Sad News, Last Meal and Big Fish

Okay, family - I have something VERY sad to tell you.  

Actually, two sad somethings.  Firstly, Carlye's little goat Annie died.  She was very sick and quit eating, and didn't make it.  Talk about a broken and very sad little girl.

Second sad something?

Queen B's has closed.

The owners retired, and are remodeling the tea room so that they can live in it.  We ate our final meal on Saturday, and here are the pictures.  The hostess was really sweet and gave all of the kids their hats to keep as souvenirs.  And mommy was a sucker and bought each of the kids a teapot to remember them by.  Carlye's was a beautiful brown Japanese tea pot, Nathanael's was really a royal blue and gold sugar bowl, and Noah's is a tiger tea pot.  All of them fit their personalities to a tee.  My daughter, in a fit of generosity, told all 4 of her cousins that I would by them tea pots as well.  So sweet....

While we were at Queen B's, Carl was on his annual birthday fishing trip with his friend David.  He caught his biggest red fish yet.  It measured 42 inches and weighed 28 lbs.

And here's a pic of the boys together with two more red fish.

Let it be, Let it be....

This has been one of the worst weeks we've had in a LONG time.  I can't go in details, because it involves other people - but suffice it to say that I wish to never repeat this week again.

One of the things that I can tell you about is that Carlye's poor little goat has become very, very sick.  We finally had to bring her back to her owners so that they could start her on antibiotics.  Hopefully that will be all she needs.

On a lighter note, Noah's table manners are improving daily.

Where do I begin?

I'm guessing my sister's just finished that title with lyrics from Love Story - but I could be wrong.....

Seriously, though - where do I begin?  I still have to finish blogging about Disney World (yes - there's more), Easter, orchestra concerts, our goat, my foot, home school, public school, and so much more.  I guess the best plan of attack for me is that I will just blog about whatever I feel like blogging about at the moment, and randomly fill in the gaps.

So firstly, let me introduce you to Annie

Annie is our foster baby, and in this picture she is 4 days old.  A friend of ours raises goats, and four of them were rejected by their mothers during this kidding season.  Bottle feeding that many kids proved to be difficult, tiresome and time consuming, so they fostered out several of the babies.  Carlye feeds Annie a bottle of milk with two drops of honey every 4 hours (soon to be 6).  As soon as Annie is eating grass she will be returned to her family.  It really is so funny (and mildly annoying), because Annie knows Carlye as her mommy, and screams and raises a ruckus when she can't find her.  She also follows Carlye around everywhere, and runs to her when she sees her.  For the first time ever I have actually found a goat cute.  She is, however, already nibbling on my flowers with her toothless little mouth - so I know that this relationship has been doomed from the start.......

So busy

Life has been so busy lately.  I'm so sorry for the lack of posts.  Hopefully things will calm down in the next few weeks and I'll be able to post a little bit more.  I miss you all!