Back at it!!

So since the lag in blogging (hence my crazy schedule) summer has flown by and is already coming to an end.  We are now finished with our summer swim lessons, which Avery has really progressed swimming and doing great.  (Complete with a  thumbs up to herself when she thinks she has done a good job) She has requested a pool party for her 5th birthday (insert big sigh here more on that later) yes I said 5 hard to believe she will be that age already. I am busy party planning trying not to think of her growing up...(insert teary eyes)  She has now started soccer, and seeming to like it.  So fun to watch all the kids run around with soccer balls and try so hard....yes try to play soccer.  Hadley has really grown up this summer talking so much more and now saying sentences....that is when her big sister gives her a chance to talk.  She has finally mastered potty training and now all her old clothes fit again with out a pull up on!  (insert happy husband face here...saves him some money)  Joe and I have been swamped with kid activities, projects both on the farm and house.  We have made an effort to have a few date days which have been great (thanks to having grandmas around the corner) Although our date days turn into kid talk or business plan meetings!  All part of life I guess.  On the house front....no projects lately.....no time for them!  My time has been occupied by my daily maid service inside and out.  The unpaid maid service for my own house of course. Our garden is growing!!! Yay....although everyday I water it I think I should have listened to Joe on the ugly green house since our garden is far far behind in growth!  We won't let him know that though so I will keep on watering.  We also have had good news.  My mom finished her second round of chemotherapy!!!!!!!!!!! Counts are down and she is on the upside.  She is doing great so so proud of her strength.  I feel so lucky everyday to have such a great best friend and mom! On the farm end....well we are swamped.  We are still lambing..........Yes LAMBS ARE HERE, still.  We spend lots of hours sheep checking, assisting, and waiting for lambs.  The girls wait each day to see what has arrived overnight and who they think will lamb next.  For us on the farm, lambs = milk a great thing.  Project fencing is still underway and lots more to go.  Usually we always have good things on the farm, but sometimes the bad arise.  We have had a few incidents with some sort of animal getting our lambs (coyote, mountain lion) Its always a sad scene when you have something happen like that on the farm.  Now that we have use of all the land on the ranch the dogs are up all night working.  Really working, they are purely exhausted in the morning.  Well sometimes they switch groups and when there is not a dog with a group the bad happens.  So now some groups have been moved back to the barns, dogs back with outside groups and an ASAP has been put on project fencing.  The projects are still in full swing, I don't think they ever stop.  The lamb barn has been cleaned and  sanitized ( a process we like to do in between the lambing batches so all the new babies are in sanitized pens). The feed bunks are now finished and ready for some white paint and asphalt.  White paint...ahh writing that makes me happy.  Fresh and clean!  So summer on the farm is still in full swing, lots more projects, sheep milk and babies to come!!