Fun in the Sun

My friend, the farm vet, broke her leg a week ago. She had to have surgery and has rods in her leg now. They think it will be a 6 month recovery. She has a big farm and homeschools her kids too. I can't imagine how frustrating that must be. We went over to their house and picked up a truckload of composted horse manure and helped rake some alpaca manure for the selfish purpose of bringing it home to our garden. She doesn't garden because her goats would just eat it all. While we were there we set up a play date.
Her boys came over all day on Friday. They had an epic board game party while we waited for it to get up to 80 degrees outside.

 Then they played in the sprinkler and with water guns.

 They invented a game in which one team was the water people and the other team was the dry people. The dry team tried to get towels on people and the water team tried to get people wet.

 All went well until their was a double cross and G switched sides. Then their were calls of "traitor" and dramatic sulks.

  I heard all of this going on because I was on the deck grooming the dogs for more than an hour.  They just started blowing their coats again.  I filled up a 5 gallon bucket with fur!

Farm Fresh: Ducklings and Hail

After 35 long days of sitting Perry hatched 3 ducklings.  I think I let her sit on too many eggs.  I candled them around day 10 and took out the dead ones, but she still had about 15 or so under her. I knew it would be impossible for a small gal like her to keep that many warm, but it was hard to choose which ones to discard since I knew they were all alive. 

We had some hail last week. I was worried that it would damage my plants, but it didn't. The shower was brief and the stones not too big.

Tractor Supply Market Day

Our local tractor supply had a little parking lot market last weekend and I brought my remaining tomato plants to sell (sold about 60 plants).  It went really well being that they did not advertise at all and it was just the Saturday store traffic. I also brought some newly weaned rabbits (sold 1 right then and 3 later that week). My favorite part was talking to the other sellers.  This older couple were on one side of my booth. She said that he has been selling his puzzles at flea markets and such since 1948! And they looked like they could be a pair of santa's elves. 

 A mennonite family were selling baked goods on the other side of me. I had a lovely time talking to them about their gardens and our families. I was surprised that we have a mennonite church and school only about 20 minutes away. They sold out of their bread and pies!

Mother's Day

Breakfast in bed for me!

 They had to get up pretty early to make this happen before I needed to leave for ward council meetings. Yummy and sweet.

Co-op School Field Day

 Our homeschool co-op had their annual field day this week. The weather was excellent as was the picnic lunch. The races were so fun to watch.  I helped S and L's group so I did not get too many pictures of the big kids.

 

  That PreK and K age group was super cute, but it was like herding 13 cats around trying to show them what to do.

 Practice run of M's 3 legged race.

 

 This was a team work activity trying to lift their legs at the same time so that they could walk the boards forward.

  S and L's 3 legged race was adorable.

 I just love seeing them working together.

 

 

 This is a picture of one of those silly family things that my kids do every time I tell them to bring their dirty clothes downstairs... I am recording this for posterity.  They have one person sit below the balcony and throw the clothes down over the railing on them. Usually it is done one piece at a time with the goal being to land as much as possible on the recipient's head. Especially underwear, it should always land on the person's head. 

Family Fun: Ice Skating, Pack Meeting, and Nashville

The kids still LOVE ice skating. A and M are both doing private lessons now.  They have passed out of the group lesson levels. Their coach, Miss Barbara is so amazing. She is in her late 70s or so and still skating and coaching. 

 Unfortunately, after this level they will be passed all the levels that Ms. Barbara teaches as well.  Then we have to find another coach.

 Miss Rainbow Unicorn has lots of fans. I often overhear the other moms saying things like "Awwh she is so cute and boy is she fast!"

 

Hubby was gone most of last week for a work conference in Nashville. He says the food was too good (ate too much) and he learned some things.  He did not leave the hotel much, but managed to see the football stadium and walk around downtown a bit. 

 The kids had their last pack meeting of the year right after I picked him up from the airport.

 They got their rank advancements and a bunch of other badges.

 Then they had a pie/whipped cream in the face "advancement" or "appreciation" activity for the cub master.

Big sister A earned her Faith in God award! We forgot to take any pictures at the recognition night.  Our activity girls leaders are very well organised and created a badge booklet that helps the girls meet their Faith in God requirements. Here is A with her sash, badges, and certificate.

Church Talent Show -- The kids formed a band

 I somehow forgot to blog about this earlier... While our W friends were visiting from Utah the kids formed a band.  The day the W family flew in they jammed for several hours...

Then they performed for the church talent show that night. The W girls on vocals, M on the harmonica and A as the lead guitarist. It was a great experience for them. I am so proud of them for bravely getting up in front of all those people!

 They played the Beetles song, "Love Me Do".

Cub Scout Hike, Back Fence, and a Daddy Date

 I took the younger three kids to this fun playground while big sister A was at volleyball practice.  They raved about it and of course big sister A felt left out.  Hubby took them all there again on a daddy date.

Teamwork on the zip line. 

Hubby and our neighbor finished the back fence line a couple weeks ago.

 The gate and everything look wonderful. Now we just need 3 more sides!!

 The fencing is woven wire -- since it will need to be strong enough for goats.

Big sister A went on a hike with her cub scout den. They focused on shelters and finding your way back home.

Co-op School Talent Show

Brother S took an elementary music class this session and they performed a song using Boomwhackers. 

 

 Big sister A and brother M broke boards in their Hapkido demonstration. 

 We have some cool video footage of this, but I am going to need hubby's expertise to figure out how to upload.