Update on Seth.

Thank-you for your prayers for Seth's ankle. It is now almost fully recovered - he tested it out playing volleyball at a friends graduation :) - and the swelling is gone down completely! PTL!!! :)
We have enjoyed having him around the house a little more, both from rain days and from his sprained ankle. While he was home, he took the time to install two new windows and replace the front porch screen door!!! Thanks Seth!! (And Grandma!!) :)
 

Happy Mother's Day....................

..................to the Best Mother Ever!!! :)

"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, he praiseth her."
Prov. 31:28


Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!!! We love you!!!! Thank-you for being our Mommy!!!!!!!
Thank-you for always pointing us to Jesus, for always being supportive to Dad and always doing your best to meet each one of our needs!!
It is no easy task to be a Mother, and a grandmother-at the same time!!! How does some-one meet the needs of all her children with all their different needs?? From a 24-year-old married daughter to a 18-month-old son!!!!
Thank-you Mommy, for your sacrifices, for your example, your cheerful smiles and the special times you spend with each of us!!!!!
May God Bless You Each and Every Day!!! :)

Love,
Seth, Esther, Noah, Elizabeth, Tabitha, Moses, Micah, Charity, Phoebe + Silas!

Happy Birthday Uncle Dan!!!

In honor of Uncle Dan's big 50th birthday tomorrow (May 9th), we have recorded a special video!!
Happy Birthday Uncle Dan!!!!!!!!!!! :) We love you!!!!! :)
To view the video;
http://www.clipshack.com/Clip.aspx?key=FFA0FCEB6F555915

Caption Needed??

At Dad's suggestion, we are having a caption contest for our previous post; "You're Never Too Old for a Little Mud". If you have a caption for Esther's pictures; please comment. Our favorite will then be transfered to the post. Thank-you!!!

You're Never Too Old for a Little Mud!!! :)

Trying out some new type of skin treatment Esther?!?!?! :)



 

Elizabeth's Quilt.

This week I finally got around to taking pictures of the quilt I was able to make this winter, and thought I would share some.
I really enjoyed working on this quilt, and I am very pleased with how it turned out. I was really excited to learn how to quilt, and I had excellent teachers!! They showed me some of the quilts they sewed when they were much younger and it was amazing!!! :) The colors don't seem to show up so well here on the blog,
but at least you can't see all my sewing errors very well! :)


A close-up shot of one of the blocks. 

The Garden!

Yesterday I went out to take a few pictures of the garden. As you can see, Noah had just finished weeding this row. One of the 3 rows of beets. Beets are a favorite here at the Ulmer's, and we're all looking forward to when they are ready to harvest!


The onions are in front, with the peas in the middle and then more onions and some garlic in the back.


Cabbage plants!! Yum-Yum!!! :) 

Trying Again...........

Okay folks, until I get figured out what part of the URL is messing up transfering video clips onto here, I will just give you all the link. It might take a few minutes to load right at first, but it does load up fully. How fast it load might depend on how fast your computer is..........I hope you all can view it. Hopefully, I will get it all straightened out so that we can maybe put video clips on here on occasion. I will try and get it all figured out as I have time.
Awyway; HAPPY BIRTHDAY Aunt Dorie!!! :) We love you!!!!
The link to the video clip is; http://www.clipshack.com/Clip.aspx?key=E4B02EAA2A814BA2
Let me know how it turns out this time, and thank-you for your patience!!! :)

Testing

In Honor of our dear Aunt Dorie's birthday, we have the video clip to share. (You will find the clip in the next post, so scroll down.) Last night when I uploaded it, it wouldn't play through. I am thinking it might be my computer. If you stop by and see this, please leave feedback so I know if it works or not! Thank-you! Signing Off; I Remain;
Your Ulmer Family Reporter.
(I must be tired!)

Happy Birthday Aunt Dorie!

http://www.clipshack.com/Clip.aspx?key=E4B02EAA2A814BA2
Trying to get it figured out.......................maybe this will work!

Home Life!

Moses, Micah and Charity working on Spanish translations.


Phoebe working on her alphabet sheets.
We are charging through the last few weeks of school here at the Ulmer home. Some are closer to Summer break then others, but in general, everyone is finishing up their last assignments.
We have 150-200 chicks coming every other week now, and already have two batches (4 weeks and 2 weeks old) in pens and one batch still in the brooder coop (1 week). We are scheduled to begin butchering around the end of May. We will butcher the last of the spring batches (hopefully) in mid July. Because of the intense heat we have in August, the birds don't grow well so we are skipping that month. We'll do 2-4 more batches in September, and finish butchering around the beginning of October. Our total for this year will probably fall in the 600-800 range as we aren't doing quite as many as we did last year.
Besides butchering chickens, we are also in the process of nailing down a date for butchering our 2nd steer, James. His companion, Thomas, was butchered over Thanksgiving '05 and has provided our table with yummy beef. James is headed for slaughter sometime this month or the next month.
Please pray for Seth. After letting his ankle rest for 3 days, he felt able to walk on it enough to go to work. He returned Tuesday and Wednesday without incident. This morning while helping to move a heavy piece of equipment, his foot slid out and he re-sprained his ankle. He came home and has it on ice again. It is very black and blue and feels horrible. Please pray for a swift recovery. Thank-you!! 

Thanks to the hard work of a friend (thank-you, Austin!!), we now have our computer repaired and back here at home for daily use. It is so nice to have it working for emails and such, and it makes posting on the blog really easy now too! :)

Things are keeping busy around the Ulmer house. Seth was playing basketball with some home-school friends Friday night and sprained his ankle. It kept him pretty still for the week-end, but it must be feeling better today because he spent the afternoon fixing the lawn mower and then mowing the yard (which needed to be mowed badly)!!! Tomorrow he hopes to return to work, if he can move around on it enough. It was wonderful to have him around the house a little more this week-end, and today.
We had a lovely day on Sunday with our friends the Edelmans coming over for home-church and lunch. The Ansons joined us too, and we had a great time of fellowship.
Scott and Lydia stayed for supper with us, and we had one of those fun family meal-time conversations. You know how it goes; you are all just talking about the weather and the upcoming week and then some one makes a comment and then the conversation is suddenly on what would happen if your eyes were on each shoulder instead of on your head.........:)

Dad is getting down to the last 3 weeks of the term at the school where he teaches. It is hard to believe the school year went that fast!!!
We'll keep you updated. Now that the computer is back, we'll be able to post more often.
Signing Off.

Little Man; Big Feet!! :)

 

Spring has most certainly come!! The weather is lovely, and everyone wants to be outside (you know they really want to be outside when they offer to clean out the chicken coop!!!) :) playing or working.
The garden is starting to require more attention. We are really picky about what weeds we allow to grow in there!!! :) Sometimes it looks more like a wild weed garden then a vegetable garden!!! Noah has worked really hard to get the seeds in the little hot-bed and now they are big and ready for transplanting. The only problem is, we're not quite sure what to do with 100 cabbage sprouts and 100 broccoli sprouts and so on!! :) Yesterday Noah harvested the first of 3, 5-gallon buckets full of spinach!! Yummy!! Even though we all like spinach, that is a lot!!!
Esther is getting anxious to start her flower garden in the flower beds in front of the house. She is starting a collection of different seeds to start soon. Last year she had terrific results and if this year is anything like last year, we will be able to enjoy the beautiful colors all summer long!! :)

Dad and Mom took a little 3-day weekend away last week. They attended the Mid-West Home-school conference in Kansas City. They had two days for the meetings and a extra one to pray and think over what they had heard. Seth and Esther did a great job holding down the fort at home while they were gone. Dad and Mom really enjoyed the conference and had a wonderful time.

The computer is hopefully going to be repaired sometime in the next 3 weeks, so Lord-willing, we can maybe start up regular posts again sometime soon!!!
Have a Blessed Day!!!

Esther's Senior Photo Shoot.

Esther and I have been working on getting pictures taken for her graduation this June. Here are a few of the pictures we took.








Favorites Anyone??? :)

The Rest of the Visit

While the Kroekers were here, we pulled out the chocolate fondue fountain that Andrew and Rebecca gave Dad and Mom for their birthdays.
Enjoying the yummy chocolate!!! :)


Some of our younger ones enjoyed dress-up;
from left to right, back; Tabitha, Kyle and Katy; front; Phoebe, Kelsey, Charity and Micah.


Saturday afternoon we experienced a good deal of rain and wind as heavy storms blew through the area. But things cleared off andwe all enjoyed a long walk down the lane. The guys climbed the huge rock down the road and posed for this shot.
We had a wonderful time with the Kroekers!!! Come Again!!! 

Birthday Meal.

The second week-end in April, we were delighted to host our friends, the Kroekers in our home. They came for a 3 day weekend and we had a lovely time!!!!!! Because they came the day after Dad's birthday, Mr. and Mrs. Kroeker decided to take Dad and Mom out to eat for supper. A fine resturant not too far away offered to serve the meal. Scott and Lydia made a terrific supper and the parents had a great evening visiting. Elizabeth enjoyed caring for Paul and little Karly Kroeker (a month older then Paul).


Mr. and Mrs. Kroeker at supper.


Dad and Mom at supper.


Waiter Scott.


Waitress Lydia.
For some reason, this post is not allowing me to publish all the pictures I selected, so I'll have to get a new post for the rest. 

Wissmann Visit.

In early April, we were thrilled to spend a day with our friends the Wissmanns. Since the Wissmanns also have 12 children, it made for a full house-lots of laughs and special memories!!! :) It takes a lot of food to feed a group that size! :)


Moses, Stephen W. and Micah take a break after a morning of sports.


A bunch of Wissmanns and Ulmers gathered around Dad's lap-top watching funny video clips!! :)
What a great day!! Wissmann Family; Come Again!!! 

We've Been Busy!!!

We have missed communicating with all of you through this blog, and we hope to be able to resume posting regularly soon. But while our computer is still "under the weather" we are really appreciating the computers at the library!!!
We were delighted when a late winter (or was it 'early spring') storm blew in our way the last week in March. We received between 6 and 8 inches of snow, some of which melted off immediately. Besides snow, the storm also 'blew in' family members; Andrew, Rebecca and Justice! While we were pelted with snow, they were pelted with rain which kept Andrew from work and allowed them to take 2 days to come up North to visit 'the home folks'. We had a lovely time with them, and as the Anson household joined us, it was a lovely day of family time. Dad and Seth were both off from work and we got to get in a couple of hours of sledding; our favorite winter past-time!! The younger ones started a snowman but the snow melted before he could be completed!!!! :)
It was a joy to have the Shepards here. Having the two nephews together is such fun!!! It is amazing how fast those two guys grow!! :)
Now I'll put a little humor into this post, I think by the end of the story, you will be glad that technology has not yet made a way to transfer smell through the computer!!!! :)
It is one of those cool, spring mornings you read about in books. It is around 8:30 am and everyone in our house is up and about, cleaning up from breakfast and finishing last-minute chores before school starts. With the weather so lovely, all the windows and doors are flung wide open to allow the cool breezes to filter through the house.
Suddenly, a not-so-lovely smell starts to filter into the house (through all those wide open doors and windows). "It smells like there is a skunk outside this morning. Maybe one of the dogs got sprayed by one" some one comments. As the smell becomes more and more severe, some one is sent to peer out the windows to see if there is a skunk in the area. Our peaceful morning was rudely disrupted with the announcement "There is a skunk in the flower bed!!" Sure enough, our little visitor had been spotted by Roscer (Noah's Rat Terrier) but Roscer was unable to subdue the skunk without help, so he cornered him up against the house. The skunk was really annoyed by the barking dog and showed it by showering everything in sight with his 'perfume'. We shut the windows on that side of the house, hoping to eliminate the source of the smell and hopefully is would be driven to the other side of the house and out those open windows.
Thankfully, the skunk finally got around Roscer and headed off to make his presence known elsewhere. (He was intercepted by Noah and the shotgun before he made it under the barn.) Although he had left, Mr. Skunk left his mark and we 'enjoyed' the aftermath of his visit for the rest of the day. Ah, life on the farm!!! I think Roscer should stick to hunting rats...:)

No pictures this time, stay tuned, we'll post a bunch when our computer is up and running again!!!

Computer Difficulties.

Although computers are a blessing and a big help in many areas, it seems they break down far too often. We will not be posting here for sometime due to numerous computer problems. Hopefully, we should be able to start posting again in a few weeks, once we get everything straightened out.

Our Joy Girl!!

Phoebe is our little ray of sunshine!!! She is very joyful and sensitive with a bubbling, sparkling, smiling attitude that is a delight to watch.
Here are two recent pictures that capture a glimpse of her personality!!! :)
All dressed up; prim and proper for a dainty tea-party at Scott and Lydia's.


Trying on Seth's work hat and sun-glasses!! :)
I thought those two shots were too cute to pass up!!!! :)
Anyway, today we had a semi-typical day, Dad had to work over-time at school last week and this week so they rewarded him with a day off. He worked at the factory in the morning and then came home and got Mommy for a little 2 day get-away. :)
We are finishing up the school for this week, straightening up the house and enjoying the mild weather!!! We got some rain Wednesday, and it sure is a blessing. We had barely any snow this winter and we really need the moisture.
Noah, our faithful gardener is working hard to get the garden soil in top condition for planting. For most of the vegetables, it will be a few weeks until they get in the ground but the potatoes are ready for planting. Noah also has several seeds started in the mini-greenhouse which will later be transplanted.
The rain also urged our daffodils, irises and tulips to pop up little green shoots. We look forward to seeing the flowers they produce!!!
Signing Off!!!!

The Birthday Meal.

Our family tradition is to give the birthday boy (or girl) the privilege of selecting a special meal on their birthday. Moses decided on shrimp stir-fry, a yummy treat indeed!!!!!

Esther cooks the shrimp while Moses looks on excitedly!!! :)


The finished product; rice, carrots, celery, onions, peppers, zuchini- all that good stuff!!!


The completed meal..........steak strips for those who don't care for shrimp, the shrimp and veggies.
Happy Birthday Moses!!! :) 

Happy Birthday Moses!!!!!!

Moses with Justice 2/11/06
We are celebrating today!!! Today is Moses' 11th birthday!!! Happy birthday Moses!!!
We are so thankful that you are in our Family!!! We love You!!!! :) 

Another Nephew!!!

And here is the other adorable little nephew, Paul Anson, who is a growing young man too at 3 months and one week!!! Ah, nephews!!!! 

Pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay!!! This is exciting, we've got pictures!!!!!!! This is our very cute little nephew, Justice Shepard! But of course, this is a 'old' picture, taken when he was only 2 days old, and now, he is a growing young man at the age of 3 months!!!
Wow!!! Stay Tuned, now that I've gotten this figured out, we'll be posting lots of pictures!!! (Hopefully!) 

Correction...........

Last year, as we celebrated Mom's birthday, there was quite a arguement on how old she was turning. Unfortunately, I came away from the celebration thinking Mom was a year older then she really was, so I put on here that she was 48 years old.
But, let it be known that today, Mom is 47-years-young!
(Sorry Mom!!!!)

Happy Birthday MOM!!!!!!!!

Today we celebrate Mom's 48th birthday.
Happy Birthday Mom!! Thank-you for being our Mom-you are the best!! May God Bless you for your constant care for this family!!!!! We love you!!!!! :)

Life if busy!!!

It is always nice to have a 'down' day, relaxing, spending time as a family, and getting prepared for another week. This past Sunday was such a day for our family, and it was nice!!! The weather was nice so we children spent a bunch of time outside, playing volleyball. It actually seems like we are getting a bit better at it!!!! The time the ball spends in the air, in comparison to the time it spends on the ground is starting to even out a little bit!!! :)
Last week Charity got a fever and has been sick up until today. Silas and Micah are sick too, but not as bad as Charity was. The Lord has been gracious and (so far) no one else has gotten sick!!! Please pray that the sick ones would soon recover!!!

Yesterday was Scott and Lydia's first wedding anniversary.........has is really been a year already!!! It seems like yesterday we had just met Scott!!!! And now, they have one year of happily married life under their belts, the sweetest little munchkin on earth (besides his little cousin!) and years more to look forward to!!! Happy Anniversary Scott and Lydia!!!!!!! :)
That's All for now!