Little Lambs

 

The boys' neighbor friend really loves the sheep, and he is very gentle with them.  He's excited when he's here at feeding time.  He and Gyunay enjoyed feeding the lambs.  His mom told him not to get any ideas; they aren't getting sheep!

They are growing and becoming more agile.  They have lost the newborn baby wobbles.  They are still adorable, and they come running when they see or hear me, because they know I have food.

Emry likes to sing, "Angel has two little lambs..."

Their shepherdress is going to come by on Tuesday to give them a vaccine and to band the boy.  I wonder what she will think of our sheep set-up.  Lydia calls it our "ghetto sheep pen".  It doesn't look great, but it keeps them dry and out of the wind.  When it's not raining or snowing, they do like to run around the yard.  They also like to lay against the house when it's sunny, because the bricks are warm in the sun.  

A Little Too Much

 It's been quite the week.  We still love the lambs.  Emry and Gyunay have fed them, too, but I haven't gotten pictures of them with the lambs yet. The sheep have been such a big hit here with everyone.

We brought them up on the deck for feeding so Malachi could see them.  We had Elijah go collect him Thursday, because he had his big toenails removed that morning.  He has spent the long weekend with us, recuperating.  Elijah took him back this afternoon, and Pilot will help watch over him (and drive him to class) for the time being.  

Unfortunately, Malachi was not the only family member down this weekend.   

Gyunay took a hard fall in the driveway and banged his head on the brick stairs.  He now has 2 staples on the top of his head.

Nurse Aunt Natosha was helpful in telling us to get to the ER, and she sent Gyunay this turkey snuggie, which he loves.

On the plus side, Acorn has absolutely loved having Malachi laying on the couch the last few days:

Bottle Lambs

 And now look who's at our house:

Now Lydia and I are bottle feeding these two adorable lambs.  The smaller, more spotted one is a boy, and the other, whiter one is a girl.

Their mama had triplets, but she was not doing too well, and the shepherdress thought the boy might die.  She left one lamb on the mama, since she seemed to be getting plenty of milk, but these two are now needing to be bottle fed.

They were born just Friday, so they are less than 1 week old!

Our set-up is not ideal, but it keeps them dry.  They will be safe and sound at night.  During the day, they can and do wander in the yard.  We will have them for about a month.

January Harvest Totals and Sheep

 January Harvests:
Eggs - 59

Peppers, Bulgarian sweet - 1

Peppers, Jalapenos - 10

The peppers came from plants I moved into the sunroom before winter.

Also this weekend, Lydia and I went to help on a sheep farm.  My in-laws play pickleball with the owner, Debbie, and we offered to come help.  She graciously explained everything sheep, and Lydia and I got to spend 2 1/2 hours helping in her barn with lambs and ewes.

Lydia had to help two lambs learn to nurse.  This was only semi-successful, as one lamb did nurse a bit, but the other didn't.  Debbie said she'd give them a couple of hours and try again.

Lydia also brought lambs for ear tagging and weighing.  

Also yesterday, Emry had another game.  It's hard for me to get good pictures.

It's funny that there are 3 girls in this picture, since there were only 3 girls there, and 7 boys.  

Kitchen Experiments

 Can you guess what I'm making?

Cheese!

Specifically, I'm attempting to make a whole milk ricotta cheese. It's still in progress, so I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I'm excited.  I've made farmer cheese before (delicious!), but I've never tried ricotta.  Since I've been getting milk from a nearby farm, I have been doing a bit of experimenting.  I've made sour cream, and I absolutely love it.  Mostly, I've been drinking the milk, because I love unhomogenized milk, but I'm also trying some other things in the kitchen.  More cheeses will be attempted, another week.  

Update: Ricotta is delicious!!! I probably drained it too long, but otherwise it is fantastic.

My friend suggested mixing some cream with it, which would work, I think.  Or we can just eat it, which may be the case.  Right now, it is hiding in the back of the fridge so no one eats it before I figure out how I want to serve it!

Projects and Etc

 

I took the 3 younger kids to Walmart today.  They wanted to spend a bit of Christmas money.  Emry got a new Lego set.  He's been liking cars for a while, so he got a technic car:

Gyunay opted for Stich Monopoly, which Lydia and Nathaniel agreed to play:

I've been working on various projects, including this blanket for our bed:

Last night, I was trying to clip the loose threads, but I had to snuggle with the dogs, so it wasn't easy:

And I have been working on reorganizing and cleaning.  The play room got a facelift and much needed organization:

Elijah has been helping me with some projects in the basement, so more organization will be upcoming.  I also need to start seeds in the playroom, now that it's not absolutely frigid.

Winter News

The dogs are happy to have the Christmas tree out of their sun spots.

This is Lydia's snow angel last week:

It has melted some, but it is still visible.

Lydia had her pole vault debut on Saturday, and we are looking forward to seeing more of that.  Emry had his first basketball game of the season, which was very close all the way through.  He gets to play every Saturday through February, so we will be enjoying lots of basketball.

Also, Friday the boys enjoyed this epic snow sledding hill with friends:

It was 45 degrees and sunny, with plenty of snow still around, so they had a blast.  Since then, we had another light coating of powdery snow, and we are now in frigid temps, so no one has been doing any outside snow play!  It was -4 this morning.