My sister came to visit

 

 

 

Jaclyn came out the visit with Mike about a month ago, and I have neglected to blog for about that long. But how wonderful it was to visit! Talk about motivation to move back to CA one day!

Hand Sewing

 

 

Jubilee is sewing a little sashe for Jeff's 1/2 birthday. We do our big hurrah for Daddy mid year as I can never quite give him due celebration the day after Christmas. Jubilee filled the pillow with a bit of stuffing and ground cloves. My mom had given me the idea for storing clothes, but I thought it would well in his suitcase, since he lives out of it during this current job. A little homemaker in training!

Paddle Boats

 

 

This past week we visited Jeff while he had a few hours off. We went to Lake Junaluska. On the way back from our walk around the lake we decided to try our parenting skills with paddle boats. Zachary and Jubilee were with me and they were not completely confident in my steering skills. Zach said that he would feel scared until he was on Daddy's boat. Jonathon (as seen in the picture) felt like a human buoy. Mostly we laughed and steered in circles for 1/2 an hour until we all felt a bit motion sick. But all in all, some hilarious times especially with Jubilee, who was extremely excited to be on a boat!

Russian Orloff

 

This chick took me by surprise! One night I heard fierce peeping out in the back yard. I thought one of the older chicks was hungry. I go out there with some food to find a pure Orloff chick that had hatched. The bizarre part is that we had just put the Orloff mama in a chicken tractor two week prior (incubation takes at least 21 days), and the mother was not even broody. So this little guy seemed to pop out of no where!

Lamby

 

 

 

Yes, that's right, we are proud owners of a sheep. This sheep almost looks like a goat because of its breed (Jeff will have to write about the details later), but it is because it is for meat and not for wool. He is two weeks old and requires bottle feeding three times a day. He is getting better at it today (so am I), but still is not used to a plastic nipple. He is so gentle and trusting - just laying in our arms completely still. We'll let you know how its going!

Our garden

 

 

 

 

This year's garden has done very well. We have thankfully had lots of consistant rain. Hosanna has taken a real interest in helping and the others enjoying picking the rewards. I call it my garden therapy - nothing like getting my hands in the dirt and yanking out some weeds. We have gotten lots of purple beans - even Jonathon will eat them for dinner.

Pottery Wheel

 

 

Jeff took the children to one of the library's summer reading program events. A local artist brought clay and his pottery wheel and then taught the children how and let them "have a go" at it - even Jeff brought home a plate!

Little Kitty

 

 

About a week ago we discovered that a cat had had her kittens next to our house. Four little fluff balls joined our family. We believe that they were about three weeks old when we found them. The mama had been coming around for food for about the last three weeks...hmmmm... so the kids are loving this! One was a little runt, which I have been trying to help. I extracted a maggot living under its skin as well as trying to deal with an eye infection. We call him "Squint" because of how his little problem makes him squint some times. He is a little friend though, jumping through the grass (as he is too little to walk through it) playing wtih the kids.