::not all who wonder are lost::

I am just sort of floating in blog land right now.  I have no focus right this second when it comes to blogging.  Just wondering along smelling the flowers.  This summer will be a crazy busy shortie time full of fair prep and farm maintenance.  Garden season is almost here - more craziness.  For now I think I will just keep wondering.  Here are a few random things...   

I am going through a picture phase were I really dislike edited pictures.  I just want to use instagram and not jerk around with "perfect pictures".  This means that Q's last few months are only captured on my super old phone.  Slightly blurry.  But honest - and I like it.  I am also really enjoying seeing my cousins kids on instagram.  I can't wait to go road tripping this summer to meet them all face to face.  We have rented out a ranch in Colorado and are spending a long weekend all together.  I hope this starts a yearly road trip tradition with my mother and I hope is starts a fairly regular family reunion gathering with all my Arizona family.  

I have redone my art room.  Half.  Maybe you could say it is half done instead of half not done.  Still need to finish some paint and hang curtains.  Then it will keep till I find the yard sale finds I need to finish it.  With my former shopping and catalog addiction I get really nervous about letting myself shop.  I made a well controlled Ikea trip (SHOUT OUT TO LORA!!!!) and got the book shelves and curtains I needed.  I made a hard to control catalog order for one perfect green owl.  He is my buddy.  I really want to make at least this one room look like I want the whole house to look.  I don't know what to call the style - maybe modern vintage?  Not over crowded.  Not cluttered.  Just rad-tastic.  

I have some how been blessed with the fact that the girls are obsessed with the barn and animals right now.  They want to have weekly "farm maintanence days", were we clean the barn.  Are you kidding me?  It tears me up as a parent that they even thought of such a great name.  They even want to make a LIST of what all needs to be done.  LIST!!!!  tear.....

We are working on two big art projects.  One is a garden sign post with all different fictional places that mean something to the kids and I.  We have six signs done.  I'm not sure how many we want.  Its an ongoing event.  Lily is also making a penny chandelier for her new room.  Its amazing.  Really cool folk art.  She came up with it all by herself and as of right now she doesn't want me to post pictures of it because its "her art."  She doesn't want every one to "copy her."  We will see if I can eventually talk her into a picture.  

And what about the animals?  We got seven ducklings.  The stray cat of the neighborhood took two.  We cat proofed things and the five remaining are growing like crazy.  Just yesterday they got big enough and it is warm enough that I let the ducks take over the whole chicken stall.    The one rabbit is in a large dog crate in the chicken stall too.  We have been letting him out to run that stall every day.  He loves it.  You never saw a Holland Lop run so fast.  In a few days my pygmy buck and two brood does go to their new home.  It's bittersweet.  But it's the right call.  I sold the does but traded the buck for another baby doe in the fall.  We all end up happy.  The two new pygmy babies for the show season get picked up next week.  The lambs get picked up at the end of April.  They are named Anabelle and Coal.  I hope they fit right in.

They see me rolling..

    

::crafty::

These kids got borrrrrrrrrrred.  They felt they were not getting enough craft time. 

So we let them go crazy.

They made an entire window treatment out of coffee filters and liquid water colors.

They made lots of shaving cream and food coloring prints.

They just made more and more and more and more.  The whole thing was simple adorable. 

Sorry for the cell phone pictures.  My big camera is just not feeling small enough right this second. 

::ducks and rabbits::

Shooter the pony sold last week.  He went to a wonderful family.  But I am going to miss his furry face. I also sold two of my pygmy goat breeding does, since I am flipping done with breeding those monsters.  They are going to a really good home too.  The are staying here for another three weeks till the baby is ready to be weaned.  

We picked up our show rabbit.  A handsome Holland Lop named Jinx.  Lily is taking really good care of him.  And our duckling finally hatched!!  We went and picked them up yesterday.  They may be the cutest creatures I have ever seen.  I can't wait for them to have their own babies.  I hope we get our chickens in time, but if not we will live this year with out them.  

The duckling stayed inside for about two hours but Quinn would not leave them alone for one second.  We took them out into the tack room.  They have a heat lamp and they seem very happy. 

::4h update::

Fine.

You win.

I went over board on 4H. 

Obviously.

BUT - I am really impressed with my Lily.  She has really been stepping up and taking on lots of responsibility.  She can even feed the animals by herself now days.  Not bad for a little kid. 

Picture of the Lily's ewe lamb. At one day old.

Lily talked me out of a market lamb.  She said that she could raise an animal for slaughter, but she could not teach it to lead and love it and then send it for slaughter.  She had a good point.  She wins.  That means she gets two Babydoll lambs to raise.  A wether and a ewe.  They both happen to be black.  What a shocker that my Lily would want two black sheep.  We are picking them up in late April. 

Emma's wether - Monty

 We have the goat situation all figured out.  Emma is getting two baby Pygmy's from a breeder - twins.  A handsome wether and pretty little doe.  Emma will show four pygmy goats.  Lily is only going to show two goats this year.  I want to buy her a Nigerian dwarf this fall, or a miniature Nubian.  I will always love Pygmy goats but we need to be testing out other easier to deliver breeds that we may have a long term future with.    


The poultry breeder has some duckling that should be hatching any day.  I keep reading that the Cayuga ducks are very well established as good egg layers and good parents.  Perfect.  They also are supposed to taste really good.  I'm not bringing this up to Lily.  I'm not sure I am up to eating ducks myself, unless it was for survival.  That same breeder raises Silkie chickens too.  I am hoping we can get those from her, but at least the ducks seems to be on track.  I really want Silkie chickens even if we don't show them.  That breeder is only about 45 mins from us, so not too bad if we have to go back more than once.   

The amount of workbooks that Lily has to have done is staggering.  But I am helping her.  We sit together and do at least four pages a few times a week.  She picks what project workbook she wants to do and I read it for her.  Sometimes I even write the answers for her.  She has to look up the information and tell me what to write, but I act as her scribe at times.  I remember doing this for Emma back in the day.  I want her to love 4H, not feel stressed at how hard it is for her to read the words.   

::max's outlook::

Out of sorts.  Cabin fever.  Restless.  I was not really myself the other day.  I was home with the two boys but just couldn't seem to find joy.  Q went down for a nap.  I decided might be the reset I needed.  But after an hour of trying to fall asleep I knew that was not the ticket.  I had a movie title floating around in my head - "The Blind Side".  I had seen something about it recently and mentally marked it as - need to watch.  I had Max come curl up on the lap and we sported the two bucks to watch it on iTunes.

Max must have seen it before.  He was giving me a play by play for most of the movie.  Every so often we would take a break to check Q or snack up.  Then we would snuggle up in the office chair and keep on watching.  Watching such a happy and true story with that little boy was something I hope I never forget.  He kept saying, "Don't worry, he is going to find his family."  He told me three times, "You mess with my son and you mess with me."  He loves that idea.  He had a big talk with me about how some people don't have a family but then they find a family.  He understood the whole story on a level that was really beyond his years and his usually level of attentiveness.  It was a good movie with out him, but with my Max to narrate it became unforgettable.

It always helps to get your priories back on track to see someone that literally had one T shirt in a plastic bag to his name.  I get fussy this time of year (EVERY YEAR), that the house is too small.  That we don't fit.  We need a bigger house.  ~Or we could just make do.  Which is what I have to do anyway so I better make the most of it.  Maybe the occasional snuggle movie with Max is just the fix I need.  I should do it more often.