Category: Photography

Changing

Today the children helped with alpaca shearing. Each year, they learn something new or do something different.  As I was watching, I realized that, depending on Mark’s school schedule, this might be Mark’s last year helping.  He has already said that he plans on coming home for the day if he can though.

Then we realized how much Mark has changed in the few years he has helped. He went from just leading the alpacas to the shearers until now he leads the alpacas in and then helps get them to the ground to be sheared. His muscles are appreciated!

Mark is not the only one growing. Megan now helps clean up and can help with the alpacas instead of just holding the dust pan.

Andrea and Audrey have learned new jobs.  They started out wrapping the fiber, but now they help flip the animals and take the fiber as it is being sheared.

And even though Adrian is does not have a big job, he is learning different parts of alpaca shearing. He helps calm the animals and is around if needed. What he does helps everything run smoothly.

This year, we all learned something new.  We watched some Angola goats get sheared. Then, we compared the different fibers.  The Angola fiber is very heavy compared to alpaca!

Kite Weather

The weather is perfect for kite flying!  The neighbors let us borrow their yard and shared a few of their kites.  They enjoyed watching part of the fun.

We flew kites for around a half hour before the string of one of the kites broke and the kite took off across the street and got tangled in a tree in our yard. A second kite blew over the neighbor’s house and attempted to find a tree to get snagged in.   We pulled in the other kites, Audrey and Mrs. Beer rescued one kite, and the shark kite is now residing in our tree, much to high to retrieve.

 

Easter Bunny

We have never done anything with the Easter Bunny.  We have read a few books and watched cartoons about  bunnies who decorated eggs and share treats, but that is all.

Today we ran to Martins to get a few needs and a super tall skinny bunny comes over to give us all hugs.  He did not say anything (sort of surprising) but we very quickly realized the bunny was a (very talkative) friend of ours. We decided it would be a good time for the first ever Easter bunny picture.

I went to do some shopping and the kids “talked” and giggled with our rabbit friend for a few minutes while they waited for the picture to print.  Megan was excited to get a goody bag full of treats, enough to share with everyone!

Sweet Surprise

Megan wanted to share a sweet surprise today. Here it is in her own words.

I surprised Daddy by asking him if he could teach me how to ride my bike. And I surprised him by showing him how good I was doing on riding my bike.

The girls and Mark taught me how to ride my bike without training wheels. We have been practicing a few weeks sneakily with out Daddy knowing. I wanted to surprise him. I surprised him a lot!

He was like “how do you do it so well without practicing?”

It was hard to learn to ride. I was scared of falling and I wanted my sister to always hold me.  Sometimes they would let go and I would fall. Then I wanted to stop! They would make me get on my bike and try again. I would pedal and steer and my legs got stronger and I got better.  Yesterday I could ride just a tiny tiny bit without help.  Today, I did very very good. I could even ride down the hill.


When I learned how, everybody rode their bikes with me to celebrate!

It has been very sweet watching the kids work together to teach Megan. I know that she will still “hitch” rides with them on their bikes, because they can go so much faster, but I love that they all worked together to encourage and help her learn.

What’s Up at the Symphony?

Today, my dad’s band played at a nearby elementary school. A few months ago, the conductor asked if Mark would help with the piece, “What’s Up at the Symphony.” Mark recruited Megan to help him.

Mark was dressed up as an oversized rabbit. The costume he wore was hard to see through, so Megan became his “seeing eye carrot”, making sure he did not trip. She also got to dance and skip around with Mark.

They did a great job and the students enjoyed them very much. I wonder how many little ones wished they could be Megan and dance with the super tall rabbit!

Weaving

After watching Adrian make a potholder, Megan decided she wanted to learn how to make them also. With just a little bit of help, she can create an entire potholder by herself now.

They love weaving a potholder one day and then taking it apart to use the elastics in another potholder later. It is fun to see all the unique designs they come up with.