Christmas Cookies

The kids were invited last weekend to a cookie decorating party at Legacy Farms (the Christmas tree farm that neighbors our property). They grabbed their aprons and raced over!

 More than 300 shaped sugar cookies were waiting for the army of kids that arrived on their doorstep. Rikard and Tatum were among the "older" kids who took part, that's why he looks so tall next to the others. If you look closely, each of Rikard's cookies is covered with jelly beans. Sprinkles just weren't enough for him.

Keeli was very methodical. She chose three of each shape, decorated the trees green, the Santas red, the chickens yellow, the stars white, etc. And, showing her frugal side, she made sure she didn't open a full bottle of sprinkles until checking to see if there was a partially used one already on the table somewhere.

There were also craft projects for the kids to create ornaments, picture frames and other holiday decorations. It is amazing how some paper, foam sheets, cut outs, scissors and glue can transform a room filled with crazy kids into a room filled with quiet, busy kids.

In all, 20 kids participated and took home containers filled to the brim with beautiful cookies they took pride in creating.

When we were all done, the all the kids posed outside with Annabelle (the vintage Chevy) and Miss Lisa (in the red apron). Tatum is standing next to Lisa (yes, in shorts), Keeli is in the center front on the truck bed in the purple jacket and Rikard is in the top row on the truck bed straight above Tatum in a black/white sweatshirt.

Santa Claus

Santa paid a visit to Greenbluff so the kids lined up to tell him their wants/needs/desires and get their photo taken. We had a great time at the Greenbluff Grange's Christmas party! They even got to bring home to giant jingle bell necklaces - how lucky was that?!

Trouble with William

Rikard has been pestering us for about two years about wanting to switch his goat business from focusing on raising meat goats to raising fiber goats. Over the summer he met a woman who rescued some pygora goats and arranged to get these two - Trouble and William - at no cost. Maybe he has a future in business!

My friend Francine and I made a road trip over the weekend to bring these guys home. Currently our herd is seperated and these guys are settling in with the babies born last spring quite nicely.

William appears to be a standard angora. He is the biggest goat in our herd other than the billy. He is nearly 2 years old and was recently castrated so hopefully he and his horns stop growing.

He has 6-8 weeks of growth right now and won't be sheered again until early spring. His wool is a nice creamy white color and hangs in lovely ringlet curls.

Meet Trouble. Trouble and William are brothers, but not twins. LOL. Trouble is about the same size as our 2-year-old withers. He has a sweet little face and is a very gentle little guy.

His wool is straigher than a standard angora and grows straight out from his skin. He is like a big black/grey puff ball. He also has about 6-8 weeks of growth, but he doesn't produce as much length as quickly as William.

And, over at the hen house, we welcomed Lucy and Ethel. I found these girls listed on craigslist. They are urban chicks who lived a life of luxury sharing a big house and yard for the past three years. Their lease was up! They are slowly but surely adjusting to country life with a big family on Green Bluff.

Gone Visitin'

We spent the weekend on a spur of the moment road trip to the Yakima Valley to visit family and - of course - collect some fantastic fruit.

The kids all got some extra hugs and giggles from Grandma Bert. Bert had ordered us eight 40 lbs boxes of fresh pears. We spent the next several days waiting for them to ripen. Since then we've been canning and baking all sorts of wonderful things.

We made a quick trip out to the farm to visit Papa Charlie. He gave the kids another of his famous tours around the yard and helped them pick apples that were way to green. He taught the kids to use them to play fetch with Girly the dog.

And, what's a visit to the farm without a little bit of time spent giving back to Uncle Joe what he dishes out! Actually, when we arrived he was taking a nap and he was so tired from all the "work" they'd been doing, these three monsters and the overexcited Girly didn't interupt his snores!

Back to School

Today, everyone returned to school for the 2011-2012 year. It was Tatum's first day of middle school - such a "precious" time. She was completely unhappy that I was snapping pictures as she is too old for this. Can you tell?

 Next, it was a race to the bus. You can just see Rikard reaching the bus door and Keeli scrambling to catch up. Not only was it Keeli's first day of 1st grade, but it was her 7th birthday! Happy Birthday to Keeli! The shopping bag is filled with her favorite snacks, cheese and Ritz crackers for everyone.

Rick is teaching 8th grade science this year, specifically physics and earth science. He had to move his classroom down the hall and around the corner at the end of last school year, but on the up-side he now has a window to the outside. A little sunshine never hurt anyone's perspective.