Crafts & Swine with Aunty Staci, the divine.

Mr. Stagg needed to take a week long, web class for a new software we have purchased for the business.  Three small marching, yelling, giggling, whining, Daddy pestering midgets are not conducive to material comprehension, therefore myself and the Stagglets packed up for a week in Ephrata.  The highlight of which was our day at Aunty Staci's.  The Jellyfishes were super fun, quite easy, and terrifically adorable.  

Set up...

Happily painting.

No surprise, it's everywhere and he's eating it.

Trisha, thinks it funny!!! Seriously, if I did not have a sense of humour about the things he does, I'd be done for.

LindyJean cheese it up with Florence.  She named it Florence and it hangs over her bed.

Thumbs up dudettes!

I love these.  They are adorable. 

Gunnar Wayne, future Harley Davidson aficionado.

Abject concentration, "What is this large, smelly, bristly hog doing?"

They were really pushy and the kids needed an escape.

Bitty has a current fascination with jumping off things.  

This is picture is very telling.  Those piggies are terrible, they are constantly nipping at you and begging for treats. Super pesky.  Trisha and Ru were trying to get a nice pose in and the hog goosed her.

Getting the piggie poo washed.  She can't be out in the sun without her glasses and insist on the big Jackie O style.

Wild Man

As I've not blogged in forever, unless you're Trudi, Terri, or Staci you probably don't know much about Gunnar; a.k.a HomeWrecker, a.k.a. Naughty Muffin, a.k.a. The Buster.  He is crazy. He gets into things, climbs with the dexterity and speed of a spider monkey, has no regard for bodily harm, is afraid of very little, loves to yell, and hates being told 'no.' You are familiar with "Animal" from the Muppets, right? Bitty thinks we should chain Gunnar like that.

Yelling, while stomping wildly after he climbed up here of his own accord. 

Scaaaaary.  He loves ladders.  He's dangerous.

ROAAAR. One of his favorite activities.  Roaring; he apparently thinks himself very manly and frightening.

Happy Birthday, Happy Father's Day!

We celebrated LindyJean's birthday on Father's day... It was a blast.

LindyJean has a zebra obsession.  Which may now become unhealthy, because everyone bought/made her something zebra for her birthday.

Zebra 'pakpak.'

Happy Father's Day to Mr. Stagg.

The whole crew and EVERYONE looking at the camera.  No small miracle.

Happy Dad's day to Crawdad.

Because you have to have a sense of humour about yourself... yet another example of my 'photogenic' nature. Ha! Staci and I were about peeing our pants we were laughing so hard at this one.

Cake, I want cake!

Zebra pinata.

 
Hugs for the zebra I am about to smash to smithereens!

Either the dog has forgotten what a madman GW is or his curiosity has overridden his sense of self-preservation.

Alpaca

Aunty Staci came for a visit and we headed out to visit our local Alpaca Ranch, Sagebluff Alpacas.

They were recently shorn as it is beginning to get warm, these animals originate in the Andes Mountains in Peru. 

Gunnar and Baby Alpaca, known as a cria.

Stagglets, JoMama, & Aunty Staci!

Grain snacks/treats entice the Alpaca to draw near.  They are naturally curious but somewhat timid and need coaxing to get them to sidle up to you.

In their usual fashion, Bitty was a scaredy cat and would not feed them, LindyJean did so with no trepidation, and Gunnar spent most of his time throwing the grain at them.

We adjourned to the house for some lunch and cake as it was the day before LJ's birthday!

We returned on Saturday to the Alpacas, they were hosting "Nearly Naked Alpaca Day," an opportunity to learn about Alpaca fiber, how it's spun into usable yard, and a barn full of finished products.  Here are the Stagglets watching a gal comb and spin Alpaca fiber.

Spinning more fiber.

Hiding under the cookie and lemonade table, waiting on scraps I'm sure!

Here we are!

I doubt I need mention how wonderfully insane life is.  I haven't updated the blog in ages, I didn't feel like it.  It was on the "do I stay up an extra hour to accomplish this task or sleep or fold laundry or bake bread list."  Clearly, every other option took precedence.  I am not going to try and catch you up, I am just going to start posting again.  It will not be super frequent, but I have found my picture documentation is terrifically lame since I've quit blogging.   Additionally, Aunty Staci threatened to remove me from the blogosphere... so it's time to get back on the horse.

Homeschool Co-op

Something else that ought be mentioned... We are homeschooling our children.  This past school year we participated in a homeschool co-op with 10 families.  At the end of the year we had a co-op 'pageant' and showed Dads, grandparents, and sundry relatives and friends our year in summary.

Here they are doing "Hi, my name is Joe..." Do you remember that song?

 Nana and GW observing the performance.

LindyJean, early in the year, as a pilgrim.

Our Spring unit consisted of the senses.  On sight day, after viewing cow eyes (the Michener's had butchered a steer that week and Mama Michener had the sense to save the eyeballs for co-op), they made their own out of oranges, olives, and red vines.

The Grandview police department graciously agreed to join us one day and teach us about policework. We got a plain clothes detective and an on-duty copper in uniform.  The children were enthralled!