Anyway, things have been going well, a bit crazy, but that's to be expected I guess ;)
Currently the kids are 7, 5, 4, and 2 - Lillian just had a birthday, and Morgan's is coming up. We're starting to wrap up the school year and I am going to be searching out some testing options for Joah since he is to the age that the state requires annual testing (yippee!). He's reading like crazy - just before Christmas he asked me what a billboard meant as we were going down the road which was the first time he made it known that he was truly reading on his own (not just memorizing or guessing). It was a slow process, but thankfully homeschooling allowed him to go at his own pace and within a few weeks he was reading pretty fluently. Now, just 4 months later, he's following along in chapter books (current favorites are ones by Jim Kjelgaard - rich in detail, a bit slow to develop, but wonderful reads for adults and kids alike). Morgan is on the brink of reading at this point, but we're taking it slow. I started to push Joah too hard and it almost ruined his love of reading before it even started which would have broke my heart so I learned early on to just step back, take a break, and let them learn at their own pace. It's not a race!
We've also started putting a lot of effort into getting our homestead going. It has been something that's been on the back burner for quite some time, and I guess we started working on it 6 years ago with our first 5 chickens (one of which I still have!). Here's some numbers to look at that are kind of entertaining!
OK, as of January 31st we had:
1 cat
2 dogs
~15 chickens (not laying... at all!)
As of today (4/18/15) we have:
1 cat
9 dogs (2 grown, 7 puppies)
15 rabbits (2 bucks, 2 does, 11 kits... likely more OTW any time now since I bred the does at the same time)
2 goats (a buck and whether, still on the look out for a doe)
Unknown amount of chickens, but more than before
(acquired 4 with a coop purchase, culled them because of likely
illness... had to cull another one of my favorites due to crop issues,
then added 6 chicks... I need to take inventory 
. Will likely be adding a few more to the flock next week 
- Araucanas, Cuckoo Marans, Delawares)And we really need to consider another cat soon... ours is 9 years old or so and is slowing down. She can live our her later years hanging around, but we really do need a good "mouser" around!
So yeah... we've been busy. The kids have been excited to help, and part of the reasoning for all of this is future 4H projects for them as they get older... not to mention it teaches a good work ethic which is something we strive to instill in our children - as well as ourselves - at the rate the rest of the country is going ;)
Chickens:
A sample of the flock... you can see my wonderful roo in the middle - he will be missed whenever his time comes:
6 Dominique babies:
My roo in training... still working on those tail feathers
He's the son (grandson?) of my current guy so I am hoping he will adopt his demeanor:
Rabbits:
Californian buck - I love his "eyebrows"
NZ white (the mama of the kits - I have one other NZW doe, a bit smaller than her)
Mix breed (unknown) buck - who I bred with the above doe:
A sampling of the color variety within the same bunch - newborn rabbits are very odd looking hairless creatures! But at just a day and a half old they are starting to get some fuzz:
Goats - Nigerian Dwarfs, supposed to be a good, small milk breed. Zoro's back is mid shin on me and he is fully grown!:
Dixon... hopefully our future breeder. 11 weeks old, not sure how big he will get.
Zoro - Mr. Curious... and also a "stereotypical" goat that nibbles on just about anything! Polar opposite of picky-eater Dixon:
Pups:
The whole group snoozing while mama took a break. Their eyes are starting to open!
This one was born almost totally white aside from two small spots on the ears and a spot on his back - a LOT of grey is coming out which confirms that his dad was the blue heeler looking dog (he's at the far right in the above pic). The girls and I are totally drawn to him... curious to see how his personality develops (we're keeping two - one for Joah to raise as a squirrel dog, and then one for the girls).
The pups came from Chloe - a stray that adopted us back in the fall. She had a scar on her belly so we naturally assumed she had been spayed... ummm... not so much :P
It's been fun though, and I am really enjoying all the animals. Some days, when the weather isn't great, it's just a job and I go out, make my rounds, then work on stuff in the house. When the weather is nice, though, we will spend hours outside hanging out and piddling with animals and/or projects (one of which is fixing up the rabbit hutches - bought them from a high school kid and they were in rough shape, but cheap enough to be worth the added effort of repairs).
And of course, some pictures of the kids!
This was not at all staged - there are times when they all just curl up with books... love it!
The kids were so excited when we got snow this year, and it was kind of nice to be able to go out and play! Normally I have a younger child that either can't go out side (itty bitty baby) or doesn't have a high tolerance for the cold...
This is Morgan with Chloe (and her big piggy belly, there are 7 puppies in there!)
The girls were trying to pose with the dogs and Sadie got a bit excited about a belly rub, taking Lillian out in the process!
1 comment:
Thanks for the update and the pictures! I rediscovered your blog a few weeks ago so I'm glad you're getting back to it. That's exciting that you have so many animals and you are homeschooling! We definitely need to catch up!
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