Life of a little family on a tiny farm!

Update: This was actually written several weeks ago but somehow never posted. I still wanted to publish it because it gives a fun glimpse of some of our life. I am going to try to do these kinds of posts every so often mixed in with the medical updates.

If you have ever been to our house, even for a little bit of time, you have likely noticed that calm, quiet, and immaculate or even tidy aren’t really words that apply. I used to really be bothered by the fact that these words couldn’t honestly be used here because I thought those were the words that went with good wife, mother, homemaker. All of those things I desire and long to be. I have to admit I do still struggle with feeling less than when I look at others lives especially through the lens of social media. Often I find it funny when people who have never been to my home or even seen my family all together in typical situations say things like, “you seem to have it all together, your kids are perfect, how do you do it, or I guess you have this parenting thing figured out by now. Haha! My typical response is, “nope, not even close, you should be a fly on the wall at my home”! You know, when we aren’t feeling like the whole world is watching and commenting, as with social media. It took months of people suggesting that I start a blog for me to actually do it because I wasn’t sure I wanted people to see the good, bad, and ugly of life. It’s easier with Facebook or Instagram, just a couple pictures and comments here and there, to show the life we want people to see. Some people are better than I am about being real on social media but as I assume is probably true with most people I don’t love being criticized for how I handle things as a parent and social media seems to be where people are most comfortable saying whatever they think no matter what it feels like to the person reading it.

My goal with this blog has been to share Alex’s story with Gorham-Stout Disease but also to share How her story fits into the life of our family. Today I wanted to share some of how we work and play together in spite of her disease. We have learned over the last year to be creative in the jobs we give her so she still feels that she is a part of the family and able to be involved in whatever we are doing so she does not feel left out. The picture above gives an example of one of the things Alex and Boone love to play best of all. Pretend to be puppies. They crawl around and make puppy sounds, fetch what the other throws, and then put each other in the kennel! These two are so funny together. It’s fun now that Boone is getting older and they are really able to play together.

Several weeks ago we got new baby chicks. One of Alex’s jobs is to play with the chicks outside so they can enjoy the outdoors but also be protected from the cats. She also is responsible for helping to keep an eye on Boone and play with him while the rest of us work on other projects. We did lose several chicks to a skunk who was getting in the coop at night but tonight the kids went to lock up the chicks and found the skunk in there so at least now we know what was getting them and have been able to remedy that situation to keep the chicks safe. Life with our little family on our tiny farm is never dull. Alex was our designated photographer this particular day. She also helped wash the stepping stones they dug out of the ground before putting them back on the rocks and she helped fill bird feeders. A kid with her level of spunk and drive doesn’t let anything stop her from making the most of life but she certainly gets discouraged and sad when she can’t keep up or wishes she could be doing what everyone else is doing.

Keeping our little tornado out of trouble is a full time job for all of us. Sometimes he plays the drums with pots and pans, sometimes it is painting beautiful pictures and usually himself before it is said and done, sometimes he is jumping in puddles, trying to catch cats and chickens, and bringing me worms, lizards, rolly pollys and even spiders. He is a joyful disaster who can create more messes than all of the rest of us together can clean up. He is learning to help clean up his messes but it’s much more than he can handle at three. His energy and sense of exploration is truly incredible and I want to encourage that while also teaching him to be careful and respectful of the people, animals, and things around him. I am still learning how to balance these things in my parenting, even on child number 6.

This past week was full of outdoor projects and play. In our family we find that if we all work together there is also time to all play together so everyone pitches in. Sometimes we all do it willingly and with good attitudes and sometimes we grump but usually by the time we really get going our moods are improved. This particular day we weeded out what we call our tree island, built a gravel path through it, and lined it with rocks we moved from the rock piles in the woods. It was transformed into a beautiful little oasis in the yard. The kids are planning where they should build a bench or swing for that area. The wood chips we spread aren’t finished yet because we ran out. We decided to save the wood chips from Brent’s wood working projects and use those as mulch for some of the flower beds. I am actually loving how it looks and excited to get it finished a little at a time. The kids also got the new chicken coop wire up and learned some new building skills and utilized some problem solving while they were at it.

Lots of new and beautiful blooming things in the yard. The kids are learning what plants are edible and which are not. We have begun dehydrating and freezing some things to use during the winter months. It’s fun to always be learning new plants and their uses and growing more useful plants to learn about. We also saw a new fungi at the neighbors and were able to learn what it is. We have been making tea almost daily. Experimenting with picking different herbs from the garden and steeping them overnight for our tea the following day. Each day it is a little different but you can guarantee it has stevia leaves in every batch. They all agree the sugar leaves are the best herb in the yard!!

Some is the play last week was getting to go to the park, have a picnic, and watch the blue angels fly over. We were able to meet up with cousins and play ball and bubbles and tag and other fun for a little while. It was an enjoyable afternoon.

Another project was hauling aged goat manure from a friends farm to our garden and getting it spread and filled in so we could plant. Our soil is mostly Clay here in middle TN so we get much better yield if we amend the garden with compost of different kinds. This time hauling manure turned into a bit of a manure battle between the kids, as you can tell from the pictures. Sometimes work just turns into play organically!! 😂

We did get most of the garden planted before the rain started this week. I can’t wait to begin seeing seedlings sprouting and harvesting produce. watching the sprout and bloom probably is my favorite part of spring and summer.