Friday, June 1, 2012

Reed-Months 4-9!

Yeah, yeah, I know. He turned 10 months yesterday. I'm a little behind.  Hopefully, I will be on time with the next updates! If you missed it, here's the first 3 months!


This month, you took your first road trip! The first weekend of the month, we went to Mobile with Uncle Jim and Aunt Nell to the Farmer's Federation Annual Meeting. You were so good, and everyone thought you were so cute. You also went to your first concert, "The Charlie Daniel's Band." the next weekend, we took another road trip to Atlanta. We stayed with your 2nd cousin Kristi, so her husband, Mark, could do hernia surgery on you. The hernias were probably caused by you being premature and a hole in the wall of your abdomen didn't close up, letting your intestines poke through. It was done lyproscopically (yeah, thats not spelled right!), and you were only in the hospital for about 4 hours. We spent the night with Kristi and Mark, then came home the next day. At your doctor's appointment at the beginning of the month, you were 11lbs. 1 oz and 22 1/2". You are drinking 5 1/2 oz of formula with 2 tsp. of cereal in it. We had your first portraits made at Sears in Gadsden and surprised everyone with them.  Also this month, we celebrated your first Christmas! You got lots of toys, bath toys, safety items, and shoes. You got a John Deere Rocking Tractor from Grami and Pop, and Santa brought you a jumpy seat and a Bumbo seat, which we both love! You are starting to "talk" so much, and you really laughed out loud on Christmas Eve. You are starting to get a little fussy, and we thinkg you may be starting to teeth. You are drooling everywhere, and you put everything in your mouth. A lot of times when you fuss, you are getting sleepy. We just wrap you up in your favorite fuzzy, blue dog blanket, poke your paci in, and rock you to sleep. We also celebrated New Year's eve with the family at Grami and Pop's!


You're getting good at standing as long as we're there to keep you balanced. You always poke out your bottom lip when you're about to get upset, which seems like is all the time lately. Grami took you to church with her a couple of times this month while we were visiting your G-Mama in the nursing home/hospital. We took you to the nursing home with us a few times too. On one of your really fussy days, you cried for over an hour, no matter what I did, so I just started crying too. Well, that made you stop. At least for a little while. I even called your pediatrician for advice, and everything they suggested, I had already tried. They finally blamed it on colic, and told me to start feeding you baby food and giving you juice. That made the fussiness a little better, but not much. You love apple juice, and this month we're giving you fruits. You've had apples, pears, bananas, and peaches. So far, you have liked all of them. You still can't touch the ground in your jumpy seat, so you get mad after being in it for about five minutes.  You also hate being laid on your stomach, so I don't think you'll ever learn to crawl. We have also started giving you a bath in the jacuzzi, which you seem to enjoy. You like to chew on all your rubber duckies. If you ever let us read to you without getting made, your favorite book is "The Noisey, Noisey Farm." You like all the sounds the animals make. Speaking of sounds, you are scared of the blender and anything that sounds like a blender. But you love loud music! Sometimes cranking it up makes you stop crying!




On February 3rd, you went to the doctor and got three shots. Your poor little legs stayed sore for a few days. You weighed 14lbs. 1oz and were 26" long. The same day, your G-Mama died. We stayed with Grami and Pop for a few days for the funeral, and your Aunt Tammie and Aunt Penny babysat you. We have started feeding you vegetables this month. You've eaten squash, green beans, green peas, sweet potatoes, and carrots.  I have started making your baby food in a blender, and that makes it taste so much better. You haven't crawled yet, but you do spin in circles. You've really started holding onto toys and reaching for people this month. We have determined your fussiness is due to you not wanting to go to sleep. It's worse at night and sometimes happens during church.  We had a movie night at church, and you wore your poor babysitters there out! You also wear out your Pawpaw and Mawmaw and Aunt Nell and Uncle Jimmy when they keep you! We went to Mobile to the Young Farmer's Conference on the 24th-26th. Boy, you were fussy! But, we still won the Alabama Farmers Federation "Outstanding Young Farm Family" in the Cotton Division. It has warmed up this month, so you love to go on stroller rides. You even got your first peek at the chickens. You are finally starting to sleep at night. You sometimes still wake up, but you usually will go back to sleep with a drink of water or by rolling you on your stomach. Sometimes you end up sleeping between us in the bed.


This month you have a tooth coming in! It is one of the front bottom ones. You are chewing on everything. You try to hold your bottle, but it usually ends up in your eye. You have also found your feet and try to put them in your mouth. We discovered you love to be pulled around in a laundry basket! On March 11th, we had your baby dedication at Grace Baptist. You stayed with your Grami and went to church with her one weekend while Pop and I went to the Bristol race. It was only your second time away from me over night! Since it has warmed up, you love to ride in your stroller and be outside. Wiggley licks your foot, and it makes you laugh. You are back to waking up every two hours at night, and it is so hard to get you back to sleep. You are able to roll from your back to your stomach, and your second tooth on the bottom is coming in. You have even ridden in the Hi-Cycle (spray tractor) a few times and seem to like it. We took you to your first John Deere Day down at Snead Ag the last of the month. You just stared at all the tractors!



You celebrated your first Easter this month. Everyone loved your Easter outfit, but you fussed the entire church service. You have finally started enjoying your jumpy seat and sometimes go crazy jumping in it. You also like to jump when someone is holding you. We also took you to your first rodeo in Oneonta. You stared at all the horses until you got hungry and fell asleep. You still don't want to play by yourself or take naps. You have even started not wanting to eat your baby food. You really like to chew on Gerber Graduate Puffs though. You took your first lawnmower ride with Daddy, which you liked. You have started walking in your jeep walker a little, but only if Wiggley is around. You went with your Aunt Nell and I to the Farmer's Federation Women's Seminar in Birmingham. You were pretty fussy some of the time, but we survived by strolling you a lot. One day you rode the Hi-Cycle for two hours with me and Daddy! At the end of the month you started jibber jabbering. You love to say "mamamama" You have also started sleeping in your room in your crib at night!

You had your 9 month checkup on the first, and you were 16lbs. 12oz and 28" long. You even sat up without help for a few seconds in the doctor's office! We told the doctor about you not wanting to eat, play alone, or sleep, and he diagnosed you as being stubborn! He said we could start feeding you table food, so we have! You like it a lot better than baby food! You love mac n cheese and sweet potatoes! You love your jeep walker now, and always try to run over Wiggley. You helped me celebrate my first Mother's Day this month. During the middle of the month, you finally started sitting up for longer periods of time. I have even gotten you to take naps better by just leaving you in your crib and letting you fall asleep on your own. Sometimes you fuss, but usually not for long. On the 10th, the Young Farmers had "Kids Day on the Farm". You loved looking at all the animals and really loved the Barber's Dairy Cow mascot. You also had your first taste of ice cream on the 12th, yum! This month, we went to a lot of cemetary decoration days, where you got to meet more family members. You also went to your first shrimp boil at our house on Memorial Day! At the end of the month, you started being able to pull up while holding on to our hands. You also went swimming in Pawpaw's pool twice. You loved it!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Grapico Ice Cream!

Grapico Ice Cream
2 liters of Grapico
3 cans of sweetened condensed milk

Combine ingredients. Refrigerate until cold. Add to 1 gallon ice cream maker. Sit back and let the magic happen! Yummy!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Welcome to Kids Day on the Farm!

Each year, the Blount County Young Farmers host an event called "Kids Day on the Farm." Every second grader in the county is invited. It gives kids a chance to experience "life on the farm." We have livestock, demonstrations, tractors, plants, and lots more! Since you more than likely couldn't be there, keep reading, and take a tour!
Up first are the livestock. This is a Shorthorn.

This is a shorthorn/angus cross.
This little dude is not a pony, it's a mini horse!
Here are mama and baby quarter horses.
This is a racking horse. It is closely related to a Tennessee Walking Horse. They pick their legs up high when they walk, kind of like they are marching!
Cute Kittens!
This is a ferrier. He shoes horses.
This is a sheep shearing demonstration. It's like getting a haircut for the summer!
He hammed, err, sheeped?? it up for the camera!
Speaking of ham, here's porky!
These are Brecknock Chevoit Sheet...I just spell as I'm told!
Rise and Shine you sleepy heads, it's a Lt Brahma Rooster!

This cutie is a Mini Zebu Calf.
Say Cheese! He's a Nigerian Pygmy Goat!
These are Oberhasli Dairy Goats! Don't ask me how to pronounce that!
These are our poultry exhibitors! They didn't bring any chickens (thats those Auburn folks for ya, haha!), but they did give me a fun fact! It takes 21 days for a chicken egg to hatch!
Here's the honey bee guys! Without bees, there would be no pollination, which would mean, no food!
This is a soil tunnel. The kids crawl through it with flashlights, and they can see the different layers of soil, and what could be underneath where they're standing!
The Blount County Extension brought lots of different plants, and a rubber chicken, which he wouldn't let me take a picture of. His fun fact? The kids might not remember the plants, but they'll remember the chicken!
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Lance helped out with the Cotton display! Monty Bain came from the Cotton Board and had a slide show with pictures, and lots of cotton products. Did you know that there are blue jeans made of cotton that sheds water? It's called Storm Denim!
The Forestry folks brought some of their fire fighting gear!
This is the mobile dairy cow. She's a Holstein, and the kids are shown a milking demonstration.
There was even a grist mill that was grinding corn into cornmeal! (Which I brought home by the way!)

And of course there were tractors.
*Disclaimer* Miller Farms does not condone or encourage the use of red tractors.
Thanks for checking out "Kids Day on the Farm!" Hope you enjoyed it!

Slightly Late, but Happy Mother's Day!

Lovely Branches Pink 5x7 folded card
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View the entire collection of cards.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

In the Pits...

Why were we in the pits?
Thanks to Farm American and Furniture Row Racing,
we were in the pits at Talladega Superspeedway!


We were their featured farm family for this week! (Read more about that here!)

This is us with our tour guide Charlie!

We got to hang around the #78 race hauler and the garage area before the race. We saw drivers, crew members, and team owners, and watched cars go through pre-race inspection.

Check out Clint Bowyer's #15! Roll Tide!

Even the crew had their houndstooth hats!

We got to stand on pit road before the race. Check out all those gauges and switches! No way would I be allowed to drive, haha.
 Here's Charlie on tire duty. He's checking air pressures.


We got to sit on the pit box during the race. The pit box is where the crew chief and other team members sit. There are tons of computers and tvs with race data on them.

Unfortunately, the #78's motor expired before lap 20. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Farm American!

This week, we are Farm American's feature farm family! Farm American is partnered with Furniture Row Racing in Nascar, and every race week, they highlight a farm family from that area. We will get to watch the Talladega race on Sunday from the #78 pits! Below, I have posted the article written about us. Here's a link to their page where you read the article, see a few of our farm pictures, and read what Farm American is all about!

Farm American

 

Alabama Farm Family Provides Multi Products to American Consumer

May 1, 2012 -- Stop and think about all the everyday things that agriculture does to support us.

It's more then just the food we eat. The farmers and ranchers are also responsible for the medicines we use, makeup we put on, and the clothes we wear.

Lance and Stephanie Miller of Snead, Ala. farm with Lance's Uncle Jimmy on land that has been in the family since the Civil War. This young couple is proud that they are full time farmers who raise the food and fiber that supports their community and country.

Last year, the Miller's expanded both their farm and their family by adding additional land and having their first baby, a son. These sixth generation farmers grow cotton and peanuts and also raise chickens.

The chicken houses are largely Stephanie's responsibility, which includes constant monitoring of the chicken's water, feed and temperature. The Miller's use the chicken litter to fertilize the crops, and the cotton they grow goes to making cotton products in the United States.

They are very active in their community. They both are active in their church and with the Alabama Farmers Federation (ALFA) and this year were named the Outstanding Young Farm Family in the Cotton division. Stephanie also maintains a blog about her life on the farm. Follow her at www.thelifeofafarmerswife.blogspot.com

The Miller's are NASCAR fans and appreciate what Furniture Row Racing is doing with Farm American "Everyone needs to understand where their food and clothing comes from. Farms need to stay in this country to help keepÊthose costsÊdown. Food imported from other countries do not have to comply with the same standards as the food grown here. It's not only a safety issue, but could also affect millions of jobs. Agriculture employs more people in the U.S. than any other industry." said Lance Miller.

Stephanie Miller grew up just a few miles from the track and hasn't missed a race at Talladega since 1998. "I think using a sport such as Nascar to get the Farm American word out is a great idea. It has the potential to reach millions of people who might not otherwise understand agriculture and how it affects them." said Stephanie Miller "Farm families like ours are so grateful to see companies like Furniture Row Racing come from outside the agriculture world and take on a cause such as this."

Monday, April 30, 2012

Yummy Strawberry Pie!

2 cups whole strawberries
1 baked 9" pie shell
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsps cornstarch
1 cup crushed strawberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
8 oz whipped topping


Arrange whole strawberries in pie shell. Mix sugar and cornstarch in saucepan. Add crushed strawberries, water, salt, and lemon juice. Cook for 8 minutes or until thickened and clear, stirring constantly. Let stand to cool. Pour over whole berries. Spready with whipped topping.


(I changed the recipe some...didn't use Cool Whip, and also used halved strawberries instead of whole!)