Some quick craziness to brighten your day

I think I posted a similar video last summer, but here are the guys jumping off of the dock into the mud/water. Just wanted to share!

Kindergarten Graduation

Now, I am sure I never graduated from anything before graduating from high school, But these days, in this part of the country at least, there are preschool graduations, kindergarten graduations ... I believe there is a 5th grade graduation ... it goes on. And on.

Riley's Kindergarten Graduation was a pretty big production - mortarboards, gowns, a play, several songs, awards, a poem ... etc. I went in thinking "Why are we making such a big deal of this?" and then spent the whole program with misty tears in my eyes, so proud and amazed to see my little boy looking so grown up. Here he is getting his diploma - the first woman you see is his teacher, Ms Gendron (I just missed her saying his name) and then the principal, Ms Anis, handing him the diploma:

And then the finale, "Skidamarink". Earbug warning: I have been singing this song ever since!

You may notice, Riley has lost one of his front teeth, and the other one is on it's way out and poking out a bit crooked! I can't wait for the big new teeth - he is going to look so different!

Lucy

Our church was having a parents-night-out event on a recent Friday night, where you could drop your kids off at church for the evening, and the youth group was doing the babysitting. We took advantage of this and went out to dinner with some friends. As we were all leaving the house, both of the dogs ran outside and off into the neighborhood. We had been planning to leave them inside, but decided to just leave them out, since they were not heeding our calls and we were keen to leave. Oh, they will be fine, I said.

But while we were out, a thunderstorm came through the area, as they do this time of year. And little Lucy is one of those dogs who is afraid of thunderstorms, and generally hides under the bed trembling until they are well over.

When we got home, Beale was on the porch, but Lucy was not around, and she did not appear as we turned all of the lights on and called around the neighborhood. Steve stayed up for awhile to see if she would come back, and I tried to sleep. About the time Steve gave up and came to bed, I was unable to sleep anymore, and spent the rest of the night hoping that when it got light, she would come out from wherever she was hiding and come home.

At about 5:45, it was light, and she was not back, and I threw on some clothes and went outside to walk up and down our road - I didn't know what else to do. Not finding anything, I was headed back inside, when I saw one of our neighbors driving up the road. He paused at his driveway, and then I suppose saw me on the porch, and drove up our driveway. He had Lucy - all covered with burrs (and a couple of ticks, I found later). He had found her a couple of miles away in Harborton!

I still can't quite believe that she made it all the way through a couple of miles of woods - alive - and then (miracle) ran into someone who recognized her and knew where she lived. But I am so grateful to have her back, I can't tell you.

Happy BELATED Mother's Day

It was a milestone for me.

I received my first, lumpy, hand-made in kindergarten clay bowl. Doesn't it just warm your heart to see it? He chose purple, because he knows it is my favorite color.

I will treasure it forever. Thank you, Riley!

Tara's Alpaca

Oh, man! My "I need to get this story/these pictures on my blog" list is getting long - I really need to make some time for this! I have many stories to tell you about the last few weeks, but first, as promised, the alpacas! Or is "alpaca" plural, also? I should look that up, but it would only slow down the process.

Anyway, let me tell you something about Blogger/Blogspot (whatever this thing is called.) When I add pictures to a new post, it always adds each successive picture to the TOP of the post. Very annoying. So each time, I have to select the picture and move it down to the bottom of the post, where I want it. And when I select a bunch of pictures ... I want to write about this one ... and then this one ... they show up in the opposite order on the post. BLEH. If any of you out there know how to fix this (or what I am doing wrong??) do let me know.

In the meantime, these pictures are all backwards, but I am not fixing them, because I am tired and I don't feel like it!

So first, here is a close-up of the lovely fiber on young Aspen, Tara's cria. (Cria = baby alpaca)



This fiber has been shorn by now, and is all in a one-gallon ziplock, since he was just a young-en.

Here is Tara and Aspen, held by (dang, can't remember his name now) the Mr. of the farm:

And some of the other critters:

And finally, a couple of clips of Baroness and Aspen:

Tara's animals are still up in Maryland, but she is getting her property ready for them, and they should be down here in November or so. Very exciting!