Lots of pics

Well, we made it through another storm unscathed. Actually, the storm didn't develop like they forecast, and we got less than a foot of snow. We're headed into another cold snap this week, but the highs are still above zero.

Tyler is laid off again, but the good news is he's coming to spend a few days with us. He should be getting here soon as I type this.

I leave this next Sunday for a week of training with UPS in Fargo. We're glad it's happening while Emily is here to help Sheryll.

Here's Carrie with eyes!

Proud big brother Tanner.

Emily reading to the little ones. Callie's face cracks me up.

Emily has two brothers, both older, so she's not used to this "closeness" (smothering?) that she experiences around here. She's being a great sport about it, though.

This is the scene we often come home to after a date night. The older kids will play a game or watch a movie, and the little ones don't want to head to the basement by themselves so they pile in our bed.

Now this is going to bed prepared for anything!

New stall in the barn so we're prepared for the new cow we're going to be "cow sitting" for a time. It's a Holstein due to calve in February, so we'll have more milk soon.

And here is Snowflake, growing fast on Mom's milk. Our supply is dropping as she grows! Have to learn about weaning soon.

That's all for now...

Way too long

OK, it's been way too long since the last post. Things are going well here. We've settled into a routine of milking twice a day. Still have the calf (Snowflake, since she's a white Brown Swiss and was born during a snowstorm) with the cow, and are getting around 2 gallons of milk a day. We've made butter twice, which was fun. Will probably make more tomorrow. I made the first batch and Courtney made the second. She'll probably make it with Emily. What's that, you say? Who's Emily?

Well, our good friends Randy and Vanessa Zachry sent their 18 year old daughter, Emily up to spend some time with us and help out after Carrie's birth. We picked her up from the Bismarck airport on January 10th, and she'll go back on February 14th. She has been a tremendous blessing already! Unfortunately, we did share our stomach virus with her soon after her arrival. Did I mention we have a stomach virus going around the family? Not fun.

The weather has been interesting. Last Wednesday when I woke up to do chores it was 31 below. Yep, that's cold! Yesterday it got up to around 45! So we've been busy this week getting our outside "warm weather" list done.

With Emily's arrival and three girls trying to fit into the small upstairs bedroom, we decided to put in another bedroom downstairs. There was just enough room to build a 9' 6" X 8' 4" bedroom between the family room and the boy's room. Sheryll calls it our mobile home bedroom. But we can fit in twin bunkbeds, and closet and two dressers. And Courtney likes it, which is great. It's very "rustic" at the moment, with sheet rock only on one side of the walls, nothing on the ceiling and an old flannel sheet for a door. No closet as of yet, either. But it's a start.

Carrie is doing well. Sheryll spent the first two weeks sleeping in the recliner in the living room since she can't lay flat right after a C-section. But she and Carrie are now in our room. Carrie sleeps around five hours at night on average. Pretty good for her age, but still keeps Sheryll pretty tired. She doesn't spend much time in her cradle with everyone wanting to hold her. What fun to have a baby in the house again!

Until next time...