Blueberry Picking

It has now become a summer tradition that we meet up with friends and go pick blueberries just south of Buellton at the U-pick blueberry farm. We went last Friday, the weather was warm but not too hot and the blueberries delicious as always! The boys ate their little hearts out as they tried to fill their pails and we ended up with a little over half a pail between the 3 of us :) $8 and we were on our way home. I sure love our trips to the blueberry farm.

Swim Lessons!

William and Zachary finished their first week of swim lessons today. They have 4 more classes next week as well. They are swimming at the DP pool :) and both having a blast. Luckily it's been an absolute gorgeous week, so sunny and warm, I've really wished I could be in the pool with them! William is now comfortable swimming/ gliding from the "sunken pirate ship" to the side of the pool. Head in the water, arms out in front. Zachary is following right behind him too. Today they each took a turn jumping off the side of the pool and then turning and swimming back to the wall. It's been really fun to watch them learn and have fun.  Looking forward to another week!

 

Calf sitting

I just finished a long weekend of calf sitting! My neighbors down the street have 4 (well, actually 3 now) 1 month old calves that are currently being bottle fed. They went up north for a grandparent 90th birthday and asked if I could help out with the calves. SURE! I had the morning shift. It was a tricky and dirty job to keep them all in line and on their own bottles. My feet got stepped on a lot and my clothes got poop smeared on them and the calves pushed me around a little too. But I had a great time :) It's not to often you get the chance to bottle feed a cow!
There were also 4 baby chickens to look after on top of all the other animals they have. 4 dogs, 2 cats, a couple fish and about 26 chickens. Good times living on the ranch!
I was so busy juggling the bottles and clean up on top of my own kids & our busy days, that I didn't take the time to  snap any pictures. I will try to go back over there, when it's not my responsibility to do anything, and take a few photos.
The boys thought the baby calves and tiny chickens were pretty fun. They held the baby chicks and of course I have no pictures to show for it either. We'll see if I can't fix that as well :)

Trampoline on the ranch

Since we moved and left our swing set at the trailer park (for the time being), I thought it would be fun to get the boys a trampoline! I have been watching craigslist and found one for $40. The boys and I drove down, took it all apart, fit it all in the back of the 4runner and brought it home. We set it up the next morning with the help of a neighbor, it was super easy. Then I ended up ordering a new pad for it since the one it had was pretty much trash.
The plan is to dig a hole and put it in the ground... but for now, the boys are sure enjoying it everyday. Even Jameson knows just what to do. He gets on there and starts throwing his body up and down to "jump". I will have to take some video of it :)
Trampolines are the best!

Jameson turns 1

I'm trying to catch up a little at a time :) Jameson turned one on May 9th..... it was a busy weekend and even a busier month. Billy (who just left from the local "white fire" to a not so local "branch fire") only had 4 days off in May! He is now committed to his 7th fire since the beginning of May. I have basically set up house totally solo with 3 small children under my legs. We still have SO much to take care of and I can only do so much. So enough with my ranting.

Jameson had a nice mellow birthday with our family and we invited over a few neighbors to help us eat the cake. He enjoyed his funfetti cake and didn't get as messy as I thought he would. I was able to nurse him for the entire year! This was a first for me. However, his little body has not taken well to cows milk. He just explodes after he drinks it and his butt was turning so red I couldn't bare it. So his pediatrician told me to give him goats milk! He loves it and his body is handling it much better. However, raw goats milk is EXPENSIVE! For a quart (which lasts 3 days) it costs $8! Not sure how long I need to have him drinking goats milk, but I am going with it for now.
He is breaking his 9th tooth, loves to stand and walks only short distances while holding my hands. He cruises everywhere and is really starting to explore a little to much. Loves being outside and LOVES his older brothers. He watches them very closely and they can really get him laughing. It's so fun to watch them all interact together, they are all so cute.
I also love that Jameson has sleeping through the night down like a champ. Now if I could only get him to sleep in past 6am....
Love you Jameson.

3rd Birthday and Potty Training

I am a few weeks behind to write about Zachary's 3rd birthday. He turned 3 the day after we moved to the new house, so he was the first birthday celebrated on the ranch! We invited over our "old" neighbors Dustin, Karlie & Paisley to help us eat the cupcakes. It was a nice evening with family and a few friends. Zachary and William both helped me make the cupcakes and decorate them too. They LOVE to help me in the kitchen whenever I am making (especially baking) something.

Now that Zachary is three I decided it was time to get him going on the toilet! He is very aware when it comes to his business and knows he shouldn't be in a diaper anymore. So, last week we began the switch to underwear and he is doing great! He is doing perfect in the pee department .... loves going outside on a different tree or bush every time he feels the need :) The business is still in the works of perfecting. He does recognize the feelings and runs to tell me that he has to go, but he is still learning how to hold it in until he can get to the right place. Needless to say I have been doing a lot of laundry :) But at least my washing machine is hooked up now! I am very proud of Zachary, he is doing great. When he does good (or at least tries to) he smiles at me and gives me a big hug and says "I love you Mom". He is such a sweet boy.

Hurray for only 1 in diapers!

New House

It has been a whirl wind over here with birthdays, moving, mothers day, property management and fires. Life is down right crazy right now. Jameson and Zachary both enjoyed very intimate birthday parties with the family and some neighbors (to help us eat cake!) I can't believe that Jameson is 1 and that Zachary is 3. I need to get going on the potty training with him!
The move is finally over except that we still have a ton of stuff at the other house. Mostly in the sheds and back yard. There is still so much work to be done on both ends and now fire season is upon us. Billy has already been to 4 fires and fire "season" technically hasn't even started yet! Oh yikes. I'm in trouble. In fact, I was supposed to work a cater job in Santa Ynez on Saturday and now I don't know what I'm going to do because Billy won't be back yet.
Anyway. I took a few pictures of the house today to give an update. I am SLOWLY getting the house put together.

 We still need to get rid of the last section of the fence in front. I hacked down the bush archway today.

Our bedroom

 

 
Laundry Room and pantry

 

 

 

Bathroom

Kitchen and Dining area

Front room from Dining area

Front room from front door

Boys room

 

TV/ Toy room

 

 

The office- where all the unsorted boxes and things are hiding!

 

We are getting more and more settled everyday. Zachary a few times has looked out the window and quietly said " Mom, I just want to go home". Aahh. What can you do.