Thursday, February 08, 2018

Random Post of Awesomeness!

Benny at 2 months and 3 weeks! 

Those eyes, that smile, those cheeks....we're smitten! 

Just to make you smile. 

Nolan's Birthday

It's birthday month in our home. The male Gherkins chose Jan and Feb to be born. The Females chose summer. This month we will have four birthdays and two anniversaries to celebrate! 

Tonight, the five of us, enjoyed a quiet dinner and Nolan's gifts.  We will have a big birthday celebration on an upcoming Sunday night. 




We went ahead and gave Alex his sled too....


 There's a funny story about these candles.....I INTENDED to buy and save candles for Michael's birthday in November. I'd have enough candles for all the birthdays this year. I'm notorious for not having the candles. We got ready to light Nolan's cake and realized, at the last moment Michael insisted it would be cheaper and less of a fire hazard (yes he DID say that) to buy the numbers 5 and 7 for him than 60 candles. So.....we are all turning 57 or 75 this year until I remember to buy candles.

Nolan is nearing the end of  his senior year. He is considering his options. At this point he is leaning heaviest towards a degree in business - that seems to match his skill and spiritual gift set. He isn't sure if he'll attend a campus out here, in Anchorage, Fairbanks or possibly do the first year online through UA - Fairbanks. 

Homestead Club

This month's Homestead Club at IDEA is destined to be our favorite. The club is turning out to be more info for parents, than fun for children. I was concerned about this, but we were told not to worry about it. This month, Denise, our speaker presented a workshop on "Sustaining a family on a 1/4 acre." It was full of great info for parents....AND fun for kids. 

Kelly brought a goat, talked about her and milked her for us. She blew up gloves and let us get a feel for the technique. 



Denise introduced us to one of her chickens as well. These gals get the daily scraps from a local school as well as their other food.  Next month Mr. Steve Brown from the Cooperative Exchange Service of UA - Fairbanks will be our presenter. I look forward to hearing more about the best practices for carrying for chickens....it seems they are in my future.  I've read a zillion books this month about care and coops and such....time to put some of it to practice. 

I wish all of our workshops could be a bit of hands on AND informational....Talia and I are doing the last one on making bread and butter. It will be almost totally hands on.  Even though I feel it's not been "fun" for the younger ones - I do know there has been a ton of really good info given out.