First Lost Tooth!

Allyn lost her first tooth last night! It has been loose for a while, but she would not let me pull it out. She was eating corn on the cob at VBS Family Fun Night and it got even more loose. She let her friend's mom pull it out.

Our "Mini" farm

I wanted to share pictures of the barn that Chad (with the help of his dad and a couple of friends) built in two days. We ran out of tin to finish up a few spots, but he will get that done and it works for now! I can't believe how much he was able to accomplish in a Saturday (with the help) and Monday to finish it up; I have such a talented and hard-working husband! It has taken a while for Rebekah and Ruth to get accustomed to it, but they seem to like it now.

The "Barn"


The goat's end of the barn. We now have an area fenced in around the barn (but that still needs some work as Ruth, the kid, keeps getting out!).


The milking parlor is in the middle of the barn and holds the milking stanchion. We are going to make a modification to the stanchion (put in a larger feeding bowl), but it works great!


The chicken coop end of the barn.


The inside of the chicken coop. We still have to put up the "shelves" (or whatever you call them) that the chickens will lay their eggs in. They should start laying sometime in September so we will have to get something up soon so we are ready!


The chickens go into a fenced in area from the coop. We open the door to the coop during the day so they can roam our yard, but want to keep them locked up at night because of the danger of wild animals (or neighbor's dogs).

A Reason to Birth at Home

The following link is for an article about a mother who had her baby taken away because she refused to have a c-section. There were no problems during the pregnancy or labor that would suggest the need for a c-section and she went on to give birth vaginally without any problems, but the hospital still took her baby away from her saying she was guilty of child abuse and neglect. A court upheld the decision.

The medical community and legal authorities are going too far! We saw a glimpse of this when we had the twins and the fact that we could see this happening to us that was a major factor in us deciding a home birth for this baby.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louise-marie-roth/is-a-woman-in-labor-a-per_b_242307.html

Happy Birthday, Dara!

Dara turned 9 last Friday! I can hardly believe that I have a 9-year old, but I do. She wanted to have a cowgirl birthday party so we did what we could. She found a skirt and shirt that she said was just like a "cowgirl" outfit that was below our budgeted amount for buying a birthday outfit. We had family over to celebrate Friday night, but neighbors and friends gave her presents throughout the day. We enjoyed a yummy cake and goat milk ice-cream! She wanted mint chocolate chip so that is what she got. Below are pictures from the party.

Papa & Nana Smith gave Dara the only Narnia book she was still missing--Prince Caspian, the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm series, and new panties.


Her sisters gave her a horse color/sticker book and a cowgirl teddy bear.


Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Sherry (our neighbors) gave her a beautiful handcrafted cross necklace.


Uncle Jim, Aunt Amy, & Madalynn gave Dara $10.


Dara's friend, Jorden, gave her a God and Me devotional book.


Uncle Doug, Aunt Charity, Lil' Charity, Cole, & Claydon gave Dara a new shirt and a doll very similar to the American Girl dolls.


Papa & Nana Carmichael gave her a new outfit and a jump rope & jacks kit.


Dara's friend, Audrey, gave her a large stuffed horse. Dara sat on it while opening her presents and all the girls fought over it when she wasn't "using" it.


Dara getting her birthday spankings from Papa and her sisters.


Dara wanted a cowgirl birthday with a cowgirl boot cake.


Getting ready to blow out the candles!


She made her wish and blew them all out at one time!


Jaina put Dara's cowgirl hat on Papa!


Martha & Jaina liked Dara's horse.

Updates

Life has been busy around the Carmichael house this summer! I haven't had time to take many pictures let alone post them on here. Chad is almost done building our barn for the goats, chickens and milking parlor (I'll post pictures when he's done). Dara celebrated her birthday on Friday and I'll post those pics once I get them on the computer and cropped. I want to take some pictures of the garden as well to put on here.

We are currently doing VBS at church, but we are doing only Wednesday nights for 5 weeks. We have done 2 weeks already and Martha and Jaina love it just as much as the older kids!

Jaina and Martha can always be found dancing and trying to do the hand motions while the music is playing!


Chad is actually helping out this year. He played Moses at the burning bush the first week.


The Gordon Carmichael clan at this year's Carmichael reunion.

The chance to win an educational video!

If you want to help your kids learn how to tell time better (or at all), then enter at the link below to win this video which helps you do just that. It sounds like a great addition to any home! The company that makes it has a lot of other videos as well that sound beneficial.

http://quiverfullfamily.com/2009/07/21/contest-rock-%E2%80%98n-learn-%E2%80%93-telling-time-dvd/

Wood Shed!

Chad finished the wood shed! I took the pictures before he was completely done, but he finished it on Saturday morning (I took the pictures Friday night). I think it is going to be really nice this winter to not have to shovel snow off the wood pile before getting a fire going! We have just over $300 into this (we were quoted almost $1700 if we had bought everything new). I had to help quite a bit (cutting wood with the band saw, handing and holding tin, fetching more screws and exchanging charged batteries for completely spent ones. We are thankful for the help getting the trusses up and for the use of cedar trees out of one friends woods and the use of the saw mill of another friend to finish this project without having to spend so much money. Now he is going to finish cutting down the dead tree in the field next door to fill it and we will be set for winter!

Our next project is to finish up the goat shed and build a chicken coop (or we may use the "goat shed" for the chickens and use the "new" shed for the goat).

I'm so blessed to have such a handy, hard-working husband!