Grandbabies Galore!

With all the things that have been happening here on the Homestead that are not so happy, thought I would share something that makes us smile. What is it you ask? Grandbabies! The little rays of sunshine that makes us glad we made it through the tough times with our kiddos! They are like all the joy and love you have for our kids, only amplified! Loves me some Grandbabies!
 We now have seven, YES, seven Grandbabies. Two of them in the last few months! We are so blessed!

 GRANDBABIES

These are the ones that had arrived at Christmas! Luke, Isaac, Lane (Jamie and Cynthia), Kaeli and Payton (Josh and Melissa) and Daisy!( Jeff and Brenna) Just a couch full of awesomeness!! THEN, 2016 brought number seven! This is  Brayden! (Lee and Cayce), who finally made his appearance!

Look at that little face!

Here are more pictures of them all at different times. Aren't they just GRAND?! Can you tell we are just SOO proud of these cuties!?

Luke watching Lane Play Ball!

Luke laughed and laughed at Grandpa while we were there. Imagine that! LOL! 

 

Lane in his Little Dribblers. He is so good!!

 He concentrated so hard, you can't see, but his tongue was out! He was into that play!

Payton and Kaeli gaming, lol Imagine that!

 I think we were playing HayDay while they were hear visiting for Christmas! Or..maybe that game they play with the giant bubbles. Hmm

Daisy and Kaeli having a Cheetos Break!

These girls have such fun together.  Always taking care of their "babies" and drawing such cute pictures. But, a girls gotta eat!!

Payton with his green "teeth" LOL! This child has such a sense of humor. :) 

Payton with GUM! lol!

Sleepy Luke!

Luke in his adorable little big boy outfit. What I would do to sleep like a baby! 

Skater girl concentrating hard!

She skated and skated this day, back and forth. Where do they get that energy!? I want some!!

I promise, if Isaac smiles, you will have to smile right along with him. It is just that contagious!

He has the sweetest smile!

Tiny Luke! Waving already!

Luke was waving, lol I was trying to get a picture, but he was like no, I gotta be waving now!

Lane getting in some garden time!

 Lane and Isaac came over one day and they planted squash seeds. They were just too sweet making sure that they had plenty of water to grow!

Swaddled Braden catching some ZZZ's

The newest assition to the grandbaby count. Brayden looks so peaceful when he sleeps. Makes you want to join him in a little nap!

Daisy having some book time!

Daisy girl when she was just a little thing! Hard to believe she will soon be 4 years old!

Bean sheller having way too much fun!!

Kaeli has always been a big help with the garden. Shelling  horticulture beans is a favorite job for her. She loves finding the solid pink beans and keeps them separate.

So serious! :)

Wonder what Lane has on his mind? No telling, but it probably has something to do with being outside. 

Ice Cream!!

 That is how I wanna eat my cake and ice cream!

Isaac ready to go play!

Just like Lane, this little boy is at his happiest when he can be outside playing hard and helping Daddy!

Daisy with a sucker, lol She is always smiling and her imagination is just the best. She will keep you smiling with her stories and names for all the animals!

Happy Girl!

Looking at Mama. :)

 That is such an adorable picture of Brayden. He was looking at his Mama. He is already growing so much! A week old today and already captured our hearts!

Vroom Vroom!!

 Motorcycle mania! Payton will ride that motorcycle a million miles, lol I am sure this summer when they visit he will jump on and speed across the yard like he was never even off a second!

Daddy managed to get this wide eyed pictue of Brayden while he was still in the hospital. Now that is talent..or was it luck?!

Brayden looking just adorable!

I know this was mainly a bunch of pictures, but things here on the farm have been a bit hard lately, and these babies keep us smiling even during the roughest times. Nobody can stay sad when they look at these little faces! :)
More updates soon, so check back often!

We Are Still Here!!

So sorry! If you actually still follow along with us on this blog you probably think we have packed up and left town!. No, just very busy and trying to get things straight on the farm! Stay tuned though, there are lots of things coming up including a new grandbaby, and one coming along any day now!  For now, I will leave you with a few pictures of things that have happened around the farm!

Beautiful sunsets!

 A bunch of ducks!

 Chickens!

 New calf! Here is T Bone having some breakfast!

Pud'nin made me a coat rack. And also some breakfast, well, lots of breakfasts! Every day if I want! lol Such a sweetie!

 Virginia Grandbabies came for a nice long visit!

 Grandgirls enjoying some girl time!

 We even managed to get a picture of ALL the grandbabies. Even the latest, Baby Luke!

Well, except for the grandbaby that is making us wait! Come on out Brayden! Grandma and Grandpa are ready to meet (spoil) you!!

Well, that is not much of an update, but stay tuned, I promise that I will get busy and post something interesting! Thanks for anyone still sticking with me! I will return!!

Little Fall Update!

Lots of things going on here at the Backwards Homestead! I am so ashamed that I have not posted in SO long! Boo me! Summer is always pretty busy, and this one was no different. I thought I would post. even if it is not anything specifically cool! So, here is a montage of a few of the animals enjoying the morning!

Heavenly little cabin!

But first! A picture of the cabin where Roger and I took out little mini VACATION! It was the most amazing time. Only two days, and it was cold, but I swear it was heaven. I absolutely adore this cabin and I wish we had one of our very own. I really had to have been born in the wrong era..Can we say pioneer life with internet?

Little piggies! Ok...Not so little piggies! LOL!

 These are two of the "little" piggies that were born during the ice storm last winter. They are some fat little sausages!!

Flossie!

Flossie and Elmer..Yep..he is nursing..Has he no shame! Then Ellie getting lovies. Yea, we hug our cows! :)

Ellie getting Trina hugs!

Morning kisses!

 Here are Renee and Sweet Pea. two of the new girls here on the farm. They are just adorable! Renee, the brown girl, is due to calve any day now and we are so excited!

Now THAT is a fine bull!

Here is Taz strolling on by to go out to pasture. Is he handsome or what?! We are also happy to announce that he is now a part of the Backwards Homestead clan. Yay! Thanks Sara and Earl for giving us the opportunity to try before we buy so to speak while he was visiting the girls. We promise he will have a great home here as we already love him!

HAY!!

Elmer, Porter and ClaraBelle  checking out the leftover hay after we moved the ring to add a new roll! Of course they had to flick it around a bit. Aerating I imagine...LOL!

Baelfire and his morning drink, lol

 Bae getting a cool drink after breakfast. He sure has grown into a beautiful young man!

Get to work Pud'nin!

Pud'nin moving one of the troughs over to the other side of the pen. They eat over here so we figured might as well set their table over there!

Charlotte pigging out!

Charlotte eating her corn. Beside the giant wallow they made with their water! Pigs...

"What are you looking at"

 Wilbur laying by the remains of his hut that he destroyed...What a silly piggy! Does he think winter is never going to come?!

We wanna eat HERE!

 The reason we moved the trough! These guys are determined to eat right here..So, we moved the trough so they are not eating off the ground.

Boo and her babies!

 See those little peeps peeking out? They are so adorable. Boo is a good Mama, but sadly she is slowly losing these guys to a hawk. She started out with 16 and is down to only 9... :(  Makes me sad! Hopefully he will move on and she can raise these babies without worry!

Squirt!

 Here is Squirt having her breakfast. She comes in every morning and every night to eat here in this stall. She is so smart and is now able to go out in the big pasture with everyone else during the day. Sweet Pea is her Mama, so it is cool to see them together. Although, she spends most of her time with Renee or Taz. She is just beautiful and such a sweetheart!

Here is Elmer and Squirt! He is a hoss! Hard to believe that he is just a month and a half older than Squirt! But, girls are supposed to be dainty! I guess we can say Flossie has power milk as we have shamefully never managed to get him weaned..Yea, as proven by the earlier picture, he is STILL on the teat!

Got hay?

 Pud'nins trusty tractor waiting to get to to work put out a roll of hay! Such a good tractor, I think it is Pud'nins favorite.

More fatty pigs!

Well, there you go! Not much of a post, but I hope you enjoyed the small update. Leave a comment if you have a minute, it makes me smile, lol  I will go with a picture of a flock of geese that I snapped a picture of as they were coming over the barn. I am not ready for winter, but fall is just dandy!

Meet Taz!

The Moo girls here on the Backwards Homestead are very happy these days! They are entertaining a handsome bull and they are all trying to catch his eye!. We were a bit nervous about having a bull here on the farm after the craziness that was MooGurgles! He kept us all wondering when he was going to break out and chase us across the farm! Buckets died, and fences suffered under his tyranny! He made beautiful babies, but he was ruthless!
But when we went to pick up Renee and SweetPea we talked to Sara and Earl about their bull Taz. He is beautiful, and seemed to be much calmer than our last experience. I was still nervous..But, we have several girls, who need a man..
So, what do we do? We borrowed them a man. Meet Taz!

Sara and Earl delivered him yesterday, and the girls were so excited. Especially Ellie, although I am not sure how it went since she was actually AI'd on Wednesday. but, then came in full bellowing, standing heat on Friday morning. So, we shall see! Either way, Flossie, and SweetPea are still open and he looks like he is just the bull to do the job! WooHoo! Let there be calves!

Taz and Ellie

 Here is is with Ellie, they  seemed to hit it off, even if they did have to engage in a bit of head butting at first!
Of course, as calm as he seems, we must remember, as we do with ALL livestock, to be very careful. Always respect the fact that they can change in an instant, and are very large! Luckily, Taz is very calm tempered, and has been a wonderful guest! We are really enjoying having him here on the Backwards Homestead.

Taz Keeping watch over the girls

He sure looks smug here in this picture! Even though he is usually with way more girls, he seemed really happy to be here!







Bae was a bit unsure about the new visitor, lol At first he was trying to run him off, but Taz was unfazed..He was like what'ev!

Bae says "WHAT?!?!"

" HELLO!!! We have ENOUGH cows!!"







 But since he actually likes the cows, it wasn't long before they were all grazing together. I guess he thought he had to check him out, and Taz wanted no part of the whole deal! He had a job to do!

Pigs...are unconcerned

Wilbur and Charlotte were not the least bit impressed. Wilbur was too busy trying to get through the fence to visit with Charlotte..She was busy laying by the fence to give him inspiration. Ugh..Pigs!
As an ending note, here is a video of Sweet Pea and Renee running to supper. Not the best, and ignore the constant clanging of the gate, lol I initially made the video to show Sweet Peas LONG moo that she belts out when you call her to supper!

So, there you go, that was my yesterday. Today...I have 10 dozen ears of corn I need to do, plus grapes to pick! So I better get busy! Leave a comment to let me know you were here if you like! :)
**Again, Shout out to Sara and Earl for loaning us their amazing bull! You guys are the best!**

Cows, Cows, Cows!

Things have been so busy around here, and quite frankly, I am having a hard time adjusting to some of the changes that have been happening lately. As most know, my Mom has Alzheimers, which is progressing. Some of our family also moved far enough away that visits are not possible very often. So, as much as they are having positive things happening, here we feel the fact that they are not here deeply. I am happiest with my family close..lol It is just who I am.
With Mom, this disease is just brutal. Watching someone you love, slowly lose their entire life of memories is just rough, no matter how you look at it. So many times I am just not fit for man nor beast as they say..
Hopefully I can get back into writing here for those who are interested in the crazy happenings here on the farm. Lots of things HAVE happened, and more are sure to be in the works!
I will start with a few happy things, like new cows! I mean really, who doesn't want more cows?! We found two really sweet girls at a local dairy, and they were a perfect fit for our farm! The best part, is we not only found cows, but we also made some friends. Nothing like finding friends who are honestly GOOD people. Shout out to Sara and Earl! They have been a HUGE help with all the questions that I have about cows in general, which if you know me...is A LOT of questions!
Well, here they are! The new girls, in all their cuteness!

Renee!

This is Renee! She is due in October and I cannot wait! Nothing like a little calf to make your day brighter. We are just so excited to see what she is going to have, Yay! 

SweetPea

This is SweetPea, and she is a real beauty! She is open, which means she has not been bred yet. Or at least we are pretty sure she is not bred. We will have to take care of that soon though, lol Hmmm...Where to find a man for SweetPea?! Right now, she is "in milk" so she is quite hungry as you can tell by her head stuffed in the food pan!

Squirt

And...Here is Squirt! She is a little heifer, who is just beautiful! The best part, is the is actually SweetPeas baby! So yea, keeping the family together, lol Well, sort of together, as they are separate since Squirt was just weaned when we got her and to stay that way she will have to be out of the pen with her milky mama!
We still have the rest of our little herd, and Eleanor was just at the vet yesterday being "AI'd", or Artificially Inseminated. I am really hoping that it all went well and she will bring a little calf into the world next summer. Go Ellie!

Eleanor

Here is the little beauty! Hasn't she grown! Seem like only yesterday she was a little bitty thing flying around the round pen kicking her heels up in the winter sunshine! She will hopefully be a Mama soon! I love this cow!!
Well, off to take care of farmy things, more later, so stay tuned!  Leave a comment to let me know you were here, I love getting feedback!