Baby Chicks!

We have some new babies at the farm again! This time it's baby chicks, fresh from the incubator. I now have 15 fuzzy little chicks in my camper, whose sole purpose is brooding chicks and ducklings, and occasionally housing baby goats and mamas.

The kids and I really enjoyed watching the chicks hatch; Sullivan in particular loves baby animals, so this was right up his alley. He was rather impatient though, he wanted me to just open the eggs! He also loves to talk to the chicks in their own language. He's very proficient at animal-speak. :)

I have already refilled the incubator for another hatch in about 3 weeks. I also plan to order some ducklings later this month. I only have 2 ducks left and I think they would like some company. With all the flooding we have been getting (again) around here lately, I think they are the happiest animals on the farm!

Happy Birthday To Me!

It's my birthday! 31- though Tate keeps saying I'm 21- I like his better! Here's my two greatest accomplishments in the first 31:

It's That Time of Year Again!

I haven't posted for awhile! I hadn't realized it had been this long! The winter has been long and pretty boring, but the weather is getting nicer, and babies are being born! The trees are getting buds and my rhubarb is starting to peek out. Joe and I have been busy stockpiling wood for next winter and getting things done outside since the weather is cooperating.

It's hard to believe, but we've already had some minor flooding this year. The creek has been out it's banks four times already. It was really strange to have the flood waters freeze when it was really cold. Hopefully that's the worst of it, all the snow has melted, so hopefully last year's events won't repeat themselves.

I walked out to the barn to collect eggs Saturday morning and discovered Hester had had two kids. The doeling is mostly white with a little black and the buckling is mostly black with a little white. They are such little sweethearts and love laying the sunshine and playing outside. The doeling likes to nibble my chin, but the buckling calls for mama the whole time I hold him.

Last night I heard a baby goat crying and thought one of Hester's babies got stuck somewhere or couldn't find their way back to the barn, but when I got there, I found that Helga had also had two babies! I haven't checked the sex yet, but one is mostly silver and the other mostly white. Very cute!

I just checked on them this morning when I collected eggs and everyone is doing great! It's so nice to have baby goats again! I lost a few goats over the winter, so the new life in the barn renews the spirits!

The boys are happy to be able to play outside again, too! Laying around on the couch watching Annie and playing with their Legos and trains is getting old. Well, maybe not the watching Annie part, they can't seem to get enough of that movie!

I've finished tons of crochet projects over the winter to post, so check back later!

White Christmas

The boys were amazed to wake up to the Christmas tree this morning. By this afternoon, they had all ready knocked it over! Tate can't wait for Santa Claus to bring him more toys. He has been impatiently waiting for Santa since the first snowfall.

The dogs have been enjoying playing in the snow- here they are along with their rooster friend. The dogs sleep in the garage at night since it's heated, and the rooster must have gone in and slept in the dog house at night. I didn't notice him when I put the dogs in, but they all got along, so I left him. He even went up to the bowl and ate dog food with them.

I have been crocheting like a wild woman, trying to get all my projects done by Christmas. I have always been a procrastinator, I work much better with a deadline looming. I have finished a few things- I only have a quilt, a bed scarf, an amigurumi monkey, and a hat to finish. Here are some of the things I have finished:

Lilac bed scarf for my mom.

American Flag afghan for my dad.

Camouflage hat and mittens for Tate and Sullivan.

Amigurumi monkey for my niece, Samantha, the monkey nut.

Here's hoping I get everything finished in time for Christmas! I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season. Merry Christmas!

Hamster Heaven

Here are some new additions to our family! We are now the proud pet-parents of three hamsters. Above is Juju, a long-haired Syrian. She was my first hamster, and I picked her because she was running on the exercise wheel like crazy while all the other hamsters slept.

She's really funny and has the food bowl empty within an hour of me filling it. She carries it all up to her sleeping room and sticks it in a pile in the corner. Another corner is for peeing and another corner is for sleeping, with her bedding piled in it.

Then I rescued Vega (above) and Nova (below) from the humane society. They are female dwarf hamsters. Vega is 4 months old and Nova, who is her daughter, is 3 weeks old. Nova escaped from the exercise ball the other night and I about had a heart attack, but she was found hiding in Tate's room. The kids love watching the hamsters!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

From Tate, the construction worker:

And Sullivan, the train engineer:

And my niece, Samantha, batgirl:

Let Sleeping Babies Lie

I decided to do a blog post on my boys sleeping after checking out fellow blogger, Jenn's, adorable sleeping baby pictures at http://ihatewhine.blogspot.com/. The above one is Sullivan, and yes he really was sleeping like that!

Have you ever heard the saying, "never wake a sleeping baby?" Well, if you are a parent, you know exactly how true that is. Not to mention how cute they are sleeping. I could stand and watch my kids sleep for half the night.

Sully can not sleep without his blankie, as a matter of fact, he has four of them the same material so that they can get washed regularly. Though at the moment he has 3 of them in bed with him, which he was very insistent on. He also has two stuffed kitties he couldn't sleep without. Here is the picture of him I took just minutes ago:

He's really growing like a weed, as you can see he no longer fits in the crib sideways without being crunched up, which apparently he likes.

Someday Tate is going to bring home a girlfriend to introduce to me, and I am going to embarrass the bejeebers out of him with pictures of him as a child, especially the above one of him sleeping in the car with a Barbie head. ;)

Tate likes to sleep with furry stuffed animals, though he is starting to get away from that a little. He has been getting by with just one, instead of 3 or more he usually has. His three favorites are Josie, a black & white Shih Tzu just like our real one by the same name; House, a stuffed Yorkie he named himself; and Kolby, a gold & white Shih Tzu just like our real Kolby.

Sometimes, our real dogs have stood in for the stuffed ones. Most of them don't have a problem with Tate playing with their fur or using them as a pillow.

Both boys suck their thumbs, but Tate is a lot more attached to his. Once the thumb is in the mouth, nothing will do but sleep, no matter where he may be.

Here he is tonight, with his beloved Kasey Kahne pillow I made him. Out like a light!