My tribe

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Spoiled

Lance has been here 4 days. 4. That is how long it took for him to learn to escape and come find the kids. We should have named him Houdini. I spent half an hour blocking all the places he could get out. I was confident I had him penned in. I turned around to walk back to the house and the little stinker beat me to the front porch! It's good that he is cute!
Honestly, I wouldn't care if he slept on the front porch, but I worry he would not stay put, and would end up as coyote or bobcat food.

I know why he keeps coming up to the door....who doesn't want hugs from these kids?

Preston is a master climber. Have I mentioned that I hate heights? Whenever I see him 20-30 feet above me, it makes my gut ache. He always says "stop worrying so much!"

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Grateful

Today was one of those days. The kind that make me grateful when they end.
Started out at 3:30 a.m. with Madison waking me up to tell me she needed to borrow a vehicle due to hers having a flat tire. I could not go back to sleep. I had both a Watershed board and a township board meeting today.
I did have a couple of hours to spend with the kids after school. They make my day! When I drove in after the bus route, I noticed Preston was on our new burn barrel. He said he was putting it away, but decided while it was empty it was a most excellent time to polish up his barrel walking skills.

About 5 minutes after witnessing the circus act, there was a knock on the front door. It was Lance. He wanted milk I guess. Quincy had let him out (again) and he followed her everywhere like a sweet little puppy. I noticed she was still outside with him when I left for my meeting, and was sad about "forcing" him to sleep in the shed when I got back. I reminded her about what a disaster it is when a goat thinks they are a human. ;)

Honestly, I have a hard time resisting him as well. He is sweet and cute! I'm sure I will change my mind when he's a 100 + pound billy goat trying to come in the house!

Cameron had a track meet at Royal Valley. He was only participating in one event - the triple jump. He said he set a new personal record, but didn't place.

The farmers and ranchers are all burning. I truly enjoyed driving across the county this afternoon and looking at all of the fires. I also enjoyed the smoky sunset on my way home this evening. I wish I could say the rest of this week was calmer, but that is just not our reality. I am exceedingly thankful for this crazy life I lead.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Where did you go?

The weekend flew by in an flash. I wish it was a Monday holiday week! Of course....I wish that every week!
Quincy's billy goat has been having problems with his feet. Despite changing diet, adding mineral supplements and trimming a bunch, he just was not doing well. We could not use him for the breeding purposes we intended. She was not happy, but we rehomed him. He really was a sweet boy despite being a billy. We will miss his friendly nature.

Saturday, Cameron took his ACT test and followed that fun with participating in regional band contests for small groups and ensembles. He was in a tuba quartet. You might notice there are only 3 boys in his quartet. Apparently one boy inexplicably bailed on them. They adjusted to be a trio, but had to take a points deduction. They got a 2 rating. We think without the points deduction they may have qualified for state. Disappointing after the work they put in.
I can't begin to explain how proud I am of this kid. The amount of stuff he is involved in is dizzying. He also worked this weekend with Colin who was home. It was nice to have everyone home!

Since we no longer had a billy goat, we began the process of finding a replacement. Jim found this sweet little dude on Craigslist. He was happy to take the kids into his old stomping grounds and pick him up!
Quincy named him after the band director. His name is Lance.

While Jim, Quincy and Preston were picking up the new goat, I sent Harper down to check on the rabbit. We had put him in a different cage so we could use the kennel to transport the goat. Harper came in and reported the rabbit was missing. We were able to locate the little escapee, and then spent over an hour trying to catch him. He is quick and tricky! I admit I had a little period of time where I wish the eagles had eaten him!
We have been finding a bunch of guinea eggs. We have been collecting them and putting them in the incubator. I have no idea if they will hatch, but it seems like it's worth a shot!

Lance is a bottle baby. He was one of a set of triplets. The kids are completely smitten. I walked out to see how he was settling in and found that Quincy was playing catch with Madison, and they had let him out because he was crying. I can tell that this little dude is going to be a spoiled mess!

Monday, April 3, 2017

Preparing

Yesterday I admit I did not have the most productive day. I love the stuff that went on around here though. Mallory has to do some sort of a project. She had the girls help her plant wild flowers to transplant. While they were doing that, she also started garden preparations by planting pepper and tomato plants. The little girls love this sort of stuff. Here's hoping it grows!

I love these photos for a number of reasons. First and foremost because I love how my kids play together. Although he isn't in the picture, Preston was shagging balls. Madison was working with Quincy getting ready for softball practices to start. I love that she is taking what she knows and helping Q. Madison and Mallory are coaching Quincy's team. That makes me smile. Mallory needed the time/experience. She pretty much dragged Madison in just because. The other thing that makes me smile about these photos is that the "ball bucket" is a goat water bucket.

I don't think any of us were ready for the weekend to end. I for sure could have used another day!

It did end though. We found ourselves at a 4-H meeting this evening where Preston had to give a project talk. He didn't do too bad considering he made a half an attempt at it and made up both the speech and the poster in about 8 minutes before the meeting!

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Open house

While Cameron was at prom, I took the younger crowd to the after prom party open house. They set everything up and let the community come in and play. The kids love this! We went after mass....they were sad we couldn't get there right when it opened!

They all seemed to fit in a lot of the activities and have a good time! I am thankful that the after prom committee does this, it is a neat way for the younger kids to feel like they were part of prom!

Cameron's Junior Prom

Cameron's junior prom was last night. I think he had a good time. He wanted to buy a suit rather than rent a tux. He was able to use the suit twice in the same week- bonus! He had a "not date" and I think they cleaned up pretty good!

Cameron said the actual prom was sort of boring, but I think everyone had fun at the after prom party! I definitely enjoyed spending my night in the kitchen with friends, and the kids consumed an insane amount of junk food! I might be getting a little old to stay up all night though!
I enjoyed seeing all the kids and watching them play together. It was a fun event!