Lucy and Bluebell

We finally picked names for the baby goats! Their Mom's name is Melina, and so we toyed around with names ending in "a". Most of the other animals have names that end in "o": Jojo, Banjo, Ringo... But these little girls got different names: Lucy and Bluebell. Lucy has a black spot on her nose and Bluebell doesn't. Hopefully their eyes will stay blue :)


Did you know baby goats hop like rabbits?

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Goat Movies and Christmas Pictures...

Papa Noah made this barn for CB. It's awesome!!


This is one of the new goats..

Santa brought CB a sheep family with their own cottage.


Carly and Harleigh...


At Great Wolf Lodge...





Naptime on the way to Great Wolf...

Carly Beth's Early Christmas Present

Just born this morning...there's a Mommy and Sister too that were camera shy.

Carly's New Hat...

She just keeps getting cuter...


Daddy bought CB this hat in Charleston this weekend and she's barely taken it off.

IT'S A...

It's a BABY! Healthy and has all its fingers and toes! We didn't find out what it is so Baby Watson will remain a mystery until April. :)

If you've been praying for us, THANK YOU!!

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Abby Cadabby and the Annual Halloween Party

This past Saturday was my family's Annual Halloween Party at the farm. It was chilly but one of my aunts counted 79 people being there! So awesome! Carly Beth had a great time playing with Mady and the other kids. She even was brave enough to ride the "Haunted Hayride" this year.

There was so much food and fellowship around the campfires. I was so blessed to see some family and friends I hadn't seen in a while. I made an Orange Dreamscicle Punch that was super yummy!

The Halloween Party is one of my favorite family traditions...it's always a hit!

A New Amazing Use for Honey

Honey! I love honey! Now I'm using it to wash my face. It's antibacterial and a humectant. It's full of antioxidants. My skin has cleared dramatically in only two washes!! I am a believer!! And imagine the benefits to your skin of using a face wash naturally created within miles of your home!! The heat from the shower makes it smooth and not sticky at all. Added bonus...I'm not having to use a moisturizer! My skin isn't feeling dry or getting oily.

Honey is amazing!


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The Beginnings of a Bluegrass Band...

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Carly Beth as Abby Cadabby

Carly is heading to a Halloween party tonight - here's her costume!

Carly Beth

It Is A Risky Business...

There are two kinds of people in the world...those that love racing and those that wonder how anyone could enjoy watching cars go around and around in circles. I, as most of you know, am a race fan. You could say it's in my blood. My Mom's family gave me passion for cooking and my Daddy gave me a love for racing. When I was a kid, my Daddy had a drag car and for a while he worked on a Pit
Crew for a friend who raced at Hickory Motor Speedway. My middle brother, Chess, raced go-karts for a few summers; he was pretty good. My Daddy sold his drag car when I was still a kid...but he re-bought it a couple months ago and now he's working on it so he can race. He's also on a pit crew for a drag team. I say all this just to back up that it's totally in my blood.

I've enjoyed NASCAR racing for a while but in recent years I've started keeping up with news of other series and watching some drag races and Indycar on television. I didn't watch enough to have a favorite driver, but enough to know what was happening in the series and I could talk with my Daddy about it.

Yesterday, we were traveling on our way home from Concord, and I was keeping up with the beginnings of the Indycar race on twitter. My timeline began to blowup about a "15 car wreck on lap 12"... As soon as someone posted a clip online, I watched it. (http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/10/16/2494174/dan-wheldon-crash-video-indycar-las-vegas-2011) It was devastating. Cars were in pieces and in flames. But, you just assume that drivers will get out of their cars and walk away after crashing at speeds off 200+ mph because of all the safety changes since Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001. Three drivers were transported by ambulance to the hospital but one, Dan Wheldon, was airlifted. It wasn't until I read of the tarps being used to cover Dan Wheldon's car that my brain began to register the seriousness of what happened. It was highly possible that someone was not going to walk away from that wreck alive.

When we arrived home, I was glued to the tv, anxious for any information on the driver's condition. Two hours after the crash, they announced that Dan Wheldon died because of in-survivable injuries. Tears streamed down my face for a man that I knew nothing about other than he had won the Indy 500 this year but didn't have a ride.

I continued to watch as the remaining cars lined up to give him a 5 lap salute. These men, and Danica Patrick, were bawling as they got strapped into their cars, and I was bawling as I watched from my living room. It was a very eery sight to watch these drivers who were his friends, former teammates, and his competitors honor him in a way that seemed very fitting. (http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/10/16/2494389/dan-wheldon-crash-tribute-laps-video-indycar-series-drivers)

My least favorite part of the regular weekend broadcast of NASCAR is after the invocation and National Anthem when the driver's wives, children and loved ones hug them before they get in their cars...there's always a chance that it could be their last. My prayers are with Dan Wheldon's wife Susie and his two sons Sebastian (2) and Oliver (7 months), and his family and friends.


Some great articles...
http://www.popoffvalve.com/2011/10/16/2494351/indycar-dan-wheldon-killed-at-las-vegas-motor-speedway

http://www.sirius-speedway.com/2011/10/wheldons-death-reinforces-racings-sole.html?m=1

About an Apple

Well, I haven't really updated the blog with good, juicy, Watson family info in a while. There's a reason...we are going to be a Party of Four! I'm 15 weeks and 6 days pregnant. Baby Watson is about the size of an apple. We are pretty excited. Carly Beth says she's happy she's going to be a sister. Just like last time, we won't find out what the baby is or tell you what names we like. We are difficult like that! There are truly so few surprises in life.

Other than that, things are normal. Carly is learning to read and we are through letter "G" with school. Things are good at the farm. We now have two mules and four pigs to go with the cow and 25+ chickens.

The simple country life is truly for us.

Won't You Join Us?

Family and Friends,

Todd and I have been discussing how important it is to us to teach Carly Beth about being generous. We have done research looking for a way she can participate and we can impact children in our community. We've decided to collect books for the Barium Springs Home for Children.(http://www.bariumsprings.org/index.cfm) "Barium Springs serves North Carolina's children and families by providing a caring place to live for abused or neglected children, early childhood development for low income families, counseling services and foster family programs. They also offer behavior treatment in a school setting for troubled teens as well as early intervention services for children still living in the community."

Barium Springs has numerous needs for their children, but we chose books because Carly Beth loves to read and because we truly believe that books can impact children's lives forever. They need books for infant, toddler, and preschool aged children. They can be new or gently used.

If you'd like to join us in blessing these children, we are going to collect books until Thanksgiving and then travel to drop them off the weekend after. Barium Springs has homes in Statesville and Wilkesboro, and we are hoping to have enough to split between the two homes.

"Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone." - Andy Stanley

Thank you,
Mandy

Location:U.S. 321,Hickory,United States

Family Reunion

My family hosted a reunion on the farm today. I was in charge of decorating.






We had a table full of old pictures...even one from the 1800s.



Carly Beth loved playing outside all day.



It was a long day, but a good day.

The Newest Member of the Family

He doesn't have a name yet...I think he looks like hot chocolate.


He is a Brown Swiss and his eye lashes are super long.





His call translates to "Please Don't Leave Me..."

Carly and the Crabs...

Crab traps were set out yesterday and now we are having them for lunch! Carly was a little scared of the crabs at first but she finally got a little brave :) 

Homeschooling Update

     Two weeks of homeschooling down!! CB has done amazing! She loves school, most days she begs to do it a couple times. I am so blessed by her eagerness to learn. 
     We are through letters A and B. She's done great with learning words that start with each letter and learning to write them. We are still working on writing letter B...Carly Beth's looks like a dumbbell. 
     Carly's favorite part of school is learning to read. She's doing great. Just another 10 lessons and she'll be reading words. 
     Homeschooling is definitely an awesome adventure for us. I'm so excited to share this with Carly Beth and with you :) 

My First Book Review: One Call Away by Brenda Warner

It would be hard to read Brenda Warner's memoir and not find at least one challenge in her life that you do not identify with. I am amazed at how candidly she writes of her emotions through each event. So often, people who don't understand what you're dealing with look at you like you have two heads when you're honest about how you're feeling. I genuinely appreciate the sheer honesty in this book. While reading, it was as if an old friend was just sharing stories from her life.

Excerpt from Chapter 39:
"I am a former marine. I have a nursing degree. I've lived on food stamps, and I've lived on millions of dollars. I have been divorced, and I've been married to the man of my dreams. I've watched my seven children grow and succeed beyond my wildest dreams, I've watched one baby suffer permanent brain damage and blindness and two babies dies before they ever lived."

I finished this book in just over a day. It is beautifully written, and a page turner. It's a gentle reminder that even the most honest plans we lay out for ourselves rarely go that way. God takes us places we never dreamed of and shows us that His plan may not be the easiest but is always best for us. We are all on a journey to redemption.

Disclaimer: A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review by Thomas Nelson Publishers. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to post a positive review.

Today was our Third Day...

Today, Carly practiced writing her name, we colored several "Letter A" coloring pages and did our reading lesson.

After dinner, Carly and I made some (semi-homemade) Apple Dumplings. She did most of the work other than cutting the apples. She is going to be quite the little cook!




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Our Second Day of School

First of all, if you haven't picked up a copy of "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" for your preschooler, just do it. Carly Beth is 3 years and 2 months and she is really doing awesome. She begs to read every day.

Anyway, today was "A is for Apple" day. Carly's favorite part was eating her apple after class. But anyway, she practiced writing her letter A's and she described and colored some apples for our Alphabet Scrapbook.













Practicing our letter M and S sounds from our reading lesson.

Carly Beth's First Violin

This is Carly Beth playing her "violin" when we saw the Moore Brothers play Friday night...

First Day of (Home)Preschool

This morning was awesome...






We cut with scissors




We reviewed the alphabet...









We reviewed writing the letters...




AND...CB got her first (not inherited) Little Critter book!




We read it four times in a row...she's still reading it now actually.

What a great first day!