Our new addition!

Ok, I'll start this by saying I know we have a lot of animals. :) If you count all of them here's the list:
cows
sheep
chickens
ducks
horses
bunnies
goats
cats
dog
fish
(and soon to come baby chicks this spring and maybe a turkey to replace LouLou ??Trent??)

I know most parents wouldn't allow the kids to have this much....but I am not most parents!....All but the fish and the new addition live out in the shed and the kids are good at helping with chores. The experience the kids have on the farm far outways any negatives of having these. I couldn't imagine going outside and not seeing ducks, a turkey and chickens wandering about and in the summer the bunnies out in the yard. And no there isn't poop all over! That's what you would think, but it's not like there's big numbers of them.
Anyway, here's the info on the newest member of the Hoggart farm!

Travis has been saving money up now for a while just not sure what to spend it on. He got so spoiled at Christmas with the Wii and games he didn't have anything he really wanted.
A couple of weeks ago we had the chance to buy a 1 year old mediterranean gecko. After some research I decided against that type of gecko and went looking for a leopard (or fat tail) gecko. The closest pet store is Wingham so away I went looking for more info. The store has 3 leopard geckos that live there and could order me a baby if I wanted. After taking Travis back to see them and talking about it we decided to order one. Thanks to my Aunt Danielle giving us her old aquarium that cut the cost down. So, here she is...still nameless, but very beautiful! It's hard to tell in the pictures but she has green, yellow, black, purple and orange on her! The kids are fascinated with watching holding her. Although she does hide and sleep a lot they can't help waking her up every so often to play with.

Of course Dawson wants his own now too! Travis isn't thrilled on the other kids touching her....Three of these geckos can live in this size aquarium so I told Dawson if he really wants his own he'll have to wait till his birthday.

Provincals at Barrie

This past weekend Travis and Dan went to Barrie for the provincial broomball tournament. Travis was very excited to go! The bus trip, the broomball and the hotel was lots for him to look forward to. Here's what happened:
Friday the team played two games. The first they won 1- 0 and the second they won in overtime 2 - 1. Travis scored the winning goal in overtime!!! As Dan put it he was on cloud nine the rest of the day! Sat they played one game and won 2 - 1 in overtime. This put them into the next game, so they knew the least they'd get is bronze.....well that's what they won! The team was thrilled to have gotten this far with the competition in the tournament.
The team with their metals! Travis scoring in overtime!!

Another pic of the goal!

After the game.

Travis making a block for the team!

Almost spring!

It's that time of year again when the sheep start lambing. So far we have 6 babies out there and the kids are loving it! All 6 are single babies (no twins or triplets yet) and all are doing good. There are two pure black moms that have both had two pure white lambs! They are all very cute and none of the moms mind us going in and petting/holding their babies which is nice.

This little one is always in this dish whenever we do chores!

Travis and Dan are still looking for a male goat for Travis' goats. He's hoping for baby goats! I'll let you know when we find one!

My little Love Bugs!

For 5 years now, Dawson has had Chloe as a best friend. It started when I began looking after Chloe when both her and Dawson were only one. At first Chloe wasn't too sure about Dawson and his outwardly affection to her. I have many pictures in scrapbooks of him trying to kiss and hug her. I'm not sure if it's because they spent so much time together or what, but there is a special bond they share. Almost like brother and sister except they never fight! Every night Dawson goes to sleep with one of many questions, but one of them is always asking if Chloe is coming tomorrow. Thank god she does come. Dawson is lost without her on the odd day he's here by himself. I'm told Chloe is the same way. The two of them can spend all day together then beg us to let Dawson go to Chloe's house. At school they play together and if one of them is gone the other is lost. The two of them just get along so well and play the same way. It's a very cute relationship to watch!

Kortney also has a boy she's close to. Brady and her have known each other since they were babies. They go through phases of loving each other then not. Most of the time they will play really good and have fun getting into mischief together! Their favourtie thing right now is when ever we leave Brady's house (which is often) The two of them go run and hide. She never wants to leave his house and vice versa. One of them is always calling the other to follow them. They are very cute to watch!
Here is a picture of what Tammy caught them doing while I was away!

Chloe and Dawson
Brady and Kortney last year.

Dawson and Chloe....can they sit any closer to each other?!

Mildmay Tournament

Well crap, my pics keep going on here in opposite order!!

Oh well...This weekend was Travis' first broomball tournament in Mildmay. It started on Sat morning at 7:00am and of course Travis' team played first. Since Dan was gone all day in Guelph that was going to mean me getting four kids out the door before 6:00 to get to Mildmay for the boys to be ready to play by 7:00!!. Thank goodness for Nick's mom who took the boys! The other three and I got there for their second game at 10:30. The team won both games. The first, to one of the Mildmay teams and the other to Seaforth. Both Nick and Travis did awesome and got a little more aggressive towards the ball. (both of them have been a little passive when it came to going after and fighting for the ball) The team then moved on to play Sunday morning at 8:00 against Palmerston. Again they won which advanced them to the gold silver game against Innisfil. The game was a good one and close. In the end the lost 1 nothing and got second on the A side. The kids were a bit disappointed (I think they were getting used to winning all the time), but they did awesome and were reminded that silver was really good.
From here they have afew more Sunday games then on Feb 13 they're off to Barrie for a weekend tournament which they are very excited for. Dan is going with them (he's been helping coach the team). Travis is excited to be staying at a hotel which he hasn't done before.
Here are some pics of the weekend.

Nick and Travis with their metals!
The team! (Blyth yellow)

* Travis is the one with the ball.

Travis is on the right.

Travis is in the centre.

My little firecracker!

Anyone who knows Kortney has seen the spark of cuteness, attitude, and silliness she has in her. She is a funny little girl that makes the whole family laugh. Yes she is the baby of the four so the other three are either helping/playing with her or complaining that she's into their things. Being the baby though does not hold her back from doing all that she can to keep up with the rest! She is smart and doesn't miss a beat in a conversation. Size does not hold her back either. At barely 25 lbs and smaller then any of her friends of the same age,but it's her that I have to tell to be gentle! I guess she has learned to stand up for herself and also has learned to deal with situations by copying what she sees her siblings do.....not always the best role models!! People see this cute little girl and are surprised to see the willpower and toughness she has.
She once again proved this the other day at the hospital. Kortney has had a strange "blood spot" thing on her chest now for almost 2 months that she would not leave alone. The more she fussed with it the more it would bleed and the bigger it got. I had took her to the emerge where the doctor told me it was just a superficial thing that due to her age didn't really need to be removed. Well it got worse and she started reacting to the band aids that were covering it too. So back to emerge we went were the doctor offered to remove it that night. I agreed, and hoped that she didn't freak out to much about it. Well the whole time we were in there she was talking away to the nurse and doctor and asking questions. When it came time to remove it the nursed asked if she should wrap her so she would be still. We decided not to since she was calm and happy still. The doctor started by giving her a needle to freeze the area. Well she didn't move or fuss at all! The doctor removed the mole spot then cauterized it. Well she layed there as perfect as could be just holding my hand. I was more upset watching then she was. She didn't shed one tear and didn't fuss once. The doctor, nurse and I were amazed. They were very surprised how calm she was! Back home she was proud to show off to Daddy that her spot was gone and that the doctor "burned" it off!

The other thing most people know about Kortney is her love of animals. She talked her dad into letting her bring a kitten from the barn home to live in the shed. Well it became a joke that everytime time someone came here she was always dragging this kitten around with her. The kitten amazingly didn't mind a bit and let Kortney hold it and bring it everywhere. The kitten "little lilly" was here all summer and fall and winter up intill just before Christmas. The poor thing did not make it through the winter in the cold. So I have a sad little girl wandering around the shed while we do chores without her kitten! This spring there will be lots more at the barn, but until then it's just not the same.
Here are some pics of her with "little lilly".

Everyday in the summer Kortney would talk me into letting her bring the kitten inside for 10 mins. Her mean daddy won't let her have a inside cat!!
Here she is riding her stick pony while holding the kitten!


Here they fell asleep together!

Hoggart Christmas continued

The big boys, Travis and Chris playing their DS'

Grandma and Kortney

Dan with Dawson and Kaitlin

Andrew

Travis having a talk with Daddy and Grandpa