These Boots Are Made For....

Eden started walking at 11 months old, in October. Once she figured out she could do it, she practiced diligently. She didn't seem to like the idea of crawling anymore and gave it up completely within a couple of weeks when she started hoofin it full time. She's still a bit wobbly but that doesn't stop her from running around the house. Yes, you read that right...running. And dancing. oh she likes to dance...she has her own dance. It's a bopp bopp up and down, stamp stamp your feet, turn a circle backwards round and round while watching your feet go, on earm up and one arm down. Every time she hears music or singing, off she goes into that dance of hers. Its the cutest thing.

Eden is ONE YEAR old!

I don't know how it happened, but it did. Thank goodness Chris and I have two awesome helpers around here. We had a small party, mostly for Ami and Noah (and thier friends), they were looking forward to cupcakes of course. We decorated and sang and Eden got one big pink Dora rubber ball from us and clothes from family (which she needed! Thank you!). She's mostly too little to notice her b-day and hardly knew what to do with her cupcake! She mostly just smashed it up and played with it.

In the Kitchen with Daddy

Noah likes helping in the kitchen. Here he is helping Chris prepare venison jerky marinade. Chris has been emptying out the freezer of uneaten deer meat from last year, making room for this year's supply. He has shot one doe so far and will keep going out til the end of the year to get 1-2 more for the freezer. When Noah isn't helping his dad in the kitchen, he's helping me. His favorite thing is to punch sweet potato rounds out of rolled dough using a glass and arrange the on a cookie sheet.

Curlie Girlie

Check out the smile and the curls. I couldn't decide which one to post so you get both :o)

SNOW!

It snowed recently! Big wet sticky flakes. The kids got up out of bed, got dressed and ran out in it. It didn't stick much to the ground, but about 1/4" ended up on our porch, some of which ended up as snowballs. We don't get snow mauch around here and we aren't much prepared for winter, we could only find 3 mittens, so Noah had to wear a sock on his hand! Needless to say, the kids were pretty much freezing by the time they came in and they warmed up with hot chocolate (double dose of mini-marshmellows of course). Next time I went out I bought new gloves/hats, etc (now it probably won't ever snow again!)

Big Bwutha...

...loves his baby sister. He's been getting better about being careful around her since he is getting closer to three years old. He's such a little man now. Rarely takes a nap anymore.

Just Cute Baby Eden

Dah-dah! (she finally says it!)

Who? Me? (still with hazel eyes)...

into e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g all the time....

Chubby little bubby little chunky little monk...

Happy Halloween

We went to town to trick-or-treat. Amelie was a ninja, Noah, an alligator (dragon?), Eden had a ladybug costume on and Chris made a last minute bug-of-some-sort costume for himself.

NC State Fair

We went to the Fair in Raleigh--we had a blast. Even though it rained the second day, it was just a little light rain and we had planty to do inside. I could spend 3 days there I think. We came home with a new rooster for my breeding program, the kids had an awesome time on the kiddie rides, we saw dairy goat shows, dairy cow shows, milked a cow, saw fun kids shows, ate lots of fried stuff and chocolate covered frozen bananas! We hope to make it an annual tradition.

Tickee tickee tickee!

Just a cute giggle pic.

BLUE Carolina!

We are happy to be living in a BLUE state! Amelie learned about voting and elections this year, and also learned about the history of slavery in this country, and what a great moment in American life this is for everyone. She also learned where Texas is and that GWB is going back there! The kids helped us put up this sign, and were as irritated as we were when someone tore it down--straight off our own private fence along the highway! We promptly reinstalled another one which we rigged to appear electrified! Crazy times in rural NC, yep.

Off We Go

Before and during a late-summer bike ride.

Jeepers creepers...

....where'd ya get those eyes?

(I know Noah looks a bit spacey wild in this pic but I cant get over how big and blue his eyes are.)

We love our Winnie

We got Winnie in early October. She's an 18 month old standard sized donkey, came to us untrained but very sweet. She now leads with a halter/rope and picks up her feet for cleaning and the farrier. She is what we call a "pocket donkey" because she is always right up your tail looking for affection or treats. Donkeys are guard animals, we thought she could guard our goats from predators/wild dogs. Well, she seemed to want to kill the goats! But I think with time she will mellow out and accept them. She is with the horses right now and will be a companion animal for our younger horse when the old one dies (likely soon). Winnie is named after my great grandmother Winifred who was riding an English beach donkey down the dunes when she fell off into the sand, embarrassing my Nana who was about 10 years old at the time!

Grammy comes to town

Grammy and Grandpa Bill came to stay when Eden was 10 months old. They came to hang out and see if they could find a place to live. They found a great little townhouse overlooking the waters of Edenton Bay, within walking distance of downtown Edenton, which is about 30 minutes away from our house. We are so excited that they will be moving here and look forward to thier arrival in early March 2009!

She loves to swing

Eden River in the swing at the park in Edenton a couple of months ago (Sept--10 mos).

Feather heads

Ami, Noah and Lydie having fun with turkey feathers they found in the grass. Lydie, 5, lives next door--she's over here nearly every day to play. She has a little brother about 20 mos old. He will be a good playmate for Noah when he gets a little bigger.

Gobble it up!

Our birds, getting ready to be delicious...

Chris, turkey farmer extraordinare.

Just out of the oven.

All the kids snappin' beans.

Everyone at the table. Elana, Layah, Amelie, Jacob, Ruthie, Noah, Michael, Miriam, Chris.

We had a great thanksgiving, starting on Wednesday with the not-so-fun activity of humanely slaughtering our naturally raised free-range turkeys which we sold to local friends. We made two for thanksgiving dinner and had one left for the freezer. The kids went to our friend Miriam's house for the day and Chris and I went to work at it. People periodically stopped by to pick up thier super fresh, oven-ready birds. While we were elbow deep in turkey guts, Chris commented on how we "have so much fun together" (which was supposed to be a sarcastic remark based on the fact that we never get out together like "on a date")--we both lamented that, yeah, we actually have the kids gone for a day and here we are doing *this!* Then we realized that when we met in the Smokie Mtns, we spent a good portion of our time doing something just as gristly-- preparing skins and skulls of roadkill for educational purposes...fire blazing, cold beer nearby, grubby-clothed and skinning something out back of the "death shed...".....ahh, a taste of the good old days right here at home...

We have a lot to be thankful for this year...and we are.

Hannah, Ada and Fawn

These are our new goats! We are going to milk for home use (milk, butter, cheese), and soapmaking (for sale and home). The white girlie is a 1 yr old saanen, and the other two are nubians (1 yr old and 6 mos old). The saanen is Ada, salt-and pepper nubian is Hannah, and the little spotty brown baby is Fawn.

We are going to Raleigh to pick up a whole supply of used dairy equipment from a lady who raised alpine goats for 20 years. She gave it up and is giving us a great deal on it all. Amelie liked the milk, and Chris is sold too (and he was ready to hate it, since he really doesnt like goat cheese or lamb). It is really delicious and will make a wonderful ice cream. Ami thought it was cool to watch the goat milking and I thought it was pretty adventurous of her to drink a big glass of it right after watching how and where it came from! She wasn't phased a bit and slugged it right down like she was in a race. She's excited to bring the girls home, Chris has to fix the fencing in back, then we'll be all ready. We hope to pick them up on Sunday.

Attack of the Killer Puree

Eden, like other babies her age, is a messy eater.

Noah Designs

Creative resourceful self-entertainment....cool huh?

fAiRy RiNg

A huge fairy ring burst forth in our pasture and I thought our little sugar plum needed her picture taken amoungst the mushrooms. She always does look to me like she ought to be out having a teaparty on a mushroom cap with tiny mice and bunny rabbits with wings....you get the idea. I couldnt pass this one up.

Old Man at the Sea

Here is Amelie's creation...supposed to be a bearded king...I think??....like a sea king of a coral castle kind of character....something out of a movie she likes I believe...?The Last Unicorn?...I'll have to ask her...anyway, see the beard, moustache, eyebrows, hair....she built it with her dad and Grandma Alice when she was visiting a few weeks back.

Fourth of July

Here is poor Noah enjoying the fireworks. Can you scream "I WANNA GO HOME!" 150 times fast? No wasnt that fun?

Eden turns 9 Months

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks. Eden is standing while holding onto furniture, her favorite thing to do is dig dirt in the cactus pot, she is starting to eat food that has a bit more texture, and she has two little chipmunk teeth bottom front and center. She's a ton of fun--we love this age.

Here she comes!

Eden just motors around wherever she likes nowadays--and if you are sitting on the floor, the place she likes to be most is usually your lap :o)