Alpaca Hugs

Do you wanna go first?

It was a good morning for hugging alpacas so that was just what we did. Jealous, aren't you? Even though alpacas are ridiculously fluffy, You probably shouldn't be jealous since alpaca hugging also involves the dreaded hoof trimming.

 I think we are figuring things out and I think it is going better. No one got kicked or spit on this time. We still had some interesting moments but mostly that involved my soft, live alpaca rug deciding it no longer wanted to be a rug. 

The cats were not so helpful.

I also found out that alpaca legs are pretty bony and hard when my finger somehow got caught and crushed as one of them was cushing (laying down). So then Jon took over the trimming part while I held the alpacas down. They really are fluffy (and oh so soft!)and part of me was very happy "cuddling" them. The other part of me was sore from staying in an awkward position for so long!

For the record, the alpacas were not hurt during this, even though it may look awful for them!

Let There Be (More) Light!

Jon put up more lighting in my kitchen. I now have light over my bar which is where I do most of my food preparation and cake decorating. It is so nice to see what I am doing now!

Fun Fact Friday

A group of goats is called a tribe or a trip. Other names can include drove, flock or herd.

Awwww....

I'm not sure if this is a case of puppy love or a fight over the dog bed. Either way, my doggies look so cute together!

Cleaning

As I was cleaning out the stalls, I had some curious critters checking out my work.

Even my youngest dragged her chair down to watch.

                    

I suspect she was more interested in watching these guys rather than what I was doing though!

Chaucer had to check out the clean stall. I think he approves!

Snow Much Fun!

Both types of kids enjoy playing on the giant spools!

Do you wanna build a snowman?

Tulip loves attention!

Fun Fact Friday

A male alpaca is called a "macho". A female is called an "hembra". A baby alpaca is called a "cria". 

So here at our farm, we have a macho herd!

Crazy Coop

When we decided to get chickens, we made do with what we had in order to make a good home for them. We happened to have a large three-sided shed between our barn and shop which worked great once a few changes were made to it. We made one half a coop and the other half a place for the goats to hang out in during bad weather.

Apparently, other people also make do with what they have in order to house their chickens. One family used an old camper! Looks like it works pretty well and it is a fun idea!

Hair, Hair, Now

Truth be told, I was scared that I would have girls when I became a mommy. I figured I would do better with boys since I am not very girly myself. God had other plans for me and blessed me with two beautiful little girls. And they LOVE girly things-princesses, make up, painted toenails, playing dress up. They also love having their hair done. So I learned how to do their hair. Here are some of the styles I have done (and took pictures of). One of my favorites I did I didn't even get a good picture of it and I even got a comment from a professional hair dresser about how beautiful that style was. She was impressed that I had done such a good job, especially since I had done a complicated style on a wiggly toddler. Ah, the miracle of television to convince a toddler to sit still! Actually, that doesn't always work but that time it did!

Gotta love the piggy tails!

She asked for a Christmas tree in her hair.

Hair bow!

Letter E day for preschool

Letter C day for preschool

Her favorite style is Mickey Mouse ears!

Hello, Birthday! Hello Kitty!

My oldest daughter turns five tomorrow. (Five! How did she grow so fast!?) We celebrated her birthday today with some of her friends. The theme was Hello Kitty so there was lots and lots of pink everywhere. My daughter found a picture of a cake she absolutely had to have so I made it for her, adding a few extras that she required, such as pink and white Sixlets and pink fondant butterflies.

She even had Hello Kitty fake nails!

Fun Fact Friday

The fear of chickens is called Alektorophobia.

Ouch!

Genetics took a bad turn somewhere along the way. One of our poor chickens laid a giant egg. I seriously think this bird might be part ostrich. I don't know how else she could pass this massive egg out of her. So somewhere along the line, ostrich must have entered her genetics. At least, that is the story I am going with. Fortunately for her, the ostrich side seems to have gone back into submission and she has continued to lay normal eggs ever since.

The cream-colored egg on the right is a normal, large egg and the egg on the left is, well, ouch!

It wouldn't even fit in the carton. So we ate it! Yum!

Nuggets Is At It Again

Our very special chicken we threateningly lovingly call Nuggets has once again figured out a way to escape. We put up a corner hay feeder in the goat stall for those rainy, unpleasant days when the critters are trapped in the barn. Well, Nuggets figured out that she could flap her way on to the lower grain feeder where she could then leap on to the hay feeder where there was plenty of soft hay for her to nest and lay her eggs. That when on for only a couple days before she cleverly realized that the hay feeder was at the top of the fence so she could just take a couple of steps to freedom. Well, semi-freedom since we keep the barn door closed in the winter so really she just ended up stuck in the barn. But she seemed to think that was exciting enough because she continued her escapes until we moved the grain feeder away from the hay feeder. Hopefully that continues to be enough of a deterrence.

Step 1: Jump to Feeder

Step 2: Leap to Second Feeder.
Step 3: Nest.
Step 4(not shown): ESCAPE!

Silly Dog

Right now it is 6 below outside with a windchill of 28 below. That is pretty cold. Schools and some businesses are closed due to the frigid temperatures. But what does my crazy dog, Bella, want to do? She wants to go outside and eat ice. Yes, that is right. She keeps begging to go out and when I make her come back in, she tries to sneak ice into the house so she can finish eating it! Brrrrrr! Of course, ice cream does sound pretty good right now...

Stormy Winter Night

It was the start of a beautiful snowy evening at our farm. My husband came home early and offered to feed my critters out in the bitter, icy cold while I cooked dinner in the warm, cozy house. As I prepared the meal, the girls played quietly with some of their new Christmas toys. I thought how lovely it all was. Then the phone rang.

It was my husband. Who was home. Feeding my critters. Hearing his tone as he answered the phone, I instantly knew something was wrong. My heart skipped a beat. Had something horrible happened to one of my animals? Before I could ask, he informed me that he had trapped himself in the chicken coop and was unable to escape so...could I come get him out? Supper was almost done but I figured we couldn't eat it without him, knowing he was trapped in sub-zero weather, so I threw on my coat and trudged through the snow to save my husband. 

Then we enjoyed a good dinner, though it was slightly cold, and had a good laugh about our life on the farm. And then I blogged. Mwahahahaha! (evil laughter)

Getting Better...For Now

Well, my husband got the wall patched up after removing the ugly tiles and he resized a cupboard which he then replaced back on the wall. He also installed our new microwave. Yay! It looks so much better than the old, ugly, stained vent over our oven. Now we just need to get used to having the microwave on the other side of the kitchen. Well, that...and remodel the rest of the kitchen. No big deal, right? I'm sure that won't make a mess. (HA!)

Jealousy

I was trying to take a picture of the alpacas but Pepper kept climbing up to sit on my shoulder (thank goodness I was wearing my overalls or that would have hurt!). I figured he was jealous of all the attention my machos (male alpacas) were getting so I tried to take Pepper's picture. He didn't cooperate though because he thought it was more fun to try and catch my phone every time I tried to snap a photo!

Cakes

When I am not doing crazy farm work, I like to bake and decorate cakes. This past summer/fall I had more time to decorate cakes for Birthday Cakes 4 Free. We provide free cakes to financially and socially disadvantaged children and seniors. You should check it out and see if there is a chapter in your area. It is a great volunteer opportunity (especially for moms since you can decorate at home. Even if you aren't much of a cake decorator, you can use this to practice your decorating skills while making others happy. I haven't had much time to bake cakes lately but I thought I would share my three favorite cakes from the last few months.

The first was a snake cake. None of the other volunteers seemed too excited to make a snake cake. I was fairly busy at the time but I like snakes so I took it on since it sounded fun to make. The snake is made of cake and buttercream frosting, much like a cake ball only shaped like a snake. It was then covered by more buttercream, textured, and "painted" with food coloring.

The Elsa cake was made for a five year old little girl whose favorite color is pink and she loves the movie, "Frozen". The entire cake is buttercream, except for Elsa's face, which is made of candy clay. It may not be perfect but I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

The Lego cake was made for my nephew who was in town visiting on his birthday. The Legos are edible. It was a little creepy watching people eat the Legos though, especially my youngest daughter who still puts toys in her mouth sometimes. I just wanted to yell, " Take those Legos out of your mouth!"                  I tried a different technique with this cake. I made a frozen buttercream transfer of Emmet to put on the cake rather than free handing the design myself. Basically, this means I traced a picture using frosting, froze it, and stuck it on the cake. I didn't really like this method as the black frosting bled a bit when it thawed. Next time, I will likely free hand the picture, as long is it isn't too difficult!

Happy New Year!

This is how my new year has started. It should be a good thing, eventually, once it is done. I just hope it gets done this year! (My husband is actually very good about finishing his projects so I'm not too worried about it!)

It must get worse before it gets better, right?

Let the kitchen remodel begin!!!