HOT

It's hot here. I think it's hot everywhere. Humid, hot, sticky, take your breath away hot. The Good Morning America map looked like it was on fire. But it's summer. So, it's what you can expect in summer right? Poor Geneva is still pregnant. Poor thing. I was very pregnant this time last year too. But I wasn't wearing a full body alpaca sweater. I was looking out at the field yesterday and she was just laying down on the dirt pile. If she could talk, I'm sure she would be complaining. The baby is over due so hopefully it will be born soon. The baby alpacas were running around like crazy tonight. They are adorable. I really have to get out there with my camera. 

I took Chase and the dog for a walk tonight and we went to say hi to the critters. 

Baby Reno ran right up to us. He has quite the personality! I think he's quickly filling Sanda's spot.

My older son is done with baseball. I am so proud of him for making the all-star team, working his way up from the sub list to a starter. He worked hard, had a great time and did his best. His team lost last night, ending the tournament so it was a bummer. But now he can enjoy summer in the pool, at the beach and just being a kid. I will miss watching him play and I will also miss that good knitting time I was always able to squeeze in from warm-ups to game time! 

Football season will be here before I know it...

I don't have any pictures to share tonight.

Just felt like writing. Nothing interesting to say I guess.

We are celebrating two birthdays this weekend. Andee's husband turned 40 in May, so they have a big party planned. We are also having our close friends and family over to celebrate our baby's 1st birthday ( a little early). We will toast to our handsome, funny, crazy baby boy and end the evening with the town's firework display. It's very nice of them to set the fireworks off in our back yard! Hopefully they'll be in the perfect spot of the treeline again!!!! 

Well, guess that's it for tonight. I hope everyone stays cool this weekend, celebrates something fun and has a safe, happy 4th of July holiday!

Maybe we'll have a baby alpaca this 4th. 

I vote for George Washington.

Oh and one more thing....the OLYMPICS are starting soon!

We're big fans here. Lizzie thinks dizzy bats should be a new sport. I agree.

Wednesday Yarn Along

Ooops late to the yarn along party this week! I have good reasons though. We had a great day down at the boardwalk with the boys. Rick is off all week from work and we're just sticking around here for our vacation. We live in such a great spot. Minutes from the beach and boardwalk. Chase rode his first merry-go-round, Garrett was FINALLY tall enough for the big bumper cars, Dalton won a hat on a big wheel game and we had some good food and drinks. Good day.

So, onto the knitting and reading....

I have more done on the new baby sweater for my nephew-to-be.

I am trying to find it on Ravelry, but I can't. odd! I bought the pattern book at a local yarn store.

The yarn is Sirdar Speckles and the Pattern is Design 1354- Flat Collared Cardie from the Little Baby Speckles Booklet. I still think the pattern is written strangely, but I'm able to figure it out.

Really enjoying The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman. I just wish I had more time to just sit and read. It reminds me a lot of Red Tent so far. I also enjoyed that one. It's historical fiction (love) and takes place 2,000 years ago. Makes you really appreciate all the modern conveniences we have.

And here are a few boardwalk pics from today. Just had to share :)

I also wanted to let everyone know that the crias are doing great. They're running around and having fun. Geneva's baby is due now, so every day is a waiting game. Hopefully her baby will be here soon!

Have a great week!

-Leanne

 

Yarn Along

Joining in with Ginny for this week's yarn along.

I am so happy to be sharing a picture of something new!

Feels like my other projects will never end.

Casted on this little baby sweater for my nephew-to-be.
I love baby sweaters. So cute and so quick.

This one is wacky construction, but I'm following pattern as written.

I'm not reading anything right now, but headed to our little bookstore in town today to pick up my son's summer reading books and a new one for me :) Going to read The Dovekeepers. Looks good!

Today is the last day of school for my older boys. Big sigh....

My grocery bill will be out of control now.

Looking forward to a less structured morning, slower pace and beach time.

I'll be chasing the baby the whole time, but should be a fun summer.

Happy Wednesday!

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

Joining in this week with Ramblings and Photos Scavenger Hunt

Meet Me At The Corner

This photo was taken a few years ago with my not so great camera. But I had to use it because it is one of our favorite little places in Saratoga, NY. We usually take a family trip up there for a few days in August and this little deli is always a great stop for us.

 

What's Wrong With This Picture? 

Taken in my neighbor's apple orchard.

One Step At a Time

My baby's trying to walk.

Standing Tall  

Minnarrow-2hrs. old

Mother Nature Meets Technology

The taping of the alpaca video

Happiness....

Baby Reno is home! 

Thank you for all the well-wishes.

We are happy to share the good news that he will be fine and Spicy is now letting him nurse.

As MomMom would say, "AMEN!"

 SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Dad....

My glass is empty.

10 on 10

A few weeks ago I came across a blog, A bit of sunshine. Once a month, she takes a picture every hour for ten hours of her day. I really liked the reasoning behind why she started this. At the time, she was a new mom to two little ones, battling post pardum depression and trying to find some happiness and calmness in her exhausting world. So on the 10th of every month, she takes these pictures and posts them.

Well, I did the same. Although, I forgot that it was supposed to be the 10th of the month. I did it last week on the 7th. Oh well. Still, I will share with you my day in pictures.

8 am

End of school year send this in...send that in...class party...trying to keep it all straight

9am

This was the day my mom burned her eye with cleaning solution out in the alpaca barns. So Andee came over to help clean poop. I kept an eye on the little boys.

10am

So Big!

11am

MomMom's back! She had to keep her eyes closed and sit in the dark the rest of the day. She's all recovered now. Hey Mom, doesn't this feel like months ago already?

12pm

Checking out the neighbor's apple orchard

1pm

Chickens! (the neighbor's)

2pm

Ahhhhh nap time

3pm

Baby watching, knitting (since this picture, we have two crias and my shawl is still not complete)

 4pm

The fancy dinners of late....baseball season! Yikes.

5pm

Baseball and a rainbow

That was a day.

In between all the pictures, I did accomplish housework and regular work.

Wednesday Yarn Along

Happy Wednesday

Rainy, blah weather around here the past two days. Ready for the sun to come back out!

 I wish I had more knitting to share. I just haven't had much time to enjoy knitting! 

Too much to do, blah, blah, blah.....You know how it is.

So here's what i have to share today

A baby hat for a friend knitted with our alpaca yarn

The beautiful yarn bowl made by my grandfather

Reading: The Uninvited Guests

Chase has finally shown an interest in board books. He isn't just chewing on them now.

Here he is "reading".

For other kids out there, my 10 yr old son, Dalton is really enjoying a new book that will be released soon. He's reading and reviewing for our local independent book store. 

The title is, The Land of Stories. It's hard to find good boy books, so always like to share a recommendation when he gets a good one. I think this will be released in July.

Baby Cria Update:

Yikes. Let me just say, that I give so much credit to my mom and dad for taking this all on. Last year, we were so lucky to have two healthy, easy crias born on the farm. Star has done another wonderful job with her new baby. I wish I could say the same for Spicy and Reno. My mom and dad (or one of us) have had to hold Spicy every 2hrs or less to let the baby nurse. Last night, my mom knew something wasn't right. With her quick determination, they knew that he had to be taken to the hospital. The good news is the little Reno is doing well, is recovering from dehydration and both mom and baby should be home tomorrow. Yikes. Huh?

So, please pray for the baby, Spicy and MY MOM and DAD!

(Reno)

Another Boy

Star had her baby yesterday morning!

Meet our newest boy to the farm

Arrow Acre's Minnarrow

Thank you Star for doing everything correctly. Your baby is perfect and you are a perfect mom.

Now teach your buddy Spicy how to do it!!!!

Spicy still won't let baby Reno nurse on his own. Two people have to hold Spicy up so he can eat. She needs to figure this out soon or my mom might lose her mind.

And here are some new Reno pictures.

He's sooooo cute!!!!

 Just one of the boys :)

Garrett and Reno

I had to laugh yesterday morning when Audrey came over. (She's from our neighboring alpaca farm)

She walked into the field and said, "another freaking boy!" 

Besides the boy alpacas on this farm, my parents have 5 grandsons and 1 on the way.

That's a lot of boys....especially after having all girls!

Good thing we like boys around here.

More pictures to come...I promise!

Welcome to the world

Last night one of our maidens, Spicy, went into labor. It started after dinner, so unusual for an alpaca. This was her first baby, so we weren't sure what to expect from her.

We kept a close eye on her.

This John from the neighboring alpaca farm. He and his wife, Audrey, came over to lend support. We also had a nice time enjoying some pizza and some cocktails.

Liz and my dad compared bellys.

Chase was checking out what was going on in the barn.

And in the middle of the night,

this little guy was born!

19 lbs. 4 oz.

This is Spicy and her little boy.

It has not been an easy day. Spicy isn't sure about this mom thing. Nursing is not going well. But we have good hope and lots of advice and support.

I will have more pictures soon.

Friday's Picture

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Joining with SouleMama.

 

 

Apple? Ball? Huh?

I took a little ride on the golf cart today. Thought it would be fun to take my two nephews and the baby around the farm. We were looking for fun things. Chickens, flowers, poop piles, you know...farmy stuff.

So we started looking at the apple trees that grow in our neighbor's orchard. The apples were little and hard so I explained to the boys that they wouldn't taste good. THEN...I spotted what I thought was a big red apple! 

On closer inspection...looks more like a ball hanging in a tree. 

Does this encourage the tree to grow big red apples? There were a few of them hanging.

We got a good laugh out of this. That and Brady thought the chicken's butts were very funny.

Dream

Last night I was up quite a lot with the little man. Womp. I'm pooped.

But, I wanted to share a dream I had just in case it comes true....well part of it!

Had a dream that I was walking over to my parent's house and Spicy and Star had just delivered their babies in the garden. Accompanying them was a giant brown bear and two stray dogs. Odd.

I was more concerned with how the alpacas got loose from their field than the giant bear and dogs.

But really, my point here is to say that

Spicy had a beautiful rose grey (almost lavender) baby

and Star had a bright white with dark brown markings baby.

Let's see if the colors are accurate.

And watch out for bears and dogs.

Yikes. I need sleep.

Wednesday...

Every Wednesday I try to post a picture of what I am knitting and reading.

I look forward to these posts.

It makes me feel connected to the knitters in the world.

It makes me realize that I am or (not) making any progress on my knitted projects.

So this morning, when I realized it was Wednesday I got ready to take some new pictures.

Well folks, sadly all I have done in the past week is

watch my boys compete in playoff baseball, work, chase my crazy 10 month old around and make help my son with his diorama for school.

Can I just say how much I enjoy diorama making?!

I love it.

I loved it in elementary school and I love it as a mom.

My 10 year old non-artistic book worm didn't find the fun in it like I did.

Mostly, he complained.

But I had fun. (and yes, I know...it's his project. whatever)

I got a check in the mail today from The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

This surprised me. I received a check from them last year because I was a finalist in their cover design contest. This year I was not a finalist. So not really sure why I got a check. But hey, I'll take it.

So instead of my knitting and reading, I'll post the design that caused a check to appear in my mailbox today. 

I hope to knit more this week. I miss it.

Happy Wednesday!