Merry Christmas 2014

After a very long (much too long) hiatus, the Fetch Clan is back!  As much as we enjoy documenting our activities, it’s the many activities that keep us too busy to post.  Our goal for 2015 is to provide weekly updates.  There…I said it..so now it’s out there in the universe and I need to keep up with that goal.

Christmas 2014 has come and gone.  Our Christmas week was a blur but we did manage to enjoy the day with a delicious Christmas meal, gift exchanging, and cookie eating!  Here’s a quick glimpse…








I need to post these cookie recipes!  They are our favorites…jam sandwich cookies, snickerdoodles, and eggnog cookies.  The eggnog cookies were a new addition this year and they quickly became a favorite!  We’ve already had requests to make them again next year.

We’ve added some new faces to the Fetch Ranch.  In the first photo, take a close look at what the kids are holding.  Yep, GOATS!  We got 2 Nigerian Dwarf goats several weeks ago.  They are adorable!  Since they’re so young and small, they are living indoors while we bottle feed them for a few weeks.

The kiddos were excited to finally get iPhones.  According to them, they are the last teens on the planet to get smartphones!

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The excitement of the season for us was bittersweet as we said goodbye to Bob/Dad/Poppy just before the holidays.  Rest in peace.  We love you…you’ll be missed.

What I Did Over Summer Vacation

This summer is just zooming by…and the kiddos returned to school last week.  We tried our best to keep them busy over the summer.

Early in the summer, the kids went to camp for a week.  They always have such a great time!  Jessa even called one night to see if she could stay another week.

Once they got back home, Joel worked several days a week with Dad and spent a few days a week volunteering at the local hospital.  As excited as Joel was to earn some money, he really enjoyed volunteering more.  He was eager to go every day!

Of course, working so hard every day can make you very tired!

Jessa spent several days honing her skills while working with me at our business office.  She was a big help with getting some files put together and organizing some dreaded paperwork.

Midway through the summer, Joel hit a milestone…his 16th birthday!!  He planned a whole weekend of activities he wanted to do.  We went out for bowling and pizza one day.  The next day he requested a nice steak dinner.  It was a real treat for all of us!  But the biggest event was Joel getting his driver’s license and a car!

Such an exciting time for him!  New found independence!

Jessa started cheerleading and loves every minute of it!

We took some time to evaluate some of our cooler-month projects…

…like cleaning out some the jungle….but we completed some other important tasks too (more details to come!)…

while Milo took a dip in the pond…

He is getting so big!

My personal favorite part of the summer was spending time with this handsome fellow:

We make a great team and he is the best partner I could imagine.  We got so many things accomplished around the homestead this summer….I’ll share sometime soon.  We are ready for cooler temps…hopefully that’s right around the corner!

Happy Birthday Jessa!

Later this week, Jessa will say good bye to being a tween and hello teen years!  She celebrated this weekend by having a few friends over for a blue-and-red themed sleepover.  Who knows why it’s called a sleepover….those silly girls were still up at 3:30am giggling and chatting!  There are bound to be some naps in order this afternoon.
We made sure the girls had lots of things to do so no one could say “I’m bored!”  In case you are ever in need of ideas for a teen girl’s birthday, here’s what we planned:
PROPS!  We left lots of funny glasses, hats, and novelty items around just to keep them laughing and entertained.  They even put on skits using the props.

HATS! Markers and plain birthday hats were left out so the girls could decorate their own.

GAMES!  The girls searched for safety pins in a bowl of rice.  Much harder than it sounds but they had fun trying.

They also played Telestrations, which is really fun!  We blew up a beach ball with questions written on each segment.  They tossed it around the room and whatever segment their right thumb landed on was the one they had to answer.  Truth or dare was of course played throughout the night.  We also had the girls decorate their own cupcakes.  There may have been more icing just squeezed into their mouths than on the cupcakes, but they seemed to have a good time nonetheless!



Happy Birthday Jessa!!

Jessa’s birthday weekend got off to an exciting start with an additional birthday….the arrival of Mali’s calf Milo on Friday night.  Please check out the new Fetch Ranch tab at the top ribbon to read more about our homestead activities!