Katie Kate

Here she is looking beautiful as always, by a waterfall at the JMU Arboretum.

Yesterday was my sister Kate's birthday, she turned 12 years old. It's weird to say she's 12 when she looks like a 16 year old (hence for those of you that have seen her lately she is growing in height)! :) Kate and I have grown closer over the past year since we have been nearly everywhere with eachother. School, Church, Family stuff, Youth, etc. We have learned which buttons we can push on eachother to make the other one irritated. Thus, we have also learned how best to relate to eachother from learning more about eachothers feelings and emotions we experience in different ways. Though there are times where we 'hate' eachother we both know deep down we truly love the other. She is my best friend and I think that now I can say that after this year. Before I would've said she is my sister and nothing more than that, but now I can say she is my best friend and I am truly grateful to have such an awesome friend and sister. And Kate I know you're reading this and I want to say the simple but deep words, 'I LOVE YOU' You are amazing, and talented in so many areas, I have loved to watch how God has shaped you over the year. He has so much good in store for ya!

Well, on to the celebration...........It all started with mom taking the day off, so her and the birthday girl went shopping. For the birthday meal, we had BBQ chicken, layered saled, mac n cheese, fresh strawberries, and ice cream. It was a delicious meal. Oh and I almost forgot we ended the birthday day with our FAVORITE show Chuck. I haven't watched it in ages it feels like, so it was good to catch up on Chuck and Sarah :)

It was a very fun and special day!  

Little Jep

One Saturday while we were gone Iris one of our nannies had her baby. His name is Jep. My dad got to pick out the name. I find it to be very creative and fun!

Here is the little one (actually he is not that little compared to the other kids)

Busch Gardens

Yesterday my family and I had the privledge of joining the EMHS 7th and 8th grade band and srtings group for a day trip to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. My dad drove the bus for the group. We left at around 7:00AM and got home around midnight. We had fun going on rollercoasters and walking around the park. My favorite rollercoaster was The Griffin. I went on it twice once I was in the front row and then the second time I was one the second row. The front row is the best spot to be on that ride, personally because at the beginnning of the ride they take you up to a 205 foot drop and they stop right at the crest and you wait and wait and then all of a sudden shoowosh. It was SOOOO much fun!!

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there! I know how much I appreciate my mother and all the energy she puts into nurturing and providing for me. Have a great Sunday!

Gracie and Dooley

Dooley and Gracie were born this afternoon around 3:30pm. Anya got to name them. Aren't their names awesome!!

Gracie is closest to Lyla (mama) and Dooley is the farthest away from Lyla. I had they privelege of watching Dooley being born :) Quite an experience!

This next picture is of Anya holding Annie who is now a day old.

As you can tell we are having a lot of fun here on the farm!

The Miracle of Life

Here is Annie (the dark brown baby) and Rae (the tan baby).

They were born this afternoon in the pasture. The birthing went really well for a first time mama. Since we have 5 nannies that are pregnant, each of us in my family get to name one of the families. I got to name Star's babies. 

Aren't they ADORABLE?!!!!!!

New Blog Header.......

Since the school year is coming to an end for me I thought of changing my blog header to something more appropriate. Instead of Em's Year At Home, I have changed it to 'My Journey'. I know I could've come up with something more creative, but sometimes the simplest is the best :) I want to deeply thank each one of you who have read my blog over this school year. As I have shared with you some of the experiences that I have enjoyed over the past school year it has been nice to have your comments them. I am so grateful for an amazing year at home, and for all the memories I will take with me for the rest of my life. I am also very grateful for the oppprutunity to be able to write about my feelings and experiences on this blog, and I thank you for your willingness to listen and read about them. I ask you to continue to read my blog as I go through out the summer and what all that will bring.

Blessings to each one of you in the coming week,

1st Day of May Was An Eventful Day

Goodness Gracious, I can't believe it's already May! Today was my daddy's birthday so we had a fun day celebrating with him. This afternoon we went shopping for a recliner as a birthday present for dad. It was a lot of fun trying very comfy recliners the whole afternoon. At Grand my sisters and I tried out the massage chairs, WOW, wasn't that fun. For supper we picked up some BBQ from Smokin Pig and had a picnic at the JMU Arboretum. The Arboretum is SO beautiful this time of year. Here are some pictures I took while there:

We counted 14 turtles.

It was so funny, at the Arboretum there was 1 female duck and 2 male ducks and the male ducks were fighting over the female. I felt so bad for the female!! :)

So Beautiful!

My AWESOME parents!!

This month is a birthday month for my family. My Dad, Mom, and Sister Kate all have birthdays this month. Good thing I am cutting sweets this month. The beginning of a new month means the ending of the past month. And for most of you who read my blog you know that my family gave up TV for the whole month of April. Well, that experience has challenged us to reduce the amount of TV we watch for another month. For the month of May we are deciding to watch only 5 shows a week. We each get to pick a show we would like to watch. It is not expected that we choose to watch a show because after a month without TV I really don't see the point of watching TV at all. Stay tuned this week, because we will be having some little ones (baby goats) soon, and I will be posting pictures.

Take Care,