Sonlight Garden

My Today 20

Some girls go crazy over new clothes and shoes and purses. I go crazy for cows, specifically Jerseys. (Hey, Sussette, I hear you laughing. ) OK, in all honesty, I also go crazy for new clothes and shoes and purses, so there!

Anyhow, this is Daisy. She is the newest addition to our little farm. Daisy is a miniature Jersey. She is 10 months old. She will grow about another three inches tall and will be ready to breed in about 4-6 months. I have been looking for a long time for a mini. They are ideal for a family farm. They are very efficient eaters and give almost the same amount of milk. The butterfat content is equivalent which is fantastic. If you don't have a lot of land this is the kind of cow for you. Another added benefit to the small size is that a child can easily handle them. Catherine, who is 3, is taller than her! We are still keeping Rosie for now. She is 5 months pregnant and will calve in August. She was bred to a mini Jersey bull, so the potential for another small heifer is there. Very exciting stuff, if you are into farming. ;0)

My Today 19

My Today (I have lost count)

Oh Yeah! 18

Of course, being a little girl, Amelia has discovered what a purse is. She carries it with her everywhere.

And the little darling has also mastered chair climbing. I am real excited about this one :0P

My Today 14

Our family altar as the sun was starting to set this evening.

My Today 13

Guess what we had for dinner?

My Today 12

I do realize it has been quite a while since I have posted any pictures. We have been super busy. Life has been happening :0)!! I have also been bitten by the purge bug. I have been rapidly filling black trash bags with "stuff". And wow, does it feel good! (I will write about that later) So of course I will post more than one picture to make up for the days that I have missed!!!

My Today....

As you can tell by the picture above, Patrick was really psyched about this first soccer game.

Joseph and Julia ended up being on the same team. I think it is pretty cool. Also one less practice and game per week to get to!

Paddy giving Amelia her first soccer lesson

When we got home Amelia found the hose. This particular hose has a leak that water squirts out of it. She sat there for a very long time trying to "catch" the water. She was soaking wet when it was all said and done, but had a blast.

My Today 8

After receiving Tea and Cake With The Saints by Alice Cantrell all my girls can think about is throwing a tea party. Well today we did! It was a celebration in honor of St. Julie Billiart, one of the founding sisters of the Sisters of Notre Dame. It was her feast day today and she is also Julia's name saint.

This great book has also inspired Julia to start a Home keeping binder.

On the menu:

• Raspberry Punch
• Buttermilk Scones with Vanilla cream cheese
• Stuffed Eggs
• mini peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• mini tuna fish sandwiches
• and of course tea!

After the tea portion of it the kids changed and then they planted flower seeds in tin pots that I had picked up real cheap. They had a great time.

I think the flower pots turned out so sweet. We also made little sticks with St. Julie on them to stick in our pots. And we topped them of with bows made from leftover fabric. The children had a blast.

"How good is the good God!" -St Julie Billiart

My Today 7

No, I did not get to sew today. But every time I walk by it calls me. I have all of my squares sewn into groups of four. I now have to sew them all together. Once I start it should go by fast. I just can't find the time right now and that is OK. It can wait.

My Today 6

Warning: Not very exciting.

Rain today. All day. :0)

I tried 24 times to get a picture of that raindrop falling. I then gave up. This was the closest I could get. Oh well.

My Today 5

Todays photos are of the horse show. Before I get into content, I will say that I am bummed that I did not have my max zoom lens on my camera. I am really liking the way the photos turn out with the "super zoom lens". And another biggie. I did not use my action setting on my camera. Clearly not thinking there. I was to nervous watching my girls I guess.

The girls belong to a saddle club and once a month there is a speed show. They run through different patterns on horseback.  They compete for the fastest time. This was our first horse show this year and the girls did fantastic! They both moved up a division this year so they were really nervous going into this one.

Julia went from the small fry division to junior division. She was very nervous to do this because "All the girls ride so fast." Well, Julia placed in all the events and even won Reserve Champion for her division. One of the events she had to run in the rain. The sky just opened up!

This was a huge show for Mary Jane. She went from the lead line division (mom, running as fast as she can  leading the child on horseback through the patterns) to the small fry division. She was on her own for this one and she was very scared. But she did it and did it beautifully. She had wonderful control over Dixie our horse. She also won Reserve Champion for her division. She is psyched!

I still saw these beautiful smiles when I tucked these two exhausted, happy girls into bed.