New Year's Eve

This was such a nice picture to take.

Alex was just home from the hospital

and we were all together to welcome in the new year.

Alex had an emergency appendectomy on December 28th.

It's funny, you never wake up thinking,

"My child is going to have emergency surgery today.".

Both Matthew and Alex have had surgery before,

but it was a planned thing.

This was anything but planned.

Although, having an appendectomy while on winter break,

was a great blessing from heaven.

I couldn't have planned it better myself.

If it had happened even just a few days later,

Alex could have missed a whole semester of college.

Thanks be to God we didn't have to travel that road.

Thankfully we are all back together in one piece.

Well, without an appendix here and there.

Happy New Year.

After 2012, 2013 seems lucky to me.

Christmas!

Every year Brian and I try to finish wrapping

before the Pope comes on the T.V.

He comes on every year at midnight,

right after "It's a Wonderful Life".

We've never done it.

And this year is no exception.

But it's still a worthy goal that we strive for.

One of my favorite pictures.

And now one of Brian's favorite t-shirts.

Matthew and his "Lord of the Rings" movies.

I am posting this after Christmas,

and little did we know that three days later

Alex would have emergency surgery.

But he's all smiles now:-)

Kevin with his new Alma Mater t-shirt.

Don't you think a knight is such a cool mascot?

Ranae rejoicing!

Sarah was beaming that she was bigger than her present:-)

And SO EXCITED that she got "girl" legos!

Merry Christmas eveyone!

Nutcracker

Sarah's annual Nutcracker performance was today.

She danced in both acts this year.

She was a tap dancing soldier in the first act.

And she was an angel in the second act.

I told her she can be an angel for as long as she wants to:)

I think it made her the happiest to see her family 

after the performance.

Her big brother Kevin and her Grammy are in this picture.

And her Papa and Fifi are in this picture.

So now, school's out.

Performances are done.

All that's left is to wrap the presents and cook the Turkey.

Christmas is here!

Holiday Chorus Performance

This evening was Ranae's chorus performance.

(She is the singer on the left end.)

This girl has always loved to sing.

 Tonight it was especially joyful to hear a Christian Christmas song among the program selections at our public school.

And I don't think I imagined that the clapping

was a little louder and longer for that song.

Woo Hoo!

Christmas is almost here!

The History Project

The 8th grade History Project is a big deal around here.

Ranae worked on it for months.

She decided to build an orange tree.

I think it might have been easier to grow one.

It started out looking like this.

Then progressed to this.

And finally this!

Who knew that orange trees have such an important international history?

We'll never look at a glass of OJ the same again.

The Holly Ball

Ranae is involved in Cotillion classes this year.

She told me,"I'm surprised it's so fun."

They teach manners and ball room dancing.

The Holly Ball gave them all a chance to

Cha-Cha-Cha, in a formal dress to boot!

But without "boots".

The cowgirl garb had to stay at home:-/

More Volleyball

The team is good.

The sport is fun.

Way to go Panthers!

Nativity Time

Kevin was happy to participate in two

drive-thru nativities this year with some of our goats.

We had two different churches that

asked him to be a Shepard.

Here he is with two of our professional goat actors.

Little Dot is on the left.  Lily is on the right.

They really know how to stay in character.

It's so nice to spread the GOOD NEWS this time of year.

AND WE HAVE SEEN AND TESTIFY THAT THE FATHER HAS SENT HIS SON TO BE THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD.

I JOHN 4:14

Winter Dance

Last night was my Book Club Christmas Party, 

this morning was Sarah's Nutcracker rehearsal,

and this afternoon was the 4-H Christmas Party.

But tonight was Ranae's middle school Winter Dance.

And nothing beats a good dance.

And nothing beats her sparkling smile:-)

Volleyball.......

.......is fun!

Christmas is Coming!

We started off the month with the girls performing

at a local mall.

Ranae sang, I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.

(In Southwest Florida that one actually gets a chuckle.)

Ranae played Carol of the Bells.

Sarah played O' Come All Ye Faithful.

And we all went home in the Christmas spirit.

Great Horned Owl

For months we have been hearing an owl "hoot" on our property.

We have tried and tried to locate the owl so we could identify it.

We learned that there are only 4 owls that call Florida home

and they can be identified by their call.

But, we hadn't learned the different calls yet.

Then one day as I remarked to Ranae that I heard the call again,

she became determined to find him.

And she did.

She was able to spot him as he swooped to another branch.

Now, my binoculars are more magnified than my camera lens

but you may be able to spot him in this picture.

He was so big.

I was so surprised.

It was a Great Horned Owl!

He had some fierce looking orange feathered "horns".

And he was looking straight at my chickens.

Yes he was.

And I don't wish him any luck on that front.

But I do love so much that my children are able to see all

these wonderful creatures that God made, 

right in our own backyard.

Thankful

Thanksgiving went something like this.....

Yea!  Alex is home from college.

Let's eat!

Okay!  Let's eat on the porch.

It's not too cold.

Time to get back to school and work.

Time to say goodbye to Alex.

Study hard for finals and we'll see you next month!

Goat Feeding Frenzy

Have you ever heard that goats will eat just about anything?

Well, it's true.

On our farm they especially like to eat pine tree bark.

That's why my husband has personally wrapped every pine tree trunk

on our small farm with chicken wire.

When we planted these 5 young pine trees in a corner of our pasture

he built a fence to keep them out.

If you look closely, you will notice that today, 

there was a breech.

And in just a few minutes time they had eaten one young tree,

and stripped the bark off another.

I guess you could say they had a little feeding frenzy.

They are lucky I like them so much.

And it helps that I can fix a fence too.

Panther Volleyball

The Panther girl's volleyball team is ready to play.

Ranae is loving this sport in eighth grade.

Last year I couldn't convince her to try-out.

This year volleyball is one of her favorite sports.

It helps that there is awesome teammates

and an awesome coach.

Do you hear what I hear?

Said the shepheard boy to the little goat,

Do you hear what I hear?

I think it's distant Christmas bells.

Or it could be the dinner bell.....

On the Mend

My 24 year old horse, Star, is on the mend.

I let her out during the day in a small side pasture.

Unless it's raining.

Or.....it looks like rain.

Or.....it's predicted to rain.

Because after keeping her injured leg dry for over 2 months.

(Doctor's orders)

I am not willing to take any risk.

Or let her, either.

Guess Who's Pregnant?

Right now, it might not look like anyone is expecting.

But, I assure you, breeding season is in full swing on our farm.

Ballerina has been bred for the first time

with our blue-eyed buck Amadeus.

Amadeus is handsome and

for Ballerina it was love at first sight.

And I am also excited that America is bred.

This will be her first time to kid too and we paired her with

our buck Jericho.

This is Jericho.  What a stud, huh?

And Arella might get in on the action.

What can I say?

Love is in the air.