School is winding up...and other great news!

School is finally winding up and each of the kids, and mom, are ready for the break. Speaking of break, Mikayla broke her arm last week while playing in the backyard. She was walking across the railroad ties that create our horseshoe pit and lost her balance. She was able to recover beautifully, just to say "that was close" and then back up and trip of the the bar that you ring the shoes around. It was so unexpected that she went down - HARD and ended up with a buckle break of both bones in her arm, just above her wrist. Thankfully this type of break heals well and quickly.

On the brighter side, she just received some wonderful news! She got accepted into the AVID program which is designed to help prepare students for college and puts them in advanced placement classes according to testing scores. It is amazing that in 8th grade they are starting to focus on college prep!

Then today she got news that she was accepted into the middle school leadership counsel! There were 53 students that applied for 25 spots and she was selected to participate. She is VERY excited! Two-thirds of the acceptance process came from teacher evaluations that included (1) positive attitude, (2) acceptance of others, (3) being a self starter without needing help and (4) grades.

We are so proud of her and the things she has accomplished this year! During the 1st & 2nd semester she had a 4.0 and the 3rd was a 3.95. She has been very driven this year and just decided that she wanted a 4.0 all year. She was disappointed when she missed it by a few points in her math class, but has put her head down and is trying to get it again in the 4th semester. When I asked why she was so interested in getting good grades, she said she just wanted to see if she could do it and that she wanted to qualify for scholarships when it was time to think about college. Mind you she is just finishing 7th grade, I was a senior in high school before I ever really even thought about college! 

All I have to say is WOW! She is an amazingly kind, empathetic, helpful and smart young woman. We consider ourselves very blessed to have her in our family. For those that knew her when she was younger, you are probably saying "WOW" too. She seriously had me rethinking this whole parenting thing!

We lost a kitten....

Every day I check on the kittens multiple times a day. Last night when I went in to do my before bed routine, I immediately noticed that one of Shyanne's babies was dead. Our best guess is that she smothered it. She is not a very good mom. In fact, I very rarely see her in with her babies. Because of this, I keep a close eye on those babies to ensure they are getting enough food. Thankfully she is a GREAT mouser and is very friendly.  It is a good thing we are going to spay her!

These pictures are from Cami's litter. They are 15 days old today and are starting to walk a little bit. It is really cute to see them stumbling around! Cami continues to be an AMAZING mom! She uses her arms to keep her babies snuggled in close to her and looks on anxiously whenever she hears her babies cry. She is definately a keeper!

The bunnies are getting big!

Ginger's babies are getting so big! It is amazing how quickly rabbits grow! They are now eating real food and are nursing just a little until they get better at drinking out of the water bottle.  Soon, it will be time to say good-bye to the ones we are not keeping. We have tried not to handle them too much because a few of them are going to grow to be dinner while the rest will find new homes. I don't want the kids to get too attached as I know it is going to be a sad day around this place without being attached.

Kittens -- Round Two!

Here is Shyanne with her litter. Adam named her Shyanne because when she first came to live with us she was very shy. We thought it was cute so it has stayed. The funny thing is that now that she knows us, she is ANYTHING but shy!

She had 6 babies this morning in about 2 hours! I couldn't believe how quickly they kept coming. I think she may be done but she is acting a little weird still. Of the six she had, one did not make it so we have 5 live ones. They are mostly black & white, but there is one with some orange on it. She looks like she will be a good momma, but not as experienced as Cami, who was amazing!

Here is Cami taking a nap with her babies. They are darling! The little orange one has his arm across his sibling -- too cute! Here they are 3 days old.

First Round of Kittens Have Arrived!

On Easter morning we got quite a surprise! Our Bishop called to say that someone had left a pet carrier with 2 cats in it next to the door of the church. He asked if we would be willing to foster them until he could figure our what to do. Well, much to our surprise, when we let them out of the carrier, they were both pregnant!

We named this mommy cat Cami. This morning she had 5 live kittens and lost one. She is an excellent mother and very friendly. We have decided to keep 2 cats once all the babies are ready leave. We haven't decided if it will be the mommy or babies yet. The mommy cats are obviously house cats and we want them to be barn cats so that would be a serious consideration.

She labored nearly all day and I was able to see a couple of them born. She was very tolerant of all the commotion as kids kept coming and going to see the babies. I have never owned a cat before and must admit that I actually really do like these mommy cats and look forward to having this addition to our farm. I think I am going a little nuts!