And my CHA Adventure Begins Today!!

I leave for the airport in just a little bit, I think... I hiope I have everything.  You have to understand, I do not go anywhere - in 8 years I have been away from home over night just two nights to attend a Fiskars training. This "home body" has way to many furry children :0)

But here I go for 10 days from Texas to California. I am excited, nervous, and ready for this adventure, but I will admit, there is a part of me that is just crushed that I have to leave all my animals, and Hubby... (yes I realize I said the animals first then Hubby.. LOL) You know in 25 years this will be the longest we have been a part. He knows I am going to miss him like CRAZY!

I know I will have TONS of fun, With Heidi and Stuart, my bosses... and dear friends. And then getting to meet in real life my dear Internet blogging friend, fellow DT member and my Roomie for the next 10 days Jay Jay.

Before I go I do need to share some very sad news. Maggi did not make it, I didn't blog about her getting so weak. She was born ok,  but from there she just got weaker and weaker. I spent over half of the day at the Vets trying to save her. But she was just too small and weak. We think she may have been premature - and/or had something wrong internally. So we said goodbye to our first little "kid". And I cried most of the day....

Now here I go .... aaahhh I am getting on an airplane!!!  :0)    Join me on my adventure each day...


HUGS and

I know I said I would miss a few days... but SURPRISE!

I know I said on my last post I wouldn't be posting until I leave for my CHA trip this week - but Surprise!!  Hubby and I went out on a "date" last night and when returning home we found a brand new little surprize!! No Annabelle did not have her baby donkey... but Annie had her baby goat!

Now you have to understand this was a total surprise, we have been watching Annie's Mom, Lillie with a magnifying glass - I was sooooo hoping that she would deliver her babies before I leave... and when we found the baby in the pen, first thought was Lillie was having hers!! YEA!!! But then after a couple of minutes we realized that the baby wasn't Lillies... Annie was the one that had it, and she was being such a good Mom!

She is a first time Mommy - she was not huge pregnant, and really the breeder thought February on her - so we just were not looking at her anytime soon. But I guess there was an oops in there with her... :0) Only one baby for her, we are expecting at least two or three for Lillie as she is huge - but let me tell you, this little girl is adorable!! And because Annie and Lillie were not bred to Frankie.. we can keep this little girl! :o) YEA!

Of course "Dad" had to have his day one photo taken with the baby. Now he is going to hate this photo,he looks totally worn out - but it was late, and we had been on a nice dinner and then came home to having to baby proof the pen and build a new dividing fence in the pen. (He had that planned for today as we thought Lillie was getting so close)  but Surprise! We built it all and worked in the night to get things safe and ready!

And this is how I found Mom and Baby this morning... how cute is this? We named the baby Maggi  and why you ask. Well we figured that since this was our first "date" in a while and we were out when the baby was born eating at Maggiano's Italian Restaurant that.. we should include that in her name... So Maggi was perfect!

We are still watching Lillie - she looks really close, I still have hope she will deliver before I leave on Wednesday morning...

I'll be posting my trip while gone, and will be including some sneak peak cards of the new Stampavie images :0) So I do hope you will pop in and visit me!

HUGS and-

Animal Crackers Saturday

Wow.. another WET Saturday we have had over 3 inches of rain.. close to 3.5 in the last 48 hours. So the Donkeys and Goats were pretty much soaked -

Frio has become the center of attention in his pen... he DEMANDS all the attention once you enter - he is beyond friendly and really just adorable! He is a little trooper too - his Mom, Darlene will stand out and eat at the bale no matter what the weather, and that is why she is so "Big Boned"... yesterday during the hardest rain when every other Donkey and Goat on the property were in the barns... Darlene had her son out at the bale eating... He just stood there in the poring rain next to his Mom... gotta love this guy!

And he is doing a great job making friends... Carlos seems really interested in who is taking up so much attention. 

 

 

And Pepita and Jolene, now these two staying in the barn most all day... they did get out in the light rain and ate and moved around, but Jolene doesn't like hard rain - so every time it would pick up she would head back into the barn. 

We are still having issues with Pepita and her being skittish, and two days of heavy rain didn't help. But slowly you can tell she is wanting to get loving.  And when we "force" ourselves on her, she does like it. Jolene has always been the same way - she loves the attention, but you have to really work at giving it to her - We are determined to get Pepita to be  a loving little girl though - we have to she is so stunning I want her to be the best in attitude as well as looks!

 

 

And my two inside tornadoes... how can two such little things make such messes!! OH my  Libbie I guess is going through some sort of jealous issues, cuz she is doing things she has never done! Pulling trash out of the can, dragging laundry around the house, getting way to rough when playing with the cat and running and barking through the house.  And he shadow is right behind her at all times -  :0) They are both adorable and cute as well... and we have many hours of laughter and pleasure with them...

I just love this shot... Can't you just hear Autie  "ATTACK!!" and then there is Libbie... "Oh no, here he comes again..."

Well I am really starting to panic here... I leave in just a few days for CHA... and am I ready? Uh NO! So I am hoping today I can get all the laundry done and start packing. How do you get 10 days worth of clothes into one suitcase and stay under 50lbs? I have found myself holding up sweaters and trying to figure out which one weighs less.. LOL 

Now because I will not be here next Saturday there will not be an Animal Crackers day, but I will be blogging from California and showing photos where I am, who I meet and most important.. maybe some of what I see new and great while there :0) Please visit me each day to share the fun with me...

HUGS and

MO's Digital Challenge is sketched up this week!

Yes, this week there is a wonderful sketch at Mo's Digital Challenge!  And this last week I really needed the help of a sketch... no major thinking required. All I had to do is pick my papers and my image. I have had this one colored up for a couple of weeks now, and this sketch was perfect for her and her bunny!

Now I had cut the paper too small around her to cut it into an oval. Total honesty here... LOL But I so wanted to use the image, so I decided to cut around her and attach her to a oval piece of pattern paper! I love how different it looks!

I started my card with a hot pink dotted swiss Bazzil card stock, the background is a cream colored card stock that I inked the edges with light green ink. and doodled the edge. The pattern papers are all from K&Company Terri Conrad Sweet pad. Love these papers, so pretty... I followed the sketch with three of the pattern papers. I found three buttons in the same color. My sentiment is an epoxy sticker from my stash and seems too perfect.

I don't know the Copics.. sorry colored this one before I started trying to get the numbers down.

Now make sure you visit the Challenge site.. the team really did some FABULOUS cards with the sketch...

HUGS and -

JOLENE HAD HER BABY!!!! - PEPITA ;0)

First I apologize if you visit my blog for the crafts - This week has been really nothing like the normal! I have been crafting, but most of it is for CHA and can't been seen for another week :0) Things will be a little different for the rest of the month for me. And once on the plane to CHA I will have blogs about my trip and time at CHA -

I know I always keep most of my animal post to Saturdays, then Darlene just had to have her own post yesterday about her baby Frio. And When Jolene found out about it, well.. she delivered her baby yesterday afternoon! And oh my what an amazing baby she had!

I just can't stop saying "oh my!"  I think you remember how excited we were about Sergio, our first solid black baby. Well he ended up not solid black... his ears turned cream, and a few light spots under his belly - still he is a stunning man. But Jolene has had ... a solid black baby - we can't find any white on this one at all - yet anyway. We have named her Pepita ... Spanish for Josephine. If you have followed my blog since last year, Jolene's last baby was named Josephine... :0) But her new sister is even smaller than her name sake, and very black!

So so so tiny - Jolene is one of our smaller donkeys, and so far her two babies are both tiny - and gorgeous or what? Look at that face!

 

Dad was proud to come home from work and find this today! Now she is skittish, her Mom is more skittish, and because she gave birth out in the pen with all of the other young donkeys, she is very protective of her, we are going to really have to work with this little one to make sure she is as friendly as all of our other babies, Frio for example, that little dude is going to be extremely outgoing and loving... only two days old you can tell that - But I am sure Pepita will warm up once things settle down a bit. 

Hugs :0)

Darlene had her BABY!!! FRIO!!!!

Well it was 19 degrees here this morning, and when I looked out the window there was something new out there... We knew Darlene was getting closer, but unlike her normal tricking us for a few weeks before delivering.. she just decided to go ahead and have it on one of the coldest nights we have had here in years... And because it was so cold, we decided that the only name this little boy could be named is "FRIO"... meaning cold in Spanish -

He is adorable! A dark gray color... well now he is, they do change so much after the baby fur is gone - and oh my really long ears!

He is a sweetie too. As soon as I went in to "introduce" myself and do some bonding he was in my lap and letting me hug all over him. Darlene is very proud of him, and as the usual Darlene very protective as well -

 

And of course we had to take our day one photo with "Dad"... we have one with every baby we have had born here - Once day that will make a fun collage won't it!

And it looks as if Jolene wants to follow Darlene and have hers soon too- We are keeping a close eye on her now -

HUGS and :0)

A COLD Animal Crackers Saturday!!!

Yes it is really unbelievably cold here today!!! Keep in mind South Texas... and this morning when I got out of bed it was 16 degrees!! and I slept in until 8 this morning!! My poor babies outside!!! But they don't seem to be to upset about it, other than having a hard time getting their water -
I took all of these photos late yesterday afternoon and it was 32 degrees! But just for all of you I went out and snapped some photos :0)

Now you have to know... that slab of ice sitting next to the bucket... had sat there ALL DAY!!! And this morning - it is more than twice as thick in the buckets - brrrrrr  But Sergio and Carlos appreciate Dad coming out and taking the ice out a few times a day so they can get a drink -

 Cocoa was waiting to get her drink - - - you can really see how "poofed" up she is to stay warm. All the donkeys look twice as big with their fur all poofed up - Cocoa is such a beauty!

  Look at how gorgeous Mirta - - she is such a loving sweet donkey and I think she is going to end up having green eyes like her Mom, Vicki!! 

Lillie is a pretty little goat isn't she? We are so excited to see her babies, she will be the first to have "kids" for us.. so we are really excited about her babies!

Libbie and Autie are getting along so well... most all of the time. Once in a while we get a little yelp... but they are really doing well - Libbie has been so patient with him, and lets him climb all over her, pulling on her fur and it is just too cute to watch!

My pretty little lady - it is funny though - she is claiming all of her old toys and playing with them, and taking them away from Autie.. pure jealous  :0) 

And when all done chasing, barking and following Libbie all over the house.. Autie just passes out where ever he is - Just a couple of minutes before this he was shaking the pink little dog like a maniac! All that energy just wore him out!  

Hope you have a great Saturday! Me.. I have lots of "chores" to do and I am working on a few projects for CHA - - - it is really getting close!!! AAAHHHH!!!!

HUGS and -