Snow in Anza!

Wow! So we were told that February in Anza is true winter. We're enjoying the changes in weather here. So far, its been a sunny, pretty warm winter. Then suddenly we get clouds rolling in. This is what it looked like last night when it started...so pretty!

It kept snowing through the night, so it called for some serious snow play the next morning...



Look at the Chickens! They are hanging out under their coop, the only place with no snow.



It was sunny though throughout the day today and a lot of it melted. Next week will probably go back to being 70's and sunny!

The Boys

Colt and Charley are buds. And especially out here, they have to be. Here are just a few pics of them doing all the things together that they do...


They fall asleep on the big stuffed chair together...



This is the one tiny week a while back where we thought Charley was ready to ditch the diapers. No such luck. But here's Colt right after he gave Charley a hug and said, "Charley, I'm so proud of you! You can wear underwear now!" So, they encourage each other...


They get dirty together! "Mom! The rain made the driveway all muddy...can we play in it!?"



They watch toons together..


Yes, Charley's there too. They zone out in imaginary play together...



They play with chickies together...



Take huge bubble baths...

Colt is our sensitive caring boy. He has always watched out for Charley and Colt is very in tune with mama'a feelings too. If I'm having a bad morning or am a little pissy, Colt asks me if I'm okay. Then he goes through the list of things that I might be mad about. "Are you mad because there are so many dishes? Are you made because Hank is in the way? Are you made because we woke up so early..." Haha.
Charley is just this little person and everything he does is a little version of a big person. He is really chill and goes along with just about any plans. He is very stubborn. And I've heard other moms always say that about one child or another. I always thought it was just an excuse. Like oh okay, your child is stubborn so just leave it at that? YEAH, just leave it at that! Everything that Colt did relatively easy, Charley puts up a fight. Its funny to see the difference. But they are my dudes and we have a blast together. And yes, the boys do have their moments where they fight. So they enjoy time apart too!

Uncharted territory

So obviously we are not using all of our ten acres. Every couple days me and the boys will go 'exploring' where we just start roaming the property! Well last Saturday we found the jackpot. This huge area in the back (or front?) corner where we hardly ever go. And it was Lush with well grown thick green grass. Most of our property is patches of shrubs, bushes, grass, leaves, kind of everything. But this, this was something to take note of. It was definately a family affair. So I told Nathan to get the goats and we all just hung out. Literally just hanging out having fun being together in this big ole patch of lush tall grass. I love the simple moments...

Charley throwing big clumps

Yes, wherever we are, Hank will be too.

Colt took this picture of us.

Well, now I've seen it all...I thought dirt angles at the park were pretty out there, but now we can add grass angels to our list.

Hank thinks he's a goat.

Where's Charley?

Look out for them horns!

Peggy, do you have a baby in that belly of yours!?

This white goat is Sweet Pea. We inherited her from somebody that couldn't have her anymore. She has overgrown hooves, got pink eye in both eyes the first week we had her and bucks our other goats...More like Not so sweet pea.

Our fire pit area

We build a fire a couple times a week, usually right around sunset. So here we are with cocoa motion. No, we're not camping somewhere far away, this is just some random spot in our yard.

Riding Horses!

Last week, Colt and Charley got to ride horses for the first time! We met Pam through our old neighbor here. Pam has 2 older, very calm horses and she wanted for the boys to come over! We had a great time. Thank you Pam! By the way, the black horse is named Thunder and the white horse is named CHARLEY! Isn't that adorable! Charley is riding Charley! Oh my goodness, who doesn't like a Charley!? Too bad Colt isn't riding a baby horse. Then Colt would be riding a Colt! hahaha..

Colt's burn

Oh my goodness, so I've decided to just for the records put Colt's burn on here. I don't think I even told mom and dad about this even though it was pretty bad. So it was 2 days before New Years that Colt decided to take a cup of steaming hot water out of the microwave by himself. Needless to say, it was not a pretty sight. I was rounding the corner to the kitchen when I witnessed him taking the cup out. I think I might have scared him into spilling it onto his chest. It must've been my, "Ahhhhh! Colt! Don't take stuff out of there!" that made him get scared and jumpy and then splash the steaming hot water onto himself. Ohhh, it happened and he screamed! And I don't know how to even explain his scream. It was a nerve wracking jolt into thin air and he was scared and hurt and shaking and uncontrollable. So, I immediately called "Da" my grandfather in law who we always call when an emergency happens. Da used to drive an ambulance so he has an immidiate answer to all things medical. Its great. The one and only advice was cold ice water. So after I frantically got off the phone while trying to calm Colt down, I placed him on the counter and at the exact moment that I put a freezing cold rag on his chest, he found instant comfort. So, for the next 3 hours all I did was re-ice his rag while he laid there on the couch in pure uncomfort. Now, taking him to the dr.'s at this point was not on my list. And Da told me to look out for blisters. If there are blisters, no doubt about it, take him in. So at this point, I was taking it minute by minute just trying to keep that sad boy comfortable. And for the most part, as long as there was an ice cold washcloth on him, he was good. But literally the second the washcloth started warming up, he was in instant pain again.



This is what it looked like the next day. Incredibly, the night of the burn, Colt got a full sleep and the next morning, the morning that it looked like this, he didn't even complain about it. We asked him how he felt and he said, "good". And literally he never complained about it again.


So the next day I got burn medication from the Dr.'s and non stick pads. It was a miracle! The white burn cream is called silvadene and it is a MUST for burns. It cleared it right up. Here is a pic of Charley helping with Colt's wound. We would have to change it a couple times a day to re-apply new cream.


And here is Colt today. Just a mild discoloring where the really bad part of the burn was. Seriously, Colt was pain free after the first night. He is such a freakin trooper!

Life on "The Farm"

So technically, I wouldn't call it a farm. We have meat rabbits, laying hens, a rooster and two goats. One of whom might be pregnant. And when and if she has her baby, we will be able to milk her! So, I wouldn't call it a farm, but its a pretty decent start, right?

Here are a few pics:

The different colored eggs... the white chickens lay white eggs, the brown chickens lay the green eggs, and black and white chickens lay the brown/light brown eggs. We just recently started getting the green eggs and Colt is SO exciting to have them!

This is one of two of our meat rabbits. They are huge! We got a male and female and yes they are called meat rabbits because we intend on breeding them and eating them! I believe that animals can be used for our liking, only if we eat them sparingly and not in a ravishing manner. So, we're not just going to be slaughtering hundreds of rabbits all the time. We have read that rabbits are really easy to skin and prepare and rabbit meat is high protein and super low fat. Doctors have often put patients on rabbit meat diets because it is so lean and healthy. So we'll look forward to that.

The boys after egg collecting.

Charley hangin out with our boy goat, Al.

Colt getting the eggs from the nesting boxes. We are not getting a steady flow of eggs because the hens egg production goes way down in the winter. Some days we will get 6 eggs, some days we will only find 2 or 3 in there. We have 9 hens and they should be laying an egg a day each. So maybe in the summer when its warm we'll get all the hens to lay an egg a day each.

This is our chicken coop. on the bottom left there is a little ladder for the chickies to go in an out. And inside is their food and water. On the back there are the nesting boxes. This coop is cool because you just lift the back door there and grab the eggs. That's Colt, its heavy.

The goats are a bit annoying when we let them out to just roam. The goats and chickens have a really big fenced in area with their own shelters and food. And most people would just keep them all in their area all the time. Its big enough, it really is a big area. BUT its dead! The chickens plucked all the grass and the goats eat the trees. So if its a nice day out and we're just hanging around, I'll let them all out. Our 10 acres is all fenced in so I don't worry about the animals straying. But holy cow! These goats are so annoying! This is a pic of them just standing at our front door, waiting for food. Literally, they will eat anything and they act like they are starving all the time! Most people wouldn't even buy hay for them, but we do. Because they have 10 acres of grass and trees and shrubs to roam around and eat whatever they want! But no, they sit there at our front door and wait for leftovers. Yes, they've been spoiled, we always throw out leftovers for the goats and chickies

Our flock