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kids these days

We have had some gorgeous spring days here!  And it's always made even better when it's kidding season.  Technically Dwarf Nigerian Goats can breed any time during the year, unlike other species of goats who have a periodic breeding season, so there is no set "kidding season".  But since we had surprise kids last March and our buck escaped his pastures this last year giving us surprise kids again this March, March definitely feels like kidding season around here.  They are cute surprises though and we absolutely look forward to having them!

getting chores done

It is said the family that prays together, stays together.  (Or is it just from the Disney Robin Hood movie I had memorized growing up?)  I think that it should be inserted it is the family that works and prays together that stays together. Teaching my children to work around the house has definitely been a labor of love.  But the reward, oh the reward, is sweet and binding.  I'm beginning to see that to work and accomplish together as a family is to commit, to serve and to come together in purpose.

animal videos

 

Animal videos are the best.  I read a meme the other day that pointed out how amazing technology is these days.  The gist is that if we were to meet a famous historical person, their minds would be blown by our pocket-size smartphones that can access all the information that man has discovered over the millennia in mere seconds.  And then we would explain to that person that we use it to anonymously pick fights with people on social media and watch animal videos.  Totally guilty of the latter.  (But not the former.)

blueberries in the summer

I was so happy to find two important ingredients for a happy life this summer: a new friend and local u-pick orchards.  I can't help but compare blueberry picking in Southern Illinois to blueberry picking in Oregon.  The blueberries in Oregon were amazing.  The bushes were smaller and more contained, and the berries themselves were large.  Oh, and they were so very, very delicious.

fall photos

My family is beginning to dread that one weekend every fall where I make everybody dress up in outfits decidedly not fit for a Saturday and pose for family photos.  They hate sitting and smiling and when they begin to grimace they know the lecture is coming, the one where I remind them that they're smiling for all of our friends and family who will be receiving a Christmas card from us and do they want everyone to see what a sour grapes they were being for our photo.  They always reluctantly answer no and continue grimacing.  Thank goodness the children have a fun dad who ends up cracking a joke and injecting the whole painful procedure with a little fun.  Once the sitting and smiling photo quota has been filled, I ask them to play and jump and run and that's when I begin to enjoy taking the photos too.

season for fish

I don't know why we wear crazy outfits.  I think it has something to do with the fact that almost nobody can see us.  Anyway, my game plan is to catch up on the blog posts I shot photos for over these past 10 months and then catch up to the upstairs bedroom and bath renovations. Today's photos are from last October, meaning October 2014.

long overdue

If you read this blog, you're probably my friend.  And if you're my friend then you you most likely know by now that we just had a baby.  We wanted to do it the old-fashioned way and wait until after he arrived to make any announcements.  After these few years of pregnancy woes, it felt right to avoid the intensity that social media sharing can bring.  I say this acknowledging that it is not the right choice, just the right for us choice.

instagram

Ahem, I have joined the ranks I was avoiding so long and started an instagram profile.  The purpose of this instagram account is to accompany this blog solely and show updates at the farm with the hashtag #hadleighgrange. There won't be any selfies or photos of my family or my children doing "the cutest thing" or "the grossest thing" or photos of what I'm eating right then and there won't be long lists of made-up hashtags.

 I'm talking to you, people, with your #sorry #notsorry and #isitjustmeoristimegoingbyfast hashtags.  Hashtags are not meant to be social commentary or a way to show your genius wit.  They are cyber tags for photos to be sorted and categorized by.  Would you make a file folder for your bills with the name, "ihatepayingbillsonmonday" or "#gottagetmymoneyontime #iftheresnomoneydeclined"?  No, because you'd never know what on this green earth belongs in there.  It's funny only because it's not supposed to be done for real. (#hashtagabusemakesmecranky)

 

Putting my lecture on hashtag etiquette aside, you won't find any of those usual instagram staples.  Hopefully, it'll be a quick and easy way to keep a current feed on what's happening and changing at Hadleigh Grange.  Because, otherwise, you know, it'll be next fall before you see photos of what we did this weekend. (#dontholdyourbreath)

There's an icon in my left sidebar menu for the instagram account or you can find it here. (#fightthehashtagimpulse #hashtagabuseisreal)

See?  It would have been better if I would have just written those things.  Hashtag abuse is real, folks.  It's real.

fairy garden party

It is becoming painfully apparent to me that I consistently fail at staging photos.  It's one more thing to add to my list of things to practice and improve on.

kids and more kids

If there is one thing that has surprised me about having goats, it's how easy and enjoyable they are.  They are so small and require little space, are the cleanest of the livestock, and interact more like a pet instead of the typical stand-offish ruminant.  I love my goats much more than I ever imagined.