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?!