Alpaca Excitement

   David and I have been tossing around the idea of getting alpacas for a few years now. It was usually in a dreamy sort of state like, "Someday, when we blah blah blah, we will get some alpacas! It will be so fun!" Well, the blah blah blah part did not happen but we are getting  alpacas anyway!!!!! Maybe the blah blah will happen later, who knows?
   Recent yard renovations have left us with ample space for housing and grazing a small herd and we are going for it! Last Monday I took a trip up to Blue Moon Alpaca Ranches in Woodland UT. This was the 6th place I visited and by far the best! Linda(owner) really loves her animals and takes excellent care of them. She had two fiber male boys that were available for sale and I loved them right away. But after some deliberation, we decided that they would be happier if we took all four yearling males born on the farm last year. This meant I would be taking one of her favorites. After promising to love him well, she agreed. We now have FOUR boys coming to live with us in just THREE more days!!!! I estimate I am about 15x more excited than David, and he is excited! The kids tell everyone their alpacas will be here on Monday and are having a great time thinking up names for them. First they were going to be named after the planets, then great composers, now we are on to favorite characters in books. And it seems their current names will become their middle or last names? I will keep you posted. For now, some pictures of our boys!

 

Spring Recital

This is not the greatest video but Leah will love to look back on it. So a week or so ago at Leah's last piano lesson she was playing this recital piece for her teacher and fell off the bench! She is just too small to play a piece that changes octaves multiple times, her little arms can't reach. Not to mention her feet are far from reaching the floor to stabilize her when she moves.  So she would just shimmy up to the next position and she shimmied herself right off the bench! Her teacher decided it would be best for her to play it standing up.

Full Days

Our days have been so full this spring. All the yard and garden work is a full time job. Add in potty training, homeschooling, and a new chicken coop and it's tough to find time to breathe! The good news is that Kate is using the potty all on her own now..check! And the coop should be done soon(ish).

When you homeschool you can wear your bike helmet if you want.  Leah has decided she wants to be a teacher and a mother when she grows up. She is practicing writing letters here so she can "teach the kids how to write them."

We did a whole lot of "potty preparation" with Kate like we did with Leah.  Tone of books, songs, little videos. It all paid off. Kate was SOOOO excited when potty training day came and she has done a great job! Two weeks in and she now even REFUSES to go in her diaper at night! Success! 

No Training Wheels!!!

Leah got it in her head last week that she wanted to ride her bike without training wheels. Her best friend and constant companion, Lily, can ride well and Leah REALLY wanted to do it too! So Dave took them off one evening and she gave it a try. We were both ready for the screams, tantrums and total meltdowns that usually happen when Leah decides she wants to do something and can't IMMEDIATELY do it PERFECT the VERY FIRST TRY. Very much to our surprise she giggled and laughed through the whole trial. We spent about 30 minutes at it and she left saying, " If I practice every day by the end of May I will be so good." A few days of bad weather went by and as soon as the weather permitted we went back out. This time it really did just  "happen". She just started going. Good thing I had the camera. She was THRILLED!

Our Egg Eater

Egg Hunt

The egg hunt was a very good success this year. Leah actually enjoyed herself! We kept the kid numbers down and all had a great time. The hunters:

Cheepie

Leah lost a dear friend this spring. She fell in love with a little chick she named Cheepie. Cheepie stopped growing for some reason while we were away in Seattle. When we returned she was very noticeably smaller than the others. Dave and I became very worried when we saw how attached Leah was getting to Cheepie. She would hold her and care for her all day. Cheepie lasted a few weeks with Leah's good care. She still talks about her and visits her grave daily. RIP Cheepie.