Baby Angora bunnies!!!!

We had another batch of angora babies on Wednesday night while we were at church!! These are English angoras ( I think they look like ewoks) They look like little rats right now, the pictures were taken right after they were born! There are 7 of them. Hopefully we will be able to sell some of them! We had a lot of people interested when we had the french angoras for sale, everyone wanted these kind so we are hopeful that we can sell at least half of them. We did end up selling 3 of the 7 french babies. Today is our 17th wedding anniversary! It measures up to about 30 years in today standards! We will hopefully be celebrating in May up at Mackinaw Island! We already have reservations at the Inn that we have stayed at the last few years. Hubby will be gone about 2 weeks, every month, out of the next 3 months on business, so the trip will be a welcomed change after him being gone so much!

Yarn in shop

I have 4 new skeins of yarn that are for sale. They vary in yardage and price. Angora yarn is 7 times warmer than wool and has a beautiful "halo" effect when crocheted or knitted. They are sometime referred to as "urban sheep" due to the fact that alot of people in apartments or homes in the city can keep angoras as a source of fiber. We comb ours out to get the fiber (no, we do not kill them!) and then we spin them here at home. I have two grey skeins (although the rabbits would be considered a "black color") and two natural skeins. I charge $0.28 a yard. The skeins range from $23 to $38 and they are between 84 yards to 140 yards. Leave a comment here if you are interested in them or would like more information. I can also dye a skein any color you have in mind.

Happenings

I havent taken the time to post anything for awhile, so I thought I would get some pictures on to show what has been going on. We are FINALLY coming out of winter and seeing the sun, it was in the 50's here yesterday and hopefully more of the same the next couple of days. Two of my kids got 4-H medals for their rabbit project (showing). We are really proud of that! We had 2 medals and one rosette, and 3 honorary ribbons won at fair last year! I cant wait for this year. I have become interested in finding ways to make at much food around here as I can. Yes, I have always done this to some degree but I am trying to be ever more innovative. One of the pictures is of our 3 youngest making egg noodles we made ALOT (as you can see from the pic) and they were delicious! A couple of years ago when Grandma moved into her new place we did a table swap and we took the table that has many memories for my husband and even for the kids and I. Well, we (I:)) have wanted benches for them because some times we have been known to have 8 or more kids around it, so I asked my father in law if he could make some and they turned out beautiful. Joshua is showing us how real men drink chocolate milk! We also went to visit my sister and spend the day so I put in a picture of my niece isn't she sweet?!! Here are all the pictures:

Shop stuff

I still have some hand-spun angora rabbit items for sale. The hats are $35.00 each. The mittens are $40 (size med./large,) and the hand crocheted whirly scarf is $50. Put a comment in the comment box if you are interested in them:)Thanks Bekah for modeling!

Homeschool week

As the week has progressed I have come more to terms with the realization of why we homeschool. In the midst of Orthodontrist appointments, horseback riding lessons, music practice, piano lessons, kids getting together with friends and everything in between I have come to the realization as to why we do what we do (and this is a we not a me). I am a part of everything they do. I am their chauffer, their confident, their teacher, cook, nurse, everything. That is a part of their lives I wont give up easily, yet know it is coming to an end quickly. I have struggled with that "public school" mentality for so long and realize I am where I am supposed to be. It has taken me 6 years of homeschooling to get here, but I think I finally get it!

Will Winter EVER End?

This is the big question on my mind. Here in Michigan it has been COLD and I don't mean freezing I mean teens and single digits for most of the last 3 weeks. I woke up to more snow this week and as much as I love the snow I am ready for a thaw! In the midst of my "cabin fever" I decided to rip the wall paper off my kitchen (I know my husband thought the same thing) It needed to be done, but we were going to wait until we re-did the entire kitchen, cupboards and everything. Well with the economy so bad especially here in Michigan we know we wont be able to for a few more years. So the kids and I started ripping paper down last Thurs. and gave Grandma Joyce a holler and by Thurs. this week it was all done (thank you Grandma) That woman is amazing, she could outdo me in a day. So here are some pictures of my "way under $100 kitchen make-over". I love it! I am also throwing in some pics of the dogs and Cool stuff from our Africa Unit study that we finished out this week with our feast.

Deep thought for Saturday morning

I have a question for some of you out there that have animals that has been on my mind. Does anyone but me sometimes do morning chores in their pj's? I told you it was deep :) For Christmas Hubby got me a pair of pink footie zip-up pj's (think Ralphie from Christmas story without the ears and the eyes staring up at him) and I wear them quite often because here in Michigan, nights get cold, especially with Hubby turning down the furnace (WAY down). So I usually do the rabbits early in the morning and bring them in to groom them, well the other day I had my pj's on and he took one look at me and wanted to know why I was doing chores in my pink footies? My answer: they are very warm. So back to my original question, does anyone else do this?!