Figs and Such

Well, let's see.

Most recently the figs are ripening! This is exciting! I've never eaten figs fresh before. They are very sweet and quite delicious. Their texture is a little mushy and not everyone jives with that. We think they will make great jam. If we were fancy people we might eat them in a salad or with a special cheese. Outside by the fig trees you can smell the sweetness of the fruit. 

Taft loves the chicks who are quickly turning into chickens. One day it was raining really hard and he was concerned for their safety so he sat outside with them for a long time before he finally moved them and put them in their more water safe coop. 

Here is a snapshot of our garden with Kent in there. The greenery grows like gang busters. The fruit it produces is another question. The cucumbers are often a little bitter. The zucchini comes in spurts. The pepper and tomato plants exist but haven't produced much. I dutifully water it and wonder what I should be doing to make it better. I did recently plant some sweet potatoes. It's hard to mess up potatoes. I'm hopeful for that harvest in the fall!

If I have already posted about this, forgive the redundancy. A few weeks ago Evan started to potty train in earnest. Taft decided that he would be Evan's Potty "Fairy". He would write cute little notes encouraging Evan to keep using the potty and make his underwear happy! This is a sample of one of the notes he wrote. 

Evan is pretty much potty independent during the day now. He also has figured out how to change his clothes and changes them at least 5 times a day, throwing all the old clothes into the laundry each time and thus having a difficult time finding new clothes as wash day approaches because he's "worn" all his clothes that week. He has also started wearing shorts more often, which is great. It is kind of painful to see him walking around in fleece when it is 90 F or hotter outside!

Here is a little sampling of cute kids cleaning the house on Thursday nights. Kent was vacuuming his bed.

Evan was washing the windows.

I think one of the best thinks I've learned from general conference is how to get kids to do a task. Someone once shared that when he was asked to do a task, the task included doing something kind of ridiculous like jumping three times, doing the desired task and then returning to give a parent hi five. It works like 85% of the time. It helps break down cleaning into manageable tasks the kids can do. We also watch a movie on Thursday nights after cleaning is done.

Here is Evan with a new floatie from Nana. New Zealand is not so far away when you have a Sam's Club Membership!

The 2nd to last weekend in June was Western days in our town. There was a parade. With fond memories of Vicksburg parades I took the kids our for a fun small town parade! We enjoyed seeing the class reunion floats, the marching band and one group of horses! The theme was Mardi Gras...in June...during Western Days. They must have gotten Mardi Gras decorations on clearance. Candy and bouncy balls were thrown. We had a good time!

What else is going on?

We have finished our 6th 6 week term for the 2023-2024 school year. Currently my kids are frying their brains in front of a video game but the house is very quiet so I'm not going to go find them. Taft has pretty much memorized his multiplication tables and Joel learned to read. Alyssa finished Algebra 1 and is half way through Algebra 2. Taft and Alyssa started piano and are doing very well. They practice almost everyday...or at least play everyday. Alyssa will tell you she is not always practicing. 

I have bravened up and started taking Cappi, the horse, on walks around the fields. My friend came over and gave him a walk and she made it look so easy I decided I could try. The first couple of times he did pretty well. The 3rd time he was a little bossy. Everyone else was walking ahead of us and I think he wanted to catch up. I eventually just let him go because I don't want to fight the horse. I just want him to have a good time...if being led on a halter is a good time. Rebecca told me I would learn a lot about myself and my parenting by walking him. I'm a push over who doesn't like conflict so I'll just let you go instead of putting you in your place. And if you boss me around or act tough I might be a little scared. In reality it has helped me with my 4th child who can be a little bossy and tug on the reins a little bit. It's ok to give him a little elbow to remind him that there are boundaries and it is always important to welcome him back when he is behaving and praise him when he is doing a good job.

The cows are getting close to calving. A vet professor in our branch told me it usually goes pretty smoothly but when it doesn't, it's a train wreck. I'm hoping for smooth...no train wreck. There are three cows that may have a hard time feeding their babies so I have to watch that. Only three of the seven cows are tagged and only one of the tagged ones is one of the three that have issues. So, see me out there looking at all their udders every day trying to figure out who Miss Mastitis and Miss Saggy Back Teats are. I have figured out who Miss Mastitis is but Miss Saggy Back Teats is one of three...

Here's some images so you can understand.