Our Wolf Cub

Today Micah joined Cub Scouts! He is in a den with four other boys, and had his first meeting today. Micah followed along quite well. He was a little confused with the scout sign; he thought it should be three fingers in the air rather than two. His reasoning made perfect sense--- wolf starts with a "w" and three fingers is the alphabet sign for "w". He did ask a few times where the wolf was and when it would get there. There is the possibility that I overplayed the excitement of becoming a wolf cub.

Now that I know Micah is going to like scouts, we will go out and buy him a uniform and handbook. In the meantime we will start memorizing the Cub Scout promise.

This should be a fun new adventure!

Dante's Walk

Dante has had his walker for a month now. He is reportedly getting quite good at walking with it at school. Here at home it has been more difficult, as our house has less open space than his class room. Today Jamie and I took him for a walk to the town library, about 50 yards down the street. He did really well, and even walked up and down the rows of books in the library. Dante did tend to swerve a bit on the sidewalk, and needed Jamie or me to be next to him as a bumper.

Even though it was not a long walk for Jamie or me, the poor little guy was tuckered out afterwards. He did not even get both shoes and socks off before being overtaken by sleep.

He is such a sweet boy!

Way Too Much Energy

I woke up Micah at 5:10am this morning to let him know we were going to the hospital for his ear tube day surgery. At 5:15am he was standing next to the van in the driveway, hopping up and down chanting "doctor" excitedly.

I had been told to be there at 6am, and to be sure Micah had nothing to eat or drink before arriving. Thankfully that did not apply to me, because I needed my coffee for the drive in. Leif came along since I am his only food source, and Nikita tagged along to assist when necessary. The three of us were certainly not hopping in excitement!

Given the choice, I think Micah would have moved in to the hospital today. He was shown to a private room, settled into a bed and given the TV remote. Micah nearly worships the television. He asked to hold Leif, and it was pretty funny because Leif coughed, and Micah absentmindedly leaned him forward and patted his back after the cough, all without ever taking his eyes off the TV.



Micah even had a chance to be an example to another little boy who was there and a bit frightened. When he saw Micah enjoying his new blue hat, the little boy decided he had to have one too, despite his previous fear.

I am thankful today's trip went so well, and hopefully Micah's next hearing test will show an improvement as a result.

Goats in my Kitchen?!

Over the course of the Summer, we went from owning a pair of goats to owning a herd of goats. We have had Gidget and Ambrose for a year now, and had decided that one little Nigerian Dwarf goat wouldn't really give us a lot of milk. (Obviously Ambrose wouldn't be giving us any!)

Pictured above are Ferdinand and Isabella, a brother/sister pair from the same farm as Gidget and Ambrose. They are absolutely adorable and full of life and joined us in July.

Then one day in August I was doing a dangerous thing--- browsing Craigslist. Daisy and Lilly joined us a few days later. They are sisters, and sweet as can be. I am not sure why Daisy's snout is crooked, but it is a bit endearing.

I have been asked a number of times why we have decided to keep goats. We are still working out the exact reasons...the milk will be used for trying out goat cheese, goatsmilk soap, and also just drinking it. Nikita is learning a lot more responsibility. Mostly though, it is for our youngest kids-- a therapy of sorts.

Amelia and Sunny will both learn to milk the does, and Amelia is already helping with the feeding every morning. A few times she has taken it upon herself in the middle of the day to refill their water bucket. Since Ambrose and Ferdinand do not really have much purpose, we have decided to try training them in an agility course and pulling a cart. Amelia has begun this training with Ambrose already by just handling and grooming him often. We are also teaching him good manners and walking on a leash. This is a good focus for her endess supply of energy. We are all waiting to see how this turns out!

And the goats in my kitchen? We let them out for a while every day to browse, and they love to nap on the deck. Isabella's favorite spot is curled up on a lawn chair. The other day I was sitting here at the computer and glanced over-- someone had not shut the deck door quite enough, and they let themselves in. Life is always an adventure here!

Already!?

We have two weeks of school completed, and something has got to change. Sunny is too far behind Amelia for me to work with them together as much as I had hoped. Micah could do really well if he wanted too, but he has a hard time staying focused. Unfortunately so do I, because when I do break it up so they are not sitting for too long, sometimes I get busy doing something else and forget to get back to academics.
Thankfully I can call it life skills work when that happens!
It might end up being easier once I establish a new routine of working individually one handwriting, math, and reading with each of them. They do love morning excercises together on the floor, which Leif enjoys watching. History is not a subject I do with them yet, and science right now is just learning about weather, how things grow, what animals do-- just basic things.

And another "Already!?!"-- Poppy's pumpkins for the kids are here! Our digital camera is still missing (ask Sunny?), but I bought a disposable because photos of these beauties were necessary....


Is Dante eyeing Sunny's pumpkin to hit the floor next?

Found him!

Micah is of the opinion that as long as he knows where he is, life is fine. After all if he knows where he is, he is not lost.

Unfortunately on Saturday, we did not know he was lost either. Most of us were outside working on goat stuff, Micah was happily swinging on the swingset while Amelia "helped" us with her (play) nail gun, when we received a phone call. "Your son is over here climbing on my truck, could you please come get him?" Here was around the corner two houses down. Here was not on the swingset, nor was here inside of the yard we paid $5000 to have fenced in to give him boundaries.

First, I thanked God for watching over Micah so closely. Then I went online and ordered him an ID bracelet. What he really needs is a GPS anklet that he cannot take off! Honestly, I was surprised that the majority of ID bracelets and tags available all attach by velcro. Even the child locator devices clip on to the kid. Considering one of Micah's favorie pasttimes is stripping, a velcro ID would not stay on him for long.

An hour after all this happened, Nikita had a riding lesson. I took Micah along, not because I thought Jamie couldn't keep track of him, but because I was still mentally reeling from what happened and needed him near me. He spent the entire time trying to let go of my hand and take off, since he wanted to go into the riding ring and take a turn on Nikita's horse.

Like I said, he has no fear--- which only increases mine. I wonder how bad it would look if I bought some handcuffs to use for keeping him near me?

On a lighter note, here is a photo of Leif that Nikita took with her phone. Is he not the cutest baby ever???

The Batter on the Beaters

We are back to school here in our home, and trying to re-adjust to the schedule. It is even more challenging this year with Leif being only two months old. Thankfully he was born at the start of Summer vacation, so Jamie was home while I recouped and we all got used to our newest blessing.

Today I was once again attempting to do it all....keep a clean house, educate the kids, feed the baby. (I know I'll never get it all completely done in one day, but that does not mean I will stop trying!) After lunch I baked up a bunch of butternut squashes that Jamie's dad had given to me. I decided to bake them, mash them, and freeze it in ice cube trays for Leif when he is ready for solid food in a few months. After they are frozen I pop them out to put into a freezer bag.

Micah heard me using the mixer and came running to watch. Hearing the mixer means licking the beaters. With only two beaters on the mixer and 6 kids who know that sound, he knew he had better be fast. Since it was butternut squash I was mashing, I was a bit skeptical when he demanded his beater at the end. I handed one over, he licked it and walked away happily after saying, "Mmmmm good!"

It was really sweet, and I was thankful for the reminder to be grateful for even a beater of butternut squash.