Our World

Parenting Myself

2010-06-15T19:29:00.004-05:00

Do you ever do this? I mean, we ALL do it... It's just that those of us who are parents notice it more. ;)

* We make ourselves go to bed after prying ourselves away from the TV, internet, etc.

* We make ourselves eat healthy even when we really just want a brownie.

* We make ourselves do our chores in a reasonable time.

* We set limits every day on the things we allow ourselves to do.

Well, sometimes I do these things, but yesterday I was noticing how lazy I have gotten. I have hidden it well under the guise of "I'm an adult now! I deserve to do what I want! All those years people told me what to do and now I can (insert thing of choice)."

I am pretty consistent with my kids. We help them make good choices pretty much all day. (This came in REALLY handy during my 4 day struggle with Vertigo. I was SO grateful that my kids knew how to clean the house. It was one less thing I had to worry about. Judah also poured Gideon breakfast cereal without me telling him to. And, miracle of all miracles, he SWEPT up the cereal he spilled in the process!!)

We are always talking about why we do things (chores, eat healthy, less sugar, rest, etc).

The other night I was thinking about feeding the kids and waiting to eat till after they went to bed so that I could just eat the junk I wanted to eat. This would be fine if it was something that only happened once in a while but I've noticed my flesh getting the better of me. I laughed thinking that I would not allow my kids to do this and I was almost glad that I was not my own parent!!! Because I just knew that I would "hate" myself. (rolling my eyes)

I realized that I need to be more diligent in the choices I make for me and not let myself get away with so many things. :)

Of course, I'm NOT saying that you have to give up that bowl of ice cream you eat with your significant other at night when the kids go to bed... There ARE certain perks to being an adult. Hehehe!!!

Serious Summer FUN!!

2010-06-10T22:34:00.002-05:00

Okay, since I haven't blogged in about 10 months I am going to assume that I have NO readers left. hehe It's not like I had a big following anyway and the really funny part was that I thought that my parents (and the inlaws) would enjoy seeing pics of the kids online. My MIL did. My parents... well dad kept forgetting to check it and my mother loathes (no exaggeration) computers. PLUS- the kids broke my camera about 5 months ago and as a result I have NO new pictures. What's a blog without adorable pics of my kids. :(

I still don't have any pictures but I didn't want to forget about the fun times we are having so I am blogging tonight to preserve memories... especially since I STILL don't have a digital camera- SIGH!

The last 2 summers have been hard. I had surgery last summer and recovery and physical therapy made it hard to do anything really fun. I couldn't get the sling wet, it was too hot to sit in the sun and sweat in a sling I had to wear 24/7, etc.

The summer before that I had pneumonia. My dad also had to have 2 surgeries that summer so I made 2 trips to Ohio. Getting my energy back after the pneumonia was really hard. Also a disappointing summer for me and the boys.

You see, I LOVE summer! Hot weather, water, sports, flowers, sunshine, playing in the rain cuz it's warm enough, slip and slide, beach, riding bikes, ice cream, etc... I love it all. :)

THIS summer- I am DETERMINED to suck all the marrow out of it. We've already started doing that. Homeschooling ended at the End of May for us this year.

We've already:

gone to the beach

drawn on the driveway with chalk and played Snail

spent time outdoors just enjoying the sunshine

I watched the boys ride bikes while I sipped expensive iced coffee on the porch (way more than once)

I hardly EVER wear shoes outside now...

Oh and I introduced the boys to Klondike bars. I thought it was high time. :)

We've ordered take out at the end of the hot days. (*cough* more than once)

Today was a fun excursion.
After rest time, the boys and I hiked up to Little Falls. (A favorite spot). We bought food before the hike and ice cream on the way home. :)
Usually we just take sandwiches but I'm all about the extravagant experiences just for now. ;)

About 1/2way down the path Thomas had stopped to get something out of his sandal (AGAIN) and my back was to the path. He yelled,"Mom look out!!" I whirled around and let out a HUGE SCREAM. I saw something barreling towards me but it didn't register (till I scared them 1/2 out of their minds) that it was 2 harmless adorable puppies and not some giant woodland animals about to attack me. They were the cutest red hounds I have EVER seen... well since that "Where the Red Fern Grows" movie. ;) (The book was WAY better by the way)

They followed us to the waterfall and the boys had a GREAT time playing with them, for over an hour, until their owners came and found them. They were sad to see them go.

Things I don't want to forget about today:

The way Judah looked standing under the heaviest spray of the waterfall.

The first time his suit started to slip off while he was under the spray.

The SWEET way Thomas "took care" of Gideon while we were hiking.

The way Judah freaked out every time it thundered (I prayed it would pass over- God answered my prayer) and ran to me and said, "I die with Mama!" To which I rolled my eyes and said, "We're NOT going to die! Quit saying that! You're freaking Gideon out!" So he changed it to, "I'll LIVE with Mama!" as he grabbed my hand. HAHA!!

The time when Judah fell in the stream and cut his elbow and hit his funny bone at the same time and as he was struggling not to cry I said in a very serious voice, "That's your funny bone Judah. Why aren't you laughing? You're supposed to be LAUGHING!" Which totally cracked him up and then he couldn't stop laughing for several minutes. I love that kid.

The way the 2 olders held the puppies and just loved on them.

All three boys hiking with the dogs in pure boyish glee. While I walked behind an reminded them that we have THREE dogs at home that eat PLENTY!

The way the waterfall reminded me of how powerful God is. Every time I stood near the spray and felt the power... It was just an awesome experience.

The looks on the boys faces when I got them big ice cream cones on the way home.

Ah, I just LOVE summer!!!

Zoo field trip!

2009-08-26T22:46:00.008-05:00

Michael drove all night bringing the two new alpacas home on August 9-10. The morning of August 10th we (the boys and I) headed out to Greenville zoo for most of the day. We left at about 6:30 and arrived at about 8:00am. The boys were THRILLED that we had the park to ourselves for about an hour and a half.

They were especially excited that this thing did not have it's usual long line. I really get nervous when they are on it. It's like a neck injury just waiting to happen!

But THEY love it. :)

Gideon giving biggest brother a ride.

He's really into climbing things... He's a boy.

See? :)

My oldest two FINALLY learned to start themselves on the swing this year. I could hardly contain my excitement!!! Thomas got going really high here.

Judah was not feeling safe that high so he kept it a little lower.

Gideon cannot start himself and since the shoulder surgery I really should not be pushing him so he just had fun a different way.

Planes go high!!!

I like how Judah matches the truck. lol!

I'm finished swinging now Mom.

It's climbing time now!

Thomas had to get in on the action.

Gideon joined them too.

Only, he wasn't too sure about it once he got a little higher. :)

They love to spin on these things. It makes my stomach churn just to watch.

Gideon went at a slower pace thank goodness.

TWO HOURS later the zoo finally opened...

Elephants are so cool!

They really are!

The boys thought the lemurs with their loud shrieking noise were the coolest thing ever!! (They've seen them many times but I don't think they've ever heard them make that noise up close before.)

So cute!

We're having so much fun!!

I think the giraffes have got to be my favorite animal here.

I'm also partial to tortoises.

A fun time was had by all.

First Day of School Pics... about 4 weeks late.

2009-08-26T22:31:00.004-05:00

My crazy homeschooled kids have no idea that summer is supposed to last as long as possible. So, they begged to start school the last week of July... so we did. :)

Here are pics from the first day...

Special first day of school breakfast and NO it was NOT healthy!!! Normally we make muffins at home but I wanted something fast that day. Lemon cake from Walmart with Fresh strawberries and whipped cream.

Gideon "smiles" this way for the camera now. EEK! If I want a natural smile I have to catch him unaware. LOL!

My Thomas!

There is no need for backpacks here at Basics and Beyond Academy but we do get them new school supplies each year. The usual; scissors, glue, pencils, erasers, etc.
This year they also got colored baskets to keep them in. The gifts were a big hit.

Gideon loved that he got scissors this year like a big boy!

I hope they are this easy to please in a few years.

Then again, I got practically giddy with excitment purchasing the supplies so there's hope. LOL!!

New Additions

2009-08-11T21:52:00.005-05:00

Well, Cocoa Powder isn't exactly a "new" edition (we officially bought and paid for her in December) but she is now living here!!!

I don't know if I made this public here or not but after the excitement of the beautiful boy cria she gave birth to in June, a definite loss was felt when he died about 2 weeks after birth. He was fine for about 10 days and then suddenly took sick. The other farm did all they could for him but in the end it just wasn't enough.

This proposed another problem besides the loss of the cria. Pregnant girls cannot be TOO stressed or they will lose their babies. No alpaca wants to be alone (you cannot have just one- ever!) and she was going to have to travel about 8 hours to get here. :( So, Erin gave us a great deal on a pet fiber male. This is a male who didn't quite make their herdsire cut. :) He's a beautiful silver grey male that we named Silver Bullet. :) We call him bullet for short. He seems to be fine with that.

Cocoa and Bullet are adjusting well to our farm. They aren't used to living in a small herd and they aren't used to as much interaction from 2 legged things as ours are. Today though I saw definite progress. I walked about 5 feet away from Cocoa and she didn't bolt. That's progress. When I went to hose them off this afternoon she came right up next to me to let me do it. :) I think I have found a way to her heart. hehe They are also getting used to our dogs. Cygwyn is ENAMOURED with Cocoa. He just follows her around. It's hilarious. She hates it. She is so skittish. But she's getting used to him. :) Destiny is helping out too by loving on me and showing her new buddies that I am okay. She's such a doll!

I have some pictures for you to see but I have to warn you... Cocoa photographs horribly! She is really pretty up close but bay blacks are hard to photograph since their eyes get lost in the darkness of their faces. We really have a rainbow of colors out in the field now.

See for yourself...

Grazing together

"Oh look! Mommy's here!!" Bottle babies are always special. :)

"Oh it's the 2 legged thing again."

Such a looker!

Ignoring me

Goofy look. She really is pretty in person.

Such a sweet girl.

All together

The "boss" of the pasture. This was taken after I hosed down their bellies. :)

Sleep well everyone.
Blessings!-
Angela :)

2009-07-28T16:12:00.007-05:00

If you have to wear a sling for 6 weeks... Fashion ones can be fun! I ordered it off EBAY. Ignore the tired look on my face. I was exhausted. :)

It's especially cool if you already have a zebra print shirt. LOL!

I also got a John Deer one! Pretty cool huh?

About a week and a half ago we went over to my friend K's pool for an afternoon. It was a MUCH needed outing after being cooped up with the boys for several weeks since the surgery.

"I think I'll just watch cuz my mommy can't get in."

"MOM! Watch me swim underwater!!"

When they both did it at the same time it reminded me a bit of a show at Sea World. LOL!

Diving board fun. (I pouted on the sidelines. Don't worry the kids didn't see me pout. I was very discreet.)

Nice one Judah!

This was a nice dive by Judah.

Thomas flying high

"You want us to try WHAT?!"

I love this picture. I was worried however that they would land on each other's head. Didn't happen. I was greatly relieved.

"I'm not too sure about this."

"I think I can do this!"

SPLASH!!

Thomas tried to dive but mostly belly flopped. He told us it didn't hurt. (Yeah right!)

Noodles are so much fun. :)

I told Judah he reminded me of a jet ski. :D He loved that.

So they spent the afternoon having a water fight. :)

Gideon finally got back in!

He blew lots of bubbles. :)

A fun time was had by all. K, thanks so much for blessing us like that!!

Shoulder Update

2009-07-07T15:57:00.002-05:00

Here's the scoop for those who don't know...

My surgery was last Thursday.

All didn't go exactly as planned.

I ended up having to stay at the hospital for quite a few hours after the surgery. I was under anesthesia much longer than expected and got sick from it.

Things were worse than they thought and the dr ended up going in and suturing tendons back together.

The whole recovery was supposed to take around 6 weeks originally.

Here's the scoop now-
The doctor and physical therapist say that I have to keep my arm in the sling and immobile (except for twice weekly PT) for six weeks. That will be hard. Then, I am looking at 3-4 months of physical therapy, and a total of 9-12 months before my shoulder is fully functioning again.

Pray for me that I will not go crazy. Thank-you.

TGIF!

2009-06-26T12:26:00.002-05:00

Well we have almost finished another summer week here and I just have to say, "I SO love summer!" I would love it even more if I didn't have to deal with this shoulder thing. It makes playing with the kids harder! But, I can be thankful that I still have one shoulder. :)

The boys have had swim lessons the last 2 weeks and they have enjoyed them. The only prob is that, this year, not very many kids signed up for lessons so they put the whole age group in one class and didn't have levels. Most of the things the boys did they learned last year. Michael and I were a little frustrated because we wanted them to progress but they did learn to patiently wait even though they were bored. (This is a good life skill.) They also fine tuned some of last year's skills and that was good. So, it wasn't a total waste of money. :) They enjoyed being in the water for 2 weeks. Gideon just took the pre-school class again. He did learn to jump in by himself, dive for rings, and kick and move his arms simultaneously. He still can't keep himself totally above water without help but he is getting close!

Yesterday we went to a friend's pool and we had a great afternoon. The older boys are swimming like fish now. It's SO nice to be able to sit and slightly relax while they swim. The big surprise there was Gideon. He hasn't liked jumping in at the pool because he doesn't like to go under for long. Yesterday I had a life jacket on him because of my shoulder and he decided he wanted to jump off the diving board like Judah and Thomas. I told him to go ahead. Karen and I moved into the deep end and away he went. His smile was HUGE when he resurfaced. He did it over and over!! I was so proud of him. YAY!

I'm not sure what we are doing this weekend. I'm hoping to do our monthly shopping for July on Monday. I need to get that out of the way before the surgery on Thursday. :)

I hope that y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings!-Angela

Busy Busy Busy!!!

2009-06-20T18:06:00.002-05:00

We're all doing just fine here. :) We've just been crazy busy. What have we been up to? Well, I'll tell you...

First of all we're busy doing summer things; playing outside a lot, drinking lots of water, and hosing down the hot alpacas.

The boys started swim lessons last week and they will finish up the session this week. The coach is going S L O W L Y! In fact it's too slow but at least they get to be in the pool and have fun with other kids. :)

The alpacas are doing well despite the high heat. If you scroll down to the post before this one you will see the new alpaca news. :)

Our worship pastor called me on Tuesday morning and asked me for a favor. The choir is doing a service of encouragement through song tomorrow and one of the women who had 2 solos had to go out of town for a death in the family. :( He asked me to fill in for her. So I have been BUSY learning 8 songs this week, two of which I have solos in. OY! It's been FUN but definite work. Please pray for a strong voice anointed by Him tomorrow. My vocal chords are tired from all the hours of rehearsal. THANKS!

Michael's mom was here a couple weeks ago and we had fun spending time with her! She's such delightful company. She is so easy to please and not critical! We love her. :)

Michael and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on June 12th. We went away for the weekend. That's the first time we've ever done that! The boys had a fabulous time with good friends of ours who stayed at our house for the weekend and watched not only our boys but took care of the animals too. We are now indebted to them for LIFE! Hehe!!

I guess the only other thing is my shoulder. I don't remember posting about it before here. Here's the deal...

I noticed some pain in my shoulder about 4 (or so) months ago. It gradually got worse until it was pretty painful a lot of the time. I finally went to an orthopedic surgeon. I had already tried resting it and slinging it. He gave me a Cortisone shot and I waited 3 weeks. I got A LOT of relief from that shot. Then, I went back for a second one. Didn't finish it off. Tried physical therapy for a few weeks. Didn't help. Doc ordered an MRI and found out that I had 2 things wrong. Bursitis and arthritis. WHAT?! I'm only 32!! Anyway, the bursitis is swelling and the arthritis is swelling and they are irritating each other and pinching things and impeding movement, causing lots of pain, etc.

I am scheduled for surgery on July 2. Please pray that God will guide the Dr's eyes and hands. Pray for a complete and total healing!!

I know that I COULD PROBABLY try to rest it and do enough PT to bring down the swelling but it's pretty much impossible with the 3 young boys and the farm. I just have to do too much. Plus, I forget not to do things. I cannot sling it all the time because it could "freeze". That would be BAD! So, I feel, that this is the best option for me at this time.

After surgery I will have 6-8 weeks of Physical Therapy 3Xs a week. Fun, fun!!

So, that's what's been going on around here. :)

Hope that all of my readers and friends are having a wonderful summer!

Blessings!-
Angela :)

It's a BOY!

2009-06-20T17:57:00.003-05:00

We have a new addition at Sweetwater Farm! Well to be exact, Mommy and new cria still live in VA. We will re breed her there, next month, and pick her and baby boy up probably in August. :)

This is not the greatest pic but you can still get a glimpse. :)

Cocoa and baby are the darkest ones in the pic! Cocoa looks weird because she was newly sheared. Hehe!!

We are SO excited! I can't wait to bring them home to live HERE!

Family Day At Stone Mountain

2009-05-21T18:53:00.014-05:00

We don't give a lot of presents on birthdays here. Usually, we go a special place to celebrate. This year Thomas wanted to go to Stone Mountain park. It's a great place!
His real birthday is tomorrow and Daddy will be working. We will take a field trip to the zoo tomorrow. :) However, Daddy wanted to go with us to Stone Mountain. Here are some pics from today. Enjoy!

Gideon has been asking for weeks now to ride a train. He was so excited!!

He does not LOOK very excited because he was wanting me to get on with them, not take pictures. Hehe!

He wanted to ride that one too and was disappointed when I told him it was just there so we could see it.

Michael bought us all a chocolate snack for the train. Thomas is eating a chocolate covered marshmallow.

So is Judah.

Gideon chose the chocolate covered Oreo. Isn't that a sweet little cookie face?

And we're off. He was so mesmerized!
We all enjoyed watching his expressions.

After the train it was lunch time at Miss Katie's Sideboard Restaurant. Thomas is pretending to be a King. The table was BIG and Michael said that's what he felt like.

Judah loves having his picture taken.

The Great Barn. It was a fun place to play for awhile. There are different games you can play inside. They all involve foam balls. Michael's favorite involved the guns you could shoot with the balls (of course!).

After the Barn, Michael and the boys decided to go on the Sky Hike. It looked awesome but with my shoulder thing I couldn't do it. Gideon was too little anyway. So, while they were suspended in the air on a ropes course, Gideon and I went on the train again!!! Yeah! He fell asleep almost as soon as we pulled out of the station.

Here is the relief carving on the side of the mountain.

It's really quite something!!

What a goof! I wanted to take our picture so, of course, he put his hand over his face. :) Silly boy!!

Isn't this the sweetest picture EVER??!!

AS we were walking back to the Sky Hike to see how the boys were coming, we saw the bubble man. Gideon loved that!

The guy made HUGE bubbles!

Michael said that both of the boys were scared during the "hike". He was really proud of them though because they both worked THROUGH the fear and finished the course. Thomas was afraid the whole time but Michael said he kept saying, "I'm NOT going to let the fear win!" Judah was afraid in the beginning but Michael said about halfway through he just took off on his own and didn't even need Daddy next to him! Yeah!!! That's HUGE for him!

Thomas is waiting for Michael to cross.

Here he comes.

Oh look! Daddy spotted Mommy and Gideon...

and decided to clown around for the pictures! I rolled my eyes of course.

Since they were only about 1/2way through... we went on a short walk.

Gideon was just fascinated by

this waterwheel. He watched it for awhile.

Okay back to the carving, it's HUGE! It really doesn't look so big from far away.

But in perspective... this is a tree.

Here's some info I gleaned from the web:
The entire carved surface measures 3 acres (12,000 m2), about the size of three football fields. The carving of the three men towers 400 feet (120 m) above the ground, measures 90 by 190 feet (58 m), and is recessed 42 feet (13 m) into the mountain. The deepest point of the carving is at Lee's elbow, which is 12 feet (3.7 m) to the mountain's surface.

Gideon wanted to climb too.

He was so cute!

He enjoyed himself immensely. I enjoyed watching him!

This is what we saw when we returned to the others. Thomas being brave.

Judah waiting his turn.

Look at him go! He's got it now!!

Every once in a while though he would get this serious look. I'm sure it had something to do with the height.

C'mon Thomas!

You can do it!!

DON'T LOOK DOWN!

It really was HIGH.

There was a small rope course for little kids. After the big boys completed the real course this was a cakewalk for them.

They practically ran through it. LOL!

Gideon could do it too but he needed a little help from...

Goofy Dad!

At the end of the little rope course there was a zipline. That was a HUGE hit!!!

Even Michael tried it out.

Judah loved it too.

Can you see the sheer joy on Thomas' face?

He was like an old pro.

Gideon's first try.

Gideon's second try. He kept falling off after about 10 feet. He just kept going back over and over until he

GOT IT!!! YEAH GIDEON!! Look at that beautiful smile!

Thomas was pushing Gideon and there was music playing. He started moving the stroller like he was dancing. It was so funny! Gideon loved it.

These last two aren't from Stone Mountain but I just couldn't resist...

Some people have normal woodpiles...

Others landscape their woodpiles.

Scary isn't it? Heehee!!

Boyhood!

2009-05-19T21:49:00.002-05:00

My boys are always doing boy things. Sometimes this can be, um, challenging. (Mothers of boys understand this statement I'm sure!)
While I was taking pics of the dogs yesterday, this is what the big boys were doing...

Let's work together and see if we can tie this piece of stump to the rope and make a swing!

Let me test it and see if it will hold.

We got it! Now how do we get on it?

Judah always uses his head in situations like this. :) Smart boy.

I held my breath knowing that it would fall off in a few minutes. It did but thankfully it didn't crush anyone. :)

Puffy? Dogs

2009-05-18T22:53:00.004-05:00

Well we had these great big puffy/poofy dogs...

They looked like this...

and this.

BUT NO MORE! Michael shaved them. Now they look like

THIS!

AND THIS!

Cygwyn, how do you like all that nice cool air?

Thank-you my kind Master for making me Georgia summer ready!

Isn't that wild?! I still do a double take. It's almost like they are HUGE hounds or labs or something. :)

Putting it Into Practice

2009-05-18T11:14:00.002-05:00

If you are confused you need to read yesterday's post. :)

Psalm 138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple
and will praise Your Name
for Your love and Your faithfulness,
for You have exalted above all things
Your Name and Your Word.

Thank-you Lord for Your love and Your faithfulness! Thank-you that because Your Word is true that all your promises are also true! You are so good to us!

Everything? Really God?

2009-05-17T13:00:00.002-05:00

Our interm Preacher has been preaching for awhile out of the book of Ephesians. I wasn't able to make a lot of those Sundays because the business had been so crazy busy. We have only been going to Sunday school and then leaving so Michael could work. Well, I've been there for about a month now and I must say- WOW!

A little background: I have always been a very black and white person with a lot of passion for Jesus. These are just things that God put in me. :) These things can be good but the negative side to them is when you get legalistic and prideful, etc. :)

In the last few years I have been really working on many things but I haven't always spent as much time in the Word as I used to. I have also been realizing that not EVERYTHING is black and white. (Go ahead, laugh! Really this was a big revelation to me!) Sometimes people are in different places in their walks with the Lord. Some verses are open to interpretation. Anyway, I have been working on extending grace. This is also a good thing. Except that, I have extended a little too much grace with myself. I realize where I have been lax in certain areas. Today I was reminded of another area. :)

Ephesians 5:15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I haven't been living as carefully as I could be. In some areas I have grown tremendously! In others- not so much.

I was reminded today that I don't give thanks for everything. I definitely don't give thanks enough during the hard times. Part of that is that the last 10 years have been really hard with lots of struggles and rough patches, new lessons to learn, old habits to break, betrayals by friends, etc. I have gotten out of the habit of simply giving thanks to God.

In His mercy, He gave up HIS LIFE for me on the cross. His life!! He also gives those of us Who choose to follow Him the precious gift of the Holy Spirit! He is always with us. He holds us during the rough times. He laughs with us during the good times. He is faithful! He is truth! He never goes back on His promises!

So many things to be thankful for! I'm going to make a conscious effort to give thanks MUCH more often. I want to "make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil". God is good! He is worthy to be praised!!

What has God done for you lately? What do you have to praise Him for?

Happy Boy!

2009-05-03T13:53:00.003-05:00

Okay, I feel I must preface this with a statement... We definitely have bad attitudes crop up here. There are lots of stubborn faces here as well. Apparently, though, my kids cannot make a sad face on command. I have proof and it's HILARIOUS!

Okay Gideon. Make a sad face for me, please.

You call that a SAD face?

Try again.

Nope. Not even close.

C'mon Gideon. You can do it. Again.

GIDEON! heehee

Thomas thought he would give it a shot. He was just as hopeless. (and let me just say that, not on command, he is very dramatic and makes the saddest faces around here)

But on command, that's as close as he could get.

I think that's more contemplative than sad dear boy!

Even Gideon's recent black eye couldn't make him frown.

It was a beauty!

He and Thomas bumped heads. OUCH!

He proudly posed for pictures.

It turned many shades before it faded.

I love my Happy Boys!

I Don't Get It

2009-05-03T13:45:00.001-05:00

If you know you are going to be disciplined for writing on the wall...

WHY OH WHY would you SIGN YOUR NAME????!!!!!

I laughed for a good long time over this one.

EIGHT

2009-04-30T17:59:00.002-05:00

JANE tagged me for this little exercise. :)

Here's how 8 THINGS works:
- Mention the person that tagged you.
- Complete the lists of 8's.
- Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends.
- Go tell them you tagged them!

8 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Summer
2. Singing at church on May 17th
3. Stone Mountain for Thomas' birthday in May
4. More time with friends
5. Shooting my new gun
6. Losing weight
7. Leaves on the trees
8. Making alpaca garments

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Exercised
2. Ate
3. Feed animals
4. Cleaned up animal poop
5. Did the monthly shopping
6. Helped at my boys' Awana hike.
7. Sang
8. Played my guitar

8 Things I wish I could do:
1. Ride horses (I'm very allergic)
2. Sleeeeep Innnnnnn
3. Stop talking so much
4. play the flute
5. Leave the mess in the kitchen
6. Have more patience
7. Eat whatever I want to with no consequences
8. Sleep through the night

8 Shows I watch:
1. The Biggest Loser
2. DWTS

I tag whomever wants to be tagged. :)

DATE NIGHTS

2009-04-28T22:01:00.005-05:00

Every once in a while I like to take all the boys out separately. Judah goes with me, then Thomas, and then Gideon. This is especially helpful when we are having lots of discipline issues. :) It's a chance to reconnect and tie some heart strings. The older boys LOVE to go to the local coffee shop. They call it "the pretzel place". It's really named the Perk Up. They call it the pretzel place because this shop has the best soft pretzels in town and sometimes, on special occasions, I take them there and get them each one, or one to split. The other draw for them is that there are board games you can play. The boys love this. Those pretzel shop owners sure are smart. ;)

Here's how the date nights came about this time...
We (Judah and I) were having a terrible time on Tuesday. His behavior was horrid. My attitude was horrid. It was not good. So, I decided that we needed a date. We ate together at Quincy's and then went to the Perk Up to play games. That's when he fell in love with Monopoly. We had a great time. Our relationship needed it. :) He had just finished his second grade math book that day and I said it was a celebration!! We went by Walmart on the way home (of course) to pick up a few things and he bought Monopoly with some of his birthday money he had saved. (I can't even save money for 2months!!! He's an awesome kid!)

So, Thomas was REALLY wanting to go on a date to "The Pretzel Place". However, he still had 24 pages left to do in his Math book. Wouldn't you know that the child sat down and did them ALL in one day on Friday!! He was SO DETERMINED!!! It was impressive. Normally he is DONE after 2 pages. For real. His eyes start glazing over, etc. hehe TWENTY FOUR PAGES!!!!! So, we went out to celebrate together. Here are pictures from the date.

YEAH! It's my turn now!! We're playing Candyland while we wait for our food. :)

Special hot chocolate!

My attention span is much shorter than Judah's. Let's play a different game!

Chutes and Ladders will be a good choice I think.

We ate sandwiches and drank our drinks. We also shared a soft pretzel- of course. :)

I think this was our fourth game after Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and a very brief partial game of Monopoly. Connect Four!

The boy actually beat me twice!!! I was so ashamed!! I was also proud of him. :)

We had so much fun!! So did Judah and I. Gideon is counting down the days till he can go with me. I think we will skip the coffee house though. We'll do something like the park for our date night. :)

Blessings everyone!-
Angela :)

Outside Fun!

2009-04-20T22:37:00.004-05:00

When you have 3 boys close in age...socialization is not really an issue. There is always someone to play with. :) They have been enjoying their swing set more this year than the last 2 years. They have a "fort" on top. They have lined it with hay. :) They are unconventional children and like to stand on the slide. I don't mind. As long as we don't have to go to the ER it's perfectly fine with me. :)

Gideon still prefers to sit. Thankfully. :)

Judah loves to have his picture taken. He's such a handsome big guy!

I love big dogs!

They are fun to watch when they shake.

They are always together. They are good buddies!

They are fun to take pictures of with the kids.

There is just something so cute and funny about watching 100+ pounds puppies wrestle together. :D

See what I mean? :)

Blessings!-
Angela :)

FLEECE!

2009-04-20T22:17:00.004-05:00

Bags of fleece are beautiful things! I'm just imagining the possibilities!! :)
I also like running my hands over the fleece. Especially Delight's because she will not let people touch her normally. heehee

The bag on the left is Destiny's fleece. Delight's first cut is in the middle and second cut is on the right. The first cut is the "show blanket" and the second cut is the neck and leg fiber. All of the blanket can be used at the mill. Some of the 2nd cut can go. I will have to wade through it. :)

Destiny's fiber is a pretty color.

She also has a nice crimp structure to her fleece. Crimp= more value. We like crimp.

Look at all that fluffy goodness! She is a beige girl. The reddish color is GA clay.

Have I mentioned that I like to touch it?!

Shearing Day!

2009-04-19T21:26:00.006-05:00

Though it went pretty well, both the humans and the alpacas in this family are GLAD that it's over!! :)

We loaded up the girls around 12:30pm. Yes we took them in the van. They did NOT like the trip. Delight was totally stressed as was Destiny.

You can see the looks of slight horror on their sweet faces.

When we arrived at the farm they were SO glad to be let out. They practically ran over the three boy alpacas who were all waiting in line to be sheared.

When the shearers were getting their equipment ready and started the electric shears up (they sounded like a buzz saw) I thought that our girls were going to just skip the shearing and JUMP out of their fleeces. Poor things. Shearing day really is the most stressful day for an alpaca.

They are SO little and skinny under all that fleece. Well, most of them are. Delight is large for an alpaca and Destiny is a little porky too. But that's beside the point...

So, the shearers started in on the first alpaca. Hampton screeched the whole time. You can imagine what this did for the morale of the ones who were waiting in line. :grin: Jaxson was much calmer. Dante spit and drooled spit pretty much the whole time. It was not a pretty sight. Funny, but not pretty. Heehee

Delight went next. She actually did great! She is 5 years old though so she's seen this whole thing a few times now. It has to be scary to them. Here is a link with pics and it shows the process. This is not our shearing day but it's basically the same process... Under the picture on the left, click on the "click for more" and you will get access to all their photos.
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/photos-shear-madness-nc-alpacas-are-fleeced
Interesting eh? :)

While they were down we vaccinated them also. MUCH easier to do while they are tied. Destiny was let up early and that was a little tough. She's a little spitfire and it took three of us to give her the shot. That's my girl!

Speaking of Destiny she didn't squeal while she was being sheared but she did buck and kick while they were tying her legs. Poor baby. I wanted to watch but Delight was so perturbed that they were messing with her baby that she kept spraying spit into the air so I took her for a walk. The group was grateful. :)

After the trauma, we loaded our girls and the bags of fiber into the van. I cannot wait to get this fiber to the mill and then make it into super soft hats, etc. :)

Here are a few before and after photos.

Taken on March 10th.

Taken on March 13th.

Taken on March 27th.

These next two were taken today after we got home from shearing.

Delight

Destiny

Different eh? :)

We're Still Here!

2009-04-11T12:51:00.002-05:00

Life has just gotten so busy since the addition of the animals. of course they were added to: homeschooling, Michael training a new driver, and my newest endeavor. What's that? Well I'm glad you asked. ;)

Weight Loss.

Before the addition of my third child 3 years ago, I ALWAYS exercised and mostly ate very well. Then came Gideon and something happened. heehee

I had gotten down to a great weight last year but then I got pneumonia. Dum, Du-Dum Dum. I had to eat every few hrs (for a MONTH) to keep down the meds. Then, I decided I like that. It all went downhill from there. Since I couldn't exercise I couldn't burn it off.
Well, now I AM burning it off but it's taking almost all of the "spare" time I have. I'm determined though! I just passed the halfway point!! YEAH!!

So that's about all that's new. How boring. Hopefully I didn't just scare off the last few readers.

Other than that, we are looking ahead to a busy summer. Hopefully we can get the boys into swim lessons again. My MIL is coming to visit at the end of May. Michael and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary on June 12th. My parents are possibly coming at the end of June. We pick up Cocoa Powder in late July. Whew!
We will be officially finished with school for the year just in time for all the craziness. :) School continues to go pretty well. We are ready for a break though.

Judah had a birthday in February and turned SEVEN! I was traumatized. :) I do have pics of that and I PROMISE to post them sometime in the near future.

Michael turned 43 last week. His birthday was a quiet, relaxing family evening. He enjoyed it. He didn't want too big of a deal made because he has been working 7 days a week for awhile. He just didn't have the time for a trip or anything like that. So, he requested a special meal. A very thick (1 1/2 inch) Ribeye grilled Pittsburgh style, topped with Blue Cheese Butter (homemade and it's a GREAT recipe), Texas Garlic Toast, and grilled zucchini and squash. The meal ended with a homemade coconut cream pie. That's Michael's favorite and I haven't made one for quite some time. He was very pleased. All the men really enjoyed the feast.

Then he opened presents the boys picked out. heehee

Thomas got him a new tool belt, Judah got "him" a hot wheels track, and Gid gave him 5 hot wheels cars. I gave him a new spatula for the range. Our other metal one he always used went missing. I like the plastic ones. :)

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Resurrection Day tomorrow!!!
I won't take so long to post next time.

Blessings!-Angela :)

Ahhhhhh

2009-03-25T21:22:00.001-05:00

In case you are wondering, that is a sigh of relief! Nobody is sick this week. No animals have died or gotten sick. We have done homeschool every day. Life is looking up!! :)

In fact, even Math has gone well this week during homeschool- for BOTH boys!! I'm in Heaven!!

They had both been struggling just a tad. Judah kept pressing through but I kicked Thomas out of Math for about 4 weeks. (He didn't notice. I just didn't ask him to do any.) This week I started Thomas back and it's like a light bulb went on!!! Yeah!

Today Judah asked to do an extra 8 pages of Math ABOVE his required 2. Hehe. Seriously, was I hit over the head in the last few days and I just don't remember????

We have made homemade muffins twice this week. The boys love them and they love to help. Gideon is proving to be just as avid of a cook as the other two.

OH! This last week has been a breakthrough week for Gid in the speech dept. Most of you know that he is severely delayed. He has been diagnosed with speech apraxia. He is VERY smart (his speech pathologist confirms this) and his motor skills are super but he's about 2 years behind in language. Anyway, he has been working with my friend Karen for about 6 months now and he can say a few WHOLE words now!! Up. Help. and soup are now complete and consistent! We are very proud of him and very grateful to Karen. Also, Karen thinks that he is on the verge of really getting it. She is expecting a big breakthrough soon. :) That would be GREAT!

So, good things this week. Thanks for praying for our family the last 3 weeks. We are all over the flu and sick or dying animals and we are very happy about that. :)

Blessings!- Angela :)

Mommy's Brain

2009-03-20T22:04:00.001-05:00

As most of you know, the last few weeks here have been extremely busy and stressful here. At the end of last week I decided that the kids had been put off for most of 2 weeks with Rico dying, paperwork for the insurance co, Rowdy getting sick, visits to the vet at least 4 times, etc. We hadn't done school (some spring break) and we hadn't really played together much in those two weeks. So, on one of the nights last week (I think it was Thursday) I decided to surprise the 2 oldest.

Michael and Gideon had gone to bed. The other boys were coloring in the dining room. I snuck around the corner and they looked up like they were going to try to talk me out of going to bed. Before they could say anything I said, "Wanna go get some ice cream?" They looked at me like I had perhaps fallen off another planet. (we don't do much sugar here) I smiled and repeated the question. Thomas asked, "Right now?" with a very perplexed look on his cute little face. "Yes! Right now. Do you want to go get some ice cream at Sonic?" Someone (I cannot remember which one) reminded me that it was "night time". I said, "I know. Let's go on an adventure!"

They quickly and quietly got ready lest I change my mind. I think they still weren't sure whether I was kidding or not. We drove there without music which was very rare for me. We enjoyed looking at the stars and the moon. We live in the sticks so there are no streetlights for a bit. You can see them well. We decided that we would go to Dairy Queen instead of Sonic since it was still open.

Judah was shocked when I let him get a whole banana split. (I KNEW he wouldn't finish it!) Thomas got a normal sized treat. For those who are wondering I got the Brownie Earthquake.

The funny part was on the way to the ice cream place. Judah was just sitting there and out of the blue said, "Mom, tomorrow when Daddy hears about this he's going to think that you have something wrong with your brain." I just laughed.

Then he added, "But don't worry, I think that your brain is working JUST FINE!" ROFLOL!!

Alpaca Q and A

2009-03-19T21:15:00.003-05:00

Several people have asked questions... I will attempt to answer them.

A few months ago I was asked and I answered these questions:

Jane asked:Cocoa Powder is so perdeee! to bad she can't give cocoa flavored milk;) If she is giving birth in June, can they bread her and have her ready for shipping by July? Poor girl...nothing but prego for her!

Answer- Yes Jane that is the life of an alpaca. Breed, give birth, re breed in 14-17 days. They don't seem to suffer at all with it. :)

She won't be shipped. We will bring her home in our van. :) Seriously. All the alpaca owners do that. :)

Veronica asked:
OK,
A. How long, or how many times can they breed, give birth, re breed in a lifetime? Still seems tough :)

B. Will she sit in the front seat like dogs do? Or are alpacas too dignified for that?

Answer:
A. They can start having babies at 1 1/2 years old. They can continue having babies all the way up to old age (15-20 years). If a vet recommends you retire them, then you do. Other than that, they are very stoic animals.

B. Haha! Not on the front seat. They are WAY too dignified for that. :)

Jane asked:
how long is their gestation period?
how long do they nurse their babies?
why don't they shave their legs too?

Answer: (3 months later- SORRY Jane)
Gestation period= 11- 11 1/2 months

Alpacas nurse for approx 6 months

I have no idea why they don't shave the legs. Probably because it's too short to spin it and some of the owners might do it for show purposes. ????

A few days ago I was asked these questions:

Jane asked:
why the need for the working dogs???? to keep wild animals away?

and Lea asked: I was also wondering why you need the guard dogs for protection. What is the threat to the alpacas?

Answer:
One of the biggest threats here is the coyote. We also have bears here and bobcats. A bobcat wouldn't take down an adult alpaca but they might a baby. A coyote would try for any of the herd. We also have a rogue dog pack that runs this area.
Our dogs would be able to defend the animals. Alpacas cannot take care of themselves like llamas can.

Lea asked:
Also, why do the alpacas need to have on the covers when they are covered with their own fleece. One would think that their own fleece would keep them very warm but I think you mentioned they can get hypothermia very easily?

Answer:
Healthy adult alpacas don't need coats. They can be out in the snow and be just fine.
In the picture you saw Destiny, who was a few days old, wearing a coat because little crias don't have the fiber length that the older ones do. They need the warmth, so, you use cria coats and you can also use warming lamps.
Rico was underweight a bit and that's why he was susceptible to the hypothermia. Also, he was very ill and we didn't know it. That was probably why he couldn't get his body temp back up on his own. :(

Lea asked:
Are you planning to use the fleece yourselves to make things or will you sell it? It is hard to imagine that the fleece alone would make enough money to cover a return on your investment, but I'm sure it must be or you (and others) would not have gotten into the business.

Answer:
Yes we are planning to use the fleece to make things to sell. We will take it to the fiber mill (located somewhere near here- can't remember the exact location) , get it spun into yarn, and have FUN!
The fleece does NOT cover the investment. The money is in the breeding and selling of the alpacas. The fleece is just a side business/hobby that HOPEFULLY will become more popular in America. It's VERY VERY warm and repels water. It's also hypoallergenic and comes in a WIDE variety of colors.

Kidcraze asked:
When will the new cria be due, assuming her re-breed went well?

Answer:
Sometime in January

Andie asked:
Hey, how is Cygwyn's leg?

Answer:
I had mentioned a few days ago that he developed a pretty serious limp. I also mentioned that we were praying for a divine healing. He limps less every day! Today he was using it almost full weight! We're still praying. :)

Why Alpacas?

2009-03-16T20:09:00.008-05:00

I'm sure that some of you are wondering WHY in the world we got into alpacas. If not, surely some of you are wondering HOW we got into alpacas. If none of you are wondering those and you're still reading I am going to assume that you want something to read while you finish that cup of tea/coffee and get ready to start your day. :)

Here's the scoop:

For like forever Michael had been wanting to have a small farm. He figured that this would be something that would keep the boys busy and earn a little extra income for us.

Idea #1- Chicken houses. Seriously. He wanted chicken houses. I didn't. At all. I made my opinion known and also let him know that honestly if I had to live near them I might throw up; if I ever had to set foot in one I would DEFINITELY throw up; and I also didn't like the inhumane way they are raised. (lights on to overproduce/grow rapidly, crammed quarters, etc) Plus, there is the little thing (HA!) of chicken poop. Ew.

Idea #2- Cattle. This was an idea that I was okay with because I like to eat beef raised without hormones/steroids, etc. Yum! However, I would have been a FREAK about cow poop. I hate germs. A lot. I was okay with this option but a bit nervous about me or the kids getting kicked in the head by a large animal. I also would NEVER have let the kids play in the field with the cows. Two words- Kick & Poop.

Idea #3- Goats. Michael decided this wasn't something he wanted to do. In his words, "Goats are a pain in the butt."

I will add here that I am VERY allergic to horses. I am also allergic to dogs and cats. Different breeds vary on the severity.

One day about 2 years ago Michael came home from the route and told me about this woman he had met (new customer) that had just moved to town. They had a family and raised alpacas. "Al-what?" I said (or something to that affect) He was explaining that she made things out of the fleece of the animals and that they homeschooled, etc. He said they were really nice. I thought, "They sound weird."
I KNOW! It was NOT NICE of me. I'm not saying it was right. I'm just being honest. *snicker, snicker*

Fast forward to the last Sunday in September 2007- Alpaca Farm Day. Yes, there is a national Alpaca Farm Day. Who knew? Anyway, Michael wanted us to visit the farm. He was interested in alpacas. I had never seen one and figured this would be a nice field trip that we could count as school. Sounded good.

We arrived and there were these three beautiful animals in a pen in their side yard.

Donna Juanita

Rico Arcani

and Wade Hampton who I don't have a picture of. (Yes, I do realize that I just ended a sentence with a preposition. Get over it. )

They were letting people pet them through the pen. I was intrigued. I had seen llamas before and liked them but I didn't like that they spit on people. Ew! These animals were about 1/2 the size of a llama (well Donna was, the other 2 were much younger) and much more gentle. Their fleece was so beautiful! I touched it over and over even though the animals didn't necessarily love it. Alpacas are hypoallergenic! Who knew?!! Michael made sure that I RUBBED my FACE all over the animals' fleece. No hives. No wheezing! Wahoo!!

Then I went up the driveway to talk to this petite and very smiley lady about alpacas. I realized they homeschooled. I told her that we did as well. They had 2 teens and 2 young boys. Hmmmm. We have 3 young boys. They were obviously Believers. We are too. Hmmm. Interesting. I practically DROOLED over Rico's picture. I just FELL IN LOVE with that alpaca. I also noticed that EVERYONE else was asking about him too. He was such a looker! A heart stealer for SURE!

Our boys LOVED the alpacas. When we were pulling away to go home I said, "I want to breed those!" Michael said that he was VERY interested too but that we had to go slowly because of the economic status of the country. I replied, "I want Ryan!!" (That was Rico's first name) Gideon, who wasn't saying more than 5-6 words at the time piped up, "PACA! PACA!" We all were shocked! He continued to ask about the pacas over and over for the next few weeks. I started a "Bring Ryan Home!" campaign with Michael. Michael decided that this might be a good time to pull our stocks in the market and buy a few alpacas. We talked a lot with Becky and Lee (who I discovered were NOT weird! Shame on me! LOL! I actually told Becky that story awhile back and she LOL!) and they came over and looked at our property. They told us what we would need to get started. I became "obsessed" with researching the animals, the industry, getting financial information for Michael. I wanted to HURRY so that we could "bring Ryan home"!!! I was worried that someone else would buy him before we made up our minds. Turns out others WERE interested in him. Becky and Lee called to let us know and we made our decision- We bought both him and a pregnant Delight. They would board there till Delight had here baby and was re bred. We would get our fencing up, our shelter built, etc.

We also needed dogs for protection. So we found both the dogs (who were living in different homes) on puppyfinder.com. We bought them and paid to board them at their current homes until we brought the "pacas" home.

Then life got crazy busy and we lost our driver!

During that time the boys and I went over to visit.

I always spent the most time with Rico/Ryan. I LOVED that guy!!

We were there hours after Delight gave birth to a little GIRL cria. We named here Delight's Destiny.

She was such a doll!!

Then we visited even more often! I couldn't wait to "Bring Ryan/Rico home!"

The first week of December we purchased Cocoa Powder from another farm. She will live there until after she gives birth to her cria in June. She will be re bred and then come to live with us here.

A few weeks ago we brought them home for the first time. Two short weeks later our beloved Rico died. It was such a blow! Then Destiny had to go back till her Mom was finished breeding.

Now Delight and Destiny live here happily.

And THAT'S how we got into the alpaca business. :)

p.s. We still love our family pet/border control dog Ginger! Just in case you were wondering. ;)

Update on the Farm Animals

2009-03-12T20:53:00.002-05:00

Okay, so here's the latest...

Yesterday I called the vet in the AM and asked the vet tech if he (Rowdy) had eaten anything yet. He had not. :( I asked if we could come and feed him. She said, "Yes." They suggested chicken. :) We brought him some and he ate a little bit. He wasn't totally crazy about it and we had to coax him but we did get about 4-6 ounces in. :) Yeah!

They wanted to keep him the rest of the day to give another round of fluids and to make sure that he didn't throw it up or have any more diarrhea.

We had to do a bunch of things yest (paperwork for the alpaca insurance for Rico-ugh!, clean a little in the house, go play with a friend's kids who have the chicken pox- here's hopin!!) so it was, again, CRAZY busy here. I called the vet at about 3:00pm for an update. They wanted to keep him overnight again because he still had not eaten anything else. They wanted us to know that if we took him home that we would have to watch to see if he was eating and drinking and peeing and pooping correctly.
I asked if we could come and feed him one more time. If he ate for us we would feel comfortable about taking him home. If he refused then he could stay with them and they could continue to give him fluids. She said yes.

They brought him to us again and he put his paw up on Thomas. That's something he does all the time to show his love. :)

He smelled the chicken and he practically mauled me to get to it. HE ate it ravenously. The tech grinned and said they would removed the catheter in his leg right away! YEAH!

Rowdy came home last night. I just have to remember to give him his meds for the next 8 days. That should be interesting. I don't think I have EVER taken a full round of antibiotics correctly because I tend to forget every so often.

He did fine last night. He ate more chicken and a few dog treats. This morning he scarfed some canned food and this evening he ate his dry dog food!!!! Yeah!!! The poop is on it's way to becoming more and more solid. (I'm sorry- TMI!)

Anyway, he was playful and happy today. He wants to get out of the confined fenced area and back to the pasture. Hopefully by tomorrow he can go back to being with his buddy Cygwyn and his animals. :)

Cygwyn wants to be with him too. They are friends. :)

Oh, and just in case you thought it was all looking good...

Cygwyn developed a limp last night!!!!! AAUUUGGHHHH!!

Hopefully it's nothing. I'm praying for divine healing. :D

Delight and Destiny are doing just fine. Pictures soon. :)

The Continuing Saga

2009-03-10T20:01:00.002-05:00

I wrote this yesterday-

Y'all know that last week was terrible for us. Well, I thought this week would be better. However, this is day three that our dog, Rowdy will not eat. He is a working farm dog an the one that is the best with the animals.

He ate a VERY small amount yesterday. Today, 2 small biscuits. Normally this dog should consume about 4 cups of food a day.

PLEASE pray that God will heal him.

We spent an astronomical amount (to me anyway) at the vet last week with the dying alpaca, the dogs, etc. I really DON'T want to take him in.

The girl alpacas are supposed to be delievered today. Please pray that that goes well also. Delight needs to be NOT stressed about the move, as much as possible.
Destiny should be just fine.

Gotta go. It's NUTS here and I don't do this much stress very well. sigh.

Here is today's update-

He wouldn't eat more than a bite or 2 of anything. :( :(

We took him to the vet at 9:00am this morning. We were there for over an hour. (with all three young boys and a 95 pound dog who was sick. It wasn't that fun.)

He threw up on my foot on the way out of the pasture. I had to lift him into the van (thank goodness I'm strong). He vomited about 3-4 times in the van on the way over. sigh. Thank goodness for bleach. Oh, and I DID have a blanket down but he had moved that and then threw up. sigh.
Most of it did get on the blanket, thankfully.

The vet noticed that he had also had some diarrhea. Poor guy!! The stool sample was negative for most things.

They kept him overnight. They gave him fluids all afternoon as he was still refusing to eat. He is a very emotional dog. I WISH we were there to love him and comfort him. He is our best work dog.

I told the vet that I had tried to force feed him. The vet chuckled and said that Pyrenees will NOT be force fed. I laughed and said something like, "No kidding!"

HOPEFULLY we will pick him up tomorrow. We have to take samples of the alpaca's poop anyway to make sure that they have been cleared of worms.

I was a bit upset when the vet said he wanted to keep him. We just spent a bunch of money last week. SIGH. Such is life on a farm I guess.

Thanks for your continuing prayers. Thomas is upset that his puppy is not here tonight. Michael is upset because we can put Cygwyn (other work dog) near the alpacas but not in the fence because he will stress Delight. He is too bouncy and excited. Too much stress will cause an alpaca to lose a baby. :(

Someone thinks they saw a Bobcat walking down our driveway about 10 days ago. Lovely. There was a message on our business line. It was a night where the dogs were barking like CRAZY!!

I'm rambling. Sorry. That's all folks. Thanks again for caring and praying.

Our Nightmare of a Week

2009-03-05T19:30:00.002-05:00

On Monday one of our alpacas died. It's been a HORRIBLE week. :(

Here are the details...

Rico and Destiny came to our farm on February 16th. Delight was still breeding so she stayed at the other farm. She will come next week sometime after the positive (we hope) ultrasound.

Destiny is our bottle fed cria. She is 3 months old now and the cutest thing.

Rico was our future Herdsire. He is the REASON we bought this farm when we did. You see we wanted to start a farm but the economy was going down so Michael said that maybe we should wait. Well I fell TOTALLY in love with Rico when we first went to see their farm. I HAD to have THAT alpaca. He was my boy!! So, Michael said we could go ahead and do it. He liked him too.

After we bought him, while he was boarding at their farm, almost EVERY (it may have been every) person who came to look at their alpacas was interested in purchasing him. He was a NICE animal and we got a killer deal on him.

Anyway, I based my other alpaca purchase (Cocoa Powder who is at another farm out of state and will come here in late July) on who to breed with Rico.

He was the heart of my farm, to me.

It rained here on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sunday afternoon it changed to snow for about an hour and then back to rain. When I went out to do Destiny's 8:00pm bottle I noticed that the roof of the shelter was leaking water...like a sieve.
Rico was laying in the water and not moving. This is not too big of a deal. He had a very long staple length to his fleece. He might not have felt it. Anyway, I got him to move a few feet out of the water but he wasn't wanting to. I forced him and dried him off a bit.

The next morning I went out to do the morning feeding and Rico hadn't moved all night. Destiny was upset and the dogs were barking at the fence where he was.

I was trying to call the vet but his office was closed because of all the snow they had gotten.

I was getting desperate. You see, a rule of thumb in the alpaca industry is that if you have an alpaca down... you should have called the vet yesterday. Downed alpacas rarely live.

Michael got ahold of another vet who said they would see him. I finally was able to get our vet's emergency number. Our vet said that it sounded like hypothermia. I carried him from the pasture into the house (86 pounds in case you are wondering). We started blow-drying him, covering him with warm blankets, and running heaters around him. I couldn't get his temp up. He was obviously declining.

We loaded him into the van and took off for the other vet. When his blood was tested they found that he had humuncous worms (Barber pole worms). He had a 30% chance to live. HE needed a blood transfusion STAT. The other farm offered one of their animals but when we were loading him into our van and showing the kids how to give him manual oxygen...our kids were too scared. They just couldn't do it. He had a seizure while we were in the parking lot. They hurried him back in and we lost him about 5 minutes later. I sat in the lobby and bawled like a baby.

We had to have the body autopsied. So, we left the body with them and I went to a McDs so that the kids could eat their first meal of the day (at 2:00pm). We went home and tried to get Destiny to poop because we needed to test her. She wouldn't. Of course not. She also was freaking out. She wanted Rico back. Alpacas CANNOT EVER live by themselves. They are herd animals and will freak out!

We went back to pick up the body and then Judah and I drove Destiny back over to the other farm to board till next week. By that time it was 8:00pm. I was EXHAUSTED! The other farm owners were also exhausted. They had their males on their farm tested as well. One of theirs came out positive. The others were fine. That alpaca's name is Hampton. Please pray for him to pull through.

Destiny was totally stressed being moved at night but she is doing well at their farm.

The nightmare just keeps continuing...

Today we finally got the results from Destiny's fecal test that was done yesterday. (different vet- we have nothing positive to say about them) Hers was positive for TWO kinds of worms. She is being treated for both. Unfortunately, the dogs also need to be tested so we are waiting for them to poop so I can take samples from all three over to the vet tomorrow.

The vet that worked on Rico and Hampton thinks that these two alpacas just developed a tolerance to the worming vaccines. This is apparently a new prob in the industry.

As you can imagine we are a bit overwhelmed and sad.

Please keep our family and our farm in your prayers and if you made it through this entire novella of a post- Thanks for caring.

Love,

Night Feedings

2009-02-16T17:47:00.005-05:00

Bottle feeding a cria is a definite job but it's very rewarding. :)

Thankfully you don't have to get up in the middle of the night. We feed her 4 times a day. 8:00am, 12:00pm, 4:00pm, and 8:00pm. She LOVES her bottles. She loves those who are bringing her the bottles. As I said, it's very rewarding. :)

I mean, who wouldn't love this fuzzy creature with her adorable milk spattered face?

Sh has a NICE fleece. We're proud of it. I cannot wait to send it into some shows and see how it stacks up against some of the others. Her mother has taken a 3rd and a 5th place ribbon in the past. I think Destiny might do even better than that. Yeah!

SO adorable! It's SO hard to get shots of my hand at night that didn't make it appear ugly looking. Haha!

Who is that in the dark? Oh it's Rico Arcani!

He is super curious about this bottle thing. He wasn't in the same pasture as she was at the other farm. Here he has a front row seat and he is fascinated by it.

Because she is a bottle baby she likes to be loved.

She follows us around the pasture.

I jogged away and she came running after me. heehee

That's ONLY because she's a bottle baby. Alpacas are generally (overall) wary around humans.

Not Destiny. She borrows into you and sucks on your clothes.

Rico has decided that he wants personal attention as well. I'm feeding him a handful of grain from his feeder.

He is perfectly capable of eating by himself.

I've never seen a dog who likes to sit down to eat. Rowdy cracks me up!!

I love you "Mommy"!

The dogs are pretty cute at night too.

Alpaca Farm- Day 2

2009-02-15T13:26:00.008-05:00

Yes, it's day #2 with the alpacas here at Sweetwater Farm. Yes, that is our real farm name. :) I like it. I had nothing to do with it. Michael picked it out. Good man.

Things are moving right along here.

I thought y'all might enjoy a few more pictures. :)
Here are a few that were left over from yesterday afternoon...

They seem to really like the front section by the road.

They stayed there pretty much all day. Ginger stayed there pretty much all day as well. (She is NOT as obsessed today.)

I wonder what it is with that particular spot... Before the alpacas came Rowdy and Cygwyn (the giant puppies) liked that spot too. Ginger has also napped there (before the fence) for over a year.

Whatever it is... apparently animals like it there. They're happy- we're happy. :)

Michael got to use his tractor today. Yeah!!

He is getting ready to move the hay he bought yesterday into the alpaca shelter. By the way, in case you didn't already know, hay smells SOOOOOO good!! I'm starting to feel like a real farmer!! Okay we're really ranchers but Sweetwater Ranch sounded stupid. Hence, the name- Sweetwater Farm. Eventually we'll probably have some chickens or something so we can call it a farm, right? :)

Hi Mommy! Daddy is out on the tractor!

I love to watch my Daddy!

You don't really want me to come in do you?

I want to watch my Daddy ALL day!! I'm Daddy's boy!

There it is. The new hay implement being put to work.
"Hi Mom!"

The dogs were interested in the tractor.

The alpacas, not so much.

Blessings!- Angela :)

p.s. Farms and boys go together like peanut butter and jelly!

Like Father, like son. :)

Happy Valentine's Day to ME!!!

2009-02-14T14:08:00.002-05:00

I'm SO sorry that it has taken me so long to update. :)

We have been pretty busy!!!

UPDATE:
We hired a new driver 2 weeks ago and Michael is working INSANE hours while training him. It's been very hard on 3 little daddy's boys but we are doing OK. :) This time around it hasn't been as hard on me either. Usually I go CRAZY here all the time without help but the boys are older now and Judah is VERY helpful with Gideon. :)

Schooling is going OK. They are getting the pre-spring blahs. Okay, okay I am too. :) We did take advantage of the beautiful weather this week quite a few times. Our family went hiking last Sunday. We played outside a lot with the dogs and I took the boys on a hiking field trip on Friday. They loved it!! We've been there before and it's one of their favorite hikes. They were bummed that even though it was 70 degrees they still couldn't swim. They love to play under the waterfall at that particular location.

Last night our church hosted a dinner and a movie, for couples, with FREE babysitting and they fed the kids too!!! YEAH!!

We ate together and watched Fireproof. Great movie!
The kids had a great time!

TODAY a VERY exciting thing happened!!!!! TWO of our alpacas came HOME!!!!!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO MEEEEE!!!!!

WELCOME HOME RICO ARCANI AND DESTINY!!!!!!

The "foggier" pictures were taken from my bedroom window.

The new alpaca shelter is in the back. The further fence is where we put the bigger dogs for now. We wanted them to be calm and not too excited since they are so HUGE! (the dogs not the alpacas)

They weren't terribly excited about the arrangement but they got over it. We got them because Huskies are NOT good guard dogs. Our family dog is a husky named Ginger. We were worried about how she would respond to the alpacas. She is the PURE ALPHA animal on this property. As it turned out...

She ADORES them; especially Destiny. She thinks her job is to guard them and watch their every move. She is fascinated by them. Who knew?

As you can see Rowdy is also wanting to work. Look at that sweet pitiful dog! "Let me IN! Puleeeze!!"

Rico and Destiny think their job is to graze.

They are very good at it. haha!

Very committed to eating.

They made themselves right at home and we were VERY pleased to see that they weren't stressed at all.

And they have not 2, but THREE dogs watching over them.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Field Trip to Glory Ranch

2009-01-22T22:26:00.009-05:00

Judah and Gideon and I spent part of our school day at the alpaca farm. We went to check on Delight, Destiny, and Rico Arcani. We also wanted to see the stud that Delight is currently being bred with. His name is Rico de Peru and he is one studly alpaca! Here are a few pictures of him.

Delight seems to like Rico.

That's a good thing since they are making a new baby alpaca together. I can't wait to see what this little one looks like when he/she is born. :)
That baby next to Delight is Glory Ranchs' newest cria. Her name is Beauty and she is indeed beautiful!

Our male, Rico Arcani, is looking quite fine and poofy himself.

Poofy is good. :)

We like poofy!

The boys were super excited to see the alpacas.

Alpacas are herd animals. They don't trust people very much. It is interesting to see that they find kids less of a threat. The boys ran to greet Destiny and none of the big girls got out of the way.
I approached considerably slower and more respectfully and nobody bolted when I went through either.

DESTINY!!

Judah kept telling her over and over what beautiful "fur" (it's called fleece) she had and how she was going to make us money. The really cute part was that he was saying it over and over in a baby talk way. :)

Being a bottle baby she loves to suck on anything she can.

She is also not afraid of humans like most alpacas. She let the boys and me pet her and pet her.

Gideon wanted to run with her. (read: chase her)

They also fed her some hay.

Sparkle and Sunshine would NOT go away! They clearly wanted their picture taken too. hehe!

Our sweet little investment. She's really precious!

They never want to leave the farm. Soon Delight, Destiny, and Rico Arcani will come and live here and the boys can see them all the time. Yeah!

We can't wait.

Boy and Puppies!

2009-01-22T19:52:00.008-05:00

Those words just roll so naturally off the tongue. There are not many things cuter than seeing my rambunctious boys play with their HUGE puppies. (Yes they are still puppies. Cygwyn is 11 months old and Rowdy is 9 months old.) They eat a lot. The puppies I mean. They go through about 6 cups of dog food a day... each. Ginger eats maybe (MAYBE) 2 cups per day. Here are some new pics of them playing together!

They were interacting with Ginger. She isn't usually in the fence with them so they adore her. She likes them to adore her as long as they remember that SHE is the alpha dog.

Rowdy LOVES me. He must sense the pet allergy that I have. HEEHEE
He loves to get up in my face. I always pet him because he's such a sweet boy...and then I go and wash my hands.

Both dogs love the boys but they both adore Gideon. They love to run after him, herd him, and protect him.

He likes it better when they are not feeling the need to herd him.

FUN!

Both dogs like to "shake". This is Rowdy and Thomas.

Judah and Cygwyn shaking.

MORE

FUN

With the Dogs

Hey! Don't leave me out! I'm still beautiful and precious too.

Don't worry girl! Gideon still loves to love on you!

In fact, he has claimed Ginger as his dog now.

Rolling around with the dogs.

The boys like to lay on the ground and have the dogs guard them.
Both dogs find this peculiar.

But Cygwyn is so sweet to oblige.

Don't worry Ginger. Even though we have 2 new dogs...

We still love you a lot. :)

Christmas Gifts and Cute Boys!

2009-01-22T19:37:00.003-05:00

We got the boys real vacuums for Christmas. I waited till Black Friday and ordered them from Amazon.com. Best $60.00 I've spent in a loooong time. They LOVE them and my house hasn't been this clean in a year or so. :)

The boys got Cowboy uniforms from "Card Grandma" for Christmas. They LOVE them. They have been wearing them a lot. I think they look adorable in them.

See what I mean?

The Darth Vader/Cowboy look is in this season.

The cutest 3 year old in the world wanted his picture taken too. :)

Judah also likes his picture taken and I was happy to do so. I love his beautiful smile and bright eyes!

Another Fun Waste of Time!

2009-01-16T00:26:00.001-05:00

The Dogs are HERE!

2009-01-10T11:53:00.007-05:00

I am so excited to report that our first farm animals have finally made it here to live. :) We bought both these dogs, several months ago, from different owners, and they kept them for us. Cygwyn temporarily boarded at the Glory Ranch to meet the alpacas but both he and Rowdy are here now to get used to our property, each other, and await the arrival of their job- the animals.

Both boys are such type B we wondered what that would look like. We picked up Cygwyn in the early afternoon and brought him home. Judah (who is his "owner") played with him for about an hour till we left again to pick up Rowdy. Rowdy is "Thomas'" dog.

We all walked Rowdy into the fenced in area with Cyg and Ginger. (Ginger is our old dog. She is NOT a guard dog but we wanted her to make friends.) He went in and he and Ginger and Cygwyn sniffed each other, checked each other out, and various other dog things. They had NO probs with each other. We DO however have to keep the food WAY far apart. Rowdy is SUPER possessive as is Ginger. :)

They barked last night but when I went out to check it was obvious that they were working. They were both running the fence and protecting us. Ginger looked up at me from the middle of the field in a sleepy haze. It was funny.

Here are some pics of our big, pretty, boys.

Ooo!!! A new home to explore!

Don't even THINK about touching this bone right here New Dog!

No problem. There is plenty of field to run in and check out!!

Yes I will come when called.

How can I best serve you my new Mistress?

What a beautiful boy with the sun reflecting off of him!

Why is he here?

I have a bone too!

I'm the biggest puppy ever!

But I am also the sweetest 95 pound puppy ever!

Bringing Rowdy home. Don't let the name fool you. He's really calm. Really.

Thomas made him feel safe and special all the way home.
I tried not to gag from the dog smell all the way home.

Cygwyn meet Rowdy. Rowdy meet Cygwyn.

Sniffing each other

Circling each other (This went on for quite some time.)

This home will do just fine. I believe I'm going to like it here. :)

Still Having Fun in the North :)

2009-01-03T13:08:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, after seeing some relatives, we headed down to Kirkland, Ohio for an indoor Candy Land game. The path was painted on the floor and the room was decorated like a giant Candy Land game. You received a game box with pieces when you arrived and you became a human pawn in the game. The boys had fun. :)

Thomas at the start of the game.

Gideon at the start of the game.

I took a pic of Judah but it looked bad because he was still shivering from our walk through the big parking lot. Oops.

The boys next to the ice cream trees. That was my favorite part of the room. (of course)

The room was a bit small so it was hard to take pictures of the decorations.
It was also a bit crowded so I had to watch my matching kiddos VERY carefully.

Gideon loved the decorations. :)

This was my favorite thing in the room! The bald eagle is offering her babies a huge sucker! LOL!!

Gingerbread house slide. The boys spent some time here. Gideon was in line next to Thomas at the bottom but didn't make it up at the same time as Thomas. However, Thomas waited there for a while till he got to the top. I thought it was super sweet!

Judah

My kids are daredevils like me. hehehe

Thomas

The older boys wouldn't even think of going down a shot slide the proper way. GRIN! (I have taught them well.)

Gideon

Thankfully he slid the correct way.

Wall decorations that Gideon liked.

The bird watching area.

This was actually a nature/outdoorsy place. Truth be told my boys LOVED the nature stuff much more than the candy wonderland area. I don't have any pictures of the "stuffed" animals we saw but the albino deer was pretty cool. They also loved the huge snake.

Playing with the train set in the play area.

Playing together??? Not really. Thomas went to get part of Judah's train. He let him have it so there was no outburst. I was very thankful. :)

After the candy wonderland place I took the boys to a real candy store. They had never been in one. They are hardly ever allowed to eat candy. I got them each one thing. I also bought some all natural apple butter made with cider. OH MY GOODNESS! I was awesome!!!!!

Family Fun!

Judah and my beloved Grandma. She didn't like her hair today and didn't want her picture taken so my boys lent her one of their dress up hats. :)

I think she is BEAUTIFUL! She's also a beautiful person inside.

Beauty apparently runs in the family. That's my beautiful mother.

Must have skipped a generation when it came to me. HAHA!!

Thomas with Gram.

My mom's sister, my Aunt Nita, playing tickle with the boys. They were having a blast.

Judah tried to do a headstand but collapsed in a fit of giggles.

Yeah Thomas!!

More Fun at Nana and Papa's

2008-12-31T23:31:00.012-05:00

In btwn things to do we've been having lots of fun here!

Building planes out of legos!

And eating things that are only allowed on special days!!

He's SO stinkin' CUTE!!!

Matching outfits- Thanks Nana!!!

Fun in the snow day!! My dad took these random pics while we were outside freezing to death- I mean enjoying ourselves. :)
(Please excuse my outfit. LOL! The boots are my dad's. :)

Plotting to "get" Mommy!

I was doing a little plotting myself. ;)

GOTCHA!!

Boy it sure is cold out here.

But it's fun!

"Hi Daddy!!!"

Snow is entertaining even from indoors. :)

Toys are fun too.

Yes they are. :)

Brother Love

Fun at Nana and Papa's

2008-12-31T21:49:00.013-05:00

The kids and I are having LOTS of fun at my mom and dad's house. :) We arrived on Saturday at 12:00am. After a nice sleep we went to the Whole Foods Store with my mom and also to the Half Price Bookstore and out to Linner. (lunch/dinner)

Sunday was church and rest.

On Monday we went to the Cleveland Children's Museum. On the website it looked FUN. When we arrived we pulled up to a blue steel building in the middle of a tiny parking lot. I got a tad bit nervous. Had we driven all that way for some rinky dink waste of time and money? Nope! The inside was GREAT! It was sectioned off into play areas. It was a little like Montessori learning if you ask me. :)

The first room we entered was filled with sand and fun things to do. It was also CRAMMED full of kids but there were PLENTY of tools for the kids to use. :)

Gideon LOVED this paint roller. He used it for a loooong time.

Thomas and Judah are checking out the pipes.

Thomas shoveling.

Matching clothes are the WAY to go in crowded places. I also had a red hooded sweatshirt on. It was great!

Thomas wanted to look the part.

Really fun tool.

Judah played by himself for awhile with these pipes. He's a very thoughtful player. :)

More discovering.

Seriously it was a really long time.

I took a pic of Thomas, turned around, and Gideon had "disappeared". I combed the room with my eyes and didn't see him. I almost panicked when I felt the need (thank-you Lord) to check this tunnel. LOL! He thought it was SO funny that I found him. :)

Judah's turn.

Gid wanted to sport the "right" look too.

The wheelbarrow was also popular.

They worked together for awhile...

and then Gideon got it to himself for a bit.

The Next Area we explored was the farmyard room.

Gideon found this camel upon entering and spent most of his time pushing it around in this little red wheelbarrow.

Judah is checking out the hen house.

Thomas is in the cornfield.

Gideon is "driving" the farm vehicle.

Next stop, climbing net.

Up they go...

with little brother hot on their heels.

Next Stop- Water Room

Judah LOVED this room. He had so much fun creating things.

Actually, they all loved this room...equally as much as the sand room.

He really is having fun. He always gets this really disgruntled look on his face when he is concentrating. But REALLY he is enjoying himself immensely.

See- LOL!

Judah was so serious

and contemplative. It was fun to watch him.

Thomas just had FUN!

Watching big brother

Copying big brother. :)

THe next room was set up like a groccery store. You could push around carts and select "food".

You could also take a turn being the cashier. Thomas LOVED checking out other kids' food.

So did Judah.

Gideon is buckling a baby into his carseat. He did it SO carefully. It was really great.

Speaking of great...check out this picture. Isn't Judah's face beautiful? He just loves babies!!

Gideon does too.

He was undressing the baby so that he could put the baby's "dirty" clothes into the clothes basket and wash them in the toy washing machine. lol!

Pretending to be a nurse.

I loved this sign. The top part really resonated with me. :)

More pictures tomorrow. :) Blessings everyone!

10 Years Ago Today...

2008-12-31T21:45:00.002-05:00

I met my husband. We were both at a New Year's Eve party given by a mutual friend. I was sitting at a table when in walks this bald guy in a green jean jacket. lol

We struck up a conversation at the end of the night. Oh wait, that would be early in the AM. LOL He asked me if he could call me. I said sure. He called later in the morning and asked me to go see a movie with him...

The rest is history. Tomorrow will be the 10 year anniversary of our first date. I will tell you that story tomorrow.

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!

Blessings!-Angela :)

Thanks Mom and Dad!!

2008-12-25T20:33:00.005-05:00

My parents sent me money for Christmas this year (plus a few small gifts). Here's what I bought with the money...

I have wanted a darker table in that room since I finished (almost) painting it last year. :)

I found it on Craigslist. What a wonderful resource that is! Michael and I and the boys picked it up a couple weeks ago in South Carolina. :)

The old table is now in the kitchen. It's great for breakfast and also for when the boys help me cook because it's more their size. Added "counter" space is ALWAYS a plus.

Michael and the boys bought me a beautiful ring but I don't have a pic of it because I cannot find my camera. When I find it I will be sure to snap a picture of it and also of the boys with their presents. :)

Please pray for traveling mercies. The boys and I will be headed up to Ohio tomorrow. Thanks so much!!

Merry Christmas!!!

-Angela :)

Happy Birthday Gideon!!!

2008-12-19T21:26:00.013-05:00

My "baby" is THREE!! It was so traumatic for me but he had a fine birthday. :) (It was on Wednesday the 17th)

Here are some pics. Enjoy!!

Gideon saying hello to Great Gram, who is wishing him a happy birthday!!

His big present... He looked at it like, "Huh?"

Then he realized it was for him and THREW his arms around Daddy, who was holding him. It was a very sweet moment. :)

Just like my big brothers!!!

Off I go.

What a crew!

A little help...

...from Daddy.

Gideon's cake

When we finished the Birthday Song he stuck his arms up in the air like, "YEAH!" It was so cute!!

He absolutely loved

blowing out his candles. :)

A Bob video!! Thanks Nana and Papa!!

Puzzles

WHAT?! I got a Handy Manny toolbox...that sings!!!

Jump jump jumping for joy!!

What do you mean I have more presents? I'll just sit here with this one. :)

OH! A TRACTOR!

ALL the boys crowded around to see the tractor...something about a Y chromosome. Haha!

Get it out Daddy!

He's NOT throwing a fit. He got so excited he just couldn't contain himself and he started rolling around on the floor! :)

Playing with the Handy Manny toy.

Thomas opening his present from Nana. He got a gun set and was REALLY excited. Before you ask, of course it was a play gun!

I GOT A GUN SET TOO!!

Bang Bang!!

ME TOO!!

I'll get you bad guys!

Deputy Thomas is in town! lol

New toys!

Judah's packin'

and he knows how to use them! :D

The birthday boy, playing with his new toys

Giving Daddy a great big thankful goodnight hug!

Happy Birthday my

PRECIOUS boy!!

I love you SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Thank-you SO MUCH Nana and Papa for all the great presents! Thank-you Daddy for the truck! I LOVE IT!! Thank-you Great Gram, Great Aunt Nita, and Card Grandma for the money!

Country Elves

2008-12-15T23:06:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf Yourself

2008-12-15T22:54:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

2008-12-15T22:43:00.007-05:00

What happened to your decorations?

LOL!

Here's our tree saga this year.

Michael bought us a beautiful tree.

I added lights.

The boys and I added ornaments.

A very unique star.

The farm ornaments were a must this year. Can you tell we're a little bit excited about our farm? LOL!

Gingerbread man ornament!!

It's a bit dark but along with the traditional things we added Car ornaments and sports ornaments. :)

Tractor ornament. heehee

Well it looked so great and then Gideon discovered a new "hobby". He didn't touch the tree...Nooooo. He threw things at it to see how many ornaments he could knock off. Grrrr. He would do it in the morning while I was sleeping. Or while I was cooking, etc.

So, I took all the ornaments OFF and we went back to lights only for a few days.

Yesterday I showed Judah and Thomas how to make snowflakes out of paper. Gideon made one with some help.

I think I like this way better after all. :)

Look Who's Getting Bigger!

2008-12-14T23:18:00.001-05:00

Glory Ranch

2008-12-04T17:28:00.010-05:00

I am SO VERY glad that we bought our first Alpacas from Glory Ranch. You cannot know how wonderful it is for me to know that my girls and little man are getting such wonderful attentive care there. Plus, after sale care was included and that means that I can ask them lots of questions and they don't get upset. (Or at least they don't tell me they are-heehee)

They have business integrity (which is RARE these days) and they also sell chickens, honey, and Shaklee products. Check out their website. http://www.gloryranchonline.com

Here are some of the other animals on the farm...

Donna Juanita is a beautiful girl. She has such a sweet laid back personality.

Sunshine is Delight's first daughter. Isn't she pretty?

Sparkle is Rico's Mom. She's very curious. She also loves baby alpacas...A LOT!

OH! Hello again Donna! I thought this picture was just hilarious!!

Missy one of the working dogs. My boys love her.
Judah romping with Destiny.
Delight. :)

Rico eating carrots from the boys' hands. He likes carrots. :)
I think he's the CUTEST thing ever!!!! His pretty black ears aren't showing in this pic because he laid them back as soon as I held the camera up to take the shot...every.single.time. :) It made me laugh because it reminded me of how my babies reacted to it when they were small. Almost like, "what in the world is that thing in front of your face?"

Thank-you Laura! There are those cute little ears. :)

Thanks Glory Ranch!

More Alpaca Pictures

2008-12-02T22:04:00.005-05:00

This was the Picture of The Day!

Update

2008-12-01T23:30:00.001-05:00

First of all you need to scroll down and read the prayer request in the previous post... otherwise this will make no sense to you. :)

UPDATE:
The vet said that there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with Delight that he can see. He did "milk" her. (That's REALLY hard to do with an alpaca. They aren't made for that.)
She has plenty of milk. The vet gave her 3 diff shots. One mild sedative, one to increase supply, and one to make it let down fast. Poor drugged up thing.

The GOOD news is that they got enough goat colostrum in the cria and Destiny's lab work turned out fine! The vet says she is very healthy! He was pleased. She's a spunky little thing.
She will not have to have a transfusion. That will save $400.00 right there. If an alpaca doesn't get enough colostrum you have to have a tranfusion within a certain amount of time so that they don't have a lifelong compromised immune system. If they have that, even a cold could kill them.

SO please keep praying. She has not nursed her yet but she is NOT rejecting the baby. She smells her, is protective of her, and "talks" to her...she just won't nurse.

Michael and I appreciate the prayer support.

Alpaca Prayer Request

2008-12-01T10:22:00.000-05:00

Our new little Cria (baby alpaca) was born yesterday. She's a girl and her name is Destiny.

For some reason nursing is not going well. This is Delight's (her mom) third baby so we're a tad confused as to why.

PLEASE PLEASE pray that everything will start going smoothly today. We gave her goat colostrum yesterday.

The vet is coming to check her and mom today.

Michael and I would love for y'all to pray with us that everything will start to go smoothly and that any probs will be noticed by the vet.

Thanks so much!!

pics in previous post. :)

It's A Girl!!!

2008-11-30T21:49:00.005-05:00

What a day!!! We went to church today. The boys looked especially nice in their new matching dress shirts.

We ate lunch at Quincy's and then bought our Christmas tree. It's a beautiful Frasier Fur. They are my favorite!! I'm glad we could afford one this year. (Thanks Babe!)

We stopped at a couple more stores and then headed home. When we arrived home I noticed that there were 2 messages on my cell phone. The first one was from Glory Ranch Alpacas telling us that Delight had had her baby!!! The second message was from them also letting us know that it was a GIRL!!! Yeah!! We were STOKED!

You see, a male must meet high standards in order to breed. Those who don't are usually culled and can be sold for btwn $250-$500 dollars. The females can always be bred up (unless they have some sort of defect and then they can't). You can sell them for full price. :) Basically, we just made our money back today. ;)

Her registered name will be Delight's Destiny. We will call her Destiny.

It was wet and rainy today so they looked all yucky! But they are pretty when they are clean and dry.

Here are some pictures of our adorable little girl!

Precious!

Close Up!
So little

Sweet!

Tired Mommy.

Sparkle is checking out Michael. She LOVES him! She doesn't like anyone else...She's not even that friendly to her owners. It's hilarious! She does that EVERY TIME we go over there. Heehee

Michael with Sunshine and Sparkle

I had to take a picture of my little guy of course. :)

Mommy and Cria!

Animals :)

2008-11-23T22:56:00.004-05:00

Okay, so now we officially have 5 animals who are paid for in full but do not yet live here with us. Do you know how weird that is for me??? I want to take care of the living things that are mine. I want to enjoy them. Yet, they are all scattered around the southeast. :grin:

Let's see: Delight and Rico are across town so that's not very difficult. We see them about once every 2 weeks or so. :) We will hopefully pop in more once Delight drops her cria (baby alpaca). She is due the first week of December.

Bella Cocoa Powder lives in Charlotte, NC. She will reside at her current farm until 3 weeks after she gives birth in June. Cria will obviously come home with her.

Cygwyn (Great Pyrenees dog) will be picked up in Atlanta by us on the 20th of December. We will take him to the farm where Delight and Rico live so that he can bond with his new job. :)

Rowdy (Great Pyrenees dog) is staying at his home here in Homer, GA until we bring Cygwyn and alpacas over to our farm to live.

When is that you ask?

Well, Delight, cria, and Rico will come home sometime mid-late Jan.

Both dogs will also come at that time.

Cocoa will come in July. (It is not good to move a pregnant girl. If they get too stressed out they can lose their babies and that's obviously not good. She will be very early pregnant at that time and will have her cria with her so it won't be as stressful. Yes we are re-breeding her before we take her home.)

Here is a picture of Cocoa Powder:

Grass Update, Pasture Update, Cutest Kids Update

2008-11-17T14:30:00.008-05:00

Cute boy alert!

Judah is mixing water, leaves, and grass aka "pancakes".

The Hay continues to grow!!! THANK-YOU God!! Please keep praying. He is answering. :)

This area really looks nice and healthy!!

Even the shady areas seem to be growing.

This little section on the end (where all the little stumps are) will be fenced into the pasture to give them more shade.

Poor Delight looks Soooooo pregnant. She has that, all too familiar, "help me" look that most women get at the end of pregnancy. lol It won't be long though!! She will drop that cria sometime in the next 3ish weeks. We're SO excited!!
He's getting bigger and he's STILL adorable!! We had to change his name though... He was named Royal Prince Orien by his breeders BUT when she went to enter it into the system on Saturday that name was already taken!!
Bummer. So Michael and I came up with a new name. :) Rico Arcani.

Rico means: Strong power; hardy power

Arcani means: Destined for greatness

So, his new name means: Strong, hardy power, destined for greatness!

Awesome huh? :)

This is the sweetest photo set!! They were just playing and I started snapping shots. What do you think?

Pictures

2008-11-13T23:06:00.012-05:00

Fall Crafts are the BEST! Here's one we did a couple days ago...
Thomas' turkey

Judah's turkey
Gideon's turkey
My boys are the ONLY kids who want a BREAK after they do a CRAFT! Sheesh! It wasn't like it was 4 pages of Math...or reading....
Five minutes boys!
Darth Vader masks are all the rage Mom.
Aren't I the CUTEST thing? Yes, you are Gideon!!

Okay moving on...
These are the guns our cool Daddy made for us...
and we KNOW how to use them!

They got REALLY excited when they found out that Daddy had caught a SNAKE! I was less excited but I did get the camera. They didn't even put on proper clothing! That will be apparent in the next few pics. Hehehe

Isn't he attractive in a totally creepy way? He is a Diadophis punctatus: Southern Ringneck Snake. We called this school. :)

Judah was brave!

Ginger was not impressed by the snake.

Running to set the snake free. The poor thing probably thought it was ABOUT time!! LOL

Bye bye reptile!

We spent DAYS cutting down small-med trees and cutting the vines, vines, and MORE vines, so that they will have some tree shade. We want a happy farm. :)

It's really impossible to realize from this picture just how MASSIVE this pile turned out to be. It was gone within 25 minutes of the tree shredding truck coming here. Yeah! In it's place we got 2 HUGE mounds of wood chips. Yes!!

They cut a tree down too but I will have to take a pic of that later. Battery went dead.

I cleared that back part out by myself. :) The ground part. Michael did the chain saw part. We all did the drag the limbs and trees to the designated piles part. :)

In case you missed it...that is THREE rows deep. Be impressed.

New Header

2008-11-13T23:02:00.002-05:00

Terry asked if the new header was one of my kiddos' artwork. The answer is yes. :) We did a real canvas art project last year for homeschool and this is the one Gideon and I did together. Isn't he talented? He actually did most of the background himself. I helped him with the stamps of course. ;) He loved that part. Every time I would lift the stamp away from the canvas he would suck in air in an excited/surprised little way. It was ADORABLE!

"Farmer Boy"

2008-11-09T21:55:00.003-05:00

I am reading "Farmer Boy" aloud at bedtime to the boys, and by day we are working really hard on the farm. That's what we've been up to. I'm gathering all the info I need to care for the alpacas, and we are clearing away all the cherry trees from the property. Cherry tree leaves are fatal to alpacas. Guess how many we had? C'mon guess? Around 15 of them. Seriously. Most of them were small enough for us to drop ourselves. Then Michael cut them up with a chainsaw. We drug branches, limbs, raked up debris, and stacked wood for several DAYS last week. I also cleared a section of the woods at the back of the alpaca field. We will be finished with that this week sometime. (our part anyway, three of the BIG trees have to be cut down by a professional) The boys have been helping. (Some days more than others.) :) We even roasted marshmallows by the fire one evening after we got finished working. That was really fun!!
I don't have pics because I've been too busy working to take any. :)
I'll try to take a few this week sometime. Very interesting, I know. LOL

That's about it really. Homeschool, farming, church, and bedtime. Our days are full but we are getting a lot done and saving money by doing lots of this ourselves. Next project: put up fence!

Sleeping "Babies"

2008-11-09T21:18:00.002-05:00

I love to watch my children sleep. I think that is a universal parent thing. It begins when they are just born and you stare and stare at them. It's mind blowing to believe that God knits these precious things together in our wombs and they are just so intricate. Then, if you are "blessed" with a very colicky baby- you stare at him while he is asleep and think, "Oh, you're so beautiful when you're not screaming...and even when you are."
As they become toddlers you stare at them and think, "I cannot believe you are not a baby anymore. Where does the time go?" As they grow a little older and near the age 3 mark you stare and kiss their little cheeks and think, "I can't believe my baby is rowing up to be such a big boy!" Then, when they are 5 or 6 you stare at them and think how beautiful they are and how nice that it is QUIET in the house.

I'll bet that you can't guess what I was doing tonight. :grin:

New Sisters on my Sidebar

2008-10-30T13:05:00.003-05:00

I have added a few new "sisters" to my sidebar. :)

What I think these ladies have to offer:

Angie: Good reads, helpful homemaking skills, adoption stories, and she is basically just an all around fabulous woman!

Ginger: Very thoughtful posts, homemaking skills (check out her crockpot sight!), adoption issues, and she's a redhead. Aren't all redheads awesome? This one most definitely is. :)

Julie: Very thoughtful sometimes very deep posts, tells it just like she thinks/believes, adoption stories, and she is becoming a good friend. She is a very precious sweet woman. I'm happy to "know" her.

Linkmama- Obviously not her real name but she will not reveal it online. Good posts on child training and homeschool. A very seasoned and wise woman. Glad to "know" her.

Mommaofmany- Also another one who likes her internet anon., Good posts on homemaking, homeschooling, adoption, and childrearing. She's really a super woman! I'm blessed to "know" her also.

Enjoy these new additions! I have a few more to add but I need to get these boys OUTSIDE!!

Blessings!- Angela :)

She Hearts Me!!

2008-10-30T12:46:00.005-05:00

This is terribly late and I'm so sorry! My friend Julie bestowed on me my first blog award!! Does it make me a geek that I was really happy? LOL

Anyway, here are the RULES:

A. come get your award (just copy and paste it)

B. put it on your blog

C. pass it on to seven other blogs, that you enjoy!!

D. put their links in your post and let them know you gave them an award!

So, because I'm an obediant woman (at least 10% of the time) I am going to follow the rules.

If you don't like to post your blog awards on your blog, for any reason, that's fine with me. Just know I heart your blog and smile. You may be excused from following the rules.

1. Christy
I love to read this woman's blog. She parents with such grace (yes you do!!!) and homeschools with such creativity. I think I want to be her when I grow up.

2. Lea
This lady is a wonderful Mommy who is always lifting up ber husband and children. I love to read the funny stories about her boys and the pics of them are just as wonderful. She seems like such a neat lady.

3. Ginger
This woman is always a good read! No matter what she is "talking" about you will just want to get caught up in the conversation. A really special woman!

4. April
This sister is a fantastic combination of refinement and spunk. I enjoy her wit and her humor. She also loves to serve her family. A great Mom.

5. Catrina
This woman is open and honest about what she is thinking and why. She never claims to have it all together but she is passionate about Jesus and strives daily toward Godliness. I admire that.

6. Susannah
She is a mix of political savvy, good common sense, wit, sarcasm, grace, and fun all rolled into one. She is also a great Mommy!

7. Tia
She makes me think. She makes me think so hard that my head begins to swim. Often it can take days to think through some of her posts.
I like that. I also admire her passion for the Lord and her love for people.

Wow. Only seven. I could have given this award to my entire sidebar of sisters. I am very selective about who I put on my sidebar. If you are there it is because I heart your blog. :) However, rules are meant to be followed and so I did. Goodnight all!

Blessings!- Angela :)

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2008-10-28T11:08:00.003-05:00

Michael was at a meeting last night so I had put the boys to bed and I was lying on the bed with Gideon till he fell asleep. In the semi-darkness Judah(6 years old) suddenly said, "Mom! We need to pray for Daddy. He is tired and we need to pray that God will help him stay awake on the way home."

Me- OK sure! Do you want to pray?

J- I want us all to pray.

Me- OK.

We all prayed together. Then we laid there quietly for a few seconds and Judah spoke again.

J- It was important that we prayed NOW Mom, because God can do miracles.

Me- Yes He can buddy. He can do miracles.

J- But even when He doesn't do a miracle we still have to trust Him.

Long pause. I was overwhelmed with his spiritual insight and decided to see if he was just parroting something or if it was coming from a deeper place.

Me- Judah, how can we trust God when He doesn't answer our prayers the way we want Him to?

Judah- Then we just have to trust that He will be with us.

Tears welled up in my eyes.

Judah- I don't know how I thought about that Mom.

Me- I do! God told you that. He told your heart and it came out of your mouth. You should listen to Him more. He wants to speak to you.

Then I just laid in the darkness with tears running down my cheeks and joy in my heart; and silently thanked God for speaking to us through my son.

More Pictures

2008-10-26T22:18:00.011-05:00

Fall is a great time to play outside. It's especially nice when the whole family is out there together. :)

It's also a perfect time for various photo ops.

Enjoy!!

Practicing for football.

I'm going to get you Thomas.

Yeah!

Repeat process xs 100.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's take another look at the future pasture, shall we?
I just LOVE wide open spaces!

What's that in the distance? Oh look! It's the pond!!!

It's got a little water in it.

And what is this? Could it be...

blades of GRASS!!!

Thank-you SO very much Lord!!!

Please keep praying for it to grow. Seriously, we need it to grow the first time. God can do it. :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A man and his dog.

Sweet baby!

That's my sweet girl!!

Give me a kiss Ginger!

Awwwww

My special dog.

Enough with the pictures already!

I have figured out a way to get away from those little people. heehee They are not allowed across the street. Ahhh... peace and quiet.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy boy and his stick.

Look at me mom! I'm adorable!!

Wheeeeeeee!

C'mon Mommy!!! I want to show you something!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Babe! C'mere I want to take a picture of us. Please.

Babe look at the camera!

NOT like that!

Too big!! Quit clowning around!!

MICHAEL!!!!!

I'm watching you...DRAT! Not I ruined the picture.

Forget it honey. I'll just take one of myself. :)

Such a beautiful child.

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

So Very Very Sorry

2008-10-25T12:29:00.003-05:00

For those of you who actually read and enjoy this blog I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last post. Here's the deal...Life is just a whirlwind right now. Football 3Xs a week for 2 hours in the evening is making free time go out the window. We have football Mon, Tues, and Thurs, church on Wednesday, Michael is out on Friday nights and it's been NUTS around here. Thankfully football is over Thursday night. Yeah! Don't get me wrong, I loved watching both my boys play!! However, it's time to get back to a more relaxed schedule.

For those of you who wanted to see pics of Thomas playing football. They didn't really come out so well. We aren't allowed inside the fence when they play and pics are hard to take when you are watching a VERY active almost 3 year old. :)

For those of you praying for my dad- Thanks SO VERY much! HE had the second surgery and he is recovering from that. You can pray for his recovery. It's slower than he would like. There are side effects from that procedure. Please pray that they aren't permanent. Our God can do great things. Please ask Him. Thanks again!!

Beside football we are very busy getting our farm ready!!!

Yes, we have finally decided on an animal to have on our farm...ALPACAS!!! (Pictures to follow the details)We are really excited. We signed the contract and paid the 25 percent down. We are getting a Pregnant proven female and a young potential herdsire. Proven just means she's proven that she can carry and birth a baby. This is actually Delight's 3rd baby we will be getting. We're hoping for a girl! Royal Prince Orion is about the CUTEST animal I've EVER seen. He will make a fine stud one day. I'm sure of it. If I am wrong and turns out to be a dud there is a clause in the contract that states they will either take him back or give us a huge chunk of money back. I'm hoping he does well. Can you imagine anything better than reproducing more that look like him??!!!

The first pics are of Delight and her 2nd baby Wade. We are not buying him. The good news is that she will be giving birth to one equally as adorable in about 60 days. YEAH!

Can anyone saw AWWWWWWW?!

Look at my little guy as a baby!

This is what he looks like NOW. I just kiss him over and over, because I can!!

I have animal allergies to most animals that would make my life miserable but alpacas are hypoallergenic AND gentle...plus they are CUTE and SWEET!! We hope to have fun and make a little money with this. Plus, now we have more outside school things to do. We won't be actually bringing them here until early January. We have to get the farm ready. They will continue to board then there until then. Three months of that is for free!! Plus, that means we can go over and visit more. They are a WONDERFUL family. In fact we spent the last 15 minutes talking about child training. She has read Pearl, Ezzo, and the RGT website. I love this woman!!!

So, besides buying the animals we have been working hard (ahem- I mean Michael has been working hard) on the land that was just cleared this summer. It will be their new home. This is another reason I haven't posted. I have been working on a picture post for some weeks but, for some reason, it won't let me upload anymore pics. :( So you'll just have to enjoy what I already have. I really dislike doing anything halfway...but I couldn't help it this time.

As if all of that weren't enough it's that time of year again as well. :)

The boys are getting ready for the Kids Christmas musical at church and this year I have been asked to sing in the Christmas choir. I have always wanted to join in for the season but have not been able to the last 2 years. Chris (choir director) approached me a few weeks ago with a song he wanted me to sing for it and Michael said, "Yes!" Yeah!!

Anyway, that was an eyefull. So I'll leave you with the picture post I couldn't finish.

Love and Blessings to all my wonderful readers!!

-Angela :)

Redecorating

2008-09-25T08:52:00.013-05:00

No, not inside...OUTSIDE!! It's great! Instead of paying someone- they pay YOU! Well, part of it was like that anyway. We had lots of our acerage logged this summer. They paid us for that. Then, we had it stummped and a dam built. We paid for that. It came out just about even. We just seeded it! PLEASE pray that it grows the FIRST time!!

Here is the pond.

Here is Thomas walking in the pond.

The dam

Judah walking on the dam. Isn't he stylin' ?!! LOL

Burning leftover debris

As you can see, we have MUCH more to burn next year...after it dries out.

We now have about 5 acres of wide open space.

It's a thing of beauty!

Going back up to the house via the new "road".

I just thought this little flower was so pretty. It practically screamed, "Photo OP!!"

My blueberry bushes are one of the best treasures on our land. :)

Coming back up to the house from the new "road".

But wait...Who is that?
The cutest 2 1/2 year old EVER that's who!!

The shop is tucked back where no none can see it at first glance.
Driveway going to the attached garage

Monsterous fig tree and my favorite spot to sit and watch the kids play.

Weird angle but that's obviously the house.

GINGER!

Kumquat tree

Muscadine vines
Side view

Rear yard

Kids' play area

Family fire time "pit"
Ok look, another garbage truck.

Wood to keep us warm.
Gid is looking for a toad to play with. They like to hide in the rocks there.

Paddle boat that someone threw away. :)

Other field. That's where the Alpacas will start out till the back is ready.

The greatest 6 year old ever!

Judah's First Tackle Football Game!!

2008-09-19T20:42:00.008-05:00

Judah and Thomas both played flag football together last year. This year Judah moved up to contact ball. :) He is the SMALLEST one on his team. His age bracket is 6-8 year olds. Judah is one of four 6 year olds on his team. He has had to learn the game better because we don't get cable and he hasn't grown up watching it. We just play backyard ball and there aren't enough of us to have "positions". lol

Thomas is still playing flag football and he is one of the tallest on his team.

They both really like the game and it's nice to see them do something athletic, burn off energy, and meet some new people for a small amount of time every week where Mom and Dad are RIGHT THERE watching and listening. :)

Plus, we can call it PE. Yeah!!

Here are the pics I took tonight! Enjoy!!

Ready for his first game and being a good sport about Mommy taking his picture. :)

Judah is the one in the center.

See how the 8 year olds on his team just TOWER over him? LOL
He still contributes though. He's a tough guy!

He spent lots of time on the bench.

But they *mostly* enjoyed watching the game together.
Judah is #80 and he's going to finally get to PLAY!! YEAH!!!

You can see the here in the next few pics. I placed it directly over his head.

Well, except for this one which I placed directly under his feet.

Back to over the head.

Doesn't he look so grown up? Have a mentioned how much I LOVE football?!
And there was SO MUCH to love about this game tonight. Here's our star runner on the team, #24- running for another touchdown. :)

The scoreboard at halftime. :)
My adorable son Thomas. He is on the Tigers and his first game is next Thursday. He's really excited!!

Gideon enjoyed being held by Daddy and eating boiled peanuts.
Two little girls enjoyed playing with my long hair during the second half. It was so sweet. One was around 3 and the other wasn't much over 1 1/2. SO CUTE!! Another little girl plopped herself down next to me for a hug and a tickle. She kept pointing to my flowered skirt.

It is a sad moment when Daddy leaves me with Mommy. I see her all day!!

WE WON!!!! 28-0!!

It was lots of fun!! Gotta get some rest tonight.

Blessings!- Angela :)

Snake Day

2008-09-13T22:14:00.005-05:00

That's what we did today. Snake Day at the Elachee Nature Center. It was SO much FUN!! The price was totally reasonable ( $5.00 per adult, $3.00 per child) and there were free crafts to make. Our older boys even got a free T-Shirt. There were lots of different snakes to see and some to touch.

We arrived there at about 10:00am. That's when it opened. We looked at a huge snapping turtle, some box turtles (which they were allowed to touch) and played with a dinosaur fossil exhibit. From there we went to the teaching room where they learned about snakes and amphibians. Gid was fussy after about 20 minutes so we went to look at more displays while we waited for the boys.

The boys were wild with delight that they got to touch several corn snakes. They even got a certificate of bravery. :) They also got snakes painted on their faces. After that we looked at some live animal exhibits: several different kinds of snakes, salamanders, frogs, etc.

Michael was hungry at about 11:45 so we got our picnic lunch out of the van and ate in the woods at a picnic table. The boys spent most of lunch roaming around looking for animals to study. (LOL You'd think these were poor ol' city kids who'd never seen animals before. )

After lunch Michael was really sleepy so he and Gideon went to the van for a nap. :)

The bigs and I went to make snake crafts. Judah made a rattlesnake egg craft, and both boys made: bottlecap snakes, magnetic snakes, and stamped snake papers. They had a great time!! I had fun watching them. After the snake crafts we went into another exhibit that we had missed in the morning. Those were bigger snakes. Yipee. We also noticed a display where you could see what you would weigh on each planet. :) That was lots of fun because we are studying gravity in Science now and it fit in quite nicely with that.

Right before we left the boys wanted to get a snake painted on their arms too and she said yes because there was virtually no line.

Overall it was a great day!! Very educational and super fun for a GREAT price.

Enjoy the pics!!

I wore my new camo skirt today!! I loved it even after Michael said that I looked like a redneck. lol

Snake faces. They loved them. Of course.

All three boys "digging" for fossils. (which just happened to be our last unit study in Science. Yeah!)

Some of the live snake exhibits.

My possible future astronaut. :)

Thomas, showing off his arm snake.

Both boys showing you their arm snakes and standing in front of a rat snake (on the bottom but you cannot see it because it's hiding) and a coachwhip snake (on the top that you CAN see).

Snake day crafts!! Top: ribbon/bottle cap snake. Right: snake egg Bottom:magnetic snake. Left: Bravery Certificate.

Tim Hawkins - A Homeschool Family

2008-08-31T14:18:00.001-05:00

Just for fun...cuz I'm on a roll!

I Will Survive- Homeschool Version

2008-08-31T14:15:00.001-05:00

A humorous and encouraging homeschool video! Enjoy!!

Frugal Homeschooling

2008-08-30T10:09:00.003-05:00

Some people do not homeschool simply because of the cost. While homeschool curriculum CAN cost a lot...there are SO many things you can buy, dirt cheap, and turn them into a lesson.

For Example:

I bought this pirate game at the Dollar Tree for $1.07, including tax.

You each pick a pirate. You read the cards and follow the directions. The cards tell you how many treasure pieces to pick up or how many to throw back. They say things like, "You have great wind for sailing today, Collect a treasure piece." "You are forced to walk the plank, Divide your treasure evenly among the players." "You discover an ancient treasure map in Paradise Cove, Collect 2 treasure pieces."

You play until the treasure box is empty. Whoever has the most pieces wins. Simple.

I turned the whole thing into a learning experience. Thomas got upset when he kept having to throw his treasure back. We talked about how a pirate's life is very hard and how choosing to do evil things like stealing will bring many bad things your way. (history and character)

Judah read his cards by himself. (reading...and may I add that he can now read the words ancient, Paradise, and treasure with no probs.)

When we got finished with the game I had them sort their pieces and lay them out in a graph style. (see above pic)

Then we talked about which kind of treasure they had the most of, least of, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc.

After that we did a bit of Math. I would ask them things like, how many more rings would you need to equal the amount of cups you have? How many would you need to have MORE rings than cups? etc.

So we have history of Pirates, reading, and Math all rolled up into a $1.07 game that they boys enjoy playing.

Sneaky and frugal!!

Now if I were really cool like Brenda http://familyrevised.blogspot.com/2008/06/summer-theme-week-pirates.html I would have had us make pirate costumes and play the game. I'm not that cool but we still had a great time. :)

Playacting

2008-08-30T09:49:00.004-05:00

Part of every child's education should be playacting. I remember when we made Pilgrim and Indian hats in Kindergarten and donned them for our Thanksgiving party. :)

Now, being the creative actress I am, I love this kind of stuff. Playacting is even more fun for people like me but most children love to playact and the benefits of learning through play are huge.

So, Judah and Gideon and I were at Bargain Foods yesterday for our monthly grocery run. We were in the Misc aisle when I spotted these...

Since we are studying the explorers, and soon the Pilgrims, I thought it would be great to get a few and then pretend that we were explorers who landed in a New World and had to build forts and houses. :)

I saw the price on one $19.95 and sighed. They would all just have to take turns and share one fort. Then, as I placed the box into the cart I saw another price tag $4.99. Wahooo! I was able to get three. 2 forts for the older boys and a house for Gideon. So, instead of $60.00, which I couldn't have swung, it cost me $15.00!! Yeah! We saved $45.00.

We colored and constructed them last night...Thomas and Judah slept in theirs...and they are still playing this morning. :)

Later I will pretend to be Squanto and we'll talk about how some of the Native Americans helped out the Pilgrims so that they would not starve. :)

During the "construction" phase of our little cardboard colony we had great talks about courage, bravery, fears, food supply, hard work, etc.

Here are a few pics of the finished products...

Not on the Test

2008-08-28T15:03:00.001-05:00

Practical Schooling

2008-08-27T13:16:00.004-05:00

I am not an unschooler. We do written book work, as well as normal life things...however, I DO believe that school is everywhere and that making thing relevant for them really enhances learning. :)

This is what a day of "practical life" school looks like.

So by now you've read the 101 and the 102nd reasons to homeschool. (Oh, you didn't...well scroll down and get caught up.)

I'm showcasing this one today-
47. Because we can arrange our school day around doctor appointments and not have to worry about it.

I took the boys to the DR today. At their pediatrician's office they don't usually have to wait. Today, though it was a bit of one. We worked on character the whole time. Listening, obeying, playing QUIETLY so that we didn't disturb the other patients or the staff, not climbing on chairs but sitting on them because we want to think of others and not get dirt on their clothes...things like that. :)

Then Thomas and Gideon had to take tests. They were the tests that the DR uses to see if they are up to their age level...colors, animals, sounds, questions like, "What is a cup?" "what do you do if you are cold?"...so we have categorizing, reading comprehension...oh and seeing if you can jump- physical education.

Then they came back to be weighed and measured. After that Judah and Thomas each had to take an eye test...Since Judah was looking at letters we can call that reading/grammar...since Thomas was looking at shapes we can call that- Math. :)

We had to wait a bit for the DR. The boys found a really cool book about butterflies...Science

Then the DR came in and did some muscle tests, checked their heart, eyes, throat, ears, etc...what does a DR do boys? -Career day. :)

The DR got called out of the room for a phone call. Waiting patiently practice!! - Character

We had to wait a bit for the nurse to come back with the shots.
We selectively immunize and don't allow more than 2 shots per child per visit. :)

While we were waiting we had time to read the butterfly book again. This time Judah read it. - Science review, Reading
and a really great book about dinosaurs- Science.
(since we are currently studying fossils in Science the dino one was super great!!)

Each boy got 2 shots. After that we got into the van to run some errands.

Me- Boys how many shots did we get if we add them all together...let's count by 2s.

Us- 2, 4, 6

Me- GREAT!!

Me- how many did you and Judah get together...2 plus 2 is-

Thomas- FOUR!

Me- Judah how many did you and Gideon get together?

Judah- FOUR!

Me- now add 2+2+2

Judah- 6

Me- GREAT!!

Math!

I got them each a soft pretzel at the coffee shop each one was around 2 dollars- we went through that whole scenario again but this time with pretzels instead of shots. :)- More Math

I also got a doughnut for us to share. A REALLY yummy, french creme filled long doughnut with chocolate frosting, and vanilla frosting on top in a pretty swirl...It was a beautiful thing. :)

Each of us had 3 bites.

As we pulled away I said this...

Me- Each of us had three bites right?

J and T- yes

Me- how many bites did we have all together?...Let's build it...Thomas let's add yours and Gideon's together. What's 3+3?

T- (with some visual help) SIX!

Me- RIGHT!!

Me- Now Judah let's add yours to theirs. What's 6+3?

J- NINE!!

Me- RIGHT!!!

Me- Now add mine to everyone else's. What's 9+3?

Judah- Twelve!!!

Me- Good job!! So there were twelve bites all together. So did each of us have 3/12?

Judah- YES!!!

Math again!

Me- And that boys, is school. :)

Did I count this morning as school?- I absolutely did.
It was relevant to their lives. They learned a lot today!!

Practical schooling is the BEST!!

Blessings!-
Angela :)

Reason #102...

2008-08-26T14:00:00.001-05:00

Just had to add this one. :)