Chicks 'n Kittens

Well, we now have a few baby animals on the farm. The three little kittens that were born just before our trip are doing well, even the little one I nursed back to health on its first day of life.

Our four little chicks are also doing well. Yes, they are living in my house. Yes, I have to wipe their butts sometimes. But they are so cute and growing fast.

   This is a Dark Brahma chick. Notice the fuzzy feet!

    This is a Golden Polish chick. Don't you just love the poufy head?!

Picking Up Chicks In an Elevator

Taking a trip to the grain elevator is always a cause of great joy for my girls. We buy our alpaca feed there because we could not find any closer to home. When we finally did find some alpaca feed at the local farm supply store my girls cried and screamed because they did not want to buy it there. They wanted to buy it from the grain elevator.

And for good reason. The route we take to the grain elevator takes us past bison and emus which are
fun to see. Sometimes, we even stop at a nice little park along the way. Once there, the girls can ride the two mechanical horses they have in the store. One requires a penny and the other just a push of a button. They are the only mechanical toys I let them ride at a store so it is a special treat. Occasionally, the employees even give the girls extra pennies for more fun.

On our last trip to the grain elevator, they had chicks there. Of course we had to buy some. We only
bought four though-two Dark Brahmas and two Golden Polish. We named the Brahmas Fuzzy and Fluffy since they have feathers on their legs. The Polish are called Goldie and Poly (they rhyme). 

Visitors

We just had some visitors in our yard this morning. This is the first time I have seen turkeys on our property. Usually they are found hanging out across the road in the more wooded areas.

Florida Trip By the Numbers

We took a trip to Florida for Spring Break. Here is a glance of our trip by the numbers:

7 days of vacation

2 days of being sick after returning home
2 plane rides with 2 preschoolers

2 hotels we slept in
1 pier visited in Naples where we saw dolphins playing in the waves
6 leaves of lettuce fed to a giraffe at the zoo
9 times a little girl puked in a hotel room
3 times we had to change the sheets due to vomit
2 beaches enjoyed on Sanibel Island
7 baby alligators seen swimming in swamps
3 big alligators also spotted

3 nature centers where we looked for wildlife while hiking on boardwalks

1 zoo that had lots of critters to see

2 boat rides (1 through an estuary and 1 at the zoo to view the monkeys living on islands)

1 beach filled with hundreds of horseshoe crabs

867 (estimated) little lizards running all over the place

90 degree temperatures most days

90 degree temperature of the hotel pool

1 camel named Noah that gave us a ride

5 islands seen

5 state parks explored

40-some osprey nests

3 bottles of sunscreen used up

2 bad sunburns anyway

21 pounds of seashells collected

1100 photos taken

18 scoops of ice cream consumed 

2 beautiful sunsets viewed from the beach

10 or so dolphins swimming in the ocean

24 critters cared for at home by 2 wonderful people (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

It was cloudy (but still warm!) out on the pier.

Noah, the camel

Do you see the alligator hiding in this picture?

Shells, shells, and more shells!

Sunset view on our last night in Florida

Kittens!

Smoky had kittens yesterday morning. We found two still alive but later we found a third kitten that was barely alive. We were able to warm it up and bottle feed it to get it strong enough to start nursing from its mommy. So far they all seem to be doing well. 

Fat Cat on a Stick

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The girls had to have shamrocks in their hair and wear green today!

Hugs for Bowser

Helpful Goats

It was another gorgeous day so we spent a bunch of time outside. The girls played, the dogs romped, Jon and I worked. I had the crappiest job though. I cleaned out stalls and the pasture. Nearly a winter's worth of crap. I have heard many complain of needing to clean up after their dogs now that Spring is here and all that snow-hidden poo has been revealed. Now imagine cleaning up after two dogs, four alpacas, two goats, and eleven chickens. Fun, right? Now picture having two adorable goats who love to "help." Tulip is fascinated by the pitch fork and likes to chew on it and jump on it. Today, she thought it would be nice to jump on me while I was working. I think she was just trying to help me lift the pitchfork but generally it provided the opposite result.

I also tried to fill in some of the trench but it was still too muddy!

Playing in Puddles

This is what our yard looked like earlier this week and the girls had a great time splashing in the puddles.

However, once the puddles disappeared, this little girl got creative and used the bucket of dog water to make another puddle. Too bad she didn't have her rain boots on at the time!

Happy Pi Day!

We ate pie at 9:26 this morning. I think the girls have a new favorite holiday. And I admit it wasn't real pie-it was cookie pie, since I didn't have the ingredients for actual pie. It was still very yummy!

Crafty Creations This Week

I got to do some painting with some lovely ladies on our Girls' Night. We painted daisies!

I made monster truck cupcakes for Birthday Cakes 4 Free. The picture isn't the greatest but, then again, neither are the cupcakes!

Another cake I made. I tried keeping both the cupcakes and cake simple since they were due within a day of each other. Next time I will pay closer attention to the dates the orders are due!

Crisscross bun hairstyle.

The littlest wanted in on the picture too but she wouldn't let me do much with her hair!

Hay, Goats!

The goats snuck into the barn while I was cleaning stalls and discovered the hay bales.

The cat wasn't so sure the goats should be up there.

They thought it was great fun to play on the hay "castle," as my girls call it.

Selfies

Pepper wanted me to take a selfie of us but Bella crashed the first attempt.

There, that one worked.

I had to make sure Bella didn't get jealous.

And I had to take a picture of the other cat, just to be fair. Look how round she is getting!

Peekaboo!

Pet 'Paca

The girls got a chance to pet Huxley back when we did some hoof trimming. And yes, he is as fluffy as he looks. Maybe even fluffier!

Me and my 'paca. 

Tobi

Warmer Days

Everyone around here has been enjoying the warmer weather. The alpacas and goats have ventured into the back pasture again, even laying down in patches of grass to enjoy the sun. I let the chickens out so they could explore and munch on the old grass. Of course, a bunch of them just went into the barn but I guess they were having fun so it's all good. My oldest daughter had fun splashing in the puddles. Yay for warmer temperatures!

Here you can see the critters in the back pasture plus our lovely mudpit in front of the barn. That is going to take some work to clean up and really needs to be fixed soon. My poor youngest daughter fell into the mud pit the other day and was covered in mud from the waist down. She was NOT happy about that! That is one downfall of the warmer temps!

To Be Fair

Not only does my wonderful, hardworking husband destroy things (like my kitchen yesterday), but he also creates things. Here is my new countertop. (Just ignore the ugly wall and lack of trim.) He will get to those when he has time!

And for those wondering, yes, we were able to feed our children lunch yesterday. We did, however, need to go out for dinner. 

Hello, there!

Some Snow Fun Before It is Done

This is how we make a snowman.

Bella stole my oldest's hat while she was sledding.

She thought it was fun! She was not happy when I took it back from her!