Swim Lessons

 The girls took swim lessons for the last couple weeks (Vivs at a level 4 and Olivia at a level 5 - this is a notation for me so I don't forget next year).  I was glad that we were able to make time for it this summer!  

Mickey, the Rooster

Mickey, the rooster lived alone in the greenhouse for the winter because he aggressive with the other chickens.  I wanted to get rid of him long ago, but the girls couldn't bare the thought of it unless he went to a very good home.   So finally we posted him on craigslist and found another chicken lover who was looking for this particular breed. The girls loved him up before he left.  Even the cat tried playing with the rooster with no luck of any love being returned.  He was a handsome young lad!

Girls Bake Up A Storm on Their Snow Day

School was cancelled today for the girls (not the boys...they were not happy).  So they worked for hours in the kitchen baking all sorts of goodies, including cupcakes, cake balls, muffins in the Easy Bake oven, and chocolate dipped marshmallows & biscotti.  

 They then made play money and sold items to each other.  The boys were sure happy to see all their creations when they got home for school.  We are all on a sugar high here!

They worked so happily all morning.  They were only sad when they had to clean up their huge mess!

Corbin Takes the Girls on a Date

Corbin was so kind to take Olivia and Vivian on a date to Linder Farms (where he worked the past month).  They were thrilled to see part of the corn maze and to buy a few treats.  Thank you Corbin for being such a good big brother!

Bye, Bye Babies

This summer we bought a billy goat, three does, along with three baby doelings from the owners who originally sold us our fainting goats.  Now we have the complete family!  

The girls say their goodbye to the baby goats who were sold to another goat lover.  Later we also sold three of our wethers (boy goats who can't reproduce) so now we are down to seven goats, consisting of Dumbledor (the billy goat), Oliver (a Nubian wether, and obnoxious clown), and five does.  We are hoping to have a bunch of fainting baby goats in the spring!  

Milky (the black and white goat shown above) was a favorite because he was very sweet to people and like to shake your hand.  Patches was also a nice boy.  However, Milkshake was the least sweet even though he would eat out of your hand, he didn't love people as much as the others.

First Thursday

We had a girls night out to First Thursday - Olivia, Vivian, Tisha, and me.  We stopped by the Art Museum to look around and watch the ballet dancers perform.  It was all very weird to me - I guess I don't appreciate all types of art.  When we were browsing through the museum, Vivian said "What are we supposed to do here?"  I would never pay a dime to go...it's free on first Thursday.  I caught a picture of some weird cave men before I was politely told not to take pictures...now do you call that art?

Then we walked around downtown and enjoyed some chocolate sampling and bought some flavored peanuts, Smoke Jumpers and Afterburners (great flavors).  Then we started hunting for Waldo, who is hidden in several downtown shops!  We got sidetracked at Zeppole's and enjoyed a sandwich (we found a great deal- whole sandwiches are only $2.50 after 4pm). 

40 Mixes & Bread

 

Olivia made up 40 mixes individually packaged meals today!  She made 10 Tortilla Soup mixes, 10 Chicken Noodle Soup mixes, 10 Chili mixes, and 10 pumpkin quinoa pancake mixes!  For every 10 mixes, I paid her $1.00 (she is earning money for another gerbil). I'm loving all this kitchen help.

Tortilla Soup Mix & Chicken Noodle Soup Mix

 

Vivian is learning how to use the bread-maker.  The first attempt she confused the sugar and flour.  Then the second attempt the salt was doubled.  Fortunately she caught her mistakes before they were baked, so we just dumped it and started over.  The third time was a success!  I hope she makes us lots of yummy bread - way to go Vivian.

Spring 2012 Ballet Recital

 

    Olivia & Vivian are excited for their dance recital!

Olivia is a fossil in the Carnival of the Animals

The girls are happy that cousin, Lacy comes to watch their recital!

Here is the whole gang!  The boys endured the recital, it's not their favorite thing.

Vivian, Emily, & Olivia (I didn't get a picture of Allie - ?)

Vivian is a music student!

Vivian Builds a Snowman

Vivian made the cutest snowman with carrot nose, monkey hat, scarf, stick hands, and eyes.  We haven't had very much snow this winter, so she was thrilled when I told her that homework could wait until later.  Our snow doesn't last long, so you have to take advantage of it when it's here.

Ballet Recital Jan 2012

 

 Getting ready for the final performance!

 Yeah, Olivia just finished her performance.  This is behind the curtain.

 Vivian's class danced to Hopscotch.  I stayed backstage with them and kept them busy until it was time to dance.

 Friends for a lifetime!

 

 

Last week Olivia and Vivian performed in their ballet recital.  They both did very well.  It was a long day (11 1/2 hours away from home) because of them being in separate performances and rehearsals, but they had fun!

Vivian Snuggles with Smokey by the Fireplace

Vivian stayed home Tuesday and again today from school.  She has a scratchy, sometimes sore throat that needs to go away.  She was able to nap this morning so I'm hoping that her body recovers - especially because she has a ballet recital this weekend!

Chicken Update

Vivian is loving up a chicken.  The chicken decides she wants a taste of the sucker, too!

We are enjoying the chickens, all 15 of them!  They are now laying eggs, somewhere around 8 per day.  There may be others that we are not finding.  Most of them lay in their nesting boxes, but yesterday Olivia found 11 eggs in the bottom of a basement window well.  So she climbed down the ladder and collected them - they were all good.  This morning we caught a chicken in the window well so we know one of the secret layers.  I don't know why that like that spot because it would be a pretty tough flight out!

I took a picture from the inside of the window through the screen (don't look at the yucky track).

Tragic Day: We Lost Junior and Oreo

Why we love Junior

·        We love him is because he is so funny.

·        We also love him because he follows us around like a dog.

·        He is so cute with his long floppy ears.

·        He is also cute when he cries like a little baby.

·        He was a very good goat.

·        He always jumped on us.

                   Why we love Oreo

·       We love her because she is very funny when she faints.

·       We also love her because she is very cute.

·       She was a very good goat just like Junior.

·       And she would always let us catch her then, let us pet her.

·       Oreo was nice, playful, funny, and gentle. 

    

    P.S. They’re in Heaven (written by Olivia & Vivian).

 

Oreo is the black and white one in the middle of the picture.

This morning started out as a normal Sunday morning, until Olivia told me that she could see Oreo laying on the ground like he had fainted (which isn't normal longer than a second or two).  From the window, I could see him laying on his side with his legs straight out in front of him.  Olivia told Paul the news so he quickly jumped out of bed.    I knew that the news wouldn't be good, because they never lay like that.  So we went out to the field to investigate to find that Oreo had died a tragic death by some mean animal, probably a coyote.  The remaining five fainting goats were off together in a corner of the field look traumatized.  Then we wondered where Junior, our baby Nubian, goat was. As I was walking around the perimeter of the fence, Paul found Jr. dead.  We were just both sick of the news.  We knew that this would be devastating news to the girls.

We told them the news and they were completely heartbroken, like I have never seen before.  They cried and cried as I comforted them on the couch.  Meanwhile Paul and Corbin dug graves for the two goats.  Paul told me that Corbin talked about this at church with the young men.  He said that digging the graves reminded him of the pioneers burying their loved ones.  He wondered why is it the sweet and innocent ones that die.  This also affected Paul's day,  I know it was hard for him to see them this way.  I could tell that it had hit him hard all day.  The girls drew pictures of the goats, decorated balloons with their names, and then we made sugar cookies spelling out the goats' names.  Fortunately they were able to find some relief from their grieving at church and a Logan's 8th birthday celebration.  But as soon as I tucked them into bed, it all came flooding back and they were sobbing again.  It was an emotionally draining day for all of us.

We all fell in love with Junior because he was so playful.  Tisha said he was "cartoon-like" because of his fun little happy run.  The girls played with him before and after school.  He was the favorite animal because he was so loving.  He would cry whenever he saw someone because he wanted rescued out of the pasture.  He just loved being loved.  I will miss him, too.

It is all a lesson to our family that we never know when the last time you will see a loved one, so make the most of the present moment.

Another Year of Ballet

 The girls started ballet again (these photos are from their second week). They are both beautiful ballerinas.  It has been fun to watch them progress through the years.  This is our fourth year with this studio!

Vivian's Field Trip

 Today I went on a first grade field trip to a family farm, just a couple miles from the school.  They learned about cow's milk and the cream on top which they made into butter.  They were shown how to make cheese and then helped make ice-cream.

Then the class broke up into groups and did many fun stations.  After seeing their little farm, it made me thankful for my few animals.  I would not be excited to milk cows twice a day, plus keep up with all their chores and yard work.

 Here the are learning about sheep's wool and how it it is made into yarn.

 They loved the friend llama!

 Why would you have emus?  What good are they for?

 Vivian loved her horse ride.  She would love to get her own horse, but I'm not going for that idea.

 Vivian is working hard on this grapevine wreath.

 This hen was sitting in a bucket (that was being watched by a boy).  He said she was laying an egg.  I didn't take him serious, even though she was squawking quite a bit.  But a few seconds later, there was a brown egg laying in the bucket!

 This ram kept butting against the fence.  I'm not sure if he was friendly.

 Here the girls are standing under the chicken's roosting braces - the chickens were just wandering around in the tall grass.

 They had the opportunity to plant corn.

 Here they are with Mrs. Hill (their teacher) as she pulls out the ice-cream container from the antique ice-cream maker.

The kids loved this merry-go-round like thing.  Here they are sitting still as they are enjoying homemade ice-cream.