dough, Password (those Game Show Network types of shows), but also Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune. On our honeymoon, Michael and I went to a taping of Let's Make a Deal at Universal Studios and were even picked to wear costumes (we were a doctor and a patient), but we didn't get picked to make a deal. My sister and I came very close to going out to California to be contestants on Supermarket Sweep. I KNOW we would have been picked, who could resist a beautiful set of twins as contestants! :-) But sanity prevailed and we stayed home.

6. I love the mountains. Summer, winter, spring, fall. I'd love to vacation in the mountains at any time. I'm not sure I'd want to live there year round, but my retreat of choice would always be to the mountains. I'm married to a seashore lover. His retreat would always be the ocean.

OK, now I tag
Cheryl
Diane
Jennifer

That's it. That's all the blogs that I read of people who know me.

In the right place at the right time

Michael had the day off today, YEAH! So we all headed out after everyone finished their schoolwork (Dagerath Academy was open today!) to Chick-Fil-A. They were giving out free chicken strips today when you wore the logo for your favorite football team. For once, I was glad that we have so many t-shirts with athletic team logos on them! I KNOW these multiply in the t-shirt drawer. I don't know where they all come from. But, anyway, we all got free chicken strips and had a great time. And as if that's not cool enough, while we were on our way to C-F-A, we saw Air Force One (the President's airplane) right after it took off from Lackland AFB, which is about 15 miles straight down the highway from our house. They are staging evacuation shelters not far from there and President Bush was coming to inspect the facilities and make sure everything was ready. (I'm sure everything was spic and span. We know how to do things right in Texas!! :-) )And WE got to see the plane that had the President on it. Very cool! Josiah wanted to know if we could ride in the plane with him. Too bad it had already taken off because I'm sure he and Jeffrey would have been able to talk and smile their way onto the plane! BTW, I would have gotten a pic of the plane, but I was driving.