Father's Day Weekend

We had a very busy weekend last weekend. I was planning to blog the whole thing, but J beat me to it. It is amazing how a young lady can find time for that kind of stuff while the mom of many can't fit it in. (Plus I'd rather be sewing) She swiped some of my photos so I will swipe her posts. (Just click on the pink letters to see the pictures.)

Friday evening our church community group had a potluck. We always eat very well.

Saturday our 4-H club sponsored a horse show and we helped.

Sunday the oldest son of a dear family got married. It was a small wedding and we were honored to have been invited. We met this family when they were a small family of 6. I remember saying after knowing them for less than a year: "I will never have 4 children and I will NEVER homeschool, they are nuts". Well, now It seems kind of funny that I thought that. We have 6 children now and they have 9. The mom is still my hero in all that she gets done with a quiet and gentle spirit. So as we start the season of witnessing young people we have seen grow up I think I will cry more and more, tears of blessing. I teared up as Dustin stood beaming as he saw his new bride walk down the aisle. In my eyes he will be 10 years old (the age he was when we met) forever.

Eight of the nine children in this family have participated in restored to Glory Dance Ministry. The youngest is still too young. So it fit that there was dancing at the reception, this is unusual for the weddings we have been to within our church family. The children did most of the dancing, but Todd and I danced one dance and I got our on the floor with the children for a few. The host family has quite the collection of moves. The poor Norris children are not rhythmically gifted in the same way, but they kept up in effort if not grace. Unfortunately the flash on our camera is being weird and very few of the pictures turned out well . But I did get some pictures for documentation: The father of the groom and one of our pastors were both caught on film (wait it's digital, so how does that go?) I also have blurry pictures the groom's brother J.P. dancing with little T (he is on his knees). The younger boys were also bustin' some moves were to fast for my camera.and the mother of the groom participating in the last line dance. J.P. also lead a sort of Conga lineBride's Maids', flower girls and TIn the background here you can see a couple of the groomsmen This is the youngest of the family. She was adorable, but ready for this whole wedding business to be over.Finally J got out on the dance floor. She made this Sense and Sensibility Dress for the occasion. The bride shares my love for sewing. It just happened that all of the girls (including me) except one were wearing homemade dresses. And many of the men just couldn't miss the golf thing....I understand it was a big one. I am not sure why Todd, who hates golf, was there. He claimed something about bonding.

Monday: Since we had a social engagement on Father's Day and the blue gill were still biting in Rose City, Todd took Monday off and we spent the day fishing and sleeping and swimming. OK, I did the sleeping and the kids swam and fished a little. J read a book and kept me company while I snored. Todd, with some help, caught 40+ bluegill.

Chickens and young ladies

I snapped these pictures while I had the camera out taking pictures of our new goats. Who by the way have settled down a bit but don't like to be more than a few feet from each other.

This is one of our new Ameracaunas trying to figure out how to get back with the flock.

This is Esmeralda. The day we picked up the chicks she was walking funny and we thought it best to leave her with the 4-H leader and let her deal with the eventuality of her death. Well 2 weeks later she was doing just fine so she got sent home with us. She got picked on when we first put her in with the others. But after a couple days where they could see each other, but not pull her feathers out she go a long much better. She is smaller than the others, but if she lays eggs like the rest we'll be happy.

This is my friend George. Chicks grow and change faster than people babies and remember much less. But she will always have a place in my heart. N has chosen her to be one of her show birds for the county fair.

This is Whitey (G's bird of choice from this group), Phantom (N's bantam), and one of the no-name birds.

N found this outfit at goodwill and has decided that for the costume parade for rabbits and poultry at the fair she will be Elpheba from Wicked (AKA the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz) and Zoser/Flops (her bunny) will be a winged monkey. In wicked he has a name,but I can't remember it, you will have to ask my Wicked expert.

Speaking of....

J stuck this silly pose as I walked by:

Then she sat down on a log with the pond in the back ground. I thought it would make a lovely picture. But she wouldn't smile. I asked why and she said she hadn't brushed her teeth and had food in them.

So she did a quick swish and clean her teeth the best she could. I couldn't see anything, but she is conscious of stuff in her braces that she is ready to be rid of.

In the end I got a beautiful picture of my eldest young lady.

Elinore and Marianne

About 9 weeks ago I saw an add for two female pygora goats not too far from us. G had talked about getting some sort of fiber animal for some time. We visited them along with our 4-H leader and decided we wanted them.

Today was the day to go pick them up, now they are almost 9 weeks old. We left from church to drive to Lapeer. After a couple stops, lunch and TSC for last minute necessities and the latest MaryJane FarmGirl magazine, we were almost there. Even Todd asked "Are we there yet? Lake Huron should be right over the next hill."

We arrived to find a note taped to the door. We were about 45 min after the time I had said we'd be there. But the number the owner left for me to call wasn't working. So I hid the money and found the kids with their mama.

None of them were real sure we should be there, but the kids are little enough that they could be convinced. The Mama was small enough to handle too for that matter being 50% pygmy

They were very quiet on the way home, cuddling together in the borrowed animal crate.

Their grand entrance into the barn

Heidi had to see what was going on. (or maybe she was looking for a treat.) She responded with a motherly bleat to the kids' little baby bleats. We have to keep them separate for a period of time. Kind of like quarantine when you bring animals into a new country.

They were hesitant to come out of the crate, but came eventually

They found the water and salt block right away, but weren't too sure that we were safe. When G put the grain in their stall they got busy with that. It took a bit for them to be sure the alfalfa was good, but when they did they munched away and got closer to us.

If we got a hold of them they would sit quietly on our laps until we let go. Then they were off to the other side of their stall.

I can't tell them apart very well yet. Marianne has curlier hair on her body, less hair on her head and is bigger. She was the one to go to the grain and alfalfa first.

Elinore has more fluff on her head, but is smaller and less curly on her body. She took a little longer to warm up to her new home.

Here is an up close of the fiber:

It is still short because they are babies, but it is very soft and curly. Their dad's fur is very long and curly.


In this picture they are standing right in front of the door to their stall. The top of the door is about the same distance as from the bottom board to the top board.

After we had the girls settled and had moved on to other things, Todd was putting his good fishing poles away in the barn when we heard hollers for help.

Nothing panicky, but obviously something he didn't want to deal with alone. One of the goats (he can't tell them apart either, he might never be able to) had jumped the gate to the stall. He managed to coral them then head to the house for the cordless screwdriver.

The outside of the door.

We thought for sure it would be tall enough, but one of the kids had shown us her climbing ability when we were trying to get her out of her original home: She was on top of a box that was on top of an old kitchen cupboard. She jumped from there into the adjoining goat stall. After we got her sister out of the stall the climber jumped back in from the next stall. Then while we were securing the pen she climbed to the top of a pile of hay bales. Actually, with my back the way it is, it was easier to get her down from there than up into my arms to carry her to the van.

He grabbed an extra board and made the door a bit taller.

They supervised the redesign of their new home from the top of a dog house. We got the dog house for Hugs and Heidi. Hugs (the dwarf) like to stand on it to be tall. Heidi doesn't need any help to get up. She is our resident mountain goat. Todd and G made a small pasture for Hugs and Heidi. Heidi won't stay in. The fence is standard cattle panels and the door is a palate that has been added to so that it it taller than I am. We wondered if Heidi didn't "tell" the kids how to get over the door.

It should be plenty tall now, but we have checked on them a few times. It seems to have worked. They have been calling for their mama, but haven't escaped again.

Goodnight Heidi, take care of the babies.

First Horse Show

G has been taking riding lessons for 3 years now. Her passion for horses has only grown; even when she had to muck out stalls for lessons. This spring I talked with our 4-H leader to try to figure out a way we could make it so she could show. Actually, I started asking about M doing lead line with one of her daughters. M follows in G's red hair and passions for activity and animals. I thought that might be easier to make happen. Jennifer in her wisdom, said that it really wouldn't be fair to G and her hard work for M to show before G.


So we worked it out that M could do lead line with P Jennifer's oldest daughter on Fanny and G could do showmanship with Carly, Jennifer's second daughter's, T, horse.


Jennifer told M that she would be helping P with her horse for the show. Wow! did that make M happy. I think she asked everyday "When am I going to P's to help her with her horse?"


We managed to get a practice in at their house and one at the arena. We also had a mini practice and my girls got to help get the horses ready for the show (bath and brush).

Jennifer has been a horse-lady forever and a 4-H leader for a long time. She does a great job. Anyway, she has quite the collection of riding wear. So after the first practice we had a fashion show. Very fun. Sorry no pictures. Mary found a shirt to wear with her bright pink split skirt and T's helmet matches and fits. G found a black hat and jacket to wear with her black boots and khaki jeans...wow did show look grown up.


G has a hat that her grandfather bought out West and carried back on his lap in a cramped car in the late 1950's. She will wear it with pride, but the many years on the closet shelf has incurred some wear and tear. Mostly it needs reshaped. So before show season is over we will have that done.
G was so excited and nervous I don't think she slept well all week before the show. But it all paid off.


She put on her show clothes and was transformed from my little busy, rough and tumble girl to a sophisticated horse-lady. Wow. I barely recognized her. She carried herself with such confidence I rarely see in her. The only other place was the goat show ring last summer.


OK enough mommy ramble on to pictures:



No grandparents were able to come, but our church family was represented by the Schlitts from our small group. And our neighbor Mrs. Cooper brought her Granddaughter. G works for the Coopers feeding their mini horse (and a Morgan who was recently sold) and the cats and keeping the plants watered. What a treat to have them there.

Waiting for her class...kind of nervous.

My little and not so little cowgirls.

Showmanship is judged on how well the participant presents the horse, not at all on the horse. They have to do a pattern of sorts. The pattern was a little different for the levels for this show. G participated in the the walk-trot level; it is for beginners with only 1-2 years of show experience.

Her pattern was to walk to the judge, stop and set the horse while keeping the horse between her and the judge, then turn 90 degrees walk to a cone

Then turn and trot to the exit gate. Carly wasn't interested in going very fast. As they left the gate Jennifer had G make Carly do as she was told. Good learning for both girl and horse.

G got Carly to trot and went back to the trailer to let her rest. She almost missed her placing being called, but was brought to attention quickly enough to hear that she had earned first place!!! She said she teared up and didn't really believe it.

Great job G!!!

"Thank you Carly for being mostly good"

On the way to the ring. How P ended up alone with M and T and a horse I don't know, but they did great all the way to the other side of the arena.

Toes up, back straight.

In lead-line a small child usually 5-7 years old rides, but another experienced horseman is in control of the horse. They all get ribbons. It is a great learning experience.

They are led around the ring and have to change directions then line up to talk to the judge.

M had to answer a few questions for the judge. This judge was very patient and helpful with the little ones. M knew all the answers except she forgot the name of the horse. She said it was because she knew the mare had more than one name. Now she knows both. She also could answer a question she hadn't practiced and backed Franny up a step or two. In practicing for the show she had trouble remembering the color. Who has the color sorrel in their kindergarten crayon box?? So she kept repeating to herself, "sorrel, sorrel, sorrel," enough for her to remember and to drive her siblings nuts.

Happy with a job well done!

Showing off her ribbon. The white participation ribbon faded into to the lightly clouded sky. The weather couldn't have been better that day--partly sunny with a cool breeze.

Goat Quiz Bowl

Here are a few pictures from the goat expo in East Lansing. I was at home with the other children, but J went along to document. This is the Jr. quiz bowl team from Saginaw County. They have been meeting since January to practice goat information.

G and two other "goat kids" about her age worked on solutions to a problem solving scenario, then had to present it to a judge. G also did an individual speech and a craft. She received 2 ribbons and tons of fun and experience.