Greta is in 3rd grade although she looked old enough to go into middle school with her brother. She keeps growing like a weed and I suspect will be taller than her brother any day now.
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
First Day!
Man, this was a long summer. We did a lot, saw a lot and am now happy to say the kids are back in school. Today I dropped my oldest off at middle school. He was nervous, I was nervous for him. I'm happy he's got his buddy Alex there with him so they can both be confused together.
Greta is in 3rd grade although she looked old enough to go into middle school with her brother. She keeps growing like a weed and I suspect will be taller than her brother any day now.
Greta is in 3rd grade although she looked old enough to go into middle school with her brother. She keeps growing like a weed and I suspect will be taller than her brother any day now.
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Tag
I signed the kids up for 4H this May. I knew it was late in the season to sign them up and that we probably wouldn't be showing anything in the county fair due to a pretty busy summer already planned. But it didn't stop us from going to the fair and checking out all of the entries and animals. While walking down the goat isle we ran across this sweet little baby black Nubian boy in a pen all by himself. Technically he was in the meat goat isle and I couldn't figure out why a sweet dairy goat was in the sea of white Boer meat goats. I might just add in here how much I adore the Nubian breed of goat. I used to go to the fair yearly as a kid and pine over the pens of dairy goats. So you understand why there was a nagging feeling that the sweet little baby Nubian was actually being marketed as a meat goat.
All of the kids loved on him and petted him and then we went on our way to look at the cows and pigs. The whole time that little guy was in my head so eventually we made our way back to his pen and I started inquiring around as to where I might find his owner. A boy walking by pointed the owner out, a teenage girl nearby. I asked her about the little black goat and she told me that the fair started a new meat goat category for male offspring of dairy goats. A way for the kids to make money, since there is no money in dairy goats at the fair (money is made by selling your market animal for meat). The little black goat's name was Tag and she said he was a bottle baby which made him sweet as can be. She was sad that he was a market goat. I told her he was way too sweet to be meat and that I really wanted to buy him if possible. She jumped at that idea and gave me a heck of a deal on him (her mom said $30, I gave them $50). So on clean up day I returned and Tag came home in the back of my SUV.
He's been home for a little over a week now and he's just the sweetest, happiest little goat you'll ever meet. He's happiest when following me or the kids around the back yard and yells out quite loudly when forced to stay in with the other goats. The goats don't care for him much and show him just how low on the totem pole he really is. He's only three months old and 48 pounds so he doesn't have much weight to throw around compared to Heston the 300 pound behemoth goat.
One of Tags favorite places is the flat bed trailer in the back yard. He's still young and likes to jump and climb on everything so we've learned to all sit on the trailer and he'll come up and sniff us all over and jump around. Then when he's had enough he'll lie down right next to you and take a nap. I don't think he knows he's not a dog.
I've been keeping in touch with Liz, the 4Her who sold us Tag. I share pictures with her and she's very happy that he didn't make it on that meat truck with the rest of the goats. I'm glad we could save one.
All of the kids loved on him and petted him and then we went on our way to look at the cows and pigs. The whole time that little guy was in my head so eventually we made our way back to his pen and I started inquiring around as to where I might find his owner. A boy walking by pointed the owner out, a teenage girl nearby. I asked her about the little black goat and she told me that the fair started a new meat goat category for male offspring of dairy goats. A way for the kids to make money, since there is no money in dairy goats at the fair (money is made by selling your market animal for meat). The little black goat's name was Tag and she said he was a bottle baby which made him sweet as can be. She was sad that he was a market goat. I told her he was way too sweet to be meat and that I really wanted to buy him if possible. She jumped at that idea and gave me a heck of a deal on him (her mom said $30, I gave them $50). So on clean up day I returned and Tag came home in the back of my SUV.
He's been home for a little over a week now and he's just the sweetest, happiest little goat you'll ever meet. He's happiest when following me or the kids around the back yard and yells out quite loudly when forced to stay in with the other goats. The goats don't care for him much and show him just how low on the totem pole he really is. He's only three months old and 48 pounds so he doesn't have much weight to throw around compared to Heston the 300 pound behemoth goat.
One of Tags favorite places is the flat bed trailer in the back yard. He's still young and likes to jump and climb on everything so we've learned to all sit on the trailer and he'll come up and sniff us all over and jump around. Then when he's had enough he'll lie down right next to you and take a nap. I don't think he knows he's not a dog.
I've been keeping in touch with Liz, the 4Her who sold us Tag. I share pictures with her and she's very happy that he didn't make it on that meat truck with the rest of the goats. I'm glad we could save one.
Monday, August 6, 2018
Breakthrough
We've had the kids in swimming lessons every summer since Wesley was in kindergarten. I was under the impression that you take your kids to a pool and they learn to swim in a summer. Nope. That is not how it has worked for our family. It's been a huge source of nerves and anxiety for both kids. They are like scared little puppy dogs when it comes to structured learning at the pool. When we go to the pool to just relax and play they have a ball, no problems at all. We've tried the YMCA for several years now and one year at the local city pool.
This year was the second time at the city pool and by golly I think they might have turned a corner. Perhaps they are older and ready or maybe the lifeguards were different but Wesley is now swimming in the deep end and jumping off of the diving board (both things he's never felt confident enough to try before). Greta is actually participating with the class instead of sitting on the edge and not engaging (which is what she normally does). It helped to have Aunt Jessica there offering her rewards for doing what the instructors asked. She got to go make slime over at their house as a reward. Hey, whatever works! It was a good summer and I look forward to more improvement next year. Super proud of these kids.
This year was the second time at the city pool and by golly I think they might have turned a corner. Perhaps they are older and ready or maybe the lifeguards were different but Wesley is now swimming in the deep end and jumping off of the diving board (both things he's never felt confident enough to try before). Greta is actually participating with the class instead of sitting on the edge and not engaging (which is what she normally does). It helped to have Aunt Jessica there offering her rewards for doing what the instructors asked. She got to go make slime over at their house as a reward. Hey, whatever works! It was a good summer and I look forward to more improvement next year. Super proud of these kids.
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