Whirlwind...Life & Animals

It's been a whirlwind of events around here....I've been on overload training for a second work at home job, luckily training is only a week and then things can settle down when I can choose my own schedule for what works best for us. But most of last week then today we've been home while I've been glued to my computer. Luckily we were able to escape to see home schooling friends on Friday and enjoy a pool get together- we all needed some outdoor time, some friend time.

A few pictures from our week...reading, baking, playing with the animals, kids played card games while I worked, sleepy puppies in the afternoon, some chocolate chip muffins, homemade lasagna for dinner, we moved Teryn's 4H ribbons to the hallway so she had some more wall space in her room but kept the current years ribbons still in her bedroom.

We also had a sad whirlwind of animal happenings. It has been humid as all get out here! Unfortunately with the humidity the house has not stayed cool. It is definitely cooler than outdoors but not by much. With the heat, our littlest guinea pig developed heat stress, even with cooling fans and frozen water bottles he just couldn't pull through. We found some great online resources, called some 4H friends, gave him a cool bath, set him on a damp cool towel- attempted to cool him slowly as cooling too quickly results in shock and syringe fed him gatoraide. It just wasn't enough. Our son said a kind little prayer and little Frederick passed away. We buried him in the yard along with our other two piggies that passed last year the kids setting stones on the site.

Our other crazy animal happening...the day after Frederick passed I went outside only to find that our drake was half way out of his pen, literally stuck, his wings half through, his head through and half his body, all contorted. I lost it, I cried. I had no idea what to do. I called my husband who was on his way to work. My worry was that if I moved the drake I'd end up hurting him more. The kids ran out, our son cried and ran away. I went to go find him and found our son sitting on a table outside, his head bowed, his hands folded- he was praying quietly saying please save our duck please keep our animals safe. Luckily hubbie was able to remove him. The picture is right after we released him, his wing appears damaged. Broken or dislocated. Today though it looks better, he is flapping it and pulling it in closer. We'll keep a watch and bandage if necessary but we are so very thankful he will live. Our hearts just can't take any more animals passing. I suppose partly it is life on a farm, it is life. My children have learned more living here than every before. I am thankful for that.

We go into our week this week praying that our sorrow lessens from loosing our sweet guinea pig, we pray for comfort and we know and trust we will get through any hard time together, as a family and with faith.

Some people may think its just a guinea pig, its just a duck, but creature big or small, human or animal, they are all precious and have a special place in our hearts.

Old Pictures - Kids Growing Up

Well its official...my laptop died. Well, not to the point where information isn't able to be recovered, which is what hubbie is working on now, removing all of my work files and beloved picture files which I'm thankful for. So, with computer problems and ballet, the library, errands and chores we haven't done much picture taking or adventuring this week yet!

But this week since coming onto the desktop I'm able to enjoy all the old picture files on it...sharing a few of the kids when they were littler...boy does time just fly by in a flash!

{this moment}

Happiness is family...ordinary moments are always extraordinary.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A few photo's - no words - capturing a moment (or several) from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Linking to Soule Mama 

May this weekend find you making tons of ordinary moments extraordinary. Find joy in the simplest of tasks daily.  

Blacksmithing, Horses & Rabbits, Virtual Surgery

Yesterday being one of my husbands only two days off we decided to stay indoors, keep cool and just enjoy each others company.  In the morning animal chores were done as usual- fed, watered, duck water changed out, water bottles frozen for the rabbits to keep cool and every one was held, petted, talked to and loved! Then for the morning before lunch, the boys did some studies together and my daughter and I spent some time together.

My husband had checked out several blacksmithing books at the library which our son was very excited about- all he can talk about lately is 'when Dad builds his blacksmith shop' and that he's going to help work on projects- Awesome. They looked at some projects in the books together then watched a you tube video on the TV demonstrating how to do different techniques. Our son was quiet, engaged and enthralled.

While the boys read and watched, studying together, learning together, my daughter wanted some help studying rabbits, preparing for fair in a few months. We sat together and went through questions, talked about her breed and went through terms she was unfamiliar with. She has taken the initiative and put together a study calendar for herself, to study one animal each day for an hour, every day before fair is here. I love her drive, her passion. When she loves something, there is no stopping her. 

 After morning studies, we cooked and ate lunch and our daughter took a break to draw for a bit and work on a story she's been writing.

 Then the rest of the afternoon she spent laying on the couch, engulfed in books, reading. When she wants to learn some thing, she checks out all available resources at the library, reads everything she can, researches video's- in this case all about horses, horseback riding, show riding, and she's also talked to our 4H leader about taking horse back riding lessons from her. 

She may only concentrate on a few select things at a time, but when she's done, she has an enormous amount of knowledge gained about those passionate subjects. I love her for that. She pursues her interests with drive and passion.

After lunch my son and I battled it out in 'Battleship' then hoped online to check out some educational games. Then the remainder of the afternoon we spent doing 'virtual surgery' together. 

This amazing education site has many choices- but we did brain stimulation, hip replacement surgery and knee replacement surgery. We talked about how his Grandpa had knee replacement and his Papa had hip replacement surgeries. Our son, our science kid was amazed, grossed out and intrigued- when it was time to log off and help prepare dinner 

he exclaimed ' Well, now I know I do not want to be a Surgeon when I grow up!' 

Check out the site: http://www.edheads.org/

and go under activities- there's a whole list to pick from!

Even though it says for grades 7-12, our 8yr old/3rd grader had no problem- there's tons of technical terms- but he got through it and learned lots of new words!

(Pic Source from link above)

We finished the night off with a family dinner and a movie before bed, a perfect family day at home.

More Water Fun & Thrifty Finds

Beautiful Monday. I'm off of work after a long weekend. We get to venture out of the house.

Today we swam at the river, bought ice cream sandwiches for lunch and found some treasures at the thrift store. Ahh, Summer Love with two of my favorite people. My children.

Thrifty Finds...books and a board game!

Life is Great.

Water: Rain and River

It's been a strangely quiet week, restful, thoughtful. Errands, ballet class, home made meals, family movie mid day, a few afternoon naps, board games just enjoying a peaceful home.

Overjoyed with the light bits of rain that graced us yesterday, overjoyed with the coolness in the air, the children went out to play...it's been too hot for days, for weeks now to explore, to pretend, to adventure in our own backyard for more than a few minutes and yesterday they were able to rejoice and laugh in the darkening sky's weather upon us. It didn't last but what bit of cool we received we soaked it up.

Today as the sun peeked, before heading to the grocery store we ventured to the River, taking a dip with our toes...or rather the children somehow 'dipping' their entire bodies in the cool refreshing water! Play, laughter, splashing, gathering rocks, gathering plants, exploring, talking, fun. Purposefully closing my eyes and breathing in and out, praying, being thankful. Relaxation, toes in the sand, then into the water, warm breezes, smiling faces. A much needed outing. Then by chance after the grocery store the rain came briefly again and everyone laughed and cried 'yippee' running out into it when we got home, only for it to end and the sun to again appear a few moments later.

There is much delight even in the most quiet of days and weeks, a rest for your body, soul, mind.