Here are some pics that Xi took last week. No help, no suggestions. We just let her go with the camera and this is what came out of it…I’m biased I know, but I have to say she might have quite the eye! I only editted two of these, and that was to crop her toes out of the shot on one and the other was with the fish and the flash was reflecting on the glass in the corner of the picture. Enjoy!
Peace!
Peace!
For anyone who hasn’t tried this, now is the time. It is so much fun and the kids love it! Even Xi gets in on the fun. Lola is getting super fast and is almost ready for more complicated “stitches”. For now, here is an awesome tutorial with the story of the Farmer and his Sheep. Enjoy!
Peace!
Just a quick update. For everyone who wondered about my last post, I am just fine…it is sometimes difficult to see someone in a much different light than they had presented themselves after thinking you know them fairly well. So after surprise and shock over this discovery, I am totally fine and actually feel a bit lighter and less manipulated. So it just wasn’t meant to be and all I can hope is that this “friend” finds her way and discovers her inner light once again. I can’t be anything more than I am, and I do try to find the good in everyone. So with that said, all is well…I am happy…and no need to discuss anymore. Thanks for your concerns though!
Now on to farm news. I’ll post pics in a bit but I wanted to update on things going on around here. Baby goats are growing fast! At a week old today they are already jumping, running, head butting and scampering around tasting cedar bark, leaves and anything else they can find. They are so amazingly cute and still smaller than the cats..haha! Mama Kubra is doing well except her leg seems to still be bothering her. The day she gave birth she was limping and I checked her out, not finding any injury or swelling. We thought maybe a baby was sitting on a nerve. After birth she seemed to be getting better, but the past 2 days she’s been limping again and even carrying her leg up when walking/running at times. She does put her weight on it when she’s eating, but not so much when walking. I checked it all over again this morning, lifting her hoof up to see if something was stuck in there, squeezing all the way into her hip, etc.. She didn’t flinch or act like I was hurting her in anyway. She’s eating and drinking fine and babies are nursing up a storm happily. The only thing I can think of is maybe there is something further up in her hoof that I just cannot see and will need to get her to let me do a longer examination this afternoon. If we need antibiotics, I can call my friend who is a vet, but I don’t think she has any infection. It just seems to bother her more than hurt her, if that makes sense. Other than that, she’s doing great! She’s such a good mama and her babies are thriving.
We’ve been doing more gardening, getting our veggie seedlings into the ground and rearranging and maintaining our herbs and ornamentals in the front. Everything was so happy to get a good soaking rain Friday and Saturday. When out this morning they were just thriving; lots of growth and blooms. The veggies are amazing and it looks like we have about 20 tomato plants that will make it…yikes! That’s alot of tomatoes…haha! We are going to do some upside down pots and then some in the ground. I have a bunch of volunteers coming up as well, along with volunteer pumpkins. I don’t know if the pumpkins will bare fruit, but the plants are super healthy so I’m leaving a few of them to do their thing and hopefully we’ll have some pumpkins this year! Cucumber seedlings are strong too and on their 3rd set of leaves. I have about 8 to get in the ground along with the 6 I already planted. Peppers are also thriving. So far so good! This year I started all my seedlings and instead of getting super attached, went ahead and culled the ones that were weak and repotted the stronger ones in bigger pots to help them thrive a bit more. They are doing great! So hopefully we’ll have a more successful tomato year this year. I am late with my basil seeds, but figure I’ll get them in the ground anyway. The lasagna garden we started last fall is full of gorgeous, healthy dirt now, so things should thrive. Radishes are going in this week as well. Oh, and I got my heartier lettuce seeds going too.
Both farmgirls are growing like weeds and doing great. Lola has decided she wants to try first grade in the fall. My immediate reaction is to continue homeschooling, but we also believe that if we allow her to try and in turn it maintains her trust, then hopefully that trust will continue as she grows. We’ve always told her we’d let her try if she wanted, and we don’t want to go back on our word. We can always pull her out if it’s just not working. We figure we’ll try for 6 weeks and then re-evaluate. Xi is doing good too and changing everyday. She’s turning into quite the little artist. I keep her artbox within reach at all times now. It’s nice to see her express herself like that. Both girls were under the weather this weekend, but seem to be fine today. Lola even went jogging/walking with me early this morning!
So life continues and we move forward with it. That’s about all anyone can do, right? We are some of the lucky ones for sure! We have an amazing extended family, consisting of not only blood family but a healthy group of friends all over the country. We have our healthy, thriving, wonderful children and now grandson. We have a home of our own and now gainful employment once again. We have love. And are one step closer, everday, to the Peace we desire.
So cheers my friends and family! Peace!
“There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.” ~ Lord Buddha
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature.” ~Abraham Lincoln
“Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Just walk beside me and be my friend.” – Albert Camus
Just wanted to send a shout out to Carol and a congrats on opening her new Etsy shop, Fairy Tale Nightmare. Seriously some super cute things in there for kids and grown-ups alike! The finger puppets are to die for!!! Check her out!
The girls and I had a wonderful week with my darling Jonathon, Kim and our gorgeous little grandson, William. Xi couldn’t get enough of the baby, and neither could I! Such a calm little man. Jonathon and Kim are doing alright too. She was very ill and had to be back in the hospital for a week 3 days after giving birth. Her blood pressure skyrocketed. Fortunately, Jonathon’s dad and step-mom were there and able to take quick action. She was one sick mommy! She’s doing great now though . We are talking about them moving up here and have offered our studio if they want it for temporary. We have some work to do on it, but have alot of help and donated time and materials, so it’s definitely doable. There is more opportunity for them in Austin, and it would help her finish school without having to go back to work and put William in daycare. So we’ll see what they decide. We had plans to finish the studio anyway, this is just making it more motivating right now!
On the farm front, we were thrilled with the arrival of Kubra’s babies yesterday afternoon! First one arrived at just about 5:30 and the next was around 6:15. I was the goat midwife and she did great! Two little boys who are just beautiful. We don’t plan on keeping them past weaning, but it will be hard to let them go too. Haha! Fortunately we have good resources with our friend, Cindy from Paleface Feed. She will most likely keep one of the boys and we’ll swap for credit in the store…and then she will help us find a good home to the other one. Kubra is going to be an awesome milk goat too, based on how she let me handle her during birth. And she’s a really good mommy too!
I’m catching up after a week away, but the love of my life did alot of work while I was gone, so I came home to clean windows (inside and out), a scrubbed down kitchen and all the laundry done. Those 3 things are life-savers for me..haha! Thank you darling!
On Saturday, Lola got her ears pierced! She did great and is excited about this new chapter in her young life.
I’ll update on the goats, for now, enjoy the pics! Peace!
My darling little grandson was born on March 27, 2009 at 6:12 pm. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 5 oz., 20″ long and is just the most beautiful baby! We are all just madly in-love already and cannot wait to hold him and snuggle him! We’ll get to do that next Saturday and I just cannot wait!!! He looks almost exactly like Jonathon did at birth, except William has almost black hair like me and my family.
Welcome my darling boy!! I just can’t wait to see you in person…
Peace!
Just wanted to say happy birthday to my big 6 year old! I can’t believe she’s 6..:)
Happy Day my beautiful girl!
(Some pics from the years…enjoy!)
So this weekend we ventured out of our immediate area and went to spend Saturday at the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park in Stonewall. They were sponsoring a kite day out there for children and taught the kids to make old fashion kites out of paper and fabric strips for tails. The girls had a blast designing and coloring their kites. Once they were finished, everyone went out to the field and got to try them out. It was so exciting when they flew! X was thrilled and said it felt like it would lift her off the ground. L ran and ran with hers and kept it up for quite awhile. The weather was gray and cold, but the breeze was just right so we didn’t mind it.
After the kite flying, we loaded the girls up in their new wagon along with lunch and set out for a picnic. Along the way we saw Longhorns and even crossed a bridge!
We saw a statue of LBJ and a beautiful Redbud blooming amongst the end-of-winter gloom.
Along the way to the picnic area, we stopped to tour the Sauer-Beckman Farmstead. This is a living history farm that is run just as it was in 1915. It was fabulous and we learned quite a bit on our little visit. They reuse everything, right down to empty bottles in the garden. X really liked the sheep and chickens walking around. There was the blacksmith barn with all the tools hanging and giant colanders they use to cook outdoors and when making sausage. It is definitely worth the drive out there and we plan on visiting again soon.
After lunch the girls played on the swing set, then we packed up and headed back through the nature trail. It was really beautiful in there. We came to where the Longhorns were and the White Tail Deer were out and very curious. X was especially excited to get up close and personal.
By the time we got back to the car the girls were tired out and fell asleep almost as soon as we pulled out of the park. We drove into Fredericksburg and looked around but didn’t get out. It is a really interesting German town with alot of history. That will be our next venture out in the Texas Hill Country. We had such a wonderful day, and realized it cost us nothing except the gas to get there. You can’t beat that!
Sunday we spent working around the house and J did yard maintenance in the back – trimming trees, pulling weeds, etc.. Alot of work actually as he cleared the entire back of our property. We were tired but satisfied by the end of the evening.
Today is just beautiful out and the girls are enjoying themselves immensely. How wonderful is it for kids to sit outside in the fresh warm air, enjoying the sunshine and eating Popsicles?
Hope your weekend was just as fun! Peace!