Dancin' Girls

The ladies have been taking dance classes since September and are currently preparing for their recital in June. They had professional pictures taken on Saturday but I thought I would get some of my own! Here they are in their Jazz outfits. They also take hip hop together and Brittany in addition takes Acro (gymnastics + dance). I couldn't resist getting pictures of Casi in hot pink. She has really detested pink since about gr. 3, so this was a treat for me!





I am so happy that they as sisters can share in things together. There is a unique relationship between sisters and I hope that it is ever lasting for them. Love you 2..XOXOXO!!!

Last weekend.....

Last weekend was so productive! We accomplished alot! We had the arrival of our 2nd foal plus 7 baby call ducks. Our pheasant is finally sitting on her nest of eggs so that is exciting. We have red golden pheasants and the males are so pretty and vibrant I would love to see more out there! We got alot of our yard work done, grass cutting and weeding. I finally finished planting my flower bed and got some impatiens in my shade gardens.
Here is part of the garden, we planted this in sweet corn and I also wanted to try a row of ornamental corn for decoration in the fall! We planted on the other side of the raspberries, peas, beans, spinach, parsnips, peppers, radishes and cucumbers. I am on the hunt today for heritage tomatoes. They are so wonderfully delicious and taste like I remember tomatoes tasting on the farm when I was little. These are seeds from way back when before hydroponic and hot house tomatoes.

I got all my flower beds worked on...not gonna say that they are done but they are at least caught up for now.

Our lilac bushes are in full bloom along the road. It is so fragrant, wish they lasted longer

Already posted about our newest foal, Vision....I caught a picture of her livin it up yesterday. She was rearing and kicking and just loving being a baby horse!

We had a visit from Lori and her family plus her mom. Had a great visit and I love watching them enjoy the animals and have fun. Sometimes when we live here all we see is the everyday stuff and it is refreshing to enjoy it with others.
Here is Chad with Echo.

Another one of Chad and Saucie....notice the carrot in mid air!!!

Lori took this amazing shot of Mia and Indy. I love it! It is my desktop picture on my laptop!

Here is Hope getting a kick out of the horses....the minis love the attention. Ella trying to snatch something good.
One of our bottle babies looking for a snack.
All in all it was a great weekend! The weather was gorgeous and it was so nice to be outside in the sunshine. If you havn't figured it out, I love being a country girl, there is nothing better to me. I know different strokes for different folks but this is my piece of heaven on earth. I am so pleased at where our farm has come in the short 3+ years we've been here. I wish my parents were here to see. My dad was a farmer through and through and think he would have enjoyed this with us too. I loved our visit Lori, thanks for coming out and having tea. Certainly needed was nice to catch up!

Dave the shepherd...

Even though he would not admit it...Dave loves his sheep. He calls them...they all come running. No matter from where..the far side of the pasture...he calls..they run. I guess they love him too. Thus he's been nicknamed "Dave the shepherd"!!
Here he is with our 3 bottle babies.


Lunch time....

TimberYork's Inquisitive Vision

My 2nd (and final) foal of the year has been born!!! We awoke yesterday and immediately I usually scan the field for the horses and noticed Liley off on her own in the far fence row. We didn't see her baby at first so we carried on our usual morning routine of feeding our bottle baby sheep. We happened to look over again and there was this figure standing at Liley's front. Well I flew across the field and approached the pair. To my complete delight there was a gorgeous little buckskin pinto standing there. I thought I wouldn't be so lucky as to have a filly and sure enough we have a little girl!!! I am so pleased to announce the arrival of "TimberYork's Inquisitive Vision". She measures even smaller than Echo at 17" tall. She is so friendly at this point and I am all smiles! I have wanted a buckskin forever!!! Mom and baby are doing good and I am sure Vision will be a keeper as she is duel registered. I am so pleased with my babies this year. Diesel certainly out did himself and gave me 2 dilute babies!!!

Having a nap...being born is very hard and tiring work!!!

Getting loved up by Casi and James

Finding her feet....still a bit wobbly.

I am still over the moon....she has arrived at a super time. I have been feeing a bit down this week. With my mom's birthday and mothers day this month, it just really bites that she is no longer around. So I've been in a bit of a self pity mode. Having Vision arrive certainly has brightened my spirits and especially since she is exactly what I have looked around for for ages! I am a bit of a dilute seeker, as much as I love pinto's the dilutes really take my breath away. She is both pinto and buckskin, she is absolutely perfect!!!

Happy Birthday Mom.... XOXO

Just sending out a tribute to my mom. Today would have been her 77th birthday. Even though she is no longer with us, I still think of her every day and especially today on her birthday. To those of you who didn't know my mom, she was a wonderful, beautiful, kind hearted person. She was always trying to be fair. I miss her dearly and sincerely grieve for the relationship that my kids have missed out on with her. I know she would have been a very special person in their lives and even though they were quite young when she died, they still treasure what memories they do have of her. Here she is on her 71st birthday, a sweet memory of better times when she was healthier.

This is a cross stitch sampler that I made for her after my dad passed away. It hung in her tv room proudly and now it hangs in my kitchen proudly so I can see it often and think of her.

MOM

The relationship between a mother and child

is a special bond of love

That grows deeper year after year

Passing time

makes me realize

Just how dear to me you've always been

My hope is

that in your understanding way,

you'll somehow know

The love that is in my heart for you

will be there, always near.....

Happy Birthday Mom, we love you and miss you. We will celebrate your day with a DQ dipped cone and wonderful memories of you. Wish you could have been here....

Going crazy

Just wanted to take a couple of secs to blog the insanity going on around here. I always have the usual housework, laundry, a floor that always seems to need to be swept. With 8 dogs running in and out I guess that is why. There is always a dog that needs to be groomed or if I do get them groomed they take great pleasure in rubbing their heads along something and pull out their top knots.
With Dave back to work on nights I am in charge of the morning and evening chores to do in the barn. For the past little while it has been bottle feeding our 3 lambs every 3-4 hours and then there is imprinting our new foal Echo to be loving and friendly. Once that is done there is lawn mowing and gardening and weeding of my flower beds. Lets not forget Dave's gst that has to be done. This all on the days that I don't work and then some on the days that I do, I feel some days that I put in a full day before I have to go to work at 2:30pm. Oh then there is grocery shopping that never seems to be enough as I am out of things the next day or just your run of the mill errands that have to be done. In the evenings I run the free taxi shuttle service for the kids to ball, dance or pick up/drop off at their work.

So I find myself sometimes on the computer late in the evening just to wind down and catch my breath as the day just seems to speed by.

I need to take time to catch up with loved ones or just give a call to let them know that they are on my mind even if I am not in touch. I did call my aunt in Ottawa this morning and found out that they are having a really hard time with my uncle. To bring you up to speed, he had a stroke about a year ago and spent considerable time in the hospital and late last summer he was able to go home. So for the past several months my aunt has been caring for him, no small task for sure. He unfortunately has lost the majority of his sight and with the confusion of that is not longer able to stay at home. So my aunt and her family have made the really difficult decision to put him into long term care. This is a really emotionally draining time for her and my aunt is one of the most beautiful Christian people that I know. Please keep her and my uncle in your thoughts and prayers as they need strength and peace with this whole situation.

All of this does prompt me to want to slow down and stop and smell the roses and take time out and enjoy this life that we have. I do love the farm and all the animals and I find them all very gratifying to watch and nurture and feel very proud for what we have accomplished here. I do need to stop now and again and appreciate the small stuff too.

Baseball Season begins....

So another spring is here and with that..brings ball season! I only have Brittany playing this year, Cass decided not to play. Britt is on the Ops Flames Squirt Girls team. She had her 2nd game on Monday night. I was able to catch this one, last week's I was at work and had to depend on friends to take her...thank you thank you Janet and Janet! Here she is ready to play!

Ready to hit...Made it on base....running to 2nd.

Playing back catch position...she loves forcing the runner on 3rd back to base.

Ready for the ball....
All in all it was a good game, the girls ended up loosing to their opposing team but for some reason in the last inning they "woke up" and really gave them a fight! Brittany brings fire to her game with a splash of attitude, definitely makes it fun to watch! Lets hope for a good season!!

TimberYork's Inquisitive Echo

We were surprised on Friday morning by the arrival of a new foal!!! I have been checking our 2 mares in waiting religiously for weeks now and Saucie didn't seem to be too close. Apparently however she was being sneaky! Announcing the arrival of "TimberYork's Inquisitive Echo" a beautiful little palomino colt! He is gorgeous and so amazing in such a small package! He measures only 17 3/4" at the withers. I have yet to have one so small. He looks to be the spitting image of his papa Diesel.

Just figuring out what his legs are for!!


Still needing to feel protected by his mama...

You can see how small he is when he is sniffing one of our barn kitties....

Quaker Oats at Historica

Last week Casi and Jessica were chosen to represent their school at our local regions Historica Fair. These students research and display our local and Canadian History. The girls did their project on Quaker Oats..based out of Peterborough for many years. They spent a great deal of time and effort in their project. Way to go girls!!


Their board...they also handed out Quaker Chewy bars too.

Bottle Babies...

For almost a week now we've had some extra mouths to feed..... We been "lambing" so to speak out of season. As it is not possible that our ram sired these new babies, the closest we can guess is that the young rams were getting a bit "frisky" before we sold them in the winter. We had now had 9 ewes in total that have lambed. These girls should not have been having their babies until the fall but now they are here we are just having to deal with it!! Due to unfortunate circumstances we have a little orphan female who lost her mom, and we also have a set of twins whose mom does not have enough milk for 2 babies. So we've been bottle feeding every 3-4 hours each day! We've named them Lola, Luke and Rosie. So far they are doing really well. Rosie and Luke are still getting some milk from their mom but Lola is totally bottle feeding. Here are their bottles ready to go...no, it is not Vanilla Mudshake...I enjoyed them earlier this month!

Here is Luke looking at me while Rosie sneaks a suck!! We have been told that bottle babies do not do as well but so far so good!

Here comes Lola ready to eat!!!

Happy Mothers Day

What is a Mother??

It takes a Mother's Love

to make a house a home,

A place to be remembered,

no matter where we roam.

It takes a Mother's Patience,

to bring a child up right,

And her Courage and her Cheerfulness

to make a dark day bright.

It takes a Mother's Thoughtfulness

to mend the heart's deep "hurts,"

And her Skill and her Endurance

to mend little socks and shirts.

It takes a Mother's Kindness

to forgive us when we err,

To sympathize in trouble

and bow her head in prayer.

It takes a Mother's Wisdom

to recognize our needs

And to give us reassurance

by her loving words and deeds.

It takes a Mother's Endless Faith,

her Confidence and Trust

To guide us through the pitfalls

of selfishness and lust.

And that is why in all this world

there could not be another

Who could fulfill God's purpose

as completely as a MOTHER!

Helen Steiner Rice

the bestest mom.... 1931-2003

Happy Mothers Day to all Mom's everywhere!!! I spent the day yesterday with Cassie and had a fabulous day! James and Brittany were out at friends houses so it was just the 2 of us....We gardened, and puttered around and went shopping for plants. We chatted and chatted and just had a great day! How much I enjoyed spending the day doing that! Reminds me of many a times spending days with my mom, just hanging out and doing stuff together. How I miss those days! I can only hope that I can instill in my children the love to nurture things just as my mom taught me. How to appreciate a just weeded flower bed or take satisfaction in a job well done.

Happy Mothers Day Mom, we all miss you and think about you so often. Mothers Day or any other day just is not the same with out you here. We love you and miss you so much....

Autumn....updated

Its been a while since I posted pics of Autumn. She is maturing into a beautiful girl! I hope to get her into some shows this summer. She just recently had her first experience on the lead. She was a bucking bronco for only about 5 minutes and then she realized how fun it was to explore new places! She has an awsome personality and loves everyone..especially new people! She has wonderful movement and gorgeous steel blue colouring. Not to mention that this little girl has stolen my heart. She is a keeper!!


Free stacking....you have a cookie for me???

Kya n' Reece

Kya and Reece are our White German Shepherds. They are mother and daughter. Here they are silently stalking one of our barn kitties that Kya put up a tree. Watching and waiting....

It has to come down eventually.....

Reece decides to go investigate...