Farm Life

This past weekend Jeff and I (and my uncle, his friend, and Korbin) worked on and completed a fence so that we could separate the goats. Mae, the mama goat, should not be penned with an intact male if we are planning to milk her, so it was necessary to get him out of her yard. Nemo, the male goat, moved to his new yard Sunday morning. He cried so pitifully that we also moved Asriel, one of Mae's kids. Once Asriel got there, the crying stopped immediately. Goats are very social creatures. They still call out for Mae, which makes me sad, but that is farm life, I suppose.



Our next step is to fix the back half of that yard. Years ago the area used to be a chicken yard. Jeff, Korbin, Maddox, and Lacey worked together yesterday to tear down the dilapidated wall to the old chicken coop. Next, we will fence in that side, assemble the milking stand, and move Mae and her babies to their new yard. My mom is ready to get the goats out of her backyard. :) Once we are milking, we will focus on the chicken coop.

Kailyn asked for goats as a birthday present this year, and has proved to be a great goat herder. She is very good about checking on her goats morning, afternoon, and evening. Lacey and Maddox enjoy playing with the goats and loving on them.

This week Kailyn has been volunteering at HopePointe church as a VBS shepherd. She really loves children and is having a great week. Maddox and Lacey are attending the same VBS- they have looked forward to it all year!! While they are in The Woodlands all morning, Korbin and I have been finding wi-fi hotspots nearby so that I can pay bills and take care of other business. Korbin has been planning his Eagle project, playing games, and watching videos. I've enjoyed our time together.

Since all the kids' birthdays more or less take place in winter, we have a tradition of celebrating "summer birthdays," where we take the kids shopping for something they would love to have. Korbin has been talking about wanting an iPhone for some time now. He has matured so much these past few months, has an awesome small group of boys at church who encourage and support one another when it comes to media content, and then there's Pokemon Go, so we decided it was time for him to have one. That was his summer birthday gift. Kailyn chose an iPod nano, and Maddox and Lacey wanted a Build-A-Bear. Maddox went for a Pikachu, while Lacey made her 3rd bunny. (Their names are Lily, Carmen, and Shimmer, and they all have different fur.)
 
Fifth wheel life is pretty cool. It gets messy in there quickly, but it gets clean just as fast. Showers are an issue. The instant water heater isn't performing as expected. I thought we'd have all this hot water. I have plenty of hot water for the kitchen sink, but the shower is iffy. The plan is to read the manual and see if we're missing something. I'm hoping it's user error, somehow. So, the silly picture above is what happened Sunday when I left Kailyn with my phone while Jeff and I walked through the old house with the new owners to explain stuff about the house. (Things we built in, planted, etc.) I got all kinds of fun pictures and new screen savers for my amusement. :/ (Lacey was in the house with us.) This is an awesome time to be a parent. The kids are so fun at this age. We definitely have problems, but we try to enjoy the time we have. It flies by so fast!