Saturday 28 April 2018

Confirmation, the Mud Room and Flamingos

We have been celebrating!

Spring has finally arrived!

And we had 26 confirmation candidates confirmed at our parish last weekend.  Confirmation is always so special because it means that the bishop comes for a visit.  I was a catechist with the group so I was busy handing out programs at the back of the church and helping people find their family seat....I had put Sophie and Lydia in a pew.  When Mass was about to begin the church was full and their pew was full....and there was no room for me!  I told them that I would get in the pew just a couple of seats behind them but they said WE WANT TO SIT UPSTAIRS!  There is a gallery in our church and it's rarely used...but people were up there on this day and the girls had heard their feet on the steps.  I said...ok...let's go!  And we headed up the stairs.  The girls were thrilled! I didn't realize that they had never been up there!  I still remember the first time that I sat up there when I was a kid.  It was for a funeral.

This little video snippet was taken at the end of the Mass when they were trying to get organized for a group photo.


I made the cake for the gathering at the school after.


And I was asked to make a cake for one of the candidates for their celebration at home.


Sophie got her appliance this week.  It's wired in her mouth and it's a little annoying but she's doing alright with it.

I cleaned out the mud room yesterday.  The room that's not really mud.  This time of year is a nightmare because it's got winter and spring all mixed in.  I flung most of the stuff outside so I could find the floor.  Luckily it was a beauty of a day.  There were rubber boots and lined rubber boots and work boots and old work boots and winter gloves and spring gloves and hockey sticks and skates and vet stuff and winter coats and spring coats and stuff that's too small or all ripped or beyond cleaning.  It's all better now.  And I need to get some new mats.

I made this cake.


Ella was turning sweet sixteen and looking forward to getting her license and she LOVES flamingos.


I was a little worried about how it would all work out.  Sometimes you have an idea in your head but once it gets out on the cake it doesn't quite work but I was happy with this one.


I wasn't too sure about the flamingos.  I'm not too familiar with flamingos....and I've never decorated them on a cake before!  But as I started decorating I couldn't stop thinking about Ella's grandma, Lynn.  She was my 4-H leader back in the day...she was a great lady...and she passed a few years ago with cancer.


Ella's grandpa picked up the cake and when I mentioned about the flamingos he said that Lynn loved flamingos as well....that's where Ella got it from!  I couldn't believe it!  I think Lynn helped me out with this one!  They were all thrilled with the cake.

Brenda

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Early mornings, Snow and Surprises

The alarm went off this morning.  Terry got up....went downstairs.

I told myself to get up.  JUST GET UP.  Darryl needs a bottle.  Busy day ahead.  Get moving.

GET UP.

I fought with myself.  I felt so tired.

Finally I sat up in bed.  YES.  I can do this.

And I looked over at the clock.

3:37am.

I thought it was 6am.  I thought it was time to get up.

Terry was outside doing his cow checks.

And I spent the next 20 minutes trying to get back to sleep.

When the day did start at 6am and I went out to feed the bottle to Darryl......whose name is really Larry.....it was magical outside.  It was a snowday!  And there was no wind and the air was fresh and all the spring birds were singing.....


It was the second snowday in a row.  The first snowday was an ice day but then it changed over to snow and it snowed all night.

The kids were excited to have another day at home.  I mentioned that it reminded me of homeschooling days.  And they said 'Ya Mom....

ONLY.......

Dad's here.  and he was never here when we homeschooled.

And also we live in a different house now.

And also no one is doing school work.'

Oh.

Ya I guess.  But it's just that no one flushes the toilet and I'm not used to having to check toilets during the day....so it's sorta like the old homeschooling days.

So anyways, I had to take Sophie to her dentist appointment in Ottawa today.  Lydia decided to come too because she figured that she could get lunch out.  And she did.  So the three of us went for the appointment.  This was her third time there.  We pretty much go every week until they get the appliance in her mouth.

So last week the estimate was $1500 and this week the estimate is $7500.

I took a book to read but I couldn't read it because I pretty much just sat there feeling sick, crapping my pants.  She needs 4 baby teeth pulled and an appliance and elastics and braces and pretty much everything else.  And the thought of her going through all this just makes me ill.  And her mouth doesn't even look that bad....it's all the stuff they see on the panoramic x-rays and all the 'what ifs' that could happen.

In other news....

The zipper on my barn coat busted and I need a winter coat to wear to the barn.  It doesn't have to be fancy....it just has to be warm.  I figured that I would have a look at Value Village.  At the coats.

And they are way overpriced.  And really old.

But who owns the money in the pockets of the coats at Value Village?

I'm just asking for a friend.

Brenda

Thursday 12 April 2018

Lambs, Cakes and Cookies

It's snowing.  And it's suppose to snow tomorrow and the next day and the next day...

There are over 40 new lambs in the barn!  They are crazy silly.  They jump on their mothers' backs and run laps and hop crazy all over the place.


There were 2 sets of triplets and they were all doing well until we noticed one day that one wee little lamb wasn't getting enough milk....so I've been bottle feeding him.  I think his name is Darryl. His brothers names are Darryl and Larry.  Or maybe he's Larry....I can't keep track of it all.  I feed him and give him love and he follows me around outside.

The lambing all went pretty well.  There was only one night that it was minus twenty and the wind was howling and Terry woke me up at 3:30am and said that there were twins on the doormat that needed some help.  They were COLD and wet.  I worked with them for 2 hours...warming them with the hairdryer and talking to them and rubbing them down.  By 5:30am they were drinking some colostrum from a bottle and 7:30am they were back out with their mother.  She accepted them back and they are all good.

We've never had this many lambs this quickly and with the weather so cold we need to keep them all inside.  So we let the ones that haven't lambed yet outside for the day and then bring them in at night.  I'm always keeping an eye on the ones outside because some of them can lamb pretty quick.  I knew that this ewe was going to lamb but I couldn't convince her to come into the barn so I let her lamb her first outside...

and then she followed me in when I was carrying her lamb.  She was still busy cleaning off the first when the second one arrived.  She seems oblivious to the whole thing.


I broke the sac and wiped its nose so it could live....as she wasn't paying much attention to it!


It wasn't long before they were both up and looking for a suck.


And they sucked.  The lambs have sucked and the calves have sucked.  That's all we talk about....that's all we ask each other.....Did it suck?  Reminds me of this post from years ago...here.  Nothing has changed!

There is no spring yet but I can dream of it with buttercream flowers....




Today I made slice and bake cookies for the first time.  I've been missing out.  These are gourmet amazing!


When Lydia got home she asked if I made cookies and I said yes and she asked if she could have one and I said yes.  And then she said WHERE are they?  And I said...you are looking at them.  And she said those aren't cookies...those are pieces of bread.  But she took one bite and said....can I have two?

YES.

I doubled the batch.....and they are disappearing!

The recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction.  It's here.  They are Salted Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Slice and Bake Cookies and they are yummy!

Brenda

Wednesday 4 April 2018

One Second Everyday, Lambs and Snow

Happy Easter!

Happy Spring!

Happy Wednesday...it's a Wednesday on a Wednesday....it's a snowday!  The yard was drying up so nicely and now it's covered in heavy wet snow.....and we are back to mud.

We had a busy Easter weekend.  We got the eggs dyed....I had to buy some white eggs at the store as our brown eggs don't colour well....



And the lambs started to arrive!  We have 25 now....lots of sets of twins, a few singles and a set of triplets.  We spent lots of time hanging out in the barn.



Lots of middle of the night checks as there are over 50 new calves out there too!

I decorated a couple of cakes for baby showers....




And this is our one second everyday for March....


I received news this morning about The Great Canadian Baking Show audition.  I didn't make the cut and neither did my cousin.  Hoping to hear if some of the others in my group made it.

Brenda