A goat in the kitchen! Oh my... only here at Wishful Acres Farm...

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I was cooking dinner for my 3 young sons a few days ago, and looked up to see a baby goat casually strolling into my kitchen!  Followed by my giggling 6-year old son.  The things that go on here!  Goat was quickly rounded up and herded outside, as I hid my smirk and tried not to laugh out loud.

A couple of nights later, this little mischievous kid (my son, not the goat) then proceeded to come outside as I'm doing evening chores.... dressed in his spiderman pajamas, with daddy's huge muck boots on!  The boots came up to his thighs and were so big he had to take giant steps just to keep them from falling off.  Can you imagine it?

Ah... this is my life.  Insanity.

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Wintertime favorite spot

It started with my oldest son....

Now he has shown the others where they should sit during the fall, winter, and spring seasons.

Directly on the hot air vent in the dining room as soon as the furnace kicks in.  They seem to think there is no need for a table to eat at.

Cooking... what vegetables??

As many young children, some of mine have an aversion to certain vegetables.

Here's how I get 'em to eat those veggies anyway.

Here we have a potato soup. Potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, garlic. Kids would probably approve of the potatoes only.



Here is my secret weapon. It's called an immersion blender.



See it work. It's fast!



What vegetables??!?!

Farmboys

I recently took my two oldest boys out to the farm with me. I worked, they played.



Boys at play. We can run free!



The boys are afraid of chickens. They're kind of menacing looking, I suppose. My 3 year-old wouldn't come anywhere near. My oldest will feed them weeds through the window but keeps his fingers far, far away.




I imagine it would be a blast to grow up on a farm. Aside from the dangers of boys climbing on old equipment (mine discovered a very sharp disk plow in the field across from our garden plot). Yikes. And imagine how much colder in the winter. When it's -10 in the city, it's probably -18 on the farm. No concrete jungle to keep it warm. No wind block from other houses. Each year, when I inevitably consider moving to the country, I keep in mind these things... Also the cost! It's much cheaper to rent an acre every year. Still, my mind envisions being able to look out my own kitchen window to vast acres of growing vegetables... I'm a lost cause.

Little cook

I'm a big believer in letting the kids into the kitchen.
Letting them help if they want.
Of course, most of the time it's difficult. They want to fight over stools to "see" the stove, who gets to hold the spoon to stir, who gets to lick the beater.
But I push through.
I'm determined to raise boys who can cook.
It's important to me that they will be able to prepare themselves a healthy meal as well as cook for their future wives!!!
So far, so good!

When the kids get the camera

Don't you love loading up your camera pictures and finding surprises there?

Kids love cameras and our boys are no exception. Although we keep the camera up high, our oldest is a climber and will find it like a truffle-sniffing dog.

I love finding pictures like these.
A laundry basket holds enough captivation for a child to deem it worthy of a photograph.
Half of a brother's face. (Yes, his polo shirt is on backwards. He insisted on dressing himself that day.)
The infamous Star Wars socks.
The contents of baby's sock drawer.
A cousin in all her beautiful glory. (Hee hee, had to post this one, Andi. They must have had the camera last time you were over.)

Now these are my favorites. When Tristan was a newborn (he's 1 yr. old now), Alex (my oldest) frequently woke before dawn (I'm talking 5:30 and 6 am some mornings). As I refused to get up that early with him while awake with a baby at night, he found things to amuse himself. One day I discovered these pictures on the camera. Apparently he had figured out the camera's timer feature and remote control. He was 4 years old at the time. Now that's resourceful!