A few pictures...

 A few of these pictures are  from a visit to Deleon Springs for a family reunion and the rest are everyday life at our house.                        Enjoy!

Russell, Emaline, Justice, William, Lily Ann  and Bo in a huge oak at Deleon Springs State Park.

Mama and Daddy in front of the Old Spanish Sugar Mill.

Mama and Emaline.

Lily Ann, William and Justice putting some " bread" in the oven.

Savana with her ducklings.

                                                                    

Dress up day!!

A couple days ago some of us children dressed up. It was fun! Russel was a clown ( quite literally),  Bo, Justice, Lily Ann and I were scotch highlanders! William was a castle page part of the time and a knight the other part. The boys decided that they needed to make swords and then we  had  a tournament. Lily Ann and Emaline cheered them on and gave bouquets to the victors! At first Lily Ann would not let me take pictures of her, and it was not until I dressed up that we got some photos.

     Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of Bo and Justice as highlanders.Maybe I can add some more pictures at a later time.        

Enjoy!!

Russel was dressed up like a clown. He was acting like one too!!

Lily Ann and Farrah  (Yours truly)  dressed up as scotch girls.

Under the cassia tree.

Picking flowers.

The princess ( Emaline ) was making chocolate ice cream for Mama.

Sir William Wallace!!!

Alayna  made a page outfit for William. I'm not sure what he was doing in this picture!

William  and Bo.

Savana's new blouse pattern and miscellaneous...

I recently made a blouse pattern with darts and a zipper in the back.

This is my third blouse actually, they just get better every time.

William: I asked him if he would let me take a "professional picture" of him, and he rather hesitantly said yes.

One of my three duckling swimming in very fast circles under water, and the other two watching...

Family Interviews

Today Mama conducted a brief survey of the little guys.  She got inspired by the one done by Timberdoodle, and decided that it would be a fun thing to do one with our younger set, which she did separately, so that none of them knew the other's answers until later this morning.  Here are some of the questions and answers:

"If you could have named yourself, what name would you have chosen?"

Emaline (E.):  Rosie

Justice (J.):  Wampum (the name of our neighbor's horse).

William (W.):  Buffalo Bill

LilyAnn (LA):  Annie

Bo:  Robert or Clark

"If today was your birthday, what would you want to eat?"

E:  Cake, strawberries and chocolate.

J:  Anything.

W:  Strawberry shortcake.

LA:  Filled (she meant stuffed) tomatoes.

Bo:  Apple fritters and hazelnut coffee, the glazed kind from the bakery in KY.

"What do you want for your birthday?"

E:  A new book with paper and tape wrapped around it.

J:  --

 W:  A BB/pellet gun.

LA:  A horse.

Bo:  A pair of six shooters, lots and lots of rope, and a .45 rifle.

"What are you afraid of?"

E.  Thunder.

J:  --

W:  --

LA:  Sinking to the bottom of the lake.

Bo:  Panther's screaming and slinking through the trees.

"If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be, and what would you name it?"

E:  A dog named Rosie.

J:  A baby goat named Apple.

W:  A kitten named Star.

LA:  A horse named Buttercup.

Bo:  A white horse named Wampum.

"If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

E:  With Daddy in the boat to Sam's.

J:  Stay home.

W:  To KY (he couldn't remember the name at the moment, so said "where Daddy grew up")

LA:  Scotland.

Bo:  Scotland.

"What is the best job in the world?"

E:  Clean up messes.

J:  --

W:  Snow removing.

LA:  Horse training.

Bo:  A missionary is the best, but my favorite is a fireman.

Hope you enjoyed this little survey!

Feldman Family at the horses.

Evan, our sweet big brother.

Farrah on Wampum. (He's the hardest to control.)

Savana almost had a sneak shot here.

Sweet Lily Ann...

..and Bo.

Swinging on the gate..

Alayna's favorite... Tammy.

We girls with Wampum and Strawberry.

Our favorite seven year old...

Emaline and her dolly.

She's so sweet.

Mr. Lombardy with Lily Ann on Wampum, Farrah on Strawberry, and Alayna on Tammy Faye.

Farrah's favorite... Strawberry.

Lily Ann in front in the English saddle, with William right behind.

Isn't it so old fashioned? This is Lily Ann and Justice.

Our boys... and girl!

All done! We really had a great time.

Butchering broilers

Evan,"the executioner".

Broilers hanging up to drain.

Bo and I plucking.

Savana, with a chicken she just plucked.

Alayna and Farrah gutting.

Lily Ann holding a broiler that she just finished.

William, bagging the chickens.

Bo with two finished broilers.

The Launching of the Bo-Regard

This is Bo's raft which he built with Daddy.  It is made out of four 30 gal. plastic drums (given to him by Cousin Frank), 2 X 4's, and pressure- treated decking boards.  We plan to use it both as a raft and as a floating dock.  On Saturday (Farrah's birthday) Evan fixed a pool ladder and slide to it so that we can slide down into the lake.  On Farrah's birthday everyone went down the slide except Mama, who was on shore taking photos, Russel, who was too small, and maybe Emaline and Justice.

(And yes, I did consider having Emaline break (well, pour) a glass of juice over it, and thus formally christen it, but not being down at the lake when it was launched, we didn't do that.)

Farrah's Birthday

Daddy, Farrah, Savy, Bo, and LilyAnn standing in front of "Emily", Savana's horse.

Saturday, May 28th, 2011 we celebrated Farrah's 14th birthday.  It was a wonderful day even though we were teetering on the edge of sickness, and Farrah came down with it that evening.  The week before we'd attended the Barberville Farmers' Market (or the farm swap as we call it) and at a free drawing had won two passes, each for two people, to go trail riding at a local horse rescue.  We decided to use the passes on Farrah's birthday.  Usually they only allow one pass at a time, but graciously allowed us to use both, so Daddy took Farrah, Savana, Bo, LilyAnn and I trailing.  Of course, we had to pay a little extra because of the extra people.  Bo and LilyAnn doubled with Daddy and I, respectively.

Farrah and LilyAnn in the round pen.

We had a great time.  Farrah got a big flea- bitten gray Arab mare, and that horse wanted to "go" the whole time we were out.  They weren't too strict about staying in line, or what speed we went, so Farrah and I got to canter several times (my first time ever doing that!), and afterward they let Farrah, Bo and LilyAnn ride by themselves in a large round pen.  Here are some photos and a short video I took there. The owners of the rescue also posted some photos of us on their website here.  The last three pictures under the heading "Our Customer Rides" are of us (Daddy and Bo, a photo of us on the trail, and another of us after the ride) and there is another of LilyAnn in the round pen under the heading of "Our Riding Lessons".  It is the last picture under that heading.
This was Farrah's first time ever riding a full- sized horse without anybody leading it.  The only other animals she'd ridden before were our heifer Honey, and the neighbor's pony.

LilyAnn on "Lucy".  Bo got to ride her too, but unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of him.

After we got home, we all went swimming in the lake, using Bo's new raft, the Bo- Regard as a floating dock.  It was great fun.  Daddy took the little guys in close to the shore after a few minutes, where they played in the water alongside Kep, who was trying to catch minnows (as usual).  We had grilled chicken legs, corn on the cob, and salad for supper, and chocolate cake and ice cream for desert.

William going down the slide.  The others in the background are trying to push the boat.

Daddy going down the slide (I love this shot!)

A very much overloaded raft.  I had just sent Kep back to shore because he tried to climb on too.

It was a wonderful day to celebrate a wonderful sister (for us children) and daughter (for Daddy and Mama).

More spring at the farm...

 Here are some pictures of the baby animals around here.  Just now we only have ducklings, chicks, and puppies. 

These ducklings hatched this morning, and you can see places in the other eggs where the ducklings are pecking their way out.  This is actually a goose nest, but it's full of duck and chicken eggs, as we have two geese, not a goose and gander, so the eggs were infertile, so I gave the geese other eggs which I needed hatched.

Goosey didn't appreciate being pulled off her nest so that I could photograph "her" babies.

Another mother with some even more incongruous offspring...

She tried to teach them to dust bathe this morning, but they prefer the water.

Emaline and "Remington".

Bo with Balloo and Inez.

Balloo.