Everly's Bunnies

So, a couple of months ago, when Vic was taking Everly for a walk, he started pointing out things they would see in other people's yards. If they saw little statues of animals or children or other fun yard items, they would look at them and talk about them. Well, soon, they realized that quite a few houses had little stone or metal bunnies in them. So, over the past couple of months. when anyone takes Everly for a walk, it's "to go see the bunnies". We point them out and she walks up to pet them if we let her. It's the cutest thing! She acts like they are real and will tell them "bye bunny" when it's time to keep moving. One house, her favorite, has not only bunnies, but a goat and some carrots as decorations. She will walk all the way over to pet them and then tell the goat to eat the carrots. It's really the sweetest thing and I'm glad she and Vic started this routine. So, that is why, Vic bought for her, her own little metal goat for our yard at home, while at the pumpkin patch that day.

20 baby goats!

We went to Sanger for Erwin Christmas the weekend before Christmas. So, on Saturday morning, the 17th of December, we woke up to a regular warm morning, probably in the 70's. We went out with Grandma to play with the goats and while we were out there, the beginning of the cold front blew in! I mean, right as the kids were playing in the pasture on the round bale hauler, it blew in and got so cold dropping at least 20 degrees fast! It is always fun to take the kids outside to play with the goats. I hope one day they have a daily experience with goats, and have them for 4H projects. But, until then, we will just check them out each time we are at home and let them slowly get comfortable. The best part of seeing the goats this time, was that Grandma and Pop had 20 babies about a month old. They have some precious babies and they are so colorful. Although they are all gentle enough to be around, they don't come up for attention. So, we wrangled a few the night before and this morning to hold and pet. Some of the mama goats sure like attention and want their heads scratched. It was a fun morning to spend outside in the pasture though.

I took this picture because I've forgotten how giant ant hills can be. We are always quick to want to get rid of them in our yard in College Station, but oh my they are not this big!

So, we made our way to the round bale hauler and the kids immediately turned it into a Star Wars ship. They were so funny to watch and listen to!

Look how pretty these babies are!

And, this was right after the cold front blew in. It got cold!

Seriously...look at that ant hill!

Also, the night before Grandma was excited to show the kids one of her many instruments. They always ask and love to go in her instrument room. They are not allowed unless she is in there with them, but she got them this teeny tiny fiddle to play with. They tried it out here and although they didn't get much time to play that night, I see it being very fun in the future!

 And little Miss Everly got to finally play with some toys at Grandma and Pop's house. I think it is funny how kids remember what toys are at other houses and will talk about those toys and get excited to play when they get there. Grandma has lots of toys from when we were little and they always want to get them out as soon as they get there.

Also, these kids had some kind of headset radios that they could talk to each other on (one of Grandma's fabulous finds) and here is Grace with her Christmas tree blasters and her headset. They both have so much imagination!

 

Also, there are two rooms we stay in at Grandma and Pop's house. One has a crib so that is where me and the baby stayed and then Atticus, Grace and Vic stayed in the other one. This was Grace's first time to stay in there and she was so overjoyed that "Grandma has a rainbow bed for me!". I know Grandma didn't do that on purpose, but Grace thought so and was so proud she could sleep in a "rainbow bed". Haha!

And, finally, we just thought this was cute! I joked that we have so many kids now, it's easier to just carry one of them in our luggage! 

Trip to Sanger for Baby Goats!

We knew about 6 months ago when baby goats would be arriving at Grandma and Pop's house...right around the beginning of March! So, when I knew that date and I knew that might be my last time to travel before the baby came, we tentatively put on the calendar to come as soon as babies arrived. We love baby goats and the younger they are, the tinier and cuter and easier they are to catch and hold. Since these are not bottle fed, although they stay fairly tame because they see Grandma and Pop all the time, they still won't just run into your arms like bottle fed babies would. So, if we were going to get our hands on them while they were little, we had to get there fast. Overall, I think they ended up with 13 babies? And most of them boys! But, the really fun part was that the second doe that kidded had quadruplets! Our family has had goats since I was 9 years old, and we have NEVER had quads. So, that was exciting! Through the weekend, we played with baby goats; the kids saw some being born; we played in the pasture a little and then it rained and rained so we didn't get to do much playing in the goat pens after that. But, it was a great, relaxing few days, that included Grace's 3rd birthday celebration and seeing Zootopia with GG and visiting Melbo and Pa's chickens and playing on the storm cellar and Atticus playing with Charley's old legos! It's always nice to get out into the country to play! Here are some quick pics!

Christmas in Sanger: Part 1

I must break down our Christmas in Sanger to two parts; this is mainly because we had lots of fun besides just Christmas Day. We loaded up and headed to Sanger the Friday morning after Christmas. We made it just in time to eat lunch at Chuy's in Denton with Stormy, Tabatha and Adley and to remind me how much I wish we lived there so we could see them more often! Then, we headed to Mom and Daddy's to get settled. First things first - the BABY GOATS! In the week up to Christmas, including the last babies being born on Christmas Day, they had 10 little baby goats (1/2 boer goat and 1/2 Nubian) (7 bucks, 3 does). And they are so tiny and sweet and precious! They still had all of them penned up with their mama's, so we went right in to check them out. I was very anxious to see how Atticus would respond to them. Of course, it takes him a day to warm up, but by the time we left the following Tuesday morning, he'd had plenty of time to go into the pens and the pastured, feed them, water them and catch baby goats as best as he could. He constantly wanted to see the "dotes" and the donkey and the calves. The last night, we disbudded most of the babies and he wasn't quite as fond of listening to their cries as their little heads were burned, but still couldn't get enough of seeing the dotes.

Also, the night before we left (Monday night), my aunt Milly and Memaw stopped by on their way back to Frost from Wichita Falls and came inside for awhile to visit. It was probably 8:00 or so and Mom wanted Memaw to see a baby goat. Of course, it was too cold to go outside in the pen, so naturally Mom just brought one in the house. Vic has heard stories of us bringing in babies, on occasion, when they needed a little warmth or special TLC, to the house to stay overnight. Now, I'm not talking about goats running through the house jumping and playing and using the restroom. I'm talking about little day old babies who need to stay warmer or a baby who had surgery. And, they stay in the bathtub just long enough to be ok to put outside. And, this baby that was brought in was a week old, I think, and was too big to stay in the bathtub. But, she did walk around the kitchen and living room, supervised for just a few minutes. And, she was adorable! And while Vic was still very entertained by this, I see it as completely normal and a possibility in our future when we have our own little goats one day! Anyways, Atticus loved it. I loved it. All was well.

Grace probably didn't love the goats nearly as much as Atticus did on this trip. But, she was prepared in her little rubber boots to go out and check on them. They are a lot bigger than her, so I can see her hesitation. It won't be long before she will be chasing those goats too!

We just loved, loved, loved seeing Atticus and Grace with the goats and I honestly believe that Vic can see this more and more in his future all the time!

Vic and I also left the kids with the babysitters (Mom and Daddy) and met Ana and Charley for drinks and dinner in Downtown Denton. It was SO fun to have a double date with them and we had the best time with the best food. However, the place we went to was in an old house, called Guiseppe's (sp?). It was romantic and nice and not necessarily a super quiet place, but we were talking a lot and laughing a lot. And apparently, we got ugly looks from one couple who left who must have wanted a silent eating experience. I would never ruin someone's dinner on purpose, but we had such a good time! Also, on Monday, we went to Molly's (Vic, myself and the kids and Ana and Charley) to hang her pictures on her wall to decorate her apartment. She had lots to hang but needed tall, strong men to do it. So, I bossed around; Ana and Molly took care of kids; and Vic and Charley hung pictures. Then, lunch at Mellow Mushroom for pizza.

It was just so much fun the entire time! Vic and I felt relaxed and it was a great way to end our Christmas traveling!