Today

My kids are playing video games right now.  They love "Little Big Planet". Santa brought it for them even though I didn't think they were ready for video games.  But clearly I was over ruled.  I have learned to use the game in my favor.  I can actually get hours of work done without them destroying the house or asking to go anywhere. So once a week they get to play and I get to be productive.  However it always ends the same, one of them will hit the other one over the head with the controller and I turn the game off.  So as I should be working, doing laundry or something else creative I thought I'd write a post instead.  Typically when I make posts one of them is on my lap or sitting next to me coloring or doing a craft so my attention is only half on my post or comment I am making at the time.  Also it is hard to type when one of them is on my lap. 

First an update on Spicy and Reno (momma alpaca and baby).  Spicy is a maiden alpaca and couldn't figure out she has to nurse her baby. So every two hours my mother and someone else (my sisters or father) have had to help hold her up so the baby can nurse.  On Tuesday night they noticed Reno had a fever and decided to put him and his mom is the trailer and head to the vet clinic.  When they arrived at 1:00 am the vets determined he was slightly dehydrated, but his fever was coming down thanks to the medicine my mother gave him.  The last report from the clinic was that he is doing well and they even caught him nursing on his own several times.  So the prayers are working and hopefully they will be able to come home soon. I really like little Reno and his buddy Minnarrow wants him to come back to the farm to play.  Minnarrow is the second baby that was born a few days after Reno.

Onto the home front I have been planning a party for my husband's 40th birthday.  He turned 40 a few weeks ago, but we are having his party at the end of the month.  The total invite includes over 200 adults and kids.  NO our house will not fit that many people I think we can fit about 20 inside. Fingers crossed we have good weather, because we hope to have everyone outside! Or else?????  We have been working on the property since March to get it ready for the party.  We moved into our house about three years ago.  The first year we gutted the house and redid everything. The second year we put on a deck.  The third year we put in firepit paver area.  And this year we repaved the driveway and put in walkways in the front plus tons of landscaping.  Wait does that mean we have been here four years? 

Last night I started cleaning the house to get ready for the party. I actually got all my summer clothes out and put away my winter stuff. Yup I am really on top of things.  I also cleaned up the boys toys.  Actually I put all their toys except for a few favorites in storage bins and locked them away!  So I don't have to keep picking up after them. If they each have only 5 toys then they can clean up after themselves right? I hope.

I made myself a little tropical garden in a wasted piece of our property.  I finished up a walkway using old piece of rocks that were in the front garden beds. I wanted to have a very casual relaxed feel and a place for the kids to play. They love digging between the rocks and I couldn't be happier sitting in my chair relaxing knitting not worrying about them running off.  They have dinosaurs, army men and trucks mixing in all over the place and I couldn't be happier. Despite all the work I did left me with no fingernails and roughed up knees.

My sister is expecting a baby in September and my sister-in-law is due any day now. She has been on bed rest but is back up on her feet now that she is 36 weeks along. She is not sure what she is having so I am not knitting her anything until the baby is born. I am a terrible gender neutral knitter.  I know my sister is having a boy so I probably should get something on the needles for her, but instead I am about to start a project for myself. It is a beautiful shawl.  I can't wait to get it casted on. I just got my yarn into center pull balls yesterday.  I have been going to sleep the same time as my boys so my knitting has slowed tremendously, since I only knit at night.

Well I guess that is enough excitement from my end of things.  Now I'll go get some work done.

Oh here are some pictures of the yard, just in case you are wondering what the back yard looks like.  My little garden chairs still have the price tags on them. They remind me of a Marshalls commercial where they leave the tags on everything. Actually I just didn't have scissors on me when I put them there.  The chairs are really cute they even have little birds on them. (the chairs are on the bottom right)