Lambs

Hi everyone! I know with everything going on with the virus, everyone is staying at home, including us. With eleven of us in the house though, life seems just as busy if not busier here.

 Our sheep gave birth over last week, and all four of our ewes had twins, so we have eight baby lambs! They are so sweet. Here are some photos:

Lily's lambs, Heather and Hemlock

The first set of lambs this year. They are copying their mama, who was eating there. They don't have teeth yet, so they are not actually eating, but it's still adorable. :)

More lambs

Daisy's lambs, Kiwi and Kowhai

Lavender's lambs, Jasmine and Juniper

We name our sheep after flowers and trees. The ewe lambs get flower names, and the boy lambs get tree names, and we try to do a different set of letters for each pair every year. I think this is our fourth time having lambs, and we have only ever had twins or triplets, with one exception from last year, when one of our ewes only had one.

The last ewe, Ivy, had her lambs only Saturday, so I didn't get any pictures, but she had twins, named Elm and Eucalyptus. 

We have to have the sheep out to graze, and because we've had coyotes take lambs before, the only way to prevent that is to have a person out with the sheep in the back field as they graze in the back of our five acre property. We did this last year, and as a result, we didn't lose a single lamb!

Saturday was a beautiful day, so the sheep were pretty much out in the back field all day long. 

Butler loves being outside, so he happily volunteered to be one of the shepherds for the first shift of the day. Mama sends two kids out at a time, so one can come back to the house if needed, and the sheep will still be watched. Every hour or so, the shift ends, and new kids go out to relieve the old shepherds, if needed. 

Butler turned down going inside to be done every time it was offered, and even though the other kid out with him switched to a new one quite frequently, Butler stayed out there. He ended up staying out there for a total of eight hours, of his own will! 

I have to go eat breakfast finish getting dressed (Mama wants me to put shoes on) so I have to end this. We are very grateful to all be healthy, and that we can be together in this time, and we are praying for those who are not as fortunate.

I will post again soon!

March

The sun is starting to come out more, the irises and daffodils are sprouting, and it's slowly turning into spring. I love this time of year!


This past Sunday was beautiful, and I took some photos in between dinner cleanup of the sunset. It was gorgeous.

The view behind the meeting room 

I like this photo. :)

Dinner cleanup

I came back from taking a few photos, and this is what I found:

Lulu loves doing dishes...

Helpers

Pixie is teething, and recently, her bottom teeth came through! 

My mom bought some baby food, and she is learning how to eat with a spoon. It is an incredibly messy and adorable process to watch. Pixie's just figuring out that it's food, so sometimes she tries to grab the spoon and that results in banana-rice mush everywhere. Have I mentioned she's adorable?

These are photos from Sunday morning. It was really misty, so before we went to meeting, I went outside and snapped a few photos. (I like taking pictures, as you may have noticed :)

The barn

Happy Friday!

Saturday Stroll

Last Saturday, we went on an impulsive walk to the park. My dad was out shopping, so we arranged for him to come and join us for lunch. So, all ten of us packed up and set out on the long journey.

We have a two seat stroller, so Lulu didn't have to do much walking

They couldn't wait to get started! This was taken about 10 minutes before we actually started the walk.

Crossing the street, we all had to find a buddy and stay close, so there were no stray children running across the street

We made it to the park. I think it took over 30 minutes, but it was totally worth it.

A sky window!

Hal turned seven last month. He's getting so big!

The seesaw

The spinny-cup thing that every kid loves.

Playing Bocce

Pixie tried out the baby swing. We weren't sure if she would, but she loved it! She was so happy when we swung her.

 Pixie is a very talkative baby. She will squeal experimentally just to see what happens, and she is at her happiest when surrounded by chaos and noisy energy.

(aka her siblings)

Lulu loved the park. 

It was such a sunny day, perfect for a walk. It was a little windy, but not anything extreme. My dad joined us at the park with lunch, but after, he had to leave early to finish errands for Sunday. He took a while to leave, though. He would say he's going, then he would say something else and we'd get caught up in a new conversation. This happened at least three times. :)

Looking for acorns

I love how picturesque and peaceful everything looks in this picture.

It was a fun outing, and I hope we do it again soon!