Spring 2010

This past spring was filled with lots of stuff. Mike and I had Mike's brother Shawn's 4 children living with us in addition to our own 7, making a house full of 11 children. Rhett, Amy and Austin played baseball. Josh and Joe were on the track team. I was a bad mother and got pictures of nothing, although I was at every game (did I mention I don't even like baseball?) that I wasn't working, and every home track meet and some away ones! Joe did very well in the the 800 and the relay. Josh did shotput, discus and javelin. Rhett and Amy were on the same team and played outfield, while Austin played 3rd base. Mike was still going to school for nursing on nights and weekends, so he was gone most evenings of the week. It was a crazy time. But I enjoyed it!

You remember how last year all the baby animals being born were boys? Well, this past spring, we were blessed to have many baby girls. Starting with Rose Petal (RoseBud's little heifer),

then came a little doe, Caramel,
and then Stardust was born. Stardust was a friendly little filly, and we sold her to a nice family late summer.

Taxi had another bull calf several weeks after RosePetal was born. We sold the calf after just a short time. We milked Taxi and Rosebud for a few months before deciding to sell Taxi. She gave good milk, but she wasn't the easiest cow to milk!

Mike was the only one that could milk her, and he had to tie up a hind leg to keep her from kicking. She wasn't a mean cow, just very skittish. I milked her once... got kicked even with the leg tied! So, we sold her. Unfortunately, I really missed the milk. I had gotten used to being able to make icecream and butter, and not having to buy milk! But our other cow decided not to have her baby for longer than we thought, so I had to buy milk.

Our donkey, Dot, had another little jack. He was cute, and she was, too, but we decided to sell some of our animals to cut down on feed costs. They both went to nice homes. All the kids were glad to be done with the cold winter and enjoyed the outdoors in the spring. They always enjoyed going up and down the driveway on skateboards,

and Ben had a good time hanging in the trees.

They would ride the miniatures thru the summer, too. Triple T has always been the preferred steed!

Remember how excited we were to have a little filly born last year? Well, little Sugar Pea stayed very tiny. Unfortunately, she was small enough to get out from under pretty much any fence we had her in. So, we sold her, too. She was a beautiful little horse!

Such is the way with the farm. Well, that's about all I can think of for Spring for now!