The baby ducks following mom and dad! The eggs started hatching Friday night to Sunday. We ended up with nine ducklings!

Pica the cat with Lilly the kitten

Spring is in full swing at Hoggart Farm!

Kaitlin and Dawson with the first baby sheep of the spring!

Our duck that finally decided to sit and stay with her eggs. She is a domesticated type of mallard. I've been waiting for her to have babies for a while!
Dawson with the new baby black sheep.
Kortney and Travis with our new baby kitten.

Tonight at midnight

Today after school Travis had 6 friends come here off the bus for his birthday party. Well it's midnight and so far the night has gone really good.....except now I've got to try to get these boys to go to sleep. Guess what they are doing right now. Watching a movie, playing Nintendo......no they are playing Webkinz soccer. Yes, these 10 year old boys are busy playing with Webkinz. (stuffed animals that are the craze right now) Most of them brought some of their own here tonight. Remember when kids were afraid of their friends knowing that they sleep with a stuffed animal?? Well these days boys and girls are collecting them by the dozen! I was surprised when Travis started bringing his first frog Webkinz to school. I just figured the girls would be into them, but not really the boys. Well I was wrong. Someone is making some serious coin selling these critters. I actually feel bad for the one boy here tonight who doesn't have one!

I'm going to have to put a stop with the soccer playing since Dan and the other kids are sleeping right now!

So wish me luck that I too will be able to go to bed soon too!

Michelle

Travis' birthday present

Travis' new goat!

Dan, Dawson, Kaitlin and Travis

Kaitlin and Dawson with the other "family" goat Ok, so here's the story....Travis' birthday is tomorrow. We have been trying to come up with a gift for him which he hasn't really been able to help with. There's not much he wants this year. A couple of small things that friends can get him but other then that he doesn't have any ideas.
I'll back track a little. Ever since Travis was little he has wanted a goat. God know why??? They are smelly things and I always thought he'd change his mind. When we got sheep he was mad that we couldn't get goats instead. So Dan brought up the idea about getting one for his birthday. I have to laugh a little, since it seems silly for a 10 year olds present to be a goat, but tonight when we took him to pick out his "present" he was thrilled! It was like Christmas morning for him. He got to pick one he liked then Dan picked another one so it would have company. Travis was so happy. Who would have thought!
So our shed, which really is a barn now has two more critters added to it tonight. The kids have told me we're just missing a pig, rooster, and a donkey. Yes it's turned into a petting zoo out there!

Tomorrow Travis turns 10, which I can't believe. How scary it is to think how fast time is going by. He has invited 6 friends over for a sleepover/party. I'm really hoping my house stays in one piece when it's all over. Surely 10 year old boys will be good and entertain each other.....Between outside, the gamecube, and movies I'm hoping the night will go smoothly.
Wish me luck!

An exciting day at the farm Part 2

An exciting day on the farm Part 1

Today started off with Dan finding a turtle in the shed. (not sure why a turtle was in there??) Dawson and Kortney were the only ones home so they got to play with it for quite a while. This kept them busy while Dan was busy setting up to have the sheep sheared. Kortney is so cute. I guess since she's so used to having critters around it's made her fearless. She didn't flinch once with the turtle. They followed it, held it, and played with it until finally it bite Dawson! By then the sheep were ready so we decided to let the turtle rest in the box they set up for it.

So next into the shed to watch the sheep get sheared. Since this is our first time having sheep, this is a new experience for all of us. Dan had a guy come who competes in New Zealand and England in sheep shearing contests. I went to get Travis and Kaitlin from school cause they didn't want to miss out either.

The kids watched and helped with gates for 2hrs before they finally headed off back to the turtle.

Just another day at the Hoggart Farm!

My Ballerina

Saturday was a big day for Kaitlin. Her dance company put on their yearly dance recital. This is always a big deal especially with it being held at the Blyth theater.

Kaitlin is always very excited about the day. This year she loved her dress, and couldn't wait to wear it. Of course she looked beautiful and did a super job. This is her third year in ballet, and wants to do it again next year. I keep thinking she would like jazz or hip hop better, but she wants to keep up with ballet.

Kortney is practising her "ballet" now too, so I think next year I'll end up with 2 little ballerinas!

Regrets/changes

My favourite shoes! Not a good picture but you get the idea! Not a clunky running shoe!! My new shoes that I'm trying to get used to....

First of I will tell you a bit about myself that some will know and some will not. (and some will see where Travis gets his difficultness from :D ).

From as far back as I can remember some things I hated as a child were: hats, boots, snowpants, gloves, playing sports, and rules in general. In the winter I never wore snowpants or boots. I was way to cool for that and just plain hated them. I was always the first kid in the school to wear shorts and my Levi jean coat as soon as there was any sign of spring coming. I also never wore running shoes either. I hated them and can't even remember what I wore in gym really. The closest I would get to running shoes were the little plain white cotton lace up shoes. With the shoe laces weaved. No bows! I thought running shoes were so clunky and ugly. When I did have to have them I remember telling my mom not to by expensive ones cause I would only wear them at gym when I had too. (I was a very difficult child that could not be swayed easily) I enjoyed rebelling against any rules especially at school, just because I hated doing what I was "supposed to do". If someone wanted me to try or do something it was guaranteed I wouldn't. You get the picture.

So the second part of this story is how I did not enjoy sports. Mainly at first cause I wasn't good at them and then once in high school the crowd I hung out with were not a group that were involved in any school team of any kind. The only team I belonged to were the smoking and skipping school kinda teams. Being on a sports team was the furthest thing from my mind. That's were all the preppy kids were and I made it clear that was not the crowd I was into.

Well all this was great until I got married, moved and grew up. Around this area baseball is the thing to do in the summer. So ya, too bad I've never played....and for trying something new, that doesn't happen very often. I've been asked for years now to play, but to be honest I've been pregnant, or nursing. Well this year I don't have that as an excuse. Especially when the games are after my kids bedtimes and generally Dan is home by dark. So my big dilemma....do I try to do something I always never wanted to do....and do I buy the forbidden running shoes! (I know this sounds crazy but I really don't like them. At least on my feet!) Today I went and looked. I picked a couple of mainly blue ones (white ones seem so bright and big.) I know crazy :) Well the store of course didn't have the ones I half liked in my size. So....next one that didn't look too big and clunky...I picked out a pair of grey/silver with pink on them. Now this is another strange thing because all through my childhood I hated pink. Couldn't stand it!! Let's just say that Kaitlin has rubbed onto me, and it was the next best shoe in my mind. No too white, not too clunky and I must say they are really comfortable! I've never had a NIKE shoe before...

So here I go, in my new shoes, playing ball....I would have never dreamed I would be doing this! Hopefully all goes well and I don't make a complete ass of myself. And I'm also hoping to show a certain boy in this house that it's ok to try something new, cause someday you might regret that you didn't.

Michelle