Camp in Autumn

Believe it or not, I actually had the *ENTIRE* day off on Monday! No babies, no pizzas and wings, just me and the Code-Man! We took a trip down to Mooers, where we helped Pa get his garage in a box set up. We had a wonderful lunch thanks to the McDonald's Drive-Thru, then we went on to camp to close up for the season. Unfortunately due to the summer's circumstances, we did not have much of a chance to stay at our camp this summer. Hopefully, things will be different next year.
The campgrounds this time of year is gorgeous! There is a beautiful blanket of freshly fallen leaves in all different colors, and it is so quiet and peaceful down there that it just draws me like a magnet. We took Brodie with us-along with her lifetime companion, her tennis ball. We got everything packed up and then we took a nice walk in the sunny peaceful afternoon air. And I, of course, took some pictures!
My favorite thing to do is to take pics of people/pets walking away from me..and this one really hit me cause Cody is so BIG and I love how Brodie is looking up at him!

Brodie has to be THE most photogenic dog on the planet..and she actually lives up to her name here, Brodie Blue!
Of course, the only reason she sits still for photos at all is because we hold her tennis ball next to the camera!
This one melted my heart! I *LOVE* my camera!
Another one of Miss Blue...notice she is sporting her new yellow/green John Deere collar...she finally demolished her green/yellow one!
That concludes our pictorial of our day at camp! I feel like I missed out on so much this year not being down there... Have a lovely Wednesday everyone!

October 6

I thought today was a fitting day to fire up the blog again. There have been many huge changes in my life in this past year, and so many things are different now. I thank you for being patient with me during these past few months, the support means the world to me.
In honor of getting my blog moving once again, todays post is dedicated to my grandparents, Russell and Naomi. They shared a marriage, a life together, a boatload of children, as well as good and bad times. They also shared a birthday. Although a couple years apart, they were both born on October 6th. They are no longer with us in person, but live on every day in the lives of their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren. They live on in all of us in our hearts, our personalities, and they way we live our lives.
Love you Papa and Grandma, with all my heart.

Chick Update...

Welcome to the funny farm! We are currently in the chick raising business! Two weeks ago, we got our first 27 chicks from a hatchery out in Iowa...this is what they looked like that day:


Here they are today, at 17 days old. They are WILD little critters!!


We also took some of Russell and Bernice's eggs (pure Dominique) and Pete's Mom has been hatching them for us in her incubator! We had 7 hatch last week. Today, Pete brought home 5 more! There are 13 more eggs incubating, due in a couple weeks..I can honestly say it has been fun, but we are not setting ANY MORE eggs! LOL...We are gonna have TOO MANY chickens!! We will probably have some extra Dominique roosters to get rid of in a couple months! Here are the Dominique babies:



They will be black and white checked like Russell and Bernice when they get big!

Happy Memorial Day!
**Keri**

NACS FFA Fair 2010

Good Monday Morning! Thought I would share a few pics from last Friday, from the FFA fair. It was a gorgeous day, and very busy. They had a great turnout of visitors, and a huge number of animals..Pigs, goats, rabbits, fowl, cattle, even a miniature horse!
Cody brough Humphrey and Hawkeye for exhibition purposes, and he also brought Buttercup and Skittles, two of my chickens. He got a blue ribbon for his oxen, and the chickens! He was pretty excited. Here is Cody and his friend Dylan with their ribbons.


Humphrey and Hawkeye did not disappoint-they followed every command and did very well showing off at the fair!

They even pulled their tire with a little added weight behind it! LOL

Cody got interviewed for HomeTown Cable-should be on TV shortly..

It was a great day! Thanks to all those special people in our life that made a point to come up to the 'burg and support Cody...it really meant a lot!
Have a great day!
**Keri**

Mother's Day 2010

Guess what??
Turkeys apparently like the snow...Pete finally got one today..

Mom and Cody were less than cooperative with their giggles and blinks today while I was trying to get a cute photo of them...


Fortunately, Cody did a better job with a pic of me and Mom! This one is a scrapbook page, for sure!! Stay tuned!

Back to reality tomorrow!
**Keri**

Spring on the English River...

Well, I have had my new camera for over a week now, and I gotta tell ya, I love it as much as I thought I would! The weather was gorgeous yesterday, and we were all crazy with getting stuff done. Here are a few pics from the last few days:
Our resident Canadian Geese couple that lives on our river bank. We just love to watch them raise their babies! Thank you, Kodak 26x zoom!!


And speaking of babies, what do you think of these two little pieces of heaven? Just look at those eyes!!


Here are a couple shots of my daffodils..they are going *crazy* these last few days..they are just so gorgeous-so many different colors and sizes. I take dozens of pictures of my daffodils every spring-this year is no different..I will spare you the pain of looking at them all-these are a few of my favorites! LOL



Humphrey and Hawkeye were *more* than excited to get outside for a snack yesterday...I swear, they have gotten SO BIG just in the last couple weeks! Their yoke barely fits any more, and we have to get a new one now! We do our best to make sure they are not bothered *at all* by our touch. Cody sits on them, we man handle their heads and horns, play with their legs, etc. Peter thought he would bug them yesterday while they ate..they weren't phased by him in the least!

Hoping for another nice day full of photo taking! Honey the dog has been here with us for a week-she is Kent's dog. But she won't sit still long enough to get her picture taken. SO...we are gonna try again today, as she goes home tomorrow afternoon. We will miss her!!

Have a blessed Sunday!

**Keri**

New cards...

Since I have started doing daycare full time, I have very little time for creating...I have had a couple opportunities lately, though, and this is what I came up with...
Unfortunately, circumstances called for a sympathy card...Roses in Winter is my favorite stamp set to use for cards of this type...here is what I came up with. Very peaceful, I think:



My friend's son turned 12 yesterday, and this is what I came up with for his birthday card:


This is using a stamp set from Stampin' Up!


Have a great day!
**Keri**

Gotta sweet tooth?

Thought I would put together a post about some recent goodies that have been floating around the LaClair house...like I need ANY treats??
Being a wife and mom, I once again this year made my *own* birthday treats. I opted for cupcakes this year-easier to share with people..less for me to eat! My sweet friend Brenna made cupcakes like this on St. Pats, and I thought they looked SO COOL that I decided to try some of my own for my birthday..they were SO GOOD and everyone loved them! All you do is make a white cake mix, and color the batter with food coloring!

I also got SO MANY treats for my birthday this year...A whole gift bag full of berries..yes, a GIFT BAG full of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries...a platter of chocolate heart shaped brownies, and a fruit pizza. Thanks Jenn! It all was wonderful!
Lisa made me brownie bites..they were so good!
Tiny brownie cups with white filling, and a strawberry slice on each one. They were divine, too! Judy brought me a whole plate full of Puddles of Yum...needless to say, I was not starving that week, and I walked a WHOLE lot to make up for the sweets!

A couple weeks later, for Easter, I made some easter egg cupcakes...obviously, this was my first attempt at frosting grass, and these tinies had been to Mooers and back before I took the pic. They were mini cupcakes, so three of these = one regular one...munch away!!

For Easter dessert at Mom's, she made they cool little pies in canning jars. She did chocolate, strawberry, and blueberry. They were so good! We found the idea for them online, and they say you can make them up and freeze them before baking, then pull them out of the deep freeze and bake! These are a great gift idea!!

Back to work tomorrow! Where did the weekend go? Furthermore, I had a few days off last week...where did they go? Here's hoping the weather is better this week! I have never taken the phrase April showers so literal until this year!
**Keri**

The newest innovation in oxen headgear...

You are not gonna *believe* your eyes, this is such an awesome idea! LOL...it all started a few weeks ago, after one of the big boys scraped up the other one with his horn one night. He had huge scratches all over his side, some of them even bloody. It happens from time to time, along with other horn related mishaps..Several people have been on the receiving end of a nasty blow to the melon while trying to get these big guys their fresh water. I have not, thank goodness, but I hear it will knock you to your knees. They don't do it on purpose, mind you, they are just SO BIG and there isn't a huge amount of room to maneuver inside the barn. Brock said something one day about putting metal tips on their horns, I am sure there is a name for them, that I don't know, but I said, well, in the meantime, just stick some rubber bouncy balls on the tips of their horns...then that turned into tennis balls...and we said--man, wouldn't it be funny if Pete came home from work some night, and went into the barn, only to find Jacob and Red with tennis balls on their horns?? We could act like we thought it was *THE* coolest idea, and were serious, and see if we could get him going. So being just before April 1st, we decided that would be a good day to try it. WELL, those darned buzzards looked SO FUNNY with those flippin' tennis balls on their heads, that we could hardly stop laughing long enough for Peter to notice them...well, once he did, he actually LAUGHED!! Most people who know Pete, know that it has to be REALLY FUNNY for him to laugh...so although our trick didn't go off like we hoped, it was funny, and I got a couple cute photos!!

3 Generations of Farmers

So, I had this *GREAT* idea about a month back...of course, I thought it was great, but try getting 4 human beings of the MALE persuasion to pose for a photograph..HA!! Well, I thought, they can't get away at Easter...and Peter and Cody have to do what I say...Daddy? Mom can handle him...he has to do what she says...Kent? I just bugged him to death til he did what I wanted just to shut me up! Since Cody started taking Ag in school and joined FFA, he has had some very pleased relatives in his father, uncle, and pa. Daddy was in FFA back when NACS was Ellenburg Central School, so his coat is 50+ years old. Peter and Kent were in FFA back in the 80's. And of course, your FFA coat is something you NEVER part with...right up there with a wedding gown, prom dress, and scout uniforms! I thought it would be such a great idea to get a pic of the 4 of them together, all with their jackets! Of course, 3 of them had to hold their jackets as they are a bit bigger now than they were in the past, but they all cooperated very nicely and look at the cute photo I got! Daddy had bragging rights cause he had so many medals on his coat, then Kent pointed out the fact that you are only supposed to have a small amount of them displayed on the outside of your jacket-the rest have to be hidden on the inside...They were like 4 kids! I have some FFA scrapbooking goodies on the way to me from Ebay, so look for a scrapbook page soon!

Easter Weekend Re-cap...

What a quick weekend it was! The weather was gorgeous, and that just added to the great holiday weekend! It was busy, as usual-errands to run, chores to get caught up on..I found myself cleaning the chicken coop at 6:00 pm last night, Easter night! Duty calls, right?
Friday was a great day, I actually had a bit of time to myself, and I spent is outside reading a great book! After a trip to Plattsburgh for groceries on Saturday morning, the "boys" got the "boys" out...Pete, Cody, and Brock, got out their respective oxen teams out of the barn for some fresh air. Red and Jacob were happy to be out with Brock, as were Hawkeye and Humphrey with Cody. It was *very* warm that day, so they weren't pushed too hard..
Here is Cody with his team:

Both teams together for size comparison:

Humphrey gettin' a little lovin'!

I gotta say, this whole oxen training/commands thing is SO hard to get my mind around...I just stand there and take pictures..it really drives me NUTS when I don't know how to do something, and this situation fits the bill for sure!

Apparently, Easter is not what it used to be at the LaClair house. I had to DRAG my 14 year old out of bed at 9 am yesterday, and MAKE him look at his Easter basket...you would think the candy would be a BIT tempting!

Here's to a great week-thanks for dropping in!

**Keri**

9 Hazels and Buttercup...

Say hello to our newest additions: 10 Red Star laying hens. They are all pretty much identical, so instead of giving them all names, I named them all Hazel. BUT one of them stands out (at least to Cody) and he can tell her apart from the rest, so she is Buttercup.

I get an egg a day from each of them, most days. Started painting up a sign for selling eggs...already have quite a few customers interested!

They are really gentle birds, you can pet them pick them up, and they are VERY curious. Just one problem. they are bullying Bernice...so we are working on that problem now...Rusty protects her, but he is rough with her too..if you get my drift....um. hummm....

Have a great day!
**Keri**

Baby Flapper Hat

Happy Monday!! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I had this post half done on Friday, and that is where it stayed..half done in draft form. So here we go again! Maybe I will get it done this time!
A dear friend of mine just had a new grand daughter! Grace Morgin was born on March 16th. And this hat was about 2/3 finished! So that put my bee-hind in gear! As usual, I knew exactly what I wanted it to look like, in my head! Luckily, I pulled it off! Take a look at this newborn flapper hat, pure white crocheted, with double layer crocheted flowers as an accent! All hand made by yours truly! Not too bad for teaching myself how to crochet a little over a year ago!



Here is an awesome close-up of the flowers....they are made out of embroidery floss...

I hope they like it!
Have a great day.
**Keri**